First Update on the New day...granted its a bit late ^^'

Prepare to be...well...let's just say I earned my Title ;)

As always dedicated to the fans! Especially the reviewers for always telling me straight up what works what works and what makes them wanna scream!

Disclaimer: I won nothing, and historical figures are fictional representations of themselves and in no way are meant to relate to their reallife counter parts (see my historical notes for more)

As always, read, review, critique, comment, ask questions, rant, post theories ad go nuts!

Chapter XXVII: Ceremony

Mut did not come to visit him again the next morning. Nor the morning after that. Yugi just stayed in his room and mostly slept. His sleep had been mercifully peaceful. The shock and stress of those few hours had left his mind numb and his body week. So he slept until it all felt like nothing but a distant shadow in his memory.

On the third morning, Mut came again. Her entrance was soft and barely breached the fog of his senses. He pulled his head free from the mess of pillows to the sound of something clicking on the table, and the smell of pomegranates.

He entered the room in a mess. His hair in tangles, his shoulders set in a stubborn shrug and the previous day's shenti creased with sleep. He didn't bother changing and he didn't look at her while he devoured the food.

She didn't speak until his belly was full and he was grateful she didn't.

"We've settled the negotiations," she said at last, swiftly and formally and with none of her tenderness. "They will conclude publicly within the next tenday. The Atlantians will return home the following morning."

So soon. He was tempted to ask, but decided against it. He wouldn't let her trap him.

"The King cannot stay away from his country any longer," she explained anyway. "And the Knights must return to their duty as Generals." She waited for a reaction from him. When none came she added. "A ruler can't afford to be away from his lands longer than a month, the return journey alone will take nearly a tenday."

Still Yugi said nothing.

"Haven't you always wanted to see the ocean?" she asked with a kind smile. The seeds lodged in Yugi's throat and he coughed several times to clear his throat.

"Not enough to get married," Yugi grumbled and shoved the plate away and left to change.

"I hope you don't expect to hide here until they leave, Ujalah," she said with a hint of disappointment. There was no response. She gave a heavy sigh. "Are you going to dislike me now as well?"

Yugi froze and dropped his clothes. The hurt in her voice filled him with shame. He bowed his head, too ashamed to face her. "I could never dislike you, Mut." His shoulder shook and his voice was cracking. "It's the whole situation I dislike," The words were muffled and chocked. He made no effort to hide his tears. "I hate being forced into this…it doesn't matter who it's too or whatever the reason behind it…I hate being forced into this."

He felt her hands on his shoulders and her warm hugged him from behind. Her steps so gentle and phantasm he hadn't heard her move. "But it doesn't have to be," she assured him, tightening the embrace. "Do you love him?"

"I…" he didn't want to answer, but found he couldn't lie to her. "I…thought…maybe I did." His fingers wove into her arms and he hugged her back. "Maybe I still do…"

"Then that's more than enough," Mut mollified, but Yugi shook his head.

"It'll never be enough, Mut." He said stubborn. "I don't a marriage full of secrets and conveniences. "

Mut released him with a heavy sigh. "No one goes to their marriage bed without their secrets or their conveniences. The goal is to become worthy of those secrets." She trailed off as she approached the door. She pulled something from outside and set it down near the lion-bodied table by the door and left without another word.

He didn't watch her leave. His gaze fell lazily on the object she left behind. He approached it with a mixture of curiosity and apprehension. It smelt rich and earthy, with a faint chalky stench. It was small and medium-sized and rectangular-shaped with a flat, removable top on four tall legs. A box? He dropped to his knees to examine it. Tentative fingers ran along the smoothed violet faience panels. Clasps of gold bordered the panel, but the sanded smoothness confirmed the box was a single, carved slab. The long sides bore ornamentation of faience river lotus in curling gold vines flanking either side of a gold cartouche. His name and the blossoms, the color in his beloved Egyptian blue. The lid was a single violet circle with a scaled blue lotus but its heart was an amethyst faience knob.

Without thinking, Yugi lifted it. Inside the beautiful treasure, a single piece of papyrus sat peacefully on the polished cedar. It uncurled in his hand, wanting to be read. The thick Coptic letters read: Because things should be memorable in some way, and should have a place to keep them.

The note slipped from his shaking fingers and back into, what he now realized was a hope chest. A dowry box crafted specifically to him. Each carving memorable, every detail carefully chosen and catered just for him. It was a wedding gift, and it wasn't from Mut.

