Yugi looked at the palace as his stomach rumbled to remind him of the missed meals. How he wished to live the royalty life. Servants, clothes, food. They would defiantly have to get food tomorrow. With a sigh, Yugi went over to his bed area and went to sleep; dreaming of what it would be like to be a prince.
However, there were many things Yugi didn't know about the palace life.
The royal palace and gardens were silent as glass. It had been another long day once again for everyone in the royal court. The pharaoh once again had hoped of finding a decent wife for his only son, but all the effort in the planning he had done backfired. Princes and Princesses from all over were throwing themselves at the young prince's feet in hopes of winning his heart, but none of the visiting royal members had succeeded. The poor prince was tired of being forced into something that he didn't want.
Earlier that day...
"I've never been so insulted!" A door busted open, and an enraged Princess Vivian stormed past as she held up her skirt.
"Princess Vivian." The pharaoh jumped. Pharaoh Aknamkanon had brown-grey hair and grey eyes. A royal purple robe covered his white tunic. A white head cover with a cobra covering the brow of his head signified him as the ruler of Egypt. Golden jewelry arrayed his body and elaborate sandals decked his feet.
"You're not leaving so soon, are you?" A 17 year old male standing next to him asked. He wore a creamy under tunic that went down to his ankles, with a blue outer tunic on top of that. Golden arm cuffs ran from his wrist to his elbows, while a golden belt circled his waist. Elegant sandals covered his feet. A priest hat covered his brown hair. The Millennium Rod was in a loop on his belt. His name was Seto, and he was one out of six of the pharaoh's high priest's.
"Good luck marrying him off!" Vivian snapped as her dress slipped a little to reveal… Dragon Lady underwear? Okay, that was disturbing.
"Oh, Atem." Aknamkanon sighed, knowing what had happened. Well, a vague idea of what happened anyway.
"Again?" Seto groaned.
"What again?" a woman's voice asked. The two men turned to see a young woman wearing a cream colored dress with a golden belt, and a head cover with a gold hawk framing her grey eyes. Her name wasIsis, and she was another one of the pharaoh's high priest's.
"Atem rejected another suitor." Aknamkanon answered as he walked threw the recently opened door to the outdoor part of his son's chambers.
"Ouch."Isisnodded her head in understanding.
"Atem! Atem!" Aknamkanon called as he approached his son, who was sitting at the edge of a pond reading a scroll.
Atem glanced up to see his father walking towards him and sighed. He knew what was coming. However a snarl and a huge sandy colored tiger with a piece of fabric in his mouth blocked the pharaoh's path
"Confound it, Marik!" Aknamkanon shouted as he grabbed the cloth and yanked it out of the tiger's mouth. "So, this is why Princess Vivian stormed out!"
"Oh, father." Atem sighed and rolled up his scroll before standing up as Marik came up to his with the remaining piece of cloth in his mouth. "Marik was just playing with her, weren't you Marik?"
"Yeah." A 16 year old male with white-blond hair, lilac eyes, standing about 5' 11", and dressed in palace guard clothing, added. His name was Malik, Prince Atem's personal body guard. "He was just playing with that overdressed, self-absorbed Princess Vivian."
Marik suddenly stood up on his hind legs and changed into a person. Like the monkey we all know and love, Marik was also a shifter. As a human, he had spiky, wild, white-blond haired and lavender colored eyes. His hair was also his tiger fur color. He wore a simple tan tunic whose sleeves came to his elbows and dropped down to his ankles, being held in place by a black belt that encircled his waist. On top of these, he wore a decorated dark purple robe; so dark it was almost black. It was sleeveless and fell to mid-calf. Elaborate sandals decked his feet. Simple gold cuffs were on his wrist.
"That's the fastest reject yet." Marik chuckled.
Malik and Atem chuckled along with the shifter, enjoying the moment. Then Atem glanced up and saw his father didn't get the punch line.
"Ahem." Atem softly coughed, making Marik and Malik quickly depart for the other side of the garden of the prince's chambers.
"Son," Aknamkanon sighed as he rubbed his forehead, "you've got to stop rejecting every suitor that comes to call. "The law says you…"
"…must be married to a member of a royal family." Atem joined in, knowing the law by heart. It had been pounded into him for the past year.
"By your next birthday." Aknamkanon finished as Atem walked across the grounds to a small stable like building.
"The law is wrong." Atem said firmly as he opened the door, revealing doves and exotic birds from other countries.
"You've only got three more days!" Aknamkanon said exsasperatly.
"Father, I hate being forced into this." Atem moaned, took a dove out of its cage, and gently pet it. "If I do marry, no matter what the gender, I want it to be for love."
"Atem, it's not only this law." Aknamkanon said as he gently took the dove from his son's hands and put it back into the cage. "I'm not going to be around forever, and I just want to make sure you're happy, provided for."
"Try to understand." Atem's voice started to grow louder. "I've never done a thing on my own. All of my lessons have guards there. I've never had any real friends."
"Oi!" Marik and Malik angrily look up from their tenth game of tick-tack-toe.
"Except you guys." Atem smiled with a sigh.
Satisfied, they go back to their game.
"Tick-tack-toe," Malik's voice came. "Three in a row."
"No way." Marik's voice followed. "I demand a rematch."
