Hello and welcome to keyswap au! I am so hype for this!
(Maybe a little worried about duel scripting, but we'll deal with that-)
Anyway, I hope you enjoy!
Chapter 0: Prologue
"I tribute Gravekeeper's Heretic so that Gravekeeper's Descendant destroys Aztec Mask Golem!"
Michael hesitantly moves his monster to the Graveyard pile in compliance as he scans through his hand looking for something, anything, that might turn the tide. But it's too late, as Thomas grins before pointing across the field as he calls his attack.
"Gravekeeper's Descendant attacks Michael directly!" Michael groans in defeat as he drops his hand to the floor, looking up at Christopher as he steps over to comment.
"Don't look like that, Michael, you both did well." Christopher bends down to talk to Michael and Thomas as they clean up their cards, Michael still frowning as he does so.
"I let him get Necrovalley out, though." Michael glances sideways at the offending Field Spell as it's scraped back into Thomas' deck, frowning harder as Thomas smirks back.
"Gravekeepers are built to do that-"
"It's because Michael's deck sucks!" Thomas cuts in, pointing at Michael's cards for emphasis. "They're all random cards!"
"Hey! My deck doesn't suck!" Michael snatches his cards up off the floor, clutching them to his chest as Thomas continues to smirk.
"Thomas, be nice!" Christopher frowns at Thomas, who huffs before muttering a quiet apology. Christopher sighs in turn before turning back to Michael. "What Thomas is trying to say is that your deck has no theme. Most duelists have some sort of archetype or theme for better interactions."
Michael frowns in thought, thumbing through his deck to find Aztec Mask Golem again. Locating it, he pulls it out to show it to Christopher, setting the rest of the deck aside in the process.
"...Are there any cards like Aztec Mask Golem? I really like this one."
"Hmm, Chronomalies? Yes, there are more cards like that one. Knowing you, you'll probably like them a lot."
"Really?!-" Michael would say more, but cuts off as the door to the sitting room opens to reveal his father striding in, bag slung over his shoulder.
"Papa!" Michael scrambles up to hug his father, Thomas not far behind him as Christopher stands back. "Did you find what you were looking for?!"
"Is there a portal out there?!" Thomas cuts in, practically tackling Byron in his excitement to see him.
Byron ruffles both Michael and Thomas' hair, chuckling softly as they question him about his work. "Unfortunately, we haven't found the portal yet. It's proving to be tricky to find."
"Hmph, I thought you'd find it this time..." Thomas grumbles, sounding almost personally insulted that Byron hadn't succeeded yet.
"Look at it this way: if it were easy to find, someone would have found it by now. It's a challenge." Byron extricates himself from his sons and steps back as he speaks, lowering the bag to the ground to reveal several packages.
"You got gifts!" Michael cries out as he sees the packages, Thomas and even Christopher approaching to get a closer look.
"I did!" Byron stoops to fish out a small rectangular package first, handing it to Thomas, who immediately (and roughly) tears the wrapping off to reveal a fresh set of Duel Monster cards.
"You got the new cards!" Thomas whoops with excitement as he runs over to where he left his deck on the floor to open the box of cards, leaving wrapping paper strewn across the floor behind him in the process. Christopher goes to pick up the mess of paper, only to stop short as Byron gestures him back over.
"Christopher, here." A larger rectangular package is handed to Christopher, who carefully opens it to reveal a thick book that Michael can easily guess to be about the kind of sciencey stuff his brother likes.
"...Thanks, dad." Christopher hugs the book tight with a faint smile on his face, taking it and the wrapping that once covered it to the couch to read it.
Now alone, Michael waits expectantly, watching as Byron digs around in the bag until he comes up with a small wrapped box. However, Byron pauses, holding the box back as he crouches down to Michael's level.
"When I said me and Dr. Faker didn't find the portal, that doesn't mean we didn't find anything. I did find one thing out there." He finally passes the gift to Michael, who snatches it excitedly and tears at the wrapping to uncover a plain black box. And inside the box...
