Author's Note/Commentary: Hi everyone! Alright, so this is my first fanfiction, and if it sucks, I'm sorry :/ Eh, nothing's perfect, so, whatever. Anyways, I hope you enjoy, and I don't wanna give any spoilers away, so, let's just get on with this little thing, shall we?

Disclaimer: If I owned Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, or anything else in the real world, would you think I'd be on fanfiction in the first place? Uh, that would be a no.

~Act I, Prologue~

"Undeservedly you will atone for the sins of your fathers." - Horace

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At the age of five, all children are pure, innocent, and beautiful beams of light, that no know evil, and know only good. They know not, nor understand the troubles of the world, and think that smiles and kisses on a boo-boo make everything better. 'Regret' is something they have yet to even experience in their young life. Laughter always fill the air, when their in the room, and they always look to make everyone happy. They dream of one day being doctors, fire-fighters, dancers, and so much more, when they grow up. Yet, at this age, they need someone to depend on - they depend on their older siblings (if they have them) to play with them, and help them learn. They depend on their mommies to make them feel better when their sick, to read to them, and nurture them. And they depend on their daddies to play catch with them, to give them piggy-back rides, and to scare away monsters during the night.

Most children have all these luxuries...except for some. Including this certain little girl.

She lied on her bed, unable to fall asleep to take her daily nap, unlike her cousin. Her cousin seemed to have no trouble finding his way into the land of blissful slumber, and she knew it by his soft snoring. And he had no trouble being able to block out the arguing going on in the next room, between her momma and her cousin's mommy and daddy - her auntie and uncle.

Honestly, she had no idea what they were arguing about. As far as she could remember (which, really, wasn't really all that far back), they never argued like this. At least, not when she or her cousin were anywhere around them. She could only catch some of the words that they spoke, but, it had something to do with somebody they reffered to as 'him' or 'he'. Which, really did not narrow anything down.

"...blame...his fault..." she could hear her mother stubbornly say. "...her...around." She tried concentrating more on the sound, trying to get a better listening into the conversation. She knew it was bad to do so, but she was curious, and she wouldn't be able to sleep until she knew why they were fighting.

"I agree," her aunt sighed, those two words being perfectly clear. "He isn't even..." oh, come on! Were they purposely lowering their voices?

"He wants to be here, with her," her uncle's loud voice tried to whisper, only to hopelessly fail at the attempt. "But, I cannot convince my father to let him see her, not even for a single visit."

'He'? Who was 'he'? And why wouldn't her Grampy let him see whoever 'her' was? Wait, did they mean her daddy?

Her daddy had been gone for a very long time. He'd been gone since she was too young to remember him, but her uncle - her daddy's brother - had told her that there was a reason for it, and he'd be back, soon. But, he never told her when 'soon' was. Today was her birthday, her fifth birthday - she was a hold hand! - and, when she made her wish, she had wished for her daddy to come back. She hadn't said it too loud, but, she guessed that mommy or auntie or uncle or all three of them must have heard her, because they'd been acting sort of weird during the cake and gift-opening, and right before they tucked her and her cousin in for their nap-time. And now they were arguing about someone they never mentioned by name.

So, it must have been her daddy. But, why wouldn't her Grampy let her see him?

"And who's fault is that?" her mother snapped, voice breaking out of it's hushed tone. The girl cringed at the sound of it - the tone was so harsh. "His! If he hadn't tried that stupid stunt-"

"Hayley, calm down-

"I'm not going to calm down!" her momma's interrupted, silencing the girl's auntie. "My baby doesn't have her daddy, who she wants to have in her life, because he did something stupid! He tried pulling that shit-" she was going to have to make not to have mommy put in two dollars into the swear-jar next she cussed, for saying that word. "Thinking he was some big-shot, and now his daughter is having to pay for it, by probably having to grow up, without ever knowing her father! How is that fair to her?"

The girl frowned, fluttering her eyes closed for a moment. What had daddy done to make her mommy so mad? What had he done to not be there? It was all so, so very...confusing, and upsetting. She tightened her arms around her teddy bear, hugging him close to her - he always made her feel better.

