Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ The Twin Pharaohs' Rage ❯ Inside my Head ( Prologue )

(Howdy-howdy! Well, this is my 1st Yugioh story and I'm really glad you took the time to take a glance at it. Of course, I don't own any of these loveable characters. Anyway, here's the basic run-down: I combined a little bit of the American-version cartoon and the original manga story together, such as names and certain events. But don't worry to all you guys who haven't collected the manga or have seen the episodes of the anime cartoon I refer to. I've tried to make this story pretty self-explanatory so even a person who hasn't even heard of Yugioh can appreciate it a bit. In addition, while I possess a large vocabulary of Japanese words inside my pea-sized brain, I took the liberty in not having the cast say Japanese things, like `ojiisan' and so forth. Yes, most of them are Japanese, but think of my story as the English dubbed version, LOL. Dubbed, as in written purely in one language. Oh, and by the way, while doing this story I also did some Egyptian-type of homework and found some way cool stuff. More on that in the next chapter. Finally, the story kind of takes place after the Battle City tournament. Anyway, that's all for now. Enjoy!)

PROLOGUE: Inside My Head

The white lights emerging from the room glare deeply into the eyes of a middle-aged Japanese man. He sits, dressed in clean-white overalls, in the middle of the room. His legs are crossed like an Indian, as if he were preparing for his daily ritual or a prayer of some sort. Meanwhile, the ivory-colored walls surround him. They're made of a soft fabric. It's sewed deeply with a delicate thread. The pattern of the thread creates small, square shapes. A door can be found at the left side of the man. The room, itself, is small and cramped, only a mere seven feet in height and sixteen feet in width. It's just enough for two men, maybe three, but no more than that.

The aged man lowers his face, trying to shield the fire of the light from consuming his eyes. A strand of gray hair falls near his bandaged area, where his left ear is supposed to be. He pulls the renegade hair strand away, suddenly remembering the wound there, hidden beneath the layers of tape. He grimaces and wants to forget it. He doesn't want to remember that wound, how he got it. Not now, at least.

Irritated, he scratches his cheek. Layers of dry skin cling to the tips of his fingertips. He lifts up his fingers, taking the time to observe the flakes there. His skin is an odd color, he notices. It's a sick, pale color. It's a color that indicates the hardships he's had to overcome in his life, the stress. He swallows hard, realizing how dry his mouth is. He tries to create some saliva to disturb this uncomfortable sensation but he can't. The medication given to him this morning has made him drowsy. It's also the cause of his dry mouth.

"Ame," a male's voice suddenly surfaces, disturbing the awful sounds of silence.

The Japanese man gazes upward. His eyes flinch, still sensitive against the light. Nevertheless, he manages to lift his head enough to observe a speaker box located at the top corner of his room. At the opposite corner of it is a television screen. It's currently tuned in to a Toyota commercial. No sounds come from it, however. The volume is on mute and only the close-caption can be seen at the lower part of the flashing images. Ride the way into the future, it reads. The Japanese frowns. Yeah… right.

"Ame," the voice reemerges from the speaker box once again. The male's voice is soft in tone, almost sympathetic. "I hope you're comfortable enough to have a talk with me."

Ame blinks at the box. His face expresses nothing.

"We've lowered your medication today because you've been making great progress so far," the voice continues. "Aren't you happy?"

Ame says nothing. He slowly turns his focus onto the television screen.

The voice ceases. For a couple of brief moments, Ame is left to enjoy the mute sounds of silence as well as the empty images displayed on the television screen. However, it isn't long before Ame's peaceful prison is disturbed again. This time, it's the sound of a door that breaks the silence.

A doctor in his late fifties enters the small, white room. He holds a notepad underneath his armpit and wears a white coat to compliment his doctor-like clothes. A metal tab, where his heart lies beneath, reveals a name: Nuguchi.

"So, how's my favorite patient feeling today?" the doctor asks, the owner of the voice heard just now. A gentle smile is on his face.

Ame remains quiet, his face glued to the television. In fact, it doesn't appear that he's even aware of another presence inside his room. The current commercial he watches stops and the local news begins to telecast in its place.

"Come, now, Ame," Doctor Nuguchi resumes, "No need to be shy or embarrassed or modest. You should feel proud of yourself. You've made excellent progress. Yes, you have. Don't you feel proud?"

