Redux 37: He who Controls the Past
Marco's LP: 5300 Uno's LP: 4200
The nightmare repeated itself, Uno was to lose to his own brother. Virgil the Rockstar(6/2500/1000) led the assault and destroyed Uno's Pendulum sorcerer(4/1500/1200). Malebranche Calcab(3/1400/0) killed Performapal Cheermole(2/600/1000). Malebranche Barbar(3/1700/1000) attacked directly. "No, you can't do this!" Despite the cries of Alice and everyone else, Marco was going to win the duel that originally ended with his loss. Beatrice the Eternal Lady(6/2500/2800) would remove the remaining lifepoints with her holy magic. There was nothing he could do.
Uno's LP: 1500
But their sister could. "marco!" Anastasia took her pendulum crystal back from Alice and forced her way through the barrier. "Anastasia? You would Fight me?" She stood in between the two duelists now, rejecting Beatrice's attack with a single swipe. "no. that is what we promised.. we would never use this power against each other. you have broken the bond yourself." The orange glow of her crystal overpowered his green light and broke the barrier entirely. Then it tore down the monsters on the field, forcing their spirits into the abyss. "It wont work this time, Marco. I cant believe you would abuse the pendulum like that." Now Uno knew how Marco beat him the first time. "Then you favor each other. One by one, you all turn against me." Marco growled. "i only wanted to live like family, marco. but after everything we went through, you still wanted to make our family smaller.." Anastasia was not angry, she only sounded hurt. "Marco, you betrayed the family. You did this to yourself." Whatever Marco would try next, he could not overpower two pendulum users on his own.
"Milord!" But as it turned out, Uno was not the only Nisell with a rescuer waiting in the wings. "My Inquisitor?" A secret door behind the throne opened up and Iria Silver marched through with several guards. "Iria?!" This was the first time Zach laid eyes upon Iria's counterpart, which gave him quite the whiplash. "I was wondering where she was." Dom was not all that adjusted to there being two of her either, with his memories still a little tussled up. "You? What are you doing here?" Tory meanwhile would rather have never seen her again. "Preventing an assault on our Lord, of course!" The Inquisitor's men aimed their guns at the duelists. "Then you should be arresting that guy! He's the one who threw Lord Uno out of the palace in the first place!" Eric shouted. "You expect me to believe that?" Silver rasped. "You can believe me, Silver! And Lady Anastasia! She will vouch for all of us!" The last thing Uno wanted was to have a misunderstanding. "She will? It is true then?" The Inquisitor turned to Lord Marco for a response. "It is.. they know." He answered her calmly. "Then, I know my duty..." Silver sighed.
She threw a round ball at the floor in front of Marco which exploded in a burst of light. "Gaaah!" Everyone but Marco was temporarily blinded as the lord covered his eyes in advance. "Milord. These men and I will be forever loyal to you. Tell us what to do!" She kneeled before Marco along with her men. "What!? Are you crazy?" Tory yelled. "Heh. As crazy as you were when you sacrificed yourself for your 'friends'; Tory." Silver sneered. "You're making a mistake! You don't know what that man is capable of!" Iria tried to appeal to her senses. "Hmph." But before she could tell her counterpart about the countless of people Marco left behind in the past, the lord had already built up enough power in his pendulum to prepare a teleport. "Farewell, brother and sister. We will see each other again, in another time" He gloated right before he and his followers disappeared from the throne room. "Marco!"
...
The throne room did not feel safe anymore after that. Everyone else regrouped back at the banquet hall. But nothing happened, no templars came and no alarms were raised. It seemed Marco was not taking any immediate countermeasures, giving them all the chance to rest. And while Anastasia went out to explain what happened to the rest of the Union, Uno made attempts to find his runaway brother. "It's not working." Alas, the crystal offered no easy answers. "Can't you just do that Neter trick again, the one where you just tell the pendulum to take you to someone?" Eric wondered. "I thought I could, but it's not letting me. I can't even get a feel of Marco or his crystal." And unless he knew where Marco headed off too, he could not go by location either. "Perhaps he is too far away for you to find him, or he can mask his presence somehow." Adamant suggested. Not that the info helped even if it was true. "Can't we track him through the network?" Iria inquired. Marco did take his dueldisk with him. "We tried, but we can't track those either. I assume the Inquisitor would know best how to hide yourself from other inquisitions. They were prepared for this. I should check the other control cities, Marco might have gone there to take over before we could give the union a warning."
"Wait!" Alice shouted. "Do.. do you have to go?" She asked pleadingly. "I cannot let him run around unchecked. Who knows what he'll do now that he's desperate." Uno thought he understood his brother, but even those memories were all based on Marco's facade. "But.. what if he attacks you again? You almost lost. I thought.. we had lost you this time." That kind of reasoning was not enough for her. "Alice, I wont be going alone. Anastasia will travel with me, Marco can't face us together. You don't have to worry about me." They had at least proven that. "He's right honey. I don't know exactly what is going on, but it seems like he does. You can let him do what he has to." James only wanted her daughter to rest. Thirty hours without resting could not be good for her. "But what if its already too late? What if its going to happen again? Dad.. he's gonna take everyone away, mom.. Emily.. you.. I don't want.. I don't want to see that again!" She cried and closed her eyes. "Everyone?" James didn't understand. "Oh. That's right.. we never..." Uno realized James did not know about Alice's original timeline.
