Chapter Thirty-Four
"The convergence?" Keiji asked confused, "does that mean that Yuito is over there?"
"Yes," the black haired woman confirmed, "he is currently fighting his father and the stakes are no less than the future of this world."
"Sounds a bit dramatic, don't you think?" Jeanie asked, "mind elaborating on that?"
"Yuitos father?" Keiji threw in, "so he's still alive?"
"Do I look like I have time for your questions?" Ava snapped, "Yes, it is dramatic, the most dramatic event you will ever beat witness to. And yes, Suito is very livid indeed, which means I failed my original attempt to halt the convergence."
"A poor attempt, to say the least," Eva chuckled, "killing everyone who has the Elder Blood? You might trip over your own megalomania, sister."
"You're one to speak," Ava replied, "trying to end the entire world, over reasons I never fully understood. That's less megalomania and more of a god complex."
"End the world?" her sister laughed, "it will be an end alright, but at the same time a new beginning. A chance for a better world."
"I literally have no idea what you two are talking about," Daichi intervened, "but if you're on our side, lady, we have a war to stop."
"Good point actually," Ava said, before she waved her hand though the air, "I'd suggest you get on with it then."
The white force field that had kept them in place vanished, only to be replaced by a smaller, black one only encircling Eva and Ava.
"Whatever you wanna do," she addressed the three of them, "you better do it fast. We don't have much time."
"Cute little trick," Eva eyed the black wall around her, "won't do you any good though. Once the convergence has begun, there's no backing out."
"Maybe," her sister replied, "but sometimes, a change of environment is all one needs."
As she said that, the three other had already ran off, with Keiji just yelling "Thank you pale lady!" back to Ava.
"I should be glad that whatever brought you to my side did what it did," Eva continued, "we have plenty to talk about. Sister to sister."
"Oh yes we do," Ava replied, "what did you do to Oru?"
"I see you met Tian. How did it feel? To look into his eyes again, realizing that he had been mine after all?"
"He sounded like Oru, he looked like Oru, but he couldn't have been him. He couldn't be alive."
"Jealous you couldn't do the trick? It's true, he's not really Oru. I created him in his image, using all the memories I had left. All that I needed was a power source to keep him tethered to this world, and that's what I used the blue Crosspoint for. It already messed with the physical properties of its wielder by moving him faster than light, so it was the perfect base for my loves new nature."
"You made your perfect man out of him," Ava gloated, "but in the end he still loved me. He was the one who brought me here. Using the last bit of the blue Crosspoint's power in his body."
"You self-righteous bitch probably even believe that.
"Did you really believe he could love the woman that killed him?"
"And what about the woman that killed every single person he ever knew?" Eva snapped back, "we both did awful things in the name of love, stop thinking so highly of yourself."
"What I did and what you did compare in no way," Ava replied, "I made that wish with the best intentions, you killed Oru just because wanted to see me suffer."
"'Oh please dear Crosspoints, give me all of your power, so I can kill my sister and live happily ever after with my resurrected boyfriend'," Eva mocked her sisters raspy voice, "does that sound like good intentions to you?
"I needed to protect him from you," Ava defended herself, "you would've done anything to ruin my happiness."
"Too bad that backfired," Eva said, "because look at us both. We're beings out of time."
"Neither of us knew what would happen during the convergence. Even the elders were aware of that. It's power we cannot comprehend."
"And the first thing that came to your mind was to wish for all the power?" Eva asked, "that's begging for it to backfire."
"But a world without conflict isn't?" Ava snapped back, "At least what I did was self-contained and eventually only afflicted us. Your wish has the capacity to end life as we know it."
"Because you're the authority on wishes to the Crosspoints?"
"Don't turn this back around on me. What are you trying to accomplish? Do you want to see the world end?"
"This world is ending anyhow. I would be surprised if humanity hasn't destroyed itself by the time the next convergence comes about us in one millennium. If there is even the slightest chance to use this wish to save it, I'll be damned if I don't take it. And I will not let you intervene."
"This world will continue to exist, in one way or another, and humanity has existed for thousands of years now. They're resilient creatures, even if their society is not."
"Well, I disagree," Eva said, before chuckling, "some things never change, even after a thousand years."
