One and Not the Same Chapter 2~

[northwind_gale]

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One and Not the Same

A Yu-Gi-Oh!5D’s Fanfiction

Chapter 2-Two Halves

We were at the hospital for much longer than we should have. The doctors were simply desperate to find some reason for our sons’ oddity. Despite being a scientist myself, I knew that science was not going to provide an answer for this predicament. I managed to convince the doctors into discharging Yoko and the children today.

As I write this, I cannot help but connect my children’s births and Momentum. After Ryuusei and Yuusei had calmed down from the shadow episode, I had received a call saying that Momentum had experienced yet another negative rotation, this one stronger than the first. It was almost as if Momentum was reacting to my children-but that was ridiculous-surely it was a coincidence?

But, this speculation is not the reason I am writing here today. I have another, more baseless theory that sounds more ridiculous the more I think about it. And yet, it seems like the only possible explanation…

I remember reading about a concept called “Yin and Yang”, from the old culture. It represented balance, equality. Light and shadow, good and evil, everything had its opposite that balanced it. Even people themselves had a Yin and a Yang-two sides to their spirit. There were many legends and stories surrounding that idea, but one in particular caught my attention.

There was a myth saying that each person had either an inclination to either their Yin or Yang. The other part that they were not inclined to would then reside in their shadow…

Yuusei and Ryuusei were both missing their shadows. Did this mean that they were emotionally neutral…? I originally thought so, but an incident earlier tonight changed my mind…

It was an innocent enough occasion. Yuusei had needed a diaper change. The changing table had been set up in the next room because of a lack of space-Yoko had insisted on having the crib in our bedroom so that she could keep an eye on them more easily, and with both of us being scientists, our room was already cluttered with tools and papers and stacks upon stacks of notes (most of them mine-Yoko disliked my habit on writing on the nearest surface available if a thought struck me and therefore bought me plenty of pads and paper to keep on hand).

Yuusei had seemed fine. He was a rather quiet baby, and had calmed down once I had come, as if he knew that I was there to take care of what he needed.

The trouble started once I had entered the next room. Yuusei had shivered slightly, and his body began to shake. By the time I had reached the table, he was quivering violently and his breath was coming out in short gasps, as if he was trying not to cry. His skin was beginning to pale. As I hurried though the changing, anxious about the sudden change in my son, I heard a loud noise-Ryuusei had begun to cry in the other room.

As if on cue, Yuusei began to cry as well, his pale cheeks beginning to flush from exertion. He seemed to instinctively curl himself up, trying to protect himself from something. I felt his forehead-he was feverish.

Panic coursing through my veins, I picked up Yuusei and whisked him back to his brother’s room, wanting nothing more than to get him back to the safety of his crib.

Something truly strange began to happen at that point.

As I got closer to the crib, Yuusei began to calm down, his skin began to return to it’s normal color, and his fever had all but vanished. By the time I was back at Ryuusei’s side, he was perfectly serene, save for a few shivers.

Ryuusei too, appeared to be recovering form a similar ordeal. As I laid Yuusei back down next to him, Ryuusei seemed to try to turn to Yuusei, as if he was trying to see if he was alright. And then he had turned his eyes on me again-I froze. There was nothing but cold hatred in his gaze. It was if he was blaming me for causing his brother to suffer.

Had it really been me? They did start feeling distressed as soon as I had brought Yuusei out of the room. It seemed as if they couldn’t be apart at all…

The myth came back to me. Every person had two halves of a soul…and one half resided in their shadow-the weaker half. Both of my sons were missing a shadow…were they both missing that vital part of themselves? But then how were they alive…unless…

Each son was what the other one was missing…

…Even now, I am stunned at this thought. It sounds purely whimsical and unscientific-an old wives’ tale. The scientist in me scorns this idea. And yet…something in me feels that this is true…

Perhaps deeply rooted love, passed down the generations, from parent to child, along with their genes? Those fairy tales and legends that are as much a part of us as our most vital organs? Or the Crimson mark that chose one so unsuited to its needs; one that dared to defy and defile it with imperfect, immoral and yet innocent human curiosity?

But…what a horrid and yet most fascinating idea…that I have not two sons…but one…

Why would they separate? The soul-how strange this feels, to write about something so hypothetical and mythical in nature in a scientific manner-is something, I feel, that should remain whole. We, as humans, like to have everything whole: whole bodies, whole minds, whole lives…otherwise it is deformed, ugly. For when we have a whole, we have everything available to our avaricious hands…

Are my children…not whole? Are they deformed, ugly, abnormal? …It pains me to think this of my children. No father should think of their child that way…

And now I wonder…how long can my children live apart? If they are truly parts of the whole, whatever separated them cannot keep them separated for all eternity…they belong together…as one. Does this mean that one will be assimilated into the other? Or will they both lose their separate identities and become an entirely new person?

…I dread it happening. I have come to love both my sons as their own selves. To admit to this idea is to admit that I will lose one, or both, of my sons…

And yet…there is no proof against it…

But there is also no proof for it…so I wish, just this once, to feel as a human and not a scientist, to ignore all fact and feel nothing but faith and hope, hope that everything will be fine, that we will still be a family…together…

…The children cry…I must attend to them.

Fudo Yuuen-hakase

Momentum Head Researcher