[u][b]Mina & Miles[/b][/u]

Mina woke up from all the yelling “Shut the fuck up!” She yelled, now finding it hard to go back to sleep. After giving up, she quickly got out of bed and went to find out what was going on. Getting her Ra Yellow uniform on, she headed out towards the lobby. Noticing a few people that were meandering around before heading back to their dorm room. “Wonder what’s going on?” She said, shaking her head. She decided to head outside of the dorm room for a breath of fresh air, curfew be damned. She looked up at the night sky, feeling a strange sense of bliss looking at the stars. From the corner of her eye she noticed something strange, at first she thought it was an animal. But it didn't seem like any animal she had seen before. 

“What is that?” She muttered to herself. Craning her head to the side trying to get a better look at whatever it was. But she couldn’t see it very clearly, since it was obscured by the brush and treeline.

“...Damn.” Miles muttered to himself. Why was everyone in Ra Yellow awake at this hour? Unless they figured out he and Roché were missing. It was a pretty unreasonable logical leap, but Miles was stressed and paranoid, and he knew he’d be expelled immediately if people found what he did to Roché. Still, he didn’t like the idea of inadvertently holding her hostage, so he sat her down, taking her out from the sack and leaning her against a tree, then began rustling a nearby bush to get the attention of one of the Ra Yellow students nearby. He’d have to spend the night outside and pretend to wake up in the middle of the woods. That should roughly match what Roché would experience, he thought.

As Mina approached carefully, she made out Roché’s bright red hair first, then the rest of her unconscious form, sitting against a tree, as a separate shadowy figure darted away.

Mina once again tried to make out what the figure was, but the treeline was obscuring her vision. She crouched down beside the unconscious girl with red hair, recognizing her as another Ra Yellow student.

She looked back towards the retreating figure - someone wearing a cloak, she realized, and couldn’t help but be curious as to what the hell was going on. By all appearances, someone had kidnapped Roché for some nefarious purpose and was just dropping her back off now. She didn’t look hurt, but she had no way of knowing that for sure, and no time to find out. “Why the hell did I get out of bed…” She pinched the bridge of her nose with her hand before deciding to not waste any more time.

She ran after the shadowy figure, tailing them. “Hey, stop!” She yelled out, hoping that the person would stop. However, it only seemed to make them run faster. Still, Mina was evidently more athletic than the cloaked figure, because after running and running, Mina only gained on them over time. As the futility of the chase became apparent, they continued a bit until they came upon one of the many small clearings in the forest and the cloaked figure whipped around, readying their duel disk.

Miles had decided that his only hope of getting this girl off his tail was to duel her off. Sure, she didn’t [i]have[/i] to agree to a duel in this situation, but what kind of barbarian wouldn’t? If she really wanted to act uncivilized, then he was confident his duel spirit could fight her off anyway. He recognized the girl - Mina, if he remembered correctly, but he didn’t know much about her personality or deck. All he knew about her was that she had a two-faced dog as her duel spirit, and that it wasn’t nearly as strong as his own duel spirit. He tried to recall the name of the duel spirit - it was something weird that didn’t fit it visually, like ghost retainer, or maybe revenant retainer. Some kind of zombie deck maybe? Whatever, it didn’t matter. He’d just have to beat her. He didn’t say anything, for fear she would recognize his voice, but he kept the cloak’s hood low over his face, and lifted his duel disk - his challenge was obvious.

Mina stopped when she noticed the figure pulling out a duel disk. “Fuckin hell, you wanna duel?” She was not sure dueling this person was the most logical idea. She could try to force the hood off of them, but she had an uncanny suspicion that they were stronger than they looked. She couldn’t explain the feeling, but then again, she couldn’t explain why she could communicate with Vampire Retainer. “I guess I’ve got no choice then.” She readied her duel disk, preparing to duel the figure. 

