Waiting impatiently was a lot harder than waiting patiently. Waiting patiently was just waiting. Waiting impatiently required constantly resisting the urge to stop waiting and act.
Musume could barely believe that she hadn't noticed it before. Every day, without fail, Phantom spent consecutive hours hiding from them. Avoiding Jack and Crow was inevitable enough but it was how she had tried to avoid the twins that affirmed the pattern. When she went upstairs that day, Musume had impatiently waited for an entire hour to let her settle into whatever secretive activity she was up to.
Keeping the sword at one hand and a loose grip on her control, she felt prepared for anything as she pried open the door. Their last fight hadn't been resolved and she was ready to settle it. But she couldn't have been less prepared for reality.
Both hands were wrapped around the back of the helmet as the armour knelt in a curled foetal position. With the gloves and the boiler suit covering nearly every inch, Phantom had never been more covered yet more exposed. There was no way to hide the shaking as she constantly whispered to herself.
Makeitstopmakeitstopmakeitstop
"What're you doing?" Keeping a hovering touch just above the arched back, Musume couldn't figure out what was happening. Snatching at the hand as it moved in closer, Phantom stared up at her with screaming eyes.
Listening. There were dozens of floors in the building. Hundreds of buildings around them. Thousands of people. Millions of creatures. Billions of objects. Uncountable atoms. And she was able to hear all of them. She had figured out the cause during her stay in prison but was no closer to repressing it.
Then a new problem slithered into her attention. Oh no. Nonononono. Jerking her head to stare through the floor, she dragged at Musume's shoulder with a clawed hand. They. Are. Coming.
"Who is?" There was a lengthy list of people who could be a threat. Yliaster was at the top of the list, of course. The ICC was possibly on the there. Anyone from Phantom's past could be looking for her. Living as she had for so long, there were bound to be people with a grudge. There was also the obvious solution, already pounding on the doors at Poppo Time.
"Officer Trudge." There was an entire squad of riot police behind his old friend. Gut instinct said this wasn't a routine call. "Is this about those parking tickets?" Unlike the more polite search a few days before, he wasn't in a position to delay the intrusion. Mainly because the grim aura washing over him said that a warrant was a polite legal notice at that point. Faceless goons were going to be searching his house one way or another.
"We're here in connection with the attacker from the docks." Like Yusei, Trudge was obviously aware of the rage boiling behind him. "They followed you home after that incident and escaped the Detention Centre after our visit. It's reason enough to believe they may have a fixation with you." This was certainly an unexpected development. At the time they had visited Phantom in her cell, the entire world had been operating under a false narrative. When they had awoken to the truth, the police department must have drawn connections to fill in the blanks and taken the time to prepare for a second round.
"You think that they'd hide here again?" Feigning surprise, he pretended to look around the garage for a figure he knew wasn't there. "Please, search wherever you wish. Just take care not to break anything." Unlocking the other door as well, he opened them both up for the police to swarm through. "And knock on the bedroom doors before you go in!" He called as the first bodies started to storm up the stairs to the main part of his home. "My brothers may still be asleep!"
"We have a warrant to search any residence listed in your name." Pulling out the official paperwork as he followed the officers inside, Trudge handed a copy to Yusei. "Where's Musume these days? She's usually a lot more vocal." The absence of screaming could only mean that both troublemakers had fled the coop before he arrived.
"She's staying with the twins." There were technically a few places in Yusei's name across the city. Poppo Time, the penthouse, a couple of small flats for anyone he knew in difficult circumstances. Only two that he would really consider parts of his life. "Slumber party." An innocent excuse if overheard. A clear pointer if anyone had actually met Musume.
"Kaz is in charge of that unit. I personally assigned him to make sure that they're kept safe." That could lead to some interesting complications. The police would try to keep the twins safe from Phantom, she would try to keep them safe from the police. "Let's hope that she doesn't cause a fuss this time." A camera was strapped to every officer in the house. Trudge was careful to keep any inferences pointable towards either of the two wildcards. Between Musume's temper and the police vendetta with Phantom, it was an equal chance that either of them would be responsible for starting a fight.
