Yusei finally laid down in bed. He had been working nonstop for the up-coming WRGP. The new engine design was almost complete, the bikes were getting a full upgraded and all three decks were organized. It had been days since Yusei had gotten a full night's sleep. The young blue-eyed man buried his face into the pillow and wrapped himself in the warm blanket.
He laid there for a little while, wanting to sleep, but being unable to do so. Yusei's mind start to wonder. His thoughts went towards the new engine again. He went over every centimeter of the machine in his head, maybe coming up with something he or Bruno might have missed. Then, Yusei started to wonder if this was what his father might have felt like the night before turning on the reactor for the first time. Did his father every imagine in his widest dreams that the reactor would be set to explode, thus terrorizing the city? Yusei always felt he had to protect the people in the city, to make up for had what happened years ago.
What if someone was able to stop Roman? What if Satellite was never formed? What if all those people who lost their lives, would have lived on in Domino? What would have happened to the war between the Signers and Earthbound Immortals? What would become of...my life?
These, and more thoughts, ran around in Yusei's mind. The more he thought about this, the more Yusei became depressed. Life could have been so much better, or so he believed. Suddenly, there was a strange sensation in Yusei's right arm. He sat up and began to rub his arm to make the feeling go away. Then, his vision started to blur and his mind started to go blank. Yusei could not focus, until he blacked out.
When the young man opened his eyes, Yusei looked around to find himself almost floating in an open white space. Appearing right in front of him, was the Crimson Dragon itself. The signer jumped in fright at the beast's stature. The two beings did not loss contact with each other for awhile, until a light shined within the dragon and it started to shrink in size. Yusei covered his eyes with his arm, not wanting to be blinded by the light. When he moved his arm away from his face, Yusei saw what looked like to be a woman standing in place of the Crimson Dragon.
It is alright Yusei. There is nothing to fear and no need to worry.
He gazed at her, feeling a sort of warmth come over him when she spoke.
It is nice to finally meet you, Signer who bears the mark of the dragon's head.
Yusei finally spoke. "Who...Who are you? What am I doing here?"
I was once an ally of the Crimson Dragon. Only now, I am a true neutral in the many conflicts of that arise throughout time. I do not come from your world, but from the place between light and dark. To make things simpler, you may call me by the name Sophie, after my newest friend. I shall also have you know that this is not my true form, but the form of my current beholder.
"Beholder?"
Thousands of years ago, I wished to spend some time on Earth, but I could not do that in my own form. So, I made contact with a human and she bestowed upon me her children, to use as forms to allow myself to be on Earth. These people, in return, have been given great powers and abilities. I have had many lifetimes of friendships with them.
"This all sounds really interesting, but what does any of this have to do with me?"
Yusei looked at the woman to see what this 'borrowed form' of her's looked like. The women actually look a few years older than Yusei, with soft chestnut brown curls that reached down her back, an hour-glass silhouette, ivory skin and emerald-green eyes. Overall, she looked very stunning, while wearing a white, knee-length, strapless dress. Oddly enough, she was also barefoot.
She reacted at Yusei comment with a beautiful smile.
I once promised the Crimson Dragon that if one of the signers would ever believe that life would be better if that Zero Reverse never occurred, then I would show them the most probable thing that would happen to Domino if Zero Reverse never did happen.
Yusei was shocked. "You mean, you are going to show me what Domino City would be like if Zero Reverse never happened?"
She raised her hand out for the signer to take it. Yusei walked to her, barely even touched her hand and instantly, colors and lights flew by them. Yusei looked down to see underneath his feet was a large city. He was floating hundreds of miles over the city.
I will take you to see some of your friends' lives in this alternative time, before I show you your own. But you must know something before we continue.
"What is it?"
Zero Reverse was directly caused by Roman Goodwin, who was possessed by both the Earthbound Immortal Uru and the Crimson Dragon. In this time, his brother Rex stopped him before he could make it to the reactor. Without the massive amount of negative energy create by Zero Reverse, the Earthbound Immortals were not able to free themselves from their prisons, thus the Crimson Dragon did not need to pass out the marks of the dragon. So, Roman still has both marks of the light and dark on his arms and your father still has possession of the signer dragons. The reactor was disabled, so more years of research on planetary particles could be conducted.
"So in this time, no one is a signer or dark signer, except for Roman. This is crazy...I don't see bridge or Satellite." Yusei's eyes were glued to the city below, wondering how all of this change impacted everyone he ever knew.
Let us start with two of the ex-dark signers.
