Yu-Gi-Oh 5Ds: The Judgement of the World
Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
Beta By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
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Sunlight tiredly warmed the condo with its light as it continued to the horizon, while it may have been dawn somewhere further west. Here in the land of the Rising Sun, the day was ending and the sun was leaving them. Golden light fell upon clean white walls and soft plush carpeting, sliding along and over the occasional door frame. Long, pale, white couches and a living room set spread itself in a picturesque style that could be in any magazine.
In fact the whole of the condo always had this level of pristine, white glove, aesthetic that it was hard to realize that children lived here. Just children, no grown ups, since somehow the twins parents decided it was fine to move away for work. Leaving the pair here, unsupervised by anyone but each other. No pictures of the twins hung on the walls, or reports with top marks on the fridge. Everything that Carly would do were she a parent was absent in this place. Making it feel empty, unlived, untouched and very sad.
They were understandably exhausted and gone straight to bed for a needed nap after school. What with the events from last night until this morning, and Carly couldn't slight them for that. The only proof that they 'were' home was the pairs of shoes waiting at the front door, even their bags weren't present. Leaving her feeling more akin to a thief stealing into the place and couldn't shake that sensation as she walked through the condo. Despite the carpet, she still tried to step quietly as thoughts worried their way into her mind.
Making her brain feel like swiss cheese as she walked, 'I wonder how school went what with Aki being back.' She distracted herself with the thought as she saw the doorway to the twins room, door slightly ajar. Unsure if it was normal, or if the twins were waiting for Yusei to come home. Not that she could imagine that Yusei made a lot of noise when he moved about, or maybe he did? So the twins wouldn't be startled that there was someone else in the place? They had been living on their own for some time before Yusei arrived after all.
But thinking of Aki reminded Carly that Ruka could see Duel Spirits and that they were also probably on watch for any intruders... 'Poor kids, they're waiting for Yusei...' Carly realized and felt a sting of tears well up behind her eyes.
Reaching the bedroom door, she found the pair just as she expected, hair down and clonked out in their respective beds. Ruka was curled on her side, while Rua was a haphazard sprawl, and Carly couldn't help, but superimpose an image of her and Jack's kids in their places. In fact it wasn't hard to do, for while the rest of the condo felt empty, the twins bedroom certainly did not. Even 'with' both genders being in there.
Easily filled with bright stuffed toys, posters of Duel Monsters and cards, duel disks and action figures were roughly placed back in their spots. Some made it more than others, depending on who owned what. Ruka's dolls were in place, perched upon shelves or her bed, while Rua's were well. Just as he slept haphazardly, so to were all his toys. Carly blinked back the worry induced tears and backed away from the door. Secure in her knowledge that the twins were in their room and safe she turned her steps to the living room.
'How am I supposed to explain this?' she wondered, knowing that Aki had been invited to come over. But there was no confidence in the reporter that Aki would, rather she expected Aki to go to the hospital. Carly had gone to work, and not been able to see Aki after school had let out. Instead all she had was a phone call from Jack asking her, in a subdued voice that she never wanted to hear again out of his mouth, to 'please look after the twins and keep them home'.
The muted frustration, even defeat, in Jacks' eyes had been heart wrenching as she looked at him. Her pleas to understand what was going on only intensified as she had realized it was past noon and yet Jack was 'still' at the hospital. There was an admission to the fact that there was no way to keep Aki from the hospital. But the guys were doing all they could to suppress their normal emotional responses for the sake of the twins.
Ruka could see spirits, and there was no way to know if Carly could warn her ladies now. Or even come up with a script for all to agree on that they could use if the Spirits started talking to each other.
"I wish I could see all of you on my own," She muttered as she pulled out her deck and began flipping through the cards. Not in the effort to read the future, rather to just see them, to imagine their presence with her and what they might say to her. She walked outside to enjoy the fresh air and take in the setting sun.
It was there that Yugi found her, though she hadn't fully called out to him directly, it was enough. He had acknowledged her already over the years and knew her humble presence through the figurines he had sent her. But he could also feel 'that', the mark of death that lingered on her whole being like a scar or a smudged thumb print that someone tried to wipe away.
Yet she survived and pushed on with her life, and while the PTSD was still an issue for her, she would overcome in time. 'I know you want reassurances, but what you need to learn is that people are free to change their fates.'
