*NOTE: This chapter is under the process of being remastered like prior entries. Continue to read (and cringe) at your own risk.*
Chapter 9: "Marks - Part 2"
Opening Theme: "Raining" by Art Of Dying
Ending Theme: "Behind Blue Eyes" by Limp Bizkit
On the sidelines, Danny's fists were balled in frustration as he watched Mike's counter get foiled. Marina was also tense, and she'd even moved herself closer to Danny in her uneasiness. But no one was nearly as anxious as Violet, who was trembling as she watched the duel before her unfold.
She and the others had seen intense duels with high stakes against Josiah plenty of times before; and she even knew that Mike had knowingly put his life in danger dueling against an armed criminal in recent weeks. But actually seeing a duel with stakes this high was a completely different ballgame; her heart had never pounded so hard, and her body had never felt so shaky and restless before in her life. It was like she was waiting to see whether or not the world around her was about to come crumbling down again with Mike's defeat; after all, his loss would mean his arrest, and his arrest would mean him disappearing from her life again, just as he had two years ago. And that was the most agonizing thought she could think of.
Meanwhile, Mike now brought his gaze back to the duel at hand. "It's my turn!" he said as he drew his next card, "And I'll start by switching both of the Rose Tokens you so generously gave me to DEF mode!"
[Rose Token – DEF: 800]
[Rose Token – DEF: 800]
"Then I'll activate the Mystical Space Typhoon spell card!" Mike pressed on, "And with it, I can uproot your Black Garden field spell!"
A strong cyclone suddenly began to whirl around the entirety of the field, which had Dr. Crawford looking up as his Garden was pulled out from the asphalt, sucked into the swirling vortex of wind around them before it died down just as quickly as it had began.
"Next I'll summon Constellar Pollux!" he continued.
[Constellar Pollux – LV: 4/ATK: 1700]
"And when he's summoned to the field, his effect lets me normal summon one more Constellar monster! So let's give a warm welcome to my Constellar Siat!"
[Constellar Siat – LV: 1/ATK: 100]
"Now I'll use Siat's special ability! He can copy the LV of any other Constellar monster on the field! So for this turn, he'll be copying my LV 4 Pollux!"
[Constellar Siat – LV: 4]
"And now I'm going for another Xyz summon!" Mike cried out as his two monsters were absorbed into a spatial portal, "By overlaying Siat and Pollux, I Xyz summon Constellar Omega!"
[Constellar Omega – RK: 4/ATK: 2400]
"That's a new one..." said Danny as he gawked at this creature that had taken to the field.
"And thanks to Constellar Star chart, I get to draw another card!" Mike reminded them as he drew again.
"Now I'll use my Omega's special ability!" Mike said as a grin came to his face, "By detaching one overlay unit, I can make my Omega, as well as any other Constellar monsters on my field, impervious to spell and trap effects for the duration of this turn!"
"Alright!" Danny exclaimed, earning confused glances from Violet and Marina as he explained, "All this time, Dr. Crawford's been using spells and traps to take out Mike's monsters. So Mike busted out the one monster he had that could keep his monsters safe from that face down card! And he doesn't have to worry about Tytannial's ability either, since he's got no other plants left to sacrifice!"
Smiles came to Violet and Marina's faces as they realized Danny was right: Mike had figured out a way around Dr. Crawford's strategy.
"Now, Constellar Omega!" Mike now declared as he pointed at Dr. Crawford's monster, "Destroy Tytannial, Princess of Camellias!"
Omega galloped its way towards Tytannial before thrusting its fist straight through Tytannial's chest, who screamed in agony as she was destroyed in an explosion that engulfed Dr. Crawford's side of the field.
[Dr. Crawford – LP: 7000]
Mike grinned at his move's success, but then he noticed how Dr. Crawford didn't seem even slightly bothered by this move—on the contrary, he looked just as calm and collected as he'd been throughout the duel thus far. And as the smoke from the explosion began to clear, Mike realized why:
There was Tytannial, floating before Dr. Crawford just as she'd just been before, only now with all of her ATK points.
[Tytannial, Princess of Camellias – LV: 8/ATK: 2800]
"This can't be right..." Mike stammered with disbelief, "I just destroyed her!"
"That you did," Dr. Crawford confirmed, "And then I resurrected her using my Call Of The Haunted trap card."
Mike continued to look at Dr. Crawford with a stunned expression as his old therapist explained, "I knew you would eventually destroy Black Garden, and take advantage of her ATK power being as low as it was; which is why I made sure to set something that would bring her back at full power."
Mike grinded his teeth before saying, "I'll set one more card face down. Your move."
"Indeed," Dr. Crawford retorted as he drew.
"To start, I'll activate the Fragrance Storm spell card!" he decided, "By destroying any one plant-type monster on the field, I'm then allowed to draw one card!
"And what's better..." Dr. Crawford said as he pointed at one of Mike's Rose Tokens, "Fragrance Storm isn't picky about what side of the field I take the plant monster from! So I'll destroy one of your Rose Tokens!"
Sure enough, Mike watched as the Rose Token that his opponent pointed towards shattered, and Dr. Crawford drew his card. And when he saw what it was, he smiled before revealing it as he continued, "And because I drew a plant-type monster—like my Mariña, Princess of Sunflowers—Fragrance Storm allows me one more draw!"
Dr. Crawford drew once more, before his own eyebrows rose in surprise. "And would you believe it..." he muttered before flipping the card to reveal it to Mike, "I drew another Fragrance Storm!"
Mike's eyes narrowed while Dr. Crawford activated his second card as he said, "Now I'll destroy your second Rose Token to draw once again!"
Mike was becoming exasperated as Dr. Crawford drew yet again. Upon seeing this card, he frowned disappointedly for a moment. "Sadly, this wasn't another plant-type monster," he lamented, "But it may very well be better: I activate the Mark of the Rose equip spell!
"By banishing the Dandylion monster that I discarded with Raigeki Break earlier," he explained as he removed the card from his graveyard, "I can equip this card to your Constellar Omega. Then, once my turn comes around, and during every one of my turns going forward, your monster will betray you and join me on my side of the field!"
Mike bit his lip in thought. Even if he activated Omega's ability at that moment to make him immune to spells and traps, it wouldn't stop that card from equipping itself to him. And then, come the end of that turn, Omega would be completely susceptible to the Mark of the Rose, and Dr. Crawford would have complete control over it during every single one of his turns after that.
But luckily, he'd set the perfect card for this kind of situation in his last move:
"I activate my Xyz Reflect trap card!" he retaliated as he flipped his trap card, "With it, I can negate your equip spell and destroy it! Then, you take 800 points of damage!"
Dr. Crawford's eyebrows arched in surprise as he watched the opposing trap card fire a beam towards his spell, which shattered upon contact.
[Dr. Crawford – LP: 6200]
"FINALLY!" Danny shouted, making Marina and Violet flinch at his sudden loudness, "A move of Crawford's that he could actually get around!"
But Dr. Crawford merely adjusted his glasses as he regained his composure. "Not bad..." he admitted, "But I'm afraid my turn isn't over yet.
"I'll now activate the spell card, Foolish Burial! And with it, I send my Rose Lover from my deck to the graveyard."
As he took the monster card from his deck and placed it in his graveyard, he continued, "Now that she's there, I'll use her special ability: by banishing Rose Lover from my graveyard, I can special summon one plant-type monster from my hand! So let's welcome my Mariña, Princess of Sunflowers!"
[Mariña, Princess of Sunflowers – LV: 8/ATK: 2800]
Danny looked taken aback by this move. "Wow..." he muttered to Marina, "You must be the Doc's favorite student for him to have a monster with the same name as you."
Marina felt her temple throbbing as the most annoyed look Danny had ever seen came to her face. "It's not even pronounced the same way, you moron..." she said dangerously.
