Chapter 63 - 63

Chapter 63

"Enjoy the film," Akiza said, smiling to the family of four as they took their tickets and made their way to the concessions stand, the kids already babbling about all the gooey, sticky, sweet, salty, and overall tasty treats they wanted to eat while watching the movie. She shook her head before checking to make sure that no one else was in line before grabbing a spray bottle and spritzing the counter, wiping in clean. It was a slow day, middle of the week and not even 1pm yet, meaning that the rush hadn't hit them yet and she really just needed to find some things to do to keep her occupied.

"Any plans for tonight?" Junko asked as she walked up to the ticket counter, a broom and dust pan in her hands.

"Think I'll just head home and get some rest," Akiza admitted. "Been a long day." She got out at 5, having been there to open things up, and with the slow business it had made her day drag on.

"Tomorrow's your day off though!" Junko teased. "Plenty of time to rest then!"

"Yeah and I waste my entire day off RESTING," Akiza reminded her. "Prefer to rest now and have all of tomorrow to do what I want. Thinking of hitting that trail down by the river... there is a new podcast that Michi was telling me about that I really want to check out." She knelt down to put the cleaning supplies away.

"Or, and hear me out, we could do my plan?"

"And that is?" Akiza asked.

Silence.

"Uh, Junko? And that is?" She stood back up, a befuddled smile forming on her lips as she spotted her friend just standing there, staring straight ahead blankly. "Okay, you have me curious." But Junko didn't move.

In fact... the theater was oddly silent.

The tvs that had been playing trailers for upcoming films had stopped. The popcorn machine was off. A group of teens who had just gotten out of a showing of some slasher flick, she couldn't remember what it was called as they all seemed to blend together, were standing just outside their theater and Akiza realized that several of them were still in mid-step.

Everything was... paused.

"What the?" she muttered to herself, moving from behind the counter and looking about, trying to figure out what the heck had happened. She poked Junko's shoulder but she just stood there, not moving or reacting at all. Akiza wiggled her fingers and ran her hands over her sides, wondering if it was something to do with her rather than everyone else.

"Akiza Izinski," a voice said and she whipped around, heart thundering in her chest from all the tension, and stared at the figure before her. They were of average height and thin build though the latter was hard to tell due to the weird cyberpunk style armor they were wearing. A lot of glowing lights and smooth shiny plastic plating. Their face was covered with a featureless helmet that had a weird abstract design cut into it, one that she couldn't even begin to place.

"Who are you?" she found herself asking.

"A riddle in the dark," the man said. "A puzzle yet unsolved. Enigma." He walked towards her and Akiza began to slowly back away, looking for something to defend herself. She was nervous... why shouldn't she be?! The strange figure though paused the moment she began to retreat, tilting his head in a rather comical way. "Why are you afraid?"

"Strange man, world stopped... why wouldn't I be?"

"Hmmm... usually you are far braver. This... life you have settled for... it has made you weak."

"Excuse me?"

"You think you are happy... you aren't. You have merely accepted mediocrity as your sole choice. That this is all you are able to strive for. You are dim man who does not know what the world has to offer so happily remains on the farm, content. Meals that would make the senses delight await for you but you never got the chance to sample them so you stick with the same bland dishes. And you know this and hate it but you are too scared to admit it."

"What are you talking about?" Akiza asked.

"This."

He thrust out his hand as he suddenly rushed her and the moment he touched her forehead her mind exploded with visions.

Of the lives not led.

Opportunities she'd never been given.

Other versions of herself who had fame and fortune and love.

She had been happy with her life. Pleased with it. But now she felt like the audience member who sat next to the person who won the chance to be on stage. The person whose lotto ticket was one number off. The 1 million and 1 customer.

Enigma pulled away and Akiza gasped.

And even as the memories of what had not been filtered through her brain... the bitterness came.

"Don't you think it's time... you got what you actually deserved?"

Without a second thought Akiza nodded, ripping off her uniform jacket and following Enigma as he left the theater, not even sparing a second thought for anyone there, or her entire world, as it remained frozen in place.

~MC~MC~MC~

"Who is she?" the Pharaoh asked, looking over at me.

"Akiza," I said as the Black Rose Moonlight Dragon writhed behind the duelist. "Though a different one from who I remember. She's from the future... or at least the version I'm familiar with it. Was part of a group that helped stop some dark threats from destroying the world."

