A/N: WELP HERE WE ARE AGAIN, GUYS!

I really need to stop listening to songs that have really depressing lyrics. This time it was the English fancover of the song "Bad Apple!", from the Touhou series. Well, specifically JubyPhonic's version because that's the first one I listened to (although I'm pretty sure all of them use the same lyrics). I actually started this awhile ago, but I got Pokemon Moon and all of my free time went to beating that, but I digress.

…I swear, my muses want me to be known as the writer that filled this fandom with angsty FusedShipping stories, just like Corinne and Donjusticia are known for filling the fandom with parodies and fluff.

PREPARE YOUR TISSUES.

(I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V or Bad Apple!)

Ever on and on I continue circling

With nothing but my hate in a carousel of agony

Till slowly I forget and my heart starts vanishing

And suddenly I see that I can't break free—

"Odd-Eyes! Attack Ignition Beast Volcannon!"

It was an accident. An accident. I was careless, I got lost in the excitement of the Duel. I just couldn't help myself. Odd-Eyes had been lost too, because my dragons and I always work in sync. Now the stadium is completely silent other than the pained groans of my opponent as he clutches his shoulder. I see the blood spilling out from under his fingers.

This, this isn't right. Real Solid Vision shouldn't do this. I shouldn't cause this. He's—God, why is there so much blood? Isn't someone going to help him?

…Wait…

…that sound…

I swallow the bile in my throat and manage to tear my eyes away from my opponent. And I hear the cheers. Cheers, not booing. Cheers for me, for what I did. I… I don't understand, I hurt him. That's not something you're supposed to cheer for.

But… they're all smiling as they chant my name, and those smiles are the reason I've Dueled ever since Ray first shared the "Duels with smiles" philosophy with me. I've been looking for something more to add to my act, since I could tell not everyone was happy while watching me Duel. Now, everyone I can see is smiling. Is this what I've been looking for all this time?

I'm slipping through the cracks of a dark eternity

With nothing but my pain and the paralyzing agony

To tell me who I am, who I was

Uncertainty enveloping my mind

Till I can't break free

(This isn't right.)

With a smile on my face, I watch as my opponent is carried out on a stretcher, his head having to be held in place for fear of more damage being done to his mind. The cheers are just as loud if not louder as they were when I first hurt my opponent in a Duel, and I soak them in like I always do. I bow to the audience. Another successful Duel, another stadium full of smiles.

Except… I look up at Odd-Eyes Dragon, just before his hologram disappears, and I can feel nothing but sorrow and anger from my precious friend. My chest feels like it's on fire as I try to reach out to him, only to have him force me back. A similar reaction occurs when I try to reach out to my other friends.

I stare at their cards. Odd-Eyes. Dark Rebellion. Clear Wing. Starve Venom. They've been my only friends throughout my entire life… If they're hurting, I want to help, but I can't even tell what's wrong with them.

("Duel Monsters aren't tools for war. They just want to have fun!")

I frown as Ray's words from so long ago echo in my mind. That's not what this is. I am Dueling for fun and smiles. I would never think of cruelly using my cards to fight others. This—this is different! It has to be!

(Except it's not, and I know it's not. But I can't stop.)

And maybe it's a dream; maybe nothing else is real

But it wouldn't mean a thing if I told you how I feel

So I'm tired of all the pain, all the misery inside

And I wish that I could live feeling nothing but the night

Ray pulls me aside after one of my Duels, before the reporters can swarm me for the rest of the afternoon. She's upset, and I can't stand it. I haven't seen her smile in months—and there's nothing more beautiful than that smile. I try to pull her close, but she pushes me away and stares at me with those sad eyes.

"Zarc, you have to stop this," she says, tightly holding one of my hands.

"Wha—? What do you mean?" I ask. Her grip on my hands makes me want to squirm. I've never felt that before.

She looks like I slapped her, the sadness slipping into shock. "What do I mean?! Isn't it obvious? You can't keep hurting those people, Zarc! It isn't right!"

(I knew it. I knew it, but I never said anything.)

I can't voice my deep thoughts. I'm Zarc, the Demon Duelist as my fans have taken to calling me, and I can't turn back now. I ignore the twist in my gut as I reply, "It's been months, Ray. Don't you think someone would have told me to stop by now if it was wrong? But no one has, and—and I'm still entertaining the audience. They're still smiling. Isn't that what I'm supposed to do? Make them smile with my Duels?"

