-SQUEALS-

Thank you! Oh my gosh, thank you all so, so much! I received a lot of reviews, huh?! It made me so happy. My heart was through the roof. I'm so glad to see that so many people are interested in this. I promise, I will try my best to make it even more exciting and keep your attention all the way to the end of this story. My sincere thanks to all of you. Only four –now five- chapters, and already so much love! Ahhh! Unbelievable! :D

I have responded to all the reviews that I can, and trust me, words were taken into account and pondered on. I have made necessary changes, and I apologise for errors that I have missed. Please don't be afraid to point them out because they are truly appreciated. I hope you continue to stay interested.

I have to apologise though for delaying this update. I had it all planned out and ready to type, telling some of you that I'll be updating in two days… Yeah, that didn't happen because even with the plans in front of me I hit a writer's block. Everything I wrote seemed like garbage and it was just awful. This chapter was so hard to write, so forgive me for the delay and for the way this chapter is written. ^^" Oh, and I'm also sorry if the facts in the story aren't so realistic and or true. I'm making my own changes and making stuff up just to suit the story and make my life easier. So sorry. Anyways, this author note is way too long already. Please read.

Enjoy!

Secrets Underground

Chapter 5

"Gramps, I'm coming with you on the dig today."

I stared at Grandpa with leveled eyes, not breaking my calm posture as he looked up at me with mild surprise. His grey brows rose up into his hair while his purple eyes widened as he drank from his mug. I stood still, watching as he shifted in his seat at the wooden dining table before putting the mug down, the heavy glass making a 'thud' with the surface. He looked at me again, and put an arm to his leg to gaze at me intently.

"That's great!" he exclaimed suddenly, breaking out into a grin. I smiled in relief. I had honestly thought that he would have made me stay inside considering what happened yesterday, but wow, he appeared be glad. Though if I know my Grandpa correctly, a lot of questions would follow my decision.

"But, why did you decide to come with us all of a sudden? I thought you weren't ready to go back into the tomb yet?" he asked me, and as I took a seat at the table and began to dig into my eggs and toast, he got up to put his mug in the sink. "So does that mean you're staying?" he continued, and I heard water gushing out of the pipe and into the sink loudly.

I shrugged, staring at the ripped toast and pushing the eggs around in the plate with my fork. "I'm not quite sure about staying throughout the trip as yet…" I trailed off uncertainly. "If it seems that I'm going crazy, I might still leave." I gazed up at Grandpa after hearing him clear his throat and take a seat in the chair next to me.

"Why?" he asked evenly. "What changed your mind?"

"I just want to see the stone tablet for myself," I answered smoothly, trying to keep calm on the outside even though my insides were twisting into knots.

I knew that Grandpa would eventually ask me the reason for my change of mind, so I had planned my answer to every possible question last night. However, the answer I told just now wasn't a complete lie. I would love to see the tablet, but not any time soon. I had no intention of entering the tomb where I could easily be captured by that ghost. I was going there just to get my research done, and I can only do my little investigation when I had the right information. All that information was at the excavation site, so going there was a must.

This was the only way I could be able to find out what was going on, and what I could possibly do about this curse that seemed to have been laid on me. I had to be prepared, and one thing that I had understood from my high school business management lessons was to always be prepared and plan for the worst because anything can happen when you least expect it. If this ghost has to take me, I'm going to make sure that I know every single thing about the Nameless Pharaoh I could possibly learn. Hopefully my research would lead me to a loop hole to get out of it, but that was very unlikely.

Sipping the tea in the mug Grandpa had set down on the table next to my plate, I looked up to see that he had stood once more, his phone ringing loudly.

"One sec," Grandpa said, and he moved to the living room to answer the call.

