#ive got a huge chunk of the next chapter ready to go but everything that needed game dialogue had to wait

[necromancer-nonbinary]

Enter the Circle

[inkribbon796]

A Diamond in the Rough Ch. 3

Chapter 3: A Gift

Summary: The chapter in which Eric gets some much needed protection and Damien attempts another surprise adoption.

A/N: A story in which Damien and Patton share the same brain cell, and it says to adopt the sad child.

Chapters: 1, 2, 3

Eventually Eric was able to tell a little bit of what had happened. Dark had killed his father in front of him, and he was scared and his hands wouldn’t stop aching and tingling. Randall’s mother came in to help try and calm him down. Patton did pass on the message to the other heroes before going back inside and using his powers to help calm Eric down again. It resulted in him falling asleep from exhaustion.

Logan wound up calling in with information, after looking through several police reports they found out that Eric was the survivor of an accident that killed his brother and that Derek was suspected of working for Dark but the police hadn’t been able to prove it.

Currently the only thing the doctors could prove was that while Eric didn’t have evidence of being stabbed, he had a lot of old and recent bruises. And that was making Patton overprotective and unhappy, wanting to coddle and smother Eric in love but was unable to for a multitude of reasons.

Logan was standing in his outfit, trying to “reason with him” while the two were in the lobby. “We cannot adopt him, he is a teenager and most likely has extended family, he is a witness in a murder investigation.”

“Yeah, but he’s so sad,” Patton smiled and tried to continue to argue his point.

“Marie Curie and her notebook,” Logan groaned. “This is why we don’t let you be around children.”

“Princey wants and sidekick and Silver and Jackie both have one,” Patton gave a huge smile.

“No,” Logan cut in to stomp that out. “No. No! We are not taking on an apprentice. I can barely corral you and Princey, I am not adding a literal child to those complications.”

“Aww, come on, it’d be great,” Patton continued.

“No, I am figuratively putting my foot down,” Logan said and distantly he heard the faint ringing of Dark’s aura and signaled an alarm. “Dark is here, we’ll continue this at a later time.”

The two Sides followed the staticky, ringing aura until they found Dark outside of Eric’s room.

“Halt!” Logan ordered him. “What do you think you’re doing here?”

“A surprise adoption,” Dark’s blue soul answered, not-so-helpfully, despite the heroes not being able to hear him or him being able to talk to them.

“Don’t start!” Dark’s red soul pushed him out of the way.

“That’s none of your business,” Dark managed to say despite the fact his twin souls were fighting with each other, his form splintering and fracturing. Which gave an unintended nefarious air to his words.

“You’re here to kill him aren’t you?” Patton accused.

“Of course not,” Dark told him in a rare moment of honesty. He didn’t want to kill the young Derekson boy; he wanted to add him to what Anti often referred to as Dark’s “hoard”.

Dark’s blue soul was quickly winning out and Dark knew he was losing against the impulse to take the Derekson kid and just run off with him. He was already planning on introducing him to Illinois and Kay first, Bim and Arthur were a bit too high energy for a first introduction.

“You can’t have him, you fiend,” Patton proclaimed loudly and bravely.

“You really are insufferable,” Dark told him.

Silver flew down the other side of the hallway, braced for a fight.

“Why are you looking for a kid?” Silver demanded.

“You should mind your own business,” Dark scoffed.

“Not in the job description,” Silver smiled, pulling up his fists. “Let’s dance, Darkcus.”

Dark scowled at him, looking about ready to literally hiss at him and he jumped at him, his aura curling around him.

“I’ll get him out, you make sure people are safe,” Silver called at the two Sides who were already going towards Eric’s door. Patton rushed in to find Randall’s mother not in the room.

“Where should we move them?” Patton asked as Logan closed the door, the quick entrance and the loud conversation had woken both Randall and Eric up, Eric easily getting disoriented at the unfamiliar scenario.

“No, while he’s still out there it is unsafe for anyone to move,” Logan warned. “I’ve already contacted the hospital staff to help Ms. Voorhees to get up here safely when Dark is removed from the floor.”

“What’s goin’ on here?” Randall demanded groggily.

“No, everything’s fine,” Patton promised, at the same moment that Silver came through the left wall, being thrown through by Dark.

Dark stepped through the hole, looked frustrated and very disgruntled, aura a shrill ringing.

