id:7384372
Yugi was shocked.
So shocked he ended up just sitting on his bed for hours, simply staring emptily into space.
They had been so close! Tea had been right in front of them, and now...she was gone.
He couldn't comprehend the fact.
Tea was gone, just...gone.
And he had failed to save her, Noah had won. Tea had saved them all, and Noah had still won. Yugi wasn't to happy with that. And now, how were they supposed to save her? According to both Noah and Tea herself, Tea Gardner no longer existed, this Chorine was here. How did you save someone who didn't exist anymore?
"You cannot help her Yugi, she is lost even to herself." Atem murmured gently.
"But-" "She will return once she remembers herself, we can do nothing until then." Atem said quietly, leaning against the far wall.
"But, Noah has her! We can't just stay here and do nothing!" Yugi shouted, wanting to throw something.
"That is all there is we can do. You must be patient, Yugi. She will return, just wait." Yugi sighed as The Pharaoh's words sunk in, and with a groan he flopped backwards on his bed. "Hopefully." Atem amended in a whisper. He wanted to encourage the desolate boy before him, but even to himself Tea's return was a mystery.
33333
Chorine was happy. She was in a large meadow, spinning and twirling in the grass with a laugh. She was in peace, bliss even. The sun was shining with a perfect warmth, the wind was whispering against her skin, and Noah was walking towards her with his calm assurance. She did not remember anything from before she had pledged her loyalty to him, but the memories made after were perfectly fine for her.
"Noah!" She laughed, waving to him before letting herself fall onto the grassy floor with a giggle. The memories she had made so far made her feel special, and Noah took a dominate role in each of them. The man walking toward her smiled and she looked down at the grass blade in her fingers with a blush. Love was a funny thing, it made her feel like a little school girl all over again. Noah sank down to her level across from her, and gently pushed her head up so she was looking at him. She smiled a shy smile, and he gave a dazzling smile in response.
"My dear brunette rose, how are you? My blue eyed angel, how do you fare on this fine afternoon?" He asked with interest.
"Oh, nothing I could say could every be that interesting. What about you? What have you been up to?" Tea giggled in reply, and Noah just looked at her.
"Oh, it's been fine, but seeing you tops the cake, my dear Chorine." Noah replied. Chorine blinked unsure as he said her name. Her name was Chorine, she reminded herself. Somehow, over the past week she had begun to feel that Chorine was not her birth name, and she had brought it up with Noah one night. She flashed back as her thoughts went into disarray.
"Noah, I've been thinking, is my name really Chorine? I don't really look like a Chorine, I look more like a Taylor, or a Tammy, or maybe even a Tina. But, I'm just not sure if my name is Chorine anymore."
"Of course you're name is Chorine, don't be silly. Your name is Chorine, you're just tired darling. You need your sleep, so I think it's time for you to drift off into dreamland." He had told her firmly.
"Yes, of course, how silly of me. But is it even possible-"
"Sleep, Chorine, now." Noah had demanded, and she had quickly drifted off into dreamland.
Chorine hadn't brought up her name since. But she still had a feeling her name wasn't what Noah was telling her it was. She just wasn't sure what.
"What's wrong, darling?" Noah asked, pushing a strand of the girl's hair out of her face.
"Nothing, Noah. Just got lost in my thoughts." She shrugged in reply, trying to remember if her name was made up. How could she forget her own name? Was that even possible? And if she wasn't Chorine Kaiba, then who was she?
"Come now, you can tell me anything." He prodded, but Chorine kept her thoughts to herself.
"Nothing, let's go home, okay? I never made those pancakes I promised you." She smiled, pulling him to his feet.
"Okay, Chor, whatever you say." He replied with a sigh, getting to his feet and giving her a kiss. "Whatever makes you happiest." Smiling, she took his hand and lightly pulled them toward their home.
33333
Chorine jerked awake, gasping in fear. The covers were held in a death grip, and her heart felt like it would burst from her chest in fright. Another nightmare. Chorine thought worriedly, was something wrong with her? She was having a sequence of dreams, each in an order like a line up in an episode guide. She didn't know any of the characters taking part in her nightmares, but apparently they knew her.
The first nightmare had started with one of her 'friend's' grandparent's soul being taken, and each nightmare followed in sequential order. There were duels taking predominance in each dream, and in them the three main characters that were there every time was a boy with tri colored hair, a blond hotheaded duelist, and a brunette that always stood by for support. She felt she knew them, but upon waking she had never met them in her life, not to mention they always called her 'Tea' and she certainly couldn't be the Tea they were referring her dream self as.
Chorine gasped as this dream slowly faded away. This time she was past the first few dreams, the ones her dream people referred to as 'Duelist Kingdom'. She was now watching as someone she knew as a friend, someone named Mai, lost their soul to the shadow realm. It was all so real, and yet, it couldn't be, could it? It couldn't be, she had no memory of the events taking place. Still, she knew someone was waiting for her, someone who didn't love her like Noah did, someone who loved her as a best friend.
