Bonds Across Time

Summary: Paradox's grand experiment was not without consequences. (Alternatively: Yusei and Judai's misadventures on a time traveling motorcycle.) Pre-slash. Slowly progressing Starshipping.

Chapter 1

Something was wrong. The Crimson Dragon roared in fury as they barrelled through the void, struggling against an unseen force. The red fire blazed hotter around them as the manifestation of the dragon star tried to propel them onwards, stretching the fabric of time and space to its limits. Clinging to the surface of the D-Wheel by the force of will alone, Yusei and Judai braved the chaotic maelstrom, relying only on the god's rapidly depleting aura to shield them as metaphysical winds tore at them from all sides.

The force eventually proved to be too much. From here on, the details became fuzzy. The duellists would later recall slamming into a barrier of searing light and watching in horror as the Crimson Dragon dissolved into shining ribbons as they fell, screaming into white nothingness.

Judai groaned as he slowly came back to life, shivering. His body ached like it had gone sightseeing in a blender while he had been unconscious.

Yubel? What's going on?

…

… Yubel?

Yubel!

Frantically, he reached out for the other half of his soul and was relieved when he sensed her steadying presence sleeping in the back of his mind.

That's right. Yubel must still be tired from protecting me. Wait…!

His eyes snapped open as he shot up, only to double over as his muscles screamed in protest. Something that had been draped across his chest slid into his lap with a soft thump. He stared at it blankly for a moment, fingering the rough material. It was dark blue with orange accents and smelled faintly of motor oil.

Something bright had been flickering at the edge of his vision. He followed it and saw a dark haired boy in a sleeveless black shirt half-facing away from him and stoking a fire. Beside him, looking rather battered was a motorcycle which was only half-assembled, several pieces scattered around. An open toolkit had been carefully laid next to it.

"Yusei…" he croaked past the dryness in his throat.

"Judai-san!" Finally realizing that he had finally awakened, Yusei immediately dropped what he was doing and rushed over, helping him sit up fully. Without prompting, he handed him a thermos which he took without hesitation. The water was lukewarm and slightly sandy but he gulped it down greedily. After finishing half of it, he turned to regard his new companion more closely.

Yusei was staring at him with undisguised relief, the tense lines in his shoulders relaxing. He also looked like he hadn't slept in days. Dark circles lined his blue eyes, giving them a slightly hollow look. He was covered in dust and looked as if he had half a sandbox dumped over his head. Noting the grittiness in his own mouth, Judai realized that he probably didn't look much better himself.

Judai favoured the other duelist with a shaky but sincere smile. "Sorry for making you look after me," he said sheepishly. He picked the crumpled jacket off of his lap and handed it back. "Was I out long?"

After ascertaining that brown-haired boy wasn't about to collapse again, Yusei draped his jacket back over his shoulders, unable to hold back a slight shiver. He averted his eyes. "You were asleep for two days."

"Two days?!" Judai exclaimed, suddenly much more awake. Yusei's ragged appearance made a lot more sense. "Oh crap, now I'm really sorry! No wonder you look so beat up," he said before realizing that it came out somewhat tactless.

If he took any offence at all, he didn't show it. "It's fine. I'm just glad you're awake."

He cast his gaze around to examine their surroundings. Yusei had tucked them behind a tall jagged rock formation which made an admirable attempt at blocking out the wind. Beyond the wall of rocks, Judai could see nothing be long stretches of sand which was sparsely decorated with thin, thorny plants.

"By the way, where are we?"

"I sent out a distress signal through my D-Wheel, but my communications aren't getting through. In the best case, it might be because this area doesn't have any reception." Despite the hopeful words, Yusei's pessimistic expression revealed that he personally did not take any stock in this theory.

"And in the worst case?" asked Judai.

"We were borrowing the power of the Crimson Dragon to go back to your time. But something interfered and the Crimson Dragon drained its energies to shield us. There's no telling where… or when we ended up."

Judai hummed thoughtfully for a moment, staring up at the sky. He brightened up. "It might not be as bad as you think," he said, clapping a friendly hand on the other boy's shoulder. "On the bright side, I'm pretty sure we're still on Earth."

