Under the Egyptian Moon

Written by Silver Sage

Summary: Thousands of years ago, during a dynasty long forgotten, there lived eight souls different from those of the human race. These eight individuals lived apart from everyone else in a class all their own. Each had been given a gift by the gods themselves and they were all very different, but one thread of magic was slowly bringing them together.

They had been pulled to the center of one of the most powerful countries of the world, Egypt. A mysterious force had slowly guided them across desert and water alike, to a city at the center of a great circle of magic. Eight different hearts and minds had been drawn there, and were all unknowingly about to collide, clash and, if the gods had their way, bond with one another. The evil of the world was growing stronger and these eight had been chosen to stop it.

-'-,-'-,-'-,-

The thing that Yuugi remembered most about his stay in the palace dungeon wasn't who the guards were or how many people resided there. He could barely remember the horrible smells that hung heavily in the air; those of sweat and blood that could be sensed over any other waste he smelled. He didn't feel the hot air smothering him or hear the earsplitting screams emitting from unseen rooms.

What he did remember was sobbing into his best friend's bare chest as he lay unmoving on the dirty floor; the pitying, tired looks he received from other prisoners and even some guards, barely visible by the dim, flickering light of torches; the overwhelming fear that engulfed him as he studied his small stone cell and imagined the horrible things that would happen to him and Jouno in that place.

It wasn't until he had finally stopped crying and the screams had mostly died down to low moans that he realized that he and Jouno weren't alone in their prison. He had laid his head down to rest in the crook of his friend's neck and he was studying the room with watering eyes when a glint of pinkish white caught his attention. Yuugi's eyes darted to the side and looked closely at the corner until he saw exactly what it was. Hair, a mass of white messy hair with red splashed across it, attached to a very still body.

He sat up slowly, fearing the worst of this unknown stranger. "H-Hello?" he ventured. "Who's there?"

The thing he assumed to be a person shifted and slowly raised its head. Distressed, weary, frightened, and otherwise dead chocolate brown eyes met soft, shining violet. Yuugi gasped. The guard! What was he doing in the cell? But, no, this couldn't be him. He didn't see the guard enter the cell with them and. . .His eyes strayed to the blood on the floor and he let a quiet, "Oh," escape his throat. He was hurt.

A low groan suddenly broke the frightening silence. Yuugi jumped in surprise, snapping his head back down to Jouno, whose face was contorted in pain.

"Jouno!" Yuugi cheered happily, tears returning to his eyes. He was all right! Or, at least, not dead, which was all Yuugi wanted. The small boy launched himself into his friend's arms, forgetting about the mysterious young man not five feet away from them, and Jouno groaned more loudly. He brought his fingers up to brush against the back of his head and then brought them back to eye level.

Blood. . . Lots of it.

Jouno looked like he was going to be sick as he looked away from his hand. He'd always been tough and a great fighter, but for some reason unknown to Yuugi, his friend had always had a thing about seeing his own blood. Yuugi looked on worriedly, his brows furrowed, his eyes shining with unshed tears, and his arms still tightly around the older teen.

"Jouno, I thought you were dead! Are you hurt? Is that blood?! Oh, Jouno, I'm so scared, what are we going to do?!" he said frantically, so quickly that Jouno could only discern a few words. Jouno pushed the urge to throw up to the back of his mind and forced a fake smile, patting Yuugi's back reassuringly.

"Everything will be fine, Yuugi. You know I'll always keep you safe," he said with only enough false confidence to fool a child. Yuugi bought it completely.

"I know you will, Jouno. Thanks." He buried his head in his friend's shoulder. As the torches were extinguished, Jouno looked down at him with wonder in his eyes and a slightly amused smile on his lips. Yuugi's been alive for fifteen floods, he thought a little distantly, and he still acts like a kid. It was amazing to Jouno that all that innocence could stay with Yuugi even after what he'd been through.

And then a strange sound - whimpering - met Jouno's ever-alert ears, as well as the feeling of magic creeping over his skin like a cool breeze. The feeling had come so suddenly, like his magic had been turned off for a few moments after he had awoken and then suddenly he could feel it all at once. The magic of people in cells around them, guards, and very strong magic he could only feel distantly. Well, he had established one thing; they were somewhere where a lot of magic users resided, strong magic users. It was giving him a splitting headache. He guessed, though, that it wouldn't hurt him so much once his head wound had healed a little.

But then there was that light breezy feeling, and for a moment Jouno thought that it was all a dream, and the Nile air was there cooling him, urging him to start traveling once again with Yuugi, but the thought was abandoned almost instantly and he was groping with his mind to find the source of that comforting feeling. It didn't take long for his mind to grasp the magic.

