(no subject)
Challenge/Prompt: ... None, really! But this is so offensively long I didn't want to just leave it in Crow's journal.
Title: A Duel of Darkness
Iiiif you don't know what a Dark Signer is this probably won't make sense, but I think the basic idea still gets across.
It was another one of those "once a year" things on the island - where people from far, wide, near, and just about everywhere were coming for a day or two. By now, most people who were there understood what was going on, and for those that didn't, it was explained to them soon enough. For the most part, things were going well enough. Some people were getting to see relatives and friends they hadn't gotten to see in a long time, others were having battles with rivals and goes they had been itching to fight again for the past year.
Like the others, Crow was out with old friends - he had met some other duelists, and he'd even had a few good duels in-between meeting the various people visiting the island. Overall, unlike the last time, in which he'd had an unfortunate encounter with a certain ex-head of the Security Maintenance Bureau, he'd been having a great time.
But that all changed when he saw a familiar figure. The person had been lurking around the blimp, just outside of Crow's line of vision, for most of the day, and it wasn't until Yotsuba and Alice approached the man that Crow realized who he was - what he was. He started walking, slowly at first, calling out to the two girls that he was taking care of. Trying to warn them, to get them aware from danger. His walk quickly turned to a run, and then and all out sprint, but it was too late. As quickly as Crow had first sighted them, the man along with the two girls were gone.
"Dark... Signer..." Crow breathed, panic quickly filling his mind. Of all the people, why did it have to be one of them? At a time like this, no less! There was no way he could go for help, everyone was too busy with all the people visiting from other worlds. If he could even find the right version of who he needed, he'd have to convince them that the girls were in danger of someone who played a "card game", and there were a grand total of maybe five people who believed in him enough, as far as Duel Monsters went, to come with him over something like that.
Which meant that there was no time to lose. Sure, he could find other duelists, other people from his world, but he wasn't thinking clearly. There was only one thing he could do...
CRACK
In the distance, across the water from the blimp, far from the island everyone was all on now, lightning struck one of the other islands. It was faint at first, but after a few moments, in the sky, a symbol began to form. A glowing figure, made of what looked like blue or white fire, in the shape of a spider.
No... There wasn't any time to waste. If he waited, those two girls were dead.
He'd have to go after the Dark Signer alone.
---
His vision was starting to blur. What were his life points at now... 100? 200? He'd had it easy for too long now. Another hit like the last one and that would be the end of him. And there was still one monster left to attack.
"Crow-niichan!!" There was Alice, crying out from where Rudger was holding her and Yotsuba. Some damn spiderweb thing, the sick bastard.
It had been stupid running out here alone. Not that he hadn't done shit like this before, but he thought he'd grown since then. Hadn't he...?
"Pizza-niichan!!" There was Yotsuba now. Trying to cheer him up calling him that, or just being Yotsuba now...?
... But there was no way in hell.
No way in hell.
No way in hell--
"CROW-NIICHAN!!"
"THERE'S NO FUCKING WAY I'M GONNA LET YOU HURT THESE GIRLS!"
"You don't have a choice! I'm attacking you directly with the Underground Arachnid!" declared the Dark Signer, thrusting his arm to the side and laughing as his grotesque monster, an enormous spider, leapt at Crow, delivering the blow that would end his life - as the two girls behind him screamed in unison. But there was nothing to be done, Crow had nothing left on the field. It was his time, and a few, quick moments later, his limp, lifeless body fell to the side.
And all was silent as the monsters remaining on the field faded away.
"Hmph. If it had been Yusei Fudo, things would have been different..." Rudger shook his head and turned towards the girls, crossing his arms. They whimpered, tears in their eyes, but then glared at him defiantly. They wouldn't let him get away with what he'd done to Crow, they wouldn't! ... Unfortunately, their defiance only made Rudger laugh, make him close his eyes and shake his head. "Forgive me, children. You were pawns, to lure out the Signer. But I suppose, now that I have you, you'll be good for reviving the Earthbound Gods... The souls here are quite interesting."
He reached out, to put a hand on top of the green haired girl's, when all of a sudden, a hoarse, raspy, yet still... familiar voice interrupted him - the source of which he couldn't quite place.
"... Oi... Oi oi oi... Did you hear what I said...? Did you...? Gonna make me say it again, are ya...? Tch, fuckin' typical..."
"What!?" Rudger snapped his head around to the source of the voice - surely, no, absolutely - there wasn't anyone else on this small island aside from himself and the two girls. So just where was that voice coming from?
"Right here, dumbass."
"Crow-niichan...?"
Quickly turning back to the girls, Rudger found himself face-to-face with a sight that most would never think they'd like - or in this case, die - to see. Behind the girls, his hands on each of their heads, stood the duelist Rudger was certain he had just killed... with a few differences.
His Markers, one of the things his friends and enemies alike knew him best for, had changed to dark red in color, and now had a new set that stretched from his eyebrows up to his hairline. The whites of his eyes were gone, instead having been replaced with inky black, and combined with his already gray colored eyes, it made his face look rather devilish. All sense of kindness seemed to have been drained from him, instead replaced with malice, anger, and hate. This whole new demeanor and face was topped off with the traditional garb of what he was now - lots of dark clothes. In his case, a sleeveless black jacket with orange trimming, black pants with an orange design on the sides, and his usual boots, oddly enough.
All in all, as similar as he looked, anyone could tell you that it was like he was also a completely different person.
"You're... You're a..." Rudger took a step back, watching as the person's hands glowed for a moment, and then the two girls suddenly fell to the ground, seemingly in a peaceful sleep. It couldn't be-- It was impossible-- Only he could be such a person, and yet here, standing before him, was another--
"Dark Signer? Yeah, no shit. Shouldn't you be an expert in this kind of thing?" stepping past the two girls and walking right past Rudger, Crow started walking towards where he had been where he had been killed. Despite the calmness of his voice, Rudger could feel the fury radiating off of the young man. Just what was going on in his head?
"What is it that you want?" he asked calmly, then paused and shook his head. What was he suddenly so nervous about? This person was a former Signer, and now an ally! It was no wonder he was so calm, in fact, it made perfect sense, really--
"To repay the favor!" A new, black Duel Disk on his arm, Crow turned around suddenly, and behind him, blue and black fire erupted, quickly spreading and taking shape - a similar shape appearing in the sky in tandem with the one on the ground. The fury Crow had been holding back moments before, the fury Dark Signers were known best for, was no longer hidden behind a mask of calmness. His eyes fixed on Rudger in a cold stare, his expression nearing that of snarl, he almost looked like an animal's. "DUEL!"
The Dark Signer of the Spider mark looked from his own Duel Disk, one that was part of his false arm no less, which had come to life and entered the battle mode, to Crow, the newest Dark Signer, and realized with a sinking feeling that he truly had no choice in the matter. He let out a sigh, held out his arm, and drew his hand.
A few, painful turns later, when a beastly, bird-like creature appeared in the sky, and all the people visiting the island for the day or so, and even some who lived there regularly, vanished as soon as it appeared, no one questioned it aside from a few. It didn't matter in the end, as quickly as the creature appeared, it was gone, along with all the people who it had taken with it.
---
"... and so, as I was saying, I haven't seen either Yotsuba or Alice in a few weeks," concluded Tear, lowering her head and letting out a sign as she finished. She raised it again, remembering she had left out something important. "Furthermore, I asked at the blimp, and no one's seen either of them or Crow since they disappeared."
Kazuha was silent for a few moments, trying to process all of the information that Tear had given her, before speaking up to respond.
"I knew about Crow-kun, but... Yotsuba-chan and Alice-chan too? Do you think something could have happened?" She frowned, closing her eyes and trying to shut out the image of that bird creature that had appeared towards the end of the event. Could it... Could it had hurt Crow and the two girls? She knew he was always on the lookout for monsters, but surely he had been too busy dueling others to get wrapped up in something like that. "Maybe they all just went home? Or... Or Crow took them on a trip?"
