Yu-Gi-Oh: A Past and Future Pharaoh
Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
Beta By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
A/N: Made a note to fix the extremely sharp cut off between last chapter and this one only to forget. Oh well... fixed now ish...
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"So what do we have right now?" Jounouchi asked, a scant hour after they had left Catherine's' home, now sitting in Bakuras' apartment around the Monster World game. This time without being set up by unearthly hands, rather Bakura had decided that the game would be a good 'world builder' for them to plot out potential ideas.
"One died and everyone scattered, with Travis actually being killed next if not already dead," Bakura answered placing seven pieces on the game board. "But we don't know what drove John to killing himself," as he spoke he laid one piece flat down and started roughly positioning all the still standing pieces in random places.
"Since we're talking potential demonic power, he could have been murdered and the cops just wrote it off as suicide," Malik offered and received a thoughtful nod from Bakura.
While Jounouchi leaned back in his chair, "so like pretending that this is a typical duel. Yugi on one side and Zorc on the other, I guess we would be considered the 'monsters' on the field that they would be using."
Bakura looked at Jounouchi thoughtfully for awhile, as thoughts worked their way through his old memories and current ones. There was this resistance to being 'used' like he had been by Zorc, even if it was by Yugi. But there was something that was dancing on the edges of his memories, that tickled his senses.
"Uh... Bakura... you're going Thief King Mode with that stare," Jounouchi started looking a little disturbed while Malik nodded.
"Yeah, come on 'Kura if you're going to go King on us share why," Malik coaxed patiently.
"I want to say its implausible, pretentious or just plain stupid, yet..." Bakura shook his head as he picked up a tamer game piece and studied it. "But it can't be right, this isn't those old days where the gods were involved with the seasons, or where Egypt was the center of the scientific world."
The pair sat and opted for silence as they let Bakura ramble on, after all sometimes ideas didn't make sense unless spoken out loud. They had left Catherine after a bit, letting the woman have her rest and unleashing the kids back upon their home. But she had given Bakura the old groups' contact information, so they weren't just going blindly through out the world. Jounouchi offering to find out if Yugi was willing to do autographs for the kids. Since he 'had' done them in Canada, however; maybe he wanted something that reflected how he looked now in terms of those pictures?
"A pharaoh was considered a living God, when they died they joined the other Gods.. But, to say that Yugi is a 'god'?"
Jounouchi started to joke about how the little shrimp was tall enough now to be 'godly' in the eyes of his fans. But then he remembered how many people had been harmed and killed and it silenced him.
"Yugi didn't just 'die' though, he sealed himself away from everything to keep Zorc at bay from the world. The next reasonable pharaoh turned god would have been Kaiba," Malik pointed out, leaning back in his own seat his eyes misting over with contemplation. "Kaiba was named after Set, so he might have inherited the original Set's responsibilities. But what was Yugi's Divine name? Without knowing it, I can't say for sure if he would inherit anything himself or was uniquely his own self."
"Yugi is 'not' a god, a reincarnated Pharaoh? Yeah, but a god? Come on guys listen to what you're saying!" Jounouchi argued, feeling this strange hold on his throat, as thoughts he didn't want to think started rising up in the back of his mind. Like say, religious fanatics! Japan was pretty laid back about how they adopted various religious practices but say... Egypt?
"Why would Zorc unleash his wrath when Yugi was still a child though? Back in Egypt he didn't wait long after Yugi became a Pharaoh to start his war, but why 'Yugi'? Why not his father? What was it about Yugi that made it necessary to kill the young Pharaoh? If we can figure out what Yugi represented we might find out a great deal. We know this group is looking for 'God' its possible that they targeted Yugi for that very reason. They may see him as a 'God' and need him for something, or that he has access to a God they need." Bakura argued as he rubbed his eyes and watched the spots dance before his vision. "Ra had three forms, the Rising Sun, the Noon Sun, and the Setting Sun, when you look at Yugi his hair reflects that connection."
"And Isis poisoned Ra thus over taking him as the most powerful sorcerer, which would explain why Yugi would readily keep Mahaado so close. After all a magician already proved themselves clever enough to outwit a stronger power. Not to mention Set is a trusted bodyguard of Ra..." Malik agreed with a nod, though there was enough to send his mind reeling at what they were implying.
'Zorc as Apep, devouring the morning sun, casting the world into eternal darkness.' Bakura thought to himself before shaking his head. "Ok let's stop that train of thought and leave it for the 'next' big task. First things first, find Johns grave and see if we can find anything the cops wouldn't have noticed." Bakura announced, lifting his gaze from Monster World to the two living bodies occupying seats in his room and the residing ghosts around them.
"Uh, how?" Jounouchi asked confused as he looked between the pair. "I mean, break into a police station to look up photos sounds risky."
"Not necessarily, they were in America so cremation isn't the big way to deal with corpses there as it is here. They have space for their dead." Bakura explained thoughtfully as he looked at the game field.
