AN:
Jenniyah: the couples will be clear later. This is going to be Yaoi. Yuri possibly, but only if people ask for it, mainly this is a yahoo story.
Ruby light: You are right, the religions, times and general cultures are all mashed up here. This is not really a real setting so don't be surprised if in the future you will have bits of ancient Egypt mixed with bits of old Europe and bits of modern America, I make it all possible, lol. But I try not to make it too obvious.
Priestess of Set: no, there is no incest between Mokuba and Seth, the kiss that I mentioned was part of the ceremony. I used the Alexandrian Wicca model for the ritual, and there on many occasions the High Priest would kiss the High Priestess. As it was, Mokuba was taking the role of High Priestess, so he would have gotten a kiss from Seth, but there is nothing between them.
By the way, in this fic, Seth and Mokuba are Duke's cousins.
Chapter 2
Seth's horse raced like the wind if not even faster. Everything seemed a motion blur and the wind seemed to whistle past Serenity's ears as they rode. The girl's eyes were open wide in shock, she has never rode so fast in her life, for that matter, she has never been on a horse in her life.
And now, she was on a horse, with a strange man that said he wanted to kill her, away from her only home and away from the people whom she knew all her life and who didn't want her any more.
If she wasn't in so much shock from all that happened she would have cried now, but as it was, she was too scared to do even that. It was almost overwhelming, the speed at which all events took place, just a few days ago, everything was fine, then all of a sudden she found herself locked up in a room even though she never went out anyways, all the commotion with the village, and then they accused her of witchcraft.
Goodness, Serenity didn't even properly know what witchcraft was! This was all so confusing, this wasn't right, she has never done anyone any wrong! And this man, why was he in such a hurry, was there some rush to kill her, it seemed like he wanted to outrun time itself.
The girl whimpered loudly as the horse leapt over something on the road. The sudden tug made the ropes cut into her feet and her wrists, she would have cried out on the impact but it came out as a muffled whimper because she was still gagged. Her body was so stiff with fear and tears were threatening to spill from her eyes, whether it was from the wind or from pain, she wasn't sure.
As soon as the girl was firmly seated in his lap Seth wanted to be out of the village. He wanted to get himself and this child away from those people and he wanted to get away from the silent bitter tears of her brother. He hasn't seen such pure hate in a long time; that kid must really love his sister, as much as he himself loved his brother, Gods, he didn't want to do this to the boy.
The tiny girl in his arms was still whimpering quietly even thought they were on the road for over an hour now, they were well away from the village and Seth was sure that even if someone for whatever unthinkable reason decided to follow them, they would not catch them now. It was safe to slow down and he was afraid that if he didn't his horse would not live much longer.
The horse slowed down and Seth had to catch Serenity, she almost fell right of.
Serenity whimpered as she felt the beast from hell slow down, she was relieved only for a moment, but the next moment she was scared again as the memories of all the stories about the ferociousness of wolves came to her mind. She started to struggle again thinking that the man will tie her down and leave her for the wolves, but in the next few minutes she felt the binds around her feet and her wrists come off and the gag was pulled out of her mouth.
"No! Please, don't give me to the wolves! Please don't!" those were the first words to come out of her mouth as she covered her face with her hands and started to cry.
Finally Seth could get a better look at her, he thought that she was at least a young woman out there, she seemed tall and rather well formed, but now when he got a second look there was no mistake, she was still a child.
"Serenity, how old are you?" he tried to make his voice sound as gentle as he could, he was dealing with a scared child here and he knew from experience that if he yelled at her he would not get a straight answer from her.
"E-eleven, I was supposed to be twelve next month?" she hiccupped and rubbed her eyes.
For a moment a pair of icy blue slits widened, she was only eleven?!!! This was nearly impossible to believe, she looked older then that, after all, the last time he checked girls didn't start growing breasts at eleven. She was a little too well formed for her age, well, at least for this part of the world, where he came from, girls matured earlier then they did here.
"What do you mean you were supposed to be twelve next month, aren't you still supposed to be twelve?" he asked with some amusement in his voice.
"I was supposed to, because you are going to kill me, so I'm not going to be twelve." and then she started crying again, more desperately this time.
"Stop crying, you are safe for now. Were you not listening, it's holiday season, no sacrifices made during holiday season. I will protect your life for now because you remind me of someone, but don't become more trouble then you are worth."
Serenity nodded, she certainly could not protect herself and he said that he would not kill her for now. She sighed, she didn't know this man, she didn't know if she could trust this man, even if he didn't want to kill her, who was to say that he would not just leave her somewhere alone, for her, that was just as good as death and she saw no reason why he would keep her alive.
He said it was holiday season, so what would happened after, would he kill her then? She didn't want to think about what would happened after, for now he said that she would live and she had to trust him because there was no better alternative. And his arms did feel safe and protective, maybe by that time he would change his mind about killing her, if she was nice enough to him.
Something in serenity didn't believe that she was in danger, the way he said that she would live for now made her believe him. He was her best bet at life right now, if he had left her in the village they would have burnt her, as she saw it, he had already prolonged her life and maybe if she stayed with him he would help her stay alive again.
The horse started moving again, slower this time, but still quite fast, it was already late afternoon, they should be in Taer by sundown.
Seth had a lot to think about as he rode, it was hard enough to take care of his little brother the way they were, moving around all the time, and it was two grown men taking care of one kid who was very mature for his age.
Mokuba was a boy, and even though he was only ten, Mokuba could usually take care of himself and it was still hard to be on the move with him. This was a girl, a girl who was not nearly as mature as Mokuba was, that is not speaking physically and a girl who could not see, she could not take care of herself at all. Traveling with both of them would become nearly impossible.
Seth sighed, he could not figure out for the life of him how to deal with this.
He glanced up, it was already getting late in the afternoon, the sun was low over the horizon, he never noticed how he slowed down, he was so deep in thought about this girl and how his own life could change now because of her. Looking down at the said little nuisance, she was fast asleep leaning against him. Seth sighed for the hundredth time during that trip, it was one thing deciding that he wanted to keep her; it was a different thing deciding what he would do with her.
He rode into the city later then he had expected. The sun was already down and he knew that Mokuba and Duke would be worried about him by now. He wrapped little Serenity into his black cloak keeping her warm and out of sight of people. He didn't want there to be rumors in the city about her. Seth might have been welcomed here well as a traveling priest, but one could never be too cautious.
Duke was waiting at the window for Seth to return. It has been a while and is cousin was usually punctual, what was keeping him? He said that he would be back before sundown. Mokuba, his other cousin was sitting in a soft comfortable chair looking bored even though Duke knew better, the kid always worried about his older brother.
"Hey, Mokuba, you want something to eat, you barely had anything for dinner, it's not good for you."
"Na, I want to wait for Seth to come back so we can eat together."
"Well, I think that we should eat, who knows, maybe he got held up, he left rather quickly yesterday." Duke was just trying to strike a conversation, he himself wasn't that hungry. He didn't like his cousin going out like that on his own, not that Seth couldn't take care of himself, but no matter how well one man could take care of himself, he could not defend himself against a crowd. Duke was hoping that everything was ok.
He has gone so deep into thought that he never noticed Mokuba stand up and walk to the window, that is until he heard Mokuba shout and tug at his gold clad arm.
"Big brother is home!" green eyes refocused on the rode and surely, there was Seth looking tired and worried, by the looks of it something didn't go right. Getting more worried Duke proceeded to meet his cousin.
"Mokuba, stay here."
"But."
"I said stay here, don't question me!" his tone was a little harsh, but his nerves were on edge, he has been worried forever. Putting on a perfectly calm expression he walked towards the front door and outside to meet Seth and see what is the bundle that suspiciously looked like a person in his arms was.
"Duke." Seth greeted seriously and his younger cousin frowned a little.
Unwrapping the cloak from around Serenity Seth shook her awake. The girl's face twisted in discomfort for a minute and then her eyes opened. It was dark and she could not see at all, save for the vague lights coming from lanterns and fires.
"Jou? What's wrong?" her confuse voice was sleepy and she was disoriented. She looked so cute like that, if it wasn't for the fear in her eyes when she remembered where she was and what happened to her earlier. "Seth?!" now her voice was alarmed and she was fully awake once again.
"Relax Serenity; we've arrived at my temporary home. Meet Duke, my younger cousin. Duke, this is Serenity."
One slender black eyebrow rose inquiringly. "Seth, I believe you have some explaining to do." Duke's smooth voice still carried that same accent that he shared with Seth and Mokuba and that Serenity found alarmingly alien.
"Yes, and I will explain everything once we are inside, now would you please introduce Serenity to Mokuba and take her inside."
Duke nodded and Seth could read the concern clear on his face. "Aren't you coming in?" asked Duke as he approached him and got a better look at the girl. She was pretty, like an angel, brown hair, golden eyes, petite frame, but she was a child, Duke who was a little more familiar with women then Seth was could not have mistaken her for a woman, she was still very much a kid.
"I will soon, I have to tell the villagers that we will not be staying for the celebrations." As the look of worry on Duke's face intensified the look on Seth's face clearly read 'Don't question me'
"Whatever you say, you are the boss." He was not only worried, he was also very confused, but he was guessing that it had something to do with the girl, speaking of which, she looked like she was about to panic, she was clinging to Seth as if he was a lifeline. That in itself was a unique sight; usually children were afraid of Seth.
Seth untangled Serenity's hands from his shirt and lowered her onto the ground. "I will be back soon; Duke will take care of you for now." Seth could not figure out why this girl would cling to him, she gave her more reason to fear and hate him then anyone else did. And he only said that he would not kill her for now, was she so scared of everything in general that she would want to stay near a man who took her from her family and threatened her life if only for the little bit of temporarily protection that he provided?
"Well, c'mon there flower, let's get you inside, it's cold out here!" Duke made his voice sound cheery even though it was obvious that it was fake cheerfulness, not even Serenity was falling for the fakeness of his happiness and instead of making her feel at ease he made her even more nervous.
Even thought, Serenity made an attempt to follow in the direction of the voice, but after two unsure and tiny steps she stopped staring at the ground and looking generally lost. Duke stared at her confused.
"What's wrong?" hearing his voice she made a few more steps towards him but stopped not quite reaching him, outstretching her hands before her she tried to feel around in front of her. Only then it dawned on Duke what was wrong with her and why Seth seemed so concerned, not only they had another child on their hands, not only it was a girl and they were two men, that in itself didn't look good, but also she was blind.
"Here." He said softly and gave her his hand which she clutched onto for support and assurance. "C'mon." he picked her up easily in his arms and giving Seth one last worried look carried her of inside.
Serenity was feeling more and more panicked with every minute. She could feel the discomfort of this new man, she could feel the fakeness in his seemingly cheerful voice, and there was something wrong here. She didn't want to be with him, she didn't like being in his arms, she felt like she wasn't wanted, awkward, an unwanted, unexpected bother that was as confusing for him as it was for her.
She wanted to be back with Seth, she has grown accustomed to his strong protective arms around her. He held her with no reluctance, he was confident and she felt more secure with him. There was no hesitation to his actions, and when he said that he would protect her for now, somehow she was sure that he would protect her for now. She wanted to be back with him and not Duke.
