Chapter 13:Ancient Past
Alex woke with a jerk from her dream and realized she was back in her own bed. Soon after, she also realized that there was someone else behind her, holding her around the waist. She looked at the hand whose fingers were entwined with her own, 'Yugi?' She turned around to face him, but at the same time hoping not to wake him. She looked at his face, which was so innocent when sleeping . . . until she looked down. Yugi wasn't wearing a shirt! She didn't even want to know what Amunet was doing last night with her reunion with Yami. 'You don't really think that I would do that, would you Alex?' Amunet asked from her mind. Alex made an unsure face and focused back on Yugi, 'Who said it was you, Amunet? Was that dream for real?' Alex thought.
'Dream?'
The night before, after Alex had said her last words to Amunet, she fell into a deep sleep and began to dream.
~*~Dream~*~
She knew she couldn't get back to sleep, so she might as well wake all the rest of the way up. Alex felt around for her bedside table to turn off her alarm clock before it began screeching. With no luck in finding the clock, and not wanting to open her eyes just yet, she leaned over the edge of the bed, falling over the side. Alex sat underneath a sheet, on the floor rubbing her backside. She removed the sheet that fell on her, "Stupid sheets." Alex stopped and listened again to her voice. 'That's my voice, but it isn't English . . . it's Egyptian. Why am I speaking in Egyptian tongue?' Alex took a look around the room and saw small gold statues of gods bordering each corner, expensive looking material was framing the windows and the bed that she was on only a few minutes ago could only be described as a thing of majesty.
"This can't be right," Alex slowly walked toward a large sheet of gold that served perfectly for a yellow-tinted mirror. She stepped toward it and looked at herself, she was Amunet! Alex touched her face and ran her fingers through her hair. She watched as the figure of Amunet followed and copied her every move. "By the Gods!" she heard herself say, 'When do I ever say that?'
From the doorway, she heard a voice and the brush off feet against the clay colored tiles on the floor. Slowly she turned her head toward the voice to face a slightly older woman in front of her, "Excuse me?"
Alex saw the woman's mouth move as the Egyptian words flowing from it slowly transformed into English. "I was wondering if you were awake yet m' lady. Your showing is at noon time and it is almost two hours till."
"My showing?"
The young woman smiled and gave a little giggle, "Yes, don't you remember? The prince is to choose his bride today. And you, bring the daughter of a rich man, are going to be one of the girls presented to him, Amunet."
'The young prince? . . . Yami! He should be able to tell me what the heck is going on here,' Alex stood in thought and then looked at the woman. Something was familiar about the woman . . . . something shone in her eyes that Alex remembered from each and everyday of her life. Then it hit her, 'Mother . . .' Alex shook her head to get herself back into reality.
"Are you feeling well m' lady?"
"I am fine, Oni," Alex checked the recesses of her mind to find how she knew the girl's name.
"I will set up for your bath then," Oni bowed and left down the hall.
Alex grabbed the side of her head, 'No wonder mother and I were so close, she was my assigned servant in my past- er . . . now.'
She stepped toward a piece of furniture that seemed to resemble a dresser and began to look for something to wear. She felt her excitement growing, but why? 'It's probably just Amunet's mind. And that's another thing, why can't I feel her presence?'
Alex shrugged her shoulders and felt her wrist to adjust the bracelet, but it wasn't there. "The Gods! Where is the bracelet?" She looked around the room franticly looking for the bracelet. As she was looking under her bed she realized something, 'If I'm in ancient Egypt . . . maybe this is before Amunet even received the bracelet.' Alex let out a sigh of relief and sat back on the bed touching the clothes that she laid out a few minutes earlier.
Soon enough Oni had returned from down the hall, "Amunet! You should let me get your garments. That is my duty."
Alex nodded and followed her down the hall toward the bathing quarters. Oni set her clothing to the side and put Alex behind a small screen. "Hurry and get in the bath, we have to get you ready," Oni almost immediately pulled her back out and into the bath. Alex was happy that it had happened so fast because she was embarrassed to be in front of another person naked. Oni washed fairly quickly and even faster got Alex into her new, clean garments, "Well now that is done, let's get you painted."
