Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds

I Need Your Light Again

By Lucky_Ladybug

Notes: The characters are not mine and the story is! This is set in the manga version of 5Ds. I haven't read all of the manga yet, but I have read Kalin's main screentime and I hope I have things correctly about that and the other manga-exclusive concepts I used. As far as I know, Radley is not in the manga, and this version of him and Crash Town are thoroughly my own visions. (There is a Ramon in the manga, but he isn't Radley.) I tested the concepts in a role-play with Amber2002161, but the plot idea is all mine. The knife is a manga version of one I wrote about in an anime verse fic. The inscription on it is based on an episode of The Wild Wild West, of all things. (The dagger there is just a regular weapon, however.) Billy trying to go over a cliff is my concept, but MoonlightTyger used it in a dream sequence of an RP we did as him actually going over, which he does here.

Kalin stood looking at the government building with a deep frown. This was the last place he had thought he would end up. But here he was, about to go inside and face who knew what.

After Yusei had come back safe from the final, fateful duel, they had all shared a sweet reunion, rejoicing in their triumph over the evil that had threatened to swallow the whole world. Kalin had stayed for a while, getting to know all of them and reuniting better with Jack. But he had been a wanderer for years, and finally he had decided that he needed to take his leave for a while, at least.

He was no longer fully sure who he was anymore. He had been protective as a child, looking after all the kids in Rex Goodwin's sick experiment and finding a way to free them upon realizing what was actually going on. But when he had summoned the Skeleton Knight to obtain rare cards, he had changed. The powerful card Void Ogre Dragon had started poisoning him from the moment he had first held it in his hands, and eventually it had completely corrupted and possessed him, causing him to turn against his dear friend Jack. He was free of its evil now, but he was sickened by how it had changed him.

He had decided to go soul-searching, to which there had been no serious objections from Jack or the others. For a while he had wandered aimlessly, but he had never expected that his journey would lead him to an industrial mining center like Crash Town, or that upon entering he would be immediately waylaid by a panicked and desperate kid around his age.

"Please, you've gotta help!" he begged. "You were in the D1 Grand Prix, right? You've gotta get in there and save him, because none of us can!"

Kalin looked at the blond boy in disbelief. "What are you talking about?" he had scoffed. "I lost the tournament. I can't save anyone."

"You're a strong Duelist," the boy countered. "We all saw your duels on TV! He won't let any of us in because he says he can't trust we won't betray him! But he doesn't know you, so he might let you in!"

"You're still not making sense," Kalin frowned. "Why don't you explain this from the top?"

The blond nodded knowingly. "Well, we all came to Crash Town years ago with him. He had a big vision for this little backwater mining town, and he fulfilled it! He turned it into what it is today, and he did it all with kindness and intellect. But then he just turned . . . I don't know what! His eyes went all black and he started ranting about Billy betraying him and he locked us all out!"

Now Kalin stiffened. "Black eyes?! That sounds like Shadow Miasma. But . . . the Skeleton Knight is defeated!"

"It must have been something else!" the blond exclaimed. "Please, Radley's the nicest guy around! We don't know what to do anymore. Maybe if a strong Duelist goes in there and duels him, they can figure out what's wrong and how to fix it!"

"I still think you're crazy," Kalin said. "But I'll do it if that's what you really want."

"It is!" the blond insisted.

"And what about this Billy? Who's that?" Kalin asked.

"His second-in-command," was the reply. "We don't know what happened, but Billy tried to kill himself! He . . . he drove his motorcycle off a cliff!" The boy blinked back tears. "When we got to him, he just kept moaning that he'd killed Radley! Then he slipped out of it. He's in a coma now. They don't think he'll ever wake up. . . ."

Kalin frowned. "You have no idea what he was talking about?"

"It must be the same thing Radley was talking about," the blond said. "Radley's holed up in the government building. He's the mayor, you see. The sheriff too. I'm Scotch, by the way."

Kalin nodded in a vague sort of way. "I can't promise anything, but I'll see what I can do."

Scotch's eyes shone with hope at that. "You'll save him," he insisted. "I know you will!"

Kalin really doubted it, but he had promised. He pulled open the door and stepped inside the empty reception room. Scotch had told him Radley's office was on the top floor, so Kalin just took the stairs without looking around further. If Radley had lost his mind to the shadows, he might have tampered with the elevator.

The stairs, thankfully, were fine. When he pushed the door open on the top floor, he found that Radley had apparently already been alerted to Kalin's coming. A Hispanic man dressed in black leather was strolling towards him, his expression twisted in a sadistic sneer. His eyes, indeed, were black. It was an eerie contrast with his pale skin.