"So can't the ghosts, well can't they just talk to his ghost?" Jounouchi asked, giving cautious glances around for any 'activity'.
"No, they were held prisoner for three thousand years, John would have pro-." Bakura suddenly cut himself off as his mind went darting towards this possible thought.
"Would have what?" Malik attempted to tug the thought in Bakura's head out.
"No. We find the grave first, then I'll talk about what's in my head. I don't want to taint your thoughts with my suggestions," Bakura declined while his eyes were clearly focused on an idea.
"You can't taint our suggestions," Jounouchi pointed out, leaning forward as he grew as invested in Bakuras' expression.
"Honestly I wish Kaiba was more active and we could convince him to join us in this endeavor," Bakura commented as though he didn't hear Malik or Jounouchis' words. "But I can think of three possible situations we'll find when we find the grave."
Bakura looked at the Lady Ghost who, for once, didn't seem beaming in pride at his craftiness and rather invested in his thought process. She hovered by his side on the seat, focused on him as he spoke, "I've relied on all of you as though you were all from the Ring, but that's not true. So can all of you use abilities associated with the Items you were sealed within?"
The ghost looked surprised at his question, while the two other living occupants of the room waited patiently for Bakura. She nodded her answer, but there was something about her expression that warned him that there was more to it than just that. She began gathering up pieces from the game and made gestures with her hands, a rough attempt at expressing an Item. Placing each piece down when he named them properly, the Ankh, the Eye, the Ring, the Rod, the Scale, the Tauk but she didn't grab a piece to represent the Sennen Puzzle, rather she gestured a negative answer to that.
"We'll need the Scales I believe, I'll need to weigh two possibilities when we find that grave," Bakura informed the Lady who nodded.
"So...?" Jounouchi asked cautiously as he stared at the items on the table. It was eerie to see Bakura just talk to empty air and see things move about him. Not to mention the oddness of watching him now as opposed to when they first met him. Like Yugi, with the loss of the Items it was like seeing a new side to Bakura emerge. Yet Jounouchi felt like Bakura was trying to hold it back or suppress it, unlike Yugi who was just letting his changes come as they did. Did Bakura fear who he might be without the Ring to take the blame of his actions?
"So there's no Puzzle, but that makes sense because Yugi and maybe Zorc were trapped in the Puzzle, no other spirits would have been needed. Not if we go the 'gods' route since a God would easily sustain an Item." Malik interjected, facing the game while staring inwardly at some piece of information. A conversation late through the night with his siblings coming to mind, brushed aside by the sheer enormity that it held. "But we may need the Book to understand what the Puzzles' power would have been before those two were trapped in it. Most of the Items could be viewed as means of judging a person, looking into their thoughts, their heart, seeing what their future will bring them. Out of all of them only the Puzzle seems a bit out of place."
"How do we bring this up though? I mean, how do you call someone and say 'Hey I think your family member who offed himself may have been under demonic possession,'." Jounouchi asked, as he leaned back once more to look at the ceiling of the apartment. "Can the ghosts even read the English on a tombstone?"
"They don't read anything really Jounouchi, rather they just home in on a target. Like a sixth sense if you will," Bakura explained before nodding. "I've been thinking the same thing too, which would be better? Approaching the family or friends or just going to the grave itself."
"Easy," Malik answered with a indifferent shrug. "We go to the grave, find out what we can, if its just a simple suicide or if there was some other influence. After that we can look up twins and that lady, Josie, whatever else they add will help us figure out if there was something mystical or demonic or just plain nothing. Because if something just pushed John to ending his own life, and we show up that's going to put them on alert. I mean, come on, take a look at the three of us, we don't look like a 'massive' portion of the rest of the planet. They're going to ask questions and we may end up with cops at the graveyard."
The response earned a pair of slow wordless nods, as both pondered his plan of action and finding really no fault in it. They wouldn't even have to get 'close' to the grave itself hopefully, maybe camp outside see if the Ghosts pick up anything from the start. From that point if there 'was' something they could just wander the graveyard in a, seemingly, innocent stroll.
"So what about Travis? Do we tell his friends that he's in danger? It feels pretty wrong to dump the potential murder of their friend on them. They don't know 'anything' of what's happening, and to them magic is no more than slight of hand illusions. How do we convince them that his life is in actual danger? Especially if there was nothing to Johns' death?" Bakura asked to the room in general as he ran his fingers through his white hair and looked at the tips.
"At the easiest we just tell them that Monte isn't well in the head and he went after Catherine again. But we just tell them that the people he got in contact with to help him, demanded a high price in payment when it went wrong." Jounouchi offered casually waving his hand before closing his eyes.
"Easy?" Malik lightly retorted. "We started this with just two dead and an injury, that was bad enough. Now we're dealing with dead people that we never had any dealings 'with' and a possible murder on the way all in less than a year. I'm getting glass of water, you guys want anything?"
