Roman wasted no time at all beating the shit out of Lise the second he'd trapped her in her own mind. He almost animalistically and mechanically used his size and brute strength to his advantage. Keeping Lise just enough off balance that she didn't have space to breathe. Wasn't even using his powers.
The space he'd chosen was reminiscent of the Old Reactor. Carvings in the walls almost exactly like the real thing. Except there weren't any stairs and the space didn't have the reactor or bridge either. Like an enormously wide well.
With cold, stone walls and columns that echoed every blow and scream.
A lonely space. Meant for a comfortless death.
/
Lise had gone still just as suddenly. Eyes falling shut again. But the purple glow of the curse mark never faded.
Fish had to drop her hands. She needed them to catch herself. Luckily Aki and Crow were there to catch her instead.
"Whoa, you all right?"
"No. I need time to recharge."
"But Lise needs you now!"
"I fucking noticed!" Fish snapped back at Yusei. "But I'm just… so drained. I already healed up Crow and Aki and Ruka…and let's see…" She started counting people off on her fingers.
"Drained, huh?" Crow frowned to himself. He felt similar, but then again he'd been trapped in a fridge for who knows how long without food and water. "That's it! Fish, you need to eat something. You skipped dinner."
"Oh…"
"You take Lise and Crow back to Martha's, Fish," Aki took charge. Someone had to amidst the mess Roman had left. "Rest up, and heal Lise when you're full. We'll meet you there."
"But-"
"Lise will be healed up faster if we don't weigh Fish down with more than necessary right now," Aki glared pointedly at Yusei.
He wanted to protest. Wanted to make sure she'd be okay himself. He didn't like the painful expression frozen on Lise's face. Curse mark bathing her features in unnatural shades of violet.
But he wasn't arrogant enough to think he had all the answers and no one else. Aki was right.
"I should have just enough power for two surfboards to get us back home," Fish said, conjuring one board. She and Crow climbed on.
Yusei gingerly lifted Lise up by her knees and her uninjured shoulder. Fish could have conjured the second board right underneath her, he knew that, but after Lise'd done what she could to protect him when he was out… How could he not do the same? He made sure her head was lowered last, gently onto the glowing waterboard. As comfortable as she was going to be for the trip aboard a magic waterboard, and with his coat as a makeshift blanket, she was ready to leave.
With a nod at everyone gathered, Fish and Crow were off. Lise right behind them.
"She'll be okay."
The twins, and Jack surprisingly, all offered hands on Yusei's shoulder. The twins couldn't reach that high, and had each taken a hand.
"And we need to meet them back at the house to regroup. Everyone grab a buddy and let's go!" Aki commanded.
/
Roman had apparently grown bored with his assault. Pausing to adjust his cloak and gloves, he surveyed the damage.
Lise was more bruises than skin. Her breathing came in shallow clips. Probably due to the bruises on her windpipe.
She'd dragged herself to the wall to claw back up to her feet. How was she still getting up? He'd battered her senseless. Taken friends and family from her.
Yet she still got up.
She still had hope for some reason. Roman had to find the reason and snuff it out.
"I figured someone so good at fighting would be more of a challenge. I'm disappointed."
She spat out blood on his boots. Wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. "Your approval means jack shit to me."
"Oh, but what about your friends?"
"What about them?"
"Do they approve of your methods?"
She frowned at him. "What does that have to do with anything? I thought you wanted to kill me?"
"But you put them in danger. Our fights injured your boyfriend, got your nanny absorbed, and endangered three precious little boys!"
There it was. He saw how wide her eyes had gone. Even though she'd turned away, her hair hiding most of her face.
"You're a danger to them. To everyone, you love."
"Y-You can't hurt them."
"It's not me whose hurting them, it's you!" Roman conjured more of the spiked form of his energy powers. The crystalline formation wrapping around his hand like a thick sword handle. "None of this would have happened if not for you…A Monster…"
"Stop it."
"You destroy everything you touch… Just look at me, your dear mother… Whose next?" Roman tsked tsked, shaking his head like he was too overwhelmed with how sad it all was.
"That's why it's better this way…" His voice taking on a softer cadence. Like a loving father was supposed to have when comforting his child. "Better for you to die… Give in to Destiny. Shed this worthless thing that you are and become what you were always meant to be..."
Lise leaned heavily against the wall for support. "Then just do it already!"
"What?"
