#and it looked like yusei was crying too

[banqanas]

Interstellatic Fantastic The Final Day 2 report

Closing MC before curtain drop

Hori Natsuki:

Just the other day, it was Shota's anniversary (July 6th). I really would've liked to have all nine of us to stand on the arena stage but...

So everyone, in Shota's place, please continue to support us.

*not word by word translation

Note: In the context of supporting people, usually the word used is 応援 (ouen) but here Horinatsu used 支えて which also means support but is defined as "supporting something from below/or from collapsing"

[xkaidaxxxx]

Jack Atlas x Reader

quick story sorry for the errors.

"Jack you should confess to her...I've finally come to terms with knowing you don't love me. I was being delusional the entire time." Mina said to Jack with tears threatening to spill. She knew that you were always on his mind. A month after she worked for him. She noticed he always made sure he had what looked like a special card in his jacket. She thought it was a special duel card that was very special to him until he had left his coat on the couch. When she lifted the coat the photo of you slipped out. She picked it up and so many questions went through her mind.

Who's she?

Is that one of his childhood friends no one knows of?

Should I research her?

Could that be his sister? (no different colored hair.)

Maybe she lives here in Domino city?

His girlfriend? definitely not otherwise he would've asked Goodwin for the approval to bring you to Domino City secretly.

"Don't touch my things! I don't want to have to tell you again." Jack scolded her. He was very angry. "Yes sir...Is she family?" Mina asked hoping you were. He looked out the window, towards where Domino City is located. " No she's not family," he replied. That made her upset yet motivated to keep her game on.

"I am. It's about time. I can't lose her to anyone else. She's mine and always will be." he replied grabbing his helmet, and leaving his penthouse. He drove to your house and on the way he stopped to pick up your favorite food with a nice scarf. He parked and knocked on your door. Shuffling was heard. The door opened revealing no other than Yusei. The last person he wants to see at your house before confessing to you. "Is y/n here? I need to see her." you popped up out of nowhere. "Hey, I'm right here. What's up?" you said. Your eyes were sparkling and your cheeks were rosy as always. Jack gave Yusei a look that said leave us alone. He did. "I've been wanting to talk to you about something very important and I can't wait," he said. You walked into the kitchen with him. "Talk to me." you were nervous. Praying that it's nothing horrible. You grabbed your stool to get on the counter and sit down. "I..well...We grew up together and we've many special memories. Even after we separated there wasn't a day I didn't think of you. You are my past my present and hopefully my future. I'm blessed to know such a kind and beautiful human being. I love you y/n. I'm so in love with you." he confessed holding your hands with a grip. You felt your tears slip. Crying. This is all you've ever wanted, for Jack to love you. He held you as you jumped into his arms off the counter. You were trembling softly as you wrapped your legs around his waist .Overwhelmed with love and all the memories you've made coming back to you. "I'm in love with you too Jack." He smiled finally being able to say that he was yours. " Mine. All mine. My Jack Atlas." you commented playing with his hair as you stared into each other's eyes. "Yes, y/n. I'm all yours. Forever and Always." he said. Tears slipped as you made out passionately. Yusei caught a glimpse and decided it was best for him to leave. He knew you needed privacy. He was happy his Best friend finally found happiness.

'I'm so lucky to have you y/n." Jack said. You giggled and said, "I'm lucky to have you as well Jack. Who knows maybe I'll get even more luck one day to be called Mrs. Atlas." you replied. He blushed. HE BLUSHED. JACK ATLAS BLUSHED. "Yeah. I plan on giving you my last name. y/n Atlas. Its perfect." he replied.

Please leave a like if you enjoyed the story. Theres more to come.

I take requests.

Comment on how I can improve my writing skills.

[hopkei]

Sekai, SawaNatsu, and HoriNatsu interview with JJ

Original interview with photos here

Translated via ALPACHIVE

Among the members, who is the most kind?

Sekai: It depends on the type of kindness~ Sawa: If it’s kindness... Sekai: If you mean in terms of getting along (with others), wouldn’t it be Keito? Sawa: Yeah~ Sekai: No matter what happens he never has on a negative face/expression. Hori: Keito is definitely kind. Sawa: As expected, it's Keito. Hori: He messes around but is still caring.

Which member cries the most?

Hori: Keito! Sawa: This one is also Keito. Hori: Or it could be Yusei too~ Sekai: Those two have an image of crying a lot. If Keito watches a movie he will definitely cry, and Yusei has cried on stage many times.

Which member is the most spoiled?

Hori: It’s Taiki-kun. Taiki-kun always has to have a member or someone else with him. Sawa: Yeah for sure (laughs) Hori: Rather than being really obviously/openly spoiled, (he doesn’t like being alone so) actually he often calls Keito... (to meet him) Sekai: That guy can’t go anywhere alone! Hori: He’s also good at finding out where Yusei is and going there. He has the image of always keeping someone around him (laughs).

If you had to choose one member to be your girlfriend, who would you choose?

Sawa: Oh, we're making them our girlfriend~ Sekai: Yeah, if they were a girl. Sawa: It’s not the usual "if you were a girl (who would you date)" question. It’s the opposite. Hori: If I'm a guy and dating one of them as a girl... this is hard. Sekai: Right.... I choose myself! Since we would be the same in everything, if I had myself as a girlfriend, I think it would be really nice. To me, anyway! However… the fact that I can’t cook isn’t so good. But that much is whatever. Having the same interests is nice. Sawa: Choosing a girlfriend is hard… Sekai: Never thought about it, right~ Sawa: I don’t really want any of them as my girlfriend (laughs) but maybe Keito... since he usually becomes a girl! Keiko-chan! Hori: Honestly, since he crossdresses for our concerts and dramas, in terms of visual he’s probably the best (laughs). Sawa: Because in Fanta he’s the one who crossdresses the most (laughs). Hori: He seems to be getting better at it lately. It seems like his face is becoming more well suited to dressing up as a girl (laughs) Sawa: In our drama, he played a girl too, right? If it’s female roles, he did one in Mannequin. (tn: Mannequin Night Fever) Staff: So in terms of looks, it’s Keito? Sawa: Yeah, in terms of looks (laughs). Hori: I think so too (laughs).

If you were to become a fan of a member, who would you choose?

Hori: Probably Sota. I think since he updates his SNS and stuff so faithfully, if I became his fan I would get to see him a lot. So if I really think about it I would likely become his fan. Sekai: SawaNatsu. Because he's sexy! Even though he doesn’t take off his clothes during concerts or try hard to appeal himself (to fans) he’s still sexy. Sawa: A fan of sexiness (laughs). Sekai: Yes, I'm a fan of sexiness. Sawa: For me, probably Sekai-san. He often does things like live broadcasts. Since he often does fan-only broadcasts, I think he’s someone who thinks about his fans a lot.

If you were to bring one member with you to a deserted island, who would you choose?

Hori: One person to a deserted island, huh... Sekai: One person right? Then Taiki~ Ah, but he would probably feel betrayed. Sawa: If he feels betrayed you’re in trouble (laughs). Hori: For me, Keito. Because then I can do whatever I want (laughs). Sawa: Definitely (laughs). Then for me I'd say Sota. I feel like when we’re together we can breathe easily. Outside of work when we go on walks together, or go eat we get along really well, so I think (taking) Sota is good. Sekai: Yeah, I'm okay with Taiki. If he seems betrayed, we can just battle! However, when it comes to making fire and stuff I'll probably have to do it all myself and make the place for us to sleep too, but that’s fine.

Who is the strongest drinker amongst the members?

Sekai: Huh?! Alcohol?! Sawa: I have no idea… Hori: The vocals have an image of being strong drinkers. Sekai: Isn’t SawaNatsu strong? Sawa: No no, I’m weak. I’m so weak (laughs) Sekai: Really? Last time we went to eat I felt like you just kept drinking. Sawa: Because (the drink) was weak! Sekai: Yusei is strong, but his engine is slow to start (tn: takes a while to get into drinking mode) Sawa: If I think of it that way, then Taiki-kun is strong too. Hori: Yusei’s crazy. Sekai: Definitely Yusei. Even though he only drinks occasionally, he’s strong. Staff: Do you drink outside of work? Hori: I don’t drink much. Sekai: I hate drinking! Sawa: Sekai-san is the weakest (laughs)

Among the members, who is the most girly? (lit: heart is most like a girl)

Hori: Like a girl... Sekai: Who’s heart is most like a girl!? Sawa: If it’s like this we can probably never answer (laughs) Hori: "Heart" huh... Sawa: This is hard… Hori: What (qualifies as) like a girl...? (laughs) Sawa: I know right. Hori: I don’t know the criteria for being like a girl (laughs) Sekai: Aside from us three, they’re all girly! Sawa: Ah, maybe (laughs) Sekai: They only care about little things!!

What member can you most rely on?

Sekai: Rely on them?! Hori: Rely on... for me the two oldest. Sawa: I can rely on Sekai-san. Sekai: Huh! For me SawaNatsu~ I can rely on him more than Taiki (laughs) I can rely on Taiki too, but there’s less categories (tn: that he can rely on him for) Sawa: He’s specialized in specific areas (laughs) Sekai: That’s right, (he’s) specialized. He’s the type that fails if you rely on him too much. SawaNatsu is the type that never fails! Sawa: No, I don’t know about that. That’s a lot of pressure (laughs) Sekai: Since these two (NatsuNatsu) are the strong type, they’re really reliable.

Who has the biggest gap (in personality) between onstage and offstage (in private)?

Sawa: Keito is unexpectedly like that. He’s really cool. Onstage he’s amazing, while showing those faces and making those expressions (laughs) In private he never shows that face. There’s not even a hint of it. As expected since he’s the youngest, he tries to put the senpais above him and is very cute. But onstage, Keito is unyielding. Hori: That’s definitely true. Sekai: Yusei is exactly the same. A little dumb and cute. A careless person!

[moonlit-orchid]

Headcanon that came while I was making myself tea for my cold (chuckling in mint ginger lemon honey cinnamon powder and tumeric powder in a mug and splashing on boiling water hoping it will produce a beverage):

Primo loves cooking. He's really the only capable chef in the whole group.

When he was in the future with Iliaster, they had food, sure, but those were like microwave meals. You just added in water. Nothing to add to it. Same for drinks, tea and coffee were literally just like single pods that you put water in. Primo would sometimes (when Jakob finally went out and left him in a few hours of rare blissful peace) look at like pre-invasion earth food and stuff on his phone, and would especially be in awe of like teas and stuff, like cosy food, made with all kinds of herbs and spices that no longer existed, and he'd scroll until he got too despondent over how they no longer had those simple things. Or when Lester caught a cold, Primo would know how to make home remedies but lack all the ingredients/ real ingredients.

