Chapter Text
As much as Yubel wished for him to be, Judai Yuki was not the Supreme King. Yes, the boy had his soul, the tender spirit of Yubel’s once friend. The resemblance was too uncanny for it to be otherwise. He had her prince’s face, his voice and even his ability to communicate to duel spirits. But the Gentle Darkness, the source of the Supreme King’s power and what earned him his title, was completely absent from the boy’s soul.
Judai Yuki was not the Herald, the burden was not his to bear. With that knowledge, Yubel sighed in relief. She had followed her prince’s soul through several cycles and every time, without fail, the Gentle Darkness would shatter whatever life he had lived until that point and force him to construct something completely new from the pieces. It had hurt her as much as it had hurt him for him to combat the Light of Destruction again and again for an uncountable amount of lifetimes. Now he was free and Yubel wept tears of joy.
But the Gentle Darkness would need a host. It would find another poor soul to become the Herald…and Yubel would have to protect it. That was why she gave up her humanity after all. As much as she loved her prince, he would never become king. Not in this lifetime.
Without the Gentle Darkness, Yubel had very little means of manifesting her power in the human dimension. She was a simple spectator as her dear Judai lost again and again against other children. There had been times when she wanted to punish those brats for slighting her prince, to show them a portion of the power that he possessed…only, he didn’t anymore. Judai was not the Herald, he had no power beyond being able to communicate with spirits. There was no means for her to interfere without draining the boy dry of energy.
In the end, that proved to be a good thing. Over the years, Judai grew to be a stronger duelist. He learned from his losses and progressed becoming better after every game, regardless of the outcome. Making friends came so easily to him and he surrounded himself with people wherever he went but he never forgot his deck. He always remembered Yubel and his other duel spirits, no matter how many human friends he had. It quelled Yubel’s jealously, stopping the destructive envy from rising and lashing out.
Judai, with Yubel and his Elemental Heroes, attended Duel Academia, a school on an island in the middle of the ocean. His school life had been rather domestic. The most interesting events being a certain professor’s attempts to expel him and the arrival of transfer students from sister schools in his third year. There were times, though, that Yubel felt something stirring. There was a dark presence underground just waiting to burst through. She also felt the Light of Destruction approaching, it had found its vessel while the Gentle Darkness had yet to make its appearance. In the end, nothing happened. Judai graduated at both the top and bottom of his class, being the worst duelist in theory yet the best in practical.
For many years afterwards Judai travelled the world helping people with spirit related problems, acting as a bridge between duelists and monsters. It was something he had always ended up doing in all of his past lives. Yubel had thought it was due to the Gentle Darkness but no. It was all Judai.
After almost ten years of globetrotting, of helping her prince help others, Yubel finally found the Herald. It wasn’t an experienced duelist brimming with power or even a child trying to manage their duel spirits. The Herald, the one destined to become the Supreme King and harness the Gentle Darkness, was shoved in her face by an overly-excited Judai.
“Yubel, meet my cousin’s eldest!” He said, holding the drooling baby in his hands. “Yuri, meet my partner Yubel!”
The baby pulled his fist out of his mouth and stared at her intensely. At first Yubel thought he couldn’t see her and that her hunch was wrong, but then the baby reached out with his saliva-covered hand and grabbed her hair, pulling hard.
“Mine!” little Yuri declared, somehow managing to physically touch her, something that Judai could never do.
“See, he likes you!” Judai laughed.
And for once, despite knowing all the pain he would have suffered from both his own powers and Yubel herself, she sincerely wished that Judai had been the Herald.
{~~~}
They asked so nicely.
Come duel with us! They said.
It's just for fun. They said.
They made it sound like such a kindly offer but I could see straight through their lies. It was far from a friendly duel. It was a question of my skill. It was a challenge to my power.
Declining was never an option.
Losing was never a possibility.
