Official King of Dragons Summary:

Kisara remembers bits and pieces. Games. Guardians. Golden items. Her life. The others' lives. And she's the only one. Seto Kaiba doesn't. Yugi Muto doesn't. Then the clock starts the day Yami Muto completes the Millennium Puzzle, drawing three thousand years worth of magic into the present time, and the ultimate shadow game begins. Everyone returns for the final showdown in modern Japan. Five years worth of journeys, disbelief, history, and loves that spanned lifetimes in the making... It all starts now. Duelist Kingdom through Millennium World retold. Blueshipping

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King of Dragons

Arc I: Duelist Kingdom

Chapter II

Lost

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"Getting lost will help you find yourself."

-Holstee Manifesto

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Kisara scrawled images into her sketchbook, once again reminding herself that a long time ago, she'd been irrevocably in love with a man named Seto, who also happened to be the incarnate of today's Seto Kaiba, whom she shared the title of greatest draconian duelist in the world… It was a lot of information that sounded a little less impractical everyday, albeit she still had her queries and doubts about certain, unexplained events.

Yami had been her brother—just not by blood. Seto had been her lover. And she… She'd been known as the Queen of Dragons back then too, just by different standards and expectations. Yami had given the common populous of Egypt the knowledge that she was a servant of the gods, sent by them, at that, to ensure the protection of those around her. Apparently, her exotically pale complexion and baby-blue locks had required an explanation, but she'd merely been a ward of the pharaoh. Nevertheless the people and members of the court had treated her as their princess despite her lack of title...

But some memories were blurred beyond recognition. She barely understood the details, only the big picture, and some people and faces were still unclear, such as a few of the Sacred Guardians. She could hear voices—sometimes—but other times, she could barely understand a word before the whole memory became clear again, save for a few things.

As such, she'd been researching Ancient Egypt in a frantic fascination, intending on eventually develing back into her father's journals for his own information. Gods knew that her father had practically reinvented Egypt's most revered game from the sullen sands itself when he'd left… She paused in her work, keenly aware that her hands had unwittingly created his image again. She smile ruefully. This Seto had been different, a bit more… Open. With her incarnate anyway. Their relationship had been based upon mutual trust and genuine care for one another. In fact, she'd never seen anyone more in love… An ache festered in her chest. She'd call him 'Set'. Better to distinguish past from present in a way that allows her sanity to remain intact, otherwise she wouldn't draw the necessary lines that needed drawing.

Was it meant to be in this time, as well? One could dream, and yet, she barely knew Seto Kaiba. At least, not really. Their meetings were so few and whatever conversation they'd had were mainly one-sided, fueled only by her ability to converse with anyone without fail. She figured it was one of her perks, but Seto hadn't listened to a word she'd said, she was sure.

She snorted a little. She asked him to dance once, at one of her father's galas a year back after the completion of the American Duel Monster's tournament. Seto had been asked to attend merely as a viewer, as he'd been the World Champion at the time. Her request to dance with him had been entirely sincere, but he'd stared at her before giving her an apathetic no and walking away. She'd sighed and moved on, but it was on the list of one of their few conversations, if it even counted as a conversation in the first place.

One day, if fate intervened and gave her the opportunity to become close to Seto, she'd be sure to ask him to dance again one day. Even despite his decidedly absurd notion that destroying the fourth Blue Eyes White Dragon card would benefit him. She swallowed thickly, tears pooling in her sapphire orbs. She looked to the sky, refusing to let them fall. What he'd done… She shook her head.

Perhaps she was in a better place now… But Kisara could only hope for the best.

She forced herself to return to her drawing. Set was there, always the true love of his Queen. This image… Four dragons were there, alive and vibrant and ever immersed in the colorings they were named for, but the two individuals were divided. Three dragons stood behind her, curious and heads turned in clear wonder, with her before them, their mistress. And the person her smiling gaze was set upon was Set himself, who was adorned in the palace apparel that made him a Sacred Guardian. But one factor defined the present all too clearly.

A fourth Blue Eyes stood behind him, and by the whispers in her head, her name was Neftis.

