Yu-Gi-Oh 5D's - Glass
by Yusei
Summary - "He wasn't strong. Not like the saviour who had granted him another spell in the dead world. But still, the half-face was all he knew; there was no way of getting to the closed eyes. Oneshot, spoilers for 144 and 145".
Disclaimer – I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh 5D's or any of the characters.
A / N – This was supposed to be finished a while ago, the idea spawned after the airing of Episode 144 and I had been hoping to get it out as quickly as possible. This can be read as a stand-alone piece or a sort-of prequel of a fic in the works called 'Tears'. This is just speculation of what could have happened in the future, some things will be clearer in Tears, although it's not a direct sequel. Hopefully speculation hasn't taken the characters too far from what they may have been in the future and the flow hasn't been disrupted by a dozen different sittings to get it done and then the influence of Miku Hastune - 'Last Night, Good Night' and 'That Which Flow through the Momentum' from Sound Duel 3. Hope you enjoy. Please read and review.
-GLASS-
There was nothing but grey, the stench of burning and death forever lingering. There was nothing left in this world to suggest mankind stood any chance of recovering. He was wondering without any hope of finding another living soul, dull eyes wandering the ruins of Neo-Domino. Home no more. There was nothing more for this world, only to rot and follow the path marked out by its brothers.
Dragging himself through that rubble wasteland where nothing was left but the view. The dim view of grey buildings toppled, the torn concrete floor and the blue sky pointed with streams of grey smoke and cloud that meant nothing anymore. Black fumes wave skywards from the ruins, tossed asunder, remnants of the city he called home, a mere shadow of its glorious state. They warned this would happen when the claimed ban of Synchro Monsters reached him, but by then, it was far too late.
Word had spread after the most recent tournament - the last of the previous world - of a dark omen from the heart of the City. Momentum, the source of power in the new age, was spiralling on the edge of disaster, entering the fatal territory of unknown. A global catastrophe followed, tearing apart any future waiting ahead of the doomed race named Man. It was those from another realm that invaded and took the planet by force, shredding all life in the way; innocent or otherwise.
They were the metal beasts hovering through the air that evening, charging through the air without moving a single robotic limb, painted eyes glowing with mischievous intent. Shadows enlarged by their position between the grounded men and the glowing sun, an omen of the dark days to come. How easily paradise fell to the steel hands of an alien enemy. How he survived, he could never be sure.
Antinomy was alone in this place; mankind had been wiped out in one immense swoop, there was no chance of hope and reproduction. The time for man to die out had come with a vicious strike, eliminated by a superior race without even its own language. And yet, it had happened, the true end of Earth had come and the era of life was drawing swiftly to a close. After all those time people regarded as Legendary Duellists had worked to save the planet and its unwitting population, the end had come long after the retirement of the final. It was supposed to be a game of cards and luck and skill, play things rather than a weapon against the creators and their kind. Its not like it mattered now anyway, it was all over and the death toll was incessantly climbing.
There was little that stood above the fissures which ripped apart the concrete floor of the City; a torn highway once used for duelling was one exception to that rule; anything other than decaying buildings poking with feeble walls towards to the sky, stuck diagonally into the ground, were just ignored; remnants of skyscrapers touching the glowing heavens beyond human reach. This city had once been such a proud place, surpassing all other, reduced to a mere shadow, to nothing resembling its former self; ruins, tatters, a world without light. Without hope. Where the few survivors were lost in a bottomless pit of misery and hopelessness.
That was how Antinomy's heart sank, captured by the harsh reality that had struck his kind down, once and for all. He was constantly wandering, seeking out why he was alive while so many others were dead. Because he fled like a coward on a D-Wheel? Because it was possibly his duel that opened the hellish gateway for the metal demons to sink from the heavens. There had been no sign of life anywhere; as far as he knew, he was the last human on the planet, cursed to watch the remains of his world disintegrate into nothing more than a dream of the Earth's past, blurred and passed to no-one. Humanity would seize to exist with his death, and the universe would move on carelessly, not once looking over its bitter shoulder at the sheep of fate.
Antinomy reached the edge of the raised concrete stage; the highway in a pitiful state, granting him a clear view of just how devastating the wave of malice, destruction and strict execution of people had left the place beaming with pride to a crumbling mess. It hurt so much to see such a proud metropolis crumbling; skyscrapers once licking the heavens with their roofs toppled and pointed out of the levelled landscape with diagonal remainders; towers eaten away into uneven triangles. No matter what the source, smoke streamed from everywhere, fires raging underneath the stripped grey surfaces, bruised and broken, windows cracked or missing altogether like rotten teeth ripped out of the mouths. This was no city, no utopia; this was war and the end of the world as far as he was concerned.
There was nobody left to deny that fact, to assure him that there was still a chance for humanity; faint or otherwise. Everyone responsible - with the exception of him - was dead; those who played Synchro Monsters over and over, straining Momentum and piling wild activity into its heart, to spin until it lost control completely. They ignored the warnings that blared out from people who feared an apocalypse; the truth coming out from those too knowledgeable to be labelled insane and paranoid. Those people… lost before their predictions came true. Antinomy came to a halt, unable to carry his heart further. Tipping his head back slowly, he watched the city with dulled eyes, lightless to match the new era of the planet's eternal saga. Following a moment observing the wreckage, Antinomy lowered his head shamefully. There he saw it.