"Get it over with! Kill me already!" She leveled a grimace up at him.
Roman stopped. Staring at her. This little girl, his child, was challenging him. Making him confront not just who his family was, but who he had chosen to be. Why he was dragging this process out instead of ending it definitively.
He wanted to punish her. Not just her, but Professor Fudo's son too. Roman had no clue why. He did know that a boiling and destructive force washed over him.
How dare Yusei love his daughter.
How dare she defy him. Defy everything that told him Destiny was right.
She deserved to be punished. To go through as much pain as possible. Make her transformation into the Dark Dragon worth all that he had done.
Roman lunged with his crude energy blade.
Lise saw it at the last second and side stepped.
Not fast enough.
There it was. The perfect scream of agony as fresh blood poured out of Lise's side.
Roman smirked to himself. Now this pain was the most delicious. He'd kill her all right, but he'd make the process as torturous and as long as possible.
/
"I'm sorry," Taka murmured.
He, Mitch, and John were being carried. Taka with Trudge, John with Yusei, and Mitch with Jack. Aki in the lead. The twins walking with her.
Trudge sniffled a little. "It's not your fault. You just wanted to help."
"But Lise was so hurt… And we couldn't help. We just made things worse. I'm sorry," Taka rubbed at his nose. His tears wetting Trudge's uniform.
"The only person who should be sorry is Roman," Yusei had been listening.
Rua looked back at his friend, hoping to make him feel better. His voice died in his throat. Now he knew what Dex had been talking about when he said Yusei had a scary face.
"We're almost there," Jack said quietly. He pointed Aki in the correct direction.
"Thanks."
/
Lise staggered sideways. Hand pressed to the bleeding cut in her side. Knees shaking.
Roman laughed, spinning the crystalline blades. Wet with her blood. "I'm going to enjoy this."
She didn't want to die, and definitely didn't want to be here at the mercy of her dangerous father. The situation was hopeless, but at least no one else was being threatened this time. Just Lise.
Her hand came away from her side. Tacky with blood. She wasn't going to last long at this rate.
What could she do? Her shields shattered on impact with Roman's energy knives.
The curse mark. The corruption Roman was talking about. Inside out. It was connecting her power to the future, death, rather than the life of the Crimson Dragon.
There was nowhere to hide. Nowhere to run.
But she'd always been stubborn. If Roman really wanted her dead, he'd have to earn it.
/
Fish was chomping on a sandwich. Crow had made her something quick once they'd arrived. Normally, she was a fairly picky eater, but she was so hungry she didn't care much what was in it.
Lise's curse mark filled the room with purple light. Fish was alone with her.
Crow had gone back into the kitchen to grab her juice or milk. Whatever Martha had enough of to spare for a hungry Oracle.
As Fish polished off her food, the glow surged brighter. Lise's back arched, eyes opening with the purple glow. Her scream rattled the house, and Fish scrambled away from her.
It was over, just as quickly. Lise's eyes falling shut again. She lay back on the bed. Teeth clenched. Hands grasping against the sheets.
Plop…
Fish frowned. Where was that dripping sound coming from? She wasn't crying, and neither was Lise. Had Crow dropped something in the kitchen?
Crow came back in carrying a tiny glass of orange juice. He gasped and nearly dropped the glass. "Fish, she's…" He pointed at the side of Lise he could see.
Fish rounded the bed and put her hand up to her mouth. The drip was coming from Lise. Blood had seeped through Yusei's coat, the bed, and fell to the floor.
"Shit!" Fish swore. She snatched the glass of juice and downed it in one chug. The purple glow was joined by her blue healing aura.
Crow grabbed an assortment of bandages from Schmitt's supplies. While Fish worked, they needed to staunch the bleeding.
/
Lise cried out. Roman had crashed through her latest shield to kick her hard. Sharp pain from her open wound made the impact that much worse.
"You're so pathetic. It makes me want to puke." Roman punctuated the word with a jab of his blade downward.
She ignored him. His words, anyway. They wouldn't help her stay alive. Avoiding his weapons, and find a way out. That would keep her alive.
"'A child born of a Signer under the January rain…'" Roman recited with a sigh. "Our battle was meant to be epic, the greatest clash of light and dark in five thousand years!
"But all you can do is crawl away from death."
"Hey," Lise croaked, leaning against one of the columns. "Crawling is totally fine if you can't walk."