Trooper Akiza sneered at me. "That should have been me." She turned and looked right at Edna. "It should have been me. Why not? I am just as smart as the other Akizas. Just as capable. I could have been a hero! A champion! Why wasn't I allowed powers? The ability to read minds or to summon ancient dragons? Why did I have a pathetic life where all I knew was the menial and mundane?" She scoffed. "Well... I'm changing that. We all are. You Chaoses... you think you're so special because you are blessed by luck and a touch of destiny? Well..." she smiled, cruel and sharp, "I think it's time someone showed you that you aren't as powerful and awe-inspiring as you believe yourself to be. That someone-"

"Oh goodie," I muttered, "she's not just evil but she's Doctor Doom "I must rant for 20 minutes" evil. That's always fun. Settle in people, this could take a while."

"That does seem to be the kind of evil we are forced to deal with," Tea commented. "Cecelia loved to ramble on about how doomed I was and how she was going to take the Millennium Belt from me. How I had fallen into her Duelist Kingdom trap."

"Nice to know that some things don't change no matter what world you are in," I commented.

Edna clearly had grown tired of waiting to as she began to, with great exaggeration, tap her foot against the ground and roll her eyes skyward. "Are you done yet because I'd love to continue this duel at some point this century. Just because you froze the world doesn't mean the rest of us don't age!"

Akiza glowered at her. "Always stealing my moment to shine."

"Lady, where I am from your name is Akio and you have a penis."

"This one might," I pointed out. The Pharaoh and Tea looked at me and I shrugged. "What? She could be trans. Or a hermaphrodite. It's the multiverse!

Edna merely continued on. "I've never met you, never even knew you existed until today, so kindly fuck off with this, "You are my destined rival" shit because it ain't true."

"Think you are too good to be my rival then?"

I scoffed. "Just kick her ass already, Edna! The bitch's dye job leaked into her brain and now she only hears what she wants."

"What... did you just say?" Akiza demanded.

"I said the frayed ends of the drapes don't match the worm eaten and overly fondled carpet." I turned to her goons. "Show of hands, who here got their micropenis frozen by Bitchy McGee's ice pussy? Anyone? Or is it the other way around it your backdoors got a snow shower from their needle dick?"

"This is who you have to deal with?" the Spirit of the Millennium Belt asked.

"Every day," the Pharaoh said with a sigh.

"Cram it 'Yami'," I snapped. "I don't go to where you work and tell you how to give boring ass speeches."

"It really does get annoying when he does that, doesn't it?" Edna asked.

Yoki just held up her hands. "I'm staying out of this."

"STOP IGNORING ME!" Akiza screeched.

"I wish I could ignore you," Edna and I said at the same time.

My female counterpart smirked at our jinxing each other before turning her attention back to the duel. "So, is your trying too hard dragon going to actually do something? Actually use an affect or declare an attack?"

"Its going to destroy you and all you hold dear!" Akiza declared. "Because it was summoned to the field I can automatically send your Witchcrafter back to your hand, clearing the board and allowing me to attack directly!" The Black Rose Moonlight Dragon roared and lashed out with a thorn vine, striking both Edna and her monster. Both toppled to the ground though only the Witchcrafter shattered and the card flew from Edna's duel disc while Edna slowly got back to her feet. (Edna-1600)

"That took out nearly all her lifpoints!" Tea exclaimed.

"Yes but the duel isn't over yet," the Spirit of the Belt commented. "And I have a feeling that Edna here has far more tricks at the ready than we might realize."

My counterpart smirked, holding up a card. "I'll start by summon in defense position my Witchcrafter Potterie." The spellcaster that appeared was a young girl, wearing denim shorts and an apron with a green robe over all of it. Around her were crude clay figures and stuffed animals that she looked at with a smile, making sure they were all okay before settling into a defensive stance. "But she won't be staying for long. By tributing her and sending one Witchcrafter spell to the graveyard I can activate her effect, summoning from my deck one Witchcrafter. And I select Witchcrafter Madame Verre!"

A new young mage appeared but this one was far more arrogant and cocky than Potterie. Verre was lounging in a crystal throne, chin resting on her fist as she smirked at Akiza, giving her what barely qualified as a wave.

"Impressive... by the way, did I forget to mention that my Black Rose Moonlight Dragon's effect also triggers when you summon a Level 5 or higher monster? Meaning that your Madame Verre is going to be returned right back to your hand! All that work for nothing!" The Black Rose Moonlight Dragon lashed out... only for its vine to stop as a porcelain hand suddenly appeared in front of Verre, who yawned as the pale white fingers gripped the vine and crushed it. "What?!"

