Chapter Text
Yugi watches the teenagers chat and fool around in the schoolyard. He’s not close enough that he can hear exactly what they’re saying, but they look like they’re having fun. Of course, if the various pieces of media he’s had access to have taught him anything, it’s that school isn’t the funnest place to be, but it’s still a place to meet others your age and befriend them.
It must be nice.
The school bell rings and the teenagers file back into their building. Yugi waits until the last one has disappeared beyond the doors before leaping down from what has become his favorite spot in his favorite tree. He lands in a crouch.
Before he can stand, a shiver runs up his spine. Yugi tenses. His eyes dart around for someone watching him. He feels a growl rise in this throat.
There’s a scent on the breeze, distant…but familiar? Instinctively, Yugi inhales. He knows it but he can’t quite recall what—
It’s gone.
Yugi blinks, not sure where he went but for a moment, he was somewhere else.
Underneath his glamour disguise, the part of him that’s more lion than man itches restlessly.
He needs to get home.
He likes having thumbs and the ability to walk around the mundane aboveground without drawing attention. The weight of his glamour charm may be heavy around his neck, but he can’t release it here.
Where he doesn’t belong.
Yugi walks away from the school. He kicks a pebble down the sidewalk. He chooses to focus on how it bounces on the pavement rather than the people around him going about their daily lives.
Shops have their doors open for business. Customers haggle. Deliverers on bikes whizz past in the street. All of it noise in the background.
It’s really no different than home, except the things being bought and sold are sacks of white rice and fish caught in the ocean and not enchanted charms and ingredients most frequently used in alchemical experiments. Plus there’s the distinctive lack of explosions that tend to follow disgruntled magic users around.
And the increased likeliness of screams that would accompany the sudden appearance of a sphinx on the street.
Even if Yugi has a human face in his true form, he’s still mostly lion. Predator. Capable of killing. Not that he has, or is going to, but the fact he can tends to be enough for a lot of people. Get the sphinx’s riddle wrong and he’ll murder you. Oooooh scary!
Yugi doesn’t even like riddles that much. Sure, he enjoys them, but he does pretty much every game that’s been created. He’s not so sore of a loser that he’s going to kill anyone over it.
He stops at a shop window, looks in at its display. Doesn’t really take in the details. His gaze wanders to his significantly-smaller-than-his-real-self reflection. He sighs. Looks past himself at the street behind him’s reflection. Then the blue sky and the shining sun’s.
He doesn’t get to see them unless he comes up here.
A sharp golden glint in the reflection catches Yugi’s eye. Across the street stands someone wearing some kind of golden jewelry. A headpiece probably, based on where it is in their reflection.
As Yugi turns around to get a better look, there’s a scent on the breeze again. Salty. River water lapping gently against a bank. Reeds gently swaying.
The distant sound of oars splashing?
A horn blares as a car cuts another off and the two barely manage to avoid getting into an accident.
Yugi blinks. He looks again to the other side of the street.
There’s no one there.
He really needs to get home.
The entrance to the Under Market is a nondescript door set in the side alley of a tax office’s building (those in charge long ago decreed that the entrances would always be attached to a place most abovegrounders wouldn’t want to go). With a quick turn of the key Yugi keeps on a chain next to the one with his glamour charm, he’s in.
Yugi’s home is a chaotic, eclectic world. A cavernous space brimming with buildings and stalls crammed together without much thought as towards what should go where. Streets zigzag between roughshod structures leaning against each other. Some are made of stone, some made of crystal, some made out of gooey substances that Yugi has never investigated further.
He walks confidently past a cyclops selling glittering herbs, two kobolds arguing with a vendor over the price of potatoes, a large shopfront advertising only the best magician’s robes! Much better than their competitor down the street!
Yugi knows each establishment by heart. The layout of the Under Market may change on the regular, but he’s spent almost his entire life here. It’s his home. It will always be.
He breathes in deeply and knows he belongs.
As much as a sphinx can anywhere.
His and his Grandpa’s shop rises above the rest on their street. By virtue of being one of the oldest in their neighborhood, it gets to be one of the biggest structures. Largely because as the years have gone on, it’s claimed any smaller building that dared to be built too close to it. The main shop is still in the center of the additions somewhere, but its surrounded by a veritable maze of increasingly newer chambers and doors.
“Hey, kid! Come here a sec!”
Yugi stops just before turning the knob on what currently functions as his shop’s main entrance. He smiles to himself and then trots across the street to the BBQ stall there.
Mai Valentine isn’t the best cook by any stretch of the word. She probably shouldn’t be running any kind of food stall, but so far no one has been able to stop her (not for lack of trying. Every few months or so she’s investigated by the authorities for allegedly cooking her enemies or the occasional suitor who doesn’t understand the meaning of the world ‘no’. None of it’s ever been proven, but she’s on a first name basis with the inspectors at this point).
