I decided to elaborate on my oneshot Impossible Visions and throw in bunches of chapters talking about how the death affected his comrades, friends, family, etc. You might notice some details that were not included in said oneshot, because (1) Ray's part wasn't supposed to be the main star of the show, and (2), I didn't elaborate much on what was happening in their minds/subconsciousness.
The reason I'm not putting the name of who died is because you have to go read the mentioned oneshot above to get what I'm talking about. But you guys aren't gonna get to the...heavily impacted people until the end, which will be in like 4 chapters XD. So be patient!
Many thanks to Writertainer, who helped kickstart this idea! DONJUSTICIA, GOOD LUCK WITH THIS!
Also, I will refer to the dragons as "he" or "his", because I find them so humanlike and adorable.
...Review!
Part One: The Synchro
"Shh..." Crow soothed Tanner as the young boy yelped from the sting of the alcohol swab. "This'll make your cuts better. Trust me!"
"But it hurts so much!" complained Tanner as Crow swabbed the alcohol over his scraped knee and placed a bandage across the cut.
"Don't worry, you're all done, Tanner," Crow brushed off his hands and threw the cotton swab away. "Run along and go find Frank and Amanda. I have errands to run in Standard, so I'll be back in a couple days. Shinji and Chojiro will watch you guys."
"Chojiro!" Tanner exclaimed cheerfully. "He's coming!? Awesome, and be safe, Crow!"
"Yes, yes, I will, I promise. Now, be good, okay?" Crow patted Tanner on the boy's head. "I don't want to come home and find the house blown up. Amanda's in charge after Chojiro and Shinji, so you and Frank better listen to her, good?"
"Good!" Tanner cheered, locking his pinkie onto Crow's before dashing off, leaving the elder boy a bit startled and staring at his pinkie.
He let out a breathy laugh, before turning his attention back to the cell phone given to him by Reiji that's sitting so innocently on the scarred wood of their tabletop. Who knew that the slim metal device with the fancy touchscreen could be the bearer of such horrible news?
Crow had put two-and-two together and discovered that this was probably Rin and Yuugo had come back to Synchro a day after he had, both looking like their best friend had just died.
Because, a friend had just died.
Tomorrow was his funeral.
He picked up the phone gingerly and shoved it into his back pocket, picking up his bag that was waiting by the front door and exiting their house. Despite receiving offers from the Lancers in Standard to move to their dimension, Crow had politely declined and instead decided to send the kids off to school there five days a week to learn basic life skills and dueling, with the help of Reiji's Dimension Mover machine installed into the basement.
Crow ran a hand through his hair before setting off on his way to Yuugo and Rin's new home. He was to pick them up and come back to the house to use the Dimension Mover, since Rin had flatly denied that "contraption" in her house. Yuugo, too stricken by the entire ordeal earlier, hadn't said a word.
Puffy white clouds danced their way across the azure sky, dotted by the platforms where the rich Tops lived. Crow had also denied living in the mansions up there, having already been gifted so much goods and technology from LEO Corporation that he didn't want to seem spoiled.
Speaking of technology, the metal device buzzed in his pocket.
Sighing, he pulled the phone out before checking the screen.
Jack Atlas: You're going to...his funeral, right?
Crow's lips mashed together as he typed a text back, the on-screen keys far too tiny for his taste.
Crow Hogan: Yeah...I have to go pick up Rin and Yuugo first.
Jack Atlas: Okay.
Crow threw the phone back into his bag, along with his clothes, before setting off at a brisker pace. He hated that device, but simpler communication than pulling up a grainy call on his duel disk was better than nothing.
Yuuya...
According to Reiji, the four boys had apparently been part of a demon/dragon/overlord that had once been human. A teenage boy, driven by humanity's greed for more flashy and exciting duels, had become a monster hell-bent on destroying the very people that had forced his dragons to fight against each other for entertainment. Forced to go beyond his limits, he'd gone insane with power and had had to be eradicated, or forcefully split into four souls.