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Mokuba was at the door to his brother's office, calling out to him, "Seto! You gotta leave now if you're going to make the boat for the big tournament at Duelist Kingdom!" Silence met him, and he became worried. "Seto, open the door!" With only his word, the doors opened instantly. "Huh… Seto?"

The President and CEO of KaibaCorp was at a desk that overlooked the whole of Domino City, a king in both title and merit, but there was a sense of unnerving anxiety in the room. "I'm not going, Mokuba," Seto stated. He was rustling and shuffling through his deck, meticulous, yet restless in his ministrations, as if searching for something that would never be there no matter how desperately he craved otherwise.

"Not going?! Why not?" Mokuba wouldn't deny spike of fear he felt by hearing those words.

"There's no point," Seto hissed, throwing his deck away, scattering the loyal dragons that had forever enthralled him, helped him on his journey to become the King of Dragons. He stared at them as if they meant nothing. As if he was nauseous just looking at them. Something was very, very wrong.

"What do you mean, 'No point'?" Mokuba was beyond incredulous, part way to disturbed by seeing the incorrigible Seto Kaiba being reduced to a shaking teenager behind a desk far too large for him to uphold. This wasn't the brother he knew…

Seto closed his eyes, and if Mokuba dared to acknowledge it, his brother was… Shaking. "Kid, I am in no condition to duel anyone."

"What are you talking about?" he demanded. If there was anyone in the world who could break Seto out of this forsaken rut, it was him. Seto had taught him the meaning of pride, of being confident and assured and measured. He had to remind him of that. "You always say 'cards are power', and you have the strongest cards!"

Seto Kaiba looked away, shadows crawling over his expression. "Since I lost my duel with Yami, I just don't know what I think anymore." His tone was wavering, and unlike the brother he'd known his entire life, and this version… He'd never once witnessed this side of Seto. "Everything's different," he continued, gritting his teeth. "It feels as if I lost a part of myself that day."

A part of himself? What was he talking about? Sure, he seemed a little out of it when he'd first lost to Yami Muto, but never had he expected his brother to be like this! And if so… What had he lost?

"But… But you're the best!" Mokuba assured him. Somehow he knew his efforts would be in vain. His brother's mental state was beyond his power to change, but he went on anyway, trying, hoping, "You're the champ! You're the King of Dragons, Seto!"

Seto stood, absently drawing a single card from the pocket of his violet trenchcoat. "The last part's true," he admitted, at least allowing his most popular title to be a sustaining trademark on his resume. "However, I am no longer anything else, not since the day I was defeated by Yami."

"Here, Mokuba." A flick of the wrist, and a card suddenly appeared in his hands. "I'm going away for awhile. I don't know how long I'll be gone. Keep this, it was always your favorite."

"Why?" He was frantic. They'd never been apart. In all the years, they'd done everything together. The loss of their parents, the months spent at the orphanage, the adoption into the Kaiba family, the usurpation of KaibaCorp, the ascension into Pro Dueling… Everything… "Why are you leaving?"

Cobalt eyes barely saw him in the doorway, distracted and absent and just gone… Lost… Swallowing, Seto whispered, "Because I don't know who I am anymore."

He snatched up his deck and a silver lined briefcase, and the CEO of KaibaCorp just… Excused himself from the area. "Take care, Kid."

"Seto," he breathed. Now he was terrified. "Don't go!"

But his brother was already walking away, leaving him behind. Mokuba had no idea that what laid behind his abrupt departure lied in the memories of a lifetime past, and loss of a creature from the depths of the shadow realm.

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Kisara had had her suspicions about her father since her mother had died twelve years ago. She'd been five at the time, and she'd never seen her father more happy than when he'd been with his beloved Cecelia, but the moment he'd gone on his Egyptian adventures to find some way to resurrect his lost love, he'd never been the same. He'd changed somehow. He'd gotten a bit more distant, and in some cases, hysterical, almost mad by whatever drove him. The God cards had finally knocked some sense into him, though they'd had to practically throttle it into him before he'd finally backed off and left them alone.