"How can you tell?" asked Yusei.

Judai chuckled and pointed directly upwards. The black-haired duelist followed the path traced by his finger.

"The stars?"

"Yup!" Judai grinned, triumphantly popping the 'p'. "I recognize the constellations. Not enough to tell you where we are, exactly, though."

"That's impressive," said Yusei almost wistfully. "You can't see stars from Neo Domino City because of the light pollution. Not from Satellite either."

"Is that where you're from, Yusei?" Judai asked, sitting with his elbows propped up by his knees. "I've been meaning to ask: what's the future like?"

Yusei hesitated slightly. "That's not really something I can describe in a few words. My life in the future… it isn't perfect… or even pleasant sometimes. But I always had friends I could rely on."

Sensing the other boy's reluctance, Judai hurriedly backtracked. "Ah! It's fine if you don't want to talk about it. I probably shouldn't be spoiling myself anyway," he said with a cheerful wink. "I believe that the future is what we make ourselves by living to the fullest in the present! Or something like that. Man, I guess that must be pretty weird for you, since my future is technically your past."

Yusei gifted him with a rare smile. "If it helps, I believe that too, Judai-san."

"So! What's the plan?" Judai asked, slightly rocking in enthusiasm, not seeming at all put off by being potentially stranded in the middle of an unknown desert with dwindling food and water supplies.

Yusei pushed back his sleeve and stared at the faded mark on his forearm in resignation. "The Crimson Dragon used up a colossal amount of energy to take us to the past to fight Paradox. I'm sorry. It looks like it may take a while before we can get back to your time."

"Don't be worry about it, Yusei. Of course, I'd like to get back as soon as possible and make sure that Johan and the others are OK. But with the Crimson Dragon, it'll be like we have a TARDIS!"

"A… Tardis?"

"It's a kind of a small big blue boxy time machine spaceship thing and… uh, never mind. In any case, I'm sure we could even get back five minutes before we left!"

Yusei nodded slowly, despite not understanding a single word, mentally cataloguing it as another piece of history that had been lost during the Zero Reverse disaster. "Thank you for your understanding. For now, I believe we should start with find a water source. Our provisions will likely last us only a few days. We can figure out where we are afterwards."

"Good idea. Maybe it'll lead us to civilization too. If we're lucky, we've only just been knocked a few countries over from Duel Academia."

Now that Judai was awake and no longer in danger of falling into a coma, the two finally took stock of their inventory. Yusei had a small emergency travel kit stashed away in his D-Wheel from his trip to Crash Town. It was thanks to it that he was able to keep them hydrated during the last two days. He had been ill prepared for his sudden trip through time. Judai on the other hand had packed for a long trip, although he hadn't expected his journey to take him so far from society or for him to pick up an extra travelling buddy. His rugsack contained a couple changes of clothes, dry rations, and two litres of water. It also contained a pudgy orange cat which meowed disdainfully at the Slifer duelist as it was emptied from the bag. It stalked over by the fire and curled up, intent on returning to its nap.

The two duellists decided to travel at night to avoid suffocating in the desert heat, once Yusei completed his D-Wheel's repairs. The motorcycle had been badly damaged upon their arrival which the Satellite duelist had forgone sleep to work on. Although their water was running out, Judai insisted on remaining at their shelter for an extra day, fearing the bags under the older (?) boy's eyes. Ignoring his protests, Judai forcibly tucked him in a spare blanket and set him up by the fire next to the dozing cat, ordering him in no uncertain terms to sleep.

Eventually exhaustion won out and Yusei drifted off. Judai watched his taut features and noted that they remained tense even in sleep. He laughed quietly so not to wake him, thinking to himself that this boy from the future had to be the most serious person he knew, even more so than Kaiser or Misawa.

Yubel? He tried calling again. To his delight, this time he could feel her stirring in the back of his mind.

Judai… His duel spirit partner greeted, drowsy but warm. You're safe.

