Author's Note:
What the hell – it's alive! Two and a half years later!
I hope you are staying safe, healthy and sane during this crazy time in the world. One thing the COVID-19 lockdown did for me was force me to sit down and find time to actually write a new chapter. What I'm publishing now as Chapter 37 is actually only half of what I've written for it – but it was getting way too damn long at 30 pages! So I split it into two and have Chapter 38 written already and am just working on editing it, which hopefully won't take longer than a week…
Can you believe I've been writing the same Yugioh fanfiction for 10 years (in July)!? I'm a crazy person lol. But I truly don't think I can ever move on to writing any other things until I finish this beast. The good news is I have the full story in my head still, wrote a few draft chapters ahead to push through a writer's block, and the ending is still the same (I promise it'll be happy).
I don't even know if anyone is still reading this but I'll keep publishing these as they keep pouring out of my head. For those of you – registered fanfiction users or guests – who've left reviews, messages, subscribed or favoured over the years – as always, THANK YOU.
NineInchNailed.
"Listen to the wind blow, watch the sun rise
Running in the shadows, damn your love, damn your lies
And if, you don't love me now
You will never love me again"
~"The Chain" by Fleetwood Mac
"You can choose and change destiny."
A photo of him, holding the WRPGs winning cup in his hands, Aki, Jack, Rua, Ruka, Crow and Bruno by his side, celebrating with him.
"Mine or theirs?" Yusei asked, in the precipice between worlds; recognizing him. He's seen a photo of him, surrounded by friends; someone between the worlds and time. The serious amethyst eyes, the wild hair. Yugi Mutou's other self.
"Everyone's," Pharaoh Atem answered and then he morphed into someone else. His eyes became his own eyes peering back at him, from a face that was also his, adorned with gold jewelry and garments of stardust. "But it's a choice that will carry a price."
"What's the price?"
"What is the price of a single human life?" the other Yusei pondered as if hypothetically. There were numerous marks over his face and body: they were scratches painted on and shining silver on the skin which was a couple of shades darker than his own. "What is the price of one life if it means to save countless others - thousands? Millions? Billions? It is but a fleeting moment, unregistered in the infinite existence of the cosmos. But this moment…can be inestimable if it means to balance all the realms in existence. A payment of one life – to change everything."
"I don't understand. How?"
"The realms are adjacent and the barriers have now weakened. They've started crossing over... The end of your known world is becoming unavoidable. But you can still change how this will end," the other Yusei said in a voice centuries removed and held out a scarred hand. Surges of ruthless cold and heat as if from the sun itself radiated from him. "You only have to reach and choose it."
"And if I choose not to?" Yusei asked.
The mirrored reflection studied him, expression unchanged. His own cobalt-blue eyes but with a flash of bright, electric blue to them, so vivid it was nearly green. The stardust on his robes sparkled like numerous, tiny diamonds within the galaxies of the stars. "You would place a gamble on their lives? This choice is where your destiny has lead you. There is no other way."
"There is always another way," Yusei said. He thought of an alternate future he had seen for his friends – all of them gone, having moved on with their own lives. Aki – far, far away, overseas. And, instead, he'd conjured the image of their WRPGs win again – all of his friends with him, celebrating. They were all together. In Neo Domino city - together. He thought of all of them meeting up regularly and maybe even keeping Poppo Time as their usual hangout spot, even as they grew older, even as many years were to go by. He thought of Aki peacefully asleep in his arms. And this was what he wanted. He embraced this wish deep within his heart and he was not going to let it go.
A change in the expression of the other Yusei, brief and fleeting and impossible to interpret. Then he disappeared and Yusei sluggishly awoke to the spinning, hazy gray. When he finally focused his gaze, he recognized the ceiling of the underground laboratory where he was dueling Aki-Set.
The earth trembled underneath him with light and rhythmic vibrations. It resonated with each hum and turn of the Freedom Forward reactor. Beyond there, somewhere in the impossible, if you concentrated enough you could hear the screaming of thousands of sacrificed souls trapped inside there.
"Where…" Yusei's lips formed and his voice came to with a delay. He heard those soundless screams but for just a moment. Then they were drowned out by the heavy droning of the reactor and the ringing in his own ears. His hearing seemed off; it felt like his ears hadn't popped.
The hazy conversation he'd just had with his doppelganger, the finality and weight of those words, the confusing combination of fright, awe and recognition, and of extreme temperatures clashing together.
"There always has to be another way," Yusei whispered aloud. It was a statement supported by twenty years of his life and all the impossible battles he's faced and won, against all odds. There was no destiny but the one chosen with his own two hands.
Yusei felt the trembling ground, became aware of his own body, and – flexing the muscles to move – began to get up.
"…You go-…-take…-urn?" words carried to him.
In the corner of his eyes, the grotesque, bloody puddle of where senator Higuchi used to stand was a short distance away. The Freedom Forward reactor was slowly slurping from that horrific pool in thin tendrils.
Yusei found his balance, swaying. Then, immediately, he turned away from senator's macabre remains and vomited.
Dark Aki was watching him, excited eyes huge on her pallid, malnourished face. There was fresh bleed from her nose as a result of that vengeful surge of power she'd thrown at him.
"Did you hear?" she asked. "Are you going to take your turn? I finished."
Nauseous and disoriented, Yusei wiped his mouth and glanced at her side of the field to catch up.
[Dark Aki]
[End of Turn Two: Dark Armed Dragon (Lvl.7) ATK2800/DEF1000 in Attack Mode; Continuous Trap Card Discord in Play; 3 Face down Cards; 0 Cards in hand; LP1000]
Two additional facedown cards. Three now…but she's only got 1000 Life Points left… he thought, hazily. His thoughts seemed to be moving through a fog, interpreting his surroundings after a short delay. He felt a swell of nausea awakening again in his stomach (certainly not helped by the grisly grave next to him) and a rolling deep headache that began in the back of his head and pulsated through the cranium.
"You're starting to look as rough as me, Osiris," she giggled, clearly satisfied with the work she's done on him.
Something had been persistently trickling over Yusei's right eye, dripping down his face and down his chin, so he finally swiped at it with his sleeve. His sleeve came away stained red. He touched a burning spot on his forehead and winced. It was a fresh cut, not too deep, but going through his eyebrow and bleeding considerably.
He finally started remembering what must've happened only a few minutes ago. He noticed cuts of varying degrees all over himself. After I was thrown…after Stardust was destroyed… The shirt below his collarbone and at his chest was nearly shredded. Rags of it were hanging off him, revealing numerous cuts and bleeding scratches underneath. His sleeves were in tatters also and there were gashes on his legs. Additionally, the sign of the Crimson Dragon was throbbing faintly on his forearm. He felt faint surges of pain from it and understood instinctually what this meant: Crow and Ruka have also been badly hurt during the past turn.
Slowly, he touched his hand to the back of his head, at the source of his mounting headache. His hand came away with more fresh blood.
Yusei suppressed a rueful laugh. He must've been thrown during all his duels at least a hundred times. Not counting all the times fighting Set. But after all the falls he's had, all the times he had hit his head and was miraculously okay afterwards – it looked like his luck had finally run out. He felt it, recognizing the symptoms of a concussion without ever having had one before. And he knew that if he were to start falling over, vomiting some more and getting seizures…well, he'd better start hiking to the nearest hospital as soon as possible. But it wasn't fatal (yet?) and he could still stand, function and fight.
Yusei glanced over at Aki, saw the fresh blood on her face, and felt a jolt of sickening fear and a wave of queasiness dropping to the pit of his stomach. He took a short intake of breath, holding surges of heavy nausea at bay. Then he breathed out and…almost laughed aloud in a sudden bout of lunacy.
