Yu-Gi-Oh: A Past and Future Pharaoh
Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
A/N: Remember over a year ago when you wanted to know what was happening 'outside' of Kaiba's head? Well here's your reward! What was happening at that time!
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Another hotel.
With Valon enjoying the view immensely. His eyes traced the detailed lines of the magazine he held. This enthusiasm was unmistakable as he shifted the centerfold so the light from the window didn't obscure his vision. Not even the sound of the shower shutting off was enough to turn his attention away from the magazine.
The cellphone left on the table next to him on the other hand, did.
An idle glance at the screen caused a double take before he dropped the magazine on the table. Picking it up quickly he flipped it open, "ello?"
There was a startled squeak from the other other of the line before a few stammered out apologies were given. Young, female and Japanese. "Oi, hey... Ansu? Amzu... Shit... Anzu! That's it, you're Mai's friend yeah?" He blurted out in a desperate rush as he went from casual reclining to anxiously leaning forward in seconds.
"Ha... yes... uh..."
"She took a shower, she'll be out soon just hold on," Valon rambled as he rushed to the bathroom. "Hey Mai- god you look good wet you know..." He blurted out as the door he knocked open swung out. The steam that hit his face doing nothing to compete with his blood nor obscuring his vision. Mai shot him a look that brought him back to the present as he held up the phone in answer.
The duelist answered by reaching for the phone without thought before she quickly wiped away the water. Irritably she pushed her blond hair away from her ear and placed it as close to her head as she dared given her shower. "Anzu? You ok?"
"I-I'm sorry. Am I interrupting..." Anzu stammered in confusion. Her voice was raw and weak, making Mai only able to think that the girl had been crying.
"That was Valon don't worry bout him, I saw the shooting," Mai began when Anzu broke down into a fit of sobbing. Mai closed her eyes at the heartbroken sound, knowing it far too well on her own. Valon shut the bathroom door, after grabbing the hanging bathrobe for her. "Its going to be ok Anzu," Mai began as she slipped into the robe. "Just start at the beginning..."
"He knew Mai. He knew the shooting was going to happen..." Anzu choked between sobs while Mai and Valon left the bathroom.
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ Anzu's tale \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
There were some things in life that one didn't expect. Being invited to attend Kaiba's grand announcement was one of those things. But that said, neither was stepping outside the apartment complex where she lived to find Isono with the limo idling. Waiting with all the professional patience of someone who worked for Kaiba. 'Huh? Yugi and Kaiba are at the stadium I'm sure, soo... no Mokuba? That's weird...' Anzu thought as she looked about for a particular bushy black haired boy.
But no one popped up, only Isono waiting with that eternal patience of his. "Um... Hi Mr. Isono... um what's the occasion?" She finally asked as she approached him.
"Mr. Mouto requested that I drive you to the stadium," Isono answered promptly as he opened the door for her.
'Pick up everyone?' she thought in surprise before stepping into the limo. Again no Mokuba so she could only assume that even Mokuba was at the stadium as well. Only Honda was found inside, sitting off to the side, cane at his side and another notebook on the seat. 'Gee Yugi,' she thought in amusement as she made herself a seat and sighed at the softness of the limo seat. The window that served to block the driver from the passengers was down. But it wasn't as though Honda would hear her with anything less than a shout. So she gestured to his notebook and once in hand, she began writing questions.
"So, Yugi and the Kaibas are at the stadium huh?" She asked in an effort to make small talk while Isono made his way to the drivers' seat. Though it was super awkward to be writing a question and see the answer written above it. Invasive to another conversation really, but it wasn't as though he could restrict things to a page per person. It 'was' Isono after all.
"Yeah, he wrote that Yugi asked him to pick us all up, as well as Mokuba. I can only assume its to help hold the kid down." Honda answered with an amused grin one that Anzu faintly shared.
Mokuba was probably wigging out at the mansion, and she had to wonder exactly why the pair opted to leave the poor boy behind. But with that they sat in companionable silence, since Honda was more Jonouchi's friend while Miho was Anzu's. Eventually the Ishtars' joined them, Malik half sleeping between his elder siblings. Jonouchi wasn't really any better, Anzu had to physically go up to his apartment to get him. Since he fell asleep mid dressing himself before she could lead him to the limo.
The younger Kaiba was... a thing. From a distance they could see the small child pacing back and forth. As the limo drove up he didn't even wait for it to come to a stop before he rushed forward as though he would jump through one of the numerous windows if he could. Despite it being protocol for the driver to let Mokuba in, Anzu felt bad enough to open the door and let the boy bound in. Expediting their trip by letting Isono resume driving them off the grounds with little pause.
