Title: Taken Away, Taking Up
Characters: Shou, Ryou (referred to)
Chapters: 1-1||Words: 500
Genre: Family||Rated: G
Challenges: Diversity Writing: YGO Healer/Firestarter Aus: A55, 300-500 words; GX Month 2021, day #25, Power Bond
Notes: This takes place in a Healer/Firetarter AU. Not my usual one, but something a bit different. More details to come in the future.
Summary: So what happens when Ryou, at the age of seven, vanishes? Shou determines that he will make his Firestarter brother proud of him.
His brother was gone. Shou didn't want to believe it, but it remained true. Ryou fled from those weird men who'd come to the door, keeping them away from Shou. Not quite everyone believed that was why he ran, but Shou believed in his brother, and he trusted that one day, Ryou would return. Somehow.
He stared down at the earth in the garden beneth his feet. Tiny plants unfolded themselves at his glance and he reached out to touch them ever so lightly. He ccouldn't yet hear thier voices, but he had an idea of what they'd say - to stay strong, to believe that his brother would return. He could do that, wehether or not hte plants told him to.
They weren't going to stay here. He'd already heard his parents and their bondmates talking about it. All of the adults had made the decision. They didn't know who had taken Ryou, but it was better to go somewhere where they'd be safer. Shou wasn't happy about that at all. What if RYou tried to come back and they werent' there anymore? But while they listened, they stsill hadn't changed thier minds.
"Don't worry," hsi father assured him, patting him on the shoulder. "When he comes back, the Guild will be able to tell him where we are. He'll be back with us soon."
Shou truly wanted to bleieve that. But he made up his mind about something right then and there - he'd heard Ryou talking about how to respct one's opponents. He wasn't sure exactly what Ryou meant by that but he would figure it out and he would do that. He would make suer that when Ryou retuned - and he would never, for a single moment, think of it was if Ryou returned, because his brother would come back - Ryou would be proud of him.
There wasn't any way that Ryou couldn't be found. Ryou might only be seven years old but he was the ost powerful Firestarter that Shou ahd ever heard of. He'd heard many stories about how perfect Ryou was. He wasn't sure if he understood "perfect" but he knew what being the best was, and Ryou was the very, absolute best. He coudl already talk to the flames, so the flames would end up finding him. It wasn't as if someone could go somewehre that didn't have fire or plants willing to talk. Or a FireCat or a HealerCat could find him.
There were too many ways that Ryou could be found, and Shou refused to give up faith for so much as a breath that it would happen.
Even as the days turned into weeks, the weeks to months, the months to years, he hoped. His brother was out there somewhere, and if no one else did, Shou would find him personally. He needed to learn how to be strong, both in dueling and in the skills of a Healer, and he could do that at Duel Academia.
The End
Notes: I know who has Ryou, and why, and when he'll return. And what he's doing.