Yu-Gi-Oh: A Past and Future Pharaoh
Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
Beta By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
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Two bodies rested on the floor, Anzu had released Mokuba so she could kneel down and searched the bodies they had found. The sneaker covered feet directed her hands to the ankles and she felt along the side of the body she found. Rough pants fabric was under her fingers, and she worked her way to find the men's shoulders in the darkness. She grasped at the fabric of their tops trying to figure out what type of coat they were wearing if any. It was a terrifying sensation as her fingers plucked at the fabric. No long coats meaning the one she found wasn't Kaiba. Leaving her to check over the other guy.
Which was a relief given finding bodies on the floor!
"I found their pulses!" Mokuba announced proudly across from her.
"Neither are Kaiba which is good and bad..." Anzu reported as well, before she began pulling the first body in the darkness.
"Yeah, what? What are you doing Anzu?" Mokuba asked and she could hear him shuffling out of the way.
"We shouldn't leave them here... We need to get them safely in the hallway so someone can help them. In case this whole stairwell needs to be used in a hurry." She explained as she got her arms under the limp arms of the first man. Gripping her hands together she began dragging him up the stairs despite the weight when she heard the soft sound of child like grunting.
'Neither of them are Kaiba so I doubt either of them are our would be assassin. Meaning Kaiba's still pursuing them, but if that's the case, what knocked these men out?' It only increased her worry, what with her only with a child and concerned that they were in danger. "Spirits? You're still here right?" she asked into the darkness, and felt the chill drift against the back of her arms.
It was an effort to pull the man up the remaining flight to the next door they could reach. Mokuba's contributions probably the only reason she hadn't fallen over or down the stairs. "If these men were knocked out by a person. Could you just touch my right hand, but if it was something other than human touch my left?"
A chill raced down both her arms, and then a perfectly natural one ran down her spine at the answer. "Both?" She grunted out as she pulled while trying to process the information.
"Both?" Mokuba strained in the darkness. "So the guy was possessed? Or he had a duel spirit help him?"
"Hmmm that's a bit much I think for the spirits..." Anzu panted out before she put the man down. There were no further steps for her to climb up so she began feeling around for a door. The cold metal against her hand was a comfort. As she was momentarily enveloped by the stagnating air of the floor as she opened the door. It was quiet as well, 'This floor is just people in recovery I think, long term care and the such. But its better than being left on the stairwell..'
"Oh ok," Mokuba's voice interrupted her thoughts and she heard him grunting coupled with the sound of the mans' body being dragged.
"Mokuba, don't do that by yourself," she replied as she fumbled into him and grabbed the man to help pull.
"The faster we get them here the faster we can go back to find Big Brother," he replied between pulling and panting from the exertion.
"Mokuba, if there 'are'..." she paused as she recalled that they shouldn't talk about Duel Spirits out in the open. Now that they were in the hallway, they could more readily tell that the foul weather that Kaiba had unintentionally produced had settled down, the rain was silent against the thick strong glass. Thunder was no longer rolling in the air, 'and likely Ryou and the others may be on their way here. But will they get here in 'time' though?' she pondered.
"I know, we've seen this stuff before after all, but I just want to be able to help, to do something..." Mokuba fairly whined despite it being wholly justified. "Besides you know how strong Big Brother is, he won't accept this lying down! I know he can beat up whatever they send at us!"
Such rousing confidence was enough to bring a tired smile to Anzus' lips, the boy was right to a degree after all. Kaiba didn't take defeats lying down, that was for sure! "Ready to grab the other person?" She asked with more energy than she actually felt, towing full grown men up half a flight of stairs was rough. But at least all the work she did in cheerleading kept her in shape!
"Yeah, one more and on to Big Brother," Mokuba acknowledged in the darkness, and soon the pair were back at helping another security guard up the flight of steps.
"Excuse me? Is someone in here?" A middle aged womans' voice called out from the floor above as the pair were struggling.
"Ahh, yeah, are you staff?" Anzu called out between pants.
"Yes, we found a person on the floor?" Another, younger, womans' voice called in answer concern and worried.
"Yes, they're the security guards from the ICU floor... at least that's what I think and hope," Anzu answered to the unsurprising concerned sounds from above. "Can you help get him up to your floor? There was a criminal they were escorting that got away."
"What? Criminal? And you're going to chase after them?!" The younger voice asked in alarm even as their voices grew closer. The sound of sneakers squeaking along the painted for traction floors punctuated their words.
"We're not alone, and that's the reason we have to," Anzu admitted as she felt a hand bump into her lower back before it fumbled for her shoulders. "Here, his shoulders are here."
