Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Sins Of The Pharaoh ❯ Death of A Father ( Chapter 15 )

Death of A Father

 

Aten opened his eye as he felt something strong kick him over on his back. “Wake up, you little runt!” Anubis growled, standing over him with his bows and arrows. “Today you will prove your loyalty to the pharaoh and Egypt.”

Aten sat up and backed away. “I don't want to lay with the pharaoh….”

Anubis shook his head. “No, not this time, boy. Today you are going to prove to me and the entire army that you are a man.”

Aten swallowed hard and tensed. “How?”

Anubis grinned as he clutched his own sword. “Murder.”

Aten shook his head. “I don't want to kill people…..”

Anubis narrowed his eyes and threw Aten his quiver and bows. “Let's get one thing straight here, Aten. If you disobey me…..or you do not follow my directions to the letter….I will take my sword and chop off your manhood. There will be no male in my army who acts in a womanly manner. If you try to ride away or escape, you will be executed immediately as a traitor…just like your pathetic, ignorant father will be.”

“No, please don't kill my father!”

Anubis nodded. “He will be executed today, Aten….by your own hand.”

Aten stood up, his body trembling with what he was about to do. “I….I won't kill my father.”

Anubis narrowed his eyes and slapped Aten with the back of his hand. The child flew into the wall, holding his head. The general picked up the weakened boy and slammed him against the stone wall. He pulled out his sword and held the blade to Aten's throat.

“Do you want to die?”

Aten swallowed hard.

“You either do as I say….or I slit your throat. Either way your father will die today. I guarantee it. Follow my orders…….or you die right here, right now. Now, my boy…..what is it going to be?”

*****************************

Aten rode his horse beside Anubis, hoping that his father was in Cairo and not in the Oasis. Though he had hardly knew his father, he did not wish to see him killed.

`It was so nice when he held me. I've never been held like when he held me against him, smiling and singing to me quietly….Please, Ra, protect my father.'

Anubis looked around as he led the army. “He's got to be around here somewhere. I know he is after the Millennium Items. He and his partner must be raiding tombs here in the Valley of the Kings.”

Aten looked around nervously, hoping his father and his partner would not be spotted.

Then…..

Much to Aten's horror….

They were spotted.

“THERE THEY ARE, MEN! CHARGE! SHOOT TO KILL!” Anubis shouted as he led his army towards the two thieves in a fast gallop.

Aten saw one holding onto the other as if in shock. Then he saw the two give their horse's hindquarters a slap, making them race off.

Marik and Bakura raced away, looking behind him. Marik gasped seeing his son beside Anubis.

`He's looking at me!' Aten thought as he galloped towards his father.

“BAKURA! How are we going to get out of this mess?” Aten heard his father screaming to his partner.

Bakura looked around in panic. “I don't know! I'm thinking!”

The army gained on them.

“Sir, I don't want to hurt my father!”

Anubis growled at Aten. “I will kill you if you try to interfere, child!”

“READY!” Anubis cried out.

The entire army prepared their arrows.

Aten grabbed an arrow from his quiver and placed it in position in the bow. `I don't want to kill my father…..'

“AIM!”

Marik heard Aten give a painful squeal.

“No, I don't want to kill my father! Please, Anubis!”

“You WILL kill him or I will boil you alive, you insolent little dog!”

Bakura and Marik exchanged glances. Bakura reached out and took Marik's hand.

“I love you, Itemri.”

“I love you, Ishtar.”

“FIRE!”

The army fired the arrows.

Aten closed his eyes and shot his arrow…..

Marik fell forward on his horse as Bakura grabbed him. An arrow was sticking out from Marik's back.

Aten's father fell forward on his horse. “NO!”

“HA! WE GOT ONE!” Anubis cheered.

`I've killed my father…..I'm a…..murderer…..'

“TIME TO BRING HIM DOWN!” Anubis growled as Aten screamed in protest. Anubis grabbed his dagger and threw it at the wounded thief.