And even more recently, since the Echo, things had gone from dismal to downright horrible. For one, he'd scheduled a clandestine business meeting with the Big Five, KaibaCorps notorious board of directions. The meeting was strictly off the books, but she'd been in a snooping mood when she'd found out. As a result, she was secretly hacking into the KaibaCorp mainframe to 'visit' this meeting herself. She was also well aware that Seto Kaiba had left the company to its own devices for a period of time off, so the question was: why would her father be in a meeting with the KaibaCorp board of directors without its prized CEO in attendance? It was suspicious to say the least. And with how her father had been acting the last few weeks especially, she was beyond wary. She was only lucky he held no suspicions over her, as far a she knew…

But what was he planning?

Kisara's fingertips soared over the keys of her home computer, typing in access codes and key data required to do her work. She felt only the fringes of guilt for breaking into Seto's own program, but if he was away and completely unaware of what her father was doing… Well, the decision came easily enough. She had to know if her father posed KaibaCorp and its CEO a threat. And with what she'd seen, something told her that she was going to have to do a lot of assisting in the future. This would only be the start of her journey as a member of the Millennium Court.

Finally, after a grueling twenty minutes of merely punching in access codes, she got in. She grinned. Seto had quite the system, though to be outdone by his own Queen when it came to computer science was rather amusing. She suppressed the giggle that bubbled from her throat—Wait.

A blush bloomed on her cheeks.

She'd just referred to herself as his Queen. She forced herself to breathe, though the idea was entirely appealing—

She slapped her cheeks. "No, no, no, Kisara. You cannot think this way. He probably doesn't remember you in that way." Inwardly, she helplessly added, Yet. She shook her head vigorously, at least attempting to regain her former frame of mind, but the blush remained a stain on her cheeks even as she found the right routes to channel into the cameras situated over Meeting Room 5 in KaibaCorp's HQ.

"Now, gentlemen." Kisara jumped. Hearing the voice of her father in an otherwise silent room, worried her. Perhaps headphones were in order… Gods knew she didn't need her father's men holding her twenty-four-seven house arrest for learning of his covert affairs... "Let's see if I understand your proposition," her father continued. "Seto Kaiba has abandoned his corporate station, and now you five wish to seize control of KaibaCorp." Kisara froze. "You then want to merge with my company, and you'd like me to handle any messy details, yes?"

Her father wanted to usurp KaibaCorp?!

"Precisely, Mr. Pegasus," one agreed. "With our money and your leadership, we will easily take control of KaibaCorp."

Seemingly satisfied with the deal, her father purred, "Do tell."

Another said, "For our plan to succeed, Kaiba must be taken out from the picture." Then he added, "Permanently."

Kisara gritted her teeth. There was no way they were just going to take over KaibaCorp and murder its CEO. Seto was far too resourceful and adept at what he did. He'd practically stollen the company from his step-father and won out the majority shares through sheer skill and ambition. There was absolutely no way they were going to succeed, and with her help—

"However, there is one catch," a third admitted. His voice was shrill and scaly, and she cringed. "As by the Corporate bylaws, only a Kaiba family member can legally control KaibaCorp."

Her father seemed to consider it. "Hmm."

"To that end, Pegasus, we recommend kidnapping Kaiba's brother, Mokuba." Her blood ran cold. Now, that was just—"In name, he will control KaibaCorp, but we will control him."

Kisara was shaking, whether in rage or defiance or terror, she wasn't sure.

"Do these things for us," one purred. "And we will lay all of KaibaCorp's technology at your feet."

"Agreed." Her father smiled, but there was no warmth in it. "The elder Kaiba shall be met with an 'accident', and the younger Kaiba will be captured."

The Big Five all seemed to relax in their seats, though Kisara could scarcely discern their faces amid the shadows.

"Excellent, but we have one final condition," another continued.

"The brat who beat Kaiba has tarnished KaibaCorp's good name, and we must insist that you restore it."

Yami… Oh, no… Both the Pharaoh and Seto… I suppose it's of no coincidence that they have similar enemies in this time, but still…

"Well," her father breathed. "How fortuitous. Plans for me to duel Yami are already underway." So that's the reason why he'd created the Duelist Kingdom Tournament… To draw the Pharaoh in. "Now, to show that I truly am the man for this job. Kemo, bring me young Kaiba, would you?"

