Transcending Time
Chapter One: To All Of You
This bed felt like the comfiest bed Eshe had ever slept in.
Of course, it was the bed she had slept in for several months and there was nothing particularly different about it on this fine Wednesday morning. She had woken up slowly, gently becoming accustomed to wakefulness in the most satisfying way; the bright beams of sunlight peeked in through the curtains of her window, illuminating her bedroom with a soft, orange glow.
Warm, cosy and content.
She was curled up on her side under the cushiony mass of her blanket, revelling in the fact that school was out for summer, and there was absolutely nothing pressing her to get her ass up and out of bed.
"Hey, Eshe, get your ass up and out of bed!" a squeaky voiced called from outside her room.
Eshe let out a long whine, "Leela, please…" her barely audible, disbelieving murmur sounded; speech slurred due to the tiredness clouding her mind.
Leela huffed from outside the door, "Come on Eshe, you promised to drive me to the mall before work!"
Eshe groaned, wanting nothing more than to pull the comforter over her head and lay there for another two hours. "I'm pretty sure I didn't promise you that, Leela…"
Leela's voice rose an octave, "Oh, don't you dare! You said yesterday that you'd take me to the mall, now get your butt up and get dressed this instant!" her wailing was accompanied by a vicious rattling as she banged her knuckles repeatedly against the door.
"Alright!" Eshe finally cried, throwing the blanket back and sliding ungracefully off of her mattress. "I'm up, I'm up! Just stop banging!"
The heavy knocking ceased immediately and was replaced by the cheerful, sickly sweet sing-song voice of her best friend. "Thanks hun! Meet you in the kitchen for breakfast!" followed by the pitter-patter of her footsteps leading away from her room.
Eshe sighed as she glanced up at the clock. Why had she agreed to drive her friend to the mall at 9:30am?
She threw on a pretty, light blue summer dress and admired herself in the mirror as she tied her messy hair into a ponytail; the colour of her dress easily made her tan skin look vibrant and alive. With a quick stretch, she left her room and walked down the hall of her shared apartment.
"Leela, I love you and everything", Eshe groaned, rubbing her eyes free of sleep, "but if you ever knock on my bedroom door like that again, I will throw you out the window, and it's a long way down from the fifth floor so I don't think you'd appreciate that." She entered the kitchen to find her best friend at the dining table, checking her phone while nibbling on a slice of toast.
"Noted", was her friend's response without taking her eyes off her phone, "love you too", Leela added quickly.
Eshe snorted and the two ate breakfast in relative silence.
"It sure was generous of Kaiba to give you access to a temporary bank account with a reasonable sum of money in it, huh Atem?" Yugi spoke cheerfully, holding up the credit card as he read over the statement that declared the current balance of the account.
"Ten thousand dollars is more than just a reasonable sum! Just what kind of purchases did he expect Atem to make in the three months he's gonna be here?" Téa inquired with an amused chuckle as the three of them wandered through the mall.
"Well, Kaiba was there at the gateway, he heard everything so he knows we're looking for Queen Eshe- maybe he assumed that would involve a lot of travelling expenses? Regardless, we'll have to thank him properly when we next see him." Yugi suggested, folding the statement and slipping it into his shoulder bag. He held out the credit card for Atem to take, but the Pharaoh was lost in his own little world, staring at the crowds of people around them.
"Atem?" Yugi called out. The Pharaoh turned and blinked at his friend, finally noticing that Yugi was holding out his bank card. He reached out and took it, placing it in his pocket.
"Sorry Yugi, I'm just preoccupied…" Atem returned his gaze to the people around them once again with scrutinising eyes.
Téa frowned, "Atem, I know you're determined to find her quickly, but what are the chances she's going to be right around the corner? I think right now we should focus on buying whatever supplies you need, and when we get back to the Game shop later, we can go over everything we know with Joey and Tristan, and hopefully figure out some clues as to where we can find her."
Yugi nodded, "Téa's right, Atem, I know it's hard, but stressing about it won't help. Just relax, and we can get down to business later", the king of games smiled brightly and Atem sighed as he came to a stop.
"I know, you're right. But what if she is just around the corner? I don't want to miss her because I wasn't paying close enough attention…" the Pharaoh murmured, sending Yugi a wavering look.
Yugi shook his head and gave Atem a reassuring look, "Don't think about 'what if', Atem. We will find her, no matter what."
Téa smiled widely, "Yeah! You can bet on it!" she chimed, patting Atem on the shoulder and squeezing it comfortingly.
Atem paused, then smiled and nodded, "Alright. Thank you." he looked up at the clothing store to their right, "So what do I need?"