Then one day he has to meet Yusei at Martha's because Yusei was borrowing one of his tech things and Yusei happened to go to Martha's as the kids were all sick to try help out. Primo came and saw Martha was struggling to keep up with making remedies as well as look after the really little ones who wouldn't stop crying, while Yusei, Crow, and Jack were trying to soothe the older kids and while Jack knew how to make remedies, he didn't have the right talent for it and was too slow and clumsy, and his remedies were entirely made to be practical and to cure, not to taste good, so the kids wouldn't drink. Primo offered to help so Crow led him to the kitchen and Primo just freaked out when he saw Martha's cupboards of everyday spices and herbs and the home made bread and jam and everything.

Crow was like "are you okay? It's just kitchen things", so Primo had to explain that in his time, these things were none existent. To him being able to use these simple everyday ingredients, to make food that tasted good and comforting and actually restored energy and mood, was something he had never expected to do. Even here, in this time, Jakob never bought them that kind of food. The kitchen just had sachet meals.

Primo set to work on the herbal teas and even got a soup going, and he was not only fast, a skill he learnt when he had been able to cook in the past with a few ingredients he'd smuggled into Iliaster and he had to be quick before Jakob returned, he was able to cook well. He found an old notebook with remedies written in them so he went with that. And he not only made the remedies, he took the time out to quickly ensured they tasted good enough to appeal to the kids.

Eventually Martha came in and she was extremely proud of him. She told him those recipes had been handed down in her family. They may have been classic but there was always her family's own spin on it, and when she was younger she had written them all down from her mother to preserve them. However, what with the city expanding and life speeding up, most people just abandoned the remedies in favour of quicker over the counter medication. She had tried to teach her boys, but Yusei and Crow can't cook, Jack can but he isn't fully interested. To see Primo actually put his heart into it made her very happy and she offered to teach him how to cook more types of food if he wanted.

Primo just started crying right there and then. Someone noticed what he did and that someone was an older person. He got validated by someone equal to a parental figure. He got treated with kindness. He got praised for being good at something he geniunely liked. He made someone else happy and he didn't have to put himself through extreme agony to do so.

Martha hugged him and after that he became her new favourite son after Jack. He asked her "aren't i too old for this?"

She told him "you are never told old to feel a parent's love and warmth. Especially if you never got it from your own parental figure. You aren't too old, you're too overdue for it."

[foxydivaxx]

Yugioh Pretty Little Liars Style Chapter 1

Imagine the Yugioh protagonists as Pretty Little Liars characters or in a universe similar to that one. This was originally posted on A03 years ago which is why Yusaku, Yuga and Yudias aren't featured here as they hadn't debuted at the time this story was written.

Their chatroom usernames are as follows:

NeosHero- Jaden

StardustBoy- Yusei

XYZPrincexx- Yuma

PedulumPastel- Yuya

Jaden sighs as he walks into his bedroom. His mum was out thankfully so he could do whatever the heck he wanted. He flops on his bed and reaches for his phone in his backpack. A year has passed since the burial of  Yami Yugi aka the Original Doll and King Bee of Domino City. He and the rest of the gang have since moved on, or are trying to. Yusei is in Satellite City with his mother, Yuya is in Kyoto with his brothers and Yuma is in England with his family. Jaden meanwhile decides to stay in Domino as of the three of them, he is the only one that has not truly moved on from the whole ordeal. Not suprising considering he was Yami's closet confidante and second in command plus his lover. Yes most people are not aware of them being lovers though there was still speculation about that considering he and Yami tended to get 'friendly' at a couple of events.

Jaden's thoughts get distracted when a familiar beeping noise arouses his attention. Checking his phone, he raises an eyebrow as soon as he sees a rather mysterious message:

 Still crying rivers Jay? How long do you think you can continue to deceive others with your mask?

Soon that bridge you have put up to protect yourself shall burn. Mark my words.

                     -Y

Jaden raises an eyebrow at this. How strange.  This seems like the type of shit Yami would say to me.

Elsewhere, Yuya had just wrapped up with his art class and was heading home for the night. He too gets a similar message whose contents are as follows:

Remember that night Yuya? 

Don't think I have forgotten.

      -Y

Yuya panics upon seeing this. The night in question was a rather infamous incident involving himself and his older brother Yuri. Basically, Yuri caught him with his boyfriend Rex and that caused a fight between them. To be quite fair, Yami actually beat him there as he had a brief fling with Rex a couple summers ago. Still Yami egged him on to do the deed as a way of getting even with Yuri who had always been an evil bitch to him. Why did I agree to come back here?! I need to get out of this shithole and return to Domino as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, Yusei finishes up fixing a bike that he made. He had always been passionate about racing and always looked for opportunities to race.  Heck he is thinkin of joining Formula 1 someday. Yusei's phone buzzes and sure enough, he gets a  mysterious text as well.

Those that cheat do not last long at the top.

Remember that.

      -Y

Yusei blinks after reading it. "What?" he says. It was then that the realization sinks in. "Oh shit..."

Yuma sighs as he walks into the house. "What a long day." he mutters. "Yuma are you home?" came his mother's voice. Yuma smiles softly and pokes his his head through the door. "Yeah mum, I'm home!!" he shouts. His older sister Kari ruffles his hair. "Hey!!" he yelled. "Yuma go get changed." she says. He nods and runs up the stairs. "Careful!!" Mrs Tsukumo calls after him.

As soon as he gets into the room, he throws his bag onto the floor and jumps on the bed. Just then his phone buzzes. Yuma snatches it up and sees a text. His jaw drops upon reading it.

No matter how hard you fight it

The thorns are still gonna kill ya

      -Y

"T-thorns?" Yuma whispers. The door swings open, forcing Yuma to quickly throw the phone onto the bed. "Why haven't you changed?" says Kari. Yuma frowns. "Jeez, Kari must you nag?! besides, I am trying to decide what to wear!!" he snaps. Kari rolled her eyes and walks away. Once the coast is clear, he goes back to examine the text. Who else besides Yami and the others know of that?

Jaden then sets up a group chat for himself and the others as he suspects that the others may have gotten similar texts to his.

NeosHero: Is anyone here

StardustBoi: Yo!!

XYZPrincexx: Waddup y'all!!

PedulumPastel: OMG!! I missed you guys so much!!

Jaden smiles softly. All of them have been way too caught up doing their own thing to properly communicate and catch up with each other. Now that has all changed.

NeosHero: How has life being treating y'all?

PedulumPastel: I am beginning to question my very existence because of well......Yuri

NeosHero: Warned ya didn't I?

StardustBoi: Aside from mechanic sshit, nothing special

XYZPrincexx: Same. Might as well return to Domino.

PedulumPastel: Was about to say that

StardustBoi: Say, have any of you gotten some strange text from some bitch called Y?

XYZPrincexx: Yup

PedulumPastel: WHAT?!! YOU GUYS ALL GOT THAT SHIT!?! I GOT THAT JUST NOW!!

NeosHero: Same. That is why I created this chat guys. I have a bad feeling about this.

PedulumPastel: Same

StardustBoi: Who is this person though? How can that person know our secrets?

XYZPrincexx: Yeah Yami is the only person I know that knows all our secrets. I mean, isn't that how he initiated us into our little merry band?

StardustBoi: Yup but still it is better that Yami does that unlike some other random bitch

PedulumPastel: Does anyone have any suspects?

NeosHero: Loads. Anyhow, you guys coming back to Domino at some point?

PedulumPastel: Won't it be better if we all just move back in?

StardustBoi: Agreed

XYZPrincexx: Same

NeosHero: Perfect. Let me know when y'all will be in town

After a couple more random chats, they all sign out. Jaden smirks at this. "All according to plan. Now onto phase 2."

Yes Jaden is very suspicious once again. Who do you think is Y?

[soaringonblackwings]

Wings That Carry Wishes

AO3

Summary: The dark signer war is over. A time for cheers and celebration. However, Crow couldn’t celebrate just yet.

Crow hallucinates at one point and it is just hand waved. Not on my watch.

After the battle with Goodwin the trio was returned to land. Leo, Luna, Akiza, Mina and Trudge. All ran up to them. All filled with worry.

“Atlas-sama!”

“““Yusei!”””

“Crow!”

The cities were saved.

Akiza and the twins were fawning over Yusei.

Jack was being cared for by mina.

And Crow….

“Hey…, I know I am the last person you want to see.” Trudge said.

“Yeah, you kind of are.” Crow smirked. He tried to laugh but pain spread throughout his body when he did.

“Geez, we got to get you guys to a doctor.” Trudge said. “Hey! Don’t move too much!”

Crow moved his body towards his duel runner. Ignoring the all the pain that he was in. The broken ribs, the bruises. They all didn’t matter. He had one thing on his mind.

“Crow! Where are you going?” Worried, Trudge asked.

“Heh, wouldn’t you like to know.” Crow taunted.

He started up his duel runner and hightailed off to his hideout.

He was in so much pain. Every movement hurt. But he had to get back. He had to make sure they were okay. He didn’t even know if they would return after Goodwin’s defeat. It was a thought that crossed his mind that he pushed down until the end of the battle.

Like last time he arrived at his hideout. It was empty and quiet.

“Everyone! Your big brother is back!” Crow yelled. “Hikari! Kokori! Taiga! Dachi! Ginga!”

He looked in all of the buildings and they were all empty. He had to calm down. They were really good at hiding.

He jumped into the fray because the dark signers took them from him. He made a promise to free them from Satellite. To get them off the island. When they died before that could happen, Crow had no choice but to jump into battle. He wanted revenge. And not only that, but he also had to fight to live. If the kids really didn’t come back after the war, he had to continue to live to carry out their dreams.

“Big brother Crow!” He heard. He turned around and saw them come from their hiding spots. But he couldn’t get his hopes up yet. The last time they were hallucinations. What if his mind was playing tricks on him again. He was so afraid they wouldn’t be real that he did not reach out like last time.

“Crow!” Kokori was the first to reach him. Then Hikari and the boys all piled on him.

“Crow! It was so scary!” Hikari wailed.

“T-the black fog surrounded us a-and.” Kokori sniffled.

"Then we could not find you after we woke up. It was scary." Dachi sobbed.

All the kids cried. Crow was frozen while they all bawled their eyes out. He expected them to start fading away at any moment. But it was warm. He could feel them. They weren’t fake. Soon he was beginning to cry with them.