"Without telling anyone? Without telling you? No, I don't Crow is that kind of person, Kazuha," Tear replied as-a-matter-of-factly, trying not to let how worried she was getting interfere with her ability to judge and, more importantly, seek for the missing people. "For the time being, let's ask around and keep an eye out. The more I look, the more I hear about more people having disappeared at the same time Crow, Yotsuba, and Alice did. It's... rather disturbing. I'm going to go check something out now, and then I'll meet up with you again tonight, alright?"
"... Right. I'll see you later, then?" Kazuha only recieved a nod, after which Tear stood and left quickly, determination in her step, leaving Kazuha sitting outside the inn alone. She bit her lip, trying to ignore the feeling of tears starting to well up in her eyes. She looked at the Duel Disk on her arm, something she had taken to keeping with her constantly in the hopes that it would bring him back. Things just hadn't been the same, not to her, since Crow had disappeared. She hadn't even noticed those two little girls going too, and it had happened on the same day.
It didn't make sense to say they went home, did it? Had three people from different worlds all gone home at the exact same time before? Not including the ones brought there specifically for that gathering of people, of course, but still... If you did include those, it was very possible... And it wasn't like Crow hadn't already gone home during that time a year beforehand...
"Where are you, Crow-kun?"
It must have been fate. It had to have been fate. Because at that exact moment, not a second after his name left her lips, that in the distance, she saw a familiar head of red-orange hair. She almost wasn't sure if it was him or not, but regardless of the odd clothing he appeared to be wearing, she would recognize that hair anywhere. It wasn't exactly a common style. And there was the owner of that head of hair, walking away from her.
She froze for a moment. Her heart stopped. The world was still, for just a short moment, and then it was moving again - he was moving again.
... No. She wouldn't lose him. Not now. Not again.
"Crow-kun!!" She stood up and gave chase, not wasting a single second. Despite the fact that it didn't look like Crow was moving very fast, no matter how much Kazuha ran, how much energy she put into it, she just couldn't catch him. He was still too far ahead, just barely in her sights. Was she going crazy? Was she finally losing after being stuck on an island for years now?
... Did it matter right now? As long as Crow was in front of her, hallucination or not, she wouldn't stop moving if there was a chance he was real.
So she kept running. It felt like hours. When it got down to it though, it couldn't have been that long... Could it? It had gotten darker, sure, but it had been getting late as it was. Strong as she was, determined to a fault, even she had her limits, and she was starting to get tired. Her movements started to slow, and when she noticed that, she merely pushed even more, regardless of how she was feeling.
And then, just as quickly as he had appeared before her, he was gone. Like he had never been there in the first place. She stared in shock for a few seconds, before falling to her knees, choked sobs starting to escape, and began to punch the ground. How? Why? Was it a joke? Had she gone crazy after all!?
"The hell're you crying for? You ain't got anything going on to make that much of a mess about."
She lifted her head slowly, in disbelief, in shock, in amazement. There he was, sitting right next to her - his back facing her as she looked. It was definitely him, there was no doubt about it now. He was so close that she could reach out and touch him...
"C-Crow... Crow-kun!" In fact, turning and wrapping her arms around his back, that's exactly what she did. Before she knew it, she found herself crying into the back of his jacket, nearly sobbing even. It was like this for a few minutes, her crying, him unmoving, before she finally realized he hadn't said anything aside from his original statement. "Why... Why are you just sitting there? Say something!"
"Why are you carrying this around?" he asked dully, tugging at the arm that held her Duel Disk. Before Kazuha could do or say anything about it, he ripped her deck out of it and stood, taking a few steps away, letting the girl's arms drop limply to the ground. "Damn, you're still using these? Hahahaha... Figures. You haven't learned anything, even after all this time."
"Crow-kun, what are you talking about? Do you know how worried we've all been? What happened?" Kazuha slowly got to her feet, now unsure if she wanted to see Crow anymore. There was something... wrong. His voice was lacking something, and in its place, it was filled with a certain sense of maliciousness that just... didn't belong there. Not with him.
He didn't answer her. He just started flipping through her cards. Kazuha said nothing as she listened to him, watching his back for further movement. Surely he would say something, without a doubt he wasn't going to just ignore he like this, right?
"All a bunch of crap," he spat, and spun around, tossing her deck in the air. Kazuha gasped, eyes going wide, as her cards rained down around the two of them. Crow's voice, demeanor, and clothes weren't the only thing that was different about him - his face had changed too. His marks and eyes... They were different too. But now wasn't the time for that.
"What are you doing!? What are you saying!?" Kazuha cried, staring up at Crow as she bent down onto her knees to begin gathering up her cards, her eyes not leaving his for a second. "You told me that everything - every card meant something... What's wrong with you?"
"What's a card without a duelist?" Crow looked at her, eyes filled with resentment. He shook his head and bent down, tipping her head up by a light push of her chin. He stared into her eyes, and Kazuha stopped gathering her cards for a moment, nearly expecting him to kiss her - to tell her it was a joke, that everything was okay, that he was going to help her pick up the cards. Instead, he smiled darkly. "You're no duelist. You never have been and you never will be. Those cards are better off being burned than in your hands."
And then he stood up and started walking away again. Laughing no less. Kazuha could practically hear her insides freezing and then shattering into pieces. She could certainly feel it, at any rate.
... Even so... Even so, she couldn't just let him leave her. He was obviously different, but even so, she wasn't just going to sit there and take that. Who did he think she was? Fighting back tears, she picked up the last of her cards, slammed her deck back into her Disk, and stood up defiantly.
"How would you know!?"
He stopped. Crow didn't even turn around completely, he merely turned his head to look back at her, a cruel smirk on his face.
"How would I know what, Kazuha?" Crow turned, slowly, and began taking slow, easy steps backwards. "That you can't duel for shit? That you have no respect for the thing we're talking about? That you know nothing about it, or me? The fact that you've never been able to beat me? The way you treat your cards? In fact, just you being you pretty much says it all, don't you think?"
"Then duel me," she responded quickly, ignoring each and every question to the best of the ability. Or rather, ignoring the sting, the stabbing feeling it gave her hearing him say those things about her, especially after everything else he'd said towards the opposite. "Right now. Prove it to me, or I'll just... Go on being a stupid, ignorant girl that 'can't duel for shit'. You wouldn't want your precious little game to be disrespected anymore, right?"
Crow had always told her that dueling was the best way to share feelings with someone. Now, it looked like it was finally time to put that to the test. Assuming Crow was willing to play along, anyway...
"On one condition," Crow held up his hands, then crossed his arms and smiled at her. She noted a glowing mark on his arm, but paid little attention to it - it was his smile that truly bothered her, if it could even be called a smile. Like the ones before it, this smile held none of the kindness or... anything that his old smiles used to hold. Just malice. "We make this into a real duel. A Duel of Darkness. Does that sound like fun, Kazuha?"
"Whatever!" Kazuha held her Disk out in front of her, listening as it came to life, and drew her hand. Something about Crow's smile seemed too happy, but right then, Kazuha didn't care. She was going to not only find out what was really going on in Crow's head, but she was going to show him just what kind of duelist she was.
Little did she know, even with that mindset, she had no idea how right she was.
---
She could barely catch her breath before Crow's attack connected, after it was like she didn't even have lungs to breathe into. Falling to her knees, Kazuha looked across the field at her... friend?, who was just smiling at her, assortment of sick and twisted versions of his Black Feather monsters - "Hell Feathers" - and face-down cards all guarding him from her.
And what did she have?
"I... I Special Summon Fox Fire from the Graveyard, since it was destroyed this... turn," Kazuha shakily got up, slowly getting to her feet as the small beast appeared in a burst of flames next to her to offer her some assistance. Giving it a small smile of thanks, she turned to Crow, a harsh glare on her face. "You see...!? These cards... They're my friends! They don't betray me, like certain other people!"