The two nurses were soon taking charge, leaving Anzu and Mokuba free to resume their search for Kaiba up the staircase as they approached the roof. The air felt charged the further up they went, reminding Anzu quickly of just what the spirits had said to Mokuba and her questions. Touching the handrail starting to burn to the touch as the electric shocks played against the palm of her hand.
"Mokuba..." Anzu sighed and grabbed Mokuba's shoulder to stop him from getting ahead of her.
"Hmm? What? We need to get to Big Brother." Mokuba turned and placed his smaller hand over Anzu's out of seeming instinct.
"Mokuba, you understand that this is dangerous right? We're not dealing with your brothers' holograms. We're dealing with spirits like Ma- Dark Magician, only in the hands of people who have no problem killing. Its not like last year, I can't imagine your brother will be ok with you getting into harms way..." Anzu pointed out, really, and TRULY, hating that there was no one else here. If the gang was here, even if Yugi was in a coma, at least she would have others to help look after Mokuba.
Hell, if it was just one guy, Kaiba could easily handle that and she hadn't been as concerned about bringing Mokuba along. But now...
Now...
"Its ok Anzu, my Big Brother will protect us. If I'm there, it will just motivate him more to try," Mokuba reasoned in the darkness of the stairwell.
'Oh Mokuba, but you saw what happened when he got 'motivated' to try to save Yugi...' She thought a pang of guilt, shame, and pride shot through her as she felt those small hands. 'You're a good kid Mokuba!' she thought as she patted the back of his hand.
"Ok, well, lets go see if we can help Kaiba," Anzu replied with an unseen nod.
They followed the handrail until it stopped, and found no further stairs, leaving them with only the door that would lead out to the roof of the hospital. The soft chill of the spirits serving as a continual guide leading them ever upwards. Which meant that the other patients were safe from a dangerous soon to be if not already criminal. But it also meant that Kaiba was on the roof alone, and Mahaado had shown it was possible to teleport.
'That's enough Anzu! No worst case scenario's! Its already stacked up against us enough I don't need to come up with more stuff.' She ordered herself as she touched the door handle. 'Who knows what we're going to see on the other side of this door...' She thought as she braced herself for anything up to, and including, grabbing Mokuba and running for their lives at 'Go'.
She pushed the weighted door open and found Go straight ahead. The hospital roof also served as a landing pad for the helicopters that would bring in wounded. Yugi had arrived via such a method when he was rushed to the hospital. It meant that the space was large and open, little in the way to be used as a shield or in the way. The perfect spot for a bit of dueling... and 'dueling' it was.
The air still smelled of ozone and cleaned from all the rain and winds that had ripped through. A fine mist of sorts hung in the air as the heat from the rooftop mixed with the rain drops. Above the sky was still heavily weighted with clouds, distant lightning could be seen peeking out from behind the walls of clouds above. The city was back in full bloom, the glow of night time businesses was carried on the beads of water. Illuminating the night that had been deprived of the moon and stars above, and giving some tentative light even way up at the top of the hospital. Weather courtesy of one Kaiba, Seto.
It was the sight of Kaiba's back that brought a moment of thought to her, not of him. Rather the Spirit hovering by his side, it wasn't Blue Eyes White Dragon. But it got her thinking about the reality of how there were 'duel spirits' aka the game. Yet also there were 'actual' spirits, that the game was based 'off of'. Calling them 'Ka Beasts' was all well and good until one remembered that it included Mahaado. Calling the guy a 'beast' just felt wrong and degrading on a level that made her feel terrible.
If it was the dragon, Anzu was fairly sure the dragon would glow, given that it was a light based dragon. Only it wasn't here, and she could only faintly catch glimpses of the gold trim of whatever was hovering near Kaiba. 'How can he duel anyone in a situation like this?' she pondered as she looked about helplessly. Hospital lights were still out even up here, what came from the city wasn't going to be near enough for a fight. If Kaiba had 'summoned his own duel spirit', it meant that he was fighting with his own life on the line.
While she stood there holding Mokuba's hand to keep him from running off to try and join his brother. All she could do was strain her hearing to see if she could detect something to indicate a threat, or how many threats there was. There was distant sounds of raindrops splashing on the ground, the last bits of the storm still around. But she couldn't hear anything else.
"Offerings of tribute?" It wasn't Kaiba that spoke, it was a booming voice. Distorted as though it was echoing through something and carried itself with a commanding force. Weighted and low, Anzu could feel it through the souls of her shoes and all through her body.
"Its a fiend, you need to go, because its not one of the thiefs," Kaiba replied sharply. His voice low and threatening, but paling in comparison to the first speaker.
