Chapter Six

Radley felt a bit more relaxed as everyone gathered in the dining room for lunch. Emilio had been very creative with his room, and seeing his toys and books and the special box where he saved all the letters Radley had sent to him went a long way towards cheering Radley up.

It was also nice to see his father and grandfather, both of whom were welcoming and happy to see him in spite of the reason for the visit.

"Well, so you finally know the family secret," Alejandro gruffly remarked after grace was said. "I knew it was wrong to keep it from you."

Lucia merely humphed and said nothing, apparently resigned to the conversation happening.

"Yeah, I wish it hadn't been," Radley frowned. "But I'm starting to feel like a broken record saying that."

"I understand your grandmother wanting to keep it from you to protect you," Fidelio said with a sigh. "You aren't a prince from another land, even our homeland. You're my son!"

"If I'm the prince, I'm both," Radley pointed out.

"But you are not the prince," Fidelio insisted. "It just feels that way because you're confused."

Radley gripped his fork. "And this is only making me more confused," he proclaimed. "Let's change the subject."

For a time they tried to discuss more innocuous things, such as Emilio's favorite school subjects and lessons and how the vineyard was doing. But the feeling of the elephant in the room was very strong and very loud, and finally Alejandro set down his fork with a clatter and looked gruffly to Radley.

"I know you don't want to discuss things, my boy, but I just want to say this. No matter what happens or what you end up believing, you're one of us and you always will be. There won't be any more of that disowning nonsense, if you're worried about that."

Radley started. He actually hadn't even considered that, somewhat to his surprise. But he smiled, touched by the reassurance. "Thanks, Grandpa," he said.

"Do you know anything else about the legend?!" Scotch asked.

Alejandro looked a bit startled by the rapid-fire question. Radley was just amused.

"No, I really don't," Alejandro said at last. "I'm sure you'll learn more by visiting Radley's great-great-grandparents."

"Which is what we're planning to do," Radley admitted. "Can we take the jet to go there?"

Alejandro gave him a slightly amused look. "I don't mind. Lucia?" He glanced at his wife, who was still resolutely trying to ignore the conversation.

"You may do as you wish," she finally grunted.

"Thank you both," Radley said. "We'll try not to be gone long."

"You may be gone a very long time," Lucia said. "I want you to come back!"

The force of her words stunned Radley. But as they sank in, he had to smile. "Of course, Grandma," he said. "We'll come back."

"Why do you think we'd be gone a long time?" Kalin frowned.

"Once you start chasing myths, you may find it difficult to stop yourself," Lucia said. "If you don't learn what you wish at first, you might keep examining new leads, no matter how slim the possibility of success."

"We won't be able to do that, though," Radley said. "We have a town to look after." He paused. "And is that really why you said that, Grandma?"

She averted her gaze. "Yes. It is."

Emilio suddenly leaped up. "Grandma, do you think Radley is going to die?!" he cried.

Lucia stiffened and paled, but merely gripped her glass and replied, "Of course he won't die!"

"The legend says he won't!" Scotch added, trying to be helpful and not wanting to think anything else.

"The legend is nonsense!" Lucia boomed.

"Only if you really believed that, Lucia, you wouldn't have gone to such extremes," Alejandro said. "And you wouldn't be worried now."

Lucia wouldn't acknowledge that. "Do you believe in it?!" she snapped.

"I'm honestly not sure what I think," Alejandro growled. "The evidence for it is strong. You have to admit that, at least! And I don't think it was right to keep Radley and Kalin apart the way we did."

"I have only ever done what I felt was best for this family!" Lucia kept her voice even, but it was filled with anger.

"Unfortunately, no one else agreed with you and yet we went along anyway!" Alejandro said. "But we won't anymore."

Scotch was starting to look uncomfortable. He really hadn't planned on a family argument happening.

Marisol noticed. "Please, let's not discuss this at the table," she implored. "Let's wait for our guests to leave."

Lucia humphed and turned away.