He couldn't help but feel that Isis would have been tickled to have a student in the art of Clairvoyance. Despite annoying Seto forever and a day, or maybe 'because' it would. Rolling his shoulders Yugi straightened up before leaving this stream. There were now splits from these actions that had consequences.
It was one of those splits that now called to him, while this Carly wasn't trying to get his attention, another 'her' was...
She was where he left the other one, out on the patio, looking at her cards, but this Carly was one with less self confidence than her counterpart. So little in fact that she couldn't recall her death at Divines' hands. Or her time a servant to the EarthBound Gods. Walking up behind her he looked down over her shoulder to see the Fortune Fairies out on the small table.
But it was nice to see her let them out, "So when..."
Yugi was cut off by the most amazing sound he had heard in a while, as Carly began to shriek in fright only to throttle down her own voice. It resulted in this type of mangled cry that dropped to the most exasperated whimper as she shot out of her seat. She was fairly parodying dancing with the way her arms were pumping up and down at her side. Jumping up and down in a small rotation and he could only rest his his head in one hand as he watched.
"Are you ok?" He asked when she finally seemed to process the world around her again, enough so that she exploded in offense.
"'ok?' You scared the life out of me! How did you get up here? Who let you... You... Oh my GOD..." Carly began marching her way up to his face with her glasses akimbo on her face, it took righting them before she realized who she was growling at.
It was fairly endearing as well, as her cheeks flushed and she became no different than when the twins saw him. Carly was actually a young adult so seeing her acting on par with a pair of kids was amusing, almost embarrassing. Even through the thick glasses, the expression of excitement was positively infectious, it was the type of feeling that made him feel alive really. A reminder that he still mattered to people, at least in some realities.
"You were praying for me, well you were pretty random but I was the closest," he explained with a faint smile. And some concern since she was growing ridiculously pale, he 'had' encountered several versions of her that straight away fainted from meeting him. Two were Dark Signers to boot, and that had been particularly amazing. 'I'm never going to get over the occasional fallen person who fangirls over me. I think that version of Crow took the cake though,' he thought as Carly began slapping her cheeks.
"When Yusei said he saw you...When the twins showed those autographs I..." Carly kept going, her comments coming more akin to a record skipping, no sentence was finished before she jumped to another one. He fit exactly what the twins had described, he towered over her easily. His hair was long with those natural blond bangs that were sharply backed by a vivid mane of deep red that reached down past his shoulders. Amethyst colored eyes that were rounder than a proper Japanese person, yet not European round either, he was easily a little younger than her. Wearing a leather tank top that revealed a very well tone pair of arms and that top was generous with its tightness to show his chest off. Looping belts that held his duel deck, the same as what she got gifted. They rested on leather pants covered hips and black boots on his feet. Just black on black and more black in his apparel. In fact outside of silver buckles and buttons only a seemingly out of place gold necklace hung about his neck. Not the large weighted inverted pyramid of his rise as the Duel King, but a small cartouche. She could almost even make out the images that would form a name on it.
"Breathe Carly, its ok!" He encouraged as her lively nature brought out a smile to his face, where he could be just 'the King of Games' and not 'God of the Duel Spirit World'. It was nice to just... Watch a full grown woman about to knock herself out from fangirling.
"I'm dreaming!"
"No you're not."
"This can't be real."
"On the contrary."
"How is my hair?"
"... Carly calm down, really, you look fine..." Yugi sighed in amusement and somehow the sound of his sigh was enough to settle Carly down a smidgen. This Carly still wore glasses, so he couldn't get a clear view of her eyes, but with every passing second the weight of the world seemed to pull her down more and more.
"Why would you show up in front of me? I'm not Yusei," she asked, the most sensible question she was finally able to produce.
"People don't worship me, they have their own faiths so me 'showing up' is not something that happens." He began, "when you've called to me, it was never for my presence, rather you just wanted validation or support. Which I've answered, on several occasions," he explained as the sun burned down his back, casting its fading light on her face and drawing out the shadow of her frame.
"The figurines... They..." She began to cry, pulling off her glasses she sank to her knees as Yugi's words washed over her. "But why send fake... or what... They can't or are they?"
'I could have been you if not for Grandpa... If not for the Other Me, and the friends I met I could have been you...' He thought with such sympathy as he saw her for who she was. False, enthusiastic smiles so no one saw the tears, wanting to be accepted yet not able to conform to societies' expectations. 'If I had been reborn whole, I would not be able to relate to you...' he thought with a pang in his heart for her state. "They're not part of the original set true, I made them as I am able to. However; if I gave them to you all at once you would have been suspicious of them, so it was easier for you to earn them over time."
