Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Seth's Magical Adventure! ❯ On the Road Again ( Chapter 16 )

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh. Takahashi does, and he can't believe Seth and Bakura are working together. But, I told him that sharing is caring, and Seth needs to share some of the adventure so that he can care about someone other than himself.

 

The palace had become a center of activity as the evening hours waned on. The priests had done a stellar job of gathering the troops in and around the palace to form a decent army to intercept anything from Rath; they had left the guards in the city to defend the people. Magicians were enchanting the guards' weapons as they spoke, and stores all around had agreed to supply potions and food for either free or at a decent price. Now, standing atop on the balcony was Atemu himself, along with Mana, who was unable to help with the recruiting of the guards. Sith and Sceppiro were with them as well, but they were talking about their own kingdom at the moment.

 

“You really think we can hold off those Espers?” Mana asked curiously, as Atemu oversaw his expansive army from high above. He crossed his arms and nodded, though he kept his eyes on the men down below.

 

“We can't fight them and hope to win, but we could certainly hold them off,” Atemu replied, and then glanced back at Sith, “Though I'm worried about her… We're going to war against her family.” Mana nodded sadly.

 

“It must be hard for them both to handle,” she agreed, “But why would Espers fight each other? I thought they'd all be on the same side!” Sith, having overheard Mana's rather loud question, looked over and smiled vaguely. Then, she turned away and shook her head as she walked over, her sword in her hand.

 

“Usually, we all are,” she explained calmly, “Unfortunately, Rath is full of vengeance because of her exile. Any emotional break can cause an Esper to rebel… but…” Atemu looked at her, worried by her sudden hesitancy. Even Mana glanced back at her.

 

“But what, Lady Sith?” Mana asked.

 

“…her powers are nothing like an Esper at all,” Sith replied grimly, her calmness leaving her voice entirely, “I fear she may not be an Esper any longer.”

 

“How can that be!?” Atemu asked her, grabbing her shoulders and forcing her to look at him, “What is she!?” Sith looked at him, and he saw fear inside of her now. Not fear of being injured; there was no fear of battle; she wasn't even afraid of Rath. What she was afraid of was whatever was happening to her cousin. But, rather than forcing her to answer, Sceppiro stepped in calmly.

 

“She is… a darkened Esper,” Sceppiro replied grimly, a deep frown set into him, “I could say that she's simply lost, but she is just dark. There was never a spark of compassion in her since the day I met her. Father said… that all Espers were good, but I think he's wrong when it came to Rath. She was never good.”

 

“I do not fear fighting her,” Sith added, and Atemu went from Sceppiro to looking at her, “But I fear that she may have infected other Espers. If that's the case… then an onslaught will be inevitable, Atemu. Are you sure… Egypt can handle this?” Atemu blinked, almost unable to believe that she would actually ask him that. He wanted to answer that of course Egypt could, but… now that the question had been presented, he had to think about it realistically. Could Egypt handle it? He didn't know, and assumption would kill them all.

 

“…yes,” he finally said, “Egypt can handle this. It's the people I'm worried about. We're going to need information, but by the gods, Seth hasn't yet returned. We can't begin until he returns with Bakura.”

 

“That's assuming Rath hasn't killed him yet,” Sceppiro reminded him, looking over the horizon as the moon started to rise in full strength. Mana looked out with him, but Atemu simply glanced at Sith with worry. Her mouth had dropped open at that suggestion, and angrily, she rapped Sceppiro over the head, causing the older Esper to fall over.

 

“Do not say that!” she exclaimed furiously, “Bakura isn't dead! Diabound wouldn't be waiting with us if he was!” Mana and Atemu stared at her worriedly as Sceppiro scrambled up and glared at his sister. For a moment, they simply stared at each other, both of their eyes equally as steeled and locked. Finally, though, Sceppiro sighed.

 

“All right. Let's assume they're simply lost, then,” Sceppiro began, but Sith cut in again.

 

“Don't suggest that either!” she snapped. This time, though, Sceppiro actually laughed at her. Atemu and Mana exchanged nervous glances as they saw how frustrated Sith had become, but Sceppiro didn't stop.

