Judgement of the World

Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix

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"Big sister?" the twins peered at her from through the video call with a strange mixture of uncertainty and interest. Kuribon was barely visible over the bottom edge of the screen staring out at her as the pair waited for her response. They had taken to calling her every morning before school so they could talk. Now that Aki was planning on going back to school the kids were excited to have someone older that they knew being there.

Having a skilled, strong duelist was a comfort when they had teachers who didn't believe in them or their friends! Yet it would be a lie to deny that when their calls would be answered by a clearly distracted Aki made them nervous. It was disconcerting to have Aki just pick up the call and be spacing out over something. Not only spacing, but not even being able to explain 'what' she was spacing out about. Often her answers were vague dismissive suggestions that she was 'just thinking'.

Thus Ruka always extra worried that Divine might have been after Aki still and would end up wanting to talk more with the older girl. Only she was still nervous about Aki's assertive nature thus making her clam up. Leaving Rua to fill the extra empty air time, though he seemed to never be out of things to talk about.

It took a second longer then she would have liked to realize that they were addressing her. The greeting 'Big Sister' was a far cry from 'Ms. Izayori' or 'Witch'; and it was going to take a bit of time before she got used to it. Indeed, it was clear in Ruka's eyes that she wasn't firmly confident that she even had permission to address Aki that way. Rua led the way, pushing himself up higher, more visible to the older girl and hogging up more attention. "Hey big sister? When do you think the work on the bridge will begin?"

So of course the twins would call about the bridge; with Rex dead there was no opposition to building a bridge between Neo Domino and Satellite anymore. His control over the city was slipping rapidly away and the twins wanted to see their big brother Yusei quite earnestly. But Yusei had returned to Satellite and the twins, though wealthy through their parents, weren't old enough to just hitch a ride. Not only that, Yusei didn't live at the orphanage, he crashed there when he was near by, but generally slept where he could find a place.

"There still is the issue of funding the bridge you two," she noted with a faint smile on her lips. "They settled on the design for the bridge yesterday, but it's not a straightaway connecting bridge, so it's going to be more expensive. Its also going to serve as a type of race track for turbo dueling, given the view of the ocean."

"Aww man. Why do grown ups have to make things so expensive and time consuming?" Rua protested dropping down onto the table. His arms folded up under his head, giving him a disgruntled puppy look with his ponytail bouncing a bit from the motion.

"Rua," Ruka sighed out his name in the typical 'this happens all the time' fashion. But as her eyes rolled away from the screen she frown. "Oh, big sister we have to go to school now. Um, may we see you after school? Ah just to spend time with?" Kuribon's innocent eyes blinked in time with Ruka's own, giving a double team effect of cute, innocent eyes.

"Fine, I'll do my best to come see you at your condo," Aki agreed with that faint smile on her lips as she sat before the screen.

"Cool! See you later big sister!" Rua popped back up from his disgruntled posture before running off.

"I'm going to visit Divine before I go though," Aki never got to finish that statement. Ruka looked horrified and in the background the sound of Rua's sneakers skidding could be faintly heard. Even as Ruka began to vocalize her dismay Rua appeared in the camera shot again.

"You can't!"

"You mustn't go."

"Big sister, don't you remember what happened the last time he got close to you?"

"He's in jail right? How are you going to see him?"

"Big sister, what if he uses you to get 'out' of jail? You'll be in big trouble!" Ruka's voice finally asserted itself.

"You'll scare people into hating you for real this time!" Rua added, causing Aki to lift up an eyebrow in mild disdainful amusement.

"People don't remember the Fortune Cup outside that Yusei won. They don't recall that you body slammed him into concrete or put people in the hospital. But if Divine uses whatever mind control on you again..." Rua shivered before continuing. "You just can't go!"

"I know that you're lonely, that it hurts that people reject you, but that's what Divine 'wants'. He wants you to hurt more so he can hurt others. Even if he makes you feel good about yourself, in the end he let your life just be empty," Ruka argued as her hand went to her birthmark while Kuribon settled on Ruka's shoulder. "We don't have to be lonely big sister, we can have friends and more out of life."