"Madame Verre is the leader of the Witchcrafters and as such it shouldn't come as a surprise that the greatest creation my magic artists every built will come to her aid!" Edna held up a card. "When you activated your Moonlight Dragon's effect it allowed me to activate the effect of this Witchcrafter, summoning it to the field and sending your monster back to where it came!" Edna threw her arms out wide. "So its time for some real magic, Aki! Come forth Witchcrafter Golem Aruru!"

The monster that appeared on the field was a good replication of life. Good... but not perfect. One could see the seams: the too shiny face, the clearly painted on features. But the giant golem, which stood nearly 10 feet tall so that her hat scraped the ceiling of the apartment lobby, moved with rapid fluidity, ripping the vine out of the Black Rose Moonlight Dragon before dropping her hammer upon it, causing it to shatter and return to Akiza's hand.

"And finally," Edna said, goggles flashing as she thrust out her hand, "I activate Witchcrafter Collaboration, which will allow the might of my Witchcrafters to flow into my Golem Aruru and give her the power to attack twice this turn!"

"No... no!" Akiza screamed.

"Finish her off, girl," Edna said blandly as Akiza screamed impotently as the hammer came down, removing every single one of her lifepoints. (Akiza-0000)

"She... she took out all her lifepoints in a single hit!" Tea exclaimed in shock. "She was able to win the duel with just two turns!"

Yugi was just as startled by the sudden turn of events. "How did she manage to do that?"

"I vote we blame the sparkly elves," I said, only for everyone to turn and stare at me. "What? When in doubt always blame the sparkly elves."

"It wasn't the elves," Edna said as she deactivated her duel disc. The troopers were mulling about, clearly thrown off by Akiza's loss, not sure what to do. "And heck, it wasn't even skill on my part." She paused, bobbing her head from side to side. "Okay, it was a bit of skill on my part. But most of it? Most of it was who Akiza is." She smirked as she leaned forward just a touch, arms placed behind her back so she looked like a mocking school teacher. "The Dueltroopers are made up of-"

"What?" Akiza snarled, shooting a dark glare at Edna. "Rejects? Failures?"

"The could have beens," Edna finished. "The people that saw a moment to claim greatness and never took it. Maybe it only happened one time... maybe it was a series of choices they kept making. Heck, sometimes it wasn't even a choice. Not everyone is destined to be the grand hero who saves the day. The world is full of those people and many find themselves happy and content with what they have. But Engima... he gets people that are hungry for more and recruits them. Rips them out of the lives they had and twists them into his grasping little minions."

She paused.

"But it never works, does it?"

"Shut up."

"I wonder... did you agree to just be his jack boot thug... or when he gave you the tech did you try and escape and claim the life you thought you deserved." Edna shot her a dark look. "Tell everyone what you did."

"I said shut up," Akiza said, sounding far more petulant than she had before, like the teenager she actually was. It was easy to forget, thanks to anime logic, that I was the oldest member of this group and everyone, even the Spirits around me, were only teenagers. Children that had been forced to grow up far too quickly and could still revert back to that mentality.

"You went to another world, didn't you?" Edna asked. "Tried to take that Akiza's place. You think you're the first trooper to do that? I've been running around for a year straight cleaning up your messes, trying to right your wrongs. I've seen a lot of shit you troopers pull. You go to a world, you find your counterpart, and you try and take over their life."

"I'm... I'm going to kill you..." Akiza warned.

"Mmmhmm," Edna said with a casual shrug. "Not the first to claim that and certainly won't be the last. Get in line, princess. But let's get back to you... you tried to take a life that wasn't your own but it didn't work out, did it?" She took a step forward but Akiza refused to budge. "They noticed pretty quickly you weren't her... knew you were a fake and an imposter."

"Shut up."

"You didn't earn that life and rather than trying to make yourself into something special on your own world you just wanted to take the short cut."

"She didn't deserve it... it should have been me." Akiza glared at Edna. "She didn't even fight for her life! And they don't have an Akiza anymore... they kept screaming they wanted her back but she's rotting in an alleyway and I was there! I was there and I'm just as good as her so why-"

"According to the vibrations?" Annie asked. "Earth 1900."

"You finding out about it?"

"Come on now, Edna, you know me! Of course I am!"

"Well?"

"Patience is a virtue!" Annie sang. "Alright so... hmmm, that's interesting. It seems as if time moves differently here."

"One of those Earths then. What year is it?"

"1980, roughly."

"So we're in for a Stranger Things Yugi and Chaos then," Edna said with a snicker. "Poofy hair, good music-"

She turned a corner and stopped.

