Yu-Gi-Oh: A Past and Future Pharaoh
Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
Beta By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
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"Thin, tall, long, straight black hair, scars on his upper face... Just how would we have been expected to find this person had we still been alive?" The question was certainly grounded in reality, as the speaker was also a tall, slender man, though instead of scars he had a broken nose. One that was never set back right.
"We're farmers, Supis. No one would have asked us to do anything save maybe some food and water while they continued looking."
"I was being rhetorical but thank you Pa-Heb. I mean, who exactly wants the duty of finding a man who wishes to end his own life?"
"Yes, this feels like such a violation of privacy. But we know the story he wouldn't even 'be' in this state had the demon not gotten involved in their lives.' So maybe if the three can save him, it would be a minor victory of ours over such evil influences." The village elder suggested as she simulated walking up beside the two young men. Both of them had been farmers, their clothes reminders of what would have been their future professions had they lived. One had a broken nose that was never set right, the other had a cheek bone that had been broken in a fight... With the other farmer, so the very fact that they were friends kind of boggled her imagination.
"I'm surprised you're here, given the new bab-," Supis began when Pa-Heb nudged him into silence. The two straightened themselves like soldiers before their leaders earning them a tired, resigned glance from the woman.
"Its fine, I accepted my loss a long time ago," she replied before turning to face the trio that was approaching from behind.
Bakura and his friends had already expressed their apprehension about this whole mission. Not a one of them knew how to deal with such a clearly delicate situation. Even now it was clear in how they moved, with Malik long since left near the side of the road. They were nervous and probably frighten given the nature of what they were doing. While she could imagine some of the men frowning on this show of apprehension..
"He's been standing there for quite some time, he's just over this hill and you can see him by his clothes. Though as you can see, there's nothing really stopping him from seeing you." She informed Bakura watching as he nodded his thanks and took a calming breath.
'Of all the places...' Bakura thought as they walked along the long road that lead through the forest. It was poetic certainly, granted Bakura never saw where this began. But it looked and felt like where it all came to an end. Josie never bothered with details, and she didn't have a reason to, about how the forest exactly looked that day. But there was enough for it to settle into Bakura's gut that they were heading for the campsite. The place where the twins opened the book and set in motion events that would fracture their group and steal years from their lives.
It was a mistake. Monte needed a professional, he needed people who understood the demons that now consumed his soul. Granted not the 'actual' demon that kickstarted this absolute mess, but the curse the demon inflicted was substantial. Monte needed his friends and family, but his brother was dead and the rest were compulsively forced away. With only Catherine left and he drove her away on his own. She would literally negate any help she could offer by existence.
Jounouchi would serve as Bakura's back up, Malik had too much history with Monte to be safe to be seen by. For once the rings proved useless as all three were needed for it to work, but there was no way to leave someone in the city. Ideally, Bakura wanted to leave Malik in the city so that the risk of being seen wouldn't affect Monte. He wanted Malik to call the emergency services to get Monte help but Malik couldn't speak English.
But the rings required three people and in the end they had no choice but to grab the twins for help. Yet even with their help, the trio had trouble. Swapping Malik with one of the twins was the first thought. Allowing Malik to ride with one twin while the other went with Bakura and Jounouchi to talk Monte down. Only, again, Malik couldn't speak English and if there was an emergency he wouldn't be able to convey it to which ever twin he was partnered with.
And Bakura refused to put all his eggs in one basket.
The second problem had been timing, Monte needed help, he needed his family and friends now more than ever. Amut, his 'parents' needed him now as well, they just needed to be together all at once. But it was inhumane to rush things, to try to talk Monte from self harm for the sake of the books and leave him be. So it was necessary to let others know that this was happening and to come help, only once people outside of the the trio or the twins showed up. Questions about the book would become more awkward and possibly take even 'longer' to get answered.
Gods forbid of Monte ended up locked up somewhere, even for his own well being there was no privacy to get information regarding the Book then.
So in the end it had been decided that the twins had to drive themselves. Malik would be left on the side of the road so the twins would know where to stop their car and he would act as a type of guide. While at the same time carrying a small sheet of paper that had been written out to explain that he was waiting for his ride. If someone tried to offer him a lift. The other was if the police showed up wondering what he was doing out on the side of the road. If it was a cop, he had a spirit with him who would help 'distort' what the cops would see.
Malik would merely pull out a pen, and pretend to write on the sheet before handing it to the officers. But the message already existed.
"Hello, I do not speak English and I just saw person who look like they could be planning to kill them. I am waiting for my friend to translate over the phone, but can you help me?"
