Inner Apocalypse

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! Or its characters. I only own my OC's, and the fanfic. I'm not getting any money out of this. Just for entertainment purposes.

Chapter 28- Duel and Dusk

Roxanna

I trudged back towards the auditorium, not looking very happy.

R kept on pestering me about what I had lost, and I was too ashamed to tell her what it was. I mean of all the things I would ever lose, it had to be that!

I slowly pushed open the doors, to find all the students in the auditorium talking amongst themselves. Maybe they finished with the auditions already?

I sat down back in my seat, to find Joey and Tristan fighting with each other, Tea looking annoyed as she watched the two fight, and Yugi sitting back with a sweat drop on his face.

"Hey." I said glumly. The others immediately noticed my bad mood. Joey and Tristan even stopped fighting. "… You know, I'm such a horrible person. I mean, I lost that!" I buried my face in my hands out of frustration. "It was the only I had left, and I just had to drop it somewhere!"

"Hey Roxy," Yugi said quietly, and I lifted my head up. "Is this what you're looking for?" And there it was. In his hand. He held it out to me, and I nimbly took it.

"Yeah…" I looked down at the thing I was so worried about. "I can't thank you enough for finding this…"

"You don't need to thank me. I just saw it on the floor, after you went to the roof." Yugi shook his head.

I'm so clumsy! Must have dropped it when I ran out of here… I need to take better care of this…

"You seemed way more worried and thankful on stage…" Joey pointed out, and all I could do was glare. It was true. But…

"I was way too dramatic on stage." I finally said. Liar. I'm just too neutral in real life. An empty shell of my former self. That' all I am anymore… But up on stage… That's as close as I can get to actually feel like my real self.

"What are you holding anyway?" Joey asked, and before I could respond, he grabbed it from my hands, and stood up, examining it.

"Hey, give that back!" I yelled, and tried to reach for it, but Joey held it up high, away from my reach. Ugh, why do I have to be so short?

"A family picture?" Joey blinked. "That's what you were fussing over?"

"Not just any family picture," I jumped and finally grabbed it away from Joey. "The only photo I have of my entire family that's completely intact." Then I looked back towards it, and a sad smile formed on my face. "Well… Mostly intact."

I held the picture out for the gang to see, and they all gathered around it.

It was a picture of my family. Ryan and I stood at the front, and we were grinning. This was one of the only photos that the two of us didn't make any silly faces or weren't fighting. In this picture, I was taller than Ryan.

Our parents stood behind us, smiling. My mom looked like me, but with brown eyes. And my dad looked like Ryan, but with blue eyes. And they towered above us.

Most of the picture was in perfect condition, but the upper right corner was slightly singed.

"So, that's you… Ryan. Your mom. And your dad?" Tea pointed at each face, and I nodded. "You're brother's older than you right?"

"Yeah, by two years." I nodded.

"And he's shorter than you?" Tea asked.

"Yep," This time I looked smug. Me and Ryan always argued about our heights, like who was taller, but I ended up being an inch taller than him anyway. And I was proud of it. "By a whole inch." The rest of the gang sweat dropped.

"Your parents are really tall…" Tristan observed. "Yet you and your brother are midgets?"

"Hey!" I pouted. "Don't insult my height!" Tristan smiled apologetically. But it was true. My mom was 5'8, and my dad was 6'2. And I am not even going to mention how short me and Ryan were.

"How'd this get burned?" Joey asked, pointing to corner.

My smile disappeared. "Lucifer." When he burned the house, most of the pictures just turned into ash. This one was probably the least damaged photo I have.

"Oh…"

We stayed silent for a little bit, staring at the picture. But then Yugi pointed something out to me that I had never noticed before even though I had studied this picture for years. "Hey, Roxy, what's that?"

I blinked, and looked at the spot that he pointed to. And my blood ran cold. There, just near the scorched corner, was a tiniest gleam of yellow. I knew that shade of gold… And just thinking about it sent shivers down my spine. Why would it be..?

I forced myself to look away from the picture. If I kept staring at it, I'd only get nightmares when I'm going to sleep today.

"I…I don't know." I stammered, and quickly pocketed the picture. "L-Let's t-talk a-about something else, o-ok?" I practically begged them. No, I did. "P-please?"

The others seemed shocked at my sudden nervousness, but didn't comment about it.

