Ooh lala!! I'm really happy! I just read all these feel-good stories and left crazy reviews, so now I'm going to try to mellow out and write some of this depression confession, tragedy, you know, the usual. ^-^
THANK YOU TO:
Nadia Kaiba-Elf Jedi: A review within practically the first hour it was posted! YAAY! I like the smiley! ^___^
Hutchy: Thx! Keep going with your fics! They rock!
elsiey: omg! Thank you so much! *grin* It had better snow tonight so I can spend all day reading! (looks outside) -_- of course it's NOT! *sniff*
Destiny's Dragon: glad to be of service! ^-^ YAY!!
And to Darkpixie4 for putting me on your favorites! (but for some strange reason didn't review…? Oh well, thx anyway! ^-^)
Chapter 12 (hmm…# of eggs in a carton! lol!)
Yugi sat beneath the tall stone dragon, rays of sun dancing off the puzzle, sending flashes of golden light across the chamber. As he sat there, he thought for a moment that he felt something below his conscious awareness, almost like a draft within his mind, but he ignored it, deciding instead to enjoy the landscape before him. The temple had huge uncovered windows, making it easy to gaze out over the country. The Nile flowed steadily, small boats moving across it like lilies blowing on the surface of a pond. The number of people on the roads was dwindling, but still a fair amount hurried through the streets. The soft sigh of the wind invited sleep, and tugged on Yugi's eyelids as he struggled to stay awake. 'I hate always being taken by surprise,' he thought, his eyes drooping.
There was a soft but insistent tap on his shoulder. "AHHHH!" Yugi jumped, and turned around, what he saw making his blood freeze. Next to him, crouched down on the ground, was Yami, but this was not the one Yugi had grown to fear and pity. This was the Yami who had helped Yugi in the palace, the one he had known before the night in the desert. Yugi pulled his arm away from Yami's touch carefully, his muscles tensed, ready to flee. "What are you doing?" he asked softly, suspicion lacing his words.
Yami lowered his eyes. "Yugi," he murmured, "Gomen nasai[1]. For everything."
Yugi looked at the man before him. After everything he had said and done he had come back to apologize? It was too strange to comprehend. "Why the sudden change of mind?" he asked, a slight chill in his words.
Yami looked back up, his eyes brimming with regret. "Yugi," he said, "I saw what happened, and I can give no better explanation through words than that."
And Yugi understood. The feeling in the back of his mind had been Yami entering his soul room and finding his memory of the night Keturah had been kidnapped. "Why wouldn't you believe me before?" he asked, unable to keep the hurt from sounding in his voice.
Yami almost winced at the pain coming from the pair of amethyst orbs in front of him. "I am sorry," he said again. "I am quick to anger but slow to forgive. When you both disappeared I couldn't think straight, so I jumped to conclusions. And once I decide something is true in my mind, it is hard to change that opinion."
"I understand," said Yugi softly. "I forgive things easily, even when they are as harsh as this. That may be my weakness," he said, almost to himself. Glancing up, something in Yami's hands caught his eye. "Yami," he said, all thoughts that he had tried to kill him evaporating, "that's the other half of the puzzle!" Yugi lifted his own up to show him. Yami looked between the two halves.
"Should we put them together?" he asked.
"I don't see why not," said Yugi, bouncing up and down excitedly. Each one took their half of the puzzle in their hand, and slowly pushed it toward the other until they met with a soft click. Yugi blinked. "Nothing happened!" he said disappointedly. Yami took the puzzle and turned it around until the front faced him, and then he saw what was wrong.
"Yugi," he said. "Look at this." He pointed to a side of the pyramid, and in the center was a hole, the shape of an upside down pyramid with extra points coming from two of the sides, and two identical prongs from the top. "Did you use all the pieces?" Yami asked curiously.
Yugi nodded, confusion written all over his small face. "Did you?"
"Of course!" Yami replied, as though for him to do such a thing was outrageous. The two sat together on the floor of the temple each silently going through his own musings. After several moments Yami got to his feet. "Come with me," he said, and left the temple.
Yugi got to his feet carefully. What if Yami was just trying to lure him out of the protection of the temple? 'I'll risk it,' Yugi thought to himself, and stepped out into the open hall.
When they reached the main part of the palace, Yami pulled a boy in a blue runner's uniform aside. "Find High Priest Seto and tell him I require his audience in the throne room," he said quickly. The boy nodded, clearly startled at being addressed by the pharaoh personally. No sooner had he run off, than Yami was moving again, this time in the direction of the throne room. When they reached it, Yami climbed the few steps to the raised podium and sank into his throne. Yugi stood awkwardly on the lower level, unsure of what to do with himself. Yami glanced up and noticed him still standing uncomfortably.
"Well come sit down," he said, a trace of laughter in his voice as he gestured to some cushions on the floor.
As Yugi settled himself on the ground, the High Priest Seto swept into the hall, bowing at Yami's feet. "You called for me pharaoh?" he asked, his blue eyes flicking to the boy on the ground. "You caught the traitor then? Shall I call the executioner." He turned to the slaves standing at the door.
"That will not be necessary," Yami cut in. Seto turned back from the door his eyes wide.
"Not necessary?" he repeated.
Yami sighed. "This is difficult for me to say," he said, "even to you, but I was mistaken about the boy."
Seto's jaw dropped, his aloof image with it. "Pharaoh," he said, recovering from the surprise, "how can you be sure?"
"I saw Yugi's memory of the night they disappeared," Yami explained, "there is no proof more trustworthy that I can tell."
Seto began to reply but was cut off by the loud clatter of another person entering the room. Yugi's face broke into a wide grin as he saw Keturah's disheveled form spring through the doorway. After surveying the three men before her, and realizing the situation, her brown face mirrored Yugi's. She walked up to Yami and put her arm over his shoulder and kissed him on the cheek. He looked up at her startled that she could forgive him so quickly. "You found the truth," she said smiling. "And you believed it."
Seto rolled his eyes, but concealed it well, turning his face as though the sun was bothering him. Yami stood up from the throne, his power wrapped around him like a cloak. "I am the morning star," he said, his deep voice ringing through the room. "Witnessed by those before me, I hereby pardon those crimes to which this boy stands accused, wiping clean the slate of his life, and may there be no more strife between us. So it shall be written, so it shall be done." The sun lit the room, illuminating the four figures within it. Yami looked up behind him at Keturah. "It was not good of you to run off as you did," he scolded, but his eyes laughed. She only shook her head, he clear laugh ringing out, proclaiming the day's joy.
Keenen marched into the room. Upon seeing Yugi he stopped pointing at the small boy. "He-he…?"
Seto looked at Yami exasperatedly. "I'll explain then shall I?" he asked before grabbing the advisor by the arm and dragging him from the room.
"Yugi," Keturah said, drawing the attention away from the two departing figures, "Our wedding is in three days. I have already asked you to attend and you excepted, but I think we need to find you some decent things to wear."
Yugi beamed at her. "I'd like that very much!" he said springing to his feet. As they laughed, a final figure entered the room, shrouded in a pale cream gown.
"Isis!" Yami exclaimed, starting toward her.
She held up a hand, and opened her eyes. "My Pharaoh," she said speaking softly. "You have passed the first trial, but now another approaches, one more trying and terrible than any before, and this one will claim one of you forever."
[1] Gomen nasai= I'm (terribly) sorry in Japanese of course!
Oh I am EVIL! ^_^ I'll try to get chapter 13 up before the weekend so I can do 14 over it. I'm a slave driver to myself. @_@ lol! Hope you like this addition, R&R plz! I'll sing to whoever leaves the 30th! ^__________^ bye! ~Ente
