Day 17 (July 23rd). Yin-Yang
The modern day story of light vs dark. A tale of contrasts. Yin-Yang. Today's prompt is all about the conflict of light versus dark.
this focuses on an OC from Clear Skies in 2 different timelines but is not from her POV.
What do you see her as - the world's greatest hero or its most horrifying villain?
She Who Would Be _ _ _
./cycle2107
She clambered into the seat at the bar next to mine.
It was the worst kind of problem, because I'd chosen the seat at the end – the one furthest from the drunken singing, brawling, and laughing. Hell, even the light struggled to reach my corner. Other patrons took up seats at least a couple away from mine.
And I liked it that way.
I stared squarely into my drink. Unless she happened to be dense, the body language enough should've deterred her from interacting with me. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed her shifting in the seat to face me.
Great.
"Kalin Kessler."
I won't look at her no matter what. "If you know my name, you must be with Ramon."
I was a long ways away from where I lived and died my life. That was the only explanation since it was first day here and I signed up for the death duels first thing. Her fingers tapped an unknown song, and she adjusts her black tie. She threw her matching suit coat next to my drink.
"Please don't," she pleaded.
The tone she spoke with drags in my attention. Goddammit. Broke my own rule. She sounded desperate to the point of tears, though, and I was dumb enough to fall for it. Trying my best to keep an unfeeling expression, I said, "What are you talking about?"
The weariness she wore reminded me of the seventy-year-old's I'd seen around here rather than the young woman she was. There was a dark circle like a bruise beneath her right eye. Probably the same for her other, but her eyepatch hid it. She said, "Don't die."
I stared into my drink. She knew? No. She's bluffing. I said, "I'm here to duel."
"You say that every time." I glanced at her. Big mistake. Her face was pinched as though in genuine pain. "You say it. You throw the duel. You die in the mines fast enough to set a new record."
"You- who the hell are you?"
"Someone who believes you have a life worth living," she said. People were starting to turn around and pay attention to their conversation. He debated leaving. That'd draw more heat, though. "You may not see it, but your actions have left positive impacts just as you've left negative. Your legacy is not all evil. You've made choices that have reversed rooted suffering in the Satellite, and Team Satisfaction's food distributions when the team reigned prevented hundreds of deaths. If you never existed, Kalin, more people would be worse off, not better. Are you listening to me?"
I nabbed a toothpick from behind the bar and stabbed between a couple of lower teeth. I missed and hit my gums. Tasting blood, I said, "I hear you. You're wrong."
Her fingers ran through her thick hair, and her forehead banged against the bar. I abruptly straightened. She clenched fistfuls of her own hair near her temples. Her eye was squeezed shut.
"Why doesn't anything I do matter?" she murmured. "Why doesn't anything I do make a difference? Why can't you live? Why can't she live? Can't the world keep going? Why does it always have to end? Why am I the only one able to understand? I can't save- I'm worthless, useless, a dead-end hero-"
"Hey, hey," I muttered. Lots were staring at us. Ugh. Being unlucky enough to attract a crazy was par for the course. Misery loved company, so the same must've been true of insanity. "Why're you panicking?"
"Two thousand times you've died." She choked on the words. "More. It's more than that because you die twice most times. This'll be your second death this timeline, right? I'm sorry. I'm so sorry I can't help and that I'm a failure. You deserve to live and be happy. If only I was better or more convincing or human at all. I can't do anything right."
"You and me both," he said. "You… shouldn't get torn up over my mistakes."
"What you're doing is more than a mistake," she whined. "It's a tragedy."
He threw the toothpick onto the bar. The bouncing item scattered blood droplets. "Cut it out. You don't even know me, and I don't know you."
Her eye locked onto his. Emotion drained from her face, leaving a hollow expression.
"You're right," she murmured. "Just like he said… I have Not Anyone. Not Anyone I know, Not Anyone I understand, and Not Anyone I love. I really am sorry. You won't remember, but-"
The bracelet around her wrist shimmered. She whispered, "I wish it was possible for me to make you realize how valuable you are."
Then, she… vanished.
./cycle3946
The finals of the WRGP have the stadium packed and the crowds ravenous. I was with Team 5D's in their pit beside Team New World's. The air's thick with tension and energy and none of it was hitting me.
I wished it would, goddammit. Would someone throw water at me or slap me or-
"Meklord Emperor Skiel!"
The second of the Bathrobe Squad, the little kid, threw out his ace against Rain. I tried to watch. I really did. The sun's too bright and too warm. My head lowered and eyes shut. I forced myself to sit up straight.
Shit. Sleeping was the worst I could do.
My hand covered my heart, which thumped louder than the roars of the crowd. A fresh scar had formed as a result of a nightmare last night. I hadn't gone back to sleep. Of course I hadn't, but only having an hour at best was wearing on me.
I sat at a bar stool behind the others. I should've been up there like them. Just a quick nap. It was impossible for a dream to fit into the shortest of rests, right? Had to've been.
So. I let myself nod off.
I woke with a start. I expected it to be to cheers at her winning (because, y'know, of course she would). Nah. The place was silent. I was lying face-down on my stomach, too, rather than the sitting spot I'd fallen asleep in.
The series of glass-coated skyscrapers matched New Domino Square. I stuffed my hands in my pockets and watched my reflection walk alongside me. Mist from the bay curled among the buildings. I ducked my head to keep from drawing the eyes of the morning rush.
