Series: To Accept Fate's Will||Story: Fire and Water
Characters: O'Brien, Sea God's Priestess, Shou||Pair: O'Brien x Sea God's Priestess
Chapters: 3-4||Words: 2,463||Total: 7,056
Genre: Romance, Drama||Rated: PG
Challenges: Diversity Writing: YGO soulmate AUs: H8: 4 chapters; Valentine's Day to White Day 2016, day #1, write a soulmate!AU; Easter Egg Basket Advent 2016, #11, write from a Duel Spiprit's POV
Timeframe: Season 3, episode 141 and after, set in a soulmate universe
Summary: She searches for two people: a hero who can defeat Haou and the soulmate she fears to find. And she may well find them in the very same person.
She waited. She made certain to wait where it wasn't as likely that any of the guards or those who directly served the so-called leaders – she wasn't sure if they should even be referred to as leaders, not when their goal couldn't be anything so benign. Exactly what they had planned she didn't know, but she trusted that Austin – O'Brien, he hadn't granted permission to use his given name – would be able to stop them.
Noise came from where she'd guessed the two of them were, and people began to look in that direction. It wasn't enough noise to be certain what was going on, but the longer she heard it go on, the more certain she became that O'Brien was dealing with them very decisively.
Those weren't just noises, she realized quite quickly, but the sounds of duel combat. A few words floated down clearly, mostly ones that involved dueling of some sort.
She tensed at the realization. Dueling. Someone was going to die and it could be O'Brien, if matters fell out in the wrong way. She took a few careful steps towards the cliff-side, wondering if she would be able to get up there quickly enough. She was no duelist by any means, but she knew quite well how to use her trident. If she needed to…
A cry that wasn't in a voice she recognized, then someone appeared at one of the openings up there. Her eyes widened as she realized who it was.
"Look!" She gestured, heart pounding in delight, as a large horned figure fell backwards and crashed into the ground. Everyone got a very good look at Skull Bishop before he shrank down to Demonic Sky Elder, remaining there just long enough for everyone in the area to see who he was, before he vanished altogether.
"That was… he's one of Haou's top servants! His Death Duelists!" One of the guards declared, eyes wide and voice full of fear. "W-what was he doing here?"
"And why was he in disguise?" Someone else wondered. A third person guessed the reality of the situation before the others.
"Haou's troops are going to come soon! We can't fight them off on our own! We're all going to die!"
A fourth person shoved her way a little closer to the front, casting worried eyes here and there. "Who did this? Who defeated him?"
As if in answer to her question, O'Brien came down the wall, Guardian of the Underworld in bonds with him. Everyone there stared at him in awe as he landed and took the whole situation in.
"He entered this village in disguise to ensure you fell to Haou's troops," O'Brien reported, attention on where Demonic Sky Elder had been. Then he nudged Guardian of the Underworld with his foot. "And he intended to help him, for his own gain."
Whispered words ran here and there through the gathering before one clear voice spoke up. "What are we going to do? We don't have a leader anymore! We need someone who can win this fight and there isn't anyone!"
The priestess smiled to herself for a swift heartbeat before she moved forward. "There is!" She turned her attention to O'Brien. "He defeated Skull Bishop, one of Haou's most powerful servants. He saved us all. If anyone here can be our new leader, then he's the one!"
O'Brien's eyes widened and he shook his head, trying to protest. She didn't give him the chance to say anything else.
"You do have a strong power within you, one that's not like anyone else's. You were able to overcome your fears and you saved us all!" She reached toward him, making sure not to touch him, though everything within her demanded that she do so.
Others of the village began to nod. "She's right! You're the best for the job!"
"You can do it!"
He was being convinced. Perhaps he didn't like the concept – it did involve a lot of responsibility, especially with a battle hovering on the horizon – but they needed someone who could do the job and there wasn't anyone else who could do it.
"All right," he agreed at last, raising his head up. A fresh confidence blew through him as he did so and she smiled. He really was the hero that she'd been searching for.
