"Hahaha, hahaha!" A three-year old Leo laughed as he ran in his blue nightgown and cap with his hair down, chasing another Leo through a field of flowers, this one suited in pink.
"Hey!" The Leo in blue called out, causing the Leo in pink to stop.
"Hey,"
"Yeah?"
"When you become a pro duelist..." The Leo in pink started. "I'll be there to watch of all your duels!"
"Really?!" The Leo in blue smiled. "Yeah! And when you become a pro, I'll watch all your duels too!"
"Great, then it's a promise!" The Leo in pink declared, extending their pinky. The Leo in blue wrapped their own pinky around it, sealing the deal.
"Yeah, it's a promise!"
"AAH!" Leo's eyes snapped open as the top half of his body rose and folded over his lower half. "Hah...hah..." Leo's face dripped with sweat, and his eyes bulged much wider than they usually would right after awakening.
"Hah... it was just... another nightmare. another memory." Leo huffed under his breath. Leo turned to his right towards his closed curtains. Crawling out of his bed, Leo reached for the curtains and opened them. Unsurprisingly, the sun shone brightly in his eyes, forcing him to shade his face with his left arm. Leo reached for his phone on top of his bed-side drawer. Flipping it open, he saw that it was already noon.
*YAAAAAAAAWN* "Well, my duel against Jack isn't until tomorrow, and the Sun Lion isn't scheduled to make his appearance 'til later. I might as well go out on the town for once." Leo turned away from his window and walked to his closet. Opening it, he scrutinized his wardrobe options. As much as he hated it, Goodwin insisted he dress up when in public. It didn't make any sense, Leo thought, everyone knew he was a kid, surely they didn't expect him to go around wearing suits.
Leo's eyes caught on one outfit in particular. Hmm... Perhaps the champion should give his fans... a little fanservice.
Leo strolled through the common streets of New Domino City. He was now sporting a blue Duel Academy boy's uniform, which his parents had bought for him when he threw a tantrum over not being able to enroll in Duel Academy. Leo wasn't quite sure what he'd do today. Perhaps visit a card shop and sign some autographs while he's there. Or maybe go to a café and duel on a computer. Or maybe-
"Hey, you're Leo, aren't you?" A slightly shrill voice came from Leo's left. Turning, Leo came face to face with a girl with yellow pig tails and green eyes, wearing a navy sundress and red shoes. She was his height, but from her facial features, Leo assumed she was probably younger than him.
"Yeah, it is you! I watched you duel against Jack! You were awesome!" The girl cheered enthusiastically before digging into her pocket for something. As Leo watched her, an image flashed into his mind. An image of his own face. Even more similar than if he were looking into a mirror. His own face, but rather than his hair being tied into a ponytail, it was tied into two pig tails like this girl's.
Luna.
It came rushing his body, from his stomach to his mouth, in an instant. It was so fast, Leo had to press his right hand over his mouth to stop it from coming out. Leo groaned. He hated this queasy feeling. He hated the disgusting taste in his mouth. He hated the smell of iron.
"A-are you alright?"
"Y-yeah, I'm fine." Leo reassured, raising his left hand in front of him to indicate he was fine, all while keeping his right hand placed over his mouth.
C'mon, Leo! Not in front of your fans! As soon as she's gone, you can let it out, but not now. Leo coughed. He felt as if he was spitting up blood. Leo looked at the girl's right hand. In it she held a small strip of paper and a pencil.
"An autograph?" Leo asked, moving his hand away.
"Y-yeah."
"Okay! Here, I'll take that... Here you go!"
"T-thank you so much, Leo- er, Mr. Leo!"
"No, no. It's Leo, not Mr. Leo. That makes me sound old."
"Oh. Well then, thanks a bunch, Leo!"
"Yeah, no problem! You're welcome!" Leo gave a thumbs-up with right hand. As he stared at the girl's smiling face. He felt another pang in his heart, and another pulse in his stomach. Leo had once wondered if you could still throw up even when your stomach had nothing left to throw-up. As past experience had taught him, apparently there was always something in your stomach to throw up.
"Bye!" The girl waved farewell as she ran off towards an old movie theater Leo recognized. Leo wished he could smile as he watched the girl slow down as she stepped aside her parents.
"She's gone... phew."
Ring ring ring! Ring ring ring! Phone call, phone call! Ring ring ring! Ring ring ring! Phone call, phone-
Grabbing his blue cell phone from his pocket, Leo flipped it open and answered the call, walking into a nearby alley as he did. "Hello? Mom? You called yesterday, why are you calling now? No, it's not that I don't want to hear from you, Mom, it's just that you never call two days in a row...Huh? You want to talk to Luna?...Well, I'm actually in town right now, so she's not with me...not answering her phone? Well, yeah, it broke this morning...yeah, we're going to get a new one for her soon...no... there's nothing I'm not telling you, Mom. Bye, love you!" Leo spoke his last words quickly, snapping his phone shut.
This is getting too close. It won't be much longer before they'll find out...Luna... Leo stared blankly at his phone. As he did, droplets of water began to fall and accumulate on its surface. Taking notice of this, Leo rubbed his eyes to rid them of their tears.
