Yu-Gi-Oh: A Past and Future Pharaoh
Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
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Yugi reclined on his nice sedan with only the company of the Kuribohs in his incredibly nice suite. Rubbing the ball between his hands and feeling as it slowly grew a little more. His eyes stayed locked on the orb as he fought the urge to relax. Seto's wards were keeping him in a fog as to the state of the world. But a fog could only stop him so much, the distortions were coming through though.
Tears started to leak from the corners of his eyes. Blurring out the outlines of the furniture as it began to warp. Guns were firing, ropes swinging, bubbles of final breaths, Seto may have wanted him to drown in the sounds of laughter and giggles, shouts of glee, but they didn't need him.
They didn't 'need' him.
Yugi wanted to push those voices of happiness away.
Shut down the prayers asking him to let the Demons' followers carry on.
Throw them all away and beg those lost souls not to give up!
Tell them that he was here and he heard them! That he loved them, and wanted them to live!
'Don't go! Don't go! Not like this!'
"YUGI!"
Hands grabbed the lapels of his coat, yanking Yugi to his feet and to stare direction into slate blue eyes. Seto was seething.
"They need me Seto. They're in agony!"
"And this is the battles they fight. The right to choose is always the hardest, and you do not get to go to the Afterlife and wait for them there! So I suggest you figure out a way to block all that noise." Seto pointed out, his lips a thin line his eyes harder than diamond and his heart bleeding.
Seto didn't hear the voices, or the sounds, his was to protect others. When he 'heard' it was on the subconscious level and it was always pleas to save someone 'else'. But it didn't take any effort to understand what Yugi was going through. The mortal side was ever reaching out to make friends and new connections. The divine self was awake and absorbing all the information in creation and that meant the tragic and the ecstasy.
Mortal Yugi would give of himself to anyone, hearing what he was hearing now it was instinctual to get involved. Save the broken hearted, fight their their battles so they can catch a breath and try again. Hold back the earthquake. The storm.
Divine Yugi was answering as well, Seto had managed to get to the suite by willing the door out of his office to take him to Yugi! The suite had warped to appear as the throne room of the Pharaoh back in Egypt. Reaching up he pulled Yugi into a hug, letting the teen rest his head on Seto's shoulder, "you can't stay exposed like this. This is..."
"They won't let me go! They've realized what will happen if I go to the Other Side so they are praying that I stay here. That I bless their cause! They won't stop asking me to hear the world, I can't ignore it if they keep pushing me to engage!"
The suite had the Kuribohs' still floating about, though they were clearly aware of the situation with their eternal kurrs. While Yugi had ignored the fact that he had transformed the whole theme of the suite to Kemet. It remolded into his room from the royal palace, but the games were modern, maybe the games he had in the Shop before it was destroyed.
Seto could see the shadow of Yugi's grandfather and mother drifting along the walls. Shadows cast against the wall by the light of the divine in the room.
'This was the better option.'
"Was it Seto? Was it 'really'? They're making tablets out of the people they stole, Honda's not going to see her again. They slaughtered people just to summon the demon at the hospital! Was their deaths worth it? Just to have me free from the seal?" Yugi asked, his voice dull with pain.
"Always."
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"I know I saw a noodle stand around here..." Anzu swore as she looked about. "It was delicious and I think Valon would have liked it too!"
The trees looked the same, she recognized this small arrangement of flowers, if not the name the pattern stuck out. While Mai, Ryou, Valon, and Malik tried to spot this now missing noodle stand with her. There were a few people among them, but there was no stand...
"Are you sure they would still be here? Maybe they moved to a different location?" Malik suggested, he could see Wong among the guests. Letting Mai know didn't feel like a good idea either, but he wasn't sure how to avoid those two running into each other.
"I don't believe they could, it was a sizable stand..." Anzu recounted as Wong entered her line of sight... 'Oh no not engagement drama...' she mentally whimpered as she tried to think of a way to get Mai out of the area without causing more drama herself. It was already startling that no one was stalking Mai wanting details about Mai's supposed relationship with Yugi!
'Or maybe that's Yugi's doing because it takes away from Kaiba's event?' she theorized to herself as she looked about. There had to be a way to get Mai to leave the area discreetly!
