Yu-Gi-Oh: A Past and Future Pharaoh

Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix

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Valon was not really a 'champagne' type of guy.

But it was the only stiff drink in arms reach so bottoms up!

'Should I go and apologize to this kid?' he pondered as he stood there, champagne flute in hand, his grip nervously delicate. From his position he could see the gossip hens already chirping, and in the far distance he recognized Kaiba. Now that he was in the same room with the teen, Valon was taken rather aback at how decidedly 'young' Kaiba appeared. Despite the cool, professional expression he held, Valon couldn't miss that this was still a teenager.

'Mai mentioned they were graduating high school...' and while Valon could recall what he was like when he was that age. Only now her 'Chibi-chan' was about to find out he had a surprise fiancee... What few pictures he could find of the kid, Yugi didn't even 'look' 18, he looked '10' and for Mai to... 'I really need to find this kid...'

Regardless if Kaiba said Yugi wouldn't be present for the dinner, it was just good sense at this point! So he left the room and stared down the long hallway before him, nice clean carpets, bright lights, and he knew where the elevators were, so off he went! Which felt a lot nicer since he didn't really have any of the dress up fancy clothes that everyone else was wearing. No more being scrutinized by the elite, either by being accosted as a potential duelist or asked if he was invited!

'Now if I were Yugi... and I'm so important, I would suspect he's probably in one of those top floor suites if not down here...' Valon theorized as he strolled down the hallway towards the elevator. Where he was rewarded with the instant sound of the doors sliding open the moment he hit the button to go up. Giving him only a brief time to see his reflection in the steel brushed shell that protected the elevator before it opened up. Revealing the same elevator type that he and Mai used when they had come down for the 'little' dinner.

Walking in he turned towards the buttons and began scanning up the list for the top floor. Only to be confronted by a card slot he had never bothered to give notice to before. Logic struck and of course the final floor was cut off from the rest! Leaving him pondering if reaching that floor would be possible now. 'I suppose I should have realized there would be extra security for that floor even here..' he mused.

"The top floor, if you would..." A voice from behind him nearly had Valon jump out his skin.

'Must be losing my touch if people can just sneak up on me like this,' he thought as he whirled around to see the speaker. For which he found another teenager, a little younger that Kaiba, tan skin, with semi long straight brown hair. As young as he looked he was relatively tall, standing rough close to Valons' own height and bore this shy, almost reserved expression. "Sorry I forgot my card," Valon lied and watched as the kid frowned a touch, from annoyance probably. He opened this ridiculously large book he had been holding and extracted a card from it himself.

Causing Valon to back up a few steps to allow the kid to go about activating the elevator for the top floor, sliding in then retrieving the card himself. It allowed him to take in how this kid was wearing so much 'white', a suit that was some milk white color. Not the eye screaming due to blindness white that Kaiba subscribed to, rather the softened tones of white.

Thus he wasn't blinded from observing the hotel elevator again, fancy and clean. The doors had long since slid shut and with the button pressed the pair were being hoisted up at an comfortable speed up to the top floor of the building. There was a soft piano playing elevator music over the speaker as they rose. Some hotels seemed to invest in such a feature others didn't and Mai always gave a comforting sigh when the elevators had any music in it.

"Hey... I don't think I saw you in the hallway..." He noted a little taken aback at a sudden thought that struck him. His memory of Mai's relief at there being sound in the elevator rushing towards the oddness of... Searching his recent memories, brought no image of such a starkly obvious teenager just lounging around near the elevator, reading or otherwise. The hallway had been empty and even if the suit wasn't screaming 'NOTICE ME' white, he 'would' have seen the kid. The teen didn't appear to have ran into the elevator or made any noise implying he did... So just where did...?

"I am not seen unless I am ordered, or wish to be," the 'kid' answered, he spoke with this quiet reserved tone, accented in a way that Valon hadn't encountered yet. Japanese through Mai yes, Italian, French, lots of variations of European. But this was a new one, and that wasn't even including 'what' the teen implied. "My Master wished for me to wait down here, that if you were to see him, I was to help you avoid the security."

"Wait, your 'master'?" Valon blinked in surprise as he looked about in growing alarm. The young teen looked passably amused as he gave a slight nod.

"He understood that you may not wish to make this trip hence I stayed to the side," the young man explained. "If you wish me to escort you to the door I shall, otherwise I will leave you at the elevator doors."

The numbers were steadily climbing, ensuring that Valon didn't have a whole lot of time to think of anything by that point. "You got a name kid?" He asked finally, and earned himself a half smile as an answer before the elevator slightly lurched and the bell pinged to announce their arrival.

"Shall I escort you?" the enigmatic teenager inquired, while Valon backed up until his feet were safe on the carpeted floor.

