#durbe x ryouga

[sirdurbe]

[galaxygirl-katie27]

Tomoshipping x Epic the musical is my Roman Empire

[miza-chan]

𝐀𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐖𝐚

SUMMARY ➣ Mizael's relationship with her begins with a fortune telling.

╭┄┈┄────────❍•

│ 𝐀𝐎𝟑

│Misty X Mizael

╰┄┈┄──❍•

The weekly riding duel tournament would begin in exactly thirty minutes. Mizael sits in the passenger seat of Durbe’s car by himself, his friend/roommate having excused himself to use the washroom only seconds prior. 

Long story short, Ryouga’s girlfriend’s friend invited them to watch his duel after finally putting the finishing touches on his homemade D-wheel. It was his first time participating in a riding duel tournament with it and obviously was a big moment for him, so here Mizael was. Well actually, Durbe was the one who was invited and Durbe invited Mizael. 

Mizael rarely attended riding duel events in the first place. He preferred standing duels, specifically ones centered around XYZ summoning. Or rather, it was just that riding duels didn’t interest him enough to make him participate. Truth be told, Mizael didn’t even know how to ride a D-wheel. That was another thing that never particularly compelled him. One day maybe he’d learn, but not anytime soon.

He’s about to open his phone when he spots an expensive looking SUV pull up on the other side of the parking lot. Shiny charcoal and heavily tinted windows, someone famous is what he assumes. A woman gets out from the driver's side, nobody else, and she begins heading toward the duel stadium. He can’t make out her person very well given the distance, however, he can clearly make out a large sunhat in her hand and long black hair that cascades down her back, almost past the hip, nearly as long as Chris Arclights. 

She doesn't enter through the main entrance but instead heads towards the western one. It appears that she’s trying to get to the other side of the stadium. He concludes that she isn’t from the area, that or it was her first time attending the weekly tournament, either way she must not have gotten the memo that north side seating was closed off during weeklies. Reason being, the turnout was much smaller than the monthly tournaments, especially since the stadium itself was gigantic. 

Mizael watches as she disappears around the corner of the stadium. Though he wasn't really the type of person to go out of his way to help someone, he contemplates on whether he should get out and tell her. His phone tells him that he’s nearly a half an hour early and it's not like he had anything better to do, Mizael doesn't even remember why he was even opening his phone in the first place. But the more he thinks about it, the more he feels like he should, so he does. 

Durbe is still in the washroom so Mizael shoots him a quick text saying that he’d be back, offering no explanation as to why. He proceeds to follow in the direction the woman went until he finds himself climbing the final step leading to the stadium's middle-most seating. 

As it turns out she’s sitting at the top row, on her phone with shades on. Mizael pauses thinking that he could shout to her, but ultimately decides against it and climbs the rest of the stairs leisurely, so as to not appear out of breath. 

She’s wearing a turquoise sundress splashed with pastel colors of a floral pattern. It’s an off the shoulder fit and exposes her large bust along with a generous amount of cleavage. Because he does in fact, have self control and self respect, he refuses to let his eyes stray from her face. Mizael is a couple steps away when she finally looks over at him from above her sunglasses, which have simultaneously slid down the bridge of her nose. Stunning blue ocean eyes capture his gaze. 

“Yes?”

Although the woman before him is the paragon of beauty, and any man would likely die at the chance to chat her up, Mizael doesn’t share the sentiment. He was here to watch a duel that was all. That being said, he doesn’t feel that talk is necessary and jumps straight to the point, “are you here for the riding duel tournament?” 

“Yes.” 

“This area is going to be closed off once more people start to arrive.” Mizael informs and gestures towards the opposite side of the stadium, “everyone has to sit on that side.”

“Oh, I see… And you followed me all the way here just to tell me that?” Her tone isn’t truly accusatory, but Mizael automatically becomes defensive, a scowl beginning to form on his face. “A ‘thank you’ would have been-“

He isn’t able to finish his sentence before she cuts him off. “You misunderstood.” The woman removes her sunglasses fully and peers at him with sincerity. “I was going to say, if you did, then it was very sweet of you.” 

Mizael had always been hot headed, he’s self aware of the fact, but when in the heat of the moment, he has a hard time controlling his emotions. A lot of times he ends up with his foot in his mouth and now happens to be one of those times. 

“I…” between her calling him ‘sweet’ and trying to find the right words to say after the apology, Mizael finds himself at a momentary loss of words. “Sorry. I thought you were going to accuse me of stalking or something.” It’s an honest response and he can only hope that this complete stranger isn’t totally pissed at him for jumping to conclusions.

“It’s alright.” The woman replies lightly, then moves to stand up, “lead the way?” She’s taller than Mizael, by… more than a couple inches, and he finds himself looking down at her feet wondering if she was wearing heels. 

She’s not.

“No heels today, too many steps.” 

Mizael scoffs softly, ignoring the fact that he was just caught looking, “not like you need them anyway.” 

She just laughs at him. 

Mizael leads the way to the other side of the stadium as the woman who introduces herself as ‘Misty’ attempts a conversation with him. “I’m from Neo Domino, I’ve been to Heartland a few times but never to any of the tournaments.”

A Domino resident? They may have something in common after all. “I was born in Domino but moved to Heartland when I was young. And I’m Mizael.”

The recognition on her face is evident when he mentions Domino, the were neighboring cities after all. “What made you move to Heartland?” 

Mizael doesn’t particularly want to engage in a discussion behind the reasoning of his move. It’s much too private to be shared with a stranger and he says as much. “Personal reasons.” He finds no reason to further explain himself.

Thankfully Misty gets the hint and changes the subject swiftly, and to a much more favorable topic, dueling. 

“Are you a duelist?”

“Yeah, what gave it away?” Mizael asks, full snark. 

“I don’t know, just a feeling.” 

His sarcasm is ignored. “Are you good?” She asks. 

Mizael doesn’t miss a beat with this question, his answer is immediate. “Yes.”

The lack of hesitation from him amuses Misty who grins at him. But Mizael looks away, suddenly feeling flustered at her for looking at him <i>that way</i>. Like he was a child who just said that they wanted to be the world's best duelist… and that he was cute.

“Have you been in any tournaments?” 

Mizael clears his throat, composing himself. “Yes a few, only XYZ tournaments though. I won two in the standards and in the tag teams I won five. Well, I guess I should say, ‘we’ since I partnered with my cousin. We both use galaxy decks.” 

Stating that he uses a galaxy deck is pretty vague so he decides to show his ace monster. In the baggy pocket of his shorts, he retrieves his deck and his most prized possession which is placed topdeck facedown, Number 107: Galaxy-Eyes Tachyon Dragon. When he reveals it to Misty, she comments on its beauty and how it was fitting to be his ace to which Mizael wholeheartedly agrees.  

“I haven’t entered a tournament recently, it’s only when I have the time. I’m a university student, I’ll be graduating in less than two months.”

Misty nods in understanding, surely she could remember her younger days as a hardworking student. (Assuming she was a student, and was hardworking.) 

“I see, well, I’ll have to watch a replay of your dueling later, since you’re so good.”

Either Misty was making fun of him for boasting about his victories or she just knew how to play up to a man’s ego. He couldn’t tell so he chooses not to comment on it.

“Oh and early congratulations, on your graduation.” Misty adds, “It’s a big achievement no matter what you’re studying.” 

Mizael thanks her then returns the question to her. It was something he had wondered as soon as they began conversing. “What about you? Are you a duelist too?” 

She’s momentarily silent, it’s not that thought provoking of a question but Mizael can imagine there’s a story behind her silence. “No… I wouldn't consider myself a duelist, these days I don’t really have a reason to duel anyway.”

Her response isn't what he was expecting. Reading between the lines and by the wistful tone, he surmises that she was a duelist in the past but something happened causing her to quit.

If Mizael was the optimistic type like Yuma, that tomato haired kid, even Haruto, he would have gone off the deep end about dueling. How dueling unites people, how fun it should be for both parties no matter winning or losing, and how every duel should put a smile on its audience's face… If dueling had the potential to cure world hunger, he knows those three would find a way. 

“You don’t always need a reason to duel. Unless it’s your career, obviously.”

Misty doesn’t argue with, even though it’s clear she doesn’t agree with him. 

“I guess you’re right.”

The conversation ends there.

Soon the pair are looking back at where they stood minutes ago. Mizael steps aside and lets her go ahead, expecting her to climb to the top row again, but she ends up choosing the first seat next to the entrance hall. Probably didn’t want to go up the stairs again. 

A text ringtone chimes from the phone she’d been carrying. Misty apologizes to him before opening her phone, scanning the message, and typing out a response. 

He notices that she doesn’t type quickly. It’s clear that she’s not within his own age range, if not based on how she texted, then on her looks and sound of her voice. If Mizael had to guess, she couldn’t have been older than thirty two. The style of her clothing was mature. Her voice too had a deeper tone to it, mature and womanly. 

