Title: To Save A Brother
Characters: Asuka, Darkness, Fubuki||Ship: N/A
Chapters: 1-1||Words: 4,242
Genre: Drama, Family||Rated: G
Challenges: Diversity Writing: YGO: Firestarter/Healer AU: G4, 1-shot; One Sibling Boot Camp, Asuka & Fubuki, #29, guide; Include The Word Boot Camp, YGO, #14, current; GX Month day #3, Swing of Memories
Notes: This takes place in my Healer/Firestarter AU. It is the first episode of the Seven Stars arc, after they've been given their keys.
Summary: The Seven Stars have arrived. What is this going to mean for Asuka and her search for her brother?


He has the other half. Darkness's fingers brushed across the medallion that hung around his neck. He wanted to duel this person. He could sense other things as well - this carrier of a Spirit Gate Key was a powerful Firestarter as well as - he frowned, taking one more step forward. Perhaps being closer would tell him if he read this correctly.

Oh. He was. It wasn't something he'd expected, not here and not now. Darkness did not like this. The bearer of the Gentle Darkness, here and now? That would make for an excellent duel without a doubt, but it would stand a risk of awakening the power itself should it still sleep. He didn't want to take the chance on facing his old adversary without being properly prepared.

A movement in the shadows caught his attention. Someone walked towards the dorm building - Osiris Red, he knew from the memories of his current host - though it didn't seem that this person belonged there. They wore a blue uniform, and though he was too far away to see the tab on their collar, another part of him whispered strongly that they too were a Firestarter. Perhaps not quite as strong as the one who wore the other half of the medallion, but still quite strong.

His host twitched harder inside of him. Darkness took a better look at this new person as they came closer to the dorm. He had access to all of memories of his host and it took a few moments to click.

Well. It seemed that this was the sister of his host. How interesting. He'd been aware that his host had a sister, who was a Firestarter, but he'd never thought that he would encounter said sister on this mission. He considered for a few moments, then made up his mind.

Power stretched outward, encircling both the girl and those in the building who he could sense as being awake. There were only four of those, and one of them was the other Key Carrier who wore the half-medallion. Once he disposed o the girl, Darkness, decided, he would duel that one as well. If they knew one another, then seeing her defeated would dishearten him and give him a better chance to win without awakening the other Darkness.

Not to mention, he just couldn't resist the urge to cause despair and heartache no matter what. The thought of doing so to his host and his host's sister at the same time was far too tempting to resist.


Asuka had been on her way to talk to Juudai, worried that he would be the first one targeted by the Seven Stars. After all, he was an Osiris Red, and while he'd proven his talents more than once over the last handful of months, these strange evil duelists might not be aware of that. She fidgeted with the Key that hung around her neck, wondering again what it would be like to duel in one of these Duels of Darkness. She'd heard they weren't the sort of duel that Duel Academia had all the time, but she wasn't certain of what they would be like.

The circle of dark energy engulfed her without warning. She'd barely even reached Juudai's door when it swept over her and into the room beyond. When she could see again, she stood on a silvery disk, and she wasn't where she'd been before. It took a moment to grasp where that was - at the volcano. Right over the lava, in fact.

"Asuka!" She jerked her head around to see Juudai, Shou-kun, Hayato-kun, and Theodis-san a distance away, also on a disk like hers, but theirs was more enclosed. The Healer Cat sniffed around, tail lashing, clearly uncomfortable without solid ground underneath her.

She started to take a step towards them. But before she could, lava leapt up all around, arching in graceful smooth arcs over the shining disk beneath her feet. The lava shaped itself into something that resembled dragons, roaring fiercely before they splashed into one another and out of the lava there stepped a new figure. He stood taller than Asuka, with brown hair tinged by the light of the lava.

Most of his face was hidden behind a black mask that resembled a dragon's features. Around his neck there hung a medallion similar to the one Juudai had taken to wearing after their experience in that other world.

"You're one of the Seven Stars," Asuka declared, staring at this stranger. He smiled - it wasn't a smile that fit on his features. What little Asuka could see told her that he should smile freely and happily. This near-smirk wasn't his at all.

"I am Darkness," he introduced himself with a tiny nod of his head. "And you are one of the Keepers of the Keys. I challenge you to a duel." Before she could answer, he raised one hand, and a card flickered into existence there. "The loser will have their soul sealed into this card."

