Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!, Yu-Gi-Oh! Gx, or any characters from the Yu-Gi-Oh! Franchise. I do own any OCs I make, but most will be likely be minor characters (save for Okimi and Frida). I make no money from this fanfiction as it is a tribute to a fandom I really like and want to play around in. If you see this on a paid site, please note that someone has plagiarized me and let me know so I may take steps to prevent fines or whatever. Also, I will be using the Japanese names, though there may be some exceptions. Slifer Slacker just rolls better than Orisis Drop-Out to me. And I forget Winged Kuriboh is Hane Kuriboh in the sub too often to be bothered.
This is the prequel to Pain of an Angel. Pain of an Angel was supposed to be one "book". Then it mutated. This prequel was originally going to be something like a 3-shot post-canon Gx transitional story. Then it mutated and now I have a full Gx era plot to write before I can continue Pain of an Angel to avoid plotholes. I am sending the DM Crowd into space soon after this starts, where they still are by the time 5Ds happens because I am not, repeat, not letting my muses get their grubby hands on them and making me write a DM era story to boot. I have this, Pain of an Angel, my concurrently-running, half-outlined Zexal sequels, a potential Arc-V sequel (I'll see if I can work it in after watching Arc-V, I doubt I can), and a VRAINS sequel in the planning stages, plus two- no three different side-story compilations that will be added to as times go on and the muses go, "Hey, what about this?" and a freakin' Extended Universe after all that! ...I think my muses went on crack when I started rewriting Pain of an Angel. It's the only explanation for how a story meant to be 100 chapters at most (because my chapters tend to be short) turned into this. *eyes her muses apprehensively*
Oh, and a fellow author - whose story I beta - has been both feeding my muses and helping me wrangle the Ideas into something workable - so I'm unofficially declaring LonesomePhantome (AO3 account, formerly Farana123) my co-conspirat- I mean co-contributor. xDDD Seriously, without our regular chats, this wouldn't be nearly the epic journey it's turned into. Girl, you are amazing.
Now, onward Sapphire!
Sapphire Pegasus: ...I must be a masochist to keep putting up with this.
Sirens blared as a chocolate-eyed child sat on the curb, watching blankly as his parents were wheeled away by ambulance. A shock blanket wrapped his small frame, along with the equally small frame of the child next to him. The second child - similar enough in appearance the relation was obvious - was thinking hard on how to resolve the issue her twi suffered from. Neither would like the only solution she could think of - but needs must, no matter how much even Okimi hated the thought…
~Time skip - 7 years later~
Okimi huffed. Judai's alarm had been blaring for the last 10 minutes, and if her brother didn't get up now, they'd be late.
"Aleister, a little help?" Okimi asked the card in her hand. It glowed momentarily before a Spellcaster appeared before her. The two shared a mischievous glance before the Invoker raised his staff… and lightly whapped Judai's backside with it. The teenage boy woke up with a yelp, already rubbing his sore bum.
"Geez, why'd ya havta wake me up like that?" Judai demanded, slurring slightly in his still-sleepy state.
"Do you want to be late for the Entrance Exam Duels? This is the reason you were convinced by Aunt Tomoyo to go into modeling," Okimi demanded, eyebrow raised, Aleister fading back into a non-corporeal state, but lingering as a Spirit.
"...time is it?" Judai asked, starting to nod off, only for Burst Lady to appear on her own and yank him out of bed. Judai yelped once more and began protesting he was up (now fully awake), Okimi and Aleister sharing a glance before bursting out laughing together. Well, they tried to save him from the Devil Woman Herself. Everyone in the Yuki/Li household knew who was really in charge of here.
A brown-haired woman just stood back and watched as Burst Lady tossed Judai into the shower, still in his pyjamas, and ordered Bubbleman to turn on the water. Of course, Bubbleman didn't turn on the shower - he summoned water to drench Judai with. Amused, Sakura continued to Judai's room, where Okimi was catching her breath. Even if this was a normal occurrence in this household, it still didn't get old. Sakura and Syaoran would miss the daily entertainment.
"Breakfast's on the table, come and eat. I'll pack some for Judai to eat on the run -again," Sakura told her goddaughter.
