Pretty fast update huh? Working on my new story Side Effects (look, shameless advertising!) has got me pumped up for all of my stories, and this chapter was just so much fun to write!
MOST of it is in GOODWIN'S POV. That was hard...
And while your eyes are straying to that first sentence, let my give that disclaimer!
I don't own Yugioh 5ds! Bad things would happen otherwise!
Yusei
Yusei POV
I screamed once, choked, and knew no more.
Third Person POV
There was no way they could have seen it coming—not with all their astonished attention on the marks fading from their arms and appearing on Goodwin's chest, not with the screams of the Satellite and Neo Domino distracting them, not with the crashing waves at their feet, not with the screeches of their dragons in the air.
But they didn't have to see it, they heard it, they felt it, for just a moment, echo through Yusei's mark before it was lost to the last Dark Signer. His scream followed shortly and stopped abruptly; bringing their attention to something they wished they had not seen.
Yusei was gone.
And they could do nothing but scream, scream for their friend lost in darkness. Jack and Crow attempted to approach it, to drag him out of its grasp, but couldn't get close enough without being driven back by the fatal pulsing pressure.
Aki and Ruca ordered their fearsome dragons to attack and attack against its claw with all the power they still had—to no avail.
Ushio, Mikage, and Rua screamed his name over and over into the dueling system, begged him to answer, and waited on a response that would never come.
The Crimson Dragon clawed at it, tried to pull it away from its Signer with its supernatural might, but the King would not budge.
And during all of this, Goodwin just laughed, because he believed his plan was finally coming to a close, he believed that the King was doing as legend said he would; fighting against the Signers, claiming the leader for its sacrifice, paving the path for victory.
No, nothing could be done to save Yusei. As Mikage and Ushio had feared, he was too far out of reach to be summoned, as Aki feared, he was cold and lifeless in a place where she could never find him, as the twins feared, his light had finally put an end to him, and as Crow and Jack feared, all of his endless hope had vanished.
It was over.
"Yusei?!" Crow called, driving himself into the mass that separated him from his dear friend. Jack followed suit with a hard grunt, pushing the Wheel of Fortune to its limits against the dark gales as his friend continued to call out, "Yusei?! Can you hear me?! Yusei?!"
"Don't you dare die on me Yusei!" Jack hollered, glaring deep into the center of the swirling mass of darkness before them. "I have not settled the score between us yet!"
"Eternal Sunshine!"
"Black Rose Flare!"
The attacks lit the sky in flashing Technicolor, but left the shapeless claw crushing their friend unharmed, much to the final Dark Signer's amusement.
"Is this all the strength of those bonds you are so proud of Yusei?" Goodwin laughed, opening his arms wide to the thundering skies. "How did you expect them to protect you against the onslaught of a god? Now you see how weak they make you—how they took your life from you! That is the power of me, a god!"
He threw his head back and cackled louder still, fueled by the desperation in the voices of Yusei's soon to perish friends. "I'm afraid the rest of you will follow him on the path down to hell! Who is next?"
"I can't let that happen!"
Everything came to an abrupt halt.
"Who...?" Goodwin breathed, his eyes wide without the mirth they had just displayed. "It can't be..."
With a scream, the King's talon flew across the dueling field and slammed into the ocean, where the Crimson Dragon fell on it, attacking with renewed gusto. The two Signer Dragons fell back to the clouds in the sky, Jack and Crow scattered from the wildly retreating death, and riding with shaking limbs and heavy breaths, darkness trailing around his skin like a heavy fog, eyes tightly closed, visibly unharmed, was Yusei.
"You are wrong Goodwin," he continued, voice harsh and labored with pain they couldn't understand. "Through the power of these bonds"—he looked up with harsh blue eyes—"I will conquer your so called destiny!"
Crow and Jack stared at him with blatant amazement. Although neither had said it, both had feared that when those eyes opened, they would be confronted with the purple glow that had taken away their previous opponents. A sigh of relief was exchanged between them as Yusei's familiar eyes stared down their mutual enemy with the same cold determination he had been born with. The darkness remaining around his brilliantly red machine faded with their doubts, and anyone would assume that death had been defied again.
"But that's—!" Goodwin spluttered once and then recovered himself, glaring at the red duelist. "It doesn't matter what you believe! While you have simply conquered death, I have conquered destiny! You will all be defeated!"
"You are wrong," Yusei repeated softly, holding his opponents gaze calmly, something Crow noticed he had not done all night. "Make no mistake; you will lose because of our bonds Goodwin. You should not underestimate them; there is nothing more powerful in the world. Did you not become a Dark Signer simply to rid yourself of the pain your brother left you?"