Kisara watched helplessly as Mokuba Kaiba appeared in the entranceway, along with her father's signature guard. Mokuba was trapped in his arms, unable to escape no matter how much he resisted… "NO! Arg! Let me go, you creeps! I heard everything! And when I tell my big brother, you're gonna be—"

"You see, gentlemen," her father continued. "This is how you can expect me to handle our business. Young Kaiba is captured, Yami will be defeated, and soon Seto Kaiba will bother us no more." He then presumed to laugh with all the hapless merriment only a psychotic, power-hungry madman could achieve.

Kisara's fingers curled into fists.

She cut out the footage only after a few more minute details, having missed the majority of the meeting, but she'd heard far more information than what she'd originally expected to hear. Father… What has happened to you to bring out this side of your personality? Was it really because of mother? Or has something else shattered your judgement? Is it… The Millennium Eye?

Recollection Hall appeared in her vision, echoes ricocheting all around as she fell, fell, fell… Games. Guardians. Golden Items. She searched though time and space for any indication for the affect in this era.

She drew in a breath.

Aknadin. As the previous owner of the Millennium Eye, his own endeavors lied in a far darker place, having explored the reaches of the shadow realm due to his treasonous crimes against the throne. But afterward… Nothing. She could see no more than what laid in front of her. The doors closed before she could fully grasp the end of her story. Reality met her, and it took her a moment to fully comprehend what she'd seen. It could be mere coincidence that it was the Eye, or was it something else merely connected to it?

"When left unchecked or placed in the wrong hands, the items crave power, my Queen."

Kisara bolted upright. "That voice…" From ancient times, that voice… It was so familiar, so soft-spoken and mysterious. But there was a painted respect to his words, natural, tact…

But who?

"Whoever you are," Kisara said, sighing as she once again seated herself. "I appreciate your council." Gods knew she needed it to solve the puzzle that was her life.

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A week had passed since the first Echo, and before Kisara had figured out her father was conspiring with the Big five to take over KaibaCorp, she'd simply considered flying herself to Egypt to further the research her father had started twelve years ago in order to regain her memories, only to postpone her desired expedition for a later date. The main reason was because of the rise of Duelist Kingdom. And recently, she'd realized her father had organized then entire tournament in order to steal the Millennium Items.

To succeed in his goal, her father had actually stolen the soul of Sugoroku Muto—Yami Muto's own grandfather—so the young Pharaoh would unwittingly join the ranks of duelists and hopefully go up against her father in a shadow duel. Add in her father's sudden desire to take over KaibaCorp, and Kisara had made the unanimous decision to stay on the island.

She would thwart his plans, she had to. If only to help Seto Kaiba. The Echo probably wanted the members of the Pharaoh's Court to emerge in similar locations after the thousands of years of silence. The world was preparing its players for the greatest shadow game to have ever walked the face of the mortal realm… The problem was, she didn't know whether or not she could divulge any of the information she had… Did any of the members have recollections of their past lives? And if they didn't, how was she to explain the tremendous destiny laid down at their feet? That Echo surely hadn't left her alone out here without any means to carry out whatever it was she supposed to do, had it? The thought was nerve wracking…

But she had to look to the positive. If both the Pharaoh and Seto had been born in this time, that made for two key players already… And from what she remembered, there had been another brother involved. A younger one of the three. Yugi, was it? His path was along their road, but wedged off due to the intense rivalry between the other two. The King of Games… The Prince of Games… The King of Dragons… If the three were, in fact, all alive, then that meant the Triumvirate of Egypt had officially returned… Kisara gulped. So much power… And that made up three of the seven Sacred Guardians too.

As it was, Kisara complied every document, artifact, and book relating to Egypt, as well as the overall connection to Duel Monsters. In truth, she'd practically locked herself away in the acloves of the castle library to research. An entire section had been dedicated to it, and she'd been going over the details she might've missed from her travels to Recollection Hall. It was a very complicated history, she learned, random ideas transversing into picturesque memory every other second. Eventually, she scrawled out images into her sketchbook, studiously reread pages, handwritten notes, and ancient hieroglyphs.