The duel had started out normal enough, if Kazuha didn't include the fact that Crow summoned a bunch of hellfire out of nowhere right before he took his turn. He had played defensive for a few moves, taking her hits like he had any other time he had been hit by her monsters. Then, all of a sudden, when she activated her field spell, Molten Destruction, his entire demeanor changed. One after another, the Hell Feathers appeared on the field, spells to strengthen them and traps to save them quickly followed, and Crow finally struck back.
Kazuha hadn't been expecting the pain. The normal "shock" of losing a monster and Life Points, maybe, but never true, actual pain. And there was Crow, standing there just fine, after losing over half of his life - his actual life - to her, like nothing had happened.
"What's wrong? Can't handle a real duel?"
He continued to taunt her, to mock her, to badmouth her. The stream of words just didn't seem to stop, and at times, the pain and the insults combined made Kazuha just want to give up. Who was she kidding? She wasn't seeing anything except how much Crow, after whatever had happened to him, hated her. All the while sending his monsters to destroy hers, to attack her and bring her closer to the brink of death.
Is this what he really wanted...? Was this how it all would end?
"What's the matter, Kazuha?" Crow sneered, twisting his face into another horrible expression again. He waved a hand, making motions for her to "go on". Everything about this Crow was so... mad. "Are you done already? Is that all you can take? What happened to believing in your monsters, eh? Was that just a load of bull? Was it!?"
"Of-- Of course that wasn't it!" Kazuha cried, looking from Crow, to his Hell Feathers, and then to Fox Fire. She wouldn't abandon Crow, this poor little creature that continued to be destroyed because she couldn't protect it properly, and she certainly wasn't going to lose this. There was no way she was going to let this happen. "It's my turn! Draw!"
Immediately, she placed down a trap card that Crow had returned to her hand during his previous turn, before turning to see what card she had drawn - and froze.
"What now? Did you get a good card?" A cruel laugh escaped his lips, and then Crow just shrugged and shook his head. "Or maybe you got a bad card, is that it? Sure, you have that trap I put away last turn, but I'll be dealing with that soon enough. So go ahead, whatever your card is, play it. You wouldn't know how to use it anyway."
"... No... I think this card, of all cards, I think I understand better than you think..." she whispered, still not sure to believe that she was holding this card in her hand, again. She closed her eyes and took some deep breaths, making sure she was ready, then opened her eyes to give Crow a hard look. "Because I'm going to summon Black Feather - Blast of Black Lance!"
Kazuha still couldn't believe it, but there, right in front of her, was all the proof she needed. Proud and powerful, Crow's loyal monster now stood to guard her, and if Kazuha didn't know better, she'd think the monster's usual cocky grin was just a bit less cocky, as it looked ahead at the Hell Feathers he and his comrades had been replaced with.
"Hahaha... I see... I see how it is now..." Crow threw his head back and started laughing, putting a hand to his head to help calm himself down. Kazuha frowned at him, but wouldn't be stopped by his attitude. "You can't win with your own damn cards, so you steal someone else's? Oh, that's rich, Kazuha, that's really fucking rich."
"Steal...? ... You mean you didn't--" Kazuha shook her head. "It doesn't matter how it got there! What matters is that he's here and he's here for me. Black Lance, attack Hell Feather - Golden Ghoul! Show it - and that stupid duelist of yours - what a real bird can do!"
Kazuha thrust her arm out, and at the command, Black Lance flew forward and struck the impersonation of a Black Feather right in the center, shattering it and dealing a nice amount of damage to Crow's Life Points to boot. Smiling weakly at the small victory, Kazuha watched as the monster returned to her next to Fox Fire, then turned back to Crow.
"Now I'll place another card face-down and end my turn. It's all yours Crow-ku... Crow," Kazuha closed her eyes and waited. As soon as Crow began his turn and started his attack, which he was sure to do, she would activate the first trap card, Gravity Bind, which would prevent any of his remaining Hell Feather monsters from attacking her.
But the attack never came. He began his turn, drew, but then he was silent. Curious, hoping that perhaps the sight of his monster had changed something about him, Kazuha opened her eyes and looked at him, expecting to see him smiling at her again, or maybe looking regretful but glad to be back... Instead, he just stood there. Silent.
"I guess it's time to end this then, yeah?" His smile was gone. He wasn't looking at her or the cards on the field anymore, but rather, his arm. He shook his head, glancing over to Kazuha to shoot her what appeared to be a quick glare, then turned to his cards. The marking on his arm, which had been glowing in tandem with the one on the ground and sky since the duel began, erupted in bring light. "You want to see a real bird, Kazuha...? Then I think that it's about damn time you saw a real bird."
It happened at once and it took forever at the same time. Crow sacrificed his three remaining Hell Feathers, and then what looked like a beating heart made of stone appeared in the sky. The moment it did, Kazuha knew that something was terribly wrong - that something really bad was about to happen. She could feel her energy, maybe even her very soul being sapped away just by looking at the thing.
And then, all of a sudden, a brilliant beam of light came from the sky, shattering the stone, and from the ground, an enormous-- no, a gargantuan black, bird shaped creature rose from the ground, flapping its mighty wings and giving out a terrifying cry.
"I summon Earthbound God - Aslla piscu!!" Crow roared, his voice somehow booming with the cry of the creature he had brought forth. "Before you go ahead and activated your trap card, let me just tell you - Earthbound Gods aren't bothered by Spells or Trap cards, and they can attack your Life Points directly! Get what I'm saying, Kazuha!? You're finished!!"
Most would be scared in the face of such a beast. Kazuha would have been lying if she had said that she wasn't scared, really. But at that exact moment, all she could think about was when Crow and her were having one of their lessons all those months ago, and he was explaining the use of one of her cards to her. He could hear his voice - his voice, not this demented version of it - as if he was there right now. It gave her the confidence she needed to do this.
"Even though you've got that, I'm going to do this anyway... I activate the trap card, Gravity Bind! Because of it, all monsters higher than Level 3 can't attack!" Kazuha declared, and to her surprise, she could actually feel the world around her get heavier - maybe that meant she herself was higher than a Level 3? Now wasn't the time to ponder that though.
"Weren't you listening? Traps don't matter to Aslla piscu! I knew you were a shitty duelist, Kazuha!! Hahahahaha!!" Crow leaned back, reverting back to laughter as he did, then leaned forward again and pointed directly at Kazuha. "Looks like my lessons didn't pay off after all. I should have known. Say hi to the kids for me in hell, will ya? Aslla piscu, attack!"
"I activate Fairy Wind!"
---
"Fairy Wind: Destroy all other face-up Spell and Trap Cards on the field. Both players take damage equal to the total number of cards destroyed by this effect, times 300. Pretty good, huh?"
"But Crow-kun..." Kazuha pointed at the card that Crow had put on the table in front of her, biting her lip as she did so. They had been at this for hours now, and while she knew that she was getting better, a whole lot better at that, some things just weren't making sense to her. "If I do this, wouldn't I take damage too?"
"Heh, that's fine, Kazuha. Sometimes you have to get a little beat up to get the job done," Crow shook his head and moved some other cards around, some equips to some monsters, and some fields just to show what they could do. "Look here. If you got rid of this, regardless of any damage you take, their whole strategy blows up. And same with this one... And if you look here, this whole setup relies on the fact that they've got a field out to power up their monsters. Do you see what I'm saying?"
"I... I think I get it," the girl responded after a few moments, listening as intently as she could and making she to repeat everything Crow said to herself. If she was going to be good at this, and not just good, but really really good, she had to take everything he thought was important enough to tell her to heart.
Crow laughed.
