Setting: So I originally intended for this fic to take place in Ancient Egypt… but I then realized that I know nothing about that place during that particular time period. So instead the setting for this story is way back in the past during a time and place where slavery was common and the land was ruled by one single king. If you really want to picture a place, then picture Ancient Egypt, just disregard all their laws and such, since I'm not following them.
Dis-of-the-claiming: I don't own Death Note.
Chapter 1.
The air held an almost sickening warmth to it. The sun beat down in a scorch of fire and the slight breeze only succeeded in stirring up the sand, making it more of a burden than a comfort. Matt for what seemed like the thousandth time, blinked the sand out of his eyes as he tried his hardest to concentrate on the task ahead. By now, he knew what the consequences were if he messed up or dared to defy his master. Bruises still covered his frail body from the last time he had made a mistake.
Matt could feel his master, Mikami, staring at him through the parted curtain of the temple window. He didn't dare look back—eye contact was strictly forbidden between slaves and masters—but he always got this tingling sensation up his spine that forewarned him of wandering eyes. Matt concentrated on moving the heavy blocks of stone as quickly as he could. If he moved fast enough, there was a chance he wouldn't be beaten tonight.
After just a few minutes of dragging and pulling the sweat was pouring off him. The sun was at its highest point in the sky and was becoming nearly unbearable. He longed for a sip of water or even a short break, but that bastard Mikami was still watching him like a hawk.
The man did not trust Matt, not in the least, for in the short amount of time—two months to be exact—that he had owned Matt; the boy had already tried to escape five times. Normally he would have disposed of someone so disobedient, but Matt was different. Mikami couldn't stand to get rid of someone as beautiful as Matt. The boy was simply gorgeous with his red hair and emerald eyes, unlike anyone else. Not to mention the way he would try his hardest not to scream when he was beaten was simply adorable to the man. There was no way that Mikami would ever get rid of Matt, unless he had no other option.
Matt groaned as he strained to move a particularly large stone across the ground. It was a pointless job given to him as an excuse to punish him if he went too slowly. Mikami loved to torture him… and watch him. The watching was the worst though; Matt could sometimes feel the longing in the man's eyes. He tried to ignore it, but it wasn't always easy.
Matt longed to be free again. Every night he dreamed of his life before his family had sold him off as a slave to pay for a debt. It was painful remembering his almost carefree life, only to wake up to forced labour and abuse. Often just to pass the time, he'd plot ways of escape and diabolical plans to set himself free. They never seemed promising and only made his heart ache painfully in longing for something he'd never again have.
Matt's spirit was not yet broken though. He had set his plans into motion multiple times, taking every opportunity that came his way. The last time had been his best taste of freedom yet. He had nearly escaped, running a whole 10 miles in the scorching heat before he was caught. Mikami had beaten him bad for that, locked him up for five days straight without food or water. Still, Matt firmly believed that he would one day escape. He just had to wait for the right opportunity to arrive.
Soft footsteps padding against the rough ground alerted Matt to a presence behind him. Swiftly he turned around, averting his eyes to the ground. His body tensed; an automatic reaction now.
"Boy," Mikami spoke, his voice cold. "I have another job for you to do today. Though you may not know this, I have a rather… influential stand in this kingdom." At this the corners of the man's mouth curled up in a rather sadistic looking grin. His hand reached out, stroking Matt's cheek, who shuddered meekly at the contact. "Yes, you could say I have some rather impressive connections." He laughed then, his hand trailing downward, grazing the length of the red head's back.
Matt stood frozen in place, not daring to move a muscle. He wanted to lash out at the man before him with fury like nothing he had ever experienced before, but that was way too risky. If he wanted a proper chance of escape, he had to bide his time correctly. So instead, he settled with keeping his eyes squeezed tightly shut, his mouth in a grim line, as Mikami continued to trail over his slim body.
Mikami leaned down till his breath was ghosting over the other's lips. "Mmm, Matt," he breathed out, "you really are almost irresistible."
Matt concentrated on breathing at a normal rate. The beating he could handle—he was tough—but this side of Mikami was worse, far worse. His fingernails dug into his tightly clenched hands, as he tried not to panic at their current proximity. He had learned in his first week of enslavement that the man had a thing for other boys. Matt seemed to be his new toy, just as much as his slave.
Then just as suddenly, it was over. Mikami was standing back a few feet, his arms crossed with a cruel smirk plastered across his features. "So come along. I have some business to take care of at the royal palace and there are a few people I'd like you to meet."
'More like people you want to show me off to,' Matt thought bitterly. He started to take a few steps, but was interrupted by a hand roughly grabbing his shoulder.
"And don't," Mikami hissed, his grip tightening painfully, nearly making Matt cry out, "even think about trying to escape. Understand?"
