Redux 67: A Modern Renaissance

"Bigger.. brother?" His true family, his true name, his true home. It was all right here. "That's great isn't it? But wait. Isn't he.. " Yet it did not feel real. For one thing, and this was obvious to anyone including Alice, the little brother looked older than Uno. "Your mystification matches My own. I can see the Resemblance, sister. And he owns a Pendulum crystal. Yet He does not Know we are. How can you be Sure that he is Christopher?" And the older brother was skeptical too. The only one without a doubt in her mind was the girl with the soft voice. "it is him, but altered. somehow he was forced to regress in body and mind." She walked right up into Uno's face again. "tell me your memories, please,.. how far back do they go?" She believed him, and he wanted to believe her. This was everything he wanted. "I.. I only have four weeks.. at most. I woke up in a graveyard, in a town not far from here. But it was in a completely different world. Alice..found me." He looked at her and back at Anastasia. Her eyes were lighting up. "four weeks.. that is how long you have been missing."

"Then it is You?" Marco gasped. "I guess? I honestly can't remember anything, just a few flashes here and there. But I know that this world is my home." Of that alone he was certain. "Well I cannot Claim to understand How this transpired. Yet that does not make this Meeting any less Wondrous! To have my brother back in the Fold, It calls for Celebration!" The man happily embraced Uno on the back. "Oh. Thank you. I wish I could return the feeling." Uno carried too many questions to let any joy sink in. It was as if he was living a dream right now. "Me too." Stonewell had reservations of his own. "You were one of them all along?" He did not forget where he was, or who he was dealing with. "But Uno didn't know!" Alice came to his defense. "No, he has a point. I've been thinking about that too. I want some answers, not just for me but for my friends. My new friends." The connection between him, them and the Millennium Union definitely needed some clearing up. "But of course! Let's See to it that Friends get reunited!"

...

Miles below the throne room, Iria, Eric and Adamant got about as far as they could be expected to go, with three unconscious passengers slowing them down. At the control bridge, where Anastasia told them to go, they met a dozen elite duelist guards instead. The trio was prepared to fight their way out. They were not prepared for medical vans that drove down the road, and the first aid response team that stormed out. "What is this? Where are you taking them?" Iria couldn't stop the responders from grabbing Zach, along with Martels Pawn and Bishop, and placing them on stretchers. "We got orders to take them to the tower infirmary." One of them replied. "Orders? From who?"

Once the medics were gone, a bright flash struck the bridge like an electric bolt, catching the three duelists by surprise. "Those Orders would be ours." The light brought down Marco, Anastasia, Uno and the others, much like how Uno's pendulum took them up earlier. "Wha..how.. who..where?" The energy burst left the trio slightly confounded. "Uno? Why are you with that man? Who is he? Tell him to bring Zach back!" She hissed at him and at Marco. "My fiery lady, you shouldn't Worry. Our Health services are some of the Finest in Existence. Also." Marco pointed a finger at her. "You look Familiar." The lord then noticed the second Stonewell standing before him, and his eyes moved from Eric to Stonewell and back. "Two of them. You've come Across some Interesting friends, Christopher." He chuckled. "one comes from the other world." Anastasia approached Eric. "Uhhhhh.." He was too weirded out to say anything back, even when she shoved two crystals into his hand. "have this. it will keep two of you safe in this world."

"Ahem. I believe an explanation is in order. Who is.. Christopher?" Adamant coughed. "That..would be me. Let me just introduce these two. He's Marco Amadeus and she's Winnifred Anastasia; they're my brother and sister." There was no easy way to say this. "Pardon?" Iria winced. "Brother!? Sister?!" Adamant and Eric had about the same shocked reaction. "But you look nothing alike!" Marco had a tan complexion himself, while Anastasia looked as pale as ice. "We are not related by Blood, we were Adopted. It is a long story." The older brother clarified. "Wha? But.. how.. What happened? Didn't August take you to the top? Are these... his crystals?" Eric recognized the kind of jewels he had in his hand, and Uno's pendulum was still hanging around his neck. It felt like he was missing several long stories. "The Red dragon rider was Strong, but Powerless before my Burning Abyss. I took the Liberty of Defanging him before He could bite again." The lord stated with a self-indulgent grin on his face. "And this Teleport talent my Brother has. He is not the Only one with a Pendulum in this world. Let me Show you."

