Chapter 13
Disclaimer : I Don't own Yu Gi Oh!
Italic stands for thought / dreams
+Japanese Language+
[Stands for voice from the past]
Underline stands for letter
"Quote stands for dialogue"
"Spirit Talking"
Bold stands for emphasis
Bold italic stands for a dangerous tone
Chosen By Millennium Ring
Yugi woke up from his deep slumber to find Malik's face looking at him with a mixture of happiness, relief, and guilt. "Malik?" he mumbled as he sat up, only to noticed that he was in a room that totally foreign with him, "Where am I again?" he asked before noticed that he was in his Vampire form, "Oh no." He mumbled before pulled his wings and claws in, and he shortened his fangs then changing his eyes so they looked more human.
Malik sighed, "You are in my room in the Palace, Yugi." He answered slowly, causing Yugi's eyes to went even more wide and looked at Malik in shock, "The Pharaoh, High Priest Seth, High Mage Mahad, Mahad's apprentice that named Mana, Lady Kisara The Dragon Summoner, General Marik and my Sister were all here when you lose control over your appearance, they all now know that you are a Vampire".
Yugi's face turned pale before he make a sudden movement to stood up, his sudden movement causing him to fell because his head spinning.
"Yugi, you need to rest." Malik said as he get Yugi back to the bed.
"I have to get out of here." Yugi answered as he struggled to get up in panic, "They will kill me for sure".
"No, Yugi." Malik said as he forced Yugi to lie down, "Calm down, they won't kill you." He said with a small smile, "They said that as long as you don't harming anyone, they would let you to live, don't worry." His smile widened, "Please rest more, you had just summoned your Ka for the first time yesterday after all".
Yugi took a deep breath to calm himself before looking at Malik seriously, "They won't?" he asked sharply, Malik nodded in answer, "And what Ka? I have a Ka?" he asked again, but in confusion this time.
Malik grinned, "You have a Ka, Yugi." He answered cheerfully, "Your Ka is Kuriboh, it's really suited with your personality".
"Kuriboh?" Yugi asked, before a ball of fur from before showed up in front of him.
"Kuri!" The Kuriboh chirped happily.
Yugi looked at the fur ball in awe before grinning and pulled it into a hug, "Kuriboh! You are so cute!" he exclaimed happily, causing his Ka to chirped happily again, but then he had a coughing fit.
Malik walked to his nightstand and poured a water to a glass and handed the glass to Yugi, "Here, drink first, you didn't drink for a full day and night after all, you throat is dry." He said with a smile.
Yugi smiled gratefully at Malik as he accepting the glass and drank it dry, "Thank you." He said as he handed the glass back to his friend.
"You are hungry, right?" Malik asked as he walked to the door, "Get some more rest, I will get some food from the kitchen." He opened the door and stepped out before looking back at Yugi, "Do you need to drink blood? Should I get one of the slave to bring you one of the criminal?".
Yugi shook his head, "No, I hate to drink human blood." He pouted, "The time when we were in the cage was emergency, but I don't want to drink human blood ever again, they gave me stomachache." He looked at Malik with pleading eyes, "I can still last for another day, I will go hunting tomorrow, so please just get me some food? I'm hungry".
Malik grinned, "Sure." He answered before walking cheerfully to the kitchen.
Yugi watched Malik gone with a smile for a moment before he frowned, "What is this feeling?" he asked as he felt like something calling out to him, he stood up and focusing to the feeling. He had long since learned that it's better for him to follow his feeling when he felt like he had to do something, so he followed his heart and walking to the direction he felt the call.
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Malik was walking to his room with a tray of food for Yugi, when he arrived at his room though, he nearly let the tray to slip from his hand, Yugi's gone!
Malik gulped down his panic and placed the tray to his nightstand first before running out of his room and went to looked at the hallways nearby, when he couldn't find Yugi anywhere near his room, he run to the Throne Room to asked for Mahad to use his Magic and find out where Yugi was.
