Chapter 9: Faith Tested

Atemu casually strolled into through the doorway into his bedroom, Teana laying back on the bed to his left, rubbing her stomach. He threw himself onto the bed next to her, his right hand coming to lay on her stomach. He patted it as she looked up at him, a weary smile on her face.

"Hi." She said quietly. "I feel better today."

"That's good." He said, kissing her on the forehead. "What's your feeling? Prince or Princess?"

"Oh...you're silly." She said, lightly pushing on his right shoulder with her left hand.

"Well, if he's a boy, given that he's my child, he should be carrying an extra three pounds by now-"

"Oh, knock it off!" She exclaimed playfully, lightly punching his right shoulder. "Oh, uh...how did it go?"

Atem rolled over slightly, away from Teana, laying on his back fully now. "Perfect. The Thief King is locked away deep within my dungeons, the source of his power taken."

"Oh, that's wonderful!" She said, clasping her hands over her chest. "You've done it again! Egypt is safe."

"Not even close." Atem said, the smile fading from his face. "Not even close."

Teana's smile faded almost as quickly as his. "Y'know, I was thinking...how nice would it be if our third child got to be born into a time of peace? If he could be welcomed into a world free of war, a secure nation that will remain impregnable for a hundred years. Wouldn't that be wonderful?"

"Yes." Atem replied flatly. "Yes it would. It would also be nice if I possessed the powers of Ra and could bend the sun to my will. But some things simply can't happen."

She propped her head up on her right hand, elbow planted into the mattress. "Can you at least think about it?" She pleaded, putting her left hand on her left hip.

"I don't want to hear it." He grumbled. "I am on the verge of sealing my dominance over this world for the centuries to come, I will not entertain notions of forging a truce now."

"Seal-sealing your dom-have you gone mad?" She retorted hotly, scowling. "You know full well what's going on here! You sat in this very room and told me! We're months away from-"

"I don't want to hear it." Atemu repeated, through gritted teeth. "Remember your place."

"It's right beside you." She spat back. "Or that's what you told me. You're not even listening to me!"

"I don't want to hear it!" He snapped, rolling over to look back at his wife, eyes fiery and mouth twisted into a scowl. "This conversation is over. You are Queen of Egypt only by my good graces, and you will honor me as such! These decisions are not yours to make!"

Rolling back over, he heard his wife jump off the bed and onto the floor. With a large scowl still plastered on her face, she walked around the bed, towards the door, Atemu choosing to not look at her as she did so.

"Bye." She said coldly, shutting the door behind her. Atem rolled back over to look up at the ceiling.

""""

Priest Seto leaned forward in the simple wooden chair, left elbow on the wooden table in front of him, chin propped in his left hand. He glared at the beige stone wall opposite him, drumming his right hand's fingers on the table. The room was as simple as they came, just stone on all sides with that plain furniture and walltorches the only objects decorating it. A small wooden door was to Seto's right, the only way out of the room. His eyeballs rotated to his left, a scowl on his face and his eyes reflecting annoyance as he looked at Priestess Isis sitting next to him, petting a middle-sized gray and white cat that was laying on his back on the table.

"Awww...that's a good boy." She was baby-talking to the feline, purring in contentment as Isis stroked his neck. "Such a handsome boy, yes you are." She continued. Seto rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Who's the good boy? Who's the good boy? Mmhmm, Ubasti, yes you are!"

The cat rolled over, getting to his feet and stretching. Slowly, he strode over to Seto, rubbing his cheeks on Seto's forearms.

"Ubasti, get outside!" He roared, smacking the cat off the table, sending it flying to the stone floor toward the door. "I don't wanna see your ugly face in here!" He growled, pointing at the door.

"Seto!" Isis narrowed her eyes at her fellow High Priest. "How-"

"Ge-get outside!" He repeated, thrusting his right index finger toward the door.

"What's wrong with you today?" She said icily, folding her arms over her chest.

"I hate that cat." He spat, glaring at the small animal who was looking up at Seto reproachfully. "GET OUTSIDE!"

