Chapter Ten: Taking Over Me
**You don't remember me
But I remember you
I lie awake and try so hard not to think of you
But who can decide what they dream?
And dream I do**
Mai couldn't stop thinking about Bakura.
She supposed it was normal - he was, after all, her boyfriend - but she got a bit muddled when she tried to discover why she missed him so much. After all, it wasn't like they'd been avoiding each other - and it had only been a few days - and -
She had to find him.
It was some time after midnight when the blonde slipped out of the palace, not sure where to find him. It turned out that she didn't have far to look, because he was leaning against the wall, staring up at the sky.
"The stars are dim," he said idly before turning his head to look at her. "I remember that. It was in the dreams."
"'Kura - "
"Don't say anything." He pushed himself away from the wall and reached out to touch her face. "You don't have to."
"I do - the spell - "
"Forget it."
"It's gone."
"I know."
She should have asked how he knew; he might have told her, then, about Sathaugula, and a great deal might have changed. Amarna might not have burned. Joey might not have found the Scales.
The pharaoh might have failed.
So perhaps it was a good thing she didn't think to ask.
Any possibility of her asking was drowned when he twined his fingers in her hair, pulled her close, and kissed her.
* * *
Mokuba found his brother in the throne room, attempting to sleep standing up. This is not a good idea in any circumstances, but somehow Kaiba managed it.
"Seto," Mokuba whispered, reaching out to tug on his brother's sleeve. "Seto, I have to ask you something."
Kaiba blinked a few times and stood up, swaying slightly. "Muh?" He shook his head. "Oh, Mokuba. What?"
Blue-white sparks danced from Mokuba's hands, working far more effectively than coffee or sugar to allay Kaiba's exhaustion. "I heard something," Mokuba said softly, barely noticing the healing that flowed from him so effortlessly. "I just wanted to ask if it's right to tell people something you heard from eavesdropping."
"That depends. Was it something that could get someone hurt?"
"Maybe. I don't know."
Kaiba sighed. "You'd better tell me everything."
**I believe in you
I'll give up everything just to find you
I have to be with you to live, to breathe
You're taking over me**
Shizu had decided that, with Bakura acting so weird, she wouldn't tell him anything else about the rebellion. After all, if everything went according to plan, he'd have the throne, just like he wanted.
Just like /she/ wanted.
A great deal of the plan involved keeping Bakura in the dark, actually. For that, she needed a bit of outside help. Help she could trust.
It wasn't difficult to borrow a handmaiden's outfit from one of the rebels, and it wasn't difficult to find out that the blond guard who had reacted so splendidly to her interrogation was called Joey.
No one could tell her the history between the two - Joey and Yugi. In fact, no one seemed to remember anything about them before they came to the palace, which seemed to be only a few days before...
A bit more detective work enabled her to locate the boy, who was half- heartedly practicing with a staff outside. The moon glittered on an untouched land, silver sand stretching away to the river and beyond.
"Joey," Shizu whispered.
He dropped the staff and spun around. "Mai? What are you - "
"Shh," she said, and crossed the short distance between them. "Joey, I'm so sorry. I've been neglecting you lately - "
"No more," he cried, backing away. "Why are you always playing with my feelings like this? It's over, okay? I accepted that. Don't make me love you again..."
She pouted prettily. "But I do love you...and I'm sorry, really, I am..."
"No...please, Mai, I don't want to go through this again..."
The misery and pain in his eyes made Shizu hesitate, but only for a moment. He was a guard, she was a noble. It was her right to hurt him like this.
All for the good of Egypt.
Right?
* * *
Mai lost all track of time while she was kissing Bakura, but assumed it must have been eternity before he pulled away.
Eternity wasn't nearly long enough.
"God, I missed you," she whispered. "Never leave me, okay?"
He looked surprised. "Of course not."
She heard indistinct voices, but whoever else might have been around didn't matter. She had the only person who mattered. "So, what's up?"
"Erm...my other half is dying, I'm allergic to my sword but I don't dare get rid of it because I suspect my ex-girlfriend wants to kill me, and - oh yes! The priests tried to drown me."
"Poor darling," Mai said. "You never learned, did you?"
"No..." He sighed. "You'd think that I would, wouldn't you? But I haven't."
"I'll teach you."
"What, now?"
She gestured to the deserted landscape. "Why not now?" She grabbed his hand and tugged him toward the river. "Come on, 'Kura. Let's take a moonlit swim. It's romantic."