XXXXX
Atem was barely managed to prevent himself from yawning when he listened to his people's requests, it's not that he didn't want to listen to them, but their talk were always went from the Palace and far to the Nile and the back to the Palace again before went to the the point of their request.
The first day he become the Pharaoh, he was wondering how his Father managed to stay still and acted regal and understand what their requests were at the same time, but he found out after that that Shimon, his and his late Father's adviser, was writing the request in more simple way so he could understand and decided what to do. I really would get in a lot trouble if I didn't have Shimon around, Atem thought as he rubbed his eyes to rid of his sleepiness after the merchant that was requesting his help had gone.
"Are you alright, My Pharaoh?" Atem looked up when he heard his Cousin's voice, only to see his Cousin was secretly smirking at him with a knowing smirk.
Atem blushed a bit, the advantage of him having a dark skin was that no one noticed when he was blushing, "I'm alright, High Priest Seth." He answered as casually as he can, "Only a bit tired, that's all".
Seth bowed lightly, "Should we continue or should we call it a day?" he asked politely.
Atem pressed his lips into a thin line before make up his mind, "Let's call it a day." He said before he got up from his sitting position.
Just when Atem fully stood up from his sitting position, he heard commotion from outside the Throne Room and the door to the Throne Room banged open. He narrowed his eyes when he saw a white haired man with scars on his face wearing a red robe walked in to his Throne Room, "What's the meaning of this?!" He heard High Priest Seth demanded harshly, and from the corner of his eyes he saw Marik become tensed.
"The meaning of this is that I, Akefia The King of Thieves, had come here to have a talk with your General, High Priest." The man answered with a plain face before looking at Marik, who grew more tensed by the second passed, he opened his mouth to say something before being interrupted.
"Do you think you can do as you please here, Thief?!" High Priest Akhunadin demanded.
Akefia's face turned into a scowl, "I can do as I please, no one can stop me." He answered confidently.
"Who do you think you are? You are a Thief, we will get you into the dungeon." High Priest Seth stated sternly before he raised his left arm and activated his Dia Dhank, "I summon forth, Galestgoras!" he summoned a monster from his Shrine, it's a big ferocious dragon with a huge long neck, pointy fins on its head, razor sharp claws and teeth shown since the monster baring them for others to see.
Atem was face palmed, Why was he so hot blooded? He asked in frustration before flopping down on his Throne, Seth wouldn't like it if he interrupted his fight, such a Cousin he has.
Akefia looked at the monster with a plain face, a boring one actually, then he looked around to noticed that the Throne room was nearly empty, no one was standing on both side, only behind him and around the Throne. He smirked as he looked back at the High Priest with brown hair and piercing blue eyes, "Diabound!" he called out his faithful Ka.
All of the High Priests, High Mage Mahad, Mana, and Atem looked at Akefia in shock while High Priestess Isis and Marik looked at Akefia and Seth with worry in their eyes.
"He has a Ka?" High Mage Mahad asked in shock.
"I'm sorry, I should check him first." High Priest Shada apologize before glaring at Akefia, "You Thief, not enough you stole from us and our people, but you dare to enter the Throne Room without permission, that action alone will be punished with death".
"I'm not scared of death." Akefia hissed, "Not after what had happened to my family and friends".
"Enough talking! Galestgoras! Attack his Ka!" High Priest Seth exclaimed as he pointed at Diabound with his Millennium Rod.
"Bring it on." Akefia smirking widely with confident.
XXXXX
Yugi coughed up when he walked on the back of the library where no one was walking anymore since there was so many dust everywhere, the tugging he felt was leading him to the deepest part of the Palace's library. He looked around when he arrived at the place he felt the tugging the strongest, he didn't find anything, so he tried to see the back of the shelves to see if there's something behind them. When he looked behind the one shelf that was on his left side, he saw a glint of something gold. Blinking his eyes, Yugi grabbed the shelf and carefully move it so he can reach the thing behind it, it's good that Vampire's strength was three times stronger than normal human, or he wouldn't be able to move the shelf at all.
