Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds
See What the Time's Done
By Lucky_Ladybug
Notes: The characters from the show are not mine. The other characters and the story are mine! This takes place post-series in my main timeline. All of my timelines feature Radley as a good person, the way I honestly see him, and he and Kalin growing very close. Crash Town is rife with references to the classic film A Fistful of Dollars, and I have decided to make another one with the first name of Radley's mother. There are also some references to past stories here, and the poison pen letter part of the plot is inspired by the Murder, She Wrote episode Sticks and Stones. Thanks to Azalea542 for plot help!
Chapter One
It had been relatively peaceful in Satisfaction Town for a while. The townspeople were all getting ready for Christmas with vim and vigor and Radley was busy making new plans to improve their quality of life. He sketched on a piece of paper while Kalin worked on his computer. It was a pleasant day, and the two friends were happy as they worked on their respective tasks. They were so comfortable with each other that scenes such as this were common now.
After a moment Kalin glanced over at Radley. He was highly occupied in his drawing, his eyes glittering with determination and excitement.
"So what is it you've come up with now?" Kalin asked with a gently amused smile.
"A highway!" Radley said proudly. "That's what we need—something to more quickly connect us with the City! Right now the only ways in are by vehicles that can travel over wilderness terrain or by flying. We need something to make it easier for everyone to reach us."
"That makes sense to me, but highways are expensive," Kalin grunted.
"I know, and the City hasn't shown any real interest in putting one in," Radley frowned. "So it's up to us to do it from our end."
"Do we have the funds?" Kalin wondered.
"I really am pretty wealthy by now, more than maybe even you know since you don't keep up with the financial side of things," Radley said with a smirk. "Yes, I've been working on some calculations too, and we really can swing it."
"Maybe we should try to get Kaiba onboard too," Kalin said.
"I love him, but if he gets interested, he'll probably completely take control of the project," Radley said. "This is my baby and I want to be in charge."
Kalin smiled a bit. "Then let's do it."
Radley suddenly sighed. "We'll probably need to bring it up at the next town meeting first," he said. "The reason why I haven't done a lot of things I could have done is because we all wanted things to stay looking like the Old West. Really, though, as much as I like small towns, we could certainly use some more urban things. I know the Bunch would be nuts about a real shopping center, and we were planning a museum. . . ."
"Do you think the town won't want a highway?" Kalin asked.
". . . They might, especially since we've wanted to bring in more of the tourist industry," Radley said. "I hope they'll appreciate my vision."
"I think they will," Kalin said. "They love you and they trust your ideas."
"True," Radley mused. "And I'm glad of it. I wondered if they'd forgive me at all."
"You were always fighting for them. They never forgot that," Kalin said.
"And you were the one who finally freed them from Malcolm's Crew," Radley smiled. "They love you too."
"Sometimes I'm still amazed that I was accepted into the Bunch," Kalin said. "Although . . ." He trailed off.
"What?" Radley frowned.
"Nothing," Kalin said.
"Something, I think," Radley retorted.
Kalin sighed. ". . . I wonder sometimes if Virgil ever has forgiven me for leaving you in the mines," he confessed.
"Of course he has," Radley said in disbelief. "If anything, it's himself he hasn't forgiven."
"Maybe," Kalin said.
"Virgil's just kind of a grouch by nature," Radley said. "It's nothing personal."
Kalin smirked a bit. "Yusei, Crow, and I have told you the same thing about Jack when you think he doesn't like you," he remarked.
"You guys understand Jack. I understand Virgil," Radley said.
"That makes sense," Kalin consented.
The door flew open and Scotch bounded in. "They fixed the paper!" he said in relief. "They printed the retraction about the story they messed up and here's Carly's article about what really happened in the snowstorm!" He plopped the New Domino City newspaper on Radley's desk.
Radley picked it up. "Oh good," he said in relief. "I was getting tired of us being dead."
Kalin grunted. "I was thinking of something," he said. "How far does that paper get distributed?"
Radley looked to him in surprise. "Anyone can take out a subscription, if they want," he said.
Kalin sighed. "Is there any chance your family gets it?"
Radley froze. "Oh gosh, I hadn't even thought of that," he admitted.
"Oh wow, yeah!" Scotch said. "What if your little brother saw you were listed as dead in the messed-up version?!"
"Then I think he would have tried to find a way to get in touch with me," Radley said. "I hope he hasn't seen it. . . ."
"Probably not then!" Scotch said.
Kalin started to tune them out as he tried to focus on what he was typing. There were still things he wasn't so skilled with when it came to modern technology, and when he was just minding his own business and the screen suddenly filled up with random and uncontrollable windows, he snarled in bewildered aggravation.
"What's wrong?" Radley asked.
"Suddenly it won't respond to anything I do!" Kalin exclaimed in frustration.
Radley winced as he came over to look. "Ooh, it looks like it got a bad virus."
"How?!" Kalin burst out. "We have antivirus software installed!"
"Sometimes they get in anyway," Radley said. "Marty might be able to help, but Yusei is probably your best bet for fixing this quickly."
"He's working," Kalin sighed. "And he'd have to drive out here."
