*His Father's Son*

   The next few weeks in the palace went by rather uneventful. As usual Yami spent his days in the throne room, and now that it was finished, the temple to Amun. Seto was around the palace more often now then before the temple ceremony; he had many meetings with the council to attend to.

   Athena spent her days not only with Anzu, but every so often she would hang out with Malik. Anzu would wonder where her friend was running off to, but Athena never really told her. She enjoyed being in Malik's company, he had a wonderful sense of humor, and there was never a boring moment when she was with him. In fact, she planned on introducing Anzu and Malik on day, she was sure that they would hit it off.

   Still, Athena wished that more of her time could be spent with Yami, but what they lacked during the day they sure made up for at night.

Today was a day much like any other. Athena started her morning by saying her good-byes to Yami. Then she slipped on a simple linen dress and made her way down the hallways to Anzu's room.

   When she arrived, she knocked on the simple wooden door, much less extravagant then Yami's massive chamber doors. Upon entering she found Anzu playing a game of Senat with her grandmother.

   "Hey Athena!" Anzu exclaimed when she saw the dark haired girl entering the room.

   "Hi Anzu, hi Bener." Athena waved to Bener as she walked over to the wooden chair beside Anzu's bed and sat down.

   "We're just finishing up, I'll be ready in a minuet." Anzu said from the floor where she and Bener had their game set up.

   "Ok."

   Anzu picked up her pawn and made her move.

   "Ha! Beat that grandma!" Anzu cried out extremely pleased with her previous move.

   Without saying a word Bener threw the sticks that would determine what move she would make. She smiled shrewdly as she picked up her pawn and knocked Anzu's off the board with one swift movement.

   Anzu sat and stared in disbelief.

   "How did you…I was so…Uhh!" Anzu gave up trying to find and explanation for why she lost.

   "Anzu dear, I've been playing this game ever since I was a child. You will never beat me." Bener said with a hint of pride as she got up from the floor with a little bit of difficulty. "Well I have to get going, the palace isn't going to clean itself. Although, that would be nice." She added wishfully. "You two have a nice day. And Anzu, you have some work to do so I don't want you to waist your whole day doing nothing."

   "Yes grandma." Anzu said morosely.

Bener walked out of the room, leaving the two girls alone.

   "So, what do you want to do today?" Athena asked as she stood up from the chair.

   "Umm. Do you want to go watch the palace dancers practice?"

   "Sure, sounds fun. Maybe I can learn some new moves." Athena said affably.

   "Yea, but you heard my grandma, 'I don't want you to waist your whole day doing nothing'," She said mockingly. "So you'll just have to get along without me for the rest of the day. You can go hang out with this mystery person that you're not telling me about."

   "He's not a mystery person." Athena corrected her.

   "Oh, so it's a he?" Anzu teased.

   "Yes, its Malik."

   "Malik?" Anzu looked puzzled.

   "Yea, the blonde guy, he's Yami's best friend."

   "Oh. I don't think I've ever seen him." Anzu lifted her eyes up trying to think, she remembered the name, but she had never met him.

   "Yea, you probably haven't seen him, he usually keeps to his room." Athena told her.

   "Well what do you guys do when you hang out?" She sounded quite curious.

   "Not much."

Anzu eyed her as if to say 'yea right.'

   "Well, we talk."

   "About??" Anzu pushed her on.

   "Oh, I don't know, different things, nothing special." Athena said as she shrugged her shoulders.

   "Well, what was he like when he was a kid? Does he have any funny childhood memories?" She inquired.

   "Actually, I don't know. He doesn't talk about his childhood, he never mentions how he and Yami met. I just assume that they've been here all their lives hanging out and havin' fun."

   "That's not it Athena." Anzu lowered her head, and then brought her gaze back up to meet Athena's. Athena looked t her with unwavering attention.

   "What is it?" She questioned.

   "Right before you came to the palace to live, Malik came back."

   "Back from where. Why wasn't he here?"

   "I don't know where he was, all's I know is that when I came to work here, Malik wasn't here. My grandmother has been working in the service of the Pharaoh ever since she was young, she told me that she knew Malik before he left the palace, but she doesn't say anything else. I think she knows something that she's not telling me. But I don't know much about him, I've never met him. The only things I can tell you is what my grandma told me."