"Yea . . . painting," Alex followed her to another room where there were a few bowls of black paint. "Sit," Oni pushed Alex into a chair and turned to a bowl to get ready to start.
"You know Amunet. I'm kind of sad that you will not be accompanying me to the dueling fields today. I have great fun when you are with me, even if you are in disguise. I mean I would be too, being the daughter of a rich man and all. Well, that didn't take long did it?" Oni stepped up to Alex with a mirror and her jaw dropped when she saw her reflection. She looked great as an Egyptian . . . or at least Amunet did. "I'm thing that you like what I did."
"Very much, Oni. Thank you."
"Your father is expecting you down the hall, so do not take much longer."
"All right, Oni," Alex stared at her reflection. Her eyes were lined in the black paint. Lines followed fro the edges of her eyes, giving off a spectacular design. Alex touched the small golden headdress on her head and decided to go.
***
Once reaching the end of the hall, Alex spotted a tall man staring out a window. He turned around holding the golden compass and saw Alex, "It's about time you got up sleepy head."
"Father," Alex breathed the word with great admiration, he was gone back in her real time . . . and now out of no where, he was back. Alex ran up to him and gave him a great hug.
"Well, what was that for?"
"I just felt like. . . I needed a hug from a great man." He smiled at her and stood back to get a full picture of his daughter.
"Radiant as always. I know that you will be chosen. Oh, I have a present for this day." He snapped for one of his servants and Alex saw one coming toward them with a box. "Take this," he opened the box and placed an object on her wrist, "as an earliy wedding gift."
"Father . . ." Alex looked at her wrist where the golden bracelet shown back at her, "I haven't even been shown . . ."
"But even if the prince has the brain the size of a pea and doesn't choose you, you will be married someday. Whoever that is, is already very lucky to have the destiny you have you as a wife." Alex smiled, gave her father another hug and left out the front of their home.
There had to be at least fifty girls surrounding the place. Four men soon came from the great palace doors. All the girls stood in line as the men looked over the girls, dismissing most, but keeping a select few. Alex followed suit and stood in line with the other girls. The men stepped closer with each girl and Alex's nerves grew tense when they reached her after dismissing the girl beside her. "Lift your head," one of the men told her. She did as she was told and saw a small balcony hanging over head. On the balcony she could see an outline of a young man over looking the girls. The young man soon turned and walked back into the palace.
The men were still looking at the gold piece that was around Alex's neck. On the gold item there were hieroglyphics that told of her parents and her position in the society. "You're the daughter of Ontial. You are chosen so far, step inside please," Alex bowed, as the girls before her had, and walked into the palace.
She joined eight other girls inside and joined yet another line of girls. Soon after one other girl joined them the doors behind them shut closed. "Congratulations," the ten girls snapped their heads forward to see a woman standing before them. She was wearing along the same type of dress/cloak that the rest of them were wearing, but she was wearing a golden tiara that gave away her position, 'The queen.' The woman looked over each on of the girls and starting at the very end began to ask each one the same question, "Why do you wish to marry my son?" Then it was Alex's turn to answer, 'Better make it good.'
"Because I hope to have a husband who could live up to his father's name and be at least half a great a leader," she kept her head down, trying to show humbleness. The queen seemed to like her answer and walked to the last girl. "Now, for you all to meet my son, Prince Yami," the queen waved her hand toward the curtain behind the thrones where a young man materialized.
Alex looked up to see something she didn't expect, 'That isn't Yami, that's Yugi . . . I mean that's Yami's body, but- I feel Yugi's presence.' Around his neck Alex could see the puzzle shine.
Her mind went back to a time in Amunet's past when she was at the dueling grounds, and she met a shy boy near one of the empty dueling grounds. He held a deck of cards and smiled at her. He was in the clothing of a commoner. She decided to challenge him to a duel. He accepted and from that duel on, they clicked . . . and their feelings grew. Yami would sneak out just as she did.
