Cardfight Vanguard: The Dark Union

H-T-H 3: Snow & Star

The world around me burned as my body froze up. All around me I heard the screams of everyone in pain, and I couldn't do anything about it. I was powerless, and I hated being powerless. My hands clenched into fists as y body shook violently. "B-Big brother?" Shadow asked, making me snap back to reality and look down at him. "Mommy and daddy? Are they going to be okay?" Shadow asked, but I couldn't tell him anything. I wanted to tell them they were going to be fine, but I promised I wouldn't lie to him. Instead, I turned around and ran as far as I possibly can, my chocolate brown hair swishing around in my face as tears spilled down my face.

From behind me I heard Shadow screaming out my name and his footsteps trying to reach me, but I didn't slow down. I wish I did. I only stopped when I heard Shadow scream out in pain. My eyes widened and I spun around, seeing three figures surrounding my little brother. They had a ring of crimson dots on their face, bat-like wings, purple skin that was melting away like a liquid, long wolf like claws at the ready.

Shadow reached out for me, repeating my name, but I couldn't take a step forward. Instead, I ran like a coward, abandoning my little brother, the person I swore to protect with my life, there. It then came down to me finally giving up and falling down, refusing to move. "Am I the last one alive?" I thought to myself as I accepted the end, but it never came.

*Early in the morning*

I woke up in a cold sweat like usual. "Dang, those nightmares are getting more frequent." I sighed and shook the sleepiness from my body, slipping out of the queen sized bed and stretching my arms. I slipped on my clean, white cloak and a pair of slippers Snow had left me, then headed outside for a breather.

"Huh, still dark out." I commented as I stepped onto the porch and leaned against the railing. I let the wind gently blow my white locks and silver cloak for a while, before those two showed up. "I sensed their presence appear behind me, and I let out a deep sigh.

"Where have you two been?" I asked, closing my eyes and tightening my grip on the rail. "Around. listen Star, we're sorry that-" I cut Shadow off there by turning around and yelling at him, "Sorry? Sorry! Sorry doesn't begin to even cut it here! I tried taking to you two, aren't you supposed to always be with me because some supernatural bond or something!? So where were you!" My vision went red once more as I stared at the two spirits.

"Calm down Star." Seth said, raising his hand in an attempt to calm me down. "I am calm!!!" I yelled, my body shaking and my voice breaking. "Star. Just listen." Shadow began. I wasn't in the mood to yell anymore, the window was open in the house and Snow was sleeping inside. "Fine, what do you want?" I asked, awaiting their answer.

"Something doesn't feel right here Star. You're not acting like yourself, not since you've been possessed by Requiem. Not only that, but you know as well as I do that Skye would never purposely intend to cheat on you." Seth said, putting on his best thinking face. "Shut up Seth, you know nothing." I turned back around and stared into the distant. "Alright, you know what? I'm done with you Star!" He yelled in my head, "I'll talk to you when you're less like an angst, emo brat who cries himself to sleep because one person he loved sleeps with his best friend!" I was left in silence after that, not even Shadow stuck around.

I was left alone with all the memories of my friends, what we all did, and that's when I realized I hardly knew them. Most of the time we spent together was about Cardfight Vanguard, "so why would they even care about me? What happened with Edge when I was possessed by Requiem? Maybe Edge and Skye were dating already when I got possessed by Requiem, and it was Skye who cheated on Edge with me, then finally they couldn't take it anymore." I thought to myself. I looked up to the sky and watched as the rain clouds started rolling in and dropping droplets of water. "It's cold, isn't it?" A voice said from behind.

I turned around and saw Snow standing there. She wore a black robe, pink, velvet pajama pants and a matching top with fuzzy bunny slippers. I sighed and just told her it was, then turned back towards the rain. "Well, why are you out here then? Why not come back inside?" She walked up to my right side and stared up at me, "something wrong?"

