Author's Note:
Attempt#3? I posted this chapter yesterday but it just wouldn't show up. Apparently it's a site-wide issue going on for a week now. Let's hope this gets fixed.
Hello everyone! I hope you're still staying safe and sane during this crazy month (and year).
For whoever is still reading – the new chapter 40 is here.
Yusei is Osiris, Aki is half dead, the rest of our Signers are on the way and the world is about to end. What happens next?
Thank you, as usual, for all your reviews, favourites and messages. I can't believe some of y'all are still reading this. You guys make me so happy.
NineInchNailed.
A primordial, ravaging dance.
A paladin of destruction.
Worlds colliding.
Fright and exultation in one.
Come back to me. Come back.
"What is the nonsense that's happening around here?" Seto Kaiba barked as soon as he got off his private plane with Mokuba in tow.
Neo Domino's mayor Yeager was meeting him on the runway with his own lackeys. "We weren't expecting you, Mr. Kaiba. But indeed," he chattered, sweating buckets and obviously anxious. "There is a disaster in this city. Countless bad duels started up and killed many of our citizens, and now there is a...a...thing? Making its way through the city. We've got Public Security and even the army on this now. They're beginning to retaliate against it."
Seto Kaiba looked out and saw a massive red mass, as tall as some of the biggest skyscrapers, slithering many, many miles away. He followed what seemed to be its potential trajectory and deduced where it was going.
"W-what the hell is that, Seto?" Mokuba stuttered, clearly distraught.
"Momentum Control Tower," the CEO of the Kaiba Corp ordered to Yeager. "Call them. Right now."
"Oh...what? Oh okay. Well, uh, huh..." the mayor fumbled as he searched the vast, deep pockets in his magenta coat. "Don't know where I left my phone. Uhhh. Maybe here-"
Seto Kaiba threw his ridiculously expensive phone at Yeager who'd barely managed to catch it (and the clown nearly died of heart attack when it slipped through his fingers at first): "Dial it right the fuck now and hurry. Get someone in charge."
"Osiris," Aki forced out his name, in a voice that was barely audible through her distressed sobs.
She didn't think he'd have heard her but suddenly he stopped walking away. And then he turned and looked at her for the first time.
As Aki gazed upon his face straight on, the first thing she noticed was that Yusei's criminal marker was gone.
She remembered how she felt completely unperturbed about it when her and Yusei met. Sure, there were lots of other things going on and the Signer marks took up most of their conversation topics, but she'd never felt anxious or scared over the fact that he had one. Or that it meant he'd at some point been in front of a judge and served some time behind bars. No, that never really crossed her mind or caused any concern. Yusei never alluded to it, never brought it up, and instead it became a mark which he owned and wore with dignity, a unique and signature feature, and an attractive accent to his handsome face.
It was no longer there.
Instead, other numerous, silvery marks adorned that familiar face. And the eyes... the eyes were worst of it all: the recognizable sapphire blue but smoldering so intensely bright with something incomprehensively ancient and primordial...that even from the distance she was at, Aki had to avert her gaze after a couple of seconds.
No, this wasn't Yusei. Yusei's likeness but... but Yusei was gone. Yusei... IS. GONE.
No...no! NO! Aki gritted her teeth and attempted to get up then. She managed to slide one knee underneath her, and then drooped to the ground again, overwhelmed by a heavy gray fog.
Get up. GET UP, DAMN IT! She tried again, letting out a scream of exertion and anger. She pushed against the palms of her hands and succeeded at straightening her shaking twigs of arms. This time, she held for what seemed like only a moment, and fell down even quicker than before, pathetically unable to hold up her own body weight.
And she didn't even know what she was trying to do or what she could even do.
Panting and on the verge of passing out again, Aki rested her cheek on the ground and focused her dazed eyes on the figure ahead.
Unmoving from the distance he put between them, Osiris was still looking directly at her.
Aki's vision blurred, darkened. He would be the last thing she sees for...maybe a long time. Maybe the last thing, ever.
Aki's eyelids sagged and she was about to slip into the dreadful, unconscious oblivion when all of a sudden she felt a rush of energy surge through her heart and echo across each cell of her body. As if shot up with adrenaline and lifted by a gust of wind, Aki opened her eyes, found her feet and stood up...lightly, effortlessly and wide awake.
Uncomprehending, Aki looked about herself and saw an electric, azure aura radiating across her skin. It felt both warm and cool at the same time, as soothing as submerging in a perfectly heated bath after a cold, stressful day.
Aki drew in a deep breath, filling her lungs to their brim, and breathed out. She hadn't felt this good and healthy in a very, very long time.
By the time she finished marveling at her abruptly improved condition, she noticed that Osiris had departed further away from her. He was somewhere like 10 metres away now. He walked so soundlessly and smoothly it was unnerving.
Then, just as suddenly, he had stopped.
He raised one hand high up to the sky.
A beastly, ear-shattering roar came from above. And it was as if the storm clouds themselves had descended into the broken warehouse they were in. Out of the clouds came the curling, spiked red tail, the dark red scales, the sheathed dark belly. An electric current danced along its boundless, infinitely long body. Then its head finally appeared, with its multiple cavernous mouths, and stoic yellow eyes. The Sky Dragon of Osiris.
Wordlessly, Osiris gestured in the direction of Neo Domino downtown and the horrific, bloody mass that was Set scourging through it.
The dragon bowed its head in acknowledgement, ascended rapidly with a flash of lightning and rolling thunder, and was gone.
Aki, who watched this scene unfold, finally found her voice. "H...hey!" she shouted in Osiris' direction.
She was about to walk towards him, when she noticed Yusei's dirty, torn-up jacket on the ground. He had put it on her at some point and she didn't even realize. She picked it up and pulled it on, before taking a few uncertain steps forward. "Hey...listen. I don't know if... Well. That was your dragon, right? You've sent it to stop Set? T...thank you."
The Egyptian God of Death didn't answer. He stood, stoic as a statue, with his back turned to her and facing the destruction ahead.