 

“My goodness, Sith, you're becoming really cranky,” he commented, “All right, let's just assume nothing then and hope they come back soon.” Sith nodded stiffly, though her glare at her brother didn't lessen. He simply grinned as they all continued to overlook the activities happening below. Within hours, hopefully, they'll be able to move, something that Sith truly did want to see happen before Rath came back. Sighing, she leaned against the banister.

 

“Agreed.”

 

---

 

“So, are we there yet?” Bakura asked for what Seth was sure had to be the thousandth time that night as they swam through the ocean. All it had been for hours on end was the same: swimming through the ocean and enduring the coldness of said ocean. Seth knew he was hungry, but somehow, the sheer cold swallowed that up as well as he focused entirely on moving forward. Bakura, however, had taken to asking if they were there every five seconds or so. Seth, despite being glad to have an ally, was ready to bash Bakura over the head with the Millennium Rod and watch him drown.

 

“No, we're not there yet!” Seth snapped shortly, looking back at him, “Stop whining and keep going!”

 

“Wow, you're just as bossy as those guards,” Bakura commented slyly, quickly catching up to Seth, “Do this; shut that; don't say that to me! I'm surprised Atemu hasn't fired you yet.” Seth grumbled. If only Bakura knew how close he'd come to being exiled. And, not just once, either; no, he'd come close nearly three times. But, for the sake of sanity, he decided not to share this with the thief, whom he was sure would find a way to throw it right back in his face later if he did so. Instead of yelling, which he sorely wanted to do at that point, Seth simply sighed, and stopped for the moment. When Bakura saw this, he asked, “What're you doing? You want to freeze out here?”

 

“I'm trying to see if we can see land from here, jackass,” Seth mumbled, looking all around. The ocean seemed endless no matter how far they had swum, but Seth saw just a tiny sliver of gray amidst the black of the water. He squinted his eyes, but could see no further. Turning back to Bakura, who was trying his best to stay afloat, Seth asked, “Thief, can you see well in the dark?” Bakura stopped flopping around and looked at Seth with amusement.

 

“Don't you remember just who I am?” the thief in question asked, grinning, “I am Bakura, the king of…”

 

“The king of thieves, we know!” Seth spat angrily, “You've said that every time one of us talks to you. Soon, you're going to be the king of drowning if you don't stop it. Just answer my damn question!” Bakura's eyes narrowed as he swam forward, Seth glaring at him all the while. He definitely missed Atemu right then, despite them being bitter enemies. At least Atemu never threatened him.

 

“Someone's stick was wedged too far up their ass this morning,” Bakura growled, and then turned to the direction Seth indicated. He squinted his eyes, letting them adjust, and thanking Ra that he was such a good thief. He saw that, indeed, whatever Seth had seen was land. Grinning, he exclaimed, “WE'RE SAFE! THERE'S LAND! ACTUAL LAND!” Seth blinked as Bakura began to swim so quickly toward the land he saw, that he hadn't even given the priest any time to object.

 

“Bakura!” Seth called, but Bakura appeared to not have even heard him as he continued onward, “Damn it, thief, get back here! Bakura! BAKURA, LISTEN TO ME!”

 

“Look, priest, either we stand here and freeze our asses off, or you shut up and follow me,” Bakura called, stopping for just a moment, “I say, if you're smart, you'll follow me.” Seth's eye twitched. He didn't want to take orders from Bakura, nor did he feel he should have to, but he knew that if he didn't at least pretend to humor Bakura, he might actually die within the morning. Sighing with complete and utter disgust, Seth began to swim forward, hoping he kept up with Bakura's speedy pace. Within less than an hour, they were both standing on dry land, but when Seth examined it, he frowned. It was simply a small stretch; it led to nowhere in particular, or at least as far as Seth could see. Everything beyond just a few feet looked pitch black.

 

“So much for finding our way home,” Seth said sadly, looking down, “I guess this wasn't the right way.”

