Me: Well, here's my sad tale about Duke, I love him dearly, and I want all of you to know that, not everything works out in his part. Although he puts on a big smile, he's got a lot of problems behind him... so, here's when I'm gunna let you all find out!!
Jou: -teary eyed- You don't love me????
Me: -- Shut up. I love you.
Jou: B-but you said you loved Duke!
Me: I do!
Jou: NUUUUU!!!!
Me: -rolls eyes- Okay, I love you both, but I love you more. I just feel kinda bad for him...
Jou: -pouts-
Me: -rolls eyes again- Okay, onto my little fic already.
Jou: -pouts again-
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A black haired teen walked through the park, his head low, his spirits lower. He didn't seem in the mood to chat at the moment. This black haired teen wore a red leather vest over a black inch-thick sleeveless shirt. He lifted his head for a moment, to let his bright green eyes scan the surrounding area. He let out a sigh, and walked over to the jungle gym, and sat. He sighed again, and stared at the ground beneath him.
He was too busy to notice a young boy about the age of ten walk up to him.
"Hey, mister," the boy started. The teen didn't even look up. "Hey mister, you're–" the young boy cut himself off. "Duke?" he asked.
The black-haired teen, or Duke, looked up at the speaker. It was a familiar young boy, his hair was black also. He wore a blue and white striped T-shirt with a yellow vest over it, and blue jeans. Duke blinked at the kid.
"Mokuba?" He asked. "What are you doing in the park?" He looked around, frantically. "I-is Kaiba here too?!"
The young boy, or Mokuba, shook his head in response.
"Seto's at home. He let me come to the park to... 'clear my head' or whatever," Mokuba shook his head. "Sometimes I really don't understand Seto. But anyway, more to the point, why are you here?" the boy asked, his purple-blue eyes overcome with curiosity. Duke looked down.
"I-I don't know... I guess I'm taking a break or something," Duke replied. Mokuba nodded.
"Taking care of your Dungeon Dice Monsters shop sure must be a chore. Bet you're getting customers left ta' right!" Mokuba smiled. Duke nodded, weakly smiling back. Truth be told, he wasn't getting any customers at all. In fact, he hadn't gotten any customers in the past month, so he's been having a hard time getting money for food... and other various thing like that. But he wasn't about to tell Mokuba, the heir to Kaibaorp, this.
"Yeah, a chore..." Duke echoed, looking down. Mokuba blinked at him.
"Everything alright?" He asked. Duke looked up, and nodded.
"Why don't you go on with what you were doing?" Mokuba nodded, and trotted off. Duke looked back down once Mokuba was gone. He sighed, and leaned against the pole next to him. Then, at that moment, he wondered,
'How did I find the time to come out here anyway?' He sighed, once again, and closed his eyes. Even though he wasn't tired or anything, he soon fell asleep, up against the pole.
A few hours later, Duke awoke. He looked around him, it was dark out now. He got up off of the playground slowly, then started for his shop. What was he to do? No one bought his Dungeon Dice Monsters anymore, everyone was going to Yugi's shop, and buying Duel Monsters cards from him. If he didn't get customers soon, he would lose the shop, and he would starve to death. Duke sadly looked up at the night sky. Stars dotted as far as he could see, and only a small sliver of the moon could be seen from where he stood.
"Father... what would you do?" Duke asked the sky. Almost as if an answer (A/N: XD Or, sort of an answer) it started raining. The rain poured, drenching the black-haired boy. He let out a long sigh, and trudged home.
He started running about half way there, thinking he was going to get sick to top off everything else going horrid in his life. He got to the door, took out his key, unlocked the door, and walked inside. He took the sign at the front and flipped it around to the side that read 'open' instead of 'closed' like it had been before. He walked over to the counter and wrung out his hair. He let out a sigh. He walked into the back, then up the stairs, towards his room.
There he changed out of his wet clothes, then he went back downstairs, grabbed a popsicle, (A/N: Holy crap! If he can't afford normal food, then why would he have popsicles?!) and went to the front counter in his shop. There he sat for a while, until about ten, or so his clock said, and he closed up and went back upstairs. He got into bed, and was soon asleep.
The next day, the teen was awoken by a knocking at his shop door. He got up, groggily, and trudged down the stairs, totally forgetting the fact that it could be a bill collector of some sort. He got to the door and opened it, greeting the faces of a multi-colored and spiky-haired boy, a blonde teen next to him, a female brunette next to him, and a male brunette next to the female.
"Oh, it's you four. What do you need?" Duke leaned against the door way thing next to him.
"Hey, Duke!" The spiky-hair boy chimed. "May we come in?" Duke sighed, yet again, and moved aside. The four teens walked in. Duke turned to them, closing the door.
"What do you four want?" he asked. "Money? Duel Monster cards? 'Cause I can't loan 'em," the blonde shook his head, laughing.
"Dude, we don't want your lame cards, and we certainly don't want your money. Did it ever occur to you that we might just wanna say 'hi' to our good 'ole buddy, Duke Devlin?" the blonde asked. Duke raised an eyebrow.
"Joey Wheeler and his gang? Uh no, no, it really didn't occur to me," Duke replied. The blonde, or Joey, sighed.
"Nice shop. Done anything new to it?" Joey asked, changing subjects.
"Not since I dueled you," Duke replied, sharply.
"Well then, I guess I just never took a look around. Where are all your customers?"
"Uh... I haven't opened up shop yet. You guys were the first ones here,"
"Well jeez, you'd think you'd have people waiting at the door for you to open," he started laughing, "am I right?" Duke nodded slowly, letting out some small fake laughter.
"Heh heh, yeah, you are," Duke walked over to the front and flipped around the sign, and came back. "I'm going upstairs to change," he stated, then started to the back, and then upstairs.
He got changed, and was back downstairs in a matter of minutes. He sat at the counter at the front, and the other four seemed confused.
"Not one customer yet, Duke. Today must be a slow day," the spiky-hair boy smiled.
"Yeah... a slow day..." Duke echoed quietly. Then, a person came through the door. He wore a black suit, and had a brief case. He walked over to the counter.
"Mr. Duke Devlin?" He asked. Duke nodded.
"That's me,"
"Mr. Devlin, you are behind on all of your credit card payments, and you've bounced about thirteen checks in the past four weeks. We need the money," the other four teens looked at Duke, confused, while Duke backed up a little.
"I-I-I..." he made a break for it. To the back, up the stairs... he could hear the others call for him. He got to his bedroom, and could now hear them headed up the stairs. He ran over to his window, opened it, and jumped out. He landed on the ground, tripping, but got back up again. He ran off, towards the park... towards something... towards anything else but this...
Was pain, death, suffering, his only choice?
'Father... what would you do?'
Me- ta-da! What do you think? I was finally able to get the first chapter to this done. I'm wondering what I'll do for the second chapter... hmmm...
Joey- ha! Duke's busted!
Me- he'll flee away from it though, but then just get caught up in more trouble. You'll see. -
Joey- -laughs maniacally- that's what you get, Devlin! That's what you get!!
Me- -- Joey, watch out for the Duke fans out there...
Joey- o.o oh yeah, crap...