A Past and Future Pharaoh

Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix

Original Beta: White Swan

A/N: These chapters are so OLD, its strange to be going through them again and adjusting stuff. From fleshing things out, to elaborating things to fit better in the future, to changing things up completely to make sense with the rest of what I was trying to convey now that I'm almost a decade (or am a decade) older than when I first wrote this. If this is your first time through I'm rebetaing my stuff so you're going to hit a road bump eventually. But just hold on, its making things more inline and better for your enjoyment!

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I remember when I was a little girl my parents took me to a show with a magician. At the time I believed that it really 'was' magic, that this charismatic towering man in sparking black and stark whites 'was' using magic. How else could he turn his assistant into a tiger? Or disappear from center stage only to reappear from a clearly empty box? When I was six years old, that experience shaped my life into wanting to become a magician. Even when I became older and realized that magic was fake, that there were techniques behind how to make such things happen, I still wanted.

"How did we get here?" I asked this stranger who was here to 'kidnap' me. We were in this long hallway filled with stone slabs on the left and right. At the foot of each slab was a single person slumped or laid out. It was a pretty frightening room, each person was bound, gagged, with slit throats or multiple stab and slash wounds. Blood on the floor made it sticky to walk, the stone slabs had brown stains of long dried blood and the air reeked of the death.

"I brought us here." He replied as he led me along, and despite the fact that he was my kidnapper, I clung to him. The stranger was strangely cold to the touch, despite being able to feel his skin and the firm tone of his muscles. He walked with a long staff in hand that flashed with a light at its tip before we were suddenly somewhere else.

I have to admit at this point is when it finally hit me fully that I was with a 'magician', not a stage magician. Not someone who used misdirection to make things happen, but a honest to goodness 'magician'. If I wasn't aware of the danger my family was in, I would probably have bombarded the poor person with questions.

From that strange death filled hallway we ended up in yet another hall of sorts, but this one lacked any light. The orb in his staff served as a type of light for me to see by as we kept walking. This was also a hallway of stone slabs, yet there were no dead bodies at the foot of the slabs and the ground looked to be made of stone. As we walked I could see people hovering before the stone slabs as though they were asleep or dead. They all wore clothes that belonged to an ancient time.

"There is a spell that they are trying to perform using those people you saw in the other place as test subjects. Sadly for the subjects there has not been a success yet," he told me as we continued.

But that did raise a question about where we were now, this place looked and felt much older than the modern hallway.

"Did Pandora cause all of that on his own?" Could he cause such a thing? Or was this just an illusion to make me lose my nerve and be more submissive to him?

"No, he does not even know about this, however; someone needs to know about this and that is all I can say on the subject," he explained gently as he walked along.

"Why are you helping Pandora than? You don't seem the type to take pleasure in kidnapping, so why do this?" I asked him as we neared a lone slab at the end of this strange hallway. He stopped at the foot of it, and turned slightly so that the staffs' light shown upon it before speaking again.

"I have no choice, he controls me, I am his to command so long as he has the book. We are here; beyond the darkness here is Master Pandora… Please recall what I said about your family, for their sake if not your own."

I wondered why he stopped where he did, only to focus my attention back on the slab and realizing that the image of the staff was the same as the one the man was carrying. Yet I still don't know why that gave me such a chill to see. Yet once the magician was aware that I saw the image on the slab the light from his staff disappeared. Leaving me in complete darkness before I blinked and found myself somewhere new.

It had been years since I last saw Pandora, he never appeared on TV after the accident, while I had gone on with my life. I don't know what I was expecting when I finally came face to face with him. I know I wanted him to tell me this was some joke, an illusion or something. That he really didn't send someone out to kill my family and bring me here. He wore this stiff looking suit; dark maroon in color with a green and black striped mask that I assumed was to hide the scars while in his arms he held a rather big book. I tried to find something safe and familiar in the room to focus on, hugging myself in concern as I finally recognized the old office where we practiced for hours on our tricks. I can still recall as we came up with new more dangerous illusions, all the times we laughed, talking of our future.

