Yu-Gi-Oh: A Past and Future Pharaoh
Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
Beta By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
A/N: Slowly catching up!
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
"Try to remember why we came here Jounouchi. We can't start breaking down, if we do, who will help Yugi when this group gets serious?" Bakura gently coaxed, trying to encourage the Gambler Duelist. It was getting too painfully clear that Jounouchi could break soon at the rate things were going.
They stayed like that for a time, Malik growing fascinated by the goosebumps appearing on his arms from this chilly air. At least it served as a distraction for a while, leaving only the Spirits to become idle in their boredom and approach the graveyard. They slipped past the living trees, ever in awe of the vivid green of the forests, things that desert dwellers never got to experience when alive. Darkness or light held no power over their vision as they floated along the roadside and amid trees in their curiosity.
In the distance they saw the black metal gates that blocked the road leading into the graveyard from the road. The graveyard was strange to them, creating a bit of a mix of feelings, since none of them received a grave back home. Going straight to Japan had shown them a culture quite different than their own regarding bodies. Now actually studying yet another country's method of dealing with the dead it was an interesting experience. Yet at the same time it was, well, creepy.
True this was a sensation in souls that had spent three thousand years trapped in gold and human flesh Items containing the souls of a God and an unspeakable demon. But being dead had meant they were able to meet the spirits of the town, including those who had lost their graves due to invaders. But they just couldn't help but feel like they were walking on peoples graves at times and that just made no sense because they were DEAD.
"Ow!"
That... wasn't something you ever expected a spirit to say really. 'Ow' was one of those words that only the living used. Because they had bodies that could feel actual physical pain. Where as the dead were kinda restricted to only soul shredding agony, or at least that's what they thought. Yet upon attempting to enter the graveyard, the sensation was a, surprising, 'ow'. There was a stark contrast between being frozen in place, a type of restraint where one could see and do nothing, and hitting a wall. The gates of the graveyard served as a type of ward for the living, cutting off the living from this place of rest for the dead. But metal alone wasn't supposed to be enough to stop the dead from crossing over it, there was nothing that gave warning that this was an issue.
Only the moment any tried to cross 'into' the graveyard suddenly there was this invisible, even to the dead, wall! It was strange and unique and disturbing all at the same time, for it was a wall that defied all logic. Even if the logic was outdated by three thousand years and a completely different belief system.
"Maybe our Elder should be told of this?"
"Or Bakura, would it be safe for those three to enter since we can't?"
"Where 'is' the Elder?"
"I think she went to chat with some of the locals."
The spirits lingered for a bit around the edges of the shielded graveyard while the kids turned back towards the living. The pair found the three slowly pushing themselves up to their feet, apparently deciding to move on the last bit of the journey.
Bakura suddenly stopping and tilting his head questioningly was enough to cause the other two to stop in their barely resumed steps.
"Ghosts..." Jounouchi muttered and shivered before stepping back from the other two on instinct. Leaving Malik snickering as he turned to watch the blond, deciding it would be a good way to help bring Jounouchi back out of his thoughts. They were clearly going distressed and Malik knew that dark thoughts were the worst things one could be lost in around a demon.
"Well apparently the spirits can't enter the graveyard, there's an active force holding them back," Bakura finally announced turning to look at his living traveling companions and the random spirit who had stayed with them. All of them held various degrees of surprised expressions before the spirits rushed off to check it out for themselves.
"Maybe because its a graveyard?" Malik suggested as Jounouchi walked up and the three resumed their trek.
"No clue at the moment, the Spirits don't have a priest or priestess in their numbers and I've never asked if they had trouble traveling through a graveyard before. After all Japanese graveyards are markedly different than what they are used to." Bakura confessed as he watched the spirits rush off chatting among each other.
"Nor shall they," a new voice emerged from the darkness, catching hold of Bakura's ears and causing him to look further into the forest. The lady who he recognized as his Egyptian mothers' close friend and village elder 'stepped' out of the darkness. Beyond her further into the darkness he could see spirits who weren't part of the Village. Their skins were similar in dark tones, but they wore no shirts, and head pieces he didn't automatically recognize. But being that he was in America he could only assume that the Village elder had run into the spirits of some of the Native American tribes.
"Have you found out anything?" He asked, politely nodding at the spirits behind her in acknowledgment of their presence. Even though in retrospect that worried him as it implied he might start seeing 'more' spirits than just the Village. Personally the idea of spending the rest of his life seeing the spirits of the dead off hand was upsetting.
