Yu-Gi-Oh: A Past and Future Pharaoh
Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
Beta By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
The jolt of Rashid lightly shaking her forced Isis back into the waking world with a start. It was unusual to fall into one of her Visions unwilled. And while she had grown accustomed to the punctual, efficiency of the buses, it took only a glance upward out of the bus to understand its sudden change.
"I see Seto is suitably protective and fierce today," Isis commented in quiet amusement once she and Rashid stepped off the bus. Well, 'quiet' in the sense that she had to fairly shout that over the torrent of rain. Beating against the asphalt and cement with enough force as to rival thunder. It slapped against the trees and ground, beat against their heads as it poured down making conversation difficult at best. Impossible at worst as the wind didn't have a full decision where it wanted to go yet.
The storm had slowed the bus down considerably, leaving Isis and Rashid trapped in an outrageous amount noise as it beat against the roof of the bus. So much so that Rashid had been suitably impressed with Isis staying asleep. Now under that seemingly ceaseless waterfall it was as though bricks were being dropped on them. While they had gotten acquainted with 'rain' from their visits to Japan. This was rain on another level! It didn't fall, it was flung down, the sky might as well been a blacken tube pouring water straight from the hose upon them.
Water pounded on their heads, bowing them in admission of its superior force, while orbs of wavering light guided them. Their beacons were distorted hovering entities without a source, marking the path up to the hospital. Rain was funneled down the path of least resistance, spilling like waterfalls from awnings, cars and the rooftop. It rolled down past their feet already approaching ankle deep as it continued its path, leading to grates that dropped it away into sewer systems.
Their Ka's could have carried them, but walking into the hospital with their Ka beasts would have been... Well, no one without sufficient power could even 'see' Ka beasts to start with, but it would have been the matter of the bizarre that would accompany them. Stuff that would get in their way to Yugi.
"Maybe we should build a small altar to Seto? So perhaps he won't be motivated to do storms to get noticed?" Rashid suggested in patience and amusement, his hood already soaked to his scalp. "There has to be a better, less grandiose method of getting people to call on him than this."
"Small? Need something the size of a skyscraper. Maybe one of those sirens they use for Typhoons?" She replied thoughtfully as her foot nearly slipped as she struggled along, her shoes were not made for this. "Though I suppose its better that we were closer than they are."
The call from Anzu had been incredibly brief, just a heads up that a threat had reached the hospital. Isis didn't have time to intentionally divine the possible futures, a set of futures were blocked from her view regarding Yugi. Now that she knew he was on this path, she knew he 'would' wake up, but the circumstances varied wildly and it was those 'circumstances' that were blocked. It held the tinge of the Tauk leaving the possibility that Yugi would wake up in a week, or even two months!
But the Tauk was the Demon's doing and she couldn't trust what she was seeing when it was creeping on the edges of her sight. Though falling asleep amid all this noise on a bus to the hospital must have been Seto, possibly accidentally backed by 'Yomaris'.
"I'm actually serious on this one. Seto clearly needs a direction to go in now that his magics are awake. More over Mahaado's magics are not divine and how they 'function' may not carry over well." Rashid grimaced quietly. "Remember he gutted himself to make Seto learn to 'use' the healing magics..."
Rashid let the comment hang, allowing Isis to finish it, "is why Seto is a mess when it comes to that..."
Was it any wonder that Seto had a near full on mental break down after Yugi got shot? The gutting was bad enough, but his abilities were useless to restore Yugi back then. Shattering his ability to readily access that magic. 'Thank you for learning not to try that with Mana...' Rashid thought ruefully, his thoughts shifting to their slumbering friend. The quiet anguish of knowing their friend was sealed in stone, a slave to whoever had the knowledge and power to call him forth.
Memories of the stage magician that Malik had... unfortunately twisted... always came to mind when Rashid thought of the negative side of Mahaado's state. Especially at times like this, when there were people seeking the power of those Tablets. One who could resonate with Mahaado and call, if not him, his shades borne from those mass produced cards... 'Yugi has the card that directly connects to Mahaado's soul. But to fight shades? I think he would be most upset...'
A limo pulled up under the shelter of the front entrance of the hospital, sleek and black, sending a wave of water cresting high into the air. If the pair of former/current priests weren't wet before, they were soaked now. Kaiba didn't bother to wait for the door to open before he opened it himself, the roar of the weather outside drowning the near silent interior. The wind rushed into the limo with enough force that Mokuba was momentarily knocked back into his seat
"I can't believe we're here alive..." Anzu muttered, her words stolen by the raging wind. It might have bounced into Mokubas' thick mane of hair and gotten lost for all the number of people who noticed. She had sat in the limo, her hands holding the strap of her seat belt in a death grip as she tried to not pay attention to the weather outside.
