AFTER THREE MONTHS--
So once upon a time Francy and Owl posted these two things about Tear and Kaito going home. Back in October. About a day later, I started writing this.
... YEAH.
Prompt: Going Home
Title: Taking Flight
WARNING!: Gigantamundo spoilers for 5D's. Do not read this if you do not want to be spoiled for the ~plot twists~ and other such things that took nearly 70 episodes of building up to get to, not to mention the current story arc. Also, this is offensively long. I think. I don't even know anymore.
So yeah, essentially no one is going to read this and there's no point in my posting it here. Anyway!!
Crow wasn't one for lengthy vacations. Never had been, never would be. Once he made his proverbial nest in a place he liked, that was usually that. Until it was time to spread his wings and look for the next nest, at least. For a long time, that nest had been Martha's place. The "base" of Team Satisfaction had followed that one, and when that had shattered faster than Kiryu's grasp on reality, the hideout that housed the handful of children he looked after had become Crow's next nest. Each nest had been different than the one that had come before it, but to Crow, each came with memories, good and bad, and all kinds of warm emotions.
Being trapped on an island gave him a unique challenge, though with the help of a young man with hair in the shape of a star, Crow had found his new nest easily enough. The biggest one so far too, a blimp that ended up having more and more people coming in soon after he did. It was a nest filled with other birds, even a couple of little chicks, and just like in every nest before this one, Crow felt at home there. Everyone did, on the blimp and on the island the blimp found itself on top of.
But as any good bird knew, a time would come when, eventually, he was going to have to leave his nest. A time would come when he would spread his wings and seek out a new one, and if need be, put it together.
That time seemed so far off to Crow. So few people left, and even when some did, there were some others that had been there for four times as long as the one that had left, if not longer. He didn't have to worry about things like new nests or old birds, old comrades and friends, that he would see again. He had new birds to fly with, new chicks to take care of, and even on the occasion he would reminiss about the old chicks, it wasn't long before his thoughts moved back to the present ones.
Often, he would joke to Kazuha that they would be stuck there forever. Stuck together forever. As more time passed, his jokes evolved. On one heated night, after deciding to have a drink or two, he had even told her since they were already stuck together, the should make themselves a nest all of their own, just for them. She had hit him, after that, which was probably for the best. Better than either of them fooling themselves in thinking this island, this nest, would be different than the others. That it would last.
When the time finally came to go, despite all of his jokes and previous remarks, Crow could only shake his head, only ask if it had had to come so soon, the last word having barely left his lips before he seemed to vanish into thin air.
The bird had finally left his nest.
---
Everything happened so quickly once he returned. That's what happened, Crow figured, when you end up getting taken to that place right in the middle of something. Part of him wondered if anyone else there had gone through the same experience when they went back, if they were going through it right then, even.
One might say he didn't have time to think. At the same time, however, he really couldn't do anything but. Wounds that had been healed on the island were fresh, pain that had long since vanished was present once again, and most importantly, Crow was helpless to it all. All he could do was watch Yusei and Jack's battle with Goodwin play out, watch Jack fall as he had before being sent back to the island, wait for his final trap card to be useful, and know in his heart that Yusei would be victorious.
And he was right. He would say later than he was Crow the freaking Bullet, he was always right. Of course, his trap card had had a hand in it too. Yusei won, the world was saved from the fuck ugly sludge monster that was the King of the Netherworld, and peace was restored. He'd even wound up as the fifth Signer after it all was over with. Guess the Crimson Dragon had good taste in followers after all, even if it had picked Jack first.
Crow figured after that, he could go home to Satellite, he could finally see his kids again, and tell them all about the crazy ass island he had been on for months. But as it turned out, things weren't that simple. The nest he had thought would be waiting for him when he got back couldn't be there, not anymore.
Satellite was gone within a couple of months. With its true purpose essentially null and void, and the man behind it dead, there was nothing keeping it the way it was. It was just "the part of the city that used to be Satellite" now. Crow was honestly amazed at how fast it had happened, how fast people changed their attitudes, how well everyone seemed to adjust, but he never commented on it to anyone. Yusei had made everything right, and to question that out loud, to question peace just felt wrong.
Of course, the big question on everyone's mind was still the same one. Satellite was gone, the Dark Signers were gone... There was no nest to go to now.
"Now what?"
---
"Yusei, could you look over this code for me? I'm not sure, but I think I might have put in something wrong somewhere...."
"Sure thing. While I'm at it, could you run this new program...? I haven't had a chance to test it yet."
"Oooh--! Of course! It's already finished?"
"Yeah. I think this is going to be the winner!"
Upon returning to the garage from a day's worth of deliveries, Crow found himself being greeted by what was lately becoming the usual - Yusei and Bruno bent over computers and working on new ways to power up their D-Wheels. Rua's duck remark about the two of them being like a married couple came to mind, and he couldn't help but snicker at the thought.
Perhaps he had put too much thought into how there wasn't a nest to go to before. In the end, with a little help, he, Yusei, and Jack had pulled together and found themselves a brand new nest. They'd even managed to drag along Bruno into it, with the three of them supporting the group and Jack... well, Jack would stop blowing their money someday. Really. ... He'd damn well better, anyway.
He sighed, looking at the newspaper on the table in front of him. An exhibit featuring ancient civilizations was visiting the Neo Domino Museum, though Crow really didn't have any desire to go see something like that. He supposed he might learn more about the People of the Stars or whatever they were called if he went, but he was too caught up in his thoughts to be interested in anything else. Thoughts of nests, and homes.
After all, while this place really was the first normal home he'd had in a long time, possibly even his entire life, it still felt like something was missing. The branch for the new nest to rest on top of, perhaps? The key piece that held the whole thing together? Or just something totally insignificant? Crow still wasn't sure, but every time he got to thinking about it, he couldn't stop being bothered by the lack of... whatever it was.
