Disclaimer: I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit.
Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh GX
Title: Errors in Judgment: 3-3: Aftermath
Characters: Yubel, Johan
Word Count: chapter: 4,691|story: 13,364
Genre: Humor, Angst||Rated: PG-13
Feedback: All forms eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.
Summary: Yubel hasn't had a human body for this long in quite a while. She has to remember to eat, to drink...and what the effects of drinking are.
Tavern walls blew outward, leaving behind little more than broken bodies and burning timbers. Here and there, crumpled heaps twitched, revealing survivors who likely enough wished they hadn't. Shattered bones, burned flesh, a few soft cries of pain...
`Yubel drank in the pain and anger as it coursed through t hose who hadn't yet died. How sweet of them to empower her. This was what she truly needed to live. She licked her lips, tasting a few drops of wine there still.
Her legs wobbled underneath her and her head ached, making this not quite as enjoyable as she wanted it. Seeing straight was also harder than it usually was. I think I'm drunk. It wasn't as bad as she'd thought it would be, but perhaps that was because of her powers sustaining her. Damage was damage, after all.
Yet that didn't mean she was going to stay around here indefinitely. Invader of Darkness held some small importance to her beloved and her own plans indicated that Juudai couldn't know about her survival, much less Johan's, just yet. She would have to wrap everything up and return home to deal with a few minor issues as soon as possible.
First, to finish off the survivors, such as they were. She turned to them as she pulled out the Advanced Gem Beast deck. Not quite the training method she'd first envisioned, but it would do to teach them obedience. "Advanced Gem Beast Sapphire Pegasus! Advanced Gem Beast Topaz Tiger! Advanced Gem Beast Amber Mammoth! Advanced Gem Beast Amethyst Cat!" Those were the most aggressive; the turtle worked better for defense and the eagle would do to keep an eye out for trouble from above. Ruby Carbuncle was of no use for this.
One by one the summoned creatures appeared, glorious in their dark chains. She gestured toward the survivors. "Finish them for me." Sapphire Pegasus pawed the ground, the only physical form of protest she would allow from them. They could speak, she knew. They just chose not to. She smiled at his defiance, knowing what they thought of her. She said nothing else; her will, combined with knowing she held Johan's soul, overrode theirs.
With a defiant, pained neigh, Sapphire Pegasus turned and galloped toward the closest. Topaz Tiger, Amber Mammoth, and Amethyst Cat spread out, searching for others. At her command, Cobalt Eagle took to the air, scanning not just for any others who might've managed to get out of sight but for the possible approach of Haou's army. Yubel never took chances, not when it came to Juudai and his unpredictability.
Deep within her, Johan's heart pulsed with pain and she could tell he forced himself to watch. Not out of love for pain (what a fool) but to know what she forced his beloved family to do. Oh, let him dream in his thoughts of revenge. He would see her way was the right way soon enough. Even if he didn't, she wasn't going to stop what she did now.
Screams of protest and pain echoed across the field as the Advanced Gem Beasts cleaned up what she hadn't finished for herself. Yubel ran the tips of her fingers across the barrel of wine, still safely beside her. I'll have to take good care of this. She winced as the comet's light struck her a little more harshly than usual; perhaps it was time to get out of this place. She'd done enough. She'd fed and watered (wined) her borrowed body and she'd made certain no one would be able to tell anyone what happened there. Only shattered ruins remained.
"Come. It's time to go home."
Each of the Advanced Gem Beasts faded away, leaving behind only the smallest of evidence they'd been there in the first place. She cast a quick look over a few hoof prints and paw prints, a claw mark here and there. Nothing that many other monsters couldn't take the blame for, she decided. Nothing to betray to her beloved that the filthy thief still lived.
What would you do if he did find out? Johan's voice choked hard with anger, anger she siphoned for herself. His body needed food, she needed darkness, darkness he thoughtfully provided for her now. What would you do if he came after you for what you've done?
Yubel smiled. "I'm waiting for him to do just that." She set one hand on the wine barrel and opened her mind, searching for the proper gateway. The little pocket world she'd carved her castle into could only be accessed from one particular door and she knew it wasn't that far away, not for her.