 

“At least we're on land,” Bakura reminded him, sitting down, “We can rest for the night. I don't know about you, but I'm getting pretty tired.” Seth sighed, and sat down as well. He didn't want to admit it, but he was exhausted. His combat suit was thoroughly soaked, and very, very hard to hold up from the extra weight; either that or he was reverting back to human form. He wouldn't know unless it was daytime. Calmly, he looked into the placid water. Aside from the ripples made from their movement, nothing disturbed it.

 

“…how do you think the pharaoh's doing?” he asked quietly. Bakura, who'd been wringing out his tattered cloak, looked over at Seth. He had sounded worried, something Bakura didn't think could've been possible.

 

“I bet he's doing as well as he could,” Bakura replied, turning back to his cloak, “He's got Knight Sith with him; I doubt he's in danger with her right there.” Seth looked away. That was actually untrue. Once Rath had her weapon charged, the palace could be done for.

 

“Do you… know what Rath plans to do with the weapon she's charging?” Seth asked, hoping his thoughts translated well. Bakura blinked, and laid down his cloak. He looked over at Seth and slowly shook his head. He hadn't heard Seth ask something so timidly, and now he had the feeling not all was well in Egypt.

 

“What's going on over there?” he asked, referring to Egypt. Seth bit his lip.

 

“I believe the palace is the target once she gets it running,” he told the thief, “She knows… that Sith and Sceppiro are both there. Their uncle is, too. And, unfortunately, they're the source of her anger. If she takes out the palace, she takes them, too. And, it gets rid of us, as well.” Bakura's eyes narrowed as he heard this. That wasn't good at all. That meant that everyone was still in danger no matter where they were.

 

“We can't kick them out,” Bakura whispered, “That can't be the only safety, can it?”

 

“If we do, they'd leave Egypt alone, but I highly doubt Atemu would get rid of Sith,” Seth reminded him realistically, “Besides, we need to stand against Rath. We can't assume she won't go after us if she kills the other Espers first.”

 

“We need to get back there and warn them if they don't already know,” Bakura stated grimly, crossing his arms, “They know there'll be an attack, but I don't think they know she has a weapon.” Seth agreed with that; if there was a weapon they knew of, someone would've said something. Unfortunately, he didn't know what else to say on the matter. Bakura seemed to understand this, and after successfully wringing his cloak out, the thief laid on the ground and started to fall asleep. Seth, however, didn't nod off as quickly. Many things still swam in his head, most of the concerning the palace and its safety. Anything that didn't simply transferred to being disbelief at how one small mission turned into an all-out onslaught between the Winchester family. He still couldn't understand how they had been dragged into it, either.

 

“This all started because Sith needed to see her brother,” Seth relayed, wondering if something from before could explain Rath's sudden appearance, “Sceppiro was playing us for fools, knowing that any threat made to Egypt would be dealt with personally… he planned that to get Sith to come to Nesce… is it because he knew there'd be an attack? Why would he bring her back to Nesce? He seemed surprised to see Rath… but this doesn't make sense.” Seth turned to Bakura, only to find he was fast asleep; there would be no converse with him now. The priest sighed, shaking his head. He had to figure this out. He certainly had the time for that, after all, as he was stuck on a strip of land with Bakura. He looked out over the water.

 

“If he anticipated an attack, but Rath wasn't actually it, then what was he expecting?” Seth asked himself, remembering the small conversation they had just prior to returning to Egypt, “They said Rath was one of the Espers who could attack, but who were the others? Was it one of her underlings that they expected? …wait, even if it was, it points right back to her…” Seth sighed, shaking his head. He realized that all of his ranting brought him right back to the start: Rath was still their enemy no matter which way he turned their current situation; Sceppiro was simply the unwitting beginning of it all.

 

“Okay, I'm thinking too much. Sceppiro was terrified by the attack, and Sith isn't stupid enough to plan something like that,” Seth said, “But there's something deeper than just a family war here. If it was simply family, Rath wouldn't have taken Bakura; she wouldn't have destroyed Nesce, especially since she wants control over all Espers. Maybe the Espers aren't enough for her… most of them are on Sith's side, anyway.” He looked into the water again, remembering what Ruon and his squadron had said. They wanted to find Sith and join her to take Rath down. If this were simply one family war, or even just one attack against Egypt, Rath wouldn't involve anyone but the closest guards and a few powerful squadrons. But she seemed to be terrorizing anything she could.

