Disclaimer: I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.
Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh GX
Title: Starting Again
Character: Edo Phoenix
Word Count: 338||Status: One-shot
Genre: Family, Angst||Rated: PG-13
Challenge: 31halloween: prompt #1, gravestone
Summary: [one-shot, 31halloween, prompt #1: grave, Edo] Edo pays a visit after the death of DD and the salvation of Saiou.
November 24, 1964-July 18, 1996. Thirty-some years separated the two dates, and another ten from the last one, and Edo remembered every moment of those last ten years. Some more vividly than others, of course. Shattered glass, a warm wind blowing in that chilled his soul to the core, a search that he'd never given up on for a moment...
A search that led him to the second moment that burned in his mind. Burned indeed being the right word, given what happened to DD.
"I did it, dad," he murmured to the silent gravestone, rubbing his fingers across it absently. He wasn't sure why he was here; he knew that his father's soul was free at last. But he didn't know where else to go to talk to him. "DD's gone. So's the Light."
He hadn't done that; Juudai'd been the one to save Saiou in the end and Edo promised in the depths of his soul that he would repay the other duelist for that one day. He still shuddered at the memory of his loss to Saiou of the Light. The power of raw destruction surging through him, severing him from the bond he'd forged with both his father's soul and the true Saiou...
Yes. He'd pay Juudai back for it someday. Somehow.
"I wish I knew what else to do." Here he could speak his heart, as he couldn't anywhere else. What did a hero do when they'd done what they'd made themselves a hero to do? He'd found the man who'd killed his father, in the person of the one who'd watched him grow up. He'd avenged the murder. So now what?
Your clock has stopped! DD's words echoed in his mind and he set his jaw. He'd sworn he'd get his personal clock, the evolution of his heart and soul, ticking again with his victory in that duel. That was what he would do now, then.
He was still a hero. He just needed to find the right place to be one.
The End
Note: I originally posted this back in October 2012, but now am reposting these ficlets separately instead of as a collection, in order to have each listed under their proper character and rating.