"You got me an artifact?!" Michael's cry draws the attention of his brothers, who come back over to look at what Michael got. The artifact, a golden inverted triangle with a green gem at the top, notches cut into the edges and a fresh cord strung through a hole above the gem, gleams in the light as everyone gathers around.
"What's that?" It's Thomas who questions it, raising an eyebrow as Michael fishes the artifact out of the box to look at it closer.
"It looks like a key!" Michael answers Thomas's question, practically vibrating with excitement as he slips the cord over his head. "Is it an ancient key?"
"It looks like a key, doesn't it?" Byron picks up the box Michael has by now dropped to focus on the key, smiling as the three brothers cluster together to look. "I thought you'd like it, Michael."
"I love it! Thank you, papa!" Michael breaks away from Thomas and Christopher to hug Byron again, excitement at the gift overwhelming him. Byron easily accepts it, scruffing Michael's hair again as he clings to his father.
The afternoon passes in a blur from there, as Michael spends the remainder of the day examining the artifact he'd been given, only taking it off again when it finally came time to get ready for bed. Sleep comes easily enough for Michael, worn out from the day's excitement, but then he dreams.
Michael stands in front of a great chained door, the leering face carved into the surface seeming to glare down at him. He tries to back up, only to come up against the edge of a cliff and come to a halt, staring around his dim surroundings fearfully for a path out of here. However, his attention is pulled back to the door when it starts to speak, its booming voice driving into Michael's core.
"He who opens the door shall obtain a new power. However, as the price for this power, you shall lose that which is most important to you."
Michael cringes back wide eyed, instinctively backing away from the door that continues to stare with glowing eyes-
-Only to step right off the edge of the cliff, falling into the endless abyss with a scream.
Michael awakens with a jerk and a yelp, staring around his room in confusion until it clicks that he had some sort of nightmare. A really vivid nightmare too, considering how well he remembers it. Taking a shaky breath, he tries to convince himself that he shouldn't be scared of weird dreams, he's ten and not some little kid after all, but after a while admits defeat and gets up to get a drink from the kitchen.
Slipping into the kitchen, he takes a glass from the cabinet and goes to fill it, only to jump when a voice sounds behind him, his nerves still frayed from his dream.
"What're you doing up, Michael?" Thomas is leaning against the doorway when Michael turns to look, yawning slightly as if still half asleep. Michael hesitates, not wanting to admit to his brother that he's scared of a stupid dream, then decides to go for a half truth instead of coming clean.
"...I was just thirsty, that's all."
"No, I heard you calling out from your room. What happened?" Thomas steps into the kitchen, this time leaning back against the counter while watching Michael turn the glass of water in his hands.
"...I had a nightmare, okay? There was a weird door that was talking about new powers and losing something important, and then I fell off a cliff." Michael glances away after explaining, the door and its words flashing in his mind as he waits for Thomas' reaction.
"Hmph, is that all? I have nightmares all the time!" Thomas briefly pats Michael on the head, who backs away and glares at the flippant reaction, before turning to leave the kitchen. "Come on, get your blanket and pillow. We're having a sleepover tonight."
"What, really?" Michael hurriedly leaves the water on the countertop, glass clinking on marble as he scrambles after Thomas. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I'm sure. I have a bunch of cards I'm probably not going to use anyway, so you can go through them if you want to. Maybe you can even fix your useless deck!" Thomas snickers as Michael protests that his deck isn't useless, but for now, as Michael scrambles to collect his bedding and grab his new artifact off his bedside table, his mind is away from the odd nightmare.
Once again, thanks to my friend Usagi for helping me fill in some of the holes and listening to me rant about this!
I can also be found on Tumblr as blackfeatherdragon and have posts about this au tagged as #keyswap au over there! Just be careful if you don't want spoilers since those posts are very spoilery!