Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh. But I can't say I wouldn't like to.

A/N: This takes place some time before the Egypt Arch saga. I imagine around half a year before. Again, I hope any anti-Semitism is seen as proving a point that is not anti-Semitic.

A whole lot of switching between Jono, Habib and Safiya to Bakura. Sorry it took so long. I've been trying to write this from months and it wouldn't come.

Mock Forms
Chapter VII: Of Jackals in Ghost Towns

"Do you think I should have stayed with them?" Bakura asked.

The thief didn't look up. He was sitting on a stone in the ruins of a desert village. Broken adobes lined the forgotten streets. There were the scarce remnants of the town lying in the streets mostly pots and broken wagons. Occasionally, a human bone was seen but the city was more of a forgotten relic than a graveyard. Bakura leaned back on a wall of one of the adobes and let it support him. He was in Kur Elna, a small village far off the beaten path of anything. Accused of being a thief town, this was his home and the only one he ever equated to that word. It wasn't a relic or ruin to him more it was a sacred place. He rarely came but when he did it was for reassurance and reflection. The way a grown child goes to his parents for guidance, he went to his sacred ruin.

"I couldn't stay with them. I just..." Bakura paused and closed his eyes as he tried to think. "Did they actually want me to stay?"

"I don't see why."

Bakura jerked forward and his eyes shot open. He never received an answer to his questions. The dead didn't speak. Someone was invading his sacred tomb. He leapt to his feet and looked around. "Whose there?"

"No one. Who would come to a place like this?"

Bakura snarled and looked around quickly. He hurried to around the corner of the adobe but when he found the intruder, he lowered his head in confusion. "You're... you're the foreigner from the palace."

The boy turned his head over his shoulder. He was on his hands and knees seemingly picking at the sandy earth of the ghost town. He gave him an apathetic look. "Yes... Serqmaaker or that's what I've taken to calling myself. I suppose am a foreigner. But then again not really. I'm a wanderer. We don't have a homeland and you need a home for anywhere to be foreign. I think even a moronic thief like yourself can understand a philosophy that simple."

Safiya groaned to herself miserably. They had made it back to the house without fail. Jono seemed more than happy to have the whole ordeal over and done with. He was working in a corner of the house shaping out a setter for what would most likely be a piece of jewelry. Bronze wasn't that hard to work with for him and it seemed to be moving along well enough. A customer had asked him to make a choker the day before he was attacked. Habib had bought the bronze that day but due to the circumstances, he hadn't been able to start work until now.

Safiya groaned to herself unhappily. Habib was the first to say something. "He'll be back, Safiya."

"How do you know that?" She said sniffly.

"Because thieves don't leave for long when you offer dinner. He'll be here before dark with some excuse." Habib said with a grin.

"And clean us out." Jono muttered to himself.

"I hope so..." Safiya sighed heavily and looked up. She needed to get her mind off of the thief. It hardly took a moment for her to notice something wasn't quite right with one of her companions. She hadn't been paying much attention to them being distressed over the thief rejecting her. She scolded herself mentally for acting that way. She was the lady of the house and it was her duty to see to emotional matters. Her brother seemed fine working. She turned to Habib. He was sitting to himself quietly. "Habib?"

He looked up only with his eyes and forced a smile. "What is it?"

She shot him a sympathetic look. "Is something wrong? Did something happen to you in the dungeon?"

Jono looked up from his work and over to Habib. He hadn't thought of what might have happened to him since they left the dungeon. He was too happy they were out to think of it. "Yeah, you have been a little quiet lately."

Habib sat up erect at the statements. He considered telling them about the duel. He considered telling them what the priests had done. However, that meant he would have to admit to being a murderer. He had disregarded a quintessential law of his people. He was too proud to admit it to them and he didn't want to hurt their friendship. It meant too much to him. "Nothing..." Safiya and Jono were still staring at him, both with the utmost concern. He knew better than to tell them. Even if he were afraid of their judgment, Safiya would most likely cringe all the way through the story and Jono would develop an ulcer from worry. He decided to let it rest. Some things weren't meant to be shared. But something else was bothering him as well. "Safiya, was that boy the one that attacked us?"

