Disclaimer: Yugi-Oh GX does not belong to me nor its characters or rights over the story.
Warn: This story may have heavy and uncomfortable themes/situations like use of drugs, violence, abuse, sexual harassment, rape, depression, trauma and bad language. If you do not like such, Do not read this.
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Chapter 1: The girl at the cliff
The crickets singing spread through the night in the dim dark forest. Amidst the trees the white shoes of the young lady become tainted with dirt.
Her big blue eyes are focused on the path ahead, the plain light-pink bangs are cut just nearly enough to not cover her eyes. She touches the logs of the woods as she proceeds, but her steps come to a halt when she approaches the abandoned dorm, a forbidden zone.
There is a rose in front of the entrance, her feet leading her there. A sad gaze as she looks down, closing her eyes for a moment, and putting her hand to the chest. Her uniform is from the obelisk blue dorm, a second or third grader of highschool, maybe. Her silky light-pink hair falls over her shoulders when she bends her head, there is a braid crossing over from the left side of her head to the middle.
Cold sweat runs down her skin, in the silence, she can hear her own heartbeats banging loudly inside her chest. But the decision of coming back here was hers, after all.
A flashlight shines the way in the woods nearby, she gasps. The sound of the footsteps of many people approaching and the voices of the boys make her eyes turn to the direction they come from.
She looks around frantically searching for a hiding spot, not only she'd be in trouble if she was caught here again by guards or students, but those people coming look like they were up to no good.
The last place she lands her sight on is the abandoned dorm, gulping, she darts in the place. Soon the figures of obelisk blue students appear, four of them. The chit chat grows louder and they smile upon the visualization of the building.
"Perfect! This is the place."
"You sure, man? Isn't this place forbidden?"
"Doesn't that make it all much better?"
"Suits you."
They stopped by the door, squatting and smirking while talking carelessly to each other. Behind that wall, inside the dorm, the girl covers her mouth, trembling in fear as her eyes look at the empty space inside the building.
The dust floats in the air, some scenes come to the surface of her memory: another girl in an ra yellow uniform running and a teen boy also in a ra yellow uniform holding a card, as if dueling, another girl scared in an obelisk uniform like hers, and standing tall a shadow whose appearance was almost demonic, she closes her eyes, her breath is unsteady. The loud voices from outside cause a flinch on her.
Finally back to reality, she scans the room around, and calms after seeing there is only emptiness. She can listen well to their whole conversation, however she is not planning to interfere or even show herself.
"Did you bring it?"
"Of course!"
She smells the smoke of the cigarette, holding back her coughs to not call attention. It is nauseating, how can those students smoke, how many rules were they violating by doing that on a closed off zone on top of it all?
The smell stops after a while, but they remain there, she feels even more uncomfortable, that whole place gives her shivers.
"Do you have the other stuff?"
"Yes, 'course."
Her eyes open wide upon hearing those words, they couldn't be talking about other types of drugs, could they? Suddenly she feels weak, to think that of all places she would come back right here where so much happened to her before.
A crackling sound startles her, the fear spreads quick, in a second, her legs move without thinking, she runs towards the entrance and opens the doors with a thud, tumbling to the ground right after that.
"What is that?!"
"Hey, there is a girl, she… She saw us?!"
Her hands grasp the earth, her eyes become unfocused, she hears the sound of the agitated blabbering of the boys, her vision is blurry, the darkness and the lack of concentration on her surroundings make it hard to even recognize anything.
"Get her!"
One of the boys approaches, grabbing her arm and pulling her up brusquely, there is no reaction, she doesn't even spare a glance to them, her eyes are petrified, staring at the ground.
"Hey! Hey! What is wrong with you? Did you see anything, huh?"
"You think she is gonna tell the teachers about us?"
"Don't you get that if anyone knows, we can be expelled?!"
"I don't want that! What do we do?"
While they discuss among themselves, she sees the world around her swirling, a spiral of darkness that consumes everything, her friends, her mind, her words, all that it can take. An outbreak of emotions happens and she tries to push the boy away. He doesn't let go of her arm, instead he squeezes it, her eyes squint with the pain.
"Hey, are you dumb? You think I will let you go, huh?"
He grabs her collar with the other hand, she struggles to get free, pushing him, he repels her attempts with ease by letting go of the hand on her arm and grabbing her wrist.
"What do we do with her?"
While he looks at the companions, she uses the opportunity to push him again, but he then pulls her uniform, a ripping sound echoes in the air. The upper part of her uniform ripped off with the force the boy applied, the clothes under it too, her pale skin and cleavage are shown a bit. He finally let go of her, in awe.
She feels all the eyes are on her, as if darkness was everywhere and evil eyes watch her from all directions. The small grains and rocks crackle under her foot as she slightly moves it back.
"She is kinda pretty, don't you think?"
"Yeah, she has a nice body!"
A smirk plays on the lips of one of them, the others smile too, feeling her vision blurry again, those boys have no faces in her eyes, she can only see their smirks. She turns around and dashes towards the woods, but they grab her shoulder and push her to the ground, while still trying to recover, and get up, one of them squat down and presses her against the ground, ripping apart the clothes on her back.