Yugi pulled out the thing that had been calling him, his eyes then widened when he saw it, and his eyes widened even more when he heard just who was it that had just barging to the room that was called the Throne Room. Yugi was panicked before he saw one of the pointer of the Ring in his hand pointed at the direction he heard Akefia's voice, he know right away what he had to do so he took off to the Throne Room's direction with his Vampire's speed.
XXXXX
Malik was finally arrived at the Throne Room, and due to his panic, he forget all manners and barged in to the Throne Room, only to gasped when he saw that there's two monster in the Throne Room and closed his eyes when the two massive monsters clashed with each other and causing a smoke of dust.
"Malik!" Malik looked up to the Pharaoh, "Get out! It's dangerous here!".
"Dangerous?" Malik asked as he looked at the direction where everyone looked at, he saw none other than the Thief King was standing in the middle of the room behind the massive grey monster, "Oh." Was the only thing he could say at the moment, It must be Akefia's Ka, he thought in realization.
Akefia looked at Malik from behind his shoulder before he turned around so he can fully face the kid, "What a nice timing, boy." He said with a smirk, "Now I will get to the point, where is he?".
"He?" Malik blinked at Akefia before he clapped his hands, "Oh, him." he nodded his head to himself before looking at Akefia with a grimace, "He already disappeared when I came back from the kitchen to get him food".
Akefia face palmed with a groan, "Aaaargh, He really can't stay in just one place if no one was watching, huh?" he asked in complain but he was also relieved that Yugi didn't get sold before the Pharaoh came.
"Wait." Akefia turned to the Pharaoh in time to see the Pharaoh stood up, only now that he noticed that the Pharaoh's face and hair was really similar with Yugi, only he was more 'cool' looking than Yugi while Yugi was 'cuter' than him, "Just who is this 'He' that you both are talking about?" he asked in annoyance.
Don't tell me . . . Akefia thought as he looked at the Pharaoh in shock and blinking eyes, "Oi, Pharaoh, do you happen to have a son that was kidnapped in the past?" he asked right away.
The Pharaoh frowned, "What?" he asked in confusion, "What are you talking about and who were you two talking about?" he looked at the Thief King before looking at Malik.
"Yugi." Akefia and Malik answered at the same time, causing the whole room to explode, well, Marik and Isis excluded.
"WHAT?!"
"We were talking about Yugi." Malik explained, "Yugi is already like Akefia's son, and I came here was to asked High Mage Mahad to use his Magic to pointed out where Yugi is since he was disappeared when I came back from the kitchen".
Atem was staring at the Thief King in shock, well, everyone aside from Malik, Isis and Marik was looking at the Thief King in shock, "Yugi is your son?" he asked in disbelief.
"I found him three years ago nearly sold by merchants." Akefia said in bored tone, "I asked if you had a son that was kidnapped was because you are really similar looking with Yugi, so I thought that Yugi might be your son or family".
"He is not." Atem answered with a crossed arms, "Well, since now it's clear that you come here to get your son back, I demand that both you and High Priest Seth to make your monster disappeared".
"Demand?" Akefia grumbled unhappily before looking at High Priest Seth, "If he call back his monster, I will call back my Diabound".
"High Priest Seth." Atem said with a look.
"I refuse." High Priest Seth said before ordered for Galestgoras to attack Diabound again.
"STOP!" A voice yelled before a bunch of Kuribohs appeared and absorbed Galestgoras attack.
They all turned to see Yugi standing at the doorway of the Throne Room with his hand holding a rope connected to something made of gold with an Eye in the middle, with one of it's pointer pointed at Akefia.
"Yugi." Akefia and Malik called out at the same time before Malik stormed over to Yugi.