"So, you made it up here?" He giggled. "Or rather, I let you come up. You're not one of them. You can't betray me when you don't even know me. I was curious to know what you wanted, so I let you come."

"Scotch is worried about you," Kalin said. He took a step forward. "What happened between you and Billy?"

Radley snarled. "Billy tried to kill me! I trusted him with all my heart and soul and he stabbed me in the back! Then he just ran out. I can't trust any of them! I won't trust any of them! And if they sent you, I . . ." He froze, staring at Kalin's criminal mark.

Kalin frowned. "What is it?"

". . . You!" Radley finally gasped. "It's you!"

Kalin tensed, taking a step back. "What are you talking about?"

". . . Ooh, you don't even remember me?" The dark energy started rolling off of Radley in visible waves. "It's no wonder the Bunch went running to you. Birds of a feather and all that." He jammed his hand into his pocket. "You traitor! We're going to have this out right now." He pulled out his deck and swiftly drew what looked like a six-shooter from a holster strapped to his leg. To Kalin's surprise, he unfolded it into a small Duel Disk and placed his deck in the holder.

Kalin narrowed his eyes. Soon he had his deck out and placed in his own Duel Disk. "Let's see if you can satisfy me," he said.

"Satisfy?! Satisfy?! You betrayed me and you dare talk about being satisfied?!" Radley screamed.

"Where did we even meet?" Kalin frowned.

"If it meant that little to you, I'm not going to tell you," Radley said bitterly. He drew his first hand and practically slammed a card on the field.

Kalin drew and also brought out a monster. With Radley's monster Set, Kalin had his attack it. He snarled as his lifepoints went down and the high defense monster Crystal Beast Emerald Tortoise flipped up.

"A Crystal Beast?!" he said in amazement. Those were rare creatures, rumored to respect very few people enough to perform for them.

"You weren't expecting that, were you?" Radley grinned. "My heart is strong enough to call out to the legendary Crystal Beasts, and they answer!"

". . . Alright, I'm impressed," Kalin said. "What else can you do?"

"Stick around for the full show and find out," Radley said.

The duel proceeded with ferocity. Kalin was still using his Infernities and Radley had his Crystal Beasts and assorted support cards. And although Kalin had never seen the Crystal Beasts in action before, there was something in Radley's strategies that was indeed familiar. The longer they dueled, the more he was sure of it, and of where he had seen it. Suddenly Radley's anger at him made so much sense, especially in his current condition.

". . . You have so many monster-destroying Spells and Traps," Kalin commented at last. "I barely Summon something and you have a new way to send it to the Graveyard."

"What about it?" Radley retorted.

"I played a duel like this once before," Kalin said. "It was right before I ended up in Rex Goodwin's Facility for underage law-breakers and orphans. I was wandering the streets and I met a kid from a wealthy neighborhood. He didn't care that I was poor and he was rich; he just wanted to be friends anyway. He didn't really look like you, but . . ." He Summoned the one monster he still carried that didn't fit an Infernity deck. "He gave me this."

Radley fell back, his heart pounding. "Vorse Raider . . . !"

"I've treasured that card all through the years," Kalin said. "I always considered that it was given to me by my first friend. We played and dueled and our hearts connected . . . Ramon."

"Ramon," Radley repeated.

"That's what you told me your name was then," Kalin said.

"I wasn't lying," Radley said. "It's my last name. One of my other Christian names too. You know how Hispanics usually have a long string of names? Those are some of mine. My family mostly called me Ramon as a kid. My dad named me Radley. He wanted to be different. But it was really my mom and her mom who ran things. My grandmother wanted to call me Ramon. So . . . they did. After they disowned me for daring to wear jewelry and leather, I didn't want anything they'd wanted. I called myself Radley, the name my dad gave me." His eyes were flickering.

Kalin shook his head. "I never thought . . . I never imagined I'd see you again. I still didn't think it when I saw you here."

Radley flinched. The black flowed back into his eyes. "You don't even recognize me," he spat. "I don't look that different." He gathered his shoulder-length hair in one hand and pulled some of it back. "How about now? My hair was shorter then."

". . . You look closer, but still not exact," Kalin said. "Ramon was filled with light and life and love."

"So judgmental, and even after you were taken over by Shadow Miasma," Radley mocked. "You asked for that power! I didn't ask for this!"

"Then how did you get it?" Kalin frowned in confusion.

