Author's Note Part 1: Thanks goes to iloveyugiohGX93, Ulrich362, mcdinh, SignerStardust, and Doccy Larsson Seraphim for reviewing the previous chapter! Aaaaaaand now I'm going to go over into this corner and cry. Joseph's taking over.

Joseph's Note Part 1: Hi guys! Long time no see! Haha…

So, according to Shim, this chapter is SUPER depressing. *Points at Shimmering-Sky, whom is in the fetal position in a corner and bawling incessantly* That doesn't bother me, 'cause I can turn off my sadness emotions at will. …Hm… I wonder how bad it'll be when they turn back on…?

Ah well. Shimmering-Sky doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh 5Ds, but she totally owns her OCs. Enjoy…? In some morbid sense…?

***This chapter is brought to you by Reminiscence ~ Tragic Memories (one of, if not the saddest songs in a video game we've ever heard), from Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies***

Chapter 52

"Do you see now? All of the worlds you destroyed… including your own…" Crimson says. "All of them, snuffed out by the power of those abominations."

Crow doesn't say anything. Our mother seems upset. I'm crying. Father… his face is unreadable.

"This isn't… This isn't what I wanted…" Goodwin mutters.

"The road to destruction is oft paved with good intentions, yes? Although… yours were not truly 'good' intentions," the dragon says.

The pain is even more evident on his face now. "No, I suppose they weren't…"

Right. He said that he had his own reasons to want the Crimson Dragon dead… Those definitely aren't good intentions. I choke back some tears. "Father… what was it that you wanted?"

"The Crimson Dragon dead, as I said to you during our duel," he replies bitterly.

"No… I mean… Why did you want her dead? You said you had reasons…"

He stiffens, purposefully looking away from me now. It's obviously a touchy subject… but I have to know. The reason for him hating Crimson with a passion… Mother seems to know it too, judging by the look on her face as she holds his hand.

But I won't push it… That would be rude. The place sinks into silence.

"Silence isn't really an answer guys," Crow suddenly says. "Seriously Dad, what's your reason for wanting to kill Crimson?"

"Yes… I must admit, I would like to know as well," the dragon adds. Because for whatever reason, she doesn't know why he would want her dead.

Goodwin's head tilts down, and shadows obscure his eyes. "…You try growing up in a home where your parents don't want you, simply because you weren't a Signer like your older brother. Then, when you have children of your own, your parents try to take them from you because they are Signers too."

…Huh? But Uncle Roman wasn't… wait, yes, he was a Signer. A-And… were my grandparents really that heartless?

"I even tried to put aside my hatred and help your Signers, Crimson… but my reward was nothing but contempt and death," he adds after a short pause.

"Ah… Then, you do not necessarily hate me… rather, you always viewed things related to me in a dark light…"

"Mm… perhaps. I know now that my anger was misguided, but what good does that do now?"

Yeah… what good does it do when everything we knew and loved was destroyed?

"Father…" My heart pangs as I close my eyes. "If… If it's your fault that this happened, then it's mine too!"

"What do you mean…?" He shakes his head. "No, of course it wasn't your fault! All the blame falls to me…"

"Nothing would have happened if I didn't use my own Crimson Immortal, though," I say. "I could have won still… there was a way for me to keep stalling… and I could have used Earthbound Immortal Dai Aurelius to gradually get rid of the rest of your Life Points. Not only that, but I should have used Daigusto Tornado Dragon's abilities and negated your Crimson Immortal's effects. That… That way, you wouldn't have continued to get them…" I hang my head, my shoulders drooping. "It's my fault they're dead too…"

No one says anything for a long time. I guess they can't argue with my logic.

"Actually, that is not entirely true," a feminine voice says quietly. Dai Aurelius is awake now—the only one of the Immortals and Dragons to do so. "I was the one who gave you those cards… and pushed you to play that Crimson Immortal. If you are to place the blame on anyone, place it on me."

…I hadn't thought of it like that… B-But… it's still my fault. I was the one who ended up using it. I… I destroyed all those worlds… I don't deserve to live… not if it means knowing all those deaths were my fault.

SMACK.

I let out a muffled shout of pain, a hand flying to my cheek. It stings… who hit me…?