You want him to find you? Johan wanted to break down into tears; she could tell that easily enough. He spoke to her only so he wouldn't actually do it.
"All in good time, thief. But he won't come looking for you." What nonsense. Juudai might have searched for the brat when he'd had hope Johan lived, but with that hope brutally slaughtered, he would cross her path only in the search for more souls for Super Fusion. I wonder if I should have given Brron more to work with. The thought of Juudai's stricken eyes at the sight of torn cards or clothes thrilled her.
No matter. All had fallen as it should regardless.
She leaped across the expanses of the world, moving with too much speed for anyone to see her, ignoring the way the wind ripped at her clothes and tore at her hair. No one could see her and she paid attention to no one and nothing but the way to her home.
Why would he come for Johan when he hadn't come for her? Why would he even start to look in the first place? Those words echoed behind her mind as she moved along swifter than anyone could see; why did he come for him and not her? Why did he care about the revolting thief, why didn't he come for her?
Why did he let the pain rip into her, tear into her soul, shred her until there was all but nothing left, was that his love, was that how Juudai loved her? Was that his new way to show that he cared? Was this new Juudai so different from the one she'd known in Kuragari?
That had to be it. That was the only fact that made any sense to her. He was still Juudai, still the one she loved, the one who loved her, who swore he'd always love only her, and he wouldn't break that promise, he'd never broken any promise to her, and he never would...
Tears stung the corners of her eyes and she welcomed them. Pain was Juudai's love, after all. She could never forget that. She didn't wantto forget it. She'd die before she forgot what it was like to love him.
No. She wouldn't even die first. Even if she did, she would always remember Juudai's love.
Forever.
He couldn't have destroyed this place more thoroughly himself. A few scattered remnants of wood that had once been walls protecting from the elements, providing (or so he recalled from what Invader of Darkness told him some time earlier) a safe haven for humans and monsters to drink and eat together, that was all that was left.
He didn't move from the vantage point he'd chosen, scanning the area with his eyes and other senses, senses that he'd only begun to tap into, dark and twisted power that told him what he needed to know, told him where power was, where duelists were...
This was no duel. This was nothing but sheer destructive force. He wasn't certain what form the power took, be it human or monster, duelist or ...something else, but power was there nevertheless.
"Those are the tracks of some feline monster," Skull Bishop declared from a short distance away, his own head bent to study them. None of his warriors drew too close to the tracks, for fear of blotting them out. "Perhaps a One-Eyed White Tiger or a Slave Tiger." He indicated another set of paw prints. "I would suggest those are from a smaller cat, probably a Nipped Tabby Cat or an Interesting Black Cat."
Two cats. Haou turned his attention to two other sets, neither close to the other, but enough to suggest the owners had been here at the same time, or close to it. One set came from a hoofed beast of some type, while the other...
"I would say those are from a Flying Elephant myself, Haou-sama," Guardian Baou added. He didn't sound in the least as if it bothered him that his immediate superior had perished here.
As if he would care. All that bothers him is that he didn't get the chance to kill Invader himself. Haou looked forward to the day he would be able to defeat Guardian Baou and put him to the only good use a treacherous bit of slime like him could ever be: Super Fusion.
For the moment, however, Baou was best suited to his new task, taking over Invader of Darkness's position. If nothing else, it kept him firmly under Haou's eye. He would do nothing against his master, not while everyone else stood ready to attack him if he twitched a hair out of line.
Two cats, an elephant, and something with hooves. Images of creatures he'd tried to forget for months wafted through the back of his thoughts. Amethyst Cat, Topaz Tiger, Amber Mammoth, Sapphire Pegasus.
No. Haou kept his visor down and stared harder at the tracks. It could not be them. For that to happen, Johan would have to be alive. They wouldn't work for anyone else, even if they'd somehow survived his death.
Though perhaps they weren't working so much as they were traveling? Searching for him, perhaps, if they didn't know what had happened? No, that was ridiculous. They wouldn't even know he was here. He crushed that line of thought without a second's remorse.
"Whatever destroyed this place, it isn't here now and left no trail we can follow." Chaos Sorcerer summed up everything quickly. He gestured to a stream that trickled across the landscape a short distance away. "We can't even be certain any of the tracks belong to whoever destroyed it. I've been here before and several creatures used this place as a watering hole, with or without the tavern."