Shaking my head in an attempt to wake myself up as I felt my eyes droop, I put my cup down and stirred the tea with the end of my fork slowly. All night I had stayed up, just pondering over everything that had happened to me in such a short amount of days. The ghost, the visions, the Pharaoh… I was getting nowhere with all of this. All I knew though was that they're all connected, and that connection has something to do with the Nameless Pharaoh. He was the source, but the reason was hard to figure out since I know practically nothing about him. And then there's me. Somehow I got dragged into all of this curse stuff. Man, Joey was right. I should have listened to him and stayed in Domino playing video games with him all summer instead of packing my bags and heading straight to Cairo. If I get out alive, he's going to laugh at me once I tell him about all of this.

Dropping me head down on the table with a bang, I allowed my eyes to fall shut from frustration, agitation, annoyance, and sleepiness with a hint of nervousness. This whole trip turned out to be "pure nonsense", as Grandpa would put anything that didn't make sense.

"Okay, c'mon Yugi. Time to head to the site." Hearing Grandpa speak had me looking up at him with surprise.

"I haven't even changed yet," I said, watching as he grabbed his jacket from over the chair. He shot me a look.

"Well then, just don't sit there. Hurry up!"

"Okay, okay," I said quickly, and getting up I dropped my dishes into the sink and ran to the bedroom to get ready. As I sifted through the suitcase for something to wear, I felt a drop of sweat slide down my back. I was scared, not going to deny it. But I can't stay inside and hide. Hiding would do no good. You can't say that the Boogeyman isn't in your closet until you open the doors and see for yourself. So, it was time for me to face my fear and put a lid on this curse once and for all.

Driving up to the excavation site, I squinted a bit as a sudden dry breeze blew by me before Grandpa could come to a stop. As soon as he did, we jumped out and grabbed our packs and made our way over to the crew who seemed to have not noticed that we had arrived. They were all gathered under the makeshift white tent, their eyes and lips moving over whatever it is that was on the table. From my guess it was probably their notes and plans.

"Hey everyone!" Grandpa called with a smile, dropping his bag on to the floor as we stepped into the tent. It was a tight squeeze for us all since equipment and such took up half of the large tent, but we all somehow crammed inside quite snugly.

"Solomon! You're just in time," Jonathan exclaimed, and he walked over to Grandpa with a rolled up paper. "Yugi, you came too! Glad to see that you're back in action," Jonathan said with a grin, and I smiled a little as he shook my hand.

"Hey, Yugi," Kevin said as he came up to me with that wide, friendly smile of his. "Happy to see you here."

I nodded. "Yeah, had to come back eventually," I replied with an awkward smile. His smile got bigger.

"You got that right."

"Solomon, great, there you are," Sabrina said, and I watched as she passed me and walked straight up to my Grandpa who looked at her. "You won't believe what I came across yesterday when you left," she said hurriedly.

"What is it?" Grandpa asked curiously, and he took the picture that Sabrina handed to him. For some reason everyone was watching as to what Grandpa's reaction would be, and I couldn't help but be curious myself.

"What is it, Gramps?" I asked, but Grandpa said nothing. He stared at the thing with huge fascination that now my mind was itching to know what it was.

"This, this is incredible," Grandpa finally said breathily, and I watched as he looked at Sabrina with a shocked expression. "Where did you find this?"

"We found it in the tomb, hidden on the back wall next to the door," Jonathan replied, staring at the image from over Grandpa's shoulder as well. "Don't know how we could have possibly missed it. It was covered, but c'mon, we searched the entire room and didn't see it until a few hours ago. It seems as if appeared like magic."

Tired of being left out of the loop, I walked over to Grandpa and peered over his shoulder. The image was quite dark, but I could clearly see some hieroglyphs scratched on to the wall messily.

"The chains shall be broken by he who was chosen," I read in my head, and I took a step back so that I was out of the way as other's came forward to take a look also.

"What does that mean?" Grandpa asked, looking around the room. "What chains is it talking about?"

"That's what we're trying to find out," a voice said, and we all looked up at the entrance of the tent to see that it was Professor Arthur had spoken. He walked in with a jug of water in his hand, his hair disheveled, no doubt from the wind that was blowing through the cavernous place.

"Yugi! Nice to see you here," Professor Arthur said, and he patted me on the back with a smile.

