Squirrel98

Nexus: The battle for one's memories.

'Something feels off. I can't quite put my finger on it.' was all Wolf could think about when Haruto and Sora got transported to the battlefield. Sora was shocked to find himself in a very dark place. His body started to shiver and he was forced to close his eyes for a minute. Fear took over both his mind and his body. Scared, he couldn't remember ever being as scared as he was back then.

"Where are we? Haruto-kun?" He mumbled, but Haruto didn't respond. "Is this where we fight? Haruto-kun?" He asked Haruto, but he didn't respond. Sora looked around himself and noticed a small boy standing up on the table before him, a small boy who seemed very similar to Wolf. "This is the battlefield, Sora-sama. Only Commanders are allowed in here." Wolf said in a relaxed way while stretching his body. "Looks like Haruto-kun will start the game." Wolf said, pointing upwards at a large clock whose hand pointed towards the color red.

"Looks like Haruto-kun has a Red deck, we have a Green one." Wolf said, preparing himself for what would come. However, there wasn't any attack to prepare for. "Sora-sama, looks like it's our turn." Sora was so surprised that his mouth literally fell open. "Haruto-kun? What did you just do? You're not going to tell me how to play the game? How is this a fair game?" However, Haruto still didn't respond to the questions. Haruto wasn't acting like the Haruto Sora knew. "Sora-sama, be careful." Sora was confused about Wolf's warning. "Wolf, don't worry. It's just Haruto-kun. He probably doesn't tell me anything, because he already showed me. Let's start by drawing a card like he did." He said as he held his hand above the pile of cards, after which one of the cards joined the other five.

"Then... What did he say? Colour... colour... colour change? No... colour... colour charge! That's it! Colour charge!" He said happily and still full of hope. The green mist from under their feet gathered in Wolf's hand and formed a small ball at the front of the table. "Now... I should probably put some attackers on the battlefield too. Two attackers, level 1 and level 0." He said, repeating the action he saw Haruto do. Two of his cards placed themselves next to Wolf. "Now... Attack, Sora-sama!" Sora was confused.

"What? But Haruto-kun didn't attack. Should I attack?" Wolf seemed to become frustrated. "He doesn't want you to attack. He doesn't want you to win. He probably knew you would imitate him. Attack, Sora-sama!" Sora shook his head. "No! Haruto-kun isn't like that. He wouldn't trick me." Wolf sighed. "He would. Now, attack, Sora-sama!" Sora felt conflicted. He was fighting his best friend, who was helping him, so why did he feel like that? Was Wolf the problem? "Turn end."

Nexus: The battle for one's memories.

Sora was both shocked and glad to see that Haruto was there with him. He didn't think that he wanted to see anyone, but Haruto could always calm him down. "I know that you didn't do it on purpose, Haruto-kun. Don't worry about it. I am not angry at you or anything, how could I? You're my best friend!" He smiled.

It was quite a shock that Haruto was a Commander too, but his Avatar was even more of a shock. Wolf was quite similar to Sora and Lumia was quite similar to Rui, but Haruto gets... that... guy? It was almost laughable. "Of course we would love to battle! I was getting quite bored anyways!" Wolf said excitingly. There was something off about the duo, he did feel it, but he was too excited to battle to worry about it. "Let's go, Sora-sama!"

Sora was hesitating. "Wolf, I thought you said I shouldn't yet, because I didn't read the rules properly?" Wolf laughed. "Yeah, that's still true, but I am so bored and battling is really fun!" Sora looked at Wolf, then at Haruto and realised that he shouldn't be scared of Haruto. "Well, it's fitting that none other than my best friend is the first opponent I battle against. And I do have a wish I really need to make come true." Wolf felt like he was floating when he heard Sora agree.

"Alright! Hold my card in front of you and say 'open'!" Sora nodded, after which he did what Wolf asked of him. "Open", he whispered.

Nexus: The battle for one's memories.

Sora really got his hopes up when Lumia seemed to agree with his idea, but immediately sunk into the ground after hearing Rui's reaction. "Of course I know, he did explain... But we can't get our memories back without battling right, so why not try on each other?" However, what he said didn't matter as she only got more and more upset. He felt like he couldn't say anything at that point that wouldn't make her more disappointed than she already was. Was that really the Rui from before? Had she always been like that? He couldn't remember anymore.

He was already down from hearing and seeing her so upset, but he was completely shocked to have been kicked out of her room. He couldn't say anything, he couldn't move, he was just... shocked. He stumbled out of the room after she yelled a second time. After the door closed, tears streamed down his face. "I just... I just wanted to connect..." He whispered so soft that even Wolf had a hard time understanding what he said. "Sora-sama, I don't think she meant what she said. Don't worry about it." Although Wolf had a hard time feeling compassion and be serious, he didn't push any further than that.