". . . I'm glad you're worried about me, Grandma," Radley said. "I'm worried too. We'll be as careful as we can be."

"Yes, I am sure you will," Lucia grunted.

Radley sighed as he slowly started eating again. It was nice to hear his grandfather insist that they wouldn't go along if Lucia had any more cruel whims, but he didn't want to hear the family arguing right now either. He just wanted things to be peaceful. There was enough turmoil going on right then as it was.

". . . Why is it a big deal if Radley was reincarnated anyway?" Emilio suddenly spoke. "You guys should be happy that you were picked to be part of his second chance! It's neat if he was a prince! He's kind and good and knows how to be a leader. He acts like a prince anyway!"

Radley had to smile at that.

"But he and Kalin will have to fight a scary monster," Fidelio said. "You don't want that, do you?"

Emilio frowned. "No. . . ."

Radley looked to Kalin. Maybe that was the crux of why most of his family was so opposed. It did seem to be Lucia's dominant reason. That, and probably also because it seriously rocked her worldview. That was why Radley was struggling with it so much. It was surreal and confusing and unsettling. But . . . there were certainly worse past lives they could have had. If it was true, it was nice, he supposed, that they had been good and righteous people. He had certainly never thought of himself as "save the world" material. But he did believe in doing what had to be done, so in that way he perhaps had the prince's mindset.

Kalin reached and gripped Radley's hand under the table. He hoped that if it was true, that it had all been recorded correctly and his past self truly had been a decent person. If he could have confidence in that, maybe he would have an easier time accepting the rest.

Radley gave Kalin's hand a reassuring squeeze. He certainly had no trouble believing in Prince Kalin's goodness.

"You are certainly right that dear Radley acts like a prince," Marisol smiled. "That part is nice, and that he and Kalin were friends. Had they lived out their lives happily, it wouldn't be so upsetting to us. For me, I don't want the legend to be true because it's too horrible thinking of their lives cut short. Even in another life, I can't stand to think of that being my son's fate. I would feel the same if it were you, Emilio."

"Oh." Emilio looked down. "Yeah, I don't like that either."

"And I wonder why they have to fight the evil monster again, if this life is supposed to be for them to have peace," Fidelio said. "It should be over and done with."

Radley pondered. "And if the evil was created because of the people's hate and distrust of each other, shouldn't it have faded away once they finally forgot about all that nonsense?"

"Unless it latched on to the world's people as a whole," Kalin grunted. "Can you imagine how strong it would have got then?"

Radley looked up with a start. That was a horrifying thought. And how would they ever defeat it in such a case? The Princes hadn't even been able to handle its strength gained from the kingdoms' peoples.

"That is also why I still hope and pray it is not true," Marisol said. "I don't want to think of Radley forced to fight such a battle, or you either, Kalin. It's too terrible."

Radley gave a wan smile. "I can't disagree."

The rest of the meal thankfully proceeded peacefully, and when it was over and the group needed to leave, Emilio came and hugged Radley around the waist.

"I'm glad you came today," he said. "Maybe we could do this more, where you come for the day?"

Radley smiled and hugged back. "I'd like that. Hopefully next time everyone would be in a better mood."

"Let me know how things go in Spain," Emilio implored.

"I will," Radley promised.

The flight back to Satisfaction Town was also peaceful, with everyone reflecting on what had taken place. Back home, those preparing to go on to Spain packed more belongings. Kalin called Yusei again.

"Hey, Kalin," he greeted. "How did things go?"

"It was . . . strange," Kalin sighed. "I'm sending you the pictures we took of all the paintings and the sculptures that Radley's grandmother has. Some of us are going on to Spain to see what his great-great-grandparents have . . . and maybe to try to find at least one of the princes' kingdoms."

". . . Can you do that?" Yusei asked in surprise.

"I don't know," Kalin sighed. "It seems like we should be able to find either whatever modern town is there instead or the ruins of the kingdom. Maybe an old castle."

Yusei was silent, pondering all of this. "Just be careful, okay?" he said. "All of this set-up could really cause you to get hurt. It's enough to worry about one lifetime without having to worry about another one too."