A white card, a tool of destruction; a discarded Synchro Monster flat without a crack to slip into. He dropped to his knees, his spirit sliced into piece, broken beyond repair. His argument had been clear; the legendary duellist Fudo Yusei had achieved eternal greatness through the use of Synchro Monsters, why not him? This was his answer. Brought about with such tremendous force that it ripped apart any kind of fighting spirit he ever held like fragile paper and brittle bones.
Automatically, his white hand reached out for the pale card lying before him, an automatic response to recovering a victim abandoned by fate and left to rot. Maybe it was just them left; Antinomy and the scattered cards. Maybe then it was just right to take the card and care for it, shelter it from the brutality of the world after, cherish it like the deceased who had lost it in the chaos and the transition from life to death. There was no-one left to inherit the card, only him to protect it. And then… his hand fell away. There was no point anymore.
His eyes were downcast when the orange and silver machine that led the army of its own kind and two other breeds crept up the severed face of the highway, unscathed from its battles with human weapons. The white cannon locked onto the survivor in body only and moved towards him. Antinomy did nothing to move, but sat on his knees and stared up at death, waiting for its chilled arms to wrap themselves around him and drag his soul to wherever everyone else had been taken to. His eyes lacked any emotion, a desperation buried deep inside glinted briefly through the mask, of not wanting to be alone anymore, to find somebody be it in this world or the next, watching with a despaired gazed without any resistance. An acceptance to Death's invitation. His eyes closed, not wanting to watch the gaping hole fill with the energy that would annihilate his body. He would die peacefully. Blindly.
Behind the black veil, a screech resonated violently, but no pain came as he expected, it was impossible for the machine race to miss - they never missed. But still, there was the unmistakable screaming of destruction and collapse; the growling of explosions Antinomy's eyes snapped open quickly enough to grasp the fact that a golden beam had penetrated the hollow infinite chest of the steel assassin and obliterated it like no forced used by man before. It dawned on him the rare possibility that mankind had a chance flashed into existence for one last effort; that maybe some new power had been developed to successfully fight them off and grant the ruins of humanity a chance to recover from its disintegrated existence. Black smoke swept his way in a fierce storm of wind and cloud, forcing Antinomy to look away, close his eyes and raise an arm high enough to protect his dry mouth, steadying himself on the separated legs bent at the knee to steady him through the unnatural shaking of the dead road.
The earthquake eventually subsided, feeling much older than truth dictated and the machine vanished, sinking into the revenged empire formed of the past race. Antinomy sought out the source of the golden ray that had shone down on him; both granting him a chance to witness this human rebellion and curse him with living on a defeated world. Another road much higher revealed the truth, shocking his heart back into a rhythmic beat, quickened thuds of life to remind himself he was, indeed, real in this desolate world.
Sheen glimmered off the front of the famous crimson D-Wheel marked with white patterns along the sides, pointed much higher than the road Antinomy stood upon. A victim rising up and fighting back. From the unique curve of the motorcycle, a large black cannon rested, the mouth steaming from the ejaculation so recent, the man seated in the moon unmistakable. Antinomy's eyes widened until his pupils were an inch from vanishing altogether; behind the grey streams in the air, the sun finally peaked through, reflecting off the opaque visor and painting it white. Hope.
"I- It can't be" the blue-haired ghost gasped.
The D-Wheel raced over the edge, soaring gracefully through the still air, a common feat in the rider's prime, but he had yet to age physically to match that passage of time. The machine crashed onto the ground, bouncing from the frail road and skidding to a controlled halt, the rider tilting the machine and raised his head, a stoic frown painted onto his face, hardened by all the destruction he had witnessed, Antinomy guessed. He climbed out of the D-Wheel and it was now that Antinomy picked up on the slight alterations across the riding attire from the version he knew and the one approaching like some mysterious saviour, about to reveal to him that he was a guardian, sent back to his youth in order to reveal a cure for the steel plague, unleash secrets to the distraught man waiting his halt, standing dumbfounded before a generation's idol. It had yet to sink into Antinomy's mind exactly who it was walking towards him without so much as a breath through his paled lips.
The man paused a foot or so in front of him, shorter than he had ever expected and faintly longer locks hanging down the back of his neck, but all that was unimportant, Perhaps he was a delusion brought on by madness, an imaginary friend appearing in a moment of desperation, maybe a ghost he wished to join, to touch and confirm they were of the same realm. Dead together. He raised a browned hand, wearing still that same unsentimental half-face. Out of his ordinary character, Antinomy was quick to seize the one hand with both of his, sudden tears of overwhelming grief trickling from his eyes and down his face, he held on tight, wanting nothing more than the illusion of Fudo Yusei to stay with him, not to vanish and take away the last of his soul's belief that man could even exist. His eyes closed and everything else became black, the world of ruin that he refused to accept while Yusei was here.
