Hi all! Sorry for the long wait. Real life happened, as it tends to do. It's the chapter we've all been waiting for, the punishment of Mudada! Here's how the votes turned out:

Painful Death: 6

Torture: 7

Torture Then Mercy: 6

Mercy: 10

As much as I'd like to, there's no pleasing everyone, but I'll let you decide if I did the vote justice. Be brutal, I deserve nothing less after such a long wait.

Chapter 20 (Switchfoot – Meant to Live)

Heqet returned quickly with Pili and they set out through the gardens in front of the palace. Yugi was talking to Heqet, who seemed to greatly approve of his new wardrobe. Atemu led, flanked by Joseph and Taylor, speaking quietly.

"Don't mention a thing to Yugi until the prisoner is brought out. I was going to handle this on my own, but we must be sure we have the right one."

"There is a courtyard outside of the guard's quarters, near the gates," said Joseph. "I'll lead him out."

"Bring the whole group," Atemu commanded. "I want them to see." His red eyes were flashing like fire, and even Joseph and Taylor fell back a step rather than be faced with that gaze. The pharaoh looked straight ahead as green tropical gardens gave way to hot sands.

The inner courtyards were designed for the pleasure of the palace's inhabitants. With a full staff of gardeners and laborers, the remained bright and cool even in the desert heat. But the outer courtyards were designed to impress and intimidate, reflecting the power and glory of Ra's chosen. Slowly the winding pathways gave way to dusty square courtyards where more official business was conducted in the public eye.

Yugi noticed the change. "Are we going out to the market, my pharaoh?"

Atemu's eyes changed from flashing bloody rubies to warm glowing embers, like the sunset over the Nile. His voice softened and his pace slowed.

"If you wish, Gem. But there is one more thing to do before the ceremony," he said.

Joseph brought a hand up to cover his grin. The pharaoh may be the undisputed ruler of all Egypt, but Yugi was the undeniable master of the pharaoh. He wondered if Yugi realized the power he held. The whole world was his for the taking if he would just ask for it.

Atemu stopped when they reached the courtyard, but gestured for Joseph and Taylor to go on. They left quickly, for the pharaoh's eyes were flashing fire again.

"Did you see that?" Taylor asked immediately. "That little concubine has him wrapped around his finger!"

Joseph shot Taylor a warning glance. "It's more than that," he said. "They're in love.

Taylor held up his hands in surrender. "Relax, I don't doubt it. You should hear how the girls downstairs talk about him. They told me about his nickname, Gem. It's very fitting."

Joseph smiled. "It is, more than you know. Did the girls tell you why the guards attacked him?"

"They did," Taylor shook his head in disbelief. "I couldn't understand how anyone could think like that."

Joseph hesitated before opening the door to the temporary jail. "Neither do I. That's why I'm captain, you're a war hero, and they're behind bars."

Joseph pushed open the door and the peace of the morning was shattered. Voices echoed from one side of the barracks to the other. Scowling faces jeered and whistled as the passed,

"Outranked by a little boy, the magnificent captain!"

"Has he looked your way yet, pretty boy?"

"And there's the one who gets pushed around by a bunch of whores!"

Some of the names they called Taylor just didn't bear repeating. Joseph didn't look left or right as he passed, but instead motioned to the guard at each cell. Even in their disgrace, these were strong, proud men, a former guard of the pharaoh's palace. Joseph had been forced to assign a trustworthy soldier outside of every cell to keep control of the men. Fights broke out in his wake as the soldiers wrestled the former guards into shackles, and then chained them into one long line.

At the end of the row, one cell was silent. Taylor thought it was empty at first, but after Joseph dismissed the soldier on duty he noticed the figure huddled in the corner. His eyes widened.

"Is that him?"

Joseph nodded solemnly. "He's been refusing food. He knows the pharaoh is after his blood."

At these words the skeleton in the corner shuddered and glanced over its shoulder. Bloodshot eyes, set deep in shadows and covered by matted hair, looked up at them. There was no life in those eyes.

Mudada didn't fight as Joseph locked the chains around his arms and legs, but he didn't seem able to stand.

"You take his other arm," Joseph said. "We'll have to drag him out."

Taylor did as he was ordered, but he couldn't quite imitate Joseph's face of stone. The prisoner was disturbingly light.

Out in the dusty sunlight it was even worse. Joseph and Taylor hefted Mudada upright, placing his feet on the ground, but the man had no will or strength to stand. He let his toes drag in the dirt as they followed the two long chains of guards to the courtyard. Finally the lines parted to the left and right, leaving the skeleton and his two pallbearers exposed before the pharaoh.

Taylor felt the gaze of the pharaoh on him like a wash of boiling water. Even though the day was mild and their burden light, Taylor found it hard to breathe. His step faltered.

"Don't look up," Joseph whispered. Taylor didn't really need to be told that, but apparently the hot gaze wasn't completely obvious, for at that moment their prisoner decided to display some of the stupidity he was imprisoned for. His eyes lifted.

How do you describe a scream from a throat too dry to manage it? The arm in Taylor's hold tensed, and Mudada began struggling like an animal in a net. He was no match for his escort, though. Joseph threw him down and chained his arms to the post in the middle of the square. Mudada jerked against the chains once, then choked on the blood welling up in his throat and fell to the ground again, shuddering.

