Disclaimer: No I do not own Yugioh.
Demon Duelist Legacy-World Tour Arc
Chapter 40: The end of it all
Rikuo Amero heard his name being yelled, but he honestly didn't feel like waking up. When someone shook him a couple of times, he brushed them away and curled up into a ball. "Just five more minutes," he muttered sleepily. Then the person decided to kick him in the ribs.
That got him up. Leaping into a standing position, he nearly roared in anger. "Stop bugging…" When his eyes fell upon Jasmine, he instantly softened. "Oh…hi there."
"I can see you're a morning person," she dead-panned.
"Excuse me, you two," Ryu injected, "I don't think it would be wise to just sit around, or have you not noticed…" He thumbed over at the huge hurricanes that were swirling all around the ocean in the distance. "The world is ending, so Rikuo, please use your wish?"
The wolf demon looked out at the ocean and then up at the sky. Sure enough, the Apocalypse Dragon was gone, having left with Valeus. "Alright, now I just need to stop the world from ending." He stepped to the edge of the cliff overlooking the ocean. ("Daniel…forgive me…this must be done.") "By the powers given to the winner of the Game of the Gods, I make my wish! I wish for the Apocalypse to have never begun!"
An explosion of sound shook the entire planet, and then, just like that, it was done. The sky was blue and the damage to the world, deaths caused by the Apocalypse and all, had been undone.
"Well that was anti-climatic," muttered CJ. "No bright lights or holy music. Just a big-ass clap huh?"
Rikuo wasn't listening though. He had tears streaming down his face. ("Daniel…my friend…")
The sound of metal of stone caught everyone's attention.
Rikuo looked over his shoulder to see the Divine Paladin of the Phoenix approaching him. "What the hell do you want? Go back into your card."
The armored monster rolled its eyes and drew its sword, which was now glowing and shifting into a katana shape. Tossing the weapon to Rikuo, the divine monster shimmered and was consumed in a torrent of flames that immediately launched upwards and reformed into a bird-like shape.
Rikuo stared at the changed weapon, his face locked into a state of awe. "The Howling Sword…it's been reformed…"
The Phoenix Wings arched through the air, and did something completely strange. Swerving directions, it slammed right into Jasmine. The Kitsune blinked in surprise and crashed to the ground, her eyes slowly fading into a green shade and her hair turning brown.
Jennie, now in control of her body, sat up. "Jasmine?" When she got no mental answer, the girl nearly panicked at the thought of losing the spirit that had protected her for so long. "She's gone!"
Rikuo growled at the bird-like form of the Phoenix Wings, which were circling the mountaintop. "Come down here so I can tear you up again, you little bastard! No one hurts my woman!"
Ryu stared at his friend like the wolf demon had just lost his mind. "Are you saying that…?" A glare from Rikuo told the dragon demon that now would be a good time to shut up. "Oh…right, don't mind me."
The Phoenix Wings arched through the air and slammed down into the ground away from everyone on the mountain top. There was a huge pillar of fire, which quickly died down.
Daniel popped his neck and stretched. "Finally, I was wondering what was taking you so long Rikuo." He smiled warmly at his other half. "By the way, thanks for saving the world again."
From behind him, Jasmine snickered, "Yeah right, he didn't so much save the world as summon the power that saved the world."
Rikuo, as well as everyone else, stared at the two now living members of their group.
"…………" Rikuo's eyes were so wide most people wouldn't be sure whether he was surprised or had just had a heart attack.
"D…Daniel!? How…when...." Deondre started, but he was cut off when the half wolf-demon held up his hand for silence.
Calmly, Daniel walked right past his friends, and even right past Rikuo.
Jennie stared at his confident approach numbly, her mind still recovering from two things. The first was that Daniel was alive at all, and the second was that now Jasmine had her own body. Finally, the third was that Daniel was now standing right in front of her. "You're…alive…"
Without another word said, he kissed her.
Deondre, CJ, Janeam, and Allon all stared at what should have deemed as an impossible sight.
Rikuo, Siegfried, Amy, Ryu and Jasmine all smiled, though Rikuo and Jasmine weren't so much smiling at the sight of their plans coming together. They were smiling at each other for wholly different reasons.
A good couple of minutes passed before Daniel finally broke away.
Jennie, cheeks red and ears twitching, just stared at his back as he walked over to Rikuo. For the life of her, she was a lot of trouble figuring out what had just happened.
Rikuo and Daniel met gazes, and then as one they smiled slightly.
"I see you saved the world?" Daniel stated it both as a question and a statement.
"It looks that way," Rikuo nodded.
"I guess that makes the score one to two?"
"Not really, the first time didn't count."
Ryu was having a hard time containing his laughter. Siegfried, Deondre, CJ, Amy, Allon, and even Jasmine were all giving disbelieving looks the way of the two wolves. Were they comparing scores over how many times the other saved the world?
Daniel started to turn away, and then as an afterthought spun around and slammed his fist right into the middle of Rikuo's face.
Now everyone had absolutely no idea what was going on.
The wolf demon didn't react, except for the fact that his head snapped back slightly. Then he retaliated…with a hug?