Still, it was simply a dream.
It couldn't be real, it was just a dream. Chorine carefully lay back down, closing her eyes and focusing her mind on Noah's breathing. He always had a way of calming her down. She smiled as she slowly drifted back to sleep, another dream awaiting her. This one made her scream, someone was trying to steal her soul, and once again she was being saved by someone other than Noah. She wasn't getting it, where were all the memories coming from? Why did her life seem to be running together with all this fake stuff? What was wrong with her?
"Do you really want to know?" A voice whispered in her dream, and Chorine found herself in a black mist, twirling around in an attempt to find the owner of the voice. "You won't see me unless I want you to."
"Who are you?" She demanded.
"Have you already forgotten me? I know it has been a while since the ice cavern in the virtual realm, but I did not think I would be completely forgotten." The voice chuckled, and Chorine could tell it was feminine.
"Who are you?" Chorine called out again, and a magician girl came floating out off the mist. She looked like the magician girl card, but Chorine knew it wasn't just any magician girl, it was someone else, someone who was a bit more important. But she didn't remember why.
"Oh, come now, don't you remember? Of course not, I forgot. Noah holds all your memories, but they cannot be completely wiped from from the mind. Each dream you've been having was a remembrance of older memories, from long before the oath with Noah."
"My previous memories?" Chorine whispered confused.
"Chorine, you know your name is false, correct? You have had the feeling it is false, have you not? You know this is not the world you reside it, there is another. Another world, a different set of friends, the ones that plague your mind each night. Do you remember who they are?"
"Not really." Chorine had to say in a small voice.
"Let's see what we can remember. The blond is Joey Wheeler, he is a hot headed duelist with a fierce sense of loyalty and family. He would protect his friends to the end." Chorine remembered the blond from her dreams, now she was able to paste a name with a face. "The brunette is Tristan Taylor, he does not duel unless extreme difficulties demand it. He is protective of his friends, and loves to goof of with Joey. Tristan is a loyal friend, and tends to 'cheerlead' with you at Joey or Yugi's duels." Yugi. The name rang a bell, but she couldn't remember from where. "Then comes the tri haired child prodigy. He is a duelist unlike all others, but that is because of the spirit that resides in him."
"The Pharaoh." Chorine whispered.
"Correct. You complete a circle, Chorine. Well, Chorine doesn't, but a certain brunette does. Do you know who I am?" The magician asked carefully. "I was your deck master if you remember."
"The...The Dark Magician Girl." She whispered. "My...deck master?" She tried to remember confused.
"Would you like to remember, child, everything that was taken from you?"
"What would I remember?" She asked in a small voice.
"Everything that has been forgotten. From the earliest of your thoughts, to now. I have an ability that can remind you, and if I can't, I have a fellow spell caster who can." Another mage joined Chorine in the darkness, one Chorine knew somehow.
"The Magician of Faith." She whispered.
"Have faith, Tea." The Magician of Faith told her.
"Whose-"
"You know you are not Chorine, young one. Be strong, know who you are." The Dark Magician Girl whispered, and Chorine tried in vain to remember.
"I can't." She had to say.
"Sister, we must awaken her once more." The Faith Magician said with a bowed head.
"How is it she cannot remember, Faith? Her ability should have made her remember!"
"Noah may have taken it, sister. Many an ability has been stolen because of their power."
"But this is Tea! This is an impossible task!" The Dark Magician Girl argued, and as the two mages continued to fight, Chorine began to remember more. She was about seven or eight, in a game shop of some sort.
"Tea come see this!" A voice called, and her earlier self raced toward a tri colored boy.
"What'd you get, Yugi?" Her earlier self asked eagerly.
"This is the Magician of Faith, this is the card I think you're most like." He proclaimed proudly, and let the girl hold it.
"Is it powerful?" She had asked.
"Not really, but it's got a lot of special abilities. If you play it right, then it can be invincible!" The boy had exclaimed, and Chorine was pushed out of the memory. Special abilities, she had one. Chorine Kaiba had an ability, she knew it! But, what was it? It wasn't one that could be used in battle, like super strength or something, it was closer to home, something important all the same. It helped her remember, but remember what?
"She has to remember! It is her gift!" The Dark Magician Girl was shouting, and then Tea remembered. She wasn't Chorine Kaiba, she never was.
She remembered.
She was Tea Gardner, cheerleader extraordinaire, friendship keeper to a fault, and the only girl of her generation with the ability of remembrance.
It was a rare power, one that could make her invincible. Her thoughts could never be fully taken away, because her gift allowed her to remember everything even when thoughts and memories had been taken away from her. It explained why after a bad hit on the head she hadn't gotten amnesia, why her memories were still as clear as day. Her 'special ability' was remembering truth, always. It didn't matter her situation, where she was, or who she was with, she would always remember.
After all, it was her gift.