Eric let out a squeak of terror and Randall huddled next to Eric.

“I’m not going to kill him,” Dark straightened his tie. “Killing a child is beneath me.”

“That doesn’t discount the numerous things that could happen to a child under your quote-unquote care,” Logan responded.

Dark let out a long sigh, swiping the fringe of his hair to the side as a quick slew of memories of everything that his Lost Ones had done while they’d been living in the Manor. He waved his hand and a large portal opened up and dropped all of them, along with everything in the room, into a currently unused construction site. One that Marvin was currently not at because he was still at the hospital currently ten miles away.

“There, now that pesky magician isn’t in the way,” Dark growled, cracking his neck in agitation, flattening out the already pristine front of his suit coat. “I really should get around to killing him one of these days.”

Eric looked around wildly, his IV and monitor no longer hooked up and the young teen started to slip into a panic.

Silver was already moving, “I’ve got—”

Dark had already grabbed, his aura had a crushing grip on the monochrome hero’s ankle, tugging him back, “Go away!”

The hero was flung up towards the half finished ceiling and because Silver was super sturdy and already moving quickly a couple pieces of rebar came loose, chunks of concrete still and started tipping over.

For all the adults, things were moving in slow motion and Dark let go of Silver to try and reach out in time with a portal but only half of it fell in and but because of its positioning a piece of concrete broke off from where the rebar hit the portal and fell right on top of the teens.

It hit Randall square on the back, Dark let out a horrified gasp that fortunately for Dark’s reputation — but not his nerves — Patton’s equally horrified gasp was much louder and he was closer to Logan so the other Side didn’t hear Dark.

For the heroes’ sakes, and for Eric’s as well, when it hit Randall it activated a superpower in him and the concret just fell apart like it was made of flimsy plaster. All the heroes just froze, Dark felt a chill of relief come over him and he held a portal over the teens to keep any more debris from falling over on top of them. Randall felt like his whole body was on pins and needles.

His only thought was: “Never before have I been so happy to see superpowers.”

All it looked like to the heroes was that Dark was planning something. Silver flew at him and slammed into Dark as Logan and Patton raced for the two teens, hurrying to. Pull them away from the site as Jackie and Marvin rushed in. They stayed in-between Dark, and Eric and Randall.

Dark snarled at him, “Fine! Pests, the lot of you! I did that boy a favor!”

Then there was a flash of a portal and Dark was gone. All the heroes stayed braced for an attack. When it didn’t come after a couple minutes, Silver and Jackie rushed to take the teens back to the hospital where the staff and Randall’s mother were very anxiously waiting for them.

Without any other physical wounds to treat, and confirmation that Dark was his father’s killer. The police got what scarce information they could.

Then Marvin was left to talk to Eric, and it took a little bit before the very skittish teen warmed up enough to him to even look at him.

Marvin smiled, “Don’t worry, we’re not gonna let anythin’ happen ta yah.”

Eric managed a small, sad smile, trying to hope that maybe they were right.

That maybe, just maybe his luck was finally turning around.

After Eric was deemed healthy enough to leave the heroes decided that for safety’s sake and security they could keep Eric living at the base, he wasn’t the only person living there. He would repeatedly meet with social services and a doctor as a follow up for health and wellness checks until they could find any other family. Randall’s mother offered to take him in if they couldn’t. But it was determined that until Dark stopped hunting for him, he would stay at the base and learn to control his explosive powers.

Silver even offered to help teach Randall to control his super strength, and with very tentative permission from his mother, training dates were set.

Immediately upon bringing Eric to the base, Bing and Logan took one look at the prosthetics he had, then they both looked at each other. Logan’s eyebrow was raised and Bing took off his glasses to take pictures of it.

“Who has been letting the little dude use these?” Bing commented.

“How soon could we procure replacements?” Logan asked.

“Procure nuthin’,” Bing boasted. “I could build better.”

“Maybe others could also be made in the process,” Logan proposed. “The holidays are coming up.”

“I like how yah think,” Bing smiled, putting his sunglasses back on. “Let me just get some measurements from the little dude, yah think he would like some rocket shoes?”

“How about we do not include such modifications?” Logan told him as they went to go and find Eric to get some leg measurements. It would take Bing a week to make some custom prosthetics for Eric. Some nanites embedded into it to help it react to whatever terrain or environments he was in.