Matt nodded viciously, just wanting to get this over with.
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Matt had never, in his sixteen years of existence, been inside the royal palace. His family had always had normal standings in the city, so he really didn't have any idea about what to expect. He had heard tales of how the king—a teenage boy no older than himself—was a narcissistic and selfish being, always demanding for the strangest things, like a room made entirely of chocolate. It was said that anyone who dared to defy him, he would slaughter on the spot with his own bare hands. Of course, Matt couldn't be sure that any of that was true—especially the room made of chocolate—which just seemed ridiculous. Who would honestly need a room of chocolate?
So as Matt shuffled inside the palace directly behind Mikami, he couldn't help but experience a sense of awe. Just the foyer was huge, with great white pillars lined in gold stretching from the floor all the way to the ceiling, which loomed about forty feet above his head. The walls were covered in hundreds of exquisite paintings and lined with silk sheets. The floor was pure marble, so clean that Matt could clearly see his own reflection gazing back at him. At the far end of the grand room was a broad staircase, lined with thick red carpet from bottom to top. At the top of the stairs stood five men, obviously there to guard the entrance to the main part of the palace.
Matt followed Mikami towards the staircase, his footsteps echoing harshly in the hushed corridor. He felt completely out of place in this lavishly decorated palace, almost like unseen eyes were watching him in disdain.
"Halt!" one of the larger guards commanded, holding out his hand in front of him. "Please state your business."
Mikami gave an impatient smile. "I have an appointment with Light Yagami."
The guard who had previously spoken gave a curt nod. "Right this way sir, Misa will show you the way."
The guards allowed them entrance through the doorway, into a small and narrow corridor, lit by torches attached to the walls every few feet. There was no natural light and Matt shivered for the air held a damp chill to it. A few feet away, a blond girl was staring at them, a huge grin brightening her features.
"Hello, my name is Misa Misa and I'll be guiding you to my Light!" she proclaimed loudly, shattering the silence of the hall and making Matt's eardrums ring.
Mikami's gaze shifted back to the entranceway as he wondered if he should maybe ask for a different escort. Misa was already walking down the hallway now though, so he figured he take his chances. Reaching back and giving Matt a harsh tug of the wrist to speed him up, the two proceeded down the hall after Misa.
Matt lost track of the way he had come in a matter of minutes. Misa lead them through a path of twists and turns, left, right, left, left, right, or was it another left? He felt like he was walking in a giant circle, except for the fact that he was slowly going lower underground as well, though it took him a while to realize this. He figured it was probably for the protection of the King. In the off chance that someone did manage to get by the guards, they wouldn't be able to find their destination anyway.
Finally, just when Matt was wondering if they were completely lost or not, they arrived at their objective. "Light is through here," Misa practically giggled.
Mikami expected her to leave them now, though it was not to be. She bounced into the room before them, looking around anxiously. "Light! Where are you?"
They heard a strange shuffling noise and a man who couldn't have been that much older than Matt himself appeared from around a corner. "What is it Misa?" he asked in what was obviously an annoyed tone. It seemed they had interrupted him during something important.
Mikami cleared his throat and Light's eyes flashed towards him. Upon seeing his visitor, something along the lines of a smile appeared on Light's face, though it was much too sinister to be such. Matt noticed an ominous feeling seething through the air as the two exchanged glances, but it seemed he was the only one. Misa was far too distracted as she fumbled around trying to get back Light's attention.
"Misa," Light spoke, that strange smile still plastered across his face. "You need to leave." His voice was cold and Matt vaguely wondered what the girl saw in him, for it was painfully obvious that she was in love with him.
"But Light," she wined, her lips pulling down to form a cute pout. "I wanted to spend time with you too."
Light cringed. "Later Misa. I have some business I need to conduct. You understand that right?"
"Aww, fine," she sulked, leaving the room at a slow pace, but not before turning around and sticking her tongue out in Mikami's direction.
When she was finally gone Light sighed. "That girl is driving me crazier by the day."
Mikami's face broke out into a grin that Matt had only seen when he was being beaten. "You know there are ways I could… delete her."
Light's eyes narrowed and he shook his head. "No, she has her uses."
"Whatever you say," Mikami responded, his tone doubtful.
At this Light smiled. "Think about it Mikami. Misa is completely head over heels in love with me. I have her wrapped around my little finger. She'll do anything I ask of her… if you catch my drift."
Mikami laughed a cruel, cold one that sent shivers down Matt's spine. It wasn't hard to figure out; these two men were cruel and sadistic people. He didn't quite understand what they were talking about, but whatever it was couldn't be good. He concentrated on making himself as inconspicuous as possible. The last thing he wanted to do right now was to draw attention to himself in a room alone with those two.
"I was thinking cyanide," Mikami said in an offhand tone.