"You girls and your romantic notions," Bakura muttered, allowing himself to be led toward the dark waters of the Nile. "If you drown me, I'll never forgive you."
**Have you forgotten all I know
And all we had?
You saw me mourning my love for you
And touched my hand
I knew you loved me then**
Joey didn't want to love Mai. Not anymore.
Even while she was kissing him, even while he let her do it, he tried desperately to make himself believe that he didn't love her, that nothing was happening, that...but it was so nice. And he did love her, Tea or no Tea.
"I thought," he said when she pulled away to breathe, "that you were mad at me."
"How can I be mad at you? I love you." That had to be the third time she'd said that, like she was trying to make him believe it.
"I thought you loved Bakura."
She stared determinedly at the wall for a moment before managing, "Not anymore, I can assure you of that."
* * *
Ryou and Yugi found themselves once again on night duty. They stuck together, and Yugi conscientiously did most of Ryou's work for him.
"We're going to fix this," he said for what had to be the tenth time.
"I know," Ryou murmured, his voice rasping. It had begun going hoarse around sunset, and he wasn't at all happy about it. "You don't have to say it."
Yugi nodded and shot a concerned look at his friend. The dreamy pain was back in Ryou's eyes; the sleep he'd been able to get had already worn off. "How long do we have?"
"Dunno."
A thought suddenly occurred to Yugi, and he nearly dropped the tray he was carrying. "Ryou, how can you and Bakura switch bodies without the Ring?"
"Ask him." Ryou coughed. "He didn't say."
"You /can't/. Therefore, the Ring must exist."
"I thought Yami hadn't made those yet?"
"So did I. Come on, let's go ask him."
"Yugi, we have jobs to do."
"This is more important, Ryou. This is the fate of the world."
Ryou stumbled after his overeager friend. "Why is /everything/ we do about the fate of the world?"
**I believe in you
I'll give up everything just to find you
I have to be with you to live, to breathe
You're taking over me**
It is a well-known fact that the desert is cold at night. Bakura had not fully grasped this idea until he plunged into the ice-cold Nile at midnight.
"I c-c-can't swim, I c-c-can't even m-m-move," he whimpered.
Mai laughed, though she was shivering too. "You'd better get used to it fast, because we're still standing, and in a minute I'm so going to drag you in further, whether you're ready or not."
"D-d-don't, Mai!"
Smirking, Mai grabbed his arm and attempted to make good on her threat. It didn't work very well. "Oh, come on, it's only water."
"Tell that to the c-c-crocodiles."
"What? There are /crocodiles/?"
Bakura looked shifty. "So I hear..."
"You're lying."
"How can you tell?"
Bakura sighed heavily. "Only because I love you," he warned her, and made a spirited attempt to swim further in by hitting the water. "Augh! This is not fun, Mai!"
"Just kick back and forth, it's called treading, you'll see. It works."
After several futile tries, Bakura discovered the secret to treading: cling to Mai and pretend valiantly that he wasn't completely relying on her to keep him from drowning.
"Someday," Mai told him gently, "you will indeed learn how to do this properly. But I'm guessing, not now."
"Agreed."
"Okay. As long as that's settled, let's have some fun..."
The devious grin tipped him off, but Bakura couldn't even begin to get away when she wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist and kissed him.
Quite naturally, this caused them to go under.
* * *
Naturally, when Ryou and Yugi found Yami, the pharaoh was enraged.
"I told you to get some rest!" he shouted at his other half. Yugi quailed under the verbal assault and hid behind Ryou.
"I'm sorry! But I'm okay! Really!"
Yami relaxed a bit. "Fine. Now, then, aren't you two supposed to be working? How can the kingdom function if no one does their jobs?"
"We had to ask you," Ryou stammered. "We had to know - about the Millennium Items."
Yami frowned. "What about them?"
"Have they been made yet?"
"I don't think so." The frown deepened, and Yami's eyes were distant as he tried to think. "I can't remember what happened before we arrived here from the future. Maybe - but I really don't think so. Why?"
Yugi took over. "Ryou thinks that the Ring, at least, exists in this time. And anyway - you're going to have to make them sooner or later, right?"
"Yes." Yami looked around. "Let's find someone to ask."
"It's really late, who's going to be up at this time?"
Ryou laughed, and even though it turned into a cough halfway through, there was still a sparkle of mirth in his eyes. "The people waiting for their orders, perhaps?"
Yugi blushed. "Oh. Right."