"Hey Roxy," Yugi said, obviously trying to change the subject. "Do you think your brother's still out there?"

That question caught me off guard, and I blinked, trying to think of the best way to put things. "I honestly don't know anymore… I mean, it's been eight years, and still, no sign of him anywhere… Most likely, he's dead. After all, that's what the people told me. But," I smiled sadly. "I want him to still be out there… And if he is, I'll find him, somehow. But for now, I'm pretty sure that he's gone…" I didn't really want to talk about Ryan anymore. He was a pretty sensitive subject for me. "So, on a happier note, what's going to happen with the play?"

"Well, we're just waiting for them to announce who's in the play, and who's playing what part. Then they're going to hand out the scripts." Tristan explained, and as if on cue, the loudspeakers crackled.

"The results of the audition have been decided. When you exit out the doors, if you're in the play, a teacher will hand you a script, with your character's lines highlighted. So, please, get in a single file line, and walk out the auditorium."


"I'm in?" I flipped through my script, scanning the lines. "I didn't really expect to get a part…"

'Liar…' R snorted. 'You knew you were going to, you just didn't want to get one.' I ignored her.

"Surprisingly we're all in." Tea corrected me.

"Yeah…" When I flipped to the last page though, I almost dropped the script. "Hold on guys, I'll be right back."

I quickly looked around, and spotted the nearest teacher. Running over to him, I held up the script. "Excuse me, sir?"

"Yes?" He turned around, and just to my luck, it was my math teacher.

"Erm… Can I quit?" I asked. "I don't really want to be in the play…"

"Why?" My teacher blinked, confused. "Are you unhappy with your role?"

"Uh…" I tried to think of a good excuse. "My character has too many siblings. It's a bit unrealistic…"

"Is that it?" He seemed unconvinced.

"Well, I just don't really want to have to hug him…" I pointed at the last line, and felt my face turning red.

"You seemed perfectly fine doing it on stage before." The teacher didn't look as if he was going to listen to me.

"But…" I racked my brain for anything that might help. "I didn't really think about it before. I don't feel comfortable doing it a second time…"

"Sorry, once you got the part, there's no turning back." My teacher shrugged. "Oh I forgot, here's some homework from the beginning of the year you missed. It should help you improve a lot." He reached into his briefcase, and pulled out a stack of papers. "It's due next week, ok?"

My eyebrow started twitching, and I felt the weight of the papers when he dropped them in my hands. This is going to be a lot of work… Oh, isn't that just great? "Sure… Thanks and have a nice day…" My teacher just smiled, and walked off.

Great. I tried getting out of hugging Duke, and instead I still have to do it, AND I get an extra stack of work that's due next week. Things just always turn out the way I want, don't they?

Note to self: Never go up to my math teacher and ask for help. He won't help, and I'll get more homework.


School ended, and I had changed clothes, preparing to go watch Joey and Duke duel.

Just as I was about to walk out of the shop, R appeared. 'Roxy…' R tried to poke me. But her hand just passed through my shoulder, which I found a bit… Weird. But she is a spirit after all… 'Wow… You're not wearing your school uniform or your outfit at Duelist Kingdom!'

"I have other clothes you know!" I laughed. It was a pretty simple outfit, a pair of jeans, a white t-shirt, and a green jacket. But as always, the Hourglass dangled from my neck. "I just wanted to wear something different today… I'm getting bored of my same outfit." Then I quickly slung my book bag over my shoulder, and locked the store door behind me.

"Hey guys." I waved at the others as I arrived in front of Duke's game shop. And they were wearing different outfits than usual too.

"Hey!" They chorused. Surprisingly they could always say things at the same exact time.

"So," I turned to the entrance of the game shop. "You ready, Joey?"

"Of course!" He punched his fist into the air enthusiastically, and ran into the shop, half skipping, and singing. "I'm bad, you know it! I'm bad, I'll show it!"

All of us sweat dropped and sighed. Joey was just a bit too confident. I just hope that his pride won't get in his way when he dueled…

When we walked in, we were greeted by one of the employees of the shop. "You're the ones Mr. Devlin has been waiting for? Well, follow me." He led us away to another part of the huge shop, where an elevator awaited us. With a small 'ding' the elevator doors slid open, showing Duke standing in there, wearing some sort of red and black clothes. At his feet was a cardboard box of full orange Duel Monster Card packs.

