A Past and Future Pharaoh
Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
Original Beta: WhiteSwan
Current Beta: Me!
A/N: Fixing page lengths is still in progress
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"I... I dare not!" Mahaado fell to his knees bowing in the type of fear that was associated with Mahaado's teacher. As young looking as he was in those days, Mahaado's appearance made Kaiba feel like he was one of those over powering adults who would whip Mahaado. An act that suggested that Kaiba was no different than the previous High Magician.
It was a frustrating situation when something caught Kaibas' attention drawing his eyes towards a growing red spot that was blossoming into a red smear down Mahaado's back. Something he saw more times than he cared for and struck an outraged cord deep within the CEO.
"You're manifesting those whip wounds from your master aren't you?! Why? What did I ever do to deserve being liken to that monster!" He demanded in a growing rage as he bent down and yanked Mahaado to his feet. His harshly grabbed Mahaado's chin and forced the false youth into looking up at him. Only to remember that this was how the previous High Magician had been, the man had always physically overpowered Mahaado.
He knelt down, calming himself down bringing himself back into the emotional state he would need to be in when dealing with matters of the company. At least matters that didn't require him to get upset due to the incompetence of others. It wasn't the same thing, but it would at least get his heart rate down... when suddenly...
"Mahaado, no!"
The mage took his child self hands and starting to choke himself! Horrified Kaiba found himself suddenly grappling with the magician in an effort to stop this display of self harm. Mahaado was clearly terrified, an emotion he had been schooled not to show. His eyes showed a conflict he couldn't communicate as though he was trapped in a horrifying game of tug-o-war. Worse yet the room was beginning to shake! The pots and pans, the plates and cups, they were rattling off their hooks and wobbling on their shelves. And if this was Mahaado and he wasn't in control of himself at all...
No. Of course not, he gave up his human life and form. Mahaado had no voice about what he did or when he did it when the master pulled the leash tight on him. Yugi had always been a gentle master, letting Mahaado have his way since the mage arrived in that cell. Mahaado returning the favor by staying by his side and doting over him the same way as the mage did all those ages ago. Mahaado may have been summoned by Kaiba, but someone had taken control of the mage. Or maybe they were both fighting over the Magician, and it was causing the conflict within Mahaado.
"Maha? Where are you?" The kitchen doors didn't move, however; the sound of quick foot steps entered through the doorway, as a very familiar voice called out. Kaiba watched stoically as Set walked along between the rows of counter space, looking about for Mahaado. It was a very strange moment when a person could literally watch himself as a child many centuries removed walk about. Kaiba, sitting in the third person almost, could see some of the traits he himself had. The boy walked with an air of confidence and pride, someone who believed in himself and his own strength. But the change was when 'Set' found Mahaado. He openly expressed concern in his facial features as he rushed over. "You're hurt! Did your master find you?" The boy dropped down beside Mahaado his expression for his friend.
"N...no... I'm fine Set...Seth." Mahaado shivered, but tried to control himself. The stain didn't grow too much beyond where it had begun. While Set worked to avoid touching the abused back and coax Mahaado to his feet. Mahaado looked over at Kaiba, fear and uncertainty clear in his eyes while at the same time upsetting Set.
"There's nothing there Maha, don't give the Shadows power over you. Come on..." he coaxed as he tugged Mahaado along by the shoulders.
Mahaado kept looking back, even as he relented and followed Seth's command. Friends looking after one another, it made sense that they would do that. There had been many a time when Mahaado was unable to take care of his own injuries and he had been there to help with the bandages. But this wasn't the past, so who would possibly be able to know so much about that past to... Then it hit him, of course, Mahaado. Someone controlling Mahaado could get him to talk about things, even the past.
Someone was messing with Kaiba, someone who apparently had a death wish to bring up a time that caused the most emotional turmoil in him. He had to find Mahaado and, as much as he didn't like to admit it, regain control over the Magician. He left the kitchen his eyes searching every nook and cranny as he walked. Where had Set taken Mahaado? It was very jarring to see a seaside ocean view painting resting so properly on the wall, while looking for Ancient Egyptian ghosts.
The moment struck him making him pause as he realized that he was in fact spending his time in an ordinary hotel. He was surrounded by typical, normal, mundane, though of high quality, items of the modern world. Yet he was currently hunting down a pair of... something... Was Mahaado being forced to create Set with illusions? Regardless, it was still a jarring experience to be forced to see Ancient Egyptians that didn't belong while in a modern American environment.
He kept moving, looking for the mini-mage, his eyes sweeping past the ground floor when a sound caused him to look up the staircase where he found the prince, now a little older, walking along. He look about seven or eight, with his arms swinging at his side as he moved, looking like a cheerful ruler. "Yugi!" he called out running to the stairs to get up to that floor.
