Yu-Gi-Oh: A Past and Future Pharaoh

Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix

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A sharp ring startled the group into defensively turning towards the different set of doors than the ones they took slid open. Nurses came pouring out, a medical bed in the rapid efficiency one expected of a nursing staff. Leaving everyone in this 'deer caught in headlights' moment as the wince inducing lights of the hospital elevator illuminated the very startled group. Causing everyone to freeze up.

For a moment.

One didn't become a nurse by being easily shocked into forgetting their duty. Quickly they snapped back to what they were supposed to do, spreading out to check on everyone. Which was interesting as they fell upon Yugi with near single minded focus. But didn't ignore the clearly exhausted people all around them. Thus they began investigating each person, peppering them with questions about what had happened.

Not that anyone knew how to 'answer' the questions. Yugi being unconscious because he pulled off a God thing wasn't a realistic answer. A truthful answer, but not necessarily a realistic one given the circumstances. What happened to Kaiba, fighting a giant spirit created by the demon that Yugi faced and was now...

Those not being investigated suddenly began to eye the rooftop for the Emperor, after all Yugi hadn't turned it into a card... It was a new, functioning spirit with no clue about what it should or could do. And apparently could be scared off by a flurry of nurses, because no one could see it anywhere on the roof. But did that mean it fled to some other populated area or just went into hiding?

Yugi was placed on a stretcher that had been brought up and rolled back with the nurses. Malik was sent off to check on Anzu who hadn't reappeared only to find her dazed on the ground. Between him and Jounouchi they brought her out to be with the rest of them. Meanwhile the one remaining nurse who was still checking over everyone, abandoned everyone in favor of checking on their cheerleader.

It was actually nice, Anzu decided as she was fussed over. It was nice to be the one fussed over and not the one having to do the fussing. Being allowed to momentarily give up responsibility and free to be upset or in pain and not worry that she sounded selfish. And she was in pain, the impact made the back of her head and well her whole back ache. Stars had stopped bursting in her line of sight by the time Malik had stuck his head in the room.

"The power was out in the hospital, is everyone ok?" Mokuba asked as he sat by his brother while the nurse checked over Anzu.

"Yes, the power is on and so far we have lost no one in the CCU or ICU, praise Kaiba," she answered as she checked Anzu's pulse.

'Praise... Kaiba? No... Never!' Jounouchi thought to himself at the galling thought.

"Please don't say that in his presence. His ego already outweighs the Earth," Rashid replied in the most monotone voice he could muster.

"Rashid..." Kaiba wearily growled.

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Amid the pale walls, there was a soft sound of beeping as the nurses worked to apply even fewer wires and cords to Yugi. Just enough to keep a check on his pulse and heart rate, simple things now that Yugi was out of his coma. He was tucked back under the blanket while Obelisk, in the form of a midnight blue trench coat, hung unobtrusively behind the door.

Though Yugi wasn't alone, everyone was in the room.

Chairs for the fatigued, and thick plastic chairs for those who were better off. Isis and Kaiba, with Mokuba tucked in next to his brother, were given the cushioned seats. Everyone was wrapped up in two blankets, regardless of their conditions after the staff had caught up to reach the roof. Anzu was sipping lightly on a cool cup of water even after taking the aspirin from her unintended flight. While she didn't have a thick chair, the nurses had put several folded blankets on her seat to help ease her bruises. Rashid, Ryou and Malik also used the seats provided, between the unseen injuries and bruises.

Though a reduced sized shadow of the Emperor was now following along the way Blue Eyes had been. The spirit was hovering close to Ryou, while its followers thankfully were not causing internal chaos in the hospital. Which Anzu was fiercely grateful for given the last of the nurses was still in the room. She ran the last check over Yugi before leaving the group, and thankfully everyone was awake and aware. Well everyone except Yugi, though given what they had bore witness to it felt fine.

"So now we know why he didn't just call Mahaado out the first chance he got," Jounouchi noted quietly where he rested. His back was to the wall, below the television that was currently off, and providing no one with any distraction.

"So I guess being a kid was the only reason that demon beat Yugi all those years ago," Honda theorized. His focus was more on his knee and gently flexing it, no pricks of pain or stiffness of muscles everything moving the way it was meant to.

"He had an army, mostly drawn from the negative emotions that went into creating the Sennen Items," Ryou noted while his hand was lazily draped over his eyes. "Now he has 'how' many actual followers?"