   "Oh." Was her simple answer. Something inside of Athena desperately wanted to know more about Malik. She wanted to find out about his past. So she decided that today after Anzu had to leave, she would find him, and talk to him about it.

   "Ok, enough about Malik, are you ready to go?" Anzu questioned.

   "Huh? Oh, yea."

   Together, they walked out of the room and made their way to the courtyard where the dancers were practicing.

* * *

Sometime later, much to the dismay of Anzu, Bener had burst into the courtyard, in a rather bad mood. She grabbed Anzu by the ear and started to pull her away, yelling at her for being late and not getting her work done. It was evening now and Bener had told her that she wasn't going to sleep until all the work was done.

   Athena, feeling guilty, offered to help, but Bener immediately said no. She went on to say that it was Anzu's fault for not coming in earlier. So with Anzu yelping in pain, and Bener ranting, the two left the courtyard.

   Athena stood there for the longest time, until it started to get dark, before she remembered what she wanted to do. So swiftly walking out of the courtyard, she made her way to exactly where she knew Malik would be.

   She knew where his room was, because a couple weeks ago, well, Yami and her, they had heard some things. However, she had never been in his room. Arriving at his room, she hesitated before she knocked.

   "Who is it?" Came the voice from inside.

   "Its Athena." She called back. She heard footsteps coming closer to the door, and then it swung open. Malik beamed at her as he motioned for her to come in.

   She did so, as she gazed around his room. It was slightly smaller then Yami's, but it was no less decorative.

   "What brings you here? You didn't actually come to see me did you?" He asked jokingly.

   "Actually I did." She said quietly as she walked over to his bed and sat down. She would have rather sat in a chair and not on his bed, but she noticed that he didn't have one.

   With refinement, the blonde beauty walked over to the bed, but he did not sit down.

   Athena glanced at him; never until this moment did she realize how absolutely stunning Malik was. From his perfectly tanned skin, and his lean muscular body, to his gorgeous face with deep purple eyes. She swallowed hard and turned her face in another direction, she couldn't believe she was thinking about him like that.

   "What is it? You seem kind of distant tonight." His creamy voice cut right through her, interrupting her thoughts.

   "Oh, um, earlier today I was talking to Anzu-"

   "Anzu? Who's she?" He asked.

   "Just a friend of mine. Anyway when I was talking to her, she said something about you not living here all the time."

   "She's right, but how did she know that?" He questioned with curiosity, as he sat down on the edge of the bed.

   "Her grandmother is Bener, she says she knew you before you left the palace."

   "Bener has a granddaughter? I didn't know that. But yea, I've known Bener ever since I was little."

   "But why did you leave? Where did you go?" She asked him, scooting a little bit closer.

   "Do you swear to the Gods that you won't tell Yami that I told you this?" He asked, sounding a little worried, which wasn't usual for Malik. Most of the time he was never serious, but Athena could tell that he was being dead serious now.

   "Yes I swear."

   "Ok, well I left Thebes when I was seven. I went to Athens, in Greece." He started.

   "But why? Why would you leave Egypt when you were so young? Did your parents like to travel?"

   "No I went alone." He said calmly.

   "What!? When you were seven?"

   "Well I wasn't completely alone, I had Bakura with me." He added.

   "Malik, you're not answering me. Why did you go?" She badgered him.

   "Because Yami's father killed my father!" He blurted out before he could stop himself, "And I was in danger of being killed as well if I didn't leave."

   "By Ra, Malik I had no idea. You mean to tell me that he…he killed your dad?"

   Malik just nodded his head solemnly; his amethyst eyes started to show signs of tears.

   "Why would he do such a thing? I remember how horrible Akhenaten was, even though I was young. I remember him killing all the priests of…" Her voice trailed off as she saw the grief stricken face of Malik turn to her as if to wordlessly tell her.

   "Your father…he was a priest?" She asked.

Malik only nodded his head again,

   "He was the high priest of Amun, he wasn't just killed, he was tortured, by Akhenaten himself." That was partially true, but it wasn't Akhenaten that tortured his father, it was Nefrititi. But Malik didn't feel like bringing her into it, that would give away to many of Yami's secrets. Something that Malik swore to Yami he would never do.