'Daddy, where are you?' she thought, sadly. 'You're supposed to be here with me and mommy. Why aren't you? I wish you were here - I wanna meet you, so much, so then we can do the things all kids do with their daddies...and be...a family...'

It wasn't long before her thoughts became foggy, and clouded, as she faded into dream-land...

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She sat in a large field, that was studded in flowers, and surrounded by lush-green trees. Sunshine poured down, bringing in it's beautiful light, and a slight, cool breeze blowing through, gently passing through the blades of grass and rustling the leaves. The girl smiled and giggled giddily at the sight of the place - it was so pretty. She began twirling around in her way of 'dancing', never ceasing her joyful laughter and smiling.

She threw her arms up in the air, as she twirled, slightly bouncing around by the balls of her feet. She stumbled a few times, and had fallen onto the ground at least twice, but, she wasn't hurt - and it was something she could laugh about.

Everything seemed so...perfect.

Her merry-making lasted a few more minutes, before something interrupted it. Not someone rudely waking her up, or a storm, or anything bad. But, it was a very distinctive sound - a very soft, very child-like barking.

She stopped in her twirling, and turned to where the sound was coming from. A small black puppy - she wasn't sure what kind, but it didn't look like a puppy dog she'd ever seen. It seemed like a puppy, but it wasn't exactly a dog, she knew that - but, what was it? Oh, darn her for forgetting this - she was sure she'd seen a puppy that had looked like this one before.

It barked again, only now did she realized it was slightly muffled. She snapped back to realization, and looked down at it. The little pup was wagging his/her tail happily, and had it's head tilted to the side a bit - and resting in his or her mouth was something.

After a moment, seemingly forgetting the lessons her mother taught of her not putting her hand near a stray dog's mouth, she stretched out her hand at the pup. She took what was in it's mouth from her, and he/she didn't stop her from doing so. With a slight smile, the young girl petted the dog's head, scratching behind it's ears for a minute.

"Thank you," she said, politely - after all, it was rude to take something from someone (even an animal) without thanking it, properly.

The pup barked once more, approvingly, and then trotted off. Confused, she looked to where it was trotting off to, and saw it going up to a tall man, that she didn't recognize, but, almost seemed...familiar, in some way.

He bent down to the ground, when the pup came up to him, and he scratched it's head, like she had done just moments earlier.

"Uh, hello!" she greeted, trying to sound cheerful. Silence was her reply from the man. Blinking her eyes once, she decided to continue. "Is that puppy yours?"

Silence, still. But, now, the man was standing up, and looking at her - or, at least, she assumed he was. He was turned to face her, but most of his face was...shadowed. She couldn't see who it was - but she saw a smile appear on his lips. With that smile given, he turned away, and began walking off, the puppy loyally following him.

"W-wait!" she called after him. "Mister!" but, it was no use. The man and the puppy were gone, without a trace.

The girl remembered that something now rested in her hand, and she looked down at it. It was an envelope, and, on it, written in pretty hand writing - but, not in cursive like her mommy wrote it, in was written to where she could actually read it - was a simple sentence:

'Happy birthday'.

She paused for a moment, before flipping it over, and opening the envelope. She dug her small hand into the thing, and pulled out something that didn't feel like a letter or a card - it was something much smaller and much more thinner.

Curiously, she looked down at it, before realization dawned upon her.

It was a Duel Monster's card; one depicting a very small girl with blue skin, and black wings crying into her hands. She had little horns sticking out from her head, the bottom of the horns covered by her long black hair. She wore a black, white trimmed dress, no shoes, silver-ish bracelets, and a black and silver hair clip-comb-thing.

And the name on it was...it was...

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She'd been woken up from her nap before she could figure out the name of the card that she'd been given in the dream. It probably wasn't really all that important, but she was curious throughout the rest of the day just what it was. It bugged her, to no end - she just had to know what that card's name was.