How they had survived was beyond her. The sides of the limo were blinded by a wall of water kicked up by the wheels. The roads were mostly empty, but she couldn't shake the feeling that the limo was floating more than driving from time to time. Perhaps it was though, occasionally she could have sworn she saw the shadow of a small distinctly Blue Eyes White Dragon flying along side the limo.
It was about the only comfort she could find as they drove through the quickly emptying streets of Domino. She could see the glow of the occasional business lights, shining out of the darkness, or the distant flicker of an apartment in the distance.
"What are we going to do when we get there? We're not cops..." She had asked.
"Do? I'm going to ring the idiots neck and find out where this group 'is'. Its a waste of my time and resources and I want this over and done with." That was typical Kaiba, and she wanted to be comforted by the fact that the guy was recovering.
"Thank you..." Anzu finally said, her words almost entirely eaten by the storm outside.
Mokuba had started a bit before looking up at her, his large innocent eyes surprised and honestly? She had been a bit surprised herself.
"Thank you for saving Yugi. I mean, clearly you don't like using magic, and apparently it comes at a high cost to you. So... thank you very much for saving Yugi, Kaiba." Anzu gave as much of a polite bow as she could given the seat belt. Her eyes traced the soft inlaid lights on the floor, illuminating the soft carpet and her shoes just a touch.
"Its my duty."
His voice was flat, and she barely heard him as it was. But he clearly raised his voice at all, meaning he wanted to be heard. So what that meant... well... What could she possibly say to a statement like that? He had to be aware of them, so it wasn't a warning that he was somehow going back into that ancient mental state. But the fact that he spoke up at all was just as worrying.
"Those idiots have no idea what they are dealing with. Nothing I can do will match what the demon will do if he's freed." Kaiba stated in the near darkness of the limo interior. Nothing but the faint light from the floor that did nothing but showed off the shoes. A world outside lost to a stormy darkness, and a world inside lost to a brooding one.
Stepping out into the weather, the wind felt like it wanted to rip her off the ground. Instincts were making her grab the limo door frame in an effort to stay safely in one spot. The world was darkness all around, only the illumination from the hospital gave any light. "Wait..." Anzu blinked in the stormy black weather and could see shapes hurriedly struggling through the rain. 'People are out here?' Beyond the shapes moving she could see the wavering light of signs and apartment homes. A reassurance that the power wasn't cutting out despite this insanity.
"Seto! Turn off this storm!" A deep voice called, a rumble of good humor to go with the roll of thunder that came on its heels.
'Seto?' Anzu was struck by the use of the first name before reality reminded her of just who would use his first name out of hand. "Rashid? Isis? Is that you?" She fairly had to yell over the roar of the elements all around them.
"Oh! Anzu you're there?" Isis called out as she wiped the water from her face in a bid to see 'anything' properly. The pairs' clothes were soaked to the bone, scandalously so in Isis' case, leaving Anzu to stick her head back into the limo. She never saw a stray blanket or towel resting inside on their way to the hospital either time. But there had to be 'something' she missed in the darkness, right?
Mokuba, on the other hand, popped open one of the thick cushioned seats of the limo and began digging around. "Here!" he called out as he pulled out some towels and blankets, both were thick and clearly for bad weather emergencies. The child passed them over to Anzu before climbing out of the limo after the older girl. "We could just let them dry out here inside the limo for a bit, turn on the heat before they catch cold."
Kaiba was quiet for a moment before nodding as the pair gratefully accepted the towels that Anzu handed them.
"Seriously though Seto, turn off this storm your alarms are louder than necessary," Rashid commented with a faint smile of sympathy that grew as Seto scowled at him.
"You think this is my doing?"
They could have been the same age, should have actually, but Rashid had been born years before Seto. They were staggered through out the years, where once they were all similar in age, and yet for all that. Seto addressed them the same way even as he shifted his posture to face them. Giving them his attention where once he would have faced only the direction he needed to go. "Well let's see, the Pharaoh is in trouble and the storm gets whipped up in a frenzy 'this' fast and out of nowhere..."
Kaibas' expression didn't change before lifting his gaze up to the sky that was beyond the wall of water in the distance. "I don't have time to waste on this," he fairly snarled before turning towards the hospital sliding doors. Staff was standing inside the emergency room lobby, apprehension in the way they shuffled and moved.
If it was anyone else, there would undoubtedly be someone to tell them the limo couldn't stay where it was parked. But given what Kaiba had done? How did one tell the young man who healed a hospital in a mad bid to stop Death itself what to do? But there was always a chance that an ambulance would need to pull up.