Her message is sent and her attention quickly falls back on Mizael who has full intentions of saying goodbye and returning to Durbe. However, the way she’s looking at him tells him that she had more to say. The woman is now regarding him with an intense curiosity whilst playing with the ends of her hair, was she wanting to continue a conversation with him? 

He supposes he wouldn’t mind if she did. 

And she does.

“What are you studying?” Misty pats the seat next to herself, urging Mizael to sit next to her.

“Astronomy.” He answers, accepting the seat. 

“Studying astronomy and dueling with a galaxy deck, is it a coincidence?” 

Mizael shrugs, he never thought too much into that. “No. It’s always been an interest of mine-“

He’s unable to finish the rest of his sentence, suddenly interrupted by a third party. A third party who he immediately recognizes as, ‘The King’, and second best riding duelist in the world, Jack Atlas. 

Mizael has seen a number of duels starring Jack Atlas and he had to admit, the man was an outstanding duelist. But Jack Atlas? Here? At a standard riding duel tournament in Heartland? 

Mizael can only stare in disbelief. 

He’s much taller in person...

‘The King’ upon his sudden arrival doesn’t even say hello, but it’s clear that he was there for Misty. 

He looks back and forth between Misty and Mizael, “who’s the chump?” 

What the hell? This prick was insulting him and didn’t even know who he was. It takes all of his self restraint not to jump up and get confrontational, a well deserved, ‘excuse me?’ is at the tip of his tongue. Even with his elevating anger, Mizael bites it back for Misty’s sake and opts to direct a poisonous glare at Jack instead. He was hot headed, but he wasn’t a caveman. 

Thankfully Misty speaks up. 

“He’s not a chump Jack, he was actually nice enough to tell me that I wasn’t supposed to sit on the other side of the stadium. You should have told me.”

“Looks like a chump to me,” Jack replies, crossing his arms in a judgmental manner. “Whatever, also I did tell you.” 

“Did you?” 

“Yes I did!” Voice rising with insistence, Jack clenches his fist at his side.

And people thought Mizael got mad easily, this guy was giving him a run for their money. 

“No, you didn’t.” Misty says, and she’s downright challenging him now.

There’s no place for Mizael in this interaction so he sits back and observes the two as they sort things out. Getting back to Durbe is all but forgotten, he finds himself curious of the relationship between Misty and this prick. 

Jack takes a calming breath in, then, “I have proof.” Ever so aggressively, and so much for the calming breather, the riding duelist whips out his phone and proceeds to scroll through his messages. Up, down, up, then down again. 

There was no proof. 

“…Hmph. Well, I could have sworn I did.” 

Though he is ignorant of it, Misty rolls her eyes at him, then shoots Mizael a discreet look of pure exasperation. 

“Anyway, Carly should be here soon, so tell her where you’re at. I have to go get ready.”

He says this as if he didn’t just have his phone in his hand seconds ago, it gives Mizael an overwhelming urge to call him out, but he once again stops himself. Misty doesn’t appear to be mad though, rather she is the epitome of peacefulness, mixed with mild amusement. 

“Alright.” Is all she answers.

Before leaving, Jack gives Mizael a second look over which is just as judgemental as the first. “You look familiar, I’ve definitely seen you somewhere.” It’s an almost comical moment as Mizael and Misty remain quiet as Jack ponders where he recognizes Mizael from. He’s got the, ‘hand under the chin’ thinking pose and all. 

“Are you a duelist?” He finally inquires.

“I’m-”

Mizael is once again interrupted, but this time he isn’t even able to get two words out. “Asshole.” Mizael mutters under his breath. It’s loud enough for Misty to hear, and she nudges him gently. 

Jack’s eyes light up suddenly, “I’ve got it, you’re whats-his-face, the Galaxy eyes one. Kaito. Kaito Tenjo.”

Mizael is the one with his fists clenched now. Was he being serious right now? Or was he trying to provoke him? One thing Mizael hated was being belittled, even if the person was doing so unintentionally. He’s a breath away from going off, and actually doing it this time, but Jack is already walking away. 

“Let’s have a duel sometime, yeah?” He calls over his shoulder.

Once Jack is away from hearing range, Mizael lets out a growl. “What a dick. How are people like that famous? It makes no damn sense.”

Misty ends up apologizing on Jack’s behalf, not that Mizael thinks it’s necessary. “That’s just how he is.” And that part, he thinks, is the truth. 

“I’ve seen a lot of his duels, I always thought his skill was admirable but it looks like the ‘King‘ persona is his true self.” He shakes his head disapprovingly. 

“He’s not all bad, it’s more that he just doesn’t like me much.” 

This is something he’s genuinely intrigued by. He asks, “why’s that?” 

Misty sighs deeply, she’s still fiddling with her hair, but this time it looks like it’s out of nervousness. It was obviously a sore topic for her, and he’s about to change the subject as Misty had done for him previously, but she begins speaking before he can. 

“It’s a long story. A while back Jack’s girlfriend, a reporter, as well as a friend of mine, was investigating something dangerous. She asked me what I knew, since my brother was involved and I told her.” It doesn’t go unnoticed by Mizael, the way her expression hardens when she mentions her brother. The story probably didn’t have a happy ending.

“I never thought she would put herself into danger willingly, alone no less. But she’s a reporter, it’s her job to be nosy. To push and push until she gets what she wants.” There’s a brief pause, she no longer is looking at Mizael, but straight ahead with a glassy eyed stare. 

“She was missing for six months, abducted.”

The statement is painful for her to utter, and she releases a soft breath once it’s out. She continues, her attention fixed back to Mizael. “She’s safe now, but Jack blames me for what happened. I was the last person she saw before she went missing. Even so, I’m not mad about it, I understand why.” 

Distant voices and echoed footsteps can be heard from afar, people were starting to arrive for the tournament. Misty takes it as a sign to make her final point. “It was hard for him during that time and he’s still dealing with things. they both are. I know you won’t believe me, after your experience with him just now, but in all, he’s really not a horrible person.” 

Mizael had expected something petty between them. Maybe she had beaten him in a duel in the past, or that she thought his ace monster was ugly. Something harmless like that, not an abduction and missing person. But Jack’s attitude based on his personal disposition, it makes sense. And if he were being completely honest, he’s not sure if he’d feel any differently than Jack when it came to his grudge against Misty. He wasn’t in love, didn’t know what it felt like to love either, not since his parents. But he thinks that if Durbe, or even Kaito suddenly went missing, he’d be upset. Well, upset was an understatement, he surely wouldn’t be in his right mind and would likely be looking for someone to blame, other than himself. 

“You probably agree with him.”

Mizael shakes his head. He was putting more thought into her story than he should have, but thinks it best to keep a neutral standpoint. “I… Yes, I’d be mad too, but there’s probably more to the story than that.”

A quiet laugh comes from Misty. “Well, you’re definitely right about that. Oh, and by the way, you didn’t hear that story from me.” She makes a cheeky shushing gesture at him and Mizael proceeds to swear secrecy. 

The somber atmosphere is gone and Misty is back to smiles and warmth.

“I forgot to ask, were you here with someone? If you were, I’m sorry for keeping you.”

“Yes—I mean, it's fine.” And Mizael truly means it. He didn’t mind one bit. “I was with a friend, we were waiting on more people. Whether I wait here or in the lot, it won’t matter, they’ll eventually make their way up here.”

“Okay, well if you have to go, then feel free to.”

“I will.”

Misty is staring at him again. Her intensity is the same as when she asked what he was studying. 

Mizael was attractive, he knew it. He prioritized self care and was quite fashionable, if he did say so himself. Apparently he was an anomaly among men because of it. That being said, he was no stranger to ogling and compliments, most being about how pretty he was, especially for a man. (Whatever the fuck that meant.) Such praise was part of the reason why his confidence flourished. 

On the other hand, he was also told that he was arrogant, temperamental, and vain. Among other things… 

But right now, what was this woman thinking as she studied him? What were her intentions? 

“I like fortune telling, will you allow me to tell your fortune?”

Her question is completely out of the blue. Fortune telling, right here and now just when the tournament is about to begin? It’s quite random.

Mizael checks the time on his phone, Durbe and the gang would be here any minute, but he supposes a quick fortune telling couldn’t hurt, even if it was a fake. 

“How are you going to do it?”

Misty gives a pleased smile, then tells him, “I look at faces. Your face, it interests me.”

Mizael isn’t sure how to respond to that, so he doesn’t. 

She scoots closer to him and reaches out, her fingertips a hair’s breadth away from his cheek, before stopping to ask, “may I touch you?”

He nods, appreciative of her consideration and a moment later he can feel her hand on his cheek. She is delicate upon him, and her fingertips trace down to his chin, the motion borderline sensual, where she then takes him in a gentle hold, so as to tilt his head to her desired angle.

Misty observes him thoroughly, all the while his mind is a blank slate. He’s not thinking about anything, but he feels. He can’t quite pinpoint what the feeling is though, he’s not uncomfortable, nor is he embarrassed or nervous by their closeness. But his heart rate has increased and he feels a sort of… fluttering excitement in his chest. He also feels anticipation. She’s supposedly telling his fortune, but with their proximity and the tender way that she strokes his face, Mizael is almost expecting her to lean in for a kiss. 

