DISCLAIMER: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh. Takahashi does, and he says the disclaimer's looking a little bare right now. Don't worry. Aeon and the others will be back soon.
It was a cold, brisk September day as Ryou Bakura sat on the front porch, looking out over the autumn sky as the sun reached its high point for the day. Months had passed since he'd heard from Sith, and even longer since he'd actually seen her. And while he knew she was more than capable of protecting herself from the Mystics' continuous onslaughts, he couldn't help but worry for her. She was no longer fighting a weaker Mystic; she was going right for Rath, the leader, and her greatest opponent since her long life even began. To not hear from her meant either she had little luck, she had no time to write, or she was dead. Ryou prayed it was one of the first two. The last option meant his life, and those of his friends, were screwed into eight-mile graves.
To make matters worse, Victor wasn't around much, either. During the first few weeks, he had spent a lot of time at Ryou's house, and the two made plans and gathered ideas about what had to be done and where the first clue regarding the sword could have been. Victor, during that time, had told Ryou everything he could about his life, including the legends Sith had told him when he was a child. She had mentioned the swords but had not, from what he remembered, said where any of them were. He only knew that she, and his father, could both wield Zealacht. But as the weeks dragged on and the summer passed, Victor had begun to visit less. To be honest, Ryou began to feel lonely without the Esper by his side.
"Maybe I'm just needy," Ryou said to himself as he thought of this. After all, that was partly what made Sith agitated with him. He hated when she wouldn't spend time with him. If Victor was of the same make, he'd have ditched Ryou, too.
"You are," came a voice, and Ryou yelped when Victor suddenly appeared next to him, looking over with a grin on his face, "Miss me, buddy?" Ryou snorted, and nodded. He didn't look directly at the sly Esper, but he knew Victor was more or less happy that he managed to scare Ryou. Again.
"You shouldn't use your power like that. Sith wouldn't approve," Ryou told him, but Victor just laughed. During Sith's absence, after he revealed his true identity, Victor's power began to creep back into himself, and he could warp around as he pleased. But only that; he couldn't quite figure out how to throw lightning or create searing flames like his mother could. Nor could he wield one-ton weapons like his father.
"My mother's not even here," Victor reminded him, and then frowned, "My father hasn't come back, either." Ryou noted that worry in Victor's voice, and wondered if he suspected his father dead. Considering he was still alive, both his parents were probably okay. Ryou patted his back.
"You thought he would?" Ryou asked curiously. Victor shrugged.
"I'm not sure what my father would do, to be honest," the Esper replied, and then laughed, "According to mom, my father has a tendency to not listen to proper reasoning and just do what he wants to do when he wants it. Never mind that half the time, what he wants is to just slaughter everything, aside from his family, that moves." Ryou eyed his friend worriedly, praying to the gods that such a trait did not get inherited by Victor. Sith herself had a murderous streak, as well, and if both parents disliked mortals, Victor had a lot to contend with.
"Your father sounds fun," Ryou commented sarcastically, and when Victor snorted, he asked, "Who is he, anyway? If he's not me, and not Mello, and certainly not Aeon, then who? Xemnas?" Victor's snort became a full-fledged laugh, and the man nearly fell clear off the steps before he recovered.
"Xemnas!" Victor repeated, and shook his head, "No way in hell would my mother spawn with him! No, my father's better than that. You remember Saix, right? About six feet, really strong, really fast, carried a giant sword? Had an X-shaped scar?" Ryou nodded, glad to know Sith wouldn't be marrying Xemnas. Then he realized what Victor said, and his relief soon turned to outright fear. Saix! Victor just honestly said Saix. Ryou twitched.
"You have got to be kidding," Ryou said flatly, but Victor grinned and shook his head, "Saix! That lunatic is your father!"
"That lunatic saved your life, Ryou," Victor reminded him, and his laughter ceased, "Besides, why are you surprised? Didn't uncle Axel even say Saix liked my mother?" Ryou did remember Axel had teased Saix about that, but he hadn't actually thought there was anything to it. Now he knew he had been wrong. Very, very, insanely wrong.
"Is it possible to go back and erase Saix from time?" Ryou asked, but his sarcasm wasn't welcome in that aspect. Victor's normally-smiling expression turned to a hard glare, and Ryou felt an intensity similar to Sith's upon him.