Asuka tensed herself at once. She'd not thought that she would be one of the first challenged. But she'd been entrusted with this key and she refused to let it go without a fight.

"If that's what you want, then I'll fight you!" Asuka declared. She glanced once again to where her friends stood surrounded by lava. "But when I win, I want my friends released!"

Darkness chuckled, a very low, dark, smooth sound. It didn't fit him any more than the smirk did. "Of course. But the question is, can you win fast enough?"

No sooner had he asked that then Shou yelped, and Asuka looked in time to see him pulling his hand away from the lava. It didn't look as if he'd been more than mildly scorched but she could tell Juudai was the only one who might be enjoying the heat. She squared up her shoulders - time to fight.

"I will take the first turn," Darkness declared, shuffling his deck. Asuka got ready. This wouldn't be an easy duel at all. "I summon Spear Dragon, in attack mode, and set one card face-down." Spear Dragon appeared, mostly brilliant blue wings and a long sharp beak, pointed towards her. "Turn end. Do make this interesting, Tenjoin Asuka."

How does he know my name? She hadn't mentioned it. Perhaps they all somehow knew the Key-Keepers? She didn't have time to worry about it now. Instead, she drew her first hand and checked it out. She could work with this.

"I summon Cyber Gymnatics!" Before her there appeared one of her favorite monsters, clad in a tight-fitting black outfit, well-muscled, and long blonde hair. She didn't have the highest attack but what she had to make up for it was her effect. "I activate her affect by discarding one card from my hand. I can destroy one face-up attack position monster my opponent controls - in this case, Spear Dragon!"

Cyber Gymnatics leaped upward and spun towards the far side of the field, slamming one foot hard against Spear Dragon's neck. The dragon let loose a cry of pain before vanishing in a spray of light. Asuka wasn't done yet, though.

"Now that you don't have any defenses, Cyber Gymnatics attacks you directly!" Once again her monster leaped forward, and this time slashed her hand directly into Darkness, who barely flinched back. He chuckled as the attack ended and Cyber Gymnatics returned to Asuka's side of the field.

"Is that all you're going to do?" He asked. Asuka didn't like the way that he smiled.

"I set one card face down and end my turn," she said. Whatever he tried on his turn, she'd be able to handle it. This wasn't as terrifying as she'd feared it might be.

But Darkness quickly disabused her of that. "I activate Call of the Living Dead, summoning Spear Dragon back from my graveyard!" Once again Spear Dragon appeared before him. Asuka tensed even more; he could have done that earlier and prevented all damage to himself if he had. What did he have in mind?

"Next, I summon Mirage Dragon!" The second dragon appeared there now, this one a half-see through creature of gold scales and silver hair. "While Mirage Dragon is on the field, you cannot activate trap cards during the battle phase."

Asuka's eyes widened and she took a step back. Her eyes fell to her face-down card - Double Passe. If she couldn't activate that, then she would have to revise her strategy and fast.

Darkness laughed. It scraped against her soul, like a sound that she knew should be pleasant and yet it had been warped beyond all understanding. "Are you afraid? Do you understand that you're going to lose now?"

"Don't listen to him!" Theodis snapped, voice rising above the sound of the lava. "You haven't lost yet!"

"She's right!" Juudai agreed wholeheartedly. "You can take this guy, Asuka! We all believe in you!"

Shou nodded, casting repeated nervous glances to the lava. Juudai had slipped himself in the front of the little group, one hand resting on Theodis' head, staring at the duel displayed before them, as if he weren't surrounded by boiling lava. Asuka wondered for a heartbeat if he could hear the voices of the lava. Any Firestarter could hear the voice of fire, but lava was another thing altogether. She knew she wasn't that strong, but Juudai wasn't a normal Firestarter at all.

She shook her head to clear it, focusing back on what was happening before her. Darkness wasn't finished at all.

"Battle!" Darkness declared, pointing towards her. "Spear Dragon, take out Cyber Gymnatics! Spear Crash!"

At once the blue dragon surged forward with a mighty flap of its wings and stabbed that long sharp beak right into Cyber Gymnatics' heart. Asuka screamed as pain racked her, flowering outward from her own heart. She didn't fall but only by sheer stubbornness. Slowly she shook her head again, trying to think instead of just suffering.

"Wh-what was that?" She murmured. Darkness chuckled.