A small breeze pushes past them, causing a few strands of hair to fall over his face unceremoniously. Misty is quick to attend to it, she pushes his hair back and away from his face using such delicacy to do so, that he additionally feels as if he’s a vintage artifact that's being assessed for its worth. 

Her hand returns to Mizael, to cup his cheek. Her gaze is no longer exploring his features, and they now look deep into each other eyes, ocean blues meeting icy blues. Misty’s words are nearly a whisper when she tells him that he’s beautiful. 

Mizael’s fortune is naught until she speaks again. “You have been burdened by something at a young age, but that burden will soon be lifted.” The woman then releases her hold on him and leans back to her seat, expectant of his response.

A rasped ‘what?’, is all he can manage as he effortfully snaps himself out of the daze that Misty has inadvertently put him in. 

Burden? What burden? The only burdens he had were from his studies. It would make the most sense, he recalls that he had told her about his soon approaching graduation. Surely that's what she was foretelling, but with more cryptic wording. 

Once again, he was reading too much into her words. Fortune tellers were never right, they just wanted people to think something good was going to happen to them. And if it ever did,  they would say that their fortune came true. It was a self fulfilling prophecy. That or they just wanted to get a rise out of people, say something completely outrageous and be entertained by their reaction.

With that thought in mind, Mizael raises a brow at her. “Is that it?”

Misty nods and proceeds to answer the question he was going to ask next. (It’s all coincidental, of course.) 

“I read your face. That’s what it told me.”

“I see…” Mizael says slowly, and it finally clicks. The reason she had been staring at him like that earlier was because she had wanted to read his fortune all along. Truth be told, he is a little let down knowing that, but it is what it is. 

People had begun to trickle in slowly but surely during the impromptu fortune telling session, and familiar voices can be heard from above, one Mizael recognizes as Ryouga, who sounds annoyed at something. He definitely didn’t see them enter, they must have come in through the east entrance.  

His name is being called now. 

Mizael spins around and Durbe waves at him. A quick scan over everyone tells him that most of the gang and their friends were there, looking like they just got seated. A double take is needed when he catches Ryouga’s girlfriend looking at him and whispering into his ear, causing him to look at Mizael too. It’s obviously something to do with him and he has a good idea what it’s about. Seriously though, whispering about people who were in the immediate vicinity as you and making eye contact? It pissed him off. Mizael scowls at them both, simultaneously thanking the gods that Vector is not among them.

“Your friends are here, you should go.” 

“Yeah.” 

“Maybe I’ll see you at another tournament?” 

“Uh huh.” He says, his mind still half preoccupied about the whispering. 

Misty reaches out and places her hand over his which rests on his thigh. “Will I get to see you duel?” She has his complete and utter attention now. Heat begins to crawl under and above his neckline again. This woman had him blushing like a damn teenager again. 

“I don’t know.” Mizael answers, he doesn’t offer any other possibilities of them seeing each other again, and the conversation dies once again. 

Misty’s hand is still touching his, though she removes it as they bid each other goodbye, “It was nice meeting you, Mizael.” 

Mizael climbs up to where his friend is at. A couple rows behind them he can see Shun, Pinkie, the nerd, and the lunalight girl. Shun is glaring at him. Mizael knows it's because of the face he had made at his sister a few minutes ago. Not that he cares much. Squeezing past the others Mizael settles himself beside Durbe, Ryouga and Ruri are still looking at him, like he’s grown a third eye, they receive the privilege of being ignored too.

His friend, and roommate, is on his phone doing some complex looking crossword type puzzle game. He’s very engrossed in it and doesn’t even lift his head to greet Mizael. It leaves him feeling… ignored.

“Hello?”

Durbe is responsive, but still won’t take his eyes off the screen, “who was that?” 

“She went to the wrong side of the stadium. I told her it was going to be closed off. She just started talking to me after. I didn’t want to be rude.” The last bit is more of an afterthought, to which Durbe doesn't miss the opportunity to call him out for. “That would be a first for you.” Is the comment Mizael gets. 

“Give me that.” The blond snatches his friend’s phone away. 

“I was about to finish it.” Durbe protests, but sounds almost bored. 

Mizael glances at the phone in his hand, indeed the puzzle was about to be finished, in fact he only needed to fill in two more words. Too bad for him. “You know I hate being ignored.” 

Durbe feigns offense at him, “ignored? I was talking to you.”

“Yeah but you're not looking at me.” 

“We can have a conversation without looking at each other.”

“I thought you're supposed to be the polite one. Why are you arguing against basic common decency?” Durbe chuckles, a mischievous smile playing across his face. How telling. Mizael groans out loud. Of course, Durbe found humor in offending him and being obstinate towards him. Now he was just milking it for shits and giggles. 

Durbe sits up in his seat appearing more proper and turns to Mizael, addressing him seriously this time, “so what did you talk about?” 

The way the word comes out of his mouth is confirmation that he had seen. “She told my fortune. She claimed to read faces.”

Durbe nods along at the explanation, “that makes sense. What’s her name?” He’s looking in her direction, at the back of her head, a thoughtful expression on his face.

“Misty.”

“You know she looks familiar, I just can't quite figure out where I’ve seen her…”

Mizael shakes his head, “no, I thought so too. Maybe she’s a model—“

“Search her name and let’s see.”

“—she is very beautiful after all.”

Durbe turns quizzical, “so you say.” 

“Shut up.”

His friend does his best to hide a laugh. “What did your fortune say? You still have my phone by the way.”

“It will be mine a while longer.” Mizael says, and continues on, “she said… A burden that I have will be lifted.” Shrugging, he attempts to make light of it, “I don’t know what the hell it means, but I’m sure whatever it is, it won't happen.” 

Durbe seems to feel the exact opposite as Mizael. He comments on how interesting he thinks fortune telling is and somehow believes that his fortune may come true. 

Mizael openly scoffs at the notion. “It’s not that interesting. Fortune telling is a scam.” 

“Maybe not fortune telling in itself, but the different methods of fortune telling are interesting. ” 

Upon Durbe's suggestion, Mizael did have his phone out and had typed in the first three letters of Misty’s name, however, the fortune telling discussion was preventing him from finishing the search. He ends up deleting it and looking up information on fortune telling instead. 

“According to science, no method of fortune telling is more accurate than another. And, considering most methods are, ‘interpretations of random phenomena’, there is little to no evidence to support any claims that fortune telling is reliable. Therefore fortune telling is highly unreliable.”

Durbe doesn’t look impressed. 

“I just said it was interesting and that your fortune could come true. Not that it would or that it’s scientifically correct. But, as Rio would say, go off I guess.”

Mizael rolls his eyes. 

Whoever Misty was waiting for arrives late. Her friend, he assumes, is a girl about Kaito’s size. She has long black hair, but not nearly as long as Misty’s, that’s clearly unbrushed. It’s bad enough that Mizael can see the frizz from where he’s at. She’s wearing a blue and white striped romper that looks a size too big for her, and the nerdy looking glasses certainly aren’t helping things. 

Not only is she late, but she’s a total klutz. The girl nearly falls on top of Misty after she trips on a step, letting out a loud ‘eep’. She makes sure to let everyone know that she’s okay and sits down hastily, proceeding to slump all the way down in her seat until only the top of her head is visible. The scene earns a fair number of giggles but is soon forgotten about when the MC comes on to introduce the event.

Mizael doesn’t see Misty again for the rest of the event, even when it’s time to leave. 

A little part of him hopes that they will meet again though. 

[higuchimon]

[fanfic] Love Is In The Cards:  Chapter 2

Title: Love Is In The Cards Characters: Shark, Ryuu||Ships: Shark x Durbe, Ryuu x Io Chapters: 2-??||Words: 1,612||Total: 3,228 Genre: Drama, Romance||Rated: G Prompt: zexal10thanniversary; Zexal Week 2021, day #1, “A Parallel Self” Notes: For the purposes of this story, BKCBL & Zexal take place in the same universe. This is about three or four years post-canon for Zexal and in the middle of season one for BKCBL. Also, the Barians still retain some of their powers. Summary: It’s almost Durbe’s birthday and Shark wants to find a nice place to take him. So he heads up to Binan to check it out. He’s going to find a lot more than hot springs and places to eat.

The Kurotama Bathhouse wasn't the most elegant or beautiful that Shark had ever seen in his life. In point of fact, it was somewhat plain. But the building was clearly well taken care of and the owner, a tall and strong red-haired man who vaguely reminded Shark of Gauche, greeted his companions in a way that said they were well-known to one another.

"Yumoto's off with Wombat somewhere," the older man told Naruko and Zaou as they entered with Shark. "Don't know how long he'll be gone." His eyes flicked over to Shark, and Shark found himself being very clearly weighed and measured by some unknowable scale. "Any trouble?"

"Nope! Just introducing our new friend here to the Kurotama," Zaou declared, handing over the payment. Shark nodded slightly.

