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merryfortune · 3 years

Text

Fluttered like a panicked bird

Written for the 100ships Challenge on Dreamwidth

Prompt #49 Electric

Ship: Blackbirdshipping | Crow/Shun

Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc V

Word Count: 2,833

Rating: M

Warnings: Graphic Depictions of Violence (?)

Tags: Post Canon, Canon Divergent, Whump, Hurt/Comfort, PTSD, Night Terrors, Non-Consensual Body Modification, Facial Trauma, Swearing, Police Brutality

Electricity crackled in front of Shun. White-hot and jolting.

He was held down against a flat board tilted up so that the device that was staring him down, crackling at its nozzle with all that menacing electricity, could get a good look at him. It was all he could see in the dim. The only source of light. Everything else was murky and shadowy; Shun could see the outline of the prison guard who had brought him into this torture closet but couldn’t see any distinct features like his ugly mug.

Shun struggled against the flat board. His ankles and wrists were pinned down by iron bands and bolts. He grit his teeth.

“What is this place?” Shun snarled. “What’re you going to do to me?” His building fury was just as white-hot as the electricity that emanated off that device; it looked like a gun, it looked like a security camera; it looked like nothing Shun had ever seen in his home of Heartland.

The Security Sector laughed, “Don’t play ignorant, Commons scum, you know what this old girl does.” He patted the side of the device’s chassis, towards the back of it where it was suspended by some kind of pole, Shun assumed. Definitely where it was safe to touch, at the very least.

“I’m not fucking from Commons!” Shun growled.

He didn’t even know where or what Commons was. He was abandoned by that prick Akaba Reiji and left to fend for himself in the middle of yet another world ruled by card games but they played a style that Shun could never have dreamed of: on the back of motorcycles, of all things, and with a summoning style that was tubular and tumultuous, just like hitting the pedals on a motorcycle, he supposed.

And it didn’t take long for trouble to find Shun - and the others - when they were split up, abandoned, whatever went wrong when one minute they were Reiji’s glorious team of Lancers and the next… they were this. Commons scum. Whatever that meant. Shun hardly cared. He was XYZ scum through and through; damn proud of it. He’d spat in the face of that insult time and time again and he would do the same here if he knew what here meant.

All Shun knew was that here meant trouble and he was really good at finding trouble. Or having trouble find him. Didn’t matter either way. What dirt was dished out to him, he flung back and then some. He’d always been the type to choose fight over flight. Even if it got him arrested and hauled out like any other thug with the same lack of impulse control.

The prison system here was brutal. Cops hated everyone and everyone hated the cops as well as each other. It was truly a dog eat dog world inside this concrete confinement. Even worse in solitary. Shun had gotten thrown there twice before the others had arrived by suppressive serendipity. And in here was even worse.

Shun kept struggling, “I’m serious, I’m not from Commons, I’m from a place called Heartland-”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” the Security Sector scolded him, Shun could practically hear him roll his eyes in disbelief.

“I’m serious!” Shun yelled. “I’m a proud user of XYZ summoning from the city of Heartland!”

“Aw man, you’re real feisty, huh.” the Security Sector mocked him. “Let’s give you something real good, since you reckon you're such a free bird.”

He began to do something with the machine that had been hovering. Something that Shun, dramatically, did not like since it made the device sputter and crackle some more. Internal changes were undoubtedly taking place.

Shun grit his teeth. There was nothing he could possibly say to convince this man in front of him that he was not of this world. At least he wasn’t a member of the Obelisk Force, though, Shun gravely thought. The members of the Obelisk Force were fully faceless and they hunted through for fun and thoroughly. They thought they were noble. At least these monsters knew they were monsters and saw such an equitable force in the very eyes of the folk, the innocent and the guilty, they abused. It was an odd comfort but a comfort that Shun decided to hold on, nonetheless.

Finally, after such cruel teasing, the Security Sector let loose that machine on Shun and he screamed. He thrashed as hard as he could against that board he was pinned to like a dead bird prepared for taxidermy. The device drilled into him, like a laser, the skin cauterised in an instant but it left more than a print in its wake. The electricity was ferocious and yet utterly precise as it left a unique brand upon the side of Shun’s face.