But much unlike the hero, there was nothing about helping out a victim, nothing about the bonds that Antinomy was supposed to treasure at this difficult time; the people who he had to live for. Perhaps the Apocalypse had shaped a different side to Yusei, perhaps taken away the burning heart that had accelerated him to greatness. Antinomy dropped to his knees, tears tickling his chin when they clustered together, dropping off in unified couples, his two hands gripping Yusei's as hard as possible, sapping all the strength in his body just to hold on.
"Yu-" he sobbed. "Yusei!"
His body trembled; from sorrow and from hope and from disbelief. No voice came from the standing man's mouth, the unusual silence drew Antinomy's glistening eyes to his half-naked , half-hiding face; there were no eyes to see on the other side of the blue-grey panel, the glass almost solid; the opposite of his clear rose shades. Yusei said nothing, but glanced down, their eyes meeting, and then dropped down to Antinomy's level, standing on one knee and dropping another hand onto Antinomy's. Perhaps he had just lost his voice in all the madness, no longer heard by the people who looked up to him, adapting a new mute approach to those following. Was there really the same Yusei buried away? Hiding from the reality of what had happened after his time fighting for the planet's sake. Antinomy gazed into the thick glass, searching for the eyes missing in the wall put up to prevent leaking emotions; a much more stable defence against a sign of weakness.
Antinomy rose to his feet; was there any point in kneeling before royalty? There was just the two of them. Or one. What need was there for a hierarchy now? Yusei withdraw his hand, standing after Antinomy's rise, casting an invisible eye down onto their physical union that Antinomy seemed to refuse forsaking. Then seconds later, he was the one to withdraw his white hands, releasing the legend, attracting the man's attention. Antinomy's eyes continued to leak, but there was a feeble smile shining through his face of despair.
"You…" he whispered. "Why are you here, in this desolate world?"
Yusei turned around, holding up a hand and flicked it in the direction of the machine he had used to fly down; a signal to follow him. Antinomy was taken back by the gesture and glanced over his shoulder at the white card; that which almost faced death with him at the cannon Yusei had saved them from. Maybe fate was trying to show him something; a Synchro Monster and Fudo Yusei in the middle of a ruined world together. Yusei was already heading back to the D-Wheel, Antinomy turned and fell, snatching the card from the ground; even if it was a weapon used against them, it was a sign, He twisted around again and darted after Yusei, determined not to lose him, even if they were together in a deluded mind; he would embrace that madness.
Yusei climbed into the machine, lowering the left arm and looked to Antinomy, the latter suddenly dreaded that his hero would shoot off and leave him, but there was no sign of that; Yusei waited. He climbed onto the empty arm, seating himself uneasily. His right arm wrapped itself around the moon and the other hand clutched the precious Synchro card. Yusei hesitated another moment, ensuring his companion was ready before he pressed down on the accelerator pedal underneath the sole of his boot and flashed away from the site.
There had been rain towards the evening, a brief shower, but enough to drench the eroding city. Yusei had led Antinomy to an alley of rubble, a cave of sorts, where they waited out the cold weather. They were seated beside one another, watching the blue sky with grey-purple clouds moving on; dusk was coming. Through a clear path, amongst the plumes of smoke and flames; a curve could be seen. Of several shades and astonishing beauty; a rainbow. Short and only a fraction of the usual bridge of light and colours, stretching across less than ninety degrees , but it existed. Antinomy traced it several times with his eyes, memorising how long before the pattern would fade into nothing but blue; ending the spectacle with the ordinary.
There had been no words shared since their meeting on the decaying highway; when Yusei declined answering or offering words of consonance, Antinomy reserved anything more until he had an idea of who exactly he had become. Instead, Yusei moved him with hand gestures; to follow him or moving and finding his own space, leading Antinomy like a lost child. It was Yusei who had come to this place, who moved out of the D-Wheel and sat in the mouth of the twisted cave, watching the city they shared alone, Antinomy just followed obediently. Now he was lost, watching the curve with a spectre of colours, thinking back to the world before and all its subtle beauties. Where were the streams of dissolving wind turbulence that pierced the sun and cut through the sky? Where were the birds whose flapping wings lifted them in a way that made grounded species envious? Where were all the colours that made a city such a proud place to live; where advances in technology could join with nature in the forms of gardens and parks? All lost.
"You can extend it" a voice came. Yusei's voice. Antinomy was stunned, looking back to the man who also gazed towards the sky, looking as though his chin had tipped up only centimetres from its standard place, almost like he hadn't raised his head at all. He had spoken, Yusei was still alive. "The rainbow. You can extend it".
"Wh- what do you mean?" Antinomy breathed, lost for other words, dumbfounded by Yusei's sudden verbal rebirth.
"If you watch it and think of nothing else, stare at the edge and then move away with the stripes in your mind, you can delude yourself in thinking that it stretches much further than it does".