Three figures were before her. The first was clearly the Chaos of this world, as he shared many similar features with Edwin. Though there were differences... he was a touch heavier in terms of build but also far more muscular, with arms like treetrunks. His skin was a deep tan that looked like it was never going to fade. His hair was thin and white and there wasn't a spec of it on his face.

And he was 50 years old.

The other figure was Solomon Muto, younger than Edna was used to seeing him...

...with a baby sporting spiky blond, black, and magenta hair.

"Oh hell."

~MC~MC~MC~

"Alright, Edna just pinged me... we'll meet up with her down that way."

"Right," Josiah Chaos stated, following after Yoki.

Glancing back at him she smiled weakly. "Sorry I'm slowing you down... I know you have longer legs and probably want to walk faster... Edna doesn't admit it but I know she gets annoyed by it."

"Its fine," he assured her.

"...you're different from the other Chaoses we've met."

"Am I?" Josiah asked.

"Yeah... you're a lot calmer."

"hmm."

"That's not a bad thing... it's a good thing!" She quickly waved her hands about. "Sorry, I didn't mean it like that. Edna is great, its just she can get really emotional and panicky at times and worry about the smallest things. You don't seem to be like that at all. And hey, she has gotten us out of scrapes because she was paranoid but you... you know?"

"Yeah," Josiah assured her.

"So... are you friends with Tea? She said you were the Protector of the Millennium Items."

"I am," he confirmed. "I..." he paused.

"Just so you know every Chaos we find isn't from the Earth we meet them in. They all get transported there."

Josiah nodded at that, it clear he had been trying to dance around that subject. "Right. So when I... woke up... I was getting ready to take a trip to do an internship. On my Earth I didn't end up doing it but on this one I did. Or was going to. I step onto the plane only it's not a plane... it's a Greek Temple. I meet a blind man, Tiresias. He said that he had watched over the Millennium Items for thousands of years but... the other prophets and oracles of Apollo had betrayed their duty. That they now wanted to claim the items for themselves. They think these things will allow them to become gods."

"Yeah," Yoki said with a smile. "That's more common than you think when it comes to Chaoses. Either they are running into people who want to be gods, who think they are gods, or are tempting them to become gods themselves."

"Well, Tiresias tells me that its my turn to take over... that I am 'The Balance'. Gives me the Millennium Shield and tasks me to find Tea and help her out against the other holders. I have the shield or the aegis, depending on how you want to call it. The two feuding Oracles who convinced Mai to the tournament coming up have the Sword and Cornocopia. Duke has the Box, despite how much we try and get that away from him, and Cecelia had the Staff but that's disappeared. As for the Fleece that one is in the wind... I need to track it down."

"Things sound really different in your world," Yoki said. "Is it following the manga or the anime?" It always felt odd to say that, let alone consider that her entire existence had merely been a comic that Edna had watched in her world.

"I never paid attention to Yu-Gi-Oh!," Josiah admitted.

"Really?"

"That was my brother's thing. I actually had to learn... that was a fun month."

Yoki blinked at that, startled. 'What else is different with this Chaos?'

~MC~MC~MC~

"Ow..." I moaned pitifully as awareness came back to me.

"Welcome back," the Pharaoh said.

"...anyone get the license plate of that Darth Sidious that hit me?"

"Do you get that reference?" Tea... or the Spirit of the Millennium Belt who was in the driver's seat at the moment, asked. I dimly realized she was carrying me.

"I tend not to get any of Edwin's references."

"You would if I drew them in hieroglyphics," I muttered. "I can walk on my own, I think."

"You sure?" the Spirit asked, giving me a shake. "You aren't that heavy."

"Glad one of us thinks so. I need to lose a few more pounds." Even with the anime giving me a killer body I still wanted to trim down a touch. Still, she set me down on my feet and I stretched, working the kinks out of my back. "So..." I said awkwardly.

"We're on a different Earth," the Spirit told me. "Not sure where exactly but we are trying to find the others."

"It seems," the Pharaoh added, "that Enigma decided to check in on Akiza and her dueltroopers. He wasn't pleased that she had gone around him and attempted to take someone."

"He killed her?" I asked.

The Pharaoh shook his head. "He said he sent her back to her world with no way to escape."

"Well... that is cruel," I muttered.

"More so than death?"

"Death is easy," I stated. "You die and that is that. If there is a Hell then you suffer and if there is a heaven then you get your reward. But if you are trapped, forced to keep living? That is the worst thing of all." I paused, shaking my head. "Its easy sometimes to envy the dead. They at least know what is coming next, good or bad. Living... that can be its own special brand of hell."

"...what hurt you?" the Spirit asked softly.

"The world," I muttered.