"Angel, snap out of it!" Crow says, his voice raised slightly. He has tears in his own eyes, and he blinks them away as soon as I lock eyes with him. He grabs me by the shoulders, adding, "It's not your fault… I-It's… Why do we even have to place the blame on someone? 'S not like it matters now!"

My vision blurs as I let my arms droop to my sides. "Maybe it doesn't matter to you… but you aren't part of the reason everything was destroyed. That's why… That's why we're placing the blame. I… ggck… how can you even stand to be near me?"

To be near a murderer…?

To be near a world-destroyer…?

I have the blood of so many people on my hands…

"Because… Because you're my sister! Nothing could change the fact that I love you! Not even this!"

Crow… oh, Crow… I close my eyes, but the tears keep flowing. For everything that's happened… For all the tragedy this war has caused… For my broken, messed-up life…

XXX

I don't know how much time passes before someone says something next. It seems like it was an eternity, just the four of us—mother, father, son, and daughter—hugging it out and sharing our sorrow, the Crimson Dragon remaining silent the whole time, Dai Aurelius trying to wake up the others.

The only survivors of this chaos…

Father clears his throat, the fact that he came up with some idea clearly written on his face. "The power… of the Crimson Immortals… W-Would it be possible…?" His eyes narrow, and he frowns. "No… maybe not…"

"What are you rambling about, darling?" my mother asks.

Especially if it has something to do with the Crimson Immortals…

"I… I thought… Maybe…" He swallows. "The two of them fighting caused this mess… but if we combined both of them… could that fix everything…?"

"No. It absolutely would not," Crimson says without any hesitation. "That would only succeed in creating one world… completely different from any other that existed before this destruction…"

"I see…" Goodwin says disdainfully.

"Though… there is one way it could work," the dragon says after a moment of silence. "If I put my own power into the fusion, then there would be enough energy to distort reality once again, returning all of the worlds back to the state they were in before… However…"

Oh god, no, don't let there be a "however"…

"I cannot control the energy involved in the fusion. Two of you—one Signer and one Dark Signer—would have to do so. If you do this… you will die."

Of course. Of course the however means someone has to die. Not just one of us, though. Two have to die… N-No… Either Father or Mother… and either Crow or myself… One Signer and one Dark Signer

My stomach ties itself into knots, and my chest tightens. I have to be one of them, I realize. I have to be the Signer that dies. It's only right… After all, I caused this mess… and Crow's innocent. I would never be able to live with myself if I caused the apocalypse and my own brother's death.

"I'll do it…" I choke out. My voice is barely above a whisper. "I'll—"

"Hell no!" Crow interrupts me. "No way I'm letting you do this, Angel!"

"But Crow—"

"No buts! No… No buts… I…" My brother sinks to his knees, his eyes glazing over. "I don't want to die, but if it means you get to live, I'll do it."

It's my turn to grab Crow by the shoulders. "Crow… you know I can't let you do that. It's… I wouldn't be able to live in a world where my brother died to fix a mess I helped create."

"But… But… You have so much more to live for! You… You'll have Toby and… and whichever one of our parents doesn't die. Me? Alice is dead, and I don't remember either of our parents. Not like you do, Angel…"

He makes a good point… "I'm sorry, Crow, but it really has to be me." I offer him a warm smile. "It's going to be alright."

He shakes his head fervently, tears streaming down his face. "No, no, it's not going to be alright! If you're gone… I don't know… what I would… I… What am I going to do when you're gone, Angel?!"

"You'll… You'll live," I say. "You have to go home… Tell everyone about what happened here. So that… nothing like this happens ever again."

"No… but…"

"Crow," our mother says quietly. Though tears stain her cheeks, she maintains a smile. She wipes away some of Crow's tears with her hand. "There, now. There's no need to cry. Everything will be fine."

Crow shakes his head again. "Didn't you hear me talking to Angel?! It's not fine, and it will never be fine! Why… just… Why does it have to be me or her…?" And he fully breaks down into sobs, head buried in Mother's shoulder as she strokes the back of it.

I wish… I wish there was some other way too, Crow. I really don't want to die either… but if it means fixing this…

A hand rests on my shoulder. I look up, staring into grey eyes that look a lot like my own. "Father… You're… the Dark Signer sacrifice, aren't you?"

