A/N: Every time I take a long time to edit a chapter, I feel like it gets tamer. All the darkest bits are gone, not sure if that's a good thing.
Once again, the views expressed by characters in the story do not necessarily reflect the views of the author.
"We have to go back!" Yusei announced as he barged into the Zephyrs' meeting room.
He had assumed Yuki had an exit plan, and had just found out otherwise after getting back to the Satellite. He looked across the silent room as though daring anybody to challenge his claim, with a pang, he realized how vacant the room has become. Vincent and Ara had been converted into Dark Signers. Zigzix was tributed to the Earthbound Immortal, now Yuki's trapped in Domino City.
Cyril and Felice sat huddled together over some sales report they're struggling to understand. Kalin was still working on infrastructure design and looked up to give him a blank look. Crow didn't notice Yusei's entry at all. He had headphones on, playing heavy metal so loudly Yusei could hear it from the doorway, as he designed Satellite's grade 3 curriculum. Chaos was in a one-sided, heated argument with Galen, who was either listening impassively or had fallen asleep with his eyes open.
'And then there were seven'. He remembered Yuki's voice, laughing, now haunting him.
"I won't leave anyone behind! I can't let her be taken hostage in Domino City." Yusei didn't mention a name and he didn't have to.
"It's her own idea." Cyril argued. Chaos had remained conspicuously silent.
"To what? Be locked up for life?" Yusei countered angrily, a rare emotion to see on him.
"It's the only way to buy us enough time." Felice defended.
"And look what you're paying with!" Yusei replied.
"She can take care of herself." Chaos added halfheartedly.
"And what if she can't? How would you find out?When you read her obituary?" Yusei looked at Kalin meaningfully, remembering back to the despair he felt when the prison security told him Kalin Kessler was no longer of this world. Kalin looking down, biting on his lips but didn't say a word.
"I'm going back." Yusei said firmly, once again getting his emotions under control. "Whether the rest of you come with me or not."
"No."
"What?" Yusei looked at Galen, surprised. The pink-haired sixteen-year-old had been entrusted with control of Zephyr's security force since Vincent became a Dark Signer, the experience had quickly toughened him up.
Before Yuki left, she told him the real purpose of the Momentum, a weapon to drain the gods and in turn bring prosperity back into the world. She only told him because Chaos was too emotional, and Felice was too attached to Vincent, who was already a Dark Signer. So he alone had the necessary information to prioritize. As much as it pained him to say, Yuki's return isn't a priority.
"I said no, Fudo. We have no leverage. If Goodwin attacks Satellite as revenge for Yuki's escape-" Galen's large brown eyes might as well have been filled with ice.
"Goodwin needs us to fight the Dark Signers." Yusei protested before he could finish.
"Goodwin and Roman are brothers, we have proof they're still on talking terms. One phone call and he can send Dark Signers on a murdering spree in the Satellite. Would you really refuse to fight the Dark Signers then? Or even if he didn't, would you really let the Dark Signers destroy the world because of a feud of Goodwin?"
"We have no leverage until we get the Momentum up and running," Felice explained, "The best thing you can do now is to work on the Momentum."
"What can it do?" Yusei asked suspiciously, earning a couple of chuckles around the room, that's the exact same reaction they had when they heard the idea.
"Mutually Assured Destruction." Felice said quietly. "And the rest of the world would be spared."
Galen gritted his teeth. That's what the rest of the Zephyrs believed, the Momentum could absorb enough energy to blow up the Old Reactor in the Satellite, thereby destroying the passage of the Netherworld Monster into this world. And both the Satellite and Domino City.
Yusei paled.
"Grow up, kiddo. Nervin should be working on this thing already, why don't you go play with him?" Chaos patted him on the shoulder, "Let me take care of the rest, I'll get it done no matter what."
"Good morning," Goodwin greeted at the sound of his door opening as Lazar admitted his first visitor. He stood with his back to the door, pointedly ignoring his visitor, looking instead out the window and towards the city he had built. When Yliaster put him into power ten years ago, Domino City was little better than Satellite's current state, it was him who turned it into the envy of the east coast. No matter how questionable his methods had been, the results were the only thing that mattered. Just like it's the only thing that matters now.