"Hey, cheer up, you look so sad. I don't know who you are but you came with my brother so I guess its ok that you are here." Serenity heard yet another voice and it startled her. She could tell that this one belonged to someone younger, perhaps her own age, or close to her age. He too had that same foreign sound to his voice when he spoke, but he seemed more sincere then Duke was, at least his cheerfulness was not forced.
"I'm Serenity." She offered him a small smile.
"I'm Mokuba, Seth's little brother." He grinned and jumped of the chair taking both her hands and completely ignoring the fact that he could see she was blind. "C'mon, you must be hungry, I have lots of food saved up, we haven't eaten yet, we were just waiting for my brother to get back, but it looks like he'll be busy, as usual, so we'll eat first!"
Serenity stumbled after him not trusting her feet and her eyes in this unfamiliar place, but Mokuba despite his excitement seemed careful to steer her clear of any obstacles and within minutes she trusted his guidance to tell her where she could and could not step safely.
Duke watched the girl and Mokuba, this was kind of nice, she seemed to warm up to Mokuba right away, but then again, almost everyone did and they were both children. It seemed like Mokuba was exited, he seemed lonely very often, someone close to his age was nice in the house, keep him company. He watched the kids eat, they were a fun to watch couple, Mokuba insisted that Serenity try everything because it didn't seem like she ever tried most of the foods that Mokuba was accustomed to eating and he seemed delighted to make sure and change that.
After about an hour of eating, talking and laughing the two seemed to finally get tired. They both had a long day and both Mokuba and Serenity have gone through a lot of emotional strain lately.
"Well, that would be about enough fooling around from you two, tomorrow is another day so off to bed with you!" Serenity has very successfully forgotten that Duke was even there, but now that he spoke, there was no fakeness in his voice, he seemed to have successfully forgotten his worries watching them play.
She smiled, he sounded much more pleasant when he was really happy.
"Duke, can Serenity sleep in my room until she has her own?!"
Duke laughed, it didn't seem like Mokuba was ever going to sleep.
"Sure kid, just make sure you go to sleep tonight, I don't want you playing all night. If you have no mercy for your own tired self, at least remember that she must be tired too."
"OK!" he yelled as he dragged Serenity of after him, she was now fully trusting him to lead her safely around the unfamiliar place and he seemed quite good at it too.
Duke followed rolling his eyes at his little cousin's antics, he could be such a hyper kid sometimes, it was a wonder where he got all his energy.
After more laughing, playing and a near pillow-fight both Serenity and Mokuba were fast asleep among the numerous pillows and silk sheets on Mukuba's wide bed. It really was too big for one kid and they looked cute curled up in a small ball. Serenity looked like she was in heaven, she must've been so tired, and honestly Duke didn't think that she ever even slept in a bed this soft before.
Putting out the candle Duke left the room and went to wait for Seth to return and tell him what the deal with this little angel was. Luckily he didn't have to wait long, he walked in after half an hour and after they have ate their supper he proceeded to tell Serenity's story.
"So, now you see, there is no way we can continue traveling with her on our hands too. And there was nothing here but trouble, I think it's time to go home anyways, we've seen enough. If we leave tomorrow, we will make it for the ship that is leaving in a few days. If we are late, then we have to wait a month for another ship."
"We don't have to go by ship; we could just go by land."
"We could, but traveling by land while dragging two children with us, one of which is disabled is that much harder then traveling by water. It's easier for us to look after her on the ship, she technically doesn't have to go anywhere, and she can just stay in the room. Some fresh ocean air is good for us. Besides, it'd take forever on land."
"So, then we are going to Mikan, the port city."
"Yeah, I heard there is a merchant ship that will be leaving soon"
"Well, in that case I'm not getting much sleep tonight; I presume you want to leave in the morning."
"Yes, so let's start packing."
Duke groaned, this was going to be one long night, and tomorrow would be an even longer day, but the idea of finally returning home, after nearly a year of traveling seemed so sweet. Had it only been a year? It seemed like forever now, how he missed his home, the shifting sands, the life giving Nile, it was like a dear memory now, and he'd love to finally go back.
Duke was happy that it was still holiday season, maybe Seth would find something to do with the girl, because so far, she was nothing but trouble and even if Seth would not normally kill a child, he might leave her behind. For her that would certainly mean death too. Either way, Duke assumed that Seth will decide on their way to Mikan, if she was coming with them he would take her on the ship, if not, the port city would be as good a place to get rid of her as any.
Jou's horse went non stop. The sun rose and the forest became lighter. After a few hours of running the horse slowed down and started a slow but steady walk towards the town of Taer.
Jou was still miraculously on the horse's back. How he managed to stay on unconscious with the horse galloping like that was a mystery, but there he was, still unconscious on the road to the town. He was about three quarters of the way there when the sun rose. As the morning progressed the horse continued her steady pace towards Jou's destination, but the boy was not aware of that, he was barely even alive any more.
Some people who have been to the Esbat two nights before gathered to bid the High Priest farewell. It was a shock to everyone that he would not be staying for the celebrations tonight, but there was nothing to be done, the Priest made it clear that something happened very urgent and that he needed to leave right away.
It was sunrise and Seth was pleased that not everyone that was there that night came to see him off, that would have been more of a crowd then he wished. These people stayed up later at night then people did in Christian communities, therefore they slept in later in the mourning. They were off on the road when the sun was fully in the sky, and as it seemed no one had even seen Serenity, she was hidden in the wagon all along.
Seth figured that it would not be very good if the people saw two men leave suddenly with a little girl, he didn't want rumors, after all, rumors like that could make someone follow them and then cause trouble. The kid was already enough trouble it seemed. Also, he used to have three horses, now he only had two, with only two horses and four people it would take longer, more weight meant more work for the horses which in turn meant they would need to rest longer.
Now the Priest was gone from the town and the people who came to whish him farewell were all going to their respective homes. One such woman lived not in town, but along the road outside of town. She came quite a long way to see the young man off; she was rather impressed by his ability to organize and his stronghold on people. After all, every leader, including a religious leader had to be able to keep people under some kind of order.
Now this old woman was slowly making her way back home, she could not walk fast and it was taking her quite a long time. By the time she had finally made it, it was almost noon. She walked up to her neat little house and looked at the plants growing in front of it tenderly, her herbs needed watering. She lived alone and all the work that needed to be done was done by her, no one to help her, no one to take care of her when she would get too old to take care of herself.
The old woman's only son has died a long time, killed in the forest by the wolves, ever since then she lived alone, her husband left and never came back when their son was only a baby and she had no one else left. She sighed thinking about these sad things, how she wished and prayed that the Gods would send her someone to support her when she was too old.
Picking up the bucket she slowly strode outside to water her herbs only to find a horse nibbling at her precious plants. She was almost about to shout and chase the stray animal away when she realized that it was a horse and that there was a person slung over it. Dropping the bucket she rushed towards the horse who warily stepped away from the woman.
"Now, c'mon, be a good girl, stay still for me." she tried talking to the horse gently as she approached. Panicking, the animal reared throwing Jou off with a thump and jumped away a few paces, but not too far, she was a well trained animal and would not leave without her rider.
Gasping the old woman rushed to Jou's help and after some struggling managed to drag him inside. He was far too heavy for her to lift, but somehow she managed to put him on the bed.
She looked over him evaluating his injuries, as it seemed he had many injuries from before, the ones that are half healed, old bruises and cuts. Also, it seemed that he had quite a few new injuries, by the looks of things, this boy has been beaten and more then once.
She shook her head as she busied herself preparing remedies to ease his pain. He must be a runaway, ran away from whoever was abusing him, maybe he didn't have anywhere to go, maybe, if she took care of him now, he would even stay with her and be like a son to her. Oh how she wished that, maybe the Gods have at last answered her prayers and sent someone to be there for her when she got old and weak.
She was smiling as she took care of Jou, like a mother would, she washed his wounds, bandaged him. She put healing ointment on his cuts, and when he would occasionally awake for short periods of time, she would give him tea to bring down his fever.
He never seemed to be awake for longer then a few minutes and then when he was, he would be delusional, he kept saying something about having to save someone. Poor boy, thought the woman as once again that day he fell unconscious.
When afternoon came his fever broke and he slept not waking for the rest of the day and night. She herself barely went to sleep watching over him, making sure that he was not in pain and sleeping well.
Morning came and she prepared breakfast, she knew that he would be awake soon and probably hungry. His horse came back yesterday and was now tied to a stake grazing happily outside her house. She recognized this horse, it was definitely one of the priest's horses, but she doubted that the boy would be able to ever take the horse from the Priest; it must've been given to him. Whoever he was, he must have something to do with the Priest's visit to Saniks.
Just as she was going to go check if the eggs were ready she heard a knock on the door. Now that was strange, no one ever came to visit her. Glancing at the still sleeping blonde she frowned, if this was his pursuer, she would not give the boy up.
"Who's that?" she asked opening the window instead of the door. It was high of the ground and she was pretty safe, she trusted herself to be quick to close it in time if whoever it was had less then friendly intentions.
"Oh, hello there grandma!" there was a young man standing outside her door. He had long snow white hair and red eyes. Seeing him the old woman smiled, she has seen him in Taer before, he surely was not after the young boy that she had given shelter to.
"Hello there son, can I help you?"
"Sure grandma, that your horse out there?" he pointed at the beauty that was happily devouring grass not far away.
"For now it be mine, an old friend left her here for me to watch, she a beauty, isn't she?"
"Sure is, say, how much would you want to sell her?"
The old woman frowned, she could use some coin, but it was not her property to sell, what would the young man say when he awoke and his horse was gone.
"Sorry lad, not my horse to sell."
"Well then, what about the owner, who's your friend grandma, would he sell her to me, I'll pay a lot for such a beast."
"He's not here; come back in a few days and maybe then she'll be yours."
The man smiled, but there was something unfriendly about his smile as he turned around and walked of seemingly angry.
From the inside the woman heard a moan and turned around to see the young boy wake up.
"Ahhh, you awake now lad, has been a while." She smiled at his confused expression.
"A while?! How long?! I have to go!" he sat up straight and hissed in pain. His body was aching too much for him to even move. Jou fell back down on the bed breathing heavily and beds of sweat forming on his brow line.
"Now, you will not be going anywhere for a while lad, you are much too hurt to move. Here, have some breakfast." She smiled as she fed him delicious food.
Despite his protests, Jou was made to stay in bed for the whole day and the next night. He was loosing hope of ever saving Serenity, but the woman was right, he had to be able to stand up to save her. It took another day for him to be able to walk, but as soon as he could, he was out of there headed for the town. The old woman looked at the dust left by the horse as her hopes left without ever looking back; he never even thought back to her, he was only thinking about someone out there, way ahead of him.
Sighing she went back to sit down, she had poured her heart into taking care of him, she had poured her soul into the prayer she said for him constantly, she was so tired and now he was not here for her to lean again. She sat down and for the longest time she stared ahead of her, he never even looked back.
Jou galloped towards the city with only one thought in mind, catch up, save his sister, but as he went, there seemed to be no hope of ever getting there in time. The dread was rising in his heart as he burst into the city. He talked to people, asked around, yet no one heard of a girl.
"The priest has left a few days ago, he should be on the ship heading for his homeland now, but maybe not, never know, if you hurry, might catch up to him yet, what business do you have with him lad?"
"A girl, I saw no girl with him, him, his cousin, his brother, no girl there."
