China: Alright, alongside Yuma's Twin Sister I have decided to write about their being a fourth Arclight. I'm surprised that I'm the first one to write a fanfiction about this, so I hope I don't disappoint. We shall be exploring into the depth's of the Arclight family's history, it also explains how IV became the Dueling Champion in Asia XD
Note: The cover picture was created by Inra98 on deviantart.
Dynasty: I hope you all will enjoy reading about me, if you enjoy seeing me in this five chapter story, than China is thinking about putting me in YTS :)
China: Right, I hope you guys will read and review this. As usual, I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal, I only own Dynasty Arclight/II.
Dynasty: I hope you enjoy the first chapter of 'Just One of the Arclights...But Which One?' and I'll see you at the bottom.
Do you know what it feels like to have your name taken away and replaced with a fake one? No? Well, do you know what it feels like to have your family ripped apart and spread to the distant corners of the world? I didn't think so either.
My name used to be Dynasty Arclight, but these days I go by 'II' which is pronounced as 'two' of course. My kyoudai suffered the same fate as me. Thomas (he goes by IV now), Michael (he goes by III) and I were separated from Christopher (we used to call him Chris for short, but now he was forced to go by V) and sent to an orphanage.
Even though all of us lived in the same city, we had never been further apart. Michael, Thomas and I were sent to an orphanage, where we were denied contact with Chris because he was too busy trying to figure out what happened to Tou-sama. And to make matters worse, it wasn't long before Thomas got taken away from us. A couple from Malaysia visited our orphanage because they were looking to adopt a boy to replace their own son who had died the previous year. As soon as they had spotted Thomas, they instantly fell in love with him and swept him away.
It was quite unexpected really because most potential parents had their eyes set on Michael, and who could blame them? With his porcelain skin, soft cap of rose coloured hair and big emerald eyes, everybody ate him up. Even though Michael is my elder (only by one year), I had the urge to wrap my arms around him and protect him. He had this effect on everyone and the only reason nobody had adopted him yet, was because he burst into tears every time somebody had the intention of taking him away from Thomas and me.
Thomas was the exact opposite of Michael and nobody was sad to see him go (except for Michael and I of course, we did all we could to make him stay but the orphanage didn't want to keep him anymore) because he acted like the spawn of the devil. He was rambunctious and couldn't sit still for too long, he always had to be doing something. I think one of the main reasons that the couple from Malaysia adopted him was because he kinda looked Asian anyway (I know that sounds strange considering we live in Heartland which is in Japan and Japan is in Asia).
Thomas had tanned skin because he spent most of his life outdoors in the sun (as opposed to our family's fair skin), his eyes were a dark red and his hair was just abnormal. It was spiky and it was made up of two colours: dark red and yellow. Nobody had the urge to protect him; in fact, most people would run for the hills if they ever had the displeasure of meeting him.
The Malaysian couple (I think they were called Mr and Mrs. Hamzah) were the only people that found Thomas to be and I quote, "A charming young man."
The stupid orphanage had no problems drawing up his adoption papers and within two weeks, he was gone. The three of us had done all we could to prevent Thomas from leaving, but our efforts were all in vain and our pleas had fallen on deaf ears. That was the day that I realised how cruel the world could be, nobody ever listened to the children. Our opinions didn't matter to the evil adults and it hurt.
That was a very depressing year for us because Michael and I spent most nights, crying ourselves to sleep because we missed our family. I was most concerned about Thomas because even though he was three years my senior, he was still only twelve and he was in another country on his own. He must have been terrified to be in a strange place surrounded by all these new people. And to make matters worse, we weren't allowed to keep in contact with him because we were Thomas' past and Mr and Mrs. Hamzah were his future.
The only reason I found this whole experience bearable was because I had Michael and in return, had me. Chris was fifteen at the time, Michael was ten and I was nine which made me the youngest (I was also the only girl) in my family. Michael, Thomas, Chris and I weren't reunited until three years later and Chris was the one who had changed the most.
