YSF: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, never have, never will. All I own is Gold, Silver, and Maria. I wish I owned more, but I don't.
Yami: well what did you expect since you spend your money as soon as you get it?
YSF: shut up
Blah telepathy
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Everyone wouldn't leave Atemu alone now. He was starting to wish that he hadn't made that agreement, when Maria entered. Maria looked around the table and noticed with distaste that the only empty seat was next to Atemu. Sitting down, she started to ignore Atemu fully.
While everyone was busy eating, Atemu decided to talk to Maria. "Maria, can we talk?"
Not in here, I'm still mad at you, but I'll talk to you in the garden if you aren't planning on insulting anyone of my friends again, came Maria's voice in his head. Since Maria was already done, she excused herself and walked out of the room. Atemu shortly followed.
In the garden, Atemu found Maria sitting on a bench in the center of the garden fiddling with a necklace. As he approached, Maria let go of the necklace and looked at him with amazingly cool sapphire blue eyes. "Well? What did you want to talk about?" she asked.
I wanted to apologize for my behavior yesterday. It was wrong of me, but I had my reasons," Atemu said hesitantly. Maria regarded him skeptically for a second, and then slid over to allow Atemu to sit down on the bench.
When Atemu sat down, Maria looked at him again. "What are the reasons?" she asked a little kinder.
"I had forgotten that you had lived on the streets your whole life, and I was worried that something had happened to you because Thebes is dangerous place. More dangerous than you probably know," came the reply. Maria smiled and gave Yami a hug.
"I appreciate the concern, but don't freak out again, or more than your ego is gonna be bruised," Maria said with a giggle, "Now, what's with Atemu all of a sudden?"
Atemu grimaced. "It's my birth name. I have never liked it, so I stopped responding to it since I was four," he said.
Maria giggled. "Well, I can't change that, but I think it's a more pharaoh-ishly unique name. I think Yami is dull compared to Atemu," she said giggling again.
Atemu grinned and laughed also. "Well, if you approve, I guess Atemu isn't that bad of a name," he said with a soft smile.
Looking at the sun, Maria stood up. "I have to get to lesson," she said, starting to move away but stopped because Atemu had grabbed her arm. "What are you doing? I'm going to be late."
"No you won't."
"Explain what you mean," Maria said confused.
"I'm teaching you today, yes I already told Seto, so you don't have to worry about being late," laughed Atemu.
"Well 'teacher', what are you teaching me today?" Maria mocked playfully. Atemu smiled and Maria found herself pinned to the wall of the garden by magic.
"To learn how to manipulate your magic to do your bidding."
"Again!" called Atemu at Maria's failed attempt to summon a monster. It's been two months and she had been improving quite quickly. The only thing that was hard for her now, was getting enough control over her magic and energy to summon her ka.
Getting back on her feet, Maria brushed her bangs back out of her face and tried again. This time, she managed to get a wispy, gray mist to appear. "Keep going! You're almost there!" shouted Mahaado.
Maria gave it all that she had and managed to condense the mist into a solid ball, and then collapsed, breaking focus and making the ball disappear. Atemu and Mahaado ran over to Maria and helped her up. "I'm sorry," she said opening her eyes and looking up at them.
Mahaado smiled and smoothed Maria's hair. "No, you did well for your first day," he said, "You just used your energy too fast. How about we call it quits and go for a ride?" At Atemu's and Maria's nods, he pulled them up and led the way to the stables.
Seto paced the throne room restlessly. Thoughts kept coming to his head and he needed to get rid of them before he exploded.
"My nephew, what is wrong? You've been preoccupied about something for a few days now," said Akunumkanon following his nephew with his eyes.
"Uncle, you know what happened to my sister ten years ago when I was five, correct?" asked Seto stopping and facing his uncle from the middle of the throne room.
Akunumkanon nodded gravely. "How could I forget, your twin sister went missing and was found dead in the river with stab wounds all over her body," came the reply.
Flashback
Seto ran towards the nile, his five year old body going as fast as it could. News had spread that his sister might have been found. Maria had been missing for two weeks now, and even though father had told him to stay behind, Seto had to see for himself.
Reaching the nile, Seto saw a group of people. Squeezing in, Seto stared when he saw the body that looked remarkably like his sister. There was something wrong, with the appearance though, besides the fact that her body was mutilated with stab wounds, and that she was soaked and slightly bloated from being in the river.