"Hm?!" Marco had to put his demonstration on hold, because a certain counterpart chose this to arrive at this moment with her very loud hover jet. Coincidentally that was the very same person Anastasia used her teleportation trick on just the day before. "Milord, Milady!" Silver stormed out of the jet as soon as it touched the bridge. "I came as quickly as I could. I am glad to see that no damage has been done. My deepest apologies, the transgressors dismantled the Templar units. I.." It took her a while to notice that the 'transgressors' were not detained. "What is.. the meaning of this?" They were being treated like guests instead. "only one was hostile. my brother saw to him. the others are friends.. and family." Anastasia told the Inquisitor, who did not gain much insight from that answer. "Friends? Family! Milady, I warned you. That man is trying to deceive you. They're all criminals; one of them took down a Templar unit!"

"Oh kids will be kids, my righteous Inquisitor. We have Thousands of Templars. Please, I know you Mean well. But when my Sister says it is so; It is So. She did not mean to disrupt your Duties, she just likes to Leave the palace from Time to time." Marco let out a playful laugh. "I should have read your Reports. I had no idea You encountered your Double." He patted both her and Iria on the back. "Hey." The disciple grumbled. The Inquisitor pulled away from them. "I do not understand. Are you endorsing their story?!" With her masters current attitude, and the 'anecdotal evidence' Iria passed on this morning; Silver's own beliefs were growing very fragile. "It is true! They hail from the Other dimension. That was where our Brother was sent to." Marco said. Making Silver go through the same process as he had done earlier. "You.. are Lord ChristopherFortuno?" She recognized him even less. "How did this happen? Who banished you?" If these were all facts, there had to be a guilty party. "Wish I could tell you. But I don't remember anything before it, just that I had a dueldisk with me when it happened. If someone did this to me on purpose, it could be anyone."

"That's Enough Talk. We have a Palace to Show off! My Inquisitor, I also heard About the collapse of the Tunnels. I leave you with the Task of finding any Invaders trapped inside." Marco winked at his sister. "Wait. Milord. We need to.." Everyone except the Inquisitor left the scene in another bright last. "Tch. That man.. cannot be the Lord." She gnashed her teeth.

"Why does nobody give a heads-up when they do stuff like that!?" Eric yelled. Now everyone was back inside the tower, or rather a lush tropical park that circled the tower. "i am sorry. i will tell you next time." Anastasia apologized. "You can really go anywhere you want with that?" Alice saw a crystal in Anastasia's hand glow, that was what made her teleport. "our pendulums let us go whatever we can see or have seen befpre. this is the royal garden. i like it here." The lady said as she put the crystal back in her headband. "You can control a pendulum? It is no wonder you people took over this world so easily." Rather than being bemused, Adamant derided the power on display. "I want to know how you came into possession of that crystal. I think I speak for all of us on this matter." The XYZ-leader looked at the others. "You do not speak for me, but I agree at least." Stonewell nodded. "Yes. How did we? Anastasia, should we Tell them everything?" For once Marco was less generous with his bluster. "our union does not exist in their time, they can already guess at the truth." His sisters words reinvigorated him. "Oh that is Good. I do not Excel at lying or keeping Secrets."

