~Thousands of Years Ago~
"I tell ya… there is somethin' wicked come to these shores," Johann said as he looked across the large cooking fire that had been set up by the hunting party. "Something unnatural."
"Of course its unnatural, you idiot!" Ingrid declared with a scoff, tearing off a hunk of bread and passing it to the man next to her. She picked up the wooden bowl that she'd set by her feet and set about dipping the bread into the thick stew that they had been cooking up for the last hour. "She was a woodwitch! Ya think a natural thing could kill her?"
"I don't know," Selene said as she accepted the bread next, "I've heard that there are plenty of people with not a drop of magic in them that have managed to take down those that are gifted. Sometimes such powers breed arrogance." She handed Endymion the butt of the loaf and he shot her a dark look but didn't say a word, which only encouraged Selene to keep talking. "I will not speak for your woodwitch… I sadly never got a chance to meet her but from what I heard she had power." Carefully chosen words, not that anyone sitting around the fire other than Endymion would realize that. "And power is a wonderful thing… but it can also blind you to your weaknesses."
"Aye… I suppose you are right there," Johann stated after a moment. "I knew a man… Sigor… great big bear of a bastard. Stronger than 10 oxen. Got a hold of some good armor and nothing would stop him. Men would come rushing at him and he would just heft up his axe and cleave them in half before they got close enough to take a swing at him. Try and hit him with arrows and he'd just power through, and that's assuming that he even managed to get stuck with one, since he could wear armor thicker than a boar's hide and not be slowed down. Would just cut through anyone that got near him." Johann grabbed a wine bottle and took a drink from it, smacking his lips before continuing one. "Naturally, he thinks that he's unstoppable. And he fucking was, to be honest. On land there was no one that could hope to challenge him."
"On land," Endymion commented.
That made Johann smirk. "Aye. He finally pissed off the wrong jarl… not sure what happened, I only knew him for a few weeks when we went on a raid together. Heard about this after the fact. Point is that he gets the jarl mad so he decides to command him to go and pillage a village of some invading dogs. Sigor is snorting and snarling for a fight because he hasn't been able to go on a proper raid for a while; doesn't notice that all the men on the boat are lithe and quick like silver fish. They get into the water… and that's when all them skinny buggers leap off the boat.
"Turns out the jarl found the best swimmers he had. Ones that could manage against the cold waters and not be slowed down. They abandon the ship and leave Sigor screaming and raving, bellowing up a storm. He is just hollering and demanding them come back, telling them that he'll kill them all. He begins to remove his armor… and that's when the archers fire upon the boat, which has been well oiled up. Damn thing is said to have gone up like fat tossed into a pan and Sigor was forced to dive into the water."
Bo frowned at that, however. "How come I've never heard of this Sigor? Man that big… I should have heard of him."
"Maybe because you are too busy shoving your face into a great big pair of tits!" Anders declared and that set everyone, even Bo, off.
It took about 3 or 4 minutes to calm them all down because as soon as they would stop chuckling one of them would look at another and set the entire group off again. But finally they did calm down and Johann said, "But yeah, you have the right of it… possible that it was someone cunning who managed to do in Aina. But I feel it prickling my fingers… this is something darker." He leaned in close. "There are whispers that some black danger has been heading our way. Heard about all sorts of magic folk getting killed by some monster that is feeding off of them."
"We heard the same," Endymion said, surprising Selene that he had spoken up. "Its why we made our way to these shores, though now I am regretting it if the threat we were trying to avoid ended up following us purely by chance."
"What have you heard?" Ingrid asked.
Endymion's face was a study of dark brooding and only Selene, who had known him for years, knew that her lover was secretly cackling at them all leaning forward to hear what he had to say about the 'monster'. "We were traveling because we were looking for kin of ours who had decided to settle down in the West… or, for all of you, the East. Anyway, we both have a bit of the magic in us… nothing much at all, just a few tricks that can entertain children." He took out a piece of hacksilver and with a murmur and great focus he caused it to dance about on his palm, jumping and bounding about.
Selene made a show of wiping her mouth to hide her smirk. 'That is so utterly trivial it's a wonder you aren't screaming about having to do something so minor,' she thought to herself, knowing how much Endymion hated performing such parlor tricks. But for the Norse that they were around it would prove his point without revealing just how powerful he truly was.
"But when we began to hear of those that were being killed by this creature we, like many others blessed with the gifts, decided it was time to leave. We had heard that your lands were friendly enough to travelers, so long as they respected your laws, and sought it out… but now I wonder if that wasn't a mistake."
"No need to worry, traveler," Bo stated. "We'll find this beast and we'll kill it."
"Who said it was a beast?" Johann asked. "I say it is a man."