"My friend to translate over the phone?" Malik repeated his head tilted back in disdain for how ignorant it made him sound.
"It's necessary. It helps make it sound like you're learning English formally, without slang and that you're 'learning' they'll be more inclined to fill in the blank themselves." Bakura explained as he handed over the second small slip of paper.
"Ahh ok, playing dumb I get it." Malik nodded in resigned understanding before slipping the sheet into his left pocket.
Getting help for Monte was important but Bakura could feel the noose around his neck tightening with every passing hour. Perhaps it had been from talking to Honda at the group dinner they shared. With Yugi, Anzu and Honda, the six of them had been comparing notes and trying to help come up with ideas about how to handle Monte. Yet there had been something in the atmosphere that had bothered him last night. Shaking it off as 'we're talking about stopping a suicide and finding a Book' wasn't working either. But he couldn't put his finger on it and it was driving him mad.
So here they were, amid rolling hills of thick healthy trees in a forest that made skin crawl just for the reason they were there. Low rolling hills that guided downward save the occasional sharp drop that had spirits walking with them to show Bakura where to walk. Jounouchi was quiet his hands in his pockets as he glanced around.
'I wanna be home... Damn... I want to be in Japan...' it sounded whiny, even to his own mental ears. But while Yugi and Anzu had been pretty clueless on what to suggest to help them in regards to Monte. It was the fact that it was 'Honda' who gave the most in depth suggestion that bothered him.
"Give him a reason to fight, a reason to live and not give up. He went from an attractive guy with fans and popularity to a nobody. He's lost his girl, his career, and thinks he's going to lose his brother and is going to find out he already has. His face is disfigured and all his talents have been customized to a career that 'requires' him to be attractive, front and center." Honda had laid it out on the table for all of them as he sat there. He held the sheet that Jounouchi had written out to explain the situation with this clinical expression.
"I can tell you right now he's made a list of all those negatives and whatever positives remain? Is a painfully short; if existing at all, list. You need to give him hope, something to believe in and a reason to fight. A reason to say 'I still have worth, value' because without those you won't get far with him. He'll probably tell you where the book 'is', just by asking because he'll want to unburden himself with that knowledge. No different than giving away his things to leave less fuss for the living to deal with."It was creepy how Honda went on about this, it was enough to make Yugi, who appeared a bit distracted sit up straight and take notice.
"So you need to get it into his head that Zorc did this to him, that everything he lost? Was because Zorc needed him broken, and if he 'ever' loved Catherine or his brother. He needs to fight for them. He needs to fight the desire to destroy himself for the sake of their past, and for others. Because they can't fight for themselves, they're counting on him."
If it had been from a professional, Jounouchi would have been fine, or maybe a complete stranger. But hearing those words, that assessment out of 'Honda'? Jounouchi hadn't been able to formulate words for some seriously long painful minutes. Hiding himself away in transcribing Yugi and Bakura's feedback. All the while hiding the desire to break down and cry that it had gotten that bad. 'Why though? Honda has us, sure we can't follow him into college classes or anything. But he's not alone and so what if he's lost one of his senses and his knee is bummed. The rest of him is just fine...'
Thoughts of that dinner effectively silenced the forest around them to Jounouchi. Leaving only Bakura to observe how strangely quiet it was. Bird song was sparse with only the sound of feet stepping on fallen twigs to break the silence. It felt as though the forest understood what was going on, and felt a trepidation over what would happen in the next few hours.
"Do you know how he plans to end it..." Bakura finally asked the Village elder.
"You are so like Maibe," his ancient Egyptian mother commented as he glared her out of his room so he could put on his pj's.
"Who?" It was so hard to sound politely interested when glaring your mother out of your room.
"Mai... the Village Elder, that's what everyone calls her. But she's not, she's the Elders' wife..." his mother explained as she ghosted her way through the closed the door.
"Oh, how come?" He asked as he finally began undoing the buttons to his shirt. 'Oh how I miss not feeling like changing clothes had to be rushed like this...'
"Neither of you like the position you're in, but you bear the responsibility to the best of your ability," she answered with warm pride in her voice.
Maybe his past life mother was right, when he thought on it, realistically she was the one who managed to 'marshal' the spiritual forces as it were. But there was something he could tell that was going on as well. For as excited as his mother was, and boy was she, Maibe seemed far and away less enthused about the newborn in the apartment below his own.
Right now though, he needed her calm resolve, the ability to see a task that needed to be handled and do it.
