Yu-Gi-Oh: A Past and Future Pharaoh

Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix

Beta By: Lady Lunar Phoenix

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"I can't imagine what it must feel like then. Spending three thousand years trying to make up for your failings... screwing up trying to getting it right? What do you call it?" Malik asked as he gazed up at the ceiling as though the answers could be found there.

"You try to help but something goes wrong every time and if 'every time' means that someone died... Maybe the blood is metaphorical for all the people that died because of him, either trying to help. Or not trying hard enough?" Anzu suggested, "it would justify his unwillingness to help others on a level."

"Do you know what happened when John 'killed' himself?" Bakura asked while Anzu and Malik debated.

Josie shook her head 'no' which sent her hair bouncing lightly at the action, "afraid not. I'm pretty sure anything I tell you is the same that they told you. I got the call that he had killed himself and his sister went into well, the way she is now."

"Well save that we know John was possessed by someone and that someone wasn't the demon," Anzu noted with a quiet nod.

"Yes, since Set didn't react with the level of violence one would expect from him given the situation. Had it been the demon I would imagine Set would have been far and away more violent." Malik agreed as he lazily turned his focus back on the group. "And the storm effects check out for what happened in Colorado. Set shows up and you can expect storms, which Kaiba can't do, but given the cost..."

"Checks out with what was reported in the graveyard as well... John's trapped in the graveyard and his body is out and about... so the body in the graveyard is either fake or was just some type of illusion." Bakura agreed as he sighed, 'meaning somewhere in the world there's a priest of sorts that knows Set... But where is 'he' and what is he doing?'

"So about how these guys tried to kill you," Josie discreetly asked Anzu while Ryou seemed distracted talking to Malik.

"Let's say that book was involved in some pretty heavy stuff. The possession you saw and all that? Well the book is on the dark side of that kind of weirdness." Anzu explained with an apologetic sigh. "You learn not to hold grudges because anyone can become a victim of what the Book actually contained. You guys were lucky in that you didn't face 'that', but now we have to figure out what really happened to John."

"You think John is alive? That he's out there somewhere?" Josie asked taken aback by the idea as she recalled the funeral. The. Funeral. "So that smoke thing just ran off with John's body and left the rest of his family and friends with a body hanging as a joke then?" Josie demanded as outrage began to grow and got the attention of the two guys in the group. "What kind of sick..."

Bakura raised his hands defensively, his eyes wide and going into, what was defined in the 'Hot Guys of Domino High Bible', as 'Bunkura' mode. Something that the girls would probably appreciate, it also served as a way to cause people to calm a bit down. Soft, fluffy bunny Bakura was getting scared. Pretend that 'soft, fluffy bunny Bakura' couldn't rob you blind and slit your throat in a heart beat. "We're not sure about that yet. Its possible, but given what you described already its more possible that it wasn't planned. That's why we're here, we need as complete a picture as possible."

Once Josie began to settle back down. Her stiff backed outraged expression settling into a barely restrained posture. Bakura finally felt safe enough to resume the situation.

"We were only alerted that Travis was in danger because of Catherine. But what you have described has made Johns' 'death', intentionally faked or real, the least of our concerns," Bakura explained.

As Anzu updated Malik she watched him shrug, "Yeah the smoke sounds like a priest, we can't know what they were talking about sure. But the 'trying to appease Set' makes me think that the spirit is a priest that serves him. You have to have a reason to think you can reason with a blood soaked, chain wearing angry God of Chaos."

"But if its one of Set's priests, where would they go?" Anzu asked, "wouldn't they make their presence known already? This happened years ago after all."

"Dunno, maybe find the hiring papers for everyone in KaibaCorp?" Malik suggested with a shrug. "How many American, non Japanese folks are currently working under Kaiba in a high enough capacity that they would have any access to the man?"

Anzu blinked in surprise, the only two people she could think of, with her limited experience of people at KaibaCorp was Isono and Fugata. "That is so weird to think of though, that one of Kaiba's personal employees could be John. I mean, sure Isono and Fugata 'are' Japanese so they can't be John. But I've never been to Kaiba's office, so who knows who works there in the higher parts of the building."

"Get a picture and give it to Mokuba? I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out he's the hiring manager for KaibaCorp." Bakura casually suggested looking over his shoulder at Malik before turning his attention back onto Josie.

"He would have been three and maybe in the or... Oh ok I see what you mean," Anzu corrected herself with a self depreciating grin. 'Here be baby Mokuba with his sippy cup to decide if you can work at Kaiba Corp... well good bye my ability to look at the kid with a straight face when he mentions his job title again.'