Jou raced out of the city like the wind not staying a moment longer headed for Mikan, the port where Seth supposedly was heading. He was going to catch him and demand his sister back. But even though that was what Jou told himself, he knew that he has been too late, way too late. He gathered that the priest lied about the celebrations, if the holiday was so important for him to not kill on, wouldn't have he at least stayed to celebrate it?! No, he only wanted to be able to take Serenity with him, be alone with her, in the forest and then dump her there for the wolves to eat when he was done with her. Why?! She was just a child, that sick pervert! Jou thought that he must've taken her innocence together with her life and the more he thought, the more his hate intensified, the more he urged his horse to go faster. He had not slept that night, he paced nearly all night just waiting till the animal was rested enough to get up and carry him further.
Morning came and Jou was on the road once again, speeding faster then probably time itself, or so it seemed. He arrived in Mikan in half the time it usually takes to get there from Taer, and in a third of the time it took Seth to get there. When he stumbled among the people, tired, hurt and hungry, he had gotten the news that he has been too late.
Jou collapsed exhausted and heartbroken near some inn. He was crying again and his only company was his horse, and even the loyal beast reminded him of the cursed Priest.
"Hey there lad, come here, you don't look good sitting in front of my inn balling your eyes out. Come inside, eat, rest, then tell me your trouble, who knows, maybe I can help you."
Jou looked up, there in the door stood a young woman dressed in a nice dress, but she wore an apron, it seemed she worked in the inn and by the looks of it, it was an expensive inn.
"No thanks, I've got no money to pay you."
"Nonsense!" she shook her mane of blonde curls and her violet eyes sparkled, "My treat pup, I like taking in stray dogs, come on!" she tugged him inside too cheerful for his tastes. He even missed her insults.
"I'm Mai, I own this place, you can work for your keep later, right now you look like you would die if you don't rest and eat something."
"I'm Jou." A plate of steaming thick stew and a warm loaf of bred was placed in front of him accompanied by a big cup of ale, simple but good food and God was he ever starving!
Jou figured that he had nothing to loose, nowhere to go, he wasn't sure why he pursued the High Priest this far, he had known that he must've killed Serenity the very same day she was accused. Perhaps he wanted revenge, wanted to put a knife through the heart of a man who done that to his precious little sister. It didn't matter any more, nothing mattered any more, the priest was gone, escaped to wherever he came from and he was stuck here, staying in an inn which he could never pay for due to the kindness of the rudest loudmouth he had ever knew.
Three days have gone by; despite Mai's sharp remarks about him being a dog she seemed nice enough. Caring, smart, pretty, she took care of him God knows why. Jou was unhappy to find out that she was a witch, pagan, but then again, that was no surprise to him, a lot of people here were. Why she bothered with him was beyond him, she was pretty, rich, popular and influential, there was nothing in this for her, yet, she insisted that he stay and he had nowhere left to go. He gave her his horse which was the only thing of value that he had, but from there on, he was useless.
Four days have come and gone and he barely noticed. He helped around where he could, but he was too depressed and bitter to be good help in an inn where he had to deal with people. Needless to say, he was not popular and was causing more trouble then he was helping, once again, he had no idea why Mai didn't kick him out on his second day.
Yet, she seemed happy enough, more so, she would even defend him if someone was rude to him; maybe he had finally found a friend? Or maybe not, thought Jou as once again he heard Mai's annoying voice refer to him as a dog.
On his fifth day Jou was actually warming up to Mai, he was still too depressed to be happy, but she was a good support and her endless selfish enthusiasm was a great distraction. Plus, the work was busy and hard not giving him time to think much of his loss, he was beginning to think that maybe he could make it; maybe he could go on after all.
As usual, things were getting to good to be true and on that same day a young man with a mane of wild long white hair and fierce red eyes walked into the inn followed by two city guards.
Everyone turned to look at him including Jou and Mai who came closer to see what the commotion in her inn was.
"Who is the owner of this place?!" asked the white haired man. Jou shivered, he looked like a demon, scary.
"I am, can I help you?" Jou had to marvel at how Mai could stand up to people like that.
"I come from Taer, a town for days on horseback from here. I come looking for a criminal, a killer and a thief." He paused to observe the murmurs going around the dinner table.
"Well then, you look in the wrong place, I don't house criminals." She said confidently and was about to turn around when the man caught her arm roughly stopping her.
"I think you are wrong young lady. You house a boy named Jou, I hear he works for you right."
She nodded irritated wondering what did this have to do with Jou.
"Jou is wanted in Taer. On the night he has left he has taken he life of an old woman who has gave him shelter and the horse he came here on he stole from the woman's rich brother who lived in the village beyond. It seems he has you fooled my lady." The stranger's voice seemed deceivingly sweet and carried none of the warmness that a normal voice might carry.
Red eyes flashed dangerously with satisfaction as violet ones widened with shock.
"Jou?!" Mai turned around staring at him wide eyes and disbelief written all over her face.
"What?! I never!"
"Impossible!" Mai stated confidently, "He would never do something like that; you've got the wrong man!"
"No, and how then would you say a boy without a coin of money have a horse of such an expensive breed. Why would he run it to near death if he was not running away, what do you think those bruises and cuts are on his body? We nearly had him, but he escaped us. But either way, I have an order to seize him and his horse is to be returned to its rightful owner."
Mai looked at the order that was shoved in her face and there it was, all Jou's crimes stated one by one.
"How could you?! I trusted you; I thought that you were really rushing to save your sister! I bet you made that all up, you.you!" she had no words for him.
Jou tried to protest as he was dragged away by the city guards and the woman that he had thought became his friend turned her back on him. She didn't believe him.
"Stop! What the hell are you talking about! I never killed anyone! I never stole anything! That horse was given to me by that bastard High Priest! He is the killer, he killed my sister!" Jou yelled at the white haired man.
"Give it up, if he killed your sister, why would he give you a horse?! You are starting to believe your own lies!" the stranger with red eyes said out loud but then he walked near and stared Jou right in the face.
"I'm Bakura, and of course you didn't kill the old hag, I did." He grinned and was gone before Jou could yell again.
The struggling boy was dragged towards the city's prison and out of the corner of his eyes he saw Bakura lead away his horse, he saw how he looked with admiration at the beast and understood. He was being accused because the thief could not get his horse! Enraged Jou struggled and yelled harder, but soon he was inside the prison walls and out of the sight of people.
The moment no one could see them one guard put a knee in Jou's gut and the other whacked him hard in his back. Jou fell to his knees coughing, he was already hurt, the new injuries were more painful over the old then they normally would be. Jou wondered just how much more damage could he walk away from. A heavy door creaked open and while Jou was still stunned he was dragged down stone stairs unresisting.
Another door and he was shoved roughly onto the floor of a stone cell. Two mice squeaked away when his body landed heavily on the cold stones. The door swung shut and only moments later Jou was banging on the closed obstacle screaming for them to let him out and that he was innocent.
"You really think they are going to listen?" an amused voice was heard from behind and Jou turned around startled.
When he was thrown here he had believed that he was alone and he was more then surprised to find someone else in the cell with him. He looked frightened for a moment until he got a better look at whoever was sitting on the pile of dirty straw in the corner.
There was another young man here with him; he looked only slightly older then he himself was, maybe sixteen, but no more then that. Sand blond hair, violet eyes, freaky grin, tanned skin. And he spoke with an accent that reminded him of the High Priest, Seth.
"Who the hell are you?!" Jou growled staring at the stranger eyes narrowing dangerously.
"I'm Malik, you never answered my question, do you really think that they would let you out?"
"They have to, I didn't do anything wrong."
"Do you think that they care, if you are here then you pissed someone of, had something someone else didn't have, been someone that someone wanted out of their way, you don't have to do anything to be here, there are lots of reasons to be here." He grinned.
"So then, what is the reason you are here?" Jou slid down to sit on the cold floor never looking away from this other man.
"Me? Oh, I killed someone." He grinned even wider taking in how Jou paled.
'Just great, you are stuck in a cell with a killer and he doesn't even seem to be a sake killer, just wonderful'
"You mean, you actually?" Jou couldn't even say it, how could this other guy state it so simply?
"Yes, the bastard touched my sister, he deserved to die! What about you, wouldn't you kill if someone touched your sister?"
"I would never kill anyone!" Jou exclaimed but at the same moment his face faltered, didn't he come here wishing to put a knife through the heart of the man who killed his Serenity, wasn't he going to do just what this guy did? Yes he was, so what right did he have to judge the man before him.
Perhaps he deserved to be here just as much, only one thing was wrong, the killer of his sister still walked free while he was going to be hanged for a murder and theft that he had never committed.
Malik saw Jou's face twist in anger.
"Aaah!, I struck a nerve, did I not?" he grinned. "What's your name, tell me your story, I like hearing them."
"Jou." So for the lack of better things to do Jou proceeded to tell Malik all that happened to him, starting from the moment Serenity got accused to the moment he was thrown here, he told this guy everything. And when he finished his story he stared at him waiting for some kind of reaction, but the one he got was not the one he expected, Malik threw his head back and laughed.
"What exactly are you laughing at?!!!"
"You."
"Why?" Jou was puzzled.
"Because you are innocent, and you thought that you could ever kill. You are right, you could never kill, if I put you in front of your priest right now and gave you a knife, you would never sink it into his flesh, you would not have killed him."
Jou was almost going to agree but then he thought of his little sister, what was done to her, the bastard must've raped and then killed her! All the anger came back to Jou.
"You are wrong, I would make an exception for that man, I would make an exception for Alec, I would make an exception for Tea, for Tristan and for Bakura, I would put a knife through their hearts, it's their fault, they deserve to die for what they did!"
"Sure." Malik purred and Jou was not sure it he was laughing at him again or if he was agreeing with him. "Go to sleep puppy, our sentence is some time away, my sister came by yesterday, she says she was able to push my sentence back again. They execute by cells, the longer I live, the longer you live."
"Why bother, you are going to be executed eventually."
"Maybe, sleep." Malik pushed some straw Jou's way to make rough bedding out of.
The straw didn't help much, the rocks were still hard and cold and Jou could not force himself to close his eyes with this psycho here, but after a few hours, sleep took over, he was too tired and he passed out. Nightmares plagued his restless night and when he finally woke up he was just as exhausted as he was when he first went to sleep.
"I'm not going to ask you if you had a good nap there, but you better get up, my sister will be here soon."
"She comes to visit every day?" Jou asked rubbing his eyes.
"Yes."
"And she's allowed to?"
"Yes."
"Do you have more words in your vocabulary?" Jou asked irritated by the one word answers.
"Yes." Jou had to suppress a growl, this guy was so irritating, he wanted to strangle him.
Half an hour later the door opened and the guard let in a young woman. She gave Jou a glance before she embraced her brother who seemed unfazed.
"You brought me some goodies?" he seemed to be more interested in food then his sister at the moment.
"Yeah, yeah, here." She rolled her eyes and then looked at Jou. "I'm Isis, you must be Jou."
Jou nodded scowling, that accent and that tanned skin, it was unnerving him.
"You don't look like a killer."
"He's not sis, he's just an unlucky idiot." Malik grinned at the glare he was receiving from Jou seemingly satisfied that he was successfully making Jou want to strangle him and completely unfazed by the stern look his older sister was giving him.
"You could behave, for my sake." She scolded her brother but even though, Jou could see the tenderness that she held for him in her eyes, she loved this annoying brat.
"What for, I will die soon, won't I?"