"We didn't have time to check around for more since it was getting dark," Sabrina began to explain, and all of our attention was turned back to her. "I was only able to take this picture. We plan on going back in to further look around."

Grandpa nodded and scratched his beard thoughtfully. "Yes, we would have to do that. It's strange that we didn't spot it before though."

"Hey, I thought we were staying in today and making sense of the tablet and our other notes," Kevin exclaimed, and he marched up to Sabrina's side. "If we leave all this paperwork to pile up, we're going to be very screwed over when we have to find information when the time comes. It's all a complete mess. Nothing is organized or even filed properly."

Professor walked up to the black haired man and put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, Kevin. I'll be here. I'll help you sort through it all so stop fretting."

"I'll help too!" I said quickly, and Kevin looked at me with an elegantly raised eyebrow.

"You sure?" he asked, and I nodded. Like I said to myself before. I was not entering the tomb. Besides, by helping Kevin I'll be able to get a glimpse at all of their notes. Surely I'll be able to get some good information.

"Yugi, I thought you wanted to see the tablet," Grandpa asked, and I turned around to meet his concerned gaze. I smiled reassuringly.

"It's alright, Gramps. I can see it some other time."

He continued to look at me, but after a while of keeping that reassuring smile on my face, he gave in. "Okay, fine. I don't know when we'll be back so make sure you eat. You haven't had anything much to eat and I doubt you'll eat your lunch," Grandpa ranted, and I jumped slightly when Kevin dropped his arm over my shoulder to grin at Grandpa.

"Don't worry, Solomon! I'll take good care of your grandson," he said, and Grandpa looked at him with a disapproving frown.

"I'm sure you will. You might just help him eat his lunch too," Grandpa said, and Kevin face-dropped.

"C'mon Solomon! That's not nice, or a hundred percent true."

"Shut up, Kevin," Sabrina said coldly, and Kevin shot her a look. "We have work to do. There's no time for fooling around. Pick your bags and let's go you two," she ordered, looking at Grandpa and Jonathan. "The faster we get in, the faster we get out."

"She's a grouch," Kevin mumbled with a pout, and I hid a grin when Sabrina shot him a death glare. He promptly turned around and disappeared in the back where she wouldn't be able to see him.

"See ya," Jonathan said as he picked up his bag. "We'll be back soon."

"And don't go running off," Grandpa told me, and I nodded. With that, the three walked out of the tent and towards the tomb.

I watched from the entrance to see them stride over to the beginning of the labyrinth-like tomb, and then disappeared into the darkness with their hardhats on their heads. For some reason I felt a bit odd, watching the tomb. Something didn't feel right. I would also say that it felt as if someone was watching me from inside, but at this point I already knew who was looking my way.

"Yugi! Come over here," Professor Arthur called, and I turned around and went back into the tent to stare at the rectangular, white plastic table that was covered with papers and books. I gazed at it all, very unsure as to where I should even begin while Professor Arthur and Kevin seemed to know exactly what they were doing. Kevin sat with one leg up and slouched back in a chair on the left side of the table, and at the end I took a chair and sat down while Professor Arthur leaned lightly against the edge of the desk on the other side.

"Stone tablets like these tell some kind of story, right?" Kevin asked, looking up from the sheets of papers he was reading to glance over at the Professor. I watched as the elderly man nodded.

"They're used to capture some important parts of history. C'mon Kevin, you should know that by now," Professor Arthur scolded playfully, putting the papers into one of the files in front of him.

"I know, I know. I'm just thinking out loud here," Kevin replied quickly. "I'm just confirming that since the tablet was found in the Nameless Pharaoh's tomb, it means that it has some importance to his life. It talks about the war between his cousin, and it's clear that he was involved in this war because his image is carved on to it. So, now the question of reason comes up."

"We already have the Who, What, Where, and When," Professor Arthur continued. "We just have to figure out the Why, and the How. Why did the war take place? Why did Seth go to war with his cousin? And how did it took place because it's very evident from the slab alone that magic played a part."

