The Plague of Darkness

Chapter 4
Two Sisters

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Akari was waiting with her arms crossed when Yuuma and Testuo climbed the tree into the Tsukumo household.

'And where have you been?' she asked crossly.

Her hair stuck up in all directions and there was a firm crease in her forehead.

'I won,' Yuuma replied. 'I went to beat Shark and I won.'

Akari looked at Tetsuo, who nodded. 'And you?' she asked coolly. 'You didn't have a deck when you left.'

'I…was following Yuuma,' Testuo replied with a gulp. Akari was scary even when she wasn't yelling. 'I couldn't let him go alone.'

Akari sighed and covered her brow. 'I suppose you couldn't. But it didn't occur to you to wake me at least? I could have gotten a good story.' That last part sounded more like an excuse than a reason, but Tetsuo knew it was Akari's way of trying not to be a parent.

But when their parents had been missing for so long, it fell to the big sister and grandmother to do the parenting for the youngest in the household.

Akari looked at the both of them again. Her hands were now on her hips. They looked a little tired, and contemplative. Thinking about something they hadn't yet said – and however Yuuma had managed to win against a high calibre duellist with barely any experience of his own was a story in itself.

'Let's have breakfast,' she said finally. 'And you two aren't leaving out a single detail, you got that?'

She noticed the glances they threw at each other before trailing downstairs after her.

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Akari didn't often regret keeping Yuuma from duels. Her parents had warned her for them and if keeping him from duelling meant protecting him, then so be it. But when he'd come home crying every day because everybody else duelling and everybody teased him for not doing so, she caved. Because he might be her dopey little brother but he was still her brother. That look on his face could have broken her heart.

But she'd given strict orders and she was good at making sure they were followed. Being a reporter helped. And being Yuuma's legal guardian which meant if she told the teachers Yuuma was only allowed to duel certain people on school grounds and that was it, then her request would be followed.

And considering Yuuma was hopeless at sneaking out, she was sure he didn't get in many duels when she wasn't looking.

But it was a problem now. When duelling was the only thing that meant safety on the streets. Yuuma had duelled too few people to truly hone his skills. People like Tetsuo who always managed to win because he was faster at evolving than Yuuma was. Even Kotori managed to beat Yuuma most of the time – and there was the sparse duel with a few other classmates that Yuuma tended to do a tad better in. Beginner's luck, they'd call it. And it probably was because the last time he'd beaten Kotori (who barely duelled herself) was when they were all back in junior high.

But desperation pulled all sorts of powers from people. Akari was just worried the power it had pulled was something her parents had feared. Something that she'd been trying to prevent.

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'A blue shadow?' Akari repeated. She'd never heard of such a thing.

Then again, just a few months ago, she'd never heard of black shadowy things causing the city to crumble and people to disappear. Friends, families, classmates – they were lucky in that their three-person family was still in tact and Tetsuo's family as well. But so many people had already been met with tragedy. Husbands. Wives. Daughters. Sons. Brothers. Sisters. And pets… Of course, the pets had been the first to go, unable to fight back.

Yuuma shovelled more rice into his mouth. It was barely seasoned, but that didn't bother any of them. Rice was food. Rice had energy. Rice was in plenty for now – because the moment Akari had caught wind of the disaster, she'd taken the car and packed it with simple things: rice, flour, dried fruits, matches and anything else she could think of. A few bottles of water too, just in case (and Tetsuko, in the same position, had done similarly). But they still had electricity and gas and water coming through. Phone lines and internet though were gone.

They'd started using their smaller duel monsters as messengers. How it worked they had no clue, and what would happen when the electricity died they had no clue as well. But it worked as a well enough substitute for the phones – better, in some cases. If she hadn't heard the tree outside creak when she did, she would have sent Eaves the Sound Fairy out. No point sending out Spy the Vision in poor light.

She wondered if it was still worth trying to curb Yuuma's duels – or go ahead and make him stronger.

She chewed at the end of her spoon.

'Nee-san?'

'What?' she asked, before realising she hadn't been paying attention. 'Sorry, repeat?'

Yuuma gave her an odd look. Which was fair enough; it wasn't like Akari to miss a part of a story. 'That blue shadowy thing pointed at my face-down card and I realised I could still get out of that jam.'

'So that's why you almost gave me a heart-attack!' Tetsuo exclaimed suddenly, almost choking on his own rice. 'I thought you were going for dramatics.'

Akari sighed. It wouldn't have been unusual if Yuuma had been going for dramatics – though she hoped he would avoid that in a life or death duel. Rather, she'd hoped he wouldn't become involved in one – but there was that hope out the window.

Still, it sounded like a stroke of luck – or an angel from who knew where – who had come to Yuuma's aid and let him win the duel.

'And then I had these cards and an idea but Shark had his face down card…'

Of course, Yuuma always got tripped up with those.

'…but I realised if it could negate my attack, I could use Double-Up Chance, and I figured, with a weak monster on the field, it was probably that –'

Akari could have hit her head. More likely it would have been a card to divert attacks. An easy trap to walk in to. But drawing cards wasn't as simple as that and it might have been many other things: a bluff because the duel was so close to an end, or, as Yuuma had thought, a card to completely negate an attack.

'And it was –'

Lucky strike number two, Akari thought wryly.

'And I won,' Yuuma finished brightly. 'And Shark didn't have Tetsuo's deck with him because I don't think he was expecting to bump into us like that, so he went to get it –'

'Did you follow?' Akari asked.

They glanced at each other again, then said "no" together.

Akari pursed her lips. Haru shook her head from across the table and Akari made a mental note. She wondered why those two didn't want to say what they'd seen. Maybe they'd made a promise? Or they'd seen something they were ashamed to repeat?