"Yeah and this isn't going to be an easy fight," Malik agreed, his voice quiet as he examined the large tiles that comprised the floor.

"How? You saw what he did," Jounouchi scoffed shaking his head thus missing Maliks' own head shake.

"How many more followers does the demon 'have' though? Yugi defended himself in answer to a prayer that Anzu gave. Clearly Yugi is working off of some type of prayer principle, and we're sorely outmatched." He extended his hands out as though weighing something, "if we prayed for Yugi to get rid of the demon, we are sorely outweighed by all the members who want the demon here."

"Malik speaks true," Rashid agreed, his voice a low rumble. "People admire the Pharaoh as a great duelist, not worship him as the creator of the universe, the Giver of Life. How would those self same people react if we were to tell them that the Pharaoh was God? How would they all react to being told their faith was incorrect? That the way they thought to be the truth of the universe was incorrect?"

"The Pharaoh was very keen on we having freedom of choice in this matter," Isis added her expression gentle and wistful. "I remember when he was still our Little Prince. How he would stick to Mahaado's side, and now... all I see..."

Her voice drifted into retrospective silence as she sat there, and while she was thinking about the ancient past. It granted everyone the chance to have some time to think and process what they had seen, what they were seeing and ground themselves.

"I suppose it must have been hard, looking into possible futures and seeing people dying... Seeing 'Yugi' die again," Anzu noted sympathetically. She looked over at the Seeress and found herself lost in that actual thought... "I can't imagine what it must be like to watch your friends die like that over and over again..."

"Indeed, but telling Yugi was just as terrible." Isis recalled...

"Jounouchi charged into the room and he was shot, the bullet had enough power to pass through him and lodged into Anzu." Isis reported and was alone to watch Yugi's expression. Regardless of the memories of the past he had reamassed facing his own death was one thing... "After you suggested bullet proof vests, I tried again. Checking to see if there was one where they were wearing one... This gunman is good, too good, he course corrected and the bullet went through Jounouchis' face." After a beat she forced herself to finish. "Then into Anzu's."

Yugi covered his eyes with his hand, while his lips tightened into a wavering straight line. "It has to be me... I can't... I 'won't' subject them to this. Our battle against the demon began three thousand years ago, and while I couldn't stop Seto from dragging me back. Stop him from trying to correct a wrong, how can I drag innocent people into this? Thousands in a stadium..." the words tumbled out of trembling lips. It wasn't as though Yugi hadn't first suggested calling the police directly with an 'anonymous tip'. But it might as well have already happened the moment she had described the massacre that would follow in Florida.

"Sure the Items dragged them into a 'card' game... This isn't a card game, its not necessarily always going to be me able to solve a situation because its a curse or..." Yugi covered his face with his hand leaving Isis sitting there studying him in sympathetic pity.

'Our sweet little prince, our future...' Isis thought...

"With the power of choice my visions will always be problematic," Isis agreed as she slowly eased herself back into her seat. The Seeress looked over her ruler before she began checking each other person visually. Besides the wincing from Anzu, there was not much from everyone, just fatigue all around. The weight of that fatigue was greatest a mantle on Rashid, Seto and Ryou, for the weight was just as much spiritual as it was physical.

"And that was the demon that destroyed our lives three thousand years ago," Ryou noted. His voice was almost listless with only a hint of a simmering anger. As the only one to fight purely using spirits. Most people, herself included, could only really manage one at a time and she would have shrugged off Seto's ability as part of his more divine nature.

Though perhaps because Ryou didn't summon his own Ka it was possible. Not to mention he also had all those spirits from his village who would undoubtedly have aided him. But if he was going to pass out, if any of them were going to fall over, a hospital 'was' the ideal place to do it at. Looking about the room once more she noticed the coat hanging off a coat hook on the door to the room.

Which held her attention, there was no motion or movement. It could have been Yugi's own coat just hanging there, but she could feel it. The coat 'was' Obelisk she could feel its energy and it bothered her that it was here. It brought to mind the past, the way Yugi didn't reabsorb the three Ka's once he had summoned them. Resulting in their time sealed in tablets. Only she couldn't fathom why again it wasn't being absorbed.

Did Yugi not call it in himself?

He passed out before he could, but when anyone else passed out the Ka was faded away so his should have as well... 'Is Yugi still fighting? Is he protecting us from something else, or is Obelisk still here in case Yugi can't get to it? After all he hasn't summoned Mahaado or even Kuriboh.'

As she studied the coat, the door it rested on gave a sharp rap as someone knocked before a polite voice called out. "Lord Kaiba?"