"Indeed," Ava replied, "so are we gonna fight or are we just gonna wait until we both disintegrate?"
"It won't be much of a fight, trust me," Eva laughed.
Ava eyed the field and checked the current state of the game on her Duel Disk, after which she nodded: "Yes, it won't. It's your Battle Phase, but you already attacked. So would you mind and end your turn?"
"Almost. I Set four cards from my hand face-down. Then, I end my turn," Eva replied, once again having a full field of five Traps set up.
"So its the start of my turn, I presume," Ava said, as she drew her card, "I will simply change all my monsters to Defense Position. Then I end my turn again."
"You… wow." Eva had to contain herself to not burst out laughing, "You haven't changed at all. You think you can stall me with a stream of monsters until we enter a draw by time out? I draw, and then I activate my face-down Trap Card: Meteorain!"
One of her Traps flipped up, as All-Devouring White howled in anticipation.
"It's as straightforward as things will get: This turn, when I attack your monster, my beast will inflict piercing damage to you!"
All-Devouring White: 38000 ATK → 39000 ATK
"Interesting you would have this in your Deck if you have only one monster," Ava mused.
"One monster is everything I need. I only had myself as well, for the last thousand years. Everything that lead up to this moment I did entirely by myself. Why do you think I would need more than one monster to bash open your skull and finally rid myself of you?"
"Do your worst, sister."
"So I shall. All-Devouring White, attack Night Mare Pegasus!" The beast raised its arms, ready to crush the winged horse under it, but Ava intervened before it could strike.
"I activate the effect of Night Mare Pegasus," she said, "when one of my Night Mare monsters is targeted for an attack, I can tribute any of my monsters to negate that attack."
The monster spread its wings and, as one of Avas Night Mare Steeds walked off into the shadows, conjured a shield to protect itself.
"Let me just shut that down really quick," Eva said unimpressed, "I activate Breakthrough Skill! A very handy Trap Card that will negate your monsters effects for the rest of the turn."
All-Devouring White: 39000 ATK → 40000 ATK
Pegasus was enveloped by a yellow shell, obscuring the shield and once again making it vulnerable to Evas attack.
"You seem to forget I also have a Field Spell Card left. Since there are four Moon Bouquet cards in my Graveyard, I can use the last effect of Midnight Serenade, tribute my second Steed and one of my Unicorns to end the Battle Phase and destroy all cards you control while also halving my Life Points in the process, but I doubt that number has any significance in this game anymore."
Two more of Avas monster disappeared, as a gust of wind swept through the park, creating an ominous rustling in the treetops.
Ava: 200 LP → 100 LP
"I was really hoping I could do this the easy way," Eva continued, "but you leave me no choice but to do it the cheap way. I activate my Trap Card Fairy Wind!" Another, stronger gust of wind picked up in the park, fighting against that of Ava.
All-Devouring White: 40000 ATK → 41000 ATK
"It will destroy all face-up Spells and Traps on the field," Eva explained, "and then we will both take 300 damage for each card destroyed. Life Points that you don't have."
"You are right, I don't have those Life Points," her sister replied, "but I don't need to have them. As long as Night Mare Unicorn is on the field, my Midnight Serenade cannot be destroyed by your card effects."
The monsters horned flared with light, before it stormed forward and impaled the Trap Card Eva had activated, effectively allowing her own effect to pull through, with the parks winds destroying the other two Traps that Eva still had Set and warding off the attack of the giant beast looming over them.
All-Devouring White: 41000 ATK → 43000 ATK
"Looks like you're out of options," Ava calmly stated, what earned her an aggressive retort from her sister.
"This isn't over just yet," she gritted her teeth, "during my End Phase my All-Devouring White lets me refill my field with five new Trap Cards."
"No, you don't understand," Ava repeated as Eva reached for her Deck, "you are out of options. Literally."
The other woman just frowned at that remark, but as she looked down on her deck, she knew what her sister meant.
She only had one card left.
Her deck was empty.
Breathlessly, she took that card and placed it on her field, forced by her monsters effects activation.
"It's my turn," Ava continued.
"It is."
"What's that card? Something with burn damage? Something to refill your Deck?"