"No, I'm fine thanks..." He continued walking backwards so the teen was in front of him.

"Very well, than allow me to welcome you to a world of God and magic," the stranger replied as the doors slid closed between them. Cutting Valon off from the stranger and leaving Valon alone in the hallway.

'What in the...' Valon stood there staring at the elevator absolutely bamboozled by this, even as he felt the slight sensation of the elevator descend. Looking around proved the hallway looked mostly the same as the one he used to get to the room he was staying in. The first sizable difference was the fewer number of doors. 'Well maybe it's cuz these rooms are meant to be the 'really' exclusive rooms,' he thought to push the weird teen out of his thoughts.

'There has to be security cameras... and I can't just knock on all the doors...' Valon thought to himself as he realized he probably 'needed' the teen to show him to the room.

While down the hallway the door at the end of it opened up. Revealing someone in the distance who opted to lean against the door frame. But... this wasn't the 'Chibi-chan' that Mai spoke up, he towered easily over the small teen.

"Sorry mate, I uh, think I got the wrong floor..." he called out in embarrassment. He leaned back towards the elevator while the guy down the hallway didn't move away.

"Is everything ok at Seto's event downstairs? Since I'm here and all," the guy called out, his voice was accented to Japanese like Mai's. But 'shy' this guy didn't sound, though he did sound certainly friendly enough.

'Can't be...' Valon thought as he finally shamefacedly turned to face the guy, "ehh depends on your definition I suppose. I actually came here to warn a friend of hers about a stunt she's pulling..." he explained. From this distance the teen looked like he had black hair with red highlights and bleach blond bangs, though it was clearly longer than Valon would have expected. Pair of slacks and a white shirt, not the leather loving style that Mai spoke of.

"Oh? Who is this 'friend'?" the stranger called out.

Perhaps it was the normalcy of talking to someone after that one weird teen in the elevator. But Valon started making his way over to this teen and tried to play off his growing nerves. 'There has to be cameras or a security guard up here right?' "Well, he's actually the star of this event going on, his name is 'Yugi'."

"Ah, Mai's 'Chibi-chan'," the teen answered with this laid back, and utterly amused laugh.

Now that Valon 'was' closer though he could see that this teen didn't have the same generic black hair he expected. It wasn't red highlights, the guy legitimately appeared to have deep red hair and his bangs were out right blond. And if he knew the term Mai used... "No, you can't be... She said he was short like..." Valon stuck his hand up roughly estimating where Yugi was described height wise by Mai.

"Last years' model you could say," the guy answered with a light shrug of the shoulders. "Had a massive growth spurt since the last time she and I saw each other in person." Yugi answered, he rolled the small orb in one hand as he waited. "Now what did Mai do that requires me being 'warned'?" he asked cheerfully, holding an expression of inquisitive attentiveness.

Valon looked about at the empty hallway and slowly began to feel that sense of unease again. There were no guards, no one coming or going from any of the other suites and sure there was very valid reasons as to why but..

"If it makes you feel better I can go back into my suite, you can visit me later when the shock settles down," Yugi offered. "I don't want to scare you, and while I did tell Maha to guide you, well he does have a mischievous streak in him. Being who I am, he doesn't show it anymore so..." He gave a light apologetic shrug answering those feelings on the back of Valons' mind.

Overhead the air conditioning came on, spilling a cool weighted breeze into the long hallway, leaving Valon just standing there. Finally with a resigned sigh, Valon walked up to Yugi and found himself shorter than the kid Mai had liken to a ten year olds height. Yugi turned and walked back into his suite, letting Valon follow him. The hair was weird now that he was close, as it was so red it appeared black then lightened at the edges, while Yugis' bangs had these wild kinks in them that made him think of lightning in the sky.

"I was thinking about what I could eat for dinner when you arrived," Yugi explained walking over to a wooden table used for meals. "Remember back in Italy? You were watching one of Mai's matches, you saw Maha back then, not as a spectator, he was on the field. Think about it..." Yugi offered as he extended a hand towards an empty chair while he settled back down in a chair that had a menu on the table before it.

Valon was taken aback at that suggestion, and he found himself thinking back to the portion of the tournament that he attended. It was a seeded tournament and this girl who had been dressed like a stage magician serving as Mai's opponent.

"It makes them feel closer to their deck if they dress up, trying to unknowingly touch the Heart of the Cards." Yugi's voice broke into Valons thoughts as he realized what Yugi was saying.

"They called it 'Mago...'" he began before shaking his head. "So he's the model for the card?" Valon struggled to remember again. "Mago Negro..."

"Black Magician," Yugi translated with a faint smile, "Yes, Black or Dark, he's always a magician and my faithful servant. But he's not really a 'model'," Yugi explained with gestured slightly with his head. While the pair watched as the teenager reappeared, a glance between the two and he bowed his head slightly.

