I did say somewhere that I was going to put this story on hold, but I couldn't resist after getting so many reviews. *sighs* ^_^ I love you people... in a non-sick way...

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Chapter Three

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The next morning, Rahotep walked down the main hallway of the palace and walked to the doors of the throne room. Two guards were standing there. He tensed. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea… He immediately slapped himself for being so silly. I'm Rahotep, prince of Upper Egypt. I am not going to back down from a silly admittance. I will get up there and get it over with. Then I can have Ryou all to myself for the rest of the day.

Encouraged by the last thought, he smiled confidently and marched right up to the guards. To his surprise, they looked at him and said, "The pharaoh has been waiting for you."

One eyebrow raised in slight confusion, Rahotep pushed the doors open and stepped inside, where the two pharaohs were talking to each other and sharing a bowl of fruit. The Upper Egyptian pharaoh looked up. "Hello, Rahotep. I was wondering when you'd get here. I have a question to ask you."

Rahotep blinked a couple of times and nodded. "Fire away."

"You've been a little less grouchy lately. Not a single one of my guards have died yet today, and you haven't done your daily curses. You've been smiling a lot, and staring off into space. What is making you so happy?"

Rahotep winced. Had his emotions been that obvious? "@#$%^&*)@#$%^&*). There's my daily stream of curses." He walked over to a guard and slit his throat. "There's the dead guard. Happy?"

His father shook his head, chuckling slightly. "Any man can tell you're doing these things half-heartedly. Please tell me what's going on."

Sighing in defeat, Rahotep ran a hand through his hair and studied the pool of blood that was forming from the dead guard. "Father, that was why I came here. I was going to tell you…" that was when his courage gave way. "…tell…you…"

"Tell me what?" His father was obviously in a good mood; he was smiling and asking nicely, which didn't usually happen when he was angry.

"Well…" Twiddle of thumbs. "Well… I found someone to love…"

"Really now? Is she a princess?" the pharaoh asked eagerly.

"Well, no… he's a slave boy." When he saw the alarm in his father's eyes, Rahotep hastened to correct his mistake. "But he's very nice, honest, caring, and oh so cuuuuuute~" his eyes cast a faraway look, and both pharaohs were quite alarmed in his change of personality.

"But Rahotep, is this reasonable? I thought you despised young men," the Upper Egyptian pharaoh asked. "You remember your fiancée, do you?"

Rahotep bit his lip. He had somewhat expected s question like that. "Father, I've already decided. I do not believe there is possibly anyone who can be as precious as him. Please, father." He kneeled down in the traditional manner.

The Upper Egyptian pharaoh was beginning to get troubled by the situation, but nodded. "Alright… I'll allow you to spend time with him. But only if you promise never to curse anymore of your fiancées."

Rahotep nodded, got up in the most civilized way he could manage at the moment, and left the room. Once the doors slammed shut, he jumped up in the air and cheered. "Made it! Hahahahaha!"

He was so happy that he didn't even notice Priestess Isis slip by.

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"My pharaoh."

Both pharaohs looked up, but they figured that the Lower Egyptian pharaoh was being addressed, as it was Priestess Isis. "What is it?" The Lower Egyptian pharaoh asked. He was usually a lot more cheerful than the pharaoh of Upper Egypt.

"My pharaoh, I carry bad news. Your son Ryou has had his dark magic charm taken away and is vulnerable to his birthday curse, which is today." Priestess Isis bowed. "I expect you'll know what to do." She left.

The Lower Egyptian pharaoh put his head in his palm and started crying. The other pharaoh started to try to calm him down. "It will be alright, Yugi. Don't worry."

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Rahotep excitedly ran to Ryou's house. "Ryou! Are you there?"

Ryou poked his head out and grinned. "Yeah! Come in!"

Both of them went inside the house and sat down on the couch. "What do you want to do today?" Ryou asked.

"Oh, well, I don't really know," Rahotep answered. "I just wanted to see you."

Ryou's grin widened. "Really? Wow, I'm flattered. But I'm not sure what to do."

Rahotep shrugged.

"Uh, hey," Ryou said. Rahotep eyed him. "What?" he asked gently, hoping he didn't sound too rough.

"What's that glow? Over there…" Ryou pointed to a spot on Rahotep's shirt, which indeed had started glowing.

The prince smiled, glad to have found something interesting to show his Ryou. He took the Ring off and showed it to Ryou. "It's this. I don't know why it's glowing, though. Here, you can hold it."

Ryou definitely looked excited. His eyes widened, and he giggled lightly in pleasure as he watched the light on the Ring.  All of a sudden, though, his giggles died down. "What are the needles doing?"

Rahotep stopped smiling and looked at the Ring again. Every single one of the needles were pointing to Ryou, and after a minute or so, he could feel tugging from the Ring, as if it was trying to break free from his grasp.

Being too astonished to hold on, it slipped out of Rahotep's hand, and to his horror, it punctured Ryou in as many places as it could. One needle on his left shoulder, another on his right, two near his neck, and the last one just over his heart. Blood oozed out of every single punctured point. The last thing Rahotep heard Ryou say was, "Sorry… I didn't mean to stain your beautiful ring…" and he collapsed.

"Ryou?" Rahotep inched closer to Ryou and yanked the Ring out of him. The bleeding stopped, and amazingly, healed, but Ryou did not get back up. "Ryou? Ryou?"

Right then, he remembered something. "It's been exactly sixteen years since the engagement…"

It hit him like a ton of camel dung. "Ryou is my fiancée…"

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Back at the palace, the two pharaohs were still sitting in the throne room, playing senet (an ancient Egyptian board game), when they heard a loud wail.

Pharaoh Yugi was the first to stand up. "Yami! What was that?!?"

The Upper Egyptian pharaoh stood up next. "I'm not sure, but it sounded like Rahotep!"

Pharaoh Yugi faced a few of the guards. "Go follow the direction of that wail, and tell me what you find. Bring it to me if you must!" The guards nodded and ran out of the palace as fast as they could, tracing the direction of the wail with the help of a little magic.

When they traced down the house it came from, they rushed inside and was shocked to find their prince, Rahotep, inside. He was crying a lot, and seemed to be holding something.

"My prince! What are you doing here?" One of the guards asked frantically.

Rahotep looked at him, and he backed away. There was a very dangerous look in his teary eyes; they were filled with sadness, longing, regret, and… something the guards did not recognize very well, for it was so scarcely seen in Egypt… love…

"It's my Ryou… he's dying…" he sobbed, wiping away some of his tears. "…and it's all my fault…"

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Whoa! Got through a lot of the story in such a short chapter! Geez!

Yeah, the retired pharaohs were Yugi and Yami. Please don't kill me, but it adds sort of a twist! Anyway, we still haven't lost Ryou or Bakura yet because if they were already pharaohs, they wouldn't get to marry each other into pharaoh-hood! (if that's even a word!)

Please review, and please don't kill me (ducks into a corner)