Okay this is not a happy story. Then again it does happen to come from a unhappy AU in my head. I'll get the story about what happened before this out at a later time. I just had to get something about this AU out and up.

Warning! AU, possible OOCness, an area of all caps, and tragic ending! Though seeing this is marked as a Tragedy you should have known that.

I hope you enjoy!

The Witch of Dragons

(Chapter 1)

To Pay the Price

Z-Arc felt his body wilt. The spell was trying to end properly. However, he messed up.

He lost! Part of the payment was not to lose. The other parts were to give the Gods the four dimensions and himself.

Feeling tears fall, he forced himself not to feel the pain of being in two places at once. He dealt with it before when he was split into four.

Four pieces which mimicked his dear little brothers. His dead dear little brothers.

How he hated that the Echo of Yuya tampered with the payment. Messed with his spell.

Because it was him who did that in the end. An Echo was only a resonance of the soul after all. And Z-Arc summoned the four Echoes of his little brothers when he released the seal on his inner beast.

Why?! Why?! Why did a part of him chicken out of taking responsibility?! His father taught him better!

When you cast a spell you must be ready to pay the price. Z-Arc was ready to pay the price and deal with death at long last.

But a part of him didn't. So now most of him was looking like his little brother and the rest was trapped in the body of a child who was possessed by Ray's Wraith.

Crying at the backlash of pain, he begged his Gods for forgiveness.

"Please! Let me fix this!"

But the damage was done. He couldn't take back what was done.

His major piece froze at his words.

"Let me pay the price!"

The Echo fought back. Typical. Yuya was always a hard-head.

The infant he was lock in started wailing. Guilt slammed into him. He never wanted to harm the child. But those cards and the choices that the child made it so any pain he felt, little Reira would feel as well.

He had tried so hard not to let any children who wasn't a part of him face his pain.

Breaking down he forced his soul away from the weak seal locking him in the child.

Meanwhile his main piece nearly collapsed as the Gods started taking payment for the breaking of that seal.

Z-Arc forced himself back into his major piece. The body shuttered and the feeling of wings ripping out of his back caused him to gasp in pain.

The Echoes flinched back. And the crowd was surprised. So was the opponent.

Z-Arc knew them. Yet he only recalled a little bit. But it wasn't important at the moment. He had to pay the price!

"Why does everyone hate the fact that it must be paid?!" He screamed.

"I made a promise! I made a deal! I CASTED A SPELL! I have to pay the price!"

Tears of frustration and pain leaked out of his eyes.

"Just let me do what I must!"

"YUYA!"

Z-Arc felt a sob break out at that. That was Mama. He knew that he was worthless to everyone here. They only wanted his dead brothers. Heck, they only wanted the eldest of the quadruplets. None of the others.

"YUYA IS DEAD! HAS BEEN FOR YEARS! YOU NEVER KNEW HIM! YOU KNEW NONE OF MY LITTLE BROTHERS!"

His cry sounded more like a roar.

"RAY KILLED THEM! ALL BECAUSE I USED MAGIC TO SAVE THE LIVES OF INNOCENTS SHE AND HER FATHER WANTED DEAD!"

The memory of the burning school building with his brothers inside flashed before his eyes. Thankfully they lived through that.

But they didn't live through the murderess stabbing them to death.

"I GAVE HER WHAT SHE WANTED! BY USING MY OWN SOUL AND BODY I GAVE NEW LIFE TO MY BROTHERS! JUST SO SHE COULD HAVE THEM AS HER PLAY THINGS AS SHE WANTED SO LONG AGO!"

He fell to his knees. Sorrow and despair clouding his mind.

"But they were not my brothers."

A sob broke out of his throat.

"Please Mama. Don't call me Yuya."

A silence filled the stadium. Z-Arc couldn't help but feel a little better. They all had said that he was Yuya during that duel. But now that he just shouted the truth to the heavens they were stunned. He should have done it earlier.

Taking a moment to force himself to be calm he let his ears listen to everything. The hearts beating. The wind blowing in anticipation of the price being paid. The sound of magic snapping impatiently.

Forcing himself to stand he looked up. There in the crowd was Mama. Her yellow hair and single orange stripe the same as it was in the Original Dimension.

"I'm sorry I am not your favorite son."

He stared into shocked green eyes.

"I'm sorry for being the child who was taken away and forced to become a monster. The child who you could never care for again when you got back."

The woman shook her head, green eyes tearing up. Something was whispered but Z-Arc couldn't hear it.

"I'm sorry I can't be anything other than a Z-Arc."

He looked back at his opponent.

"And I'm sorry I will be living up to that name."

With that he continued the duel.

His time in Clementine came out in full swing. He was not merciful nor relenting.

Spreading his wings he let himself feel his power surround them. He will not fail this time.

He will pay the price.

WoD

Yoko couldn't help but cry.

Her son. Her sons. How could she forget that she once had five children?

How could she not realize that her eldest was standing on the battle field?

The child who she loved so much. The one child she always wanted to know that more than the others because he been through so much.

How could she forget him?!