(I don't mean it. I don't want to do this either. Please, Ray. Make me listen to you. Help me!)

She doesn't hear what I really mean. She leaves in tears, as I chase after her, all the way back to her house. She disappears inside and slams the door behind her. I pound on it, yelling, crying, desperately hoping she'll answer, until my arms ache and my throat is too raw for words.

Ray… isn't going to help me. She… she left me, she abandoned me.

("What do you say, Zarc? Friends forever?")

("Y-Yeah. Friends.")

("Then let's pinkie-promise on it!")

I should have expected this. I'm always the one that gets cast aside, no matter how many times I try to get close to others. I thought it was alright to let Ray in, but apparently I was wrong. The only friends who've never left me are my cards…

It's in that moment that I hear my dragons, for the first time in ages. They cry in tandem with the inner depths of my heart—they cry for action. They cry for revenge, against the people that just take and take and take until there's nothing left.

Not yet. I'm not strong enough yet.

You can tell me what to say; you can tell me where to go

But I doubt that I would care, and my heart would never know

If I make another move there'll be no more turning back

Because everything will change and it all will fade to black

"Is that it? Is there no one else who will fight me?" I demand, my opponents unconscious before me. With this win, I stand at the top of the entire world. It's still not enough. "I am not yet satisfied! I want to fight stronger and more fiercely!"

My audience chants my name, and many of them scream that they, too, want more. Like they always do. But I'm tired of giving, and getting nothing in return. I'm tired of trying to satisfy their need to watch me fight, because they're never satisfied.

It's time.

"Okay! That voice is my and my monster's power! If you guys wish it, we become strong! Strong enough to destroy the world! So we will continue to fight! Just as you guys want it!"

My four dragons appear before me, and the stadium goes quiet for a moment as they try to figure out what I'm going to do. I doubt that any of them know that. My lips curl into a feral smile as I allow my friends to release all of their pent-up rage upon the crowd. Their screams tear through the air, but I won't stop.

This is what they wanted, after all. Isn't it?

Will tomorrow ever come? Will I make it through the night?

Will there ever be a place for the broken in the light?

Am I hurting? Am I sad? Should I stay, or should I go?

I've forgotten how to tell. Did I ever even know?

I walk through the ruins of the city I once called home, half-burnt corpses strewn across my path. They thought they could put an end to me—me, a monster they helped create. But while they put up a fight like cornered rats, enough to leave me with a handful of scrapes on my arms, there was just no way they could beat me.

My arm stings, and I press my other hand to it, only to find that it's bleeding. The sticky substance is all over my glove now. Tch. Damn humans.

This shouldn't have happened. I am the strongest, they shouldn't be able to lay a finger on me! Yet here I am, with my arm cut open. It's far from a significant injury. A mere scratch. But I must be invincible. I need to be even stronger. The power I have now isn't enough. I'm not yet satisfied… and neither are my dragons.

Without something even more spectacular than this, how else are we supposed to entertain those humans with an insatiable thirst for violence?

Perhaps… if our powers were combined…

A smile graces my lips. Oh, I'll give what still remains of humanity the most stunning show they've ever witnessed.

("WE WILL BECOME ONE!")

Can I take another step? I've done everything I can

All the people that I see I will never understand

If I find a way to change, if I step into the light

Then I'll never be the same and it all will fade to white

(Five souls melded together in one body. The Supreme Dragon King Zarc.)

There's nothing left but ruins for me—us—to fly over. Humanity has been all but extinguished by my—our—hands. Are they entertained yet? Are they satisfied yet? I—we—haven't heard the applause that would signal us to stop yet. Do they still want more? We have no way of advancing our spectacle any more, they should know that.

Movement on the surface draws our eye. Someone jumping around the crystals we formed to decorate these ruins. Have they come to watch our show? It's been so long…

(No. Humans are rotten. Kill them… kill them… kill them…!)

The person intruding our domain is Ray.

Seeing her, the influence of my dragons' melded souls drive out of my head immediately. I'm just Zarc again—a maddening experience. I cast aside my weakness, my humanity, everything just to get away from these feelings.

"So… after all this time… you've finally decided to show yourself?" my voice booms.

