AN: This is the last chapter that takes place in ancient Egypt. So I'll warn you that there will be character death and violence in this chapter. But it's alright! We all know that Bakura and Marik meet up again in the future, so you'll see them both alive and well later on in the fic.
I would die for you
I would kill for you
I will steal for you
- #1 Crush by Garbage
Mahes awoke after what felt like a very long sleep. There was a moment of disorientation, when he reached out and found that Bakura was not there...but then he remembered the events of the night before. He realized that it was not surprising that Bakura was already gone. After all, Bakura had said that he was leaving the next day. It would be just like him to leave before Mahes woke up.
At that, Mahes stretched and stumbled out of bed. He opened the door to check on Ra's position in the sky. Yes, he saw, he had definitely been asleep for many hours. In a way, he was shocked that he'd managed to sleep for such a long time, what with all the worries about Bakura that were weighing his mind. On the other hand, it wasn't really surprising that he'd been passed out for such a long time; he'd gone days without any truly restful sleep, and his body had needed to recharge.
Dismissing these thoughts, he shut the door and turned around. He supposed he could sit in the hideout and wait and worry and wonder if Bakura was coming back. But he was so tired of doing that. So very, very tired of it.
Without even thinking about what he was doing, Mahes got dressed in the best robes that he possessed. Looking down at himself, he realized something. He intended to follow Bakura to the palace. Whether Bakura liked it or not.
But then a more rational part of his mind spoke up. Bakura clearly had a head start on him. And would Bakura go to the palace on foot? No, he wouldn't; if Mahes knew Bakura, Bakura would surely steal a horse and ride to the palace...especially if he had compatriots who would be helping him. They would be going on horseback, and that meant that they probably would have already arrived at the palace long ago.
Mahes could still attempt to run off to the palace and follow Bakura...but what if Mahes got to the palace, got caught trying to break in, and was killed...and then it turned out that by that time, Bakura had already accomplished what he'd set out to do? That certainly wouldn't do either of them any good.
As he was thinking, Mahes's stomach growled, and he realized with annoyance that he was incredibly hungry, and that there was virtually no food in the hideout. Normally, he would go to the market and get some food, but under the circumstances...
Annoyance suddenly turned to inspiration. Mahes could go to the market- and not just for food. Gossip traveled fast around these parts, and an event as important as the King of Thieves attacking the palace would certainly not take long to pass from the lips of one commoner to another. He didn't need to sit at home and wait to find out how things with Bakura had gone...he could go out and discover the information for himself.
Mahes made sure to fill his pockets with gold before he left. Since Bakura had been stealing expensive treasures from tombs, Mahes no longer had any need to lift things from the market. He could pay for whatever he needed with the precious metals that Bakura had taken from the tombs that he had broken into.
And this was definitely a good thing, especially in this situation. Mahes could appear to be a well-off person with plenty of spending money. He would not have to sneak around as a pickpocket or thief. This would help him obtain the information that he wanted.
And so Mahes left the hideout, resplendent in deep purple robes and golden jewelry, with his pockets full of valuable gold and silver pieces. And then he started his trek across the desert to the market.
He had not neglected to wear the golden armlet that Bakura had stolen for him on a previous expedition. The gold circlet seemed to burn against his arm, never allowing him to forget the purpose of this mission. But he threw up the hood of his dark purple robe, protecting his face from the sun, and tried to forget all thoughts of what this meant, and what might be coming for him.
As he traversed the seemingly endless desert, his mind turned inwards on itself more and more, gradually blanking out and disallowing any thought. Eventually, he was almost in a state of self-hypnosis as he walked across the desert. The sun-heated sand flowed over his sandals as his feet dragged themselves along without his urging.
Time passed, and finally, the sight of the market in front of him brought him out of his trance. As he entered, he threw back his hood and held his head high, playing his role.