"Christopher! You are Our brother. You were the First to be adopted. I was Second, and my sister Third. I do not Know how it is for Us in the Other time. Is it Possible that we do not Exist there." Marco began to sigh. "Don't Exist? How come?" Uno always figured he was not a native to the non-millennium world. But he didn't really understand why. "we are special. we were saved by the man who took us in. we lived in poor conditions, and we might have died were it not for him. he was a wealthy man, but he had no family.. only material possessions... that is why he wanted us. just the.. three of us." Anastasia's voice cracked a little, shifting to a more depressed pitch. "Who was that man? What happened to my real parents?" Uno was happy to have one family and he didn't want to pry. But there was so much he didn't know yet. "we do not know. we were very young and He never told us what happened to them.. he just wanted us to inherit his work, his power.. his pendulums. because he had no one else to pass it on to." From the way she spoke, it sounded like 'father' was dead already. "Wait. This man.. is he the one who started Millennium? Was his name Tempus?"

"Tempus? Ah, Their nickname for him." Marco started his walk through the garden path. The others followed. "Yes. Yes that Should be him. But to Us he's Only known as mister Nisell. He used Everything he gathered to Unite the world; and then to Help it Mature into a Better society. Into this new Millennium." The lord raised his hands to the sky and breathed out. "And.. did he also invent that horrible technique that 'cards' people?" Stonewell brought Marco's mood down to earth. "Oh. He did Create the Method. The Ministry decided to use it as a Weapon to keep the Peace. But it was Intended for Preservation of Life at first, not Incarceration." The lord claimed. "You mean, the Monument? The thing people think will give them immortality?" Eric now asked, with Flake's rants fresh in his mind. "That is what some Call it. It is Immortality, in a Way. Memories, thought patterns, we can store all of That in something as simple As a card or a Machine. Alas, Father never got to Use it on Himself." The brother spoke with a heavy and humble tone. "Not? You mean He's dead?" Uno shuddered. "Then we still don't know when the timeline split happened, or how to fix it."

"Maybe it did happen because of me?" Alice suggested somberly. "because of you? why would that be?" Anastasia took a sudden interest in her. "Uh.. I.. I'm not... I shouldn't have said anything." She moaned and looked away. "Alice. It's not your fault. It can't be, this Millennium business caused the split." Uno was confident in that. Alice had only been part of the timeline for eight years, this Union was far older than that. "Excuse me, Brother. But what is the Problem?" Marco inquired. "It's just.. there are more timelines than the ones we know about. August came from one. Alice.. from another." Uno needed to say it, he needed proof. Alice said nothing, she stared at the ground. "Tempus is the same. He must be. Did he ever tell you how he got his inventions? These teleporters, the drones, everything; where does it all come from? It's not his wealth, that all came from the same source! He took it from whatever future he left behind, and used it to build a kingdom in the new present. This whole timeline only exists so he could hide from the ones who were chasing him. But.. that puts both worlds at risk!"

"risk?" Anastasia visibly trembled. "According to a.. former.. friend of ours, your worlds scientists found the other dimension and concluded one could destroy the other within the decade. You didn't you hear about this?" Uno would've expected Millennium to be on top of all of this. "When we reached the Right Age, Father told us where he Came and those pursuing him Came from; from another Time and Place. Of course I Laughed at his Story then, Fool that I was. The Things our Father could do and Create, I should have Known that these were not Stories.. So yes we Knew of all the other Timelines. But we did not know of the Dangers this current Parallel world poses. Curious." Marco rubbed his chin. "I have a different story. According to our sources, armies from your world were planning to invade ours. Do you claim ignorance on this matter as well?" Adamant sharply laid down his question. "we have heard of no such plans. we have no wars to fight." Anastasia swore. "You see, our Position is like that of a President or Prime Minister. We have final Say in most Affairs. But some of them Escape us. We cannot rule a whole World as just Two people, even with the Technology we have. But I can Promise you, we will Look into this. I want to help the Friends of my brother in any Way that is Possible."