Police. Not the worst. Until Musume factored in that the penthouse technically belonged to Yusei who would be charged with harbouring a fugitive and both twins tagged as accessories after the fact. The Crow who raised her may not have become a cop but he knew all the nasty tricks the law could pull.
"We've got to get you out of here." There was no time to be gentle. Grabbing the back of the boiler suit, she dragged Phantom from the room as she continued to shiver in pain.
"What's going on?" Pausing in the middle of his practice, Leo looked only mildly perturbed by the sight. He knew the pair had a troubled beginning.
"Cops." Throwing open the front door, she was met with the unpleasant sight of the floor indicator rapidly ticking up. Stairs were instantly out of the question. Standard police tactics would be to deposit one team at the bottom, another team a few floors above and below the target floor and then to tighten the noose around their targets.
Roof. A feasible attempt at explanation managed one word through the pain. With few options – beside flying through the middle of a city in the middle of the day – she headed to the patio with Phantom dangled in one hand.
"Luna, don't say anything to them. Leo, don't say anything." She made sure to throw the impulsive young man a glare as he opened his mouth to reply. Looking at the roof, Phantom attempted to leap the distance only to collapse to the floor as her leg spasmed.
"Damn." Grabbing the bundle in her arms, Musume felt the back of her top tear apart. "I liked this shirt." Which actually belonged to Luna. Regardless of ownership, it was the only thing covering her as she carried the pair to the roof in a single flap of massive wings. "Where now?" Staggering over to nest of equipment atop the building, Phantom reached behind a unit to drag out a thick ratchet. It fell to the floor as her fingers clawed outwards in agony.
"I've got it." There was already the sound of shouting coming from below as officers swarmed into the penthouse. The roof would be checked as soon as they figured out a way to safely reach it. Or until maintenance gave them the codes to the door. "What needs opening?" Until the respective panel was given a shaky thump, she had really been underestimating the simple genius of the plan as the doorbell rang below them.
"Hey, you two." Dressed in plain clothes, Trudge's number two was the polite face at the head of his own goon squad. "It's been a while."
"Kaz." Smiling as she kicked Leo in the ankle, it was a welcome surprise to see their old friend. "It's good to see you."
"Same here. I wish it was under better circumstances." They were the backup team. Nobody expected to find their suspect in the penthouse and he felt safe to have a brief conversation as his team fanned out. "We're looking for a person we think is stalking Yusei. Is there anywhere they could be hiding in here?"
"Not really. There's a maintenance cupboard in the hall but that's about it." One helmet was already poking into the singular dark corner. "I have no idea where anyone could hide." Over his shoulder, the lift doors closed as a second team on the ground floor waited their turn to join the search.
On the rare occasion that maintenance is needed, access panels, anchor points and ladders scattered about elevators shafts let workers reach every inch of the confines. Of course, nobody in their right minds would enter an elevator shaft while people were still using the elevators. They would have to be utterly desperate.
"Do you always plan how to escape every building you walk into?" Pressing the front of her shirt over her face with one hand, Musume was having a hard time not choking on the cloying air. Every gust of wind from the elevators sent a fresh plume of dust towards her lungs as they hung a few floors below the penthouse.
Do you not? Shivering like an addict in need of their next fix, Phantom was barely holding her sanity together. Twitches and shudders were the least of her worries. One hand had clenched so tightly that the rung on the ladder was distorting beneath her grip.
"Hey." Recognising the problems, Musume tried to keep her companion calm. "Don't freak out on me." If Phantom dropped down the shaft, not even being invisible would stop the police from hearing her bounce from all the surfaces. Another muffled cough sounded as she tried to suck in fresh air.
Take this. Peeling off the front of the mask brought far more pain than she expected.
"Doesn't that keep you from exploding?" She hadn't been paying much attention when Phantom explained it. She had heard the word 'thermodynamic', linked it to explosions and then turned a page and ignored the rest of the discussion.
You need... to breathe. An attempt to smile was cracked by a hiss of discomfort. I will... survive.