"That's her," said his father, his voice heavy, checking the body over. Looking up, he saw Seto. "I told you to stay home."
"I wanted to see her one last time," Seto mumbled gazing at 'Maria's' face. Suddenly, it dawned on him. The hair wasn't how Maria wore it, a section of hair angling up naturally, and then falling down to her collarbones on either side of her face, and a sliver section of hair going to her nose.
Seto was snapped out of his thoughts as his father picked the body up and started carrying it away. "Father! Wait! That's not my sister!" he cried running after Akunadin.
Akunadin turned on Seto. "Hold your tongue!" he snapped, "You're imagining things. You were not to leave the house, so go back before I get mad and decide to punish you for disobeying."
There was nothing Seto could do besides say, "Yes father," and walk sadly back home. In this exchange, no one noticed a small brunette watch from behind a tree, the wind blowing the hair in her face that hung down to the tip of her nose, wondering where she's seen the boy before.
End Flashback
"That wasn't her," said Seto suddenly realization dawning on him with the memory.
"What do you mean? Akunadin, your father, identified her," said the pharaoh shocked.
Seto crossed his arms. "She's alive, and I'll prove it to you tonight!" he said leaving the throne room and heading to the stables.
A bit later, Atemu, Maria, and Mahaado returned from the desert laughing. Riding into the courtyard, the saw Seto waiting for them.
"Hey Set," called Atemu waving. When Seto didn't respond, the smiles dropped off of the three's faces.
"I need to talk to you, alone," said Seto going to Maria and helping her dismount from Jasmine. Maria nodded and handed Jasmine's reins to Atemu. Following Seto into his room and sitting on his bed as he closed the door, Maria voiced her wonder.
"What's wrong?"
Seto just faced the door and didn't respond for a minute. Finally, he turned and asked five words that shocked Maria into confusion.
"What is your last name?"
"Why?"
"Just answer me!" Seto snapped letting his temper get the better of him. Seeing Maria flinch and involuntarily shrink away, he immediately regretted shouting. "I'm sorry, but will you tell me your last name? I need to know something and I need your last name for it," he said looking Maria straight in the eye.
Maria nodded. "My last name," she said, "is Tsuconnichi."
Seto's eyes widened. "Maria, how long have you been living on the streets before you came here?" he asked with a shaky voice.
"I had been living on the streets for ten years... why?"
Seto didn't verbally answer her but pulled off his hat, revealing his chocolate brown hair. Maria stiffened as a flashback raced through her head.
Flashback
"Seto, why doesn't daddy want me to become a priestess? They're so pretty," said a young Maria of about 4 years old.
She heard gentle laughter and felt someone wrap their small arms around her. Looking up from where she was sitting, she looked into eyes as sapphire as her own that were topped by chocolate brown hair. "I dunno, I think father believes that girls shouldn't be priestesses," said 4 year old Seto looking down at his twin.
Maria accepted it, but then frowned. "Daddy doesn't love me, he won't even let me go to school," she said with a touch of sadness. Seto bit his lip to keep Maria's sadness from spreading to him.
"I'll teach you how to read and write," said Seto with finality and smiled when Maria buried her face in his shirt gratefully.
End Flashback
Maria raised her eyes and met Seto's glance. "Brother?" she asked uncertainly as something cleared in her mind.
Seto nodded and hugged Maria as she rushed into his arms. Sniffing back tears of happiness, she looked into his eyes. "Why did he get rid of me?"
Seto frowned and thought. "After you 'died,' Father drilled into my head that twins were bad news because the second born was supposedly an embodiment of Seth. And since you were second born, he treated you like dirt. Since you were supposedly the embodiment of evil, he had to get rid of you, but since he loved you slightly, he couldn't go through with killing his own child, so he staged your death and left you to grow up on the streets, casting a spell to make you forget about me," said Seto.
"How do you know all of this?" asked Maria pulling away slightly.
Seto let Maria go and twirled his Millennium Rod around expertly. "I simply looked into his mind and learned the truth with this."
"How surprised do you think 'Daddy' will be when he sees me alive and well?" asked Maria tilting her head in a comical gesture. Seto laughed as a response.
"We'll see at dinner, alright?"
Maria nodded and grinning, pulled Seto towards where she knew Atemu and Mahaado would be waiting.
