Just so you know, I will be out of town this weekend, so I won't be able to update. I will take my laptop and do some writing though. I should be able to update again on Sunday. Thanks for understanding!
Enjoy this chapter!
Chapter 7- Demands
Joey had been trying for the past half-hour to get himself free, but he found that that was an impossible feat.
"Joey, give it up. You're not going to be able to free yourself that way." Ryou told him.
"Do you like being tied up like a dog?" Joey asked.
"Of course not, but there is no sense in wasting your strength when you know that you can't get free." Ryou said.
"He makes a good point. We should conserve as much strength as we can. If we get the chance, we can fight back." Mahado said.
"I wouldn't count on it." Malik said.
"Why not?" Marik demanded.
"Because those five are Millennials. No offense, but none of you can stand up in a physical fight against them." Malik said.
"Again with Millennials?" Yami said, exasperated.
Malik and Joey glared at him.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to offend you." Yami said.
"You'll have to do a lot worse than that to offend those two." Ryou remarked.
Atemu looked over at Heba, who was still unconscious. 'I hope that Heba's okay. He's been unconscious for the last hour and a half.' Atemu thought, becoming very worried about his husband.
"What is it that they're trying to do?" Karim asked.
"That's a good question." Joey said.
"Do you have that answer?" Seto asked.
"Well-" Malik trailed off.
"You do know!" Bakura said accusingly.
"I really don't think that now is the time to discuss something like that when our lives are hanging in the balance." Ryou said.
"There's not much else that we can do." Marik snapped.
"All right! Knock it off!" Atemu growled.
All eyes turned to him.
"We can't argue amongst ourselves this time around. We have to stick together if we even want a chance of getting out of this alive." Atemu said.
"He's right. Our lives depend on us working together." Mahado agreed.
"Well, someone come up with an idea then!" Bakura growled.
"Tone it down." Ryou hissed.
"Why?" Bakura demanded.
"Because in case you've forgotten, one of them is in the cockpit, and when you shout, he can hear you. We don't need him knowing everything that we're talking about." Ryou said,
"There's not a chance of that. The cockpit door is made out of reinforced steel. When it is shut all the way, you can't hear anything when you're inside of it. I don't normally shut it all the way, but I know that he did." Ansu said.
"Okay. That helps a little. A least they won't know what we're talking about." Ryou said.
There was a low groan off to the side.
All eyes turned onto Heba, who was slowly rousing.
"Heba, are you okay?" Ryou asked.
Heba opened his eyes a little before he shut them again. "My head is killing me." Heba said.
"That's not surprising. You pissed Shimore off to the point that he hit you with the gun." Malik said.
"Not funny, Malik." Heba growled, glaring at Malik.
"It's the truth." Malik said, smirking.
"Heba, we're tied up with the magic-binding ropes from the Millennial Kingdom. Any way for us to get out of them?" Ryou asked.
"Barring someone in this room becoming an escape artist in the next little bit, no. I'm afraid there's no flaw in them that I know of." Heba answered.
"Heba, how did you know that guy?" Atemu asked.
"I saw too much of that bastard when I lived back in the Millennial Kingdom." Heba said.
"A little clarification would be nice." Bakura grumbled.
Heba groaned. "He's a member of my father's Royal guard, and he is one of the most cruel, ruthless, and heartless living things in the entire universe." Heba said.
"I don't remember him." Ryou said.
"That's because he's one of those that Father kept close to him." Heba said.
"In other words, he didn't want anyone to know about him." Malik said.
"Exactly." Heba answered.
"That also means that your father sent them here to do this." Karim said.
"Yes, and even if we live through this, I assure you that he will say that they were working with the rebellion and that they were doing it to make it look like he was behind it." Heba said.
"Would the rebellion do this?" Yami asked.
"No." Heba, Ryou, Joey, and Malik said at the same time.
"How do you know?" Seto asked.
"Because we were all a part of the rebellion at one time." Heba answered.
"Shimore, what demands are we supposed to make to the Pharaoh?" Zorath asked.
"We're going to pose as terrorists and demand a great deal of money from the Egyptian Kingdom." Shimore answered.
"How will you make sure that they will pay it?" Zorath asked.
"I think that the Pharaoh will willingly pay the money when he learns that I am willing to kill his sons if he doesn't." Shimore said.
"What about Heba? He knows who we are. If he survives, then he could tell the Pharaoh that Emperor Kenshin was behind all this." Zorath said.
