Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh, the cast members, or the characters from Forbidden Memories.
AnimeFan: Awe...my calm words to all reviewers out there...
...YAGAMI AND SETNA WILL MEET WHEN I WANT THEM TO MEET! THAT MEANS MAYBE IN THE SIXTH OR SEVENTH CHAPTER! OK!!
AnimeFan: Awe...now I feel much better. I've answered that question a million times but people seem to not see, read, or pay attention to what I've said. ^^' Ok, answers for the reviewers!!
Reviewers Comments/Questions...
Fani90 - Don't worry, Bakura will show up pretty soon. I already know how I'll introduce him into this, but it will be when Setna is 17 so it will be sometime in the next two or three chapters. K? Kale is Bakura, Seth is Seto's evil Uncle, and Asus is Pegasus. ^^'
Kauly123 - I hate people for dubbing our beautiful Yugioh! I hope they won't, after all they do have Dragon Ball Z and Gundam Wing out there. I'd hate to miss out on this whole war thing. And yes! Seto is not evil! Just misunderstood! I knew it! ^____^
Chibi Seto - Glad you liked the picture of Seto in his past outfit. ^^ That's where I got a smidgen of this idea for this story.
Silver Mist4 - Silver, read the big bold 36 font size letters above to answer your question. ^^'
Jadej.j - Thank you! Today's chapter is probably by far the cutest, plus it's as funny as this story is going to get.
Kael Kalespel - Thank you! It's people like you that make me happy and hyper...or maybe its the orange soda? O.o
Callisto Firestarter - Glad you loved the chapter. And don't kill Seto! If you do, I won't be able to continue this story! Can't continue a story without the actors. Then again, if I used hair grow stuff, some gel, and blue contacts I could get Honda to substitute. BUT DO YOU REALLY WANT THAT!?!?!?! Oo'
AnimeFan: Everything that happens in this story sort of goes with a story I'm planning to write. So consider this story a prequel to another I'm gonna write. ^^
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Chapter Four: Jono's Birthday Present
And then they told me to take care and stay strong at heart!! Setna blurted out the last of his tale, gasping for some air.
Jono nodded, though he was blinking and struggling to process this news that had been fired at him at eighty miles per minute. Setna realized this and blushed, mentally making a note to calm down and talk slower next time so people would understand him.
Sooo...the gods Set and Ra appeared before you, gave you that ankh which is actually the Sennen Key and can open things plus use white magic, and you're Set's son...Did I get it all?
Don't forget!! Set and Ra are lovers!!
Oh yeah! Can't forget that last bit. That's the most important discovery today, Jono smiled warmly down at the happy brunette boy.
Are you making fun of me? Setna scowled up at the blonde.
Jono burst into laughter and pulled the young prince closer to him, giving him the most evil and age old sign of affection...the noogie. This messed the boy's turban and hair up, and Setna pouted and went about fixing it as they continued walking down the path back to the tall pillar with the praying priests. Seeing him fussing over how he looked made the older boy grin. Setna scowled even more at the grinning captain and stuck his tongue out childishly.
Both of them laughed at this and continued past the pillar, taking the road that led due east, opposite the Temple of Set. The Temple of Ra was a brilliant sight to see. It stood towering into the sky, pearly white and gold shimmering in mystifying glory. The priests around this temple were clothed in white robes, and were much kinder and more respectful to the two youths.
Setna looked all around him as they entered the bright and warm entrance hall of the temple. It was simply amazing to him how Ra's temple and Set's temple were so different. He thought back to the two gods that had stood before him and a part of him deep down knew the Temple of Set was being dishonored with such ugly and evil feeling people and architecture. When he returned home and became the Pharaoh of Upper Egypt he would build one temple for both Set and Ra, so that they may dwell together inside it and share in both of their glory.
"All right, this way. And don't touch anything, k?" Jono lectured and led him through a door in the temple.
They entered a room with narrow walking space, the long wall directly in front of them lined with cabinets, shelves, and bookcases of odd looking trinkets. Baskets and pots were set against some of the cabinets, filled with fine looking dust or black beady things Setna recognized as beetle eggs. It reminded him of a hallway and at the same time a library filled with books as well as magical objects. Jono walked a bit more into the hallway like room while Setna hesitated behind him and glanced about in awe and fear.
"HEY!! Simon! You ol' kook, where the hell are you!" Jono yelled out.
Silence was all that answered back.
"SIMON!!!!"
Still no answer. Jono growled in frustration and looked at Setna, shrugging and at a loss, "The crazy old geezer is probably running around naked and drunk again, scaring the skirts off the priestesses of the temple of the Moon Goddess, Nepythes."