“Don’t cry. Your big brother Crow is here.” He said through his tears.

“Stupid! You can’t tell us not to cry while you are crying.” Ginga said a while he was crying.

Crow hugged them all. Something he thought he would never be able to do again.

[universestreasures]

@tophatz Sent: A Ship That Includes At Least One Of My Muses To Rate (Accepting)

Rivalshipping ( Yugi & Kaiba ) ! Yusei & Kiryu 👀

Rivalshipping ( Yugi & Kaiba ) !

vomit / don’t ship / ok / cute / adorable / sexy / perfect / beyond flawless / hot damn / screaming and crying /i will ship them in hell

This is a ship I feel has as much romantic as it does platonic appeal, and it's one I've been thinking about due to all the fanart (which a lot of it is cute and funny) I've seen while looking for Yugi things for my queue. Kaiba and Yugi did not get to interact as much after a certain point due to Atem taking that spotlight and becoming Kaiba's rival, but from what we know about their dynamic, they both would (especially post canon / post dsod) get along pretty well.

The biggest things they both have in common is a love of games and a hardworking attitude. They both are such nerds about gaming I cannot help but see them just essentially talking in their own language no one can understand. I also think they respect each other a lot, and we know Yugi has expressed interest in wanting to play games with Kaiba and getting to be his friend. He's also shown concern for Kaiba such as during Duelist Kingdom and has been pretty quick to forget the bad stuff he did too (but that merciful / forgiving nature of Yugi is such a key part of his character).

I think they have the potential to either be an adorable short king and tall king couple (with no doubt notes of co-worker romantic stuff due to at least manga wise them collaborating like in Takahashi's art he drew for a post DSOD idea) or gaming besties with enough time and development (mainly because any dynamic with Kaiba is gonna be developed slowly cause well it's Kaiba LOL).

I'd love to explore the dynamic either way with my Yugi, honestly. Curious how my Yugi's dynamic with Ani's Kaiba ( @shacchou ) will develop.

Yusei & Kiryu 👀

vomit / don’t ship / ok / cute / adorable / sexy / perfect / beyond flawless / hot damn / screaming and crying /i will ship them in hell

I feel the same way about this pairing that I do with Yusei with Jack or Crow. My interpretation is that Yusei sees all three members of Team Satisfaction as his brothers, and those, he has a strong familial bond with all three of them. That's why I think he is willing to give himself up for Kiryu by turning himself in aside from his selfless nature.

I 100% get the appeal as to why people would and do ship this pairing, especially due to the angsty nature and childhood friends parts of their dynamic,it just is not for me!

[shifuto]

alright so this is probably one of the things I disliked THE MOST about this show.. because Aki was such an interesting character thanks to all these conflicts and, quite literally, power ^^;

now it's not to say that she isn't interesting now but I think they could've done redemption on her much differently.. how come the others got power throughout the series, and she loses hers? How is that fair? Even more when her powers were something so rare, how do you even lose those, what the fuck man....

to me, they "downgraded" her and gave Sherry a lot of the same conflicts - but kept Sherry that way until her arc arc has finished, instead of doing what they did to Aki - and Aki, currently, is merely a shadow of the past having nowhere as near as much power, or confidence, or anything really ^^; but like.. yeah I get it, I get it.. everything she has done was kind of as a way to cope and as a defense, too, and after being "saved" by Yusei and the others, she has to start anew, to build that power and confidence and everything back up, and not relying on her psychic powers anymore etc etc..

what ended up happening - and this is the cure of girls in Yugioh, really - is that she becomes the helpless female character who is the love interest of the main character, and starts acting as such..... like I'm not shitting you, it's annoying at times.. where is the Aki we met at the start, the one that beat Yusei's ass? Where is that sadistic and evil Aki? Well, she's not evil anymore, now she is just some girl in a shonen series and will be treated as such (: and it's going to fucking suck ass (: (: I wanna scream man 🤣 get me out of here I hate this 🤣🤣

so.. how would I redeem Aki?

I would not change her into someone else! I would take all those "evil" things she did out of ignorance or as a way to survive and they would become important weapons to her. Everything under her control. I'm trying to think of another character that would fit here and Sherry and Jack both come to my mind! Sherry was "evil" in that she was seeking revenge desperately, but it didn't come from an uninformed or misguided place (much how it went for Aki); Jack can be very sadistic, even though it might not be so obvious but that whole grandiose demeanor of him, and the whole crushing the opponent through sheer brute force should tell you something. Neither him nor Sherry had to change extremely much in their own "redemption" arcs, while for Aki I feel like she is another person entirely..

now, it could be a deeper issue though.. maybe this is what Aki really looks like, and what we got when we met her was all a facade - or worse: something Divine sowed into her - or it could be also a product of trauma, etc.. well the fact is that she has had these powers ever since she was a kid and I don't think Aki as a kid was full of that "darkness" in her own heart, she was a kid, it was something else and this "darkness" made the powers grow. Alright

I like to think that she would eventually make peace with all these parts of herself and, eventually, move forward looking confident and powerful (with or without the psychic powers) but uhh, sure.. she's a teenager, she has a lot to process, and a lot to grow and heal too. Lastly, she ends up becoming a doctor. Very probable that comes from a place of repentance about past deeds, and it's fair.

I probably have to do my own process of grieving over what her character could've become and cry about the yugioh curse on female characters 🤣

[blazingstarship]

Bla bla bla with Bla(ze)

I have these things on my mind and dont know what to do then make a post of my thoughs.

So… all things is about Yu.sei.

What If Yu.sei heard me during our relationship saying Im not interested in his autograph for his fame, I only ever want it for three reasons. The contract of our house, certificate of marriage and certificate of our kids. Thats all.

And now I wonder how he would react…

Another thing that hadnt left my mind is whenever Yusei wakes up from a nightmare he makes himself warmth milk to get back to sleep. Its a comfort thing Mar.tha always did when he had nightmares as a kid and went to her with tears streaming down his cheeks.

One time I got out of bed and catched him doing this and asked if he was okay. He didnt answer as he kept sterling the spoon. Walking up to him as I hugged him from behind and snuggled him, whispering to him “Whatever it is, I am here for you. I will not leave your side, only if you want me to. I love you. I love you so much.”

Minutes passed till I let him go, he grabbed my hand. “Stay.” He handed me a cup too as we sitted down and drunk in silence as I holded his free hand the whole time.

Another thing I thought some night was…

What if I looked up the ceiling of our home and thought how Yu.sei would react if I di.ed. Would he miss me? Would he cry? As I turned over to see him sleep peacefully next to me, my heart sunk. Looked at him. Why would I bring something like this up to my mind? This sweet boy lost his own parents, some friends… As I stroked his hair softly I got out of bed and made my way to the kitchen.

Drinking some water as I though why I kept doing this comparing thoughts and end up thinking Im not enough for him and he will seek for someone else. Hearing footsteps coming closer as I saw Yu.sei bringing a bottle of water out the frigde.

“You okay?”

“Hm.”

“Couldnt sleep?”

“Not really.”

“Nightmare?”

“No, I just couldn’t sleep anymore.” “what…what would you do if Im gone?”

“What? What do you mean?”

“What would you do if Im gone?”

“Gone how?”

“Gone as in, spirit left my body gone.”

“Oh.”

“I dont want you gone.”

“Okay.”

I didn’t expect a big answer and being “I cant live without you. I would be desperate not having you in my arms. I love you to the moon and back! I dont want someone else than you! I would do anything I have to hold you by me!”. Its nice he at least said he doesnt want me gone.

“Not the answer you were hoping for?”

“”Sometimes I wish you were more talkative and tell me how much I mean to you. Sometime I need to hear you say that you want me, only me by your side and Im enough and always will be.””

“I took something to calm me, Im gonna try sleeping again.”

“Sharon, what do you want to hear?”

“Nothing you dont wanna say.”

I made my way back to bed as I stared at the nightstand till I heard him coming to our room as I closed my eyes quick. I feel him coming closer as I peaked through the lits of my eyes to see him kneeling in front of me as he laid his hand on my head and stroked my hair.

“I know you too well that you wanted another answer, but I really mean what I say. I dont want you gone. You mean everything to me. I cant put into words how much I care for you.”

I sighed as I opened my eyes fully, looking up to him. “But why cant you say that while looking in my eyes?”

“Cause I’m afraid when I say it directly to you, you will be gone too like everyone else who I have loved or loved me.”

“Yu.sei.”

[yugirl-with-dragons]

How about an Encanto AU? I have not fully thought this through but Rua/Leo as Mirabel, the other Signers as the cousins. (I can't remember names for the life of me, but Crow as the shape-shifter, Aki as the plant girl, Ruka/Luna as the one who talks to animals. Perhaps? Idk I'd love to hear your thoughts about where everyone would fit in!)

NO WAIT THIS MIGHT BE COOL it's just hard to find a role for everyone-

I like the idea of Rua being the protag without powers, we know he would have loved being one of the Signers XD and he did get a signer mark in the end, like Mirabelle!!

About Ruka, yeah, her being the sibling who could talk with animals (Antonio) fits much better bc she's the last who gets her powers (do you remember the beginning of the movie, where Mirabelle encourages him right before the rite? That part, but with Rua and Ruka, it feels adorable to me! Even though it's a little heart-breaking for Rua) AND because she can talk to the monsters spirits in 5Ds!

Crow as Camilo (shape-shifter) would be so freaking hilarious, sign me up IMMEDIATELY

I don't need to comment on Aki and Isabela tbh, the parallelism is so perfect it really doesn't need any explanation

JACK? CLEARLY LUISA (but with fewer insecurities XD)

At this point, only Yusei would be left out... I'm crying bc age wise, the only role left that he could actually FIT IS FREAKING MARIANO HAHAHA (Isabela's bf, who later notices Dolores XD Yusei x Ruka is NOT my ship, but that's what would happen with a direct parallelism, unfortunately. I'd have to bend the main storyline in my favor :V)

I reeeeally wouldn't know about the other characters (Bruno, tia Pepa, Abuela...), they're all older, and I'd have trouble into looking for niche 5Ds characters to get them all in the Madrigal family.

We simply don't have an Abuela (Martha would be an excellent Julieta, Mirabel's mother, but never an Abuela) and Bruno's character is too important to be given to very niche characters... I first thought of Kiryu (I'd have to make him much older, of course)! But Pepa??? Would she be Sherry, with Bruno??? Again, they'd have to be much older-

SOooo yeah, this AU half-works as it is, but with some changes, it's an excellent story!