"Billy thought he'd killed me. Instead he infused me with dark power!" Radley's black eyes gleamed.

". . . Did you know Billy tried to kill himself?" Kalin asked.

Radley wavered. The black again receded from his eyes as he looked to Kalin with worry. "Is he going to be alright?!"

"They don't know," Kalin admitted. "He's in a coma after driving off a cliff. All he could talk about was believing he'd killed you."

"I . . ." Radley trembled.

"There's a piece missing somewhere," Kalin said. "Is there any chance it was an accident?"

The black came back. "You don't do this by accident!" Radley finally turned, gesturing at a knife buried in his back up to the handle. "He just drove this into me and stood laughing when I fell over at his feet!" He blinked, and tears spilled from his dark eyes.

Kalin could only stare. Radley hadn't just been using an expression when he had said Billy had stabbed him. But . . . how was Radley alive with such an injury? How did he move about as though it was nothing? Did it have something to do with the knife's dark magic properties? If Kalin could get close enough to pull it out, would that release Radley from the spell?

". . . Radley, I'm sorry I didn't recognize you," he said at last. "You look so different with your hair long, but more importantly, you look different consumed by hate. You're right, I don't have any right to judge you after what I did to myself and tried to do to others. I willingly accepted the power of the Skeleton Knight to gain more powerful cards. I hurt Jack deeply. It looks like in your case, the power was forced on you. You can't pull the knife out?"

"Pull it out?" Radley laughed. "It's the source of my strength! Why would I let it go?"

"Because the real you never wanted it," Kalin said. "You just admitted that. When we met as kids, I saw that your strength was your love of life, of people. You told me how much you loved being around people and how you hoped for friends."

"Yeah, and any I ever had, I lost!" Radley spat. "I lost you when Goodwin took you. I lost Billy when he drove this knife into my back. And because he did that, I can't trust any of the Bunch anymore!" He blinked away one last tear, but it only came back and fell from his darkened eye.

"There still has to be something we're missing," Kalin insisted. "Billy wouldn't have tried to kill himself if he'd really wanted to hurt you. And as for the others, Scotch was consumed by his worry for you. I believe you can trust him wholeheartedly."

"That's what I thought about Billy," Radley muttered. "Nevermind all this. Let's get back to the duel."

Kalin frowned as the duel resumed. When he had fought Jack, being defeated had released the Shadow Miasma from his body. In this situation, however, he wasn't sure that same method would work. Radley had been corrupted by a weapon rather than by an evil card. It didn't seem that beating him at Duel Monsters would save him, no matter what naive thing Scotch thought.

Maybe the key was in trying to break through to Radley's heart and soul. Kalin had managed to at one point. If he could just make that happen again, and get it to last, maybe Radley could fight off the power of the knife.

"What are you planning to do if you beat me?" he asked.

"You'll have to serve me," Radley said. "Maybe we can whip this town into shape."

"You've already done that," Kalin calmly pointed out. "What about the Bunch?"

"I can't trust them," Radley insisted. "I can never trust them again!"

"Billy tried to kill himself for you," Kalin said. "He must still love you."

Again Radley wavered. "Billy . . ."

"Yes, that's right!" Kalin cried. "What if . . . what if the knife possessed him when he found it? What if it forced him to stab you? Maybe doing something so abominable to someone he loves shattered the knife's hold over him and he turned and ran out to kill himself!"

Radley's hand started to shake. "Billy, no . . . no, don't do that!"

"It was already done," Kalin said. "He's laying in a coma now. But maybe if you go to him, if he can hear that you're alive, it will give him the will to wake up!"

The black faded from Radley's eyes again. This time the knife fell out of his back, clattering to the marble floor. He barely noticed. "I have to go to him. . . ."

But as he surrendered the duel and put his Duel Disk away, he gasped in pain. Kalin stiffened, watching in horror as Radley fell to his knees. The wound was bleeding.

Radley looked up shakily at Kalin. "I guess . . . he killed me after all," he whispered.

Kalin's eyes widened. "No!" He ran over, crashing to his knees beside Radley. Was it true? Had the wound been fatal and the knife's evil power had been the only thing keeping Radley alive? Kalin had thought that with it being a magical weapon, the wound would heal if the knife came out.

Radley fell forward into Kalin's arms, weakly gripping at Kalin's coat. "I'm sorry . . . I'm so sorry. . . . Please tell him how sorry I am. I . . . I didn't want to die. . . ."

