Crow woke slowly, and he wasn't entirely sure that he had woken up at all. It was still just as dark as it had been when his eyes had closed.
"What the fuck..." he muttered. He managed to lift his arm and rub his hand over his eyes, despite the heaviness in his body. Rubbing his eyes didn't do him any good to see, but at least he could still feel and use his body.
He sat slowly, the ground shifting like sand beneath him as he moved. He ran his hand briefly over the ground, pushing his fingers through it to confirm that it was some kind of sand. It stuck a bit to his fingers in places, though, as though it were a fine sand mixed with soot. He sniffed it briefly—gross. It smelled like sulfur...in fact, this whole place smelled like sulfur.
And then he heard the screaming.
His entire body went rigid, as though reacting to some primal, innate corner of his soul that told him that he had to fight or flee. His throat stiffened up so that he almost couldn't breathe and it was all he could do not to crumple up and curl in on himself at the sound—it was so psychologically distressing that tears actually came to his eyes.
But then he heard the other sound alongside the screaming.
"Leave her alone, leave her alone, leave her alone—"
That was—
Lua!
Whatever hold the scream had had on him, it shattered in an instant. Crow shot to his feet and bolted, his boots sliding across the sand.
"Lua!" he shouted. He heard a scream that must be Luka—what was she doing here too? "Luka! I'm coming!"
Where were they? The screaming and both of their shouts seemed to echo around the eternal darkness—despite the line of line along the faraway horizon, as though the sun might be about to rise, he couldn't see anything at all. Where were they? How was he supposed to find them like this?
All of the sounds cut off abruptly.
Crow's heart jumped into his throat.
Oh god, oh god, oh god, I can't have been too late, I can't have been—
His mind started to conjure images in the dark of a broken, twisted Lua, a bloody Luka, and he felt his stomach turn and an angry scream curling up in his chest just ready to loose. He couldn't—he couldn't—
Veer left, his brain said automatically, and he just responded. His shoulder scraped along the edge of something crumbly and stone as he turned and he realized—he had been about to smack into something!
Right, he thought instinctively, and he whipped around the corner again.
Something whispered at the back of his head, like a breeze. He could almost feel it, tickling his face. There's a wind here—it's tiny but—
He felt like he could see it. He felt like the tiny, tiny breeze around his arms was sending out little ripples from his motion, bouncing off of the things around him and...and letting him see. He could feel them, he could feel the way the air bent around the objects and it was almost as good as being able to see. He vaulted easily over a boulder, using it to push off for greater momentum.
He had no idea what was going on or how this was working but he wasn't going to complain! How far could he stretch this...this "wind sense?"
It rustled at the back of his head like a map, and he could construct a path through what appeared to be a crumbling stone labyrinth towards...Lua and Luka!
He could sense the shape of them, breaking up the wind as they stumbled forward. One of them was limping—he couldn't quite tell who was who like this, but he could tell that one of them was supporting the other, practically dragging them through the sand as their breaths echoed ragged against the darkness. They were close! And...
And what was that behind them?
Crow felt a chill pass through him as he attempted to feel out the shape with his newfound wind sense. But he couldn't...not quite. It was almost as though the air passed mostly through it, only tiny wisps of what seemed like smoke or fabric to judge that it was there at all, like seeing a shadow with nothing to cast it. Parts of it seemed solid, but he couldn't wrap his wind around it enough to tell how. Even with this sense, he had a feeling that...that even if it had been light out, he wouldn't be able to see what this thing was.
That was more terrifying than anything.
"Lua! Luka!" Crow shouted. "It's Crow! I'm coming!"
He heard tiny gasps ahead of him, and he rounded a corner and then there they were, smacking into him. He threw his arms around both of them—they sobbed as they threw themselves against him, their hands twisting into his jacket as they cried and babbled that something was chasing them, and Lua's leg got stabbed and he couldn't run and they couldn't see anything and they didn't know how to get out—
"It's okay, it's okay, I've got you!" Crow said. "Lua, grab my hand, I'll carry you if you can't run!"
The screaming started again—the thing was close and it wanted them to start running. Crow fought past the instinctive fear. It got harder after the second one started screaming too, from another location.
