I apologise that this is shorter than the last few chapters. I swear, the next one will be longer! Enjoy!
The letter was sitting on his bedside table when Yugi returned to his room. Someone, probably Daisuke from the look he had shot him the moment he left the house, had left it sitting there, demanding to be opened. The word 'Urgent' was splashed across it in red ink. He blinked at it, confused, unable to comprehend it in the grey light of dawn. What was it doing there?
Yugi must have slipped into sleep sometime after coming up to his room. He didn't really remember much and for once his sleep had been dream free but now that the sun was coming up the hard truth was coming back down on him like a dark cloud. He figured that whatever was in the letter couldn't make today any worse and so, shrugging slightly to himself, he leaned over and picked the letter up.
He could tell from the moment he opened it that it was nothing good. After all, he had never known Seto Kaiba to hand-write anything when there was a computer and secretary to do it for him.
Yugi, there isn't enough time to explain everything in one letter so you must follow these instructions no matter what. Pack a bag for two nights travel and bring it with you as well as your passport to the mansion. I've left Daisuke with instructions to see you to the mansion by at least 8 o'clock sharp. I will explain everything there. Seto Kaiba
Yugi stared at the piece of paper in his hands, wondering if this was some kind of a joke. Bring your passport… so he was being sent somewhere overseas. But why hadn't he mentioned this at the party last night? Perhaps it was something terrible and Kaiba hadn't wanted to ruin their birthday? But Yugi couldn't conjure a caring Kaiba in his head, no matter the circumstances.
It didn't take long to do as the paper said with half an hour to spare. The drive to the mansion was only about ten minutes so Yugi figured he had enough time to say goodbye to Grandpa and ask him if he knew anything about this letter and summons. But when he descended the stairs he found himself staring at a distraught Solomon Motou and a stern faced Daisuke. Neither man looked very happy.
"What's going on?" Yugi asked dread curling in the pit of his stomach. He didn't have a clue as to what was going on. Everything was moving too fast for him to comprehend. Grandpa turned to look at him, deep sadness in his eyes.
"Your father has summoned you to Egypt for your own safety," he said quietly, defeated. Yugi felt his stomach drop. He knew that he had been distraught last night that Atemu was leaving for Egypt this morning, but it had never occurred to him that his father would want him there too. Or even that he would consider taking him to a place where people were trying to kill him. Well, according to Kaiba, people are trying to kill you here too. He didn't know how to feel about this. Any of this. Other than a deep and growing hatred towards Kaiba. The CEO had known that his father would call him back today. He had known and let Yugi and Atemu go through the pain of being wrenched apart only to discover that instead of splitting up the twins, he was taking the last living member of Solomon Motou's family that was in visiting distance from an old man with heart problems. It was stupid and it was unfair.
"I… I don't want to go Grandpa! Not without you!" The words were petulant and probably sounded like they were coming from a small child but Yugi didn't care. Tears dripped from his eyes and he barely paid them notice, no matter the fact that he had thought he couldn't cry anymore only a few minutes ago.
"No. No, Yugi, this isn't about me," Grandpa said, moving forward to embrace him. "This is about you now. About keeping you and Atemu safe from harm."
"Because our uncle wants to kill us." Never had Yugi thought that that statement would have no effect on how he felt. He returned Grandpa's hug, feeling hollow inside. Everything was moving too fast. The world was falling apart and there was nothing he could do to stop it.
"I'll be fine. It's only for a short while, Yugi," Grandpa murmured, pulling back, tears present in his eyes. "And you'll be with Atemu." That graced a small smile on Yugi's face, before he buried his face in his grandfather's shoulder, crying shamelessly. He couldn't do this, not again. He had never ever thought he would have to leave Grandpa behind.
"It's time to go," Daisuke said emotionlessly, apparently unmoved by what had just occurred in front of him. Yugi opened his mouth to protest but Daisuke cut him off with a sun-glassed stare. "Now."
