[Fanfic-de-Fanfic] A Crimson Carol [COMPLETED]

[Catterjune]

One Sentence Summary:
After alienating his friends and classmates on the eve of their academy's winter break, Gouki Shinkou, the self-proclaimed Demon of Turbo must learn the true meaning of the holidays.

It's a spin-off/omake, set in the universe of Arena 1 and Arena 2.

Is it necessary to read Arena 1 or Arena 2 in order to understand this?:
You don't need to read Arena 2. This picks up directly after Arena 1 - Chapter 18. In Arena, we followed the six kids from Silvershine and Hawthorne Academy. In Crimson Carol, we instead stay with the kids from Crimson Wind Academy and see what they did over their Winter Break.

For the most part it assumes it's your first time seeing these characters, but if you do like the story, the writing style or the characters, feel free to read Arena: A Duel Academy Fanfic and Arena 2: The Cursed Chain.

Where can I read the other two fanfics?:
Arena: A Duel Academy Fanfic
Arena 2: The Cursed Chain

What's the release schedule?:
Once a week, every Monday


Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Draco
Word Count: 3347
Chapter Summary:
End of a tourney
Beginning of vacation
End of the black dorm?

Chapter 2: The Ghost of Crimson's Past - Charlotte
Word Count: 3798
Chapter Summary:
Childhood memories
A trip down memory lane
Unrequited love

Chapter 3: The Ghost of Crimson's Present - Kallone
Word Count: 3728
Chapter Summary:
The Necrophades Kids
Face their toughest challenge yet
The Winter Break Dance

Chapter 4: The Ghost of Crimson's Future - Violet
Word Count: 3727
Chapter Summary:
The last ghost appears
The Demon sees the future
And it's not pretty

Chapter 5: The Spirit of the Holidays

Word Count: 3715
Chapter Summary:
On Winter Break Day
The Demon of Turbo strives
To make things all right

[Catterjune]

[spoiler=Chapter 1 - Draco]No one could have expected the students of Crimson Wind Academy to be that attentive at a time like this. When a major tournament was suddenly announced, everyone wanted a shot at the grand prize. They were so involved with their decks, their techs and their little side decks that none of the students even noticed that their guests, the kids from Hawthorne Academy had departed about a half hour before the games even began. The only things on their minds were the huge bragging rights, and of course the deed to the entire Black Dorm if they won the tournament.

 

For the students that called the Black Dorm home, this was especially true.

 

It was a long fought tournament and after many hours only a small handful of students stuck around for the grand finale. The sun was setting as the second semifinals match was about to conclude. The Student Body President, Akane was going head-to-head with Demitri, the human Windmill.

 

Brett Ripley Parker, the Headless Horseman had just defeated Rina Kasakura, the Firefly, and he would be facing off against whoever was the winner of this match. If Akane managed to pull off a victory, there would be no need for a final match. However, things did not look to be in her favor.

 

The Demon of Turbo scowled in disgust as he watched Akane's performance. Kira Ikari, the Necrophades Witch clung onto the Headless Horseman's arm tightly and nervously as they both watched with anticipation along with the crowd. The Vampire was taking notes, whispering strategies to the Headless Horseman, who flinched and looked away, not wanting to see the final attack from hitting his dorm mate.

 

"Haha." The Windmill said with an excited clap as he looked over at the President, who wasn't smiling or clapping or doing anything of the sort. "You live up to your reputation Akane! I haven't had more fun in a duel since I challenged that Arthur Surrogate fellow."

 

"Just... take your turn." The President said in a defeated tone. Her life points were incredibly low and she was one turn short of summoning her Five Headed Dragon with Future Fusion. For all intents and purposes, she had lost.

 

"Aww, that's no way to behave after such a well fought duel." The Windmill smiled at the President. "Tell ya' what! If you can show me a pretty little smile I'll concede the duel right now!"

 

The President was surprised at his words. "I... what... really!?" The faintest hint of a smile burst on her face. "If that's the case... heck yeah I'll smile!"

 

The Windmill smiled back.

 

"Just teasing." He grinned. "I was already planning on surrendering anyway." The Windmill put a hand over his deck and his life points hit zero before his holograms faded away.

 

"What!?" cried out the tiny 10-year-old-looking Princess of Ra Yellow. She had wanted to see the Black Dorm destroyed for quite some time now, but instead it had fallen back into their own hands. "Why'd you do that Demitri!"

 

"I can't break up a cute couple like the Horseman and the Witch over there!"

 

The Witch and the Horseman immediately let go of one another and put some distance between themselves.

 

"I... uhh.."

"We... uhh..."

 

"And it would be rude to throw a pretty young girl out into the streets on the Eve of our Winter Break."

 

"And Akuto too! Right!?" The Vampire of the Black Dorm said with a pleading tone to his voice.

 

"B-but..." The Princess exclaimed.

 

"The Necrophades Black dorm are mostly good people. My only real issue is with the Demon of Turbo."

 

The tall, bespectacled Obelisk boy turned to the Demon of Turbo and sighed at the pitiable sight before him. The Demon just grinned.

 

"Unfortunately, since taking it away from HIM would also take it away from you fine folks..." He unraveled his scarf and polished his glasses with it before putting both of them back on. "I guess I don't want to see you all lose everything you've built."

 

"Awesome! We won!" Akane exclaimed as she suddenly hugged the Horseman. His blush got even more intense as he struggled to break free.

 

"Not just yet!" The Windmill declared dramatically. "We still got the final match of the tournament. President, Horseman. Have at you!"

 

The Horseman and the President nodded and raised their duel disks. They both got a duelist's distance away from each other and drew their top five cards.

 

The President smiled as she looked over her opponent. "Time to teach you a lesson Horseman!"

 

Just as the President drew her sixth card however, the Demon of Turbo took a step into the middle of the field.

 

"That won't be necessary." The Demon said with a smirk. "The sooner this tournament is over with the sooner we can get these trespassers out of here. One of you, just surrender and hand over control of the Black Dorm back to me."

 

"W-what? B-but they all stuck around to s-see an exciting final duel!" The Horseman protested.

 

The Windmill scowled, adjusting his glasses and looking down.

 

"I mean, that's why I stuck around at least..."

 

"Yeah, but you have no say anymore!" The Demon sneered with a chuckle. "Horseman! Surrender to the President!"

 

"Don't surrender Brett-sama. Take her down." The Witch said, raising a fist in the air to show her support.

 

The Demon of Turbo cocked his eyes but gave a laugh.

 

"If you won't surrender because you're trying to impress your girlfriend we can have the President surrender instead."

 

"What? Surrender to Brett? But he's so lame! Come on!" The President said in an exasperated tone. "Why can't we just have a regular duel? It's gonna be like 10 more minutes and-"

 

"Student Body President Akane Tachimuka..." the Demon of Turbo spoke sternly, like a mother about to chastise her disrespectful daughter.

 

"Uhh... fine." the President said through gritted teeth as her hand hovered over her Duel Disk. "I surrender."

 

Her life points hit zero and the tournament ended exactly the way it started, with the students of the Black Dorm still in control over their own building.

 

---

 

By the time the tournament ended it was already almost dinner time. The Necrophades witch had prepared her daily meal of whatever random leftovers she could manage to salvage from the other three dorms. The lobster from the Blue Dorm was ground up and combined with stale hotdog buns from Red and some perfectly serviceable coleslaw from yellow to make some sort of a lobster roll. Despite being a fusion of many different styles, it somehow seemed to work and the 5 kids of the Necrophades Black Dorm were enjoying their last meal before Winter Break.

 

"Man, I can't believe we almost lost the dorm today." The vampire said as he quickly gobbled down a lobster roll, then reached over for seconds.

 

"We?" The President said as she smacked The Vampires's hand away. "I got all the way to the top 2! You barely got in the top sixteen."

 

"Hey, I got beat by the guy that almost beat you! I think that counts for something." The Vampire said. "Besides, at least I got to take out The Princess."

 

The President gave an unlady-like snort. "Yeah. I bet you'd really wanted to TAKE OUT the Princess." The President clutched her hands together tightly and pantomimed kissing an invisible person, complete with obnoxious smooching sounds.

 

"Shut up!" The Vampire said as he tossed a balled up napkin at The President.

 

The Horseman and the Witch watched silently and cheerfully, holding hands and sitting next to each while quietly nibbling on their lobster rolls. They were glad that days like this wouldn't be coming to an end anytime soon and they could still be roommates for as long as they wanted.

 

The Demon of Turbo however did not looked pleased.

 

"I don't see why everyone is so happy that we all just barely survived as a dorm."

 

"Well I mean, it was an elimination style tournament and we got some pretty bad matchups-" The vampire began before being interrupted by the leader of the Necrophades Black Dorm.

 

"I don't want to hear excuses! I want to hear that you'll do better!"

 

"Alright cool." The Vampire said as he finally grabbed his second Lobster Roll. "We'll do better for the next big tournament, whenever that is."

 

"I don't want to hear empty promises either, and I definitely don't want to hear uncertainty and 'whenever that is'." The Demon of Turbo said with a mocking tone and finger quotes. "I want to hear what, specifically, you will do to become better duelists."

 

"B-but I'm in Card Design." The Horseman stammered.

 

"I'm more interested in becoming a teacher." The President admitted.

 

"Don't worry boss." The Vampire gave a sarcastic salute with his third lobster roll. "As a future Pro Duelist, I'll pick up the slack for these two."

 

"You sure you don't want to switch to Duel Disk repair so you can be with your Wuvwy Widdle Pwincess?" The President again made obnoxious kissing noises as she teased The Vampire.

 

"Stop!" The Demon declared, standing up, and all at once the little side conversations halted and all eyes were on him.

 

"I want to see you guys dueling every day, many times a day, and I need to see wins."

 

"Sure, whatever." The President said as she reached over to an empty plate. She scowled as she saw the Vampire with two extra lobster rolls set before him. "We'll duel when we get back from Winter Break." she said as she snatched a lobster roll back from the Vampire.

 

"What do you mean 'Winter Break'!?"

 

"I do not understand these western customs either." The Necrophades Witch said with a shrug. "They claim it's an end of the year celebration, even though everyone knows the year begins and ends around the Vernal Equinox."

 

"It's gotten all commercialized, but the b-basic spirit is about spending time with friends and loved once." The Horseman said.

 

The Witch smiled. "And I get to introduce you to my family!"

 

The Horseman blushed and gave a weak nod. However the thought of friends and family seemed to lower the Demon of Turbo's mood. He wasn't particularly mad, but somewhat melancholic over listening to the other 4 Necrophades students discussing their Winter Break plans.

 

"I'm gonna go visit my half-sister Kay." The Vampire said as he took a sip of dark black coffee.

 

"You really shouldn't drink that so late at night." The President said mindfully. "It'll keep you up all night."

 

"Ooh, a vampire up all night. How original." The Vampire said with a chuckle as he took another sip. "Thanks to Kay, coffee doesn't do much for me anyway."

 

"How about you Tachimuka-san?" The Witch asked.

 

"Me?" the President began. "I think I'll stick around at the academy for Winter Break."

 

The Demon's ears perked up as he heard the President's words. He was about to say something before the rest of the Necrophades spoke up.

 

"Aww, that's t-terrible!" The Horseman protested.

 

"You should be with your family and loved ones for the holidays!" The witch put an arm around the Horseman.

 

"Yeah. Me and my half-sister may not always see eye-to-eye on everything, but a half-family is better than no family."

 

The Demon of Turbo winced at that last comment.

 

The President however seemed shocked in a good way at this sudden display of concern. She smiled at her Necrophades friends.

 

"It's not like that you guys! I'm going to be hanging out with my friends here at the academy and in Silvershine for winter break." The President said with a laugh. "We even made plans for the annual Winter Party tomorrow. Come on, did you all really think I was THAT pathetic?"