Upon receiving them, Eric would burst into tears, almost too afraid to touch them for fear of breaking them but after an impromptu stress test where Bing demonstrated that short of an atomizer he couldn’t possibly break the new prosthetics, Eric took them and put them on.

Eric took some time getting used to his new prosthetics, but found that like his new life he would grow into it quite nicely.

[dumbledearme]

chapter twelve—between scylla and charybdis

read Child of Land and Sea here

Act II — Heart Of The Ocean

Part IV — We’ve got the spirit. You’ve got to hear it. Under the sea.

“You are in so much trouble,” Clarisse told them the minute they stepped aboard. Her ship was an ironclad. A Civil War battle cruiser. And everywhere they looked dead Confederate sailors would stared at them. “Tantalus expelled you for eternity. Mr D said if any of you show your face at camp again, he’ll turn you into squirrels and run you over with his SUV.”

“Really?” said Andy. “He drives a SUV? Never took him for the kind-”

“Did they give you this ship?” Anthony asked.

“Of course not. My father gave me the CSS Birmingham,” Clarisse sneered. “You think her daddy is the only one with sea power? The spirits on the losing side of every war owe a tribute to Ares. That’s their curse for being defeated.”

“Clarisse,” Anthony said. “Luke might be after the Fleece, too. We saw him. He’s got spies inside the camp, so he probably has the coordinates and he’s heading south. He has a cruise ship-”

“Good. I’ll blow him out of the water.”

“We need to combine forces. Let us help you.”

“No!” She pounded the table, her eyes wild. “This is my quest! Finally I get to be the hero, and you two will not steal my chance.”

“Did you come alone?” Andy asked.

“Yes,” she admitted. “Nobody wanted to come and I didn’t need them, anyway. All you need to know is that I’m finishing this quest and you are NOT helping. On the other hand, I can’t let you go…”

“So we’re your prisoners?” Anthony asked.

“Guests,” Clarisse corrected. “For now. Until I think of something better to do with you two. Captain, take them below. Assign them hammocks on the berth deck. If they don’t mind their manners, show them how we deal with enemy spies.”

Two days later, they approached the entrance to the Sea of Monsters. Andy was on her way upstairs, when she heard voices coming from one of the rooms below deck. She froze.

“I don’t want excuses, little girl.”

“Y-yes, father,” Clarisse mumbled.

“You don’t want to see me mad, do you?”

“No, father.”

“You’re pathetic,” Ares sneered. “I should’ve let one of my sons take this quest.”

“I’ll succeed!” Clarisse promised, her voice trembling. “I’ll make you proud.”

“I certainly doubt that,” he said. “But you better try, girly. You asked me for this quest. If you let that slimeball Jackson kid steal it from you-”

“But the Oracle said-”

“I DON’T CARE WHAT IT SAID!” Ares bellowed with such force the ship trembled. “You will succeed! Do we understand each other?”

Andy met Anthony and Tyson on the spar deck. Clarisse came up the stairs right after her. “At last, Captain,” she said. “Full steam ahead.” The engine groaned as they increased speed.

Tyson muttered nervously, “Too much strain on the pistons. Not meant for deep water.”

Ahead of them a storm was brewing. The sky and sea boiled together in a roaring mass.

“Hurricane?” Anthony asked.

“No,” Clarisse said. “Charybdis.”

All the color left Anthony’s face. “Are you insane?” he demanded.

“Only way into the Sea of Monsters,” she shrugged like it was not a big deal. “Straight between Charybdis and her sister Scylla.” Clarisse pointed to the other side where a huge mass of rock rose out of the sea. “If you want to get into the Sea of Monsters, you have to sail through them.”

“What about the Clashing Rocks?” Anthony said. “That’s another gateway. Jason used it.”

“Jason was a pussy. I’m not.”

“No, you’re crazy.”

“Watch and learn, geek.” Clarisse turned to the captain. “Set course for Charybdis.”

“Aye, m'lady”

The engine groaned.

“Charybdis sucks up the sea, right?” Andy asked realizing she knew this at least.

“And spits it back out again, yes,” said Clarisse.

“What about Scylla?”

“She lives in a cave, up on those cliffs. If we get too close, her snaky heads will come down and start plucking sailors off the ship.”

“Well, choose Scylla, then,” Andy suggested. “Everybody gets bellow deck and we chug right past.”