They're driving us somewhere, he thought. They're closing in like hunters, trying to make us run somewhere specific, like a pack of hyenas. But where?
His wind sense wasn't tell him, he couldn't stretch it far enough.
He twisted around and lifted Lua onto his back, then fumbled back for Luka's hand.
"Don't let go!" he shouted. "Follow me!"
They ran, then—Crow didn't even stop to think that he didn't even know how he or anyone had gotten here. It didn't matter—he just had to try and keep them safe—
. . .
"You bastard!" Yusei shouted, struggling against the prongs that held him fast. "You can't break me—I won't let you get away with this!"
"It's already too late," Jupiter said. "You might be interested to know that my project has already been semi-successful...you won't be alone during the process, at least. Doesn't that make you feel better?"
Yusei's mouth opened to ask what he meant, but then his heart stopped in his throat as he felt the syringe prick into his arm just under his shoulder. He managed to crane his neck over his shoulder, his heart going cold as he saw who had just drugged him.
"C-Crow," he mumbled.
Crow didn't respond—his eyes were blank and he looked like he was about to fall over himself. After pricking Yusei with the needle, his arm dropped back limply to his side, as though he were nothing more than a doll on strings. His head was lolling slightly to the side, and his face was pale. And worst of all, Yusei couldn't even sense him. He couldn't feel his presence through his Signer mark—it was like Crow wasn't even there.
Yusei gasped for breath as he felt the drug coursing through him, making his arms feel heavy and his legs shake under him. When the prongs finally released him, he couldn't stand up—he crumpled to the floor, limp and useless.
"Excellent," Jupiter said, sounding far too pleased. Yusei wanted to scream, but his throat felt thick, too. This drug was fast acting, and he couldn't move at all! "It's unfortunate that I couldn't get a full brainwash done on your friend yet, but removing his soul to the Outlands makes his body a useful puppet until his soul returns."
Bastard, Yusei thought, tears bubbling to the corners of his eyes.
He couldn't protect any of them—he couldn't protect any of them! Even Crow, who should have been safe at the hospital, was being turned into a puppet for Jupiter's use! And his soul was in the same place as Lua and Luka, now—that meant all three of them were trapped!
Crow might be acting like a puppet, but he was still strong enough to lift Yusei under the arms, dragging him across the floor towards one of the egg shaped pods. Crow pushed a button on the side and it went transparent along the top. One side opened and revealed a low slung seat with several screens over head—with frightening looking straps and wires lined along the edges. Crow heaved Yusei inside and flipped him over, dragging the straps over his wrists and ankles and one over his head so that he couldn't move even if he hadn't been drugged. Then the empty shell of Crow started to pin the ends of wires to the sides of Yusei's head, and to his palms and under his shirt.
"You Signers are the reason the Arcadia Movement fell," he said. "And now, you'll become the instrument of its revival."
"You're—you're crazy," Yusei managed to slur through his drugged throat. "We...we won't...we're not...not psychic..."
Jupiter only chuckled.
"You think psychic dueling is the only way that power presents itself? No, Fudo Yusei...you're going to become a very, very powerful servant under my command...don't worry so much about that part."
Crow shut the door on Yusei's pod, and then the screens over head began to flicker. Immediately, Yusei felt a huge headache coming over him, a dizziness that ran to the back of his tongue and made him feel like he was going to throw up.
"Just relax," Jupiter's voice soothed through a microphone inside the pod. "This is only the first session; you'll likely come out of it with most of your normal brain function intact. It takes a few weeks of exposure before you fully submit...but it's better if you just accept that it's coming, that makes it hurt less."
Yusei almost screamed.
He couldn't describe what was happening to him—he felt like his entire body was starting to contract, but he wasn't moving at all. Sounds clattered around in his head, sounds that he couldn't pick out so that they just became a hellish cacophony in his mind. Images flashed over the screen but he had no idea what they were—only that they were filling his stomach up with an unimaginable horror.
"This is a concentrated version of the brainwashing program from the Callisto Project," Jupiter continued, but Yusei could barely listen to him. "It's far more potent, but it won't remove your soul to the Outlands. So you don't have to worry about that, either."
