Title: Desire of Darkness
Characters: Yuuki Juudai
Chapters: 1-1||Words: 1,069
Genre: Drama||Rated: G
Challenges: Diversity Writing: YGO GX canon: D30, drama genre; GX Month 2021, #3, Mind on Air
Notes: This takes place during Juudai's rule as Haou, before the duel against Jim. For now it's in regular continuity but if I decide to pick it up later, that might change. Or I might tie it into something else. I already know what I could.
Summary: He has no more dreams. No more hopes. No more desires. Not like he did. Now he dreams of conquest, hopes for victory, and desires those who called him friend to stand by his side.
Dreams were for the weak. For those too foolish and too useless to have goals, to have plans, to work towards those goals and plans.
Haou wasn't like that anymore. He'd made his mind up in Brron's arena and nothing whatsoever would stop him. His goals were twofold.
First, to conquer this world, bringing it all under his control, and therefore ensure that no death would happen without his permission. He did not think often about the screams of those he'd called friends, but he swore those would never happen again. If there was death, it would be because he willed it and not because someone else thought it might be fun.
Second, he would create Super Fusion. That went hand in glove with conquering the world. There wasn't any other way that he knew of to bring the card into existence. He'd spoken extensively with as many duel spirits as he could who might know something about this and they all said the same thing - that it required souls. So he would give it souls, and when he had it, his conquest would be that much easier.
Not that he expected it to ever be easy. There were other beings in this world who were as strong as he was - perhaps even stronger in some fashion. Some cunning, some ruthless. They would have to be dealt with when he had the power and the opportunity. Exactly when that might be he wasn't entirely certain. But he would do it.
He had a mental checklist of what he wanted to do, sorted out into different levels. Overall remained those two goals, world conquest and Super Fusion. Underneath those came gathering the strength and the power to defeat Belial - Marquis of Darkness, Curse of Vampire, and Fallen Angel Lucifer. They would all kneel to him - or they would be no more. Surely beings that strong would be powerful enough to boost Super Fusion towards completion.
He suspected that all three of the others had spies inside of his own fortress. He would need to recruit someone who could do the same - perhaps more than one someone. But that would have to come later.
Is this what it is like to study? It wasn't the same thing, but it wasn't too far from it, he thought. Instead of the goal being to pass a test, it was to achieve conquest and victory.
It wasn't a smile but he could feel his lips twitching ever so lightly. What would Chronos-sensei or Principal Samejima think if they could see him now? They would not approve. He knew that very well indeed. But that wouldn't change his goals in the slightest. He'd already had to deal with the people he'd thought he could trust turning on him.
That inexorably led his thoughts to Shou. He refused to acknowledge the pain in his heart, his armored fingers tightening into a cold fist. He pressed his lips together behind his helmet, thinking. Part of him wanted to ignore the fact Marufuji Shou, Jim Cook, and Austin O'Brien even existed. He hardly knew the last two anyway, cold logic informed him, and Shou had clearly chosen to cut every tie possible.
He knew that he should simply carry on. His goals didn't need any of them. But he considered one thing - that if they found out what he was doing, then they would no doubt make the effort to stop him. Not for his sake, of course. If they wanted to help him, then they would help him, join his side, and aid him in conquering this world. He knew they'd never do that.
But there the tiniest of voices, the thinnest of thoughts, that whispered he should find them, convince them in any way that he could to join him. They might not be his friends anymore - Shou had made that abundantly clear - but they were strong duelists. They would be of more use to him than they were wandering around scrabbling for food. They would be safe with him - they would only die if they weren't strong enough or if they angered him too much.
He considered his options. If they weren't on his side, then they were his enemies. He didn't want them to be his enemies. He would far rather they served him. He knew that Shou hadn't been happy about dueling in this world. That was fine; he could find other uses for him.
Assuming that something hadn't happened and Shou wasn't dead already. If he was, then it wasn't by the hand of any of his servants. They all had orders to bring any duel disks and decks that their foes left behind, so he could continue the search for Johan. If anyone had ever brought in the Gem Beast deck, then he would have them summarily executed. He'd decided that on his second day as ruler here.
He wouldn't know how useful they could be unless he made the effort. He pulled a scrap of paper towards him - he wondered vaguely where paper like this came from in this world - and wrote a few notes, listing what sorts of decks that the three used and what they looked like, before he summoned in one of his lesser servants. This wasn't important enough for him to call the Death Duelists.
The one he called was Fallen Angel of Pleasure - she'd defected from the Fallen Angels and told him of their goals in defeating him at some nebulous point in the future. Fallen Angel Lucifer hadn't yet decided when. That didn't make him a high target on Haou's own to-do list.
"If you find them, bring them to me," he ordered. "But be careful. Any of them could prove far more dangerous than expected."
"Of course, my lord," Fallen Angel of Pleasure purred, voice low and husky as usual. Haou nodded, dismissing her with a flick of one hand, then turned his attention back to deciding where he'd next send his army.
He had no more dreams, no real hopes, nothing except the burning need to create Super Fusion, to make all of those deaths - Fubuki, Kenzan, Asuka, Manjoume - worth something. So that it hadn't all been in vain.
He had no more dreams, but he could be everyone else's nightmare. And maybe then, his own would cease.
The End
Notes: I had to think a while before I decided on what I wanted to write for this prompt but then it hit me. And I rather like it, because I like writing Haou.