After breating deeply in and out for a couple of minutes, he ran as hard as he could down the stairs and outside the door. Even outside he kept on running until he was out of breath. When he came to a stop, he punched a tree close to him, which made his fist hurt very much. "Sora-sama!" Wolf, who Sora had put in the pocket of his jacket, cried out. Even more tears streamed down Sora's face and he didn't know what he felt anymore. He took Wolf out of his pocket and looked at him closely.

"Why does she have to be like that?! I tried... I really tried to become close to her, just like when we were little, but it seems as if everything I do fails! Every attempt to become close to her backfires. It feels as if she doesn't WANT to do anything with me before. It's as if Rui hates me... That's why I need to do the battles! If I do the battles, then I can wish for us to be close again and everything will be fixed!"

Wolf didn't know what to say, so the first couple of minutes after Sora said those last words were complete silence. "You're yelling." Wolf finally said. "Of course I am yelling! She really hurt me deep! I don't remember why I come home to the same house every day anymore, nobody in that house cares what happens to me... I need to battle." And it was at that moment that Sora heard a familiar voice.

Nexus: The battle for one's memories.

Sora chuckled together with Rui when Rui mentionned how similar he and his Avatar are. "Yeah, I believe so too. But I can say the same thing about you two." Sora said, after which he winked at Rui. "You're both stressed out and uptight. This game will do you good." Sora started to laugh really loud. "Wolf, that's no way to talk to them. But he is right, you know. We used to play together all the time and now you do nothing but sitting at your desk! Let's battle!" Sora said, immediately jumping off the bed, excited.

Wolf was shocked to hear those last words coming out of Sora's mouth. For once, he wasn't the relaxed, don't-worry-about-it guy. "You're going to battle your sister? You haven't even read the rules properly!" Sora shrugged his shoulders. "It's not like this will be a life-or-death battle, right? We still have two of the seven coins." Wolf took a deep breath. "But the loser will be at their last coin. That battle will be life-or-death and you won't know how cruel or strong the next opponent will be!" Sora started to lose his patience.

"I thought you wanted her to be more fun. Battling will be fun." It seems like that sentence was all Wolf needed to get back to his usual self. "You know what? You're right! So... what will it be, ladies?" Wolf said with a grin. Sora held up the card right before him, so Wolf and Rui were at eye level.

Nexus: The battle for one's memories.

Sora felt overwhelmed in a wave of sadness when he realised that Rui had the same problem as he did... and it was all his fault. "I am sorry... It's all my fault. I shouldn't have bought the game." Wolf shrugged his shoulders. "It isn't your fault, you know. It's just mere coincidence that you both are Commanders. Only a small group of the Nexus players are in fact Commanders." Even if that was true, it still stung.

Rui's Avatar seemed pretty uptight. 'Fitting...' Sora thought. He decided to accept Rui's offer, so he closed the door and took a seat on the bed, pretty close to Rui. It felt weird, being alone with his sister. It had been so long since they spent any time together that he forgot how to talk, move or act when he was around her.

Sora put Wolf on his right knee. "You two look pretty alike you know. Oh, my apologies for being rude. The name is Wolf! Nice to meet you, Sora's sister!" Sora nervously rubbed his head when Wolf called Rui his sister. "You can call her Rui, you know." Great... He already started talking like the guy.

"I didn't expect this to happen at all. I am not even good at games like these, I picked it because I thought you would be good at it and... you know... lately..." Sora was thinking about how to finish the sentence, but Wolf suddenly finished it for him. "Lately, you're no fun at all?" He laughed. "Wolf! That's rude! I just meant... You seem to work really hard and it's okay to ask for a break. I thought that if I gave you something you would probably be good at... You would be alright with taking a break."

Wolf shrugged his shoulders again. "That's the difficult way of saying exactly the same thing." Sora chuckled. "It's the respectful way of saying the exact same thing." Sora really started to like having Wolf around. He was relaxed, nozy, direct and he had a lot of energy. He just was fun to be around. He reminded him of... himself when he was still comfortable being around his sister.

Nexus: The battle for one's memories.

Sora sat up straight and wiped away his tears. The 'Nexus' deck of cards was laying on his bed and for some reason, he just couldn't take his eyes off it. Well, if he and Rui couldn't figure the game out together because Rui had to study, he could at least figure out the rules on his own. Rui was much smarter than he was anyways, so it would take Sora a lot more time to understand how to play the game.

He took a deep breath before taking the little box with the deck of cards in his hand. He took out the paper with the rules written on it, but those things really didn't interest him. He wasn't used to studying or reading. Sora always told himself that he just had too much energy for it, but deep down he truly believed that he was too stupid.

