A Past and Future Pharaoh
Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
Original Beta: White Swan
A/N: A bit of dusting over here...
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They looked up ready to climb when suddenly Isis's head appeared at the open window. Malik's head sunk down in embarrassment and Bakura sighed in his own defeated way. So… instead of using the window, the pair returned to the apartment the proper way. Bakura was sent to bed while the older siblings were scolding Malik.
No, it was not ok to be roaming around the streets at any hour.
No, it was not ok to be roaming around a site being investigated by the police.
No, it was not ok to be dragging their host into the street at any hour.
No, it was not ok to be dragging their host into the area being investigated by the police.
No, they didn't want to hear about the events in the shop. Yet.
No, whatever he saw was not important enough to be heard before the sun had fully made it back into the sky at 'least'.
Yes, that was final.
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\Morning in Bakura's kitchen\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
Bakura had not been lying when he said he would make a huge breakfast. He had slipped out and gone shopping, bringing back eggs, sausage, bread, milk, orange juice. The kitchen looked insane with all the food he had already prepared not to mention what he was making. For the Ishtars, the kitchen was a forbidden zone while Bakura worked, no one was willing to get between Bakura and his work. Especially after a cookbook fell open and rested on the table, the pages turning occasionally, which Bakura explained as being that Lady again. She had apparently abandoned the game board to sit and watch Bakura cook. From what Bakura described, she seemed interested in how he could take care of himself; she was sitting at the table studying the cookbooks and confirming from her seat if what Bakura was doing looked right.
Though Isis offered to help, he had politely declined, insisting that because he was the host, he had to do it. The smell and sound of cooking sausages was delightful as the siblings watched the stack of pancakes slowly rising. Isis couldn't help but muse how it would be Malik and Rashid who would devour those pancakes. "Would you mind if we set the table at least?" she offered hoping to distract Malik from his contemplation of the pancakes.
"Um… I think that was already handled," Bakura called out in answer from the stove, sounding a bit embarrassed.
Curious about the cryptic answer, Isis went to the dining room and found the table already set up for breakfast, though she was sure it wasn't like that when she first entered the room earlier. Was the whole apartment affected by these spirits, with just the Lady there to be visible for Bakura? The bomb and current events had resulted in Bakura not even being able to tell them 'what' was the original catalyst for the first call. He literally had gone from 'help me I'm scared of something happening to me' to 'help me people that I am friends with are dying'. It was quite a whiplash if she had ever heard one.
Bakura had said that he felt something similar in the Game shop that he had been sensing inside his apartment. That feeling apparently being Exodia the Forbidden One, but what would be in Bakura's apartment? She could easily recall where the monsters came from, the history of them being summoned by sorcerers was well documented among her people. But he said they were 'different' and so far all they had was one Duel Monster appearing at the shop and a ghost. Was he just being sensitive to the ghost around him, and through that sensing the spirits?
"What troubles you so, Sister?" Malik asked as he joined Isis in the room. Arms folded loosely across his chest the teen gazed down at Isis with his lavender eyes showing warmth and concern. "Is it the Pharaoh?"
"I… I am at a loss Malik. I do not know exactly how to help Bakura, though he asked for our assistance," Isis admitted apprehensively, even going so far as to switch back to their native Egyptian language. "He asked for our help, but its as though something massive just completely drowned out what he was concerned about. He says there's a Ghost, and I feel as though it may be serving as a gateway to how he sensed Exodia."
"Is it possible that without the Items, Bakura is kinda regressing to his true self?" Malik asked hesitantly, switching to match her in language. When his sister looked at him as though she was truly considering his suggestion, he continued. "Is it possible that somehow Bakura has never learned his own powers and is frightened of them?"
Isis looked conflicted between schools of thought, until she finally spoke her mind aloud to see Maliks' take on things. "What you say makes sense, despite our duty to the preservation of the Tablets and history of the Nameless Pharaoh. Ghosts aren't exactly in our field of study, though there are ghosts represented in the game. It would be best if we could enlist Seto's help to have him tell us about the past so we could understand it better. Because neither of us were allowed into the memory game that the Pharaoh played against the forces of Evil. He has valuable third person experience of that battle, though his insistent reluctance is a problem."
"However I have noticed that Bakura has begun to do things that are, even by his own admittance, out of the ordinary." Malik pointed out as his sister sat down at the table.
"How would you know? You only knew the Dark Spirit in the Ring, had you ever even truly met Bakura before we arrived here?" Isis pointed out, as she looked up to see her brother.
"I…" That stopped him, since it was true he didn't really know Bakura. How could they judge how he normally behaved? He said he was acting out of the norm, but that was just him, and Bakura was exceptionally reserved. He had lived with the Ring for years; there was no telling how the experience was for him, to go to sleep in one area only to wake up in another with a wound no less. Freedom from that could have left him hyper sensitive to everything around him. It could very well have been that what Bakura 'thought' was out of place, was, in fact, quite normal. For a reincarnation of a three thousand year old thief.
