Yu-Gi-Oh: A Past and Future Pharaoh
Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
Beta By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
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"We might not be able to get to the hospital all that easily," Ryou commented as the group gathered about the gates of the school.
They were indirectly seeing off Kaiba to work, amazed at how completely normal he appeared despite everything that happened yesterday.
Was it just yesterday?
Could it have been just barely 24 hours since Yugi took a bullet and died on a surgery table only to be brought back from the dead by Kaiba? It felt unreal to go to school and see Kaiba attending almost perfectly normal. 'Almost' because he seemed to completely blank on Yugi's entire existence. He knew the gang from sharing classes with them, yet beyond that. It was something that Anzu could see, that coolly dismissive silence when he was asked about Yugi. Almost as though he had reset himself back before anything involving Yugi ever happened yet... yet he wasn't as cold and distant as he was when they first met over Gramps Blue Eyes...
Yet once he got home he was going to revert back to 'Pharaoh Set'. Thus leaving the group on their own to go to the hospital.
"I saw the news," Anzu confessed with a small, awkward shrug. "Word spread pretty fast," she confessed pondering what to expect when they reached the hospital.
"Think they know who did it?" Jounouchi asked, already avoiding using Kaiba's name. His voice a bit awkward upon mentioning 'it', and Anzu couldn't blame him. The scope of what Kaiba could 'do' was awe inspiring and terrifying in equal measures.
"Well a one time everyone gets healed of all injuries and failing health..." Honda noted with a casual gesture with his cane. "Because it would look too weird if I was just normal all of a sudden," he had explained when he arrived still hobbling along. "Better question will be 'will we get to see Yugi?' he 'was' shot yesterday... and I.. Honestly I'm not sure about how I feel about seeing him in a coma..." Honda confessed.
The word hung over all of them, going to the hospital just to see their friend, unresponsive on a bed. All the while knowing he was supposed to be... It was a mental image that put a stone in Anzu's stomach and made tears want to well up in her eyes. Remembering Yugi's video, his casual 'oh yeah I'm going to be out for a while' mentality. 'He's grown up beyond any recognition. I can't imagine him being the same kid that I played with when I was a child.'
In the distance she could see Malik walking up to join them, his hoodie over his head. Earning a few grins at how he was trying to keep his fans from chasing him. Though that hoodie being up was 'not' going to be enough.
"Did you relapse?" Malik asked taking in the cane and the presence of the notebook on Honda.
"Did you see the news?" Jounouchi cut in with a half grin before sighing.
"Sort of, its some big deal at the hospital, obviously about what Kaiba did for Yugi... They were going a bit too fast for me to keep up with," Malik confessed, looking among all of them for more information. "Certainly excited about everything..."
"Yeah, what he did didn't just affect me. That old man with the cough? Everyone in the whole building experienced his power. Physical injuries healed instantly, failing organs were suddenly restored to health. Anything that was broken was healed or mended, and not just people," Honda began. "A printer that had been broken suddenly began spitting out everything in its queue... They're zeroing in on Kaiba and I'm not looking to add to the growing fire..." Honda continued before lowering his voice for them alone.
"Its going to be weird if I suddenly walk around normal or can hear like I... Like I used to. Also realistically this has an advantage. People are more willing to talk around me if they think I'm deaf soo..."
"Its smart," Ryou agreed, finally joining the discussion. "Also apparently he can't heal what already 'has' years of time to mend as we can note by Rashid's face and if you'd be willing to strip out of that shirt for a moment..."
"Yeah, no." Malik retorted giving Ryou a look before resettling it on everyone else. "So the hospital sounds like its going to be fun. How about school... did he come back? Like Yugi said?"
"Yeah, he must be waking up in some form of autopilot at home. Cuz he showed up in his school uniform and for the most part he's pretty normal," Ryou began, letting his words drift off for the rest of the group to speak up.
"Our teacher asked if everything was ok after the shooting, and he didn't know what she was talking about. Like he doesn't 'remember' a shooting happening yesterday, and the rest of the class is taking it like he's in 'that' much shock." Honda explained, his lips quirked to the side in this reluctant and sad manner.
"Everyone is giving him space because of it, though I don't know what state I can expect to find Mokuba... But your siblings should be at Kaiba mansion for when Kaiba gets home from work right?" Anzu added, for which Malik nodded.
"Isis already left to greet Mokuba when he gets home... Rashid will be joining her soon enough so they can 'greet' the Pharaoh." Malik answered the hood giving his amethyst eyes a darker hue. "He... we talked later when we got home and... He's got his memories back in full so yeah... Kaiba is riding the guilt train to hell it sounds like."