I had Venom’s full support, of course. Mother and Grandfather don’t understand. The Synchro trash and Xyz scum were far from understanding. And Yuya...a child like him understood nothing. But Venom always understood.
They located the ‘friendly duel’ in the park, filled with evergreens and lush vegetation. Fools, the lot of them. Never give your opponent the terrain advantage.
Contrary to what my ‘dear brothers’ may believe, I can take pleasure in something other than causing pain and suffering. I gave them a chance and they were...surprisingly decent. Not good enough to match myself, of course, but they had some skill. An effective combo here, a inventive counter there...I might have actually begun to… enjoy myself.
But…
You call that an opening field?
In the end…
Watch this! It'll be an OTK this turn!
They were all the same…
What more were we gonna expect? He's the Coward's son after all.
Fools, the lot of them.
{~~~}
Judai always liked coming back to Domino City. While he didn't grow up there, he considered it home more than the suburbs he spent his childhood in. It was like a second home, with his uncle and cousins readily welcoming him without the stigma and disapproval he felt from his parents. The fact that it was basically the dueling capital of the east also helped. There had been rumors that Kaiba Corp and Leo Corp were planning a city wide duel tournament and Judai was hoping that he would be in town when that happened.
However, he wasn't here for a simple social call. Judai made his way to the Security Maintenance Bureau station, or Sector Security as some people called it. They had replaced the normal police force almost twenty years ago, when part of the city was split off and became the Satellite Commons. The city council had claimed it was an earthquake but Judai knew better. He felt the blast all the way from the Academia and that was in the middle of the ocean. It was something duel spirit related, he was certain. Sadly, the information was so closely guarded that he couldn’t investigate without getting arrested.
But he wasn't here for duel spirit or possible government conspiracies. This was a family matter.
The receptionist eyed him wearily, probably taking offence to his grubby appearance in their sparkling clean lobby.
“How can I help you, sir?”
Judai put on his most charming smile and said, “Do you know where I can find Officer Ushio?”
“And why it that?” she wasn't quite being rude, but it was obvious she wanted him gone.
“I'm here about my cousin Sakaki.”
The lady flinched and paled dramatically. She quickly turned away, completely ignoring him and most likely hoping he would just go away.
Judai frowned at this. Drop the name Sakaki and people would normally think of Yusho, the coward duelist. That wasn't something that would make someone fearful.
He didn't have too long to ponder that thought as a man approached him. The man was an officer, the uniform told him that much, and was half a head taller than Judai. There was a stern tight expression on his face and a scar across his cheek.
“You here for Sakaki?” he said gruffly.
Judai nodded. “I'm his cousin...well technically his mother's cousin making me his first cousin once removed…” the officer glared at him and he stopped rambling. “Judai Yuki, sir.”
“Come with me.”
The officer kept a brisk pace, causing Judai to lightly jog just to keep up.
“Pretty big place you got here.” Judai said once they were somewhat level.
The officer kept silent.
Judai continued talking, trying to fill the awkward silence. “You know it kind of reminds of Duel Academia with all the squeaky clean halls and doors and stuff. Do you guys have a lecture hall here by any chance? That would be cool, and a good place to nap. No one goes into a lecture hall unless they have to so it's great for some extra shut eye just make sure that you can't spotted easily and that it's empty. There was this one ti-”
The officer suddenly stopped and Judai walked straight into his back. Ushio turned to face him, looming over him in an attempt to be intimidating.
“Do you know why Sakaki is in here?”
Judai dropped his happy facade, matching Ushio’s glare with his own. “Five poisoned, three concussed and dozens of other minor cuts and gashes, all from a duel without Solid Vision.” Judai said, surprising the officer. “I dropped by the hospital before coming here and Yoko told me what she knew when she called me.” He didn’t mention the outburst of duel energy that drew him to the area. Judai was sure others would have noticed as well, his energy sensing abilities were far from the best. He needed to get to his cousin before anyone else could.
Officer Ushio fell silent once again before and Judai stayed quiet for the rest of the way there.