"I'll be honest, tomorrow is when the window will open allowing us to talk to John's spirit. What we 'do' know is that he's been trapped in the graveyard where his 'body' was laid to rest. He's allowed out once a year and he is tasked with demon slaying, for lack of easier explanation. Protecting the city for the whole night." Bakura explained earning a raised eyebrow from Josie as she looked around at the bookstore again. Taking in the visual reminder that she was still here in the real world.

'I always hoped that someday someone would believe me regarding what happened that night. But I never thought it would be three teens who, not only believe me, but have a wilder tale to tell.' She thought as she sat there. "His... ghost is going to go floating about town 'tomorrow'..."

"Surprise. Anzu said the book caught on fire, but do you remember what happened to the book at all? After you woke up?" Bakura asked and watched as Josie started and grow introspective. It wasn't a good thing to see, from his perspective. He recalled her mention the book once in Freds' hands, but later with no mention just that Fred was crumpled on the ground. Did the 'Not John' as she had called him, taken the book with him? It was possible given he seemed to be its guardian, and that created the next questioning thought in his mind.

If he took the book, how did it end up in Pandora's hands and from him to Travis? True it had been about a decade... But 'how'?

"I... I don't know, I never thought about the book after John died..." She admitted finally. 'Why the hell did I never think about that book until now...'

"Would you like me to start building a flow chart when we get back?" Anzu asked Ryou's back as she turned her attention back to Bakura.

"That would be greatly appreciated, Anzu," Bakura answered as his brain felt ready to melt in his skull. 'That damn demon isn't getting away from me, but its sure going to make finding it hell isn't it?'

"John left a suicide note, and his sister is in a state of coma, but if John is possessed by a Priest... I can't believe that the priest did it intentionally, so what happened? Did the priest leave to try and find Kaiba only to die? Its a very real possibility and if that's the case, that could explain the continued coma..." Malik asked as he watched the conversations going in front of him. 'In fact, why a suicide note at all? Will he not be able to extract himself from John now and just didn't want to deal with family drama? The type of note would be interesting as well, because the family has some knowledge 'of' the repercussions for opening the book. So they should have known this was a possibility... What stopped him from saying what happened? It should have been less of a traumatic suicide and more like a 'and now I have to go' type of letter.'

Anzu and Bakura both blinked in surprise as their expressions turned thoughtful and concerned. "He might not have tried for KaibaCorp at the time because Kaiba only took over recently. So if he was looking for Kaiba... and was killed?" Anzu offered with a thoughtful frown on her face.

"So you think John went to find that rich kid?" Josie asked, amused at how the kids were now getting their Japanese, Egyptian and English all mixed up. At least Ryou seemed to have it together. But it was funny watching Anzu face palm and give her an apologetic look. "Hey I don't mind knowing what's going on! Its bugged me for a decade after all."

Ryou gave this long suffering sigh, but then just resigned himself to this. "The issue at hand, is that what was 'released' isn't solely the threat we were expecting. It would appear that what Fred 'released' was a guardian of the book, but not the essence of the book itself. The book itself contains a purely evil entity, what you encountered was a final guard to protect the world from someone using the book."

As Josies' eyes widened Bakura raised a pacifying gesture with his hands. 'There is something about her that allowed her to see the truth. Whatever that is, whatever it is that caused Set to hold off on her. May give her an overly inflated sense of 'I can do this' and I can't afford to have her try to rush off and play hero if something comes up near by her.' "Thing is, this book has amassed itself a large group, one that may have members anywhere around the world. They've had the book, even giving it to Monte for a time. They're targeting people we know, and they'll kill people without a thought if they think it will strengthen their efforts."

"People like..." Josie began, 'I want to say he sounds bonkers but I have a decade out of my town because of this sooo...'

"People like you, who survived being in the epicenter of a storm unharmed. They've exploited Monte at this point clearly and gone after Travis. But how or why we don't know... And realistically I don't see how we can ever figure that out given Monte's..." Bakura continued though he wasn't sure how to put Monte's 'condition'. Josie's description of him was quiet, modest, clearly grounded and in the past ten years something began unhinging him. The stunt that burned him shouldn't have been so damaging. Coupled with Malik's 'fun' use of the Rod on the man's psyche, was it even 'possible' to meet the original man?

"Batshit crazy antics?" Josie suggested as her expression became more depressed. "I miss the gang so much. I miss the laughter, the late night pizza runs, the sushi parties, I miss the audience staring up at us like we were gods. There were scary times sure, magic is fun, but some tricks, like what Monte liked, 'always' come with risks. The risk verses reward factor was always there with escape tricks. But knowing how far he fell..."

