Judgement of the World

Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix

Beta By: Lady Lunar Phoenix with some time between the original posting and the beta.

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It was very easy to feel out of place in Carly's place at least in the living room. It was bright, filled with seemingly endless nick knacks; not that either guys had a great deal of experience being in a teenage girl's home. Well Jack had been there before, but Aki's place was of a Senators and the twins 'were' kids. Posters and pictures, wall to wall color that felt as bright as the sun, reflecting her sunny disposition. It was distracting and even Yusei found himself quietly studying her rows of figurines. He could see that some were hand painted and some came already painted, but the level of care that she used to paint was respectable. There was a small hand painted Dark Magician Girl that even went so far as to have the pentagram placed properly on her gemstone.

"Divine did this."

Yusei didn't turn his head, though he did give Jack a look from the corner of his eye, the blond had yet to really speak to anyone by the time they had met up. Aki's Witch had drawn their attention to the duelist belt that Carly had lost. Despite how heavy the belt was the fragile little twig had held up that weight bravely. Well, that's how it looked to Yusei, Aki had explained that Carly's Fairies were holding the deck up in an unified effort.

That the spirits could do that, made him wonder briefly if all things that could be afforded to 'dumb luck' was the protective nature of a Duel Spirit. He had climbed down to retrieve the Deck, and bring it back to Aki, while she apparently struggled to settle the Fairies. Now that their cards were safe, and realizing that Aki could see them, they had gone into panic mode over Carly.

Yusei could see Aki's embarrassed struggle to get the spirits under control as she stood, seemingly alone, while trying to appease spirits that no one could see. So he had returned to her side quickly to help alleviate her stress with the belt in his hand.

They had met up with Jack and Carly at her place and now Carly was taking a shower, Aki was making tea in the kitchen and the two men were in the living room. Aki had been here several times and insisted she knew where everything was to make tea at least. Allowing Yusei and Jack time to talk privately among themselves and possibly every duel spirit in the apartment. Having met Aki, Yusei would never be able to believe he was truly 'alone' ever again.

"Divine told her she was a monster. You better keep a tight eye on Aki, Yusei. That bastard can even reach people while he's in prison."

Jack didn't move from his spot on the couch, his back straight, he legs out and crossed at the ankles and with an expression restrained by pride on his face. But the words spoke volumes of his anger at the moment, anger that shown itself when they had met up, with the way his eyes burned through everything. The hovering possessive way he kept his hand on Carly's shoulder to guide her. Or the way he looked at everyone as though they were Divine in disguise until he saw Yusei.

Yet when Aki stepped in to take over looking after Carly, Jack had not budged from his spot. Causing Aki to give Jack a confused look at this sudden cold display of authority over the reporter. It was Carly's blind self who reached out to Aki trustingly. Placing her hand out that Aki accepted, the pair of girls walked off to help Carly clean herself up properly. But the slight towards Aki annoyed Yusei, something that he was able to express in the narrowing of his eyes as he looked at Jack.

Thus the room had been silent until Jack finally broke that silence himself owing it to Yusei to explain himself. Yusei needed to be aware of the dangers that Divine posed so long as he was alive. Which made the fact that the bastard was safely in jail so frustrating, it wasn't like Divine would be the first person that Jack would have let die for his own satisfaction.

"Yusei," Jack snapped the name out to get his fellow duelist to look at him. Watching as Yusei looked over from the figures before him before turning to look at the blond duelist. "You can't let your guard down. None of us can. We don't know half of what we need to know about this group, and Aki was their crown piece."

And Jack was right, Yusei was there when Divine managed to take control of Aki with a few simple words. He couldn't risk losing her to Divine, for the safety of others. But how to broach the subject was going to be difficult, since he seriously doubted that Divine 'told' Aki the words that would trigger her into being his mindless weapon.

Perhaps they could trust Yusei to bring her out of it by his voice alone, but she was still going to rampage until Yusei got to her. The destruction wouldn't stop until Yusei talked her down, and if it was triggered when Yusei wasn't around. It wasn't like her Spirits understood either, they looked at everything with jaded untrusting eyes. Exposed only to what Divine wanted her to be exposed to meant her deck was exposed to the same things.

But the three of them were just orphans from Satellite, Yusei studied machines and computers not the human mind. Removing a computer virus or a malware program was one thing, the human mind was another. Different triggers existed, there was no monitor to look at while working, everything was internal. He could only deal with what she displayed as it came up, leaving all the triggers that Divine implanted safe.

And Aki would never truly be herself until they were all removed, allowing her to fully grow without those switches in her. She'd never fully belong anywhere save Divines' side until they got this worked out. Ever someone's lethal dragon, patiently waiting until ordered to kill.

