Yu-Gi-Oh: A Past and Future Pharaoh
Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
Beta By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
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The key was pushed into the car lock, its jagged 'teeth' catching into their designated groves. Triggering the lock to spring that would let George open the door to the drivers' side of the car. He pulled out the key before opening the door and leaning in to press the switch that unlocked the passenger side. Allowing Fred to climb into the car as he did the same giving the twins time to settle into their own thoughts before they carried on.
Until the doors closed them off from the outside world the breeze seemed to follow him, a chill wind that affected not the trees outside the graveyard or anything he could see of the flowers amid the graves he walked past. Though that could have been from the fact that it was dark and therefore more difficult to see details. But there was no sense of impending dread or terror, just a quiet night in a graveyard.
George pulled the seat belt into place before putting the key into the ignition of his 1997 Mercury Mystique. He gripped the steering wheel in silence, having not bothered to turn the ignition on, just sitting there as though he was ready to drive.
"Do you remember how Monte used to be? Remember how we all used to be? Now he's tried to kidnap Cat, and have we heard from Travis in a while? Josie has to live in another 'country' just to feel safe. While somewhere in this graveyard our uncle is haunting the area while our mom is a vegetable!" Georges' voice rose up in mounting frustration as Fred nodded, reaching over and gripping his twins' shoulder in a silent sign of solidarity.
"He used to be so shy, but he had the talent to be a great magician, and he was," Fred agreed finally. "So long as Cat was by his side though he could power through a show and was really going places. Only after that night, he 'really' took off, I can't recall a show before it where he looked so confident and self assured. His shows 'really' took off and he found his niche with escape artistry," Fred recounted his voice wistful with fond memories.
"I try to remember that night, and I can't. That was the last night all of us were together, before Uncle died, and I can't recall anything. Just the fire, the cans of beer," George noted before he grabbed the car key and turned the car on. Listening as the engine turned and then settled into the quiet rumble of a motor. "I have tried so hard to forget that night, to forget that last time we were all together because it has been so painful to think of what came directly after it. But now... when I try, all I remember is the fire and the beer. Stars above and shadows all around..."
Fred watched the landscape before they was suddenly set alight from the headlights beaming from the front of the car. Washing everything from the grass to the gravestones a washed out white coat of light over it. Watching it pull away and change as the car rumbled into reverse while pulling out of the parking spot. He watched the lit patches of air manifested via the presence of the lamp lights that were near the road leading out of the graveyard. The lights softer, more gentle on his eyes as he looked at the landscape, the darkness beyond being pushed aside by the headlights.
"We were all drunk that night," Fred agreed with a nod he remembered the morning after having the most god awful hang over imaginable. He still couldn't figure out how they got 'that' drunk with the amount of beer they had brought. Or why they even brought so much, because it wasn't just beer after all. Craft beers, the high quality stuff, among an assortment of drinks.
"Not that drunk, we shouldn't have been 'that' wasted yet we were," George argued his voice a mixture of stubborn determination and frustration. "What if it is magic? What if uncle is in the graveyard? What next? We can't just leave uncle in the graveyard, but what can we 'do'? We're not priests or anything, just stage magicians."
They reached the road and after making the turn back to town George began accelerating the car. "We make peace with it, I mean what else 'can' we do? All those stories mom and uncle told us didn't do either them or us any good." Fred answered finally, the disheartened futility of the situation in his own voice. "If those guys are as real as they claim, I guess we have to put our trust in them." His tone turned wistful as he sat back, "We have to put our trust in magic."
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"So now we wait for them to meet up with us," Malik sighed as he looked at the posters on the windows of a brightly lit food place that Bakura was leading them into.
"But I don't get why you want us to meet up with them here?" Jounouchi asked as the heat from the pizzeria swamped him. The smell of melted cheeses and the variety of toppings filled his nose and set his mouth watering. They had yet to enjoy the chance of American food since they started these trips. Better yet, Bakura was making his way to the counter to place an order! Up along the walls all around were an assortment of black and white as well as color photos. They appeared to be of the same shop he was standing in. Hinting at its long history given that it had black and white pictures!
"Let's get a table first then I'll explain," Bakura answered as he began perusing the wide selection of slices. The place was semi filled, which served his purpose well enough, the floor had a good selection of tables and booths lined the wall. The place had an old time American 60's vibe to it with even a pin ball machine against the wall.
