Bonds Across Time
Summary: Paradox's grand experiment was not without consequences. (Alternatively: Yusei and Judai's misadventures on a time traveling motorcycle.) Pre-slash. Slowly progressing Starshipping.
Chapter 2
In the end, they hadn't been able to put up much of a fight.
The bandits converged upon them, brandishing staves and maces. Having exhausted their powers, Judai and Yusei had no choice but to resort to outright brawling. But with the current odds of the two of them against twenty something bandits, they knew they were only delaying away the inevitable.
Yusei fought viciously with elbows and knees, targeting unprotected organs and joints. He managed to take out several men this way; diving down to avoid an overhead swing and lashing out with a booted foot at his assailant's kneecaps. The brigand dropped like a stone but another soon took his place. Yusei was a decent scrapper, but he was no Jack Atlas. His slighter build also worked against him and he was tiring quickly.
Rarely having to resort to physical violence before, Judai was at a disadvantage. He dodged and weaved through the crowd of attackers the best he could, relying on his agility. However, coupled with his relative inexperience and the fact he had only effectively woken from a two-day coma, it wasn't long before he had the wind knocked out of him by a blow to his back.
Yusei's lapse in concentration upon hearing Judai's pained cry cost him and he was clubbed in the side, sending him sprawling to the ground. As the two duellists were dragged to kneel next to each other, they noted with grim satisfaction that the bandits did not walk away unscathed either, and that several of them sported split lips and oddly angled limbs.
Judai let out a low whistle as he surveyed the damage, heedless of his captor's tightening grip on his arms. "Nice kick," he complimented. "Where did you pick up moves like that?"
"I…" Yusei cast about for the right words, "…grew up in a rough neighbourhood."
A warning growl from one of the henchmen followed by a pointed gesture with his cudgel discouraged further conversation. Judai and Yusei then had their wrists bound tightly in front of them with thick hemp rope with a length connecting their wrists together, limiting their mobility and forcing them to awkwardly walk out of the alcove and towards where the rest of the bandit's crew was waiting. The other end of the leash was clenched in the hands of a smirking, rat-faced bandit who was about the size of a small bear. The heavy-set man gave the rope a malicious tug, causing them stumble into each other.
Meanwhile, the rest of the bandits carelessly rifled through their bags, emptying them on the ground, grumbling in disappointment when they didn't find anything more valuable than several canisters of water and a box of strange metal bits. Upon discovering the D-Wheel, however, the bandits exclaimed over it, having never seen anything akin to the sleek machine. Their leader casually oversaw them, watching with an assessing gray gaze and noting with satisfaction Yusei's growing fury at having his possessions pawed at and manhandled.
"We'll take the metal thing too," he said, gesturing for them to hitch it up to one of the awaiting horses. "Could be useful for scrap."
The boys could only helplessly watch as the bandits crammed the rest of their meagre belongings into thick burlap sacks, wincing when one of them gave Judai's laptop an unimpressed once-over before tossing it into the sand. Judai began to fret; Pharaoh had disappeared sometime during the chaos, and he really rather hoped that he would have the sense to somehow follow them. Judai didn't fancy losing him and eventually having to hunt down the feline carrying Daitokuji-sensei's soul in the middle of an ancient desert. He figured that, in this particular timeline, running around calling for 'Pharaoh' would more than likely get him arrested.
Once the bandits had secured their loot, the one who appeared to be the boss of the operation sauntered over to examine their most interesting find of the night.
"How curious," he said, flicking his long braids off his shoulder, "for you to have wandered so far out in the desert with such inadequate supplies."
Had Judai been his sixteen year old self, he would have likely been tempted to challenge the bandits head on without a thought to the consequences and subsequently endangering them both. But if he had learned anything during his adventures, it would be patience. He could feel his powers resting dormant beneath his skin, just out of reach. He signalled the Yusei with a faint tug of their bound hands and shared a furtive glance. Yusei noticed that Judai's brown eyes had slowly begun to sporadically flicker with gold and gave the other boy a barely perceptible nod.
Yusei took a step forward, drawing the group's attention to himself. "What do you plan on doing with us?" he demanded.