'Its a fiend?' Anzu was horrified at this first time she 'heard' an evil spirit talk. Somehow she had expected only spirits like Mahaado, humans, would speak. But a 'fiend', that was sentient and aware? Some Duel Spirits were manifestations of human souls... but she never pondered or asked about Fiends and where they came from.
'We can't leave you here Kaiba,' Anzu was left thinking helplessly. 'Isis and Rashid could help? They have their Duel Spirits too!' she thought for a moment but sending Mokuba wouldn't work, he wasn't going to leave his brother. She couldn't leave either because it would mean abandoning both Kaibas to a fiend.
"We're not going Big Brother! You need us!" Mokuba answered for them his tone resolute and she felt him dashing forward. Only her grip on his hand kept him going out into the open completely unprotected, even if it meant she joined him in the run. The splash of their shoes gave her some sound the listen to. Even as the water splashed against her naked legs a reminder of how fierce Kaiba's generated storm had been.
Her clothes had long since dried enough to be uncomfortably stiff. Immersed into the water once more made her shoes and socks now fully unpleasant. Sending a chill that raced up her legs and her spine to make her hair stand on end. Mokuba was insistent though as they made their way in the darkness, until Anzu fairly slammed into whatever Kaiba had summoned forth.
"Just tell us what we can do to help Big Brother!" Mokuba insisted as he let go of Anzu, but now that they were so close she had to trust that he was now latched back onto his brother.
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Climbing up stairs in complete darkness was 'not' fun given the situation, Rashids' Ka, Bast, was guiding them. Its outline the only thing that really was visible so as to not alert the wrong people. Stagnate air with no contact with anyone up above was worrisome, sending Superia was out of the question. Scaring the nurses wouldn't help anyone and they needed to reach Yugi with as little as distraction as possible. With the elevators down, the stairs were the only method up, and it still left Seto, Anzu and Mokuba on their own.
"Once we confirm his safety, we can go and deal with the fiend spawning upon the roof," Rashid finally spoke, his deep voice echoing off into the confined space of the stairwell, floating upward to the sky.
"Oh the joy of running up a whole buildings' height in stairs..." Isis sighed in resignation as she looked up into the well despite the complete darkness. 'I may not be able to see, but I can tell this is not going to be fun,' she thought to herself.
"Well look on the bright side, we're finally here, and not on the boat. There 'is' a degree of disheartening disappointment when everyone gets to the battle before us... Or well before 'me' seeing that you knew about the vision." Rashid replied, his tone not quite chiding, but not exactly thrilled to be so out of the loop.
"I swear if the Pharaoh had not instructed me..." Isis replied in their own language before sighing. "Watching everyone die repeatedly was 'not' something that should be shared... It was..." She shook her head in the darkness. "He had a contingency for everything, including if he was not brought back. For there 'was' a possibility that he would not be healed. I am grateful not to have to give that message instead to the others..."
"We've arrived on the correct floor," Rashid noted aloud as he watched Bast start facing the wall instead of twisting to go up another flight of stairs. Once he reached the landing he began feeling around for the bar that served as a door handle.
The pair finally stepped out onto the floor and found the lights and power were lost even here. Bast had no problems walking along in the darkness, working its way towards the elevator that the others would have used before the power was cut. Soft sounds of conversation could be heard in the distance. The voices bouncing off walls and losing momentum as it approached the pair.
"Its calm, so there's no panic going on up here." Isis noted aloud as they walked unable to see Rashids' nod.
"Indeed, they've settled from the attack and the power outage... or perhaps this is just a product of training. The machines that run the life support have lost power as well I would imagine..." Rashid acknowledged as he walked with careful steps.
"Oh no, all these people..." Isis shook her head at the enormity of the situation. What she lacked from a lifetime of being above ground she made up for in the empathy necessary to understand. These people couldn't survive currently under their own power and needed help from the machines. Machines that were currently without power! "We need to hurry, whatever is upsetting Seto 'must' be dealt with quickly!"
Despite the walk up the stairs she took off at a jog, following Bast who had also hurried forward. Four paws on the floor and Rashid was taking up the rear as concern for their Pharaoh and the patients on this ward loomed large on their thoughts. In the darkness they ran past the elevators proper and turned a right where Anzu and the others had before them. The sound not lost on the staff who began tentatively calling out to check on who was arriving so quickly.
"We came because we heard that there was an attack on Mouto, Yugi... But is everyone ok?" Isis called out in answer as her recent memories confirmed she was approaching the Nurses' station and Yugi's private room.