He caught sight of the customers doing the customary 'scan the newcomers' glance, some a little surprised at his white hair. Others indifferent, however; he caught their sudden double take at someone behind him. Which made Bakura guess that Malik must have pulled down the hoodie due to the heat in the place. Blond, straight hair, all that gold he wore, vivid clearly not brown eyes, oh and he's black, yeah he was going to grab attention anywhere he went.
Already Jounouchi was growing excited, and he could hear the guy start explaining the food to Malik. While Bakura let his eyes, seemingly casually, drift about and find the nearest clock on the wall. It would take less time for the twins to get here given that they were driving than the trio if they had walked. Only he banked on the twins investigating the graveyard to a degree in an effort to find what stage magician tricks the trio might have employed.
They would probably expect the trio to have their own car as well, making the trio already being here and eating all the better.
"Sooo pineapple is a fruit right? So why is it here? I mean are fruits normally put on pizza?" Malik inquired as his eyes kept scanning the many slices of pizza on the other side of the smudged glass.
Or he would have his own food because it sounded like Jounouchi was introducing Malik to the wonderful wide world of pizza topping varieties. Not that Bakura could blame the pair, even Jounouchi only knew Japanese style pizzas, it made sense the pair were getting excited and curious about possibilities. Food always tasted different when eaten in another country after all, Bakura learned that when he was still young.
"Hey Bakura what are you having?" Malik asked, growing frustrated at the realization that he couldn't sample everything, but he wanted to sample 'everything'.
"Whatever they have as a, I believe its called a 'supreme', basically lots of vegetables and meats," Bakura offered as he fell into step behind another customer waiting to place their order.
"Oooh... What about you Jounouchi?" Malik asked as he looked about for a pizza that matched the description.
"Meat lovers all the way man!" Jounouchi pointed to his selection easily, guiding Malik's gaze to a pizza heaped with a variety of meats on it with a thick crust that was just put fresh down amid the other pizzas. "That's what Bakura's aiming for I think," he added pointing to another pizza. It had already had a slice taken out of it revealing the thick layer of peppers, olives, and slices of meat on top of a thick layer of crust.
Malik's mouth was starting to water at the chance to try a new type of food, and realistically Bakura had the better idea. It would give Malik a chance to sample everything all at once, "Bakura I want what you're having."
Bakura turned to look at the blond with both his eyebrows raised up in amusement and surprise. "Sure, and meat lovers for Jounouchi, they have a deal going on so this would work nicely."
"Wait, that looks like a dessert... they make 'dessert' pizzas too?!"
Bakura found himself smiling to himself shaking his head and thinking how amusing it was to see kids getting excited over pizza. Only to catch his reflection in the foggy glass of the counter that was collecting the heat from the pizzas. Looking at himself and his kohl painted eyes, and his youthful appearance and remembered.
'He' was also one of these kids.
More experienced in travel true, and it was possibly the British sensibilities that kept him from being overly excited over what he saw as 'little things'. But if he felt like a mature adult being around these two, how did Kaiba feel being around any of them when he was, by proxy, the oldest of all of them? Maybe it wasn't so much the 'nerd squad' issue and the feeling of someone's grandpa trying to deal with out of control teens.
Not everyone was as good natured a grandpa like Yugi's.
The mental image of Kaiba yelling for them to get off his lawn roused itself in Bakura's mind twisting his lips into an amused smile.
"We have two others who are going to join us, would it be ok if we just purchased our drinks now and waited for them at a booth?" He politely inquired a robust older man in a white uniform that couldn't hide all the flour that it would collect from working all day. Reinforcing the fact that these pizzas were hand made, not reheated. Also given his age and the signs of other employees directing questions to him, gave Bakura the idea that this may have been the owner.
Which would work great, the twins family had been here for a while, there would be a greater chance that this guy would either know the family directly. Or heard about the family via conversations from customers who would have gone to the shows. High class restaurants meant quiet discreet conversations, a pizza or burger joint would be loud and raucous. If the twins ever did a show near by, or were known by the owner or his family? Once they arrived they would have people that they trusted able to validate that Bakura and his group had arrived at this time.
Giving the trio more proof that magic existed, because now there was a reliable source to confirm time of arrival.
"Do you know how long they're going to be?" The older man, asked, clearly weighing things as he took in Bakura's contradictory polite British tone with his more criminal attire, and Malik because just Malik. Middle Eastern/Egyptian skin tone, straight natural blond hair and purple eye color, they were distinct, easily recognizable and possibly dangerous. Save it was Halloween time and Bakura could just be wearing a good costume given how polite he sounded. While Maliks' wide eyed innocent observations of his surrounding and foods made him look purely harmless.