Suddenly, Yusei and Sophie were quickly making their way, almost flying, down to the city streets, past buildings and highways, over to a building in the upper class section of the city. They pasted through the walls of the building, up to a large apartment. Yusei found himself standing in the corner of a lavish apartment.
By the way, these people cannot hear, see or sense us in anyway. We are merely here to observe this illusion.
The door to the apartment slowly opened to reveal a young black-haired lady, with a sad look on her face.
"Is that Misty Tredwell? Akiza was the one to duel her, after Misty blamed Akiza for her brother, Toby's death. But it was all Sayer's fault." Yusei said in a low tone.
In this time as well, Toby was born with psychic abilities, tried to join the Arcadia Movement, failed their entry test and was killed. The same story of the Black Rose being Sayer scapegoat stands true here. Only, Misty became a dark signer after driving off into the waters that separated Domino and Satellite. Here, that never happened. Instead, she quit her job as a model and is suffering from depression.
Yusei watched the young model reach for something in her dress pocket and pulled out the same golden necklace Toby gave her. She starred at gift, with tears slowly filling her eyes and falling on her cheek. Telling by the way she moved and her appearance, the life Misty was living was, in fact, no life at all compared to anything she had before.
Yusei, she never leaves her apartment and is barely even living her life. It is like Toby's death is the actual thing that killed her.
Yusei sighed, knowing what Misty went through. "Sophie, will she ever find out what truly happened to her brother?" He asked Sophie, but she did not even move.
Yusei and Sophie were flying through the city again, heading towards a run down part of the city. They passed through walls to a much smaller and warn down apartment. They were set in the middle of the room. Yusei saw a figure laying on an old sofa, barely even moving. It took him a minute to recognize the person.
"Carly, right? That reporter that Jack is friends with."
Not here. In this time, Carly never found the spirit to help people, so she never became a reporter. She lives in a lonely world with an abusive relationship.
Carly moved so that the signer could see her face and what he saw surprised him. "There is a giant bruise on her face. You are telling me that someone is abusing her."
Carly never saw any hope in the city, but also ever found any hope to leave. She is trapped.
Carly started sobbing. Yusei then found they were once again flying through the city, but heading towards an area far away from where they once were.
You see Yusei, even though Satellite was never formed, the part of the city that would have been known as Satellite is the poorest and most dangerous part of Domino.
Yusei found himself standing in a rundown alley way. There were noises that sounded like people coming from behind them. Those noises turned into yelling and suddenly, a short orange-haired man ran right by Sophie and Yusei.
"Was that Crow?"
Crow, or Auston, was born into a very poor family with a father that was very cold to his three children, especially his oldest. When Crow turned fifteen he ran away from home, telling them that he did not need anyone in his life and would fend only for himself. He became a regular thief living on the streets, being arrested multiple times for serious robberies. He does however go back to his mother and two little sisters once in awhile.
"So, even in this time Crow still has the need to steal things. And I am guessing Auston is his real name, since Crow was just a nickname he got growing up." Yusei was sad to hear about one of his best friends conditions, knowing he was so much better than that and just got served an unjust hand.
Since we are in this part of the city, I also should tell you that Martha still runs an orphanage like you know her to, but it is not really an orphanage.
"How can it be not like an orphanage? Martha always loved kids." Yusei asked.
I will show you.
Then, the two were standing in a yard with a group of screaming, fighting teenaged boys a few meters away from them.
Martha's orphanage is more of a place where Sector Security sends poorly behaved boys who commit crimes, but are not old enough or did not preform a bad enough crime to be placed in the Facility. They do not respect your foster-mother here. She is treated like a maid.
"Why doesn't she just leave?"
Where else is she supposed to go? Finding any sort of work or a place to live when you come from this side of the city is nearly impossible.
As Yusei listened to Sophie, he watched the group of boys carefully as they beat each other up. Two boys in the middle of it all were throwing punch after punch at the other's face. Yusei could not believe that such a sweet woman like Martha would be stuck having to take care of these monsters. He saw her figure in the upstairs window. The two boys wrestled each other to the group, when Yusei saw him.
"Jack!?" Yusei was stunned to see another one of his best friends in such a bad place. He saw Jack's face was sunken in and very pale. He dressed poorly and slouched his shoulders. "What is Jack doing here? Please do not tell me he is a thief too?"
Atlas? No. He is a recovering addict. His parents sent him here to get over his addiction. Jack has been here for a few years and believe me when I say he is not at all the King you know him to be. He is just a shell of a person.