"Good morning, Yuki, you had a good night's sleep I trust?"
"'Morning, Director Goodwin," I nodded, cutting straight to the chase. "There's something I wanted to discuss as soon as possible."
"I think I can imagine what this is about." Goodwin took a folded sticky note from his drawer and flattened it on the desk. "Somebody gave this to Lazar last night, and paid him a lot of money to pass it on to you. He thought it was a phone number for you to reach somebody out of the country, someone to help you escape Domino. Naturally, he took the bribe and passed the message on to me. I told him to give you a photocopy."
"I guess I expected no less," I chuckled, running my finger across the string of numbers, "Then you know what it is?"
Goodwin took a pen out of the same drawer and drew a dollar sign in front. "I must admit, our Fortune Cup had garnered more attention than I anticipated. Domino would have hosted the betting if I wasn't so opposed to gambling, now I'm glad I didn't. Several companies went bankrupt because of you. Congratulations Yuki, you're possibly the richest person in the country right now."
Lazar, who was standing beside the door, gasped. He promptly covered his mouth with his hands.
"Not for too much longer." I wrote another number down on paper. "I've been thinking of acquiring a certain piece of land around the Satellite."
"That'll get you half of Domino City." Goodwin commented.
"Can I borrow a map?" I accepted the map Goodwin offered and drew a circle-ish shape, including within its boundaries both the Satellite and the Facilities to the north, as well as the several hundred miles of land in between, extending to the coast on the east and west.
"That-" Goodwin paused. Even he didn't expect that's what she wanted to do with the money. "That's very ambitious of you, you're taking more than 5% of the country."
"You know as well as I do most of this area, with the dubious exception of Satellite, is too polluted for human habitation let alone usage." I replied, "The price I offered is more than fair." To drain the energy from the all-powerful monsters, I need somewhere to put it. In the absence of a huge capacitor, the earth is the best place I could think of, with the added benefit of restoring land for human habitation and usage. It's just one of the many reasons I have to stay in the Domino for the time being.
"And if I were to refuse?" Goodwin asked.
"Or if the message didn't get to me," I added with a grin, "Then some people from the Zephyrs would approach Tokyo with the same offer. It's hard to say exactly who has control over it anyways."
Bureaucracy.
"You've planned out every detail, I see," Goodwin marveled. "Why?"
"I don't understand. If I were going to plan, I'd obviously want to be thorough."
"You've planned every detail for the Satellite to grow and expand, but whatever you do, you're not one of them." His eyes bore into mine, the conviction in his words were astonishing. Or maybe it shouldn't be, seeing as he was probably speaking from experience. "You're always alone in dangerous situations, left to find your own way out, have you ever wondered why that is?"
"I always find myself in situations where 'strength in numbers' doesn't apply." I replied a little defensively.
"Is that so? No matter how much you care for the Satellite, no matter how much you work or sacrifice for it, no matter how much control you have, you're not one of them and you never will be. Half of Satellite may crumble at your command, but you'll never fit in no matter how much you try."
"You know, Vincent mentioned you'd fit in better than I do." I laughed.
"Not an inaccurate summary of your situation."
"But why would I struggle to fit in when I was destined to stand out?"I paused, refusing to admit that his 'never fitting in' comment had gotten to me just a little bit, "Just because I don't fit in doesn't me I don't belong. And you can make the process a lot easier by allowing the Satellite to belong to me."
Goodwin didn't look too happy. Of course not, he never had that kind of options while stuck in the Satellite. "I will accept your proposal, on the condition that you stay in Domino City."
I looked up without even a hint of surprise. "What do you have in mind?"
"I believe the reason your mark was never activated is that you never cared about any of the duels you were involved in." Goodwin surmised not entirely inaccurately, and I admitted as much.
"The Professor might have had a chance, but he was too weak." I told him honestly.
"If you'd like, I can give you a reason to fight." Goodwin said it like it were a sincere offer, the malice behind his words were evident.
"Such as?"
"Your friends in the Satellite?" He proposed airily.
"Tokyo would intervene long before you could get your hands on them." I assured him with genuine confidence.
"You have faith in your friends in high places?" He tried.