"Don't look so serious. You'll get it after a while," Before Kazuha could protest, Crow leaned over and gave her a quick kiss. Grinning at her, he pulled away. "Ah ah ah, not so fast. Get to into it and we'll have to end the lesson early. Wouldn't want that, now would we? Now let's get back to work..."
"Oh, that wasn't fair! How am I supposed to think straight after that--!?" she glared at him, then bedgrudgingly turned back to the cards. She would never admit it, especially not to him after that, but... She really really wanted to hurry up and let the lesson end and be done with now.
---
As the smoke cleared from the Fairy Wind, all that remained were the monsters on Kazuha's side of the field. After the Fairy Wind destroyed Kazuha's own field spell, the Aslla piscu had nothing keeping it on the field, and was forced to destroy itself. Thanks to the effect of Fairy Wind, all of Crow's face-down traps, along with Gravity Bind, had been completely destroyed, and now Kazuha had only 200 Life Points to her name, while Crow still had 1400.
"... You... You bitch..." spat Crow from his position on the ground. The backlash from Kazuha's assault had finally gotten to him, and he'd been knocked over. He began getting to his feet, albeit shakily, while Kazuha had done her best across the field to not get knocked down by her own move. "I end my turn."
"I know," she replied coldly.
This was it. She could finish him with Fox Fire and Black Lance, she knew that. And she could summon another monster from her hand and finish him with one of those. He had absolutely nothing protecting himself - they both were painfully aware of this fact.
"A real duelist doesn't give up. Doesn't prove me right now, after all of this," Crow growled, now completely on his feet. His hands were dropped to his sides and all he could do was look at her expectantly, that horrible, hateful look still in his eyes. "Do it, or I'll destroy you on my next turn. I won't hold back anything. Count on that."
She'd heard how these kinds of duels ended, from Crow himself, months and months ago. But she never expected to be in one them, and against the person who told her about them of all people... Two impossible things at once. If she was right - if he was right - if she finished him off, he would die.
... But at the same time, if she let him go... If she let him go... What would he do, with only one other person on the island a duelist? If he beat Yami too, then he would be unstoppable? What would happen? Would it be all her fault for backing down, because she couldn't do it?
"What... What do I do?" she whispered, questioning everything she knew, felt, and would ever know and feel. She turning to her deck and drew...
And it gave her her answer.
"This... This is it, Crow-kun," she raised her head, tears brimming at the corners of her eyes, and slapped down the card she had drawn onto the field. She believed in it - in what she was about to do - and if she was wrong, if what she thought was there wasn't there, then she would just have to pay the concequences. "I summon Black Feather - Mistral the Silver Shield! And I'm tuning it to Fox Fire and Black Feather - Blast of Black Lance!"
Crow's eyes widened. It... It couldn't be-- It wasn't possible--
"Darkened gales, become the wings that soar from resolved hope!"
A figure rose from behind Kazuha as the Synchro Summon neared completion. An enormous beast, long and powerful, the mightiest of its kind, took form. Feathers began to fall as it spread its large, massive wings, and it let out a cry as it took shape on the field. There was only one monster like it, a monster that had been passed down from a man that had been like a hero to Crow, and now it was in Kazuha's capable hands.
"Soar, Black Feather Dragon!!"
To Kazuha's surprise, Crow didn't say anything. He just stood - waiting, watching. His eyes weren't leaving her for a moment, and for a few seconds, Kazuha's didn't leave him either. And then she turned, to the majestic dragon behind her, and smiled sadly at it.
"... Be gentle, okay?"
To this day, Kazuha swears the dragon nodded at her.
"Black Feather Dragon, attack Crow's life points directly! Nova Stream!"
---
"... ow-kun... Cro... Crow-kun!"
Crow could feel something under him - a pillow? - and there was something wet on his face. It must have been raining. Crow blinked once, then twice, and finally just kept blinking until everything came into focus. It wasn't raining at all, it was Kazuha above him. That pillow then... her lap? No wonder it was so comfortable. And she was... crying? Why was she crying?
He reached up to wipe a tear away and realized, in addition to his fading sight and weak hearing, he was feeling incredibly... tired. Weak. And then it all came rushing back to him - the Dark Signer, the battle, his first summoning of the Earthbound God and taking the souls of so many people... And his duel with Kazuha.
"Kazu...ha?" Crow managed to get out, his voice soft. Her eyes widened, and without warning, she bent forwards and enveloped him in a tight, warm hug, and continued to cry into his shoulder. Trying to smile, he slowly raised his arm to pat her on the back. "Don't do that... S'all okay now... s'all okay... That was a great duel."
"Great? Crow-kun are-- Are you kidding me?!" Kazuha pushed him down again and stared at him, dumbfounded at his attitude - which, for better or for worse, did seem to be his own self again. "It was just a miracle I won! Weren't you there? Your monsters came to me, to save you, and that's the only reason I won! Otherwise... Otherwise..."
"... Nah, you were right the first time. During the duel, you almost had me. I snuck 'em in there when I took your deck," he continued to smile at her, reaching up to stroke a lock of her hair as she watched him, staring in confusion.
"So that whole duel... Right down to the end... You planned it?" she breathed, gaping at him. "But, you were so surprised during the duel-- You were even angry-- Were you acting? Did you trick yourself? Just... What did you do?"
"Pretty much. Couldn't let myself be a Dark Signer, could I...? I wasn't... All there though, only at parts," he grinned at her, placing his hand on her cheek, before reaching up and pulling down his sleeve with his free hand. "Don't worry about it... Important thing is, it's over now. See this? Nothing here, right? I'm a free man again, Kazuha. ... Well, free if I don't count you, heh."
"Crow-kun..." Kazuha sighed, relief filling her for the first time in weeks as she looked at his arm. He was right, there wasn't a mark on him. It was over now, wasn't it? Crow had just said so. "So now we can go back to things like normal... Like we always do, right, Crow-kun?"
She had expected him to laugh. She had expected him to ask her to carry him. She had expected... Crow. Which was, unfortunately, what she got.
"Not... this time," Crow closed his eyes and let himself relax against Kazuha's legs. Even if she would never believe him, she really was pretty comfortable. Or maybe he was just so tired that anything was like a bed straight from a five star hotel. Either way, Crow wasn't about to complain. He opened his eyes to take her image in for the last time. "That mark... That damn God... They were the only things keeping me alive. Not even connected to the Crimson Dragon anymore either. Weird, ain't it?"
"C-Crow-kun... What are you saying...? The island-- It brings people back, you know that!" Kazuha protested, shaking her head at the mere idea that Crow was really in her lap dying, but Crow just smiled at her, his arm dropping limply next to his body.
"Like I said... Not this time. I'm probably going to go to the afterlife now or something. Maybe hang out with those two bastards that started this mess or something..." He tried to laugh, but it came out sounding more like a cough. His body, clothes and all, started to turn to a gray-brown dusty color, but he continued to smile at her. "Listen... Could you do me a favor, Kazuha?"
"A-Anything, just-- Just don't talk like this! You're going to be okay! We'll get Tear here, and then we can--"
"Sssh... Okay, here it is. I want you to be happy, okay? And... try to forget about this mess. Remember the good times, you know...? And... tell Alice and Yotsuba that Crow-niichan's just on vacation - that he went back home. I... think that'll be the best thing. But just them, I... don't want you to have to deal with this... alone."
"Stop it! You're going to be okay!"
"Kazuha... About you... Before I go, I want to say... I think I really do... I really did--"
Kazuha couldn't take any more at that point. She knew what he was about to say, and she was absolutely not going to let him say it if he was going to go and die on her a second later. She tried to shake Crow's body, to keep him there, to convince him that he wasn't going anywhere, that he could be there to say it as many times as he wanted... But all that that did was cause that body to turn right to dust in her arms, instead of slowly fading away.
"Crow-kun?"
"... Crow-kun?"
"... C-Crow-kun...?"
"..."
