Pain shot through him as Machine Emperor Wisel slashed at Savior Star Dragon. He staggered slightly, wincing as he realized that he had lost his best chance at defeating the enemy that stood before him. He felt the threat of tears in his eyes as a sense of failure enveloped him.

"Yusei!" his friends shouted from behind him. He opened one eye to see them all, looks of hope mingled with fear on their faces. Ruka clung to her brother, burying her face in his shoulder, while Rua stood next to Crow. On Crow's other side was Jack, and Yusei thought of how long the three of them had been friends. He just couldn't let them down…

Sherry, Bruno, and Mizoguchi stood behind them. Sherry and Mizoguchi watched with hardened indifference on their faces, but Yusei thought he saw worry in their eyes. Bruno's face was openly worried, and Yusei knew that he was wondering why he had agreed to this duel in the first place. Shooting Star Dragon, his Accel Synchro monster, could only be summoned in a riding duel.

Mikage and Ushio stood off to the left, while other citizens of Neo Domino City stood back a ways. They were all counting on him, he knew.

His eyes fell on her last. Aki met his gaze, obvious concern in her almond-shaped eyes. She was directly behind the twins, and stooped a bit to whisper something in Ruka's ear. Yusei saw Ruka look up and say something, to which Aki nodded in response. She put her hands on both twins' shoulders, before standing back up. He saw the question on her face, and turned away before his own face answered for him.

Placido laughed sickeningly. His scarlet eyes burned into Yusei's, and Yusei wondered briefly how an android could enjoy the pain of others, or even feel emotions at all. His Machine Emperor towered above him, and the bodies of his destroyed teammates lay behind him. Lucciano and Jose were both androids like Placido. After his duel with him, in which Yusei had defeated Placido with Shooting Star Dragon, he had thought that Placido was the weakest of the three. Jose and Lucciano had certainly made it seem that way, but now they were dead, killed by Jack and Crow. Placido, on the other hand, was as alive as an android could get.

Yusei searched desperately for an answer, a way to victory. He remembered the strange words that had come out of Rua's mouth; recently, Rua had been having visions of the future, and often blurted out strange phrases while doing so. But there was one thing he had said that had clearly been meant for Yusei:

"One who reaches for the stars must not be afraid to let the stars go out."

Pondering those words, Yusei drew another card. He paused, unsure what to do next, when it hit him.

Of course! A measure of peace entered him, as he realized what he needed to do.

Aki watched, as Yusei added the card to his hand. He looked calmer, somehow, and Aki felt hope rise inside her. Maybe, despite the destruction of one of his ace monsters, he knew how to win. When their eyes had met earlier, she had seen the brief flash of despair in his deep sapphire ones. She wished that she could've been the one to duel Placido, so that Yusei didn't have to suffer this kind of pain, but Yusei wouldn't hear of it.

"Come on, Yusei!" shouted Crow. "You can still turn this around!"

Rua called out an agreement, and Ruka yelled, "We believe in you, Yusei!" Aki didn't say anything, but she sent a surge of energy to him through their bond as Signers. He cast her a grateful glance, before turning back to his enemy.

Dark clouds were gathered overhead, and a brief rumble of thunder rang out. Aki was reminded of the other time Yusei faced Placido, when she'd had to save Haruka from falling to her death at the hospital. She did just that, even without the use of her psychic powers. Even so, without them, she wasn't sure how much she could help Yusei now; she only realized how much she missed them now that they were gone.

"I activate Monster Reborn!" called Yusei. "I'm using this to bring back my Stardust Dragon from the graveyard."

The silver and blue dragon reared its head as it appeared on the field. Tiny glittering specks rained down from it, while the dragon roared at Wisel.

With that, Yusei stared straight at Placido, and stated, "I end my turn."

Aki felt as though she'd been punched in the gut. Her Signer mark burned, and grabbed her arm, wincing. It suddenly dawned on her what Yusei was up to.

"NO!" she cried, causing everyone to stare at her. "Yusei, don't!"

"Aki." He turned back toward her, his eyes full of sorrow and determination. "It had to happen; you know that."

Aki stared at him, disbelief welling up inside her. "I don't know that," she whispered. But, deep down inside, she knew. She knew exactly what he meant, and she was powerless to stop him. Something was being ripped up inside her, and she suddenly could barely stand upright.