"What happened? Like how did he have this great magical potential and still have everyone die?" Jounouchi asked as Ryou turned towards the road and started walking. The rest following him obediently, out onto the sidewalk and away from the high school.
"He wasn't there... he left the palace to pursue..." Malik's voice drifted into silence for a time before. "So apparently father was a reincarnation of Kaiba's father, and back then he had taken off. Left with a girl with white hair and I can only suspect that he stole Blue Eyes White Dragons' person if you will. So Kaiba wasn't there to stop anything," Malik explained. "But it was after 'Kura showed up, so he knew about the Thief King and the trouble being caused he just.."
"That actually makes it worse," Anzu noted quietly. "He had the ability to save everyone if he just stayed but he didn't." Words that formed thoughts in Anzu's head as she tried to wrap her brain around the notion. Here was a talent, a skill that he and he alone had and he wasn't there when it was needed most. The thoughts wove a narrative in her mind, of the guilt and shame that must have consumed Kaiba in his past life.
"I hope this is my only life, or if not, that my past life was insanely boring. Like the shit I've gone through in this life is about as bad as it can get for me." Jounouchi griped as he walked along the roadside.
"It would be his trial, I remember us meeting his biological 'family' at the hospital during Honda's surgery." Ryou added, his words causing Malik to give a small nod as it came back to him as well.
"And he wants to do everything himself, sounds to me that's his biggest problem." Honda noted when Jounouchi shook his head against it.
"Yeah, but its not like he could just take the army with him back then. Leave the palace and everyone unguarded? And he couldn't take Yugi and the priests with him either, cuz that would have left the city without leadership." Jounouchi pointed out, earning for himself a nod of approval from Ryou.
"Exactly, though if he had been willing to bring Blue Eyes before Yugi, he would have kept her with them. She was liken to the powers of a god, so she would have been useful in the defense of the palace. A light based dragon would have been remarkably helpful," Ryou noted tying up both Honda and Jounouchi's points of view rather succinctly.
"So the hospital was Set's way of trying to do what he didn't do back then?" Anzu asked, her head cocked slightly to the side as she thought about it more. "Like on some primal level he realized what happened before was going to happen again? Tried to stop it, consequences be damned sort of thing?"
"On his back, blood everywhere, and knowing that Yugi was in this condition because of him? Yeah... I've been there... It would have worked," Malik answered darkly.
"Maybe... After all why 'didn't' Kaiba save Yugi back in the past? He clearly has a small bit of room after death has occurred to snatch a life back. So how long was Yugi dead before Kaiba saw him? How long was he actually gone for?" Ryou asked darkly as they piled up at the bus stop.
"Can the spirits tell us what to expect at the hospital?" Malik finally inquired as he glanced at the lingering clouds that hovered over the sky.
He returned his focus onto Ryou as the white haired teen slowly nodded, turning his gaze towards the 'distance'. The group waited patiently as Anzu also took up a bit of cloud watching, there wasn't many, just a fluffy cloud or two. But it was calming and helped relax her as she became increasingly anxious. 'Yugi in a coma... I just have to smile, put on a smile because that's what everyone needs.' She thought to push back the growing dread of facing that moment.
Even knowing that his coma was almost self induced, 'Well 'he' considers it 'self induced'. But he could very well have said that to keep us calm.' she thought. 'Did he honestly think the idea of just waking up was a possibility after getting 'shot'?'
"Camera crews, reporters, there are people and not just local there..." Ryou reported with a frown on his face, his brows furrowed slightly. "Sounds like this might have some international note... your job might get harder Anzu," Ryou finished with his expression turning into a slight grimace. "I don't know if Yugi's letter reached his father in time."
She blinked and then winced as she realized what that could mean...
"That's going to be rough," Honda noted with a frown on his own face. "Finding out through the news... I mean the shooting itself was broadcasted how did he not hear?"
"Have they reached Yugi? Or look like they're trying to?" Jounouchi asked, as cars continued to drive by like the world was completely normal.
"The doctors seem to have some control over the situation, there 'have' been a few reporters. But they haven't been granted access to his room, and they've been respectful to the situation. The main focus has been the mass healing," Ryou explained that frown not leaving his face. "The doctors are trying to keep a lid on this and that's understandable, this is..."
"Its too much a sign that this group is going in the right direction," Malik finished quietly, his voice almost ripped away from a passing truck. "He did the impossible, and if they were looking for a 'sign' this would be it."
"Yugi gambled this though, he knew this was going to be part of the outcome and went for it," Jounouchi pointed out with a sigh. "Gambling is about risks and rewards... But just surviving. I don't want to think of Yugi as being selfish enough to do this just to save himself. So he knew the risks..."