"he cannot do it right now." Anastasia declared clearly as she entered the hall. "Huh?" Alice opened her eyes. "to reverse the flow of time takes a lot of energy from the pendulum. just using it in quick bursts will only get you back a couple of minutes. it will undo any change that affected the world, and erase the memories of all those on it. you experienced that, and remember it because you were all touched by the pendulums power. but.. to go back weeks, years, decades, millennia; you need to bend space and time on a greater scale. that takes more power than one crystal can hold. marco can't leave without our crystals, father arranged it that way. if he tries to use it, we will know." Her pendulum crystal was not glowing now, which was a good sign. "Then.. the world is not going to end?" Alice whimpered and wiped her tears away. "I hope not. That's where all my stuff is!" Dom sighed a breath of relief. "Still, I cannot imagine he is harmless." Iria thought. "No. We have to find him before he does anything crazy. Alice, everyone.. try to get some sleep. It's been a long day. Ana and I will try to take care of this."
...
Somewhere else, in one of the few places not known to the Union, the guilds reaped their rewards. "I have a question; why are we still here? We got what we came for didn't we?" Yet some were unsatisfied. "Uh yeah, I checked and double-checked. It's all there, any card you can think of. Oh... Phoebe should have seen it, she would have been so happy." Marie Celeste was in a relatively high spirits, despite a few recent setbacks. "And it is truly that easy? There are no safeguards or, dare I say it, magical protections?" Ichirou was a little more skeptical. "Oh we still need to do a lot of testing and text translating, but it seems that simply knowing the names and appearances of the forgotten cards is enough to awaken their power. Some cards are more receptive than others... but Doms digital vault gave us everything we need." She made it sound easy. "Then I ask again, why are we staying? We have another world to keep in check. And if Uno can truly appear wherever he wants to be now, he could show up at our doorstep any second." Ichirou wondered why he was the only one worried about that. "I'd like to see him try, now that we have the same kind of power he does. This is my home, and I am not going to get chased out of it so easily." Celeste hissed.
"Something is wrong." Martel walked into the room, or he'd been inside the room all this time. It was hard to tell with this man. "Wrong? Wrong for us, or wrong for others?" Celeste found it hard to tell what he was saying at times as well. "For the pendulums. There has been a shift in balance, orange and blue have turned against green. They will not find us here. They are distracted... " The puppetmaster claimed as his eyes gazed far ahead. "What keen insight. How did you come to know this?" Ichirou inquired. "Because we are all special." Martel said as he stroked his doll. "That's.. not an answer." The XYZ-duelist sighed. "We should strike now, while they are weakened." The other ignored him to make his bold statement. "Strike? At them? We don't know yet what we're exactly capable of!" It did not strike much of a cord with the others. "I know what I am capable of." Martel said, his voice growing deep. "To unite, I need them all. I want them all.. And I always get what I want."
...
"Yeah. Yeah I know. Limbo just listen to me! The boss is bad news! Because I said so! Because he heard it from Uno and Alice! No I dont know how it all fits together. I've been busy today and I don't know where to begin; with the psychic cult or the founding family fued!.. No I didn't dream it! Yes you should have asked me how I was first! I was a card for like two days! Just lay low for now okay? Guh!" Tory ended the call. The goal was to relay some valuable information to her partners. But she wound up broadcasting to a wider area than she had intended. "Ahem, could you keep it down, young lady. Some people are trying to sleep on this floor." Tory's shouts drew the the ire of a certain mother. "Mrs Stonewell!?" Tory flinched. "..No wait.. not her.."
"I do not believe we have been properly introduced." The woman murmured. "Oh, sorry. This must be confusing to you too. How to say this... I know a Mrs Stonewell already, the one that lives in Skyheart city." She quickly revealed. "Oh. Yes, I suppose that would have to be true." Mrs Stonewell was still dealing with the concept of multiple universes, so the thought of a second 'her' was only taken into consideration just now. "You're the girl Eric talked about, my Eric I mean.. so you've met our family in this world." She breathed in. "Should I ask what they are like? I've seen the other .. Eric.. from time time. But he seems intent on avoiding me." Mrs Stonewell said with a discouraged tone. "Ehhh, its complicated. I mean you're a nice person, I am sure. Both of you, but the world just did some unpleasant stuff to people he knew, and he kinda felt like he had to get out of the house to make a difference. Its not her fault, and not yours either... hrmrh.. Am I explaining this well?" Tory waited for a reply. "Well enough. I just want him to be happy too. Even if he isn't my son." The woman smiled. "Yeah well, same goes for me. I just wish he'd call back already, he's gotta lot of catching up to do. I mean how long is he gonna stay at that Amelia girl's place, pfeh..."
...