Once everyone else scattered on their new tasks, O'Brien approached her, a new light in his eyes. A faint smile played over his lips at the same time.
"Thank you," he murmured. "This isn't what I'm suited for, but thank you anyway."
She smiled back, adjusting her grip on her trident. "I only did what I felt was right. You may not believe that you're suited for the task, but I believe you can do it."
"I'll do what I can." He turned his attention to the village gates, where a few sentries now stood, more confidence in their demeanor than before. "There's something that I need you to do as well."
She raised one eyebrow, curious as to what he had in mind. What she heard wasn't close to what she'd expected.
"I have to leave here soon. The best way I can protect you all is to fight Haou directly."
Her heart froze at the words. She knew he spoke truth; it made sense in every way, regardless of if she liked it or not. She hadn't wanted to hear it. They knew there would be an attack soon and it wasn't unlikely that Haou would lead it. He could wait here for that.
But he wouldn't. That wasn't the way that he thought and despite how short of a time she'd known him, she could already see that. She nodded; he would have her find another leader. She hadn't talked to many people in the village and those who she had didn't seem suited for it. Most of them would tremble in the fact of battle, which was why she'd encouraged O'Brien to step up in the first place.
"Someone will have to lead these people while I'm away. I think that you can do it."
She stared at him, wondering what madness gripped him. "No… I'm not a duelist...I can't."
His eyes met hers. "You don't have to be. You can see into the hearts of people and find what they can do. Like you did for me. I can try to give them hope in me. You can encourage hope in themselves." The smile that tilted his lips felt a little more real. "Will you try?"
She drew in an unsteady breath. She'd never imagined herself leading people but he was right on the point that someone had to do it. "I'll do what I can – while I can. When you return -" Because he had to return. Leading this place on her own would be a nightmare that she didn't want to have. To risk so many deaths if she made too many mistakes…
"I'll come back when I can." But the way that he didn't look at her when he spoke this time didn't encourage her at all. She wanted to know what was on his mind, but the words escaped her. It had something to do with Haou. She knew that O'Brien feared the warlord – was there anyone in this world who didn't? - but something else lurked in the set of his shoulders and the tilt of his head, something she couldn't understand.
She would find out when he came back, she promised herself. Before she could say anything else to that effect, noise sprang up near the gates and someone began to call for O'Brien. He bid her a quick farewell and headed there at a rush.
She watched his departure, glancing up to her fairy friends as they settled near her.
"You think he's not going to come back?" One of them asked. "That he'll die in battle?"
"I hope he doesn't." She pressed her lips together for a few seconds. "I want to believe that he'll return." She believed in that as strongly as she believed in her god and in an entirely different way. She believed in her god because she'd been raised to do so; it was her purpose in existing.
She believed in O'Brien because she'd seen what he could do and she did not want to risk the despair that would engulf her if he did fall against their enemy.
But he would come back. She had to believe that he would come back. Her god marked them as soulmates. The divine wouldn't be so cruel as to bring them together and yet not allow them the chance to be together.
She had to believe.
O'Brien didn't come back. He bid her farewell, still standing away from her – that she understood, it was his gift, to not seal the bond when he faced a situation where he could die – and then he and those who were his unexpected allies and friends departed from the village. His last words to the people as a whole were to work with the new arrivals and listen to her, but to be prepared to evacuate at a moment's notice.
She did all that she could to get ready for that. The new allies who arrived with Hell Kaiser – such an odd name – and Edo Phoenix were all duelists and took on the defense of the village, while the ones who'd already been there settled into defensive guarding positions and managing food and shelter. She sent out others to find somewhere they could retreat to if all were lost and others to search for any gates to other worlds that they could use in the most extreme of pinches.
At least she had help now. These allies weren't like the villagers; they'd seen the horror of Haou and his power firsthand, and while they respected it, they'd lived so far. They hadn't yet lost hope, and being rescued from the brink of death helped with that.