"I cannot believe this! My best friends are living...terrible lives. It doesn't make sense, we grew up going through hell everyday in Satellite, but all that made us stronger people. Jack and Crow are so much better than this! Why did they fall, when I know in my heart that they have the strength to over come all this?"
They never meet each other, or you, or Kalin and...
"Kalin." Yusei eyes widened. "What about Kalin? What happened to him?" Yusei began to get really worried, knowing that a certain point in Kalin's life he was very unstable.
Sophie turned her head and they were off in a new direction. They sped to the complete opposite side of the city, where there were newly built suburban looking homes. Yusei found himself on a sidewalk, with cars passing by, kids playing down the block and lots of sunshine. By the way the place looked, Yusei figured that Kalin must be living a good life, which would be the first one he have seen since he started his journey with Sophie. Yusei looked at the young woman and she motioned to the tan-colored house, with lots of windows that was right next to them. The signer blinked and was now in a large kitchen. There was a lady cutting vegetables at the kitchen island.
"Hey mom." It was Kalin's voice coming from up the set of stairs leading to the upper level of the house. The lady looked up after hearing footsteps on the stairs.
Yusei couldn't help but get a little excited, but was let down when he saw another of his friends. Kalin reached the bottom of the stairs and Yusei instantly assessed his condition. His old leader was much thinner, had almost no muscle, tired eyes and what looked like to be an IV line going in his left arm
"What's wrong with him? I...I barely even recognize him." Yusei was stunned.
Kalin was born two months early and very sick. So to pay for the medical pills, his father joined an international army. One brutal winter's night when Kalin was just a toddler, he was left in a cold building, by himself, and became once again extremely ill. His immune system was damaged to where he falls ill very easily. He has not seen his father in three years. He does not have any friends or any of the strength you have seen in him.
"I wonder what is worse to him, going through everything I knew he has or being like...this?" His head lowered. Sophie sensed Yusei was getting really sad, after seeing his best friends this way. She looked at him, when his head shot up.
"What about Luna and Leo, or Akiza, or..." Yusei was transported to an apartment he instantly recognized. "This is Luna and Leo's apartment. It is really dark in here."
Luna and Leo are not as impacted as some of your other friends, however Luna still is able to talk to duel spirits and that terrifies her so much that she barely leaves her room. Leo never found a role model to look up to, since the King of turbo duels never made it onto the scene. The boy is very revered and quite, also realizing the situation he and Luna are in with not having their parents around at all, since Domino economics is booming.
"I always thought that is Zero Reverse never happened, then everyone would have better lives. With their parents and with a safer city and less destruction and loss. But, seeing all this."
Lazar is the city's director and does not do a very good job at it since he has absolutely no idea what he is doing. Trudge was down graded to a mall cop after he was a suspect in multiple crimes. Mina works for a cold man who runs an international company that basically controls the economies of third world countries. Sherry's parents were killed later in her life, leaving her to run a massive, stressful company all by herself. Your other friends from the Satellite are most likely in and out of the Facility for crimes they may or may not have committed. The Duel Academy is basically falling apart because of corrupt staff. Yusei, I could go on, but I think you understand that...
"What about Akiza?" Yusei and Sophie where sent to an office room, with lots books and a man sitting at the large desk.
Welcome to the Arcadia Movement's Headquarters, more specifically, Sayer's office.
Yusei watched the psychic-empowered man talk on the phone. At first he was not really interested in what that man had to say, until he heard his last name come up in the conversation.
"I believe it is almost time to attack Domino's precious science project and show the world what the full power of the Arcadia Movement can do. The Black Rose, along with a select other psychic duelists, are the strongest they have ever been. So now it is time begin the plan to show Professor Fudo, his lab rats and his son that just because they have funding and the ability to solve a few math equations, does not mean that control the city at all."
Yusei got scared. Sayer was planning to destroy everything his father had every worked for, and then attack the world. The dark signers may have been worse enemies than Sayer ever was, but in this time, there were no dark signers, so Sayer was the ultimate villain in Domino, And there was no one to stop him.
"He is going to have Akiza attack the city." It was almost painful for Yusei to say those words.
You mean Black Rose. Akiza no longer exists here. When she joined the Arcadia Movement, Sayer did not just take control of her powers, he wiped her mind. He got rid of Akiza and made it so Black Rose was all that girl ever was.
Yusei was in such a shock from everything that he rushed his words. "Someone has to know about this? Or at least someone has to have the ability to stop him? That man has the power to destroy the whole city and everyone in it."
If only there was, Yusei.
"What about me? Sophie, you said you were going to show me my own life last. Well I am ready to see it!"