Danny just looked away while whistling nervously to himself.
Back in the duel, Dr. Crawford was now ready to go on the offensive: "Now Tytannial will attack Constellar Omega!" he declared as Tytannial once again sent a flurry of flower petals towards Omega.
But Mike was ready for this move as well: "Reveal, Mirror Force!" he countered as he flipped his trap, "Which'll destroy all of your ATK mode monsters!"
Tytannial's flower petal cyclone hit an invisible barrier, which bounced the attack back at its master, who once again gave a shriek before shattering from the petals that pierced right through her.
But once again, Dr. Crawford had a counterattack of his own: "I'm afraid your efforts are about to work against you..." he warned Mike, "You see, any monster that's special summoned by Rose Lover is unaffected by trap cards during the turn it's summoned.
"Not only that," he said as he pointed at Mike's Constellar Omega, "But my Mariña has a special ability of her own: when exactly one other plant-type monster of mine is destroyed in her presence, Mariña gets that monster's vengeance by destroying one other card on the opponent's side of the field! And I can only think of one good target!"
Mariña now hauled a handful of sunflower seeds from the large sunflower she stemmed from at Mike's Omega, which cried out as the seeds made contact with him before he was destroyed.
"And now that you're wide open..." Dr. Crawford cried out, "Mariña can attack you directly!"
His princess repeated the same attack that she'd done to Omega, only now the seeds were flying straight at Mike, who winced as he raised his arms in defense, feeling them pelting against him as his LP dwindled.
[Mike – LP: 4150]
"Mike!" Violet cried out harrowingly, just barely managing to stop herself from running out towards him.
Mike lowered his defensive arms as he turned his head to glance at his friends, giving them a quick thumbs-up to let them know he was fine.
"Oh, good!" Danny tried to sound as reassuring and optimistic as he could, "See, he's fine! That was nothing!"
Dr. Crawford, overhearing Danny's comment, merely scoffed before agreeing, "You're quite right, Mr. Stark. None of you have seen anything, yet."
Danny's face turned to a nervous frown. "Well, that's ominous..." he muttered uneasily.
Dr. Crawford now looked back to Mike as he concluded: "I'll end my turn there."
Mike drew his next card without a word. He only had two cards left in his hand, and Dr. Crawford had one. And while this would've been a cheerful thought for him in any other situation, it wasn't the case here since Dr. Crawford had the whole field all to himself thanks to his Mariña's presence.
"Why do you persist?"
Mike looked up from his cards at the sound of Dr. Crawford's words. "Haven't you realized that you're fighting a losing battle? Why continue this duel any further when the outcome is obvious?"
Mike was beginning to brim with anger at his old therapist. "I never took you for a trash-talker, Crawford," Mike said with disdain.
Dr. Crawford gave a small sigh as he adjusted his glasses. "I'm not trying to 'trash-talk'," he said truthfully as he gave Mike an imploring look, "I'm trying to convince you to drop this duel because I don't want to lock you away along with your friend."
Mike's eyebrows knit. "If you would just listen to me..." he uttered, before pointing towards Violet, Danny, and Marina on the sidelines, "Listen to us! You don't have to do this!"
Dr. Crawford was silent for a moment before he answered: "It's my civic duty to put anybody who is a potential threat to the city away. Even if he is your friend, Mike. I'm sorry."
Mike unbelievingly shook his head as he stared at Dr. Crawford for a moment, but then put his serious face back on. "Well, so am I, Crawford..." he finally replied as he picked a card from his hand, "I summon Constellar Leonis!"
[Constellar Leonis – LV: 3/ATK: 1000]
"And his effect lets me normal summon one more Constellar monster during the turn he's summoned! So let's welcome the one I added to my hand earlier thanks to Sheratan: Constellar Kaus!"
[Constellar Kaus – LV: 4/ATK: 1800]
"Now I'll use Kaus's special ability!" Mike continued, "He can either increase or decrease the LV of a Constellar monster on my field by 1 twice per turn! And for this turn, I'll bring Leonis's LV from 3 to 4!"
[Constellar Leonis – LV: 4]
"And now that they're equal in LV, I can have them build another overlay network!" he cried out as his monsters once again allowed themselves to be absorbed into a spatial portal, "Now take to the field, Starliege Paladynamo!"
[Starliege Paladynamo – RK: 4/ATK: 2000]
"About time!" Danny said as he pumped a fist, "Let's see that 'Marina' take a beating from Mike's ace card!"
Marina looked like she was going to pop a blood vessel from her crush's denseness as Mike went on: "Starliege Paladynamo's effect detaches both of its overlay units in order to wipe out your Mariña's abilities and ATK points!"
[Mariña, Princess of Sunflowers – ATK: 0]
"Now attack!" Mike declared, "Destroy that Princess, Starliege!"
The space-blade-wielding warrior took up his sword and charged towards Mariña, who gave a fearful cry before Paladynamo slashed right through her like a knife cutting through butter, destroying her as Dr. Crawford raised a defensive arm to shield himself from the impact.
[Dr. Crawford – LP: 4200]
"And that's the end of my turn," Mike concluded as cheers erupted from Danny, Marina, and Violet, "Your move, Crawford."
Dr. Crawford lowered his arm as he looked to his old patient with slight resent. "I didn't want it to come to this..." he said with sadness in his voice as he drew his next card, "But you brought this upon yourself, Mike.
"I summon my Lonefire Blossom!" he began.
[Lonefire Blossom – LV: 3/ATK: 500]
"And with its special ability, I can release it to special summon any one plant-type monster from my deck!" Dr. Crawford explained as the monster he'd just summoned immediately burst into flames, "Come to the field, my Talaya, Princess of Cherry Blossoms!"
[Talaya, Princess of Cherry Blossoms – LV: 8/ATK: 2800]
"Aw, gimme a break already!" Danny cried out exasperatedly as he rolled his eyes, "How many damn Plant Princesses can one guy have?!"
Ignoring Danny's outburst, Dr. Crawford continued: "My Talaya's special ability grants her 100 more ATK for every plant-type monster I have, including herself!"
[Talaya, Princess of Cherry Blossoms – ATK: 2900]
"Now destroy Starliege Paladynamo, my Princess!" Dr. Crawford said.
Talaya now took a handful of cherry blossom petals and hurled them at Mike's warrior, who tried to shield himself from them using his spatial blade. But it wasn't long before the barrage of petals pierced through Paladynamo's sword and hit him, destroying him.
[Mike – LP: 3250]
"Now will you cease this foolishness, Mike?" Dr. Crawford shot at him, "Or are you really going to make me go through with locking you up?"
"Stop talking like you know you're gonna win," Mike growled back, "Since you've destroyed my Paladynamo, I get to draw another card!"
Mike drew his card as Dr. Crawford scoffed at him. "I'll place one card face down. Turn end," he finished.
"Then it's my move!" Mike said as he drew.
On the sidelines, Danny's breathing was becoming heavier. Marina was shifting her weight back and forth between her legs uncomfortably as she watched on. Violet had a hand up to her chest, feeling the quickening pace of her heartbeat throbbing violently against her ribs. After watching that last turn, all three of them were on the edge of their seats, attentively waiting to see if Mike would be able to pull himself out of this hole that Dr. Crawford had pushed him into.
"Come on, Mike..." she said quietly as she took a nervous gulp, "You can do this; I know it..."
Finally, Mike made his move: "I'll set one card face down. Your move."
Danny looked like this eyes were gonna pop out of their sockets from shock. "Just one set card?!" he cried out incredulously, "Don't tell me that's really all he can do...?"
Violet's hand that was resting on her chest clenched into a fist in her anxiousness. Was Mike really about to give up...?
Now, as Dr. Crawford drew his next card, he gave a small sigh. "Always determined to see it through to the bitter end..." he figured, "Very well, then.
