Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's: Rainbow Stardust

Chapter 4: Are Eerie Red Marks Contagious???

With the cloud-covered field, visibility was rather limited. But even when the clouds cleared, when there were no monsters left, Sylvia could see two eerie red lights emanating from Yusei's ordinarily ocean-blue eyes, and a vibrant mark shone through his thick leather jacket and gloves. Just the same, her own arm was flaring up with ice-cold burning and the dribbling of warm blood.

The glowing light didn't linger. Yusei's eyes and mark faded before long, and it took Sylvia's arm a little more time to dim down. All that was left behind was a splitting headache, and soon, both she and him collapsed to their knees on the platform. Thunder no longer rumbled behind them. Sylvia's ears rang with tinnitus, and the sound of her and Yusei's exhausted pants echoed across the tunnels. For a long, hesitant minute, the two sat and caught their breaths across from one another.

Yusei was the first to stand, stumbling over to her side. "Sylvia...!" There was a quiet kind of urgency in his voice, subtle in a way Sylvia wouldn't have noticed before, but couldn't help doing so now. He cared.

She glanced up at him, a little confused, a little dazed, and tilted her head to the side, questioning without any words. Yusei merely huffed, frustrated.

"C'mon," he insisted, extending a hand to her. "Get up. It's about time to change your bandages."

"M-my bandages..." She was still a little stunned, uncertain of what to say, so without fully thinking about it, she accepted Yusei's kindness, even though she knew she was undeserving of it. It took her a moment to finally snap back into reality, but by then, she'd mindlessly accepted Yusei's outstretched hand and allowed him to pull her to her feet. "Wait, but... your arm-- it was glowing too. You were glowing."

Yusei's other fist clenched and unclenched, likely out of anxiety, though she was a little too stunned to notice. "...I know."

"What... was that, anyway? Was it the same as my glow? Are you bleeding too? Didn't it burn?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "It's never happened before."

"It's never...?" This quiet admission of Yusei's was what helped Sylvia snap back into reality, and all of a sudden, a wave of panic washed over her, demanding her attention. "Aren't you freaking out about this at least a little?! How are you so calm? Your arm lit up like a freaking Christmas tree! Out of nowhere! Between my own glowing, and the voices... I'm not sure this is a coincidence. If it never happened before, maybe it happened now because of me. Maybe... Maybe it's contagious. Maybe I did something to you without knowing it!"

"Sylvia." Yusei rested his other hand, the one with the Duel Disk on it, on her head. "Stop. You're spiraling."

"But--"

"Let's focus on you right now. Your injuries have re-opened."

"And you're sure you're not injured?"

"I'd have reacted otherwise if I was."

She had no choice but to trust in Yusei's words, that he really was telling the truth, and that he wasn't hurt despite the eerie glowing on his arm. But that didn't stop her from feeling nervous anyway. She had so many questions swirling around in her mind. The storm had passed, but she felt like a new one had been stirred up in her stomach, and she had no easy way of quelling her fears now. What the hell was that duel just now? Yusei was glowing, she was glowing... Come to think of it, she had behaved oddly, hadn't she? As if a newfound thirst had somehow been awakened within her. A thirst to understand Yusei's monsters. To duel him as much as possible, to clash with Junk Destroyer. Instead of targeting Yusei himself, she turned her attention on his monster and hyperfocused on destroying it. Why? When had she ever done anything other than seeking out a quick victory, swift and simple?