"And uh... This thing, whatever it is..." Aki raised her hands, the blue cerulean aura still surrounding her. "This is you, too? I think I recognize it... I saw this once on Yusei, at the end of his duel, when he was very injured. So...Thank you...I guess."
But... Yusei. What have you done to Yusei? Where is he? was spinning in her distressed mind. She had to ask this next. She had to know.
Uncertainly, she took yet another a small step forward in his direction. Perhaps is she could just get near him she could...she could...
"To slow him down," Osiris suddenly spoke.
Aki stopped in her tracks and stared, utterly confused. He'd actually...said something. To her? "What?"
Osiris knelt on one knee then and touched a hand to the ground. Underneath his fingertips, glowing gold symbols started to appear on the surface. They looked like small letters, as if he were writing something without moving his hand to form the words. And more and more shining letters were appearing... down in columns, now turning into paragraphs.
"It can only slow him down," he said, in a deeply soothing yet apathetic tone of voice. "Alas, there has been a rapture in the stream of Ma'at. When Set reaches that energy centre, he will arise beyond known realms."
Aki felt a stab of fear, strong enough to break through her tranquilized state. "Then what?" she questioned, in a high voice. She glanced at Set's immense figure on the distance wrecking havoc through the city. She wasn't completely sure she understood everything he'd said but she could deduce enough – that Sky Dragon couldn't stop this entirely.
"I must act for the stability of all realms and to prevent that from happening," Osiris said, still drawing out hieroglyphs. If this were a book he was writing, he'd written a fair number of pages already. "And I can return the balance of all that is living and dead. But there is only one way I'm able to accomplish this."
Aki studied him in silence for a few moments, gripped by uncertainty and a touch of fundamental, visceral fear. She knew she was going to regret asking: "And what is this way?"
"A blank slate," Osiris answered, never once raising his head from his task. "A restart of this realm."
Aki stared, not realizing how much paler she'd suddenly gotten. "W..." she attempted, her lips feeling like cotton balls. Then she squeezed her hands into fists, drew on the anger and desperation within her, and shouted: "Blank slate...! You can't stop Set so you're, what, restarting things? Getting rid of all of us? IS THAT IT?-"
"Aki!"
"-That's your grand solution?" she resumed shouting. "That's what you're capable of? That's why you came here? Well, no! No! That's not what anyone wants!"
"AKI!" Crow was by her side and that was only when Aki turned and saw all the Signers nearing her – and even...Sherry? And Kyosuke Kiryu? How surprising – what was going on here? And she wasn't seeing Carly or Bruno amongst them, where were they?
Jack, Rua and Ruka had approached last – Jack was actually carrying Ruka on his back. The young girl looked quite injured with scrapes and bruises all over her face. Her brother didn't look much better, albeit a bit more lively.
"Crow...everyone!" Aki exclaimed, half distracted.
"How ill-fated it must be," Osiris remarked distantly, oblivious (or uncaring) to friends' reunion, while the glistening hieroglyphs continued writing themselves all across the floor. They now covered the area all around them, starting to near the broken reactor. "To be alive to witness the loss of one's world. But life will come again, as it always does."
Aki heard his words in the midst of the commotion and somehow held herself back from screaming.
"Aki! It's you! You..." Crow was saying to her, ignorant of their surroundings and the insanity just ahead. "You're back! But... Are you okay? You're glowing? But you look..." he trailed off, not sure what to make of her. She looked frighteningly emaciated and with multiple small injuries, she was wearing Yusei's tattered jacket, and she was also glowing...somehow? What?
"What's all this?" Jack grumbled, looking around at the mysterious Egyptian markings on the ground. It was as if someone had gone and painted them everywhere with phosphorous paint. And more of them were still appearing.
Ruka tapped his arm and Jack carefully let her down.
"Uh...I think we can guess what caused all that loud noise earlier," Sherry commented and pointed in the direction of the destroyed reactor, the ruined wall of the building, and the scary crimson monster rampaging through the city's core.
"Ayieee!" Rua yelped. "WHAT IS THAT?!"
"Is that...is that Set?" Ruka guessed. She grabbed onto Rua's shoulder to keep steady.
"Yusei, get over here, huh?" Kiryu called out to occupied Osiris.
"What the hell are you even doing?" Crow shouted. "And...wearing?"
"That...doesn't look like Yusei," Ruka spoke up timidly and almost too quiet for them to hear.
"Because it's not," Aki finally managed to speak. Despite the healing aura Osiris bestowed upon her (maybe? And for some reason?), she felt unfathomable pain resonating beyond her physical form. "It's... It's Osiris. He's come to stop Set – but to do that, once and for all, he said he's got to erase our world and have everything start from scratch. I'm not entirely sure what he's doing now but it seems like he's writing something. Like a spell? To make it possible?"
There was a brief moment of stunned silence as everyone processed what they've heard.
Jack Atlas was the first to say something: "Fuck that."
"What the fuck!" Crow blurted out.
"Hey! Hey! Thank you but no thank you!" Rua yelled towards the being impersonating Yusei. "Please go away!"
"We don't need your help like this!" his sister added. "Please don't!"
The Egyptian God of Death did not acknowledge any of them – he was as still as if he were made of stone, all while conjuring more and more symbols.
"Also – where the hell is my best friend? What have you done to Yusei?" Crow yelled. Fiery temper erupted in him and he couldn't keep to rational reason: he squeezed his hands into fists and started running towards the figure...
Without looking up, Osiris raised his hand and Crow suddenly hit what was almost a golden force field. He bounced off it, fell on the ground, and then sprung back up immediately: "Hey! What the hell?" He banged his fists at the abruptly impenetrable wall separating them from the God of Death. "Hey! HEY! Stop! Where is Yusei? What have you done to him?!"
Jack neared and tried his own significant strength at breaking through, but to no avail.
Finally, Rua also tried – by punching and kicking at that force field, but with no use.
"Stop!" Aki screamed in the God's direction. "Please, stop!"
And Osiris answered then:
"Once set in motion – it can not be stopped."
Multiple storm clouds descended and left behind them a massive dark-red dragon. It coiled itself protectively all around Momentum Tower and let out a snarling, sweltering breath from its cavernous mouths.
