Lise opened her eyes. Floating all around her were tiny balls of light. They streamed upwards and downwards like conflicting river currents. Lise looked down at her hands, her entire body swirling with reds and oranges richer than gold. Nothing was corporeal, and yet everything felt right. The way this in between world glittered was calming, despite the lack of familiarity.
The lights jerked awkwardly out of their pattern. A disturbance had occurred, small but still significant.
Lise watched as a few colorful lights merged together and a woman emerged. Her blond hair fell in waves over her shoulders, and her blue eyes were the piercing blue of the sky.
"Are you me?" Lise whispered, suddenly fearful.
She didn't answer. Instead, her body too filled with color. This other Lise's body was colored purple and black, the two of them competing for dominance like an infection.
"Hello? What do you want?" Lise tried again. She didn't know yet whether she should step back or forward. Either way sounded wrong. For days she'd been having this dream, but no part of it had ever changed.
Until now. Lise two's purple eyes glowed with malice. "I am you."
"What?" Lise began backing up, deciding in a split second.
"I am your own destruction. I am your inadequacy, your insecurity, your selfishness. You cannot hide from me."
"I don't understand."
"Your humanity will cease, then I will take control. Die!" Lise two lunged.
/
Lise awoke with a scream that ached in her back. Had the copy of herself struck her there? She couldn't remember.
Lise's bedroom door opened with a bang. Yusei, Jack and Crow came barreling in.
"You okay? We heard you scream," Yusei sat down next to Lise on her bed.
"Nobody's attacking you?" Jack fired at her, scanning the room for suspicious activity with his violet eyes.
Crow did the same. "And Roman isn't in your head again?"
"Geezus guys, it was just a nightmare! Get out!" Lise threw a pillow at Jack and Crow's general direction.
"We just want to make sure you're okay," Yusei said calmly. He placed his hand on top of Lise's, and searched her eyes with his own. "You sure you're okay?"
"Yeah, it was just the same dream from before," Lise winced slightly. Adjusting her weight had hurt a little. She hadn't expected that.
"The other you?" Jack asked, deciding the room was secure.
"Whattaya think it means?"
"Well, until she starts making sense or beating me to near death, I don't know."
"I don't like this at all. It makes you tired and cranky," Yusei said, pushing hair out of Lise's face.
Lise frowned at him slightly. "It was just a dream, Yusei."
"At this point I don't think there's anything else we can do" Crow yawned, stretching his hands towards the ceiling. "I'm going back to bed. See you in the morning."
Jack followed Crow back to their room. Yusei, however, was more reluctant to go.
"I'm fine, Yusei," Lise offered him a reassuring smile and squeezed his hand. "It was just a dream."
Yusei shook his head. His hair tousled softly, slightly messier from sleep. "With you, they're never just dreams."
"But this one is. I promise."
"I'd feel better if I stayed here."
"No, not tonight. I have to get up for my job tomorrow. And I can't get to sleep if there are cute distractions hanging around."
Yusei hesitated, clearly not happy with leaving Lise alone, but he returned the squeeze of the hand. "Okay, I'm going back to my bed, but let me know if you need me."
"G'night," Lise said when Yusei was at her door. She fell back onto her pillows, snuggling in.
"Night…" Yusei wasn't sure what else to say, so he closed the door behind him with a snap.
/
After a week Lise was looking much worse, not better. Dark purple half-moons ringed her eyes, and she was going in to work more and more often. When she was home, she seemed to never have time for anything but working. One day she almost bit Jack's head off she was so irritable.
Yusei came home from a late night fix job at the end of the week, and found Lise slumped over her computer at the kitchen table. Her cheek was plastered to the keyboard. The word document she had been working on had stopped mid-word, and then continuously typed the letter 'h' for what must have been hours since the document was stretching over 20 pages.
"Lise, Lise?" Yusei gently shook her shoulders. "You should sleep in your bed, not at the table."
She grumbled, moving sluggishly, but she lifted her head up off the keyboard. Lise blinked slowly in the blue light of her computer screen.
"Hey, you okay?" One of the corners of Yusei's lips turned up; the keys of the keyboard were imprinted onto Lise's cheek.