Before trying to understand what kind of game it was, he threw away the paper with the rules on it and looked at the cards that were in the box. One of the cards had a little boy on it. His lips formed a soft smile and the word 'cute' appear in his mind, but then he saw the little fellow moving inside of the card. He literally fell off of his bed out of surprise.

"Ahww... That really hurt... Okay no, it didn't hurt one bit." Sora stood up from the floor, but suddenly noticed that he wasn't in his own bedroom anymore. For some reason, he was in the living room. Weird... He didn't remember ever going downstairs. He looked at the direction the unfamiliar voice was coming from and saw the little fellow from before. A guy with white hair, yellow eyes, clothed in green and surrounded by leaves.

Sora's Avatar

"Yooow! The name is Wolf. Nice to meet you!" Wolf put out his hand, but Sora didn't want to shake it, so Wolf put his hand away again. "Why the hell are we in the living room? How did we came here? When? Why aren't my parents here? They are supposed to be here." Wolf looked around.

"Oh, so this is what your living room looks like? It looks really nice! But to answer your question, we're not in the real living room, but the living room from your memories." Sora wanted to make a big deal out of what Wolf said and he wanted to act out really confused, but he already had seen a guy move in a card, so he could handle it. "So why are we in my memories?"

Wolf laughed. "You're a hard guy to break, huh. Well, you are chosen to be my Commander, which means that soon five of your most precious memories will sadly go away." Wolf opened his hand and seven coins were to be seen. "Two of the coins will remain gold, the others will go black and if they do, you forget. You are supposed to play Nexus with the other chosen ones. If you win, you get a memory back. If you lose, you lose one of the remaining memories." Sora nodded silently and looked like he was thinking, although he wasn't the smartest guy around.

"And what else do I get when I win, except for my memories back? In the films, there is always a price to win in those sort of games. There is a prize, right?" Wolf nodded. "Of course there is. I fulfill one wish. Any wish." Sora's mouth literally fell open out of surprise. "So I can wish for more time with my sister? To be close with her like we were when we were little?" Wolf started to laugh. "That's fairly easy one, yes."

Sora smiled. "Alright. Not like I have much of a choice, but I accept." Wolf smiled back at Sora, but then Sora heard his own voice from the couch. He saw a little Sora sitting in the couch with tears running down his cheeks and a little Rui standing in front of him. He could make out some of his own words, which were 'they were mean'. However, he couldn't understand anything his sister said to him. Who was mean? People from school? No... He was pretty popular at school. So who?

"This is one of the memories that is going to disappear, right?" Wolf smiled at Sora with a hint of pity. "Yes." Losing his memories was both emotionally and physically more painful than he thought would be. Especially since most of the memories had his sister Rui in them.

"Are you alright, Commander?" Wolf seemed really worried about Sora, but was he really? "Y-yeah, I-I am. Not one aspect of this game is in your control, right?" Wolf shook his head no. "Alright. Then let's get my memories back and fulfill my wish." Wolf smiled and after a couple of physically painful seconds, they were back in Sora's bedroom and Wolf was back inside of his card. "By the way, you can call me Sora." He said without even looking at Wolf, whose card was in his hand. He suddenly rushed to Rui's bedroom.

"Rui, don't open..." He didn't finish his sentence with the words 'the box', when he saw the Avatar card in Rui's hand. "You too..."

Nexus: The battle for one's memories.

On the way to his own home, Sora stopped by Haruto's for a short period of time. Sora enjoyed being there, because he had a closer bond with Haruto's parents than with his own. They treated him like their second child and he loved that about them. They asked him how he was, if he was enjoying school and how his grades were. Things his own parents weren't interested in at all. The only one they were interested in was Rui. "You're always welcome here. You know that, right?" Haruto reassured him after hearing the sad undertone in Sora's voice when saying that he was going to go home. Most people at school thought that Haruto was scary and possibly dangerous, but Sora could never see it. At that moment, Haruto told Sora exactly what he wanted to hear. Haruto was like a brother or possibly even more than that. He meant everything to him. How could he be dangerous? He always cared for Sora, more than anyone had ever done.

When Sora finally came home, he didn't even get a 'welcome home' or 'where have you been'. He didn't even get a 'your dinner is in the refrigerator'. His parents didn't even look at him. Sora rushed towards the stairs and came to a stop before Rui's bedroom. He took a deep breath, went to his own bedroom for a couple of seconds and then stopped before Rui's bedroom again. He dropped the extra matcha ice cream he bought earlier and one of the two 'Nexus' decks on the floor before the door. On the 'Nexus' deck was a note.

