Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Hope lost, and found? ❯ Duel Won! ( Chapter 1 )

Bakura slumped to the floor, horrified by his defeat. He was in shock and didn't even notice when the Pharaoh brought them both to the castle instead of sending him to the Shadow Realm. In the real world though he didn't have a long time to lament his defeat, he fainted out of sheer exhaustion. Yami said quietly, "Lock him up, we will deal with him later."

Bakura was taken by soldiers who didn't really seem to care how they carried him. For some reason the Pharaoh turned his eyes away from this. `Finally it's over' thought Yami. And it was, for the past few months everyone at court had been on edge about the final battle between the Pharaoh and the Thief King. But now he had won. `All I want to do is start crying, but how will I explain that to the people who are depending on me being strong?' Yami thought in a desperate manner before he, too, fainted from exhaustion. He awoke a few days later in bed.

`Oh Ra! What's wrong with me? I can't see' Yami tried to sit up on the bed. But his splitting headache prevented that quite nicely. "Lie down, stupid Pharaoh" said a gruffly concerned voice.

Yami tried to smile, "Se...Seth?" he said in a choked voice

"Wait" said the other person

Yami felt a liquid being forced down his throat. It tasted horrible. "What was that?" Yami asked in a comparatively normal voice.

"It's a potion to stop headaches. Also, you've been asleep for three days and needed some liquid to sustain you. Now, do you want to eat?"

"Slow down" replied Yami, "First, tell me what has been going on? And yes I would love some food"

"I'll tell you everything, but only after you've had something to eat" replied Seth

Yami nodded, knowing that satisfying Seth was the only way he was going to get any answers. Seto got a plate from a table beside the bed. It was filled with exotic fruits that Yami just a few weeks ago would have eaten with relish, but now he felt nauseous merely by looking at them. He realized just how ill he was when he caught himself disliking the fact that he had to eat the fruits. He slowly had a few of them, then Seth took the dish away knowing that too much could not be forced on him at once. "The dish is right here if you ever feel hungry and nobody is here." He was stalling for time, he knew it and Yami knew it. So of course Yami said nothing and went on staring at him, he sighed in defeat, "What do you want to know?"

"Firstly, what happened to Bakura?"

"He's in the dungeons. I took the liberty of having his Item taken away and kept safely."

"Safely where?" Yami continued suspiciously.

"In my drawer, so I can use it to kill you and become Pharaoh!" said Seth sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"How could you do this to me Seth? After I trusted you, oh how could you?" replied Yami dramatically

"Trust me? Since when? You must really be ill Pharaoh!" replied Seth dryly

"Always!" Yami continued ignoring Seth's comment "All my life you were the one person I would have given my life for, I..." at this point Yami slapped his hand to his forehead and yelled, "Ouch" and Seth burst out laughing, "The gods are punishing you for lying, my dear Pharaoh"

"It's not funny Seth" Yami grumbled rubbing his arm.

"Your joints have become stiff from overuse from the time you were fighting with the Thief Lord, you shouldn't try to use them too soon." explained Seth kindly.

"Now he tells me" said Yami to no one in particular

Seth replied anyway, "You never asked"

"How was I supposed to know?" asked Yami glaring

"As if you haven't fought enough, fist to fist and Shadow Duels to learn by now. You must be really foolish then" snapped Seth glaring back

"The effect of having to stay with you" Yami retorted

"Actually, I seem to be going a bit soft in the head because of you." Seth said instantly

The door closed behind them.

"Now, now. Don't flatter yourselves, we all know both of you are a bit weak in the head from birth but you don't need to show it so." Said a woman's voice from behind them.

"How nice of you to say so Isis" replied Seth sarcastically, recovering faster than Yami.

"Thank you, I try" said Isis smiling

"Try?" asked Yami

"Yes, I try to keep on reminding you that I'm so much smarter and beautiful than anyone else, and you two have so much to learn from me"

"Oi" exclaimed Seth and Yami together

"You are too arrogant for your own good" "You should win the `Most Self-Appreciatory' prize" they said this at the same time, both quite coldly and haughtily which made a funny combination as Isis soon found out. She also soon started laughing when they kept it up much to their astonishment.

"Seth, I think she's finally cracked" said Yami

Seth just nodded looking at Isis who was doubled up with laughter, surprised Seth and Yami were just as funny as haughty Seth and Yami.

"Never mind. How are you Yami? That's what I came to ask anyway." Replied Isis still bursting into bouts of laughter at intervals

"As good as I'll get while you're around" replied Yami with an accepting smile that seemed to say, `Life has its ups and downs, I'll deal with them'

"Are you patronizing me?" Isis demanded

"Of course not, why would you think so?" replied Yami blinking innocently

Isis glared at him, "With a lunatic like you, one never quite knows"

Yami rolled his eyes, "If I'm a lunatic, why are you so bothered about whether I'm patronizing you or not?"