"Yes," he replies. "Same reason as you, I suppose. Though, I also have two more… Your mother does not deserve to die a second time, so soon after coming back. And…" Goodwin looks away. "I've been the cause of so much more strife. I don't deserve to live…"

"…" I swallow, and avoid replying to that. I know it's true—that he's caused a lot more pain than just the end of the world. My mind wanders to a different thought: the choice has been made… and now we have to say goodbye.

I… I don't want to say goodbye. Not to my brother or my mother. They… They really don't deserve this. And… And I guess I'd have to say goodbye to my father, too, even though we're both going to die…

An eerie calm makes its way into my feelings. I know… I know what I'm going to say.

"Mother…" I'll start with her. When she looks up at me, my heart wrenches. "M-Mom… I…" Where'd that calm go? I take in a staggered breath. "I'm glad I got to see you again… even if it hasn't been long… and it's been full of destruction."

She chuckles a little. "It's alright… I'm glad I got to see you as well. For… however short a time."

I smile back at her, but it quickly vanishes. Crow. I… I have to say goodbye to him now. "Crow…"

Crow lets go of our mother, drying his eyes with his sleeve. He practically glares at me. "Don't. Don't you dare…!"

"Crow, don't say anything. Just listen to me." I swallow again, trying to take my mind off of the burning feeling in my throat. "I'm afraid… this is… This is goodbye."

"But—"

"I said don't say anything, Crow. Plus, you're the one who said no buts." When I'm certain he'll remain silent, I continue. "I'm sorry I can't stay… Please, know that I'll miss you every day when I'm gone. And… And… that you're the best brother a girl could ever ask for." I can't keep the tears in anymore. "I… I need you to do something for me."

"Anything," he replies immediately. "I'll do anything you need me to do."

I grip at my chest, my eyes closing. "I want you to tell Toby… T-Tell him… I'm sorry… and that… he deserves to be happy… so don't mourn my death for too long." And if the others do come back… "And… tell the others, i-if they come back… Tell them my last thoughts were of them, okay?"

He nods slowly.

Good… That's… good. "Crow… you'll smile for me, won't you? I don't want that precious smile of yours to go away when I'm…" I can't. I can't say it, or anything else. The tightness in my throat is too strong.

"P-Promise…" he mutters.

I turn to my father. He seems just as upset as I am, but isn't crying. I open my mouth to say something to him… I can't form the words. Nothing… Nothing I could say would do this moment justice. I just give him a small nod.

It's time.

"You two are the sacrifices, then?" Crimson asks.

"Yes…" Goodwin says. I just nod.

"Are you ready, then?"

A standard Duel Disk appears on my left arm, a similar one appearing on my father's right. He has one card, I have two. The Crimson Immortals… and Super Polymerization. I narrow my eyes, and we both put our monsters onto the Duel Disk. The two humanoid fusions of Dragon and Immortal appear before us.

This… This is really happening… I'm really going to die… for everyone else to live…

So be it. These worlds will live on… to a better future…

Yusei… Jack… Leo… Luna… Akiza… I hope you can come back. Same for the Dark Signers… Alice… Kalin… Mia… Misty… Roman… Ayame… even the others like Yuu…

I hope all of you live happy lives.

My dad grabs my hand, squeezing it tightly.

I take a deep breath—my last.

"Quick-Play Spell activate! Super Polymerization!"

To be continued…

Joseph's Note Part 2: That… was supposed to be super depressing? The ending kinda ruined it… and there was way too much dialogue… and the words "don't" and "but" were used, like, a million times.

Author's Note Part 2: Don't criticise it! It WAS super sad! I nearly started crying during English while writing it!

Joseph's Note Part 3: *Sticks tongue out* This chapter was BARELY depressing! Seriously, it was a disappointment. I thought you were better than this, Shim!

Author's Note Part 3: Wait for it…

Joseph's Note Part 4: Ah… Anyways, please revi—WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! *Collapses into a puddle of his own tears*

Author's Note Part 4: And his sadness emotions kicked back in. Serves him right. *Sniff* P-Please… review?