Chapter 32: And Bridges Built
Songs:
Flamingosis – Getting Close To You
Vanilla - Traveller
Vicetone ft. Collin McLoughlin - Heartbeat
Kingdom Hearts II OST – Kairi's Theme
(Jamie Lancaster POV)
After I got back to my house that night, I crashed for about ten hours before blearily waking to the sound of a churning coffee pot. I threw on a maroon t-shirt and a pair of khaki shorts before doing a few pushups to get the blood flowing. Before heading downstairs, I decided to take a more detailed look around the bedroom.
Jamie seemed to be a soccer fan, judging by the big Messi poster he had near his closet. There were a few maps of Japan, China, the United States with red lines drawn along some of the roads with the cities dotted an identical color. I presume he was marking where he had traveled to before. There was also a Dragon Ball Z poster near his window, showing Goku, Vegeta, Future Trunks, Piccolo, and Krillin in various battle stances.
As was true of almost all teenage boys, his room was messy, or at least it had been before I started cleaning it. Joanna was quite happy about that, as apparently Jamie was none too fond of chores, which was also a trait common to most teenage boys.
I made my way downstairs and immediately made for the coffee pot Tobias must have brewed earlier this morning. Joanna was watching something on the Discovery Channel whilst folding laundry in the living room. When she heard my footsteps sounding down the staircase, she got up from the couch to meet me.
"Finally, you're up! I'm glad you're back, though I am surprised your work trip was so short. What were you guys working on, anyhow?" She asked with motherly curiosity.
"Oh, mister Kaiba was just meeting with some partners of his based in Egypt. All I did was print some forms and make coffee, it was quite boring in all honesty." I said with an affected grimace.
"Still, the fact that you're assisting the CEO himself is quite incredible! If you keep making a good impression, you could get a great job right out of school." She replied as she did up her light brown hair into a messy bun.
"Yeah, for sure." The idea of working for Kaiba all my life did not sound appealing at this point in time. The money would be amazing, to be sure, but there's a lot more to life than that. I'm sure for most young boys it would be a dream come true to have the ear of the great Seto Kaiba, the White Dragon. There were aspects of the man that were admirable, but to work for him my whole life? It would be really great to work for myself if possible…I would be busy doing something constructive and my mind would be away from the past. But I wasn't sure what to do. Since it was actually possible to base a career around Duel Monsters in this world (a fundamental absurdity that I still can't wrap my brain around), then it would sure be cool to do something related to the game.
"It's nice that you got a paid vacation day tomorrow, honey bun. Is there a chance you could mow the lawn for me?" Joanna asked.
"Sure. I was thinking that a few buddies and I might head out to the coast tomorrow though, so perhaps I could mow in the evening?" I asked while cracking eggs into a bowl. Adding a little cream, I whipped the yolks together and poured them into a pan. It was easier to talk to them while I was doing something else.
"Oh, how fun! Who will be going with you?" She asked, having asked about some of my friends in letters and over the past week.
"I don't know yet. Bastion perhaps, and maybe Alexis and her brother Atticus." I said noncommittally.
"Ooh, a girl? Go get her, tiger! And don't let her brother scare you off!" Is it some sort of law that moms have to say this sort of thing? I gave a wry chuckle. Although I did have to wonder if Atticus was protective at all about Alexis…what am I saying, he tried to hook her up with Chazz! I've got to be a better catch than him, right?
"Well, we'll see if they're busy or not." It would be nice to chill out for a day after the craziness of the past week, and knowing the craziness still yet to come.
After breakfast, I went outside and gave Alexis a call. It was late morning on a Sunday, so I imagined she wasn't too incredibly busy.
"Well well well, look who decided to call back. What's up, Jamie?"
"It's hard to look at anything over the phone." I couldn't resist the dig. "Sorry I missed your call, it's been busy these past couple days."
"I can imagine, from everything I've heard Kaiba is quite the workaholic. Were you guys pulling an all-nighter on some project?" She asked, curious.
"Something like that. It's a pretty interesting story, I'd like to tell you it in person. Are you in town?" I assume she was yesterday if she was calling me. Then again, maybe she wasn't and just wanted to catch up. I knew that the Rhodes family didn't reside in Domino, but I forgot exactly where they lived.