"Looks like not, unfortunately. Marik will be here soon, I've got a message that he is coming, another week and you will be out of here."
Jou sulked, the real killer would be free while he would still be hanged. Well, at least he had a week to live, however this Marik was going to save Malik, Isis seemed confident in his abilities.
"You know he will probably kill me right after, right sis?"
"You deserve it, now I got to run, I'll talk to you tomorrow little bro." and she was gone with a wave of her elegant tanned hand.
"Who's Marik?" Jou looked hungrily at the food that Malik was still hungrily devouring.
"Our older brother, pray that you don't live long enough to meet him." For once Malik seemed serious and it made Jou nervous.
"Why?"
"Because, Marik is scary. He is way scarier then I could ever hope to be and if you are scared of me, you will be terrified of him."
"Whoever said I was afraid of you?!"
"You are." Malik grinned knowingly and all of a sudden Jou did not want to meet this Marik person at all.
The week gone by faster then Jou would have wished for it to. Isis came by every day, she was good company, nice and intelligent, but Jou could tell that she was not his class of people. If he saw on her street she would probably not look at him, she was beautiful, educated, smart and it seemed rich too, she was able to pay for pushing back the sentence. He was not rich and not educated, and while he was not stupid, he did not consider himself a genius. It also seemed that whoever Marik was, he was wealthier then both Malik and Isis, more powerful and it also seemed like he was the head of the family, the eldest son. It didn't appear that they had a father and Malik would not talk about it, neither would Isis, she actually seemed hurt every time Jou tried to ask so he stopped trying.
When the week was up Jou was actually shocked to find out that he had liked Malik's company too, the annoying, arrogant, egoistic and psychotic boy who shared his cell somehow made a place in Jou's heart, the hear that he didn't think he had any more.
He would never admit it and he still didn't trust Malik at all, even less now, but he was now actually glad that the guy would live. Somehow, he almost considered the psycho his friend for the past week Malik was always able to come up with the most wrong things to say that would still somehow make Jou feel better.
This was a special day, the day before Isis said that the ship that carried Marik would come this morning. Malik waited anxiously for her visit that day and so did Jou, although the visit would not bring good news for him. But that day Isis never came and despite the fact that Jou told himself he shouldn't be, he was still worried.
Malik just looked pissed of, as if it never occurred to him that something could have gone wrong, he didn't look one bit worried. 'How can he do that?' wondered Jou, this was his life that they were talking about, if something, anything went wrong with the ship or something happened to Isis, Malik was a goner, and still he was just mad, not worried at all.
"Don't you at least have the decency to be concerned, for all you know the ship could've sunk and you are going to be executed."
"You are an idiot, Marik's ships don't sink, he makes sure they are well made and he is too good of a captain to get into trouble at sea, he is here." Malik sounded so confident and matter-of-factly. Once again Jou wanted to slam his head into the wall, Marik had his own ships, was their captain and this is when Malik decided to tell him?! Apparently Jou seriously underestimated just how rich the Ishtar family was, no wonder Isis had no doubt that when Marik was here Malik would be freed no questions asked.
Jou just kept staring at Malik who had that usual grin on his face.
"Jerk." Jou turned away from him pouting, he remembered that Malik didn't tell him anything unless he asked, and even then there was no guarantee that he was not lying.
Malik only snickered, he enjoyed making Jou mad, especially since it was so easy.
That night Jou slept uneasy, he tossed and turned, but he couldn't really fall asleep well. Morning came and he didn't want to get up, he almost hoped that Isis would not come again, but when the time for her visit came so did she.
Jou almost expected her to be with someone else, but she was surprisingly alone.
"So, where's the jerk, was his ship late?" greeted her Malik. Ignoring her brother Isis nodded to Jou and gave him his portion of the goodies that she has been bringing for both of them.
"His ship was on time, he arrived yesterday morning."
"So why the hell am I still here?!!" Malik was getting dangerously pissed off.
"He thought that there was no rush getting you out, he is taking care of it now, you will be out in an hour or so."
"Why so long?!" it seemed like a few more moments and Malik would combust.
"He's taking his time." Isis grinned giving her brother a wink as she left the cell. Now Jou could fully understand why Malik has been so angry yesterday, apparently he knew that his brother would do something like that. He could be out of here yesterday in no time, but it seemed like his brother liked to 'take his time'. If this was him, Jou would be angry too, he decided.
Carefully edging away from Malik who was currently radiating anger in waves from him Jou eyed him warily, he was almost debating to scream for help when Malik shrugged and grinned proceeding to wink at the paler then usual Jou.
"How many timed have I felt the urge to strangle you, why haven't I yet?" questioned Jou rolling his eyes and shaking his head, he could never understand Malik and it didn't look like he will be trying to understand him for much longer anyways.
An hour later a guard came in and announced that Malik was to get up and follow him.
"Get out of here asshole." Jou grinned, despite all happy to see Malik leave this place, he wished he could come with him, but it didn't look like he would be going anywhere, the guard who was giving him warning looks would make sure of it.
Surprisingly Malik didn't sneer or gave a sarcastic comment, he looked at Jou with his expression unreadable and waved, then left.
'There he goes; a complete mystery.' thought Jou as he stared grimly at the cold rocks of the cell, all alone once again.
Night came and Jou went to sleep, he had cried before. Apparently he had never known just how lonely a cell can be when you are all by yourself. No wonder Isis came to visit Malik every day, you can go crazy here all by yourself!
Morning came and it brought nothing but despair, there didn't seem anything to look forward to in a day, he was all by himself and he wished now that his sentence would be faster, dragging out life like this was too painful.
Even though Jou wished that, later that day, when a guard came into his cell and told him to get up, his heart nearly stopped. Suddenly he wished to live, he wished he had more time, he wished even that he ad stayed home with Alec, anything, just not this. He hadn't expected his sentence to be so soon, was it time already?
Of course, he didn't have anyone to pay for him to push back his sentence, he was going to hang and it was going to happened tonight. Jou whimpered as he was handled roughly and led down long corridors.
The blonde was stunned when he was pushed outside and there was no crowd, no extra guards, no rope to hand him by, it seemed like a regular afternoon, what was going on?
The guard kept leading him until they were by the harbor in a small street. There, he saw three people, two of whom he recognized as Malik and Isis. As he had expected, they were dressed nicely, cleaned up and wearing enough gold to buy his entire village.
Then his eyes traveled to the last person and he froze. Malik was right, he did not want to ever meet his person. He was taller then Malik and Isis who were both taller then Jou himself, strong muscular figure, wide shoulders, tanned flawless skin.
His head was adorned in a crown of sand colored hair that stood up in devilish spikes, his eyes were outlined with black and they were such a bright burning shade of purple, so piercing that it seemed one could drown in them. There seemed to be a storm in his eyes. And his face, it looked pure evil, almost inhuman, the grin on it made him look not just scary, but terrifying.
Jou gulped as he was pushed in front of him.
"He is all yours Lord Marik, I'm out of here." The guard proceeded to exit as fast as he could and Jou couldn't blame him, right now he would rather be in his cell then facing this man, more like the devil himself then a man really.
"So you are Jou. Malik has been telling me about you, intriguing." Marik's voice purred, so smooth and deep with a heavier accent then even Seth had, so exotic. He stepped forward moving with a grace of a predator, so alluring and beautiful, he screamed danger.
Jou seemed to have forgotten how to move and how to speak at the same time, he forgot to even question why he was here.
"My little brother seems to like something about you. That fact alone is enough for me to grant you life. I paid for you, you are free now, but there are things my baby brother told me about you that make me want to get better acquainted with you." He grinned again now standing right in front of Jou and very much towering over him, as if he wasn't already intimidating enough.
"Really?" you managed to squeak and recoil from the man. It felt like being near him was suffocating, as if he was radiating the heat of hell itself, Jou wasn't sure any more is he was talking to a man or the devil.
"Yes, my brother says you were wronged, he says you want revenge. I like revenge, so here's what I'm going to do." Marik leaned in and purred into Jou's ear, he was circling the boy like a predator circling prey, Jou almost felt like he was going to pounce any moment, but his words caught the blonde's attention, he wanted revenge, now more then ever.
"Yes?"
"I can offer you your revenge. I can offer you to see your adoptive father in pain, his friend, crushed. I can let you see your so called best friends crying at your feet. The thief that had robbed you and got you thrown into prison, destroyed." Marik's hands descended on Jou's shoulders, smoldering hot, everything about this man seemed so suffocating, so burning.
Jou jumped and whirled around to face the man, he had never noticed how he had gotten behind him even though he knew that Marik was moving, had that smooth voice really intoxicated, hypnotized him so much?
Marik grinned and roughly turned Jou back around to his back was to him. Marik's arms went around Jou, long slender fingers wrapped around Jou's thin pale throat, almost gently. Jou shivered and swallowed in fear, this guy was a complete nutcase, but there was something so irresistible about that voice, he was so evil, this was like sin.
"There's more Jou, I can help you crush Seth." Jou stiffened at the name all the hatred he felt for the man flooding into his eyes. Just for a brief moment Marik's fingered tightened around Jou's throat and the boy became painfully aware of his situation, his position, the slender delicate looking hands contained crushing power.
Jou nodded unable for form much words, or even one coherent thought.
"Good, you would like that, wouldn't you?" Jou felt Marik's hot breath on his ear and he could almost feel him grin.
"Y-yes I would." He was sure of it, he would give anything to get revenge against the people who hurt him and his sister, anything was worth it to see them in the same kind of pain that he was in.
"But you know, everything comes at a price, what would you be willing to pay to get your revenge?"
"Anything!" Jou's eyes were burning with heat of anger, anger directed towards those who hurt his sister and him, somehow, Marik seemed to be fueling his anger and for the second time Jou wondered if he was talking to a man, or the devil.
"Very well, here's my price. Your revenge, anything you like done to anyone you wish in exchange for your freedom."
Jou blinked, what did that mean?
"I help you Jou, and you become my slave, my property, I do with you as I like, you do as I tell you to. I help you and you belong to me."
Jou's instinct was to say 'no way' right away, his nature rebelled against such a price, but then Serenity's beautiful face flashed in his mind and he hesitated. What was it, his freedom, or his revenge. What did he want more, avenge his sister, make everyone pay, or did he want to be free?
He looked up startled to meet with a pair of violet eyes and he didn't know what to say, anger was battling with free spirit inside of him and his fate and life were now defined by two words, yes, or no.
AN: Next chapter, find out, what will Jou's decision be. Will he says yes, get his revenge and agree to be Marik's slave, or will he say no and go free. If he goes free, will Marik pursue him, or maybe Marik will not let him go in the first place. What does the psychopath want from Jou in the first place? And if Jou says yet, find out what kind of revenge can Marik's twisted mind think up. What is Jou's life coming to? Also, next chapter find out what happened to Bakura, Ryou makes his first appearance and Jou becomes even more evil then he is in this chapter.
Review people, the more you review the faster the chapters will be coming. I actually know what happens in this story so this story has a plot, but I want to be sure that people read it, if no one reviews for me, I won't bother to keep writing it, after all, I'm not doing this for myself, I know what happens in the story. So please, please press the button and review.
Also, any ideas, corrections or thoughts are very welcome and appreciated. But even if you just want to say hi, please do, I love feedback and I want to know that my efforts are appreciated.
Well, till next time!
