Me: *Facepalm* Oh my God, I didn't know Shade could be this evil.
Shade: You definitely didn't.
Sky: Why? What happened?
Me: So, I sent Meri and Lucy off to work on Rewind, which they still have yet to work on… *Grumbles* But they'd left the rest of my muses an outline of what they wanted to happen in this chapter.
Shade: I approved of some of the death scenes, but I decided that two of them could be more evil. So I switched it around a little.
Me: Even though it's Christmas (or the day after, whatever), I couldn't get Shade to change his mind. So the chapter is still evil.
Sky: Great.
Me: I know. I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh 5Ds, which is a good thing. Unfortunately, I do own my OCs… I'd say 'enjoy', but this chapter is pretty much 100% evil… Hehe. Merry Christmas?
Chapter 51
She pulls off her helmet and… reveals that she has golden hair with silver streaks, mismatching eyes (blue and gold) and a small Criminal Mark on her left cheek, shaped like a jagged spiral.
"No," I say firmly. "No. Just… no. There's no way that you're really…"
"I am," she says. "The name I go by now is Dusk, but a long time ago… I went by the name Sky Fudo."
"That can't be," Yusei says. "My sister would never try to destroy Neo Domino."
Dusk glares at him. "You think I'm doing this willingly?! We exhausted every possible option—peaceful or otherwise—trying to stop this from happening! This is our last chance… humanity's last chance." She shakes her head. "Enough of that! You need to see exactly what we suffered through! The first of the Signers to die…"
The scenery changes to outside of the Kaiba Dome, where Jack is standing over Carly, shaking his head. The woman is looking up at Jack, a grimace on her face, and she's rubbing her ankle. "I think I sprained it," she says.
"Carly, I'm pretty sure you're the only person who can sprain an ankle while standing still," the Jack in the scene says, sighing. "I have an ankle brace in my Duel Runner, let me help you there."
He leans over to help her up and almost falls because the ground starts shaking, violently. A large piece of a nearby building falls, shattering upon impact with the ground. Jack quickly helps Carly to her feet. "I'm not liking this at all. Come on, in all likelihood something would fall on you—"
Carly screams as the building they are standing next to just falls in their direction. Jack pushes her away, and she falls back to the ground. When she looks up, the dust is still settling. But one thing was clear—there was no Jack.
The scene changes quickly, back to where my future self is lying on top of her house. She's taking short breaths and won't stop shaking.
"Sky!" The older Yusei enters the scene. He crawls over the rubble and kneels down next to Sky. "Sky! Are you alright?"
"J-Jack…" she says.
His face darkens, "I know. I felt him go as well."
Sky shakes her head. "No, no, you don't understand… I didn't just feel him go… It… it was like I was there, feeling what he felt… The… the pain… ev-everything being crushed…"
"I do understand," Yusei replies. "Don't you remember? I was the Envoy for a short while before you were."
"Oh… oh yeah…"
Someone groans nearby, and the future Sky and Yusei both look for the source of it. Sky more than Yusei, and she has a look of fear on her face now, rather than the pained one it had. "Shoshan!" she shouts.
"Sk…y," a muffled voice says, shortly followed by several coughs. The sound of the pieces of the house moving echoes, and a bloody hand is now poking through the rubble about five feet away.
"Shoshan!" Sky scrambles over the pieces, and starts clearing away the ones around the hand. Yusei follows suit and helps pull Shoshan out. His blonde hair is matted with blood and dirt, as are his clothes. The worst of his injuries is a large gash across his chest. "Oh Shoshan…"
She moves to press a hand to his wound, the words for a healing spell already on her lips, but the man manages to grab her arm with his left hand and shakes his head. "You should," he coughs, "know better…"
"But… but I can't just let you die," she whimpers.
"Your magic," another cough, this time spattering some blood, "doesn't work on me, remember? The only thing it does is hurt both of us…"
"Then I… I can get you to the hospital… No, it collapsed…" she starts shaking again. "There has to be some way! You can't die, Shoshan! You can't!"
The sound cuts out of the scene, but I can see Shoshan try to tell my future self something, and she nods a few times, sobbing, until his hand falls and his eyes flutter closed. Then the scene simply freezes.
Dusk says, "I don't know what I did to make the universe mad at me, but I'd lost one of my closest friends and the one I loved within minutes of each other…! And that wasn't the last thing that happened that day…"
"I think I'm going to be sick," Shoshan mutters.
