Just... Don't ask. It was one of those things I needed to write.
Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-gi-Oh GX. Probably a good thing for everyone involved.
For a Thousand Children
"I didn't think we'd ever come here again," Juudai said, kicking a rock away and turning his head slightly to address Yubel. "Never thought we would."
"It's not too late to go back," Yubel replied. She'd been vehemently against the idea, but Juudai was determined. The Dark World was the only place he hadn't gone to yet on his journey. He had a lot to make up for and it was his duty as Herald of Darkness to help out everyone.
He'd left Pharaoh and Daitokuji-sensei at Duel Academia before he left. This was no place for the cat, and he'd be damned if he let anything happen to him.
"No, I need to do this," he told Yubel. "If there's even a single person I can help here… After what I've done, it's the least I can do."
"You don't have to keep beating yourself up over that," Yubel said. "It's in the past. You can't change it."
"I know, but that doesn't change the fact that I killed those people. And for what?" Juudai laughed bitterly. "For a card."
He rifled through his deck until he found Super Fusion. Hane Kuriboh was right behind it and appeared when Juudai took his card out.
"Hey partner," Juudai greeted. Hane Kuriboh nuzzled his cheek and let out a soft "Kurii." Juudai put his deck back away and tucked Hane Kuriboh away in the pocket of his jacket.
"So you admit it, then?"
"What? Where-" Juudai whirled around to find the owner of the new voice. A single monster was standing on top of an outcropping above them.
"All for a card, huh? Why would I expect anything else, Haou-sama?" the sarcasm in the monster's voice was more than obvious. Yubel moved in front of Juudai, shielding him with her wings. "Oh, so now you're letting your little lapdog protect you? How brave of you, Haou."
"I want to help!" Juudai shouted. The monster only laughed bitterly and took out a small, long object out of his ropes, bringing it to his mouth.
"What are you plan-" Yubel began to ask, but crumpled before she could finish her sentence. Juudai ran forward, trying to catch her, but was stopped by a sharp sting at the side of his neck.
"Poison," he realized, pulling out the small dart. It was all he managed to conclude. Moments later, he too crumpled and fell over, right next to Yubel.
----
He woke up in what once had to have been a house. Unfortunately, not much of it had been left standing. The windows were shattered and one wall was completely blackened by what must've been fire. Right above his head, there was a hole in the roof.
His hands were tied up in a very uncomfortable position. He tried to move them, but could only conclude that they'd been bound above his head. Metal cuffs. That'd take some work. His jacket was gone, but he spotted it a little further, next to-
"Yubel!"
She was unconscious, and tied up much like Juudai was, but less securely. Juudai tried to wake her through the link they shared, but to no avail. Whatever they'd shot her with…
"I had to sedate her a bit more heavily than you, Haou," a soft voice came from the shadows. The same monster from before appeared. Without the cape covering his head, Juudai recognized him. An Arsenal Summoner. In his hand, he held a heavily decorated dagger. "After all, I don't need your little lapdog here."
"She's not my lapdog, don't ever talk about her like that," Juudai hissed. "Let her go."
"That so?" Arsenal Summoner asked. He lashed out unexpectedly and hit Juudai full in the face, making his head smash backwards against the wall. "Do you know what you've done to this world, Haou? Do you know what you've done to my life?"
"Whatever I did, I'm sorry!" Juudai shouted. It only earned him a second punch. "I want to help you!"
"Why should I believe you? Oh, and don't think you can rely on that deck of yours either, Haou," Arsenal Summoner laughed bitterly. "I've been preparing for your return for a long time, and there are more than enough scientists here willing to create something to trap your monsters. Speaking of them, I'm sure they'll be delighted to see you. You can tell them all about how you destroyed everything they ever held dear. I bet you'll enjoy that!"
"I regret what I did, I really do!"
"Let me tell you about her," the monster said, grabbing him by the hair. "My little girl. She just loved to play, did you know that? She'd go out every day with her friends and they'd play tag, or hide and seek, and she always wanted me to join them. "Daddy's the best!" she'd say. "He'll find you all in no time!" Did you know that, Haou-sama? Did you know that?"