"You saw what it did to Aina," Bo argued. "Tore her to pieces while she still lived. That wasn't clean and it wasn't the way any man would act."
Selene did her best not to glance at Endymion; his anger at the woodwitch must have been great if he took his wrath out upon her.
They had come to the seaside port of… Seaport (the Norse sometimes were rather straight forward with their names, she had found)… because Endymion had heard sailors telling of the great healing powers of the woodwitch. How she could bring one back from the brink of death, how she had caused limbs to completely regrow after being lost to rot and corruption, how she had never lost a single baby or mother to the terrors of birth. He had hungered greatly for that power and they had decided to make Seaport their first stop in their trip to explore the wilds west of their home and allow Selene to see what life amongst mortals was truly like.
'And while I am quite enjoying myself Endymion's luck has been rather poor,' she thought to herself with a smirk.
"But why only the woodwitch?" Johann pressed. "A beast would go for easier prey than that."
"A monster can come in many forms," Selene stated. "I would think you would know that."
Ingrid nodded at that. "Aye. Could've been a skinchanger or a goblin or the like. Something come down from the mountains or crawled up from some cave and happened upon her. It is said that those kind desire power greatly."
"Very true," Endymion said, not as all fazed by her comments.
"Whatever it is we will-"
Something very large fell down in the darkness outside the camp.
At once all were on alert. Everyone, man and woman, set down their food and moved to grab their weapons. Swords, shields, axes and clubs. Selene drew forth a sword crafted for her by Hephaestus himself from the slivers of moonbeams that came from one's window when curtains were pulled shut upon it. Its wide side was as thin as a reed and its edge so thin that when she turned it properly it disappeared from sight. The metal was a cool silver that at once seemed to glow but also made the shadows around her darker and more twisted. A weapon that brought relief to her allies and terror to her enemies… or at least that is what the Smith had told her. Selene hadn't been able to use it yet and she found herself rather giddy at the chance for a battle.
Endymion chose to bring forth the sword he himself had crafted from raw magic: Lævateinn. It was an elegant short sword, with two snarling wolf heads upon the hilt and a pale black gem of crystallized magic in the center. To their companions it would look like a princely weapon but in reality the power of the sword wasn't in its edge but in its swing, for Endymion could cast spells with it, sending out blades of magic with every arc.
Another thud filled the air, closer this time and proceeded by a great cracking sound like someone snapping a bundle of sticks in half. They all knew that it was no longer the case of something falling in the forest… a creature was approaching them. Something that could create those sounds.
"Look!" Anders hissed and they all looked down. They had made camp on a small hill in the forest and while the trees did rise up tall and strong so that they couldn't see over them and get a full lay of the land they were high enough that looking down allowed them to see many of the leafy branches that filled the forest. As Anders spoke a tree suddenly pitched, the cracking sound filling the air as its trunk was cracked and the tree came crashing down.
"Be ready," Johann said to all. It didn't matter that none of them had known each other for long, with many in the party having come from different ships or trading caravans. It didn't even matter that Selene and Endymion hadn't bothered to give their names. No… something was coming and that made them all allies and brothers in arms and they would fight back to back to ensure that all made it out of this alive.
The winds shifted and Selene crinkled her nose. A pungent smell filled the air, a great stink of unwashed bodies the likes of which she hadn't smelled in quite a while. It reminded her of the scent traps the Harpies used to drive off invaders, which had led to the belief that the avian women stunk terribly. Rotting meat, old sweat, slime from some wet place that hadn't been allowed to dry properly in ages.
Ingrid went ramrod still.
"TROLL!" she screamed and at once the camp braced itself as the trees at the base of the hill they were on were pushed, some cracking and breaking while others just swayed, roots fighting to keep them in place.
The woman was only half right. A troll did emerge from the forest but it was followed by a second… then a third… then a fourth. Soon five trolls stood there, the tallest nearly 25 feet tall while the smallest was at around 15. They had long unkempt hair that didn't merely hang from their heads but rather mingled with the filthy hair shirts that covered their nakedness so that it became impossible to tell where one began and the other ended. Of them only three had the right amount of heads, for the other two had a duo of heads that sat on their shoulders; one of the single headed trolls did have only a single eye, but not in the middle of their face like a Cyclops but rather where the second socket should be there was just smooth skin. Except not truly for their skin was warty, with bumps and growths upon it like that of a toad. Their noses were utterly huge, so that, along with the beards that many of them had, it was impossible to see their mouths. They had thick arms that dangled down well past their knees but also had rather small and stubby feet with blunted toes that poked out form the hems of their pants. Rough wooden clubs made from fallen trees were gripped in their hands and one had an entire deer slung over its shoulder like a miller carrying a sack of grain.
The trolls stopped and stared up at the humans.