"You!" Malik yelled as he smacked his friend's head, "Where were you? I was panicked when I didn't see you anywhere when I came back from the kitchen".
Yugi rubbed his sore head, "Sorry, but this Ring called out to me." He answered as he lifted the golden piece.
Atem and His Councils gasped, "The Millennium Ring?!" they exclaimed in shock, including Isis.
"Yes." Yugi answered before walking to Akefia, who raised an eyebrow because of the boy's action, "The Ring want to get to you, it chose you, Papa".
Akefia grimaced, As I thought, coming here was a bad thing to do, he thought as he looked at the Ring, "Don't wanna." He said stubbornly, "If I accept that I had to be a High Priest, don't wanna".
"No way!" Atem and The Council, aside from Isis, snapped together, "I don't want to work with a thief like him!".
"But." Yugi said as he looked at every single person in the room with his 'Deadly Puppy Dog Eyes', they were all taken aback by how cute Yugi looked, "The Ring has chosen, and even if Papa refuse, the Ring will still following him".
Akefia shook his head, "No, I don't wanna." He said with a scowl, "Yugi, get it back to wherever you found it".
"I can't." Yugi answered right away.
"Why?" Akefia asked with a narrowed eyes.
"Because my hand stuck, it's Magic make my hand couldn't released it." Yugi said with his hand palm out but the Ring wouldn't fell from his palm, "Only you can take it from me and wear it".
Akefia grimaced again, High Priestess Isis chuckled when she saw the expression, "I said it in the past, didn't I? You will become a High Priest, Akefia." She said with a smile.
Akefia glared at Isis, "Shut up, Isis." He snapped before glaring at the Ring on Yugi's outstretched hand.
"Wait again." Atem said as he looked at Isis, "High Priestess Isis, by what you said, did you mean that you received a vision that the Thief King will be one of the High Priests?".
Isis bowed to the Pharaoh, "Yes, My Pharaoh." She answered calmly, "At first I saw him killing the previous Pharaoh, but the vision blurred by days passed and changed into the vision of Akefia as one of the High Priests, it's already three and half a year since I started seeing the latter vision".
"Three and a half and you didn't say a word to the Pharaoh?" High Priest Seth asked in disbelief.
Isis looked at Seth calmly, "I didn't say anything because I was still unsure if the vision will really come true, but now that this incident happen, I dare to say that because it's clear now that the vision will come true." She answered before smirking at Akefia, "Now, what would you do, Thief King?".
Akefia scowled at Isis, "You talked like I even had a choice in this matter." He said grumpily, Isis merely shrugged and chuckled again. Akefia growled before looking at Yugi, only to be assaulted by Yugi's 'Deadly Puppy Dog Eyes' with full force, "No, Yugi, don't look at me like that, please." He begged.
Again, the whole room, aside from the three that had known Akefia very well, gasped because the Thief King begging to a boy, but when they looked at Yugi's face, they understood right away because they also wouldn't survive against the look on Yugi's face that was so cute, adorable and definitely couldn't be fight easily.
"Papa . . ." Yugi said with a shaky voice as he staring at Akefia with his Puppy Dog Eyes that start watering, his lips quivering before he outstretched his hands with the Ring in his hand to Akefia, "Please?".
That was it, that was the last line in Akefia's defense. Akefia groaned in frustration before taking the Ring and wearing the rope around his neck, he glared at Yugi, "Satisfied now?" he asked in annoyance.
Yugi wipe his fake tears and grinning widely at Akefia, "Yup." He said cheerfully.
"You little devil." Akefia said in sulking manner, "Thanks to you I have to following the order from the Pharaoh now." He scowled.
Yugi huffed and placed both hands on his hips, "And do you think that it's better to just let yourself die or become a thief forever?" he asked in challenging tone, "You didn't want me to be a thief like you, but what will happen to me if you get killed when you went out to steal? Or get yourself killed today for barging in to the Throne room? What do you think your family will think? They might still lingering in the ruin of Kul Elna, but that's because they are all worried about you!" he pointed at Akefia, "What do you think they will say if you die and left me alone?! Think about it, Thief King Akefia!".
