After Leaving the Bridge

A Dream Shared

The nightmares were now a nightly occurrence.

Nearly two years have passed since Yuya first started remembering, and the nightmares just seem to get worse as time goes on.

"Yugo and Yuto were really angry for some reason. They started to duel. And then Yuto disappeared."

"I was in this BIG turbo duel stadium! But then all my friends kept falling into this big hole in the ground. And I couldn't do anything to help."

"The city was blown up. All I could hear were screams."

"Yuzu was yelling for help. But every time I got close, she got further away."

"Gongenzaka, Sawatari, and I were running through a forest. Then Crow was there, too! But then a crazy guy came and started shoving Crow into a tiny box."

"Serena and Ruri were dueling against me. Yuzu was watching. And then, I got angry."

After every dream, Yuya found his way into the bed of one of his brothers. After months of constant nightmares, Yuya didn't even bother going to his own bed at night, choosing instead to just sleep with his brothers from the start in lieu of waking them in the middle of the night to ask.

Not even once did Yugo, Yuri, or Yuto complain. After every dream, Yuya would find himself in the comforting embrace of a sleepy Yugo, of a calmingly quiet Yuto, or of a gently smiling Yuri. They all took turns comforting their brother, especially when the dreams started affecting their sleep as well.

They didn't bother to question how. Everything about this situation confused them. They just wanted to figure out what they were seeing.

"It's like I was there with him," Yuri said, his eight year old body lying tired on Yugo's bed. They were taking advantage of Yuya's "playdate" with Gongenzaka at his family dojo. They'd passed on joining him this time in order to confront Yuri on why he'd been acting so strangely the past few days.

Yuri's eyes looked more haunted than should be possible for someone his age, if it weren't for the fact that he was practically ageless.

"One moment, I was floating in the comforting darkness of a dreamless sleep, the next, I was standing in our garden. And not the one from the Bridge, either. It was the original garden, I could feel it."

Yuto and Yugo were enraptured. During the many talks they had in the Bridge Between, Yuya almost never spoke about their shared time under Zarc. It was mentioned, of course, but never talked about in detail. Yuya did not wish to tell and they didn't want to push him. They couldn't change what had happened, and so they'd worked on helping Yuya with how to live life after that.

That didn't mean they weren't curious, though.

A whole chapter in their lives was missing. A chapter that shaped them and their souls into the beings they were today. They knew it wasn't a happy story, and that the ending would leave more pain than they'd ever felt throughout all their lifetimes, but they couldn't help but be curious.

"What was it like," Yugo whispered, holding onto every word his brother spoke.

Yuri's eyes were distant, watching a scene neither of his brothers could remember. "It was... reposeful," he sighed, all the tension he carried in his shoulders smoothing away at the memory, "it was every moment I spent there, just looking up at the sky, healed a scar on my heart that I didn't even realize was there."

Yugo could imagine it. Their garden, newly made and only for them. No one else was allowed, no one else could touch them there.

He was a bit scared to remember that time. It was his fault they even needed that garden to heal in the first place. He was the first to fall at the manipulations of Zarc and it was that failure to resist that brought his brothers down with him.

Yugo shook his head, pushing those thoughts away. If Yuya wasn't allowed to blame himself for everything that happened back then, then neither was he.

No matter how true those sentiments felt.

"Then what happened?" Yuto asked, trepidation in his heart as he thought about what could have turned such a peaceful memory into the nightmare that put tears into Yuya's eyes upon awakening.

Yuri frowned, his eyes conveying a pain his brothers empathically felt. "There was a knock on the door leading back into the castle. The peace of the garden shattered, and suddenly, it felt like I couldn't breathe. The air was heavy, and Yuto went to open the door."

Yuri's eyes were haunted as he turned to look at his brothers.

"It was Zarc," Yuri's voice wavered, feeling a fear unlike any other as he remembered the face of their past tormentor. He couldn't remember everything the man did, but he felt it in his soul. "He said something, but I couldn't hear what. Then, Yugo got up from his spot next to Yuya and walked out the door, Zarc's arm innocently thrown around his shoulders."

Yuri grasped at his chest, "I felt like a part of me died."

The three of them sat there, each consumed by their own thoughts on how the story that was their lives was progressing.

Yuto was the first to speak. "Okay. So, we're sharing dreams now. That's fine. It's not like any other part of our lives have been normal, anyway." He stood up from his spot on the carpet and dusted off his pants, "that doesn't change anything. Yuya will still have these nightmares, whether we share them or not, and we still need to be there for him. We promised, and I'm not too keen on breaking promises."

Yugo and Yuri nodded.

"Obviously," Yuri stated, the melancholy in his eyes dimming to make way for his usual mischief, "I won't leave our little brother alone with only you and Fusion to look after him, Yuto. He'd either turn into an angsty goth or a hyperactive adrenaline junky."

"Hey, Pinky! My name is YUGO!" the other shouted in reply, "I wouldn't leave Yuya in your care, either. He'd probably turn into an emotionally stunted psycho!"

Yuri jumped at the other, and the two brothers began wrestling on the bedroom floor. Yuto could only shake his head. What a pair of goofballs they were.

He wouldn't have it any other way.