Roman let out a laugh that was more a skeptical bark than appreciation of the humor. "Don't fool yourself, Elizabeth. You brought this pain upon yourself. You know what they say; be careful what you wish for!"
"And you," Lise ducked Roman's next strike, pounding both her sneakers into his chest, and rolling up the column, using her arms as an anchor around it. "Should be careful what you hear."
Lise pounced on him, grabbing his cloak, twisting it around his head as she fell. She skidded on her hand and the pads of her feet to a stop. Now was her chance to hide for a little longer, regroup, and find an exit!
Instead, Lise found herself screaming. Blades had sliced past her arm and leg. More blood and pain. She couldn't stand anymore. She was shaking too much from the blood loss.
Hand to her bleeding arm, Lise kept pushing herself away with her non-bleeding leg. Leaving a trail of red across the room.
Roman's shadow fell over her. Black and blue eyes manic with hatred for Lise. "The prophecy is absolute!"
He kicked at her head. Lise's eyes rolled back in her head once more, and she was still. The hand clutching her arm detaching, slapping on the stone floors with a sickeningly wet echo.
Roman raised his blade. The final blow. The definitive end. This was his chance!
But his hands trembled. Her face no less resembling Cerise's even bloody and unconscious. His little girl. The baby he was supposed to love.
He did love her. Enough to be merciful. She'd be dead soon anyway.
Roman's energy blades vanished. He walked away. He was a patient man. He could wait for her end. He'd already waited seventeen years. What was another twenty minutes?
/
"Where is she?!" Yusei demanded the second he'd entered the house.
John scampered out of Yusei's way to the hospital wing. Trudge ushered him and the others in the opposite direction.
"Hey," Fish said flatly when Yusei barged in. She was too tired to greet him her usual way.
Yusei didn't say a word. He took in the scene, and immediately looked like he'd aged thirty years in seconds.
The purple glow was brighter than Fish's blue. Despite Fish's best efforts, and stubbornness, Lise was worse. Bloody as well as bruised. The room smelled of it. Thick bandages soaked with Lise's blood, and Crow trading them in and out as fast as he could.
"She's not healing," Yusei rasped. He pulled a chair over to sit by Lise's head.
"No, she's not," Fish too looked like she'd aged decades. "It's coming from inside out, hurting her soul. Like Roman said… I can't…I can't heal her." Her chin shook.
"Hey," Crow wrapped Fish in a loose, sideways hug. "You did your best. It's not your fault."
"Lise," Yusei whispered softly. He grasped her hand, thumb tracing the path of her knuckles. He started humming, a song Lise had been trying to teach herself to sing under her breath, not caring if Fish and Crow heard him. He brought his right hand to her cheek, her skin cold.
They'd lost so many people. Yusei couldn't… He couldn't lose Lise too…
His dragon mark glowed. Red mixing with the purple.
Yusei closed his eyes. Brought Lise's hand to his lips.
Lise…
He fell into darkness.
/
Yusei opened his eyes just in time to fall flat on his face. "Ow…" he groaned. He hadn't landed in anything soft.
He adjusted to his feet and his new surroundings. He stood on the edge of a garden and an orange, sandy beach. But the array of flowers were all frozen, sharp, and unnatural. Even the beach remained stagnant. Not even the whisper of a wave. Stars slowly rolled across the sky. Barely discernible in the darkness.
"Where am I?" Yusei's breath steamed in the frigid air.
"In the mind world."
Yusei startled, jumping at least a foot. His body warped and flashed. He turned into a silhouette, himself with a coat on, without his coat. "What the…?"
"This is Lise's mind," the little voice said.
Past his corporal hands stood a younger version of Lise. Probably barely four years old. When she smiled up at him, she was missing a front tooth.
Yusei knelt down to her eye level. "How did I get here? Where's Roman? Is Lise still…" He trailed off. If he was in Lise's mind, she had to still be alive.
"I dunno, but Roman trapped her in there." She pointed to a deep purple door down by the cliff edges encircling the beach. "But you don't wanna go there."
"If Lise is in there, then yes I do."
"Okay, but I dunno if you can get her out."
"I'll worry about that later," Yusei said, already crunching through the frozen wildlife down to the beach.
"Good luck!"
The sand gave way to Yusei's boots. Wind kicked up. Whistling ominously past him. Cold pushing into Yusei so aggressively his bones practically rattled.
