Jesselda: Wow. Someone actually liked this story?
Mena: Yeah!
Toli: Isn't it great?
Jesselda: O.-; I don't know if I'd go THAT far. It was just Masami and Damion the Mena-worshipper... (notices empty mugs and boxes labeled "Sugar Cubes") Oh great.
(Mena and Toli hug each other and spin around, suffering from SugarHighitis and CoffeeHighosis)
Jesselda: I know what I wish I could get high on. Sanity. And thanks to Masami and Damion for being nice enough toreview the new story. The twins are too sugar/coffee high to respond properly. Anyway, the twins don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, and neither do I. Heck, they don't own much of anything anymore, after selling most of their stuff for money to buy sugar cubes and coffee...ugh...
TWO: Merciless
"You honestly think she's lying?" Seto asked as he walked beside Atemu.
"Honestly?" Atemu repeated. "I don't know. I think she is hiding something, but I think it might not be what we think it is. For all we know, she was the leader of the band of raiders and is trying to save herself now. I can't be sure of anything. All I know is, she obviously cares about my little look-alike, if you noticed."
"I did notice," Seto said. "And what? You're going to suck answers for her by threatening to execute that boy?"
Atemu smiled. "Exactly. It seems like it might actually work."
Just then, they both heard the crash of people hitting the floor. "Oh no," Seto groaned as they walked a little faster and turned a corner to see what had happened.
It was just as they expected. Tea, one of the clumsiest servants in Egypt, had run into a guard and knocked them both down. She had been carrying two bottles of medicine, which were now rolling along the floor.
"Oh! Oh! I'm so s-sorry!" Tea apologized quickly as she grabbed at the bottles and stood up, rubbing her elbow. "I didn't see you."
"That's okay," Jou replied, rubbing his own chin. "I was kinda lookin' at the floor anyway." He went on his way. Tea kept going and nearly ran into Atemu. Her eyes widened when she saw who had almost been her latest victim and she dropped to her knees. "My Pharaoh," she said, staring at the most fascinating section of floor she had ever seen, "I'm sorry you had to witness that. I was in a hurry, and I didn't see--"
"Why were you in such a hurry?" Atemu demanded.
Tea glanced back up. "Miss Ishizu wanted--these delivered to her right away," she explained, holding out the bottles as proof. "She needs them for a patient who's just woken up and needs immediate attention."
Atemu's eyes widened. "The boy? He's awake?" he said. When Tea nodded, he added, "You'll take us there."
Tea scrambled to her feet and bowed. "Yes sir," she said obediently, and she started off. Atemu and Seto followed her back to the recovery room.
Ishizu met them at the door. "Ah, the medicine I sent for. Thank you Tea," she said to the fidgety servant girl, taking the bottles. "You may be excused." Tea bowed out quickly as Ishizu's gaze turned to the Pharaoh and the High Priest. "I see you came to see the boy," she said as if she'd read their minds. "Come in, Atemu. Seto, I will have to ask you to stay out here for the time being." She didn't say why; she just said stay out and that was that. Seto obediently stayed out (NFM: See the mother quality?) as Ishizu let Atemu inside and closed the door behind him.
"Now," Ishizu said, turning to face Atemu and effectively blocking his view of the bed, "I will have to ask you to do a few things. I want you to speak quietly and softly around him and make no sudden movements; he scares easily and I don't want to cause any more damage. He doesn't want anyone touching him or coming near him, so keep your distance. Do you understand?"
"Sure, whatever," Atemu said, not really caring. The boy was just a slave; he didn't need any special treatment. Ishizu gave Atemu a warning look, and then led him to the bed.
The boy was definitely awake and a pity-invoking figure in even the stoniest of hearts. He had sat up and pulled his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them. His face was currently buried in his arms. He was shaking.
"He's upset because the young woman isn't here," Ishizu whispered to Atemu. "He wants to see her again." She approached the bed slowly. "I've returned," she said in a quiet, soft voice. "How do you feel?"