[megarabane]

coalesce

[picture taken from Google Images, Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds screenshot, s2 e1]

[the hopes] [of the world] coalesce [into a single star]

Words: 3525

Summary: Crow, Jack, and Yusei finally confront each other - and themselves - about their turmoil, and attempt to become a family again.

-3 parts, each from a different POV (Crow, Jack, Yusei, in that order)

-Angst with a happy ending (or at least the implications of a happy ending)

TW: mentions of suicidal ideation, language, internalized trauma

A/N: this part was longer than I anticipated it being, and I think I should feel bad about the Bad Times I'm putting these poor babies through, but what can I say, angst makes for good fluff.

---

Crow woke slowly, and before Jack.

.

Jack woke all at once to sunlight pooling directly on his face.

.

Yusei closed his eyes and turned his face up into the hot water coming out of the showerhead.

---

Crow woke slowly, and before Jack.

It took him a few long, sleepy moments to realize where he was, staring blearily at a red smear that slowly came into focus as the Yusei-Go. That's right, we slept downstairs last night.

He rolled over, grabbed for the blanket on his shoulders as it started to slip, and then realized it wasn't a blanket at all, but his delivery jacket. He sat up at the realization, suddenly awake, and craned his neck to look over the red D-Wheel. The floor where Yusei had been the night before was empty - he'd been the first one awake.

Crow stretched and yawned, scrubbing his hands through his hair. Feels like the first good sleep I've gotten in a while. He swung his legs down and stood, twisting his back until it cracked satisfyingly. He could hear the shower running upstairs.

I might have time to start breakfast before he's done.

Leaving the cot in disarray, blankets and jacket piled on top of his pillow, he made his way upstairs, combing his hair back from his eyes as he ascended. At the top of the stairs, he yelped as he tripped over the box of cup noodles they'd abandoned, sending them skittering across the floor with a raucous, rattling noise.

"Dammit, Jack," he snarled under his breath, scooping them up. "I give you one whole thing to do."

Of course it fell by the wayside last night.

He stood in the middle of the kitchen, glowering down at the noodles in his hand, good mood suddenly soured. Unbidden, the memories of the night before reared their heads again, of the way the Sector Security officer looked at him, of the workers in the store who watched him while he shopped, barely pretending that they weren't. He thought about sitting on the kitchen floor, bathed in Jack's shadow from the streetlight, his hands on his calves and his chin on his knees, feeling smaller than he had in years.

Crow carried the box to the fridge and set it on top, rising to his toes to push it back. The curtains were still open, with warm morning sunlight pooling on the hardwood. He dug in the cabinet over the sink, emerging with instant coffee and three mismatched mugs. It was a luxury, coffee, but it felt apt this morning.

I wonder what his nightmares are about.

Crow often thought back to standing below Yusei in the tower, the chill of the portal below freezing the breath that came out of his lungs, his heart cracking as he listened to Yusei scream at Rudger. It had hurt him like stab wounds listening to Yusei's voice break as he tried not to cry. It had taken every ounce of his willpower not to fall apart, too. He pressed his hand against his ribs, inhaling slowly.

And yet, they still smile upon me as their friend!

I don't need them, he could hear himself crying, face buried in his pillow on the couch at Pearson's while the older man rubbed his back. I'm better off without them!

I was always an afterthought.

And yet.

Crow tightly grabbed the edge of the counter as his throat tightened. STOP IT. I'm not the one having nightmares, he reprimanded himself firmly. Yusei's the one who needs us right now. There's nothing to be done feeling sorry for myself.

You're deflecting, a voice that sounded eerily like Pearson's echoed in his head, underneath his inner monologue.

Oh, piss off, he thought angrily, tossing spoons to the counter with a clatter. I've not had anyone to rely on for years, and I've kept it to myself, and dealt with it myself for this long. It's not like it's going to kill me. My kids needs came before mine, and their needs come before mine, now, too. That's how I roll.

Come on, Crow, you can't ignore yourself forever.

"I can and I will," he said out loud, to a man who wasn't there. He pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and index fingers, closing his eyes against the sudden burning feeling. His breath shuddered as he exhaled. "I can, and I will."

...

Jack woke all at once to the sunlight pooling directly on his face. He groaned and rolled over, almost off the edge of his bed.

No, not his bed - the cot. In the garage.

He pushed himself up on his elbows, squinting through his bangs. The matching cot next to him was empty, blankets lumped together at the foot. He sat up and glanced over the top of Yusei's D-Wheel, confirming his suspicions that he was the last one awake. The smell of coffee permeated the metal and gasoline of their workspace, and he turned toward the stairs.

Crow must be the one in the shower, if someone's making coffee.

Jack looked over the Yusei-Go, to where Wheel of Fortune was propped up with wires running from every available port, plugged into the laptop set atop an overturned milk crate. He couldn't even find the energy to be aggravated that it was still out of commission. Yusei had clearly been working himself to the bone on his own D-Wheel. The last thing he needed was Jack harping on him, adding to his stress.

His solution to bad dreams is to just not sleep. How is that any better?

He stood, tossing his blankets into a haphazard pile on top of Crow's. We should have moved him to one of the cots. We shouldn't have just let him sleep on the fucking floor like an animal. Jesus.

Jack climbed the stairs, rubbing the back of his neck as he emerged into the kitchen. "How'd you sleep, Yuse?"

"He's in the shower."

Jack looked up, startled at the voice, to find Crow standing with one hand on the counter, the other slowly stirring a dark blue mug. His hair was pinned back from his face with an alligator clip, but it still hung loose around his shoulders. He didn't look up as Jack came in.

"You're - making coffee," the blond said slowly.

He hummed noncommittally. His light eyes didn't raise from his work, although he pushed a white mug toward Jack with his free hand. "I know you don't like anything in it."

After a short pause, Jack took it in both hands. "Thanks."

"You want to start breakfast?"

Jack paused mid-drink. "You...want me to cook. Who are you, and where the hell is the Bullet?"

Crow shrugged. "I'll be right here to save it when you fuck it up." Despite the words likely intended to be teasing, his voice was hollow. It was disorienting.

"What do you want?" Jack asked, pulling the fridge open and holding the door with his foot. "Oh, we've got vegetables. Omelets?"

"That's fine with me." Crow took a drink from his own mug and set the dark blue one in the microwave. "Hand them here, and I'll dice them."

JACKASS.

They worked in silence for a while, with Jack occasionally flicking water into the empty skillet and watching it sizzle and pop, before he steeled his nerves. "Listen, Crow."

The redhead paused in his chopping, using the flat of the knife to push some peppers out of the way. He gave no indication he'd heard.

"I - You've still got boxes in my room."

"I was wondering where those went." Crow took up a pearl onion and cut it in half. "I'll get them today."

"I...saw the magazines in there."

"Don't get coy with me, I know you have them too."

"No, the... The Duelist Monthly ones."

The knife slipped and Crow yelped, jerking his hand backwards. Red blood welled on two fingertips, and he instinctively went to stick them in his mouth. Jack grabbed his wrist, arresting the movement.

"Wash them out properly," he scolded, drawing up short when he found Crow staring, eyebrows high and pulled together. It was an expression somewhere between confusion and resentment. He immediately released his grip, turning away.

Vividly, he remembered Yusei turning his back that night. He never used to do that.

Shame burned like fire in his chest. "Where are the band-aids?"

Crow exhaled hard. "Above the fridge."

Jack rooted in the cabinet while Crow held his hand under running water, wincing. "Damn sharp knives."

"I'm sorry," Jack said, finally emerging with the blue and white box. The redhead snatched it out of his hand.

"Don't say that shit now," Crow snapped, drying his hands on the dish towel. "I wanted to hear that three years ago."

"I know." Jack braced his hip against the stove. "I should have said it...more than three years ago. I should have said it - six months ago, when..." He twisted a piece of hair around his fingers. "I understand. For what it's worth. Which might not be much. Why you're...angry with me." You have every single right to be. You and Yusei both.

"Angry's one way to put it," Crow snorted. "Y'know, my kids loved you."

Jack looked down at the stove. "That...couldn't have been easy."

"To watch? Oh, no, it wasn't." Crow finished wrapping one bandage around his index finger and reached for another. "But I bit my tongue. I didn't tell them a thing about our history, or how I felt about you. They thought you were a god. And I let them." He glanced sharply over. "Imagine what they would have thought if I'd told them that their champion abandoned his family, almost murdered Rally, threatened Yusei, and stole his D-Wheel and Stardust, just to feed his own ego."

"I get it, alright?" Jack finally said, almost cutting him off. Guilt was threatening to suffocate him, turning his shame into anger, because anger was easier. It always had been. Maybe that's part of the problem. "I was a douchebag, and I deserved what I got. I was trying to be a nice guy and apologize, but if you're going to be this way - "

"The only reason I'm 'being this way' is because you and Yusei kicked me to the curb the second I wasn't useful anymore!" Crow shouted back, slamming a fist into the countertop. His mug rattled, and a little pearl onion made a break for the edge. Jack caught it before it hit the floor. "And I'm supposed to just get over that? I watched one of the few people I trusted with my life die in a structure fire, I got arrested four more times, and at sixteen I ended up adopting half a dozen brats and taking care of them because no one else would, and I wasn't going to just let them grow up alone like I did! So, no, Jack, forgive me if a half-assed 'I'm sorry' three years later isn't going to be enough."

The silence between them was heavy and suffocating, and after a long moment, Crow picked the knife back up.

The smell of coffee and peppers was nauseating. "Crow - "

"Don't." The knife bit into the cutting board hard enough to leave a scar. "Just leave it, Jack."

...

Yusei closed his eyes and turned his face up into the hot water coming out of the showerhead. I shouldn't use all the hot water. The two of them probably need it, too. But he couldn't bring himself to move from the stream. It filled his head with white noise, soothed his sore muscles, forced him to relax.

He had slept without issue last night. He turned around and took up their shared bottle of shampoo. I wonder why.

Probably just exhaustion.

Yusei rubbed his hands together absently, water streaming down his face and plastering his hair to his neck. They slept in the garage with me.

We haven't slept in the same room since we were children.

Childhood was one of those things that Yusei tried not to think about too hard. During their stint as Team Satisfaction, it had been uncomfortable to bring up around Kiryu. After they'd split, it had been painful. After Jack had left, it had been a distraction. During their fight with the Dark Signers, it had been an exploitable weakness. Rudger had used it against him at the first opportunity - at every opportunity, really, from stealing his friends away, stealing Martha, revealing the truth of Zero Reverse, trying to reduce him to nothing -

Yusei yelped as the water suddenly became very cold, and he stumbled forward out of the spray. Guess that means I'm done.