"Kill my father and you're no better than Mello was," Victor told him, and that silenced Ryou's thoughts. Knowing his point was across, Victor changed the subject, "So, heard from my mother?" Ryou shook his head and let out a sigh. He truly wished he had, if only to warn her now about Saix. Not that that'd do anything, of course.
"Not yet," he admitted, and looked down, "I've tried asking Katt to help me contact her, but Katt can't seem to breach the barriers between the worlds right now. Falnika's doing too good a job at keeping the magic from toppling over. Inter-world travel's at a near halt!" Victor shook his head sadly.
"Aunt Katt never was overly good at using telepathy," Victor mumbled, and then grunted as he said, "Well, in any case, at least I know dad's okay. Zexion told me he submitted a report to Xemnas that all was well. They've already made it to Nesce, about five hundred years before now." Ryou remembered Sith saying they had to go to Nesce before she had disappeared from her world, and that was over three thousand years ago. Five hundred was nothing, and would yield nothing.
"Is Aeon having trouble?" he asked. Victor's lips thinned.
"I'm not sure, but if he is, I already have a plan," the Esper said grimly, and then grinned again, "Or, I should say, Malik and I have a plan." Ryou glanced over flatly, and wasn't sure how to take that remark. He trusted Victor, but only in the sense that Victor was related to Sith and should have had some level of reasoning when it came to logic. But he certainly did not trust Malik, least of all when it came to magic. If anything, Malik would cause the time-space continuum to collapse.
"Uh oh," Ryou said, laying his chin against his knees. Victor laughed.
"Nothing bad, nothing bad," Victor assured him, but he wasn't even remotely convincing, "Malik happened to create a blueprint of a time machine, and I happened to mention that I might need one. So, he's dropping a prototype off today." Ryou stopped blinking and flat out stared. That was just a death trap waiting to erupt, and he now wished Sith was around to stop her son. Ryou just sighed, looked away, and shook his head. He sometimes wondered if he was the only sane person left in his world.
"Are you telling me he built a time machine?" Ryou asked, not even noticing that a motorcycle was rumbling down the street. Victor just grinned again. But he wasn't the one to answer.
"Sure did, buddy!" Malik yelled across the street, and came to a near-crashing halt outside the residence. Ryou's eyes narrowed as he saw the bike. Attached to it was a wagon; on that wagon was a blanket covering something very large. That had to be the time machine.
"Oh good god," Ryou moaned, and Victor patted his back, beckoning Malik to join them. Yugi climbed out of the wagon and raced up the steps as well, and the two sat beside Victor and Ryou. This didn't lighten Ryou's concern.
"You ready to make history?" Malik asked him, excitement clear in his voice. Ryou glanced over. In all honesty, he would've really just rather left time-traveling to Aeon. But Victor wouldn't have allowed that to happen, not when his mother was out there somewhere.
"I don't think we should do this," Ryou said quietly, but Malik pretended not to hear as he ran back to his motorcycle. He turned and grinned when he reached the wagon. Ryou didn't like that look.
"Well, we do, so listen up," Malik said to him, and threw off the cover. The machine was cylindrical in shape, and almost seven feet tall. It was bright red, with a large, glass door in the front, and buttons going up both sides, a light bulb on the very top to power the damn thing. In all honesty, Ryou was amazed the wagon had held such a thing up. He was even more amazed that the thing was in one piece. One of the handles was hanging off the side, and a few buttons flashed dimly, even though the machine wasn't even on.
"…what is that thing?" Ryou asked, not sure if either Victor or Malik could answer him. Unfortunately, Malik beat the Esper to it.
"I call it the Ishtar Time Traveler 5000," the boy said excitedly, and a wicked grin seemed to pass over his face, "Are you tired of your Esper buddy bopping all over the time-space continuum with a bunch of asshats you don't like? Do you want to erase her past lovers from time itself? Think there's no solution?" Ryou blinked. As much as he'd have loved to screw around with history, this was serious and he didn't have time to listen to a live-action commercial. He looked over at Yugi, whose face turned blue in embarrassment.
"He's actually going to try making money off of it in the fall," Yugi explained, and Ryou shook his head. He wasn't surprised. There was just one question that would put Malik's plans to an end, however.
"Does it actually work?" Ryou asked, and that caused Malik to freeze. Ryou guessed smartly that it did not, but for humor's sake, he wanted to hear that from Malik himself.
"Uh… Victor?" Malik asked, and the Esper rose a slender brow, "It works, right?"