It took a moment before the boy would lift up his face to look at her. Atemu watched him curiously, standing a little ways away from the bed. He had large, amethyst eyes that were filled with fear and apprehension, and he was still trembling. Atemu was surprised to feel a pang of guilt. What's wrong with me? I don't feel guilt.
"I w-wanna see Mia," the boy said so quietly that Atemu barely heard him.
"She'll be back," Ishizu assured him gently.
"I doubt the two of you will ever see each other again," Atemu found himself stating.
Ishizu turned suddenly to look at him. The boy's eyes flashed with terror and he peered carefully around Ishizu at Atemu. "W-Why n-not?" the boy asked in a voice that became shakier by the minute.
"She's being interrogated as to the intentions of your band of raiders and unless she gives me answers, you're both going to suffer," Atemu explained with a sneer.
The boy started to tremble uncontrollably. His arms tightened around his knees.
"Atemu!" Ishizu exclaimed. "Why must you--"
"Ishizu, wait outside," Yami commanded. Ishizu glared at him, and he added. "That's an order." She reluctantly left with another glare. Like it or not, she had to obey.
Atemu stepped closer to the bed. "So, boy, is Mia your woman friend's name?" he asked.
"Y-Yes s-sir," the boy whispered.
"I see. And what's yours?"
Tears had pooled in his eyes. "Y-Y-Yugi."
"Hm. Well, Yugi, would you like to know how you can save Mia from being punished again?"
The tears had broken and were sliding down Yugi's cheeks. "Y-Yes s-sir."
"Don't call me sir," Atemu snapped suddenly. "I'm the Pharaoh. You will address me as 'My Pharaoh' or 'Your Highness' from now on, understood?"
More tears were on the way. "Y-Yes, Y-Your High--ness."
Atemu nodded. It would have to do for now. "Good then, come with me." In a moment he had grabbed Yugi by the wrist and half-dragged him off the bed. Yugi stumbled and fell to his knees, but quickly got up and came after Atemu. He was still crying silently, but he followed Atemu without noise.
Atemu threw open the door and started down the hall, carting Yugi along. "Seto, let's go," he said, and Seto soon fell into step beside him. Atemu could feel Ishizu's angry gaze burning a hole in his cape, but he ignored her as he dragged Yugi back to the interrogation chamber.
Marik and two guards were already outside the door. The guard that hadn't had the whip had been replaced with Jou. One look from Atemu was enough for them to go back in. Jou stopped to hold the door open for the Pharaoh, the High Priest, and the little slave following them, and came in after them.
Atemu found Mia right where he had left her. She had lifted her head and was staring at a lit torch attached to the wall when the little party came in. Atemu walked over to face her from a few feet away and shoved Yugi towards her. He stumbled and fell at her feet. Her gaze flew down to him, and concern and fear and anger and a little relief all flashed in her eyes and on her face. "Yugi! Are you okay?"
"Shut up," Atemu ordered. He let Yugi, who had gotten to his knees, wrap his arms around Mia's legs and watched her. Mia wanted to hug Yugi so badly, but her arms were still restrained. "All right, Mia," Atemu went on when he had her attention, "you can see that Little Yugi is currently all right. Well, he isn't going to stay that way if you don't start telling me the truth, and now."
Mia glared at Atemu so hard that it was a surprise he didn't burst into flames where he stood. Yugi was still shaking uncontrollably, and his tears were falling on Mia's legs. "I told you, I don't know anything besides what I've already told you," she said in a surprisingly calm voice. She was probably trying to control her voice's volume now that Yugi was there.
"I see," Atemu said. He turned to Jou. "Take off her shackles," he ordered.
"Oh--yes, My Pharaoh," Jou answered, fumbling for the correct key on the loop he held. He approached Mia and unlocked the chains holding her to the wall. She immediately collapsed to her knees, and after taking a second to rub her wrists, threw her arms around Yugi. He wrapped his arms around her neck and cried into her shirt.