Antinomy reverted to the rainbow, it was only a matter of time before it faded; this was his last chance to test the theory. He gazed at it, watching as it grew without spreading the shades further; Yusei was right, he was fooling himself into seeing the rainbow as longer than it was, reminded only when he blinked and the extension vanished into blue. He looked back to Yusei, grateful for the subtext of his observation.
"Yusei…" he muttered, still struggling to piece together a sentence in the presence of such a respected figure, one that was promised to be part of history.
Yusei lowered his head, hesitant to look to Antinomy, still wearing that frown. "I'm not Yusei".
"Huh?" Antinomy sounded, taken back by the claim. Here was the devastating truth; he wasn't real, he was a delusion, Antinomy had gone mad and lost himself.
"Not anymore".
'Anymore'. So he had been Fudo Yusei at one point. "Who are you then, Yusei?"
Yusei glanced at Antinomy, a flash across his visor revealed the left eye for a brief second as his dried lips parted. "Zone".
"Zone?"
"Yusei died in the devastation that tore this world apart; I can't compare myself to him anymore".
Antinomy's eyes softened, feeling sympathy for the man; he had disowned his former self, the one who would forever be known alongside eternal names of another era; legends forever. It didn't explain his sudden disownment of Yusei, perhaps only because his father was the one who discovered Momentum and its uses for technological advances; fossil fuels run dry long ago had been a natural resource used up for the sake of power, Momentum, however, was energy. Limitless.
Antinomy moved back to the sky, slowly multiplying in colours; shades of the rainbow expanding over the crumpled horizon with the sun's sinking glow. Clouds brightened from grey to purple, lined with pink; over the course of a short while, the sky was completely transformed. There was no way to tell time anymore.
"This world no longer has a concept of time".
Antinomy looked to Yusei - or Zone - puzzled by what he meant. He reserved the urge to ask exactly what he was talking about; minutes ticked on into hours and hours into days; time was still moving.
"Tomorrow, today will be yesterday, but it will be no difference" Zone murmured. "And that tomorrow will be the same as that today and the yesterday we're living through now. The world will be trapped in a dimensionless, immediate moment; it won't progress through time".
"What you're saying is…" Antinomy sighed. "This world is dead. Doomed to stay in this infinite loop of stability, never to recover".
Zone didn't answer, but rather looked back to the scenery ahead of them, gazing out at the evidence. Antinomy's heart sank; Yusei, Zone, whoever he was, seemed to be much more enlightened to the world's fate than he, eradicating any hope of watching mankind dominate the planet once again in the future. He also turned his dim eyes to the resting city. Maybe Zone was right, maybe it would never live again.
The duo spent the night in the rubble cave, sleeping separately, their backs to one another. Zone removed his helmet only so he could lay his head down without scratching the protective head, his hair styled exactly like Yusei's, vaguely longer locks hanging down the back of his neck where the only thing to question Antinomy's judgement, but he shrugged them off without another thought. He struggled to sleep that night, staring at the black grey and ruptured wall, thinking about the countless lives lost; all those who would never be born into the world to see it as they had. His heart ached, pounding against his chest with some hollow regret; even if it had been down to him playing that final Synchro Monster, he couldn't avoid this Apocalypse coming; someone else would have played it.
Antinomy slid his hand into the deck holder tied around his waist, removing the lost Synchro Monster and gazed at it sorrowfully. It, like him, was a victim, left to rot by fate, abandoned and not even given salvation in death. They had to endure the end and what lied ahead, standing as man's final souls, the end of a legacy spanning thousands of years. He thought of his friends, his family; all those people he would never see again. Unconsciously, tears filled his eyes, sliding to the corners of his sockets until their presence became too great and they trickled across his face, dropping off the side close to his ear, tickling him with some faint hope of restoring a positive emotion. When they failed, they silently fell. He refused to make a sound, to disturb Zone while he grieved.
His body curved, legs tucking themselves close to his chest and pressed the card against the silver breastplate, closing his eyes and screwing up his face. Silent sobs rippled through him, the only sounds that came being choked whimpers caught in his throat, a failing strategy to calm himself down. On the opposite side of the lane, Zone lay awake, his eyes retreated underneath the shadow cast by his fringe, already aware of how the man behind him was suffering, mourning, lost in despair. He had experienced the very same feelings before, but to cry was not permitted. Long ago, he cut his ties with emotions and his heart was set free to explore on its own. Antinomy was different, however, he was still human on the inside, in touch with his emotions, unprepared for the devastation that was to befall his world.
In all honesty, Zone felt guilt swirling inside of him; he had nothing to say that could comfort the young man, distraught from the loss of everything he knew, there was nothing that could be done to spare his shredded spirit. Underneath the veil of darkness, Zone closed his eyes and waited for dawn, the face of his grief-stricken companion as he held his hand so desperately haunting him throughout his withdrawal from the living world. Antinomy held his cries, his grief, locked away inside of him, clutching the card close as though it were the last reminder of his family and the world he had known; the only one to have survived the dramatic transition. He would never see his father grin proudly, he would never hear the sweet music his mother made with the grand piano of hers, drifting through the delicate air. The people he knew were all dead and all he had were memories and heart-wrenching melodies that played over and over inside his head.
