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.
Author: Higuchimon
Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh GX
Title: Nature of Home
Characters: Seto, Kagemaru, Saiou, Fujiwara, & Juudai
Word Count: 500||Status: One-shot||Chapters: 1/1
Genre: General||Rated: G
Challenge: Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, A85, fic that doesn't use one consonant (j); GX Flash Bingo, #200, a home for everyone
Summary: Duel Academia is a home for a lot of people. Some you may expect. Some you may not.
Kaiba Seto wanted Duel Academia to pass on the knowledge and ways of Duel Monsters, to inspire pride as duelists and to give those who passed through its doors something to always strive for. That was why the dorm system existed in the first place.
He also couldn't resist putting his favorite Obelisk at the top. But no one's perfect.
Kagemaru wanted Duel Academia to store the Mythic Demons until the stars arrived at the correct position for him to grasp all of their power for himself. Telling the Stars each of them could have that power was only a means to an end. He didn't think they guessed, but as each of them fell to defeat, he thought Amnael figured it out.
It didn't matter; they were already gone. Duel Academia served its purpose as well, as did the Seven Stars and their enemies. He would still come out on top, no matter what.
He met Yuuki Juudai and every plan he'd ever had collapsed around his ears and he spent the next seven or eight years partially glad that it had and partially wondering if the stars couldn't have configured themselves one year sooner or four years later and he could've been young forever…
But then he had other matters to worry about, the ones that almost everyone does when their time has come at last.
To Saiou, Duel Academia was a haven that he didn't want anyone to know that he had need for. Here he could find people who would not be afraid of him or his powers. Even if he had to use his powers to get them to not fear him in the first place.
He wished he could've stayed afterward. Sometimes, a small thread of curiosity wound through his mind as he considered that perhaps he didn't have to brainwash half the school. Maybe, if he'd just asked…
Now he'd never know. But at least he had the people who truly did care: Edo, Mizuchi, Juudai. Through them, he knew Hell Kaiser and Fubuki and soon enough Fujiwara Yuusuke.
He'd gone the long way around but he'd found what he wanted in the end.
During the months he ruled Dark World, Juudai didn't think about Duel Academia. At least not that he would admit to himself. It ghosted through his dreams and at times he regretted that he would never see it again.
He hadn't even done his homework that last day. He'd been distracted by chasing shadows and his past.
Oh, well. He had too much to do anyway.
Fujiwara Yuusuke also missed Duel Academia. And he also didn't want to admit it to himself. But, he determined, if it no longer existed, if nothing and no one no longer existed, then he wouldn't have to miss it at all.
Darkness approved of his logic.
One and all, in one way or another, Duel Academia gave a home to those who needed it. Even if they could not admit that they did.
The End
Note: Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the story. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.