Hey all, thank you for reading my story.
I've also been writing a Syrus X OC fic too.
If you guys like this you should read it, its called 'I could make you care'
Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter, be sure to follow/favorite and review!
A Second Chance for the Soulless
Chapter 3: A Nasty Surprise
As Camula made her go through the academy she was surprised by the sheer grandiosity of it, she expected something humbler for a school dedicated to Duel Monsters.
'Whoever is funding this Academy is either a genius or a mad fool.' Camula scoffed as she imagined the person.
Camula opened the doors to the classroom, it was brimming with students of differing dorms as they say in the descending rows of desks, thankfully for her, Orion stood out like a sore thumb.
Not because he wore his silly mantle and bug mask he wasn't wearing today, but rather because he stood out from the crowd. Despite not giving attention to himself, Orion was about a foot above the entire student body with how tall he was.
Camula realized that when comparing herself to him, Orion wasn't too tall, only a head taller. In a group setting, however, Orion towered over everyone at a staggering six foot six.
Orion was a giant compared to his colleagues, like a single uncut blade of grass standing above a freshly-cut lawn.
If his attitude matched his height, Orion could easily go into professional sports than professional dueling. But because he's Orion, he probably would not only drop the ball but then give it to the other team because one of them asked nicely.
Orion was busy writing something down in a journal before he spotted Camula at the corner of his eye. Orion waved to Camula to sit by his side but his meekness made him only raise a few fingers as a pathetic invitation to sit by him.
'At least his shadow could conceal me while I lounge about,' Camula snickered meanly as she made her way to Orion's side.
"Hey Cammy, good morning!" Orion greeted, louder than he needed to, this earned the attention of several students who stared at Orion and his sudden outburst.
Realizing his loudness he bowed to several onlookers as his tanned face shifted into a shade of red.
"S-Sorry everybody! I've been trying to learn how to greet people…and I guess…" Orion blushed and then bowed his head to Camula in apology.
Camula growled as she shoved Orion away, avoiding his head as it bowed.
"Enough, fool! All is forgiven! Just enough of your bowing, act like your height!" Camula hissed.
"I'll try, Sorry Cammy…" Orion couldn't help but bow again. Before he could complete his apology bow, however, Camula quickly flicked Orion on the forehead, poking him back before he could bump his head into her.
"All is forgiven!" Camula repeated, annoyed.
"Thanks, anyway, I've read some stuff in the library and…" Orion pulled out a stack of books from under his desk.
"Here's what I've found, hopefully, we can get something out of it." Camula curved a brow as she began to inspect the books Orion had to offer, skimming through the pages and reading the titles.
Most of them were spiritual by nature with titles consisting of the study of spirits, ghosts, and other supernatural creatures.
Others were stories about these mystical creatures from fables to folklore.
Although all of them had one thing in common; they were nothing but fantastical skepticism. Lots of bold predictions about the supernatural rather than anything certain.
In fact, in one of the books, Camula read that apparently, her people were deathly allergic to garlic! How preposterous!
Granted she never liked the taste of garlic but it wasn't because she was weak to it!
"I told you it was a foolish endeavor, you wasted your time on me," Camula grumbled as she pushed the books away Despite her dismissal, Camula was oddly disappointed. She had a slight hope that Orion could honestly help her.
Maybe there isn't a loophole. She must take a soul if she wanted to return to her true self.
As she pushed the useless books away, Orion, with surprising courage pushed one back.
"Not this one," He claimed. Tried by Orion's persistence, Camula relented and checked the book out.
The title simply read 'Exchange of the spirit'.
Written by a woman by the name of Ishizu Ishtar, strange.
Camula was intrigued but unlike Orion, she kept her expectations low as she read through the pages.
To her surprise, the book was legitimate, it talked about souls and spirits like the rest of them, but the text bore a nuance that only Camula would understand.
It spoke of nightmares of the past haunting the soulless, something that Camula was all too familiar with.
It spoke of a pitiful feeling in one's mortal shell and how they could experience it but never describe it.
It spoke as if this author knew of death, passing, and the mortal coil.
It enthralled Camula, she finally found something that didn't speak of a false understanding of her being.
By the fifth chapter, Camula found a solution to her problems.
To gain your lost soul, you can forcibly take one from another in a duel of shadows.
Camula considered this but a glance at Orion changed her mind.
Or atone for the sins of the past.
Camula had no regrets, she was trying to revive her people, and there is no goal nobler.
And finally, defeat the ones that led you to this empty despair.
Camula's eyes lit up, this can work. It was that pesky Jaden Yuki and his friends that turned her into this husk of a human being. She may be the one that opened the illusion gate and offered her soul, but they forced her into a corner, they gave her no other option but to use it if she were to achieve victory.