More cold met Yusei's fingertips through his gloves on the doorknob. His mark glowed as the door opened with a soft click. Inside the doorway lay a black hole with no visible path.
Yusei swallowed. Now or never. One deep breath later, he stepped into the darkness. Door slamming itself closed behind him.
Inching forward in the darkness, Yusei felt around for something. A wall, another door, anything to anchor himself.
Until he ran into what felt like another doorknob. Roughly judging by the pain in his hip, he'd run into the damn thing so hard.
He turned the knob and stepped into a horror show.
/
"Whoa!" Fish and Crow had jumped back from their friends' bodies.
Red light poured out of their dragon markings. Overwhelming the purple light of the curse mark, despite its stubbornness.
Yusei's eyes opened first. Both glowing red.
Lise's eyes followed. One eye glowing red, the other purple.
"What does this mean?" Crow whispered. Gray eyes wide, the purple and red lights reflecting in his irises.
Fish stared at her friend, at Crabhair. This was beyond her pay grade. Oracle or not. "It means we wait."
/
Blood stained the floors and columns like crude, ghastly finger paintings. Purple flames flickered in a single chandelier above them. Throwing the circular space in eerie, violet light.
Lise's body lay in a bloody heap. The center of the terrifying circle of darkness and pain. More bruises than person.
"Lise? Lise, oh god…"
Yusei ran to her side, scooping her up as gently as possible. He tore off his gloves with his teeth. Her hand and wrist were freezing, but Lise's pulse was there. Fluttering and weak, but still there.
Yusei pulled off his coat to give her a makeshift blanket. He stood up with Lise in his arms.
Roman had heard a strange disturbance a moment ago. Like a song with no lyrics. It was quiet, almost a deep hum. He'd gone to investigate when a higher pitched hum joined the song. Like the two little voices were trying to reach each other.
Rage welled up in him when he returned to his daughter's body. How in the hell had Ryuji's son made it into the mindscape?
"Where do you think you're going?" His voice boomed around the room. Eyes blazing as he emerged from the shadows.
Yusei had been waiting for Roman to emerge. There was no chance he'd risk leaving Lise completely alone. But that didn't mean he could stop Yusei.
"I'm taking Lise home." He glared at the Dark Signer. This man was the reason behind Zero Reverse. Satellite and City. The reason Lise was a bruised, bloody mess. The list of unforgivable things kept building.
"She is home. She's dead, and she'll wake up to slaughter all of you."
"I don't care!" Yusei yelled back. He held Lise closer. Bloody cheek resting on his shoulder. "Better to wake up around the people who love her than you!"
"She is my child. You could never understand how I love her!"
Yusei couldn't believe what he was hearing. What kind of mental gymnastics?
"I'm leaving." There was no use arguing with Roman, or crazy.
But when Yusei turned to find the door, it was gone!
"You can't," Roman snickered. "You've trapped yourself here with me and a corpse!"
A chill went down Yusei's spine. How was he going to get Lise out now?
Lise's brow twitched.
It wasn't a trick of the dim light. Her eyebrows were actually furrowing. She groaned when she tried to raise her arms.
Everything hurt and she had been dying. To be fair. The warmth and safety out of nowhere. Like she'd been dipped into a heated pool for a moment of reprieve.
"Lise?" Yusei knelt down to give her space to get up on her own. "Can you hear me?"
He held onto her uninjured shoulder. She was still pretty badly wounded. He wanted to catch her in as soon as possible, just in case.
Roman couldn't believe what he was seeing. How had the boy tapped in an empathy link barely stronger than a single thread? How had Elizabeth survived?
Lise wobbled to her feet. Her hand pressed to the coat covering her still bleeding side. Yusei held her other hand so she wouldn't tip over.
"So what's your plan now, boy?" Roman rustled himself to sneer at them.
Yusei stepped in front of Lise. Emotions boiled back to the surface. Dark, frightening and deadly emotions that had Roman flexing his fingers. Aching to enact them all.
Your son can't keep me from my destiny, just as you couldn't, Ryuji!
"You've doomed the two of you to a painful death."
Lise's eyes widened. A tiny trickle of color had seeped back into her pale cheeks, and she was much more lucid than when she'd first awoken.
She pulled on Yusei's wrist, attempting to get him further from Roman. "You shouldn't be here! You have to leave!"