The humans stared at the trolls.
"Gaia's teats," Endymion cursed.
The trolls blinked at them dumbly before, as well was the way with trolls, they realized that there were new things that weren't normally found in the forest. And the trolls' response to anything that they weren't used to was violence.
With a roar one of the two-headed trolls suddenly began to storm forward, the others only a step behind. The hunting party yelled out themselves and rushed forward, weapons hacking and slashing at the thick legs and grasping hands as they tried to dodge the blows. One of the hunters, Selene hadn't learned his name, leapt and stabbed a troll in the thigh but while he managed to drive his sword into the creature's thick flesh the hunter found their weapons stuck and him dangling off the ground. The troll they at attacked, one that was around 18 feet tall, reached down and plucked him from his leg like a child grabbing onto a fig, barely noticing the others attacking his legs as he slowly reached up and with his fat fingers began to tug on the man's arm. That made the man holler and scream rather loudly and then Selene saw the troll, with one sudden jerk, rip the man's arm off and toss it into his mouth. The held human's screams turned into a shrill ear-splitting sound that barely managed to cover up the crunching of bones as the troll munched on the arm before swallowing. Its large eyes, far too big for its head, looked down at the wailing man before he brought him up, placing his head between his teeth-
A rail of light shot through the screeching man's chest and into the troll's throat, silencing the cries while also causing the troll to suddenly drop the man to the ground. The monstrous being slowly reached up and touched his throat, feeling the hole that had been pierced through it and the gushing blood that was now leaking down and staining his shirt. After a few moments more he suddenly toppled down, crashing to the forest floor in a heap.
"Now… I do not understand how intelligent any of you are," Endymion said as he lazily spun his sword, the hunting party staring at him in shock. "You have 4 bodies and 6 brains amongst you, so perhaps you can put them all together to realize the situation you now find yourselves in. You stumbled upon us as we hunted down a killer and thought that it would be rather brilliant to attack us all because… well, I honestly do not know why you have chosen to do this. I am assuming its because you are stupid. Very stupid. But… you might yet still surprise me and prove that you are smart." The trolls continued to stare at him, eyes watching the sword he was swinging about. "Leave. Now. Go back to your cave or mountain craig or hidden little glen. You have killed one of ours, I have killed one of yours. The scales are even."
He smirked, the trolls actually listening to him. Selene knew it was no magic that was compelling them to do so either; her Endymion could hold the attention of all with just his words. It was his greatest gift… she swore that when the Fates had been deciding the path of his life they had dipped his thread in honey for his words were as sweet as that wondrous treat. She had watched him tame the most savage of beasts with a few whispers, make warlords tremble with his snarled insults, and bring the most faithful of wives to the bed she shared with him with only a few cooed words. And now he had the trolls listening to him, truly listening.
"Leave now and there will be no harm from us. We aren't concerned with you. But… should you dare to stand against us I will make sure the scales are weight down so heavily against you that your kind will not recover. Trolls who live so far away that they can not comprehend this forest and how it looks will speak of the deaths I deliver upon you in hushed whispers while fearfully glancing about, hoping I am not coming upon them. You will gain nothing of value and you will lose everything you could possibly have, both now and in the future. Leave… and you walk away one troll less.
"I call that… a good bargain."
The trolls looked at each other for a very long moment.
"Eat you better!" one said in a deep voice that was the verbal equivalent of bubbling mud.
Endymion let out a sigh at that. "Well… I tried to be kind." He began to spin his sword, faster and faster, the blade glowing all the brighter as he did so. "I tried… to be kind-"
A great booming sound, so loud and terrible that it caused all but Selene and Endymon to fall to their knees, filled the air. Selene was not cowed by such things, for she recognized the boom of thunder from her many years around Zeus, and Endymion had an iron will that made him something beyond mortal and thus able to keep his footing. Even the trolls dropped down in response to the sound.
Or, perhaps, they dropped down because the bringer of the thunder crashed down upon them, rendering one into a blood paste while the other three found their bodies impaled with bits of bone from the crushed member of their party.
"Well… that lot learned that it is not wise to attract the Thunderer's attention," the new arrival said, not at all disturbed by standing in a puddle of muck that had once been a living creature.
He was tall… very tall. Easily 7 feet tall, perhaps even larger. His tangled red hair fell down to his shoulders though it looked to be even longer thanks to it touching the great curly beard that covered his jaw, which itself came to rest on his broad furry chest. He had huge shoulders that made him nearly as wide as he was tall and a belly like a barrel. But this was not some simpering rich man who spent his days dining on rich foods until he couldn't move an inch without a team of slaves to help him about. No… there was power in his body, all could tell that. He had on an iron gauntlet that covered his entire right hand and hanging from his belt was a large war hammer whose shaft had been made far, far too short. It was little more than a one handed bludgeon than a proper hammer, to Selene's eyes at least.