“No!” Clarisse insisted. “If Scylla doesn’t get her easy meat, she might pick up the whole ship. Besides, she’s too high to make a good target. My cannons can’t shoot straight up. Charybdis just sits there a the center of her whirlwind. We’re going to steam straight toward her, train our guns on her, and blow her to Tartarus.”

“You’ll kill us all,” Anthony told her.

“Tony is right,” Tyson said. “Engine’s no good.”

“What do you mean?” Anthony asked. “And don’t call me that.”

“Pressure,�� said Tyson. “Pistons need fixing.” Before he could explain, the ship lurched forward and Andy was thrown to the deck. They were in the whirlpool.

“Full reverse!” shouted Clarisse from somewhere. The sea churned around them, waves crashing over the deck. “Get us within firing range! Make ready starboard cannons!”

Dead Confederates rushed back and forth.

“Bailer room overheating, ma'am,” one of them told Clarisse. “She’s going to blow!”

“Go fix it!”

“Can’t!” He yelled over the noise. “We’re vaporizing in the heat.”

“I only need a few more minutes,” Clarisse said. “Just enough to get in range.”

“We’re going in too fast,” the captain said grimly. “Prepare yourself for death.”

“No!” Tyson shouted. “I can fix it.”

Clarisse looked at him incredulously but it was Anthony who spoke. “He’s a Cyclops. Immune to fire. And he known mechanics.”

“No!” Andy said getting up. “Too dangerous, Tyson!”

“Only way, sister,” he shouted back at her. His expression was determined – confident even. Andy watched him go wondering if he’d be back. Then the ship lurched again and she saw Charybdis, the enormous mouth with slimy lips and mossy teeth. The entire sea around her was being sucked into the void.

“M'lady,” shouted the captain, “starboard and forward guns are in range.”

“Fire!” Clarisse ordered. Three rounds were blasted into the monster’s maw. “Again!”

But it was hopeless. They were being sucked in too fast.

Suddenly, the vibrations on the deck changed. The hum of the engine got stronger and the ship started to pull away from the mouth.

“Tyson fixed it!” Anthony said amazed.

“No! We need to stay close!” Clarisse shouted.

“We’ll die, stupid!” Andy argued. “We have to move away!”

At that moment, the mouth snapped shut. The sea died to absolute calm. Then, just as quickly as it had closed, the mouth exploded open, spitting out a wall of water and everything else it had swallowed. The ship was thrown backward, spinning out of control, hurtling toward the cliffs on the opposite side.

A Confederate ghost appeared. “The engine is about to blow! We need to abandon ship!”

“Where is Tyson?” Andy asked him.

“Still down there, holding it together. I don’t know how much longer it can take. The hull is cracking apart. She can’t-” He never got to finish his sentence. Quick as lightning, something brown and green shot from the sky, snatched him up, and lifted him away.

The captain shouted, “SCYLLA!”

Anthony grabbed Andy’s hand and pulled her close. “Lifeboats,” he said.

“It’ll never get clear of the cliffs, you fool,” Clarisse said. “You’ll be eaten alive.”

“We still need to try,” he insisted.

Andy squeezed his hand. “I can’t leave Tyson.”

“We can’t, Andy. I’m sorry,” he said as if Tyson was dead already. “Clarisse, the boats!”

Clarisse nodded and commanded the sailors to uncovered the lifeboats. Andy pulled her hand away from Anthony’s and ran trying to get below deck to save Tyson. Anthony called after her. She thought she was doing pretty well, she actually thought there was a chance of getting to Tyson and getting out of this ship alive.

And then the thing got her. It lifted her toward the lair. Without thinking, Andy uncapped Riptide and cut the tentacle or whatever it was.

The fall would’ve been bad enough, but as she fell, the CSS Birmingham exploded below her. Chunks of ironclad flew everywhere. The lifeboats had managed to get away but not far. Flaming wreckage was raining down.

Andy hit the water with a blast that would’ve broken every bone in her body if she wasn’t a daughter of Poseidon. She sank in the burning sea, knowing that Tyson and maybe Anthony were gone forever and wishing she was able to drown.

She woke up in a rowboat with Anthony next to her. “Rest,” he said. “You’re going to need it.”

Andy blinked. “Tyson…?”

Anthony looked down. “I’m really sorry, Andy.”

“Are you?” she asked harshly.

“He might’ve survived. Fire can’t kill him. Neither can water,” he said but she knew he was only saying it for her benefit.