"It's okay, Yugi, I'm here," Mia whispered to him, rubbing his back soothingly.
Atemu felt a pang of guilt at what he was about to do, but ignored it. He watched Mia and Yugi for a few seconds and then snapped his fingers at Jou, who had been watching the scene with an expression of sympathy. "Separate them," he ordered. He glared when Jou hesitated. "Do it!"
"Yes, My Pharaoh," Jou said reluctantly. Wishing he had been someplace else, he reached down and grabbed Yugi's arm to try and tug him away from Mia. Yugi tightened his grip, and Jou, feeling like a total jerk, had to snatch him away.
Yugi burst into sobs the moment he felt Mia's arms leave their position around him. He stretched out his hands towards her, and she did the same. Jou had to swallow hard as he dragged Yugi farther away.
"Leave him alone!" Mia yelled, jumping to her feet. She lunged at Jou, intending to seriously injure him. The other guard lashed out with the whip and caught her across the back. It slowed her down very much but still didn't stop her completely. She managed to reach Jou and actually punched him the face, knocking him off balance, before dropping to her knees from the pain of the whip. The guard with the whip, who had lost his heart years ago, enclosed Yugi's arm in his huge hand and pulled him away from Mia's reach.
"Nooo!" Yugi cried out, trying to reach Mia.
As if it were some Pass The Yugi game, Atemu snatched Yugi's arm from the guard. "Silence!" he yelled at Yugi. Yugi sank to his knees and covered his face with his free hand, tears flowing freely. Mia was struggling back to her feet, fully intending to deck the Pharaoh like she had Jou, when Atemu raised his free hand and both Seto and Marik stepped back out of habit.
A dark light flashed at Atemu's fingers as he sent a wave of magic in Mia's direction. It penetrated her skin and injected itself into her mind. The room echoed with Mia's scream before she collapsed to the floor, her body currently shut down. Unfortunately for some(NFT: But not for us), the guard with the whip had been standing too close, and he got a little dose of magic which sent him into the wall.
Atemu's hand lowered, and he turned to the only guard that was currently conscious: Jou, who had gotten back to his feet with a hand over his eye. "Chain her back up," he ordered. He looked down and saw Yugi crying at his feet. Once again he felt a pang of guilt but completely ignored it. Not bothering to order Yugi to get up, he simply picked Yugi up around the waist and carried him out of the room like a sack of flour. Seto and Marik silently followed as Jou approached Mia to chain her back to the wall.
When Ishizu discovered what had happened in the interrogation chamber, she was furious. She snatched Yugi from Atemu quite angrily and stalked into the recovery room, slamming the door in his face. Atemu just looked at the door inches from his nose and decided not to punish her for her sudden lack of manners.
Ishizu carried Yugi back to the bed and laid him on it. He immediately turned away from her and buried his face in his hands, curling up into a little crying ball. Ishizu felt so sorry for him. How could Atemu be so cruel? she thought as she watched the boy's trembling form. Normally he isn't very nice, but this goes beyond "not nice". Why would he do this? What can his motive be? When she had first seen the boy, her strangely accurate intuition had felt that he might be just what was needed to soften Atemu's heart, but apparently she was wrong.
How would she administer the medicine now? she suddenly thought. He probably didn't want a soul within a mile radius of him by now. Ishizu had a feeling (NFT: and all those feelings were often quite accurate) that the boy was on the verge of a complete emotional shutdown. She desperately wanted to help him, and was determined to do something.
She just didn't know what she could do.
Tea was carrying a candle down the hall that night, headed for the female servants' quarters to turn in, when she nearly bumped into Jou again. She stopped just in time. "Oh, excuse me Jou," she said. Then she did a double take at seeing his face. "What happened to you?"