"Thanks to you, Yubel. And to Yusei too." Judai turned serious. "What happened? Yusei said something interfered with the Crimson Dragon. Could that be why the two of us were drained so much?"

Judai, I'm sorry. There's something out there, weakening my powers even now. I'm afraid I will need time to recover. Take care of yourself until then… Yubel's voice became more distant until it faded away entirely.

Judai sat back against the rock and gazed up at the sky, feeling rather overwhelmed. He had thought that after his misadventures in the Dimension World, he would never be surprised again. And here he was, out of time, next to a man who would not be born for years.

"Life works in mysterious ways, I guess. Good night, Yubel, Yusei," he said, before closing his eyes to join them in slumber.

Yusei stood alone in a brightly lit hallway whose empty corridors seemed to stretch on forever. He cast his gaze around, trying to make out his surroundings but the details faded into the light. He stumbled as a man suddenly brushed past him, knocking him aside. Startled, Yusei spun around, only glimpsing a flash of familiar dark spikes of hair, fanning out from over the wide collar of a long white coat.

Father? Yusei tried to call out to the slowly retreating figure, but the words remained trapped in this throat. He started after him. Without realizing it, Yusei had broken into a run but despite the figure's slow, purposeful walk, he was only getting further and further away until he disappeared entirely.

Father, wait!

The scene abruptly changed around him. Now, he was high above the shining lights of a vast metropolis. Then came an ominous rumble and with sudden clarity, Yusei knew where he was.

He screamed in horror and denial as the column of spiralling energy tore through the heavens, ripping apart the sky and stars. Below, men and women screamed as its poisonous light stripped flesh and life from bone.

In the center of it all was the dark haired man, laughing with his arms spread wide.

Yusei plunged into icy wakefulness, gasping for air. Forcing down the last the fragments of his nightmare, he sat up with a sigh and rested his forehead against his palms. His return to reality was accompanied by a sharp pain in his temples, which he attempted to massage away without success. Judging by the path traced by the pale moon, Yusei had scarcely slept more than a couple of hours. Several feet away, on the other side of the slowly dying embers, the Judai slumbered on, one arm draped over their feline companion. Just beyond the alcove they were nestled in, the desert winds continued to rage.

He stood, automatically heading towards his D-Wheel and reached for his tools. Going through the familiar motions successfully calmed him. He had been having nightmares featuring Zero Reverse with increasing frequency ever since his duel with Rudger and his subsequent plunge into Old Momentum. They had briefly abated after defeating the Dark Signers, but resurfaced with a vengeance upon encountering Ghost.

The past forty-eight hours had been trying, to say the least. Groggy and disoriented, he had woken up to the unpleasant sensation of being slowly baked alive beneath a thick layer of hot sand. After digging himself out and pawing at the surrounding mounds, he discovered his impromptu time-traveling companion in a similar state. He had made several unsuccessful and increasingly anxious attempts to rouse the other boy. In the end, he had been forced to hoist his unresponsive body over his broken motorcycle and painstakingly wheel them to safety.

Just three days ago, before Paradox and ruined futures, he had been surrounded with his team and his greatest worries had been winning the WRGP and coming up with a way to counter the synchro-killers. Yusei turned to face the stars but his blue eyes were unfocused, gazing at something beyond them, his insides clenching with an unfamiliar feeling of homesickness.

It was fortunate that he did. Had he not looked up at that precise moment, he would have been too slow to react, diving to the side just in time to avoid being torn in half by vicious, bird-faced monster. Had he never met Izayoi Aki and never knew of the fearful power to materialize duel spirits, Yusei would have frozen to the spot, realizing too late that what had dived at him was not solid vision. The bedrock beneath his feet had been shredded like Styrofoam.

The horned creature screeched in fury when its prey evaded its grasp. With an agitated flap of its massive wings, it barrelled into the sky for extra momentum and doubled back, readying wickedly sharp talons.

"Yusei, duck!"