"How the hell do I know?" Victor retorted with a laugh, "I wouldn't try that thing unless mom was dying. Which she isn't." Malik's brows creased angrily. Leave it to Sith to spawn someone so damn condescending and rude. He stamped a foot and waved his arms furiously, both trying to make a scene and not wanting one at the same time.
"Are you people serious!" he yelled loudly, not caring who he attracted, "I spent two months working on this piece of crap so we can save Sith, and you're not going to try it!" Ryou felt the answer was pretty damn obvious, considering how reluctant he was when he first saw the thing. Yugi looked at their friend flatly, eyes narrowed as he listened to Malik's outburst.
"You had nothing better to do all summer?" the small boy asked, "What happened to going to Egypt for the summer?" Malik growled, and in a fit that had nothing to do with his friends, he kicked the handle clear off the side. It crashed through one person's front window.
"I WOULD'VE BEEN IN CAIRO IF ISHTAR HADN'T BANISHED THE CAPTAIN!" Malik screamed, "Stupid idiot forgot his passport in our room, so when the captain of the flight booted him off the plane, he went all Exodia on the poor guy and just banished him! He had us ALL kicked off the flight!" Ryou didn't find that funny, but Yugi did, and the latter fell to the floor in a fit of laughter. Ishizu must've been pissed as hell to be denied a trip back home, and Ishtar had to be equally enraged when he was dragged away by the authorities. Maybe that explained why Ishizu didn't want to help Ryou's case, when he did ask her.
"I'm… I'm sorry, Malik," Yugi said, but the snorts and giggles took the pity out of the statement. Malik spat on the ground, all the more sour for it.
"No you're not," the blonde stated, and then grinned, "Anyway, to quash my anger, I decided to just build something that could take me anywhere I wanted, without fear of arrest or paying hundreds of bucks on air fair." Ryou glanced at Victor, but the man was just as confused. He then turned back to Malik, watching his friend suspiciously.
"Mal, if it's supposed to just warp you around, why does it send you through time, too?" Ryou asked him, and Malik froze again. Truth was, he didn't know why he added that feature. He just did, just for the hell of it. He shrugged.
"Actually, I don't know," he admitted, and darkly added, "I tested a pillow just in case. I wanted to shove it up Ishtar's ass for his little charade, but when it disappeared and there was no scream of agony, I figured it must've gone to a different era." Never mind that modern magic or technology didn't have access to warping time or space. Ryou's brow arched.
"And you didn't consider that you might've vaporized it?" he asked flatly. Malik shook his head.
"Nope," was the simple reply. Malik noticed Ryou wasn't convinced, and so he laughed and asked, "Come on, buddy. What could actually go wrong?" Ryou intended to nip that question in the bud. There was no way he'd let them summon a score of Mystics, not when Sith wasn't there to help them.
"Just about everything," Ryou said seriously, and Malik frowned, "Look, I'm glad you want to help, but we can't risk warping time. We might end up summoning demons or something, and Sith's not even here if something goes wrong. Unless you prove it works, I have to say no." Malik saw his point, but he couldn't hide his disappointment. He was so sure he had a good idea. Damn the Mystics and their abilities with magic!
"I didn't think of that one," Malik admitted, and sighed as he plopped onto the steps, "Damn. What can we do, then?"
"We could still test it out," Yugi offered, "We'll just use someone who can't get hurt." Ryou wasn't sure who, aside from Sith, Xemnas, and Saix, qualified for that. Surely, their friends and themselves were out of the question. He looked up into the sky.
"I suppose. Come on," he said, and stood up. The four of them walked to the machine and brought it, with some difficulty, to the porch. Then, they had to get it in through the door. Ryou had an idea as to who they could try to send, but unless they got the machine hooked up, they couldn't do anything useful. Unfortunately, the machine was unyielding. The door was just too narrow. Yet that didn't stop Malik, who kept pushing at the frame, trying to jam it into the entrance hall. Ryou winced. If Yaten found out, he was dead.
"Malik, knock it off!" he hissed angrily, but he was too late. One push too many sent the machine rocketing through the hall, slamming right into the mirror on the other end. It cracked, and then shattered into shards as the doorframe burst apart from the amount of force Malik used. Yugi and Ryou screamed, ducking into a corner as the group was sprayed with shards of glass and splinters of wood and plaster. Malik wasn't as lucky, and Victor was hit full in the face. And when it was all said and done, debris and dust littered the front hall. Ryou's house wouldn't survive another episode like that.