"Thanks for taking over my kitchen and yes, a glass of water sounds great right now." Bakura replied with a roll of his eyes. Though the blond had a point, from the moment the bomb went off it had been less than a year. Already Yugi and Jounouchi had been kidnapped with the Kaibas, escaped, Yugi had been sealed within a virtual reality game and had to be rescued, Kaiba had been trapped in a hotel in America and came back suffering, off record, severe blood loss. What 'had' been a simple, yeah right, find that demonic book and study for finals had now exploded into even more.
"Hey Bakura?" Jounouchi called from his seat, his voice subdued and uncertain.
"Yes, Jounouchi."
"What did you mean by bringing up the 'God' thing in the first place?" Jounouchi tilted his head to the side to look at Bakura rather than lift up his head. The days' exhaustion was starting to catch up with him. The day's events having drained him enough that anything too deep was enough to weigh him down like physical weights chained to his body.
"There was a message burned into the wall of the Game Shop, but it was written in hieroglyphics. But for you to understand, I'd have to explain 'why' that message is so chilling." Bakura replied, his mind already going back to those ancient times and trying to find the easiest way to explain religious points of view to a modern teenager.
"It was strange because it called for the restoration of a War God that only appears in the light of the moon." Malik sat down and eyed the water with his physical eyes, while his inner eye saw back to that night. His thoughts replaying the memories of the conversation that he had with Isis and Rashid, on their boat. While updating Jounouchi on something they never really got around to explaining to anyone else in the group.
"Set is never known as a creator god, He's a protector God and if Kaiba inherited some of those traits well its natural. Names were very important back in those days, it was believed that knowing the 'true' name of a person gave one power over them. Even Yugi calling Mahaado by a shorten name is reminiscent of that nature, as it protects the magician. So take Set for an example, Set was a god of protection, and Kaiba is very protective of his brother. So whoever Yugi was named after, it would be safe to assume they would believe him to share some type of attribute with that particular God." Malik explained and waited patiently to see if Jounouchi had any questions. He wasn't going to be surprised if that was true either, it wasn't like they dealt with a 'lot' of Ancient Egyptian religious history.
"Going back to Kaiba for a moment, his Egyptian name was 'Set' his modern name is 'Set-o'. We know that 'Oh' can be used as a way to express nobility in Japan so it would be like saying 'Lord Set'. Yugi's name is in the same boat, Yugi meaning 'Game' and add 'Oh' and it becomes a title. 'Yugioh' equaling 'Lord of Games' or better yet 'King of Games', and what are games but the teething toys of war." Bakura picked up what Malik was implying and explained further for Jounouchi.
"Yugi wouldn't like to cause wars, sure he likes games, but that doesn't mean he's some blood thirsty God of destruction." Jounouchi retorted, growing defensive of his friend who wasn't around to defend himself.
"There were several war gods, true, but right now we have two maybe three potential 'gods' that they're addressing. Saying that its a 'war' God might be just a misunderstanding, but if there is a real belief that its a person, it could be Yugi, Kaiba or even Zorc if they deified him." Bakura replied in an attempt to mollify Jounouchis' defensiveness.
"But one thing to keep in mind is that whatever God they think Yugi is, none are really 'that' connected to Ra or Osiris save maybe Sekmet and She would be written as a Goddess." Malik pointed out, unconcerned about Jounouchi's growing displeasure. "Rashid suggested maybe they didn't know which God and just figured out Yugi was the Pharaoh. That perhaps they were stabbing around in the dark and assumed Yugi with a more dangerous or aggressive title."
"The idea that their 'stabbing in the dark' got them blowing up the game shop makes my stomach twist," Jounouchi grumbled before asking the ceiling. "Why can't they just be good ol fashion crazies instead of some great big mystical mafia?"
"Set 'is' a god of Chaos," Bakura pointed out pragmatically, "like it or not, he'll make things go nuts. Considering Kaiba's personality, he may not be even pleased and may in fact be trapped. Unable to get anything done without basically tossing a lot of things in the air."
"Can we... can we, you know, 'not' talk about two people we all know being 'gods'. I don't know about you guys, but that's not what I want to even consider." Jounouchi grumbled, as he ground the palms of his hands into his eyes.
"Sure, well at least we know tomorrow after school we can jump to America and begin the search." Bakura agreed, "you're not crashing here guys."
"We brought our things," Malik countered, with sleepy cheerfulness.
"Take a course in lying, you can't do it right even now," Bakura retorted as Jounouchi pushed himself to standing. "Meet up here?"
"Yeah sure..." Jounouchi agreed before waving and wandering off. With Malik getting up as well and walking out after the other blond.
"Ra, Osiris, if not a war god the small pool of possible other gods is intimidating enough," Bakura noted to the Lady Ghost who was moving the cups back to the kitchen. She nodded as she moved along, her bright baby boy had such a good point.