(GS3) Field: Umano Underground Slums

[Cherry]

"I'm not interested in yours", Yukino declined. Having already seen Neu's Vanguard was enough, but now a lecture? She angrily gritted her teeth, clutching her deck tightly. After a few seconds, however, the fury faded. It was pointless to start yelling, and Neu was right on the queen wondering what the Vanguard of the slums was. Even so, she simply kept quiet, seeing as this witch must've had it easy. Throwing aside the duties of the Chosen Sword is something that Yugure would love to do, but can't for various reasons.

There was a number of things Yukino wanted to scream at Neu, yet, all that came out afterward was an annoyed sigh. The queen began looking for other members of the slums to distract her from the one who contributed to ruining her life.

[Grimm]

After the next cardfight, something peculiar happened when the underground fighter disappeared into the shadows.

It appeared as if though Noah was underwater, in the ruins of an abandoned city.  Noah looked around and saw many of the units on his cards, including some of his favorites, such as dolphin soldier, then he heard a deep voice call to him from behind.

When he turned around he saw a gargantuan blue dragon, which told him:

Blue Dragon: Four clans have been sealed away by a certain entity.

Noah: Which clans?

Blue Dragon: Kagero, Royal Paladin, Shadow Paladin, and Bermuda Triangle.

Noah: What happened to the fighters who used that clan?

Blue Dragon: They're fighting to unseal those clans, which could create another civil war on Cray, so they are evil.

Noah: Wait?! Cray actually exists?!

Blue Dragon: Of Course.

Noah: What is evil anyways?

Blue Dragon: Those who disturb order, the kindlings of conflict.

Noah: Then those who picked on me before.... they would be villains?

Blue Dragon: Correct, and you have a choice, will you protect order, or be controlled by evil?

Noah: I will protect order, naturally

Blue Dragon: Good, then defeat those who are trying to liberate the clans, and become much stronger..... I'll be waiting

The vision ended and before Noah knew it, he was standing back at the fight table in the slums. When he had finally regained his senses, Noah was already walking away from the slums.

[Hope]

"Tell me then, what is my Vanguard." Neu asked, "My Vanguard is not to be confused with my goal or actions. I've done what I've done for the sake of fulfilling my goal, but that doesn't directly translate to what I believe Vanguard to be." She shrugged and took a deck out of her purse.

"Two may have the same belief on what Vanguard is, but that doesn't mean that they have to agree with each other's motives."

[Azuki Frappé]

Ighanna arrived at the slums in hopes of doing something beneficial to the charity. She donated money, food and even sang to the blind kids in there to make it a better place however after finishing that, she noticed a shady group who seems to be surrounding something interesting, so this lured her to explore deeper and delve into the secrets of the slums.

In the center appears to be a Vanguard Table, however it was locked with chains and handcuff, probably made to bind the two challengers together to the table and prevent escape. What caught her attention was a conversation between Yukino and Neu. She quickly approached the two and tried to calm Yukino down who seemed to be looking for other distractions.

"Yukino, you don't really look well, I would say you look rather agitated. Is everything alright? Neu, I don't think she's in a good mood right now so please refrain provoking her. If you need someone to fight, I'll gladly do one if you don't mind. I'd rather let Yukino rest right now." Ighanna says as she stared carefully at Yukino who seems to be look ing around for other members. Ighanna still does not know that Yukino is the "Queen" here after all.

[Cherry]

"I told you, I'm not interested", another humiliating defeat would just further push Yukino over the edge. A debate of morals would just do her worse. Never mind the boy trying to talk with Neu or Ighanna's intrusion. She didn't need coddling from the family friend who partook in the music industry's asinine thug genre of "rap". The amount of people approaching was starting to make her feel sick, despite having communicated with many underground fighters. A hand covered her mouth, a reflex prepared in case of puking.

"Ugh..."

[NeoBuster]

Neo had lost his spirit, he was broken and destroyed. He walked around with his Dragonic Kaiser Vermillion card just pondering and thinking..

"Was everything ive done to this point.. All for the wrong reasons?" Neo asked himself

Neo didnt even realize he walked all the way to the slums with his Vermillion card in his hand. He noticed Ighanna, Neu, Yukino and Noah in the slums and decided to see whats going on..

[Hope]

"Mannn..." She placed the deck onto her table. "Let's just play a fun game. I'll understand something from this as well."

She slid the deck to Yukino's side. "You'll be using this deck." Neu then took another deck out its box. "A Vanguard which is fun, where failures don't matter, that is what I believe. I hope that playing with these will help you remember those days..." She sighed. Neu didn't know what she doing herself, as someone who had  everything usually be clear cut and calculated, this was strange. She was giving to emotional connections. There was finally something that she didn't understand.