He was led to a white room with a small table and two chairs. His little cousin, Yuri, was sitting on one with his hands cuffed behind his back. He sat with back straight and face blank, paying no attention to his faint bruises on his arms or the red splatters on his pale purple shirt. Encircling him was the hazy form of a purple dragon, completely invisible to those who couldn't see duel spirits. It barely fit in the room, head on Yuri’s lap and long serpentine tail flicking across the room. Yuri and his dragon noticed their arrival simultaneously, the boy flashing a thin cat-like smile while the dragon rising to its full height, wings extended and teeth bared.
Ushio may not have been able to see the dragon but it was obvious he could sense its presence, slightly cowering under its girth. Judai knew this was how a young boy, barely through his teens, had managed to strike fear throughout the entire force. Whether the dragon was his spirit partner or the manifestation of his soul, Yuri’s monster was extremely powerful even in such a vague form. It even made an experienced spirit duelist like Judai a little weary.
Generally when faced with a dangerous creature, one was to approach it slowly and cautiously to avoid startling it. Judai thought that was completely stupid. He swung around Ushio and the dragon before either could react and caught Yuri in a tight hug.
“Heyas Cabbage Patch! How’s my favourite cousin been?”
Yuri’s eyes widened. “Uncle Judai…” he muttered, shaking his head slightly to signal to his dragon not to pounce.
“You bet it is!”
With a quick trick using a bobby pin up his sleeve, Yuri’s cuffs fell away. Judai pulled him to his feet and out the door, the dragon reluctantly trailing behind.
“So where do I have to sign?” Judai asked the officer cheerily, keeping a tight grip on Yuri’s hand.
If there was one thing Judai had learned during his travels, people caught in a state of shock and disbelief were more likely to do things your way. He kept up his exaggerated optimism, breezing through the paperwork and collecting Yuri’s confiscated deck. In record time, they were out the door and away from the station.
Yuri’s dragon had yet to fade away. Instead, it became more defined now that he had his deck back. Judai could now make out a set of curved horns on its head and red orbs along its wings. Thick saliva dripped from its fangs, ready to sink into flesh on the orders of its master. Starving Venom Fusion Dragon. Judai should have known. It was his cousin's ace but he still wasn't sure if it was his partner or soul. It kept close, slinking in the shadows behind them, with its sheer presence causing others to keep their distance. Regardless of what Venom was to Yuri, it showed that he had incredible power. Too much for a boy that was barely fourteen and it was something that Yuri was aware of and all too eager to abuse.
“What are you doing here?” Yuri asked.
Judai gave a vacant smile. “Rather philosophical question, don't you think?”
Yuri remained neutral but Venom growled in his stead. “You know what I mean. You may be an idiot, but you're not that kind of idiot.”
“Guess I should that as a compliment.” Judai said with a slight laugh. “Your mom called. She was worried after all. You got arrested and I was closer to Domino than she was. You should call her when we get home. I'm pretty sure I've still got your uncle’s landline in Heartland.”
“No, she brought Yuya and Yuto with her. She would have her hands full enough with those two, especially the Xyz scum.”
“Yuri.”
“Xyz user.”
Judai sighed. That was the best that he was going to get out of him. He didn't get what Yuri had against his brothers. He could understand that having three other people running around with the same face being annoying but it was better than being alone.
“So how's Yugo?”
“He's on Satellite.”
Judai came to sudden halt. “What?!”
“That idealistic fool got himself marked and tossed with the rest of the trash. Apparently, attacking major politician is a big no go.” Yuri said, a little too smug for Judai’s liking.
“You shouldn't talk about your brother like that.”
“Why not? He wasn't smart enough to not get caught and he wasn't strong enough to break out of custody. As far as I'm concerned, he belongs there.”
“Like those kids deserved to be sent to hospital?”
Yuri stopped walking but he didn't turn to face Judai. Venom snuck into Judai’s shadow, looming over his master’s latest adversary.