Maybe he just missed the island. It had been half a year since he'd left, after all, and unlike any of the other old nests he'd left behind, this one was constantly troubling him. Whenever he told the (revised) story of the Daedalus Bridge, he would be reminded of Black Star wanting to be the next legend he told his kids. Whenever something mysterious happened, he couldn't help but be reminded of his early days, when he and Maka had been trying to solve the mystery of the island and defeat the evil behind it all. Whenever he ran into a new Spellcaster monster, his first thought was often how Yami might have liked to have it and team it up with his Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl.
And let's not forget being reminded of Kazuha nearly every time he came into contact with Security, and thanks to the relationship between the remaining members of Team Satisfaction and Ushio and Mikage, that actually happened quite often. He'd started taking Blackbird out on the unused Duel Lanes, to go as fast as he possibly could and blow off some steam.
He'd be the first to tell you it didn't work. And it got him in trouble for using them without being in a duel, which in turn lead him to be taken in to Security, which in turn... Came Kazuha again.
That was an old nest - it should have fallen out of the tree by now, or perhaps just fallen apart. He shouldn't continue to look for it, to seek it out, and yet... he did.
"God damn it, you stupid girl! Where the hell are you!?"
Crow punched the table in front of the couch he had been sitting on as hard as he could. Perhaps even harder than that. The plates shook, and a glass of water tipped over and fell to the side, landing on the floor and shattering. Normally, Crow would apologize and clean up the mess. Normally, Crow wouldn't have even had a reason to do something like that in the first place - he was a happy go lucky, non-violent guy, really!
But normally, Crow would be able to get that face of hers out of his head. That... That damn face! Damn that face! Hell, damn all of their faces!
Muttering under his breath, Crow stood and gave a quick apology, almost commanding Yusei to have Jack clean the mess up when he got back.
Yusei and Bruno exchanged worried looks, and Bruno got up to go after the Black Feather duelist, when Yusei reached out to stop him, shaking his head.
"But Crow..."
"Crow is Crow. He's looking for something, and he thinks he's lost it for good. But if he believes in his bonds, he'll find it. Definitely."
The green haired mechanic paused, not so sure. But then, he never was when it came to any of these three. Seeing that Yusei seemed set in the belief that Crow would be okay, though, he sighed and got up to clean Crow's mess.
---
In the span of an hour he'd gone from punching a table to beating not one, not two, not even three, but four duelists all at once in a Riding Duel that had taken up two Duel Lanes and probably broken at least one of the new duel laws, among other things, and now Crow found himself sitting at the docks... staring at his arm.
Or more specifically, the marking on it, the one normally underneath his glove or his sleeve. The dragon's tail birthmark. Aside from his deck and his D-Wheel, this was probably his most prized possession. ... If a birthmark could qualify as a possession. Passed on from Yusei to him, a constant reminder that no matter where he went, there were four people - the other Signers - he would always be connected to.
Whenever he got like he had been earlier, looking at this made him feel a little bit better. It was also a reminder that no matter where you went, you were always connected to those you had bonds with. No matter where you went, the nests you left behind still existed, were still a part of you, and they always would be - and you were a part of those nests, and those you shared the nests with.
He remembered he had told Kazuha something like that once, even before he had become a Signer. It was something he believed with all his heart, even if it had been harder to believe ever since his return from the island. But he'd be damned if he let himself forget it. Just because his whole world had literally turned upside down the moment he'd returned from that place was no excuse, and he had to realize this and do something about it.
"Might as well do something that isn't destructive..." Crow told himself, standing up and stretching, searching his mind for something to do that wouldn't, for once, involve dueling or (as of today) punching tables. ... Well speaking of tables... "There was that exhibit at the museum... Maybe I can learn something 'bout the Crimson Dragon, if I'm lucky. Doubt there'd be anything useful there, but it never hurts to check I guess."
Crossing his arms behind his head, Crow turned away from the water and headed back to where he had parked Blackbird, hoping the distraction he had chosen for himself would not only prove to be, well, distracting - but also provide some useful information. It wouldn't, he knew it wouldn't, but it might at least be interesting.
---
The museum was relatively empty, apart from workers and those who the workers would consider the "usual crowd" - if museums could even have usual crowds. Crow hadn't been expecting a huge crowd or anything, considering that most people had things to do in the present and all. Still, after the time he'd spent with Yami, it felt kind of sad, the past being thrown away like this, some exhibit in a museum no one cared about. He'd have to drag Jack here later, it wasn't like the former King was doing anything besides wasting money Crow, Yusei, and Bruno had made anyway.
"Uh, hey. You. Museum guy, got a second?" Crow awkwardly motioned to the bored looking young man behind the front desk, who looked like he'd much rather be out dueling than sitting behind the desk of a near-empty museum answering the questions of an ex-thief. "Can you tell me where I can find your exhibit on the People of the Stars...?"
The teenager just stared at him. If Crow didn't know better, he'd think the guy was insulting him in his head, the bastard!
"We've got Romans, Egyptians, and Persians. Take your pick or leave," and with that, he promptly picked up a magazine and began to read it, leaving Crow to wonder how and why this guy had the job he did in the first place. Must have had good pay.
...
Wait, did he say Egyptians...?
Before he knew it, Crow found himself walking towards the exhibit, as if drawn there by some unseen force. So he wasn't going to learn about the People of the Stars after all. At the very least, there was someone else he could learn about, someone who this exhibit would have to have some kind of information on.
Yami. The only other duelist he had been able to spend time with on the island, not including those he had trained himself. A close friend, and someone who had confided in him about secrets about his past, or rather, the fact that he had no idea of just what is past was beyond the some basic facts, one of which being he had been an ancient pharaoh.