He took his time blow-drying his hair and gelling it back up, brushed his teeth, then stood in front of his closet long enough that he eventually just put on a clean pair of sweatpants and a tank top. If it's taking me this long to pick a pair of jeans, then it's not a day for jeans.

Scrolling through his phone as he meandered back toward the kitchen, the unmistakable smell of breakfast drew him up short. They're up early.

Yusei skipped the last two rungs of the ladder, jumping to the kitchen floor and turning toward the stove. Crow stood with one hand in his pants pocket, the other holding a spatula that he was using to poke something in the skillet around. Jack was on his knees, spreading one of the less-stained moving blankets on the floor as a makeshift table, and he was the first to meet Yusei's eye. He didn't hold it for long, though, and turned back to his work.

They're...not...fighting. That's unusual.

"How'd you sleep?" the dark-haired boy asked, at the exact same time both of his brothers asked the same thing. They all stopped briefly, each equally surprised by the event, before Crow cleared his throat first.

"Made you coffee, but you might need to warm it," he said with a nod. "It's in the microwave, in that blue mug of yours."

"Oh - thanks," Yusei replied, moving forward. He clapped Crow's shoulder as he did so, and the redhead just grunted in response. Two fingers on the hand he held the spatula in were bandaged. He stared at them, confused, while he pushed the START button.

"Hope eggs are okay," Jack put in. "That's all we made. Omelets."

"Figured you ain't getting your fair share of vegetables," Crow added, "so we gotta get 'em in you somehow."

Yusei smiled a little as he watched his mug spin in the microwave. "Probably not a bad idea."

"How's your back?" Jack asked, reaching into a cabinet for plates.

"Sore, but I think that's what I get for sleeping on the floor." Yusei tipped some milk into his coffee, watching the colors bloom and swirl together. "You two slept in the garage last night?"

There was a pregnant pause, in which Yusei almost wondered if he'd misspoke, and then they replied at the same time.

"It was too hot to sleep in my room."

"I could hear Zora's TV, and it kept me up."

Yusei paused with his mug halfway raised. A muscle was going in Crow's neck and Jack was twisting an earring hard enough that it looked painful. They're both lying. Why are they lying?

In their defense, his intrusive voice purred, you're not much better at being honest, lately, are you?

"These are done," Crow announced loudly, fumbling with the skillet as he lifted it off the heat and began dividing the contents between the three plates. Jack silently pulled silverware from the top drawer.

Without saying much else, the three of them settled into place on the moving blanket, Crow with his back against the wall. Yusei was almost startled as, for the first time in two months, he recognized the old habit.

I'll be lookout, Crow volunteered, tossing himself into a beaten-up folding chair against the wall. The skin on his forehead around the edges of his new jagged marker was still red and irritated. The shadows under his eyes were dark and getting darker. I know what to watch for now.

"What?" Crow asked, jerking him back to the present. Stormy gray eyes were fixed on him unblinkingly. "Something on my face?"

His choice of words made Yusei frown, and he set his plate down with a sigh. Better now than...never. "We need to talk."

"What about?" Jack asked, but his averted gaze told Yusei he knew full-well.

"About...this." Yusei gestured between them. "About everything."

"Absolutely not!" Crow burst out, brows tightening. Jack looked up at him. "It's fucking seven in the morning! I'm not willing to throw my day away like that when the sun's barely up!"

"Don't be that way," Jack started, and Crow jabbed his fork at him.

"If you tell me that one more time, I'm gonna give you a new piercing, and it's gonna be right in the middle of your goddamn - "

"We need to," Yusei interrupted, reaching out to grab Crow's fork-wielding fist. The redhead jerked away from the contact. "Whether we say it out loud or not, we're all...having trouble adjusting."

"I'm adjusting just fine," Crow snapped, although his mug was shaking as he raised it to swig the last of his coffee. "It's not my problem that Jack can't let shit go."

The blond looked down at his lap and didn't reply. The lack of retort seemed to grate on Crow, who put his elbow on his knee and his chin in his palm.

"What was it Martha always said?" Yusei asked, pushing eggs around on his plate with his fork. "'Wars aren't solved with gunfire'?"

"'They're ended by talks of peace and treaty'," Jack continued. "'By each side admitting their wrongs' - "

"'And forgiving themselves, and making reparations for them'," Crow finished with a sigh, looking out the window. "I was always more a fan of 'pick your battles', personally. Or 'eat from the rich and feed the poor', or whatever it is."

The silence drew out. None of them moved. This was a bad idea, Yusei thought, sadness welling up inside him like a spring. It's too soon, I've pushed them too hard -

"I wrecked Wheel of Fortune once, in the Kaiba Dome."

Crow and Yusei turned toward Jack, who was slowly threading and unthreading his hands.

"I took a corner too tight," he continued. "I could have saved it, but I...didn't. I let myself wipe out. It was...about two months after I became King. I had to be hospitalized for a few days with a concussion, and she had to be almost completely rebuilt. That's when they put the roll cage on her, to ensure I couldn't go over the handlebars again."

"Why?" Crow asked, concern edging the word.

"I was guilty about what I did." His hands tightened into fists. "I didn't stick around to make sure Rally was okay. That you were. That I even did it in the first place. I thought...I don't know what I thought. I thought I deserved it."

"I almost surrendered during my duel with Rudger," Yusei admitted, and the sound Crow made forced his eyes closed. "Before I knew you were listening. I couldn't stomach living with myself, with what I knew, with what my father did to you two - to everyone."

"What the hell's gotten into you two?" Crow asked, voice high and tight. "You were fine - we've been fine - "

"None of us are fine, Crow," Jack cut him off, and the redhead flinched. "None of us have been fine for a while. Last night was nothing if not completely exemplary of that."

"I don't want to live with strangers," Yusei insisted. "I want our support system back, like we had before things fell apart, but we can't have that without coming to terms with what we've lost. What we're - dealing with."

"That's..." He trailed into a wordless growl, but after a long pause, Crow swallowed. "After - everything, I was...in a bad way. Somehow, I managed to - fucking - to walk away from every building ledge I found myself on. Now, I...I keep - keep...waking up, middle of the night. And checking to make sure - make sure you're still - you're both still here. That I'm not dreaming again. That I'm not - alone again."

"We can't enter the WRGP as three separate parts," the dark-haired boy said. "We have to be one unit again, and we have to know each other like we know ourselves. We have to be one unit." We have to be a family again.

"I know," Jack replied.

Crow sniffed. "You're right. As usual. But I'm not going first."

And the three of them, for once, for the first time in a very long time, talked. And it was rough, and Crow had more than one angry outburst at them, and Jack had his, and Yusei had at least one of his own, but by noon, they felt more at home with each other again. They felt more like a unit again. They felt more like a family again. Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither was Team 5Ds (although they didn't call themselves that quite yet), but even Rome had to lay its foundations somewhere, and for them, it was on a moving blanket sharing instant coffee at seven in the morning.

[lazella]

Infinity Stones AU: Face your Fears, Part 1

I apologize for nothing. Enjoy.

Yusaku took a sharp breath in, coughing as he tried to make his lungs work again. For a moment it felt like he was back in that white room, alone and only a voice for company. Looking around, he tried to piece together the events of the past few minutes. Yusaku did recall that they had joined the Avengers on a retrieval mission and had infiltrated the warehouse but then he was drawing a blank.

“Ai...can you tell me what just happened...Ai?”

Yusaku was puzzled when he didn’t hear Ai respond right away and looked down at his Duel Disk, and spotted the Ignis with tears running down his face.

“AI?!” Now Yusaku was worried, Ai had never cried before.

“Yusaku….” Ai’s voice was quiet, and he had also not used any of his nicknames for Yusaku, “I hope that was all fake....”

“Fake?”

“Nevermind…” Ai shook his head, “That stone of yours seemed to break whatever that lady did to you.”

Yusaku raised an eyebrow, “Lady?

Ai took the opportunity to explain, “Some lady came in and hit you with this red stuff then everyone started screaming. You just kind of froze but after that I’m not sure as I started seeing stuff as well…”

Yusaku quickly put his theory together. First, they had been ambushed by an unknown enemy. Second, it seemed like she had the ability to cause hallucinations most likely based on fears. Third, it seemed that the Mind Stone could reverse the effects which is why he felt fine now even with how brief his vision was.

“We need to locate everyone else…” Yusaku got up and surveyed the room, “They must still be under the effects of that attack.”

“Good luck with that…” Ai muttered, “They all ran off in different directions attacking anything in sight…”

“Then we’ll just have to be careful……” Yusaku stated as he ran off in his chosen direction. 

…………………………

The first person he found was Yugi. Thankfully he didn’t seem to be lashing out at anything and was just leaning against the wall but judging by the red haze over his eyes, he was still under the effects of the hallucination. 

“Yugi!” Yusaku grabbed the smaller boy’s shoulder and gave it a good shake, “Yugi snap out of it!”

Yugi just continued to stare blankly ahead.

“Might have to do this the hard way…” Ai pointed to the Mind Stone.

“Afraid so…let’s just hope Yugi makes it easy….” Yusaku said as he placed the Mind Stone against Yugi’s forehead letting its power do its thing. Reality around Yusaku and Ai but Yusaku knew he was just now entering Yugi’s mind, and hopefully to find out just what he was seeing.

What he did see did not make any sense. Everything around them was dark and foggy obscuring anything that could be approaching. Yugi was no longer on the ground but suspended in the air by an invisible force gripping onto his wrist and ankles. But the most shocking part was that Yugi’s knee and elbow were missing and other parts of his body were slowly dissolving away.

“Th-this is bad!!!!” Ai cried out, “What kind of madman thinks of doing messed up stuff like this!?!”

“A sick one fore sure….”

Yusaku spun around and he was quite sure if it was relief or worry when he spotted Yugi’s other self, Yami, slowly pulling himself along the ground. He wasn’t looking good judging by the blood dripping from his mouth.

“Yugi’s had nightmares about this duel….” Yami panted trying to catch his breath, “I’ve tried to snap him out of it but…” Yami seemed to cough up more blood, “I’m not doing too good either…”

“I’ll warn you, it’s going to be a shock to the system….” Yusaku clenched the Mind Stone tighter, “I don’t think we have the time to ease him out of it…” Yellow light blinded everyone as Yusaku just focused on making the vision end quickly. Within the blink of an eye, they were back in the warehouse. The red haze was gone from Yugi’s eyes and he was checking himself over as if to see if his body was whole again.

