Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!, Yu-Gi-Oh! Gx, or Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds or any characters from the Yu-Gi-Oh! Franchise. I do own any OCs I make, but most will be likely be minor characters (even more so than the minor characters in the show - save for Nozomi and Hiroshi. My fingers ran away with them, and I like the dynamic they made too much to change it. I find them amusing). I make no money from this fanfiction as it is a tribute to a fandom I really like and want to play around in. If you see this on a paid site, please note that someone has plagiarized me and let me know so I may take steps to prevent fines or whatever. Also, I will be using the Japanese names, so if you're only familiar with the English, 4kids swapped two names: Blitz is Nerve and Nervin is Blitz.
I am so excited to be writing this part. Like always, my plans are loose to allow for spontaneous bouts of inspiration to fit in, but this is one of "non-negotiable" plot points. And it's one that has a great deal of importance to backstories and the prequel. Just… Guys, I have been waiting to write this part for so long, I've daydreamed how it will go over and over again. (As well as another chapter set future into the story - the chapter where Yusei's wings FINALLY show up and canon screams as it flies off the rails.) Just. Words cannot describe how excited I am to finally reach this point, so let's just go on ahead.
Again, my beta is in college, and studying for midterms, so this is unbeta'd. The edited chapter will be uploaded later.
Quick edit: I realized I put Yusaku instead of Yusuke. VRAINS IS EATING MY BRAINS! It's fixed now.
Quick edit 2: I fixed Yusuke's family name now too. Even after realizing my mistake VRAINS KEPT NOMMING ON MY BRAINS!
Fujiwara Yusuke looked at his godson as he slept. The sheer amount of scars he had… Plus that marker. Rage boiled in Yusuke's gut at the Marker. He was quite sure Yusei hadn't done anything to deserve it. Chances are he'd been caught "trespassing" in the City. What a joke.
"Daddy?" Luka called, her voice worried. Yusuke looked up and realized the shadows around him were writhing unnaturally. Shit. His control slipped.
"I'm okay sweetie," Yusuke said, taking a deep breath and calming his emotions. "Just concerned about Yusei."
"I thought only criminals had Marks like that," Lua said from where he was looking over his Deck. None of them had really gone to bed the night before. Yusuke, because he was worried about his godson - who had been barely conscious and passed out soon after they reached him - and his children because they were both curious about the family member they heard mention of, but never met, and worry over Yusei's condition. Luka walked over with a fresh bowl of cool water. Yusuke wasn't too worried about Yusei's supposed fever, but he knew Luka cooling Yusei down wouldn't hurt him either. Even if it was the teen's normal temperature.
"Well, if I had to guess, Yusei was caught 'trespassing' even though he was never truly a Satellite. And even then it shouldn't matter," Yusuke answered.
"Why are they treated that way? Just because they were trapped after that Zero Reverse thing happened doesn't mean they're bad people," Luka asked. Yusuke didn't know how to answer that. Thankfully, he didn't have to as Yusei groaned, hazy cobalt blue eyes fluttering open. Kuribon immediately appeared and began speaking soothingly to the confused teen.
[It's alright. You're safe. No one's going to hurt you here.]
Yusei closed his eyes briefly as he relaxed, and when he opened them again, they were clearer, though confused.
"You're… Kuribon? How can I understand you? Or even see you?" Yusei asked, sitting up slowly. Yusuke raised a brow. That was unexpected.
"Wait, you mean you couldn't see Duel Spirits before?" Lua asked, coming over. He had pouted about still being the only one to not be able to see or hear Spirits, no matter what was said about gifts sometimes coming in later. Now though… Well, patience wasn't really Lua's thing, but he'd try at least.
Yusei shook his head, stopping quickly as it throbbed. "No. I have a little brother of sorts back home who can. He can See a lot that can't be seen, not just Duel Spirits. And his biological sister is a Psychic Duelist. So I know quite a bit most wouldn't."
"A Psychic Duelist? What kind of deck?" Luka asked, hope filling her voice.
"Um, Armed Dragon."
