Dragon: Hello! This is mine and Desidera's first attempt at a co-written story! And we just wanted to fill you in on some stuff. First off this is a Yaoi fic with Seto/Atemu and Seth/Atemu pairings. So if you don't like it hit the back button now and shame on you for not liking this pair! Isn't that right Desidera?
Desidera: Hi! That's all correct. So what else is there for me to say? I'm very proud to be able to write a fic together with you, Dragon. And I hope people will like it.
Dragon: -blushes- Thanks and same for me! This takes place after Battle City and before the Doma Arc. Oh! Please read and review!
Dragon & Desidera: We don't own the characters of course...though it would be nice. One of us would get Seto and the other would get Seth and we'd swap Atemu and Bakura.... hentai smile Ah, uhm, sorry, got carried away. So let's just start.
Dim flames flickered silently along the stonewalls, barely lighting the way, shadows were dancing eerily. The sound of footsteps echoed throughout the dark, quiet hallway, as a reminder to the person that he was alone He couldn't remember how he had got here; all he remembered was going over his latest program in his office.Sapphire eyes, narrowed and hardened, searched for an ending to this place only to come to an expansive room, filled with more light than the hallway. Carvings of ancient creatures littered the walls and the flames that illuminated the area gave an almost magical glow to them. They seemed to dance in front of him, as is enticing him further into the room.
Slowly, he made his way to the center to stand just in front of a beautifully carved stone tablet. At the top were three impressive but deadly creatures he instantly recognized as the same ones as on the three god cards. Below it was a carving of his own blue eyes white dragon in battle mode to face off against his rival's own dark magician. Palms out, the priest and pharaoh were also carved facing each other, in an intricate design of battle, their rival proceeding his own against the one that looked like the pharaoh.
A certain fascination captured him, staring at the last remnant of an ancient world that had once been as real as the one he was living in. The last time he had seen this he hadn't allowed himself to feel anything else than annoyance at Isis for talking about all that magic crap and stealing his precious time...but alone in here, the flames dancing in his eyes, it was different.
With a hand that didn't seem to belong to his body, he reached out to trace the design of his own look-a-like. Once his fingers and eyes lingered on the palm of the priest, a bright, blinding light engulfed him and plunged him into darkness.
"Ahh"
A small moan escaped his dry lips even before he had opened his eyes. His head hurt like hell, and his body felt like it was burning. But he wasn't the person to give in to pain, so he forced his eyes open.
"Ah!"
He shrank back. Spots were dancing before his closed eyes, the faint memory of the blinding white light he had just been faced with. Gathering all his strength he managed to roll away from the source of the light, then, very carefully he tried opening his eyes again.
Multi colored grains of sand surrounded him and he chanced a quick look around. Above him the sky was of a blue so deep he had never seen before. And where the sand met the sky the still air was trembling with heat, blurring his view.
He buried his hand in the hot sand, letting it run through his fingers, and disbelievingly had to admit the obvious.
He was in the desert and Japan was nowhere to be seen.
"I'm going to kill that shrimp, I just know he had something to do with this." Seto muttered as he carefully got to his feet. Taking another look around, he spied a darken object off in the distance. Taking a chance he headed off in that direction.
Hours seemed to pass as he wondered through the scorching desert. The blazing sun was already setting in the west and a slight chill hovered over the land. Seto shivered unwillingly and put his white trench coat back on that he had taken off earlier. By now he was dragging his feet, thirst had set in, and his stomach churned and grumbled at the lack of food in it. All in all, he felt like shit.
Soon the object he was heading towards came into view, and Seto stood dumbstruck at the edge of the city he had just entered.
Everything was made of stone and there was barely any wood seen. The people that were walking around wore nothing but thin white cloth and sandals. The women were caring woven baskets, and most of the younger children were running around naked. Fire was the only source of light that lit up the sand covered street. Horses and camels were gathered at what seemed like a public watering hole.
Trying to figure exactly what was going on, and where he was, Seto walked further into the city, sapphire colored eyes darted back and forth taking in all the strange and unfamiliar sights. The copper colored people at first ignored him that is until he made it further into the stone city. That's when all hell broke loose.
Seto caught a white blur before he was knocked down. Cursing, he pushed the person off of him, only to be shocked at what he saw. Standing in front of him, brushing himself off was a white haired man, with dark skin and a strange scar under his right eye.
"Bakura?"
The man looked up and looked shocked for a second before his brown eyes narrowed.
"I don't know how you got in front of me Priest, but I'll be damned if you're going to take me back to those dungeons." Bakura growled and turned to leave, when Seto grabbed his arm.
"You're not leaving till you tell me what I'm doing here and why the hell your wearing a skirt! I want answers!"
He jerked his arm free from Seto's grasp and spit at his shoes, "I don't know what your getting at, but I think you've finally lost it. I guess the almighty Pharaoh has finally knocked your head against wall one too many times High Priest Seth."
Seto was about to retort when they both suddenly realized that they had been surrounded durning their little get together. Each man was pointing either a spear or sword at them, daring either one of them to move. Seto and Bakura both growled at the newcomers, but the highly trained men were not fazed. And there in front of them the circle of men parted and a man stepped into view.
Seto's eyes widened, his mouth fell open, but no sound would come out of it. In the middle of an enormous and painfully real city, surrounded by armed men, the stars slowly conquering the darkening sky, he stood like a frozen sculpture in front of someone or something that looked exactly like him!
Time seemed to stop as suddenly everything was quiet and no one moved, while Seto's eyes were still boring holes in equally shocked blue ones. Then, all of a sudden, Bakura moved, trying to take the chance.
"Don't let him get away!" both blue-eyed man cried at exactly the same time, in exactly the same tone of voice, commanding and chilling. Their heads snapped back to each other instantly, their bodies visibly preparing for defense, masking their faces with indifference.