"I know, Yusei," Kalin said. "Radley and I are both still struggling a lot. Now there's evidence that the Bunch may have been there in the past as well. You'll notice that one of the paintings features people who look like Scotch, Biff, and Billy."

"Yeah, I can see that," Yusei frowned.

"Yusei . . . tell me honestly what you think of that," Kalin pleaded. "I know you're not into reincarnation, but you have to admit that the evidence is stacking in favor of that."

Yusei sighed. "I know. And I don't know what to think, Kalin. I still don't believe in it, but I also don't believe in denying what's right in front of you. Clearly something is going on. But if there's another logical possibility, it could also be that."

"The only other possibility is that they're ancestors of ours," Kalin said. "Radley still wants to believe that, but it's getting harder for him too."

"Don't give up on that idea," Yusei encouraged. "I know it sounds out there for all of your ancestors to have been together in the past, but it's not any stranger than reincarnation. Less than, probably."

Kalin sighed but smiled. "Yes, you're right," he said. "I thought I didn't have any problems with reincarnation, but the longer I think about it, the angrier I get. We didn't end up in peaceful situations for our second chances, if we are the princes. Both of our families treated us cruelly, and of course, I went insane." He gripped his phone. "I'm not alright with that."

"You shouldn't be," Yusei said. "You deserved better regardless of whether you were an ancient prince or not. So did Radley."

"What kind of fate would even give us second chances like that?!" Kalin spat.

"That's another really good reason not to believe in fate," Yusei said.

"Or God?" Kalin countered.

Yusei sighed again. "I don't know, Kalin. . . . God must be real. We can't forget that an angel revived Radley in the Duel Monsters' world."

"I never could," Kalin said. "After all this time, we still haven't fully recovered from what happened there."

"I know," Yusei said quietly. "That's also why I'm worried for you to believe too strongly that you guys were the princes. You don't need that kind of pressure."

"No, we don't," Kalin agreed. "Thank you, Yusei. I will try to apply your advice, and I'll encourage Radley likewise."

"Good," Yusei smiled. "I'm sure you'll both be a lot happier."

Kalin nodded and then paused. "Yusei . . . you know we haven't recovered from what happened back then, but do you know what we do about it?"

"I think so," Yusei said. "You share the bed a lot, right?"

"Yeah." Kalin finally smirked a bit. "By now we don't really want to stop, even if we do put it past us."

Yusei smiled a bit. "I think it's great that you're that close. There's not a lot of people you can do that with."

"At least, not if it's not romantic," Kalin remarked, and Yusei went red. "We always had that kind of special bond in the Enforcers."

"And I'm glad that you've found it with Radley too," Yusei said sincerely.

"So am I," Kalin said softly. "That's the one thing he and I both keep coming back to—that if we were the princes, we're both happy we were given a second lifetime to share together."

"I understand that," Yusei said. "Let me know when you get to Spain safely."

"I will," Kalin promised.

Radley looked in on him soon after he hung up. "How are you coming?" he asked.

"Fine," Kalin replied. "I didn't have much more I wanted to bring."

"Cool." But Radley sighed, looking a little sad. "I wonder how long we'll be gone . . . and how this might change everything we know."

"We probably won't learn anything much and we'll be back within a day," Kalin said.

"If my pendant really does open that box, it'll prove that it's the same pendant," Radley frowned. "But it won't prove that I was really the one who wielded it in the past. Maybe something in the box will, though."

"Let's hope not," Kalin said. "Yusei told me we should stick with the idea that the Princes are our ancestors."

"And everybody else has ancestors back then too?" Radley remarked.

"It's not impossible," Kalin said. "Even if it does sound like a cartoon."

Radley smirked a bit. "Yeah, I guess so." He looked to Kalin's suitcase. "Are you ready then?"

"Yes." Kalin grabbed it and his overnight bag. "Let's get going."

The Bunch were all ready too, and soon they were back on the private jet, heading for Spain.