“FATHER!”

Marik arched his back as a dagger implanted itself under Marik's shoulder blade. Marik screamed in agony and fell off the horse.

`Please, Ra, let him not die…..' Aten thought. Aten saw Bakura stop and run to Marik

“Marik!” Bakura cried as he cradled Marik's body in his arms.

“FATHER! NO!”

Marik's breaths were shallow, his body twitching with the first signs of his impending death.

Aten halted his horse and watched the army surround the two thieves. Aten wanted to get off his horse and run to his dying father, but Anubis grabbed his arm and shook his head.

Bakura cradled Marik to his chest, sobbing. “Marik, don't die on me. Please…I need you.”

`My father's dying….'

The army surrounded them and aimed their weapons at them. Bakura looked up at Anubis angrily.

Anubis grinned triumphantly. “I told you I would get you some day, tomb robber.”

Aten and Bakura exchanged looks. Aten opened his mouth. “I'm….I'm sorry.”

Bakura looked down at Marik as a trail of red seeped from the corner of his mouth.

“Itemri…..,” Marik wheezed as blood filled his lungs. “Love…you.”

Bakura placed his head against Marik's cooling cheek. “Let me give him some medical attention, Anubis!”

The army laughed. “He won't need a doctor where he's going. It's too late for him.”

Tears welled up in Aten's eyes.

Marik weakly raised an arm to Bakura's cheek, his body shaking involuntarily. “Itemri…one….last…..kiss.”

Bakura sobbed as he held his dying friend. “Don't leave me, Ishtar….Please don't leave me.”

`Don't leave me either, daddy….'

Marik's teeth clenched as his breathing hastened. His body trembled in pain, his eyes clenched with agony as he died. “Please……gods…”

Bakura pressed his lips to Marik's icy lips. Marik opened his eyes to see a tear falling from Bakura's eyes.

Bakura pulled back. “Marik….I love you with every beat of my heart.”

Marik's body convulsed as he gasped. “Love you…Item……ri.”

Marik's body went limp. Bakura clutched Marik's dead body to his chest.

“Gods…Ishtar….I love you,” Bakura sobbed.

Aten buried his face in his hands and sobbed. “My father's dead!! I'm sorry! I'm so, so sorry!”

Anubis rode around and looked at the arrow sticking out of Marik's back. “Aten, boy! You struck your father dead!” Anubis pulled the arrow from Marik's back.

Aten dropped his arrows and sobbed into his hands. “I killed my daddy! I didn't mean to do it!”

“The pharaoh will be proud of you, son!” Anubis grabbed his dagger and pulled it out of Marik's body.

“My lover is dead,” Bakura sobbed.

Anubis laughed. “And now you belong to us, Bakura!”

Two soldiers grabbed Bakura and pulled him off of Marik's body. Anubis took his sword and cut the clothes off of Marik's body.

Aten watched in horror as Anubis stripped the body and spitting on the corpse. The lifeless corpse was like a ragdoll in Anubis' hands.

Anubis held the clothes in the air laughing. “Strip him, too!” Anubis laughed, pointing to Bakura.

“Don't kill him, too!”

Anubis laughed. “Thieves don't deserve clothes nor our concern! They are animals! Beasts!”

The guards cut Bakura's clothes off with their daggers, leaving him naked in the early morning sun.

Anubis looked down at Marik's lifeless body and kicked it repeatedly.

Aten narrowed his eyes as Anubis kicked Marik's corpse. “STOP IT! HE'S DEAD ALREADY!”

Bakura growled and tried to attack Anubis, but the soldiers grabbed him and punched him in the stomach.

“Now, now! Our prisoner cannot bury his friend if he is in too much pain!” Bakura looked up at Anubis from his knees. “You are going to bury Marik.”

Aten sobbed from his horse, still looking at his father's bleeding, and now bruised body. “It's all my fault! I killed my daddy! I'm a bad kid! I killed my daddy!”