"These warriors are members of several tribes that lived in this area for ages. Their ways were disrupted, their graves violated and now they have been looking after their lands to the best of their ability. Our arrival seemed to have surprised them and I have been to speak with several leaders." She began, gesturing at the warriors who didn't approach but nodded as they acknowledged her words. "They say a holy person has built a shield around the graveyard to ward off any spirits from entering it. There is a spirit inside that guards the graveyard, and when the veil is lifted for the year, in that one night he will be revealed."
"I see, so there's no point in going on," Bakura began when he heard the questioning tones behind him he turned to report to the pair.
"So... A holy person sealed off the area... What happens when that spirit gets loose?" Malik asked while Jounouchi stayed quiet save the swaying.
Bakura turned to look back at the Village Leader in turn, watching her expression of curiosity fix on him. "He has a valid question, there's a chance that this group could be collecting souls to create the Items."
"No, we do not recognize the holy man who came, he did not wear the white mans clothes. He came using the body of one who was to be laid to rest in that place. He called upon great magics and spoke of several gods to shield that place. Then he left, but the soul that belongs to that body stays there, only coming out once when what separates us from the living thins itself. He appears in a tattered black robe and the mask of a skull. Slaying 'things' that come near that place, so we have stayed away unsure of his purpose. He moves as though fighting yet we only see glimpses of these things, which should not happen to spirits." An elder looking warrior answered, stepping closer to the road but only by a few steps.
"I see..." Bakura remarked as he grew thoughtful. A spirit possessing a body and then shielding the place? Was it to capture spirits for the new Items?
"So... is it me or is it getting a lot colder, faster than before?" Malik asked rubbing his arms and stamping his feet to stay warm.
"The more spirits the more they suck the heat out of the air to communicate, and the forest is starting to fill up with several tribes of the local Natives..." Bakura answered distracted briefly and a thought occurred to him. Since lacking a Priest or a Magician on hand Bakura couldn't think of anything to follow that line of thought until Halloween.
"Did any of those Gods that this Holy person call answer? That you can tell?" Bakura asked as he ignored the sound of Jounouchis' panicked choke and collapse.
"Indeed, They answered and gave strength to the shield, however recently another similar God arrived in our lands." Another warrior answered stepping closer wearing a type of skirt and a headdress who pointed towards the east. "A mighty god arrived, for we saw the storm clouds from here, though it did not touch the living world. This storm weakened the prayers used to seal up the graveyard. But then it disappeared as quickly as it arrived."
'A storm... which given that it is east bound might have been Set,' Bakura thought to himself. He nodded towards the warrior before translating what the spirits had told him to the, well to 'Malik' who wasn't passed out on the ground in terror. "They say that a holy person came and sealed the graveyard, but they only can tell it wasn't a Christian or Catholic priest who did it. However; that holy person 'was' a spirit and was body jacking to do the work. They sealed up the soul that belonged to the body in the graveyard and left. But once a year that seal comes down and the spirit has been slaying something that they can't see that comes near the graveyard."
"But these are the souls of the dead right? And everything except duel monster spirits are visible to the dead.. Right?" Malik questioned in confusion as his eyes grew shrewd as he tried to think about what could cause 'that'.
"Duel Monsters..." Bakura echoed as he grew lost in thought before he dug through his bag and pulled out his deck holder. He quickened his steps while he read the names off the Other Bakuras' cards before finally producing one. Walking towards the spirits he held out the card, dreading the answer he might get as he asked, "Does this spirit look anything like this?"
Holding out the 'Reaper of the Cards' to the spirits and watching as they approached to study what he held out to them, eventually nods began to be shared among the Spirits.
"Yes, that is what we see once a year," came the answer from several of the warriors. Leaving Bakura sighing and putting the card back.
"Care to share, Bakura?" Malik asked into this strange silence since he was pretty sure Bakura was hearing all sorts of conversations. Malik only heard the light snore from Jounouchis' passed out self, leaving the blond to believe that Jounouchi just went straight to sleep. The Jerk.
"There is a person in that graveyard who has been turned into the Reaper of Cards, and also, they said that somewhere to the east a God appeared that was creating storms with his arrival. That this god was similar to the gods that were called to create this seal."
"A god of storms? Hi, Set," Malik quipped before turning his back to the sinking moon and towards the east. He looked over his shoulder and nodded towards the eastern horizon, "what do you say? Got it in you for one more jump before we go back?"