One thing about presentation is that it influences the mind, so a person dressed poorly will influence another person's response as would dressing richly. So if Pandora wanted me back, why was he kidnapping me and putting me in a room meant to scare the sense out of someone? There were more blades then I recalled, the whole room spoke more of malevolence then from my time there. All that I knew and remembered of Pandora seemed to become one of sick danger and madness.

The young man who had brought me here had changed vastly, no longer in that white robe, headdress or with bands of gold. Now he looked like the one in the last slab of stone, with the strange conical head gear and robe. Dressed in such a way he walked to Pandora, getting on bended knee before Pandora in a subservient manner. Pandora opened the book he was holding and seemed to be draw something on it. Then suddenly the young man was gone.

Despite not knowing the magician, his sudden abrupt departure was more distressing to me. It was as though my own shield from all these terrible things was suddenly whisked away from me. There was a time when Pandora's presence would reassure me, but now as he walked towards me I felt such a deep dread. He wanted my family dead after all. How could anyone want that? What type of monster had Pandora become when he lost his looks that he could think of killing innocent babies or people?

"What is the meaning of this Pandora? How could you order such horrible things?" I demanded as I shied away from him. I used to have dreams of us being together, of bright lights and the cheer of the crowds. The dreams I have cherish dearly, I miss performing magic on stage, but the small tricks I can do to entertain the children often time makes up for it. Seeing a child's eyes light up when someone in plain clothes can pull a coin out from behind their ear is a wonderful sight to behold.

"I just want us to be together again. I know I was wrong for how I treated you after the accident. But I'm going to make it up to you, my dear Catherine," Pandora sounded so different then from before.

His voice used to be firm yet mysterious another part of the magician's allure. Now it was pitched high and jarring while his eyes… well it could have been from the surgery or the burns, but they weren't normal. As he got closer I realized that he kept his eyes open wider than before. If it was because of visual damage than it should already have healed.

"Make it up to me? How? You ordered the death of my family! How am I supposed to think that? Just look at this place Pandora! What is with all these blades? They were never part of our acts together!" I shied away from him in concern while his eyes narrowed in what I could tell was anger.

"I did this just for you!" he retorted, "You don't need those commoners! I've attained real power, with it we can be happy together, like we were meant to be!"

I stood there frozen in shock as I absorbed what he said. My husband and children were expendable? Commoners? I was about to reply when I recalled what that young man had said. Pandora thought that my family was dead. If I didn't play along Pandora would just finish the job. "I don't care about power! You've taken my babies from me, you've scared me half to death and you think I'm just going to go along with this?!" That was good, the mental image of my family dying if I screwed up helped add that edge of grief and fear. Play the role of the frightened mother trying to be brave. Play the role well enough and Pandora wouldn't know the truth, giving your family a chance to live. But how far were we from where I lived? Kairi was supposed to come and baby-sit the kids that night. If we were in range of the local news and Pandora watched it, he'd realize no murder had taken place. But then he didn't have to know about Kairi now did he? Then there was the question of how long my family was supposed to sleep. Kairi had a key to let herself in, how would she react when she came if no one would wake up?

"You'll forget in time, or we could start our own family," he replied, his cackling voice suddenly dropping into a nonchalant tone. Just the thought of touching Pandora made my skin crawl now. But again this wasn't the Pandora I knew, or perhaps it was, maybe just his darker repressed side. Maybe the glamour of being his assistant had blinded me to the truth all those years, only to be burned into my memories. Still though, one cannot say that watching that truth be burned into your mind while watching human flesh burn is good either.

All I knew at the time was that I was in more danger than I had ever been in. This brief talk with Pandora really brought home to me the amount of danger I was in. This wasn't a game or an illusion but rather a real life or death situation. If I messed up that young man would be dispatched to kill my defenseless family, but if I stayed here I would be a victim of a raving mad man. I don't want to think of Pandora like that, I wanted to imagine him as he was, standing tall and proud on the stage while a room of adoring fans look on. Watching as other young women looked upon him with desire and knowing in my own heart he was mine. Only now I saw him for what that accident had disfigured him into, the illusion was broken and could never be put back in place.