Goodwin said nothing, so Jack took the mantle, "Enough of this prattle Yusei, actions speak louder than words! I'll show him our true power! Draw!"
Their eyes met, Yusei's dark with enlarged pupils, Jack's full of determined purple life. Sending the blonde duelist a nod, he fell back in formation across from Crow, who was stared at the duelist as if he had never seen anything quite like him before.
"I place one card face down!" Jack announced, restarting the duel with no problem. "Then I'll summon Magic Hole Golem (Atk: 0, Def: 2000) in defense mode!"
"That's the first time I've seen you use a defense monster, Jack!" Crow commented, still staring at the dark duelist riding beside him, waiting to lock eyes. They did so, and Crow felt his suspicions melt away. Those were the same blue eyes he had grown up with, those were the same eyes that smiled at him across the map in Team Satisfaction, and those were the same eyes that had shed a single tear earlier this day.
For some reason, a shiver ran down his spine.
"A defense monster has no place on the field of a King unless it gives me the opportunity to attack—which Magic Hole Golem does!" Jack shot back, oblivious to the transfer that occurred behind his back. As far as he was concerned, Yusei had trumped another King, and that was that. "Once per turn I can halve the attack power of one of my monsters and attack directly with that monster! So I'll use that effect on Mad Demon! Bone Splash!"
The monster launched itself through the offered hole and connected heavily with Goodwin's hologram, dropping the man's life points by 900.
"That's the only reason, eh?" Crow chuckled. "Well it's good enough for me—I activate the trap card Shadow Dance! When a monster inflicts battle damage by a direct attack, this sends 1000 points of damage along with it!"
"What?" Goodwin exclaimed before the shadows nailed him, damaging both his life points and speed counters.
Goodwin: 6900 (2)
"I activate my own trap card," Yusei continued, drawing the angry attention of the wounded duelist before him, "Riding Rush! When an opponent receives damage from a card effect, I can special summon a tuner monster from my hand."—Junk Synchron appeared on Yusei's field in a flash of orange light—"Goodwin, this is the power of bonds clustering together!"
"Show him what we've set up for you Yusei!" Jack demanded as he let his friend pass him.
"Ore no turn!" he responded, drawing his next card. With a quick glance at it, he returned his attention to the field and shouted, "I'll tune Junk Synchron into Max Warrior! Clustering cries shall become an arrow of echoes that tears the sky! Become the path its light shines upon! Synchro Summon! Show yourself, Junk Archer (Atk: 2300, Def: 2000)!"
While the spectators marveled at the sight of their bonds coming so flawlessly together, at a team of duelists so powerful, they missed the shadows fall across the face of the one who connected them all, the calculating glance he gave Crow's remaining life points and single monster left on the field. By the time they could return their attention back to him, he was facing Goodwin once more, something decisive and hard in his eyes.
"Once per turn I can remove an opponent's monster from play through Junk Archer's special effect," he informed Goodwin, who, consequently, had been the only witness to what had just transpired below. Unconcerned by the queer look his enemy was giving him, he plowed on, knowing that Goodwin would deny what he knew in favor of what he wanted to believe, just as Crow would continue to pretend he had not caught on to the fact that Goodwin was the legendary duelist.
"I'll remove Moon Dragon Quilla. Dimension Shoot!" he declared, destroying the great dragon with the bright blue arrow of his powerful monster. "Now I'll have Junk Archer attack you directly!"
He played right into Goodwin's hand.
Goodwin POV
"This is what I have been waiting for Yusei! I will show you your bonds will destroy you! Trap card open! Sacrifice of Honor!" I declared. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jack's face twist into disbelieved outrage at the fact that I had denied to use it against his attack. Just as was necessary. "This stops your attack and allows me to special summon two Sacrifice Stone Tokens (Atk & Def: 0)! Then I can add one Earthbound God from my deck to my hand!"
I had to show them their place in my world, and while the other two would be overthrown easily enough, Yusei would not. The truth about the legendary duelist would crush the wild spirit of the non Signer, Jack's thirst to be King of Riding Duelists would allow him to understand, but Yusei was someone who I could not change. He was steadfast, like my brother, and would not let me show him anything. Just as he refused to show me anything other than lies.
I did not miss my brother. That could not be my reason for everything I did—no, by becoming a god I could save this world! I would bring peace by the legends of the Crimson Dragon and as promised by the King of the Underworld... damn it, how had Yusei survived that contact?
The only possibility was unthinkable.
Rudger had been chosen as the Destroyer, and Yusei the Creator. Not the other way around. I wouldn't let it be that way.
