Yu-Gi-Oh: A Past and Future Pharaoh

Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix

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The suite was quiet.

Peaceful.

Even the tombs made more noise when the torches hissed their flames as they consumed the oil soaked fabric. Bubbling in the basins, even the shifting sands hissed as he walked, his feet crushing them and rolling them aside.

Not here though.

Here there was the hissing rumble of an air conditioner unit but nothing else.

Haqikah, hovered conflicted behind a dueling po-di-um that a child was using. A duel was going on, the holo-grams were nothing big or bombastic, the children in question were barely around the age of ten. Both with their families cheering from the stands, while other random people were scattered about. With nothing really invested in the duel than the ability to see quality technology working.

Only she wasn't here to watch the duel, it was Maibe that she was watching. Quiet, thoughtful and a little detached, Maibe's expression didn't help the anxiety that had moved into Haqikah's heart. Having braved their God, prostrated herself before His Grace, and begged for word of Maibe's lost son. It had been an elation to hear that he had lived, that he served the very God before her back when he was a mere prince.

The anxiety probably would have eaten its way through her core by now.

As the Tomb Robbers clan had been made into Sennen Items and been part of the actions that resulted in a massive number of the Pharaoh's loyal followers dying. 'How do I approach her about this? 'Oh Maibe! I found out your son lived! But we probably killed him as part of the Sennen Items back when the Demon entered the world...' All this time and I finally get the chance to give her closure and its 'that'?'

Running off and asking her son felt so cowardly, while he was of the modern world now and there were all those books. Books on grief and loss, he could read them, tell her what she should say, but... 'no no no, it is shameful. She is my friend...' But prayers to any of the gods had earned her no mercy.

'Of course the one god who would show mercy and answer my questions is the one God who birthed them all. I can't go back to Him. No amount of groveling could ever make up for lacking the wisdom or courage to face Maibe myself. I need to think of something, she shouldn't spend eternity not knowing...'

Yet balanced against that, as sure as Ma'ats' feather, was the reality that they probably killed her son. Now that they were spirits, what if she lost her mind to her grief? Went to God and demanded vengeance?!

"Are you going to keep watching me..." Maibe began when her sudden presence startled Haqikah so badly it sent the woman into the most shrill scream. The Village Elderess actually floated back a step and nervously checked around her to make sure nothing exploded. "Gods above! Haqikah be thankful we're dead or you'd have scared everyone from here to the Mother Land! I think..." For some the image may have been a bit childish but she had this rather raw picture held in her mind of their homeland and this 'Flo-ri-da'... And the really big ocean between them.

"I... I'm sorry Maibe... I was just thinking about something and you were in my line of sight." Haqikah panicked as she looked about for something, anything, to focus on. The duel was still going and she gestured helplessly towards it, "I'm sorry I distracted you..."

"Its fine, the boys' looks reminded me of my husband distantly," Maibe replied with a twinge of longing her in voice.

Which was a sucker punch to Haqikah as the smile she held on her face felt as though the mud of their home land dried to brittle and crumbling as she stood there. "Oh Maibe..."

"The young one has his chin," Maibe pointed out before asking. "What were you so lost in thought on?"

Haqikah froze as her mind whirled desperately to find something trivial, worthless that she could throw away. They had no jobs or lives, they were merely ghosts studying the world as they drifted after Bakura. She wasn't exactly racing to find out what God planned to do with her and her fellow villagers. "Oh just watching young men trying to buy gifts for their sisters..."

'I am such a...'

Her friends' smile was tired and stilted but she nodded, "I would suspect it was Malik? I recall he saying as much during one of their conversations upon his arrival here."

"Yes..."

"But that's not what's on your mind," Maibe turned to look at her with this calm expression on her face. "I know you Haqikah, you've been staring at me for most of our time here in this room. What is troubling you so?"

"I... uh..."

"Is it all the young boys here?"

All Haqikah saw was the boiling pool of melting gold, framed by the fire before she was hurled in, she couldn't think. Couldn't figure out what to say.

"It's fine, I've had thousands of years to accept my fate," Maibe began when Haqikah's guilt and desperation churned out of her as a volcano spewed lava.

