IT'S FINALLY HERE! THE FIRST MAJOR PLOTTWIST OF THIS STORY FROM THE QUEEN HERSELF! (Takes an elegant bow) I think you've ALL going to like it... Let's Just say the moment you've all been waiting for it about to arrive...
This was a crazy week...hence why this chapter took a while to post. but since everyone's dealing with finals and what not i figured it wouldn't be that bad ;)
ANNOUNCEMENT: I've decided I'm gonna post on Wednesday from now one so everyone will get the update on Thursday. I've noticed I get a lot of reviews Thursday morning or Wednesday night so I think that will be easier for me and better fit everyone's schedules cause i got these bad boys done way in advance so it doesn't matter to me
Disclaimer: I own nothing
As always, read, review, reply, comment, critique, ask questions and go nuts!
Chapter XXIII: Decision
Timaeus spun to his King, and silently cursed. His grip on Yugi hadn't faltered. The truth of the situation and the gravity of it sank like an anchor through still water. Then a snort cut through the silence. Menkheperre and Maatkare exploded in laugher and the reaction that followed was a chain that couldn't be snapped.
The Per-a'ah and Royal Wife shot forward like pouncing lions. Mutnedjmet slapped her sister so hard she fell over in shock. Psusennes ceased the collar of the High Priest's robe and shoved him fiercely into unforgiving stone. "What did you do!?" He roared low and ferocious. His violet eyes blazed wild and dangerous with fury. His fist buried deeper into the man's throat and Menkheperre dangled, wheezing from the force of the strike. He tried to speak but his voice was heavy, ragged breaths.
"It's already done," the priestess hissed from the floor, her eyes wild and victorious. "You're too late to stop it." The Queen stood menacingly over her, and Timaeus saw the priestess flinch for a second before a moment then he face split in a grin of absolute triumph. "Whatever plans you had for him are gone. He's lost to you."
Her gaze fixated on Yugi as she spoke. Each word dripped with venom, and Timaeus felt him sink deeper into his arms.
Psusennes turned to the Priest again: his grip twice as hard, his eyes doubly sharp, and he punctured each word with rage. "What. Did. You. Do!?" He was tired of these games and it reflected dangerously in his words and on his face.
The priest gasped for breath and wheezed, "We let it slip to the servants how Prince Udjalah plotted to usurp the throne as the only child of our father's favorite wife, after his mother failed to make herself his Great Royal one," He paused to choke. "and how he sought to seduce your foreign allies to his cause."
Psusennes dropped him and he fell to his knees gasping, "You had your spies leak this information?" the Per-a'ah's voice was devoid of all emotion. "When?" he demanded, the neutrality of it made it even more terrifying.
"One ten-day after our arrival," the priestess sang, swaying back and forth, like she was singing a children's song.
Mutnedjmet's fingers twitched and curled, like she wanted to slap her sister again, but knew it would do no good, and so restrained herself.
"Enough time for the rumor to start and more for it to spread." She giggled in delight, looking right past her sister and fixated her twisted smile on Timaeus' charge. "And your fraternizing with your pirate certainly helped to confirm the rumors, you little slut." He words were sweet and pitched and devoid of bitterness and it made their cut even sharper.
"Why?" Yugi's trembled, tears dripping onto his shaking hands. "Why, why, why! Why would you do this to me!? Yugi screamed and tore at his hair and clothes until Timaeus grabbed his hands, and Mutnedjmet spun to his side. Tears streaked his cheeks, and scattered when he shook his head. "Do you truly hate me that much?"
"No, little one, they don't hate you." Timaeus stepped forward. "Just the opposite. They have decided if they cannot have your love for themselves than no one else shall."
Yugi stopped and the room turned to the Priest and priestess still on the floor. Menkheperre helped a still spinning Maatkare to her feet. She swayed and spun and her face was mad with delight.
Yugi shook his head, his eyes hardened and he squared his shoulders, but his hands still shook. "Do you honestly think this will make me love you?"
"I don't care," Menkheperre said quick and cold. "I don't care if you hate me! I don't care if you despise me! I don't care if you never speak to me again! I don't care! You will return home with us, and I will have you and he won't." The priest spat the word through an abrasive rasp. "Whatever happens after that is nothing." There was a mad triumph in his voice when he said it, a cold triumph of a man who even when caught would perpetually taste the sweetness of revenge.
Timaeus shook his head in disgust and Yugi's hands curled into fists of rage and betrayal. "I'll never go with you!"
The Royal Wife stepped forward and hissed. "We'll never allow it!" The Per-a'ah was as her side in agreement.
The priestess threw her head back and roared with mad laugher. "You think it matters what you allow?" she cackled. "You think you can protect him now? His reputation is destroyed! Your alliance is ruined! The people know him as a traitor! He'll never be allowed to stay in Djanet now!"