Her aunt, uncle and cousin had left around the time the moon was beginning to rise. She was given some time to watch a couple Disney movies with her mommy, before she had to go to bed, and was currently sitting on the couch, bundled up in a blanket with her teddy bear, and popcorn in a large bowl in front of her on the coffee table. Her mommy was sitting next to her, sharing the blanket, and cuddling with her, as she grabbed the remote to start the movie. The first that had been chosen was the girl's personal favorite - Beauty and the Beast. Honestly, they had watched it so many times, her mother swore up and down that her daughter knew every line and every song by heart.

Which, was an exaggeration, of course...whatever that meant.

Just as the movie began, with the opening story of how the prince became a beast, a knock came upon the door. Her mother, confused, raised her brow. "Wonder who it is," she muttered, breaking away from her daughter, and shrugging off the blanket. "You keep watching the movie, kay, sweetie?" she glanced down at her daughter, who didn't even seem to notice that she had said anything, she was so mesmerized with the movie. Hayley (as the girl knew her mommy's name was) chuckled, lightly, as she walked to the door.

The only sound she could hear was the movie itself, for the next couple of minutes, until her mommy came back to the couch. The girl finally broke her gaze away from the television, to look at her mother, seeing a small box resting in her hands.

"Who's it for, Mommy?" the girl asked, tilting her head to the side.

Her mother blinked once, looking at the box confused. "Well, it says 'for our little birthday girl'," she said, before looking at her daughter. "So, I'm going to assume it's for you, baby girl."

She paused the movie, before setting the box down on the coffee table, and sitting down on the couch. A bit suspicious of the contents, not knowing who it could be from, Carly slowly opened the box, the first thing she saw being an envelope being there, with an elegant script on it simply saying 'for our little princess'.

And she automatically knew who it was from.

"Here," Hayley said, gently, gingerly handing the envelope to her daughter. "Read it, sweetie."

Her daughter did as told, opening the envelope, and taking out a a folded sheet of paper. She unfolded it, and read it aloud

Happy fifth birthday, Raine

I'm sorry I couldn't be here, but, I hope that this present will make you smile, little princess.

Love always, Daddy.

Her daddy remembered - well, of course he did, it was her daddy after all. But, still, he remembered, and he sent her a gift. Raine smiled like she had been given a freaking pony for Christmas, and held up the letter.

"Mommy, look!" she cheered, bouncing up and down in her seat. "Look, look, look! Daddy wrote to me!"

Hayley gave her a daughter a slight smile, trying to keep it from looking like that of a bittersweet one. "Yeah, he did," she acknowledged. "And he sent you something, too. You want to see what it is?"

Raine nodded, ever so fastly, and her mother couldn't help but lightly laugh at her daughter's excitement. She picked up the package, and handed it to her daughter, who dug into the box, finding the gift almost instantly.

She pulled it out of the box, and examined it - a pouch holding something. She opened the pouch, and her green eyes lit up as she looked at the contents. Duel Monster cards - like she had been wanting for so long. Rain pulled out the cards, going to see just what cards her daddy had given her - were her cards Fairy-types? Spellcasters? Dinosaurs? Looking down at the first card, her question was soon discarded.

This card depicted a very small girl with blue skin, and black wings crying into her hands. She had little horns sticking out from her head, the bottom of the horns covered by her long black hair. She wore a black, white trimmed dress, no shoes, silver-ish bracelets, and a black and silver hair clip-comb-thing.

Just like the card from her dream.

She looked up at the card's name, anxious to see what it was.

Fabled Krus.

Author's Note/Commentary: Well, that's it for the prologue! Sorry if Raine seems like a mary-sue at the moment, but, I promise, she will get better. And as for her name...yes, I know, it's not exactly a common name. I just really like the name, and my older sister stuck this name into my head, so, ya'll can blame her.

Please leave a review, cuz reviews make me happy and crap, and constructive criticism is welcome, but, flaming is stupid and I just flat out ignore it.

Thanks for reading, and, I hope to see you next time!

Next episode: Act I, Episode 1 - The Entrance Exams. Set ten years into the future, Raine is now old enough to enroll into Duel Academy. But will she pass the exams, to fulfill her dream?