“What’s up, Mai?” Yugi sits on one of the tall stools she keeps at her stall.
“Try this. New recipe.” She slides a plate over to him.
Yugi eyes the food. It looks like her usual fare. “What is it?” He sniffs it, but picks up nothing unusual.
Mai smirks. “Human meat.”
“Mai.” Yugi groans. He glances around, but no one seems to have heard.
“Alright fine. You’re no fun.” Mai huffs. “A merchant came through a couple days back with some spices he picked up in Egypt. Thought you’d like to try ‘em.”
“Oh, um, thanks.” Yugi pokes the food. He knows he’s technically Egyptian by origin, but— “AHHH!”
He lands in an unceremonious heap on the other side of Mai’s stall.
“Hey—!”
“Shush!”
Yugi’s mouth snaps closed. He knows that tone of voice. He waits. The reason Mai yanked him over and behind her stall immediately becomes clear.
“Hey, good lookin’.”
“Bandit Keith.” Mai’s tone goes flat.
“You wouldn’t by chance happen to see the sphinx kid go by?”
“No.”
“You sure? Could have sworn I saw him just now.”
“He’s not here, Keith. And, even if he was, he’s not for sale.”
“That’s not up to you, now is it?”
Yugi squirms. He can defend himself. He’ll—
Mai places one taloned foot on his chest to keep him from getting up.
“Muto knows better,” she says to Keith.
Yugi hears Keith blow a raspberry. “One of these days, he’ll see reason. Kid is wasted here. A sphinx. And he’s doing nothing with him.”
“That’s not up to you, is it?” The warning is clear in Mai’s voice.
“Alright, alright. I’m going.”
Yugi hears Keith’s footsteps fade.
After a minute, Mai releases her hold on Yugi. “He’s gone.”
Yugi grumbles as he stands. “You didn’t have to do that. I can—“
“It’s non-negotiable, kid. You know this.” Mai sighs at the ruined plate that was knocked from the counter. “Didn’t have much of those spices.”
“I’m not a little kid anymore, Mai.” Yugi glares at her.
“What’s the first rule about arguing with a harpy?”
Yugi groans. “Don’t, but Mai—“
“No buts.” Mai looks at him. “I know you’re not little anymore. I just…I also know this world.” She closes her eyes and takes a breath. “I really know this world.” Her gaze returns to him. “And you, Yugi, you’re just…you’re so bright. I don’t want to see that brightness fade.”
“Mai…”
She crosses her arms. “I never said any of this, alright? You’re horrible and a nuisance to have around.”
Yugi rushes at her and hugs her tightly.
Mai grumbles. “Watch it, or I may just cook you too.”
“You don’t actually cook people.”
“Hey, I’m just good at not getting caught.”
“If you actually cooked people, Bandit Keith would be dead by now,” Yugi deadpans.
“Heh.” Mai chuckles. “Fair enough.”
While he helps Mai clean up the remains of what would have been his meal, Yugi’s fingers brush against something cool to the touch. Metal.
Oars gliding smoothly through river water. A breeze whispering through the reeds on the banks. The song of the sands of nearby dunes dancing. Overhead, a burning hot sun blazing in a cloudless sky.
Yugi blinks. He holds the metal object in the palm of his hand. He doesn’t remember picking it up. A long golden earring inlaid with lapis lazuli. Weighty, so he’s fairly certain it’s real.
“Shit, that fell?” Mai looks over Yugi’s shoulder at his find. “Good catch. Do me a favor and take it to your Grandpa to see how much it’s worth.”
Yugi rubs a thumb over the lapis lazuli. The reeds still whispering in his ear. “Where did you get it?”
“Weird kid used it to pay earlier.”
“What?”
“Yeah, this strange kid stopped by.” Mai dumps the remains of Yugi’s ruined meal in the trash. “He asked a lot questions about you. I didn’t give him anything of course. Didn’t have money either, so I told him he could pay with one of his earrings. Kid was wearing enough jewelry that he could definitely afford to lose some.” She shrugs.
“Right.” Yugi stares at his reflection in the smooth surface of the lapis lazuli.
“Friend of yours?” Mai frowns.
“N-no.” Yugi tears his gaze away from the earring. He feels his fingers curl around it. “I’ll see what Grandpa says. On how much it’s worth.”
After bidding Mai goodbye, Yugi finally heads across the street. He opens the door of his shop, stops in the entryway, and breathes in the scent of home. Though no one is browsing the immediate rooms around him, he can hear a few customers nearby. Yugi quietly maneuvers away from the chatter of shopping until he’s reached the tucked away staircase that will lead up into his and his Grandpa’s apartment.
