A Past and Future Pharaoh

Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix

Original Beta: White Swan

Current Beta: Just me.

A/N: More corrections resulted in me pushing the last page of this chapter being pushed to the next chapter in an effort to get all the chapters to be about 4 pages. Hopefully in the next three or four chapters it should balance out properly. Sorry about the mess in the meantime.

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"Forgive me, my only ability to heal you is rather time consuming."

Kaiba turned his head to look at the speaker, an eight year old Maha... Mahaado sat beside him. In the childs' hands was a large tome that Mahaado snapped shut with some difficulty due to the size. From the snap of the pages swirl of light burst forth like ancient dust sent dancing into the air propelled over Kaiba. The CEO felt the rush of warmth and comfort, something that he knew meant he had been healed by Mahaado's feeble healing arts.

"Why do you look like a child?" Kaiba inquired as he tiredly pushed the blanket back before he could even try to drag his legs out from under the bed sheets.

"You 'did' summon me, but once you were no longer in danger this was the form you preferred so..."

It was like Mahaado had walked out from his dreams into the waking world, the eight year old in his crisp clean robes, his gold jewelry. The boy wore his hair in what the modern world would consider a feminine style, long and with bangs. While his form as the Dark Magician always mussed up his hair, giving him a more wilder appearing cut. The boy looked form of Mahaado eternally looked the very picture of obedience and subservience, regardless of the modern American décor compared to his ancient attire.

Just seeing Mahaado in this appearance brought back memories of Kaibas' childhood. What it had been like to run free under the light of the sun, without the corporate responsibilities. Only protecting the Prince and enjoying back home. Just these little reminders brought back how Kaiba yearned for Ancient Egypt. The royal palace more real than Kaiba mansion, more solid than this world of paper and computers.

The longer he sat there looking at Mahaado the more the emotions bubbled up in his chest. When they had become High Priests it had been easy to avoid the magician, Mahaado's duties kept him close to the Pharaoh or away at the Valley of the Kings. Kaiba's duties kept him close to the soldiers barracks or the war rooms of the Palace. All in all it was the best use of the Rod, it severed his emotional attachments to people, leaving only his loyalty to the Pharaoh untouched. But now seeing Mahaado at the age before Priesthood... There was a tightness in his chest as his memories played back, a strain in his face as he fought down feelings that were given more freedom with the dreams.

Mahaado gave a small hop down from the adult seat and stepped towards Kaiba, only to drop to his knees in prostration before Kaiba with both his hands flat on the ground, his posture the one of who bowed to a Pharaoh... a crown Kaiba never wanted, a position he never asked for. In a sudden fury he aimed a useless kick at the ghost at his feet. The sudden crack, the feeling of a physical mass being kicked away shocked it's way into his lightheaded awareness.

Horrified, he sat there and watched as Mahaado was throne back his head hitting the chair he left before he even hit the ground. Reacting like a living person as he quickly curled up from the blow something that had yet to happen the whole time that Mahaado had been in the modern world. Leaving Kaiba so frozen in shock, that Mahaado had time to roll himself back to his knees and crawl back to him like a submissive slave. Flat on the ground without a sign that he was going to even try to get up.

"Mahaado."

The boy had always been beaten. Mahaado having come from a lower ranked position never saw a kind side from his instructor. While beating the Dark Magician in his attempts to defeat Yugi was one thing, kicking an eight year old boy Kaiba used to run with...

"Maha?" he couldn't elevate his voice above a whisper as he brought his hands down to try and bring the boy to his feet. People could say what they liked about his cold, emotionally detached way of interacting with them. But Kaiba was not a man who would wantonly kick a child anywhere! He gently brushed back the mage's bangs seeking out where he had struck the boy. Mahaado never spoke or responded to the physical touch. Allowing Kaiba's fingers to go into the boy's hair line, where the bruise stretched from his temple to inside his hairline.

He noticed how despite the bruise, Mahaado didn't bleed, though he did manifest the proper bruise. Little things like that to remind Kaiba that Mahaado was no longer among the living, and only as close to it as Kaiba himself allowed. That Mahaado wasn't like a soldier in the army who signed up to willingly offer his life one time for Egypt. Instead Mahaado opted for eternal servitude, while reincarnation was an option for any soldier, it was denied Mahaado and Kisara so long as they remained tethered to their Tablets.

And here was Mahaado, bowed like one who expected only a beating. One that was used whenever the High Magician stalked down onto Mahaado's smaller, more helpless form. The secretive smirk, the finger wagging mocking gesture that Mahaado took to when they were playing. The soft serene smile that was as close to a laugh as Mahaado could get to since his abusive past. It angered Kaiba to be denied that soft gentle smile that he knew Mahaado could give.

