Disclaimer: I do not own Revolutionary Girl Utena or Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's.


Chapter 33: The Goodwin Brothers

Utena looked down at the Skeleton Knight with a raised eyebrow. "Father Goodwin is your little brother? Wait a minute. You said when our duel started that you're over five thousand years old. So how come he's still alive and you're a walking skeleton?"

"That is a long story…and one that I will keep as brief as possible since I do not have much time left," the Skeleton Knight began. "It begins over five thousand years ago when Rex and I were only children. We were orphans with nothing but the ragged clothes on our backs. We didn't even have names of our own. As my brother and I learned later, our impoverished parents sold us both not long after we were born to what today might be called a sweatshop so they could have money for themselves.

"We were essentially slaves, given numbers in place of names. My brother and I lived that wretched existence for about twelve years until we finally managed to escape. After that, we wandered from village to village; stealing what food we could in order to survive. Then one day we came to a particular village in a prosperous and fertile valley, and that was when our fortunes changed. On the day we came to that village, one of the local shop owners caught my brother and I trying to steal food from his stand.

"The shop owner was about to beat us mercilessly, until a young woman came to our rescue. She offered to pay for the food we tried to steal, an offer that the shop owner accepted out of great reverence it seemed. It was then when my brother and I learned that the woman was named Ish Kiq Goodwin. She took us in and decided to raise the two of us as her younger brothers, giving us names in the process. I was named Rudger, and my younger brother was named Rex.

"In time, Rex and I learned that Ish was in fact a powerful priestess who brought fortune to the valley, which was why the shop keeper who had nearly beat us to death looked on Ish with such reverence when she saved us. Ish performed these miracles by calling upon Duel Monster spirits to have them use their magic on the land. Rex and I watched Ish performing these arts one day, and when Ish found out that my brother and I could see these spirits she decided to make us her apprentices and have us help her with her work. Rex and I were honored to take on such a task, for we owed Ish everything and had quickly grown to adore her. The three of us lived in happiness for about four years…but then one day, things began to change.

"Ish had started to act differently. At the time, Rex and I were too ignorant of human nature to know that she was acting like a woman in love. Rex and I also noticed that every few nights Ish would leave the house in secret and not come back until morning. One of those nights, Rex's curiosity about Ish's activities ended up getting the better of him, and he insisted to go out and follow her. Since there was no talking my brother out of spying on Ish, I went along with Rex to try and keep him out of as much trouble as I could, and that night we ended up seeing something that shocked us both to the core…"


The full moon was high as Rudger and Rex Goodwin walked quietly through the hills, discretely following their adoptive older sister Ish. To the surprise of the two brothers, the path that Ish had been taking was the one they often took up to the old stone circle where Ish would call upon her spirits to bring fortune to the land. This worked to their advantage though, since it meant that they didn't have to follow Ish too closely and thus increase their risk of being caught.

"It really is strange, isn't it brother?" Rex quietly asked. "What sort of ritual could Ish be performing this late at night? And why wouldn't she involve us?"

"For the hundredth time Rex, we really shouldn't be doing this," Rudger responded in as low a voice as possible. "If Ish wanted us to know what she was doing, she would've told us. Following her like this is a very bad idea."

Rex gave his tan-skinned older brother a large grin. "Come now Rudger. You worry too much. Besides, aren't you just dying to know what Ish is up to?"

Rudger had to admit that he was pretty curious about what Ish could be doing. In truth that was a large part of why he had gone with Rex in the first place, and not just to keep him out of trouble. The two brothers continued up the path for several more minutes. They had long ago lost sight of Ish, but they were still certain that she had gone to the stone circle. It wasn't long before the circle of large stones at the top of the hill came in sight.

Quietly, Rex and Rudger crept up to the top of the hill and peaked around one of the large stones. That was when they saw the last thing they had expected to find. They found Ish all right, totally naked and on her back on the flat altar in the center of the circle. On top of her was a nude man with caramel skin, long bluish-white hair, and very handsome features. The strange man was plowing into Ish as she moaned with pleasure and dug her nails into his back. Her tan skin was glistening with sweat and her long white hair was splayed every which was over the altar's edge.