Still, there were a few things in that story that concerned her so she'd definitely be checking on things.

But first… 'So Shark returned the deck.'

They both nodded.

'And did he say anything else?'

Yuuma put his spoon down. 'He offered his own deck,' he confessed. 'That wasn't right, so I refused.'

Akari rolled her eyes, but she grinned. Of course her soft baby brother wouldn't feel right about taking the soul of a duellist – even if the said person had taken many a soul himself. 'And those black shadows were afraid of the Xyz monsters?'

Another nod. Akari thought about that. They didn't have too many Xyz monsters. Both of them had inherited their parents' decks and Xyz were new and expensive and hard to get. She had one she'd managed to procure from her line of work. Yuuma had none at all. Though it wasn't like they could just rock up to the game store and order them. Not that game stores sold them.

In fact, there were few people in the city with access to Xyz monsters. And most of them were behind the worlds of the heart of Heartland.

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Akari set off on her motorcycle with Tetsuo after informing Yuuma he was to sit on his head for a fortnight. Of course, he wasn't going to actually do it and she didn't expect him to. But there wasn't really a way to ground someone who was stuck inside without much to do anyway so she might as well say something nonsensical and get a little grin and a look of horror mixed in one.

She'd sent Spy ahead to Tetsuko. The days were, on the whole, safer, and they could meet up at the shopping complex (or where the shopping complex) had once been, and Tetsuko could take her little brother back with her. Even better now that Tetsuo had his deck back. Now if only they could fix the duel disk… Luckily, Tetsuo's father was one of the men who worked at that sort of job.

That plan went off without a hitch and Akari waved them off before detouring to the school. She actually had another assignment but she couldn't let this go by. Spy flew ahead, searching. Akari followed. The things were numerous here, she realised. But at some point she passed them and they grew less and less until there was none at all.

It was almost like they could sense the presence of something. Something they were trying to draw closer to, but were unable to do so.

And then she found the school. Broken buildings, but they looked like they were still being use. By who? Her brow furrowed. People had been warned away, since the school had been the first to fall.

Then she saw a little boy dash across. He saw her, froze, then dashed off again with a scream.

Shark appeared from one of the other buildings.

Akari frowned.

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'Did that boy tell you?' Shark asked sullenly.

'If you're talking about my brother,' Akari replied, 'then no. And neither did his friend – the one you beat yesterday.' Seeing the look of suspicion still, she explained: 'I'm a reporter. It's my job to poke my nose in where it doesn't belong.'

When Shark didn't say anything, she prompted. 'So…the children?' They milled around her now, curious but frightened. 'They're none of the missing, are they?' She was pretty sure they weren't, but missing peoples wasn't her department.

Shark scoffed. 'Some reporter,' he said.

Akari shrugged, uninsulted. 'My job is to find out what's behind the mess. It's the police who search for missing people.'

Shark considered that. 'They're orphans,' he said finally. 'The orphanage was destroyed.'

Akari blinked. The pieces fell smoothly in to place. 'And you needed cards to protect them.'

'Of course.'

'And you realised that Xyz monsters can keep them at bay?'

'Can they?' His lips thinned and his eyes glazed in thought. 'I suppose they can. I just needed power. Since everyone else seemed fine with abandoning them.'

The children started talking then, over each other so that Akari struggled to hear them until Shark raised a hand. They fell quiet, but they looked scared and angry now. And upset.

It sounded like people close to them had abandoned them.

'And you?' Akari asked. 'Why have you stayed?'

He smirked. The same bitter smirk he'd worn the previous day, but now Akari could see a little more as to what it meant. 'I'll abandon them too if it comes to it.'

Akari knew as well as the children that it was both the truth and a lie.

And she also knew she was missing something. She dug around in her head. Something about Shark. Something about his family –

Then she remembered. 'And your sister? She's still at the hospital, or did you take her?'

'What about it?' he asked roughly.

But they both knew what. The hospital was still safe, but for how long? And the school, that had already been hit once. How long would that last?

Then again, how long would any of them last?

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'You didn't mention the kids,' Akari said, after she'd gotten back home.

Yuuma shuffled guiltily. 'Shark was mad we'd followed.'

Akari was still a little surprised he hadn't been madder at her. Then again, she was an adult. It was easier to push around younger people. And she'd used her own prowess to find his little hide-out.

She'd promised not to tell as well. She knew how many vultures would swoop down on those little children if given half a chance. Recourses. The food the cafeteria had – and how nobody had thought about it yet, she didn't know. The medicine in the infirmary. The cards used for teaching…and what else Shark had been able to procure (less-honest methods aside).

'All the things that happen in the world,' she said aloud.

Yuuma blinked.

'I mean, we'd thought Shark was just being greedy,' she clarified, 'but he was trying to keep those kids alive.'

Yuuma nodded. He understood that. 'Nee-san? Can we help them?'

'I don't think so.' Yuuma's face drooped. Akari ruffled his hair.

It was the unfortunate truth. If things went on, it would be hard enough in the coming months to keep just themselves alive. The orphans, the old, the injured and sick would be the first to be abandoned. And the children, those too young to defend themselves.

At least she was doing something to try and curb that. Finding information. And resources.

'Which reminds me,' she said, snapping her fingers. 'I didn't see anything like your blue shadow.'

'I didn't make it up!' Yuuma exclaimed.

She didn't think she did. And, honestly, she hadn't been expecting to find it out there.

Where it was was probably in her parents' research notes.

Which were mostly behind the wall.

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A/N: Sorry for the lateness of this chapter. RL got I the way as it tends to do. :D The next chapter will hopefully still be up on Sunday. Cross your fingers!