It was a sign that even though Mahaado was 'here' Kaiba was on his own. Mahaado wouldn't help Kaiba at all unless ordered like a common slave. Until he realized how he was acting and grew more angry. "What are you up to?" He demanded as he sat there glaring daggers at Mahaado before shoving the boy away. "You're the one who attacked me in the kitchen!"

Mahaado sprawled along the ground looking down, they both knew he was forbidden from correcting either Pharaoh or Master who summoned him. The pair sat in silence for a while, Kaiba glaring down at the child before him, at the emotions Mahaado had unsealed. "What sort of game are you and the others playing at?!" With growing anger he stood up bending down to start fisting the boy's robes in one hand.

The blood loss that Kaiba had experienced, the memories that played back in his mind, had worn their way through one of his levels of emotional self control. But as he stood there looking at the top of Mahaado's head he remembered his old training, in that a Pharaoh was 'never' wrong, his word was law. "Isn't Yugi your Pharaoh, why bow to me?" He asked his voice dropping into a more calm tone.

"The one who summons me is my Pharaoh as well."

Kaiba frowned at the answer, "then why have you attacked me if I have summoned you?"

He refused to believe that he summoned Mahaado to his side like a monster. A part of him was stilling warring against 'that' horrible mental image. An image so horrifying to him that his soul shrank away from the memory. It was a memory of something he knew happened, but the event unto itself was more than he wanted to recall.

"I did as Pharaoh ordered, the one who casted that spell was the Pharaoh himself. This place... is under Pharaoh's command." Mahaado sounded, 'wrong' for lack of better words. As though he was fighting to speak, something he never had difficulty doing for Yugi.

He stared down at Mahaado before pushing the boy away like the Duel Spirit he was, watching as the boy dissolved into nothingness. Kaiba needed a shower. He still recalled the part of that day where he had seen Mahaado again. The boy having been whipped from his shoulders down his back to his ankles by his irate master. The thought of Mahaado acting around him in the same way that the mage acted around his master made him feel so dirty. It was the scent of blood and heat, tears and blood tainted linens, that his mind conjured up making Kaiba's skin crawl.

Of course that could have been from the fact that the window was closed and he 'had been' lying in a bed soaked in blood. He grabbed his towel and strode into the bathroom while his mind tried to refocus on the tournament at hand. The rags that 'had' been his night clothes fell off with little effort before he turned on the water. He let his hair and body soak in the heated water letting the warmth caress him like a lover. It chased the memories away, relaxing him in a way he didn't realize he needed until he felt it.

He took a deep breath letting the heat soften tensed flesh with a pounding beat. Once he was relaxed enough to focus, he turned his attention to washing the blood out of his hair and cleaning himself off fully. Watching as the water turned a sickening red from the flecks of blood that peeled away from his body under the heat. He rolled his head back looking up at the ceiling as he avoided the blood on his body. As he stood there he began to get light headed finally opting to shut the water off.

He stepped out of the shower dripping wet before grabbing his towel to dry off. He recalled how Isis called him a sorcerer when she first came to Domino, but he had never held the title of Sorcerer. So the suggestion that he was capable of calling forth the Thousand Knives spell on his own was ridiculous. How could he possibly be controlling the hotel? While it was true that Mokuba and Yugi both implied in the letter, ok they said out right, that the hotel itself was haunted. There was no way that Kaiba could have possibly caused Mahaado to appear.

He opened the door only to watch as the door to the main hall opened on it's own with a small old toy ball rolling into view. It stopped just inside his room when tiny tanned hands grabbed it before pulling back out of the room again. Kaiba stalked over to the drawers, flinging the door shut as he passed before yanking out some underwear and a pair of pants. Not that he was going to hurt the boy himself, but once he found out who let the kid in the hotel...

But each physical task, from the underwear to the pants and next shirt served as stern reminders. He never let Mahaado finish healing him, physically his skin may have become flawless, but he was still drained from the loss of blood. So he sat there in his own leather pants, if he was going to deal with spells being flung at him he needed a 'little' protection. His button on shirt was halfway buttoned before he lost control of his fingers and would not tolerate them shaking like a leaf. So he sat and worked on resting and getting his head back under control. Taking steady breaths and letting his pulse and body temperature settle back down.

Sitting on the edge of the bed with his face in his hands and allowing a few stray tears to slip down past his eyes. Privately sacrificing emotional self control for physical self control until he could get up again and move about.

By the time he had the strength to go back outside the hotel room he knew looking for the kid would be difficult. His eyes swiftly scanning the hallway, his mind trying to calculate where the child would have gone off into the hotel. The walls were too thick to let him hear properly where the child had gone so... There! The softest sound of a child's laughter floating over the silence of the hotel.