X X X

Timaeus wrung his fingers as he paced.

With the tenday halfway gone and the stele freshly carved, the citizens had spread the announcement faster than any Royal Decree. Temple servants prepared the rituals and polished the House with furious haste. Contracts were quickly drawn and negotiated. Treaties were being rewritten and signed. All important documents were copied and etched into more permanent stone with papyrus copies for the ceremonies. Cargo holds were quickly stocked with donated crates of smoked meats and barrels of water. Citizens flocked the temples with offerings and hymns, and prayed to anamorphic totems of local deities: the disturbing rumors quickly forgotten in the excitement and splendor of preparing for a Royal Wedding, even if it was only a night. Only a week ago they'd scoffed and sneered at their young prince ready to curse him and brand him a traitor. Now that the "truth" was known they swallowed their shame, bowed their heads in apology to their gods and clamored to be part of the splendor.

It never failed to disturb him: how quickly the public's love could turn to hate and then back again like it was all some silly children's game. Then again, their impression was that the jealous younger prince had plotted to overthrow their beloved Per-a'ah and enlisted the House of Amun and himself to do it. It spoke of their love in a way, that they would hate any who sought to remove him. And perhaps the revelation that it was not betrayal but an engagement that fostered such secret affairs between him and one who held such power in another country appealed to their love both romantically and loyalty than believing that the House of Amun would even commit such treachery.

Timaeus shook his head in disgust. An angry fist slammed against the bell-shaped pillars. His knuckles came away bruised and bloody, and the other rubbed his face.

It wasn't how he wanted his wedding ceremony to be. It wasn't the smiling ceremony promising a happy union between not only two countries but two lost kindred spirits. It wasn't how he imagined he and Yugi sailing around the world before giving him the grand tour of Locri he promised. He could live without the courtship, the formal betrothal, the maids and servants and happy family in attendance, only the bride's absence would be what really mattered.

Yugi had taken up to hiding in the Sacred Pool behind the Per-a'ah's chambers the rest of the tenday. Timaeus continued to bring him meals but his former charge, if he was ever in the room, refused to acknowledge him. Though he had little doubt the gem knew who it was that visited when he left with the clicking of metal shoes. But Yugi did not call out to him and neither did Timaeus. The bride remained determined not to take part in his own act.

The solution had been his King's idea, ironically enough, if the Great Lady of Two Lands was unable to mollify the young prince. It was quiet common among their foreign cousins when travel interfered with Royal marriages or treaties required a spare sibling to fill the role of the absent or deceased. It made Timaeus sick to think of it.

She would've been furious at such a union—raved at him like she did when he first came to the Atlantis court covered in dirt and snapping at anything with the stupid sense to look at him wrong. And then she would pat his head like he were still a child, smile and remind him to honor his consort, treat him well and show his lover it was not a silly union of connivance. Show that his feelings were genuine and see the first months of their marriage as a trial to overcome their differences and grievances. After all had the goddess not done the same thing? And had her living husband not embraced her openly and kissed her lips when she was returned to him in the fall and had she not returned that warm embrace to the shock of all who never believed The Lord of Dark could love so truly not the perpetual maiden so fiercely?

He knew she would be right. He just hoped in six months time their second wedding would be one full of smiles. With both the bride and groom waiting in attendance.

X X X

By the end of the tenday, Yugi still hadn't left his room, and Timaeus, outside the occasional meal left on the table, had not come to see him, either. The absence had both relieved and disappointed him and left him more confused than before. He'd been grateful for the time alone to think and process. Yet he felt hurt Timaeus had not come to speak to him, to explain, to comfort him like he usually did. He knew who it was spying him in the Sacred Pool through the windows in his room. He knew who it was leaving his meals and departing in silence with only the clicking echo of metal shoes. But he never said a word…and Yugi never called out to him. Yugi wondered if he even cared to.

He expelled a sigh, inhaling the aroma of palm and lotus blossoms, but even they did little to ease his troubled thoughts. He waited and watched, as the dancing blossoms absorbed the last of Ra's life-giving rays then curled back into their secure ponds and sank beneath the waters. When he was young his mother always told him we are all like the lotus. Born in the darkness and reaching, struggling to find the light, but we always do and once we do then we reveal our true hearts. He'd never questioned it. Never needed to. But looking at them now, watching them sink and pondering the metaphor, he wondered, if that were true, why did the lotus always sink? Why did they retract from the light, hide their hearts and sink back into the darkness? Perhaps, we were all looking for the light, and once we found it, it revealed out true hearts, but only until we learned it was safer in the darkness. Safer to hide our secret hearts so they wouldn't get picked and broken, and the pieces scattered like plucked flower petals.