Only once the apartment door is closed and locked behind him does Yugi, with a long exhale, drop his glamour disguise. He reflexively stretches as his more feline instincts bid him to. Then pads to his bedroom.
Yugi knows his Grandpa is somewhere downstairs. He knows he should ask him about the earring now. Knows his Grandpa would welcome the distraction as well as the intrigue.
He settles on his bed. Holds the earring. Stares down at it.
Nothing.
No breeze. No salty smell of river water. No burning sun.
Simply precious jewelry that doesn’t belong to him.
Yugi gets back up. He goes over to his closet, reaches up to the top shelf, and gently pulls down a much-loved shoebox. He brings the shoebox back over to his bed. Opens it.
A gap-toothed younger version of himself beams up at Yugi from an old polaroid photo. Behind him looms the Great Sphinx of Giza. Yugi is reaching to touch his own nose before he can stop himself. He sighs.
Yugi places the polaroid aside on his bed. Back in the shoebox is a small children’s book titled: Sphinxes! Everything you need to know about the mythological beasts!
It is incredibly inaccurate.
At least to Yugi specifically.
But, if he ever meets another sphinx, he’s fairly certain they’d agree with him.
Yugi flips the book open to the page smudged most with jam and other assorted snack stains. His kid self never was one much for cleanliness.
He reads:
Though it shared many attributes with its riddle-loving Greek cousins, the Egyptian Sphinx was notable for being a guardian and protector. It is said these great beasts would serve the pharaohs themselves.
That part, okay, Yugi can get behind. He came from a Pharaoh’s tomb that his parents guarded until doing so cost them their lives.
But:
The Egyptian Sphinx would bear physical resemblance to the pharaoh they served. Though there is some dispute as to which pharaoh the great monument at Giza is modeled after, it is accepted as fact that its visage is of one of the pharaohs. From this, it can be extrapolated that the sphinxes held a subservient role to their masters…
From there it gets…not bad, Yugi wants to give the book some credit. It was meant to entertain and enthrall children with the fantasy of a creature that definitely doesn’t exist, not be a historically accurate source of information.
It’s just…
Uncomfortable.
Yugi, when he was little, once took the step stool from the broom closet, dragged it into the bathroom, clambered up on it, and stared at himself in the mirror. He looked at his face and wondered if there was some long ago pharaoh he shared it with. It was an absurd thought. He was born long after the last of the pharaohs died. But what else did he have?
There are no other sphinxes in the Under Market. None anywhere he or his Grandpa have been and no actual texts on them.
He’s alone.
Yugi had been so excited when he found this book in the gift shop of one of the museums his Grandpa was robbing (retrieving some artifacts for their rightful owners, his Grandpa had explained to his curious face—they hadn’t paid for the book either). It was about him. It could tell him things about himself that no one else could.
But it…
Yugi isn’t a beast.
Okay, he’s about 75% lion, but not like that.
Mai once took him on a ‘hunting’ trip that turned into a camping trip because the idea of killing any of the small critters they came across made him cry.
Yugi closes the book, puts it back in the shoebox. He looks at the earring. Picks it up. Looks between it, the photo, and the book.
Can you be reminded of something you’ve never known?
Yugi exhales a long breath. He puts away his keepsakes. Slips the earring in his pocket with the intention of going downstairs and finally asking his Grandpa about it for Mai.
When he gets there, Grandpa is unpacking a new game. Though they keep the shop stocked with almost every kind of curio imaginable, Yugi’s favorites are the games. They have a room entirely filled with ones from all over the world. Grandpa always says one of these days he’ll finally sell one, but he never does. They should know all the strategies of playing one before it leaves the shop. Or the trial game they’re playing is taking much longer than either of them expected and they can hardly be expected to part with it until they finish. Or its become one of their favorites for rainy days.
The shop hosts a weekly game night.
“Yugi, come see this! Care for a match?” is all the invitation Yugi needs.
The earring weighs heavily in Yugi’s pocket, but it’s temporarily forgotten.
Reeds sway on the riverbanks. The oarsmen keep a perfect rhythm. The boat glides easily through the water. Above in the sky the sun shines brightly as if blessing their passage.
The funeral procession isn’t what it should be. There is no grandness accompanying their pharaoh to his final rest. There is shame in that. As his pharaoh’s guardian and protector, he feels it keenly as he does the shame of outliving the one he swore his life too.
But what can be done? After such destruction, the kingdom hardly has enough to feed itself. They cannot afford the opulence of a true funeral. Their pharaoh sacrificed himself to save them. He would not have them starve in his name.
He closes his eyes. Inhales the salt of the river water on the wind. And hopes he is making the right decision.