Her back is almost fully exposed, there are barely pieces of thorn clothes hanging on her shoulders. Her pale skin fts the light-blue color of the bra.
Mustering her strength, she uses her arms and impulsionates her back to stand, making the aggressor lose his balance and sit down on the ground. The boy is surprised, but soon his expression changes to annoyance.
When she tries to get up, another boy comes, and pushing her to the ground, he hold her arms, forcing her down. Her legs keep jolting trying to land a hit, her wrists hurt, her face squints in pain, but her voice, it never comes out, as if it's stuck. Even though she wants to shout.
Another boy comes and holds her legs, the third one rips apart her skirt and the rest of the upper uniform, enough to see her body shape and skin everywhere, leaving only her underwear.
"It has come to this, might as well have some fun here."
"Hey, bro, you sure? What if someone gets us?"
"Come on, look at her, she can't even shout, like a scared kitten. And we can just deny everything if they try to pry on it."The boy aggressively grabs one of her breasts, pressing it. "Whoa, it's so soft!"
"Haha, what is her cup size?"
He slides his hand from bottom to top of her legs, stopping right at the border of her panties.
"Wow, her skin is really soft too!"
His bloodshot eyes are engraved into her sight. Her mind goes blank. As if there is a sheet of thin glass surrounding her, it all crumbles at the same time. She sees the image of her colleagues from that vision all standing behind those faceless boys, they are smiling at her, one of them speaks to her, the girl in the blue obelisk uniform:
"I told you, this place is cursed. The longer you stay, the more this darkness will grow and it will spread and consume you. We cannot stop it, so why don't we embrace it already?"
Those twisted words, she closes her eyes tightly to deny them. She doesn't want to listen to them, her comrades are gone, she wants it all to disappear from her sight.
Under her closed eyelids the world around also swirls, she opens her eyes, but they are empty as if her mind was taken away from reality, she sees the image of her colleagues in her memory, they don't have faces. She doesn't even know if she can remember their faces anymore.
Why is this happening? This place might be cursed, everytime she comes here, only misfortune befalls, like a black hole, swallowing all she has, it never stops, just wants to swallow even more, until she has nothing else.
One of the boys approaches his hand to her waist, pulling the side of her panties down...
A minute later, they hear a sound. It is a whistle and the barking of dogs. He quickly gets up and starts putting his pants back.
"Crap! I was not done yet!"
"Takuma, the guards are nearby!"
All the boys jump up, nervously, with a startle, coming back to her senses, she seizes the opportunity, while they are distracted, she gets up, with her legs wobbling, pulling her underwear to cover herself again. One of them notices her presence behind.
"Ah, she is trying to run!"
He stretches his arm to grab hers, but it is too late, she darts away fast, to the woods. They snarl and clench their fists.
"Shit!"
"What do we do?! What do we do?!"
"Let her go for now, we need to get the hell out of here!"
They quickly grab their stuff and run away, the flashlight of the guards and the barking of the dogs only draw closer, but they are gone. Meanwhile, inside that forest, the girl runs so fast, her chest feels like it will implode, she can't catch her breath.
Stumbling upon a tree root, she falls to the ground, shielding herself with the arms, with a pained expression she huffs. Her arms shake, her legs can't seem to gather enough strength, with the support of the trees around, she stands up. Embracing herself.
Her steps are slow and almost imprecise, did she forget how to walk? No, but her body seemed like a mess. She cannot feel the burning sensation from all the fresh scratches she got after falling, her eyes look forward, but they are souless.
There is no telling how long she ran or how long she has been walking, trying to stand on her feet, a flash of light passes by illuminating the darkness, the lighthouse is close, she can see in between the trees an opening to the sea.
The waves sparkle under the touch of moonlight, the sea looks so beautiful. Without thinking much, her feet guide her there, to the edge of that small cliff, the water under seemed somehow inviting. It was not tall enough to end it with the fall alone, but if the water took her, then...
The sound of the waves crashing against the rocks in the full tide, she wondered, would she be crushed like that too? All her worries. Maybe she would finally meet her friends again, whenever they are.
A faint and bitter smile comes to her lips, and closing her eyes, she steps forward, to a free fall into the ocean. The splashing sound soars in the night, the water is splattered to every side as she drowns into the ocean.
Some minutes earlier…
Ryo Marufuji sees himself there again, on the bridge at the lighthouse. Why does he keep coming back despite telling himself nothing will change? It's a mystery to himself. Sighing profoundly, he makes his way across the bridge.
The late hours of the night are silent, calm and enjoyable, he likes the peace it brings to his inner self. When he is approaching the ramp used to climb back up to the dorms area, he hears a small crackling noise, as if a rock was stomped over and fell down the cliff.
His gaze stops above, on the edge of the cliff, it is lighted enough he can see someone there, he squints his eyes in confusion, trying to see better, but nothing more than an undistinguishable mess of blue and the figure of a person.
"A girl? What is she doing at this hour…?" he thinks to himself, shaking off his head wondering which reasons someone other than him would have to be out this late.