And fancy city exhibits should have information about those ancient pharaohs, right?
Right.
As soon as Crow entered the Egyptian room, he felt a chill go down his spine. Ignoring it, he looked around, taking in all of it. Various pieces of gold, sparkling as the lights reflected off of them, stood before Crow in their glass cases, and beyond those, on the wall, were a pair of tablets. As if in a trance, Crow walked past the gold, not taking his eyes off of the tablets on the wall, his eyes widening as he got closer, not realizing the marking on his arm had begun to glow a soft red.
For there on the tablet was none other than Yami. Or at least a picture of someone with his hairstyle, and Crow seriously doubted that there were any other pharaohs running around with the same hair his friend had. He glanced around, making sure that no one was around, and seeing that no one was, he slowly reached out towards the tablet to get a closer, more physical look. He had to be sure.
And that was when his birthmark's soft glow suddenly changed to a bright, shining light and Crow found himself being sucked towards, or rather, into the tablet as if he were a spec of dust and it were an Ancient Egyptian vacuum cleaner.
---
"Is he alive...?"
"What kind of question is that to ask? If he is, he'd be the only one out of all of us who is."
"Oh, good point, hehe!"
"Quiet you two. He's coming to."
The first thing noticed as he opened his eyes was sunlight. It was almost blinding, even more powerful than the sunlight he'd seen on some of the harsher days of the island. The second thing was that it was a heck of a lot hotter than it had been on the island, and as he blinked to get used to the light, he realized there were three figures all standing around him, the first kneeling next to him and the other two standing behind the first.
The person kneeling next to him was a girl, and while he looked her and the other two over, she turned to them - both men, from what he could see of them, to talk excitedly to them. All three of them had tan skin, and were all dressed in a style that wasn't unlike the pictures he had seen on the walls next to the tablet at the exhibit earlier. Crow squinted, trying to make out the faces of the men, when it occurred to him he had just been looking at a tablet in a cool museum and... now it looked like he was in the desert.
"Damn it, at least the last time this happened the place I got sent to had water..." Crow muttered under his breath, sitting up and shaking his head, trying to get a hold of just what was going on.
"Hahaha... Those were good times, weren't they?" Crow froze at the voice of the shorter of the two men, his eyes widening as he turned to look directly at the figure that spoke - which he could now clearly see had a very familiar star-shaped hairstyle. The man squatted down next to the girl, and despite the change in skin color, the face smiling at him was unmistakable. "However, it was I that brought you here, Crow."
"Y-Yami!?" Getting to his feet, Crow leapt back and pointed at the man - no, not the man - Yami, and gaped at him. "The hell're you doing here? And what do you mean you brought me here, you didn't-- Did you?"
"Yami...? Who is this 'Yami'?" the third and final figure asked, who looked... rather similar to the other figure on the tablet from the exhibit, but Crow didn't pay much attention to him. After all, he still had his friend, if it still was his friend, to deal with.
"It's fine, Seto. An old name shared between friends, if you will," Yami held up a hand to dismiss the issue, then offered the hand to Crow with a warm smile. It wasn't just a physical change in his friend, Crow realized. This Yami seemed much more... at peace than the Yami he remembered.
... Of course, if they both had gone home at the times that they had been brought to the island, then Yami had been home for years, if not decades and maybe even centuries.
"But you may call me Atem now, if you want. That is... my name," As Crow's eyes lit up with understanding, recalling that the Yami he had known on the island could not remember his name; Yami, or rather, Atem, turned and began walking. The man next to him, who Atem had called Seto, turned to follow without giving Crow a second glance, but the girl just gave him a curious look. "Come. We have much to discuss."
"Old friend...? But I've known him for both of our entire lives..." the girl shook her head obviously confused. As Crow opened his mouth to try to explain it to her, she turned, motioning for Crow to follow as she did so, and then ran after Atem and Seto, her confusion seemingly forgotten as she joined the two. He stood for a moment, watching their retreating backs, then realized he probably should be going with them.
"Hey, Ya-- I mean, Atem! Wait up, would ya?!"
From the desert, the trio led Crow to what he could only guess - hell, it wasn't a guess, it was bvious - was the palace. Though by looking around, it might be more of a palace as opposed to the palace. Either way, the place Crow was being led into was something else, like someone had activated a really rare field spell all of a sudden or something.
"Now then. We have much to discuss, Crow! I've even asked Seto to have the servants prepare a feast," Crow honestly wasn't sure just what was going on here, but he remembered at that moment that his friend was the pharaoh. Things like setting up feasts were probably no problem for a guy like that. But... If he was in a place where his friend was pharaoh, did that mean he'd been taken to Yami-- Atem's world now, like he had the island, but thanks to Atem bringing him here?
After a few more minutes of walking, Crow found himself sitting at an old looking table, presumably where they would be served their feast. The two that were with Atem said their farewells and left the two in privacy, though it still took Crow a few more moments to find his voice.
"So, we have much to discuss, eh? Like what? Your lack of water? 'Cause lemme tell ya, I don't think I'll be able to help you with that one," Crow joked, still confused about the whole thing, but too happy to see his friend again to really let it show too much. Atem just chuckled at the joke, though Crow didn't think it was funny enough to deserve it, but to Crow's surprise, a few girls came out with goblets filled with water for each of them. Gaping at how instant it was, he just sipped at it
"I don't think we lack water at all," Atem told Crow, his tone both one of humor and one of politeness. He was acting a lot more like some kind of king now, Crow noted. Or like... a pharaoh. Guess he'd really made it after all, if the rest of this place wasn't any clue. "The feast should be here shortly. In the meantime, how have you been? It feels like it's been a thousand years since I last saw you!"
