A/N: I DO NOT OWN ANY OF YU GI OH 5DS OR THE VANISHING OF ETHAN CARTER! ALL RIGHTS GO TO KONAMI AND THE ASTRONAUTS!
Chapter 3: First Step Into the Past
They soon found their way onto an old bridge that was seeming to have once been in rebuilding, but was abandoned and some boards were missing from it.
They carefully walked across the bridge, noticing something in the distance. As they walked, Akiza asked, "So, how much do you know about Red Creek Valley?"
"Red Creek Valley. It seems like a quiet, ordinary place, doesn't it? I've learned two things in my life: No place is ever quiet, and nowhere is really ordinary. Yusei warned me about that. Warned me not to be fooled by what I saw here. He didn't need to worry. I've worked dozens of cases. Hundreds. However, this will be my last one," Paul explained. "I don't know the specifics about this place. But that means it has a history, a darkness, here that's hiding something. We need to figure it out."
They nodded. They soon found what they had seen before in the distance was an old trolley. But its crank to turn it on was gone and there was blood on the bottom-front edge of it.
"Blood?" Luna wondered.
"From an animal or human, though?" Paul questioned, taking them a bit by surprise. "Was this an accident or murder? And where exactly is the crankshaft?" He lightly touched some scratches. "Fresh scratches. Was this recent?"
"We need to find the crank to figure out everything with it, don't we?" Crow asked.
"Very good, Crow," Paul praised. "But as we do, we need to look for more clues to find what exactly caused this."
They walked away from it for the time being and went into the continuing forest. They soon came into a section with one trail leading down to the rocky beach below. But they noticed a rope that appeared to be cut ties. One end was untied and the other was still tied. There wasn't any blood, though.
They continued walking with that in mind, only find something disturbing: severed legs.
"Where's the rest of the body?" Leo wondered. They were quick, however, to notice the blood trail leading down the path towards the beach.
"Whoever this was, was a victim. But were they dragged away or did they crawl?" Paul questioned. "Well, kiddies, this is where things will get disturbing." They followed the blood trail down quite a few yards down the beginning of the hill heading to the beach, but stopped as they found the body with the two legs gone. "The blood is from the legs, possibly. But there is also the fact that his skull is fractured. Which is the cause of death then, hm? Blood loss or head trauma? Was there a third party that disturbed it? Or was it croded by time?" He began his sense again and there was a small hole that opened, but didn't show a lot. The most they could make out was the head, and that was just barely. "We need more clues."
"Maybe there's something down at the beach," Leo suggested.
"That is a strong possibility," Paul agreed. "Let's go. Keep your eyes peeled for anything."
They walked down the path and soon came to the beach. They looked around a bit before Leo called picking up something, "Isn't this a crank?"
Paul walked over with the others. "Yes, it is, Leo." He looked it over. "There's blood on it. Perhaps what caused the fractured skull in our dead friend up there." They began to walk back up. "Next is to put the crank back and bring it back towards here. That trolley probably started from this area." They nodded in agreement.
They ran back to the trolley and Paul put the crank back in place. He then spun the crank until the trolley started up. The five helpers hopped into the trailer of the trolley while Paul got into the driver's seat. The old detective pulled the direction control back and the trolley began to move back towards where the body was. Once they were in a good place, he pulled them to a stop and left the trolley on.
Paul stepped out and the others came to his side. "Now that it's here, we need to figure out where it last was." He then looked just passed them and noticed something - or two. "This is a canister for gasoline or diesel fuel. It was dropped. But was it careless, on purpose, or was the person who dropped it in a rush? And this grass is dry. And that means it didn't get any sun most likely."
"So?" Jack questioned. "I can understand the canister a bit, but the grass?"
"The grass is in a rectangular shape, like the trolley," Paul explained. "Same length as well."
"So that's where the trolley originally was," Akiza realized.
"Now you're becoming detectives," Paul responded. "Stay to the side so I don't run you over, okay? I'll move it back into place. You tell me when I'm perfectly aligned." They nodded and he began to slowly moved the trolley back. Eventually, the trolley was in its exact former spot and Paul gave a nod. "Why don't we go check on our deceased friend?"
"Right," they agreed.
They walked back over. Paul sensed and they found the vision was a lot bigger now. They could see the complete body in the other world. But it wouldn't complete itself and surround them, meaning they weren't finished with the clues.
They walked over to towards the dead end and noticed a pile of rocks with one small rock missing from the center, by the fact there was a spot where it would have been beforehand.
Paul seemed to focus a bit and looked around. That's when he seemed to realize something and went back towards the trolley's direction. The others were quick to follow. He soon found a stump with a rock beside it that had blood on it and was the same shape as the missing stone in the pile.
"Maybe we should put it back?" Luna suggested.
