Yu-Gi-Oh: A Past and Future Pharaoh
Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
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'Spirit Mother? Soo Bakura's gone a little odd apparently,' Mai thought as she looked over at Valon. Nice guy as he was, he didn't pick back up his magazine and was instead waiting for her to give some instruction. Like an obedient chocolate lab really, and that dedication and focus was reassuring. Even if he could neither hear or understand what Anzu was recounting.
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"He's been shot? What happened? Did she say what happened?" Jounouchi demanded while Ryou sat there with his head in his hands.
"I was sleeping, she came in and woke me up saying he had been shot. As I was getting ready she organized a bit of a relay with the spirits in the area. The last bit of information I got was that he was still on the table, but as I said. They're afraid to get too close, surgery isn't something they fully understand. So what they can say ultimately is little more than 'yes he's alive'," Ryou began as Mokuba rushed out of his seat belt to go and sit by Ryous' side in desperation.
"Kaiba is physically ok, we can expect to see blood on him when we get there. But that's Yugi's not his, he tried to stop to bleeding with his bare hands." Ryou offered before his gaze went up to the pair he had been traveling with. "But he's in shock, the spirits are all reporting that he's acting abnormal, almost like a puppet. He stops moving then starts again, and he's swapping to Ancient Egyptian from time to time. Like he's flashing back," Ryou finished with a quiet, almost frustrated, sigh.
Malik and Ryou began conversing with each other, but it was in Egyptian, a language that only two other people could understand...
"Japanese please! Some of us want in on this conversation!" Jounouchi reminded the pair heatedly.
"Sorry," Malik answered while Ryou shrugged.
"There's not much we can discuss, somehow Isono and possibly Fugata were in on this to some degree or another. But we can't exactly stop and grill Isono for what he knows when he's our fastest means to the hospital." Sound though Ryou's explanation was, his gaze became fixed on Isis before turning his attention back to the gang.
Not that she noticed, since she was still transcribing everything for Honda. 'We're going to take off running and poor Honda's going to be left in the dust...'
"I believe we're almost there," Rashids' voice rumbled through the limo. His deep, calm voice served to shake up Anzu's focus, reminding her that he was there. That, in fact, he and Isis were the literal adults of their group now, and as terrified as Anzu was... It wasn't like they were on their own.
Their own...
Yugi had been shot.
Kaiba was in shock...
So who did that leave in charge of them?
'What do we do now?' Anzu thought as she sat there, her gaze sinking to the carpeted floor of the limo.
Yet as she looked at the ground the rest of the group were more fixated with the exterior of the limo. Studying the city and trying to guess just how much time was left before they would reach the hospital.
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Hearing nothing from the other side of the line, Valon finally braved a question as he studied Mai. "Guns are illegal in Japan right? Who the hell did that kid piss off so badly that they would violate that law just to take him out?"
"Someone with nothing to lose," Mai replied with a small twist of her lips. Kaiba was rich, but she had no idea that his life was in danger. Though would whoever targeting him 'also' target the gang? From her prospective they were literally the closest things to 'friends' that Kaiba had. Would whoever come after them? 'Nothing like having a sniper lining a shot for you...'
"The limo parked near the entrance," Anzu resumed.
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Somehow, despite sitting next to the door herself, Jounouchi managed to get past her and out. Mokuba probably would have beaten him to it save his short stature. But those two ended up leading the way, running headlong into the hospital with single minded determination. Through the sliding glass doors she could see Fugata standing inside the waiting room.
She couldn't hear the answer she gave the pair in front of her, but she saw them dashing off towards the elevators. Which was all she needed for motivation, turning her own steps down the long pale hallway.
'Keep your eyes up Anzu...' she resolutely told herself as she saw a man with a mop cleaning a faint trace of red. Ryou's foreboding message about Kaiba giving that spot of red more presence than it might have had. Or just the right amount.