"You're worried about him," a quiet voice murmured not that far from her. She didn't look away from where her attention centered: the path that O'Brien had taken towards Haou's castle. But she knew who spoke: Amazoness Holy Warrior, one of those who'd been rescued. In the scant hours since their arrival, this warrior quickly proved herself to be talented and capable, and the priestess enjoyed having her around.
"Of course I am. He's going to fight Haou." Worry only made sense, didn't it? Even if they hadn't been soulmates, it would have made sense. She worried about his allies as well. There'd been something strange about that Hell Kaiser, a sense of impending illness, that she hadn't had time to investigate. Healing would never be her forte, but she detected something wrong even if she couldn't do anything about it.
Holy Warrior reached out her arm and the priestess glanced towards the motion, spying a faded, all bu t invisible, mark on the back of her hand. She sat up; that was a soulmate mark!
"Tactical Warrior," Amazoness Holy Warrior said, a gentle smile on her lips far at odds with the way she polished her sword. "I never thought that I would meet my soulmate in another world or that I would come to love her so much when we had such little time together. A few months, that was all. Then we were trapped by Haou's people and she fell against Chaos Sorcerer." Her eyes hardened. "I would kill him myself if I had the chance. I didn't then – feeling your bonded soulmate die is one of the most horrible feelings in the world. I couldn't even fight."
That was why O'Brien refused to commit to their bond. Perhaps neither of them knew what it could feel like to lose a bit hf your soul, but also neither of them wanted to know.
"One day I'm going to die too," Amazoness Holy Warrior mused. "And then we'll be together again."
The priestess discovered she was smiling. It didn't feel like a happy smile. "Is that supposed to make me feel better?"
"Perhaps. Did it?"
"No." She refused to lie about that. If anything, it made her feel worse.
"I couldn't have stopped her from fighting. I didn't even try. It was what she wanted to do and there were many people who lived because she died. I miss her – I will miss her every day of my life. But it would have been so much worse if she'd lived and I would have had to wake up every day to see the sorrow in her eyes." The Holy Warrior's smile didn't feel much happier than hers. "We all serve our own gods in the way that we believe will help the most. I serve my goddess by letting those who can fight do so in their own way, and fighting in mine."
The priestess nodded slowly. She wasn't sure if it made sense because she liked it or if she liked it because it made sense. Regardless, it did ease something deep within her and she made her way to her feet.
"I think it's time for dinner," she said, and Amazoness Holy Warrior nodded, that small touch of a smile crossing her lips as well.
The two of them hadn't taken more than a half dozen steps before the priestess stumbled to a halt, an odd sensation sweeping all through her, starting from her arm. Her throat closed before she dared to make another move.
No. No.
She didn't want to look at her arm, with its display of vivid green zeroes. She tried to turn her head away, but no part of her body wanted to move at all. She could feel the holy warrior's hands on her shoulders, supporting her. She could breath, but every scrap of air sliced into her lungs like tiny knives.
Austin. Austin O'Brien.
What little relationship they'd had existed more on a promise of potential, on what might have been and what could be, if they met in other circumstances, if they survived the war, if there was ever a chance they could spend enough time together to really get to know each other, to want to affirm their bond and march towards the future together.
Ever so unwillingly she turned her gaze down to her arm, just in time to see the numbers there blurring and fading. They didn't vanish altogether – there would always be a semblance of them – but now they were a smeared charcoal gray, as if someone smeared ashes on her skin.
Her knees crumpled underneath her and she gasped, choked out a sob that was half a demand to her god on why this happened.
O'Brien was dead.
To Be Continued
Notes: Final chapter goes up tomorrow. I quite thoroughly enjoyed writing about Amazoness Holy Warrior (who actually is visible in episode 142 as one of those Ryou & Edo rescued. You can see her standing next to Warrior Lady of the Wasteland) and Tactical Warrior. Maybe some day when I have more time and energy I'll write their love story.
Also, anyone want to help me make Steamshipping the official name for O'Brien x Sea God's Priestess? More fanfic, plz ;)