Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Alternate World ❯ Duel One: The World of His Memories ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: This piece of fiction is based on the world by Kazuki Takahashi. However, this has been written intended for fun, and therefore, as with any fanfiction writer who writes for his or her fandom, no profit is being made out of this, since I am not affiliated with Kazuki Takahashi, et al. No copyright infringement is intended.

 

Author's Note: Alternate World takes into consideration actions up until the second volume of the "Yu-Gi-Oh! Millennium World" manga (I will also be quoting several phrases from both manga volumes). I will be mixing the actual "canon" along with several pieces of my own concoction, though I will try to make it plausible enough to look like I've taken it from canon… I will warn you, I'm not too good at that. Also, while I've been quite familiar with the fandom for quite some time, please understand that this will be my first time writing Yu-Gi-Oh fanfiction. If I've got something wrong, please don't hesitate to point things out to me. Thank you.

 

~Please enjoy, and leave a review! ~

 

* * * * *

 

ALTERNATE WORLD
by Shieldmaiden18

 

* * * * *

 

"Dost thou dream of what was and no more is,
The old kingdoms of earth and the kings?
Dost thou hunger for these things, Dolores,
For these, in a world of new things?"

-"Dolores" by Algernon Charles Swinburne

 

* * * * *

 

Duel One: The World of His Memories

 

- - - - - - - - -

. . . DIAHA! . . .

- - - - - - - - -

 

There were just so many things he didn't understand.

"Pharaoh?"

He had been, after all, stripped of all his memories.

"Pharaoh?"

All of his past was a blur, a very speedy blur.

"For shame—! Falling asleep on the throne—Pharaoh!"

The last call shook crimson eyes open, vividly out of focus before the said crimson eyes managed to lock on a target—one very familiarly-faced target. The blue eyes and the gray hair were the dead giveaway. "O—ojii-sama?"

'Grandpa' looked thoroughly shocked. "Whatever do you mean, 'ojii-sama'? It is I, Siamun Mura, your advisor, Great Pharaoh!"

Crimson eyes turned more attentively this time, and noticed that Siamun was, indeed, not Grandpa, though he looked very similar, and sounded very similar as well. He massaged his temples, and the bridge of his nose, looking explicitly tired. His eyes looked briefly around his surroundings, and he gasped. There were statues, hieroglyphs, and several walls covered with such images of gods like Osiris, Isis, and Horus. There were two statues of Anubis guarding the door as Yami's eyes wandered further around the hall, and off to their side, two statues of Ra stood proudly.

Then, directly in front of him, stood six regally-dressed people stood, a glint of gold catching his eyes immediately; the six people wielded the Millennium Items—the items that were the six of the seven, the last and most powerful around his very own neck. He opened his mouth to speak, and whispered to 'Siamun,' "What is it we're waiting for, Ojii—I mean, Siamun?"

Siamun looked at him in the oddest fashion that Yami feared he had insulted the elder, but he almost had to stop a sigh of relief when Siamun replied, "Great Pharaoh, you must be tired." He smiled pityingly at him. "We are waiting for the guards to bring the thief who dared to rob your father's tomb. This must be why you are so distressed."

Finding no other reason to not play the son's grief of just hearing that his father's tomb, of all things, had been robbed, Yami nodded, and played along - "Yes. Thank you for understanding, Siamun." Frowning slightly, he took in the faces of those gathered in front of him, eyes widening again as he recognized four of the six figures standing there. Blue eyes and chocolate brown hair - his mind said "Kaiba" all too quickly. Calm eyes and dark, smooth hair - Ishizu. Another, more somber striking pair of blue eyes - Shadi. And, while he was not overly familiar with the man himself, the features of the fourth priest that he thought he recognized were so very alike to the Dark Magician's, though he was very sure he was not named 'the Dark Magician'; in fact, he was not sure if their names were at all the same as their "present-day" counterparts.

"Great Pharaoh!" a voice shouted from the other side of the large doors at the head of the throne room. "May we bring him in?"

