Interpretations of the Night

Chapter One

Rating; PG 14- R

Comments; Please read the author's notes at the end before beginning this story ... it might offer some insight :)

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"I will come tonight."

"No, you won't." I sighed, falling back into my royal bed. "You always say that, but it is never true. You never come. You never will."

"My light ... please have faith." The voice beckoned on.

"I've lost my faith. You know that."

"Then I wish you well for the rest of the night. I foresee your restlessness to come."

"I do not believe in your false predictions."









How I wish I had of listened to that voice now. It was right- I couldn't sleep. Not for the life of me. It was as though every sound I heard; every footstep, every cricket ... by Ra, even the flapping of a moth wing could keep me alert and on-edge. I was becoming seriously annoyed with the occurrences happening in my dreams as of lately. This voice ... had always comforted me before. Now it speaks of coming to claim me ... to have me as its own. 'I will come for you in your darkest hour...' it says. Over and over, it taunts me.

I think I'm starting to lose my mind.



Eighteen. Simply eighteen. Ruling a kingdom. Who would've ever though it. However, with the passing of the title of Pharaoh, I was more than surprised. My father, who had been a ruler said to be like no other, had fallen deathly ill. Our medics predicted his days to be shortly numbered. Both he and my mother had decided to pass on his title to me- one who would be more capable of ruling such a place at the current time. It was too simple to say I was shocked. I didn't expect such drastic measures to be taken so quickly, though I didn't question my fathers' orders in the least ...

I haven't been sleeping well lately, not only because of these dreams ... there appears to be chaos in Egypt. The people want freedom; they know I am more lenient than my father ... but if I allow their requests to be fulfilled, such as clean water for all, every peasant with a full stomach at night before they rest ... the kingdom would crumble. And it would be my fault. And everyone would blame me.



Guards came crashing through the doors in an instant. "Pharaoh! Peasants are trying to break into the wheat storage facilities! What do you wish to be done?"

I sighed, rolling my eyes. Shouldn't it have already been obvious? "Send out the guards after them, then! If there are any who continue to persist, then imprison them. I'll see to those individuals later. Now, leave me."

"As you wish, my Lord."

And with that, they left in a hurry.



It was things like this I didn't understand. I never heard my father dealing with simple problems like this ever. It's almost like since he has fallen ill, the royal guards have had their intelligence diminished to that of a small child's. Or ... maybe they're trying to get me to slip up ... maybe they're trying to get me to make a mistake. I can never be certain anymore. The High Priest, Seto, always seemed to want something more than he already has. Unfortunately the only thing he didn't have at this point was the title of Pharaoh of all Egypt. Who was I to suspect?

A quiet knock at the doors startled me. Now what? "What is it?"

The small figure of a maiden stepped in slowly. "My Pharaoh?"

I sighed, relaxing. "Yes, Anzu?"

"I do apologize ... I know it's early, but I heard the guards in here not too long ago and I thought you were still awake ... I have something for you. It was left at the front of the palace, but the guards reported seeing no one." She took out what appeared to be a bundle of cloths from behind her back.

I walked over to her, examining it. "Has anyone else looked under the cloths yet?"

"No, my Pharaoh."

I held my breath for a moment. Could this be a trick? If it was, Anzu was none the wiser. Her innocent eyes spoke the world to me.

"My Pharaoh, please pardon my need, but may I ask that you take this array of cloths? It weighs heavily in my arms."

"I apologize, Anzu. Here," I took it from her, but when I did I realized something that frightened me a little. It felt incredibly light to me.

"No, my Pharaoh. I apologize for my frail body. I am weak .."

I gave her a small kiss on her cheek. "You know that's not true, Anzu. I thank you for delivering this to me. But as for now, I wish to be alone."

"Of course." She bowed and left, blushing like a mad woman. I had to admit out of all the maidens in the royal palace, she was my most favoured. Her sweet smile, her gentle eyes. Anyone would think I had taken an interest in her, but that was not close to the case. She was a great friend to me in my times of need, and I was forever thankful for it. But nothing more. Needless to say, that didn't mean she wasn't a little bit more spoiled than some of the other maidens ...



I refocused my attention on the ball of rags. What on earth could this be? Maybe some kind of poison to kill me. Upon that thought, I tossed the clump across the room from me. Suddenly, a sharp pain took over my head, pulsating continuous waves of pure hurt through me. I let out a cry, ripping off my headpiece and clutching my head.

'Open it, Hikari. I sent it for you. I'll be seeing you soon.' I gasped, falling to my knees. The pain had instantly left with the last words, but just the impact of it all ... I had never felt pain like that before. I turned to the cloths. Though I trusted the voice that kept speaking to me ... I wondered if I was able to trust its intentions. Well ... it wasn't like I felt I had much left to live for at this moment. I knelt down in front of it, as the doors came flying open again.

"Pharaoh! We heard cries, are you alright?!"

"Leave me!" I yelled, seething with anger. "I'll have you heads removed if you can't think to knock before entering one more time this night!" This anger ... where on earth was it coming from?

I looked down in front of me where now, the cloths were unravelled. Inside of them, lay numerous pieces of gold in many different shapes and sizes. One in particular caught my attention. It looked like an eye. After a closer examination, I realized it was a sort of puzzle. One I was determined to finish. Though I had little sleep in my system, once I saw those puzzle pieces I refused to do anything else but complete it, no matter how long it took.