He stayed to watch them until Ra had slunk behind the pillars, casting the garden in shadows. Numbly, he dragged his heavy body back to his room. The earthy aroma of boiled vegetables and rich herbs assaulted his senses when he entered. A small, single bowl of deep, muddy brown stew, thick with sliced onions and chopped leaks sat patiently next to a single piece of barely bread. Steam pooled over the sides like a mist of the Nile. The smell churned his nervous stomach. Nausea filled his mouth with the raw, polluted taste of bile. He ignored the meal and slunk to his bed.

The chest glittered on his night stand like a hopeful blue star. Weakly, Yugi pulled it to his chest. One remen across and half a djeser deep, it fit perfectly in his arms. His collection of treasures: his own personal dowry of secrets and dreams, clicked softly within like a non-rhythmic heartbeat. It didn't include the silver decorations his brother's reign was famous for. Or the fine jewels passed down from his ancestors. They weren't his to take or keep. It made him laugh, almost. How little he owned was actually his. No, this chest contained his own secret heart buried within the jeweled lotus. He wondered if Timaeus had it decorated specifically for that purpose.

Thinking of his suitor—and possible fiancé—he clenched the box tighter. Remembering how those strong arms had held him once and how that embrace had felt more real than the throne of Kemet. Wondering what it would be like to have those arms around him every night, and that powerful body on top of his. Kissing him senseless and filling him with dreams. And wondering if he'd survive the morning if all he found beside him was a cold bed sheet. Shivering, he pulled the claustrophobic furs around him and let the stiff linens absorb his heat. Slumping lazily onto the pillows, the box still in his arms, he fell asleep feeling butterfly kisses and the warm breath of gentle words over his skin. Like a lotus, he let himself curl into a pod and sink into a darkness he hoped to never awake from.

X X X

The morning was not so kind.

He awoke to the pounding of impatient footsteps. "Yugi! Are you awake?" His mind barely made out the muffled questions, and he buried his head deeper under the furs. His responded with a sloppy chorus of groans.

The Lady of Two Lands swooped to the sleeping chamber. "Yugi, wake up" She shook the bundle impatiently. Yugi burrowed deeper into the blankets. "Oh! Up child!" Mut scolded and slapped his leg. Yugi woke with a startled yelp. He glared at her, half-lazy and semi-alert. He tried to bury deeper into his cave, but she ripped away the blankets "None of that now!" she snapped with matronly stern, so loud and rough that he dragged himself to his feet.

She rolled her eyes at his aggravated glare, spun him around to face the baths. "Make haste," "She sent him off with a rough shove and he nearly stumbled over his feet. "And hurry, you are to meet us in the House of Amun as soon as you are presentable."

He skimmed them with a bored expression. Then he returned his gaze to her and arched a brow. Her lovely face contorted into a frustrated snort. "Go! Go! Go!" She shooed behind him. "Now's not the time for ill tempers."

She spun to the maids: two of them had just finished drawing water. Two more stood in attendance, one holding vials of oil, another carried armfuls of soft linen. More flocked about her cautiously, carrying kilts and tunics of all styles and samples of precious jewels and platters of pasty pigments. The Great Lady examined them all with a scrutinizing gaze. She approved some with a nod a dismissed others with a wave of her hand. "Shoo, all of you!" She barked and the maids scattered.

She turned to Yugi, who'd yet to move. Her mouth set in a royal frown and her eyes punishingly sharp. "Into the bath before I throw you in." She warned dangerous and low. "The Lord Dartz has volunteered his Knights to escort you. I'd prefer it if you didn't keep them waiting."

Yugi shuffled to the bath, and stripped his clothes with a rebellious stomp. The maids were upon him when he reached the water. "What is all this!" Yugi demanded, punishing the girls with slaps of water.

Mut spun to him, her face set in frustrated frown and her shaking hand restrained a slap. "You need not be present for your marriage, but it would please me to see you treat this with at least a little of the respect it deserves," she warned lowly.

The maids returned with a wrapped bundle in her arms. Mut snatched it from her hands and scattered it across the bed. A small smile slit her face. "Well, well," she said with purposeful volume. "It seems your fiancé has sent you another gift. I think it will fit the day's events accordingly."