He decided that it might be best to casually ask a vendor for news while he was making a transaction. His eyes darted around until he saw a vendor selling food, and he made his way over.
He walked up to the stall with confidence. Throwing some pieces of gold on the table, he requested some duck meat. It was expensive, but he could easily afford it. The vendor weighed the gold and then handed over the meat.
Mahes grabbed the meat and then started to ask the vendor for news of what had been going on in the kingdom. But he suddenly felt as if his tongue were glued to the roof of his mouth. The words seemed to get stuck in his throat as he realized that the answer to this question could mean absolutely everything to him- this could be the moment when he found out that Bakura was coming home to him...or the moment when he found out that Bakura was dead. When he attempted to speak, all that came out was a choked sound.
"Anything else?" asked the vendor.
Looking confused, Mahes merely shook his head and wandered away.
As he walked through the market, he began eating the meat thoughtlessly, inwardly cursing himself for acting so foolish. The news was whatever it was- waiting to find out wouldn't change anything.
Besides, there may not even be any news. For all he knew, Bakura hadn't reached the palace yet...or the battle could still be going on...or the news may not have reached the people yet. Despite his earlier desperation to know Bakura's fate, this thought made him feel better. It was probable that no one would even have anything to tell him yet.
But still, he had to ask. He'd come this far. He may as well get it over with.
He had finished with the meat, and he carelessly discarded the bones onto the ground as he approached a vendor who was selling fruit.
When he reached the table, he simultaneously chose a piece of fruit and laid a silver piece on the table. As he took a bite of the fruit, the vendor nodded curtly and made the silver piece disappear.
Mahes prepared to ask his question, realizing that he would have to tread a bit carefully here. If news hadn't reached the people yet, then he couldn't give the impression that he knew too much.
He chewed thoughtfully for a moment, and finally said in a confidential voice, "I heard rumors that the Thief King was going to attack the palace again, after being driven off the last time he tried it."
"Where have you been?" the vendor said incredulously.
Mahes was taken aback, and the vendor laughed at his shocked expression.
"It seems you're a bit behind on the times, my friend. Do you not even know that we have a new Pharaoh?"
"Do you mean...that the King of Thieves killed Pharaoh Atem?" Mahes was very careful to make sure he sounded aghast at this thought.
The vendor looked slightly amused. "I know the event is quite recent, but I thought a person of your obvious standing would already know...the whole kingdom is buzzing about it."
Mahes looked at him impassively.
"I mean no offense," the vendor said quickly. "And I know this must be a shock for you, to suddenly learn that our former Pharaoh has passed on to the afterlife. It's a sad event indeed."
"Yes," agreed Mahes, nodding in what he hoped was a solemn way. "And then what of the Thief King? Did he escape again?"
"Oh, fear not- and do not doubt the justice of the gods!" the vendor exclaimed. "Pharaoh Atem took the so-called King of Thieves to death along with him."
Mahes froze, feeling as if the blood in his veins had turned to ice water. He made no response, but the vendor continued to ramble on. Mahes barely heard a word he said.
"It's terrible that Pharaoh Atem died in such a way, of course, but now the Thief King will plague our kingdom no longer. And I'm sure Anubis will not weigh the heart of that tomb robber so favorably as he weighs the heart of our late, brave Pharaoh, who fought to protect us all from that criminal. So, you see, though there is much to be sad for, there is much to celebrate as well. Our new ruler, the great Pharaoh Set, is sure to bring about an era of peace and prosperity."
Mahes registered only that the vendor seemed to be done with his spiel. Without a word, he turned and walked off, his eyes blank and unseeing.
The vendor looked after him, shaking his head in sympathy, assuming that the young man was shocked and distraught to learn so suddenly that Pharaoh Atem had died.
Mahes had no conscious idea of what he was going to do. In fact, his conscious thought seemed to have ceased altogether, and he moved along with seemingly no forethought, staring ahead with deadened eyes.
