This story is a spinoff of the movie "The Princess and the Frog" created by Disney.
Warnings: Jack being slightly provocative, and Goodwin being creepy as always.
Disclaimer: I do not own Disney's movie, The Princess and the Frog, nor do I own Yu-Gi-Oh 5D's. This is just a parody. Enjoy! This story might contain some OOCness. I am trying my hardest to portray the original character's personalities, but I don't want to ruin the roles they are trying to play. I hope it isn't too OOC for you, I'm trying to make sure it remains close to the original show. Thanks! :)
Chapter 4
"Um, excuse me sir, if I may be a burden," he cleared his throat, "but you have me deeply...confused."
"Really?" He raised a brow, "and what exactly is causing this confusion?"
"Well, if your true name is really Goodwin as you say it is, why did those women address you by another name? Your sign even addresses you by another name."
"Oh...that," he said. "Well, you see, my work comes with certain, say, um...liabilities."
"L-liabilities? What kind of liabilities?" the small man questioned frantically. "What are you trying to pull?"
"Trying to pull? I'm not trying to pull anything. You are mistaken," he said, slotting his slender fingers together. "You see, it is the job of a fortune teller to show what the future has in store. Not always does that outcome turn out in one's favor. You never know what one might do once knowing what's ahead. People lose their minds once discovering that their long, sought out dreams will never become a reality—that they are doomed to a life of drawn-out misery. Working nine-to-five in a cubicle with an adulterous wife and multiple hungry, screaming brats. But who's fault is that? I'm just speaking for the cards," he shrugged, tapping his deck. "I don't want some fat cat waltzing in trying write me off as a nut case and try to sue me because he didn't like the thought of having a dull and lifeless future. That would be quite...unfortunate. I'm simply protecting myself, but that's how life is in today's world, right, gentlemen? You never know who could be deceiving."
The treacherous grin and uncaptivating innuendo was enough to send Lazar packing.
"Excuse me, your highness, if you don't mind, I must go prepare for your reading. I'll return shortly."
The prince nodded. "Of course, my good man, take your time." He stood and made his way through the beaded walkway in lieu of the door. Jack shot a smirk to his keeper and threw his arm around his frail shoulders.
Once he left, Lazars spoke up. "My prince, I think it'd be in our best interest to get out of here immediately. I'm starting to believe that this guy is some kind of bushranger," Lazar whispered. Jack rolled his eyes and continued staring at the almost hazy glow coming from the strange painting on the wall.
"Relax, Lazar. All you do it worry," he sighed. "Lighten up. I'm the prince of Australia, for God's sake. He's just being hospitable. Don't get your daks in a twist."
Lazar is still not convinced when the man returns.
"Sorry about that, gentlemen. Now, if you'll take a seat over here, we may get started."
An eerie feeling hovered in the room as the ringmaster prepares for his divination circus. He stroked his long, bony fingers across the backs of the cards, caressing them almost disturbingly as he shuffles them with perfect precision. The purple backed cards slide in between each other as smooth as butter, never faltering in the slightest. Cutting the deck, he separated it into even halves and bowed them in the palms of his hands so they can slide together in a beautiful form. Lazar feels as though he's pulled into a trance watching the man, making shivers run up his spine. He began to pick up more speed in his shuffling, moving them at an almost feverish pace. The mauve cards begin to flip in the air like trained acrobats, weaving intricately in sync with each other as the ringmaster pulls on their strings. If Lazar wasn't so creeped out by the stranger sitting across the table, he'd be almost impressed by his skillful hands.
"Before we begin, are you aware how this works, gentlemen?"
"Other than you telling me how incredible I already know my future is going to be, then no," Jack said triumphantly. Lazar rolled his eyes.
The man smirked. "Well first, I will place three cards on the table face down. They are ordered chronologically to represent your past, present, and future," he pointed to each one. "Mind you, I have no idea what the cards will be when I turn them right-side up. The cards speak for themselves; I am only their translator." He folded his hands on the table. "Any questions?" The foreigners shook their heads.