But they were off. The crowds around the square were statue-still. Their glazed eyes stared ahead unblinking.
My heart palpitated. I hadn't fallen asleep here. This had to be-
I spotted her amidst the crowd. The woman in white watched me like a cat eying a pitiful mouse.
I sprinted through the crowds. My heart hammered against my chest. The strangers' eyes began to focus on me. I shoved them away so I could keep running. Running? What good would that do?
She controlled the nightmare.
The masses began to turn toward me. Their gazes followed me like sharks who'd caught a whiff of blood in the water. The sea of people turned into a tidal wave of zombies shuffling after me.
She appeared in my path. The goddamned smile on her face said she knew everything and I didn't; she had all the power and I had none. The strangers following me had frozen, so I spread my stance and glared at her.
The woman in white leaned on her cane and tilted her head forward. Slices between her bangs revealed her eye and patch. The way her expression thinned her eye transformed it into a second smile.
"A question."
Even her tone was mocking. I said, "Is killing me some kinda fucking game to you?"
She waved her gloved hand through the air as though my concerns were a bothersome insect. "It's simple; I promise. Kalin Kessler, I ask you: if the legions of pieces on a chessboard include ranks up to queen and king, what position does the player controlling them stand in?"
"You're just trying to fuck with me." I stared at my feet and clenched my fists in a stupid, useless attempt at stopping every muscle in my body from shivering. "It's not working."
The heel of my shoe left a mark as I sprinted away. I slammed into a stiff arm. The braindead strangers were surrounding me. I whipped my head around to find a way out. The crowd is thick and suffocating.
"Come now." Her voice resonated from everywhere. No lips moved and not a speck of white was around, but her words boomed like from a loudspeaker. I leapt to my feet and scanned the strangers for her angle of attack. "The one who has the power to control all – from the pawns…"
Each of the hundreds of people grabbed at their faces. I blinked. No. What? I couldn't… understand what I saw. Their faces were gone – no noses, eyes, or mouths. Their heads beneath the hair were masks of veiny flesh. I wanted, more than anything, to look away, to bleach this horrific image from my brain, but, God, the sound.
They had no mouths but they wailed. Christ, they screamed from under their flesh masks with all their vocal cords could muster. Many clawed at the sky in desperation. I covered my ears and stared at my feet with wide, bloodshot eyes. The muffled shouts found a home in my mind.
"…to the bishops…"
An individual stumbled into my circle. He had no face, but I recognized him from his clothes and hairstyle. I clamped my hand over my mouth. My eyes glistened. I reached for him and squeezed his shoulders. "Y-Yusei."
His fleshy mask sliced open in a downward-facing crescent. Black poured from the wound in buckets. I staggered back. He stood still, his arms limp at his sides. I screamed, "Yusei!"
The crooked black frown was the only feature on his new face. Like- it was the bishop chess piece.
"Yusei," I croaked.
"…to the king."
Vertigo left me shutting my eyes and resting my forehead in my palm. I breathed in through grit teeth and observed my new surroundings. The mist had scattered, and the faceless people were gone.
The skyscrapers reflected the all-white sky and earth. A throne served as the square's centerpiece. She sat atop the high back, facing away from me. She spun a glass crown around her finger. Her silver hair rocked back and forth with the movement.
She grabbed the crown between her thumb and forefinger. Cracks formed. She threw her head back so her one eye stared at me. Rather than her typical mocking and amused expression, she showed no emotion.
The crown shattered into a million shards.
"Who is it that governs their each and every action?" she said. "Who is it that guides fate's hand? What role does the chess player fulfill, Kalin Kessler?"
I stepped forward, and my exhale hissed through my teeth. I lowered my head.
And I let myself get angry.
"I don't know who the fuck you are," I said, "but you're sure as shit not Rahlin. You're wearing her suit, the white edition, you've got the eyepatch and the cane, but you're not her. You wouldn't taunt me or torture me. You wouldn't put my friends through this shit. Kill me if you want. S'not like I can stop you. Don't pretend you're her, though. Don't ruin her good name, because that's what it is. Good to your evil."
"Evil?"
There it was again: the damn patronizing smirk. I shouted, "Hell yes! Quit the act. It's impossible for you to be Rahlin's future. You are evil. And uncaring, and horrifying, and a total- you're a-"
"_ _ _"
I rocked back a step. Felt like I'd been punched in the chest. She hadn't moved, though. Her lips had barely opened to speak her word. The world seemed to shake when she'd said it.
"What?" I asked.
"The word you're looking for," she said, "is _ _ _."
An earthquake shattered the white realm. I fell, and ringing filled my ears. I murmured, "The hell?"
Her smile crept up, up, and up until it was too wide for her face. She moved, and-
A hand grabbed my skull and slammed my face against the ground. Dove white concrete burned my cheek. She was on me, her knee digging into my back. Her blue eye blazed. Black slithered from beneath her eyepatch like centipedes trapped beneath the skin of her face.
"The answer," she said, her smile only widening, "is a god."
Collapsing pressure threatened to shatter my skull and crush my gray matter. I screamed and blackness crept in on me and-
I shot awake.
My sweat dripped onto the bar. Team 5D's had defeated Team New World. The massive wave of cheers had awoken me. I stood and scanned the pit. Normal. Everything normal with normal faces because it was all a dream.
I froze.
She was there, lounging atop a bar stool at the back of Team New World's pit.
And she was staring right at me.