"And that's a topic we're already aware about, you know," Kevin said, slamming the big book in front of him closed before sitting up properly in his chair to look at Professor Arthur who was reading through some more loose papers. "Seth went to war with this Nameless Pharaoh because he was an evil ruler who used his power to dry up his country for his selfish needs. Seth was righteous, so obviously he would want Egypt to prosper instead of watching it be destroyed by his cousin."

"Kevin, I told you already. We don't know that for sure," Professor Arthur told him, not removing his eyes from the papers. Kevin didn't seem to listen because he continued.

"There's evil written everywhere on this Pharaoh, Professor. Surely there is some truth to it."

"There might be some truth, but there's a chance that it could be wrong," Professor Arthur said calmly.

"Yeah, a very small chance," Kevin said before picking up a few papers, scanning through them, and putting them in different piles on the table.

"Yugi, what do you think?"

Startled, not expecting to be dragged into the argument, I looked up at Professor Arthur who had spoken to me. From the corner on my eye I could see Kevin staring at me too. Oh well, a debate was always healthy, and I did have something to say about the topic. Hopefully they'll agree because I am after all half their age. I had to prove that I deserved to be here, working with them.

"Well, there hasn't been a case like this before," I began slowly after taking a deep breath. "There have been Pharaoh's in the past that were strict with their rules. There were some that committed grave mistakes, and some that were so revolved around themselves and their beliefs that they changed the way their people lived. But, we've never heard of a Pharaoh that was pure evil and did things like slaughtering family members and drinking their bloods such as what Kevin had said to me." I paused to gather my thoughts, and when I looked up I saw Professor Arthur shooting Kevin a bothered look. I shook it off though and continued, not wanting my thoughts to disappear.

"Of course, harsh punishments were given out during those time, so I can believe the 'chopping off a person's arm' part. The Pharaoh's were considered a living God, so spilling water on the living, walking, breathing God was a huge crime." I stopped again to scratch my head, feeling butterflies die in my stomach. I could feel something churning in my gut, but I couldn't bring myself to pay attention to the nagging feeling. Something felt off. Although, it might just be me. Presentations and or just talking to important people made me want to run and hide, so that may be the reason for my uneasiness.

"This is a first, especially with a case that has the use of magic written all over its history. I think that there may be a possibility that it had something to do with this war. If this was a case in a different time period where magic wasn't present, I would have really considered the theory of the Nameless Pharaoh being an evil ruler and Seth wanting to protect Egypt. But magic is present, therefore its role and the way it was used should be taken into account first. We all know that magic, especially during that time when it was extremely powerful, was very dangerous and unmanageable, unlike magic today which is weak and rare, practically unheard of. It's considered non-existent by most since it died out a long time ago. So right now, I don't think we should point fingers yet. There's more to uncover and I think we should dig a bit deeper to find the whole truth."

As soon as I finished, I let out a deep breath. It felt as if I was holding my breath throughout my whole talk, and knowing me I must have spoken way too much. My hands were sweating, that's how scared and nervous I was even though I didn't feel it. Well, I hope I made sense.

"I'll be honest," Kevin said after a few seconds as soon as I was done. I looked up to glance at him and saw that he had a very thoughtful expression on his face. "I thought that I had it all figured out, but Yugi, it seems that you can think more thoroughly than I." He grinned. "That really got me changing my thoughts. I didn't think about the magic part…" he said with a little laugh, looking over at Professor Arthur who had taken a seat across of Kevin while I was speaking.

"I agree as well," the Professor said, looking over at Kevin before turning back to me. "Those were my thoughts exactly, and I couldn't have said it better than that."

I breathed out in relief, a smile gracing my lips once again.

"We don't have much facts to base all of this on, but we have no other choice," Kevin said next, standing up to get some water. "About magic, from what we uncovered from the slab, was that a person's Ka was actually a creature, a monster that the person could summon and use for battle. The Nameless Pharaoh's Ka seemed to be a magician, and then he was basically blessed greatly with the power of the Egyptian Gods." Kevin took a seat once more and I listened attentively. "If the Egyptian Gods blessed him with power like that, how could he be evil? And with all that power at his disposal…"

"How could he have possibly lost?" I ended of quietly. Kevin nodded in agreement enthusiastically, but I just dropped my gaze down to stare at the table.