"Leave? You can't. There is no escape!"
"Move!"
Yusei saw the energy attack coming. He pulled Lise along behind him. Both narrowly avoiding Roman's energy beam. Retreating behind a column for cover.
"So…" Lise winced, sliding down the column to sit. "What is your plan?"
"I'm working on that part," Yusei admitted. He peered around the column. They needed to be ready at a second's notice.
"You jumped into risking your life without a plan?" She glared up at him.
"Yeah, I mean, that's our usual M.O. isn't it?" Yusei argued, frowning at her. "We get into trouble, and then find a way out of the trouble."
"Not like this!" Lise hissed back. "Unbelievable, your solution was to die in a double suicide Romeo and Juliet style?"
"That's how that play ends? Why do people like it so much?"
"Yusei!" Her eyes blazed. If they somehow made it back alive, she would kill him herself.
"Sorry, Sorry, but-"
"Am I interrupting?" Roman growled. He'd found them.
Lise shoved Yusei out of the way with her feet. Rolling backwards with the momentum.
Not a second too soon.
Roman's fist went through the column where Yusei's head had been a second ago. Reducing the column to dust.
Yusei reconnected with Lise. Guiding her shoulder with one hand, and snagging his jacket with the other. The energy beam missed him by centimeters. It collided with another column, a dust cloud billowing up.
Using the cloud as cover, Yusei got them behind another column. Lise sank back down to the ground. Even a small bit of evasive maneuvers was clearly a struggle. She breathed heavily, leaning her head back and forcing longer breathes to get through the worst of the sharp pains.
Yusei brought his jacket to his teeth. Tearing the fabric into pieces. Long ones in strips.
"If you need to know, I got here by accident. And it's good that I did. I am not about to let my best friend die by herself."
Lise stared at him. Destroying his jacket without hesitation. He coaxed her hands away from the wound in her side. Both covered in tacky blood. The strips he'd torn up becoming crude bandages. The best he could do in their current situation. Lise's hand tightened on her jeans as he worked. The majority of the blood staining the denim. But their ruined clothes weren't what bothered her.
"I'm not… I'm not worth all that," Lise mumbled.
Yusei's frown deepened. He tied the bandages a bit tighter than necessary. "Don't be stupid. Of course, you're worth it. It's just a coat."
Lise's eyes watered. "No, not that… I-"
"We've gotta move."
Yusei had spotted Roman. Their dust cloud clover was up.
"I'm getting tired of this game of cat and mouse!" Roman roared. His purple glow surged and a beam of energy blasted out of his chest.
The two teenagers got behind their column just in time. Stone absorbing the brunt of the attack, but they were still in the destruction zone. Dust and broken rocks rained down everywhere. Adding to the mess of blood stains. Another dust cloud consumed the chamber, bigger than the last.
Ears ringing, Yusei's fingers combed through the dust. He'd lost Lise's hand in the blast. They couldn't keep this up, but what else could they do?
Where was Lise? She couldn't have fallen much further than him!
There!
Lise had grabbed his hand the second their fingers brushed across each other. He let her take them to the dark wall, leaving the largest scrap of his jacket back in the rubble.
The light barely reached this far from the center of the circular chamber.
That didn't stop Yusei from pulling out the scraps of his coat he'd managed to save. He got to work typing up the deep cuts on Lise's arm and leg. Her shoulder was going to be a problem though…
"I'm sorry…"
"You're sorry?" Yusei stood up from tending to her leg. What was she talking about? "For what?"
"You've been used and hurt this whole time, and you're going to die because of me and-"
"-Lise-"
"-I'm sorry. I wish the Crimson Dragon hadn't chosen you, any of you, for this-"
"-Stop it-"
Something Yusei didn't recognize clawed at his chest. Fish's human shield comment made sense now. He'd suspected, but that look on Lise's face… Roman had used him to hurt her. 'Proven' to her she was a monster hurting people. The people she cared about.
"And I'm sorry, I'm so sorry! I-"
"Lise!" Yusei said a little louder. "Stop," his voice softer. He cupped her face to wipe blood and tears off her cheek. "You didn't hurt me. Roman did."
She shook her head. "It's not that simple. I-"
"Stop! Stop talking responsibility for his choices, and stop talking about yourself like that! You're not a monster, and I am so sick and tired of you being the only person who doesn't see how great you are!"