"Wonderful," the man exclaimed, clasping his hands together, "we'll start with you, your highness. Now please, may I have your complete silence? The cards must think." Lazar stared at Jack's wide eyes in fascination trying to contemplate why he was still enthralled by the lunatic.
What did I do in my past life to deserve being surrounded by idiots?
"All right, Prince Jack, we'll start with the card on the left: your past." He turned the card over. "The Jar of Greed!" he exclaimed. "Well, that's pretty self-explanatory. You live a life of luxury in your homeland, being praised and worshiped by everyone around you. You are waited on hand and foot like royalty and own the best of everything that money can buy. Women and men all around want your hand, but being tied down isn't your thing. You're a free bird and want to enjoy your lavish and upscale life until the responsibility of your kingdom has turned to you."
"Couldn't have explained it better myself!" He looked to Lazar, "See, Lazar, I told you he was the real thing!" The prince explained, elbowing the younger man in reassurance.
"Yep, sure...absolutely." Lazar replied with sarcasm that Jack was unable to pick up.
Goodwin glared daggers at the handler. "Onto the next card then." Goodwin peeked under the card placed in the middle, laughing at what appeared on its opposing side. "You poor, poor soul," he shook his head, "You didn't tell me you had come here to find a wife."
"Huh? How did you—" he was silenced when Goodwin turned the card around to show a man wrapped in chains. "Oh." Goodwin chuckled again.
"Paralyzing Chain, hah, funny." Jack let out a large sigh, combing his fingers through his blonde hair. "Unfortunately, yes. My imbecile parents decided it was time for me to get married, but I disagreed. Told them I was in my prime and that I can get married when I'm old and miserable like they were...and guess what? They cut me off. Kicked me out. Told me that I wasn't getting anything until I got hitched. Said that my days as a 'lazy playboy' were over. So they sent me here to find a rich girl for me to get hitched to, which will be more than easy enough—of course, I mean, I am Jack Atlas after all, but I am not happy. I was put on this earth to party and make all the beautiful women feel special. How am I supposed to accomplish my destiny if I have a ball and shackle around my leg?" Jack held up his hands questioningly.
"Guess you're just going to have to leave behind a bunch of broken hearts," Goodwin chuckled.
"Eh, guess so," he shrugged. "But hey, at least I will have all her daddy's dough to roll in, right?"
"Absolutely. Now, this next card will represent your future." Jack nodded. As the card was turned, Goodwin began grinning wildly. Each of his teeth were present in his eerie smile sending a chill down Lazar's spine. Of course he knew that Jack would assume it was for something immaculate, but Lazar was feeling quite opposite.
"Ah, the Green Eyes Emerald Dragon. This is good, very good indeed," Goodwin said with the creepy smile still glued onto his face.
"Ace! What's its meaning?" Jack asked, filled to the brim with excitement.
"It means, my prince, that you will be seeing green sooner than you think." This time no teeth had shown, but whatever that expression was on the ringmaster's face made Lazar grow cold.
"This is great! I'll show my good-for-nothing parents that I don't need them to get what I want!" He grabbed his handler's shoulders and shook with a little too much force. "I told you that I'd show them, Lazar! They said I wouldn't do it, but look at me now!" He stood and viciously shook the magician's hand. "I promise you, Goodwin, when I get rich again, you'll be the man of the party because I'm throwing a huge one just for you!"
The man grinned up at the exuberant prince, "Thank you dearly for your kindness, your highness, but I didn't do anything. It was the cards who did the work, I just spoke for them."
"Nonsense, my good man, you have shown me that my future ahead of me is glorious, and that is party-worthy. You just wait, once I am swimming in money again, throwing your party will be the first thing I do." All Lazar could do is roll his eyes in disbelief. Life never turned out the way he wanted. The juvenile brat that he had to stick by day by day would either turn out living the highlife again, (much to Lazar's annoyance), or he would be fooled by the phony magician (which is most likely to happen) and sulk for days on end, which is something Lazar did not want to deal with. The handler sighed in annoyance, wondering when it was going to be his time to shine.
