Disclaimer: Me no own (sniffle) one day I shall dream up a fantastic story. One day….. (Gets poked by Malik with the rod)
Malik: Hey dreamer! We're waiting for the new chapter
Yami Seirei: (mumbling) one day….
Yugi + Yami glomp her
Yami Seirei: Hey! I was daydreaming…
Bakura: Well get on with it I want to see what's going to happen to the baka pharaoh!
Yami Seirei: (thoughtfully) Y'know Bakura if you take the 'u' and 'r' out of your name it spells something else…
Bakura: B..A..K..A... … … HEY! I'm no baka!
Everyone falls about laughing at the affronted look on Bakura's face
Yami Seirei: Okay enough daftness on to chapter 9…
Chapter 9
Yugi, Seto and Jou were making their way out to the helicopter when Yugi had a thought.
"Seto! My Jii Chan has a lot of mystical things from Ancient Egypt at his house maybe there is something there that can help."
Seto thought about it. He didn't want to delay their trip but anything that would help them would be a bonus as he still wasn't sure about just following a feeling no matter how convinced Yugi was about it.
"Okay let's go." And spoke into his com again.
It was not long before Seto's limo came round to where they were and they all plied in.
"To the Kame Game shop." Seto instructed his chauffeur and they sped off in that direction. When they arrived to Yugi's surprise his Jii Chan was waiting for them on the front step of the shop. Seto wound the window down and he ran over.
"Yugi I have something for you." He said and passed a strange circular object through the window. It had five points hanging from it and a pyramid shape in the middle with what Yugi recognised as the Eye Of Horus stamped on it.
"What is this Jii Chan?" Yugi asked in wonder over the strange item.
"There isn't time for lengthy explanations Yugi but I will tell you all you need to know. This item is one of seven special items called the Millennium Items. They are all linked in some way and there is an ancient prophecy attached to them. I do not know what it is but three thousand years ago they were used to try and destroy the world. A brave Pharaoh managed to defeat the evil that escaped and locked it and the items away."
"But how do you know that this will help me find Atemu?" Yugi asked more than a little puzzled by the story.
"Because the ancient Pharaoh looked exactly like you and Atemu and, ever since he went missing it has been glowing. I think there is a link between his disappearance and these items. I don't know what happened to the other six but this one I managed to keep hidden. I did have the puzzle too but it was stolen a few years ago."
Yugi looked down at the object in his hand, which he now noticed was glowing. As he watched, it glowed brighter.
"Thanks Jii Chan, I hope it helps us."
"I hope so too Yugi. Bring him home I can't bear the thought of losing one of you again – or both." He added but only to himself.
The windows of the limo slid shut silently and the car zoomed away again back to the waiting helicopter.
Once they were all strapped in, the machine rose up above Domino City and hovered there.
"Which way Mr Kaiba?" The pilot asked and Seto looked to Yugi. Yugi looked at the Ring which, was now hanging round his neck and silently asked it 'Which way?'
To his surprise the Ring glowed even brighter and the points hanging down rose up to point to the north of the City. Yugi closed his eyes and concentrated on his link with Atemu and found that it was coming from the same direction.
"That way." He said pointing to where the Ring was showing him and they set off in that direction.
Atemu was laying on the floor trying to get a little sleep when he heard the door to the room open and Iria walked in closely followed by Michael.
"The time has arrived for the ritual." She announced and produced a set of keys from round her neck. She unlocked the door and Michael grabbed Atemu, pulling him out and standing him up. He was too weak to stand though and slumped to the floor.
"Lazy brat." Michael said and kicked him in the stomach making him groan in pain.
"Don't be foolish!" snapped Iria; "he must be perfect for the ritual."
"Sorry." Mumbled Michael and picked Atemu up in a fireman's lift. Iria moved round the room collecting things they were going to need and Atemu noticed that she also picked the box up containing the broken pieces of puzzle.
"Thought you could outsmart me did you?" She sneered as she brought the box round to where Atemu could see it. She opened it to reveal not a group of puzzle pieces, but a completed puzzle, which glowed with an unearthly light.
Atemu felt compelled to reach out and grab it but Michael had tight hold of his arms and legs and he couldn't move.
"I found the piece you snuck into your cage and re-assembled the puzzle while you were asleep. What did you think you could possibly achieve with only one piece? I take it you do know what this is?" Atemu shook his head. "Well that's just as well then." She huffed and dropped the puzzle into a sack where it made a sound of metal against metal when it hit the other things in there.
Grabbing a dagger from its place on a shelf, she opened the front door and led the way outside. Michael followed carrying Atemu with relative ease. The prisoner wondered about this as Michael wasn't exactly young anymore but seemed to have the strength of ten men!
They walked on through dense woodland always walking upwards until they came to the edge of the trees and out into the open.
They were on a hillside but Atemu could see nothing in the dying light of the day other than behind them or the ground.
Eventually they reached the top and Iria turned to Michael
"Prepare him."
Michael dropped Atemu to the ground and with an inhuman swiftness bound his hands and feet so tightly that he could feel the cords biting into his flesh.
Michael then produced a knife and sliced away Atemu's clothes until he was naked, then from his bag, produced a sarong type garment and proceeded to wrap it round his lower half.
Atemu could do nothing as this was going on, every time he moved slightly the cords bit deeper into him and caused him more pain so he kept as still as possible merely wincing whenever Michael moved him.
Finally he was done and looked over to where Iria was busily lighting torches, which cast an eerie glow over the area.
"Bring him here." She commanded and Michael hoisted Atemu onto his shoulders again. His hands and feet were numb from the bonds round them and he hung limply on Michael's shoulders as he was carried over to something standing in the middle of the torches.