"CROOOOOW-KUUUUUUUUUUUN!!"
Title: A Duel of Darkness
Iiiif you don't know what a Dark Signer is this probably won't make sense, but I think the basic idea still gets across.
It was another one of those "once a year" things on the island - where people from far, wide, near, and just about everywhere were coming for a day or two. By now, most people who were there understood what was going on, and for those that didn't, it was explained to them soon enough. For the most part, things were going well enough. Some people were getting to see relatives and friends they hadn't gotten to see in a long time, others were having battles with rivals and goes they had been itching to fight again for the past year.
Like the others, Crow was out with old friends - he had met some other duelists, and he'd even had a few good duels in-between meeting the various people visiting the island. Overall, unlike the last time, in which he'd had an unfortunate encounter with a certain ex-head of the Security Maintenance Bureau, he'd been having a great time.
But that all changed when he saw a familiar figure. The person had been lurking around the blimp, just outside of Crow's line of vision, for most of the day, and it wasn't until Yotsuba and Alice approached the man that Crow realized who he was - what he was. He started walking, slowly at first, calling out to the two girls that he was taking care of. Trying to warn them, to get them aware from danger. His walk quickly turned to a run, and then and all out sprint, but it was too late. As quickly as Crow had first sighted them, the man along with the two girls were gone.
"Dark... Signer..." Crow breathed, panic quickly filling his mind. Of all the people, why did it have to be one of them? At a time like this, no less! There was no way he could go for help, everyone was too busy with all the people visiting from other worlds. If he could even find the right version of who he needed, he'd have to convince them that the girls were in danger of someone who played a "card game", and there were a grand total of maybe five people who believed in him enough, as far as Duel Monsters went, to come with him over something like that.
Which meant that there was no time to lose. Sure, he could find other duelists, other people from his world, but he wasn't thinking clearly. There was only one thing he could do...
CRACK
In the distance, across the water from the blimp, far from the island everyone was all on now, lightning struck one of the other islands. It was faint at first, but after a few moments, in the sky, a symbol began to form. A glowing figure, made of what looked like blue or white fire, in the shape of a spider.
No... There wasn't any time to waste. If he waited, those two girls were dead.
He'd have to go after the Dark Signer alone.
---
His vision was starting to blur. What were his life points at now... 100? 200? He'd had it easy for too long now. Another hit like the last one and that would be the end of him. And there was still one monster left to attack.
"Crow-niichan!!" There was Alice, crying out from where Rudger was holding her and Yotsuba. Some damn spiderweb thing, the sick bastard.
It had been stupid running out here alone. Not that he hadn't done shit like this before, but he thought he'd grown since then. Hadn't he...?
"Pizza-niichan!!" There was Yotsuba now. Trying to cheer him up calling him that, or just being Yotsuba now...?
... But there was no way in hell.
No way in hell.
No way in hell--
"CROW-NIICHAN!!"
"THERE'S NO FUCKING WAY I'M GONNA LET YOU HURT THESE GIRLS!"
"You don't have a choice! I'm attacking you directly with the Underground Arachnid!" declared the Dark Signer, thrusting his arm to the side and laughing as his grotesque monster, an enormous spider, leapt at Crow, delivering the blow that would end his life - as the two girls behind him screamed in unison. But there was nothing to be done, Crow had nothing left on the field. It was his time, and a few, quick moments later, his limp, lifeless body fell to the side.
And all was silent as the monsters remaining on the field faded away.
"Hmph. If it had been Yusei Fudo, things would have been different..." Rudger shook his head and turned towards the girls, crossing his arms. They whimpered, tears in their eyes, but then glared at him defiantly. They wouldn't let him get away with what he'd done to Crow, they wouldn't! ... Unfortunately, their defiance only made Rudger laugh, make him close his eyes and shake his head. "Forgive me, children. You were pawns, to lure out the Signer. But I suppose, now that I have you, you'll be good for reviving the Earthbound Gods... The souls here are quite interesting."
He reached out, to put a hand on top of the green haired girl's, when all of a sudden, a hoarse, raspy, yet still... familiar voice interrupted him - the source of which he couldn't quite place.
"... Oi... Oi oi oi... Did you hear what I said...? Did you...? Gonna make me say it again, are ya...? Tch, fuckin' typical..."
"What!?" Rudger snapped his head around to the source of the voice - surely, no, absolutely - there wasn't anyone else on this small island aside from himself and the two girls. So just where was that voice coming from?
"Right here, dumbass."
"Crow-niichan...?"
Quickly turning back to the girls, Rudger found himself face-to-face with a sight that most would never think they'd like - or in this case, die - to see. Behind the girls, his hands on each of their heads, stood the duelist Rudger was certain he had just killed... with a few differences.
His Markers, one of the things his friends and enemies alike knew him best for, had changed to dark red in color, and now had a new set that stretched from his eyebrows up to his hairline. The whites of his eyes were gone, instead having been replaced with inky black, and combined with his already gray colored eyes, it made his face look rather devilish. All sense of kindness seemed to have been drained from him, instead replaced with malice, anger, and hate. This whole new demeanor and face was topped off with the traditional garb of what he was now - lots of dark clothes. In his case, a sleeveless black jacket with orange trimming, black pants with an orange design on the sides, and his usual boots, oddly enough.
All in all, as similar as he looked, anyone could tell you that it was like he was also a completely different person.
"You're... You're a..." Rudger took a step back, watching as the person's hands glowed for a moment, and then the two girls suddenly fell to the ground, seemingly in a peaceful sleep. It couldn't be-- It was impossible-- Only he could be such a person, and yet here, standing before him, was another--
"Dark Signer? Yeah, no shit. Shouldn't you be an expert in this kind of thing?" stepping past the two girls and walking right past Rudger, Crow started walking towards where he had been where he had been killed. Despite the calmness of his voice, Rudger could feel the fury radiating off of the young man. Just what was going on in his head?
"What is it that you want?" he asked calmly, then paused and shook his head. What was he suddenly so nervous about? This person was a former Signer, and now an ally! It was no wonder he was so calm, in fact, it made perfect sense, really--
"To repay the favor!" A new, black Duel Disk on his arm, Crow turned around suddenly, and behind him, blue and black fire erupted, quickly spreading and taking shape - a similar shape appearing in the sky in tandem with the one on the ground. The fury Crow had been holding back moments before, the fury Dark Signers were known best for, was no longer hidden behind a mask of calmness. His eyes fixed on Rudger in a cold stare, his expression nearing that of snarl, he almost looked like an animal's. "DUEL!"
The Dark Signer of the Spider mark looked from his own Duel Disk, one that was part of his false arm no less, which had come to life and entered the battle mode, to Crow, the newest Dark Signer, and realized with a sinking feeling that he truly had no choice in the matter. He let out a sigh, held out his arm, and drew his hand.
A few, painful turns later, when a beastly, bird-like creature appeared in the sky, and all the people visiting the island for the day or so, and even some who lived there regularly, vanished as soon as it appeared, no one questioned it aside from a few. It didn't matter in the end, as quickly as the creature appeared, it was gone, along with all the people who it had taken with it.
---
"... and so, as I was saying, I haven't seen either Yotsuba or Alice in a few weeks," concluded Tear, lowering her head and letting out a sign as she finished. She raised it again, remembering she had left out something important. "Furthermore, I asked at the blimp, and no one's seen either of them or Crow since they disappeared."
Kazuha was silent for a few moments, trying to process all of the information that Tear had given her, before speaking up to respond.
"I knew about Crow-kun, but... Yotsuba-chan and Alice-chan too? Do you think something could have happened?" She frowned, closing her eyes and trying to shut out the image of that bird creature that had appeared towards the end of the event. Could it... Could it had hurt Crow and the two girls? She knew he was always on the lookout for monsters, but surely he had been too busy dueling others to get wrapped up in something like that. "Maybe they all just went home? Or... Or Crow took them on a trip?"