It was exhaustion that sent Antinomy off and stopped his tears flowing down his face after his eyes shut one final time.
The gentle piano keys chimed again at dawn. Antinomy's eyes opened slowly, sifting through the grey for the home he wished to find himself in. When his vision cleared, there was nothing but curling debris and gravel moulded into the cave. A heavy sigh left the emotionally drained man, unable if he could carry on much longer, still wishing it had all been a terrible nightmare - or at least a vision that he could set straight. His fingertips brushed the Synchro card tentatively, a rogue sob escaping through his clenched jaws. It was then that he recalled Zone.
Antinomy tipped his body over, peering over his shoulder for any sign of the mysterious man whose form he recognised. There was no sign of his companion. Despair flooded Antinomy; perhaps Zone had been a figment of his distorted imagination. He was alone in this world that had ended. Light poured in from the mouth of the cave, rolling Antinomy over and onto his torso, gazing at the opening where he found the body of Fudo Yusei standing erect, helmet tucked underneath his left arm. The man was watching the dead city, a weak breeze brushing past the mouth of the cavern.
So he hadn't just been a delusion - or if he was, he stayed by him. Antinomy picked himself up from the ground, stumbling when his feet failed to support the body above immediately; he was drained in more ways than just one. His heavy eyes set themselves onto the Yusei calling himself 'Zone'. He moved forward, closing the gap between them; all evidence pointed to the Apocalypse having happened, there was nothing to suggest it had been a nightmare inside his disturbed mind. It was all real.
As Antinomy made his way towards the man, he could see that the rainbow from the afternoon before had stretched itself across the sky, painting the heavens multiple shades to welcome dawn into the forsaken world. Zone didn't react as the young D-Wheeler champion made his way forward, climbing over the small mounds of debris to find the City in the same ruined state as he had left it. Seeing it in the morning light alone was enough for tears to swell in his eyes - still, even living through it all and beyond, it was too much to take in . Zone, however, was still isolated from emotion and showed no indifference.
Antinomy dropped to his knees, sobbing uncontrollably, pushed beyond his limits and reduced to nothing more than a ruined human shell, keeping the white Synchro card in his clenched fist. He didn't care if Zone would vanish now, he didn't care if someone else had survived and found him; all he wanted was to die and be with everyone else.
"There is a reason…" Zone murmured. "There is a reason this happened".
Antinomy calmed himself, tears slowing to a snail's pace, he moved his eyes to Zone, whose face was identical to Fudo Yusei's, surveying the scenery ahead of them with a stoic face, his eyes shrouded in the shadow of his thick fringe.
"What do you mean, Zone?" he whispered through a tight throat. He was only trying to suppress the emotions threatening to spill out. "Why was I left to see this all?"
Zone turned to Antinomy, taking a step closer to tower over him. From this new angle, Antinomy could see despair written across the lower half of Zone's stolen face. The man in the idol's body lowered himself cautiously to a crouch in front of Antinomy, now on the same level.
"There is a reason" he repeated. The head lifted and his eyes revealed - the same eyes as Yusei, completing the legendary face.
His hand shuffled, moving forward and opened. It was just as when they had met. Antinomy could feel the masked grief radiating from the hand. Zone wasn't just reaching out to help Antinomy, he was reaching out to confirm there was someone else alive with him. That he wasn't alone either. Antinomy gripped the hand suddenly, stronger than before, strength derived from a glimmer of determination rather than overwhelming sorrow. Zone didn't react, but watched Antinomy with those dulled eyes. He was just as powerless.
"Zone" Antinomy choked. "Whether you see yourself as Yusei or Zone, I want to stay with you. I don't want to be alone in this ruined world".
Zone replied with a nod, a simple gesture that mirrored the very same raw loneliness that Antinomy could feel gripping his heart. He wouldn't let go. They wouldn't lose each other. Their fate was to be together for the remainder of their miserable lives. The glow of morning sun lit the city and birthed shadows around the pair in their temporary home's opening.
Following the display at dawn, Zone had taken Antinomy from the cave and to the other isle. Through the old underground tunnel they rode, racing underneath water; Zone in the D-Wheel that any duellist would recognised as that of Fudo Yusei's, and Antinomy in his own, sporting a single large wheel at the back and a narrow tip. Satellite, the place was called, the child of Neo-Domino after a disaster once before. That which was named Zero Reverse. According to the accounts, Yusei's parents were killed in the incident when he was only a year old, raised by a woman who took in children orphaned by the disaster. It wasn't just now that Zone suffered; he had always suffered as Yusei.
Antinomy recognised the place from the day before - Satellite and Neo-Domino were both reduced to the state that the former had been following Zero Reverse; worse even - Momentum had ripped apart society once again. The pair rode through the unsteady ruins, cautiously spinning around fissures and potholes and debris scattered where roads used to be. Antinomy watched Zone the entire time, curious over what was going on in the mysterious figure's head; why he had disowned Yusei and adopted this new identity. There was so much evidence against him being an impostor… was it still possible? Could this really be Fudo Yusei?