"We will make sure that Heba is dead. After all, only he knows who we really are." Shimore said.
"This will be fun." Zorath said, smirking.
"Indeed. We may go ahead and kill Ryou, Malik, and Joey as well." Shimore said. He walked over to a computer console and sat down. He snorted. "They have such primitive technology. No where near the point that we are." Shimore said.
"What are you doing?" Zorath asked.
"Making the demands." Shimore said.
"Maybe we should have their sons in here as well. Let the Pharaoh know that they are alive." Zorath said.
"Hmm. A good idea. I think that we'll wait a while, and let the Pharaoh sweat it out." Shimore said.
"You were members of the rebellion?" Mahado asked.
"Yes. You have to understand that my father is a cruel, ruthless, heartless bastard. He doesn't give a damn about anyone but himself. All he wants is more power, and once he gets more power, he wants even more. Power, wealth, and territory is all he wants." Heba said.
"He's a tyrant then." Bakura stated.
"Bakura!" Mahado said warningly.
"No. It's all right, Mahado. He's right. My father is a tyrant." Heba said.
"Why is he considered that? I mean, from what I've heard, the people love him as their king." Isis said.
"True, but those are also the people that he has under his thumb." Ryou said.
"Meaning?" Seto asked.
"The ones who say that they love him as their king are the ones that are given power and wealth as well. They have land he gives them in exchange for their loyalty. They are nobles and such who support him." Malik said.
"Meaning that is not the opinion of the common people." Karim said.
"Not by a long shot." Joey said.
Heba leaned his head back and sighed. "The common people hate him with a passion. The common people want him dead." Heba said.
"Well, I can't blame them. He's a jerk." Marik said.
"He's worse than you think. The common people live in such poverty that it makes every single person on the face of the Earth look rich. There are four and five families that live in a two-room house simply because they have no other choice. How they find food and such is beyond me. They have absolutely nothing because all the money that is in the kingdom my father has or has given to those that support him." Heba said.
"Then why did you all join the rebellion? I mean, you had to live in luxury." Marik said.
"We did, and for a long time, we were selfish brats until we saw the truth. I think that we were all about ten. We saw Father mistreating servants. At the time, my brother, Yugi, was already a kind-hearted person who cared about others more than himself, but he began to wonder why Father acted the way he did. We all ended up seeing how he treated the people and the poverty they lived in. We started to change our views. None of us had our mothers as they died young so we were raised by nannies that saw the change and helped us understand everything. It wasn't long before we started to see my father for the monster he really was." Heba explained.
"What happened then?" Yami asked.
"Once we saw all of the unrest in the kingdom, we started to see that they needed help. We were able to discreetly help people. It wasn't long before we decided that more needed to be done. That was when things got bad for us.' Heba said.
"Why?" Bakura asked.
"Simple. That bastard realized we were helping people and decided to teach us a lesson." Joey said.
"How?" Mahado asked.
Ryou sighed. "Our backs are littered with scars of his tortures. We were whipped, beaten, cut, and burned." Ryou said.
"WHAT?!" was the startled shout.
Heba nodded. "We really started to hate him then. Yugi was the one who started the rebellion. He knew of some soldiers who loathed him. The rebellion started there and grew as more of the common people heard about the rebellion. In all honestly, the rebellion has a lot more members than you think." Heba said.
"And you were all a part of it." Atemu said.
The four nodded.
"Kenshin suspected that we were members of the rebellion, but he had no way to prove it. There were about forty percent of the nobles who did not wholly support him, so he knew that if he were to kill us without offering any real proof that we were traitors, he would lose them, and he knew that they might possibly join the rebellion, which could end up crippling him. So, he found another way to get rid of us without anyone knowing." Heba said.
"The marriages. He wanted you out of there." Yami said.
"Exactly. That was why he wanted the marriages." Heba said.
"Man. And all this time, I thought that you were sent here to cripple us." Bakura said.
"Trust me. If a war broke out, we would fight with you guys." Joey said.
Seto frowned. "Why would you mention a war?" Seto asked.
Heba sighed again. "Because that's probably why my father is having us attacked so much recently. He wants a war." Heba said.
"Then why not just declare one?" Atemu asked.
"Simple. If Emperor Kenshin were to start a war with Egypt, every other kingdom on Earth would support and join Egypt to stop the Emperor from starting the war with them." Mahado said.
"Which means that if Egypt were to declare war in them first, then no other kingdom on Earth would help them." Seto said.
"Exactly." Heba said.
"What now?" Marik asked.
