Prologue

Thank you so much for coming to give this story a chance. I'd like to thank DarkMaster1117 for giving me his opinion on this story before I wrote it. It's always helpful to have people give me their opinions so that I can better myself. Finally, I'd like to thank all of you who have come to read this story. I feel really good about this plot, and you have no idea how much people like you mean to me. I hope this story lives up to your expectations, and I hope that, even with my lack of skills, I can fulfil the potential that this story has.

Unfortunately, I will not be accepting requests to use your characters or plots purely for the fact that I do not feel that I have either the right nor the skill to use them, and I cannot write the plots and characters of others as vividly as I would my own. I feel as though the quality of the story would be negatively impacted if I were to take on something like that. For that, I apologise.

Nevertheless, once again, thank you for clicking on this story and giving it a chance. It's thanks to you all that I continue my hobby of writing for others, and you have no idea how much that means to me. Now, without further ado, I welcome you to Yu-Gi-Oh! GX – The War of Shadows. I hope that you enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX or any aspect of the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise. Yu-Gi-Oh! is the product of Takahashi Kazuki and TV Tokyo.

I can't describe how I felt at that moment. I was as though I was tired, wet and cold one moment, and then, suddenly…

Nothing.

That's what it was. Nothing.

It was like I was surrounded in a sort of calming darkness, and then all sensation disappeared, draining from my body and seeping into the darkness around me, never to return—the darkness that failed ever so much to soothe me as thoughts rushed through my head.

Who was I? Where did all of the sensation that I previously had go? Why didn't I feel human, as I thought I ought to?

Suddenly, I remembered as though the information was easily trickling back into my mind with little to no effort, and the answers suddenly seemed so simple, and yet so complicated all at the same time. I was human and I wasn't. I was mortal and I wasn't. I had felt this lack of sensation what felt like a million times before, and yet, the most important thing seemed to elude me. Once again, I was brought back to the exact same question, and the answers that had come to me so simply only served to make me ask more questions, and it didn't help that the trickle of information seemed to have slowed to a stop.

If I'm not human, and I'm not inhuman, what am I? If I'm mortal, and I'm not immortal, what am I?

Who am I?

The trickle didn't restart. I was left with no further answers as, all of a sudden, my surroundings warped and a blinding white light flooded in, yet I was not dazzled, and I felt no need to shield my eyes from it, although it was still marginally more unsettling than the darkness that I had been floating in, free to think my own thoughts without disruption.

My surroundings seemed to warp and, as opposed to the darkness where I could not tell whether I was facing up or down, I found myself standing in a large room with a blue-tiled floor, cream walls, and metal tables and shelves covered with medical apparatus, sunlight seeping through the windows.

A new sound assaulted my ears where there was none before. It was one that I recognised, and yet it caused a strange emotion to blossom within me—one that I could not yet place for reasons that I couldn't understand. Nevertheless, I turned, feeling compelled to do so, and what I saw should have been familiar, but yet it was something that I felt oddly detached from.

A woman in a green hospital gown lay in a bed with blue sheets, the metal sides of the bed pulled up. Her long brown hair was soaked with what I believed to be sweat, and her brown eyes seemed to twinkle with delight. A tall man with black hair stood over her, wearing a brown jacket, a black shirt, blue jeans and a pair of fancy black shoes. His grey eyes, shimmering with joy and unshed tears, were looking down at the same thing that the woman was staring at—a small bundle that she held carefully in her arms.

As the woman smiled down at the bundle, wrapping the blue blankets around it further, I found myself able to place the sound. It was the crying of a baby, and it felt odd that I hadn't realised it sooner. Placing the thought aside, I decided that my own predicament was far more important.

"Um… Excuse me… Can you tell me where I am…?" I asked uncertainly, knowing that such a question would no doubt be seen as unusual. What I didn't expect, though, was that neither the man, nor the woman, would react. "Excuse me!" I repeated louder, encountering the same problem. Nobody looked at me.

I walked up to the couple and attempted to place a hand on the woman's shoulder in the hopes that I would get her attention, only to get a shock as my hand seemed to phase right through her body. She shuddered, pulling the blankets even closer around the baby in her arms.

"It's getting chilly, Yoshiro…" she muttered in confusion before looking up at the man. "Is a window open?"

"Chilly? I think it's fine, Harumi." The man—Yoshiro-san—looked around him. "No. The window is closed. Maybe you're just tired."

"Perhaps…" Harumi-san trailed off again as I finally pulled my hand back, the woman shuddering once more.

I inspected my hand for the first time, noticing how translucent it appeared. I looked down at the rest of my body, noting my black shirt, red jacket with white trimming grey jeans, and black and red shoes, all of which also took on a translucent appearance. I placed a hand on my own chest, watching how it didn't pass through, yet how I also felt no sensation.

Was I dead? Was I never alive to begin with? Was this all a dream?

No answers, yet again. The baby cried harder and Harumi-san attempted to rock it to sleep, but she seemed to be unable to do so, opting instead to utter sweet nothings which didn't help any more than her rocking did.

"Takeo," she suddenly said, sounding confident, her smile widening.

"Hm?" the man responded having been distracted by the wailing child.

"Takeo. Moriya Takeo. We should call him that." Harumi-san grinned, no doubt pleased with herself.