"Could a connection to the units perhaps be a factor that makes this game fun?..." She asked this to herself.

[Cherry]

Yukino took one look at the deck and froze.

"... Fine", she caved.

But I still can't hear his voice...

[Cherry]

Royal Paladin with Blaster Dark. Majesty Lord Blaster. Yukino's true form as Exculpate the Blaster. It was all the same as she left it before, but to her, it was hollow. Ahmes' voice couldn't break through, because it wasn't there. It was a card and nothing else. The swordsman of light she bonded with, and the swordsman of darkness they convinced through their feelings... The miraculous instance of transcendence as the Avatar of Light brought the queen to further misery.

In the end, it was simply that: a miracle of a single instant. Of course, all of them would leave her again. She knew this, and couldn't find the same enjoyment Neu seemed to be having.

A tear dropped onto the deck once the queen finished stacking it back up. She wasn't ready to let go, but at the same time, they were just proof of failure. Had she not spoken up to Jellal, the Dragon of Hell would've obtained victory. Then, with this same power, she still fell to Neu the first time after the civil war's end. And now, once again, she failed to hit her mark.

Vanguard gave her friends and light, while also giving her despair and darkness.

This game was the greatest thing to ever happen to her life, but it was also undoubtedly the single worst thing to ever come in it.

[Hope]

The eyes the connected to Blaster Blade. Despite being a one way connection, for one moment, her opponent changed, giving Neu the feeling of a thrill that chilled her spine. What if there were two ways? How strong would it be?

Strength?... No, this wasn't strength... it was strong, but it wasn't just strength. The power was a final result, but the bond, the changing of her attitude is what caused her to move forward. To not only play a clan, but to be connected through emotion, it added another element of excitement to the game. Perhaps, it's what Neu's been missing. She saw Yukino and how she was. Neu didn't want to take the cards back, not if they agreed with the Vanguard she believed in. Yet their power... it was too much and would destroy Cray's current balance. Neu couldn't understand.. was this a dead end?...

I want to become someone who makes everyone happy, but as I am I exist only within logic... contradictions stop me...
How can I break the limits of reality?...
Why am I suddenly craving power?...
The power to become a Messiah.

She clutched her head. She was going against her goal, but not her way of Vanguard. She could follow her way of Vanguard, make Yukino happy, but that would ruin her goal, her purpose.

"Man! Trust me, that game was so much fun... I, really want to show you and let you feel how I do. Up until now I've been able to show everyone how great it was just by playing a game with them and being myself. But this... two things are completely going against each other and suddenly I myself." She became silent, "I can't do much for you as I am not.. not that you'd want me to... but I can tell that fighting alongside them was a cherished moment for you.. and yesterday I..."

Neu snapped her fingers and the rift opened up above the deck.

"I'll give you another moment to cherish. This takes a huge deal of my power, but for a few moments, the units will be able to speak with you...and you, with them..."

[Cherry]

"No!" Yukino cried, tearfully smacking the deck off of the table, the cards scattering all over the ground. The queen sobbed, unable to contain the sorrow that swallowed her up. "If it's just for a moment - one instant, what does that matter?! After that, they'll be gone! Gone! Gone!" Screaming was the woman who fell into despair, getting the attention of bystanders. Once again, she was yelling after a fight with Neu. Why does she keep raising her voice to their friend? They couldn't figure it out, and they never would. No one would understand she who lost everything. Dropping to her knees, holding her face in hands, she continued wailing. Longing for Royal and Shadow Paladin to come back to her, but knowing the utter horror of the aftermath that came with speaking to them.

Voices... She would be able to speak with her heroes again...

And then they would be silent.

Still, voices attempted to reach out to her. Cries barely drowned them out, but they kept whispering: "Hikari... Yami... Yugure..."

He would not let his friend stay like this, not until they earned them back for good. Ezel let loose a roar that shook her mind, completely flushing away the sounds of their locked comrades. Placing his hands on her shoulders as a spirit, she looked up into the small rift Neu opened. ... And there he was - the one voice that she wanted to hear from the deck. The one who slumbered in the empty void: Ahmes. Tears further streaming down her cheeks, she reached out to her second avatar.

His arm reached out in turn.

He was still asleep, but he was still drawn to his Vanguard - his friend.

No...

