A Heart to Duel For; Yu-Gi-Oh! Protagonists x Reader

Chapter 27: Enter the Shadow Realm

My eyes took a while to adjust and I blinked rapidly as I tried peering through the dark abyss. A hazy purple mist swirled around in the darkness of the void.

What now? I wondered. I had to find Eleanor, but how? Where could she possibly be?

Taking a few tentative steps forward, I kept turning my head looking every which way for a glimpse of Eleanor. What would she even look like if I was looking for her soul?

I shivered as a wind picked up, biting my skin. It blew against my body so hard I almost stumbled from the force. My hoodie did little to protect me from it, and the gale continued to howl as it swirled around me and roared in my ears.

I put a hand over my eyes to shield them as I looked out through the piercing wind. The dark outline of a person moving towards me caught my eye and I dropped my hand, surprised. Was someone else in the Shadow Realm with me? I didn't dare think it was Eleanor. Surely it couldn't have been that easy to find her.

As the figure grew closer, I started to make out some of their features.

"Va-Vanessa?" I gaped, staring in disbelief at the figure in front of me.

When she raised her head to look at me, I saw it. Whoever—whatever—it was, it wasn't Vanessa. Instead of Vanessa's challenging and provocative green eyes, ruthless scarlet orbs pierced through the black.

She gave me a wicked grin. "It's nice to see you, (Y/n)."

Her voice was coy, mischievous and sickly sweet unlike the bluntness I usually knew from Vanessa.

I tensed up instinctively, narrowing my eyes in distrust at the Vanessa-lookalike. "Who are you?"

"No hello to your dear friend?" She pretended to pout before a hard smile spread across her face again. "And you always wonder why we never got along. It's quite sad, isn't it?"

What was she trying to get at?

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"We could've been friends back then. If you didn't ruin everything."

I frowned. How did I ruin a potential friendship with Vanessa? I tried to call upon my memories to see if there was even an inkling of truth in Vanessa's words, but nothing came to mind. The fog that threatened to consume every memory I held dear still had a firm grip on me. I couldn't be sure of what was true or not anymore, no matter how hard I tried to remember. All I could do was trust my gut, and it told me that Vanessa was wrong.

The real Vanessa wouldn't be playing these games with me. She'd get straight to the point without beating around the bush like this version of her. Could this be the Shadow Realm's perception of her?

"You don't deserve to be here," Shadow Vanessa continued, her words sharp as knives. "You're just trying to impress your friends by playing hero. You don't actually know what you're doing, do you?"

Her eyes glittered darkly, waiting for me to react.

I couldn't stop the tremble that overtook my body. It was true that I still didn't understand everything fully. But I knew why I was here and that was enough for me to keep going through the darkness.

"Y-You're wrong," I told her, my voice shaking. But I continued on. "I'm here to find Eleanor, and I'll do whatever it takes to save her."

"Is that so? Then why don't we find out by playing a little game. Or are you too scared to face me?"

Yugi's words echoed in my mind just then.

The Shadow Realm will use your fears against you.

This must have been what he meant. If I wanted to move on and find Eleanor, I had to deal with Vanessa first.