“Well, I shouldn’t get my hopes up, right?” she sneered. “I mean, you can’t trust a Cyclops.”

Anthony’s stormy eyes met hers with nothing but kindness. “I am sorry, Andy. I was wrong about Tyson. I’m sorry I won’t get to tell him that.”

It was really hard staying mad at him after that. They sailed for hours without speaking to each other, until Andy finally decided to ask something that had been bothering her for a long time now. “Anthony… what’s Chiron’s prophecy?”

He pursed his lips and leaned back on the boat. “I shouldn’t-”

“I know he promised the gods he wouldn’t tell me. But you didn’t, did you?”

“Knowledge isn’t always good,” he said.

“Your mom is the wisdom goddess.”

“I know. But… Every time heroes learn their future, they try to change it, and it never works. It-” he watched her for a minute and his face softened. “Why can’t I say no to you?” She smiled, he shook his head. “I don’t know the whole thing, okay? It warns about a half-blood child of the Big-Three – the next one who lives to adulthood. That’s the real reason Zeus, Poseidon and Hades swore a pact after World War II not to have any more kids. The next child of the Big Three to turn eighteen will be a dangerous weapon.”

Andy frowned. “Why?”

“The hero will decide the fate of Olympus. He or she will make a decision that either saves the Age of the Gods, or destroys it.”

“But if it’s me in the prophecy—”

“We don’t know that and we won’t know for sure until you get older. When Chiron learned about Thalia, he thought she was the one in the prophecy. That’s why he was so desperate to get her safely to camp. But she didn’t make it and for a long time we didn’t know what to think. Until you showed up.”

“Am I, like, the only one now?”

“Yes. There’s nobody alive who it could be, except you.”

“Then why do the gods even let me live? It would be safer to kill me. Just saying.”

“True.”

“Your support is charming, really.”

He beamed at her. “I don’t know what they are thinking, Andy. I guess most of them would enjoy killing you. You yelled at Hades inside his own realm. You humiliated Ares. Dionysus has always hated you and so has Zeus. But… Maybe they’re watching you, trying to decide who you are and who you are going to be. What will you do when the time comes? What sort of decision will you make? They’re not used to not knowing things.”

“I guess now they know how I feel most of the time then.”

[higuchimon]

[fanfic]  Rewards of Losing:  Chapter 3

Mizael preferred the night shift but when he knew someone would be wandering his garden, he wasn’t averse to making the effort to wander in the daylight. The plants in the garden whispered among themselves as he wandered, quite pleased to see him. He brushed his hands carefully along some of them; it had been a while since he’d seen them. They enjoyed the attention, releasing more of their lovely fragrances at his touch.

He’d only been there a couple of hours before he caught sight of purple. He took another look and saw blue as well. There was the Healer he’d seen – who still gave the same sensation that he had the night before. The plants all whispered in glee; it had been some time since there had been two Healers there at the same time.

Mizael started towards the two of them, trying hard not to look too long as the Firestarter as he got closer. He wasn’t having a lot of luck; everything about this Firestarter drew his attention. He’d seen a few tall people in his time but this one had to be one of the tallest. His hair was a deep shade of blue and while he wasn’t close enough for Mizael to be sure, he thought the eyes matched. They both wore ordinary enough clothes, Yuuri in a different outfit from what he’d had the night before, and the Firestarter in shades of blue.

Who is he? Mizael allowed himself to think only that before he mentally jerked himself up. They were courting! He didn’t even know the Firestarter’s name! Very bad things happened to Healers and Firestarters who poached or even attempted to poach. Those things often involved being set afire or fed to a hungry plant.

And when they didn’t, they usually involved combat of some kind. Mizael believed he could get the best of just about anyone who he fought against, but it wasn’t worth the energy. He would be polite. He would not be a poacher.

He did raise one hand to greet them. Yuuri nodded towards him and nudged his companion. The Firestarter glanced over and his eyes locked on Mizael’s.

For a few seconds, Mizael wasn’t entirely certain of how one breathed. It wasn’t just the sense of flames there – far more powerful than any that he recalled seeing, ever. But the duelist’s spirit that glowed inside this new arrival made him ache for his deck and duel disk. It didn’t matter who won, as long as they strove against one another.

“Hello,” Yuuri said as they came within speaking distance. “You’re the Healer that I met last night, aren’t you?”