(Traitor. Traitor. Traitor.)

She doesn't so much as flinch. Her Duel Disk is on—pointlessly, of course, no one could possibly defeat me and she should know this. But still, she holds up four cards—Spells, I think?—and slides them all into the device on her wrist, all the while apologizing. Apologizing! She has the nerve to apologize now? It's far too late for that.

The world around me starts glowing and then my entire being is in agony, claws digging into every part of my body and threatening to tear me apart. I scream and try to fight off whatever power this is and cling desperately to my dragons—we are one—ONE—we cannot and will not split—

Everything goes dark.

Ever on and on I continue circling

With nothing but my hate in a carousel of agony

Till slowly I forget and my heart starts vanishing

And suddenly I see that I can't break free—

Who am I? Where am I? What happened to me?

Alone in the never-ending darkness, these are the questions that are constantly on my mind, and I have no way of finding the answers. I'm chained in place, and the chains don't even make noise as I thrash against them. I can't even hear my own screams…

Who am I? WHO AM I? WHY DON'T I REMEMBER?!

I thrash against the chains knowing my own name is—is—

("Yu…")

My head snaps up. That was a sound. A sound!

("Yu—")

("—ya!")

("—to!")

("—go!")

("—ri!")

A scream tears through my throat—another thing I can finally hear—as my vision explodes in color and for the first time in—in forever—I can see but what I see is four very, very different images, all at once. Different—different… lives…?

(Yuya. Yuto. Yugo. Yuri.)

(Yuya, with a pink-haired and blue-eyed girl. Yuto, incomplete until he meets a girl with dark violet hair and pink eyes. Yugo, with a light-teal-haired and amber-eyed girl. Yuri, growing up alongside a girl with bluish-purple hair and green eyes until one day she's gone and he's forced to forget her. But those girls, their faces are blurry…)

It's too much. I—

I want the silence and, and the darkness back.

I'm slipping through the cracks of a dark eternity

With nothing but my pain and the paralyzing agony

To tell me who I am, who I was

Uncertainty enveloping my mind

Till I can't break free

I've known nothing but the frigid temperatures of the darkness for as long as I can remember. So when my body feels… not, not cold… w-warm… I allow myself to wake up. I feel it stronger now—the warmth coursing through my veins, and—and suddenly I feel like something is tugging on my soul.

In the midst of the darkness, I can see. There's someone else there, frozen in place just like me.

Yellow eyes and silver-and-green hair.

My head hurts. I know who has that color hair and eyes. I know them, I have to, I—I—

The other person is… me…? But how do I know that?

My arm is the first part of me that is free. I move it around for what seems like the first time ever. It's… it's the strangest feeling, until the chains completely vanish and suddenly I'm standing on my own two feet and then I'm running, running towards the other me and he's running towards me. We collide in a flash of pale blue light, and everything goes white.

…

Zarc. Zarc. Zarc, the Demon Duelist.

I remember my name. I remember my name! After all this time, I remember it! It's enough to make me weep tears of joy, even as the chains snake around me to pull me tight again. But I was free, just for that moment, and now I remember!

My name is Zarc. I have no family, and… and I don't think I have any friends. …That's right, I don't, I'm all alone in the world except for my dragons. They're my family.

But when I try to recall my dragons, I only have two clear images in my mind. Odd-Eyes and Dark Rebellion. I know there are two more, why can't I remember them? Not their names or faces…

Ray.

My fists tighten as I remember that name. Just the name, not an image of who that person is, and yet just remembering that one word fills me with a level of wrath and an emptiness in my heart I've never felt before. This "Ray"… I don't know what they could have done, but it must have been awful. I wonder if they're the one that trapped me like this.

There's still so much I'm missing. Are they out there? Other "Zarc"s, with more of my memories? I'm sure there are, I remember when I first heard a sound and it felt like my mind was split in four. So, there have to be to other parts of me… somewhere. I have to find them. We're the same person, why have we been split apart?

And maybe it's a dream; maybe nothing else is real

But it wouldn't mean a thing if I told you how I feel

So I'm tired of all the pain, all the misery inside

And I wish that I could live feeling nothing but the night

So much time passes. Moments of control over my own body are few and far between, each time I surface requiring me to finish the end of some Duel. I feel the rage boiling in my veins, though I can't place why I'm so angry. All I know is that I have to defeat my opponents, and make their defeat as stunning and violent as possible. That's what the people want, and I have to entertain them.