His eyes wide with shock, Rex was about to cry out when Rudger quickly put his hand over his mouth. Rudger grabbed his younger brother by the back of his shirt and pulled him down the hill away from the stone circle. Eventually the two of them began running through the night and didn't stop until they reached their house. When they finally arrived, the two of them stood by the doorway panting for several minutes trying to catch their breath.

"I…I can't believe it," Rex finally spoke. "Why wouldn't Ish have told us about something like this?"

"It wasn't any of our business, Rex," Rudger replied. "Ish has a right to be involved with any man she chooses."

"But still! Why couldn't she have told us? We're her brothers! Are we not?"

"Ish must have good reason for keeping this man a secret from us! We didn't have any right to go prying. I hate to say I told you so, brother. But I knew that no good would come of following her!"

"So what're we supposed to do now?"

Rudger put a hand on his younger brother's shoulder and looked him in the eye. "We go to bed and pretend that this night didn't happen, that's what! We need to forget everything we just saw! Understand?"

Rex seemed like he was about to protest, but after a few moments finally nodded and went into the house. Rudger followed closely after him, and the two of them finally went to bed. Of course sleep did not come easily to either one of them.


"…Part of the reason why Ish's consort was such a shock to me was that I had started to see her as something other than an older sister," the Skeleton Knight continued. "To this day I still suspect that Rex felt the same way. In any case, Rex and I soon found that our transgression had not gone unnoticed. Early the next morning, Ish had called us in to have a talk…"


Rudger and Rex sat across the table from Ish feeling more shame than either of them had ever felt in their lives. The normally kind eyes of the white-haired priestess who had taken them in and made them part of her family now looked at them sternly. The tense silence that passed between the three of them seemed to go on for an eternity.

At long last, Ish opened her mouth to speak. "Alright you little sneaks, I know you both followed me last night to the Spirit Altar."

This revelation made Rex flinch. "H-how…how did you know?"

Ish blushed a bit and looked away. "My 'friend' saw you out of the corner of his eye as you peaked around the stone and ran off. Honestly! I cannot believe the two of you would do something like this!"

"We're very sorry, Ish!" Rudger declared as he bowed his head. "We know we had no right to follow you like that."

"It was all my idea!" Rex spoke. "If there's going to be a punishment of some kind, punish me alone! Leave Rudger out of it!"

Ish let out a heavy sigh. "I'm not going to punish either of you. I merely want the two of you to understand how wrong it was of you to spy on me like that."

"We promise we won't do anything like that again," Rudger assured her.

"That's right!" Rex agreed. "We know now that we were wrong to do that in the first place!"

Ish sighed again as a small smile came to her face. "Okay. I believe you both. We'll speak no more of this."

"One thing though Ish. You have every night not to tell us if you wish, but…who was that man you were with?" Rex asked.

Ish once again blushed and looked away. "To be honest…I still don't entirely know him. He's a traveler who came to the valley a few weeks ago. I bumped into him one morning while out shopping, and well…he swept me off my feet."

"He sounds…pretty amazing," Rudger remarked with a slight twinge of bitterness in his voice.

Ish nodded. "He's actually pretty knowledgeable about the type of magic I perform. In fact he's helping me learn a ritual to summon a spirit more powerful than anything I've summoned before, one that can make this valley more bountiful than it's ever been in a hundred years."

"That's pretty amazing!" Rex excitedly declared. "Have you tried performing it yet?"

"Not yet. It's more complex than any of the rituals I've learned before. But I think I've almost got it. So Rex, Rudger, when the time comes when I finally have the ritual down, I'd like the two of you to help me perform it."

"We would be honored, Ish," Rudger responded as Rex nodded in agreement.

"Great!" Ish replied as she rose from her chair. "Now, how 'bout I cook us all a big breakfast?"

Rex went a bit pale upon hearing this. "Uh…Ish, that's not necessary. Besides, I believe it was my turn to prepare breakfast this morning anyway."

"Oh nonsense! With what I just put the two of you through, you can just relax and let me worry about the cooking."

As Ish went over to the stove, Rudger and Rex both looked at one another and grimaced. Though Ish was a very skilled priestess, her cooking was incredibly horrible. At that moment, the two of them couldn't help but wonder if this was Ish's way of punishing them for last night.