She left the room with a final word and her smile pierced Yugi with its gaze. "All will be well, child. I promise you."

He started at the door with vacant bewilderment. His mind half-drunk and fogged from sleep, he barely registered her irate muttering, but he recognized the seriousness in her tone. He must've forgotten something truly important to have made her so frantic.

He put up no further protests as the maids scrubbed him down, tied back his hair and adorned him with lotus scents. They'd dried him in expensive linen and decorated his eyes with coals and rubbed his chest and wrists in sharp-smelling balm. One brought him a pair of soft linen sandals apologizing she couldn't locate his oxen ones. He'd dismissed them with a frustrated snap, and they left him alone to dress.

He ran a hand through his wet bangs dampening it with raindrops. Strutting naked across the bed, he cautiously examined Mut's choice of attire and froze. The tunic was unlike any he'd ever seen. Cut in two pieces, the long kilt was of a familiar black linen, silky under his fingers and shot through with shiny gold threads. In addition, a slender white belt, brocaded in the same gold and black threads went around his waist and clasped in the front with gold. The tunic was a long and made of both black silk and white linen, but had been decorated with the same gold and black brocade along the chest hem to match the first. Cut to expose the shoulders, it had an additional gold neck-piece. It wasn't until he saw the back tied up like a bodice with silver ribbons that he recognized why it was so familiar.

The note explained it: I know you dislike woman's clothes, but I hoped these familiar garments would bring you comfort. They always looked lovely on you.

His fingers ran over the garment, brushing silky black linen, rough white cotton and cool gold beads. The same ones Timaeus said were too lovely to cut up, even when Yugi raged like a child about looking like a woman. His cheeks burned at the memory. His gaze fell back to the box. This time he slipped the box open and pulled it into his lap. He slipped off the linen shoes and replaced them with his beloved oxen white sandals. He'd been correct; he realized when he examined himself, fully dressed in the copper mirror. The oxen sandals matched Timaeus' gift much better.

Gift. He reprocessed the word then he rolled his eyes. The man probably thought it was sweet gesture, but that did little to mask what Yugi knew it was: another wedding gift. Another thing. And Yugi refused to be bought.

His door rattled under the force of an impatiently heavy knock. Yugi jumped his musings forgotten.

"Prince Ujalah," The tile came out in a forced hiss. His name uttered like a curse. Yugi spun from the mirror and gasped at the two armored guards standing in the threshold of his chamber. Both glad in full bodied Atlantian armor: one a deep burgundy like dried blood, the other navy like the darkness of Nut.

He knew them immediately as Critias and Hermos. Timaeus' comrades and fellow Dragon Knights though on Timaeus, as leader claimed the title of General. He'd only glimpsed them the few times they'd met but looking at them now, Hermos' usually indifferent expression curled downward in apologetic but powerless obedience. Critias made no effort to conceal his distain. His face fixated on Yugi with an almost gleeful scowl.

Yugi decided he didn't like. He rose to his full height and dignified his steps.

"Yes, Lord Critias," he spoke the title the same way Critias had. "I am Prince of this nation and you'd do well to remember it," he stomped by, but froze when the Knight snatched his arm. "I'd watch my tongue child," Critias spat. "I don't care if your absence will not affect the ceremony, but I, for one will not have our General shamed by a child." He breached edict and glared. Hermos swooped forward and grabbed his hand and gave a small squeeze. Critias released him as if in pain and ripped away, but it was clear that it was Hermos who released him. The man said nothing then turned to the prince with a bow.

"This way your highness." It was the first time Yugi had heard him speak. "They're waiting for you."

Yugi stormed forward. Discomfort hastening his steps, determined to put distance between himself and his escorts. The temple's entrance was on the far side of the Pet- ah's onions chamber, but you couldn't fathom the reason why they be holding a Royal ceremony so early. There were no such scheduled events that he knew of except of course for the daily greeting of Amun, but that ritualistically occurred only at dawn, and estimating Ra's position in the sky, dawn had occurred much earlier.

His thoughts wondered to his escorts. Critias' sudden rage had come as a shock to him as well as Hermos break in indifference. He didn't know either of them well, so all of this bewildered him. What he had done to address a such treatment? It couldn't be because he and their General had been fighting. Surely it couldn't?