It turned out to be a large flat rock in a diamond shape. Atemu caught a glimpse of it before Michael dumped him roughly onto it.
Pain jarred through his back when he landed on the stone and he cried out.
"Careful with him! We don't want him broken." Iria scolded her husband and then she noticed the bonds. He loosened them and Atemu felt the blood rush to his starved fingers and toes again.
"You idiot!" She yelled. "Now he'll be marked and the ritual won't work! It requires he is perfect in body and soul and you gave him rope burns!"
"I'm sorry, I just didn't want him getting away."
"Never mind that now, I have planned this for too many centuries to fail now. We cannot wait for another reincarnation of the Pharaoh, who knows how long that could be. Three thousand years was bad enough without having to hide away and wait for another three thousand years!"
Atemu listened to this in wonder. Three thousand years? The reincarnation of the Pharaoh? It didn't make sense. Iria saw his confused look and smirked down at him.
"Did you think we were human my dear son? Oh no, we are not human, we were once gods but because we wanted to rule the world as supreme gods we were thrown out and cursed to live on earth as immortals with no powers save for a little magic. After many years of searching we found a way to defeat the other gods and rule in our rightful place. The seven Millennium items were the key to raising the evil force we needed to overthrow them and take our rightful place. Then we were defeated by a Pharaoh who managed to lock away the items along with himself. We now know that the Pharaoh's soul has been reincarnated in you and your brother and when we have dispatched with you we will get your brother and with both halves of the soul dead we can then raise the evil force and take the place we deserve."
Atemu listened to all this in shock. Was this why the link between him and Yugi was so strong? Because they were two halves of the same soul? Well it did make sense and if it was true they needed the items that Iria was talking about to defeat them again and maybe even destroy them for good.
His thoughts were interrupted when he felt his hands pulled to either side of him and tied to the stone he was lying on. He began to shiver, as the stone was cold against his bare skin. He looked over to where Iria was standing and saw that there was another stone next to his exactly the same. With a jolt he realised that it must be for Yugi.
"Please don't harm Yugi." He pleaded but his pleas fell on deaf ears as Iria and Michael were busily laying out items on a stone tablet. There were six that he could see.
Iria was looking in the bag with a worried expression on her face.
"There are only six items, where's the seventh?" she demanded and Michael looked surprised.
"But I thought you were getting the Ring?"
"No you were supposed to be fetching it from that idiot Solomon's shop."
"But I thought…" Michael began but was interrupted by a very angry sounding Iria
"That's the problem with you isn't it Michael? You don't think! It was your fault we got defeated three thousand years ago, your fault not mine! I said 'I'm sure those items are bad news for us' but oh no you had to charge in saying 'I think there's no threat they're only metal objects' and bam! We were defeated. Now we won't succeed because again you didn't think!"
"Well you didn't think to check before we came out." Michael retorted and was rewarded with a hard slap across his face.
"Shut up! Get everything else ready then I will go and get the Ring." She said before storming off to fetch another bag and drawing from it the dagger, which Atemu had seen earlier.
Atemu seized his chance and spoke softly to Michael.
"She's only using you, you know to get what she wants. You think she'll let you live once this ritual is complete?" He said
A look of discomfort and slight fear crossed Michael's face and he looked as if he almost believed him but then determination returned and he grabbed Atemu by the chin holding his face and putting his own inches from the teen's.
"Shut up" he hissed "I know her and she would never betray me." And from his pocket he produced a gag and tied it round Atemu's mouth so he couldn't plant more bad thoughts in his mind. If he was honest with himself, Michael had often wondered when his wife was making nasty comments to him, whether she was including him because she wanted him to rule at her side or if she was merely using him to get what she wanted but he always dismissed those thoughts. 'Impossible, she loves me.' He told himself and after so long of being together he knew it was true.
At last it seemed they were ready and Iria stood admiring her handiwork but frowned when she saw the place where the Ring should lay.
"I'm going to fetch the last Item." She informed them and with a few whispered words, she was gone from their sight. Michael sat down to wait for her return.
Atemu closed his eyes and concentrated.
'Yugi, Iria, the woman who kidnapped me is going to the Game Shop to get an item she needs to fulfil her evil plan. She called it the Ring. Has Jii Chan mentioned it?' He heard a gasp and then Yugi replied.
'Yes he has in fact I have it with me and it's guiding me to you. Are you still in the hut?'
'No, I have been taken to a nearby hillside. I think it's quite high up so you should be able to find it ok but be wary, don't let them know you are coming'
The cold of the stone and the strain of using the mind link took its toll on Atemu and he suddenly lost consciousness. Yugi felt it and cried out into the link.
'Atemu! Atemu!' But there was no reply.
"We have to hurry, he's on a hilltop high up but I don't know where."
Seto looked at the map on his laptop.
"There, that's the highest point around." He said pointing and the Ring round Yugi's neck glowed brightly as if in agreement.
"Okay let's head for there but we need to land far enough away so they won't hear us."
"Let's go." Seto ordered the pilot who put the co-ordinates of a suitable landing site into his navigation system and headed that way.
"Handy thing that laptop." Remarked jou and Seto nodded.
"Only the best." He grinned at his boyfriend. Yugi wasn't listening, he was watching the Ring whose points were still standing out straight in front telling him that they were going in the right direction.
Back at the Kame Game shop, if someone had entered the back of the shop, they would have found the place ransacked beyond recognition and the twins Jii Chan lying dead from a single stab wound to the heart.
Atemu + Yugi: Nooooo why Jii Chan have to die!
Yami Seirei: Because Iria got really mad when he wouldn't tell her where the Ring was so she killed him.
Everyone: Bitch!
Yami Seirei: Yup! Well I may write more tomorrow but phew this was one long chapter!