"He's waiting for you."

"He's been waiting so long…"

"It says that someone will come and save him."

"Save him from what?" I couldn't help but think, and I put a hand to my head and leaned on the table. He had the power of the Gods, he had a strong Ka, but he seemed to have only a dark legacy. From my dreams he had parents that loved him. He had such an innocent childhood, and he was also wise from a very young age. I saw it in him through my dream. So what happened? And then there's that deal with the dark energy that made him act violent. Could it have played some part?

Unable to think, I clenched my eyes tightly as I felt a dull throb in my brain once again. Yep. Another migraine. Just perfect. This Nameless Pharaoh's entire existence is just shrouded in so much darkness that I just didn't know what to make of it. Trying to make sense about it just made my head hurt, so how am I supposed to figure this all out? The more I knew the more questions I had.

"Hey Yugi, are you okay?"

I looked up to see Kevin shooting me a concerned gaze. Forcing a smile on my face, I nodded.

"Yeah, just a headache," I replied.

"I have some pills for that. Want one?" he asked, reaching into his bag.

"Sure."

While Kevin grabbed the pills, I stretched into my bag and pulled out my water bottle before turning back to Kevin who dropped the pills into my hand. "Thanks," I said quickly, and I popped the pills into my mouth and took a quick drink. Hopefully my head would stop feeling as if I was being hammered, and go back to normal as soon as possible.

"Guys! Come quick!"

Looking up at the entrance, we all stood and went up to Sabrina who came rushing in. Her eyes were wide with worry and fear, and she was clearly out of breath.

"What happened to you?!" Professor Arthur exclaimed, looking at her arm, and it was then when I noticed that it was bleeding. In fact, she was covered in dirt and scratches which littered her arms and legs.

"No time to explain much," she said hastily, shrugging off their questions. "The ceiling fell in. Solomon was injured quite badly!" she shouted, and it was then when something cracked in my head.

"What? Grandpa?!" I exclaimed worriedly, and she shook her head as she took gulps of water from the bottle Kevin handed to her. Giving it back to him, she took deep breaths as she spoke, hands on her waist.

"We managed to get him out from under the rocks, but he's still bleeding. He can't walk and I need you guys to help bring him out or he'll get infected. The medics are far out to get here as soon as possible, so we have to get him out ourselves."

"Then what are we waiting for?!" Kevin shouted. "Let's go!" and I nodded, agreeing.

"Professor, you stay here and call the medic. We'll be back soon!" Sabrina said, and without hesitating I ran out of the tent with them and towards the entrance of the tomb. Grabbing a hardhat from the table by the door, I quickly put it on, forcing it on my head since I didn't have a hair tie on me as I ran inside.

As soon as I stepped into the tomb and past that first door, I froze, feeling that chill against my back. I gulped fearfully, knowing that I was walking in hot waters, but it couldn't be helped. Grandpa was hurt and that was all that mattered right now. Nothing else. Breaking out into a run once more, I followed Sabrina and Kevin through the twists and turns, my hands grazing against the walls as I ran while my head swarmed me with the thought of Grandpa being injured. Luckily though we reached quickly, and I looked at Grandpa who was trying to stand with the help of Jonathan. Eyeing his legs to spot the injury, I saw that his entire left leg was bloodied.

"Grandpa!" I cried, and I rushed to his side, grabbing his other arm and slinging it over my shoulder to balance him upright.

"Yugi!" he exclaimed with a smile. "What are you doing here?"

I looked at him with an angered expression, concern taking over most of it. "What do you mean what am I do here? You're injured! How can I stay outside and not be here?!"

He chuckled. "It's not that bad…"

"Like hell it isn't!" Jonathan exclaimed, he too frustrated by my grandfather's lack of concern for himself.