I don't know what I'm getting myself into, Yami thought as he replied, "Very well—go ahead!" Then again, he mused as he thought of several things at once, I never know what I'm getting myself into. Bobasa said—

"Great Pharaoh," the same voice said as it entered, along with two other guards and a man held between them, "High Priests. Several guards placed at the former Pharaoh's tomb caught this man trying to break into the tomb itself and—"

"It was empty," the acclaimed thief said, apparently not realizing what he had just said. "Somebody had already gotten to it!"

"Silence!" called one of the high priests assembled in front of Yami. His crimson eyes flickered over to the one that looked so very much like Seto Kaiba, and then he found himself instinctively leaning left toward Siamun as the advisor whispered in his ear, "Great Pharaoh, there is no end to thieves like this, who would rob the royal tombs." Then he continued as soon as he noticed that the pharaoh's attention was set directly on him and not the unfolding scene, "These sinners are judged by the seven holy items of the pharaoh and the six priests. The Millennium Items!"

That's what they're for then? Yami thought to himself as another of his priests called out, "Now your crime will be judged by the seven Millennium Items!" Wait—wait! 'Seven'—that included his Puzzle! I don't even know how to judge someone, his train of thought continued, shoulders sagging, Yami inwardly panicking as he leaned back into his chair. I know how to crush someone's mind and summon the Shadows but—

The man that the two guards had held earlier was now released, but he was held at spear-point. He glanced at the six gathered priests, saying numbly as he looked on at them helplessly, "What… What are you going to do…?"

The priest that reminded Yami so very much of the Dark Magician replied in a bitter fashion, "To make you sorry that you ever tried robbing former-Pharaoh Akunamukanon's tomb."

A—Akunamukanon…? Yami's head shot up immediately, staring at the blond-haired priest who spoke. Why does that sound so familiar…?

"High Priest Shada!" the same priest called out. One of the hooded priests who bore the extraordinary likeness of Shadi—Yami had to prevent himself from snorting at the name—held out the Item that he held in his hand; the very same item that "present-day" Shadi always had. The Millennium Key.

He declared, "With the Millennium Key, I look into this man's heart!"

The pharaoh felt the air around him shift and he gripped the edges of his throne as the accused thief began screaming and as Shada's Key began glowing. He did not know what was going on, did not recognize whatever tactic Shada was using to 'judge' the sinner, and looked even more confused when Shada continued, "Just as I expected! I see the shadow of an evil ka in this man's heart!"

Another of the hooded priests, this time with no connection to the present as far as Yami was concerned and as far as his knowledge extended, began saying as the Item Yami recognized as the Millennium Eye began glowing, "And now, I, High Priest Akunadin, will use the Millennium Eye to reveal the true form of that ka!"

The Eye glowed maliciously, and the grip that Yami had on his throne's arms were so tight that his knuckles were turning white. The man's voice gurgled as some sort of spiritual substance began leaving him through his mouth, and Yami looked on in horror. Siamun began speaking again.

"Anger. Hatred. Those negative emotions create monsters in men's souls." The pharaoh had to resist the urge to snort. "Eventually those ka will take over that person, making them commit crimes… breaking the divine order of Ma'at… increasing their power by creating more rage and sorrow."

Flickers of emotions sped through Yami's eyes in a flash—What is my ka?—before a monster with six limbs, four claws on each, appeared and it was the ka that had been formed by the convict's soul. Siamun continued with a voice as neutral as always. "The six priests chosen by the power of one thousand years have the ability to exorcise these demons—and seal them away in stone slabs!"

Stone slabs? The two guards that had escorted the thief into the throne room were standing on either side of, well, a stone slab that miraculously resembled the shape of a Duel Monsters card. Is this what they used to duel?

The next calling made Yami flinch, though it seemed Siamun's eyes were directed to the ka that had seeped out of the convict, so he did not notice. Yami was nearing the edge of his seat as the first priest, the one who resembled the Dark Magician, called: "Priest Seto! Use the power of your Millennium Rod to seal the ka within this stone!"

