Hey, everyone. How are you? I must admit lately I'm going through a rollercoaster of feelings and writing continues being a struggle but I didn't want to delay Chapter 11. I'm kinda running out of chapters though. Two days ago I finished 16 and it took me months to do so. Hopefully, inspiration will come back soon.
But let's not be negative. As always, I want to thank everyone who has been reading this story. Thank you! I also want to thank my dear Bakura for not only giving me her honest opinion about this chapter and every other chapter but also helping me correct any mistakes about Ancient Egypt. My dear Egyptologist, thank you! I want to also thank Julia and Kathy! You, girls, rock.
And now…Enjoy!
Chapter 11
It wasn't a long ride from the center to the neighborhood the three boys lived, or more precisely, it was almost no ride at all. They couldn't have been in the car for more than five minutes when Bakura parked his car in an alley and they all got out. From there it was a five minute walk through streets that Yuugi would never dare to walk through alone. Even sandwiched between the two taller boys, he felt strangely exposed to danger. Was this where the three boys lived? He tried not to show it, but panic was building inside him once again. Maybe he should have let someone know where he was heading to. Not that he was sure where this neighborhood was, but he could at least have told Joey with whom he was.
Well, there was no gain from crying over spilled milk. He had to trust Marik's word that he wouldn't be hurt. His word was all he had but somehow it soothed him. Or maybe it was the way the older boy has his arm around him, protectively. Bakura was checking around but there was not a soul to be seen. It was still too early for most of the denizens of that area.
When they finally stopped in front of a building, Yuugi hesitated. Not wanting to alert the other boys, he followed them in the building, even if he felt like it was going to crumble any minute now and bury them alive.
"Welcome to our place." Marik's tone was one of melancholy as he opened the door to their apartment, letting Yuugi walk in first.
Yuugi took in the few belongings of the boys and the way the objects were arranged around the place. Did they all live in that small apartment? Not wanting to offend them, he schooled his expression, managing a smile.
"Thank you."
He took off his jacket and followed Marik to the sofa. As soon as he was seated, a fluffy tabby cat jumped on him, staring deep in his eyes. "Hey, pretty." The boy smiled widely and slowly extended his hand, allowing the cat to decide if it wanted to stay or leave.
"Her name is Mana." Marik informed him, taking a seat by him. His weight caused the sofa to sag a bit and almost threw Yuugi off balance.
"The name is as beautiful as you are." Yuugi told to the cat, steading himself, and she mewed, allowing him to pet her. Soon she was rubbing herself all over him making the boy giggle.
That was the sound that greeted Atem when he opened the door of his apartment, his hands full of grocery bags. Momentarily, he froze. It couldn't be true. There was no way Yuugi was sitting on his sofa with Marik, playing with Mana. He must have somehow passed a portal to a parallel universe, because Yuugi with his thick cashmere sweater and melodious giggles didn't belong in their clammy apartment.
"Oh, good. You're back." Bakura exclaimed, coming out of the bathroom carrying a small medical supply box. "Right on time." He proceeded to examine a small wound that upon closer inspection looked suspiciously like a deep bite. "He's worse than your cat." Bakura informed him pointing towards Yuugi's direction as he started cleaning the wound.
"You bit him?" Atem asked, incredulous, looking at the other tricolor haired boy who simply shrugged. The crimson eyed boy had so many questions, but decided to start with the most urgent. "No offense but what are you even doing here?
"I think I'm finally about to find out." The boy's voice was calm but distant. Seeing Atem again reminded him of the way the other boy had acted the previous night. "It must be serious enough if he was willing to kidnap me." He narrowed his eyes to Bakura who growled. "Don't growl at me, Fluffy. I'm still sour about it."
Marik started snickering. "Fluffy! Oh, that's a good one!" He banged his fists on the coffee table, laughing. "Fluffy, he says!" Bakura snarled at him, but Marik couldn't stop laughing. "We must keep him. He's so amusing!"
The younger tricolor haired boy couldn't believe that those boys may have wanted to hurt him. How could an evil person laugh so freely and with such mirth? And they even had a cat named Mana who was well-fed and quite friendly. Mana who was currently curled on his lap deciding if she should take a nap or not, rubbed her head on his stomach, giving him strength. No, they couldn't be that bad. He knew it deep in his heart and he usually trusted his heart.
In the meantime, Atem let the grocery bags on the counter and turned to Bakura, finally putting two and two together. "He means it when he says you tried to kidnap him, doesn't he? It's not figurative speaking!" He groaned. "Bakura, what were you thinking?" Could one's mind rotten from overworking it?