"Uh… I know it looks bad," Malik said, when Ryou stood and glared death at him, "But at least no one heard us." Ryou knew that wasn't possible, but Malik was lucky enough Sith wasn't there. Unfortunately, Yaten and Bakura were, and they came running down at the first sound of destruction.
"What the bloody hell!" Bakura demanded, as Yaten ran down and said, "What are you boys doing! This is a house, not a football field!" Ryou blushed in embarrassment, and shook his head. Technically, this was Malik's fault, but he knew he'd get blamed for it regardless.
"Sorry, dad. It won't happen again," Ryou growled, throwing a glare back at Malik. Malik nodded guiltily, as Yaten just sighed, trying to decide what the proper punishment for destroying the foyer should've been.
"I guess making you clean it up is punishment enough," the older man decided, and walked down the stairs, "Now, Ryou, I just got a call from the curator down toward Diceben. I have to leave for the train tonight, so I expect you won't let your friends wreck the place while I'm gone." Ryou's brow arched. He had known his father would be leaving soon, but now, of all time? He actually needed his father's help right then, if only to explain to Malik just what a bad idea time traveling was. He frowned.
"How long?" he asked, and when Yaten answered, he exclaimed, "Three weeks! Dad, you can't possibly expect me to stay here alone for three weeks!" But judging by the look on the man's face, he did expect it. Yaten crossed his arms, leaning on the railing.
"Son, you're nearly nineteen. I had to move out when I was your age," Yaten told him, and when Ryou looked away, the older man put a hand on his son's shoulder, "Look, I know you've grown timid because of those… things that keep destroying the city, but Sith said they aren't coming back."
"She's not even here!" Ryou yelled back, and at that, everyone went silent. Victor looked up at him and smiled weakly.
"You're angry," he stated, and Ryou couldn't deny the truth. He was, but not because Sith wasn't there. It was because they'd gotten no further than they were three months ago. The sword was still out there, and now Malik had taken it upon himself to get involved. Yaten wasn't sure what to do; he had no idea what was even happening, and as far as he was concerned, Sith had left to visit family.
"Son, I know it's hard, but you need to get through this. We're safe. Sith would never leave you in danger," he said earnestly, and this did get Ryou to look up at him, "She's as much your sister as Amane is. Trust her." Ryou already did. He hugged his father, and with that, Yaten left them in the hall. Ryou watched him leave until the car was gone, around the corner.
When Yaten was gone, Malik and Victor went into the living room to set up the machine as Yugi, Ryou, and Bakura cleaned up as much of the damage as they could. The mirror was pretty much destroyed; the glass had broken so majestically, there was no salvaging the poor thing, and Bakura had to take it outside as Yugi swept the glass up. The wall had also taken damage, and there was a tiny hole from where the machine had first punctured it. Bakura's quick solution was to just hang a picture over it, and for lack of a better argument, Ryou agreed. But the sorriest state of all was the machine itself. Before they could work, Malik had to make sure there was a big enough space for the damn thing, and Ryou was forced to look at it as Bakura and Yugi worked behind him.
When it was all said and done, though, the machine fit perfectly into the living room. Almost everything had to be unplugged to hook it up, but to Victor, that was a small price to pay for saving his mother's life. Ryou watched as he worked. Victor, despite his recklessness, was good at machines. He had it attached and working within ten minutes, and even Malik had to admit it took him three hours to set it up at his house.
"Think it actually works?" Yugi whispered, as Victor turned the machine on.
"…" Ryou wasn't sure if he wanted to know. They waited a moment, and then the machine began to whir. The light bulb on the top lit up, and the tiny screen on the side opened as well, showing coordinates of some kind that Ryou didn't understand. From the looks of it, it did. So far.
"Yes! I did it!" Malik cheered, eyes alight with pride, "I created a time machine!"
"Let's make sure the damned thing works, first," Bakura warned him, and turned to Ryou, "So, what are you hoping to find in the past?"
"A sword," Ryou replied, and at Bakura's bewildered look, he continued, "When I was face to face with Falnika, she told me how to defeat Rath. We need the three Swords of Mercy, and we have two of them. The problem is, we don't know where the third would be." Bakura hummed, digesting that. He had never even heard of the three Swords of Mercy, and was sure Sith had never told him of them.