They reached the Great God's House faster than he expected. He barely remembered passing the North Gate. His gaze met that of Amun's incarnate. He stared down at him with almost sympathy glittering in his stone eyes, and his escorts standing on either side of the entrance. Yugi entered the forecourt and stepped into an odd scene: the small gathering consisted of the Per-a'ah, The Royal Wife, King Dartz, and The Divine Servant and Adoratrice cluttered around the alter at the chief God's feet.

His sister stood at Amun's altar, her lovely form completely draped in semi-transparent linens that clung to her frame and winged her arms like fine silks, her dark hair crowned in Mut's vulture headdress and golden jewelry of Amun crowned her arms, wrists and throat. Pas, transformed in silvery and finery into the legendary Per'a'ah, stood on the left front. His shoulder's squared his jaw tight and his eyes unreadable, Yugi thought he looked in every inch the Living Horus. King Dartz, donning Atlantian robes and fine jewels, stood behind him, his crown bowed, and making no move to surpass the Lord of Kemet. Opposite them on the altar's opposing side, to Yugi's great surprise, stood Menkheperre and Maatkare. Washed, shaved, fed, and dressed in the finest linens and papyrus sandals: they looked their respective roles, yet their shoulders slumped and faces were grim. Neither made an effort to dignify their posture.

Scattered around them were the hem-netjer and servants from Waset's table, those who served his eldest sister stood intermingled with those that served his younger senior siblings, with no visual signs of animosity between them.

Their gazes fell on Yugi when he entered. Spotlighted, he froze. Pas' expression did not change. Mut only offered him a shadow of a smile. Dartz did not look at him, but for a single instant, Yugi swore he'd saw something in Menk and Maat. Something that made him call them by their childhood names and filled his heart with regret, before it quickly faded. Maat turned away to cry and Menk's face looked nothing like the commanding madman Yugi had grown to despise.

Mut continued her chant: listing titles with great zeal. Pas rose his hand heavenward and pulled a ring free from one of his hands, dabbed it with something "Akheperre Setepenamun Son of Ra Psuennes I." He said his throne name and pressed it hard onto the table.

Mut spoke again, this time addressing the Divine Servant and Adoratrice. She continued to lists Amun's other names and titles and that of their ancestors dating back to the first of their dynasty and beyond to their first of their legacy. When she finished, Menk removed a similar ring from his own finger with sluggish compliance and gently stamped it. "First Prophet of Amun at Waset." he stated his new reflection of his curtailed power, flat and robotically. Maat dried her tears and did the same. She said nothing.

Mut gathered the parchment and raised it to the sky. "It is done! The Treaty and Terms between The Living Horus, Esu-bity, Son of Ra, and The First Prophet of Amun, Hem-Netjer of his Great House in Waset before our Great Witness, his Royal Eminence, King of Atlantis and his Holy Dragon Knights, our beloved Ujalah, son of his Great Majesty Divine Servant Hem-netjer of Amun and Son of Ra Pindejem I and his Lady Wife Singer of Amun and Priestess of his Consort as both the Heavenly Lady Mut and the Avenging Mistress Sekhment, Isetemkheb and all before Amun within his House, is now in affect!" The words echoed with power, severity and finality.

It was then Yugi understood his sibling's faces. The looks on their faces: sheer and absolute defeat.

Two servants shot forward each bronzed slabs on pillow and bowed as Mut came around the altar. "Take this back to the palace. Take one copy into the House's archives, the second will go to Waset and be placed in the Great King's true house." They bowed and obeyed. A third servant took the scroll and held it up in grand presentation and carried it through the walls. The room cheered and followed without orders, leaving their Per'a'ah and Great Lady within the walls. Yugi could hear the cheers and echoes outside the pylon.

The public had already arrived to witness the spectacle: the Per'a'ah, The Royal Wife and Second Prophet of Amun, the Divine Servant and the Divine Adoratrice and all their council and attendance gathered in one room, in agreement with one of the most powerful and feared names in the known world on peaceful terms. The signing of the documents had simply been a formality.

They emptied the House leaving only the Royal Family and their Atlantian guests. Menk released an exasperated sigh and dropped his arms. Maat dropped like a mourner but quickly composed herself and to Yugi's surprise she spoke "If it's all the same, sister," she said absent of malice. "Our brother and I would prefer to wait in the First Court while you and our great friend conclude your…" she paused and looked in Dartz' direction then her gaze fell on Yugi. "Business." The sympathy in her eyes shocked and surprised him.