"I activate the Miracle Fertilizer continuous spell!" he started, "Now, once per turn, I'm allowed to special summon any one plant-type monster in my graveyard back to my field. All it costs me is the inability to normal summon or set during the turn I use its effect, but it's a trivial concern.
"So for this turn, Miracle Fertilizer will resurrect my Tytannial, Princess of Camellias!" he cried out as the first Plant Princess he'd summoned during that duel now blossomed back to life on his field.
[Tytannial, Princess of Camellias – LV: 8/ATK: 2800]
"And with her revival, my Talaya gains another 100 points!" Dr. Crawford reminded them all.
[Talaya, Princess of Cherry Blossoms – ATK: 3000]
"And now..." Dr. Crawford pointed towards Mike, "Talaya, strike Mike directly!"
Once again, Talaya took a handful of cherry blossoms and sent them flying, this time at Mike. Now the three friends on the sidelines were tense, waiting to see if this attack would connect. Violet closed her eyes, not wanting to watch if Mike was about to take another direct hit.
"Defend me, Rainbow Kuriboh!"
Violet's heart practically skipped a beat as her eyes shot open to see the small, purple creature with the rainbow tip atop its head emerge onto the field, giving a cry of, "Kuri kuri!" before emitting a rainbow-colored force field around Mike that deflected the onslaught of flower petals.
"Rainbow Kuriboh's special ability activates from my hand when you attack!" Mike explained as a small smile came to his face, "It targets your attacking monster and equips itself to it! And as long as it stays that way, your Talaya won't be able to make any more attacks!"
Violet couldn't stop smiling now, much less hold back from shedding a single tear of joy. She'd heard about how Mike had used the card she'd given him years ago to save himself from Damian White, but this was the first time she'd actually seen him use it in person with his new deck. And now, she could feel a new elation running through her entire body as it sank into her that Mike hadn't given up on the duel yet after all.
But her delight was to be short-lived, as Dr. Crawford adjusted his glasses once again, almost smugly. "I had a feeling you would have a countermeasure in place," he said matter-of-factly, "As such, that's the reason I brought my Tytannial back to the field—she's my countermeasure! By sacrificing herself, she can negate your Rainbow Kuriboh's ability because it targets my Talaya, and then destroy it!"
Tytannial now wilted down to the ground, back into the large flower that she had sprouted from. But from it then emerged a squall of flower petals, all of which went flying towards the small, rainbow-emitting creature on Mike's side of the field, which found itself surrounded and squealing in horror before the petals imploded, crushing it.
Violet could've sworn she'd just taken a punch to the gut in that moment as Dr. Crawford then continued, "Unfortunately, because Tytannial left the field, not only is my Miracle Fertilizer destroyed, but Talaya will have to make do without an extra 100 ATK points. But it's no matter."
[Talaya, Princess of Cherry Blossoms – ATK: 2900]
"Now let's try this again!" Dr. Crawford declared as Talaya picked up another handful of cherry blossom, "Attack him directly, my Talaya!"
Talaya once again threw her barrage of petals towards Mike, whose eyes narrowed before he countered: "Rainbow Kuriboh, return to my field!"
Everyone's eyes widened as, suddenly, the round little monster once again appeared on Mike's side of the field, confidently crying out, "KURI!" as it intercepted Talaya's petals once more, deflecting them off an invisible barrier around the purple creature this time around.
"What's this...?" Dr. Crawford muttered confusedly, his eyes wide after watching this unexpected move.
"I activated my Rainbow Kuriboh's second effect," Mike explained, "When he's hanging out in my graveyard when you declare a direct attack, he can special summon himself back to my field to rewind the battle! Only catch is that he's gotta be banished when he next leaves the field."
[Rainbow Kuriboh – LV: 1/DEF: 100]
Dr. Crawford's expression had turned into a frustrated frown now as he glared at the little monster that had stopped him twice now. Violet, on the other hand, felt able to breathe again as the smile returned to her face. That card she'd given him was even more amazing than she remembered it to be, and Mike was just as amazing at utilizing it to its maximum potential.
Unfortunately for her, Dr. Crawford was fed up with this Rainbow Kuriboh getting in his way: "I won't lie; your skills have definitely proved to be impressive, Mike..." he complimented his old patient, "But I won't allow this to drag on any longer! I activate the Strike Slash trap card!"
Dr. Crawford's trap flipped as he explained: "With this card, not only does my Talaya gain an additional 700 ATK, but she's also allowed to inflict piercing damage for the remainder of the turn!"
[Talaya, Princess of Cherry Blossoms – ATK: 3600]
"Oh, this isn't good..." Danny realized with alarm, "That means if his next attack goes through, even with Rainbow Kuriboh in DEF mode..."
"He'll lose..." Marina finished with wide eyes.
Panic flashed through Violet's mind as she realized what else that meant: if this attack succeeded, and Mike lost the duel, then he too would be incarcerated alongside Aeron; and she would lose him again...
"Now let's try this one more time!" Dr. Crawford cried out as he pointed at Mike's small creature, "Talaya, put a permanent end to Mike's Rainbow Kuriboh, and end this duel!"
Talaya once more took up its cherry blossom petals, this time scooping some up in both hands, before hurling them towards Mike miniature monster, who frantically cried out, "KURI KURIII!" as it watched the instruments of its destruction inch closer to it.
"NO!" Violet shrieked as she tried to run out towards Mike, but Danny and Marina held her back by her arms and shoulders as tears fell from her eyes.
But to everyone's shock, Mike still had one last surprise up his sleeve: "I reveal my quick-play spell: Forbidden Dress!" he desperately cried out as his last set card flipped.
Everyone's eyebrows rose as a white, golden-laced dress suddenly appeared on Talaya, while Mike explained: "This card not only drops your monster's ATK power by 600 points, but it also makes her impervious to destruction for the rest of the turn!"
[Talaya, Princess of Cherry Blossoms – ATK: 3000]
Not a moment too soon did Talaya's ATK power drop before her petals hit Rainbow Kuriboh, who gave out one last pained "KURI!" before exploding, causing a large cloud of smoke to engulf Mike's side of the field as he too let out an anguished cry.
[Mike – LP: 350]
The three friends on the sidelines were all petrified in their awe now, unable to believe how Mike had pulled a last-second maneuver to keep himself from losing.
"P-please tell me I'm not the only one who just saw that...?" Danny stuttered out.
"Nope..." Marina confirmed to him, "But now, what's Mike's planning on doing?"
Danny looked to his brunette friend as she explained, "He has no other cards in his hand, and that Rainbow Kuriboh and Forbidden Dress were all he had on his field. He has nothing left."
Violet, who'd managed to break free of her friends' arms, ignored them as she kept her eyes fixated on the area where the smoke was clearing around Mike, revealing him as he scowled at Dr. Crawford, who was staring back at him coldly.
"So you barely survived..." Dr. Crawford mused, a tone of slight surprise evident in his voice as he spoke, "You truly are a talented duelist, Mike. But I'm afraid that's going to be the last of your luck.
"During this end phase, my Strike Slash and your Forbidden Dress's effects wear off," he explained as the white dress disappeared from Talaya's body, "Which means her ATK returns to its original value."
[Talaya, Princess of Cherry Blossoms – ATK: 2900]
"I tried to warn you that this would happen," Dr. Crawford said as Mike managed to regain his footing, "But your bullheadedness has left you on the verge of being locked away with your friend for a very long time."
"Crawford, it doesn't have to be like this!" Mike shot back, "I'm telling you, Aeron would never have hurt Danny on purpose!"
Dr. Crawford's face was solemn as he looked back into Mike's angered, ocean-blue orbs. "Even if that's true..." Dr. Crawford sounded almost regretful now as he spoke, "It's still my responsibility to help put away those who pose any kind of a threat to County Dame. And you ought to know all about that, since you helped in capturing Damian White only a few weeks ago."
