Yu-Gi-Oh: A Past and Future Pharaoh

Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix

Beta By: Lady Lunar Phoenix

A/N: The week this chapter was uploaded was the week I discovered that Kazuki Takahashi passed away. If you're only still in this fandom because of this fic, I figured you should know.

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"Are you sure about that?"

Anzu felt a chill run down her spine.

A single phrase spoken that was more powerful than a sky full of copy Blue Eyes White Dragons. Anzu felt she was a year younger and watching a duel from the sidelines of a normal dueling field. With everything riding on a randomly shuffled card, and He was here. Only for that one sentence to be uttered and turn everything around. It inspired hope, and safety, a promise that as bad as things were, the villain didn't hold 'all' the cards.

In her minds eye she could see the Other Yugi standing on the dueling platform, wind buffeting all around him on top of an airship or on a tower. Trying to push him around the way that the bullies used to when they were growing up...

Turning around felt impossible, she had to shove those thoughts away. They already had brought forth a multitude of Blue Eyes White Dragons simply by getting fixated by Kaibas' own. She couldn't let the spirit thing grab a hold of her memory of Yugi!

"Took you long enough." Kaiba snarled in response, earning a laugh that kept Anzu frozen to her spot as she wondered if this was just a bad dream after all.

"I told you to wake me up if things got bad. And who wakes me up?" He asked, his tone rhetorical. "Not you."

Hope was a lump in her throat that Anzu had to swallow as she forced herself to turn around. Only for the world to blur into crimson and gold as tears filled her eyes. But in that moment before the world became water, she saw him.

Supported physically by Isis and Rashid, he was wearing one of the bland, thin hospital robes that was given to patients. Amusement and smug confidence written on his face as he was noted the scene around him. He could have been in his leather outfit or school uniform, with only the fatigue to indicate anything could be 'wrong'. The trio basking in the soft glow of the light that came from the presence of the Blue Eyes White Dragons flying about them.

Yugi was awake.

Anzu stood there trying to process that fact, while Mokuba sputtered in disbelief.

"Big brother?" The child sounded fit ready to cry as he uttered those words, before he found his Kaiba confidence and started scolding. "What was the big idea getting shot!? Do you know how upset everyone was! And you didn't come home to apologize for sneaking out on me!"

Yugi only chuckled in response to the youthful bluster.

Anzu hurriedly wiped at her eyes so she could see Yugi again when she heard him speak.

"Without a name you have no form, without a name you have no identity to call your own. Creating a being, while neglecting such a fundamental part, as lazy as I can expect from a lesser being." Yugi began as she heard his steps towards them, with both Isis and Rashid still at his side. "So 'I' shall name you, and you will present yourself before me, Archfiend Emperor, the First Lord of Horror."

The world just stopped at that statement. A horde of bunnies, bears, and flying copies of Blue Eyes White Dragon simply disappeared. Wing buffeting and growls were swallowed as whole as the light of the dragons and the presences of the bears and bunnies. No explosions, or portals to suck them all away, they just simply ceased to exist.

What had been roof filled with absurd teddy bears and bunnies, and a sky filling with dragons was suddenly empty. No sound, no divine lightning from the sky, just a small boy, three teenagers, two adults and a single Blue Eyes White Dragon hovering in the air above them.

While before them, the barely there thing of air and nothing began to appear. A looming presence of lavender toned armor that was crafting itself to appear more like a skeleton. From the skull helmet to the skull knee guards, the chest and limbs were protected by ribbed armor with a bright red jewel rested over where its heart could have been. A looming king of power and presence...

Yet Yugi didn't... He spoke the way the Other Yugi did, with proud words and pronouns, not the humble way the Yugi she knew did. Now that he was with them, his smile showed fatigue and he glanced at her with that weary expression as well.

"This is your fight Seto, I won't hand you the keys to victory, you have to earn that yourself."

Yugi commented and slipped something in his mouth that she couldn't see. It wasn't big enough to puff out his cheeks. She wasn't sure if it was something some nurse gave him on his way up or out of the hospital.

"You won't mind if we help him though will you Pharaoh?" Rashid asked, his voice a rumble of amusement.

Yugi's answer was a calm smile and he gestured with the hand that was now empty, inviting the pair to join the fight in silence.

"Yugi..." Anzu came over, tugging Mokuba to get his attention, and quickly the pair bracketed Yugi.

For a moment Mokuba wrapped his arms around Yugi's waist, while hiding his face in Yugi's side. Yugi held Anzu's gaze with a calmly amused expression, and she was haunted by something he had said in the recording. She offered her shoulder and he leaned into it willingly.

