This chapter is mostly about the trial. It's a lot of talking, too.
Enjoy!
Chapter 10- The Scheme Unveiled
The following day, Aknankanon and the rest of the council met with Yugi alone in the Meeting Room.
"You wanted to see me, Pharaoh?" Yugi asked.
"Yes. Yugi, there is something that we were wanting to ask." Aknankanon said as Yugi sat down.
"Very well. What is it?" Yugi asked.
Sereth was the one that took over then. "Yugi, as you know, Aman was taken off the council for his twisting the law when Vivian claimed that the Prince had been the father of her child." Sereth said.
"Yes. I am aware of that." Yugi said.
"The council has all agreed that we would like you on the council to take Aman's spot." Sereth told him.
"Me?" Yugi asked, surprised.
"Yes. You showed great wisdom already, and the fact that you are the son of Ra also makes us all feel that you are the perfect person for the position." Sereth said.
"I have agreed with them, Yugi. I believe that you will do well in the position." Aknankanon agreed.
Yugi thought for a moment before he knew what he would do. "All right, Pharaoh. I'll take the position." Yugi agreed.
Aknankanon smiled. "Good. Sereth will tell you everything that you need to know." Aknankanon said.
Yugi nodded.
"And welcome to the council, Yugi." Aknankanon said.
Yugi smiled and said, "Thank you, Pharaoh."
"The council? That's big." Jou said.
"Yeah. Not many people are asked to be on the council Most just apply for the job and then they are asked to join. It's rare that they ask someone directly like that." Ryou said.
"Well, they did need to replace Aman, and Yugi is the perfect one." Seth said.
"Speaking of Aman, when is the pharaoh going to deal with him and the others?" Malik asked.
Marik smirked. "We get the joy of seeing that later today, actually." Marik said.
"I'm going to love seeing those people get what they deserve for all that they have done." Bakura added, rubbing his hands together in anticipation.
"I'm not normally a violent person, but I think that those three deserve whatever the Pharaoh decides to do. They caused a lot of trouble, lied, and tried to kill. I know that they won't get away with what they have done." Ryou said.
"Nope. The Pharaoh was tired of what they were doing anyway. When they kidnapped Heba, tried to pass his son off as his own, and threatened to kill them all, they pretty much signed their own death warrant." Seth said.
"Yeah, and I'm sure that they know that. Wonder of the blame game has started." Bakura mused.
"Blame game?" Ryou asked.
"It's his term for when people work together to commit a crime are caught, they usually end up blaming each other and trying to make themselves look like a victim. That's what they'll do. Blame each other for all that happened." Seth said.
"Yeah, and I wouldn't be surprised if it's already started." Marik said.
"They're all going to be punished for what happened, so they'll want to make the others take more blame and hopefully get off easier than the others." Jou remarked.
"Not a chance of that happening." Seth said.
"So, I guess I have to be there at the trial today." Heba said.
"Yeah, you do. We're engaged, so you'll be my husband, and because of that, you have to be there. Not to mention the fact that you were a victim in this and have to be there for that reason as well." Atemu replied.
"I understand. I may not like it, but I understand. Will we take Hasan in there, too, or leave him here?" Heba asked.
"Father suggested that we leave him with someone, and I was thinking that we could leave him with Ryou, Jou, and Malik. They have nothing to do while Seth, Bakura, and Marik are in the throne room, so they could watch him. I doubt that they'll mind." Atemu said.
"Hmm. A good idea." Heba agreed.
Meanwhile, Vivian, Wong, and Aman were still going at each other.
"There's no way that I'm taking the fall with you two." Vivian snapped.
"You won't do anything, girl." Wong said.
"I can easily say that you forced me into this." Vivian snapped.
"How dare you! You were willing in this." Wong growled.
"Indeed. Very willing." Aman said, referring to when he had been sleeping with her.
"Shut up, Aman! Unless you want the Pharaoh to know that you were in my bed while I was staying here." Vivian said.
"Doesn't matter now." Aman said.
"They don't know the entire scheme, so there's not a lot that they can punish us for." Wong said.
"Not a lot?! Are you stupid?! We kidnapped the Crown Prince's fiancé, tried to pass his son off as Vivian's, committed treason by letting those mercenaries in the palace, an threatened the lives of the Riyal family, the priests, and the council. They have more than enough without knowing the entire scheme." Aman said.