"Fugata!" Mokuba climbed out of his seat and was on his way to the door before anyone could say a word. But if it was one of Kaiba's loyal servants why not? Mokuba opened the door to the towering stone faced bodyguard and limo driver before it seemingly occurred to him on the topics in the room.

"Well we have a solution for getting home, I don't think some of us can take the bus easily," Rashid mused aloud as he looked up at the man. His hood was down so it could dry resulting in causing unease enough among the staff. They had been alarmed at the markings, it reinforced the idea of dangerous foreigners. With the shooter not helping with his American presence and Yugi taking the bullet.

"That mutt is not going into my limo," Kaiba tiredly snarled, and it was almost a wonder how no one listened to him.

"Ah Lord Kaiba, the nurses came and informed me there had been an incident on the roof. I came to check and see how bad it was..." Fugata asked, and for once he wasn't wearing his sunglasses, though given it was night time...

"I'll be fine," Kaiba answered his gaze lowering to his younger brother then over to where Yugi was sleeping. Whatever thoughts he had were his alone as he sat there, "but I suppose you're going to be making several stops."

Out of nowhere and asked by positively no one, Malik belted out, "How much is that doggy in the limo, arf arf." His English was garbled, tune was as off as his tone and there were several people in the room who tried, but were failing, to grasp what the hell Malik just sang.

"Where in the hell did you learn that?" Ryou demanded his expression fully shocked to the degree that he swore even as he blinked in disbelief.

The shock wasn't his alone either, both Rashid and Isis looked baffled by a badly garbled English rendition of a childrens' song. Even as Jounouchi lunged for Malik, Kaiba shook his head as he seemed to start reevaluating his condition given 'that'.

"What's wrong with the people I'm with?" Anzu grumbled to herself as she started to dip her head down into her hands.

"It was on the television," Malik answered in amusement, explaining with a casual glib ease. "I had to find something to entertain myself while looking after Yugi."

"Until Obelisk appeared and stayed, I had actually wondered if it was safe to leave Yugi here. All things considered," Honda noted as he sat in a chair that was up against the wall. "But clearly he's looking after himself in his own way..."

"He may not be aware that he is though," Isis pointed out. "When he first summoned them he passed out..."

"We're not talking about that." Kaiba snapped, he straightened up and glared daggers at Isis, but it was his use of 'Egyptian' that caused everyone to turn and recognize his wishes.

"It wasn't your fault, and my mother among others praised how you got them out of the situation ." Isis replied gently answering in kind.

"If he doesn't wake up," Kaiba began when Rashid shook his head.

"Faith, Set. You need to have faith in him, we need you and if you are fixated on Yugi you won't be able to aid anyone else." Rashid pointed out while Kaiba scowled at him.

"Fixated? I'm not..." Kaibas' attempt at arguing died down as he sat there. Perhaps realizing for the first time that it was how he sounded like. With Fugata also in the room with them.

"We weren't supposed to come back, at least like this..." Rashid pointed out, "and your past self made it clear that he was going to do anything to free our Pharaoh." His clothes were irritatingly stiff in some places and almost dry and cold in others. As a man of the dry desert it made it hard to focus on Kaiba, every attempt at moving made it feel like fabric was cracking, breaking.

Watching Maliks' mind crack under the death of their father, then fully snapping into letting his darker personality take over haunted him. Seeing the mind start to succumb to the trauma again, this time in Seto, worried him. Each cracking sensation from his clothes almost matched the cracks he could imagine were happening in Seto.

"We should return and get some rest, I suspect some of us will have some aches and pains for the days to come." Ryou suggested wearily, the spirits were still among them, thankfully not destroyed either by the demon or by just Yugi summoning Obelisk. But the world was starting to fray about the edges of his vision and if he didn't get some sleep soon. He was going to pass out completely and he wasn't interested in doing so in such an exposed place.

With that they actually broke up, everyone getting up and slowly migrating out of the room. Some getting caught and checked over again by nurses and night staff doctors, while the others went down to the limo to relax and doze while they waited. Something that felt bizarrely unnatural given just what they had faced. Spirits turned into Duel Spirits, the Demon materializing for whatever reason and Yugi.

Just Yugi summoning Obelisk and sending that demon back to where he had been summoned from. It weighed on them as they walked down the hallways where staff whispered at Kaiba's passing. Here they were, just a small group of nearly graduated high schoolers now poised to defend the world from a demon. It felt surreal...