But then what had I seen in his eyes when he was looking at his ally?
It didn't matter. It couldn't matter.
"That's a troublesome card..." the addressed muttered, before quietly placing two cards face down. He watched my Moon Dragon Quilla return in defense mode without comment, settling back beside his friends. He acted very much like Yusei Fudo, he dueled like Yusei Fudo, and he made speeches about the importance of bonds like Yusei Fudo...
... But...
I would bring out the truth. My brother had denied me that seventeen years ago, and I was not going to let the son of an old associate do the same now. Where the King had failed to, I would show him darkness and despair. I would break his soul and force him into the depression I had faced. I would make him see that a world without those feelings was the only cure—that a world like that could never happen unless I surpassed it with the powers of the Gods that started it.
I drew my card, spelling out the salvation of the world and their doom.
"I'll sacrifice my tokens to summon the ultimate God of Destruction!" I declared to the gasps of the people in my city. They would help fuel its appearance, they would all play a part in the future I would shape for them. "Appear now! Earthbound God Wiraquocha Rasca (Atk: 1, Def: 1)!"
Eyes turned to the sky; I watched the suddenly sacrificed souls of my citizens' float towards the summoning stone, playing the part of Momentum in a D-Wheel for my destiny to be paved. "How can you claim that I am wrong when fate has supplied me of everything I need?" I demanded of my sole opponent, feeling his cold eyes on my glowing crimson mark.
The time was ideal to break them. "I had access to the Signer legends because I am the Guardian by bloodline, my brother supplied me with the power of the fifth Signer and the power of the underworld, my position as Director allowed me to gather you and manipulate them, and all of this was possible because seventeen years ago I braved the gap between the Satellite and the City on my flying D-Wheel, losing my arm in the process to gain a new one!"
"What?!" the other two cried, disbelief coloring their shock bring red as I predicted. They were rendered speechless for precisely thirty seconds, then the non Signer spluttered out, "B-but that's not possible!"
"Yusei can overthrow the Death God, and you have difficulty believing I was the legendary duelist?"
"You still are that man," Yusei commented, but offered nothing else in support of his statement. His friend glanced at him hopefully, wishing that he would say something to fix his dreams and protect the legend he had so foolishly clung to for all his life. The dark duelist met his eye, but didn't comment.
"Tonight is a night where all boundaries will be shattered!" I declared, watching the pained confusion blossom in the wild duelist's gray eyes. "What is deemed impossible, I have and will do! What destiny has ordered will be denied! A new world will be born from the ashes of the old! So appear now, the ultimate destruction of hope, Earthbound God Wiraquocha Rasca!"
Arriving with the calls of its King, the final piece of my victory against all evil appeared from the stormy clouds above my head, shrieking promised victory onto the dueling track of the Daedalus Bridge. It was the largest and most powerful of all its predecessors, and proved so with the concussions its wings created as it descended, felling the tower Jack Atlas had once called home as it appeared behind me.
Anyone left screamed in justified fear, fled for the lives they were wasting, something they should have done seventeen years earlier. Now it was just a useless feat, as the Signers and their supporters who still stood tall against me knew.
Yusei, as it should be, was not frightened by its appearance and was the first to spot something that would confuse all those fools, "It only has one attack point?"
"What kind of an Earthbound God only has one attack point?!" Crow repeated, grabbing at straws to reassure himself of his situation.
"Is this some kind of a joke Goodwin? We can't be beaten by a weakling like that!" Jack added sourly, his wounded pride already beginning to ripen. I chuckled at their impudence, at their blatant attempts to shield themselves from the truth, and turned to Yusei, finally ready to give him all the answer he needed for his endless questions.
And ready to find the answer for my own.
"Weakling? He is supreme against all others; he is the shadow of the King of the Underworld battling against the Crimson Dragon, caught in this useless cycle! But my power will free them from this war! It will free us all! The power of two gods!" I laughed, filled with the ecstasy of my impending victory. It was a sweet taste on my tongue to see Yusei turn from the duel and watch his sworn enemy grow in power. The flash of hatred across his face was all I needed to fuel my assumptions and find my answer.
"As you see, while your Crimson Dragon grows weaker without any Signer Dragons on the dueling field, my Earthbound God only grows more powerful! Your resistance will end soon enough, and you will see the world they can create together!"
"There is no such world, Goodwin," Yusei disagreed, offering me more lies with his tainted hands. He had to be some kind of devil in this duel if he could remain so untouched, so impartial to the forces working around him! Temptation was his only strength in this duel; he must be trying to lure me away from my goals with his talk of the bonds with my brother...