-Cyanide-
Jenniyah: the couples will be clear later. This is going to be Yaoi. Yuri possibly, but only if people ask for it, mainly this is a yahoo story.
Ruby light: You are right, the religions, times and general cultures are all mashed up here. This is not really a real setting so don't be surprised if in the future you will have bits of ancient Egypt mixed with bits of old Europe and bits of modern America, I make it all possible, lol. But I try not to make it too obvious.
Priestess of Set: no, there is no incest between Mokuba and Seth, the kiss that I mentioned was part of the ceremony. I used the Alexandrian Wicca model for the ritual, and there on many occasions the High Priest would kiss the High Priestess. As it was, Mokuba was taking the role of High Priestess, so he would have gotten a kiss from Seth, but there is nothing between them.
By the way, in this fic, Seth and Mokuba are Duke's cousins.
Chapter 2
Seth's horse raced like the wind if not even faster. Everything seemed a motion blur and the wind seemed to whistle past Serenity's ears as they rode. The girl's eyes were open wide in shock, she has never rode so fast in her life, for that matter, she has never been on a horse in her life.
And now, she was on a horse, with a strange man that said he wanted to kill her, away from her only home and away from the people whom she knew all her life and who didn't want her any more.
If she wasn't in so much shock from all that happened she would have cried now, but as it was, she was too scared to do even that. It was almost overwhelming, the speed at which all events took place, just a few days ago, everything was fine, then all of a sudden she found herself locked up in a room even though she never went out anyways, all the commotion with the village, and then they accused her of witchcraft.
Goodness, Serenity didn't even properly know what witchcraft was! This was all so confusing, this wasn't right, she has never done anyone any wrong! And this man, why was he in such a hurry, was there some rush to kill her, it seemed like he wanted to outrun time itself.
The girl whimpered loudly as the horse leapt over something on the road. The sudden tug made the ropes cut into her feet and her wrists, she would have cried out on the impact but it came out as a muffled whimper because she was still gagged. Her body was so stiff with fear and tears were threatening to spill from her eyes, whether it was from the wind or from pain, she wasn't sure.
As soon as the girl was firmly seated in his lap Seth wanted to be out of the village. He wanted to get himself and this child away from those people and he wanted to get away from the silent bitter tears of her brother. He hasn't seen such pure hate in a long time; that kid must really love his sister, as much as he himself loved his brother, Gods, he didn't want to do this to the boy.
The tiny girl in his arms was still whimpering quietly even thought they were on the road for over an hour now, they were well away from the village and Seth was sure that even if someone for whatever unthinkable reason decided to follow them, they would not catch them now. It was safe to slow down and he was afraid that if he didn't his horse would not live much longer.
The horse slowed down and Seth had to catch Serenity, she almost fell right of.
Serenity whimpered as she felt the beast from hell slow down, she was relieved only for a moment, but the next moment she was scared again as the memories of all the stories about the ferociousness of wolves came to her mind. She started to struggle again thinking that the man will tie her down and leave her for the wolves, but in the next few minutes she felt the binds around her feet and her wrists come off and the gag was pulled out of her mouth.
"No! Please, don't give me to the wolves! Please don't!" those were the first words to come out of her mouth as she covered her face with her hands and started to cry.
Finally Seth could get a better look at her, he thought that she was at least a young woman out there, she seemed tall and rather well formed, but now when he got a second look there was no mistake, she was still a child.
"Serenity, how old are you?" he tried to make his voice sound as gentle as he could, he was dealing with a scared child here and he knew from experience that if he yelled at her he would not get a straight answer from her.
"E-eleven, I was supposed to be twelve next month?" she hiccupped and rubbed her eyes.
For a moment a pair of icy blue slits widened, she was only eleven?!!! This was nearly impossible to believe, she looked older then that, after all, the last time he checked girls didn't start growing breasts at eleven. She was a little too well formed for her age, well, at least for this part of the world, where he came from, girls matured earlier then they did here.
"What do you mean you were supposed to be twelve next month, aren't you still supposed to be twelve?" he asked with some amusement in his voice.
"I was supposed to, because you are going to kill me, so I'm not going to be twelve." and then she started crying again, more desperately this time.
"Stop crying, you are safe for now. Were you not listening, it's holiday season, no sacrifices made during holiday season. I will protect your life for now because you remind me of someone, but don't become more trouble then you are worth."
Serenity nodded, she certainly could not protect herself and he said that he would not kill her for now. She sighed, she didn't know this man, she didn't know if she could trust this man, even if he didn't want to kill her, who was to say that he would not just leave her somewhere alone, for her, that was just as good as death and she saw no reason why he would keep her alive.
He said it was holiday season, so what would happened after, would he kill her then? She didn't want to think about what would happened after, for now he said that she would live and she had to trust him because there was no better alternative. And his arms did feel safe and protective, maybe by that time he would change his mind about killing her, if she was nice enough to him.
Something in serenity didn't believe that she was in danger, the way he said that she would live for now made her believe him. He was her best bet at life right now, if he had left her in the village they would have burnt her, as she saw it, he had already prolonged her life and maybe if she stayed with him he would help her stay alive again.
The horse started moving again, slower this time, but still quite fast, it was already late afternoon, they should be in Taer by sundown.
Seth had a lot to think about as he rode, it was hard enough to take care of his little brother the way they were, moving around all the time, and it was two grown men taking care of one kid who was very mature for his age.
Mokuba was a boy, and even though he was only ten, Mokuba could usually take care of himself and it was still hard to be on the move with him. This was a girl, a girl who was not nearly as mature as Mokuba was, that is not speaking physically and a girl who could not see, she could not take care of herself at all. Traveling with both of them would become nearly impossible.
Seth sighed, he could not figure out for the life of him how to deal with this.
He glanced up, it was already getting late in the afternoon, the sun was low over the horizon, he never noticed how he slowed down, he was so deep in thought about this girl and how his own life could change now because of her. Looking down at the said little nuisance, she was fast asleep leaning against him. Seth sighed for the hundredth time during that trip, it was one thing deciding that he wanted to keep her; it was a different thing deciding what he would do with her.
He rode into the city later then he had expected. The sun was already down and he knew that Mokuba and Duke would be worried about him by now. He wrapped little Serenity into his black cloak keeping her warm and out of sight of people. He didn't want there to be rumors in the city about her. Seth might have been welcomed here well as a traveling priest, but one could never be too cautious.
Duke was waiting at the window for Seth to return. It has been a while and is cousin was usually punctual, what was keeping him? He said that he would be back before sundown. Mokuba, his other cousin was sitting in a soft comfortable chair looking bored even though Duke knew better, the kid always worried about his older brother.
"Hey, Mokuba, you want something to eat, you barely had anything for dinner, it's not good for you."
"Na, I want to wait for Seth to come back so we can eat together."
"Well, I think that we should eat, who knows, maybe he got held up, he left rather quickly yesterday." Duke was just trying to strike a conversation, he himself wasn't that hungry. He didn't like his cousin going out like that on his own, not that Seth couldn't take care of himself, but no matter how well one man could take care of himself, he could not defend himself against a crowd. Duke was hoping that everything was ok.
He has gone so deep into thought that he never noticed Mokuba stand up and walk to the window, that is until he heard Mokuba shout and tug at his gold clad arm.
"Big brother is home!" green eyes refocused on the rode and surely, there was Seth looking tired and worried, by the looks of it something didn't go right. Getting more worried Duke proceeded to meet his cousin.
"Mokuba, stay here."
"But."
"I said stay here, don't question me!" his tone was a little harsh, but his nerves were on edge, he has been worried forever. Putting on a perfectly calm expression he walked towards the front door and outside to meet Seth and see what is the bundle that suspiciously looked like a person in his arms was.
"Duke." Seth greeted seriously and his younger cousin frowned a little.
Unwrapping the cloak from around Serenity Seth shook her awake. The girl's face twisted in discomfort for a minute and then her eyes opened. It was dark and she could not see at all, save for the vague lights coming from lanterns and fires.
"Jou? What's wrong?" her confuse voice was sleepy and she was disoriented. She looked so cute like that, if it wasn't for the fear in her eyes when she remembered where she was and what happened to her earlier. "Seth?!" now her voice was alarmed and she was fully awake once again.
"Relax Serenity; we've arrived at my temporary home. Meet Duke, my younger cousin. Duke, this is Serenity."
One slender black eyebrow rose inquiringly. "Seth, I believe you have some explaining to do." Duke's smooth voice still carried that same accent that he shared with Seth and Mokuba and that Serenity found alarmingly alien.
"Yes, and I will explain everything once we are inside, now would you please introduce Serenity to Mokuba and take her inside."
Duke nodded and Seth could read the concern clear on his face. "Aren't you coming in?" asked Duke as he approached him and got a better look at the girl. She was pretty, like an angel, brown hair, golden eyes, petite frame, but she was a child, Duke who was a little more familiar with women then Seth was could not have mistaken her for a woman, she was still very much a kid.
"I will soon, I have to tell the villagers that we will not be staying for the celebrations." As the look of worry on Duke's face intensified the look on Seth's face clearly read 'Don't question me'
"Whatever you say, you are the boss." He was not only worried, he was also very confused, but he was guessing that it had something to do with the girl, speaking of which, she looked like she was about to panic, she was clinging to Seth as if he was a lifeline. That in itself was a unique sight; usually children were afraid of Seth.
Seth untangled Serenity's hands from his shirt and lowered her onto the ground. "I will be back soon; Duke will take care of you for now." Seth could not figure out why this girl would cling to him, she gave her more reason to fear and hate him then anyone else did. And he only said that he would not kill her for now, was she so scared of everything in general that she would want to stay near a man who took her from her family and threatened her life if only for the little bit of temporarily protection that he provided?
"Well, c'mon there flower, let's get you inside, it's cold out here!" Duke made his voice sound cheery even though it was obvious that it was fake cheerfulness, not even Serenity was falling for the fakeness of his happiness and instead of making her feel at ease he made her even more nervous.
Even thought, Serenity made an attempt to follow in the direction of the voice, but after two unsure and tiny steps she stopped staring at the ground and looking generally lost. Duke stared at her confused.
"What's wrong?" hearing his voice she made a few more steps towards him but stopped not quite reaching him, outstretching her hands before her she tried to feel around in front of her. Only then it dawned on Duke what was wrong with her and why Seth seemed so concerned, not only they had another child on their hands, not only it was a girl and they were two men, that in itself didn't look good, but also she was blind.
"Here." He said softly and gave her his hand which she clutched onto for support and assurance. "C'mon." he picked her up easily in his arms and giving Seth one last worried look carried her of inside.
Serenity was feeling more and more panicked with every minute. She could feel the discomfort of this new man, she could feel the fakeness in his seemingly cheerful voice, and there was something wrong here. She didn't want to be with him, she didn't like being in his arms, she felt like she wasn't wanted, awkward, an unwanted, unexpected bother that was as confusing for him as it was for her.
She wanted to be back with Seth, she has grown accustomed to his strong protective arms around her. He held her with no reluctance, he was confident and she felt more secure with him. There was no hesitation to his actions, and when he said that he would protect her for now, somehow she was sure that he would protect her for now. She wanted to be back with him and not Duke.