He was no longer happy and gentle; his heart was consumed with revenge and hatred which frightened me because as the oldest he had to be the calm, level headed one. Chris came for Michael and me soon after Michael's thirteenth birthday, he felt like a stranger to me for many reasons.
The first reason was because he had matured a great deal and he was eighteen years old. Chris' voice had gone deeper; his face had lost most of its softness, he had grown and his hair! Onii-san usually kept his hair tied up in a braid that rested over his left shoulder (he admired Tou-sama tremendously and liked to imitate him), but now it was loose and it reached his ankles (and considering Chris was now 6'1, his hair was just unbelievably long!).
I'll never forget that glorious day...
Flashback:
"Dynasty, Michael. You have a visitor; he's waiting for you in the sitting room." Victor (one of the carers) informed us as he interrupted the duel that Michael and I were having.
Both of us shared a look and I could tell that we were clearly thinking the same thing. Who is this 'he'? I was petrified because in my experience, somebody wanting to meet you is usually a bad thing. My will had been completely shattered in the past three years of living here, so I didn't have very high expectations either.
"Arigato," I sighed as I picked up my deck and slid it back in its deck case.
You had to be very careful around here, if you simply leave your possessions lying around then they'll get stolen the second your back is turned. But then again, it's not like I came to this hell hole with anything other than the clothes on my back and the cards in my deck.
Michael mimicked my actions, "Who do you think it is Imouto?"
I slid my deck case onto the waistband of my jeans before running one of my hands through my hair. "I don't know, but I doubt that it is going to be good. I just hope we won't get moved on like..." I trailed off because I was about to say 'Thomas'.
Most days when I wake up, the first thought on my mind is, 'how is Thomas doing?' however the few days that I forget that Thomas ever existed and I find them to be a blessing. I know it is a cruel thought considering he's my brother, but the last thing Thomas told Michael and I was, "I rather you two forget about me and be happy, then remember me and be sad."
It was the wisest thing that Thomas had ever said, which I admired, but I also hated it because it was a sign that he had given up. That he believed that our family was never going to be reunited, and even I started to believe that. Michael was the only one who never lost the faith which was to be admired because of how hopeless our situation looked.
Michael gave me a small smile, "Things have to get worse before they can get better. I know that this will be good news, it simply has to be. You'll see."
I returned his smile with my own, but it felt rather false and as if my face would crack at any second. He took my hand before leading me out of the room and I could feel the dread in my stomach, growing. When we arrived at the closed entrance of the sitting room, my palms wouldn't stop perspiring and I had to keep rubbing them onto my jeans.
I tightened my grip on Michael's hand before taking a deep breath, "I don't think I can do this."
"It'll be fine, just as long as we stick together." He gently rapped his knuckles onto the door before we heard a faint voice say, "Come in."
As the door slowly crept open, I found that I had lost the ability to breathe because the person who was sitting around, drinking tea, with Miss. Narumi-sama was none other than Chris!
"Onii-sama," Michael and I blurted out.
My hands immediately flew to my mouth and I had to hold back my tears. This entire experience felt surreal, it had to be some lucid dream because it wouldn't be the first time that my dreams have played tricks on me.
Michael immediately ran over to Chris and hugged him, "Nii-san, its you, I mean it's really you." He burst into tears as he rested his face onto Chris' chest.
Chris closed his eyes and smiled as he stroked the back of Michael's head. "I told you that I was coming back to get you." He looked up at me and I was so on edge that I actually grabbed a strand of my hair and started to chew it.
It was a habit that I had acquired over the years, at first I used to bite my fingernails, but after a ghastly experience involving the toilet...lets just say my fingers haven't touched my mouth since.
"Dynasty, take your hair out of your mouth."
You know, when I envisioned this moment, I didn't think that would be the first thing Chris would say to me. I reluctantly pulled my hair out of my mouth before slowly approaching the sofa that Chris was sitting on. I lifted my right hand up and lightly poked his cheek as if to see that Chris was really in this room, right now.
