Yu-Gi-Oh: A Past and Future Pharaoh

Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix

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Silk was a love hate affair.

Like memories, some so beautiful and pure it slipped through the mind like a silver scaled fish in a river. Gliding easily along the waves of emotion that carried a person forward through their darkest times. Other memories were ran against the flow, dragging itself through the muck and the mire at the bottom of the river, kicking up mud and pebbles and bringing back memories of darker days.

Currently Vivians' silk dress soaked from the humidity of the recent rain, but she hadn't been rained 'on'. Making the sensation of the outfit aggravating as it clung to her skin, dragging against it the way silk tended to when stroked the wrong way. Exasperating a preexisting annoyance because of how the rain had delayed the duel. Since no one wanted to risk their precious cards on a little bit of water.

Bah, run a towel over it and get on with this! The only good thing that came out of the rain was that she was dueling Iwalaos, Theodore. One of two magician themed duelists who had been invited. Uninteresting to look at, with a very limited skill set, at least with the boy seduction was always an option. It was amusing to watch a child on the cusp of manhood blush when a lady gave them attention!

This guy...

Ugh...

On the whole the park had been remarkable pleasant for the woman. Outside of the rain it had been this bright cheery place, so many children running along with their parents that... Well...

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Sunlight filtered through the leaves of the trees that lined the numerous paths of the park, illuminating the road with soft shades of gold. Paths were empty, with only a haunting melody from various buildings from the park drifting through. Faint bird song mixed with the sounds, fresh flowers were blooming below the trees and the wind caressed her skin. No photographers yelling at her for a money shot, Kaiba had stated that photographers would be kept only at the dueling stations.

After all there would be children running around and his objection to putting kids in danger was on point with his personality. Her arm wasn't weighed down by the duel disk, her deck was carried at her hip which was much better. When she saw the first few families starting to cross her path she paused and watched them walking along. Food was carried on the breeze new to the sense, either she was getting closer to the food stands or they had been working longer than before open.

It was actually kind of nice, more over when she found a proper food stand that could have come from China! Noodles no less! Excited she walked up to the vendor and looked over the menu, it was in English, but the smells got her mouth salivating. Enough so that even though she had even breakfast...

Well...

One bowl wouldn't hurt...

And the only person around was a lone teenager dressed as that monster Little Yugi liked. There was something strangely nostalgic as she watched her meal being prepared. It was a whole set up as well! There was a man working on making the noodles and just the work in that, watching as he stretched the noodles out dusting them in flour, was hypnotizing. Then there was watching it be boiled, bowled, the sharp chop of a blade cutting the chunks of chicken that would be added.

Vivian had to stop and shake herself awake as her hunger was starting to make her drool. How long had it been since she had been in Beijing? Soon she had a steaming bowl of noodles the heat hitting her nose from that chili paste! She settled down at a small bench, while the heat from the freshly prepared bowl warmed her hands before she tucked her way into the noodles. She could have been back in her grandmothers kitchen!

'Wait, I thought he wore a long tunic that covered his body. That is armor.' Now distracted more intensely by the familiar flavor of food her thoughts had started to drift. Thus she found herself idly thinking about the purple magician that was walking away as she watched his ass.

Once he was out of her sight, she let her sight wander up where she could see some clouds drifting along the sky. Some looked a little heavy and she began eating a little faster. In the distance childrens' voices could be heard, their voices probably piercing if she was closer.

"Hey isn't that Vivian Wong!?"

Blinking in surprise, Vivian lowered her eyes back down the path where several families were making their way straight towards her. 'Well they said it could serve as a meet and greet...' she recalled as she put down the near empty bowl of noodles.

"This is soo cool! We saw you last night at the theater! 'Fists over my heartbreak' was amazing!" one blond teenage boy gushed...

"Did you do all your fight scenes?"

"I really liked how the movie mocked that Titanic moment during the fight on the ship. 'I'm king of the world' yeah right."

"I love that chase scene on the motorbikes! I can't even find a dealer in our area..."