"Don't be ridiculous." She huffed, standing up. "Cats can't open doors."

Seto glared at her as she bent down to pick Ubasti up, no response to her sarcastic retort.

"There's nothing wrong with my cat." She insisted haughtily, nose up in the air as she walked back over to sit next to Seto.

"He smells." Seto grunted, still looking away from his companion.

"No he doesn't." Isis held Ubasti up toward the back of Seto's head, so his face was nearly touching. "Smell him."

"I don't need a reason." He replied through gritted teeth, still not turning around.

"If you're going to be like this, you can leave." She said, pointing her right index finger toward the door now. "Between you and Ubasti I'm picking him."

"Oh, I'd love to leave! Being that this is a complete waste of time!" He gestured toward the wall across the table from him, behind which was the well-restrained Thief King Bakura. "Extra security? I suppose the chains and the two foot thick walls and the locks aren't enough. Nooo, Atemu just HAS to waste my time here-"

"Seto." Isis said, now serious. "Stop it."

"He's paranoid! Don't you see it?" He said cryptically, turning around to face Isis. "He's jumping at every creek of a floorboard, flinching every time he sees sudden movement-"

"Seto, calm yourself!" She said strongly. "What has gotten into you?"

Seto took a few deep breaths, glaring down at the floor. "It's...it's Atemu. I-"

"The Pharaoh." She corrected sternly, setting her cat back down on the table.

"He...The Pharaoh...he thinks my father's a traitor." He said quickly, turning back around to face the door. "He thinks he conspired with the Thief King, and intends to arrest him tomorrow."

He waited for her reaction, but there was only silence following his statement.

"What? Do you agree?" He snapped, turning his head around halfway to glare at her out of the corner of his eye.

"He already told me." She responded. "Yesterday."

"Oh, spendid." He growled. "He saved me for last then?"

"How should I know?" She said. "Can you stop-"

"I've spent my whole life serving Egypt. Just like my father. My father served his. And this is how we're rewarded?" He turned his body toward Isis, a fiery passion reflecting in his eyes. "Don't you see? You give everything you have to a country...to a man...and this is what he thinks of you. My father has given nearly sixty years to this country, and The Pharaoh still thinks nothing of him."

"I'm sure The Pharaoh has full respect for the service Aknadin has rendered, and has a very good reason for his actions." Isis replied simply, as if this closed the matter.

"And yet, here we are." He countered, turning to face away from the table, elbows on his knees as he leaned over, hands clasped in front of him. "I've thought of little else since he told me of his suspicions, even as I laid the Thief King's trap my thoughts were on this. He has no right-"

"Yes he does." Isis interrupted, to Seto's further annoyance. "We have to believe in him. We have to have trust that he knows what he's doing. I don't believe your father capable of betraying Egypt either-"

"Did you tell him that?" Seto cut in, looking up at her.

Isis nodded. "He asked for my honest opinion. I told him I did not believe Aknadin would ever do something like this."

"Well that goes to show you how much he values our opinions." Seto said bitterly, looking back down at the floor.

Seto couldn't help but furrow his brow in surprise when Isis patted him on the upper back a few times with her right hand.

"I...I understand." She finally said. "It's difficult, and if I was in your position I'd be mad too."

"Sixty years of service, doesn't count for anything all of a sudden." He mumbled.

"You still carried out the plan to capture the Thief King on his orders." She reminded him. "That was just hours ago. If you didn't believe in him, would you have done that?"

"Maybe it wasn't for him." He said darkly. "The Thief King is a horrible criminal, a terrorist, a blight on humanity. He had to be stopped. Maybe I did it because of that."

"Maybe." She said tartily, going back to stroking her cat. "But that wasn't the case, now was it? Now, you've spent your whole life having faith that Pharaoh Atemu would do the right thing. It would not reflect well on you if you abandoned that now in a time of hardship."

Seto grunted, sitting back up straight and turning around to face the table.

"Now. Say you're sorry." She said, holding the cat up in front of her.

