Disclaimer: Don’t own Digimon, Shaman King, YuGiOh, Bleach, T.M. Revolution or “Timeless ~Mobius Rover~”

Warning: Some gruesome crap, me trying to attempt mock ancient speech as I slaughter history, domestic violence, you probably needing to read this twice.

NOTE: I am well aware of the historical persecution of LGBTs. Let’s just say these guys were the black sheep family/tribe off on their own throughout time as they are now, which is how they have epic tales behind them, and created bonds that have transcended time, nation, realm, etc., because they were wise enough to open their minds, say they know nothing, not judge, and let their heart/spirit/soul guide them.

Sometimes, “I don’t know” is the wisest thing one can say-there’re a lot of things no one on this Earth knows.

Besides, this is anime/fan fiction. Even canon DBZ and Kashimashi aren’t exactly plausible…as far as we know.

“Hitomi tozashite kesshite iienu/
Kimi to yuu na wo kizu ni fureru/…

Umare kawaru toki no hane wo sagashiteiru/

Mienai ito wo tadotte, yagate meguri aeru/
(?)no mama shukumei ni egaku kakeru no mirai/” TM Revolution, “Timeless ~Mobius Rover~”

“Close your eyes, you may never speak it/

The name by which you are called touches upon my wounds/…

I am searching for the wings I gain in being reborn/

Following unseen threads, we shall meet again/

(?) still, as it is drawn in fate, a future in shards/”-my loose translation (sorry about that one word)

Chapter 28- Timeless ~Mobius Rover~

“EEH?!”

Junpei got up and came over to this Atem guy.

“Have-have we met?”

Atem cocked his head upward and half-smiled, “Not formally, no. But I attended a court case in 1994, a custody hearing in which you testified.”

…

“And you got me out of juvy after the fight in the courthouse,” Junpei surmised. He’d always known someone had bailed him out, but who, he only just figured out.

Atem nodded, “To be honest, yes.”

He stepped past Junpei in full view of most of the others, “I am Atem Kaiba, also known as Pharaohmon.”

He paused to gaze over the group, smiling softly. So many faces here now, together again, as it had been in the dawn days of civilisation.

The eldest and some of the youngest were new additions, but they would be proud of their parents and children, he knew.

The teen/twenty-something group stared at him in awe…and everyone else stared like, ‘the fuck is this dude?’

Silva figured something out, “You’re married to the owner of KaibaCorp! You two are richer than Bill Gates! What are you doing here!”(A/N: Punctuation intentional to imply tone)

Atem nodded, smiling gently, “Yes…however, I am also a Chosen, and that’s more so why I’m here.”

Atem turned his head to see the children come running with Agumon.

Gaomon picked Gotsumon up and jumped, dodging as the youngest group chased Agumon out of the hallway to round the corner and pass through an Ikea desk atop which was a glass lamp.

The children, sans Rika, Jasmine, Shizuka and Jamal, lay piled atop Agumon who lay buried in the wreckage.

Hitomi slapped the ghost-Digimon’s face, “Tag, you’re it!”

“Sometimes I’m embarrassed to say Agumon is a Digimon,” Gaomon commented, watching Agumon wail for his ‘Big Brother’.

“At least you don’t have to say he’s your twin,” Shizuka grimaced, eyeing an oblivious Hitomi.

The children were cleaned, bandaged, and put to bed to stay the night.

Their parents weren’t exactly going to be sleeping.

He had them lay on the floor, all joining hands (and some piled atop others; the room wasn’t THAT big.)

Silva’s generation sat on the couch; they would watch through him.

Masaru was able to make out some of Atem’s chants, but the difference between Atem’s archaic Arabic and Masaru’s modern Arabic were too great to catch but a passing word.

Soon, they seemed to have fallen asleep.

Atem sat on the couch, closed his eyes, and joined hands with those of his generation.

The Chosen were in their memories, and the five on the sofa would observe, floating invisibly in the worlds in which their children far preceded them.

Though aware of their names in present time, they could feel the sensations; understand the languages of times about which the most brilliant of this age can only hypothesise.

Ziyi, a black cat and Masaru, a fox, ran across the forest. Beside them flew a dove, Tohma.

They came this way everyday, to see their friend, and often advisour.

At the entrance of the cave stood a big, brown bear, Junpei, and the foursome happily entered the cave, the dove now perched on the cat’s back.

…

Atem laid the plan, and Ziyi’s leadership and strength coupled with Junpei’s knowledge of the poison herbs only Ren knew how to cultivate, drove away the remaining living of those who’d enslaved Egypt.

Before letting Atem succeed, however, many of his colleagues’ family members had many a questioning session.

