Disclaimer: I do not own YGO 5Ds
I looked hungrily at Vincent and Ara and the cocoon they were enveloped in as they were transformed by the Shadows, into 'death' as Kalin had put it. A living, breathing, conscious, immortal death; I turned my face up, blinking back tears.
"What do you think about my newest recruits?" Roman's voice sounded a few paces behind me, "You won the first battle when Kalin was released from the Shadows, but the war is far from over. For every one freed from the Darkness, two more shall join it."
I barely managed not to collapse.
"It was you?" I asked. My eyes trained on him, still glistening.
Roman looked away uncomfortably, not saying a word.
"It was you!" I laughed out loud (LOLed doesn't quite capture it). Roman clearly had control over whom and when to convert Dark Signers, with him watching on the sidelines, it's hard to believe that he had nothing to do with Ara and Vincent's temporary, uh, let's say 'unlife'.
"I always try to add a personal touch to these battles," Roman continued, his voice containing much less malicious than his words might suggest, "Once your staunchest allies, now your deadliest foe, it'll make for quite a show when the time comes."
Right, he thinks I'm a Signer because of what happened with Kalin, I remembered vaguely. That's why he converted Vincent and Ara into Dark Signers, so they could duel me in his supposed 'final battle.'
I didn't care. I glomped him.
I buried myself in his chest (which I could just reach) and felt his shirt grow a little damp under my eyes, okay and my mouth. I can't help it, I drool a little when I cry. I could suffocate myself in his pecs, I had time to muse before I was tossed roughly onto the ground.
"Listen!" I called out to the leader of the Dark Signer, not bothering to get up. I looked into his violet eyes, grinning like an idiot and never having meant anything more sincerely in my life. "I owe you. You don't understand what I'm saying yet, because you're crazy and that's okay. But keep this in mind. I owe you a favor. Feel free to call on it once you become sane enough." I might regret this later on, I probably will, but I don't care right now.
"You think a Dark Signer would ever need the good graces of a Signer?" Roman scoffed. He had a rich and husky voice, I noted, like melted dark chocolate that just drizzles off the tongue. "Next time we meet, I'll send you to my Master."
"Like I said," I must have cackled- I was still in the hysteria that sets in after a narrow escape from disaster. "You can't understand me right now, I'm not sure if you ever will. But if you do, and can still make contact at the time, call me and we'll talk. Within reason." I added on a second thought.
I stood up and reached forward to wipe the drool off of his shirt. His death glare stopped me. I pulled my arm back before quite reaching his shirt, and let them fall to my side awkwardly.
"Here." I took out Earthbound Immortal Ccapac Apu (lv10, 3000/2500) instead, "Take it."
Roman gave me a wide-eyed look in his confusion.
"Just in case you need to save somebody else." I grinned. "You earned it."
There're a number of reasons I could use to justify giving the card back to him, such as the later Dark Signers were incredibly weak and pose no threat (I mean Carly, really?). Or the fact that all of them would be defeated if I could just get my hands on the Momentum. Or he might try (and succeed) to get the card back from me by force, severely injuring the rest of us in the process.
But truth is, I just wasn't thinking very clearly at the moment. I wanted to do something as a token of my gratitude and that was the only thing I could think of. I think I mentioned before that I'm not great under highly stressful situations.
Roman's face contorted between bewilderment, disbelief and anger at being slighted.
"You seem to underestimate our powers," He said, grabbing the card out of my hand, "Let me introduce you, to the Dark Signers who would be your demise."
Vincent emerged from his cocoon unscathed except for his tattered clothing. I shot Roman an amused look that he clearly did not understand, so I explained.
"Where do you get your uniforms? I've been thinking of doing the same for my team for a while. I feel like it builds a sense of comradery." If Dark Signer uniforms aren't magically generated, which seems more reasonable than magical underwear, then it follows that Roman must have custom designed them and ordered them somewhere. Or maybe he just bought them off the rack at Minions Unform Co. ?
Roman breathed in deeply as though holding something back, and ignored my comment altogether.
Felice clung to Vincent's arm, Chaos, Kalin and Zigzix slowly encircled the pair cautiously. I would have done the same except for a distraction that caught my eye.
When Vincent came to, so did Divine. And Divine being Divine, he thought he'd try one last time before making his retreat. His monster again under control, Divine chose to directed the beast towards Roman, who was clearing the most powerful creature on the field.
The synchro monster Psychic Nightmare (Lv6, 2400/1600) roared, charging towards Roman. Roman took a step forward (while I took a step back) and held out a monster of his own. "Earthbound Immortal Uru (lv10, 3000/2500), heed my call!"