"Yeah, we're in Domino for the week, visiting some family. Everyone is so happy to see Atticus alive and well. He's soaking up the attention, of course." Alexis said with a laugh. "I was just trying to see if anyone wanted to hang out." She said coyly.
"What are you doing tomorrow? I have a vacation day since I put in some overtime." I cut straight to the point.
"Not a whole lot now that I think about it. I think Atticus and my dad are going golfing, so I'll just be hanging around…" She trailed off.
"Well, it's been a stressful last couple of days and I was going to go spend a day at the beach since it's only an hour's drive." Pausing, I decided to just go for it. "What time should I pick you up?"
She sounded pleasantly surprised. "I can be ready by eight-thirty."
"Sounds good, just drop me an address sometime today." Hanging up, I breathed a sigh of relief. If talking to girls was like walking through a minefield, then talking to them over the phone was like walking through a minefield laced with barbed wire. Luckily, we were able to set up logistics in pretty short order. I knew Alexis didn't like bullshit, generally speaking, and neither did I, so this should be a fun outing. Now then, what do people do at beaches? I didn't really live close to any in my old life…
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Luckily, Jamie Lancaster got his driver's license when he turned 15, his birthday being August 1. One whole month before I came into the picture.
"Have a great day honey bun! Wear lots of sunscreen! What time will you be back?" Joanna asked.
"Oh, around suppertime I imagine, probably six or six-thirty. I'll have to get to bed early tonight." I responded.
Tobias looked up from reading the monthly livestock journal. He worked in a corporate office, I knew, but his job had something to do with agriculture. I didn't really want to ask because I assumed the real Jamie already knew about it. I didn't really see him yesterday because he was out on a fishing trip with some buddies of his.
"Make sure not to put cheap gas in that car." He peered at me over the paper, his slate blue eyes covered with a pair of thin reading glasses. I was borrowing Joanna's car for the day since she didn't need it for anything. It was a dark red CRV, a solid mom car that wasn't too embarrassing for a son to drive around in.
"Yes, sir." I nodded, not sure if he was being entirely serious or not.
He answered my unspoken question a moment later with a smile. "Have a good time with your friends, son."
With that, I rolled out onto the highway, these open roads utterly unfamiliar to me. And yet, this sort of change, in its normalcy, was nice in its own way. My drive took me by lakes and hills, and I took in with a cup of coffee in hand.
After about an hour, I pulled up outside the house the Rhodes family was apparently staying at. Shooting her a text, I sat and waited. In a moment, she came outside, wearing a light blue tank and cutoff jean short shorts. A pair of nice-looking sunglasses rested atop her messy blonde hair.
"Hi, Jamie!" Opening the passenger door, she leaned over to give me a hug. The fact that I was seated help mask how much shorter I was than her. I think she was even taller than Atticus.
"Good to see you!" I replied in kind. "So this is where you guys are at for the week, huh?"
"Yeah, my cousin's place." Ooh, I wonder if her cousin's hot.
"He moved out here a couple of years ago for work." She elaborated. He? Oh well, can't win em all. Wait a minute, I can't go around wondering after hot cousins, people might start thinking I'm a harem protagonist!
"What is Atticus doing today?" I pretended that I was sad he couldn't make it for the sake of decorum.
"He'll find some way to keep busy. I gave him the slip earlier." She said, and I laughed – apparently my decorum was not needed!
"Why?" I asked as we merged onto the highway.
"For some reason he and Crowler of all people have been trying to get me to start up a pop music career."
Oh yes, I forgot about this fucking ridiculous subplot. "Well, sounds like a profitable endeavor. I didn't know you made music." I feigned ignorance for the sake of amusing myself.
"I don't. I want to be a teacher." She said waspishly.
"Why, you guys could be the next Kardashians if you play your cards right." I smirked.
"Who the hell are the Kardashians?" She asked quizzically. Oh shit, does the Kardashian family exist in this world? I confess that I didn't really keep abreast of such news.
"Oh, they're just some reality television stars my mom watches." I said frantically, keeping my eyes firmly on the road.
"Huh, never heard of them." Alexis said, scratching her head.
"Anyways, the point is that you're not going into the entertainment industry." I changed the subject with dazzling grace and subtlety.
"Not a chance. But enough about that, I want to hear about what working for Kaiba is like. I only met him the one time during that key keeper meeting, and he seemed like a total douchebag." She said casually, putting on her sunglasses as we turned east.