Jou smiled grimly at Tea's mentioning the bruise under his left eye. "The lady we were interrogating let me have it," he said.
"I thought people being interrogated were usually restrained?" Tea recalled.
Jou's grim smile was gone. "They are," he said. He then proceeded to tell Tea of the Pharaoh's commands, Mia's desperate fight to retrieve Yugi, the eventual use of magic to knock her out, and his having to chain Mia's unconscious body back to the wall. "I feel like a total ass for pullin' those two apart," Jou admitted. "In fact, I almost didn't do it. But you gotta obey the Pharaoh, we all know that."
Tea nodded sadly. "Yes, we do. I caught a glimpse of that kid when Ishizu called me to go get the medicine, and he looked so little and so scared. I wonder what kind of master he used to have."
"No doubt one like ours," Jou snarled. "But if someone hears me sayin' that, it'll turn into treason." He smiled grimly again, but it barely lasted a second. "Anyway, I'm headed for the sack. G'night, Tea."
"Night," Tea echoed as she turned to watch him walk unhappily down the hall. After a moment, she turned and continued on her way.
"Honestly, Atemu, did you have to do all that?" Seto asked as he and his cousin headed down the hall to their rooms after a particularly boring council meeting. "I mean, it was coldhearted even for you to let them hug and then tear them away from each other."
"I had planned on it being an incentive for that deceptive woman to tell us the truth. I had hoped getting to touch her little partner would help steer her in the right direction, but apparently I was wrong."
"Did you ever stop to consider that maybe she's telling the truth and really doesn't know anything?"
Atemu snorted. "There's some kind of secret there; I can feel it. If she won't talk, then maybe Little Yugi will. I plan to interrogate him tomorrow morning."
Seto stopped, and there was actually a look of slight astonishment on his face. "Don't tell me you're going to chain him to a wall?"
"No, I won't do that," Atemu said, "but if neither of them wants to tell me anything, I'll simply search their minds before I execute them both."
"You're truly heartless, Atemu, " Seto said.
Atemu smirked. "Why, thank you."
Ishizu stood in the doorway, arms crossed, the toughest barricade you ever saw. "I refuse to let you in," she said calmly to Atemu the next morning.
"You can't refuse anything to me," Atemu shot back. "Now let me through."
"No." Ishizu's voice was sharp. "He's resting."
"He can stop resting. Ishizu, you have been here a long time and I have never had to enforce anything concerning you. Don't make me start today." As if to prove his point, Atemu raised up one hand, prepared to knock her out like he had Mia the other day.
Ishizu's eyes narrowed, but she reluctantly stepped out of the doorway. "You are making one of the gravest mistakes you have ever made, my Pharaoh," she said in a warning tone. "If you make him shut down, you will sorely regret it, I warn you."
"I know what I'm doing," Atemu snapped.
Ishizu shook her head sadly. "No," she said. "You do not."
Atemu went into the room and slammed the door behind him. He had never been so angry at Ishizu. How dare she tell him he didn't know what he was doing? Of course he did. He was the Pharaoh, dammit! It was his job to know! He didn't even notice Ishizu open the door and come in, closing the door behind herself and standing quietly but angrily in the corner. She was determined to stop the interrogation if things got out of hand, no matter what.
(NFT: P.O.V. switch)
The slamming door had made the little figure underneath the blanket start. Yugi immediately began to tremble uncontrollably when he heard the familiar footsteps coming towards him. He was scared enough for anybody except Mia to be near him, but especially the Pharaoh. He had hurt Mia and yelled at him. Yugi hadn't really trusted anyone here anyway. Especially him and the guard who had taken him away from Mia and the guard that had hit Mia with the whip and the guy who had been yelling at Mia and the guy with the cold blue eyes who had never really said anything. Even Miss Ishizu, who he had began to feel less uncomfortable around, still wasn't to be trusted. He had learned to stop trusting people a long time ago.
