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“Rise up, Stardust Dragon!”
For the moment after the monster was summoned, it felt like Crow’s heart had stopped. He’d known it was coming, deep down. The chant was the exact one that… the exact one that he knew. He just… he’d never expected to hear it again.
Especially not from Yuya.
Yuya himself wasn’t the problem— honestly, he was probably one of the better people who could’ve had it. The problem was that anyone had it at all.
If someone else had it… that would mean…
…that would…
No. No, this couldn’t be happening. That can’t be it. Maybe Yuya just… borrowed it. Obtained it… properly? Yuya wasn’t the kind to do what Jack did and steal it… he wouldn’t do that. So… so he had to, he had to—
“Crow?”
His attention was drawn back to the duel.
He tried not to look at the dragon.
Yuya called out to him again, “You okay?”
Crow took a second to breathe, shaking his head a bit— as if it would help anything.
“Yeah…” he said, “I’m fine.”
He lost that duel.
—
Ring.
Ring.
Ri—
“Hello?”
He never thought he’d feel so relieved to hear that voice.
“Hey… Jack?”
He could almost hear his brother hesitating over the phone.
“…what happened.”
“It… it was Stardust. Yuya has it right now. I don’t know how.”
“WHAT?!”
He flinched, “I don’t… I don’t know, Jack. He brought it out during a duel— same chant and everything. I—“
“I’m on my way.”
“Wait, Jack, he—“
“I know he wouldn’t steal it. But he came across it somehow. And I’m going to find out how. Make sure he doesn’t leave.”
“I… yeah.”
—
Yuya wasn’t stupid. He’d noticed how Crow reacted during the duel they had. How he’d silently left into the house afterwards.
And he absolutely noticed how, when he saw him again, his eyes were all red, like he’d been crying for some reason.
As an entertainer, if Yuya’s dueling had made someone else cry…? He had to do something to make up for it!!
“Yuya,” Crow looked over at him, “would you mind… if I ask a few questions real quick?”
“Yeah, I don’t mind at all! What about?”
“That card you used. Star—“ he paused, taking a breath, “…stardust dragon.”
The man’s voice sounded strained, like he hadn’t wanted to acknowledge what had happened at all, much less out loud.
“Oh, that one? Yeah, I—“
The door flung open.
Yuya turned around to see who’d just entered, “Jack?! What-?”
“Duel me. Now.”
—
Honestly, Crow should’ve expected this. His oldest brother had always been… combative. If he wanted something, more often than not he would duel his way to it, and this was no exception.
And as for the duel itself, it was only a matter of time before Stardust appeared.
Crow thought he would be prepared for it this time. Yet, when the first words of the ever-familiar summoning chant were spoken, it was like the world had started falling apart all over again.
Crow didn’t think he’d ever see that card again, especially since the last time he did was… years ago. It had been before Jack even entered the Friendship Cup. A… long time before.
Maybe that was what made him decide leave again in the first place. A horrible thought, really, that one of them disappearing was all it took for everything to fall apart again. A horrible thought, and yet it was one that had haunted him for years now. That both his brothers had just… left him behind, even after everything.
The duel was ending now.
He didn’t care who won, but he could hear Jack yelling.
“Where did you get that card?! Who gave it to you?!”
“No one gave it to me!” Yuya said, “It just kinda… appeared?”
The word stabbed into Crow’s chest, a chill running through his veins. That would mean…
“It… what?” He whispered.
“It did, really!!” Yuya replied, “I just kinda found it a few days after the dimensions were connected? I have no idea where it came from, I promise!”
Found it… he found it. If no one gave it to him, did it… choose him..? And, if it did…
…did that mean…
Crow took a step back, “Just… just a second, I’ll be right back.”
Before Yuya or Jack could say anything to him, he retreated back into the house.
It wasn’t long before Jack came to find him.
“Crow?”
He looked over at his brother, rubbing a tear out of his eye, “Hey…”
Jack silently sat down next to him.
For years, the both of them had… clung onto tiny shreds of hope, in some way or another. Neither of them had wanted to believe that… he was really gone for good. But if Stardust… if Stardust was with someone else, what other explanation could there be?
Why would it be with anyone other than him, unless…
“He… he’s not gone… he can’t be gone… right…?”
“…I don’t know, Crow. I… don’t know.”
—
Yuya wasn’t sure what to do. Clearly Stardust Dragon meant something to Jack and Crow, and him summoning it had made them upset.
That was the exact opposite of what an entertainer was supposed to do! And yeah, he didn’t know, but…
Should he go after them? Try to make it better? Would that just hurt them more..?
So Yuya stood there, outside the house, when he noticed a spider hanging from the roof. (That was weird, he thought. There were never spiders here, Crow made sure of that.) It was small, connected to a thread that was only even visible due to the light of the setting sun.
“Wait, it’s almost night already?! Ah, I told mom I’d be home…” he stepped back up to the door, “I should tell them I’m leaving…”
Through the crack in the door, Yuya could hear a faint sob.
He closed the door.