At dinnertime, Maria, Atemu, Seto, and Mahaado walked down to the dining hall together, laughing about the sennet tournament that they had which resulted in Seto and Mahaado getting in a fight about who was the winner of their game. Entering the dining hall, Maria fell quiet and Seto stopped his bickering in mid sentence. Mahaado and Atemu looked at each other and turned to the two.
"Are you two alright?" asked Atemu.
Seto turned and looked at him with a piercing stare. "You'll see while we eat," was all he said as he sat down.
After the group had finished their meals and were starting on dessert, Akunumkanon spoke up.
"Seto, you said you would prove something to us tonight. I think now is as good a time as any," the pharaoh said.
Seto looked up and nodded. Standing up, he walked towards the center of the room, Maria close behind him. Facing the table, Seto fixed his eyes on Akunumkanon. "Honored Uncle," he started, "you asked me to prove that my twin sister was still alive, and I have collected enough proof that will set all doubts aside."
"What does Maria play a part in this?" asked Isis leaning forward a bit in interest.
Seto, in response, took off his hat, and Maria took down her hair from where it had been pulled back. Stunned silence filled the room.
"T-They look almost exactly alike," said Mahaado in disbelief. What he said was true. Maria and Seto were the same height, and had the same build, hair and eye color, and their faces were identically angled, as if they came from the same mold. They both had, as Maria took a little clip out of her hair, the same bang that went down over their nose, except Maria's was slimmer.
"Surprised to see me 'daddy?'" asked Maria sarcastically, "I bet you didn't expect to see me ever again."
Akunadin felt all eyes on him and knew that his charade was up. "Fine, I admit, I left you on the streets to die because I couldn't bring myself to kill you like I had that street rat that looked like you killed. I would like to know something though," he said.
"What?" Maria asked, her eyes narrowing a little farther than when she narrowed them as her father spoke.
"How in Ra's name did you survive for ten years when I left you no provisions?" Akunadin asked.
Maria smirked. "Easy," she replied, "I was taken in by two orphan siblings who treated me like I was a sister. Now if you excuse me, I'm leaving if you have no further questions."
Atemu watched her go. Taking the opportunity to slip out while Akunadin was bombarded with questions, he followed Maria to the stables. Hiding in the shadows near the paddock, he watched as Maria brought Jasmine out and mounted her without a blanket on. As she left, Atemu quietly whistled Star over and followed suit.
Maria rode easily to the desert. Stopping at the edge of town, she turned Jasmine suddenly. She didn't know why, but she felt something following her. Scanning the shadows, and seeing nothing, she urged Jasmine on.
Atemu emerged from the shadows and followed slowly. 'That was close,' he thought making sure that he and Star were far enough away to be inconspicuous, but could still see Maria. After a bit of riding, Atemu saw Maria dismount and lead Jasmine into a cave in some rock bluffs that were easily a hundred feet high. Riding Star to the top of a nearby bluff, he dismounted and listened to the voices that were coming from the cave.
Maria's P.O.V.
Walking into the cave, I looked around at the various thieves that were gathered. Most I knew, so I just nodded to them and made my way towards the back of the cave.
"Bakura," I said getting there, "Are you sure this is wise? I can't promise that there will be a big time window tonight."
Bakura snorted in laughter and moved into the light. "Maria, this is the only day that I will be able to pull this robbery off," he said, and then paused, "I know you're worried and have every right to be, but please understand that I must steal this one item to avenge my people."
I bowed my head sadly. "Just be careful. I still have to pay you back for taking care of me when I was little," I said giving him a hug, "May Ra be with you."
Bakura tossed back his head and laughed. "I'm forsaken by the gods. I only ever have to worry about the heart weighing judgement, and I feel that that's not going to happen anytime soon. Go home tonight. I will send word in the morning," he said giving me another hug.
Leaving, I got on Jasmine and turned her towards home. Looking up, I suddenly stopped dead and stared. Atemu was on Star at the top of a dune, and judging by the path that Star left, they had been on a nearby rock and probably heard everything. Walking slowly towards them, I could see Atemu glaring in my direction in the moonlight. As I opened my mouth to call out to him, Atemu wheeled Star around and sped off towards Thebes. 'Not good,' I thought as I urged Jasmine into a gallop and tried to catch Atemu.
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YSF: yeah I need help... considering I just BS'd my through that chapter's end. Maria's in trouble! What will happen though? And what is Bakura looking for? I shall reveal in ch 6! But in the meantime, read and review please!