"Thank you again, prince, I will be looking forward to that day."
"Of course, and please, call me Jack." Goodwin nodded.
"Now let's get on with it so the little man can get his turn." He began shuffling his deck again while Lazar glared daggers at him.
After a spending a lazy amount of time shuffling, he laid three cards faced down on the table, mimicking Jack's turn. He didn't even bother explaining before flipping the first card over.
"The Card of Disdain. This card represents foreclosure. I see," he paused, drumming his fingers on the table. "Tell me, have you had any financial troubles in the past, maybe lost a house or some property?"
Lazar sighed, "unfortunately, yes. My family was very poor and we had to close our business. The profits just weren't coming in anymore. That's why I had to find myself a new job working for the Atlas's. My parents were devastated having to give up our circus act."
"You owned a circus?" Goodwin asked, quirking an eyebrow.
"Yes, it was in the family for decades until we had to shut it down."
"Really?" Goodwin dragged out. "How, um," he looked him up and down, taking in his very flamboyant garb, "fitting."
"Can we get on with the next one?" Lazar asked growing even more irritated by the second. The man nodded.
He flipped the next card over with a little more force than necessary. "Jester's Confit."
"Okay...? What does it mean?"
"To put it in summation, you live your life as someone's watchdog. Being pushed around by the higher-ups, doing all their dirty work. Bouncing around for other's entertainment." He paused, stretching a wild grin across his face. "Nothing but a pawn in a giant game of chess."
Lazar was close to popping his top. He was not going to take anymore of this phony's insults any longer. "I resent that! I am a very important man, I—"
"There's still one more card at play, but if you'd rather not see what's in store for your future then-"
He sucked in a giant breath trying to calm himself, "No, no. continue."
The gray-haired man slowly turned over the card, as if trying to torture the already fuming tiny man. "Mmm, this, this is interesting."
Lazar's interest piqued at that. He leaned close to the table to get a better look at the card. No words were written on the card, only a picture. But what Lazar saw surprised him. On the card was a picture of a regal king sitting atop his mighty throne, pointing down accusingly at what seemed like an outlaw. Lazar had not an ounce of a clue what the card could mean, but he couldn't draw his eyes away.
"Well that's everything, gentlemen. Thank you for your time."
"That-that's it? You're not going to tell me what the card means?" Lazar asked almost frantically. He wanted to get to the bottom of what that card had been trying to tell him.
"Sorry. I'm very busy; I must be on my way. It was nice meeting you, gentlemen." He held out both of his hands eagerly for the two foreigners to shake. Jack quickly took his right, politely. Goodwin stared down at Lazar, waiting for him to do the same.
When he finally reached over and grabbed the taller man's hand, still highly irritated, he was pulled in closer to him. The eerie man leaned down close and placed his lips right near Lazar's ear, "I have a feeling we're going to work very well together," and then at once began shaking both of their hands in sync.
Then everything went black.
A/N: Hi everyone! I'm finally back. I owe a huge apology for my absence. This chapter, (although fun to write) was extremely difficult to get down for some reason. I have some more Australian slang for you again. I hadn't used as much in this chapter, but it still was incredibly exciting to write. Also, all of Goodwin's cards I used in his divination scene are real cards used in the Yu-Gi-Oh series. All of the cards Lazar used actually had come from his deck. I'll have a list along with the definitions this time. Lastly, I'd like to dedicate this chapter to TWISTed-angel033 for practically being my muse. I miss you and I hope everything is going smoothly. Thank you for all of your support and help. It is greatly appreciated. I'd also like to thank Deck Divination for being the incredible beta that she is (again). I am dearly grateful for all your help and cleaning up my "mess making."
Bushranger: outlaw
Daks: trousers
Ace!: excellent, very good
Divination cards:
Jack's fortune: Past-Pot of Greed, Present-Paralyzing Chain, Future-Green Eyes Emerald Dragon
Lazar's fortune: Past-Card of Disdain, Present-Jester's Confit, Future-Late Penalty