"I- I didn't," Juudai replied weakly, struggling to break free from the cuffs binding him. "I didn't want to, I'm sorry!"
"Of course you didn't, you're just a mass-murderer, after all" Arsenal Summoner continued, as if he'd barely heard Juudai speak. "Why should you care? I'll tell you what happened next. You came. You and your great army came because you needed a stupid card. And we ran. She was holding my hand and we ran as fast as we could. We tried to hide, we hoped you wouldn't see us. But you know what happened then?
"My little Shayna loved her friends so much; she was such a sweet child. And one of her friends had fallen and twisted his leg. So of course she went back for him. I couldn't stop her! I tried to go after her, but it was already too late," Arsenal Summoner twisted his dagger around and brushed the tip lightly against Juudai's cheek. "Why should you show mercy to a little girl and her friend? You don't have a heart, you don't have what it takes to feel, Haou."
"I have, I'm sorry! I never wanted to-"
"Shut up!" the dagger flashed, leaving a vicious cut on Juudai's face. Juudai closed his eyes tightly, trying to deal with the pain. "Have you ever seen anyone you care about die in front of your very eyes? Ever felt like you'd lost your entire world?"
Manjoume. Kenzan. Asuka. Fubuki. For a moment Juudai saw them all die. For a moment he saw Johan disappear. For a moment he saw Jim and O'Brien sacrifice their lives to save him, saw Edo and Ryou vanish. For a moment, his entire world was destroyed again.
"I have!" he exclaimed loudly. "I know what it's like, I know what it feels like! I just want to help, I'm so sorry…"
"Liar." Second cut, other cheek. "If you want to help that badly, do us a favor and die. The world would be a much better place without you."
"Then will you kill me?"
"Kill you? Why should I kill you? So you can get to see my little girl while I can't? No," Arsenal Summoner flicked his dagger around. "Why kill you when there are so much more effective ways to make you suffer?"
Blood was running down Juudai's face now. A little ended up in his mouth, and Juudai tasted iron. If he could undo the cuffs tying his hands together… Oh, what use were his powers if he was stopped by a few pieces of metal? And yet he could probably kill his attacker if he wanted to. Only… He never wanted to kill someone again. He'd have to find a way out of this, for Yubel's sake and for his deck's sake, but killing? Never. Never again. Salt mixed with the blood in his mouth and stung in the cuts on his face. He was crying. Something soft pressed against the side of his face, trying to console him.
"Kurii…"
"No, please, don't!" Juudai shouted. Of all the bad times for Hane Kuriboh to appear… Why had he kept the card in his jacket? Why wasn't it with the rest of his deck? "Go away, disappear!"
But it was already too late. Arsenal Summoner grabbed the little monster and held him up by his wings. Hane Kuriboh struggled, bravely trying to escape, but Arsenal Summoner only tightened his grip.
"So you care for the little fluff ball, huh? Seems like Haou has a heart after all. Well, why don't I make you suffer like I did?" he pulled at one wing. "Cut off its wings, one after the other, right in front of your eyes? Gouge out its eyes, maybe? What do you say?"
"Kurii! Kuriiii!" Hane Kuriboh made a wild attempt to escape, trying to scratch the Arsenal Summoner with his tiny claws. Juudai himself tried to get out of the cuffs, but he only earned a kick in the stomach for his troubles.
"Leave him out of this, he has nothing to do with it!" Juudai pleaded, coughing. "He's innocent, he never even showed himself when I was-"
"Oh? Seems like the fluff ball has common sense after all," Arsenal Summoner threw Hane Kuriboh away carelessly. He hit the wall and landed, dazed, next to Yubel. At least he was still alive. "But I'm not like you. I won't lower myself to hurting innocents."
"Just leave them be," Juudai begged. "Let them go, it's not their fault. It's my fault, I know. I just wanted to help you…"
"I will let them go," Arsenal Summoner promised. "As for you, Haou, how many children do you think you've killed? A hundred? A thousand? A thousand scars for a thousand children, how does that sound?"