“Yes.” He said plainly, neither him or his dragon showing any signs of guilt or remorse. “They questioned my ability and thus were justly punished.”
“Those kids just wanted a friendly match!” Judai yelled. “They weren't bullies or anything. You went too far!”
Yuri turned to face him, eyes narrowed and harsh. “What would you know? You weren't there.”
Yuri turned away, returning to his stride back home, Venom slinking out of Judai’s shadow and into his.
“ You’re right, I wasn't.” Judai mumbled. “But someone should have.” And, not for the first time, he cursed Yoko’s damned husband for disappearing then himself and the rest of his family for not noticing this sooner. He needed to do something now, or else...he didn't even want to think of the alternative.
{~~~}
There was a surprising, and terrifying, amount of ways to supress a duelist’s ability to communicate with spirits and most could accidently be done by the average shrink. Hypnotism. Mind over matter. Plunging someone into denial and ignorance of their own abilities. A powerful spirit duelist would be able to server the bonds completely to the point where the victim would be unable to see their cards. That was beyond Judai’s ability, to his great relief. The most he could do was temporarily restrain it.
Judai had reluctantly sealed away the abilities of too many duelists in the past, young or old,willing or unwilling. He knew exactly what to do and the knowledge made him sick in the stomach.
His uncle, Yuri’s grandfather, was out visiting a friend so it was just the two of them at the house. Yuri, despite his general rudeness, trusted Judai greatly. He had helped him develop his abilities and relationship with his deck, basically teaching him how to use these powers. Judai honestly favoured Yuri more out of all of his brothers. It made doing this so easy and so much harder.
Yuri was limp on the couch, eyes unfocused in his drugged state. The tv was playing static in front of him, drowning out any other noise, especially the growls and cries from his deck hidden away in a closet upstairs. The spirits would lash out against Judai the moment he would approach them. They would feel him muffling their bond and would know exactly was responsible, Venom especially. Yuri’s deck would be votile and dangerous and Judai wasn't sure if he could tame it but this had to be done.
Yuri had the ability to severly injure ten people with nothing more than paper and ink cards willingly, something that even a spirit duelist twice Judai’s age would struggle to do. It wasn't that he couldn’t control his power, Yuri just didn't seem to bother. It was ingrained down to his slightest gestures, a complete apathy to those around him. Judai was an exception, at least he thought he was, duel to a slight sense of respect and seniority when it came to spirits. He wasn't quite sure how Yuri had become like this, Judai had fond memories of a younger Yuri that was fiercely overprotective and caring of his brothers, but he was certain that Yusho’s disappearance played a huge part of it.
Judai pulled a cracked half of a pendant from under his shirt. It was a little souvenir from one of his few interesting experiences at the Academia. It was half of a shadow charm and had protected from many close calls and spirit attacks in the past.
Kneeling in front of the drugged boy Judai swung the pendant between their eyes, Yuri’s dilated pupils following the its path. He didn’t need to use it but Judai found that having something the other person to focus on generally made the entire ordeal less likely to backfire. Judai tuned out all of his other senses, focusing solely on Yuri’s pale fushia eyes. They weren't called the window to the soul for nothing. Hours ticked by, and Judai continued to stare into his eyes. He kept his focus on Yuri, resisting the urge to let his focus wander. Losing focus would have all of this end badly.
Judai wasn’t that powerful to begin with, his abilities should have stopped with talking with duel spirits, but Yubel gave him the capability. Spirit partners channeled their duelists power, acting as an outlet. The power of the duelist had to match that of the partner. A weaker partner would end with the spirit being overloaded by the power, possibly even dying from the strain. A weaker duelist would create a restless spirit, unsatisfied by the output and often ending with the human’s death at their partner’s hands.
Yubel should have killed him long ago, his overall power was pathetic compared to what a spirit like her needed, yet she hadn't. Yubel had never told him why and Judai saw no point in pursuing the matter. It was her unfilled threshold that would absorb the excess of Judai’s target and he would be able to dive into the soul, covered in Yubel like a spiritual scuba diving suit.