"No, you need it more than I do." Being stuck in the shaft with an explosion would be worse than the dust. No, worse. An explosion would stir up more dust.
Would... you... just... Thrusting out the mask again nearly threw her from the ladder. Take it. Both of them were too stubborn to back down easy. Only one had to breathe and the air was getting thick. Taking the pieces one at a time, she put them around her neck and slid the mask into place with nary a join to be felt.
"It's freezing in here." Not to mention suffocating. The helmet pressed in on all sides and she could practically feel the heat getting sapped from her skin as the greedy armour tried to sate its desire for a power source. At least the filtered air was fresh.
Not... meant... to... be... used... alone. Without the complete set to keep her isolated from the outside world, Phantom was more exposed than before. Being in the isolated shaft helped a little. Like a plaster on a broken leg. Another spasm wrenched the bar loose and she began to fall into the darkness.
"Hey!" Grabbing an arm before it could plummet from sight, Musume yanked it back to height. "If my trousers fall down, I'm stabbing you." Looping her belt over the next rung up, she tied their hands to either end of the strip and left them free to dangle indefinitely while the search continued.
Following a lengthy invasion of their privacy, the police had begrudgingly withdrawn. They shouldn't have taken so long to search his house but trying to intimidate him probably helped soothe the embarrassment of being beaten by one person.
Even so, the pressure highlighted an issue they had been avoiding for too long.
"I don't think that we can afford to wait much longer." Rubbing at his bruised throat, Yusei wondered how far Musume's hatred of him would extend. Like it or not, she was the one he would need the most in the days ahead. "Yliaster's going to make their move. Then and now. Everything that's going on here is just a distraction." Regardless of sabotage or unfortunate timing, the probing investigation into his life was happening at the worst time possible.
"Kamikawa can probably stall the investigation for as long we need." Laws were just toys for attorneys. With the team working for him and a client with Yusei's levels of public adoration, Kamikawa could keep the ICC jumping through hoops for years if he had to.
"Jack, Crow, I need you to keep a lid on things here." Under the careful supervision of Akiza, of course. The trust he had for his brothers was immeasurable. His understanding of their capabilities was extremely measured. "Musume can handle anything weird that comes up and she has Phantom on a short leash. They'll be able to keep you safe."
"Can anyone explain what we're talking about?" As always, the use of inference left Jack nonplussed. He could keep up as easy as anyone as long as they talked in straight lines. Truthfully, Crow also had little idea what they were talking about but could bluff his way through anything.
Sharing an uneasy glance with Akiza, Yusei decided to finally open up about everything that had gone down after the world forgot she existed.
"After we beat Aion, she said something to me." The brothers idiot had been informed of the Duel after they had rehydrated from their joint sprint to avoid the crowds chasing Jack. Tales of heroic battles had been the only reason Yusei had escaped a (heavier) beating when they returned. "Yliaster isn't coming after us this time. They're targetting the King of Games." Silence sounded in the room for a tense moment.
"Isn't it a little ostentatious to call yourself that?" A quiet snicker came at Jack's words.
"I'm amazed that the 'Master of Faster' can even spell 'ostentatious'. You can spell it," Looking up with a broad grin, Crow couldn't resist the chance to needle his brother. "Can't you?"
"I can Duel rings around you in your sleep." Keeping his tone level was easy. Keeping his temper in place took only a sliver more effort. "Never forget that."
"Joint global second place says 'what' now?" Flames erupted in Jack's eyes as he started picking which limb to break first.
"Guys!" Calling attention back to the matter at hand, Akiza knew they would likely pound each other as soon as she and Yusei left the room. "Can we focus?" Dear old mother Martha had taught them to respect women. They would settle this like men at a later date. When there were no witnesses around to take note of the 'accidents'.
"Aion said that Yliaster is going to target the King of Games." Repeating simple facts was a useful tool to keep three types of people on track: infants, politicians and his brothers. "When they first tried altering history, it was to erase Duel Monsters. Then, they tried to destroy New Domino. I think this is a contingency plan." A quick flicker of his eyes betrayed the part that he hadn't shared with Akiza. Being the smartest man in a group two-thirds his brothers sometimes made him forget that other people could figure out the conclusion.