From what she'd read—when her father had first gone to Egypt—he'd been possessed by the desire to return his long lost wife from Death's clutches. He'd inevitably gained the Millennium Eye, and found the ruined tablets of Duel Monsters, innovating the game for a modern audience. Then there was the mention of a mysterious fellow named 'Shadi', whose own portrait hung in their dinning room alongside her mother's own. Also in his journals were notes relating to the Tomb of the Unnamed Pharaoh. She had an inkling as to who that might've been. But why was his tomb unnamed?

Therein led to the most important question: what had happened to cause this destruction in the first place? All she could recall was that some creature had appeared and wreaked havoc upon the kingdom of sands…

She closed the book she'd been reading. Clearly her father's research could only get her so far… She'd been doing that for a week, waiting for Duelist Kingdom to begin, thinking, hypothesizing, and regaining memories… Well, that, and keeping a close eye on what her father had actually been doing.

And today was now the day.

It was time for a rebellion, and as the Queen of untamed beasts and majestic monsters, it was her job to ensure the protection of those she cared about.

When she smiled, it was rueful. It was a terrible act of kindness towards a man who'd destroyed his own dragon for the sake of greed… His own dragon… Those left in his deck were once hers back in ancient Egypt. They were trapped inside the boundaries of a game card… But she couldn't think about that right now. She could inject those vile thoughts toward her source of animosity another day. When she saw Seto Kaiba again, she was sure to give him a good slap in the face for his actions.

But for now, she'd help him the best way she knew how.

She was going to break Mokuba Kaiba out of prison.

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It was a small house, but it made due. As long as no one found him here, he was fine with the result. Its purpose was fulfilled. Isolation. Pure isolation from the rest of humanity. He'd bought this island with that specific idea in mind, hidden and kept away from the common populous he despised. He never had been much for people. The majority were simpletons, and the rest were manipulated to suit his own desires. And those who'd never succumbed to his will of iron were of a seldom few that he shared a quiet respect for, but he doubted he'd have the will to deter anyone with the shape he was in.

How the mighty have fallen.

He was lost. In dreams and life and loss and flashes… What pulled at him so? That whiteness, that purity, and those locks of the faintest blue… Never the eyes… Azure… No… Cerulean… No… He could never discern the exact coloring, nor the shape by which they were sculpted.

Where were these damnable flashes coming from? He groaned, his own eyes straining to stay open.

His energy lacked its usual luster, quieted by a type of depression. Insomnia further scratched his already frayed nerves. Whenever dreams came into the picture, all he could see were images of his duel with Yami, or brief flashes of a voice whispering his name at the edge of his subconscious. Sweet lulls they were, calling him away, into the abysmal nightmare of unknowns. But he could never see her clearly, as if she were veiled behind a curtain, but he heard her plain as day.

Nevertheless, his duel with Yami haunted him, and he forced himself the draw that emotion into his mind, forgoing the whiteness in his peripheral for something real, something he could inspect and calculate, but even that...

It's no use. I've gone over it a dozen times in my mind and I still can't figure it out. How is a kid who came out of nowhere able to defeat a champion like me? I've run computer simulations, probability scenarios, and a quantum analysis of our duel, but I still don't have the answer…

I had clearly been dominating the match, my Blue Eyes White Dragon ripping through his forces. I was on the verge of winning, but Yami wouldn't give up. Against all odds, and absolute faith in his grandfather's deck, he somehow drew the one card that assured his victory….

His eyes cleared. I've always believed that Duel Monsters was a game of sheer power, but Yami claims that the cards have a Heart.

A spark of electricity interrupted his thoughts. Wrong wire. His hands barely had to connect to his head to adjust the faulty mishap. He knew his own technology like the back of his hand, and most days, even more so. His screwdriver went elsewhere, and so did his mind.

It sounds crazy, I know, but could Yami be right? Is there really a Heart of the Cards that can affect the outcome of a duel? Is that how he won? The only way I'll know for sure is to face Yami again, and these new holo-generators will allow me to challenge him no matter where I find him. If I can just get to—

Bang!

"Hmm?" His attentions were divered by the thwack of door slams.

"Seto Kaiba! We know you're in there! Open the door or we'll break it down!" Calmly, yet quickly, he placed his newest design into his signature briefcase. Bullet-proof too. He'd been in far too many close calls in the past not to have one on him when transporting a patent from place to place. Apparently, it was time to use it again. But what the hell was this all about?