"Trust is what breaks you."
He didn't remember who had said that, but he always remembered their voice every once in a while. It used to be he had always wanted to trust people. He had liked having friends. But he had been with his old master for so long, that wanting friends and trusting people became desires of the past. He couldn't afford friends or trust. Everyone he had been around for he past several years had done nothing but hurt or ignore him. Even Mia, the only person he ever truly felt safe around, was a liability. What if she decided she didn't like him anymore? She always assured him she would never leave him of her own decision, but Yugi had stopped being able to take people at their word a long time ago.
"Get up," the Pharaoh ordered. Yugi had a feeling this would not end well. If he didn't obey, the Pharaoh would hurt him like he had hurt Mia. He pushed the covers back and slowly sat up. He looked down at his lap instead of looking at the Pharaoh. He didn't really realize how badly he was trembling; he did it so often that he was used to it. It was simply a reflex to anyone besides Mia talking to him.
"Since your precious Mia didn't want to tell me anything," the Pharaoh said, and Yugi could feel tears as he wondered if she was okay now, "then I'll get my answers from you. Do you understand me?"
Yugi had to force himself to speak. "Y-Yes, Y-Your Highness," he said in a very quiet voice.
"Why were you with the band of raiders?"
Yugi placed a finger under his eye to wipe away a tear that was threatening to break. "I...I was a-a slave th-there," he answered.
"When did they start traveling again?"
"I...don't kn-know really. M-Maybe...a week ago. I'm n-not sure. I was n-not awake for-for a little while."
There was a pause. "Why not?" Atemu demanded.
"I had...broken a jug of water and-and my m-master was angry with me," Yugi responded, trying hard to keep his tears in as the event was recollected. "He s-said I was a w-worthless stupid slave, and he h-hit me and...then he got h-his whip, and I d-don't remember w-what happened next. I th-think that was when I blacked out."
"Why were they coming this way?"
Yugi was very scared. He didn't know, at all. Would he be punished like Mia? "I...I don't know that. They-they didn't let th-the slaves know anything about wh-where we went so we c-couldn't try to escape. We j-just had to do what we were told and n-nothing else."
(NFT: P.O.V. switch again)
Atemu wondered if he was telling the truth. What were the chances that Yugi and Mia would have nearly the same story? Unless they had planned it beforehand. Yami could still sense that something was being hidden from him, and he wanted to know what. Neither survivor was giving anything up, so he decided to do it the hard way.
"That's not good enough," he told Yugi flatly. He saw the immediate change. Yugi drew his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them, burying his face in his arms. He was shaking violently now, and an occasional whimper could be heard. He obviously feared for his life. Atemu felt a stronger pang of guilt but pushed it away. He wanted answers and he wanted them now. "If you're not going to tell me the truth, then I'll just have to view it firsthand," he said, reaching out his hand towards Yugi. "I'm going to find out what you two are hiding, like it or not."
"No!" Ishizu burst out, rushing towards them. If he tries to unlock Yugi's memories, he could emotionally destroy him!
Atemu's hand had touched Yugi's head, and summoning up the proper dose of magic, he injected his mind's eye into Yugi's. What are you hiding from me? Flashes of light temporarily blinded his mind's eye, and then he found the door which Yugi's memories hid behind. He threw open the door, determined to find the truth.
Atemu's eyes widened as he was exposed to what was buried in Yugi's mind.
END CHAPTER
Mena: Cliffie?
Toli: Yep!
Mena: Yay! Cliffie! (tosses sugar cubes in the air and catches them in her mouth)
Jesselda: A cliffie already? Are you sure that's a good idea?
Toli: Sure I'm sure! It'll make people want to come back!
Jesselda: (shrugs) If you say so.
Atemu/Yami
Hiroto/Honda/Tristan Taylor
Jou/Jounouchi/Joey Wheeler
Mia/Mai Valentine
Marik/the hikari