"Hmm, what time is it?" Lise murmured, rubbing her eyes.
"Almost two AM. Come on," Yusei wrapped an arm around Lise's waist and helped her to her feet. She complied sleepily, allowing Yusei to steer her to her bed. Normally, she would have protested, which was alarming to Yusei. "You sure you're okay?"
"J-Just tired," Lise yawned, but pulled herself up the ladder.
"I'm worried about you. Do you mind if I stay with you tonight?"
"Just to sleep, right?" Lise's expression turned severe at the top of the ladder.
"Of course," Yusei frowned, a little insulted. "I'll join you in a little bit. Give you time to change."
"Thanks," Lise yawned again and closed her bedroom door.
Yusei sighed on his way back to his room. "I wish I knew what was going on with her."
/
Lise was able to get her pajamas on, and was out immediately once her head hit her pillow.
Yusei came in to find her only half under the covers. Despite his worry he still chuckled in amusement. Lise was cute no matter what. He crawled into bed beside her and threw the covers over both of them.
"I'll be here if you need me," He whispered, smoothing back some hairs that had fallen into Lise's face.
/
"Please, just tell me what you want!" Lise cried, throwing her hands up, and dropping her shoulders. "I'm so tired of all this! I get it; you're my other half. You're all my negative emotions, qualities, and traits, but what are you trying to tell me?"
The purple and black version of Lise stared, unblinkingly at her double. Her fierce expression had never wavered, and her hair floated in a nonexistent wind. She shook her head ever so slightly. "It is not about what I want, no, it is…I am a warning."
"A warning? Is this about Yliaster?" Lise was finally getting somewhere and she was glad for answers of any kind.
"Yes and no. You're running out of time." Dark Lise began to warp and change along with the tranquil scenery.
"What? What does that mean? What's going on?" Lise looked down to find the entire world spiraling into oblivion. She raised her arms to protect herself, and cover her eyes.
Everything stopped spinning and sunlight hit Lise gently. Although the wind blowing all over the place was far from gentle.
Lise opened her eyes and looked around wildly. "Stardust Dragon? And Crimson Starburst Dragon? What-What're we doing in the stadium?"
"I'll activate Stardust Dragon's ability!"
"Yusei?" Lise eyes widened. She looked across the field to see who his opponent was. "Me?!"
Lise watched with growing fear as the other her went into full on glow mode. Other's Lise's feet parted with the ground, her eyes glowing red, and the wind getting even worse.
Through the gale, Lise saw Yusei play his trap card, ending the duel, but her double was still going critical in the Eye of the Dragon.
Before Lise could step in, the scenery changed again. Disoriented, Lise's knees fell against metal grating. She put out a hand to steady herself, and froze. Underneath the metal grating, water flowed heavily, and Yusei and Meena were floating just above its surface.
A bloodcurdling scream ripped through the air, making Lise jump. The scream turned into a roar that send Sayer flying past Lise.
"Oh no," Lise murmured, unable to move.
She observed herself come at Sayer like a mad, red bullet. "You took everything from me!" Sayer whimpered from the punch to his face. "You wanted to turn me into a weapon-!"
Lise covered her ears, unable to listen anymore. "Please stop! I don't want to see this! I don't want to hear it! Please stop!" It didn't matter that Lise had covered her ears and closed her eyes. She could still feel every attack she had thrown at Sayer that night. It was like reliving the pain all over again. The crushing weight of it all had nearly destroyed her, and it was even worse experiencing it for a second time. Tears streamed down Lise's face. "Please stop," she begged.
Suddenly Lise slipped through the grate like rushing water, but the grate was gone. Meena, Yusei, and Sayer were gone too.
Dust and dirt hit Lise when she collided with the ground. She opened her eyes, and got to her feet. "What is this place?" she whispered, turning 360 degrees to absorb everything around her.
She was in some kind of old cavern. Rubble and dust was collected at the room's perimeter like a garbage dump. A stone dais carved doubtlessly thousands of years ago rested beside Lise, and five circles had been carved into the ground, all connected to the dais. Huge stone columns rose up to the ceilings, and an array of people dressed in white Lise didn't recognize were assembled like it was a church day.