I lean over and rub his back a little, keeping my eyes on Dusk. 'That's… in the future I'm in love with Shoshan? I've never even considered my love life…' "You said that wasn't the only thing that happened," I note. "So… what else did?"
"The Meklord Emperors invaded," she replies. "That was when all of us really lost everything…"
The scene starts moving again, but first it shifts to a zoomed-out view of the future Neo Domino City, now in shambles. All is quiet for a few moments, until a hole of light opens in the sky. I can't tell how many robots descend from the hole, there are so many. All of them are some variation of the three Meklord Emperors.
Now it zooms into the City, where Lester and his parents are still stumbling away from the remains of the ice cream shop. The three of them freeze and stare up at the sky as the Meklords descend from it. Confused looks cross their faces—what were these robots doing?—until panic sets in as the first of the robots aims a blast at a nearby crowd of people. Screams quickly become silenced by more shots and explosions.
After what seems like an eternity, the three start running, with Lester's mother pulling him along. They run for a while and seem to get lucky until Lester trips and loses his grip on his mother. His parents take a few extra steps before they realize that they're leaving their son behind… and a bright flash of energy from a Meklord Emperor Skiel envelops them. When it clears, there is a crater where his parents were standing… and his parents are gone.
"No…"
Once again the screen freezes momentarily, until it pans over to where Primo and that woman were. It seems like there was a slight timeskip, because they're wearing different clothes—some variation of the color grey—and they also have bandages on. They're hiding in a building that has broken windows, and both of them have military-level guns in their hands.
One of the Wisels passes by, and the two exchange a glance. Primo nods, and both of them shoot at the robot. The scene once again lacks sound, so we don't hear the explosion as black smoke surrounds the robot. When it clears, the robot is still moving even though it is severely damaged and letting out electricity in several places. The Wisel turns to face the building, and points one of its arms at them. A burst of energy leaves it, and the two duck away.
The building partially collapses, and Primo pulls himself out of the wreckage. He looks around—the woman is nowhere to be seen. It looks like he shouts for her but no one replies. The grey-haired man scrambles over the wreckage, only to stop when he sees an arm lying on the ground, not attached to a body.
This time it freezes and stays frozen, rather than panning over to the next scene. The younger two Emperors of Yliaster both look depressed and angry at the same time, but they say nothing.
Hana coughs. "You know, the Meklords attacked us for a few months before we figured out why they were attacking. On that first day, though… you saw what happened to Primo and Lester, nothing really happened to Jakob, and again, Aurelia wasn't born yet, but the rest of us suffered…"
"You asked what else happened that day?" Dusk interjects. "Two more Signers died. One of them I'll spare you from watching," she glances at Leo while she says this, and then looks quickly between Luna and Crow before closing her eyes and continuing, "but the other you will have to see."
The image returns to Sky and Yusei, no longer on the rubble on the house but next to it. They've both been crying, my future self more so than Yusei, but they're not at the moment. They're staring at the Meklords as they descend on Neo Domino. Then the explosions start, and Sky wipes the semi-dried tears off her face.
"C'mon Yusei, we can't let these things hurt innocent people," she says, takes two steps, and screams in pain again. The Seal of the Dragon lights up, the Wings still black, and Yusei's Mark lights up as well. We watch as the Mark underneath the Front Claw turns black as well.
"Ngh…! Not Leo," Yusei says. "Sky…"
My future self had continued walking away, both her fists clenched and her shoulders shaking. She doesn't stop, but says, "I'm going to find Luna, alright? Leo's death…" she shivers. "Nope, not talking about it. You go find Crow and Akiza."
The image now shifts to the older Luna sitting in an alley, head in her hands and crying even harder than I'd watched my older self cry. Speaking of my older self, she runs into the alley. "Luna…"
The green-haired woman looks up. "We only wanted to surprise you guys… not something like this. And now Leo is… Leo is…!"
"I know," Sky mutters. "I felt what he felt. You have to understand, he only wanted to protect you. Had he not, well, I would be talking to him right now instead of you."
"You… felt it?"
"Yes… It's not a pleasant experience… Now, come on. We're going to go meet up with Yusei, Crow, Hana, and Akiza."
