Broken Angels

This place. This was where he was now.

This was a place she never thought she would come to so early in her life. Such a depressing fate that came upon them. There was nothing that could be done to change the course of what happened between them.

What had happened to him.

She walked with her big brother, finding the name of the boy she once cared about. Still cared about in her heart. His name lied beneath their feet and when she began to dwell on that, it would bring tears to her bright pink eyes.

Her brother would watch her carefully, making sure she would never lose herself to her emotions like she almost had that day. She didn't want things to end the way they had, but it was out of her control.

"Are you okay, Ruri?" He asked as he walked behind her.

She nodded, trying her best to hold back her tears. Ruri clenched the flowers in her hands, hoping she could fight off the water in her eyes.

When she found his name, she kneeled down in front of it, placing the flowers there. She felt a slight breeze against her face as she stared at his name. Her breathing started to get heavy as her mind started to go back to that day. It took a moment for her to recollect herself. Her brother, Shun was trying to bring her back to the present.

"I wonder how the other girls are holding up," Ruri said, remembering Yuzu and Rin were in the same position as her. Together they all lost the person they cared about most. She was sure that they were just as broken as she was.

Ruri ran her fingers along the carving of his name. "Yuto," she whispered, her voice cracking. "I'm sorry, there wasn't another..." she sniffed. "Another way to stop...you."

"Ruri..." Shun said, bending down next to her. "You've apologized countless times."

"It'll never be enough," she murmured.

"I'm sure he's forgiven you." He tried to reassure her. And he had told her many times that what happened wasn't her fault. It seemed the words would not even reach her ears. She was consumed in guilt and would not listen to reason or truth.

"I'll never see him again. I'll never see that smile." Ruri tried to hide her face, letting her hair cover part of her face. The tears already sliding down her cheek.

Shun started rubbing her back, trying to comfort her the best he could without words. Her mind was too far to hear his voice.

Far away.

"What's happening?!" Ruri shouted. She wanted to do what was going on with the boys. But everyone else looked as clueless as she did. Everyone's eyes were filled with fear when they saw the demon rampage.

The dragons he summoned were so lifelike, they could've been mistaken for real dragons. They blasted part of Academia and continued to burn it down. The only word the demon would speak of was destruction. That was what he wanted and so, that was what he did.

Destroy.

"We have to stop him somehow!" Rin shouted.

"There's one thing we can try!" Yuzu held out her duel disk and activated it. The other girls followed, even though Ruri wasn't sure this would work out like she wanted it to. But dueling had solved their problems before, why not now?

Yuzu already had a monster on her field and had it attack the demon duelist. That surely got his attention. He turned with rage filled eyes set on the girls. She was sure she could see flames bursting out from them.

Ruri's heart ached, just as it did for all the other bracelet girls. She couldn't bear to see the demon duelist knowing Yuto was swallowed up within its soul.

The four girls stood there facing him. The duel felt like an eternity, but it would soon reveal the victor. Both Rin and Ruri were out, they were on their knees, barely conscious.

Serena and Yuzu were left and they were so close to winning. Ruri knew they would be able to save them. She hoped. She had to have hope.

They had prevailed. The demon duelist was defeated.

He fell, face first, against the ground. The demon was slowly disappearing, leaving Yuya's innocent appearance behind. And soon after, the other souls that resided in him split apart. There was a bright flash of light before their bodies appeared.

Ruri saw Yuto lying not too far from her. She managed to get up and walk toward his still body. But she couldn't stand for long. Her knees gave way and she was above Yuto's head.

"Yuto...Yuto! Please wake up!" She pleaded.

She brought his head on her lap and waited for him to open his beautiful gray eyes that she missed looking into more than anything. He had to open his eyes. He just had to!

And he did. Yuto slowly opened his eyes and saw Ruri leaning over him. She smiled, almost not believing what she was seeing. She couldn't contain herself, she wanted to pull him close.

"Ruri..." Yuto said, putting his hand on her cheek and smiling. But that smile faded as soon as it appeared. There was an unreadable expression on his face before it changed to a pained one. She didn't have time to react. "Ruri, something's wrong."

Her heart raced as she feared for the worst. What could possibly be wrong? They saved these boys didn't they?

"Yuto, what's wrong?!" The words escaping her lips. She couldn't hide her concern for him.

"This is it," he said after staying silent.

"What do you mean?!" She cried out.

Before he could answer, the other girls around her were in tears. Yuzu was holding Yuya's hand and Rin was trying to shake Yugo awake. The boys didn't move.

Serena didn't care much for Yuri. They didn't know each other well enough. She only stood against the wall, keeping her eyes away from everyone. It was obvious, she couldn't take the scene in front of her.

Even Ruri started crying. She knew what Yuto meant now.

"You were the greatest thing that ever happened to me," he said, his hand still pressed against her cheek. "I want you to remember the amazing times we had together."

Ruri only continued to sob, his words barely making a dent for her tears. She didn't want him to leave her yet. Their time together wasn't enough!

She wanted to spend more time with him.

"Please don't leave, Yuto!" Her tears were falling on his cheeks. She couldn't stop herself.

"It'll be okay," he whispered, caressing her cheek. "You'll be okay, my sweet angel."

Those were his last words as his eyes closed. She held onto his arm, her hair falling forward and her tears dripping on his face.

She never got to see those gray eyes again.

"Ruri! Ruri!" She heard Shun call her name in full panic. Her eyes finally opened and she saw her brother sitting next to her.

"What happened?" She asked. "I don't remember falling asleep..."

"You suddenly went cold. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she mumbled.

"Then we should go," he said.

Ruri slowly nodded then stood up to leave. Shun started to lead the way and she followed. She couldn't help but turn back to look at his grave. And for a moment, she could've sworn she saw Yuto.

A bright light illuminated from above and created a projection of him. He smiled at her before disappearing, along with that light.

"See you later, Yuto."