 

“…this is confusing me,” he finally said, lying back and looked at the night sky, “This is meant to confuse me. I need to stop and just report on what I saw and found. Sith and Sceppiro know what this means, and it doesn't matter how we were involved, anyway. We just… are. Yes, leave the problems we can't answer to the gods; right now, I should be focusing on sleeping, not on why we were involved in this war from one small mission.” And, following that, Seth closed his eyes, letting sleep overcome him. He let go of the worries plaguing him, realizing that Rath might very well have been trying to muddle him with her own thoughts on the war; they were still closer to Nesce than he wanted, and she still had a hold on his mind from what felt like long ago, even though she hadn't used it since they had first entered Nesce.

 

Hours passed as the two slept peacefully along the small strip they had swum to, but in the course of that time, the land seemed to have shifted amazingly so. High tide had faded as the sun crawled up into the pale sky, and the water seemed to have flown away from them and their tiny patch of island, rendering it much bigger than it previously was; it also opened up a path leading to another shore on the outskirts of a giant continent toward the west. The sun was shining resiliently in the early hour, and its single ray slipped into Bakura's eyes, waking the thief as he rose and stretched out.

 

“Is it really morning?” he grumbled, opening an eye. To his dismay, it was. He looked over to Seth. The priest was still asleep, but this time, he was human. His ears had shrunken back to normal standards, and his tail and wings fell off, most probably carried off in the currents beside them. Kneeling, Bakura shook the priest and said, “Wake up. We've got a problem.” Seth blinked, and then sat, looking at Bakura. His head felt fuzzy, as though he'd been drugged into a sleep.

 

“What's this problem of yours?” he asked, “If it's lack of food, you'll need to deal.” He snorted with amusement, but Bakura held a stern glare. Yes, food was a problem, but that wasn't what was bothering him. Seth's lack of magic was now the new problem; if Rath pursued them, they had no way to fight her off if their human weapons failed to work.

 

“No, it's more like lack of protection,” Bakura replied grimly, “You're human again.” Seth blinked, and then looked in the water to stare at his own, human reflection. Bakura was right; every sign of being an Esper was gone. Sceppiro's spell must've faded in the night. Seth sighed, and then laughed.

 

“So much for remaining an Esper,” he said, and then shrugged, “Sith never said I had to stay in cover for the entire mission. Just until I found you, which I did.”

 

“But what if Rath comes for us?” Bakura asked, hoping to stress the point, “We're dead!” Seth laughed; that was true, if she found them. Which, of course, she hadn't. He looked up at the sky, which was a pale blue at that hour.

“We will be if we don't move,” Seth told him, smiling slyly, “I doubt she knows where we are.” Bakura nodded, but he didn't understand what Seth meant. There was nowhere to go. Then again, he didn't notice what had happened to the current during the night.

 

“Where the hell do we move to, priest?” Bakura asked flatly, his eyes narrowing. Seth glanced at him, and grinned, pointing to where the current had died away. Bakura looked, and his jaw dropped. It was as though half the ocean were wiped out, leaving trails and paths for them to follow. He couldn't believe such a thing could actually happen! Eye twitching, he asked, “How the hell did that happen!?”

 

“It's low tide,” Seth replied, getting up, “It'll grow higher when night comes. Let's go.” Bakura nodded, still confused as to how the ocean itself could shift so drastically, and scrambled up as well. Seth led the way as they walked along the stretch of beach, that stretch eventually fanning out and swooping downward into the path that was created. It snaked and weaved through rocks and coral patches that had washed up, but otherwise, it worked just fine. The sand was soggy, and though Seth had little difficulty thanks to his armor, Bakura had a much more tiring time trying to weave his way through. His shoes kept getting stuck, as they weren't like the boots Seth was wearing. He cursed angrily, wishing they had stuck to just swimming at that point.

 

“I hate low tide,” the thief growled disapprovingly, “Why can't the ocean just stay put like it's supposed to?”