Kalin slowly enveloped Radley in a gentle hug. He had been so stoic, so immovable for so long, but now . . . losing his old friend, and especially like this . . . he couldn't take it.

"I'm sorry I couldn't save you," he whispered. "I loved all the other kids at V.S.S.L., but . . . I never stopped thinking about you. I missed you. I wanted to go find you, but we were never allowed to leave the place. We were prisoners."

"You did save me, Kalin. Really," Radley whispered back. "I . . . I didn't want to live like that, corrupted by dark power. I wish . . . I wish my parents would have let us adopt you, like I kept begging. I wanted a brother so bad. I wanted you."

Tears slipped from Kalin's eyes. "I would have loved that." But . . . it couldn't have been that way, could it? If he hadn't been taken by Goodwin . . . if he hadn't heard about his plans and how all the kids were guinea pigs . . . they might have all died. Kalin had saved them by setting off that explosion and setting them all free.

"I tried to find you again, after I destroyed Goodwin's evil project," he said. "I never could."

"You really looked?" Radley started to smile. "That . . . that makes me so happy." He sank hard against Kalin, his eyes closing.

Kalin stiffened. "No. . . . No, Radley! You have to hold on! You have to wake up! Billy needs you! . . . I . . . I need you. . . . Ramon . . . please . . ." He gently pushed Radley back from him. He was so limp, so lifeless. The traces of tears were still on his face.

"You should have been able to live," Kalin said brokenly. "You made me feel so welcome as a kid. You were the first person who ever treated me like a human being. I guess that's how you treated all these guys here too, isn't it? They followed you because they loved you. It's no wonder Billy tried to kill himself when he hurt you, especially if he really wasn't in control when it happened. . . ."

Kalin laid Radley down on the floor and bent over him, pressing frantically on his chest and then trying to breathe into him, but it was no use. At last Kalin gathered the body in his arms again and just held him close. "I guess . . . you died some time ago, didn't you, Ramon?" he whispered. "Your body kept going . . . your spirit only lingered . . . because it was being animated by that knife. . . ."

His persona cracked, shattering to the floor around them like broken ceramic. He rocked back and forth with his old friend's body, crying as he had never cried before. They had longed to find each other again for years, and now they had, only for it to end like this. . . .

After the sort of upbringing he had had, he wasn't even sure he knew how to pray. He wasn't even sure he should. But Radley couldn't speak, and Kalin felt the strange, undeniable urge to talk with God on his behalf.

Please, God. . . . Please . . . let him live. He doesn't deserve this. He never should have been hurt. He shouldn't be dead. . . . Please give him another chance!

Some of his tears fell past Radley's head, instead landing in the open wound in his back. Kalin barely noticed.

He definitely noticed, however, when the wound began to close. "Radley?!" he gasped.

His eyes fell upon the knife on the floor. As Radley's blood vanished from the blade, engraved words became visible. Tears of a friend.

Kalin's eyes widened. Did that mean his grief and his tears were literally bringing Radley back to life? With magical objects, it was always unpredictable what would break the spells.

"Radley, please wake up," he whispered. "Please come back. . . ."

The wound healed completely. A soft light swirled around them, mending Radley's clothes as well. He stirred, his eyes slowly opening. ". . . Kalin? . . ."

Kalin's heart overflowed. He hugged Radley close. "Radley . . . ! You're alive!" he choked out. "You're really alive!"

Radley shakily hugged back. "How?" He sounded as confused as Kalin had felt.

"I'm not sure," Kalin said. "I think . . . I may have broke the spell. . . ." He looked to the knife. "It says 'Tears of a friend' on it. . . ."

Radley clutched him tighter. "Thank you, for caring about me that much," he whispered. "I've missed you so much through the years. Sometimes I dreamed about us meeting again."

"We only ever met that one time before," Kalin remarked.

"And yet we each desperately wanted to find each other again," Radley said softly. "I kept looking day after day. I didn't know where you'd gone! I kept begging my parents to help me look, but they wouldn't even consider the idea of adopting you."

"I tried so hard to find you too," Kalin said. "I didn't think you would even remember me after all those years, but I kept looking."

"And you kept the card," Radley noted.

"Always, even though it didn't fit my deck," Kalin said.

Finally Radley pulled back. "You said Billy's in a coma. Let's go see him."

Kalin nodded. "Let's."

He frowned at the knife as they got to their feet. Something needed to be done with that too, but he didn't dare touch it. It might possess him as it may have done to Billy.

Radley glowered at it. "What are we gonna do with that thing?"

