#escapeshipping

  Asuka asked her for her name and she found it cute upon being uttered with an insecure whimper. And then, Asuka introduced herself: she did not presume that her reputation preceded her – yet it had by far, from the moment she had arrived on the island, but it was so strangely assuring to be human and to be treated as human. Not to be worshipped either. She was just a girl, but it still made her so, so happy.

  It was almost like a fairy tale. Asuka had picked her out and picked her up. They had all but danced with each other as they got to know one another, and another duel fell into place. Her cards scattered in defeat whilst Asuka’s archetype, of machine angels and cyber princesses, reigned tall and victorious. Yet, there was no arrogance in this victory. Instead, from across the field, Asuka strode forth and took her hand. She shook it and praised her for a gallant duel.

  Asuka was the model student of Academia. She claimed victory after victory. She wore the blue and white of her dorm with pride. She was exactly the sort of student who was destined to fall like an angel. She possessed a bleeding heart; hence why she would go out and befriend even the lowest of the low in this place which was churning out soldiers after soldiers; not Duellists after Duellists.

  It was her fault. To Asuka, though she would never stake of verbalise such a cruel and ugly admission, she was no different to a devil. Cowardly and selfish. She had begged for Asuka to fall because she had already fallen. She was the reason Asuka was stripped of all her honours as such a glorious student at this inglorious Academia.

  They had gotten to the water’s edge and it was upon such a beach that they failed. She didn’t want to see her Asuka, beautiful and kind, to become another soldier who trod upon those who were undeserving of such a fate.

  And for her crime of trying to sully this girl, she was punished. She was throttled by the people whom she had come to this island on and she was turned into a card, right before her beloved’s eyes. Sneered at for leaping into action: the one time she had ever felt courage in her veins, and she was punished for it. She was destined to fall low, as a tiny and insignificant card in grander schemes unknown and trampled upon by true fiends…

  But it was worth it.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

They arrived at the Academy in the same boat.

It’s not like she actually noticed it at first, after all every boat had at least one hundred kids, all turned 12 and ready to he enlisted and serve their home. During the trip even as they are sent away with cheers of pride, good wishes and happiness, almost none of them ever talks on the way.

Everyone is too nervous about what to expect, almost everyone is peering over the rail of the boat the moment the island’s first peak comes into view.

At first she thinks it looks like a fairytale castle, with its large brick walls and towers and plenty of forests surrounding it, giving it a mysterious air.

She was so excited.

Especially when after they finally arrived, they were all received with more fireworks and even some music, there were consecrated officers giving some of the students a warm welcome, and lots of the older students had been allowed to ditch classes so they could see their future classmates.

Everyone was quickly split into groups.

That was when she first saw her: A girl with a sandy blonde hair and brown eyes, a bright and warm smile that had her surrounded by lots of students, both boys and girls.

And she found herself being one of them.

How could she not, when she was beautiful, and friendly, and unlike her, she easily moved from one conversation to the other?

She found herself hoping that she could get closer to her, that they could become friends, and then maybe become each other’s confidante about their secrets and insecurities they both had?

Her thoughts were interrupted by a person with a loud speaker, who was calling everyone’s names and asking them to form groups as he told them so.

Even as she was called by the farthest away group from the other girl – Asuka, she’d heard – her eyes remained glued to her, hoping that maybe she would look back.

But she didn’t.

.

.

.

It took barely a year before Asuka became quickly known as the ‘queen’ of the Academia, not only she had been the youngest soldier so far to earn an obelisk blue rank, she was also the one with the most wins in dueling practice, everywhere she went, people would turn their heads to gaze at her or just to say hello.

Not her though, she wanted to, but she chickened out every time.

Why? Because on the other hand, she had barely been scrapping by every single performance test they took, so she would be forever relegated to stay as a Red Osiris foot soldier, there were a lot like her, they all huddled together for safety – because many of the high ranked students saw them a practice fodder – but she couldn’t say they were really friends, personal chat was strictly avoided within in classes, hallways and ever the dorms, they were always training or taking classes one way or another, and except for a measly half an hour of breakfast, and two other ones for dinner and lunch –  all of them healthy foods and bars to boost their performance – as it always happened she blanked into the background.

It definitely was… different from what she had been told life at Academia would be.