"How have I been? Come on, Atem! You're wearing priceless freaking artifacts like they're-- Like they're my headband! Come on man, how have you been?"
So the two feasted, catching up on what had happened to the two since they had left the island while they did so. Crow told of his adventures as a Signer and the fall of Satellite, and Atem told of his final duels with Bakura and his trips through time. They spoke of their friends, both from their homes and from the island. And of course, they spoke of dueling, and it was then that Atem's kingly attitude dropped - and Crow saw the powerful duelist he had always known he had roomed with in the blimp, and unbeknownst to him, the former King of Games.
As the final plates were being taken away, Atem stood. Crow blinked, watching his friend curiously, though he was too busy getting the last bits of meat off of what had been a particularly tasty pork chop.
"Come, Crow. It's time for you to see just why I've brought you here," Atem motioned for Crow to come to his side as he spoke, not saying any more than that and waiting for Crow to comply. Raising an eyebrow, Crow did what Atem wanted him to do, at which point Atem smiled. "I have... A gift for you. It's not a Duel Monsters card, we don't have those yet here, but I think you might appreciate this more."
Atem held up his arm, and in a flash of light, Crow's trusty D-Wheel, Blackbird appeared beneath the arm he had moved. The light show wasn't over, however, it was just beginning - Blackbird burst into shining, golden light, and a familiar eye-like symbol appeared on the hood of the machine. Though the light began to fade, the symbol, it seemed, was permanent - it looked almost like someone had chipped it off of Atem's headband, or his old Puzzle, and attached it right on there.
Most people would realize that something amazing had just happened to the vehicle. That it had been given a gift by the greatest pharaoh there had never been.
Crow was not most people.
"E-Ehhhhh!? What did you do to my Blackbird!? You-- You don't know anything about D-Wheels, Ya- Atem- Whoever the hell you are! How do you know what you're doing!? You coulda broken something, damn it!!" Crow put his hands on the front of his treasured D-Wheel, looking it over worriedly, checking for damage and just about anything he could look for. But after a few panicked moments, it became clear to him that nothing was wrong. "... Did you even do anything? Are you screwing with me, Atem? It's a hood ornamant."
"I gave you a gift," Atem walked over to the D-Wheel, his cape billowing behind him as he moved. He placed his hand on top of it, tracing the eye he had added as he did, and turned to Crow, giving the D-Wheeler a smile. "You aren't in my 'world' in the sense you think you are, Crow. True, this is the world as it was when I was pharaoh, but that isn't exactly the case. This is the afterlife. My afterlife."
Crow stared. What else could he do? The implications of what Atem were saying were just... But at the same time, they made sense with the rest of what he had said back on the island about himself. Crow had even always joked that if he ever went home, "Yami" would be long dead. But hearing it flat out like that was just...
"What... What are you..."
"I have powers here, Crow. Powers like you wouldn't believe, and I want to share them with you. I've found rest here, as I was destined to, but I know that you haven't, and not just because of the things you must do in the present time," Atem closed his eyes and stepped away from the D-Wheel. "I've given your D-Wheel, your Blackbird, a very special power. Hahaha, it's an honorary Millenium Item now, really."
"Just-- Just tell me what you did, Atem!!" Crow yelled, trying his best to ignore the fact that his friend, the only duelist he'd been with in all of his time on the island, really was dead by taking it out on him. ... It didn't make sense, but really, when did anything that ever happened to him make sense?
"Your D-Wheel now has the power to travel to other worlds, Crow," The words Atem spoke were said solemnly, and Crow didn't need to say anything or even question him. Somehow, he just knew that it was the absolute truth. "Through time, through space, it doesn't matter. You can go wherever you want, now. This is my gift to you."
Atem paused, placing his hand on the eye once more. He closed his eyes, as if collecting himself, before adding something, something more personal.
"Consider this another mark you will carry with you." Crow knew without Atem even saying anything that he was speaking of the mark on his arm. "Another mark that will remind you of a bond, a bond that may be stretched as far as it could be over the passage of time, but a bond that can never die nonetheless."
"A-Atem..."
The pharaoh smiled.
"Goodbye, my friend."
And then, Atem and the palace were gone. Crow was alone then, standing with Blackbird in the middle of the desert.
He took a long, hard look in the distance, hoping to see some sign of a palace, of people with tan skin, of anything, but no matter how hard he looked, there was nothing. He sighed, a small, even sad smile on his face, and shook his head.
"See ya, friend."
---
He could still see their faces (and no, they weren't damn faces, just regular faces, happy faces, drywall faces, cute faces; his friends' faces) as plain as day. And he knew that soon, very soon, he would be seeing each and every one of them again, but in person.
The thing about Crow was that he wasn't like normal birds. Sure, he settled in his nests and he lived like other birds, going from one to the other. But he was different. He flew where he wanted to, when he wanted to. If that meant to an old nest, it meant to an old nest. If it meant to someone else's nest, then it meant to someone else's nest. Kazuha had put it nicely once. He was all about flying free.
He was airborne now, flying like he had never flown before, - through time, through space, all thanks to Atem. As Blackbird's engine roared, powered by each and every one of Crow's bonds that he held so dear; as Ancient Egypt slowly faded away and the ground below him began to change into something completely different, Crow grinned widly.
He was on his way.
The bird had spread his wings and taken flight once again.
...
And the bird wasn't getting some sappy, cute-ass end like that. Not if Security's ex-most wanted had anything to say about it, anyway. His grin as wild as ever, Crow thrust a fist into the sky and burst into mad, happy laughter as the wind blew past him and he soared onwards. Onwards to a new place, onwards to all the nests he could ever hope to live in and visit, onwards towards his friends.