Set stopped in his tracks but was only a couple of miles away. "Decided...to use it...after all?" he gurgled through the nonexistent vocal cords of his bloody form.
The dragon parted its largest toothy maw and started charging a bright ball of electricity from within.
"Oooo... Foolish. No power..." Set taunted. Impatiently, he pressed on. He was starting to hear the pleasant chimes of the purple, positive energy of Momentum. He'd reach it, make it blow, and then...
The Egyptian dragon released a powerful electric charge. It hit Set and enveloped him.
When it dissipated there were wisps of smoke coming off the bloody figure.
"What?" he murmured. He actually lost a little volume... Very, very minimal, maybe 1/99th of his overall mass, but he'd felt a sliver of borrowed power leave him. "Impossible...you..."
He paused. Then he looked around himself and finally zeroed in on the tiny figure all the way back at the broken warehouse, many, miles away. He noticed the tiny glistening hieroglyphs forming all around. Even from the distance he was at, he was able to read a few lines and...
"OSIRIS!" he bellowed louder than what should have been possible, shattering the windows of the few buildings close by.
"BOOK OF...THE DEAD? THIS IS HOW...YOU FACE...ME!? HOW YOU...FIGHT? COWARD! GET OVER...HERE!"
There was a static, crackling sound behind him. Osiris' dragon started charging another attack.
Set started back in the direction his real enemy was, then stopped and growled. "No. I'm NEVER going...back. NO. IT'S NOT...OVER. NOT IF I REACH...IT FIRST." He started sloshing his way towards Momentum with increased speed.
Osiris' obedient dragon unleashed another powerful attack, attempting to keep him back for as long as possible.
"What can't be stopped!? Hey!" Crow yelled from behind the barrier they were at.
Jack punched the golden wall again, for good measure, and retreated. The King didn't like to give up but this clearly wasn't working.
"Well... shit," Kiryu commented.
"Are we too late?" Sherry chimed in, successfully hiding the anxiousness she was actually feeling.
"What are we going to do?" Ruka spoke up.
"And Yusei...is Yusei...gone?" Rua asked hesitantly and Aki saw despair starting to cross the young boy's features.
"No," she reassured him despite not knowing if she believed these words herself. "Just like I wasn't gone when Set used me. Yusei is still in there. We can reach him. I believe it."
"But how?" Crow asked, joining them.
"Why don't you keep running into that wall," Jack sneered. "Maybe eventually you'll stop bouncing off."
Crow shot him an angry look, too frustrated and unamused to be in the mood for his snarky comments.
"What about...our Signer marks?" Ruka spoke up.
All the Signers immediately glanced at their forearms as if on command. All their marks were still glowing, a very soft and soothing crimson.
They've all suddenly remembered that they still possessed a unified and significant power, not unlike all the supernatural that's been happening around here. They'd forgotten about it until they were all gathered together.
"Right! Can we try calling the Crimson Dragon!?" Rua said. "It can come and help!"
"How?" Crow asked bluntly.
"Perhaps...if we were just to join our marks?" Aki suggested hesitantly. She put her hand out in front of her, palm down, the claw of the Crimson Dragon clearly visible on her forearm.
And the other four Signers moved into a closer circle and silently placed their hands upon hers. Jack's, Rua's and Aki's hands were bloody and sloppily bandaged.
(Almost) all the parts of the dragon together. The mystical summoning. And...
"Anyone feeling anything?" Crow asked.
Rua shook his head.
"We're clearly missing the head of the dragon," Jack grimly pointed out. Without Yusei here this didn't make sense.
"Right, then why don't you ask Osiris to come over here and join us," Crow grimaced. "Smart ass."
"Why don't you?" Jack growled at him.
"I...I'm not sure it'd work even if he wanted to help us," Aki spoke up quietly, suddenly recalling a...somewhat significant detail. "I saw Yusei's Signer mark disappear when he'd changed."
"So...it's gone?" Ruka asked anxiously. "No head of the Crimson Dragon to complete us? It's just...gone?"
Aki hesitated. And then nodded slowly.
"Well. Fuck," Crow mumbled and wiped the sweat from underneath his bandana with a free hand.
"Then what are we doing!?" Rua asked, his voice now much higher in pitch.
"This is stupid," Jack spat and pulled his hand back, breaking their mystical circle. The others retreated their hands too, following his example. "We can't do shit. Not without the mark of the head Signer."
"...So...?" Kiryu commented offhandedly, standing off on the side with Sherry.
"No, wait," Aki called out to the Signers. "Listen. If Yusei is still there somehow, isn't this how we could try reaching him? Then..." her voice started fading a bit as everyone listened to her and she realized that what she was saying wasn't quite working. "Then if...no, when he fights off Osiris...he'll join...us?"
"Um..." Ruka started to say something but didn't finish.
"Right..." Crow supposed, avoiding looking at Aki.
"You think so...?" Rua clarified hesitantly.
"Let's try again, everyone?" Aki held her hand out, prompting them to join her.
"Okay, what do you want us to do?" Jack asked her curtly. "What, we hold hands again, sing the kumbayas, then magically Yusei appears, and then Crimson Dragon appears too and saves the day?"
She looked at him exasperated. "I don't know, okay! Maybe?"
"We can try again but I didn't feel anything when we'd just tried," Crow said honestly.
"What are we going to do..." Ruka managed, legitimately looking scared and upset now.
"At least we should try something!" Aki snapped. "Try that, again!"
Sherry laughed lightly next to her silver-haired companion. "Well. Looks like you and I chose a bad time to come back here for a visit."
Kiryu returned a smile. "I'm definitely feeling dissatisfied if this is how it's all going to end."
"Agreed," Sherry sighed. "If the world is about to end, I'd rather I was on a beach in French Polynesia enjoying a daiquiri."
"Ooooo," Kiryu whistled wistfully.
"And also, what is this all over you?" Jack continued interrogating Aki, the five Signers as if in their own little world. "Some blue, glowing shit? What's it for?"
Aki looked at him frustrated. She wanted to scream at him. She didn't really know! She was just as confused and scared as all of them! And she still hadn't even asked him where Carly was. She couldn't make it? Was she unwell? Why wasn't anyone saying anything?
