Yu-Gi-Oh 5Ds: The Judgement of the World

Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix

Beta By: Lady Lunar Phoenix

A/N: Wow this chapter NEEDED work, I had been exhausted when I typed this out and it SHOWS something savage. Sorry folks.

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A power nap under the desert stars was a surprisingly refreshing thing for Jack. It allowed him to keep an eye on the road, correct Crow when the exhaustion began to beat the smaller duelist down. He was able to park the BlackBird in the same parking area that they had the day before then help the red head into the...

"I see that you've become acquainted with Aki's Black Rose Witch..." Jack haughtily commented as he looked over the lobby. Already the air was a heady mixture of roses and desert air, the corners of the room were filled with climbing roses of a rainbow variety. They draped across the ceiling in a reverse arch and decorated the front desk beautifully.

Crow sleepy though he was 'had' to see what Jack was commenting on, opening his eyes and a snicker rose up in the back of his throat. Behind the front desk hidden behind roses and from clearly lowering his head, was Kiryu. His silver hair now sported a pair of fully bloomed red and white roses perched just above his right ear.

"You look positively divine princess," Jack taunted imperiously in tone with that edge of honest amusement and harmlessness.

"I'll say, did she put you in a dress too?" Crow well, crowed.

Kiryu flung his head back down, and shoved his hand up so he could flip the two of them off. The pair roared harder in laughter, and even if he was the one they were laughing at, Kiryu wanted the moment to last. Yusei was asleep, and the three of them were for the first time in years able to laugh. Honest laughter, as though Kiryu hadn't betrayed them, hadn't killed an innocent man out of his own hubris.

Laughter as friends... A sweet sensation that brought a pleasant pain to his sides as he shook with his own laughter. He 'had' brought it upon himself after all, apologies should have been what he gave, not compliments on Aki's lovely legs. So he couldn't even justify being offended, especially if or when Yusei found out this night even happened. Duel or physical fight, it would be like the old days, when his actions didn't cast him out of his own social circles.

"Come on, I'll get you in bed and help this bedecked fool clean up," Jack finally announced as Crow started to fall back asleep.

"Meaning you'll sit and watch as I do all the work," Kiryu replied, with a snort of bemusement.

"Its good that you remember your role," Jack announced proudly as the chill of the night began to melt away from him. Even as he began guiding Crow to the room they would be sharing before he had to carry the guy.

The sound left Kiryu to the echos of his own laughter and the ache in his sides as he sat there with his head resting on his books. 'Maybe that witch put something in all this perfume,' he mused as he sat there. Allowing the silence to creep back in, with only the whispers of his guilt and shame realizing he was alone again.

While Jack continued down the hallway, the chuckle still working its way through him. If it had been day time he would have laughed out loud. But waking guests wouldn't be a good idea, not when Martha was already angry at them. He reached the room, taking the keycard out of Crow's front vest pocket and unlocking the door.

It was almost stifling in the room with the heat cranked up, washing the pair in its heat before Jack could flip on the lights. It was not really any different from the room he and Crow had shared during the morning, only with Yusei and Aki both in one of the beds. Yusei was spooning Aki, his arms wrapped around her waist and his face pressed against the back of her neck.

Aki herself looked fine, and now that he had time to really absorb that fact, Jack found an immense relief to that one fact. It was an incredible comfort to know that Carly was safe, the twins were home in Neo Domino safe, and Aki was alive and safe. Finally he could breath in and out without the clenching pain of anger and grief that had been a part of him for a month.

Introspection though meant that Jack was taking too long and the light in the room finally bothered Aki apparently. As Jack was helping Crow to the other bed, the rose duelists' face began to scrunch up. She sluggishly rolled over and was soon snuggling into Yusei's chest. Yet she was 'back' and that meant Jack's kingdom was safe once more. The stranger on the security system was a nonissue as far as the Duelist was concerned. So once he got Crow passed out on the bed. He left the room and out of all of them the trio sleeping felt like they put in the most effort.

So he walked back down the hallway taking in the scent of roses as he approached the lobby. Just in time to see Kiryu dash behind the desk again, and confirming the pair's suspicions in the form of a gown of vivid green leaves. Woven together in layers that would do a belle of a ball proud. It was all Jack could do to march himself over to a chair and shove his face into the headrest as he began howling in laughter.

"This..." Kiryu couldn't even find words as he resigned himself behind the desk again. "I guess this is what I get for deciding we'd call ourselves Team 'Satisfaction' huh?"

Jack nodded with tears dotting his eyes as he straightened himself up before he sat down properly in the chair. 'We're not even that old...' but the name that they were so proud of a, relatively, few years ago was now hmm.. Those things he didn't want to brag to Carly, his fans already made things awkward enough! "It was a good name, and once the twins are old enough maybe we can use it again."