Lise's mouth dropped open. Big blue eyes even bigger in her pale face and dust covered hair. The same dust sprinkled over Yusei's hair. The cut on his temple not healed, but the blood trickle down his face had dried long ago. The fierceness in his dark blue eyes.
Maybe it was the fact they were going to die. Maybe she'd lost too much blood. Maybe it was the hell they were both going through.
Lise didn't know.
When asked afterward what happened, who moved first, neither of them could give a direct answer. One that made sense anyway. Details got kinda hazy.
All Lise did know was that her and Yusei's lips found each other's in the darkness. The resulting warmth so overwhelming it was like she was melting, or knees buckling a little at the least.
Yusei's hand on her cheek migrated into her hair. His bare fingers sending electric currents down her spine. His other arm firmly around her waist. Keeping her upright, but gently avoiding her wounds too. No space at all between the two of them.
His lips were so warm and soft, especially for a boy. As far as she knew, she hadn't kissed many people.
Lise clung to his arm. Her other hand on his chest. Yusei's heartbeat raging under her palm.
The kiss felt good.
Really good.
And Lise loved him.
She loved Yusei so much.
Her fingers brushed his collarbone as she balled up his shirt in her fist. Furious at herself for giving into her selfishness.
She had to… to… stop…
Roman threw away the scrap of fabric he'd found. Yusei's jacket, or what was left of it. "Well played, boy."
Roman stopped dead in his tracks. He wasn't sure what he expected when the dust cloud settled, but it was decidedly NOT THIS.
A kiss was bad enough. Their dragon markings glowing was worse. He had to end this quickly.
Lise's eyes finally opened when their kiss broke. Breath steaming, curling around each other in the frigid air. Yusei had this look on his face she'd never seen before. Despite the blood smeared over his arm, collarbone, and the corner of his mouth, a tiny suggestion of a smile played on the corner of his lips. His half-lidded eyes full and bright despite the dim lighting. Like he was seeing the moon, stars, and sun all at once.
Roman regained his senses. Eyes blazing purple flames. His hesitation faded and his energy formed another blade.
Yusei was…a little distracted. It took a bit more time than usual to process the terror in Lise's eyes. The purple glow.
But by then she'd already shoved him away.
Yusei took everything in like he was falling in slow motion. Roman lunging. Lise trying to make herself as small a target as possible against the wall. The purple energy blade. Aimed low where Lise had slid down the wall.
Yusei hit the ground and rolled to his feet. He didn't think. He just moved.
Lise sucked in air like a gasping goldfish. Like her body wanted to ensure she had one last good breath in her. Eyes squeezing shut as a shadow fell over her.
She startled at the sound of blade entering flesh. She knew that sound. She'd heard it once when she was fifteen.
Felt it too.
But she hadn't felt anything this time.
She opened one eye. The shadow wasn't Roman poised to kill her. Instead, Yusei had intercepted the knife with his body. Boxing her in against the wall with his arms to further shield her.
Roman yanked his blade out of the boy's lower back. His body jerking with the motion. He cried out. Blood flowing.
"No! No, no, no!" His daughter screamed.
She supported Yusei. The two of them sinking to their knees before him. Even shaking and bleeding badly, Yusei kept one hand on the wall and the other wrapped tightly around Elizabeth. Her hands groping fruitlessly to use his shirt to staunch the bleeding.
It was pathetic really.
"This is even better than killing one of you and forcing the other to watch!" Roman snickered, flicking his wrist to conjure a longer energy blade. A sword.
Elizabeth looked up at him with a face of pure anguish. After all she'd struggled, all her efforts, she was still going to die. So was her beloved Yusei. For nothing.
More blood, this time his own, dripped past Yusei's lips. He was still shaky, and growing paler by the minute. His shirt and Elizabeth's hands soaked with both their blood now.
But the look of complete and utter hatred in Yusei's face and eyes was almost enough to give Roman pause.
Almost.
He smiled, laughing. He'd won.
Roman raised his sword to eye level. "Two for the price of one!"
Red light exploded everywhere.
Which turned out to be the Crimson Dragon!
Her long body curled around Lise and Yusei. With her tail, she flicked Roman away like a bug.
He screamed, landing quite the distance away. Rolling head over foot to a stop. A man so frightening made comical in an instant.
"What just…?" Lise couldn't believe their luck. "How in the hell?!"