“Doing okay?” Yusaku found himself asking.

“I-I think so...,” Yugi said with shaky breath, “What was that?”

“My guess is that we were hit with something that makes us hallucinate our worst fears. The Mind Stone snapped me out of it rather quickly and you were the first one I found still under the effects.”

“What about the others?” Yugi asked.

“Not sure but we better stay on our guard…” Yusaku said, “Who knows if anyone can tell friend from foe right now….”

………………………………..

They found Yusei next who thankfully was also not lashing out. Yusaku found him in a vision of a destroyed city but it ended on its own the moment Yusei spotted Yusaku. The hacker wished he could be grateful for the quick conclusion but Yusei had spent at least five minutes hugging Yusaku and Yugi tightly as he could.

“Sorry about that…” Yusei explained as he composed himself, “I know that future will never happen but still...I just needed reassurance that you were alright.”

Yuya was the next one they found. He seemed to have snapped out of it on his own but the room he was in was completely trashed. Yuya was hugging his knees in the center of the room but his dull stare made it hard to figure out exactly who was in the driver seat. 

Yugi carefully knelt down next to Yuya and began trying to talk to him, “Yuya...can you tell us what happened here?”

“Yuto actually…” So it seemed that Yuya wasn’t the one in control right now. “Yuya is still processing his panic attack. Yuri buried himself somewhere in our subconsciousness and Yugo is giving all of us a headache by yelling at our bad memories.”

“Sheesh...what’s gotten all four of you worked up?” Ai asked.

“Our past….” That’s all Yuto was going to say on it as he just sat in silence until Yuya came back to the surface.

“I think I hurt Yuma earlier…” Yuya said when he finally came back out, “I’m not sure but I think I heard him crying in pain…”

“What ever happened was not your fault…” Yusei said as he squeezed Yuya’s hand, “It’s not any of our faults.”

“The real fault lies with that woman who attacked us…” Yusaku said with renewed determination, “Let’s find the others.”

……………………………………

Things started to get complicated when they finally found Yuma. The young boy had one of his swords in hand which was strange to the others as they thought he had to be fused with Astral to summon them. Yuma was swinging the weapon around in a panic while crying out…

“Give Astral back!!!! Just leave us alone!!”

Yusaku wasted no time in using the Mind Stone to bring the group into Yuma’s vision. They found Yuma surrounded by creatures made out of crystals and rock or some sort of black sludge. Laying on the ground was Astral unconscious with what appeared to be a large crack spreading across his chest.

Yusei sprang into action, charging in and punching the creatures away in an attempt to reach Yuma. Yugi and Yuya hung back behind Yusaku not out of fear, but at the shock of seeing Ai emerging from Yusaku’s duel disk and changing form into that of a mass of tentacles. Yusaku didn’t object to Ai’s actions, and let the Ignis do his thing protecting Yusei’s back and tearing the creatures to shreds. 

With Ai watching his back, Yusei reached Yuma in no time, the younger boy crying tears of relief at the sight of rescue. Yusei quickly scooped him up with one arm and grabbed Astral with the other. Ai used his large mass to create a protective dome over them while he worked on getting a secured grip on them.

“Hold on tight…” Ai warned as he launched himself back towards Yusaku.

Now that he was back in the safety of the group, the red haze faded away from Yuma’s eyes as everything returned to reality.

“Wh-what...happened?” Yuma asked as he blinked clarity into his eyes.

“You just got hit with some trippy stuff no worries…” Ai grinned...forgetting that he was rather frightening in his larger form.

Yuma obviously panicked, “AH!!! Monster!”

“Now that hurts...it’s just lovely old me Ai…” The Ignis pouted.

“Has he always been able to turn into the embodiment of nightmares?” Yuya asked Yusaku.

“Since I first met him but he’s still an idiot…” Yusaku sighed.

“At least this version of me is great for hugs!” Ai demonstrated this fact by giving Yusei, Yuma, and Astral who were still tangled up in his limbs, a tight squeeze. “Just ask Yusaku, he quite enjoys them.”

Yusaku turned his face away to hide the fact he was now blushing out of embarrassment.

“We still need to find Judai...and the Avengers team as well…” Yugi said, trying to refocus the group, “But where are they?”

His inquiry was answered when Thor was launched through the wall by some sort of strong force.

“Hey boys….” Thor grunted through the pain, “We could use some assistance....”

Before Thor could elaborate anymore, a shadowy tendril shot through the hole in the wall and dragged him back through. Once everyone got over their shock, they followed Thor through the hole.

On the other side was the very definition of a nightmare. Every Avenger member was pinned to the walls by shadows and in the very center, was a tall imposing figure dressed in black and gold armor, the helmet obscuring the figure’s identity. 

“Who’s this guy?” Yuya found himself asking.

Tony flipped his visor open and cried out, “It’s Judai! Judai is in that armor!”

This came as a shock to the newcomers, just what had happened to Judai?

Everyone had to scatter when another wave of shadows swept through the room. Yusei held onto Ai tightly as the Ignis refused to let go of anyone and had even grabbed Yusaku to keep him out of the line of fire. 

“Ai...do you think you can get close to Judai?” Yusei asked.

“Not without letting you guys go which I am not going to do.” Ai protested as he scooped up Yugi and Yua next. The Avengers were still pinned, unable to move.

“Throw me Ai….”

Everyone turned to Yusaku in shock. “What did you just say?” Ai asked.

“Throw me at Judai…” Yusaku’s gaze was firm and determined, “Throw me and I will break through to him with the Mind Stone.”

“I am not going to…”

“DO IT!” Yusaku cut Ai off, clearly not in the mood for arguing. 

Rather reluctantly, Ai took careful aim and shot Yusaku forward, a tendril still wrapped around him as Ai clearly didn’t want to let him go. Yusaku gripped onto Judai’s cape and began trying to wrestle the helmet off. It took some doing but Yusaku managed to slide the visor up revealing that Judai’s eyes were completely blinded by the red haze.Yusaku didn’t even dare try to view Judai’s vision, instead he slapped the Mind Stone on Judai’s forehead and yelled,

“WAKE UP ALREADY!!!!!!”

Yellow light began cracking through Judai’s armor, then down the shadows that were blanketing the room. With a quick flash, everyone dropped to the ground exhausted, Judai included now freed from the dark armor.

Tony groaned as he got to his feet, “That’s it….extra therapy sessions for everyone.”

Steve rubbed his head in frustration, “I still have no idea what Wanda was up to…”

This caught Yugi’s attention, “You know the woman who did this?”

“Her name is Wanda Maximoff, she’s actually an ally to us…” Natasha explained, “But the fact that she attacked us today indicates that something outside her control is going on.”

“So an outside force?” Yusei asked.

“Mostly likely…” Clint said, “Which means we’ve got another conspiracy to break down.”

“Does this happen often?” Yusaku asked.

“More often than we like,” Tony said as he hefted Judai over his shoulder, “Come on...let’s head home. And get that nightmare fuel to shrink down already…” Tony said pointing to Ai, “We already have enough trauma to deal with.

Ai huffed as he finally shrunk back down to his smaller form. He really didn’t care about this Wanda character or any supposed conspiracy theory. The vision he got was still on his mind. After all...the sight of Yusaku’s bullet ridden body was forever burned into his memories.

[yamithediaperdork]

From attack mode to baby mode final

with his diaper bag packed and Leo dressed and ready to go, Baby Yusei was helped into a large stroller by his 'big bro and sis' though he fussed and whined a little as he tried to get comfy in the dark blue thing.

Oh, it was big enough that he barely had to bend his legs to fit in and everything and it was padded so it felt like he was on a pillow but still, some small part of him felt like he should be WALKING.

Luna had gotten his diaper bag and some toys packed away in the under carriage and it was Leo who was shaking a rattle in Yusei's face trying to calm him down.

"shhh it's ok little guy! Look I know you wanna walk to the park like a big kid, but you ALSO know you're just gonna get tired and wanna be carried. you can run around LOTS once we get to the park ok?" Leo tried.

Sucking on his paci and squirming in his thick diapers and pretty outfit, Yusei sighed and stopped his fusing but reached out with his hand, opening and closing it.

the universal gesture of 'gimme' among babies and toddlers (and some adults)

Leo smirked and pulled the rattle back towards himself for a Second as Luna stood up and Yusei whimpered and whined, reaching with both hands now.

He didn't really get why he wanted the damn thing SO much but he could feel the tears building up as he stained for it.

"Leo! Stop teasing him and give him the rattle or you'll be joining him in the stroller!" Luna scolded, hands on her hips.

with how fast he tossed the rattle into the stroller for Yusei to play with it, you'd of sworn the thing had become super hot to the touch, but Yusei just giggled and grabbed it, shaking it lots and sucking on his paci.

The walk to the park wasn't all that long, but somehow they seemed to past half the people they knew on the way. Each and every time they were stopped Yusei was sure he was about to be laughed at, or get asked what the hell he was doing but everyone just treated him like he'd always been a little sissy baby.

'Huh, some sorta..re-writiing of history? a illusion of sorts? who's got the power to pull off something like this?" Yusei wondered, going deep in thought even as he kept shaking the rattle.

So deep in thought was he he didn't realize that Crow had been looking down at him till the orange haired duelist reached in and light brushed his fingers on Yusei's nose, then put his thumb between two fingers.

"Got your nose!" Crow teased and Yusei giggled at that and reached up with a free hand, trying to get it back.

Crow teased him for about 10 seconds before relenting and Yusei just let his instincts in this time line or whatever was going on take over. To that end once he got a hand on crow's, he dropped the rattle and put his other hand on Crows and made a snatching motion then put both his hands onto his face and giggled as he removed them, implying he'd put his nose back.

"Oh my, such a clever baby! I know when I'm Licked." Crow chuckled and ruffled Yusei's hair. "You guys have fun but don't stay out too long, it's gonna be a scorcher today and you don't want the baby getting a sun burn."

Advise given, the duelist walked off and the trio finally made they're way into the park, heading right for the playground equipment.

Well almost right for, Luna took them to a park bench first and started to get some things unloaded while Leo amusingly started to jog in place.

"Can I go play now? Can I go play now? Can I go play now?" He kept asking.

"remind me again which one of us is technically older?" Luna asked, rolling her eyes. "and if you'd help me get some toys out and get Yusei set up in the sand box, you can go and hit the swings."

"Finnnne." Leo said and then grabbed the bucket that Luna offered and stuffed it with a toy shovel and rake and then dashed over to the sandbox to plant it for Yusei, and called over from the sand box.

