A/N: For those who have read Flight of Dreams, welcome back! Those who haven't, welcome anyway. Reading the first one isn't completely necessary to understand what is going on.
Basically, this is based in an alternative universe in which Yugi never received the Millennium Puzzle. Instead, it goes to another soul, Izzy, who essentially walks the same path. I mentioned at the end of Flight of Dreams, I began with every intention of writing the complete adventures of Izzy, but I decided that is now highly unrealistic, therefore explaining the sequal.
Disclaimer - I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! Never have and never will, I do however own Izzy and her friends.
Strangers Like Me
Prologue - Loss
The pain erupts suddenly and unexpectedly, spreading through my stomach to the rest of my body. It is like an explosion, setting fire to everything in my body that it can reach. I sink to my knees, the sword clattering to the ground, unable to believe that this is really happening. This shouldn't happen; this can't be happening.
I become aware of something somewhere behind me and I know she is shrieking in terror as the fire starts to consume her, and then it falls silent, except for the erratic beat of my own heart.
It is no less than she deserves for everything that she's done to all those I consider friends and family – for all those times, she hurt those I care about to get to me.
In the distance, there is a cracking sound and I know the shield has finally fallen. I can hear the others, calling my name, able to reach me at last. I see their faces of dismay and horror and I know that it is hopeless.
I am falling. I can't stop.
I am shaking, knowing that the blood is seeping from my stomach. I am coughing, fighting for breath; my hands are red and getting redder by the second. I can feel my chest tighten with pain. My heart struggling to replace the blood I am losing.
"Listen to me; you're gonna be fine, we can save you."
They know they can't. There is nothing they can do.
I know I am dying. They know it too. He knows it; he knows that he can't save me. I know that his heart is breaking and I can't stop it.
I can hear them crying. I can feel his tears as he holds me close, unwilling to accept that it could be over.
I am dying.
It is a unique feeling - drifting from this world to the next. It was strange knowing, that this was it - this really is the end and knowing that the white light is coming for me. I have come so close to this point is recent years - some closer than others, but every time, somehow I had managed to escape from the brink of destruction. We all had at some point in the last four years, but this time it is different, because there is no coming back for me.
"Don't die."
The white light is growing stronger; I can't see them anymore. I can't breath.
"I can't lose you again."
I don't want to be alone. I don't want to die. I can't do this. I'm scared.
I don't want to die!
I can't die!
"I love you."
Sometimes, when you die, you experience a pure moment of clarity in which things you have done and things you have not done are made clear to you. All the choices that you make; all the paths you could have walked.
Sometimes, it shows the parallels of our paths and where our lives merge.
Sometimes, Death gives you a second chance.
Sometimes, it just shows the strangers like me.
A/N: Whee! It was necessary, but don't worry, it won't all be as depressing as that, I promise. It mostly follows in cronlogical order, all except the prologue which is somewhere in the middle.
Till next time, have fun and review.