"…Eventually that day came when Ish asked my brother and I to help her with the ritual her consort had helped her learn," the Skeleton Knight continued. "But that was when everything went wrong. The monster that Ish ended up calling forth was not a goddess of blessing like she had been told, but a horrible demon that brought forth a great blight upon the land. Crops died and even the grass withered away, making the once bountiful valley into a wasteland. But that was only the beginning of the village's misfortune.

"In addition to the death of the crops, a strange sickness swept through the great village and cost the lives of many. The death toll ended up being in the hundreds. The greatest irony of all though was that while the villagers suffered, Ish, Rex and myself were all unaffected by the unspeakable curse we had brought forth…and it was that exemption from the curse was what caused the villagers to turn on Ish. One morning, a mob came to our house to take Ish away and burn her as witch. Ish forced Rex and I to flee before the villagers could take us all.

"Rex and I of course wanted to stay and fight, but Ish knew it was a fight we couldn't win. Ish ordered us to leave her, and it was not an order we could not refuse. My brother and I made it to the far edge of the village…where we saw the smoke of the fire they were using to burn Ish rising to the heavens!"

It was here that Utena noticed that the Skeleton Knight's boney arms were trembling. In fact it seemed to the pinkette that the undead duelist was on the verge of crying. As much as Utena hated the Skeleton Knight for what he had done to her friends, she couldn't help but feel sorry for him.

After a few moments, the Skeleton Knight regained his composure. "It was during this time…that Rex and I ended up formally meeting the man who had doomed Ish and who would eventually lead us both down the path to damnation…"


All Rudger could do was look on in horror at the smoke that was rising from the village. He knew that they could only be burning one thing…or rather one person. All Rudger wanted to do at that moment was to rush back down into the village and rescue Ish from the flames, but he knew that such a thing was beyond his power.

Next to Rudger, Rex watched the smoke and fell to his knees. "How…how could they? For years, Ish brought those people nothing but blessings…and this is how they repay her?"

Rudger glanced over at his brother. "Rex…"

"Those bastards!" Rex cursed as he punched the ground with his fist. "How could they do this to Ish? Sure we screwed up with that ritual, but that was all just a big mistake! And for that, they call her a witch and burn her out of revenge?"

"That unfortunately is human nature," a voice interrupted. "A person can act with virtue and kindness all their lives, but for one minor sin the people can turn on them and revile them as a demon. People are far more prone to punish than to forgive."

Rudger and Rex looked back to see an exotic and handsome-looking man with long bluish-white hair, clad in a long-sleeved red shirt that was unbuttoned at the top to show off his bare chest, and long black pants. The brothers instantly recognized this stranger as the one who they saw Ish with that fateful night. Standing next to the stranger was a young woman clad totally in a burgundy hood and cloak that made it impossible to see her face.

Rudger became filled with anger upon seeing the stranger. "You! You're the one who brought this tragedy upon us! If you hadn't tried teaching Ish that ritual, none of this would've happened!"

"And for that, you have my deepest apologies," the stranger replied with a look of sadness. "I thought I was teaching Ish the ritual to bring forth the goddess, Northwemko. But instead it seems I taught her the ritual to summon her opposite, the demon king Garlandolf. Nothing I can do or say can make up for this mistake."

As Rudger looked into the stranger's emerald eyes, he found that he believed his words. He seemed sincerely devastated by Ish's execution.

At the moment, Rex rose to his feet. "You've got a lot of nerve showing your face to us after the way you've ruined our lives! Why don't you just leave?"

The stranger nodded. "I will leave if you wish, but I wanted to give you both an offer to try and make up for the mistake I made. What if I told you that there was a way to undo everything that has happened here today?"

"You speak nonsense!" Rudger declared. "Nothing you do can bring Ish back!"

"Hold it Rudger!" Rex interrupted as he held up his hand. "As outrageous as it sounds…I actually somehow believe this man. Plus he seems to know a great deal about the mystical arts; far more than Ish ever did it seems. Let's at least hear him out."

After a moment, Rudger nodded for the stranger to continue, though he had many doubts about what he was going to hear.

"There exists in the heavens a fortress known as Seibal," the stranger began. "It was once a great kingdom five thousand years ago, until a tragedy befell it and it was pulled from the land. But within that fortress there exists a great power that can grant any wish imaginable, a power that can revolutionize the very world itself. You can use that power to bring Ish back."