The regally-dressed priest with several golden armbands on both arms and a glorious headdress with a striking cobra and several other golden trinkets around him murmured, eyes flickering over slightly to the said priest, "A ka of this low level isn't even an amusement for the pharaoh." Nonetheless, he held out his Rod, and declared in a voice that Yami knew and remembered all too well, "Evil ka! Dark spirit of chaos! Be gone—and enter the holy stone!" The Eye on the Rod gave off a very faint glow before it flashed brightly, and the monster that had exited the man began instantly deteriorating. The priest directed his Rod toward the stone slab, and the ka was no more. The spears that had been pointed at the man's throat were taken away at an instant as the man feel onto his knees.

It's him—there's no mistaking it. It's really him—!

"Well done, Priest Seto," said the priest named "Akunadin".

"Seto" snorted. "Please. I'm sure it was dull for the pharaoh." His eyes looked coldly at the kneeling prisoner, a dark amusement blanketing his face, "Shall we draw and quarter this prisoner for his amusement?"

I can hardly believe I find drawing and quartering a person… amusing.

"That is unnecessary. The evil ka has been exorcised from that man's soul. Even though he is a sinner, part of the duty of a priest is to show mercy. Don't you agree, Priest Seto?"

Yami was all too concerned with whatever was happening to have listened intently to Seto's reply. His eyes gave another scan of the magnificent room, and the grandeur of the room seemed to be too much for him. He sighed, breathed in deeply, and then paid attention to the situation at hand as the convict as being taken away. Seto continued, addressing the priest who looked so very much like his favorite card,

"Priest Mahado! Supervision of the royal tombs is the duty of your guards, is it not?" He sneered at him, and Yami could not help but question himself if this actually was "Seto" three thousand years ago, since he was so very like "Seto" three thousand years into the future. "The royal toms are being defiled—" Yami flinched at his choice of words, feeling a great deal of pity for Mahado, "—too often these days…what do you have to say about that?"

The crimson-eyed pharaoh found himself listening to the melodious voice that carried around the large, high-ceilinged room, "You have my deepest apologies… However, for the last few days the auguries I receive from the Millennium Ring have been extremely erratic… The number of ka nesting in people's souls have vastly increased. I can't detect every sinner and every evil intention."

He must have a rather hard job, if Seto's blaming it right out on him, Yami thought with pity.

"It is the duty of the six priests to protect the Pharaoh!" Seto replied back quietly, although it was obvious in his voice that he was not at all pleased - whether it was at Mahado, or that the tomb had been "defiled", or both, Yami could not tell. "Both in this world… and in the tombs where they await the world beyond!"

He knew he shouldn't have opened his mouth, shouldn't have spoken, but his mouth seemed to be working on its own. "Seto," he barked, the name and the following words rolling off his tongue smoothly even though his mind was erratic, "people make mistakes; I'm very sure you do, as well. Who is to expect that Mahado, who is just as human as you are, will not make mistakes?"

All pairs of eyes turned to him that very moment, Mahado's containing a very hopeful and apologetic expression, while Seto looked at him strangely, and the others held muffled shock. Now Yami was very worried. Perhaps it had been "uncharacteristic" of him to have spoken to his priest like that? He did not even know if, in this "world", they were close, related, what-have-you. Instead, however, Seto bowed in his direction, and said, "My pharaoh."

Mahado chose that very moment to speak, to kneel on one knee before his throne, head bowed in embarrassment, "Great Pharaoh! I request permission to enlist more troops to strengthen the guards at the Valley of the Kings."

More troops? Yami frowned slightly, and he noticed Mahado's flinch. The priest thought that it was because of him. He gave a thin smile to Mahado, before he said, just winging it so, "I leave it to you, Mahado." He nodded.

Seto then commanded, "Take the new kato the Shrine of Wedju! Place it among the other stones!"

There's just so much I don't understand. The ka, the six priests, the purpose of the Millennium Items... And everyone's calling me "Pharaoh"! This is much too weird for a mere dream. Could it be—?

The world—of my memory?