Yu-Gi-Oh: A Past and Future Pharaoh
Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
Beta By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
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There were no lights in the graveyard itself, the lamp posts existed solely along the road to help people drive into and out of the cemetery. The sky above no longer held the bright azure blue of day. Instead it was a melting into a rich deep purple blanket being pulled more and more over them. From horizon to horizon as the time continued onward.
Once upon a time the sky was always blue, even at midnight, without artificial lighting the sky had always been a shade of blue. Now in these modern times the blue was canceled out and everything was black with far less stars than he recalled from his own youth. A beauty that no one else would ever get to experience only wisps of a long ago past where nature was at its grandest really...
"We have a problem," Malik finally noted aloud as the pair moved towards their target grave. The words were cautious from the blond, concerned and even a bit embarrassed, enough to cause the pair to look at him in interest.
"What now?" Jounouchi asked rolling his shoulders and folding his arms as he turned to face Malik.
Malik sighed trying to think of how to explain this particular linguistic knot that he had realized, in order for Jounouchi to fully understand. Part of Maliks' value in this was his access to the royal tomes of Ancient Egypt, Bakura was limited because he had only been a prisoner in his own body and a thief. He lacked the education that nobility would have been given, education that Isis, Rashid and Kaiba would already have ready access to.
But Malik had the tomes and normally it 'would' be considered good enough save...
"Bakura, what are the words 'fraternal' and 'identical' as 'you' know in Ancient Egyptian?" Malik finally asked, earning confused expressions from both of them.
Bakura blinked a few more times as he slowly obeyed speaking in Ancient Egyptian and grew concerned when Malik began shaking his head 'no'.
"Uh..." Jounouchi voiced the confusion that was mutually shared between himself and Bakura when Malik sighed his concern answered.
"Isis and Set, or Osiris and Set. I've been taught Ancient Egyptian all my life both in everyday life, language and in religion. I had to 'learn' Japanese in order to visit when I came looking to take the Puzzle. Yet the words you used for the twins? That's 'not' the words I was taught, I mean, Osiris, Isis, Nephthys and Set are all twins but only the Ladies look close enough to being considered Identical twins, but Osiris and Set are clearly fra-ternal." Malik explained watching the expression on the two with him processed the information at their own pace.
"So... the Egyptian language you were taught was shifted? Ok well Japanese descended from China, but its not like I could hop over there and strike up a conversation." Jounouchi asked before crossing his arms. "But.. your people were kept in isolation? How could that happen?"
"Not complete isolation," Malik corrected, "But enough for us to know that outsiders stopped calling our land 'Kemet' and moved to 'Egypt'. So I suppose it could have naturally shifted, only, Isis and Rashid are getting their memories back. So far they haven't said anything about the issue of language changes."
"Wait... 'what' is Egypt supposed to be called?" Jounouchi blurted out, despite everything else 'now' he looked confused his gaze going to Bakura for confirmation.
"Kemet," Bakura answered easily, "but again, language. The 'word' Kemet wouldn't bring to mind the same place in everyones' mind if we said it. So we just keep using 'Egypt' since that's what everyone knows."
Jounouchi looked like Bakura just straight out punched him, despite the darkness Bakura could see the whites of Jounouchi's eyes. "Don't be so surprised Jounouchi, Japan is only 'Japan' to the rest of the world, you know that."
"Ye... yeah... Just... I guess its the 'ancient' part of the equation," Jounouchi pointed out, stranger to think of the whole language thing regarding Japan rather than Egypt. Or Kemet... or whatever... But it made him appreciate more just 'how' many languages a portion of the group dealt with... "Oh I guess that doesn't help Mahaado at all either... Probably slows the poor guy up..." Jounouchi thought aloud.
"Why? We're teaching him Japanese," Malik pointed out when Jounouchi shook his head eyeing the pair from the car that were continuing to walk through the graves on an unseen path.
"Yeah and you just said the problem. If 'you' or anyone else only knows this adjusted version of Ancient Egyptian, how can you be expected to teach him properly? Yugi doesn't know it much yet, Kaiba probably would rather stab himself than use it. Your siblings are just starting to remember it, unless he's chatting up Bakura he's not really conversing with someone who's bilingual with the actual languages he knows and is learning."
Bakura gave a sharp, self loathing, snort before he tossed his gaze over his shoulder and saw the pair had stopped short of the grave. A pair of men, who were lost enough in the shadows of night that there was no subtle way to tell if they were the twins the trio were looking for or not. But given their guarded natures, the pair stood with their backs to the car ready to run if the trio turned dangerous. One stood in front of the other, yet not totally blocking the view, more in a position of protectiveness. Indicative of personality types at least in the sense of who was the more assertive, aggressive personality versus the more passive, observing one.