"How could they!" Mokuba demanded as he threw himself into his seat. Barely buckling himself in with his head down and his hands shaking. Even though he was clearly anxious the boy was dressed for a presentation, his business suit ever tailor made in stern blues.
The demand made Anzu blink in surprise before moving over to sit beside the boy. She helped the young boy put his seat belt on before reaching for the one for her seat.
"That's Big Brother's seat..." Mokuba cut her actions off before patting the seat to his left for her.
'That... oh Mokuba,' Anzu thought, it wasn't good that his response was preserve Kaiba's seat. A stark reminder that the poor child was under enough stress. "Oh I'm sorry," she answered hurriedly and moved to where he had motioned. Perhaps it was merely humoring the child, but he had gone through enough as it stood. He hadn't been brought along to the event, something that felt impossible given the brothers' close knit connection. There had to be some reason the pair had left Mokuba behind, and Anzu sat there racking her brain trying to fathom what reason it was.
Perhaps it had been born out of stress the boy had gone through enough shake ups in the past year. Having to help Mahaado in his... performance could have worn the child down. Not to mention those rare moments when Yugi, in passing, implied that Mahaado acted more like... a 'young Seth rather than Kaiba'. That he read from a script different than the ones they knew.
"Seth? I thought Kaiba's name was 'Set'," Anzu asked with a raised eyebrow.
"It was, but I called Mahaado 'Maha', so Kaiba did to, and Maha's 'revenge' was calling Set, Seth," Yugi replied with a grin. "At least that's how he told the story," the Duelist confessed with a slight shrug.
"Well don't worry, we'll be there soon. We just need to pick up Ryou and we'll be on our way to the stadium." Anzu offered soothingly.
"Did they tell you why they snuck out and left me?" Mokuba asked, his voice quivering while he rested his fists on his knees.
"You've been such a hard worker, helping your brother while he's been recovering," Isis spoke up. Her tone the gentle mothering tone that was honed once her mother had died leaving her to look after Malik. "Yugi recognized how hard you were working and told me he feared wearing you out. So he decided to let you sleep. This was merely an act of appreciation Mokuba not an act of maliciousness."
There was a small sound of him swallowing which caused Anzu to dip her head down just enough that she caught a glance of possible tears. 'Oh Mokuba...'
"That's what he said when I called..." Mokuba answered finally before he cleared his voice. "He said we would talk about it when they got home."
From that point there was no real conversation in the limo. Either people were lost to their own thoughts or lost to the sleep sheep. The ride through Domino was peaceful, the limo riding so smooth that Anzu herself had started to nod off.
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ Mai and Valons hotel room \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
"Anzu?" Mai's voice softened in a way that Valon hadn't heard before.
Awkwardly he went to hang up her bathrobe wanting to give the girls their privacy. Mai had put on some clothes during the retelling... But he didn't really want to leave either.
"So... this is the super important CEO? Guy's a kid," Valon commented as he watched said kid give his spiel. But Mai just shrugged with a careless grin on her face.
"Yeah that's Kaiba. CEO of KaibaCorp by age 17, he's hosted a tourney on his own by turning all of Domino city into a battleground. He's young, but he's got clout... Then there's Little One..." Mai's grin became more warmer, fonder even. "Him and Anzu, Jounouchi all of them. They're all kids yeah, but they have heart and honestly.. they were the first ones to make me feel like I was a human being in a long time."
"'Little One'?" Valon repeated leaning back with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah, well his name is 'Yugi' he's just a short kid though, he's 17, same age as Kaiba but he looks like a 10 year old. Sweet boy, they're all sweet..." Mai's voice drifted as she watched the broadcast. But it was clear that she was more focused on the tv than talking so Valon turned his attention back to his magazine.
It was Mai's horrified cry that got his attention first.
Kaiba going on about his vision was one thing, it was the out of place movement of the fabric used for the backdrop that got her attention. Quick, noticeable, sudden and suddenly there was a red dot on Kaiba's chest. Mai felt her stomach drop in that instant, a laser sight mark was already at his heart. Her mind shrank away from the realization that she was about to see Kaiba get shot. Yet she couldn't turn her gaze away.
Sound couldn't escape her lips though, only a horrified choked gasp when someone pushed Kaiba out of the way. So fast, so sudden she could only see a blur of sunset colors and black as the person took the bullet. Blood sprayed into the air and somehow it served as a red stained visual white noise.
