Chapter Text
Ugh….
Everything hurt. It felt like his whole body was on fire. His head ached, his breaths were labored and shallow. With each heartbeat, he felt his head throb and his wounds leak more blood. His golden eyes were dull from the pain and from starvation. How long had he been here? One month? Two? It seemed like only yesterday he was forced into the Facility, screaming for murder and revenge.
“Hey Kyousuke, here’s your meal!”
The security guard threw Kiyruu’s food on the ground, and mushed it under his boot. Kiyruu was lying in a pile on the floor, staring helplessly at the mess the officer was making with his food. Today’s beating had been the worst yet, and it seemed like the humiliation still wouldn’t end.
“You want some of this?” The guard taunted, showing the bottom of his boot to Kiyru.
Kiyru was so weak, he could barely move his neck to gaze at the security guard. Even in this state, he still had a small ember of defiance still stubbornly burning inside of him. He glared up at the two guards. Fucking pigs. They couldn't do anything by themselves- they had to gang up on innocent people in order to make themselves feel good. It was pathetic, really. He gritted his teeth and spat out a blood clot.
The guards hated him for what he had done, and had made sure to make his life as much of a living hell as possible. They would ‘forget’ to feed him for days at a time, and would beat him up over minor infractions. Each day seemed to be the same- as though he was trapped in a fucked up Groundhog Day. He would wake up on the floor, attempt to get up, wait for food that didn't come, and hope that the guards wouldn't come attack him that day.
They would use any excuse they could imagine to come into his cell and beat him to a pulp. The other prisoners stayed away from him- anyone crazy enough to kill a member of Sector Security was someone to avoid at all costs. One unlucky man had tried to pick a fight with Kiyruu, and Kiyruu had all but killed the man. He’d been in solitary ever since.
“Aww come on, Kyousuke! Don’t tell me you’ve lost your appetite. You’re skin and bone; you should eat something!” The guard sneered.
“Come on, Johnson. We’ve got better things to do than deal with this boring Satellite. He doesn’t even fight back anymore!” said another.
“You’re right. Let’s let Kyousuke get his beauty sleep.”
“See you later, Kyousuke! Make sure to lick the floor clean!”
He heard the guards laugh and slam the door shut. All that was left was Kiyru and his thoughts. His lips twisted into an animalisitic snarl. His heart squeezed in rage and frustration. His useless, stupid body wouldn't fucking move anymore. There had been a time when he would gladly throw hands with the guards, but they never fought fair. Sometimes there would be three or four cops in his cell, and two of them would hold him back while the others beat him.
His rage and hate burned deep inside him- now nothing more than an ember- but it burned nonetheless. His hate had kept him alive- it had kept him alive in the Satellite when he and the rest of Team Satisfaction were fighting for their lives. It had kept him alive when he was being attacked by the other inmate. It had kept him alive after he'd been betrayed. He had vowed revenge on the one who got him sent here. His hate for that piece of shit kept him strong even in the worst of the beatings.
All Kiryu had wanted was to unite the Satellite to keep them safe. Was that so wrong? All he wanted was to protect the innocent and destroy the wicked. That was the whole point of Team Satisfaction! The others didn't get it- they had become soft and weak. They weren't willing to get their hands dirty in order to make their home a better place. Worthless! They were all worthless! He should have done it all himself.
He handled the beatings and the taunts- but when they’d taken his deck, it was like they’d taken his soul. After that, the fight had left him. Without his deck, he had nothing to live for. Once, he’d been a king, but now he was the dirt on the bottom of the guard’s shoes. Still, the wrath he felt still glowed in his chest.
Kiyru vowed to seek revenge on the one who had wronged him.
The man who had caused all this.
The man that he had once loved.
“Yusei.” He rasped.
He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had any water. He hadn’t been strong enough to even hoist himself up to drink out of the toilet like a dog. His lips were chapped and bleeding. His silvery blue hair was a greasy, bloody, tangled mess. Kiyru’s face was swollen, with black, purple, and yellow bruises covering his whole body. He was skin and bone- even skinnier than he’d been in the Satellite. If one of his filthy, traitor 'friends' saw him now, he doubted that they'd even recognize him. He was sure that he didn't even look human anymore.