"I SPOKE TO GOD!" She blurted out in a rush of desperation, with a force that Bakura recognized when his Spirit mother was a 'bit' too invested. "I begged to know of your son! Pleaded for a hint of his fate after that horrible night! And God answered! In His Divine benevolence He revealed some of your son's fate!" Maibe blinked, her eyes growing only slightly larger in surprise. "But I don't know how to tell you, I don't know how to explain this!"

Maibe stood there floored by the admission as her mind went back to that terrible evening.

Their pride and joy was swaddled in as soft a wrap of wool that they could afford. She had laid him down in bed and curled herself by his side while the pillows were stacked on the other side, a cradle of human and pillow...

She slept well that night, waking better rested than she ever had before. Ra was already passing over their widow when she opened her eyes. His brightness piercing her eyelids and waking her, perhaps later, than she would normally have... So she shaded her eyes with one hand as she turned her gaze down look upon her precious... he was gone...

"Maibe... Oh Oh Please..." Haqikah knew that look as the tears began to pool again in Maibe's eyes. She wrapped her arms around the woman as her grief and guilt burned hotter than the flames of Ra. They may have killed her son, 17 years of life and in the service of the Pharaoh, now God.

"If you know then tell me... TELL ME!" Maibe demanded as a wail erupted from her, red hot and with so much emotion multiple spirits rushed to the area. Alarmed and calling out in worry that something may have happened.

"What is going on..." was the hushed whispers that were shushed with vehemency.

"He lived 17 summers in the direct service of the Pharaoh, the one who now sits as the God Most High." Haqikah answered meeker than a mouse as the core of her soul shivered.

Maibe was silent for minutes that stretched into centuries, snapping back into the moment as her mind processed that statement. "17 years... We served the demon who killed all who served the Pharaoh... If not the General or the little girl magician all were slain..."

Men and women, spirits one and all frantically looked among each other, seeing the path this line of thought was taking. When the Elder began wailing 'no' they flocked to her side, voices cooing and soothing begging her to calm down.

"Don't you tell me to 'calm down'!" She shrieked turning on them, Haqikah struggled to keep her from physically lashing out. "We killed my son! He was with the Pharaoh and we slaughtered them all! WE MURDERED MY BABY!" She reeled between fury to do Might Sekhmet proud and falling as limp as the dead. "I murdered my baby..."

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"mmmmmmmmm..." Anzu wasn't saying much. Deep tissue before the softer Swedish styles was a must, even if deep tissue initially hurt. It was worked out though easily enough, the warmed oils slipped against her skin, as the woman worked her lower back. "This is amazing..."

"I know, spas are great for relief," Mai murmured. "I try and sometimes I can get Valon to try these."

Anzu's brain decided to remind her how she arrived in the hotel. In Mai's hotel suite with Mai and Valon in bed, a thought that made her shove her face right back into the hole in the head pillow resting before her. They had been so snuggled up to one another... 'ANZU STOP!'

"Is something the matter? You've suddenly become rather tense," the masseuse asked, her voice quiet and polite.

"No... no everything is fine, I was just thinking about something." Anzu began when Mai gave a cheeky.

"Wishing Yugi was here?"

And suddenly, out of completely NOWHERE Anzu was a concrete slab on the table. There were two masseuse in the room, both were brunettes, and when the expression of complete and total 'guys come on' appeared the one working on a particularly stubborn knot on Mai's back raised an eyebrow.

"The World Champion? I haven't even gotten to see him when he arrived, he looks adorable in those pictures though," the brunette working on Mai noted. "He looks so young but he's graduating right?"

Mai had a massive grin on her face as the women talked before giving a small nod, "yeah, oh that's the spot... Yeah he's a regular 'Chibi-chan' completely adorable and earnest when he wants to be."

'You have no idea. You have no idea. You have positively no idea. Mai please stop!' Anzu thought in complete distress as her mind betrayed her. After all Yugi was still wearing that collar and the idea of him being collared to the bed came to mind. Brain shut up. The women had been offered to undress to their level of comfort and Anzu had been reminded that, Ancient Egyptians had no problem with nudity. Brain! Please!

Throw in a reminder that Yugi aware of all thoughts and might be focused on them to avoid the darker aspects of the world. Just had her finally melt into the table. Not in the 'wow this is an incredibly relaxing experience, boy do I sure enjoy it' way. Rather the 'I have died of embarrassment and merely wait for the earth to open up and swallow me whole.'