Another timeskip, and now Crow, Hana, Yusei, Akiza, Luna, and Sky are running down a wide street that is riddled with craters. There are several other people on the street, trying to get away from the robots. All except for one boy, crouched down next to one of the craters, a Skiel already prepping a blast at him.
My future self shouts, "Look out!" and dives in front of the kid at the same time that the energy burst fires.
The future Yusei gets a look of horror on his face, but it vanishes when it is revealed that a red bubble had appeared around Sky and taken the blast. "Don't do that again," he says.
"Wasn't planning to," she replies, wincing. "I think the Crimson Dragon has had enough for the day."
The kid that Sky saved—Lester, actually—mutters, "Th-thanks for saving me."
"No problem kid," Sky says. "Although… never mind. Stay with us, we'll keep you safe."
Yet another timeskip, and it seems that they've split into groups, Sky, Crow, Lester, and Akiza running around the City, looking for survivors and keeping a wary eye out on the robots. None of them seem to be attacking them, though. Until they run past a fountain—the one at the center of Poppo Time—and one of the Granels starts following them. They don't realize it either, until Crow just happens to look back.
In a split second, the Meklord lets off a blast, and Crow shouts, "No!"
An explosion gives sound to the otherwise silent Poppo Time Square, and the blast makes it impossible to see for a couple of seconds. When it dims, a crater remains where the future Sky had been standing, but she was actually lying next to it.
She screams in pain for the third time today as the Seal of the Dragon glows. The Tail slowly turns black. "No! No! I refuse… I refuse to let him die again!" Sky shouts. "I can't lose him again…! Crow…!"
The Mark of the Tail returns to glowing bright red; instead the Front Claw turns black. A crimson glow fills the crater, and when it dims, someone groans. "What the hell was that about?" a grumpy voice—Crow's grumpy voice—asks.
"I… I think… I think I killed Luna," the future Sky mutters before collapsing.
The scene freezes again. "As it turns out, I did kill Luna," Dusk says. "In trying to keep Crow alive, I transferred her life energy to him… I didn't mean to, but that's simply what happened."
"Hey, what was that about me dying again?" Crow asks.
"Oh yes, you had the less evil Dark Signer arc," Dusk notes. "Sure, the second time this played through, it went a bit different, so I didn't say that specific line… In the original timeline, the Tail of the Dragon was passed from Yusei to Sky to you, back to Yusei, back to Sky, and finally stopping on you. Each time it passed around was because of the result of a Shadow Duel."
"Uh…"
Dusk sighs and rolls her eyes. "Okay, so I lost in a Shadow Duel with Roman, and was supposed to become a Dark Signer, but Yusei passed the Mark to me, dying in the process. Wiraqocha Rasca still tried to possess me and managed to kill you, and you became a Dark Signer. Then, during the war, you were about to defeat Goodwin—a Signer in the original timeline—but I switched it to me losing, then passed the Mark to you. Wiraqocha Rasca managed to possess me after that, and I stayed a Dark Signer until the Crimson Dragon must've given Yusei's good side a second chance, and he became the Envoy of the Crimson Dragon. Once he defeated me, he had to go, and I became the Envoy instead. Then, I had to defeat a Dark Signer Yusei."
Jack snorts, "My friends would never be Dark Signers."
"Oh?"
The screen shows three images now—Crow, Yusei, and myself all as Dark Signers, with the Earthbound Immortals in the background. The Dark Signer Crow is grinning, locked in the Shadow Duel with Kalin—and winning. My dark self stands next to Netherworld Immortal Wiraqocha Rasca, laughing as the rest of Akiza's Life Points fall to zero. Finally, there is the Dark Signer Yusei, standing on the Stairway of the Dragon Star, not yet in a Duel, yet glaring at a Sky in the image.
It quickly changes to a blank white as Dusk says, "We're not here to talk about that part of our pasts. Rather, you need to see the more torturous aspect... for the Meklord attack lasted much longer than one day. It lasted for an entire year. Though, I suppose not everything was bad. Aurelia was born six months after the start of the attack, and for once I regained happiness. All of us did."
"Especially after my dad and Crow accidentally discovered why the Meklords were attacking us," Hana adds. "You see, Ener-D doesn't only lie in a Reactor, it rests at the center of everyone's hearts as well. Being there, it reflected the inner most desires of people, mostly that of hatred or anger. The use of Synchro Summons were showing those desires to the Ener-D in the Reactors, and it took a life of its own…"
"The Meklords were created in order to destroy the human race because of the hidden desires," Jakob says. "Though, not all was lost."
