Genie of the Puzzle

8: Believe me, I will

"Attention, duelists! My hair has found you, at last!"

Guards began to make their way through the entrance to the den, forcing Yugi and Yami out of their romantic zone and stand up to say, "They're after me!"

They looked at each other and asked, "They're after you?!"

Joey frowned. "How are you two in sync?!"

Ignoring him, Yami looked around for a way out. He looked at the hole in the wall and said to Yugi, "Do you trust me?!"

"...not particularly..."

"I'm not asking you, Brooklyn muchacho!" He tapped Yugi's shoulder.
"Do you trust me?"

Yugi whipped his head around, seeing Yami's outstretched hand. He took it reluctantly. "...yes."

"Then jump!" He pulled Yugi out of the den and out the window, where they fell through cloth roofs and landed in a soft sand pile in an alleyway. There was no time to marvel how they survived, they just had to run.

The guards were waiting for them in the one entrance. "Gotcha, street rat!" They grabbed Yami by the vest and threw him toward the other guards. "Take him to the dungeon!"

"Let him go!" Yugi banged his fists against the guard's arm.

"Attention, duelists! My hair has found a street mouse!" Easily, he tossed Yugi aside with one nudge, causing him to crash into the ground.

"Unhand him!" Yugi ordered, standing up straight and pulling his hood back. "By the order of the Prince."

The guards, upon seeing him, gasped and instantly bowed. "Prince Yugi."

"The prince?!" Yami gawked, and a guard forced his head down to bow too, which made his neck make odd crackling noises that he wasn't sure were natural.

"What are you doing outside the palace?" The guard asked him. "And with this street rat-?"

"That's none of your concern." Yugi frowned. "Do as I command; release him!"

"I'm sorry, my Prince, but my hair's orders come directly from Bakura..." The guard said with apology. "You'll have to take it out with him."

The rest of the guards took the struggling Yami away, avoiding his attempted bites if they would come too close to his hair.

Yugi crossed his arms, angry at Bakura and worried for Yami. "Believe me," he said to the guard, furious. "I will."

***

From the sliding door that had been hidden to look like a normal wall, Bakura snuck back into the main palace, glancing from left to right. He slowly closed it behind him, assuming he was in the safe zone.

"Bakura?!" Yugi called out. His stomps echoed through the large halls.

Quickly, as Marik was in his parrot suit and walking between the wall and the door, Bakura slammed it shut, crushing him.
"My Prince," he bowed. "How may I be of service?"

"A guard arrested a man in the market." Yugi pointed an accusing finger at him. "Under your orders."

"Well, the boy had been involved in a string of crime."

"What was his crime?"

Bakura thought of some kind of crime that would seem reasonable enough for the punishment Yami was going to receive, and it had to be believable. His arms were much too wimpy and his IQ much too low for first degree murder. "Why, kidnapping the prince, of course."

Marik, still trying to be hidden but feeling like death itself, tugged on Bakura's robes, whispering, "Bakura...I'm stuck-"

Bakura just quickly shut the rest of the door, while Marik stifled a scream.

Yugi, oblivious to what just happened, grew angrier. "He didn't kidnap me, I ran away!"

Bakura pretended to not know this fact, and acted shocked. "Oh dear...had I but known...!" He put a hand to his mouth, seeming as if he gasped, but he mainly hid his smile.

As Bakura began to wander aimlessly, Yugi followed. Something happened to the boy in the market. "What's the matter?"

Bakura bit his lip. "It appears the boy's sentence is already being carried out."

Yugi's heart dropped, lodging itself next to his stomach. "...what sentence...?"

Bakura turned and faced him, trying so hard to stifle his grin. He leaned close, whispering into Yugi's ear, so curious to hear and see his reaction.

"Death."

Yugi gasped, covering his mouth.

"By beheading."

Yugi's head was spinning. He had to sit down.
An innocent man had been killed, under false accusation.

"I'm so very sorry, my prince..." Bakura tried to put his hands on Yugi's shoulders in attempt to comfort him, but Yugi instantly turned and looked at him with disgust.

He could barely speak clearly with the lump in his throat. He sniffled and whispered, "How could you?!"
Yugi fled to the garden, wanting some comfort from his only living friend.

Marik pulled open the door and gasped, hurt and angry. He stormed over to Bakura, but before he could rant, Bakura hushed him and pointed to Yugi, who had just left in a sob-session.
Marik smiled and leaned against Bakura. "So...how'd it go?"

Bakura grinned. "I think he took it...rather well."

***

Yugi rested his head against his folded arms, crying by the fountain side. Jaden nuzzled his head on his arms. Yugi turned and hugged him.
"Jaden..." He wept. "...I didn't even know his name..."