Her Yuka. Her little Yuka. How could she!? Her little playful blossom. Her little mimicking spellcaster.

Not only him. But her little Yuto. Her little Yugo. Her little Yuri.

She forgot them all.

She forgot the most important people of her life.

WoD

The beating of wings caused Action cards to fly away before the stand-fast duelist could grab them.

Z-Arc didn't care that some could call it cheating. The rules against Witches using their powers were not there. He would do all he could to make sure that the price was paid.

He was not going to summon his Inner Beast. But he was going to make sure that his dragons, his friends and pieces of the seal Papa made all so long ago, would take flight once more.

And that they did. They were just as ready to make the payment to the Gods.

He would not fail. He will make the sacrifice he promised.

He shall not fail again.

WoD

Yusho gripped his cane tightly. His memories were crystal clear now.

Yuka. His eldest son. The child he always regretted not being able to protect as well as he should have.

The child who took on the responsibility of raising his little brothers and protecting them when he and Yoko could not.

The dear little child who was forced to grow up too soon.

His son was just trying to be a good little witch. Just as his parents raised him to be.

He couldn't fault his son for that. While he could be upset that the seal he put on him to prevent the world and his child from being destroyed was broken before being tampered with, he couldn't be mad at his child for wanting to pay the price.

In fact a part of him was proud that his child was able to cast such a powerful spell.

Then again his little Yuka was always powerful. Ever since he was born he was casting spells most children his age could only dream of.

That didn't mean he couldn't be proud of his little playful blossom.

He just wished he remembered sooner.

WoD

Z-Arc felt his left wing snap. Taking a deep breath he forced himself to ignore the pain and keep dueling. That demon train was annoying. It didn't help that his opponent was trying to keep him on the ground.

Though the breaking his wing was an accident if that look meant anything.

Carefully closing his wing, Z-Arc looked over the cards in his hand. How he wished for his Witches. This deck was definitely something Yuya would love to own. Based around animals who entertained, his dear Animal Witch of a little brother could only have dreamed of this in the Original Dimension.

After all it was only after they were murdered did Witches finally regain the right to duel. And Z-Arc created the Pendulum Summoning method not too long ago.

This was not a deck he was in outside his dragons. A part of him was crying at that.

This was a deck for Yuya, and it showed. How he wished he could have give it to the kid and see red eyes glow in enticement at finally having his own deck.

Taking a deep breath he made his move. He could remiss about it later.

If the Gods permitted it.

WoD

Yoko couldn't help but clench her hands. She was still upset with herself at forgetting her children. But she could deal with that later. What was the more important was the fact her baby just got one of his wings hurt.

Action duels always had some danger to them. She had seen Yuka's mimic of Yuya fall down and gain enough scraps that she knew that he could handle it.

But the image of a white and green haired child standing on the doorstep, soaked to the bone and left arm dripping blood, wouldn't leave her mind. This day was too similar to that one.

From Yuka apologizing for the name he was forced to have. To him fighting with no mercy in order to do what he thought was right.

Yoko couldn't help but see her boy as the small child who finally came home only not to be the same ever again.

It was painful to acknowledge. But it didn't change her love for her child one bit.

WoD

Yusho's gaze hardened at the snapping sound. The black feathers did a good job at hiding the blood, but a few drops had landed on the ground as his son folded the injured wing.

Yuka was always a stubborn child. Even before Clementine took him he would walk home with his knees bleeding and scratched up from the rocks he landed on when he tripped and fell on the way home from school. It was always a sight which would freak out Yoko and himself.

It didn't help Yuka would run up to them happy as can be, before asking for some help cleaning up the injuries oh so innocently.

No matter how many times he been told to be careful and not push himself through the pain, he would still do so. Much to the dismay of his parents.

It only got worse after his time in Clementine. Only the most deep and painful actions and injuries could make him react. He slowly regained showing emotions which wasn't hatred and anger. But there were many scars from those horrible people using him as a weapon that would never heal.

It didn't help that the law required that Yuka would be called by the name given to him in Clementine instead the name his parents gave him.

Z-Arc. The ancient word in the Witch language for destruction. Fitting to what they made his child become.

And of what he feared when he first held him.

The seal was made in an attempt to spare his child from dealing with such a Inner Beast. Such a Beast could rival the Gods of Old. And Yusho could only see destruction in his child's future should he never seal it away.

However even with that act, he failed to prevent his child destroying not only the world.

But himself.

WoD

It was not easy, but at long last Z-Arc defeated his opponent. Unfolding his wings he let his magic reach out.

Time to pay the price.

The world started to crumble around him. Screams and the sound of people running surrounded him.

He could only smile sadly before looking up at the sky. Their fate was now in the hands of the Gods. He wouldn't have it any other way.

Yellow eyes fell shut as the feeling of his soul being dragged away over taken him.

Laughing Yuka rejoiced in finally repaying the Gods for his spell.

Why yes I chose the name Yuka. I thought it went well with the whole Yu thing. It means Playful Blossom with the Kanji I chose for it. That should explain the nickname.

Next up! Yoko's point of view during the end.

So Forward!