But apparently, a deeper instinct had taken over, and his body knew where to take him. After a time, he found himself standing near a stable, reaching into his pockets and emptying them of all he had. Every piece of precious metal that he carried was sifted through his fingers and into the hands of the man who now stood before him.
"Give me the fastest horse that this will buy," Mahes said tonelessly, virtually unaware that he was speaking.
The horse dealer was frightened by the odd demeanor of the hooded stranger, who seemed to have an aura of blackness surrounding him, seeping out of every inch of his skin. The dealer quickly brought out his best steed, and was quite relieved to see the stranger ride away into the oncoming night.
As the hooves of his new horse pounded out a rhythm on the sand, Mahes's mind slowly began to come back from whatever faraway place it had been. As his thoughts caught up to his actions, he became aware of where he was, and what he was going to do.
The man at the market had said that Bakura had been killed. Mahes hadn't even realized it at the time, but as soon as he'd heard the information, several things had clicked in his mind.
Bakura had told him that if things looked hopeless and he was about to be killed, then he would seal his soul inside the Millennium Ring so that he wouldn't completely die.
Which meant that Bakura's soul was inside the Millennium Ring...and the Ring was inside the palace.
Which meant that Mahes was going to the palace to steal the Millennium Ring.
Bakura had thought that it may take lifetimes before he found one strong enough to hold the Millennium Ring. But Mahes was strong. Once he got that Ring, then it would be his body in which Bakura's soul resided.
There was always the possibility that Bakura had failed completely- that he had both lost the fight and had been killed before he was able to seal his soul as he planned. But Mahes couldn't consider that possibility. It was unthinkable- and besides, he trusted Bakura's skills enough to believe that, at the very least, he'd managed to carry out his backup plan.
So Mahes rode on, his blonde hair flowing out behind him as the wind ran through it, and he urged the horse forwards ever faster.
His thoughts were still somewhat jumbled by the time the palace came into sight, but he was coherent enough to realize that a frontal assault wouldn't be wise- he had no great power at his beck and call, as Bakura had.
So when he got close enough, he brought his horse to a halt and dismounted. He then slipped away into the darkness on foot, hidden by the cover of night as he headed for one of the back entrances of the palace that he remembered from when he was a child.
He approached with stealth, looking carefully for any signs of trouble. He saw one immediately.
A guard was standing there. It wasn't surprising, really- after all that had happened recently, it made sense that the new Pharaoh had decided to post more guards.
But this guard seemed to be almost dozing. That wasn't particularly surprising, either- the guards were probably a mere precaution, mostly put there for show. The people likely believed that all threats to the kingdom's safety were now gone. The guards probably were not very worried about anything happening while they were on duty, and were not taking their jobs terribly seriously as a result.
Mahes thought, with a glint in his eyes, that this particular guard would come to regret that assumption.
Mahes paled suddenly as he wondered if he really meant to go through with it- was he going to attack this guard? Kill him if necessary?
His own mind answered him immediately. Yes. He would try to avoid killing the man, but he would do it if he had to. Bakura would have done it for him. Bakura had done similar things in the name of freeing the souls of his people. Mahes had always been slightly uncomfortable with that, but now he understood fully. Sometimes, you did whatever you had to do if your cause was important enough.
In his previous frenzy, Mahes hadn't thought to buy any weapons. But that was alright. The guard had a spear. And he was practically sleeping on the job. Mahes approached silently, the soft sand muffling his footfalls. He was very close now.
Running on pure instinct, he grabbed the spear from the guard, and then slammed his own body into the guard's. The guard, half-asleep and totally unsuspecting, toppled easily under Mahes's weight. In mere moments, Mahes had the point of the spear at the guard's throat.
The guard was certainly awake now, his eyes wide and terrified.
"Where is the Millennium Ring?" Mahes hissed. "Lead me to it, and I'll let you live."
"Don't kill me!" the guard screamed.
