Timeline: Around chapter 2 and 3 of SSSK.

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Visitation

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The Ghouls were a relatively rare sight over at the Duellist Court.

Ryou, Marik and Rishid were technically members, but so were a lot of people. As a matter of fact, only a portion of the Duellist Court was active in and around the capital. Some, like the Ghouls, had been assigned tasks that were best done well away from the eyes of the public. There were plenty of other reasons why they seldom turned up at court in person though. One such reason was purely related to logistics. It was simply quicker and easier to have reports delivered using spirit messengers than turning up in person; it was decidedly less strenuous too.

As such, Yugi was moderately surprised when he one morning found Marik Ishtar slouched upon the royal throne, eyeing him with boredom and mild disdain. "Marik," Yugi acknowledged, giving him a slight nod.

"It's about damn time," Marik drawled, lifting his chin. "You bastard, you cut our funding."

Over the years, Yugi's and Marik's working relationship had gone from hostile to friendly. Then it had gone from friendly to neutral, then from neutral to friendly and then back to hostile. Frankly, it largely depended on the situation at hand. These days, it was typically respectful and either friendly or neutral though, which meant that they had come a long way. Back when their working relationship had first started out, there had been multiple assassination attempts involved.

With a sigh, Yugi patiently made his approach. "Marik, if memory serves me right, then the funding you already have ought to last for at least three more years. Or have you busted the preapproved budget by buying yourself another throne again?"

Marik's eyebrow twitched slightly at that, but he made no attempt of removing himself, neither confirming nor denying the allegation. It was still early in the morning, meaning that there were only a few people milling about other than the guards on patrol. As such, Yugi hardly felt the need to tell Marik to move. Instead, Yugi himself crossed the room, heading in direction of the library.

Before long, there was an irritated huff as Marik got up to follow; Yugi struggled to keep his face straight, so not to alert anyone to his smugness.

"So, Marik," Yugi said at last, taking a seat at his usual desk. "What is this about?"

If this had really been about Yugi's last minute changes to the budget, then he would have awoken to a horde of zombies in his private chambers or something equally unpleasant. Ryou might act and look like an angel, yes, but over time, he had developed a somewhat twisted sense of humour that went rather well with his pre-existing aptitude for the occult. Besides, after being possessed, he had picked up more than a few neat tricks; if a need ever arose for picking locks or breaking into old tombs, Ryou was generally the person to send. Of course, Marik also had a whole lot of knowledge as far as tombs were concerned, but‒

"What are you planning?" Marik spat, arms folded across his chest as he spat out the accusation. "What were you thinking, letting go of Obelisk's contract like that?"

"You're asking me this now, several months after the fact?" Yugi returned evenly, because truth to be told, he had been quite ready for a confrontation shortly after the fact, not now.

Marik actually sneered; it had certainly been a while since Yugi had seen that kind of expression twisting the other's features. Within moments, Marik had crossed the distance and was now leaning over Yugi's desk, regarding him with those unusual violet eyes of his while blatantly disregarding the concept of personal space. "Possessing a contract with all three of the Phantom Gods is the definite proof of kingship. Kaiba already holds too much power. Giving Obelisk to him, what were you thinking? The Pharaoh would never have‒"

"He technically did though," Yugi argued in turn, cocking his head to the side. "Atem made his cousin, Priest Seto, his successor, and Kaiba is‒"

Besides, as far as the definite proof of kingship was concerned, that was a thing of the distant past; Priest Seto had been the last to truly possess it. Then, millennia after the fact, King Pegasus had opted to revive the thing, allowing a number of knights to duke it out instead of personally appointing his successor.

Marik scoffed openly; he and Kaiba had never really seen things eye to eye. To this day, the less they had to deal with each other directly, the more they got along. Of course, dealing with each other in business, they remained largely civil. Kaiba could tolerate and at times even appreciate the continued existence of the Ghouls, because they were useful and skilled at what they did. Marik meanwhile could appreciate the appreciation, because Kaiba appreciation generally involved smaller favours like additional pocket money as well as bigger favours, like turning a blind eye to some of the shadier business deals the Ghouls conducted. In hindsight, Yugi supposed he only had himself to blame for that; the Duellist Court only had so much money in the budget that could be filed away as religious expenses without people getting suspicious.

