5Disclaimer : I don't own Yugioh in any way shape of form which belongs to his creator, Kazuki Takahashi.
An unknown location. Sand was everywhere which is expected of a desert especially in those plains... Night had already fallen and with it the searing cold succeeded the chilling heat of the day. Nothing was to be heard in this valley where the Pyramids was the only company.
A lone figure walked in this valley, this forgotten valley filled to the brim with exoticism, nostalgia and promises of a power long forgotten.
How the greed of men led them to desecrate tombs after tombs only finding their untimely death was something else. Traps the like of which were imagined by the most brilliant ancient Egyptians minds, deadly poisons and of courses the rumoured "curses".
Truly, Egypt to anyone was nothing else but majestic and mysterious.
But to this lone figure... It held a special meaning to this man. A man of average height dressed in traveller garments riding atop a camel's back. Deeply respectful he had a slight tan along adorning the craziest natural hairs.
A star shaped hairstyle of Black with purple edges and several bangs of blond straight up besides a lone one falling on his face.
Travelling upon these lands, Yugi Muto was reminiscing of several years past when his greatest friend, brother, his "Other" went to the Afterlife. To this day, he could not explain the feeling that this brought on... Pain and sadness was a given, nostalgia was another but happiness alongside the mix ? Happiness to have freed him from his fate.
Now several years past this fateful confrontation. This final and greatest duel in his life when he surpassed the unchallenged King Of Games finally forcefully robbing him of his Sword. The one Ishizu Isthar qualified of a God of Battle who controlled his own fate.
An historic moment.
Yes, several years after this Yugi Muto found that he couldn't keep Egypt out of his mind... It had ruled his hopes since he was a child receiving the Millennium Puzzle, or Sennen Puzzle after all. So when asked what kind of field he wished to study, what kind of studies he would be doing... Where most of people his age would give an answer to give one because only few know with certainty what they want to do with their lives at 17 or 18... He answered.
"I want to study archeology and major in Egyptian Field Study." This answer didn't come as a surprise to his friends. Their Yugi could only do this.
Muto Yugi had always been an average student at best in his life, actually passing Jonouchi by only 10 rank in his High School - Ranking 370th himself in overall grade performance.
This was true to all of his friends. From Anzu dream now realized to be a Star Dancer who performed in New York, then in World Tours especially in Japan. Or Honda who became a talented Soldier where he put his hands to hands skills to good use. Jonouchi himself took the Duelling Circuit and the entertainment business by storm. They were still as close as they ever were.
In the end, more than Grades he guessed, it was only a matter of finding your own path.
Himself, when he took in Archaeology... Saying he was a fish in water would be an understatement. Majoring, Graduating from University in less than two years when it should have taken seven he quickly became associated to the discovery of the Lost Tomb.
The Nameless Pharaoh's one.
He also became accredited to the discovery of the only record of said name : Pharaoh Atem. Wenting on publishing the most accurate tale of the Pharaoh's life, beliefs and myth. Of course, nowadays nobody would ever believe that magic and monsters existed.
But that they were believed to exist in said time ? That the Pharaoh was hailed as the greatest when it came to these Shadow Rituals ? Of course it could be. From his own book :
"[...]Many explanations to the nature of these Dark Rituals exist and could range from being actually true to being little more than fights to the death between opponents using weapons and hand to hand fighting. What was the nature or the true nature of these challenges isn't the actual point however : Record depicts Pharaoh Atem at being the best at what he did. A strategy genius, undefeated in combat be it military warfare or hand to hand to weaponry[...]"
In some way, he had to make the world know of Atem's legacy. If that meant distorting the truth in a believable one to the masses manner he wasn't above it.
Wenting on to learn Ancient Egyptian was also easy to him... Be it because of his link to Atem or anything else he only took one month to learn more about Ancient Egyptian and the Hieratic Language than most could in decades almost as if he had already lived then. This, and several other discoveries to his name before he was even out of school alongside his reputation of being a fierce defender of discovering tombs but never making profit from the discoveries allowed him to be hailed as an Archeological Genius.
This, alongside his still undefeated status of King Of Games made him more popular worldwide than the level of popularity that a "normal" archeologist would normally have.
Way more than this.
No matter what happened or how it happened, Egypt shaped his life from the scrawny kid everyone picked on to the successful man he was today.
Hence, why he came back to Egypt once more, on this very day... alone.
Whereas before the kid he was would have been scared of even going outside his neighbourhood at night Muto Yugi wasn't even affected by the potential danger hidden in the Desert of the Valley of the Dead. Even more so when he neared his actual destination...
Nothing could affect him there after all.
A stone archway descending underground radiating an odd feeling of peace. A crumbled passageway to an underground tomb. He could almost see the shadows of his past self and his friends walking solemnly alongside him to the fated duel.
This is where the Millennium Items rested deep below the surface, where the Doors to the Afterlife once existed as a miracle of the very Gods.
Which would only open to the name of another God.
"By the pronouncing his name the Pharaoh is also a God"
Kneeling down, Yugi allowed a wry smile and tears to fall down. Years ago he cried in the same place but at these time they were tears of sadness. Now they were more tears of nostalgia and happiness than anything else.
Looking at this place, the place where Atem once departed from the living in the same day years after. This was his annual visit to what he estimed to be his Friend's tomb. Not the Tomb where he died 3000 or so years before, alone, defeated.
The Tomb where willingly he went to the afterlife surrounded by his friends.
"Hello, Mou Hitori no Boku*"... He said softly...
Reminiscing to everything he owed to the King, his courage, his lifeline, his life, his work, his happiness. Ever since the Puzzle came into his life he could only say one thing.
"It's me again... And this time again I want to say..."
Thank you
Below the surface, an inverted Pyramid seemer to shine softly with light.
=END=
*Mou Hitori No Boku : Yugi's way to call his other's self.
I watched again the last 4 episodes of Yugioh as I often do and I can truly say no scene in any work ever made me feel so many things at once.
I assume it's because those were characters of my childhood, discovered with the 4kids dub and version, and the manga. I took to playing the card game afterwards as a mean to feel closer to the universe mostly.
And then revisited in Japanese with the maravelous OST. Which I listened to writing this.
Everything Yugi is, or would ever become he owned it to someone who helped him find his own strengh. We all have this, or these persons. I know I did, I know I do and this is what I tried to convey writing this.
In someway he also owned it to himself. Discovering who he could be instead of who he was. Since Atem was his "other self" to him, he was also everything he wanted to be and ended up being and more.
When one of these person or this person dies, on the moments and time after you feel a heart wrenching sadness... And then somehow years after you look back and smile without meaning to.
I believe Yugi would.