Yu-Gi-Oh: A Past and Future Pharaoh
Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
Beta By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
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"No, I haven't seen them, but I don't want you to discuss this with any of them," Yugi answered the phone pressed against his ear. He sat in the plush seat of Kaiba mansion, his eyes strolled down to look at his black leather clad legs and beyond. The table before him was clear of any clutter, and realistically speaking Kaiba mansion was a very sterile looking place. More so than expected given Mokuba's age, so much so in fact that Yugi felt like the sole spot of color in the place.
"Are you sure?" Isis asked from the other end of the line.
Leaving Yugi quietly sitting there for a moment pondering that question, if he 'should' bring the others into this conversation. Pulling in his legs he straightened his posture for a moment of retrospect before he began to laugh softly to himself. "Was this what it would have been like if I hadn't died?"
"Yugi?"
"If I hadn't died back in Egypt, would it be kind of like this, us talking over matters... Its kind of nice actually. Just getting to talk," Yugi explained with a faint smile on his lips, tilting his head to the side just enough to make his bangs brush up against the corner of his mouth.
"Undoubtedly, though I'm sure Mahaado and Seto would have occupied the most time given their positions," Isis answered. Her own thoughts going back to those days and finding soft amusement at the 'what could have beens'. "About the others though-"
"No. Don't tell them, see what you can find out first, every avenue that's open to you still to investigate. I need to know how to plan this out because if we let the others know, you 'know' how that will go. This takes patience and planning and until I have something that I can use, there's no point in getting them in a frenzy." Yugi argued sitting up straight so his bangs would settle properly in framing his face. While he rested his free hand on the arm of the love seat, lightly gripping the edge.
"I understand," Isis' voice came off soft, passive, but then with a hint of warm hearted light added, "Oh Pharaoh."
Yugi broke into a soft laughter at that, his head leaned back as he looked up at the ceiling above him. "You have a good day, and hopefully things will turn out better for all of us."
"... Yes, because aren't you going out today? I was hesitant to call because-," Isis answered, her voice faltering slightly because of the things she 'saw'.
"Yeah, and its fine, regardless of what goes on in my life, when something comes up you're free to contact me. The world won't stop turning just because you let me know something's up," Yugi pointed out gently.
"Yugi... I don't want a repeat of what happened all those years ago," Isis argued softly.
"You're telling me?" Yugi gave a soft, almost mournful, chuckle, "See you later Isis."
"As you wish Pharaoh..."
He hung the phone up quietly, listening to the soft sound of plastic against plastic before he pushed himself to his feet. Yugi looked up towards where Mokuba's bedroom was and was grateful that he had already discussed this with the kid the night before. Even though Kaiba was fine, albeit recovering, Yugi had not wanted to really have any company for this. Thankfully, despite his barely suppressed anxiety Mokuba was in agreement on staying home.
Not that there was any 'fun' to be found in a graveyard.
So Yugi walked into the sterile, white kitchen to find Fugata sitting at the table with a cup of coffee and the newspaper in his hand. The man looked up at Yugi before folding the newspaper and pushing himself to his feet.
"Thank you, I don't want to be dropped off right in front, I apologize about this little trip," Yugi offered as the bodyguard approached him.
"No need for apologies Mr. Mouto, you're under Lord Kaiba's care and you're more an asset here than any type of trouble," the older man stated briskly as the pair walked out to the limo parked in the front of the mansion. Fugata in his clean pressed business suit, the well maintained lawn, the white mansion and there was Yugi, in his black leather pants his white button on shirt and his hair that belonged in a Shinjuku apartment... So much the sore thumb sticking out.
The limo had been washed and a new layer of wax applied giving it a bright silver white that was balanced with its dark tinted windows. Fugata walked to the passenger side and opened the door for Yugi, standing at attention while Yugi slipped into the heated darkness of the limo.
He settled down comfortably in the seat and as Fugata shut the door and made his way to the drivers side, Yugi was struck by the solitude. This was the first time he actively sought to do something completely alone. It was an interesting moment of introspection really, as the Kaibas were both tied up, Seto running the company through Mahaado. Mokuba was alone in his room by his own choice, though Yugi was a bit surprised to find that Mokuba had no friends of his own age.
While Bakura and Malik were staunchly dedicated to go about finding that damnable book and destroy it once and for all. First by bringing Jounouchi, then Anzu, perhaps it would have been better to just make the transport rings into a four way rather than three. Honda was either in rehab or studying for tests which left Yugi with only Kuriboh. That his only companion he could possibly have was a brown ball of fur with eyes and limbs?