"Nozomi-nee is okay then? Wait, you said she's like a sister to you, right? Then even without you being our godbrother, that makes you like a brother, right? Right, Aniki?" Lua asked - no demanded. Yusei, despite his confusion, didn't mind. He enjoyed having a big family and was always happy to expand it. Though…
"Godbrother?" Yusei wondered. He had family here already? Then why…?
"Godwin refused to allow anyone not part of Security to travel to the Satellite for the first ten years after Zero Reverse. By the time I was able to head over and look for you… You had a family. You were happy. There was no guarantee you would accept leaving them. I couldn't do that to you. Even though I was asked to look after you if something happened, I couldn't take you away. Not when you had a family you were happy with. I left you there because I didn't want to hurt you," Yusuke admitted. He looked down at his hands, folded in his lap. "I've constantly asked myself since then if I made the right choice."
Yusei stood up slowly and walked over to his godfather. He knelt in front of the man to force eye contact. "Thank you. You did what you thought was best for me. While life in the Satellite was difficult, I honestly wouldn't trade my experiences for the world. Life experience shapes who we are, and I like who I am. I don't know who I would have been if you had brought me into your home, so thank you. You made the right call."
Yusuke gave Yusei a watery smile before opening his arms and hugging his godson for the first time. Luka shyly came over to hug Yusei's side, while Lua ran over and jumped onto Yusei's back hug him, resulting in a barely stifled cry of pain.
"Crap, crap, crap, I'm sorry, I forgot your back looked hurt, I'm so sorry," Lua babbled, looking close to tears, only for Yusei to pat his head after a couple deep breaths to push the pain away.
"It's fine. Just be more careful in the future," he told the preteen.
"Take off your shirt, Yusei. I'm going to do something to help the irritation," Yusuke ordered, getting up to grab something from a nearby cabinet.
"Didn't Uncle Judai drop that off last week?" Luka asked.
"Yes, he did. Pretty sure he knew Yusei would wind up here somehow."
"Or that cool Spirit advisor of his knew, and told him to drop something off for him," Lua piped up, having bounced back from his upset state rather fast.
Yusuke chuckled. "Yeah that sounds more likely. Especially since White Wing Magician is good at making poultices like this."
Yusei had gingerly pulled off his shirt and was watching Yusuke out of the corner of his eye as he sat behind the teen. The green-haired adult dipped his fingers in the jar of purple almost-gel he had retrieved and carefully began applying it to the swollen ridges on Yusei's back. Almost immediately, Yusei relaxed, the ointment both cooling and warming, soothing the burn of constant pain and reducing the inflammation.
"What's in that stuff?" he mumbled, suddenly very tired. He hadn't been able to completely relax like this in far too long.
"No clue. Probably stuff you can't get here in the Human Realm. It's helping I take it?"
"Yeah. Do you know what's going on with me?" Yusei wondered. He could practically hear the cringe. "Thought so. Don't worry, the Herald, whoever the guy is, sent Burst Lady to tell me I'll get my answers when the time is right."
Yusuke breathed out a sigh of relief. "Good. I didn't know how to tell you that I've been sworn to silence on the matter until a certain event happens. From what I can tell, though, it's going to happen sooner than later."
"Alright, I won't ask anything else about it."
"Thank you, Yusei."
"No problem, Uncle."
"Huh. Well, that's interesting."
"Hmm…? Something happening?" Crow wondered. Given the weirdness happening in the Satellite, everyone was holed up at Martha's. Sort of. They weren't exactly in the Satellite anymore. Martha's house - and the inhabitants - were moved to a different Realm via some really major mojo. Timegazer cast the spell, while Judai provided the power. Apparently, if you didn't want something to go "boom" Judai was horrible at spellwork. So he had a transference tattoo hidden under his tank that was keyed to certain people so they could borrow some of his power whenever major mojo needed happening. Of course, something this major was still a drain on even the most powerfully magical being currently in existence, so Judai had crashed out on Martha's couch for the night. He was awake now, and chatting to Winged Kuriboh. Who, oddly enough, was Judai's Duel Spirit, even though Judai was part Duel Spirit. Things weren't as cut and dry as people try to make them, apparently.