Yami looked at each girl, sighing as if this was forced to look at each girl, didn't he want to choose a bride? His eyes finally captured her and they both recognized it was the other. It might have been their past selves or their minds but both of their eyes had the look as if they were saying, 'Please hold me.' He had to look away and see the other girl.
Out of no where there was a huge explosion from another part of the palace. Yugi grabbed a hold of Alex and held her underneath his body, protecting her from any debris. The other girls ran for cover as the queen went underneath an overhang near by. Soon the aftermath of the blast stopped and Yugi helped Alex up from the floor. The queen saw Yugi's reaction and cleared her throat. Yugi looked at Alex one last time and walked back behind the thrones. "I have made my decision for my son," the queen stated.
Alex's eyes opened huge, "I have chosen . . ."
'Why doesn't the prince decide his heart?'
"Hisia daughter of Kiate. The wedding is in two night falls."
'What?! Is this why you had so much pain, Amunet? You two loved each other from the first time you met in the dueling fields, but you couldn't be together . . .'
All the girls were dismissed and Alex was the most hesitant to leave the palace. As soon as she exited the door, she heard a whistle and looked up. It was Yugi; he crumpled a piece of what looked like paper and threw it to her. He ran back inside hearing his mother call for him only after glancing down at Alex. Alex quickly grabbed the paper and read it to herself:
Meet me by the main fountain in the square at nightfall . . . I know that my mother didn't pick you as my wife, but I have missed you more then I can express in a note. I don't know what is going on, but I keep having flashes. I hope that together we can figure this out. Meet me there at nightfall, Alex. Please . . .
***
At nightfall Alex followed the note's instructions and left for the fountain. Alex had come in common clothing, except for the gold bracelet that she knew better to take off. She walked through the crowd to find her way to the main fountain. She soon reached the fountain and sat down on one of the cement blocks. "I thought that you would come," she heard a voice say from behind her.
"You know I wouldn't be able to stay away for long, even if your mother tried to stop me," Alex turned her head and saw Yugi's eyes shinging from beneath his hood. She jumped off the edge and into his arms, "By the gods I've missed you."
"Same here. Look Alex, the dark magic is becoming more and more common among the palace. And today it hit very hard," Yugi took his eyes away from hers and stared out into the crowd.
"What happened?"
"The pharaoh, my father, is dead. He was killed trying to stop on of the dark sages who tried to take control. That was the big blast that we felt earlier. I am to become Pharaoh tomorrow."
"I'm so sorry."
Yugi smiled at down at her weakly, "Don't worry I was able to seal him away, but others will come and that means that I will not have a wedding for quite a while."
"Now I know how it all happened. All of it . . . how they fell in love, why you're pharaoh so early in life . . ."
"This isn't that early to become pharaoh," he smiled and hugged her again, "So are you coming to the ceremony tomorrow?"
"Of course," Alex went on her tip toes and kissed him in front of the fountain.
After that moment both Alex and Yugi started to experience flashes of different times in Yugi and Amunet's past. Some flashes were of Amunet and Yami escaping their homes to sneak some time together. Other flashes were of the dark sages trying to bring forth their monsters of great destruction against Yami. Yami was always fighting against them fighting valiantly and prevailing over all. Then all at one moment, time slowed and Alex was waking up in another bed . . . belonging to Yami. She tried to figure out how she got there, and searched through Amunet's thoughts of the night before. She blushed and got dressed in her robes which were on the ground.
Something was off and Alex couldn't shake the feeling that there was something wrong and Yami was in trouble. She felt herself being pulled toward the main hall where the thrones were placed. She found Yugi being held down by a dark sage, struggling underneath the weight. 'Yugi,' Alex looked on helpless to help him. "Pharaoh! Smash the puzzle. The dark sages must not receive its power!" someone yelled from beyond the throne. The puzzle broke with a bright light and Alex saw Yugi disappear before her eyes. Then she felt herself being sucked into another dimension against her will, "Yugi!"
Alex opened her eyes with a jolt as she felt herself hit the soft bed.