The room was silent after Yugi's outburst, slowly they looked at Akefia and waiting for his reaction. Akefia yelled out loud in frustration as he smacked his palm on his forehead, "God damn it!" he cursed before looking at Yugi with annoyance, "Yugi, how many times I have to say to not talking like an adult? You crept me out!".
Yugi laughed in response, "It's to open your eyes, Papa." He said cheerfully with a satisfied smirk, knowing that Akefia had lost the battle, "Don't underestimate me, I might not be as strong as you, but I have a deadly weapon that can make everyone to fell to their knees." He crossed his arms as his smirk widened, "You are a High Priest now, so just accept it like an adult and start learning how to be a good High Priest." He then huffed and turning around, "Now I will go hunting, you better already start learning your new position, Papa, or you will regret it later, bye!" With that he walked out of the Throne Room, leaving Akefia to gaping his mouth in shock.
Everyone in the room was also gawking at the doorway even after Yugi had gone, then Marik start chuckling before laughing out loud, followed soon by Isis and Malik. "You lost the battle." Marik smirked at Akefia.
"Welcome to the Council, Akefia." Isis said with a big grin, "Be prepared, because I know you will need to adapt yourself soon".
Akefia can only sigh in answer, he really shouldn't come to the Palace.
Atem cleared his throat to get everyone's attention, "Well, what had been done couldn't be changed, so we had to accept Akefia as the Ring Bearer." He said as he looked at the former Thief King and his Cousin, "Now, both of you, take back your monsters".
"You first, High Priest." Akefia said to Seth, "I won't take back my Diabound as long as your monster in this room, I wouldn't want myself to be attacked".
Seth glared before take back his monster, Akefia then sighed as his monster disappeared.
Atem looked at Isis, "High Priestess Isis." He called to get her attention, she looked at him and bowed, "Since you are his friend, I want you to tell him what he need to do as a High Priest, don't let him slack off".
Isis bowed again, "Understood, Your Majesty." She said with respect before looking at Akefia with a big grin, "Follow me, I will show you where you can stay first".
"Nightmare begin." Akefia grumbled before he followed Isis out of the Throne Room.
Atem sighed, "Let's call it a day." He repeated what he had said before the chaos began, he then heading to his chamber.
"And this is the Dinning room, the Pharaoh and the Councils will have Breakfast together, that's mean you also." Atem slowed when he heard Isis's voice, "You can have Lunch and Dinner whenever and wherever you want".
"I'm not a morning person." Atem blinked when he heard Akefia's voice answered in a tone that nearly whining, he bit his bottom lip and decided to take a look. He walked to a corner where he heard their voices and take a look while making sure they wouldn't see him.
Atem saw Isis chuckled, "Try to wake up early then, or Yugi will scold you again." She said with humor.
Akefia sighed, "I know." He mumbled unhappily, "Sometimes I'm asking myself who was the younger between us, he talked like he was older than me so much".
"Talking about Yugi." Isis started as she looked at Akefia with worry, "Do you think it's alright for Yugi to go hunting by himself? What if he attack human?".
Akefia snorted, "There's no need for you to worry about him." he said as they continued their walk, with Atem following silently, "Yugi hate the taste of human's blood, he preferred to have animal's blood".
Isis sighed in relief but then frowned, "But what if he got attacked during his hunt?" she asked in concern.
"Yugi is strong." Akefia answered casually, "He always hunting by himself anyway".
Isis glared at Akefia, "You should accompany him!" she hissed angrily, "No matter how strong he is, Yugi is still a child and a child often get distracted, he can get injured!".
Akefia laughed then, he looked at Isis with a grin, "He is not your ordinary child, he was so matured that I hope he can be like a normal kid." He shook his head, "What should I do now, Priestess?" he asked suddenly while looking at Isis sadly, "I'm a High Priest now, even if I found that High Priest, I couldn't get my revenge".
