[Shun's fingers twitch a little as Ren squeezes this time, though it's partially because Shun doesn't quite know why he keeps doing it. He does at least glance down at their hands, a touch of confusion in his brow, but he shakes his head after a moment, gaze slipping away to look at nothing in particular. It is true that being fractured like that in Fusion could've gotten them all killed, but his tone is already distant and touched with pain the moment he starts talking.]
Maybe. But as soon as we got there, I went to meet with the Resistance. Spade Branch had used our school as a base, and I knew how to get there and didn't want to be slowed down trying to lead the others to it.
[His free hand curls in as he continues, fingers eventually digging into his palms, and the one Ren's holding instead curls into what it can, nails hard against the skin.] Everything was gone. Everyone was gone. I found two of Clover Branch's members trying to get back to the other three, but when they took us to the outskirts of the city to the hideout of what was left of the Resistance and civilians who'd been able to escape with them, I found out that I was the last one left of Spade, and Clover wasn't much better off.
[At this point, he's practically forcing himself to continue, and he presses his eyes shut in an effort to stop any more emotion from straining his tone.] Yuto and I were two of the best duelists in the Resistance. After we left, another all out attack started, and without us, Spade was annihilated, and Clover was taken down to maybe a dozen or so people. Because I left for my own interests, everyone I fought with was killed without me even knowing, and I'd been so focused on Ruri I hadn't even considered what could happen when I left.
My old friend and rival from Clover, Kaito, was still alive, but his family died in that attack, so he'd struck out alone and convinced that making allies and friends would only mean he'd lose them. The way he was acting was like looking at myself, how I'd been before, so I dueled him to try and show him differently. I wanted to convince him that we could still be trusted, that I was still his friend and that you fight alongside your friends because you don't want to lose them, but he turned my last attack back on me. He'd said when we started that he'd turn me into a card if I lost, and he would've if Sayaka hadn't begged him for my life. He left, but I still failed him as well.
[There's not much more to the story, anyway, so as painful as it is, Shun decides finishing it here is the best course, carrying on with only a hint less pain in his voice.] After that, Academia came looking for the Lancers, and two sisters playing the same deck crushed Allen and Sayaka, then the other two Lancers in tag duels. Yuya and I stepped in to stop them before they could actually kill anyone, and it turned out they'd been the ones to destroy most of Spade. I could feel Yuto like he was alongside me, wanting revenge like I did, and I told Yuya to heed that wish if he thought he knew Yuto, because by then he'd admitted that Yuto's soul was within him. But they locked us into a cruel trap, and Yuya was the one who had to tell us to follow his way out of it. We won, but more reinforcements came, and we had to keep fighting. I was pulled to this place in the middle of that.
[While he could mention the part where he'd been pulled here after having a building fall on him, he won't, because he's been worrying about that enough himself and doesn't particularly want to pass it on. As he finishes, his eyes open again, but he doesn't make any move to look at Ren. He just looks deeply tired and sad, like a veil set in over his face.]
no subject
Maybe. But as soon as we got there, I went to meet with the Resistance. Spade Branch had used our school as a base, and I knew how to get there and didn't want to be slowed down trying to lead the others to it.
[His free hand curls in as he continues, fingers eventually digging into his palms, and the one Ren's holding instead curls into what it can, nails hard against the skin.] Everything was gone. Everyone was gone. I found two of Clover Branch's members trying to get back to the other three, but when they took us to the outskirts of the city to the hideout of what was left of the Resistance and civilians who'd been able to escape with them, I found out that I was the last one left of Spade, and Clover wasn't much better off.
[At this point, he's practically forcing himself to continue, and he presses his eyes shut in an effort to stop any more emotion from straining his tone.] Yuto and I were two of the best duelists in the Resistance. After we left, another all out attack started, and without us, Spade was annihilated, and Clover was taken down to maybe a dozen or so people. Because I left for my own interests, everyone I fought with was killed without me even knowing, and I'd been so focused on Ruri I hadn't even considered what could happen when I left.
My old friend and rival from Clover, Kaito, was still alive, but his family died in that attack, so he'd struck out alone and convinced that making allies and friends would only mean he'd lose them. The way he was acting was like looking at myself, how I'd been before, so I dueled him to try and show him differently. I wanted to convince him that we could still be trusted, that I was still his friend and that you fight alongside your friends because you don't want to lose them, but he turned my last attack back on me. He'd said when we started that he'd turn me into a card if I lost, and he would've if Sayaka hadn't begged him for my life. He left, but I still failed him as well.
[There's not much more to the story, anyway, so as painful as it is, Shun decides finishing it here is the best course, carrying on with only a hint less pain in his voice.] After that, Academia came looking for the Lancers, and two sisters playing the same deck crushed Allen and Sayaka, then the other two Lancers in tag duels. Yuya and I stepped in to stop them before they could actually kill anyone, and it turned out they'd been the ones to destroy most of Spade. I could feel Yuto like he was alongside me, wanting revenge like I did, and I told Yuya to heed that wish if he thought he knew Yuto, because by then he'd admitted that Yuto's soul was within him. But they locked us into a cruel trap, and Yuya was the one who had to tell us to follow his way out of it. We won, but more reinforcements came, and we had to keep fighting. I was pulled to this place in the middle of that.
[While he could mention the part where he'd been pulled here after having a building fall on him, he won't, because he's been worrying about that enough himself and doesn't particularly want to pass it on. As he finishes, his eyes open again, but he doesn't make any move to look at Ren. He just looks deeply tired and sad, like a veil set in over his face.]