"Fading White. I cannot even use this without another Trap Card in my Deck."
"You're a dead woman walking," Ava stated, "all I need to do is end my turn."
"Do it then," Eva said, "end me right here and now."
Instead of doing anything, Ava just sat down on the ground.
"What are you doing?" her sister asked confused.
"Waiting for sunrise. For us to end."
"Why won't you defeat me if you get the chance?"
"And watch you chase after those other three people? No. Last time I defeated you, I pushed our world to the brink of collapse we're standing on this very moment. I will not risk doing that again."
"I cannot do anything anymore, and neither can you. The Convergence has begun and we both won't see how it ends."
"You will stay here, where you can do no harm. As long as we're in my turn, your monster and you are locked in place. I won't allow any more people to get hurt because I was such a silly girl during the last convergence."
"Oh now you wanna talk about the people getting hurt?" Eva yelled, "what about our parents? Our neighbors? All the elders? And those are only those you killed when your wish backfired. Do you want to talk about the thousands of people who bore the Elder Blood? Those who would've inherited it had you not slain their parents? My legacy may have a few spots of dried blood on it, but yours is dripping red."
"Your mind tricks won't work on me sister," Ava replied calmly, "and I will not listen to your equivocations."
Eva took one deep breath before she sat down opposite of her sister. This was still a contest of champions and she couldn't leave until it was over. All she could do now was rely on Suito. She outfitted her oldest companion with the strongest Ritual Deck there was. It would be a work of miracles should he not win the final battle.
The three of them ran down the street as fast as they could.
Well, at least Jeanie and Daichi did. Keijis skin transplants still made running very hard, so Daichi decided that it was best if he continued to carry him.
The fights seemed to have moved towards city center now and they were in the outskirts so they were relatively save to run without cover. They had no time to lose anyhow.
Keiji kept his eyes peeled on the giant light pillar in the sky, only a few more blocks away. It was were Yuito was, where he was fighting his father. They needed to get there as fast as possible. If Yuitos father really had prepared for this moment, then he wouldn't be an easy opponent.
But in the end, they weren't that far anymore. Just round the next corner and then straight on until they reached the cathedral.
So understandably, Keiji yelled out "Stop!" as Jeanie and Daichi just darted across the crossroads they would've needed to turn at.
"Do you guys really need me to point out the way to the gigantic light thing over there?" he asked.
"My throne room is this way," Jeanie replied, "and that takes precedence."
"No!" Keiji protested as she turned to keep going, "I need to help Yuito!"
"And I need to stop a civil war," his sister replied, "I thought that was the point of this whole adventure."
"Yes, that was when I didn't know that Yuito was about to have a fight with the whole world at stake. We need to take the right here."
"Then we'll split," Jeanie said impatiently, "Daichi and you go to the cathedral and I'll make it to my throne room."
"With all due respect my goddess," the man in question finally spoke up, "but you cannot go on alone. After fighting that crazy bitch I doubt any of us is in the shape to take on another fight on their own. What if you run into someone?"
"Let's not pretend we have time to debate," Jeanie replied, "that duel just cost us enough time already!"
Keiji opened his mouth to say something in return, but he fell silent when he heard the sound of a car approaching.
"Speak of the devil," Jeanie said as she started up her Duel Disk, "here comes a fight for us now."
Daichi let Keiji down from his back and both of them started their Duel Disks as well, bracing for whatever would drive up to them now.
Luckily, Saburo recognized Keiji among those three people standing on the street and hit the breaks.
"Need a ride?" Hatsuko asked, before taking a closer look at Keijis face: "Fuck you look awful."
"Crazy pyro wanted a piece of me," Keiji said, "or at least so I assume."
He also took a second to eye Hatsuko, before noticing lots of scratches and bee stings on her body: "But honestly, ditto."
"Crazy bitch with a Crosspoint wanted a piece of me," Hatsuko shortened the explanation, "unfortunately, she got what she wanted."
"Figured," Keiji replied, "the light show means that all six Crosspoints are in the same place, doesn't they?"
"Mind introducing us real quick?" Jeanie threw in from the back and it was at this point that Hatsuko first noticed who was standing there behind her friend.