Wong appeared to approach a father and son who were resting and accosted them about something that Anzu couldn't hear. The father pointed off to the east and as they talked, Wongs' shoulders slumped in defeat before she walked off after giving a farewell gesture.
"Maybe they did move, we should try somewhere over there?" Anzu suggested turning towards the west.
Malik nodded, his eyes wide enough to make her realize he must have seen Wong as well. Yet the father and son that Anzu had seen began walking towards the group. Blinking once, then twice, Anzu was taken aback as illusion fell away revealing Mahaado. Patiently walking towards them while holding Mokuba's hand from the casual father and son to an Egyptian teenager and Japanese kid.
What the ffffffffffffffffffff...
"What did you do?" Ryou beat Anzu with that question, flabbergasted and amazed as he watched the pair nonchalantly walk up.
Or not, as Ryou could see signs of puffiness around Mokuba's eyes.
"Do?" Mahaado asked as he released Mokuba's hand and allowed the boy to now study the new comers to the group.
Mai was staring.
Valon, having already seen a variation of this very stunt, also stared, but not directly at Mahaado. Instead he looked around for some type of hologram set up, the ground on the dueling fields had these thick glass shields as well as specialized projectors from various angles that were allowing the monsters to appear and act.
'Ground looks like stone and as rich as the kid is, he can't 'possibly' be able to have the whole grounds covered in that stuff...'
At one point Mai had pointed out that the duel disks compensated for the need for all that high end equipment. But watching how everyone above a certain rank do these grand flourishes made him wonder if that was true.
How could a hologram stay in place when the person using the duel disk to manifest it was waving his arm like a chicken wing? Neither person was wearing a duel disk after all.
"Yes, 'do', you sent Wong away, what was going on?" Ryou asked looking after the direction she had disappeared at.
"Wait, she was..." Mai planted her hands on her hips before turning on her heel. She looked at the group of kids, and Valon, with this 'tut tut' expression on her face that was lost to the warmth in her gaze. "Now why would you want to keep me from running into her?"
"Cuz Anzu doesn't need someone talking about..." Malik never made it past that sentence as he was suddenly being aggressively choked by a certain woman.
The act alone was enough to crack up Mai, allowing her to momentarily forget what Malik had done to her.
"How have you been enjoying the park, Mai?" Mokuba asked, pulling her attention down to the child.
"Its nice, though I'm starting to question just 'why' it's so nice..." She answered with a meaningful glance at Mahaado.
"Yeah, I didn't know he teleported food stalls from around the world and did his magic on them. That's why we had to find Wong. She was determined to find the noodle stand he brought from China. But they've gone home and we had to stop her from basically getting confused. Like her or not, its not good to make her question her judgement during a tournament and all." He explained which earned him a quiet nod.
"You have a point, though I guess that's what you guys were trying to do. Keep me from winding her up," Mai noted with a cheeky grin on her face.
All around her was the sounds of life from the occasional bird song or tree leaves rustling, to the people laughing or chatting around her. Blessed sound accompanied by such vivid colors, from the green leaves to the multitude of flowers and the clothes people wore. Not a hint of disturbing white anywhere, or having people just fade out of sight.
Nothing forced, or faked just several guys trying to dance around the subject of Yugi.
"Well I mean, the whole 'engagement' thing," Ryou began slowly which sparked a light in Maliks' eyes.
"Yeah why would you go 'that' route? I mean if we didn't get to Yugi first to let him know..." Malik pointed out. 'Sure Yugi knew, but I don't think anyone has told Mai anything and I would rather see the look of shock on her face when she finds out.'
If anything was going to distract Yugi. It was that.
But for everyone else, Yugi's current appearance generally danced on the edge of their concerns and thoughts.
"I'm serious Malik. Yugi has that whole group causing trouble. Sure its going to be peaceful here, but once this tournament is over, Yugi's got that bulls eye on his back again. Even 'joking' about a relationship with him? Mai could have just put one on her back as well!" Bakura pointed out causing the others to snap back to the reality of the situation outside of the park.
"Yeah, Anzu told me some of what happened, like the game shop and stuff. How has that been coming along? I can't imagine the city is just letting a blasted out building lay there." Mai acknowledged thoughtfully, earning a slow nod from Anzu.
"Yugi, on his own doesn't have the money to restore the shop. There was paying for the funerals, and having the shop torn down and cleaned up. The shop is still in the family name, and between both insurance there's enough to build 'something' in its place." Anzu began with her gaze going down.