The scene below changes again, now showing the older Crow sitting on the edge of the roof of an old building, looking over the destroyed Satellite. The robots still roam the streets and the skies, but not near the building Crow is on. Then, the older Yusei walks up behind him and says, "I thought I'd find you here."
The ginger grunts in reply. "Shouldn't you be in the bunker? I mean, your niece was born only a few hours ago. I'm sure Sky wants all the support she can get."
"Sky's asleep. As for your question, shouldn't you also be down there?"
Crow continues to stare at the horizon. "Yeah…" He pauses as he swings his legs back onto the roof and turns to face Yusei. "What did you want?"
"To know how you're doing," Yusei replies. "You've been distant for a long time now. We're all getting worried…"
"I'm… I'm fine," Crow mutters. "Don't get yourself worked up over me."
The older Yusei snorts, "Okay, tell me the truth. You're obviously not fine."
"You're not gonna let this go, are you? Well… the truth is… I really don't know what to feel. After everything that's happened… losing more than half of my friends and family, and… and what happened with Luna…"
"That wasn't your fault, Crow," Yusei interrupts.
"That doesn't make me feel any better! I know what happened to Leo—how he died trying to save Luna. And not even an hour later, Sky gets targeted by one of those robots, I push her out of the way, and bam! I should be the one dead, not Luna. Leo's sacrifice was pretty much for nothing…"
Future Yusei goes to reply, but freezes, a look of horror on his face. Hovering next to them is one of the Granels, its weaponized arm pointing at them. In a split second, the energy burst shoots at them, and Yusei dives forward…
An explosion illuminates the surrounding area for several seconds. When it dims, Shooting Star Dragon is flying in between the robot and the two Signers. The dragon flaps his wings twice, staring at the robot.
"What in the…? I've never been able to Summon Shooting Star Dragon outside of a Turbo Duel… and I don't even have a Duel Disk with me," the future Yusei says. "Then how…?"
The Granel lowers its arm and to an extent nods its head. Suddenly the future Yusei doubles over with a grunt of pain, both hands clutching the sides of his head. But this only occurs for a few seconds, and his troubles stop. He mumbles a few things that I don't catch.
"Whoa Yus'. You alright?"
"I'm fine," he replies with a grin. "I know how to make the robots stop attacking us."
"Really?"
"Yeah. It all lies with Accel Synchro, and the desires one has hidden within. If we spread word that all we need to do is stop being greedy and hateful… with our Accel Synchros being proof of this… they'll stop attacking."
The scene freezes, and I stare at the four-year-old on Team Broken Time. 'So… she's my daughter as well? Everything is so strange…'
"Sure enough, we spread word. And it worked for a while… a little under four years," Primo says.
"We'd rebuilt so much; even Duel Monsters had made a comeback," Jakob adds.
"But guess what? In the end, it wasn't enough! Not everyone wanted to change and so… The part of Ener-D that had come alive decided on an endgame. Kill all humans, no exceptions," Lester says.
The scene once again shows the Meklords attacking everything, with Aurelia, Hana, Sky, Akiza, Yusei, and Crow running down a street, trying to dodge all of the blasts.
"But even this went too far… and a second energy surge occurred," Dusk adds.
The ground cracks and the future Akiza screams as she loses her footing to the chasm. The future Yusei shouts, "No!" and dives after her. Sky manages to catch his ankle, and now we can see Yusei and Akiza dangling off the side of the newly-formed cliff, Yusei having a death-grip on Akiza's left wrist. Crow and the two children are on the other side of the chasm and can only watch.
Sky tries to pull them up several times, but each time she fails. Even her powers wouldn't work. "Ngh…! I… I can't pull both of you up…"
"Magic, then!" Yusei grunts.
"Hasn't worked in three years," she replies. "I'm sorry, I'm just not strong enough."
"Then… then… you still have to try! I'm not letting go of Akiza, even if it means I'll die too!" he shouts.
"Now you're just speaking nonsense," the magenta-haired woman says. "Hana shouldn't have to grow up an orphan, Yusei. If Sky can't pull both of us up, then let her at least save you."