"Goodbye Grandpa," Yugi murmured. "Tell Joey I'm sorry I couldn't say goodbye."
"I will," Grandpa said, giving Yugi one last hug. "We'll see each other soon."
Yugi glanced behind him at the door, wondering when he would see this house again. He got the feeling it wouldn't be for a long time yet.
"He said WHAT?" Seto Kaiba cringed at the level his cousin's voice had raised but knew better than to cut him off. Atem rarely ever shouted, but when he did, he was as intimidating at his father without ever realising it. Worse, actually, since Akhnankhamun's eyes never turned blood red when he got pissed off. Seto sighed, kneading the growing headache which would only get worse with the arrival of Yugi. They had half an hour before the Motou twin would meet them before they left for the airport and ever since learning of Yugi's inclusion in this flight, Atem had been shouting.
"This is crazy! Fuck this! Fuck it all! What right does he have to drag Yugi into this? It's like he hasn't even thought about it!"
"Atem," Seto said tiredly, not even bothering to point out that Atem had subconsciously slipped into Wesret by accident. "I have no idea what your father is thinking, but I can tell you that I do have neighbours that are most likely taking advantage of the weekend and trying to sleep in." Atem glared at him and continued pacing but thankfully shut up. Mokuba was sitting in the corner and Bakura would catch up with them later. A week off wouldn't harm either Bakura or Yugi, in fact the school was probably thanking him for taking their greatest troublemaker off their hands. He didn't need an argument from three different people over this.
"You gonna be ok big brother?" Mokuba asked quietly, slipping into the seat next to him. Seto blew out a sigh, shrugging.
"At this rate, no." Seto scowled, knowing that he would do something inadequate at some point in the coming weeks. "And knowing my uncle he'll find something wrong with the way that I got his sons to him." Mokuba pulled a face but didn't comment.
"You'll still write won't you?" Seto could have winced at the sadness in his brother's voice. This was not something he ever enjoyed doing.
"Course I will. I always do."
"And you'll sign it? Not just send it through the secretaries at Kaiba Corp?" A ghost of a smile flitted across Seto's face and he pulled his brother into a hug.
"If I send you a letter signed by my secretaries in Egypt, I'll give you your birthday present early. Promise." Mokuba's eyes lit up at that.
"Really? You have it already? What is it?" Seto really did laugh at that one and even Atem managed to summon a smile, finally dropping into the nearest chair and looking severely annoyed.
"If I told you what it is, it wouldn't be a surprise," he said and then turned serious. "And if I hear you've been poring through my desk to find out what it is I won't give it to you at all." This was a negligible threat since he could hardly keep a new theme park closed forever, but it was good enough to stop a twelve-year-old genius from going through his stuff and finding out what it was. At least for now. Mokuba pouted and leaned over the armchair and the room fell into silence.
The sound of a car drawing up outside ten minutes later had Mokuba back on his feet. He was beaten to the door by Roland but didn't mind, rushing out to greet Yugi one last time before everyone disappeared off to Egypt and he wouldn't see them again. Yugi didn't look very happy but made an attempt to smile for Mokuba. Seto slid further down in his seat, just waiting for the next wave of anger directed at him. Sometimes he really hated Akhnankhamun.
It didn't take long, although Yugi was far less vocal than his brother. Probably came from being the shy one. He just simply sent Kaiba dirty looks every so often which in a way was worse than Atem's method. At least when Atem finished shouting about whatever problem had pissed him off this time, he left it there. Yugi seemed determined to carry this on for eternity like, 'you made me suffer for no reason so you're the criminal now. And I won't ever let you forget that'. Seto almost groaned and was glad when Roland entered to tell them that the limo was ready. It would be a long ride to the airport.
Bakura slipped through the streets, swearing at the moronic spy who was holding him up. At this very moment in time he should really be throwing caution to the wind and hightailing it to the airport, regardless of idiots who wanted to kill Atem since they would be leaving Japan soon but there was one thing that Bakura hated leaving and that was loose ends. And this one was slightly more pressing than the others.
