A/N: hey y'all! How are you? I'm fine thanks for asking…Even if nobody really reads this OJ it's fine with me…we need more Majestics fics around here…xP…sem break was totally cool! I had a lot of fun…and goodness knows my break was much needed. Those who read My Porcelain Doll I'm purposely prolonging your agony…xD…like how I'm prolonging this last chapter!!! Here it is! ENJOY!!!XD
The Pharaoh's Daughter
Chapter Eight
Johnny opened his eyes to the burning pain of the sun. His first breath was filled with sand.
The tomb robber coughed and spluttered, rising to a sitting position and supporting himself with his hands.
The dream last night was like a memory…the sand was so cold.
And fine grains were stained with dry blood.
It was then when Johnny realized he had been lying on his chest.
Stupefied, he felt his back with some difficulty. It was smooth and the bandages were gone…
"Oi! He's here! We found him!" yelled a voice and the redhead's hands were instantly tied.
"Stand up, Thief…" commanded a gruff soldier and he forcefully pulled Johnny up by the hair.
He jerked violently at the movement, surprised he was still alive when he found himself standing. If the whip lashes on his back haven't healed, he would have broken his spine.
"We found Princess Oli's captor!" yelled the gruff-voiced soldier, shoving the redhead unceremoniously into an empty slave's cage.
Johnny refused to give his captors pleasure of knowing they hurt him by crying out…besides, he was too confused to care.
A procession of horses lined up beside his pitiful prison. Johnny eyed them listlessly…then stared when he saw the rider on one horse.
Princess Oli was still crying…he flashed him a sad smile when he looked the tomb robber's way…
--
Pharaoh Enrique refused to believe it…Even if the sighting had been verified by High Priests Rei and Max.
"Please you two…I'm sick and tired of this…" the blonde royal said weakly.
Before his priests could react, the palace doors flew open and the army filed in. Bringing up the rear was the elderly captain-general, escorting the princess, and the gruff soldier, dragging Johnny in.
Enrique couldn't believe his eyes as his sister stood in front of the court and throne, just like how Summer had when she was being examined with Julia more than six years ago.
"OLIVER!" He exploded and ran to hug him tightly, kingly decorum forgotten and caution thrown to the winds.
Princess Oli said nothing and did not return the hug. He was unable to face Johnny as the other boy was looking at him with a sneer on his face.
"So your real name's Oliver, eh Princess?" he asked, making Enrique let go and look at his sister questioningly.
"Sister?" he asked. "What does he mean?" he noted the green-haired boy's rigid form and puffy red eyes from all the crying.
When Oliver didn't answer, Enrique tugged on her arm. "Come, let us witness your captor's trial." he said.
"Enrique…" the elder brother protested, but words failed him as he saw the horror of his lover kneeling in front of the Council of Priests, waiting to be executed.
"What?" Enrique inquired, understanding Oliver's trauma, hoping his death would bring his sibling peace.
But it seemed like it was doing otherwise. All of the greenette's focus was on Johnny who had his head up, going down with dignity. The priests came alive with the unearthly glow of Shadow Magic. Their destructive power grew steadily and the princess battled with herself about what to do.
"Sister?" Enrique tried again to win back the confidence and happiness of the Princess. It seemed to him like his trauma was showing a different thing…
Oliver was waiting for the right moment…the right second.
A couple of things happened in rapid succession.
Without thinking, the grass-haired boy wrenched himself away from Enri's grip and ran to the kneeling Johnny, screaming his name. He pulled him up and protected both of them with a shield charm while running out of the palace and onto the wide stretch of sand.
The blonde stood frozen in his spot, looking up wide-eyed and scandalized to the astonished council of priests.
There was a long silence before the Pharaoh issued an order.
"Bring me my horse…" he said quietly. "…we shall hunt them down…"
--
Johnny somehow skidded to a halt as he ran across the sand, having reached the edge of the cliff where he and Oliver had said goodbye when they parted for the first time.
The green-haired boy felt the tug and looked around. "Johnny…"
Both of them were panting.
By the look on the tomb robber's face it seemed like he hated him to the depths of the earth.
"You followed me…" said the redhead.
The princess bowed his head. "I…was just concerned. Johnny, please…let's go…let's jump!" he indicated the stretch of sand beyond the cliff and into the horizon.
"No…" the Thief King said plainly. "You saved me—"
"—Johnny, I did nothing of the sort…"
"The only proper thing to do is to return it…"
"Johnny!"
"Oliver…" their faces were inches apart. Lavender met ocean-blue in a split second of eternity. A single tall rose was between them.
The pharaoh and his priests had caught up. The horses sprayed sand in the direction of the two hapless lovers and Enrique dismounted the horse at the front.
"So this is it…" he told his elder brother. "You didn't know how much pain you caused father and I because…because…just because of that…bastard!" he pointed to Johnny, his finger shaking with fury.
"Enrique…" Oliver pleaded.