"Prepare the children!" someone ordered and the crowd of strange people moved.
One of the larger women tossed a boy, bound and gagged, onto one of the circles.
"Yusei!" Lise ran to him, but stopped. His eyes had passed right over her as he struggled to free himself. "Yusei? You can't see me, can you?"
"You can't do this!" Akiza's voice cried angrily as she was thrown onto the circle next to Yusei's. She was shortly silenced with a gag too.
On the next circle was Jack, then Luna, then Crow. A sixth person was holding back Leo and a blue-haired boy Lise had never seen before.
She turned back to the dais and found a woman tied to it. She had platinum blond hair and green eyes that were almost neon they were so intense.
The people clad in white raised swords in a sick kind of salute.
Yusei managed to get his gag off because he immediately started shouting. "Stop! You'll kill her!"
But he was too late.
"WHOA!" Lise exclaimed, blown backwards by the sudden explosion of red light. It rocked the temple, destroying everything in its wake. The columns joined the rest of the rubble, and more rained down from the ceiling. Several white clad people were tossed aside like bowling pins. Luckily, the Signers were too low to be hit too badly by the explosive power. Smoke flowed in heavily, cloaking the cavern.
"Everyone okay?" Lise asked, forgetting for a second she couldn't be seen.
The white-haired woman from before emerged from the wreckage like a glowing death weapon. She roared and slammed her fist into Lise's stomach. If Lise was intangible to her friends, to this woman she was very corporeal.
Lise's body plowed through what was left of one of the columns. Her muscles were screaming in agony. But her attacker wasn't done yet.
The woman plowed her knees into Lise's back, making a Lise sized crater in the ground. She yanked Lise up by her hair and threw her back against the dais.
"Time to put you through the hell you put my people through for 5000 years!" The woman brought her fists down on Lise's back, over and over again. Her plan, apparently, was to pound Lise through the ground.
Lise shrieked loudly from the pain, too shocked to fight back.
"We've gotta get out of here!"
"Before the whole place crushes us!" Crow's voice added, speaking at a much higher volume in order to be heard over the sounds of the cavern collapsing.
"What about Lise?" Akiza shouted back. "We can't just leave her!"
"She's going to die if we leave her!" Yusei agreed, his voice riddled with panic.
"And if we stay here then we'll die!"
That's right. Lise reminded herself. I am not going to die, and neither are they!
Before the next hit could connect, Lise rolled over and kicked upwards with both feet. Her attacker crashed into the ceiling with a bang.
That hit wasn't enough to stop her though. She came barreling back down at Lise in no time, and Lise flew up to meet her in midair.
Grunting with the force of her efforts, Lise sank blow after blow into the woman's body. She did her best to block, but mostly focused on attack. She had to put this woman down before she tried to hurt anyone else.
The two women's fists connected, each trying to push the other back.
"You cannot defeat me!" The woman screamed. "I'm not the one dying here!"
"Oh yeah? Well, neither am I!"
The woman's green eyes closed in mirthless laughter. "Child, you're already dead. I'm you."
"What?" Lise backed off, floating and looking down at herself. She was clad in different clothes, with wounds covering her entire body. The entire front of Lise's shirt was stained with blood…and five swords stuck out of the gruesome wound.
/
Lise awoke screaming bloodcurdling murder. She frantically patted herself down, checking for wounds.
Yusei, always the light sleeper, was immediately awakened. "Lise, what-"
"I-I-I think I'm okay. Just g-gimme a minute," she shakily walked out of her room and into the bathroom.
Yusei pulled the covers off and got up too. He met Jack and Crow at the bathroom's door.
"Another nightmare?" Crow asked quietly.
"I think so," Yusei nodded. "She didn't tell me anything, but she looked like she was trying to get rid of a spider or something."
Jack shook his head, crossing his arms. "It wasn't something as silly as that. I haven't heard her scream like that since…" Jack hesitated, but he continued. "Since the nightmares she had, when we first met her, about her mom's death."
Crow's eyes widened. "You're right. This is serious. What do we do?"
"Well, first thing in the morning I'm calling her boss to let her know she's taking a sick day."
"I'll unplug her alarm clock," Jack said, already halfway up the ladder.