"He has a rope. He's made it into a noose and he's just... He's not there yet, he makes the noose then unmakes it so I think he's preparing. Looking to take comfort in the fact that it exists, its quiet and peaceful, out of the way.. Given what you've said he's naturally shy, I would doubt he would want a big affair made of his departure." She reported with an insight that made Bakura frown and look at her from the corner of his eyes.
"If you were in my shoes, what would you say to him? How would you pull him back from wanting to kill himself?" Bakura asked while Jounouchi watched him and kept just a little closer to Bakura's side of the path.
She was quiet for a moment, looking down she gathered her thoughts before giving a slight shrug. "It will be hard I think. I would suspect this is the taint of the demon that you'll be fighting, not him. All you can do is try and reach the part of him that is still untainted, find that part of him that existed before and would fight the demon. Remind him of his parents who will need his presence now more than ever. But do not make the reason solely the folks, his parents are undoubtedly elderly, and he could easily rationalize just living until they're gone then ending it. Explain what this demon did to them and that its important that he fights the influences the demon embedded into his being."
"Uh, you mean me or..." Jounouchi asked, 'please be asking a ghost, please be asking a ghost. I got nothing short of tackling the guy and sitting on him until help arrives...' This whole situation just made him uncomfortable, even in his comfy street clothes. It took the dinner all six of them had and turned it into a dead weight. But it was probably the fact that he actually 'had' that dinner that he could even function.
Once Bakura tilted his head towards empty space, Jounouchi nodded and forced his thinking onto methods of destroying the book. The garage had chemicals that made burning a book feasible by his standards. His mind going over the list of oils and gas that could easily burn the book into ash. 'Not ash, Bakura... Ryou wants this burned to something finer than ash... I guess the blow torch might work... Plasma would work as well but we don't have that. Couldn't we toss that book into an active volcano... Wait no, don't need Zorc coming back as a volcano demon...'
As they walked though he could see just in the distance a color that stood out from the rest of the forest around them. Bright maroon with sharp jutted out shoulders that formed a type of triangle with the way it pointed down. Straight black hair that was long and bound in a tail at the base of the neck. So out of the ordinary that it could only be Pandora.
Signaling to the pair that it was about to time to face probably the first big encounter against Zorc. It felt melodramatic given the demons and gods that they had already faced yet here they were, looking to just talk to a guy. The first confrontation and yet it was going to be a fight for the life of a man. A man who had been nothing more than a lackey of Maliks' during his dark period.
Monte heard them though, or at least sound finally reached the active parts of his mind as he turned to face them. Not fully, just half way so he could look over his shoulder. So while Jounouchi missed it, Bakura could see some of the scars that were hinted about. The skin had repaired what it could, but it wasn't pretty.
The eyelids held over the damage from that fire, there was no neat fold between eyelid and face. Giving the man more of an appearance as though his eyes had been dug out of his face, and then popped back in. The skin was a bit mottled from what Bakura could see, the natural tan of Montes' Greek ancestry was now riddled with pale white scar tissue. While his upper cheekbones were so pronounced they looked skeletal.
His face looked like death. Monte could have been one of those decorated skulls that came up once a year around Mexico in fact. The one time Magician looked away again, his hands fiddled with something and rope was visible swinging down from his arm. But he produced something that he put over his face and without even needing Malik. Bakura figured it was a mask. Something for Monte to hide his scars behind.
When Monte turned back around to face them, he arms were empty, but Bakura figured the man simply dropped the rope behind his back.
"Well this is... ah... That is... Strange place for..."
Monte stammered as he tried to greet them and yet it was understandably awkward. Bakura and Jounouchi weren't even 'trying' to look like campers. They had no backpacks or vehicle, just two kids the day right after Halloween walking through the woods towards him. Even attempting to give levity to the situation felt flat.
"The woods are beautiful, but you're having a rough time as I understand it," Bakura finally spoke. A sentence that wasn't broken and fumbling, just patient and polite as he finished losing the distance between them. Allowing them to talk without being threatening. There was a log and multiple branches and rocks, if this was the original spot or close to it he couldn't tell. It certainly didn't strike him as a campsite, 'but of course that campsite existed a decade ago.'
Bakura kept running through lines in his head, trying to think of how to carry this conversation. They needed Monte to tell them where the book was, if he even knew. While at the same time they needed him to live. If not for the sake of saving the world, than simply because he was a person. He didn't ask for this and Bakura wanted this victory over the demon. Only the words had yet to come to him, and the only thing between his ears was the sound of his own helpless thoughts bouncing around.