This time, Yuuya had died making sure that the demon, Zarc, would never come back again. Fusing their souls together, then fusing once more with the spell cards held by the incarnation of Rin and her lookalikes, had destroyed Zarc's power-hungry mindscape and had reverted the demon back into a teenage boy for mere moments before disappearing.
Yuuya had destroyed Zarc's dark heart, and he had paid with his life.
Crow remembered the last time he'd dueled Yuuya, when the boy was halfway to insanity and beating him down with his Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon mercilessly. Then, Crow had wondered what had he done to deserve the boy's wrath, especially when they'd concocted an escape plan just minutes before the entire duel had started.
Now, Crow would give anything just to duel Yuuya one last time, to get to say his goodbyes before the entertainer disappeared forever.
He squeezed his eyes shut and hoped, that wherever Yuuya was, he had found peace.
Jack Atlas stared up at the azure sky, on the balcony of his residence among the Tops.
It was only a few weeks ago had he dueled Sakaki Yuuya under the same beautiful skies and had relinquished his title as the King to the teenage boy, uniting the City and freeing it from discrimination.
It'd been only a few weeks since he'd been battling in the jungle of Academia's disgusting lab rat tests, since the last time he'd ever seen Sakaki Yuuya.
It was only a few weeks ago that he had bid goodbye to the remaining Lancers.
Jack pounded a fist into the railing of his balcony and shook his head, A-shaped earrings slapping his cheeks as he did. Yuuya just couldn't be dead. The boy had been so filled with life, so cheerful, even when things were bleak and disturbing. He'd been the only cheerful one in Academia, the only one who could cling to his philosophy and not lose hope.
Yuuya was the glue that held the Lancers together. He was their common friend and ally, and the person they would always help, no matter their relationship or circumstance.
But if Yuuya wasn't gone, whose funeral was he going to in Standard now?
Frustrated, Jack spewed out a string of curses and turned his head back to stare at the Dimension Mover machine installed into his house, the sleek metal catching a ray of sunlight and reflecting it back. How Jack wished it wasn't today he would have to go through it, instead it would be when the reunion party of the Lancers would commence in some time.
But...the party would be just as dreary, without the presence of Sakaki Yuuya.
Jack gave one last glance up at the sky before peeling a card from the deck resting next to him and staring at it for the remainder of the time he had left before leaving.
It was a copy of Tuning Magician.
Even if he didn't want to admit it, Jack Atlas missed the entertainer from Standard already.
Rin sat on the brand-new couch next to her best friend and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Yuugo, are you okay? Crow'll be here soon."
"I'm fine," came the muttered reply. Yuugo didn't even look at her, his turquoise eyes fixed on the floor as time ticked away in the deafening silence. His elbows were on his knees as he stared off at something she couldn't see.
"Yuugo-"
"I'm fine, Rin," Yuugo interrupted her, an undertone in his voice that pleaded for her to leave him alone.
Rin sighed and did as he had silently asked, ascending the steps to her room in a gloomy silence. Yuugo had been inconsolable ever since the day Yuuya had died, and Rin knew the boy was inwardly blaming himself like Yuuto and Yuuri probably were too. He ate his meals without the usual enthusiasm that was registered to Yuugo, and spent most of the day in his current position, sitting somewhere in their house and thinking.
Rin knew what it felt like to be as helpless as he had. She'd watched, from Ray's perspective inside her mind, as the female incarnation had been locked in a battle with her own feelings before finally watching Ray hand over the cards. Yuzu had been pounding on the invisible barriers of Ray's mind and sobbing, begging her friend not to do what he had been about to do.
Ruri and Serena hadn't said a word, their own eyes filling with horror as they watched the scene play out, Ray losing her consciousness as the final anguished scream of both Zarc and Yuuya had echoed around them.
A hard bump against her foot jolted her back into reality, and Rin rubbed her sore toe as she pushed the door open to her room. It was painted a similar shade of green to her hair, the bed rumpled in the corner and the small desk she often sat down at shoved against the far wall.