   "Malik, I'm so sorry." She said softly as she placed a comforting hand on his. He looked up at her, and smiled weekly.

   "Don't be. I think Yami is more troubled by it then I am."

   "Well it sure doesn't seem like it. Why is he always so mean to you?"

   "Well, I can be a bit of a nuisance sometimes. I think that Yami is just trying to straighten me up, sometimes I think he gets really worried about me. He just doesn't want to show it." Then he looked at her, he was trying to drop a hint that Yami does care, he's just not the best at showing it. "You know, Yami has had a lot of difficulty in his past, and it has…well, it has effected him." He stopped himself before he said too much.

   "It seems to me like Yami doesn't have any feelings." She said sadly, referring to the fact that he didn't love her.

   "Well, he's the Pharaoh, he was taught not to show any emotions." Malik said in Yami's defense.

   "Yea, well he's doing a good job at it then." She said kind of harshly. Athena glanced back up at Malik, she felt so bad for him, and all that he went through. Even though she loved Yami with all her heart, something inside of her hated him, hated him for being so bitter towards Malik. As for what she could see, Malik was a nice man, a bit over the top sometimes, but nice. And whenever she was around the two, all she heard come out of Yami's mouth was threats to kill him.

   "How can you put up with it?" She asked him.

   "With what?"

   "The way he talks to you, you know, all the threats."

   "He doesn't mean anything by it. Believe me, that's just Yami. But sometimes I do feel as if I'm a scapegoat, like someone for him to vent out all his anger on." Malik hung his head a little, as he moved a little closer. Athena too, moved closer to him.

   He glanced over at her. 'By Ra, she's beautiful.' He thought. And before Malik could stop himself, he moved in on her, and clasped his lips on hers.

   Athena was hesitant at first, slightly shocked at Malik's sudden assault on her lips. But slowly she closed her eyes, and began to kiss him back. He was good, his lips were so soft.

   Even though the kiss was good, Athena didn't feel what she felt when Yami kissed her. Her heart didn't start to speed up, and she didn't melt into Malik's arms as he held her, like she did with Yami. But still, it was enjoyable. She moaned a little into Malik's mouth as she tangled her fingers into his golden locks.

   Together they fell back onto the bed, kissing each other fervently.

* * *

Yami was walking back to his chambers, looking forward to seeing Athena, after the long monotonous day he spent in the throne room.

   Opening the door, he expected to find her on the bed, after all, it was rather late, but was shocked to find it empty. Growling a little, he sulked over to the bed and flopped down on it. He supposed that she was still with Anzu, which made him a little angry. She was spending all day with that girl, and she couldn't be here when he got back?

   His temper was growing a little bit, so he decided to find out where she was. With his finger he made the outline of a circle in the air. At once, a silvery orb appeared, floating in midair. This was something that he didn't do very often; he didn't like to use his magic unless he was in the shadow realm. But he didn't feel like going to look for her because she could be anywhere.

   "Show me Athena." He whispered. Immediately, the ball of silver went hazy and a picture started to materialize. It was a bit hard to see at first, but then, as the details started to immerge, Yami felt his skin burn and his blood began to boil. 'No way, the damn thing must not be working right!' He didn't want to believe what he was seeing, but he had no choice, his magic was never wrong. He jumped up from the bed and with a wave of his hand the ball disappeared, he couldn't bear to look at it any more.

   He paced around the room until he couldn't take it anymore. He stormed out of his room and bounded down the hallway. He was going to kill Malik, no threats, no kidding. He was going to kill him. Seth was right all along; Yami should have never trusted him.

   He approached Malik's room in no time. Throwing the doors open he saw them sitting on the bed. He was furious, but at the same time, his heart hurt, badly. He couldn't believe what he was seeing.

   Both of them snapped their heads towards him. And before Malik could open his mouth to speak, Yami stepped closer and with one swift movement of his hand, had lifted Malik into the air and slammed him against the wall. He was so furious at this point that he didn't care who saw him using his magic. Malik landed on the floor, motionless, knocked unconscious, or dead, Yami didn't care.

