Disclaimer: Ah, the beauty of fanfiction: the freedom to never have to follow a plot correctly, to never have to update when you say you will. Did I mention how wonderful it is to not own Yu-Gi-Oh? I didn't? Oh, well, now I did.

A/N: Uh… don't kill me! I didn't mean to take so long to update! And just because I did I'm gonna give you the longest chapter I can muster! Though I probably still won't finish the story… I'm getting really close, I can tell! o!

Chapter Fifteen

Everyone was staring at him, as if trying to figure out how he got there. Of course, Yami knew he was using shadow magic, as did Marik and Bakura. Seto thought that maybe he had been using some form of highly advanced technology to cloak himself from the rest of them and had been in the room the whole time. Everyone else there was just kind of gaping at him (or glaring, in some people's case).

Yami was the one to break the silence: "Why are you here, Shadi?" he asked, "And why now?"

Shadi simply stood there for a moment, before speaking. "As I said before, I have come to explain all of this to you all."

It was now Tea's turn to question him. "But why? We could have explained well enough on our own without having to get to far into the whole 'ancient past' thing. And besides," now she was glaring, "I really don't think that this is any of your business."

Shadi smiled. "That, is where you are wrong." He turned back to Yami. "My Pharaoh," he bowed slightly, "I did not mean to intrude, but I need you all to understand, that all of this was preordained by the Gods."

A wave of confusion spread around the room. "What?" This was said by Kida. "I'm a little confused now. 'Preordained'? 'Gods'? Why won't you people say something that isn't cryptic and/ or morbid sounding!"

Shadi now faced Kida, still smiling. "Ah, my Princess. It is good to see that you are in good health." His eyes pierced hers, as if looking into her soul. His smile faded. "It seems that you are ready."

He reached into his cloak and brought out a small set of golden colored scales. On them the Eye of Ra was delicately carved into the front. Shadi held out his hands to her.

Before she could stop herself, Kida had swiped the scales from him. Suddenly, they started glowing, blinding everyone in the room.

Kida blinked… or, at least, tried to. She could feel hot grains of sand beneath her, burning her, but at the same time comforting her. The sun beat down against her back, and she thought vaguely that she might get sunburned. Her thoughts were clouded, and she could not bring herself to move. No- she couldn't make herself, even if she had truly wanted to.

She once again tried to open her eyes, and succeeded. Sadly, all she could see was a blurry outline of everything. She slowly blinked a few times, and each time her few came slightly more into focus. Finally, she could once again see.

Around her lay everyone who had been in the apartment when… she couldn't quite figure out why they were here. No, she did not have a clue as to why she was in the middle of a desert surrounded by a lot of people- most of which, she didn't even know.

Closest to her was Rirsi, who was lying about six inches away from her, looking like he was asleep. Beside him was his brother and her mother, and next to her, her father.

Her father… could she really think of his as such? Was he even really her father, or was her mother mistaking him for someone else? She must admit, the similarities between her and Yami were quite unmistakable. So, for the moment, she would chose to believe him. And she would hope that she would not be disappointed by lies.

Rirsi started to stir, and, slowly, he opened his eyes. He gazed at her for a moment before choking out, "What the hell just happened?"

Kida choked down a laugh at his blunt comment (and the fact he was now spitting out a mouthful of sand), and answered seriously: "I don't know, but it seems that we're in a desert." Okay, maybe there was a little sarcasm in her voice, but still, she meant it.

"That is a correct assumption, my Princess." A voice broke into their conversation. Kida tried to sit up, and found that she could now move without much difficulty. She looked over and saw the man- Shadi, she thought- who had given her that strange set of scales.

It was then that it clicked- the scales! That must have been what brought everyone there… wherever that was. She also then noticed the 'princess comment'. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion and contemplation. "Excuse me, but where are we? And why do you keep calling me Princess?"

Shadi looked at her, smiling slightly. "I call you Princess because that is what you are- the daughter of the great pharaoh of Ancient Egypt, where we now reside."

Kida looked at him, eyes wide. "What?" she could barely bring herself to speak, "Egypt? Ancient Egypt!" She rubbed her eyes. "This makes no sense, how could we be in Ancient Egypt- it isn't possible?"

