Chapter Three
Duke was shaking when he and Serenity got back outside and to the car. It was covered in snow again, but he hardly cared. He just opened the door and sank down on the seat, staring blankly at the snow.
Serenity came to him and knelt in the snow beside him. "Oh Duke . . . I'm so sorry. . . ." She reached up, laying a hand on his. "Do you want to talk?"
"I . . . I don't even know where to begin," Duke rasped. "I think about everything so much. . . . Nearly being killed . . . not being willing to open up to people . . . trying to find out who tried to kill me. . . . Only recognizing David was my friend when it was too late and he was . . ." He choked and shook his head.
"You're in no condition to drive," Serenity said in dismay. "I wish I could. . . ."
Duke went stiff at that. ". . . I remembered something," he said. "In the past, you were preparing to get your license. You were older than you are now." He slumped back. "That doesn't make sense, but . . . did we really turn back time? We thought we hadn't because life seemed to go on as usual, just with remembering the past. But we always wondered how everything could have happened in the timeframe we ended up with. It didn't seem like enough."
"Even if we did, it doesn't matter," Serenity insisted. "David's alive and we've built wonderful lives for ourselves in the here and now." She touched Duke's cheek. "What we were doing back then is gone and that's okay."
"Only maybe it's not," Duke countered. "Something in there hates me! What if . . . what if the reason it hates me is because of something that happened in the old timeline, something that got erased when time reset?!"
"We'll figure it out," Serenity said. "But for now I'm going to call David to come get us. You can't drive, and I know we don't want to wait for the others to get done with what they're doing before we can leave."
Duke looked away. "I don't want to be around Tristan at all right now," he said. "It's times like this when I wonder . . ." But he caught himself and fell silent.
"You wonder what, Duke?" Serenity asked.
". . . I wonder if part of him really did want to beat me up and that's why that Chinese comb was able to brainwash him into doing it." Duke glowered at the dashboard. He hadn't wanted to say it, but it had just poured out.
Serenity laid a hand on his shoulder. "I'm so sorry."
He looked up at her, stunned. "You're not even going to say he wouldn't do it?!"
". . . David told me about Tristan trying to beat you up on Kaiba's blimp," Serenity admitted. "So I guess . . . now I wonder too. I know he'd never want to hurt you as bad as he did, but maybe . . . even if he just wanted to beat you a little bit, the comb used that and warped his feelings to do what he did."
Duke sighed and slumped against the steering wheel. "Well . . . I hate leaving my car overnight where something hates me. I think I'm okay to drive, Serenity. I've calmed down now." He swung his legs through the doorway. "Let's go."
Serenity straightened. "I don't know, Duke. . . ."
"I'm alright," Duke insisted. "I'd never drive if I thought I couldn't, especially with you onboard."
"But sometimes you think you can do something when you really can't," Serenity said. "That was why you finally left before, when you realized you really couldn't move on from David's death. . . ."
"I know." Duke gripped the steering wheel. "But this is different. I can do this, Serenity."
Finally Serenity sighed and went around to the passenger side. "Alright. But if you start feeling shaken at all, please pull over so I can call David!"
Duke smiled. "Deal."
xxxx
Melody was shaken and confused by the story the others told when they got upstairs. She sat on the couch, Mr. Muffin stretched out on her lap, as she listened to the sad tale of the drug smugglers operating in Duke's store and David's eventual death when he and Duke tried to stop them. Duke had tried, but he had never been able to recover from it and had finally set out to find a way to bring David back, any way at all. Eventually, he had succeeded.
"Duke was always so mysterious," Melody said at the conclusion. "He wasn't close to anyone back then, even though he was dating a lot of girls. But David always seemed to be the one person he would open up to and really care about. Melody remembers when it seemed like David was dead . . . but then it didn't make sense because he was alive."
"Yeah. That was a real mess," Crump shuddered.
"Duke and Serenity really reversed time to bring him back?" Melody looked up in amazement.
"We've never been sure," Nesbitt grunted. "But sometimes it seems like we remember other things that were different back then."
Yugi nodded. "They probably really did do it," he said. "Or God let them do it. . . ."
"If it was the latter, the timeline must have gotten off-balance with things that weren't supposed to happen," Atem suggested. "So God allowed them to fix what went wrong."
"But why would that ghost care?" Melody frowned.
"He shouldn't, not unless he was affected by it," Téa said. "I wonder if he was a previous owner of the house."