They kicked down the door, and he frowned. He would be sure to replace it something sturdier when he returned. If a few goons could get in, what would he do if the place was surrounded on all sides? "Let's go, Kaiba."

"On your feet," the other demanded, though Seto had yet to even turn in their direction.

The click of he safety resounded in the air, and ebony pistols were aimed in his direction. "Mr. Pegasus would like to have a few words with you."

Pegasus, huh? The man had betayed him, had he? He couldn't say that it surpised him, then agian, little did.

"Heh," he smirked, and stood. "I bet he would, but it'll take more than you two goons to grab me." With these two in front of him and no other escape plan, there was only one way out of this place.

"This can go easy, or we can snap you in two, you wise guy."

Without a second thought, he kicked his chair into the two goons, and they fell into a heap on his titanium floor. Good enough. Though for some forsaken reason he called out, "You'll never take me alive!" He regretted those words instantly. Like hell they would allow him to leave the premises alive anyway.

Without further preamble, he snatched up his briefcase and broke through the window. Reflexes quick as lightning, he found a ledge to grab hold of, scrapping his hands and arms on the way down. And when he did grab hold of a ledge reasonable enough to hold his weight, hot pain shot through his shoulder. He gritted his teeth as his fingers drew fresh blood, where it slithered down his arm in crimson streaks.

The color struck a chord in him. The same as his eyes… A growl rose in his throat, before he shook his head. Irrelevant!

"He jumped!" a goon declared aloud. No really, I thought what I did was flying.

"Nobody could survive a fall like that." He looked down. Water sputtered against the mountain ridges, ravenous upon the rocky wall, and monolithic spikes peaked through the ocean's surface. Well, that's true enough.

"Looks like he did our work for us." The simpleton sounded pretty enthused by the prospect, and Seto scoffed despite his position. As if.

For a moment, all he did was wait for the footsteps to retreat into the background of the lapping waves, before allowing his mind to stretch in another direction.

This situation caused various questions to arise. If Pegasus wanted him dead, it meant that something had gone horribly wrong. Although, he knew to be careful when dealing with business tycoons such as himself. There seldom were those who didn't conspire against their allies, especially when it came to the gaming industry, and Maximillion Pegasus had proven no different. He should've expected this.

It was obvious to Seto that Pegasus was trying to take his company from him. No other reason was relatively plausible. However…

Cold horror washed over him. "Mokuba…"

KaibaCorp's bylaws demanded that ownership of the company fell directly to a Kaiba family member, and there were only two Kaibas left alive. With him out of the picture, it meant that Mokuba was the sole owner of KaibaCorp, and was in grave danger as a result.

He had to get out of here.

So, centimeter by dreary centimeter, Seto made his way back up the cliffside.

It was time for a big revival.

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King of Dragons

Author's Note:

By God, I simply cannot wait until Kisara meets Seto, but I have like one to two more chapters until then… Sad… Only then can I finally explain their first duel! And well, their first interaction is rather hilarious once the initial scene is done… Haha. We move on from the gunslinging into a conversation that basically defines their relationship for the first three arcs. Haha. I love having two geniuses in one room and just kinda testing one another in a rather friendly/competitive manner.

Sadly, this story doesn't really get into anything new until the end of this arc, whereas in Arc II: Battle City, the plot begins to have stubble changes here and there that wholly create a new type of story. I haven't even introduced like four of the main characters yet, who won't be here until say, the second arc? I'm sorry, but I must stick to my outline, otherwise everything will get muddled. Just wait and see, readers!

I'm hoping Arc I will be about say, 7 chapters total, but that might be pushing it. It basically just starts the series off before diverging out completely.

I can't wait to introduce the Queen of Games! Guess who that is?!

The Queen of Dragons, is the story of Priest Seto and Kisara, told by this alternate reality's perspective and events. Such as having Yami and Yugi as brothers. It's on my profile if you would like to read it!

Inform me of errors please.

And review, lovely readers! Constructive criticism is happily read by yours truly.

Have a lovely day~!

-CassandraRoyal