"That's because he is a total douchebag. But he's also the hardest worker I've ever met, and I have a lot I can learn from him. As for what we've been doing the last couple of days…well, you know how the Sacred Beasts were scattered across the planet, right?" I grew grave.
"Yeah, Jaden mentioned it, but he didn't seem too worried about it. I guess that guy is always pretty chill though."
"Kaiba and I found out one was in Egypt. Bad part was that it fell into the hands of this guy named Hank Ishtar."
Alexis giggled, "That's definitely not his real name."
"I swear it is, I guess his parents were a bit weird. But what we found was that this man had been planning to rebel against House Ishtar for many years, and Raviel was the spark that convinced him to go through with it. He beat back Odion, one of the finalists from Battle City, and managed to escape before we could catch him." I explained, giving her the abridged summary.
"No way! So there's another crazy guy out there with shadow magic?" She grit her teeth.
"Well, there's a lot of crazy people out there, and not all them use shadow magic. Hank is actually the least of my worries right now, especially if these rumblings about Tragoedia are true." I thought with grim humor.
"To be honest, although he was a bit smug, he didn't seem as crazy as you might think." I said, my tone becoming a bit melancholy.
"What do you mean?" She asked, not seeming to expect this sort of response from me.
"The life of a tomb keeper is hard and thankless, and I think he just had enough of it all. He said that he wanted to experience the world, and live an adventurous life. If it were up to me, I'd prefer to live and let live, but Kaiba won't stop until Raviel is back in his control. Which I suppose if for the best, in the end."
We were both quiet for a time. "I guess I don't know the whole story, but there are other people who want the Sacred Beasts besides Kaiba, right? Is it possible that Hank made himself a target with this action?" Alexis said evenly.
"Perhaps. It would probably be best if he just destroyed the damn card, it's given us enough trouble as is and it's not even good. Regardless, he'll be a hunted man for a while…a long while…."
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(Hank Ishtar POV)
After a harrowing few days, Hank managed to reach Cairo. His men had scattered off, heading in every which direction so as to throw the Ishtar compound's scouts off the trail.
If they were lucky enough to make it out of the country, Hank suspected they would be safe. None of their names held as much infamy in combination as his did singularly.
His name…Hank had only grown more and more resentful of his name as time went on. It had created such a chasm between him and his peers, especially when they were children. Such fools his parents were – did they mean for him to grow up mocked and ridiculed? Why did they give him such a ridiculous name? They never gave a straight answer on the multiple occasions he asked them, instead spewing meaningless platitudes about how "it's what's on the inside that counts" or some such nonsense. That may have been true, but it didn't stop the other children from giving him swirlies. Imagine that.
So instead he tried to be the "better man", and rise above their bullying by becoming the best tomb keeper he could possibly be. When Marik recruited his clansmen ten years as Rare Hunters in his bid for the Egyptian Gods, Hank remained loyal to Ishizu anyway, but it didn't matter. Marik and his goons were all pardoned for their crimes and were allowed to return to their duties. Marik sang some song about a Japanese teenager claiming to be the Pharaoh Atem reborn (of all the blasphemous ideas!) banishing the evil from his heart. Not only was Marik allowed to remain a tomb keeper, but a few years later he ascended to the status of clan head after his predecessor passed on.
Ishizu would have been ten times the clan head that Marik was, but the clan strictly adhered to patrilineal succession, and so Marik ascended to the position by virtue of the fact that he had a cock and balls. "Though that is more than Odion can say at the very least…"
Taking a deep breath, Hank tried to banish the resentment from his mind. It was nice and quiet inside his cheap hotel room, the city beginning to calm down after a long summer day. He took a moment to rest on his mattress, wearing a simple black t-shirt and jeans. "I'm not that person anymore. This anger only holds me back…I must be free!"
And so, he resolved to undergo a transformation he had been thinking about ever since he fled from the Ishtar home. Moving to the cramped bathroom, he took out a razor and scissors, beginning to cut his distinctive white-blond hair. It was a clumsy job, as he had no experience cutting hair, but he got it down to a short, simple style.
Then, he procured a vial of hair dye. This was the part he wasn't looking forward to, as he had always liked the color of his hair. But acknowledging the necessity of it, Hank applied it according to the directions on the bottle, watching his bright blond hair change to a muddy dark brown.