He looked over at Isis. "Alright. I'm sorry...I'm not mad at-"

She shook her head, pointing at the cat. "To Ubanti."

Seto groaned. "It's a cat."

"Say. You're sorry." She repeated firmly.

Seto fought off the urge to roll his eyes and gave a dramatic sigh. "Fine. I'm-"

He never got a chance to finish, for he was rudely interrupted by an explosion and a sharp, jagged piece of stone slamming into his chest, knocking him backwards on the chair. The table was sent flying over his body into the opposite wall as Isis joined the ground next to him, clutching at him as more rubble scattered across the room violently.

They looked up to see a very much free Thief King Bakura, his hands glowing yellow, giving a wide grin at the pair.

Seto scrambled to his feet as fast as he could, clutching Isis in his left arm and Ubanti in his right as he threw himself into the wooden door as hard as he could, knocking it open with a dull thunk and throwing himself into the next room as a beam of energy emitted from Bakura toward where the pair had just been standing, blasting a huge hole in the opposite wall.

Seto threw a quick look back at the damage before herding the High Priestess and her cat toward the stone staircase to their right as fast as he could.

"We have to divert him from the palace!" He shouted over the sounds of another explosion, taking the steps two at a time. "He'll make for Pharaoh Atemu!"

"Get everyone outside, he'll try and destroy the palace!" She added, looking around fearfully as Seto guided her up the steps.

They came to the top of the staircase and stepped out into a hallway filled with confused guards with their blades out, looking to charge down the staircase themselves.

"Evacuate the palace! Protect The Pharaoh!" Seto roared, blowing past the collection of guards, finally letting go of Isis as the two began a mad dash down the hall. Within a split second the guards complied, following in the footsteps of the two High Priests as another explosion rocked the palace.

""""

Seto and Isis flew down the steps that led up to the Pharaoh's palace, followed a few steps behind by a few dozen guards surrounding Pharaoh Atem and Queen Teana, who held their two children in tow. Seto threw his glance back at the large proceeding every few seconds until they were at the base of the stairs and at the pathway that led out of the gates into the city. They all stopped and looked up at the massive structure, which stood steady and showed no ill signs from the chaos within.

"Pharaoh, Queen, we should get to an underground bunker!" Seto instructed.

Atemu simply held out his hand toward Seto, eyes still on his palace.

"Pharaoh, I-" Seto continued, but Isis grabbed his right hand, drawing his attention to her.

She pointed off to her right, causing Seto to look off into the distance in that direction, parallel to the wall that encircled the Pharaoh's palace. There was the unmistakable billowing of smoke coming from a structure some distance away. Seto quickly referred to the map inside his head, coming to the realization that this smoke was eminating from High Priest Mahad's palace.

"Mahad!" He exclaimed, looking back at the Pharaoh. "But why would he-"

"He's after the girl." Atemu realized, suddenly dashing down the path toward the gate by himself. "Mana."

"Pharaoh Atemu, please!" Seto called out, chasing after him as he headed toward the palace gates. "You have to get to safety."

"I am in no danger." Atemu insisted, waving to the soldiers flanking the gate to begin the process of opening it.

"Pharaoh, please-" Seto continued to press as the iron gate was swung open slowly by a lever.

"Seto." Atemu said, suddenly stopping and turning to face his High Priest. "I appreciate your concern, but I'm not going to go and hide while the fate of my kingdom is at stake. You can either help me or get out of my way, right now."

Seto stiffened, the drop in adrenaline bringing back his thoughts of a few minutes ago as he looked at the man he served, up and down. "I...yes, sir." He finally said.

He turned to beckon to the collection of guards, Isis, and Teana to follow as the pair sprinted through the open gates out into the city.

""""

The collection of Egyptians ran into the front courtyard of Mahad's palace, a smoking hole in the side of the structure, guards scattering from within out onto the marble steps into the courtyard.

Amidst that scramble was High Priest Mahad himself, his eyes immediately finding the Pharaoh and scrambling down the steps to meet him. The proceeding halted, waiting for him to come down to them.