"Indeed. We do."
The three looked to see Mahado, Shada, and Karim at cell.
"The Pharaoh intends to start their trial soon. Bring them in chains to the throne room." Mahado said.
"And do not bring them into the room until the Pharaoh calls for them." Karim added.
Chains were tied to prisoners' hands and feet when they were brought to the Pharaoh. Each prisoner would have two guards hold their chains, so that it could be certain that no harm would fall to the Pharaoh.
"We can't turn on each other now." Wong said.
'Yeah, right. I'm not going to die. I'll get out of this and then I can go after Atemu again.' Vivian thought, determined not to lose.
Aknankanon and Amara were already seated on their thrones.
Atemu sat to Aknankanon's left with Heba sitting right beside him. Yami sat to Amara's right.
The priests were lines up at the throne, and the council was near the Pharaoh as was Shimon.
Seeing that they were ready, Aknankanon looked at the guards in the throne room and said, "Bring the prisoners in!"
The guards bowed before they left the throne room to bring the prisoners in.
A few moments later, the guards walked in, escorting Vivian, Wong, and Aman into the room. All three had the chains around their wrists and their ankles. There was a guard on each side of each prisoner. The guards held the chains to the prisoners as they forced them to kneel before Aknanaknon at the throne.
Shimon walked forward and said, "You have all been charged with kidnapping the Crown Prince's fiancé, making false claims, committing treason, and making threats against the member of the Royal court including every member of the Royal family."
Aknankanon watched them and knew that when he said this, sparks would fly. "Do you have anything to say?" Aknankanon asked.
"I was forced into this!" Vivian said, looking up.
"You little wench! You were not!" Wong shouted.
"You didn't give me a choice! You forced this!" Vivian cried, almost sounding truthful. Almost.
"No, you were not." Aknankanon said.
All eyes turned to the Pharaoh.
"I know that you were not forced with the way you acted while in the palace. You were constantly disobeying orders by going to the east wing of the palace. You did it many times. You were trying to provoke something, and I do not care what you say. You were too willing to do all this, so don't tell me you were forced. None of you were forced to commit treason." Aknankanon said firmly.
Vivian was shocked. She had not expected Aknankanon to shoot down her claim pf being forced into acting the way she did so quickly.
"Now, do any of you want to tell us what this entire plan of yours was?" Aknankanon asked.
The three remained silent, not wishing to make things worse on themselves than it already was.
"Very well then." Aknankanon said. HE turned toward the council and said, "Yugi, come."
Yugi walked forward to Aknankanon.
"What is that worthless commoner doing here?" Aman spat.
"You will watch your tongue! Do not forget that you are worth less than any living person since you are traitors. Yugi is here because he is the son of Ra, our god. He is above everyone else as is Heba." Aknankanon said.
The three were startled. They had not realized that Heba was also a son of Ra. They had known that Yugi was, but didn't realize that Heba was too.
"Also, Yugi has replaced you on the council, Aman. As a member of my council, he has every right to be here. I will not hear another word from you." Aknankanon snapped.
Aman couldn't believe it. He had been replaced by a child. Now, he was getting angry. 'I can't believe that someone like him replaced me on the council.' Aman thought angrily.
Aknankanon returned his attention to Yugi. "You told me that you know every aspect of their scheme, do you not?" Aknankanon asked.
"Yes, Pharaoh. I do." Yugi answered.
"Then tell everyone what it was." Aknankanon said.
"It was Aman who thought up the scheme. He knew every law and also knew how to twist them to suit his own needs. Sp, he went to Wong and told him about the plan to get Vivian pregnant and then she could claim that Prince Atemu was the one who impregnated her. With that claim, Aman was certain that the rest of the council would force Prince Atemu to marry her. He didn't anticipate the council deciding to wait until after the baby was born to see if the baby was the Prince's before they forced the marriage. That's why he was constantly pushing for the marriage to take place." Yugi started.
"He's lying!" Aman shouted.