"We think that it's indirectly targetting Yusei." Being an accomplished Duellist and political expert had given Yusei the ability to hide even the tiniest indications of an emotional slip-up. Being unused to operating as a long-term partner betrayed his surprise at the use of 'we'.
Like all apex predators, his brothers were quick to sense the weakness and filed the information away for later. They would pick their time for when they could cause the most damage.
Akiza didn't have any brothers of her own and missed the look as she continued to explain. "By poisoning the King of Games title, Yusei would only be a scientist. It's less likely that people would listen to him if he wasn't as good a Duellist."
"Not to be the bad guy," Especially with his recent deal with Yliaster, Crow was careful about how he approached the issue. "But why not just kill you? Why bother with all the complicated stuff?" Two furious looks greeted the question. Being a terminal case meant that Yusei had long ago grown numb to talk of his own death.
"If I die too young, the Dark Signers win. If I die now as I am now, I'm a martyr." In one, the world fell to darkness. In the other, his work would be carried on by others until the same end game played itself out without him to prevent the Meklord Uprising. "But they can discredit me by making the Kings of Games – the best Duellists ever – a stain on history. People see me getting too high and nobody would be surprised if I flame out when it's happened before." No Dark Signers, no Momentum Reactors, no Meklords. Untold fallout from the changes. Yliaster wins, the world loses.
"Won't they come after me and Leo as well?" Pointedly leaving his brother off the list, Jack was not simply prideful. He may actually have been one of the best Duellists in history and he knew it. Leo was just a promising newcomer he could use to belittle his brother.
"If they're going to kill us in the past, then they're not going to start with me today." It was strange to actually include himself in a group with Yugi Mutou. He was having to keep from giggling with childish glee every time it happened. "Once they've... killed Yugi and Jaden, they'll probably target me right after the WRDGP. It's arguably the time I was at the top of my game and nobody would be surprised if I follow the historic trend. My work on the Fortune Network never starts, the technology is forgotten and the future changes. Everyone else," And there was a telling flicker of his eyes. "Will probably be left alone." They sat in grim silence for a minute.
"Okay, explain it like I'm Crow." Waving away the upset shouts, Jack was honestly trying his best to understand a question of physics more advanced than most people seriously had to deal with in their lives. "If Yliaster is going to go back and kill the previous Kings of Games, why aren't they already dead?" It was a fair question. Time travel was hardly a studied science and the answers weren't readily available to most people.
"Because they haven't done it yet." Lingering at the top of the stairs, Musume had a literal death stare on Yusei's neck. Those bruises were looking awfully like an instruction set. She hadn't announced her arrival because she was deciding between finishing Yliaster's work for them or not. "Human understanding of time is flawed. By relative understanding, they haven't yet travelled back to change history. Once they do, the changes will ripple forward."
"Yeah. That's right." Yusei tried not to let surprise cloud his voice. She had never shown any aptitude for advanced theoretical physics before now. And Crow – in any timeline – was unlikely to be the sort of parent to teach it. Unfortunately, she caught the look of astonishment.
"I've been doing a bit of reading." She dumped the thick pile of borrowed physics books onto the table in front of him. "Thanks for the loan." They had only been used to understand the report Himeru had told her about. Grasping even half of them in a few days of intense learning was astounding in its own right.
"Impressive." Her raw intelligence was one of the few parts of Musume that Yusei found agreeable. Rare was the sort of mind which could absorb information so quickly.
"Screw you." And then the more present parts of her personality surfaced. "None of this would be happening if you hadn't started talking to Yliaster. The only reason I'm here is because you need me."
"How do you figure?" Placing his hands on the table, Jack towered over her in quiet outrage. Just because he had learned to keep his temper under control didn't mean he was going to let her walk all over them. "I'll Duel Yusei, he'll do his Accel thing to go back and save them. We can do it without you." What he had failed to underestimate was just how good at controlling her own temper Musume was.
