Jaid: *comes in cautiously* Okay, before you all start the yelling and throwing of dangerous items, I must say that I am very, very sorry. Life threw me for a loop and it was hard to do anything for a while. But you'll all be glad to know that I figured out a great ending for this story; with the possibility of it turning out to be a small series. And Chapter 11 and 12 are in the works so I will be updating sooner.
Anyway, thanks for the continued support, especially to Dr. Vorlon who took the time to e-mail me during my long absence and ask what the heck was going on (although the doctor was very polite about it. ^__^)
Without further ado: Chapter 10.
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"Bakura?"
The boy blinked and looked at his older brother, Wadjet. The taller young man put a hand on his shoulder.
"Are you all right?" the man asked.
"Yes, fine." Ryou answered distractedly. In reality he wasn't, but he couldn't say that kind of thing to Wadjet. Standing, the boy walked to where he could see the female side of the room. Rei was no where to be seen in the crowd of people who were eating and merry-making. Ryou felt his heart sink a little.
He knew that things might be a bit awkward since this afternoon, but he had hoped to at least see her. He turned away and walked reluctantly back to his seat.
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Mokuba opened his eyes and resisted an urge to groan. His eye lids felt heavy and everything was blurry. He blinked and realized that he was in a room, on a bed. Next to him, Rebecca stirred. Mokuba turned on his side to face her.
"Becca?" he whispered. The girl's eyes fluttered and then they opened. She blinked at him.
"Mokuba?"
"Hi."
She stretched, accidentally doffing him in the head. "Where are we?"
"I dunno." Mokuba sat up experimentally. "Do you smell something?"
"Yeah. Smells good." Becca sat up next to him. "So, do you think we're with the good guys or bad guys?"
"I dunno." Mokuba hopped off the bed. Rebecca followed.
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Isis blinked and opened her eyes. She was alone in a room. A dark room. Sitting up cautiously, she tried to locate anything familiar. This was not Shadi's house; nor was it her family's.
Isis felt faded and weak, and she decided that the best thing to do was to lie down. Closing her eyes, she remembered her nightmares and shivered. 'Shadi…I wish you were here with me…'
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Malik looked rather pleased. The teenagers' bodies were easy to control. Without souls to overcome, they were little better than robots as is. Bakura watched Malik with no expression. He supposed there was some pleasure in what the Egyptian boy was doing, but was the point of controlling people who had no control over themselves anyway?
The thief pushed away from the wall he had been leaning against. "What does Qenamun have planned?"
"He didn't tell me." Malik admitted, sounding slightly disgruntled. Bakura couldn't help but smirk.
"Oh really?" the white-haired man raised an eyebrow. Malik sent him a warning glare. Bakura shrugged it off, and headed for the exit.
"Where are you going?" Malik asked.
"Out." Was Bakura's brief answer.
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Yugi started awake. He wasn't sure why, and looked around the room with a bleary mind. There was a noise; something being knocked over and the boy sat up.
"Who's there?"
There was no answer. Yugi felt scared all of a sudden. Ankhkare's earlier warnings echoed in his head and the boy bit his cheek. Standing up cautiously, Yugi walked a few paces into the darkness.
"Meow…"
Yugi jumped and whirled around. A cat stared up at him, its eyes glowing a strange gold color in the darkness. Yugi relaxed and smiled, crouching down to hold a hand out to it. The cat trotted up, sniffed his hand, then purred. Yugi picked the animal up.
"You startled me." He admitted. "I thought you might be dangerous; but that was silly, wasn't it?"
The cat mewled in agreement, rubbing her head against his shoulder. Yugi smiled again and turned.
Only to be hit in the head hard enough to see stars. Stumbling back, he fell. The cat hissed and jumped from his arms.
Another blow caught Yugi on the other side of the head. Completely disoriented, the boy crawled backwards before falling limp. He couldn't seem to make his body obey any signals. The third blow sent him crashing into unconsciousness.