"I'm not sure how to apologize." Aki broke into the silence of the room with quiet grace as she stood in the doorway of the kitchen looking at those before her. "I don't know what he may have programmed into me, nor what those triggers are. But I can't spend the rest of my life blaming the 'witch' side of me."

"There is no 'witch'," Yusei countered quietly, turning his back on the figurines and joining her at the table. "You don't have a split personality, just..."

But Aki smiled faintly as he stalled trying to find the words to explain, "I have something that was not part of me from the very beginning? I just have some type of program placed by Divine? And either of you gentlemen know that for a fact because..."

Yusei stiffened at her self induced jab that maybe she 'did' have an unstable split personality, "you do not. I've seen your tears, I've heard your cries, if the Witch is real, its because Divine used the bad experiences in your life and allowed them to fester. But they're not all you have, and the Witch will fade away in time."

"You need to hear my Dragon, how different she sounds compared to the both of yours," she retorted, her voice a rueful wistful tone. "I never tried to hear her before, but now she's a frightening thing to behold."

"I can only imagine that watching someone, for as long as she watched you suffer, would have an effect on the Black Rose Dragon." Jack pointed out as he looked her over, as though all her issues were visible things that could be seen.

"The whole sum of the deck is that even we are trying to hurt you Aki, they don't trust even other spirits from what you've described." Yusei pointed out, reminding her of their trip on the helicopter, before grabbing the part of his arm that held the Signers' mark. "As for your emotional or mental state, I'd know if there was something as deep and troubling as that."

"And knowing Yusei, he'd get more combative. I doubt he'd tell you, what with you being a senators' daughter, but the two of us used to be in a gang." Jack added in his deep confident voice, and when he saw Aki glance at him in surprise at that admission he smirked. "And Yusei always liked it rough. You've seen his dragon, its all about taking a beating and his deck is all about brawling. But in all seriousness, Yusei likes getting dirty with the details, layouts, programs, bombs, traps that's his thing."

"But the only reason you guys even care about me is because I'm a Signer," Aki retorted, her eyes going from Jack to Yusei and her heart tugged in longing for so many things, though poisoned by the reality of the world.

"Don't give us that, possibilities are infinite. Maybe you would have been alone, or maybe you would have friends that just been unwilling to go through this for you in another situation. But that doesn't mean that you throw away what you have here! The very fact that you 'could' have never been given the gift of our presence should be the very reason why you should take it and hold it tight!" Jack boomed proudly, watching these two stare at each other. Honestly, they were so thick headed it was all he could do not to snatch up the tea pot and down the contents. Anything to get the headache he was going to get from looking after them out of his head.

"I think Divine was trying to hurt Carly with what he said. But I think he wanted to remind everyone that he was still here more. Pricking Carly to poison her trust in herself and doubt any good fortune that could come her way. It would hurt Jack to see her suffer like how she's been, and its pretty obvious it has hurt him. Also Carly, at the broadest of strokes, would be considered a Psychic duelist with her ability to divine the future. But Divine was always more invested in those who had a power that could physically interact with the world." Aki explained, going over her memories of what Divine was like and why possibly this could have happened.

Jack frowned at that, thinking back on how he had coldly treated Aki because of what Divine had done to Carly. Faster than a snake the bastard had twisted Jack to push Aki away, via using Carly. From a jail cell Divine had effectively inflicted damage on the Signers, with just a few words to one woman.

His eyes widened a bit at the thought alone, his duelist mind already applying the situation to a duel and the downfall it could cause. He looked up sharply at Aki's face and grew alarmed at how she stood there seemingly lost in thought. But her eyes were just a little 'too' wide to be just that and he stood up from his seat quickly.

"Aki!" He grabbed her shoulder, expecting her to snap out of it if this was 'just' a lost in thought moment. But she didn't and Jack turned his eyes worriedly to Yusei, who now sensed the situation and left his fake focus on a period piece movie poster.

"Yusei?" Her voice was faint, confused as though she was lost despite being in the room with them. Yet just 'hearing' Yusei's name was enough to bring her back to a degree, contact with Yusei would break the 'spell' more quickly. At least that's what Jack hoped, against the ice cold fear of realization. Just 'thinking' hard on what Divine could do, was enough to start pulling Aki into her more dangerous persona.

Leaving Jack to watch as Yusei called Aki back from whatever hell that Divine had created to keep her under his thumb. His own words coming back to him about how Yusei liked to be hurt and get down and dirty. This message was too clear that Divine had a means to come at the group, even while locked up. Not only that, but by being locked up, the group couldn't get to 'him'.

Just by being by her side, Yusei could override Divines' hypnosis on her, he may not have been as strong as Divine right now. But in time he may, just by being with Aki, route out all the poison that bastard had put in her. There was no way that Jack could see Divine letting that come about, even without meeting the man himself. No, he would target Yusei, maybe he already had started.