 

That seemed to trigger something within the Demon of Turbo. He slammed his fists on the table, once again getting the attention of the room. When all eyes were on the Demon, a single word escaped his lips.

 

"No."

 

The Necro crew seemed confused.

 

"W-what do you mean n-no?" The Horseman asked.

 

"Winter Break is canceled for you four! None of you will be leaving the Academy, visiting friends or family or anything of the sort! You will stay in Necrophades and train day and night, and you are to never embarrass me in a tournament like you did today!"

 

"You can't be serious!" The President exclaimed as she bolted to her feet.

 

"Oh but I am. After today's little tournament I've realized we're more vulnerable than ever before!"

 

The Vampire seemed relaxed enough and just rolled his eyes. "Come on Gouki. Nobody even knows we're here! All those scary rumors keep away most of the kids. And the few that come close enough just assume this is a creepy old abandoned building."

 

"That was before. That little rat-faced Princess showed everyone that we're not just some little building hidden in the woods. This is a real working dorm with 180 rooms, electricity, running water, heat, and everyone has their eyes set on us! We may have won the battle, but that little girl put the target on our back. And you want to just walk away right now when we're at our most defenseless!?"

 

The Necrophades kids were enraged, but a small part of them knew that the Demon of Turbo was right. They didn't bring their best to the tournament and probably needed to practice dueling more instead of going to the Holiday Party or goofing off on vacation. The four shared an uneasy expression, and it seemed the Demon had gotten just what he had wanted.

 

"I'm going to my chambers now." he said as he turned his back from the group. "And unless you want to find all your belongings, all your clothes, and everything you hold dear thrown out into the woods, I suggest you do NOT leave the dorm for Winter Break."

 

He slammed the door behind him, and the four students of Necrophades Black stood with uneasy expressions on their faces, uncertain of what to expect tomorrow morning.

 

---

 

After ruining the holidays for his subordinates, the Demon of Turbo felt quite accomplished. He had made sure the Black Dorm was safe, or at the very least it would be once those who were not truly dedicated to the cause were out and he could bring in fresh blood for the New Year. With all these happy little thoughts dancing in his head, the Demon of Turbo easily dozed off.

 

The light knocking on his door late at night barely seemed to get a reaction from him.

 

So the knocking got louder and more forceful.

 

"Huh?" The Demon began, scratching his head as he slowly sat up. He knew it was winter so early morning and late at night looked practically indistinguishable. He glanced at his PDA and saw that it was actually still many hours before sunrise.

 

The knocking grew even louder now and the Demon scowled before he heard a familiar voice on the other end of the door.

 

"Wait! What am I doing? I'm a ghost!"

 

Before he knew it, a dark looking figure seemed to materialize from behind the door, seeping in and slowly walking up to his bed. The Demon clutched at his blanket and wrapped it tighter around himself. He felt much colder as the light from his PDA began to dim as he looked over at the darkly specter that had entered his room. It grinned at him.

 

"WAHAHA! Gouki my boy, it's been a long, long time!" the madman at the door cackled as he gently floated near the Demon's bed.

 

The Demon of Turbo scanned his mind, trying to recall where he heard that voice previously before it finally dawned on him.

 

"Draco? What the hell are you doing here?"

 

When he had first arrived at the Academy, Draco Black was the kind of student that the Demon of Turbo wanted to be like. As an exchange student from Kelen Academy, Draco Black knew he'd be picked on so he quickly set out to prove himself as one of the best third year student last year. Draco and Gouki, while not exactly friends formed some kind of a bond and the two of them, along with Kira Ikari, founded the Black Dorm before the Princess of Ra Yellow got Draco Black expelled.

 

"Ha! You don't open the door,"

 

"You let yourself in anyway."

 

"You sleep through my knocking,"

 

"It's the middle of the night."

 

"And you don't respond to my letters."

 

"Not like you could read them anyway."

 

"Is that how you treat the Dark Dragon Overlord? The founder of the Black Dorm itself? I'm almost insulted!"

 

"Almost? I must not be trying hard enough then."

 

While the Overlord's eyes were covered behind a thick pair of sunglasses, with the sinister grin on Draco's face it was easy to tell whatever was on his mind was not good.

 

"So what did you come all the way to the island for?" The Demon asked, before realizing a more important question needed to be asked. "Forget that, HOW did you even manage to get back here in the first place? I thought you were expelled."

 

"Worse! I've been dead! KEKEKE!" the Overlord threw his head back and laughed loudly.

 

"Dead? You? But... I just got a letter from you like 3 months ago."

 

"A lot can happen in 3 months kid!"

 

The Demon raised one of his large eyebrows at the Overlord's words. "Listen grandpa, you're only a year old than me."

 

"Older yes! And much wiser than you could ever hope to be. Now listen up!" The Overlord pointed dramatically at the Demon of Turbo as he began to speak. "When I was in the world of the living, I was blinded by my lust for power."

 

"You were also blind in real life." The Demon said pointedly.

 

"I kept my eyes only on my target. My one goal was to get my hands on the Black Dorm!"

 

"And let me guess, you're here to warn me against such short sightedness?"

 

"No!" The Overlord smiled a sinister grin and the world once again seemed darker and colder as he approached The Demon's bed.

 

"I died before I could accomplish anything here, so you have to be become blinded to everything except your own main goal! Let the darkness consume you. Let it push you to your absolute limits so you can surpass them! Or get overwhelmed by them if you turn out to be as weak as I thought you were. Either way, the Black Dorm gets the best possible leader."

 

The Demon shrugged at the Overlord's words. "And what if I don't? What would you do if I gave up on this grand Black Dorm experiment?"

 

"Ha, I don't care either way. I'm dead, remember?"

 

There was a bit of a stillness in the air, as the Demon did not know how to respond. Fortunately, he did not have to as the Overlord was next to speak.

 

"Before I leave I will give you one final warning though. Tonight you will be visited by three other ghosts. They may try to warn you to stray from your path, but I'm sure you'll know the right thing to do in the end!"

 

The Demon of Turbo rolled his eyes at the Overlord's words. "I hope they don't all burst into my door in the dead of night like you did."

 

The Overlord turned his back to the Demon. "Hope leads to disappointment." he said before smirking one last time and disappearing into the otherworldly voided he spawned from.

 

And just like that, the vision of darkness faded from this plane of existence and The Demon of Turbo was left alone in his room once again.

 

The Demon gave an exhausted sigh, crashed back down into his bed and tried to force that conversation out of his mind so he could get back to sleep. Unfortunately for him, the next ghost was right on its way.

 

[MewMew3]

You definitely got me hooked, and it does give me the same pleasant Sleepy Hollow feel from the Cursed Chain. But it feels weird when you keep referring to your characters by their stage names, like when the Demon of Turbo does anime comic relieve stuff.   

[Catterjune]

Glad you're liking the story so far. I normally don't like authors giving a "Word of God" explanation for their work (I believe their work should do the talking for them) so I hope it's okay if I kinda go over the Stage Names portion.

Re: Stage Names -

Crimson Wind Academy is based on an RP website I go to, as are all the characters in it.

The in-universe reason they're referred to as nicknames in Arena 1 was because they had been instructed not to give their names in order to "maintain distance" from their opponents. Their headmistress didn't want them to become friends, for fear of them growing soft and not being able to duel their best for the tournament.

The out-of-universe explanation is that at the time I didn't know how my friends would react to me making a fanfic about them so it was just a paper thin disguise in case they happened to find it. "No no, that's not Gouki Shinkou! That's... The Demon of Turbo!" We've spoken since Arena 1 came out and they either like it, found it flattering, or don't really care.

For this fanfic, since there are time jumps and moments when the main character is there twice in the same scene (once when he's watching the scene with the ghosts and once when he's an actor in the scenes he's watching) it's easier to say "Gouki Shinkou" is him in the past (or present or future) and the Demon of Turbo is the guy we follow all throughout the fanfic who gets carted along by the three ghosts. It makes Chapter 2 easier to read to have the distinction.

 

Speaking of which, Chapter 2! This Monday!

[Catterjune]

[spoiler=Chapter 2: The Ghost of Crimson's Past - Charlotte]For right now, the Demon of Turbo's main goal was to get back to sleep. In the morning he would get his classmates into shape so that they would be better able to defend from any possible attacks from the rest of the academy.

Unfortunately The Demon had also been warned about three ghostly visitors and the first of the trio had just arrived. She didn't knock or ring any doorbells. She just appeared at the side of his bed and shook the Demon's shoulders to wake him up.

"Hey, get up." she spoke in a bit of a posh English accent.

"Huh? What!?" The Demon pawed away at the woman by his side but for some reason his hands just seemed to go right through her. His hands felt cold as they passed through her spectral form, and he recoiled in horror and shock. At least he was now wide awake.

"Ah, good. You're up." she said with a smile. "Let's get started."

The voice sounded familiar to the Demon of Turbo and he blinked to adjust his vision.

"Headmistress?"

The Demon fumbled over to his nightstand and picked up his PDA. It was still the middle of the night but he managed to somehow turn on the flashlight app. This ghost was tall, about a few inches taller than the boy and she had long ankle length hair. She had sad blue eyes and a few worry lines and wrinkles to show she had some age to her. She had a bit of light makeup on and she wore an official looking Crimson Wind Academy headmistress uniform. The ghost that had woken him looked absolutely identical to the headmistress of the academy, Charlotte Brooke Swebb.

However despite the way she looked, she denied being her.

"No no no no no! Not today at least." The woman scoffed at the very idea. After a bit of fumbling with his PDA and after adjusting his eyesight to the darkness, the Demon could finally see that she was actually rather pale and transparent. Even though she stood in his way, he could see through her.

"Who..." he paused. "WHAT... are you?"

"I am the Ghost of Crimson's Past." She said with a bit of a flourish as she gave a twirl. As she did she hovered about an inch off the ground before planting her feet gently on the ground. "I merely took on the familiar form of your headmistress so as not to startle you."

This was just a ghost, not his headmistress. At last Gouki's heart was no longer racing. He could now process her words and they struck him as almost insulting.

"Wait! Why would you think that looking like that WOULDN'T startle me? Swebb doesn't make personal house calls like this unless it's really bad, like you're about to be expelled or your parents are dead!"

"Well, I'm sure you don't have to worry about that second one." Crimson's Past smiled. The Demon did not.

"In any case, if you don't like the form I've chosen, I can change." she snapped her fingers, and all of a sudden her hair was much shorter, a bright shade of orange, and she wore a Ra Yellow girl's outfit. Her dark purple eyes looked at The Demon with youthful excitement and a big toothy grin etched itself on her face.

"Yow'za!" Crimson's Past gave a two fingered salute towards the Demon.

The Demon however looked disgusted at seeing the classmate that the ghost had decided to shapeshift into. "No."

"Alright, how about this then?" she snapped her fingers again and this time her Ra Yellow skirt extended to ankle length. Her hair was longer and lighter, more of a blonde now. Her eyes looked less cheerful but more warm and inviting, like an older sister - even though The Demon never had one.

"Ehe~" she giggled.

"No."

Another snap of her fingers, and this time she shapeshifted into The Demon's worst enemy. A tiny, 10-year old looking girl dressed like a secretary and with long white hair.

"God damn it! No!"

She quickly shapeshifted back to the way she looked when she first entered his room.

"So we're okay with the Headmistress look then?"

"Yeah, you're fine that way." The Demon said with a defeated tone to his voice.

"Wish I could say the same for you." Crimson's Past said before giving a haughty and pretentious sounding laugh.

The Demon did not look amused. "Can we just get this over with? What are you here for?"