The Pharaoh narrowed his eyes and even as I turned my back from him and began to walk away I could feel his cold judging stare upon my skin. It was like grabbing onto a frost covered piece of metal; at first there was just the sensation of the cold, numbing you fingers, but then the pain began. And even if its source was removed the ache would remain. "Edwin, we need to discuss what happened with Akiza. What you did-"

The Spirit though was the one to cut the Pharaoh off. "Was that the only way that you could have gotten the information out of her?"

"Other than slow torture?" I asked. "Yeah."

The Pharaoh wasn't happy with that. "If we had talked with her-"

"Would you get off that?" I snapped. "Seriously, what is with you? One step forward, two steps back with you. I think maybe you are finally beginning to understand that the people we are facing want us dead and then you say stupid things like that! Akiza wasn't going to change her ways because you asked her nicely or you told her why she was bad. She wasn't going to have an euphony moment, Pharaoh! Or did you forget the part where she admitted that she found another version of herself, brutally killed her, tried to steal her life, and when she failed she froze the entire world. There was no redemption. No Emperor to throw off the balcony, no Fluttershy to make her see 'oh, being nice is nice!'. She was gone and nothing you could say or do would change that."

"So we just give up then?" the Pharaoh charged back, hurrying to keep up with me as I stormed forward and away from him. "We never try and save people?" He let out a scoff. "What a sad world you live in where there is no hope."

"There is hope," I shot back, "but there is also delusion. Weren't you paying attention with Cabal? We saved her life, showed she'd been lied to by Marik, and she still blames you for her boyfriend being in a coma! She wasn't in the mood for your chance at redemption." I whipped around and jabbed a finger at him. "Some people don't want to be saved. And all you do when waste your time trying to help those that aren't interested is let good people suffer."

"And who gets to judge who is beyond saving?" the Pharaoh asked. "You?"

"When it comes to me and mine? Yeah. One man's pet project is another's lost cause. That's how things work, Pharaoh."

The Spirit looked between the two of us. "You two are in desperate need of balance." We both glanced at her and she shook her head. "Pharaoh... Edwin is right that sometimes we must do horrible things in the name of the greater good." She slowly slid her eyes towards me. "But the greater good is also the worst thing in the world at times. Thousands of died in its name. And nearly every would-be despot has decided at some point that there way... is the only way." She shook her head and breezed past us. "You compliment each other well. Keep it that way."

The Pharaoh and I stared at each other for a long moment before I sighed.

"Well, I feel properly chastised." And with that I followed after the Spirit, the Pharaoh moving to walk right beside me. "Anything else I should know about Engima?"

"He is more like Pegasus than he is like Marik or even Kaiba, as far as I can tell."

"How so?"

"He's quieter. More collected. He never raised his voice when he talked with Akiza. Made it clear he wasn't angry; he was disappointed."

"Hmmm. That's troubling." The Pharaoh shot me a look. "Emotions are a weakness just as they are a strength. If someone isn't in control of their emotions you can use that against them. Push them to do things they normally wouldn't. Blind them to what is going on." I paused. "Akiza used mine, even if she didn't realize it."

"As Kaiba did mine during our last duel," the Pharaoh admitted though if he was saying that to give me comfort or he just felt like he had to speak up I had no idea.

We didn't say anymore as we heard familiar voices and the two of us hurried to catch up to the Spirit, who looked utterly relieved to see everyone else. "Josiah!" she called out.

"Josiah?" I asked as the Pharaoh and I moved closer.

"The Chaos from her world. He-"

But I didn't hear anything else the Pharaoh was saying as I was entirely too focused on the figure who was standing with Yoki Muto. I could tell that people were talking to me but none of that mattered because all of my attention, every scrap of focus I had, was on the man the Pharaoh had said was Josiah Chaos.

"I..." I whispered as he turned and looked at me, recognition flashing in his eyes too.

"Kurt?" another voice said and Josiah's head snapped to the right, towards the final arrivals. "Kevin?"

"Kevin?" the Pharaoh's voice said, breaking through the fog that had filled my brain.

"My name," I got out, eyes burning. "My real name." I stepped towards the white haired man who was standing next to another version of Solomon Muto, only dimly realizing he had a baby Yugi with him. "Dad?" I managed to get out.

He didn't even get a chance to nod before I rocketed forward, wrapping him in a hug, my brother only seconds behind though far more restrained.

Not the Yu-Gi-Oh! world's version of them. Not some alternate reality. I knew it... I knew it at once.

This was my dad and brother. My family. From my world.

I clung to my father and sobbed.