 

“How about because that's just not how nature works?” Seth retorted smugly, “Now stop griping and keep walking. Egypt's not going to find us. We have to do the dirty work, and I'm not going to listen to you for hours on end while we hike.” Bakura blinked. Hours; they were going to be doing this for hours. He couldn't accept that, nor did he want to. He hated hiking, even though he spent so much of his life doing it. He moaned miserably.

 

“I hope the pharaoh is having as much fun as we are,” he growled, not sure if he meant it or not. On the one hand, he now envied the fact that Atemu was in his palace, and he was out here, slogging through mud. But on the other, he knew this wasn't Atemu's fault. He knew this was because of Rath, and because they had no other alternative unless death appealed to them. Which, it didn't. After that outburst of `hope,' Bakura kept quiet for a good part of their journey. Neither of them stopped to look for food; unless they took to eating dried coral or seaweed, there was nothing to eat anyway. The morning was spent following the path that had been formed, while looking all around at the drastic change to the ocean. Flat, wet sand spread out everywhere Bakura could see; no sign of water seemed to actually exist at that point. He couldn't believe that low tide was responsible for it all. Hanging onto that thought, he asked, “Do you think all of the water simply evaporated?” Seth stopped. He didn't want to think on it, but now that he looked, the water did seem unusually low, even for such a tide.

 

“I don't think we want to know where the water went,” he finally said, “Just keep walking.” Bakura frowned. He didn't like how Seth was ignoring him; he might very well have noticed something important. But, he also couldn't blame Seth. If they wasted too much time, they'd be caught in the rising tide later that day.

 

“What'll we do once we reach another piece of land?” Bakura decided to inquire, as they continued on, climbing down as the path sloped downwards. Seth's lips thinned. He hadn't planned that far just yet, and while he considered that they might not end up in Egypt, he hadn't considered what to do if they did get lost. He knew nothing about any of the other countries; he had never been dispatched out of Egypt.

 

“Well, I think a good priority is finding out where the hell we actually are,” Seth replied calmly, glancing back, “Once we do that, and we find a map, we'll see how far we actually are from Egypt. Hopefully, it's not too far away, but if Rath somehow anticipated me being there, she might've driven Nesce to another continent to force Atemu's hand and weaken his defense.” Bakura growled. He hated Atemu, but he decided now he hated Rath much, much more, and that if she ever came into his sights, he would throttle her right there. Or, at least he'd try to. She was doing a fantastic job of screwing everyone he knew and sort of cared for over.

 

“Maybe we should warn everyone we can about Rath,” Bakura suggested, looking thoughtfully at a patch of drying seaweed, “I mean, there's some good coming out of this if we do that, right?” Seth sighed. He admired Bakura's spirit when it came to helping them, but the situation wasn't that easy. Not everyone knew about Espers; if they were traveling to a place that knew nothing of Espers, or that banned magic, such a warning could get them killed. He had to avoid that if they had any chance of surviving the battle. He shook his head.

 

“We can't attract attention to this without knowing how said land deals with magic,” Seth told him, as they climbed out of the little ditch, “I want to warn people of this, but we can't act blindly, Bakura. At this point, I think if people don't see the castle floating in the sky like that, they're as good as dead anyway.” Bakura's eyes widened as he glared sharply at Seth. He agreed to a certain extent on that. After all, the castle could be seen for miles. But, what he couldn't approve of was Seth's tone; the priest sounded almost indifferent to the thought of thousands of innocents being killed. And, while Bakura did his fair share of killing, he never enjoyed an ounce of it unless it benefited either himself or someone he actually cared for.

 

“But can you really live with that thought?” Bakura asked curiously, “Seth, we're talking about thousands of people being put into danger. I don't think Rath is going to aim for just Egypt. I think she's going to kill whatever she wants.” Seth sighed grimly. He knew that very well, but there was nothing they could actually do. They weren't close to any form of land, at least any they could see, and Nesce was probably miles from them at that point; Seth no longer felt any energy coming from there. From that point, they both remained silent, neither wanting to bring up what they thought they should do. Hours passed by slowly, and as the sun continued to rise and brighten, making the air just so much warmer, Bakura was beginning to worry about what to do for water. None seemed to exist, and it'd been a very long time since he'd eaten or drank anything. Sighing, he wiped the sweat off of his forehead, looking up at the sky.