Yes. That explained why different types of creatures would've left tracks. The record wasn't perfect and try as he might, he couldn't get an image of what happened here that told enough to clear up the confusion. Behind his visor his eyes narrowed. That in and of itself stirred up his suspicions.
Johan or the Gem Beasts couldn't do this. They were powerful, he knew that down to the core of his bones. But they couldn't do this. He didn't know of anyone who could and underneath his impassive gaze, that worried Haou far more than he wanted anyone there to know.
"Leave a detachment to guard the area for three cycles of the comet. If they see anything, I want to know about it as soon as possible." Haou highly doubted that whoever'd done this would return, but he preferred not to take any chances. Mismatched eyes and a wild laugh echoed in his mind but he ignored it as he did the thoughts of Johan and the Gem Beasts. Yubel was as dead as they were and even if she lived, he would destroy her all over again.
He didn't move just yet, however, as Chaos Sorcerer and Skull Bishop waved aside certain of the warriors to form the guard. Instead, he moved to where the destruction centered and scanned the area once again, searching for anything that might give a hint as to what happened.
If Johan survived that duel so Brron could kill him, Yubel could have as well. He didn't like the direction his thoughts took, but that didn't stop him from stalking down the mental road. Why would she come here? What could she gain? She wanted him; he had no doubts about that. Revenge for what he'd done to her, sending her into space, that motivated her now. But why destroy a simple tavern, if that was indeed what she'd done? It simply didn't make any sense.
He knew that in this world, everyone had to eat, humans and monsters alike. But Yubel sitting down at a table and eating with others? His mind couldn't, didn't, refused to comprehend that. There had to be more to the situation than what he could figure out here.
Unfortunately, there were no more clues here. Yubel or Invader of Darkness having grown drunk enough to destroy himself (which was a theory he didn't like at all), it was over and done with now. Nothing more could be learned from the wreckage and there was no more time to waste here.
"We go." Without another word he stalked away, thoughts now turning to the battle plans they'd forged for the next village. Guardian Baou's talents were different from Invader of Darkness; he would have to modify his plans somewhat in order to fit the new situation. But for all intents and purposes, nothing else changed at all in his life.
He was Haou, the warlord who would rule all of this land and bring about the end of the rule of evil, forever.
No sooner had Yubel sealed the gateway behind herself did she reach within and twist, pushing Johan away. Where one entered, now two stood. She stretched out her wings, enjoying the sensation of them reaching out to their fullest span. That was one problem with being in someone else's body; her wings cramped far too easily.
Johan crumpled to the floor the moment she left him, fingers scraping across the cold metal beneath him. She spared him not a glance, but instead reached down to the deck holders on his hips. He wouldn't need these for some time, she decided, removing both decks and sending them to her own private storage space, the same place she kept her own when she wasn't dueling.
If he noticed, she couldn't tell, and cared less. There was no way for him to leave her castle on his own, so when she needed his body again, it would be there for her. For now, she decided he could suffer where he was. She had other matters that needed dealing with.
Such as the barrel of wine she'd brought along with her. She hefted it easily up on her shoulder and strode through corridors only she could find in this place. After all these eons, she knew the inner workings of her castle even better than she'd ever known the castle of Kuragari. Not that it was so surprising. She'd spent perhaps twenty years in that castle. Here she'd roamed for thousands, waiting for Juudai to be reborn, to call her back into the world.
If only he remembered me. Remembered his promise. It was all Johan's fault, of course, that he didn't. If it hadn't been for that revolting thief, Juudai would know her again. She might've had to jog his memory a little, but she could've done it. She would have done it, defeating him in that duel and bringing him here, where they would have begun their infinite life together.
But Yubel could adapt. She always adapted. If it was from human to monster or from guardian to rejected love, she adapted. This was all to the good at any rate. Juudai needed to re-learn who he was, to accept the power that burned within him, and to learn to accept her love. This would happen. Surely as life and death itself.
Most of all, he needed to make Super Fusion for her. Brron had made a good start on it, but Juudai already was farther along in a much shorter time than the so-called Mad King ever achieved. When the time was right, she would swoop down on him and take that most powerful of cards away.