"Kamishiro Ryouga," he introduced himself. "I'm looking for places to bring a friend of mine when it's his birthday." He had few intentions of telling these folk he'd just met that Durbe was far more than a friend. They didn't necessarily need to know. Friend would do for now.

"Well the Kurotama Baths are a great place to bring people!" The owner declared, brightening up. He dug into a drawer and pulled out a handful of coupons, offering them. "We have special discounts for birthdays."

Ryouga accepted the coupons and tucked them in with his clothes as he got started on getting ready. Quiet voices came from the area of the baths, and Zaou poked his head in there for a second before he looked back. "It's the guys," he reported. "I'll let them know we're going to have a guest."

He popped on in there as soon as he was done, while Ryouga and Naruko finished up preparing. Ryouga liked the place so far. Kind of homey and the company wasn't bad either. He strolled into the bath area to see Zaou and two others there, one with dark blue hair and the other a blond. The dark haired one waved a bit as the newcomers slid into the hot water.

"You just missed Yumoto," he said to Naruko and Zaou. "He's taking -" there was a breath of a pause, hardly more than a second, but Ryouga noticed it - "Wom-san out to see a new sweet store that opened up."

Zaou nodded, getting himself comfortable. He flicked one hand, along with a few drops of water, towards Ryouga. "This is Kamishiro Ryouga," he introduced. The dark-haired one introduced himself as Atsushi, the other as En. "You said something about a friend's birthday?"

"I want to do something special for him," Ryouga said, relaxing. This did feel good, especially after the long trip up here. He could see why people enjoyed it so much. "Things have been rough for the last couple of years and now that we're in a better place, I want to do something for him."

True enough, as far as it went. No one needed to know the full details of how things had been 'rough', since world-ending events like that didn't happen all that often. The fact he wanted to bring Durbe here was what remained important for the moment.

The blond's attention, a lazy sort of thing that brushed over Ryouga and Zaou, fastened back on Ryouga. He blinked sleepily before he glanced over at his friend. "Do you hear it?"

Atsushi frowned ever so slightly and En looked back towards Zaou. "Hey, say something. I want to be sure."

"What are you talking about?" Zaou didn't seem that much bothered. If anything, Ryouga would have said that he were amused. But En then nodded.

"You two sound alike," En told them. He tilted his head back. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you two were voiced by the same voice actor."

Ryouga blinked. He didn't think he'd ever heard anything like that before. "What makes you say that?"

"Because it's true?" En shrugged. "Things like that happen sometimes."

Ryouga decided that he didn't want to think about that a great deal. En very clearly was unusual. Not like Vector was - but Vector would forever be in a class by himself. Thank goodness.

He leaned back in the water and relaxed, letting his mind roam free. It was rather pleasant not to have to worry about anything. There hadn't been any truly annoying problems since the end of the war. They'd managed to settle things fairly quickly in the Astral World as well, and that led to a lot of downtime. Which was what led to him being here and planning on how to surprise Durbe soon.

The soft murmur of voices didn't quite disturb him, but he knew the others in the bath were having some sort of conversation amongst themselves. He cracked his eyes open a little without seeming to and regarded them. Something seemed vaguely familiar, though it wasn't something he could place off the top of his head. Something about the way that they reacted to each other - an the way they watched out for each other. All of them seemed oddly aware of what was going on around them. He wasn't sure if they even were aware of it themselves.

He wasn't sure if he'd ever figure out what was going on there and he wasn't sure if it even mattered. He just wanted to relax for now and so far, this hot water and the pleasant company made that so very easy.

Zundar didn't often come to this part of town. He preferred staying in the better areas. Kinshiro had many flaws - most of which Zundar enjoyed turning to his own benefit - but he also offered the sort of comfortable lifestyle to which Zundar truly wished to become accustomed to. But down here also offered an interesting array of folks to choose from, and Zundar made sure to note them all. He far preferred people from Binan High School itself, but one should never turn down a chance for a proper monster.

There was the one who was the youngest in their family and thought they could never do anything worthwhile without being shown up, deliberately or not, by their elder siblings. Then the one who kept losing significant others to their own friends. What caught most of his attention, however, was the young man who did attend Binan High as a third year, and whose family owned a small hot springs that wasn't doing very well. Zundar wanted to keep a very strong eye on this one.

Other than those, the one that he wanted to know the most about was that young stranger. Zundar had followed them as far as the Kurotama but wouldn't go inside. Who knew what sort of traps might be hiding? There shouldn't have been any, but with the odd aura the newcomer put out, he couldn't ensure what might or might not happen. Best to stay outside and watch for the new one to come back out.

Eventually he did, smelling fresh from the bath and of the oddness Zundar had noticed before. Being a little closer now, Zundar could get a better whiff, and he breathed in to do so.

The sea and stone - a lot of stone. This isn't Earth stone, either. He didn't recognize it as being from any planet that he knew of, and he'd been to several of those. Carefully he scampered along, making sure to stick to where it was unlikely that he would be seen, and tracked the stranger until he was back in his hotel room. So far Zundar hadn't been able to figure out anything that he might be able to use to get his hooks into this one, but he had far more resources than he'd used just yet.

Once he memorized which hotel this young man stayed in, Zundar made his way back to Kinshiro. That wasn't difficult at all; a quick teleport was all that he needed. He arrived in Kinshiro's bedroom, to find the other putting away the last of his schoolbooks. That was quite pleasing for Zundar; he wanted to talk to him anyway.

"Zundar-sama!" Kinshiro visibly perked up the moment he saw the emerald-green hedgehog. "I'd wondered where you were." His lips thinned ever so lightly. "I haven't decided yet who will be our next target."

"Don't worry about. I have someone that I have my eye on." Zundar got himself settled, regarding his young protege. "He's a visitor to the town, but there is a definite sense of something that could be useful about him."

Kinshiro raised one elegant silver eyebrow. "Oh? What sort of something?"

Zundar drummed his feet against the table. He did wish he'd been able to learn more. "I can't be certain exactly. He doesn't entirely smell human, but he's not from any world that I know about."

Kinshiro looked worried right away. "If he's not human, would we even be able to use him?"

That was a good question. Zundar considered it very carefully. "I have done this before," he said thoughtfully. "But I always knew what I was dealing with. I'd rather not jump into this without being sure. If this person is an alien, I want to know where he's from. I haven't yet heard what name he's using. I'll gain that information first."

Kinshiro nodded without argument.  That was one of his better qualities, in Zundar's opinion.  Of course, he probably shouldn't have, but it wasn't as if Zundar intended to tell him that any time soon.  For now, he just started to describe the stranger, so that if Kinshiro saw him before Zundar could acquire his name, he would not be unaware. 

To Be Continued

Notes: I decided since this fic fit the first day’s prompt, I should update it. I had something else in mind for the first day, but that hasn’t properly panned out yet. Maybe later in the week. But: Ryuu and Shark share a VA and fourth wall breaking is known to happen with the magical boys!

When I first saw the prompt of shared Vas, I did a little research, and found out that Kaito’s Japanese VA also does Roxas and Ventus from Kingdom Hearts. I did so love the idea of Kaito gaining a Keyblade and the Keyhole for Heartland would absolutely be at the top of Heartland Tower. Maybe another time?

[baddyzarc]

6/7 Ruins: Legends of Labyrinth

1 2 3 4a 4b 5 x 7  

Due to the severe overlap in Vector and Nasch/Merag’s story, I couldn’t finish talking about all of Vector without talking about Nasch first. He is integral to understanding Vector’s behavior and roles. 

Nasch and Merag are the final Barian Emperors of the show. Unlike the other Emperors, they don’t have a “canon” legend of their own. Their story is told to us through the memories of Ryouga after being prompted by Abyss, the Guardian of this ruin, and Durbe.

Although this legend is supposed to cover both Nasch and Merag, Nasch ends up with the fuller story (and therefore more focus). Merag died at the start of the legend and only had a couple of episodes as an Emperor. Her role is important for Nasch’s motivations, but that’s just what she is—a motivation for Nasch. It sucks, but there a few noteworthy things about her.

These ruins are located in the Labyrinth under the ocean. It isn’t clear what trickery is at play (I assume Duel Monsters magic) so this place may or may not be a real location. It existed in the past, but that one was on land while this one is submerged. However, the Labyrinth is an interesting choice for the ruins due to how it relates to Nasch’s story. 

The story started in the United Lands of the Poseidon Ocean, where Nasch was a beloved king and Merag was a priestess and princess. It followed the latter half of Vector’s tales. 

Vector attacked their land, he was unsuccessful, in retaliation Vector summoned a powerful God “Number 73: Abyss Splash, the Roaring Waterfall Deity” by performing a blood sacrifice, Merag sacrificed herself, you know the gist. Oh, Durbe was there but this wasn't about him.

This began the long rivalry between Nasch and Vector. Since I described most of what happened in Vector’s story already, I don’t need to gloss over it here. But there were a few notable things from Nasch’s perspective. 