Zone was stiff throughout the ride, neither glancing to the side nor back to ensure his companion was still with him. He was focused only ahead. It felt like hours passed, neither seemed to care about their body's needs; for relief or nourishment, only to reach where they were aiming. Eventually, Zone did divert and slow. Antinomy continued moving, rolling beside the crimson D-Wheel to catch a glimpse of Zone's masked emotions exposed.
There was no such luck, Zone had his head tilted in the same way as when they had met, the visor thick with shadows. Antinomy arched his back and leaned forward, hoping to wake Zone from his catatonic, detached state.
"Zone?" he asked delicately.
A second later, Zone shuddered, looking to Antinomy, his eyes safe from the blue-haired man, safely hidden away. If it weren't for his distant demeanour, Antinomy would have guessed he had been lost in thought and woken only by his voice. But that was Zone; unpredictable.
"Zone, what's wrong?"
Zone hesitated before answering, watching the blue-haired man through the thick visor, reading the worried creases across his young brow. He was more concerned for Zone than himself. He only shook his head to reply, keeping verbal communication to a minimum; it was something he feared - to bond with someone else. To lose that bond through tragedy and fate's cruel ways. Forming a bond with the disturbed man would only endanger him. Zone twisted his neck, looking ahead once more for any sign of his destination. Dusk was already coming; they had been riding all day, through an endless world of grey and ruin; of death and cold. They had yet to find a survivor amongst the devastation; they were alone together.
Pink was lighting the edges of grey clouds, plumes of smoke waving upwards and touching them, stroking the gentle colour. The engine of the crimson D-Wheel roared to life and ahead Zone shot, leaving Antinomy behind in the dust kicked up. Quick to react, he fired up his own machine and blasted ahead, racing after Zone; he couldn't read him with half his face missing, but deep down, he could feel Zone's fear of loneliness in this dead world. Why he raced off was a mystery, something that Yusei wouldn't have done unless it meant leaving behind someone who would be at risk.
Ahead, Zone was ignoring the threats to his smooth ride, blazing ahead without a care. A large fissure ahead tore the road apart, Zone lifted his head, the gap was too wide to clear without some kind of lift; he had to jump or fly. The D-Wheel turned its side to the gaping black and skidded, the tyres shrieking in agony, steam rising from the scorching rubber.
"Zone!"
Zone cracked his neck back, watching Antinomy charging towards him. There was no escape; Antinomy had bonded with him. Even if not reciprocal, that bond had tied them together. Zone released a heavy breath; a combination of shock from the realisation of what was happening and disappointment that he couldn't save Antinomy. They were doomed together, tethered to one another by the very force he once cherished more than anything in the world. The irony.
"Zone, are you alright?" Antinomy called, sliding to a more graceful stop, turning the D-Wheel around a degree to match Zone's.
Zone clenched his teeth underneath the pale, dried lips. This was his fault; Antinomy seemed before happy to die, to rest easily. Now he had a reason to live - Zone. He had damned the man to live through the post-Apocalypse world with him. Zone lowered his head, taking a moment before nodding again, the silence continued to chip away at Antinomy's hope. Few worlds had passed through Zone, making a union difficult. He watched Zone for any sign of humanity in him, hoping to definite him as separate from a machine, the half-faced rider was looking ahead again.
"There's something I want to show you".
Antinomy was taken back by the words; the fact that they had come more so than what they were. He nodded in response to Zone's offer and set his own eyes through the rose visor and towards the submerged road ahead.
"Anything, Zone" he muttered. "Show me what remains in this world".
The two D-Wheels set out together to find an alternative route, Zone's a nose ahead. Antinomy kept a constant eye on Zone, determined not to lose him again, to stay by him and be there when he wanted to show those buried emotions, be it privately or in front of his face. The roads resumed their treacherous state; uneven levers, pits and debris. There was no clue what it was in Satellite that Zone wished to show Antinomy, but he would learn in time. In time, Zone would open up and become human again.
The answer came later into dusk, the pink cloud lining spreading its influence and stretching across the bottom face of the cloud, a strip the same shade slicing through like some distorted cross of religion tipped on its side. The two were at the edge of Satellite, the shore where Neo-Domino's ruins could best be seen.
"This is…" Antinomy blurted, surprised by Zone's monument. "Daedalus Bridge".
The skeleton of Satellite's first legend stood almost untouched. The greater bridge, however, was missing; ripped apart and drowned by the steel Apocalypse bringers. The legs stood either side of the original Daedalus, a fraction of their normal height; the newer bridge connecting Satellite and Neo-Domino had protected its predecessor, severed to keep that symbol standing for anyone alive. The old message of Hope. There was always a chance, even now? Zone was standing with his missing eyes fixated on the bridge, the frozen pose drew Antinomy to him.
"Zone, why bring us here?" he asked.
Zone said nothing, but stepped forward. To where the bridge joined the land. The advance was something Antinomy hadn't expected; Zone was walking on as though in a trance, lured to the bridge almost as old as Satellite itself. Antinomy took a cautious step forward, suspicious about finding himself captured by the bridge's lure, his eyebrows furrowed bitterly.