"I will not let you sway me Yusei!" I declared, feeling my muscles tense with all the anger I had built against that one mortal demon. "Your words have no power against a God! I will have you feel your own impossibility, powerlessness, and death! You will see that as long as you hold onto those bonds, you remain mortal and unable to surpass destiny! You will fall first!"
"And what power do you have to do that? A 'God' that would have to strike 4000 times to defeat him?" Crow hollered, confusion replaced by subtle anger. I smiled, self hatred was just one step in the right direction for him—he would understand soon enough.
"Not quite, once per turn my God can skip the battle phase and reduce an opponent's life points one," I replied, grinning at the shocked outrage splashing across his face. "So I will have Yusei take that effect."
"What kind of an effect is that?!" he demanded, cutting ahead of Yusei into the front, leading the pack about to fall.
"Don't be so angry at yourself," I answered, "this is the effect of a God, not of the man you held so high. He failed against destiny and lost his arm, so I surpassed him and gained this power you cannot hope to posses!"
I expected to be growled at, glared at, shouted at, and denied again and again by his quick tongue. I expected him to rant and rave against me and himself, call himself an idiot for believing the power of a man who was the most powerful enemy he would ever face.
But I expected many things from this duel, and this was the first that was denied to me.
"I'm not angry at myself for believing in you Goodwin," he frowned, gazing up at me with a flicker of Yusei in his gray eyes. Floored, I could not continue with the duel. His words were to out of place for me to register. "I'm angry at you for forgetting yourself. The legendary D-Wheeler that I believed in knew differently than you. Like Yusei said, you're letting yourself be deluded by the Death Gods. No! You are wrong Goodwin! You did not fail that day—you surpassed destiny that day!"
What? What was this? What was this runt saying?
His eyes no longer held any speck of the befuddled outrage they had moment ago, and I was confronted with yet another face I thought I would never see. My dear friend Dr. Fudo smiled at me from behind those eyes, chipper and self justified with his invaluable faith.
Something in my throat constricted.
"Even though it might have been impossible, even though you might have failed and died in the feat, even though the place you were leaving was deemed hopeless, even though you would have to start all over in the city, assuming you made it, you took that jump. You went against everything Security tried to deny us! You took our oppression, our impossibility, our powerlessness by the throat and carried it over your shoulder that day! You soared straight over destiny, leaving us with invaluable hope!"
"That is not true, the man that I was gave you nothing but lies to hold onto," I rebuked, glowering at his words. He could not understand, could never understand that I had failed that day in a way that could not be repeated. I clenched my brother's left arm apprehensively, barely feeling the sting of the foreign skin anymore.
"You're the one who's holding anger against himself Goodwin!" he declared, and I saw the same unbreakable spirit of Yusei in his eyes once more.
Only managing at strangled, "I—!" I fell back to my calm silent to hide my thoughts, the painful truth ringing in my ears.
"And although you might not be the same as you were before, I'll still hold on to your legend! Because you've struck my heart and I will not allow that hope to die!" he finished, leaving me in spiraling silence.
He looked up to me—his enemy? He did not hate me for doing something he could not understand? He still held what I did that day in his heart? He did not feel it was a failure? What was this... this feeling he gave me?
"I'll protect my friends that give it to me—especially Yusei, who holds all that hope! I'll take on your legend if you can't anymore Goodwin! Trap card open—Life Exchange! With this, I'll take the effect of your Earthbound God myself!"
"Crow!" Yusei called, stunned at the sacrifice about to take place because of him. Yusei—the sight of his cold face brought me back to my feet forcibly. This was the world where they would die because of the bonds they shared! And this orange haired duelist was going to prove it to him! Yet they saw it as what? A sacrifice to the greater good?!
A life to save thousands? One was too much—I would show them their mistakes!
"Fine then, I'll have you take it! Earthbound God Wiraquocha Rasca, Polar Star Obey!" I commanded of the great beast, feeling for the first time the power it sent through me—the dark rush of being able to finish an enemy and leave them dead at my feet.
Only the Signers and those who supported them had to fall—they stood in my way, the way of the brighter world, of a God! This was just in my world!
"CROW!"
Then why did their screams remind me of that destructive time in Momentum's light...? The cries of an infant child who used to giggle as he played with my fingers, the coughs of a dear friend as blood stained his lips, the laughter of my brother as he was claimed by the cycle we were trapped in, the explosion that destroyed it all...
"Rudger! Dr. Fudo! Yusei!"