But whenever she looked at Asuka, so easy-going and confident, it seemed that she did lived to the honorable and brave life of a future soldier, she felt, that maybe she was the one doing something wrong, maybe things weren’t so bad.

.

.

.

“You are the first platoon that will go forth and start our glorious mission! The one that will unify all the dimensions and bring about a utopia! And for that all of you, will become legends, as the ones who set the foundation of the Arc V!!!”

Every single one of her classmates roared, and she made her best attempt at imitate them.

If she was honest, she was more scared than excited.

She could not help but notice that every single one of the frontline soldiers where Red Osiris students like her; that the Yellow Ra soldiers were assigned as black ops or in other specialized platoons, that the Blue Obelisk were all standing near the commander and their mission was to lead them all.

She did not see Asuka.

.

.

.

Fire, there was fire everywhere, the only good thing was that the flames helped her focusing on something else other than the screams and the laughter.

After a while all the awful sounds melted into a cacophony so intense that it felt as if the earth would split apart.

She did not do much at first, not like she didn’t try, like everyone she had her duel disk ready to attack at the first sight of danger.

Everyone but your comrades are the enemy, they had told them all.

But how could that be true when the first thing she saw was a peaceful plaza filled with people who looked no different than the ones back at home?

Those couple seconds of doubt was all it took when she was shoved aside by her own unit who were all gladly turning everyone into cards, it didn’t matter that they weren’t attacking or even that they were running, the order was to get everyone.

After those awful moments she did nothing much but run and hide, sometimes she hid inside other units pretending to march forward in an attack, and then she would duck and leave when everything got too heated for them to notice.

She came back at night to the nearest camp and lied her way through showing off her skills and how many people she had gotten – all of them cards she had found in the ground – and she would eat her rations silently, at first none of it stayed in her belly for too long, but she had learned to push it down and force the nausea out of her mind.

That was until the Commander Phoenix entourage had come to inspect the camp she was at, everyone got pulled out of their dinner time and were demanded to give their duel disks for maintenance.

She had allowed herself to sigh in relief.

It did not last long, because in the middle of the night she was singled out from her unit, one of the techs had shoved her in front of the Commander so she could explain why according to the data registries, her duel disk had not carded any single target.

She could not run, could not fight any of them off, and she was completely surrounded, she stood there, quiet and her head low awaiting for punishment.

But then she heard some strangled cries from her side, and when she turned to see, two Red Osiris soldiers, with their uniforms almost completely in rags, their hands and feet immobilized, their bodies filled with bruises, they were begging for mercy from the Commander, that they didn’t want to take innocent lives, that they only did what their hearts told them.

She was given back her duel disk, and one of the Obelisk Force pointed at the two groveling soldiers.

“This is your chance to prove that you are not a traitor like them.” And she understood what she was expected to do.

What it would await her if she didn’t.

Her duel disk shined in the dark and with a trembling hand, she finished them off.

Their two cards falling in the ground.

She was applauded by her comrades and told by them that she was expected to perform like that every time.

She did not sleep very well that night, nor any other night.

.

.

.

‘Why is everyone laughing?’ She kept asking herself, as she hurried along the hallways of the Academy.

She thought that it would be a relief to come back, at least in the Academy she didn’t have to card people, at least she was not expected to laugh about that. But everyone received them as heroes, as the legends they were promised to come back as for their efforts.

Now that the way was cleared the second platoon would face less difficulties.

Every pat on the back was a reminder of what she had done, every laugh turned into a cry in her ears, and every compliment was an order to card more people.

She needed to leave, she had to leave.

But she couldn’t do it alone, she would be track down and carded in no time…

That was when he heard a voice:  Asuka.

Her smile was kind as always, not cruel or arrogant, her words were like a beacon of light after so many ashes and fire.

She could not let war to ruin her like it ruined her.

And with someone as strong as her, then she could possibly find a way out, they could both be free, and look out for each other.

For the first time in years, she was happy.

.

.

.

The first thing Asuka saw once the light that blinded her eyes dispersed, was the tears running down Emma’s face, as if apologizing for not being good enough.

But that was wrong, because it was her the one who had not been strong enough to protect her, who had been too blind to see what was happening right in front of her eyes, if it had not been for her...

“Asuka… you’re okay? It thought that… because I failed… you too…” Her tears become all blown bawling, until Asuka took her hands between hers.