Mizuo Ryugami was living just outside of Domino City when Zero Reverse happened. She survived the blast through sheer luck, but her family died - just like her favorite duelists, Seto Kaiba and Yugi Moto. With nothing left, she wandered the shatter...
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(Can you tell I'm on a XenoBlade OST kick? Lol, I'll find some other music obsession soon, don't worry. Have fun listening and reading everything. By the way, the song is called 'Memories'. I was going to use another one, but this one fit so well, I just had to change it.)
The night was cold compared to the day's muggy heat. Mizuo slept peacefully, but lightly. As the moon lifted, its light shone in her eyes, making her sleep fitful. She started in and out of dreams, most of them unremembered when she woke.
Finally, tired of her annoying half-sleep, Mizuo skittered down the tree, grabbing her bag as she went. At this point, it was time to keep moving, risks or not. Slinging her pack over her shoulder, she edged around the borders of the ghostly tent camp of the barter zone. The mystifying moonlight played tricks on her eyes, making her see moving objects out of the corners of her eyes. When she turned to look, no one was there.
Danger lurked in every shadow, foreboding sitting in her stomach like a rock. Swallowing hard, purposefully slowing her breathing, Mizuo slipped through the deserted darkness with soft steps, making herself calm. "There's nothing to be afraid of," she whispered. "You're safe. You're fine." She killed people every day of her life without being haunted. But just put her in the dark and see how she ran. It mystified even herself.
"Death . . . " She shouldn't have thought about that. Now all she could see was dead, dying eyes, stiffly grasping fingers, cold bodies, blood . . . rivers and streams and oceans of blood, drowning her in the screams of the wounded. Those she had wounded.
Bile rose to her throat as she became conscious of what she had done to with the gun at her side. Losing all her unnecessary stealth, she shivered and shook, running as fast as she could into the woods. She was trying to run from guilt, from pain, from the cries of the dead. Death was not something easy to escape from in the darkness. Night is its domain.
Pressed on by horror, Mizuo ran until her body was numb, her breath rattling in her own ears, blindly dodging trees and bushes. But her body only became colder, not warmer, her heart spinning with pain and regret. She felt the sudden, overwhelming urge to cry until the world dissolved, until her heart didn't ache, until she drowned in salty, bitter, tears.
"I want to go home . . . " She found herself sobbing. "I want my home . . . "
Exhausted, shaking to the ground, she put her arms around her knees, rocking back and forth in pain. She suddenly missed her family, who she had never been able to shed a single tear for. She missed her school life, the even, regular rhythm of day in, day out. She missed the friends who had accompanied her along that journey. She even longed for the rough, warm companionship of her gang mates. Mizuo was tired of being alone. She was tired of having no one.
Her family hadn't left her.
Like white lightning from a clear blue sky, a thought struck her so hard that she couldn't breathe. She was not alone. She had never been alone, not since she had left the Inata gang. "My deck." She gasped. The precious cards from her family and friends, her dreams and visions for success, the souls of her monsters; they were all here, with her. That last reminder of her family would always be there.
Digging frantically through her pack, she took out her dark leather card pouch, worn soft and limp from years of use. Grabbing her flashlight, she carefully laid all the cards out on the ground, re-familiarizing herself with what she hadn't seen in years. There was Starfire Drake, her powerful Tuner card, and her little Dragon-Type twins, Black Moon and White SunDragonling. There were so many beautiful Dragon cards, hand-picked by Mizuo and her father. Her heart soared as the flashlight glow highlighted the white border of her only Synchro, the Monster that had been her father's.
"I've hurt so many people, everyone." She murmured, stroking the cards reverently. "I did so many horrible things because I was hurt. I forgot that you were with me. I forgot that my heart, and the love of my family, are here in my deck. I will learn how to live so that I can hurt no one else again. Come with me, please. Forgive me, and let's find our new future together."
No words gave her answer. No sound, no change in the breeze, no light from the heavens. But the feeling of peace in her heart left her no doubt that the cards she had put her soul into still loved her.
"What a strange world this is," She sighed, gathering up her cards carefully. "But it's one we'll explore together." It was still late, with plenty of moonlight to walk by, but she decided to make camp there, rather than continue. Her plans would be changing soon, what with her change of heart. She was going to live in a way that made up for the pain she had caused to others, so she needed to live with others.
Mizuo would survive. She would rise above what had held her. As long as she had her cards, her family and friends, what they had hoped and dreamed for her, they came with her too. Every aspiration she had once had lived. She would try to honor them. She looked up to the chaste moon, and vowed to the midnight sky,
"By the hopes of my family, by the lives of those who come with me, by the dream that we held together, I'm going to become a true duelist."
(So, I could have tacked this chapter to the end of last chapter, probably; but it would have made it even longer. I'd rather have 1 short and 1 long chapter rather than 1 stupidly long chapter, and the last chapter already was borderline stupidly long. See you next week when I update again.)
(Also, if you're interested, I would also ask that you check out my collection of Yu-Gi-Oh one-shots that I update every week. Not that I'm read-mongering or advertising or anything {I won't ask you to do it again} but if you're really into my writing/stories, then I suggest checking out some of my other stuff. I'd really appreciate it. Thanks for reading/commenting/voting!)