But even that little fluff was more for keeping an eye on Mokuba to keep him safe rather than follow Yugi around. For which Yugi found himself appreciating this solitude, the silence allowed him to think without added input. Freedom to think between the life of a normal citizen of a city while recalling his life as a prince. The difference between doing things for himself versus having it done for him.
By this point he could recall Maha being in his life daily, and Yugi still found the reality of that life depressing. Mahaado never let the little Prince see his back, every time the Prince did there was a follow up royal sized tantrum. Yugi now understood the logic from his past life, the frustration that someone precious to him was being whipped upset him. More over, he couldn't express 'why' he was angry and his dear Maha both picked up on this and merely covered up.
Indeed he remembered his ancient parents, and found the curiosity in that his grandpa and dad were reincarnated as his family in this life. Yet not his royal mother, he didn't know 'where' she went or who she reincarnated as, perhaps she opted to not return at all. Yet he could see his Ancient Pharaoh of a father in his modern dad. For what he could recall of the man's features seeing that Yugi hadn't seen his dad well into five years at this point.
Perhaps though, it was for the best that His past life Mother wasn't in his life, no one deserved to repeatedly be reborn only to have their lives cut short. Yet the memory of her brought a smile to his lips as he caught a glance of his reflection in the mirror like sheen of the window. It was from her that he got his tricolor hair after all, and his vibrant violet eyes.
And it was that thought that made him snap shut those memories as the wrongness in them made his stomach twist. His Queen mother passed away of 'illness', one he saw every day from the evil that came from the Sennen Items in the palace. It certainly was an eerie sensation to recall as a child the evil that came from the Items and not be able to articulate it.
The city was as cold as ever, each building sitting stone face erect in their own plots of land. The limo rolled through the streets smoothly heading for the remains of the Game Shop, a location that the neighbors recognized as Yugis' default place to go when he wanted to walk and not be pampered via the limo. Or helicopter since why 'would' Seto want to ride through the streets of Domino when he officially got his own license.
And somehow could get Maha to pilot it second hand, but Yugi wasn't going to question what Seto could do when he set his mind to it.
At least Yugi was free to use the limo and the peace found in its expansive interior allowed him to sit and ponder. After all, he had three people who were High Priests and capable of telling him of the religious practices of the time period. The notion that 'no one' could see the poisonous power seeping out of the Items was disconcerting, and perhaps it also tied into the Other Yugi's imprisonment in the Puzzle?
It was a question for later though, because Fugata was parking the limo to the side of the road, meaning it was time for Yugi to step out. Once the door was open he stepped out, under the bright sun again and gave Fugata a brief nod. "I'll go to the Kaiba building and ride back from there," Yugi told the man.
"Of course, see you then, sir," Fugata answered before shutting the door and returning to the drivers seat at the front of the limo.
Yugi waited until the limo pulled out before he finally took to walking alone to the graveyard. The concrete under his boots seemed to ground down into sand with each step, the tearing of each grain carried away another word that he had thought to say. And like time and time before, Yugi would reach the front of the graveyard, stop and walk away. Whatever words or courage he may have mustered having retreated from him.
"Hi Yugi."
Her voice came out of nowhere, literally startling Yugi out of his thought process as his eyes went from the pavement to where Anzu was patiently sticking her head out from the side of the wall that led to the graveyard.
"um, yeah, you've been making a pattern of this and I just thought I would follow. See what's going on and..." Anzu gave a weak, nervous laugh and shrug, wondering if she overstepped her boundaries by stalking Yugi like this. Unlike say his fans who stalked him to a lot of other places and times.
Yugi blinked a few times, his face pretty near blank with surprise as he tried to process the fact that this was becoming a 'routine'? His attempts, and fails, to say his good byes were now traceable? His eyes lowered and he gave a slight shrug, "That obvious huh?"
Anzu stepped down and joined him, nodding slightly while keeping a concerned eye on Yugi's face. "Am I intruding? I thought you would feel better with company?"
He grew thoughtful as he stood there and having been forced to realize he wasn't going to make it on his own. As much as he wanted to 'be' alone, that he would have to bow to the reality that somethings apparently couldn't be handled alone. "I thought I could do this by myself, but apparently I can't and if that's the case. I'd be glad if you don't mind watching me lose it..."
Anzu quick stepped herself over to his side, wordless yet supportive in her closeness. Sure perky and vocal was normally how she functioned, but she wasn't stupid and was well aware there were times when silence was better. It also hurt, from the first time she saw him attempt to make this trek alone, she hadn't approached because she recognized the situation. But watching him standing at the foot of the stairs, looking up, the apprehension before walking away had been heart breaking. Even with her little trip with Bakura and Malik yesterday, she had been unable to forget what today was.