Placido gave another insane laugh. "So be it, Yusei Fudo!" he called. He turned, smirking, back to his own monster. "End his life, Machine Emperor Wisel!"

Time seemed to slow down, and Aki watched in horror as the monster rushed towards Stardust Dragon. Its arm, Wisel Attack, stabbed the dragon in the heart. Stardust Dragon arched its back in agony, and each of the Signers gasped as they felt Yusei's pain. Aki saw Yusei fall to his knees, and his life points reached zero.

Placido smirked at him, and the sudden lightning increased everywhere. He strode across to Yusei, clearly intending to gloat. Wherever the electric surges hit, they tore, whether it was sidewalks, buildings, or even trees. He had just reached Yusei, when Yusei lifted his head.

Placido stumbled backwards, his expression shocked. "What… you're supposed to be dead!" he cried, outraged.

"Yusei!" everyone called. Crow tried to run over, but what blocked by some kind of invisible force field. He pounded against it, angry tears flowing freely.

Aki noticed that Yusei's eyes began glowing a brighter blue than she had ever seen. "You made a mistake, Placido," he said quietly. "Because you killed me… my spirit can now protect Neo Domino City forever."

Aki's rising hope was crushed at those words, and she realized that it was true- her eyes had not lied. Yusei wasn't dead yet, but all the Signers could feel his bright spark dimming. Then, quite suddenly, it flared.

A pillar of light exploded outward, causing everyone to shield their face from it. Emerging from the light was Shooting Star Dragon, which flew straight at Placido. Aki, despite her horrible sorrow, felt a sudden rush of joy at the sight of it, and watched as it let a stream of sparkling light hit the Machine Emperor. It burst, and Placido let out a scream of fury.

A bright flash covered the entire city, healing everything in its path. Aki looked up and saw Shooting Star Dragon soaring away, its work done. The sun had returned, illuminating Neo Domino City. They'd been saved, after all.

In that moment, however, each of the Signers felt Yusei's spark vanish.

"NOOOOO!" shouted Crow, while Jack clenched his fists in anger. Ruka, meanwhile, burst into gut-wrenching sobs, while Rua put his arms around her and hugged her tightly.

Aki stared at the ground, silent tears streaming down her cheeks. She didn't want to look weak in front of the twins, who needed someone to be strong for them at the moment, but she couldn't stop them from flowing. She wished, a hundred times over, that it could've been her. Inside her, she felt her heart crack.

Placido and the threat he brought was gone, but so was Yusei.

A wave of terrible loneliness flooded her, and it took all of her strength not to cry out. Why, Yusei? she thought brokenly. He was always the one who lifted her spirits, the one who comforted her. Now he was gone, and the same words kept playing over and over again.

I never had the courage to tell him…

Crow crossed off another date on the calendar. 93 days since… he didn't complete the thought.

The world was safe again; no evil had come to haunt them after the Machine Emperors. Most people were happy, living normal lives in the city. Dueling continued to be the most popular pastime, despite the fact that it had taken a life on that day. In the three months that had passed, time was slowly healing the Signers. Jack had found solace in Carly, who hung out with the rest of them almost all the time now. Crow himself had been able to find strength by taking care of Rua and Ruka, as well as the kids he looked after in the Satellite. Seeing them made him smile, and made him realize that life still had to go on.

Ruka and Rua were still going to duel academy. Rua had gone through an astounding change, dueling much more skillfully than before. He also worked a lot harder, even on homework. When Crow had asked him why the sudden effort, he had answered, "Well, I have to stay strong for my sister."

Ruka had taken it hard; she had refused to duel now, and had retreated to her room often. Crow thought she was getting better, though; she was often comforted by her spirit friends, especially Ancient Fairy Dragon. Crow thought that she could be inspired to duel again.

The person they all worried about the most was Aki. They almost never saw her, except when she was wandering around the park with a blank look on her face. Worse than that, her powers had returned with her grief. As a result, whenever any of them tried to help her, she attacked them by summoning Black Rose Dragon.

Crow knew that Aki's heart had been broken with Yusei's death. The one time he had gotten her to talk to him, she had told him as much.

"I never got to tell Yusei how I felt," she said. "He never knew how much I… I…" she broke off.

"I think he did know," said Crow quietly. She'd spun around then, eyes flashing.