His cheek felt a little rough with stubble but it was solid nonetheless, as I reached in for another poke, he grabbed my finger. I bite my bottom lip before I wrapped my arms around his neck and silently cried into his shoulder.
Present:
Within three hours, Michael and I were pulled out from that orphanage and we were on a flight to Malaysia with nothing but the clothes on our back. Again, I found it a tad ironic because it was exactly how I started out three years ago when Tou-sama disappeared. Except this time, our family wouldn't be split up again. And we could actually afford to take care of ourselves, since Chris was legally an adult; he was allowed to access our family funds.
And I do not want to sound conceited, but our family is quite wealthy due to Tou-sama's job. It paid well and since he was good at what he did, people from all over the world used to ask for his expertise. Plus since our bank accounts haven't really been touched in the past three years, you could really see the difference because of the interest rates.
Even though Thomas had been legally adopted, Chris was now legally our guardian because he was now eighteen. That meant he had the right to challenge Mr and Mrs. Hamzah for guardianship of Thomas. Words couldn't describe how excited I was; soon we would all be reunited again.
Michael spent the entire plane asking Chris about what had happened over the past three years, the reaction he got from Chris was astounding.
His face hardened and with a cold voice, he uttered, "I'll tell you when we get Thomas."
I knew that something big must have happened to turn Chris cold, definitely not a conversation that I looked forward to having. After we arrived in Malaysia, Chris wasted no time in hunting down Mr and Mrs. Hamzah's address, which the orphanage was so kind to 'provide'. I had mixed feelings about confronting Thomas, for starters he was now fifteen and he probably looks really different.
What if we couldn't recognise him?! What if he forgot about us?! What if he didn't want to leave Mr and Mrs. Hamzah?! This was typical me, whenever I am unsure about something, I keep doubting myself and overreacting. And when we did find Thomas, it did turn out that I was making mountains out of molehills. I mean sure Thomas had aged greatly and I felt that I was talking to a stranger, but he hadn't changed at all...at least personality wise.
Thomas' skin had become more tanned, his frame had become more well built (he told us it was due to all the manual labour his adopted parents forced him to do), his hair was wilder than before and his face has lost all of its puppy fat. The amount of girls that I spotted eying him up and down when we were out, it was clear they found him attractive. It didn't help that he encouraged the girls; he kept winking and flirting with them.
Unfortunately we didn't get Thomas back straight away because Mr and Mrs. Hamzah didn't want to relinquish their 'son'. The entire situation got rather messy and turned into a huge legal battle that lasted for over a year. This meant that Chris, Michael and I were forced to settle down in Malaysia during that year.
I didn't mind as long as it meant that our family was together and I liked Malaysia, especially because we were staying in its capital city,' Kuala Lumpur' which was amazing. If anybody made Malaysia out to be a horrible country, they were clearly idiots. Kuala Lumpur was rich in culture, the government was stable and the schools weren't too bad either. I would be lying if I said that my stay in Kuala Lumpur didn't help mould me into the person I am today.
This place was more beautiful than Heartland and I was glad that we settled down because I felt one thing that I hadn't felt in three years: stability. It wasn't until Chris was nineteen, Thomas was sixteen, Michael was fourteen and I was thirteen that Thomas was finally a part of our family again.
We had a solid case against them, especially because we were blood relatives and able to care for him. In the end, Mr and Mrs. Hamzah had no choice but to surrender Thomas to us. I was so happy and so was Michael, I knew that he missed Thomas the most. Chris was happy as well, but he still had this haunted look in his eyes and then I remembered what he told me the previous year.
"Chris, now that Thomas is back I think you owe us an explanation." I insisted.
I had really broken out of my shell now that I no longer lived in that orphanage, I had even managed to stop biting my hair (even though Chris forced me to cut my hair when we first arrived in Malaysia because the years I spent chewing it had severely damaged it) and I got to duel to my heart's content.