"Yugi? Is everything ok?" She asked as she felt the weight of his presence leaning on her shoulder. It wasn't 'all' his weight, she could tell he wasn't dumping his full weight on her, trying to do his best flounder impression. Only to remind herself sharply that he must have 'just' woken from a coma. It was irrational to think that he was going to be moving about and be super active on his own. He probably had to be helped all...

Those...

"Gods, Yugi, you didn't climb all those steps to get here did you? I'm so sorry, here I am pestering you with questions and..." She started only to feel a soft trembling from Yugi, the corner of his mouth turned upwards in a smile.

"I'm fine, just a little tired," Yugi answered his pronouns suddenly shifting back to the polite, humble terms that she knew him to use. He pointed with a tilt of his head forward, a silent cue to pay attention to the battle ahead of them. "I may not be the one in the fight, but that doesn't make their battle any less important."

Anzu blinked before turning her gaze towards the trio, a wall of experienced fighters who could summon Ka's and fight on the same level as their enemies. There was safety in that, seeing the trio, and even a little heartwarming given that Kaiba was friends with the two of them in his past life. Seeing him standing 'with friends' against a common foe was actually a bit nice.

Blue Eyes circled the building an angry snarling dragon while Spiria rose up and began to follow the dragon. Even as Bastet struggled to trip up the Emperor though the fiend loomed far larger than the Ka. It was actually the first time that Anzu could recall really getting a look 'at' Rashid's Ka. So the fact that it was a beast all together with no human attributes were a bit startling. It was large as a big cat from a jungle would be. Only Emperor was large enough to make Bastet appear as a kitten in comparison. And... and...

"So... it didn't have a name and couldn't have a form because of that?" Mokuba asked, thoughtful and a little confused. Yugi's nodded answer got a soft 'huh' out of Mokuba before he bothered asking a follow up question. "So if you gave it a name, does it mean its real now? Cuz it looks more like what I would think Pegasus would create as a monster instead of a real Ka beast."

"Very much so, its a Duel Spirit now, not born from the soul of a living person, but its own entity." Yugis' reply was incredibly delicate. He was clearly picking each word carefully as though there was an incredible amount of importance behind them. Of course he made an entity become 'real' just by talking to it...

While Anzu seriously wanted to ask what was wrong, somehow she doubted Yugi would answer her. Or at least answer her as directly as he used to. 'Does it matter though? He's here, and awake and we can work through the details later, we just need to support Kaiba, Isis and Rashid so they can beat this... this duel spirit.'

"I guess that's why he's the 'first horror' huh?" Mokuba asked as Yugi rested a hand on the small child's shoulder and gave a soft affirmative sound.

'Without a name you don't exist', Anzu found herself thinking as she watched this large armored figure. It wielded a large sword that bore the same style of skull and bones motif that it wore. Now that it had a name, it had limitations to what it could do apparently. Which made sense, the Other Yugi didn't have a 'name' and was just a spirit. But once they found it, and restored it to him he regained the power to summon Horakthy. Now with an actual 'name' the being lost the ability to just pull anything out of the air. Instead it swung that massive broadsword in an attempt to deal with the biggest threat it saw, Blue Eyes White Dragon.

Spiria flew off towards the dragon, inserting herself between the pair and before her formed an energy shield. The weight of the sword told on how the shield moved back from the impact though it didn't, thankfully, break. It wasn't large enough to encompass all of the dragon, but it was enough to keep it safe.

Anzu didn't forget either, Blue Eyes was only here because it was tethered to Kaiba's health. Injury to the dragon was injury to him. Which would stack horribly with the exhaustion he already was dealing with. 'But he's not alone, even if he'd like to pretend he is...'

Perhaps Anzu had seen one too many card games, as she tried to understand the situation in that context. It was the oldest version of the 'game' after all that she knew of. This was how people dueled back when they were in Ancient Egypt. No spell cards, because spells were the providence of Magicians and Mahaado wasn't there. Traps were environmental situations, and it was just the one Ka per person summoned to fight.

Somewhere in the back of her mind she could only wonder what it looked like to the rest of the city. For Blue Eyes to be hovering over the hospital as she was, snarling at the Archfiend as she circled the hospital. There was a shadow moving about on the ground, dipping in and out of Anzu's sight and feline shaped which she decided must be Rashids.

"Oooh ooooooo..." She suddenly muttered the shock startling the sound out of her and getting Mokuba's attention.

"Something wrong Anzu?" the child asked looking up at Blue Eyes as he spoke.

"Well, I mean, I just realized why Blue Eyes isn't attacking yet..." She replied as she looked around the roof and further off.

"Actually now that you mention it..." Mokuba frowned a bit as he stared up at the incredible sight before him. Clearly thinking things that was beginning to increasingly terrify him.

"If she attacks she either could slam Archfiend 'into' the hospital or miss and just puncture the whole hospital with her White Lightning." Anzu began and heard the boy's own horrified realization start to manifest.