"As if!" she shouted, and her dragon appeared behind her. He dodged a purple flare from the monster, and promptly ran for it.

Crow sighed. They were still staying in the same place they'd been staying for the WRGP; Zora had been horrified by Yusei's death, and offered to let them live there for awhile longer. The period of staying there had been getting longer and longer, but she didn't even seem to notice.

Crow decided to go for a quick joy ride. Grabbing his helmet, he mounted the Black Bird, wanting to get away for a bit. He found the highways easily, racing along the Daedalus Bridge. This place had always been Yusei's goal…

After an hour or so, he returned to the main city. As he rode by the park, he thought he caught sight of a flash of magenta hair.

One of these days, one of them would have to talk to her.

Ruka sat on her bed, staring down at her deck. Several times she'd considered throwing it away, and only Kuribon's pleading had convinced her not to.

You're skipping school again, said Ancient Fairy Dragon.

I know, she thought back. I don't care.

Hmm… your brother won another duel today. He's at the top now, but it's not easy for him. You should at least cheer for him, little one. He's doing this for you.

"He doesn't need me," she muttered aloud. "Rua was always a great duelist."

That may be, but he never really used his potential- until he saw how unhappy his twin sister was.

"He doesn't need me," she stated again firmly. She wondered, for a split second, if that was true, but she brushed the thought away.

Would Yusei want you to be like this? Messing up your own life? Be honest, little one.

"No…" she murmured. Ruka realized that her dragon was right. Yusei wouldn't want her to throw her life away; if she did, his sacrifice would've been for nothing. She got up, grabbing her backpack. "Thanks, Ancient Fairy Dragon," she said. She couldn't believe it had taken her this long to realize what the right thing to do was. "It's time I started dueling again."

Rua watched as his opponent's life points dropped to zero. He felt a lot older right then, thinking that this fellow student hadn't been much of a challenge. He turned away, remembering how he hadn't even needed to use his Power Tool Dragon. He glanced up at the stands, hoping that Ruka was watching… but she wasn't present.

"Well done, Rua!" came a cry from behind him. He turned, shocked to see his sister running towards him. She hugged him tightly, before pulling away, grinning from ear to ear. "Sorry I've been such a jerk lately," she said more softly. She smiled at him, and he realized that Ruka's duel disk was on her arm.

He stared at her, hope rising in him. "Are you… going to duel?" he asked, swallowing nervously. He was afraid she'd say no.

"Yep," she replied, getting out her deck. "Want to have a tag duel?"

Rua felt a smile slowly grow on his face. "You bet!" he replied. He turned back to the stands. "So, who're our lucky opponents?"

Sly and Patty volunteered, and the four of them activated their duel disks. Whispers surrounded them, about how this was the first time in months that the other green-haired twin was dueling.

He and Ruka glanced at each other, confident. He felt truly happy for the first time, glad to finally have his twin at his side.

"Ja-ack!" someone shouted. He turned around, his mood boosted by the appearance of Carly running toward him. She still had those strange specs on, but otherwise she was still Carly.

He waited until she caught up to him, before continuing to walk along. She chattered away next to him, about some scoop or another she'd found. He was content to just watch her, her eyes sparkling with enthusiasm as she spoke.

"… and I was so happy to see that look on her face! It's about time Angela got karma, don't you think?"

"What?" Jack said, shaking himself out of his reverie. "Oh, uh, yeah."

Carly rolled her eyes, but sympathy entered her voice. "You're thinking about Yusei, aren't you?"

Jack had made a vow never to lie to her, and he wasn't about to start now- though it was tempting. He didn't want to talk about Yusei.

"Yes," he replied.

Carly didn't say anything at first, and he glanced at her. She looked thoughtful, and he felt a rush of affection for her. She was always trying to boost his spirits, going out of her way to cheer him up. She was probably thinking of something to say; more often than not, she was talking. He found that he didn't like the idea.

She seemed to know this, though. Instead of consoling him with words, she simply took his hand. He looked at her, and saw her smile sadly. Yusei had been her friend too, Jack realized.

They got to the beach, and stopped walking. The sun was setting, and they watched it in silence. They didn't need to talk in order to help each other; both of them got enough comfort simply from being together. They watched the sun sink beneath the horizon, holding hands the entire time.