"Without telling anyone? Without telling you? No, I don't Crow is that kind of person, Kazuha," Tear replied as-a-matter-of-factly, trying not to let how worried she was getting interfere with her ability to judge and, more importantly, seek for the missing people. "For the time being, let's ask around and keep an eye out. The more I look, the more I hear about more people having disappeared at the same time Crow, Yotsuba, and Alice did. It's... rather disturbing. I'm going to go check something out now, and then I'll meet up with you again tonight, alright?"
"... Right. I'll see you later, then?" Kazuha only recieved a nod, after which Tear stood and left quickly, determination in her step, leaving Kazuha sitting outside the inn alone. She bit her lip, trying to ignore the feeling of tears starting to well up in her eyes. She looked at the Duel Disk on her arm, something she had taken to keeping with her constantly in the hopes that it would bring him back. Things just hadn't been the same, not to her, since Crow had disappeared. She hadn't even noticed those two little girls going too, and it had happened on the same day.
It didn't make sense to say they went home, did it? Had three people from different worlds all gone home at the exact same time before? Not including the ones brought there specifically for that gathering of people, of course, but still... If you did include those, it was very possible... And it wasn't like Crow hadn't already gone home during that time a year beforehand...
"Where are you, Crow-kun?"
It must have been fate. It had to have been fate. Because at that exact moment, not a second after his name left her lips, that in the distance, she saw a familiar head of red-orange hair. She almost wasn't sure if it was him or not, but regardless of the odd clothing he appeared to be wearing, she would recognize that hair anywhere. It wasn't exactly a common style. And there was the owner of that head of hair, walking away from her.
She froze for a moment. Her heart stopped. The world was still, for just a short moment, and then it was moving again - he was moving again.
... No. She wouldn't lose him. Not now. Not again.
"Crow-kun!!" She stood up and gave chase, not wasting a single second. Despite the fact that it didn't look like Crow was moving very fast, no matter how much Kazuha ran, how much energy she put into it, she just couldn't catch him. He was still too far ahead, just barely in her sights. Was she going crazy? Was she finally losing after being stuck on an island for years now?
... Did it matter right now? As long as Crow was in front of her, hallucination or not, she wouldn't stop moving if there was a chance he was real.
So she kept running. It felt like hours. When it got down to it though, it couldn't have been that long... Could it? It had gotten darker, sure, but it had been getting late as it was. Strong as she was, determined to a fault, even she had her limits, and she was starting to get tired. Her movements started to slow, and when she noticed that, she merely pushed even more, regardless of how she was feeling.
And then, just as quickly as he had appeared before her, he was gone. Like he had never been there in the first place. She stared in shock for a few seconds, before falling to her knees, choked sobs starting to escape, and began to punch the ground. How? Why? Was it a joke? Had she gone crazy after all!?
"The hell're you crying for? You ain't got anything going on to make that much of a mess about."
She lifted her head slowly, in disbelief, in shock, in amazement. There he was, sitting right next to her - his back facing her as she looked. It was definitely him, there was no doubt about it now. He was so close that she could reach out and touch him...
"C-Crow... Crow-kun!" In fact, turning and wrapping her arms around his back, that's exactly what she did. Before she knew it, she found herself crying into the back of his jacket, nearly sobbing even. It was like this for a few minutes, her crying, him unmoving, before she finally realized he hadn't said anything aside from his original statement. "Why... Why are you just sitting there? Say something!"
"Why are you carrying this around?" he asked dully, tugging at the arm that held her Duel Disk. Before Kazuha could do or say anything about it, he ripped her deck out of it and stood, taking a few steps away, letting the girl's arms drop limply to the ground. "Damn, you're still using these? Hahahaha... Figures. You haven't learned anything, even after all this time."
"Crow-kun, what are you talking about? Do you know how worried we've all been? What happened?" Kazuha slowly got to her feet, now unsure if she wanted to see Crow anymore. There was something... wrong. His voice was lacking something, and in its place, it was filled with a certain sense of maliciousness that just... didn't belong there. Not with him.
He didn't answer her. He just started flipping through her cards. Kazuha said nothing as she listened to him, watching his back for further movement. Surely he would say something, without a doubt he wasn't going to just ignore he like this, right?
"All a bunch of crap," he spat, and spun around, tossing her deck in the air. Kazuha gasped, eyes going wide, as her cards rained down around the two of them. Crow's voice, demeanor, and clothes weren't the only thing that was different about him - his face had changed too. His marks and eyes... They were different too. But now wasn't the time for that.
"What are you doing!? What are you saying!?" Kazuha cried, staring up at Crow as she bent down onto her knees to begin gathering up her cards, her eyes not leaving his for a second. "You told me that everything - every card meant something... What's wrong with you?"
"What's a card without a duelist?" Crow looked at her, eyes filled with resentment. He shook his head and bent down, tipping her head up by a light push of her chin. He stared into her eyes, and Kazuha stopped gathering her cards for a moment, nearly expecting him to kiss her - to tell her it was a joke, that everything was okay, that he was going to help her pick up the cards. Instead, he smiled darkly. "You're no duelist. You never have been and you never will be. Those cards are better off being burned than in your hands."
And then he stood up and started walking away again. Laughing no less. Kazuha could practically hear her insides freezing and then shattering into pieces. She could certainly feel it, at any rate.
... Even so... Even so, she couldn't just let him leave her. He was obviously different, but even so, she wasn't just going to sit there and take that. Who did he think she was? Fighting back tears, she picked up the last of her cards, slammed her deck back into her Disk, and stood up defiantly.
"How would you know!?"
He stopped. Crow didn't even turn around completely, he merely turned his head to look back at her, a cruel smirk on his face.
"How would I know what, Kazuha?" Crow turned, slowly, and began taking slow, easy steps backwards. "That you can't duel for shit? That you have no respect for the thing we're talking about? That you know nothing about it, or me? The fact that you've never been able to beat me? The way you treat your cards? In fact, just you being you pretty much says it all, don't you think?"
"Then duel me," she responded quickly, ignoring each and every question to the best of the ability. Or rather, ignoring the sting, the stabbing feeling it gave her hearing him say those things about her, especially after everything else he'd said towards the opposite. "Right now. Prove it to me, or I'll just... Go on being a stupid, ignorant girl that 'can't duel for shit'. You wouldn't want your precious little game to be disrespected anymore, right?"
Crow had always told her that dueling was the best way to share feelings with someone. Now, it looked like it was finally time to put that to the test. Assuming Crow was willing to play along, anyway...
"On one condition," Crow held up his hands, then crossed his arms and smiled at her. She noted a glowing mark on his arm, but paid little attention to it - it was his smile that truly bothered her, if it could even be called a smile. Like the ones before it, this smile held none of the kindness or... anything that his old smiles used to hold. Just malice. "We make this into a real duel. A Duel of Darkness. Does that sound like fun, Kazuha?"
"Whatever!" Kazuha held her Disk out in front of her, listening as it came to life, and drew her hand. Something about Crow's smile seemed too happy, but right then, Kazuha didn't care. She was going to not only find out what was really going on in Crow's head, but she was going to show him just what kind of duelist she was.
Little did she know, even with that mindset, she had no idea how right she was.
---
She could barely catch her breath before Crow's attack connected, after it was like she didn't even have lungs to breathe into. Falling to her knees, Kazuha looked across the field at her... friend?, who was just smiling at her, assortment of sick and twisted versions of his Black Feather monsters - "Hell Feathers" - and face-down cards all guarding him from her.
And what did she have?
"I... I Special Summon Fox Fire from the Graveyard, since it was destroyed this... turn," Kazuha shakily got up, slowly getting to her feet as the small beast appeared in a burst of flames next to her to offer her some assistance. Giving it a small smile of thanks, she turned to Crow, a harsh glare on her face. "You see...!? These cards... They're my friends! They don't betray me, like certain other people!"
