NO POVs WILL BE STATED.

Second to last chapter has been updated! (not including the epilogue)

I'm working on characterization, so just bear with me while I play with my story.

As always, thank you for reading beloved readers!

~AxJfan

Disclaimer: I do not own 5ds, but I do own my twisted imagination and sick, ironic sense of humor. Isn't it grand?


Chapter 3:

Needs

First Person POV

The Night was coming.

"She's going to kill you, Yusei!"

If I said that I had not half-expected the voice of Security's second-in-command to mock me from my D-Wheel, it would have been a lie. Regardless, the sight of his peculiar face grinning up at me from my duel screen was not pleasant, and I easily ignored it, turning my back to the machine and outwards, towards the raging ocean.

He cackled his unusually high-pitched laugh at my cool reaction, continuing, "Why do you think she told you to come alone to this place?"

Whatever he may think, I did await retribution at the peak of the unfinished bridge, standing astride my D-Wheel, gazing off into the setting sun, barely visible beyond the heavy gray overcast. While the world around me swirled in desperate motion; clouds churning, waves breaking, earth swaying; I was still, constant, unwavering, holding tightly to the belief in bonds, one of the few worldly possession I had left.

I ran my hand over the note she had gone through a ridiculous amount of trouble to slip me when we both knew all she had to do was walk out of the shadows to meet.

"Are you intending to martyr yourself again? To make up for your friends?" His face was not curious or concerned, but hopelessly amused by my predicament. The note crumpled in my hand, smearing the ink of her carefully crafted handwriting.

Delighted, his eyes widened, "I guess you do have nerves to hit after all!"

A few slow exhales had my hands under control, and I forced my voice to remain cool and distant, "I won the duel. I don't have to worry about them, do I?"

Of course I did. I would always worry about them, always wonder what it would have been like; their terror, their pain, their sense of betrayal, would always carry around this... this... I resisted the urge to grab my chest and squeeze until I bled, until my wildly hammering heart was still and the pain flowed out of it. Until I was strong enough to carry on this will and responsibility.

This... this... weakness.

"You tell me." There was something different in the high voice now, something doubtful and sinister below the surface. The twilight air was rich and cool against my skin, although it did nothing to whether the heat of hatred boiling around me. So I watched the sun dip down to kiss the sea, veiled by the overcast, and tried to pretend that the threat didn't shake me.

He took my silence as a good enough answer. "Well, that's good to know"—he was laughing again, always laughing, the nasty little—"it is your fault after all."

I stopped, plummeting with the temperature as the sun's last flames began to die out. Although I refused to give him the satisfaction of seeing my face, I could do nothing to stop myself from shaking, from letting those words impact me where they would have grazed off of any other. Of course it was my fault. Of course I knew and accepted that. Of course he would choose to taunt me this way. Of course I should have been prepared for this blow.

But I wasn't. I never was. And I proved it to him with the bitterness coloring my words, "What do you want?"

He shrugged before cackling again, waving his hands around in dizzying spirals, "Just checking up on you. Making sure you haven't gone crazy like that girl. The end of a world is a big deal after all! It's our job to watch over the Signers, isn't it Yusei?"

He exploded with heady laughter, catching the murderous expression in my eyes before I could turn away.

Hee-hee-hee! Hee-hee-hee! Hee-hee-HEE!

It didn't take me long to realize I truly hated him, and it didn't take me any longer to decide I didn't care. It wasn't just that he worked for the head of Security that had already put me through hell, no; it was the fact that he generally enjoyed watching people suffer.

People like him should just—

The thought died with the last snarls of anger within me, snuffed out by an incredible amount of self control. Me of all people did not have the right to finish such thoughts. While I may not enjoy it; I certainly have caused enough suffering in my lifetime, bearing my father's curse.

He knew how to hurt me now, knew it, and seized that rusty old knife. Then twisted. "Of course, this is such a shame. They were so loyal to you and you just threw that away. Then of course, she'll kill you tonight, and then what'll be left of them? It'll all be for nothing. To think, all your friends die because you were so set on chasing—"

I wasn't aware that I had severed the connection for several minutes, the ghost of what he might have said hanging thickly around my head, screaming in the same agony that blistered inside my chest. When I did realize my fist was still trembling against my D-Wheel I forced myself to move away from it, to take my head in my hands in a very rare sign of vulnerability.

Was it really like that? Had I really, truly betrayed them...?

Inhale, exhale...

"He's right you know. That tournament proved it."

Her voice washed over me, icier than the ocean pounding below me could ever be. Startled, I whipped my hands down to my sides and turned, catching her in the last few rays of sunlight. Her rigid posture, crouched low over her duel disk, spoke volumes, and I knew that she still didn't understand. I wasn't particularly sure I did after all, or if I even stood a chance of succeeding in what I came here to do.

I've proven time and time again that I couldn't save anyone. And I had already failed her once.

"Chasing after phantoms"—her eyes pierced my already weakened armor, drawing deep crimson blood—"will always end in disaster."