"You didn't go missing that day!" the blonde continued. "You RAN AWAY! And the time you were with that farm girl…Julia…you had the NERVE to call her as your sister, look the priests in the eye and disown yourself! Even insult them!" at length, it looked like there was still more, but then Enrique burst into tears, appealing to his sister like a younger brother should. "Why, Oliver? Why?"
The greenette's first impulse was to comfort his brother, but he steeled himself and smiled sadly. "I hurt people because I need to, Enri. I hurt even the ones I love," he and Johnny exchanged knowing glances. "You wouldn't understand it because you have never loved…" his hand flew to the tomb robber's and they held their rose together.
The blonde hiccupped and the priests took stance.
"No!" the Pharaoh ordered sharply. "This is my fight…" he said and turned to the couple. "You deserve to die for your insensitivity…"
Oliver held his head his and stood defiant. "You're old enough to make your own decisions Enrique…" but he hardly finished saying his brother's name when he was thrown off his feet and would have toppled over the cliff if it weren't for Johnny holding him.
The tomb robber wheeled around to see if hi lover was still okay and found him dead.
The redhead faced the party surrounding them, incoherent and indignant. Pharaoh Enrique had his hand up, palm facing the setting sun and the emblem of Shadow Magic floating in midair.
"You asshole!" cried Johnny before, with a brilliant surge of power, the council of priests fell lifeless on the sand…and then to both their surprise and horror, all of Johnny's wounds that Oliver healed re-opened, making the Thief King a frightening sight for the younger pharaoh to behold.
Darkness clashed with darkness in a battle where the last one standing wins. Johnny was physically and emotionally weak compared to the now unfeeling Enrique that he collapsed yet still fought to the last.
The redhead's groping free hand that held the rose found Oliver's lifeless, cold one and clung to it.
He died before Enrique's final blow came.
EPILOUGE
It was damned hot. The Egyptian sun was bearing down on the beystadium even if there was air-conditioning.
The Bladebreakers were winning the Championships again. The sponsors held a tour for the athletes through the wonders of the desert and the Valley of the Dead.
The Majestics wandered off from the rest of the party, ogling at a crumbled palace a bit near but quite far from a cliff that overlooked the pyramids of Giza.
Oliver wasn't wearing his coat. Johnny and Enrique were only wearing shirts with jeans and Robert was wearing something different form what he usually wore.
"Egypt's beautiful…" said the French boy, sighing at the view.
"Hn…yeah…" said Enrique. "If only the landscape wasn't wiggling because of this heat…"
"It's not called wiggling Enrique…" Robert said sternly as he passed by. 'There's a scientific term for that…"
And the pair left Oliver, bickering.
"Hello…" said a voice from behind the world class chef.
Oliver yelped and wheeled around. "Johnny!" he whacked the Scot on the head.
"Your battle with Rei back home did something to you…" he said, shaking his head and feeling the Frenchman's forehead as if to check if he had a fever. "Were you meditating?"
The grass-haired teen rolled his eyes. "No…" then he pointed yonder. "The view…"
Johnny followed his gaze and 'oh'-ed. "Cool…" he said awed. "Hey a rose…" he added, staring at his feet.
"Roses don't grow on the Sahara, John…" said Oliver.
"No I'm serious!" said the Scot, tugging on the French boy's arm before suddenly dropping to his knees.
"Johnny!" exclaimed the perfectionist before spotting the said bloom. "…Mon Dieu…there IS a rose growing." And he too bent down to examine if it was real.
"How can a rose grow here?" the quick-tempered Scot asked.
"Tell me if I'm imagining this…" Oliver said slowly. "But is this flower growing?"
By some odd reflex, both the frenchie and the Scot reach out to touch the plant.
…the petals were so smooth as the fine sand…and dark as freshly dried blood.
"…hey Oliver, do believe in past lives?" Johnny asked him.
"Funny you should mention that…" replied the grass-haired French boy absently.
"You think we should pluck it out?" the elder boy grinned.
"Do NOT think of doing that, McGreggor." Oliver told him sternly, and then smiled softly at the rose. "When we come back here, don't you want to see this rose still growing to remind us what we've been through?"
Johnny stood up and held out his hand. "Hn. How long has it been, princess?"
The addressed looked at him and took the offered gesture. "Quite a period, tomb robber…"
And hand in hand they went back to the tour bus.
--
"Hah…" Enrique told Robert. "Johnny made the first move. I win the bet!"
The German frowned, observing the couple. "No he didn't. Something happened back there. Jonathan acts like he hasn't felt skin until now…"
The blonde Italian looked too. "Oh yeah…" then he glared at the purple-haired teen. "You just don't want me to win the bet!"
Robert sighed and shook his head. "Technically it's not called a bet. We just wanted to see if by the time we'd be reincarnated Johnny and Oliver would recognize each other and fall in love."
Enrique looked at him incredulously. "You actually WANT that to happen?"
The German shrugged. "I've forgiven them over time. And besides, I'm team captain. I can vent out my anger on them during training…"
The playboy snorted. "Got that right…"
END
A/N: AND THIS FIC IS DONE!!!! AHAHAHAHA!!! Till we meet again when I write! Review! Enjoy!xD and Ciao for now…