Yu-Gi-Oh: A Past and Future Pharaoh

Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

"Ryou..." Anzu shook her head before she eased back into her seat while Ryou took the only open one left.

"So the doctors are having trouble getting you to talk?" Ryou replied as he got comfortable in his slightly harder chair. Yugi's expression was embarrassed as Anzu looked over at Ryou, already skipping proper etiquette. Perhaps it was normal for Egyptians, or at least very Ancient Egyptians, but it took a moment for her to move past it.

"Its... What do we do? Is there some form of communication that Yugi can use that isn't going to destroy creation?" Anzu asked looking between the two for guidance. "Is he really expected to just live out his life... can you use sign language?"

"Finding alternative means of communication is one thing. But my concern is if someone tries to force Yugi to speak, regardless if they know he shouldn't speak or care." Ryou pointed out, "He's spent his life being able to speak, its undoubtedly going to be an instinct. If they can anger him enough to forget himself and say something."

Only to turn his attention fully back onto Yugi. Just to be struck by silence himself, it was almost this ridiculous staring contest between the two. Just, one couldn't talk because he could unmake the universe, the other couldn't find the words to say. Absurdity was a word for it, and it was probably for that reason that Yugi and Ryou started sharing these conspirator grins that worked their way into full out laughter.

For what felt like minutes all the pair did was laugh, to the confused silence of both Anzu and Mahaado.

'Boys will be boys' was the only thought that Anzu could muster as she looked between the two. Then let her eyes roam over the hospital room towards the coat that was Obelisk? "Guys, why hasn't Yugi reabsorbed Obelisk yet? Mahaado explained to me about how Ka works, but isn't this tiring to Yugi?"

"Ahh the Pharaoh only wishes to... well.. I believe the term he wishes to use is 'showing off', I know not what it appears to you, but for beings such as myself. Obelisk stands at the door a shield and a warning that the Pharaoh is here."

Mahaado's ghostly voice was as gentle as a serene spring despite the shocking thing he said. "Wait, so to anyone, like say a giant demon, they see Obelisk for what it is?" She turned her gaze and unapproving frown onto Yugi, causing him to meekly back into his chair more. "You put that back right now Yugi! What if the demon tried again?"

"That would be for it to decide," Yugi answered with a faint shrug of an answer, and a whimsy of a smile tugging at his lips.

"Agreed, Yugi made it clear how strong he already is. It is likely that they are on a cease fire right now so the demon can decide how it wants to handle things." Ryou noted thoughtfully when Anzu turned her gaze onto him. "Yugi's life span is that of a mortal, if the demon wants to it can wait until Yugi has died and then proceed with its plans. Or it can risk it and try to do it now."

"What's the point? Yugi could wipe the field with it, why stick around and poke him with a stick for lack of better word." Anzu asked looking between the two.

"Well, there's that certainly. There's also the degree that things can be altered by Yugi," Ryou began with a faint sardonic twist of the lips. "He's kind of like the randomness of shuffling a deck or the toss of a set of dice. There's a lot he could do, both to hinder or help the demon if it plays its cards right."

And it was over for Anzu, just with that.

Reality made her realize that she couldn't just ask for details Ryou probably didn't know, and Yugi couldn't risk making it reality. The weight of the situation settled on her shoulders and for a moment she wondered if this was what it felt like for Isis having visions of possibly futures. Knowing that one would play out, and having to figure out which one was going to be 'the one'.

"Can't you just... I don't know, state that you can Will when you're using your, um 'higher power'?" Anzu suggested, leaning back against her seat and enjoying the feeling of Mahaado's magics at work.

"Pharaoh could, and your language does afford him some man-euverability. But he does not want to have to assign his feelings to either lofty noble speech and mortal speech to modest commoner speech. Ahh..." Mahaado offered. But he began to flounder clearly trying to explain how Japanese people used languages versus other languages.

"I see your point," Anzu admitted as her thoughts went back to New York at all the accents but really only one 'language'... Getting Yugi to speak in English to get around restrictions just... how could language be such a mess?

"He's like a self insert NPC of the Dungeon Master in a D&D game?" Ryou suggested and remembered when just suggesting that would have made him near out right faint. Now he was casually indifferent to the fact, while Anzu looked ready to fall over.

