Chapter 7

I don't know how long we rode for, but I used the time to organize and retweak my deck.

"What's the future like?" Yugi asked after a while.

"Hmm?"

"What's it like where you came from?"

"Oh. Well, the environment is pretty bad. There are giant buildings everywhere. And... we have these." I pulled out my phone.

"What is it?"

"It's called a phone. You can communicate with anyone in the world as long as they have a phone too. You can contact them for a verbal conversation or send them text."

"Wow..." Yugi looked even more like a little kid on Christmas than he usually does.

"Yeah. You just push the square button, and..." The phone came on.

"And just input the secret password that only I'm allowed to know..." I put my password in and it took me to the home screen. "Ta da!"

There were no words at this point. Only awe.

"Go ahead. Press an icon." Reluctantly, he leaned forward and pressed the settings button. He jumped when the screen popped up.

"It's fine. You just brought up the settings. There are games, information services, and my personal favorite, music players. To get back to the home screen, you press this square button." I said, and pushed the home button. It was like teaching a grandmother how to use the internet, but much more endearing.

"Unfortunately, these don't last forever. They run on a free roaming source called a battery. Once that runs out of power, the device fails to function." I turned my phone off. "Phones are notorious for having bad battery life. But I have another device with me that's much more efficient."

I pulled out my iPad. "This is a tablet. Its battery lasts a lot longer than a phone, but its larger and unlike a phone, it doesn't make calls. It's made for gaming, and operates the same as a phone." I smirked. "Do you wanna hear what the music of the future sounds like?"

He slowly nodded. I got up and sat next to him.

I pulled out an earbud. "Put this in your ear." He did so. I pulled up the music app and played "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz.

"There are many genres to the future music. Unfortunately, my strict taste and lack of internet means that I can't show you all of it.

"Wow..."

I yawned. "Yeah. This kind of music always puts me to sleep..." And then I fell asleep.

...

Yugi shook me awake. "Lucy, we're here..."

"Huh...? I said, and say up. My neck was sore. It was evening. I gathered up my things and we dismounted.

"Thank you for your services." I said, bowing. The driver tipped his hat and tossed me a whistle.

"That whistle has a little magic in it. Blow on it whenever you're in need, and a miracle just might happen."

With that, he turned around and left.

St. Albans was a pretty big town. With a few shillings from Exeter, I was able to buy some bread and cheese to further stabilize our diet. I packed it away and started nibbling on one of my carrots.

"You know, I never see buildings like these anymore." I said absentmindedly.

"What?" Yugi asked.

"All these buildings look ancient to me because I'm from the future. It's fascinating. Like, we don't have steeples like that in the future." I said, pointing to a church. "Compared to these buildings, the buildings of the future are plain and featureless."

"But you said that the buildings in your time scrape the sky."

"Indeed they do. But many are simple rectangles with a pyramidal top."

"Fascinating." Yugi murmured. We walked aimlessly around town until the sun set.

"Lucy, I have two questions."

"Ask away." I said.

"Where are we gonna sleep?"

"Good question. We passed an inn about two blocks back, we could rest there. Or if all else fails, we could camp outside of town."

"Okay. And why are we here?" Shit. How would he react if I told him I was the Rose Duelist?

"Fate, I suppose. Some force is dragging me across this island, and I want to find out what it is."

"Oh. That's nice." He said.

"You seem tired. We should go back and find that inn."

Well long story short, there was no room at the inn. This adventure just took a turn for the biblical.

"Looks like we're camping tonight. If you get firewood, I can make shelter." Yugi nodded, and went into the nearby woods. I took the knife out of his pack and started cutting branches off of trees. Due to my mother's...habits, I had learned to make shelters by age 13. A nice lean to would be good for tonight.

I don't know how and when, but someone snuck up behind me and put a rag to my face. I screamed and struggled, and in retrospect, it may have been a bad idea. My vision faded out fast, but I heard one thing before collapsing.

"LUCY!"

...

When I woke up again, I was in the lean to. Yugi was sitting by the fire, right in front of the entrance.

"Mmmng... Yugi, what happened?"

"You're the Rose Duelist..." He replied.

"Nnngh...Wgha?"

"The man who almost kidnapped you...he called you the Rose Duelist. I fought him and won, but Lucy, why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't know how you would react, plain and simple. I thought you would abandon me because I could potentially get you killed."

"Lucy, I'm not going to leave you. Why are you so scared of abandonment?" Yugi asked

"Because then I'd be alone again. You had Jou at least. Me? I've never had a friend, much less a boyfriend or a lover. I tell myself I'm an introvert, and that I like being alone. But it's just not the truth." I put my head to my knees. I felt a hand on my shoulder and heard rustling in the leaf floor.

"Lucy...I don't know what you experienced in your time. But I won't treat you the same way your mother did. I promise."

I looked up. I raised my hand and stuck out my pinkie. "You pinkie promise?" He hesitated, not knowing what to do, but reciprocated.

"Pinkie promise." He said. I smiled.

"Geez. Im exhausted. You want some dinner?"

"Sure."

I pulled out the bread, cheese, and the last head of cabbage. I got an idea.

"You wanna see something cool?" I asked. He nodded. I sliced two slices of the bread and slapped a leaf of cabbage and a slice of cheese between them.

"Behold! I have invented the sandwich 300 years early!" I said. "You want one?"

"Sure." I made the same sandwich for Yugi and handed it to him.

"Lucy, this is really good. This is what the food is like in the future?"

"This is only the beginning, my friend. Many foods in the future come packaged so they last longer. We have these iceboxes called fridges that keep food cold, and this box called a microwave that can reheat items within seconds." I started eating.

"The technology in the future sounds amazing!"

"It really is." I said, finishing up my sandwich. "But it comes with a price. When and where I come from, there's a lot of poverty in third world countries, most notably on the African continent. But to those who can regularly get food, it's a paradise of choices."

I yawned. "It's getting late. We should probably go to bed."

"I've been meaning to talk to you about that. That lean to is pretty small for two people, don't you think?"

"Yeah. But it's like you said. It's been a cold year, so it'll only get colder. Sleeping close will help conserve heat, and if I put my jacket over the entrance, we can sleep apart and still keep warm."

"Oh. I guess that makes sense." Yugi said, yawning. He crawled into the lean to, and I followed, taking my jacket off and draping it over the entrance. We settled into comfortable sleeping positions.

"Yugi...I want to thank you. I know that I'm not always as confident as I seem, and I'm glad you don't fault me on that."

With that, I drifted off to sleep.