"Yeah, but everyone else already knew he was a wanted psychopath," Mike retorted, "You don't even know the first thing about Aeron!"
"I know that he somehow has the power to turn what's supposed to be an intangible hologram into a real flame," Dr. Crawford returned, "And that alone is reason enough for concern. People like him have no place here in our society."
Mike went silent at these words as his head bowed. 'People like him...' the words repeated in his mind, which then echoed in various voices he'd heard over the last two years: 'People like them... people like us... people like you...'
His body shook with rage. No other words had ever angered him as much as those did in his entire life; not since the first time he'd heard them spoken to him almost two years ago...
- Flashback -
"Now I Synchro summon!" Mike cried out as his Infernity Archfiend, Infernity Necromancer, and Infernity Avenger combined together to create a pillar of white light, "Take flight, Void Ogre Dragon!"
[Void Ogre Dragon – LV: 8/ATK: 3000]
The gathered people crowded around the duel between Keir and Mike all had looks of astonishment on their faces as this new, intimidating dragon burst from the pillar of light onto Mike's side of the field. The entirety of the duel thus far had been a constant struggle for Mike as he tried to use the new Infernity deck that Aeron had given him to get around Keir's manipulative Spellbook deck.
Behind Keir, his right-hand man, Jared, as well as the rest of Saddleburry's citizens, were ultimately surprised at how well Mike had suddenly been able to turn the tables in his favor. Their leader's Spellbook deck had always been seemingly impossible to defeat, considering how well it was able to manipulate the game for his own ends. But clearly, Mike's training with Aeron over the last three days hadn't been for nothing, as he had finally found a way to somehow get through Keir's strategy and fight back.
On the sidelines behind Mike, the people of Frontier Haven were staring with awe at the sight of their chosen fighter's dragon. They'd been watching on with the thought that this kid wouldn't even survive until the end of the duel with how Keir had been using his Mark's powers to turn his monsters' damage to him real, while Mike's monsters couldn't even leave a scratch on him if they wanted to. But at the sight of this new beast on Mike's field, the spirits of Frontier Haven's citizens were beginning to lift as a new hope began to fill their hearts.
Samael had a particularly wide smile on his face as he watched Mike take the duel into his own hands. Aeron remained motionless, displaying no signs of emotion as he stood there with crossed arms, watching. Casey, still at the front of the Frontier Haven pack, was looking on with an awed gaze as the same, hopeful feeling that was sinking into everybody else's hearts sank into her as well.
Mike, meanwhile, was finally beginning to feel more confident than he'd felt this entire match. He'd been thrown for a serious loop after Keir's first direct attack earlier, when he'd first taken real damage thanks to Keir's Mark. But now, despite having received all sorts of bruises and cuts all over his body, he felt sure that he was on the verge of a breakthrough that could win him the duel.
On Mike's field, the only other monster he had aside from Void Ogre Dragon was his Infernity Randomizer, which he'd revived alongside his Necromancer earlier in the turn thanks to Infernity Mirage. In his hand, he held no cards.
[Infernity Randomizer – LV: 1/DEF: 0]
Keir's field, on the other hand, was sporting only his Prophecy Destroyer, as well as one set card. He held three cards in his hand.
[Prophecy Destroyer – LV: 6/ATK: 2500]
As much as things looked promising for Mike, there was just one problem: the LP difference between the two was a grave one where the latter was concerned:
[Mike – LP: 600]
[Keir – LP: 2900]
Keir had picked up on this detail too: while he observed Mike's new dragon, he couldn't help but smirk evilly as he chuckled. "So this is your big, showcase monster, is it?" he taunted his young opponent, "But even so, if you do attack me during this turn, I'll still finish you off in my next turn with the cards I have in my hand."
Mike could only glare at Keir as he felt his blood beginning to boil over. "I don't think so..." he growled, causing everyone's eyebrows to rise in surprise at Mike's sudden tone shift, "Because I'm planning on finishing this right here, right now!
"I activate the effect of my Infernity Randomizer!" he continued his move, "Once per turn, when I have no cards in my hand, I can draw one card. If it's a monster, you take damage equal to its LV times 200 points. But if it's a spell or trap card, then I take 500 damage."
Keir sneered at this. "You think you can draw one last card that will be able to defeat me?" he shot at Mike haughtily.
"Let's find out!" Mike shouted back fiercely as he drew his card.
Everyone gathered around the duel was silent as Mike looked to the card he'd picked.
And for the first time all duel, he smiled.
"I drew a spell card," Mike revealed as he flipped the card to his opponent, "So I take 500 damage."
Infernity Randomizer now rotated on its bottom point to point of its revolver barrels towards Mike, and fired away a bullet that passed right through Mike, but nevertheless made him cry out in agonizing pain as he felt both his insides and outsides burn momentarily.
[Mike – LP: 100]
As Mike staggered and Keir burst out into maniacal laughter, Samael was scrunching his face in confusion. 'He took real damage from that shot...' he silently realized, 'But it was his own monster that had dealt the damage, not Keir... have his Mark's powers finally awoken...?'
Now, as Mike brought himself back to a standing position, he cut off Keir's laughter as he shot at him, "Go ahead... laugh it up... you didn't even look at the spell I'd drawn, did you?"
Keir's cackling ceased before he eyed Mike with a confused stare. "What're you saying?" he demanded.
"I'm saying that this duel is over!" Mike exclaimed as he played the spell he'd just drawn, "I activate Darkworld Shackles, and equip it to your Prophecy Destroyer! As long as it remains on the field, your monster can't attack, and its ATK and DEF both drop down to 100!"
Shock spread across Keir's face at this information, but his cocky expression quickly returned as he countered: "Not bad, but not good enough to get through my Spellbook of Wisdom quick-play spell!
"With this card, I select any one spellcaster-type monster on my side of the field; like my Prophecy Destroyer!" he explained as his eyes narrowed, "And then, it's either immune to spells or traps for the rest of the turn! And to keep your Shackles off of my Prophecy Destroyer, I'll make him immune to spells!"
"A wasted effort."
Keir arched a confused eyebrow at Mike's cryptic retort before Void Ogre Dragon suddenly let loose a stream of red and black flames at Keir's spell card, which burned into cinders immediately upon contact.
"What in the hell?!" Keir bellowed as he watched the Darkworld Shackles appear around his Prophecy Destroyer's leg after all.
[Prophecy Destroyer – ATK: 100]
"Void Ogre Dragon's effect," Mike explained, "Once per turn, when I have no cards in my hand, I can negate any spell or trap card that you activate, and destroy it!"
Everyone else's eyes widened in realization as they all realized what this meant, but no one's eyes were wider than Keir's as Mike declared his final move: "Now, Void Ogre Dragon! Send this bastard back to the hell that spat him out!"
At Mike's command, Void Ogre Dragon threw its head back before spewing another fiery surge at Keir's Prophecy Destroyer, which gave a painful, low growl before disintegrating into ashes as well.
[Keir – LP: 0]
[Winner: Mike]
But the fires didn't stop there, however: despite the duel being over and all of the monsters and cards fading away, the black and red flames continued on past where Keir's monster had once stood and engulfed Saddleburry's leader, who started screaming in agony as the fire swallowed him. Little by little, his skin and clothes were burning into nothingness as he cried out in excruciating pain. But eventually, the roar of the flames drowned out his desperate cries, leaving him lost in an unending maze of pain.
Mike was left to stand there, frozen by his own shock as he watched the flames that his dragon had emitted slowly burned his opponent away. He couldn't even begin to wrap his mind around what he had just done, much less how he had even done it. He hadn't meant to make his monsters deal real damage like Keir's had done, and however it was they had been able to do so was beyond his comprehension to understand, since he hadn't been able to do so earlier.
