Work Text:
Judai couldn’t even begin to breathe as fires burned around him and buildings continued to crumble. He felt rather than heard the low growl of the creature in front of him, a massive rumble coming from the impossibly large beast. Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion and at lightspeed all at the same time as the monster began to open its mouth, energy gathering in the back of its throat. His duel disk had been broken and knocked away along with his deck. There was no way he could summon something to shield him from the oncoming blast. Judai could feel Yubel in the back of his mind, screaming at him to move, to do something, anything to get out of the way, but their words fell on deaf ears. He’d twisted his ankle on a bad landing earlier, there was no way he could move fast enough to get out of the way. Besides, if he took this hit it might buy time for someone else to escape…
Judai could feel the heat from the monster’s attack building and starting to burn his face. This was it, he winced as he shifted his weight to brace himself for the impact, but the blast never came. Everything stopped as Judai felt a pair of hands shoving him aside with more force than he thought possible, he barely had a moment to register the flash of teal in his vision as he was sent flying away from the beam firing from the dragon’s mouth. Horror crossed his face as he crashed into the ground a short distance away and everything exploded.
“JOHAN!!”, Judai screamed as he scrambled to his feet ignoring the pain searing through him. He pulled at chunks of rubble, throwing debris aside as quickly as he could calling Johan’s name. Johan coughed, “Judai…” His legs were still partially buried and clearly broken, and there was blood, so much blood, oh god why was there so much blood? Judai could feel tears streaming down his face as he held the teal-haired boy close to him, “Damn it, Johan. Why the hell would you do that? Why?” Johan smiled faintly, reaching up to touch Judai’s cheek, his voice was pained and weak, “Because Judai, I love you. I’ve loved you for so long, and I couldn’t just…” He paused to cough, more blood escaping his mouth, “I wasn’t just going to let you die…” Judai took Johan’s hand and squeezed it tighter than he ever had, desperate to hold on to his friend, no, more than his friend. Johan had always been more than just a friend to him, he had just never managed to see it, and now… Judai managed to choke out the words, “I love you too, Johan. I’m sorry I never realized it before, I’m sorry I didn’t--” Johan just smiled, his own tears running down his face. He pulled on Judai’s hand and gently pressed the brunette’s fingers to his lips, his voice was so much fainter now, “It’s okay, Judai. The time I had with you, was still the happiest time of my life.” He laughed, “I feel selfish… for wishing I could have shared more of it with you…” He looked up at Judai’s face one last time, emerald eyes still shining, “I love you, Judai.”
Judai screamed as he watched the light fade from Johan’s eyes, sobbing as he begged for Johan to breathe, to feel his hand wrapped around his, to hear his sweet voice again. He begged to anyone who would listen for just a chance to give the beautiful boy everything he had deserved and more, a chance to give him more than this. Judai clutched Johan’s body close to his chest, not caring about the blood covering his clothes or the destruction still happening around him. He was vaguely aware of Yubel’s presence trying to convince him to move somewhere safer, but he didn’t care. He just screamed, thinking about all the moments they could have had together, if only he had just…
Judai felt something rippling under his skin as raw power began surging through his veins. Anger, grief, and despair all warred within him as a familiar darkness threatened to take him over once again. Yubel screamed at him to come to his senses but he wasn’t listening anymore, all he could hear was the dragon’s distant screeching as it burned more of the city. He looked down at Johan's face still smiling peacefully in his arms, and Judai gave in. Golden eyes glared up at the smoke filled sky as darkness radiated off of him, he was going to find whoever caused this, they were going to feel every ounce of pain Johan felt as his life was stolen from him, along with all of the hurt Judai felt now. The king had returned and there was only one thing on his mind.
Revenge.