"Your mother was a great woman," Bakura said quietly to Daphne. "I've never loved any woman like I loved your mother. But your father still remains a mystery."
"Yami's my father," Daphne looked terrified as she threw her arms around Yami's neck. "Aren't I, Yami?" She almost whimpered, as if she was afraid she would loose the last thing that belonged to her. "You're still my father, aren't you?"
"Of course I am," Yami consoled, though indignantly. "I'll forever be your father, whether you want it or not." To himself, he added, "You can't get rid of me that easily."
"Are you ready for more memories?" Ishizu asked as Bakura and Kaiba panted beside the pharaoh and his daughter. Kaiba's head shot up. More memories? He thinks not.
"Was this the point of the private party?" He demanded, struggling to stand up. "To show us memories?"
"Yes." The Egyptian woman stated calmly, meeting his eye with her steady ones.
"But why?!" Bakura was on his feet by now. "The reasons we've all kept our past a secret is because it's too painful to be shown! Why have you brought us here to break open our wounds again?"
Ishizu's lips curled up to a comforting, mysterious smile. "I have my reasons and I shall tell you after we watch more of the past." She half turned to Bakura. "Bakura, these next ones are mostly for you. I know Yami and the princess wouldn't mind sharing."
"But—" His protests were cut off. The same bright flash blinded them all, and when they could see again, they saw Egypt. Golden Egypt, under the ruling of Yami. Everyone was silent, especially Bakura, as pictures and scenes traveled past their eyes.
Through the nine years they passed. Delphinium's first step; Delphinium's first word; Myra and Yami's laughter with their love for the princess; young Delphinium climbing up the drapes hung on the wall in her chamber and falling on Yami just as he walked in and the drapes tore; learning to play Duel Monsters with Yami; Priest Seto bringing more scroll for the pharaoh and princess's pleasure of reading; attending banquets sitting in Seto or Yami's lap; Yami and Delphinium's time by the fountain with the silver flute; the loyal friendship between Priest Seto while Dark Magician kept a silent watch over the princess. The laughter, the smiles, the streaming hair of Delphinium as she ran through the palace, the wonderful feeling of love.
The portraits they went past. From the smiling infant in the basket blossomed a lovely young lady—until the nine years were over. Then they were back in the basement of Domino Museum. Bakura took a deep breath, as if hoping to catch some of the golden memories in the air. He turned to Yami and gave him a tiny half smile.
"Thank you." He silently thanked. Yami nodded. Everybody's eyes had softened and were shining with unshed diamond tears.
"Now you see, history was repeating itself." Ishizu said in her low voice. "But first, Yami," she turned to the pharaoh. "You wanted some answer to your questions."
"Yes, I do." Yami straightened up. Ishizu nodded.
"Very well."
"Wait, Yami…" Daphne struggled to her feet, but Yami held up a hand for silence without turning to face her.
"My questions are going to be answered, Daphnia. The time has come for everything to reveal itself. Show me, Ishizu, please."
"Unfortunately, Yami. The princess's feelings and pain could not to sought out through expressions."
"Then let me feel the pain themselves." Yami's eyes were determined as Ishizu looked surprised.
"Yami, no!" Daphne begged, mortified.
"Very well, my pharaoh." Yami watched intently as Ishizu placed her fingertips on the Millennium Necklace. It began glowing, and it grew brighter and brighter and brighter. Suddenly, Yami jerked back and slammed against the wall. He gasped and his fingers strained against his chest and throat. The pain! He felt as if his very soul was being ripped from his mind. He gritted his teeth and his breaths were staggered. His heart…his mind…his soul…his body…Yami doesn't know what hurts the most. He felt as if he was suffocating while his heart threatened to stop beating from the pressure. But as sudden as the pain came, it left, leaving Yami gasping for breath and perspiration shone on his brow.
"Yami?" Daphne's worried expression loomed before his blurry gaze. He tried to focus, but his mind wouldn't cooperate. "Bakura, what's wrong with him?!"