Yugi ignored him. "Aman realized that he couldn't push the council to force the marriage immediately. Like Vivian and Wong, he also had spies throughout the palace. When he learned of Heba's pregnancy, he knew that it would mess his plan so he told Vivian to threaten Heba's life, which she did." Yugi said.
"No! I never did anything like that!" Vivian cried.
"Silence them!" Aknankanon ordered, tired of the interruptions.
The guards stuffed clothes into the three prisoners' mouths so that they couldn't talk.
"Continue, Yugi." Aknankanon said.
"When Heba left, Aman came up with a new idea. They wanted the marriage to go ahead and take place, so Vivian started going into Prince Atemu's chambers all the time against his orders and yours, Pharaoh. She would also approach him all the time and say things that she knew would irritate him. The plan was to make the Prince so angry that he would lash out and hit Vivian so that she and her father could force the marriage immediately since it would seem like he did it because she was pregnant with his child. Prince Atemu never did anything like that, so the plan started to fall apart. When Heba returned to the palace, it put them in a bind because they knew that Heba was being truthful when he said that Prince Atemu was the father of his child. They couldn't do much, though because they knew it might show what they were really doing. None of them expected it when Prince Yami and I found that the real law said that the Prince would have to marry her if he was eighteen when the child was conceived as opposed to what Aman said, which was when the baby was born. They also didn't think about the fact that Vivian got pregnant during the time of the assassination threats to very member of the Royal family, in which none of you left the palace, and Vivian wasn't in the palace during the time in which she would have conceived the child." Yugi said.
"Yugi, do you know who the father of Vivian's child really was?" Aknankanon asked.
"Yes. It was Aman." Yugi answered.
"Do you know anything else?" Aknankanon asked.
"Yes. When they realized that there was nothing they could do, for a time, they didn't do anything. When Vivian's baby was born, the baby looked exactly like Aman, which meant that their claim would be known as false, which would result in Vivian's banishment from the kingdom as it would Wong's and Aman's as they knew the truth from the start. They were all angry that they could not use the child, so they-they killed the baby." Yugi said.
"They what?!" Aknankanon shouted.
"Murdering an innocent baby!" Seth shouted.
"That is beyond low!" Sereth seethed.
"After the baby's murder, Aman came up with a new idea. They would kidnap Heba from the palace and wait until he had his baby. Since they knew that Prince Atemu was the father, they knew the baby would have some of his characteristics, meaning that they could pass the baby off as Vivian's. Once Heba had the baby, Vivian and her father immediately took Hasan and returned here, thinking the council might force the marriage if they thought Hasan was hers. They didn't bother to look at Hasan, so they didn't see that Hasan had Heba's eye color, which is unique to my family. Once Prince Atemu saw the eyes, he knew they were the ones that had kidnapped Heba. The fact that Vivian had the ring he had given to Heba was also a sign that they had Heba. Aman had remained at Wong's home to make sure that no one found Heba. They were going to keep him alive in case they needed to use him to force Prince Atemu into marrying Vivian. Being the son of Ra, I have magic and managed to find Heba using it. I went with Prince Yami to Wong's home because I knew that the guards there would not stop Prince Yami from entering the house. Aman did try to stop us, but we found Heba and then returned here. You already know of their actions after they were show for the liars that they are." Yugi said, finishing his story.
"I see. This is certainly enlightening." Aknankanon said.
"Yugi, do you know what Aman would get out of all this? He does not seem to profit from this." Amara said.
"At first, he wouldn't. That's where the last part of the scheme would come on. They were sure that the baby would end up looking like Vivian, which would mean that Prince Atemu would be forced to marry her. They planned that they would wait until the child was a year old and the Vivian would have Prince Atemu murdered. She felt that as long as she had his child as the people would believe, she would be able to still become queen. She would have married Aman after the grieving period, and he would become the Pharaoh." Yugi explained.
Aknankanon's eyes turned cold the moment the plot to murder his son had been said. "You planned to murder my son so that you could have the throne!" Aknankanon shouted.
Vivian, Wong, and Aman all looked terrified at the knowledge that everything that had done had been revealed.
"You are all traitors to the Crown!" Bakura snarled.
When the guards removed the clothes, Aman said, "That bastard is lying! I never did any of this! Wong just had me tell him the laws and forced me to help him!""I did not, bastard! You came to me and convinced me this would work! You said it was fool-proof!" Wong shouted.