It was just a small wisp, like bits of cloud being emitted from a corner of the room, and he knew it couldn't be Yuugi's because his was more like a light that warmed your very soul when it was at its strongest. Jouno's was different too. It danced and leaped from his soul like fire, and was just as spontaneous. One moment it could be nothing but a small flame, and the next it could be worse than the fire that had burned Yuugi's village to the ground.

Up until now, the only magic that had their own, almost physical forms were his and Yuugi's, but now there was this. What was it? He had to know.

The blond made to move towards the source of the magic, but stopped when he remembered the small weight leaning against him. He looked down to find Yuugi's eyes closed, salty tear trails still fresh on his face, and his breathing even. Jouno lifted his slumbering friend gently and laid him on the floor as slowly as he could before standing and facing the wisping magic's source.

The magic was peculiar to him. For one as he moved closer, the breeze became more like the feeling of mist(something he had experienced only once in his life). He forced the lump in his throat to dissipate and his head to stop spinning before slowly creeping deeper into the 'mist'. When the magic suddenly pulsed, Jouno found himself stopping in his tracks and staring at the dark with wide eyes. Pulsing was not good. If magic pulsed it meant someone's life-energy, the reserves in one's body their magic formed from, was running dangerously low.

The magic's master was dying.

Without really thinking he found himself calling for someone to help him and whoever this magic belonged to. It wasn't until he realized that no one was going to help a couple of street urchins that he dropped to the ground and began groping in the pitch blackness until his fingers touched skin.

He dragged himself to the person's side and began shaking him in an effort to awaken him. It would surely be the end of him if he slipped into complete unconsciousness. Jouno became utterly relieved at the sound of a whimpered "Please stop".

"Kid, you in there? Wake up."

A small groan, a fluttering of eyelids. He was awake, and Jouno couldn't have been happier than he was in that dingy little cell. Now all he had to do was make sure not one drop of magic would be used until he could heal a little. Easy enough, but first, to figure out what said magic was being used for in the first place.

"Hey, what's your name?" Keep him awake, he thought, must keep him wide awake. That first, healing later. The boy looked up through bleary chocolate brown eyes, half glazed over. Jouno bit his lip.

"L-last time I told someone that. . ." His words were slow, thick, and very quiet. Jouno had to lean closer. ". . .I was brought here. . ." He trailed off and Jouno couldn't help but feel a little sympathetic. This boy seemed so. . . afraid of something. And, gods, he looked so distressed. Something wasn't right here.

He pushed the hair in the boy's face aside as gently as he could. Being with Yuugi had to have made him a little soft and he could use that right now. "Don't be afraid, I want to help you." He was wary to venture forth, making sure that at least a little trust flashed in the boys eyes. He knew the trust was going to be hesitant and forced, that the boy would create it because what he desperately needed was for someone to be kind, but it would do.

". . . Ryou," he finally whispered. Jouno almost had to ask him to repeat it, it was so quiet. He thought better of it, though. The name didn't matter; he was answering questions, that was good. He had his trust.

"Good, good, can you tell me if you were using-" He paused. The boy's eyes had closed again. He shook him. The eyes opened. "You need to stay awake. Here, I'll make this quick." A foggy smile. Amazing, the boy could still show emotion even on the brink of. . .death.

No, he wouldn't think of that. One step at a time. "Were you using any magic?" Of course he was using magic, Jouno could feel it. He knew it was there. The question was, did the boy know? If he did then it would be easy enough to make him shut it off. If he didn't. . .well, then he wouldn't have any way to shut it off and would ultimately (Jouno swallowed hard) die.

But, to his relief, the boy - Ryou or Lyou? - nodded his head weakly, his face contorted in a feeble grimace. Jouno started to stroke his hair in comfort and leaned forward again. "Okay, kid, I need you to do something about your magic for me. Will you?"

The boy looked scared again, like the thought of doing something to interrupt his magic flow would hurt him. But after a moment, in which Jouno started to become nervous about whether the boy was going to cooperate, he nodded again. Jouno smiled. "Okay, close your eyes, but don't go to sleep, just close them, like that, good." He stopped a moment and closed his own eyes. This part was tricky and he'd only done it three or four times in his entire life. He hated it; it hurt his head like hell.

"All right, now all I want you to do is focus on your magic. Just try to find the focal point. Can you do that?" He nodded once again, the last time that night. Jouno swallowed through a dry throat; this was the hard part. If he wasn't extremely careful, both of them could become hopelessly sick. The boy could very well die. He leaned close, lips almost touching the other boy's. Breath unconsciously held, he whispered, "Give me your magic." And, all at once, Ryou's body convulsed and arched, and a thin, weak wisp of magic streamed from his slightly parted lips to Jouno's. It didn't last long. A minute at most, and then the world went black for them both.