Suddenly, Seto's flustered mind processed something important he had forgotten, and with a jump he turned to the Queen.

"Queen Teana, you shouldn't be here!" He said, running over to her. "I...I don't know what I was thinking, you should-"

"I'm safest here." She insisted, holding her young daughter in her arms. "No bunker can protect me as well as a High Priest."

Seto flinched at the compliment, shaking it off and nodding. "Thank you, Queen."

"He's gone." Atemu proclaimed, listening for further explosions and hearing none as the remaining inhabitants of the palace dispersed. "How did-"

"I will begin an investigation immediately." Seto said sternly, crossing his left arm over his chest and bowing. In truth, he just didn't want the Pharaoh to get to a point where he would start accusing his father even more than he already was.

"Mahad." Atemu said as the High Priest ran up to the group, panting heavily. "Are you alright?"

"Y-yes." He said, standing up as straight as he could. "B-b-but I'm afraid there was nothing we could do to stop the Thief King."

"I don't understand, he had every opportunity to blow the Pharaoh's palace to pieces, why didn't he-" Isis started to ponder, but Atemu already held the answer.

"He had a limited supply of magic." He answered. "He needed to focus on his primary objective."

"He took Mana, and the vial." Mahad said bitterly. "I am sorry, we did all we could to fight him off...but-"

"I understand." Atemu said, his expression flat and untelling. "You did all you could."

Seto couldn't help but take notice of his reasonable nature inspite of all this.

"He took flight the moment he got what he wanted, went to the east." Mahad explained. "He may have very well left the country by now."

"More likely back to his hideout." Atemu reasoned. "We need to have this mess cleaned up."

Seto looked back over at the hole in the side of the massive palace, this time his eyes lingering on a corpse a few feet from the gap. His heart suddenly jumped up into his throat as he made out, over a great distance, the robes of a High Priest, wrinkled face, and gray beard.

He stood frozen to the spot for a few seconds, shocked out of his stupor by a meow from under his arm. Looking down, he found Isis's cat still lodged firmly in his armpit. The ridiculousness of him carrying a cat this whole time was lost on him, however, as he simply let the animal fall to the ground and broke off into a sprint toward the body.

The rest of the group watched him in surprise as he ran off, Teana suddenly clasping her hands over her mouth as she realized what she was looking at. Atemu realized it a second after Teana and took off into a jog toward his most trusted High Priest, who was now leaning over the body that most certainly had to belong to Aknadin.

Seto held up his arm, fingers wrapped around his wrist, looking at his chest and mouth, trying to find a hidden sign of life of the man laying in the sand. But there was nothing to indicate he was clinging to the mortal coil anymore, and slowly, as Atemu and the rest of the group came to stand behind him, the ice-cold realization gripped his stomach and squeezed.

"Ohmigod...Seto, I'm so sorry." Teana squeaked. Seto continued to kneel there, his expression stoic as he looked down at his dead father.

Slowly, he stood up, feeling a hand patting his back lightly. He turned to find a downcast Isis doing so, then slowly turned back to look at the corpse.

"I'm...I'm sorry." Atemu said, looking at the back of Seto's head. "He...he was the finest High Priest this country had ever known."

Seto felt some flames of anger kick up in his chest. He turned around, looking at nothing in particular, staggering through the crowd of soldiers. Halfway through the sea of people, he stopped, still looking at nothing.

"P-prepare him for mummification." He got out robotically. "I shall retire to my bed now." Immediately, four soldiers approached the corpse, preparing to haul it off.

"Seto, I'm-" Atemu tried to repeat, but Seto committed the sin of cutting the Pharaoh off.

"I suppose this makes things easier for you." Seto said, still just looking off into the distance.

"...I never wanted Aknadin to die." Atemu said, taken aback by Seto's statement.

"No. But it does work to your advantage." Seto said bitterly, continuing his stagger through the ground, back toward the gate, leaving everyone else to just look at his back.