Something new that we find out was that Merag’s sacrifice was pushed onto her by Don Thousand. It was implied that she was hypnotized into killing herself in an attempt to send Nasch into despair, but this was where things get a little mucky with Don Thousand’s interventions. She died under hypnosis (?), but then she came back as a spirit to guide Nasch through his journey. And then she went to Barian World after Nasch died. I think. I don’t know. Someone help. 

Since she wasn’t exposed to her Mythyrian Number and Don Thousand’s explanation was very lackluster, we don’t find out what truly happened to her aside from being sacrificed. My honest interpretation is that Don Thousand didn’t directly kill her. Instead, he gave her knowledge on how to stop “Abyss Splash”. It was ultimately her decision to sacrifice herself, and she did. This gave her access to Don Thousand’s powers, yet she maintained her autonomy, allowing her to aid Nasch in the afterlife before going to Barian World.  

Another new detail was that Nasch found a little girl named Iris in one of the destroyed villages. The girl bore a high resemblance to Merag, and Nasch said that Merag may have guided him to this girl to aid him in his destiny.

After finding the location of Vector, and with his army still injured from previous battles, Nasch decided to face Vector by himself with “Abyss Splash” by his side. As he battled in the Labyrinth, Durbe, his army, and Iris advanced into the battlefield to try to save him, resulting in everyone (except Durbe) getting slaughtered by Vector’s army of men and monsters. 

When the Shadow Game of the Labyrinth was completed, all of Nasch’s men and Iris laid dead outside of the Labyrinth, sending Nasch into grief. This grief sealed his fate as a Barian Emperor.  

The story ends with Nasch pursuing and defeating Vector in his Cursed Royal Palace.

What we never found out was how Nasch died. Death is needed to become a Barian, and the last we saw of him was in Vector’s castle. He may have lived out the rest of his life until old age got him, but this was never stated. Personally, I think Nasch killed himself after completing his goal, which was to stop Vector’s terror. He lost all his men in battle, and the one person he cared for, Merag, was gone (he still had a kingdom to care for but this is Mr. Shark we’re talking about here). He fulfilled his desires. If he had nothing left to live for, he could end it there and ascend into Barian World to be with his people. 

Nasch is also a character whose fate is tied to Merag closely, as both Ryouga + Rio and Nasch + Merag. When Rio was hospitalized in the first season, Ryouga lost the will to duel (and since this is yugioh, that essentially equates to life) or be productive like going to his classes. When Vector tossed Merag into a Black Hole, Nasch followed her; if it wasn’t for Abyss, they would’ve died together. I’m not saying that there’s enough evidence to conclude that he killed himself in his past life, but the actual cause is unknown and if Nasch is a person whose fate is interwoven with Merag’s, perhaps. 

Alright. I skipped over a lot of the details in the story because there are a lot of things that happened there.

To begin, Nasch is an Emperor who went to Barian World on his own accord. 

He isn’t tricked or hypnotized into going there, and this distinction is why I think Nasch is the most powerful of the Seven Emperors, alongside Vector for about the same reasons. Their own raw emotions led them to Barian World, making them “true” Barian Emperors. 

For Nasch specifically, this also allows him to access a unique form of Chaos. Yuma mentioned that Nasch’s Chaos possesses is different from previous forms of Chaos.

Unlike the others, whose powers derive primarily from Don Thousand’s Over-Hundred Numbers and trickery, Nasch is an Emperor who is separate from Don Thousand (although Donny prodding him with a stick could count i guess). His Chaos is not the same as Don Thousand nor the other Emperors. Rejecting Don Thousand isn’t the only thing that distinguishes his strength, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

There is a sizable amount of subtext that proves Nasch’s unique Chaos, aside from Yuma’s direct observations.

In the final scene within the Labyrinth, the place that sealed his fate as a Barian and why it holds such significance as the location of his ruins, Nasch defeats Vector and causes a familiar object to fall from its pedestal and shatter. 

Although seemingly meaningless, this sequence tells the audience how Nasch views Don Thousand. He walks away from the remnants of Don Thousand’s crest, and the entire framing of this scene tells the audience to pay attention to the broken crest and what Nasch is doing there. Nasch quite literally destroys and rejects Don Thousand. This is in stark contrast to Vector, an Emperor who derives all of his powers from Don Thousand, who is constantly framed with the emblem behind him. This is critical in how Nasch and Vector function as Emperors; one accepts Don Thousand’s power in its entirety while the other turns his head. And as you know, this rivalry comes back later in the show. 

(My only gripe with this is that we don’t know how Nasch got his Over-Hundred Number. All of the others had their cards explicitly injected into them, but with Nasch, it’s ambiguous how he acquired his Number.)

Furthermore, a few scenes with Iris and Merag hints that Nasch will not become Don Thousand’s Emperor due to his motto of “doing things his own way”.

Nasch has a destiny, and his destiny is to become a Barian. 

I think this particular scene spells it out nicely. As Nasch recounts that “this” is his destiny, the scene pans up towards the Big Dipper, which is what all of the Emperors are named after. The subtext implies that “this is my destiny” equates to “becoming an Emperor”. Nasch is fully aware that being a Barian Emperor is something he cannot escape. 

However, the final line states is that he will “fight against it”. This somewhat implies that Nasch tried to escape becoming a Barian, but that’s a shallow reading that contradicts his original statement. His fight isn’t to escape becoming a Barian Emperor. His fight is to escape becoming one of Don Thousand’s Barian Emperors, or one that is influenced by Don’s Chaos and manipulations. 

In that case, Nasch succeeds because he is the only Emperor unaffected by this evil strain of Chaos, and the scene in the Labyrinth backs this up.

Now, how did Nasch fight Don Thousand’s influence? I don’t think he did this alone. 

And this is where I think Merag fits in. I believe it’s her influence and guidance that allows Nasch to become the Emperor that he is.

Merag represents a positive influence on Nasch in all of the lives they live. Within the past life, she guides him through it and “protects” him. It’s the reason why Ryouga becomes so hateful and bloodthirsty without Rio to keep him in check, or why Nasch pursues Vector with so much anger prior to running into Iris, a proxy of Merag. She is a purifying force, and because of her, she prevents Nasch from falling into the path of revenge and hatred.

Merag is responsible for Nasch coming into contact with Iris. Originally, Iris’ role isn’t very clear aside from having someone for Nasch to grieve over, but I suspect that Merag orchestrates this to keep Nasch’s motivations “pure-hearted”. As in, he shouldn’t be pursuing Vector for only revenge. 

Prior to meeting Iris, Nasch’s primary motive is to kill Vector and avenge his fallen sister. He chases him everywhere, growing angrier and more bloodthirsty as he did so. But when he comes into contact with Iris, his goals seems to have shifted. He finds Iris in a village pillaged by Vector. By witnessing this atrocity and its effects on a familiar girl, I believe it pushes Nasch’s motives away from “kill Vector because revenge” to “kill Vector to protect the lives of innocent people like Iris (and a sprinkle of revenge)”. Soon after meeting Iris, Nasch realizes that his fight with Vector is costing innocent lives, and this realization influences his actions in the subsequent scenes. 

This may be reading into it too much, but Merag may have been “protecting” Nasch from a fate of becoming a Barian of hatred. Although she can’t escape Don Thousand herself, her goal was to aid Nasch in his fight against Don Thousand’s influence. 

And finally, there’s Nasch’s relationship to his Mythyrian Number. 

Out of all the Emperors, Nasch is the only who consistently uses it in its base form. Despite being a Barian Emperor, Nasch relies on the Mythyrian Number “Number 73: Abyss Splash, the Roaring Waterfall Deity” as much as he does his Over-Hundred Number “Number 101: Silent Honors Ark Knight”, and he is the only Barian Emperor to do so. (with Vector being an exception which I’ll explain later)

This almost doesn’t make sense since we know that Mythyrian Numbers are the antithesis to Over-Hundred Numbers. They have been able to purge Don Thousand’s Chaos from the bodies of the other Emperors. But, BUT Nasch isn’t one of Don Thousand’s Emperors, isnt he? 

Nasch acquired “Number 73: Abyss Splash, the Roaring Waterfall Deity” via Merag, and unlike the others, this Mythyrian is never purged from his body. He becomes an Emperor even with a Mythyrian in him, which is quite a feat and shows how strong his Barian-destiny is. Not only that, he is able to take “Abyss Splash” and transform it into a Chaos Number “Chaos Number 73: Abyss Supra, the God of Roaring Cascades”. Like previously stated, Vector also has this distinction (although he never summons the base-form of “Judge Buster” like Nasch always does). 

Nasch is also on very good terms with his Mythyrian Number. After all, a key plot point in Zexal is that “Abyss Splash” saves Merag and Nasch after Vector sends them into the black hole. He also agrees to unlock their memories as Barian Emperors if they met again. And for a Mythyrian Number, this is odd. Supposedly they are the opposite of the Barians and Over-Hundreds. “Abyss Splash” should keep their memories as Emperors locked since it means he is erasing two very strong Barians from existence. 