"Hey, cheer up, you look so sad. I don't know who you are but you came with my brother so I guess its ok that you are here." Serenity heard yet another voice and it startled her. She could tell that this one belonged to someone younger, perhaps her own age, or close to her age. He too had that same foreign sound to his voice when he spoke, but he seemed more sincere then Duke was, at least his cheerfulness was not forced.
"I'm Serenity." She offered him a small smile.
"I'm Mokuba, Seth's little brother." He grinned and jumped of the chair taking both her hands and completely ignoring the fact that he could see she was blind. "C'mon, you must be hungry, I have lots of food saved up, we haven't eaten yet, we were just waiting for my brother to get back, but it looks like he'll be busy, as usual, so we'll eat first!"
Serenity stumbled after him not trusting her feet and her eyes in this unfamiliar place, but Mokuba despite his excitement seemed careful to steer her clear of any obstacles and within minutes she trusted his guidance to tell her where she could and could not step safely.
Duke watched the girl and Mokuba, this was kind of nice, she seemed to warm up to Mokuba right away, but then again, almost everyone did and they were both children. It seemed like Mokuba was exited, he seemed lonely very often, someone close to his age was nice in the house, keep him company. He watched the kids eat, they were a fun to watch couple, Mokuba insisted that Serenity try everything because it didn't seem like she ever tried most of the foods that Mokuba was accustomed to eating and he seemed delighted to make sure and change that.
After about an hour of eating, talking and laughing the two seemed to finally get tired. They both had a long day and both Mokuba and Serenity have gone through a lot of emotional strain lately.
"Well, that would be about enough fooling around from you two, tomorrow is another day so off to bed with you!" Serenity has very successfully forgotten that Duke was even there, but now that he spoke, there was no fakeness in his voice, he seemed to have successfully forgotten his worries watching them play.
She smiled, he sounded much more pleasant when he was really happy.
"Duke, can Serenity sleep in my room until she has her own?!"
Duke laughed, it didn't seem like Mokuba was ever going to sleep.
"Sure kid, just make sure you go to sleep tonight, I don't want you playing all night. If you have no mercy for your own tired self, at least remember that she must be tired too."
"OK!" he yelled as he dragged Serenity of after him, she was now fully trusting him to lead her safely around the unfamiliar place and he seemed quite good at it too.
Duke followed rolling his eyes at his little cousin's antics, he could be such a hyper kid sometimes, it was a wonder where he got all his energy.
After more laughing, playing and a near pillow-fight both Serenity and Mokuba were fast asleep among the numerous pillows and silk sheets on Mukuba's wide bed. It really was too big for one kid and they looked cute curled up in a small ball. Serenity looked like she was in heaven, she must've been so tired, and honestly Duke didn't think that she ever even slept in a bed this soft before.
Putting out the candle Duke left the room and went to wait for Seth to return and tell him what the deal with this little angel was. Luckily he didn't have to wait long, he walked in after half an hour and after they have ate their supper he proceeded to tell Serenity's story.
"So, now you see, there is no way we can continue traveling with her on our hands too. And there was nothing here but trouble, I think it's time to go home anyways, we've seen enough. If we leave tomorrow, we will make it for the ship that is leaving in a few days. If we are late, then we have to wait a month for another ship."
"We don't have to go by ship; we could just go by land."
"We could, but traveling by land while dragging two children with us, one of which is disabled is that much harder then traveling by water. It's easier for us to look after her on the ship, she technically doesn't have to go anywhere, and she can just stay in the room. Some fresh ocean air is good for us. Besides, it'd take forever on land."
"So, then we are going to Mikan, the port city."
"Yeah, I heard there is a merchant ship that will be leaving soon"
"Well, in that case I'm not getting much sleep tonight; I presume you want to leave in the morning."
"Yes, so let's start packing."
Duke groaned, this was going to be one long night, and tomorrow would be an even longer day, but the idea of finally returning home, after nearly a year of traveling seemed so sweet. Had it only been a year? It seemed like forever now, how he missed his home, the shifting sands, the life giving Nile, it was like a dear memory now, and he'd love to finally go back.
Duke was happy that it was still holiday season, maybe Seth would find something to do with the girl, because so far, she was nothing but trouble and even if Seth would not normally kill a child, he might leave her behind. For her that would certainly mean death too. Either way, Duke assumed that Seth will decide on their way to Mikan, if she was coming with them he would take her on the ship, if not, the port city would be as good a place to get rid of her as any.
Jou's horse went non stop. The sun rose and the forest became lighter. After a few hours of running the horse slowed down and started a slow but steady walk towards the town of Taer.
Jou was still miraculously on the horse's back. How he managed to stay on unconscious with the horse galloping like that was a mystery, but there he was, still unconscious on the road to the town. He was about three quarters of the way there when the sun rose. As the morning progressed the horse continued her steady pace towards Jou's destination, but the boy was not aware of that, he was barely even alive any more.
Some people who have been to the Esbat two nights before gathered to bid the High Priest farewell. It was a shock to everyone that he would not be staying for the celebrations tonight, but there was nothing to be done, the Priest made it clear that something happened very urgent and that he needed to leave right away.
It was sunrise and Seth was pleased that not everyone that was there that night came to see him off, that would have been more of a crowd then he wished. These people stayed up later at night then people did in Christian communities, therefore they slept in later in the mourning. They were off on the road when the sun was fully in the sky, and as it seemed no one had even seen Serenity, she was hidden in the wagon all along.
Seth figured that it would not be very good if the people saw two men leave suddenly with a little girl, he didn't want rumors, after all, rumors like that could make someone follow them and then cause trouble. The kid was already enough trouble it seemed. Also, he used to have three horses, now he only had two, with only two horses and four people it would take longer, more weight meant more work for the horses which in turn meant they would need to rest longer.
Now the Priest was gone from the town and the people who came to whish him farewell were all going to their respective homes. One such woman lived not in town, but along the road outside of town. She came quite a long way to see the young man off; she was rather impressed by his ability to organize and his stronghold on people. After all, every leader, including a religious leader had to be able to keep people under some kind of order.
Now this old woman was slowly making her way back home, she could not walk fast and it was taking her quite a long time. By the time she had finally made it, it was almost noon. She walked up to her neat little house and looked at the plants growing in front of it tenderly, her herbs needed watering. She lived alone and all the work that needed to be done was done by her, no one to help her, no one to take care of her when she would get too old to take care of herself.
The old woman's only son has died a long time, killed in the forest by the wolves, ever since then she lived alone, her husband left and never came back when their son was only a baby and she had no one else left. She sighed thinking about these sad things, how she wished and prayed that the Gods would send her someone to support her when she was too old.
Picking up the bucket she slowly strode outside to water her herbs only to find a horse nibbling at her precious plants. She was almost about to shout and chase the stray animal away when she realized that it was a horse and that there was a person slung over it. Dropping the bucket she rushed towards the horse who warily stepped away from the woman.
"Now, c'mon, be a good girl, stay still for me." she tried talking to the horse gently as she approached. Panicking, the animal reared throwing Jou off with a thump and jumped away a few paces, but not too far, she was a well trained animal and would not leave without her rider.
Gasping the old woman rushed to Jou's help and after some struggling managed to drag him inside. He was far too heavy for her to lift, but somehow she managed to put him on the bed.
She looked over him evaluating his injuries, as it seemed he had many injuries from before, the ones that are half healed, old bruises and cuts. Also, it seemed that he had quite a few new injuries, by the looks of things, this boy has been beaten and more then once.
She shook her head as she busied herself preparing remedies to ease his pain. He must be a runaway, ran away from whoever was abusing him, maybe he didn't have anywhere to go, maybe, if she took care of him now, he would even stay with her and be like a son to her. Oh how she wished that, maybe the Gods have at last answered her prayers and sent someone to be there for her when she got old and weak.
She was smiling as she took care of Jou, like a mother would, she washed his wounds, bandaged him. She put healing ointment on his cuts, and when he would occasionally awake for short periods of time, she would give him tea to bring down his fever.
He never seemed to be awake for longer then a few minutes and then when he was, he would be delusional, he kept saying something about having to save someone. Poor boy, thought the woman as once again that day he fell unconscious.
When afternoon came his fever broke and he slept not waking for the rest of the day and night. She herself barely went to sleep watching over him, making sure that he was not in pain and sleeping well.
Morning came and she prepared breakfast, she knew that he would be awake soon and probably hungry. His horse came back yesterday and was now tied to a stake grazing happily outside her house. She recognized this horse, it was definitely one of the priest's horses, but she doubted that the boy would be able to ever take the horse from the Priest; it must've been given to him. Whoever he was, he must have something to do with the Priest's visit to Saniks.
Just as she was going to go check if the eggs were ready she heard a knock on the door. Now that was strange, no one ever came to visit her. Glancing at the still sleeping blonde she frowned, if this was his pursuer, she would not give the boy up.
"Who's that?" she asked opening the window instead of the door. It was high of the ground and she was pretty safe, she trusted herself to be quick to close it in time if whoever it was had less then friendly intentions.
"Oh, hello there grandma!" there was a young man standing outside her door. He had long snow white hair and red eyes. Seeing him the old woman smiled, she has seen him in Taer before, he surely was not after the young boy that she had given shelter to.
"Hello there son, can I help you?"
"Sure grandma, that your horse out there?" he pointed at the beauty that was happily devouring grass not far away.
"For now it be mine, an old friend left her here for me to watch, she a beauty, isn't she?"
"Sure is, say, how much would you want to sell her?"
The old woman frowned, she could use some coin, but it was not her property to sell, what would the young man say when he awoke and his horse was gone.
"Sorry lad, not my horse to sell."
"Well then, what about the owner, who's your friend grandma, would he sell her to me, I'll pay a lot for such a beast."
"He's not here; come back in a few days and maybe then she'll be yours."
The man smiled, but there was something unfriendly about his smile as he turned around and walked of seemingly angry.
From the inside the woman heard a moan and turned around to see the young boy wake up.
"Ahhh, you awake now lad, has been a while." She smiled at his confused expression.
"A while?! How long?! I have to go!" he sat up straight and hissed in pain. His body was aching too much for him to even move. Jou fell back down on the bed breathing heavily and beds of sweat forming on his brow line.
"Now, you will not be going anywhere for a while lad, you are much too hurt to move. Here, have some breakfast." She smiled as she fed him delicious food.
Despite his protests, Jou was made to stay in bed for the whole day and the next night. He was loosing hope of ever saving Serenity, but the woman was right, he had to be able to stand up to save her. It took another day for him to be able to walk, but as soon as he could, he was out of there headed for the town. The old woman looked at the dust left by the horse as her hopes left without ever looking back; he never even thought back to her, he was only thinking about someone out there, way ahead of him.
Sighing she went back to sit down, she had poured her heart into taking care of him, she had poured her soul into the prayer she said for him constantly, she was so tired and now he was not here for her to lean again. She sat down and for the longest time she stared ahead of her, he never even looked back.
Jou galloped towards the city with only one thought in mind, catch up, save his sister, but as he went, there seemed to be no hope of ever getting there in time. The dread was rising in his heart as he burst into the city. He talked to people, asked around, yet no one heard of a girl.
"The priest has left a few days ago, he should be on the ship heading for his homeland now, but maybe not, never know, if you hurry, might catch up to him yet, what business do you have with him lad?"
"A girl, I saw no girl with him, him, his cousin, his brother, no girl there."