"Good plan. Should I make some breakfast?" Crow asked. He checked the time on the kitchen's digital clock. "At 4 AM? Never mind. I'll just make sure she has something to eat when she gets up."
"See you in the morning," Yusei agreed, yawning a little.
/
Lise rested her trembling hands on either side of the sink. She wasn't injured in the slightest, but she still felt sore and weak. For a minute or two she had actually believed that she was fighting that woman…herself…for real.
But she had been someone else before. Who was she? Why did she want Lise dead?
Her nightmares always seemed to have more questions than answers.
Lise sighed. The cryptic nature of her dreams reminded her of how absent the voice of the Crimson Dragon had been lately. Something was definitely wrong, but what? She looked up and into the mirror, running a hand down her cheek and the purple bags underneath her eyes. Is there something wrong with me?
"Lise?" Yusei knocked softly on the door. "You all right in there?"
Quickly, Lise ran the tap water and splashed it onto her face. She turned off the water and rubbed her face dry with a towel.
"More or less," Lise said when she opened the door. "Sorry. I know I woke everyone up." She wouldn't meet Yusei's eyes.
"Talk to me, please," he said gently, reaching for her hand. "What happened?"
Lise was quiet for what felt like hours. Then she said; "Not here. My room."
"Sure," Yusei didn't let go of Lise's hand even when they were both sitting on her bed.
"I…the other me turned into all the times I've used the Eye of the Dragon," Lise pushed some hair behind her ear, her eyes darting as well as slightly manic. "Which, granted, hasn't been much, but… when I go into the Eye of the Dragon am I really in that much rage and pain?"
Yusei took both of Lise's hands in his. "What else would activate it? The Eye of the Dragon is there for a reason, but I'm glad you haven't lost your humanity as a result of using it too long."
Lise bit her lip.
"That's not all, is it?" Yusei raised an eyebrow.
"No… it's not. Afterwards, the dream changed," Lise admitted. She slowly explained everything she recalled about the nightmare, including what seemed to be her own demise. "I'm not sure what it all means, but it…it feels like a vision."
Yusei's eyes had been wide her entire recounting, but now he narrowed them in thought. "If it is a vision, then I don't think there's much we can do for now. At least your other two dreams were technically memories." He put a finger to his lips.
"Do you think the Crimson Dragon is trying to tell me something? I haven't heard her voice in months."
"Maybe that's a good thing?"
"Considering all the shit with Yliaster right now, I kinda doubt it," Lise sighed, and rubbed her head wearily. "All this thinking is giving me a headache."
"You've been overworking and overthinking this entire week. Maybe it's time to give yourself a break? I'm not saying your concerns are invalid or anything. It's okay to let me worry about this instead for a change though, okay?"
Lise swallowed and rubbed her eye like a child. "Okay." She yawned and laid down on her pillow. "You'll stay with me, right?"
"You're much more agreeable when you're tired," Yusei acknowledged, but he covered them both with the covers again. He let one hand rest on Lise's shoulder. "I'll stay with you all night."
/
"Good morning," Jack greeted over his morning coffee.
"Morning," Lise greeted groggily. She looked worse for the wear with a blanket draped around her shoulders, and her wrinkly pajamas. She started getting items assembled for her own morning coffee.
"I made waffles if you want some," Crow offered, looking up from his own breakfast.
"Thanks," Lise yawned. "What time is it? Where's Yusei?"
"It's just after 11 and Yusei's working on the engine downstairs."
"Okay," Lise started pouring her creamer into her mug.
"Um Lise?" Crow raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah?"
"You feeling okay?" Jack had noticed too.
"Why?"
"Because you're pouring your creamer all over the table."
"Huh? Oh, oops. Sorry guys," Lise put the bottle down and put a hand to her forehead.
"Are you sick?" Crow got up to help clean the mess.
"No, I'm not. I'm just really, really tired. I-"
"You're sick?" Suddenly, Yusei was right beside Lise, pulling off his glove with his teeth, and checking her temperature.
"How the fuck did you get up here so fast?" Lise swore in her surprise.
Yusei lifted a shoulder and his cheeks turned pink. "Crow said you were sick. Now I wasn't lying when I called your boss."