Her sketchbook was left open, pages filled with sketches from the days where she'd been drawing out D-Wheel parts for Yuugo's reference. Regretfully, Rin recalled when Yuugo had told her she had broken it under the control of the Doktor's hideous parasites.
She flipped a little further, and there were light, tentative sketches of Yuugo, Yuuya, Yuuto, and Yuuri together, the shadows and texture not yet added to make the drawing pop. Pens and markers, acquired with the exceptionally generous sum of money from Reiji, were in a box by the lamp, and Rin reached for them as her other hand flicked the lamp on.
With a careful hand, she began to trace the messy graphite sketch with a bold line of black ink.
Sakaki Yuuya...
First was Yuugo, the smile she remembered so well immediately broadened with the black lines. His hair, the spikes she adored, and that wink she found so endearing were all sharpened.
I'm sorry that I never got to know you...
Yuuto...the mysterious Xyz counterpart that Ruri adored, with his sharp grey eyes and mess of lavender-black hair that were his most noticeable features.
I've heard you were a caring and fun person...
Yuuri, that psychotic smirk that she'd apparently captured perfectly, and those slit pupils she found slightly creepy, along with his floating bangs.
And...
Her hand froze over Yuuya's sketched face, that frozen smile reminding her of the actual one. For a moment, her vision flashed white, and there he was, holding a hand out to her- no, Ray -with that smile on his face.
Rin blinked, and it was gone.
...I'm sorry I didn't try to save you.
Her fingers wobbled as she finished the final stroke that completed his goggles, the sketched copy of the real ones that were now lying in his room back in Standard, lens cracked as they had found it.
Yuuya...I hope that you're not lonely, wherever you are.
"Rin."
Rin whirled around in her chair and found Yuugo, leaning against the door frame with puffy turquoise eyes, rumpled yellow bangs, and an expression that signified misery on his face.
"What are you drawing?" He took a step into the room, bare feet slapping against the cold wooden floorboards.
"N-nothing," Rin stuttered guiltily, flipping to another page of anatomy sketches to cover her drawing. "I was practicing human anatomy, and didn't hear you coming up the stairs. Do you need something?"
Yuugo stared at her, an expression she couldn't quite read in his eyes, before taking a couple more steps into her room and sitting down with his back resting on her bed's side. His feet sunk into the small furry carpet as he relaxed in the silence.
"Just companionship," he said quietly, lowering his turquoise eyes to the floor.
Rin exhaled as she turned back to her work, flipping the page once more to find her previous drawing. She absentmindedly pushed a lock of light green hair behind her ear as she worked, coloring in Yuuri's bangs with shades of magenta and mulberry.
Her phone (also from Reiji) buzzed, and the incoming text was from Crow:
Crow Hogan: I'll be late. Fifteen minutes. Sorry!
Rin typed back a reply before scrolling through her downloaded playlist. Since discovering music, Rin had taken to the device to play calming sounds to rest her nerves. She still wasn't used to having so much money at her fingertips, and had donated some of it to the orphanage Yuugo and she had resided at before Rin's kidnapping.
A symphony of piano and violin music from the device's speaker swirled together as Rin selected another marker, a light grey, to add shadows onto Yuuri's strands of hair. Her elbow hit the edge of her desk as she did, and she dropped the uncapped marker in surprise.
Just before it could hit the ground, Yuugo's arm shot out and caught it. Turquoise eyes looked up innocently at Rin as Yuugo stood and walked over, placing the marker with a thump onto her desk before he froze.
Rin cursed silently. She hadn't flipped the page.
Yuugo's fingers brushed the carefully inked lines of Yuuya's face, tracing the boy's features as if he was actually there. A simple glance up at his face showed the tears running down his pale cheeks.
"Yuuya..." he whispered. "I'm sorry..."
Yuugo stared at the ground and wondered when had the entire fiasco gone wrong.