"Nothing here either. Are you sure?" This was the last of the worlds control cities. The word there was the same as everywhere else. "No sir. We have not heard from lord Marco. Uhm.. what should we do now?" The governer of the city was a little anxious about the news that spread across Millennium, and about the two lords in front of him. "There's no need to be afraid of me. Just run business as you normally would. And try to keep this from spreading." The governer nodded. The Union never used the Lords for every decision anyway. "Let's go." Uno and Anastasia immediately warped back to the palace of the first city. "I don't understand him, what he is playing at?" They had been searching until sunset and still there was no trace of him. "marco always spoke loud, but never much about himself. i just assumed he didn't want to bother us with politics." Anastasia shook her head. She did not show it, but Uno knew her brothers betrayal was affecting her too. "What could happen if he does go back in time?" Uno wanted to be certain of the ramifications; the worst case scenario. "they, the guardians of time would freeze the world and only we would be aware of it. everything else would be erased."
"The guardians of time.." The image of the Qliphort machines flashed through his mind. "I have seen them, more than once, haven't I?" A few more memories flooded back in. "yes. we faced them before, when we went too far. we could never stop them, we could only run. we can only ever run.. it was so tiring..."
"Uno!" Adamant, Dom and the disciples walked in on them. Uno made the promise before to return to the throne room at the end of his search, and that was where Adamant and the Dreamworld crew decided to wait. "I take it that you have had no luck." He concluded once he registered their expressions. "No. There is one more place I want to check. The Monument. Marco can cause a lot of trouble there." That was as good a reason as any to anticipate his brothers appearance there. "I see. Do you need us to go with you? We are familiar with the location." Adamant offered. "No. Me and Ana will go, we know how to get there. I'd rather you guys stay here and protect the palace. Marco might show up again." Uno could not be in two places at once, he depended on them too. "That suits us. We still have a lot to talk about ourselves." Iria muttered. "Yeah but I sure hope this nasty business gets fixed quick. Alot of that talk involves you too UNO my boy. I tell ya, finally have the first duelist in front of me and he keeps disappearing on me." Dom chuckled. "We will, later."
"Uno. Are you certain about this? The more forces you have.." Adamant grabbed his shoulder briefly but tensely. "I.. am, Adamant. Relax a little, keep an eye on Alice and Eric. That will help me a lot more. Okay?" All Uno did was look him in the eyes.. "I..." Adamant released his grip immediately. "No, I get it. It's fine." Uno grinned. "In spite of your remembered past, you have not changed much. Even so... the place you are about to visit, have you been there before?" He knew Uno probably didn't need to envision the location, but there was a second reason for him asking this. "I.." Uno closed his eyes and thought back. "Oh." It took him a moment to realize what Adamant wanted to say. "Yeah, of course I have. I'm sorry, we're gonna have to shelve that topic too for now." He turned around as Anastasia grabbed his hand. "Just hang in there." The two beamed away, leaving the XYZ-leader standing with a closed fist.
...
The two re-appeared inside the core room of the Monument, where the computer was still running. And as much as Uno would have liked to keep ignoring the topic, it was much harder from the inside. "uno.. you know who built this place, don't you?" His sister could read him like a book. "Yeah.. Me." He finally said it. This was what Iria tried to tell him before. "They know it too, or suspect it. I'm not sure if they blame me for it, and I can't really explain myself to them either." He still wasn't the guy who he used to be, who actually remembered why he wanted to create a prison like this. "This technology to turn people into cards, Tempus didn't really invent it, did he? The time guardians have that ability too, to just make people and objects disappear. Is that why.." There was a connection there, he just could not see it. "it was one reason. you wanted to find a way to restore what the guardians destroyed. you thought that creating the monument would help you study their terrifying power. and if that failed, it at least gave you something to preserve others with.. or so you theorized. but marco was the one who weaponized the ability.."
"Maybe, but I did not stop him. Well.. Anyway; everything looks okay here. I don't think Marco stopped by. Better make sure." Uno walked up to the computer and checked the profiles of all the 'inmates'. He knew the terminal like he'd designed it, which was probably true. "if the inquisitor is on his side, he might not need this place to control the templars. and he would not care about the prisoners. but.. you would." Anastasia moved in closer. "i know why you really came here, uno. you want to bring them in. do you think this will help?" She saw him searching for a specific file. "It has to. We can't find Marco on our own, we need someone who has experience with chasing timetravelers. Besides.." Uno made the machines release one card. "Knowing what I know now, he shouldn't have been put in here to begin with. We can do a lot more working together, than we could by fighting each other." He pushed a button to start the de-carding process and waited. A beam of light shot through the card and slowly reformed the physical body of its prisoner.
"Wh..at?"
"August, welcome back." The red dragon duelist was restored, looking exactly as he did when he lost to Marco; dueldisk and all. "You. What have you done to me? And who is she?" The disoriented duelist stared at his own hands and the bright world around. "You were carded by Marco Amadeus, but I changed you back. Its been a few days since then." Uno said. "Amadeus!? Where is he?" August flew into an immediate rage upon the mention of his name. "There is something you need to know first, August." If there was to be union of forces, Uno had to give him the truth. "I am Christopher Fortuno Nisell." The whole truth. "I am Tempus' son. And I need your help now.."
(To be Continued in Redux 036: Extinction Defined)