Setna giggled at the funny mental image he got. He allowed himself to take a bolder step and look at the objects up on the shelves while Jono continued to head to the back of the room calling for the High Priest, Simon. He studied a funny looking cup that reflected his image upside down back at him. He shifted eyes over and furled his brow, studying an orb sitting on a pedestal. A small man with blue skin, wearing white robes and holding a staff was waving his arms up and down at him.
Setna blinked and frowned in puzzlement, "Jono! There's a funny looking man trapped up in that orb!"
Jono came walking over to him and looked to where Setna was pointing, "What do you mean a funny looking ma---SIMON! How the hell did you get yourself in there you batty old goose!?"
Setna giggled as Jono picked the orb up and brought it down in front of his face. Simon was waving his arms even more frantically then before, his words coming out in nothing but squeaks since he was so tiny. The blonde frowned down at the orb and started shaking it madly. He stopped and frowned even more. Simon continued to cuss him out inside the orb, now looking quite shaken and off-balance.
"Damnit...I don't know how to get you out! I guess you'll have to wait while I go get Seth," Jono sighed and handed Setna the orb, "Hold this. I'll be back."
Setna took the orb and blinked down at Simon. He was shaking his head madly and trying to say something to Jono. Now Setna, being a child and all, didn't know any better when it came to magic, but he did know what happens when you drop something made of glass onto the marble floor of a palace. So, he raised the orb above his head and threw it down on the ground hard.
...CRASH!!!
Suddenly he and Jono where staring down at a fully sized Simon Muran sitting on his butt on the floor. Simon blinked and looked up at them in momentary confusion. Finally it dawned on him that he was free and he pulled himself to his feet, bending over slightly cause of old age but propping his weight onto the staff.
"Thank you, young man," Simon smiled at Setna, then turned to glare at Jono, "Who were you calling a batty old goose again, Captain Jonouchi?"
Jono straightened and looked slightly nervous, "Awe...I was just kidding. You know me, Simon, always the joker. Ah hah..."
"How'd you get stuck in that orb, Mr. High Priest?" Setna asked curiously, taking care to be polite.
"MR! Why...that makes me feel so old! Just call me Simon," Simon smiled, seemingly unaware of the fact that he was nearing the extremely old age of 67. "Well, to answer your question, my boy, I was sealed up in their by that damn ignorant youth, Seth. He thinks he's so hot just because he's the High Priest of Set at such a young age! Humph..."
Simon began mumbling angrily and walked down to the back of the room, which was hidden from sight by all the cluttered books and magical items. Setna cocked his head to the side, staring curiously after him. Jono was right, Simon seemed better then Seth.
"Well, as off the rocker as the old kook is, he's a good guy and an excellent Priest of Ra. You'll be ok with him. I, however, gotta go and attend to my own affairs as the Captain of the Royal Guards. Take care of yourself, Setna. I'll be back tonight to pick you up, k!?" Jono assured the younger boy, smiling and ruffling his hair.
Setna smiled up at Jono and nodded, giving the blonde a hug. Jono blinked in surprise again, but chuckled and hugged him back, "All right, hurry up. Simon knows you're here to learn so get going. And be on your best behavior!"
"Ok...bye niisan..." Setna waved, then gasped and covered his mouth with a faint blush.
Jono blinked down at him, then burst into laughter, "Big brother, eh? I'm flattered."
Seto stared up at him shyly, "You're not angry...are you?"
"Angry? Cause you called me your big brother? Hell no, why would that make me angry!?" Jono smiled and ruffled his hair, "If you really wanna know, I wouldn't mind having you for a little brother."
"Really! So I can call you niisan whenever I want!"
"Of course, you can. But...right now I really have to get going and you really need to get aquatinted with your master," Jono instructed and gave the brunette one more smile before he left out the door.
Setna watched as the older boy left out the door. He sighed when Jono was gone, smiling happily, before cautiously made his way to the back of the room. Weird noises were coming from behind the very back bookshelf. Setna looked to both sides, but couldn't find a way around the bookshelf in front of him. The noise got louder and he climbed up onto the shelves, grasping to some books to peek through a crack. One of the book lowered under his weight and suddenly the bookshelf twisted around so that Setna's back was to the noise as he peeked out into the section of the room he had just been in.
He slowly got down off the books and turned around to find himself in another part of the big room. A large bookcase was on the west wall, filled with books of varying sizes. A long table was against the northern wall, bottles and flasks piled on it along with parchment and quills. The east wall was bare except for three large arches that opened the room up to a garden like the one Setna had seen outside of Jono's window. In the very middle of the section of this room was a large cauldron, an alter with an open book resting on it, and Simon. Setna watched curiously as Simon wrote something into the book before pouring a brown syrupy liquid out of a bottle and into the cauldron.