That was right, even as the twins kept rattling off reasons why Aki shouldn't go see Divine, they did have a point. Aki wasn't the only psychic duelist in the group, Ruka was also one with the added burden of a heart condition and young age. Perhaps Aki really was a 'big sister' in the group, but the pair looked at her so earnestly that she could find no way to deny them their request.

"Fine, I'll stay away from Divine, at least I won't face him alone?" She offered for which the twins looked vastly relieved.

"Thanks big sister!" Rua cheered as Ruka waved her farewell leaving Aki alone in her bedroom at loose ends for eight hours at the least. She didn't have anything to do, her eyes went to the newspaper on the side of the computer. Her father had left it behind when he went to work, and with nothing to do Aki had begun to read through it when she discovered something on the editorials.

East verses West. Arcadia Movement hot button issue?

It was a long winded one sided discussion about psychics and what the Movement was really about. She had already read the article several times over before picking it up and reading it again. Like the other victims of the Earthbound Gods, Divine had been restored having been eaten by Ccarayhua. But Misty had her brother's body exhumed and a proper autopsy performed, something she never had done before in her grief. Now she served as an advocate for those who had died mysteriously from the hands of the Arcadia Movement. Her status as a model might not have on par with a movie star or musician, but that was where Carly shined. The lost and abandoned members of the world who may have come to the Movement for help. Only to end up in a body bag forgotten by the rest of 'civilized' society.

Aki couldn't blame her, Misty had lost her little brother. It wasn't a loss that was just overlooked, especially not when she had spent years placing her blame on the wrong person. Misty apparently had seen what uncontrolled hate could do to a soul and sought another way to deal with her loss. Inspirational yes, yet even with that logic in place in her mind, Aki missed Divine and wished he wasn't in jail. She wanted to visit him, but the twins were against that idea. Emphatically reminding her that she was still under his mind control through words. There was no guarantee that he wouldn't use her abilities to escape, after all he used her to take the blame for 'murder'.

The twins were young, and Ruka was similar to herself in terms of abilities, so Aki didn't want to make the twins upset about something she did. Granted it annoyed her to think that she was, in essence, taking orders from a pair of 'kids'. However; it wasn't just the kids, it was those three guys from Satellite. Under her glove there was a mark of the dragons' clawed foot that had been there since she was a child. Unlike normal tattoos or scars that stretched over the years or got discolored, that mark had remained growing up with her and now was hidden under a deep red fingerless glove.

But she had met the others who bore the same type of marks on their own bodies and she could no longer say that she was 'alone'. Not alone, now she was part of a small group and even had a role already in place for her to step into. A perfect weapon of destruction for Divine, yet with the others marked she was 'sister'. Save for the 'leader', Yusei seemed to have already decided what he wanted out of her, the role she was in his life.

Or he was an outrageously rude jerk. However; she doubted that, not after having traveled with him and seeing his 'mother' figure. He called her 'Aki', she called him 'Yusei' in returned. Was she willing to be 'that' to him? Was it friendship of the highest caliber that he offered or something even deeper? She didn't know.

She got up from her desk and walked to her phone that rested by her bed, flipping it open she texted a quick request to her father.

\\"I would like to go to Satellite today, father."\\

She couldn't voice or video that particular call. Yusei was a criminal, marked so and as such he wasn't good enough for her. At least that was public opinion, and public opinion also dictated that she was a terrifying witch that needed to be feared and hated. She couldn't really face her parents regarding him without a firm decision on where they stood. They had gone to him to help her, told him things that weren't any of his business. She had every right to be angry at him, offended at the invasion of her private life and pain. But in his touch when he woke her from her coma all she could recall was warmth.

He had such a cold, emotionally distant expression at all times, yet somehow through their marks she had felt the warmth of his heart. She attacked him, cut him, beat him repeatedly, but for him to keep coming back for more. Well either he was the world's biggest masochist or overwhelmingly determined to make his thoughts known outside of using words. Making understanding him all the more difficult, and thus making it hard to deflect what her parents were suggesting. They were quite encouraging of Aki spending time with Yusei, feeling he was a better influence on her than Divine was.