The guard men had managed to hold Bakura, although it took four men to keep him from moving.
Seto, who despite his calm appearance felt a lot like panicking, turned to the white haired man, grabbed his tunic and hissed, "What the hell happened? Do you have something to do with this? Tell me, where is Yugi?"
But before Bakura could answer spears surrounded Seto again and one of the men was stepping forward to drag him back from Bakura. Of course, no one did that to Seto Kaiba. He landed on his butt a few feet away, Seto again facing his look alike with blazing eyes.
Ten guards prepared to launch themselves at Seto, but their commander with Seto's eyes and hair raised his hand. "Stop," he commanded. Then pointed to the struggling Bakura and asked Seto, "You know his name. Are you his ally, his companion? If not, prove it"
Seto drew himself up to his full height, which didn't help much, as the other was just as tall. He pointed to the guards next to himself. "He spit at my feet just a minute ago. They saw it. So what the hell do you think?"
The other still looked suspicious, but then Bakura tried once more to knock the living hell out of the guard holding him, so the blue-eyed man decided quickly.
"Take Bakura, bind his hands and legs and bring him to the palace. You –"He glanced back at Seto, "will follow me, in the name of the pharaoh. Or I'll let you be tied up as well."
"Just dare to try that", Seto threatened, but the other just turned and walked after his guards, who carried a cursing Bakura.
Seto's eyes narrowed. He didn't like this one bit. But there was nowhere else to go, and he desperately wanted to know what had happened to him.'Only one way to find out' he thought to himself before he reluctantly followed.
They made quite an unusual appearance, Seto mused, as they walked through the crowded streets. A group of armed man, carrying something thrashing, shouting and white, lead by a tall blue-eyed commander in a skirt, followed by his exact copy in a trench coat.
No wonder people were staring.
Seto followed his look-a-like into a magnificent stone building. Many layers of beautiful white marble and gold shone their brilliance against the torches dancing lights. Many guards lined the hallway as they walked further inside. Slowly the sounds of Bakura seemed to lessen, almost as if he finally figured out it was hopeless to fight anymore, either that or he was planning something.
Soon they reached two huge, beautifully carved wooden doors guarded by several Egyptians facing forward as if they were seeing something Seto could not. Wordlessly, two of them opened up both doors and the look-a-like walked in with his head held high sneering at all the others that were lined up against the walls. Seto was intrigued that all of them had their heads low as if their sandaled feet were the most interesting thing in the room. He was so busy looking at them that he almost failed to notice that his captor had stopped and was bent down on one knee. Seto looked at him with rage in his eyes. How could someone one that looked just like him kneel before anyone? It was an insult to him. After all Seto Kaiba bowed to no one. Well that is until he was knocked to his knees by a spear from one of his 'escorts' and from the noise behind him it seemed Bakura had the same thing done to him.
There was a growl beside him and then the words "You will bow before our beloved Pharaoh!" rang through his head.
'Pharaoh? Oh hell.' Kaiba looked up and there before him was a sight he'd never thought he would ever see.
Several feet in front of him was a golden throne lined with jewels and rich crimson cloth. But what got his blood pressure up was who was sitting on the throne. There sitting before him was a more tanned, taller, older, prouder, more exotic looking Yugi Motou. Where as Yugi was short and pale with wide child like amethyst colored eyes that held an innocence that made you feel guilty for even breathing around him. But this man had bronzed skin that stretched over well defined muscles, an aura of immense power and confidence, and the most intoxicating pair of ruby red eyes that were lined with long lashes and kohl.
Seto's breath was taken away as he looked upon this version of Yugi and suddenly all those visions Isis and Battle City had shown him came crashing back to him. This couldn't be the same Pharaoh that Yugi said shared his body could it? He didn't have time to reflect on it for his copy started to speak.
"Pharaoh, I'm sorry for the intrusion but I thought you should know about this as soon as possible. We have caught the King of Thieves again and his accomplice."
"WHAT?! I told you I'm not a part of whatever it is he did!" Seto's outcry was rewarded with a spear digging in his throat and a growl from his look-a-like.
"You will not speak in the presence of the Pharaoh unless he demands it and how dare you look upon the embodiment of god! You are not worthy!"
"Seth, there is no need for that, he obviously doesn't know our laws for he is clearly not of Egypt. His skin is too pale and his clothing is of a material I've never seen before. Tell me where are you from?"
Seto gritted his teeth with anger, how dare this Seth talk to him that way. He didn't care who was in front of him; he didn't cower down to anyone! But he did need answers... "Japan"
"Ja-pan? I've never heard of such a place." The Pharaoh said as he got up with a cat-like grace and walked towards them. "If you are from this place then how come you know our language so well?"
Kaiba looked into soul-searching eyes while his mind was reeling, how did he understand them? He knew several tongues but he didn't know ancient Egyptian. For once he was at a total loss. "I don't know."
Behind him, Bakura snickered. "You don't know? Did the heat cause you to lose your memories or what? But that's not what I'd wonder about, Pharaoh. The question is why does he look exactly like the High Priest? Isn't impersonation punishable by death?"
"You will not talk to the Pharaoh like that or I'll have you killed upon the instant!!!," Seth hissed, but the Pharaoh stopped him again with a wave of his hand.
"Enough, Seth. I want to talk to this stranger in private, but I think you should come with me. Let Bakura be brought also and two of my faithful priests to keep him there too. Follow me now, stranger."
Now Seto Kaiba didn't want to be ordered around, and just at that moment no spear was threatening his throat, yet he followed the pharaoh. Why he didn't know himself, but he suspected it had something to do with those beautiful crimson eyes...
Seth glared next to him, then barked some orders at the guards and followed the pharaoh as well into a small chamber behind the throne.