"I was thinking about trying something, after breakfast," Rashid announced from behind them, startling the pair.
"Oh?" Isis looked up at the taller man curious about his idea.
"Yes, when we have finished discussing everything from last night's adventure," he paused to give Malik 'that' look. "We can discuss that."
"We discuss it now?" Malik asked eagerly, those images still fresh in his mind from the Game Shop.
"After breakfast," Isis reassured her brother, who grumped about it.
"I hope Yugi and the others have something to eat," Bakura came up from behind the trio, a tray heavy with breakfast foods in his hands.
"Let me…" The words faded from Rashids' lips as he saw the other plates of food hovering behind Bakura.
"Thank you but that won't be necessary, I have that covered." Bakura looked a bit embarrassed and nervous at the same time as he stood there, holding the tray laden with pancakes, syrup and toast.
"Bakura would it be possible to have those spirits help pinpoint locations on a map? Or point out words on a sheet?" Rashid asked as the trio stepped out of the way so Bakura and unseen entourage could walk through.
"I… don't know?" Bakura looked cautious at the question as he went to set down the tray.
"We can use words to try to talk to the spirits, perhaps we can learn what they want and the map to find Yugi," Rashid suggested, earning a thoughtful look from Bakura that split between looking at him and at someone they couldn't see. "If you are not ready yet to speak with them directly than we won't."
Bakura nodded in understanding before setting out the trays of food for his guests to eat. They ate in silence for a long while before finally Malik spoke up, breaking the ice.
"I was just thinking of something…" Malik spoke as he began knife sparing Bakura for a slice of bacon. "Sis, kept talking about how Kaiba was a High Priest three thousand years ago. Yet was I the only one who saw Kaiba in Egyptian robes standing on the other side of the door that the Pharaoh walked through when he left? How could Kaiba be in two places at the same time? If he is the reincarnation of the High Priest, how could he both be here and there at the same time? Was that not the Afterlife that the Pharaoh went to?"
"You skipped your lessons I see." Isis noted, stabbing an end the war of the butter knives with her fork. "The religious belief is that people have 'three' aspects of the soul if you will. One is the Ka from which Duel Monsters are based off of, but there 'are' two other parts. So one part still on the Other Side is reasonable."
"We know that the monsters that are played in Duel Monsters were based off the tablets in the underground city. Though there were those that were created by Pegasus for the sake of keeping the game fresh. However, those tablets were created by putting a monster inside the stone, can it be plausible that the stone tablets are reactivating? Or if not that, could the Ka inside of us be awakening?" Rashid suggested as the two butter knives retreated meekly from the fierce fork.
"If that is the case could it be possible that you are sensing the reawakening of the Ka within your own being?" Isis suggested looking over at Bakura, while readying her next bite of food.
He looked down, thoughtful, "it doesn't feel evil or scary. I guess it could be that I'm not used to the feeling of freedom."
The Ishtars hid their pitying looks into their plates as they ate a couple of mouthfuls.
"I had an odd dream last night. Not just last night, but for several nights, nothing bad or terrible per say, just odd." That comment had everyone looking at Rashid in degrees of interest as he spoke. It meant opening himself up to probing, but it felt to him that there should be an opening. He understood that he was the most intimidating person in the room; tall and usually silent so perhaps it would reassure Bakura, and let him talk about his situation more? "I dreamed of being in Egypt as a child, but not underground with the Tomb Keepers clan, rather above ground. It was strange because I wasn't adopted rather I lived with my parents. Both of whom served the royal family one as a priest, one as a servant. But I don't remember much else; it was as though I was an infant at the time."
"You as well?" Isis looked genuinely surprised as she heard that, looking at Rashid. "I too dreamed of ancient Egypt, though both my parents were minor priests of the royal family."
"That's odd, that the two of you would have those types of dreams…" Malik noted turning to look over at Bakura with a questioning glance yet Bakura shook his head, no.
"I've had nothing affect me during my sleep," Bakura answered he inwardly hoped it would go away, even as his orange juice was refilled while he wasn't watching by some of their unseen guests.
"Then again we do not have strange things happening around our home." Rashid admitted.
"Unless you count Malik… alright Malik, tell us what you saw at the Game store." Isis said turning her attention back to her youngest sibling.
"Thank you!" He straightened up in his seat before recounting the events the night before. "So Bakura came with me when I went to check out the Game Shop."
"Was kidnapped." Bakura coughed politely when Malik made it sound voluntary.
Malik turned to look at Bakura before shrugging and going back to his story. "The store is wreaked and we found what was probably what the point of origin of the attack. But it's what's on the wall that got our attention; hieroglyphics were burned into the wall. What is so strange is that it's on the wall, untainted by the explosion, which would imply that someone came in after the explosion. But the question is 'who' and 'when'?"
