Yu-Gi-Oh: A Past and Future Pharaoh
Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
Beta By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
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The bookshop didn't look any different from the outside as any other store, it took the use of the windows to see what this store held within. It sat beside a little cafe on the right and a tailors shop on the left. Rows of books lined the walls on shelves made of warm colored wood within this little shop. Bucking the trends of the global, cookie cutter format that toted hard, sterile surroundings. Silently shouting to buy your stuff and get out because progress demanded you always be on the move. This shop was warm and inviting, the colors were all the variety a person could find in a New England autumn, golds, oranges, greens, it brought to mind warm nights around bonfires with friends.
Spiced teas, warm, fresh breads with home made butters, whispering that one should stay awhile. Thick comfortable seats seemingly placed randomly for the occasional person lost to a good book and needing a seat. Making Josies' place in the shop more a light, spring flower amid autumn's warmth. But she fit, amazingly, her thick black curls bounced as she walked along the aisles of books making her visible as the group followed her.
Making Bakura's white, straight hair a vivid contrast as Malik and Anzu followed behind. Neither were really 'book' people, yet there was still a curiosity at all these books, just to glance at the spines that read words that one couldn't read, the other needing more than a quick glance to comprehend. The group made their way to the back of the shop, where a series of thick plush chairs sat in a loose circle. There was a table in the center as well as a small side table next to several of the chairs.
"Normally everyone here gathers at the bars or cafes to do meetings, but they're rowdy places and I don't want to shout." Josie explained as the group slipped in to the small circle and began sitting down. "And there is a book club and a crafting group that likes to work here during the winter."
'And this place is designed to be quiet, all the shelves will help keep the noise of conversation down.' Anzu thought to herself as she took up a seat against the wall.
Josie selected a seat that put her back to the store, so her voice would project away from the store and possible extra ears. She couldn't know about the spirits that helped Ryou, but she knew placement well enough. Anzu sat down with Bakura beside her and placing Malik on his other side, so that Josie could talk directly to Anzu, and Bakura could both translate and not be expected to keep up with social niceties. He was also free to glance at the spirits to be notified when people were getting close. Without drawing too much attention to his own eyes shifting to glance at potential spirits or eavesdropping, both intentional and accidental.
Josie composed herself for a bit, the warm smile became more strained as she sat there collecting her thoughts.
"I realize this must be awkward and strange..." Bakura began only to have her shake her head sending her curls bouncing.
"Nah... Well... it is strange but I'm glad as well. There's been no one to talk to about this, its nice to talk to people that won't look at me like I'm making stuff up. You guys sound so out there it might just be the first time I 'could' talk to someone else about it. Or maybe I'm crazy..." She explained as she clasped her hands before her. "And I think if I get this out of me, that might help what happened, see I wasn't the target of that night. I'm just a casualty to what Fred and George did."
"Well as I'm sure Fred explained, we've more than just an open mind about this," Bakura reaffirmed for the woman.
She nodded with a faint smile sending her hair bouncing about, "We had developed this routine of going out on a camping trip once a month. Practice new tricks in private, hang out, let our hair down if you will. See the twins' family runs the very old magic shop that represents a lot of history and mystery to the area. So they were always 'on call' so to speak, always expected to perform for a random child or traveler. Like a pair of living billboards to promote the profession and the art. So going out camping was 'our' way of being free of that for awhile. We could drink, chat, be people and not stage magicians ready to provide a surprise for every person."
"I'm not saying the guys don't like this life, far from it. But its important for everyone's mental health to not be 'on call' 24/7."
Josie helped pull out the tent she shared with Catty from the back of her azure Ford, letting the weight of the tent thud onto the ground. It wasn't a 'real' camp ground, it was outside of any sanctioned 'you can camp here' zones. So the forest was closer to them, more like fans or people in a mall, close but not in their personal space. It also meant that the grounds were far more littered with branches, sticks, stones and privacy.
So much wonderful privacy.
The site was between mountains in a unique area when it came to sound, cars could be heard approaching a mile away. Giving them time to snuff out any fire that they built before rangers or anyone else could find the site. But it wasn't a large concern for this area was off the beaten path, the busy highways went the other side of the mountain. The residential areas weren't even around, so only long haul drivers really ever saw this road. The random lone fire, now here now gone had a more elusive feel. Giving rise to ghost stories rather than people camping where they knew not to.