He threw on a red jacket, as well as an identically colored hat, slanted down to cover his purple irises. It was finished. Hank Ishtar was no more. But now he needed a new name. There was certainly no lock of options on that score, but the choice needed to be a good one. There was much power in a name.
"In chaotic times, that which is formless and immutable prospers. What better word to describe me than a vagabond? Yes, from this moment on I am The Vagabond!"
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(Jamie Lancaster POV)
We made it to the eastern coast at last! The drive took a while, but Alexis made for good company, so it didn't seem so long. Sand stretched for a few miles in either direction, with the waves of the Pacific Ocean surprisingly calm. Above the sands was a boardwalk with various tacky souvenir shops and food vendors set up along the way. Behind that was a Ferris wheel and other carnival games. The place wasn't very busy, as it was a Monday morning. Most of the people here on the younger end, most likely high schoolers or college students, as well as younger kids there with babysitters.
We set up our towel and umbrella, stripping down to our swimsuits after that. She wore a light blue halter top bikini while I had some white swim trunks that were a bit too large but were the only ones I had.
"I'm going to tan, can you put this sunscreen on my back?" She said coyly. Ah, this old trick. A test so many guys fail.
"Sure." I said, making my features as cool and blank as possible. I personally thought she looked better pale, but it's not like I was about to say that.
As she laid down, I lathered up my hands with the sunscreen. It was a very high SPF, so perhaps she was aiming to stay pale after all. "So, just out of curiosity, how strong a duelist is Atticus?" I asked nonchalantly as she let out a little shudder, my hands rubbing her back and shoulders. Of course, keeping up conversation helped make this less tense, but I was genuinely curious as well. Atticus was an unknown quantity in this universe. In the anime, he was pretty much fodder, while in the manga he was on par with Zane and capable of kicking Jaden's ass. That was a big range.
"Uhm…I guess it depends on what you mean by strong. Why, what have you heard?" Her blush was impossible to hide, but then teenagers are not known for their emotional subtlety.
"Well, I know he likes to pal around with the Kaiser. Would you say the two are comparable?" I asked as my hands moved to her lower back.t
"Their friendship gives them an air of equality, but Zane can wipe the floor with my brother eight days to Sunday. I think that's why he likes to spar with you so much. I haven't seen him enjoy dueling as much as he has in the past year." Alexis said contentedly, closing her eyes and resting her head.
"Aww, you're making me blush." I absentmindedly snarked as I moved to her legs.
"I remember at the beginning of the year, everyone thought you were an upstart because of the way you duel. Honorless, too reliant on trickery." She murmured.
"No offense, but criticizing how someone plays a card game is probably the most petty bullshit ever."
"Zane in particular didn't think you were much better than Chazz at first, but obviously he came around. A lot of the others did as well."
"Well, everyone likes a winner." I thought darkly. I still don't believe the Obelisk Blues genuinely respect me. They probably still think of me as a trickster, a social climber not to be trusted, which will make telling them about the Society of Light difficult. If at all possible, I'd like to gather the Obelisks under one banner, and put aside our selfish squabbles to attack the Light as a unit. There would be no Obelisk White on my watch. But what was the best way to rally this bunch of arrogant, privileged brats? It wouldn't be easy…something to think on.
"What about you? Did you end up coming around in the end?" I asked lightly.
"Hmm, I suppose." Alexis seemed to waver, as if she was not quite sure, and we both laughed. "I think I'm good on sunscreen." She raised her head.
With a start, I realized that I had been rubbing her shoulders for like a minute and a half. "Right." I stepped back. "Well, I'm just going to read my book then."
I got through about eight pages of my book before falling asleep for nearly two hours, still a bit worn out from the Egypt debacle.
The day that followed was one I would remember for a long time, and it would sustain me through some dark times. We went swimming before heading up for a ride on the ferris wheel. Finally, we ended off the day with some ice cream on the boardwalk, watching the cream orange sunset.
"I really shouldn't be eating this, ice cream is so hard to work off." Alexis resisted for about a minute before digging into her banana split, eating a vigor more suited for Jaden than her usual composed, cool self.
"You better eat it, I bought it." I said with mock sternness, taking a scoop out of my mint chip. I would have rather gone Dutch, but I was in a great mood and decided to buy it for her this time. I was certainly making enough money now to afford it, and she seemed to appreciate it.