The elevator was closed when Jounouchi reached it, so they began gathering in place as he manically pushed the button. Malik and Ryou she expected to be with her, but seeing Isis and Rashid following with just as dedicated earnestness. 'Well Yugi 'was' their Pharaoh I suppose it makes sense that they would run here too...'
"He's still in the operating theater," Jounouchi mentioned as he pushed the button for the fifth time.
"Any word on his condition?" Malik asked, from behind.
"Nothing that Glasses is willing to give," Jounouchi replied in disappointment.
"He... they're saying he's gone..." Ryou answered his voice tight with emotion and shock as the elevator punctuated his statement with a loud ding.
The kind of emotion that got everyone to turn around and look at the teen, hoping, praying that they heard wrong.
"They don't understand the language, but the doctors just covered Yugi's face with the blanket..." Ryou reported as Isis guided everyone into the elevator.
Anzu stood there frozen in shock at the news, barely held back tears began falling as Jounouchi and Mokuba hotly contested Ryou. 'He knew, he knew and he did it anyway. Why? Why not just get better security? Why did Mahaado let this happen?!'
The elevator jerked them up into the air, lifting them up in this oversized coffin while Anzu dropped to her knees. Remembering all those duels where Yugi's life had been on the line yet he won... It turned her memories even further back, to when they had been kids and just how gentle and kind Yugi was.
"But big brother promised that we would talk when he got home... How is he going to come home if he's dead?" Mokuba's voice was softly hitched in his chest as the sound of crying from the boy joined with Anzu's own tears. There was the sound of a fist hitting a wall, but Anzu couldn't be bothered to look up.
As the elevator continued to rise, Anzu found herself enveloped in a strange peace. The shock of the loss was still there, yet somehow it was softly numbed. It was enough that she found herself able to pay attention to her surroundings. Malik and Jounouchi were off on their respective walls, leaning against it and lost to their own thoughts. Isis and Rashid were staring up as though willing the elevator to go faster. With Mokuba looking so small and alone in the corner.
It was Ryou that stood out.
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"Wait..." Mais' eyes were huge and locked on the long turned off television. She stared at her own reflection given the dark tone of the screen. "Did you say Yugi died? How did Bakura know? How could he know just standing in the elevator with you?"
"Well... long story short yeah, he can see a certain group of spirits now... They were traveling to and from the operating theater and giving him updates the whole time." Anzu explained while Mai sank deeper into her seat, if that was possible.
Tears started to roll down her face as she remembered meeting this gang of teens, with the optimistic leader. "Yugi died..."
Anzu was silent for a bit, letting the news settle into Mai before giving a soft, "while we rode up the elevator. It was a strange peace that came over me. I felt like everything would be fine, not to be upset... But I still didn't feel like leaving it, not now."
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"We need to find Kaiba," Ryou suddenly announced, his voice filled with disbelief and wonder.
"What? You just said Yugi's dead and you want us to go find Money Bags?" Jounouchi exploded, Anzu only catching Jounouchi pinning Ryou against the elevator.
"In a word, yes," Ryou, unfazed answered while Rashid moved in to pull Jounouchi back.
Anzu looked around, baffled by this change of stances from Ryou, yet it was this strangely hopeful expression on Rashid's face. The outright 'relief' on Isis' that brought a question to Anzu even as the elevator rang and the doors slid open. Ryou slipped away from all of them, Mokuba hot on the guys' heels and Isis was a shadow following Mokuba.
'Something is going on...' Anzu realized as she ran after the group as the sounds of the others falling in step roused up behind her. Ahead of her Ryou ran as though guided, and probably was, down another long pale hallway. Hope felt tentative in her chest as Ryou turned into a doorway far down the hallway.
"Big Brother!" Mokuba cried out in relief and elation.
Isis nearly swung herself into the room with the way she grabbed the door frame and used it to force a change in her momentum. She called out something, undoubtedly in either modern or Ancient Egyptian which gave Anzu a mental 'huh' but also a vocal one from Malik.
Realizing that the blond was near her, Anzu turned glance at the teen. "So what did she say?"