"Smart plan, genius really." Sarcasm dripped from every syllable. She had thought further ahead than he had. "How did you expect him to get back here afterwards? Unless you happen to know something I don't," And a very pointed look up and down his body suggested that he may be lacking in certain areas. "Then I'm the one who's going to have to fetch him afterwards."
"Now, explain it to me like I'm Jack." Getting a swift return for the earlier slight, Crow also tried his level best to get the conversation back on the right track. "How exactly do you intend to do that by yourself? I mean, it took them threatening the world for the Crimson Dragon to help us out last time."
"I'm not going to give them much choice." Letting the pressure ease back down to palpable levels, Musume graciously accepted his seat as he edged it around the table for her to take. Yusei and Akiza noted the way it forced them to separate and avoided any eye contact to point this out to the other. "All I have to do is get the process started. The rest will figure itself out."
She refused to admit the possibility of weakness in front of all of them. Forcing a way out of the present was likely not out of reach of her abilities. Trying to pick the right time and place to arrive would be akin to picking the right photon coming from the sun. Only the promise Himeru had given her to make sure they arrived at the right times was keeping her anxiety at a manageable level.
"That only leaves the question of when we need to arrive." Of all the various problems Yusei had foreseen, this was the worst. It was one without any real way of stopping. Everything else, even asking for Musume's help, was less painful. "We can only narrow down the time Yliaster will attempt to kill Yugi and Jaden to after they're crowned as the King of Games. There are years they could choose to strike. Our only option is to wait until we know and then get there first."
It was an appalling choice and the only one they had. Even if they decided to spend the rest of their lives living in the past, it would be no real life and they could not watch the pair every second until they died.
"That's fine." Musume reached into the satchel she had slung over the back of her chair and pulled out the already tattered paper that was most relevant to their struggles. A page was already bent open for her to pass across. "Because we're going to rescue them before Yliaster kills them but after they make the decision, their history ends up in a state of quantum uncertainty."
"Where did you get this?" Reading through the entry for himself, Yusei was soon scanning through the pages both before and after. "I haven't heard about this paper before." Not that he hadn't made a few tacit enquires. Active research into time travel had been outlawed for decades and he had to be careful who heard about his asking.
"Is that one you asked me to get from the SRC?" One of many hidden in the weighty philosophy tome. A brief glance had convinced her that the writings were those of a mad scientist. The lack of food stains had ruled out Din as the author which only left a few hundred others who could be responsible. She had decided not to give it much thought at the time. Physics wasn't her area of expertise and she wouldn't have known who to ask.
"Nobody at the SRC would keep this on-site. They wouldn't be that careless." Physics was Yusei's area of expertise and he could tell the person who wrote this had put in a tremendous amount of effort.
"It was hidden inside a hollowed book." Every other word only raised more questions. "I'll tell you later." And make sure to ask why Head was allowed to keep loaded crossbows under his desk.
"Okay." Sheer strain was starting to make Jack change colour. "Yliaster goes back and kills them. But we go back after they're dead and save them before they get killed. So, they will be dead but then they're not, which makes them..."
"Zombies." Placing a comforting hand on his brother's shoulder, Crow timed his moment to perfection. "Don't be afraid of the word. Just be afraid that they want to eat your brains."
"Not helping, Crow." Letting her tone be warning enough, Musume was irate at the levity as she snatched the report back.
"Wait, were you expecting me to help?" All eyes turned on him with the combined warmth of a small candle. Wishing his brothers had half the intellect his cat did, Yusei continued as if they hadn't spoken.
"I need sort things out before we get them." With the ICC breathing down his neck, Yliaster closing in from all sides and the issue of leaving the house still looming over him, Yusei would have to make a few calls before they could try anything. "In the meanwhile, we start training."
"Fine by me." Musume slung her bag over a shoulder as she stood back up. She didn't want to be in the house any longer than was necessary. "Can I talk with you, Akiza?" Noting the three men around the table, she clarified her position. "Alone."
Since she had managed to endure five minutes sitting beside Yusei without attacking him, Akiza decided to agree to Musume's request. "I'll walk you out."