Bo barely managed to look up at the new arrival and trembled. Selene understood why… this was a god in his full glory, uncloaked and revealed.
"Lord Thor…" Bo whispered.
"Up, all of you!" Thor shouted, stomping towards them. "Up! There is a troll horde to find and then we shall be having a merry feast to celebrate the world being reduced of five of their numbers."
"Praise to you, Thunderer!" Johann declared.
Endymion grit his teeth and Selene placed a hand on his shoulder. "Later, my love, later," she whispered.
"I killed the first troll and would have smited the others where they stood… and in a far less messy way. This fat bastard dares steal from me-"
"We will allow him to steal from you," she whispered, "because what we may steal from him… will be all the sweeter."
After a moment… Endymion nodded.
~Present Day~
Renard frowned as he walked down the hall. "Everything looks the same," he muttered to Yuri who nodded in agreement; she too was getting rather annoyed by the repetitiveness of it all.
After escaping from the tower they'd found themselves trapped in the two had made their way down a short hallway and then a LONG flight of curling stairs; neither of them trusted the elevators, not wanting to be trapped in a small box that was at the mercy of Noah. Once they'd reached the end of the stairs they'd found themselves wandering much longer hallways, each one rather empty. There were doors, yes, but they were all locked and no matter what either of them had done they couldn't get them to open.
'If the Captain were here…' he thought, desperately hoping that Edwin wasn't behind one of those many doors, trapped and waiting for help that just passed him by. 'But no… he can't always be supporting us… he needs us to fight for him sometimes. Edwin puts too much on his shoulders already and he needs us to take the burden… even if it means smacking him across the head in order to do it. So we need to find the others and get everyone out of this…'
Yuri tried another door, having decided that she would try each one even if they were all locked so far. She didn't want to risk passing by something important purely because she had been lazy and failed to check a doorway. "So, do we actually have a plan when it comes to getting out of here? Because the blimp isn't exactly the Millennium Falcon."
"If the captain were here he would be side eying you for that reference in the best possible ways." Yuri merely rolled her eyes at that and tried the next door. "I wonder what the purpose of this place was originally supposed to be."
"Knowing Gozaburo Kaiba?" Yuri asked. "Wait, no, I don't know him so I can't even imagine what it might have been for." She moved on to the next door. "Could have been for sealing himself off if there were a nuclear war or a way to run a company outside of the laws of any country or just compensating for his tiny penis."
"That is the go to explanation when it comes to why men do anything, isn't it?" Renard asked.
Yuri merely smirked before trying another door. "Surprised you aren't getting on me for checking all of these."
"Its smart," Renard said with a shrug. "You never know-"
A door suddenly swung open.
"-what you might find." He glanced at Yuri who just shrugged. "Well… we might as well see what we have here."
"Hold up," Yuri said and then, to his confusion, instead of entering the room, looked Renard over. "Boots and coat."
"Pardon?"
"Boots and coat." And with that she removed her own coat and set to work unlacing her own chunky boots.
Renard frowned as he slipped off his jacket. "I'm sorry but if you are looking for a quickie this isn't-"
"And let that little perv Noah peep? Hell no. If our Duel Bands could keep their shapes when we took them off I'd just use them." Renard frowned but set about pulling off his boots, setting them on the ground, wiggling his bare toes. Yuri, meanwhile, had hers off and padded over to Renard's coat, slipping first her own coat and then three of their boots into the garment before gathering it up at the ends, wrapping his coat about all the other items like the world's worst Christmas present. "Alright, let's go." And with that she placed the bundle against the door frame before moving to the door itself and shoving her boot inbetween the door and the frame.
"Ah," Renard said as he realized what she was doing. "Auto close?"
"Auto close," Yuri confirmed.
"Run into that a lot in Domino?"
Yuri though frowned at that. "Uh… no." He raised an eyebrow and she sighed. "Two years ago they decided to do this whole team building exercise in an escape room. After being trapped with a bunch of incompetent cops who only kept their jobs because they had dirt on their bosses I decided I never wanted to be trapped in another room again."
"…yeah, I can get that," Renard said, the two of them moving deeper into the room.
The entire thing was rather creepy, what with how quiet it was. After a few steps into the room they found themselves plunged into rows of metal cabinets, a silvery blue color and each one with rounded edges and long slots upon the top. Renard took out one of his lock picks and gently pushed it into one slot but it was maybe a millimeter in before he hit metal. Shrugging at that he moved to kneel down next to one of the cabinets, running his hands along the front of it and finding that there was a shallow cut that ran along the entire edge, about half an inch in. He couldn't tell though if it was panel or if it was some sort of odd decoration… both were honestly possible. Whatever it was he couldn't get any of his tools into it, the cut was so small that even his thinnest lock picks were too thick.