How Akhnadin had managed to convince a local resident to attack the Game shop, Bakura didn't know and didn't really want to either. He had seen the man's 'persuasion' and it wasn't pretty. He wanted nothing more than to run but that would mean that Yugi would be pissed if he allowed his grandfather to get injured. Coupled with the fact that the kid could hold a grudge, and no way by Anubis was he risking pissing Atem off, this was one he couldn't allow to slip through his net. No matter how ignorant of the Shadow World he was.
"Nice day for a walk isn't it Ushio?" The older boy jumped a foot in the air and turned to stare at Bakura, who leaned against the wall hiding a smirk. It wasn't as if the man was being subtle with the way he was attempting to hide that knife. Even the youngest member of the thief court had better finesse.
"What are you doing here, Bakura? My father will know if you rob me."
"If I wanted to rob you, you wouldn't know about it. Now, why would one such as yourself being stupid enough to attempt to attack an old man with a knife?" Sweat glistened on Ushio's forehead as he realised that Bakura wasn't fooled. "Especially an old man whose grandchildren your father is scared shitless of?" Ushio looked insulted but Bakura couldn't care less. This had to be short and sweet or else he would miss the flight. And he couldn't wait to get away from this cold and soulless country.
"Stay out of my way Bakura! Else it'll be you on the other end of this!" And Ushio made the worst mistake he could have made at this point in time. He drew the butcher's knife from his waistband and brandished it in Bakura's face. Bakura didn't so much as twitch, instead kept a steady gaze on the other boy, raising an eyebrow and silently saying 'is that it?' Ushio, infuriated that things weren't going his way, thrust forward but Bakura was no longer there.
He moves slower than a camel, Bakura though, disgusted. A camel with indigestion. He ducked under the nest clumsy knife thrust before jabbing the man in the solar plexus. He fell forward and Bakura kicked the knife out of his hand before he could impale himself. He left him where he lay and began the real work. Anyone with half a brain cell intent on harm to the old man would find themselves tripping half a dozen traps, each designed to be worse than the first. That out of the way, Bakura turned to glance down at the recovering Ushio, curled his lip at the ugly brute and kicked him in the ribs for good measure. Then he left intent on reaching the airport before he missed the only flight out of here for the next three days.
It was close, but Bakura made it five minutes before security closed. A boring half an hour wait at the gates could have been better if Yug wasn't throwing the equivalent of a royal tantrum and refusing to talk to Kaiba and Atem wasn't stressed about the flight. Which reminded Bakura how much he hated the metal contraptions that, in all honesty, shouldn't be able to fly. Not by any law of physics that Bakura knew. Flying was for Kas and that was it.
The woman at the security desk (was there really any need to look through security again when they had already been checked about three times before and couldn't buy anything in the duty free without a passport?) had checked their identities again, they were finally allowed to board, first class and all. Well, there were some benefits with travelling with royalty, and that was that the air stewards were only too happy to help so long as they didn't get in trouble with any authorities that might possibly kill them if they so wanted. Egypt wasn't known for being peaceful after all.
However, by then Bakura had had enough of the lot of them. Seto was pretending not to notice Yugi glaring at the back of his head and Atem was pretending he didn't notice (but Bakura could understand that. Seto or Yugi? Tough choice for someone who knew them both about as well as the other).
"If this is what the whole eight hours on this bloody contraption is going to be like, I'm calling for champagne!" Bakura snapped, cutting through the silence between his three companions. Yugi blinked, stunned, Seto scowled at the suggestion and Atem perked up. Presumably the thought of being drunk was preferable to sitting through eight hours of hell. And alcohol sounded like a good prescription for nervous shadow-twitchy teenagers.
"You are not getting drunk before we even reach Egypt," Seto said coolly, giving Bakura a glare which might have tamed his assistants and did nothing for him. He'd had worse from Akhnadin and Akhnankhamun.