Anubis spat on the body again and threw Bakura on top of the cooling corpse. “Bury it! Face down!”

Bakura started to dig a large ditch with his hands. Anubis watched and laughed as Bakura dug the ditch.

Aten whispered from his horse, “Daddy, forgive me.”

Bakura folded Marik's arms on his chest. He brushed back Marik's hair. “I really did love you, Marik. I'm going to miss you.” Bakura kissed the stone-cold cheek and let out another sob.

“Quit your whining! Bury that empty shell!”

Bakura lowered Marik into the ditch and made sure his arms were crossed under his body. Bakura looked at the body of his friend face down in the sand and wept.

Anubis punched Bakura on the side. “I said no crying! Bury that THING! NOW!”

Bakura covered Marik's body with the sand. “Goodbye…..Ishtar.”

Anubis kicked Bakura in the leg, sending him down. The general bound Bakura's wrists and put his wrists behind Bakura's neck. Anubis bound the wrists to Bakura's neck.

“Now, my trophy, it's time to meet your king…and I know he'll be very…excited….to see you again.”

As they rode away from Marik's last resting place, Aten looked back.

“Rest in peace, father……”

**********************

They lead Bakura naked through the streets of Cairo to the royal palace. Anubis ordered Aten to accompany he and Bakura to the pharaoh.

Seth was outside with Aria when they saw the soldiers arrive. Aria gasped.

“Seth, that's my daddy!”

Seth's attention was more drawn towards Aten's thin form which was obviously still subjected to abuse and neglect.

Seth approached Anubis angrily. “Anubis, what is the meaning of this?!”

Anubis smiled. “I caught Itemri! I caught the thief and killed the other!”

Aria gasped. “You…killed…..Marik?”

Anubis smiled. “His body is food for the jackals now!”

Seth looked at Aten. “Aten, come here, please.”

Aten approached Seth with his head lowered and his hands folded.

“Yes, sir,” the boy whimpered.

Seth looked at the child's unkempt hair and body covered in bruises. The child trembled where he stood. “This child goes to my harem. My women will care for him.”

Anubis narrowed his eyes. “But, sir---.”

Aten started crying in his hands again. “I killed my father! I didn't want to! I killed my daddy! I'm hungry! I haven't eaten since I was placed in the dungeon! I'm thirsty! I'm tired! And I killed my daddy!””

Seto pulled Aten to his side. “I suggest you do not question my orders, Anubis! Aria, take Aten to your mother. I will handle this!”

Aten fell to his knees at Seto's feet. “Thank you,” Aten said falling over nearly unconscious.

Seth growled and shook in suppressed rage. “I should have you hung, drawn, and quartered for the abuse of this child!”

Aria picked up Aten and held him in her arms. “It's okay, Aten. Come with me and I will give you food and water.”

Aten held onto the girl weakly as she helped him.

“Aria, wait for me with your mother.”

“Yes, my Seth.” Aria helped Aten walk away.

Anubis grasped the rope again. “I must go give the pharaoh his toy back,” he grinned as he brushed past Seth.

*************************

Bakura gave another yelp as the pharaoh's foot kicked his hip. Yami chuckled as Bakura fell on his side, gasping for breath. Seth could see the tears in Bakura's eyes and the bruises that covered him. He could still plainly see Marik's blood still on Bakura's hands.

“So, the King of Thieves is once again my guest! It's been what? Five years since I saw you last?”

Seth watched helplessly as the father of his servant girl gasped for breath, his arms tied behind him helplessly.

Yami laughed again. “The elusive…..King of Thieves…now….my prisoner.”

Yami kneeled down beside the bleeding, panting, bound man. Yami's hand felt cold against his warm, bloody cheek. He grabbed a handful of Bakura's hair and pulled his head up. “Welcome home….my pet.”

Bakura clenched his eyes tightly as Yami turned to Anubis.

“Where is the other one?”

“Aten killed his father. The arrow had his purple and red colors.”