Morning quickly came and I was still hard at work with the puzzle. Anzu came in at high noon with some food. "Pharaoh? The council missed you at the meeting this morning. We were worried. Is everything alright?"

"Yes, Anzu. Now please leave. I'm busy."

"I brought you some food ... you look as though you haven't slept at all ... it would do you some good to-"

"Leave, now!" I hollered, shooting a deadly glare in her direction. She seemed to be on the verge of tears as she left.

"As you wish, Pharaoh."

The scary part was ... I didn't care.



The afternoon came and went, and soon I was looking at the beautiful sun setting from where I sat in my room. My balcony doors had been left open all night and day, so the room was painted with the beautifully rich colors of the sunset. Sighing, I looked at the puzzle. It was almost complete. Just a few more pieces. It had taken on a triangular shape, almost like the pyramids here in Egypt. The way that the pieces fit together also amazed me. It was like a maze within a puzzle. This concept intrigued me.

"Pharaoh, Pharaoh!" High Priest Seto came running in. "We have a few situations on our hands."

"It's nothing you can't handle, I'm sure, Seto. Now leave me."

"It's your father, Pharaoh."

My soul became breathless. Dear Ra, no.



"You will rule well, my son. The council will help you. They're your friends and you can trust them. They will ... help you." His last breath spoke those words to me. I sit here now watching his motionless body. His spirit has left- I can no longer sense it within him. My heart sinks deeper.

Tonight couldn't get worse. I wasn't able to find Anzu anywhere in the castle; she was no doubt frightened of me now. But I would never hurt her ... she should know that. I decided I would go talk with my mother. She no doubt needed some consoling as much as I did. Unfortunately I knew her soul was much more weaker than mine ... I was afraid she'd already slipped farther into the depression she had become trapped in when my father first became ill. I've always though of my parents roles as my mother being my fathers spirit, and he being her strength. Now that he was gone, I was worried for her.

As I opened the door to their chambers, I saw her standing on the edge of her balcony. Her arms stretched out to the sides, her long hair flowing in the night's cool breeze. She must've heard the door open, for she looked in my direction. "I'm sorry." She turned her head back around, and I heard her whisper, "But I want to fly on my wings now ..." I turned away as she let herself fall. Seconds later I heard a sickening sound I wish to never hear again in all the days that I live. The screams emanating from the people below brought pain to my ears, and I returned to my chambers with a completely numb feeling.

Crystal tears burned in my eyes now as I stand before the dungeon. Two days have passed and I have yet to get a minute worth of sleep.

"Pharaoh, maybe it would be best for you to sleep some more. I feel you are in no condition to be here now ..."

I pushed Ryou away from me, swatting his worried hand from my shoulder. "I'll say whether am I fit or not to be somewhere, Ryou. Open the doors. I wish to see these insubordinate peasants who tried to steal our wheat."

He did as I asked, seeing as arguing with me could result in his death at the point in time. I was in no mood to negotiate anything.



The pyramid puzzle hung at my chest as I stared at all the peasants behind bars. "So, do you all find yourselves deserving of something that does not belong to you?"

"We deserve to be fed, Pharaoh! It is your duty to keep your people alive and well!" One of them yelled.

"So that's what you think, do you?" I grabbed his shirt from my side of the bars. "Well, we all feel as though we deserve things. Unfortunately for you, I'm in a position of power and, well, you aren't. So whatever it is that I decide, you'll just have to deal with it, now won't you?" I threw him back to the ground. I glanced in Bakura's direction. "Kill them all. Hang them, burn them, do as you please."

His conniving grin grew wide. "With pleasure, my Pharaoh."

Ryou seemed shocked with my words. As I was leaving, he took hold of my forearm. "Pharaoh, there's one more person you need to see. He was wandering in the gardens last night before being caught by the guards. He's in an isolated cell at the end of this hall. But be careful, please Pharaoh."

My head began pounding with a headache. "Alright."



After taking the keys from Ryou, I walked down the hall slowly. With my lack of sleep and this drilling headache, I was finding it hard to focus. I came around the corner to the last barred cell. A figure lay in the corner, crimson red eyes meeting with mine instantly.

"Still on your feet? You have amazing willpower." He stood up and met me eye-to-eye. A look of shock must've been plastered on my face, for this person ... "It feels great to finally see you in person, Pharaoh Yugi."



Everything turned black as I felt my strength give out.





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*waves* This is my first stab at YuGiOh fic. I was reading some the other day and decided I wanted to do my own little twisted one. As you can all probably tell, I'm waving off the stereotypical portrayal of Yami as Pharaoh and changing it to Yugi. Why? Because I wanted to do something different. I'm not a huge YuGiOh expert, so there might be a few things that don't add up, and for that I apologize. I'm not really concerned with the small technicalities, but more so with where this story is actually going. As for naming, We have Ryou and Marik for the Hikari's, and Bakura and Malik for the yami's. As for Yugi and Yami, I think that's more than apparent. As for the characters ... I've made Yugi out of character for obvious reasons. They'll probably all be a little out of character ... so expect it. :)

Anyways I hope you all like this so far, and I'll be posting again soon. Please leave with a review on your way out!



~*Elemental Angel*~