Back in the day, Marik had also wielded the Millennium Rod, an item once held by Priest Seto. Granted, Marik had attained the item under rather unorthodox and traumatic circumstances; Yugi only knew what Marik's sister Isis, the holder of the Millennium Necklace, had told him, and considering their nature, there was no need to delve any deeper.

By the time of their first encounter, Marik had already been utilising the Rod's powers, influencing and controlling people while holding a major grudge against the Nameless Pharaoh. The latter's soul happened to be possessing Yugi at the time which had made him a target of Marik's plots. Marik had gained Ra's summoning contract, marking him as one of King Pegasus' potential successors. He had also made a grab for Osiris' contract, only to lose it after carelessly challenging Yugi.

Kaiba meanwhile had come into possession of Obelisk after Isis had brought the contract to him as an incentive to act in accordance to her wishes; to reclaim Ra and Osiris from Marik. Instead, Yugi had ended up with all of them, to the bitterness of some and the relief of others.

"The matter of reincarnation aside," Marik scoffed. "I'm not taking back Ra. Without the Rod, he'd torch me."

"Really?" Yugi hummed. After all‒ "If memory serves me right, then Bakura was smitten even while wearing the Millennium Ring."

"That and this are different," Marik snorted, stepping back and averting his eyes. "Besides, that guy was‒"

That guy had been the Thief King Bakura, the spirit possessing the Millennium Ring and later on also Bakura Ryou. He and Marik had gotten along quite well back then, different goals aside.

"The Gods were angry," Marik finished, arms folded across his chest, nodding to himself. "It was the Wrath of Ra."

Yugi dipped his head once, acknowledging it as fact. At the same time though‒ "I kind of get it now though, afterwards. Knowing about Kul Elna, I mean."

Marik averted his eyes again and headed towards one of the windows. "We all know how I went off the deep end. I can hardly imagine how it must've felt, watching your entire village getting slaughtered like that."

"Spending thousands of years in the Millennium Ring while remembering everything hardly helped with the grudge," Yugi easily agreed. "Gods know Atem was vicious enough when he first emerged, and he didn't have his memories."

"Really?" Marik looked intrigued, so Yugi figured that he might as well humour him, because even these days Marik had a few unresolved issues with the acts he and his twisted alter ego had committed in the past.

"Domino was a much smaller town then," Yugi began, reminiscing. "Back when I had first solved the Millennium Puzzle, he used to possess me and head out at night to play Penalty Games with people who'd wronged me and my friends."

A mildly vicious smile spread across Marik's face. "Even Kaiba?"

Yugi nodded. "Especially Kaiba. But he really did try to kill us, so‒"

"Hoh?" Marik whistled, looking impressed. "Considering that, the Pharaoh was acting awfully high and mighty back when we first‒"

Yugi shrugged mildly at that. "I'm told it's something of a royal privilege to always have the higher moral ground."

Marik actually laughed at that. "Higher moral ground? Hah. Up on a pedestal perhaps, but hardly‒"

Yugi smiled, but offered up no further comment. Marik obviously took notice of that, going by the look sent his way. "You're not planning on abdicating, are you?"

Yugi smiled, his gaze flickering briefly to the silent observers. "What if I were?"

"Don't," Marik intoned, crossing the room again to plant his hands firmly onto the desk, leaning onto it slightly while staring at him with slightly narrowed eyes. "Imagine what'd happen; it wouldn't be pretty."

"Why would you care though?" Yugi countered, eyeing him curiously. "Ryou aside, I'm sure you of all people would find some entertainment in watching everything crumble to pieces. Your old self would have at any rate."

Marik snorted. "And your old self would have thrown a fit and gone off trying to save the world again. Honestly, I thought I'd seen your worst back during the whole Orichalcos crisis, but looking at you now, I guess I was wrong."

Déjà vu, Yugi privately thought. "I am getting that age though," he commented softly, nodding to the painting hanging on the opposite wall.

Marik turned, eyes quickly zeroing in on the portrait depicting‒ "I wouldn't recommend modelling yourself after the Sage. You're way more responsible than that."