Everything was ridiculous and terrifying and it all hurt. It hurt bad. And the head injury wasn't helping either, clearly. He thought to only a month ago where all of them went to school and work, where they worried about nothing but what to do on the weekend together, what new food to try and which new movie to watch. He thought of all the times Crow complained about not meeting enough girls, of all the days Jack grumbled about not being a millionaire yet, of all those stupid little gadgets he brainstormed with Bruno during their garage all-nighters, of how excited Rua and Ruka were when they came over to duel after school, of all the glances he stole of Aki when she wasn't watching. It couldn't be weeks – it had to have been lifetimes ago. A time more impossible to come back to with each passing minute. How did they get here? What the hell was he doing here: in this fucking underground dungeon, next to what was basically a nuclear reactor about to blow, playing a card game against a psychotic Egyptian God in Aki's body?
Aki. Aki, is this what's destined for you and I? Could this be the future meant for us? Yusei wondered distraughtly. Not even the lonely future he'd seen in-between the conscious worlds, where the Signers drifted apart pursuing their own interests and he was the only one to remain in the city they've saved. No, they were in this fucked-up future where him and Aki have seized their happiness together but were torn apart by a sadistic enemy and potentially about to perish with thousands – no, millions – of innocent people.
No. You can't lose it now. Focus. Yusei drew in a deep breath and forced himself to acknowledge the reactor behind him, to recognize what the needle trembling at the edge of the orange gear – a centimetre to the left of the red – meant. He let this frightening vision centre him back and reproached himself: You can't afford to lose your sanity now. This will not be the future so many have suffered for. This will NOT be the future you've been fighting for. "My turn, draw," Yusei announced, shaking his head to sober up from his lapse of judgment.
"What the fuck did you just call me?" Jack Atlas shouted at Crow, fuming from anger. A fake King?
"You heard me right," Crow quipped and before Jack had a chance to add another pissed-off sentence, went ahead with is turn. "Alright, if I control a Blackwing monster, I can Normal Summon Blackwing - Elphin the Raven without tributing. Come!"
Another one of his signature monsters appeared in Attack mode, ATK2200/DEF1200.
"That's it?" Jack goaded.
"Not even close. Now, I tune Blackwing – Kochi the Daybreak to Blackwing – Shura the Blue Flame," Crow went on and placed a silver Synchro card on the duel disk. "Darkened gales, reveal hidden wishes on your wings – Synchro Summon! Appear, Black-Winged Dragon!" And his Signer dragon had finally made its appearance with a defiant roar, facing off against Red Daemon's Dragon.
Immediately the Signer mark on Crow's arm – which was already lit up – pulsed brighter and stronger. It was calling to Jack's monster but the fierce red dragon would not respond to it. And neither did Jack's forearm symbol; not since he'd turned against them.
"Your ace is not strong enough against Red Daemon's Dragon and you know it," Jack threatened as he looped around the stadium with his dragon flying high by his side, a monster as proud as its master. It had 500 more attack points stacked in its favour.
"Quick-play Spell card activates!" Kiryu suddenly announced, having awaited this moment. "I can target a Face-up monster and give it Attack points equal to its Defense points. Crow's Black-Winged Dragon - gains additional 1600 points!"
"Thanks Kiryu!" Crow exclaimed as his monster's Attack points increased from 2800 to 400 and ordered: "Attack, Black-Winged Dragon! Shadow Squall Blast!"
Jack growled and shielded his face as Red Daemon's Dragon was annihilated. He lost 1100 Life Points and one speed counter. His speed had also dropped, involuntarily of course, and he'd fallen just a smidge behind Kiryu.
But Crow wasn't done. "And now, Blackwing - Elphin the Raven - attack Jack directly!"
The feathered monster flew up to Jack's Wheel of Fortune and delivered a serious blow. Jack gritted his teeth and hung on, as impassively as he could, when another blast shrouded him. He refused to let his annoying opponents see that this had in any way affected him. His Life Points dropped further from his starting 8000 to 4700 now. His speed counters dropped as well and his D-Wheel slowed down until he found himself riding a fairly significant distance behind Kiryu and alongside that jackass Crow.
"Then I place a card facedown and end my turn," Crow finished and grinned a satisfied smirk at pissed-off Jack beside him.
"You've blown your only chance to defeat me," Jack warned, aggravated beyond belief at their teamwork, that he'd let them destroy his dragon and take so many of his Life Points. He drew a card, announcing the beginning of his new turn. "I'm going to finish this."
"And then what?" Crow inquired. "If you were to end this duel next turn – what then, Jack?"
Jack looked at him impatiently and like he was stupid. "After I defeat the two of you, my rightful duel with Yusei awaits."
"I reckon Yusei is going to be occupied," Kiryu piped in. "Dueling Set and all."
"Yeah, too busy to bother with something as petty and annoying as another one of your duel challenges, Jack," Crow added before Jack had a chance to respond. "How many times have you dueled him already? A gazillion and won only once, like five years ago? Time to move on, no?"
Jack was fuming. "My strength now cannot be rivaled by the likes of Yusei. I am the true King of Games and it is how it always should have been; and always will be."
"And what for, huh?" Crow asked. "That's so important, is it? More than the friendships we've built, the victories we've had as a Team 5Ds?"
"Yes."
"More important than anything else?"
"A dream that is your own," Jack spoke up. "Is the only true purpose to one's life. I pity all of you for not ever having understood this or for not having your own dreams that drive you. A dream becomes a destiny you can't deny."
"Oh that's cool," Crow groaned. "So you backstabbing us and joining Set's ranks was nothing more than you chasing your dream all over again, huh? And is this what you think achieving your dream looks like?" He gestured all around them, at this vast stadium empty of spectators aside from Sherry's busy duel on the second floor. "This secret dump, unknown to the rest of the world? Is this what fame looks like to you?"
"This is only a start," Jack retorted. "This whole thing won't be underground for much longer. I'm going to be announced as the King within next week." It was as promised to him, once the new technology (which was of no interest to him) were to launch. He was going to be the undisputed King of Games, known throughout the city and then the world. Defeating Yusei later on today would only cement the victory he'd felt inside his heart and make this as official to him as it was ever going to be.
"Is that what you've been led to believe?" Kiryu asked calmly, almost compassionately, as he drove ahead of the pack.
Jack glared at him, hearing disgusting notes of sympathy in his voice. "It's the truth."
"You know what the truth is, Jack?" Crow asked. "It's not this bullshit illusion you're imagining. It's not this bizzaro-world where you've been made a King. I mean really – what the fuck, dude? You think Set will just let you be a King in our ruined city, like nothing's happened? Better yet – if Set continues his sacrificial duels how many adoring fans do you think you're going to have left? Wake up! Your promised kingdom isn't real."
Jack shrugged impassively, undeterred by anything said. He didn't have to justify or try explaining anything to them. He had no doubt, whatsoever, in the bright future laid out ahead of him. For the first time in a long, long time – since he'd last been the King of Games, really – he had felt certain of what he wanted and fulfilled within his soul. And there was nothing any of his old friends could've said that would make him think otherwise.
"I'm starting my turn," he proclaimed. "You will regret not having brought my Life Points to zero. First, if my opponent controls a monster – which both of you do – and I control none, I can Special Summon Gear Changer from my hand." A Level 4 mechanical monster in a shape of a drill appeared, ATK1500/DEF700. "It's got a special effect. When it's summoned, I can increase its level to one face-up monster my opponent controls. I pick yours, Crow, so now Gear Changer's level is 8."
"So…just like that?" Crow managed, unable to hide how upset he was by this. His words weren't getting through, as if bouncing off a wall. The image of all his friends, back together, the Team 5D's, away from everything that was happening here…seemed further away than ever before. And it wasn't only upsetting or anger inducing: it was frightening.
