Warnings: Mild swearing, Bakura confusion and far too many long-winded paragraphs.
Key: "Speech"
From last chapter
Notes: Sorry for the 4 month wait for this chapter but life attacked me, chewed me up and spat me out. I wont say that I will be updating regularly as I don't want to disappoint but the wait between chapters wont be as large.
Disclaimer: I own bugger all.
Unsigned review replies
Kit-kit: Sorry but I had to leave it there last time because I hated that chapter and I actually still hate it. If it weren't so important I would delete it. Oh well.
Shadowed Mirage: Thanks for leaving your email address! When my email starts working again I will email replies to you! But for now the will be posted with the new chapters. You didn't expect them to die? Cool! The element of surprise! Yes they will reach Egypt but I'm not sure when. Suspense? I hadn't noticed! I hope that it's a good thing. Hehehehehehehehe! Yep Seto's a dirty little sod. Yeah everyone keeps saying that they can't tell and that's why I love spell checkers! They rock! Good you can't die. I need the reviews! Hheheheheh! And call me Free-chan, everyone else does. Apologies for the long wait! Gegopra: Hehehehehe! I know, I'm evil ain't I? And I already know what's going to happen! There is a plot and a plan here (somewhere)!
Now On with the story! Chapter VI
"Well……" Bakura started.
"When we kind of died, we got to go to the afterlife." Bakura continued "That was the weirdest place I have ever been………"
Flashback"Ugggghhhhhhhhhhh" groaned Bakura waking up after someone prodded him harshly in the side. He blinked his eyes open slowly and glared weakly at the person who prodded him. That person would happen to be Yami. That's when Bakura noticed two things: one, he was sprawled over Yami's lap and the second thing was the fact the Yami was ignoring him and looking up at something in front of them.
Turning his head slowly so as not to cause himself more pain, he moved to look at what Yami was staring at.
"Oh shit." Was all he managed to say before falling back into unconsciousness, partly due to what he saw.
Some time laterThis time when Bakura regained consciousness all he could see was black. Turning his head to access the situation further. Still all he could see was black, and then a small bit of silver. Focusing his eyes on the silver he realised that it was a buckle and that it was about an inch from his face. Looking straight up from the buckle he saw Yami.
That's when he realised that he was still in Yami's lap and that he was hugging one of Yami's legs tightly. Around the thigh. Which meant that his face had been pretty much pressed into Yami's crotch. Then Bakura done something that he hadn't done in thousands of years. He blushed.
Burying his head back where it was, to try and hide his blush, and then realising where he was burying his head, then moved backwards a bit. Bakura started to doze off again, something lulling him to sleep. Shifting slightly to get more comfortable, Bakura could hear Yami's rhythmical breathing and his own started to match it. That coupled with Yami stroking his hair put him to sleep.
Yami, who had been aware that Bakura had awoken, watched as the thief went back to sleep. He couldn't shake the feeling that they had been in a similar situation before and it unnerved him. Why hadn't Bakura tried to kill him as soon as he woke up? 'Fat lot of good that would do.' Thought Yami bitterly. Bakura was aware of where he was and whom he was laying on. So why didn't he try to move away? Was Bakura really relaxed by his presences? Would that hold true when Bakura wasn't slipping in and out of consciousness?
Yami sighed. It was far too much to think about now. They had just died and it was a very draining experience. One he never wished to repeat. Deciding that maybe for once Bakura had the right idea, Yami laid down. Bakura still in his lap and his hands still running through Bakura's hair.
End flashback"It doesn't sound too bad…." Yugi mumbled.
"Who did you see? It must have been bad if they got the thief to pass out from just one glimpse of them. And what's with snuggling up to the Pharaoh? Hmmmmm?" asked Malik in a sarcastic tone of voice, which earned him a growl from Yami and dark look from Bakura.
"I didn't want to move from where I was, so I didn't. If you were about to have you're soul eaten and be banished for the rest of eternity to the underworld where your soul will be forever tortured, would you move if you had found somewhere comfy? Even if that happened to be lying across your greatest rival at the time? And seeing as you wouldn't know, dieing is not only painful but it is also a very tiring experience. I can prove this to you if you want." Bakura hissed at the now cowering Malik.