"Leo? Is that you?"
That voice... Leo turned towards the street from whence he came.
"Hey, bro! I haven't seen you in ages, what's up?"
"Dexter! What are you doing here?" Leo questioned as Dexter ran towards him. "It's dangerous for you to be out alone in this part of the city, you know?" The common streets of New Domino city didn't have extensive security to prevent ne'er-do-wells from even entering, after all.
"I could say the same to you, Mister Champion." Dexter retorted. "Man, it's been months since I've seen you. Not since your debut duel, I think. So, how have you been?"
"...Good. I've been good."
"Good? I thought you'd say great- what with you being the turbo dueling champion and all."
"Heh, right. Yeah, I've been great. And you?" Leo questioned, hoping to avoid talking about himself.
"I've been okay, but it's been lonely without you guys."
"Guys?"
"You and your sister, duh. I haven't seen Luna in almost as long a time as you. Did something happen to her that I don't know about or something?"
"I...Luna, she...she..."
"Huh? What is it, Leo? Just say it- wait. Are you..."
Leo once again rubbed his eyes with the back of his right arm. But as soon as he removed his wet arm from his face, he felt more tears streaking down his face. Darn it! Not now, Leo. You can't cry in front of your friend- don't make him worry about you!
"Leo... what happened? What's wrong?!"
"Nothing's wrong, boy, now hurry along." A new voice came from the street. Leo's head quickly lifted as he was alerted to the new presence.
"Goodwin. What are you doing here?" Leo almost snarled at the man.
"Whatever do you mean, Leo? I'm here to take you home. You have a very busy schedule, after all. We can't allow for any distractions." Leo froze as he heard the word leave Goodwin's mouth. Leo's right hand curled up in a fist as his entire body began to shake.
Distractions...Distractions...Distractions...He thinks Dexter's a distraction...Just like her... No longer shaking, Leo uncurled his fist.
"Right. Okay, Goodwin. Sorry, Dex, it's time for me to go now." Leo turned away from Dexter as he walked past him, keeping his gaze on the ground, carefully hiding his face in the shadows of the alley. With an off-handed wave behind him, Leo entered the backseat of the limo that Goodwin had exited from. A few moments later, he saw Goodwin enter the vehicle and take a seat in front of him.
"So... Who was that boy?" Goodwin questioned as the limo began moving.
"...A fan. A kid." So leave him alone. Leo added mentally. Don't drag anyone else into your twisted plot...
"I see... So, what were you doing in town?"
"What, I'm not allowed to leave the house anymore?" Leo asked sarcastically.
"Wearing that? Absolutely not."
"And what's wrong with it? I figured the fans would go gaga for a cutie like me in a school uniform, y'know?" Leo did his best to force a cheeky smile on his face, placing his arms behind his head.
"I see. So you're more shrewd than I thought. Or is it that you just have that big of an ego?" Leo could see Goodwin's wry smirk in the mirror as he finished his thought aloud.
"Whatever." The rest of the ride concluded in silence. That's it. I'm done with this guy.
"What do you mean, I can't quit?!" Leo slammed his hands on the black, potato-shaped coffee table in front of him. It'd been an hour since he and Goodwin had returned to his home, and merely a few minutes after they walked through the door, Leo had announced his intention to quit and find a different manager.
"I mean exactly that. It's in your contract. For the next five years, I am to be your manager unless I decide differently."
"What?! There's no way I would ever sign something like that!"
"Just take a look for yourself. I do seem to recall that you didn't bother to even take a glimpse at the contract when I first showed it to you. I suppose this is a very valuable learning experience for you, then. Always read the fine print. Or in your case, just read the print in the first place."
"Urgh! You slimy little weasel!"
"Why, Leo! I'm insulted. Now then, if you'll excuse me, I do have my own duties to attend to." Leo's eyes burned holes into Goodwin's back as he left the room. Once he was out of sight, Leo grabbed a pillow from the couch he was sitting on and threw it as hard as he could at the window behind him.
"AARGH! Great! Just great! Not only can I not quit, but now I'm stuck with that guy for the next five years!" Leo looked around the room and saw the leftover deck that didn't belong to him, sitting in an otherwise empty drawer. He saw the Kuribon plush that served as a painful reminder of what he'd never gotten the chance to apologize for. To apologize for not believing her. He saw the family pictures on the wall that could never be the same again, and the paintings of the beautiful moon that would never again shine in his life. The hair bands that were now used a third as fast as they used to be, and the bedroom that was only half-lived in.
Why? Why does everything remind me of her? Why today of all days? I have my duel against Jack tomorrow, I need to be focusing on that! But all I can think of is her. Leo stared at the pink duel disk that lay atop his nearly empty drawer cabinet. Maybe some time as the Sun Lion will take my mind off things.
It had been just another night for the Sun Lion. He'd stop several muggings and cases of petty theft, along with an attempted armed robbery.
*Yawn* I think I'm about ready to call it a night. It's around 2:00 right now, and my duel against Jack tomorrow is at noon. If I hurry to bed now, I might be able to get six hours of sleep tonight. As Leo jumped from roof to roof, he noticed that the lights in the Kaiba Dome were on.