"Crow," Kiryu said, noticing his friend's despair. "The duel continues. There is still time."
Jack resumed his turn, having grown weary of their fruitless blabbing. "Next, I activate a Spell Card, Archfiend Palabyrinth. I can target a fiend monster I control and sacrifice it to Special Summon – from my hand, deck or graveyard – an Archfiend monster with the same level as my sacrificed monster. I sacrifice my new Level 8 Gear Changer to bring back RED DAEMON'S DRAGON." His loyal, powerful monster instantly returned to the field, albeit with original 3000 Attack points.
"The hell there is time," Crow snapped at both of them of his friends, further infuriated by that damn dragon coming back, AGAIN. "You know we don't have any time left, Kiryu." He shook his head in agitation and then looked at Jack and blurted out: "And how much time is there left for Carly, anyway?"
Jack's ears prickled and he let himself get distracted for a fraction of a second. That name nicked something in him, even though it shouldn't have – considering everything was fine. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"We don't know if she's ever going to be fine, again!" Crow shouted.
Jack let out a short sigh of frustration. This was just more nonsense from them. "Next, I Normal Summon Majestic Dragon! Come!" A small, pink Level 1 Tuner monster appeared, starting a set up for a very, very dangerous combo with which Crow – and all the Signers if they were watching this duel - were familiar. "And if I control a Tuner monster I can Special Summon Boost Warrior from my hand, in face-up Defense Position." Another Level 1 monster appeared.
Crow was too troubled by their earlier conversation to be panicking about what Jack was about to do. "Carly had fallen that day, Jack!" he shouted at him. "You know that, don't you? You saw it?"
Involuntarily, Jack paused in the midst of his combo and finally, reluctantly, acknowledged the other Signer.
"You were there! I bet you saw it! Carly was hurt badly. And now she's in the hospital, dying!"
BA-DUM. It was a deafening noise both inside Jack's head and his chest. And he felt as if a block of ice appeared in his stomach and it rapidly expanded until it reached his lungs and hindered his breathing.
Jack stilled, card in hand, eyes frozen on the road ahead.
"You gotta come home, brother. She hasn't been well at all. She needs you."
"I know what to do next," Ruka said, reassuring both the white lion by her side and her possessed brother of this belief. "My turn!"
As she added the newest card to her hand and glanced at her draw, it all fell into place just as she felt it would.
"I'm certain you do," Rua said. The red light from the Sacrificial circle shined sinister on his face, mirrored by the evil presence of the rusted Power Tool Dragon next to him. "Let me guess: sacrificing the rest of your Life Points to keep your monsters unharmed? How predictable."
"Have you forgotten your own cards, Rua?" she asked instead. There was a purpose to her sacrifice, short-term as well. "The Megamorph Magic you've equipped has a limitation. If your Life Points become higher than mine, the monster you've equipped it with has its attack drop to half of its original. Power Tool Dragon's original attack points are 2300, so it becomes 1150."
Rua frowned as his powerful, distorted dragon grew weaker. "That's it?" His Life Points were still at 3000, more than thrice hers.
Ruka went on without honouring him with an answer, resolved in what she needed to do. She summoned a Spirit of the Breeze, a Level 3 fairy, and then began the next stage: "I tune Level 3 Spirit of the Breeze to Level 4 Regulus. The holy light of protection, now cross and become eternal life! Synchro Summon! Ancient Fairy Dragon!"
"What are you planning to do?" her brother taunted as her protective and devoted monster appeared. Just like during Crow's duel with Jack and Kiryu upstairs, the Signer dragon started calling out to the tainted sibling dragon but the latter wouldn't respond to it. "You can't even attack with your useless Ancient Forest magic, unless you want to lose your monster at the end of the turn! And with 2100 Attack points – your fairy dragon has always been the weakest of all the dragons."
"I know you think my cards and I are weak, Rua," Ruka answered, unaffected. "But I know it's not you saying this. And I'm going to show you, otherwise. Ancient Fairy Dragon special effect activates! Once per turn I can destroy a Field Spell Card. I select Ancient Forest."
The greenery of the forest around them evaporated, revealing the clear red bubble of Set's sacrificial circle. "And that's not all. Because of this, I can gain 1000 Life Points and add one Field Spell Card from my deck to my hand." Her Life Points went up from 900 to 1900 and she added a card to her hand.
"Go, Fairy Dragon!" she ordered, not wasting any more time. "Destroy Power Tool Dragon!"
As Fairy Dragon lunged into attack, the signer mark on Ruka's arm flared with scorching pain, making her cry out. Tears stood out in her eyes and as she glanced across the field she saw that something was happening to Rua too. His hand was squeezing his forearm. There was no red light of the Signer birthmark there and yet… he was cringing, as if from pain also.
I can do this, I can reach him, Ruka thought, encouraged by what she'd seen.
The corrupted Power Tool Dragon disintegrated into small shards.
Rua was shaking his head quickly, eyes still streaked with Set's nefarious red. His Life Points dropped to 2050, the distance between their points balance reducing. Ruka felt their lives intertwined as if by the same thread.
Rua activated a button on his duel disk: "I'll make you regret this. Trap Card activates! When-"
"No! I won't let you," she shouted, instantly activating her own. "Fairy Wind! It destroys all other spell and trap cards on field, including my own."
Rua shielded his face, betraying his composure, as his only facedown card was demolished. His sister had one on her field too which also disappeared. "That's it?" he tried but he recognized that somehow this girl managed to level the score and even obtain an upper hand.
"And then…" Ruka went on. "The damage equal to the total number of cards destroyed. Both of our cards, multiplied by 400. That's 800 points of damage." Then she smiled sadly, searching for her brother's face, remembering his dear smile behind that unwavering mask. "But I won't let you go through this alone. You and I are not going to be apart in this, either. Both of us take this damage."
When the smoke cleared, the two siblings were equally disheveled and panting. Ruka was on her knees but Rua was already up and very angry.
"Is that all you've got?" he scowled. Nonetheless…there was a small, inexplicable falter to his voice, one which surprised and disgusted even him.
His Life Points were at 1250, hers at 1100.
It was time to end her turn. Ruka studied the remaining cards in her hand and a new Trap card caught her eye. She had found it in a pile of her friends' cards last night – when all of them were sharing and reviewing strategies for their battles today. And it didn't matter if it belonged to Yusei, Sherry, Kiryu, Bruno or Crow. When she saw it, she knew she had to have it for this duel with Rua; because it would be the one to turn the tide of this battle. She had reached for it, asking if she could have it, and one of her friends' voices kindly agreed.
"I set three cards facedown and end my turn," Ruka announced. She caught her breath and found the strength in her legs to get up.
"You can't damage me without damaging yourself in the process too, huh?" Rua commented, declaring his turn. "Well. You're certainly making it easy. I almost began to feel impressed before you started helping with depleting your Life Points."
Ruka still smiled to those words. "It's the only way that I can fight you. Don't you remember all the times we've dueled each other? All the times I've ended up self-destructing upon a rare victory over you?" She laughed. "Oh how mad you used to get. Do you remember what you used to say to me Rua?"
Her brother didn't appear to be listening, staring at his cards but… He made a small, annoyed grunt.
"You used to say, 'It's bad enough that I lose, but you, Ruka, you gotta change your strategy! If you tie with me, how are you ever going to defeat anyone else? How else are we going to be dueling champions together?' Do you remember? And the Rua I know never stopped believing this about us. Because our lives are connected. Yours and mine, Rua."
"Spare me your sappy words. I don't care," Rua hissed crossly, dark eyes glued to his cards.