"No, too risky. It has to be something less suspicious, something that can be hidden easily in food."
Matt's eyes widened. He wasn't very educated in the study of toxicology, but by the sounds of it, they seemed to be planning on poisoning someone… to kill. That would explain the malicious exchange of glances, but the question was who? Matt didn't want to stick around to find out.
As they talked, Matt had slowly backed away towards the door, inch by inch so no one would notice. Now the two men were completely caught up in their heated discussion, arguing about which poison to use apparently. No one was paying any attention to the silent red head about to slip out the door.
Matt ever so cautiously slid through the doorway, resisting the urge to bolt the moment he was out. His instincts were screaming at him to run, as his nerves and furiously beating heart tried to take over his actions. Slowly he walked away from the door, constantly looking over his shoulder. If he ran now—like he so desperately wanted to—they would hear him for sure, then he'd have no chance of escape. Of course, Mikami could look around any second now and discover his missing slave, but hopefully he'd be long gone before that happened.
Matt was shaking now, his hands trembling violently in nervousness at the thought of being caught. His eyes were focused straight ahead at his mental finish line; the spot were it would be safe to start running. Just a few more feet and he'd be free.
Almost stumbling over his own feet as he rounded the first corner, Matt let out a sigh, but there was no sense of relief in it. The initial escape was always easy, it was staying hidden that was the problem. Picking up his pace to a quick jog, he traveled down the torch lit hallway. Surprisingly he had yet to see anyone else traveling the halls, though he was careful to keep his pace moderately normal, for running would look too suspicious in a place like this.
It didn't take him long to realize he had no chance of finding his way out. The ever winding hallways made sure of that. He had no idea whether he was heading towards the exit or going deeper into the palace quarters. Either way, he'd have to find a place to hide soon. If he really was going in circles than there was a chance he could run straight into Mikami himself, now wouldn't that be swell.
By now Matt was fairly jumpy. He couldn't comprehend why he had yet to run into anyone. He was in the King's palace for gods' sake; he should have run into a servant or something by now. Matt wasn't sure how much more anxiety he could take. With every corner he expected to run into Mikami himself, but it was always just false alarms. With only his footsteps echoing around him, it was just way too eerie.
Suddenly there was a shout from around the corner up ahead. "Shit!" Matt cursed, looking around for some place to hide. The only visible place was a doorway a ways further down the hall. Grinding his teeth together in frustration he ran towards it, darting inside just before three heavily armoured figures came around the corner. He wasn't safe yet though and his eyes scanned the room, searching for a further hiding place. Immediately to his left stood a large wooden chest—a little too obvious of a hiding place, but it would have to suffice. Hopefully it wasn't locked.
Grabbing the top of the chest, he pushed the top up with all the strength he could muster, sighing in relief when it opened. Wasting no time, he dived inside, closing it slowly so it didn't make a loud noise to alert someone. He stilled his breathing, listening intently. He had hoped to avoid having to enter a strange room, but he had been left with no choice.
Matt resisted the urge to curse as he heard footsteps enter the room. If they decided to check in the chest, he was screwed. To his surprise though, someone spoke. "What do you think you're doing in here?"
"Our deepest apologises, my lord. We are looking for a teenage boy, we were just checking to see if he had come in here."
Matt's eyes widened and his heart seemed to stop beating. My lord? He had chosen to hide in the King's room!Holy shit, he was dead!
"Well," the must be King barked back, "He's obviously not in here! So get out, you're disturbing me!"
"U-Uhh, s-sorry, my lord," one of the guards stuttered, bowing deeply.
Matt's mind reeled. What the hell was happening? Whoever was in the room had to have seen him come in, so why had he lied to the guards? The stories he had heard of the King killing people with his bare hands came flashing back to Matt's mind. That had to be it; the King wanted to kill him himself.
Gods, his mouth was feeling awfully dry at the moment.
Matt lay still, cramped inside the chest, waiting for his impending doom. Sure enough, footsteps echoed around the room, coming in his direction. His muscles tensed as he waited for the worst; hopefully it would be quick and painless.
The trunk lid flew open and Matt squeezed his eyes shut and waited… and waited. So the King was the type that liked to torture, shit! Slowly he creaked his eyes open to find himself staring into the angry blue eyes of a thin blond boy. The boy's eyes narrowed as Matt met his gaze. If Matt had any doubt that this guy was the King, it was long gone after looking into those eyes.
"You better have one hell of a good excuse," he said, and Matt believed him.
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A/N: So… what do you guys think? I don't usually like writing/reading AUs, but thanks to a certain someone I've had it in my head to write a fanfic that takes place in Ancient Egypt. This is as close as its getting to that. Drop me a line to tell me if you think it's worth continuing or not.