We watched each other for a moment, pretending that it was the bridge trembling and not the two of us. The silence between us mounted, becoming something real and alive, a hideous beast that would likely swallow the two of us whole should we not tame it. We faced it instead. "IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!"

She threw her words at me with all the force she had, the mask she wore so tightly over her features plummeting to the ground, where it shattered on impact, irretrievable. Obviously she meant to hurt me, to continue the work of my unwanted visitor, to twist that knife deeper still. Yet somehow, the sight of her wounds against my own proved to soothe me, to keep me steady.

Perhaps it was as simple as this: So long as she needed me, I would be there.

The unbidden thought nearly made me laugh.

"IT'S ALL YOU FAULT HE'S DEAD! HE WAS THE LAST PERSON I HAD LEFT! YOU STOLE HIM! GIVE HIM BACK! P-PLEASE! GIVE HIM BACK TO ME!" her demands were nearly childish and impossible at best, but the threat deep within her eyes remained. Although she had been terrifying, powerful, and beautiful behind that mask, the fact still remained that she was hiding. Now that she was here before me, open and wild, I found her even more so.

Jagged, fragile, and broken, thick streams of tears cascaded down her cheeks, blotching her face, reddening her eyes an nose, revealing the crushed soul within, glimmering like shattered glass in the sunlight. But she was still the fierce woman I had dueled against, an opponent I would have to face in this new war. My arm ached with the chill of loss, echoing my wish that we were something more.

"IF I HADN'T BEEN CHASING AFTER YOU, H-HE'D STILL BE ALIVE!"

Realization made me turn towards her, towards the city on fire, towards the destruction that she had somehow escaped from to find me, to give me a little note to get me alone, to meet me here when the last flames were dipping below the horizon...

So that's how you... why you...

Something in my eyes must have set her alight, for she was suddenly unable to speak, spluttering and chocking on her own incorrectly targeted hatred and rage, jabbing outwards at me without the strength to form words. Still, I listened patiently to her shrieking heart, allowing her anger to wash over me, catching it even.

Regrettably, as I knew it would, this only made her hate me more.

"And you!" her voice plummeted dangerously, harsh as it scraped past the dam in her throat. "You're with the enemy Yusei!"—she spat my name out as if it was acid on her tongue—"OUR ENEMY!"

Water filled her mouth from her eyes, and she drew a shaky breath, shuddering from within to without, her arms suddenly wrapped tightly around her chest as if she were viciously cold. A sob wracked through her, finally free from wherever she had tethered it. More followed, and I realized that if I was to speak at all, now would be the time.

"Did he say that this mark made us enemies?" I whispered to her as softly as I could, tapping it with one free finger. Her breath seized in her throat once more, suffocating any immediate denials to the implications. Fury was still obvious in her deep-set scowl, but confusion played across those wounded eyes.

I risked a step forward, holding my hand out between us. "We don't have to be enemies. I don't want that."

I had her attention now, even if it was bitter and spiteful, simply waiting for me to say my piece so she could pick it apart and throw it back at me, justify what she had obviously come to do. I softened and she bristled, but her eyes never left my hand. "We've been lied to and deceived, and I don't understand all of what's going to happen. As one, it's out of my hands."

Her mouth snapped open, but I continued over her, already hearing the searing remark about the conversation she had heard. "I don't trust Yliaster's intention in Security, but you know that we can't gain victory alone."

Her fists trembled against her sides, instilled with longing, to strike or join me was uncertain. On some level, we both knew what she had come here to do as clearly as my visitor, what she would eventually carry out regardless of what choice was made here tonight. I knew the from the first moment we passed each other, from the hard forward gazes in each of our eyes, that this was how it had to be.

Our fate was simple: to die together.

"We need you."

Or suffer apart.

"I need you."

Her eyes narrowed, but she spoke levelly, pretending that the tears weren't still flowing down her sharp face. "All along I've been doing things on my own Yusei: running from my parents, punishing my enemies, withering away for the past, seeking death and destruction."

She paused, taking me in with sudden clarity I didn't expect in her current state, "I think you understand that."

Where her scalding words had kept my eyes bound to her, the soft ones sent them skidding away, coming to a halt on the last sliver of gold behind gray. "I do. That's why I came—I won't let you follow me down this road."

She must have sensed that I had not said all I wanted to, for she stayed silent, simply watching me, lifting her hand, her eyes cold. I sighed and admitted, "I want to save you."

"You can't save anyone."

Our hearts shuddered without the winds of speed, yearning for the other's companionship with the severity of a typhoon. But while it was what we wanted and perhaps even truly needed, the clouds remained above us, blocking out any hope of light, of truth, of salvation. I whispered her name and watched shivers run down her spine, her fist idle between her heart and my open palm.

"Can't you see Yusei?" she continued suddenly, regaining the brutal chill of her inner nature. Somehow, the approaching of stars had righted her, stopped the sorrow from seeping into her voice, heard all of her pain and tossed it towards the infinite realms of space. Hope was an idle light in my eyes. "He took me in and I trusted him. He loved me; he took care of me and accepted me no matter who or what I was. He protected me. And then you came, Yusei. YOU DESTROYED THAT!"