"You wouldn't happen to be friends with a Stage Magician named 'Pandora' or his brother would you?" Bakura called out, turning to face the pair keeping his voice calm and level his hands open and at his sides. There was no way to make him look harmless with his black coat or eyelined eyes, yet at the same time... A subtle fear had its uses, he didn't need to shake out anything major from the pair beyond just identification at the moment.
The guy in the back reached out grabbing at the one in the front by the elbow, and that was all Bakura needed to know they had run into their marks.
"So, you must be Fred and George Santiago," Bakura noted with a confidence that shook the pair even more, the one in front going so far as to take a step back in concern. "Your friend Catherine sends her greetings, and asked us to help her."
"What have you done to Cat?" The one in the back demanded his voice expressing panic and worry as he tried to step past his brother only to get held back.
"Nothing, but Pan..." Bakura shook his head and tried again, "Monte tried to kidnap her, when that failed he contacted her. Mentioned something about how having failed to kidnap her, Travis was going to have to be killed. She wanted us to save Travis, but well this is a particularly nasty looking onion I must say," Bakura replied as he began walking forward, taking his steps slowly at an easy, unhurried pace. With Malik and Jounouchi falling in step behind, Malik in the middle more like following a line. Better in his eyes than looking like a pack hunting prey given the situation though neither he or Jounouchi understood what was being said.
"So you have talked to her..." the one in the back replied with a sigh, his hand going through his hair in a careless gesture. "Yeah she called us, but we had already moved out and it was dad who took the call, we... just couldn't stay after..."
"Your uncle," Bakura finished the sentence when it was clear the pair wouldn't be able to produce the words. But at least the pair were slowly losing their more defensive stances against Bakura and his group.
"She told you about that?" The one in the front asked, wary but his curiosity was now present, while his twin stepped up so they were side by side. Naive and trusting this pair, a few words and they readily dropped their guard, sweet and fatally foolish at the same time.
"Just that he died," Bakura answered before giving a small gesture with his right hand, "Please give me a moment my friends here don't speak English... I have to translate for them."
"I got some of that..." Jounouchi confessed his voice a little tight with the embarrassment that he didn't get 'all' of it.
But both pairs were quiet as Bakura went about informing Malik and Jounouchi what had been established so far.
"Well might as well let them know about how it might not have been a suicide but a murder..." Malik pointed out,
"Yeah, they need to know the guy might have been killed cuz his soul is well here." Jounouchi added despite the concerned look he gave around the place as though John would suddenly just appear.
Bakura nodded wondering if John could hear this conversation, if so, than once they could finally contact him he would know what was going on. Or at least that was the hope. "This is going to get more complicated, I'm afraid." Bakura warned in a tone that Jounouchi barely avoided reacting to, for the tone was kind, understanding, it was the voice that they always associated with what Ryou used. Hearing it again made Jounouchi realize how long it had been since he last actually heard that softness.
Worse, it made him realize how much of an asshole he had become, as he recalled his sisters' surgery and how he had blindly abandoned her. His fixation on Red Eyes, his desire to be in Kaiba's tournament had allowed him to abandon her in her time of need. He tried to fix that, tried to keep his focus on what was important to him. After all without the Other Yugi who was going to look after Yugi? What about the rest of the gang?
But now with the loss of Gramps he turned his focus to Honda, crippled and deaf, letting Jounouchi had fixated so hard on that grief... he didn't notice that they had been losing Ryou. When was the last time he even 'thought' of Bakura as 'Ryou'? When did he stop seeing a difference between the dangerous Spirit in the Ring and calling 'that' Bakura, and the more gentle, giving Ryou as a separate entity who was a victim of the Ring? When did Ryou stop being Ryou and why didn't Jounouchi realize it?
Jounouchi couldn't even recall when exactly Ryou's speaking mannerisms had changed either. So he didn't know if this was a gradual development or just a persona that Ryou put on when he put on that coat. Was it a method for him to deal with what they were doing or was something worse happening to the guy?
While Jounouchi stood there the expressions of his conflict lost to the darkness of the night, Malik continued observing the twins before them. It had been quiet when they had arrived the winds were nothing of note. Now the winds were stirring in the graveyard, stroking the edge of his hoodie and teasing the bottom of Bakura's coat. Yet when he looked outside the graveyard, he could not see a single tree stir from the wind. Their voices weren't lost to a growing sway of tree tops either, making him think that this was possibly John becoming active.
"So we came here before, trying to find you guys but the timing was a bit off clearly. You said you had to leave... but Catherine has implied that all of you left... Was there any discussion as to why? Pulling up roots and dispersing to the four winds seems a bit extreme to me, personally." Bakura asked unaware of the conflict in Jounouchi and only that Malik had moved a bit closer to his left side, observing things.