"Takeo…" Yoshiro-san paused to consider it before breaking into a large smile. "It's a good name. You're always good with this kind of thing, Harumi."

The woman let out a sunny giggle before looking back down at the little boy. I found myself making my way over to the other side of the bed to stand beside Yoshiro and get a good look at the child, floating more than walking as I did so.

"Takeo-kun… huh…?" I muttered absently.

The crying stopped. I blinked in confusion. While part of me thought that it was impossible, another part of me thought that I had been the one to stop the crying. I leaned over the child for a better look, noting his chubby red cheeks, tiny hands, and the tuft of brown hair on his head. I cocked my head slightly, trying to figure out what had happened and was compelling me to come closer to this child.

"Takeo-kun?" I repeated, watching as the child, still blind and with his little eyes closed, seemed to turn his head in my direction, almost as if he was searching for my voice. I found myself smiling and repeating his name, the child letting out a quiet gurgle of contentment.

He could hear me.

I paused, and in the absence of my voice, little Takeo-kun began to cry once more. In that moment, something seemed to echo throughout my head, like a distant memory that was racing to the forefront, and very soon, I remembered, and everything seemed so obvious.

"Takeo-kun... I am neither human, nor inhuman. I'm neither mortal, nor immortal. I have made many mistakes in my life, but I know who I am, who you are, and what my purpose is, and I will not let this purpose become one of my many mistakes. I, Yuki Judai, the former Herald of the Gentle Darkness, will take on the role of your guardian, as did your predecessors before you. I'm going to protect you with every fibre of my being. You will not be another one of my mistakes. I give you my word."

I became very biased towards this new little Herald. That's something I've never been afraid to admit, not that there was anyone to admit it to. I was there when he crawled and walked for the first time. I was there when he said 'Tou-tan' for the first time. I was there when he first learned to Duel. Every time I thought I'd never feel prouder, he did something new and I found myself loving him even more.

He learned to talk in what seemed like an incredibly short about of time to both myself and his parents, and I soon became what appeared to them to be an imaginary friend of sorts. Naturally, they thought it was cute and thought nothing of it, especially because he'd given me a false name like I'd asked him to. I couldn't have the world find out that Yuki Judai was hovering around a little boy. I wasn't certain whether anyone was targeting him or not, which brought me back to my predicament. The one where I shouldn't have been there.

Simply put, the new Herald, upon needing them, gained the previous Herald as a sort of spectral guardian. We could not touch, but we could guide, and some did it through more questionable methods than others did, like my own guardian. Until we were needed, we slept in that dark place I'd visited just before I was pulled back out into the open, which is a space in the corner of the Herald's mind.

Nevertheless, what was happening had never happened before. The previous Herald had never manifested this early. We have never made the decision to appear. The universe, or some higher power, makes that decision. Takeo-kun must have needed me as soon as possible, and although nothing seemed out of the ordinary, it was always there in the back of my mind. Forever without answers, I could only wonder why…

It was a dull and dreary day that Takeo-kun and I had never forgot as Takeo-kun sat in front of that pale brown coffin in that small room with grey walls, a wooden flood, blue cushions to sit on, and no furnishings to speak of. I could already see him withdrawing into himself, and I could only wonder...

Why?

Why did this have to happen?

"Takeo-kun..." I muttered sadly, taking in the sight of the small boy who looked identical to me as he sat before me wearing his little black suit.

"Why did she die…?" Takeo-kun mumbled quietly, almost in disbelief.

"These things happen, Takeo-kun…" I responded, trying to keep my voice quiet and calm.

"Why did she have to die instead of me...?" he asked, his voice becoming even quieter.

I frowned in concern. "It doesn't work like that, Takeo-kun. Your mother wouldn't have wanted you to die in her place."

"I don't care!" Takeo-kun suddenly yelled, drawing the attention of everyone in the room. I could see the boy's checks begin to burn with embarrassment before subsiding after a few seconds as the hushed murmurs died down.

"Takeo-kun..." I began, almost afraid to speak again, yet feeling as though I had to, before settling on a stern, "Please try not to be disrespectful. They're all here to pay respects to-"

"Shut up, old man..."

It was dark and Takeo-kun had already gone to bed. The little boy had grown up to be a healthy 12 year old. As I watched over him, I began to find myself missing Yubel more than ever, and that hole that she had once filled was eating away at the back of my mind more than I ever cared to think was possible. More than that, though, I felt alone and useless without her.

Takeo-kun was suffering and I could do nothing about it. Yubel might have known what to say or do, but I didn't, and as a result, I'd watched him suffer for 7 years. All I wanted was to make it stop, and yet I couldn't, and that made me useless.

I reached out and placed a hand on Takeo-kun's head, thankful that I could at least touch him, even if I couldn't feel him. I paused. Could I say something? Should I say something? Was there anything to say? Would I say the wrong thing like I always did? The silence dragged on and on until I could take it no more, and I began to speak some very familiar words that I hadn't thought much about in 12 years.

"Takeo-kun... I am neither human, nor inhuman. I'm neither mortal, nor immortal. I have made many mistakes in my life, but I know who I am, who you are, and what my purpose is, and I will not let this purpose become one of my many mistakes. I, Yuki Judai, the former Herald of the Gentle Darkness, have long since taken on the role of your guardian, as did your predecessors before you. I'm going to protect you with every fibre of my being. You will not be another one of my mistakes. I give you my word."