It explained why she was the only one who had been able to remember after Noah had Taken everyone to his virtual world, why she had been the one to face evil instead of Yugi or The Pharaoh.
She was the only one who could remember, a parting gift from her mother. And now Tea remembered, and she knew what came next.
"I think our duty is done, sister." Faith smiled, and with a tip of Dark Magician Girl's hat Tea was awake in her own bed.
"I remember." Tea whispered as she sat up.
"What was that, dear?" Noah asked her curiously, and she turned to find him beside her.
"I said, 'I remember'." She repeated more forcefully.
"Remembered what?" Noah asked carefully.
"Everything." She replied, getting up. "And I'm getting out of here."
"How do you propose doing that?" Noah asked, leaning on his had on the bed.
"You'll let me go."
"Quite an idea!" He laughed, until he saw Tea's serious face. "Oh, you weren't joking."
"Of course not!" She exploded.
"You can't leave, Chorine. You are bonded by oath to me."
"No, Chorine is bonded to you. She doesn't exist!"
"You are Chorine, my dear, and I demand you forget everything again."
"You can't make me forget Noah, I remembered everything, and I won't let you take them from me again."
"What a cute idea." He scoffed.
"I propose an idea." Tea finally decided. "Let me go, and take us back, back to the beginning."
"I don't know what you're suggesting."
"I'm suggesting this, turn back time. I know you can. Turn it back both here and on Earth, start over again. Go back far enough so you can stop that car crash, so you never end up here to begin with."
"That is impossible." Noah sighed.
"'Impossible' is what you seem to do best, Noah." She smiled, and Noah had to smile in return.
"Many an idea I have made real, true, true. But you're suggesting messing with the laws of nature, that is something that is impossible."
"Try." Tea demanded, and Noah got up fully dressed and suddenly was creating screens all around him, fiddling with one, creating equations on another.
"Hm, no the three can't be on top, no. maybe if I..." Noah murmured, and Tea took a seat on the bed. She was afraid of the consequences of messing with nature, if Noah was never sent here, would Gozaboro Kaiba have adopted either Kaiba or Mokuba? Would the course of history become altered if they did this? Would they be doing something incredibly dumb? Would-
"Done!" Noah suddenly exclaimed, and he pulled the screen with the equation over to Tea. "See if we change this three into a-"
"I don't need to know, Noah, I don't think it would be smart for time travel to get out." She broke in.
"Probably right, anyway, mechanics are already building it, they should be done in-"
"We're finished!" A voice shouted.
"Now." Noah smiled, taking the brunette's hand and leading her to a garage.
"I think we did a pretty good job." A mechanic was saying, wiping the grease and oil off his hands. "Meet the Traveler 2.0, can take you anywhere in history, anywhere in the world. Care to go for a spin?" He asked with a grin. The Traveler was a 70s' Dodge challenger in a dark blue, black leather interior, and the license plate proclaiming TIME EZ.
"Wha..." Tea breathed, shocked. Who there really was such thing as a time traveling car? "Cool." She smiled.
"Care for a test drive?" Noah asked, opening the passenger door. Giving a gracious nod, Tea entered the automobile. She wasn't sure why Noah was going to let her go, but it worked for her. Noah settled himself into the front seat, and after fiddling with a few knobs, stepped on the gas. The colors around them changed, and then they were out of the garage speeding down a highway in what appeared to be Domino City.
"We are on Earth, right?" Tea asked sceptically.
"Of course." Naoh replied calmly. "I don't know if this will work. I doubt I'll get my body back."
"I'll make sure that happens." Tea promised. "Let's get me home, and then you can go back and get that body of yours."
"Aren't you going with me?" Noah asked surprised.
"I can't, Noah. If I go back with you then I'll be stuck with no way to my present, and if you leave me here we both get what we want." She explained.
"Okay Tea." Noah finally consented.
"Thank you Noah." She murmured in reply. The drive to her house was silent, and Tea found herself looking at Noah sadly. He had become part of her life, she realized, even though he had kept her captive all these days, months. He drove her up to her front door, and let her out.
"I'll miss you." He suddenly said, and Tea looked at him surprised. "I will, I didn't single you out for no real reason, you know. You were different from everyone else, I thought you would get me, the real me."
"What did you expect Noah? You kept me prisoner in a virtual dimension, that doesn't work well." She replied getting out. "But, I will miss you." She told him after she had gotten to his window. "You're different, too." She smiled, leaning through the open window to give him a peck on the cheek. "I'll miss you."
Tea watched Noah drive away, disappearing into another time. Letting loose a sigh, Tea turned to enter her empty house. Her parents were never home, but she loved them anyway. She let herself fall down on the sofa, and looked at the newspaper left out on the couch beside her. July 10, 2006. Before anyone was ever Taken, Tea realized with a start. Noah had taken them back to the beginning.
Everything was about to start all over again.
And hopefully, this time it would be different.