"Yeah, yeah." Alexis rolled her eyes. The action was a trigger. Suddenly, my sight seemed to glitch and blur like a busted VHS tape as I recalled a moment from my old life that was just like this, down to the sunset. I was happy then, too. Before that girl betrayed my trust and left me for the wolves... the familiar hatred burned before I realized that was what led to me dying in the first place. What led to me ending up here, in this moment, with this girl. In the end, the strife and selfishness gives way to friendship and love.
I was broken from my rather ponderous reverie by the sound of Alexis softly giggling. "What?" I said more snappishly than I intended.
"You're funny." She said not in a way that suggested I was humorous, but that I was strange, a little off, funny.
"Thanks, I try. Remind me of the joke."
"Oh, relax. I just think it's funny how you get the same look when you're thinking about something, every time. But I can never tell just what you're thinking about. You know, most guys would be staring at me right now –" She gestured to two guys at another table staring at her sideboob, causing them to avert their gaze bashfully. " – but you've been staring at your steadily melting mint chip for the past 30 seconds."
"Just had a lot on my mind lately. Why, would you rather I stare?" I dug into my ice cream before it melted completely. I ate it too fast, and proceeded to get an ice cream headache, or a "brainfreeze" as it is known in many circles. "Ah, fuck!" I cursed, placing a hand to my temple.
She laughed again. "You certainly are a smooth operator, Jamie. I still remember those lame lines you tried on me back when we first met."
"You say that now, but they worked, didn't they?" I countered as my brainfreeze began to thaw. From there, we seemed to return to our usual banter, as we had similar senses of humor. Alexis was often pigeonholed into playing the mother of the group, which made sense considering most of her friends were man-children obsessed with dueling. But given the right circumstances, her wit could be sharp as an icicle, and she took on a whole new persona.
Soon enough, it was time to leave. We drove back in relative quiet, Alexis napping on the way. It gave me time to think about something very important to me.
I missed the deadline I set for my parents, and it was already getting dark when I had to stop for fuel. The annoyingly bright lights of the gas station woke Alexis up, the strange position she was sleeping in leaving her hair a bit of a mess.
I made my decision. There was so much to worry about. I was in a new job working under the biggest megalomaniac I had ever met. Tragoedia was out there, making moves that threatened the lives of my friends, and Chazz. The Society of Light threatened the very planet itself. And if Yubel ever got their hands on me, then I would die by inches, and the universe itself would suffer their wrath. Horrors lurked in the shadows while others stood in the light, and I had no idea how many existed in this crapsaccharine world. I could die any day. Fuck, I've already died before, so why I am worried about anything? This is all a bonus! Well, bonus might be a generous way of putting it, but this is something extra in any case.
After filling the car, I walked over to the passenger seat, the window already rolled down. She raised an eyebrow. "Hey."
"Hey." I responded, intensity welling within me. "Look, I'm just tired of the bullshit." That was the only way I could give voice to the maelstrom of thoughts – it was all bullshit. This moment was all that was real.
I kissed her, hard and sudden, and I could feel her breath being taken away. Her lips were cold, like the rest of her. Always so cold. They were dry and a bit chapped in places from the salty sea wind. Simultaneously, we each placed a hand on the back of the other's hand, keeping our lips pressed close.
Soon, we separated. "Sorry, I just wanted to see what would happen if I tried that." I said with a smile light of heart and red-stained cheeks. This would be the moment of truth. What was one more burnt bridge anyways?
"I've wondered about it as well." Alexis replied, breathing deeply. "I want to try that again."
We tried that again.
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I spent most of the next day at work smiling, even as I was copying forms and reviewing last quarter's net income.
At lunchtime, I was called to Kaiba's office for a quick meeting. I schooled my face into what I thought was a professional mask, but nothing seemed to escape Kaiba.
"So, how was she?" He asked casually, lighting up a cigar. I noted, not the first time, the disabled and forgotten smoke alarm in the corner of the ceiling.
I hadn't been that caught off-guard in a while. "What do you mean?" I asked dumbly.
"I know a man who got laid last night when I see one. Roland mentioned that you seemed in a good mood." Kaiba sneered, blowing smoke rings upwards.
"Well, joke's on you, we only kissed." I replied haughtily, though that line sounded a lot better in my head.
Kaiba paused, looking genuinely confused for a moment. "Sometimes I forget how young you are. Only kissing…haven't heard that one in a while."
