Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!

Thoughts

"Speech"

Chapter 26

Atem fell back into his throne. Runihura smiled. "My Lord, is everything alright?" Atem sighed and stared at the door.

"Not really." Atem placed his head in his hand as all the words came tumbling back through his mind.

"I am disappointed in you."

"How could you?"

"You are no longer fit to rule this land."

"Touch her or anyone and there will consequences for you."

"Your father is ashamed of you."

Then Yugi's words came back to him.

"So now what, Pharaoh? What will you do now? Imprison me? Banish me? Sell me? Kill me? Do what you want… There's no reason for me to fight."

"I hope you see reason soon, Atem, I really do."

"I still love you."

Atem sighed and covered his eyes. So Yugi really did love him. Now Atem didn't know what to do. He looked down at his hand, the one that struck his love. That thought made Atem freeze. Then smile. He loved Yugi too, after all. So what the hell did he marry her for? For once Atem thought about why and didn't remember. He went on a trip to visit the nobles and somehow ended up with a new fiancée.

Then he thought about how no one moved when he ordered Yugi to be arrested. Seems he lost the loyalty of some when he came back with Runihura. Now when he issued these new, and crazy, laws, he lost the loyalty of even more. His own army listened to Yugi above his own orders.

"Are you sure these laws are for the good of the kingdom," Atem asked his bride. Runihura frowned.

"Of course, my love. The people need to know who is in charge. They will be better with a leader who is detached from them. If disaster strikes, then you will still be able to lead on, unaffected." Atem started to wonder, listening to her, how he agreed to this in the first place.

"My love, are you going to allow this slave to treat you like this? Me?"

"You bitch! How dare you manipulate him like that? Get your hands off our king!"

That was how. She used herself, using the caring, protective side of Atem to control him. How could I have been so blind? How will he ever forgive me for what I've done? Atem mentally sighed. He will, just have faith and make things right, the little voice in his mind said.

"I still love you." The last words Yugi spoke resounded in his mind and Atem smiled.

"Well, if you say so. But someone dear to me says otherwise. I'm sorry Runihura, but it was a mistake to marry you," Atem spoke as he stood up.

He had made it to the door when he heard her speak. "I'm sorry too Atem, but if this is the way you want to play, then so be it. You leave me no choice."

Atem whirled around, but Runihura was gone. A sinking feeling of dread filled his heart and Atem ran as fast as he could to Isis's chambers. He burst through the door to find no one there. He left and almost immediately found a guard.

"Have you seen Yugi," he asked frantically. The guard looked at him skeptically, but nodded.

"He was leaving for the town." As soon as the words left his mouth, Atem was out the door.

"Yugi!" Said person stopped and turned. Arms wrapped themselves around him and held on tight. He could feel wetness on his shoulder.

"Atem? What is it? What's wrong," he asked worriedly as he pulled his love's head from his body. Tears cascaded down Atem's face and he kissed Yugi deeply before speaking.

"Runihura plans on controlling the kingdom with or without me. I need everyone's help to stop her." Yugi looked at the rest of his companions and they nodded. He turned back to Atem and smiled, kissed him, then nodded.

"We will help. What will we do," Mana asked.

"We'll figure it out," Yugi replied. "Runihura has to be brought down. I will make sure she is stopped if it's the last thing I do."

From above, Runihura watched as people walked about, glancing at the group near the doors.

"Now is the time to overthrow this city and make it mine. This plan has been too far in the making to fail," she whispered.

"Do you think this will work?" Runihura turned to her handmaiden.

"Yes, it will. Have faith." Runihura scolded. "Everything must go according to plan."

"Shall I send out the 'Gift'?" Runihura smiled.

"Of course. I think the country would love our 'little surprise', don't you?"

Her handmaiden smiled along with her and bowed. She left her mistress alone in the tower and set out for the dungeons. Once there, she peaked her head through the door and said, "It's time." In response to her words, several dark figures appeared from the shadows and followed her out the door.

Wandering the halls, the group was briskly walking, trying to find a clue of Runihura's plans, when Isis paused by a window and stared. The sky had turned dark and gray, dangerous and unruly.

"It is time for my vision to come to pass," she whispered. Yugi stopped beside her and stared out the window with her.

"Then so be it," Yugi replied, thinking back to their conversation in the alley. Isis looked at him and sighed, nodding. She, too, was thinking of that time, and what Yugi said.

From the corner of their eyes, they saw dark figures approaching behind the rest of the group. Isis and Yugi froze. Then Yugi took action.

"Atem, move," Yugi yelled as he dove for his love. Atem jumped and spun around. He, Mana, Seto, Mahad and Kisara all gasped at the sight of multiple people racing towards them in shadows. Mana and Mahad reacted with a spell, and held it while everyone ran.

They kept running until the library came into view. In the dark corner where Yugi found a secret from his birth, everyone discussed what to do.

"We need to find Runihura and put a stop to this," Atem said.

Mana nodded. "But who were those people? What are they doing here?"

"They're a group known as the Shadow Assassins. Runihura's family either hired them or is one of the main families," Kisara whispered. Everyone looked at her. "What? I met them once and became curious," she shrugged.

Seto smiled. "So, we know who they are and that they answer to the 'Queen', but what are going to do?"

"I don't know, but we need to figure it out," Mahad stated. Isis gasped.

"There are hundreds of them. The assassins are entering the city," she cried. As everyone else discussed what to do to save the people, Yugi remained silent. He had a plan and knew he had to do it alone. Atem stared at him, and then nudged him with his shoulder.

"What's up," he whispered. Yugi looked at him with a small smile and he shook his head.