"And it'd be in the past?" the spirit asked. Ryou shrugged. Sith hadn't gone into too much detail concerning that, but it had something to do with her brother.
"Sith said her brother owned it, three thousand years ago roughly," Ryou explained, "My guess is, she's going back that far to obtain the sword before it's lost. After what happened concerning her and Rath, no one can account for her brother. Not even herself." Bakura whistled loudly. He didn't have the whole story – he barely had any of it! – but if Sith was willing to go that far for a sword, he had to respect that. Meeting her brother before his death would be hard enough on her. Doing it just to stop Rath would only add to the stress.
"I think you should let her handle this one by herself," the old thief stated seriously, and everyone turned to him. He just stared back at each person, his expression grave. For once, he wasn't trying to be a jerk.
"Why?" Ryou asked him. Bakura's lips thinned, and he sat down in a chair.
"Because you might cause much more harm than good," was all he said, "Listen, Ryou, if you go back there, say you find Sith. Say you find her before she knows you, and you let slip something that happens in the future. If she decides to do something to change that future, it's possible that she will end our existences. It's even possible she'd destroy the world." Ryou felt that was pretty exaggerating to happen, and almost laughed. But Bakura still wasn't kidding.
"She wouldn't do that," Ryou said, but Bakura wasn't convinced. His eyes turned hard as he stared critically at the boy.
"There is always the chance she could, inadvertently," Bakura told him sternly. That silenced any protests the others could bring. None of them thought Sith could act so rashly, but Bakura was adamant, and was loyal to Sith. And he remembered every warning the woman gave concerning any type of magic: that it could always have the chance of adversely changing the world around them. Likewise, Victor was similarly affected. It was clear, by his expression, that Sith drilled that warning into his head since he was three.
"Bakura's right," Victor admitted with a sigh, and Ryou looked at him, "Maybe mom wouldn't actually destroy the world, but we can't mess around with time just because we want to help her. I'm speaking from personal experience; we can't do something that we might regret later." Bakura nodded in approval, but Malik seemed ultimately disappointed. He had spent so long working on this machine, and now they weren't going to try it.
"So, we can't do anything?" Yugi asked. Bakura looked down at him, and considered the question. He technically hadn't said they couldn't do anything, he merely suggested leaving this particular problem to Sith. Besides, if Malik's machine actually worked, the possibilities were endless. Especially for him. He smirked.
"We could do anything we wanted," the sly thief replied, and Ryou found he didn't trust where this was heading, "I simply suggested that maybe we shouldn't." Victor stared at Bakura incredulously. Like Ryou, he had learned he didn't trust the old thief much, either. He had a feeling that if the world did fall apart, it'd most likely be due to anything Bakura had said. Or done. Victor turned right back to the machine. It sat motionlessly in the living room.
"First thing we need to know is how to get the damn thing to actually work," the Esper explained, and glanced at Malik, "I'm just assuming you know this part." Malik nodded, grinning as he walked toward the machine, and presented the small screen to them. Closer up, Ryou saw it was actually a computer of some sort, crafted into the metal siding. Perhaps Malik wasn't completely insane, after all.
"I do," Malik replied, and pointed to the keyboard, "See this? You type in the coordinates of where you want to head, and then in what time, and you'll head there." That seemed simple enough. A little too simple, if Ryou had to guess. Aeon himself said time-travel was a difficult process; how the hell Malik managed to make it so easy was something Ryou found he didn't want to experience.
"And does it actually work?" Ryou asked him skeptically. Malik's grin faded somewhat. It was clear that he personally had never gone back in time. And it was hard to convince Ryou that a pillow had made the journey in his stead.
"Er…" Malik laughed a bit, "Not exactly." But, he wasn't about to give up the chance. Ryou was almost convinced, and Yugi was already on his side. Before Ryou could intervene, Malik said, "But I'll test it now!" And with that, he entered something into the screen and pressed a button.
Just like that, the machine vanished. There was no howling of the winds, no dimming of the lights, no normal sign that magic was very much alive in the Bakura residence. In a split second, without any warning, the machine simply disappeared in the briefest flashes of light. Malik barely processed what had happened before he reached out with an arm, grasping at something that was not truly there.
"…where the hell did my machine go!" he exclaimed in terror, eyes widening as he looked all around. Yet, there was nothing to even indicate the machine had been there at all, save for the mess in the hallway. Even Ryou frowned at this.