"And if he does, their trust in their Per-a'ah will be shattered." The priest held the princess as she trembled with laughter. A terrible smirk for triumph crossed his face like a jackal that caught a rabbit that was convinced it had escaped. "You can have the Delta, but I will have the desert! Your influence will not touch it." His eyes fixated on Yugi as he said it. "I'll make sure of that."
The Per-a'ah shook with rage and moved to speak, but was cut off. "Per-a'ah," Dartz said flat and neutral. The Per-a'ah spun to him and Timaeus turned as well, bewildered. Dartz's face was pinched and his mouth was a frustrated line. Calmly, he asked, "May we speak alone?"
The Per-a'ah pondered the request then turned to the gloating priest and priestess. He nodded then turned to two of the Dragon Knights. "Would one of your Knights be kind enough to watch them? I don't want them left unguarded for a moment."
"Of course," Dartz nodded as Hermos stepped forward to volunteer. He bowed to the Queen and Princes then fixated a neutral glare on the pair. They took their seats again like they were about to share a drink.
Dartz motioned to the other two knights. Critias followed without question, but Timaeus hesitated until Mut placed her hands on Yugi's trembling shoulders. Yugi nodded to him.
"Perhaps," Dartz suggested, "It'd be best if your lady and prince waited outside?" he asked his voice deep with concern and sympathy. Psusennes hesitated.
"Go," Yugi and Mut said together.
"We'll be alright." the lady assured her husband and he nodded. The four men exited to another room, the door closed behind them but it was hardly a barrier.
Dartz nodded. "We have no choice," he sighed in a defeated voice. Psusennes and Timaeus looked at him. Critias expected the answer and did nothing.
Dartz regarded each man with a heavy sigh then spoke, "We have to send Ujalah back to Waset."
The shock was echoed by an eerie silence. The Per-a'ah's face narrowed in protest: the refusal in his eyes knife-edged and razor sharp.
"You're mad." Even Timaeus couldn't fathom any other response. "Surely, you of all people cannot mean—"
Dartz shook his head then bowed solemnly to his friend. "I'm sorry my friend," He met Psusennes with sorrowful eyes and a sympathetic frown. "This is our only option if we wish to save his life. He must return to Waset."
"How can you of all people..." Timaeus swallowed his exasperation. Enraged, but calm his words were vehement "Yugi has spent his life trying to escape the priests and now he is finally free from them and now you want him to throw him right back into their cage?"
"We have no choice!" Dartz said fiercely. "The priests have already claimed him as one of their own. The people believe him a traitor. If he stays he will be a threat to the alliance and the Per-a'ah's reign."
"So we make my brother a sacrifice." Psusennes bit out. His face betrayed no emotion. "Give the priests their hostage in exchange for a mock stability? He has done nothing wrong, and I will not have him sentenced for a crime he did not commit."
Dartz exhaled a sigh of defeat, his fingers pinched his brow. "I'm sorry, my friend, I truly am, but we must have perception here."
"Yugi is merely a pawn," Timaeus insisted, "And he is innocent. The people trust their Pera'ah more than the Priests. They will believe him if he calls out their lies."
Dartz shook his head solemnly. "The people's trust in their monarch is fragile. They know little of political situations and they judge solely on what they know to be true. The truth is secondary to their perception of it. And their perception is that it is their prince, not their priests who is the traitor. They will ask for his head."
"I will not have it," Psusennes said defiantly. "This is exactly what my brother wants: to back me into a corner and I will not have it! I will not give into his whims! I will not let him control me or Yugi!"
"And if we do not that is exactly what you will be doing!" Dartz insisted. The sympathy in his voice was matched by growing frustration. "I admit I am fond of your brother, but our care towards him is irrelevant. That is the burden we bear as rulers. We accept the people's gratitude for any success and the blame for any misfortune, and we are responsible for removing that misfortune. You know it to be true, my friend. Ujalah cannot stay in Djanet."
"This is madness!" Timaeus shrieked in frustration.
"It is the simplest solution," Critias stepped forward, leaving the King and Per-a'ah to speak. He turned to his comrade with eyes torn between bewilderment and displeasure. "We are not here to ensure the safety of one child. We are here to ensure the alliance is secure and Kemet is united, that is Atlantis' only role in this fight, Timaeus. Have you forgotten that?"
The accusation in his voice was not directed towards the alliance and Timaeus knew it. He spun to face him. His eyes hard, shoulders squared and his stance indomitable. "I have not forgotten. It is why I am determined not to let the priests control us. And why I will not compromise my honor by sacrificing an innocent simply for our benefit!"
Critias growled. "You are a fool. You're letting your emotions blind you to simplest answer!"