"You're… oh my god… you're Jeanie!" she gasped, "This is so… wow… Like, I don't know..."
"Yes she's famous," Keiji interrupted her, "can we get back to the topic at hand?"
To a questioning look from Jeanie, he eventually added: "These are Hatsuko and Saburo, friends of mine who are also in this whole Crosspoint thing. And you two, well, you know Jeanie, and this is Daichi."
"We've met, actually," the man threw in, "how have you been, little lady?"
"Ah, the toll collector," Hatsuko remembered, "I've had better days, but thanks for asking."
"I take it you're heading to the giant light pillar?" Jeanie asked, "if yes, you could, would you take these two gentleman along? That'd safe us a lot of time."
"We've been over this, you cannot go on by yourself," Keiji intervened, hopping in the backseat of Saburos car, "Daichi should stay with you. The three of us will be fine."
"You don't know what's waiting for you at the base of that thing," she replied, gesturing towards the light pillar, "you need all the help you can get."
"I'm sorry my goddess, but he's right," Daichi intervened, "you don't know what's waiting in your throne room either."
"Daichi," Jeanie said visibly annoyed, "get in that car, that's an order."
"No, Daichi, you stay," Keiji threw in, "Jeanie you're gonna get yourself killed."
"Oh for fucks sake," Hatsuko grew fed up of the conversation, "Saburo, floor it."
The boy did as he was told, speeding away and leaving Daichi and Jeanie behind, the latter screaming after them.
"So, Keiji," Hatsuko eventually addressed the boy in the backseat once they made a little bit of distance, "how's life been treating you since last time we saw each other?"
"Well, I once came home from going out with my sister and figured out that Yuito had been assaulted in our apartment. I went looking for him with Alessia only to suddenly wake up in a hospital, with burn scars so bad I needed skin transplants," Keiji explained, "Then I figured out me and my sister are royalty when she started a revolution against our father."
"You're what?" Saburo and Hatsuko both exclaimed at the same time.
"Yeah," Keiji explained, "you know I didn't like talking about my past much. That's because I spent the first half of my life as a captive of some crazy kidnapper."
"So you're Keenan?" Saburo asked, "the lost prince?"
"Yeah, probably," he replied, "its not like I've had much time to wrap my head around that yet. Anyway, I went to the palace, sucker punched a Queen, which felt crazy satisfying, and then we went off on a quest to stop a civil war. We got attacked by a giant monster while riding in our solid vision airship only to fight a one thousand year old entity and get absolutely smashed by her, before being rescued by a lady wearing all black. How about you?"
"I'd say that all sounds crazy, but after these last few days, I'd less inclined to do so," Saburo commented.
"So you say you don't know how you got those burn scars, but you remember going somewhere with Yuitos manager right before that?" Hatsuko asked.
"Yeah, one moment I'm in her car and then I'm in the hospital," Keiji answered, "her car that looks just like this one. Wait. This is her car."
"Yeah, about that," Hatsuko explained, "you remember I told you that I just fought someone with a Crosspoint, who gave me all those stings and scratches? That was in fact Alessia."
"Wait what?" Keiji almost jumped to the front seat.
"Yeah," she continued, "she held the orange Crosspoint, which has the ability to make ones thoughts come true. It's very likely that she did the same thing to you as she did to me."
It took Keiji a few moments to process this, before he answered: "But I had the Crosspoint. At least for a while. One of my cards had it in it, because it changed."
"Look, all I know is that I just fought against her and whatever happened happened."
"Where is she now? I think I should have a word or two with her."
"She's dead," Saburo said, "she held two Crosspoints at the same time and obviously was not of the Elder Blood. So after that blue guy came and collected the Crosspoints, she just turned into dust. We hopped in her car and now we're driving towards the convergence."
"This is a lot to take in, you know that?"
"Of course it is," Hatsuko said, "but let me just ask you one thing: What side does Yuito stand on?"
"What do you mean what side?"
"Both his manager and the man he won his Duel Disk against – Carter – were part of Evas group to destroy the world during the convergence. Alongside the man with the blue Crosspoint, who both you and Yuito had met before you even knew about the Crosspoints. What side is Yuito on, is what I'm asking."
"Adding to that," Keiji said, "the opponent he's facing right now is his father, Suito."