Bakura didn't need to ask, somehow, despite the long walk to the graveyard Malik wanted to keep going. This time going to the hotel where Kaiba had stayed at, and all things considered he probably expected Bakura to interact with the spirits and fish out some more information. Though why do that when he could possibly get the Village Elder to do it for him and let him go home and ooh... 'STUDY?!'
"Your people have such a god?" One warrior near the Elder asked in curiosity, for which she nodded.
"Yes, a God of Storms and Chaos, though why would that matter?" She directed the last part of her sentence towards Bakura.
"The three of us were talking on the way up here, and we're beginning to think that Set may have begun to interact with the world. We're wondering if Yugi and Kaiba are incarnations of Gods or if this group is mistaking them to be. But we don't have a way to really get confirmation, if a storm was found in the east strong enough to get the attention here... Well if it 'is' Set, it would explain a few things and a possibly connection to Kaiba." Bakura explained as he approached the Elder and the warriors now mixed with the Dead that normally haunted him.
"Why are your gods here?" One warrior asked more faded than the others and sounding distrustful to the fullest.
"Evil is afoot and it came from Egypt, its our duty to make sure it doesn't get inflicted on other lands or people," Bakura explained evenly. "We're trying to get leads and find these people before they recreate the very event that devastated a nation and could have ended the world."
"Taking a proactive approach, strange to see that in this age," another called out.
"But why during finals?" Bakura bemoaned gaining confused expressions from the warriors.
"He speaks of his school, apparently he is taking important tests and wants to study," his Egyptian Mother deadpanned in mild amusement, shaking her head slightly. "The world could end tomorrow, but by the Gods he's going to the Field of Reeds with Excellent grades."
"I want 'excellent grades' because I expect to live past this and I'm not letting my future suffer because of it!" Bakura bristled at his Spirit mom while Malik just shook his head.
"Ok so apparently important talks ended and we're going into unimportant stuff, so lets move along because I am getting colder." The blond announced lightly kicking Jounouchi with one sneakered foot as a reminder to the 'other' blond with them. Reminding them that he existed even if he couldn't see the spirits and that there were other important things to do. At least one more important thing to do for the late night, only not, since they were living on Japanese time.
Bakura nodded, thankful that Malik could keep them on track, then again the only thing 'he' had to keep track of was Jounouchi. Unfettered by the sight of the spirits he was free to think things through without new information being given at the time. More importantly, Malik was groomed to lead people and Bakura had been left to his own devices since he was usually just a vessel or tool to be used.
"Speed would be for the best, the Holy Man didn't stop with this graveyard and there have been others that we have heard of. Be it that he does this for good or ill, we don't know but your Elder told us of this evil you face." The one who had been standing closest to the Village Elder remarked before he and his fellows drifted into a type of mist and back into the woods and towards the town.
Malik shook Jounouchi awake with a slight grin on his face when his fellow blond groggily roused up.
"Jus, five more minutes dad."
"Come on! Don't you want to hop all over the rest of this country looking for this hotel?" Malik taunted hoping for someplace warm to be their next target.
"No chance Malik, I actually 'know' what and where the Stanley Hotel is so I can direct us there easily." Bakura retorted before Malik went off the wall, while Jounouchi dragged himself back to his feet. "Ok, we're going to the hotel then we're going home, might as well talk in the warmth of an apartment."
Malik nodded, needing something warmer for these jumps and Jounouchi dusted himself off while walking after Malik.
"Man what happened?" He asked as he felt the numbing pain on his face from when he hit the ground.
"You fainted because we were surrounded by spirits and now we're going to the Hotel to see if Set showed up. This should prove if Kaiba is a god or not," Malik informed Jounouchi as he moved along easily.
"Why are you so insistent that Kaiba and Yugi are gods?" Jounouchi grumbled as though he was edging towards aggressiveness.
"Because the Spirits here sensed a 'great storm to the east' that didn't manifest in the physical world. We know that Kaiba was there, and if that 'was' Set? We've got trouble, because Set should have no reason to attack his physical avatar or incarnation. But we know how Kaiba returned back to Japan, if Set 'attacked' him? What kind of frame of mind is he in? Regardless of what 'Kaiba' is? We can't afford to have a God of 'Chaos' lashing out at people or whatever he was doing."
"Don't worry over it too much Jounouchi," Malik commented with a shrug. "Just focus on the fact that we're trying to stop a demon from being reborn, Bakura and I will do the rest."