Ship Name: Amethystshipping

Reason: Named so because Lulu's name and (part of) her deck theme has to do with gems, amethyst is a gem that fits both hers and Declan's eye colors. Declan can also be seen as cold or hardened like a stone.

Relation: Step Siblings?

AU: Academia Declan

Title: The Bird Trapped in the Tower

Summary: Declan takes lunch to [his sisters] the prisoners.

"Hey, the Professor says someone needs to bring the prisoners their lunch." A trio of Obelisk Force members sat together at a lunch table in the cafeteria. One of the members groans at the thought of more work.

"I've been out since yesterday. Someone else can take their food."

"Well, I already took their breakfast so it's certainly not going to be me."

"But I brought the meals all of last week so there's no way I'm doing it-"

"I'll do it." A stern voice interrupts.

"M-Mr. Declan! Sir!" The trio of soldiers stumbles out of their seats to give him a clumsy salute. Declan doesn't acknowledge the trio and instead walks past them. After talking to one of the cooks, Declan found the prisoners' meals already prepared on separate trays.

Drawing a card from his deck, Declan sees that he had drawn D/D Lilith. She would do. Summoning her to his side, Declan hands his monster both trays before beckoning it to follow. They made one detour to his room to grab a book he had nearly forgotten before heading outside the school.

The walk to the East Tower was uneventful. Most students were in class or out in the Xyz Dimension gathering cards. Upon climbing the steps to the halfway point of the tower Declan was greeted by the guardian, Apollo. Apollo had nothing new to report, aside from some new swear words the prisoner had decided to add to their colorful vocabulary. Declan had Apollo unlock the upper tower's doors for him.

The prisoner, she refused to give them her name, was sitting on the bed. A metal clasp was locked on her right wrist with the chain attached to the wall beside her, limiting her mobility with just enough slack to allow her to use the bathroom and sit on her bed but not much else.

She had been aggressive since day one following her capture and had managed to escape her room a handful of times. Thankfully, being on an island, there was nowhere to run or hide and she was quickly recaptured. After the last incident, the chain was installed and Apollo was made her permanent guard.

Once Apollo got the final door open, Declan sent his monster inside. He wasn't afraid of her by any means but the girl was feisty and his father had told him to take extreme care when visiting her. She glared at him as Lilith set down a tray on the desk next to the bed.

"You know, if you would behave yourself, I could let you out of those chains." Declan spoke from his safe spot outside the room.

"Fuck you." She growled.

"Silence your tongue, child! You are speaking to the Professor's-" Declan held up his hand to silence Apollo.

"You have no right to keep me here! I've done nothing wrong!" She shouts as his monster returns to him.

"Your capture isn't because of something you've done." Declan replies, as Apollo relocks the door. "It's because of something you're not."

Reaching the midway point of the second tower, Declan was nearly challenged to a duel by Diana, the guardian of the West Tower. She immediately apologizes upon recognizing him.

"Forgive me, your grace." Diana bows. "I seem to have gotten a bit antsy since we last spoke, but that is no excuse for my behavior."

"It's fine, Diana. You perform your job well and that's all we ask of you." Declan takes the final tray from his monster before returning it to his Deck. "I've brought lunch for her." The guardian nods, moving forward to unlock the doors. Diana doesn't follow him as Apollo had. Unlike her gutsy counterpart, she hasn't caused any trouble.

Her name was Lulu.

The young girl looked up as Declan enters her room.

"Lunch?" She asks in a soft, quiet voice. Declan nods, handing her the tray. She doesn't wear a chain around her wrist. There was no need. She sets the tray on her desk and opens the lid.

It was a modest lunch. A fried pork cutlet rice bowl known as katsudon, a small bowl of miso soup, some sashimi on the side, as well as an empty cup with a small pitcher full of cold water.

As Lulu sits down to eat, Declan sets the book he had brought with him next to her on the desk.

"Something to read when you get bored." He answers after she gives him a questionable look. "There's only so much entertainment you can get from staring at a wall." Lulu nods before quickly turning back to her meal. Declan leans against the doorframe, staring out the barred window.

After a couple of bites, Lulu suddenly sets down her spoon.

"I don't understand any of this." She says, standing up from her chair and turning to face him. Declan glances over at her. "Your people have taken everything from me. My home, my friends, my family...and yet you treat me with this...twisted form of kindness!" Tears began to drip down her cheeks. Declan felt an odd sense of deja vu. He had seen this before.

A girl with her face, sobbing, the world falling apart around her.

He didn't know how to comfort her then and he certainly didn't know how to comfort her now.

"I want my friends back...I want to go home..." She wipes the tears from her eyes but they continue to fall. "I want my brother..."

Unable to stop himself Declan rushes forward and wraps his arms around her, hugging her.

"Ray, it will be okay. Father will-"

"GET OFF ME!" She screeches, shoving him away with a surprising amount of strength. Declan stumbles back, barely managing to catch himself from hitting the floor. "DON'T TOUCH ME! Don't...DON'T COME NEAR ME!" He hears a door slam shut. Panicked, he jumps to his feet only to relax when he realizes that she had just ran into her bathroom and shut the door.