"No! There's no… there's no way I'm letting you go!"
The future Akiza closes her eyes for a few seconds. "I see how it has to be, then," she says, opening her eyes again. "I love you, Yusei. Sky… please take care of them for me, alright?"
My future self tries one last time and almost—only a few inches more—manages to pull them up. She shakes her head. "Akiza, don't you dare…"
"What don't you understand?! I'm not letting you go!" Yusei shouts.
"You don't have to," Akiza replies. With that, she squeezes Yusei's arm once more… and forces her arm out of his grasp.
"NO!"
"MOMMY!"
For a few moments, everyone is frozen. Then gravity and common sense kick in. The future Akiza falls and disappears from view as Sky pulls Yusei to safety. The future Yusei doesn't do anything; he merely stares forward with a blank look on his face. A single Duel Monsters card falls in front of his face; Black Rose Dragon.
Then the Marks of the Dragon light up, and both Crow and Sky scream a little. Yusei still does nothing for a couple seconds, until he clenches both fists and his Mark glows brighter. A strange aura gathers around him, glowing a deep red, and he starts hovering a few feet off the ground. The other two Signers end up on the ground, both screaming in pain.
"Yusei! What are you doing?" Crow shouts. "Agh…!"
"Stop it, Yusei! Whatever you're doing, it hurts!" Sky adds. "Stop!"
"It's too late… this is the end… for everyone!" he shouts. His aura glows brighter, and both Sky and Crow grab their heads. In the sky, the robots start exploding, one by one. The ground continues falling apart, though not near them. However, everywhere else, half-fixed buildings seem to disappear in thin air, and many other people scream.
"Yu…sei…" the future Crow mumbles before closing his eyes and falling limp.
"CROW!" the future Sky screams. "No… no… Yusei, stop it before you… you kill me as well!"
Emotionless, the man cloaked in red light says, "Kill them all."
Sky closes her eyes, and she too gains an aura, though it is pure red. "Please Yusei… you have to… you have to… STOP!"
The aura around Sky gathers above her, momentarily looking like the Crimson Dragon, until it turns into a spear of light, shooting through the mixed light. Simultaneously, the destruction stops, and Yusei's aura fades. He falls to the ground, his eyes shut.
"Yusei!" Sky rushes to his side. "No, I didn't mean for this to happen…" She stiffens up and stares at the sky. "Wake him up! Please!"
"Meema!" young Aurelia shouts.
Sky jerks her attention to the other side of the chasm, where her daughter and her niece are both staring at her expectantly. Hana, especially, because she shouts, "Wh-what did you do to Daddy?"
The gold-and-silver haired woman glances back at her brother. "I don't know. But… but… he's not going to wake up. Ever."
"You… you killed him?!" Hana screeches.
"I might as well have. No, I didn't kill him. The Crimson Dragon has… has placed him in a permanent coma." And finally, the events catch up to her and the tears start flowing. She rests her hand on Yusei's arm, and a bright flash of red envelops them, Hana, and Aurelia. When it dims, nothing seems to have changed.
The scene suddenly turns white. I honestly don't know what to say about it. I mean… that mysterious light? And Yusei? Trying to destroy the world… without the influence of anything? Even if Akiza died like that… I just can't believe that he would do something like that. So then… why would he do something like that?
To be continued…
Sky: *Jaw drop*
Me: Don't even start yelling at me. This is what my muses decided on.
Sky: Well… um… how did the future Leo die?
Me: *Leans over, whispers something*
Sky: ERGH! THAT'S DISGUSTING!
Shade: I wish that was my idea.
Sky: Whose was it?
Me: Meri's. For some reason, she hates Leo.
Leo: Hey!
Me: I said she hates you, not me. Anywho… I had a wonderful Christmas. Celebrated it four times. My parents finally got us a Wii U, I got these two books I really wanted… Oh! And I got Fire Emblem Awakening and Final Fantasy IV. Awakening is extremely fun… I'm already on my second playthrough of it.
Sky: Uh… When did you get it?
Me: Not last Sunday, but the one before. I wasn't allowed to play it until last Thursday, and I beat it last Sunday. Man, I did not see the ending coming… Ah well! Any questions or comments? Leave a review! I don't mind answering them, although you might end up with more questions than answers when I reply. Hehe. Well, thanks for reading!