"You two were pussy-walking around him, trying to be friends with him and shit instead of straightforward addressing the issue. So, I decided to do things my way." The white haired boy was unapologetic.
Immediately, Yuugi straightened his back, Bakura's words hitting him in a spot he didn't want to reveal to the others. "Will you finally tell me what you want?!" he demanded, his voice stern. "I'm tired of this game. Quite honestly, I'd have preferred it if you had straightforward approached me and told me whatever you want to tell me instead of pretending you wanted to be my friends." A thought occurred to him then that made him clutch the couch for support. "Was our meeting in that bus a coincidence or did you arrange it to happen?" His eyes found those of Atem, suddenly feeling paranoid.
Atem rushed to reassure him, not surprised that the boy had come to that conclusion based on what he had experienced so far. "I'd never seen you in my life before that day. Those two had seen you around the campus some weeks ago but had no idea who you were until we met and I talked to them about you." His voice was sincere and Yuugi chose to believe him. He visibly relaxed much to the crimson eyed boy's gladness.
Openly confronting the boy wasn't something Atem had planned to do but Bakura had forced his hand. "It's your family name that interests us. I believe you don't know much about what we want or maybe even nothing at all, but your grandfather and brother do. We need to know if your family is a threat to us." Reluctantly, he admitted.
The amethyst eyed boy stared at each of the boy for some moments trying to understand if this was some kind of prank. It didn't seem likely but the alternative was so much scarier. If they were serious, Yuugi would have to admit the boys were insane, and that was something he didn't want to do. Were they crazy enough to attack him if he refused to play along?
"What exactly do you think my family knows that may be a threat to you?" he asked, carefully, trying to school his expression in such a way that would show them he was actually considering what they said.
Atem was still reluctant about bringing Yuugi into this. If the boy knew nothing they would unnecessarily expose him to danger. Not to mention he would think they were totally insane. What if he told people about them? And Bakura had tried to abduct him, for Ra's sake. Even in the impossible scenario that the boy didn't tell anyone else, he would talk to his family. Then, they would come after them. It was a mess no matter which way he saw it.
"Yuugi, we mean no harm to you, or your family." The crimson eyed boy started. "We merely want to live peacefully. But there are some family secrets that haunt us." What happened to him counted as a family secret, right? "If your grandpa has discovered something and has shared it with your brother, we need to know." His voice was soft; his magnetizing eyes hypnotizing the boy.
He felt the power radiating through him and slowly reach the boy, curling around his figure and embracing him like a long lost lover. As the indistinguishable smoke trails touched the boy, Atem felt electricity run through him. He was so surprised that he almost broke the link, pulling back. He had no idea what was happening. He knew he hadn't decided to use his powers on the boy. His powers didn't even work as a manipulation tool for all he knew. But as they extended to reach the boy, Atem felt he had some kind of power over Yuugi.
The younger tricolor haired boy felt his body relax. It felt as if he was wrapped in a warm blanket, and all he wanted to do was close his eyes and sleep. As the urge became stronger, he felt a featherlike touch which grounded him to reality. Focusing on the touch, he fought against this wave of relaxation and broke eye contact with Atem. Immediately, he felt more alert. Shaking his head to clear his mind, he tried to focus on Marik who was talking to him. He noticed that Marik had his hand on his shoulder; he hadn't even felt him moving.
"Yuugi," Marik repeated himself seeing that he finally had the boy's attention, "listen to me. Our families are of Egyptian origins one way or another. There are secrets that were revealed to us when we turned sixteen and probably have to do with what your grandfather is studying. Our families go back to the ancient pharaohs and there are things that were inherited to us and we are not allowed to talk about. We are expected to make good use of our heritage and finish what our ancestors couldn't finish but in all actuality we simply want to live our lives. "
Atem was impressed by the way Marik summarized their situation without telling Yuugi about their ancient past or their powers but also without actually lying either. Their past selves could be considered their ancestors in a way and their powers their heritage so he was as close to the truth as he could be.
Yuugi's mind was on fire as it proceeded the information he got. Marik had finally given him something to work with. He thought back to Atem's visit and what they had discussed since probably that's where he would find the key to what had made the boys believe he or his family knew something about them. Suddenly, he remembered how Joey had brought up the story of Atemu. His lips shaped the name, not actually saying it, but Atem's shiver was confirmation enough. This had to do with the story of the forgotten pharaoh. He remembered how Atem had reacted when he had recited what he knew about Atemu. Now he wondered if the story was something personal to him.
