A/N: Hey-o~! Here comes the first bonus chapter! And, well, you guys get to see it go even more AU than everything already has in this story. As in Ray has her own body back. And my muses are going with a very different take on her character than what anyone usually does.
If this doesn't sound like your cup of tea, feel free to consider the previous chapter the end of the story and leave now.
This should still be interesting, although this chapter isn't particularly… sad until maybe the very end. The next one will be sad, though. Definitely the next one.
You have been warned.
Ray stares at the Pendulum, still at her feet where her brother had dropped it. Her hand hovers over it but doesn't touch it—she can't help but feel that she isn't worthy to hold such an object. Reiji had begged Yuzu to take it and be the one to save Yuya, but she is Ray. How can she carry a weight like that, how can she carry the wishes of people she doesn't know—(but she does)—how can she promise to save someone when it would mean accepting that both she and Zarc are no longer real?
In the end, she does not pick up the Pendulum. She swallows up her emotions—shoves aside the overwhelming grief of her fragments—and turns to face Zarc. He wears the face of Yuya, cracked and marred by grey scales, the influence of his dragons brought to life, but his eyes are that same eerie yellow that had been the last thing she saw before her bracelets had separated the world into four. He is hideous in that form—and yet, she can still see the boy he was before the darkness had tainted him, the Zarc that had lived and breathed for making everyone smile.
"Zarc… I'm going to end this, now," she says, taking the Life Point penalty for interfering in the Duel.
"Oh? What can you do?" he snarls at her. "You don't have the four cards anymore! Your father dared to stand up to me and FAILED!"
She flinches at his words—she knew her father had taken the cards, and knew he must have failed for Zarc to still be here, but the confirmation hurts. Her father had been the only person she had left… and now he is gone.
"As I thought, you're WEAK!" Zarc shouts. "You're just like all of the WORMS I've crushed today! You are NOTHING!"
…
…
…He's right… but…
…
…
"You should know, Zarc… if you try to destroy the world, I will protect it no matter what! For the sake of those who have given me the time I needed to revive…" She puts her hand on her Deck; a movement that feels like she hasn't done in forever and one that she feels like she's done so recent. The feeling is beyond unnerving, but she can't focus on that. "My turn!"
She draws just the card she needs; Transmigrating Life Force. She uses it and the four cards are hers again while Zarc curses at her—he knows exactly what she is going to do now, and she does, activating each one in succession. The bracelets return on her wrist, but they aren't going to split the world again, at least not yet.
"Damn you, damn you, DAMN YOU!" Zarc howls. "I WILL NOT LOSE TO YOU AGAIN!"
But despite his words, he can't stop the destruction of his dragons, nor the damage he takes. He's forced down to her level now, with only a thousand Life Points left. Some of the scales marring his face are starting to peel off while he kneels there, punching the ground in frustration.
"It's not fair…!" he says, hands on either side of his head like he was fighting off a headache. "I grew strong like everyone wanted… I grew strong, but I was alone… alone, except for my dragons… and now you've taken them from me AGAIN!" At that, his head snaps up, eyes blazing yellow, and he stands back up, hunched over in a mad rage. "I WILL NOT L—"
Ray doesn't here the rest of what he says because all of a sudden her head explodes in pain and that's all she can focus on because the pain is beyond imaginable and why does it hurt so much?!
"I want to talk to Yuya!"
Her breath catches in her throat as she recognizes the voice—her own, but not—Yuzu. Yuzu, the girl she doesn't want to admit exists, but—but…!
"Please, Yuto needs my help!"
Ruri's pleading voice this time. Ray covers her ears and cries. They're not real, they're not real, they're not real!
"I have so much to say to Yugo!"
Rin's voice rings loud and clear in Ray's mind and she falls to her knees.
"…I don't know Yuri that well… but at least let them speak!"
Ray drops her hands away from her ears and stares, sadly, at the ground.
…
…
…I'm really just, lying to myself…
…
…
And who is she even kidding with her own lies? This world is no longer hers or Zarc's—their world is long dead and gone and not even the Dimensions fusing again will change that. To insist that the four girls inside of her aren't real in the face of that? Ray shakes her head and stands up. Zarc is still right there, a deranged sneer on his face that sours even more now that he sees her getting up. "Zarc!" she says. "No—Yuya, Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri! Listen to what we have to say!"
The mention of those names causes Zarc's eyes to bulge out. "What are you—those boys aren't—I am ZARC! Those boys no longer—"
Ray smiles, and allows her conscience to slip away.
…
…
…I hope my brother is right… and that you four… can do it…
…
…
Ray can't hear what they say, but she can feel the power behind their words, feel just how strongly they want to save their friends that are inside Zarc… and she also feels the sorrow they're trying to hold back while they speak. All four of them are suffering from what Zarc has done—they've lost their other precious friends. Their heartfelt appeal to the four boys isn't just because they care so much about them—they're all they have left.
Ray knows just how that feels. Her father had been all she had left when she stole the cards from him, stolen the burden from him, and now he's gone. She has nothing left… but at least they can.
…
…
…Yes, I believe in all four of you…
…
…
All of a sudden, she's thrust back into control of her own body in a move that has her heart racing and her chest tight. The girls—they've said all they can, and now they want her to finish the Duel. She doesn't know how, but Zarc has brought back the four dragons—not the servants corrupted by their own anger, but the four originals, hurting just like Zarc, at everything that's happened.
It's just what she needs to win.
Zarc looks up at her. His eyes aren't glowing anymore, and the lack of light seems to leave a certain deadness in them.
"Please, Ray. End this," he begs.
A/N: I think you can all see where the next bonus chapter is going.
…Out of curiosity though, how many of you would like to see a sort of epilogue after all of this, like, focusing on characters such as Yoko and Himika and how they're all coping after all of this? Maybe as a separate story entirely, so I can dedicate a full-length chapter to each character? It'll certainly be something different for me to write, but I'm sure I can pull something off.
Thanks again for reading this, and I hope you'll leave a review!
(I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh ARC-V, otherwise we would be getting a proper ending to the show, not this rushed to all heck one that completely ignores the Bracelet Girls and Yu-Boys that aren't Yuya.)