At least in the Satellite he could count on Crow stealing them food eventually. He would happily take one of Jack’s shitty instant ramen that he was weirdly fond of. His stomach felt like a black hole, cramping and aching from the lack of nourishment. Kiyru had the corpse breath of an anorexic.
His mouth was as dry as the desert from one of the movies Martha had shown him when he was little. He would stay up late to watch movies about brave outlaws who did whatever they had to in order to save their towns from evil. He remembered making his friends stay up with him, sometimes falling asleep together. That softness was a lifetime ago, and now Kiryu's heart was as hard as titanium.
“Fuck…you… “ He whispered.
Kiyru had that scene playing over and over again in his mind. The lights, the sirens, the feeling of the guard's hands on him as he’d thrashed and fought against them- determined to try and escape them. The rain had cascaded down on him, as though the 0heavens were crying for him. He could still see the Sector Security officer approach Yusei.
“Nice work, kid. We couldn’t have caught him without you.”
Kiryu remembered screaming as though he was a wounded animal. Awful howls had come ripping from his mouth. He remembered the anger, the betrayal, the heartbreak that had swirled through him like a horrifying vortex. Kiryu felt as though his blood was on fire, and he emitted a demonic bellow. He would never be whole again.
“YUSEI YOU BASTARD! I’LL KILL YOU! DO YOU HEAR ME? I WILL FUCKING KILL YOU!” His voice, coming out in a high pitch.
“YUUUUSEEEEIIII!” He’d shrieked.
The cops took his handcuffs and forced him to sit on the bench. They chained his handcuffs to the seat, and he thrashed against them. His face twisted into something inhuman, snapping his teeth at them.
"Jesus, this kid is crazy." said one of the security officers.
"Fuck you, you fucking pig!" Kiryu shrieked.
He cried out as one of the officers punched him in the face. His ears rang and he felt the vibration in his teeth. His breath came in ragged gasps.
"Shut up you fucking brat." said the officer coldly, "Get used to this. The Facility will make you pay for what you've done."
The prison van doors slammed shut. Kiryu clenched his teeth and snarled as the van began to move. He began shaking with rage and sorrow. Against his will, tears began to fall. How could this have happened? Just yesterday he'd been the king of Satellite, and now he was in a cage.
“I…Hate….You….” He snarled.
Yusei. His right hand man. His best friend.
It was agony.
Kiyru spat out another tooth. How many had he lost again? He felt his senses start to dull, and his heartbeat starting to slow.
Am I dying?’ He wondered.
As his body shut down, he still felt the ember of hate glowing in his heart. No, it couldn’t end like this! Not like this- covered in blood and spit on the floor of The Facility. Not as a shell of a man, and not without getting his revenge. It should be Yusei lying here, not him! It should be Yusei lying in a pool of his own blood and bodily fluids! It should be Yusei who was stuck here, alone and afraid. They were supposed to have another duel! He was supposed to make that little bitch pay for daring to go against him.
Black spots began to fill his vision. He blinked slowly, and his breath caught in his throat. He wasn't ready to die yet! No, this wasn't fair! There was still so much he had to do! There was nothing he could do. All he could do was set his face into one final scowl as he faded away.
No, please, I'll do anything. I have to make Yusei pay. I have to. He thought into the void.
He blinked, and he was walking through darkness. His body no longer hurt, and his heart was still burning. He kept walking until he arrived in a room. It was a big room with a long, skinny table with two men sitting at it. There was a black candelabra illuminating their faces. One was a man who was wearing short sleeved black robes with red symbols on it. The other was wearing similar black robes but with yellow trim.
0
Kiryu looked up and around. The room was run down- as though it belonged to a haunted castle in some gothic novel. He looked at the two of them in confusion.
"What the hell? Who are you? Where am I?" asked Kiryu.
"Welcome, Kiryu. Please have a seat. We have much to discuss." said the man in red robes.
Kiryu stared at him suspiciously.
"How do you know my name?" he asked.