"Maybe we can ask Yusei," Kalin suggested. "He's another friend of mine."

"Great," Radley said. "Meanwhile, we'll seal off this corridor. No one's been here in a while anyway, after I kicked everybody out."

"How long has it been anyway?" Kalin asked in concern.

". . . I don't even know," Radley admitted.

They headed downstairs and outside. Most of the Bunch was there, and they exclaimed in joy. "Radley! You're okay!" Scotch led the group in hugging their beloved leader close. "I knew this guy could save you!"

Radley laughed, joyously hugging them all. "You were so right," he said. "Guys, this is Kalin, the childhood friend I tried to find for so long."

Scotch's eyes went wide. "Really?!" He stared at Kalin. "I had no idea. . . ."

Kalin smiled. "I didn't either. It was Fate that I came here. Or . . ." He paused, remembering his grief-stricken prayer. "God. . . ."

Radley beamed, but then quickly sobered. "Let's go see Billy," he said softly.

Also sobered, Scotch nodded. "Yeah. . . ."

"If Kalin is right, Billy was also an innocent victim of what happened," Radley said. "We'll tell you his theory on the way."

The rest of the Bunch was shaken to the core by the tale. All agreed, however, that it made a sad sense. It was far more likely for Billy to have been possessed when he had attacked Radley than for him to have done it for any other reason. He adored Radley, as they all did.

When they arrived at the hospital, Radley was quietly escorted to one of the rooms. Billy was laying silent and still in the bed. He was breathing on his own, incredibly, but he was badly scratched and heavily bandaged from the plunge over the cliff.

Radley gently took one of Billy's limp hands. "Billy, hey . . . it's me," he said softly. "You didn't kill me! I'm right here."

A tear slipped down Billy's cheek.

"I know whatever happened, there has to be more to the story than what I remember," Radley soothed. "You would never hurt me in your right mind. I still love you. I still trust you. I don't want you to die! Please . . . hear my voice and wake up. Come back to us!"

Billy's fingers slowly moved, weakly gripping Radley's hand. "Radley," he whispered. "I stabbed you! You fell down at my feet, and you didn't move . . ."

"It was a magic knife," Radley said softly. "You didn't kill me, Billy. An old friend broke the spell on me and I came right here to you."

Billy forced his eyes open. "Radley . . . !" Utter joy filled his eyes.

Radley leaned down, drawing Billy into a gentle hug. "It's okay," he said softly. "Everything's going to be okay."

Billy sobbed and reached up, clutching Radley close to him. "I'm sorry," he choked out. "I'm so sorry. . . . I just saw that stupid dagger and I picked it up, wondering what it was. And suddenly I was moving without me doing anything, and I couldn't control my body at all, and I stabbed you . . . !" He cried, burying his face in Radley's shoulder.

Radley held him close, tears pricking his own eyes. "That's awful. I'm so sorry. . . ."

Scotch hugged his dear friend Biff in relief. "He woke up! He's going to be okay!"

Biff hugged back. "It must've been his guilt and grief keeping him out," he observed. "Maybe he really will get better."

"He has to!" Scotch insisted.

Kalin stood by, relieved to see the joyous reunion but at the same time deeply concerned at Billy's disturbing words. "Where was the knife when you found it?" he demanded.

"On a table," Billy said, looking over Radley's shoulder at Kalin. "It was brought back from the dyne mine with some other stuff from the Old West days. We found them in a new tunnel we opened."

Kalin frowned. Who knew what other evil they had brought back too. He would have to look it all over later. Hopefully Yusei would have some thoughts on it as well. Apparently the Shadow Miasma was not the only evil lingering in the modern world.

"This is Kalin," Radley told Billy. "My old childhood friend. He finally found me again. He's the one who broke the spell over me." He smiled at Kalin. "Will you stay, Kalin? I don't want to lose you again."

Kalin smiled too. When he had first come here, he had only planned on passing through while continuing to soul-search. Now, however, he doubted there was anything he could find anywhere else that would be anywhere as valuable as what he had finally found here.

"Yes," he said. "I want to stay."

Radley grinned and straightened, putting an arm around Kalin's shoulders. "Then my family is finally all together," he said. "There was always something missing when I couldn't find you."

Billy smiled and rested back on the pillow. "I'm really glad you found him, Radley. And I'm glad he helped you."

The rest of the Bunch ran over to Billy now, wanting to reunite with him too. He smiled and hugged them, finally looking at peace.

Kalin smiled too and drew his arm around Radley. This felt so right.

He was home.