We will be together forever and that card will make it so. The twelve dimensions existed for one purpose only, which was being filled with her undying love for him. She would fuse them into one universe composed of nothing but that love.
She settled the barrel down in a half-empty storage room and stepped back to examine it, hands on her hips. When that time came, there would be damage to her castle. The forces unleashed by Super Fusion were titanic, after all. This wine had to survive, so they could toast one another's life and the rebirth of their love. Here would be sheltered enough. No matter how the castle shook and swayed, the cask would be safe.
From a corner she took a slender goblet, far more finely made than the battered cup she'd drunk from in the tavern. She poured herself a true cup of wine and savored the aroma. Back in her own body, the headache and lack of judgment that possessed her the more she drank was no more. Let Johan deal with all of that. She breathed in the scent, thinking back to sun-dappled days when she and Juudai worried of nothing more vital than lessons and what they would do when they were over with.
When he remembered her and knew her and loved her with all of his heart as she loved him.
When, changed or not changed, she'd been by his side, and he'd treasured her as she did him.
Slowly she drank, the wine unnecessary in this form. But she didn't drink for the taste or for the need of it. She drank for the memories, for a kingdom lost to the powers of evil and a love who refused to remember her, the stubborn boy. She took her time with it; she couldn't, or wouldn't, drink the whole barrel dry. But she wanted to drink as herself, not as the thief who dared to stand between her and Juudai.
Her eye fell on two other goblets, set far above where the one she drank from now had been. They were as high above the one in her hand as it was above the tavern's cup, crafted at the height of Kuragari's splendor, older than even she and Juudai's souls.
The wedding goblets. Yes. She would save the rest of this wine to recreate the day they'd been married so long ago. They would renew the vows one day. There could be no other end to all that she'd fought for.
When she'd drained the goblet dry, she set it back upon the shelf. No more, not until she and Juudai could share this. Only a royal couple could pledge their love with Royal Delight, after all. There could be no lesser vintage for them.
With a faint twitch of her wings, she rose up and twisted space once more, this time reappearing in the room she'd left Johan in. He still sat there, head in his hands, legs gathered underneath him, staring at the floor. She lounged on her throne and paid him no attention. Instead, she called up images of Haou and watched as he savaged yet another village, his warriors tearing through the pathetic defenders, leaving destruction and disaster behind them.
There were others she had to watch; his friends who searched for him among them. Their plans meant little, but she wouldn't let them interfere in herplans either. All in good time. For the moment, she watched Haou, splendid, cold, unstoppable.
Do you understand yet, my Juudai? I love you so much. I always will. You will be mine forever. I love you. I love you.
Johan couldn't figure out which way was up for a good fifteen minutes after Yubel dropped him to the floor. "The way his head pointed" wasn't good enough right now, not with how the ceiling and floor pitched and yawed all around him, dipping first one way and then the other. He clutched his arms around his stomach and did his best to keep everything Yubel'd put into it in his stomach. The last thing he wanted was to have to go eat again with her running the situation.
In all truth, the last thing he wanted was to even be here, but having Yubel decide how much and what they ate was a definite second on the list.
He squeezed his eyes shut. Maybe if he didn't look at anything, he could get around to finding out what was up and what was down. Eventually. Once his stomach stopped screaming in protest and once he could think straight for more than ten seconds at a time. Somewhere in the back of his skull there was a small man with a very large drum kit, pounding out some of the most intricate drum solos of all time. Johan understood now exactly why Zeus preferred getting his skull split open as opposed to taking an aspirin.
Deep breaths. They likely enough wouldn't do anything but it was something he could focus on. He winced; they really weren't doing anything, at least not any miracle three breath cures. But he took them anyway.
He didn't know how many he took before deciding he needed water. Despite all the wine Yubel'd drunk, his throat was dry and scratchy now. Maybe she'd taken all the thirst-quenching of it with her. That would be just like her, not leaving him anything he could use to help himself.
One hand dropped to his hip, just to check, and he wasn't at all surprised to see both deck holders empty. Ruby...everyone...He would've given half his soul for the chance to see them again, even in those Advanced Gem Beast forms. His true family lived underneath that; Johan didn't doubt that at all. He'd find a way to save them. No matter what Yubel'd done, it couldn't break the bonds that tied them all together. Nothing she did could shatter their family.