His patient is still silent. He's too busy observing the news than communicating with him. The doctor frowns.

"Ame, it's important that we talk. You need to talk. You're making wonderful progress. Why not talk about it? Why not celebrate your steps to recovery?"

This finally gets a response from Ame. He chuckles. It's a bitter and dry one.

"Progress?" he says, his voice heavy with sarcasm and despair, "What progress? I still hear the voice inside my head. I'm still here in this mental institution, aren't I? What's to celebrate? What progress?"

Ame glares at the doctor with a cold look on his face. Then he returns his gaze onto the news, which is covering a murder case now.

"That's why we need to communicate, Ame," the doctor replies with a very concerned tone. "You're no longer acting out like before. That's a mark of improvement there. And as for the voice? I'm sure it'll only be a matter of time before -"

"Before what? Before it completely stops?" Ame asks hard, tired of this conversation already. He closes his eyes, obviously in emotional distress. "It'll never go away. It'll always be here. The only reason why I'm no longer acting out anymore is because I'm tired of fighting it. I feel worn out and there's not a damn thing I can do about it. It's already consumed me. Like it did with all the others before me…"

"Others?"

"Yes. Haven't I told you already? About the voice and the other souls he's taken?"

The doctor clears his throat a bit. He scratches his left eyebrow. His face is a mixture of concern and skepticism. "Yes, I remember. The Egyptian God… The Bringer of Death. Osiris, am I correct?"

Ame nods, his eyes revealing a sense of fear in them. "Osiris has taken many others before me, controlling them like it's doing to me. At first, I didn't understand why. But now I'm starting to see a connection between its victims and me. It's just that… each time I try to figure it all out… I start losing my mind again. I start seeing things that don't exist…"

"Like what? What do you see?"

Ame looks the doctor straight in the eye. "Chaos. Destruction. I see thousands of dead bodies and the entire world in fire. I… I feel like I'm losing my mind!"

"Calm down, Ame. It's all right -"

"No! It isn't! Something terrible is about to happen and I can't do a damn thing about it! Everyone's going to die! How would you feel if the voice in your head was the cause of this? And how would you feel if you were helpless in stopping it? In stopping an Egyptian God's wrath?"

The doctor takes a step toward Ame. His face is full of sympathy and confidence. "That's why I'm here. I'm here to tell you that the visions you see and voice you hear are nothing more than illusions. I'm here to keep you on the right track and to assure you that you control your own destiny. Not some voice."

"You don't understand!"

"But I do. If you can just let me…" Nuguchi stops. He realizes that Ame is now looking back at the television screen, his fists clenched tightly. He's ignoring him again.

The news moves away from yesterday's suicide incident into something more delightful.

A woman stands in front of, what appears to be, an amusement park. It's not entirely completed and many workers walk on and off the screen, busy carrying things as well as putting things in place. About six men carry a huge sign as they walk past the camera. The words Monster Paradise is imprinted in large and colorful letters.

"Word's been out that Kaiba has some new competition. A new park will be opening somewhere in Domino city a month or so from now, I believe," Nuguchi informs, hoping to invoke a delightful conversation between his patient and himself. "Can't wait to see how that turns out."

Despite Ame remaining quiet, he does appear interested on the topic. He blinks. His eyes grow intense as they watch the coverage on the new amusement park.

"My ten-year-old son is a huge gamer of that card game," the doctor continues, "What's it called again? Duelist Monsters?"

"Duel Monsters," Ame corrects him. "It's called Magic and Wizards too."

"Really? Well, anyway, my son plays against his friends everyday. I took him to Kaiba Land about two years ago. I nearly peed in my pants from watching those holographic monsters. They appear as real as you and me! Anyway, he's addicted to that card game, I tell you. He hardly has time to do his homework, which is why I often ground him. But still… he plays and hopes to make it into one of those regional tournaments one day." He sighs. "Frankly, I don't know what the big deal about these… monsters is. Or why, for that matter, Kaiba spends so much of his time and resources on a simple child's game. If I had as much brains and money as that guy, why, I'd invest it on something more productive."

"But maybe you're wrong."

"Wrong?" Nuguchi notes the stiff tone Ame uses. "About what?"