Her fingers clenched into fists and Bakura started worrying if he was going to get punched as she started firing up in anger...

"Which is why we don't want you to get involved," Anzu replied quickly. "There's enough people who have been hurt, and others who are involved against their wills. Hopefully once we can get this resolved, or at least taken down enough, you guys can reunite!"

"But it won't be the same again... Catty has a family now, Monte is broken beyond repair, God only knows where Travis is... And John, how will he be any better off than Monte after this fiasco..." Josie replied as her head sank down into her hands and she took a moment to shut out the world and tried to collect her thoughts. "The twins dodged a bullet, but maybe only because it hit their mom instead."

"Though what you've told us has been invaluable. If we had gone by what the twins had told us we would have missed vital information." Ryou pointed out, "A waste of time and energy that we can't afford."

"Yeah, and I'll admit, finally being able to 'talk' to someone who hears what I 'said' and not some weird alternate universe is great." Josie agreed with a quiet pained smile on her lips. "Just... ten years of our lives gone... And we're not getting them back either..."

"If it makes you feel any better, I've lost a life time and my childhood and Malik had a split personality that wanted to go on murder sprees for fun..." Bakura added in a jaded attempt to help cheer the woman up. Not bothering to adjust his expression when she started staring at him in shock. Merely adding, "reincarnation can be terrible when you're stuck being used as the prime real estate to a demon. We don't play the gentle games, Josie. We play the games you play for keeps, and people like Anzu here already got dragged in through association. We don't want more people like her involved in this mess."

Josie blinked in alarm before sitting back, "well, thank you for the warning and I'll keep me and my curls low from anyone looking particularly demonish."

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ In a particular den/office \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

"Well?" Kaiba asked looking across his desk at the Mahaado, who was staring back at him with a politely observant expression.

"Yes, Seto?" Mahaado replied with the most patient expression ever. Straight backed like the chair back wasn't meant to be soft and accommodating to someone with the scars that Mahaado possessed. When Kaiba's only 'reply' was to hold out his hands as a silent 'about this', he raised an eyebrow tilting his own head in response. "Sleeping. I slept until Pharaoh started calling upon me."

"How stupid do you think I am?" Kaiba barely restrained snarling. 'An insane version of me? That wanders around the world? The hell are you doing you insane magician?!'

"I've always been one to think you a class unto your own in that department..."

It was a single sentence that stopped the metaphorical world that Kaiba's soul resided in. Being the most 'Maha is now officially done with your shit, Seth, and about to start casting to put you back in your place you raging egomanic' comment. The first that Mahaado had said in the modern era 'since' meeting Kaiba. It was the first time that Kaiba had heard his 'best friend' speak since those days in Egypt. His 'best friend' and not this self contained, subservient magician that he had become because of Set's bloodline.

But he couldn't even enjoy or savor the moment as Mahaado realized what he said and scrambled out of the chair. Kaiba couldn't even move for a moment having been snarked at by the mage to even get Mahaado off the floor. Because of 'course' the mage would be prostrated before him again in apologies for stepping out of line.

"Mahaado get off the floor, I'm not angry," Kaiba sighed, leaning forward against the desk and rested his head against his hand. He had to fight down the desire to growl at Mahaado for the slow return to his seat. "I just want to know why you would create that illusion of me."

"It wasn't me..." Mahaado replied the top of his head appearing first as he slowly stood up to return to his seat.

"... if only I could figure out that conversation, that... that 'thing' had with whatever was sealing away the book. Do you know a way to find out who the priest was that is possessing John?" Kaiba asked sourly, leaning back in his seat while Mahaado carefully sat back into his seat. While barely suppressing the urge to scream 'JUST SIT DOWN I DON'T BITE!' at the top of his lungs.

"I could... But seeing that I'm going to have to discover that when the trio, or is that 'quartet', come looking for me... Might as well wait until then..." Mahaado offered stiffly.

"And about the woman...?" Kaiba's eyes narrowed as he saw Mahaado's eyes soften in expression. An almost 'tender' expression on the mage's face. 'I would throw this desk at you...'

"She's beautiful, I'll readily admit..."

'No I 'am' going to throw this fucking desk at you! Its here, in my head not there in the real world no one has to know about this...!'

"Is there a problem Seto?" Mahaado obliviously asked.

"What makes you say that?" Kaiba bite out. 'Who gave you permission to look at others?'

"You look angry."

"I'm not angry."