"I have no idea. We can't get free at the moment." Heba said.
A conference room had been set up in the English place where a constant watch on a large monitor was being conducted on the Egyptian Royal 2. There were experts in hostage situations there, members of the English military were there. Michael, Aknankanon, Aknaudin, and Amara were there.
Aknankanon was nervously pacing the room. He wanted to know if his sons and nephews were all right.
"Has there been any word from the hijackers?" Michael asked.
"No, Your Majesty. There has been no communication from the plane. It's getting closer to entering the Mahjong Kingdom's airspace." a soldier said.
"If that plane enters Mahjong airspace, it could cause an international incident." Aknaudin said.
"I know. There's nothing we can do right now." Michael said.
"I just wish I knew if they were all right or not." Aknankanon said.
"Whoever hijacked the plane must want something, and they won't hurt anyone unless we refuse their demands." Michael said.
"I just wish I knew what those demands were." Aknankanon stated.
A few moments later, Shimore and Zorath walked into the room with Bram and Kent behind them.
"Get them." Shimore said.
Zorath and Bram went over and untied Atemu and Yami, pulling them to their feet and tying their hands behind their backs.
The two brothers knew that this wasn't good.
'I better take Heba, too.' Shimore thought, knowing Heba was good at strategy.
"Kent, get him." Shimore said, motioning to Heba.
'This may be our chance.' Joey thought.
"Make one wrong move, Heba, and I assure you that they pay the price." Shimore said, motioning to Yami and Atemu.
Heba nodded his understanding, already deciding not to do anything at the moment.
Kent untied Heba's hands behind his back as well.
"Come on." Shimore said.
"What do you want?" Atemu asked.
"I suggest that you start worrying about your safety instead of what we want from your father." Shimore said.
'Don't test him. Please.' Heba thought, knowing that Shimore would kill anyone else in an instant.
"Where are you taking them?!" Seto demanded.
Shimore had gotten sick of them questioning him. He raised his gun and fired, hitting Ansu in the head. Ansu was killed instantly.
"Ansu!" Isis gasped.
Everyone looked on horrified. No one doubted that he was dead.
"Anyone else care to question me? I have no problem killing someone else." Shimore said.
No one said a word.
"I didn't think so." Shimore said. He motioned them forward.
Zorath, Kent, Bram, and Shimore left the room with Yami, Atemu, and Heba.
"Damn it! I shouldn't have said anything!" Seto berated himself, feeling guilty that he had caused the man's death.
"Don't blame yourself. He may have killed Ansu anyway." Mahado said.
Karim looked at Ansu sadly. He had been friends with Ansu, and Ansu was the one that was teaching him to fly. "We have to stop this." Karim said.
"We'll find a way to." Mahado said although he himself wasn't so sure they could.
Ryou, Malik, and Joey looked at each other. They knew that Heba was the only one that might could get them out of this. They just hoped that he would figure out a way to get them out of the mess they were in before someone else died.
Heba, Atemu, had Yami were forced onto the computer room.
"All right. Say one word against me, and I will kill one of you." Shimore said.
The three didn't say a word, knowing he would.
"What now?" Zorath asked.
"Keep your gun trained on them. I'm going to be contacting the English palace and getting the Pharaoh to meet my demands." Shimore said.
Zorath nodded.
Heba had discreetly look behind him and saw that there was a glass shard on the table he was leaning again. 'That might work.' Heba thought. He kept his eyes on Zorath so that Zorath didn't get suspicious as he groped blindly behind him for the shard.
Shimore got on the communication channel and started trying to contact the English palace.
'I know that Father will meet whatever demands he makes so that we will be rescued. I just don't think this guy plans on letting us go.' Atemu thought.
'Please don't meet his demands, Father. If you do, we may lose everything.' Yami thought frantically.
"King Michael! Pharaoh Aknankanon!" a general called.
"What is it?" Michael asked.
"We are receiving a transmission from the Egyptian Royal 2." the general said.
Michael, Aknankanon, and Aknaudin all went over to the soldier.
"What are they saying?" Michael asked.
"He wants to talk to the Pharaoh. I'll put on speaker." the general said.
"Everyone, stay quiet!" Michael ordered.
The room went silent.
Aknankanon nodded, and the general put the conversation on speaker.
"This is Pharaoh Aknankanon." Aknankanon said.
"Ah, Pharaoh. Glad that you decided to speak with me." Shimore said.
"Who are you?" Aknankanon asked.