As they watched, Kaiba strode forward, his younger brother and the young woman they were getting acquainted to in his shadow. The pair the trio encountered slipped inside the limo, and after the door shut a few seconds later the limo pulled out, though the red tail lights could still be seen illuminating the zone.
The sliding doors pulled apart saturating the area with the roar of the storm outside. The wind raced in, ripping at the papers on desks, pulling at skirts and coat tails. Ripped up the sheets of paper pinned to bulletin boards even as its howling voice sent panicked cries among the remaining occupants of the room. Water itself had not yet risen to the heights needed to flood the floor, but the pounding sound of it savagely beating the outside world was enough to make them worry about the roof of the building.
Leaving each person to watch after Kaiba as the CEO had braved the storm to arrive at the hospital. Striding by without a thought or care about the chaos left in his wake while two hapless people followed along. More akin to kites caught in a storm and dragged along if anything, they appeared as skittish and worried as everyone staring at Kaiba in fact.
Once the doors slid closed, leaving only the fading echo of drowning rains and howling winds all that truly remained was the normal hospital sounds. Occasional calls over the intercoms for various doctors or nurses, the clean bright lights down the multitude of hallways. Things Kaiba had ignored on his single minded pursuit that day.
'Kaiba hasn't been here since that day has he? He left as Set,' Anzu found herself thinking. 'If I could learn to summon Mana, well Dark Magician Girl, I could use the Sages' stone to summon Mahaado right?' she found herself thinking. After all the pair seemed to have had a solid friendship before something caused it to break.
'As much as I advocate friendships, I can't shake the feeling that Isis and Rashid went far back with Kaiba. Whatever happened, losing them scarred him badly,' and now he was tired, depressed and she couldn't think of a way to cheer him up. Or even reassure him that Yugi would recover, yet Yugi had faith in her to keep him functional at best...
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
He sat there, observing from the moment the limo pulled up on the other side of the sliding glass doors. It wasn't even hard because 'everyone' remaining had done the same. A limo? Sleek white it pulled in with a back splash of a wall of water that reflected the light from the hospital interior. He could hear the mutterings of it being Kaiba, something that got his interest easily. A limo, no matter how well constructed, was 'not' going to make it in a storm like this.
Unless the very god who called forth the storm was the one who rode upon it. Which now that Yugi's General was here, gave him something to mentally chew on in thought. Zorc had explained that Yugi wasn't supposed to be here. The seal that served to keep Zorc bound was meant to last until the end of time. Breaking it had been the General's doing, that Yugi's cousin had intentionally created the crack that allowed Zorc through. In ever his attempt to free his cousin from his imprisonment.
A storm god, or a chaos one, which ever Kaiba represented was a game changer really. They had seen his effects in Colorado, and that just reinforced the idea that he broke the seal to get to Yugi. For which, here he was, the moment there was a hint of danger towards Yugi, storms burst into being, destruction in his wake. Kaiba arrived to defend his Pharaoh, regardless of if he viewed it as that or whatever.
'This should be interesting,' he thought as he watched Kaiba step out of the limo and two more step out of the storm. Wet, bedraggled and soon hurriedly brought into the limo made him peg them as more of Yugi's friends. Or rather, two of his Inner Circle, meaning the Seeress and the Judge had arrived. They had been wrapped in towels and probably would stay inside the limo until they were dried off. At least enough not to scandalize everyone in the soaked off white gown that the Seeress wore.
The three of them were threats, but the two Priests were only that. Priests, their powers were greater when they could tease out the support of their Pharaoh. Which meant that his coma would leave them pitifully behind Kaiba. More over, since they weren't 'Kaibas'' priests they couldn't call on his power to aid them as readily. So long as Yugi was still resisting his awakening, they were hobbled to Kaiba's needs. 'But an idiot would assume them completely ineffectual. They have their Ka, and if Kaiba can call on his dragon they would be a good challenge for this...' he mused as he kept his head down, pretending to be focused on yet another magazine.
Yet his phone vibrated in his coat pocket, causing him to put down the magazine of vacation getaways and pull it out. Even as the doors parted and the storm howled into the room the scent of ozone and the feeling of raw power in the air.
The tablet was moved, if its the one I want its been moved.
'Well that's troublesome, who could move a whole tablet out of nowhere?' he wondered. 'I guess I shouldn't complain though, we started trying to locate the Magician of Black Chaos' tablet 'because' Kaiba could have been a problem.'
Especially when it was becoming clear that Kaiba couldn't really fine tune his power.
'A beast that feeds on storms would be nice, something to test the storm bringer god,' he thought. The winds had ripped the magazine out of his lap and he had to pick it up even as he slipped his phone back into his coat pocket. The limo pulled out driving further from the door...
'Once the storm settles down I'll leave, now that Kaiba is here, it should stop being fed his erratic power.'