"The twins... I..." Kiryu's head cocked slightly to the side, as he tried to remember the pair, "are kids... How did they get mixed up with the Earthbound?"

Jack nodded quietly, his gaze sweeping the beautiful display of roses, "in the past they were the elders. And the Earthbound captured the Ancient Fairy Dragon so in this life it made sense that they would reclaim her." But so long as the teens were content, Jack was fairly confident the twins wouldn't be too anxious. 'Of course Martha is there with them I should call her back...' "Have you heard anything going on in Neo Domino tonight?" he asked instead realizing she would have gone to sleep by this time.

"Still nothing, I'd ask if you were sure, but of course you are," Kiryu replied with a sigh while a pair of sentient roses peeked up from behind the counter.

"You're seriously going to wear that for the rest of the night," Jack asked with an amused raised eyebrow. Granted his own clothes were little more than scraps that needed to go into the trash, but...

"I... can't take them off..." Kiryu sulked with a sigh, "I tried... But the leaves refuse to bend and I'm kind of scared of what happens if I take a pair of scissors to them."

Jack watched as Kiryu flung a casual hand in the air at the roses all around them, "now about 'them' though. Are they real? They live the normal lives of roses? Am I expected to tend to them? Or are they just manifestations of Aki's power and once she's out of range they disappear? Care to explain?"

Leaving the blond to give a helpless shrug, "Sorry princess but you need to take that up with the Queen." Jack chuckled slightly realizing that Kiryu couldn't see the shrug. "Honestly I don't know, Godwin never allowed me to interact with Psychic duelists. So I'm just as much in the dark as you, all I can say is that the ones with active personalities are pretty much people. People who don't appreciate their charges getting the look."

"Ok! First of all, she has nice thighs! There's nothing wrong with looking I wasn't going to touch!" Kiryu began, "And secondly you would too!"

"No, because I got a woman and why stop at leg when I can see the whole body," Jack retorted smugly. "And you know Yusei isn't going to be thrilled that you saw her thigh. Despite the fact that her regular clothes shows off a portion of it anyway.."

"I'm dead, again, I know..." Kiryu sighed as he resigned himself to resting his head on his hand his tone becoming wistful with regret. "I guess you guys are doing ok then..."

"Of course we're doing fine! We survived Zero Reverse, Satellite, and the Earthbound Gods, what's not to consider 'fine'?" Jack demanded imperiously as he sat there then grimaced. "And you?"

Kiryu blinked and took a breath to steady himself, the humor that had kept him from his more quiet, darker thoughts bleeding out of the atmosphere. Leaving only an air filled with the soft heady scent of roses and regrets. "We talked about this earlier I thought."

"Yes well, Crow and I were exhausted... I've had a power nap so I'm quite aware and awake to have a proper discussion."

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ Proper Morning \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

When morning wasn't enough to wake the trio up from their sound sleep. Breakfast, totally not delivered by Jack because Kings didn't do servant work, hit the right notes. It was mostly the newly placed stuff from the breakfast buffet of the motel. Even so it was day old reheated danishes and black coffee, while he had enjoyed the eggs and toast that had been laid out.

Hunger proved to be the deciding factor, as Aki finally sluggishly woke up, but it was the near eruption of presence that was Witch that got the first notice. She appeared with a human sized suitcase in her tiny hands and a rather expectant look on her face. "I've had this since last night, your mother packed what she thought you might need!"

Aki blinked at the Witch, a gentle smile crossing her face as she did so. An expression that warmed Witchs' heart, Aki wasn't trying to hide Witch anymore. While the spirit was willing to hide around the presence of those who didn't understand. Allowing her to go as far as to explain that Aki had been rescuing Yusei to the Rose Duelists' distraught parents. Then hop over to the twins home to explain to the kids and that older woman what had happened as well. It was actually a pleasant feeling, having people look at her with expectation and not fear. Well except that one guy, but he totally deserved it and she wasn't taking any of it back.

"So how are they?" She asked as she began to stretch her arms and wake herself up. Dropping her arms she finally processed she 'had' been sleeping in Yusei's... Oh... Oh dear...

Aki began climbing out of bed in embarrassment, dropping down to the suitcase she laid it down so she could open it properly. Packed within were several outfits, towels, her shampoo and conditioner.

"They were upset when you disappeared, but once I explained you were here with these ruffians they calmed down." Witch explained, "Oh and the twins are ok, they're happy that Yusei and you are safe and here too! Rua even stopped crying!"