He screamed and he screamed, from the bottom of his lungs until he passed out. The Security Sector cooing that this wild animal had finally shut up long enough to stay still enough for the Criminal Mark Gun to work.

When Shun woke up, his heart hammered as he ripped himself upwards. Again, fight was his perpetual instinct over flight or freezing. He was all nerves, ironically electric like a live wire. In his room, it was dark but it wasn’t hard. It was soft. He was on the outside. He wasn’t stuck in that Synchro Dimension anymore; it didn’t exist anymore, nor did the XYZ Dimension or the Fusion Dimension. They had all merged into one again.

The recollection sickened him to his stomach with homesickness. Things could never be the way they were before yet he had to carry those memories: both good and bad. That was his burden to bear as he made sense of what pieces had remained in the return to whole from that split.

Shun placed his hand - it trembled - on the left side of his face. It was still there. Of course, it was still there. There weren’t many ways of getting that searing tattoo lifted and removed. The scars would still remain, no matter how faint.

Shun had never considered himself a vain person as a face was a face. Ideally one of a kind but… he knew deeply now of how untrue uniqueness was. With that abomination of a Mark on him, at least was truly an individual. A number in a system they didn’t - couldn’t - use anymore; tracked down to a place he never lived and in a sense, somewhere else that may as well have never existed at all given the shambled ruins.

Even though that Mark was on his face, out of sight on the curve of his cheek, Shun had memorised its design all the same as he knew the colour of his eyes or the shape of his nose. It was situated in the middle of his face; had its flicked ends both at the lower quarter of his cheek and part way up on his temple. It was feathered and streaky and part of it extended outwards, under his eye and curled. Or maybe hooked was a more apt description, either like the connecting bone of a wing or like the beak of a raptor. He had fluttered like a panicked bird in a cage inside of that containment room, where people were reduced to stigma and number, and for it, he got mocked in a way he considered suitably avian considering his deck.

Shun forced himself to get up. Checking the time on the clock on his bedside table, it wasn’t that early even if it still seemed pitch black outside. He was thirsty so he figured he would get a drink. That felt more productive to him than merely dwelling on the past in darkness, just letting all those feelings screw up and stew inside of him.

He hobbled out of the guest room that Crow and Shinji had holed him up in. He tried not to be too loud but he felt klutzy after his nightmare. Groggy. At least he didn’t drop the glass, murky with cheap soap, that he used and filled with unfiltered tap water.

Taking a sip, Shun realised that he really missed the taste of filtered water. He sat down in the kitchen table, lukewarm glass still in hand and just stared at all the damage this table had taken over the years. He studied all the dents and chips taken out of it and forced himself to think about over anything else.

Until the light turned on.

Shun flinched. He hadn’t been expecting that and he turned his head to see over his shoulder. In his day clothes - surprisingly - Crow sauntered over. He sat down on one of the other rickety chairs adjacent to Shun and propped his head up whilst Shun kept his down.

“Looks like I’m not the only one up with the morning choir today.” Crow quipped.

Shun stayed quiet. He couldn’t even hear the sound of birds. Just the bittersweet silence of a tightly-knit household that hadn’t woken up yet. A household now, more than ever, he felt like he was intruding on.

“You okay?” Crow asked in a quieter voice than before.

“No.” Shun found himself able to admit, the word slipping past his lips thoughtlessly.

“You wanna talk about it?” Crow asked. “I’ve got deliveries but I’ve got time to hear a tale or two. I haven’t even had breakfast yet. Have you? Maybe we could have some toast together.”

“That sounds fine.” Shun murmured.

Crow got up and he put some sliced bread in the toaster that never popped quite in tune regardless of how the timer was set. He also got out some butter in preparation. There wasn’t much else to be had but Shun didn’t mind. Once this meagre preparation was done, Crow sat down again, keeping an eye on the toaster, just in case it started smoking.

Shun took a breath, he wasn’t ready to talk about his problems. Not openly at least but he wondered if he could get Crow to open up about his. Or maybe they weren’t problems to him at all given how he was a Synchro native.

“Do your Marks ever bother you?” Shun asked.