Atem raised an eyebrow at that, he then looked at Isis to see her reaction. The High Priestess sighed softly, "I can only suggest you to tell the Pharaoh about this, he is a kind Ruler, I'm sure he will help you find him and then let you get your revenge, he is a traitor after all." She said softly, much to Atem's shock, he never thought that Isis would say something like that.
But a traitor? There's a traitor among my Councils? He frowned, he sighed and walked forward, "What traitor, Isis?" he asked to announced his presence.
Isis jumped and turned to looked at Atem in shock, "My Pharaoh." She bowed to him, "What are you doing here?".
"I was heading to my Chamber when I heard you talking about traitor, what traitor?" Atem asked again, there's no way he could ignore something like that.
"It's not my place to tell you, My Pharaoh." Isis answered calmly before looking at Akefia, "Yours." She said before turning around and take a few steps to let them talk.
Akefia sighed when the Pharaoh turned to him, "I ask you a question first, Pharaoh." He started, "Do you know how Millennium Items created?" he asked with a crossed arms.
Atem frowned, "I don't know." He answered honestly.
"To created the Millennium Items, your Father sacrificed the people from my village." Akefia said through gritted teeth, the memory of that night always come back to him every time he retell the story, "They were killed as sacrifice 13 years ago, and I was the only survivor".
Atem gasped in shock, but then he looked at the former Thief King sharply, "Do you have proof?" he asked sternly, "You are a Thief King, so I couldn't just believe everything you said, so do you have something to proof this?".
"The proof is in my village, where the Items created." Akefia said calmly, "That night, everyone were killed by the Palace's guards led by a High Priest under the order of the Pharaoh, that's what I heard the High Priest said before they start killing everyone"
"If you wish to know the truth, Pharaoh, then I suggest for you to see the village for yourself." Yugi's voice rang above them, the looked up to see the boy floated in mid air with his wings before landing beside Akefia, "But I can assure you that what Papa said is the truth, I have come to Kul Elna myself, and the Spirits of those who were sacrificed are still lingering in the village".
Atem looked at Yugi, then Akefia, before landing to Isis, "Do you believe his words, Isis?" he asked.
"I believe his words, My Pharaoh." Isis replied calmly, but also seriously, "When I heard the story, I know that Akefia was telling the truth. But I also sent Spiria the night after that to Kul Elna, and I give my word to you that what he said is the truth, everything is in ruin and many Spirits lingering in the village".
Atem growled lowly, "Then there's a traitor among my Councils." He said lowly in full anger, he balled both of his hands into fists before looking at Akefia, "Since you are telling the truth, you have my permission to kill that one High Priest." He narrowed his eyes, "I will ask for Seth help to find out who was that High Priest." He turned around and start heading back to the Throne Room.
"What if that High Priest Seth was the one who did that?" Akefia asked casually.
"It's impossible." Atem answered as he looked behind his shoulder, "My Cousin is only two years older than me, if it's happened 13 years ago, he was only 12 then".
"And that's mean that High Priest Seth is clear from any suspicion, so he can help us to find out the culprit." Yugi said with a nod of agreement, much to Akefia's annoyance since the boy acting like an adult again.
Atem grinned, "You are a smart one, Yugi." He said before continuing his way.
Atem didn't found Seth in the Throne Room, so he decided to head to Seth's Chamber. Once he found Seth, he told him what he had just learnt.
"What?!" Seth gasped in shock, "Are you serious, Atem?".
Atem nodded, "So, will you help us?" he asked, "I know you hate Akefia, but we have to find who was this traitor".
Seth took many deep breath to calm himself from his shock, "Don't worry, Cousin, I will find this traitor." He said with determined eyes.
Atem nodded, "I'm counting on you." He said seriously.
To be continued . . .
Froim : Please review XD