"And that's a good thing too Josh! Those were trained professionals and we don't need you try to drive like 'that' down the street." Josh's father pointed out while his wife was digging about in her purse.

"I had no idea we could possible get a chance for autographs..."

"Are you really going to challenge Yugi to be the new Duel Queen?" Among the families there was a small girl among them. Wavy brown hair and incredibly earnest as she asked looking up at Vivian with such curiosity. She was adorn in a dress with flowers on a soft blue background. The dress hid her feet, but her hair was held back with a sky blue hairband keeping her soft brown bangs out of her face.

"But of course! Why bother being a duelist when I can be an Empress?" she asked grandly earning a big grin from the child.

"Yeah! Its nice that there are other girls dueling, I was going to be bored. But my brother said there were girls dueling so please beat up the boys!"

"Hey! Mary what do you mean by that?!"

'My new favorite fan,' Vivian decided as she stood there trying not to gloat too much. "Well, Yugi is too cute. I might be gentle with him in exchange for a date," she confessed with an amused grin. "You're right though, boys need to respect a girls' ability to play this game!"

A nice statement, her manager had suggested she use for the tournament. The light in the girls' eyes while the boys trying to bring her down about girls not being able to play as good. While at the same time trying to get Vivian's autograph was an amusing little flurry of sound.

Ahh double standards.

It wasn't even the only group really.

Over time others had found her and somehow, amid autographs and casual chit chat she had found herself here...

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'Here' was the 'Elemental Ring'.

Kaibaland had several areas that were designed around parts of the game. A zone was dedicated to trap cards, another to spells, this one was to the particular elements that the monsters could be. In fact, when she arrived it had been transitioning from water to fire, and she had watched as several of the costumed employees started shifting from mermaids and fish to dragons and fire sprites. It was both interesting and a bit cute! One of the mermaids who had been seated on a ornate clam shell was lifted up and placed in a wheelchair before leaving the area even.

It also allowed the staff to comfortably rotate when she considered the size of those costumes!

Iwalaos had already been here when she arrived, contempt in his eyes when she realized there was no one else.

'I do hope that little girl sees me beat him,' she had thought at the start of the duel...

After the duel.

'I hope I wasn't too brutal on this guy,' she thought 'now' about Iwalaos. Duels were won on the turn of a card, and as harsh and haughty as she could be... She was no stranger to a poor hand. So when he looked at his opening hand and actively 'winced'...

Yeah this guy was dead on arrival.

"Tough luck!"

"It will be ok!"

The crowd was pretty compassionate to Iwalaos, their voices not really jeering or cruel instead they tried to encourage him.

Fire was shifting to earth, reflected in the lighting of the area. Where it had been warm glows of red, golds and oranges, now the colors were sharp. White light mixed with a variety that struck Vivian as jewelry tones... 'I wonder if they can even realize that...' she mused as the man dejectedly walked down the steps.

"The final duels have been completed for this portion. The winners are as follows: Ethan Shark, Paul McGregor, and Vivian Wong. We thank those who both sets of participants and await the turnout for the next set of duels."

'Oooh so Peahen didn't make it, either she wasn't bright enough to find a zone or talented enough to win! Poor dear!' Vivian mentally crowed over the fact. But she kept the emotions off her face as she looked over the crowed. As entertaining as it was to think about the poor stupid Peahen lost in the park. It would appear as though she was gloating over Iwalaos' defeat and that wasn't any good.

'I think I want another bowl of noodles. That one bowl was just incredible really given it was a stand here in the middle of a park!' she thought to herself as she put up her deck.

Thus she began walking back the way she came, eyes peeled for any short cuts that might lead her faster to where she encountered the stand. There was a music section of the park that she could just barely hear in the distance. 'I didn't hear that when I found them and it was mostly quiet sooo...' she adjusted her direction as she walked.

And she walked...

And walked...

And finally found herself asking a pimple faced teenager holding maps of the park.

"I came across a noodle stand in the park, where is it?" She asked as she poured over the map he had handed her.

It showed where there were various food stands, it seemed Kaiba had gone from trying to represent foods from 'around the world'... And there was a place listed for chinese food, it was...