On the sidelines, everyone else looked just as stunned as Mike did. To the citizens of both Saddleburry and Frontier Haven, Keir writhing in pain after a defeat was an image that had remained unconjurable in their minds for years. But now, as they saw it happening before their very eyes, nobody knew what to think or how to react. Even Aeron was struggling to come to terms with what he was seeing, as his eyes were finally wide with a surprise that didn't come to his face very often; Casey had brought her hands up to cover her agape mouth; Jared looked absolutely horrified as he stepped backwards to keep as far away from his burning-alive boss as possible.
But among all of them, Samael remained the only one who seemed completely unfazed by this. In fact, he cupped his chin with his hand thoughtfully as he silently realized: 'The anger that's been flaring up inside of him... that had to have been what triggered the awakening of his power... how his Randomizer was able to hurt him...'
Eventually, the dark flames finally began to die out as Keir dropped to his knees. When the last ember had disappeared, all that was left of him was his burnt, tattered jacket, his other singeing clothes, and the darkened remains of his skin in the places he'd been most severely burnt; particularly on his face. Chunks of his hair were missing, and smalls bits of skin had been burned away to the point that one could see muscle. He almost looked like he'd become part-zombie, but the one distinctive difference between him and a reanimated carcass was the fact that there was still a light in his eyes—the faintest glimmer of vitality that hadn't dimmed out yet.
He coughed a few times to clear his throat, though he nearly choked himself as he did so. "I... I guess that's it..." he said raspily as he stared at the sandy ground beneath him, "You won, kid..."
Mike remained unmoving as he watched Keir manage to lift his head, so that his eyes met with his victorious opponent's. "But..." he managed to wheeze out, "I'm still alive... which means you'll have... to finish me off... yourself..."
Mike stood in thought for a moment as he tried to think of what Keir meant, but realization quickly hit him as what Aeron had said earlier that day came back to him: if he wasn't already dead by the of the duel, then there was only one other way to put him down...
His right arm hesitantly made its way to the duel disk on his left arm, quivering as it took the device by its handle, making it deactivate as it was removed from his wrist. He began pacing slowly towards Keir, though he felt like he wasn't even in control of his own feet. His mind had subconsciously taken over, knowing what it had to do.
He stopped a few steps away from the crippled man he'd nearly burned to death, who was looking up at him with daring eyes. "Go ahead..." he dared Mike, "Do it... kill me..."
Mike's shakily lifted his right arm, aiming the firearm directly to Keir's forehead. The muzzle was only inches away from what remained of the man's blackened skin, and where it was aimed would send the bullet inside of the multi-functional duel disk straight through his brain, ending his life instantly.
But the moment Mike's index finger met the trigger, his entire body froze. His conscience just wouldn't let himself do it; to take a life, and lose a part of himself doing so...
As the seconds ticked by that Mike just stood there, unable to pull the trigger, Keir looked to him with a look of confusion on what remained of his face. "What are you waiting for...?" he breathed out, "Don't you... want me dead...?"
Mike's body had become completely unresponsive. As much as he hated this man with a burning passion from all that he'd heard about him, and because of how he'd nearly killed Mike throughout their duel, and how much he wanted this man buried six feet under... he just couldn't bring himself to be the one to put him down.
It was then that it clicked in Keir's mind, and his charred lips seemed to curl into what looked like a barely discernible smirk. "You've never... taken a life... have you...?" he coughed out, sounding almost amused by this thought, "Heh... so innocent... you've yet to realize... that you're no different than me..."
Mike's expression turned to one of angered perplexity as Keir went on between coughs, "You kill me... and you only continue my mission... to eliminate those with the Mark..."
"I am nothing like you." Mike breathed heavily as the statement left his lips. Keir's words were beginning to crawl under Mike's skin, making it harder for him to control his rage.
Now Keir was laughing, if one could call the dying, raspy breaths that came from him in spurts laughter. "But you are..." he corrected him hoarsely as he looked to the ground for a moment, "You, and everyone else in Frontier Haven... you all bear the Mark..."
"That doesn't mean a damned thing," Mike shot back as his fingers began to tremble more; his index finger was subconsciously beginning to wrap its way around the trigger.
"Wrong..." Keir explained as he struggled to breathe, "It means... that nobody is safe... around you... people like you... people like us... we're just abominations... to the rest of the world...!"
Keir locked eyes with Mike one last time as he raised his voice as high as he could: "And when the last of us... are finally dead... my mission... will be comple—!"
BANG!
His last words were cut off as Mike's index finger pulled the trigger, projecting the bullet inside of the revolver straight through Keir's forehead. And as the burnt man fell backwards in a crumpled heap, the last bit of light in his eyes finally disappeared, leaving them as lifeless as the rest of his bleeding body now was.
As soon as Keir's body hit the ground, Mike felt the gun-shaped duel disk slip out of his hands as it joined the bleeding corpse on the tainted sand. He stumbled backwards in silent hysteria, unable to take his horrified eyes off of the man whose life he'd just ended as his mind tried to process what he'd just done. He hadn't even intended to pull the trigger when he had—he'd actually planned on being merciful, and was going to offer Keir a chance to live on in his crippled state, so long as he and the people of Saddleburry never came anywhere near Frontier Haven again. But in the end, his body had completely succumbed to his rage in that moment, compelled by the way Keir talked about people with the Mark like they weren't even people, much less human.
As for everyone else, the people of Saddleburry were all frozen with mixed expressions of denial, terror, and rage on their faces after watching their leader die. Jared, still standing in front of everybody else from his town, was more wide-eyed than anybody else, clearly unable to believe that he'd just watched his longtime boss die after he'd sworn that the boy who'd killed him was nothing more than a joke.
Frontier Haven's citizens, on the other hand, bore very different expressions that ranged from happiness to relief. What they had all just born witness to was something that the grand majority of them had been waiting to happen for years, and those who had spent so long waiting all had the same thoughts swimming in their heads: their days of living in fear of who would be chosen to die next were finally coming to an end.
But the only one among them not entirely focused on this realization was Casey, who was instead focused on Mike as she looked to him with sympathetic eyes. She knew exactly what kind of chaos was going through his head after taking his first life. She could remember when she'd first experienced that inner turmoil as clear as day—the mix of regret, self-loathing, and denial that had eaten away at her for so long, had to have been the same feelings that were now eating away at Mike, too.
As for Aeron, he had put his own shock aside and made his way over to his young protégé, who now tripped over himself and landed on his rear end in the sand from his backwards stumbling. But his ocean-blue orbs never wavered from Keir's corpse, even when Aeron knelt down next to him and helped to remove the steel-cabled cuff from his wrist.
Samael, meanwhile, had only continued smiling in a somewhat malicious way the entire time he'd watched the scene unfold. He'd finally gotten to watch the man who'd spent over twenty years terrorizing both him and the people he watched over not only die, but suffer a worthwhile punishment for his crimes before departing for the next world.
Now he turned to face the rest of his town's citizens behind him, raising a fist into the air as he shouted triumphantly at the top of his lungs: "KEIR HAS BEEN DEFEATED! FRONTIER HAVEN IS FREE!"
The crowd of Frontier Haven's citizens snapped out of their momentary shock at Samael's voice, as they quickly erupted into an overwhelming wave of joyous cheers as they all raised their fists into the air as well, mimicking their leader as he too gave a loud cry.
Samael then turned to face the crowd of Saddleburry's citizens for a moment, locking eyes with Jared as the man glared at him malevolently. "Your reign over us is broken!" Samael shot at him profoundly, "So don't bother coming to us next week, unless you want to watch another one of your people die!"
An immeasurable amount of hatred filled Jared's eyes as he watched Samael once again turned back to his people. "Let's return home!" he cried out gleefully.