Then, one day, I surface and I'm still in chains. Odd-Eyes and Dark Rebellion are both my my side… and I see them. The other dragons I'm missing. The other two parts of me are controlling them. They're so close…

It's finally time. I've waited so long… it's time for my revival. I will be whole once again! I'll be able to remember everything!

…Until I hear a girl's voice cry, "Yuya!" and my vision gives way to a pink light and I'm back in the darkness, alone once again. The feeling of being drawn in by my other parts is gone, I can't sense them anymore.

I scream and curse and shake the chains. I was so close! So close, and that girl just had to interrupt!

…But, trapped here, I can do nothing but wait even longer. That girl can't stop me forever. I'll find them again, I just know I will.

And I do. It's a while before I do, but I find them. They've already combined their souls and their memories—but it doesn't matter. We'll become one all the same. Our battle is nothing but the means of allowing us to reunite. I win, and violet light flashes all around us as the memories my other half held onto rush into my mind.

I'm the Supreme Dragon King Zarc. Ray, traitor, she abandoned me first, and then came and fought and split me apart.

Ray betrayed me. No wonder I was filled with so much rage when I recalled her name all that time ago.

It occurs to me that the voice of the girl that had cried for Yuya ages ago sounded exactly like Ray. She must have been split apart too. To prevent this? My return?

It's far too late for that.

("WE ARE ONE!")

You can tell me what to say; you can tell me where to go

But I doubt that I would care, and my heart would never know

If I make another move there'll be no more turning back

Because everything will change and it all will fade to black

Akaba Leo is the first one to oppose me. Of course he would, he remembers my entertainment and curses it, curses me. I'm only giving the people what they want. Too bad the show isn't very long, though; he loses in just three turns, the force of my power knocking him into whatever machine he has absorbing cards.

As he falls, into the light below us, he screams for someone—anyone—to finish Arc-V no matter the cost. I wonder what that means, until I look around and see the four canisters attached to the machine. Three of them are empty already, with the last holding an unconscious and half-transparent girl in a red jacket that looks so much like Ray that I know she must be one of her split parts.

Traitor… traitor… traitor…!

But before I can attack this lone girl, my Duel Disk suddenly announces the start of a new Duel. I turn around to see who would dare fight me. It's just two boys, the younger one—no more than ten—helping the older one to stand. The older one has his Duel Disk on, and has already draw his hand. Reiji and Reira, my mind supplies.

(They're Reiji and Reira and they're my friends, DON'T HURT THEM!)

I force the thought down as the scarf-wearing teenager adjusts his glasses and take the first move, pulling off a lengthy combo that empties his entire hand, but leaves him with a Fusion, a Synchro, and an Xyz Monster on his field. That's, impressive enough, I suppose.

(That's just Reiji's strategy.)

Shut up, I hiss to the voice in my head, as the teen appeals to the "Yuya" he believes is inside of me. Talks nonsense about "Duels with smiles" and other such things. The voice in my head soaks it up and grows louder and louder. I can barely focus on my cards because that damn voice is fighting me, joined by three others, all working to bust out of my mind.

And then more people that those voices know show up—Sawatari and Gongenzaka, assisting Kurosaki Shun, Jack Atlas and Edo Phoenix and Kaito and Shiun'in Sora—and some start appealing to the other voices that aren't just Yuya. For Yuto to fight off the darkness, for Yugo to get up and save Rin—even for Yuri, Yuri, the one that has no friends, to rise up because he was the stronger one, not me. The voices are so loud, too loud.

I misplay because of the cacophony and I see red while I can do nothing but take the damage from Reiji's attacks. I grab my head, pull my hair, scream until my throat is raw. Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP! But the noise doesn't stop, it just grows and grows and grows until—

"ENOUGH!" I roar, and the room finally goes quiet. "That's enough! "Yuya", "Yuto", "Yugo", and "Yuri" ARE NOT REAL! They were nothing but false personalities, I am Zarc, I am real, and I'm tired of being locked away inside of my own mind!"