Roman roared, throwing his tangled robes off. Eyes and mark glowing fresh purple again. His hands ignited with his energy powers. "Crimson Dragon!"
"Roman Goodwin!" She snarled back at him. Like his name was shit she'd stepped in. "You do not belong here!"
"That child is mine!" Roman pointed at Lise. "I can do whatever I want with my things!"
"She is not a thing, and she belongs to no one! You no longer have any power here. Leave or I will make you leave!"
"I'm her father! If I want her to live, she'll live. Her destiny is to die by my hand! It's my right!"
The Crimson Dragon's golden eyes narrowed. Her long snout opening wide for a glass-shattering roar. The entire chamber shook. "You have no more rights than an ant. Now, GET OUT!"
"Fine!" Roman spat. He whirled around to unleash another energy blast that reduced a column to more dust.
"Elizabeth, let me be clear. You've only bought yourself time. Nothing more.
"We will duel at the Old Reactor for the reigns of your Destiny."
He raised his hand and slashed it through the air. Out of a glowing spider mark whirled a violet portal.
"Meet you there."
Roman's portal swept acrost his body. Leaving blood, destruction, and his laughter behind.
He was gone.
/
Before their eyes the two glows on Lise's body became one. The red of the Crimson Dragon overwhelmed the purple. The curse mark retreating slightly, as if frightened and hurt by the blinding light. Even Lise's one purple eye turned red.
All the light vanished. Yusei and Lise's eyes snapping closed. Plunging the room into darkness.
"Aw shit," Fish swore.
"Jack, can you get the lights?" Aki asked.
He groaned. "Why do I have to do it?"
"Because you were closest to the switch, dumbass!"
"Okay, okay!"
Off yellow, fluorescent light flooded the room. The teenagers and twins blinked in the sudden difference.
"They're still not moving," Ruka observed, chewing on her lip. She tugged on one of her pigtails.
"Give it a second. They'll wake up."
/
"Yusei? Yusei, are you…?" Lise was holding him up more than himself. His arm around her had dropped the second Roman left. The other still shaking against the wall.
"I'm…all right…" he groaned.
"Nonsense!" The Crimson Dragon had shrunk down to her human form. "You are both bloody messes!"
She knelt down, her hands finding their worst wounds. Lise's side, and Yusei's back. His more fresh and sensitive, Yusei sucked in a breath through his teeth at her touch.
"Now I'm no Oracle, but…"
The pain eased. Red light radiating out from her palms like warm, circular ovens.
"There, that has stopped the bleeding for now. You will still want the Oracle to heal you once you wake up."
"That's much better," Lise sighed. She'd been feeling pretty consistently shitty for the better part of hours.
"I am afraid there is more pain ahead. Pain you will share, thanks to your empathy link…"
"What? But how?"
The dragon gestured to Yusei's left hand. When he raised it, purple webbing stretched across his wrist. Almost exactly how Lise's curse mark had begun.
This cannot be happening. This wasn't supposed to happen! How could you let yourself be so stupid?!
Lise chided herself. She'd been careless in addition to selfish. Their kiss had established a temporary empathy link. Exactly what she didn't want.
"This is new," Yusei said casually. He turned his wrist around to examine the webbing.
"I apologize," the Crimson Dragon said softly. Her eyes damp.
"It's all right."
But she wasn't speaking to Yusei. Her golden eyes begged Lise for a response. Anything.
"It…saved you both."
Lise dug her nails into her palms so hard she broke the skin. She took a deep, shuddering breath to keep from screaming, shouting or crying. Some combo of the three.
"Lise? What's wrong?"
She stood up. "Thank you, now please send us back."
"Of course," the Crimson Dragon bowed her head.
She morphed back into her dragon form. Claw raised.
"Wait, we need to know before we go!" Yusei insisted. Like why Lise was so upset about the link, for starters. "What can we do with an empathy link?!"
But the Dragon didn't slow down. Two of her claws rested softly on Lise's forehead and chest. Her dragon marks ignited.
You have each other now just as you have me. Remember an empathy link is a bond formed by love…
The Dragon's voice echoed back to Yusei.
Everything went dark again.
/
"She's awake, she's awake!" Fish cried. Her blue, healing aura filled the room. The color alone enough to calm the occupants. Especially since the ability was working again.