Without a second thought, Yusei hit the ground just as a blast of electricity shot over him, catching the monster midflight. The feathered body convulsed and fell backwards, momentarily stunned. Yusei chanced a glimpse over his shoulder and saw Judai with his duel disk out, his eyes glowing amber. Hovering above him was a golden armoured hero, preparing another crackling attack.

The monster recovered midflight, shaking off the remainder of the static. With another unpleasant screech, it bore down upon them once again. The elemental hero leapt forward to intercept it, balling up his fists to knock aside the monster's talons. They were evenly matched.

That is, until the winged beast miscalculated and the hero ducked swipe which then left the creature wide open. Sparkman roared in triumph and aimed a sparkling fist at the overgrown fowl's unprotected flank but faltered without warning. Yusei watched with trepidation as the hero's image flickered once, and twice, before shattering into small fragments of light. At the same time, he heard a thud and turned just in time to see Judai's legs give out as he slumped to the ground, ashen.

"Judai-san!" he exclaimed. He ran to him, noting the brown-haired duellist's pallor and the faint tremor in his hands even as he stubbornly reached for another card.

"Hah… hah… Sorry, Yusei… I think… I'm a bit more tired than I thought," Judai apologized between gasps, clutching at one of Yusei's shoulders to steady himself.

The bird-faced creature shrieked triumphantly and unfurled its massive wings, and flapped, releasing a storm of feathered knives. Heedless of his companion's horrified protest, Yusei immediately positioned himself in front of the projectiles, shielding the Slifer duelist using own his body. Just as the arrows were about to hit, Yusei felt a sharp pain in his right arm as his Signer mark lit up in a dull glow and a faint red barrier encased them, causing the feathers to deflect off harmlessly.

Attack foiled, the creature shrieked in outrage, flying into a frenzy. It dived at them, ramming at the barrier repeatedly, clawing and drilling at it again, and again. Yusei cried out, flinching at each barrage as his mark pulsed in agony. Judai yelled at him to hold on while desperately trying to draw enough strength to summon again. Hairline fractures appeared at each point of impact until the shield could take no more and finally fell to pieces around them.

Judai and Yusei knelt on the ground, practically collapsed against the other, utterly spent and sapped of energy as the creature readied a final charge.

They were interrupted by slow, mocking clapping. The monster froze; its razor like claws had stopped an inch from Yusei's glaring eyes. A man stepped into view. He was tall, bronze-skinned, and muscular, wearing little save for a loose, open robe and what looked like a linen skirt wrapped around his waist. His hair was dark and long and fell in tangled braids down his back. The creature bowed its cruel-beaked head and swiftly retreated to hover over his broad shoulders. Its master's face split into a wide, white-toothed smile.

"Oh, well done! That was truly a splendid effort," he applauded them, absolutely delighted. "Most unlucky travellers would have had their guts decorating the sand within the first five seconds."

"Why are you attacking us?" Yusei demanded, struggling to his feet, careful to keep the slightly smaller boy shielded. He needed to buy time. At the moment, the recovering Judai was their best chance.

The man shrugged elaborately. "Why not? Judging from your coloring and attire, you two are obviously foreigners, and foreigners are always a good mark. Besides," he leered, "how could I resist after seeing your cute, sleeping faces? We just couldn't hold back." At his words, they were joined by roughly twenty men brandishing clubs and spears ominously, all similarly attired and sporting identical grins.

Judai spoke up suddenly, narrowing his eyes. "You're not a duelist. How are you controlling that monster?"

The man tsk'd, waving a finger in his direction. "Don't act like you're surprised. Didn't you just summon your own pathetic little Ka?"

Ka? The word echoed strangely through Judai's head, filtering through memories of napping on long white tables and the repetitive droning of a loud, nasal voice. Where had he heard that term before? He eyed the men critically, taking in their thick gold bands and noticed that the braided man's circlet had been inscribed with a familiar eye.

"Judai-san…" Yusei warned in a low voice, having followed a similar line of thought to its unpleasant conclusion.

"Aa," Judai replied. "I know."

They stood there, back to back, surrounded by heavily armed bandits, exhausted, and more than three thousand years out of time.

Chapter 1: The Time of the Pharaohs

END