"Why wouldn't I know your name? You were fated to be here, after all." said the man.
"Fate? I don't believe in such things. Fate is a fucking fairytale." snapped Kiryu.
"I knew you'd say that, Kiryu. You've always been high-strung. Here I thought you wanted revenge against the ones that hurt you." he said.
That got Kiryu's attention.
"My revenge? You can help me get my revenge?" he asked fervently.
"Of course I can. You were chosen by fate to cleanse this world into darkness. You poor thing. You’ve suffered so much, and for what? For your friends to forget you and to move on? How unfair.”
"They threw me away like I was nothing! After everything we fought for, they went and pissed all over it! It was so unfair!" said Kiryu.
"I sympathize with you, Kiryu, and we can help. Please have a seat so we can better discuss things."
Kiryu finally sat down on the man's right side across from the one in yellow. He looked at him, and raised an eyebrow at the red marks on his face.
"I'm listening." said Kiryu.
“I’m a friend who is here to help. I’ve seen your suffering, Kiyru, and can't help but feel sorrow for you. Your eyes are full of hate, and that’s good. Hate keeps a man alive; it gives him strength. I need your help, Kiyru; I need your hate. I’m offering you another chance. Weren’t you and your friends supposed to have one last duel together? You can have that. You will have your revenge, and a new life. I'm offering you a second chance- a chance to be the king that you were fated to be. What do you think, Kiyru? Would you like that?”
“I can kill Yusei? We can have the final duel-the one we were supposed to have?”
“Absolutely.”
Kiryu raised his eyebrow again. Martha had always told him that if something sounded too good to be true, that it probably was. Still, all of this is strange.
"Where are we? Some kind of abandoned theater? This is kinda macabre, don't you think? This is the type of place that would make some middle school emo cream their pants." said Kiryu.
"Don't be so vulgar, Kiryu. It's unbecoming of you. This is our castle- where we will rule from once we overthrow the current world order. You are the third of our order- the Giant Ccapac Apu. You will crush our enemies under your might. You will be able to get your revenge on Yusei and finally be able to have peace." said the man.
"Who are you, anyway?" asked Kiryu.
"My name is Rudger. I am the leader of us Dark Signers, and this is Devack." said Rudger.
"Okay, Rudger, and what exactly are these 'Dark Signers'?"
"As I said, we are destined to bring in a new era of darkness and rule this world as gods." said Rudger.
He lifted up his arm, and a strange purple mark appeared. It was in the shape of a spider. A similar one appeared on Devack's arm, but this one was in the shape of a monkey. Kiryu hissed in pain as his arm began to glow as well. His was in the shape of a large man.
"Ouch! What the hell?"
"You see, Kiryu? You're meant to be here. The mark doesn't lie." said Rudger.
Kiryu didn't say anything and just stared at the mark. This whole thing was weird. Weird, weird, weird. Was this some kind of nightmare? How did he get here? The last thing that he remembered, he was dying alone on a cold jail room floor. Now he was in some sort of ruined castle hearing some guy ramble on about fate and destiny. Still, he might as well play along for now.
"Just how did I get here, anyway? Last I checked, I was fucking dying." he said.
"Your hate stood out among the darkness, calling out to us. Your time was cut far too short, and it would be unfair for you to pass on without finishing your business. Ccapac Apu chose you, Kiryu, to be his vessel and wreak your vengeance upon this world. We need you to crush Yusei in order for us to take this world. It's two birds with one stone- you can kill the man who betrayed you and become the king you were always meant to be. What do you think?" said Rudger.
Kiryu didn't say anything for a minute. Without warning, he erupted into high pitched, insane laughter.
"Oh, this has got to be some kind of crazy dream. Getting my revenge against Yusei? Hah! Fine, I accept your offer, Rudger. I look forward to making that worthless traitor pay for leaving me all alone in that fucking place. I'll do whatever it takes in order to make him scream in pain and fear." said Kiryu.
"Wonderful." said Rudger with a wicked grin.
The two shook hands, and smiled at one another.
"Rudger, this looks like the beginning of a wonderful relationship."