Psychic Nightmare froze in its tracks, like humans would naturally avoid the tracks of an incoming train, or prey would the scent of its predator.
Just like Kalin's summoning of Earthbound Immortal Ccapac Apu, a black pit formed in midair. Tendrils of purple light reached out from it towards the ground, starting from the Satellite and expanding to the rest of the world, picking up any soul it desires before retreating back into the darkness. With the energy it gathered, the spider Uru begins to form on the ground.
One such strand of purple reached towards Felice, she quickly released Vincent, instinctively pushing him aside before retreating herself. The light followed her as though with a life of its own, determined to get its victim.
"You can't escape the callings of the Immortals by running. Physical location means nothing to the other realm," Vincent drawled. Felice looked at him strangely, he continued. "But you can escape. All it wants is a soul, any soul" Before he finished his sentence, he grabbed the closest person to him, who happened to be Zigzix, and threw him into the light. The purple light paused, then accepted its newest prey and retreated.
All of this took place in the span of a few seconds. Earthbound Immortal Uru had just emerged into this world. For once, I wasn't afraid of a spider, it looked almost adorable and cuddly, with small beady eyes and eight furry legs. Spiders eat pests and kill mosquitoes, they're not our enemies. The giant spider shot out a web towards Psychic Nightmare, the latter of which was curled up into a tight ball in front of Divine, shaking from fear. The web quickly enveloped the dragon-shaped monster, Earthbound Immortal glided towards its captive gracefully, biting into the cocoon with its fangs, presumably to inject venom to dissolve its captive, then drink its corpse.
Okay, forget it, I take it back, spiders are horrifying.
Divine recoiled back in fear and pain from having his synchro monster destroyed, in the most literal sense of the word. Chaos didn't miss the opportunity this time to ride up to him and press a gun to his head. He reached for the trigger, then looked at me. As though getting some kind of message that I definitely didn't send, he turned his gun around, hitting Divine on the head with the butt of his gun, easily knocking out the leader of Arcadia.
That was normally Felice's job, I noted, turning my attention back towards the purple-eyed teenager, who was still recovering from seeing Vincent killing Zigzix.
"Wh-what, what was that?" She stuttered, uncertain how to frame her question, or even what her question was.
"What was I supposed to do?" Vincent shrugged, chuckling.
"You killed him!" Felice accused, then immediately regretted sounding so harsh. But what else was she supposed to sound like when Vincent just became a murderer?
"I'll do anything it takes to protect you," Vincent smiled, ruffling her hair softly, honestly not seeing the problem with his actions. Felice fell silent, the weight of his words and his life hanging over her.
"Then perhaps I should be honored I didn't receive the same treatment,' Ara interrupted as she walked up, just having been healed by the Shadows herself.
If this were an American cartoon instead of a Japanese one, my eyes would have popped out.
I swear the world fell silent for a second, either that or it was all the blood rushing to my head. Probably both. Her clothes destroyed in the explosion, Ara wrapped herself in Roman's black cloak. And from what I could see, only in Roman's cloak. Its red trimmings brought out her cherry colored lips and the rose in her cheeks. Still barefoot, she stepped onto now-charred soil, looking enchanting and hypnotic, exactly like the vixen who would drag the world towards Darkness. Only she does it with card games (I presume) instead of temptation.
Chaos coughed and looked away. Kalin turned his head purposefully to stare at Roman. Personally, I've never been so sure of my own sexuality. If that doesn't turn me on, I'm straight as an arrow. And that's the highest compliment I could think of as far as female appearances go.
Vincent looked unimpressed, so did Roman. Must be the whole 'dead' thing, I thought a little maliciously.
"Don't flatter yourself," Vincent replied. "I couldn't kill you then because that knowledge would jeopardize the Magician's position in the Satellite," He shot me a look, "Thanks to Yuki's impractical sense of moralities. I still needed the protection of the Zephyrs then, but not anymore. Now that I'm a Dark Signer, I'm leaving the Zephyrs and taking the rest of the Magicians with me."
"We are? Where are we going?" Felice asked, slowly shifting away from Vincent.
"Anywhere," Vincent replied. "We only joined so we could get out of the Satellite, remember? Even if you don't like Domino City, I have enough power to take you anywhere in the world!"