"What do you think are in these things?" Yuri asked before adding, "God, I hope they don't have bodies."
Renard glanced at her. "I wasn't considering that but thank you for putting that image in my head." He patted the cabinet, really hoping Edwin wasn't inside… or anyone else.
"Relax, its not that," Yuri said. "I saw the VR pods, remember?"
Renard nodded. "I keep forgetting you were there when it happened."
"Please don't make it sound like I am Elrond," Yuri complained. "But yeah, these aren't VR pods. So we're not going to find Noah's body in here." She paused before shaking her head.
"You were trying to decide what to do if you found his body in there, weren't you?"
"Is it wrong that I was wondering about aborting him?" she asked before moving to the back of the room, where a small computer sat. "Hmmm… wonder if this is connected to Noah's network?"
"It has to be," Renard said.
"Maybe," Yuri commented. "On one hand it would be smart to keep it linked to everything. After all, there is always the risk that we'll get out and cause trouble."
"But?" Renard said.
"But… all eggs, one basket. Noah wasn't the one to make this vessel, after all. It was his father. And his father might have worried that having everything centralized might be a bad thing." She shrugged. "Worst case is we let Noah know we are out and considering the guns he had in that hallway he already knows we are trying to escape. And he didn't react to us triggering the elevator. So I'd say its likely that he doesn't even know what we are up to." She leaned down and began to type on the computer. "So… let's see what we have here."
Yuri's fingers began to fly over the keys, her lips twisting into a frown the more she typed away. Renard watched her work, seeing instantly what was bothering her. While the system was all key based, no mouse at all, there were no passwords. No security. Nothing. She was quickly moving through menus without anything popping up to stop her.
"What the hell?" she whispered.
"Yes… why are we having such an easy time?"
"I have… wait…" her brow furrowed and she brought up a new list. "Endymion."
"What?"
"Endymion. There is a file on Endymion."
"How does Noah know about Edwin's past life?" Renard asked.
"I don't…" Yuri trailed off as she opened the file and blinked. "Holy shit."
"What?"
"It isn't Endymion the person. It's the card. But the file is empty. Nothing in here." She clicked something and Renard frowned when she pulled up a search menu and typed in Dark World… and then leaned back when she saw a new file come up. "Its all of us," Yuri said. "All our decks. He has records on all of us."
"Okay? They wanted to take over our bodies so I suppose it makes sense they would research our decks. That way they could know what we play."
"Except these lists… they aren't any… no fucking way." Yuri tapped a few keys and Renard heard a hiss, which made him twist around in time to see one of the cabinets let out a hiss before from a slot a small plastic package slide out. He walked over and grabbed it, opening it to see several Dark World cards.
Cards he KNEW Yuri didn't have in her deck.
"What are these?" Renard asked.
"I don't know," Yuri said before typing in a few commands and Renard walked over to another cabinet and grabbed another plastic container that had popped up, opening it to find Fur Hire cards that he KNEW didn't exist.
"I… I know every Fur Hire card ever created."
"I know," Yuri said. "And there is more, Renard. A lot more. Cards I've never heard of. A bunch of Agent cards that I know aren't in Tea's deck. Machina cards too. Red-Eyes Black Dragon. Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Exodia… a LOT of Exodia cards… Dark Magician-"
"Its us."
"What?"
"The Big 5 and Noah. They want to take our bodies, right? And they have never had anything but the best in their lives. Finest foods, nicest suits, all that. So why not decks?" He held up the cards. "They searched for these cards… cards we never heard of… to improve our decks when they took our bodies."
"So its like what Edwin did at Duelist Kingdom?" Yuri asked. Edwin and Mai had told them both, the night after Yuri had quit her job and Edwin had blown up the Domino Mall's roof, all about how he had screwed up the entire game by releasing decades worth of cards into the world. Granted, it had ended up working out for many of them, allowing for new duelists to suddenly find themselves able to compete against the old guard because now the playing field was completely level, but it had still been a screw up.
Renard though shook his head. "No… no this is something different. These cards… I don't think that they've ever been released."
"Never been…" Yuri trailed off.
"Yes," Renard said, staring at the Fur Hire cards in his hand. "I know of every Fur Hire card… the benefit of having a boss who is one of the three heads of the company that actually produces the game. The Captain went through the entire database with me, to make sure that there wasn't anything I was missing. I know every card. But this?" He held up the card Rex, Freight Fur Hire, and shook his head. "I've never heard of this card. So either something was released that Pegasus didn't have a record of… or this was a card that was never supposed to be released."