No, I could not think of that. Those bonds would just destroy me. (1)
Crow POV
I saw certain death rushing towards me in a bright purple light. I heard all the friends I had gained and found through Yusei calling for me with fear. I felt the rush of adrenaline pounding in my ribcage, making my muscles jump and jerk about in their holders.
And I smiled.
"Yusei! Jack!"
I turned away from the light as it engulfed me, shouting the last things they needed to hear from me, "I activate the continuous trap card Black Feather Anchor and I release Black Feather Armored Wing! Give 'em hell!"
"Crow!"
The light swallowed me, and the sensation of flying engulfed me. Eyes wide open to my destiny; I saw the far off stars hanging above me and activated the wings on Blackbird, the last thing I could do for everyone in this duel. Life points plummeting, I soared high above the race track, proud to be riding the gales one last time.
Now for the farewell to the old legend, "Since I took battle damage through Life Exchange"—was this rasp really my voice?—"I can destroy one monster on my opponent's field. Since I can't get at that God deceiving you Goodwin, I'll destroy Moon Dragon Quilla! The mantle will be passed down from you, to me, to Jack, and to Yusei! We'll see this bridge through! Our legend will never die Goodwin!"
I stayed conscious long enough to see the moon dragon fall.
And then myself.
Goodwin POV
He was flying!
My initial astonishment replaced all of my other thoughts as I watched him soar high above the track, body and spirit smoldering in the aftermath of my God's assault. The fact that my Moon Dragon Quilla was in danger did not register as that boy—Crow—turned and grinned in my direction atop my own invention.
How was this possible?! He was nothing more than a Satellite runt! Being able to build and operate a flying D-Wheel was impossible! Yusei's survival was also impossible, as was their chances of victory in this match. And yet... they rode towards me together, soaring high above the misery I could throw at them?
A flicker of doubt sparked within me.
And then he rasped out his final words, betraying his unstable pain. "Since I took battle damage through Life Exchange I can destroy one monster on my opponent's field."
Although he spoke in no more than a whisper, he may as well have been screaming. Even in this sacrifice he was paving the way for his friends to get to me! Did he not see how foolish and useless this was? Why fight if you were ultimately going to fail and leave people grieving?
"Since I can't get at that God deceiving you Goodwin, I'll destroy Moon Dragon Quilla!"
God deceiving me? My mind flickered to the blue eyed duelist watching the flying machine in admiring awe, but I could not remove my eyes from the spectacle before me.
He wouldn't have it any other way, the next sentence was exclusively meant for me to hear, to understand. "The mantle will be passed down from you, to me, to Jack, and to Yusei! We'll see this bridge through! Our legend will never die Goodwin!"
But he could.
The though struck me as his mortal body finally failed him, sending him plummeting back towards the glowing bridge. It was a strange thing to watch, for as he fell, I couldn't help but see fine hair blowing from beneath a black helmet, muscles jerking to and fro as the man lost control and fell to the earth, the overwhelming fear as the ocean roared beneath me, and hope—so much hope to just make it to the...
No. I could not let myself fall back into that way of thinking.
Destiny was just showing me yet another image of a man failing to overcome it because of the weight of his bonds, because of his weak humanity, because of the lies he thrived on from those close to him...
My eyes were firmly closed when he hit the ground, to anyone else it would have appeared that I was smiling softly to myself at my first victory. But no, there was no joy in winning like this.
"A D-Wheel that cannot rune cannot have a turn," I stated flatly, feeling the burn of Jack's glare on my dead skin. He would of course blame me for the fate of his friend, he would not see that it was Crow's own fault for believing in those bonds, he would not see that the attack was meant for Yusei, he would not see that if he surrendered to me, a God, then he would not feel all this darkness...
The King of the Underworld promised me a world where joy was possible, a world without pain, destiny, or cruelty...
I would strive for that world. For my brother, for this fallen duelist, for the world. When my eyelids fluttered open, Yusei was staring at me, eyes full of flickering rage, as if like the light at the tip of a candle, bending to the will of the winds around him.
Abhor curdled in my still heart for him. He was the cause of all this suffering, he was the center of this chain of bonds, and his friends would fall in line and take the blows for him until he was the last one left, agonized, alone, without a person in the world to turn to, and the fault would be his own.
My lips pulled into a scowl as we stared each other down, and I tried not to show my repulse as his expression mirrored mine, almost like an afterthought.
This was the only way to make people like Yusei see. It was the only way to make my brother see, it is the only way to make the Signers see, the only way to make the world see. They must suffer to know the pain of being alone, they must die to appreciate life, and they must lose a loved one to understand hatred...
Had Yusei not been through all of this? Had we not put him through it?