"I'll get Marty," Radley said.
"I'll get him!" Scotch volunteered, wanting to help.
"Go for it," Radley said. "Or should I say, go for him?"
Scotch grinned.
It didn't take long for Scotch to find and return with their friend. What did take some time was fighting with the virus, but at long last Marty was able to combat it into successful submission and deletion. Kalin, Radley, and Scotch watched, relieved, as the computer screen at last went back to normal.
"That was a bad one," Marty frowned. "I wonder how it got in."
"That's what I've been wondering," Kalin scowled.
"It could have snuck in anywhere," Radley said. "In a download, on a webpage . . . although you'd think the antivirus would catch it. I hope we weren't hacked."
"If we were, would it be on purpose or were they just going after anyone?" Kalin wondered.
"It could be either," Radley said.
"With our luck, it might more likely be on purpose," Kalin scowled.
"I can't deny that," Radley admitted.
"Well, I've increased your cyber security," Marty said. "I tried to trace how the virus got in, but it locked up the moment I tried. Whoever made it doesn't want it traced. That doesn't necessarily mean it was directed specifically at you, though."
"No, but I wish we could know," Kalin frowned.
"Yusei could probably do more," Marty said.
"I'm calling him now." Kalin took out his phone and started to dial.
"Thanks for everything you've done, Marty," Radley said. "You were really helpful to us."
"Sure," Marty said as he got up.
Suddenly realizing he had probably been rude, Kalin put down the phone and nodded. "Yusei would probably just be getting here now, since he has to drive so far. It's good to have someone here in town who can help us."
Marty nodded. "You should see if Yusei can get more in-depth, but I don't know if there is a way to find out if you guys were personally being targeted. Unless the creep tries again, of course."
Radley grimaced. "Hopefully that won't happen."
As Marty moved to head out, he noticed the mailman just passing by the house after delivering the day's goods. "I can bring in your mail for you," he offered.
Radley smiled. "You've already done a lot for us, Marty. We can get it."
Marty sighed. "I forgot about it when I got the call about the virus, but right before that I heard some of the neighbors yelling at each other about some weird letters they'd got."
"What do you mean?" Kalin asked.
"Oh, it sounded like Mrs. Bateman got a letter telling her Mrs. Fleming was stealing her tomatoes every night, and Mrs. Fleming got a letter that Mrs. Bateman kept deliberately messing up her television signal with KaibaCorp tech," Marty said.
"Yeah, that would sure set them off," Scotch said.
"What?" Radley scoffed. "It sounds like some jerk getting their jollies from sending poison pen letters."
"Yeah," Marty said. "I guess it's silly, but I wondered if you guys would get something stupid too."
"Maybe the virus was what we got, to distract us," Radley frowned.
Kalin nodded. "We'll have to go talk to those women. Maybe you two and the rest of the Bunch can find out if anyone else is getting idiotic letters."
"You can count on us!" Scotch said with a salute.
"Sure," Marty said. "But if there's a rash of this going around . . . why?!"
"Who knows," Radley groaned.
xxxx
While our friends were dealing with the latest problems in Satisfaction Town, in Napa Valley, California, another discovery was being made.
"Mother?" Marisol Ramon stepped into the family's den, a newspaper clutched in her hands. "I just found the evening paper. It says they're retracting the content of a previous story where they said Radley Ramon had been killed." She looked sheet-white. "I never saw such a paper."
"Of course you didn't," a gruff older woman replied. "I never let any of the family see it."
Marisol stared at her. "Do you mean to tell me you thought Radley was dead and you never said a word or even reacted at all?!" she cried in horror.
"He is no longer a member of this family!" was the heartless answer. "Why should I care if he died?!"
"He is still my son and your grandson!" Marisol snapped. "I did everything you wanted, Mother, even throwing him out when he got too rebellious! I thought he'd change back and come home, but he never did. We went too far! We tried to repress a free and beautiful soul and he just couldn't take it!" She blinked back forming tears. "I have missed him every day. I even did something I had never wanted to do, get pregnant again and have another child, to try to fill the hole in my heart. And then you insisted we had to name the poor child Emilio—Rival!—to send the message to Radley that he had been replaced! Well, I'm sure he got it! He was already crushed to pieces and you drove a knife through all the pieces of his heart!"
"Don't think that you're blameless in this!" her mother snarled. "Yes, you did everything I wanted. And as far as Radley would know, you were all-in as well!"
"And I will never forgive myself," Marisol cried. "What else have you been keeping from us?! Has Radley been in danger other times too?! Would I even know if my son was dead?!"
The cold-hearted woman looked away, pulling her shawl closer around herself. "I did what I had to do to keep this family safe. I have nothing more to say."
"Safe?! From poor Radley?!" Marisol screamed. "He would never do anything to hurt us! When we disowned him, he never tried to get revenge. He just left, and I have never heard from him again! For what I have done, I can never forgive myself! I don't know how Radley ever could either! But I am going to him, and I'm taking Emilio with me! He deserves to know his brother!"
She really expected her mother to turn and demand that Emilio stay, that they had to have him as a heir. But she kept staring out at their vineyards and said nothing.