"I am the Ghost of Crimson's Past, and I am here to teach you a bit of a lesson. You and I are going to take a little bit of a trip." she hovered, making her way to the door before she paused to look at the Demon. "You may wish to wear more than just sweatpants and a t-shirt though."

The Demon stared at the Ghost of Crimson's Past, and if it weren't so dark you might have thought he was blushing. "... C-can you leave the room?" he muttered.

"What was that?"

"I said let's just leave the room." The Demon corrected as he stood up, wrapped his blanket around himself and put on a pair of fuzzy slippers. "I'm not changing clothes since I'm just going to go back to sleep immediately after we're done here."

"Suit yourself." she snapped her fingers and to the surprise of no one, absolutely nothing happened.

The Demon raised an eyebrow then gave a bit of a chuckle. "Hey Umbridge, next time you cast a spell maybe make sure it actually does something."

"Oh, I DID do something." the smile on her face made the wrinkles near her eyes a little more noticeable. "Your surprise is just beyond the door. Think of it as an early Holiday Present."

"Whatever headmistress. Let's just get this over with as soon as possible." The Demon walked over to his bedroom door.

"That's the spirit! But again, I'm not your headmistress. Think of me more as your guide! A spiritual companion to finding your true self."

The Demon stared at the Ghost of Crimson's Past, scowling but at last he took a deep breath and with a shaking hand, opened the door to his dorm room.

---

The Demon of Turbo expected to see the hallway of the Necrophades Black Dorm room, but instead he was greeted by a blast of cold winter air and bright morning light. He tried reaching into his pockets to verify the time only to realize he had left his PDA on his night stand.

"What the hell is this!?" exclaimed the Demon as he took a step into the morning mist. He looked around, then behind him to see that his door had disappeared. Despite the mist encircling him and the Ghost of Crimson's Past, the Demon could just barely make out a large ebony wall off to his right and two adults and a small child playing on his left. The Demon wrapped himself tighter in the blanket, wishing he had worn socks.

Crimson's Past looked at The Demon but didn't seem too concerned for his safety or comfort. After all, she did warn him to dress warmer.

"We're at Solar Dusk Memorial Park."

"Why?"
Crimson's Past pointed off towards the couple with their child as the mist began to clear up. The Demon's heart skipped a beat as he began to recognize the man, woman, and the small child they were with.

"Is... is that-"

The Demon of Turbo could hardly believe it. His heart swelled and he was beginning to choke up as he saw the pair. "M-mom... d-dad..."

"When you were young, your parents would take you to the park every day, weather permitting of course."

The Demon stared at his family, daring to reach out to them. He stretched a hand to them before suddenly pulling it back. He shivered, the cold of the winter air getting him and snapping him out of his trance.

The Ghost shook her head. "They can't see or-"

"THIS is weather permitting?"

"You insisted. And your parents couldn't say 'no' to a cute little face like that now could they?" The Demon scowled at her words.

"Alright, let's just pay attention then, shall we?"

The Demon of Turbo and the Ghost of Crimson's Past watched the family as they finished making a three tiered snowman. He had a carrot nose, coal buttons, and scarf already in place.

"What should we name him?" asked the woman as she lifted up her son so he could put on the hat.

"Hmm... let's call him Nix!" the little boy said after a little bit of thought.

"Nix it is then Gouki!" said the woman before kissing her son on the forehead.

"Well champ, is it time to go home now?" asked Gouki's father.

"Snowball fight!" Gouki declared.

The parents exchanged a bit of a nervous look, but relented as soon as they saw the huge smile on their young boy's face.

The husband smirked towards his wife. "Alright, let's split up into two teams then! Boys versus girls?"

"That's not fair Isamu!" the woman protested, realizing she'd be easily outmatched. "I don't..." she stopped herself, before she blushed and looked away.

"What's wrong Emily?"

"I'll... tell you when we get home."

"Me and Nix versus mommy and daddy!"

The couple shared a look, but smiled at their boy's imagination. "Alright, let's play then!" Isamu declared as the family started laughing and giggling and playing in the snow.

The Demon of Turbo and the Ghost of Crimson's Past continued watching the family as mist began to form around them all and it seemed time was speeding up, jumping forward and accelerating to the end of their day.

"You were such a happy child."

"Yeah..." The Demon said with a smile.

"Alright Gouki, I think it's time for us to go home." Emily said as she took her son's hand and walked him over to the car.

"Yeah sport! After dinner it's straight to bed with you young man!" Isamu said as he held open the door for his wife.

The mist began to swirl once more and now The Demon of Turbo and Crimson's Past were in the backseat of the Shinkou family car.

"Oh..." The Demon of Turbo grasped at his seatbelt.

Crimson's Past put on her seatbelt. "You know what's about to happen today, right?"

The Demon looked down glumly. "Yeah."

"Jingle Bells. Jingle Bells. Jingle all the way!"
"Jingle Bells. Catman smells! Canary laid an egg!"

While the Shinkou family were singing their winter songs, The Demon and the Ghost continued observing from the back seat.

"Maybe it was the icy roads. Maybe it was an inattentive driver. Maybe it was fatigue from playing with you all day, but alas..." she snapped her fingers and time itself seemed to stand still.

"I'll let you enjoy your parents last few seconds alive."

Everything felt like it was going forward frame by frame with no sound. Time slowly lumbering forward at one one-hundredth its normal speed. One second, the whole family was smiling. The next, Isamu's head jerked to the left and his eyes opened wide in panic. The car jerked hard to the right. Emily braced for impact. Little Gouki began to. scream. Everything turned white for The Demon and the Ghost. The Demon blinked, and the next time he opened his eyes the pair were standing on the street corner. In front of them were two cars, completely totaled and engulfed in flames.

Crimson's Past snapped her fingers and time began to lurch forward normally.

"Well... that sucks." The Demon of Turbo whispered as he stared at the wreckage in front of him.

"That's one way of phrasing it." Crimson's Past said.

The two stared at the wreckage as they saw people in the street begin to panic. Some dialed 911. Some ran towards the flaming wreckage to see what they could do to help. Others just whispered and stood around as they stared at the site of the car crash before them.

"There was only one survivor."

The Demon just stared at the scene before him, unsure of what to say when confronted with his parent's death.

"You never smiled ever again after that. Not out of genuine happiness at least."

Crimson's Past sighed, then put a hand on The Demon's back and steered him away. He tried to look back, but the memory was fading, blurring, and fragmenting already. All around the entire world seemed to be falling apart and growing darker all around him.

"Can we go home yet?" he said, trying not to choke up.

"We have one more place to be after this. Come along!" Crimson's Past said as the world became obscured with mist.

---

The mist was growing thicker and thicker and the memory of his parents death had once again faded to just a memory. The Demon of Turbo looked around and through the mist all he could see was the silhouette of his headmistress.

"Look Swebb," he began before she interrupted.

"I'd prefer it if you called me the Ghost of Crimson's Past but-"

"I don't know why you thought showing me a flashback of my childhood was going to get me to change who I am. My family's dead, but that's all in the past. I'm not going to dwell over their deaths forever. I came to Crimson Wind Academy to get stronger-"

"Getting stronger won't bring your family back."

"I know that already, and I don't care! And I also don't care about any of that faux Hallohark crap about peace and love for the Holidays!"

"Because you've never been loved? Romantically at least."

The Demon scowled. "... Shut up headmistress."

"Ah, but you see Gouki, that's where you're wrong!"

Another wave of her hand and at last the mist began to part.

---

Fortunately for the Demon they were finally indoors. There were banners, bleachers, a small spread of food, and what looked like a huge collection of kids in Crimson Wind Academy blazers.

"Here we are! The annual Crimson Wind Academy Holiday Dance! Exactly one year ago today, give or take a couple of hours."

But the Demon ignored her, hugging himself tightly and wrapping his blanket around him as he collapsed on the bleachers of the Grand Central Dueling Arena. "Don't care. As long as it's warm."

"Gouki my boy! I've got some excellent news!" The Demon looked up, slightly embarrassed to be seen wrapped up in a security blanket by his friend, the Overlord. Fortunately for the Demon though, the Overlord he walked right past him and towards a boy with spikey black hair, a Ra Yellow jacket, and a large pair of eyebrows. This was the Demon of Turbo from one year before.

"What's going on?" Gouki said as he piled a few boneless chicken wings on his plate.

"I've got a few woman you simply have to meet my boy!" Draco declared to the second year student.

"Considering the fact that you're blind, I don't think I want to see the kind of women you're into."

"Into? No no no! We're trying to gather strong duelists for our new group, and here they are!"

The mist began to part and The Demon of Turbo could see two additional girls that had accompanied Draco. One was small, petite, flat chested, with long blue hair and a miserable looking scowl upon her face. The second one had fair hair, thick glasses, and an ugly red and green sweater underneath an open Obelisk girl's jacket.

Draco grinned as he bowed slightly to present the girls. "I'd like to introduce you to-"

"Aoi Sanders." the blue haired girl introduced herself quickly as she looked the pair over in disgust. "I heard on Duel Space there might be some good duelists here, but between a Ra Yellow and an affirmative action student, it looks like I'm wasting my time."

"Waste of time?" Draco interrupted. "Not at all! I'll show you in a duel!"

Aoi raised an eyebrow but otherwise seemed unimpressed. She gave a shrug. "Alright, you're on then." she said, walking ahead and getting ready to begin their duel.

The future Overlord turned to his friend. "Gouki my boy! Entertain our second guest!"

Neither Gouki Shinkou of the Ra Yellow Dorm, nor The Demon of Turbo from the Necrophades Black Dorm seemed to give much consideration to the girl before them. She had ridiculous catseye glasses, messy light auburn hair, and she dressed more like a boy than anything with her slacks and her long sleeve sweater hiding her feminine figure.

"H-Hey." the freshman Obelisk stammered with a faint blush.

"Who are you?" Gouki asked, turning his nose at the unimpressive Obelisk.

"There she is!" The Ghost of Crimson's Past stepped forward and pointed her out. Both girls said her name at the same time.

"A-alexandra Rosendal"
"Alexandra Rosendal!"

"Woah!" The Demon stopped to stare at her. "That's Alex from the Blue Court!?"

"She could have been the future Misses Shinkou too, if the Blue Court didn't all get expelled that is."

The Gouki at the Holiday Party however was much less impressed with the Alex he saw before him. "What do you want kid?" he sneered

"I heard you were looking for st-strong duelists." she muttered. "I'm an Obelisk s-so... I kinda maybe thought..."

"You want to challenge me to a duel? Is that it?"

She nodded sheepishly. "Y-yes! If you'll have me!"

"Alright," Gouki said as he finished up this last of his chicken wings and wiped his hands on his pants. "Let's test how strong you are."

The mist began to thicken around the Ghost of Crimson's Past and the Demon of Turbo.

"She was nervous."

"Oh gee, what gave it away?" The Demon responded sarcastically before chuckling. "A lot of people are nervous when it comes to dueling the King of the Black Dorm."

"You weren't the king of the Black Dorm at the time and even if you were, that's not why she was nervous."

The mist began to fade and a crowd had begun to materialize. It seemed a crowd had formed when people started dueling. Aoi Sanders had just defeated Draco Black, but she didn't look too happy about it.

"You duel just like my grandma, and she's blind! What a waste of time." Aoi said as she stormed off, disappearing into the mist.

And it seemed Alexandra and Gouki's duel was about to come to a close as well. They were a duelist's distance away from each other and each only had a small handful of points left.

"I remember this. I beat her." The Demon said smugly. "She's about to end her turn. I'm about to draw Dark Armed Dragon and end the game."

True to his word, the Gouki from the past drew his best monster card and with three darks in the grave he destroyed Alex's field.

Crimson's Past looked over at The Demon, then sighed. She snapped her fingers and all of sudden time began to stop once again. "Let's see what was in Alexandra's hand, shall we?"