He averts his glance for a moment until that heavy thud and splashing noise happen. His senses are all sent into alert mode, as the water splatter everywhere, on his clothes included, his eyes and mouth open wide.
"Did she just jump?!"
She was nowhere to be seen on the cliff anymore. At that time of the night, the water was as cold as ice, the waves were also strong, plus she jumped from some decent high. Not giving himself more time to think, he rushes to the sea in a rash, thoughtless act and jumps in too.
The second splash happens. The water is so cold, he felt like needles were piercing his skin during the jump, but that was not the time to complain, with one his eyes closed he sees the girl drowning further and further into the ocean and swims skilfully deeper until he is close enough.
"This is bad… I am getting out of air..."
He scowls indignant, he can't accept to just fail now. Struggling against the water, he stretches his arm as much as possible, his fingers brush on her arm, he can't give up now. With his last endeavor to save her, he goes even closer and finally gets a hold of her, embracing her with both arms and stopping the fall. His arms and fingers are too numb to feel anything, he can only experience the coldness.
With a firm grip around her secured, he swims the best he can upwards, he can see the moon reflecting light on the water. As soon as his head is above the water, he lets out a heavy gasp in search of air, the agitated waves throw him back and forth, but he does not let go of that person.
This girl is strange, he hears her coughing out water among the strong sounds of the sea. His eyes search for the coast, they are nearby enough, he goes behind her and swims backwards, her head plops down.
"Did she lose consciousness? The situation is awful… Why did she…? Tsk. No point in thinking about it now, we need help."
His back hits the rocky coast, finally at land, he holds her with one arm, letting go of the other and using it to propel himself to the land, bringing her girl along, they both lie sideways, facing each other, although her eyes are covered by her wet bangs and he is too busy trying to catch his breath again.
All the efforts to save someone that was willing to give up on their life, why did he even go through such trouble because of a stranger? He is a duelist, not a lifesaver.
With a slightly strict frown, he pushes her shoulder, her back is supported on the ground, he places the hand on the side of her body, his arm makes an arc across her torso, she won't be able to escape before getting a good scolding.
"What is wrong with yo...u…"
The moment he sees her face his words just fail to come. He almost forgot to breathe, he was sure she was alive, but her eyes looked as if she was dead, fixed on the sky, not even blinking. He dares to look elsewhere, that frown disappears in an instant, giving place to shock, his heart that was racing just pounds heavier.
She is only in her underwear and apparently remains what used to be her uniform. The blue bra and panties are both the same color, a set with frilly details, his mind could only relate to the magazines with girls in underwear, even though she was a bit on the young side for that. Seeing it somewhere and in person was on a whole different level. But what was she doing dressed like that in the middle of the night and there at a cliff? She couldn't be trying to dive that late at night.
He immediately backs off his hand, hesitant to put it back down when he sits crawling a bit back from her, flustered and utterly perplexed, if he could just see the color on his face now. However, those thoughts all vanish into emptiness when he notices the scratches on her arms. It makes something click into his head, a dreadful sensation, he almost feels as if his heartbeats fail for a moment.
"This is… This can't be…?"
Getting up in a rush, he turns around, until he hears a sound, still unsure of what to do, he peeks over his shoulder, ashamed to look directly, he can barely see a silhouette of hers, she sat down, coughing more water out and embracing herself, shivering from the cold.
He averts his gaze, to the ground with a ponderative expression, but his mind can't forget what he just saw, it leaves a bitter taste in the mouth, was she really harmed in that way…?
Unconsciously one of his fists clenched tightly. He swiftly undresses his coat, and turning sideways he tosses it at her.
"It is soaked, but please, use this to cover yourself for now."
She flinches with the sound of his voice, grabbing his coat with both hands, her empty eyes flicker and enliven. Shriveling herself while sitting with knees bent up to fit under that coat, clutching it between her fingers and closing her eyes.
Even with his back turned to her he can hear the faint crying, she sobs unstoppably, her voice is non existent for some reason, he can barely hear it. He finds himself thinking for a very brief moment that, perhaps, he shouldn't have interfered at all.
The wind felt chilly, his clothes were soaking wet from top to bottom so that was no surprise, but he felt like the wind was not the main culprit, his outside was fine, but his whole interior was trembling out of discomfort and powerlessness.
Looking at the edge of that cliff, he starts to wonder what truly happened that drove her to that point. If someone hurt her that much, then…
His eyes don't hold the usual severity, the wrinkles of callousness in his face and his indifference are not there anymore, his orbs squint subtly moved by a feeling of sadness. This is supposed to be a duel academy, even so, how could something like this happen? His drift in thoughts is cut off by the sound of barks and many voices of men.
Up there on that cliff area he can see the flashlights of the guards. They are going to receive help now, but what will happen? Will they be able to help that girl? Will he be punished for being out and breaking other rules such as swimming into the open ocean during the night? He doesn't know how everything will be from now on.
That girl at the cliff, just who is she? And is he right in his theory about what possibly happened to her? Was she really…? He would like to know…