Marisol stormed out of the room and upstairs, intending to begin packing her things that instant. When she passed her mother's room, she paused. Would the incorrect newspaper have been kept? She wasn't sure if the woman would have burned it or instead quietly kept it, certain that no one would get into her private things and find it. Deep in her heart, Marisol was sure that all of them still loved Radley, even her mother. Maybe holding onto the papers would be her way of keeping that connection alive.
She once never would have dreamed of it, but now she entered the stately and traditional Spanish room and crossed to the closet. If anything had been kept, it would be in there. And if it was there, what else might also be there that told about Radley?
It didn't take long to find the incriminating box at the back of the shelf, the lid ajar. It had been gotten into recently. And as she looked through the newspapers that filled it more than halfway, her heart was soon in her throat. So many stories of Radley, of his work in Satisfaction Town and how he took in troubled youths. . . . And there was more in the box than just news stories. On top of a slightly older paper were several folded pages. A letter sent to the family. . . .
Marisol opened it with shaking hands. It was from one of Radley's newer friends. He told in detail of Radley's fight against a cruel man named Malcolm, trying to protect the town where they had settled. It had culminated in Radley's capture and torture at the hands of Malcolm's men. This friend, Kalin Kessler, had found him dead.
Marisol screamed, her hand going to her heart. Kalin went on to talk about taking Radley's body back to town, lost in grief and the realization of how much he had come to care about the man. When Radley had finally been revived, he had still been seriously ill and the doctor had called the villa, asking the family to come to him. The plea had been soundly rejected.
"I'm writing all of this to you in case at least some of you still care about Radley and didn't know what had happened," the letter concluded. "The devastation I felt when I found him laying dead was absolutely flooring. I had treated him so poorly and then it looked like it was too late to ever make it right. If any of you still care, I hope you would feel the same way. You still have a chance to make it right with him. Please don't squander it, as I almost did."
Tears flowed from Marisol's eyes as she set the letter down. "I never knew," she whispered in horror. "How could this have been kept from me?! From all of us?! How could she have refused to go?! What kind of a monster is my mother?!"
She gathered the box in her arms and turned to leave. She only gave a small start to find her mother in the doorway.
"I had my reasons," the older woman sullenly said.
"I almost lost my son and you never told me," Marisol hissed. "I will never forgive you! I'm going to read everything in this box on the flight to Satisfaction Town, and you will not stop me!" She pushed past her mother and started down the hall. "Emilio! Where are you?! We are taking a trip!"
She could feel her mother's eyes upon her for a while, but then there was nothing. Apparently by now the jig was up. Perhaps the hateful woman knew she had gone too far. But that mattered little to Marisol. All she cared about now was getting to her firstborn and holding him in her arms again and begging his forgiveness with all her heart and soul. She would not be parted from him again, unless Radley rejected her as she had him. And after everything that had been done to him, she really couldn't blame him if he did.
"Please forgive me, my darling Radley," she whispered. "Please forgive me. . . ."
Emilio came out of his room, his innocent eyes confused and curious. "What is it, Mama? Where are we going?"
"We are going to Satisfaction Town to see your brother," Marisol said. "I'm not sure we're coming back."
Emilio's entire face lit up. "We're going to see him?! We'll be with him for Christmas?!"
Marisol gave a wistful smile. "If he'll have us."
"He'll have us, Mama!" Emilio insisted. "He loves us! He still loves you, and Papa, and even Grandma and Grandpa, after everything you did to hurt him!"
Something in the boy's tone of voice gave Marisol pause. "How do you know this, Emilio?" she asked.
Emilio froze, looking caught. "Well . . . I don't think I should say here," he whispered.
"Your grandmother won't do anything to you because of it," Marisol said. "I'll make sure of it."
"It's not me, though, Mama. It's . . ." Emilio came closer and Marisol crouched down so he could whisper in her ear. "It's my governess. She's been letting me and Radley send letters back and forth to each other for months now!"
Marisol rocked back, staring at the boy in shock. "What?! Emilio!"
"I know it's disobeying all those rules about not having anything to do with Radley, but they're dumb rules!" Emilio spat. "None of you would let me see him and I had to get to know him! I had to!"
Finally Marisol smiled, brushing away her tears. "You're right, Emilio. They are dumb rules. You are actually the smartest one in this family right now. Come, I'll help you pack." She straightened and took his hand.
Emilio beamed. "Is everyone else coming too?"
Marisol paused. "I don't think so. But we'll ask before we go."
"Radley would love for all of us to be a family again," Emilio said softly. "But he has a home now and he would never want to come back here again."
"No, I don't think he would," Marisol said. "I wouldn't expect it of him. It's probably too much to expect that we could live in his town with him. But maybe at least we can have Christmas."
"I'd like us to all be together for Christmas," Emilio said.
Just the thought of her mother caused another surge of rage through Marisol's heart. "I don't think that will happen this year," she said. "But at least we will show Radley that we want him to be part of our family again. We never should have thrown him out!"
"No, you shouldn't have," Emilio said in disgust, and again Marisol thought on how a six-year-old boy was wiser than all of the rest of the Napa Valley Ramons put together.