"I have faith in my friends in the Satellite and the amount of damage they're capable of." Especially now that the glycerin had been shipped back 'for moisturizer' and definitely not explosives.
Goodwin conceded to my claims with a light grimace.
"Nonetheless, it might be much easier for you if you cooperated from the start. I have only your best interest in mind." He shifted the subject.
"Which is what, exactly?"
"To activate your Signer mark." He replied, "In anticipation for the war."
"What exactly do you have in mind?"
"I will find for you, the best duelists in the world, and you will face progressively more difficult challenges until your mark is activated by the game. Of course, if you lose and your mark still doesn't show up," Goodwin glanced at Lazar, who immediately stood at attention, "We'll deal with that accordingly."
"Great. I'll send you a list of the cards I need," I replied. That should buy me some time. "And you can send the completed contract to me after you process the land purchase." I handed the map back to him.
"You'll see the contract tomorrow." Goodwin nodded, they both understood, the price for the land was as much the money as it was her stay in Domino City. Still, it doesn't hurt to keep her happy for now. Law, borders and possession would be meaningless soon enough.
"That's a lot of money, Ms Tono." Lazar threatened as he moved to let me pass. "You should be careful, people have been killed for far less."
"I think I'll be fine." I assured him. "The bet was made in the name of the Zephyrs, so it would need the consent of the majority of Zephyrs for any funds to be withdrawn."
"But it is your money, isn't it?" Lazar's eyes shone with greed, "For example, in the event of your death, it would go to the state, us."
"Upon my death, the Zephyrs would be evenly divided between Chaos, Galen and Vincent, well, I guess Felice now. I have designed the will so that no alterations can be made within the next two years." Two years should be enough to sort everything out. Anime timeline were usually a little obscure, but I was pretty sure each season was a year and the 5Ds series had like 2 seasons, right?*
"You wrote a will?" Goodwin fell silent for a second, mulling over what the teenager must have been thinking when she realized the very real possibly of her own death, then planned for it accordingly. "Surely you're too young to have a will."
"Apparently not." I laughed, gesturing to my surroundings, "It's useful isn't it?"
I brushed past Lazar as I walked out, shoving him roughly out of the way like I normally did, keeping my tongue between my teeth to keep them from chattering out of fear. I had been no more than a step away from whatever they did to prisoners in the Facilities, and I don't mean the prison in the dubbed version.
Goodwin still seems convinced that I'm a Signer, for now. But if I do lose a duel, he would be equally convinced that all I needed were 'motivation'. Reproach from Tokyo might be a nuisance, but at the same time, that's all it would be for him, a nuisance. Not nearly enough of deterrent to keep him from a more drastic measure of motivation.
X
"If I may we do have another way, Director." Lazar offered as the teenager left the room, his eyes gleaming with pleasure at the idea. He despised the woman, for more reason than he cared to count. "One that allows you to be much more in control of the process."
"Yes?" Goodwin replied shortly.
"Well," Lazar leaned a little closer, "If you give me some time, Director, and with your permission of course, I could break her, I'm sure of it."
Goodwin glanced at Lazar, not saying a word. Lazar correctly understood the prompt to go on.
"I know you need her alive as a Signer, of course," Lazar continued, "But there're other ways. I could get her addicted. Cocaine for example, usually only takes one dose. If you're worried about her being able to get her hands on a substitute, we do have new opiates the Satellite can't yet manufacture, she wouldn't be able to get it anywhere but here. From you I mean. Give me a month, and I promise you, she'd do anything you say for a high." Lazar snarled.
His smile was suggestive enough that Goodwin had to hide his shudder.
"We don't have a month," Goodwin wasn't sure if he was relieved or disappointed Lazar's plan wouldn't work, nor was he sure which emotion he should be more concerned about.
"Might I suggest sensory deprivation then?" Lazar tried again. "To deprive somebody of sight, sound, smell and touch. It would drive the average person insane within a day. A Signer might last a bit longer, but certainly not a week."
"I need her sane." Goodwin rebuked again, instinctively.
Lazar looked disappointed, Goodwin wasn't sure if he felt the same and it terrified him that he didn't know.