His words flew by her ear and she did not even blink. She felt strength in her resolve, unbothered by this evil image of her brother and feeling in her heart that the real him was just under the surface.
"I summon Morphtronic Videon in Attack mode," Rua started his turn, bringing out another signature monster to the field but which was distorted in some way. He used a Spell card Double Tool C&D to boost it, giving it extra 1000 attack points for a total of 2000. And with a special effect of Morphtronic Videon, it gained extra 800 attack points for each Equip Spell card equipped to it. At 2800 it was now stronger than her Ancient Fairy Dragon. "You made a grave mistake letting Yusei go," he ridiculed her. "You may have stood a chance in this duel if he stayed."
"Each of us have our own battle today," Ruka answered confidently. "I would never have permitted him to stay with you and I, Rua."
A small, sinister smirk touched his mouth. "That's right, he wouldn't have stayed with you anyway. Not even if you begged." Then, as he declared his monster to attack Fairy Dragon, he blurted out: "It's just not in the cards. Because you know that, don't you, sister? Yusei will never love you."
Inside that damned memory world or purgatory or wherever she was – no, inside that black prison inside her head – Izayoi Aki studied the image of Set with abrupt clarity.
Feeding on her fright and insecurities, he looked like he did in the nightmare of that night – his original host with snowy hair, thin and tall body – but he was slowly becoming more and more disturbing. His dark eyes were now tinted red in the sclera. Mouth wider than possible in a human being, starting to stretch past the cheeks, towards the ears and gaping open. Sharp multiple teeth, numbering at least double of how many there were normally supposed to be. Lips and gums a bleeding red, stretching grotesquely as if painted on a clown.
"Accept this! There is nothing for you here but pain," he hissed without moving his lips to pronounce the words. "This was all your fault and you know it. Now go shrivel up in your insecurity again and let this end." He gestured at Yusei's injured form, at the ambulance sirens many, many miles and worlds away.
With an agonized heart Aki ignored the image of her lover in her peripheral vision, instead continuing looking at the source of all this misery. "No," she retorted. No, it wasn't my fault. It wasn't my fault. I have to repeat this and I have to believe this.
"That's all you've got to say?" Set asked, that creepy stretched and partially open mouth locked in a perpetual grin. "You think that it's all this is going to take? Just saying no!?"
She hesitated with uncertainty. "No," she managed again.
"Aki," wounded Yusei called and, despite her better judgment, she glanced in his direction and hairs stood up on her neck. On his knees, he cradled his midsection with one arm. His eyes were dulling, his pale, ashen face distorted with agony.
Aki bit down on her lip and shook her head.
"Help…me, Aki," Yusei groaned, mouth thick with blood.
Aki continued shaking her head, trying not to lose it. "This isn't real. That night is over. This isn't happening anymore."
"Oh?" Set hummed. His features resumed altering in small, disconcerting ways, a wall of black fire and shadows surrounding his form. "Can't you see he's suffering? Because of what your power did to him? And people say I'm cruel?"
"I can't…breathe," Yusei rasped, struggling to take short, wheezing breaths. The black-red puddle underneath him spread wider. He was losing so much blood. If she didn't hurry, if she didn't run towards him right now, if she didn't try to help him, he was going to collapse, suffocate, die, die, DIE-
Aki fought herself from screaming in despair. "No. No!" It wasn't my fault! I would never have wanted to cause such suffering to Yusei. I would never have done anything to hurt him – never, never again. I love him, I love him, I-
"Whatever," Set focused elsewhere. "Not like there is anything you can do. It's all but minutes left in that world anyway. Not worth fighting over. Not worth my fucking headache."
A headache? Aki repeated, still hearing her lover's suffering in the background amplified by Set's manipulation. Is that all I've been reduced to? "No…I…" she attempted, fighting against that image of Yusei in her side vision and wishing she could mute it too.
"Done?" Set yawned, barely paying attention to her and focusing elsewhere on what was clearly more important to him. "Fuck off into your self-pitying obscurity and give me some peace and quiet, will you?"
"No!" Aki shouted, quietly surprised by the newfound ferocity in her voice. "No, I will not! Never again!"
Set ignored her. Aki understood that it was only a short matter of time before this vision of him would disappear, and she'd be flung somewhere else within this darkness…doomed to loop the memory world again, pointlessly fighting the circle of past enemies again and again, losing precious time inside the real world…or worse, descending forever into the oblivion of Nothingness.
She had to fight and harder than ever before. She had to fight both this awful enemy and her own suppressed, underlying and toxic darkness: that juvenile self-doubt too glad to drown her yet again. Because Atem had said that this was her last try and that she still had an important role to play; that there was someone she had to stop.
She was bound to a chair with ropes. She could feel her rapid pulse in her temples against where the electrodes were glued, frightfully anticipating another electric shock at any given moment. So before that could happen she pushed against the binds, feeling them tighten and constrict her circulation further, a repetition of her useless struggle that day. "This isn't real," Aki whispered, trying to rotate her wrists. "This isn't real." She jerked her head side-to-side trying to get the electrodes to rip off her head.
Ahead of her, wounded, bloody Yusei sagged to the ground. She vividly heard his last gasps for life, those quiet, wet and horrendous moans of pain. The sounds that had burnt brightly into her brain and which could never be erased.
No. It wasn't my fault, it wasn't my fault, everything I did was because I wanted to help Yusei. Because I love him. And what happened is this psychotic, Egyptian maniac's fault. He did this to us and to everyone, Aki told herself. "This isn't real, it's not real, this isn't real," she chanted while still struggling against the binds keeping her. She was stronger than this, damn it. She fought against many challenges and she survived them all. And she had friends waiting for her outside of this poisonous darkness. "I can do this. I have to get out of here. And then I must fight him. Yes, I can fight him."
[Yusei Fudo]
[Beginning of Turn Three: 0 Monsters; Dragon's Retribution Continuous Trap Card in play; 6 Cards in hand; LP1200]
Set swiped Aki's weak arm against her forehead, getting rid of some perspiration. Not much longer now. This girl's body or the reactor going first, the sequence of events didn't matter in the face of the inevitable.
Yusei added a new card to his hand without looking. His outer field of vision had started to blur and he also felt a fresh push of nausea from the pounding pain in his cranium. He was on a cusp of vomiting again but if he focused intently on the dueling field, he was able to keep it under control.
Stardust Dragon was gone and he had absolutely nothing else on the field while going against Set's overpowered dark dragon. But at least he still had Rua and Ruka's Trap card to keep chipping away at his enemy's Life Points.
"Dragon's Retribution activates," Yusei spoke out. "Once per player's turn, it depletes your Life Points by 300 as long as you have a Dragon-type monster on your side of the field."
Set looked completely unbothered as his Life Points dropped to 700. In fact, it was because he wasn't actually listening to this drivel. Instead, he was more preoccupied with the needles and tubes attached to his arms, and was growing increasingly agitated and stir-crazy. The stabbing agony of the headache underneath the eyeballs, barely dulled by the morphine. The uncontrollable, indescribable itching everywhere, just underneath this borrowed skin. The throbbing of the overworked, alive organs inside. All the IVs feeding into him – the blood bags, the painkillers, the clear saline for hydration – all to prolong the life in this weakening body for as long as possible.
He shuddered from disgust. He was so exhausted of being stuck in these failing, filthy human vessels – bags of rotting meat, really. None were even remotely strong enough to sustain him as a host for as long as he truly needed. But he was so, so close to being out of here. He just had to persevere for a little while longer. Half-distracted, he grumbled to the captain of 5D's: "Clinging to your last, feeble Trap card won't help."