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Mokuba and Rebecca peered around the door way cautiously. "Katya!" Mokuba cried.
The black-haired girl turned, blinking her gray eyes. "You both are awake."
Mokuba ran up to her, relieved at finding a familiar face. "Do you know where my big brother is?"
Katya bit her lip. "No, I'm sorry, Mokuba." She looked at the two of them. "But what were the two of you doing in Luxor? Don't tell me you walked all the way from the excavation site?"
Both nodded. Katya shook her head.
"That was a little dangerous, don't you think?"
"We had too!" Rebecca exclaimed. "Grandpa and Mr. Bakura were acting weird."
"How do you mean?" Katya asked.
"They didn't seem to notice that Big brother and the others were gone." Mokuba explained. "They just seemed to care about their dig."
"I don't know about Mr. Bakura, but I know Grandpapa would at least be worried about Yugi." Rebecca said, her eyes suddenly filling up with tears.
Katya hugged the blonde girl. "Don't worry; we're going to solve this." She pulled away. "Now, are you both hungry?"
"Yes!" was the immediate reply.
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Shadi and Yami had been going through the town of Luxor, looking for any sort of hint to Isis' whereabouts. Shadi knew many of the shopkeepers and older men; but information had been scarce.
As Shadi exited a coffee shop, Yami straightened away from the wall. "Any luck?" he asked.
"No." Shadi said. "And no offense, but I do not think your presence is helping."
Yami gave a bleak smile. "No, I suppose not."
Shadi shot him a look. That was an admission of weakness he'd never expected to hear. The spirit wasn't looking at him, however, but at the teeming masses of people. "Seems almost impossible, doesn't it?"
"Hm." Shadi nodded. "But somewhere, somebody saw her."
"Yes, I-" Yami suddenly broke off, with a groan of pain. Shadi looked at him. Yami was holding his head and staggering.
Quickly putting his arm around Yami's shoulders and moving him to a less crowded place, Shadi asked, "What is it?"
"I don't know, just…" Yami winced again, leaning against the wall of an alleyway and sinking down to the ground. "It's Yugi…I can barely sense him, then he's gone again…"
Yami clenched his teeth as the pain in his head exploded even more, making him see stars. Suddenly, he went limp. Shadi knelt in front of him and touched his shoulder.
"Yami!" he hissed. "Yami?"
The pharaoh was still and silent. It seemed as if his form diminished and his face became softer, almost younger. Confused, Shadi drew back.
Large violet eyes blinked open. "Shadi…?" a softer, younger voice asked. "Where am I?"
Shadi swallowed. "You are in Luxor, Egypt, Yugi." He said softly. "Welcome back."
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Qenamun's eyes shot open, jolting him from the trance he had been in. He'd lost something; something important. It had been enough to shock him from the magical spell he had been casting, leaving him feeling sick and disoriented. Mind magic was a powerful tool, but if done wrong could hurt the user more.
The former priest shakily got to his feet. He would rest and then try to divine just what had gone wrong…
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Bakura walked along the Nile river, watching the few boats along its surface. He marveled at how little it had changed. The mid-morning sun was just as warm as it had been in the past and the Nile sparkled and shone; the greenery of its banks belying the lack of life that surrounded it.
Sitting down, the tomb robber mused. He wasn't sure what had caused this feeling of restlessness, but he was tired of waiting. Bakura wanted the Millennium Items now.
'But why?' an annoying part of his subconscious asked. Bakura quickly squashed it; power. That was the only reason. Power was the only thing he sought now; everything else didn't matter.
With out reason, Rei's blank face and eyes appeared in his mind and then quickly became Bener's. Clenching a fist, the thief shoved them both from his mind. He had not thought of the noblewoman for over a millennia; not until Ryou's chance meeting with Rei had he begun to remember what she had made him feel.
'So what does it matter?' he thought. 'She's gone.'