"The beams… they've gotten worse," Kevin noted, and I watched as he looked up at the support with a troubled gaze. "We aren't even done with the repairs yet. It's all falling apart faster than we can fix."

"Then we should get out of here!" Sabrina shouted, and Jonathan and I began to walk slowly at first before picking up the pace. Grandpa was unable to use his entire left leg, so it was up to me and Jonathan to practically carry him out. As we walked as fast as we could back outside, I watched as Sabrina led the way and Kevin scanning around the tunnel with an anxious look on his face.

"Argh, oh, that hurts…" Grandpa moaned, and I looked at him as he cried out. "Take it slow you two," he said, and Jonathan and I tried to keep his leg from grazing on the ground.

"Yugi, I think you're the one who's keeping him unbalanced. You're too short," Jonathan joked despite the importance of the situation, and I scowled at him. Sadly though I knew it was true. Jonathan was way too tall, plus he was stronger than me, plus there was no one else my height to take over. "Kevin, take Yugi's spot, will you?" and we paused for a slight bit as Kevin and I switched spots. I stepped back, and we all moved forward again.

"We're almost out, Solomon. Just hang in there," Kevin encouraged, and I watched worriedly as blood dripped off of Grandpa pant leg, staining the floor. It felt odd, watching the blood fall on to the old path. It made goosebumps crawl up my entire body, and I didn't like the sudden feel the place took on. It started to feel dark.

I felt the familiar chill once again, and I crossed my arms and bit my lip, forcing myself to stare straight ahead. I wasn't going to turn around no matter what. I just hoped now that I'll be able to get out of here without incident. I've walked right into the ghost's home, and easily he would be able to catch me. But maybe, just maybe he might not since I'm with the group. However, they wouldn't know if I'm taken since I'm behind them all. My heart pounded against my chest, my sweat turning cold as the new thought dawned on me. This wasn't good, but Grandpa needed my help.

Looking up as the tunnel began to lighten, I grinned when I saw the entrance just up ahead. It wasn't far now. I'll make it. However, my excitement was short lived when a crack ripped through the tunnel from above. We all slowed and stared around with horror as dust particles began to fall on us from overhead. I looked around frantically, only to have my eyes widen when I saw the entrance's post fall apart. It was going to collapse!

"Run!" Kevin screamed frantically as he too spotted it, and I watched as he gripped Grandpa's waist and arm tighter before he and Jonathan ran towards the entrance quickly.

"Yugi!" Grandpa called urgently, and I tried to keep up, watching as the support slowly fell apart.

"It's going to fall," Kevin exclaimed hysterically, and Sabrina stood outside since she got there first, ushering us over quickly with a fear-stricken face.

"Hurry up!" she called, and as soon as the words left her mouth, the front came down.

"Yugi! Come on!" Jonathan screamed, and I watched as they pushed through the falling debris.

"I'm right here," I called, holding Grandpa's shoulder, and as soon as they passed the door, I felt a hand grab my arm. I was yanked away from Grandpa, and it felt as if I was watching in slow motion as the three dodged the falling stones just in time for the ceiling to plummet to the ground, consuming the entire entrance while I was frozen in place, my eyes wide with fear. My heart banged against my chest loudly, my entire body turning freezing up as I stared at the stone and dirt covered wall in front of me, and heard the hauntingly familiar voice behind me, his grip tightening around my upper arm.

"You can't leave. He's waiting."

Tada! And that is how you make a cliff hanger! xD This is a super long chapter… I just kept adding and adding and that ending came out of nowhere. Man, I shouldn't have written this three-thirty in the morning. I'm terrified! Lol!

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it. Please tell me what you think by leaving a lovely review, and I do apologise once again for this chapter. It just feels so weird. I don't hate it, but I just don't feel satisfied with it either. This chapter was so hard to write! Thankfully the next one would be easy, but hey! What do I know?! Okay, Author Notes are getting crazy long. Please tell me what you think and help me out if I missed something, which I probably did.

Review~ and thanks for reading. :)