Mut and Pas bowed, and Maat dragged Menk to his feet and guided him through the Pylon gates to join the celebrating crowd. They didn't look at Yugi. "Be well, child." Maat whispered. "Whatever you feel for us now, always remember we loved you."

Warning drums pounded in Yugi's chest. The words struck like a painless slap. He spun to them but he barely caught a glimpse of them before the two Knights parted to let them pass. Confusion and uncertainty spiraled in his stomach into knots and he spun to the others for clarity—and heard the familiar clicking of metal shoes.

He witnessed Mut placing another parchment on the table, Pas spun to the other side and Dartz stepped back. Timaeus, who'd attempted to remain hidden until that moment, stepped forward. Yugi saw the skeleton of regret on his face. Then he rose stone-faced: the man he once imagined himself loving gone and the General, the Trierarch, the man he feared was Timaeus' real face, stepped forward.

Mut began the chant, confused Yugi marched forward but Dartz blocked him with an arm. "Stay child," he mollified. "It'll be over soon."

Yugi blinked, he looked to Timaeus and Pas, watched as Pas once more removed his ring and pressed it to paper. His eyes expanded and horror and he sucked in a long breath, filling his body with the ghost of despair, when he finally recognized Mut's chant.

"No!" He chocked the words. Mut paused but then continued. It was Pas who spoke. "Be easy, child it's almost over."

"No," Yugi shook his head and backed away from Dartz when he tried to catch him. "No, No. No…please…" Not like this he pleaded to every deity who'd listen. His eyes flew to Timaeus. Desperate, pleading amethyst bore urgently into a deep, singular emerald full of dying hope. Timaeus' face fell: his mouth was a small frown, his eyes soft and rueful and his chin bowed. It was the face of a lost man

The last of Yugi's hope died. He turned pleadingly to his sister. "Please, I don't want this…"

"That's not what you told me," Mut paused then continued. "It's almost over," she assured and concluded the chant.

No…Yugi backed away in horror: his heels spun to turn, his limbs were light and ready to flee. One more step and he'd break into a run.

"Don't think of it," Critias hissed in his ear. "I won't have you embarrass our General further."

Further, he'd said, like his mere presence was an embarrassment already.

Yugi wanted to scream. He wrenched himself away from the man and spun to the company. His eyes wild and his shoulders squared with defiance. "I won't sign it," he bit low and harsh.

It didn't have the desire affect. "It's already done," Mut said simply: matter-of-fact. She acknowledged Timaeus with a nod. With one last look to Yugi, he sighed, removed something from around his neck and pressed his signature to the parchment. Mut and Pas shared a look and at once Yugi understood.

His head dropped, his fingers curled and he visibly shook. "Is this what thought I wanted?" He accused, sharp and biting.

The worst part was that some secret part of him, so secret he had even kept it from him, did want this. How many times had he thought of it while he was in Timaeus' care? Wondered what it would be like each and every time Mut teased him with the idea. It was as he'd always imagined it: with Timaeus, his knight, his emerald shadow standing on the dais; Mut zealously negotiating the contract the way she would a sacred chant, Pas in all his finery and the Atlantian King standing on either side in attendance. All of it done within the House of Amun with his God and ancestors bearing witness. It was all he'd ever wanted…and it was all a charade.

A sinister pleasure filled him when he saw them shake. "A proxy arranged and agreed without my consent? Without asking me!?" He shot to Timaeus when he said it. "And what am I? Nothing but a bystander? Not important enough to partake in my own ceremony?"

"Be grateful you were chosen!" Critias barked, enraged.

"Critias…" Dartz hissed, warningly.

"Enough!" Timaeus' command echoed low and harsh. With a sweep of his hand, the papyrus contract was signed. The event concluded. He turned from the altar and strode towards Yugi. His hallowed eyes intimidated Yugi more than powerful frame encased in his emerald armor ever could.

He backed away with a shiver of apprehension. His eyes darted for safety but Timaeus' fixed him with a thunderous gaze and paralyzed him there. He shook, wanting to run, but his feet wouldn't move. Timaeus was upon him in a single step, his full height towering over Yugi and he stepped back to quickly, nearly, stumbling. Timaeus snatched his arms.

Yugi stared back frozen, waiting. Then Timaeus' eyes softened and he leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to Yugi's frozen lips. Yugi gasped but couldn't pull away. The kiss wasn't hard or domineering like their first kiss, it was soft like their second but instead of the promising passion was the mournful hint of apology.