At this point everyone, though still horribly confused, had decided it was best to filter out of sight and leave the two alone. Apparently they had some things to discuss.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Minutes later Daniel and Rikuo were sitting over the edge of the mountain cliff, looking down at the ground.
"So where do we go from here?" Daniel felt uncertain of what he was supposed to do. Originally it would have been right back to school, and he would have spoken no more of this madness. Last time though, he wouldn't be coming back with someone extra though. ("Jennie…")
Rikuo had his eyes up at the blue sky. "All in all, I think it would be best if we lived apart from each other."
"What?" That was the last thing Daniel had expected to hear. "Come on Rikuo, that doesn't make any sense at all. I mean…." Somehow, Daniel was having trouble finding a reason to argue with his other self. "We…."
Rikuo smiled weakly. "You can't reason for us not to, right? It's not like we aren't going to see each other again. After all, you and I are still part of the same soul and heart."
"But…" Daniel fought to hold back tears, "I'm afraid…without you…"
"Believe it or not Daniel, you're much stronger than you think. It's just that with the events in your life, you have always thought yourself as weak." The wolf demon felt pangs of both guilt and anger in his heart. The guilt was there for having to do this to Daniel, and the anger at himself for knowing that this had to be said. "My light…you and I are so similar, and yet so different…."
Daniel was crying now, because his heart felt like a lead weight in his chest. ("Rikuo…why does it have to be this way? Do you really have to just leave me all alone? I don't understand…") He felt so angry that he wanted to spin around and hit Rikuo again…
"Wishing on a dream that seems far-off,"
"Hoping it will come today,"
"Into the starlit night,"
"Foolish Dreamers turn their gaze,"
"Waiting on a shooting star,"
"But…What if that star is not to come?"
"Will their dreams fade to nothing?"
"When the horizon darkens most,"
"We all need to believe there is hope,"
"Is an angel watching closely over me?"
"Can there be a guiding light I've yet to see?"
"I know my heart should guide me but…"
"There's a hole within my soul…"
"What will fill this emptiness inside of me?"
"Am I to be satisfied without knowing?"
"I wish, then, for a chance to see…
"Now all I need…
"Desperately…"
"Is my star to come…"
Both Daniel and Rikuo heard it, and both of them were crying now. They knew that neither of them could progress as individuals as long as they stayed together, and yet it was almost too painful for the two of them to part.
Surprisingly, Daniel broke the silence first. "Rikuo Amero, you are the part of me that gave me the strength to continue when all else seemed lost." He stood up and clicked his duel disk into place. "And you were the reason that I have been through so much hurt. Yet I can't blame you for it, because none of it was really your fault. You are my darkness, and for that I thank you."
Rikuo smiled slightly and clicked his duel disk into place. "Daniel Pilkington, you were the part of me that was the reasoning behind all of my anger and hatred. I love you and yet I hate you. Since the moment I awakened from your despair, I have watched you through the night, making sure that you were safe. Well now that time is at its end. You are my light, and for that I thank you."
Daniel smiled slyly, "One last battle, for old time's sake?"
Rikuo nodded. "Once more, we shall do battle."
They drew their cards, smiles on both of their faces. "Let's duel!"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The universe lives on, as well as planet Earth and its inhabitants. People across the planet go about their daily lives, and all is well.
To this, ladies and gentleman, I say 'believe in yourself and you will go far'. It is far harder than believed to overcome despair, but when you do it…it is the most powerful strength you can ever believe in.
So our heroes, the warriors of light and darkness, say their final farewells and return to life as normal. Should the world ever need the Demon Lords again though, then trust me, they will be there. Until that time, I say to you adios.
The end.
Author's notes: I'd like to thank all of you who have read and supported me while I got to work on my first Yugioh fic ever. I hope that Demon Duelist Legacy has been worthy of your time, and if not, then please accept my humblest apologies for that.
For those of you who feel like it should not end this way, I must remind you that despite all other things, Daniel and Rikuo are duelists most of all. This story began with a duel and it ends with one just starting, to show that the future itself is unclear.
With one last bow from our cast, they say their good-byes to all of you. Demon Duelist Legacy ends here, and that is how it should be.
Just to let you know though, I will be starting up another fic in the Yugioh category very soon. This story will be based about twenty years from the end of the Pharaoh's memory arc, and it will have some new….additions to it that I hope you all like. For this story, I am looking for submissions of characters and their decks.
Though I dislike doing this to people, I am going to need these character descriptions to have some detail on the characters themselves (hair, eye, etc.) and any other distinguishing factors about that person. (Personality, etc.)
As for decks, I'm doing something rather unique for this fic. Deck lists are not needed, though favorite cards would be alright. Also, if you wanted a deck made up of cards from a theme that does not exist in the real card game that is completely alright. So please, send in those submissions, and I will be waiting.
Finally, I'd like to apologize to everyone who has been left in suspense over the ending of DDL for the last two days. The website caught me by surprise with its lock-down for two days, so I couldn't do anything about that. If you'd still like you, I would love to hear your review on Chapter 39 if you didn't get a chance to post it. Thank you in advance.