"And even if she angled off, she could hit the parking lot, or a random road or building..." Mokuba added, "and how 'far' does her attack go? She's not a hologram she's 'real' that means her blast would taper off. Even if she didn't wipe out a building she could damage it..."

"You're starting to understand..." Yugi commented, his voice calm and gentle. "Though the hospital is safe, everyone on the roof is another matter..."

While the pair stood there truly trying to process this moment. No holograms only real spirits, real energy attacks and very real consequences for the people around them. People below them, locked in darkness who only came because of an injury or cold who could be killed by a stray attack. With only three people who could possibly protect them. How many would know? Would recognize just what was happening before they died if trio failed?

Sure they would be careful, they were responsible adults. But Archfiend was created for the purpose of killing Yugi. Did it have a mind of its own and the ability to choose its actions? Was it condemned to do what it was created for and if Yugi had given it an identity of its own, how would that affect it? Born a slave into the world...

"So why didn't you make him into something small and harmless?" Mokuba asked as Blue Eyes snapped at the Archfiend.

"It merely built its form based off its name," Yugi answered with a faint shrug.

"Oh no..." Anzu could see something crawling up distantly from the very solid roof of the hospital. "It looks like it didn't really give up its ability to 'summon'..."

"What? Oh! Is that a fiend?" Mokuba asked in alarm as he began looking around the roof as well. He couldn't see anything else rising up, but still...

"Well wouldn't be much of an 'emperor' if it didn't have followers..." Yugi noted casually.

His voice was slightly rolled as it had to contend with whatever he had put into his mouth before. As the Emperor focused its fight against the Blue Eyes, the fiend it summoned set its eyes on the people on the ground. It was ruddy red skinned, with massive muscles, lumbering along it stomped along towards them. Fingers were tipped with sharp, long, curled nails glistened in the light as it charged forward.

Bastet turned its attention away from the Emperor and began charging after the fiend, their sizes a lot more on even terms. Its large form slammed into the Fiend, on its hindlegs it was almost on eye level as the two fought. In the glow of the Blue Eyes, she could see that Bastet had smoky gray fur, but she couldn't nail down the type of cat it was. Aside from rounded ears, it was a solid color unlike a tiger.

'More like a mix of a variety of cats...' "What type of cat is Rashids' Ka? A tiger? Or a lion? I mean it doesn't have a mane so uh..." Anzu pondered aloud.

"Big brother Mahaado said Ka's evolve over time, maybe it just wanted to be more cat and couldn't decide which cat?" Mokuba offered though his gaze was locked more on the Blue Eyes White Dragon and admiring its grace and beauty as it flew.

His comment earned a warm chuckle out of Yugi as he nodded. "It used to be kind of thin... I..." Yugi grew thoughtful for a moment, "I remember it had more of a body like a greyhound and the head of a panther or a tiger. When he first summoned it I wasn't all that impressed, I didn't really care for Ka's I couldn't befriend. Ka's lack a personality really when they're still bound to their bodies, Illusionary Magician and Dios were like that. Cold and stoic when summoned, unlike Maha and Seth, while Kurr was lively because his body had been killed."

"And if a Ka Beast is killed it can kill the person, right?" Mokuba asked anxiously, holding his breath for the harsh answer. Holding and holding and... "Big brother?"

He turned around to look up at Yugi, a frown on his face, "Big brother Yugi? That's how it works right? If the Ka beast is killed the person is killed too right?"

Yugi didn't answer still, his expression became somber, his lips a straight line then, "not always."

"Well?" Mokuba demanded as he stared more sharply at Yugi, and he started to feel a knot in his stomach. Yugi wasn't looking at him, but why? "What's going on, why won't you answer me?"

Anzu found herself looking at Yugi and she could see, as she way closer to his head, the expression in his eyes. Conflict and displeasure self directed, he wasn't talking but not happy about that either. 'Something must be wrong, Yugi's not...' "Mokuba, I'm sure we'll get an explanation later, right now we should focus on the battle. In case we have to run," she spoke with gentle firmness and Yugi's expression of gratitude only confirmed her concern.

Something 'was' wrong, something was keeping Yugi from talking and she couldn't understand why. 'Well all I can do is have faith that Yugi knows what he's doing and why...'

Mokuba sulked in protest, and pointedly turned his attention back to watching as Blue Eyes snapped again at the Emperor.

Bearing down hard against Spiria's shield, bringing its weight against the smaller angel winged being. Blue Eyes craned its neck around the shield opening its mouth as it lunged forward for a savage bite. Splitting the Emperors' attention and causing it to backhand the dragon's mouth with its fist in an attempt to keep the dragon at bay. Though the move forced the Emperors' pressure on the shield to ease off.