"Don't bother. He's not worth it." Yami said calmly while placing a hand on the thief's shoulder to placate him.
"It wasn't too bad, as you said Yugi, It was just empty. Besides us," Yami gestured to himself and Bakura, "all you could see everywhere around us was white. A clean, sterile white. It was odd."
"And as we found out later it was also the waiting room." Added Bakura.
Flashback"Wake up my Pharaoh, it's time."
At the mention of his former title Yami jolted awake and pushed himself backwards, away from the voice. This resulted in Bakura's head connecting painfully with, what was assumed to be, the floor. Thus Bakura was awoken.
Bakura sat and rubbed his head while quietly muttering curses under his breath. This time Yami was too far away from Bakura to poke him to get his attention, so Yami did the only thing that he could. He kicked Bakura.
Bakura turned and glared at the former Pharaoh but Yami wasn't paying attention to him and was instead looking straight past him. Bakura decided that that had been happening a lot today (or however long they had been there) and that he didn't like that Yami kept ignoring him. He also didn't like the fact that he didn't like Yami ignoring him. And he didn't like that he didn't like the fact that he didn't like that Yami was ignoring him. Now his brain hurt. And he didn't like that either.
Taking a break from his confusing thoughts Bakura decided to find out why Yami was ignoring him this time. Turning round this time Bakura saw a beautiful woman. She was about the same height as Bakura himself and her skin was a dark tan colour. She wore a long skirt that reached the floor it was a dark green. The top of her outfit was gold coloured linen that crossed over her chest covering her voluptuous breasts elegantly, the ends of the gold material wrapped around the top of her skirt securing it in place. Around her neck was a wide segmented gold plate that draped delicately over her slim shoulders and clasped together behind her back. The gold was encrusted with many precious gems of dark green, blue, purple and red. On her head was a gold tiara, a gold disc in the centre resting on her forehead. From the disc a large ostrich feather rose proudly, her dark hair covered most of the rest of the tiara.
"Come my Pharaoh. Come my Thief." She said in a beautifully harmonious voice with out moving her lips. "It is time."
She started to drift away. Yami stood up and started to follow her. He stopped when he was next to Bakura and looked at him still sitting on the floor.
Bakura blinked a couple of times and looked up at Yami standing next to him.
"Well are you going to come?" Yami asked and when all he got as an answer was more blinking he grabbed Bakura's hand and pulled him off the floor and then started dragging Bakura while he followed the woman.
Bakura blinked again when he realised that he was on his feet and being dragged by Yami. He looked at Yami and then at their joined hands. Bakura realised that he didn't want to yank his hand away and stomp off with out the Pharaoh. Killing Yami would have been one of the other things he should want to do before he would stomped off but he thought that that might be rather pointless as they were already dead. Also he kind of like where his hand was at the moment. He groaned when realised that he thought that and decided that he really didn't like today.
They followed the woman for a long while before she stopped in front of two large stone doors that covered in gold and jewels and many carvings of the different symbols that represented each of the many Gods of the Egypt of old.
"Welcome to the house of the Gods of Egypt" said the woman as the doors slowly started to open.
Again she started to drift off. This time though she continued talking as she moved. "It is a shame that neither of you remember the ways or the Gods of old. We understand that your memories have been erased when you saved the world from darkness and that the only reason that you recognised Anubis earlier was because he is one of the few that are still remembered in this new time. I am Ma'at, the goddess of justice and truth and the daughter of Ra. As you know the souls of mortals usually go to be weighed and either sent to the afterlife or are eaten by the Great Eater. They don't usually end up here in the house of the Gods but you two are special. We have certain rules up here and when you met your demise we found that you wouldn't be processed in the normal way. Which is usually fine on the rare occasions that this happens but there are two of you this time. But everything will be explained to you in a minute. Ahhh, here we are." She finished as she came to a stop in front of another stone door encrusted with gold and jewels.
She pushed open the door and ushered the two spirits in. The room was a large auditorium, plain white in colour, which had stone benches, also white, curved in a half circle around the central floor space. The stone seats when up in tiers and in them sat hundreds of people or part people in some cases and animals in many more. These were all the Egyptian Gods.