"He was so angry... I was so scared," Carly whimpered. The fear rekindled as she thought back to the outrage that Lord Kaiba expressed. While above her head, though Yugi was a blur to her naked gaze, she could hear the regret in his sigh.
"I know, but I knew that he would calm down, recognize the figurines for what they were and back off. The worst cases were him just clearing your name and hiring you into KaibaCorp so you could reestablish yourself. What Little Aki did was just accelerate what would have happened in the end." Yugi explained, resigned to his disappointment that Mokuba had grown up in such a broken mess. One would have thought his brother served as an ample example of just 'why' it was important to form bonds with others and in some realities he did. Just. 'You can still be a God and a let down I suppose,' Yugi thought as Carly began wiping her eyes.
"What's wrong with Yusei? Jack wouldn't tell me," Carly asked finally, casting a glance over her shoulder in the off chance that one or both of the twins had woken up.
"I won't tell you, the cards are still in play," Yugi answered simply, giving a faint shrug. Even as he saw her confused expression.
"Still in play?" She echoed in confusion before shaking her head. 'I mean it makes sense if he's describing it as a card game but...'
"But my reading said that Yusei got the worst fortune..." She pointed out, feeling meekly stubborn about her fortune telling skill.
Yet he smirked at her, the way those posters of him she had held, that confident teasing expression. Challenging and confident even as he asked her with an impish tone, "Are you sure about that?"
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Burying her concerned frown under a veneer of calm control, Aki stepped out of the elevator and onto the fifth floor of the hospital. Tucked in her bag was an interesting note left at the front desk from Yusei. 'Interesting' in that she had never seen Yusei hand write anything before and she was startled to see how mutilated his grammar was. It brought back to mind how he was raised an orphan and that Martha was American by birth.
Sure she understood the message easily enough, 'Stay calm for Little Ruka's sake' was hardly a message requiring complex thoughts. But it seemed almost offensive that someone as smart as him was only writing on a grade school level. The words were slopped together really, as though he started writing a word out only to realize mistakes and adjust constantly. Doing so by warping lines and sentences and there was absolutely NOTHING polite about what he wrote.
Aki tried to distract herself over how he was 17 going 18 yet his writing was so poor, especially when he was writing computer programs. But he was still in the hospital, now with a room, and it was all she could do to hold it together. 'For Little Ruka' served almost as a mantra in her mind, reminding her to keep her calm and not let her emotions be channeled. She grabbed her marked arm with her free hand and squeezed it til her fingers went numb. While the door to Yusei's room approached and she finally could knock.
"Come in," Yusei called out, not Jack or Crow to open the door, just Yuseis' voice and the room sounded quiet.
Taking a deep, cleansing breath, Aki stepped into the room, confirming that it was deprived of any other occupant other than Yusei. And now herself. He was out of his clothes and in a hospital robe, with the bruises she had inflicted more visible. The sight caused her to tighten her grip on her Mark until it hurt, blurring the room with tears that welled up from her eyes.
"What's going on Yusei? Why are you still here? Where is everyone..." She asked in growing concern as he pushed himself into a sitting position.
"I had Carly stay with the twins for the night, the guys are out..." Yusei answered, watching her enter with this almost timid expression. Guilt and frustration caused him to toss his gaze back to the wall opposite of himself before going to the window as night approached them. "Apparently, my deck caught sight of something and contacted Little Ruka regarding it." Yusei began as Aki approached his bedside.
"Something?" Aki repeated as her eyes traveled down from his face, down his chest and caught sight of another long thick bruise on his arm.
"I was getting blood work done when apparently someone down below sent up a message. The guys are traveling out to meet up with Isao. Because apparently I've been given a designer poison and he's the only one that has the antidote," Yusei explained without further preamble.
He watched Aki's eyes shut and the light of his room caught the surfaces of Aki's tears as she gripped the handrail of his bed. For a moment, a brief second, he felt something but it was gone before he could put a name to it. So he reached out and placed his hand on top of hers, letting his thumb stroke the top of her fingers in an effort to comfort her.
"I'm sorry," She finally choked as she throttled her emotions back into place.
"Don't be, you did what you could to help your friends. And you should never be sorry that someone took advantage of that."