"Listen, everyone," she pleaded instead and glanced at all the Signers one by one, her hand still out. She looked at Jack second last and lingered her gaze on Crow. "Please..." Her hand was out. The stress of this situation was pulling them apart, filling them with doubts and they couldn't let it get to them. "Let's try again, okay?"
Crow hesitantly met her gaze and held it. Thousands of thoughts and of things unsaid spun in his mind. And, even so, even at the end of the world...sometimes you just can't find it in yourself to say the things worth saying. Sometimes, just being with all your friends (and the truest family you've ever had), supporting and believing in them, standing with them as you faced the craziest obstacles...sometimes this was the only place you'd rather be. And not in any other way.
Crow sighed and placed his hand over Aki's, restarting the circle.
"Well, we gotta try something after all, right?" Rua suddenly spoke up and smiled confidently. Fear and anxiousness melted off his face. "Let's just keep trying. Anything, at this point." And he placed his hand on theirs, the heart of the Crimson Dragon glowing brightly (if not the brightest) on his forearm.
His sister smiled at him and placed her hand as well. "Yes, let's try again and let's all just think really hard towards the Crimson Dragon," she suggested. "Really concentrate. More than before. Call to it. Over and over. Even without all the marks present... Let's try."
Jack folded his arms over his chest.
The others were looking at him, waiting.
"Come on, Jack," Crow grumbled.
Jack glared at them standing there with their Signer marks, calling to him, and he felt irritated with how stupid this was. It was useless. God, they were so annoying. And, ultimately...really...doing all of this...without Carly...?
Jack glanced away. He looked out towards the so-called Egyptian God of Death in the distance – wearing a Yusei suit? - the bizarre glowing symbols all around them, the massive red mountain far within the jungle of the city, the Sky Dragon of Osiris shooting electric beams at it...
This. Was. Ridiculous.
And you're missing all of this, he thought regretfully to Carly.
He and Carly used to share nonsensical things they've heard or seen or read about in the evenings and laughed about them together. They made dinner, cleaned up, watched TV on the couch, and did it a lot.
He thought to the lovely girl he had lost... A sweet, hardworking girl who never did anything wrong and she wasn't here anymore. And he never even had a chance to say goodbye. She was gone and here he was, being expected to fight for the world that she wasn't going to be a part of anymore.
His friends just didn't understand. They couldn't possibly understand any of it.
"Jack!" Rua's voice reached him.
The blonde Signer returned his attention to them. They were all looking at him, waiting. And he saw their despair. And their fear, despite the appearances they were trying to put up.
It was so obvious.
He saw the trembling in Ruka's hand and Rua's huge worried eyes. The obvious sick weakness in Aki (suppressed on the surface?) and the tense irritation on Crow's face. He saw Kiryu and Sherry standing just behind them, conversing lightheartedly, but with nervous laughter in-between.
The strained and frightened atmosphere all around them.
Yes, none of them could ever really understand.
But...perhaps...that's just how it's always been. And always will be, with him. And that's not such a terrible thing.
Jack smiled resolutely to himself and to Carly who'd lived in his thoughts and within the depths of his heart – he was, after all, a very complicated guy.
And maybe all of this was still worth fighting for. And what Carly might have wanted.
"Fuck it," he decided. He put his hand on top of the other Signers'.
"Yeah!" Rua grinned.
Aki and Ruka both laughed lightly from relief.
"Got us a bit worried there, buddy," Crow commented mockingly but nonetheless he had a smile on his face.
"Whatever," Jack sighed. This was dumb but he was along for the ride. "So? We're just concentrating really hard?"
"Yes," Ruka answered. "Just... Everyone, let's all call to the Crimson Dragon. Really, really call to it, really try. Think, think, think."
"And maybe it'll still hear us, even without Yusei," Aki said.
"Yes, Aki-san," the blue-haired girl smiled warmly at her and she smiled back.
"And let's not break formation until it hears us," Crow suggested. Then he chuckled: "Well, if we all die while stuck together like this – gotta say, I can think of worse ways to go."
"I can't," Jack commented dryly but when Crow glared at him, pissed off, he saw a small smile on the blonde Signer's face. And Crow grinned back.
"Alright, concentrate!" Ruka told them.
"Uh, yes, hello? Can you hear me okay? Yes, this is Mayor Yeager..." the short clown-man was stuttering into the phone. As if Yeager wasn't anxious enough as is with everything going on – Seto Kaiba was staring down at him with a brutally cold, impatient gaze and with his arms crossed over his chest.
"Yes. We're aware... Yes. Great. Okay. Can you put the director on the phone? No, director Akutsu. Yes. It's a bit urgent. Thank you, I'll hold," Yeager continued. Then he glanced at the scary head of Kaiba Corp looming over him – that man was a giant compared to him. "I'm on hold," he sheepishly excused the delay.
"I figured," Seto Kaiba managed through a tightly set mouth. He thought the mayor of this city – truly, a fucking clown – was one of the most grating, incompetent and ridiculous characters he'd ever had a displeasure of interacting with. And there were many, many... many.
He glanced ahead at the Sky Dragon of Osiris atop of Momentum Control tower – how suddenly it appeared and how it was now charging attack after attack to defend the building. How despite its valiant attempts, the grotesque monster was advancing closer with each passing moment.
Why was one of Yugi's Egyptian God cards here again? When he'd seen all 3 on Yugi's desk just two days ago, on another continent? None of this made sense.
"What are you trying to do, Seto?" Mokuba asked, breaking through his train of thoughts.
"The sensible thing."
"...Hello? Yes, Akutsu-san? This is mayor Yeager. How do you do? Oh, well, th-"
At this point, Seto Kaiba ripped the phone out of the clown's hands and commanded: "This is Seto Kaiba, the CEO of Kaiba Corporation. It is at this time that you are being ordered to shut down the Momentum reactor. Effective immediately."
"Oh...h-hi," the man on the other line stuttered. "Kaiba-sama...That's really you?... Ahem, you can't be serious? It'll cause a city-wide blackout."