Aki leaned against an old oak tree. She looked up at its proud branches; when she was little, she used to come and sit against this tree with her sketch pad. She wished that life was always that simple.

Her frustration rose; she simply wanted to run, to keep running and never stop. She wanted to escape her inner turmoil, to get away from the deadening grief that threatened to overwhelm her every day.

She brushed her long bangs behind her ears; she had gotten rid of her headpiece ages ago, before she'd known that she'd regained her powers. She didn't even need a deck or a duel disk to use them now; Black Rose Dragon simply appeared beside her.

She heard the clacking of heels against the park's pathway, before a quiet voice said, "Aki?"

She slowly turned away from the old tree, to see Mikage staring at her. She took in Mikage's business suit, and her serious golden eyes. Aki looked away; those eyes were boring into her.

"What do you want?" she asked, feeling her psychic abilities raring to hurt the person in front of her. She held them back for now, curious to see what Mikage was here for.

"Aki," she began, "We've been friends for a while, and I hate to see you like this."

"Why would you care?" muttered Aki.

"Because I know you," replied Mikage. "It's time you talked to someone, Aki. You're broken- everyone close to Yusei was- but they're healing. Ruka even dueled alongside Rua today. They won."

Aki tried to not let her surprise show, but she had to admit that she felt happy for Ruka. As for herself, on the other hand…

"You can't just give up," said Mikage. "You need to stand up for yourself and start to reconnect with people. You have to stop wallowing, get out there, face the world, and move on."

Aki was shocked; no one had spoken to her like that. Mikage's voice held no pity, simply determination and slight contempt. Usually, when one of her so-called 'friends' tried to talk to her, they were gentle.

Not Mikage.

Anger began to boil inside Aki. "Are you saying I'm lazy?" she hissed.

Mikage shrugged. "Call it what you will. I only want to help you."

Aki stared the blue-haired woman, before stating bluntly, "There's only one person who was ever able to help me- and he's dead."

Feeling numb and confused inside, Aki hurried away, walking as quickly as possible. She could feel Mikage's eyes on her, and couldn't shake the feeling for a while.

She realized that it was unusually dark outside, and she glanced up. The sun had gone down, and she shivered a little bit. She wished that it was cloudy that night- the stars reminded her of him.

There wasn't a breeze, and she couldn't hear cars anywhere- she must've been near the middle of the park, far away from other people. She suddenly sensed her Black Rose Dragon's spirit beside her.

She glanced over, into the dragon's eyes. They were alight with something she'd never seen before- or had she?

"What is it?" she asked quietly. Black Rose Dragon seemed to be concentrating on something, staring intently toward one of Aki's favorite places in the park. A cluster of trees shielded it from view, but Aki knew what lay there.

She began to walk towards it, her dragon gliding alongside her. She felt a single tear escape her eye, glimmering in the starlight. The tear was mimicked by her dragon, as they entered the little secluded spot in the park.

It was a beautiful place. A small pond sat in the middle, with clear water undisturbed by a breeze. The moon and stars were reflected in the pool, which was lined by reeds and purple lilies. She looked around the area- and her breath caught in her throat.

She knew who was standing there, staring up at the night sky thoughtfully. She knew that person, and knew the reason why Black Rose Dragon had been so curious of this location. He turned, and his blue eyes met hers. She'd never really known how beautiful those eyes were.

Slowly, she walked around the edge of the pool until she stood next to him. She could sense her dragon inching along behind her, eager for… something. Aki couldn't tell what.

And then she couldn't stop it; the tears flowed from her eyes. She sobbed brokenly, and he didn't ask what was wrong. He simply wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly. Aki buried her face in his shoulder, and breathed in his scent.

"Yusei… I…" she whispered. She lifted up her head and met those stunning eyes again. A million emotions rushed in- joy, sorrow, bittersweet anger…

"There's something I never told you," she said. "I"-

He placed a finger to her lips, silencing her. "It's okay, Aki," he said quietly. "I know. I've always known." He kissed her forehead, and he didn't let her go. Aki closed her eyes, feeling, for the first time in 93 days, at peace. Her heart slowly began to merge back together…

Up in the sky, if one had bothered to look, they would have seen two dragons flying. One was light and matched the burning stars in the sky, while the other was dark and graceful. They looked like opposites, but it was clear that they were soaring side by side, joy in every wing beat.