Téa smirked, "Oh, just leave all of that to me! Clothes shopping is my thing!"
Eshe followed her friend through the mall, clutching several bags of material purchases; the two had spent almost an hour in the make-up store and Eshe was ready to collapse back in bed as soon as possible. While she didn't mind shopping for cosmetics, what she did mind was how indecisive Leela was when it came to choosing the right shape of lipstick.
Really, Leela looked over ten different shades ranging from dark to pale, and eventually whittled her choices down to three, but even then, it took her a further twenty minutes to decide she wanted all three of them.
Eshe groaned, taking a moment to stretch her back out of it's slouched position, before dashing to catch up with her energetic companion who was pressing her face excitedly to a jewellery shop window, admiring the items on sale.
"Leela, are we almost done? You're gonna be late for work if we stay here much longer." Eshe spoke, tapping her friend on the shoulder to draw her attention away from the shining necklaces, rings and bracelets in glass casings.
Leela raised an eyebrow and smirked, "Esh, you worry too much, babe. I have an hour before work, that's plenty of time!" the squeaky-voiced girl turned back to the jewellery shop window, pointing frenziedly to a silver-chained necklace with a golden-brown tiger's eye gemstone, decorated with tiny rose quartz stones around the centerpiece. "Also, just a hint, that necklace is beautiful and my birthday is coming up", she uttered in a sing-song voice, batting her eyelashes.
Eshe rolled her eyes and then smirked, "Your birthday is like three months away- that's hardly close."
"Um, excuse you, it's exactly eighty-two days away, I'll have you know!" Leela shot back, playfully faking offense with a barely concealed grin.
Eshe laughed, "Right, well, I will certainly keep that in mind." Leela made a noise of happiness, taking her friend's hand as the two continued through the plaza of shops.
Eshe was glad they seemed to be heading for the exit now; she couldn't wait to get back home and laze about on the couch for a couple more hours before her work shift began. She glanced over at the food court and paused as she caught a sliver of black, blond and reddish-pink hair.
"Hey… he looks familiar-"
Eshe was cut off as her friend grabbed her wrist and squealed, "Hey, check it out! There's a sale on hair-dye in there! C'mon girl, I need it!"
Leela dragged Eshe into the hair-care shop to their left in an overabundance of joy as Eshe craned her neck to try and get a clearer glimpse of who she had seen, but to no avail.
Eshe frowned at her friend once they were inside the shop, "Hey, I swear that was Yugi Moto out there…" she trailed off as she watched Leela dig through the basket of price-reduced hairdye and pull out a kit for 'midnight black'.
"Isn't that that boy who got the title for King of Games?" Leela murmured nonchalantly as she read over the instructions on the back of the box.
"Yes, and you know I'm a fan. Can we go and say hi? Pleeease?" Eshe begged, following her friend to the counter as she paid for her purchase.
"But you're the type to talk for hours and I need to be going to work, remember?" Leela pouted; Eshe mirrored her expression and quickly checked as they left the shop to see where the King of Games had wandered off to, but he was nowhere in sight.
Eshe grumbled audibly and Leela snorted, "Esh, I'm pretty sure I heard he lives in this city so you're bound to bump into him soon, but right now, we gotta head home so I can change for work."
With a sigh, the tanned girl nodded, "Yeah okay… fine."
Eshe sighed as she sat in rush-hour traffic later that evening, having just finished work; it had been uncommonly quiet during her shift. Usually she'd have to deal with the afternoon rush of people but today there'd been very few customers and it was a complete bore.
"This blows", she grumbled, eyeing the heavy traffic ahead. "Why is it so busy?"
Her phone vibrated on the seat beside her and Eshe picked it up to find a text from Leela which read 'where the heck r u?'
The cars were at a standstill so Eshe responded, informing her friend of her little stationary situation.
'Take a different route back, ur takeout is getting cold!' was Leela's reply.
Eshe followed her advice and as soon as she was moving again, took the next slip-road out into a more residential square. After about five minutes of navigating through the back roads, she passed a colourful game shop, evident by the sign above the door.
"Kame Game?" she hummed in fascination; she had heard the name briefly when a group of young customers had entered her workplace, apparently they had a wide range of Duel Monster cards. Her curiosity was peaked, but the store was clearly closed for the day.
'I'll check it out in the morning', Eshe decided, wondering if they were selling any rare cards; it had been a while since she'd updated her deck.
