Disclaimer: YGO 5Ds is not mine
Kalin Kessler had always believed in fairy tales.
"Tell me another," Kalin laid on least-lumpy spot on their shared bed with his eyes half-closed, cozily bundled up in all the blankets they could find. It's the sole privilege of being sick in the orphanage, to be pampered by Yusei Fudo. Yusei, whom Kalin had secretly nicknamed motherhen, would hover and fuss over him until he recovered from his illness and was instead sick from the attention.
He never felt comfortable showing this kind of weakness with Crow and Jack, but somehow, Yusei was different.
"That's the third story in a row Kalin," Yusei protested half-heartedly, smiling as he reached a hand over Kalin to wipe sweat off his brow, "you need to sleep for the fever to die down."
"Another," Kalin almost whined, turning towards Yusei so the younger teen could see his pout.
"Alright," Yusei picked up the well-worn book, "But this is the last one, you really need to get some sleep."
Kalin nodded obediently and Yusei read him the next story.
They were all the same really, he had long realized. The hero would battle the darkness that held the land captive, Good would triumph over Evil, and they would all live happily ever after. Kalin whole-heartedly believed in those stories. Of course he did, they made sense. They made so much more sense than their lives in the Satellite of Domino City, where fate is divided by a river he could swim across. Not that he hadn't tried, swimming across that is. In hindsight, it probably wasn't the smartest idea, Sector Security shot electric currents out of their guns... If it weren't for the others, he wouldn't have been able to make it back.
So Kalin continued to believe in his fairy tales, trapped in a land of darkness that needs to be saved. Until one day, he got sick of waiting for a hero who never came. And that was when the Enforcers became legends.
...
If the Satellite was in a fairy tale, which it had to be, then there must be an obstacle to surmount, an evil to defeat before the happy ending.
'What's the Evil within the Satellite that must be defeated?' Kalin had been asking himself when Crow came in with a bloody nose and an oddly-angled right arm.
"Look what I found!" The orange-haired teen flaunted his Icarus Attack trap card in front of Kalin with his left hand, flashing him a toothy grin, and earning a soft laugh from the older teen in response.
"What happened?" Kalin sat Crow down and laid his right arm on the table, "hold still, this is going to hurt."
"On the count of thr-?" Crow was cut off by a crack and a shooting pain up his arm, "Yeouch!"Crow shrieked at his arm was set back into place, "You could've let me mentally prepare myself first you know."
"Then you would've tensed up, and it would have been more painful," Kalin shrugged, "so what happened?"
"New gang," Crow complained as Kalin selected two straight pieces of wood to immobilize his arm. "Their leader, the big redhead, tried to steal my deck, I beat them off but-" He tried to wiggle his injured arm to demonstrate the results of that encounter, only to be slapped on the hand by Kalin.
"Don't move!" The blue-haired teenager scolded gently, keeping a firm hand as he tied Crow's arm to its make-shift cast "why didn't you come to us for help?"
"No time," Crow dismissed the suggestion carelessly, "there were too many of'em. Lucky I got out at all."
The idea flashed through Kalin's mind. That's it! That's the Evil they must defeat! The duel gangs! Without them, there would again be peace in the Satellite, people would be able to go about their lives without worrying about being harassed or attacked, and the Satellite would flourish. That's what was standing between the Satellite and its happily-ever-after.
"Hey, don't tell Yusei about this, 'kay?"
Kalin quirked an eyebrow at Crow's request.
The youngest of their gang scratched his head with his uninjured hand, "you know how Yusei gets, I'll never hear the end of it. Just don't let him know until I can make something up."
"Good luck with that," Kalin mocked Crow's wishful thinking mercilessly, "Yusei's not blind you know, he can't miss the planks tied to your arm. Or are you going to tell him it's a new fad?"
"Agh," Crow banged his head on the table and resigned himself to his fate.
...
"Bloody hell!" Jack cursed, Yusei shot him a disapproving look which the blond completely ignored "You can't be serious?"
"I'm completely serious," Having made up his mind, Kalin looked much more relaxed than the other three, "I'm going to disband all duel gangs in the City."
Crow counted off his fingers how many gangs there were in the Satellite, and quickly lost track at 42.
"Because you said so?" Sarcasm came naturally to Jack, but Kalin was making it too easy.
"Because I said so." Kalin answered unironically. He stood up straight, looking at each of his friends in turn, his own eyes glistening with a Hope that none of the others yet possessed. It wasn't the vague hope they discussed in quiet whispers after dark, more accurately described as dreams or fantasies. Kalin radiated with an energy that came from having a purpose, and concrete plans to turn his Hope into reality. "I said so, and I will. Now are you in or are you out?"
"That's … a lot to take in," Crow took a deep breath.
"Chicken?" Kalin asked half-teasingly.
"I was just thinking about who we should start with." Being the easiest one to taunt, Jack naturally responded, disguising his initial hesitation with a bluff that nobody called him on. "A real duelist never backs down from a challenge."
Crow nodded resolutely, "Count me in!"
Yusei didn't say a word, and Kalin didn't need him to. Yusei would never desert a friend, their bond meant too much to the motherhen.
In The End, Kalin was certain, it would all be worth it. This would be their destined battle, to defeat the duel gangs and turn Satellite onto the right track. The Satellite had suffered too long without a hero. In the meantime, Kalin was willing to fill his (her?) vacancy.
…
This has to be a mistake! There had to be more duel gangs! Kalin searched desperately in every backstreet, patrolled each dark alley. Night after day, he found nothing.
The rest of the Enforcers had considered themselves victorious, they patted themselves on the back, told him he did a good job and wanted to call it quits. The battle is won, they said, Justice had prevailed. But if they had won, if they defeated the Evil that seized the Satellite, why is everything exactly the same? Why are people still starving? Freezing? Laboring mindlessly day after day in exchange for Domino City rations that would only sustain them a little longer in this misery?
If Justice had prevailed, is this what Justice looked like?
This can't be the end, Kalin decided desperately. Because The End meant nothing more would change, and the Satellite would stay like this forever. And Kalin refused to accept that. There must be something else, anything else that's the true Evil in the Satellite, something as yet undefeated that still stood between Satellite and its happy ending. So he had to set his sights higher, and naturally, they fell on Domino. Surely, Domino government is the ultimate Evil, the 17-year-old had thought. Domino trapped them in this town, fed them just enough to keep them alive, and forced them to work tirelessly for that privilege. Domino must be Evil. By extension, Sector Security, the only physical representation of Domino City in the Satellite, must also be Evil, and thus must be defeated before Satellite can reach the end of its fairy tale.
And, well, you know the rest.
When he was thrown into that car, his mind drew a blank. More than anything, Kalin was confused. It's wasn't supposed to end like this! He did everything right- he fought for Justice, he protected the Innocent, he gave everything he had for the side of Good. So where was his happily-ever-after? Kalin wondered in the darkness of his cells, completely alone without even the company of his deck, until hunger and despair finally got the better of him.
But then he saw, only after death did his opportunity arise. It was one more twist in the plot, but despite everything, the Hero would eventually return, defeat the forces of Evil, and he wouldn't stop until he's satisfied with his own happy ending.
A/N: I thought Kalin challenged Domino City when he realized his dreams were at best just a fantasy, nothing he did had ever made a significant difference in the Satellite or likely ever will. So between despair and insanity, he chose insanity (e.g. insisting he could overthrow a government with 4 teenagers Lol).