Desperate for something else to look at, but craving more information Mai's eyes dipped down to the subtitles. They had been translating Kaiba's speech in real time but now there was nothing, only a black band across the screen. Then the announcements' visuals were pulled off and for what felt like an eternity, there was only silence. There was nothing left they could show given it was a shooting. Before the station went live again only this time it was outside, with some other Japanese reporter.
She spoke about the shooting, that Kaiba appeared to be safe, but Mai knew Yugi's colors and if anyone was brazenly brave enough to take a bullet. It was Yugi.
"What 'bout Yugi?"
"It... it sounds. I don't know I saw Kaiba get shoved to the side, it was a blur of color. I could have sworn that it was Yugi only way too, tall.." Mai's eyes glistened in shock and Valon got up to walk over to her. "Damn it Valon, I think Yugi took the bullet. Those kids must be a mess right now..." she buried her face into his abs, breathing in the faintest scene of motor oil and sweat that clung to the clothes.
'Anzu's going to be a wreck,' Mai thought as her stomach twisted.
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ Anzu \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
She could see from the window as Ryou fairly burst out of his own apartment front entrance. He was a flurry of white in blue jeans and a button on shirt, tearing away from where the limo was coming from.
"He's in a hurry," Honda noted with a frown clear in his voice.
A frown that was also on Anzu's face as quickly undid her seat belt before she hurried to the limo door. The limo was already coasting to the side while Anzu rolled down the window. "Ryou? What's going on?" She called out and watched as her voice tripped him up.
Ryou pulled up short and when he looked at her there was just something there. Something that hit the pit of Anzu's stomach with a weight of fear. His eyes were wide, naked fear as he eyed the sidewalk he had just been running on. That he was afraid, in a hurry, and so much of a hurry that even stopping to explain might be considered too long was a red flag.
"Where are you going?" Ryou asked, without even preamble polite greetings, just cutting straight to the questions.
And when 'Ryou' was being rude, something was wrong.
"We're going to see Yugi and Kaiba," Anzu answered without thought, which got Ryou to literally rush the limo. She couldn't even process his movements and barely got the door opened before he was fairly squirming past her.
He flung himself down onto the seat as Anzu shut the door behind him. Her limbs feeling ungainly and awkward as she clumsily made her way to her seat. But his raw energy was enough wake up Jounouchi and Malik, and make him the focus of everyone's attention.
"Ryou what's wrong?" Jounouchi asked glancing around the limo and settling his eyes back onto the white haired teen.
Ryou looked everyone over, his expressive shock started getting shuttered by some form of thought that he was having. He closed his eyes before turning to look, not at anyone in the back of the limo with him, instead his gaze went to the back of Isonos' head. "Where are you actually taking us?"
"Domino General Hospital," Isono answered eternally neutral in tone to off set the explosion in the back.
"Hospital?!" Mokuba tried to jump out of his seat only to get held in by his seat belt.
But his words were an echo of Anzu's own voice, while Jounouchi and Malik were now fully awake and aware.
"Why? Why are we going there?!" Jounouchi demanded with all eyes targeting Ryou in their complete flabbergasted shock.
The teen looked around the enclosed space, taking in every pair of eyes that were locked on him. His gaze seemed to linger on Isis more than any of them as she transcribed the conversation for Honda. The frown on the white haired teens' face only deepened as he did so. "You don't know... How are you in here if you don't know?"
"I don't care! Why are we going to the hospital!?" Mokuba demanded having unleashed himself from his seat belt he rocketed forward to reach Isono only to have Ryou snag him mid run. The teen held Mokuba back, restraining the kid in the gentlest fashion he could come up.
"Isono was literally waiting for me outside my apartment... Yugi sent him to take us to the stadium..." Anzu answered growing weak from mounting fear.
"He 'told' you the stadium, but he's 'taking' you to the hospital..." Ryou elaborated before dropping his head into his hands, releasing Mokuba. Not that the kid was trying to escape anymore. He sat by Ryou looking up in desperation
"Kura..." Malik finally spoke up, but he was using Egyptian, something that Ryou understood and answered. Because the blond turned pale and dropped his own gaze.
"My Spirit Mother brought word... There was a shooting at the stadium, Yugi took two bullets to the chest to save Kaiba. She doesn't understand open heart surgery all that well, and they're all afraid to accidentally fry something. Kaiba is ok, in shock but ok... But Yugi... She doesn't sound like he's going to make it."