A Past and Future Pharaoh

Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix

Beta: WhiteSwan

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Silence.

The silence of the room was nails on chalk board, there was no natural or normal sounds to take comfort from. There was only apprehension and worry as people moved about in their cells, the shuffle of a coat, or sneakers on concrete. Sighs of frustration mixed with sighs of anxiety or remorse. Every sound that was produced came from a source knowing they were in danger. Two people held importance, two people could be killed at a moments notice. In all it was just...

Silence.

The silence from within his soul where the voice of a friend had once emanated from deep within him came. The fact that they were in danger made him wish that his other self was still there. Someone who he could talk to who had all this unquestionable courage and confidence. They hadn't been partners for such a long time, in the span of things their time together had been pretty short. But now he didn't even know what to do with himself with all of this silence.

His other self had faded away, gone on to his well-deserved eternal rest. His other self, the Pharaoh Atem, had died to seal away the Shadow Games, becoming a spirit to protect the future from the foolish mistake of bringing such a dangerous ability back. He too was now gone, leaving only silence where once was a strong self assured voice.

They should have been home, living their lives; the life of danger and adventure should have been over with the Sennen Items gone. Instead, they sat in cells so far underground that there wasn't a window only manufactured air from a vent too small for even Mokuba. Across from his cell Jounouchi sat at the wall staring at the ceiling. On the right from Jounouchi was Kaiba; on Yugi's right was Mokuba.

The Kaibas' had been at gunpoint when Yugi and Jounouchi chanced upon them, and thus was kidnapped as well. After all there could be no immediate witnesses to the kidnapping but leaving a pair of bodies, including the King of Games would be a problem. Yugi didn't remember what happened after the chloroform rag was shoved over his nose and mouth.

When Yugi finally came around he found that Mokuba was handcuffed to the bars of their cell walls. Over 5,000 watts of power was ready to surge through the bars at the moment anyone tried to escape, killing Mokuba in the process. Needless to say, Kaiba wasn't taking that well at all. The teen was stalking his cell like a caged in lion and barely ate when food was given to him. Yugi had to hand over food to Mokuba as they shared a wall.

Yet amid all this tension, amid all this internal silence something new seemed to awaken. With the loss of the Puzzle, Yugi had found himself unable to reach his Soul Room. But for the first time since the Ceremonial Duel, Yugi could feel something within him much akin to the Room. But how was he supposed to reach that whatever it even was?

For the first time since he had regained consciousness in this cell, Yugi found himself more invested in his surroundings. His hands clenched to his chest as he aimlessly stared at the ground before him, as though words were supposed to appear.

"What's wrong Yugi?"

"Nothing Mokuba…" Yugi waved it aside. But there was something, as faint as the flutter of the wings of a newly emerged butterfly or perhaps the opening of a Door. He briefly scanned each cell, checking on everyone. Kaiba was stalking his cell, occasionally casting worried glances at his younger brother, when he thought that Yugi and the others couldn't see him. Jounouchi was sitting upright stiffly in his cell, almost as if he wasn't aware of the world around him. For a brief moment Yugi thought he saw a hand resting on Jounouchi's shoulder, guiding him.

"Hey Yugi… I'm dying of boredom would you mind if we duel? Just to pass the time?"

That sounded like something Jounouchi would suggest, except Jounouchi never spoke in polite terms; he was rougher when he talked. "Sure…"

Yugi pulled out Atem's deck and began to shuffle while Jounouchi did the same. The Kaiba's roused themselves for the duel; though Kaiba would only remark about how short it was going to be. Yet that died; Kaiba realizing how Jounouchi didn't seem aware of what was said at him. The duel began; there were no God cards, or immense holographic displays of the monsters being played, even any paper to keep the life point tallies and monster stats.

Time passed by as the pair played their Gaias and Panther Warriors just to have them sent to the graveyard. Suddenly Yugi stopped caring about the duel; he just stared at the card he had just drawn from his deck. He held it in both hands looking it over and over again before scattering the rest of his cards, searching among them.

"What's the matter Yugi?" Mokuba asked, struggling to see from his spot.

"Dark Magician… Where's Dark Magician?" Yugi shook his head and carrying it to Mokuba he held up the card to show the kid. What should have been the Dark Magician was now just the robes with two red eyes peering out of the hood. The name 'Dark Magician' had been replaced with 'Illusionary Magician' and it's description and powers were now different.

"Yeah… That's weird… Have any other cards changed? Hey Big Brother how bout your cards?" Mokuba asked, looking over at Kaiba.

While Yugi resumed his search, Kaiba followed suit, checking his own deck, but each card, especially his Blue Eyes White Dragons, was accounted for. Though a flicker of light on one of his Blue Eyes caught Kaiba attention as he pulled them back out. It was changing as he held the card like holographic cards: at one angle it showed his favored Blue Eyes. At the other it showed him the girl who was forced to become Blue Eyes.

"I can't find Dark Magician."

"How bout your deck Jounouchi?" Mokuba asked looking over at the blond who was presently putting his cards back up.

"I'm well," the air around Jounouchi replied.

The group grew silent as a figure began to slowly materialize, walking across to Yugi. Everyone in the room stared in surprise as the figure began to appear; even Jounouchi once he got his head back straight. Yugi stood up, his cards in his hands, as he waited for the figure to reveal itself to him. That feeling was noticeably stronger than before though different from having a soul like Atem in him.

By now the attire of a high-ranking Egyptian priest was known to Yugi, so he relaxed a touch. But who ever this person was, their form didn't fully appear, though the color of the white robes and the gold was apparent. It was still swallowed up by the darkness, it seemed the ghost could not manifest itself, rather himself completely.

"Hello Pharaoh… It is…" the ghost had a thick accent and paused as though trying to think of the proper words. "Nice to finally receive the chance to meet you again."

"uh… Hello. I'm not the Pharaoh, but it is still nice to meet you… um..." Yugi floundered, his tongue tied by the mistaken identity.

"You know me as 'Dark Magician' though my human name was Mahaado. That was my name ages ago. You may address me as that if it pleases you," the ghost offered.

"Mahaado. It's nice to meet you… But… what are you even doing here?"