Though the holograms hadn't faded just yet, Crimson's Past calmly made it across the battlefield, walked over to Alex and pulled a card from her hand. "Spellbook of Judgment" she declared before slipping the card back.

"What!?" The Demon exclaimed. "If she had that and didn't play it, then we really DIDN'T need such a weak duelist for our dorm!" He chuckled, but Crimson's Past looked at him in disappointment.

"The reason she didn't play it wasn't because she was a bad duelist. The reason she didn't want to play it was because she didn't want to embarrass you in front of a crowd."

She snapped her fingers, and two cards appeared in her hand. Divine Wrath and Van'Dalgyon, the Dark Dragon Lord.

"It was the same reason Draco pulled his punches as well."

Crimson's Past stepped away from the duelists and with a snap of her fingers the world was set into motion again. Gouki's Dark Armed Dragon attacked Alex's life points directly and the duel came to an end.

"D-did I put up a good fight?" Alex asked nervously.

"Ha! Get out of here loser." Gouki barked as Alex struggled to break down from crying. "Come back to me when you're stronger."

"Y-yeah... I'll get stronger..." she said, brokenhearted as she walked away.

"And she did get stronger." The Ghost of Crimson's Past said. "But I'm sure you know all about it."

Gouki, Draco, and the Demon and the Ghost of Crimson's Past watched as Alex slipped into the crowd, dejected and defeated.

"Don't worry about it Gouki my boy! There's bound to be some other great duelists who want to join our club." Draco declared as he motioned to another duel about to begin. He put an earphone transceiver into his ear and clicked a few buttons on his PDA so he could still enjoy the duels even without his vision.

Two kids, a boy and a girl were ready to begin their duel.

"My name is Kira Ikari." the blonde girl said to her opponent.

"M-my name is Brett Parker." said the awkward boy as he blushed and drew an opening hand of five, and a sixth on his draw phase.

Gouki from the past smirked as he watched them. The scene before the Demon of Turbo began to fade into the mist and it seemed whatever the ghost had wanted to show him was over.

"So what was the point of all of that headmistress?" asked The Demon with a scowl.

"You were supposed to see how your life wasn't always such pain and misery. You were able to be happy before, and you could have been happy now if you had just opened yourself up more. Closing yourself off just leads to more and more pain."

"Whatever."

Crimson's Past scowled, then gave a deep sigh. "I wasn't expecting an epiphany on the first ghost. I'm sure the other three can pick up where I left off."

A smile etched itself on her face as she looked over the Demon. "Well Gouki, I can't say it's been a pleasure, but I can say that I believe you're on your way towards a deeper level of understanding towards yourself and the world around you. I've done all I can, and with that, I bid you adieu!"

She snapped her fingers and all at once the mist disappeared, and the Demon of Turbo fell backwards onto his bed. He gasped and looked around, reaching for his PDA to verify the time. He frowned, left alone with only his thoughts and memories to keep him company.

 

[Catterjune]

[spoiler=Chapter 3: The Ghost of Crimson's Present - Kallone]After a visit from the Ghost of Crimson's Past, the Demon of Turbo was still shaking in his bed. It all felt so real, yet he wasn't quite certain if it had all been a dream or not. If it was a dream though, he must have still been dreaming because a second woman had just mysteriously materialized out of thin air into his room.

 

She wore a long, elegant, black and purple sleeveless gown. On her arms she had long purple gloves with two black gauntlets over her forearms. Draped over her shoulders was something that looked like a headmistress jacket for Crimson Wind Academy. She wore the jacket like a cape, tying it together by the sleeves around her neck. She had long fair colored hair, similar to Alexandra Rosendal's but slightly darker. She held a serious expression on her face, telling the Demon she'd likely not tolerate his games.

 

That wouldn't stop him from trying though, of course.

 

"Greetings." she greeted, though there was nothing warm or inviting about the way she spoke. It was breathy and serious, with not a hint of emotion whatsoever.

 

"Who the hell are you?" asked The Demon as he wrapped his blanket around himself tighter.

 

"I have gone by many names in my long life, however you may call me the Ghost of Crimson's Present."

 

The Demon raised an eyebrow. "Present? Like... Holiday Gifts?"

 

She stared at him blankly for a moment, studying him profusely before she finally spoke. "No."

 

The Demon gave a bit of a chuckle, partly from nerves and partly because he found it so peculiar she would take such a long drawn out pause before replying so curtly.

 

"Okay, so when Crimson's Past was here, she took on the form of Headmistress Swebb. Who are you supposed to be?"

 

"If you must know, I've taken on the form of Headmistress Kallone."

 

The demon didn't know any Headmistress by the name of Kallone, though it wasn't really something he could claim to be an expert in. Her name made him crack a smile though.

 

"What do you mean by Cologne? Do you stink or something?"

 

"If you find my scent to be offensive, consider it an incentive to finish our task as quickly as possible." she responded back quickly.

 

"Alright, so Swebb showed me the past. So Stinky, I take it you're gonna show me the present then?"

 

"That is correct. I'm here to show you the present lives of your friends in the Black Dorm, so you may recognize what effect your actions have on other people." Crimson's Present said. "What you do with this information is up to you."

 

"If you're just going to show me the present, wouldn't it be easier to just go downstairs?" asked the Demon.

 

She stared at him blankly for a moment, studying him profusely before she finally spoke. "No."

 

The Demon sighed, but he had learned there was no stopping or appeasing these ghosts until they showed him what they needed to. He kept his pajamas on, but he put on socks, sneakers and his Necrophades Black Dorm coat.

 

"Alright Kallone, I already know how this works. Let's go."

 

Crimson's Present stared at The Demon, but whatever was on her mind she didn't say it. Instead she raised her hands like the conductor of an orchestra. A bright light seemed to radiate from the floor, growing in intensity. The Demon of Turbo had to shut his eyes and look away from the light show to avoid being blinded.

 

---

 

When the lights had finally died down, The Demon of Turbo was reunited with a scene he felt some sense of familiarity with. There were banners, bleachers, a small spread of food, and what looked like a huge collection of kids in Crimson Wind Academy blazers.

 

"The Crimson Wind Academy Holiday Dance? Hey Kallone, Swebb already showed me this one."

 

"We're not at LAST year's party. We're at THIS year's party."

 

"This year?" The Demon reached for his pocket, again forgetting his PDA on his night stand. "But that's tomorrow! Isn't that TECHNICALLY in the future?"

 

She scowled as she studied him curiously. "Just pay attention."

 

There was a colorful collection of characters, some that the Demon recognized, but a majority he did not. As he watched the students enjoy themselves however, 4 people he never expect to see had just arrived to the party, clad in their original dorm colors at that. The Witch, the Horseman, the Vampire and the President arrived as a group to the Academy Holiday Party, wearing blue, red, blue and red respectively.

 

One of the guests at the party, a short flat chested girl with long white hair who looked about ten years old stopped dancing and did a double take when she saw the group. "Oh great," she said. "The jerks from the Necro dorm are here to ruin our fun."

 

The President shook her head in disagreement to the white-haired girl's words.

 

"Listen Princess, we're not here to ruin your fun."

 

"And we are not part of the Necrophades Black dorm either." The Witch said sadly.

 

The Horseman nodded, motioning towards the red jacket he was wearing.

 

The Demon's eyes widened in surprise at the Witch's words. "Wow. So those slackers actually quit the dorm?" though Crimson's Present didn't seem to express any emotion, The Demon felt she was judging him. He quickly reclaimed his composure and gave a quick chuckle instead. "Good. The Necrophades Dorm doesn't need quitters."

 

"Also we're not jerks!" The Vampire quickly added with a weak smile to the Princess.

 

"We're just here to enjoy the Holiday Party just like everyone else on the island." the President said.

 

The Princess still looked over the group skeptically. "Wait, so you guys really aren't in the Black Dorm anymore?"

 

"Correct." The Witch responded.

 

"And you'll be sleeping in your original dorms tonight?"

 

The Horseman and the Witch, who had shared a room in the Black Dorm since the school year began exchanged uneasy looks.

 

"Yeah." The President said.

 

"What happened?" asked the white haired Princess. "Did it all burn down or something?"

 

The Vampire's ears seemed to perk up and there was a bit of a glint in his eye as he stepped forward. "I can tell you all about it Princess." he said with a smile as he put an arm around her shoulder.

 

She glanced over at his hand but did not make any attempt to remove it. "Okay, tell me what you know."

 

"Let's go somewhere more private. I'll get you a drink Princess."

 

The Demon of Turbo rolled his eyes in disgust as he watched the Princess and the Vampire walk away to a more secluded area.

 

"Alright, I get it." The Demon began. "The Vampire and the Princess are about to go on a date. Yeah sure, I guess that's reason enough to repent."

 

"Your nonchalant repartee is acknowledged, but not necessary." Crimson's Present responded quickly.

 

And just like that, the 3 remaining Necrophades kids were left all alone in a sea of Red, Yellow and Blue.

 

"It's been a long time s-since we've hung out with the rest of our dorm..." The Horseman said with a tone of apprehension in his voice.

 

"I'm sure we will find a new family soon. We will be fine." The Witch replied with a smile as she held The Horseman's hand. And for a split second, he really believed it would all be fine. He believed things would be okay and he and The Witch would make it to graduation and still remain a major part of each other's lives as they grew old together.

 

And then he heard a loud booming voice calling out to him.

 

"What the hell are you doing holding hands with her?"

 

A boy taller than the Horseman began to approach the group. He wore a long Obelisk blue overcoat and he had flowing brown hair. His eyes were darker than a moonless night in January. Those dark black eyes were now locked on the Horseman and they were angry. The Horseman instantly dropped Kira's hand and he raised them up to protect his face.

 

The Demon of Turbo gave a bit of a nervous chuckle as he watched the scene unfold. "Ha! Good ol' Brett always had a bit of a bullying problem."

 

"When he wore his Black Dorm jacket the other students saw him as an elite member of a secret organization. In Red, he's just another Slifer Slacker."

 

"Does he get hit?"

 

"Are you worried about him?"

 

"D-does he get hit?"

 

The Demon watched as the tall boy strode quickly up to the trio. He was now within easy striking distance of the Horseman. The Obelisk clenched his fist and wound back. The Demon looked away.

 

The President however was just a little bit quicker than the Obelisk. She managed to catch the boy by the wrist and gave his arm a good twist.

 

The Obelisk let out a panicked yelp and quickly pulled out of Akane's grasp and backed up a few steps.

 

"What the hell kind of Edgelord do you think you are attacking him like that!?" The President exclaimed

 

"Name's Caius Freemont," said the Edgelord. "And that disgusting red degenerate has no business creeping all over our Obelisk girls!"

 

"Well I am Akane Tachimuka and I am your student body president! Democratically elected by-"

 

"Shut up!"

 

She was startled. No one had ever spoken to her like that at the academy before. "What!? How dare you speak to me like-"

 

"No!" the Edgelord shouted back. "How dare a Slifer like YOU speak to an Obelisk like ME!?"

 

"Freemont-san," The Witch began. "As a fellow Obelisk, I must say-"

 

"No." The President smiled. "There's only one thing a bully like him'll understand and that's a swift beating."

 

"Akane..." The Horseman began.

 

"Go on Brett. Take the Witch, go have fun with the Ras and the Reds here. Leave the Obelisks to me." The President turned her sight to the bully.

 

"Edgelord, I challenge you to a duel!"

 

The Demon and Crimson's Present watched as The President and The Edgelord began their duel as the Horseman and the Witch quietly snuck away.

 

"She loses the duel by the way." Crimson's Present said nonchalantly.

 

"What!? Oh come on. How could you spoil it like that?" The Demon protested.