Mizael fought to center himself. He smiled instead. “Yes. Mizael.” He kept his attention on the Healer – Yuuri, he remembered the name was.

“This is the Firestarter I’m courting.” Yuuri nodded at the tall young man, who drew himself out of whatever his inner thoughts were to nod at Mizael.

“Marufuji Ryou. A pleasure to meet you.” His words held perhaps a fraction more warmth than when strangers normally meant and Mizael had to remind himself all over again that he wasn’t a poacher.

Mizael nodded. “Likewise.” Empty courtesies and nothing more, but they allowed him the time to feel those impressive flames, even with the distance between them. He’d not felt fire like that ever, not even around IV, the strongest Firestarter that he knew of.

Marufuji didn’t exactly make IV feel like a candle-flame but a flame-spar between the two of them would be a thing of legend.

At least there was something else that he could focus on right now. “Are you certain that you want to wait until this weekend for the duel?” He asked Yuuri. “I’m ready now.”

Yuuri heaved a somewhat overdone sigh. “I still don’t have my deck and duel disk with me.” He tapped the fingers of one hand on his opposing arm. “However, you have yours, don’t you?” He turned his attention to Marufuji, who nodded. “Why don’t the two of you have a duel? I’ll watch.” His eyes glinted with excitement. “In fact, this weekend, I’ll duel the winner. If it’s you, Mizael, I’ll duel you twice.”

Mizael thought that sounded perfect. He gestured up to a higher area. “We can duel up there. You’ve got a D-Gazer, don’t you?”

“Of course.” Marufuji slipped it out of his pocket. It matched flawlessly to his coloring, of course, as did the duel disk that joined it a breath later. As the three of them headed that way, Mizael wondered exactly what sort of dueling he would see against him. He always enjoyed finding out what strategies his opponents had, and finding ways to bring them to a swift end.

Interesting. A voice that only he could hear echoed in his ears. He could see Jinlong there, in his human form, gaze fixated on the other two duelists. Very interesting indeed.

Mizael tilted his head to the side, not enough for his walking companions to notice, but he knew that Jinlong would know what he was thinking. What was so interesting about them? What could catch the attention of an eons old dragon about two ordinary – well, very powerful – Healer and Firestarter?

They’re not like anyone I’ve seen around here. Very different indeed. Jinlong shook his head, his braid a soundless wisp of white. Let’s see what this duel shows us, shall we?

When Jinlong spoke like that, there wasn’t anything that one could do except accept it. Mizael focused on getting his cards shuffled and preparing or what would come next.

Just as the two of them activated their disks and D-Gazers, Mizael caught sight of a streak of pitch black behind Marufuji. He blinked for a second, realizing it was a Healer Cat. Seeing ones that weren’t bonded just wandering wasn’t especially unusual, but it also wasn't common. Healer Cats and Fire Cats did as they pleased, exactly as common cats did, except for being more vocal about it.

Huh. Wonder what they’re doing here. The Healer Cat stayed where it was, eyes tracking on someone. Mizael thought it might be Marufuji but he couldn’t be certain. He said nothing at all; Marufuji was being courted by a Healer already and that Healer Cat would be able to tell.

He refocused himself on getting the duel started. Yuuri hummed, gazing between the two of them, before he gestured towards Mizael.

“You can have the first turn,” he declared grandly. “I look forward to seeing what you can do.”

Mizael got to business right away. He didn’t want to summon Jinlong, the ace of his deck, right away. He wanted to see what Marufuji could do first. He enjoyed a good, swift duel, once he knew how strong his opponent was.

Marufuji seemed to play a Machine-type deck, one with a focus on dragons and other creatures of myth. As soon as his turn began, he summoned a powerful level five monster, made so much easier because Mizael had one of his monsters on the field already.

So that’s why Yuuri wanted me to go first. He knew that Marufuji would use it to his advantage. He wasn’t at all surprised. That was good thinking. In a sense he wasn’t fighting one opponent, but two, who knew each other very well.

Back and forth the two of them went, biting into one another’s life points as they did. Mizael noticed quickly something unusual – that Marufuji didn’t have any XYZ monsters at all. Before he could stop himself, he asked that.

“No. That’s not the style of summoning that I use,” Marufuji said. “I have something else.”