The duel had started out normal enough, if Kazuha didn't include the fact that Crow summoned a bunch of hellfire out of nowhere right before he took his turn. He had played defensive for a few moves, taking her hits like he had any other time he had been hit by her monsters. Then, all of a sudden, when she activated her field spell, Molten Destruction, his entire demeanor changed. One after another, the Hell Feathers appeared on the field, spells to strengthen them and traps to save them quickly followed, and Crow finally struck back.
Kazuha hadn't been expecting the pain. The normal "shock" of losing a monster and Life Points, maybe, but never true, actual pain. And there was Crow, standing there just fine, after losing over half of his life - his actual life - to her, like nothing had happened.
"What's wrong? Can't handle a real duel?"
He continued to taunt her, to mock her, to badmouth her. The stream of words just didn't seem to stop, and at times, the pain and the insults combined made Kazuha just want to give up. Who was she kidding? She wasn't seeing anything except how much Crow, after whatever had happened to him, hated her. All the while sending his monsters to destroy hers, to attack her and bring her closer to the brink of death.
Is this what he really wanted...? Was this how it all would end?
"What's the matter, Kazuha?" Crow sneered, twisting his face into another horrible expression again. He waved a hand, making motions for her to "go on". Everything about this Crow was so... mad. "Are you done already? Is that all you can take? What happened to believing in your monsters, eh? Was that just a load of bull? Was it!?"
"Of-- Of course that wasn't it!" Kazuha cried, looking from Crow, to his Hell Feathers, and then to Fox Fire. She wouldn't abandon Crow, this poor little creature that continued to be destroyed because she couldn't protect it properly, and she certainly wasn't going to lose this. There was no way she was going to let this happen. "It's my turn! Draw!"
Immediately, she placed down a trap card that Crow had returned to her hand during his previous turn, before turning to see what card she had drawn - and froze.
"What now? Did you get a good card?" A cruel laugh escaped his lips, and then Crow just shrugged and shook his head. "Or maybe you got a bad card, is that it? Sure, you have that trap I put away last turn, but I'll be dealing with that soon enough. So go ahead, whatever your card is, play it. You wouldn't know how to use it anyway."
"... No... I think this card, of all cards, I think I understand better than you think..." she whispered, still not sure to believe that she was holding this card in her hand, again. She closed her eyes and took some deep breaths, making sure she was ready, then opened her eyes to give Crow a hard look. "Because I'm going to summon Black Feather - Blast of Black Lance!"
Kazuha still couldn't believe it, but there, right in front of her, was all the proof she needed. Proud and powerful, Crow's loyal monster now stood to guard her, and if Kazuha didn't know better, she'd think the monster's usual cocky grin was just a bit less cocky, as it looked ahead at the Hell Feathers he and his comrades had been replaced with.
"Hahaha... I see... I see how it is now..." Crow threw his head back and started laughing, putting a hand to his head to help calm himself down. Kazuha frowned at him, but wouldn't be stopped by his attitude. "You can't win with your own damn cards, so you steal someone else's? Oh, that's rich, Kazuha, that's really fucking rich."
"Steal...? ... You mean you didn't--" Kazuha shook her head. "It doesn't matter how it got there! What matters is that he's here and he's here for me. Black Lance, attack Hell Feather - Golden Ghoul! Show it - and that stupid duelist of yours - what a real bird can do!"
Kazuha thrust her arm out, and at the command, Black Lance flew forward and struck the impersonation of a Black Feather right in the center, shattering it and dealing a nice amount of damage to Crow's Life Points to boot. Smiling weakly at the small victory, Kazuha watched as the monster returned to her next to Fox Fire, then turned back to Crow.
"Now I'll place another card face-down and end my turn. It's all yours Crow-ku... Crow," Kazuha closed her eyes and waited. As soon as Crow began his turn and started his attack, which he was sure to do, she would activate the first trap card, Gravity Bind, which would prevent any of his remaining Hell Feather monsters from attacking her.
But the attack never came. He began his turn, drew, but then he was silent. Curious, hoping that perhaps the sight of his monster had changed something about him, Kazuha opened her eyes and looked at him, expecting to see him smiling at her again, or maybe looking regretful but glad to be back... Instead, he just stood there. Silent.
"I guess it's time to end this then, yeah?" His smile was gone. He wasn't looking at her or the cards on the field anymore, but rather, his arm. He shook his head, glancing over to Kazuha to shoot her what appeared to be a quick glare, then turned to his cards. The marking on his arm, which had been glowing in tandem with the one on the ground and sky since the duel began, erupted in bring light. "You want to see a real bird, Kazuha...? Then I think that it's about damn time you saw a real bird."
It happened at once and it took forever at the same time. Crow sacrificed his three remaining Hell Feathers, and then what looked like a beating heart made of stone appeared in the sky. The moment it did, Kazuha knew that something was terribly wrong - that something really bad was about to happen. She could feel her energy, maybe even her very soul being sapped away just by looking at the thing.
And then, all of a sudden, a brilliant beam of light came from the sky, shattering the stone, and from the ground, an enormous-- no, a gargantuan black, bird shaped creature rose from the ground, flapping its mighty wings and giving out a terrifying cry.
"I summon Earthbound God - Aslla piscu!!" Crow roared, his voice somehow booming with the cry of the creature he had brought forth. "Before you go ahead and activated your trap card, let me just tell you - Earthbound Gods aren't bothered by Spells or Trap cards, and they can attack your Life Points directly! Get what I'm saying, Kazuha!? You're finished!!"
Most would be scared in the face of such a beast. Kazuha would have been lying if she had said that she wasn't scared, really. But at that exact moment, all she could think about was when Crow and her were having one of their lessons all those months ago, and he was explaining the use of one of her cards to her. He could hear his voice - his voice, not this demented version of it - as if he was there right now. It gave her the confidence she needed to do this.
"Even though you've got that, I'm going to do this anyway... I activate the trap card, Gravity Bind! Because of it, all monsters higher than Level 3 can't attack!" Kazuha declared, and to her surprise, she could actually feel the world around her get heavier - maybe that meant she herself was higher than a Level 3? Now wasn't the time to ponder that though.
"Weren't you listening? Traps don't matter to Aslla piscu! I knew you were a shitty duelist, Kazuha!! Hahahahaha!!" Crow leaned back, reverting back to laughter as he did, then leaned forward again and pointed directly at Kazuha. "Looks like my lessons didn't pay off after all. I should have known. Say hi to the kids for me in hell, will ya? Aslla piscu, attack!"
"I activate Fairy Wind!"
---
"Fairy Wind: Destroy all other face-up Spell and Trap Cards on the field. Both players take damage equal to the total number of cards destroyed by this effect, times 300. Pretty good, huh?"
"But Crow-kun..." Kazuha pointed at the card that Crow had put on the table in front of her, biting her lip as she did so. They had been at this for hours now, and while she knew that she was getting better, a whole lot better at that, some things just weren't making sense to her. "If I do this, wouldn't I take damage too?"
"Heh, that's fine, Kazuha. Sometimes you have to get a little beat up to get the job done," Crow shook his head and moved some other cards around, some equips to some monsters, and some fields just to show what they could do. "Look here. If you got rid of this, regardless of any damage you take, their whole strategy blows up. And same with this one... And if you look here, this whole setup relies on the fact that they've got a field out to power up their monsters. Do you see what I'm saying?"
"I... I think I get it," the girl responded after a few moments, listening as intently as she could and making she to repeat everything Crow said to herself. If she was going to be good at this, and not just good, but really really good, she had to take everything he thought was important enough to tell her to heart.
Crow laughed.