They'd been all holding back Zarc, keeping him from hurting any of their friends too severely, when Yuuya had suddenly shoved their barriers and assistance away, grabbed Zarc's soul, and fused his own it with it.
He'd gained control for those precious moments necessary to communicate with the girls' incarnation, the magenta/mulberry haired girl with the shining pink Duel Disk. But when Yuuto had tried to lend his strength, Yuuya forced him back.
This is an apology for involving you guys in all this, he'd whispered, that omnipresent smile now tinged with sadness. I'll never forget any of you, I promise.
Yuuto had protested, Yuugo had protested, even Yuuri had protested. But Yuuya's goal was to defeat Zarc without any more casualties.
Before he knew it, something tugged at his chest, right where his heart was, and he found himself being thrown roughly out of their combined body, his head striking the ground hard.
The last Yuugo had seen of Yuuya was the boy grappling against Zarc before his vision went white.
"Yuugo."
Rin's voice interrupted his thoughts.
"Can you hand me that pan, please?"
"H-huh? Oh, sure, Rin." He absentmindedly picked up the round metal pan she gestured to and placed it in her flour-dusted hand.
Rin rolled out the pie crust on the counter and began mixing the filling for the pie itself, talking to him as she did. "Stop sulking around, Yuugo. If you can't lighten up a bit, go to your room and sulk there."
Her orange eyes were shadowed, hiding her emotions from Yuugo as he stood up and pushed the rickety wooden chair in. "Fine."
He slid across the wooden floor on socks and made his way upstairs, passing the door labeled RIN'S ROOM before reaching his own. It was a plain white door, the knob made of some metal painted gold. Something he would've never been able to afford if he was still living on the streets.
Shaking his head to rid himself of the thought, Yuugo turned the knob and pushed the door open. His bed was unmade, sheets scattered all over the mattress. Dust swirled around the window as he opened the blinds to the metallic city of the Synchro dimension, and the sleek, glass-topped desk that he often sat and wrote at was littered with scraps of lined paper.
All of this had been generously bought and prepped by Reiji's company's workers. Yuugo wasn't a stranger to charity, but so much was unheard of among the poor Commons. The Tops citizens had been very selfish with their money and wealth, keeping it to their enjoyment. Only the select few that were actually philanthropists had stopped giving after their savings had been roughly depleted.
Yuugo pushed the door closed softly, the bolt sliding into place with a quiet click. Rin knew not to disturb him when his door was closed, and it was probably because of the attitude he'd held since Yuuya had died.
He clenched his hand into a fist, collapsing down on the floor with his head bent in a position many would find uncomfortable. Slowly, Yuugo picked his deck out from the pocket in the black Yuuto-style jacket he was wearing, and from within the cards, found his ace.
"Clear Wing..." his voice was a whisper barely louder than a cat's paws on hardwood floor. "...why?"
The dragon's soul, trapped inside the card, howled mournfully at the permanent loss of his favorite, beautiful master and child. Sure, he shared Yuugo's loss, but not in the same way his current master did. Zarc was gone forever, and Clear Wing was trapped in this world without him. What was there to live for?
Only Yuugo. Clear Wing would keep serving the boy that so resembled the carefree side of his former master, now gone, until the end of his days. The dragon would die for the boy, to keep his master's counterparts alive and smiling. It was what he lived for.
Yuugo's hand, holding the card, dropped to hang between his knees, and his head was bent so his bangs covered his dulled turquoise eyes as he cried, his shoulders shaking and the tears dripping onto the hardwood. Clear Wing continued his mournful howls as the two sat together, each grieving in their own fashion.
Even the smell of Rin's famous apple pie couldn't rouse the Synchro duelist as he slipped into a fitful sleep.
If Yuugo's too...ugh, for you guys...SORRY, I DON'T CARE!
I chose this since Yuugo's the most emotional out of all the counterparts in my opinion. Yuuya, too, but...he's sorta dead in this AU, so...yeah.
The next chapter should be up soon, since I'm feeling angsty...NO CLUES THOUGH!
Review...?