Yuri's eyes went wide at that before she narrowed them and returned to the computer. "Why would Gozaburo Kaiba's floating fortress have these cards though? Why not Pegasus, in a vault?" She hit a few keys and Renard smirked as slots began to open up, more cards popping out. He didn't need to ask her what she was doing, he could tell that right away and as such he set to work grabbing the cards.
And yet his smile faded as he thought about the question she had just posed.
"That… is the question."
~MC~MC~MC~
The pod room was silent.
Quiet.
Empty.
The room was like a tomb for some forgotten king who had died far from home and never been allowed to rest in the monument that had been built for him. And thus the people had left it empty, giving all the possessions that were supposed to go with him to others and leaving the tomb empty and silent. No air moving through it, no whispered sounds of water gurgling through pipes. Just… silence.
It was a technical marvel and that made the silence all the worse. Something so advanced… it shouldn't have been left to waste away without notice. It was like taking the finest painting and wrapping it in a burlap sack. A marvel such as VR pod and the room it was in should be used and appreciated, not allowed to sit there ignored and forgotten.
The room was silent.
Quiet.
Empty
And then, like a curtain being drawn up to allow the sunlight in, a plane of pure white light suddenly rose up from the ground and from it stepped two people.
"Well… we're back," I said as I looked around the VR Room. "it's like going on vacation and finally getting home. Except our vacation was fighting a deranged space tyrant and home is a deranged child that wants to steal bodies so that metaphor died quicker than Marik's father."
Yugi stared at me in shock.
"Oh piss off I've had a rough couple of days!" I complained. "Or week… god, Battle City has been crap, hasn't it?"
Yugi considered that before his eyes went wide. "Wow, you're right! First Bandit Keith tried to steal my puzzle-" He stopped and considered what he'd just said before groaning. "I could have called it to me, couldn't I?"
"Yeah but what's a little 1st degree burns and smoke inhalation amongst friends?" I replied with a smirk.
Yugi threw back his head and groaned.
"I kept telling you we should jail break that bitch. But what did you say?" I droppedmy voice and Yugi started when I did a near flawless impression of the Pharaoh. "I am sorry, Edwin, but I am much too busy hanging around my soul room doing nothing. Do you have a soul room? I thought not, you wouldn't understand."
"That… is both insulting and impressive," Yugi said.
"You should hear my Kaiba," I said, mimicking Seto's voice perfectly. "Sometimes I like to call in the middle of the night and leave him voice messages like this. You know, little reminders to do things that he MIGHT have suggested if he were really sleepy. I swear that's how we ended up with that giant Blue-Eyes Statues in front of KaibaCorp… I can't prove it but I did suggest it." I switched to Pegasus. "I, the fabulous Maximillion Pegasus, don't fall for that though. Not once. I am FAR too clever for Edwin's tricks, Yugi-boy." I switched again. "And I'm Son Goku!"
Yugi just shook his head, struggling to contain his bemusement at my antics. "What were we talking about?"
"How Battle City was shit," I said in my normal voice. "You know, how Marik's goons tried to beat me to death, or how Yuri's co-workers tried to kidnap her and I destroyed a mall and we really need to discuss the fact that the entire Domino Police Department probably hates my guts and wants me dead. Then we got trapped by Cabal and without the key would have gotten our leg's cut off. Then you and Seto nearly get sent tumbling hundreds of feet, Serenity and your grandpa nearly get killed and I… well, I killed people to save them."
Yugi stared at me for a long moment, the question in his eyes keeping me from pushing further even though I wanted to.
"I've accepted what I've done. It doesn't torment me any more." I smiled at that before adding, "But that doesn't mean that I'm okay with doing it. Once you kill and embrace that as a choice… there is no going back. It will always be easier for me now to kill someone than to find another solution. Every day will be a choice of "I will not kill today". And I will have to keep saying it."
Once more the teen was silent but this time his thoughts seemed to be no on me so I let him be. Instead of focused on the world around me, I pulled out my phone and checking it.
"Oh, so now you remember I'm around," Troy said, suddenly popping up beside me. "You forgot me during the entire Avengers thing, remember!"
"Surprised you didn't try and steal the mind soul."
"Please, like I need that!" Troy said. "Now, as to what you were wondering about only two hours have gone by since you left. Also, and you will love this, it appears the virtual world is moving in step with us."
"It is?" I said in surprise.
"Noah has to be moving it at that rate… how else can he monitor things here and there properly? He moves to watch what Yugi is doing and suddenly a hundred years have gone by and Tea is the Queen of the Digital Sea, singing sea shanties and flaying people alive."
I scoffed. "Before I adopted her I would never have been able to see Tea flaying anyone."
