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: Identification Purposes
Character: Juudai, OCs
Word Count: 1,157||Status: One-shot
Genre: Drama||Rated: PG
Challenge: Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section C21, fic where a character achieves a target; Written for the Halloween Trick or Treat Bag (Advent), day #28, obon, write about a character death.
Summary: There are members of Brron's old army in Haou's new forces and he has an important question to ask them. Just who was that boy who looked like Johan?

Juudai – though he thought of himself more and more as Haou with each breath that he took – had a very serious question to ask some of his army. He chose the ones he wished to speak with very carefully. Not all of them would know the answer. He hoped with all of his heart that at least one of them would know it.

He didn't even consider that they might know it and lie to him. He would know if he were lied to. From the moment he'd made up his mind to complete Super Fusion and conquer this world – not necessarily in that order – he'd known when someone tried to lie to him. He hadn't been happy about it any of the handful of times someone had tried it, either. He suspected by now that no one would have the kind of nerve it took to lie to him, either.

He looked over the group carefully. All of them knelt before him, no one daring to meet his eyes. Most of them looked about ready to fall apart from fear just because he stood in front of them.

Haou did not precisely smile at that. But if it meant he would get the answer that he wanted, he didn't care.

More and more he found that he didn't care that he didn't care, either. There were other things to spend his emotions on, what little dregs of them he could still muster up. It wasn't as if emotions had ever done anything for him anyway.

He waited until he could all but taste the fear and terror in the air. Then he spoke.

"There was a boy held in Zure's dungeon when I arrived there. I want to know who he was and why he was there." The boy who looked like Johan. The boy that Zure killed with no more than a wave of his sword. Juudai had already taken his vengencae for that, but he wanted to know who that boy had been. There couldn't be many people who looked that much like Johan, so who? And why? These people here were the only ones who might have any answers and he would take them any way he needed to.

Dead silence greeted him back. Each of the others glanced to those on either side of them, small scrapes of metallic armor against the ground the only noise that dared to sound. Haou's lips turned downward even farther.

"If any of you know, tell me." He did not offer rewards. There were no rewards that meant anything aside from one's life and he could think of no reason to spare any of them. None of them deserved it.

No one did, really. But he wanted his answers and if he needed to, he would rip them out of any mind here.

Finally, one of the Huntsmen of Dark World tilted his head up. "We never knew his name, Haou-sama," he said, making certain not to meet the brilliant gold eyes that turned toward him. Someone had once met Haou's eyes. Already his descent into madness was legendary and that had only happened a week ago.

Haou turned his full attention on this Broww. "What do you know?" At least they knew who he spoke of. That was more than he'd had a few seconds earlier.

"He was Zure's slave for some years," Broww continued, still keeping his eyes cast down. "Zure chose him when he found out the boy couldn't duel and had no other useful skills. He was perhaps… ten years old at the time. I can't be certain beyond that. Human ages are hard to judge for me." He flinched for a moment, convinced that Haou would blast him to ash on the spot for that.

Haou only made a quick, annoyed gestured, intent on the other to keep speaking. Broww racked his brains for anything else that he could think of.

"He came to the fortress with a batch of prisoners meant to be sorted through for Brron-sama's arena. He didn't have any parents or friends with him. He seldom spoke to anyone at all, which was part of why Zure chose him, I believe. Once he was trained, he could be trusted to keep secrets. But Zure never wanted him to be a warrior."

Haou nodded, committing all of this new information to memory. He hadn't decided what to do with it, but just knowing it eased a part of himself he hadn't wanted to think about very much. "What else?"

Broww started to say something else, something about how he knew nothing more, when a woman's voice interrupted.

"His name was Rune."

She stood in the doorway, hands clasped together as she looked at Haou. He'd seen her card many times and recognized her from it right away: Holy Elf.

"You knew him?" Haou kept all emotion out of his voice. He could not do otherwise, even if he'd wanted to.

Her head bent slightly. "I tended to the illnesses and injuries in Brron's army, and offer my services in that capacity to you, Haou-sama." One hand waved over the gathered group there. "If you doubt my words, any of these may confirm them, or you may use your own powers on my mind. I have nothing to fear from what you say find there."

Haou ignored all of that. "What else can you tell me of this Rune?" That was what mattered, not whether or not she could cure a cut.

"Only what he spoke to me of, on those occasions when I had to tend to him. He lost his parents when their village was assaulted by Haou. He had a twin brother whom he'd lost even earlier, when they were little more than children." She shook her head, eyes soft and distant. "He did not wish to be a warrior. He only wished to find a place he could have lived in safety."

Haou's own eyes darkened, a cold wind beginning to stir. He did not resist the rage that boiled up. Someone else who lost everything they wanted because of Brron. Because of this world. Because someone didn't rule here who would not let that happen.

"Will you accept my services, Haou-sama?" A small smile touched upon her lips. "My name is Heather, should it make a difference."

It did not. He waved one hand in abrupt agreement. "Speak to Chaos Sorcerer if you have any needs. All of you, dismissed."

He needed to know nothing more. He'd learned all that he could and it only made his determination even stronger. The day would come when his rule extended over this world in its fullness, and on that day, there would be no one who lost anything because their ruler wasn't strong enough to make the hard decisions that needed to be made.

No one would lose anything because he wasn't strong enough. Ever. Again.

The End

Note: Thank you for reading and a hope that you enjoyed the story. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.