"Thanks, Aunt Sakura."
"Dammit, dammit, dammit, we're gonna be late!" Judai muttered as he and Okimi ran from the train station to the Convention Center the Entrance Exams were held in. Not that they caught the train - not only had they missed theirs, but the next one was delayed. Kero-chan and Yue flew them, Sakura using The Illusion Card as she flew alongside with the power of The Fly Card to keep anyone from noticing something… strange. It was the same card she used whenever anyone non-gifted had to come to the house to make Kero-chan look like an ordinary housecat. It never failed to amuse everyone (save the aforementioned magical winged lion - it always annoyed him).
"Well, if you had just gotten up on time-" Okimi started, irritated that Judai was complaining when he was the reason they were running late.
"I said I was sorry!" her twin wailed before gritting his teeth and starting to run even faster. Okimi started to pour on the speed too, before seeing Judai was about to run into someone.
"Judai, look o- too late," she groaned, slowing to a jog. She began helping Judai pick up his cards, taking a quick glance at who Judai ran into, and was now profusely apologizing to even as he picked up his deck - and did a double-take.
"Your duelists, aren't you?" the ruby-eyed male observed. All Okimi could do was nod dumbly. Of all the people her brother could run into… Then again, this was Judai, and even for a gifted person, he was… different. Okimi was a bit different too, but not nearly to the degree her twin was. He sometimes seemed like he had the power of some force of nature itself trapped within him. Sakura and Syaoran were a godsend in helping him learn some control after the incident. Okimi still felt guilty for sending Yubel away, but something had been seriously wrong with that Duel Spirit, and she could only hope those cosmic rays cured her. Judai didn't talk to Okimi for a month after she did that, even if Yubel scared him too. She had been his Spirit Partner, after all.
"Yeah, we're heading to the Entrance Exa- Holy crap, you're Mutou Yugi!" Judai shouted.
"Actually that's me," said a cheerful voice to the left. Judai and Okimi turned to see a beaming amethyst-eyed young man there. Right, Yugi had the purple eyes, his long-lost (now found) twin Atemu had the red.
"New students, hmm? Here, this little one wants to join you," Atemu said, handing a card to Judai. A Winged Kuriboh immediately appeared over Judai's left shoulder - but only those with a form of Sight could see him.
"Sorry, I don't think any of the Spirits with me want to join you," Yugi said to Okimi sheepishly.
"That's fine, I have a Spirit Partner. Judai's was… unwell, and they had to be separated for his and her safety. I hated doing it," Okimi said, still shamed by willingly and forcibly separating them.
"You did what you had to do, Sis. Yubel wasn't right in the head. 'Sides, I have the whole Deck," Judai said, trying to cheer his sister up. He still felt bad for shutting her out when she did what she had to for, well, everyone's sake. He just wished he knew what had happened to Yubel to make her so insane and possessive.
"...That doesn't mean there's not a hole where she once was," Okimi softly said, and Judai couldn't hide the flash of pain at the reminder. The Mutou twins looked to each other, knowing the Spirit the Yuki twins were talking about…
"Don't you two have Entrance Exams to get to?" Atemu asked, hoping to distract them from the gloomy atomsphere.
"Crap! We're late!"
...I also don't own Cardcaptor Sakura or any characters from it. The muses have struck again. I was thinking of names for Okimi and Judai's godfather, Syaoran popped in my head, which had Cardcaptor Sakura pop in after I typed it, which had me trying to hit abort, only for Uncle Syaoran to be replaced with Aunt Tomoyo and me to just give up and run with it. It fits. And I can't win against my damned muses. *muses strike victory poses*
Also, yes, Atemu is back from the afterlife. This takes place after the DSOD movie. I'm working out a side story to show how that happened. (Note: Kaiba is a genius, there's Prideshipping in this, and like hell is the guy Kaiba's in love with staying in the afterlife! Kaiba broke into the Afterlife, marched up to Atemu, gave him the Kiss of Life, and dragged him back. They're married now. xDDD) And, really, Kaiba is a genius, a hacker, and has connections to the Ishtars that he used. Backstory Kaiba made for Atemu will be explained in the side story when I write it.