Concentrate, Yusei told himself and finally studied the cards in his hand. He saw the means of bringing back Stardust Dragon but it wasn't enough to finish this battle. He saw other, powerful cards but they didn't appear to fit together; there was no strategy that he could see. He also noticed a vaguely familiar card that he'd just drawn. It wasn't his card. It was Crow's.
Think. Think, he closed his eyes to shut away the dizziness and the sick, possessed Aki in front of him, and to drown away the noisy trembling of the reactor behind him. Crow's was the last tribute from all the Signers to aid in this battle. All his friends were here, gathered around him. Their hands outstretched towards him, offering their help. Arms open, he could almost reach out and…
This. It clicked, like a light illuminating a pitch-black stadium: cards and strategies connected in his head, circuits coming together. Yusei's eyes opened and he saw a stream of probability to how this could end. It was a percentage of a chance but a possibility nonetheless.
"When my opponent controls a monster and I control none, I can Special Summon Blackwing – Sirocco the Dawn from my hand!" he announced and played Crow's card in Attack mode. The bird-like beast appeared. It was Level 5 with 2000 Attack and 900 Defense points and seeing the Blackwing monster show up was like having Crow himself, right here, by his side, and Yusei almost smiled.
"Trap card, open," Set intervened, returning his attention and flipping up one of his three cards. Yusei held his breath in case he'd miscalculated. "Hidden Soldiers! When you summon a monster I get to Special Summon one Level 4 or lower Dark monster from my hand. I select Shadowpriestess of Ohm. Come, in Defense mode!" A dark sorceress appeared with 1700 Attack and 1600 Defense points.
This is still fine, Yusei thought, although he imagined Set was building up a combo for next turn; probably planning to add another powerful monster to his arsenal. Not to mention – knowing Set's deck and tactics – this new monster was likely hiding a nasty, damaging effect. He had to be careful.
"Next I play Magic Card, Graceful Charity," Yusei went on. "I get to draw three cards and then discard two." He did that, sending two useful monsters to the graveyard and ending up with an extra card in hand. "I'm also playing a Magic Card, Mystical Space Typhoon," he said and pointed at the Discord Trap card on Set's field. "I can destroy one Spell or Trap card on the field." Without that damn Trap he could continue to Synchro Summon.
Set's hand reached to activate a facedown card. His fingers twitched, he contemplated, and then changed his mind. "Whatever," he mumbled, fixing a morphine catheter in Aki's arm which dislodged itself from his unintended tics.
Yes! Yusei thought, relieved, as Discord was finally out of his way. "Next, I Normal Summon Junk Synchron in Attack mode," he went on and summoned his recognizable yellow tuner robot with ATK1300/DEF500. "When Junk Synchron is Normal Summoned, I can Special Summon one Level 2 or lower monster from my Graveyard in Defense position. Come, Speed Warrior!"
Another signature robot appeared, a Level 2 with ATK900/DEF300.
Dark Aki watched this whole procession with boredom.
"Finally, if I control a Tuner monster, I can Special Summon Quillbolt Hedgehog from my Graveyard. Come!" A hamster-like monster appeared in Defense mode as well, a Level 2 with ATK800/DEF800.
"Bunch of low-level garbage assembled on your field in one turn – how unpredictable," tired Set commented sarcastically as Yusei now had 4 weak monsters after starting the turn with nothing. He felt numbness starting to set in and flexed Aki's fingers deliberately to push it away. It made him very consciously aware of the foreign human skin he was wearing and it felt like a clammy, fleshy suit that he was forcefully zipped in. He again shook from revulsion, hating every second of this.
"I tune Level 3 Junk Synchron to Level 2 Quillbolt Hedgehog!" Yusei was continuing with his plan. "Gathering stars will call upon a new force! Become the path its light shines upon! Synchro Summon! Come, Junk Warrior! In Attack mode!" Probably his most fiercely loyal monster appeared by his side; even when he didn't have Stardust Dragon, Yusei always had Junk Warrior in his deck. He could always rely on it.
Junk Warrior's Attack was at 2300 and Defense at 1300 points.
"No way to bring your useless Stardust Dragon?" Set mused, now flexing fingers on the other hand. He squeezed them hard into the bandaged palm, causing the wound to re-open. But this twinge of pain temporarily returned all sensations under his command. "Your Synchro monster doesn't have enough points to take on Dark Armed Dragon. Are you going to take your chances with Shadowpriestess of Ohm?"
"When Junk Warrior is summoned, its Attack power is increased by the total attack of all Level 2 or lower monsters I have face-up on my side of the field," Yusei explained. "I have Speed Warrior. Who - while only has 900 Attack points to start – actually doubles its original Attack points during a Battle phase. So Junk Warrior gains extra 1800 points now."
Junk Warrior growled and flexed with its additional power. It now had 4100 Attack Points. In addition to that, Speed Warrior also now had more gravitas with 1800 points.
Set suddenly looked a little more awake. "Huh?"
Yusei now had 3 monsters ready to attack, all more powerful than Set's who only had 700 Life Points remain. If he could just go through with this…it would be over…he'd win. He let this sliver of hope empower him.
"Let's go! First, Speed Warrior, attack Shadowpriestess of Ohm!" His monster ran up to the dark priestess who only had 1600 Defense points.
"No," Set activated one of his face-down Traps. "I activate Nightmare Mirror. By discarding one card from my hand, Nightmare Mirror reflects my opponent. The mirror now becomes the attack target instead of my monster." Speed Warrior smashed the creepy-looking mirror and returned to Yusei's side of the field.
"Also, sorry but not sorry – you get to take 1000 points of damage," Set added, clearly satisfied with this outcome: Yusei didn't have any facedown cards to protect him so this meant a damaging, real-life psychic blast that was about to take his Life Points down to the meager 200.
Yusei quickly revealed a weak, 1-star Effect monster from his hand. "I activate a Special Effect of my monster, Hanewata, which can be activated during either player's turn. By discarding this card I take zero damage this turn."
Set frowned.
"My turn continues," Yusei said, down to only two cards in hand. "Go, Blackwing – Sirocco the Dawn! Attack the Shadowpriestess!" Crow's monster with 2000 Attack points flew to the dark priestess and successfully obliterated it. Unfortunately it was in Defense position so there were no damage points to take.
Set now only had the frightening Dark Armed Dragon on his field, with Attack points of 2800 against Junk Warrior's 4100.
"And now, Junk Warrior! Go! Destroy Dark Armed Dragon!" Yusei ordered and Junk Warrior obeyed the command, flying towards the dragon to unleash an attack.
"Surely you can't expect it to be this easy," Dark Aki remarked. "Dark Armed Dragon's Special Effect activates: I can banish one dark monster from my Graveyard and - as you're aware, I now have 4 with Shadowpriestess there - I can target one card on the field. And destroy it. So, you know which I think I'm going to destroy? Speed Warrior."
Speed Warrior exploded into pieces and Yusei gasped. No! He'd miscalculated, badly, and now his devoted monster was paying the price.
With Speed Warrior gone, Junk Warrior's attack dropped back to 2300. Nonetheless, as commanded, the monster still loaded its shot and fired at the vicious dragon. But Dark Armed Dragon instantly counterattacked and demolished Junk Warrior.
Yusei shielded his face from the real blast and his Life Points dropped by 500 down to 700, matching Set's.
"Oh how sad, all this build up just for you to lose your Synchro monster," Set goaded.
Yusei still had Crow's Sirocco the Dawn by his side but this wasn't at all how he thought this turn would go. Losing Junk Warrior so quickly was a painful blow and he reproached himself for his overconfidence. He should have known better. But…nevertheless… Yusei glanced over the remaining cards in his hand. No, it wasn't hopeless yet. There was still a chance to end this in his favour – and a final chance to reach Aki.
