The Thief King's Wish
By: AimiKitsune
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Disclaimer: I own Kali, and the fox versions of Kyp and Rispa. I own Abiad. I own Meru. Other than that- I! OWN! NOTHING! X3 Not the show, not any copyrighted characters, NOTHING! X3
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Aimi: Hallo all! I have wonderful news! I have found evidence that there are bigger geeks out there than animé fangirls: I watched a documentary (3/14/06) where guys were claiming birds were dinosaurs! X.x Weird... Anyway! I hope you're all enjoying the fic so far. Now, let's see if Bakura can find that lamp:3
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Chapter 2: Of Fairies and Fox Friends
The weary thief looked down at his map. Surely he must be getting close by now! He yawned as he put it away. He was immensly glad Sol had let him store his new bounty in the Dove's safe. Not even the pettiest low life in the country would try to rob the Dancing Dove, nor any of the other places where the Rogue assembled freely. And besides that, he was tired enough without hauling around heavy bags.
Suddenly, Bakura's ears were pierced by a loud, screeching howl. Too short for a howl really, more like a prolonged yip. He slammed his hands over his ears as the sound repeated. "What on earth-" He began searching for its cause, following the raucus well off his path. Just as he was getting ready to stab out his ears and get it over with, he saw something. A little desert fox had gotten his foot caught under a rock. From the looks of it, he'd become stuck against the small cactus while trying to get free. Now the poor little guy was twice caught and twice hurt.
"Poor thing. No wonder he's making such a fuss!" He ran to try to help. He was right on top of the fox before he noticed in the scant moonlight: he was white! His head jerked up toward the two-legger and snarled, allowing Bakura to see he also had pink eyes. "So you're albino.." he mused. "Well like it or not, you need my help. So you may well want to stop that!"
As if he'd understood every word, the fox quieted. First came the rock, a bit heavy, but easy enough to push aside. Then, the cactus. Bakura was amazed how little the fluffball resisted at having pins yanked out of his side once he was free. "There now," he said as he pulled out the last one. "All better." The fox looked up with large, grateful eyes. "Well, what are you waiting for? Go on!" He tried to walk away, but the little fox followed. "What? No! Go!"
He just said, "Yarp! Yarp!" and continued to follow.
Bakura sighed. "Are you really going to insist on following me?" The fox yipped; Bakura rolled eyes. "Fine.. But if you're going to tag along, you need a name." He looked the little guy over. An albino desert fox.. His tail, bushy and round-tipped, was almost his body length, which still didn't make him the length of Bakura's arm. His tapered snout sported a pink rather than black nose and lips and almost invisible whiskers. His eyes, gold in any of his relatives, were large and reddish pink. But probably the most amusing feature was his ears. Each was larger than his entire head, making him look almost chibi. Even with his ridiculously large ears, he looked about two hands high, if that. It seemed cruel to name him after his small stature or silly ears, so Bakura decided to use the most obvious trait. "Abiad," he said. "Your name shall be Abiad."
Abiad yipped. Bakura rolled his eyes. "Now where was my trail?" He looked around, lost. Suddenly, Abiad yipped madly and took off. "What! Where do you think you're going!" The fox stopped and looked back to his two-legger friend, then yipped again. Bakura gave a cross between a sigh of exagerration and a laugh of disbelieving self-pity. "You've got to be kidding me.." he mumbled. "Let me guess, you want me to follow you?"
Abiad's eyes looked somehow brighter. "Yarp!"
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Bakura gaped at the size of the cave. From the way Dartz had described it, it nearly sounded like a giant tiger was going to leap out of the sand and eat him. (X3) It was just a cave, fortunately, set in the side of a cliff. But it was still huge, as he found shortly after climbing through the tiny opening outside.
A few pieces of odd furniture layed strung about, as shown by torches that were hung on the walls. Bakura puzzled over this. Judging by the thick dust everywhere, no one had been here in ages, yet the torches glowed as brightly as if they were lit today. They didn't look even close to burning out, either.
Abiad growled curiously. Everything about this place screamed strange. It was like it belonged to a world all its own. The little white fox trotted deeper into the cave. "Watch yourself, Abiad.." Bakura looked around. "Now where's that lamp..."
"Yarp yarp yarp yarp!" Abiad's voice was unnaturally high, almost frantic.
"What's wro-" Gray-violet eyes widened as spears came into view. Bakura dropped to the ground just in time to miss them flying overhead. He glared at the fox, who looked ironically sheepish. "All right. No more wondering off for you." He carefully got up, much more wary now of his surroundings, and slowly began to go deeper into the cave. "C'mon." Abiad trotted at his heals.
Two halls of spring-loaded arrows, another spear trap, and one crumbling floor later, they came across a large chamber that had only two torches, one on each side wall, yet seemed to glow like the sun. It took Bakura a minute to realize why, and he nearly had a panic attack when he did.
The room was made of solid gold! Barely keeping from hyper-ventilating, he walked as fast as his now stiff legs would allow, and placed a hand on the nearest wall. "Gold.." he breathed. "Solid.. Gold.." Abiad, however, seemed rather finicky (X3 Fennec) about the room. He yipped disdainfully. "What is it?" Bakura asked absent-mindedly. A few headbutts finally made him look to see what the problem was, creating a whole new obsession for him.