"Do I not sound serious?" Kaiba asked in a chilling voice.
"Um...well. In addition to that – while, let me assure you that we've running multiple tests to determine the cause – but it...doesn't seem very stable right now. It's spinning a lot quicker. Seems like something is causing it to become overloaded. This is all classified information from the public, of course. "
"And?"
"Oh. Well. We're not certain if shutting it down at this time would be such a good idea... Perhaps if you'd just let us continue running our diagnostics we'd-"
"Director Akutsu," Yeager spoke up very loudly, stepping in a little closer to the scary CEO so the scientist on the other side of the line could hear him. "Are you aware, perhaps, that there is a gigantic...uh...dragon, currently sitting on top of your building? Oh, and also, there is a hostile...monster heading towards the Momentum reactor? So...maybe those are the reasons that Momentum is going haywire?" he glimpsed at Kaiba who was staring him down, clearly dissatisfied with the violation of his personal space of ten metres.
Nonetheless, Kaiba put the phone on speaker and held it out in front of him.
"...There is?" There was a pause on the other line.
"Uh... Yeah," Yeager said. "I know you've got some accessible windows on the higher floors. Why don't you go take a look for yourself."
A short cough on the phone. "Uh-huh...And...And the hostile monster...it's on the way here?"
"That's right," Kaiba finished. "Now – shut. It. Down. It's an order."
There was another pause. A nervous inhale of air. "I see. Right. Okay, we'll get on it. But it'll take awhile to get through the proper shutdown protocols, we'll need at least thirty minutes to prep-"
"You have ten minutes to shut the whole thing down," Kaiba ordered, estimating by sight the distance between the monster, the tower, and the speed and duration of Egyptian God card's attacks. There were also some Public Security helicopters and even a few private jets flying by, shooting at the destructive monster. Frankly though, Seto didn't care to figure out exactly what the hell was happening there but he knew what they needed to do on their end. "Shut it down or you won't live to regret it." Then he hung up.
"You think that...that thing wants something with Momentum?" Mokuba asked his brother, looking quite a bit more nervous than usual.
"An educated guess," Seto answered dryly.
"And that's...isn't that Yugi's-"
"It is."
"But...but why?" Mokuba continued.
"We'll ask him ourselves when this is done, shall we?" Kaiba answered in an irritated tone. Mokuba quickly stopped bothering him.
"But what might that disgusting monster want with Momentum?" Yeager attempted timidly, bad at reading that Kaiba was done taking questions.
"I'm trying to make sure you don't have to find out," the CEO answered. He then stared down at Yeager in cold anger and the mayor nearly recoiled. "The reactor should've been shut down since this morning. As soon as corrupted duels had started again. Before that thing decimated half of downtown."
"I'm sorry, we just had all these precautions in place, we didn't know if-" Yeager started chattering.
Mokuba Kaiba rolled his eyes in the back, annoyed on his brother's behalf - no matter what and no matter how many years pass, Seto still had to intervene all over the globe to take reasonable, hard decisions. And now, with Fudo Yusei having failed tremendously as well, they could have probably prevented all of this had they come to Japan as soon as they had originally wanted. If only Seto wasn't such an honourable man to his promise.
"Enough," Seto Kaiba waved his hand and Yeager silenced himself immediately.
"Now, I guess we wait," Mokuba muttered.
"Anything?" Rua attempted. He opened one eye to check on his friends. Everyone's eyes were closed in concentration.
Crow silently shook his head.
"We keep trying," Ruka determined.
Hear us, please, Aki was pleading inside her mind. We're calling you but we're one short. Please, hear us and come help us. You've sometimes heard individual Signers...like you've heard me during my duel with Set. So please, please. Listen to us now and come to our aid.
"This is bothering me," Jack suddenly said. Focus interrupted – all the Signers looked at him questioningly.
Jack motioned to Kiryu and Sherry with his free hand. "You two – just come stand with us. Don't need to hold our hands. Just stand with us."
Kiryu and Sherry exchanged a look. The other members of Team 5D's smiled and nodded their agreement with this, shuffling a bit to make space.
"Well, if you so insist Jack," the silver-haired Team Satisfaction leader sighed but when the two of them joined their mystical circle (Kiryu between Rua and Jack, Sherry with Aki to her left and Ruka to her right), both him and Sherry seemed more at ease.
Everyone, in fact, felt a positive shift in the atmosphere. It wasn't so scary anymore. It was even...hopeful.
"We're all in this shit together now," Crow laughed shortly.
"You gotta do what you gotta do," Sherry commented and smiled lightly at Aki who returned a mutual, honest smile. Any differences, unresolved conflicts or hostilities were put far, far away. Not when they didn't matter in the grand scheme of things.
"Hear us, Crimson Dragon!" Ruka shouted suddenly with strength in her voice. Yes, she was injured from her duel but you couldn't tell it anymore: there was no sign of a meek, soft-spoken girl here, the one who was afraid to duel or the one who was uncertain of her power. There was powerful determination on her face. Out of all of them – she was the one who could speak to creatures beyond this realm.
Everyone stared, momentarily taken aback, but listened to her and let the youngest of them all lead them. They closed their eyes, concentrating anew. No more time to waste. Focus.
"We are calling to you!" Ruka shouted again. "Hear us, Crimson Dragon! This is our last stand!"
And for a few quiet moments there was still nothing and then...a light touch of breeze, a soft rumble of the pebbles on the ground... The burning intensified in the five Signer marks and then a bright light erupted in the sky, as bright as a supernova, as bright as when Osiris' Dragon clashed simultaneously with Ra (and Aki was the only witness to that). And it was followed by a magnificent roar that seemed to resonate across the entire world.
The fiery, immeasurably long dragon flew across the sky, crying out to them.
"It's here, it came!" Rua yelled joyously.
The Signer marks vanished from their forearms and where their hands were meeting – in the centre of the circle where all the people were standing – appeared the symbol of the Crimson Dragon's full body. It shone brightly and resiliently. But the head of the symbol was extremely faded...it was flickering in and out, and – at times – the whole vision appeared headless.