The boy didn't react to his voice, an understandable response for 'Yugi' wasn't the princes' name to start with. But as Kaiba approached he watched as the teen stepped through the still closed door of one of the guest rooms. He reached the floor and ran for the door the thought that maybe the door would be locked never occurring to him. But the door opened readily sweeping inward revealing the bedroom of a young High Magician in training.
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"Are you actually going to be able to do this?"
"A little late to be asking me that don't you think?"
It wasn't a room in a hotel, nor was it any type of room in the modern world. It was a simple bedroom in Ancient Egypt; everything was simple, of high quality, but simple. Something expected of a High Priest in training, which was comforting to the visiting teen. Set sat in a chair leaning as far back as he could go, his eyes shut while wearing his simple robes. He sat beside what could be considered a vanity, Maha sitting there holding a small pot in one hand, a concerned look in his eyes causing him not to go any further.
"You haven't even put on any make up... are you planning to go out there with no protections?" he asked, placing the pot on the table before him. The room was so quiet, it almost seemed to tremble with an unspoken anticipation and an undercurrent of fear. Mahaado's bedroom was a comforting place for the pair, it was where they could go when the Prince was with the rest of his family, under older, more powerful guard. It was quiet and peaceful in his room, allowing them to have more deeper conversations without the Prince, endearing as he may be, trying to puzzle his way through it. Or Mana trying to plow through it. The women of the palace swore up and down that Mana would grow up one day.
Set almost carelessly extended his hand, though the boy had his own mesdemet in his room, apparently he was not leaving to get it. Mahaado shook his head before reaching over to grab the small ornate ivory box that he carried it in. But after a moment of watching Set's hand shake he took both back with a firm grip. Shaking his head he put it back on the table before moving a chair over to Set. "Tell me the style you want. I'll do it for you, before you stab out your own eye."
Set sat up more turning his head to face Mahaado and his quiet way of dealing with make up. The boy... young man now, had a good skill with the make up, he had a very meticulous way of handling the stick. Then again Mahaado was a trained mage, he was 'supposed' to be good with his hands. Even when he was working off of less blood than a normal boy his age, whippings that would make a dead horse wince, and threats to life and limb.
There was no point in asking what style even, Set would wear the same marks he had worn since he was old enough to apply it to his own face. Very simple, as per his personality, Set would not live begging the Gods to spare him from his own stupidity. Simply put, he wasn't so stupid that he 'needed' help. He would stand and fall on his own merit and prove himself without their assistance. With today, under the blazing eye of Ra himself, he would prove it to all of the royal court. He had already taken all the strategic courses, proven his intellect far outstripped his peers. But having Mahaado do his make up was nice, the boy had such a soft touch.
"Are you even listening to me Seth? You're putting your life on the line and for what? Wouldn't it be better to stay the position you have now?"
Mahaado was also such a worrier...
"You honestly think I'm going to let an inept fool be in charge of the Army? Who will look after you three?"
"You think I can not perform the duties myself?" Mahaado asked, his tone hinting at a raised eyebrow.
"Oh, I know you can look after the Prince, however; I know that you can not look after 'yourself'. You'll wear yourself out. Then who will be left to look after the pair?" Set looked over at Mahaado as the mage in training prepared to work on his other eye. The worry in Mahaado was clear in the way the boy kept looking back as though fearing that Set would disappear.
So he reached out on his own, placing a hand on Mahaado's arm before Mahaado could begin. Stilling the mage's actions, "I'll win. No one will ever surpass me."
Mahaado gave him that look of pure amusement that came when Set started bragging about his outrageous level of confidence. Sometimes one could believe that Set did it just to make Mahaado do something in reaction. He was normally so submissive it was enough to drive a person, namely Set, into distraction. So Set could completely see Mahaado wearing himself out looking after the Prince until he dropped, if the Prince really got motivated.
He opened his eyes at the sound of the soft click from the box, while Mahaado replaced it before going to his robes. Yet it was the truth, Set was considered probably the most intelligent boy in the kingdom, as Mahaado was whispered to be the most powerful magician. The irony of two people born of such lower ranks, yet able to outshine all of a nation short of the Pharaoh himself. A strange place of in between graced upon them by the Prince and his light filled heart. The Prince was their light, their hope for the future, the spiky haired little rascal who clung to Mahaado like a baby to his mother.
It brought a smile to Set's lips to think on it, as he sat there. The memories of all the times he challenged the bundle of Princely wrath to get the boy to do more. Otherwise the boy would never even 'talk', he had sufficiently taught Mahaado how to follow every single non verbal cue he had. But that had been unhealthy, the Prince relied so heavily on Mahaado for everything it was starting to look like he wouldn't even 'bother' to talk.