"After everything you've done I just want to be alone right now," I swallowed both physically and emotionally.

"Oh of course, how rude of me. I'll escort you to your room," he bowed and led me away.

The rest of the building was no different then the room I was first brought to, but in a different way. Granted there wasn't any blades or weird torture devices in these areas. Still, what it lacked in danger it made up in eeriness. Few lights were on leaving most of the hallway and stairwells in darkness. It took me awhile to realize that this place was really our old office, at least that's how it looked to me. The walls used to be lined with pictures taken after our 'Grand Finales'. I can still remember the smiles, both on our faces and those of the crowds. I do miss it sometimes, but I get over it.

"Here we are!" Pandora opened a door and bowed as I entered.

Lined up on all the walls were pictures of us before the accident. There was a bed and the old vanity where I used to get dressed and ready at. I didn't know if I should pity Pandora or think him mad at that point. He left me alone so that I could rest, so I sat down and had a good cry as I tried to absorb everything that had happened. The events of the night played through my mind yet there was something that the young man had said when he was bringing me here. About a book that was used to control him, while I did recall Pandora was holding a book. Was that book the key to getting out of here? I was too wired with fear to be tired so I got up and checked the door to my supposed room to look around.

I wasn't surprised to see it was locked, but part of my training as an assistant had including picking locks. You might find that surprising. But sometimes, especially in the early part of learning escape artist tricks, a person can drop the key and be stuck. Learning to pick the locks yourself can save time in getting someone out of a tight box or more life threatening situations.

I was hoping to find some clue as to how I could escape without Pandora hunting me down and doing more damage. I roamed the halls barefooted and chilled as I sought out that book. If that book was the source of his power and I could keep it away from Pandora then I would be able to go home. He wouldn't have the power needed to get to my family and I'd be safe. Though I didn't know what I would need to know about the book when I grabbed it, I could only hope that it wasn't anything major.

I used to be able to walk these corridors blindfolded easily, back in that life I trusted Pandora though. Now I was afraid of him, of what he had become or had always truly been. Now every shadow held a threat of harm, every sound was of him coming to check on me while I was sneaking about. Light breezes caused curtains to shift slightly giving my imagination the horrible image of them parting suddenly with Pandora behind them. I saw light in the distance, back where that young man had brought me originally.

Pandora stepped out of the office with the book under one arm as he strode over to another lit room. I hid myself behind the curtains, clenching my toes hoping that the darkness and the gold fringe would hide them from his sight. Waiting and trying to keep my breaths quiet as I heard his steps go into the other room. The large room lacked a door so it was easy for me to peer inside as I heard Pandora speak.

"The book worked! If I can get the Dark Magician to bring her to me, there are healing cards. I can make him heal these scars!" He pulled something out and opened the book before once again, drawing on a page. Suddenly before him that young man reappeared in the bowing position. "I want you to fix these scars!" he ordered the young man as he pulled off the mask from his face.

"Master, that is something that would take not only time, but also the intentional reopening of said wounds." I couldn't see Pandora's face, his back was pretty much to me, but I could see the young man.

Pandora didn't like the answer to that, he ranted at length about how that was nonsense since magic was supposed to be instantaneous. He wrote or did something on one of the pages in that book and before I knew it, that poor teenager was screaming on the ground in agony. He was lying there and it broke my heart to hear the screaming, I wanted to help but couldn't think of anything to do. So I turned and ran away back to where I was supposed to be at, which I suppose sounds strange. After all if this was a place I knew, why not leave all together? I didn't know if it was, with all the darkness it was hard to tell, but also I couldn't leave that young man alone. It made me sad to think that Pandora would torture someone like that, so how could I in good faith abandon that person?

