The Broken Doll

Chapter 17

Shing entered the house and found Akari cleaning around while Haru was on the phone, most likely with the funeral home. Not saying a word, she made her way upstairs to Yuma's room to see Astral sitting on the hammock, watching Esper Robin with a sad look in his eyes. She supposed he would watch this show with Yuma all the time.

She cleared her throat. Astral's ear twitched, but he only grunted in response. "Astral, do you really trust me with this?" she asked quietly.

Astral sighed and tore his gaze away from the screen. "It's not that I don't trust you. I'm just...I'm unwilling to part with it. It reminds me so much of Yuma and his free spirit. I didn't..." He trailed off, but Shing caught the way his voice choked. His expression was sorrowful; he was most likely holding back tears. Somewhere in another room, Dark groaned loudly in annoyance.

She carefully sat on the hammock with him. "I'm glad you could trust me with this, Astral." She hugged him with one arm and watched the show with him. "I'll keep Yuma's memory alive and help you with your mission. I promise."

Astral, tears running freely down his face, nodded in response and hugged her back.

~.~.~

"Now your field is empty! I attack your life points directly!" Shing cried out, and her monster obeyed. With no trap cards, spell cards, or any monsters for his line of defense, the man, possessed by a Number card, flew back as his life points dropped all the way to zero.

Astral, who was silently watching since she could obviously take care of herself, unfolded his arms and reached out to summon the Number card to him. He took it into himself, absorbing the memory as he's done with Yuma countless times before now. 

This was the third time he and Shing were out dueling to retrieve the Numbers, and while Astral was grateful to her for doing this for him, it just wasn't the same. That wasn't to say he didn't like having Shing around. It was only a few days, but he grew attached to her already. Maybe that was due to the Key binding them together, but he liked her company. In many ways, she was like Yuma. She was energetic while dueling, she went with the flow no matter where it took her, and she made comebacks even Yuma wouldn't have been able to pull off without Astral's help.

"Thank you, Shing," Astral said when he absorbed the memory. "I appreciate your help."

Shing put her cards and duel disk away with a small smile. "I'm happy to help. It's what Yuma would have wanted."

Astral nodded with a smile as well. The mention of his friend's name still hurt, but being with this girl made it easier to cope with the pain in his chest. "I'm sure he's happy watching us from wherever he is."

Shing's eyes welled with tears, but she wiped them away. She was done with crying for now, they both were. Of course, they would cry during the funeral, but that would be then. Shing had her life thanks to Yuma. She wouldn't waste it. She silently promised him that.

"I'm beat. That duel was tough," Shing sighed. "Let's go back home."

"Very well. I need to take care of this Number, anyway." Astral disappeared into the Key to store the Number he gained to where it was supposed to be.

She walked along in silence until Astral came back. That was when they spoke in low tones. They stayed off the topic of Yuma, though, and instead talked about Shing's kingdom. It helped to pass the time while they made their way back home while staying away from the topic of the funeral. It was just around the corner, one week away. Every time they thought about it, they got together and just cried even though they promised they wouldn't anymore. Keeping things bottled up wouldn't help.

When they finally arrived, they found Kotori had come over to help Haru and Akari through this trying time, and they seemed better than before. As usual, the green haired girl gave Shing an odd look, but there was no malice in it. Still, instead of hanging around, Astral and Shing headed up to Yuma's attic room to simply sit in silence as usual, to mourn and calm down from the duel.

In the room below, a portal opened, and the spellcaster versions of Astral and Dark Mist entered into the room, sent there to keep an eye on the queen of their world. Yuri was the one who spotted them and approached them. Both spellcasters bowed when they saw him.

"How are things at the city?" he asked them before he reached them.

"Well, Vector's not liking his position as regent, that's for sure," Dark Mist replied. "But he's doing his best, and so is Vegeta. The place hasn't fallen apart."

"Good." Yuri ran his fingers through his hair, a hand on his hip. "Shing wants to wait until the funeral is done. She'll come back to us when it's done."

Both spellcasters shared a glance and smiled. "She will?" Astral asked hopefully. "That's good to hear. How far away is the funeral?"

"A week from now. Shouldn't take too long."

"We'll continue to study the curse, then. We've learned more, but not enough yet. We still have a ways to go."

"Keep at it then. I'm sure Shing will be happy at your return."

"Where is she now?"

"In the room above us with your other self. They're having a moment alone right now. She'll be down in half an hour."

"That's fine," Dark Mist added. "We can study the curse and a prevention of it in the meantime."

Yuri nodded once and went along his way. The spellcasters sat together on the bed, opened the now black book, and began reading up on the curse. Every once in a while, it turned blue so they could research a prevention spell, but it remained black for most of the time.