Mina vs. Miles
[center][hider=Theme of Miles][youtube]https://youtu.be/lFo17csru7o[/youtube][/hider][/center]

Mina looked at her cards, trying to figure out what to put down on the field. After a few moments of thinking, she put a couple of cards face-down, then activated Vampire’s Domain. Though, lacking good options for it, she didn’t use its effect just yet. “Okay. I end my turn.” 

As Miles drew for his turn, he frowned. Mina didn’t seem to have much of a hand to speak of, but unfortunately for Miles, neither did he. In fact, the only thing he had that could stop her from slapping down 8000 damage worth of attack and winning instantly was - “I activate Child’s Play and end my turn.” Only a second later did he realize there was a chance Mina would recognize his voice, but luckily for him, she didn’t seem to.

Mina looked annoyed as the figure put down Child’s Play - a promise for continual healing and a threat of much worse. It would be a pain in her ass if she didn’t deal with it ASAP. She placed her topdecked Vampire Familiar onto the field, then paid 500 LP for Vampire’s Domain to tribute summon Vampire Grimson. She then activated Vampire Takeover so she could activate Vampire Kingdom and special summon back her Vampire Familiar. Its effect activated, letting her search her deck for another Vampire, ensuring she’d have more she could do next turn. “Now we’re talkin’.” She grinned, placing Vampire Takeover into the graveyard. “Now, get ready for a pounding. Vampire Grimson, Vampire Familiar, attack this freak.” Her monsters swarmed forth, both gaining attack from Vampire Kingdom and taking 3500 LP off of the cloaked figure. “And thanks to my Vampire’s Domain, I gain just as many. Thanks for the life points asshole.” She chuckled. “I end my turn.”

Vampire Grimson - 2000/1400
Vampire Familiar - 500/0

Miles’ LP: 8000 > 8300 > 8600 > 8900 > 7900 > 5400
Mina’s LP: 8000 > 9000 > 11500

It was Miles’ turn again, and, at last, he drew what he needed. “I activate Gingerbread House.”

“Ha! I’ll negate it with Vampire Domination.”

Mina had a smug look on her face as she countered the figure’s spell, but this expression soon changed to anger as the figure put down another Gingerbread House. 

“Fuckin bastard.” She thought out loud, biting her lower lip.

“Next, I activate Valhalla, Hall of the Fallen, and use its effect to special summon. Her.” There was a slight pause as he set down the duel spirit that had been haunting him since he’d lost the real one.

Guardian Angel Joan - 2800/2000

“I’ll equip her with United we Stand, and use her to attack your Vampire Familiar.” The angel’s attack and defense rose by 800, and for a moment, she looked back at Miles, her expression just as neutral and impassive as it’s always been. He hated it. The silent judgment. The patient expectation of more, even when he tried to push her away. The undeserved understanding and attempts to comfort him. It was coddling him, and she had no right. She wasn’t [i]her.[/i] Ever since he’d had that talk with Mina, her stare seemed so much colder. Ever since he’d taken the sedatives from the nurse’s office, she - [i]it[/i] seemed so much more persistent, yet it also refused to say a word. He’d even seen Mina’s monstrous dog speak, so why wouldn’t it? It was bullshit. [i]She[/i] was bullshit.

Guardian Angel Joan - [color=green]3600/2800[/color]

Guardian Angel flew forward and, with a flourish, blasted Vampire Familiar with a ray of light from her palm like something out of Wyvern Orb Ζ. Mina let out a grunt, paying 1000 LP to keep it alive with Vampire Grimson’s effect. If nothing else, it prevented him from recovering LP with the angel.

“I end my turn.”

MIna’s drew, and as her standby phase rolled around, he activated Gingerbread House. Mina let out another annoyed grunt as she lost 1000 more LP keeping Vampire Grimson alive.

Mina’s LP: 11500 > 8700 > 7700 > 6700

At least it was buffed up for her troubles. Brushing off the setback, she activated Vampire Domain, paying 500 life points and tributing Vampire Familiar to summon Vampire Sorcerer and Shadow Vampire onto the field. Using Shadow Vampire’s effect, she special summons Vampire Red Baron from her deck. Then, using Vampire Familiar’s effect, she sends Vampire Lord from her hand to the graveyard to special summon the Familiar, and uses Vampire Red Baron to trade it for the cloaked figure’s buffed up Guardian Angel Joan.