"There's a easier way. A life in Domino city had been enough temptation for Jack Atlas to switch to our side within a day, Yuki Tono wouldn't last much longer. She had lost the creature comforts once before, she wouldn't be able to resist regaining it." Goodwin said aloud, more for his own benefit than Lazar's. So this Hope of the Satellite that he would have wished for ten years ago would fall by his own hands, one way or another. She must fall, so that a better world might rise.
"It shall be as you wish, Director," Lazar bowed. Goodwin gritted his teeth, turning his eyes once again toward the city he had built.
"Still know where this is?" Chaos skidded to a stop in another nameless street in the Satellite, waiting for Crow to do the same. Pearson's falling body flashed in front of his eyes
"Yeah," Crow got off his runner, walking till he stopped directly beneath a nondescript seven-story building, staring at the sidewalk in front of it. He didn't see Robert Pearson when he jumped off the roof three years ago. By the time Crow got there, his body had long been cleaned up. All Crow ever saw was a dark uneven stain on the pavement. Crow got down on one knee, tracing the bloody outlines that had been washed off by the relentless passing of time, leaving only a maddening sameness on the cracked pavement.
"They're remodeling the place," Chaos rang his fingers along the wall. This is where Chaos had lived, just across the street from the building Pearson chose to jump off of. "I mean we are remodeling the place. Knocking these crumbling buildings down so they can put up safe housing. Soon all of this would be gone."
"Why did you bring me? Here?" Crow asked, he certainly didn't know Chaos well enough to reminisce with the man.
"Pearson had done everything he could for you kids," He should know, he knew Pearson for what seemed like forever, until he left because Pearson's dreams got too dangerous for both of them. Chaos began his rehearsed speech, "I was wondering if you would be willing to do the same."
"What do you mean?" Crow asked.
"Pearson gave his life for something he thought was worthwhile," He remembered Pearson looking his way, locking eyes with him where he sat inside his own room, before jumping off. Chaos didn't know why Pearson ran across half the city while being chased by the Sector, only to jump off the building across from his, He didn't know and he didn't want to find out.
Chaos pointed to where Pearson's body had lain, speaking with a twisted smile, ""Pearson gave his life for something he thought was worthwhile" Whatever that was, "I wanted to ask if you wanted to sell yours too."
"Sell me life?" Crow repeated incredulously. "You can't afford it. All lives are priceless, remember?"
"Are they?" Chaos offered a forbearing, almost fatherly smile. Crow shuddered. "How could you still believe that, grow up in the Satellite?"
"Of course it is! I dare you to look any of the kids you take care of, and tell them their lives has a price."
"But they do, just because I can't say it doesn't change anything. " Chaos stuttered a little, dragging the conversation back onto the script he prepared, "Every life has the potential to be priceless. I have yet to know of one that is. If you want to know how much a life is worth, don't look at them when they're born, look at them before they die, and tell me how much their life was worth. Had it really be priceless just because they were alive? That they existed however briefly to have experienced the good and evils of this world? Or were their lives utterly mundane and replaceable, characterized only by the millions of people who inevitably suffers the same fate?"
"It was irreplaceable to them!" Crow protested
"But does their opinion matter when it'll be buried forever with them?"
"It," Crow stuttered.
"Every life has a price, kid." Chaos chuckled. "We may not agree with the number of the tag, but every life has a price, and that's why I brought you here, so we could discuss yours."
"You're serious?" Crow took a couple of steps back towards his runner, his eyes darting quickly to find possible escape routes.
"We're demolishing this area to construct a new community dedicated towards kids who lost their parents during the Incident. My idea." Chaos said a little smugly.
"What do you want from me then?" Crow asked guardedly.
"What's your life worth to you? Is it worth a guarantee that all the kids you take care of would survive to adulthood? Get an education? Have a career?"
"I-" Crow stuttered. In the Satellite, people have died for far less.
A couple of months ago, before opportunities in the Satellite flourished, he might have jumped at the chance and been grateful for the privilege. Now his life was worth a little more, because things he needed to survive were worth a little less. But that might not last, very few good things in the Satellite does. To give up his life for...