Junpei’s son and Ziyi’s right-wing in battle, Masaru, in particular, wanted to assure that his ailing brother, Tohma, would be allowed to live as long as he had left in comfort and peace.

He also wanted to assure that Atem would allow him and his partner, Tomoki, to be together in peace.

Once Isis, the seer, had been freed, Ziyi’s siblings had gone to her, only to confirm what Junpei’s family learned from the person himself.

One day, soon after Atem was declared Pharaoh, Junpei, his wife Izumi, Ren, Yuki and Ziyi were treating the most badly beaten of the former slaves in the ground floor of the pyramid when Atem’s son-in-law, Kouichi, was clearly heard yelling, “That is NOT what I meant!!”

The five watched him storm out of the pyramid.

The Pharaoh’s daughter, Kouji (A/N: Kouji was female in this life, and looks like a girl-Atem) came out, calling after him to come back. She paused.

Junpei had caught up to Kouichi.

Kouichi was about to pull away from Junpei, but remembered that this man had been one of few to thank for Egypt, Kouichi included, being free. His father trusted this man.

“What happened?” Junpei asked simply.

Kouichi sighed, “We…were damaged back in captivity…and…she was forced to be a concubine…and like I said we were both damaged…and we cannot produce an heir, and…” Kouichi hung his head to avoid being seen crying, the memories were still too fresh.

Junpei put a hand on Kouichi’s shoulder, “But you still love her, right?”

“That’s an odd question. Of course I do, with all my heart and soul, as long as I live.”

Junpei released him, smiling knowingly, “Then go to her, and tell her just that.”

Kouichi paused, looking up at the elder for a mere moment before running over to his wife and sweeping her in his arms so fast, he nearly knocked Izumi on the ground, the one who’d been comforting the princess.

After sharing a passionate kiss, the couple turned to leave, Kouichi saying something about going to Horokeu’s stable and getting, “The finest horse in the land, and all shall gape in awe,” or some other such (goofy as fuck) cliché phrase that seems to infect the tongues of royals.

Kouji turned, and thanked Junpei in her soft-spoken manner as Kouichi over-zealously led (dragged) her away.

Izumi nudged her husband in the side, “Methinks she still has a bit of feelings for you.”

Junpei put an arm around her, “I hope not.”

Masaru whined, “Mum, no one says ‘methinks’ anymore. They say ‘I do believe’.”

“No, my dear, that is what you children say.”

“I am 16 now,” he reminded her, “I am technically an adult. I fought in the Liberation, and am even now engaged.”

“Yet, you cannot keep your room clean. THAT shall drive your fiancé mad.”

A thump from the ceiling caused even the patients to look up.

Masaru looked at the ground, pained. Tohma’s room was above them.

“He’s still not used to the brace I made yet,” Junpei said.

Masaru ran upstairs.

Ziyi had finished sewing a patient’s wounds, with Yuki holding the girl down, and they came over to wash their hands. The patient, Pirika, the horse rancher’s sister, had vomited from the pain, and Yuki had been left no choice but to discard his shirt.

Ziyi looked at her lifelong elder sibling figure/friend/mentour, “Your son who was crippled?”

Tohma’s parents nodded sadly.

Ziyi looked pensive, “Although you taught me in the healing arts, I have been dabbling in my own-“

“OH, NO!” Ruki, and her daughter Aiko, court ladies, rushed over to Aiko’s brother, Makoto’s side as their father and Ruki’s husband, Ryo, helped the boy in.

Makoto’s entire left arm was covered in blood, plausibly due to the gaping spear wound in his shoulder.

Makoto smiled, “I was but training and merely fell into a spear; there was not an occurrence of hostility.”

Aiko chided him, “Yes, you are a horrid oaf, brother, and shall you not fix it, it may be your life!”

Junpei took the boy over to heal him.

…

Few were left, but Tomoki knew there were people he needed to save…Masaru…his husband, had been one of the first slain…on the battlefield-he didn’t even get to say good bye.

Yet, a reason, though mysterious it remained, a strong sense of something kept Tomoki standing, moving.

He stepped like a shadow through the pool of blood draining from his nieces’ bodies, Ming and Jasmine were with their parents.

Masaru’s parents, the people of the court, the Pharaoh himself. Their bodies lay severed, strewn, destroyed, gone, dead. He would never hear any of their voices; see any of their smiles again.

He would nevermore have the chance to look into Masaru’s eyes, and see the loving, tender emotion that had given him hope through their wretched days of slavery. He would never feel so safe in Masaru’s strong arms again.

Masaru had given his life to protect the kingdom they’d built-and yet it was all in vain.

It was almost lethal, the suffering that he could feel in his physical form. The mental anguish, so crushingly deep.

