Sororshipping (Ishizu x Shizuka)

The red-headed girl sobbed on the floor, covering her nose and mouth with one hand in a failed attempt to quiet herself. She could not seem to get the strength to open her eyes, much less get up and follow the stretcher that bore her unconscious brother away. Ishizu Ishtar could see nothing except for the girl's tears. The sky was so much darker than it should have been – it was like being trapped inside a cave, again. And still she cried, and Ishizu herself could not help but feel the trickle of hysterics dripping through her chest.

The dark being that was only a shell of who Ishizu had once known laughed, the evil sound echoing through the air.

"Shizuka," the pharaoh was saying. "Shizuka, you have to get up. Come on – we have to check on Jonouchi."

Shizuka shook her head harshly, her eyes still squeezed shut.

"I didn't want to see this," she said through her sobs. "I wish I had never opened my eyes again! I didn't want to see things like this!"

Ishizu found her own shoulders starting to tremble. She could only watch in her mind's eye as she saw Marik huddle in a corner, clutching at his head and screaming at something that only he could see or feel. She had wanted so badly to hold him – but she could only avert her eyes, wishing she had not had to see it.

Shizuka's sob cracked the air again, and Ishizu gripped the fabric of her dress in clawed hands.

With a purposeful stride, she stepped quietly over to Shizuka.

"Go," she whispered to the pharaoh. "Go. I'll...I'll take care of her."

The pharaoh's red eyes flashed up at her, wet with desperately hidden tears. He nodded jerkily. Then he stood and half-ran to the elevator where Jonouchi had just disappeared. Shizuka never opened her eyes, even as the tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Katsuya, Katsuya," she whispered. "Why do I have to see you...!"

For a moment, Ishizu saw Marik in the throws of a terrible nightmare. She had been too afraid to look. Afraid of him, afraid for him, afraid of herself.

Not this time.

Gently, Ishizu drew the red-headed girl into her arms.

"You mustn't...look away, Kawai-san," she said softly. "You can't look away."

Shizuka sobbed into Ishizu's chest, her shoulders shaking.

"I wish I was blind again! I wish I didn't have to see this!"

Ishizu shook her head.

"No, Shizuka, no. You can't...you can't look away from the dark things in life. If we didn't see the darkness, how would we understand how beautiful the light was?"

It was like she was holding herself for a moment, her own twelve-year-old self sobbing in a corner with no one to comfort her, who could not look at her brother because she knew she could not help him, and she hated herself for it.

"Listen to me, Shizuka," she said. "You have to open your eyes. You have to. If you look away – if you look away from the one you love, even in the hard times, you will regret it forever. Please, believe me."

Her own deep brown eyes found the flat violet ones of Yami no Marik, leering at her from the other side of the stadium. His mouth twitched into half a grin, and Ishizu found tears swimming in her own eyes.

"Shizuka...don't look away," she said. "Jonouchi-san needs you. Your brother needs you. Don't...don't look away from him."

Gently, she moved Shizuka to an arm's length from herself, gripping her shoulders softly. She slid a finger under Shizuka's chin, helping her to look up. Slowly, slowly, slowly, Shizuka opened her eyes. They were red and swollen with tears.

"We can't look away," Ishizu said. "We can't."

Shizuka swallowed, bit back a final sob, and nodded. Her eyes did not close.

And neither did Ishizu's.

A/N: I feel like Ishizu sees a lot of herself in Shizuka. I'm not as big a fan of this couple as I am of sparkleshipping, though. I see them too much as sisters than a couple. Next is Sombershipping (Ryo x Amane). This one will be sad. :'(