"The strain." He heard Ishizu explaining. "The strain and pressure was too much for the brain to take. It's going to take some time for Yami to be able to regain conscious and focus."
Yami felt someone slap him lightly on his face and heard Kaiba say, "Yami, get up. Focus on my fingers. How many fingers am I holding up?"
"Of course," the founder of the Egyptian exhibitor continued. "The anguish and agony that Yami had felt was dense. The princess's distress gradually became a ball of pain over the years and Yami felt it all at once. His mind was strong, some people would have died from the strain."
"This is what it does to a strong minded person?" Kaiba looked horrified.
Yami soon regained his focus and the first thing he saw was Daphne's face, in front of his. Her eyes filled with tears and she sank next to Yami on the floor. She reached out and hugged Yami to her body. A sob was heard as Yami and Daphne found themselves enveloped in each other's embrace.
"I'm so sorry, Yami," Daphne was saying over and over again. "It was all my fault. I didn't do the best I could. I'm so sorry."
"I'm so sorry, Daphne." Yami was murmuring at the same time. "I never knew. If I had known I would never have put you upon the throne. It was all my fault."
"It wasn't neither of your fault." Ishizu's smooth voice turned urgent and maybe even slight panic. "The most important part of today's meeting isn't based on the pain nor the faults. The reason why I asked you here is because we are no longer the only ones that know everything from the past."
"What do you mean?" Kaiba demanded.
"The reason I showed you the past is because you will need to know the past in order to protect yourselves, most important of all—the princess. Darkness is lurking around, just waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike. You must beware."
"Who? Who's the darkness? Beware of what?" Bakura ordered. His eyes narrowed and hardened. The coolness of Kaiba's midnight blue eyes came back.
"Yami and Daphne are not the only ones that found each other." Ishizu all of a sudden became very serious. Her dark eyes were solemn and her lip was pursed in a tight line. "Me, Kaiba, and Bakura are all exceptions. But there are also others that is here today to make history repeat itself."
"Who?! Dang it, woman, who?!" Bakura's fists were curled and they were shaking.
"My brother, Marik." Ishizu turned away, her eyes pained. "He seems to believe that he should have been pharaoh instead of Yami. He made it his mission to destroy you, Yami."
"Is that why you showed the past to us?" Yami's eyebrows frowned.
"In order for my brother to save himself, he must fail. Yami, you have to be the one to stop him. You have to be his failure!"
"Me? But…but—"
"Don't you understand? Marik has mind slaves everywhere. He's watching you Yami, and he's ready to take you down any minutes. But he could save himself, there are good in him. But he must fail to save himself."
"How do you know all of this, about Marik destroying Yami?" Kaiba's face showed obvious displeasure.
"My ancestors had been protecting the Pharaoh's memories for centuries. Now, it is also my duty to reveal the Pharaoh's future to him."
"If Marik is after me, then why is Daphnia in danger?" Yami asked anxiously.
"You are strong, Yami. Your mind is strong and wise. The princess have knowledge and wisdom beyond her age, but compared to Marik, she is nothing but another body he could control. If he couldn't get to you, the princess would be the perfect bait to use against you!"
"They've been gone for a while now." Yugi looked around, uneasy. "Shouldn't they be back by now?"
"I won't count on it, Yug," Joey replied, poking a gold Egyptian headdress. "From the way Ishizu put it, I don't think they're going to be back for a while."
"What do you think they'll be talking about?" Tristan asked, sticking his head out from behind a glass case holding the jewel encrusted crown.
"Probably something about Yami and his past." Yugi joked.
"Yeah, and while we're at it, some big, bad evil dark force is hunting after them." Mai retorted sarcastically, flipping through some ancient scripture with Serenity. Suddenly, Serenity grabbed Mai's hand and said excitedly,
"Wait, go back, Mai. I think I see something interesting." Mai flipped back. "I wish Yami or someone is here, I can't read these Egyptian hieroglyphics," she said exasperatedly.
"Hey," Duke pointed out as he looked over Mai's shoulders. "Isn't that a supposedly the pharaoh? I think that's what this scripture means. At least from what I've learned when I was doing researches for my Dungeon Dice Monsters game."