But I want to make a point that Mythyrian Numbers only reveal the true emotions and memories of their beholder. With Alito during his Ruins duel and my discussion with Vector, the Mythyrian Numbers reveal the truth. They expel false emotions, which is why the other Emperors acquire their true personalities or memories when exposed to them. Since Nasch was uninfluenced by Don Thousand, this means he is made of only true memories and emotions. Therefore, Nasch has nothing to hide and “Abyss Splash” has nothing to purge, providing more evidence that Nasch is a true Barian. 

Likewise with my discussion with Vector, where I said his Mythyrian revealed nothing new about Vector because what we see is what we get, these two Emperors are “true” Emperors with some key differences (Don Thousand’s Chaos being one of them). Their individual revolves as Barians are so strong that even with the purifying effect of their Mythyrians, they are persons who are naturally destined for Barian World. While Vector ends up rejecting his Mythyrian Number, Nasch embraces it and synergizes with it. This explains his constant reliance on “Abyss Splash” and his ability to chaosify it by natural means. Vector, on the other hand, holds no respect for his Mythyrian and only manages to play its Chaos form by sheer luck. If we consider that Vector is heavily influenced by Don Thousand (which the Mythyrians suppress), this may explain why he is unable to synergize with his Mythyrian Number. Because Nasch does not rely on Don Thousand’s powers, he is able to use his Mythyrian Number without an issue. And since Nasch does not belong to Don Thousand, “Abyss Splash” is willing to help him. 

So Nasch is a unique Emperor, but why is he as powerful as he is?

For Chaos, my assumption is that you become a Barian if you die with strong desires, or some form of attachment to your life as a human. (simply being evil or hateful isn’t a strong definition due to Yuma and Iris.)

For most of the Emperors, this culminates in their desire for revenge against the people who betrayed them. For Merag and Nasch, their situation is different. Merag, I believe, died with a desire to stay by Nasch’s side, and maybe some of Don Thousand’s influence since it wasn’t very clear what he did to her aside from sacrificial stuff. With Nasch, revenge may have been on his mind, but that motivation concluded when he defeated Vector for the last time. Nasch should’ve been satisfied. So why didn’t he go to Astral World? 

Aside from his destiny as an Emperor, it’s because he held attachment to his past life. Nasch couldn’t go to Astral World, or ascend with a clear conscience, because he cannot let go of his life as an Earthling—the people he met, the friends he made, his choices leading to their deaths, his grief and remorse. Nasch cannot move forward from nor forgive himself for these things. Because he is held down by his emotions, it makes him the perfect “true” Barian, one that isn’t motivated by solely hatred or short-lived revenge but simply by strong attachment and honest heart. 

If attachment can lead to a powerful Barian, then Nasch has to be one of the strongest Barians. 

My evidence to this is his entire duel with Thomas. It reflects Nasch’s heavy attachment in an ironically tragic way. 

The duel occurs shortly after Nasch finds out he is a Barian Emperor. Throughout and prior to the duel, he argues that he is a Barian Emperor. His actions, however, suggest that he hasn’t fully accepted this fate yet. It’s evidenced that during this duel, Ryouga still resides within Nasch through his consistently mumbling that he hasn’t lost his human heart.

It makes sense that he is unable to detach himself from his previous human life as Ryouga Kamishiro because by his own nature. Nasch cannot let go of the past; he cannot abandon humanity that easily. His nature, the one that made him such a powerful Emperor in the past, is also hindering his ability to become a full Emperor in the moment.

This proves especially difficult since his opponent is Thomas, who has such a powerful bond (???idk, the show said it not me???) with Ryouga that he is able to tap into Nasch’s humanity.

Nasch will not abandon Ryouga by choice. His attachment is so heavy that he cannot reject it under normal circumstances, so what he does in this duel provides some insight in the strength of his bonds and how far he goes to break them. 

(I suspect that this is why he tells the other Emperors to kill him if his resolve as their leader begins to falter; he isn’t sure he has the strength to reject his human side).

So in all of the duels that involve Nasch, he is always void of cruelty and sadism. He does not toy with his opponent like Vector usually does. His duel with Thomas is the only one where he is sadistic towards his opponent. The writers make it extremely noticeable that his treatment of Thomas during this duel iss not due to, like, him being an actual sadist. He isn’t a naturally cruel person or because he hates Thomas, which is reinforced repeatedly throughout the duel via Nasch’s internal thoughts. 

On the contrary, he torments Thomas because by resorting to vileness to someone he once cared about, Nasch is putting himself in a situation where his actions speaks for him. If he can emotionally hurt and physically kill Thomas, it is enough for him to accept that he can no longer be a human; he crosses a thick line by performing these actions. Even if Nasch lacked malice, what he does to Thomas means is able to harm and murder humans; whether he means it or not is irrelevant. 

Although he starts by insulting Thomas on a personal level (which cmon, baby-banter dude), he manages to get the reactions he wants by showing Thomas the death of his allies before callously mocking them. Nasch is doing something unforgivable and appalling, but that’s exactly what he is going for. By resorting to this level of cruelty to Ryouga’s friend, Nasch makes it difficult to return to his old life as Ryouga.

And I don’t think Nasch is enjoying this process in the same way as a typical villain would. Each time he is successful in coaxing IV to hate him, he keeps monologging about how Ryouga will “die” or thanking Thomas for being a stepping stool to Emperor-dom. 

His underlying motives is oriented towards a specific goal rather than sadistic pleasure, which I think is important for his character overall. When Thomas finally snaps at him, by finally referring to him as the monster Nasch rather than his friend Ryouga, Nasch affirms that he burned the bridge. 

Thinking about his actions and his nature, Nasch literally can’t abandon his old friends until he commits an atrocity so bad that Thomas calls him out for his lowliness. In order to lose his attachment to the humans he cares for, Nasch has to resort to being uncharacteristically inhumane towards them. If we assume that he holds this level of attachment during his past life, it makes plenty of sense why Nasch is as strong a Barian as he is. 

So… It’s hard to tell if he succeeds in abandoning his humanity during this duel. 

I mean, obviously he chooses the Barians over humans in the end, but his actions at the end of the duel is… questionable?

These reactions aren’t from someone who lost his humanity. His mannerism towards Thomas says that he still has kindness and sympathy in his heart for humans. 

And this line—

—which can be tossed up as an odd translation, but if I were to look at this, this line implies that “Ryouga” is still alive despite what Nasch does, but he won’t be for long. Ryouga will die once Nasch kills Yuma and all of his old friends. That’s just me though. I don’t really have a solid answer for this duel’s conclusion. 

Nasch may be a person who is incapable of severing bonds, or if he is, he has to take extreme measures to do so. These final scenes somewhat show that it isn’t easy for him to unattach himself from his old life.  

Merag shares this theme too. With the minimal amount of screentime she gets, we get to see that Merag shares similar levels of attachment with Nasch. With her original death, I assume that her desire to be with and protect Nasch is enough to send her to Barian World (along with whatever Don Thousand did, wasnt too clear there)

During her duel with Tetsuo, she cries after killing him, which is sound evidence that she holds emotions and attachment to her life as Rio Kamishiro as much as Nasch is with Ryouga. 

She is a powerful Barian Emperor. She would’ve defeated Vector had it not been for Don Thousand’s interference. Although her weakness comes from her inheritance of Don Thousand’s Chaos (and I’ll explain why this is a major weakness soon), he does not trick her into wanting revenge before her death. Rather Merag and Nasch (and perhaps Vector, too, although his sendoff is due to his high levels of malice for life on Earth) are powerful because they hold attachment to their previous life. They both struggle to let go of the past or abandon what they love, and in the terms of becoming a Barian, this is a very good thing. 

This brings us to the final question. Nasch--why no evil. Why is his Chaos unlike that of Vector, or Don Thousand, or the other Emperors? What exactly is this unique Chaos that Yuma saw in Nasch?

The ruins may be finished, but there’s a couple of unfinished things I want to address with Zexal’s World of Chaos.

[sirdurbe]

Durbe + his inability to keep his hands off Ryouga in ep. 99/100

[sirdurbe]

durbe/nasch is soul-crushing devotion across multiple lifetimes but durbe/ryouga is so petty gay and i think that's criminally underrated

[galaxygirl-katie27]

Bro is blind

[galaxygirl-katie27]

Tomoshipping in Barbie the magic of the Pegasus

A crossover no one asked for but that we all needed

[galaxygirl-katie27]

Ryouga/Nasch Redesign

Click for better quality!

More Notes about it under the cut!

-Firstly I wanted to make his past life a.k.a. Nasch look DIFFERENT than Ryouga himself. Past lives do not work that way. They may look similar, but not directly a copy paste version. I mean, Ryouga Kamishiro isn’t even Nasch reincarnated. It is implied, if not canon, that the Kamishiros are Descendants of Nasch and Merag (however so, because I don’t think they had kids??), so I guess it makes sense, that they look similar. But definitely not the same! I also made Nasch older than Ryouga, because I won‘t have a 14 year old fight in a war and lose every single one of his soldiers (and his sister and adopted daughter). Here he‘s 19.