"And how do we gain this power?" Rex asked.

"Unfortunately the road to Seibal is not easy. Certain rituals must be performed over a great deal of time. The first one will need more than the three of us. As it happens, I am on a pilgrimage to gather young men such as you two to train as Diak Ums, Duels Priests. If you are successful in the rituals to come, the power to bring back Ish…or to change this very world itself…can be yours. What do you say?"

Rudger looked to his young brother. "What do you think?"

"Well…we have nowhere else to go now," Rex pointed out. "And honestly, I would give my very soul to bring Ish back to us. Surly you feel the same way, brother."

After a moment, Rudger nodded. "Very well. Let's do it, brother! Together we'll bring back Ish and bring back the lives we had before!"

Rex nodded and turned back to the stranger. "By the way, Ish never told us your name."

The stranger smiled. "You can call me End of the World."


"…And thus my brother and I followed End of the World as he went on his pilgrimage across the land, gathering many more students to become Diak Ums," the Skeleton Knight continued. "When enough of us had been gathered, End of the World trained us all. Time passed, and when everyone's training had been completed, End of the World divided us into two groups. Thus began the ritual tournament to crown the King of Sky's Lock, the first step on the road to Seibal. I ended up in the bracket that would name the High Priest of the Northern Sky, while my brother ended up in the bracket to name the High Priest of the Southern Sky. At the end of it all, the Priests of the Northern and Southern Skies would face each other for the title of King of Sky's Lock.

"The riding duels that followed were merciless. But in the end, both my brother and I triumphed and made it to the final round of the ritual tournament. Though we were against each other, it didn't matter to us who won. We had vowed that the winner would use the power in Seibal to bring back Ish."

"What happened to the people who lost in this tournament of yours?" Utena asked.

Here the Skeleton Knight let out a bitter chuckle. "That is a good question. Originally I believed that those who lost the tournament had simply been sent home by End of the World. But one night, I learned the horrible truth from a very unexpected source…"


Rudger was suddenly wakened in the middle of the night by the sound of someone loudly whispering his name. The sound of the voice was so shockingly familiar that it caused him to shoot up in bed, only to find that his room in End of the World's castle to be totally empty. Rudger was about to try going back to sleep when he heard the whisper again. The voice this time was coming from out in the hall, and once again Rudger felt that it was incredibly familiar. Rudger remained still for a few moments and the voice called him again, more urgently this time.

After the third call, Rudger practically jumped out of bed and burst out into the hall. When he looked to his left, he saw the transparent form of a woman in a long brown cloak looking at him for a split second before walking away. Rudger saw the phantom woman's long white hair and knew instantly who it was.

"Ish…" Rudger whispered.

Rudger quickly realized that the phantom of Ish wanted to lead him somewhere, so he followed her down the hallway as quickly as he could. It was proving difficult to follow Ish's ghost. Rudger ended up losing sight of her many times, but she would reappear waiting for him at various doors and passageways before dashing off again. The ghost ended up leading to a space underneath the castle. Rudger had never been down the particular passageway, so he had no idea where he was going.

Eventually Rudger's chase came to an end, and when he reached the space underneath the castle Ish's ghost vanished. What he saw after Ish was gone though stunned him. Beneath the castle seemed to be some sort of massive graveyard. Rudger took a look at some of the grave markers and found that he recognized each and every one of the names. They were the names of all of the other Duel Priests he had fought in the ritual tournament.

"Rather inconvenient for you to have found this place," a familiar voice spoke. Rudger turned around and saw End of the World leaning in the doorway he had just come through. "Then again, I suppose it makes no difference at this point."

"Is this what I think it is?" Rudger asked. "Are these the graves of everyone I've defeated so far?"

"Did you really think I simply sent the defeated home? Many of them had no homes to go back to anyway. Those who lost were made sacrifices used to provide energy for the ritual. They are the seeds of the flowers that shall bloom at the world's end. It's an honor really. Besides, if I hadn't found them, they would've remained pieces of human trash."

"Is that what my brother and I are to you? Disposable pawns that you can simply throw away?"

"Not at all. You and Rex have proven to be fairly special, just as I thought you'd be when I first found you all those years ago when you lived with Ish."