‘Soul diving’, as Judai liked to call it, was always a slow and gradual process to enter another's soul room. Yubel would sumerge herself in the other’s power and Judai would be dragged into her and into the other’s soul and in the soul room the line between Judai and Yubel would blur until they were both and neither at the same time.
Come to think of it, Judai hadn't heard anything from Yubel since they arrived in Domino...
‘Judai! Focus!’ Yubel quipped.
‘Sorry.’
The world was fading away but at a pace that Judai barely noticed. He felt Yubel, filled with Yuri’s power and fuller than she had ever felt before, enroaching on his soul. Then they weren't fully two separate beings anymore, slowly becoming one and sinking into Yuri’s soul until…
Judai-Yubel’s eyes snapped open. They gasped.
Was this really Yuri’s soul?
Scratch that, was this even a soul room at all?
It was smaller than any soul room that they had been in before. There were no solid walls or edges, only mist that faded into darkness, but the overally sense of claustrophobia made then feel they were in a room a third or even a fourth of the normal size. This was only part of a soul and there was no indication where the rest was. The only relief was that the split wasn't recent. It hadn't happened in Yuri’s lifetime but in a previous incarnation.
There were no decorations that could represent dreams, no trinkets to represent family and friends, no items to represent treasured memories...there wasn't even a pot plant. The room wasn't exactly empty though. A fog of darkness seemed to occupy all the space, preventing anything else from existing.
They could see the streams of power and the bonds with his spirits stream over the ‘wounds’, acting like bandages and preventing the fragment from breaking apart any further. Normally they would ‘move’ it to another part of the soul, still accessible if a person knew where to look but not immediately so. (They were good at hiding things, very rarely would the spirit abilities be found without an intervention.) ‘Moving’ would undoubtedly kill Yuri, his shattered soul unable to exist if his spirit bonds were anywhere but where they were now.
Judai-Yubel were at a lost. They couldn't leave Yuri the way he was, that would be too dangerous in the long run, but they couldn't approach his soul as they normally would.
The darkness swirled around them. Judai-Yubel braced themselves, ready for the darkness to attack and preparing their own counter attack . They had spent too long contemplating their options and Yuri’s mental defences had finally noticed them. It was ridiculously naive to think that a soul room with such powerful spirit bonds, even if it was a broken fragment, would be completely defenceless.
It engulfed them, but it wasn't hostile. It...was caressing them? Welcoming them? The darkness was so gentle and oddly familiar. The darkness made a suggestion: why not hide his abilities in plain sight? It blanketed the bonds eagerly, erasing them from Yuri’s perception yet kept them perfectly in place. It was the most unorthodox yet effective method they had ever seen. Neither Judai nor Yubel would have been thought such a thing were possible. It was completely self-defeating, why would a part of Yuri’s own soul work with them to seal part of it away?
Judai didn't know why.
Yubel knew exactly why.
In the end, beggars couldn’t be choosers.
Judai’s consciousness unwound from Yubel’s and he faded back into reality. Sunlight filtered through drawn curtains, it had to be noon at least. Judai sighed and pocketed his pendant and switched off the tv. Yuri’s deck still whined but it was so faint he had to strain his ears to even hear it. Starve Venom Fusion Dragon was completely silent.
Yuri was asleep and would probably be for the next three or so days. Judai slowly eased his cousin down onto the couch. He looked so innocent, his cheeks were still round and soft with leftover baby fat. Yuri was only fourteen, Judai reminded himself. Too young to have his soul invaded...yet too young to hold so much power. Too young to even consider using it so violently.
...maybe friends would help.
Judai still had an hour or two before Uncle Sugoroku would be back and another couple days before Yoko returned from Heartland. He had a couple phone calls to make.
Auska was still worked at the Academia, right?