"Yeah, you've certainly put a lot of pepper in that steak," Troy said.
"What are you, a 30s era gangster?" I demanded and Troy just shrugged. "So, Noah was lying about the dome thing?"
"That I can't tell, so you are at risk if you decide you are going back in," Troy said. "And you ARE going in… that I can tell. The system is set up to shunt you right back where you started… he must have figured you'd try and reboot. No save scrumming for you, you're trapped in a save lock."
"Fuck," I muttered, shaking my head.
"Edwin?" Yugi said softly, looking up at me. "Can I ask you something? Its… kind of important."
"Sure."
"I asked the Pharaoh not to listen in."
"…okay," I said, now really worried. "What's up?"
"So…" Yugi shifted uneasily. "Okay, so this is really awkward and weird and I need you to act your age. Your real age." He glanced up at me and while he was still clearly nervous I could also tell how serious he was. "I'd talk to my grandpa about it, if I could, but I don't want to wait until we find him and… Edwin, I need you to act like a dad, okay? Or a teacher. Or-"
"Dad mode, got it," I said, shoving aside all my snark and humor. I motioned towards the VR Pod I had been in and Yugi, after a moment, sat on the very end of it. "What's wrong?"
"When we were fighting Thanos and the Black Order… something happened." I didn't say a word, knowing that Yugi needed to take his time and figure out how to talk me through this at his own pace. "We encountered one of the Black Order… Ebony Maw."
"Which one was he?"
"The one that could move things with his mind." I nodded, remembering that dapper motherfucker. "The Pharaoh… he felt that we only had one choice to defeat him: a Shadow Game."
"…ah," I said slowly. "Yeah… I'm guessing that didn't go well."
"He was banished to the Shadow Realm. I can… I can only assume he is still there. And then NONE did… whatever he did to Thanos and the Black Order…" I didn't blame Yugi for not being able to phrase that better as honestly I wasn't 100% sure what NONE had done to all of us. I just… I felt more at peace with my choices. Understood why I had done them. I couldn't hide the real reasons why but I also couldn't blame myself for things that weren't true.
"Clarity," I said suddenly. "He gave us all clarity."
"Right," Yugi said, accepting the term. "We talked and he promised never to do it again but… we robbed Maw of a chance to be better. I am mad at him but I'm not sure I have any right-"
"You have every right," I said, cutting him off. "In the end this is your body, Yugi, not his. You get full rights to be mad about what he does with YOUR body. He chose to use you for a shadow game without your consent… you deserve to be mad. And you have every right to put him in a time out if he ever does it again."
Yugi nodded. "Yeah. Next time… but… and I… I don't know…" he trailed off, clearly unable to put his thoughts into words. I felt horrible for him because it was clear that he knew what he was feeling but he just couldn't figure out how to get his mouth to form the complex words needed to explain what he was feeling in that moment. If there were even words for what he was feeling.
I let out a sigh and patted his shoulder. "Yugi… we were fighting a war. Maybe it was only for a few hours but it was a war for all of the world. And that means that at times we are going to do things that, after the fact, we see weren't right."
"So that justifies it?"
"Of course not," I said and I could tell that a part of Yugi really, really wished that I would say yes, it did justify it. That I would be able to wave my hand and absolve the Pharaoh of what he did. "And it doesn't mean that one can do whatever they want because that is how monsters are born. Believing that they are in the right to do what they wish just because there is a threat. People have to try and keep their heads in the heat of the moment and consider their actions… and know that they will be judged by them after the fact. If they can live with that then they can continue on. But they also must LEARN from what they did… the good and the bad. Every success we had I'll learn from. And every failure. Same for the Pharaoh as well.
"I wish I could tell you things will get easier. That Thanos was the worst we would face. But let's even ignore the multiverse for a moment… Marik is still out there. And after him there are other threats from other lands. And beyond that… there is Zorc."
Yugi swallowed at that. "The Dark God that the Pharaoh has to defeat."
"That WE have to defeat," I said, squeezing Yugi's shoulder. "That is Zorc's weakness… he's all alone."
The teen looked down at the puzzle. "Something… something happened when NONE used Judgment Wave.I think he hurt Zorc ." I blinked at that but Yugi pressed on, though I really wished he hadn't. Because I had a VERY powerful feeling that what he had said mattered greatly. "But we can focus on that later. I… I don't know what to do, Edwin. The Pharaoh promised he would never do another Shadow Game again, unless we had no choice. But what if he thinks there is no choice-"
"Yugi," I said gently but firmly. He looked up at me with fearful eyes and I flashed a soft smile. "Sometimes we must give friends a chance to prove themselves to us. Give them a chance to live up to our expectations." And then I added, because I could tell he was thinking it, "And… if they should not… be ready to make things right."