"Help us stop all these crazy Ancient Egyptian freaks!" Crow shouted up in the air. "They're ruining everything! And especially the one that looks like Yusei. Start with him, okay?"
Aki tore her eyes away from the magnificent dragon and glanced to see Osiris' reaction.
He did not move from where he was kneeling and seemed completely unperturbed by the appearance of the Crimson Dragon. He was still writing the symbols but there were fewer and fewer of them appearing. He was probably nearing the end...
Aki bit down on her lip. What the Signers were doing may not be enough. Maybe...
And, suddenly remembering Atem's words to her in the Unconscious world, she gasped.
Yes, she-
"Don't, Aki!" Crow yelled at her.
Aki jumped from his sudden loud voice (he was to her left so he'd basically screamed in her ear) and saw his worried face.
"No," he said simply.
He seemed to have guessed that she wanted to do something. "I have to try," she whispered.
"No, you don't," he hissed. "Don't go." His hand – and it was the first over hers in the Signers' circle – squeezed hers tightly. Potentially tightly enough to cause her pain if she only wasn't numbed by (Osiris'?) sapphire glow.
And maybe Crow was right... Maybe this wasn't the right way and maybe she didn't have to. But...
Aki's gaze followed the length of her own arm and lingered on the headless, incomplete symbol of the Crimson Dragon they had on their hands. Certainly if they needed to incur the dragon's full power – they had to help it, too.
Crow was still glaring at her, genuine concern and protectiveness plastered over his face.
Aki saw a smudge of dirt on his forehead, the sweat that's soaked into his bandana, and noticed for the first time that he had small freckles across his nose and cheeks. His large gray eyes were clear and attentive as they watched her.
Crow was a kind and selfless man. At times, even charming. He could even be considered cute. And she recalled how back at the hospital, when they shared a moment together, she thought how if Yusei had never been in her life – that Crow might've been a wonderful person to be with. He was so easy to talk to. And, for some reason, he cared for her – and a little bit more and a little bit differently from others. Even with her obliviousness and bad experiences with guys (including Yusei's frustrating hot-and-cool mind games for years), this was a little more evident to her. But he was also respectful. He never tried anything or overstepped any boundaries. And it also seemed like he was genuinely rooting for her and Yusei, despite everything – and despite what it meant.
"Thank you, Crow," Aki said quietly.
He looked confused. "What?"
Aki contemplated for another moment. Then she ripped out her hand from his loosened grip and leaped away.
"Damn it!" Crow made to grab for her but she slipped his grasp (and Sherry's too, who'd just missed her arm) and ran towards the barrier separating them from Osiris.
"Hey! Listen!" Aki called out towards the Egyptian God of Death. She stopped where the impenetrable wall was. Across it, he was but ten metres away.
She glanced back at her friends who were staring at her shocked and upset. They didn't dare to move from their formation. Ruka was calling out to her. Aki might've just ruined everything. But...
"We've called the Crimson Dragon to help!" she shouted to Osiris. "It can perform miracles. You don't need to reset this world. There is another way! Stop – and let's work together on this!"
"It can not be undone," the God responded distantly. Written symbols were forming slowly and lazily now. One every five or so seconds. Either slowing down because he was almost done or because he was exhausted (unlikely).
The Crimson Dragon let out another ear shattering roar as it flew back and forth across the sky.
Osiris looked up from his task and seemed to finally notice the mythical dragon's presence.
At least he seems to be listening to me, Aki thought. She still didn't know what she could do but she felt compelled to carry on...to be moving forward...to get near him.
"It can't be undone or you won't undo it?" she called out. "Please. If you have any mercy at all in your heart...or even faith – in us, in the Crimson Dragon – let us try something ourselves. Just give Yusei back to us."
Osiris didn't acknowledge her with an answer this time. Instead, slowly, he rose up from the ground and stood motionless in the sea of golden hieroglyphs that he'd conjured.
Aki panicked. Was he done? Was it over? She hit the barrier wall with frustration...and her glowing hand went through it, as if she were dipping it into viscous, thick liquid.
Was she really all that surprised, though? Didn't she have a feeling that she could make it through, unlike the others?
Without hesitation, she stepped in and pushed through the barrier and walked out on the other side.
She heard the muted voices of all her friends behind her and saw how hazy they looked through the barrier, and how she couldn't distinguish the words they were saying. The only thing she still heard clearly was the resonating cry of the Crimson Dragon.
"Please!" she shouted. "PLEASE! Don't do this! Don't kill us!"
"I do not kill," Osiris answered, suddenly. His back still to her and appearing to be watching the Crimson Dragon, as well - he uttered in his refined, deep voice: "I am guiding a temporary passage through the Du'at. Every soul erased from my doing will return. Different, but it will return. I will not keep a single one."
When he finished speaking, Aki blinked rapidly. She felt suddenly and inexplicably enraptured by each syllable that she'd heard. Like they'd gently caressed her senses. What the hell?
"But not us, not the way we all are, the way we are, today," she argued. "Not with our experiences, not with the past that's shaped us. It won't be any of us, do you get it? Even if you're...recycling, like this. So don't. Please! Let us try."
Not a peep from him this time. He was so inconsistent.
Aki felt frustration bubble like an explosion and it almost burst through her. She squeezed her hands, feeling her nails press against her skin but it was a very subdued feeling – undoubtedly muted by the cerulean aura bestowed upon her.
...Speaking of which.
Aki took four certain steps forward. "Okay. You're resetting our world because it's pointless to try anything else anymore. Then – why this?" She held her arms out in front of her, showing off the blue glow.
Without turning or moving from where he was standing, Osiris glanced at her over his shoulder.
Aki unconsciously held her breath, as she waited for him to realize that she'd not only broken through the barrier he'd put up – but that she'd started nearing him. She felt deeply uncomfortable under his gaze; very conscious of herself, uncertain at what he'd do.
He wasn't saying anything. And his facial expression did not change at all.
Above them, the Crimson Dragon continued flying restlessly across the sky.
Aki breathed in a deeper breath, finding confidence. "Yes, this thing – this light – it's helping me like the way it helped Yusei. That dragon is a conduit of your power, isn't it? Yusei was able to tap into it? But right now, you are the one that's decided to help me, isn't that right?"