Kida felt a hand on her shoulder and whirled around. Behind her she saw her father. He was, like Shadi, smiling. "Oh, but it is." His look became wistful, "Egypt, how I have longed to once again be with her great sands."

She heard someone chuckle. "Yes, Pharaoh, you must have really missed this place- I mean, come on? Who can resist having thousands of people waving, bowing, and cheering for you every time you go somewhere?"

"Come on, you know you missed it, too! After all, weren't these you 'glory days' as the King of Thieves, tomb robbers, and any other thing evil?" was her father's sarcastic reply.

She looked over and realized that it was Ryou who was talking. That made absolutely no sense to her, but she continued to listen to their conversation with interest- after all, what else was there to do?

"Ah, yes, those were the days! Stealing, pillaging, murdering, having vengeful feelings towards you and attempting to kill you every other day- that was the life!" Yami glared at 'Ryou', and he smiled insanely. "Oh come on, Pharaoh, I know you enjoyed it, too!"

This earned him a grin. "Well, admittedly, yes. It was rather enjoyable!" Now both of the men were laughing at their 'fond memories'. (A/N: In my fic Yami will have memories of his past until the age of seventeen- when Kida was born and right after Bakura stopped being evil, at least in my fic.)

Kida looked at them weirdly. "I think that I'm missing something."

Tea groggily lifted up her head, and than swiftly laid it back down, clutching it with her hands. She desperately tried to escape the headache that was grasping at her, ripping its fierce claws into her head and nearly driving her mad.

Slowly but surely, the pain faded. It was then that she began to hear the voices around her: "…-ling, pillaging, murdering, having vengeful feelings towards you and attempting to kill you every other day…." "…yes. It was rather enjoyable!"

Tea assumed that that was Bakura and Yami, judging by the topic sentence. Then she heard another voice. "I think I'm missing something." It was Kida.

Tea bolted upwards and ignored the aching feeling that was once again attempting to control her mind. She saw Kida look over at her, just now noticing that she had awoken. She felt her heart sink at the pleading look in her daughter's eyes- they were just begging for someone to tell her what was happening.

Tea had never seen her like this. Kida had always been the strong one, something which Tea had often been ashamed of, but she had gotten used to always have other people to support her, and suddenly having that wrenched away from her was horrifying.

To her, Kida had been a source of constant comfort and balance, but she had also been a reminder of the past that she had shared with the rest of the gang. But that hadn't mattered to her, because with her daughter she knew that she was never alone, and would always have someone to love whom loved her back.

Tea admitted that now she felt guilty, for she had been using her daughter for her own selfish purposes. Although it had not effected how Kida was over all raised, it did slightly change the atmosphere that a small child- or any child, for that matter- should grow up with.

"Mom?" Kida's voice broke her out of her thoughts, and back into the present time. (A/N: Yes, that pun was intended!) "What's going on?" her daughter's voice sounded tired and worn, not the voice of your average eleven year old.

Tea looked at the sand, smiling sadly to herself. "I'm not even sure anymore." She glanced up at the sky, only to look down again after having her eyes burned by the sun. "I'm not really sure."

Rirsi glanced at his best friend, hoping to be reassured by her face that she was, indeed, fine. His hopes plummeted as he looked upon her face; she looked frustrated and confused, and extremely tired. She did not seem to be a child who was having a few family problems, but more like an adult who had just come to realize that there was no such thing as the fantasy world that movies made it seem there was. There weren't always happy endings. Rirsi could only pray that this story would end with one.

A/N: Well, I'm not really sure if this was quite the chapter that you had all been hoping for. It wasn't that long and only slightly pushed the plot forward. But there were still two very important factors in the story:

Kida was the possessor of the Millenium Scales.

Everyone is now in Ancient Egypt, where the conclusion of this story will really happen.

Okay! I really, truly am extremely sorry. So I promise that I will post the next chapter as soon as I can (as long as I know that there are still people actually reading my story… if not it may take a while… of course if no one is reading this than no one would care if I didn't update)! So plz, R&R!