Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! belongs to Kazuki Takahashi.
This story was never meant to be more than a one-shot like usual, which is why it's ending in a different place than where it began. Que sera sera.
Apep is one of the varying names of the Egyptian deity who battled with Amon Ra every night when Ra sank from the sky and descended to the underworld (i.e., the sun set). And every night, Ra won the battle and returned triumphantly (the sun rose).
I don't know if this chapter is an agreement or a rebuttal
to Sailor Comet's fic "Satisfaction," but it certainly was inspired
by it.
~~~~~~~~~~~
`
"Of course,
victims can suffer when they see themselves and their stories reduced to so many
illustrations of the same rule, for from their perspective what happened to
them is absolutely unique, and they may feel that the perpetrators of crimes
against them are not punished severely enough. But that is the price of
justice, and it is no accident that justice is not administered by the
victims."
"Children are notoriously merciless, and as for adolescents, they tend to
discover justice well before mercy."
-- Facing the Extreme, Tsvetan Todorov
`
The desert had covered the temple entrance completely, leaving no trace of it behind. The wind was already sweeping the sand flat before anyone spoke.
It was Isis who broke the quiet, when she turned and commented that Kaiba had arrived just a little too late--as he had always seemed to do. Kaiba had predictably taken offense to that, and everyone was so busy being caught up in the two's verbal sparring and in their own conversations, conversations that were just a little too loud, just a little too forced, that it wasn't until they were already out of the Valley and had passed the ticket booth that they realized Ryou was missing.
After the first, instinctive panic--something had gone wrong, Bakura hadn't died like they'd thought--everyone calmed down and began trying to decide who should go in to find him. Most of Yuugi and his friends were getting strapped for money, considering how much it had cost for all the flying and the prices even of a hostel, so Isis was about to buy a new ticket when Rishid noticed that Malik was gone as well. The man knew that he had been beside him while they were leaving, because he'd overheard one of Malik's remarks about Kaiba in his sister's defense, so they decided that the blond must have gotten tired of listening to everyone debate and had gone to find Ryou himself.
No one felt much better at that thought, but they didn't say it out loud. Isis mentioned evenly that after fifteen minutes she would go in as well.
`
Malik found Ryou in a different spot than where he'd expected him, but it was still the same area. What, three thousand years ago, might have been cliffs tall enough to build houses against were now small rises of rock; and even though no more than an hour had passed Malik couldn't determine exactly where the entrance to the temple had been. The expanse was wholly sand and stone--there was nothing to be seen unless you turned around and looked at the cliffs of the Valley.
Malik had a feeling Ryou saw something anyway.
The other teenager had his back to him, so Malik stopped a few feet away and said, "Hey. We've already made it out--everyone was worried that you'd gotten lost."
Ryou didn't answer for a long moment, and he didn't turn around. Malik began to feel annoyed. "Hey, Bakura--"
"Did you see the people?" Ryou interrupted, voice calm. "The ones that were waiting for Atemu, behind those doors?"
Malik blinked. A second later his eyes narrowed, and he thought before answering. "Yes. What about it?"
"I recognized all of them," Ryou said. "I saw the cards when I was building the...but, I knew all of them." He paused, and then added: "Akunadin was there."
Yuugi and the others had told the Ishtars what they had learned inside the Memory World, but Malik hadn't listened to much of it. He didn't want to know why his family had suffered for so long--he just wanted to forget. "Who?" he asked unenthusiastically, wondering if he could just grab Ryou's arm and drag him back.
"He's the one that made the Millennium Items," Ryou said, "because he couldn't think of any other way to protect Egypt. He's the one who killed everybody in Kuru Eruna. It's strange; he never hated him for that nearly as much as he hated the pharaoh...." Ryou's voice had grown more distant.
Malik shifted. "We need to get back. Your friends are worried about you."
"He was standing there, with the rest of them. Akunadin, I mean," Ryou clarified. "I think he was forgiven, despite everything he did. I guess it makes sense...he had reasons, even if they weren't good ones, and he really loved Seto."