The leader crossed his arms over his broad chest and raised an eyebrow. His strong jaw and sharp eyes could have been considered attractive if not for the coldness in his features and the mocking uplift of his lips. "What makes you think I want anything from you?" he asked, insincerely. "And really, don't you have anything more original to say? I can't tell you how many times I've already been asked that question this week."
Yusei intensified his glare, drilling holes into his antagonist's countenance. "If you don't want anything, then let us go."
The bandit looked away, put out. "Hmph, you're no fun at all." He turned and headed back towards his horse, waving negligently. "Pack them up, boys."
The man holding their leash yanked at them roughly, grinning down at them from a mouth of broken teeth. "You heard the boss man. Hope you boys can keep up. You'll be fetching us a pretty price, whe'er we bring you to them in one piece or not!" Before the duellists could brace themselves, he snapped at his reigns and the horse set off, forcing them into a run, or risk being dragged through the rocks.
Hours later, as the first fingers of dawn crept over the horizon, faint outlines became visible in the distance, standing out like a dark blotch against the sand. As they drew closer, they realized it was a sizable village, protected by high stone walls.
As the party approached, a horn blew, followed by an excited clamour as the thick metal gate slowly open by efforts of six strongmen. After passing through, one by one, the bandits dismounted and were boisterously greeted by a throng of men and women.
Judai and Yusei were led away from the welcoming committee, bypassing what appeared to be the village square down an ill-travelled road. Eventually, they were taken to an underground chamber and were unceremoniously shoved into a barred cell where the two duellists collapsed, panting harshly, having been made to cover most of the distance on foot. More than once during the long journey, they had cast almost longing glances toward the back of the procession where Yusei's D-Wheel was being towed along.
As they caught their breath, three burly men entered the cell. Two held them down while the third cut away their bindings as they were repositioned until they sat facing away from each other. Their arms were then shackled together behind their backs, leaving them in the darkness and the men left them alone. Feeling the other's shoulder blades tense up against his own, Judai gave Yusei a calming nudge and felt the other boy gradually relax.
"You OK, Yusei?" he asked, his voice echoing strangely in the confined space.
"I've had worse," Yusei admitted, surreptitiously fiddling with the bonds.
"Same here, actually." It said a lot for their experiences that the words came out as casual fact. He exhaled loudly and arched backwards in an attempt to stretch out the kinks in his spine and his head ended up clunking companionably against Yusei's shoulder. "Ah, what a mess," he lamented, "Next time, I get to pick where we go on vacation, okay?"
"I was hoping there isn't going to be a next time," Yusei replied, somewhat wryly. "I feel like I've had enough excitement lately."
"Aw, hey, it's not all bad," Judai teased. "I mean, sure being attacked by ancient Egyptian thugs and deadly duel spirits isn't most people's idea of fun. But at least you've got me, right?"
That drew a light chuckle from the more serious duelist, to Yusei's own chagrin.
"Ah!" Judai exclaimed triumphantly. "That's the first time I've heard you laugh. It suits you!"
"You have a gift for putting things into perspective." Yusei felt a smile linger at his lips in spite of himself.
"Nah, you're just too serious, Yusei," Judai countered cheerily. "Even with Yugi back in his own time, between the two of us and Yubel when she wakes up, we're more than a match for these guys!"
Yusei shook his head in amazement and slowly closed his eyes, finally feeling himself relax for the first time in days. "I'm glad to have met you, Judai."
"I hope you won't have to change your mind about that," Judai said, "since you might have to put up with me for a while."
The trap door suddenly creaked open and one of the men returned, bearing a torch and a skin of water, cutting their conversation short. After stowing away the torch it its holder, he regarded their slumped forms with poorly concealed pity and raised the skin, first to Yusei's lips, tilting it back to allow the cool liquid to spill into his parched throat.
When it was Judai's turn, he deliberately widened his eyes until they watered and made himself look miserable, which wasn't difficult, given the tortured state of his limbs. He gave him his best sad kitten impression (shamelessly stolen from Pharaoh). Paired with his dishevelled fluffy brown hair, Judai knew he looked years younger, a fact that he proceeded to exploit ruthlessly.
The man averted his eyes and withdrew the skin, shifting his weight. He, like the boss bandit, was tall and well-built and sported a shaved head with a set of markings running down the edge of his tanned face.