Timaeus pulled away. There was auditable click and something cold and heavy fell on Yugi's bare wrist. He gasped and looked down. A bracelet encircled his wrist like a shackle, but it was beautiful with a lovely amethyst oval surrounded by purple lotus, crafted in the style of Egyptian wedding jewelry. It was a tradition native to the west, adapted in the later dynasties to reflect loving unity.

Loving unity. Yugi's heart sank. Everything his marriage was not.

"Proxy or not, you are now my consort," Timaeus whispered in his ear.

The words sank in Yugi's stomach like a stone. His mind spiraled and he felt his knees weakening, but Timaeus caught him and scooped him into his arms.

"We shall depart for Atlantis at dawn, but tonight we shall rest and celebrate." With that he left the House of Amun, Yugi still in his arms. He clung to his chest, feeling cloth under armor and flesh under cloth. Realization claws at his chest like poisoned knives.

"No…" He choked a whisper and blinked back tears. If Timaeus heard him he gave no notice, and Yugi didn't dare look at him. Cold claws prickled his spine with each pylon they passed.

All around them Kemet celebrated: Singers chanted love songs and dancers spun in wild spins. Citizens cheers and wished them well. Soldiers clicked mugs and gulped beer. In their drunken stupor soldiers and men alike flashed perverted comments, while girls gossiped and 'ooed' like concubines. It was an open secret and they parted ways for the happy couple as if to be a part of it.

The Eye of Timaeus loomed closer, beckoning them with a private, secret place to "conclude" their nuptials. Yugi's stomach churned with despair when he realized there was no escape. His wedding night would indeed be a consummation of joy and pleasure. But none of it would be his.

(Queen slouches on her throne, Kuriboh in her lap and downs a gin and tonic surrounded by her K-T Kuriboh body guards) It's good to be the Queen...

Now...since a few people brought his up...don't be TOO mad at Timaeus, if u read his POV you know he's not too happy about this either. (Speaking of which any guess who the SHE Timaeua was referring to it?) remember Timaeus asked to marry Yugi: his job is done it's the royals and the family who decide what happens next. So hate him all you want now but remember this is YUGI'S POV and right now? He's a bit of N unreliable narrator at the moment.

Glossary of Terms:

Remen—Ancient Egyptian unit of measurement, 5 palms or 20 fingers; about 15 inches.

Djser—Ancient Egyptian unit of measurement, 4 palms, 16 fingers, about 1 foot (half would be about six inches.

Egyptian blue: a calcium copper silicate pigment used by the Ancient Egyptians in a variety of clothing, ornaments and decoration to mimic the semi-precious stones of lapis lazuli. Both the color and the stone were held in high-regard and valued by the Ancient Egyptians for their rarity and stark blue color (blue being a heavenly color in Ancient Egypt). It was also the color of the beloved river lotus or blue lotus and was used in a variety of media and Egyptian art. In this case, Timaeus uses it to mimic Yugi's beloved blue lotus for decorative purpose.

Hope Chest: also known as a dowry box, cedar box etc. Although not cultural until the 17 or 1800s, the Ancient Egyptians DID have lots of ornament boxes and chests, preferably made from cedar (which was imported) because its smell kept away insects and it was less prone to rotting. They used these boxes to store their favorite jewelry and important documents and their personal effects such as linens. In later years, they were use as gifts for new brides: while preparing for her wedding she would keep her personal mementos and things she wanted to take with her to her new home. I found them while researching Ancient Egyptian boxes and thought it fit the situation and the Atlantis marriage custom I created ^^

History Note: While the events in this fiction are purely fictional: in actual history, the real Menkheperre had his power curtailed with his brother becoming Per-a'ah and thought he did rule on as defacto ruler of the desert, he took as his throne name First Prophet of Amun, a title used by his grandfather, in order to reflect this diminished status. Maatkare would also take one of Psusennes and Mutnedjmet's daughters as her apprentice who would eventually become God's Wife of Amun during the reign of her brother Psusennes II.

Now for those of you who want to kill me right now or kill Timaeus, you might not see his POv next chapter but who will the one after that ;) my goal is to get the next tree chaps done this weekend since I'll be on a mini-vacation in Florida ;)

NEXT TIME: Timaeus and Yugi's last night in Egypt. END OF PART ONE