"I thought you changed your mind," Felice looked up at him, her violet eyes brimming with uncertainty, "I don't want to leave, none of us do… We finally have a chance to change the Satellite for the better, help its people get back on their feet, repay the land that raised us-"
"I raise you." Vincent cut her off flatly, "All three of you. And I don't want repayment, I want you guys to get out of the Satellite and get somewhere safe. It's too dangerous here. I know you think everything's going well, but that won't last." He turned to me. "Face it Yuki, the power got to your head. You went crazier faster than Kessler." Kalin blinked innocently but decided to keep his mouth shut.
What did he mean 'went'? I thought and said as much.
Vincent looked down at me. The scar he received from Akiza twisted and contorted with every word. I vaguely recalled him paying for the minimum treatment possible when he went to Domino City, more out of habit than anything else, leaving a scar bisecting the corner of his lips to the corner of his left eye. NOw the dark powers that saved him all but erased the scar, covering it with the red markings of the Dark Signers. "Do you really think that all of us were too stupid to see your plans to trap us in the Satellite? We could have all escaped weeks ago, but you were too afraid you'd be useless outside the Satellite, that you would lose the power that you already have. Did you have fun playing with thousands of lives in our little town?"
Oh, that. I only send people away from the Satellite when I'm confident that they would return. In Vincent's case for example, that involved having Teddy stay in the Satellite and under some surveillance. I'm not proud of it, but I doubt there'd be a Zephyr left if I didn't. Vincent, for one, would have left the first chance he got. And obviously, I can't have my team disintegrate. I need to keep some people to run and guard my death machine if I ever succeed in building it. Actually, now that I put it like that, I can sort of see why he might have thought the power had gotten to me.
"The Satellite will fall, Felice," Vincent said solemnly, turning his attention away from me, "If not by Yuki's own doing then because of her. A power-hungry duelist from the Satellite who can actually threaten Neo Domino City, the good Director would crush her as soon as it doesn't interfere with his games. Then the rest of this town be destroyed with her. I'm just another rat fleeing a sinking ship, and I'm begging you to join me."
"I won't abandon the Zephyrs like this. Don't you get it? It's the only hope I've ever had, it's the only hope most of us had ever had. A brand new Satellite, to live like Domino City without having to abandon everything we've known and loved," Felice's eyes sparkled, "Now I get to watch it become a reality, I'm never giving that up."
"You really think she's going to make that happen?" Seeing as I didn't say anything, Vincent continued. Felice tried to drag Vincent away and stop the argument, he instead pulled her over to his side, "Another lying delusional egomaniac who cares about nothing and no one except her own goals."
"I'm not delusional…" I protested half-heartedly.
"So Yuki has her flaws," Felice's tone made it clear that she suspected her own words to be a gross understatement, "We all do. But she's also the best chance the Satellite has, perhaps ever will have. I can't abandon that!"
"I don't give a damn about the Satellite if you're all dead." Vincent swore. He corrected himself reluctantly in an attempt to convince Felice, "Tono's trying to rule the Satellite, like every single one of them before her. She would fail, just like everyone else has failed, and drag the Satellite down with her. Look at the Zephyrs! It's not a team anymore, it's a cult!"
Well, I do have more followers now than I had followers on Twitter, I'm not sure if that's a good thing. Then again, it's probably not a big deal seeing as I only had six followers on Twitter.
"I don't actually think Yuki's trying to take over the Satellite," Felice grinned at me with more confidence than possibly she should have. "Even if she does, we'd do much more good if we were in the Zephyrs, then at least we could stop her."
"Don't be naïve," Vincent sputtered, annoyed. I could see his red eyes turning a little darker. "You don't know what's good for you! This is no different from the time you tried to stick your knife into the electric socket when you were five!"
"I've made up my mind, Vincent. The Dark Signers isn't where we belong." Felice smiled at the remembrance of her childhood mischiefs, but was resolute in her decision. "We've been a lot of things, but we're not murderers." She eyed Divine who was still lying unconscious on the ground, "Not mass murders like the Dark Signers I mean."
"It doesn't matter what Roman did, what matters is that I can get us out now. To live the life we've always dreamt of, deserved! I'm not going to let you rot in the gutters when the Zephyrs eventually crashes and burns."
"While leaving everybody else to rot?" Felice asked.
Vincent rolled his eyes.
"They're brainwashed," Roman held a hand on Vincent's shoulder before he could try to grab Felice and drag her into the Old Reactor. "Yuki Tono brainwashed them to believe her lies. Only by destroying her can your friends be freed."
I saw the red in Vincent's eyes grow darker, like a flame being tainted until all life was drained out of it. His eyes finally settled on a brownish red that reminded me of dried blood.
Fear flashed across Kalin's face as he remembered how he had been convinced by the same types of rhetoric during his time as a Dark Signer.