All of us stepped into the elevator, and the doors shut behind us.

"If you're ready," Duke motioned towards the box. "You can go ahead and pick your packs. Choose wisely."

Joey nodded, and knelt down in front of the box, digging through the packets of cards. Occasionally, he'd open up a pack, and he would always start grinning like an idiot after he saw the contents. He must have got some pretty decent cards. Either that or he was putting up a really good act.

"So did you get any good cards?" Yugi asked.

Joey flashed him a confident smile. "Don't worry, this match is in the bag!"

But I wasn't so sure that it would be that simple… The way Duke stood there, looking so casual and confident in his own mysterious way… I had a feeling that he had something planned.

The elevator stopped, and the doors chimed open.


?Mystery Person

?

I panted, and stopped, looking behind me. I think I lost them…

Then I sighed, and leaned against a wall, sweat dripping from my face. This much running can't be healthy for a person…

The alley seemed so dark, so eerie. But it was a good temporary hiding spot.

'Hey, are you holding out ok?' A persistent voice echoed in my head.

'Not now. They might have sent someone who can see you. We have to keep you a secret for as long as possible.' I replied silently.

Great. It seemed that everything was put against me. Every time I say my name… They seem to find me. It's time I got another name… Dusk … That will do.

I still have to get on that plane and manage to keep two secrets… Not so hard right?

"Well, break's over." I stood up, and started walking back towards the direction I was heading. But I stopped, and winced as a jolt of pain shot up my right leg. Then I kneeled onto the ground, gripping my leg. That hit must have been worse than I thought… Gees, Dusk, pay more attention to your wounds!

"Hey." My pursuer came out of the shadows. "Seems that you're in a bit of a predicament."

I grit my teeth, and glowered. "They only sent one of you this time? Strange, last time they chased me, it was an entire group. But you're not like the rest of them, are you?"

"What do you mean?" He asked, obviously know what I was talking about. But he decided to play dumb.

"You know what I'm talking about. The thing that gave all the others trouble." I glared. "It doesn't work on you."

"Hmm? Well, I was sent to chase after you once… Actually, just a few moments ago, I was one of the many that did. But the others have their own jobs to get taken care of, so I'm the only one here. But, I'm disappointed. I thought you would recognize me, after all, I did give you that awful blow to the leg…" He sighed. "But I guess you're not good with faces, are you? I guess I can't blame you, after all, I forgot your name already…"

My smile faded. I had this told to me before multiple times. Sigh, my horrible memory…"I don't need to remember anybody. None of them are important enough. And my name is none of your concern."

"What about that one person you're about to go visit? Is that person really that significant to you?" He smirked, his voice taunting. "Oh, I forgot. They're not a person. They would be considered a devil."

I felt my blood boil. I knew he was purposely trying to get me angry. But why? I slowly stood up and tried to keep my voice neutral. "That's none of your concern who I want to remember or not."

"Well… It is." He slowly reached into his pocket, and I did the same. "You see, I have more on the line than you ever could."

"Really?" I sneered. "Because I was about to say the same to you." I looked him in the eye. "I actually have friends."

I saw the fire of rage light in his eyes. "You don't know enough about me to conclude that."

"I know enough," This time, I was making him mad. I had found his weakness. And I was going to have fun using it against him, after all the trouble he caused me. "That look of loneliness in your eyes is pretty easy to find, if you look deep enough… You probably don't have family either, am I right?"

The way he glared at me, his clenched fists, breathing that seemed rushed, his shoulders shaking up and down, and his teeth were tightly clenched. Oh, he was definitely ticked. "So what they say is true… You can stare right into a person's soul." Yet his voice remained surprisingly calm. A little too calm. And I noticed he never answered my question.

"I wouldn't call it that." I shrugged. "It's called reading a person's emotions. Pretty simple if you practice and actually pay attention to your surroundings. But you know that's not why the rest of them failed in catching me, right?"

"I know." There was a glint of metal and our weapons clashed.


Author's Notes:

AHHHHHH! I'm sorry! I hate keeping my person a mystery… But I have to. For now. But you are free to guess who 'Dusk' is, or his pursuer, even though I won't tell you if you're right or wrong. Grr, it looks like Dungeon Dice Monsters will take a while… Thanks for reading!