Yu-Gi-Oh: A Past and Future Pharaoh

Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix

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In science one of the things taught is how much matter occupies a space decides if its a solid, a liquid or gas. Yet space was more than that, certainly the spirits that followed Bakura occupied a space, as did the Ka spirits when they didn't want to be visible yet were active. Say when they were wishing to not be disruptive or be disrupted while doing very delicate important magic work.

Mahaado was confused with a dash of mild concerned.

Not in the 'this new world is such an odd place' sort of way. He had long since accepted that change was a part of life and his unlife left him rather stuck.

It was baffling to him how clothes were worn now, gender roles, when someone was considered a 'child' versus an 'adult'.

Especially 'child' at the moment as Kuriboh seemed overly invested in a particular spell that they finally found. They had gone through each page of Mahaado's spell book and finally after a great deal of flipping they seemed rather content. Too content by Mahaado's standards as he had to save the copier from the small spirit. Yet still Kuriboh was not being deterred from their chosen course and were currently trying to spell craft.

The witches' hat wasn't helping, but it seemed to cheer the child up in believing they could pull this off. So Mahaado had created it and placed it on the small spirits' head. Though now the table the spirit was working at was littered with so many stones. All failed Sages Stones, the most recent one held the spark of magic but... Sages Stone?

The stone was a means for Dark Magician Girl to call upon Dark Magician, but why use the stone when Mahaado was already there? Kuriboh didn't have the spell in front of them any longer, so they were working off of memory. Which made talking to the spirit risky, he didn't want to make the small child spirit forget what they were clearly struggling to accomplish.

'Perhaps they want to gift the stone to Mokuba? The child can not summon me directly, but Kuriboh must surely understand that the stone is meant to be used by Mana or her Ka. Merely making this stone will not empower whoever into summoning me in their presence. They should understand this, the cards serve as summons well enough for a version of me. Yet I doubt the little one wants just any copy of me to go to Mokuba, but still gifting the card to Mokuba is not enough to compel me.'

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While Mahaado was left pondering the antics of a small spirit, Ryou and the others were finally able to leave the metaphysical shop.

"So how was your reading?" Malik asked with the box holding his sisters' gift tucked in the pocket of his pants leg.

Valon, for his part, was staring at the sky before observing the world around him, the dusty buildings all around him. The way the light reflected off of glass and metal while under an open sky...

"So I'm an orphan, raised by Catholic nuns back in me home country. And I was doing fine until I walked into that suite with your friend Yugi. I mean like, I walked into a suite and was told 'yeah God is Japanese currently but used to be Egyptian. Or African if you want to be 'really' specific on your map location..."

Malik exchanged sympathetic glances Ryou who was quietly nodding, yet the white haired teen made no effort to interrupt the man.

"So apparently my first card was a tower to reflect the recent past... And that was having my whole world rocked to the ground."

"Off to a good start for anyone, I mean its the worst card to get... But that its your recent past," Ryou offered slowly in some pale compensation. "I mean Yugi is a shock at this point."

"There's a guy who could fix the world..." Valon began but shook his head, "no, lets leave that be. Ok, so then my current card was Lovers and the future was the High Priestess, but I don't do tarot I don't get them well..."

"That's understandable, my sister could probably help. She doesn't work with cards but she 'does' have the Sight so I'll ask her if you want," he offered. Ryou took lead and began walking letting the other two follow suit as they turned their steps back to the park.

"How do you deal with this..." Valon grumbled, he didn't even realize he said it out loud but it made no God, Hi Yugi, Hi Valon, damn 'sense'! Some part of him wondered if gravity was going to just randomly shut off and they would start floating or maybe just the cars.

"The question isn't 'how do we' because we never got a choice," Ryou answered. "The question is 'how does Mai and now you?' Yugi and his group didn't try to bring Mai in, they wanted her friendship they didn't want her subjected to this life." Ryou began, regret mingling in his voice, "but we used anyone, Malik and I. You've seen the fall out, you've become infected by that fall out in your dreams and space around you."

"I..." Valon began to argue only his shoulders slumped as he turned to look at the pair, "ok than fix it. Whatever you did to her, you can fix it right?"

Malik's gaze dipped to the ground then followed the road along the side of their path as though it was more interesting. The uniformed grays and pale, tired whites...

"Can't you?"