"This is a Duel of Darkness. The pain of your monsters - that's your pain too. You'll feel every bit of damage done in this duel. And so will I, of course." Darkness waved one hand casually. "But I think you'll not enjoy it the way that I do."

Had he felt this when she'd attacked him directly? He hadn't acted like he did. Was he lying about that? Asuka couldn't even begin to guess right now and had no time to think it over. Not when Darkness hadn't finished his Battle Phase.

"Mirage Dragon! Attack her directly! Mirage Crush!" Forward it surged, claws raking her from head to toe. Asuka screamed, falling back again, dropping down to one knee as her life points dropped to thirteen hundred. She almost expected to see blood when she looked down at herself, and only when that didn't happen did she remember that to some extent, these were still holograms. They weren't solid - yet she'd felt the weight of the claw sinking into her flesh and ripping through her.

"If you want to surrender," Darkness told her, "then I will take your Key and seal your soul into this card. The pain will end. You'll know nothing, ever again."

Asuka's eyes narrowed. Slowly she pushed herself to her feet, swaying ever so lightly as she did. She'd never heard the voice of the lava, but the fire it sparked called to her. The volcano had always been friendly to the Firestarters of Duel Academia and now wasn't any different. She could also hear the voices of her friends, Juudai and Theodis, Shou and Hayato, demanding to know if she was all right, encouraging her to keep on going.

For his sake, she told herself. I can't find my brother if I don't keep on going. If I lose this fight, I'll never see him again. She'd waited too long, searched too long. She wasn't going to let that happen.

She glanced towards Darkness, and thought she caught a glimpse of brown eyes behind the mask. The light of the lava made her uncertain of what she saw, but - was it? Fubuki wasn't the only person with brown hair and brown eyes in the world. But he did play a dragon deck. It had been a long time since she'd seen her brother duel, so she couldn't be certain. But - she pressed her lips together.

"Is that all you've got?"

Darkness laughed, and the heat around him rose, to the point even she noticed it. That was wrong by itself; Fubuki was a Healer, not a Firestarter. This heat felt wrong. Not like a Shadow Flame; but something else altogether. Asuka had no names for it, but she knew wrong when it presented itself to her. "Turn end. Do your best." Darkness taunted her. Asuka fully intended to.

She drew her card for the turn and relaxed a fraction. She had cards enough to deal with the situation but this would make it that much easier.

"All right, Darkness, you'll see just what my best is! I activate Cyclone, targeting your Call of the Living Dead! When that goes to the graveyard, it takes Spear Dragon with it!" And that removed the strongest monster from Darkness's side of the field. All she needed now was a way to get rid of Mirage Dragon - and she had that already in her hand.

"Now, I summon Cyber TuTu!" Before her there appeared the low-level ballerina, who spun into place delicately and fiercely, regarding the dragon before her without a scrap of fear.

Darkness chuckled as he regarded her. "She's not very powerful, is she? I don't think my dragon has anything to fear from her."

"No, your dragon doesn't," Asuka agreed, allowing herself a grin. "But you might. I'm not attacking with Cyber TuTu. She's not here on the stage for long. I brought her out in order to call someone else!" She flicked out another card. "By the effect of Prima Light, I sacrifice Cyber Tutu! Cyber Prima, dance on in!"

A tight silver bodysuit covered her new monster, along with golden hoops that hovered at her hips, and smaller ones in the form of bracelets at her shoulders and wrists. A fall of silver-white hair gleamed bright in the lava-light, and she stood fiercely in front of Asuka, ready for battle.

"Cyber Prima! Take out Mirage Dragon!" This wouldn't cause nearly as much damage as she would have liked, but even seven hundred was better than nothing. She couldn't guess yet what his ace card might be but the sooner she finished this duel the better. If she kept feeling the same damage that her monsters did, then she wasn't sure of how much more she could take.

Mirage Dragon vanished in a puff of sparkles as Cyber Prima slammed into him, Darkness's life points dropping down to twenty-five hundred. Still a long way to go, but Asuka believed she could do it.

Darkness brushed it off easily though as she set her last card face down and ended her turn. "You're not that bad. I might almost regret finishing you off - but probably not." He regarded her thoughtfully before he drew his own next card and then pointed towards her. "Do you hear the cries of those dragons that you've destroyed? They shriek from the graveyard, demanding vengeance for their passing!"

