A Past and Future Pharaoh

Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix

Original Beta: White Swan

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"You saw Exodia?"

It was a small café in the outskirts of Domino City, resting near the ocean so that a constant cool breeze circulated, while the inside was warm for the winter months, catering to both seasons. But after the bomb and kidnappings, most people stayed at home when not at work, which gave the four of them a place to talk, eat and reassure. Something that Bakura needed badly, as it had taken almost five minutes for Isis to calm Bakura enough so that they could walk down from the plank to the ground. They waited till after the waitress had brought their food and some of it had been ingested before they motioned for Bakura to begin.

"After the bomb, I went to the hospital to check on Honda, I thought that Yugi would want to know about his condition right away when he got back. Then I went to check on the Game Shop…"

As the sun began to slip from the sky, the shadows began to crawl out from under things, reaching out to consume the world in darkness. He knew it wasn't true; as the world turned from the sun another place was at dawn while he walked in dusk. But as he stood out past the doors of the hospital and back into the city, he felt like the sun would never rise again. He shook away the foolish notion and began to walk towards the Game Shop; Yugi's grandfather had opened and run that shop. It was just a game shop, destroying it with a bomb seemed like a defilement.

For it to be gone like that, for some unknown reason, stirred within Bakura a strong desire to pay respects. The whispers of wind against the world touched his ears, the soft flicker of wind on cloth, on branch, on paper. The shadows around him danced like people at a festival yet even 'they' seemed to whisper. Like people talking quietly on the other side of a wall, he knew they were there. Always on the edge of his vision, just far enough away so that he couldn't see what they were clearly, but they were there.

He turned down a street and joined the quiet throng of people going home. That's when he noticed it among the people of Domino City… the sudden flash of Egypt that appeared, a turban here, a flash of a dress there. The shock froze him to the sidewalk as he watched the people pass him by. Modern people were walking along side by side with people from the distant past of Egypt.

There was movement around him, it was a mixture of chill Japan and hot Ancient Egypt modern Japanese and Egyptians. He began walking along again, his senses burning with alarm as he tried not to look like a crazy person always checking around him. Trying not to break into a run from what wasn't there - even if to his eyes there was someone there.

He reached a turn in the road when it dawned on him; the ancient people were all going in one of two directions. They either walked past him into the direction he had come from, or towards where he was headed. There were no Egyptians just seemingly hanging out anywhere, as though they were leading him in a direction - no, not *a* direction, but in the direction towards the Game Shop. He couldn't dare stop in the middle of the sidewalk to try and talk to someone that probably wasn't there to anyone else.

Shivering, he continued on towards the Game shop, wondering as he did so, as to the whereabouts of Yugi and that small group. Already the four of them had been listed as missing. The police were already searching around the Kaiba mansion and offices, but still had no clue as to their whereabouts. The news had reported the disappearances, though there were those who were speculating that Kaiba just ran off, that he was trying to escape from the burden of work; he was just past 18 years old after all.

Boys his age were just starting to work towards any type of corporate ladder, not standing at the top of one. The only other possible connection came from Yugi, because both were high-ranking duelists, but that connection was considered weak or just coincidence by the world at large.

The sun had finished setting, the lampposts lit from above with electric light when Bakura finally reached the Shop. Along the road store windows darkened as the Game Shop's destruction caused the others to be evacuated temporarily. The spirits were still there, glowing with a pale incandescent light, so that he could see the road better. But in a way he wished he couldn't as his stomach tightened in anger and self-disgust.

From where he stood he could clearly see people crawling out from the shadows of the alleyway beside the store, getting in. Climbing over the police tape or under it, defying authority by scrounging for whatever money or loot they could find. It angered him to see such behavior while at the same time filling him with guilt as well, as he accepted that he was powerless to stop them. Somewhere deep inside himself he felt that he should do something; yet calling the police would be pointless.

These people would be gone long before the cops arrived, and if anyone could be sure of that it was a former thief. His eyes narrowed as he thought about it; they were just common thugs after all. He should, after everything he had gone through, be able to handle them… But the thought was brushed aside, to gain the strength necessary to deal with them meant accepting 'that' side of him. Even freed from Zork, it was so heavily stained he honestly doubted he could use those skills without being corrupted.

He took a startled step forward in shock as he felt something from out of nowhere. Anger, that's what it felt like, something waking up angry. Growing alarmed his eyes didn't leave the source of that anger, the Game Shop. So he had a front row seat as a thug went flying out of the store, a fist as big as the guy was tall tearing through the opening of the store. Darkness cloaked most of the colors, but in what light there was, he could see a dark brown color and chains. Broken chains dangled from the monstrous wrist as the thug was slammed into the building across the street from the Game Shop. The others were running out of the building empty handed in fear of the monster.

Bakura ducked behind some bushes to avoid notice before fleeing home frightened to his core…

"A true Exodia? Not a hologram? Possibly from a duel disk being activated?" Isis asked in soft toned amazement.

"How else could a guy go flying across a street, sister?" Malik asked his sister before turning to face Bakura. "You said that you saw ancient Egyptians as well… Are they here right now? Can you see them?"

Bakura looked around anxiously for a moment then shook his head, "no, we're all that is here right now."

"Did you see them at all today?" Rishid asked from where he sat beside Malik, who in turn was between his sister and brother with Bakura before the three.

"Yes, on my way to the docks in fact, they were there again just moving along towards where I had been or to where I was going," Bakura reported.