"Huh? Oh, Winged Kuriboh here was just telling me Yusei can see and hear his sister, Kuribon."
"Yusei has a form of Sight now?" Taka asked from across the room where he was getting his butt handed to him in a videogame Johan gave them by one of the kids.
"He's always had it. It's just part of his powers, which were sealed at birth for reasons I can't say yet, but the seal is breaking a lot sooner than it should. It's supposed to last 20 years, with the last four allowing a gradual transition to his full power. It's breaking just shy of two years early." Judai paused. "THAT'S why Timegazer had me deliver that poultice. That jerk, he knew this would happen, why he would put Yusei through the pain of that specific seal breaking early-"
"It is necessary. Yusei needs to learn how to endure such pain to help save the one he is soul-bonded to," Timegazer said, appearing suddenly. Though his sudden appearance wasn't what shocked everyone. They had all gotten used to sudden comings and goings thanks to Judai sometimes seeming like a jack-in-the-box on crack with his Shadow Walking. No what shocked them was Timegazer looked exactly like Dr. Fudo - the Father of Momentum and Yusei's adopted father.
"You- you're-" Crow choked out. Timegazer nodded solemnly. Crow jumped up and clocked Dr. Fudo across the jaw. It didn't even register to the Blackfeather Duelist that Timegazer could have easily stopped him if he wanted to. "YOU ASSHOLE! WHY DID YOU ABANDON HIM! HIS LIFE COULD HAVE BEEN SO MUCH BETTER! WHY!?"
"Because I interfered as much as I had been allowed. There are Rules that cannot be broken. If I had had a choice, and did not know what Yusei would be like if I was allowed to raise him for more than his first year, I would have. But I know. And I know, for Yusei's sake, I couldn't. He wouldn't be him without growing up the way he did," Timegazer looked up, and everyone was shocked by the tears in his eyes. "Do you know what it's like to get what you think is a second chance to fix things, only to discover you're tied to Rules that if broken, will destroy Everything? That even if you were sent back, it wasn't a second chance for you, but for the Universe? Do you know the pain of that? The struggle to stay out of things you wish to change? To allow horrible tragedies to happen because they're a necessary evil. To have to create something you know will lead to countless deaths because you did so unknowingly before someone broke the Rules and ended the last Universe, and you have to do so again so things can finally be set right?"
"Y-you mean…?"
"I was there at the End of Everything. I was sent back because I had already made myself into a guiding spirit of sorts through sheer stubbornness to not abandon my son. But Yusei is no longer my biological son. This is part of my punishment for going against the Order of the Universe and causing the need for a reset. I did what I did with the best of intentions. But the road to Hell is paved with them. This is my Hell."
And there we go. The big explanation for a lot of little changes from canon. Dr. Fudo had been only part of the problem, but he was a big part. This wasn't exactly what I had planned to reveal that a major Time Crash had happened, but once Timegazer became Dr. Fudo… Well, that's why I liked it so much. The hole I still had was perfectly shaped for Dr. Fudo to fill. Bet you all though Judai was the Peggy Sue here. Nope. That was the original idea, but it was still tentative and open to interpretation until I either filled in the blanks that caused or came up with a better plan. This is a subversion! It's has similarities to a Peggy Sue, but it's not one at the same time. Dr. Fudo has his hands tied up pretty heavily. Thankfully, the Universe is somewhat merciful, and will give him more leeway after certain necessary events happen. As well as let his wife stay with him. Small mercies, but still.
And now the gears are spinning for a companion story to this entire series revolving around Dr. Fudo. And more potential prequels with Gx (not the post-canon one) and DM. The other prequels might not pan out. In fact, I'll be surprised if they do. But if they do… oh boy. I may need a hiatus to start some other promised rewrites and do some MAJOR planning to prevent plot holes.
I've created a monster. And it KEEPS GROWING! *looks apprehensively at the eldritch horror she's created*
Oh well, I'm sure there's other writers who never expected what they started to grow like it did. I'll find a way to tame this beastie.