Hello Everyone!
For all you regular Arc V watchers out there, I am sure you were all as shocked as I was when you saw the jaw dropping episode 117. Now I will refrain from excessively talking about my opinion on the parasite thing and why the writers of Arc V chose to do that, but the point is that I noticed a few people getting inspired by that episode to write one shots on it.
This is my idea for a one shot, and I hope you all enjoy it.
A bit of a warning though... This is not a story with a happy ending...
Disclaimer. I don't have any ownership over Yu-Gi-Oh Arc V
Six Months. Six Long Months since the war ended. Six Long Months since Leo Akaba and his plans for the Arc Area Project were put to a stop. Six Long Months spent incorporating the ideology of Yusho and Yuya Sakaki into the new society of the Synchro Dimension, to duel with smiles. Six Long Months rebuilding Commons and allowing a new reformed order to stand where the hatred of Tops and Commons could be put aside and the citizens of commons could actually have a chance to live where they could eat three square meals every day and be treated like actual human beings.
Six Long Agonizing Months feeling like this wasn't a victory at all...
Six Long Agonizing Months since Yugo was defeated by a brutal and sadistic counterpart of Rin, since he felt the agonizing pain of Wind Witch - Crystal Bell dig into the remainder of his lifepoints, since he watched with horror as this false Rin destroyed his Duel Runner and crushed the dream they shared together, and that's when he saw it. As Yugo lifted his head up to call to the woman he fought tooth and nail to reach, he saw it, out of the corner of his eye, the flickering tail of a grotesque insect, an insect that matched the appearance of the horrible monster Rin used in their duel, Parasite Fusioner.
Then he felt it... the call of his dragon... the rage...
Destroy it
The same emotion he felt when he mistook Yuto for Yuri in the Standard Dimension
Destroy it
The same emotion he felt when he saw the real Yuri again in the Synchro Dimension
Tear that insect out and crush it! Make Academia pay! Kill them all!
Yugo's memory was only in small flashes after that. He couldn't remember why seeing the insect caused him to become so angry. The next thing he knew, he was on top of Rin, tackling her and pinning her down with his fingers gripping the tail of the parasite. The vermin was in there deep, hanging on for dear life, and Rin was screaming from the pain of having the parasite pulled.
No! Stop! I'm hurting her!
Destroy it! Kill it! Crush it!
SNAP!
It was out! He finally got it out! There it was, wiggling in his fingers. If the parasite was a tiny human, it would be praying for mercy, but in this state of intoxicating power, mercy was alien to Yugo. With an uncharacteristically sadistic grin, he crushed the parasite in his hand. Next, he would do the same to Yuri.
"Yu...Go..."
That voice! It's normal again! Completely devoid of darkness. The rage was fading. The soothing voice of Rin was taming the dragon within him.
"Rin? RIN!" Yugo took her in his arms and embraced her. The finish line had finally been crossed. Finally, after all this time, all this fighting and suffering, she was back.
"Yu...Go..."
"It's Ok, Rin! I've got you! We can go home, now! We can go home and be happy again."
"Yu...Go..."
"Rin?" Something was wrong. She wasn't moving, and the way she repeated his name for the third time. Blank, tired, weak, lifeless...
She wasn't moving.
"Rin? Talk to me! What's wrong!"
He looked her in the eyes and saw nothing. There was no light in her beautiful eyes, only blank voids staring back at him, and a stream of blood trickling down her ear.
"Rin?! RIN?! Oh God... RIN!"
"Yu...Go..."
Six Months since he saved her and at the same time, doomed her.
Six Long Months since he gave into the rage...
Six Long Agonizing Months since his own rage took her from him, even though she was sitting right next to her.
Six Long Agonizing Months since he asked, no... BEGGED Reiji Akaba to take the dead parasite as a sample to find a cure and repair the damage.
Six Long Agonizing Months since Reiji gave him a small sliver of hope, promising to do what he could, even though the damage to the fontal lobe of her brain was severe.
They were home now, just like Yugo promised, but he wasn't sure if she knew that, but this was just another challenge for him, another race to complete, and he would cross the finish line of this one with her. He would do what the other him, Yuya, taught him to do. He would make her smile again.
In his now spruced up and refurnished house in the economically improved Commons, Yugo tried again.
There was Rin as she always was, staring out the window on her wheelchair, as beautiful as she was the day they met.
"Hey Rin. I brought you something." His attempt was as weak as his voice now was. The passion and spirit was leaving him, but he had to keep trying, so he still presented her with the offering.
"You... You always said you wanted to taste Strawberry Ice Cream, and... now..." He paused. His voice was choking up again like a backfired tailpipe of his duel runner.
"Now that we have a lot more money... I got you some... Do you want to try it?"
"Yu...Go..."
There it was again. His name, the only words she would ever say during the six months spent imprisoned in her own mind.
"I..." No tears. The real Rin would scold him for crying like a baby.
"I'm sorry... Rin..." Spoonful after spoonful, one gentle brush up and down on her cheeks to make her chew and swallow the food.
Another sign of life, a shift in her eyes. The bell was still shining, broken and unable to sing her chime, but still swaying in the wind.
Ironic that the Liberty Bell, symbol of freedom, was always portrayed broken...
"I... I have a surprise for you Rin... Do you want to see it?"
Another shift in her eyes, another sway of the broken bell.
Yugo pushed her wheelchair outside, careful to keep her stable and unharmed.
"Look Rin... I fixed it! I fixed our Duel Runner! Don't you see it?!"
"Yu...Go..."
"And look! I even added a side car! It's for you, Rin! Now you can ride in the Duel Runner with me!"
"Yu...Go..."
"The next year's Friendship Cup will happen soon Rin, and I... No... we can be in it! It's different Rin! Oh you'll love it! I promise! We'll be in it together and we'll win, just like we promised... just like...before..."
No crying. No crying.
"Yu...Go..."
Slowly but surely he gently placed his dearest friend into the side car and strapped her in with a helmet and seat belt.
"Yu..Go..."
"Hang on, Rin... Just hang on..."
He wanted to believe she could hear it. The roaring of the engine motor, the wind cascading across her face as they sped out of commons and onto the highway to race through the city. He wanted to hear her cheer, or at least scold him for going too fast and being reckless. He wanted to tell her... To hold the real her... To cross the finish line with her...
Crow had long said she was gone, breathing and existing but not living. Jack told him to give up and put her to rest. He only yelled at them in denial for it. Maybe it was denial. Maybe he was only doing this to keep himself sane, but he had to find something left in his life worth fighting for.
That something would be her. It would always be her... Rin... His beautiful, kind, and amazing Rin...
"Hang on Rin... Just hang on... Even if it takes years, Even if it takes the rest of my life... I'll make you smile again, so we can cross the finish line together..."
"Yu...Go..."
"Hang on..."
Well that was a tear jerker, wasn't it?
I don't know why this idea came into my mind, but at the time I felt in the mood to write a tragedy.
Also, for anyone out there who is interested, feel free to check out my Yu-Gi-Oh ZEXAL story, The Ice Queen Cometh. Over 30 chapters and still going strong and it even has its own TV Tropes page with all the attention it's been getting. I always welcome new readers, so if a story about Rio Kamishiro kicking ass as the main character catches your attention, then I welcome you to give it at try!
Until Next Time! This is Nox Descious Signing Out!