His gaze flicked over to Yuuri, who nodded, raw eagerness flickering all over his features. Then Marufuji did something Mizael hadn’t ever seen before. He’d heard of it, but he’d never seen it.

“I activate Fusion in my hand to merge my three Cyber Dragons into Cyber End Dragon!”

The monster was magnificent. Mizael couldn’t argue that at all. Jinlong still wasn’t on the field, but Mizael heard his impressed whisper regardless. What a wonderful creature. I do hope-

What he hoped Mizael wasn’t sure about. Cyber End Dragon took a huge chunk from his life points, and if he hadn’t had a face-down trap that negated most of the damage, it could have been so much more. Mizael shuddered at the blow, stumbling back a few steps, then steadied himself.

“That’s amazing,” he declared, staring at the three-headed metallic creature that rose over him. He grinned. “I’m going to enjoy taking it down.

“Do your best,” Marufuji said, a smile teasing at his lips for a few seconds. “Whatever you can do.”

What Mizael could do was finally find a way to summon Jinlong. Jinlong’s effects worked best against Dragon-Type monsters, but that wasn’t an insurmountable barrier. A couple of other cards combined to change Jinlong’s effect to affecting Machine-types – he could hear Jinlong complaining – and he took Cyber End Dragon away from Marufuji.

Hello there, Mizael murmured to the great creature as it came to stand in front of him. He expected one of two things – either nothing at all, the reaction he got when the monster had no spirit, or the awareness of the spirit directed towards him. But instead, Cyber End Dragon’s attention was all on Marufuji. The awareness was so strong Mizael wondered that other people couldn’t see it or feel it.

He mentally shook his head. He would work that out later. Jinlong would probably no more. He needed to wrap this duel up. Marufuji didn’t have anything left in his hand or face down, so with Cyber End Dragon and Jinlong working together, they finished off the last of his life points.

It took a few more minutes after that for both of them to recover. Mizael crossed over and handed Cyber End Dragon back to him. “That’s an amazing monster you have. I’ve never seen anyone who uses that Summons Style either.”

“It’s common where we’re from,” Yuuri said, eyes glittering. “I use it too. I really can’t wait until I can duel you.”

“Likewise.” Mizael wondered what sort of monsters that Yuuri might have in his deck. He could feel the strength of at least one spirit there, one that he could almost swear stared at him even without being summoned.

That’s because it is. I can’t see it myself. It conceals itself very well. But it’s powerful beyond measure. Jinlong rubbed his chin in thought. I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a spirit like this before. How fascinating.

Mizael didn’t have a chance to ask further questions. Marufuji started to say something, then broke off, his eyes resting on something else. Mizael turned to see what he saw and saw nothing unusual at all – just someone going by with their Cat.

‘What is that?” Marufuji murmured. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Yuuri turned in that direction as well. “That is a very large cat,” was all that he said. Mizael tilted his head, catching a tiny glimpse of that black cat sliding deeper into the shadows. Whether it was still there or not he wasn’t sure.

“It’s a Fire Cat,” he said, taking a better look to be certain. “Probably with their Healer.” He shrugged. “You’ve never seen one that big before?” Cats were big. There were many reasons people gave them the same respect as they did human Healers and Firestarters, starting with the fact they also came armed with sharp teeth and claws and the will to use them if necessary.

“I’ve never see one at all,” Marufuji told him. Mizael blinked. That wasn’t the answer that he’d expected.

“Really? I thought they were everywhere.” He’d certainly never herd of anywhere where Cats hadn’t existed. They went with Healers and Firestarters. He might have been less surprised to hear that their hometown didn’t have a sun in the sky.

Yuuri shook his head. “We come from a very remote place. You’ve likely not heard of it before.”

“Shinokawa,” Marufuji offered. “I’ve checked. It’s not even on any maps.”

That sounded odd. Mizael hadn’t heard of it, true, but he thought most maps had most places. Perhaps he’d been mistaken. But to even think that such a remote place had no Fire Cats or Healer Cats…

Those should be a part of everyone’s basic education. Finding out otherwise didn’t feel right. He was torn between asking for more details and checking in with the Guild. He wasn’t overly fond of the Guild to start with, but it was their job to keep an eye on the education of all Healers and Firestarters.

Yuuri’s hand rested on Marufuji’s. “It was a lovely duel and I look forward to seeing you this weekend. But we have somewhere else to be right now.” There was a hint of distance already in his voice. He said nothing more, but turned, taking Marufuji with him.