-Which also brings me to my trans!Ryouga headcanon, where I think that Ryouga was actually born a girl— Important! Ryouga, not Nasch! Nasch was born as a boy. — So Ryouga was originally a girl, but after the accident, when Nasch‘s soul entered her/his body, Ryouga started to feel more like a boy, because her/his soul was now actually a male and not female anymore.

-Also I finally settled down, what nationalities I think all the Barinas are. As you can see I headcanon Nasch and Merag as Greek (maybe Japanese mixed as Ryouga and Rio, but still part Greek, because of the descendants thing). I just blame the locations of their ruins on volcanic locations shift, as someone informed me about it on my map post. You‘ll see what I came up with for the others, I’m especially excited for Vector.

-I also liked the Heterochromia in his Barian form, so I think he had it already as Nasch and only got it back, when regaining his memories and barian powers. Because the left eye of the barians only turns red when dueling, so they can see the monsters and all. You could say they see… Duel Spirits. But that’s the thing. They can only see them in duels or when they „activate“ their red eye. But I think Nasch, as the leader of the barians is so powerful that his red eye is permanent, making him able to see duel spirits all the time. (I mean Vector had to absorb 4 barian emperors to even truly compete with Nasch, meaning Nasch alone is as powerful as 5 barian emperors)

-I changed his necklace to an actual shark tooth, because I was so disappointed, when I found out it wasn’t a real shark tooth. I mean, yeah it‘s cute that it had a family picture of them in it, but I’m not saying he doesn’t have that anymore, just not in a necklace. I think the tooth is something he got it from his father, because I headcanon he was a marine biologist. Ryouga also wants to become a marine biologist and study sharks. Because being emperor isn’t really an option in this time.

-We know Ryouga and Rio share silver rings and he still has his, he now just has a golden extra one with a sapphire, which serves as a promise ring for him and Durbe. Durbe of course also has one, also golden with a ruby.

-He, Rio and Durbe all share friendship bracelets, with their barian aura colours. It was Rio‘s idea, but Durbe made them.

-I also love the idea of him and Rio having shark teeth. Were they born with them? No one knows…

-Now for the Nasch redesign, I gave him a more casual kind of look. Of course he has some armour, but only wears it later in the story, when really going into war.

-I also gave him a crow BECAUSE KING NEEDS A CROWN and made it look similar to his barian crown, but with extra wings on them. He let them be added to the crown, to show his connection to Durbe and the alliance with his king indirectly to the whole kingdom. Also because he misses him. Of course not every one was fine with this, but Nasch was such a beloved ruler, no one dared to oppose him.

-I got the Idea for the sword switch from a fanfic I read about them once, where they actually got their swords together ad named them after each others stars of the big dipper. So here they got their swords, but switched them and named them after the other (Dubhe and Benetnasch) so they could still fight side by side, even when apart.

If you have any other questions about the redesigns, ask away, because as you can tell I really like to yap about them! :)

[galaxygirl-katie27]

Time for departure

[sirdurbe]

Holyice 5,8 and if you want, hellshark 2,4,12

send me a ship and a number and i'll tell you

holyice

5. how many kids they'll have

i love the idea of them trying for one and ending up with twins, possibly because i think stressing durbe out is funny. if you tell me to come up with names i'll cry.

8. what they argue about

durbe is overprotective. rio feels the constant need to prove herself. they both think they're right about everything and believe themselves to be the calm rational one when they're equally neurotic. really, both of them struggle with needing to be hypercompetent and then hurting the other's feelings by not trusting them enough to lean on them.

hellshark

2. what their love letters look like

ryouga is, unsurprisingly, not especially romantic, certainly not in text - but thomas is actually capable of some pretty flowery prose once he feels comfortable enough, and not one moment before that. it probably happens that he gives ryouga a mushy note, ryouga doesn't recognize it as a display of vulnerability and pokes fun at it and a big blowup follows before they remember how to use their grownup words. embarrassing.

4. what they do on date night

🛏️

i genuinely think they're most comfortable at home, and not just so they can overlay if you know what i mean. there's less pressure to perform, especially on thomas' part. they probably order in outrageously expensive takeout and talk shit about reality tv stars or something. and then, you know. 🛏️

12. what they do for their anniversary

considering ryouga's whole *gestures* and thomas' own weirdness surrounding his identity and sense of personhood, i actually don't think either of them assign much value to calendar dates. if they celebrate, it's probably similar to the above date night, though maybe they'll inflict themselves on the public for the occasion.

[sirdurbe]

[galaxygirl-katie27]

Rio/Merag Redesign

Click for better quality!

More notes about the Redesign under the cut!

-Okay, first of all- BURN SCRAS. Queen was so long in the hospital after her fire accident, completely wrapped in bandages and there is literally nothing showing?? No, girl is a survivor and it shows. If the writers decide to put her in the hospital for like 75% of her screen time, then at least show the consequences that came out of it. She also can’t completely open her left eye anymore. It’s not blind, she just can’t completely open it.

-She also has PTSD from the incident and is afraid of fire ever since. She can stand it with loved ones around, but she‘ll never go alone near a fire again, because it gives her major flashbacks. (Rio isn‘t the only barian with PTSD. Honestly I think all of them have it, some more so than others for different reasons.)

-She is also officially a jock girl. We saw her rock every sport possible at school. I think in my redesign, she wouldn’t be in the drama club, but in a sports club, like football or basketball (probably even being captain). And for those wondering what her shirt says, it says „Heartland Academy“. The 48 actually being related to her star Merak.

-Although she is a confident queen, she still has some demons to deal with and isn’t really comfortable with showing ALL her scars (hence the sport leggings under her shorts). It actually took her a lot of time to go out again after being released from the hospital. But with the help of her family, especially Ryouga and Durbe and her friends, she‘s slowly healing.

-I also headcanon her as a lesbian. I confess to being a Rio x Anna shipper. Especially after seeing prompts and fanart of them bonding over burn and explosion scars. Love me some mechanic and jock lesbians.

-I think the Greek nationality explains itself, since she‘s Ryouga‘s twin. So if you want my reasoning for that, check out my Ryouga/Nasch redesign.

-Of course she has the sibling ring and the friendship bracelet with Ryouga and Durbe.

-Now to Merag. I tried to make her look like her barian form and also using lighter colours for her, since I used darker ones for Nasch. Also gave her the tiara she has in her barian form, because she is ROYALTY.

-I also gave Merag actually short hair and a long veil, to kinda give the illusion of long hair, because back then it was unusual for women to wear short hair. But she wanted it short, because she also practises sword fighting. Durbe was teaching her in private. She‘s actually better than Nasch at it and always kicks his ass in (sword) duels. This could also be a reason, why Rio is so frustrated at losing to Ryouga in card game duels. Because her soul was so used to winning against him.

-SHE‘S AN ORACLE. She was bestowed the gift of foresight by Apollo. She gets visions of the future. It’s mostly why she became head priestess. She also got them way less, when being reborn, because she and her soul had to get used to regularly getting future visions again. They could be big visions, like enemy‘s approaching or just small things. Like in the middle of doing something she suddenly spaces out before saying: „Oh my Abyss, Vector is going to fall down on the parking lot in 10 minutes, I gotta see that-“

[higuchimon]

[fanfic] Love Is In The Cards:  Chapter 1

Title: Love Is In The Cards Characters: Shark, Ryuu||Ships: Shark x Durbe, Ryuu x Io Chapters: 1-??||Words: 1,616||Total: 1,616 Genre: Drama, Romance||Rated: G Prompt: zexal10thanniversary Notes: For the purposes of this story, BKCBL & Zexal take place in the same universe. This is about three or four years post-canon for Zexal and in the middle of season one for BKCBL. Also, the Barians still retain some of their powers. Summary: It’s almost Durbe’s birthday and Shark wants to find a nice place to take him. So he heads up to Binan to check it out. He’s going to find a lot more than hot springs and places to eat.

Shark stepped off of the train and looked around. The first thought on his mind was This place is quaint. Binan didn’t look anything like Heartland City. Heartland was a place where he could happily ride his motorcycle anywhere, and if he couldn’t, there were other ways to get around, such as the monorail.

Binan didn’t have that. It wasn’t a very large place, so most people seemed to get around simply by walking. He guessed there was probably a bus system, but he wasn’t sure. There was at least a train, so it wasn’t as if it were utterly cut off from the modern world.

All the research he’d done also said there wasn’t a lot of dueling here. People here lived very quiet lives – though he’d also caught a few glimpses of reports that said it wasn’t so quiet.

He gathered up his bag and headed away from the station. He’d been on the train for a couple of hours and he wanted to find a place to rest that wasn’t moving. He only had a couple of days here before he needed to get back.

Finding his hotel didn’t take long. He settled in, then pulled out his D-Gazer and slipped it on. He didn’t need it for dueling, but it came in very handy for phone calls.

“Rio?” He asked as soon as the two devices connected. She rested her hands on her hips and glared at him.