"Zone" he called. It earned no response from the pacing man. "Zone!"
A grunt clambered from Antinomy, preceding a dash after the ignorant party. He dashed up to Zone, snatching his right arm. Zone flinched and pulled it away, turning to Antinomy with the slightest hint of aggression in his scowl. Antinomy's hand relaxed, yet remained wrapped around Zone's arm.
"What's wrong?" Antinomy asked forcefully, desperate to get an answer from the unreadable D-Wheeler.
Zone lowered his head and then pointed to the curved end of Daedalus, to the spot where wings sprouted from the Legendary D-Wheel and tyres left the ground. The first flying D-Wheel made history.
"I will show you what lies beyond that deluded dream".
Antinomy's hand relaxed enough for Zone to slip through, make his way up the bridge, the soles of his boots thudding against the wooden panels like thunderclaps of a stormy night. Antinomy followed, keeping a close eye on Zone, bewildered by his strange behaviour; he truly had set himself apart from the Fudo Yusei he knew of. The Apocalypse had changed him so much that he barely resembled even a shadow of who he had been.
The two came to the end of the bridge and stood taller than any of the ruins across Satellite, the highest of the corpses. A chilling breeze was sweeping past, the sea's airborne current. The scene that greeted Antinomy sent the coldest chill creeping down his spine; the Neo-Domino once visible as a collection of miniature towers and sparkling lights was nothing more than a distant war zone; still the thick plumes wave skywards where those towers had been. The proud city - the heart of duelling and technology - had been annihilated with ease; mere ruins. Nothing spared.
"There is a crater in the centre of Satellite…" Zone spoke. "That caused all this".
Antinomy looked to him. "The Old Momentum reactor".
Zone responded with nothing more than a subtle nod. "Zero Reverse birthed Satellite when Momentum spiralled out of control. It was a warning, but still, although thousands lost their lives, it continued as the city's primary source of energy. It was a prelude… to this".
A mournful silence followed, both riders watching the ruined city; that which Yusei had gazed at so many times before, aiming to return home.
"That which flows through Momentum… is the power of humans" Zero continued finally. "Humans have proven themselves greedy and immoral. Momentum reflects that… when it was pushed too hard, it exploded in the worst backlash possible. It wiped out humanity's heart".
Antinomy resumed gazing at Zone, stunned by the radiating despair, captivated by it. "Zone…"
"It's too late for this world" Zone murmured in a solemn tone. He tilted his head backwards, looking to the orange and pink sky. "Humans cannot recover from this; they are on the brink of extinction".
"I see…" Antinomy sighed, lowering his head in sorrow. From the still waters, his reflection could be seen standing on the mirrored bridge. Zone's was with a face, missing in his gaze towards the sky above the desecrated city.
Zone lifted his hands, pressing them either side of his helmet and pulled it upwards, the black spikes of his hair springing out as they were freed from the gear. Across his face, Antinomy noted, despair was still evident, perhaps more so than ever. The true extent could be seen when he opened his cobalt eyes, shimmering with regret and sorrow.
"Antinomy…" he whispered without taking his eyes from the city. "There is something I wish to attempt before we end mankind's existence".
"What is it?" Antinomy asked, raising his eyebrows.
"Could you remove your visor for a moment?" Zone requested.
Antinomy was taken back by the request, but gripped the corner of his rose visor and removed it from his eyes, showing to Zone the naked eyes underneath for the first time. The hand dropped by his side, limp. Zone glanced at him to confirm he had followed through and gave a nod, then returned to what floated on the waters.
"I cannot shed tears over this world; people did this to our world" he said coldly. "If you wish to shed more tears, then you may do so on my behalf, if you wish".
"Zone… what are you saying?" Antinomy asked.
"This world is my fault. But I alone cannot be held responsible" Zone answered. "I was the one who influenced the widespread use of Synchro Monsters with my own. When people followed the example, it overloaded Momentum, leading to this. There are others who could also be pinned for influencing people, but… they are no longer of this world, I will take the burden for them so that they may rest in peace".
"Zone…" Antinomy repeated. Atop the bridge, he was beginning to understand Zone much more.
"Antinomy" Zone responded. "In order to prevent this from happening, to recreate this world… that may be enough to save this place".
"I don't understand".
"There is a reason you survived what has happened" Zone murmured. "I believe that fate spared you in order to help me".
"Zone…" Antinomy uttered, faint concern reverberating in his voice. "What are you talking about? What do you plan to do?"
"Antinomy" Zone said. "I plan to travel back to the days before this you. I'm going to travel back and fix what has happened. I have to… I have to find Fudo Yusei".
"You're going back in time to meet yourself?" Antinomy gasped.
Zone frowned sorrowfully. "I'm sorry, but I must ask your help. I have no power, I did not choose you. It seems that he was right after all - fate does seem to rule over us. Just like you, I have been damned to this world; there is no peace for us here".