I knew my family was safe and sound so I couldn't just abandon the person who had defied Pandora to spare their lives, could I? Especially not when Pandora reacted like this whenever he was told something that didn't make him happy. What would happen if I left, or he found out my family was still alive? At least by being here I could distract him from the truth until I could get that book. I returned to my room with those thoughts in my head and a question about that book. Was the book somehow bound to the young man? I never heard Pandora say anything to activate it so it had to be purely something written in the pages. I needed to learn, yet how was the question; I simply could not just ask Pandora.

The sounds of the young man screaming could be heard even in my room with the door shut. I owed him, that's why I wouldn't run; it was something that I had to repeat to myself over and over again as I listened to what became a wordless cry of pain. If Pandora discovered my family was still alive I feared he could do even worse than just send that young man back to finish the job.

"Is… there anything… I can do for you…" I nearly screamed when I heard someone talking to me. I had shoved my head under the pillow to drown out the sound yet though the voice came out muffled it still startled me. I took my head out from under the pillow and looked over at the speaker finding that young man back again. He stood next to my bed his body hunched over slightly.

"Are you ok?" I asked in concern, he seemed to be having trouble even opening his eyes.

"I exist but to serve… If there is something you would like to eat or drink I will do my best to provide it to you," he offered slowly.

I got out of bed and got close to his ear before whispering, "can he hear us?"

The stranger looked curious about my statement before looking around and motioning to the vanity with a nod.

"What time is it here? It would have been approaching breakfast back home," I asked.

"It is dark outside? We crossed the ocean," he offered and I nodded. I couldn't ask him what I needed to know, about the book.

"If I got the book could you help me get home?" I asked with a quick whisper that he answered with a surprised nod.

"I don't know what to eat… actually I don't think I could eat at the moment… May I have a glass of water?" I asked out loud, since I couldn't let Pandora know what I was up to. He nodded and walked out the room, which looked like a normal human thing to do, except that he walked through the door as well and that wasn't. I began poking around the vanity as quietly as I could, trying to find the microphone. I needed to talk to the magician to understand what my options were. I decided against opening the drawers for now, I could do that later when it would make more sense to have me around the vanity. I heard the door open and turned quickly to find that ghost coming back into my room. He had to be solid now since he had that glass in his hands, as he walked into the room his whole presence seemed to be of one in pain yet trying to hide it. "He hurt you badly didn't he?" I asked as I walked over to accept the glass.

He merely shrugged, "he is master he may do with me as he wishes." Then he leaned over and softly whispered into my ear, "a symbol is drawn on a page to call me forth, punish me, or send me away. You'll find them in that order up middle down, it must also be on a blank page when drawn." With that he was gone, walking out of the room and through a wall. But I found a single problem with that; as he left I realized I didn't know where he kept the book. If he had not changed his old habits then I could expect he kept it close to him. Only, I never picked a pocket or stole before. All I could do was hope that my experience slipping into my sleeping children's rooms and leaving them undisturbed would be enough.

I spent my time praying that Pandora's sleeping habits hadn't changed since I last was with him, then once more stole my way out the room to spy on Pandora. I'd left my door slightly open so I could hear him and when I was as sure as I could get that he was in bed sleeping, I slipped out of my room. I padded down towards the office and through the other set of doors to where our make shift bedroom had been. Somehow, I wasn't surprised by the fact that he was living here full time and it was obvious he was when I stepped into the office. There's a certain feeling a room has when it's lived in rather then just a place to work. Given his frame of mind, I don't think Pandora could hold any type of job, his facial features not withstanding.

I crept into his room as quietly as I could, taking small steps so that my toes lightly touched anything in the way, hopefully without making too much noise. I was in luck though; he had an electric alarm clock with glowing red numbers that gave little light. But to my good fortune off to the side there was a small nightlight, Pandora's vision may have healed slightly, apparently not enough that he had any strong night vision. By that light I could barely see a large book resting on the table. I picked up the book as carefully as I could before leaving the room the same way I'd come.

By the time I reached my old dressing room I took a deep breath and released, in feeling the fear in me drain out. Finally able to relax enough to breath like a normal human being again. Then I began searching the drawers wondering what he would stock in them, if anything. I was in luck though he had placed some make up supplies in it. I could only hope that the eyeliner could work as a pencil… I never did get enough instruction on how this was supposed to work.