Yusei wouldn't abandon Aki, even if everyone else gave that as an ultimatum he would fight to keep them together. Yusei was the type of guy who would fight until the world was destroyed and while that was a commendable trait. It left him completely at the mercy of what Divine could inflict upon him through Aki.

Jack felt a presence behind him and turned to see Carly standing there with a spare pair of glasses on her face. Her expression was one of confusion and uncertainty and he extended his hand welcoming her to join them. Even if she wasn't a Signer, Carly was his woman and he wouldn't deny her a place by his side.

"Ah, I'm sorry!" Aki blurted out as she pushed herself back from Yusei, her eyes darting around in alarm. But he merely pursued her, grabbing onto Aki's inner elbows and pulled her towards him.

But even in having Carly by his side Jack frowned, Crow wasn't an Signer by right but because the twins were too small to carry the full burden. The twins themselves, with Ruka's weak heart and Rua's sub-par ability to duel or fight back. No, there were too many weaknesses in the group and he had to route them all out.

Meanwhile, Aki struggled against the sudden realization that she had been about to put herself in a trance. The vulnerability left her frightened given the things she had done under Divine's guidance, concerned about what else could happen. What if the Witch side of her was trying to take over? She needed Divine to keep the Witch under control. Or at least not allow her access to the triggers that would make the Witch come out.

But that was apparently wrong, the witch didn't exist until she allowed Divine into her life. So trusting this group was all she could do, but she was so scared at the same time. Regardless if Yusei 'liked it rough' or not, she never wanted to hurt the ones she cared about. Just thinking about Divine too deeply had sent her into a trance, bringing her memories back to what happened during her chat with the twins.

Carly had detached herself from Jack and began pouring cups of tea for her guests, before slipping to the kitchen to dig out snacks as well. It was something nice and calm, a normal thing to do that Carly could do while keeping an ear out for what they spoke of. She patted her deck, once more carried in her front vest pocket over her heart. The feeling of her deck safely tucked close to her heart was a great comfort. But she had to admit if she hadn't worn the duel belt she 'would' have lost them when she took her dip. Lord Kaiba's gift 'had' been a great fortune for Carly and she wondered how she could let the man know how it had saved her deck.

She pulled out a small plate and loaded it with cookies and chocolate mints and carried it to the tray that had been placed on the small table. Yusei guided Aki to the couch and Jack had settled down onto it as well, allowing Carly the chance to just observe. Wondering what questions she could possibly ask, after all no one had gotten an interview yet with the new Turbo Duel King. But given what she had seen so far since they had returned to her home, he didn't seem the type to talk. While Jack enjoyed talking about himself in a proud, boastful manner, Yusei was the complete opposite. He spoke what he needed to say in as few words as he could get away with and moved on.

They settled down, letting the voices die behind polite sips of tea and munching on cookies, with Yusei having to discard his thick work gloves to do so. Though Carly found it hard to focus on her drink when she thought about being in the room with three important people. If she was just attempting to interview them, it would have been fine to go into her reporter mode. But these were supposed to be a friend, her boyfriend, and Jack Atlas.

It had to be real and finally frustrated with her inability to tell, Carly reached up and pinched her cheek, earning a surprised look from Yusei and Aki. "Is something wrong, Carly?" Aki asked for the two of them, only to have her concern brushed aside with a cheesy huge grin.

"Nah, just, this seems like a dream, you know? Here I am, friends with a Senators' daughter, the current Turbo Duel King and 'Jack Atlas' himself is my boyfriend," She blurted out. "I just wanted to wake up.." Then she realized she had just blatantly called Jack her boyfriend and froze in a panic. There was no denial from the tall blond duelist, or angry retort or sound at all while Aki smiled encouragingly at her. Nervously Carly started to turn her head and look up at Jack only to have his voice boom out over her.

"Bout time you figured this out woman."

She stopped trying to look at Jack, but that grin that was trying to break forth from Carly was obvious enough to earn a raised eyebrow from Yusei.

"There's something we need to talk about, something that you can help us with possibly Carly," Jack suddenly boomed out causing the others to turn their attention back on the blond. There's only one Dark Signer unaccounted for, and he was attached to the twins." Jack pointed out before putting the cup back on its dish and looked at the others in the room. "He wouldn't have been selected if there was not something that connected him to them. Divine isn't the only trouble we may face. But as it stands, even if he's alone. I think we need to find out about that Dark Signer quickly."

"That's true, even if he's not a threat, finding out 'what' exactly tied him to the twins in the first place could be important. Divine knew about the twins as well and if they somehow meet up..." Yusei let his words drift away. The twins 'were' kids and needed to be protected, Signers or not.