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Fifteen. Such a simple age. Fifteen year olds should be playing video games, dueling, and talking. They should be having fun after school while they watch in excitement for the next announcement of a tournament. They should be idolizing celebrities, having fun, and not giving a care to world. This was not the case for Yuya Sakaki and Yuzu Hiragi. The war changed them both. Yuto finally passed on into the next life, leaving Yuya with his own mind for the first time in months. Yuya had been separated from everyone he loved, tortured, and possessed. Yuzu was faring only slightly better. She still cried at night as she remembered the duelists who had risked everything for her, and only had been carded in return. The people whose souls were sealed into cards were released, but they were broken, traumatized. Asuka was a sobbing mess, only talking about the darkness and the cold. She wouldn’t believe that she had been saved. Yuzu and Yuya returned to Standard with a victory for their people, but not themselves. The subject of Yusho didn’t dare cross their lips, even if it ran rampant through their minds. His final stand against the Professor was impressive, but he lost nonetheless. He had been sentenced to a fate far worse than carding, and it broke Yuya and Yuzu both. Yoko was supportive. She didn’t make Yuya go to You Show, and she let him only talk about the issue when he wanted to. She still made him get out of bed every day, but she let him move at his own pace to recovery. Even with help from their friends, nightmares plagued both Yuya and Yuzu. They would both wake up screaming, and it broke their parents’ hearts as they softly cooed their son and daughter back to sleep. So one night, when Yuzu arrived at the Sakaki house drenched in rain shivering and crying, she wordlessly let her in, dried her off, then showed her the way to Yuya’s room. Yuzu’s nightmare that night had been of losing Yuya to the darkness, losing him to that crazy being the used to reside in him. She was so terrified that she had to check on him. It may have been irrational, but she needed to see him. Then she asked if she could stay the night. At first Shuzo was very skeptical, but after watching Yuya and Yuzu for two nights, he decided those kids needed time together. At first they slept on separate beds, but then one night, Yuya’s nightmares came. “d-don’t take her away. Please no…” He whimpered helplessly in his sleep. Yuzu hadn’t even fallen asleep yet, and she wandered to his side of the room. She gently shook him awake. “I’m right here.” There were tears in his eyes when he saw her. She crawled into his bed and wrapped her arms around him. She didn’t need to ask for permission. He hugged her back tight, and they didn’t sleep for the rest of the night. They only kept reaffirming to each other that they were real, and they were there. Yuzu buried her face in Yuya’s chest, and snuggled closely. Shuzo absolutely freaked out when he found out the next morning. “I TRUSTED YOU KIDS. I TRUSTED YOU AND YOU LET ME DOWN. HOW COULD YOU DO THIS YUZU?” That was awkward. A hefty amount of explaining later and everything went back to normal. One night, Yuzu came early. “Hi Ms. Sakaki.” She sounded tired a lot these days, and now was no exception. “Oh, my dear! It’s a bit early to go to bed, don’t you think? Here, you can spend some time with Yuya before then.” Yoko led the girl up the stairs once more, and led her into Yuya’s room. “Yuzu!” He looked in surprise at her. “Sorry, I needed to see you.” She smiled apologetically. “Ok.” It was a simple confirmation, but it was all she needed. Yoko left, and Yuzu sat on the end of Yuya’s bed as she let out a long breath. “I prayed for so long that this wasn’t a dream. I still think if I stop, even for a second, I’ll wake up.” She admitted, and Yuya nodded in agreement. “The flashbacks are kinda bad. Yuto must have left some of his memories or something, cause I can still remember Heartland. All those innocent people, hunted like they were just animals.” Yuya stared at the floor as tears started to gather in his eyes. Yuzu put her arms around him and pulled him close. “Let’s go to bed early tonighr, okay? Just let me brush my hair, I’ll be right there.” Yuzu grabbed her bag and left Yuya’s room to find the bathroom. She let her hair out of its pigtails and it rested upon her shoulders, pink locks falling over her collar. As she started brushing, she began to sing. It was habit, Yuzu loved to sing, and she always sang when she brushed her hair. If she had known her mom, she felt like her mother would have done the same. Yuzu would sing lullabies to herself because her mother never would. In the corner of the mirror, she saw Yuya walking up the hallway. “Are you okay?” She stopped brushing her hair and looked at him with concern. “Yeah, I’m fine. How come you never sing? Your voice is really pretty.” Yuzu blushed and looked downward. “I’m kind of self-conscious about it. But thanks for the