"How young I am, he says." I thought with a grumble. "With all due respect, sir, she was not comfortable moving so fast." I said diplomatically. What I didn't mention is that I wasn't comfortable moving that fast either. I did have some sexual experience from my old life, but I really didn't want to go that far yet. Fuck me, I can't wait for the fucking "so what are we?" question. Better start rehearsing my response now like I would for a job interview. On the rest of the drive back, Alexis and I simply conversed as we normally did, and she hopped out of my car with the rather innocuous-sounding suggestion that we hang out together soon. Were this my old life, I probably would have bedded her already, but something about this still seemed really bizarre, even wrong.
"Hmph. Well, congratulations nonetheless." He handed me a cigar, and I decided to take it. "You have no idea how to smoke a cigar, do you?" Kaiba asked mockingly.
"Yeah, I do." I grabbed his lighter, having learned how to do this in my old life. I inhaled and blew out a jellyfish cloud to wordlessly punctuate the point. Kaiba raised his eyebrows.
"Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle. It's shit like this that makes me think you're older than you are. Anyways, I called you in today to let you know that I'll be leaving on Thursday for Norway. I just so happen to be meeting with a client there, but I also mean to retrieve Hamon from this Jesse Anderson kid. I just sent his parents emails explaining the situation, and I don't expect any trouble. Of course, no one ever expects any trouble until it actually happens." Kaiba explained.
I nodded. "Best of luck, sir." I would think Jesse would understand why the beast needed to be sealed again. I'm sure it was a valuable asset to his deck, but he managed to be the number two student at North Academy without it. Then again, he might be number one since he won his exhibition match while Chazz lost his. The idea of Chazz being humbled did not trouble me a bit. But still, from what I knew of canon, Jesse was quite humble and knew how to keep the big picture in perspective. If anything, the trouble would probably be caused by Kaiba being hostile and arrogant like he always is.
But I knew better than to voice that aloud. "I take it mister Mokuba will be running day to day operations again?"
"Yes, in fact I expect he will be here shortly – "As Kaiba spoke, he was interrupted by the sound of his office phone ringing.
"Hello? Ah, good. Come to my office immediately. Thank you." He said tersely to whoever had called him.
"Roland was just picking Mokuba up from his university classes. They'll be up in a moment." He said. And so, I was paid to sit down and smoke a cigar for the next five minutes. This job wasn't so bad after all!
A pleasant "bing" noise signaled the door opening behind me. Roland walked in first, and I could tell from his somewhat relaxed expression that the day off was good for him as well. Then again, I would also be rather pleased with myself if I were married to a Brazilian supermodel like Roland supposedly is.
Behind him sauntered in a college-aged guy, a few years older than me, or this body rather. This had to be Mokuba. His haircut was a similar length as Kaiba's, and black, so dark that I thought it might have been dyed. He wore a maroon sweater with the words "DOMINO STATE UNIVERSITY" printed in white lettering. Otherwise, he wore plain jeans and white sneaks, nothing to suggest that he was heir to a stupidly wealthy international corporation. He was also quite tall, nearly as tall as his brother.
"Hey, bro." The casual address left no doubt that this was Kaiba's own flesh and blood – surely no one else would be comfortable referring to him so familiarly. On the edge of his sweatshirt sleeve, I think I saw the beginnings of a tattoo, though I couldn't tell what it was supposed to be.
"Mokuba." Kaiba stood and shook his younger brother's hand. The simple gesture signaled that much about their relationship had changed in ten years, which was only natural considering Mokuba was only a kid back in the original series. They seemed much more a partnership now. I wondered idly if Mokuba had learned anything of dueling from his older brother.
"Lancaster, allow me to introduce you to my younger brother, Mokuba Kaiba." Kaiba quickly gestured between us. I inclined my head quickly and shook the younger brother's hand as well.
"Ah, you must be that guy who took down Kagemaru. Nice to meet ya!" Mokuba said, seeming to have a more friendly management style than his brother. Then again, almost anyone would probably have a more friendly management style than dear old Seto.
"It is good to meet you as well, sir." I said stiffly.
"Mokuba will be taking my place completely in my absence, so any questions or concerns you have can be handled by him. I expect I will return by Friday." Kaiba said briskly. "Now leave us. I have a few things to discuss with my brother in private."