"I set two cards facedown on the field and end my turn."
[Yusei Fudo]
[End of Turn Three: Blackwing – Sirocco the Dawn (Lvl.5) ATK2000/DEF900 in Attack Mode; Dragon's Retribution Continuous Trap Card in play; 2 Face down Cards; 0 Cards in hand; LP700]
Yusei glanced back at the Freedom Forward reactor behind him to check the situation. He saw the needle just at the edge of the red zone and the sickening surges of panic assaulted him like a tsunami. No, no, no! There was so little time left!
"My turn," Set mumbled, unhurriedly.
[That motherfucker Set]
[Beginning of Turn Three: Dark Armed Dragon (Lvl.7) ATK2800/DEF1000 in Attack Mode; 1 Face down Card; 1 Card in hand; LP700]
"Dragon's Retribution activates," Yusei spoke out, stilling the fearful trembling in his voice. Concentrate. Concentrate. Don't think about the reactor. Focus on finishing this duel. "Once per player's turn, it depletes-"
"Yeah, yeah, I fucking get it," Set growled as his Life Points dropped by another 300 points down to 400. He pressed his hand against his forehead, hard. It was difficult to concentrate in both realms and he was so damn tired. The worst was: he was so, so close to being free. There was going to be no more pain, no more interventions from these puny humans, no constricting laws of the Balance and only the ultimate power and existence he deserved. He just had to grit his teeth and persevere for a little more. And, wait a minute, why was he playing a card game against this annoying human again? In his increasingly dissociative and impatient state he couldn't recall why he'd agreed to do this in the first place. But, then again, he also knew that he'd never be the one to back down from a challenge, no matter how small or petty, and not when the ultimate satisfaction was close at hand. So he was going to entertain these little annoyances until the end. For he was gracious like that.
Set started with his turn: "First, I'm going to use Dark Armed Dragon's Special Effect and, this time, get rid of your annoying Trap card." Another one of his Dark monsters in the Graveyard was banished, leaving him with 2 there. He could continue using this dragon's effect once every turn for as long as there was a Dark monster available in his Graveyard. And…all of his monsters were Dark, of course. "Fuck off," Set waved his hand as Yusei's Dragon Retribution Trap disintegrated.
Thank you, Yusei thought to Rua and Ruka who'd given him that continuous Trap card. And, because of it, Set had spared both of his facedown Trap cards…at least for now.
"Then let's finish this. Dark Armed Dragon - attack," Set pointed at Yusei's Blackwing – Sirocco the Dawn.
Yusei thought apologetically to Crow's Blackwing monster as Dark Armed Dragon lunged at it and smashed it into pieces; he couldn't protect it from destruction although he had every intention to. And he once again shielded his face from the real blast with his scratched, bleeding arms but it was strong enough to push him back. He swayed, lost his balance, and caught his knee to the ground.
"Done?" Set smiled wryly as this meant 800 points of damage to Yusei's 700 Life Points.
"Trap Card activates!" Yusei shouted, getting up – albeit somewhat unsteadily. "Spirit Force! It can only be activated during damage calculation during my opponent's turn. I take no damage from that battle and can add 1 Warrior-type Tuner monster with 1500 or less Defense from my Graveyard to my hand." Junk Synchron returned to his hand, ready to be Summoned again next turn.
"Good thing I'm not quite yet done," Set sighed tiredly. "During Battle phase only, I can Special Summon Juragedo from my hand." He summoned the only card he had left in Attack mode and it was a vascular blue monster with enormous, sharp talons. Its stats were ATK1700 /DEF1300. "Additionally, when Juragedo is summoned I get to gain 1000 Life Points." His Life Points went up to 1400, much to Yusei's dismay.
Set went on: "And hey - now you've got no monsters left to protect you. Go, Juragedo! Attack him directly! Also. See those nice, sword-like claws he has? Let's try for a repeat of our first duel, shall we?" He pursed Aki's lips, briefly turning away from the subconscious world where he kept Aki trapped and focusing his energy in making Solid Vision real so it'd mangle his opponent.
As the creepy monster started running towards him, Yusei flipped up the only remaining Trap on his field. "Trap activates – Stardust Re-Spark! When your Special Summoned monster declares a direct attack, if its Attack points are greater or equal to my Life Points I get to negate the attack."
Set's monster halted mid-way and returned to his owner's side of the field. Dark Aki stared, exhausted. All that concentration for nothing? And he again had to slip half his focus back into Izayoi Aki's unconscious, further contributing to his fatigue.
"But I'm not done," Yusei continued. "With this trap, I also get to draw 1 card and then Special Summon Stardust Dragon from my Graveyard. Come back! Stardust Dragon!" And the stunning silver dragon returned with a triumphant cry, making Yusei feel almost jovial at this comeback. He was still woozy from his fall and all the numerous small injuries, but at least his mind felt clearer with Stardust by his side – even with the relentless, disorienting fog his concussion was gradually pushing on him.
"Fuck you and that damn dragon," Set gasped, almost dark with fury. He was panting. Yusei saw how Aki's body seemed to almost shrink even further into herself. She looked so unsteady.
"Stardust Dragon is my destiny," Yusei reiterated the belief he would always hold within his heart. "As long as I have it, I will be victorious. Now, end your turn, Madhi."
"Much your destiny brought you," Set reflected. "In the end, you've never ended up being of any use to Osiris. And you're going to die in an explosion shortly. And your death will feed into my new body. Hee-hee-hee-hee…"
"That's not going to happen," Yusei promised.
"And you're not even worried about your friends. I'm certain some of them have already perished from their battles. And been sucked up into my reactor, watching you lose."
"I'm not worried," Yusei answered, projecting confidence into his voice. But it was a lie. With this awful feeling of dread in the air, with the stale, overwhelming smell of blood coming from everywhere and that infernal, spinning hum of the reactor…his heart was in his throat thinking of all of them: of Crow and Kiryu going against Jack, of Ruka in a sacrificial duel against Rua, of Sherry and Bruno fighting somewhere in this building, of Carly who was at the death's door, all by herself in the hospital. Yes, they were all in mortal danger. "I'm not worried because I believe in them."
"The way you believed in your two Signer friends who joined my ranks?" Set let out a wheezing snort somewhat resembling a chuckle. "Gotta say, that must have been really disappointing for you."
Yusei couldn't stop his teeth from clenching in anger. "Are you done? End your turn," he repeated.
"Oh it was so, so easy, dear Yusei. You want to know how I did it? I may as well tell you, give you some closure in these last remaining minutes," Set surmised. "I had shown all of them what they were so afraid of seeing. You'd be surprised what lies in the centre of a human heart. Let me give you a clue: it's not courage or selflessness like you like to believe. It's fear. Insecurity. Anxiety. Hatred. Darkness." He sighed as if in delight: "Ripe, rotten darkness was…pulsating inside all your friends."
"You've just brainwashed them with your lies," Yusei summarized, trying to keep frustration from showing on his face. Hurry up.
"Oh-ho. No. No lies, Yusei. That's not how it works. My power is to read their real, actual fears and bring them out. I can't create what wasn't there before. Let me give you an example, sweetie. Take your friend, Jack Atlas, right? Did you know how insecure he is?"
Yusei wouldn't honour him with an answer to that disrespectful question.
"Well, poor insure Jack Atlas has always had this dream, you see, and these days he's become a little ashamed of it because of you: becoming a King. That's all the poor guy has ever wanted ever since he turned 8 years old. Ah, I saw it so clearly - it's painted all over this guy's soul. And you know what? All of you have held him back from it, made him forget about it. He'd grown tired of the mundane life he was leading with all of you. You were the ones who were cruel, not I. All I did was show him what he wanted to see. I fulfilled his dream for him. Oh and he had a little thing for his girlfriend when she was a little kinkier as a Dark Signer; follows her commands like a dog with a wagging tail. But hey – no judgment here!" Set laughed.