"He can't, because he wasn't the one who did it directly, he was losing himself to his own mental decline and 'that' is what used the magics to hurt Mai. She's a good woman but she's been hurt by life and the magics we wielded feed off the wounds life inflicts. We could ask Yugi of course, but how does that get you forgiven for a sin or a crime? You aren't making restitution for an injury if you ask a higher power to step in and wipe the slate clean. All we can do is try to help you mitigate the damage done to her."

"So I'm not going crazy cuz I'm hanging out with her..." Valon asked, his voice a little weak, a little uncertain with a twig of sadness.

"No, you're perfectly normal being thrust into the perfectly abnormal, but you're not alone now. We'll do what we can to help fix the situation for the both of you, we... just need time. Its not like we've had a whole lot since Yugi fully went back into power." Ryou confessed, "I admit its going to be weird, you're an adult and you're being asked to rely on a bunch of teenagers. But we 'can' be of help, and we'll stay in contact so you're not being abandoned."

"So what exactly are you dealing with?" Valon asked, when it occurred to him how odd the streets were. When they had arrived there were tourists ever on the move now, the sidewalks, while not 'empty' everyone was this convenient distance.

"A demon, one strong enough to destroy the world," Malik answered, 'finally something I can answer and not feel ashamed about.'

"Are there any other types of demons?" Valon asked sarcasm dripping into his voice.

"Well most 'demons' the general populace know are just your average angry spirits, they're not evil but because they're either not 'Christian' or not alive they get labeled a demon. You know, for being able to interact with the living. No this one is an actual demon. Think of it a natural answer to any positive force of good in the world. Like when Yugi was originally born here the demon could have manifested as an opposing answer."

"Like God and Satan, that whole opposite thing..." Valon asked and he didn't even think of Yugi just those climatic scenes of old white men with thick white hair and beards facing some red skin horned man... "Well I mean ok I guess I can see where the church got the idea from but like how..."

"I said we'd 'help' I didn't say we had the knowledge of the creation and laws of the universe," Ryou pointed out with a slight tired smile on his face.

"Well I think me and Mai are going to need to be able to talk this out but I get the feeling you haven't brought her into this at all." Valon pointed out, the guys had admitted they had hurt her, in their own way intentionally before...

"Yugi likes making friends, not putting them in harms way. Also Mai wasn't someone we could use 'against' Yugi so I never focused on her," Ryou pointed out while Malik pulled up his hoodie. "Yet Yugi is supportive of us bringing you in now. He's not giving orders, he's allowing us to make the choice to invite you in. Which makes me think he sees how the two of you would fit into this dynamic."

"How. You're teenagers. We're adults." Valon countered with a growing frown.

"Yes, but Malik's brother and sister are adults too, and while Kaiba is a teenager physically, like myself. We're older than the others if you include how old we were in our old lives," Ryou pointed out. "Kaiba outright out lived all of us in fact, so there is an 'adult' agency among two of us 'teens' as well as two other full on adults."

Valon didn't continue with further comments, his mind was muddled with thoughts. Mai was such a drifter with her traveling duelist life style, she had no plans for settling down or really anything for the future. But it felt so aimless to Valon, she couldn't duel until she died, as popular as the game was, it wasn't the 'only' game in town. Some 70 year old woman, hell ANYONE, still dueling just to support themselves?

Most marketing deals were based on the monsters in the game, it wasn't like other sports where you played the game for a number of years then retire with fat checks rolling in. Or endorsement deals slapping your face on video games and such. Valon could work in a garage, eventually get a retirement check and if he wanted live modestly from that. But Mai...

"I don't get this life style, its nice, its fast and real elegant compared to what I'm used to. But love, you can't do this forever... what happens in your 50s or 60s? Does all your matches count for retirement and if so in which country?" Valon asked as he looked at the local listing for sports on the tv, foot ball, boxing, golf, rugby, so many sports but nothing for elaborate card games.

"I can make it, I don't need anyone's help either." Mai griped, her dreams had been foul and she had been in a mood all day.

"No one can live on their own, its against our very nature. How are you going to retire? Where are you going to retire. I'm sure this is fun and you enjoy it, but you need to think about what you want in the future as well. You're getting this chance to see the world, so why not make notes, figure out what place makes you the happiest and look to make that place your long term home?" he offered when he saw that glare in her eyes. 'Oh boy'.

"I don't need anyone!"