And with that, he joined the crowd as everyone turned around and began walking their way back through the roads of Saddleburry. But for the first time ever, there was much upbeat chatter amidst them all as they walked: some were discussing how they were planning to celebrate as soon as they made it back to Frontier Haven; others talked about the duel they had just witnessed; some were even discussing their predictions about how they thought the duel would turn out in the end. Only Casey stood lingering as the crowd weaved its way around her, while she looked back to watch as Aeron tried to get Mike back onto his feet.
"C'mon, get up," she overheard Aeron's words, "It's over."
Even as Aeron brought Mike back into a standing position, Mike was still struggling to take his eyes off the burned corpse of the man he'd just killed. Nothing he'd ever done or even had to think about doing had ever been this unsettling, and it was numbing the entirety of his body to the point that he could barely find it in himself to move. But the more Aeron spoke to him, the more he could feel his sense of reality slowly returning as the muscles in his came back to life, allowing him to stand.
Seeing that Mike was still in no position to move on his own, Aeron now slung his arm over his shoulder before turning around to follow the same path as the other townspeople of Frontier Haven, while Mike's feet dragged behind him in the sand. Their backs were turned to the citizens of Saddleburry as they continued watching on with expressions of shock, unable to bring themselves out of their stupor after having watched their leader die before their eyes.
As Aeron and the last of Frontier Haven's citizens exited the town of Saddleburry and headed back into the desert, Mike was finally beginning to feel the rest of his body again; albeit he felt extremely weak from how his whole body had shut down on him in his petrified state. He was at least able to form whole, cohesive thoughts in his mind again, but none of them were of any pleasantries to him. In fact, his mind was entirely focused on trying to reconcile with the fact that he'd just taken the life of another human being, despite doing so for the sake of many other lives. But even so, he could feel the gaping hole that had been left in his heart from the transgression he'd committed, and he knew there was no way he would be able to get back the piece of himself that he'd lost today.
At this point, there was only one fact that stood out to him that was relatively positive: the long-lasting battle between the towns of Frontier Haven and Saddleburry was finally over.
- Flashback End -
Mike's eyes fluttered open as the memory faded from his mind, his attention returning to reality as he realized Dr. Crawford was looking to him patiently, waiting for his response.
"It's... my turn!" Mike finally cried out as he drew his card, his tone noticeably shifting to one that sounded more like how he'd been talking during his duel against Josiah. But this was darker—perhaps even more harsh; as though Mike had been suddenly riled into a state of fury the likes that no one gathered there had ever seen him in before.
Now Mike looked to the single card that he had left, before looking back to Dr. Crawford, who was watching him with cautious eyes now.
"Let me tell you something, Dr. Crawford..." Mike shot at him sternly, "You don't have the right to judge 'people like us'."
Violet, Danny, Marina, and Dr. Crawford all adorned surprised expressions at these words while Mike continued, "We're just as human as you are... as anyone is... and you don't have the right to treat us, or speak of us, like anything less!"
Danny and Marina's jaws hung open while Violet felt herself trembling even more than she had been before. What exactly did he mean by people like us...?
They didn't have long to ponder this, however; their attention quickly shifted back to the duel as Mike now began his final move: "I summon Constellar Sombre!"
[Constellar Sombre – LV: 4/ATK: 1550]
"And with his effect, I can banish Constellar Algeidi from my graveyard to can add Constellar Kaus back to my hand!
"And what's better..." Mike went on as he added the card from his graveyard to his hand, "Is that using this ability unlocks another of my Sombre's abilities: now I can normal summon one more Constellar monster this turn! So come back out, Constellar Kaus!"
[Constellar Kaus – LV: 4/ATK: 1800]
"And now Kaus's effect will kick in!" Mike continued, " So now I can bring both him and Sombre to LV 5!"
[Constellar Sombre – LV: 5]
[Constellar Kaus – LV: 5]
Violet, Danny, and Marina quickly realized where this was going as Mike now cried out, "Now that that's all set, I'll overlay Sombre and Kaus to build the overlay network one more time!"
The two aforementioned monsters allowed themselves to be absorbed into another spatial portal as Mike exclaimed, "I Xyz summon Constellar Pleiades!"
[Constellar Pleiades – RK: 5/ATK: 2500]
Dr. Crawford observed this monster carefully before adjusting his glasses yet again. "So you had a lucky draw..." he said nonchalantly, "Even so, you still won't be able to win this turn."
"That remains to be seen," was Mike's retort, "After all, my Constellar Star Chart is still in play, which means I get one last draw!"
He drew his card as his three friends stood on the sidelines holding their breaths. This draw would either make or break the game for Mike.
But the moment he saw what he'd drawn, he knew his victory had come.
"I use Pleiades's effect!" Mike explained, "By detaching one overlay unit, he can send one card on your field back to your hand! So say goodbye to your Talaya, Princess of Cherry Blossoms!"
Dr. Crawford gasped in shock as his monster faded away from his side of the field, and the card re-materialized in his hand.
"Now for my final card!" Mike exclaimed as he held said card up, "I activate Oni-Gami Combo! By detaching the remaining overlay unit from my Pleiades, he's allowed to attack twice during this turn's battle phase!"
The moment those words rang out, it sank into everyone gathered around who the winner of this duel would be, while Mike's eyebrows knit tightly together as he glared at his former therapist.
"Now, Constellar Pleiades!" Mike finally declared as he pointed towards Dr. Crawford, "Show him what 'people like us' are capable of! Attack!"
Pleiades lunged forward, taking up its giant blade in its hands as Dr. Crawford braced himself for the hit. But how the attack played out came as an even bigger shock to him than anything else did throughout the whole duel: instead of stabbing through him or slicing him from top to bottom harmlessly like any other normal attack, the monster thrust its blade right past him to his left, just barely scratching his blue sport coat.
[Dr. Crawford – LP: 1700]
But the real surprise came the moment Pleiades withdrew its blade: when Dr. Crawford looked down to see where the monster had brushed him, he was stunned to see that a small rip had been torn in the sleeve.
"This is...!" he silently realized as it clicked in both his, as well as Violet, Danny, and Marina's, minds: what Mike had meant when he'd rephrased Dr. Crawford's words to 'People like us...'
"And again, Pleiades!" Mike ordered his monster.
This time, Pleiades thrust its blade up into Dr. Crawford's face, but only close enough to just barely graze his cheek, which Dr. Crawford could feel the moment the blade made contact. And when the blade was withdrawn once again, a small, fresh cut was left on Dr. Crawford's face right where the blade had tagged him.
[Dr. Crawford – LP: 0]
[Winner: Mike]
As Violet, Danny, and Marina stared in utter disbelief at Mike while Pleiades faded from the field and the duel disks deactivated, Dr. Crawford lifted a hand to the scratch that had been left upon his face, touching it gently with his hand. When he removed his hand to look at it, sure enough, there were small smears of blood on his fingers.
He now lowered his hand as he looked back to Mike, whose hard glare had disappeared from his face; replaced with an unsettling calmness as his ocean-blue orbs looked back into Dr. Crawford's hazel-colored ones.
"So... this is what you meant..." the former therapist said with realization.
Mike's eyes only flickered as he watched Dr. Crawford register the truth. On the sidelines, the three friends all looked on with equally shocked expressions scattered across their faces. The fact that Mike had just revealed himself to have the same capabilities as Aeron was a shocker enough on its own, but the way that Mike had done so was what really set them on edge: his last attack had made their principal bleed.
Though this duel was supposed to determine whether or not Aeron and Mike would be able to roam free anymore, they couldn't see any possible way that he'd be able to walk away from this without being in handcuffs. The anxiety was particularly intense in Violet's mind—she felt more than sure that she was about to watch the love of her life get taken away from her for a second time after all.