"'In the Pharaohs' name, there shall be no violence.'" Malik translated, his brows furrowed in confusion and concern.
'She's invoking Yugi's old title? Why? Violence? Its just the three of them?' She wondered as she rushed along with Malik and given the sound, Jounouchi was there too.
By the time she reached the room it was... unsettling.
Kaiba was sitting with Mokuba on his lap, the child curled up against a very bloody suit. Blood covered Kaiba, it was splatted along the front of his suit, on his face and his hands were gloved in the stuff.
Blood, Yugi's blood, all of it from...
Ryou was at the door, having made no effort to enter the room at all, while Anzu and the others spilled in. But Kaiba looked ready to lunge after Ryou and kill him on the spot, while Isis was sitting next to him. Yet when Kaiba turned his fierce, penetrating gaze onto her, it felt wrong.
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"Wrong? How?" Mai asked, as Valon brought her a glass of water.
"It was as though he doesn't recognize us. I'm used to his annoyed, 'what now' look that he gives us. But he was staring at us like we never even met, I mean... I just realized I'm going into territory you know nothing about..." Anzu sighed in muted frustration on her end, earning an sympathetic chuckle from Mai. "The short story is that Yugi and some of the group from Battle City are reincarnations from the same area and time."
Mai blinked before raising her eyebrow. Recalling her time in the hourglass literally separated from her own body. Even the strange nothingness that followed her now, the notion that 'oh reincarnation is in play' felt almost par for the course.
"Reincarnation, so that whole soul stealing and stuff was normal..." Mai asked, wondering if this was a good time to get some actual clarification about what happened those days.
"Eh, for some yes, and that was kind of the thing, Ryou used to be Yugi's enemy and Kaiba worked under Yugi so... Recognizing a threat was the reason that Kaiba was staring daggers at Ryou," Anzu admitted...
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"I think there's a problem," Malik of all people spoke up over Anzu's right shoulder as he peered into the room. He grabbed onto her elbow as Jounouchi began pushing to enter the room only to stop. "Don't Jounouchi... Let sister finish talking to him."
"What are they talking about?" Jounouchi demanded, though he kept his voice low behind Anzu.
"She's not talking to 'Kaiba', she's talking to 'Set', 'Pharaoh Set,'" Malik explained slowly, his voice thick with concern.
"What?" Jounouchi's voice served for Anzu's as she turned to look at the blond Egyptian in surprise.
"Isis is framing all of this as though 'their' Pharaoh brought him here. That the Pharaoh had need of Set and brought him here with his power.. But if that's the case..." Malik explained, his voice soft as he struggled to hear more of what his sister was saying.
"Yugi isn't just a king of games. He's a god all right," Ryou muttered shaking his head. "These are layers of strategy that he's using. Let Isis take control Jounouchi, clearly Yugi and her had a plan worked out."
"Yugi had a plan for getting shot?" Jounouchi demanded as Anzu moved to the seats against the wall perpendicular from Kaiba, or rather Pharaoh Set. The other two followed her obediently while Ryou stayed by the door. Doing his best to not make eye contact with the very tense 'Pharaoh' on the other side of the room.
"Apparently, but we're going to have to wait for the doctors I think. 'Kura's ghosts don't know modern medicine and its probably for the best to wait. Find out from an expert on what happened," Malik suggested. A sound suggestion that both teens nodded and settled back to wait on.
'So... what happened? Did Kaiba's mind break under the stress? I mean he's had a rough several months, but to break so completely...'
Minutes passed by achingly, with Honda entering the room finally, she waved him over. For which he walked over and sitting beside Jounouchi on her left. Malik occasionally giving them updates on what Isis was saying. While Jounouchi took Honda's notebook and began writing what had transpired.
"Why did you run Ryou?" Anzu asked finally, now that they had a moment to themselves.
"Because the spirits said... they..." Ryou's voice went from tentative to awe. "They said Kaiba performed a 'miracle.'"