"Am I really though?" Yugi hummed. "What if I decided to yield Ra to someone else though? You already said you won't take back Ra, which means I'm technically free to pass him onto someone else, right?"

A noticeable twitch followed, and violet eyes narrowed dangerously. "Blackmail, is it?" Marik said at last, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. "And from you, of all people?"

Yugi smiled a bit sadly at that. "If you won't take Ra, then I'll find someone who will. That's all."

That having been said, Yugi did have a small number of potential candidates; people likely able to handle a contract with Ra. All in all, he would have preferred Marik though, because though there were other candidates, there were plenty of uncertainties.

"I won't take back Ra," Marik affirmed, eyeing him with obvious disapproval. "I lost my rights to Ra when I lost to you. Ante Rule or not, I lost to you and the pharaoh. In turn, the pharaoh lost to you, so‒" The look gradually softened. "I won't take back Ra; Ra belongs with the king."

"And you?"

Marik snorted. "I don't belong to anyone but myself. But if it's you, then I won't mind helping out, and Ryou‒ Well, Ryou and I both owe you."

The debt owed had already been repaid multiple times over in Yugi's private opinion. There were other debts though, incurred back and forth over the years; favours owed and repaid. They seldom kept complete track of them either, relying largely upon a reached consensus of which debt was the most recent.

"How is Ryou doing these days?" Yugi asked at last, because with the exception of the report Kaiba had apparently requested, it had been months since Yugi had last laid eyes upon a fresh report written in Ryou's neat hand. "It was his birthday just a couple of weeks ago, wasn't it?"

Marik snorted. "That guy's just fine. I got him a rare book, and after that, I didn't see him for days. When he got back, he had this look on his face; I almost thought it was the Thief King reborn or something."

Well, that did explain the reports about rumoured sightings of an undead horde close to the southern border. "And that other issue?"

"The Society of Light is bust, but you already know that," Marik said with a dismissive wave. "The Seven Stars are, as you also know, currently a nonissue. As for the Dark World on the other hand‒"

Marik ran a finger along his own throat in a cutthroat motion. "We've gone around dealing with scouts like you ordered us since last year. There are fewer now, but the ones that do make it over to this side are stronger than the ones we encountered last year."

Yugi dipped his head slightly, acknowledging it as fact. "Dimensional rifts."

Marik folded his arms across his chest, glancing back in direction of the doorway with narrowed eyes. "We still don't know if they're the ones adding to the instability or if they get through simply because there is something else that's causing it. Initially, we tried putting up barriers; we fixed a major rift about four months ago, but then some damned Knight or Knight Wannabe went and tore it all up again."

Sympathetic, Yugi nodded. "And the verdict?"

-.-.-.-

"So, I heard you've been having some trouble."

Yugi didn't dignify that with a response, buried beneath paperwork as he was. "Rebecca."

She smiled.

The famous scholar Arthur Hopkins had been a good friend of Yugi's grandfather. Rebecca was his only grandchild, and quite eager to follow in his footsteps. After clearing up a few misunderstandings, she had also proven quite eager to join Yugi's clique and later on his court. Technically speaking, Rebecca was a qualified Dragon Knight; the Knight of the Sapphire and the Ruby Dragons. She was also formidable duellist and an even meaner scholar, and as of recent years leading the excavation of a massive site at the outskirts of the kingdom.

Yugi gave a somewhat dismissive wave; exhaustion no doubt showing in the movement. "I've had worse. I've survived worse. We all have."

As was the case with most of Yugi's closer friends in the Duellist Court, there was really no need to elaborate further on the issue; some had directly shared his struggles and others were decidedly familiar with them in other ways. And then, of course, there was Kaiba, who had also lived through several such incidents albeit with a perspective that often differed greatly from those of the rest.

Years prior, following a major incident at a major historical site, Yugi had first pitched his idea to put aside more money for excavation and research of ancient ruins. The verdict of the council had been surprisingly unanimous, save for Rebecca's expected support. The rest, even Kaiba, had favoured Jonouchi's suggestion that maybe they should just destroy them with lots and lots of fire. Lots and lots of dragon fire to be specific.