"Jack…" Yusei managed, unable to help himself. As much as he didn't want to listen to his enemy's words, he'd still heard them and they've upset him. Is that all that really mattered to you? And had we all let you down this much in our friendship?
"Now, what can I say about that little boy Rua." Dark Aki paused and then giggled, "Not much, actually."
"Why don't you stop talking and finish your turn?" Yusei tried again, livid at the awful things he was hearing and also visibly anxious at all the precious time this discussion was taking up.
"He was the easiest to convert actually. All I had to do was threaten to kill his sister and he folded like paper. Ah-ha-ha-ha."
"Damn you! Stop lying!" Yusei snapped. He wanted nothing more than to cross the distance between them and to… to what? To hurt him physically? While he was in Aki's body? Put even more damage on her than what the enemy had done? What the hell could he possibly do?
Set resumed taunting, clearly enjoying himself. "And I don't need to tell you how easy it was for me to convert your Izayoi Aki. But I've told you this before, haven't I? She felt so guilty after I killed you. I did a great job making her think it was her fault. Weak minds are just so easy."
"Aki-" Yusei gasped, anger pumping hot through his veins, and awakening him from the relentless fog of his concussion, "-Aki is not weak."
"Ha. Sure, not with her powers. But weak in the head. Damaged. All of them, actually. All your friends. All humans, really."
"SHUT UP!"
"Oh!" she cracked a smile at his outburst. There were streaks of red on Aki's white teeth, washed out against her colourless dry lips. "You're not losing some of that characteristic cool, are you Fudo Yusei? The truth piss you off that badly? I haven't even told you the worst of it."
"What's that?" Yusei inquired despite better judgment.
"Ding-ding-ding! And now you're out of time!" Set suddenly exclaimed gleefully. "Thanks for playing! Look back!"
As Yusei glanced back the system's warning bells went off. The reactor had begun crossing into the red zone.
"That's a lie," Jack answered to Crow's strange allegations about Carly. "That doesn't even make sense. Carly is...fine." But he had to put some effort into saying the last sentence. It felt challenging to say, somehow. What the hell? Jack ignored the odd sensation.
"How can you even say that?" Crow asked, stupefied.
"Easy," Jack answered. "I see her every day. I saw her and talked to her just before you all decided to show up today. Now, enough with your nonsense. I'm continuing with my turn."
"He's telling you the truth," Kiryu spoke up, watching them both in his bike's rear mirror as he drove on ahead. "Your girlfriend's been in the hospital for days, Jack. The ICU. Critical damages. And you don't even have an idea."
Jack snorted. "Enough. I tune Level 1 Majestic Dragon to Level 1 Boost Warrior to Level 8 Red Daemon's Dragon! Lone polished light, become the true supreme ruler and illuminate the earth! Shine your light! Synchro Summon! The great soul, Majestic Red Dragon!"
A frighteningly powerful, legendary version of Jack's dragon appeared. Its Attack was at 4000 and Defense at 3000 points. Additionally, it had so many distinct special effects. This majestic dragon was responsible for winning countless battles, all on the side of Good – and what was it doing now?
But both of his opponents didn't appear to be significantly triggered or concerned by the dragon's arrival. Instead, they exchanged a look amongst themselves. Then Kiryu suggested, "Why don't you show him, Crow?"
Crow took out his phone, pulled up something on it and tossed it over to Jack. Jack almost contemplated letting it drop on the ground and riding over it by "accident" with his D-Wheel, but – as an honourable man he was – he caught it and decided to entertain their stupidity for a bit longer. He glanced at the screen uncaringly and…nearly slammed on the brakes by accident.
"What the fuck is this," he mumbled. He looked up at Crow and then at Kiryu with his black-within-black Dark Signer eyes. The two of them, somber, and not saying anything.
Jack did a double take at the screen. A girl…Carly, yes it was Carly, was lying in the hospital bed. Numerous apparatuses around her: countless IV drips and tubes, monitors. Her hair – usually shiny and soft – looked like fine, dry straw while plastered on the white pillow. The top of her head was bandaged entirely and there was a small splash of burgundy red near her temple where some blood had seeped through. Her kind, pretty face was gray-green, gaunt, exhausted and tortured. No glasses to be found.
Jack felt pangs of something like…fright. Like the sinking, harrowing feeling where you've accidentally stumbled on a vivid photo of a dead body and it's sunk into you that what you were looking at wasn't fake.
Carly. Carly. Carly? "I said, what is this?" Jack repeated, his voice hoarse. His hand clenched Crow's phone so tight it was close to breaking it.
"She's dying, Jack," Crow said. "We saw her yesterday. The doctors…they said there is very, very little chance. They've done all they could and now it's all on her. We were with her every day but maybe we weren't enough to help her fight through this. And where were you?"
"Screw both of you. This is bogus. I…I know it," Jack retorted angrily but the words rang follow…almost false. There was an influx of nausea that suddenly appeared deep in the pit of his stomach. It's Photoshop or some shit. "I saw Carly every day here. She-"
"I don't know what kind of a mirage you've been seeing but that sure as hell wasn't Carly and you fucking know it, Jack!" Crow shouted. "What would Carly even be doing in this stupid place, huh? Encouraging you to be this asshole you've become? Being this fake King in this embellished garbage dump with some ridiculous new dueling technology? Come on."
Jack opened his mouth to respond but nothing came out. He gulped as the feeling of queasiness amplified. He stared hard at the cards on the dashboard of his D-Wheel and then glanced at the Majestic Red Dragon soaring by his side. Carly… Carly running towards him, screaming his name, her huge round glasses falling and shattering upon impact with the ground.
No. She's fine. I just saw her-
Carly speaking sweetly, supportively, but oddly to him this morning. Her black Dark Signer eyes matched his own. But then, for a fleeting moment, when he glimpsed back at her, he didn't see her at all…but, instead, it was a very malnourished, worn out Izayoi Aki on a verge of fainting…and no, not even her, she was behind some dark hissing shadow which pulsated and twitched like a disgusting swarm of locusts.
"She-" Jack started and then wiped a drop of cold sweat that rolled down his face. He realized his clothes were sticking to him and that he'd inexplicably started sweating. What the fuck, what the fuck… "I will not be distracted from this battle - the duel goes on!" he shouted. "Let's go, Majestic Red Dragon! They both have their aces out on the field." He pointed at Kiryu who's been getting way too comfortable and still had all his Life Points: "Get rid of Infernity Doom Dragon - Attack! Ultimate Power Force!"
Kiryu had two facedown cards on his field and flipped up one. "Infernity Force! When an Infernity monster is selected as an attack target and I have no cards in my hand - I can destroy the attacking monster and Special Summon a Level 4 or lower Infernity monster from my Graveyard."
"Your negligence against Majestic Red Dragon's power is pitiful, Kiryu!" Jack yelled. "Majestic Red Dragon Special Effect activates! When an opponent's card or effect that would destroy my dragon is activated, I can negate the activation and destroy that card."
Kiryu swore under his breath when his Trap Card was obliterated. But Jack wasn't done: "In addition to that, I get to inflict damage to my opponent equal to the Attack points of Majestic Red Dragon. Take all 4000 points of damage, Kiryu! Satisfied now, you pale douchebag?"
Kiryu's mouth dropped open, completely betraying his composure. He was going to lose the duel in one go. His eyes widened as the Majestic Red Dragon released its vicious attack at him. He was about to be engulfed by its fiery light when-
"Trap card open!" Crow shouted. "Chaos Life! When a player's Life Points would become 0 by a card's effect, the selected player instead gains Life Points equal to the amount of damage they would've taken."