 

"We're not going to stick around to see the end, and it looked like you were really curious."

 

"So... what happens after she loses?"

 

"I'll save that for the Ghost of Crimson's Future. For right now, we're still in the present and we have a certain young couple that we still need to follow."

 

The Ghost of Crimson's Present raised her hands high like some kind of necromancer. Instead of zombies, light began pouring out of the floor and the room was once again bathed in a blinding white light.

 

---

 

The Academy Winter Dance was a typical kind of school party. It was held in the Grand Central Dueling Arena, and the amenities were pretty plain. Punch, snacks, chips, a banner, and the kids could either dance or eat or chill on the bleachers.

 

Whatever the Horseman and the Witch had stumbled onto was something else entirely.

 

They were below the Slifer Red dorm, but not in the basement. They were somewhere further down and sitting at a rickety collapsible table with a bunch of folding seats and about ten or eleven other people. The Horseman had offered the Witch his Slifer Red jacket, which she was currently keeping herself warm in.

 

Wherever they were, it was dark and though there weren't many people it seemed every sound was amplified by echoes. There was a small lantern at the center of the table giving out peculiar shadows, but almost everyone carried their own light source, their PDAs instead. Somebody however had brought a boombox or speaker from upstairs and was playing popular music from a few years back.

 

The Demon of Turbo looked around in amazement and wonder. "Where are we?"

 

"When they originally designed the academy, there was a need for emergency evacuation shelters, should the volcano become active again. Your fellow students seemed to have discovered one of these shelters." Crimson's Present raised her arms, and a low light, like infrared vision emitted from the ground. "Welcome to the Underground."

 

With the additional lights, the Demon could see a bit more of the location the Horseman and Witch were now in. It was large, like a warehouse. Probably about the size of the main Academy's Dueling Arena. It also seemed there were 4 other entrances, all at each corner of the warehouse. The 10 or so people were currently crowded around near the center, and there was a fifth door, presumably leading back to the main academy.

 

"Here buddy," said one of the kids who wore a suit, a yellow scarf and a hat as he passed the Horseman a drink. "This'll warm you up."

 

"Th-thank you." The Horseman responded, as he took a sip. "O-oh." The drink did not seem to agree with him as he scowled. "Th-that's alcohol."

 

"First one's on the house." said the boy in the suit with a bit of a smirk, though Brett was pretty sure he didn't want the first one to begin with.

 

"Alright folks," a boy near the head of the table in Red said. "This here is Brett Parker and Kira Ikari."

 

"No one cares Lin! Quit being a homo!" shouted out a boy with a red hoodie before snickering.

 

"What's wrong with being gay!?" said a girl with dark red hair as she drunk a freezy blue fruity margarita. She was holding hands with another Slifer Red girl with short brown hair and glasses who was blushing.

 

"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance Brett and Kira." a Ra Yellow girl spoke as she stood up in a refined and dignified manner. "My name is Melody, but they call me Blunty around here. It must be because I'm rather direct, to the point, and some may say a little bit blunt-"

 

"No she actually misheard us." Red Hoodie called out. "We call her Cun-"

 

"And who am I you ask?" one Ra Yellow boy stood up and spoke in rather grandiose and pompous tone of voice. The other kids looked about ready to walk out. "You are all privileged to be in the presence of Rey Revire. I'm sure you've heard of me. I am the King of the Academy after all."

 

"You're still here with the rest of us gutter rats man." said a larger, gruffer Ra Yellow boy. "Call me Sinatra by the way."

 

"This isn't the gutters." said another boy eating a big bowl of pasta. "The gutters wouldn't have grub like this."

 

"So Brett and Kira was it?" Asked a boy as he took a part a duel disk. He had about 8 cups around him and a dinner plate, carefully putting screws and other small pieces in the aforementioned cups. "What exactly brought you here anyway?"

 

"I did." said Lin with a smile.

 

"Lincest over here just wanted to flirt with Kira." Red Hoodie said with a smirk.

 

"He has good taste!" a flirty Slifer Red with dark black hair and blue eyes responded

 

"When I saw these twokids all alone just outside the Dueling Arena, I figured they didn't really get along with anyone there so I figured I should invite them to our little shindig. After all, isn't there a story around this time of year about a couple who had no place to go, so they took refuge with the lowest of the low?"

 

The Horseman and the Witch exchanged looks, then sighed in unison.

 

"Y-yeah. Th-that's us all right." The Horseman began. "We both used to be in N-necrophades Black, until Gouki kicked us out this morning."

 

"Oh, what a dick!"

"Not surprised."

"And on Christm- I mean, Holiday Break Eve!?"

"The dude with the eyebrows?"

"Mhm."

 

It seemed the entirety of the Gutter Rats were in agreement that The Demon of Turbo wasn't a very good person.

 

The Demon scowled as he watched them.

 

"That's not it exactly." The Witch protested. "He demands... a higher level of standards than we were prepared to give him."

 

"Y-yeah. F-for right now" the Horseman held the Witch's hands. "We just want to focus on us..."

 

"Did you notice how, even when surrounded by people who hated you they didn't want to bad mouth you in their presence?" Crimson's Present pointed out.

 

"Looks like I trained them well!" The Demon sneered.

 

"Say no more fam!" Lin interrupted. "You're welcome to stay here as long as you like."

 

"For Lin to creep on you." Red Hoodie smirked.

 

"I don't mind having a few more customers around." said the waiter.

 

"And Kira is pretty cute..." said the flirty boy and Freezy at the same time.

 

"I think Brett...." began a girl with very light blue hair, so light that it almost looked white. As she spoke she suddenly blushed and had second thoughts about speaking. "Uhh... never mind!"

 

"It's not exactly paradise, but we have our freedom." said the Duel Disk Engineer.

 

The Witch glanced over to the boy holding her hand. There was only one thing on her mind. "Can Brett-sama and I share a room?"

 

Lin, the Flirt and Freezy all frowned.

 

"Well, the Academy doesn't normally let boys and girls dorm together, but since we're underneath the academy anything goes here." said Pasta.

 

"They also d-don't let Obelisks and Slifer's dorm together either." The Horseman said with a bit of a chuckle, however the kids found it less funny than he did.

 

"What?"

"Huh?"

"Did he say Obelisk?"

"Blues?

 

There were nervous questions and comments amongst the Gutter Rats and Brett could feel he had had something wrong.

 

"What did you just say?" Lin asked nervously.

 

"He said we are glad to have found a family that will let us be together." The Witch said cheerfully. "The academy doesn't let us dorm together, because I'm an Obelisk and he is a Slifer."

 

She handed back his jacket, revealing her proud Obelisk Blue attire and smiled. The kids did not smile back.

 

The Horseman looked around nervously. He could tell by their faces they did not like what was happening. "I th-think she'll make a good addition to the Gutter Rats..."

 

"LIKE HELL SHE WILL!" Blunty exclaimed in a rage. She grabbed at Pasta's fork and nearly jumped on the table. The King of the Academy and the Girl with Light Blue Hair quickly had to rush to hold her back.

 

"Please m'lady, maintain some regal composure!"

 

"Y-yeah!" Light Blue stammered, before she noticed her hands were touching the King's. She gasped and pulled them away, blushing profusely and sitting down.

 

The Horseman however stood up to defend his best friend. "What's the big deal!?" he said, surprisingly without a stutter. "She's my best friend and-"

 

"Obelisks are not welcome amongst the Gutter Rats!" the Duel Disk Engineer said with a scowl.

 

"Obelisks think they're so high and mighty!" Freezy exclaimed.

 

"They've got all the money, all the grades, all the best cards." Freezy's girlfriend continued.

 

"The Underground is something just meant for us." Sinatra said. "It's something ONLY for the bottom two dorms to share in."

 

"Just bringing her in like this is probably a huge risk." The waiter said. "There's no telling what someone with that kind of mindset would do here."

 

The Demon of Turbo's eyes lit up as he heard the words of the Gutter Rat. "Hmm... a massive shelter, capable of housing the entire school?"

 

Crimson's Present scowled as she looked at him.

 

"K-Kira's not like that! She's a wonderful, smart, kind, funny beautiful girl! I've never heard a single bad thing come out of this girl's mouth! She would never hurt or insult any of you!" When he spoke about the Witch, his heart filled with courage and he found it much easier to talk without a stutter. "And if you won't accept Kira then I won't join either!"

 

The Witch stood up, head down and with sad eyes. "No. It's... it's okay Brett-sama."

 

"You were worried about finding a new family after Necrophades Black. It appears you found one here though." she awkwardly played with one her long twin tails. "I guess I'll... have to find my own family somewhere else."

 

The Waiter and Lin quickly escorted Kira off. Brett however was frozen in shock and on the verge of tears.

 

"You'll be fine kid." The Engineer wasn't sure of what to say, but something generic like that sounded right.

 

"You've got us now!" said Pasta.

 

"Careful there Pasta or he'll start crying." Red Hoodie said following it with a laugh.

 

"Laughing at your own jokes?" Blunty scoffed. "You're like one of those Obelisk girls who 'likes' her own pictures on Duel Space."

 

"Don't worry about her" Light Blue said as she took a seat next to Brett and blushed. "You'll find someone else."

 

"There's no one else like her." Brett responded with his head down on the table.

 

The Demon gave a chuckle as he watched Brett wallowing in misery. "Wow, so the two love birds actually broke up?"

 

"Being in Necrophades was the reason they met. Hanging out together every day in their dorm was what let their relationship blossom. Without the black dorm, eventually what they had will wither and die."

 

Crimson's Present raised her arms again and the lights once again flooded the room as The Demon tried to shield his eyes.

 

---

 

The lights had finally died down, if only just a little. The Demon could only faintly see the form of Crimson's Present, hovering in midair within the realm of light before them.

 

"What the hell was the point of all that?"

 

Crimson's Present still scowled seriously at the boy with not a hint of emotion. "All will be made clear soon enough. I am merely here to set the stage for our final performer. What you take away from tonight is entirely up to you."

 

At long last she lowered her hands, and the Demon could feel himself falling backwards. He landed with a thud, his eyes adjusting to the sudden darkness as he looked around and found himself back once again within his own dorm room.

 

[Catterjune]

[spoiler=Chapter 4: The Ghost of Crimson's Future - Violet]The Demon of Turbo was having quite an interesting night, but at last it was almost over. Unfortunately for him, it looked like it would all be over soon considering how the final ghost looked. There was a darkly figure clad in an all-black cloak that concealed its face, its head and its very form itself. The final spirit seemed to scatter gloom and misery with every step it took as it came closer and closer to the Demon of Turbo's bed.

 

At last, the phantom reached for its hood and pulled it down to reveal their face.

 

"Hi! I'm the Ghost of Crimson's Future!" a cute little blonde girl greeted cheerfully.

 

She adjusted her cloak to reveal the official Kelen Academy Headmistress outfit, an ensemble for an academy that the Demon did not recognize. However, even though the Demon did not recognize the outfit, he certainly recognized the smile on her face, the twinkle in her eye, the voice, the hair, and especially her very curvaceous and very well-endowed figure. This was a very familiar looking girl that pretty much everyone at the academy knew by name.

 

"Lynn?"

 

"Ha! I wish! She's adorable!" Crimson's Future smiled as she wrapped her arms across her ample chest. "I just took on the physical form of one of your friends."

 

The Demon exhaled loudly. "Lynn is NOT one of my friends."

 

"Yeah! You don't really have any so it was kind hard to find the right form. Instead I picked the most friendly and cheerful girl on campus! Violet Lynn Dionaea, but you can just call her Lynn!" the Ghost of Crimson's Future smiled eagerly as she bounced on her toes.

 

"Oh! But you can just call ME the Ghost of Crimson's Future. Is that's okay?"