"No! Aaaaaah!!" Yukino screamed again, pulling her arms back. This is exactly what she didn't want to happen. Those bladed eyes meet his slumbering eyelids. Hers knew that she wouldn't get to see them open, she wouldn't get to keep them open in this moment. This fleeting joy that fueled suffering.

"Stop! Stop! Please stop!!"

[Hope]

She kept suffering but Neu didn't understand why. Yet again, she failed to understand what the value was in this encounter. She now knew for sure that there was value, she just gave up some of her own power to make it happen, but she still was clueless of the "why." Yukino was screaming instead of actually speaking to them. It looks like she wasn't trying to cherish the moment... maybe she did, but she knew that she saw them, the sealed heroes.

Neu was breathing heavily, "I have to close it now," she snapped her fingers and inhaled deeply, starting to let out a few small coughs eventually causing her to lose balance and lean on the table as support.

Is this the full extent of my power? I can't make everyone happy like this...
My knowledge is limited. My power becomes empty and hollow after a certain point..

"You see them?... You're damn lucky you even get cards that you can feel connected to like that. Man, I wish my parents told me that cards had actual value past a tier list that I was made to study as a kid. Maybe I would have been able to find a clan that would speak to me too. Anyways..." She limped across to the other side of the table and extended her hand out to Yukino.

"You don't have to accept this offer either, but.. Who knows when we'll meet each other again? You've become lost and want to find a way to see Vanguard? Just have fun. No it's not selfish to do so, and it isn't throwing away the darkness and just focusing on the light. To have fun is to acknowledge the good and bad side of things, and to just... put your feelings in the heat of the moment. To make it something to cherish..."  With her free hand, Neu does a facepalm, "Look what you got me saying now... man this is so cheesy!!"

I remember from when I was young that I was told what was an avatar. An avatar that you feel connection to, to the point where the card is practically you. So who is my avatar? A card that is me?...

[Cherry]

"Lucky?!" Yukino screamed again, only a slight relief at the rift closing. "I'm so lucky I failed at everything I've ever wanted to do, and lost my friends as a result! Ahmes, Yunos, Alfred, Akane, Gordon, Macha, Caar, Mac Lir, Iseult, Marron, Wingal, and so many more! And you think I'm lucky?!"

The queen slapped Neu's helping hand away after crying out names of those sealed away. That flash of strength in turning her down turned back into sorrow, trembling and holding herself while continuing to wail. Deep down, she wanted to go back to the time when this was just a game - just fun. The day at Card Capital, fighting over and over with no real reason but to just better herself. The day where the Chosen Sword ceased to exist. In the end, there was no room for the wreck of a woman who couldn't fulfill her prowess. Everything crumbled apart because she was weak, and now she can't even look her own sister in the eye.

This is why she wanted a world of silence. If nobody could reach her, all would be fine. If she was dead, she couldn't disappoint or anger anyone anymore.

Ezel squeezed her shoulders, unsure of what to say, nor how to comfort her.

[Hope]

"What? Yeah, you had them. Man I'm not into comparing scars or anything but at least you HAD them and still have new pals now. Meanwhile, everything was taken away from me before I even had a chance to get it."

Neu pulled her hand back and rubbed it. She put it back to her side and stood tall again, looking down at the trembling figure. Vanguard started as a game for Neu, but due to her family's debts and hardships in America, combined with her skill, it quickly became life or death to her. A loss at nationals, was basically being unable to face her parents for a year. A loss at regionals, well, she actually wasted her family's money when that happened, and her parents wouldn't dare even look at her. Everything was research, all cards were put in a tier, and Neu was forced to train and use whichever deck was on top.

"Failing at everything? Yeah I understand. I was just a kid in elementary school when I was thrown into competitive Vanguard where if I won my family could eat, and if not? Well... I don't wanna remember. So what? They expected me to win nationals at such a young age and I was given trash if I failed. I had no choice. I wish I knew earlier to just enjoy myself and not give a damn about what other said man oh mannn." 

[Cherry]

"And here you are, having taken everything away from me after I had it! How can you expect me to listen to you when you're part of the reason... even shoving my old friends in my face, knowing I can't have them back?!"

Of course, Neu found a solution for her own dilemma: Not giving a damn. The problem was Yukino gave a damn, and can't bring herself to not give one. She was raised to bring everyone up - the Espoirs specifically. Raised to help Cray, to help Hana, to help people who followed. If the woman wasn't doing a good job, it'd dig into her psyche like a disease.

"Stay... away... All you've done... is make me feel worse than thought possible..."

Yugure forced herself onto her feet, still shaking, and beginning to depart from the slums as if limping away.