"Much like the power of the Ring… These spirits are working in the same way as the Ring would, guiding you to locations that you seek…" Isis murmured the possibility out loud.

"I honestly don't know anymore… If it was just the Ring… Back then I would just lock myself in my apartment and pray that I wouldn't wake up with someone else in a coma." Bakura's head tilted forward his hands holding his head. He looked at his wits ends, with his hands shaking. "I always kept the Ring because I knew it could hurt people. I didn't want some poor person finding it and later finding out someone died because of it. I could handle suffering alone because I am alone. I'm sorry," Bakura suddenly tried to get a grip on himself, returning to that normal cheerful polite mask that they all knew.

"We should check the Game Shop, but will it be safe?" Rishid asked gazing at his cup thoughtfully.

"It might only be dangerous at night," Malik suggested.

"Or when the store is being violated, like when thieves come calling," Isis added. "However, we have a problem; all my knowledge - all our knowledge - was based on the Pharaoh. Whatever could be causing this wouldn't be in our history. We would need someone who has experience with Duel Monsters that extends outside of merely playing a card game."

"But, the only one with that knowledge is Kaiba." Nothing needed to be said after that. They all knew how Kaiba was about the past; he wouldn't talk if he could avoid it. That was, if he hadn't been kidnapped along with his brother, Yugi and Jounouchi.

"What if… Can you find them?" Malik suddenly asked, his eyes questioning. "Can you focus enough to take us to them? Even if we can't free them we can just call in a tip and get them out that way."

"Malik, show more consideration. Bakura is not handling these events as it is, we can not ask him to immerse himself into something he doesn't understand fully." Isis's chided her younger brother with both words and a look.

Malik lowered his head, like a chastened child, accepting his sister's words.

"I… I'm sorry, it's a good idea, so I'll try to see if I can locate people," Bakura offered softly, only to have Rishid shake his head.

"Isis speaks the truth; if you are unready to do such a thing than being pushed to do it is wrong. When it comes to mystical artifacts or powers you can not go into it unsure or unsteady."

Isis nodded at Rishids' wisdom before turning her attention back to Bakura. "You said that you sensed something in your apartment, correct?"

"Yes, it's… heh, like comparing apples to oranges. Both are fruits but two different kinds. What I felt in the Game Shop is the same in that sense with what I felt inside my apartment. Yet there are differences in them that I can feel," Bakura explained before taking another bite from his sandwich.

"Would it be safer to go to your place or to the Game Shop?" Malik asked as he fiddled with the straw wrapper. He had never gotten much of a chance to look around Domino before he left. He was rather curious about the sights; then again, he was curious about any sights.

"My place… I've not had anything bad happen there," Bakura answered hesitantly.

"Then we're off!" Malik hopped up out of his seat, grabbing the last French fry from his plate before imperiously waiting for the rest to do the same. The teen had grown as well, though not much had changed about him. Black cargo pants, a white tank top with a black sleeveless jacket over it, though now he wore fingerless black leather gloves, though it didn't stop Isis and Rishid from pulling him back into his seat.

"Do you know if there's been any headway in the bomb situation?" Isis asked, stirring her tea before taking a sip.

Bakura shivered at that before giving a slight nod, "A message in hieroglyphics, but the pictures have not been released, nor the translations. Only that it was written in hieroglyphics."

"I believe I can offer my services to that end. They may allow me to translate it for them. Though I wonder why this group would attack the Game Shop now?" Isis remarked as she stared at her cup.

"If it is about the Pharaoh then shouldn't they already know that he has passed on? For them to know about where the Pharaoh's vessel lives and attack it would have to imply that there has been some study into the situation," Rishid added.

"There's been a few new pictures of Yugi recently taken; in his old ones he's always seen wearing the Puzzle. Now though he's clearly no longer wearing it, they should realize that the Puzzle is gone," Malik noted.

"But what if they believe they can call back the Pharaoh by using Yugi?" Bakura asked nervously; after all the Items included the Ring, and that was one item he could do without.

Isis finished off her meal, Rishid following suit, and with a nod to Bakura they stood up, Malik bounding back to his feet waiting till everyone was ready to leave. As far as Malik was concerned this could be his chance, a first step in making up to Yugi all the awful things he had done.

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"I still haven't thanked you enough for coming all this way just because of me," Bakura began as he slipped his key into the lock. With a twist of the knob he opened the door and froze to his spot.

Isis felt Bakura stiffen just by his posture alone. His eyes froze up in fear, focused on something in the center of his apartment, his body stiffened in shock as though he was trying to calculate something that wasn't adding up.

"What's wrong, Bakura?" Malik asked as he looked into the room. Bakura didn't have much in the way of creature comforts for guests. He didn't know what to expect when he came to Bakura's place. The walls were standard colors of off white with muted trim; the wooden floors were cleanly swept and there was a table set up in the center of the room. In fact the room looked rather normal, save for one rather large thing. The walls had boards lined up with images of a background on them, like the backdrop of a play, while the center of the room held a table that had something set up like a miniature building of some type.

"Bakura, is there something in the apartment that frightens you?" Rishid asked calmly, staring over Isis's head into the room.

"Monster… Monster World… It's a role-playing game I enjoy playing… Only I didn't set it up, it wasn't set up when I left here to meet with you…" Bakura slowly began to explain, but his words were unnerving. "I don't have those backdrops either, the images are wrong."