Yugi jolts awake. For a moment, he doesn’t recognize his bedroom. Then the familiar shapes of his desk and wardrobe come out of the darkness to him. He exhales. Tries to shake the vividness of the dream. Closes his eyes to return to sleep.
His ears twitch.
Someone is downstairs.
Who shouldn’t be there.
Grandpa is in his room asleep for the night. Yugi is in his own. The shop is closed and locked. Yet, there’s the creaking of footsteps where there shouldn’t be any.
Yugi climbs out of bed. Doesn’t bother with his glamour. He moves softly, silently.
It is entirely a bad idea to enter a sphinx’s territory uninvited.
Dangerous even.
Yugi won’t hurt them. He never hurts anybody, but this is his home. He will not allow harm to come to it or his Grandpa.
Immediately upon arriving downstairs, Yugi doesn’t see the intruder. He prowls further into the shop.
Finally he spots a dark silhouette. A shadow cast from nothing.
Yugi creeps closer.
The shadow steps into the light glowing in from a streetlamp outside the nearest window.
Yugi stops.
He stands in the entrance of the tomb they’d built for their pharaoh. Gazes into the gaping darkness. Looks back at the sunlit world he is leaving behind, but this is his choice to make and one he does willingly and without hesitation.
His pharaoh will be laid to rest and he will guard him as he did in life. Not out of duty or obligation. Not because it is what’s expected of a sphinx.
Out of love for his closest friend.
Mahad steps into the darkness. The golden light of the sun has touched his fur, his mane for the last time.
Glittering in the light of the outside streetlamp is an earring. Gold inlaid with lapis lazuli. Not the one forgotten in Yugi’s discarded pocket upstairs. But it’s match. It’s other self.
The shadow takes a step closer to Yugi.
He doesn’t move.
Even closer.
Yugi can hear his own breathing. His heart pounding.
The shadow reaches out a hand.
Eventually Isis comes to Mahad in the tomb. She listens to his reasoning on why he won’t leave. Doesn’t argue like he expected. Instead chooses to join him. Holds steadfast when he argues against her staying there in the dark as well.
He never could win an argument with her.
And so their life together as guardians of the Tomb of the Nameless Pharaoh begins.
Years pass. They find there is no loneliness as long as they are with each other.
Their family begins and grows.
A child, a sphinx cub, is presented to the golden box in the innermost sanctum of the tomb. They reach out little paws and feel the warmth radiating from the precious puzzle pieces within.
Tradition begins. From generation to generation. Parent to child. Each receives the story. The memories of the salt on the breeze from the river water that brought them here. The way the reeds whispered. How the sun blazed.
And each chooses to become the next guardian.
Their pharaoh will never be alone.
At least not for thousands of years.
Yugi doesn’t move. Doesn’t shy away as he usually does when someone tries to touch his mane.
The hand lands on him softly, tentatively, as if both hesitant and unwilling to resist the urge.
“I found you,” says a voice Yugi knows but doesn’t. “I found you.”
The pharaoh remembers them all. Watched them all grow. An extended dream. He existed in a limbo. A spirit caught and kept but not wholly unaware. Not alone in the dark.
His friend was there with him. Then his friend’s child. And his friend’s child’s child.
Life thrived in his tomb. Under his watch and love.
Until.
It was taken.
Blood and gore and violence returned and the pharaoh’s screams meant nothing to the living who could not hear him or know he was there for them.
The bodies of his last protectors fell. Their spirits went on to the peace they so rightly deserved.
Their child remained. Alone. Vulnerable.
The pharaoh begged for the little life to be saved. His prayer was answered.
But the child was taken away. Removed from the dark tomb to grow somewhere else. Somewhere distant.
And he was left alone in the dark.
“You…”
Red eyes start at the sound of Yugi’s voice.
He does too, jerking away from the hand touching his mane. And immediately misses its absence.
A frozen moment passes between them.
“I…” Yugi’s brain scrambles for words it doesn’t have. “You’re home,” he finally says.
After considerable thought, “Do you…know me?” answers him.
No.
Yes.
Sort of.
An ancient memory comes to the forefront of Yugi’s mind. The embrace of his mother. The firm hand of his father on his back. Being lifted up. Given a story and its memory. The glimmer of something golden before him. Reaching out for it. Being able to grasp one of the golden pieces and almost being able to stick it in his mouth before he’s stopped.
Yugi moves so his left side is closer to the shadow. His heart isn’t in the exact same place as a human’s, but the gesture is recognized all the same.
The Pharaoh’s eyes widen. Then he mirrors Yugi’s gesture. Bowing his head to the last descendant of his sphinx guardian.
They’ve found each other at last.