"Who says I can't?" Bakura flung back, knowing that there was nothing Seto could say otherwise, or anything he could do to stop him. Seto scowled even further but was cut off from saying anything by Yugi.
"You can't drink alcohol anyway. You're not eighteen," he said, seeming smug that he knew something Bakura didn't. Bakura raised an eyebrow at him, wondering whether Yugi had ever asked what they drank in New Thebes. Because the last time Bakura had attempted to drink water was when he was very desperate and had been attempting make himself sick anyway, to get rid of whatever poison Akhnadin had tried on him.
"You're sitting on a plane, getting ready for the longest journey in your life to a place where you can't drink anything but alcohol and you're trying to tell me that I can't drink?" Yugi stared at him like he was mad. Bakura shrugged and snagged a stewardess. "Three bottles of champagne," and then to Yugi, "have fun dying of thirst."
Yugi didn't know what to think. First he had been angry, then happy and still annoyed at seeing Atemu and Kaiba and now he was confused. Have fun dying of thirst… Yugi had never drunk alcohol in his life. The closest he came was Grandpa adding wine to some sauce or the other and the alcohol was burnt off while it cooked. Seto looked disapproving but didn't say anything when the stewardess returned three small bottles of champagne (and really there was only enough to fill a single wineglass but Yugi got the feeling Bakura was planning on drinking more than one) in hand. Bakura passed one to Atemu and practically threw the second to Kaiba.
"Lighten up rich boy. I'm sure Kisara won't want your face to look like a camel's backside." Seto's face reddened and Atemu sniggered, covering it up by taking a sip of champagne. Yugi blinked, not having taken Atemu as one to get drunk a lot. But then again he lived as a prince in Egypt… Yugi didn't really know what he did outside of Japan. He was suddenly thrown into a world alien him once again. And this being the first time he had sat on a plane, he didn't really know what to expect, and they weren't even in the air yet.
"What Kisara thinks of me is none of your business Bakura," Seto snapped, snapping the top off his own champagne in one angry movement. Now, Kaiba, Yugi could get. He could see Kaiba at some party drinking and he was older than them anyway. Legal, old enough.
"Sure it is. Just don't make it quite so obvious when the pair of you are performing some form of surgery with each other's-"
"Shut up!" Seto shouted, face flaming.
"You have a girlfriend?" Yugi asked, torn between amusement and confusion. Kaiba's face right at the moment was hilarious but Yugi couldn't bring up the image of any girl that liked Kaiba. Well, not ones he liked back anyway.
"No!" Seto shouted and Atemu muttered "yes." Bakura had already thrown back half the bottle already and looked like he was enjoying the show. Kaiba was stopped from answering as the pilot's voice filtered through the speakers above his head.
"Welcome everyone to flight CH560 with Cairo Airlines, this is your pilot speaking. Please watch the cabin crew as they deliver our pre-flight safety notices." A stewardess was already in the aisle, life-jacket and belt in hand and was gesturing to the screens in front of them. Yugi tried to concentrate on the safety film in front of him, but he was suddenly very well aware of how new all of this was to him. And that eight hours from now he would be in a foreign country with only the three people sitting around him for company. Atemu seemed to notice his mood and leaned over the seat to talk to him in a low voice.
"It'll be all right. You'll see."
"I was worried about Grandpa," Yugi whispered back as he diligently watched the stewardess finish the demonstration and felt the engines begin. Atemu looked about as happy as Yugi felt on that front. "I've never left him alone for so long before." Atemu reached over with one hand and gripped his own left one.
"Grandpa can look after himself," he said seriously. And then scowled as the plane began to move. Yugi's stomach rolled in a cross between excitement and terror.
"What's it like flying?" Yugi whispered, suddenly anxious.
"Like hanging in mid-air on a metal tube," Atemu said flatly and Yugi would have laughed at the expression on his face if the engines hadn't kicked into full gear just then and the plane began to speed up the runway and into mid-air.