"You called my boss? Why?!" Lise had to sit down to process this information. "What did you tell him?"
Yusei smiled devilishly, but scratched at the back of his neck under the pressure of Lise's gaze. "I told him your boyfriend was calling to say you were out sick for the day. I guess you ended up working so hard you made yourself sick."
"Lucky me," Lise grumbled, resting her head in her hands.
Crow rubbed his hands together as he stood. "A thinking fever huh? Well, Martha always said to starve the flu and feed a fever. I'll head out for supplies." Before Lise could protest he was already in the basement racing out aboard his duel runner.
Lise groaned and glared half-heartedly at Jack and Yusei. "You guys are loving this aren't you?"
Jack couldn't hold back a cocky grin. "You being sick? Not at all. Go back upstairs and I'll bring you some breakfast."
"And coffee?"
"Of course," Jack rolled his eyes. "I'm not an animal." He stooped with a roll of paper towels to clean up Lise's mess.
"I guess being sick has a few perks, but I'm not going back to bed," Lise managed to drag herself up the ladder and let herself into the extra room. She flopped down onto the couch and turned the TV on.
Halfway through an episode of Lise's latest show-bingeing, Yusei emerged with a bagel and warm coffee. "Jack sends his regards," Yusei chuckled, unable to keep a straight face as he handed them over.
"Thanks, I appreciate it. Sorry about all this."
Yusei shrugged and smoothed a few of Lise's messy hairs back from her face. "You're sick from working too hard. Just relax today, okay? It's no trouble at all. If you need me, I'll be right downstairs working on the engine."
"Okay," Lise bit her lip, and tugged on her hair. She swallowed and laid back against the couch.
Yusei's dark blue eyes watched her, waiting to see if she was going to say something else. Lise was silent, so he left. The uneasy feeling he had had the night before gnawing at him again.
/
"Okay!" Crow announced his presence in the extra room loudly. He jarred Lise awake from a short nap as he walked in, swinging his bag of goodies. "I got you sour watermelons, some mini cakes, chips, and…this cool mug!" He handed her a black mug with a pirate-like skull and crossbones adorning one side.
"Wow, thanks Crow!" Lise took the mug from him and drank from it.
"This will be your sicky cup. That way we know not to drink out of it."
"Gee, thanks," Lise repeated with much less enthusiasm.
"Sure, and I already made you some hot chocolate so here you go."
"We doing any better up here?" Yusei walked in. He was covered in grease from head to toe, and looking a little tired himself. "Mind if I join you?" He picked up Lise's brand new mug and sipped from it.
"Dude! I just said that's Lise's sicky cup!" Crow threw his hands up into the air. "I'm gonna cook dinner because now we're gonna have two sick people to take care of! Idiot!"
Yusei laughed slightly, and sat down next to Lise on the couch.
"You so did that on purpose," Lise shoved his shoulder and took her mug back.
"Eh," Yusei rubbed at a grease spot on his arm. "I'm not having much luck with the engine. I think I've got as far as I can get today."
"Hey, you'll get it eventually. I don't anyone else who's such a genius with machines," Lise leaned against his shoulder.
"Thanks," Yusei smiled minutely and inched his fingers in between Lise's. "I just feel like there's so much pressure on me to get it done, especially since I'm the only one who can get it done." He sighed slowly and looked up at the ceiling.
Lise dragged herself out of the fog of her sick brain. She needed to be focused for a conversation like this. "You know we'd help if you asked."
"That week there were more explosions," Yusei groaned, running a hand through his hair. "I just don't know what to do."
"Hey," Lise squeezed Yusei's hand harder. "Whether you can get it done or not, we'll still be friends with you. We can still win the WRGP." She raised and lowered her shoulders, her free hand palm up. "With or without an edge." She kissed Yusei's cheek. "Either way we'll still love you."
"Good to know."
"Good to know I'm not the only one who's been stressed out."
"Guess we both needed a day off," Yusei pulled Lise onto his chest, and turned the volume on the TV up.
Laying on Yusei's chest, letting him play absentmindedly with her hair, her ear right on top of his steady heartbeat, Lise was finally able to sleep in peace.