"Perhaps one of us should've been inside the machine?" he suggested, and Malik realized that he probably just sent his machine to the abyss. Except that there was a crash in the hallway, making both boys jump. Bakura, who was closest to the entrance, looked out to see what could have done such a thing; Rush was, as far as he knew, asleep in his bedroom, and Dithrambus had gone with Sith.
"…shit!" Bakura growled, and Ryou ran over to see what had happened. His mouth practically hit the floor. Right there, in the middle of the destruction, was the very machine that caused it. It was in perfect condition, and even the handle that had broken off had been replaced. Malik practically squealed in joy.
"It's back!" he declared, and jumped around, "I… I did it! It works!"
"That doesn't prove it works," Bakura growled, and Malik stopped, "It just proves the damn thing's indestructible." Malik wasn't sure whether that was meant to insult him or not, but he knew Bakura wasn't convinced that its return was a good thing. But he was, and it was his machine, first and foremost.
"Well, we know there's a fail safe now, so I'm going to test it," the blonde said seriously, and the other four stared at him, "It's my machine. If there's a problem, I should be the first to know about it." That was some pretty noble reasoning on Malik's part, and Bakura had to say he was impressed. Maybe there was something Malik could do to help them, after all.
"Boys, you're all three kinds of crazy to be attempting this," the old thief said slyly, "I'd be on Sith's side, if she said you shouldn't be trying. But since she isn't here, there's no voice of reason telling me to stop you." Ryou had always thought he was the voice of reason, but it was clear Bakura only heeded Sith's moderately harsh warnings. Considering her age, compared to Ryou's, Ryou saw why. He took a breath.
"I'll go, too," Ryou said, and Yugi agreed with, "Count me in, guys!" Victor laughed, and gave the thumbs-up to show his own consent. And with that, the four decided to continue the test. This time, they'd use themselves for it. Bakura, however, declined. He explained that if something happened, someone needed to stay, with Victor's watch, to drag them back. Ryou agreed, impressed with Bakura's reason. Normally, the thief was willing to do just about anything. That was only because Sith's knowledge tempered his recklessness, however.
"So, what kind of test are you thinking?" Bakura asked them, as Yugi and Ryou opened the machine door and stepped in. On the outside, the machine was small, but it was clear it expanded into some sort of pocket of space, for it could easily fit them all inside. Malik shrugged.
"Something easy," Malik said, as Victor typed in the coordinates, "Just a few moments backwards to make sure it's actually able to do it. Then we'll try bigger increments." That made sense to Bakura, and he let them go. Within minutes, the machine was gone, and Ryou felt them all plummet off something unseen, like they had been shoved clear off a cliff. Then, abruptly, it stopped. The door opened…
And Ryou found that he was staring right at himself.
"Malik, where did you send us?" Yugi asked suspiciously, as he saw himself sitting exactly where he had been ten minutes ago. Malik blinked, realizing he had done the one thing Sith would've wanted to avoid at all costs: he created a temporal paradox.
"…I should've gone for a few hours instead of ten minutes," Malik grumbled in disbelief, as his past counterpart walked in. But for all the counterparts in the room, including Bakura's, he noticed Victor didn't have one. He looked back. The Esper was clearly there with them, but his past counterpart should have been, too.
"Aeon's going to murder us when he finds out," Victor said warily, knowing he was already in trouble with the time-keeper, "Malik, you had better get our asses out now." Unfortunately, Malik wasn't sure that'd do it. Yugi looked up at the Esper.
"What's going on?" he asked innocently. Victor's grim visage worsened.
"We've started a paradox," Victor explained simply, "It's going to create a chain event where more and more sets of ourselves will warp back here unless something's done to halt it." But not even Sith knew how to end a temporal paradox. Then again, Victor was thirty years from the future. Sith might have learned, or Aeon might have told her how.
Not that it mattered much. By the time Victor was done, another time machine entered the hallway, and this time, Malik, Yugi, and Ryou walked out again. Malik was painfully aware, however, that Victor still had no counterpart to contend with. He looked to the amused Esper.
"You didn't give us enough time so that this wouldn't happen," Victor said with a grin, "Set number four's on the way." Malik didn't care how Victor knew that. All he wanted was someone to fix this before Sith came back and did it her own way.
"What the hell are we supposed to do!" Malik asked in frustration. Victor's eyes glinted, much like Matt's did whenever he had an idea – a particularly bad one, but one nonetheless.