Safiya looked surprised. "I think so but he was so kind. I don't know why he..."

Jono shot a look over to Habib. "What do you think he's getting at?"

Habib sighed and rubbed his forehead. "The more I see him and think about it. The more I think I may know."

Serq continued to stalk around. He hardly seemed to notice Bakura. She appeared to have his mind on other things.

Bakura fumed. "Fine, you're a wanderer. Now get out!" Bakura snarled and Diabound reared.

Serq finally took notice and stood. He held the staff loosely in his hand. "Put that thing away. I'll be gone in a minute."

The thief recalled the ka bewildered. "What have you been doing anyway?"

Serq sighed. "I should ask you that too? What would someone be doing in Kur Elna. It's a ghost town wiped off the face of Egypt by a plague."

Bakura snapped. "Shut up! Is that what they're saying in the capital..."

Serq grinned. "Calm down. Rumors aren't always the most reliable source of information. Something magic happened here."

"It wasn't mag-"

"And those who committed this magic were granted unlimited power." Serq said to himself. It was almost a monologue. He was speaking as though Bakura was only there so he could think a loud.

Thief King frowned. Everything inside him was saying that he should lash out at the boy except for curiosity. How could a nomad boy know that? "Where do you come from?"

Jono and Safiya looked at Habib with anticipation. Jono grew frustrated. "Well what? What do you know about it?"

Habib cleared his throat. "I'm not entirely sure but the Hebrews have a lot of legends and the one about the Noddians just keeps coming to mind."

Both Jono and Safiya looked at Habib confused neither seemed to be familiar with the legend. Though it was Jono who made the realization first. Safiya wasn't nearly as well versed in Hebrew folklore as Jono. "You don't mean Nod? That's a desert country to the north isn't it?"

Safiya nodded to her brother and turned to Habib. "So he's from the northern states. Like Sumeria or Ekron?"

"No.. Nod isn't a country. Its more of a..." Habib groaned a bit. "A state. You're in Nod when you don't have a home or when you're exiled."

"How can someone be from somewhere that is nowhere?" Safiya said bewildered.

Habib groaned. She had a point. If you weren't used to migrating, it was hard to understand the nomad races. He was used to hearing about them. His people were once nomads and nomads were often times well informed. It was the only way to survive in the desert. "A lot of group don't have permanent homes. They move from one place to other or are looking for a permanent home. According to legend, the Hebrews used to live in a northern state but were forced out and had to wander the deserts looking for a place to settle. We wandered into Egypt on accident well herding our flocks. We were sheep herders."

Safiya looked at him bewildered. "It's nice to learn some history but what do Hebrew migrations have to do with the boy from the palace or the Noddians for that matter?"

Habib shook his head. "You didn't let me finish. The Noddians are like the Hebrews used to be only they never had a home and they don't want one."

"But Serq lives here."

Jono's eyes widened. "He's looking for something isn't he Habib?"

"Probably."

"I come from Sumeria, Nubia, a bit of Kush, and even a spell in Canaan. Wherever the things are better than others." Serq said drawing on the ground with the end of his staff. "You stood know about that if you're a thief."

Bakura thought to him for a moment. The boy was a jackal for sure and one that spoke in riddles. What type of jackal would live with engineers, traders, conquerers and slaves? You could learn a trade in Sumeria, rhetoric in Nubia, ruthlessness in Kush and manners in Israel. "You're gaining power, aren't you?"

Serq grinned brightly.

"You're trying to conquer something."

Serq grinned. "Being a nomad with all of its freedom and glory does nothing for luxury. I'm lazy and I'm tired of being... expelled."

"You're one of them aren't you? You're one of the Sab, aren't you?"

Jono eyed Habib for a moment.

"We have to help the thief." Habib said quickly.

Jono perked up in surprise. He wasn't expecting Habib to say that. "What is this about Habib?"