Why couldn't he understand? Why were they still fighting? For those bonds that would kill them?
I frowned as the two called out for the fallen duelist again. As if they had a right to do so! It was their stupidity that led them into this battle, and it was my superiority that would end it!
"I place one card face down. You will soon witness the power of a god Yusei Fudo. You will see that you cannot surpass destiny while you have to rely on others to save you!"
Like a flash of a silver minnow in a raging ocean, fear darted through his dark eyes, catching in the firelight, before disappearing in the black tide. I would have felt empowered, justified, certain about my place in this duel if those eyes had been directed at me, but they were for the fallen duelist on the track. Though he was moving at impossible speeds on that D-Wheel, it was if he had frozen in time and spirit, as if part of him lingered there next to his unconscious friend in agony.
He turned towards me and glared at me with those large ink pupils swallowing the blue of his irises, as if he were seeing through a thick veil of darkness...
I narrowed my eyes and tried not to think, not to ponder, not to allow my thoughts to force the pieces together.
Jack: 4000 (8)
Yusei: 4000 (8)
Goodwin: 6900 (5)
Jack POV
"Crow!" I hollered, shouting at my friend pinned under Blackbird, immobile and lifeless. The unfamiliar taste of dread poisoning my tongue, I gripped the handles of the Wheel of Fortune so hard that my skin matched my gloves.
Yusei had fallen silent beside me after our final call, something open and frightened about him. Fear... that was always Goodwin's game, and I would not let myself fall into it! No, a King must stand tall above his subjects and allies! A King must pave the path of victory for his warriors! A King must show no mercy, no fear, no loneliness—no weakness at all! A Kingdom is only as strong as its leader, and God damn it, I am still the ruler here!
"I will avenge him!" I declared, shooting past the masked warrior at my side. Goodwin's attention wavered between the two of us, and my blood surged at his arrogance. With this turn, I'll show him the mistake he made by challenging us, ignoring me, overlooking the King and putting all of his anger on my sole rival!
Avid to commence, I jerked my next card from my deck and felt a long familiar presence respond from within. It was time then; my dragon would arrive and prove him wrong! "I summon Dark Sprocketer (Atk: 400, Def: 0) and tune him into Mad Demon! The Ruler's heartbeat will file through here! Witness its creation-shaking power! Synchro Summon! My soul, Red Demon's Dragon!"
Corresponding with the appearance of its Signer's Dragon, I watched the Crimson Dragon lash the King of the Underworld with its mighty wings, sending the monster into the surf just below our duel. Yusei flinched at the following earthquake and cries from the remaining wounded, so I continued, knowing that soon there would be no one left to rule over.
Goodwin did not feel the need for speed however. He seemed thickly oblivious to the pain he was causing around him as he commented in the same calm way Yusei did, "Although you have enough power to draw with my Sun Dragon Inti, you will be the one who will take 3000 points of damage King."
The word was an insult on his tongue. I'd teach him my true power!
"Do you think I'm stupid? I activate the trap card Half Straight! I cut my Red Demon's Dragon's attack in half, and if he has the less attack points that the strongest monster on your field I can attack directly (Atk: 1500)! So feel this heat, the flames of the ruler's heart! Absolute Power Force!"
"You are blinded by the Sun Jack! I activate the special effect of Sun Dragon Inti! I can reduce its attack points to zero once per turn, rendering your trap card useless!" Goodwin proclaimed with a wave of his fists, focus settling back to Yusei once more. Unnerved, I could do nothing but watch as my Dragon swerved closer to his, ready to be destroyed.
How could he so easily bat me to the side?! Why was he so intent on Yusei—why were all these Dark Signers so keen on him?!
"Jack!" Yusei called once, and I glanced at him, seeing nothing in his eyes for the first time tonight. I frowned, but said nothing. Yusei was strong; there was no need to worry about him, the center of our goals, even with these pretend gods tailing him. I'd blast a way through the army for him, and he's take out the King at the heart, like he was so good at doing.
Goodwin laughed once more, drawing my own waning attention with a start. It seemed Yusei wasn't only distracting our opponents in these fights. Our dragons grew closer still, and the fake god took it on himself to make yet another false speech about power. "Wiraquocha Rasca cannot be targeted by a monster; the only target remaining is my Sun Dragon Inti! Their battle was inevitable, as is my victory as a God over destiny in this duel! So tell me King Jack Atlas—what is it you will gain through this fight? You have already given up on those bonds that devil preaches about!"