I turn the Duel around on my next turn, using only Starve Venom and Odd-Eyes and a combination of the two. Reiji's field is empty now, all I have to do is attack and that's it, the last reasons for these fake personas in my head to cling to existence will be gone. But I hesitate—"Yuya" makes one last protest—and it's just enough time for the Duel to be interrupted by the earth splitting apart and the world fading to white.

If I make another move, if I take another step

Then it all would fall apart. There'd be nothing of me left

If I'm crying in the wind, if I'm crying in the night

Will there ever be a way? Will my heart return to white?

"Zarc."

My eyes snap open. The throne room is intact again, but those annoying humans are all missing and the machine is off—the fourth canister is empty.

In front of all four of them is Ray.

I shake with rage at the sight of her, the hole in my heart threatening to swallow me whole. "Ray," I seethe, "I'd say it's a pleasure, but thanks to you I spent fourteen years trapped inside my own head with absolutely no memories of who I was or what I was doing there."

"Zarc, listen to me—" she tries to say, but I cut her off immediately. I've had enough of listening to people.

"No, you listen to me! Do you know how that felt?! Do you know how it felt, all those years ago, when the crowds kept demanding more and more violent Duels from me, and no one told me to stop, not even you, and even when you did, you hardly tried, you ran off after the first attempt and left me to suffer by myself?! Do you know how it feels to have absolutely no one that cares about whether or not you're alive?!"

Her eyes betray her shame as she looks away, covering her mouth.

"You," I continue, fighting back tears, "the one person I trusted with my heart, abandoned me at the first sign of trouble. You're just like them… all those horrible, greedy humans."

She readies her Duel Disk and I ready mine. Ever since I remembered her, I've dreamed of this. Being able to make her suffer like I did. Like the tiny, insignificant insect that she is.

"…For what it's worth… I'm sorry," Ray says as she draws her hand.

I laugh at her. It's far too late for sorries. I take the first turn, and my cards respond for the first time in years, and within just five turns I have all four of my dragons on the field despite Ray's attempts at preventing it. The call to become one once again claws at my ears, and remembering the power I had in that form, I wholeheartedly wish to answer it—but I can't just yet. While I have my dragons, I don't have the key—I don't have Astrograph Magician.

Ray shudders at the sound of my dragons' synchronized roar. That's right, be afraid, you were the one that drove me, drove them, to this. But then her face changes. She's not afraid, she's staring at my dragons half with sorrow and half with sympathy. "Zarc, can't you see how much pain your dragons are in?" she asks me. "Can't you hear their cries?"

I scoff at her. What sort of question is that?

"Of course I hear them! Day and night I hear them! Why shouldn't I? They're the only ones that have never left me!" I can't hold back the tears anymore. "They've suffered by my side, and we've had enough of it! We won't submit to you worms any longer! IT IS TIME FOR OUR REVIVAL! WE WILL BECOME ONE!"

"Zarc, don't—"

I draw my next card. It's Astrograph Magician. I slam the card on my Duel Disk faster than I ever have before, and the sight of his appearance makes Ray take a step back. "The one who rules Space-Time… Astrograph Magician… combine our desires into profound power!" I chant, as my magician raises his staff and creates that marvelous sphere of patterned light again. Odd-Eyes goes first, then Dark Rebellion, then Clear Wing, and then Starve Venom.

But, when it's my turn to join them in that light, I can't. The moment my feet leave the ground, someone throws their arms around me and holds me tight. It's Ray, held to the ground by her monsters. I struggle in her grasp but she just won't let go.

"RELEASE ME!" I screech, kicking and scratching and—"I have to join them! WE WILL BECOME ONE!"

"NO!" she screams back at me, her grasp only tighter. "I'M NOT LETTING GO THIS TIME!"

Can you tell me who you are? Can you tell me where I am?

I've forgotten how to see; I've forgotten if I can

If I opened up my eyes there'd be no more going back

'Cause I'd throw it all away and it all would fade to black

What… w-what?

"Not again… I could never forgive myself if I let you go again," she continues. I feel her tears soaking into my jacket. "I never should have left you, Zarc. I'm sorry. God, I'm so sorry. I was too scared to help you until the day I told you that you needed to stop hurting your opponents, and I was too stupid to see how much pain you were in, when I thought you were simply too far gone to save."