Aki and Jack both winced physically as one when they heard that. "Well we'll be back later today more than likely, so they need to stop worrying over us!" Jack replied with a snobbish sniff that was fooling absolutely no one.

"Who?" Yusei muttered as he finally began to rouse out of his sleep. But unlike Aki he had a harder time to clear his head. The scent of roses and desert air was seducing him back into the covers, whispering of a comfortable sleep. Except someone was crying?

"Its ok, Yusei, everyone is fine, you just rest," Aki replied, pushing herself to her knees and propped herself against the side of the bed. His eyes were sleepy even as he began to take off his gloves and dropped them on the night stand next to the bed. "Actually, after I take a quick shower, would you like anything for breakfast?"

Blinking a few times before he sighed and burrowed himself back into the blanket he shrugged. "I'm fine."

Aki frowned slightly in thoughtful concern as she glanced over at Jack. "Do you feel ok? I mean you just got the vaccine yesterday..."

Yusei's little crab limbed hair shifted as he nodded in answer, "toast if I must..." became a muffled reply while he pulled Aki's pillow down. But his breaths were becoming rapidly slower as he slipped back into slumber. Earning Aki's gentle expression as she soaked in his presence and the knowledge that he wasn't going to die.

But breakfast buffets only lasted so long, so Aki gathered up her things and slipped off to the small bathroom to clean up. Leaving Jack with Black Rose Witch who had closed up Aki's suitcase and was seemingly sitting on top of it from his angle. "So did you even bother checking in on Carly?" He asked finally as the sound of the shower hissed through the paper thin walls of the room.

Witch, who had taken to rocking side to side in time with a melody in her mind, stopped and turned to look at him. "Eh sort of, her Spirits were having a party. They were super excited for the reading they gave her about this..." Witch gestured with her wand towards Yusei. "Oh and she was working on a paper? She was typing really fast and leaning towards her computer so I just figured I'd let her be."

"Witch, are you even going to take those roses down you planted back there? Or do they disappear on their own over time?" Jack asked, recalling Kiryu's own confusion over them. He watched as she shrugged carelessly in answer.

"I can..."

"You should. This is a man's business after all, tasteful displays of roses would be fine, but that affair!" Jack pointed out, recalling how even he couldn't get the roses to be pulled down from where Witch had placed them.

"Well, I suppose you're right. You people need that kind of stuff don't you?" She commented thoughtfully. "Work? Jobs? Weird things but ok, I'll go and try for something more tasteful."

She floated into the air, as Crow began to finally stretch out of the cocoon of blankets he had wrapped himself up in. Fading herself out of human sight before she left the room to return to the ground zero of her righteous fury.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ Neo Domino City \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

His wings twitched as he stood on the roof of a towering building. The city didn't appear much different than when he last flew free. Just that rather large bridge that connected the islet to the rest of the land. Beyond that everything looked as run of the mill as ever, even Her at the top of the skyscraper. She was coiled up, but her eyes were open observing the space around her and he was pretty sure he was going to get blasted if he flew into her air space.

Fubuki had friends who could see him... He could talk to them... Explain to them what happened... If only Fubuki spoke dragon...

"Hey Red Eyes, I don't know if you're here or not... But can you do something for me? I know he's got Blue Eyes looking after him... But Mokubas' just... We can't help him can we partner? He's chosen this form of dealing his brothers' absence. If you can get Fubuki or a duelists who can see spirits to somehow reach Mokuba. Let the kid know that I'm sorry that I had to leave so soon."

His leg had been broken and there were guards in the darkness to insure that he didn't escape. But that kid, Fubuki, wanted to save his friend and Jounouchi had been vain enough to think he could do some good one more time... 'Look before you leap' sprang, pun unintended, to mind as Jounouchi sat in the darkness.

"I wanted to be here when Yugi finally gets back, but I guess that won't happen. But if Mokuba won't do it, maybe Ryu can. Maybe he can still believe hard enough to call Yugi back from the chaos. Money Bags could fix this you know... Like he did that one time back when it was just Domino City. But what we 'need' is Yugi, with him gone the darkness is going out of control..."

But how to get Fubuki to understand what he wanted? The boy didn't have a natural ability to see spirits, rather he needed the mask. One with a negative connection in his mind, meaning it had to be someone else. There was that one boy at the school, he had even been excited when he saw Red Eyes land after classes. Or the girl! She could see and even did speak to him as well! But she was so tiny, young compared to the rest of the children and Red Eyes wasn't sure if Mokuba would let the little one near him.

Oh but there was Ryu, he was older than this little one, but maybe he could get her to talk to him? That would be easier, they went to school and all! Roused up by the success of that thought Red Eyes stood up and turned to look over at the city. 'Wait... where does she live?'