"Help you?" Osiris echoed distantly.
"I'm right, aren't I?" Aki asked boldly. "You made a conscious decision to help me. Even though you're about to kill us all. Why?"
For the first time there was a change of expression on his impassive face but one she couldn't interpret. Did Gods have different emotions from humans? Did they have any emotions at all?
"Then why don't you try to really help me then?" Aki pleaded and took another few steps towards him. With that – he was maybe six metres away now. "Clearly something matters to you in this realm. Maybe you...care about humans a little bit, after all. I...I think you do. So please. Don't do this. Don't kill us. Don't kill everything. We are really trying – there has to be another way. We, the Signers of the Crimson Dragon, have changed the impossible before. We've changed our future. Let us try again."
Osiris' face was stoic again. "Any gifts given can be taken away," he said simply and raised his hand.
Instantly the warm, sapphire glow dissipated from her skin and Aki felt like she'd just walked into a brick wall at full speed. Gasping, she stumbled and fell on her hands and knees. She felt the pain awakening throughout her body: the migraine, the deep cuts on the palms of her hands, the unpleasant, prickling and dizzying buzz underneath her skin from all the drugs she'd been fed, the sinking pain in her empty stomach and immobilizing weakness in her limbs.
She'd said a wrong thing, somehow. But what? Did she presume too much? Did she anger him?
"Damn it..." Aki panted. Is this what Yusei felt like when Osiris' protection left him that day? How he'd still made it to her while bleeding out and set her free?
You see this...Yusei...? she thought in a daze. You and I are so alike...woven from the same tread. Fighting for one another... Bound to suffer...huh?
"It does not matter what is asked," Osiris said. He turned away from her again, the cloak of stardust moving about him.
Aki looked up, seeing him standing there through her swerving vision. He was close...just a few metres away. And despite him taking away the miraculous healing, he still hadn't kicked her out of his presence.
He spoke again: "I will say it again and for the last time: what I've conjured cannot be undone. And the intervention of your deity does not put a ripple into the law of causality."
Aki again fought against an inclination to close her eyes and immerse herself in his voice...to feel it carry her on waves of sweetest dreams...with a drop of a nightmare, creeping in at the edge. And, still, she thought she could detect notes of weariness in his tone. He was growing tired of entertaining her questions and was probably reconsidering letting her get as close to him as she did.
Aki decided to attempt something then, even if it seemed ridiculous – what the hell else did she had to lose today, after all? She fucking lost everything already.
She gathered the strength she had left and pushed against the dead weight in her legs. She succeeded at standing up – but unsteady and unlikely to hold for a long time. She remembered that Yusei was able to function for a bit after Osiris' protection wavered. She probably had just a few minutes under her belt. But, technically, if she needed to – she'd crawl on her hands and knees towards him.
"What if somebody else could intervene? What about..." Aki started and paused, raking her exhausted still-foggy-from-medications brain. What was the name that Set used when telling about her? Oh. Right. "Isis?"
Osiris turned to face her then, an elegant but swift movement. She saw the slight narrowing of his eyes, could almost detect the tightness in his mouth. She'd said something worthwhile then, and she fought against a smile. Good. Then even a celestial being has emotions. Then...
"If she were here now... What would she think of your plan?" Aki pondered brazenly, treading in the unknown territory. "From what I've heard – although I do have a very limited knowledge – she seemed a tad more loyal and believing of humans."
She couldn't believe she was even saying this. And yet...she did not feel fear. The opposite, if anything. A magnetic pull. A positive sensation that fluttered in her weakened heart.
"But she isn't here," Osiris answered, suddenly a little less detached in his intonation.
"I don't know if Set told us the truth but he seemed to be right about Yusei being your incarnation – and he'd said I might be hers," Aki attempted and took a small step towards him again. Conversing about the craziest of things face-to-face with a divine being. "So?"
Osiris didn't respond but he was watching her attentively.
Aki took another unsteady step towards him and let out a little self-deprecating laugh: "Although, I suppose, she probably looks significantly better than I do. Especially right now. So I can see why you might be having a hard time...reconciling any...similarities."
"No," was what Osiris answered. And Aki didn't have the time or the energy, really, to try figuring out that cryptic response. Instead, she went on:
"So...in case it helps..." she said. "If I am her reincarnation...or even if I just look a little like her...or not even? Still. I have to ask...again. Even if you said it's impossible. I'll beg and I'll plead. Don't kill us. Help us instead. And please..." she gathered a deep breath. "Give Yusei back. To us. To me."
Osiris continued silently observing her.
Above them all, the Crimson Dragon was still flying back and forth, crying nonstop. And Aki, like the other Signers, felt on an innate level what it was saying. It was also asking for the same things: for things to change and for Yusei's return, in order to put things right.
"Now – if you don't mind – I'm going to talk to Yusei, okay?" Aki requested breathlessly and, fighting off worsening dizziness, took another step forward.
Now, she was the closest she'd ever been to him.
Powerful waves of energy surged and pulsated from him. It felt like sweltering heat and intense cold, both at the same time.
And Aki understood that the closer she'd approach, the stronger this sensation would be.
"Yusei, how did we end up here?" she asked. "Isn't this just insane? We couldn't just go on dates, watch movies, eat pizza and be happy like normal people? Instead we had to be caught in this craziness, in the battle of Egyptian gods and in the middle of the Armageddon?"
She neared him a bit more, feeling the intensifying of his aura. He was only three metres away now. And – despite what she wanted – she had to stop.
She gaped at him, overwhelmed.
He was... stunningly, breathtakingly beautiful. Yusei's features amplified in miniscule of ways but with otherworldly effect. The scars on his dark skin – and there were so many, thin lines everywhere on his face and body – were as if painted on with silvery-white ink and they'd only seemed to add to his inconceivable, almost frightening beauty. His body was a sculptor's dream and the jewelry and celestial clothes adorning him just completed the impossible vision. And he was glowing; a descended star personified here on Earth.