This doesn't make any sense. Ray is—Ray is—she has to be lying! No one cares about me… not even her, especially not her. I—I—have to—become one—then everything will—will be right, and I can—

She lets go of me, but I still don't float up to join my dragons. I don't understand, it's what I—what we—have wanted for so long! Then why do I hesitate?

"I took those cards from my father because I knew it was my fault you fell so far. The chance to save the world from—from you—never crossed my mind when I was using those cards. I just wanted—" Her voice cracks, and she has to pause for a second. "I just wanted, a second chance with you. It didn't work out the way I'd hoped, but surely you remember our lives in the divided worlds!" Ray's eyes change then, from their normal color to a light blue. "Yuya!"

("Yuya…")

(I look up, my goggles filled with tears, but don't move from my spot, curled up underneath the slide. A flash of lightning illuminates the playground, and I see Yuzu standing in the open, completely soaked because she doesn't have an umbrella. That's stupid, she's going to catch a cold!)

("Yuzu, wh-what are you doing here?!")

(She joins me under the slide, and I don't miss her shivering. "I-I got worried when you didn't show up at lunch. Were they bullying you again?")

(I look away. Yes, they were, they were teasing me for being the son of a coward. Dad's not a coward, he just—something had to have come up. Something really important. I shake my head; there's no point in worrying Yuzu anymore than I already have. I look back at her and give her the best sheepish grin I can muster. "No, that's not it at all! I was stupid and was wandering around outside before we usually meet up, and then the rain started so I decided to shelter here! Haha, silly me…")

(Her blue eyes narrow at me. "Yuya, it's just the two of us. You don't have to lie to me…")

"NO!" I scream, covering my ears. "No, no, no, no! That wasn't me…!"

Ray's eyes change again, to pink this time. "Yuto!"

(Ruri's head is heavy against my shoulder as we rest on a bench. The sun's finally starting to set, which means she'll have to go home soon or else her brother and her parents will have my head, but I want to stay here for just a few more minutes. I don't dare move because that would definitely wake her—if I did move, though, I would definitely just want to pull her closer.)

(I let out a short but happy sigh… and Ruri stirs, raising her head off my arm. The sudden absence of her warmth just feels wrong. "Mm… 's it time to go now?" she asks, yawning as she rubs her eyes.)

("N-No…" I respond immediately, but one glance at the sky tells her the truth.)

(She rolls her beautiful pink eyes at me. "Yuto, silly, don't you remember the last time I didn't get home from our totally-not-a-date in time? Nii-san almost—")

(I shudder at the memory. "Don't remind me," I groan, then I sigh. "I guess you're right… let's get you home, then.")

(Ruri gives me a quizzical look as I help her up and I feel her eyes on me as we start walking in silence. Until she finally decides to drag me to a stop, about a block from her house. "Yuto, what's wrong?")

("…Nothing. Absolutely nothing," I tell her. "I just… hate having to let you go. You… you complete me.")

(Silence passes between us again as we just stare at each other. Then she covers her mouth and giggles uncontrollably. "That has got to be the cheesiest thing anyone's ever said to me, and my family has said a lot of stupid things like that." She ruffles my hair and I blush and look away from her.)

("But…" she continues, squeezing my hand. "It's also got to be the sweetest thing anyone's said to me, too. I'm glad we're friends, Yuto.")

"SHUT UP!" I wail as my hands begin to tear at my own hair because maybe then the pain will make me quit remembering these things that were never real!

Ray's eyes are a bright amber now as she walks towards me. "Yugo."

("Is it ready yet?" I whine. The mouthwatering smell of a finished apple pie fills our entire little house, even blocking out the oil and smoke from our attempts at putting together our D-Wheel. My stomach growls as I stare at the offending pie, just sitting there on our table without a care in the world.)

(Rin bats me over the head with her oven mitt. "It's still not done cooling yet. Ten more minutes, okay Yugo? Then we can celebrate finishing our D-Wheel.")

("But I'm hungry now!")

(She gives me one of her "Shut up, Yugo," glares, and I shrink in my seat. It's no use arguing with Rin when she gives me one of those looks. So I turn my attention back at the pie, and sink down onto the table as the minutes pass, tapping a beat with my foot. Come on… come on…)

(Rin slides a plate in front of me and I sit up so fast I almost fall out of the chair. She rolls her eyes at my antics, then adds a piece of the pie she'd spent a week gathering the materials for onto my plate. The slice is gone in just a few seconds—it's easily the best thing I've ever eaten in my entire life. I hold out my plate. "More!" I say even though I'm still chewing the first piece.)