But Dr. Crawford's next actions came as a surprise to everyone: he started walking towards Mike, pulling out a handkerchief from his blue coat to cover the scratch on his cheek as he did so. Mike remained unmoving, but he kept his eyes sharply focused on Dr. Crawford as he paced closer and closer towards him. The former therapist stopped in front of him, putting his other free hand on Mike's shoulder as he said with solicitude:
"I... am truly sorry, Mike."
The words took Mike, Violet, Danny, and Marina all aback as Dr. Crawford then turned to look towards the officers that had been patiently awaiting his orders as they guarded the armored truck holding Aeron inside. And in that moment, he said the two words that nobody expected to hear: "Release him."
Despite their clear confusion at Dr. Crawford's sudden change of heart, the officers immediately went to open the truck that Aeron had been watching from without hesitation, while Dr. Crawford locked eyes with Mike's addled ones. "A deal's a deal," he said, remorse evident in his voice, "You and Aeron are free to go."
Mike looked up at his old therapist incredulously. "You don't wanna lock me up anyway?" he inquired with a raised eyebrow, "After I just showed you I have that power too?"
"No," Dr. Crawford immediately answered, "Your words, as well as that demonstration of your... 'power,' made me realize the error in my judgment; an error that I'm ashamed of."
Mike continued to stare back at Dr. Crawford with a puzzled look, prompting the latter to explain further as he looked to Aeron, who was now retrieving his belongings from the small box that Dr. Crawford had set down earlier.
"I was too blinded by the potential of Aeron's power to see it was my only reason to lock him away," the principal of Dexterity High admitted, "Even after you and your friends vouched for him... I still treated him as evil, and even spoke of him like he wasn't even human."
Dr. Crawford's pained eyes now met Mike's again. "I could never bring myself to treat you the same way for your own power," he said, "So I never should've thought of your friend as any less for his, either."
Mike looked back at his old therapist with understanding now as Dr. Crawford removed his hand from Mike's shoulder. "Words cannot express how sorry I am," he told his old patient with grief, "For how my words must have made you feel..."
It was Mike's turn to look sorrowful as Dr. Crawford turned away from his former patient, looking to watch as Aeron replaced his revolver-shaped duel disk in its holster. The look on the high school principal's face was one that Mike easily recognized: the expression of a man heavily aggrieved by the weight of regret on his shoulder because of something he'd done; a look that Mike had adorned on his face many times over the last two years.
He now put a hand to Dr. Crawford's shoulder instead, earning a glance from the man as Mike stared into his eyes with a comforting expression. "Those words..." Mike calmly said with reassurance, "Will do just fine."
A small, grateful smile managed to come to the former therapist's face. "Thank you," he said gratefully to his former patient, which Mike responded to with a reassuring nod.
Dr. Crawford now began to walk towards Aeron, who was placing the last of his belongings in his pockets as the former stopped next to him for a brief moment.
"You have my sincerest apologies for the trouble I put you through tonight," Dr. Crawford said with heartfelt honesty as he looked to Aeron.
Aeron was still for a moment before he turned his head away from the man who'd had him arrested, only going "Hmph," as he did so.
Seeing there was nothing more he would be getting out of the deathly-feeling man at this point, Dr. Crawford just continued walking on, back into the heart of the city towards, presumably, where his home was.
Now Aeron turned his head to see that Mike was walking towards him, and the two locked eyes for the first time in almost a month. The last time they'd seen each other was one that they both thought had been the last; so their meeting now—in County Dame, of all places—felt somewhat surreal to the both of them.
But as Mike stood in front of his old friend and mentor, he managed a weak smile. "Sorry I couldn't get here sooner," he said somewhat sheepishly.
Aeron just shook his head, telling him there was no apology necessary. "You know I would've broken out of whatever prison they'd have tried to confine me to," he said smugly, as if the thought amused him.
"Yeah, see, I would've had to ask you to refrain from doing that," Mike replied as he crossed his arms, "Would've made it a bit harder to vouch for your innocence."
"Hmph," Aeron grunted nonchalantly as he looked away.
It was in this moment that Mike heard footsteps behind him, and he turned to see that Violet, Danny, and Marina were now approaching the two; all three of them bearing utterly confused expressions on their faces after what they'd just witnessed.
"You've got really good friends here," Aeron said behind Mike, making him turn to face his mentor again for a moment as a small smile came to his face.
"Yeah..." was all Mike could think of to say in response.
"So why are you keeping the last two years of your life a secret from them?" Aeron questioned.
The smile left Mike's face as he turned his oceanic eyes away from Aeron's crimson ones. "I just..." Mike started, not knowing what words he wanted to say.
"Don't want to lose them?" Aeron guessed.
Mike rolled his eyes. Of course, Aeron was still able to read him like an open book. But either way, that was the truth of the matter: he'd been telling everyone, including himself, that he didn't want to talk about the last two years of his life because of what there was to tell; when in truth, he was scared of what the truth would cause everyone else to think of him. He'd been lucky enough to get through the interview with Mr. Copperson and Dr. Crawford the way that it had, but when it came to his friends... the thought of losing them to the truth about his last two years was even scarier than all of the times he'd faced death.
"You know, you're more likely to lose them if you don't tell them the truth."
Aeron's statement snapped Mike out of his thoughts as he looked back at his mentor, who was eyeing him with what looked like a gentle expression as he said, "When I arrived here earlier, and met your friends for the first time, I kept my promise to you, and didn't tell them anything.
"But the way they were so dedicated to you..." he mused, "Worrying endlessly about wherever it was that you'd gone... I can't see how telling them about your past would make them care any less for you."
Mike took this in as Violet, Danny, and Marina finally closed in on the two, stopping directly in front of them as Danny spoke up first: "So... when were you gonna tell us you had some kinda weird, psychic powers too?"
Mike looked to his three friends as he tried to figure out what to respond with. Danny's expression told him that he was clearly lost, unable to even begin comprehending what he'd just seen. Marina looked somewhat similar, except she looked more scared, as if whatever Mike's answer would be was one she was expecting to not be comfortable at all with. Violet, on the other hand, didn't look either perplexed or frightened—her face was one of desperate longing, as if she needed to hear Mike's answer in case it shed any light on how he'd spent his last two years.
Mike now looked to Aeron with anxiousness, as if begging for his old mentor to give him the words he should say. But Aeron's gaze only reiterated the same message that he'd said to him only moments before: 'You're more likely to lose them if you don't tell them the truth.'
Bearing that thought in mind, Mike took a deep breath before turning to face his three friends again. "Well, for one thing, it's not psychic powers," he finally said, before pushing up his left sleeve, unveiling the X-shaped scar barely hidden beneath it, "It's this."
Danny's, Marina's, and Violet's eyes became fixated on the small cut on Mike's arm, before immediately looking back up at their friend with more confusion. They all remembered having seen the scar on his arm before at brief intervals, but none of them—not even Mike, back in the day—had ever known what it actually was. They'd even had a discussion once about what it could've been; but all they had thought of at the time was that it had to be some kind of birthmark.
Now, Danny was eyeing Mike with a puzzled look. "Wait, so this... cut has some kind of power...?" he pieced together.
"It's not just any ordinary cut, Danny," said Mike as he pushed his sleeve back down, "It's a curse mark called the Mark of Death. And it's the reason why I disappeared for two years."
Mike spent the next few minutes telling his friends everything he was comfortable with divulging: from his arrival in Frontier Haven, to the fact that everyone there also bore the same Mark that he did; to the horrific fate-altering powers that the Mark possessed; to the way that it had locked Frontier Haven in a bloodbathed war against the people of Saddleburry. Aeron also weighed in from time to time, clarifying any small details that the friends had questions about.
"Wait, hang on a sec..." Danny interrupted at one point as he looked to Aeron, "So, if you're also from Frontier Haven... then you've also got one of these 'Marks of Death,' right?"
Aeron only nodded before rolling up his own left sleeve, revealing the exact same X-shaped scar on his pale arm, which made the three friends' eyes widen even more than they already were. That explained how Aeron had accidentally dealt real damage to Danny in their earlier duel.