"I learned a great deal in my time asleep," Yugi pointed out with a hint of melancholy that sounded off to Anzus' ears. But perhaps this wasn't the time or place to talk about it. Yet he caught her concerned expression and suddenly he looked away.

'Yugi?'

Yet the shift in Yugi's barely spoken tone was not lost on Ryou, causing on him to focus a little more on the teen. In repose, Yugi was wearing his regular street clothes, dark jeans at the moment, that black tank top. The wristbands and collar were absent and he was cleaned up enough to show he was aware he was receiving guests. The backs of his hands and inside of his elbows didn't have marks to indicate the IV bags.

Yugi glanced over and catching Ryou observing him, settled his focus onto the teen.

'I can't send Anzu away, not with those bruises she has... or have Yugi come with me and have such conversations out in the open...' Ryou thought in frustration before sighing. "I need you both to come over once we can get Yugi out of the hospital. We need to talk about what happened in California." He finally decided, and watched Anzu roll her head so she could look at him before sitting up a bit more properly.

"I heard about that... I can't... I'm just glad you got there to stop him from taking his own life. Just thinking that the demon had the ability to use them in such a way..."

She began to shiver at the thought of walking in on anyone about to take their own life. 'I don't know if I could have handled that... Sure he sounds like he's crazy and done terrible things. But how much was him and how much was the demon?'

"That said, I have one of their phones... Yugi without seeing it is there anything you can..." Ryou shook his head in mild frustration before dropping his head into his hands. "Can't you make Kaiba be in charge? He's awake, and sure running a company is hard. But there are ways to circumvent this and we can't be divided by all these..."

One pale hand stuck out from the mop of white to flail uselessly in the air before returning to help hold Ryou's head.

"There are, true," Yugi acknowledged with a faint shrug. "That's up to you, if you don't want to, you can hand it over to him."

"There's a big difference between me 'handing it over to him' and him just penciling us in, and him 'doing' what he's supposed to. This is kind of all his fault after all," Ryou pointed out, lifting his head just enough to glare at Yugi.

Anzu opened her mouth to speak, yet she suddenly seemed to think on it and closed her mouth, but she appeared frustrated as she looked down at her hands.

"Anzu if you want to say something go ahead, you're part of this conversation," Yugi offered warmly.

"I... really shouldn't, I want to say that its not fair to Kaiba, but that's stupid at this point. Its unfair to all of us, I don't know half of what you're talking about, yet at the same time... Its just a lot to take in... to know you can't talk the way you used to anymore. Knowing that Kaiba could... well... that..." She gestured lightly towards Yugi's chest. "I wish there was more I could do to help, but I'm scared of what that help would take the form of..."

A tissue was placed lightly against her cheek by gentle unseen hands, collecting the tears that she didn't realize...

"I feel like such a selfish bitch..."

"No, Anzu, you're anything but, you're feelings are your own and valid," Ryou began as he stood up from his seat, Yugi as well. Anzu didn't swear, to have her suddenly just use one, it was a handy reminder of what 'could' happen to Yugi if he got angry. Justification on why he needed to stay silent. But it also served as a reminder of how bad Ryou was at this type of 'work'. He hadn't been able to follow up on her after Yugi's coma as he should have, 'I can't do this. I let her slip through the cracks I'm not a leader...'

"What happen took place three thousand years ago, and while we were not part of those events. We've been held prisoner to them all the same, and that others are dragged into our battles... What we deal with goes above and beyond anything people normally have to endure. But that doesn't trivialize what you go through in the slightest."

"I know..." Anzu winced as she tried sit up and sighed. "I just think about the enormity of what Yugi now goes through... even how Emperor came into being and I can't help but wonder about that demon. There's a demon out there wanting to do who knows what and I'm more upset about..."

"What you are thinking are perfectly normal," Mahaado could be heard softly to her right. "It is that you do not put those dark thoughts into action that makes you a good person."

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Honda sat glued to the television, his expression growing anxious as his mom stepped into the room. He had been there when she had begun doing the wash and now that she was done, she had expected him to be gone...

"Hiroto? What is so interesting on that television?" She asked walking over. 'Wait he can't... no he can hear...' she thought as her hands had started seeking out the now absent notepad she used to jot quick comments for her son to read.

Now he could hear, and his knee was working normally once more, leaving her elated to see her son healed.. yet the bills...