-'-,-'-,-'-,-

Two weeks passed. The boy didn't wake up until well into the third day. When he did, both Yuugi and Jouno were dining on some unidentified slime that they received once a day as 'nourishment'. The short whine from the corner startled Yuugi so much that his bowl of slime went skidding across the floor from his hands. Jouno's head shot up and he dropped his food, forgetting it on the floor with the already thick coat of other unidentified substances from years past.

The boy, while weak, was functional enough to eat and sit up and tell his name (Jouno finally established that it was indeed Ryou, rather than Lyou). He explained to Jouno, who had been very curious as to what kind of magic the boy could have been using that night, that he was trying to heal himself. Yuugi pointed out that even if Jouno had left him alone, he would have been fine, using his reserves to give himself strength, using them all over again in an perpetual circle. For some reason, this was amusing to all three, and as they laughed there in the corner, their unease seemed to almost disappear.

Almost.

Another nine days later, the three were in the dark corner opposite where Ryou used to lie. Jouno and Yuugi both leaned against a cold, rough wall, and Ryou lay on his back before them, looking up at the dark ceiling. For hours it seemed they had been deep in conversation regarding matters that were worth absolutely nothing. On occasion, a more significant question like "Where did you come from?" would arise and be answered (some details excluded) politely. Then, the conversation would take a sharp left turn and become completely pointless again.

It was during that conversation that it was finally revealed to them why they were in the cell.

"Yuugi?" Ryou ventured quietly, looking shyly up at the smaller boy. Yuugi smiled slightly, mouthing a "Yeah?" Ryou looked as though he were on the verge of saying something important. After a moment, he shook his head. "Never mind. It's nothing."

Yuugi looked disappointed and pouted slightly, crossing his arms. "Come on, tell me!"

Ryou bit his lip and lifted himself to his elbows. "What was it like having- Not. . .not being a slave?"

Jouno shifted a little uneasily in his spot as Yuugi looked up at him with sad eyes. Ryou sat up and looked down at his lap. "You-you don't have to answer if it hurts too much. I'd understand." He looked up at his newfound friend. Yuugi shook his head frantically and leaned forward on his hands. "It's okay Ryou. I suppose. . .I'd be curious too-"

"Listen up, rats!" someone barked loudly from outside their cell and Ryou and Yuugi convulsively leapt forward, crashing into Jouno at the same time. The blond groaned, but put his arms around their shoulders nevertheless. "I wish you wouldn't do that, you guys." They looked up sheepishly.

"When we get upstairs, if I see even one of you street whores out of line, you're all going to have to answer to me!" Both faces were buried again and neither saw the whip crack, but they all heard it. With that frightening sound, Jouno tightened his grasp, ducking his head between his two friends. Then there was a clank of metal against metal and the creak of a door thirsty for an oiling. In an instant, Jouno felt his newest friend torn from his side. He shot up instantly as did Yuugi, both in time to see Ryou scream as he was dragged away by the hair. Jouno sprang forward, tackling the dirty man and dragging them all to the ground. The man released his grip on Ryou's hair with an anguished roar and knocked the blond upside the head.

Jouno rebounded quickly and his fist instantly came down on the man, hitting him in the face with bone shattering force. The man yelled again, shoving Jouno off of him with enough strength to knock him into a wall. "I paid good money for that boy, and I ain't lettin' some street punk like you-" His sentence was cut short when Jouno sprang forward again, thrusting his palm against the man's face and sending his head smashing into the wall behind him.

It was only after the man was knocked out (or killed, Jouno thought distantly) that three guards rushed into the cell to find the mess before them. Jouno stood over the man, panting and holding his wrist, his face red and brow creased. There was a rough pull on his shoulder and he came face to face with a steel-like punch to his left eye. Right before he stumbled back to fall against the wall, he caught sight of his friends looking on horrified from behind the crushing grips of two of the guards.

"Get up and start walking. Resistance is twenty lashes." They felt shackles close around their ankles and they were each pulled forward into into a line of forty or more teenagers and young adults.

"Jouno!" The whip cracked. Yuugi cried out in pain.

"No, stop that! You bastard!" Jouno rammed himself against the wielder of the whip. Five more cracks, and there was one neat line of blood trailing down Jouno's spine adorned with lesser pink welts. The entire group fell silent.

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Author's Notes: And so it begins! . Big thanks to my reviewers! And a huge Domo Arigatou to the wonderful, beautiful, talented Lethe Seraph-sama, the beta of this chapter! You helped so much!

That's all I have to say. . .Thanks again!

And until next time. . .

Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind.

-Dr. Suess