As she was going glassy-eyed admiring him, Osiris spoke up for the first time in awhile. "It will be painful for you," he said and elaborated: "Humans aren't made to last in the proximity with gods."
Aki shook her head to snap out of her sudden daze and took another step forward. And another.
Two metres.
Surges of frozen flames were truly assaulting her now. It did not feel nice. It was starting to be painful, like a bad sunburn.
Her knee banged hard against the ground when she abruptly stumbled. When she looked up at him, panting, within her blurry vision he was a haze of blue fire.
She pulled herself forward on her hands, scraping her knees. Then she gathered her final, remaining strength (and whatever residual of his "gift" she still had within her system) and stood up on her wobbling legs.
"I've said this to you before, Yusei. You have to stay. You belong here, with us. With me. In this imperfect, failing world, you see? So...Osiris or whoever you are… give him back."
Aki made another step forward.
He was only one metre away.
Her mouth fell open as she gazed upon his face again.
He was so, so stupefyingly beautiful…how could anything in existence ever be so beautiful…?
Her heart was chattering against her ribcage, her whole nervous system seemed to dance and somersault from being so close to something so unimaginable.
This wasn't anything like dealing with Mahdi, standing near him or even having been unfortunately touched by him. And nothing like that grotesque monster Set had become – this was a real deal. Result of pure ascension. She felt within each neuron and atom of her body that she was in the presence of the something beyond known laws, beyond comprehension.
She could see, up close now, Yusei's stunning cobalt blue eyes but deeper, closer to the pupil, they were brighter - a radiant, electric cyan. And looking into them you saw the swirls of cosmos beckoning you, the stunning nebulas and galaxies billions of light years away, planets born and extinguished in silent spectacular explosions of light, the dizzying dance of the stars...
"Turn back. You are only human. You will not last," he warned her and his beckoning voice reached her from far, far away and pulled her back from the void she'd fallen in.
Aki swayed and looked down at the ground, feeling like she'd been sucked into madness. She'd nearly thrown herself at his feet in a blind, lovestruck spell, like moth drawn to a flame.
And everything hurt now from being near him. Her lungs. Her skin. Her fingernails. The follicles in her hair.
When Aki managed to return her gaze to him, she had to look elsewhere every few seconds to maintain her sanity: at his forehead, his cheek, his lips, his neck and at the flash of gold there.
"This wasn't how it was supposed to happen, Yusei. This isn't our destiny. Not yours or mine, not the Signers', or any of the people who've died here. We can still change this. Don't let it end like this, okay? We were so close," she whispered, gasping for each breath. Her knees were shaking from weakness. If she were to collapse into him – would she burn to a crisp? Or maybe he'd catch her?
Osiris was looking directly into her eyes. He hadn't blinked or averted his gaze, not even once. "You must turn back. You cannot touch a God. You will die."
He was still trying to warn her, to get her to move away.
He (temporarily) helped her with her pain.
He summoned his dragon and sent it to protect Momentum.
The barrier he'd put up between the Signers and himself – how much of that was to keep them from interfering and not to protect them from him?
Maybe he genuinely was not trying to kill them all. Maybe this was the only way he could help.
He was not evil.
And he was only an arms-length away. When she used to stand this close to Yusei, she could feel his breath. But there was none now. A celestial being didn't need to breathe oxygen after all.
He was from outside of this world, frightening beyond comprehension, brilliant like a star and, up close, he was...a little sad, somehow.
"Yusei... let's go home. Take my hand." Aki reached for him, feeling as if her skin was starting to burn and peel. She bit her lip to keep herself from screaming.
A symbol shone brightly from his collarbone.
The Eye of Horus.
Somehow, it was the only thing to remain from Yusei.
An ancient symbol hanging on a leather band, an inconsistent touch of modernity on this powerful, primordial being.
Aki stared at it. And then she almost laughed. She knew now. Only...just how unfortunate it was that she'd realized it only then.
"Gifts given can be taken away, huh?" she mused, her voice barely a whisper. "Well then. This one doesn't belong to you."
She closed the final distance between them and ripped the necklace off Osiris' neck.
"Are you shutting it down!?" director Akutsu was yelling panicked orders.
The scientists around Momentum were panicking just as much as he was and for a good reason. The engine was going completely insane. It was spinning at breakneck speed in reaction to whatever was happening outside. There were surges of electricity ripping through the operating panels. And more than 80% of the staff had already run away after catching wind of what was happening outside – running to their families, friends.
"We can't shut it down," one older scientist moaned, pale as a ghost. "It cannot be stopped now. Even if it did…the glitch…"
Akutsu was nearly ripping his own hair out from fear and anxiety. He imagined what Seto Kaiba was going to do if he didn't follow through with the order he was given... But! It was true. Momentum was in a frightening, unstable condition.
Was this what it was like when it overloaded during that fateful night, many years ago?
There was screaming and disarray all around the control floor.
And in the midst of it all, Akutsu shouted – "Wait…WAIT!"
There was a moment then. When everything seemed to go silent and froze in anticipation of what was to come.
"Forgive us all," the older scientist closed his eyes.
The gears of the Momentum reactor came to an abrupt stop. And then, with a terrifying shudder, the reactor started spinning backwards.
The Sky Dragon of Osiris didn't have a millisecond to react or to let out a sound when the Momentum tower blew, devouring it within its lethal bright light.
"YES!" Set screamed joyously, opening up towards the explosion.
The Kaiba brothers, Yeager and a number of his officials were still at the airport when they saw it. The white light coming from the tower and the explosive wave spreading with impossible speed.
"Seto!" Mokuba cried out at the last second and tackled his shocked brother to the ground, covering his body with his own just as the nuclear fire consumed them.
In that last horrifying moment, Mayor Yeager thought to his son and wife, wishing he'd been with them.
"Damn it," Ra sighed. "I was so close."
"Do you still want to see how this unfolds?"
"Pointless now, isn't it? You know what he'll do. So you win." Ra waved his hand dismissively at his companion. "Do what you want."
The great god Atum snapped his fingers.
Ooooooooooooooooooo.
What? How? Who?
And what's next?
You'll find out in the next chapter!