As they listened to Mike explain the life-or-death duels he'd partaken in to survive, Violet could feel her uneasiness beginning to return as it suddenly occurred to her: when she'd texted with Mike a few weeks back, he had implied the reason behind his leaving had to do with the "accident" that had taken the lives of his parents. So did this mean that the tragic event that took place all those years ago was also caused by this "Mark of Death"...?
Now, as Mike wrapped up his story, Danny let out a low whistle as he rested his head against his crossed arms behind him. "Man, this is crazy..." he said as he looked up to the sky for a moment, "I mean, I'd heard rumors about there still being these clashing western towns out in the desert... just hard to believe that they're actually real, though."
"Well, they are," Mike said grimly, "And maybe now you understand why I haven't wanted to tell you guys about these last two years."
Everyone's eyes fixated on Mike as he solemnly spoke: "I was afraid you'd see me as a monster... if you knew about the things I've had to live through to survive..."
"C'mon, don't be an idiot."
Flabbergasted expressions took over everyone else's faces at Danny's words, before he then made his way over to his best friend's side as he put one arm around his shoulders. "Did you really think your best buds would ditch you 'cause some cut on your arm's cursed ya?"
Mike's eyebrows rose in surprise as he looked to his best friend, who continued: "I mean, yeah; it's hard to wrap my head around, but hell; after having watched my jacket go up in flames earlier, I'm pretty much ready to believe anything.
"And I'm pretty sure I speak for the ladies too when I say we're still with ya a hundred and ten percent," he assured Mike, "Hell, we've been through everything together since middle school; so why should this change anything?"
Mike's expression softened as a relieved smile came to his face. "You guys..." he managed to get out, not able to believe that this moment was playing out so much differently than he'd anticipated.
Marina gave a firm nod to let him know she was behind everything Danny had said, while Violet moved to stand directly in front of Mike as their eyes locked.
"It doesn't matter what you've been through, or whatever power you have now..." she told him reassuringly as she took his hands in hers, "You're still our friend, and you still mean the world to us."
In the back of her mind, she'd actually been holding back from saying 'You still mean the world to me,' but she wanted to make sure she was meeting with everyone else on the same level in the current moment. There would be another time to confess her feelings to him in the future.
Now, Mike managed to nod to let them know he understood as he smiled at each of his friends. "Thanks you..." he said gratefully as his hands slipped from Violet's, "You guys really are the best."
"Of course we are!" Danny exclaimed as he threw his other arm around Mike, catching him in a hug that made his eyes nearly bulge out of his head from the sudden tackle.
"Ugh, Danny..." he choked out, "Remember what I said about hugs...?"
Danny quickly released his friend as he chuckled nervously. "Right, sorry..." he apologized with a sheepish smile.
Aeron, who had stepped back from the conversation to let the four friends have their moment, was now making his way back towards the group, his footsteps catching their attention as he said, "If you guys are done having your sentimental moment, Mike and I have something important we need to discuss in private."
Mike's expression became grim once more as he said, "Right..."
Violet, Danny, and Marina were only confused for a moment before they remembered the whole reason why Mike had disappeared all day, and Aeron had come to find him: the friend of theirs that was missing.
Now, Danny put on a serious face as well as he said to Mike, "You sure you don't want our help?"
"This isn't something for you guys to get involved in," Mike tried to sound assuring as he spoke, "Besides, it's getting late. You should get home."
Danny's emerald eyes stared into Mike's oceanic ones for a moment before he finally sighed in defeat. "Fine..." he said, "I'm beat, anyway, so may as well go catch a few Z's."
"Same," Marina agreed, "I've got to study for my finals, anyway."
Mike and Violet nodded in understanding before the former waved slightly as he said, "Alright, goodnight you two."
Danny and Marina both waved back at their friends before beginning to walk back down the streets of County Dame together, beginning a conversation that the others could just barely overhear:
"So what're you gonna do about your burnt-up hoodie anyway?" Marina inquired curiously.
"Gonna have to get a new one, I guess," Danny answered casually.
"You with what money?"
"... man, I need you to stop poking holes in all my ideas..."
As their voices became less and less distinctive, Mike now turned his attention back to Violet for a moment. "I won't be long," he assured her.
"Right," she said with a short nod, before Mike stepped away to approach Aeron once more.
"Well..." Mike breathed out in relief as he stopped before his old mentor, "That went a lot better than I thought it would..."
"Told you," Aeron said bluntly, earning a short laugh from Mike before he then pressed, "So... did you find Louis Costanzo?"
Mike's face turned grave before replying, "Yeah... but by the time that I found him, he was already dead."
Aeron raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"
"I found him lying in a pool of his own blood," Mike explained, "And the only thing on him was this."
Mike now took the small piece of paper from his pocket, which was still damp from his earlier dip in the ocean, and handed it to Aeron. When he unfolded it to read its short contents, his crimson eyes narrowed.
"This can't be right..." he said, "We ran the last of the Romans out of Frontier Haven and Saddleburry almost a year ago."
"That's what I thought too," Mike agreed, "But you know what this means, right? Someone knows we're looking for her."
"You're probably right," Aeron said as he crossed his arms, "Know anyone from the leftover Romans who would have it out for you?"
"Honestly, I was hoping you might have the answer to that," was Mike's reply.
Aeron shook his head, before saying, "I'll have to ask around, but I'm not sure what good it'll do."
"Alright..." Mike answered somberly as he broke eye contact with his former mentor.
Aeron immediately noticed that Mike's expression had returned to being one of uneasiness. He put a hand to his former protégé's shoulder, making Mike glance back to him as he tried to make his dark voice sound reassuring: "Don't worry, we're going to find her."
"I know," Mike replied as he managed to nod, "It's just..."
Aeron raised a curious eyebrows at Mike as he said, "I feel like I should be the one out there, looking for her... I was the one who failed to stop those guys from taking her in the first place. It's my fault."
"Stop thinking like that," Aeron told him, "That wasn't your fault, and you know it."
Mike remained unresponsive, continuing to avert his eyes from Aeron's gaze as the later tried to think of something else to lift the spirits of his former pupil.
"Do you remember why Casey wanted to come back here with you?" Aeron spoke to him in a gentler tone.
Mike was silent as he looked back up to Aeron, who continued, "It was because she wanted to see you happy. To see you back where you belong, with all of your friends..."
Realization spread across Mike's face as Aeron locked eyes with him again. "She wouldn't want you blaming yourself for what happened to her. And she definitely wouldn't want you putting yourself down when you've finally made it this far to make yourself happy again."
Mike couldn't bring himself to reply as he opened his mouth to retort, but shut it as a defeated look adorned his face. No matter how guilty he felt, he knew that Aeron was right.
"Besides," Aeron said as he then shot a quick glance towards Violet, who was still standing with her back turned to them as she waited for Mike, "You have friends that seem to need you here, too."
Mike only nodded as he met Aeron's crimson eyes again, which were unusually softer than he had ever seen them. "Just promise me that you'll contact me as soon as you get a solid lead on where she is."
A small smirk seemed to flash across Aeron's face. "Will do."
Mike flashed an appreciative smile of his own, before Aeron shot a brief glance down the road towards the city's border. "Guess I should get going. Don't need someone else trying to get me arrested again."
Mike let out a short chuckle at that remark before locking eyes with his old mentor one last time. "Take care of yourself, Aeron."
"You too," was the last thing Aeron said before he brushed past Mike, ready to begin making the long trek back to Frontier Haven.
Seeing that their conversation had ended, Violet now made her way back to Mike, stopping to put a hand on his shoulder as she looked to him inquisitively. "Everything okay?"
Mike looked to her, noting the concern in her voice before forcing a smile. "Yeah... everything's gonna be fine."
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