"About the game being a simple child's game." A pause, "And maybe there's more to this card game than you think you know."

"You're referring to the theory about these card monsters actually being based on real monsters, aren't you?" Nuguchi raises an eyebrow. "So, you actually think the monsters are real? Or were, for that matter, Ame?"

Ame doesn't say anything.

"I assure you, Ame, that those are just theories conjured up by people seeking their five minutes of fame. Besides, if these monsters were actually real at one point in human history, wouldn't we discover fossils of them? Wouldn't there be physical evidence?"

"There're the tablets found in Egypt," Ame simply says.

"Yes. The tablets that supposedly contain pictures of the monsters and the word `duel'. Yes. I've heard of that too. As a matter of fact, they're currently being viewed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. It's being organized by an Egyptian woman named Isis Ishtar." Nuguchi shrugs. "I must confess that those tablets don't contain enough proof to state that these monsters ever did exist. The tablets, for one, have yet to be scientifically proven to be authentic. And if they are authentic, one has to remember that this ancient language hasn't been spoken for thousands of years. Who's to say that those hieroglyphics haven't been mistranslated by archeologists? Or, perhaps, they are meant to be metaphorical statements as opposed to literal ones?"

Nuguchi stops, suddenly realizing something. He looks a bit embarrassed. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean… to offend you."

Ame blinks. For some odd reason he wants to scratch his bandaged wound. He ignores it, however, and takes a few more glances at the broadcast. There's a young man now, staring directly right back at him, or at the camera actually. The young man wears a stiff and serious face. His hair is a chocolate brown color. Meanwhile, his icy blue eyes stare blankly towards the camera, as if bored. The young man's appearance reveals a person full of pride and arrogance.

"That Seto Kaiba guy sure looks scary," Nuguchi jokes. "I'm just happy I don't have a son like that. Rumor has it that he dueled his stepfather for the corporation he owns now. He won and somewhere down the line, he kicked him to curve before his death. If that's not a sign of a cold character then I don't know what is. Of course, the doctor in me would say that his alienated attitude towards people most likely stems from a poor relationship with his stepfather. Or, perhaps, isolation he felt when he was in the orphanage."

Ame ignores Doctor Nuguchi. He already knows Seto Kaiba's history, at least from biographies he read about him. His parents died and he grew up in an orphanage along with his baby brother, Mokuba. When a multimillionaire and world-renounced chess player, Gozaburo Kaiba, came to adopt a child he chose Seto. But Seto refused to leave without his brother and so, he challenged him to a game of chess. If Seto won he'd take Mokuba with him. If not, it would be just Seto. They played and Seto won. Then, Seto challenged his stepfather again, this time for his corporation. He won that too. Yes, he's heard all of this before.

There's a second side to this story that no one else knows, though. He only knows it because the voice told him one summer day. According to Osiris, Seto wanted to get out of the orphanage. Therefore, he devised a plan that would make that happen. When Gozaburo Kaiba came to denote money for the orphanage - for the purpose of making himself a good public image, of course - he challenged Gozaburo to a game of chess. If he won, then Gozaburo would have to adopt him and Mokuba. Pride and the need to shut this brat up forced Gozaburo to accept. Using the same strategy Gozaburo used against his other opponents, Seto managed to beat him in his own game.

As to how Seto managed to gain control of Kaiba Corps, the voice told him about that too. And this story paints a more gruesome picture of the young, intelligent man. According to some people who claim to have worked under his stepfather, they accuse Seto of driving him to commit suicide. They also connected him with other gruesome `incidents,' mainly to the former owners of the rare Blue Eyes White Dragon cards. Only four existed throughout the world and all owners of them had experienced misfortunes. One went bankrupt and lost everything. The second supposedly committed suicide. The third had a run-in with the mafia. And the fourth had his card torn apart. Now, Seto possesses all three Blue Eyes White Dragon card.

He resumes observing Kaiba's features on the screen. His mouth moves but nothing comes out due to the television's volume on mute. Yet, he can already hear that unfriendly voice of the young, brilliant man. According to the close-caption box below, the reporter is asking him how he feels about the new competition now. Ame doesn't bother reading Kaiba's answer. Instead, Ame looks at Kaiba's features carefully. Seeing him reminds him of something else. Someone else, actually. It's then that his face expresses tension.