"Hopefully half an hour tops, we're waiting for a pair of twin stage magicians..." Bakura let his voice trail off and was pleased at how the man warmed up.
"Fred and George?! Of course! I know the boys, good friends with their family! You're in luck that they're even here, sure! Take your time boys!" the man proclaimed calling out to the perky slip of a girl running the register. "Hey! Take their order but they'll get the food later, just give these three their cups for now!"
"Oh! Thank you very much!" Bakura beamed, plastering a slightly larger, more innocent smile on his face, startling Malik and Jounouchi into paying more attention to him. Malik was confused and stumbled after Bakuras' actions, but Jounouchi caught enough of the English to respond in kind, though his English was thicker with Japanese.
Bakura placed the order and finished out the money transaction while Malik and Jounouchi began discussing dessert toppings while Bakura thanked the girl and left Jounouchi to collect the cups.
Malik sandwiched between Bakura and Jounouchi was forced to leave the line as Jounouchi gathered the paper cups with their pizza logo plastered across the side. There was this strange sort of oily feeling in the air the deeper he had gone into the building, but these pizzas smelled interesting enough. This would be a new experience and he enjoyed that, also the shop was a better choice to have talks than a graveyard really. They wouldn't come off as threatening in a lit area with other people around them.
But this would work nicely, they could get to eating some of this 'pizza' and talk more with the twins. Not only that, because they had to wait for the twins he and Jounouchi could finally get to know better what Bakura and the twins talked about. "Ok, Kura, is there anything we missed that you couldn't discuss because of the guys?"
Bakura glanced at him before returning his increasingly miserable gaze to the drink station before them. Malik understood the station well enough, and knew what to look for in terms of drinks he liked even if he couldn't read the English names. So he loaded his cup to the brim with ice and went about filling up his cup. Jounouchi did the same yet the whole time Bakura looked glumly at the selection.
"American's don't know good, honest, tea."
The two blonds turned to look incredulously at Bakura at almost the same time, "honestly Bakura. If you don't like the tea drink water or soda." Malik grumbled while Jounouchi nodded in response.
"Yeah, what's wrong with the tea here?" Jounouchi asked, even if he was gunning for soda.
"Its tampered with, too much sugar and honestly it tastes more like American spite. Its like they want England to passively know how they really feel. By ruining good tea, its just inhumane!" Bakura gripped, "its always the same flavor, over brewed, stored in canisters and dumped into-"
Bakura kept rattling on while the pair exchanged glances before mutually looking up at the ceiling. 'There' was the Ryou they both knew, there was that Brit who was putting too much thought into unimportant things. Though given how much he normally had been keeping up with as of late, maybe it was for the best to let him ramble.
"At least this is California, they at 'least' have tea shops, but honestly we shouldn't have to hunt for a shop exclusive to 'proper' teas."
Jounouchi saw a booth that looked out of the way and clean, hopefully enough for their resident Brits' sensibilities, and made his way to the seat. Leaving Malik with Bakura or joining his fellow blond when his eyes went above the station, where a picture of the twins hung in a color photo. Though the twins in question were markedly younger in appearance but they were clearly using the counter as a type of stage.
Which meant that the owner knew Fred and George and be the trio's alibi if the twins still didn't believe that magic was used. All the better really, as far as Malik was concerned as he took Bakura's cup and poured a lot of ice before going to the lemon flavored drink.
"Why lemon?" Bakura grumbled disinterestedly as he tried to reclaim his cup.
"Because its bitter. Like you," Malik retorted as he poured the soda to the top and gave it to Bakura nearly shoving it into the white haired teens hands. The only thing that really stopped him was the fact that it would splash and he didn't want his hands to be sticky.
"I'm not bitter!" Bakura blustered as he followed Malik to the booth that Jounouchi claimed for them.
"Bout what?" Jounouchi asked, catching only the tail end of Bakura's retort, even from this distance.
"Lemon drink," Malik answered as he slid in with Bakura following behind him. The booth was large enough to hold six people and the twins would need to face Bakura as the only English speaker they had.
"Well you 'are' rather bitter," Jounouchi quipped earning him a glare from Bakura and a sagely nod from Malik.
"Just so we're clear? I hate you both," Bakura growled before wincing as he took a sip of the lemon flavored whatever. In a pizza parlor filled with laughing Ancient Egyptian spirits.