But…It was also Kagemaru that sent her to her doom, he did not tell her the illusion gate card needed a soul to be played, he only told her that it was very powerful and you could harvest souls with it.
Camula knew of Kagemaru's plan for eternal youth; to open the gates of the underworld and unleash the sacred beasts upon reality. The spirit keys are not keys but rather empty vessels made to provoke others to duel and harness duel energy from the victor. That is what is needed to open the gates and unleash the scared beasts.
Perhaps she'll visit Kagemaru earlier than she anticipated. After her failure, she doubted he would keep his end of the bargain.
If she were to garner Kagemaru and her former comrades' attention, she'll need to get those spirit keys off of those twerps, only the strongest of duelists invoke the most energy and Kagemaru will have to duel the strongest to pass the threshold.
A vengeful smile grew on Camula's face. Her plan is simple; defeat the twerps to get those keys, get Kagemaru to send his minions when they find out that their former comrade has returned, and in due time, she will face Kagemaru himself and there she shall return to her true self.
But first, she'll have to figure out how to be discreet about getting the spirit keys.
Camula can't just ask the spirit key holders for a duel; without her shadow charm, she can't force them either.
As she pondered her eyes slowly wandered over to Orion.
"Orion…Do you know Jaden Yuki?" Camula asked the boy.
Orion scratched the back of his head as he tried to remember "I know of him..." He mumbled with a shrug.
"Good, then can you…" Camula bit her tongue.
"Is something wrong?" Orion asked as Camula started to stutter.
"Please…" She struggled to word her request in a way to not sound devious.
"Figure out the people he hangs out with so we can get their spirit keys? I-I can try." Orion agreed without a second thought.
Camula blinked several times. "How did you know all of that?" She questioned.
"You were talking to yourself Cammy…I-I didn't want to interrupt," Orion answered back sheepishly.
"And you're not going to tell a single soul about anything I've said, understood?" Camula threatened with a wag of her finger.
"O-Of course, that's why I'm talking to you," Orion responded.
"Talking to-" Camula then glared at Orion.
"S-Sorry hehe, bad joke," Orion admitted with a tiny chuckle. Camula flicked Orion in the forehead before she went back to planning.
"Yes, it was distasteful, now I'll need you to find whatever student database you can access, I don't know their names but I do know what they look like so if we can do this together then-"
"Attention everyone! Class is about to start!" A shrill voice echoed through the classroom, putting a halt to Camula's schemes.
Camula cocked a brow, the voice was annoyingly familiar. Looking past her book, she looked to see her first victim; Dr. Crowler, just as ghastly and loud as before.
Camula remembered destroying him in a duel before turning him into a voiceless doll. She would do it again so that she won't have to hear his horrid screeching.
The problem is that unlike before, Camula wasn't a vampire anymore, so she was powerless to stop him from screeching his lungs out.
Camula can't blow her cover either, if they find out that their former enemy has returned as a mortal they'll send her to whatever prison they had.
Thankfully, Camula had the tall Orion by her side, she can just use his shadow as cover until the class is over.
Camula was about to scoot a little a bit closer to him before she stopped herself.
When she was a vampire, Camula stood tall on her own, now she was forced to hide behind someone like a passive wallflower. She was a vampire of noble blood, hiding like a coward is an insult to her people and lineage.
Camula now had a choice, she could either swallow her pride and hide beside Orion or potentially blow her cover for the sake of maintaining whatever shred of dignity she had left.
Camula eventually took the former, and with a sudden hot feeling brushing against her cheeks, Camula leaned against Orion, using his height to make her less noticeable
Orion blushed as he felt Camula's shoulder brush against the side of his arm.
"C-Cammy, w-what are you doing? Are you tired?" He asked, confused about this sudden contact.
"The teacher knows me as I once was," Camula mumbled back. God, she was such a weakling, having to rely on Orion as if she was a damsel in distress.
"And I'm trying…to hide…" She said, the last part reluctantly.
Orion nodded in understanding, and without another word, Orion placed a wide-open textbook in front of Camula's desk, blocking her view of the front of the class but also hiding her from Crowler.
"Is this better?" He asked, Camula let out a sigh of relief before she pushed herself away from Orion.
"Better, these books have found their true purpose," Camula said with a laugh.
"Yeah, I don't study that much, so they're all dusty and old," Orion admitted with a little chuckle of his own.
"You!" Crowler suddenly shrilled.
Orion and Camula immediately peeked over their textbook barricade to see the Professor, fuming like a volcano for some reason.