"Maybe we can play. Enjoy the ice cream."

He knocked on Rui's door, but didn't wait for her to open it before going back downstairs again. He heated his dinner, took a seat at the dinner table and ate his dinner in total silence... alone. Tears were rolling down his cheeks when he noticed his parents talking peacefully to each other. They weren't even far away, but they still didn't care that their son had come home. They didn't care that their son was way too late. They didn't care about their own son. Sora meant nothing to them.

After he was done with his dinner, he put it in the dishwasher, wiped away his tears and locked himself in his bedroom. He lied down on his bed with his 'Nexus' deck laying next to him. He wanted to ask Rui to learn about the rules together, to ask her if they could try playing it, but he shouldn't disturb her. She needed to study, she wanted to study, so he shouldn't do anything to distract her any more than he had already done.

Nexus: The battle for one's memories.

"Takahashi-kun!" One of the girls in Sora's class came running towards the table where he and his friends were sitting. Haruto had a blush on his cheeks when he stood up and greeted the girl politely. Apparently he borrowed her notes, because he had 'troubles' with mathematics. He never had troubles with mathematics. Sora's lips formed a soft smile, with a tiny bit of mockery, as he licked from his matcha ice cream.

When he noticed that his phone was vibrating, he took a second before looking at who it was, because he had a feeling and he really didn't want to talk to them. It was his sister. He was right. He softly sighed. of course he absolutely loved his older sister, but their relationship had become so damn complicated when they got older that he almost felt uncomfortable being around her at times. He hated the distance that had grown between them and that was still growing with each day, but he didn't know how to make it disappear, or even how to make it decrease a tiny bit.

"New ice cream parlor. I'll reheat dinner."

It was best to keep his messages short, so that she could focus on whatever she was doing. He knew that she never had time to relax, so it was best to not distract her... right? Even after Sora put away his phone, he couldn't stop thinking about his sister. Was there something he could do? Something?

Haruto sat down next to Sora with a huge smile on his face. "Hina-chan was worried for me. She was thinking about me." Sora chuckled. "She asked if you were able to read her handwriting." Sora's chuckle turned into a very loud laugh. Haruto laughed along and soon after that, Sora was walking home together with Haruto and Asahi.

Asahi was the first one to reach his home, so he waved at the other two and ran inside, where he was met by his angry mother. Sora and Haruto were laughing at how Asahi was getting yelled at for arriving late, but Sora stopped laughing when he noticed one of the shops they had walked by. Haruto noticed how Sora had suddenly stopped walking, followed his gaze and took Sora by his wrist when he realised where he was looking at. "You want to learn how to play? Come on! We'll buy you a deck!" The two of them ran towards the shop.

Inside the shop, Sora felt a bit shy. Those kind of shops really weren't his scene. "Maybe I can pick something up for Rui too..." He almost whispered, but of course the curious Haruto with the good ears had heard him. "So it's not about me, it's about that sister of yours? I feel insulted." He joked, but Sora was too lost in thoughts to laugh about it. "Can you help me pick?" Haruto smiled, winked and helped him with choosing two decks before the two left for home.

Fairy Tail: Next Generation RP

Bump

Nexus: The battle for one's memories.

Within the first couple of minutes after the school bell rang, Sora found himself surrounded by seven students. While his friends started to talk among each other, he put away his books in his backpack. He laughed at some of their jokes, stood up, put on his jacket and threw his backpack over his right shoulder. Together, they walked towards the lockers, where they switched their shoes before going towards the school's gate.

He noticed that his friends were talking about some game called 'Nexus' and couldn't help but think about how nice it would be to play it with his older sister. He remembered how fun it was playing with her when they were children, but the sad look in his eyes gave away the fact that they weren't that close anymore. He could never understand how they were able to grew apart the way they did.

"Sora-kun, are you paying attention?" One of his friends asked, waving his hands before Sora's face. Sora took on of the hands as to make it stop waving in front of him and smiled softly.

"I'm sorry, Haruto-kun. I was somewhere else for a minute. What were you saying?" Haruto started laughing at Sora, mumbling the word 'typical'.

"I was asking you if you tried out Nexus yet. If you did, we could have a battle sometime." He said, tickling the curiosity of Sora's other six friends.

"Not yet. I am afraid. But I'll certainly take a look at it." Sora took his phone out of his backpack and was about to text Rui, his older sister, in order to ask her if she wanted to go with the guys to the new ice cream parlor around the corner, but he knew that she wasn't going to go with them and that's why he put away his phone without texting her or their parents. It's not like his mother or father cared where he went or what he did. All they cared about was Rui.

"Yeah, yeah, I am coming!" He yelled, waving his hand in the air and running after his friends, after Asahi called out his name.