'Forever…'
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Katya sat in the courtyard of Shadi's home, watching as Mokuba and Rebecca chased each other around in some game. They seemed to have recovered quite nicely. Katya was glad that they had a few moments peace.
As for her, she was confused, tired and depressed. This was just supposed to be a simple trip to Egypt and looked how it had turned out. Blinking back tears that had suddenly sprung up, she looked down.
The courtyard door opened and Shadi appeared. The kids stopped chasing each other and Katya stood up. "Did you find who you were looking for?"
"No, not really." Shadi answered, then stepped aside. Katya looked at the short young man behind him, blinked and then said, "Yugi?"
Yugi gave a slightly wan smile. "Hi."
Katya ran forward and tackled him in a hug; she was only about as tall as he was. "Are you okay?" she asked.
"Yeah…" Yugi looked a little nervous. He probably hadn't expected such an enthusiastic welcome from Katya, but she was so glad just to see somebody she knew once again.
"Yugi, where's Tristan? You know where he is right?" Katya looked at him pleadingly. Yugi sweatdropped.
"This is going to take a lot of explaining…" he said.
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Mai sighed as she twirled a lotus blossom in her hands. Tara sat nearby, wistfully watching wear Duke was talking with some other young men. Mai couldn't help but smile, but she reached over and pinched Tara's leg. The girl gave a slight yelp and glared accusingly at Mai.
"You keep staring at him like that and all those guys are going to know that a slave girl is enamored with a prince." Mai reminded her. Tara stuck her tongue out, then quickly remembered her place.
Footsteps sounded behind them and they turned as Tea walked up. With a sigh, she sat down heavily.
"What's wrong with you?" Mai asked.
"You haven't heard?" Tea said glumly. Both women shook their heads.
"Yugi…was attacked last night and hit in the head several times; rather violently. He's still not awake." Tea stated, staring at the pool the girls were seated in front of. Mai looked down as well.
"Somebody's really after the little guy, huh?"
"No kidding." Tea gave a short bark of laughter. "We might as well be back in our time for all the safety it's afforded him."
"Buck up, kiddo." Mai said. "He'll pull through. Little Yugi doesn't have as hard a head as Joey, but I think it'd take more to permanently damage him."
Tea broke out a small smile. "Thanks." She said softly.
"No problem, hon. As long as it gets you out of whatever slump." Mai said, then stood. "It's too damn hot out here; I'm going inside."
Tara quickly got up to follow her, giving Tea a wink as she passed.
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Not many notes here; just to let you know that during AE parties, the room was split in half; one side for females, the other for males. Of course, as the night wore on and people got more, er, friendly, the lines got a bit blurred…
Also, as cliché as a coffee shop sounds, they do exist in Middle Eastern countries, although I'm sure they are very different from ours. Arabs in particular like their coffee thick and sweet; served in small cups I believe.
Reviewer Response:
Indigo – I'm glad you liked it! Out of curiosity, what sort of job do you have?
Dr. Vorlon - *sheepish grin* Ah…sorry about the long wait? I really do feel bad about it; I'll try and make sure that updates are much, much sooner.
Coco strawberry – Okay, you get a hug, girl! ^__^ I am so happy you like the Ryou/Rei paring, even though I'm putting them through the wringer lately (and it just gets worse next chapter).
Dragon Spirits – A broomstick? No way, cool! Lol, ^__~. Oh, yes, I would agree with your friend on that point. After the last YGO eppys, I find myself having a massive fangirl crush on both Ryou and Bakura…which is strange cause I don't really get those often…
Queen of Games – I was so sad to learn there's only about six books in that series; I wanted it to go on! Good historical fiction set in Ancient Egypt is hard to find; I'm glad you enjoyed the series! Lord Meren is a cool guy. ^___^
Aura Black Chan – Thanks for the compliments and the congratulations! Hope you like this chapter.