"Do you know the name of the only gamer who beat Kaiba in a duel?" he asks the doctor without taking his eyes away from Kaiba's interview.

"You mean Yugi Motou?" The doctor chuckles. "That's one thing I'll never forget. My son's a huge fan of his, you know. He's been keeping tabs on him, via the Internet, since his win over Pegasus in the Duelist Kingdom tournament. Even in the Battle City tournaments I'd see my son and his friends cheering for Yugi. He's his biggest fan and on numerous occasions has sent him letters, telling him how great he is and what kind of strategy tips he can offer and whatnot. Yugi's been kind enough to reply to each one. When my son mailed him, along with a special card of his, he told Yugi it was his birthday and that he'd like for him to sign it. Three days later, not only did he find his special card signed, but he also received a box full of cards too!"

Nuguchi nods his head in satisfaction. "That Yugi kid is a great role-model for children. The world could use more people like him than people like Kaiba."

Ame looks at him. "You're aware that the young boy has a voice problem too, aren't you?"

The doctor frowns. "Why would you say that? Where did you hear that?"

"The voice inside my head told me. Osiris told me that he's got a voice. That's how he beat Kaiba. That's how he beat Pegasus. He's two people in one. They're one of the same people."

The doctor sighs. It appears that his patient really isn't getting better after all. Now he's hallucinating again. Perhaps it was wrong to lower his meds this morning.

"The voice I have means to have him," Ame continues, his voice very slow and very dark now. "It plans to win him over with priced treasures and false promises."

"Priced treasures? False promises? What do you mean, Ame?"

"It's been waiting for the perfect time to pursue him," Ame resumes, as if not hearing Nuguchi at all. He lowers his face, looking at the floor. "For thousands of years, Osiris has been waiting patiently inside the chaotic depths of my mind, waiting to unleash its terrible power and burden onto that young boy."

"Ame, what are - ?"

"Only the boy can contain its rage and power. It'll slowly corrupt his innocence with hate. It will make this boy's inner light into darkness. It will turn all those who love him against him. This is its will. This is its desire. It will be bonded with the flesh and blood of that child and walk the Earth, damning everyone in its wake. And Osiris will destroy anyone who gets in its way, including the voice that protects the boy."

"If this `voice' of yours is so powerful, then why doesn't he do this on his own?" the doctor asks, playing along with Ame's loss of sanity. "And why now? Why not earlier?"

"Osiris has waited until everything was set, the key players in place. It is a damned voice. Listen to it and the condemned one will gain access to life."

A teardrop suddenly falls down Ame's cheek. His face is still a blank stare but his eyes appear lost and desperate, as if searching for a way out.

"It's traveled from one body into the next, for thousands of years," Ame tells the doctor. This time, his tone isn't as dark as it was a second ago. It's more passionate and concerned. It's like two people are talking. "At first, I thought its victims were random. But… there is a connection. A connection, I tell you. But now that connection is cut off. I am the last person in the line. I am second to last."

"Ame," now Nuguchi is truly concerned. Ame has truly lost it. He speaks in such nonsense.

"The voice plans to carry out its plans…" a short pause. Ame finally looks up. "…Through me…"

Doctor Nuguchi says nothing. He's unable to reach this lost soul. Maybe it was the lack of medication today. Maybe he should remove the television set in the room. He might be having a nervous breakdown because of it. He might feel that he's unconnected with the world and so, he makes up a voice to keep him connected. He should've never assumed Ame was getting better. He seems to be getting worse. He realizes that now. He'll just have to confine him in this room and increase his meds from here on out.

Nuguchi prepares to leave until he notices Ame slowly standing up. His face is a dark stare, his eyes completely blank. There is no light in him. No soul.

The doctor takes a step back, feeling uncomfortable and… afraid. He was foolish in refusing the orderly guy to accompany him here. Nuguchi takes another step back towards the door when Ame gets closer. Ame has never attacked him before. But those eyes… those dark and evil eyes!

(I hope you enjoyed the Prologue! It's pretty short compared to the chapters coming up. Don't worry all you Yugi fans! Yugi's making his grand appearance in Chapter 1! Along with the rest of the gang! So sit back, grab a Pepsi, and as Frankie Goes to Hollywood would say `relax!')