Yusei tried to close his eyes but he couldn't stop staring at the screen—couldn't stop staring at—
Where was he?
He wasn't in the pod anymore. He wasn't even in the facility anymore...he was...where...?
Was this what Jupiter had called the Outlands? No, he had described that as a place of complete darkness...this was anything but.
He was standing in what appeared to be a field made out of stars. They bobbed in an nonexistent breeze, on some kind of braided black stems as though they were tiny, glowing dandelions. They ranged between the colors of yellow, to white, to blue, growing up out of what looked like a thin sheet of water, but was as solid as a black mirror...it appeared to ripple every time Yusei shifted on it, though.
Overhead, the sky spread forever. Nebulae stained the spaces between the stars like coffee rings of color, pink red, green, blue, even some colors Yusei couldn't quite comprehend or name. His lips parted—where was he? He couldn't remember...couldn't remember seeing a place so peaceful...
One of the red nebula in the sky suddenly sparkled. Far away, a star silently exploded within it, becoming a bright supernova against the sky...or no...wait...
That was an eye.
The nebula seemed to peel itself off the sky, rippling as it solidified and Yusei felt his heart jump into his throat.
"Crimson Dragon," he breathed.
But this was nothing like the Crimson Dragon that he had ever seen before in his life. Before, the dragon had always seemed two dimensional and completely red.
This dragon was like a tube made out of a galaxy; although its outline rippled like a coursing pillar of water edged in red, it was almost see through, with stars, galaxies, and comets drifting around inside it. Yusei couldn't breathe. Was this...was this the Crimson Dragon's true form...? Was this place it's home? How had he gotten here...
The great head swung down before him. It's head was taller than he was, and as broad as three of him across. He could feel a hot, solar breath coursing over him from its nostrils, the heat of stars letting off the gas of their extra layers. Yusei couldn't breathe—this presence was so powerful, so ancient, so overwhelming...
Look.
It wasn't a voice so much as it was an echo, a feeling in his chest.
Look harder.
Look...where? Yusei couldn't breathe to ask, but the Dragon seemed to understand his thoughts.
The machine. It will open you to things you do not want to see. But you must look.
The...the Dragon wanted him to look into the brainwashing machine? It wasn't here to help them...?
I am not here to help. You must help yourselves, because I am you.
Yusei didn't—he didn't understand. What was the Dragon saying?
Use it. Use the power he uses against you against him. You are the Head. Your dominion is the mind.
Do not let yours be used against you.
And then Yusei was back, back in the pod, his mind and body screaming at the intrusion into his brain as whatever the machine was doing to him washed over him, tried to scrub every bit of him clean of his own personality.
"I'm saying this for your own good, Mr. Fudo, this will only go more poorly for you if you don't stop fighting."
Yusei's arm burned. The Dragon—the Dragon wanted him to look into the machine. This machine was—this machine was supposed to break him. It was supposed to break him apart and then put him back together for Jupiter's purposes. How would Jupiter do that? Subconsciously, something was being done to him...
What was he being shown in his subconscious?
Was that what the Dragon wanted him to look at?
Yusei swallowed.
The mind is your dominion.
Do not let it be used against you.
He forced himself to look.
. . .
Well, Kiryu thought dizzily, I wish I could say this was my first time being punched through a wall.
He had made a mistake; he hadn't thought he was underestimating Aki, but he definitely was. Whatever kind of crazy spell she was under right now, she was going absolutely psycho...and that was coming from him.
Aki screamed wordlessly as her vines writhed in a whirlwind around her. Every one of those thorns looked sharp and dangerous and if he didn't get up out of this rubble soon he was going to get killed for a second time.
He heaved himself out of the rubble and bolted, letting Aki's vines snake down the hall after him. Ever since that sound had started playing through the halls, she had gotten more aggressive, and Kiryu wasn't sure he could hold out much longer. His Infernity monsters were doing their best, but Aki was apparently a higher attack than all of them because she kept shattering the Solid Vision. It was all Kiryu could do to keep drawing cards. He might run out of them soon—did this count like a normal duel, even? Could he just keep fishing cards out of the Graveyard? Fuck, he didn't fucking know!