It was the simplest answer, even Timaeus knew that, but the very thought of handing Yugi over to the priests as a political hostage. The very thought of tearing away the freedom he worked so desperately for, the freedom that he'd only just started to taste…it was like recapturing a wild bird and returning it to a cage to serve as an exotic pet. The thought sickened him. It was impossible to think of it objectively. Not when the objectively choice was to sacrifice a child. It didn't matter if Yugi was a Prince. It didn't matter if it was his duty. It didn't matter if it was the simple choice or the right choice. It didn't matter if it was the only outcome. Because the Priests would get exactly what they wanted. There would be no united Kemet. The reign of Psusennes I would not be a golden age but a continuance of a long chain of instability. And worst of all would be the child trapped, forgotten and alone in the shadows with the very people he despised and feared the most.
"I will not allow it," His tone held no room for argument and the fight in his stance gave no room for rebellion.
Critias glared at him, enraged. The argument between the Kings bounced off the walls in shadowy echoes like howling ghosts demanding redemption. And then a voice so tiny it broke the sound like a single whisper of silence wept.
"You can't send me back," Caught off guard by how weak it sounded, Timaeus spun and his heart dropped to his stomach.
Yugi trembled in the doorway."Please?" He hiccupped through a tight sob, choked with tears. "Please don't send me back there! I can't—I" His words were panicked stumbling sobs and pleads that even Mutnedjmet couldn't mollify. When she touched his shoulders, Yugi reacted like a wound up spring and he flung himself to his knees pleading. "Throw me in the dungeons for the rest of my life! Imprison me in the House, whatever you must do, I don't care, just please don't send me back to Waset! I beg you, don't send me back."
Timaeus' heart broke. It was all he could do to keep from falling to his knees, like the Royal Wife had already done, and pull the terrified child into his arms and shield him against the world. He could not make those promises and it enraged him most of all that he could not keep them: A failed Guardian.
The King and Per-a'ah looked stricken with grief and guilt: the burden of their positions left them defeated and weak. The priests sat inclined on their cushioned chairs like they were thrones. The priestess prepared to laugh again and the priest's face was fixed with a smile of victorious smugness like a spoiled cat. Only his comrades looked objective, understanding the lesser of two evils but purposely blind to the emotional damage it would cause. And he, became the victim's guardian just to protect him, and had been blind to the weapon of lies.
Timaeus thought again and it gave him an answer. "Be easy, little gem," He knelt down beside Yugi. His words were so gentle, his voice so promising that for an instant Yugi was reminded of the first Timaeus, the one who held him trembling in Mut's temple, who'd comforted him with a drape of his cloak and held him as he cried, who'd kissed him so tenderly and passionately for a moment Yugi could pretend they were lovers brought together by the whim of Mut and the honor of Sekhmet. Yugi's tears stopped.
"That will not happen," Timaeus promised. His hands found Yugi's shoulders and gently hoisted him up. "I will not allow it." His said it over his shoulder. His eyes narrowed, and his voice hard and final, but free of defiance.
The room stared at him then his King regarded him with hard eyes. "That is not your decision."
"With all due respect, Your Highness," Timaeus spun to face him and bowed slightly. "But it is." His mouth formed a smile as he rose and Dartz' eyes enlarged, surprised rather than shocked. Even the Per-a'ah looked more curious by his declaration than insulted.
Again Timaeus bowed, this time to Kemet's King. "He is under my protection and it was granted by his Eminence, Akheperre Setepenamun that I become his Guardian. I am still his Guardian. Regardless of issue at hand, I have a say in his fate." Yugi's head shot up and his eyes expanded. What was he doing? Did he not understand the seriousness of what he was saying? A declaration made by the Per-a'ah was not easily given nor was it easily undone. It would bear the responsibility of the crime himself, and he would be charged with disciplining the accused. Regardless of the crimes, the responsibility always fell on the one charged with the ward's care.
Timaeus displayed only unyielding confidence. "And I will not return him to the clutches of his enemies. He is lost to them."
Silence echoed with his words. The Royal Wife and Per-a'ah exchanged mutual looks, shocked but sparked with hope. His comrades spun to him, Hermos with wide-eyed exasperation and Critias was stricken with horrified shock. Never had they seen him so defiant, though his loyalty remained unwavering.
His King said nothing, simply regarded him with eyes wide with incredulous rage and his lips fighting the twitch of an impressed smile. "Your passion for the prince's welfare is admirable," the king said ruefully. "But our personal feelings are secondary to peace. He may be yours to protect, but his fate is not yours to decide!"
"He is right, Lord Timaeus," the Per-a'ah stepped forward. "You are Yugi's guardian, but that role was always meant to be temporary."
Timaeus face remained neutral. His eyes locked with both King's then he spared a glance at Yugi who looked at him with hopeful eyes. Again his heart broke, but this time from guilt. He exhaled it sharply, then squared his shoulders and faced both kings.
A smile slit his face. "Not if I take him as my consort."
That's right. I went there. (Queen slouches on her throne in her black dress, sipping her Sunset Blush with a Kuriboh in her lap) It's Good to Be the Queen..
Bet none of you thought THIS was how they'd get married MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Next Time: The bomb has been dropped and everyone has their own reaction, but silver-tongued Timaeus is ready to defend his case...even if his little gem never trusts him again.