Her mother commented straight out over breakfast how, under Yusei's presence she learned to control her powers in less than a day, while spending years with Divine. Thus making her parents very proactive about her spending her free time with Yusei. Though she 'did' have the option of going back to school. Granted she was a senators' daughter and therefore quite the catch for anyone looking to go up in the ranks of politics. Still, a life wholly her own was rather a nice idea.

\\"Going to see Yusei?"\\

Her father's reply could almost drip with amused fatherly teasing, but Aki shook her head even as she typed.

\\"Yes, but I want to bring him back for a time as well, the twins miss him and seeing their big brother again would brighten their day. And yes, I want to see him, I want to know more about him, it's not fair that he knows more about me then I him."\\

\\"I see, I'll have a helicopter waiting for you at the hanger. Be careful though, just because Satellite is in the process of connecting back properly to Neo Domino doesn't mean the lawlessness has stopped."\\

\\"Father. I'll be fine. If you have to be worry about anyone, worry about the first fool that tries crossing 'me'."\\

Aki shook her head at her father, he was far to eager to put their years apart behind him. Granted that could be seen as a good thing, save that he seemed to forget that she could protect herself quite well. She went to the mirror at her dresser and began touching up a bit of make up, before she realized what she was doing. 'Really Aki? You don't even know if you want him in your life as anything and you're trying to make yourself appealing to him? Just get your deck.'

She grabbed her Duel Disk and slipped it on her arm before loading up her deck. Aki walked towards the door of her room when she found herself struck by a strange sort of apprehension. She was going to go and get on a helicopter to see someone that she barely knew. When was the last time she had actually done that? When was the last time she had actually gone to see someone by her own desire? While it was true that she had seen the twins several times since the last battle, they were kids and Yusei wasn't. So why was she was standing at her door with her hand resting on the doorknob?

Why was the idea of actually leaving to see 'Satellite Scum' enough to make her pause?

'Get a grip Aki, you can take care of yourself. You don't need Divine to lead you around or decide who you can and can not see. True the twins don't want you seeing him, but I suppose they have a point. Besides, Yusei is just Yusei, he's not going to hurt me.'

But even as she thought that, she recalled the twins' words and her own mind recalled how she slammed him into concrete, cut him, and how he had been harmed trying to help her. Maybe her reluctance was that she didn't want to screw up and she wasn't confident about her emotions around him. The worst possibility being that her cards came to life and attacked him. Yet, despite her youth, Ruka had been a good source of information. Pointing out that the Spirits would come out and react only if they felt she was threatened, that the Spirits were trying to protect her. Ruka had suggested talking to her deck, that they could hear and would respond to her. Yet Aki had felt stupid talking to a series of cards and been unwilling to do so.

When she had sat down with Ruka, the young girl explained that the spirits would come out to talk to her. Over the years that Ruka had been going to school, one thing she had observed had been, that when someone had a signature card that they loved, the spirit 'would' come out. Despite the person in question not seeing said spirit, the spirit would emerge from time to time.

The truth in her deck though, was that a good number of those cards she had collected been poured over with Divine. That he had maintained her rose motif in helping her select cards, there was a truth to that he also picked violent cards. Cards with strength, power, meant to help her keep anyone away from her in fear of getting hurt by her anger. Even now, with everything that had happened she wasn't ready to let go of her deck. Regardless of how it may have come off as 'dangerous' or 'scary' to others.

Ruka had gotten nervous at that, Aki was just too strong, too aggressive for the young girl to know how to respond to well. Even when Aki couldn't see her deck, Ruka often reacted as though she was seeing something overly intimidating and would back down. But Rukas' voice would come back to haunt her from time to time causing her to offhandedly try.

"Are you excited to see Stardust Dragon?" she asked as she pulled open the door of her room.

The shadow at her feet suddenly shot forward, ruby like eyes appeared as the shape distorted into her dragon's image. The hallway was too small for its true massive frame, but it raced off down the hallway towards the stairs leading to the ground floor, it lasted for only a moment and then the dragon was gone. For all the world, it might not have happened at all, save that Aki saw it. Her dragon answered her. No burning sensation on her arm, just a sense of surprise that was purely her own.

"Maybe... maybe we're both excited to see the pair."