"Any way that is possible?" Stonewell saw his chance. "Then you can release Tory, the girl that your Inquisitor 'carded' the previous day!" He wanted nothing else at the moment. "Tory? What has She done to turn up in Silver's crosshairs?" Marco wondered. "The same thing I did, defend ourselves! You took over our country and captured innocents in the name of peace! Or is that done without your consent too?" Stonewell was not going to downplay his own actions for this guy. "I trust Silver and I trust the Templar program. However I am also Sure you and your friend only did What you thought was Best. She is still Young, yes? I might be able to Secure her early release from the Monument. What Else?" He waited for more requests. "We are looking for people, persons of interest that our enemies are after. One of them is Dom, he was forced to this world and we do not know where he is now. The other is Emily Brandt." Iria raised two. "My sister? Why her?" Alice freaked out. "Because of Cassius. He wanted her mind to synchronize with her counterpart in this world, remember? It should be imperative that we find her before he and his allies do." The Circle, Cassius' club of mindsynched duelists; they had to be a part of this world too. "Y-yeah. I forgot.. Thank you."

"Yes yes. That should be Simple. We can track Any registered Individual. We will find Emily Brandt. And we can also Search for this Dom. Do you have a picture of him?" The brother asked Iria. "Uhm. I can describe him to you." Master Doms face was not recorded anywhere at all, which was a minor hindrance. "Works for me. It might Take a while Regardless." Marco looked over his sisters shoulders. "And I am afraid I am out of Time." A band of impatient ministers crossed into the garden. "I have to Go. Run the world. Anastasia will keep you Company. You are Free to take whatever you wish in our Palace. Eat our food, use our Beds, take from our Wardrobes. You look like you could use New clothes." Even he could see that the gang had been wearing the same outfits for three nights in a row. "I prefer to stay as I am." Adamant wouldn't discard his guild's uniform for anything. "If you wish. We can Replicate your current Clothes just as easily!" Marco clapped his hands. "But that is It for me. I will pass your Requests on to our Intelligence Network and hopefully I can see you all at Dinner! Have a Good Day!"

With the more vocal tourguide gone, the group was left with a lot of freedom and no idea where to go next. While most discussed their next move; Alice was drawn by the spectacle of the garden. "I've never seen any of these plants.." It felt like someone had planted a seed here from every corner of the world. One tree in particular caught her eye. "Strange... it looks like.." It was a big old tree, with roots far above the ground. "It's just a coincidence." Her train of thought was interrupted at that point anyway. "Anastasia, can you tell us what Uno.. uhm.. Christopher was like?" As Eric grew bored of the details. "Eric! You can't just ask that." Alice felt that was getting too personal. "I was just curious." Eric countered. "I'm okay with it, Alice. I was about to ask the same thing." All this factual information did nothing for Uno. Perhaps he would gain back his memories through personal aspects.

"what was my brother like?" Anastasia tilted her head and started to smile. "he was a nice man, a gentle and clever man. i missed him. something had to be wrong, he would not leave without saying anything. i am happy to have you back.. but i wish you could be happy too." She raised her hand, briefly. "I suppose.. that sounds like me. But what else? Did I make any friends or enemies? Did I get out much? Did I go to school, did I have a pet? Did.. did my father like me?" Uno asked for more answers than he realized he even wanted until this very second. "i can show you, i could tell you; but it wouldn't be the same. you are special, like me. you have to remember." Her hand moved to his dueldisk. "i finally saw you when you dueled inquisitor silver. i saw my brother. that is what you liked to do, that is what we can all do better than anyone else." As she spoke, Uno looked at his cards. "You mean.. you're a duelist too?" It apparently ran in the family. "Hey. Maybe she can help you by dueling you! Just like we did when I first met you!" Alice yelled out her new idea. "What? Oh! Yeah! Anastasia! What do you say to a game? Just you and me; brother and sister?"

"a duel? i would be happy. I can teach you why the cards were so important to us."

(To be Continued in Redux 066: I'll Miss you Most)