"You want me to go into Domino to get Yuki out?" Crow realized, that's riskiest mission they have so far,"I know it's dangerous but you could have just asked." Without all this depressing price of life stuff.
"No. That's my job. Remember, I'm the adult. As long as I'm still around, it's not your turn. But if I don't come back from this, there's something I need you to do."
"What is it?" If Chaos hadn't led with the frankly freaky heart-to-heart, Crow would have just said yes. Not he's not so sure.
"Our last recourse is the Momentum." Chaos clenched his fists. "As far as I understand, if the Signers lose and Dark Signers win, the entire world faces complete annihilation. So we got a secret weapon, Momentum."
"So?" Crow knew that much at least, he was there.
"When the last Signer is about to lose," Chaos continued, "We would activate Momentum, which would destroy the entire Satellite and a large part of Domino City, which would destroy the Dark Signers and the path the Netherworld monster uses to cross over into this world."
Crow nodded, that part was never explicit but it did hover in the back of his mind. Then he understood. "You mean everybody in the Satellite would be dead! if we don't want everybody in the world to die."
"That's right." Chaos agreed, "So I need you to stop that from happening, or at least give us an extra layer of security."
"How?" Crow felt uneasy. Chaos shouldn't need a build-up like this to convince him to save the Satellite.
"If I don't come back... Well, if Yuki doesn't come back, I need you to kill the Dark Signers." Chaos replied.
"You want me to... Kill?" Crow repeated vacantly.
"Every single one of them, if you don't want every kid in the Satellite to risk death because of your sentimentality."
"I can't!" Crow replied instinctively. "I can't kill!"
"Then you're killing the entire Satellite, if the time ever comes. Inaction is still a choice Crow, you're not less guilty because you didn't do anything."
"The Signers might win!"
"Will you risk one million lives on a handful of duels? Do you have the right to gamble their lives away?"
"I'm not a killer!" Crow said desperately.
"You will be. Then only difference is how many people will die because of you. Five Dark Signers, or one million Satellite lives." Chaos paused, seeing the wavering resolve on Crow's face. "When I leave, you'll take over for me in the Zephyrs. With the resources I have under my control. there's no way you can fail."
"It," Crow recoiled, "Why are you pushing this on me?" He asked a little resentfully. He had never been one to shy away from responsibility, but murder goes against everything he ever believes in, but it doesn't look like he has a choice.
"You're the most likely to say yes," Chaos said naturally, "And you're the most likely to succeed. The rest of the Zephyrs know Vincent and Ara too well, they wouldn't be capable of it."
Right. Crow remembered. Vincent and Ara both became Dark Signers not too long ago, to eliminate all Dark Signers, he would have to kill them too.
"I-" Crow decided to follow his heart and-
X
"Ahem!"
Chaos looked up in surprise as Felice stopped her motorcycle nearby. Her motorcycle is the quietest of the bunch and it always annoyed him to have her sneak up.
"I certainly hope our government appointments takes more than a decision by the predecessor." Felice teased gently.
"How did you find me?" Chaos wasn't at all amused.
"Come on, you really thought I wouldn't check up on you after something like that? It might as well have been a will." Felice smiled tiredly. "I've been here since your 'price of life' speech. You're not alone in this Chaos, we stick together, so it's certainly not your burden alone to bear. If it comes to that, the blood is on all of our hands."
"You'll pick up the slack when I'm gone?" Chaos asked.
Felice nodded.
"Crow's a good kid." Chaos continued.
Felice nodded again.
"Do you think you could name this place after me when I'm gone?" Chaos asked hopefully.
"You don't need to write your will yet We have a secret weapon."
"Momentum?"
"Not yet, but almost as good, we have the Black Rose now, remember?"
*Lol, the 5Ds had like 4 seasons, but it felt more like 2, as in half of the seasons didn't feel complete or had enough of a plotline to stand on its own.
A/N: That wasn't so bad, right? Ended on a positive note and all.
I got rid of the darkest parts because frankly, they were depressing, even for me. Couldn't resist keeping a tiny bit of it in still, anybody wanna guess why Pearson chose to jump off where he did? There're two ways to understand it, which is why Chaos said 'he didn't want to find out'. :P I feel evil. XD