"YAHOOOOOOOOO! CROW'S COMING GUYS!! HAAAHAHAHA!!"
... YEAH.
Prompt: Going Home
Title: Taking Flight
WARNING!: Gigantamundo spoilers for 5D's. Do not read this if you do not want to be spoiled for the ~plot twists~ and other such things that took nearly 70 episodes of building up to get to, not to mention the current story arc. Also, this is offensively long. I think. I don't even know anymore.
So yeah, essentially no one is going to read this and there's no point in my posting it here. Anyway!!
Crow wasn't one for lengthy vacations. Never had been, never would be. Once he made his proverbial nest in a place he liked, that was usually that. Until it was time to spread his wings and look for the next nest, at least. For a long time, that nest had been Martha's place. The "base" of Team Satisfaction had followed that one, and when that had shattered faster than Kiryu's grasp on reality, the hideout that housed the handful of children he looked after had become Crow's next nest. Each nest had been different than the one that had come before it, but to Crow, each came with memories, good and bad, and all kinds of warm emotions.
Being trapped on an island gave him a unique challenge, though with the help of a young man with hair in the shape of a star, Crow had found his new nest easily enough. The biggest one so far too, a blimp that ended up having more and more people coming in soon after he did. It was a nest filled with other birds, even a couple of little chicks, and just like in every nest before this one, Crow felt at home there. Everyone did, on the blimp and on the island the blimp found itself on top of.
But as any good bird knew, a time would come when, eventually, he was going to have to leave his nest. A time would come when he would spread his wings and seek out a new one, and if need be, put it together.
That time seemed so far off to Crow. So few people left, and even when some did, there were some others that had been there for four times as long as the one that had left, if not longer. He didn't have to worry about things like new nests or old birds, old comrades and friends, that he would see again. He had new birds to fly with, new chicks to take care of, and even on the occasion he would reminiss about the old chicks, it wasn't long before his thoughts moved back to the present ones.
Often, he would joke to Kazuha that they would be stuck there forever. Stuck together forever. As more time passed, his jokes evolved. On one heated night, after deciding to have a drink or two, he had even told her since they were already stuck together, the should make themselves a nest all of their own, just for them. She had hit him, after that, which was probably for the best. Better than either of them fooling themselves in thinking this island, this nest, would be different than the others. That it would last.
When the time finally came to go, despite all of his jokes and previous remarks, Crow could only shake his head, only ask if it had had to come so soon, the last word having barely left his lips before he seemed to vanish into thin air.
The bird had finally left his nest.
---
Everything happened so quickly once he returned. That's what happened, Crow figured, when you end up getting taken to that place right in the middle of something. Part of him wondered if anyone else there had gone through the same experience when they went back, if they were going through it right then, even.
One might say he didn't have time to think. At the same time, however, he really couldn't do anything but. Wounds that had been healed on the island were fresh, pain that had long since vanished was present once again, and most importantly, Crow was helpless to it all. All he could do was watch Yusei and Jack's battle with Goodwin play out, watch Jack fall as he had before being sent back to the island, wait for his final trap card to be useful, and know in his heart that Yusei would be victorious.
And he was right. He would say later than he was Crow the freaking Bullet, he was always right. Of course, his trap card had had a hand in it too. Yusei won, the world was saved from the fuck ugly sludge monster that was the King of the Netherworld, and peace was restored. He'd even wound up as the fifth Signer after it all was over with. Guess the Crimson Dragon had good taste in followers after all, even if it had picked Jack first.
Crow figured after that, he could go home to Satellite, he could finally see his kids again, and tell them all about the crazy ass island he had been on for months. But as it turned out, things weren't that simple. The nest he had thought would be waiting for him when he got back couldn't be there, not anymore.
Satellite was gone within a couple of months. With its true purpose essentially null and void, and the man behind it dead, there was nothing keeping it the way it was. It was just "the part of the city that used to be Satellite" now. Crow was honestly amazed at how fast it had happened, how fast people changed their attitudes, how well everyone seemed to adjust, but he never commented on it to anyone. Yusei had made everything right, and to question that out loud, to question peace just felt wrong.
Of course, the big question on everyone's mind was still the same one. Satellite was gone, the Dark Signers were gone... There was no nest to go to now.
"Now what?"
---
"Yusei, could you look over this code for me? I'm not sure, but I think I might have put in something wrong somewhere...."
"Sure thing. While I'm at it, could you run this new program...? I haven't had a chance to test it yet."
"Oooh--! Of course! It's already finished?"
"Yeah. I think this is going to be the winner!"
Upon returning to the garage from a day's worth of deliveries, Crow found himself being greeted by what was lately becoming the usual - Yusei and Bruno bent over computers and working on new ways to power up their D-Wheels. Rua's duck remark about the two of them being like a married couple came to mind, and he couldn't help but snicker at the thought.
Perhaps he had put too much thought into how there wasn't a nest to go to before. In the end, with a little help, he, Yusei, and Jack had pulled together and found themselves a brand new nest. They'd even managed to drag along Bruno into it, with the three of them supporting the group and Jack... well, Jack would stop blowing their money someday. Really. ... He'd damn well better, anyway.
He sighed, looking at the newspaper on the table in front of him. An exhibit featuring ancient civilizations was visiting the Neo Domino Museum, though Crow really didn't have any desire to go see something like that. He supposed he might learn more about the People of the Stars or whatever they were called if he went, but he was too caught up in his thoughts to be interested in anything else. Thoughts of nests, and homes.
After all, while this place really was the first normal home he'd had in a long time, possibly even his entire life, it still felt like something was missing. The branch for the new nest to rest on top of, perhaps? The key piece that held the whole thing together? Or just something totally insignificant? Crow still wasn't sure, but every time he got to thinking about it, he couldn't stop being bothered by the lack of... whatever it was.