I looked through the pages and saw what he meant about the symbols. So with the first page as an example I found I the next blank page and began drawing the strange symbol there. It took time my hands began to shake as I realized that this was my sole chance to get out of here. Finally after what seemed like hours I connected the last two points of the image and waited. I didn't wait long…

"How may I serve you Mistress?" My heart nearly stopped when I heard him speak right in front of me as he faded into view.

"Take me home," I told him without preamble. I was overjoyed as he nodded he reached out offering me his hand to guide me. I took his hand eagerly as he turned only to stop as my blood ran cold. Pandora was standing there in a robe and looking at the spirit that I summoned as though this was all his fault. I still held the spirit's hand while Pandora stalked into the room in anger.

"Trying to run off with my Catherine are you?" Pandora's voice was shaking as he spoke and I was startled when I realized he thought the spirit was doing this on his own and not that I would try to escape. "Catherine, give me the book."

"Take me home now…" I whispered, frightened, since I didn't know how to make him do anything. I'd never controlled anyone before. His hand tightened on mine before suddenly I blacked out. When I came to I found myself in bed with my husband looking down at me in concern. I burst into tears as I hugged him, thinking it was all a nightmare… until I saw that spirit standing in the corner of the room, looking like he was almost sleeping standing up. "It wasn't a dream was it?" I asked looking between both men; the spirit shook his head, no, while my husband held on to me tightly.

"Mistress, shall I inform your children that you are awake now?" the spirit asked me, bringing to mind my babies whom I so badly wanted to see. I nodded and he turned, going out the room via the door, which left me with the chance to ask my husband what happened.

"Kairi woke us up and you were gone, but the police wouldn't do anything about it because it hadn't been 24 hours yet," he replied while he burrowed his face into my hair. I was home, but at a loss as to how to explain what had happened when I disappeared. How would I be able to explain to my husband or kids that the spirit had kidnapped me by order of my ex-lover?

"Mommy! Mommy!" My babies came rushing through the door, onto the bed and crawled to me. Kairi was with them, her younger brother with them as well as they rushed me. "You brought home the Dark Magician! Is he really ours to keep?" that lost me just as quickly.

"The who?" My oldest was following Kairi's younger brother, who held a DVD in his hand. He loved Duel Monsters and got my oldest into the game as well, though she was more interested in staring at the duelists rather than the monsters. I, meanwhile, looked at said spirit when I noticed that the cloth covering his lower face was gone. It was something I hadn't noticed before, while in the background I could hear the children talking among themselves.

"The children had their hands on the book when they told me to take it off. Since you weren't awake yet I had to do as they asked. They also asked me many questions that, because of the book, I was compelled to answer." He looked patiently resigned, as though children were something he was used to, but all the same; at least the kids weren't scared of him.

"See here he comes!" The kids were pointing to the screen.

"I play Monster Reborn and bring back my Dark Magician!" a strong voice announced.

I watched as a light shown from the ground and a purple clad person rose from it. I knew about the game only faintly because the kids got into the game. But the DVD player was paused on that magician, the kids were right that magician and the spirit looked very similar.

"You're a model?" I asked, but a shake of the head answered my question and seeing my confusion he explained.

"I am no longer human mistress. Three thousand years ago I took my own life and used my magiks to turn myself into this, so that I may serve my Pharaoh even after death. There is a group, however, that learned about others and I in similar situations. When my Pharaoh's power was about to awaken, my pre-made bond to him awoke me from my slumber. This group was waiting though and enslaved me to that book."

"Would you like to go back to your Pharaoh?" he nodded to my question. "Then you can go, I'll find something to do with the book."

"Thank you Mistress."

He was gone after that, gone to find you I suppose. I want you to have this book; maybe you can deal with it. He was very kind, gracious and patient with me and with my family. I hope you are just like that to him. After all that Pandora has done to him, I think he deserves that.

Signed.

Catherine.