Yu-Gi-Oh: A Past and Future Pharaoh
Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
Beta By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
A/N: Over 150 chapters to this beast... Counting the unpublished currently chapters
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By the time they reached the royal chambers of the Prince, Set had finally regained control of his temper. It only took the halls filled with worried servants quietly keeping their gazes to the floor as they walked. Such silence in the palace was enough to bring down Set's mood back to pensive concern as he walked the familiar steps. It once more brought to mind the severity of their situation, the attack, the surprise of having to also care for Mana..
'Our Prince will recover, however; the High Magician must not be allowed to speak of his 'send Mahaado away' tactic. The Prince 'must' be quickly trained to handle such Ka for his reaction will destroy far more than simply his room.'
So had been the message from Isis, the perilous warning about what type of 'Maha Mine' rant the prince could 'now' unleash.
Inside the princes quarters they found High Priest Shimon sitting beside his grandson's bed. The small childs' hand resting in the older man's. Those eyes, aged and filled with worry was stark plain on the older mans' face before the mask of professionalism slipped back over him.
"Well hello," he called out, but he couldn't bring up a false cheer to his voice even if he could a false expression.
The pair approached Shimon and the Prince with respectful apprehension, their eyes looking for some form of hope from the older man. But Shimon only shook his head in quiet disappointment.
Set looked down at the prince and was startled in just how normal the prince looked. No different than any other conked out little one, save that he was curled up as though cold or afraid. It was difficult to believe they had tore three Ka's out of this small prince. But with that thought it was also hard to believe that there 'was' three Ka's within him. Well one, that became three because the prince was clearly too young to perform such a task.
"What if he's just really tired, the three Gods were originally one, that splintered into three. He could just be worn out..." Set commented with quiet concern. "Perhaps sealing his Ka wasn't even necessary."
"Well that would be a point too late," Asim pointed out even as he gentle grabbed the Princes' small fingers and gave them a small wiggle.
"Mahaado commented on that," Shimon agreed with a slight nod before giving a sigh that sounded as though it was pulled up from his toes.
"So why is he being sent away?" Set asked, annoyed that they would need to find Mahaado because Heisheen was a monster.
Shimon gave them both a sad smile before shrugging, "I probably should not be explaining this to you. As you have not yet taken the oaths to the prince... Yet..." Shimon grew quiet as he worked through what ever remaining doubt or conflict he had in him. Before finally deciding to answer, "that group was the same... that is to say, Mahaado was their slave."
"Wait... what?" Set asked, sharing a stunned look with Asim. Mahaado never really spoke much on the topic with Set. Given the expression on Asim, it wasn't something that Mahaado shared with the others either. "I assumed that they were all arrested or put to death or some such..."
"One of their former leaders was Mahaado's owner, and given what they did to those other children. We suspect they were trying to get the Prince again. We had theorized that perhaps that was why they attacked. Seeking to fulfill the failed theft of the Prince from back then," Shimon explained quietly.
"Does Mahaado remember them? It was clearly prior to his Ka's removal..." Asim asked, for which Shimon shrugged.
"He did not recognize them, but that is to be expected, its been many Summers and Mahaado is not quite the reticent mouse he once was." Shimon explained, giving Set a look that carried more comments. "But that does not change the situation. We can not confirm if the whole group was killed or not, and they undoubtedly know of Mahaado's presence, and the Princes' incredible power." Shimon finished before reaching down to gently stroke his grandsons' hair. "My you have a gift my dearest grandson..."
"Sir? Where is Mahaado being kept? We should go check on him..." Asim asked, his voice gentle and wary of any negative response out of the prince. After all, if he was listening and heard them talking about Mahaado being sent away...
"You two worry too much... Or perhaps we failed to give you the confidence to believe in us," Shimon commented with a faint smile. "I would answer if I knew where..." Shimon began when the ground shook the foundations of the palace.
"Oh dear Gods..." The trio looked down at the Prince who was now frowning in his sleep. While the ground continued to tremble, giving the trio a horrifying revelation even as the servants cried out in alarm while the guards began shouting commands.
"We need to get Maha..." Set finally stated before he pulled on Asim's arm to get the other guy to join him. "We need to go."