There was no evidence Atemu was wed or had a child to continue his line since someone in the past had deliberately erased everything, but what if the line had been continued? What if Atem's family was related to the ancient pharaoh? There were clans in Egypt that went back all the way to ancient Egypt, trying to keep the old ways. Could the boys be related to those clans? Could he have in front of him the answers to a million questions that bothered both his grandfather and him?
"My grandfather is a good man. He has dedicated his life to archaeology, trying to reveal to the world the ancient past. He's always said that we can learn so many things from the past." Yuugi's voice was soft as he spoke about his grandpa. "He retired for a while but as you probably know he's been in a lot of excavations because he's considered one of the best in what he does. Lately, he's been more active in the community, even taking part in some small excavations. For him, his work is his life and that's why he never really stopped working even while running the game shop. His main focus is Egyptology. He's especially interesting in the New Kingdom and its origins." At the mention of the New Kingdom, he felt Marik stir by his side. "He was always unsatisfied by the half-truths found in the books that claimed Seth alone had brought the rise of the Egyptian Empire so he spent years holed up in different university libraries, searching for things that had been overlooked." Now he was sure he had their full attention. Bakura's eyes had narrowed when he named Pharaoh Seth. "He's spent hours upon hours conversing with the curators of the biggest museums both in Japan and Egypt while also taking part in different excavations." Even though he could feel everyone's eyes on him, Yuugi couldn't help but stop for a moment, thinking of his grandpa as a young man going around the world trying to put all the information he had gathered together in the hopes he would see more than what others saw. "He knew that Aknamkanon was pharaoh before Seth and that he had a son who was also pharaoh for a while, but what happened before Seth's reign is a blank space in history. The most mysterious thing is that most people don't even seem to question this gap. They don't seem to care that Seth wasn't supposed to be the real Pharaoh."
While Yuugi was talking, Atem could feel his heart beat fast. Neither Solomon nor Yuugi were supposed to wonder about that gap in history. What he heard only reinforced his belief that Solomon knew too much. They would have to leave. Maybe even start packing that night. Yuugi would talk to his grandfather and brother as soon as he left their place so they wouldn't get much of a head start.
"Did he find anything?" Bakura pressed, refusing to allow the boy's intriguing tale to bewitch him. Even though he could see the spark of life in the boy's eyes and his words were artful and sincere, he wanted to know the truth and be done with his moody roommate's threat of moving.
It wasn't lost to the white haired boy that Atem had been acting weird the whole time. He had felt the crimson eyed boy's magic working its way to Yuugi and for a moment he was sure that the boy had felt it too. Marik's touch seemed to have broken the spell, leaving the white haired boy wondering why Marik's magic didn't work on Yuugi if Atem's did. Hearing the names of the long gone pharaohs had brought a nervousness to his roommate and Bakura would bet his precious laptop that Atem was already planning their escape plan. He, on the other hand, wasn't ready to leave that place just because some old man was a bit more curious than he should.
Up to that point, Yuugi hadn't told them anything that they couldn't find out by asking Solomon's colleagues or read on the internet. Solomon Mutou had written some articles about the New Kingdom, focusing on Seth's reign, often hinting on the lack of information on how he got the throne. The official explanation that his cousin had stepped down because of a disaster didn't seem to satisfy him. However, those were just hints. Openly, he never spoke or written about Atemu. The amethyst eyed boy knew well that he wasn't giving them much to work with and so even though Bakura pushed him for more, he took his time to answer the boy's question.
"I believe he did. I wasn't even born back then so I don't know the specifics. What I'm telling you is what I've heard from my parents or my grandfather himself." Once he started talking again, it was as if the words were coming to him so quickly that he had to rush to make sure they would come out. "He discovered a tomb located in the Valley of the Kings. It's a well-known fact and it skyrocketed his fame as an archaeologist. The tomb was unsealed and that's where the mysteries started. Great wonders were found in the tomb but on every single item something was missing. The pots, jewels and personal objects the dead was supposed to bring with him bear no name. The sarcophagus was closed but inside there was nothing. Nothing was written on the walls but ancient spells of protection. There was no book of the dead, no papyri around to help the team of archaeologists my grandfather had gathered place this tomb to its right time or guess who the person buried it in used to be. The only thing they could tell was that this someone used to be a king. There was no Book of The Dead and everything inside was of great beauty. Golden jewels and rubies could be found everywhere." Yuugi petted Mana, trying to calm his beating heart as he thought of the excitement of such a discovery and mystery.
"The university wasn't disappointed by the discovery. The relics in it were precious, no doubt. But the most curious thing was my grandfather's behavior. It's true that his discovery wouldn't lead him any closer to the truth he sought, but he had discovered a great mystery. Still, instead of continuing his work, he took a long break from his excavation trips and his research and moved with my grandma to Europe for two whole years. Vacationing he called it."
