kattobingore | [Story] 5am Chat

"Whoever opens this door will obtain a great new power, but with such a reward comes a great risk. The path that is to be followed will be one full of hardships.
Do you have the courage to follow this path?"

Yuma woke with a start as he could feel himself beginning to fall from his hammock, but in the last two weeks of having the dream, his reflexes had gotten better and he now often attempted to grab hold of the hammock in order to stop himself from hitting the hard floor. It didn't always work, but in this instance, it did.
The boy took a moment to come to his senses, before letting out a sigh and allowing himself to drop gently to the floor where he sat silently for a moment.

It must of been fairly early in the morning as it was still pitch black in the dorm room. Yuma looked over to the bunk beds and could hear Yuya breathing softly from the top bunk. Yuma was relieved that he hadn't woken him up.
Standing up, he looked at the alarm clock on the desk beside him. It showed that it was a little past 5am. This had certainly been the earliest he'd woken up from this dream and he really didn't feel like going back to sleep right now.

Quietly, he changed out of his nightwear and into his regular clothes before walking towards the door. He looked back briefly, to make sure that Yuya was still asleep, before he opened the door slowly and left, closing the door behind him.

Walking along the cliffside behind Osiris Red and towards the edge of the forest, Yuma had under-estimated the temperature of the island in the early morning. Despite the rather pleasant temperatures during the day, the early morning was certainly chilly, especially now that it was winter. Yuma began to wish he'd wore a better jacket, as his Osiris Red uniform was sleeveless, but he wasn't going to go back now and risk waking Yuya up. Though he wasn't even sure where he was going exactly, he just felt like a walk would help clear his head a little.

After about five minutes of walking, a bigger clearing in front of him came into view, so he decided to stop there for a bit. Sitting down near to a tree, he looked up at the vast ocean beyond the edge of the cliff and the waves moving calmly under the moonlight from the sky.
His thoughts began wandering back to that dream. He had wanted to believe it meant nothing, he still pretended that's what he believed to his friends as he didn't want to make a big deal out of it, but he found the more he had the dream, the more concerned he became with it. Was there some reason he was having that dream? Was there really some kind of demon door trying to offer him power? What did it all mean?
Yuma rubbed his head with his hands with frustration, as if trying to get the concerns out of his head, but it really didn't help much.

"Yuma."

All of a sudden, the area around Yuma seemed to fade into some kind of void. Yuma looked up in the direction the voice came from and found Hope stood next to him, his arms folded across his chest, standing rather defiantly. Yuma stared for a moment, before he jumped back in shock from where he was sat and pointed at the Number spirit.

"Y-Y-YOU TALK!?"

Hope moved his head to look down at Yuma.

"Yes."

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME THIS BEFORE!?"

"You never asked."

Yuma calmed down a little, slowly lowering his hand, but looked at Hope suspiciously, before he crossed his arms and moved his head defiantly to the side.

"W-Well... it's not like you've talked to me before now, so how was I to know!?"

"That's because I have spent this time observing you."

Yuma looked back at Hope, raising an eyebrow. "Observing...?"

"Yes. Juudai and I agreed that it was best that I keep an observation on you, due to Number 96's implied interest in you and even though it appears Dark Mist has not proven to be a threat, there have been many other things to note."

"Liiiiikeee....?"

"Observation 57: Although Yuma's dueling has improved since I first began observing him, he still makes many novice mistakes which include forgetting card effects that are in play."

Yuma looked at Hope and scowled, puffing out his cheeks a little like an annoyed child.
"Oiiii... you didn't have to go THAT far..."
Though it made him wonder what the OTHER 56 observations were about.

"Though my latest observation is why I am talking with you." Hope turned his head towards Yuma. "You are concerned about that dream."

Yuma was taken a little off guard with this statement. He was silent for a moment, before he looked away.

"I guess. A little."

Hope knew it was more than just a "little" concern he was feeling over it.

"I just wish I knew what it meant and why I keep having it!!" Yuma exclaimed. "I wanted to believe it was nothing, but it's been two weeks and it still hasn't stopped!"
With that his head snapped back to glance over at Hope. "Do you know what it means?"

Hope shook his head slowly.
"No." he replied. "But I do believe that there will come a day where you will have to make the decision on whether to open that door or not."

Yuma's eyes widened as he listened to Hope's words. He then turned to look at the floor.
As much as he had joked about how cool it would be to have powers, this was not exactly what he had in mind.

"Yuma...?"

Yuma suddenly heard another familiar voice as both Hope and the strange private void faded away and back to the scenery of the island. Yuma slowly looked up to see Yuya stood near to him and with a slight look of concern on his face. It appeared that he had also realized how chilly it was out at this time as for once was actually wearing his Osiris Red uniform normally.
Yuma attempted to give his friend a smile as he sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck.

"Guess I did end up waking you up after all."

"Yeah, I heard you leave the dorm. Is everything okay?"

Yuma frowned a little and looked away. Sighing, Yuya walked over to Yuma and sat beside him.

"That dream again, huh?"

Yuma nodded in response. "It's been two weeks and they haven't stopped. I wanted to believe that it was nothing but..." He let out a sigh. "I just talked with Hope and he thinks I'll have to choose whether to open the door or not at some point."

"You... talked with Hope?" Yuya questioned, looking puzzled.

"Oh yeah. It's the first time he's ever spoken to me! Apparently he's been too busy "observing" me." Yuma waggled his fingers in a mocking fashion upon the word "observing". "Still, I guess if he thinks it's a big deal then..."

Yuma trailed off and looked back towards the ocean. Yuya remained silent for a while, turning to watch and listen to the ocean himself. After a bit Yuya turned to look at Yuma, he could still see a look of deep concern on his face, an expression very unlike Yuma.

"When it comes to making the decision on the door, no matter what you choose, I'm sure it'll be right."

Yuma looked over at his friend, a little puzzled. Yuya replied with a smile.

"Besides, you always have that "never-give-up" attitude right? It shouldn't be any different for this!"

Yuma pasued for a moment, then grinned at Yuya, jumping up to his feet.

"You're right!! No matter what happens with this I'll face the challenge head on like I always do!!"

Feeling relived that his friend was feeling a little better, Yuya stood up beside him.

"And no matter what, you'll always have me and Yuzu here by your side too."

Smiling, Yuma formed a fist with his hand and lightly punched Yuya's arm.

"Thanks, bud."

Suddenly, a cold breeze whipped up around them from the ocean. Yuma very quickly moved his arms into a self-hug as he shivered. Yuya just frowned pathetically at him.

"Ahh, you should of brought a coat or something if you were going to come out here. The nights have gotten chillier here now it's winter..."

"I didn't think it'd be THIS cold!!"

Yuya just snickered at his friend before turning to leave.

"Let's head back. I'll make warm drinks for the both of us."

Yuma grinned as he followed his friend. A hot drink sounded like a really good idea right now!