"Right," Asim agreed allowing them to break away and rush out of the room. With Shimon unaware of where Mahaado would be kept, they'd have to find someone 'else' who knew. Outside the royal princes' bed chamber there was barely controlled chaos as the servants huddled against the walls and stared about with wide frightened eyes. Guards were just as alarmed, their movements more to pull the servants to their feet with orders to get out while they headed towards the chamber.
"Move we need to evacuate the prince!" One ordered not that the pair were going to argue.
Caused by the prince or not, they couldn't stay indoors if the prince was going to shake the whole place down! Their dashed down the hallway where another man stood in the distance, wrapped up in a travel cloak. As they got further down the hallway, Asim cheered up as he recognized the stranger. Calling out to the man with a hopeful tone.
"High Priest Aknadin! Thank the Gods you're here!"
The name rang a bell in Set's heart as he recalled the name of the Priest who oversaw the Temple of Tablets. Though why the man was... 'of course he would be here, three new Tablets created here in the Palace. Those of the 'Prince' no less? He would be the expert,' Set thought.
"We need to leave, the palace is in danger," Aknadin called out, gesturing with one hand down the hallway that would lead towards the garden.
"No time for that, do you know where Mahaado is?" Set replied when he saw the faintest glint of gold. Each of the High Priests often had their Sennen Items on their person somewhere, tucked in a belt or such. Or perhaps that was because the only time Set ever saw them it was when they were in situations that required full regalia. Their master carried the Sennen Rod on him at all times, but it was a rod 'and' a weapon.
But it was the glint of light reflected off the man's face that startled Set, as he realized the man had 'his' Item in his head! 'Should have driven that damned eye straight into his brain' Seto thought with an inner snarl.
"Mahaado? Yes, I saw him being escorted out," Aknadin replied, when his gaze fell fully onto Set.
"In which direction? Please these tremors are from the Prince we need to get Mahaado back here quickly!" Asim answered while Set found himself the focus of the High Priests' attention.
Because of course.
"Off towards the west, something about sending the boy to visit the Temple of See..."
They really didn't get to hear him beyond that, his voice fading away as the pair thanked and ran off in the desired direction.
"I realize you might be taking this as a sign that someone is trying to give you a rival for your husbands' attention," Asim began as they ran.
….
Kemet was in more chaos than inside the palace gates.
The people were outside of their stalls or homes, looking up at the palace with wide, desperate eyes. Above them the sky was clear and Ra unbothered by the disturbance as He continued his trip upon his sacred boat. Beasts of burden were crying in alarm, rearing or braying in fear as were dogs that yelped and barked incessantly. All the while the ground shook with a force that brought to Sets' mind a certain dark, towering God.
Yet the pair forced themselves to find a balanced pace to run in their bid to find Mahaado. 'We really don't have time to grab the horses do we? But Anat is lost to me for now, and we did not bring the battle trained horses...' Regrets that he would have later and instead Set steeled himself for a military man's style of aggressive march.
'He was awake. That sneaky little prince must have been spying on our conversation by pretending to be asleep. How else could he have heard us talking about Mahaado's departure?' Set thought as he kept his eyes peeled for said magician in training.
"He wouldn't just keep riding out when this is going on, Maha isn't like that," Asim noted as ran.
"He'll want to keep riding if 'I' get to him before you do," Set grumbled, his words lost amid the panicked animals.
Dust was kicked up as the heat of Ra's boat beat down on them, yet despite all that in the distance Set 'did' see something of note. In the dust clouds there was a sign of white robes and a head dress that Set recognized as something Mahaado routinely wore. The person was about their height and didn't possess a horse. Instead they were making their way on foot towards the pair, which could have meant that a possible horse was left behind. 'That better be you Maha,' he thought.
For which he was rewarded for as Mahaado caught up with them, and while the lower half of his face was covered, his eyes. Well they were suitably annoyed.
"What did the two of you 'do'?" Mahaado demanded his breath short as he ran past them back to the palace.
"US?!" Set shouted back as he inhaled enough dust to send him coughing in response. By the time he caught his breath and could follow the pair. His mouth was coated in sand and his irritation was running high while his blood ran cold.
Clouds were gathering into the sky, pulled together by red lightning that was dancing along. The color calling to mind the serpentine God that caught Mahaado in its coils. 'He's seriously going to call down every one of his Ka just because he thinks Mahaado's leaving?!'
Set's lungs ached as he ran along, his body began to cry out in protest as he was reminded of what he had been doing. Sleeping constantly his body was clearly not ready for any of this and he was pushing it beyond what it wanted. But he had to reach the prince for the safety of the nation... didn't he?