As one, Joseph and Taylor dropped to their knees to bow before the pharaoh, then stood to leave the skeleton to his fate. Taylor went to stand with the soldiers guarding the rest of the prisoners, glad to be out of that terrible gaze. Joseph, however, had one last job to do. Slowly, he moved up to stand before the pharaoh. He extended his arm and held out a black whip, bloodstained, with eight tails of stiff leather threaded with sharp metal.

The whole world went silent as the whip dropped into Atemu's hand. Taylor hadn't known such a thing still existed. When Atemu's father had taken the throne, such tortures had ceased. And now the pharaoh again held the weapon of his ancestors, coiled like an adder around his will.

When Joseph came back to stand by Taylor, even he was shaken.

"This is bad," he said.

Taylor shot him an unbelieving look. "You are just realizing that now?"

"No," Joseph said. "It's more than that. The pharaoh's ready to kill him. I knew I was handing over that man's life when I handed him that … thing." Joseph spat the last word in disdain that such an item could even exist.

"Isn't that right?" Taylor asked. "All our lives belong to him, even you and me. He could take our lives, if he wished."

"Just because he could, doesn't mean he should. Did you ever think how tempting and how dangerous such power is?"

They fell silent again as the pharaoh stepped forward.

Yugi was worried. Atemu hadn't spoken since Joseph and Taylor left. In fact, he hadn't even moved. He felt the whole world crystallize around him. Pili's chatter faded. Heqet pulled him to her side and began stroking his hair. He could feel her hands shaking and pulled away.

"What's wrong, Heqet?"

"Nothing, Gem. We'll be done soon and then we can go out, just wait."

After a while voices drifted across the courtyard. Yugi looked up to see Kontar's guard being led into the square in chains. They sneered and sent mocking insults at their captors, their voices too familiar to be really frightening.

But then the lines parted an a figure was led through the gap, carried by Joseph and Taylor. Yugi walked out before the pharaoh to get a better look. He was so focused he didn't even hear the voices around him.

"Is this the one, Heqet?"

"Yes, my pharaoh, I swear it."

"Gem, is this the guard who hurt you?"

…

"Gem?"

…

"…Yugi?"

Yugi was watching with wide eyes as the dark skeleton shivered, tied to the post. There was something so familiar about that form, like a dark memory covered in sand.

"Mudada….?" Yugi's lips barely moved as he gazed at the formerly strong man chained before him, but that was enough for the pharaoh.

Atemu stepped forward, looking down at Mudada as if he was a worm on the ground. He let the whip fall forward, draping before Mudada's eyes. Mudada flinched back as if struck.

Atemu could think of no more fitting punishment than to turn the disgraced guard's weapon against him. He raised his arm.

Yugi felt warm air brush past his shoulder and saw the pharaoh move forward until he was a thousand miles away. As the weapon that had hurt him dropped down before Mudada's eyes, the illusion of stillness shattered and he knew what the pharaoh was going to do.

"Stop!"

The shout echoed in the silence of the courtyard. Joseph, who had been stealing himself to see his beloved pharaoh commit bloody murder, watched in awe as Yugi darted forward and gently pulled the pharaoh's arm down from where it had frozen, mid-strike. Out of everybody present he was the smallest, and yet the only one not struck dumb with fear and awe. An idol of gold and amethyst, sparkling in the desert sun like a precious gem.

"Very fitting," Taylor murmured.

The fire had died from the pharaoh's eyes and he was looking at the whip in his hand with mixed distaste and confusion. Joseph came forward to assist.

Yugi hadn't even released the pharaoh's arm, although he seemed afraid to touch the whip.

The last of the flames died from Atemu's eyes and he threw the whip at Joseph's feet.

"I beg you, my pharaoh, don't hurt him," Yugi said.

"He hurt you, Gem. He deserves nothing less."

"No, he was afraid. He's still afraid. He was kind to me before."

Atemu kneeled down before Yugi and spoke in a whisper. "Tell me what happened."

Yugi hesitated, then kneeled as well. He didn't feel comfortable standing while the pharaoh was not, even if his small stature made this impractical.

"He caught me in the gardens the day before the banquet. That was where I found the golden pendant. He was kind to me then. He was told to tie me in the concubine's quarters, but he tied me loosely. That was why I was able to escape to get to you. When I met you at last, the guard's paranoia caught up with him, like his worst nightmare had finally come to pass. That was why he attacked me."

"That doesn't make it all right, Gem. What he did to you was unforgivable."

"Maybe, but two wrongs don't make a right. I forgive him; let him go."

Joseph and Atemu were both stunned into silence, gazing at the angel who spoke so fearlessly and gently. Atemu reached out and took Yugi into his arms. After a moment, he looked over Yugi's shoulder at Joseph.

"Let him go," he commanded. "Let them all go. They will never again enter the palace, but they will be free. And take that thing and burn it. Clean out the dungeons and burn everything there as well. Melt anything that will not burn. Understand? I never want to see anything like that in my land again."

Joseph smiled and took the shadowed prisoner, and the whip, away.