 

“Are you holding up all right back there?” Seth asked, noticing Bakura was slowing down. Bakura nodded, and panted.

 

“I'm just thirsty,” he replied, “I haven't drunk anything since I fell off the ship.” Seth stopped, and realized that was at least two days ago. It was no wonder Bakura was so tired. He guessed the poor man hadn't eaten in that time, either.

 

“…are you going to be okay?” the priest asked worriedly. Bakura heard his concern and grinned, nodding his head.

 

“I've gone for weeks without food sometimes,” he replied proudly, “This is nothing!” Seth looked at him with amusement for a moment, and then shook his head and continued on. If Bakura wanted to kill himself by being proud, it was just one less responsibility for Seth. Until, of course, he remembered that the only reason he was even sent to Nesce was to retrieve Bakura. He cursed inwardly.

 

“You'd better not die on me then, or I'll make sure you get eaten by jackals,” Seth grumbled, as Bakura laughed. He shook his head again, but when he looked ahead, he gasped. He had been talking to Bakura, and hadn't realized that they were coming close to what he thought was a very, very high plateau. He looked up, and as Bakura stopped, they simply gazed at it. Bakura snorted.

 

“Either that path sloped more than we thought, or we're going to be scaling a mountain,” he joked. Seth, however, didn't find the humor as he continued to glare at the cliff face. It was jagged and rocky, and looked unstable as a few pockets of pebbles came crashing into the mud. He turned to Bakura stiffly.

 

“You actually think we're going to be climbing that!?” he asked, exasperated, and when Bakura nodded, he yelled, “IT'S A CLIFF!”

 

“Very good. You can state the obvious,” Bakura cheered mockingly, “Now stop whining. If I can survive a few days with that woman, you can climb a mountain.” He walked forward as Seth simply stared at him, unable to believe that he was the one taking charge of their situation now. If Seth were alone, he'd ignore the cliff and find an easier route. Of course, there may not be another route, which made Seth groan as he watched Bakura take out a hook.

 

“Why the hell are you in charge?” Seth asked, storming over to where Bakura was working. The thief glanced over and snorted again.

 

“Because I want to go home,” he stated.

 

“I do, too!” Seth retorted angrily, wondering just what Bakura was implying. And it came as Bakura snorted once more.

 

“Judging by how often you refuse to do manual labor, I find that hard to believe,” Bakura stated, grinning as he secured his hook, pulling himself up, “You know, if you get rid of your self-righteous shit you think you're pulling, we're not that much different. I hate this as much as you do. I just have more respect for the people who care about me.” With that, he hoisted himself upward, leaving Seth to stare, his mouth dropped open in shock. How DARE Bakura compare him to himself! They were nothing alike! Seth was an officer of the pharaoh; Bakura was just a thief.

 

“Hating labor doesn't make us similar, thief,” Seth spat furiously, eyes narrowing at the thought. Bakura, however, continued upward and laughed, shaking his head.

 

“No, but not giving a crap about the consequences of our actions does,” Bakura told him, and then continued on. Seth growled. He didn't want to travel with Bakura. He only did this as an order, and he wished he could just murder the thief right there. Grudgingly, he grabbed the rope and pulled on it, slowly climbing upwards after the thief. He couldn't believe what Bakura said, but until they were safe, he'd have to ignore it. He'd deal with him once they warned Atemu about Rath and her weapon. Sighing, he continued on.

 

“We're nothing alike… how could he make such a comparison?”

 

-----------------------------(End Chapter)

 

And so, at the very least, Seth and Bakura are on the road and doing their best to return home. But, with what Bakura said, you can expect that revenge is one of the top thoughts on Seth's mind. Can he hold his anger until he makes a full report to the pharaoh? Will Rath fire her terrible weapon before Seth can make said report? And, will Atemu be ready for the onslaught when it does occur? Find out next chapter, so click that Review button.