Her hand withdrew and she regarded me like I examined her, the tears on her cheeks dry and the wounds on our hearts in a steady tourniquet. We held each other with our eyes until the sea greedily swallowed the sun and absolute darkness fell, wondering whether or not the fact would make us lose them.

"Was it me that destroyed it?" I asked finally, gaining her full scrutiny, for better or worse. "Or was it you?"

The night arrived swiftly, stealing the incredulous expression from her face and the hard truth from mine.

"I didn't force you to chase me," I whispered, wondering when this overcast would disperse and we could finally see the moon and stars—the sun. "You did that yourself. You needed to follow me. You want to come with me; you want to ride beside me."

I didn't need light to imagine the pained, crooked smile on her face, the image of the truth that she was always seeking out. "That's why you're really here tonight, because of that need."

That drew a laugh from her, stale and unused for many years. Empathy shuddered within me, as powerful as the winds whirling past our hair. "If that's true, then why are you here Yusei? What do you need?"

When I opened my mouth there were many things I could have said, all of which were true. I needed bonds, companionship, salvation, help, guidance, love, light, life, and above all, Forgiveness. But what came out of my mouth was not any of these truths, any of the answers that would spare me her rage and allow me a place by her side.

My answer was simple, "You."

"And if I stand against you, what will you do?" she snarled, and the shuffling of granite against her heeled shoes warned me of her approach. "Will you kill me too? Defeat me?"

"No."

I could feel her breath against my nose. "I don't believe you. You're wrong. I came here not to join you... I'm going to finish that cursed duel you started!"

And before I could tell her that she was wrong, that the Duel was not cursed or evil or deadly, that the game was a meeting and understanding of hearts and souls, that only those who wielded the duel were misguided, and rarely evil at all, that the Duel was all we had left to try and save each other, she did the one thing that I would never have anticipated her to do.

She kissed me.

Her arms snaked around my neck, pulling me closer to her soft, wet lips, forcing our bodies nearer than I had ever been to woman before. And while I stood neck-deep in the waters of confusion she buried her hands in my hair and slid her mouth against mine, harder, wilder, venting every little bit of unkempt feeling into my lips.

What...?

For my part, I knew I should have simply stood there and let her do this until she was done; cried dry and ready to talk. But with each passing moment I spent in her heat, each lash that brushed across my cheeks from her eyes, each scraping caress of her nails against my scalp, something boiled and brewed to the surface, hollering and yelling at me to act, to flee, screeching that this was wrong, that I didn't deserve this, that she shouldn't be touching me with the same lips that had screamed at me, that I didn't deserve to be... that I couldn't be...!

Faces rose up within me, screaming, twisted, agonized in ways that I couldn't express but could feel with every fiber of my being. They begged for me, burning and withering away in fire and light and death, the faces of my friends! Of those I loved the most!

No... no...!

They screamed for me with every turn and twist of her body against mine, cried out betrayal and pain and hate in their last moments, their very cores searing with agony shared through our marks, the burning of four crashing over me, melding with my own, welling up within my chest, boiling my blood until tears threatened to leak from my eyes...

What is she doing to me?

Somehow, I was suddenly crashing into my D-Wheel, my right arm outstretched, taking in deep, labored breaths. The sudden force flipped on my headlight, crafting a thick beam of artificial light, filtered by the hand on the lens. She stumbled backwards into it, her hair and face ablaze in the luminous white, alive and whole; cheerless. The smallest and saddest of smiles played down her features, and her eyes were unusually soft as she condemned me.

"I thought as much."

Shaking, I could look at her no longer, seeing only the marred and bloodied faces of my loves against hers. I retreated swiftly into the darkness less she see my face so vulnerable, less she know her forceful ways had affected me.

She knew anyway: that had been her goal.

The sounds of her heels clicking away did nothing to soothe me, nothing to freeze the jagged edges of the flames eating me from within, the fire that left me clutching onto the handles of my D-Wheel so tightly that I was sure one of us was going to break.

This... this can't be... this... they couldn't think...

Almost as if answering my unheard desperation, she whispered to me, "And why not?"

My breath caught against my roughened lips. I felt her eyes sweep me once more, taking in the trembling mess her presence had created, and heard her exhale what may have been a sigh of the deepest regret. I chanced looking into her eyes, and found nothing but despairing love wasted.

"I am going to kill you." Then, pausing and nodding as if acknowledging another, she finished, "Yusei."

She walked away, and the Night followed her.

Leaving me behind.


So did this experiment work out? Likes? Dislikes?

I really appreciate you guys telling me what you think happened, it's vital that I know how much I need to explain in the Epilogue, if anything.

If you review, I'd appreciate it if you told me:

1. What you think is going on.

2. The unnamed character identities

3. Where I epically failed

Thanks for reading,

~AxJfan