"My name is Shimore. My men and I have hijacked the plane that your sons are on. You can either give us twenty million dollars, or I will kill them all one by one." Shimore said.
"I want to speak with one of my sons." Aknankanon said.
"Of course." Shimore said.
* * * * * *
Shimore turned. "You, come here." Shimore said, pointing to Atemu.
Atemu did as he was told and walked forward.
"Your father wants to speak with you." Shimore said, putting the phone at Atemu's ear.
"Father." Atemu said.
"Atemu, are you all right?! Is Yami all right?!" Aknankanon asked worriedly.
"Yeah, Father. Yami and I are fine. We all are." Atemu said.
"Have they hurt anyone? Aknankanon asked.
"They killed Ansu." Atemu answered.
Shimore pulled the phone away. "I will kill more than just the pilot. If you want them all to be returned to you alive, you have one hour to get the money. Once you have the money, I will tell you what to do." Shimore said.
While Shimore and Atemu had been talking to Aknankanon, Heba had managed to get his hands on the glass shard. Heba then turned the shard so that the rough edge was at the rope tied around his hand. He began to use the shard like a saw, hoping that the shard was sharp enough to cut through the rope.
"I will meet your demands. I will need more than an hour to get all the money, though." Aknankanon said.
"One hour. Once an hour is up, someone else will die." Shimore said before he hung up.
Aknankanon closed his eyes.
"An hour?! How doe she expect us to get all the money in an hour?!" Aknaudin exclaimed.
"I don't know, brother. There is a lot that we will have to do to get eh money from here to Egypt in that time frame." Aknankanon said.
Michael had stepped aside and was talking to a few of his advisors.
"My king, it is for the best. Egypt is our strongest and greatest ally." an advisor said.
"I know. He is my friend, and I do not want anything to happen to them." Michael said.
"What are you going to do?' Aknaudin asked.
"Aknankanon, don't worry about it." Michael said, waking over to them.
"What do you mean?" Aknankanon asked.
"In an hour, you could get at least half of that ready, right?" Michael asked.
"Yes. The other half is the problem." Aknankanon said.
"My kingdom will put up the other half of the ransom." Michael said.
"Michael, you don't need-" Aknankanon started.
"Yes, I do. You are one of my oldest friends, and I don't want anything to happen to them. Besides, Egypt and England are allies. We help each other in times of crisis, and we will help you now." Michael said.
"Thank you." Aknankanon said gratefully.
"Do you think they will get the ransom in time?" Zorath asked.
"It doesn't matter. If they don't, someone else dies." Shimore answered.
Heba had managed to cut partway through the rope. He hid a wince as the glass shard kept on cutting his wrist with each stroke. He was in pain from it, but he forced himself to deal with the pain because he knew that the alternative wasn't something that he really wanted to think about.
Yami and Atemu looked at each other. They knew that their father would meet the ransom. They just didn't know if he could do it before the allotted time was up.
"So, w at do we do with them?" Zorath asked.
"Leave them here. I don't think that they can do anything." Shimore said as he stood up. "Keep an eye on them." Shimore said before he left the room.
'He must think that there is nothing we can do to escape. He's right. Atemu and I can't take on this guy, and Heba's tied up.' Yami thought.
Heba had continued to used the glass shard to cut through the rope. He had almost cut all the way through. He kept his eyes trained forward, not wanting Zorath to become suspicious.
Zorath looked at them and said, "Don't expect to get out of this alive. I doubt you'll be alive much longer."
"Yeah. I'm sure that your emperor will make sure of that." Atemu said.
"Emperor Kenshin has nothing to do with this." Zorath said.
"You're a member of his Royal guard." Heba said.
"Well, no one will know that. After all, you will all be dead." Zorath said.
"It won't work. Our father is smarter than that." Yami said.
"Maybe, but he also doesn't want anything to happen to his sons and nephew. I'm quite sure that he will do anything to save you all." Zorath said.
"Maybe, but if the entire world found out that he was behind this, they would rally together against your kingdom. Even the Millennial Kingdom would have trouble with the entire world." Atemu said.
"Do we look worried. We'll get what we want in the end. This entire planet will be under Millennial control." Zorath said.
'Not if I can help it.' Heba thought. His hand was cut and bleeding from the glass shard as was his wrist, but he kept working.
'This is crazy! We have to do something!' Atemu mentally yelled.
Heba finally cut through his rope binds entirely. He was free.
Hope you liked it.
Next: Heba starts fighting back.
R&R.