But the smile slipped away as he recalled the first time that they tried to sit the prince down for his lessons. From the moment the Prince saw Mahaado hanging by his wrists, whipped like the most evil hearted of criminals. Set never approved and could only see this ending very badly for someone. Though he wasn't as close as Mahaado to the prince, he could tell that this abuse, and this was clearly abuse, would affect the Prince. Time proved Set right, the prince understood that Mahaado was his 'property'. He believed it meant that he and he alone had the right to decide what happened when Maha was 'bad'.
But time and again they took away his 'power', beating the magician against the princes' will. It sent a conflicted message to the prince about what power was, implying that it could easily be taken away form him. One could say that it was a proper, humbling lesson so that the future Pharaoh never lost sight of what justice and truth were about. So that he always stayed on the path of righteousness and honor. But torturing someone, another child no less, was beyond cruel. The Pharaoh tried to control it, thus the High Magician couldn't just beat Mahaado like he used to. But when every explanation as to why Maha was hurt was because of 'lessons'. Well, was it any real surprise that the Prince took this the wrong way?
The High Magician tried to send Mahaado away as punishment for making the Prince act in such a manner. Ordering Mahaado stripped of his rank and to be sold into slavery. Sending the palace spiraling into anarchy as the Prince screamed for Mahaado, ignoring even his own father. It took more courage than Set realized he had when he stood up to the Pharaoh to plead the prince's case. In the end Mahaado was returned to the Prince, and the Prince went about his lessons.
"The prince despises storms at night. When one comes he screams and refuses to sleep unless it is with someone. Though oddly he has no qualms about storms in the daytime, indeed he enjoys storm watching."
Sometimes, Set wondered. Could their innocent prince sense something in the darkness that they couldn't? Something that caused his fear? Or was the storms a metaphor for the Circle of High Priests that served the Pharaoh? Mahaado seemed aware of something as well, but damn if the mage was going to tell him.
"Are you ok?"
Set snapped back into focus at the sound of Mahaado's voice, pulled back from the past into the present. Mahaado had finished putting on the basic part of his robes and was starting on the outer layer. Thus while watching Mahaado, Set was pleased at how the mage had grown in character, the mage's master had made Mahaado pose as a girl growing up. Set understood the logic, girls seeming weaker, they would disregard Mahaado when going after the Prince. It gave Mahaado time to set up the spells he needed in other to defend the Prince. But Mahaado had been growing out of the slim body that he had as a child. Not to say he was stacked with stone quality muscle, but it was clear he wasn't androgynous.
Needless to say, it had taken some work over the recent years to get Mahaado out of that frame of mind. Though Set doubted he would ever get that boy completely out of that terrible self image, still it didn't hurt to try. But he pushed himself up and went over to Mahaado to help put on some of the jewelry on the teen.
"Do you remember the first time we met, after I recovered from my injuries?" Mahaado asked in a positively bland tone of voice.
"Yes, you insisted that you could take care of yourself." Set noted with a smirk on his lips his thoughts going back to that day.
"Yes, well things haven't changed."
"On the contrary, this time I know how to silence your magic." Set countered that smirk not leaving his face as he clamped his hand over Mahaado's mouth. The Mage gave a muffled 'humph' as he tried to lift up his hand to free his mouth. Only Set reached out and caught his hand bringing it down and behind the mage's back.
A muffled attempt at telling Set off was cut off by a spiky royal head. "So there you are, I've been worried and you're in here getting all touchy feely."
"Idiot Prince." Set retorted.
"Am not!"
"Mini Prince."
"Yeah sure, anyways are you going to be ok with this Seth?" The Prince looked up at him, wide innocent eyes shifted from combative to worry in seconds. The growing rascal was in more elaborate robes today, now that he didn't run like a madman through the palace he could afford to dress more elegantly.
The concern was touching and Set gently draped his arms down to hold the small prince close to him. "I'm ok with proving to all involved that I would be the superior choice for your General, yes."
"But... what if you die? Who's going to look after us three?"
"I'm not going to lose, I refuse to let someone inferior take my place in your lives." Set knelt down, low enough that his knees were almost touching the ground. The scamp of a Prince was looking up at him trying to put up a brave front.
"I gotta go to my Father now, but you don't do anything stupid. Remember we need you!" the Chibi Prince reminded one more time in his most stern voice before walking off to rejoin his father.
"Touchy feely? Did I miss something?" He asked turning to face the Mage as Maha went about his make up.
The mage froze in his work, glanced about his room then gave a shrug and resumed his eye make up.
"The Prince showed me your High Priest in Training robes," Mahaado suddenly interjected, into the silence that seemed to start eating away at the room. "It was rather nice, simple, but it brings out your eyes."
"Why thank you, I never knew you noticed them." Set replied with a smirk, feeling rather pleased with himself that he had features that could be considered alluring.
"You should go, I'll be there shortly."
Set nodded, leaving the room to lay claim to a new rank and position.