The boy stopped, his heart beating even faster. Why was he telling them all these? There was no guarantee that they were indeed related to the old pharaoh. But if they were, they should know all these things. It was probably his grandpa's discovery that made them believe he was dangerous to them. But that was years ago. How could they know…?
Yuugi's amethyst eyes found those of Atem, sitting across the room from him, surprised that the older boy didn't look away. Instead, he met Yuugi's questioning look straight on, knowing what kind of thoughts were swirling in his mind. Quite honestly, Atem was surprised that Yuugi had even agreed to talk to them. He didn't know if Bakura's plan had anything to do with it, but being straightforward with him seemed to work with Yuugi. He would continue being straightforward, hoping that he would get all the answers he needed. Already in his mind, he had a half finished escape plan.
"No matter what you tell us, we won't hurt you or your family." He promised, his voice full of power. "We are not criminals, contrary to how some of us behave." His remark was supposed to sting Bakura but he knew well enough that the white haired boy would feel no remorse for his actions, especially since they had bear fruit. Still, he felt the need to reassure the younger boy.
"If you deem what I tell you important enough to consider my family a threat, what will you do?"
Yuugi prepared himself for a lie. He prepared himself for the truth. He would listen what they had to say and decide. They didn't seem like criminals and he felt kind of safe by their side, but his first priority was his family. He hadn't seen any of them as a real danger up to that point but a primal instinct inside him told him that they could be dangerous. However, if he had to face this danger to make sure his family was safe, he would do it.
He felt a strange sensation starting from his toes and moving all the way to his hands surround him like a second skin. His amethyst eyes flashed for a brief moment and he was sure the air buzzed with energy. His fingers tingled and his stomach tighten. The sensation was both foreign and familiar and he struggled to remember when he had felt it before. He almost missed Atem's reply as his mind was preoccupied.
"We'll gather up and leave."
Yuugi couldn't stop the gasp that escaped him. The sensation was gone as fast as it had appeared, but he didn't care. He couldn't believe what Atem had said. Even worse, he couldn't believe how his heart clenched in pain at the thought of them leaving. He didn't really know Bakura, but Atem and Marik? Even in the confusing haze of all they had told him, he still hoped they could be his friends. He wasn't sure how, but something deep inside him told him these people belonged in his life. Was he wrong once again?
Marik felt the boy's shock and pain and was instantly pleased. Yuugi didn't want them gone. And quite honestly, he didn't want to go either. So, he took the boy's hand in his own. He could swear for a moment that electricity ran through him, energizing every part of his body, but he dismissed the thought. It was a difficult moment and his mind was clouded. Maybe it was even some residue from the exchange he had earlier with Atem. He was relieved to see the boy didn't pull his hand away; a relief that his crimson eyed friend didn't share.
"I don't wish to leave." Marik whispered with sincerity. "None of us do. We've done it before and it's not pleasant, Yuugi." Despair filled him. Every time they moved, they lost a little bit of hope. Would there be a day they wouldn't have to run?
"Do you now understand how frustrating it is for us to stand here while you tiptoe around the subject?" Bakura's growl was less menacing than he wanted it to be. He didn't know why, but he didn't wish to hurt the boy. He was somehow growing on him, and he didn't like it. "Not only the events of thousands of years ago influence our lives and our decisions but your meddling family does too. He found a tomb. The tomb was empty. He left to Europe. Why do you think he left if not for vacations?"
Yuugi felt himself snapping out of the shock. Bakura's words, aiming to hurt or anger him, gave him the answer he expected to hear. All three of them were desperate. They would never admit it, but they were. And finally Yuugi knew what he had to do.
"I believe my grandfather worked for someone other than the university when he discovered that tomb. I believe he discovered something more than what he showed the authorities and the university, and his trip to Europe was the perfect excuse to study what he found away from the questioning eyes here in Japan or back in Egypt. I am almost certain that my grandfather found a new focus the day he discovered that tomb." He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, knowing that what he would say next would change life as he knew it; knowing that what he would say next was something he wasn't even supposed to know about. "What do you know about the Millennium Items?"
What's with all this magic? Atem, darling, what are you trying to do to Yuugi? Marik, the protector comes to Yuugi's rescue one more time. But does Yuugi need saving? What do you think of Bakura's new nickname? Fluffy? I have been trying hard not to call my Bakura that or she may bite me xD "What do you know about the Millennium Items?" Wow. I wonder…
See you soon!