The ground at first glance had appeared to be covered in sand. That was odd this deep in a cave when floors before had been naturally carved in the stone, but Bakura had paid it no mind. Now he saw the truth: it was covered in powdered gold. The thief dropped to his knees, barely caring about the sudden pain of scraping them on the metal. He dug his hands through the beautiful gold until he hit the real floor: a highly polished alibaster. "Amazing.." He laughed in sheer glee. "Wonderful! Amazing!" A hyper moment took over as he began rolling in the golden sand. "Poor Dartz! What a fool! He has no idea this is here! Ha-ha! Lamp? Who needs a lamp! This is greater than anything in the world!" The sudden thought of Kisara calmed him down, though barely. Would he give this in exchange for her if given the choice? He shook it off. It didn't matter HOW rich he was, he was still common-born! Besides, people could betray you and hurt you. But money- money would never leave! He continued to frolic in the fine gold.
"Yarp! Yarp!" Abiad yipped happily. Bakura hurried up to see what else he'd found. Once again, he found himself in shock. By now it was closer to being delerious, since he'd seen so much, but this was still enough to make him gape a moment. The next chamber was made of pure chrystal, a blue-indigo with many facets on every section. Scattered throughout the room were immense piles of precious gems: rubies, emeralds, diamonds, topaz, peridots, garnets, and-.. sapphires. He just laughed, not even knowing why. The laughter turned to deleriousness again as he skipped about the room, running handfuls of gems through his fingers. The smallest pile was still his eye level, and the largest must have been nearly twice his size, if not a lot more! But-
Where did the light come from? This room was nearly as well illuminated as the last, though it seemed a bit darker with the dark blue walls, but there was no flame to be seen. Abiad looked up and yarped. Bakura followed his gaze and saw the source: two large, diamond-like chrystals that seemed to glow on their own! "What one of those must be worth.." he daydreamed aloud. Then he saw it. Another door. Unable to contain himself, he ran to it. What he saw surprised him, but not for the reasons he'd thought it would.
The final chamber was relatively small, a round room with the same chrystal walls and gold leaf etched into symbols upon it. But other than that, only one thing stood in the room. There were no gems, no fine gold. All there was was a narrow marble pedestal, and upon it, an old worn lamp.
"Is this it?" he asked, disappointed. "In this hoard of treasure, is THIS what I'm here for?" He couldn't believe it. Why on earth would anyone consider this of importance? But it was what he was sent here for, and though the petty bounty Dartz had paid him didn't come CLOSE to rivaling even the WALLS of the deep cave, he was still obliged to hold up his end of the bargain.
When he stepped into the room, however, his opinion slightly changed. Everything flashed, leaving him dizzy. When he was able to shake it off, he found he didn't like it. Not one little bit. This room was the same, but he felt no light from behind. He turned, and gaped. The room behind him was now a plain cavern, filled to the brim with rocks, and the room behind it filled with ordinary sand. He scowled and cursed with confusion, but entered the truly bright room. A stone slab slammed on the ground behind him. "Shit!"
He was trapped. Naturally, right? He looked to see the golden runes on the wall had changed- they were now legible. He read it. "The greatest lie is the greatest art. See the truth, O Pure of Heart. The eye will trick you to see gold in tin. But the truest treasures lie within." He snorted. "What a load of-" He yelled, and kicked the lamp of the pedestal. Abiad ran after it as it hit the wall with a clang.
"Arr?" The fox sniffed it, despite his friend's tart remark to leave the piece of shit be. He then started to lick it. After a moment, he let out a frantic "Yarp!"
Bakura turned to see what the matter was, and nearly jumped out of his skin! The lamp! Red sparking smoke was coming from the lamp! With a loud pop, a figure suddenly appeared. Bakura couldn't even breathe.
"Greetings, young master," a crisp, air-like voice said. Its owner was what appeared to be a young man, roughly Bakura's age. His long silk-straight black hair fell to each side, barely covering part of his face. It was pulled to a high pony tail in the back. A trim black tuft of a beard accented his sensual mouth and slightly upturned nose. Lightly arched eyebrows were placed gently over piercing emerald green eyes and high cheek bones. His skin was a creamy golden color, far lighter than Bakura's, yet still quite tanned. He wore an expensive-looking red silk vest over a bare chest, and full white pants that were tight around his ankles. His feet were bare save for a few bejeweled anklets and toe rings. His arms, hands, and neck were no less decorated. The young man was floating.
After several moments to catch, then recatch, his breath, the thief stammered, "Who-.. What are you!"
"Excuse me?" the crisp, cool voice asked. "Oh! Of course.. I forget after so many centuries, people stop believing in genies."
"Ge-... GENIES!" The young ma- er..- genie nodded. "But- That's propostorous! They're fairy tales! Fairy tales!"
He blinked. "Oh? Do I look like a fairy tale?" He lowed himself to stand on the ground, then walked over to Bakura and placed a hand on his shoulder. He was exactly the same height as the human. "Do I feel like a fairy tale?"
"I-..." He found himself tongue-tied. Even Abiad was silent.
"There now." He patted the thief's arm. "I am Meru Akhdar. And you-" He smiled, showing off beautiful pearly white teeth. "You are my master.."
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Aimi:D Omg! That was really short, I know, but it was the most descriptive/least dialogue filled chapter I've ever written! I'm getting better about not filling space with pointless dialogue. :3 I SHALL be the next Tamora Pierce! X3 WHEE:D
Um.. In case anyone doesn't know (don't expect you to, so don't feel bad), Abiad is Arabic for white. And, even though it has no meaning whatsoever for this fic, Akhdar means green. -shrug- It sounds cool, okay? I'm not aware of a meaning for Meru, but pronounce it mer-UE. (Rhymes with who.)
And please- Don't flame me for the fox-turned-Lassie scene? Even Bakura thought it was dumb, remember..? -sweat-