Summary:
In the near future, the Signers have fallen, and to one of their own. A breathless wish, a desperate measure, and a girl finds herself back in time, before everything had happened, before anything had happened. And it was her duty to change that future.
A/N:
This is the result of having too many ideas clogging up your mind. You can't focus on anything else to save your life. Here's another story that I came up with, the patchwork of at least two scrappies I had for this fandom and incorporates elements of both Stardust Accelerator, Reverse of Arcadia, and Over the Nexus. Read, review, and enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's.
When Rudger smirked cruelly and fanned out what he held in his hand, the professor could only gasp in shock. Impossible, he thought. He was absolutely certain that he had them locked away! But reality was cruel, and his eyes, no matter how many times he blinked, still showed him the same picture: the keys to the four controllers of the Momentum, the white bordered cards of dragons representing power, beauty, life, and sacrifice, they were there in the hands of that… that maniac.
He growled between grit teeth. Rudger was more than just his most talented subordinate. He was a friend, but there really was nothing else to describe him in the maddened state he was in now. Those crazed eyes… that feral grin… none of them belonged to the Rudger he knew. He glanced at the cards, then at the face of his 'friend'. The flare of determination lit up in his eyes.
Faster than anyone could blink, he had thrown all of his weight forward as he tackled the other scientist, using that moment of stunned disbelief from the other man to snatch the cards from his grip. Without looking back, he focused on the door and dashed towards his only escape route.
Bullets shot past his head, but he didn't stop.
He would never stop running, for the keys he held in his hand were the light of hope for the future. He had to deliver them safely to someone he could trust. Someone who-
Pain shot up his left shoulder and in that instant, his hold slackened, allowing a single card to fall to the ground, and Rudger watched as the professor raced out of the room, ignoring the burning pain in his shoulder, ignoring the dropped card.
The soldiers made to give chase, but Rudger chose to interject at that moment. "Leave him be."
"But sir!"
The scientist glared back at the soldier in warning, before moving over to pick up the dropped card. Gazing at the dragon's portrait, he smirked at the victory.
Labyrinth of a Faded Past
[Prologue]
The ground crunched under her feet, a pounding on the surface of the earth. She was running. She was running and running and running and running for she knew she could not stop. If she stopped, then that image that had planted itself into her brain would resurface, and she wouldn't have the strength to continue fighting.
So she continued to run, and run, and run, and run… and suddenly, the blackened earth rushed to meet her face. Grunting in pain, she picked herself up, wincing at the bloody graze set upon her kneecap. Her friend materialized beside her, chirping urgently. Its brows were creased with worry, and it looked on the verge of tears. She almost laughed.
Years ago, she would have cried upon scraping a knee. Now, so many years later, she had done exactly just that, and more. She had seen death, and she wasn't crying. Not that she didn't want to. If anything, she wanted to pour her heart out, to cry until her tears dried up, to cry until there was nothing left to cry for. But something kept her from crying. The tears just refused to fall, just as her heart refused to believe their present situation.
That he would, for no reason at all, turn around to stab them in the back. Something urged her to find him, to prove that he wasn't the one who did this, that he wasn't the one who betrayed them all. The glow of her birthmark increased its intensity in tandem with her determination, tugging at her soul towards the south-east of the land.
Assuring her companion of her health, the girl picked herself up and resumed in her race towards the source of the noise, towards him.
She was gasping for breath by the time she reached the still ongoing battle, and she could do nothing but watch as the duel unfolded before her eyes, while she was again unable to help.
"I activate Cemetery Change," the other teen announced. "By paying one thousand life points, all monsters on the field are destroyed, and our graveyards switched."
The dragon that was on the field let out a howl of rage as it shattered into fragments of light, leaving behind the phantasm of an angered spirit being dragged into the grave on the other side of the field. It appeared to resist the skeletal pull before dispersing into wispy clouds. So many other monsters, all the spirits destroyed in the battle, grudgingly swapped placements as well.
"Then I activate the magic card Polymerization. I'll fuse the Cyberdark Keel, Cyberdark Horn, and Cyberdark Edge in my hand to fusion summon Cyberdark Dragon."
The mechanical wyvern, formed from the fusion of its composite parts, snaked onto the field with a graceful twirl before diving downwards so fast that it was almost impossible for the eye to catch. Skimming the surface of the earth, the hooked appendages sunk into the neck of the synchro dragon and forcibly dragged it out of the graveyard. The spirit of the majestic beast shrieked in outrage as it was disturbed from eternal rest, but the moment the wyrm-like robot settled onto its neck, with its dexterous tail coiled around for support, the dragon fell silent and hung limply, as if a marionette on broken strings.