"There's something I didn't want to mention in front of the guys." While she loved Crow, understood Jack and (despite wanting to rip him apart) trusted Yusei to an extent, she knew they weren't the most sensitive people in the world.
"What is it?" There were many, many delicate subjects that she could imagine coming up between parent and child. Nearly all of them typically required a lot longer relationship than theirs was.
"It's about Phantom." Letting out a sigh of relief, Akiza instantly felt guilty when she saw the look on Musume's face.
"Sorry. I thought that you were going to ask about... other things." A slight flush crept over both their faces. Different in some ways, they were just as alike in others. At least it hadn't been too embarrassing a subject.
"No." Hoping the ground would swallow her whole, Musume wished she had started the conversation differently. "Phantom's been having trouble. She's been hiding in the afternoon and I think it's because she's in pain."
"Really?" She had attributed the retreats to the cupboard as ways to avoid Jack and Crow's irksome presences. If her new reality had started to cause her pain, it would require rapid examination and treatment. However, "Isn't that something that you'd be better at handling? I'm a doctor, not a magician."
"That's not why I'm asking for your... help." Teeth gritted on the final word. Requesting help was a sign of weakness and failure as far as she was concerned. "I think she might be losing it."
"When you say 'losing it', what exactly do you mean?" Too much of people's psychological understanding came from bad movies. She was cautious to trust such a wild diagnosis without substantial proof.
"I was trying to find out why she was hiding when the police came. We hid in the elevator shaft and she couldn't stop shaking the whole time but seemed fine afterwards." It couldn't be a physical problem. That had made the diagnosis easier.
"And what do you expect me to do?" Even though she could guess, she wanted to make sure Musume wasn't asking for anything unethical.
"You're a shrink. Psychologist." A harsh glare corrected the word. "Poke around a bit and see what the damage is."
"Don't forget, I'm not allowed to practice medicine in Japan." There were still mounds of paperwork to get sorted before she could glance at a patient or touch a scalpel. Kamikawa had promised to set a few lawyers on the problem once they had sorted Yusei out first. "I'm sorry. There are some people I could recommend. You could probably do it via email with a few of them."
"I know... what it's like to not trust the things inside your head." Especially when they weren't even part of her. Just burdens she should never have picked up. "Just a look. That's all I'm asking."
Against her better judgement, Akiza found herself analysing the young woman in front of her. For all that anger and rage, there was compassion and kindness mixed in as well. Enough to surface now and again.
"Bring her by." They needed all the help they could get with Yliaster continuing to rise. And who knew? Maybe they'd answer a few questions if she was careful enough. "We can have a chat and catch up." Casual conversation. Nothing immoral there.
"Thanks." Shuffling her feet awkwardly, she tried not to ask too much for one night.
Fortunately, Akiza was still reading all the tiny tells in her face and sighed. "What's the other thing?" An incoherent mumble came back. "Pardon?"
"I said, grumblemumblemumble." Stern looks can clear up a lot of mumbling. "Can I... have a hug?"
"Oh." It wasn't what she had expected at all. Musume had never struck anyone as the 'touchy-feely' type. She generally just struck them.
"Forget it." Brushing past, she was already changing colour at the ears. "It's stupid." A strong grip fastened about her wrist.
"I mean," An equally embarrassed expression was on Akiza's face.
She was a few (biological) years older than Musume. A couple of extra inches in height. Just enough that her arms wrapped around Musume's neck while she awkwardly tucked under the grasp.
There was a scent that she instantly felt safe in. Like cats who learn smell before sight, she knew that this smell meant safety. She must have smelled it once before, back on the day she was born. The once and only time her mother had been able to hold her.
"Can we stay like this?" Tucked against her chest, Akiza could feel a damp patch starting to form. There was no sound of the tears in her voice. "Just a bit longer."
"Of course." Swaying gently, she pressed her cheek to the scarlet hair. "As long as you need."
Apologies for anyone who noticed the earlier upload. I hit the wrong chapter. Be lenient in your reviews.