Roland and I quickly nodded and returned to our work. I could only hope that Kaiba would handle the situation well. The last thing I needed was more enemies.
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(?)
"The mad king has spent the last moon fortifying the Citadel of Endymion, sending one of his foremost generals, the Skull Knight to oversee the matter. Our scouts have seen them draw their standing forces from the nearby villages, consolidating them inside the city walls."
"Have our movements been so obvious? I would think not…there must be something of value inside the Citadel he wants to safeguard."
Blade Knight was speaking with the duel spirit of Command Knight, an attractive blonde woman in bold crimson armor. She was one of his most trusted confidantes, and rumor had it among Yubel's cabal that she was the only one who had ever seen Blade Knight take his mask off.
Blade Knight strode over to the window, his high chamber in Yubel's castle granting him a tremendous view of the grounds. But there was little to appealed to the eye in this realm of darkness – the soil itself was a dark grey, and it was always nighttime, the sky oppressively dark.
"Destroying the Mad King and gaining full control of this realm will be crucial to Yubel's plan…and for mine." His hand rested upon the pommel of the sheathed sword at his hip. "Yubel plans to install Jaden Yuki as king of this dimension…and all others, in time. For the time being, it is in our interest to cooperate with the demon."
"What?" She started, confused by this proclamation. "You mean to betray Yubel? Have you seen what happens to those who resist her?"
"Shh." The Knight's whisper sounded strange, due to his metallic and low voice. "Uttering such treasonous words aloud is inadvisable. Besides, since Yubel is helping me kill the lion, it wouldn't make sense for me to betray her. Yubel is utterly devoted to a single purpose, but that is not how I play the game. We will watch the winds, the pieces move…and adjust accordingly. Speaking of which, I have now seen where two of the Sacred Beasts now lie."
"Who cares? The beasts are useless, better suited for ornaments than anything else." Command Knight responded flippantly.
"You're right, but Yubel seems to find value in them for some reason. Raviel is in the hands of some rogue by the name of Hank Ishtar, who used the beast's power to rebel against his own house. I understand that he served the tomb keepers for his entire life." Blade Knight said with some unknown insinuation in his voice.
"The Ishtars…. didn't they seal away the old gods ten years ago?" Command Knight asked, catching on quickly.
"Yes, along with the Millennium Items. And as we saw with the Sacred Beasts, seals can be broken. And who would know more about those particular seals than an Ishtar, especially one who despises the rest of his house? Think about it, my friend. The only duelist in history to ever wield all three of the old gods was Atem the Undefeated." Blade Knight stared out of the window, and although his face could not be seen, one had to wonder if there was a gleam of ambition in his eyes.
"And if we were to learn how to unseal the old gods…then what the hell would we need the Sacred Beasts for?" Command Knight smirked.
"Yes, what for indeed? Once we have the old gods, no one will be able to beat us. Then, the lion will have no defense against my wrath." Blade Knight snarled.
"What has this boy done to merit your wrath anyways?" Command reclined against the wall, asking the question casually.
Blade Knight tensed. "I will tell you after he is dead, not before. Speaking of which, without Kaiba watching over him, the lion will be relatively defenseless. Now is the time to strike, while he is unsuspecting. And if Misawa happened to be caught in the crossfire…" Blade Knight left the thought hanging, but his ruthless intent was all too clear.
"Are you up for the task, my friend?" He asked, and she nodded at once. "I can't thank you enough. I will handle Hank and find the old gods. It is time to take back that which once was lost!"
A/N
Hope you all enjoyed.
Like I said, it has been harder for me to write lately, lot of crazy stuff happening IRL, but I'm not trying to make excuses.
Romance is difficult to write, and so I am certain that someone will be unhappy with my portrayal of Jamie and Alexis here, but I was resigned to that from the moment I started this story, so yeah. Whether you liked it or not, as long as it was interesting to you that's good enough for me.
By the way, the whole "Vagabond" thing was a bit of a reference to Duel Links, sort of my in-universe explanation for it. Now that 5ds world is out in Duel Links, I've been thinking about the alternate timeline version of myself (Yung Mage? Yung Cleric?) who decided to write a 5Ds self-insert where the main character (probably an ersatz spelling of an ASOIAF character's name, like Robb York) uses F.A monsters. I wonder how that story would have gone. Anyways, catch ya on the flippity-flip, and thank you for your continued support.