Atem had always been very analytical and reasonable; never one to speak before thinking. Never had there been a time since completing the Millennium puzzle where Atem didn't have useful advice or insight to offer Yugi in a crisis. The Pharaoh always knew what to say, he always knew how to encourage his friends and he always seemed to have a plan…
...Which is why it was rather daunting to Yugi as he sat with all his friends on his bedroom floor, trying to come up with any piece of helpful information while Atem lay on his stomach, head resting in his crossed arms, completely silent and staring at the carpet in endless contemplation. He had barely said a word as the group tossed ideas around, trying desperately to come up with any leads.
Yugi sighed as Atem picked at the floor rug; Téa was staring intently at the notes she had taken, fidgeting with her pen as she occasionally hummed in confusion. Meanwhile Tristan and Joey were pigging out on snacks and sipping soda, failing to contribute much to the already lacking list of ideas, and it frustrated Téa to no end.
She glared at them, "I don't suppose either of you have anything to add to our little investigation?"
At the bland look the two boys gave her, Téa rolled her eyes and huffed, "If you hadn't noticed, we're trying to figure out where to look for Eshe, and it would be super appreciated if the two of you could put your combined brainpower together to present even a smidgen of useful information- OH, who am I kidding?" she trailed off, pressing her palm to her forehead in annoyance.
Tristan swallowed his mouthful of food, "Well, what if we email Ishizu to see if she can help?"
"That's the first thing I did when we got back here. She hasn't replied yet so she must be busy; I'm sure she'll help us out as soon as she has a moment." Yugi explained.
Joey groaned, "Doesn't she realise we're in a time-based predicament over here? How long can it take her to respond to your email!?"
"Well I don't see you coming up with any bright ideas over here, Joey", Tristan muttered, poking his tongue out at the blond boy.
"Hey! It's not like you're any help either!"
The rest of the group collectively sighed as Tristan and Joey began wrestling each other riotously, snapping insults back and forth. "Really, you guys?" Téa deadpanned.
Joey jumped up, stumbling back as Tristan attempted to trip him up; the blond reflexively jolted his hand out to grab onto something and accidentally knocked a handful of books and papers off of a shelf.
"Okay, seriously, you guys need to stop!" Téa snapped, raising her voice.
Atem blinked as a stray piece of paper floated down to land in front of his face; he picked it up and his eyes glossed over it frivolously.
He sat up so quickly that he drew the attention of everyone in the room, startled by his sudden movement. "Yugi!" Atem exclaimed, eyes wide as he read over the leaflet in his hands.
"What is it, Atem?"
Atem held up the informational pamphlet to his friends, "This is a flyer from last year on the Egyptian exhibit at Domino Museum- look at this picture here!"
The gang leaned in to absorb the image on the front of the leaflet. "What's that, a necklace?" Joey inquired, blinking curiously.
"Yes, Joey, I've seen this necklace before", Atem smiled excitedly, "It belonged to Eshe! I know this because I gave it to her."
The group synchronously made a noise of thrilled relief, grinning brightly at the find.
"This is awesome!" Joey yelled, "I knew we'd come up with something eventually!" He ignored the skeptical raised eyebrow from Tristan and clapped his hands together. "Now all we need to do is just go to the museum and see what we can find out about it!"
Yugi nodded and beamed at the Pharaoh, "You see, Atem? I told you we'd come up with a lead."
"Can we visit the museum tomorrow?" Atem asked, hopeful.
Yugi shook his head, "The museum is closed on Thursdays, and on Friday I'm helping grandpa look after the game shop- but we can definitely go at the weekend!"
"Yeah, we'll all go!" Tristan chimed in, "and then we'll be one step closer to finding Eshe."
Atem nodded in assent, "Yes, we will."
Yugi smiled at the return of confidence in the Pharaoh's expression, and then he laughed as he regarded Joey and Tristan, "If you two hadn't started fighting, we might not have found that leaflet."
"Hell yeah!" Joey exclaimed as he shared a high-five with the brown-haired boy.
"Violence is always the answer!" Tristan cried with a laugh.
"Not quite", Téa grumbled, eyeing the two boys doubtingly.
"Violence is… sometimes the answer?" Tristan offered with a shrug of his shoulders; Téa rolled her eyes.
"Violence is never the answer, except for this ONE exception", she conceded, and the gang laughed in amusement.
Notes: Hey, thank you so much to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, and thank you to those to added this story to their favourites and/or follow list! I'm glad you enjoyed the prologue and I hope you enjoy this chapter too! If you do enjoy it, I'd really appreciate if you left a review- if you wanna tell me what you like the most about it or if anything bothered you or you have any criticisms then feel free to share them. I'm really enjoying writing this story and I can't wait to get to the parts later on in the story! I have some brilliant ideas ;)