"Jack." Yusei's hard voice was a soft reminder of his observing presence, and I couldn't help but feel caught between two struggling powers. I knew that was not correct—for one, I would rise above all quarrels and conquer them, for two, Yusei had never pushed me to do anything that I did not chose myself. Even two years ago, when he saw all the signs of my betrayal, the destruction of our bonds, he let me walk the path of the lonely King.
... Why had he? If he knew it would only bring me suffering, if he knew that I could never truly be the King I dreamed of being that way... why had he...?
"Yes, you once threw away all of those bonds Jack! You threw them away for a better path—the road of the King! You chose to isolate yourself from the world, to ignore your emotions and cut away all those bonds that made you weak to gain power! You have tasted the loneliness of a world full of pain—you have lived it in your struggle to be King! And why did you choose this path, even though you knew it would be difficult?"
The loneliness of being King... am I so easily read? First Yusei sees through my façade, now my enemies? I will not have it!
"If it is unavoidable—Red Demon's Dragon will crush the sun with all of my strength! Absolute Power Force!" I commanded of my great beast, showing it the path towards victory with a jab of my closed fist.
Two dragons born of fire met in roaring combat, searing each others skin with the powerful heat they exhaled. The Sun Dragon withered where it had once shined brightly, opening the path for my next play and the revival of the moon. There was a moment of twilight, and I saw myself standing high above the city with her, a few final words and meaningful smiles between us.
The moon would follow the sun, the darkness would descend upon the field, just as it had overwhelmed her in the end, but I would not fail again. Jack Atlas would not break his vow to be a great King to someone like Carley. She was everything that I had, everything that I needed, and her glasses bore a familiar weight on my heart as I watched my soul shatter on the dueling field and my life points plummet.
Jack: 2500 (7)
Yusei: 4000 (8)
Goodwin: 5400 (4)
Goodwin's taunts fell on deaf ears as he spoke of destiny, of the path of a King, of useless bonds that only made people weak, that made people share burdens, and that collapsed if even one link was broken in the cycle...
I could not take this idiocy in my presence any further. I may not have been Yusei, for although he claims he doesn't have the power to save anyone, he would have found a way to save Carley like he had Misty, like he had Kiryu, like he had Aki, and like he was trying to do to Goodwin. No, I was not someone like that. I was not strong with my words and did not have unending faith in the bonds between people.
But I had fallen in love with someone who did: someone whose last breath was for me, whose last kiss was still on my lips, who tears stained my soul, whose story would not be shared before this battle came to a close.
I had a vow to keep; a vow to change my ways for her. I would start with Goodwin.
"The moon returns with the fading echo of the sun!" he reminded us, summoning his dark dragon to the war. "So your attacks were useless in the end. You are no closer to defeating me than you were at the beginning of this duel; life points are insignificant when there are so many to spare. It is the same with emotions and bonds. You have found this to be true, and to get at me, the object standing in your way to be King, you are willing to throw them away, just as you were before! That is your destiny that cannot be overturned. That is your vicious cycle!"
"I have done many things I regret," I began as softly as I ever had, feeling her watchful eyes on my face, "and I have experienced the loneliness you speak of. I tossed my friends and bonds to the side, but it brought me no satisfaction. I was King, but it was a hollow victory. I had everything and nothing. But you're forgetting Goodwin—Yusei alleviated me of those feelings! I am not King—I was never King!"
Looking for all the world like a kicked mutt, Goodwin fell into a seething silence, waves of hellish anger burning on his chest for 'the devil' he believed my sole rival to be.
"And by making me give up everything, he made me realize that there was nothing to lose in a life like that! And in that crushing nothingness, I found something more important than being King, than anything I had ever had before! I found someone, Goodwin, who understood me as I was, not as a false King," foreign emotions choked up my throat, making my words thick and powerful in the dead moonlight. Yusei's eyes were knowingly watchful, a strange weight on my shoulders.
"And what is that?" the idol sneered, hatred breaking through his tough mask as the light had from Yusei's when he spoke of his father. "A bond of friendship? That is worthless here!"
"It was not friendship," I scoffed, touching the pocket where I held her last testament. "I found love Goodwin, the love of one woman. And because of you, she suffered and died in my arms. Because of this perfect world you are striving to create, this mirage that the sun and moon are leading you to, you destroyed an innocent life!"
"It was your choice to challenge her," he retorted coolly, crossing his arms as if dismissing the subject. "And it's your feelings that are wounding you now, not my actions."
"Goodwin! I will not forgive you for what you've done!" I hollered under the scrutinizing gaze of the Gods beside us. "You should not condemn Yusei, for he is a better man than I! He is trying to understand and save you while I can do nothing but spit in your direction! You are the root of your own suffering! People are lonely all the time—but it takes new bonds and promises from old ones to get over it! My pain for her gives me the will to fight, the will to crush people like you who cannot hope to understand!"