Maybe he just missed the island. It had been half a year since he'd left, after all, and unlike any of the other old nests he'd left behind, this one was constantly troubling him. Whenever he told the (revised) story of the Daedalus Bridge, he would be reminded of Black Star wanting to be the next legend he told his kids. Whenever something mysterious happened, he couldn't help but be reminded of his early days, when he and Maka had been trying to solve the mystery of the island and defeat the evil behind it all. Whenever he ran into a new Spellcaster monster, his first thought was often how Yami might have liked to have it and team it up with his Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl.
And let's not forget being reminded of Kazuha nearly every time he came into contact with Security, and thanks to the relationship between the remaining members of Team Satisfaction and Ushio and Mikage, that actually happened quite often. He'd started taking Blackbird out on the unused Duel Lanes, to go as fast as he possibly could and blow off some steam.
He'd be the first to tell you it didn't work. And it got him in trouble for using them without being in a duel, which in turn lead him to be taken in to Security, which in turn... Came Kazuha again.
That was an old nest - it should have fallen out of the tree by now, or perhaps just fallen apart. He shouldn't continue to look for it, to seek it out, and yet... he did.
"God damn it, you stupid girl! Where the hell are you!?"
Crow punched the table in front of the couch he had been sitting on as hard as he could. Perhaps even harder than that. The plates shook, and a glass of water tipped over and fell to the side, landing on the floor and shattering. Normally, Crow would apologize and clean up the mess. Normally, Crow wouldn't have even had a reason to do something like that in the first place - he was a happy go lucky, non-violent guy, really!
But normally, Crow would be able to get that face of hers out of his head. That... That damn face! Damn that face! Hell, damn all of their faces!
Muttering under his breath, Crow stood and gave a quick apology, almost commanding Yusei to have Jack clean the mess up when he got back.
Yusei and Bruno exchanged worried looks, and Bruno got up to go after the Black Feather duelist, when Yusei reached out to stop him, shaking his head.
"But Crow..."
"Crow is Crow. He's looking for something, and he thinks he's lost it for good. But if he believes in his bonds, he'll find it. Definitely."
The green haired mechanic paused, not so sure. But then, he never was when it came to any of these three. Seeing that Yusei seemed set in the belief that Crow would be okay, though, he sighed and got up to clean Crow's mess.
---
In the span of an hour he'd gone from punching a table to beating not one, not two, not even three, but four duelists all at once in a Riding Duel that had taken up two Duel Lanes and probably broken at least one of the new duel laws, among other things, and now Crow found himself sitting at the docks... staring at his arm.
Or more specifically, the marking on it, the one normally underneath his glove or his sleeve. The dragon's tail birthmark. Aside from his deck and his D-Wheel, this was probably his most prized possession. ... If a birthmark could qualify as a possession. Passed on from Yusei to him, a constant reminder that no matter where he went, there were four people - the other Signers - he would always be connected to.
Whenever he got like he had been earlier, looking at this made him feel a little bit better. It was also a reminder that no matter where you went, you were always connected to those you had bonds with. No matter where you went, the nests you left behind still existed, were still a part of you, and they always would be - and you were a part of those nests, and those you shared the nests with.
He remembered he had told Kazuha something like that once, even before he had become a Signer. It was something he believed with all his heart, even if it had been harder to believe ever since his return from the island. But he'd be damned if he let himself forget it. Just because his whole world had literally turned upside down the moment he'd returned from that place was no excuse, and he had to realize this and do something about it.
"Might as well do something that isn't destructive..." Crow told himself, standing up and stretching, searching his mind for something to do that wouldn't, for once, involve dueling or (as of today) punching tables. ... Well speaking of tables... "There was that exhibit at the museum... Maybe I can learn something 'bout the Crimson Dragon, if I'm lucky. Doubt there'd be anything useful there, but it never hurts to check I guess."
Crossing his arms behind his head, Crow turned away from the water and headed back to where he had parked Blackbird, hoping the distraction he had chosen for himself would not only prove to be, well, distracting - but also provide some useful information. It wouldn't, he knew it wouldn't, but it might at least be interesting.
---
The museum was relatively empty, apart from workers and those who the workers would consider the "usual crowd" - if museums could even have usual crowds. Crow hadn't been expecting a huge crowd or anything, considering that most people had things to do in the present and all. Still, after the time he'd spent with Yami, it felt kind of sad, the past being thrown away like this, some exhibit in a museum no one cared about. He'd have to drag Jack here later, it wasn't like the former King was doing anything besides wasting money Crow, Yusei, and Bruno had made anyway.
"Uh, hey. You. Museum guy, got a second?" Crow awkwardly motioned to the bored looking young man behind the front desk, who looked like he'd much rather be out dueling than sitting behind the desk of a near-empty museum answering the questions of an ex-thief. "Can you tell me where I can find your exhibit on the People of the Stars...?"
The teenager just stared at him. If Crow didn't know better, he'd think the guy was insulting him in his head, the bastard!
"We've got Romans, Egyptians, and Persians. Take your pick or leave," and with that, he promptly picked up a magazine and began to read it, leaving Crow to wonder how and why this guy had the job he did in the first place. Must have had good pay.
...
Wait, did he say Egyptians...?
Before he knew it, Crow found himself walking towards the exhibit, as if drawn there by some unseen force. So he wasn't going to learn about the People of the Stars after all. At the very least, there was someone else he could learn about, someone who this exhibit would have to have some kind of information on.
Yami. The only other duelist he had been able to spend time with on the island, not including those he had trained himself. A close friend, and someone who had confided in him about secrets about his past, or rather, the fact that he had no idea of just what is past was beyond the some basic facts, one of which being he had been an ancient pharaoh.