Just then, the doors to Sayer's office opened and a young girl walked up to the desk.
Sayer smiled. "Black Rose, everything will surly come together in no time. Just work on your deck and powers until I give you the finally call. You are going to make the Arcadia Movement very proud."
"Of course." Yusei saw Akiza was wearing that old mask that was the ultimate symbol of the Black Rose.
"Akiza! Akiza stop."
Yusei, they cannot hear you. I will take you to see your life.
They were on their way to see what Yusei had become, when Sophie looked over at the signer and saw he was starting to tear up. The appeared in what looked like to be a computer lab. Yusei saw a man working at one of the computers, vigorously typing away. He almost said the man's name when someone walked in.
"I cannot take Hakase's son any longer. That boy thinks he rules the world. Well I cannot wait to see the day reality hits him in the face...wait...why are you type so fast Roman?"
"Sorry Rex. I'm just going through one of those phases again."
Rex walked up to his brother and put a hand on his shoulder.
"Do not worry brother, everything is going to be okay."
"I think the dragon's head is trying to warn me."
"Warn you...about what?"
Before Roman could respond, the door to the room was slammed open and in walked a face that was all too familiar to Yusei.
"What are you two doing in here? I did not know that my father paid you to sit around and waste time." The other young blue-eyed man coldly stated, rolling his eyes at the two men in front of him.
"I thought you were supposed to be with Misty. You know the woman you are supposed to be in a relationship with." Rex commented.
"That is none of your business Rex. Besides, that depressed, walking stick barely even comes out of her room, and I would not be a gentleman if I went in there." Other Yusei said in a cruel, sarcastic tone.
"You are not a gentleman in anyway." Roman said under his breath.
"What did you say?" Other Yusei got really mad as he turned his face towards Rex.
The Yusei that was with Sophie, was completely dumbfounded to see himself act this way. He could not even image acting like that to anyone. And he was supposedly 'dating' Misty.
"What is wrong with me? Why the hell am I like this?" Yusei asked getting very angry at himself.
You are strong in your own ways, but not growing up on the streets with your friends and fighting for the city changed you. This other Yusei figured it was not his job to help other people and believed he was better than everyone else.
This is your life Yusei.
"No...No...I..."
Yusei could not breathe. He felt like he was going to have a panic attack. Suddenly, room started spinning and he lost sight of Sophie. All he could see was his other self harassing and cursing at the Goodwin brothers. He wanted it to stop. He wanted it all to stop. He wanted to go to his garage, work on his engine, eat dinner with his friends and go to bed...bed.
"HAAAAAA!"
Yusei woke up in his own bed, screaming and covered in sweat. He frantically started looking around at the room and feeling his body.
"Yusei." He flinched, but then he saw it was only Crow standing in the door way. "Did you just wake up? Well hurry and get changed, Kalin just got here."
"W-what?"
"Yusei, friend Kalin come here after work trip. Friend Kalin's new friend make us breakfast." Crow talked slow and used hand gestures for Yusei, which confused him even more. Crow shrugged his shoulders and left the room. Yusei quickly got out of bed and hurried to get dressed. He wanted to see everything back to normal again.
Yusei bolted down the stairs, hearing Jack and Crow already getting into a pre-argument. Bruno was stepping in and Kalin was trying to conceal his laughter. Yusei looked around and sighed in relief after see his friends, the duel runners and his computer all in the garage. He walked over to the guys and sat next to Kalin.
"What is up with you today?" Kalin asked Yusei.
"Do not even get me started on the night or nightmare I just." Yusei responded. "But I have to ask, Kalin would you ever...theoretically...if you could go back in time and never go to the Facility or become a dark signer, would you? But, if you did, you would probably be sick for the rest of your life."
Crow and Jack were now in a full out fight about who would get to use the engine first today. Poor Bruno was stuck in the middle trying to calm them down.
"To be honest, being sick is probably one of my greatest fears. So, if you do not mind be being a freak, then I will keep the life I have." Kalin answered.
"Your not a freak Kalin." That voice, that came from behind Yusei, shocked him. He slowly turned around to see a girl a few years older than him, with soft chestnut brown curls that reached down her back, an hour-glass silhouette, ivory skin and emerald green eyes. His eyes widened.
"Yusei, this is Sophie. We were partnered together on the work trip testing new engines in Africa." Kalin introduced the girl he always smiled about.
"Africa?" Crow and Jack said together after overhearing their former leader.
The rest of the day was set aside for the new and old friends to talk about everything. Yusei was quite as he thought about his life and, oddly, thanking Roman.