**I look in the mirror and see your face
If I look deep enough
So many things inside
That are just like you, are taking over
I believe in you
I'll give up everything just to find you
I have to be with you to live, to breathe
You're taking over me**
When Mai and Bakura emerged from the river, they were both shaking with cold. Bakura half-heartedly hit Mai on the arm.
"We could have /died/."
She shrugged. "At least we would have died together."
"Yes, that's really a consolation, there." He brushed a strand of dripping hair out of her eyes. "I love you."
"I love you," she whispered, and they might have kissed if it hadn't been for the fact that he chose that moment to sit down on the sand, clutching at his temples.
"Oh, /ow/..."
"Visions?" she asked, kneeling beside him.
"You got it." He blinked, and glanced around wildly, and then tried to stand up, but fell over backwards.
"Now what?"
"Dizzy," he moaned. "But - oh, God. You remember the fire I saw?"
"Yes..."
"I know what's going to burn. We've got to warn someone - "
He tried again to stand, and collapsed again, mainly because of Mai's tugging on his arm. "You're going to faint again. Rest a minute. What's going to burn?"
"The City of the Sun. Amarna."
**I believe in you
I'll give up everything just to find you
I have to be with you to live, to breathe
You're taking over me
You're taking over me
Taking over me**
~~
A/N: Got a few comments that the Joey/Shizu stuff is Not Fun. Or something to that effect. Thought I'd inform you that I agree wholeheartedly, but it is Very Important to the plot of the sequel. No fear; I can assure you that they won't /really/ hook up. Ever. Promise.
Once again, many many apologies for the incredible lapse of time it took to get this out. Been working on my original novel, and when I was writing today I remembered that poor "Fallen" was just waiting for me to finish, so...yes. Also, there was a bit more plot in this chapter than intended.
Just a note: Amarna is an actual city. I have no idea if it actually burned down or not. The nickname "City of the Sun" is my own invention, because the pharaoh Akhenaten, who introduced a new form of sun-worship, built it.
Next Chapter: Consume All My Darkness. Before the summary, quick thing. There is not actually a "song" for the next chapter. Just a bunch of short quotes from several songs and poems. Anyway. At last, the rebellion breaks out. Mass panic, lots of unimportant people die, the city of Amarna burns, and there is little or no kissing. It was too good to last...
**You don't remember me
But I remember you
I lie awake and try so hard not to think of you
But who can decide what they dream?
And dream I do**
Mai couldn't stop thinking about Bakura.
She supposed it was normal - he was, after all, her boyfriend - but she got a bit muddled when she tried to discover why she missed him so much. After all, it wasn't like they'd been avoiding each other - and it had only been a few days - and -
She had to find him.
It was some time after midnight when the blonde slipped out of the palace, not sure where to find him. It turned out that she didn't have far to look, because he was leaning against the wall, staring up at the sky.
"The stars are dim," he said idly before turning his head to look at her. "I remember that. It was in the dreams."
"'Kura - "
"Don't say anything." He pushed himself away from the wall and reached out to touch her face. "You don't have to."
"I do - the spell - "
"Forget it."
"It's gone."
"I know."
She should have asked how he knew; he might have told her, then, about Sathaugula, and a great deal might have changed. Amarna might not have burned. Joey might not have found the Scales.
The pharaoh might have failed.
So perhaps it was a good thing she didn't think to ask.
Any possibility of her asking was drowned when he twined his fingers in her hair, pulled her close, and kissed her.
* * *
Mokuba found his brother in the throne room, attempting to sleep standing up. This is not a good idea in any circumstances, but somehow Kaiba managed it.
"Seto," Mokuba whispered, reaching out to tug on his brother's sleeve. "Seto, I have to ask you something."
Kaiba blinked a few times and stood up, swaying slightly. "Muh?" He shook his head. "Oh, Mokuba. What?"
Blue-white sparks danced from Mokuba's hands, working far more effectively than coffee or sugar to allay Kaiba's exhaustion. "I heard something," Mokuba said softly, barely noticing the healing that flowed from him so effortlessly. "I just wanted to ask if it's right to tell people something you heard from eavesdropping."
"That depends. Was it something that could get someone hurt?"
"Maybe. I don't know."
Kaiba sighed. "You'd better tell me everything."
**I believe in you
I'll give up everything just to find you
I have to be with you to live, to breathe
You're taking over me**
Shizu had decided that, with Bakura acting so weird, she wouldn't tell him anything else about the rebellion. After all, if everything went according to plan, he'd have the throne, just like he wanted.