"Pharaoh?"

Valon's face paled at the thought as he stood there looking between the two with increasing alarm.

"Maha, take the form of the the version of you with the red trim," Yugi instructed and watched Mahaado dutifully change forms. The modern clothes he wore faded and morphed into the old armor he wore before Canada. The long tunic that covered his whole body, and while the purple was pretty near similar to what Yugi recognized. The trim of his hat and clothes were replaced with a vivid red, unlike Yugi's who had a soft almost lavender shade of trim. He also bleached his skin back to the shade that Pegasus first painted for him.

"Ho... hologram?" Valon asked, his voice cracking as he tried to come up with an explanation for the shock before him. Kaiba was known for holograms after all... right? Right!

"Human soul," Yugi began and bit his knuckle as he choked on the rest of the sentence that wanted to naturally be said. 'Human soul bound to a tablet.'

But for Valon the shift was so sudden he was taken aback sinking down helplessly into a seat he never paid mind to. From laid back confidence to damn near grieving, Yugi looked stricken as he bit his knuckle. The shift so sudden it momentarily took away from how this 'Maha' literally was changing forms and skin color right before his eyes. It 'had' to be a hologram!

Mahaado stood there for a moment, observing his Pharaohs' distress and the guests' confusion. "I was not misleading about what I said was here," he began. "I died three thousand years ago and sealed my soul within a tablet so that I could continue serving my master. But even before he was awaken to his true divine self, he did not approve of this state I am in. Now his word is law, and if he were to explain anything, the right of choice might be striped away hence his silence."

"You... said 'God' though? Isn't 'God' supposed to be like... uhh..." Valon weakly pointed up to the ceiling and beyond, earning a faint smile from Yugi.

"Part of me, the main part of me is there yes, but I'm also here," Yugi answered before looking away. He picked up the menu in the most painful attempt at leaving the conversation that Valon could fathom.

"As you are connected to Mai of your own will, you have a right to know some of what is going on. At least to the degree that it currently concerns Mai." Mahaado explained, as he settled to stand by Yugi's side. From there he began to explain Mai's experience in the Battle City Tournament and the consequences.

From there Valon was left with his mind being blown to pieces, not that this 'magician' told him everything, there were hooks all over the story he spoke. While the 'tale' was constantly reminding Valon that he was hearing a portion of a whole. Hearing about Mai's attempt at summoning a card in the game and being 'punished' had been a shock. The very idea of a card being sentient was...

Was...

Well was being demonstrated by the 'person' recounting these things.

"Then.. the nightmares she's been having. She's never spoken of them, but I've woken up to her crying and clinging to me. That was all from this... 'shadow game'?" Valon asked recounting how strange it was to see this gorgeous, confident woman reduced to tears from a dream. Or those moments when she seemed to cling to him in a particularly quiet area.

Mahaado nodded, "the Pharaoh had not awaken any of his natural powers at the time, so while he won the game and freed her. Unfortunately the Shadow Game, having found a crack in Lady Mai's spirit, and she not protected by magic or divine providence, thus took root."

Valon swallowed as he sat there, elbows resting on his knees, hands clasped in front of him as he tried to process all of this. Process it and not sound insane... "Why should I believe this is real? I mean Kaiba's known for his holograms... How do I know its not fake? That you aren't just making..."

Neither person looked offended as he rambled on, Yugi looked down right sympathetic while the magician looked patient.

"Its your choice whether you believe us or not. You came to tell me that Mai, in an effort to 'keep me out of Wongs' hands', is posing as my future wife to my dad." Yugi explained with a faint smile on his face after he pulled the orb out of his mouth again. "That was her choice, she offered to loan her ring to Anzu and let her do it. But Anzu was too embarrassed to and so Mai stepped up." And that smile turned mischievous. "So long as you don't mind it, I'm certainly not above to having a bit of fun with this."

"So if you're God, why is the world..." Valon waved uselessly out towards the outer world.

"I gave people the right to make choices in their lives and a world to live on. The state of the world is the accumulation of those choices. I could fix it, but in doing so I would be stripping man of the right of choice, effectively making people no better than action figures. Which is why I don't talk a lot anymore. The slightest comment could inadvertently cause untold destruction." Yugi explained with a sigh.

"So wait... you can't just talk? Like you're a mute now? If you told someone to drop dead they would so you can't just say anything?" Valon repeated in horror. "The hell, can't you just circumvent it? Like actors? If you're 'God' just 'play the role' of Yugi?... you ok?" Valon asked alarmed at how Yugi just started crying right there. The teen hand a hand over his mouth and just... started crying?

"I've been waiting for someone to suggest that..."