Lise sat up hallway through her healing progress. Processing the people around her, and how events had gone by out in the corporal world. Obviously, Fish was there, along with Crow, Aki, Rua, Ruka, and even Jack. All gathered together back in Martha's hospital wing.
In addition to Yusei slumping wearily over in his seat.
The events of the mindscape came flooding back to Lise all at once. She rolled off the bed. "He's bleeding too; help him!" She landed in a kneeling position just in time to keep Yusei from smacking his head against the floor.
The Dragon was right. She hadn't been able to stop the bleeding for long. Yusei's shirt and pants were soaked with it.
"Holy shit." Fish shook her head but fired up her healing again. No wonder Crabhair had nearly swooned. This was clearly a deep stab wound. "Between the two of you, you won't have any blood left!"
"Yeah," Crow chuckled nervously. He helped keep Yusei upright. "Keep your blood in your body where it's supposed to be."
"I'm trying," Yusei joked back, cracking the tiniest of smiles. He was still pale, but looking better by the minute.
Crow snorted and smiled too. Yusei was going to be okay. The others relaxed too. Smiling and giggling a little too.
Lise never smiled. She watched Fish work. The stab wound closing far too slowly.
Fish and Aki shared a look. Something had happened wherever Lise and Yusei were while their bodies glowed. Something bad.
Mikage poked her head in the room. "Trudge filled me in. I'm… I'm so sorry. Is everyone…okay?"
"We are now," Lise stood up. Yusei was fully healed.
"Okay, because I want to help you come up with a strategy. Goodwin told me…" she petered off as Lise slipped out.
Without looking back.
"Lise, wait!" Yusei grabbed his jacket and ran after her. Marveling for a second how he'd recovered much faster with Fish's help.
Mikage stood aside for him. "What did I miss?"
Aki sighed. "We're all missing something."
/
"Lise, please," Yusei intercepted her at the stairs. His hand finding hers on the railing. "Please talk to me. I…"
He'd touched her cursed arm with his own. The innocent looking purple webbing a promise to grow as ugly and all consuming as hers had become. And would still grow.
Yusei was worried about her curse mark. The serrated edges of the webbing climbing for the edge of her collarbone and throat. But he was more concerned with the look on her face. An empty, almost defeated look.
"There's nothing to talk about."
"Nothing to – but Lise we…" She was scaring him. Her voice empty too. "What about the empathy link? And we… we k-"
"We thought we were gonna die." She shrugged.
"That's bullshit!"
She startled. Not expecting Yusei to care so much. Finally looking at him again. With a touch of light in her eyes too.
"That's an excuse to run away. To push me away…"
Yusei pulled her closer by their joined hands. She stared down at him from the first step of the staircase. He squeezed her cursed hand in both of his.
"Please don't push me away. Tell me… Tell me what's wrong."
Lise almost broke down crying on the spot. She couldn't look into his face, his eyes. So open and vulnerable, and kind. All things she was terrible at.
The bloody stains on his jacket draped over his arm helped put things in perspective for her.
She shook her head. Pulling her hand back and taking a step backwards up the stairs. She'd already hurt him, cursed him, with just a kiss. Her murderous father nearly killed him too.
The next attempt could end him.
And that couldn't happen.
She loved him too much for that.
"I'm sorry, but that… that was a mistake. I never meant for things to get so bad."
She turned tail and walked the rest of the way up the stairs. Keeping a steady, normal pace.
Until she turned the corner.
She took off running. Higher and higher, to the door to the attic. She didn't have the strength to even open the door. She collapsed against it to sob.
It'd be okay once they won. Yusei and everyone could be free to live their lives. To be happy.
/
Yusei had dropped his coat on the word 'mistake.' Mind cranking the gears wildly.
Was kissing me the mistake? The empathy link? Roman using me like a shield? Getting stabbed? When I fell into the mindscape?
He groaned and sat down on the stairs. Needing to take a deep breath, reset, push his hair out of his face for a minute. Lise wasn't making much sense.
Even if the world was ending, or he was about to die, he wouldn't have settled for kissing anyone. That wasn't who he was, but was Lise? As far as he knew, they'd kissed because he'd said what Lise needed to hear; the truth. And he'd loved her much longer than that one incident. For a couple years now.
But he had no idea how Lise really felt. She'd yet to give him a clear answer.
Granted, he didn't need an answer to go forward at the time. He loved her second, and she was his best friend first.
They'd talk eventually.
They always did.