"Its a shame that Travis got sick," Josie grunted out as she limped the bag holding her tent along to where they were resting the rest of their bags. The sea breeze sneaked past the mountain and warm sunlight filtering through the trees were an uplifting encouragement, ensuring she made it to the pile.
"Yeah, be thankful you didn't hear him, he sounded like a goose every sneeze," Fred called out as he worked to clean up the tent spots.
"Hi, honk." George responded as he cheerfully pulled the cooking supplies out of the back of SUV that he owned.
"Its, honk." Monte joined as he carried a pile of stones he had collected and began dropping them off next to what would be the camp fire.
"Me, honk." Catty joined in, her voice relieved as she finally managed to drop camp supplies next to the guys.
"Travis, honk!" All five chorused together in a loud cheer before bursting out laughing.
It was a beautiful spring day, bright and pleasant, the light playing off Catty's hair as she went about helping clean the area.
"I'm just glad you're here Josie," George confessed as he continued unloading the car he and his brother rode in.
"Cuz I'm the only one who can put up and and take down the tents?" Josie sweetly asked in a teasing voice.
"Yes..." the brothers groaned out in what should have been mocking tones of suffrage, but wasn't. Because they couldn't pack and build then repack as well as Josie. Left to themselves the tents would take for hours, then when it was time to put them back for the return? Days would be needed. Needless to say, Josie had a magic touch when it came to packing, unpacking and building.
She checked over the tents and pulled open the bag that came with her tent before tugging out the poles and fabric. "What would you guys do without me?" She asked as Fred finished cleaning out a good spot for the ladies.
"Sleep in sleeping bags and pray nothing got us?" Fred answered in an awkward stilted tone. "Oh but we managed to snag something special out of the house!"
"Yeah, its nothing big, mind you, but it should give us something to do besides stare at each other," George joined in after plopping down the ice cooler.
"'Nothing big,'" Fred retorted with a faint laugh. "Yeah, the family has always been big on this book, doesn't look anything special to either of us."
"Wait, are you talking about that book that your family keeps locked up? The one that you have to keep collecting dragon stuff for?" Catty asked perked up by the news. "Wow, your family is going to murder you if they find out you swiped it!"
"Oh we thought of that and had a fake made, its not perfect but it will keep them fooled until we get back," Fred commented easily. "It wasn't cheap and it was surprisingly hard to get good enough pictures for the replica."
"Yeah, though to be fair I 'did' try to talk Fred out of it. We may be great at slight of hand, but wow how do pick pockets do it?" George added as Monte put down the small case of beer they had brought.
"A complete lack of respect for people? The challenge? Who knows, but apparently you two enjoy living more dangerously than I do." Monte commented quietly, almost impossible to hear from a distance.
"Says the guy who has been booked in 'how many' cities both in America and in Europe for the next two years? For escape acts no less," Fred taunted amid his work on the campsite.
"This is going to be great, Josie you 'need' to come to some of those shows, I'd love to have you help me with the acts!" Catty offered, as she pulled out the chairs for the campsite.
"You can't take Josie! Who is going to hold the audiences' attention if not her?" George mock argued.
"Shirtless act, the girls will love a twin magicians act with you guys shirtless!" Josie answered smartly as she went about towing her favorite pink camping chair closer to girls tent spot.
"Wait..." Bakura blinked in confusion and concern pausing Josie in her narrative. Until now he had been translating everything for Malik. Yet... "Pandora and Catherine were with you on that night?"
Anzu turned her gaze from Josie to look at Ryou in confusion, "why do you say that? She said there was only her and the twins..."
Bakura's head whipped around so fast to look at Anzu in alarm that his hair slashed across her shoulder to smack Malik in the face. His own eyes expressing his confusion and mounting alarm. "No, she just said there were five, the twins, herself, Catherine and Pandora with Travis out because he was sick."
"Ryou... I'm sitting right here, I heard her myself... we both are and your English is far better than mine, true. But..." Anzu began thoughtlessly going back to Japanese due to the ease of languages.
"Your English is good enough to hear what she's saying though..." Bakura argued when he started getting nudged by Malik.
"Guys she's crying..." Malik alerted the pair quietly.
Causing Anzu and Bakura both to drop what they were saying to turn and look at the woman before them.
Josie was sitting there with her eyes shut, tears leaking out of the corners, with both her hands clasped over her nose and mouth. The bright and cheerful woman was seemingly replaced with tears, drawing Anzu from her seat to sit next to Josie. Meanwhile Bakura dug around for a hankie tucked in his coat, exchanging glances with Anzu over this change.