"I would be inclined to agree," Paul replied. He picked it up and they set it back in place. They then walked back to the corpse and Paul used his abilities again. This time, the world surrounded them and six lights came out of the body. They separated into different directions in different areas of the nearby place. They went to each one seeing different still-framed scenes.
The first one they went to was nearest to them and showed an old man looking over the dead man's body.
The next one wasn't too far away and closer to the train tracks. It showed a younger Yusei kneeling before the dead man, only the dead man was seeming to try to crawl and the old man was looming over.
They then went to where the severed legs were and found the dead man kneeling on the tracks, holding his head like he was in a daze.
After that, they went to the fourth one which was at the ties. It showed the young Yusei being tied down to the tracks by the dead man.
"Now, I'm happy that guy's dead," Crow commented obviously ticked.
Paul shook his head and they went to a light near the trolley. It showed the dead man and the old man looking at each other.
And finally the one at the stone. It had the old man picking up the rock.
With that all in play, there were question marks above each event. "Now we have to piece together which went first to last," Paul explained. They walked towards the tied up, young version of Yusei and the dead man. "Seeing as Yusei is in this state, it would state the reason this is the first event." He touched the question mark and it turned to a one.
"Would the rock be next?" Luna guessed.
"It would reason so," Paul agreed and went over. He touched the mark and it turned into a two. "And then, seeing the direction and scene being possibly played out, the trolley section is next." He walked over and made the mark a three.
"And then to the guy on the railroad, right?" Akiza questioned.
Paul nodded and made the mark over that one a four. And with what was left, he went to the closest evidence with Yusei there and made it a five. And then finally, with just the old man and dead man, a six. He walked up to the top of the hill and the five helpers came over as well.
"Well, my friends, this will not be a happy few scenes. But it may explain things to us," Paul stated. "So, just be prepared." They nodded and he focused for a second.
That's when each scene began to play out, starting with Yusei and the dead guy.
"Travis! Listen to me. We can destroy it! I know how!" Yusei told the dead guy, Travis.
"You can't destroy it, Yusei. You can't destroy time. And that's what he is. He is forever," he retorted. He then walked towards the trolley.
They looked as they saw the old man pick up a rock. "Gayle, honey - I wish there was another way," he stated and the voice was exactly like the old man from the other vision, Ed. So the old man had to be "Ed".
The scene then went over to the trolley. It had Travis and Ed talking to each other, the old man ordered, "Travis, tell me where Yusei is. Now."
"I'm giving the sleeper what he wants. What all of us want." Travis looked away towards where Yusei was. "Look, old man - you need to go home." Suddenly, Ed slammed the rock onto Travis' head.
They looked to see Yusei getting free of his ties. It then went to Travis falling to is knees in a daze after getting hit with the rock. Ed was driving the trolley towards Travis who exclaimed, "No!" But Ed ignored the call of fear and ran over Travis' legs, making the young man cry out in pain.
It then went down to where Yusei was kneeling beside Travis and Ed going to them. The old man ordered the boy, "Yusei, run goddammit! Go! Get out of here!" It then shifted to the final scene. Ed was looking over Travis' body and said gently, "Travis, close your eyes." He then beat Travis in the head until he was dead.
"That is messed up!" Crow commented.
"No kidding," Jack agreed. "Yusei going through that at that age… it's so wrong."
They looked as the lights went towards Travis' body again and neared it. They entered the remains. After a second, though, a larger light emerged from the body and went towards the beach again. They were quick to follow it.
They found the light had stopped at the path going away from the beach again. They walked up to it and showed another scene, from after the previously seen events.
Ed was standing before Yusei who was backing away on his back. "Ed! Stay away!"
"Yusei, I'm sick, too. I can feel the sleeper inside my head," the old man responded.
"Then fight it! I have to destroy the room!" the boy retorted.
"Corvus…" Ed muttered. He then told the boy, "I'm sorry, Yusei."
"Oh no…" Yusei muttered.
He then got to his feet and began to run as Ed got closer, saying, "I can't let you do that." The vision world then disappeared and it returned to normal.
"Whatever had turned Yusei's family against him, Ed, his adoptive grandfather, was trying to resist. Age helps against those things that feed on hate," Paul commented.
"How?" Leo asked.
"It's not because of wisdom, or experience. It's because the old are tired. Their hate is less useful," Paul explained.
"They mentioned something called 'the sleeper'," Akiza commented. "What do you think the sleeper is?"
"I don't know. But we need to get to Red Creek Valley to find the answers," Paul answered.
"How are we going to get there, though?" Crow questioned as they went towards the tracks again. "The rest of the road was blocked."
They reached the said block and turned towards the forest. "We head to the forest," Paul suggested.
"I'm not sure if I'm going to like this," Jack commented as they walked in.