"Makes my question all the more important," Hatsuko continued, "this is not about trusting him, mind you. I don't trust him. And I don't even know if I trust you, its probably best I don't. But we're way past trust. Because there's nothing more we can do. If Yuito doesn't do the right thing during the Convergence, this will be the end of the world as we know it."
"All I can tell you is that in the past years that I've known Yuito he's been the best friend I've ever had. One of the only friends I ever had," Keiji explained, "I don't care if you don't trust us, I know that Yuito will do the right thing when it comes down to it. Question that still stands is, what is the right thing?"
"Hard to say," Hatsuko said, "I would've said that the right thing was to simply sit the convergence out. But maybe he was forced to participate, we don't know that yet. I suppose he will have to win and make a wish. One that doesn't backfire."
"So then all we can do is hope."
"Yeah, and I don't like that," Saburo said, as the light pillar came nearer and nearer, "Get ready, we're almost there."
"Get in!" Daichi shouted before pushing Jeanie through the metal door and closing it behind him. A loud bang on the iron signaled that it was in the nick of time and that their pursuers had caught up to them.
While they were right that most of the fighting had moved towards the city center, there were some electronic stores in the same street as Jeanies throne room and apparently, two guys who controlled a bunch of Battleguard monsters had started to loot that store for all its worth.
At least until they spotted Jeanie and Daichi in the streets.
Their objective turned to 'killing the queen' really quickly.
They managed to chase them down the building and into Jeanies throne room, but were still persistant on knocking down the door, even though that helped wall them off for the time being.
"I got it," Jeanie eventually yelled, after retrieving her Duel Disk from a cupboard. She hit some buttons on it, inserted a password and after a few seconds, the banging at the door stopped.
"Did you do it?" Daichi asked.
"Yeah," Jeanie exclaimed breathlessly, "it will take a few minutes until the whole city is affected, but I shut down the program. All Solid Vision is now non-lethal again."
"I'm gonna go out there and fuck them up," Daichi went to open the door, but Jeanie stopped him.
"Don't," she said, "they'll get their comeuppance. Don't worry. As will I probably. Do you know what jails like?"
"They don't put people like me in jail," Daichi said, "god forbid we get a roof above our heads. So I couldn't tell. What, you're still concerned about their well being even after they betrayed you like this?"
"I'm asking for myself, dumbass. Because I'll be happy if I just to go jail, instead of a mental hospital."
"Womans jail sounds fun in theory," Daichi replied, "well, for me it does, at least."
"Can you take this more seriously?"
"Sorry my goddess, but I doubt that you'll be persecuted for what you did."
"Glad you doubt that I'll be put away for starting a revolution that killed thousands of people," Jeanie lamented, "and I did it in front of an audience."
"You're not only royalty, you're the queen," Daichi continued, "I know how these things work for people like you. They may make you abdicate, but they would never even put you on court."
"People like me?"
"Big people," Daichi explained, "people with money, people with power. I'd be very surprised if you won't get off easy. So don't worry too much about it. It'll work out in the end."
"Not sure if that calms me," Jeanie exhaled sharply, before retrieving a bottle of wine from a cupboard, "care to join me?"
"I'd love to," Daichi replied, taking a seat next to her on the couch.
"Big people," she repeated, "you use that term almost disparagingly."
"Most people dislike people of a group they don't belong to," Daichi explained, "can I ask you something, my goddess?"
"Certainly."
"Did you ever really care about the people that worked for you? Or were we all just means to an end?"
"Of course I did," Jeanie answered, "I admit, sometimes it looked like I was just starting this revolution to stroke my ego and to some degree I might have. But the underlining issue have always been the people. If I just wanted to get back at father, I could've just started dating someone he didn't approve of."
"There's still time for that," Daichi chuckled.
"Do I see a volunteer?"
"In all seriousness, I'm glad you did what you did. For a while, you provided a real perspective to some of us living on the street. You really brought the legend of the Garbage Queen to live. Even though you fucked it up in the end."
"Yeah. Honestly I didn't even know about that urban legend when I first took up my work. One of the first guys I recruited was like 'Damn, you're like the Garbage Queen' and I liked that title, so I picked it up, with all the theatrics that came with it."