"Well, its been a while what with what happened to the game shop," Anzu grasped at the first thought that came to mind in an effort to get her own instincts under control. "And with grandpa and his mother gone.. Its not really a thing we can discuss you know? Being that its a family thing, he's been private about it..."

"Oh yeah, we've never finished discussing that," Mai agreed. "And they still haven't found the monster that did it?"

"No," Anzu confessed while the two other women blinked.

"Wait what happened? I mean we work here but... Did something happen to Yugi's family?" the Brunette working on Anzu asked, her expression reflecting an incredibly amount of curiosity that was being restrained more by the professional expression on her superiors' face.

"Someone bombed his family's shop," Anzu confessed, "Yugi wasn't home at the time."

"Oh that's horrible, I hope they find the bastard, given the recent slew of kidnappings going on around the world..." It was impossible to miss that sudden pause in what had been an smooth rhythmic pace.

Soon the room was filled with the soft sounds of gossip. Centered around the kidnappings and disappearances of numerous people. Anzu was growing mortified as she heard from the older women about what had been happening. Sure the news reported some things in Japan, but the gossip from around the world was much more telling.

'Wait... I know my English isn't perfect but...', Anzu lifted her head and looked to the side, where Mai was resting seemingly blissful at the chatter. "More people were kidnapped recently?"

"Oh no one talks about it here," one of the women noted, "people think we're a rich area with Disney World and now KaibaLand. But there are a 'lot' of poor districts, motels that house families instead of vacation travelers and such. Several of them got raided last week and emptied out, no one knows who or why just gone."

'Last week... that's too soon after the hospital battle with...' Anzu thought in alarm.

"Miss? Is something wrong?" the masseuse working on Anzu froze in concern as she felt the muscles under her finger tips, soft and pliable, suddenly were steel.

"Oh forgive me!" Anzu begged for forgiveness as she tried to relax. 'Yugi? Yugi I know you can hear me... Is... was it them? Did they take those people from the motel?'

Amid the sweet and gentle scents of lavender and rose Anzu began to smell the raw hard scent of leather. Bringing Yugi's clothes choices to mind as though he had leaned against the table she was on. 'Yugi please, I don't need details just...'

'Yes.' Yugi's answer was quiet, tired and there was this forlorn tone that made Anzu regret that humanity as a whole couldn't be better than this.

'If the group used human sacrifices they probably had to re... Oh Gods, saying it feels dirty...' She thought how people just could casually 'restock' living people for human sacrifice purposes. She didn't even need Yugis' help, she could just imagine some police lockdown. Wave some important looking papers and force everyone into the back of vans. The neighbors and businesses would just think more trash was removed. Not realizing the 'trash' was going to be killed to summon a demon!

"Ahem maybe we should talk about something else, missing people isn't ideal in a setting meant for relaxation..."

"You got that right, but its interesting how each country handles it," Mai agreed easily. "So did Kaiba really make this exclusive for kids? Or is there more adult stuff for people on the grounds?"

"Oh there's a casino on site as well," the woman working with Mai pointed out.

"Hmm I used to work on a luxury liner, Blackjack," Mai recalled.

"Oooh I want to do that, what's it like?"

"Not fun if you like having a personality. Though to be fair, I got that job because my breasts are big and I'm hot enough to distract the guests. When my parents died the rest of the family kicked me out and it was the first job that would hire me." Mai explained unable to hide the bitterness or disappointment in her voice.

"What? The hell did they kick you out for?" the women blurted out before biting their lips and eyeing the door.

"Well my name is Japanese and I'm a natural blue eyed blond," Mai answered before shrugging. "America and Germany don't have the monopoly on racism girls. But because of my desperation I'm not entirely the best person to talk to about cruise gigs. I can tell you that it gets super repetitive, because its the same music every night, the same food every day. Also if something bad happens to the boat you're just straight up trapped. Now if you don't mind that, it can be a nice gig, turn off your mind and go." Mai explained, and soon the other three were discussing life on cruise ships.

A twisted type of blessing as it let Anzu have time to herself to think about what she had learned. 'I suppose the more they sacrifice the stronger the demon could become? If that's the case then they can't really splurge. But I can't ask Yugi about that because Gods help us if he makes that a reality when it wasn't originally...'