“Like… do I ever get hit with waves of remembering how painful getting these little bastards are?” Crow clarified.

“Er, yeah…” Shun shyly replied.

“Yeah, all the time but I’ve learned to live with it.” Crow shrugged. “Like, these buggers have always been a part of my world. I wear mine as badges of pride, as far as I care, I’ve never done a crime in my life: it was all survival, or for the sake of someone else.”

“That’s very noble of you.” Shun praised him, thinking of all the Robin Hood stories that Crow had told him before, about the other kids he had helped out and older folk, too. He was a real bleeding heart but that’s what Shun liked a lot about Crow. His kindness and how tough and gritty it was.

“I struggle to get in your shoes about these things, you know.” Crow mused, continuing, not necessarily disavowing the compliment but not acknowledging it outright because it made him bashful, Shun could tell in the glint of his grey eyes. “I saw ‘em all the time, they were normal to me. I knew their purpose, I knew what you had to do to piss someone in Security off enough to get you one. All that. But I imagine, for an outsider, being thrust into that regimen, no information, barely a clue of where you are at all… it’d be a whole lot harder to forget.”

“Yeah.” Shun agreed.

And the toast popped unceremoniously and they both became all too aware of the smell of burnt toast. It almost made Shun laugh and watching Crow clamour for their breakfast did, even if it sounded like a cough or a tickle in his throat. He watched as Crow pulled out the slices of toast from inside the machine, trying not to burn his fingertips and failing, all whilst smearing what butter he could on them from the tub. The hospitality was more than just appreciated.

Shun took the toast that he was given and took a bite out of it. Burnt and buttery on cheap, white bread, it was weirdly one of the better breakfasts that he had in a while. Maybe it was because Crow was keeping him company. Crow, meanwhile, perched up on the table next to Shun, taking a few, mindless bites of his own toast too.

“It hurts more than usual today. My Mark.” Shun rambled.

“I’m sorry to hear that then.” Crow said.

“I dreamt of when it happened.” Shun cracked a wry smile there. “My brain has too much variety of what to torment me with, clearly. But I appreciate when it picks out something less awful than other things but still.”

“The voltage of the gun is a bitch.” Crow finished his thought for him.

Shun let out another puff of his dry, wispy laughter, “Too true.” He spoke on the edge of his mouth, right in the crook of it.

Crow smiled, crumbs on his lips. He reached out and he patted Shun’s shoulder. Shun didn’t mind, even when Crow gave him something of a rambunctious rub.

“If you ever need to talk, I promise, I’m here for you.” Crow said.

“Thanks.” Shun said.

“And if you ever need something to do to get your mind off things, there’s plenty of work to be done.” Crow added. His smile turned sympathetic. “But right now, my suggestion is, try and get some more sleep. You look a wreck.”

“Thanks.” Shun grunted, unamused.

Crow took his hand off Shun’s shoulder but not off him completely, he thumbed over the yellow mark that was on Shun’s face and Shun winced.

“And if you ever decide you wanna be rid of this thing, I’m sure I know someone or can track down someone who’ll do it real nice.” Crow said as he poked and prodded Shun’s Mark as lovingly as a rough and tumble guy like him could.

“I think it’ll be fine,” Shun murmured, “I like your perspective. I never did a thing to deserve it and anything I did do, I did for my sister and my best friend. Maybe I can find some pride in it.”

Crow smiled. He wanted to say something but he was too flattered to say anything so he broke into laughter. It was loud and raucous, fit to wake up the whole house but it didn’t. He ran his fingers through the back of Shun’s head, mussing up his hair in jest, annoying Shun but making him incredibly fond all the same.

“Jus’ go back to bed, you.” Crow amusedly told him, teeth gritted through a grin.

“Yeah, I promise, just let me finish my drink and toast first.” Shun told him.

With that, Crow let up on his teasing. He put his hand on his hip and his grin turned into just a smile.

“Don’t take too long then.” Crow replied. “Anyways, I’ve got some rounds I need to make. Construction starts eight sharp, after all, and there’s a lotta people in a lotta places who need a lotta things to help rebuild this Heartland place I’ve totally never heard of.”

