Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! It belongs to Kazuki Takahashi.

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Chapter 8

There was an enormous roar of cheering and jeering. The cheers echoed around the colosseum, which encouraged the two men in the middle of the arena. It spurred them on, kept them fighting. The two Gladiators moved round the arena locked in close combat with each other. At the same time they had to be aware of various wooden poles which were placed around. These poles had spikes attached to them making them a dangerous hazard. The crowd would cheer when one of the men got too close to one of the poles. The colosseum was always a place where Romans would come to have a good time, for some reason this type of entertainment was what the Romans enjoyed. The Prince could see nothing entertaining about it, watching people fight to the death was not his idea of a good time. But he would soon have first-hand experience as to what being in the Colosseum was like. He was sat on the floor by the Iron Gate; this was where the Gladiators would enter from, watching what was going on. If he was honest with himself, the prospect of being focused into the arena was terrifying. But he would not allow his fear to show, he knew that it was what the Romans wanted. They wanted him to show fear, they wanted him to break. But however much the things they did to him scared him, he could not and would not let them see him afraid. If he was honest, Atem wasn't sure that he would come out of this alive; his body had been beaten so badly that every movement hurt. Some of the cuts he had left a scar. Others were healing. Others were fresh, the blood still oozing out of them. There was a resounding cheer and one of the men fell lifeless to the ground. The victorious Gladiator held his sword aloft, punching the air in triumph. Before Atem knew what was happening, a solider had grabbed him by the upper arm and thrown him into the arena. There was an enormous roar from the crowd as they saw the new challenger. The Gladiator turned round; he was a tall, muscular man. Whilst his chest was bare, he wore red cloth around his wrist and had a helmet on his head. He towered over the small Prince even though they were at least a metre apart.

"Look at you." The Gladiator sneered, "You think that you can take me down?"

The Gladiator advanced towards him, his sword in hand. Atem pushed himself to his feet and started to back away from the other man. He was not going to let that man get anywhere near him which meant that he was constantly backing away.

"Come on pretty boy! Face me!"

The Prince continued to back away, eyes locked on the Gladiator. The Gladiator lunged at him, swinging is short through the air. The sword missed the Prince by mere inches.

"FACE ME!"

The crowd's cheering was goading the Gladiator on, he ran towards the Prince. The Prince had barely made it to his feet when the Gladiator was there swinging his sword. As he jumped out of the way, the sword caught him. He felt the blade slice across his upper arm. The crowd screamed their approval. There was a slight pause in the action as the Gladiator as celebrated his strike on the Prince. Atem put his hand to the wound; blood was seeping out of it. Looking at the Gladiator, who had his back to the Prince, he had to get away from this mad man. Backing away from the other man, he had to get out of here. He turned to run but his foot got caught and something and he fell. It happened in slow motion as he fell, he saw the wooden pole. He felt the metal spike piece his face on the bridge of his nose then drag across his nose and down across his left cheek. There was a puff of sand as he fell to the ground. The blood poured down his face, running into his mouth. Spitting a lot of blood out on to the sand, Atem rolled over. Fear swept through him as he saw the Gladiator towering over him. The Gladiator raised his sword, preparing to deliver the final blow. Atem thoughts turned to his father as he closed his eyes, just as the sword swung down.

The sound of metal clashing together echoed around the arena. That was followed by complete silence, Atem opened his eyes. A solider had blocked the Gladiator's sword with his own. There was a resounding 'boo' from the audience. Fear paralysed the Egyptian Prince to the ground; he did not know what was going on. He just stared at the Gladiator still feeling blood pour from the gash on his face and arm. The Gladiator stared back at the Prince, it was clear that he was not happy about being stopped. There was a pause where nobody moved. Then all of a sudden the Gladiator lost it, he shoved the soldier aside and dived at the Prince. The Prince scrambled away, but not fast enough, the Gladiator's sword caught him again. This time it sliced across the Prince side. The Gladiator raised his sword but the sword was grabbed from his hand by the soldier whilst two others tackled the Gladiator to the ground. The Prince was still on the ground, he seemed to be in so much pain it had paralysed him. With the Gladiator restrained, another solider ran forwards and dragged the Prince out of the arena, much to the audience's displeasure. They jeered as the soldiers dragged the semi-conscious Prince out of the arena. The only other sound was the gladiator fighting against the soldiers pinning him down. Metal gates slid open and the soldiers dropped the Prince on the ground. The two soldiers looked down at the captive.

"Is it dead?" One asked.

The other knelt down, examining the captive.

"No, it's not. It's alive."