Kiryu darted around a corner, ducking under a vine that swept over his head—damn, she was getting faster!
"Izayoi-san!" he shouted over his shoulder. "Izayoi-san, you have to stop this!"
Aki only screamed—he almost, thought, for a moment, that he could hear her start to babble, something that he could almost understand—he caught words like "hurting him" "have to," and other things that Kiryu couldn't quite catch.
Another vine punched over his head and left an actual hole in the wall. If he hadn't dodged that...
Kiryu tried not to think about the possibility of dying a second time. The first had been bad enough, thank you, he didn't need to try out various ways to go out. Where had Yusei ended up going? This place was a goddamn maze, but Kiryu didn't want to accidentally lead the wild Aki to wherever Yusei was, probably trying to fight that Jupiter guy. He wondered where Jack was, too, and hoped the bastard hadn't gotten himself killed. If only Kiryu had a magical Signer sensor too—or at least, an idiot sensor.
Kiryu ducked under another vine and bolted for a random door. It was locked so he bolted for the next one. His foot caught on a vine and he went careening to the floor—only his wire thin reflexes, honed from ages on the street, where enough to keep him rolling, just before a vine crushed him against the floor.
"Izayoi!" he shouted again. "Goddammit! You don't want to do this!"
Aki only started to babble again as she came around the corner, and Kiryu could see tears rolling out of her eyes. Dammit! That sound was really fucking her up; and whatever else had happened to her in this godsforsaken place wasn't help. He had to find a way to turn that sound off—
Kiryu rolled back to his feet and ran again—wait, there, that door was hanging open!
Kiryu bolted inside. This room was wide and open and—and lined with medical beds and—good lord.
He almost came to a stop at the sight of the blood splattered beds but he couldn't stop running, so he kept going. He could hear Aki forcing herself through the door behind him, his heart in his throat. He glanced over his shoulder and almost screamed when he saw Aki pulling herself up the wall, her vines acting like giant kraken tentacles and pulling herself up towards the ceiling so that she could crawl after him from above. What kind of B-level horror movie was he living in?
Kiryu swore again and made a break for the door on the other side of the room. Thankfully, it was open, and he slammed it shut behind him to maybe buy himself a few seconds of time.
"Ah, I see you've joined us as well, Mr. Kiryu."
Kiryu's blood froze, as his eyes flicked back to the new room. It was huge, white, and...and was that Crow? What was he doing here? And why was he climbing into that egg shaped pod—oh god, better question, why was Yusei in the other one looking like he was screaming?
"Yusei!" Kiryu screamed. "Crow!"
He bolted across the room—skidding to a stop when a row of thick plastic prongs sprung up like a wire gate from the floor, blocking him from the other side of the room. Overhead, a balding man that must be Jupiter smiled down at him from the observatory deck.
Kiryu grabbed the plastic and rattled it, threw his shoulder against it to try and punch through. A scream ripped from his throat with frustration as it refused to give.
"Let them go!" he shouted. "You bastard, let them go!"
Jupiter only shook his head, shrugging.
"It's a pity, but I really have no use for you," he said. "Empty shells without power are of no benefit to the organization."
Kiryu found himself actually snarling. He reached for his deck—maybe his Solid Vision monsters could punch through this!
But then something snapped around his waist. He gasped as he felt something puncture into his skin around his waist and ripped him back. He tried to grab the fence to hold on, but it was too late, Aki had hold of him and she was lifting him up into the air as her vine squeezed tighter and tighter around him.
"Miss Izayoi, if you would dispose of the trash for me," Jupiter said. He reached forward to turn some kind of dial, and the sound that had made Aki lose it got louder.
Kiryu visibly saw Aki flinch, her hands clamping over her ears and her mouth opening in a silent scream. Kiryu clawed at the vine that held him, but Aki wasn't letting go, and despite the tears gushing out of her eyes, her other vines were rising up towards him.
Kiryu had a sudden vision of the scattered body parts and the blood.
Oh god, he thought. I'm going to die again.