“Thanks.” Shun said, rolling his eyes.

“Well, catch ya.” Crow gave him a goodbye salute and was out the front door as quietly as he could.

Shun gave a meagre wave back, one Crow likely didn’t even see with his back turned but done having the gesture meant more than just sitting. To Shun at least. It felt like some feeble return of the invaluable bond that he and Crow had. They’d always had something more than a compatible respect, he felt, and this conversation just cemented that for him. He truly felt a burden had been lifted; the tingling sensations on his face, phantom pain from when he had been carved up by that device was no more from the second Crow had caressed him.

Even though Shun felt like an outsider to this place of Crow’s, he felt like more of a pariah in his other options. He was told by Yuzu and her father that their offer to board him would never expire but the situation there was worse. Too uncanny and with grief he couldn’t begin to unpack because Ruri was there, more a spectre than anything else. So, it was better here than anywhere else, if only because he chose it of his own volition, unfettered by forced bonds.

Shun got up and he put his cup on the sink. He took a breath and he had a thought that was peculiarly clear to him: he didn’t think it was going to be necessary to have Crow find someone who specialised in the removal of Criminal Marks but he was going to need to be thanked all the same.

#100ships challenge #blackbirdshipping #crow hogan #kurosaki shun #yugioh arc v #arc v fanfic #arc v #yugioh #writing tag #whump cw

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spiritsncrystals · 5 years

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Crow Hogan

(it's like every time I answer what seems to be the last one, another turns up)

What i like/dislike about them

Blackwing boi! I like how out of the trio of yusei him and Jack he's the energetic (ish) one of the three. Also the irony of the fact that for someone who uses a deck full of birbs he's got a part time job delivering chicken.

What's also interesting is the development in progress when crow was being planned. He was originally gonna be a bit of a thorn in yusei's side and the final dark signer boss but that was put to the side and instead he was a signer.

It's hard to say what i dislike about him... I'll just say something that I found annoying instead. So like in the everyone v zarc episodes of arc v, he's starting out still in a card (thanks to the body borg) and then when sawatari decides to take his shot, he's no longer carded and is gonna take his shot at it too?? I'm just annoyed that there was no explanation for how that was able to happen.

What i like about their appearance

The fact that even after team satisfaction disbanded the team satisfaction jacket is practically just part of his character design.

Also despite the fact that people say he looks like he's got a mujin bu mark on his head his criminal marks are kinda fashionable (i mean so is yusei's) like they're just a part of him as a character and taking them away would just be weird.

Also i appreciate that the manga gave us that one scene with him with his hair down, its very pretty and makes me curious why he keeps it spiked up with the headband.

Do i prefer to use dub or sub names for them

Lemme be honest. 5ds is pretty much the only ygo series where the protag sidekick and rival all have zero changes to their names in the dub.

Favourite card they used

Black winged dragon!

The signer dragons are just really iconic to team 5ds

OTP

Crow x sawatari (arc v) yeah i think it's hard to not say there was some connection between them esp considering when crow was carded sawatari just Fucking does a quick speed roll yoink of his card. And then they both duel zarc at the same time ❤️

Blackbirdshipping (arc v) - no explanation needed really. Birb boys like Birb bois

NOTP

None

OT3

None.

Yeah i really haven't found anyone in 5ds that i really ship him with yet.

Favourite scene they were in

I know this might seem a little harsh on Jack but in ep80 after yusei says to Jack that he's having a serious conversation with bruno and after Jack questions that when he talks with yusei they weren't having a serious conversation? Crow just kinda does a yeah jack and then repeats that they're having a serious conversation. It's just a little bit cute considering Jack's older than crow.

Least favourite scene they in

Ep 71 "i can't look for yusei bc im working" excuse me he's your best friend. Can't you just explain to your boss that you're sorry but looking for my missing friends really important.

Im talking about that from sub perspective bc i found that the subject literally changing to chicken to be kinda funny in the dub.

Would i fuck marry or kill them?

I just wanna take his headband off and then ruffle and mess up his pretty hair when it's down.

#Yugioh 5ds #Yugioh arc v #Ygo 5ds #Ygo arc v #5ds #Arc v #crow hogan

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