And fancy city exhibits should have information about those ancient pharaohs, right?
Right.
As soon as Crow entered the Egyptian room, he felt a chill go down his spine. Ignoring it, he looked around, taking in all of it. Various pieces of gold, sparkling as the lights reflected off of them, stood before Crow in their glass cases, and beyond those, on the wall, were a pair of tablets. As if in a trance, Crow walked past the gold, not taking his eyes off of the tablets on the wall, his eyes widening as he got closer, not realizing the marking on his arm had begun to glow a soft red.
For there on the tablet was none other than Yami. Or at least a picture of someone with his hairstyle, and Crow seriously doubted that there were any other pharaohs running around with the same hair his friend had. He glanced around, making sure that no one was around, and seeing that no one was, he slowly reached out towards the tablet to get a closer, more physical look. He had to be sure.
And that was when his birthmark's soft glow suddenly changed to a bright, shining light and Crow found himself being sucked towards, or rather, into the tablet as if he were a spec of dust and it were an Ancient Egyptian vacuum cleaner.
---
"Is he alive...?"
"What kind of question is that to ask? If he is, he'd be the only one out of all of us who is."
"Oh, good point, hehe!"
"Quiet you two. He's coming to."
The first thing noticed as he opened his eyes was sunlight. It was almost blinding, even more powerful than the sunlight he'd seen on some of the harsher days of the island. The second thing was that it was a heck of a lot hotter than it had been on the island, and as he blinked to get used to the light, he realized there were three figures all standing around him, the first kneeling next to him and the other two standing behind the first.
The person kneeling next to him was a girl, and while he looked her and the other two over, she turned to them - both men, from what he could see of them, to talk excitedly to them. All three of them had tan skin, and were all dressed in a style that wasn't unlike the pictures he had seen on the walls next to the tablet at the exhibit earlier. Crow squinted, trying to make out the faces of the men, when it occurred to him he had just been looking at a tablet in a cool museum and... now it looked like he was in the desert.
"Damn it, at least the last time this happened the place I got sent to had water..." Crow muttered under his breath, sitting up and shaking his head, trying to get a hold of just what was going on.
"Hahaha... Those were good times, weren't they?" Crow froze at the voice of the shorter of the two men, his eyes widening as he turned to look directly at the figure that spoke - which he could now clearly see had a very familiar star-shaped hairstyle. The man squatted down next to the girl, and despite the change in skin color, the face smiling at him was unmistakable. "However, it was I that brought you here, Crow."
"Y-Yami!?" Getting to his feet, Crow leapt back and pointed at the man - no, not the man - Yami, and gaped at him. "The hell're you doing here? And what do you mean you brought me here, you didn't-- Did you?"
"Yami...? Who is this 'Yami'?" the third and final figure asked, who looked... rather similar to the other figure on the tablet from the exhibit, but Crow didn't pay much attention to him. After all, he still had his friend, if it still was his friend, to deal with.
"It's fine, Seto. An old name shared between friends, if you will," Yami held up a hand to dismiss the issue, then offered the hand to Crow with a warm smile. It wasn't just a physical change in his friend, Crow realized. This Yami seemed much more... at peace than the Yami he remembered.
... Of course, if they both had gone home at the times that they had been brought to the island, then Yami had been home for years, if not decades and maybe even centuries.
"But you may call me Atem now, if you want. That is... my name," As Crow's eyes lit up with understanding, recalling that the Yami he had known on the island could not remember his name; Yami, or rather, Atem, turned and began walking. The man next to him, who Atem had called Seto, turned to follow without giving Crow a second glance, but the girl just gave him a curious look. "Come. We have much to discuss."
"Old friend...? But I've known him for both of our entire lives..." the girl shook her head obviously confused. As Crow opened his mouth to try to explain it to her, she turned, motioning for Crow to follow as she did so, and then ran after Atem and Seto, her confusion seemingly forgotten as she joined the two. He stood for a moment, watching their retreating backs, then realized he probably should be going with them.
"Hey, Ya-- I mean, Atem! Wait up, would ya?!"
From the desert, the trio led Crow to what he could only guess - hell, it wasn't a guess, it was bvious - was the palace. Though by looking around, it might be more of a palace as opposed to the palace. Either way, the place Crow was being led into was something else, like someone had activated a really rare field spell all of a sudden or something.
"Now then. We have much to discuss, Crow! I've even asked Seto to have the servants prepare a feast," Crow honestly wasn't sure just what was going on here, but he remembered at that moment that his friend was the pharaoh. Things like setting up feasts were probably no problem for a guy like that. But... If he was in a place where his friend was pharaoh, did that mean he'd been taken to Yami-- Atem's world now, like he had the island, but thanks to Atem bringing him here?
After a few more minutes of walking, Crow found himself sitting at an old looking table, presumably where they would be served their feast. The two that were with Atem said their farewells and left the two in privacy, though it still took Crow a few more moments to find his voice.
"So, we have much to discuss, eh? Like what? Your lack of water? 'Cause lemme tell ya, I don't think I'll be able to help you with that one," Crow joked, still confused about the whole thing, but too happy to see his friend again to really let it show too much. Atem just chuckled at the joke, though Crow didn't think it was funny enough to deserve it, but to Crow's surprise, a few girls came out with goblets filled with water for each of them. Gaping at how instant it was, he just sipped at it
"I don't think we lack water at all," Atem told Crow, his tone both one of humor and one of politeness. He was acting a lot more like some kind of king now, Crow noted. Or like... a pharaoh. Guess he'd really made it after all, if the rest of this place wasn't any clue. "The feast should be here shortly. In the meantime, how have you been? It feels like it's been a thousand years since I last saw you!"