"You have friends yeah? Those kids in Japan? Well ok then, say something happens, an earthquake hits this building right now. How do you think they would feel if they never heard from you? Or they saw your name or picture on some 6 oclock news? You saying they got the funds to fly from Japan, to Spain at the drop of a hat? You saying they wouldn't care or that it wouldn't affect them?" he retorted folding his arms as he leaned against the table in their hotel room.

She didn't flinch, not outwardly but he saw the reaction in the reflection of her eyes. It was often there when she woke up in the morning, mired in sleep. This resigned sadness. Valon spent time trying to figure out that feeling until he realized, after studying Mai a great deal. That this wasn't what she wanted either, this was a job to her, not a career.

"They'd... no they'd care. They're good kids like that, wish the grown up world had more caring people than it does." She confessed as she regressed into silence.

'It does love, but how can you find those people when you're moving from place to place? God I'd like to punch the asses in your family who drove you out like this.' Valon thought as he sat there, it wasn't easy to get angry at her. He'd seen it, been it, in the orphanage, fighting the frustration when he was constantly passed over for adoption. Sure the Sisters were there and they cared about him, but...

"You know they have game shops, if you like card games you could always opt for that?" he suggested.

"Yugi's grandpa had one... Then some bastard blew it up..."

Valon winced, the grandpa would have been a good source of information on such a life style, but well... BOOM.

"But Yugi would know, and you got that invite so when you get a chance, maybe... I dunno, talk to the kid, see if there's some type of life you might enjoy outside of eternally traveling?" He suggested, and she didn't object or resist rather she just sat and mused over the idea for a time.

"Its weird how no one is around us," Malik's voice was low as he moved closer to the other two. "Like before we went inside there were regular groups of families milling about, now..."

"I noticed," Ryou agreed.

The roads weren't empty, cars still drove by after all and there were people walking about. But the groups were smaller, fragmented and spaced so much further apart.

"Valon, can you tell us exactly what you've been experiencing? Yugi freed Mai, and Malik put a particular type of curse on her, but without being able to ask Yugi for details. I'm curious about how it might have been distorted when it reasserted itself over her." Ryou asked as he eyed the road, no demons that he could see.

"I..." Valon grew quiet, the list that he knew wasn't all that much really. Mai wasn't forthcoming a lot of the times and he couldn't help reason she feared he would think she was mad. But after everything now... Oh boy... "She doesn't talk about it, but she hates quiet, hates being alone, and its like she sees something in the distance if it gets too quiet for too long. Cuz she starts to stare at it, beyond that all I know is she has some really horrible dreams. Mostly being abandoned like people just up and disappear around her."

"And have you been experiencing any of these things?" Ryou asked, it sounded like what Malik had pulled on Mai... but did it, and how badly if it did, leech onto Valon?

"I..." Valon tried and stopped a few times.

It didn't bother Ryou, given the man grew up without magic or curses being part of his life, it would be easy to brush off a curse's attempt to lock onto them as just his imagination.

"You won't sound crazy if you say something to us, we deal in curses, magic, spirits and Gods. So if you're worried about being judged crazy, just trust me, we have your back." Malik offered in a pragmatic tone.

"Well I uh... it gets quiet real easy now to me. Like the tv be running then it feels like its off, I glance up and its on, so I turn up the volume only its at a reasonable sound... I was thinking maybe its cuz I work with bikes for so long its me ears getting shot. But Mai does it to..."

'And he's an orphan so he has abandonment issues as well though not triggered by one of Malik's curses,' Ryou mused. "Do your dreams feel normal? Or are you one of the types who never remembers them?"

"Never remembered them, but Mai wakes up sometimes crying because of them..." Valon replied with a frown. "Always muttering about not wanting to be alone."

'Yugi was able to weaken the curse, but I suppose it was only weakened not broken because he was still mortal. Now he could break it with ease, but either he wants or needs it to be asked of him, or...'

And Ryou's brain went back to the DM board, as he tried to figure out what Yugis' plan 'was'. He could fix it, so why didn't he? Prayers and supplications were nice and all, perhaps he was just establishing that pre God awakening didn't entitle someone to easy fixes? Or was there something deeper? After all as a God, Yugi had his Circle almost fully restructured.

'But Kaiba doesn't...'

A stray thought to be sure, but Bakura was taken aback by that, he didn't know Kaiba's own Circle and he was a God as well, albeit a minor one. It would make sense though to build himself a Circle yet with who? Everyone served Yugi, be it friend or priest, even Kaiba served the Circle...

Yet here was Mai and Valon, friends sure, but just friends and they could go either way...