'Well once Maha reaches the Prince everything should settle down. I could catch my breath properly...' He thought weighing between the options of letting the pair handle everything without him, and being there. 'If I want to be his General than I need to be by his side. Even if he's too brilliant at this age by an eternity,' Set mentally grumbled as he forced himself to start walking.
His legs burned with enough pain to make him nearly hit the ground. But the prince was their responsibility, abandonment was not an option. So he forced himself to move, through the lightning that ran up his legs and thighs. The fire in his lungs and even the way the world swayed in the heat that remained from when the sky was cloudless. But all he had to do was lift his gaze and the motivation was there.
Red lightning from the red dragon Ka, he knew what the God Ka's could do to an armed force of people. People who were trained to fight and kill, these people were just humble farmers and merchants, what chance did the kingdom have to stand against this? Shimon would have to unseal his own Ka to stand up to their might. Thus forcing the man to do so to subdue his own grandson?
'Why did you have to sleep for so long?' Set wondered in disgruntled annoyance as he ran down. It was a thought that followed him as he ran until the sky cleared with the dark clouds and red lightning dissipating. While at the same time the ground grew calm causing the world to grow still save for the still alarmed animals. Set stopped running long enough to get a look around him.
Comforting him that Mahaado had made it back to the Prince. Thus restoring the peace to the city as everyone slowly started to realize that the shaking was over. From there he pushed on back to the palace, where the cries of the servants and the orders of the soldiers was gone. Just nervous conversations as they servants worked to put knocked over vases and bowls back into place.
When he reached the royal chamber, he found Asim leaning against the wall beside the door, facing the direction Set arrived at. His expression was at the corner of shame faced and resigned before he pushed himself away to join Set down the hallway. Once he was in talking distance, "so the Prince is ok now, and Mahaado is flinging anything he can grab magically at us if we go in. So... Let's not."
"What?" Set replied, feeling a solid degree of offended. 'I think I'll go in there and give him a piece...'
Asim shook his head with a resigned sigh, "apparently we misunderstood Isis' message. She was warning us about what to do 'while Mahaado was gone'. Mahaado was leaving to find his old owners and deal with them on his own. We were strictly meant to clarify to the prince that Mahaado was not being 'sent away permanently by his master'."
The silence between the pair was as deep as space, before Set slowly began dropping his head into his hands. "I hate her. I hate her curse. I hate everything about her," he began when Asim clapped his hand down on Set's' shoulder.
"So we're going to need to get back into Mahaado's good graces if we ever want to see the Prince again..." Asim pointed out.
'If he had bothered explaining anything to me,' Set thought to himself even as Asim began to shake his head. Reminding him that he had been asleep the whole time himself. The words written on the walls were faded, their vivid color draining away even as he stood there. Asim kept talking, yet despite knowing what the guy was saying. Kaiba couldn't hear what was being said.
"Its foolish to go after them alone though, I suppose it could be an attempt to prove he is capable of handling things on his own," Asim continued.
"Not when the prince is latched on to him though," Set annoyed in tone acknowledged. "Which means his plans are now over and he's going to be sore at us... I can't believe..." Set paused as his head tilted a bit to the side. "Wait, his owner is dead but maybe one of their group knows where Mahaado came from?"
"You thinking about trying to find a way to get Mahaado's forgiveness?" Asim suggested.
"I haven't done anything wrong," Set retorted, though he then added. "But what they did to those kids... Did they tell you about the Kurrs? Just, they need to be brought before the Gods and judged, but at the same time. If we can find out about Mahaados' past..."
More than just that, as good a friend as Asim had become, he was still the top rival to the position of High General. 'I need to surpass Asim, the prince is showing to be of a level of brilliance and awareness. They won't afford anyone inferior serving him and I have to prove myself the superior choice...' Set thought as the pair made their way to the princes' doorway before tentatively sticking their heads in.
"May we live for visiting?" Asim asked and got a face full of pillow for that mistake.
"You know most people would be elated to have someone care enough to do the stuff we do for you Maha," Set called out before getting pelted. 'Though honestly you test my patience some times...'
Yet at the same time there was this nagging thought in the back of his mind. Just the soft subtle voice telling him that he needed to stop. He needed to pay attention to his surroundings and not be distracted by...
By...
By what?