His blood family, Ken, his father, he knew, died with Ziyi, the orphaned boy she’d raised from even before she’d married Tohma- Ichigo, Masaru, Yoh, Ren, their family, their home.

He saw two figures in complete shadow. They were small- children.

His mind went back to Masaru-the children had something to do with them, and Tomoki knew he HAD to save them.

A feeling of dread overtook his entire being. One lay on the ground atop a spreading pool of crimson, the other, in the hands of the enemy.

The shadowed child was slashed in two just a hair’s breadth from Tomoki’s grasp.

A raised sword, and Tomoki felt no more.

Kouji and Kouichi held hands, staring into each other’s eyes.

“’Tis the only way…we shall meet again,” the princess spoke, smiling softly. (Note)

Through their tears, they kissed, one last pleasure of the flesh…and they jumped from the crown of the pyramid.

…

Ziyi and Tohma in Dark Ages France, Junpei and Kouji under the tyrannical rule of King Henry VII, Ren and Horokeu being sentenced to the gallows, for being together, in Germany, Yoshino stoned to death in Persia, Jian dying in the middle of the Pacific Ocean when pirates stormed the ship. Ichigo dying fighting the man who’d kidnapped and sold his and Rukia’s infant daughters-Karin and Yuzu, in Northern China, Masaru being killed by one of the demons he slew as his life’s work, and Tomoki being left alone in feudal Japan, only to wither away and die of despair.

Their lives alone, when they never met, were the most brutal.

Within those memories, they could feel a consuming, pained restlessness. Something was missing, wrong-horribly wrong.

Junpei and Kouji lived the longest.

Neither one had reached thirty at the time of their death.

…

Ziyi had survived far worse than this.

Her husband, Hao (Yuki) had gone mad, deplorable demons infecting, murdering his loving, gentle soul, in his quest for the Shaman crown.

Her entire tribe was dead. Hao included, he would suffer no more.

She dressed her son, Jamal, and they set out across the Arizona desert, to the tribe of her youth, the Incas.

A trek across endless wasteland; she’d given the rest of her water to her son, as she carried the child on her back. Endless sand-desolate and empty as the fallen Apache village they’d left.

The village up ahead, it was surely a mirage.

So…much…sand…

She awoke to a thatched ceiling, and Jamal pouncing on her in joy.

She realised she was in beddings, and sat up, picking up her seven year-old son and placing him on her lap, reassuring him that she felt just fine.

A slender man slightly younger than her, Tohma, looked up from a painting he’d been doing.

He looked at her in relieved joy, and ran off. Ziyi thought the unknown man’s actions quite strange.

A few minutes later, he brought back…Junpei, who had raised her. She made it home.

They spent the day catching up-Junpei had married Kouji-daughter of Atem, who was still the village chief. Their son, Masaru, was with Tomoki, son of Ziyi’s own brother who’d stayed, Ken.

Daisuke and his wife, Hikari, Jun, Yamato (Ken’s partner after his wife, Miyako, had passed), Izumi and her partner Yoshino, Jian, Takato and his wife, Juri, Pirika, the late Horokeu’s sister, and her husband Jacques, a former Nez Perce, and all the rest of her family was still alive.

“Our brother’s spirits and the spirits of those they loved who hath joined them to reside in the Kingdom of the Great Spirit have brought you home,” Ken spoke, assured that their fallen brother, Ren, his partner Horokeu, and their other brother, Yoh, had something to do with Tohma nearly tripping right over Ziyi’s unconscious form and Jamal sobbing atop her noon two days prior while chasing Kouichi’s runaway chicken.

…

They were a shamanic, spiritual, loving and peaceful tribe. They could not negotiate with the bloodthirsty conquistadores.

They thought they had, but it was a false confidence they’d been given; a trap for their demise.

Their village was stormed whilst they lay sleeping.

Junpei and Kouji, her brother Kouichi and his wife, Chiaki, Yamato and Ken, Sora and Mimi, Masaru and Tomoki, Izumi and Yoshino, Pirika and Jacques, Ryo and Ruki, Ziyi and Tohma, were snuck upon in the beds in the homes they had grown older in, and shot in the head.

Their children, the elders, the entire village was wiped out- a silent massacre, a sudden graveyard. Yet their last memories were tucking in the children, whether of their blood or not, they were of their raising, and holding their partners as they drifted off to sleep, a peaceful tragedy.

They were gone, but they left together.

…

A flash of light, and, slowly, they opened their eyes and came back to October 2008 in Kobe, Japan.

They looked around at each other for a few moments.

They knew…it was all the truth.

Tomoki didn’t say anything as he leaned on Masaru, lacing his arms around the younger’s neck.

Where Masaru’s own memories had ended, he’d seen Tomoki’s.