"Because all Pharaohs are lunatics, but we still have to care what they think" Isis replied

"That can be considered sacrilege you know?" said Yami nonchalantly

"If you say it nobody will believe you and Seth is just as great a lunatic as you are"

"That is not funny" Seth cut in

"Did you think it was a joke?" she said

"Two against one may not be fair but it certainly works Isis dear" Yami said in a very sweet voice

Isis gulped, "You wouldn't do that to a poor defenseless lady would you?"

Seth and Yami looked at each other and then turned to her slowly with predatory grins on their faces, "Since you're so much better than us…" started Yami

"You can just think yourself out of it can't you?" finished Seth

Both of them started tickling her. Isis screamed with laughter and tried to defend herself, Seth gasped out, "How funny was that?"

"Revenge, sweet revenge is ours" exclaimed Yami

Soon all three of them were splayed out on the bed, too busy laughing to do anything else.

"If one of the servants came in and saw us like this" said Isis, it was more of a question than a statement and Yami answered sleepily, "They would probably think we were a threesome"

"Yami!" the other two exclaimed, Yami jumped up in surprise, "Who died?" he asked blinking.

The other two looked at him quite pointedly, "What did you mean by that?" asked Seth finally

"You're not a child, you know what I meant. And now that you've woken me up, answer some of my questions. What did the Council decide about Bakura?"

Isis and Seth glanced at each other, finally as if by mutual consent Isis spoke up, "Now Yami, keep your cool alright?"

Yami screwed up his forehead, `What's wrong?' but aloud he simply nodded.

"Now," Isis went on, "At first the Council was all in favor of simply killing the Thief King and letting it be."

`At first? What happened after then?'

"After that some of the older and, perhaps, wiser members said that it would be too brutal. They said that he should be given a subtler punishment, they are waiting for you to decide it." There, she had told him. Much to her surprise and relief, Yami looked down at his crossed feet thoughtfully instead of yelling. `A much more referable alternative' she thought. "What exactly do they mean by `subtle'?" Yami spoke up at last.

Isis sighed, the weak point of the whole decision and Yami had zoomed straight to it. `But after all, he is Pharaoh. I think he knows that they can't decide exactly what is to be done with the Thief Lord'

"They want him to somehow be truly sorry that he did this."

"They must be mad" Yami replied

"I agree," said Seth, "If he isn't sorry now, what in the name of Anubis can we do to see that he becomes sorry?"

"At the moment I'm going to forget all about him and rebuild my kingdom properly" Yami said in a no-nonsense tone.

Isis stared at him for a moment, "You're quite confident that he'll be happy to be forgotten?"

"He had better be. Or else I don't care what the Council says, I'll kill him with my bare hands if need be."

"Hear, hear" replied Seth with a light grin

Isis shook her head, "Things might not be that easy, Pharaoh. Be careful"

Yami rolled his eyes, something he had been doing a lot recently, "Whatever most people believe, being Pharaoh is not the ideal job. I think I can take care of myself Priestess"

"This is one thing we really can't fight about." Seth spoke up, "The battle is over, and you've won. Now it's the aftermath, we can't collapse now"

"We won't Seth, we won't" replied Isis

"What was the whole point of this anyway?" asked Yami

"None." Said Seth, "There was no…."

A servant came rushing into the room, he bowed to the Pharaoh and said, the Council wants you urgently, Ph…" he was stopped by the voice of a man who swept in just then. He bowed in a manner which showed an undeniable lack of reverence, he was dressed in the same pattern as Seth, showing that he was a priest, but the ornament around his neck shaped like that sun also shone just as brightly as it was made of solid gold. The mark on his headdress was that of Anubis, showing that he was of a higher rank than Seth. But as among most of the priests, age and disloyalty to the current Pharaoh befitted rising in the ranks, this meant nothing whatsoever to Yami who knew about the hatred most of his priests felt for him. This priest, Anukh, was the one who had protested most loudly against Yami becoming the next Pharaoh. He started to speak in clipped tones, "Pharaoh," he began, "we of the Higher Council have decided to call a meeting and you must…"

Isis and Seth spoke up angrily, "Are you blind? Do you not see that the Pharaoh is ill?" "A meeting? The Pharaoh has not recovered nearly enough to attend anything of that sort!"

Yami put up a hand to quiet them down. "Yes, Anukh?" he said quietly

"You must come to this meeting. It is very important; the fate of Upper Egypt might depend upon it! Also we must decide what to do with the Thief King"

Another person came rushing into the room, "My Pharaoh" the person gasped out, "It's the Thief King, he's…"

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