"NOW can I go play?"

"I hope your not as hyper as him when you get to be his age Yusei." Luna said softly, smirking and undoing the straps of the Stroller and helping Yusei out even as he frowned a little.

'Huh? when i get to be his age? I'm older then he is!..aren't I?' Yusei wondered mentally.

He would of put more focus on that thought but as he was set on the the ground on all fours his body surprised him by taking off crawling at a fair speed heading for the sand box.

Luna kept up, though she was also clearly keeping one eye back on the stroller and then as they got to the sand box she stayed out to watch as Yusei climbed in and found the feeling of the sand between his fingers to rather interesting and kept grabbing big handful's of it and coo'ing, letting the paci fall from his mouth.

"Now remember Yusei, the sands for playing in, not for eating." Luna coo'ed.

"and try and leave some in the sandbox this time." Leo joked then gave Luna a pleading look and went to open his mouth,.

"Yes Leo, you can go and play now. but don't wander off anywhere by yourself. I don't wanna have to go looking for you again." Luna said, then raised a eyebrow and that caught Yusei's attention, and he noticed how Leo was hopping around.

"But first go and use the bathroom." Luna giggled.

"I don't have to!" Leo huffed, blushing.

"Leo, if you wet your trainers, you'll have to wear one of Yusei's diapers. do you want that?" Luna asked.

"..I'm gonna go and use the bathroom, but only cuz -I- wanna!" Leo huffed and then took off for the public restroom.

"Boys, am I rite?" Luna asked and smirked, leaning down and ruffling Yusei's hair.

He would of complained or pointed out he was a boy, but between his sissy outfit and the urge to make a sand castle the argument was gone from his mind in seconds.

The sand box didn't have anyone in it making Yusei king (or was that queen?) of the sand box for about the first 20 minutes he was playing in it.

he was amazed to find how fun it was to just dig his hands into the sand and pretend it was a sand monster but after a few minutes of that, it was time to get to work.

Any self respecting Queen of the sand box after all had to have his own castle, that was just common sense and spending 15 or so seconds planing it out, he took hold of the pail and shovel Luna had give him and got to work.

His Castle would be composed of grand towers where lots of guards could be stationed to protect their loving queen, and have a moat around it to trap the stinky heads from the evil fart nation. as such he picture a white stone castle with pink tiled roofs and a massive moat filled with hungry gators that loved to eat pants and undies but never people (he wasn't a monster after all) and would send the soldiers of the fart nation running home clutching they're butts and crying for mommy.

In practice however, it was bucket shaped mounts of sand already crumbling, with some twigs stuck in them for where the flags would be and the moat was drawn in the sand with his finger, him crawling and wiggling his padded behind as he went all around the castle.

turning around Yusei went to call out to Luna to come and see his amazing castle when a mean voice behind him caught his attention.

"Nice sand castle loser. looks more like a pile of dog crap!"

whirling around Yusei saw a 5-6 year old chubby boy with a blond crew cut and wearing blue jeans and a black t-shirt that read 'fuck the rules' on the front of it. Despite mentally knowing he was older and should be bigger and stronger then this little twat monkey, Yusei felt himself trembling in fear.

"L-Leave me alone or I'll call my big sis and brother over!" Yusei stammered out.

"Awww is the widdle pamper packer gonna cry boo hoo hoo and whine for help?" The bully mocked, and rubbing his fists under his eyes mockingly.

Behind him not too fair off was a 12-13 year old in a similar outfit, only with a jean jacket and sporting a kool-aid dyed green Mohawk. figuring it was the bullies big brother, the older boy was smirking and nodding his approval at his little brothers behavior, clearly proud.

'Great.normally I'd handle bullies like this with ease and instead I'm seconds away from wetting myself in terror.' Yusei thought then felt a warm gush in the front of his diapers. 'Never mind..'

"Ha! I heard that! Did the big dumb baby piss his pampers?" the brat said, sticking out his tongue and tugging down on a eyelid with one hand and flipping baby Yusei off with the other. "Here, this will really make you sob and fudge your huggies!" He said and then before baby Yusei could react, he raised a foot and stomped down on the sand castle, making quick work of it.

"N-No STOP!! I-I worked weally h-hard on..L-LUNA! L-LEO!" Yusei cried out, starting to wail.

He wasn't sure what they had been doing but within seconds they were at his side, with Luna kneeling down and trying to comfort Yusei and letting him blubber on her shoulder while Leo clenched a fist and got in the bullies face.

"What's wrong with you? Picking on a little kid?! I got half a mind to give you a taste of your own medicine!" He growled.

"go ahead, try it.. OH Maxxxxx!" The little bully called, and the punk from before strolled over.

"There a problem here billy?" the boy asked, smirking and making sure his much more developed then normal for his age muscles showed.

"This green haired little snot is threatening to kick me butt!" Billy said with a smirk."Can you kick his instead?"

"Sure thing little dude." Max said and went to go and deliver a punch to Leo's face, making Leo flinch and turn away, but he never should of worried, the punch was caught by Luna, who looked totally pissed.

"You know..I hate fighting..I would prefer to settle things with a duel." She said, and twisted and squeezed on the fist in her hand, making Max drop to a knee even as he tried with no success to pry her hand off of him.

Billy yelped and then went to attack Luna but Leo stuck out a arm and the soon to be ex bully clothesline himself, doing a 360 before landing face first in the sand, eyes rolling in his head.

"Billy!"Max cried out.

"Is not your concern right now. your little brother made our little baby sissy cry. then you went to attack my twin brother...as I was saying, just because I don't LIKE to fight, doesn't mean I won't. I'm giving you ONE chance to say sorry, and take Billy and leave, Or I'll show you the true meaning of pain." Luna said, eyes burning.

Yusei sniffled and watched in amazement at the sight in front of him, and felt his bowels giving away, filling up the back of his diaper..

'remind me never to piss big sister off!' he thought and stuck a thumb in his mouth, only to pull it out and make a face because the sand on it.

"I..I..I'm sorry." Max was whimpering. "Please just let me go!"

Luna went from a living nightmare to smiling sweetly and let go of Max's fist, and leaning down.

"I hope next time we see you on the playground we can all play ni-" She was saying when Max went for a sucker punch.

Luna blocked it with one arm and punched him across the chin, sending max into a heap next to his brother.

"heh.. gonna call them the candlelight brothers." Leo chuckled, going over and checking on Yusei.

"Hmmm?" Luna asked, turning around and joining him.

"one blow and their out."

"heh, nice. Though I think we better call it a day.. I think we're attracting a bit too much attention." Luna said, looking around at all the stares they were getting. "Besides it smells like somebody made a super stinky diaper!"

Luna added, leaning down and tickling Yusei who giggled and gurgled despite the hot smelly load in his pampers.

Getting back home Luna got Yusei changed into a fresh diaper while Leo when and started the landry, and once the baby was all nice and clean she just had him in a light pink top with purple text that read 'little stinker' in cursive.

"I'm sorry you fun at the park today got ruined little one." Luna was saying, getting Yusei's attention as he seemed to drift out of it for a second.

he couldn't be sure but it seemed like everything in the house was just a bit bigger then it had been before they had left.

'But that's impossible..I'm not shrinking..then again I've woken up to a world where I'm a sissy baby and Luna's a freaking super sayian sooo I guess nothing really is impossible at this point.' Yusei thought.

"It's s'ok Big sis, not your fault people are big stinky farts." Yusei coo'ed, making Luna giggle.

"well put little one. Well I suppose we could watch some cartoons. " Luna said, giving Yusei a hug.

[moonlit-orchid]

Whenever José gets mad at the boys when the two squabble, it's always Placido he'll hold a grudge against. Even when it's Lucciano's fault for misbehaving and annoying Placido or for overreacting to a simple statement, Placido will be the one José's mad at, and he will stay mad at him for days, and Placido gets screamed at much more too. There's a reason noise gets on his nerves (aside from autism-because i fully believe Placido is at least mildly autistic), there's a reason he hates people screaming, and it's this. It's because of José screaming at him.

What's worse is that literally two hours later, José and Lucciano will be on good terms, but José will still give Placido the cold shoulder.

Placido ends up crying in both rage and sadness because he just doesn't know what he did wrong. Why José is so forgiving of the little brat but not him. He knows he has an attitude but this reaction is too much, it wasn't even over his attitude! José just brings up his attitude as a way to shame him, all the time! And it's always "be more patient, Lucciano is struggling" or "don't make my life any harder than it is" but it's NEVER "Placido's clearly struggling". And Placido eventually always ends up in tears because he's sick of it all, and he wants to run so badly but he doesn't dare leave Lucciano alone with José; no matter how mad he is that the kid got him in trouble, Lucciano is HIS kid. He can't leave him with José.

He has a full on breakdown to Yusei one day. Probably after he meets Martha and sees how a parent should behave, especially if José had been cruel to him that day. All it'd take is for Yusei to ask "are you ok? Do you wanna rest on the couch or in the bedroom where it's quieter?" and Placido full on breaks down to him because Yusei, Yusei Fudo of all people, saw his pain at once. He looked at him and knew that Placido wasn't ok, he even knew that Placido would prefer to take a break alone. And Placido breaks down to Yusei and tells him everything.

Yusei's horrified, of course. He may have grown up in the Satellite but Martha had loved him and his siblings so much! He knew Jack had struggled but that had been a different kind of struggle, the struggle of being the parent's only helper. Placido's struggle was the one of the parent's punching bag, sometimes even literally, and it breaks Yusei's heart to see his usually calm, sometimes arrogant, unconquerable former rival in such a broken state. He just holds Placido and lets him cry it out, and it hurts him to see that Placido's clearly touchstarved too. He wants to bring Placido to his house, they took Bruno in they can take Placido in (even if it means that they're gonna have to get him to share a room with Bruno because it's a three bedroom and he and Crow already had to share to fit Bruno in) but he knows Placido can't just leave José like that, because José still is his authority and then there's also Lucciano who Placido cannot leave alone with José.

Placido is trapped and it tears Yusei apart who can only try to reassure him and hug him and promise that if nothing else he cares about him. And for Placido, who's never told that, that might be enough to keep him sane.

[kenrik]

Finally. It’s done. I’m glad you joined me in this journey.

I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

Writing this story has been so fun. It made me laugh and cry. I want to emphasize how painful it was for me to write this. I was stuck in their pain for a while. 