I pulled up my hood and looked downwards, refusing to answer. "Listen, Star. It's alright to hurt, to cry even, but please let me help. Your part of my time now and I don't want anyone to hurt." She told me, holding her cloak closer to her body. "Star, if it helps I'll tell you my story."

I looked down to her and saw her empty eyes, it looked like she wanted to hide, but no tears rolled down her face. "I can see it brings you hard memories, you don't have to." I told her, but she shook her head and leaned closer to me. "No, I've been holding all this in, I need someone to talk to." She told me, closing her eyes and letting her head fall down against me. "Alright, I'll listen, then I'll tell you my story, is that fine?" She nodded and turned back towards the rain, looking away in the distance.

"It all started maybe about seven years ago. My father, my brother, and I lived in a distant, and unknown city. It was a place ruled by a tyrant gang who controlled it with an iron fist, and my family lived in the slums. My mother had died at my birth because of a disease that passed on to me, giving me the white hair and eyes. My father quit his job and turned to drinking heavily, because of that my older brother worked plenty of odd jobs so he can afford to buy me and himself stuff for survival, he worked alot of jobs so I didn't have to work on the streets." She paused for a moment before starting to shake and lowering her head.

"That didn't protect me from my drunk father, he always took his rage out on me and releasing his emotions on me, if you catch my drift." I gasped from surprise, I've always heard of people like that but I never knew they existed, and what's worse is she was around ten. "Whips, glass shards, burns, you name it. I still have the scars." She removed her cloak and pulled up her shirt, showing me her back and her scars that cut deeper than I originally thought. "I had enough one day and when he tried using me again, I took the nearest sharp object and, well, you can guess what happened. What's worse is that I enjoyed it. I enjoyed hearing him plead, squirm. Does that make me bad?" She looked up at me, and I shook my head. "No, he had it coming." I told her, making her smile.

"Anyway, when my brother came home and saw me doing what I was doing, he thought it would be best if we ran. So, we ran for years, until he got cancer, he suffered slowly but wore a smile through it all. It hurt so much." Her grip on the railing tightened and she shook even more. "Requiem promised me if I joined him, he'll bring back my brother one day. And it's not like I have anyone else to turn to." It was silent for another minute as I tried processing what I just heard, eventually I pulled her into a hug and let her cry it out. "I promise, I'm not always this weak Star." She told me, and I just told her I believed her.

"Alright, so time for me to keep up my end of the bargin." I said more to myself than her, and began explaining everything that happened so far. My parents abandoning me, being adopted by my brother's sister, living my life as a loner, meeting Edge Reyukiz meeting everyone else, being possessed by Requiem, dating Skye, and finally the fact that I caught her cheating.

"Woah, I know it doesn't sound so bad, but that must be something terrible to live with. Almost killing everyone." She stopped and lowered her head, not crying but thinking. "My one question is why would Skye cheat on you? Your tall, handsome, strong, you protected her by offering your life as payment, and you sound like the loyal type." She said, blushing once again.

"Trust me, I'm sure as hell not handsome or tall. With this hair I look like a female, Edge is taller than me by a whole lot, and I'm not strong I'm just stubborn." I told her, but she persisted, telling me that long hair looks good on me, that I'm the best looking guy she's ever seen and so on. "Is this your attempt at flirting?" I asked her, and she fell silent.

We stood there for a while, waiting for the other one to say something, but it was just silent. Finally, she decided to speak up, "yes, it was. I know I quite literally just met you, but you are the only one I feel like I can trust, not to mention I grew up with a harsh life and whenever I'm close to you I feel like I'm safe. Skye was an idiot and a fool to take you for granted, but I promise not to do that. I know I'm probably coming off as desperate here but-" I cut her off with a kiss, she froze for a second as I persisted and pulled her closer. Eventually she melted into it and wrapped her arms around my neck as the rain disappeared and the warmth of the sun rose up from behind the mountains.