Yami grinned. “Where did you leave the body?”

“I stripped it and this one buried it face down.”

Yami grinned. “Your partner will never again see the light of the heavens above! All that's left to do, is make certain that your end is as painful as possible.”

Anubis picked Bakura up by the hair. “He also admitted relations with the other male, sir!”

Yami gasped and slapped Bakura's face. “You let someone else touch you! You let someone else touch what is mine!”

Bakura whimpered. “I don't belong to you!”

Yami slapped Bakura's other cheek. “Your lover is dead! I have you all to myself now! And I permit Anubis to have fun with you whenever he pleases and however he pleases! You are to pleasure him just as you pleasure me without questioning!”

A lump formed in Bakura's throat as the visions of Marik's dead body flooded his memory.

“My pharaoh, this prisoner has endured enough!” Seth protested.

“Now it's time to take you to your new home, Bakura Osiris Itemri.”

Seth watched as they dragged the prisoner from the room, the only reminder of his presence was a trail of blood leading to the door.

“My pharaoh, that man may be a thief, but he has endured----.”

Yami held up his hand to silence Seth. “My High Priest, that man does not yet know the meaning of pain. He has no idea what he has made the Nobility of Cairo endure during his reign. That….creature….deserves every ounce of pain which I can dish out….and believe me….by the time I am done with Bakura Osiris Itemri, he will plead for his own death.”

********************************

Seth entered his harem and found the women still bathing Aten. The women cleaned the boy's bruised skin gently. Rayna rubbed the boy's injuries with oil and they removed him from the water.

Aten collapsed to the ground barely breathing.

“Ra, protect this boy,” Seth prayed as he picked up Aten's twitching body and laid him on a bed of soft linen.

Aria and the other children gathered food for Aten and water for him to drink.

“Aten, please don't die on me!” Aria pleaded. “You're my friend!”

Aten opened a weak eye and reached out for Seth. “High Priest…..”

Seth took the thin child's hand. The boy's eyes weakly blinked as he gathered the strength to speak. Seth fought back the tears as he was reminded of one of his daughters who looked as sickly as Aten on her deathbed. Aten was the same age his daughter had been when she died of a high fever which would not break.

“What is it, Aten?”

Aten brought Seth's hand to his lips and he kissed it. “Thank you…for….taking me away from him.”

Seth turned the boy's hand over to look at his wrists. Tiny red scars speckled his wrists. Seth could almost swear he could see Aten's blood run through his veins. The boy's body was bruised heavily. Seth had even seen places where Aten's blood had caked into his hair behind his head.

Rayna walked up to Seth. “Seth…is it true that Marik is dead?”

Aten whimpered. “I didn't mean to kill my daddy! I was forced to do it!”

Rayna put a hand on Seth's shoulder. “Is it true that Bakura was captured?”

Seth nodded. “Yes. Marik is dead.”

Rayna's eyes filled up with tears. “Oh no….Bakura?”

Seth nodded. “Bakura is in the dungeon.”

“Can you release him?”

Seth stood up. “No.”

Seth watched as the women fed Aten. The boy had grown too weak to feed himself. His thin body struggled enough to breathe let alone feed.

Aria walked up to Seth and kneeled in front of him. “My Seth?”

“Yes, Aria?”

Aria looked up with her large brown eyes filed with tears, her lower lip trembling. “Is my father going to die?”

Seth sighed. “Well…”

“I want to know, Seth! Is my daddy going to die?”

Seth looked down at her. “It is a possibility. Yami seems determined to kill him.”

Aria looked down sadly and let out a little whimper. “I don't want my daddy to die, Seth.”

Seth brought the child into his arms, knowing he could not stop the pharaoh and his desire for blood and torture. `The pharaoh must be stopped….and with Bakura and Marik unable to find and hide the rest of the Millennium Items, Yami might never be stopped. Egypt will become the most powerful country in the known world. His empire will be built on the skeletons of the poor and the Nile will run with innocent blood.'