Jou raced out of the city like the wind not staying a moment longer headed for Mikan, the port where Seth supposedly was heading. He was going to catch him and demand his sister back. But even though that was what Jou told himself, he knew that he has been too late, way too late. He gathered that the priest lied about the celebrations, if the holiday was so important for him to not kill on, wouldn't have he at least stayed to celebrate it?! No, he only wanted to be able to take Serenity with him, be alone with her, in the forest and then dump her there for the wolves to eat when he was done with her. Why?! She was just a child, that sick pervert! Jou thought that he must've taken her innocence together with her life and the more he thought, the more his hate intensified, the more he urged his horse to go faster. He had not slept that night, he paced nearly all night just waiting till the animal was rested enough to get up and carry him further.
Morning came and Jou was on the road once again, speeding faster then probably time itself, or so it seemed. He arrived in Mikan in half the time it usually takes to get there from Taer, and in a third of the time it took Seth to get there. When he stumbled among the people, tired, hurt and hungry, he had gotten the news that he has been too late.
Jou collapsed exhausted and heartbroken near some inn. He was crying again and his only company was his horse, and even the loyal beast reminded him of the cursed Priest.
"Hey there lad, come here, you don't look good sitting in front of my inn balling your eyes out. Come inside, eat, rest, then tell me your trouble, who knows, maybe I can help you."
Jou looked up, there in the door stood a young woman dressed in a nice dress, but she wore an apron, it seemed she worked in the inn and by the looks of it, it was an expensive inn.
"No thanks, I've got no money to pay you."
"Nonsense!" she shook her mane of blonde curls and her violet eyes sparkled, "My treat pup, I like taking in stray dogs, come on!" she tugged him inside too cheerful for his tastes. He even missed her insults.
"I'm Mai, I own this place, you can work for your keep later, right now you look like you would die if you don't rest and eat something."
"I'm Jou." A plate of steaming thick stew and a warm loaf of bred was placed in front of him accompanied by a big cup of ale, simple but good food and God was he ever starving!
Jou figured that he had nothing to loose, nowhere to go, he wasn't sure why he pursued the High Priest this far, he had known that he must've killed Serenity the very same day she was accused. Perhaps he wanted revenge, wanted to put a knife through the heart of a man who done that to his precious little sister. It didn't matter any more, nothing mattered any more, the priest was gone, escaped to wherever he came from and he was stuck here, staying in an inn which he could never pay for due to the kindness of the rudest loudmouth he had ever knew.
Three days have gone by; despite Mai's sharp remarks about him being a dog she seemed nice enough. Caring, smart, pretty, she took care of him God knows why. Jou was unhappy to find out that she was a witch, pagan, but then again, that was no surprise to him, a lot of people here were. Why she bothered with him was beyond him, she was pretty, rich, popular and influential, there was nothing in this for her, yet, she insisted that he stay and he had nowhere left to go. He gave her his horse which was the only thing of value that he had, but from there on, he was useless.
Four days have come and gone and he barely noticed. He helped around where he could, but he was too depressed and bitter to be good help in an inn where he had to deal with people. Needless to say, he was not popular and was causing more trouble then he was helping, once again, he had no idea why Mai didn't kick him out on his second day.
Yet, she seemed happy enough, more so, she would even defend him if someone was rude to him; maybe he had finally found a friend? Or maybe not, thought Jou as once again he heard Mai's annoying voice refer to him as a dog.
On his fifth day Jou was actually warming up to Mai, he was still too depressed to be happy, but she was a good support and her endless selfish enthusiasm was a great distraction. Plus, the work was busy and hard not giving him time to think much of his loss, he was beginning to think that maybe he could make it; maybe he could go on after all.
As usual, things were getting to good to be true and on that same day a young man with a mane of wild long white hair and fierce red eyes walked into the inn followed by two city guards.
Everyone turned to look at him including Jou and Mai who came closer to see what the commotion in her inn was.
"Who is the owner of this place?!" asked the white haired man. Jou shivered, he looked like a demon, scary.
"I am, can I help you?" Jou had to marvel at how Mai could stand up to people like that.
"I come from Taer, a town for days on horseback from here. I come looking for a criminal, a killer and a thief." He paused to observe the murmurs going around the dinner table.
"Well then, you look in the wrong place, I don't house criminals." She said confidently and was about to turn around when the man caught her arm roughly stopping her.
"I think you are wrong young lady. You house a boy named Jou, I hear he works for you right."
She nodded irritated wondering what did this have to do with Jou.
"Jou is wanted in Taer. On the night he has left he has taken he life of an old woman who has gave him shelter and the horse he came here on he stole from the woman's rich brother who lived in the village beyond. It seems he has you fooled my lady." The stranger's voice seemed deceivingly sweet and carried none of the warmness that a normal voice might carry.
Red eyes flashed dangerously with satisfaction as violet ones widened with shock.
"Jou?!" Mai turned around staring at him wide eyes and disbelief written all over her face.
"What?! I never!"
"Impossible!" Mai stated confidently, "He would never do something like that; you've got the wrong man!"
"No, and how then would you say a boy without a coin of money have a horse of such an expensive breed. Why would he run it to near death if he was not running away, what do you think those bruises and cuts are on his body? We nearly had him, but he escaped us. But either way, I have an order to seize him and his horse is to be returned to its rightful owner."
Mai looked at the order that was shoved in her face and there it was, all Jou's crimes stated one by one.
"How could you?! I trusted you; I thought that you were really rushing to save your sister! I bet you made that all up, you.you!" she had no words for him.
Jou tried to protest as he was dragged away by the city guards and the woman that he had thought became his friend turned her back on him. She didn't believe him.
"Stop! What the hell are you talking about! I never killed anyone! I never stole anything! That horse was given to me by that bastard High Priest! He is the killer, he killed my sister!" Jou yelled at the white haired man.
"Give it up, if he killed your sister, why would he give you a horse?! You are starting to believe your own lies!" the stranger with red eyes said out loud but then he walked near and stared Jou right in the face.
"I'm Bakura, and of course you didn't kill the old hag, I did." He grinned and was gone before Jou could yell again.
The struggling boy was dragged towards the city's prison and out of the corner of his eyes he saw Bakura lead away his horse, he saw how he looked with admiration at the beast and understood. He was being accused because the thief could not get his horse! Enraged Jou struggled and yelled harder, but soon he was inside the prison walls and out of the sight of people.
The moment no one could see them one guard put a knee in Jou's gut and the other whacked him hard in his back. Jou fell to his knees coughing, he was already hurt, the new injuries were more painful over the old then they normally would be. Jou wondered just how much more damage could he walk away from. A heavy door creaked open and while Jou was still stunned he was dragged down stone stairs unresisting.
Another door and he was shoved roughly onto the floor of a stone cell. Two mice squeaked away when his body landed heavily on the cold stones. The door swung shut and only moments later Jou was banging on the closed obstacle screaming for them to let him out and that he was innocent.
"You really think they are going to listen?" an amused voice was heard from behind and Jou turned around startled.
When he was thrown here he had believed that he was alone and he was more then surprised to find someone else in the cell with him. He looked frightened for a moment until he got a better look at whoever was sitting on the pile of dirty straw in the corner.
There was another young man here with him; he looked only slightly older then he himself was, maybe sixteen, but no more then that. Sand blond hair, violet eyes, freaky grin, tanned skin. And he spoke with an accent that reminded him of the High Priest, Seth.
"Who the hell are you?!" Jou growled staring at the stranger eyes narrowing dangerously.
"I'm Malik, you never answered my question, do you really think that they would let you out?"
"They have to, I didn't do anything wrong."
"Do you think that they care, if you are here then you pissed someone of, had something someone else didn't have, been someone that someone wanted out of their way, you don't have to do anything to be here, there are lots of reasons to be here." He grinned.
"So then, what is the reason you are here?" Jou slid down to sit on the cold floor never looking away from this other man.
"Me? Oh, I killed someone." He grinned even wider taking in how Jou paled.
'Just great, you are stuck in a cell with a killer and he doesn't even seem to be a sake killer, just wonderful'
"You mean, you actually?" Jou couldn't even say it, how could this other guy state it so simply?
"Yes, the bastard touched my sister, he deserved to die! What about you, wouldn't you kill if someone touched your sister?"
"I would never kill anyone!" Jou exclaimed but at the same moment his face faltered, didn't he come here wishing to put a knife through the heart of the man who killed his Serenity, wasn't he going to do just what this guy did? Yes he was, so what right did he have to judge the man before him.
Perhaps he deserved to be here just as much, only one thing was wrong, the killer of his sister still walked free while he was going to be hanged for a murder and theft that he had never committed.
Malik saw Jou's face twist in anger.
"Aaah!, I struck a nerve, did I not?" he grinned. "What's your name, tell me your story, I like hearing them."
"Jou." So for the lack of better things to do Jou proceeded to tell Malik all that happened to him, starting from the moment Serenity got accused to the moment he was thrown here, he told this guy everything. And when he finished his story he stared at him waiting for some kind of reaction, but the one he got was not the one he expected, Malik threw his head back and laughed.
"What exactly are you laughing at?!!!"
"You."
"Why?" Jou was puzzled.
"Because you are innocent, and you thought that you could ever kill. You are right, you could never kill, if I put you in front of your priest right now and gave you a knife, you would never sink it into his flesh, you would not have killed him."
Jou was almost going to agree but then he thought of his little sister, what was done to her, the bastard must've raped and then killed her! All the anger came back to Jou.
"You are wrong, I would make an exception for that man, I would make an exception for Alec, I would make an exception for Tea, for Tristan and for Bakura, I would put a knife through their hearts, it's their fault, they deserve to die for what they did!"
"Sure." Malik purred and Jou was not sure it he was laughing at him again or if he was agreeing with him. "Go to sleep puppy, our sentence is some time away, my sister came by yesterday, she says she was able to push my sentence back again. They execute by cells, the longer I live, the longer you live."
"Why bother, you are going to be executed eventually."
"Maybe, sleep." Malik pushed some straw Jou's way to make rough bedding out of.
The straw didn't help much, the rocks were still hard and cold and Jou could not force himself to close his eyes with this psycho here, but after a few hours, sleep took over, he was too tired and he passed out. Nightmares plagued his restless night and when he finally woke up he was just as exhausted as he was when he first went to sleep.
"I'm not going to ask you if you had a good nap there, but you better get up, my sister will be here soon."
"She comes to visit every day?" Jou asked rubbing his eyes.
"Yes."
"And she's allowed to?"
"Yes."
"Do you have more words in your vocabulary?" Jou asked irritated by the one word answers.
"Yes." Jou had to suppress a growl, this guy was so irritating, he wanted to strangle him.
Half an hour later the door opened and the guard let in a young woman. She gave Jou a glance before she embraced her brother who seemed unfazed.
"You brought me some goodies?" he seemed to be more interested in food then his sister at the moment.
"Yeah, yeah, here." She rolled her eyes and then looked at Jou. "I'm Isis, you must be Jou."
Jou nodded scowling, that accent and that tanned skin, it was unnerving him.
"You don't look like a killer."
"He's not sis, he's just an unlucky idiot." Malik grinned at the glare he was receiving from Jou seemingly satisfied that he was successfully making Jou want to strangle him and completely unfazed by the stern look his older sister was giving him.
"You could behave, for my sake." She scolded her brother but even though, Jou could see the tenderness that she held for him in her eyes, she loved this annoying brat.
"What for, I will die soon, won't I?"