"I came here once... for mom's family. Grandpa didn't have anyone else save dad and he's still at work.." Yugi mentioned in absence as though he was trying to recall something. "But I was pretty on autopilot the whole time. I don't remember clearly where they are..."
Anzu blinked back the moisture in her eyes as she gently tugged Yugi down a particular area and began passively guiding him to the gravestones. Among all the stones she knew where they had been laid to rest, and she watched as he quietly broke from her side as he started to piece together which stone was the one he needed. Allowing her to take in his appearance, the button on white shirt, the black leather pants. The long leather coat bore a slight blue sheen to its fabric and overall Yugi looked more like a model or a prince.
A person could easily take a picture of Yugi, with his hair down his shoulders, and the darkness of his clothes against the brightness of the light gray stones giving a good contrast. And for all that, he felt almost ghost like, as though he would disappear if she blinked. But given what she had seen yesterday, the facts given to her by Bakura and Malik. That Yugi had to die and be sealed away in Egypt made the very real possibility that it could happen again more visceral and frightening.
Just pieces of Yugi, of all of them, drifting away on the wind.
While Yugi took those few remaining and terribly painful steps onward so he could actually visit the gravestone. Where his grandpa and mom's names were etched with computerized efficiency to record their day of birth and the day of their deaths. It was then that his mind started choking on thoughts, the reality that he had 'died' three thousand years ago. That he was literally doing the same thing that Seto had done for him.
"What... do I say?" Yugi finally asked the gravestone. "I've been where you are? I died too.." He looked down at his hands, as his mind raced along the thoughts of where the Other Yugi had resided. "We've both died before Grandpa, we know how this works... I'm just sorry that you couldn't have a peaceful departure. I'm sorry that both times it was through an act of violence..."
Yugi covered his mouth for a moment as he tried to breath, this was so hard! "But thanks, thank you for coming back and being my grandpa again. Thank you for every time you comforted me, thank you for understanding what I was going through growing up. Thanks for tolerating all the madness when I put the Puzzle together. It couldn't have been comfortable having your soul sealed in a card, or magically knocked out. But I guess that's par for the course with nobility huh?"
Yugi gave a weak, faint laugh as he stood there feeling the tears roll down his cheek that distorted his vision just enough to let him slide his gaze to his mom's name. It was then the pain really hit, odd perhaps to some. That as bad as his grandpas death 'was', his mom's was harder, "hi mommy... I've been bad haven't I?" he approached her name and pressed his fingers against the stone. "Always about the puzzle, about cards and games, about grandpa... and I never made enough time for you."
He knelt down in an effort to get closer to her, despite that being months too late, "I suppose I'm not supposed to blame myself. I'm supposed to be ok with everything because hey, I saved the world even if no one else knows right? But its not ok. I never paid enough attention to what went on around me unless it was contextualized in a game. I can't remember the smell of your perfume or what your favorite food is, or maybe I never knew what it was to start with. And that isn't right, these people who are after me. Its 'me' they want and you became collateral damage, but you're not 'collateral', you're my mommy. You didn't deserve to have your life taken away, you should have been allowed to grow old and die peacefully in your sleep."
Yugi struggled to breath as the knots in his stomach came up as knots in his throat making every word a struggle. It was an agonizing confessional feeling, a shameful one as well for as many times as he tried and failed to come and see them. How many times he just blithely ran off to deal with the Sennen Items. Because it wasn't as though he actively shut his mom out, free from the Sennen Items and the madness they caused, he 'had' been making an effort to be around her more.
And now...
"Mommy I'm so sorry..."
He crumpled as he knelt there, folding his tall frame over with his hand still resting against the stone. Perhaps in the end that was why his original mother hadn't been reborn as well, for what justice was there in an innocent person dying 'twice' while in their youth? Yet the ability to recall his Egyptian mother so well, felt like a violation of what should have been a modern bond to his modern life mother. Though logic spoke of how he was remembering the past. He wouldn't have remembered her as well in his past life as he got older.
"I got my grades up, so if dad had been giving you grief about that, I've been working on it. I think Seto wants me to work at Kaiba Corp. He keeps grumbling about shoving me in the R&D department so he can keep an eye on me," Yugi explained with a faint weak laugh. "But that might just be his old life talking, can't tell really."
Anzu stood there, just far enough to see what he was doing, but not hear what he was saying. That he was, apparently, sneaking out to try and do this conveyed his need for privacy. The distance also allowed her to have a moment to grieve on her own. With Yugi, she could be more honest about her emotions, freeing her to remember Gramps and Yugi's mom. Two honest, good people, and if the group that Bakura was hunting wasn't caught soon. This could be the fate of her, her parents, the world, all to restore a demon hell bent on destroying the world.