("Not if you're just gonna swallow the thing whole, you're gonna choke you idiot," Rin says, going as far as to pull the pie closer to her.)

(I swallow my mouthful and down it with a couple gulps of water. …I guess she does have a point. I shrug. "Fine, I'll eat slower this time.")

("Promise?")

("Riiiin!")

(She laughs and adds a slice to my plate. "Just messing with you, Yugo.")

I fall to my knees. "Stop… please… I'm not…"

Green eyes stare down at me as she holds out her hand to me. "Yuri."

(No way. There has to be some sort of mistake, I think, while I'm staring up at the sky, the wind knocked out of me. I hear Selena celebrating on her side of the field. It's just not right. She shouldn't have—I'm the stronger Duelist! I'm the prodigy that never loses, that's what my teachers keep saying about me. So then how…?)

(She dances around me while she laughs practically in my face. "Haha! No wonder you have so much fun when you Duel, Yuri! Winning is so much fun!")

(I growl at her as I pull myself off the ground. "Again," I say, turning my Duel Disk back on. "That—that was some sort of mistake.")

(Selena contemplates the rematch for a moment, tapping her chin a few times, before she smiles mischievously. "Only if you can catch me~!" she says in a sing-song voice, and then she's half-out of sight by the time I even register that I need to chase her.)

("Hey—no fair!" I shout after her. She knows I'm no good at running, the one skill she has over me. "Get back here! I REFUSE TO LOSE TO YOU, SELENA!")

(…I never did catch her that day. In fact, I never do. I came close, the day we met for what I thought was the first time in the subway, but in the end she was swept back to Academia by Barrett, and I never get the chance.)

Ray is herself and hugging me again, and the part of me that is repulsed by this is shoved aside and forgotten. I'm just Zarc… the lonely boy that Ray decided to befriend all those years ago. I've built up over fifteen years worth of tears, and it's all coming out now, as Ray holds me close and cries with me. She tells me that everything will be alright, and I won't have to suffer alone anymore. For once, I believe her.

…Until I remember that our Duel is still continuing, and the once-beautiful but now harsh light of Astrograph Magician's effect grabs ahold of me. Ray tries to anchor me to the ground again, but even though I cling to her hand as tightly as I can, the light is pulling on me stronger, and I know that I'm going to be absorbed into that horrid light. I don't want it anymore, I can't believe I ever did.

"RAY! HELP ME, PLEASE!"

She looks up at me with fear in her eyes. She knows that I'll slip out of her grasp soon, even with her monster's help. "Zarc, I—" She closes her eyes. "I… I can't help you now. I need you to—"

"NO! I don't want to—I don't want to fuse again! I'm finally—I'm finally human again and you want me to go back to that?!"

"Listen to me," she hisses, and I shut up immediately because I've never seen her like this before. "I'm going to win this Duel, Zarc, and when I do, I'm going to use those cards again. I'm going to split the world—and us—back into four. This one dimension is a dead one—it has been for years. But the other four—Standard, Xyz, Synchro, and Fusion—they still have every right to exist, you've seen the worlds through your counterparts just like I have. They're beautiful…"

Her grip loosens and I hold her tighter in response. She wants me to go back to—to that darkness, existing with no memories and with no body of my own. "Ray, don't—"

"It'll be different this time, though," Ray continues, and I see her tears flying away in the wind. "We—Zarc and Ray—will no longer exist. We won't be able to see those beautiful worlds anymore… but they will. Yuya and Yuzu, Yuto and Ruri, Yugo and Rin, and Yuri and Selena. They will keep on living, but not us—we'll finally be able to rest. Doesn't—doesn't that sound nice?"

Rest. The word is almost foreign to me. It's been… I don't even remember how long…

My eyes are dry now. I've already shed my last tears.

"Yeah… that sounds nice. I'd—I'd really like that." I close my eyes and smile, imagining all of my suffering finally going away. "You promise?"

She nods and blinks away her tears and makes sure to wrap her pinkie around mine. "Yeah. I promise."

I look at her one last time… and let go of her hand.

A/N: I'm so sorry for this.

*Goes off and cries in a corner for like the rest of the day*