"Looks like not, unfortunately. Marik will be here soon, I've got a message that he is coming, another week and you will be out of here."
Jou sulked, the real killer would be free while he would still be hanged. Well, at least he had a week to live, however this Marik was going to save Malik, Isis seemed confident in his abilities.
"You know he will probably kill me right after, right sis?"
"You deserve it, now I got to run, I'll talk to you tomorrow little bro." and she was gone with a wave of her elegant tanned hand.
"Who's Marik?" Jou looked hungrily at the food that Malik was still hungrily devouring.
"Our older brother, pray that you don't live long enough to meet him." For once Malik seemed serious and it made Jou nervous.
"Why?"
"Because, Marik is scary. He is way scarier then I could ever hope to be and if you are scared of me, you will be terrified of him."
"Whoever said I was afraid of you?!"
"You are." Malik grinned knowingly and all of a sudden Jou did not want to meet this Marik person at all.
The week gone by faster then Jou would have wished for it to. Isis came by every day, she was good company, nice and intelligent, but Jou could tell that she was not his class of people. If he saw on her street she would probably not look at him, she was beautiful, educated, smart and it seemed rich too, she was able to pay for pushing back the sentence. He was not rich and not educated, and while he was not stupid, he did not consider himself a genius. It also seemed that whoever Marik was, he was wealthier then both Malik and Isis, more powerful and it also seemed like he was the head of the family, the eldest son. It didn't appear that they had a father and Malik would not talk about it, neither would Isis, she actually seemed hurt every time Jou tried to ask so he stopped trying.
When the week was up Jou was actually shocked to find out that he had liked Malik's company too, the annoying, arrogant, egoistic and psychotic boy who shared his cell somehow made a place in Jou's heart, the hear that he didn't think he had any more.
He would never admit it and he still didn't trust Malik at all, even less now, but he was now actually glad that the guy would live. Somehow, he almost considered the psycho his friend for the past week Malik was always able to come up with the most wrong things to say that would still somehow make Jou feel better.
This was a special day, the day before Isis said that the ship that carried Marik would come this morning. Malik waited anxiously for her visit that day and so did Jou, although the visit would not bring good news for him. But that day Isis never came and despite the fact that Jou told himself he shouldn't be, he was still worried.
Malik just looked pissed of, as if it never occurred to him that something could have gone wrong, he didn't look one bit worried. 'How can he do that?' wondered Jou, this was his life that they were talking about, if something, anything went wrong with the ship or something happened to Isis, Malik was a goner, and still he was just mad, not worried at all.
"Don't you at least have the decency to be concerned, for all you know the ship could've sunk and you are going to be executed."
"You are an idiot, Marik's ships don't sink, he makes sure they are well made and he is too good of a captain to get into trouble at sea, he is here." Malik sounded so confident and matter-of-factly. Once again Jou wanted to slam his head into the wall, Marik had his own ships, was their captain and this is when Malik decided to tell him?! Apparently Jou seriously underestimated just how rich the Ishtar family was, no wonder Isis had no doubt that when Marik was here Malik would be freed no questions asked.
Jou just kept staring at Malik who had that usual grin on his face.
"Jerk." Jou turned away from him pouting, he remembered that Malik didn't tell him anything unless he asked, and even then there was no guarantee that he was not lying.
Malik only snickered, he enjoyed making Jou mad, especially since it was so easy.
That night Jou slept uneasy, he tossed and turned, but he couldn't really fall asleep well. Morning came and he didn't want to get up, he almost hoped that Isis would not come again, but when the time for her visit came so did she.
Jou almost expected her to be with someone else, but she was surprisingly alone.
"So, where's the jerk, was his ship late?" greeted her Malik. Ignoring her brother Isis nodded to Jou and gave him his portion of the goodies that she has been bringing for both of them.
"His ship was on time, he arrived yesterday morning."
"So why the hell am I still here?!!" Malik was getting dangerously pissed off.
"He thought that there was no rush getting you out, he is taking care of it now, you will be out in an hour or so."
"Why so long?!" it seemed like a few more moments and Malik would combust.
"He's taking his time." Isis grinned giving her brother a wink as she left the cell. Now Jou could fully understand why Malik has been so angry yesterday, apparently he knew that his brother would do something like that. He could be out of here yesterday in no time, but it seemed like his brother liked to 'take his time'. If this was him, Jou would be angry too, he decided.
Carefully edging away from Malik who was currently radiating anger in waves from him Jou eyed him warily, he was almost debating to scream for help when Malik shrugged and grinned proceeding to wink at the paler then usual Jou.
"How many timed have I felt the urge to strangle you, why haven't I yet?" questioned Jou rolling his eyes and shaking his head, he could never understand Malik and it didn't look like he will be trying to understand him for much longer anyways.
An hour later a guard came in and announced that Malik was to get up and follow him.
"Get out of here asshole." Jou grinned, despite all happy to see Malik leave this place, he wished he could come with him, but it didn't look like he would be going anywhere, the guard who was giving him warning looks would make sure of it.
Surprisingly Malik didn't sneer or gave a sarcastic comment, he looked at Jou with his expression unreadable and waved, then left.
'There he goes; a complete mystery.' thought Jou as he stared grimly at the cold rocks of the cell, all alone once again.
Night came and Jou went to sleep, he had cried before. Apparently he had never known just how lonely a cell can be when you are all by yourself. No wonder Isis came to visit Malik every day, you can go crazy here all by yourself!
Morning came and it brought nothing but despair, there didn't seem anything to look forward to in a day, he was all by himself and he wished now that his sentence would be faster, dragging out life like this was too painful.
Even though Jou wished that, later that day, when a guard came into his cell and told him to get up, his heart nearly stopped. Suddenly he wished to live, he wished he had more time, he wished even that he ad stayed home with Alec, anything, just not this. He hadn't expected his sentence to be so soon, was it time already?
Of course, he didn't have anyone to pay for him to push back his sentence, he was going to hang and it was going to happened tonight. Jou whimpered as he was handled roughly and led down long corridors.
The blonde was stunned when he was pushed outside and there was no crowd, no extra guards, no rope to hand him by, it seemed like a regular afternoon, what was going on?
The guard kept leading him until they were by the harbor in a small street. There, he saw three people, two of whom he recognized as Malik and Isis. As he had expected, they were dressed nicely, cleaned up and wearing enough gold to buy his entire village.
Then his eyes traveled to the last person and he froze. Malik was right, he did not want to ever meet his person. He was taller then Malik and Isis who were both taller then Jou himself, strong muscular figure, wide shoulders, tanned flawless skin.
His head was adorned in a crown of sand colored hair that stood up in devilish spikes, his eyes were outlined with black and they were such a bright burning shade of purple, so piercing that it seemed one could drown in them. There seemed to be a storm in his eyes. And his face, it looked pure evil, almost inhuman, the grin on it made him look not just scary, but terrifying.
Jou gulped as he was pushed in front of him.
"He is all yours Lord Marik, I'm out of here." The guard proceeded to exit as fast as he could and Jou couldn't blame him, right now he would rather be in his cell then facing this man, more like the devil himself then a man really.
"So you are Jou. Malik has been telling me about you, intriguing." Marik's voice purred, so smooth and deep with a heavier accent then even Seth had, so exotic. He stepped forward moving with a grace of a predator, so alluring and beautiful, he screamed danger.
Jou seemed to have forgotten how to move and how to speak at the same time, he forgot to even question why he was here.
"My little brother seems to like something about you. That fact alone is enough for me to grant you life. I paid for you, you are free now, but there are things my baby brother told me about you that make me want to get better acquainted with you." He grinned again now standing right in front of Jou and very much towering over him, as if he wasn't already intimidating enough.
"Really?" you managed to squeak and recoil from the man. It felt like being near him was suffocating, as if he was radiating the heat of hell itself, Jou wasn't sure any more is he was talking to a man or the devil.
"Yes, my brother says you were wronged, he says you want revenge. I like revenge, so here's what I'm going to do." Marik leaned in and purred into Jou's ear, he was circling the boy like a predator circling prey, Jou almost felt like he was going to pounce any moment, but his words caught the blonde's attention, he wanted revenge, now more then ever.
"Yes?"
"I can offer you your revenge. I can offer you to see your adoptive father in pain, his friend, crushed. I can let you see your so called best friends crying at your feet. The thief that had robbed you and got you thrown into prison, destroyed." Marik's hands descended on Jou's shoulders, smoldering hot, everything about this man seemed so suffocating, so burning.
Jou jumped and whirled around to face the man, he had never noticed how he had gotten behind him even though he knew that Marik was moving, had that smooth voice really intoxicated, hypnotized him so much?
Marik grinned and roughly turned Jou back around to his back was to him. Marik's arms went around Jou, long slender fingers wrapped around Jou's thin pale throat, almost gently. Jou shivered and swallowed in fear, this guy was a complete nutcase, but there was something so irresistible about that voice, he was so evil, this was like sin.
"There's more Jou, I can help you crush Seth." Jou stiffened at the name all the hatred he felt for the man flooding into his eyes. Just for a brief moment Marik's fingered tightened around Jou's throat and the boy became painfully aware of his situation, his position, the slender delicate looking hands contained crushing power.
Jou nodded unable for form much words, or even one coherent thought.
"Good, you would like that, wouldn't you?" Jou felt Marik's hot breath on his ear and he could almost feel him grin.
"Y-yes I would." He was sure of it, he would give anything to get revenge against the people who hurt him and his sister, anything was worth it to see them in the same kind of pain that he was in.
"But you know, everything comes at a price, what would you be willing to pay to get your revenge?"
"Anything!" Jou's eyes were burning with heat of anger, anger directed towards those who hurt his sister and him, somehow, Marik seemed to be fueling his anger and for the second time Jou wondered if he was talking to a man, or the devil.
"Very well, here's my price. Your revenge, anything you like done to anyone you wish in exchange for your freedom."
Jou blinked, what did that mean?
"I help you Jou, and you become my slave, my property, I do with you as I like, you do as I tell you to. I help you and you belong to me."
Jou's instinct was to say 'no way' right away, his nature rebelled against such a price, but then Serenity's beautiful face flashed in his mind and he hesitated. What was it, his freedom, or his revenge. What did he want more, avenge his sister, make everyone pay, or did he want to be free?
He looked up startled to meet with a pair of violet eyes and he didn't know what to say, anger was battling with free spirit inside of him and his fate and life were now defined by two words, yes, or no.
AN: Next chapter, find out, what will Jou's decision be. Will he says yes, get his revenge and agree to be Marik's slave, or will he say no and go free. If he goes free, will Marik pursue him, or maybe Marik will not let him go in the first place. What does the psychopath want from Jou in the first place? And if Jou says yet, find out what kind of revenge can Marik's twisted mind think up. What is Jou's life coming to? Also, next chapter find out what happened to Bakura, Ryou makes his first appearance and Jou becomes even more evil then he is in this chapter.
Review people, the more you review the faster the chapters will be coming. I actually know what happens in this story so this story has a plot, but I want to be sure that people read it, if no one reviews for me, I won't bother to keep writing it, after all, I'm not doing this for myself, I know what happens in the story. So please, please press the button and review.
Also, any ideas, corrections or thoughts are very welcome and appreciated. But even if you just want to say hi, please do, I love feedback and I want to know that my efforts are appreciated.
Well, till next time!
-Cyanide-