Just like /she/ wanted.
A great deal of the plan involved keeping Bakura in the dark, actually. For that, she needed a bit of outside help. Help she could trust.
It wasn't difficult to borrow a handmaiden's outfit from one of the rebels, and it wasn't difficult to find out that the blond guard who had reacted so splendidly to her interrogation was called Joey.
No one could tell her the history between the two - Joey and Yugi. In fact, no one seemed to remember anything about them before they came to the palace, which seemed to be only a few days before...
A bit more detective work enabled her to locate the boy, who was half- heartedly practicing with a staff outside. The moon glittered on an untouched land, silver sand stretching away to the river and beyond.
"Joey," Shizu whispered.
He dropped the staff and spun around. "Mai? What are you - "
"Shh," she said, and crossed the short distance between them. "Joey, I'm so sorry. I've been neglecting you lately - "
"No more," he cried, backing away. "Why are you always playing with my feelings like this? It's over, okay? I accepted that. Don't make me love you again..."
She pouted prettily. "But I do love you...and I'm sorry, really, I am..."
"No...please, Mai, I don't want to go through this again..."
The misery and pain in his eyes made Shizu hesitate, but only for a moment. He was a guard, she was a noble. It was her right to hurt him like this.
All for the good of Egypt.
Right?
* * *
Mai lost all track of time while she was kissing Bakura, but assumed it must have been eternity before he pulled away.
Eternity wasn't nearly long enough.
"God, I missed you," she whispered. "Never leave me, okay?"
He looked surprised. "Of course not."
She heard indistinct voices, but whoever else might have been around didn't matter. She had the only person who mattered. "So, what's up?"
"Erm...my other half is dying, I'm allergic to my sword but I don't dare get rid of it because I suspect my ex-girlfriend wants to kill me, and - oh yes! The priests tried to drown me."
"Poor darling," Mai said. "You never learned, did you?"
"No..." He sighed. "You'd think that I would, wouldn't you? But I haven't."
"I'll teach you."
"What, now?"
She gestured to the deserted landscape. "Why not now?" She grabbed his hand and tugged him toward the river. "Come on, 'Kura. Let's take a moonlit swim. It's romantic."
"You girls and your romantic notions," Bakura muttered, allowing himself to be led toward the dark waters of the Nile. "If you drown me, I'll never forgive you."
**Have you forgotten all I know
And all we had?
You saw me mourning my love for you
And touched my hand
I knew you loved me then**
Joey didn't want to love Mai. Not anymore.
Even while she was kissing him, even while he let her do it, he tried desperately to make himself believe that he didn't love her, that nothing was happening, that...but it was so nice. And he did love her, Tea or no Tea.
"I thought," he said when she pulled away to breathe, "that you were mad at me."
"How can I be mad at you? I love you." That had to be the third time she'd said that, like she was trying to make him believe it.
"I thought you loved Bakura."
She stared determinedly at the wall for a moment before managing, "Not anymore, I can assure you of that."
* * *
Ryou and Yugi found themselves once again on night duty. They stuck together, and Yugi conscientiously did most of Ryou's work for him.
"We're going to fix this," he said for what had to be the tenth time.
"I know," Ryou murmured, his voice rasping. It had begun going hoarse around sunset, and he wasn't at all happy about it. "You don't have to say it."
Yugi nodded and shot a concerned look at his friend. The dreamy pain was back in Ryou's eyes; the sleep he'd been able to get had already worn off. "How long do we have?"
"Dunno."
A thought suddenly occurred to Yugi, and he nearly dropped the tray he was carrying. "Ryou, how can you and Bakura switch bodies without the Ring?"
"Ask him." Ryou coughed. "He didn't say."
"You /can't/. Therefore, the Ring must exist."
"I thought Yami hadn't made those yet?"
"So did I. Come on, let's go ask him."
"Yugi, we have jobs to do."
"This is more important, Ryou. This is the fate of the world."
Ryou stumbled after his overeager friend. "Why is /everything/ we do about the fate of the world?"
**I believe in you
I'll give up everything just to find you
I have to be with you to live, to breathe
You're taking over me**
It is a well-known fact that the desert is cold at night. Bakura had not fully grasped this idea until he plunged into the ice-cold Nile at midnight.
"I c-c-can't swim, I c-c-can't even m-m-move," he whimpered.
Mai laughed, though she was shivering too. "You'd better get used to it fast, because we're still standing, and in a minute I'm so going to drag you in further, whether you're ready or not."