"Well, are you going to stand there all day boy or are you going to come over here and help me?" Simon questioned softly, not so much as looking back at the young boy.
Setna jumped and rushed over next to Simon, chancing a curious glance into the cauldron. Whatever was in there was brown and icy, plus it actually smelled yummy. Simon noticed his interest in the concoction and poured some into a goblet, offering it to him.
"Take it and drink it. Then tell me what you think."
Setna nodded and obediently drank the goblet. His blue eyes widened considerably and he stared down into the cauldron, then back up at Simon, "It's...delicious! What is this? Some kind of potion that turns bad tasting things into good tasting things? A potion that is actually poisonous but disguised to be pleasant to the taste buds?? A new flavor to make taking medicines easier!?!?"
Simon chuckled and shook his head, "No. I call it, Chocolate Milk. I was thinking that between wine and water, we the people of Egypt have very little in beverage choice. So I came up with this beverage. I'm thinking of trying something with some strawberries I discovered while talking to a traveling merchant in the town square a few days ago..."
"Oh..." Setna looked at Simon skeptically. Was this guy really a great High Priest...maybe Jono had been right about Simon being a few runes short of a scripture.
"So...I see you and Jono are getting along quite well. Stubborn ass boy, that one. Seems he's already rubbing off on you. However, he has a good heart. Truthfully, I'm not all that surprised that he's taken you in and grown fond of you. You both have a lot in common, you know."
Setna blinked up at Simon curiously, "What do you mean by that?"
Simon shrugged and waved his hand, the book and the bottles of ingredients went floating gently back to their places in the cabinets and bookshelf. The 'Chocolate Milk' vanished to leave a sparkling surface in the cauldron, "You mean you don't know? Jono was once a slave just like you, a water boy ironically. He had run away from his home in Greece. Supposedly his father had been really abusive and he figured any life other then one with his father was better then anything. Yeah, came here and didn't fair to well. He was always smart mouthing the guards, getting beaten by them, and then fighting back. One day young Prince Yagami was walking by his father's side when he saw Jono going at it with another guard. He was so impressed with the boy's strong will and determination that he had Jono come to his chambers. The next thing we all knew, Jono was living in the castle as the apprentice to the late Captain and strutting around with the title 'best friend' of the prince's. Though others are still against it, I support Yagami's decision. Jono can be a brilliant kid...and an excellent Captain."
"Oh...he hadn't told me that..." Setna thought this over. So that was why Jono looked so un-egyptian like. He was from Greece...where ever that was.
"Well now, what's your name?" Simon asked him, turning to face him for once.
Setna was still lost in thought and didn't think before he spoke, "Kaito...GAH! I mean...Setna! Setna's my name..."
Simon narrowed his eyes at the youth, "I doubt that. I was suspicious of you when I first heard about what you did for Jono, but having seen you I now know perfectly well that you're Prince Kaito of the Higher Kingdom. After all, I have been to Higher Egypt before and I have seen you before, though you might not remember seeing me."
Setna shook fearfully and stared down at his feet, "Please! I don't mean anything bad for being here and disguising myself!"
"I know that, silly. I can see you have a pure heart," Simon scoffed like he was offended the boy even had thought of such a thing, "Mind telling me why a prince like you gave up your comfy home in the palace for a slave's life though, if you are not planning to overthrow Pharaoh Yagami?"
Setna stared down at his hands and fidgeted nervously. Taking a deep breath, he told Simon his story. Everything...how his father treated him, what it had been like, and why he had run away. When he was done he looked silently up at Simon, who was rubbing his chin and nodding thoughtfully.
"I see, so you and Jono have even more in common then I had assumed. Well, don't worry. I won't say anything or send you back to your father."
Setna smiled and jumped Simon then, hugging him around the waist, "OH THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!"
"Well, isn't this sweet? I think another moment of this fluffiness and I just might throw up," Seth's cold voice interrupted the happy moment for Seto, awkward moment for Simon who wasn't hugged everyday.
Setna let go of Simon and scowled up at Seth. Seth frowned at this, his nephew looked to much like that damn blonde at the moment then he would have liked. Simon stiffened and stepped between Seth and Setna.
"What the hell are YOU doing here in my temple again!? I told you I don't want you in here so you can steal my ideas and stuff!!" Simon howled furiously and swung his staff at the brunette in a threatening manner.
Seth gave the old man an unenthusiastic look and effortlessly dodged the staff, "For you're information, Simon, I am here to retrieve you. The 'Pharaoh' opened up a box that just so happens to have a demon in it and now needs us both to come and banish the thing back to the underworld before it eats anymore people."
"Well, you didn't have to come in here to tell me that! You could have told one of the other priests or knocked!!" Simon continued to howl and started shoving Seth out through the east wall with the bookshelf. The wall swung open much like the other bookshelf Setna had stumbled through.