"I've never even been outside the palace walls without a three battalion escort." Atem added, ignoring the look-alikes who weren't related.
"Atem, you're a prince." The Pharaoh emphasized. "You need an escort."
"Then maybe I don't want to be a prince anymore." Atem shouted as he splashed the water with a ball of magic. All of the royal family, and the high priests', could also do magic.
"Oooh!" Aknamkanon gnashed his teeth as he seethed as his son. "Isis and Hathor forbid you should have any sons!"
"What was that about?" Malik asked as he and Marik watched the Pharaoh storm out of his son's chambers.
"I don't know." Marik shook his head. "But until we're called over, I suggest we steer clear and give Atem some time to calm down."
Malik nodded with a small blush on his cheeks. It wasn't known by anyone except Atem, but Malik had a crush on the older shifter.
Atem, after a moment's thought, grabbed the outside door to the dove cage, yanked it open, watching the birds fly off into freedom, wishing he could go with them.
Meanwhile in another room of the palace, Aknamkanon stood near the balcony of his chambers, his grey eyes tired. He only wanted what was best for his only son. The pharaoh raised him as a single father, his wife died only a few hours after giving birth to their one and only son. He loved Atem with all of his heart, but knew he had to find someone of royal blood to marry the young prince. According to the ancient traditions, only a person of noble or royal blood was allowed to marry a prince. Commoners were forbidden to marry anyone outside of their class.
"I don't know where he gets it from, his mother wasn't as nearly as picky," he sighed. A soft knock at the door snapped him out of his train of thought. "Who is it?"
"It's me, Dartz, may I come in?" a man's voice echoed from the other side. The king opened the door to see his vizier Dartz, standing in the doorway, his one turquoise eye and one gold eye filled with respect.
"Ah, Dartz, my most trusted advisor, I am in desperate need of your wisdom," Aknamkanon said.
Dartz slowly bowed to the king, "My life is but to serve you my lord, how can I be of service to you?" he asked.
"It's this suitor business, Atem refuses to cooperate, I am at my wits end," he said lowering his eyes to the floor.
"RAWK! Wits end!" Weevil squawked from upon Dartz's shoulder. The bird was pretending that he only knew a few words so that the king wouldn't know he could really actually talk instead of blabbering gibberish.
Aknamkanon chuckled before reaching into his robe and pulling out a large cracker, "Here have a cracker pretty bird," he said shoving the thing into Weevil's mouth.
The poor bird's cheeks blew up like a helium balloon as he tried to hold in the large amount of food in his mouth.
Dartz started to laugh, "Your majesty certainly has a way with dumb animals," he said. Weevil sent him a death glare at the comment. Dartz cleared his throat before speaking again, "Now then, perhaps I can devise a solution to this informal problem," he said.
"If anyone can do it, it's you Dartz," the king replied, failing to notice the evil smile that formed upon the trusted sorcerers' face.
"It would require the use of a mystic blue diamond," Dartz said curling a finger around Aknamkanon's left ring finger.
"My ring?" Aknamkanon asked as he held his hand close to his chest. "But it's been in the line of the pharaohs for generations,"
Dartz twirled his golden snake staff in his hand, "It's necessary to find the prince a suitor, don't worry, everything will be fine," he said, holding the staff up to the king's eyes. Its eyes began to glow a red crimson color, instantly putting the king under its hypnotic and powerful magic.
"Everything will be fine," Aknamkanon repeated lost in a trance.
"The diamond?" The snake's eyes burned a red fire, with Dartz's eyes reflecting back in its eyes.
"Yes, Dartz anything you need," he said slowly taking the elegant ring of his finger and handing it to Dartz.
"You are most gracious my liege, now run along and play with your little toys," he replied pointing to the large table which stood a castle and kids toys from his childhood days. The king didn't seem to hear what he said but followed his command. Dartz bowed before he left the room.
He rolled his eyes, as Weevil spit out the cracker which had been lodged so far down his throat, "I can't take it anymore! If I have to choke down another one of those moldy, disgusting crackers, BAM! WHACK!"
His master walked towards the wall at the very far end of the palace, in the next room where two elegant lamp shades hung. It looked like a dead end but Dartz pulled the strings on the left one and slowly the wall opened to reveal a long lit twisted hallway with a spiraling staircase which happened to be the sorcerer's lair hidden in the palace.
"Calm yourself Weevil," he said walking up the long darkened corridor.
"I'll sure get a hammer and whack it on his head," the parrot mumbled under his breath.
"Soon I will be Pharaoh not that stupid-headed twit," Dartz continued, ignoring the parrot.
Weevil grinned, "And then I stuff the crackers down his throat," as Dartz opened another door revealing his rooms their laughter echoing before it slammed shut.
That night, a shadowed figure ran threw the prince's garden. Stopping to look around, Atem quickly raced to a tree close the wall of the palace. Starting to climb, he felt a strong tug from behind, and fell flat on his back. Looking up towards the sky, a tiger and person filled his view.
"What are you doing?" Malik hissed as Marik growled, his mouth full of course cloth.
"I'm sorry, guys. But I can't stay here and have my life lived for me." Atem sat up and hugged them both. "I'll miss you. Thanks for being there for me. Good bye."
Atemu started to climb again, only this time he had help. And with that, the prince of Egypt disappeared over the wall, leaving his only real friends to wonder if they would ever see him again.