 

The Demon was about to speak, before Crimson's Future interrupted.

 

"I mean, of course that's okay! Not like you have much of a say in all of this! I'm the one with the magic after all!" as she spoke she adjusted her cloak ever so slightly and an elegant looking violin appeared in one hand and a bow appeared in the other.

 

"You know, I thought in the book the third ghost was supposed to be silent."

 

"You'll be glad I'm not when this is all over! Now button up your coat and get ready cause I'm about to play you a song about the future!" Crimson's Future said as she tucked the instrument under her chin and began to play. It was a sad, sorrow filled song played slowly. As she played her tune, the world around The Demon began to vibrate along with the strings on her violin, in rhythm with her song. The world began to distort and flash, humming to life with the music that she played until the world blurred completely out of focus.

 

---

 

The colors were frightening and distorting but it was only temporary as the world soon buzzed back to life as Crimson's Future's song finally concluded. As reality snapped back to normal the Demon staggered about in dizzying confusion, barely recognizing where he was. There was an enormous crowd in what looked like a sporting event, and Crimson's Future and the Demon had courtside seats.

 

"Where are we?"

 

"We're at the Silverdome." Crimson's Future replied cheerfully. "I'm gonna show you the future if you keep going down this dark and dangerous path you've chosen!

 

She pointed dramatically with her violin bow.

 

"First we'll start with your fr-" she paused. "Uhhh... classmate, Akane Tachimuka!"

 

As his eyes finally adjusted the Demon noticed they were at a Pro Duel between the former Student Body President and a certain narrator from another certain fanfic.

 

"Woah, Akane's a pro duelist now? What's so bad about that?" The Demon asked.

 

"A'shh!" Crimson's Future chastised as she poked him in the arm with the end of her bow. "Just watch!"

 

"That last trap card really put the hurt on Akane and oh-what's-this!?" The announcer's voice called from up on high. "It looks like her opponent Arthur's just revealed another face down card!"

 

"Activate Trap! Mind Crush!" The narrator from the other fanfic declared dramatically.

 

The crowd roared in excitement and started yelling out a bunch of different card names for the narrator to declare.

 

The President held her cards a little bit closer to her chest as she looked around sheepishly. "Alright. Name your card."

 

The Narrator gave a chuckle and a shrug. "Red-Eyes Black Dragon of course."

 

An insidious smile spread itself on The President's face. "Did you say 'Black' Dragon?"

 

Her opponent nodded. "Yeah."

 

"Buzz! Sorry! Wrong! Guess again!"

 

Confusion, muttering, and worried sounds came from the audience.

 

"W-what kind of trick is this?" the announcer declared from the overhead speakers.

 

"Come on Akane. I've seen bluffs before but this is just ridiculous." the Narrator said with a serious look on his face. "I just saw your hand with Deck Devastation Virus. We all know it's there."

 

"Guess again!" The President revealed the card in her hand. A level 7 vanilla dragon with 2400 attack and 2000 defense was on full display. 'A ferocious dragon with a deadly attack.'

 

"Yeah, Red Eyes Black Dragon."

 

"Read the card again!" she insisted. With a wave of her hand the holograms disappeared and she quickly rushed over to his side of the field.

 

"Just what is Akane Tachimuka planning folks?" the announcer asked and the audience seemed equally as confused as him.

 

The President shoved the card in her opponents face and turned to look at her audience. "Read the card out loud!" she insisted.

 

"Red Eyes... B. Dragon?"

 

"Hear that!? Red Eyes B. Dragon! B. Dragon! Bee!"

 

"You're a B." the narrator said as he pushed the card back into The President's hand.

 

"And you're going to have to discard a card from your hand at random!"

 

"My oh my ladies and gentleman. I've seen rule sharking in my day and age but this one takes the cake!"

 

The Demon scowled as he looked over the girl. "Hey Lynn, what happened to Akane?"

 

"Ah! That's an easy one!" Crimson's Future said with a grin. "The day she was kicked out of the Black Dorm she became a changed woman. She thought people liked her because of her intelligence or her physical strength or her position as student body president. The only reason she was respected though was because they thought she was a great duelist in a secret club. Instead it turns out she was a nobody, a Slifer Slacker and she actually didn't have much in the way of dueling skills at all."

 

"So now she has to be true to herself or some other Walter Sidney crap like that, right? What's so bad about that exactly?"

 

"You're not understanding." Crimson's Future wagged a finger with her hand on her hips. "When she didn't have to worry about proving herself as a duelist she could focus on something she actually enjoyed. Akane could have been a great teacher. Now she's doomed to a life of being a mediocre Pro Duelist."

 

"Most people would kill to be a Pro Duelist though. I'm not really seeing the downside here Lynn."

 

The Narrator gave a phony sigh. "If you insist Akane." He said with a sigh as he raised a single card. "I only have one card in my hand though, and I don't think you'll like where this one's going. Grapha, Dragon Lord of Dark World!"

 

The Dragon roared a mighty roar as Akane's Five Headed Dragon was destroyed.

 

Crimson's Future gave a sigh as she pulled out her violin and got her bow ready to play. "Maybe the next song will change your mind then?" As she began playing the world began to vibrate out of focus and once again the Demon would be taking a trip.

 

---

 

A miserable looking man in his mid-20s scowled as he left his job at McBurgerTown. He had dirty unkempt hair, a patchy and gross looking beard and a pitiful look of overwhelming sorrow hidden behind his glasses.

 

"Who's that greasy weirdo?"

 

"That's your old classmate, Brett Parker."

 

"Hey, good ol' Brett finally managed to grow a beard!" The Demon said with a chuckle as the pair followed him to his house on the Wrong Side of the Highway. He awkwardly jangled his keys before opening the door to his apartment. He didn't even bother turning on the light as he awkwardly stumbled and made his way into the kitchen then grabbed a can of beans from off a high shelf before making it back to the living room area and collapsed in a heap on an uncomfortable futon, turning on his old cathode-ray style television as his only source of light.

 

"Oh god, he's not gonna take his pants off too is he!?"

 

"He won't, unfortunately." Crimson's Future said with a mournful sigh. "He's too down and defeated to bother doing much of anything when he gets home."

 

True to her words, Brett kept his McBurgerTown uniform on as he opened up his can and miserably dug in to his 'meal' with his fingers.

 

"Eww gross." The Demon said as he flinched in disgust. "Geez, what's with him anyway? How could Kira allow this to happen? She was always there to whip that boy into shape!"

 

"That's right!" Crimson's Future said excitedly, before looking down mournfully. "She's not around anymore though."

 

"I get it. Everyone has a bad life now, right?" The Demon said with a sagely nod. "So what's Kira's problem. Did she gain three hundred pounds and go live in a trailer park or something?"

 

"Not exactly." Crimson's Future put a hand on her hip and shook a cute little index finger. "After she realized she wouldn't being spending any more time with Brett she went on a permanent trip to visit her mom."

 

"Her mom? But Kira always said her mom was in the land of the dead." The Demon of Turbo blinked, realizing what he had just said. "...Oh."

 

"That's right!" Crimson's Future said cheerfully. "Spending time with Kira gave Brett the confidence and strength he needed to keep going. Without her he's... well, you can see for yourself."

 

After he finished his can of beans, Brett gave the can a bit of shake to get the rest of the sauce onto his hands. With the can empty, Brett tossed it aside and curled up on his futon. He let the sound of his TV show be his only company as he slowly drifted off to sleep.

 

"But really? He's working at a McBurgerTown?" The Demon exclaimed, stamping his foot on the ground. "This guy was supposed to be an artist!"

 

"Without Kira he didn't really see much more beauty left in the world."

 

The Demon groaned. "God, that's the literally gayest thing I've heard all night, and there were two gay people in the last chapter."

 

The Demon looked over at the now snoring Horseman and scowled in disgust.

 

"Alright, everyone's life is ruined now because they left the Black Dorm I guess." He turned to Crimson's Future. "What about Akuto?"

 

Crimson's Future giggled excitedly. "He doesn't live in Brett's house silly!"

 

"That's not what I meant, stupid. I mean, Akuto's always had a good head on his shoulders. He was a former Obeliks, a great duelist, one of our wealthier students. I'm sure he was successful after graduating Crimson Wind Academy."

 

Crimson's Future gave an uneasy look as she pulled out her violin. "Are you sure you don't wanna watch Brett sleep a little longer? He's sooo cute."

 

The Demon looked at her in shock and disgust. "I'm sure. Let's go visit Akuto."

 

"Fiiine." Her bow landed on her violin and once again the world began to vibrate and contort to the music the girl played.

 

---

 

The Demon of Turbo and the Ghost of Crimson's Future's journey was almost over, but one way or another this one was sure to leave the most lasting of impressions. The pair found themselves in the backseat of a car. Crimson's Future instinctively reached for her seat belt, then nudged the Demon who reluctantly put his on as well.

 

"So, this is The Vampire's life? Not bad."

 

The Demon looked around at the car he was in and honestly it looked great. Plush interior, leather seats, Bluetooth touchscreen on the dashboard.

 

"Fancy car?"

 

As he looked around further he caught Akuto's reflection and noticed the man was wearing a tie and had a clean shaved look about him.

 

"Fancy suit?"

 

The Demon leaned forward to get a better look at his former classmate. The Demon confirmed the Vampire was wearing a full black suit and tie. The Demon also saw a rather large bouquet of flowers on the passenger side of his car.

 

"Fancy flowers?"

 

The Demon leaned back and smiled at all the Vampire had accomplished, no doubt because of the Demon's influence.

 

"Yeah, I definitely think Akuto came out a winner here."

 

A buzz came from Akuto's left breast pocket before a name popped up on the touch screen on his dashboard. 'Kay Stopoff'

 

The Demon glanced over at the Vampire, who had his eyes fixated on the road ahead. He looked at his pocket that remained buzzing, then at the touch screen that continued chiming. A single tear drop rolled down Akuto's eyes as the call went to voicemail.

 

"Hah! Akuto doesn't wanna talk for once? That's new!" The Demon grinned as he slammed back down in the plush leather seating.

 

"Akuto's changed a lot since the last time he saw you." Crimson's Future said solemnly.

 

She pulled out her violin and gave a slow twang of a string. At long last the outside world of the Vampire's car began to buzz into view. There were trees and grass everywhere, and he was on a single road.

 

"Where are we?"

 

At last the car parked. The Vampire undid his seatbelt and took his flowers with him.

 

Crimson's Future undid her seatbelt and began to follow the Vampire, with the Demon closely behind.

 

There were gray rocks scattered everywhere with names, and with another twang of Crimson's Future's violin, the Demon finally pieced it all together. "A cemetery?"

 

Akuto looked at the tombstone before him, then at the flowers. He gave a deep sigh before placing the flowers on the young girl's grave, then calmly walked back to his car and began to drive away.

 

The Demon gasped as he read the name on the tombstone. 'Wilhemina Hatcher', his archenemy, the Princess of Ra Yellow.

 

"She died the day after the Holiday Party-" Crimson's Future began solemnly, however The Demon was absolutely thrilled to hear this.

 

"Wait wait wait wait wait! This I gotta hear!" The Demon exclaimed with a smile on his face. "How'd the Princess die?"

 

"The night she and Akuto hung out, they shared a few cups of coffee. It didn't do much for the Vampire, but being that she was so small and petite it managed to keep the Princess up all night long, even though she was supposed to fly out and meet her parents the next night. When her alarm went off the next morning she was exhausted after her caffeine crash. She rushed through her morning routine to make her flight in time. She never saw the truck coming. The driver didn't see her either until it was too late."

 

"Haha! Serves the brat right!" The Demon sneered as he looked over her grave.

 

"That's so rude!" Crimson's Future said as she glared at him. "Akuto blames himself for the coffee, and he blames you for hating her."