Of course, Rebecca had torn Jonouchi a new one for that, arguing that if they burned all the records, then they would have no idea what to do once some ancient menace made its imminent return. Jonouchi had, if memory served Yugi right, once again suggested fire. Rebecca's response had been to sic Sapphire Dragon on him.

In any case, the dispute had ended with Rebecca personally taking charge of excavating the ruins, permitting entry to only a few. It was a sensible decision, because even so, they had had their fair share of people ‒ ordinary people and Duellists alike ‒ ending up in places where they definitely didn't belong.

One example of the latter was the guy they had found in the middle of stealing some priceless jewellery; trying to, at any rate. They had found him lying on the ground at the outskirts of the ruins, scratch marks on his face and a glowing jewel on the ground beside him.

This had been their first encounter with what was now the Gem Beasts. After that first encounter, the gem stones had just kept turning up one after the other, either unearthed through excavation or brought forth once they had put a notice out.

"These have been in my family for twenty generations," an old noble had sniffed, a frightened servant handing Yugi a decorative box containing three gems. "My late wife insisted we'd have them fitted into ornaments, but‒"

The box had, to their knowledge at the time, completed the set. These days though, they knew better.

"Rainbow Dragon, huh?" Rebecca sighed after a glance at the report lying at the very top of Yugi's pile. "Are you certain it was wise, sending that boy to the Central Academy of all places? Would it not have been better to keep him here at court with a mentor of sorts?"

On one hand, it would have been wise to do so. Still, fact remained that sheltering someone could only do so much. Back when the Great Sage was still king, the man had uttered something to the nature that raising good duellists was much like tending to flowers. If treated generously and tenderly, they grew up beautifully, but easily withered when faced with a harsher climate. If properly habituated though, then they would stand tall and bloom even in harsher conditions.

As king, Yugi had likened it more to the forging of blades. One issue was the material, the ore. Some possessed a lot of inherent talent; this was an inescapable fact. However, though the quality of the material definitely played its part, a blade still needed to be forged properly; it needed to be tempered. Otherwise, it would just crack and break in the face of battle. After all, even if the ore was of high quality, it not only could but would break under pressure if it was not properly forged. Granted, put under too much pressure, even tempered blades would break. Still‒

"He needs more experience," Yugi concluded, in part to Rebecca and in part to himself.

"Is that all?"

Well, to be completely honest‒

It would seem as though the recent movements of the Dark World had grated more on Yugi's nerves than he had initially anticipated, increasing his concern for his makeshift protégé. Winged Kuriboh was a loyal companion, but he was not enough, and despite the fact that the remnants of the Seven Stars seemed moderately decent and capable, one was a loyal cultist and the other possessed. In other words, Yugi wasn't positive that they could handle a hypothetical situation wherein the forces of the Dark World launched a direct strike on Academia.

As such, in meeting with Johan Andersen, Yugi had seen an opportunity and taken it. Granted, in a way, he did feel a bit guilty about putting such a potentially heavy burden upon the shoulders of someone so young, even though a Level 10 Summon surely demanded trials of equal proportions. Besides, if the situation on the island really did take a turn for the worst, then official members of the Duellist Court would no doubt be dispatched in spite of Kaiba's general policy of having problems resolved internally, without outside interference.

On one hand, Kaiba could be seen as placing a lot of faith in people such as Headmaster Samejima of the Central Academy. On the other hand, Kaiba could be seen as willing to leave educational matters in the hands of someone like Samejima ‒ by extension the board and the hired personnel ‒ simply because whether they excelled at their jobs or did not, it didn't matter so long as they fulfilled their intended purpose. As long as they, be it through their failings or through their excellence, managed to produce at least a handful of capable graduates and candidates for knighthood, Kaiba obviously saw no real reason to intervene.

To Kaiba, what happened to the students that didn't do well was a matter of lesser importance. To be of use, they had to possess summoning contracts with at least moderately high-level spirits as well as the wits to utilise them properly. If, in the end, they had only one and not the other or possibly neither, then they weren't worth much in Kaiba's opinion. Kaiba was after all not just an elitist; he was an elitist that hated incompetence.

"Really though," Yugi muttered mostly to himself after Rebecca had left, leaving him with his spiritual advisors. "I hope he doesn't break."

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