   He turned his gaze to Athena, who had backed up farther on the bed. She was paralyzed with fear. She couldn't look him directly in his eyes, because they scared her. His eyes pierced through her. They were on fire; the usual warm red tone of his eyes was gone. It was replaced with a blood red.

   Yami walked to the bed and gripped Athena's wrist, hard.

   "Let go of me!" She screamed out in pain, but all he did was tighten his grip as he dragged her off the bed. She hit the floor hard. "Yami please! Let me go!"

   He ignored her pleas as he continued to drag her across the floor.

   Athena tried desperately to free herself from the Pharaohs impending grip, but it was no use, he was too strong. She struggled to regain her footing, but Yami was walking too fast, she couldn't stand up.

   Yami drug her out of the room, and sealed the doors magically. If Malik wasn't dead, there was no way he was going to get out of that room alive. Pulling her down the hallway, Yami's heart was beating fast he was enraged, and hurt.

   When he reached his room, he flung the doors open with a thunderous boom. Athena was still being drug behind him.

   Walking into the room he threw Athena against the wall, letting go of her wrist.

   She cowered on the floor, massaging her wrist where a bruise was starting to form. She cried, and tears poured down her cheeks. She was scared of Yami, scared of what he would do to her.

   "Silence!" He yelled. "Stop your crying bitch!"

   Those words hurt her more then being flung against the wall. She stopped her crying out loud, but tears still poured down her cheeks.

   "Yami," She said unsteadily.

   "I said silence!" He walked over to her and raised his hand, brutally whipping it across her face. The sound of his hand hitting her skin echoed through the room as she cried out. The impact had caused her head to hit the wall. She wanted to scream out in pain, but she knew that Yami would only hit her again.

   "You wench. Why did you do that? Why did you kiss my best friend? Or, my supposed best friend." Yami spat, he looked at her face, and he could see fear in her eyes. He could also see a red mark on her face from where he hit her. This made him angry. He was causing the one he loved so much pain; but then, the one that supposedly loved him was causing him pain too.

   Athena said nothing; she was scared of being hit again. She didn't know that Yami wanted her to answer.

   "You will answer my question when I ask you! Do not think you can get away with insolence! I am the Pharaoh, I can have you killed with a wave of my hand!" He didn't want to kill her, but if he couldn't have her, then no one would.

   "Yami, I'm sorry. I don't know why I kissed him." She made Yami believe that she kissed him and not the other way around because she felt that Malik was already worse off then she. "We were talking, about…" She stopped. She promised Malik that she wouldn't mention to Yami what he had told her.

   "What?!" He roared.

   "About…what he did in Athens." She lied.

Yami raised an eyebrow apprehensively, he didn't believe her.

 He lowered to the floor where she was sitting and he gripped her face powerfully and brought it so close to his own that she could feel his warm breath on her face.

   "You're lying to me." He hissed, staring into her eyes.

She glanced away. But he shook her face. "Look at me!" He ordered.

   She did so but she wasn't quite gazing into his eyes, for the first time in her life, she didn't want to.

   "Look into my eyes and tell me that again." He said maliciously.

   "We…we were, talking about what he did in Athens." It was much harder for her to look him in the eyes and lie.

He released her face and stood up.

   "Why did you kiss him?" He asked, still trying to sound angry, but a hint of distress shone through.

   "I, don't know. Yami I'm sorry." She whimpered. "I love you, that kiss meant nothing!"

   "I don't want to hear it! You don't love me, or you wouldn't have done that!"

   "Well maybe if you loved me I wouldn't have done that!" She shot back.

   "Watch your tongue you commoner! You have no right to talk to me like that!" He growled as he raised his hand again.

   Athena cringed as she lifted her hands up to shield her face. She felt her heart jump. He didn't love her. All he ever though of her was nothing but a mere commoner. Not feeling Yami's hand against her skin, she lowered her hands from her face. His back was turned to her; she couldn't see his face. But if she could she would have seen a single tear run down his cheek.

   "Get out." He whispered.

   "Where do I go?"

   "Leave the palace, leave the city, leave Egypt. I don't care where you go, just get out!" He roared.

  Athena got to her feet and ran out of the room in tears. She didn't leave the palace yet; instead she went to Anzu's room.