Mizael wasn’t at all sure of what had just happened. The two of them were quickly out of sight, and he settled himself down on the nearest bench, thinking.

So strange. So very strange..

Extremely so, Jinlong agreed. Cyber End Dragon definitely had a spirit and that spirit wasn’t pleased at being turned against their master. Understood it was merely a part of the game and no real harm was done, of course, but didn’t like it regardless.

Mizael nodded. He’d had that happen to some of his monsters in the past. He hadn’t liked it then either.

A whisper of black moved closer and he looked up to see the black Healer Cat from before standing in front of him. As always, he took a moment to recover from seeing just how large these Cats were. This one’s head could well come up to Marufuji’s waist and every ounce of it’s bulk was solid muscle. Intelligent gray eyes stared at him, and while it didn’t wear a harness to indicate it was bonded, the Cat did have a collar with a bag around the neck, offering it a place to store such items as its registration card. So it wasn’t a wild Cat at all, even if it was as big as one.

“Hello,” Mizael greeted. “Is there something I can do for you?” Unbonded Cats weren’t known for walking up to unbonded Healers or Firestarters, especially if they were of like type. He might have expected a Fire Cat, if one decided that he was worth bonding to. But a Healer Cat wasn’t expected.

“Perhaps. My name is Kei.” The Cat told him. No one quite knew how Cats could twist their mouths to speak in human languages when it wasn’t possible for standard cats. Some biologists considered it a byproduct of the Wildfire Virus, the long ago plague that created Healers and Firestarters, Healer Cats and Fire Cats, in the first place.

Mizael didn’t know. What he knew was that it was best to be very polite to something that weighed roughly the same as an adult human, and had all the claws and teeth of a cat and the intelligence of a human.

He wondered at times what human history would be like if they didn’t share the planet with an equally intelligent and powerful species that chose to aid them. Probably not a world he would want to live on.

“I’m Mizael,” he said. “Are you looking for someone in particular?”

“The one I want just left. The Firestarter – Marufuji Ryou.” Kei settled don in front of Mizael, tail draping over his paws. “But I think I want to talk to you about him.”

That wasn’t anything like what Mizael expected. “What do you mean?”

“He is my Firestarter. He might be yours as well.”

Mizael jerked up, trying hard to ignore the sensation of warmth that came from the very idea. He shook his head quickly. “Those two are already courting, I’m not going to poach.” He’d told himself that quite a few times already.

“You wouldn’t be. That one isn’t the proper one for him.” Kei shook his head. “But Ryou isn’t in the mind-frame to see that right now.”

Mizael frowned. “What are you talking about?”

The tip of Kei’s tail twitched, his ears flicking back and forth. “I don’t know everything. I know he’s doing something that should make him unhappy. But I don’t know why he isn’t and why he won’t stop. I don’t think he wants to do it but he doesn’t know he shouldn't want to do it.’

Cats weren’t always known for being direct but Mizael thought this was a little off even for a Cat.

“What are you talking about?”

“I can show you where he does this. I know what it looks like but if I told you, you wouldn’t believe me right now. You need to see it for yourself.” Kei stared at him. “You know he has the spirit of a true duelist.”

Mizael nodded. He’d felt it blazing against him and if he hadn't been lucky in his draws, then he would have been the one defeated.

“But I’m not going to poach,” he reminded Kei. That went beyond wrong. It was rude. If they decided that they weren’t going to bond, then that was one thing. But from what little he’d seen -

Mizael stopped right there and considered. What had he seen? Yuuri seemed very – possessive. That wasn’t wrong, by itself. Some people liked that and most Healers and Firestarters were possessive anyway, to some degree. Forging a bond was a sacred act that wasn’t done lightly by any means. The right choice had to be made.

He didn’t think he’d seen Marufuji trying to pull away and there wasn’t any hint of Bond’s Bud that he’d detected. Growing that was illegal just about everywhere. He would have noticed some of the scent around Marufuji if that were the case.

But at the same time, the more that he considered it, the more certain he became that Kei might just be right.

To Be Continued

Notes: I would have written the entire duel out but Mizael has very little in his deck that doesn’t aim for summoning his Numbers and since Numbers don’t exist there, it wasn’t worth the effort. Jinlong has his basic effects but just isn’t a Number. And yes, Mizael can see and hear duel spirits.