 

"It's kind of a stretch to be blaming her death on me, but I'll gladly take the credit!"

 

"Ugh!" Crimson's Future threw up her hands and gave an exasperated sigh. She looked down for a moment before she snapped her fingers. "I think I've got it."

 

"Alright so, are we done here? Cemeteries creep me out." The Demon thought back to his own parents' funeral, and grimaced as he tried to push that memory as far back down as possible.

 

"Almost!" Crimson's Future said with a grin, as if this was the final ace up her sleeve. Her ultimate silver bullet that would make the Demon of Turbo regret every bad decision he ever made, and then some. "There's one last thing you need to see here at the cemetery."

 

A few quick plucks of her string and the world vibrated ever so slightly. A new grave marker was before the pair now.

 

"Ta-da!" Crimson's Future proudly showed off her ultimate ploy. A tombstone with a single name etched on it.

 

'Gouki Shinkou', the Demon of Turbo himself.

 

---

 

The Demon of Turbo stared at his name on the grave, touched a hand to his chin and really thought about what he had just seen.

 

"You know," he began, mulling it all over. "So far I'm not really seeing much of a downside to this vision."

 

Crimson's Future grinned. "Yeah, I- wait, what!?" Her smile immediately contorted to one of utter disgust and shock. "B-but Akane's only obssessed with victory now!"

 

"Maybe she'll actually start winning duels then."

 

"Brett and Kira aren't together anymore!"

 

"She was too good for him anyway."

 

"Billie's dead!"

 

"I'm fine with that."

 

"You're dead!"

 

"Better to go out in a blaze of glory then to slowly wither away."

 

Crimson's Future raised a finger, but found the words escaped her. At last she gave a loud defeated groan and threw her violin to the ground, shattering it into a thousand little pieces. "AUGH!"

 

She took a deep breath and tried to compose herself before struggling to come up with something to say. "I don't understand you at all. You wanna act all cool and edgy, that's fine. But you're not supposed to drag everyone else down with you!"

 

"Oh so you didn't get what you wanted? Good. Welcome to the life of Gouki Shinkou." The Demon said with a scowl. "You thought that this would be the part where I cry out and repent. The part where I change my ways because I'm dead and no one cares about me at all? Well let me tell you and all your little ghost friends something, I-"

 

"No." The Ghost of Crimson's Future interrupted with a weak smile.

 

The Demon was caught off guard. "What?"

 

"There is one person that cares about you."

 

A singular high note from a violin went off and someone else seemed to vibrate into existence. She was tall, wore a long black peacoat and she wore navy scrubs, like a doctor. She had her hair hidden underneath a red wool hat.

 

"Let me guess. Is that supposed to be you?" The Demon said with a snide mocking tone of voice. "It's gotta be either Lynn or Alex."

 

"It's neither." Crimson's Future said simply.

 

As she stopped vibrating and got further into focus the Demon could make out more of the woman's details. She had soft red eyes and long black hair. Her eyebrows were well kept and neatly threaded and she had a bit of light makeup on.

 

"She looks just like my mom..." the Demon said in a dream like stupor.

 

"She should." Crimson's Future said, finding the courage to smile again. "She's your sister."

 

"... What!?"

 

"Well, your half-sister at least. Her name is Kotomi!" she said, regaining her excitement

 

"... Again, what!?"

 

"Don't you remember? It was two years before you were born-"

 

"How could I remember when I wasn't even born yet?"

 

"- And your mom worked as a secretary at the Silvershine branch of Industrial Illusions. Emily was just starting out and she fell in love with one of the older Duel Disk engineers. They went out a few times, enjoyed each other's company, one thing lead to another and she wound up pregnant. Nine months later little baby Kotomi was born. Your mom couldn't really support the girl on a secretary's salary so she was hoping the engineer could help take care of them. The Engineer however was already married and he couldn't let an affair like this get back to his wife. He agreed to help by sending Kotomi away to live with his own parents where she'd be raised, as long as the both of them agreed never to speak of it again. Three months later your mom met your dad and the rest is history as they say."

 

It was the longest The Demon had let any of the Ghosts speak uninterrupted, and for good reason. Any story about his parents left him absolutely shell shocked.

 

"I... I don't believe it..."

 

"Hey little brother." Kotomi sniffled as she gently patted the tombstone. "Sorry I haven't visited you much. Life's been so tough at Zenkai Hospital. But big news! I'm a Doctor now!"

 

Kotomi held up a nametag with her last name on it. "See what it says! Doctor Surrogate! It's really official now."

 

Kotomi smiled as she sighed and took a seat, leaning on the back of the tombstone. "You know, Gouki... I really hope I'm pronouncing that right. I wonder what you were like when you were alive."

 

The Demon stared at the woman who spoke to his tombstone. "I... I have a family after all?"

 

"If you were anything like me, I bet you were nice and kind to everyone and you had a lot of friends. I bet you were happy and you did everything in your power to make the world a better place."

 

Crimson's Future gave a giggle as the Demon began crying, openly sobbing as he watched his sister waxing nostalgically over his grave.

 

"Aren't you glad I'm able to talk now?"

 

The Demon's mind was reeling and unwinding. His head was throbbing and he felt as though his brain was buzzing like one of Crimson Future's violin strings. He closed his eyes and curled up tight, crying out in agony at the past when he had his happiness stolen away from him, the present when he hurt those closest to him, and the future he could have had. He took one last look at Crimson's Future who smiled at him, before she vibrated out of existence, collapsing into darkness and he once again saw the form of his own bedroom door where the Ghost of Crimson's Future once stood.

 

[Catterjune]

[spoiler=Chapter 5: The Spirit of the Holidays]It was the night of the Crimson Wind Academy Winter Dance and Akuto Kurai, the Vampire of Necrophades Black smiled as he led the Princess of Ra Yellow away from his friends, the former Necrophades Black students.

"Let's go somewhere more private." The Vampire said smiling. "I'll get you a drink Princess."

"Alright, but nothing too cold." she said with a bit of a shiver. After all, it was winter and she didn't need more coldness in her life.

"How about a nice warm cup of coffee then?"

The white haired girl blinked. At first she was surprised by his suggestion but after the initial shock wore off, the thought of a sophisticated grown up big girl beverage made her grin from ear to ear. "Yeah, that sounds great!"

In truth, she had never had coffee in her entire life but she always longed to feel like an adult. Her small, youthful appearance made most people mistake her for a much younger girl so being treated like a peer by the Vampire was a welcome change of pace for her.

The Vampire however had made her a promise and at a school dance found it a bit difficult to find any coffee. A quick scan of the refreshments showed only punch and Forrester snacks.

"Uhh… I'll be right back." he stammered nervously as he walked away from the Princess.

The Vampire would have to dip into his own personal reserve for this one. It was the only kind of coffee that could even keep him awake. He quickly made it back to the Obelisk Blue dorms and brewed up a pot of his special blend. He had disposable cups as well, since he often took his drink with him to class. He poured two strong all black drinks then hurried back to the dance.

When the Vampire returned, he found the Princess had saved him a seat on the bleachers. She smiled, and looked eager to talk to him a little more.

"Hey, I couldn't get any milk or sugar. Hope that's okay." The Vampire said as he took a sip of his drink without adding anything to it. She nodded, figuring she would do the same.

"Thank you." she said as she stuck the straw-like stirrer in and brought it close to her mouth. "So, what happened to the Black Dorm anyway?" she said as she began to take a sip.

"I can answer that." the familiar voice of the Demon of Turbo caused the girl to choke and spit out what was in her mouth.

The Princess's eyes narrowed as she looked towards the Demon.

"You!? What are you doing here!?"

"Finish your cup first." the Demon grinned.

The girl glanced over at the Demon, at the Vampire, then at the cup of coffee she had been offered and frowned. All of a sudden she felt hyper aware of everything and everyone around her. She was with a boy who was in leagues with one of her worst enemies, and judging by the way he so casually strolled up it was likely they were still in cahoots with each other.

"This... this is some sort of set up isn't it?!" she shot back, accusingly

"A set up?" The Vampire was confused. All he wanted to do was 'set up' something nice for the Princess but she seemed to not be taking it well. "I mean... I guess but-"

"Ugh! You never left the Black Dorm at all did you!?" The Princess awkwardly threw the cup of coffee in Akuto's direction, but instead of bursting open and spilling, it merely fell anticlimactically on the ground. The girl frowned.

"You guys are nothing but a bunch of low down terrible monsters!"

She stormed off quickly, as the Vampire stood up to try to catch her. "Hey wait! We're not monsters and we're not out to get you..."

At last the girl was gone. She had disappeared into a crowd of people, leaving the boys all alone. The Vampire scowled, turning to the Demon who seemed pretty pleased with himself.

"She may be dumb, but she did get one part right." The Demon now turned his smile towards The Vampire. "I could never let you leave the Black Dorm."

The Vampire was shocked. "What!? But... all that stuff you said about us not leaving? We couldn't stick around in the Black Dorm unless we were committed to greatness."

"Forget it Akuto." the Demon said as he began briskly walking ahead. "Somethings are more important than greatness."

"Like what?"

The Demon turned back quickly, as if to answer the Vampire's question.

"Let's find the rest of our friends."

---

After imploring the Horseman and the Witch to leave her behind, Akane Tachimuka, the Student Body President was having a pretty difficult time against the Edgelord in a duel. What was worse was that a crowd had begun to form around the two of them. She wasn't expecting to really win against him, but she at least hoped to make it a difficult match. Unfortunately this duel had been quite an embarrassment for her so far. He had full life and she was down to just about a couple hundred points.

Her turn came to an end and after a brief battle phase from the Edgelord her life points hit zero and the Obelisk had defeated her.

"Hahaha!" The Edgelord exclaimed. "Flew a little too close to the sun didn't you little birdie?"

The President said nothing.

"Oh what, too cool to care huh!?" the Edgelord exclaimed in a rage now. "You think you're so great with your fancy titles and special extracurricular crap but in the end of the day none of it mattered. Being President didn't matter. Being a Necrophadese didn't matter. Having a fancy duel disk and expensive cards didn't matter. The only thing that matters was winning! Winning at all costs!"

The President bit her bottom lip and clenched her fists. It wasn't his words that got to her, but rather the whispering of the crowd of people watching them that was stressing her out. She was fine with losing, but to lose in such a public way to a guy who was such a jerk made her enraged. But lashing out and punching the boy wouldn't solve her problem either. As Student Body President she had to maintain composure. She was supposed to be a role model. She was supposed to set an example. But by the looks of it, maybe winning was the only thing that mattered after all?

She swallowed hard as her holograms faded and just as she was about to speak some sarcastic sounding clapping came from somewhere in the audience.

"Good duel." said the Demon of Turbo said with a smug smirk.

"Yeah, you beat the President using pretty outdated tech." The Vampire continued, wearing a Necrophades Black jacket.

"Gouki! Akuto!" The President was unsure what the pair was doing, but she hated knowing that they saw such a humiliating defeat.

"Who are you scrubs!?" The Edgelord exclaimed. "You want some of this too!?"

The Edgelord raised up his Duel Disk, an older model from the Battle City era. The Vampire raised an eyebrow towards the leader of the Black Dorm. The Demon nodded.

"You know, the Demon of Turbo and I only got to see the last few turns of your duel but something looked a little weird to us when you used Dark Contract with the Gate." The Vampire began.

"What do you mean!?" The Edgelord asked, but his facade was cracking and there was a bit of a nervous glint in his eye.

"What's going on?" The President asked nervously.

"You seemed to be spending a bit more time searching for your cards." the Demon began, scowling. "And you seemed to be picking multiple cards at a time before finally deciding on the perfect one to add to your hand."