Yugi thought for a moment and decided it for the better if he spoke. "Actually, there's something I need to give you," he whispered. Atem gazed at him with curious eyes, but nodded. Everyone had gone silent as Yugi crawled under the chair and wedged out a brick from the wall. When he slid out from the chair, he held a box in his hands. Atem gasped.

"Yugi, this is- I can't- Don't give it to me. I don't deserve it after what I did to you." Atem looked at the ground. A small, pale hand covered his larger, tanned one, and Atem forced himself to meet that soft amethyst gaze.

Yugi smiled at him. "I know you didn't mean to, and I could see how much it hurt you to hit me, but you were always impulsive. I don't blame you too much. Besides, something may happen today and I- I want you to have these. They are yours to begin with." Atem's eyes narrowed.

"'Something may happen'", he repeated. "Yugi, what is going on in that head of yours?" Yugi glanced at Isis and turned his gaze to the floor. Atem looked at Isis at the same time Mahad did.

"Isis, what's going on?" Before she could answer, a loud crash and a chorus of screams were heard below. The first one out the door was Kisara, followed by Yugi and Isis. The stragglers rushed out the door behind them.

With everyone running, no one noticed Yugi slip into a bedchamber and rush to the balcony. From there he watched the city being destroyed. People were fighting back…and dying. Homes, businesses, carts, stalls were being destroyed, torches thrown into them or horses and people running. Those who caught were being dragged back into the palace walls as prisoners. Tears welled up in Yugi's eyes, but he forced them back and scaled the palace with his gaze. Almost immediately he found her, his enemy, the one he swore he would stop. Up there, on the balcony of the northern tower, watching with a smirk her plans unfold.

Runihura.

When someone finally noticed there was one less person in their group, the troupe stopped just before the doors. Seto had turned around for Kisara's hand and saw there was no Yugi.

"Where did he go," Atem cried.

"To find Runihura." Atem looked at Isis.

"What?"

Isis looked at her king. "Yugi went to do the one thing he alone is prepared to do. He went to find Runihura so he could stop her," Isis calmly said. Anyone would think she was calm, but Mahad knew the turmoil that was raging inside her soul because of this knowledge.

Atem stood shocked and Mana placed a hand on his arm. "He doesn't have to be alone. We can and will help." Atem looked at her and nodded. He turned to the others.

"We need to get a message to the people. They need to fight back, resist whatever this is, but do it smartly. And we need to help them too. I will go after Yugi. Who will come with me?"

Mana raised her hand, as well as Mahad. Isis sighed.

"I will go too, just to help you on your way. But I will not stay. I have seen the outcome many times, played differently, but it ends the same." She turned to Seto and Kisara. "Keep each other safe. I will be with you shortly." The couple nodded and set off through the doors.

Isis watched their departure for a moment. Then she turned back to the people still with her. "Let's go." Atem, Mana and Mahad nodded.

The guard fell to the floor after Mana stunned him. Mahad looked at her in surprise.

"You do pay attention when I teach," he praised. Mana shyly smiled.

"We need to take a right on the fourth corridor, pass down eight doors, then turn left, then right, straight three doors, then left again," Isis said.

"Where's Yugi," Atem asked.

Isis smiled. "If my memory serves me right, he's climbing the walls to where Runihura stands." Atem and Mana shared a look of "What?"

As it turns out, Isis's memory did serve her right. Yugi was currently scaling the wall, finding footholds and handgrips everywhere. He reached for the next brick jutted out and chose to take the chance to look down.

As he did, he noticed the stream of people coming in as prisoners was thinning dramatically. When he heard the roar and saw Kisara's dragon appear, he knew Seto had just got attacked by the enemy. Kisara is usually a mild person, so she wouldn't resort to that no matter what, unless it was an emergency with which she, or someone she cares about, is in.

Yugi smiled and faced his challenge. Above was his target. Hopefully no one spotted him yet.

Up and up he went, reaching, grabbing, finding, stepping, and finally, he was beneath the balcony. He rounded to the side and pulled himself over.

"Hello Runihura." Said person looked at him startled, but the handmaiden came at him with a dagger. Yugi dogged and fell to the floor. He kicked his attacker in the back and watched as she stumbled. He looked at Runihura and she smirked at him, and then fled within the castle. Yugi scrambled after her, knowing the servant was right behind him.

"What are you doing, slave? Trying to fight for the man you love? Why?"

Yugi shook his head as he ran, listening to the words Runihura yelled behind her. "You just said it yourself, you bitch! Because I love him!"

"He broke your heart! He abused your trust! He hit you!"

"And I forgave him," Yugi yelled back. "I love and I always will. No matter what, I will forgive him! It's you I can't forgive!"

"Stop talking to my mistress you trash," a voice screeched behind him. Yugi spun around and narrowly dodged the blade as the servant sliced at him. A little drop of moisture came off the dagger as it was swung and Yugi dodged that too, knowing the handmaiden poured poison onto it as she ran after him.

He turned into a corridor and heard her footsteps after him. Again and again he turned, racing to beat her. But she stayed right behind him. He could feel the air move as she tried to hit him, but missed.

Yugi passed a corridor and paused. Then he turned into it and knew she followed. He counted doors as he rushed by them and turned into the seventeenth one. As soon as his foot was in the door, he slid his body off to the side. The handmaiden rushed behind him and cried out before flying over the stairs and landing on the floor. As she fell, her flailing arm hit a statue of Anubis, and unfortunately, this statue held an axe/staff. Being newly made, the materials not hard, the blade part fell out of its holder. The handmaiden lay unconscious in its path. Yugi winced as the axe went through to the floor. He took a shuddering breath and made his way back to the throne room.

From there, the battle with Runihura would begin.

As always, see mistakes, let me know. Reviews?