He focused his attention not on Camula, but on Orion before saying "Ra yellows are allowed to sit by an Obelisk! Especially an Obelisk Girl!" Crowler reminded.
"Pick up your things and go to your group!" He demanded.
Orion froze as he glanced at Camula, unsure what to do.
As soon as Crowler hounded the meek Orion, surrounding students of varying colors began to pick on him, sensing a moment of vulnerability when the professor singled him out.
"Get a move on you stupid oaf!" One Obelisk Blue laughed.
"Leave that girl alone, string bean! She said no already!" A Ra Yellow mocked.
"Looks like Orion is gonna be alone! Like the freak he is!" A Slifer Red joined in.
The last one made Orion flinch, he closed his eyes and gritted his teeth as his whole body tensed up.
"S-Sorry…" Was all Orion could muster before he bowed in apology.
As this was happening, all Camula could do was watch this public hazing in utter disbelief.
Why is everyone so cruel to Orion? Sure he's a clumsy fool…But he was also kind, forgiving, and understanding.
And yet here he was, being hazed by the class like an outcast…Or some sort of monster.
It made her sick to her stomach.
"You better be, now get on with it!" Crowler urged impatiently, shooing the boy off of his seat.
But as Orion did so, he felt Camula's hand wrap around his wrist.
To his surprise, she stood up as well, joining him for all the class to see. Camula glared daggers at Crowler before she spoke in an icy tone.
"We were leaving anyway, we don't need your useless lectures." Camula declared defiantly.
Crowler's jaw dropped "USELESS?!"
The professor was about to go off on Camula until he got a good look at her. As soon as Crowler looked into Camula's red eyes, his skin started to pale, and his hands began to shake.
"You…You're…YOU'RE!" Crowler repeated in disbelief as the memories flooded back to him.
With a scoff, Camula left the class, Orion in hand. Getting out of the room before anything worse could happen.
"Are you alright?" Camula asked as she and Orion stopped in the middle of an empty hallway far away from Crowler's class.
"...Yes," Orion answered with a nod, more to himself than to Camula, as he looked away from her.
Camula gave Orion a tired look, clearly not believing him.
"You're a terrible liar, that whole thing…That has happened before, hasn't it?" Camula asked.
"...Yes…" Orion finally mustered the courage to look at Camula, his eyes were welling up with tears.
"But why, though? People don't just hate on someone for no reason," Camula added on, trying to wrap her head around the situation.
"I-I don't know," Orion mumbled.
"Did you do something that would upset them?"
"I don't know Cammy!" Orion finally shouted back.
"Maybe it's because I collect bugs, maybe it's because I apologize a lot, maybe it's because I am a freak! I don't know!"
Camula fell silent. This is the first time Orion raised his voice and showed…Anger, contempt, and hate. Hate that festered within his being curried by the cruelty that fell upon him.
Orion seemed to realize this too as after a deep breath he bowed an apology to Camula, clearly ashamed by his outburst.
"Don't apologize…Just listen to me," Camula, with incredible courage, then cupped Orion's chin, slowly turning the boy's face to have his gaze in her eyes, her striking crimson clashing against his royal purple.
"You are not a freak."
Orion only replied with a stiff nod, like the one he did to Crowler, out of obedience rather than acknowledgment.
Sensing the boy's doubt, Camula continued, "When we met, you showed me nothing but kindness..." The indescribable feeling once again brushed against Camula's cheeks.
"Even after I showed you my true colors...You forgave me..." Her heart fluttered once again for some strange reason.
"Do not listen to the others and their cruel remarks...For they do not know who you truly are." Camula then, with the same gentleness that Orion showed her, slowly reached out for his hand, her cold fingers brushing against his warm ones.
"But I do," Camula finished as she smiled at Orion. It was not her usual smiles, ones that reeked of deceit or arrogance but a smile that gave off genuine warmth, the same warmth that Orion showed her.
"...Thank you," Orion said before he squeezed Camula's hand, not minding how cold it was.
With Orion's spirits raised, Camula went back to the task at hand "Now, since we left that useless class, let's get out of here before Crowler could-"
Camula then heard a horde of footsteps coming her way.
At the corner of her eye, Camula looked to see a horde of Academy Security, spear-headed by Crowler.
"There she is! Take her to the Chancellor's office" He shrieked. The Academy Security rushed over to Camula, encircling her like wolves to their prey.
"Cammy!" Orion called out. He tried to join her s,ide but the fence of security guards blocked Orion's path.
"It's okay Orion, I'll catch up with you!" Camula said back calmly. With nowhere to run, Camula was forced to follow Crowler and his goons.
"At least I hope so..." Camula whispered.