"Well, that's good. The Emperor would have gone mad if that Gladiator had killed it."

Lying on the ground, the Prince was listening to the soldiers' words. It amazed him that these Romans had so little respect for other human beings. Gingerly, he put a hand the wound on his side. A hiss of pain escaped him as his hand came into contact with the wound. It was bleeding quite badly. He could also tell that the wounds on his face and arm were also still bleeding. He was no medical person but he knew that he was in a bad shape. The Romans would not help him, that meant his wounds would get infected and he knew what that meant. He had had a small hope that perhaps he might have seen his father again, for one last time. His eyelids were drooping; it was becoming difficult to keep them open. As his eyes closed for the last, his thoughts turned to his father. If only he had been able to see him, one more time.

The Emperor looked down into the arena, watching the two people below. One was holding a sword, taunting the other. The other was backing away, trying to put as much distance between him and other as he could. The Emperor chuckled.

"It always amusing watching Gladiators, isn't it my dear?"

Next to the Emperor was a woman with long brown hair. She smiled at the Emperor before saying;

"I do indeed, Husband. I can think of no better way to spend the day."

The Emperor smiled at his wife, before turning his attention back to the arena. The Gladiator swung his sword down and hit the Egyptian Prince. The Emperor chuckled again, his idea to put that brat in the arena was proving to be a good one. It was highly entertaining for the people of Rome to watch people fighting each other. The Emperor leant forwards as he saw the Egyptian Prince fall and the Gladiator charge in. He let out a sigh and turned to one of his soldiers;

"Get the Gladiator to stop, as much as it would be amusing to see the Gladiator harm the Prince. I need him alive, stop his attack and remove the Prince from the arena."

The soldier ran off and within a moment another soldier round the edge of the arena had rushed forwards and blocked his attacked. The Emperor got to his feet and moved down the stairs. At the bottom on the stairs he found the General Potitus Olcinus Cinna.

"Ah, General." The Emperor said, motioning for the General to follow him, "How are your plans? Are you ready to begin?"

"We are, Emperor. I have sent some ships ahead, so by the time I arrive we should be ready to begin."

"Perfect."

The Emperor came into a small room, where there were two soldiers standing over the body of the Prince. The Prince's eyes were shut and he was bleeding from wounds. Actually, he was losing a lot of blood.

"He's not dead?" The Emperor asked.

"No, Emperor." One of the soldiers replied, "Just unconscious."

"Good, the last thing we need is for this brat to die."

The Emperor turned to look at the General.

"You will take this brat with you." The Emperor said, pointing to the Prince, "But, send a healer to go with you. The brat must be alive when you arrive. He must witness the destruction of his people."

It was becoming very common for the Pharaoh to spend the whole day in the room of his lost son. The Prince had been gone for nearly a year now. That year had been extremely difficult for the Pharaoh; any parent would struggle if their child was taken from them. That meant that the Pharaoh was barely seen by anyone. He would spend day after day in the room, cradled the blood stained crown. It ended up that the priests would have to bring the Pharaoh food. Some days he would eat others he wouldn't. He was a broken man. His one last hope had failed. His brother, Aknadin, had been gone over a month trying to create things magical items. Aknadin had not returned, which meant that all hope was lost. Aknamkanon let a tear fall down; it fell on to the crown. All hope was lost.

Behind him the door burst open. Shimon came running into the room; he made a quick bow before addressing the Pharaoh.

"My King, the Romans have returned in large numbers. They have been spotted at the boarders. What do we do?"

The Pharaoh made no movement, if anything he let his head dropped.

"Let them come. We have nothing left."

"Please Pharaoh! We must protect the people and what about the Prince? The Prince won't want you to give up."

More tears rolled down Aknamkanon's face.

"We don't know what the Prince would have wanted. He's not here to ask."

The Pharaoh stood and moved out to the balcony. Shimon followed trying to persuade the King to do something about the Romans. At the same time the door to the room slammed as somebody else ran in. Both men turned to look at the newcomer. The man was holding a sack full of golden items. It was Aknadin. Aknamkanon moved towards his brother slightly as the latter held up a golden pyramid to him.

"Take the Millennium Puzzle brother and we will take down the Romans."

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Thanks for Reviewing: Guest, Tyffyy, Guest, Atem no koibito x2

Sorry it has taken me so long. Last year at Uni so I have so much work to do! Seriously, it is unreal!

Well, we have one more chapter and then this story is done! Are you excited?

Please REVIEW they really motivate me and will help me try to get the chapter out as quickly as I can.

I will see you soon!

~RedRosePetal