Hello everyone! Once again I'm starting a new fic, but this time it's a prequel to A Moonlit Walk.

Anyways, this is set in Ancient Egypt, it is YAOI! Don't like, don't read. You have been warned. Pairings will be Ryou/Malik and Bakura/Yami. Also, mature themes are present. NO lemons, I don't write those, but mature themes all the same.

Disclaimer: I know I don't own, you know I don't own, the lawyers know that I don't own, why do we waste space and time with this? Besides, I don't have enough money to make suing me worthwhile. So go away, lawyers! (waves large stick at crowd of attorneys)

Chapter One

A young boy ran through the street, dodging those few who were shopping at such an early hour. His white hair made him an easy target for the palace guards who were chasing him, and he knew that he would have to stay ahead of them if he wanted to stay safe. "And to keep Ryou safe…" He muttered under his breath.

He suddenly turned into a dark alley. This part of the city he knew well, but to someone unfamiliar with it, it was a maze of winding tunnels, alleys, and tiny crawlspaces. With any luck, he could lose the guards here. Luck had been short recently, however.

He turned another corner, and another, until he eventually reached the place him and his brother called home. The younger boy glanced up at him, smiling.

"Hey, 'Kura. Back a little later than usual?"

"Ryou. Need-to leave…" Bakura was out of breath, having sprinted over a mile to try to escape.

The younger boy was immediately on his feet, but he insisted that his older brother at least drink some water before they left. "Running will do us no good if you collapse partway through." And, as little as Bakura liked to admit it, the boy was right. Though they needed to hurry, collapsing would be very bad. For both of them.

Suddenly, a noise in the alley behind them caused both boys to turn around. "The guards….'Bakura muttered. He immediately got up and began to sprint again, even though he was still worn out. Ryou, picking up slightly on what was going on, followed him as quickly as possible.

However, the palace sentries were closer than they had seemed. With Bakura low on energy, and Ryou not being a fast runner in the first place, the pair was caught with little difficulty.

Later

The two boys had been dragged through the streets to a gigantic building, which could only be the palace. Bakura had passed out along the way, probably from sheer exhaustion, and Ryou felt alone in this gigantic building. However, they were both simply thrown into a small room. The young teen had been sure that they would be punished for something, most likely something that Bakura had done while trying to provide for them both.

Ryou wandered around the tiny area, noticing that there were two doors branching off of this one. Each led to a room, each room almost identical to the other. Neither held any windows and both had only the door that the pale-haired boy had used to enter. One held two beds, and the other was…completely empty. But then why was it there? It had a door, unlike the other room, and that door locked from the outside…

Bakura groaned as he rolled over. The younger boy immediately ran over to his older brother. "'Kura! Thank goodness…."

"Wh-where are we?"

"A really big building…I think it may be the palace. Kura, what's going on?"

At that, the older male sat up quickly. "The PALACE? Oh gods……" This reaction was the worst he could have possibly given. To Ryou, Bakura's calling to the gods for help showed just how afraid he was, and his older brother didn't scare easily. Why did his brother dislike the gods so much? Well, maybe it had something to do with the fact that they had lost both of their parents, in addition to everything they had ever known, within the past few years. That could explain quite a bit….

Suddenly the door opened, and a man walked in. Bakura immediately stood fully, right in front of Ryou. The teen sensed that this was for a reason, and didn't argue.

"Which one of you is the thief Bakura?" the man asked. Bakura stepped forward, his eyes full of frozen fire. The man reached out to grab his arm, but he pulled the limb back again.

"I can walk on my own."

The two men promptly engaged in a contest of glares, icy fire meeting calm anger. Bakura's frozen glare won quickly-there were few who could stand up to its ferocity. The stranger led the way out of the small room, Bakura following close behind.

As he watched them walk away, Ryou couldn't help but feel terror knowing at his heart. He was alone now, in a strange building of stone and plaster, so unlike the narrow alleys and dirty huts that he had grown up in. Fear was clawing at his heart, and it was starting to hurt.

He fell to his knees, beginning to sob. Fear and panic had taken hold of his heart, and refused to release it. Ryou pulled himself into a ball in the center of the room, not noticing that the door was still open. His sobs escalated, becoming louder and more ferocious until they wracked his entire body.

"Hey," a voice suddenly asked from the hallway. "What's wrong?"

Ryou looked up quickly. The man standing there had long blonde hair and violet eyes, strange features in Egypt. Then again, his weren't exactly normal. White hair was rarer than blonde.

"I…I'm fine." The boy replied. "Excuse me, but..who are you?"

"Oh, sorry. My name's Malik. Malik Ishtar."

The pale boy froze. That name…Ishtar….he'd heard it before. Then it came to him. Isis Ishtar, the high priestess of Tefnut. 1

Ok, that was rather short for me, but oh well. I'm out of ideas and that seems like a good ending point. Hehehe….

1 Tefnut was the goddess of the morning dew, which was one of only a few sources of water. I have no clue what god or goddess Isis was really priestess for, or even if they used the real gods, but whatever.

Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Please review and tell me what you think!