Honda, for his part, couldn't tear his eyes away, hoping that the faces would be run through again. "You remember the nurses who looked after me?" He asked, unable to tear his eyes away from the screen. Cursing when the camera cut to the casters and getting a sharp 'Hiroto!' from his mom for his language.

"Yes, they were good people and did their hardest to look after you." She sat down next to her son her expression growing curious over his fixation.

"One Orderly among the staff stuck out in my memory. I... I think I saw her on that reel. Its an announcement for a large group of missing people, a global thing. I was just flipping through channels when I saw it so I don't know if it was her... But when I last saw her, she's..."

Mrs. Honda blinked and turned her own gaze to the television in response. A simple tv, the shelf needed a bit of dusting, and the wall behind it was used for pictures of their family. Simple brown picture frames, but the family looked happy. Which made the 'Missing persons, global problem?' moniker on the tv unsettling.

"Well what's been going on?" She asked, leaning a little in towards Honda.

"People going missing... I was watching a bit of the whole attempt on Kaiba's life when this came on and I just didn't bother changing the channel." He pulled out a picture from inside his coat pocket and held it out to his mom.

"When I last saw Misty, she dropped this and it looks like her... But Misty isn't anywhere that big... But I saw someone who looked like the picture," he gestured towards the screen. "Last time I saw her she was getting harassed by some thugs and talking about her husband going missing. I just feel like this is a part of that and it leaves me worried."

"Hiroto... you realize you're 'super' lucky right? You survived a blast that would have killed... Hiroto look at me..." She reached up and turned him to face her. "Don't push your luck like this... we nearly lost you, please don't do something that would make it happen!"

Honda blinked and stared at his mom as the realization of what he just did hit him. Guilt colored his world as he bowed his head before reaching out to hug her. "Sorry mom, I just.. I guess its easier to focus on the outside world than it is to... Gods I can hear, but I know how much you and dad sacrificed for me and.. You got it, I won't try to put myself into harms way, not that I would abandon my friends. But I won't go looking for trouble, fair?"

His mom nodded before giving him a hug, taking the time to soak in that feeling of her baby alive, and whole once more by her side. Yet despite her support he couldn't stop his mind from working over the dates listed. 'The date of disappearance was before I went to the hospital... so maybe it wasn't just that Misty's husband died. Maybe she had other family members taken? I hope she's ok...' It was something to keep in mind, try to find the full list of missing persons.

'99 people to make a single set of Sennen...'

A creeping thought that roused up in the back of Honda's mind and then froze his blood as he realized it. The sickening 'recipe' for creating the Sennen Items that Bakura had been willing the share. 'If this was the group, they wouldn't let it leak out right? Someone had to have gotten word, or put two and two together... or just the wrong person got taken...'

'Ok Honda where would everyone be? It might not be much, but this might bear investigating regarding the group. Jounouchi is at work today, Yugi would be in the hospital still, with Anzu visiting I bet.' It felt right to think Bakura could either be at the hospital as well, the boat with the Ishtars or at his own apartment. While Kaiba was at work.

With Yugi in the hospital still they couldn't really have a true 'meeting'. It was the closet to how it was the previous year really, running from spot to spot looking for a duel to deal with the 'bad guys'...

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

"So... Emperor is ok with becoming a duel spirit and having a card form?" Anzu asked as close to 'lightly' as she could speak.

"As soon as he enters the room," Yugi answered with a faintly amused tone.

"Then put up Obelisk."

He shrank back in surprise at the deadpan mutual voices of both Anzu 'and' Ryou, they were both staring at him with the same type of flat unamused expression and Yugi wasn't sure if he wanted to be amused or disgruntled. Properly chastised he raised his hands and they turned to look at the coat...

Obelisk melted into something, not that either could tell where it went so they both turned to look at Yugi questioningly. He smiled, "my shadow," he explained as he pointed below his feet in answer.

"Obelisk is your shadow? Sooo what are the other two?" Anzu asked looking for Mahaado, after all who else would know.

"Osiris is his blood, Ra his soul," Mahaado answered promptly which was great until.

"Wait, your blood?" Anzu squeaked out, causing Yugi to give this half smile and playful shrug. "Oh I can't wait for you to summon Osiris," she moaned.

"I'm sure it will be a bloody mess," Ryou noted flatly. "Emperor, if you would..."