   Banging on the door uncontrollably Athena could hear the muffled sound of footsteps on the other side of the simple wooden door.

   "I'm coming! I'm coming!" She heard Anzu yell.

Without warning the door swung open, and Anzu gasped at the sight of her friend, tears rolling down her face and a red mark on her cheek.

   "By the Gods! Athena what happened?" Anzu asked as she took hold of her shaking friend and lead her to the bed.

Athena could hardly talk through the crying.

   "Yami." Was all she could manage to say.

   "Yami? Yami what? What did he do?" Anzu sounded worried.

Athena put her hand to her cheek, it still burned. He had hit her so hard.

   "Did he hit you?" She asked when she saw Athena place a hand to her cheek. "Let me see Athena!" She pulled Athena's arm away and she looked at the welt that was starting to form on the girl's perfect face. "Hold on, I'll get some water and a rag." Anzu walked over to her water basin and dipped a rag in the water. She rung out the excess liquid and brought it back to Athena, placing it on her face. Athena hissed with pain, the cold water was a shock to the heated part of skin where Yami had hit her.

   "Athena what happened?" She asked again, more urgently then last time.

   "I went to talk to Malik." She cried. "Then he told me about everything that happened when he was a child." She paused to take in a deep breath. It was hard for her to try and talk in light of what just happened. "It was so sad, and I…I don't know, he just leaned in and kissed me."

   Anzu gasped as she put her hand over her mouth.

   "Athena…what did Yami do?" She tried to get over her initial shock.

   "He stormed into the room, and he somehow lifted Malik up in the air and threw him against the wall, without even touching him." The mental image was still fresh in her mind; she never remembered being more scared.

   "He…he has magic?" Anzu sounded a little scared to. She was worried for her friend.

   "Yea," She paused, "Malik wasn't moving, I hope he's ok."

   "Well Athena, he got what was coming to him." She interrupted sternly.

   "No Anzu you don't understand." She whimpered.

   "Even though I don't know Malik, I know what kind of guy he is. My grandma told me. She said he likes to sleep around." She sounded disgusted at the very thought.

   "Anzu it's not like that at all. Well, he does have a lot of girls, but he's really nice, and after he told me about his childhood, I saw him in a whole different light."

   "What do you mean?" Anzu sounded confused.

   Athena repeated everything that she could remember about what Malik had told her. About his father, his life in Athens and about how Yami treated him.

   Anzu gazed; open mouthed at her friend as she listened to every word that was being said. For some reason, all of Malik's actions were somehow justifiable, in a weird way.

   "Athena why didn't you tell Yami that? Maybe if he realized how his actions were affecting Malik, maybe he would understand."

   "No, I cant. I promised Malik that I wouldn't tell Yami anything." She told her.

   "Athena, you might have to."

   "Why?"

   "Because it could save Malik's life." Anzu said.

   "Yami won't kill Malik; will he?" Now Athena was worried, what if he would? Then she would never be able to forgive herself.

   "I don't know, but if he wants to, you have to talk him out of it. Even though he might hate Malik now, down the road he'll regret killing his best friend." Anzu looked at her, inwardly pleading for her to tell him.

   "Anzu, if it comes to that, then I'll tell him, but only then." Athena made up her mind, she wasn't going to break a promise unless she absolutely had to. She was sure that Malik wouldn't mind her telling Yami if it saved his life.

   "Athena, it's late you should try and get some sleep."

   "I'm not tired."

   "Just lay down. You'll fall asleep soon."

Athena nodded her head and she put the wet rag down on the floor as she and Anzu lay in the bed.

   Anzu fell asleep after a while, but Athena couldn't, she was heartbroken, and she hated herself for what had happened tonight. Her heart ached for Yami, because she could only imagine the pain that he was going through. Even though he hit her and called her names she still loved him, and she longed to be in his arms right now.

* * *

Yami paced around his room for hours. The image that he saw in the silver orb was still fresh in his mind. He desperately tried to forget it, but it was no use, his mind kept on bringing him back to Athena and Malik. He remembered the way Malik was holding her, they way she ran her fingers through his hair, and the way they were kissing. Athena had told him that the kiss meant nothing, and he wanted to believe her but he couldn't. He couldn't because he saw the way they were kissing as he gazed into the image floating in the air. No, that kiss meant something, and it made Yami want to die.

