The bracelet that leads to the future

Chapter 1: The midnight dancer

Chapter one: The midnight dancer

"- 2 weeks after Playmaker's spectacular victory against the knights of Hanoi-"

Serena heard the voice from the TV say, as her dream started to drift out of her mind. She could feel a mild buzzing in her head and a sickening feeling in her stomach. She opened her eyes carefully, so she wouldn't be overwhelmed by the bright light of the TV in front of her.

She was lying on the small sofa in the living room of her and Yuri's Apartment. Everything was, as always, neatly organized, mostly on the insistence of her significant other. Every item had its proper place and, on the floor, she could not find a speck of dust.

On her left she could see a possible reason for her buzzing head. There was a half empty bottle of vodka lying on the floor and a glass on the table next to the sofa.

Merely looking at the bottle made her stomach protest, so she decided to try to get a look outside the apartment window from her position on the sofa.

The window was lined by three exotic looking plants each wilder and more colorful than the last. Judging by the soft rays of light coming through the window, she would say it was very early morning.

She took a deep breath and the pain in her head started to slow down, but then another loud noise, from the TV, brought it back in full force.

"SOL technology has shut down the network and it has yet to be announced-"

After the sharp sting of pain past, she made it her mission to find the TV Remote, but after a moment of searching the sofa she couldn't find it. She resigned herself to laying on the sofa with the TV on, as standing up now would surely be worse.

She then tried to remember why she felt like drinking way too much Last night in the first place.

Stupid Yuri.

It came back to her all at once. They had a fight again. The very same fight in fact they had for a long time. He had slipped out of the house in the middle of the night and came back with bloody knuckles a few hours later.

"You need to stop this. It's been years, you won't find anything" she didn't know what else to say anymore it felt like she used every argument there was.

"But I am so close. I can feel it." he said in deep thought, like he was completing a puzzle in his head, like he needed to only reach a little further and it would all snap into place somehow.

"You have been close for almost 10 years now." she said trying to stay calm, getting angry would get her nowhere, she knew.

He snapped out of his thoughts, now looking at her. He just stared at her for a moment surely thinking of a clever and sarcastic comeback like he always does.

"You have just given up." he muttered, almost too quiet to hear. Tears wear forming in his eyes, even if he did the best to hide it.

"You have given up!" he cried loudly, "If you would only help me!"

He was fighting tears hard now and it looked like he was losing.

She was taken completely by surprise. She could feel his sadness, how deep his scars went. She had all felt it too. Still feels it in fact.

But she also felt anger rising in her. How could he think that she would just forget? Forget all that pain?

"Yuri you won't find anything, we have been looking for years! You need to deal with your anger in a better way than letting it out every night by dueling and then beating up some criminal you think knows something!" She could not keep her voice down anymore either and tears where started to form in her eyes as well.

He stared at her for a moment his face going through emotions so fast she could not name them all.

Anger.

Surprise.

Doubt maybe?

Then he stormed off without another word.

She heard the door of the apartment slam shut behind her. She stood there for another moment in silence to regain her composure and then she started to drink.

And that is why She was currently lying on the sofa with her head threatening to explode.

They had this dance before and in one or two-days he would come back home and bring her the most wonderful flowers.

His pride would only allow a small apology to come along with it, but she could feel how much he suffered from disappointing her.

She could never be mad at him for too long, after all there was a time when she went out and did the same thing every night to try to find answers. But after last night she knew deep down they couldn't go on like this and that both of them really needed help.

She really does love him despite everything. She loves him when he is making the funniest sarcastic remarks about the other Yu-boy, she loves him when he criticized her and drove her to be a better duelist, she loves him when he fought with everything in his academia programming to do the right thing, later making up some excuse as to why it was all his plan and she especially loved him when she is lying awake at night and he is awake right beside her.

Him being the only one who could understand her and her being the only one who could understand him.

Her thoughts drifted further to Yuri, as another loud noise brought her back to reality.

"-and here we see the final duel between the infamous leader of the Hanoi Revolver and Playmaker the hero of the VRAINS."

Serene looked at the TV with passing interest. She hadn't really kept track of the innovations in dueling being made in places other than Miami city. Much preferring the classic form of dueling that her Lancer friends in Maiami City and most in the other dimensions still used.

She, like many of the lancers, was also suspicious of this new VR Network being run by SOL tech. What was it called again? LINK VRAINS?

Currently the man in the white jumpsuit was having his turn and his moves were quite impressive from what Serena could tell. He completed something called an "extra link" (what was that all about?) effortlessly and his Monsters were facing his opponent.

She examined this "Revolver" more closely. According to the program he was the one causing trouble for the network, so his victory would probably mean something undesirable.

He was standing tall, confident in his victory. She was reminded of the academia soldiers during her youth. They caused mayhem, not looking at its cost, and thinking they were never going to lose. She and Yuri where like that too once, she supposed.

Her thoughts would have drifted again to her youth and her road out of Academia's doctrine, but fate had other plans.

The camera panned over to Revolver's opponent, who was now taking a knee, having just barely survived a brutal attack.

She recognized him instantly.

Everything around her stopped.

All the pain in her head and stomach didn't matter anymore, as she jumped up from the sofa. Sure, his hair was different and he was wearing a black and green bodysuit, but as she looked into that bruised face with green eyes, she knew and tears rolled down her cheeks.

Notes: Thank you for reading. Feel free to leave any thoughts and criticism. Have a nice day and stay frosty!