Intrigued, Isis asked, "what did the words say?"
"That's the disturbing thing. It read 'Restore the God King of War.' But the words aren't exactly right, there were spare symbols that I don't recognize." Malik explained.
"There's also the light source. When we arrived the hanging boards of the building wall blocked the moonlight, yet when Malik started reading, the light shifted upwards. It was as though the moonlight just passed through solid objects to project the light we needed to see what had had been written." Bakura added thoughtfully, having watched the light source while Malik read the wall.
"There was an interesting thing about the message," Malik noted before sneaking off an extra slice of toast from Bakura. "The language felt shifted, I can read it, but it didn't carry that same feeling of age that goes with the texts we were given."
"Why a later age?" Bakura asked curiously, as he pilfered a sausage patty from Malik.
"Because we've always been in Egypt, the same way we can speak to those around us despite not being a part of the upper world. The language is drastically different now than it was three thousand years ago so telling a difference should become more obvious the wider the gulf," Rashid explained as he began finishing up his own meal.
"I'll call the police after breakfast so that I can offer my services to them. There may have been more to this then we may have known about." Isis stated as she pushed away her plate. "The breakfast was excellent Bakura thank you."
\\\\\\Somewhere Else… Location unknown beyond the fact it was a Police Station\\\\\\
"Why did you do it? Why put yourself in this situation when you could have just walked away?" Kaiba asked the other teen who was sitting with him under the stars. Before them rested a small fire; it was a risk that they had to take since they found themselves to be in a place that was very cold. Mokuba and Jounouchi were sleeping; Mokuba curled up under his brother's trench coat Jounouchi curled up to the fire… dog style. Kaiba already lost the duel over whether or not he could mock Jounouchi about that.
"I told you, we all told you that you're our friend. Call it greed but I don't want to lose my friends, I hate that feeling of being alone. So when I saw those guys trying to kidnap you and Mokuba I couldn't just stand by and watch. For all I knew they were going to kill the both of you and leave you somewhere," Yugi said his voice cracking here and there as he spoke.
"What if they just killed you? They would have gained something by keeping my brother and I alive. But the two of you?" Kaiba asked as he sat there his back against a tree. The stars shown overhead in the hundreds, something that neither teen ever got to see back in the city with all it's artificial light. The spot they chose to sit at gave a clear view of the sky, framed by thousands of pine needles. It was getting late, their breaths showing up as fog as it left the heated lungs in the teens. Yugi, wearing a long sleeve white button on shirt, was soon huddled on himself and wrapped his arms around himself more tightly as he shook. Seto was faring slightly better with his turtleneck black shirt, but after awhile he pulled Yugi close to him. So they could share their heat as well as the heat from the fire. Wouldn't do if Yugi died of hypothermia…
"No!"
Seto was snapped out of his thoughts as he heard that shout. Suddenly the door to the side of him flew open and Yugi came running out blindingly, right into the CEO.
"Yugi?" He grabbed the teen as Yugi blindly thrashed seeking his freedom. "Yugi!" grabbing the teen by his shoulders, he forced Yugi to look him in the eye.
"They're lying… They said that Grandpa and Mom are… are…" Yugi broke down and began to sob as cops rushed into the hallway.
\What is going on?\ Seto demanded in English as the cops tried to get Yugi back on his feet.
\We are truly sorry, but while Mr. Mouto has been missing someone bombed his home. His mother and grandfather were both killed and his father had put a request that when his son was found to call him directly.\ A lieutenant explained while Seto helped Yugi to his feet.
"Hey what's going on? I heard Yugi's voice…" Jounouchi could be heard calling out over the heads of the other cops, though he spoke strictly in Japanese while all these cops spoke either English or French. The cops moved to the side, letting Mokuba and Jounouchi through, and they saw Yugi looking like a total wreak with tears in his eyes.
"Apparently while we were away someone destroyed Yugi's home and killed his Grandfather and Mother." Kaiba explained calmly while he felt a deep sob tear through Yugi's body.
Mokuba grew still in shock, his eyes wide as he looked at Yugi. That wasn't fair! Yugi came to try to help him and his Big Brother, who could go and kill his family while he was trying so hard to take care of someone else?
While the hot dog that Jounouchi had been greedily devouring suddenly tasted like ash in his mouth. Yugi's grandpa had taught him how to play Duel Monsters. If not for the old man, Anzu would still be schooling Jounouchi during their duels. He never would have won Red Eyes, which was the card that Yugi had needed to beat Kaiba so that he could take on Malik. If not for Yugi's grandpa would he have been able to find the strength to break from Maliks' control?
Kaiba brought Yugi to Jounouchi so the dog could do some therapy work with Yugi while he tried to get that mess sorted out.