   Not only did it make him want to die; it made him want to kill Malik. So that was exactly what he was going to do; that is, if Malik wasn't dead already.

   Yami took in a deep breath before he marched out of his room and down the short passage way to Malik's.

   With a swift motion of his hand, the magically sealed doors swung open. Yami looked to the floor where he had left Malik, but he wasn't there. Darting his eyes around the room, he found Malik, sitting low on the bed, holding the back of his head.

   When Yami had opened the doors Malik slowly turned his head. He couldn't move too fast because the pain in the back of his head was almost unbearable. Malik saw Yami bounding towards him.

   "Yami wait!" He hollered. But it did no good. Yami jumped onto the bed and hit him across the face so hard that Malik fell off the bed.

   Malik screamed out in pain, not because of the force that Yami had hit him with, but because when he fell, the back of his head hit the hard stone floor.

   But Yami wasn't nearly done with him. He jumped off the bed to where Malik was. Malik franticly tried to slide away but it was no use.

   "I'll teach you, you bastard!" Yami spat as he clenched his fist around Malik's shirt, lifting him up a little. Then he punched Malik right in the nose.

   Malik's head fell back again. He was breathing heavy now and he brought his hand up to his nose. When he looked at his hand he could see a streak of blood across his fingers. The blood ran down the side of his face, staining his light blonde hair red.

   "Yami, stop this, please." Malik gasped, as he wiped some of the blood away from his nose. Malik tried to stand up, he tried to get away, but he couldn't, his head was throbbing, and he could hardly see through all the blood.

   "Oh I'll stop Malik," Yami growled viciously. "I'll stop when you're dead!" He paused for a moment before he spoke again. "But I'm not going to kill you just yet. I think you should spent a few nights in the dungeon. I think some torture will be good for you."

   Malik looked at Yami with fear, why was Yami blowing this whole thing so out of proportion?

   "Yami please…please don't." Malik begged. "A-ah!"

Yami snatched Malik's hair and started to drag him out of the room completely oblivious to Malik's shrieks of pain.

   He led Malik down a long narrow corridor, which was dimly lit with a few torches. Then without warning, Yami started to go down some steps. Malik's back hit each one hard and he yelled out in anguish with each harsh impact.

   Yami merely smiled to himself, reveling in each one of Malik's disheartening wails.

   They finally arrived at the last step, and now they were in the endless labyrinth that was the dungeon. It was empty now, but when Akhenaten was Pharaoh this place was full of the priests of Amun, who were being tortured to death. This was the very place where Malik's father was tortured and killed.

   Yami opened a cell door, dragged Malik in and chained him to the wall with iron cuffs. He made sure to secure them extra tight, so that Malik would be in the most pain possible.

   Malik struggled a little, but stopped when he saw that his attempt to free himself was only making Yami happier.

   Yami chuckled venomously as he traced his finger along Malik's face, drawing a line through the red blood.

   "I hope you enjoy your last days Malik. I'll sent a guard down to keep you company."

   "Leave me alone." Malik hissed.

Yami backhanded Malik across his face, but Malik stayed silent, he didn't want to give Yami the satisfaction anymore.

   "So, I hope Athena was worth it Malik. Because, she is the last girl you will ever kiss."

Malik said nothing, he only hung his head.

   "Have fun." With that, Yami stood up and walked out of the cell, slamming the gate behind him.

   "It's kind of funny Yami." Malik whispered.

   "What is?"

   "Well, I get to die the same way my father did. At the hands of my best friend."

   Those words hit Yami hard. He swiftly turned around without saying another word, and made his way back up the stairs. Malik was right, and now Yami was beginning to feel guilty. He had just sentenced his best friend to death.

The harsh reality of it hit him when he stepped back into his room and slammed the door. He couldn't believe the things he had done tonight. He hit Athena, and he was going to kill Malik. And for what? A girl.

He was his father's son.

That wasn't quite as long as the others, but I promise, they'll be more soon…(mwaaahahaha feel the wrath of the write-too-much girl!!)