Just then, a horrible realization dawned upon Rudger. "It can't be…you deliberately taught Ish the ritual that brought forth that demon, didn't you? All so that you'd get Rex and I to take part in your game!"

"I needed you both to take part somehow. And Ish's death gave you both an added motivation."

"Well I've had it! I'm not taking part in your game any more!"

"You have no choice, Rudger. Tomorrow morning, you and Rex will duel to decide who shall be the King of Sky's Lock. If you do not, then it is within my right to select a winner by default. The one who forfeits will instantly be executed as a sacrifice."

"Fine! Then burn me to ash or whatever it is you plan to do! I'm done with this!"

"Ah! But what if I decided to make you the winner, regardless of your feelings? That would mean that Rex would be the sacrifice. I know you too well Rudger. You'd never let your only brother die in such a way. But of course, the decision is ultimately yours. I'll give you the night to think it over."

With that, End of the World left the grave chamber. Rudger watched him leave as his hands balled into fists at his sides.


"…In the end my hands were tied," the Skeleton Knight continued. "I could not allow End of the World to simply sacrifice Rex. So I took part in the duel. My only hope was to somehow bring the duel to a draw, which perhaps might've ruined the ritual. At the same time I tried to reason with Rex and tell him what was really going on. Unfortunately, his lust for that power hidden up in Seibal was far greater than expected…"


It was early in the morning as Rudger and Rex raced against each other on horseback outside the castle as End of the World watched from his throne. The young woman in the burgundy hood and cloak had been watching the duel at End of the World's side. Ever since the duel started Rudger had been playing defensively, and it was starting to get on Rex's nerves.

"I've had it brother!" Rex protested. "When are you going to take this seriously?"

"Rex! You do not know what is truly at stake here!" Rudger told him. "The loser of this duel shall lose his life!"

"…I know. I found that out long ago, brother."

Rudger had been completely stunned by Rex's answer. "Then you know we can't possibly go through with this! Brother killing brother? You know it isn't right! The power of Seibal isn't worth such a cost!"

"And thus you reveal to me how truly weak you are! Because I am willing to do whatever it takes to gain the power that this ritual promises! Even getting rid of you! I now harmonize the life force of the five monsters I've called forth to summon the dragon who rules the heavens!"

One of the five angelic monsters that had been flying after Rex's horse changed into two green rings of light. The rings encircled the other four monsters and transformed them into eight white stars.

"Heaven! Fate! Principle of all phenomena! Ride the spinning wheel of heaven and manifest here!" Rex chanted. "Synchro Summon! The celestial conqueror! Ascension Sky Dragon!"

The stars flashed and became a pillar of blinding white light that shot upward into the heavens. After a few moments the light faded to reveal a gigantic white serpentine dragon with green eyes. Covering the top of its head was a large crest with a single blade on top, and growing beneath this crest was a mane of long spiked golden hair. Growing from the dragon's shoulders like pieces of armor were several large wing-like fins. It had two long arms ending with powerful six-fingered hands, and from each of its forearms grew two large white wings.

"Goodbye, brother!" Rex spoke. "I will bring you back along with Ish when I gain the power of Seibal! Sky Dragon! Attack him directly and end this! Ultimate Ascending Wave!"

The white dragon roared and projected a massive blast of white light from his body. The blast struck both Rudger and his horse, burning them both to a crisp. Rudger reached for his brother before everything went dark.


"…And thus was the end of my life as a human," the Skeleton Knight continued. "Rex became the King of Sky's Lock, and doing so he gained the unnaturally long life that End of the World possessed. The two of them are currently immortal, and will remain so until the final ritual is completed. As for me, my soul would not cross over into the world beyond. My determination to thwart End of the World and save Rex from himself caused my soul to cling to my dead body, reanimating it in the form you see before you. I had become a lich, and had gained the powers of darkness to aid me in my quest."

"I have to admit, I feel kinda bad for you," Utena spoke. "But that doesn't excuse how you used my friends!"

"Indeed. In that respect I am no better than End of the World," the Skeleton Knight admitted. "Hate me if you wish, but I had no other choice but to do what I did to stop that man's evil and save my brother, whether that was by killing the Rose Bride or finding a hero like you. The important thing is that I succeeded in the latter. Now that you are the King of Earth's Lock, you have a chance at ending this madness."

