Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Back To Ancient Egypt ❯ The Bracelet and the Poem ( Chapter 2 )

Priestess: Just so you know, I'm making Shaadi the Priest of the Millennium Scales, Kaiba the Priest of the Millennium Ankh (Key,) and Mariku the Priest of the Millennium Rod.

***

Everything was spinning, the air was roaring in her ears. She couldn't tell if she was standing or sitting or plummeting. All she could really tell was that those two words kept repeating over and over again in her head-Priestess Aishisu, Priestess Aishisu, Priestess Aishisu, Priestess Aishisu, Priestess Aishisu, Priestess…

"Priestess Aishisu? Hello? Priestess Aishisu! Damn it, woman, answer me already!"

Her eyes snapped open, and she whirled around, ready to fight. Her entire body moved with a graceful agility it hadn't possessed in decades, and her jaw dropped when she realized it was Mariku in front of her-Mariku dressed as an Egyptian Priest, but Mariku nonetheless.

Aishisu (as I will call her from now on) glanced down. She was still wearing the nightgown and velvet coat, but her body was not the old aching body she had possessed less than a minute ago-it was the supple, nubile figure she hadn't possessed since she was a teenager.

"What are you wearing?" Mariku asked, lifting an eyebrow incredulously. Shaking his head, he muttered, "never mind. Touzoku Ou's here, and it's time for the plan. Just because you don't need to be there doesn't mean Seth and I don't want you to be."

"What plan?" Aishisu asked, bewildered, blinking to make sure she was seeing right. Her vision was sharp, her hearing keen. In fact, all her senses felt amazingly honed.

Mariku rolled his mauve eyes, baffled by the usually brilliant High Priestess's apparently muddled state. "The Pharaoh found some magic bracelet that he can use to control Touzoku Ou a few hundred times more than the Rod can." He waved the Rod to accentuate this and smiled with relish. "Seth and I are to put it on while Touzoku Ou is distracted. Don't you want to see that?"

Finally comprehending everything that was happening, (or at least that she was back in Ancient Egypt and Mariku was there too) Aishisu stammered, "A-All right."

"Oh, and you dropped your gold helmet with the jewel-thingy and the veil," Mariku added. Thanking him, Aishisu put it on and arranged the white cloth elegantly. Her dyed, overly-treated hair was the lustrously silken black hair she had possessed from ages ten through twenty-three. "Come on, woman," snapped Mariku when she was finished. "I can't be late, I'm on thin ice as it is."

***

Touzoku Ou didn't even seem to notice Mariku and Aishisu entering, though Atemu did give them a pointed glance that clearly asked `where the hell have you been?'

"Where in Amun's name have you been?" hissed Seth. "And what are you wearing?"

"That isn't important," Aishisu replied dismissively. Shaadi, Akunadin, and Shimon didn't seem to notice what she was wearing. With the coat off and her headpiece(s) on, she looked similar to the way she usually did back in those days-just without jewelry (besides the Millennium Necklace and a bracelet she had never taken out since she got it.) Or shoes.

"Where did At-the Pharaoh-get this bracelet?" asked Aishisu.

Seth shrugged. "Who knows? As long as that thief is slain, I don't give a damn." Reaching into his pocket, he extracted the bracelet. It was a simple thing-a gold band that could open and close with hieroglyphs that even Aishisu couldn't decipher etched into the inside-but ancient, wicked energy radiated from it in waves.

"How does it work?" Aishisu asked, curious but a little unnerved. Yami loves Bakura, so Atemu must secretly love Touzoku Ou. He wouldn't intentionally kill him…but that bracelet can't be good news.

"See the Pharaoh's new bracelet?" Seth pointed to the gold band with a large gold wing a little smaller than a Duel Disk. "Every feather has a different function, and apparently it's supposed to work intuitively. Either way, Atemu can track and control his every move…supposedly."

"You never tested it?" cried Aishisu, alarmed.

Mariku looked at her curiously. "No, of course not. It can't be taken off, and Touzoku Ou can't even kill him in his sleep or something. It's perfect."

"But what if it kills Touzoku Ou? Atemu lo-" her eyes widened and she covered her mouth, but Mariku and Seth only smirked.