I’m glad I was able to write this story. It’s like watching a good series/film, except I get to dictate what happens. I often find myself wanting shows to play out differently. And here, I get to write what I want. I get to write what I want to read. And I can only hope you understood what I wanted to convey in the scenes.

The characters have been a blast. And I’m happy with the set of characters and dynamics Gege-san gave us with through JJK. It was fun playing around with them in this AU. I’m done with the broody leads. I love how full of it and carefree Gojo is. It’s refreshing. 

I’m looking forward to forgetting about what I’ve written and finally reading this story with fresh eyes.

I wonder if you guys enjoyed it. When I write, I think of the many paths/divergences that could happen. So I’m stuck in the moment more. I hope I chose a story line that you all liked.

When I posted this story initially, knowing how it would play out, I was pretty bummed. I thought no one was reading. I thought, man, they should at least try to stick around for the later chapters, when things pay off and get interesting. Then, I got a comment from Maelynloveskorosensei. And I thought, as long as I get one or two people to read to the end, I would’ve done my job. I would’ve been happy.

Then, you guys showed up. And I’m really happy that sharing this story didn’t fall without notice. I’m really glad you chose to read this story and that we got to share this experience together.

I chose not to put anything on the summary because I wanted you guys to go into the story blind. I thought it would make for a pleasant surprise, the sweetness, then the heartache.

I’m grateful for the comments. It helped confirm the emotions I wanted to evoke with the scenes.

I can only hope you think about the characters and look back to their youth, knowing how things play out, knowing now how they really felt back then.

How Utahime’s prison isn’t really her engagement but her relationship with her parents.

How Utahime’s always loved Gojo but she had to hate him. She didn’t want to give her father the satisfaction of having a good match. In her sheltered way, it was her act of rebellion.

When Gojo broke off their engagement, she wasn’t thankful because she could finally be with Yusei. As you saw their relationship play out, he didn’t much matter to her really. She was thankful to Gojo because she saw that she didn’t have to cower. She didn’t have to be so trapped.

So, in the scene where she was suiting up for her night job, she starts to cry and remind herself not to think of the past because of how painful it was; because of how her independence came at the cost of losing Gojo.  

We went through the story with Gojo’s perspective and pain in the most part, that we thought Utahime just didn’t like him. But it was deeper than that. I hope you understood that she’s always loved him. How could she not? He was Gojo Satoru. Everyone’s dream. And she was only human.

But the pain of how much her father dictated her life, the pain of not being liked by the boy she liked, of him fooling around, and then suddenly his sincerity, just confused her too much. So, it was easier for her to hate him. So, she did initially. But in the later chapters, you see her warming up to him even though she says she doesn’t love him. She warms up to him. She starts to laugh with him. And she’d care for him.

Eventually, her love for him trumped the resentment she had against her parents.

But then, he called off the engagement, all this time, thinking she wanted to be with Yusei, thinking she was in love with Yusei. When Yusei never mattered really.

When he embraced her in Love, she cried because of how she was just so scared of it all – of being trapped. In a loveless marriage. In a life of blindly following her parents.

So, without knowing it, Gojo gave her the greatest gift – her freedom. That’s why I really love this scene where she was suiting up for her night job and she starts to cry and remind herself not to think of the past. Because it shows her turmoil, how bittersweet life was for giving one thing then taking away another.

Utahime also deserves all the love you’ve given Gojo. Every time I’d read a comment on how they hope Gojo would be happy, I was thinking to myself, what about Utahime? 🥺 They’re just both so sweet in this story. I’m really happy with how it played out. And now, I can finally have my peace back.  

One last chapter to wrap it up. 

Would you guys be interested in a chapter covering Utahime’s perspective throughout the story? 

I hope you enjoyed the ride even with the tears in your eyes. And I can only wonder if you knew Utahime had always loved Gojo. If you have any questions about the story, feel free to ask~

Thanks for joining me!

[soaringonblackwings]

Legacy of a Dream Ch 3

External: A03

Chapter: 3/4

Summary: One night a vision from the Crimson Dragon spurs Crow into looking into Pearson's death. As his student he feels he should find out the truth. At the end of it all, will he figure out how to continue Pearson's legacy?

Crow woke up feeling refreshed this time. Though his face still looked ghastly. No visions disturbed his sleep this time. Talking to his brothers made him feel better. Which is a good sign. He doesn’t think he ever processed Pearson’s death. He knows the man is dead. But he never really let himself feel anything regarding it.

Unfortunately his looks did not match his mood. The dark rings were made worse by his red eyes and puffy cheeks from crying. Seems like he will be spending extra time in the bathroom.

When he arrived in the garage, his brothers turned their gaze to him. Crow averts his eyes from them. Yesterday he let his emotions get the best of him and lashed out.

“Umm….”

How are you feeling?” Yusei asked.

“Better. I guess.” Crow sheepishly.

Yusei was still adamant that the trio needed to visit Martha. He was letting either of his brothers back out of it.

Around mid-day Trudge and Mina had arrived. Goodness crow had never been so happy to see a cop. The trio went outside.

“You look awef-” Trudges remark received him a jab from Mina. “Fully good. Did you use a new hair gel brand?”

Trudge’s quick course correction earned a sign from Mina and an eye roll from Crow.

“So, we found some information about your friend.” From his pocket trudge pulled out a card wrapped in cloth and kept in a case. Crow carefully unwrapped it, reveling a dark attribute synchro monster card. “It is called Crimson Mefist.”

“It was part of an experiment to make cards deal real damage.” Mina explained. Crow had to not ask about why they were trying to do something that stupid. “Of course the experiment was canceled. Though two cards were never recovered.”

“From your description, this card fits the bill.” Trudge finished.

Crow looked at the card and it did resemble the monster in his dreams. If he could find the owner of this card, he finds the person who killed Pearson. But… just how was he supposed to do that? He felt like he was further from truth now.

“Thank you. This is a lot of help.” Crow said. Trudge and Mina were very busy, and he didn’t want to keep them too long.

Crow was starting to lose hope of ever finding who kill his mentor.

“Damn, you really invested in a useless student Pearson….” Crow wanted nothing more than to curl up into a ball and fade from existence. He couldn’t carry on his legacy. And now he couldn’t figure out who caused his death. “Maybe I should give up…. What more can I do?”

He realized that he had one more hope, Bolton. It was worth a try to see if he had any clues. It was time to pay a visit to their sponsor.

Crow arrived at Bolton’s company. With face all marked up it was no surprise he was getting weird looks inside the building. It was also no surprise when he was dragged out by security.

“Hey! I’m here to see Bolton!” Crow yelled as his butt met the ground.

“Yeah, and I have a date with Seto Kaiba.” The guard snarked. “Hit the road kid!”

“Crow!” Bolton stepped out the fancy car and walked up to the group. “Have you come to a decision?”

Crow gave the guard a smug look.

“This is no place to talk. Let’s go to my office.” The duo headed up the tower to Bolton’s office suite.

“Did your team agree to let my company sponsor them? If so, you all can bring your duel runner to our mechanics.” Bolton started.

“That’s great, but I am not here for that….” Crow looked around the office. He had never been somewhere so fancy before. “Um, I am looking into Pearson’s death.”

Bolton’s eyes went wide. “He died in a fire Crow. What is there to look in too?”

“I think it was a murder. Whoever did it had a card called the Crimson Mefist that caused real damage. It caused the fire that killed Pearson.” Crow explained.

Bolton could not believe what he was hearing.

“Listen Crow.” Bolton knitted his eyebrows together. “You should give up.”

Crow deflated.

“Where would we even start? This person could be anywhere.”

Every last bit of hope left Crow. Bolton wasn’t wrong and that made it all harsher.

“Let’s focus on the future. It’s what Pearson would want.”

Crow had no real leads. What was the point of continuing if everything was a dead end.

“You look a bit pale. Don’t let this take a toll on you.” Bolton said.

“I have to find out the truth. It’s the least I can do for being so useless.”

“Crow you are far from useless. You were a big help back then. The kids loved you just as much as Pearson.” Bolton said.

“Bolton you took Pearson’s legacy and turned it into this.” Crow gestured around the room. “Meanwhile all I could do was steal and run away from sector security.”

“I think you are downplaying yourself a lot. That duel runner you got. You made that yourself, right?” Bolton asked. Crow nodded. “You built it because Pearson taught you how to build a duel runner. You used what you learned to make it. No matter what, his legacy lives on in both of us.”

Bolton was right. Crow agreed with every word. These words were meant to make Crow give up. But it had the opposite effect. Taking Bolton’s words to heart made him want to find Pearson’s murderer.

“So let’s focus on the future.”

“I- I can’t. I really can’t. I have to fine out the truth.” Crow exhaled.

At this Bolton’s whole demeanor changed. “Be that way. I challenge you to a duel. If I win you have to give up on finding Pearson’s murderer.”

“What is your problem!?” Crow shouted. “I get it. Now that you are a big shot, you don’t care about your roots anymore. Sorry I bothered you.”

“You’ve got it wrong. I am doing this because I care about you. There is no use in worrying about this when it won’t change anything. I don’t want to see you run yourself into early grave over this. We can duel on the company track.”

“Fine. I’ll be there.” Crow spat out before storming out the building. He couldn’t believe Bolton. He was his closest friend, and he didn’t want to apprehend the person who killed his best friend. It was unbelievable to Crow. Well he agreed to the duel, so he has no choice but to win!

-

Today, Yusei, Jack, and Crow drove to former Satellite. They were going to hang out with the kids. When they arrived, they were immediately mobbed by the children. They were happy to see the brothers. It was a day filled with playing and helping Martha. Crow came outside just in time to see his brothers having fun with the kids.

“Jungle gym Jack!” Some of the kids were climbing on Jack and playing around him. Yusei was off to the side playing duel monsters with one of the boys. The sight brought a smile to Crow’s face. It brought back memories with Pearson and Bolton.

“Crow.” Yusei’s voice brought him back to reality.

“Oh sorry, I spaced out.” Crow said.

“Are you still thinking that you failed?” Yusei asked.

“Yus…. All I could do after Pearson died; all I could do was steal cards to make the kids happy. Bolton took Pearson’s legacy and turned it into a duel runner factory.”

“I don’t think you failed. Crow, you give them hope.” Yusei said.

“Crow!” The kids called out to him. Waving at him to come over and join the fun.

“You are continuing Pearson legacy wonderfully. You give them the smiles of hope.” Yusei turned to face Crow. “There is no need to feel ashamed. You should follow the past you believe in.”

Crow had a lot to think about. Right now, he had to focus on a path that would lead him to the truth of Pearson’s death. From then, he feels it will all fall into place.