Yugi managed a nod at that.
"I… I know you have to go back into the Virtual World but… can we just sit here for a while?"
I slowly settled onto the ground.
"Sure."
Yugi nodded, sliding down onto the ground and resting his head on my shoulder.
~MC~MC~MC~
Chaosverse Omake
Jadis sat on her throne, idly running her fingers along the arm rest. 'Soon,' she thought, 'The Children of Adam will be brought here and I can truly begin.'
She just needed sweet Edmund to return. It had been far too easy to twist him to her side, corrupting him so that he was willing to go against not only his only true hope but his very family. It was so utterly devious and delightful and it made her want to purr at the wickedness of it all. It so did please her when fools submitted to her, throwing away their only hope with smiles upon their faces. He would do all he could in order to claim more Turkish Delights, as well had receive what she had "promised" him… as if she would ever truly give him what he thought. Words were twisty things, like serpents, could easily go one way or another without warning. So would be the same for-
She heard footsteps upon the stairs and she straightened, her guards standing ready. Even though she knew she was utterly secure in her throne room Jadis would never take such a needless risk as allowing herself to be undefended. So she gripped her wand and steadied herself to attack-
-only to freeze as she saw the head of Aslan slowly rising up along the stairs.
"No… its not possible," she whispered as she stared at her hated foe's approach. There was no way he could have gotten past all her men! Simply no way! Even if that traitor Edmund had done all he could to assist (and she now believed Edmund had turned against her) Aslan could not be there!
And… he wasn't.
The head rose up higher and Jadis was shocked to see that it was only Aslan's pelt that was coming towards her, worn by a most impressive man. He was as tall as her but his skin was tanned where her's was paper white and he was muscularly built, like one of the lost heroes of the forgotten ages. He wore dark armor, so black that it seemed as if the light of her palace was being drawn to it like water in a jug with a hole cut into it, and upon his shoulders was the pelt of Aslan, his head a cloak that covered the top of his head so that only his smirking mouth and yellow beard could be seen. In his left hand he held a staff upon which a satyr's skull had been jammed upon the top and the right was hidden in the pelt he wore.
"You were expecting someone else, I assume?" the man stated as he finally came to a stop before Jadis.
"I… did," she said slowly, trying to make her mouth work. She was utterly shocked to see what he was wearing; never had she thought any being other than herself would be able to kill the mighty Aslan! "But I see that thanks must be given… you have saved Narnia from a grand threat."
"Yes," the man said slyly. "Though… and I know you won't like this next part… I didn't do it for you. In fact I imagine you will be most displeased to know that I have come to claim… well… everything."
"Everything?"
"Narnia. That throne. Your wand. Everything." She couldn't see his eyes but knew he was slowly looking her up and down, taking in her beauty. Normally she didn't mind such gazes, as she was able to use them to get what she wanted, but considering what he was wearing she found herself not liking the stare at all.
At once she acted, wand coming out and sending out her magic at him. She would have preferred to have the pelt but she could live with him being stone!
The man's right arm came out and upon it was a shield that he used to bat the blast back at one of her guards before he lashed out with his left hand, the staff striking her wand and causing it to fly out of her hand. He threw his staff at the other guard, impaling him through the throat, before he caught her wand in his hand, twirling it easily.
"That was sloppy," he said.
"Where… how did you…" she looked at the shield that had repelled her attack.
"Father Christmas gave good gifts," he said. "Gave. After what I did to those children to claim their presents I doubt very much he will ever give another gift again. Last I saw he was curled up in a ball, sobbing." He took a step towards the chair and pointed the wand right at her and Jadis… felt fear.
"And now… will you take me?" she asked. "There is no need to force me… I could be… persuaded to side with you."
"Force you?" the man said, hooking the shield onto his hip before slowly reaching out with his free hand, stroking her cheek. He was bewitched by her beauty… she knew it! He was weak like all men. It was the failure of all the Sons of Adam… they crumbled with a coy smile or a charming wink. "Come now… there are some lines I won't cross."
And then he grabbed her head and slammed her face into the side of the throne.
Jadis didn't even get a chance to scream before her front teeth were driven down her throat and her nose was turned into a wet paste. The second strike shattered her eye socket and broke open her face.
Again and again the man bashed her head into the throne until, with a vicious throw, he threw her to the floor before he fired off the wand, turning her to stone, her ruined and mutilated face twisted in an eternal scream of agony.
"This is a throne for one," he said as he retrieved his staff before settling upon the throne, smiling at Jadis' servants rushed in… and at once bowed to their new king.
INTRODUCING THE CHAOS OF EARTH 1950- THE BLACK KING OF NARNIA
Author's Note: A thank you to Riku and Maj for helping with this omake.