“Eat this.” She had her Vampires Sorcerer destroy the familiar before having the rest attack the figure directly, feeling elated as she claimed victory. Although it was just overkill caused by her messed up duel disk, the final blow, oddly, didn’t come. Guardian Angel Joan faded out before the other holograms as the duel came to a close.

Miles’ LP: 5400 > 5700 > 6000 > 6300 > 6600 > 4100 > 1200 > -1900
Mina’s LP: 6700 > 9200 > 12100 > 15200

Didn’t quite beat her record from her tag duel, and, proportionately, she had the obstinate Angel to blame for that, which was now hovering over the cloaked figure as he fell to his knees.

A duel spirit.

The cloaked figure was covering their face with their hands, and, unbidden, the angel reached out and pulled the hood back, revealing Miles, his glasses askew, trying to keep himself from breaking down. The jig was pretty much up, and he’d go to jail with some modicum of dignity, at least.

Mina watched in confusion as the angel leaned down next to Miles, reaching out to wipe away a particularly insistent tear when he flinched back and batted her hand away. As usual, he phased right through her, her hand dispersing like smoke. He choked out a curse against the angel, almost too quiet for Mina to hear. “Fuck off.”

She was utterly surprised that Miles was the one underneath the hood. She didn’t know where to start, so she just voiced her thoughts out loud. “What the fuck is going on?”

Despite his better judgment, Miles scoffed, though he meant it more at himself than at Mina. “I messed up.” He shook his head. He did exactly what he had set out to do, and were he not such a damned idiot, he would have gone through with it. Had it actually been called for, he would have sacrificed Roché in a heartbeat. No, he was lying by omission just now, wasn’t he? He almost convinced himself he wasn’t. No, what he messed up was getting Roché back without anyone noticing. He took a deep shuddering breath. He couldn’t just fight off Mina after losing a duel. Duel spirits didn’t work like that. At least, he could tell that his would refuse to work like that. He supposes Mina was better than campus security. At least she, he would be able to confess his sins to.

“...And I don’t feel bad about it.”

“What do you mean you messed up? What were you gonna do to Roche?”

Miles answered her question with another question. “Have you ever wanted something so desperately that you’d do anything for it? Sell your soul, kill a person, doom the world - anything?”

There was something she did want, but she was able to do it with the help of the people around her. Their support is what helped her gain the resolve to complete her dream. “My goals don’t require that.”

Miles nodded. “Mine might not either, but I didn’t know that. I thought that they did. I was jumping to conclusions… I’m getting ahead of myself. How much do you know about the millennium items?”

“I know the King of Games had one, and dueled others with them.”

Miles nodded. “I met a man with the millennium eye. He wore this cloak-” He took the black cloak off, folding it in his hands. “-[i]this[/i] cloak, so I couldn’t get a good look at him. I met him on the night the weird geyser of duel spirits appeared, hanging around the pillar, tenting his fingers like the most stereotypical villain to ever exist. The creep saw me, and must’ve looked through my memories or something, because he said he could relate to me.” He shook his head. “At the time, I thought he was just being manipulative, but now I think he was being sincere. Anyway, he made me an offer - he’d give me the millennium eye, a millennium item with the ability to grant wishes, in exchange for bringing a girl to him. I asked Guardian Angel Joan, and she confirmed the man’s eye was real. How he got his hands on it, I’d still like to know.”

He thought back to Roché and shuddered. “If I’m being honest and optimistic, I expected him to take Roché as some sort of human sacrifice. When I met up with him, though, he seemed more like a hobo than some evil cultist. When he saw Roché, he flipped out on me. Kidnapping Roché wasn’t what he wanted. He said he was looking for a specific girl, and that he was just trying to ‘talk’ to her, because he has a personal history with her or something.” He grimaced. “What a grown man has to do with a teenage girl, I don’t know. Maybe he’s just an estranged dad or whatever. Either way, he’s not supposed to be on this island, so he can’t be seen looking for her on his own.”