The woman accepted the small square cloth without objection, dabbing it to her eyes before fisting her hands so that she could rest her forehead against them.
"I'm... sorry I don't know how this became mixed up... You said three or five?" Anzu apologized before seeking clarification. Gently studying the woman's face, noticing the tight smile that was forming at the corners of her lips.
Josie finally took a shuddering breath lowering her hands from her face, the smile from before had returned. Yet it was more than just a smile, the showmanship professional smile now had an undercurrent of relief. She jabbed her index finger at Bakura with a strange mixture of accusation and joy in the motion before she finally managed to find words. Choked up with so much emotion it left him baffled even as what she said next stunned both himself and Anzu silent. "You're the first person in a decade to have heard what I actually said."
"A-a decade?" Anzu asked, completely thrown lost.
"Actually said?" Bakura was no better off then Anzu. It didn't make sense, the grave stone's time of death was far more recent than a decade, the twins made it sound as though the events took place only a scant few years tops. Not only that, he was implying that Catherine and Pandora were still part of the group when this happened. Yet Catherine stated that the group split 'after' she was gone, traveling with Pandora or not...
Josie gave an unlady like snort before nodding, "Its been a decade, but everyone, and I mean 'everyone' acts like it happened a few years ago. I don't know who you are, or how you can hear me speak the truth. But you're the first person to hear what I 'said', everyone else is like Anzu here. I say five, they hear three, I say we started the trip sober, the twins insist they were already drinking. Its been a decade of no one hearing me when it comes to those events, while at the same time hearing me."
Anzu felt a strange sort of gut punch from what Josie just said, her mind trying to wrap around the idea of people mishearing for a decade, of events in a town being incorrect. For a 'decade'.
"Are you saying.. and I can't believe I'm saying this... that everyone's memory is wrong?" Anzu asked hesitancy, terrified as her mind scrabbled over the information. "A decade ago would be roughly around the time after Kaiba would have been adopted by Gozoboro."
The time when Gozoboro prepared to take Kaiba's body and give it to his son Noah. This was happening in America? It froze Bakura to the core as he sat there hearing this, his mind also running down the list of near impossibilities.
Kaiba's adoption and upbringing, putting him in place to assist Yugi later on in life, meanwhile the twins apparently stole the book and brought it out into a camp site. Undoubtedly without the rest of the two tablets needed to help hold back the evil within it. While not the same exact year, it 'was' around the same time frame his mother and sister died. Followed by years later with his black outs as the Demon would possess him and seal people within Monster World. Topped off with Bakura being the first person to actually hear what she was saying in that whole time?
"Yeah, the whole town is affected, everyone involved in that night was. Catherine and Monte had been chilling out with us between tours. Three months later that horrible accident happened that burned Monte's face up. But when I talk to her about it now she acts like she wasn't there that night. The gravestone changes every year so the marker reads a more recent year making it like its more recent than it actually was. I mean even everyone's aging seems almost slower to a degree..."
"Ok I get that I don't get what she's saying, but I can tell she's not recounting," Malik cut in nudging Bakura. "Get her back on track or we're could end up missing an important point or three."
Bakura blinked looking back at Malik, finding the blond useful for once, "Malik suggests that we let you go back to your story. It... I guess I'll be translating your story to both Anzu and Malik..."
"Yeah I see your point..."
There were two tents set up, short and mostly unassuming, the 'we're not supposed to be here' tents that were kept low and colored to blend in. It was always a risky challenge to have a camping trip in the area. Once the sound of a vehicle was heard, the fire was snuffed out and the group used other means for fire and warmth afterwards.
No one was going to discuss the occasional urban myth about a sourceless fire in the region...
A ring of stones placed around a dead fire with a bucket that had helped douse the flames. Coupled with a stack of sticks for burning later as needed without being too close to the fire in the morning. Now they were using white Christmas lights, since that was easier to deal with than rebuilding fires, that were powered by a travel battery that Travis had cobbled together. The dinner had been made by George and followed by Catty washing up the plates, with the group now relaxing, beer in hand and story telling abounded.
"Speaking of rare sights..." Fred finally announced as he put his can in the holder of his chair and stood up.
"I can't believe we're going to see the infamous 'book'," Josie whispered to Catty and Monte.
"I bet its going to be magical," Monte commented offhandedly.