"How have I been? Come on, Atem! You're wearing priceless freaking artifacts like they're-- Like they're my headband! Come on man, how have you been?"
So the two feasted, catching up on what had happened to the two since they had left the island while they did so. Crow told of his adventures as a Signer and the fall of Satellite, and Atem told of his final duels with Bakura and his trips through time. They spoke of their friends, both from their homes and from the island. And of course, they spoke of dueling, and it was then that Atem's kingly attitude dropped - and Crow saw the powerful duelist he had always known he had roomed with in the blimp, and unbeknownst to him, the former King of Games.
As the final plates were being taken away, Atem stood. Crow blinked, watching his friend curiously, though he was too busy getting the last bits of meat off of what had been a particularly tasty pork chop.
"Come, Crow. It's time for you to see just why I've brought you here," Atem motioned for Crow to come to his side as he spoke, not saying any more than that and waiting for Crow to comply. Raising an eyebrow, Crow did what Atem wanted him to do, at which point Atem smiled. "I have... A gift for you. It's not a Duel Monsters card, we don't have those yet here, but I think you might appreciate this more."
Atem held up his arm, and in a flash of light, Crow's trusty D-Wheel, Blackbird appeared beneath the arm he had moved. The light show wasn't over, however, it was just beginning - Blackbird burst into shining, golden light, and a familiar eye-like symbol appeared on the hood of the machine. Though the light began to fade, the symbol, it seemed, was permanent - it looked almost like someone had chipped it off of Atem's headband, or his old Puzzle, and attached it right on there.
Most people would realize that something amazing had just happened to the vehicle. That it had been given a gift by the greatest pharaoh there had never been.
Crow was not most people.
"E-Ehhhhh!? What did you do to my Blackbird!? You-- You don't know anything about D-Wheels, Ya- Atem- Whoever the hell you are! How do you know what you're doing!? You coulda broken something, damn it!!" Crow put his hands on the front of his treasured D-Wheel, looking it over worriedly, checking for damage and just about anything he could look for. But after a few panicked moments, it became clear to him that nothing was wrong. "... Did you even do anything? Are you screwing with me, Atem? It's a hood ornamant."
"I gave you a gift," Atem walked over to the D-Wheel, his cape billowing behind him as he moved. He placed his hand on top of it, tracing the eye he had added as he did, and turned to Crow, giving the D-Wheeler a smile. "You aren't in my 'world' in the sense you think you are, Crow. True, this is the world as it was when I was pharaoh, but that isn't exactly the case. This is the afterlife. My afterlife."
Crow stared. What else could he do? The implications of what Atem were saying were just... But at the same time, they made sense with the rest of what he had said back on the island about himself. Crow had even always joked that if he ever went home, "Yami" would be long dead. But hearing it flat out like that was just...
"What... What are you..."
"I have powers here, Crow. Powers like you wouldn't believe, and I want to share them with you. I've found rest here, as I was destined to, but I know that you haven't, and not just because of the things you must do in the present time," Atem closed his eyes and stepped away from the D-Wheel. "I've given your D-Wheel, your Blackbird, a very special power. Hahaha, it's an honorary Millenium Item now, really."
"Just-- Just tell me what you did, Atem!!" Crow yelled, trying his best to ignore the fact that his friend, the only duelist he'd been with in all of his time on the island, really was dead by taking it out on him. ... It didn't make sense, but really, when did anything that ever happened to him make sense?
"Your D-Wheel now has the power to travel to other worlds, Crow," The words Atem spoke were said solemnly, and Crow didn't need to say anything or even question him. Somehow, he just knew that it was the absolute truth. "Through time, through space, it doesn't matter. You can go wherever you want, now. This is my gift to you."
Atem paused, placing his hand on the eye once more. He closed his eyes, as if collecting himself, before adding something, something more personal.
"Consider this another mark you will carry with you." Crow knew without Atem even saying anything that he was speaking of the mark on his arm. "Another mark that will remind you of a bond, a bond that may be stretched as far as it could be over the passage of time, but a bond that can never die nonetheless."
"A-Atem..."
The pharaoh smiled.
"Goodbye, my friend."
And then, Atem and the palace were gone. Crow was alone then, standing with Blackbird in the middle of the desert.
He took a long, hard look in the distance, hoping to see some sign of a palace, of people with tan skin, of anything, but no matter how hard he looked, there was nothing. He sighed, a small, even sad smile on his face, and shook his head.
"See ya, friend."
---
He could still see their faces (and no, they weren't damn faces, just regular faces, happy faces, drywall faces, cute faces; his friends' faces) as plain as day. And he knew that soon, very soon, he would be seeing each and every one of them again, but in person.
The thing about Crow was that he wasn't like normal birds. Sure, he settled in his nests and he lived like other birds, going from one to the other. But he was different. He flew where he wanted to, when he wanted to. If that meant to an old nest, it meant to an old nest. If it meant to someone else's nest, then it meant to someone else's nest. Kazuha had put it nicely once. He was all about flying free.
He was airborne now, flying like he had never flown before, - through time, through space, all thanks to Atem. As Blackbird's engine roared, powered by each and every one of Crow's bonds that he held so dear; as Ancient Egypt slowly faded away and the ground below him began to change into something completely different, Crow grinned widly.
He was on his way.
The bird had spread his wings and taken flight once again.
...
And the bird wasn't getting some sappy, cute-ass end like that. Not if Security's ex-most wanted had anything to say about it, anyway. His grin as wild as ever, Crow thrust a fist into the sky and burst into mad, happy laughter as the wind blew past him and he soared onwards. Onwards to a new place, onwards to all the nests he could ever hope to live in and visit, onwards towards his friends.
"YAHOOOOOOOOO! CROW'S COMING GUYS!! HAAAHAHAHA!!"