"You're getting into this a little much," Asuka muttered. She'd never been fond of those who were too over-dramatic in duels. Spirits or no spirits - and she hadn't made up her mind on that - it was still a game. Though a very deadly one right now.

But Darkness continued as if she'd not said a thing. "You will suffer for what you've done! The souls of the dragons demand it! Now it begins! I summon Black Dragon's Chick!"

In front of him there now appeared a large red egg, From the egg there burst a small dragon, not quite small enough to hold in one's hands. It glared at her and Cyber Prima, hissing in anger as it did. Darkness wasted no further time.

"I send Black Dragon's Chick to the graveyard and summon Red Eyes Black Dragon from my hand!"

The chick explode into light and that light coalesced into a gigantic dragon, sleek and black of scale, with sharp red eyes that peered as her as if she were the source of all it hated in the cosmos. Asuka's attention shifted from the dragon to Darkness's mask and back again.

It's the same. He's wearing the Red Eyes Black Dragon Mask. Something else clicked. She couldn't see his face properly still, not with the mask there, and the shadows cast by the lava made it even more difficult to be sure. But the more she listened to his voice and the more she stared at him, the more certain Asuka became. She wasn't sure at all of how or why, but - but she'd done it.

She'd found her brother. Now she just needed to find a way to find him inside of whatever it was that used his body. She didn't know how this Darkness entity did it, but he wore her brother like a suit, and that wasn't going to happen any longer if she had anything to say about it.

"Your dragon only has a hundred more points than Cyber Prima," she pointed out. "That's hardly anything at all."

"Oh, you're quite right on that." All around Darkness, shadows cast by the lava stirred and twisted and rose upward, dancing in a frenzy that sent chills down Asuka's spine. "Therefore, I send Red-Eyes Black Dragon to the graveyard to summon Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon!"

The shadows converged on the great black dragon, wrapping all around it and blocking it from sight. When they pulled away, the dragon looked larger, but slimmer, with a sense of intelligence that Asuka didn't find reassuring in the slightest.

"Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon draws power from every dragon that's been sent to the graveyard," Darkness declared. "With Spear Dragon, Mirage Dragon, Black Dragon's Chick, and Red-Eyes Black Dragon, that makes his attack 3,600!" He regarded her carefully. This strike would finish her, taking her last thirteen hundred life points in one fell swoop. "Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon, attack! Bring me the victory with Darkness Giga Flame!"

"Not so fast!" Asuka declared, gasping the words out as quickly as she could. "I activate my traps! Spirit Barrier prevents me from taking damage at all, and Doble Passe allows me to make this attack on my monster a direct attack on me - and then I can directly attack you with Cyber Prima! Go! Closing Reverence!"

Even as Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon blasted a stream of intense black fire at her, Cyber Prima leaped over the flames, dodging them gracefully, and landed in front of Darkness, striking at him with all of her might. Darkness fell back a step himself, his life points dropping to a mere two hundred, and he snarled, eyes flashing like red coals.

"You won't do that again next turn," he promised. Asuka knew he was right. Doble Passe would go to the graveyard at the end of this turn. Spirit Barrier would remain, being a Continuous Trap, but it required her to have a monster on the field. If he could destroy Cyber Prima, then she would have no defense whatsoever.

If this were her brother - if he used Fubuki's deck - then she knew that in that deck rested cards that could either destroy Cyber Prima, destroy Spirit Barrier, or inflict effect damage, which Spirit Barrier wouldn't negate.

He wasn't done with her now. Two more cards remained in his hand. He tugged out one of them. "I activate Fire Dragon's Blazing Bullet, and choose the effect of dealing eight hundred points of damage to my opponent!"

Asuka had time to think of how petty this was before fire engulfed her. Firestarters weren't burned by fire, no matter how weak they were, and she'd always been one of the strongest. For the first time in her life, she knew what it felt like to burn, and not in that glorious way that Firestarters did. She screamed, falling face forward, trembling from head to foot.

Firestarter. Firestarter. Another voice whispered to her. She flinched at first, but then others joined in.

"Asuka! Asuka! Stand up! You can do this!"

"Yeah! You've got this! He's only got two hundred left!"

"Idiots." That voice cut over the other ones. "She's lost already. All she has to do is stop breathing. Then I will duel you, Yuuki Juudai."