Ma'at left Yami and Bakura standing in the centre alone and moved off to sit in her seat in the front row.
"Yami. Bakura. I believe that these are the names that you go by now." A deep commanding voice said in to the silence that had settled on the people (and gods) gathered.
"Yes?" squeaked Yami who was now absolutely terrified.
"I am Ra" said the voice and out stepped a little old man wearing a white gown. He had long white hair and a long white beard. His face was kind and his eyes were golden yellow in colour and shone like the sun lit them from behind. On his head was a large gold disk, about half his height, that stood on his head without anything holding it up.
He smiled reassuringly at the duo as he sat in a large alabaster throne like chair.
Yami and Bakura had been silent all this time. And that's how they stayed. Well, what could you say in a situation like this?
"I take it that you are wondering why you are here and not being judged" Ra asked and Yami and Bakura nodded "Well you are here because you have different rights than those of the newly deceased. Yes, you have just died but technically you have been dead three thousand years, you just had new bodies. Which brings me to why you are here. Because you have been dead so long there is a rule which says that if you have more than one body and have been dead over a thousand years then you can use your other body and be put back in the world of the living. You two may not realise it but you each have three bodies. There are the ones that you have just ruined, there are you reincarnations (but those are in use) and there are your original bodies from Egypt. They are not harmed in any way because the body wasn't killed it just had the soul ripped from it. What we are offering one or both of you is the definite use of these bodies. The bodies are immortal as they have been soulless for so long and have not been mummified. There are conditions that come with this offer. You can change the bodies using any aspects from you other three but once you are back in the mortal realm you wont be able to make any changes unless you use modern means to do so. If you decide that you are bored with living you are aloud to return to the afterlife and still keep you bodies but you must return to a certain temple in Egypt to be able to keep your bodies safe from harm. I am sorry to tell you that I cannot tell you where or which temple it is. When your memories return you will know. Your memories will start to return when you are back on earth, so, please when you are sorting out you bodies don't use to many things from the other two as they are not capable of withstanding the power that you will gain from these memories. Try and keep you original bodies the same as much as possible. And the last thing. If you both want to return you will have to together, as in within five feet of each other, for six months as we do not have enough power to ground both of you at the same time in different places. You are very powerful beings and usually it wouldn't take so long to secure you in the mortal realm. You have a couple of hours to decide what you want to do before this window of opportunity closes. Please think carefully about this. We will leave you in here to consider our proposal and we shall return either when you call or in two hours when you time runs out."
And with that everyone disappeared in a puff of smoke leaving Yami and Bakura to decide what they would do.
End Flashback"And as you can see we chose to stick it out for six months." Bakura finished
Stunned silence. And then: "So what did you change?" was asked in a whisper from Ryou.
"We both changed our eyes as they didn't really match the rest of our bodies. We both had blue eyes before you ask. Mine were a very unusual aqua colour and Bakura's were Navy blue. Bakura also changed his hair colour." Explained Yami.
"My hair had a grey tint to it originally but I preferred the white hair that Ryou has. So that's what I used." Bakura continued.
"After we decided that we would chance six months together the Gods let us do pretty much what we wanted and we could even separate from each other until we were back on earth. So we avoided each other for the two months that we were up there. I hung around with people I sort of remembered from my past and some of the new arrivals" Said Yami
"Me," Bakura told them "I went around scarring people I didn't know and to the people I did I annoyed them! That and steal stuff."
"When two months were up we met up again in the waiting room where we were first dumped. That's where I saw Grandpa. He says 'Hi!' by the way."
"Then they shoved us out if the afterlife and dumped us back where we had died. They dumped us back where the plane crashed in the middle of a forest in the middle of China!" Bakura exclaimed as he brought his fist down on the arm of the chair that Yami wasn't sitting on.
Notes: W00T! It's finally done. This chapter has been in progress for well over two months but as I said life ate me whole. Ok. Thanks to everyone who reviewed last time! If it was signed then I have already replied! Unsigned review replies are (as you noticed) being relocated at the beginning of chapters! Please skip if you wish.