An awkward silence fell as Mina processed what he’d done and why. Miles continued, “I’m still not sure I trust him, or the millennium eye itself, but every time I look at my duel spirit…” He paused, letting the sentence hang, unsure of how to continue it.

Mina filled the ensuing silence. “Why is your guardian spirit that angel anyway?” She asked. She was reminded of her own spirit who reminded her of her childhood pet. 

Miles sighed bitterly. “I still haven’t thanked you for opening my eyes about that.” He looked at the angel floating placidly beside him. “I’ll do it now. Thank you, for exposing… for making me face reality when I denied it for so long.”

He looked back at Mina. “Guardian Angel Joan is a retrained version of St. Joan, a non-effect fusion monster based off of Joan of Arc.” He paused, remembering how he would pointlessly fixate on the card before his duel spirit appeared. “The real Joan of Arc is said to have had dark brown hair. She wasn’t a red head. Not like my mom.”

He stopped, shutting his eyes tightly. It was ancient history. This wasn’t the first time he’s talked about it with someone, but he was emotionally charged right now, and it took more effort than normal to keep himself together. He opened them again, blinking away the involuntary moisture. “Her first name was Joan, and in fact, the card and my mom look quite similar. This [i]thing-[/i]” he gestured to the angel beside him “-showed up about a week after she died.” He let out another long-suffering sigh. “I was just a stupid kid, then, and for a long time, I got it in my head that she was… the real deal.”

He reached out, running his hand through the duel spirit as it faded into smoke entirely.

“I think I always kind of knew, but it was way easier to just deny it. It’s kind of pathetic it took me a decade and meeting your freaky dog to wake up and smell the roses. We - me and my dad - even paid Industrial Illusions a visit. Pure coincidence, they said. The hair was just an artistic liberty. Still, I ended up making a deck around her. Isn’t that hilarious?” Despite the light-hearted question, his tone was self-deprecating. “So yeah, I couldn’t forget about her. I couldn’t move on, and when that weirdo offered me a deal… Once I decided I believed him, I made my choice. I bet it all. I bet wrong, and it wasn’t even that guy’s fault.”

He sighed yet again before getting to his feet, stuffing the cloak into his bag. “I’m rambling. I just wanted to get all that off my chest before… before we go back.”

Mina looked in awe as Miles was spilling his guts out about his mom. Even though she hated her parents in stark contrast, she felt sympathy for the boy wanting to see his mother again.

“Look I understand that you wanna see your mom again, but murdering someone is not the way to go about it. Think about what your mom would think if she found out you were a murderer.”

Miles frowned, then, quietly, forlornly, answered, “I’d be happy she’d be able to think at all, again.”

Mina grimaced, then shook her head. “Who is this guy with the eye anyway?” The only person she knew with the Millennium Eye was Pegasus. And he didn’t have that thing for a long time.

“I’ve met him twice, and didn’t ask either time. The first time, he didn’t seem like he’d answer, and the second time, he was too busy yelling at me.”

“Can you take me to him?” She wanted to ask this mystery man some questions. 

Miles hesitantly nodded. “I could, but I think we, or you, should go another day. Roché was left behind back there, and once we bring her back to Ra Yellow, I think it’ll be hard to go back out unnoticed.” He also just didn’t want to bother the man with another issue so soon after this shitshow.

“Yeah that sounds like a good idea.” The thought of forgetting about Roche made her want to smack herself. They began the walk back to Roché, carrying her back, claiming they had simply found her passed out in the woods. When asked why Miles was also missing, he said he liked the way tree bark felt against his face in the moonlight and went to bed, exhausted. For her part, Mina kept his secret. She’d decide what to do when she met the man Miles had mentioned.