"Noodle stand? Sorry Ms. There isn't a committed noodle stand here... You can get noodles from a few of the stands though..."

"Forgive me Isis. I didn't think anyone would actually want to come back for seconds..." Mahaado mused as he stood to the side. Invisible and mute to the world he pondered what he should do. The stand was real yes, but the vendor had gone to bed, the shop closed when Mahaado sent him back to his homeland.

'I will just let her wander off, once she's at least semi alone I can just change my shape and make an excuse. Saying he had to leave would be easy enough, but if the food is 'that' good...' he shook his head of the thoughts.

"Uh Mahaado? What do you mean 'come back for seconds'?" Mokuba asked as he looked between the magician and the woman.

"Well... I... brought over some food stands from other parts of the world for something... She seems to have partaken of one and they're not here anymore..." Mahaado admitted ruefully.

"You what? Didn't they realize what you did? If they're from different parts of the world wouldn't they notice that they were taking orders from people not speaking the same language? Or even being completely relocated?!" Mokuba asked his mouth falling open as Mahaado gave the most nonplussed shrug possible.

"Well, they would have to notice those things first, correct?"

Fear started to coil up in Mokuba's stomach as he took that fact in. What had, at first, been a huge comfort, having powerful GODS as his big brothers, was now a little scary. His brother could cause massive storms on a whim, summon the 'actual' Blue Eyes White Dragon herself! Yugi was the absolute god of the universe, full stop. Now how easily Mahaado just acknowledged that, yeah, he can literally kidnap people and they not even know it.

"So..." Mokuba's head dropped, his fingers curling into fists.

The childs' voice trembling as it did caused Mahaado to look down, then drop to a knee so he could see the boy's face better. "What is wrong?" He asked as he saw the first silvery trail of tears begin to spill down.

"So if any of you get tired of me you can just get rid of me?" Mokuba asked, despite the fact they were outside, he couldn't shake the feeling of walls closing in on him. "You could put me back in the orphanage if you want to? Just like that?"

"I... do not know what an 'or-phan-age' is, however; your brother would be incredibly distressed if something bad were to happen to you." Mahaado pointed out slowly, there was enough distress in the childs' voice as to remind him of the Pharaohs.

"He could replace me couldn't he? Big brother could just make a brand new me and he..." Mokuba began, when Mahaado planted both his hands on the boy's shoulders leaving his staff upright.

"The Pharaoh is not like that, He would not take you from Seto or replace you. I do not know what horrible lies the modern world has crafted to make the Pharaoh one to be feared but He is not like that to the good. Were your heart heavy against the Scale of Hathor's feather then perhaps. But that is 'not' the case!"

"Well I could, what's a few thousand globe spanning plagues to let the world know I'm back?"

"But I wasn't always good, I tried to poison him once before! Sure he didn't give me a Penalty Game like Big Brothers' but..."

"No buts..." Mahaado interrupted the child again. "I am sorry if my words caused you distress, but you have already received your punishment. He does not inflict punishment upon punishment for a single mistake. Were you to never learn then that would be another story... Though they are Gods, they do care deeply for this world and those who live upon it."

"Liar! Mommy died because of me! If I had never been born Big Brother would never have been thrown away by the rest of the family! He could have lived with our parents and been happy! Once he remembers that, how can he 'not' want to get rid of me?!" Mokuba demanded in crushed defiance.

"He's got it backwards Maha... His mother died because of 'Seto'. She was destined to have Mokuba and the two of them would have been together. Seto disrupted her fate, and took Mokuba's place as the one child. But Mokuba's place couldn't be denied so he was born as well and the price was her life. Seto absolute devotion to Mokuba was born from a subconscious awareness of that fact."

The Pharaohs words resonated down their connection and Mahaado was left at a loss for how he could comfort the child. Revealing 'that' would not do anyone any good as far as the magician saw it.

"If you never had been born, Seto would have been lonely. He's already incredibly insufferable when he feels so inclined. With you he's forced to actual civil behavior from time to time." Mahaado pointed out.

"I mean you're not wrong and way too nice about it..."