"The house was vacant for a long time before we got it," Melody said. "But if things happened differently before, maybe it wasn't vacant then."
"Only how can we find out anything when it's from something that doesn't even happen anymore?!" Joey exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air.
"We remember David's death," Gansley said. "Perhaps that means there are still records of things that happened back then. We should try looking up the records for this house and see who all has owned it."
"I can do that tomorrow," Johnson said. "I don't know if there's anything more we can do tonight, aside from trying to talk to the spectre again."
"I doubt it'll be any more friendly than it was before," Tristan retorted.
"Probably not," Yugi sighed. "We could try a different ghost instead. . . ."
"Everything feels just as creepy as it does in the basement," Melody said. "Melody's room is on the second floor and it's scary being up there."
"So none of the ghosts will talk?" Evangeline sighed. "That sure sounds familiar."
"Then perhaps we should go our separate ways for tonight and come back tomorrow with what we've learned about the house," Gansley suggested.
"I think we should at least try upstairs," Yugi said. "Maybe now that we know something about the ghost downstairs, we can get them to talk to us."
"Melody would be very grateful," Melody said, hope shining in her eyes.
The Big Five exchanged looks with each other and the rest. "Alright, Yugi," Lector said at last. "We'll try it."
Against their better judgement, the group headed up the stairs to the second floor. Melody hurried after them, still carrying her cat. "It feels wrong all over the second floor, but it's even worse if you come up the back stairs," she said.
"Don't worry, we won't!" Crump exclaimed. The unsettling feeling wasn't as bad as in the basement, but it definitely didn't feel like something that should be happening in a house.
Angelique looked around worriedly. "It feels worse here than it does on our second floor," she said to Evangeline.
"It certainly does," Evangeline whispered back. "This poor girl has problems!"
Atem stopped walking in the middle of the hall. "Hello?" he called. "Can you tell us why the spirit in the basement is so against Duke Devlin? And how he knows of what Duke did in the past?"
An angry wave washed over the entire group, but the spirits were silent.
". . . Well, that was helpful," Crump said when the sensation passed.
Joey was sheet-white. "Why do the ghosts always act like this?!" he ranted. "They make such a big fuss about everything, but they won't do anything that might help it get resolved! What's up with that?!"
"They just want the people to leave," Evangeline said in annoyance. "That's their solution to everything."
"I guess there really isn't anything we can do right now then," Téa said sadly.
"Thank you for trying, anyway," Melody sighed.
"I'm doing what I can to find out about past owners of the house right now," Nesbitt said gruffly, looking up from his Smartphone. "There's something about a family that owned the house for a long time. One of the kids was named Brutus. . . . He's dead." He frowned at the information.
"Oh my gosh!" Téa exclaimed. "Wasn't one of the main guys mixed up in the drug smuggling ring named Brutus?!
". . . I think so!" Yugi gasped. "Does it say anything about him, Nesbitt?"
"Not here, but if I do a search on his name . . ." Nesbitt typed and then studied the search results. "It really is him," he said in disbelief. "There's a whole article on the scandal about him and his death falling off the clown on Duke's building. The family left Domino City in shame."
Melody frowned in confusion. "So . . . time was turned back for David to live again, but that didn't bring back this guy too?"
"That's one of the reasons why it's all so confusing," Téa sighed. "We're not sure what Duke and Serenity did! If they really reversed time, nobody should have died and the whole drug-smuggling mess shouldn't have even happened!"
"We should go back downstairs and see if that ghost will say if he's Brutus!" Melody declared.
"That . . . really doesn't sound advisable," Johnson said uneasily. But he adjusted his tie and sighed. "Only we never will know what's going on if we don't try something like that, will we?"
"I don't think so," Yugi said.
"Why wouldn't Duke have recognized that guy's voice, though?" Joey frowned.
"Maybe it doesn't even sound human anymore," Lector suggested.
"That . . . really doesn't help anything," Joey moaned. Now he looked more scared than ever.
Their foreboding only increasing, everyone went back down the stairs and headed for the steps to the basement. By the time they got back to the forbidden hallway, the feeling of danger was much stronger than on their first trip.
"This is bad," Atem frowned. "The spirit must still be stirred up from encountering Duke. I'd better go in alone."
"You can't do that!" Yugi exclaimed.
Gansley sighed. "I'll go with him, since I have a magical object as well."