Anzu watched Ryou's eyes sharply fix on Jounouchi there was a thought crossing his mind before he noticed her. A blink and suddenly Ryou was back to his bright cheery personality that he wore when he was hiding the darkness of the Sennen Ring.
"Maybe its Mahaado? Maybe there's a spell he can cast that would fix this, so all Yugi has to do is wait until he comes out of it..." Malik suggested, thoughtfully trying to think of why Yugi would put... well it wasn't so much as himself as it was Kaiba in the way. "Actually maybe its intentional, I mean everyone was targeting Yugi. But instead of Yugi saving himself from all outside appearances, its Kaiba..."
"A slight of hand trick? A magician's redirecting of attention?" Honda asked frowning thoughtfully. But that seemed to get an idea in Ryou's head because the teens' eyes grew dark in a way that Anzu hadn't seen since their trip to Scotland.
"No, its forcing Kaiba to use his powers... Yugi didn't have a choice, he's already explain that, either let us get involve and risk us dying or take the bullet himself. He was counting on Kaiba saving him, he knew that was a risk that might not happen. But Kaiba awake gives him a powerful new piece on the field to work with. Not just those random moments when aspects of Set lend some off the wall help," Ryou noted thoughtfully.
"Uhh..." Anzu and Honda both found themselves lost over what Ryou was talking about. Yet a glance showed that Jounouchi and Malik were following. Only before they could ask Ryou any questions the bus they had been waiting for began slowing down to pick them up.
It was a breath of fresh air really, as the gloom discussion of Yugis' shooting and Kaiba's mental state had to be silenced. It allowed Anzu to just be normal again and free to her own sadden thoughts without the layers of intrigue that they seemed steeped in. 'If the letter didn't reach Mr. Mouto in time, and this is the first he's hearing of it...'
How was she supposed to spin this? 'Oh your son opted to go into a coma so he could research his past life,' was 'not' going to work. Also Yugi was under Kaiba's 'supervision' if one would forget that they were about the same age. Could Mr. Mouto view this as a failing on Kaiba's part? 'How am I supposed to defend Kaiba? Especially given his state of mind, if the phone call happens while Kaiba is in that state?'
Anzu paid for her ride, then found a small section that they could all fit into. From that point it was just autopilot; sit down look out the window and pretend that everything was normal. Around her there was mostly silence, the few conversations were either of business or discussing dinner plans. The woman she shared a seat with was discussing going to a noddle shop in fact. Outside cars drove by, buildings stood erect, people walked along the sidewalks with the same neutral expressions on their faces.
Yet the Turtle Game Shop had been bombed, though that was months ago and the shock of those days. Where once the expressions on people's faces were more guarded and wary had smoothed back to casual indifference and normality. Now Yugi had been shot on television, even Mai had... Mai mai... "Crap." She swore as she smacked herself in the face with her hand. Embarrassed by her own negligence.
"Something wrong?" Jounouchi asked her, Honda had scored a whole seat due to his 'injury' with Jounouchi.
"I had been talking to Mai... But it just dawned on me that Isis might be able to help answer a few questions. Only I forgot to ask her yesterday," Anzu explained with a sigh of disappointment.
"Sister? Well I'll let her know you want to talk to her when I see her tonight," Malik offered twisting in his seat to see her.
"Thanks, though it's not about me, its about Mai and what you did last time," Anzu replied, with a slight attempt at coding the more... interesting... aspects of their lives. She watched as Malik's expression shifted from mild cluelessness to surprise to guilt all in the span of a minute. Before he untwisted himself and faced forward.
'I wonder how many people hurt as badly as Kaiba does... He's been hurting for over three thousand years if something like this would have him react 'this' severely.' Though Ryou suffered, his village was destroyed back then, his mom and sister died in this lifetime. In front of her she could see the back of Malik's hoodie with his back covered with scarification that was meant for communicating the past to the present. On the left was Ryou's mop like white hair, and all the baggage and possible spirits hanging around him.
'I should be happy, my life is no where near as complicated or difficult as theirs. I'll be fine, I can do this! After all Yugi needs me to keep his dad under control, he wouldn't entrust that to me if I was any type of flake.' She told herself, fighting this irrational blur on the edges of her vision.
No, Yugi entrusted them all with a task while he was 'out' of sorts, and they refused to let him down. Thinking of the Memory Game and the consequences of the battles came back to mind. Turning the towering buildings around her to rubble as a possibility of what could be happen plagued her thoughts. If they lost, the world would be like Ancient Egypt. Only...
'Maybe that was another reason why Kaiba needed to regain his power,' Anzu thought as she sat there. 'What if he's needed to restore what the Demon does get away with destroying?'