Right, before anyone starts shouting 'they're underage! How can you make them drunkards!" I'm just going to point out that the Ancient Egyptians, and consequently the people of New Thebes, didn't drink water. they drank weak beer (like 1% alcohol) or wine. To them, we're all weird for drinking water that they knew could quite potentially kill them. So Atem, Bakura and Kaiba would be used to drinking alcohol, especially since Bakura runs a court of thieves and criminals and the parties at which Atem and Seto are used to being at serve wine, wine and wine. Just a note before anyone starts accusing me of underage drinking.
Anyway, thanks for all the reviews and you probably won't see me again until after 10th June (exams, University Open Days, general life... I could go on but I think you get the message).
Answers to reviews:
reincarnatedpharaoh: I'm glad you like this story and yes, Yugi's following Atem sooner than you think. You really think I would split these two up by choice?! I'm not that heartless and I think this story is 3/4ish of the way through. The Nameless Pharaoh legend kind of came into this story because it struck me after re-watching various Yugioh episodes that it reflects the fact that we know less than we think we do about Egypt. Sure we know who built the pyramids and that so and so pharaoh lived in such and such time but how much do we really know about them? Then again, I think I'm overcomplicating things but for this story it was kind of vital to what's going to happen later (wink wink) :). I'm very glad your enjoying this though!
Guest 1: Don't worry, I'm dropping off of the face of the earth forever! I will be back, armed with chapters galore (hopefully). And thanks for the luck on my exams. I think I'm gonna need it.
Guest 2: Thanks for the awesome story comment. I really wasn't expecting that in relation to something for taking down Fanfiction. I'm ashamed to say that I saw it too late to sign but it does make me wonder about some people. The fact that 'fan' is in the name and everyone pretty much says 'this is not originally my work' shouldn't make people's toes curl- we admit that we didn't come up with such great ideas. It's a tribute to the great work people do, respect it, don't get all huffy about it.
1YamiMana: Yes, there will be vaseshipping in this. Peachshipping... not so much. I'm afraid to say that Tea is pretty much nonexistant in the rest of this story, but vaseshipping has a large role, so I hope I haven't upset you too much. Other than that, thanks for the review and I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
angiembabe: hey, your back! I missed you! Thanks for the luck in my exams, the way my revision is going I'm going to need all the luck in the world. As I said to 1YamiMana, peachshipping is not in my plans for this story. My main couples are AtemxMana and SetoxKisara and they're not really all that big of a part to what I have planned. They play a role but the main theme going in this story is brotherhood. But I hope you enjoy this story and I may expand on peachshipping in the sequel if it writes itself that way (sounds weird I know).
Aqua girl 007: Heh, yeah, I tortured people for nothing... sorry. So, Yugi's going to Egypt and I hope you don't hate the way I wrote that. As before, and I hope I don't disappoint you in how I write this, there is vaseshipping and it's about to get even more prominent. Other than blueshipping, vaseshipping is the only other pairing in this. As for Bakura's name, I followed the crowd on that one partly because I didn't want people wondering who I was going on about when in Egypt and partly because it does sound kinda Egyptian. Mind you, your name for him is good too and since he doesn't actually have a name in the English anime, anything goes. I could have called him something else but I kept it simple and just changed it to a more 'Ancient Egyptian' way of spelling his name. Sorry about that. Thanks for the tip on the spelling of Shada. I kind of take liberty of name spellings but in the way I spell names here, I'm trying to lean towards Ancient Egyptian spellings rather than the Japanese ones, although 'Shada' is better than 'Shadah'. I forgot to typo that out, sorry :( My fault entirely. I have nothing against the Japanese spellings, it's just that here I'm making use of my OCD over Egyptian names and spellings in hieroglyphs. I'm sorry if it bothers you but thank you for the review and support.
Guest: Um, tomorrow is the day my exams start and they don't end until 9th June and then I have a Uni open day on the 10th... but after that I will be making an attempt to update more often. Or at least write faster. Hope you enjoy the rest of the story!