"Your grace?! Are you alright?!" Diana, no doubt hearing the commotion, raced in brandishing her staff. "Where is the prisoner?"

"Everything's fine, Diana." Declan wipes off the dust that had collected on his shirt. "She's in the bathroom." Diana looks ready to bash down the door but Declan stops her. "Leave her be."

"But, your grace, I-"

"I said, Leave. Her. Be." Diana swallows nervously but bows her head.

"Yes. Of course." They exit the room and Diana locks the door behind them.

"Do not cause her any grief. Understand? I don't care what she says or does." Declan orders as they descend the stairs back to the middle level.

"I haven't disobeyed you or your father yet and I don't plan on starting now. As you have said before, I am her guardian, not her captor." Declan nods before retiring to his room for the day. He should technically return to class but he had already mastered every Summoning technique and knew every aspect of Duel Monsters inside and out. It was difficult to teach someone who knew everything.

Besides, he couldn't concentrate on classwork even if he wanted too.

For that one moment, where she was crying and wishing for her brother, Declan was subconsciously teleported back to that moment in time. When his sister was still whole and his world was the one falling apart. This wouldn't be the first time he had, what his father calls, Memory Jumps, but it has been a while since his last one.

His father got them too, a bit more often than him. Declan thought about telling his father but decided against it. He didn't usually have time for him these days and even if he did, it was nothing new. He would probably be more annoyed that he was talking to his prisoner.

To his father, Lulu was not Ray but just a fragment of her. A lost piece of her soul in need of guidance to her original body. There was no point in learning about these pieces. They weren't Ray and they shouldn't get attached.

He shouldn't get attached.

Declan wondered if Ray felt the same.

Finally able to rein in her tears Lulu slowly stood up from where she sat, pressed up against the bathroom door. She wasn't sure how much time has passed but when she peeked out into her cell the room was empty and her lunch had been replaced with a new tray, the lid still on it. That was probably her dinner.

Despite the fact that she is still very hungry, she refuses to eat any more of the food prepared by her captors. Instead, Lulu collapses onto her bed. She was exhausted from her emotional breakdown, yet she couldn't sleep. Her mind was racing from what Declan, the Professor's son, had done to her.

He...comforted her, or at least attempted to before she pushed him away. But why? None of it made any sense. Lulu turns over in her bed and spots the book he had left her. Sitting up, she takes the book into her hands.

The cover was worn, the pages yellow with age but it was clearly belove and read many times if the amount of dogeared pages was anything to go by. The title of the book was All the Birds in the Sky. The cover was a dark color with birds flying all around the title. Lulu recognized the birds as swallows. On the back of the book was a small summary.

It was about a witch girl with a unique power to talk and change into animals, and a boy genius who was too smart for his own good. Although they do become friends their divergent philosophies strain their relationship all while they need to put a stop to an event known as the 'Unraveling' which could very well destroy what was left of their crumbling world.

The book looked to be a great read with a unique blend of literary fantasy and science fiction. Lulu loved books such as this. She wonders if Declan knew that; if he did, how did he know? Lulu was brought out of her thoughts by her rumbling stomach.

Sighing she stood up, tossing the book onto the bed before sitting at the desk to eat her dinner. She would need the energy to escape if she had any plans to do so, and even if she couldn't, starving herself wouldn't accomplish anything. Once she was done eating she puts the lid back and sets the tray to the side.

Looking out the barred window she still had a bit more sunlight before the night truly sets in. Her eyes drift down to the book.

"There's only so much entertainment you can get from staring at a wall."

Picking up the book, Lulu sits back down and opens to the first page.

Author Notes

So I had a slap of reality the other day. Turns out I've been breaking the rules of the site. I know that sounds really dumb. I've been using this site for years and I'm just now realizing that? You see, the whole 'roleplaying with your reviewers' thing came from a writer on AO3, another fanfiction site, and I just thought I could do that here without realizing that I actually can't.

For years, no one has pointed it out to me so it's kind of a miracle that none of my stories have been deleted or that I haven't been banned. Not that I'm complaining or anything! So I'm just going to fix that with all of my fics as much as it pains me to do so since I always had a lot of fun role-playing between chapters. But there is a time and place for role-playing and this site isn't it.

Obviously, I'm going to keep responding to all of my reviewers, just not as my OC or Arc-V characters as much as I enjoyed doing that. Also, I will be responding to reviews at the end of each chapter instead of at the beginning since it kind of gets in the way of other people trying to read the actual story.

Reviews

Ulrich362

Thanks! When I first saw the defeat of the Tyler Sisters, I was waiting on Gloria to do something after the duel and when she didn't I was kind of disappointed. I do understand that the sisters already had two episodes to themselves and they needed to move the story along but honestly, they could have just had Gloria and Grace get into an argument and have Gloria return to Duel Academy on her own or with Noro. Even if we never saw Gloria again at that point I feel like that decision would fit her character a lot better.