The guard began thrashing around, but it was pure panic- he was using none of his training. So Mahes was easily able to hold him fast, keeping the sharp point at his throat.
"Shut up, and I won't have to," said Mahes with a coldness he hadn't known he was capable of.
The guard's eyes suddenly flicked away, looking at something behind Mahes. Automatically, Mahes turned his body away slightly, following the guard's gaze.
That was when a sharp pain ripped through Mahes's shoulder. He winced, squeezing his eyes shut as he struggled to hold his position. But his arm could no longer support his weight, and he knew he was about to fall on top of the guard. The guard took this opportunity to seize him by the arms, tossing him aside.
As Mahes hit the ground, the pain flared again, and he struggled to figure out what was happening. He opened his eyes to see another guard standing some distance away, a bow raised in front of him. Mahes suddenly understood what had just taken place.
Then both guards were on him, turning him face down in the sand and holding him there. He tried to move, but even if he hadn't been wounded, he would not have been able to fight off the two burly guards who were now forcing him down with all their strength. Then Mahes felt another terrible, searing pain as one of the guards ripped the arrow out of his body, tearing some of his flesh away along with it. His scream was completely ignored by the guards.
"Good thing he moved and gave me a clear shot at him."
"Yes, I owe you my life. He would have killed me if you hadn't heard me yell out."
"I was only doing my job. Now, what should we do with him?"
"I know what I'd like to do with him. The bastard was going to murder me!"
"I understand how you feel. But don't you think this is a matter for Pharaoh Set to handle?"
"Should we really trouble him with this, after all that's happened lately? I say we take care of this ourselves. It will allow the Pharaoh to rest more easily if he doesn't know of this attack."
"Well, I suppose you make a good point. But let's do it quickly. We shouldn't leave our posts for long. And if something like this should happen again..."
"Oh, I agree. If it happens again, we'll go straight to the Pharaoh. But this may be an isolated incident...no need to worry everyone."
"Alright, help me lug this criminal out into the desert, then. We can't just leave him lying close to the palace for anyone to find."
At that, the two guards grabbed Mahes by the arms and began dragging him along. The agony this caused to his wounded shoulder engulfed his entire mind, preventing any kind of coherent thought.
After what seemed like a very long time, but was probably only a few minutes, Mahes was dropped again. He felt a heavy weight on his back as one of the guards sat on top of him, making sure he was truly immobilized.
The other guard pulled his knife from its sheath and placed it onto Mahes's ankle.
"This is for trying to murder me, and for being a traitor to the kingdom."
As the knife slid into his ankle, Mahes somehow found the strength to scream again.
"Consider yourself lucky. You'd get more than a single foot cut off if we brought you before the Pharaoh."
Pain consumed him entirely, and Mahes was no longer sure if he was screaming aloud, or if the shrieks were only inside his own head. It seemed to go on forever, but finally his consciousness drained out of him along with his blood, and he seemed to float away from the present situation as he passed out.
Mahes felt a strange sensation. He was moving forwards, but he was not walking- in fact, his feet were not even touching the ground. He was confused for a moment, but then his mind quickly jumped to the conclusion that he was riding on a horse. He realized then that he was indeed sitting atop something, and that his legs were straddling the thing that he was riding upon. Though his feet were not on the ground, they were resting on something- some kind of stirrups, maybe. Yes, he thought- he was on a horse, obviously. That was the only logical deduction.
But then he noticed that this animal was moving him along far more smoothly than a horse ever could- there was absolutely no sense of the upwards and downwards motion that he would feel if it was a horse that was galloping onwards underneath him. And that was not even the most important thing. This animal was moving much, much faster than any horse could possibly be capable of. He did not know of anything in Egypt that could move this quickly.
In some corner of his mind, it occurred to him that he ought to be frightened to be hurtling along at such a high speed. But he was not afraid in the least- in fact, he felt exhilarated. He felt free. This was nothing but the most natural feeling in the world. He loved the feeling of the wind against his face, and the sound of- but what was that noise, anyways? It sounded like a thousand buzzing insects, only a million times louder.
