incredibly strange fic

Oct 03, 2010 04:11

This is an incredibly strange little piece that I got an idea for several months back (I think it was right after the Momentum Express episodes, actually because obviously all my attention during those episodes was focused on mentions of Bolger and timeline changing Tenors just made me want them to randomly bring Pearson back to life) And I know I wrote a couple paragraphs ages ago then kind of ignored it until tonight. When I proceeded to write an asston for whatever insane reason.

So, fic. An AU in which the Tenors fuck with the timeline, Pearson actually gets to live and Crow is going neurotic trying to deal with dual memories and figure out why the hell it happened in the first place. (also I still maintain that Pearson and Aki's mom are brother and sister XD)

PG-13 mostly for language. Very vague Pearson/Bolger, one-sided Rick/Bolger (awww, Rick ;.;) and a hint of Crow/Aki.

[YGO is not mine although there I days when I say it would be far more interesting if I was writing it XD]
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Crow has two sets of memories now, and there is a strange sort of disconnect every time he realizes that things he recalls (that night of smoke and pain and the months of nightmares that followed) simply... didn't happen. Not the way he remembers them happening at least.

Pearson is still alive and working on his engines, Bolger takes care of the business end of things and Crow has to fight not to choke when Pearson idly comments, "It's amazing how in his element he is with that stuff. I could never handle it," although he's not sure why. The fact that Bolger is an uncanny businessman shouldn't surprise him by any stretch. Bolger built a tiny, fragile, empire on the charred corpse of his best friend in three short years, why should that corpse not being there change any of that cutthroat ruthlessness.

The fire still happened. Crow can picture the two similar nights in his mind's eye so sharply it makes his breath catch in his throat. That fire still happened but Bolger came back sooner, cowed and self-loathing, and threw himself in there to pull Pearson out. The pair of them almost crawling away and Crow found out a few hours later (as opposed to three years) about the duel and the card and the way Pearson's body had been tossed like a toy by that horrifying thing.

It wrecked the man's back when he landed and Pearson hasn't been on a bike since that terrible pain-filled night, although he can, at the very least, walk again now. He simply gave his deck and Black Bird to Crow with a smile like it didn't even matter (even if it was probably destroying him inside) and Crow remembers screaming and screaming and trying to beat the shit out of Bolger and Bolger not even trying to fight back, just taking every punch and at least the sonofabitch had realized that he deserved it.

(and Crow will never understand how this whole thing can exist so sharp and clear in his mind when on some level he knows it never happened, that it's all just Iliaster twisting the threads... except then maybe he wonders if it's his original memories that are the false ones since Pearson is alive and the whole confusing mess leaves him so tangled up inside that he wants to run screaming)

The business isn't quite as sleekly successful looking as the other one Crow remembers, there are no looming towers or limousines although there is a brightly lit showroom and Rick is still Rick: loyally trailing after Bolger and reminding him of impending meetings and parts inventories (not that Bolger ever forgets such things) and Crow finds himself staring at them like he's watching a particularly horrifying accident because he remembers the way Rick was in that other twisted up bit of time that only he and the other Signers can remember. Remembers that tight smile struggling to hide the heartbreak and the quietly venomous hiss that was only for Crow's ears: "I hate you. He doesn't want me to hate you. He thinks if anyone deserves contempt it's him and I'm sure you feel the same. But I hate you and the only reason I'll ever help you is because it's what he wants."

There's no dark, secret, glowers hidden behind cheerful efficiency from Rick now, just these painful little looks of longing shot in Bolger's direction that only intensify whenever Pearson is there (with his hand resting casually on Bolger's shoulder or arm or hip) and make Crow feel like a voyeur because if he didn't have that other set of memories he probably wouldn't have known to look for them at all.

He sits with Aki and talks about it sometimes because Aki has the same sort of bizarre disconnect, albeit to a lesser extent. Aki has memories of meeting an uncle she never knew she had, a meeting that may or may not have even happened and maybe once a month now there are these quiet dinners with her parents and Pearson and Bolger and Crow attends just so he can hold Aki's hand tight under the table because it all feels like one of those old, old, American TV shows. The one in black and white where it shows a story that is so terribly normal and regular on the surface but as it goes on and the layers are stripped back everything is so wrong and skewed that it leaves your mind reeling and wanting to fold in on itself. Although Aki looks at him strangely when he mumbles, "submitted for your approval," under his breath on one of those evenings.

"Why did they do it?" Crow asks one time when they manage to escape out to the garage (Aki asking Crow to take a look at her bike for a moment and quickly waving away Pearson's offer to check himself which results in a knowing chuckle on Pearson's part and a frown from Aki's father.) "Why the hell would Iliaster change this of all things? Were they trying to stop me from becoming a Signer? Or from getting my dragon? Are they just fucking with our heads? Are other people who should be dead gonna start walking around?" His voice growing louder and more edgy with every question and Aki soon enough hushes him with a nervous glance at the door and a reassuring hand against his cheek.

"I don't know. But it'll be over soon. Once the repairs to the city are done the final rounds will start... when are Jack and Yusei coming back from Peru?"

"Another day or so. I got an email; they're on their way home."

"We'll sort it out then. We'll fight and we'll take care of this." And she sounds so calm and certain (so exactly how Crow would be feeling if this mess didn't involve Pearson of all people) that he just nods and mutters something about how they should go back inside before her father attempts to shoot his balls off or something and Aki chuckles.

"Is that some bizarre sort of mixed metaphor about a shotgun wedding and him attempting to protect my virtue all at once?"

"Possibly."

Aki simply laughs again at that and kisses him on the cheek.

fic: au, fic, pairing: bolger/rick, fandom: yugioh, gen, pairing: pearson/bolger, pairing: crow/aki

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