"Yeah, and from the looks of it, this right here is his rivalry." Ryou explained diligently.
"Ain't that the Blue-Eyes-White-Dragon behind that guy?" Joey's eyes widened with interest.
"What about this monster behind the pharaoh?" Téa frowned, thinking hard. It was Tristan who answered the question.
"It looks that Yugi's Dark Magician."
"It's almost as if this was a page predicting the future between Kaiba and Yami." Yugi grinned. "Kaiba and his Blue-Eyes versus Yami and Dark Magician."
"Oh look!" Serenity had flipped the page and was now leaning close to the yellow page, her fingertips brushing gingerly. "I think these pictures showed how the position of the pharaoh was passed down to—" she frowned. "—somebody…but I'm not sure who."
By now, the whole group was crowding around the ancient book, fascinated with the story of history that lay before them.
"It looks like the pharaoh didn't die from anything, but that—" Ryou frowned also. "It looks like the throne was passed on from a special case."
"Maybe the pharaoh didn't die." Mai suggested.
"It looks that way," Téa agreed. "But who do you suppose the throne was passed to?"
"It's obviously suppose to be the pharaoh's son, most likely the first born." Tristan interrupted. "The Egyptians and everywhere else at the time thought that men were a much higher rank then the woman."
"Ha! You wish," Mai scoffed.
"Yeah, it's obvious that women are much better." Serenity backed Mai up indignantly, insulted.
"So," Joey countered. "It's history that men were much better."
"Guys, guys!" Yugi broke in before Téa could involve herself into the heated conversation. "Why don't we go back to the inscriptions?" Everyone grudgingly turned back to the ancient book. They were silent for the next moment as everyone tried interpreting the hieroglyphics in their own way. Finally, Mai spoke up.
"Not to shame you boys further, but the next pharaoh looked like a female." She couldn't keep the smirk out of her voice.
"But how could it be a female?!" Joey protested, casting the young woman a glare. "I thought all the pharaohs were guys!" Duke nudged him.
"What did you think Cleopatra was?" He murmured to the sandy blonde. "I suppose this was the first queen of Egypt ever."
"I wonder what was her relationship with the pharaoh?" Yugi was wondering to himself when he caught a swirl of indigo blue darted into the room from the corner of his eyes. "Kaiba?"
"Not quite," Yami's head popped over Yugi's shoulders, causing everyone to jump and a few squeaked were heard. Kaiba was the second one to look over their shoulders.
"What have you guys found so fascinating?" He raised an eyebrow over his dark midnight blue eyes.
"Look what we've found." Serenity said without looking back at the tall CEO. "We think it has something to do with a not dead pharaoh and a female pharaoh. Then there's this weird guy here with a Blue-Eyes-White-Dragon that was the male pharaoh's biggest enemy."
At the word 'Blue-Eyes-White-Dragon,' Kaiba's head snapped up.
"And Yami, did you know that in the place of the pharaoh, there's a Dark Magician behind him?" Ryou remarked casually, continuing to decipher the ancient manuscript. At the words 'Dark Magician,' Yami's head snapped around.
"What?!" The CEO and pharaoh both clawed their way to the book and reached it at the same time. They took one look, and without a word, slammed the book shut.
"Hey!" Tristan protested. "I happen to find that interesting."
"Well, we're leaving." Kaiba's crisp voice pointed out. "Either you leave with me now, or you can ask Ishizu for a ride."
"Thank you for coming on such short notices." Ishizu gave a slight curve at the waist as everyone filed out. "I hope your time wasn't in vain…all of you."
"Catch ya later, Ishizu."
"See you next time."
"Good-bye!"
"Hope to see you again."
Ishizu watched as everyone piled into the KaibaCorp limo. Her slender hand reached for the Millennium Necklace at the hollow of her throat. She watched until the limo disappeared.
"Oh, Marik, let us both hope that the pharaoh and the princess can help you." Her lips murmured a short prayer. "Little brother, please come back to me soon. I believe in you. I believe you're not truly all evil."