Malik closed his eyes. "Fine. So he was forgiven. What does it matter?" he asked. "Everything's finally over now. Let's go already--it's too hot for you. You're going to burn."
"Because someone had to pay for all this," Ryou said quietly. Malik blinked and took a step closer, trying to hear him. Ryou shook his head, still looking at something Malik couldn't see. "It just...doesn't seem right that it was him."
Ryou had been using a lot of 'he's and 'him's in the last few sentences, but Malik had a pretty good idea who he meant by this last one. "He had his chance," the blond said. "...The...the same as I had my chance. Everyone who fought the pharaoh had their chances. And King Atemu won fair and square."
Ryou tilted his head down and said something under his breath. Malik took another step forward, and he noticed a faint smile was growing on Ryou's face.
"'It's not fair!'" Ryou said suddenly; then, in a different pitch: "'You say that so often, I wonder what your basis for comparison is.'"
Malik stared at him. "What?"
"It's from a movie," Ryou explained. "Labyrinth."
"I've never seen it," Malik said flatly.
Ryou made an absent 'hm' noise in response. After another minute, Malik shifted on his feet again and snorted in irritation, but he stopped short of actually reaching out and touching the other teenager.
"It was, though. Fair." Ryou glanced across the area one last time before finally turning and looking at Malik. "It was completely fair. One village got massacred, and then Egypt was safe, so that years later he could destroy part of the main city. The death tolls were probably even."
A trace of his earlier smile hadn't disappeared yet, and Malik, who'd possessed his Item the shortest length of them all save Isis, had a sudden, intense urge to have it back. It was so acute that his fingers reflexively curled around an absent handle. Ryou didn't see it.
The other teenager watched Malik for another moment, the distant look still in his eyes, before adding, "But it wasn't right. No one could call it right."
Malik shook his head once, rapidly, and forced his hand straight again. "Dammit....Bakura, it's time to go. Come on already."
Ryou looked at him, noticing how the blond tried to put up a blank expression and keep it in place, before glancing away again. Then he turned fully around and stared at Malik. The smile was gone, and his eyes were no longer distant; they almost looked sad. "I don't think he won fairly."
Before Malik could say anything, Ryou continued. "He just won because he was too powerful not to win. You can't fight your gods."
Malik blinked, a dark expression beginning to creep onto his face, but Ryou was still speaking softly.
"It should have been obvious from the beginning, really...a mortal can never defeat the son of Ra. Even he knew that...that's why he was always talking about the darkness. He had to make a deal with it to even try." Ryou closed his eyes, and his tone could almost be called rueful. "You think he would have remembered that Amon Ra always defeated Apep...but...."
Ryou opened his eyes and looked away again, to a place where three thousand years ago a house and an alley and a little boy wide-eyed with terror had stood.
"...I told you it was pointless," Ryou said quietly, his voice a mixture of sadness and vicious satisfaction.
Then he turned and walked away.
The ghosts that no one else could see watched him go.
Malik noticed that his fingers had curled up again, and he shoved his hands into his pockets. He watched Ryou for a long time, until the other teenager was far enough away that the heat began to make him hazy. Then he caught up.
Isis was halfway through the Valley when they met her.
When the three of them returned to the group, Yuugi and the others immediately asked Ryou what had happened. Malik watched as he scratched the back of his head sheepishly and said, "Oh, I stopped to look at the scenery for a moment, and...I guess I took longer than I thought, because when I looked back everyone was gone. I tried to find the right path, but I think I wound up going in circles."
Honda shook his head and draped an arm over his shoulders. "Geez, we were worried. You're lucky you didn't roast out there."
Ryou smiled. "I know!" He looked over at Malik. "Thanks for coming to get me."
Malik didn't reply.
Malik didn't speak for the rest of the afternoon or evening, either, but the only people who noticed were his family.