This time, the cuts weren't unexpected, but they hurt nonetheless. Even if Arsenal Summoner wasn't going to kill him outright, he could very well die from blood loss.
"Listen," he tried to reason, ignoring the blade of the dagger against the inside of his right elbow. "Listen. Just promise me they'll be safe. Do whatever you want to me but let them go," he winced as the blade cut into the flesh of his upper arm. Blood trickled down onto his shoulder and was absorbed by the cloth of his T-shirt. He chanced a look at the Arsenal Summoner.
"Five…" the monster was muttering. "Five. This dagger was my wife's, you know that? Shayna was all I had left of her and you took her from me. You took everything."
"I'm sorry…" Juudai whispered. "I'd bring them all back if I could, there's nothing I'd like better. Just let- Just let me help you, please."
"You keep saying that," Arsenal Summoner was crying, like Juudai was. "You keep apologizing. Why do you look like you mean it!?"
For a second, the dagger lowered. Then, in a flurry of leathery wings, it was knocked aside as Arsenal Summoner hit the wall next to Juudai and fell down in a disorderly heap. He lifted his head slowly and tried to get back up, but slumped down again and fell face-forward unto the ground, unconscious. Yubel had woken up.
"Juudai, what did he do to you?" she asked, tenderly cleaning away the blood on his face and freeing him from the metal cuffs. But Juudai just shook his head and got up gingerly.
"It's because I do mean it," he replied to Arsenal Summoner's question. He kneeled down next to the monster and rolled him over so he was lying on his back. "I do."
He slowly placed both of his hands at the temple of the monster's head and closed his eyes. Yubel placed a hand on his shoulder, not interrupting him but ready to protect him the moment something happened. If he could help… If he could just help this one person…
A red-headed woman, heavily pregnant but standing outside and throwing a dagger at a makeshift target with practiced ease. Arsenal Summoner, sitting in the shade of a tree and watching her proudly.
"Guardian Elma," Juudai whispered.
The same woman, smiling faintly but happily as a nurse handed her her newborn child. The nurse smiled, but looked up at Arsenal Summoner and sadly shook her head.
"Sorry…"
Arsenal Summoner, holding his daughter and watching as the body of Guardian Elma was cremated.
"But I can help."
A little girl with the same red hair as her mother running through the streets and playing with a group of other children. Arsenal Summoner, sitting with a group of other parents and smiling as she helped up a boy who'd fallen over. He laughed even louder as she ran over and tried to tug him along, happily talking about playing with her.
"C'mon dad! You have to show them how good you are! You can find them, can't you? You're my dad, so of course you can!"
"I can't undo the past."
The same girl, older now, running away with her father as the village was going up in flames behind them. Arsenal Summoner tugged her over to a group of waiting villagers. Behind them, Haou's army -Juudai's army- was rapidly catching up.
"But I can help you…"
The girl ran back, ignoring the screams of her father and trying to help her friend along. Arsenal Summoner, trying to go after her but being stopped by the other villagers as the first soldiers of the army reached the two children. The first soldier swung his sword; the girl tried to shield herself-
"Forget."
"Shayna!"
Juudai sighed and lifted his hands, watching the dark glow around them subside.
"It's done," he whispered, then turned around and threw himself in Yubel's arms, crying. Yubel tightened her grip on him and slowly petted his hair with one hand.
"Do you think I did the right thing?" he asked. "Erasing his memories? Do you think I did good?"
"I don't know, Yubel replied truthfully. "But let's go, Juudai. Let's get your deck and go. This is not your place anymore, you don't belong here. Let's go home."
"Yeah…" Juudai threw one last look at Arsenal Summoner and, after a moment's hesitation, picked up the dagger and tucked it away. Best not leave anything that could bring back the memories.
"I hope you'll live," he told Arsenal Summoner. "Please forget me, don't make your life revolve around me. I'm not worth it. Please, for the sake of your daughter, for the sake of everyone else, live."