A trio of children, something that normally wouldn't surprise Kaiba save who these children were. Mahaado was there encouraging an agonizingly familiar small tricolored spiky haired boy into rolling a ball along, while a younger Egyptian version of Kaiba himself helped. He felt he should get angry, that once again the mage was pulling another stunt with his spells to get something accomplished. He watched as they ignored him, the Prince pushing the ball away while Set walked quickly after it.

"Mahaado what are you doing?"

Kaiba asked point blank not bothering to even try and rouse anger into his voice and was rewarded by watching as Mahaado looked up at him. There was no real surprise in Mahaado's look, almost expectancy, yet he looked harried all the same. Mahaado pulled away from the pair of illusionary children and came before the older teen his expression honest.

"When Pharaoh sends me away, I..."

"Hey! Maha! Where are you going?" Set jogged over causing Mahaado to turn his attention back to him.

"My name is 'Mahaado'," he corrected quietly as the prince toddled up behind Set.

"The Prince calls you 'Maha'," Set pointed out casually as he crossed his arms and gave Mahaado a long look.

"The Prince can not say my whole name," Mahaado explained in a tone as though he was reading from a well remembered script and was now tired of it.

"So? What the Prince picked is rather cute, it goes with your harmless nature," Set teased easily expecting something.

"I... I'm not..." But Mahaado didn't rise to the challenge, instead he looked between Kaiba and Set growing clearly unhappy and discontented.

"Maha sad? Why!?" The Prince tugged on Mahaado's hand trusting Mahaado to understand what he meant with those few words.

"Yes, what's wrong Maha? You usually put me in my place when I tease you..." Set noted a worried look in his eyes.

The kids could not see Kaiba save Mahaado apparently, to them Mahaado was acting oddly looking at an empty 'space'. They began quietly pulling Mahaado, wanting the kid to leave with them away from this 'bad place' that was making him act odd. Set placed a protective hand around Mahaado's back and led the boy away semi-forcefully. Mahaado had always been like that though, he was wonderful at looking after others, but failed miserably at looking after himself.

Deep inside Kaiba ached at this recreation of how his life used to be back in those ages past, as Mahaado was reluctantly pulled away from him and through a wall. Such warmth and connection how he had bled when he lost the bonds with those two. But he had a responsibility now, a responsibility to Mokuba and he wasn't going to let some stupid fantasy destroy everything he worked for!

Just like he used to look after the Prince...

A snarl escaped his lips as he turned his attention towards the direction of the kitchen. He'd have to find out what had been going on. Mahaado said he hadn't been the one who cast the spell, yet instead it was Kaiba himself. With a sigh he tried to think of this logically, even if it meant stepping into a role he wasn't in agreement with.

So if Kaiba was in fact the one who summoned Maha... Summoned Dark Magician, then it meant that Dark Magician had to cast whatever spell Kaiba himself instructed him. But he had not summoned Dark Magician until the blades already flew and for that matter why would a monster summoned attack it's own master? Unless controlled by another force, even then Kaiba would have died under A Thousand Knives.

They did after all, when Mahaado first cast that spell. They had been attacked and surrounded, the day that the Gods were borne... Mahaado had slaughtered the first wave alone with that spell. So if he had been struck by the spell? How did he survive? He had to go down to the kitchen first, Mahaado had first appeared there. If Mahaado had been summoned by Kaiba, there was still no explanation for why Kaiba had been attacked in the kitchen. Nor why the whole act in the hallway.

He wanted to hold Mahaado accountable for all the events, claim everything as an illusion and move on with his life. But with Mahaado things were never that simple, the magician being far and above more subservient than most people Kaiba knew. Something was scaring Mahaado, someone who had faced death and an afterlife of complete subservient slavery to who ever knew to summon him. Above all of them Mahaado knew the cost of his actions, and if he couldn't speak or assert himself it was because something serious was going on.

Kaiba reached the kitchen, his eyes scanning the whole room looking for any more signs of spilled blood before he began checking things. There was a faint sound of something quietly being rubbed, off to the side behind one of the long counters. The closer he got to the source, the faster that source worked until Kaiba could see it. A bloody stained glass hovering in midair while a cloth hurriedly worked to rub the thick liquid off.

"Mahaado," he spoke the name once, firm and commanding. The rapid movement of the cloth stopped on a dime as the magician slowly began to materialize into his line of sight. The child got up and held the glass in his small hands waiting for... for what? Kaiba to go off and beat him? Send him away? "Why did you cast A Thousand Knives at me?" He asked watching as the smaller boy flinched.

"I dare not speak..." it felt like eons just getting that alone out of the boy. Mahaado stood there huddled in on himself shivering from head to toe. He could use magic to clean up everything, it was probably the reason why the room wasn't trashed anymore.

Kaiba continued walking towards him, his steps even, unfaltering and each step made the smaller boy flinch. "Answer my question."