He tried to look down then, to see what he was really sitting on. But somehow, it was unclear to him. He caught a flash of red, but it wavered in front of his vision, as if he were looking at a mirage.
Confusion washed over him, but then all of his questions immediately flew from his mind as he heard a voice speak from directly behind him.
"The road has been long," the voice said.
He didn't need to turn to know who was speaking.
"Bakura," he said gratefully, relief and happiness flooding through him.
Then he realized that Bakura's strong arms were locked tightly around his waist- they had been the entire time. How could he have not noticed before?
"It's a good thing I found you," Bakura said.
And then Mahes's head was filled with a horrible screeching sound, as if a hundred birds were crying directly into his ears, and suddenly there was a sensation of vertigo, and then he was falling, falling...
Mahes awoke with a jolt, covered in a cold sheen of sweat.
For a moment, he had no idea where he was. He only knew that he felt a sense of complete peace. Bakura was coming for him...Bakura would find him.
Then he was abruptly aware of the pain in his shoulder blade, sharp and bright. Had he hurt his shoulder in the fall?
What fall? he asked himself, as his mind gradually swam back to reality.
The fall off of the...the...
But he couldn't remember. The dream was fading, and he was coming back to himself.
Suddenly, his ankle screamed in pain, and there was a burning, itching, stinging sensation at the bottom of his leg that caused him an agony beyond anything he could have imagined before this day. He realized with a kind of horror that he couldn't feel his foot...
With effort, he forced himself to open his eyes, but saw only a blur of red and yellow. He concentrated, and as his vision slowly came back into focus, he saw that he was lying out in the desert. There was sand in front of his eyes, but much of it was stained with red. Could that be blood?
And then it all came back to him.
He had tried to steal the Millennium Ring- but he had failed. Of course he had failed. He was merely a petty thief, as Bakura had told him. The guards had caught him, tortured him, and left him for dead in the desert.
Something pulled at the corner of his mind. The vision...the scene of himself and Bakura together again. He could barely remember it now, but...
But it had only been a dream.
Maybe his own mind- his subconscious- had been trying to comfort him in death, to allow him to die with the notion that he and Bakura would be together again. Yet he had awoken from the dream to see the truth of the situation...
There was anger now, hot and fervent...not for the fact that he would soon die, but for the fact that he hadn't been allowed to die while he was still within his dream. He wished that he could have died while he was dreaming, while he could still believe that Bakura would come for him...but the gods had not allowed that. Why, why?
His own mind answered him with memories of the religious teachings of his youth. Why would the gods allow such a comfort in death for a thief and attempted murderer who loved a tomb robber?
And of course that was it. He knew now that his sacrilege had doomed him to die alone...to die without a proper burial, to die as one who had gone against Maat...and therefore to die with the knowledge that he would be consumed by Ammit, never to return to this world, and never to find Bakura again.
He heard the cries of the vultures that circled his body. He saw his blood continuing to spread across the sand. As the life relentlessly drained out of him, his thoughts became more fuzzy and disconnected.
And still a part of his mind cried out that it wasn't fair...tomb robber or not, Bakura had done what he'd done in retribution for those unjustly murdered. And Mahes had acted based on his own sense of justice, and his love for another.
But if the gods cared for any of these things, they gave no indication, for Mahes shivered with cold in the scorching desert heat as his body gave out. And though his last thoughts were of Bakura, there was no hope in his mind, but only despair, as his fingers clutched fruitlessly a final time against the sand, and then were still.
The scavengers descended upon the body, grateful in their own way for the fresh meal that had been provided.
AN: So, just to be clear, the fic is not over- the next chapter will start out during the so-called "season zero" events of the series.
Please let me know what you think of this chapter! Thanks again to everyone who has reviewed so far!