I will never forget how Chris acted that day, he gathered us all in the kitchen of our house and we all sat down together. Thomas was really antsy and I could tell that he still had problems sitting still.
"What's with this serious meeting?" Thomas joked as he turned his chair around and straddled it so that he was in a more comfortable position.
"I'm sure Nii-sama has a good reason for gathering us all together." Michael chided as Chris clenched his hands together.
He gave us all a serious look, "Now that we are all here, I've got something very serious to tell you. It's about Tou-sama."
My mouth dropped open along with the rest of my kyoudai, "Tou-sama?!" We all exclaimed as Chris continued.
"It turns out that Tou-sama was murdered by none other than Dr. Faker!" He declared and you could actually hear the malice that was dripping from his words.
I suppose we all had mixed reactions because my face fell onto the table with an audible 'thud', Michael covered his face with both of his hands and Thomas rose to his feet, which caused his chair to drop onto the floor.
"Dr. Faker, but Tou-sama trusted him!" Thomas roared in disbelief as Chris remained seated.
"Exactly what makes this betrayal sting so much, and what's worse of all is that we'll never see Tou-sama aga-" Now I know that this moment will sound very strange and you'll probably think I'm lying, but a galaxy filled portal appeared in the middle of the room.
I slowly rose from my chair and Michael removed his hands from his face.
"What's...that?" Michael asked as he also rose up from his chair and moved over to Thomas and me.
I squinted my eyes and slightly covered my eyes with my hand in an attempt to see past the brightness. I swear that I could see a tiny silhouette walking through it and so could my kyoudai. Thomas pushed Michael and me behind him as he grabbed the nearest chair and held it up like a weapon. Chris was more curious and tried to examine the portal.
"Chris, get away from it!" Thomas urged him as the portal disappeared and a small boy with an iron mask was left in its place.
The boy had blonde hair that was styled into a braid which was thrown over his right shoulder, pale skin (I assumed it was pale because the only piece of his skin that was visible were his ears and he had one golden eye because his mask blocked half of his face. His clothes were unusual yet fairly elegant, like something you would find in a fairy tale. It consisted of a light green suit with brown shoes, white gloves and a frilly white shirt.
"What in the world...?" I asked as the boy laughed.
"Wow, this is such a nice welcoming party. I see you've all been preparing for my arrival." He almost hummed as I examined him further.
Something about him seemed...familiar, as if we had met before. But I think I would remember seeing a boy with an iron mask.
"Who are you?! What do you want?!" Thomas demanded as the boy looked over to Chris.
"I see Thomas hasn't changed much and it is nice to see that you've all been waiting so patiently for me." He continued as my heart began to pound out of my chest.
Chris took one step closer to the boy and Thomas was clearly on edge.
"How do you know my name? Answer me!" Thomas demanded as Michael tried to calm him down.
"Nii-sama, you need to calm down."
Chris examined the boy up and down before his eyes widened in realisation. "Oh my,"
"What's wrong Chris? You look like you've seen a ghost." I asked as the boy smirked.
"I-I-I-It c-c-can't be..." He stuttered which I knew was a bad sign as Chris rarely showed fear like this.
"Now I'll ask you again, who are you?" Thomas shouted before the boy replied.
"Is that any way to treat your tou-sama?" The boy stated as Thomas dropped his chair, Michael's eyes started to bulge out of their sockets, I covered my mouth with the back of my hand and Chris just remained where he was, petrified.
Kyoudai means 'brothers'
Tou-sama means 'father'
Onii-sama/Nii-sama means 'older brother'
Imouto means 'younger sister'
IV: I liked how you portrayed my past, I mean it makes sense.
III: I agree and I like how Tou-sama appeared.
China: I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and my evil cliffhanger XD Next chapter we'll be seeing how the Arclight family got named after Roman Numerals and how the plan to hurt Rio got started.
Dynasty: Please review or tell China what you think. See you soon.