"You were the ones behind all this! I'm innocent!" Vivian cried.
"SILENCE!" Aknanaknon shouted.
The room instantly became quiet.
Everyone knew that Aknankanon was beyond enraged.
"I have heard quite enough! Even without all that Yugi has revealed, I had already decided what would happen to you! Now, I know for certain that I am making the right choice. You will all be sentenced to death for high treason against the kingdom!" Aknankanon said.
"WHAT?!" Vivian, Wong, and Aman exclaimed. They had thought that they would just be banished.
"You made false claims about my son, you threatened the life of the one who was pregnant by my son, you constantly tried to force the marriage to be sooner than we said, you kidnapped my son's fiancé, you tried to pass his son off as your own, you threatened the lives of everyone here, and you committed treason. You deserve no less! You will all be put to death!" Aknankanon declared.
"How will they die?" Marik asked.
"That shall be decided later. Until the time of their execution, they will be held in the dungeons under constant guard. Anyone who lets them escape will be charged with treason. Get them out of my sight." Aknankanon said.
The guards instantly took the struggling Vivian, Wong, and Aman from the room.
Aknankanon sat down. "They deserve no less." Aknankanon said.
"Certainly not. After all that they did, it is what they deserve." Isis said.
"When will their method of execution be decided?" Bakura asked.
"Later. Right now, I need to think about all that we have learned." Aknankanon said.
Everyone understood, and everyone left the throne room.
"What happened?" Jou asked the second that Atemu, Heba, Seth, Bakura, Marik, Yugi, and Yami entered the room.
"Well, they all tried to say that they were forced or tricked into doing all that they did." Atemu said.
"And that bitch murdered her own child when the baby was born because the baby looks like Aman, who was the real father." Bakura growled.
"Murdered her own child?!" Ryou exclaimed.
"How could someone do that?" Malik asked.
"We don't know." Marik said.
"They were heartless people. That's all that you can really say about the issue." Seth said.
"In any case, they will be getting what they truly deserve." Yugi said.
"Yes. Father didn't plan to be lenient from the start, and with what he learned today, there was no chance that he was letting them off." Yami added.
"What is going to happen to them?" Jou asked.
"Death." Seth answered.
"Although the form of execution hasn't been decided yet." Atemu added.
Heba had picked up Hasan and was sitting down with him.
"When will it be decided?" Ryou asked.
"We don't know." Yugi answered.
"In my time as Pharaoh, I have never heard of such despicable acts as the ones that Vivian, Wong, and Aman have committed." Aknanaknon said.
Amara placed a hand on his shoulder. "I know. None of them will get away with what they have done." Amara said.
"I know. I just hate that they did what they did to that baby." Aknankanon said.
"They are vengeful, hateful people. They never cared about the baby, only getting their hands on the throne. They can't now." Amara said.
"Yes. I will speak with the priests and the council tomorrow on how to kill them." Aknankanon said.
"Can I assume Atemu will take part in this discussion?" Amara asked.
"Yes. Atemu, Heba, and Yami will be there as well. They all will want to take part on this." Aknankanon said.
"I can't believe this! We're going to die because of you!" Vivian screamed at Aman.
"Of you hadn't been so insistent on going after Atemu like you did, we wouldn't be in this mess!" Aman shouted back.
"You came up with this! We were the victims in this mess!" Wong shouted.
"You were happy to go along with it until now!" Aman growled.
"That's because you said that it would work!" Vivian hissed.
"You are both to blame! I did nothing!" Wong shouted.
"You were a part of this from the start! You supported it, and helped make the claim of Atemu being the one who got Vivian pregnant!" Aman shouted.
"You aren't going to make us take all the blame!" Vivian screamed.
The guards at the doors groaned silently. They had been listening to the three bicker and argue for three hours, and they were tired of it. However, they were rather pleased with the sentence that the Pharaoh had given. They were just looking forward to when the sentence would be carried since they wanted these three to stop screaming.
Hope that you liked it. I know a lot of people were wondering what happened to Vivian's baby, so this answered that. Hope you liked knowing the whole scheme.
Next chapter will be about deciding the form of execution, and the execution will be carried out as well.
R&R.