Antinomy stood transfixed, bewildered by Zone's pleas to help him transcend time and space in order to find his past self - to find Yusei and save him. In Zone's sorrowful gaze, he couldn't see Yusei, he couldn't see the man he had idolised for several years now. There was only a shell, a damaged figment standing in his place. Zone turned to him, a solemnness in his face.
"Please, Antinomy" he pleaded. "Help me save this world one more time".
Antinomy was frozen, taken back by exactly what Zone's plan required; what scientists had been working on and failed to achieve. How were they to achieve such a feat? Did Zone have the idea mapped out, or was he dreaming some mad plan out of a breakdown? Perhaps the world's death had been too much for him and this was his way of shutting himself off; of dealing with what had happened - Antinomy cried and Zone dreamt. Reality and fantasy meant nothing anymore; the pair could easily blur the border and spill over, there was nothing left for either to fill alone. After a moment of consideration, he nodded.
He held his hand out in front of him, just as Zone had already. For the first time, a smile flickered onto Zone's face; perhaps there was a small glimmer of hope for the world ruined by man. He reached forward, the smile reverting to its usual indifferent curve, and grabbed Antinomy's hand. The two gazed into the face of their partner; someone they could call friend.
It was because of Zone that Antinomy adopted the alias 'Dark Glass', after that opaque visor.
"BRUNOOOOO!"
No matter how far his hand reached, the doomed shrank into the white light. With his power, sacrificing his life, he had been given another chance. Bruno's tragic smile haunted Yusei as the Arc Cradle opened up ahead him, shot out of a glowing vortex and into the reshaped Satellite. Golden sparks lit the centre of the tires when Yusei hit the breaks, tipping over onto its side and spinning. Spinning just as Bruno had been the wretched black hole swallowed him and damned him to non-existence.
Yusei was thrown from the D-Wheel, crashing onto his left side and rolling until he stopped a couple of cycles later, laying face-down, his body shuddering from the tremendous force that had broken the dictation of physics. The immense cog replica made of Momentum's light vanished, plunging the large chamber into darkness and silencing the whir of the Yuusei Gear.
Yusei's body continued to tremble, dreading to rise up and find no sign that Bruno had ever ventured into the Arc Cradle with him, the wall holding back emotions damaged severely from the incident. His eyes opened halfway, filled with premature despair, praying for nothing more than to find Bruno standing there, smiling and insisting it had all been a dream. To stand there and hold out his hand. Yusei drew his knees up to his knee, curling himself into a small mound of flesh and bone and muscle; hiding. His hands pressed themselves against the sides of his helmet, sliding it over his head and releasing his dark hair.
After a moment, Yusei finally rose, meeting the side of his toppled D-Wheel lying a short distance away and no sign of Bruno or his Delta Eagle. But there was a remnant that caught his eye, shocking him to the core of his heart. Bruno's visor lying upside-down, large cracks extending from the opening made by the violent end of the duel; the same gap that exposed his left eye. In the right side of the rose-shaded glass, Yusei could see him smiling back; the Bruno he knew. The lost and damned Bruno he cherished.
Yusei clenched his fist, his eyes closed and jaws clenched; sorrow, guilt, grief, all flooding him. The barrier was destroyed altogether, he had essentially killed a close friend, someone he cherished so dearly. Tears slipped through his eyelids and clung to his lashes, some managing to slip down his cheeks. Slowly, his eyes opened again to find the visor empty.
"Bruno" he choked.
His fists dropped and his neck stretched itself to throw his head back; no-one was around to care, no-one could see him cry in mourning. He was alone… again.
"BRUNOOOOO!"
Tears streamed down the edges of Yusei's face, sinking into his dark hair. Slowly, his eyes opened to the dim ceiling far beyond the top of the Yuusei Gear standing as bait for the match; the tool that had used Bruno as part of Zone's sick game. Anger flashed across his tearful eyes for a split-second, then he returned to the ground, sight falling upon the ruined visor; the only piece of Bruno that remained. His friend, the man who essentially mentored him in Accel Synchro; the one who gave the future a glimmer of hope with his appearance that night so many months ago.
It was the least he could do for Bruno's memory. Yusei stumbled forward, almost automatically, towards the screen, pausing once his boots were a short distance from it. He dropped to his knees, landing just in front of the monument and dropped his right hand hesitantly. The glass felt cold against the material of his glove, he pressed either side harder with the tips of his fingers and delicately moved it from the ground, careful not to snap the frail piece in half. He laid it onto the palms of his hands beside one another, gazing deeply into the undamaged eye, struggling to keep above the sea of tears distorting the bottom of his vision. Bruno was still there, smiling and promising to stand by his side as a friend.
Yusei flinched, his head falling forward, choking on sobs. He owed his life to Bruno, on more than one occasion, but when his friend needed saving, he couldn't reach out to him. He couldn't save Antinomy, he had lost Bruno. Tears splashed against the glass eye. In the midst of his fractured heart, an oath was born. Yusei opened his mouth, struggling to keep the sorrow buried inside and release it in moderation; his voice was tight from the attempt, throbbing with his heart stuck. He could only manage a strained sob.
"Bruno…"