The pair exchanged glances in the darkness before looking off to the same spot in the graveyard, to their uncles' grave. "It sounds stupid, don't think too much on it...Oh and I'm Fred," the one who had been more assertive answered, his brother giving a limp wave while introducing himself.
"Ah, yes, that probably would help. My name is Ryou, my friend on my left is Malik and my other friend behind me is Katsuya," Bakura answered with a smile lost to shadows. "But I assure you, that anything you have to say will be taken with the utmost respect and consideration."
The twins looked at each other and at these strangers, who bore this strange air of danger and yet... oddly... trust. As though there was just something in the back of their minds saying 'go ahead, talk to them'.
"We felt... driven out, our dreams became nightmares, we felt like we were being watched all the time.." George confessed his voice uncertain and wary of ridicule, but Ryou started nodding which was a bit encouraging. Who knew they would be having this conversation while all they wanted was to visit their uncle one more time before they went back to their new lives.
"Its not as bad where we are now... but Josie is the only one who feels that its completely gone and she left the country." Fred added, amazed at how this guy was reacting like he wasn't hearing the insane.. "We just came to see family..."
"Your mom? She had a reaction to your uncle's death, and now knowing that she's a twin with him..." Ryou paused, sounding almost hesitant and incredibly gentle as though he was about to say something very upsetting. "Have you considered that maybe your uncle was murdered?"
"Exactly! We told the cops that the letter was a plant! Uncle Johnny wouldn't just kill himself!" George blurted out pushing past Fred completely his voice carrying a plea to be heard. As though for the first time someone who 'wasn't' with them that night finally would believe what the pair had to say. "He wouldn't just hang himself!"
"George!" Fred reached for his twin before shaking his own head, his brother having a point. This was the first time that someone suggested murder and not blindly went along with just 'suicide', people who would be willing to listen and maybe believe. "We got a call from dad that mom hadn't woken up. He said she started feeling sick the night before so he let her sleep in but she wasn't waking up. We called Uncle Johnny while getting her transported to the hospital but he never answered the phone. So I went to go check on him after she had been admitted into the hospital and he was..."
"Mom's not in a coma but she's not responding to the world the doctors said... and Fred found Uncle Johnny hanging in his apartment.." George finished for his brother and watched as that white wigged head nodded slowly in acknowledgment. This was surreal, just utterly surreal to be in a graveyard not more that a toss away from their Uncle and this conversation was even taking place.
"And now you're saying that Monte could have gotten Travis in a situation where he could be killed. What is going on?" Fred asked shivering at the evening autumn chill as Ryou went and translated for his friends.
"Do people do that? Is that a twin thing to do?" Jounouchi asked unable to wrap his mind around the idea of someone killing themselves and their twin literally going into shut down over it. "Is that an Egyptian twin thing to do?"
"Like I've seen a pair of twins," Malik countered before shaking his head slightly. "But he has a point, and I think John is listening to us, its gotten breezy in here but I can't see or hear any of the trees reacting to this breeze."
"Wait... what?!" Jounouchi went back into high alert, finally looking around past the breeze he had casually ignored. His eyes having gotten accustomed to the darkness could see the still trees outside the metal fence of the graveyard. "GHOSTS?!"
Fred and George couldn't follow what the trio were discussing, though that Katsuya guy's cry followed by, literally, pouncing onto the back of Malik was a moment. Comical enough to pull the twins away from their darker thoughts. Malik wasn't prepared clearly as his arms suddenly stuck out in a wild bid to keep his balance before his knees gave out and sent him falling to the ground. Filling the normally quiet, somber graveyard with a strange mixture of Japanese and what sounded Egyptian.
"I must apologize, all my responsible mature friends were tied up at this time, these were the only two I could grab on such short notice..." Bakura apologized as he stood there, his lips barely moving and his eyes gazing up at the stars that were still coming out this early evening.
"What spooked him?" George asked, his lips quirked into a half smile as Malik could be seen struggling to get Katsuya to let go of him and said scared blond was not letting go. Reminded him of Scooby Doo honestly.
"I would put my bet on your uncle trying to get our attention," Bakura answered as succinctly as he could given the topic at hand. "Thus the reason why we were in this graveyard to begin with, because I'm afraid that there's a bit of magic going on in your lives..."
"You think magic is real?" Fred asked, his voice sounded mangled even to his own ears.
"Yeah real evil," George added looking away from all of them.
"I know Magic is real, how else would the three of us be here?" Bakura countered gently having not forgotten the protective symbols in the shops.