compliment.” She turned back to the mirror to continue brushing her hair. “Don’t stop, please.” The remark surprised Yuzu. She blinked, looking back at Yuya, then looked back at the mirror as she sang a soft familiar tune. It was sweet, about the ties between people that can’t be broken. She kept brushing her hair until the end of the song, though she had finished halfway through. That night, when Yuya mumbled to her in his sleep, she sang a soft lullaby, sweet and caring. He actually relaxed at the sound of her voice, and she left herself drift into the sweet embrace of sleep with Yuya. The two kids were broken, broken beyond what anyone else could repair, but they slowly mended each other. Ruri had loved Yuto. She still did. She loved him like she loved her own brother, she cared about him, and she lived with him. He was like her second brother. But then she grew to care for him more. She knew that she loved him, but she kept her feelings to herself, they were in a war after all. So even though the night of her rescue should’ve been the happiest of her life, it terrified her. The tears streaming down Yuya Sakaki’s face when he saw her still haunted her. He cried her name like Yuto, embraced her like Yuto, and then promised everything he couldn’t give to her like Yuto. Then, the awful explanation followed. Shun had recklessly went to the Standard dimension, and Yuto followed. But only Shun returned home. Yuto cried with her, and he apologized like a madman for being so stupid and reckless. She only held him. Then, she met Yuya Sakaki. Yuya was a very different person from Yuto, but he still tried to make her smile, make her happy. And he did, to an extent. He performed entertainment duels for her, told her the story of his journey with Yuto and Shun, and more. But he wasn’t Yuto, as much as she wanted to believe it. Then came the day where Yuto died. After they defeated the professor and saved the girls, he said he had felt death calling him, but refused for her sake. He was on a constant struggle to not pass on to the next life. So, for the final time, Yuya let Yuto take control, and Ruri kissed him goodbye. When she broke away from him, his eyes opened to be a warm crimson, and the final words broke her. “He’s gone.” She grieved with Shun, but Yuya had to go home. The worlds were returning to the way they should be, separate. Ruri, Shun, Allen, Kaito, and Sayaka all held a private funeral for Yuto. Shun and Kaito paid their respects silently, while Allen and Sayaka, and Ruri read obituaries. After everyone else had left, Ruri unclasped the angel wings hair clip she always wore and placed it next the picture frame of her, Yuto, and Shun together. Then something miraculous happened. Her bracelet began to glow, the first time it had since the end of the war. It was bright, so much so it hurt her eyes. She shielded them from the harsh light, and then she turned around towards Yuto’s memorial, but everything there was gone. In its place, Yuto laid sleeping, Ruri’s hair clip in his hand. She rushed over, laying her head against his chest. He had a heartbeat. She wept tears of joy, hugged him, and thanked whatever force it was that brought him back to her. Then, her bracelet cracked. It was sudden, and it shocked Ruri from her tears. The bracelet lay in pieces on the floor, with the little gem in the middle being completely cracked and dull. Ruri ran after her brother, desperate to tell him the good news. At first he refused to believe her, thinking she was delusional. However, when she showed him the cracked bracelet, he ran like a madman towards the memorial. Yuto still lay there, breathing and alive. When they brought him to a doctor, the poor guy had no idea what to make of the whole situation. Yuto was fine, he was just unconscious. Yuto woke up that next day. It was very ceremonious, and Ruri hugged him so much during those next few days. She told him everything she wished she could’ve said. How much she loved him. How it broke her when he was gone. She loved him so much. Shun was skeptical at first, and even had to pull his sister aside. “Are you sure this isn’t pity? You’re not just doing this because he died?” “I’m doing this because I realized what happened when he died. I never got to tell him the truth, so I’m telling him now. I love him Shun.” There was definitely a recovery period. Yuto couldn’t remember anything after he left Yuya’s mind, it was a complete blank. Everyone still had bad memories of the war. Yuto had them the worst, his flashbacks and nightmares were awful. Ruri decided to give him everything she could to help curb his pain. In the dead of night, when the two were alone, he would tell her the awful feeling of rage always bubbling under the surface, kept at bay by his and Yuya’s will alone. She told him it was over, that she was here, and that thing was gone. And so even if it wasn’t their first, the kiss under the moonlight was the sweetest either Ruri or Yuto had ever tasted. Picture of Art Inspired By This Fanfic Here