The Edgelord looked nervous, as though he was a cornered rat. "So!? Lots of people wanna look at all their options before they decide!"

"It was a little weird at first, but when I saw your Duel Disk it all came together." The Vampire grinned. He pointed accusingly at the Obelisk Edgelord. "Your Duel Disk's auto shuffler is broken, isn't it?"

"W-what?" he stammered.

"You... you cheated!?" The President exclaimed, half in surprise and half in rage.

The crowd roared in anger towards the boy. The students at Crimson Wind loved a good winner in a well fought duel. But everyone, and I mean everyone, hates a cheater.

The Edgelord backed away and removed his deck from his Duel Disk. "That's an absurd accusation!"

"Is it?" The President asked with a determined expression on her face. "The Student Body gives you a Duel Disk when you first enroll into the school. There's no reason to be keeping that old disk around."

"I... I keep it around for sentimental reasons!"

"Really? Mr 'Win at all costs' has a soft side? I doubt it." The Vampire said with a laugh.

"And that's not all." the President said with a smile. "An older Duel Disk like that can't be properly upgraded to include Pendulum Zones. No one in their right mind would run a D/D/D deck without being able to perform a Pendulum Summon!"

"Oh there's a reason alright." The Demon said with a chuckle. "The only reason to be using a gimped product like that is if it gave you another kind of advantage, isn't that right?"

The audience muttered and whispered, and all began to disperse in disgust and annoyance at the waste of a duel they had just witnessed.

"You're a dirty rotten cheater and you know it!" The President declared.

"Come over here and say that!?" the Edgelord shot back.

"I have a better idea!" The President smiled. "How about a rematch? No Duel Disks, just playing on a table like 5 year olds do."

The Edgelord whimpered like a man at the end of his rope. He was at his breaking point. He looked dizzy and as though he were about to faint. It seemed the court of public opinion had already hung him out to dry and there was no point in embarrassing himself any further.

"The only thing that matters is winning! Winning at all costs!" he yelled as he quickly rushed away, disappearing into a crowd and leaving the Necrophades kids behind.

The President breathed a sigh of relief and wiped her brow as her duel disk folded up. "Glad you guys showed up when you did." she said as she pocketed her deck "Another minute of that and I was about ready to call it quits."

The Demon scowled at her, then gave her a quick smile as he handed her a female Necrophades jacket.

"We're not ready for you to call it quits Akane."

The President looked at the jacket and smiled, glad she was back to being a Necrophades again.

---

Brett Parker, the Headless Horseman of the Necrophades Black dorm sat in a slump in the sub-sub-basement of the Slifer Red dorm. People were dancing, singing, drinking, doing drugs, eating and in general having a grand old time but for the Horseman he was already regretting the choice he made of picking these people over his girlfriend.

Tomorrow morning he was supposed to be on a ship to Silvershine. The day after, he was supposed to fly out and meet Kira's family. Right now, everything was in limbo and his heart and his head were a whirlwind of uncertainty.

"Hey, it's a party you know." Light Blue whispered as she sat next to the Horseman and took the Witch's spot. "We can... umm..."

Light Blue awkwardly teased her long light blue hair, but the Horseman didn't seem to notice. He didn't notice much of anything going on in the Underground. He didn't hear the music playing in the background. He didn't smell the smoke and alcohol that hung in the air. He didn't hear the knocking on the door, the arguing, and the sounds of footsteps rushing towards him until it was already too late.

A girl jumped on his lap and gave him a tight and loving embrace and a kiss on the cheek. Light Blue jumped up as she recoiled and sped away. It took a second for the Horseman to realize what was going on, but he knew the scent of strawberries when he smelled them.

"K-Kira?" he stammered in disbelief as the Necrophades Witch pulled away ever so slightly so they could get a good look at each other.

"Kira!?" Lin exclaimed.
"The Obelisk!?" Sinatra replied back.

There was a panic as people started yelling, whispering and muttering but at long last a voice called from within the darkness.

"HOLD IT!" Blunty exclaimed in a fit of rage. She got the spotlight and attention of about 10 other students, and flinched as they all shined their PDA lights on her. She tried to shield her eyes as she yelled in what she assumed was the Horseman and Witch's general direction. "The Gutter Rats worked damn hard to build this place up from nothing! We have one and only one rule here! NO OBELISK! I'll defend that until the day I graduate or my name isn't Melody Tomozawa!"

The Horseman gave a weary smile, but the Witch gave him a reassuring smile and a gentle pat on the head.

"Do not fear Tomozawa-san. I am an Obelisk no longer." the Witch responded back curtly.

In one quick motion, all the PDA flashlights suddenly shone onto the pair. They both squinted but sure enough once their eyes adjusted they could all see the girl was wearing her Necrophades Black outfit.

The Gutter Rats had spent so much time trying to get a glance of Kira's outfit that none of them noticed the other three Necrophades had made it downstairs to the Underground.

"Guys!" said the Duel Disk Engineer in a panic as he pushed past the Necrophades. "I tried to stop them I really did!"

The Horseman, and about 8 other PDAs turned to look at the source of the sound. The President and the Vampire were near the entrance to the sub-sub-basement, and they seemed to be holding onto the Engineer by the arms. The Demon of Turbo grinned at the group as he stepped up.
 
"Well well well, isn't this a fantastic little secret club you all have?" the Demon smirked as he walked in and took a deep breath of foul, smoke filled air. "And I think I know a thing or two about secret clubs."

"Just who the hell do you think you are!?" the Waiter exclaimed.

"I could ask you the same, but I don't really care." The Demon smirked before introducing himself. "My name is Gouki Shinkou and I am the Demon of Turbo, leader of the Necrophades Black Dorm."

"Oh, you mean that fruity little secret club in the woods?" Red Hoodie said with a laugh.

"It's hardly what anyone could call a secret." responded the girl who drank the Freezy margarita drink. "The Princess of Ra Yellow blew your cover sky high."

"And there's a reason there's only 5 people in your club." Freezy's Girlfriend replied. "Cause no one else wants to join it!"

The Gutter Rats chuckled and high fived one another.

The President, the Vampire, and the Demon however were stoic and serious as the surveyed the group in disgust.

"You know, we used to be a little bit like you guys." The President began.

"We had a secret club away from everyone and we thought we could do whatever we wanted." the Vampire began.

The Demon looked over at his friends and sighed. "But being on your own doesn't mean doing what you want all the time. It means taking responsibility and making yourself better." He looked over the Gutter Rats, then a wicked grin spread on his face. "That's why the Black Dorm is on their way to being recognized by Swebb as an official dorm."

The crowd gasped.

"What!?"
"Liar!"
"Fake!"
"Wait..."

All eyes turned to the boy who was eating a bowl of pasta. He turned away from the bright lights that were suddenly shining on him. "I think I remember overhearing something like that during the tournament. You asked Swebb if you could be an official dorm or something, right?"

"Yeah," the President began. "And Headmistress Swebb agreed, on the condition we defeat those Hawthorne kids during our tournament."

"Our team won, so that means we get to be an official dorm while you guys are just a bunch of good for nothings!" The Vampire said with a smile.

"That's right." The Demon said with a nod. "Now what to do with a bunch of degenerate teens like you?"

"We are NOT degenerates!" The King of the Academy exclaimed. "You have no right to speak to us in such a vile manner! Now get out, post haste!"

"Not so fast." the Demon said as he took another sniff of the air. "We've seen and smelled quite a lot here today. Out of control partying. Smoking, drinking. What do you think Headmistress Swebb would say if we gave her a list of all you Gutter Rats to drug test tomorrow morning?"

"W-what!?" Light Blue exclaimed. "B-But... not all of us had been smoking or drinking or anything like that! Right?!""

"Oh... damn." The Waiter shook his head. "Yeah, no. Sorry folks. If you've eaten any of the brownies I laid out earlier today you probably shouldn't operate heavy machinery for a while."

The Demon cackled with delight. "I won the tournament for us. I'm Swebb's golden boy now. She'll take my word over yours, and even if she doesn't I'm sure the urine and blood tests will get you all expelled faster than you can say 'Obelisk Blue'."

There was an awkward silence as the Gutter Rats realized they were locked behind an unavoidable checkmate.

"So what? You want a bribe then?" Lin asked. "Money? Drugs? Alcohol?"

Before any of them could consider it, the President responded for them. "What? No! We wouldn't be caught dead with any of that stuff!"

The Vampire gave it a thought and came up with a second excuse. "You'd just be giving all your contraband to us and loading up with ammo to get the Necrophades Dorm expelled the same way we just tried to get all you expelled."

"Alright, what do you want then?" asked Sinatra

"Glad you asked." The Demon raised a hand and held out three fingers. "There's just three things we want from you fine folks."

"Brett-sama!" The Witch exclaimed loudly and quickly, cuddling up a little on the Horseman's lap.

The Demon looked at her, raised an eyebrow, and gave a bit of a chuckle. "Alright. Give us back our Horseman. He still has a lot of work to do for the Necrophades Dorm."

"He's certainly not welcome here anymore." Red Hoodie said.

Light Blue sighed as she gave the Horseman a longing look.

"What else?" asked the Waiter.

"Straighten up and fly right!" Akane shot back. "No more drugs! No more alcohol! No more partying! Am I making myself clear!?"

The waiter looked over his stock of shelves and grumbled something.

"AM I CLEAR?!" Akane repeated.

"Yeah fine." The Waiter grumbled as he began uncorking a bottle and pouring it down a nearby sink. "What's your last request?"

The Demon motioned towards the Vampire to say what was on his mind. He scratched his head for a moment, mulling it over before coming up with a great idea. "A favor."

"Okay, what's the favor?" asked Blunty.

"A favor that the Necrophades Dorm that we will keep a hold onto for right now." The Vampire said with a nod. "Think of it as a silver bullet in Chekhov's Gun, ready to be fired at some point later in time."

"No way!" Freezy exclaimed.

"Absolutely not!" cried out the Engineer

"We can't hand out a blank check like that!" Pasta exclaimed.

"It's either accept our terms or be expelled." The Demon said rather callously. "Your choice really."

The Gutter Rats knew they were trapped and they would have to agree with anything they said. There were reluctant murmurs of agreement among the group.

"F-fine..."
"Y-yeah..."
"Ok-kay..."

There were a series of weak nods of agreements as it seemed the group had resigned themselves to their fate.

"Then it's agreed." The Demon said with a smile. "We'll just be getting out of your hair then."

"Y-yeah!" The Horseman stammered nervously as the Witch hopped off his lap. She offered him a hand to help him stand and he graciously accepted it as the pair hurried to join the President and The Vampire.

The Demon followed his group outside, giving one last message to the Gutter Rats.

"Don't ever forget that on this day the Black Dorm decided to spare your miserable lives. And don't you worry about that favor. We'll come back to collect on it one day soon."

He smiled an insincere smile and left them with two little words before he climbed the stairs. "Happy Holidays."

---

The next morning was the first official day of Winter Break and the Necrophades were as excited as anyone else. The President and the Demon stood on the docks and waved goodbye as the rest of their friends took the boat to get back to the mainland.

"So, Kira's going to introduce Brett to her family." the President began.

"And the Vampire is visiting his half-sister."

The President awkwardly rubbed the back of her head. She didn't particularly like the Demon of Turbo, but she had to admit he had changed recently.

"You know, it's tough to be alone for the holidays. I'm going to hang out with a few friends a little later today. You're welcome to join in Gouki."

The Demon was only half paying attention. His face was buried in his PDA as he read and re-read a message he got late last night.

"No thank you. It's okay Akane." the Demon began as he read the words that lit up on his messenger app. 'From Kotomi Surrogate'

"I think I'll be spending this Winter Holiday with my family."

 

[MewMew3]

Dude, you named a character Edgelord. That was hilarious. 10/10.