“Took you long enough! Did you get there?”

“I’m there.” Shark settled down on the hotel bed and started flipping through the town’s website. “I’m going to grab something to eat and check out a few places. Durbe still doesn’t guess?”

Rio shook her head. “We told him that you’re checking out some potential places to dump Vector at.”

He’d never do that. He didn’t want to leave Vector where he’d be someone else’s problem. At least they knew how to handle him. But it made for a good enough excuse while he scouted places for Durbe’s birthday.

Truth to tell, most of his fellow Barians didn’t know when their birthday was. He and Rio did, at least their current birthday – sometime even he got confused on that. But Vector and Durbe, Mizael and Gilag, and Alit as well, they didn’t have birthdays that translated very well into the modern calendars, and they’d never bothered celebrating anything like that when they were Barians.

But now that they lived among humans – and technically were human again – Shark wanted to do that. It would help them all fit in a little better. So they’d picked dates as close to what they recalled from their human lives.

He had a week left until it would be Durbe’s birthday and he wanted to make it the best trip that he could manage. So here he was, in Binan, hoping that it was what he’d read about it.

He focused back on Rio. “I’ll let you know what I find out later.” He wanted to sample one of the places he’d read of for dinner, then go checking for one of the famous hot springs.

“All right. You should probably call Durbe tonight too.” Rio smirked at him. “You don’t want your boyfriend moping around, do you?”

Shark snorted. “I’ll call after dinner. See you.” He cut the connection and tossed the D-Gazer to one side. His stomach rumbled again and he headed out, checking for the closest place to eat.

The Aqua Catch. Every review he’d seen on it said that it was pretty good so he headed out there. He’d always had a taste for seafood and he knew Durbe did too – somewhere in the flickers of memory from his first life as Nasch, he recalled sharing a plate of tuna. That wasn’t the only time they’d shared meals, of course. It happened frequently on the march to do battle with Vector…

He shook his head to get the image out. That was long done with. Time to move on to happier events. Which meant checking The Aqua Catch out to see if it would be a good place for Durbe’s birthday dinner.

The Aqua Catch wasn’t somewhere that Ryuu frequented that often. The prices were reasonable and the food really good, but he’d always thought of it as a place for special occasions or special people. He sort of wanted to take Io there for the other’s birthday once December rolled around.

But for now, he took Io there because just the day before, Io had saved his life. Which, these days, wasn’t such an unusual event. He still hadn’t fully wrapped his head around the thought of superheroing and monsters being a regular part of their lives, even though they were. But the day before, one of those monsters the Caerula Adamas created almost took his head clean off.

Io – Battle Lover Sulfur – cracked open the earth itself underneath the monster, burying it in the ground before sending a powerful blast from his staff into its face. The other three helped him back to his feet, then they’d gone on to take care of the monster. Just a normal afternoon for them, but Ryuu wanted to do something for Io now.

“This is all on me,” he promised. Io looked up from the menu, a tiny smile on his lips.

“You don’t really have to do this.”

Ryuu crossed his arms over his chest and glowered. “You saved my life.” He wasn't going to say anything else about it. Io knew what he meant and they didn’t need to get anyone else’s attention.

They both perused the menu, and Ryuu almost didn’t notice when another diner was settled down at one of the nearby tables. He glanced over casually, then did a double take. He’d never seen anyone like this guy before and he prided himself on noticing the interesting people around town.

This guy was definitely interesting. Probably about Io’s height, with deep purple hair and sea-blue eyes. His hair sort of – well, it looked kinda like tentacles if Ryuu tilted his head a little, and right over his forehead the hair was a paler blue that resembled a crown.

Is that natural or did he have it done? Ryuu wasn’t sure and itched to know.

So he leaned over. “Excuse me?” He waited until the other looked at him. “I was wondering – where did you get your hair done?” He wasn’t sure if he wanted to try it for himself or not, but it looked nice on this guy. It might be worth a try.

The stranger blinked back at him. “It’s not ‘done’. It’s natural.”

Ryuu couldn’t quite believe that. “I didn’t know anyone had hair that shade.” He didn’t keep the admiration out of his voice. Though he’d seen a few odd colors – such as whenever he looked in the mirror. But deep purple wasn’t one he’d run across before.

“Well, I do.” The stranger picked up his menu, very obviously done with the conversation. Ryuu shrugged; he’d asked, at least.

That wasn’t the only person who’d ever questioned him about his hair. This one did seem more appreciate than anything else, so Shark didn’t think much of the exchange until after he’d finished his meal, paid, and headed out, stopping a little way down the street to check out his map of the area.

Let’s see. A good hot springs. Maybe one of the local baths?

“Hey, did you need some help?” That voice. He’d heard something unusual about it the first time he’d heard it, but he had too much to think about then. Now here it was again. He glanced over to see that same pink-haired person standing there, their friend beside them.

If the stranger hadn’t looked so genuinely as if he wanted to help, Shark would have just dismissed him. But perhaps he could use a bit of help, especially from a local.

“I’m trying to find a bathhouse. Not any one in particular, though.”

Both of them brightened up at that, and the one with pale green and gold hair chuckled faintly. “Yumuto would never forgive us if we let this chance slip away.”

“No kidding!” The first one grinned broadly before he looked back to Shark. “We know a pretty awesome place. Ever her of the Kurotama?”

Shark frowned; he remembered reading it when he’d done his research, but it had been only one of a long list of hot springs and bathhouses. “Vaguely,” he admitted.

“Come with us, then,” the pink-haired one offered. “We can show you the way.” He gestured to himself. “I’m Zaou Ryuu.”

“Naruko Io,” the other introduced himself.

Shark considered, then mentally shrugged. “Kamishiro Ryouga.” He wasn’t going to tell them his real name, nor would they get to call him Shark. If they didn’t recognize his face, then they probably didn’t follow any sort of professional dueling. All the better. He wanted to be here as a tourist, not as a celebrity.

“This way then, Kamishiro-san,” Zaou said, and Shark followed him and Naruko.

Zundar pointed his nose out, following the odd scent that he’d been tracing for almost an hour now. It wasn’t easy following people in this city but he’d finally locked it down. Now he regarded the person it emanated from.

Never seen anything like that before. He wondered exactly what secrets this strange purple-haired person had hidden in their heart. He couldn’t be sure of what it was with just a quick glance but perhaps if he followed, he would figure out more.

Assuming he could keep up with them. But he had that scent now, so he’d find his target anywhere in Binan.

To Be Continued

Notes: Shark and Ryuu share a voice actor. I wasn’t aware of that until I started researching.

[higuchimon]

[fanfic] Dreams of What Was

Durbe. Durbe. Durbe. Wake up. You’re having a nightmare.

Durbe jerked up, stone fingers clutching at the soft blanket he’d pulled over himself when he’d retired for sleep.

Sleep wasn’t necessary for Barians. But it gave them time to rest their minds, which they did need now and then.

His eyes darted this way and that, hoping against hope for that voice to sound again, to hear Nasch as he had so many times. Then there would be an amused laugh and Merag would enter from somewhere as well.

Then the real nightmare, the one where they’d vanished and not been seen or heard from in over ten human years, would be over.

But they didn’t come. He heard nothing at all. Slowly Durbe let out a deep sigh.

I know I heard him. It wouldn’t be the first time. In the first handful of months after their disappearance, he heard and saw them everywhere, only they were never there.

A silent sigh, then he did what he always did when he woke from these dreams. He closed his eyes and extended his Barian senses, those that went beyond what sight or sound were. Try as he might, there wasn’t a hint of anything there. Nothing and no one.

No Nasch. No Merag. Just the castle that held only the other Barian Emperors.

Durbe sighed and pulled himself to his feet. There remained work to be done, and he was the one to do it.

Whatever he’d heard, it was just a dream.

Just a dream and nothing more. Kamishiro Ryouga peered out at the world, decided he didn’t want to deal with it today, and tucked his head under his pillow.

It wasn’t the first time that he’d had that dream. At least he didn’t think it was. He couldn’t remember the dream itself and most of the time he didn’t even think about it. It simply existed in the back of his head, a vague sensation that there was someone out there who he missed and who missed him.

Someone who wasn’t Rio. She was the only one that he’d ever told this to. She didn’t have any more answers than he did – and now she had no answers at all. He wondered sometimes if the dream had been a warning about what would happen to her.

Probably not. The dream wasn’t a warning dream. He remained certain of that, at least.

He pushed the thought out of his head and tried to get back to sleep. A tiny part of him thought about doing his homework before he decided he couldn’t be bothered. Going through his deck was a lot more attractive – even if he didn’t really want to do that, either. Dueling didn’t have the spark it once had, not since – well, not since that whole mess with IV.

He wished he could remember the dream. Whoever that person was, they had to be a lot more interesting than anyone he knew now.

Who wouldn’t be?

The End

Note: You know, looking back at this, I now have this idea for a soulmate AU, one of those where the soulmates share dreams. Just imagine that for Durbe and Nasch. Anyone interested?