But before he could find that way, before he could break their bonds and free himself as well, he needed something to drink. Yubel was nowhere around and he doubted she would've done anything to help if she had been. This was his body, back in his keeping for the moment, which meant it was his task to set it to rights.
Unfortunately, even moving a few inches sent his head whirling all over again and his stomach lurched. He didn't know how he kept himself from throwing up and he wondered if he wanted to. Maybe he'd feel better without all of that churning around in his stomach.
Water. First water, then he could figure out everything else. He inched along, fighting every urge with all of his strength, until his fingers brushed against a smooth surface that rose overhead. A wall, he guessed, tilting his head back and confirming what he felt. He saw a small opening farther along and made his way there inch by precarious inch. If Yubel wanted him to stay where he was, she would've set it up so he couldn't escape no matter what. So if he could make it there, then she wouldn't object.
Not that he cared about her objecting, but it was easier to go along with her wishes. She needed his body (that thought sent another surge of revulsion all through him) so she would let him take care of it, at least for the moment.
Johan wasn't certain how long it took him to reach that opening. If he thought about it too hard, he knew he wasn't even certain of where it led. It could be anywhere, and none of those places might involve having water. Still, he headed that way anyway. Yubel's throne room had even less water than this potential corridor to somewhere else did, after all. What else was he going to do?
It was indeed a corridor, one with half a dozen doorways scattered down it, only vaguely visible in the half-light. Johan closed his eyes just long enough to get his bearings and then inched down to the first one. One of them had to have something to do with water. He wasn't picky with how, so long as he had it. His throat ached and burned, his headache throbbed, and his stomach still protested from all the food stuffed into it. If he didn't hurt so much, he would've curled up and slept where he was, just to get away from the pain.
Well, that wouldn't make any of it actually end, he told himself as he crept along. Finding water would at least ease his throat.
Peering into the third room revealed heaven, or a reasonable parallel. He didn't ask himself why Yubel had a fully functional modern bathroom in this castle. He could worry about that some other time. Instead, he put all of the facilities he could find to good use, from the toilet (oh, it felt good to get all of that out of him!) to the sink (washing his face with good, clean, hot water!) and then finding a spare cup to drink until he needed the toilet once again.
A good hot shower finished up his cleansing, getting rid of all the dirt and sweat and everything else he preferred not to think about. He stared for a moment at the leather piled into a corner and decided a towel would do for clothes right now. He had no idea of where his real clothes were and Yubel probably wouldn't tell him even if he asked.
"You won't need them." Yubel's voice rang out, echoing from the ceramic walls around him. He sighed and closed his eyes, though it wouldn't do any good. Escaping her in her own home wasn't possible. "From now on, thief, should your body need food or anything else, you'll take care of it."
He said nothing but bent his head; what was he going to do, tell her that he wouldn't? She obviously didn't know how to do it herself. For his own sake, for staying alive to find a way to stop her, to get his family back and to find a way to help Juudai, he'd do as she said.
"You'll need to rest. There is a place two doors down from where you are now." There wasn't a hint of compassion in her tone and Johan didn't expect to hear it. Necessity, that was all. If she could've run his body without food or rest or water, then she would do so. "Yes, I would, and don't think I won't try to find a way. I don't need any of that. If you're going to serve me, then you shouldn't either."
Johan's only answer was to push himself to his feet and make his way out the door, stopping just long enough to gather up the suit. It would need cleaning before he wore it again, but he'd be damned before he'd do Yubel's laundry for her too. This was her outfit, not his.
"Don't be so certain of that, thief." Now she laughed, a cruel sound that echoed in his heart as much as in his ears. "But if you want to deceive yourself, go ahead and do so."
One flicker, just a thought on the edge of his mind, and Johan decided it was better not to think about it. For now, sleep called, and he suspected he would wake up not in his own body once again. His head still hurt and he didn't really want to do anything but get that rest. You'd think she could at least let me enjoy the wine if I'm going to deal with the hangover.
He sank down on the bed once he found it and let himself drift away. In his dreams, he'd be with the Gem Beasts and Juudai and Yubel would never, ever hurt them again.
The End