"Then what are we waiting for!" Vincent reached for his gun instead of his deck. I felt an inexplicable tinge of pride, I had taught him well.
"Not like that," Roman's grip tightened. "Join me, and I will show you the way. Soon, you can win your friends back."
Vincent glanced at Roman, finally nodding. I wonder if in addition to taking control over his soul (I think?), the Shadows was also eating into his IQ.
"You're very good at this," Ara commented with a sly smile on her lips. At Roman's alarmed look, she explained, "I'm more used to the influence of the Shadows, thanks to my first employer. Don't worry though, I'm sure it'll get to me soon."
"I'm sure it will," Roman agreed tersely, uncertain how to deal with a sane Dark Signer.
Distant rumblings signaled arrivals of Yusei and Demak, who had cut their duel short upon seeing the summoning of the Immortals. Crow, who had flanked Yusei for his duel (to shoot Demak in case things turned south) had left to distract Sector Security, so they didn't arrest us for public endangerment.
"Akiza!" Yusei spotted Tentacle Rose shutting Akiza off from the rest of the world, and immediately tried to get her to open up to the outside world.
"Roman." Demak nodded as he rejoined the ranks of the Dark Signers, reporting his findings succinctly. "He's stronger than me."
"Let's get back then," Ara smiled, "I can't wait to learn about my new powers."
Roman cast one last look at the Satellite before leading his Dark Signers into complete darkness. As the sun went down, newly-installed street lamps lit up, enveloping the Satellite in a man-made light it hadn't seen in the past seventeen years. Roman headed deeper into the Old Reactor without looking back, he had lost the right to long after the Light a very, very long time ago.
The Dark Signers disappeared into their hideout. Only Earthbound Immortal Uru stayed behind, sitting in front of the entrance and nomming on its dinner (of Thought Ruler Archfiend). I thought long and hard about it and decided not to try to go up and feed it as a gesture of thanks, in case it actually feeds on me. I guess Roman decidd to his security after what happened (by which I mean what we did to him), but with that adorable arachnoid guarding the entrance, the Old Reactor is off limits.
"Let's talk about something happier," Chaos smiled, dragging a struggling, bleeding Divine.
I turned my eyes to our other problem and felt my lips curl up. Apparently, Divine can't summon anything without commercially-printed pieces of paper on him, so we're safe now that he lost his entire deck in the explosion.
Felice looked at the Arcadia founder with a glint in her eyes that, as I was later told, mirrored my own
"No!" Yusei protested as he realized what we were about to do. "You don't want to do this, just let the Sector handle it."
"Get out of my way Fudo, I know exactly what I want to do." Felice shoved him aside.
"You're not a killer," Yusei insisted, "You're not like him, don't let yourself become one because of Divine. He's not worth it!"
Felice stopped in her tracks, debating between the weight of a human life on her hands and the pleasures in following her heart. As soon as she starts doing that, she's not going to kill anybody. After all, Vincent's not really dead.
It was true main character rhetoric on Yusei's part, but I'm a lot harder to convince than Felice.
"Yuki," the crab-haired duelist persisted, "Don't do this! You don't want to be a murderer."
"I don't 'want' to be a murderer," I laughed, "That doesn't mean I won't be." I stopped in front of Divine, looking down at his fear and tear-stricken face. "Plus, who said anything about killing him?"
Yusei looked relieved but Divine shrank back as far as he could in Chaos' hands. He obviously understood me
"Akiza!" He shrieked, all of his previous pretenses had evaporated into genuine fear.
"What do you plan to do then?" Akiza just left the protection of her monsters, standing uncertainly beside her former mentor.
"Well, this and that, mostly just making sure he can't hurt anybody again." I smiled gleefully. I could lie, but I felt like being honest right now. It's the adrenaline from watching your friends almost dying. "All I can promise is he will live a very long life, and he will be begging for death during every second of it."
"You can't stop murders with murder," Yusei said like a true anime protagonist, "It's the wrong thing to do no matter who does it! If he's a criminal, then let him be tried by the law and now your own idea of what's right!"
I can't stop murders, but I can stop murderers, I mentally corrected, but now's not the time for petty arguments. Now that access to the Satellite Old Reactor is cut off, I need some reliable way to defeat the Netherworld monster, i.e. not using card games. "I will hand him to the Sector if you two do something for me."
"If you ever need anything, you can just ask." Yusei sounded a little hurt.
"Well," I scratched my head uncomfortably, "This is sort of a big favor. I'll let you know by tomorrow." Truth is, I don't know the exact plans myself yet, only a vague idea of what needs to happen.