"Not without us, you're not!" Crump retorted.
In the end, all the Big Five went in with Atem and stood near where Duke had been when the phantom had manifested itself. The Infinity Puzzle began to glow with what Atem hoped would be a protection spell.
"Will you answer us if your name is Brutus?" Atem asked.
"And what if it is?" The voice was twisted and bitter, echoing all around them. This time everyone heard it.
"Then you were involved with the one who killed David," Nesbitt snarled.
"David isn't dead."
"That doesn't change what you did," Nesbitt insisted. "That's like saying it doesn't matter that you shot someone if they were brought back with CPR right at the scene!"
"Maybe you'd like to be next."
A cold, clammy feeling crept up Nesbitt's body before settling around his throat. He gasped, his eyes watering. "No. . . ."
"Nesbitt!" Lector cried. Before Atem could try to stop Brutus, as he had earlier, Lector's ring activated and a dark mist mixed with the spirit's essence. Nesbitt was released and he fell to his knees, gasping and coughing. Lector dropped down beside him.
Gansley glowered into the fog. "What is the meaning of this?" he demanded. "Killing us won't help you!"
"Yeah! You'd have better luck if you tried to possess one of us," Crump frowned.
"I can't come back. I can't be restored, like David was. All I care about is vengeance. Leave now if you don't want to see me try again!"
Mr. Muffin howled in Melody's arms. She backed up, her eyes wide in terror. "He means it!" she exclaimed. "Please don't endanger yourselves! Let's go!"
No one protested. The magic users ran back out of the hall and everyone hurried up the stairs to the ground floor.
"Well, this is just great!" Tristan spat. "Melody would have been better off if we hadn't interfered at all! It figures this is all Duke's fault. He's always messing everything up!"
"Duke wasn't trying to do anything!" Melody protested.
"Tristan, you must get hold of yourself," Atem sternly told him. There hadn't been any chance to talk with him as of yet, as everything had been happening so fast. None of them had wanted to say anything in front of Melody, but now that it was obvious Tristan's feelings hadn't lessened in the least, Atem had had enough.
Unfortunately, so had Tristan.
"No!" he snapped. "I'm tired of 'getting hold' of myself! I'm tired of not saying what I really feel! Sometimes things are okay and I think maybe I can really do it, but then something else happens and I know I can't! I really think I hate that guy!" He punched the wall and slumped forward, his fist still shoved against it. "I really do."
"Tristan!" Téa gasped.
Yugi frowned. "I know it's hard for you to accept that Serenity chose Duke, but . . . !"
"No! Save it, Yugi." Tristan finally turned to face him. "What we learned about in the other dimension was the last straw. They got married! I knew they probably would, but since Serenity's so young, I've always held out the hope that maybe I'd still have a chance somewhere down the line! Now that's been taken away and I . . . I don't know how to take it." He stood in front of them, fists shaking.
Now Yugi was fed-up too. "Listen here, Tristan!" He drew himself up to his full height—which of course still wasn't much taller than Mokuba. "First of all, that was another dimension! We don't know how things will work out here. But you're not the only person to ever have their romantic hopes dashed!"
"Yeah, seriously!" Crump exclaimed. "You know how many times I got turned down?!"
"You didn't have your heart set on it for months and years like I did!" Tristan snarled.
"Maybe not with just one girl, but yeah, it's been years for me! It's been longer than you've been alive!" Crump snapped back. "I finally had to accept that it just wasn't in the cards for me, no matter how bad I wanted it! You've still got plenty of chances! Maybe not with Serenity, but with other girls! Only with the way you're acting, I don't think any girl would want ya!"
"I don't want just any girl!" Tristan boomed. "It's Serenity or nothing!" He looked to Yugi. "I don't know how you've handled things so well, man, but that's just not me! I'm not perfect like you! I can't."
Yugi went completely red. "Tristan . . . !"
Téa flamed now as well. Tristan hadn't spelled it out, but they all knew what he meant. Yugi had carried a crush on Téa for years, but Téa had gravitated first to Atem and now to Seto. Yugi's hopes could not be realized, but he had never once behaved like a poor sport.
Joey was the first to speak now. "Tristan, that was seriously uncalled-for," he frowned. "You've got a problem with Duke, fine. Well, it's not fine, but I mean . . . don't take it out on Yugi, and don't start airing dirty laundry in public. He deserves better than that."