"D-d-don't, Mai!"
Smirking, Mai grabbed his arm and attempted to make good on her threat. It didn't work very well. "Oh, come on, it's only water."
"Tell that to the c-c-crocodiles."
"What? There are /crocodiles/?"
Bakura looked shifty. "So I hear..."
"You're lying."
"How can you tell?"
Bakura sighed heavily. "Only because I love you," he warned her, and made a spirited attempt to swim further in by hitting the water. "Augh! This is not fun, Mai!"
"Just kick back and forth, it's called treading, you'll see. It works."
After several futile tries, Bakura discovered the secret to treading: cling to Mai and pretend valiantly that he wasn't completely relying on her to keep him from drowning.
"Someday," Mai told him gently, "you will indeed learn how to do this properly. But I'm guessing, not now."
"Agreed."
"Okay. As long as that's settled, let's have some fun..."
The devious grin tipped him off, but Bakura couldn't even begin to get away when she wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist and kissed him.
Quite naturally, this caused them to go under.
* * *
Naturally, when Ryou and Yugi found Yami, the pharaoh was enraged.
"I told you to get some rest!" he shouted at his other half. Yugi quailed under the verbal assault and hid behind Ryou.
"I'm sorry! But I'm okay! Really!"
Yami relaxed a bit. "Fine. Now, then, aren't you two supposed to be working? How can the kingdom function if no one does their jobs?"
"We had to ask you," Ryou stammered. "We had to know - about the Millennium Items."
Yami frowned. "What about them?"
"Have they been made yet?"
"I don't think so." The frown deepened, and Yami's eyes were distant as he tried to think. "I can't remember what happened before we arrived here from the future. Maybe - but I really don't think so. Why?"
Yugi took over. "Ryou thinks that the Ring, at least, exists in this time. And anyway - you're going to have to make them sooner or later, right?"
"Yes." Yami looked around. "Let's find someone to ask."
"It's really late, who's going to be up at this time?"
Ryou laughed, and even though it turned into a cough halfway through, there was still a sparkle of mirth in his eyes. "The people waiting for their orders, perhaps?"
Yugi blushed. "Oh. Right."
**I look in the mirror and see your face
If I look deep enough
So many things inside
That are just like you, are taking over
I believe in you
I'll give up everything just to find you
I have to be with you to live, to breathe
You're taking over me**
When Mai and Bakura emerged from the river, they were both shaking with cold. Bakura half-heartedly hit Mai on the arm.
"We could have /died/."
She shrugged. "At least we would have died together."
"Yes, that's really a consolation, there." He brushed a strand of dripping hair out of her eyes. "I love you."
"I love you," she whispered, and they might have kissed if it hadn't been for the fact that he chose that moment to sit down on the sand, clutching at his temples.
"Oh, /ow/..."
"Visions?" she asked, kneeling beside him.
"You got it." He blinked, and glanced around wildly, and then tried to stand up, but fell over backwards.
"Now what?"
"Dizzy," he moaned. "But - oh, God. You remember the fire I saw?"
"Yes..."
"I know what's going to burn. We've got to warn someone - "
He tried again to stand, and collapsed again, mainly because of Mai's tugging on his arm. "You're going to faint again. Rest a minute. What's going to burn?"
"The City of the Sun. Amarna."
**I believe in you
I'll give up everything just to find you
I have to be with you to live, to breathe
You're taking over me
You're taking over me
Taking over me**
~~
A/N: Got a few comments that the Joey/Shizu stuff is Not Fun. Or something to that effect. Thought I'd inform you that I agree wholeheartedly, but it is Very Important to the plot of the sequel. No fear; I can assure you that they won't /really/ hook up. Ever. Promise.
Once again, many many apologies for the incredible lapse of time it took to get this out. Been working on my original novel, and when I was writing today I remembered that poor "Fallen" was just waiting for me to finish, so...yes. Also, there was a bit more plot in this chapter than intended.
Just a note: Amarna is an actual city. I have no idea if it actually burned down or not. The nickname "City of the Sun" is my own invention, because the pharaoh Akhenaten, who introduced a new form of sun-worship, built it.
Next Chapter: Consume All My Darkness. Before the summary, quick thing. There is not actually a "song" for the next chapter. Just a bunch of short quotes from several songs and poems. Anyway. At last, the rebellion breaks out. Mass panic, lots of unimportant people die, the city of Amarna burns, and there is little or no kissing. It was too good to last...