"Rio!", a scream of agony was heard from the burning side alley.
As soon as he had activated the card, a stream of fire had erupted from it. It was no AR however; it was real fire. "What?" he had said in shock, realizing the terror he had unleashed. "No. Nooo!" he had screamed. "Rio!"
He searched for the girl in the depths of the blazing hell around him. The two buildings that were adjacent to the side alley in which they were dueling had already been engulfed by the fire and debris was falling into the alley. He dodged as much as he could and continued searching for her. Suddenly, he saw it; the female duelist's blue hair. He reached for her and attempted to pull her from under the plank, trying desperately to free her from the scorching wreckage that had trapped her.
"No, don't leave me.", he whispered.
In the end he managed to drag her away, but the merciless flames had already begun consuming their bodies. The girl was already heavily injured, and he tried to carry her to safety, not caring about the pain that was eating his flesh away, setting his face ablaze. He reached for his eye with his free hand. In any other situation, he would have cared about the possibility of getting a permanent scar more that anything, but not this time. It was his fault this was happening. He had expected that the duel would cause only minor problems to the girl, not harm her in such a serious way. He had no way to know that accursed card had such properties. But it was his fault for complying with the orders he was given.
"Hang in there Rio. Please, don't leave me."
And then, he saw the cause of all this. What he was serving, what he was trying to save.
"Tron. Tron!"
The blond boy with the mask was standing there, laughing. He was laughing.
He knew it was his fault. But he was willing to do anything, if it was to restore Tron to his former self. He hated him, but he wanted to save him at the same time, so he would hate him no more. So his family could live in peace once more. He stared at the heartless avenger that was once his father.
"Tron!", he screamed and his face was revealed, and there was a huge scar on his right eye, apparently not disrupting his vision in the least.
"Tron!"
Then, a couple of years later, he met up with Ryoga Kamishiro, Rio's brother, again.
"Have you forgotten the face of your Number 1 fan? IV!"
"Ryoga. Heh, I forgot indeed, that you're my Number 1 fan out there." Who knows, maybe he could have been friends with the blue-haired boy. If it wasn't for Tron's 'Master Plan'.
"Allow me to repay the debt I owe you from back then"
"Debt, huh? By the way, how's your precious sister doing?" An iron fist clasped his heart, reminding him of his sins. All this masquerade was tiresome, he would heal Rio and befriend both her and her brother, if it was in his powers. If he could just rewind time and stop his father from setting out to go in that journey…
"Rio!"
Thomas woke up, screaming her name. Screaming the name of an innocent that had to be harmed for the sake of revenge. He hated himself for messing up with her family so much. He hated himself.
"She's gone. She left us. Rio…" He knew and respected her choice to follow her brother and try to protect her home. But it hurt.
The whole story came crashing onto him. It was just a dream. A dream, however, that was replaying images from reality. He hated himself.
Review please! It's my first story and I want to become better.