"I cannot hope to understand?" he repeated, shaking his head sympathetically in my direction. Anger flashed through me, hot and wild like brush fire in the dead summer air. "It is you who deny yourself comprehension Jack. And for that I will take you and offer you to my god who will save this world from stories like yours."
"The King of the Underworld," Yusei commented suddenly, voice flat against our battling emotions, "seems to specialize in stories such as that."
"Coming from the devil of this old world," Goodwin shot back, something wavering as he stared into those blue eyes, "I have nothing to fear from your lies. This was all necessary to create a utopia through my power!"
"Then see what I will do to stop that from happening!" I declared, playing a card that would have gotten me nowhere earlier in this turn. (2) "I activate the speed spell Half Life which allows me to halve one of your monster's attack points and gain life points equal to that amount! Now I place one card face down and end my turn—strike his heart Yusei!"
"My monster regains its attack points at your end phase," Goodwin pointed out, noticeably unworried by my plays.
"It doesn't matter," Yusei intervened, drawing the last card I would be around to see tranquilly. "The damage has been carried out already. Surely you cannot keep deluding yourself, as you said before, you are as capable as piecing together a puzzle as I am. I can see how shocked you are that Crow and Jack were not crushed by your games, no matter how deeply you bury it. We shared a destiny at one point Goodwin, but you have not risen above it. You have buried yourself in it. I will show you the path I walk upon—the path where my bonds have taken me! You will witness our ascension past fate!"
Shared a destiny?
I could not pretend that Yusei's answer did not confuse me, that his suggestions did not send cold chills down my spine. But I could ignore it, as I had been doing all night, and have faith that Yusei would do as he said and surpass whatever it was that was making him say such odd things.
That was a mistake that held terrible consequences, consequences that silenced my breath and crowded my soul, and that sent bereavement into my heart for a star's life caught in death's echo.
Yusei.
Jack: 3700 (8)
Yusei: 4000 (9)
Goodwin: 5400 (5)
"I activate Junk Archer's special ability to remove Moon Dragon Quilla! Dimension Shoot!"
But Goodwin was prepared for him this turn, and just as before, he used a card that he had failed to activate with my attack. "I won't let you complete that! Continuous Trap Card open! Destruction Portion! This allows me to send Moon Dragon Quilla to the grave and gain life points equal to its attack points. The moon vanishes before the arrow can strike; and the sun will rise again! So bear witness to my path Yusei! The true might of a duelist who has surpassed destiny!"
Goodwin: 7900 (5)
"Your special ability can only be used once per turn, and your archer can't stand up to the might of Sun Dragon Inti!" he continued, insane reassurance in his laughter.
Sun Dragon Inti: 3000 Atk
Junk Archer: 2300 Atk
"Friends, bonds, and love—they can't do anything to affect destiny! Fate is set in stone from birth, and it laughs at all of you for trying to surpass it! You will all be stopped by it through me; I am destined to defeat you! That is the only path Yusei: not the path of a legend, a King, or of bonds, but the path of a new god! Your lies fall on deaf ears!"
"You are correct Goodwin," Yusei said suddenly. "I have lied to you; I have been lying to you, but not about the strength of bonds and the path I walk on."
"What nonsense are you spouting now?!" he demanded with a glare deadly enough to kill.
My eyes shifted back to Yusei, even further confused than before. Shared destiny? Lies? What was going on here damn it?!
"I have not shown you my path yet Goodwin," he clarified softly, "but you have forced my hand. This turn, you will see why your world cannot come to pass. You will see how I lied to you."
But instead of pulling out a complicated combination with all of our cards like he usually did, Yusei Fudo turned to me and smiled.
And his arrow pierced the heart of a king.
Third Person POV
There was no way they could have seen it coming—not with all their astonished attention on his remarkable conquest of death, not with the relief of his familiar voice distracting them, not with those blue eyes staring down evil on the battlefield, not with the laughter of the King in the air.
But they didn't have to see it, they heard it, they felt it, for just a moment, echo through Jack's plummeting life points before they were lost to the ultimate enemy. His scream followed shortly and stopped abruptly; bringing their attention to something they wished they had not seen.
Yusei was gone.
(1) Sorry if I epically failed at Goodwin's POV. Writing a villian who thinks that he is saving the world is difficult... and really fun. Try it sometimes :)
(2) Can he do this? I'm not great with duels... I know the basic rules in the show... but...
And now, time to run again. Thanks for reading!
~AxJfan