Slowly Asuka's head cleared. She dragged in a breath. The fires called. She glanced over to where her friends were and saw that whatever it was that protected them from the lava had drawn backwards. They'd not fallen in yet but it wasn't that far away. So she needed to finish this. She needed - she didn't know what she needed. All that she could think of right now was to win, to overcome that dragon and destroy those last two hundred life points. But Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon had thirty-six hundred - even with Cyber Blader, she had nothing that could top that.

Wait - wait. One card. One hope.

"So you don't want to peacefully lay down and die?" Darkness taunted her as she swayed to her feet, small flames of her own beginning to dance around her. "I'm going to extinguish those fires of yours!"

"My fire will cut through your shadows to what lies beneath, Darkness!" Asuka shot back. "All I need is one card to finish you off!"

"Try your best!"

Asuka drew her card. "I activate Pot of Greed, and draw two more cards!" She knew how slim her odds were, but if she were going to go down, then she'd go down fighting every step of the way. She smiled at the sight of her two new cards - exactly what she needed.

Juudai always thanked his deck when he got a good draw. Asuka wondered if she should start doing the same thing.

"I summon Cyber Petit Angel! When this card is successfully summoned, I can add Machine Angel Ritual from my deck to my hand!"

She'd only recently added Ritual monsters to her deck. Perhaps this was why she'd wanted to do so. Regardless, it was time. Cyber Petit Angel wiggled little metallic wings and the card she needed appeared in her hand from the deck. She moved on; better to get this done before Darkness could counter her.

"I activate Machine Angel Ritual! By tributing Cyber Prima and Cyber Petit Angel, I Ritual Summon Cyber Angel Dakini!"

A tall armored woman spun into existence before her, blue-skinned and red-haired, with armor of gold. The top two of her four arms held swords while the bottom two held a long staff. "When Cyber Angel Dakini is summoned, then you select and destroy one of your monsters." Asuka smiled a thin-lipped smile. "And you only have one monster."

Darkness jerked in surprise as Dakini struck his mighty Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon with her staff, and it exploded into a pile of scales and dust that faded away a breath later. She could see his eyes widen as he understood what was about to happen. Asuka didn't give him time to fear it.

"Cyber Angel Dakini! Direct attack!"

At once Dakini leaped forward again, this time swiping both of her swords across him. His life points drained away entirely, and he fell, screaming, the card that he'd declared would hold her soul on her defeat now glowing ever so softly. Asuka wasn't sure how she stayed on her feet, but she tottered towards him, even as light flared up around them. When that light cleared, they weren't over the volcano anymore, but on the side of it. Her flamelets faded away and she collapsed next to the black-clad body.

"Asuka! Asuka!" Ryou hurried closer, Misawa and Professor Chronos with him. Juudai, Shou, Hayato, and Thordis hurried as well, coming to check on her. She didn't care; she was fine. But she pulled the body into her arms, noticing vaguely that he still breathed. She slipped the mask off of his face, hardly able to think or breathe right now, especially as she saw that it was Fubuki, it was her brother, he lay there unconscious, but alive. Tears coursed down her cheeks and she didn't care. She'd held those back far too long over the last two years.

Slowly she looked up at Ryou, the only other person who might understand how she felt right now. "It's him," she whispered. "It's Fubuki. That other soul - Darkness - it's gone now." She could see the card discarded to one side. There was Darkness, staring back at them through the chains. Maybe 'gone' wasn't the right word, but it would do.

Asuka closed her eyes and let herself slump forward, her mind going dark and restful. This time when she woke up, Fubuki would be there, and she could get answers on what happened, how he'd vanished and why he'd vanished, where he'd been all this time, and why he worked for these people wanting powerful and evil cards.

She'd done it. She'd saved her brother.


The End

Notes: Okay, let's face it. Asuka was robbed when it came to her search for Fubuki. All it really did for her in canon was get her kidnapped by Titan (an event I can assure you didn't happen in this AU), and then after that she just kinda floats around uselessly in the plot. She wasn't even allowed to be the one to set Fubuki free. No, that had to take second place to Juudai and his eternal need for fun duels! Not this time, though. Also, I mainly set this in my Healer/Firestarter AU for the grins and giggles. This might not be the best duel but I think it works.

Lastly, I sorted out this duel and wrote it all today. The idea has floated in my head for ages and it just slammed in that this would be perfect for today's prompt, even though I had my other fic ready anyway. Meh, ideas.