The dragon's fire engulfed Kiryu but when it dissipated, painlessly, he'd gained 4000 Life Points instead – ending up with 8000 in total.
"Crow, you saved me," Kiryu breathed out. "Thank you. I will repay you."
Jack glared at Crow with rage, anticipating the smug, puncheable grin on his face. But, instead, the fellow Signer was looking at him with equal parts determination and sadness. "Yes, this battle continues Jack! We are not giving up either!"
Jack snorted. "You can't win." He glanced at Carly's dreadful photo again, his sympathetic nervous system still going haywire... Hesitated… And sullenly tossed the phone back at Crow.
Crow barely managed to catch it. "So? Jack?"
"My turn continues," the self-appointed King of Games declared. He shook his head to clear it from nonsense and unnoticeably took a few quick breaths to compose himself. Jack…Jack… an imperceptible breeze brushed through his hair, carrying an echo of her soft voice.
"Then bring it on!" Crow shouted. "Show us what you've got, King Jack. We're still waiting to be impressed, aren't we, Kiryu? Hey, maybe Carly can wait a little longer too – she's only been in critical condition for a few days, no biggie!"
"Fuck you," Jack spat. He had a brief moment of pure rage where he considered crashing into Crow's D-Wheel right now, all so Crow's annoying face could eat some dirt. But then he changed his mind. "During the End Phase, I have to return Majestic Red Dragon to the Extra Deck. But I get to Special Summon Red Daemon's Dragon back in its place. Return," he commanded authoritatively and his loyal ace re-appeared on the field.
"I'm impressed now," Kiryu commented and smiled wistfully: "Because of how much you remind me of myself when I was lost, Jack. I too had been mislead: believed in what wasn't there, allowed myself to be consumed by anger and to be pushed into an absurd mission. I had made some very, very stupid mistakes. Done and said things I wish I could take back. Learn from me – and don't follow this path."
Jack…you can do this…
"Whatever," Jack mumbled. "I don't care about anything you have to say to me. I'm setting a card facedown and ending my turn."
Kiryu let out a little laugh. "Sounds like me, too. That what you all had to deal with, Crow? I was this bad? Sorry, man."
Crow chuckled. "Yeah – during our Team Satisfaction days, after Team Satisfaction… Even with your escapades in Satisfaction Town. God, you're an annoying son of a bitch, Kiryu."
Kiryu touched his fingers to the front of his helmet, acknowledging that accusation.
"But you are worse, Jack," Crow declared. "And this is why we're here today. Because sometimes you're literally the most annoying douchebag on the planet – but you're the Team 5D's douchebag. We couldn't leave you like this. And we've come to beat some sense into you. And to fight for you."
Jack looked at him, amused and a little disgusted. What the hell?
Look and really see your friends, Jack. You don't have to do this, Carly's voice carried to him again through the gentlest breeze. It brushed against his forehead as light as a trace of a beautiful thought, as warm as a touch of a loving hand. He snapped his head in its direction and for a fleeting moment he thought he could see Carly – fragile, nearly transparent – in his side mirror. She was smiling at him sadly. Listen to what they're saying and understand.
Kiryu announced the start of his turn but Crow was still talking to the proud Signer: "And you are one of my closest friends, Jack," he confessed and shook his head, laughing. "You should have guessed that I'd be coming here to fight you. You're annoying as hell, sometimes you say the dumbest of things and you have ego the size of the sun, but damn it if the years we grew up as kids don't mean everything to me. You're my brother and I will always fight for you."
Jack almost said something like 'Whatever, shut up' so he could concentrate on Kiryu's turn, but once again he had a hard time finding the words. Because, really…it was kind of true what he'd said. Not the annoying or dumb things he'd erroneously accused him of but their longstanding camaraderie. Yes, Crow and Yusei were the people he grew up with. They'd shared so much together, been through some serious shit together. They were brothers. For the majority of his life so far, he had them…and then, recently, he also had Carly.
And he saw it again. That strange night, a few days ago, as if it were a fever dream. Carly being punched by a security guard. Hit hard enough to accidentally tip over the balcony… falling… Lying on the ground with her limbs spread like a doll, her blank, tearful eyes staring up at the ceiling, at him. "Jack! I'm Carly, remember me! Remember us! Please. PLEASE."
Kiryu was continuing with his turn. He was summoning another Infernity monster. Then he was playing a Spell card. But Jack was looking at the mirage of a girl in his motorcycle's mirror and then watching Crow who was driving next to him, occupied with his cards. Jack's hand absently went to his pocket and felt for the object there. There was a warm, burning sensation in his forearm.
He was sitting with his arms crossed on his chest, a tad moody, unhappy and self-conscious. Carly was laughing at him. She even took off her glasses to wipe her eyes! He had regretfully ended up revealing his dark, hidden secret – that despite where they were as Team 5D's, his fall from celebrity-hood and despite being such good friends with Yusei now – he yearned to be the best at dueling and to become world-famous once more. He wanted to a life and a career of a professional duelist and he couldn't see himself doing anything else. But then Carly said, "Of course you do, silly guy!" and explained: "I know you want to be King again. Of course, you do. Past year hasn't been easy for you. So I'll always support you in that. You know that, right Jack? No matter what."
Jack saw the Team 5D's standing in front of that cheap Poppo Time place, waving at him, calling his name. Aki, Rua and Ruka. But also Kiryu and Bruno on the side. Yusei and Crow at the front, Carly next to them. And behind them…a stadium of people who've come to see him duel. The cheering and applause from fans. This was the real dream and it felt crystal clear, at last.
"Make a wish, Jack," Carly said, smiling brightly. It was his birthday. A coffee-flavoured cake from Blue Eyes Mountain was in front of him with 21 candles. He looked at that shy, lovely girl in front of him, rolled his eyes in mock annoyance and blew out the candles. He didn't believe that blowing out candles made wishes come true or anything sappy like that, but for a moment he only wished for one thing. Because if he had this girl by his side he could climb any mountain, conquer any challenge, obtain any title he could ever wish for. "I love you, Jack." Her words were soft, so soft, nearly inaudible. He'd opened his heart and let them in.
Goodbye now, Jack, he heard her whisper and when he turned in its direction, she was gone.
The blonde Signer decelerated sharply and then stopped his bike completely, feeling a profound sense of loss. He finally took out the broken, round glasses from his pocket and studied them.
Crow and Kiryu looped around the stadium, not realizing right away that he'd parked suddenly, and cautiously stopped their bikes behind him. They couldn't get up or approach him lest it meant they were forfeiting the duel.
"Jack?" Crow attempted cautiously.
"It's over," Jack Atlas spoke distantly. And he who once was a King of Games shut off the engine of his motorcycle, effectively ending the duel – much to his teammates' shock. All duel monsters dissolved and Speed World 2 deactivated. "The others are still in battle? Yusei fighting Set? Let's go find them."
Then he faced them with clarity in his eyes, a Dark Signer no more. And there was something else on his face, behind those severe purple eyes, something that none of them had seen before.
"Carly died just now," Jack said. Sharing what he had felt without a doubt – even as she was a hundred miles away – he knew and had sensed that moment.
His fist was tightly clenched and there was a streak of blood coming from where he'd squeezed her glasses.
The mark of the Crimson Dragon shone brightly on his forearm.
So close to the end of Part II now! Then Part III will be only a couple of chapters long. AND THEN THE END FINALLY, OH MY GOD I CAN FINALLY MOVE ON WITH MY LIFE. And stop writing about motorcycles, sex and cardgames forever. …Okay, well, maybe just cardgames.