"Go back to the present, and leave this to me," Victor told them all eerily. Ryou didn't like that tone, but he found he liked the new explanation even less, "Mom always said if you can't find an exit, you need to make one." That pretty much ensured that whatever Victor planned would be very destructive.
"Victor!" Ryou called, as Malik dragged him and Yugi back to their own machine. The last thing he saw, before the door closed, was that deadly look in Victor's eyes, similar so much to Sith's. But what accompanied that look, was a grin. A grin of an idiot who knew that what he was going to do was going to have severe consequences. It looked like a grin Axel would have had, not Saix.
When Ryou and the others were safely gone, Victor turned to look at all of the clones, including the new set that had just appeared. Twenty people in all, twenty soulless little buggers wandering around through the astral planes unless he ended their non-existence. He could do that. He was the son of Sith and Saix. His grin became more feral. And in a flash, his eyes went golden. Soon, he had no more opponents to fight, as they lay dead at his feet just moments later. He'd have made his father proud. His mother wouldn't be, but she'd have understood. Killing them was the only way.
Taking out Aeon's watch, Victor opened it and wound it up twice. It ticked, slowly at first, and then sped up until the time was thirty moments from that point. In a blast of light, Victor was gone. He reappeared instantly in Ryou's living room, but this time, Ryou, Malik, Yugi, and Bakura waited for him anxiously. He smiled and waved when he saw them.
"Miss me?" Victor asked, when Bakura suddenly rushed up and grabbed him by the collar. Victor's eyes widened. Not the welcoming he wanted.
"What the hell did you do, child!" the thief demanded, and Victor's ears flattened. That was a question his mother would have asked. Same tone, same emphasis.
"…I killed them," Victor replied quietly, "The clones." That only made the situation worse, and Bakura let him go. He cursed and swore, switching between Egyptian and English, and shook his head. Victor killed their past selves. They were lucky the aftershock only sent shivers up their spines.
"You… killed them," Bakura repeated, eyes narrowed, "You… the son of Sith… killed our past selves! ARE YOU INSANE!"
"Bakura, stop!" Ryou said, standing up, "He did what he could!" Bakura turned to glare at Ryou. To him, there was no excuse for being sloppy. Or for causing a temporal paradox in the first place. Ryou shivered at that glare. Bakura was pissed.
"He nearly destroyed us all!" Bakura yelled back, and kicked the table, "Would Sith have done that? Would she have been so careless?"
"Victor isn't Sith!" Ryou exclaimed, and at this, Bakura fell silent, "…Bakura, I know you miss her. But you can't blame Victor for this. It isn't his fault she's gone." Bakura shook visibly. He knew that. But damn it, this was her son, and he was acting like a fool! Surely, she had taught him far better.
"If you children do anything that foolish again, I'm sending you all to the realm of shadows," the thief growled seriously, and there was something in his eyes that worried Ryou, "I won't stop you idiots from going back in time and dragging her ass back here, but do not ever put our world in such danger again!" Ryou didn't know just what danger that was, but Bakura's point was made. He nodded, swallowing hard.
"We… we will bring her back," he promised quietly, but even in his own ears, it sounded hollow. But that was simply because Bakura had just terrified him. The old thief scoffed, shaking his head.
"You're damn right you will, and I'm going to make sure it's done right," Bakura corrected, and at this, Ryou's mouth dropped, "To hell if Sith's son is going to destroy the worlds she's trying to protect. To hell again if that shit happens like last time." Ryou understood Bakura was talking about Rath now, and wondered if his own memories had been awakened when Sith's were. He'd have to ask… at a proper time, of course.
Ryou turned to Victor, Malik, and the machine. All three of his friends were waiting patiently, and he knew stalling would only frustrate Victor. So, he nodded, and the door to the machine was opened. Malik punched in the coordinates… and they went inside. The door closed, and in a flash, the machine was gone.
Ryou did not realize that Malik had just made a fatal error in his haste to get them moving.
-(End Chapter)
With Malik showing a spark of interest in temporal physics, the group now has the means to locate Sith and bring her back to their world. But with such fragile, and unsafe equipment, even a tiny mistake could cause disaster for the whole of Oblivion. Will the team end up in the past, far enough to find Sith and get her home? Or has Malik screwed up once again and sent them too far – or even too soon – into the past? Find out next chapter, so click that Review button!