Chapter 2

He woke slowly, languidly stretching. Wherever he was, it felt warm and secure, so it probably wasn’t his soul room…

He was lying on sheets. Yes, his mind supplied. They were soft, cool… silk? No, linen probably, finely woven in intricate flourishes…

He felt more than saw a movement as his eyes focused. He was lying on a bed with rich covers, the color of wine, and there were soft padding underneath his head. He sat up, mentally noting that he was still in the school uniform, and looked around. The walls were made out of white marble, there were pillars arching up to the roof gilded in gold flourishes…

The floor was also marble, slick, glistening white, and as he sat up, he noticed the man watching him for the first time.

He had eyes the color of the Egyptian sky and long, straight blonde hair that fell over his shoulders. Beautiful… his robes were of purest white linen, accented with lavish golden jewelry… blue and gold…

“Who are you?”

“Your loyal servant, my Pharaoh…”

Pharaoh… Yes, that sounded vaguely familiar… Yami Bakura had mentioned once, that he was a Pharaoh back in Egypt, but he remembered nothing….

Still, this place was comfortable…

Loyal…. Servant…

That wasn’t what he wanted to know. “Tell me your name.”

There was a brief second of hesitation, a flicker in those eyes, before the man bowed his head. “My name is Mahaado, my Pharaoh…”

“Mahaado….” He repeated, frowning. Yes, that sounded familiar, a whisper in the back of his mind, but… “Where am I?”

“We are in the Shadow Realm, in the Castle of Dark Illusions, my Pharaoh.”

The Shadow realm…

Now he realized why it felt comforting. The shadows had been his only companions for the long, lonely duration in the puzzle, after the darkness had sapped his strength and memory and mind…

He swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood carefully. However…. “Where is Yugi?”

“He is one of light, and cannot abide the shadows of this place. Do not worry, my Pharaoh… he is safe.” The man seemed to open the air in front of him, a mirror, and there, he could see Yugi, eating a hamburger with Anzu and laughing…

Yami let out a breath he had been unaware he was holding. “I see.”

“Do you require anything, my Pharaoh?”

Of course, this servant thing was going to grate on his nerves quite quickly. “Please stop that.”

A frown was his answer.

“You don’t need to call me that after each sentence… I cannot even remember my own name, my own memories…”

“Pharaoh….”

Yami shook his head. “Stop.”

A sudden glimpse of pain on the other’s face before it faded into obscurity… “Very well, Master.”

Oh, like that was any better? “Who are you really?” If he were in the Shadow Realm, then… this man had to be more than he looked. He was no spirit of a Sennen Item that Yami could tell…

But he had been able to… no. It couldn’t be…

His last memory was of his Dark Magician carrying him, so… “Are you my Dark Magician, then? Is that why you address me as Master?”

Perceptive. His God-king had always been sharp. “Yes, my Master.”
Interesting. His Dark Magician had a name. Mahaado… perhaps that was why he had seemed so familiar…

Mahaado hid a smile. Even if his Pharaoh did not remember, his presence was enough for Mahaado to assume his old appearance, which he did honestly prefer. Getting out of his armor took hours…

Well, he could not exactly tell his monster to stop, now could he? They were meant to live by the duelist’s will after all, obeying their orders…

It would do no good to break established structure.

“Mahaado…”

“There is a bath prepared for you, Master.”

Yami considered. A bath would do him some good. “All right.” He got up from bed and followed the dark magician, padding across the floor to another room. Bathing chambers, obviously, a lush green and white marble…

The water was fainting steaming, scented with flower petals… he nodded as the monster left the room, shedding his clothes and sinking into warm water…

This was possibly one of the luxuries he had missed…

But now, here, at least in this time, he had his own body… he allowed the water to wash his anxieties from his mind, and the soreness from his muscles, although that dreamless sleep had done wonders…

He found several warm towels waiting for him afterwards, and generous quantities of scented oil… he dried off and found clothing waiting as well, a linen kilt and tunic, that were quite comfortable.

Of course… he was of Egypt after all…

Feeling much better after lacing up the sandals that had come with the outfit, Yami left the room and smiled at his Dark Magician. The monster gave a polite bow and led him down the hallway.

Food was waiting. Not Japanese fare or the hamburgers Yuugi liked so much, but this was… home…

Did the Shadow Realm make one see what one wanted to see? Impossible.

Was this an illusion? No, the bread tasted real enough and the wine was refreshing, delicious, lightly spiced and rich…

He… enjoyed this.

His Dark Magician was the only monster he saw, that day. He spent the rest of the day in a library, full of scrolls, familiar, so familiar, the hieroglyphics blossoming across his mind in their ornate script…

This place seemed far too real to be mere illusion.

This place was home… if ever he considered a place home. True, Yuugi was kind, but his grandfather still knew not of his presence, and really…

Yuugi’s friends were more friends than his friends…

He ought to be worried now, but he wasn’t. Yuugi had his friends to take care of him. He didn’t quite need Yami that much.

But what of Battle City and his lost memories, what would happen if he whiled his time away here?

“Mahaado?”

Blue eyes focused on him as the owner set down the scroll he had been perusing. “Pharaoh, my – Master?”

“When can I return to the real world?”

Mahaado gave a gentle smile. “When you are healed, my Pharaoh… do not worry, time runs differently in this realm than in the other. Perhaps you will wake and find that no time has passed…”

That was reassuring, if a bit oddly phrased. And Mahaado had slipped again.

Pharaoh…

Did this prove he really had been Pharaoh in his past life?

Chapter End!

Completed 10/13/05

Whee!