"I wonder how your grandmother felt about us using the jet for this," Kalin grunted.

"I'm sure she didn't like it," Radley said with a wry smirk. "But they have other jets if they need to go somewhere."

Kalin watched as Scotch bounced up from his seat once they were airborne. ". . . What was it like to grow up with so much wealth?" he wondered. "I know you were lonely and your grandmother was a witch, but aside from all that."

"It's hard to think of it without all that," Radley sighed. "Those factors dominated my life. But . . . the private jets were cool." He smirked a bit. "Still are. I'm thinking of getting one for us now."

Kalin blinked. "You're that rich from the dyne and the diner?"

"Oh yeah." Radley smiled at him. "When we have our own, we won't have to impose on anyone else when we need to travel. And we can still avoid the commercial flights."

"Then what are we waiting for?!" Scotch exclaimed, appearing behind Radley in the next row. "We should get one!"

Kalin jumped, but Radley wasn't surprised. He chuckled. "Maybe when all this is over, we can sit down and discuss what we'd like to have in our private jet. Then we can either buy one with those features or have one custom-built with them."

"It should look like the plane in Air Force One!" Scotch gushed. "All the rooms, and vending machines, and other amazing stuff!"

Radley laughed out loud at that. "We probably shouldn't go that overboard," he said in amusement. "But some of that, sure."

Scotch promptly started to sketch out ideas and called to the rest of the Bunch to weigh in. They were excited too and began to crowd around, announcing things they wanted.

Radley shook his head. "Well, they'll be occupied for a while."

"I still wonder how you handle all of that," Kalin said. "It's dizzying."

"It's more fun than what we're trying to handle right now," Radley said.

Kalin sighed. "I can't disagree."

Radley leaned back in the seat and shut his eyes. "I just hope we really will be able to fulfill the Bunch's dreams on this," he said softly. "Who knows what'll happen to any of us if the evil really does come back?"

"We're supposed to survive," Kalin frowned. Then he realized what Radley meant and his blood ran cold. ". . . But it doesn't say our friends will."

"And if we're not the Princes, we might not either," Radley said. "We could all die." He reached and grasped Kalin's hand. "I don't want this. I don't want any of it."

Kalin gripped Radley's hand. He wanted to say it would all be okay, but how could he? There was no guarantee of that for any of them.

All he could do was desperately pray for their safety, no matter what happened.

". . . I wonder if there's any chance that the return of the evil is something that got added later in other versions," he said at last. "It really doesn't fit the idea of coming to this time for peace. . . . But neither do a lot of other things."

Radley perked up a bit. "It won't hurt to try to find that out," he said. "Who knows, maybe someone decided to add that in later to make it more ominous for some reason. People can be demented like that."

Kalin grunted. "Or maybe it was a fear of the families."

"I kinda think they would have figured it was over and done with after the Princes gave their lives for it," Radley said.

"Probably," Kalin conceded. He hesitated. ". . . It also could be that they made up the story about the second chances because they were grieving so much."

That gave Radley pause. "Yeah," he said slowly. "They could have."

"But you don't really think so?" Kalin asked.

Radley shook his head. "The claim is that God promised it to them," he said. "My family was always very religious. I know mine, at least, would have never risked serious blasphemy like saying God promised them something if He didn't."

Kalin shrugged in acknowledgment. "You would know about the religious aspects more than I would."

"That, but also . . ." Radley paused again. "I guess I'd really wonder why we're having the dreams if there's nothing to the second chance thing. At least it made some sense for us to have them if the legend is all real."

". . . Maybe you're starting to want it to be?" Kalin wondered.

". . . I don't know," Radley said. "Do you?"

"I don't know either," Kalin said.

Radley looked out the window. "Well . . . either way, we might end up learning for sure in the next day or two. I always wanted to show you guys Spain, but this wasn't how I thought I'd be doing it."

"We'll still enjoy it," Kalin said.

"Totally!" Scotch said.

Radley had to smile at that. "Yeah," he mused. "I'm sure you will."