"Don't look so serious. You'll get it after a while," Before Kazuha could protest, Crow leaned over and gave her a quick kiss. Grinning at her, he pulled away. "Ah ah ah, not so fast. Get to into it and we'll have to end the lesson early. Wouldn't want that, now would we? Now let's get back to work..."
"Oh, that wasn't fair! How am I supposed to think straight after that--!?" she glared at him, then bedgrudgingly turned back to the cards. She would never admit it, especially not to him after that, but... She really really wanted to hurry up and let the lesson end and be done with now.
---
As the smoke cleared from the Fairy Wind, all that remained were the monsters on Kazuha's side of the field. After the Fairy Wind destroyed Kazuha's own field spell, the Aslla piscu had nothing keeping it on the field, and was forced to destroy itself. Thanks to the effect of Fairy Wind, all of Crow's face-down traps, along with Gravity Bind, had been completely destroyed, and now Kazuha had only 200 Life Points to her name, while Crow still had 1400.
"... You... You bitch..." spat Crow from his position on the ground. The backlash from Kazuha's assault had finally gotten to him, and he'd been knocked over. He began getting to his feet, albeit shakily, while Kazuha had done her best across the field to not get knocked down by her own move. "I end my turn."
"I know," she replied coldly.
This was it. She could finish him with Fox Fire and Black Lance, she knew that. And she could summon another monster from her hand and finish him with one of those. He had absolutely nothing protecting himself - they both were painfully aware of this fact.
"A real duelist doesn't give up. Doesn't prove me right now, after all of this," Crow growled, now completely on his feet. His hands were dropped to his sides and all he could do was look at her expectantly, that horrible, hateful look still in his eyes. "Do it, or I'll destroy you on my next turn. I won't hold back anything. Count on that."
She'd heard how these kinds of duels ended, from Crow himself, months and months ago. But she never expected to be in one them, and against the person who told her about them of all people... Two impossible things at once. If she was right - if he was right - if she finished him off, he would die.
... But at the same time, if she let him go... If she let him go... What would he do, with only one other person on the island a duelist? If he beat Yami too, then he would be unstoppable? What would happen? Would it be all her fault for backing down, because she couldn't do it?
"What... What do I do?" she whispered, questioning everything she knew, felt, and would ever know and feel. She turning to her deck and drew...
And it gave her her answer.
"This... This is it, Crow-kun," she raised her head, tears brimming at the corners of her eyes, and slapped down the card she had drawn onto the field. She believed in it - in what she was about to do - and if she was wrong, if what she thought was there wasn't there, then she would just have to pay the concequences. "I summon Black Feather - Mistral the Silver Shield! And I'm tuning it to Fox Fire and Black Feather - Blast of Black Lance!"
Crow's eyes widened. It... It couldn't be-- It wasn't possible--
"Darkened gales, become the wings that soar from resolved hope!"
A figure rose from behind Kazuha as the Synchro Summon neared completion. An enormous beast, long and powerful, the mightiest of its kind, took form. Feathers began to fall as it spread its large, massive wings, and it let out a cry as it took shape on the field. There was only one monster like it, a monster that had been passed down from a man that had been like a hero to Crow, and now it was in Kazuha's capable hands.
"Soar, Black Feather Dragon!!"
To Kazuha's surprise, Crow didn't say anything. He just stood - waiting, watching. His eyes weren't leaving her for a moment, and for a few seconds, Kazuha's didn't leave him either. And then she turned, to the majestic dragon behind her, and smiled sadly at it.
"... Be gentle, okay?"
To this day, Kazuha swears the dragon nodded at her.
"Black Feather Dragon, attack Crow's life points directly! Nova Stream!"
---
"... ow-kun... Cro... Crow-kun!"
Crow could feel something under him - a pillow? - and there was something wet on his face. It must have been raining. Crow blinked once, then twice, and finally just kept blinking until everything came into focus. It wasn't raining at all, it was Kazuha above him. That pillow then... her lap? No wonder it was so comfortable. And she was... crying? Why was she crying?
He reached up to wipe a tear away and realized, in addition to his fading sight and weak hearing, he was feeling incredibly... tired. Weak. And then it all came rushing back to him - the Dark Signer, the battle, his first summoning of the Earthbound God and taking the souls of so many people... And his duel with Kazuha.
"Kazu...ha?" Crow managed to get out, his voice soft. Her eyes widened, and without warning, she bent forwards and enveloped him in a tight, warm hug, and continued to cry into his shoulder. Trying to smile, he slowly raised his arm to pat her on the back. "Don't do that... S'all okay now... s'all okay... That was a great duel."
"Great? Crow-kun are-- Are you kidding me?!" Kazuha pushed him down again and stared at him, dumbfounded at his attitude - which, for better or for worse, did seem to be his own self again. "It was just a miracle I won! Weren't you there? Your monsters came to me, to save you, and that's the only reason I won! Otherwise... Otherwise..."
"... Nah, you were right the first time. During the duel, you almost had me. I snuck 'em in there when I took your deck," he continued to smile at her, reaching up to stroke a lock of her hair as she watched him, staring in confusion.
"So that whole duel... Right down to the end... You planned it?" she breathed, gaping at him. "But, you were so surprised during the duel-- You were even angry-- Were you acting? Did you trick yourself? Just... What did you do?"
"Pretty much. Couldn't let myself be a Dark Signer, could I...? I wasn't... All there though, only at parts," he grinned at her, placing his hand on her cheek, before reaching up and pulling down his sleeve with his free hand. "Don't worry about it... Important thing is, it's over now. See this? Nothing here, right? I'm a free man again, Kazuha. ... Well, free if I don't count you, heh."
"Crow-kun..." Kazuha sighed, relief filling her for the first time in weeks as she looked at his arm. He was right, there wasn't a mark on him. It was over now, wasn't it? Crow had just said so. "So now we can go back to things like normal... Like we always do, right, Crow-kun?"
She had expected him to laugh. She had expected him to ask her to carry him. She had expected... Crow. Which was, unfortunately, what she got.
"Not... this time," Crow closed his eyes and let himself relax against Kazuha's legs. Even if she would never believe him, she really was pretty comfortable. Or maybe he was just so tired that anything was like a bed straight from a five star hotel. Either way, Crow wasn't about to complain. He opened his eyes to take her image in for the last time. "That mark... That damn God... They were the only things keeping me alive. Not even connected to the Crimson Dragon anymore either. Weird, ain't it?"
"C-Crow-kun... What are you saying...? The island-- It brings people back, you know that!" Kazuha protested, shaking her head at the mere idea that Crow was really in her lap dying, but Crow just smiled at her, his arm dropping limply next to his body.
"Like I said... Not this time. I'm probably going to go to the afterlife now or something. Maybe hang out with those two bastards that started this mess or something..." He tried to laugh, but it came out sounding more like a cough. His body, clothes and all, started to turn to a gray-brown dusty color, but he continued to smile at her. "Listen... Could you do me a favor, Kazuha?"
"A-Anything, just-- Just don't talk like this! You're going to be okay! We'll get Tear here, and then we can--"
"Sssh... Okay, here it is. I want you to be happy, okay? And... try to forget about this mess. Remember the good times, you know...? And... tell Alice and Yotsuba that Crow-niichan's just on vacation - that he went back home. I... think that'll be the best thing. But just them, I... don't want you to have to deal with this... alone."
"Stop it! You're going to be okay!"
"Kazuha... About you... Before I go, I want to say... I think I really do... I really did--"
Kazuha couldn't take any more at that point. She knew what he was about to say, and she was absolutely not going to let him say it if he was going to go and die on her a second later. She tried to shake Crow's body, to keep him there, to convince him that he wasn't going anywhere, that he could be there to say it as many times as he wanted... But all that that did was cause that body to turn right to dust in her arms, instead of slowly fading away.
"Crow-kun?"
"... Crow-kun?"
"... C-Crow-kun...?"
"..."
"CROOOOOW-KUUUUUUUUUUUN!!"