"Look," he murmured in low, guarded tones, "I feel sorry for you, but I can't do you any favours. I shouldn't even be talking to you."
"Why did you bring us here?" Judai asked in a small voice.
"We're not good guys. This is what we do." He sighed, scratching at his scalp. "Usually we go for fat merchants or nobles stupid enough to take this route. Not starving kids. We get a much better haul, for one thing. It's just bad luck that you met us. What did you kids think would happen, playing around in the middle of a warzone?"
"A warzone?" echoed Yusei. "This place is at war?"
"Seriously? What rock did you crawl out from? We've been fighting off the invading armies for years, and losing too!"
"We…" Yusei cast about for an excuse, but studying the history of ancient Egypt never really made it to the top of his list of priorities.
Judai chimed in. "We're from the south."
"Southerners? Huh," the man leaned back and snorted disparagingly. "No wonder you don't know anything. Savages, the lot of them."
"Yup, that's us," Judai replied vaguely, rearranging his features into a slightly more vacuous expression.
The man shook his head in disbelief. "Huh. Well, that won't matter anyhow. You kids will probably be stuck right in the middle if it anyway."
"What do you mean?" asked Yusei warily.
"Recently, some people have been asking about and rounding up people with strong heka and they've been dishing out some nice dough for it. My guess is they're looking for magicians for the war effort, or at least for more cannon fodder to throw at the enemies."
Yusei and Judai both bristled at the casual mention of slavery but forced it down. They were, after all, in another time and there wasn't much they could do to change it. For now, they needed the information.
"I see you've been making friends, Kasiya." A sharp voice suddenly cut into the conversation unexpectedly and the three males started and turned to the entrance. Standing over them with his arms crossed over his chest was the boss of the bandits. Kasiya flushed and ducked his head like a chastised child.
"Sorry, boss," he mumbled, dusting his tunic off as he got to his feet.
The boss waved away the apologies. "No worries. Go help the others unload. I'm just going to chat with our young friends here for a bit." The bald man bowed hurriedly and exited, closing the hatch with a sharp clink.
The braided man reclined leisurely against a raised metal platform, unperturbed at the brown-crusted shackles dangling from its sides, expression made indecipherable from the flickering shadows cast by the flames.
"So," he began conversationally. "Where are you kids really from?"
"We told you," Judai began but was cut off.
"Now, now. You're going to have to try harder than that." He leaned in, this time with an undercurrent of menace. "I'm afraid I've gotten quite interested in you two."
"Too bad we can't say the same," Yusei retorted. "Get to the point."
The man let out a long-suffering sigh, raking a hand through his dreads. "Oh very well. As you've heard from my loose-lipped minion, recently I've been turning quite a profit from pawning off a few heka users. Just a couple weaklings here and there, not anyone people would miss."
If the two weren't furious before, they certainly were now.
"We're not your playthings!" Yusei growled, straining against his cuffs. "You can't just buy and sell human lives like objects!"
"You'll find that I can. But besides that, let's talk about you two. Judging by that little fight you put up earlier, you use your heka a bit too well not to have been trained. Most people don't even know about the existence of their Ka, let alone manifest one and try to fight off my Birdface," he paused, "emphasis on try. Nice try though. Too bad you're still too weak, running out of Ba after just one summon."
Judai made an indignant noise, but kept quiet, not wanted to give away the game. Instead, the two boys glared at him sullenly, waiting for him to stop rambling.
"Where are you going with this?" asked Yusei. With their arms behind him and out of the man's line of sight, he deftly reached into the sleeve of his jacket, feeling around. He was rewarded when something long and thin dropped into his hand. When Judai felt it pressed against his palm, he deliberately angled his body towards the bandit, more effectively hiding his partner's movements.
"I was just thinking about how my reputation would suffer if I turned up with defective merchandise." He pushed off the platform, stretching languidly as he walked towards them. Behind him, a shadow materialized at the edge of his shoulder, talons gleaming. A wicked grin broke across his face.
"Which is exactly why I'll be taking you boys for a test drive."
Chapter 2: The Village of Thieves
Beta'd by the lovely tumblr user mintleaftea.