"Setna, why don't you read some of these books here on this bookshelf till Jono comes to pick you up. We'll continue your studies tomorrow," Simon spoke to him and winked, before shoving Seth the rest of the way out, the wall sealing back into place.
Setna sighed and wondered if all the walls in Simon's room did that twisting thing. He walked over to the north wall and pressed against it, but it didn't swing open or twist. Shrugging it off, he walked over to the bookshelf and stared up at all the books. Choosing the first one he laid his hand on, Setna pulled it out and sat down at a chair to start reading it. After five minutes he finished the book and put it back, taking another and reading that one. After two hours of this, he had read half of the books in the very tall bookshelf. Setna set the already finished book into the shelf and reached for a new one but stopped. It was labeled 'Mastery of the Dark Arts for Beginners.' Setna frowned and skipped that one, heading to a new book with defensive spells, healer charms, enchantments, and other magical spells along those lines.
"Huh...the Spirit Spell?" Setna whispered curiously and read it over to himself. He smiled when he finished reading it. Perfect! Today was Jono's birthday and this would make a great present to thank him for everything he had done.
Setna put the book down and went about collecting the ingredients he would need for the spell. Dragon heart-string, vivip lungs, volcanic ash, beetle eggs, and other assorted items... He followed the instructions in the book, mixing and grinding the ingredients together into a fine dark red dust. Then he stood facing the eastern wall and began chanting the given spell. He pictured the duel monster he was creating in his mind. He saw its long neck, its broad wings, its powerful claws...
*"Extollo bestia consisto ignis!"
Setna threw the dust into the air in front of him and concentrated on the image in his head. Suddenly the dust began to form an outline, then it began to melt and solidify into an enormous creature. Setna opened his eyes and stared up into the eyes of the dragon he had just made. Its eyes were a fiery red, its armor as black as the beetle eggs, its neck slender, and its wings strong and large enough to take it into the air. Setna stared up at the duel monster he had created in awe, truly at a loss for words. He had done it, he had created his very first duel monster!
"Your name is Red Eyes Black Dragon, and you are a gift for my niisan Jono. You understand?" Setna asked.
REBD nodded its head and relaxed into a sitting position, sort of looking like a reclining cat with a hawk-like head, wings, and snakelike body. Setna gapped in awe, dumbfounded. Not only was this his first self-made duel monster, but it was also the first duel monster he had seen in real life.
"Setna? Where are you? Are you back in that one part of this room!?" Jono's voice called from behind the twisting bookshelf.
Setna jumped and quickly threw a black blanket that had been thrown on some pots over the REBD. This succeeded in fully covering the dragon's...head. Oh well, he couldn't do much else. As he turned to face the southern part of the room the bookshelf twisted around and Jono hopped off, turning and smiling when he spotted the younger boy.
"So, you were back here! Why didn't you answer when I called? Where's the old man?" Jono questioned and looked around, for some reason not noticing the really big dragon Setna was trying to hide behind him.
"Seth came and they went to help the Pharaoh. Something about a demon I think..." Setna answered truthfully with a shrug.
"Oh. Setna...what's that thing behind you?" Jono asked, pointing to the blanket covered dragon.
Setna smiled and pulled off the blanket, hopping aside, "Ta da!"
Jono blinked at the dragon and the REBD blinked down at the blonde. Both just stared without saying a thing. Setna was getting impatient and couldn't tell whether his niisan was thrilled or scared shitless.
"Well? What do you think, niisan?"
Jono looked down at him and smiled awkwardly, "I've never seen anything like this. What's its name and what's it doing here?"
"Its name is Red Eyes Black Dragon. I made him for you! He's your birthday present," Setna stated and waited for Jono's reaction.
"Wha? For me? Setna you didn't have to go and do something for my birthday...geez," Jono smiled brightly with a blush, scratching the back of his head.
Setna shook his head, "No. I wanted to, to thank you for being so nice."
Jono just smiled again and pulled Setna against him, ruffling the boy's chocolate colored hair affectionately.
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AnimeFan: ^___^ Another cutesy chapter. Next chapter we'll get deeper into the story and YES Setna will finally get to meet Pharaoh Yagami. Happy? ^^'
Quick note: I've decided that any verbally spoken spells in my story shall be done in Latin and I also will have some Japanese words. Latin words will have one * in front of them. Then at the end of the chapter I'll give you their meaning.
Meaning...
Extollo bestia consisto ignis - (Latin) "Raise up beast of fire!"
Niisan - (Japanese) big brother
AnimeFan: Well, hope you all enjoyed the chapter. I'll get the next one up soon but I'm not rushing myself otherwise it will turn out bad. ^^