"When fusion summoned, Cyberdark Dragon can be equipped with a dragon-type monster from the graveyard and gains the attack points of the equipped dragon. In addition, it gains an additional one hundred attack points for every monster in my graveyard."
With that said, her fellow Signer collapsed onto his knees, knowing that the battle was lost.
~A~
Eyes brimming with hate, the youth glared first at his opponent then at the majestic beast looming overhead, its shadow a dark blanket across the blighted land. Its wings beat in a slow, monotonous synchrony, a thick stretch of muscle lolling from its maw. Dulled scales coated its muscled hide, their previous shine lost, while its limbs hung limply by its side, void of energy or even life.
Around its neck a long, dark mauve tail twisted, not unlike twined ivy, attached to an almost draconic shape with scythe-like wings and equally arc-shaped claws. Like pincers, the creature's legs locked onto the beast's neck and half-way over its head, its metallic wings spread out wide and a fanged grin on its angular, maroon head.
He clenched his fist, biting back suppressed anger. This was what his dragon had become: the mindless slave of a creature that didn't even have its own sentience.
"You fought valiantly," his opponent spoke calmly, stepping up from the swirling darkness cloaking the other half of the field. He cringed at the voice, so familiar was it that it hurt to listen to the venom lacing his words. "But your efforts, as well as those of your allies, are, ultimately, futile."
He shook his head. "And to think I even gave you that card…"
"Why?" he spat bitterly. "Why are you doing this?"
"I will eliminate the source of this chaos," he answered without pause. "The Crimson Dragon that sows its seeds."
"…you're wrong..."
As if startled by the unexpected verbal retaliation, all the deserter did was incline his head.
"Right now, the one sowing the seeds of chaos isn't the Crimson Dragon," he growled, his voice dropping to a whisper. "It's you."
There was a stagnant pause, and the atmosphere, as if picking up the emotions on the field, tensed. A dense pressure wave seemed to descend upon the area, and the breathing that had already been difficult with the miasma became even more so.
"…is that so?" Cold amusement lit up on his opponent's face. "At least, it's the lesser of the two evils."
"…! No! You-!"
"I grow tired of this game. Let us be done with," he spoke with finality. "Cyberdark Dragon, attack the player directly!"
In obedience to his orders, the eyes of the parasitic machine lit up with an amber glow, as did the dragon under its control. The two halves that made up its jaws wrenched apart from each other, revealing an abysmal pit of darkness. And from within the darkness, black gave way to a brilliant light that flickered on the edges and glowed like the sun.
It fired, and the sky exploded into light.
Then, quick as it came, the area reverted back to what it was once before, the attack leaving nothing in its wake.
The victor stared silently as the body broke apart into crimson lights, scattering into the murky horizon. The holograms vanished, and the person moved over to pick up the abandoned, white-bordered cards.
Pinning onto them a listless stare, he smiled sadly. The apologetic tone of the words he said next was directed to the one who stood by the side, watching everything as it transpired.
"And then… there was one."
~A~
She watched as the teen's mouth opened in a silent scream, his eyes bulging out of their sockets as pain racked his body. And then it became too painful to watch, so she pinched her eyes shut and pressed her hands over her ears and turned away, unwilling to see, unwilling to hear. Her throat racked with a pain she never felt before.
Only when it all became dark again did she dare to open her eyes, just in time to watch as specks of scarlet light drifted into and beyond the miasma. A sharp pain stabbed at her forearm. Her breath sounded like ragged, shaky gasps as she surveyed the scene. A peculiar wetness gathered in her eyes.
"And then… there was one."
His voice penetrated the still air, and suddenly she found her voice again.
"W-why…?" she whispered.
He turned to face her, assessing her shaking form quietly, curiously.
"Why?" she repeated, louder. "Why are you doing this? Wasn't he your friend? Weren't you two friends?"
He pinned her with a glacial stare that instantly made her regret asking anything at all. But her newfound courage never faltered when he did not supply any answer, and she continued, shaking her head.
"You… You've changed," she trailed off, and instead chose to approach him. "What happened?"
His eyes narrowed further. She met his glare bravely.
"Who did this to you?"