Habib turned to them frustrated. "The Noddians are dangerous. We have to help the thief." Habib was now standing and moving toward the exit of the small house.

Jono frowned and walked over his friend. "Habib, what are you talking about dangerous? How can he be dangerous to the thief? You saw his ka and it wasn't exactly... small." He grabbed him by the shoulder to stop him from leaving.

Habib groaned. "They've always been dangerous. I don't know how but they are. They don't look it. He'll find a way though. You have to trust me, I know what I'm talking about."

Jono stood silently for a moment. Safiya was a few feet from the men and stood silently. The comment about the young boy rattled her. Habib almost always knew what he was talking about. The thief could be in danger, her friend. She cleared her throat. "If Habib says he's dangerous then he is. Habib's never lied to us before..." She paused with a blush. "And King helped save me. He saved me twice. I can't just let him get hurt." Her small fists were clenched as she spoke. "I'm going with or without you." She said and ran off out the door.

Habib looked Jono in the eyes then took off after her. "Wait!" The Egyptian shouted to his housemates. He hurried in front of them and blocked their path. "Both of you are... he's a thief."

Safiya stomped her foot angrily. "Yes, he is. He's a thief and I'm a woman who ran away from an arranged marriage. You're a man who did the same! Two siblings who ran away from two parents who cared more about themselves than us! So you met him!" She pointed to Habib. "Whose a Hebrew living with two Egyptians! We're all thieves just like him!" Safiya was not as speaking at boldly. She was on the verge of tears. Her voice was cracking but she tried to stand firmly in front of her brother. "We stole the way we live because we couldn't have it any other way! He's my friend and he's right! Everything he says is right! I want to help him! I will whether you let me or not!"

Jono stood a little shell shocked. He looked over at Habib then back to his sister. "Thieves, huh?"

"Metaphorically... or... in a matter of speaking." She said in no more than a whisper.

Jono was silent for a moment. He sighed and looked at his companions again. "So how do we find our fourth thief?"

"Sab... that's one I haven't heard in a while. Only the tribes on the outskirts called us that... So I was right. You are of the thief town. What a bother. You'll be trying to stop me then."

It hit Bakura in a flash of insight. The staff was not one of the original. He had defiled Kur Elna to create it. He had come once before and he was back again. That's why he was rooting through the sand. He was looking for the bones that were left behind. "Get away from there!! What are you DOING JACKAL!!?!"

Serq cocked his head and grinned almost wickedly. "I'm stealing a bit of history. You should know all about that."

Diabound emerged and reared. He was enormous leering over the Thief King like a massive guard. His wings enveloped the area in something of a spirit shadow. He wasn't a true physical beast but he was solid enough to emit something like one. Bakura snarled and Diabound mimicked him. He was his shadow after all. An imitation of his feelings and what made him who and what he was. "Don't you DARE!! GET AWAY FROM THERE!!"

Serq rose to his feet. "You were lucky last time thief. You caught me off guard. You won't have that luxury this time."

"There's in no you can beat me! I have something to defend. Someone like you can't understand that!"

"Don't be so grandiose. It doesn't suit a thief." Serq said and sneered. "Run along. The adults have work to do."

"You pompous, arrogant...!!!"

Diabound lunged at the boy and crashed into the earth. The boy seemed to have vanished into thin air. "Over here."

Bakura turned quickly to see that the boy wasn't bluffing about having some type of power. He had somehow dodged the attack. Though that wasn't was surprised him. "The Sennen eye?" The boy's forehead was marked by a black marking shaped like an eye. It was emitting a dark light if that made any sense at all. It was his staff. That cursed item's power was infused in the boy.

"Yes, this eye is a sign of the power that the items give their bearers." Serq cocked his head so he was turned half away from Bakura. His jackal ka emerged grinning manically as he floated above his master. "I hope you're ready for a real ka duel." Serq said with a smirk and a dark haze filled the streets.

Review if you enjoyed. I love to hear what you think.