"There's just one thing I don't get. How come it took over five thousand years to begin this selection for the King of Earth's Lock?"

"The stars must be aligned in a certain way for both rituals to work. A third alignment was also needed in order for Mikage to open the gate to this track underneath Seibal forty years ago. The alignments for the selection rituals are five thousand years apart."

Utena let out a heavy sigh. "I guess that makes sense, even though the whole thing is crazy. Then again, here I am talking to a living skeleton."

"I will not be 'alive' as you call it for much longer," the Skeleton Knight revealed as he reached for his duel disk with a trembling arm. "Your victory over me broke the spell binding my soul to my bones. I cannot linger in this world for much longer. So as my last act, I give you this."

With that, the Skeleton Knight pulled a card from his deck and held it before Utena. Hesitantly, Utena took the card from his boney fingers.

"Rex will have a strategy in place to try and thwart you from using the true power of the Sword of Dios," the Skeleton Knight revealed. "That card should allow you to foil that strategy. Though I wouldn't blame you for tossing that card away after all that I have done to you, I advice that you hold onto it. And now…I have one last request to beg of you, Prince Utena. Defeat End of the World…and save Rex from the shadows."

Suddenly the Skeleton Knight collapsed into a pile of bones and tattered rags, with his duel disk and helmet falling to the edge of the pile. Utena looked down at the pile and found that she was filled with conflicting emotions.

"Are you okay Lady Utena?" Anthy asked.

"Yeah. I guess I just can't decide if the Skeleton Knight was really a good guy or a bad guy," Utena answered. "Given the way that End of the World used him and threw him away though, I guess I can't really blame him for doing what he did. End of the World's the real enemy in all of this."

"…It really has grown late Lady Utena. Perhaps we should return to the dorms now."

"Yeah. Good idea. I'm totally beat. You know there is one thing that doesn't quite add up though. The Skeleton Knight mentioned that End of the World had some girl with him. I wonder who she was?"

Anthy looked down almost as if in shame. "…No idea. But does it really matter now?"

Utena shrugged and stretched her arms. "Guess not. Well, let's get out of here Anthy. Looks like tomorrow I'm going to have to have a talk with Father Goodwin."


In the air not far above the track, Rudger's spirit looked down and saw Utena and Anthy heading back to the elevator together. He then looked away and saw the pile of bones that was what was left of his body.

Rudger sighed. "I hope I've done enough."

"I think you did very well," a familiar voice spoke.

Rudger turned around and saw Ish hovering before him. Her gentle smile brought a tear to his eye. "Ish! Have you been watching over me all this time?"

"Of course I have. I've been waiting for you, and for Rex," Ish answered.

"I don't see how you could've stood to be in my presence, given what sort of monster I became," Rudger responded as he came over and took Ish's hands. "Utena had every right to despise me, as do you now."

Ish shook her head. "Nonsense. You did what you had to in order to try and make things right, and I know that in your heart you hated doing it."

"I just hope all I've done was enough."

"I think it might be," Ish replied as she looked down towards Utena. "That girl has a strong heart. I think she may just be able to save Rex, and maybe even defeat that man. Though…it will depend a lot upon whether or not she can remember what she's forgotten."

"What she's forgotten?" Rudger asked with a raised eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

Ish smiled and shook her head. "We've done all that we can Rudger. The rest is up to that girl. But I have a hunch that she may indeed be the true successor to the Rose Prince."


Author's Note: While this was kind of a fun chapter to write, it ended up being more of a challenge to write than I first thought it'd be. This version of Rudger and Rex's backstory is based on their backstory from the 5D's manga, with one or two little added details and of course some major alterations. The two hardest parts to writing this chapter were figuring out how to work in "End of the World" and how Ish would meet her end. Incidentally, the two monsters that End of the World mentioned in this chapter, Northwemko and Garlandolf are two Ritual Monsters that came out during the 5D's era. Of course I didn't pick those two monsters as the ones for Ish's ritual simply because they came out during the 5D's era, they were simply the first monsters that came to mind when I tried thinking of Duel Monster spirits that could bring either a great blessing or a terrible curse to the land.

Please review and let me know what you think.