Maliks' own playful thoughts grew quiet and somber as he listened, he could follow most of what she was talking about. But what was 'insurance'? A term he would have to ask Bakura more than likely.
"Him graduating high school and going to run the shop... I could imagine it would be acceptable if it hadn't been blown up or his family killed," Valon theorized out loud. He looked towards where the hotel was, and it was strange to do so. Being aware of what Yugi was, and that they were discussing things that really didn't concern him anymore. Hell couldn't he just put a brand new shop in its place out of pure will? Stock it, hire people the whole thing on principle because he was the Almighty?
"Yeah, when you put it that way. We did kind of skip over that realization," Anzu confessed as she pulled the strap of her purse higher onto her shoulder. "If not for those sick people who caused the explosion to start with, Yugi probably would have an idea. But right now our focus has been on the group so the shop just... sits there..."
"I've seen the news talking about swaths of people disappearing, and its not like I'm in the same part of the world each time the news comes up." Mai confessed before shaking her head. "You think its this 'group'?"
Definitive was the nod from the group, though they were beginning to eye their surroundings with a wariness. "You don't think they're 'here' of all places?" Mai asked in surprise for which Mokuba was the one to answer.
"No, but there are all manners of guests and well regardless of what language you choose, someone might understand..." The boy answered with calm earnestness.
"And given that the noodle stand I was 'hoping' for..." Anzus' head tilted a bit to the side in amusement as she studied Mahaado. "Apparently has been returned to China..."
"We can help you find the next zone and discuss business after the duel and we're back at the hotel," Ryou acknowledged. His stomach began to rumble, as though the whole idea of 'hey noodles' had inspired hunger. Then his brain brought back the image of what Mahaado had been doing to those 'men' and his stomach twisted. "It would be for the best if you were with us anyway. Yugi and Kaiba found out that there were several men who took offense to you being a skilled duelist."
"Oh?" Mai's eyebrow went up, but Valon stiffened as he studied Bakura more intensely.
The way men did when they scented danger to their property... Something that Bakura recognized readily, in that 'welp now I feel hunger, not hunger AND OLD' sort of way.
"Yeah, Mahaado's been playing with them to keep them from accosting you," Anzu answered quickly, maybe a bit too quickly. But the idea of what Mahaados' 'games' took the form of, there was this prickle of anxiety. Malik wouldn't think twice about talking about the stunts Mahaado had carried out, and Mokuba didn't need to hear about that. Hell! They hadn't talked much about what Mahaado had done in the school while Kaiba had been recovering.
"Oh! Well you're a sweet heart aren't you?" Mai noted approving and amused as she rested her gaze on Mahaado. As she studied him she found herself taken by how he looked like a tanned skinned version of Yugi's Dark Magician. "You know, now that I'm paying more attention, you look a lot like the Dark Magician."
"I am the Dark Magician," Mahaado answered and suddenly several heads whipped around so fast that there was probably whiplash.
While a group of Japanese tourists stopped and stared at the 'teenager'.
Mai couldn't stop the grin forming on her face as she watched all these kids suddenly take a growing interest. There were multiple staff dressed as the Dark Magician, but one only had to take a look to realize that they were just teenagers wearing a costume. Despite how his skin color was off though, Mahaado was the exact image of the Magician.
Language was no barrier for children, who began to swarm around them wanting a glimpse of the teen. Some where polite enough not to touch, but there were others who had no problem grabbing his long coat and tugging for attention. Mahaado merely turned in obedience of the crowd but as to 'understanding' the growing sea of various languages?
'Oh here we go,' Valon noted in amusement and a pang of sympathy for the not teen.
"This was going to happen," Ryou noted unable to subdue the amusement in his own voice.
"So why are there adults staring? Is he 'that' special?" Malik asked curious even as he smirked in his own amusement.
"Well some might be duelists, but that guy has the look of a modeling scout. Pegasus was notorious for not talking about who inspired the monsters he created for the game." Mai pointed out pragmatically while Anzu looked up at the woman in surprise.
"You think he's a scout? But why stalk Mahaado then?" She asked in genuine curiosity.
"Well given the current game and his association to Yugi... and then there's Wong, he might be trying to think of an angle to play for sales." Mai explained her thoughts scrolling through the possible reasons...