"Sure," Yusei agreed without thinking. Akiza nodded too after some time.
"You can't be serious!" Felice asked, "It's one thing to not kill him but another to let him go!"
When it comes to Divine, releasing him into the custody of Sector Security is as good as releasing him into the streets of Domino City.
"If that's what it takes. I have to focus on the future rather than the past." I gestured to Yusei, Chaos tossed the leader of Arcadia towards Yusei, who caught Sayer effortlessly.
"I'll get him to the Sector," Yusei got onto his duel runner with Akiza, "I'll see you tonight."
Sector Security still hadn't shown up despite giant flying monsters and flying humans, supposedly focusing all their energy on chasing Crow. You have to wonder what they teach these guys at orientation.
"So, should I track him down or do you want Felice to do it." Chaos waited till Yusei was out of sight to ask.
"What?"
"When Sayer escapes from Sector custody." Chaos said in a self-evident tone. "I assume that's what you meant. You said you would let him go, you never mentioned you wouldn't get him back."
"Good point," That actually never occurred to me but I'm always open to new suggestions, "Lock down the Satellite, send out everybody currently on standby. Divine just lost an arm, he shouldn't give you too many problems. If they take him to Neo Domino, get him out before then."
Felice's eyes brightened up. "I want him alive," She said.
"I'll see what I can do." Chaos agreed.
Roman rubbed his metallic arm with his remaining human hand, as though to imitate the warmth of human touch. It's been at least 17 years since Zero Reverse and at least that long since he's felt something alive. Roman reached for the card he received, 'Earthbound Immortal Ccapac Apu', toying the gift between his fingers. That's not to say he hadn't received presents in the past, either to gain his favor or avoid his wraths, but never out of pure gratitude. After all, why would anyone thank the man who would doom this world?
He realized too late as a sliver of dark energy invaded his body. Roman desperately tried to throw the card away, but it stuck to him, the Shadows channeling its powers to him through its servant, until it took over him completely.
'Roman Goodwin' entered the Dark Signers' headquarters with a sigh of relief. Finally, finally the human is defeated. That human had thwarted his plans since the very beginning, when he cut off his own arm to give the mark of the Crimson Dragon to Rex Goodwin. Over and over again, that man had dominated their actions in the last seventeen years. Really, with their brainwashing powers, they could have taken over the world by now! Instead, they're trapped underground in the slums of a single city.
Thanks to the Crimson Dragon's recent decline in powers, he had been able to rise and finally take full control of this mortal. Today was perhaps that mortal's last time controlling their body, just to 'save' two people. How utterly foolish. Humans are irrational creatures in general.
Nonetheless, that just makes his job easier. Now that the human is all but dead, the Dark Signers and the Darkness shall rise once again.
"Are you okay?" Galen asked just as the sun rose over the horizon on a Saturday morning, an unreasonable hour for anybody to be awake. But the Fortune Cup is scheduled for the coming Monday, and with everything I still need to get done, I might not sleep until them.
"I should be asking you that, you're the one who got hit on the head." I looked up with a tired smile.
"But you look worse than I do. What do you need?" He cut to the chase, still worn-out from the previous day's incidents.
Sleep, I need sleep. I had been reflecting on the mistakes I made in underestimating people in this world, then planning for how I would get the Momentum from Neo Domino City.
"I need you to take all of our available capital and bet it on Yusei winning the Fortune Cup as soon as possible." We can do that now snice Zigzix hacked us into the Domino City network.
"You want us to bet on Yusei and not yourself?" Galen asked with a surprised chortle.
"I'm not planning on winning," I have a much bigger prize in mind. "You know what you have to do in the Satellite?"
"Yeah," Galen replied, "Meet up with Crow when the time is right to pick up the Momentum."
That sums it up pretty well, I nodded approvingly.
Nuclear weapons, I mean Momentum, I mean Fortune Cup, here I come!
Right after finishing up more paperwork.
A/N: As far as humans go, Roman's powers are without a single doubt the most powerful. He can brainwash an unspecified, but definitely significant number of people, judging by the scene when they started expansion in the Satellite by literally brainwashing the masses. So he could have, very realistically and even very easily, taken over the world by simply gaining control of the right people, and probably kill all the Signers who would be difficult to defeat in a duel. But for 17 years, the Dark Signers stayed mostly anonymous. Do you realize how wasteful that is of a perfectly good superpower?
Yes, I want brainwashing powers even more than I want the ability to summon duel monsters. Okay, maybe about the same. :P
Also, sorry this took so long, next chapter shouldn't take as much time.