Comfort
This story takes place the same night as the end of episode 162: "Judai vs. Asuka: Facedown Card of Hidden Emotions.
Darkness and Light, two forces that are forever pit against each other in an eternal struggle. For the longest time Asuka always thought that the Light represented the good and pure that existed in life. However, her past few years at Duel Academy had proven otherwise.
"Huff...huff...huff...I gotta get away!", Asuka said under her breath as she sprinted through the forests of Academy Island.
"It won't get me again. I won't allow it!", she said with a tremble in her voice. "I have to keep running!"
The forests of Academy Island seemed to bend away from Asuka as she continued her way through them. It was as if the trees were curving around her, letting her pass. The darkness was good, the darkness was safe, the darkness is what she desired. However, such desires are not easy to fulfill.
"Asuka...", whispered a faint voice through the trees, as if on the wind.
"No...", thought Asuka. "...not again."
Tears began to well up in Asuka's eyes, while her vision became blurred.
"Tears?", Asuka thought as she kept running through the forest. "Am I that afraid?"
"Asuka...", the voice said again. This time it echoed louder through the trees, as if they were speaking to her.
"LEAVE ME ALONE!", Asuka screamed out to the trees, causing a brilliant flash to envelop the path behind her.
"I'm scared.", she thought to herself in a panic. "I'm really scared!"
Her eyes widened as a cold sweat began to embrace her skin. Her muscles ached and she was short of breath.
"Where am I going? What am I running to?!?", she hissed to herself, while her mind scrambled for an answer.
"ASUKA!", the voice thundered through the trees.
"Why are you running?", said another voice in a low whisper.
"Where are you going?", whispered yet another voice.
"Why do you fight it?", said a voice right in her ear.
"Aiyyeeeeeeeeee!", Asuka shrieked as she tumbled to the ground, stopping on her stomach.
"Who are you?", Asuka whispered with fear in her voice.
"Why are you running? Where are you going? Why do you fight?", the three voices said over and over from all directions.
The forest grew brighter as the voices grew stronger. Trees that covered Asuka's surroundings began to disintegrate, like holograms in a duel. Soon, all there was left was the light.
"NO! I won't let it take me again!", Asuka tried to say in a more defiant tone.
She looked up to see that only three trees remained, which slowly began to twist and crunch. The light shaped them, molded them before her eyes.
"Brother?", Asuka said toward the middle tree.
The tree molded in the form of Fubuki before her eyes, before transforming further into a darker, more sinister form. Her brother's kind face was now covered with a mask.
"You will succumb to your weakness.", said Darkness in a sadistic tone.
She turns away to the tree on the left, which contorts into the form of Professor Chronos.
"You will succumb to your fears.", said Chronos in a dead panned tone.
She turns to the right. The tree nearly molded into a Demonic form, with bat-like wings, and an effeminate body.
"You will succumb to your pain!", shrieked the creature known as Yubel.
"No...I can't...I won't...", Asuka thought in the voice of a small child.
"YOU WILL SUCCUMB TO THE LIGHT!", boomed the now familiar voice of Saiou, the former leader of the Society of Light.
"NO!", Asuka screamed as her head tilted up toward the non existent sky, her tear filled eyes closed off from her surroundings.
A rumbling sound began to overtake the white void as cracks erupt around her, venting dark wisps into the void. Twisting and turning, the dark wisps begin to flow more through the growing crevices, wrapping around her in a warm embrace.
"What is this?", Asuka wonders with her eyes still closed. "Why is it so warm?"
"Asuka...", says another voice in a warmer tone.
She opens her eyes again, only to be enveloped in the dark. Where the specters had stood, there was now only a dark void
"Why do I feel so warm?", she wonders again, as she tries to move her arms, only to feel arms around her.
She turns to see her savior, a young man with two toned hair, a scarlet jacket, and eyes that pierce her heart.
"Judai?", she says in a soft voice.
"Gotcha.", he says as he holds her close.