When she was within an arm's length of the teen, a card whizzed past the space between them, embedding itself into the rock directly in its path. With a cry of pain she recoiled, clutching her arm whereupon blood began bleeding out of a paper-thin cut.
"Now, now, I'll have you keep a safe distance from him, little lady, or I'll have to play the big bad wolf," Turning swiftly to her assailant, she watched with widened eyes as he approached them, an insane smile smeared onto his face beneath that colour-lined hood. "And little girls don't like the big bad wolf, do they?"
Memories flooded her mind, of a great beast and a youthful boy locked in the midst of a terrible, one-sided combat. There were great walls of violet flame, and then a piercing scream and a bone-chilling terror that came when he was assaulted by the combined attacks of all the monsters on the other side of the field. And then the eerie sound of a gusting breeze, and the shining lights as they sifted between her fingers, disappearing into the distance…
Immediately, she started shaking uncontrollably. Her breath came out in ragged gasps as she retreated away from the duo.
"Y-y-you…"
"Yes, me." And then to the teen, "You don't mind if I take her, do you? She's my prey."
The teen considered this for a moment, before stepping backwards, much to her shock.
"No."
"Excellent!" he beamed, stepping forward and taking the field.
This isn't happening… This can't be happening!
"N-No… S-Stay back…!"
"Well then, shall we get started?" The draconic duel disk whirred into position, clicking soundly into place.
"No… No! NO!"
The blighted earth began to spark with the first flickers of the signature violet flare marking a shadow duel.
"Du-"
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
"-earrrrrrghhhhhhh!"
She winced at the disrupted battle cry and slowly, hesitantly opened her eyes.
Her jaw dropped.
Encased in a scarlet bubble, lights against an infinite blackness sped past her, looking more like white lines against a dark backdrop. If she looked below, she could see the scenes of ancient civilizations and drawn out wars that must have occurred hundreds of thousands of years ago.
There was a white dragon with blue eyes unleashing its breath attack at a shadow far too large to comprehend its size, and then there were almost alien-like warriors leaving to combat a villain cloaked in a tattered, wispy cape of shadows, two glowing orbs peeking out from behind that shadowy hood. Five dragons suddenly flanked her sides, but ignored her presence as they charging towards a battle against faceless creatures at least ten times their bulk and almost twice their numbers, yet matching them equally and blow for blow.
And of those five dragons, she realized, with a start, that four of them looked so very familiar.
With that revelation, she finally understood. The stars weren't the one speeding past her; she was the one speeding past them, in what appeared to be the boundaries between time and space.
The space before her warped and she found herself watching as a boy, no older than nine, pressed his hands against the cold steel door of what looked like the old momentum tower.
All of a sudden, there was a sharp pull at her gut and she was wrenched from the air. Tumbling into the abysmal darkness, white and yellow and red and green flooded her vision relentlessly in disorienting flashes and instinctively, she screamed. But she could barely hear her own voice. There was the blaring of alarms and bells and screaming and shouting and what sounded like thunder deafened her ears with their volume and intensity, followed by crackling and explosions and the musky smell of chemicals and spilt oil and melted metal.
And then it was all over as she hit something soft.
The world went black, and unconsciousness swallowed the girl in its sea.
~A~
The cloaked youth only looked up when the blinding light died away. Giving the area a quick scan, he snarled viciously when he realized what was missing.
"Damn it! Where is the little twerp? She was right here just a second ago!"
"She went back, back into the past."
Whipping around, he saw his comrade lazing against the boulder which his card had struck, eyes closed and very much unconcerned that their prey had gotten away.
"And how, may I ask, would you know that?"
The other teen opened his eyes, revealing a faint red glow that died out moments later.
"I caught a glimpse of her trip."
A disgusted frown formed on the Dark Signer's features.
"So, it's true?"
"…"
"And you didn't follow her, why?" he continued. "If she goes back into the past with knowledge of the future-"
"It would be counterproductive," the other interrupted, clawing at his right forearm. "The future is volatile as it is, and even the past is not set in stone as claimed by many. If I had followed her, it would have untold consequences on our current timeline; consequences that may lead to our doom. We may have won this battle, but war will never be over so long as the Crimson Dragon remains active."
"Aren't you the genius?" he praised sarcastically. The other took it with a shrug.
"At the very least, we can be certain that she will not be receiving any further assistance."
Cocking his head to the side, the cloaked male stared at his companion in confusion. The deserter, on the other hand, simply directed his gaze to the sky. Watching the events that occurred next, a toothy grin flashed on the Dark Signer's face.