"Huh? The Kaiba Dome should be closed now. So why are the lights on?" Leo figured that the cleaning staff might've been there or something, but usually they'd be home way earlier than this. "I'm going to check it out." Changing directions, Leo began bounding towards the Kaiba Dome.
When he arrived, Leo found that the entrance to the Kaiba Dome was locked. Fortunately, due to the springs in the boots of his costume, he could simply jump to the stands. As he landed on one of the seats, Leo looked down at the track and saw two people turbo dueling.
"No way! What are they doing here? Wait a second...that duel runner...it looks like- it can't be!" There was no way he'd be here now. But Leo had to be sure, and so he began running down towards the bottom of the spectator section as fast as he could. Leaning over the railing, he could clearly see the two duel runners as they rounded one corner after another. One of them was a small red duel runner that, for all its shimmer and shine, clearly wasn't made from the highest quality parts. Its rider wore a red helmet and had a monster that Leo had never seen before on their field. The other duel runner was... Jack Atlas's. And on his field was Red Dragon Archfiend!
Why is Jack dueling here when we have a duel tomorrow? Is he so confident he can beat me even without getting any sleep? Or is this duel even more important than reclaiming his throne?
"I play my trap card!" Leo heard Jack's opponent declare. Thankfully, their duel was being displayed on all the monitors throughout the arena. "Meteor Stream!"
"What?!" Jack exclaimed, clearly caught off guard by his opponent's move.
"Now, since my Stardust Dragon has returned to the field, Meteor Stream deals you one thousand points of damage, ending this duel!"
"Waaaaaaaaah!" Jack screamed as he was hit by the effects of Meteor Stream. As his life points hit zero, his engine stopped and white exhaust poured forth from his duel runner as it spun to a stop. Jack Lp(0). Although the duel was over, Leo noticed that the monitors were still turned on and focused on the two of them as Jack stepped off his duel runner and removed his helmet, his opponent doing the same before sprinting over to him. Leo had to stifle a chuckle upon seeing the odd shape of the mostly-black hair of Jack's opponent.
"Now tell me, Jack! Why did you do it? Why did you betray all our friends in the Satellite?!"
"No way!" Leo almost shouted. If he hadn't placed both his hands over his mouth, he would have given himself away. Leo couldn't believe what he had just heard. 'Our friends from the Satellite' makes it sound like they're Jack's friends too! But that's impossible, Jack's a New Domino City citizen, through and through!
"You really want to know, Yusei?" Jack questioned. Leo could hear the rage that his voice dripped with. He obviously wasn't taking the loss too well.
He's not denying it! Does that mean... he really is from the Satellite?! Wait, if that guy's from the Satellite, doesn't that mean he's broken a bunch of laws? He's not allowed to be in New Domino City, or to duel, or even to have cards!
"Why, Jack?! You were one of my best friends... Why would you do this?"
And Jack broke the law too. It's illegal to duel against someone from the Satellite! So why would Jack... Leo noticed that Jack's grimace had turned into a smirk. One that Leo recognized. Whatever Jack was about to say, Leo could tell that he was hiding his true feelings.
"Hmph. It's too bad, Yusei... I don't have to tell you anything!"
"Wha-
"Attention, Satellite!" Leo heard a voice boom through the stadium. It must've been Sector Security with a megaphone. "We have you surrounded. Put your cards down and your hands up!" Leo turned towards the entrance and saw that, true to his suspicions, a swarm of Sector Security officers were entering the Kaiba Dome on their duel runners and in their squad cars. Spearheading the group was a surprising figure. Rex Goodwin.
Urgh... I'd like to know more about what's happening here, but I better scram before that creep sees me! With a few hops, Leo was over the walls of the stadium and on his way home again.
Leo stared down at the glowing lights of New Domino City beneath him. It was truly a beautiful sight, but all the unnatural light took away from the natural beauty of the stars and the moon, Leo thought. It was already past 4:00 a.m., and about time for him to head to bed.
"Do you miss me?" Leo heard his own voice sound through his head. Practiced, Leo didn't bother to try and see who it was that spoke. Instead, he gave his tired response, even more tired than usual this night.
"What do you want? Why do you haunt? Have you come to flaunt? Flaunt that you've found peace, and I have not?"
"Still rhyming?"
"..."
"So, it's your big rematch against Jack tomorrow. Are you excited?"
"Excited? Heh...I guess." Leo lied. He wasn't sure why, but any excitement he ever felt towards tomorrow's duel had completely disappeared.
"You should perk up!"
"And who are you to tell me that?!" Leo shouted. He had to use all his concentration to prevent himself from turning around.
"It's not healthy to be like this."
"I'm alive, aren't I?"
"...I'm going to be there at the duel tomorrow."
"Of course you are. You always are."
"I'll be cheering you on, so try and have fun, Leo."
"Who are you?!" Leo whipped his head around violently, desperately trying to catch the owner of the voice red-handed. As always, he caught nothing but a fleeting glimpse of green hair flowing through the air. His visitor had disappeared.
"...My duel against Jack is tomorrow. I'm going to sleep."