"Of course he does," said Seth mildly. We kid around about it all the time, but we could probably get sentenced to death. How did you find out?"

Aishisu shrugged uncomfortably, knowing it would sound crazy to say it was because that in a few millenniums they would start going out and last time she checked they had been dating for at least four decades. "Shouldn't you be-"

She was cut of by Atemu shouting "now!"

In the moment that Touzoku Ou was puzzled, wondering what happened, Mariku and Seth had zipped forward. Before anybody could react, Seth had snapped the bracelet onto Touzoku Ou's wrist and Mariku had used the Millennium Rod to meld the sides together.

"What the fuck-?!" cried Touzoku Ou, and Atemu stroked a single golden feather of the wing-bracelet-thingy with just the tiniest trace of a malicious smirk.

Touzoku Ou gasped and crumpled against the marble floor, writhing in bone-searing anguish. Aishisu gripped her heart, suppressing a cry. She could feel his almost-unbearable suffering, and wondered what cruel being could have created such a terrible device.

Gasping for breath, Touzoku Ou got to his feet with surprising skill for somebody who had been pushed to the edge of death. "What the Hell is this?!" he shouted, trying to remove the bracelet. Another surge of pain streaked through him, and he jerked away immediately.

Atemu smirked. "A magical item, if you haven't noticed." He lifted his right arm, the one that had the winged bracelet on it. "See this? Between this and that little device on your arm, I can control your every move-I can make you do anything, from any distance, even feel physical pain."

A snarl crossing his lips, Touzoku Ou lunged at Atemu. The Pharaoh just managed to touch the feather in time, as Touzoku Ou moved incredibly fast. But the moment Atemu touched it, Touzoku Ou crumpled again.

When he recovered-and though the intensity of the pain made it feel like hours, it was in fact just a few moments-he snarled again. "You think you can just control me? I'm not some damned slave!"

"No," Atemu agreed, somewhere between gleeful and contemptuous and menacing. "You're not a slave at all, Touzoku Ou. Quite the contrary-you're a prisoner."

***

The spell on his legs wore off and Touzoku Ou stumbled forward, falling to his knees and surveying his surroundings with distaste and a little despair.

He was in a very small room made of solid concrete, with a tiny barred window and a barred door. In spite of the locks and iron bars and all the other security, he would under other circumstances have been able to escape with minimum effort. But thanks to the bracelet, he was completely under Atemu's control-and Atemu had forbidden him to escape.

He clenched his teeth at his own thoughts-Atemu had forbidden him to escape, and because of that, he couldn't escape.

Ever.

There weren't any guards around, though he had heard at least a hundred insults yelled from a safe distance, since he could still a few hundred people without breaking a sweat. Instead, Atemu had simply used a spell and Touzoku Ou had to go to the cell himself.

Just as Atemu had said, he was his prisoner. The bracelet would never come off-and until it did, Touzoku Ou was completely helpless against him. He was angry, he was tired, and after everything he had suffered through, it was over because of a stupid bracelet.

"Kuru Eruna," he whispered as he rolled over onto his back. A tear fell from his eye, and he wiped it away with a glare at the band encircling his wrist. If only he could just cut his hand off and be rid of it! But he couldn't. "I'm sorry…I've failed."

***

Priestess Aishisu: Poor Touzoku Ou! Even though he is an evil bastard…and things will get much worse before they get better.
This chapter might not have made sense to those who aren't familiar with the Ancient Egyptian arc. Touzoku Ou is Bakura, Atemu is Yami, and Kuru Eruna is…You'll see.

Poem Dedication To Touzoku Ou's Feelings:

Staring into empty space
Trying not to think
Unable to escape this place
Being pushed to the brink

Faces pass before my eyes
Of those that I have known
Those faces are memories now
And I am all alone

Never thought I would give up
And surrender to locked-up fears
But now all hope seems lost
And my eyes fill with tears

I see that it's all over now
And there's nothing I can do
I have nothing left to fight with
This much I know to be true

I tried as hard as I could
Succeeding beyond my wildest dreams
But now all trying is futile
Hope is lost, or so it seems