"It'll feel weird to return to my regular life with my gang after working for you, but still, it was fun."
"Excuse me?" Jeanie replied, "who said that you're just allowed to quit like that? Especially after I just lost nearly all of my bodyguards. I'd rather just promote you to my head of security than lay you off. If you already have a gang to supplement my ranks then that's even better?"
"Wait, for real?"
"It's all pending on whether I will actually end up in jail or not, but yes, for real."
"The fatasses are gonna love those news."
"The fatasses?"
"The name of my gang."
"Wow," Jeanie exclaimed, before adding, after a brief pause: "That's an awesome name for a gang!"
"I know right? So what are we gonna do now?" Daichi asked, "we're gonna be stuck here for a while if we wanna wait for the police to get the city back under control."
"I mean we have some wine and a bunch of other stuff down here," Jeanie replied, "I'm sure we'll find something fun to pass the time."
Author-made cards:
Night Mare Steed / DARK / Beast / Effect / Level 4 / 1900 ATK / 1500 DEF
If this card is Special Summoned: You can activate this effect; Other face-up "Night Mare" monsters gain 1000 ATK. If this card inflicts Battle Damage to your opponent: You can target 1 Spell Card in your GY; Add it to your hand, but that card and cards with the same name cannot be activated until the End Phase. You can only use this effect of "Night Mare Steed" once per turn.
Night Mare Unicorn / DARK / Beast / Effect / Level 6 / 2500 ATK / 2200 DEF
If a player takes Battle Damage from a battle involving this card: You can target 1 "Night Mare" monster in your GY, except "Night Mare Unicorn": Special Summon it. Once per turn, if a face-up "Midnight Serenade" you control would be destroyed by a card effect, it is not destroyed instead.
Night Mare Pegasus / DARK / Beast / Effect / Level 8 / 3000 ATK / 2500 DEF
Cannot be destroyed by card effects. If this card is Special Summoned by the effect of "Midnight Serenade": You can target any number of "Night Mare" monsters in your GY, except "Night Mare Pegasus"; Special Summon them. If an opponents monster declares an attack: You can tribute 1 monster you control; Negate the attack, then, destroy the monster and if you do, inflict damage to your opponent equal to its original ATK. You can only use this effect of "Night Mare Pegasus" once per turn.
All-Devouring White / LIGHT / Fiend / Ritual / Level 10 / ? ATK / 0 DEF
Must be Ritual Summoned with "Ever White" and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways. Cannot be targeted or destroyed by your opponent's card effects while you control a face-down card. Gains 1000 ATK for each Trap that is face-up on the field, in the GYs or banished. If this card is Ritual Summoned AND during each End Phase: Set, directly from your Deck, as many Trap Cards with different names from each other and the cards in your GY as possible. There can only be 1 face-up "All-Devouring White".
Midnight Serenade / Field Spell Card
All face-up DARK monsters gain 300 ATK. Apply the following effects based on the number of "Moon Bouquet" Spell with different names in your GY, but you can only activate each effect once per turn: * 1+: If a "Moon Bouquet" Spell is sent to your GY: You can Set 1 "Moon Bouquet" Spell with a different name from your Deck, but it cannot be activated this turn. * 2+: You can tribute 2 monsters; Special Summon 1 "Night Mare Unicorn" from your hand, Deck or GY. * 3+: During your Main Phase: You can Special Summon 1 "Night Mare Pegasus" from your hand, Deck or GY. * 4: If an opponents monster declares an attack: You can tribute 2 monsters and pay half your LP; Negate the attack and end the Battle Phase, then, destroy all cards your opponent controls.
Full Moon Bouquet / Normal Spell Card
If you control no face-up monsters: Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower "Night Mare" monster from your Deck.
Quarter Moon Bouquet / Normal Spell Card
Target cards your opponent controls up to the number of face-up "Night Mare" monsters: Destroy them.
Crescent Moon Bouquet / Normal Spell Card
If you control no monsters: Target 2 "Night Mare" monsters that are in your GY or currently banished; Special Summon them.
New Moon Bouquet / Normal Spell Card
Until the End Phase, "Night Mare" monsters you control can attack your opponent directly.