Masaru wished he could reassure Tomoki that he wouldn’t be left alone, and he’d’ve liked to truly have that conviction…

“No matter what happens,” he whispered in Tomoki’s ear, “I’ll always love you, and I’ll do my best to be there for you. Like I said, my heart and soul will never leave you.”

Masaru gently laid kisses on Tomoki’s head, holding him tightly, gently caressing away with his fingers the silent tears his lover cried. It hurt Masaru deeply to see him cry; Tomoki’s smile was so amazing.

Atem half-frowned, standing, “The past was less than pleasant…but you had the right and the reason to know.”

Junpei came over, “Thank you…again,” he glanced at the clock-1:20 AM, “Anyone who wants can stay the night.”

Especially since the children were there, everyone took him up on the invite-except Ziyi.

“Oh, fuck! 1:20?!” she exclaimed, “I’m gonna be-I gotta go!”

She inhaled sharply through her teeth-of which three were gold-grimacing at Junpei, “Mind if Ming stays tonight?”

“No…problem…why are you so tense? I can walk you home if it’s-“

Yuki came up behind Junpei, putting a hand on the elder’s shoulder and shaking his head sadly when he caught Junpei’s attention.

“Good night. I’ll be back for Ming by six A.M. since it’s a school day,” she called from the door and left.

Silva sighed deeply, a hand to his head, “She’s with someone…who we all want her to leave...

“She says he used to be kind, but he’s from Germany and only speaks his native tongue, so I wouldn’t know. She’s staying with him because she goes to school, and has no money…

“Ming says he’s hit her-Ziyi. Ziyi begs me to just sit by. She’s worried about losing her place.

“She knows I would take care of her AND Ming, but-“

The door slammed shut yet again; someone had run out…Tohma was gone-had he run after Ziyi?

The locked door to Ziyi’s building swung shut too fast for Tohma to get in.

He stood out in the dark at a loss.

Lights turned on up on the second floor, third window from the right, and angry shouts floated out through the open window.

“You fuckin’ whore! You know you tell me where you’re going, when you’ll get back, and you KNOW you don’t fuckin’ stay out past ten!” A man screamed in German-must’ve been him.

“Whore?! ‘Whore’, you say- tell me, you asswipe-have I even slept with YOU lately? I had to sleep in the mother-fuckin’ hallway ‘cause I wouldn’t have cheap-ass wham-bam sex with Jack the ass! Jack, the thirty-second man!” Ziyi screamed back at the cretin seemingly called Jack.

“What’re you gonna do; ninja-chop me?! I have a shotgun, bitch! Or did you forget in your pea-sized brain?!”

Silence.

Tohma swore he heard Jack say, ‘that’s better’ before the light went out.

He knew if he called out to her, Jack would hurt her, if not kill her.

Ziyi was more muscular than any female he’d ever seen. Hell, she practically had Masaru’s build, despite being shorter than Kouji (which made her a bit stocky), but Jack had at least one gun….

Tohma fazed out as he made it to the house.

Junpei, Kouji, Masaru, and Tomoki (surprising, wasn’t Tomoki a Varsity Track runner at his old school?) were all outside, having a last smoke before bed, and they were starting back in when Tohma passed them.

The younger couple came up to him, Masaru putting a hand gently on his back.

Tohma looked up at him, then over at Tomoki, fear, dread, helplessness clear on his face.

Tohma finally found his voice, though it was breaking, “That person Ziyi’s with…I heard them fighting. He said he has a gun…she said some things he’s done to her…and I can’t do anything.”

He bolted inside, slipping past people strewn about until he reached his room.

Jasmine lay peacefully sleeping, and he went to lay beside her, day-clothes and all, when Daisuke moved the lit candle, by light of which he’d been reading a random novel he’d found, to see the tears that freely flowed from Tohma’s reddened eyes.

“What’s-“

“Please-I promise to tell you in the morning.”

Daisuke nodded, worried, but he’d respect Tohma’s wishes nonetheless.

Tohma lay next to Jasmine, his last coherent thought before he nodded off,

‘God, anyone, if there is anyone, please; let her be able to escape safely. Allow us the chance to know her in this life. Please let her be and remain as strong, courageous and loving now as then, please let us all be, live, and remain as a family…

‘We’ve all suffered too much already…’

TSUZUKU!

Notes:

That’s actually from Japanese folk beliefs, that twins are a reincarnation of a couple who committed ‘lovers’ suicide.’ Yeah, I know, this is BC Egypt, but, I’m from Kobe.

Native American history- Incas and Nez Perce in Arizona-I’m sure it’s way off, but all I studied in this country for history class were the Great Depression, the World Wars, and the Korean and Vietnam INVASIONS (‘war’ my arse).

Didn’t I tell ya I was going to maul history?