Tristan stepped back. For the first time, a stricken look came into his eyes as he really thought about what he had just said. "Yugi . . . Téa . . ." He shook his head. "I'm not fit to be around anyone right now. I'm sorry. I just . . ." He swallowed hard and moved past them to the door. "I should go."
"Are you crazy?!" Crump exclaimed. "It's still snowing out there! I love it, but it's not the kind of weather to go getting lost in! In your state, who knows what you might do!"
"I won't get lost!" Tristan retorted. "I'll just go home." He opened the door and stepped out on the porch. Indeed, a light snow was still falling, but it didn't seem dangerous or worrisome. He shut the door behind him and started down the steps.
Nesbitt exhaled, sharply. ". . . Was I really anything like that?" he morosely asked his friends.
"We have certainly had the times," Lector said quietly. "Maybe if any of us goes after Mr. Taylor, it should be you, Nesbitt. You can certainly understand the emotional upheaval he's going through, even if you can't grasp it being over a romantic entanglement. So many times you tried so hard to control your temper until it finally broke free like that."
Nesbitt grunted. "When I was wound up as tightly as Tristan seems to be, I really needed to be alone."
"But not in the middle of it snowing!" Crump countered. "We always went after you if the weather was bad. I know it looks fine right now, but it could get worse, and anyway, what if he really doesn't go home?"
". . . Part of me honestly wonders how you can even still be worried about him after all that," Nesbitt said. "I always wondered that when it came to me. But . . ." He scowled. "I don't want him to get hurt. . . ."
"None of us do," Yugi said. "Tristan's going through a rough patch right now and he's still our friend regardless."
Lector nodded. "If we only cared when people were acting right, it wouldn't be a real friendship, now, would it?"
"No," Nesbitt relented.
"And I guess frankly, I kind of blame myself," Yugi said. "I should have known Tristan would be upset after what we learned in the other dimension. I should have tried to talk to him before it came to this!" He started for the door. "I want to look for him too."
"We'll all look," Téa said.
"I always used to think it was just Joey who'd blow up like that," Crump remarked. "I guess when it comes to some subjects, Tristan is even worse than Joey!"
Joey scowled but said, "Yeah, this is definitely one of his big trigger topics. Still, I never expected him to get like this."
Melody still looked concerned. "What he said about Duke. . . ." She bit her lip. "Do you think he really meant it?"
Yugi looked down. "I want to say No. I'm really sure it's No. But . . . at this point, I'm not absolutely sure. I can only say I hope not."
"I just can't believe he could ever really mean it," Téa insisted. "Especially after all he and Duke have been through together! Tristan isn't a vindictive person. I think the only people he could really hate are bad guys like Yami Marik."
"Only what if by now he's so lost and frustrated that he's thinking of Duke like that?" Joey said. "I don't know what's going on in Tristan's head. He doesn't talk to me a lot about what he's thinking, probably because of Serenity being my sister. All I can say is that he's changed a lot ever since Serenity first came here during Battle City, and even more since Duke started taking an interest in her too. And I don't like most of the changes. Sometimes I barely recognize him anymore."
Nesbitt grunted. "Which only makes me think even more how illogical romance is."
"Unfortunately, anything one obsesses about to unhealthy degrees can result in negative personality changes, as all of us well know," Gansley countered. "Romance isn't the only offender, although I will certainly agree that it may be the most common one."
"Tristan's right that it seems like things keep going wrong after we think they're okay again," Téa sighed sadly. "I really wonder if there's anything that can really repair things for good."
"We'll try to sort it out after we find him," Atem said.
"Mr. Muffin and Melody can come too," Melody offered.
Atem looked to her. "You could, only I wonder if you need to stay here and explain to your parents what has happened about the basement ghost getting stirred up more. If they come home and venture into the basement, that could be a disaster."
Melody looked down. "Melody doesn't think they would do that. And . . . Melody isn't sure she wants to stay here alone right now!"
Atem sighed, but he certainly couldn't fault her for her concerns. "Maybe you could write them a note then," he suggested. "Just to be on the safe side."
The girl brightened. "Melody can do that!" She hurried to a drawer for pen and paper.
"Maybe I should call Kaiba and he could help look too," Téa suggested.
"I don't recommend calling Mr. Devlin, though," Lector frowned.
Téa looked down. "Yeah. Me either." She got out her phone to dial.
