"If Yuusei wins against my brother," Rex remembered telling Crow, "tell him that I'll be waiting."

Looking out at the darkening sky, realising that seventeen years' worth of planning had been derailed in a matter of minutes, he wondered where it had all gone wrong.

When Crow had found him, perhaps. There was the slim possibility that he had given too much away.

Earlier than that, when he had lacked the courage, the determination, to use his brother as his method of becoming reborn as a Dark Signer. Another way, he had told himself. But not this. Not to have this become his last memory of the brother who had once, and still was, so close to him.

Earlier still, with how he'd brought them together in the first place, starting with drawing Jack into Neo Domino, partly to tempt Yuusei into coming after him, partly to keep Jack himself safe as well.

Or was it in letting go of his old friend's son, losing contact, not knowing who he grew up with and the sort of life he had gone on to lead? He had been so busy with first the bridge, then with attaining his position and cutting all ties to Satellite for fear of repercussions, that regardless of how powerful he had become, he had never the courage to do exactly what he had wanted to be able to, and what his heart - hardened after so many years alone and without anyone to trust, he'd left everyone for dead even his brother turned against him, his wife lost in the incident said brother had caused, made cold after many years from learning the hard way that dreams don't get you anywhere and hard work might pay off but not always in the way you intended - had yearned for, even after all this time.

Perhaps it was further back still, with countless incidents, moments in his life that could have gone one way or another.

Or maybe it wasn't his fault at all, and merely the fates laughing at him, playing a cruel trick on the man who would have been a god.

The sky was darkening, and the others were heading his way, guided by the Crimson Dragon's power to find the fifth Signer. A part of him wondered if they would know to expect a severed arm instead of a full person.

Red light nearly blinded him as it pierced through all windows and cracks, the Crimson Dragon's power in evidence, and as he put up an arm to shield his eyes from the worst of it, he began to make his way down to meet them, resigning himself to the inevitable.

The Signers would not be pleased. He had told them what to expect, and now... this.

He closed his eyes briefly as he opened the door to the mansion, fooling himself for precious seconds into thinking that, maybe, he would see the boy standing with the others.

Of course he wasn't. It was a fool's dream to think that he would have been.

In return for the lapse, he barely managed to dodge and block a fist that came flying at his face from Jack Atlas.

He held his expression in check as quietly disapproving of the violence, even if internally he could completely understand why the boy felt that way.

"Bastard! What the hell happened to Crow?!"

Rex had watched over and managed Jack's career ever since he'd arrived in the city, and he knew the boy's moods easily. But not once up until this point had he been so attuned, not once had Rex wanted to feel the same thing.

His chest was aching in confusion and pain, but he shoved it out of the way, to be dealt with later. If there was a 'later' with which to deal with it.

"You ask me as though I would know what events had taken place in my absence. I can tell you now, that all I know of Crow is less still than you. Merely... that he became a Dark Signer, through unforeseen and unknown circumstances."

For a moment, Jack looked like he was going to try hitting Rex again, but thankfully he didn't try, merely looking unsatisfied with glaring at him for all he was worth.

"But Crow was one of the good guys," said the boy, interrupting the moment. Rua. That was his name. Twin brother of Ruka, the Signer who held the Ancient Fairy Dragon.

Jack, Rex noted, became avoidant at the boy's words, touching a place on his coat, possibly where he was keeping some item or other. Yuusei's eyes narrowed.

He wasn't the only one to have lost someone important. That, he had to remember. Perhaps it might give him the strength he needed in order to do what needed to be done.

"Such things are of no consequence when one has been chosen by any of the Earthbound Gods. Even were one's intentions pure, contact with one of the gods would twist and distort them. And I am sure that you already know what happens to those with the strength of mind to rebel against the will of their god," he added, spears of pain in his chest - his heart, his heart was hurting, how long had it been since his heart had hurt like this - causing him to frown, rather than outright flinch.

"The Condor geoglyph appeared by the unfinished Daedalus bridge, or rather, where it would end in Neo Domino were it finished," Yuusei said carefully, and how was it only now that he realised that Professor Fudo's son had been watching him closely the entire time? "He's going to want a riding duel. Jack and I will be going to meet him."

They all knew what he meant by 'meet'. This would be no friendly reunion. This would be a battle. Until either side were defeated - in which case, either Crow disappeared as the others had or both Yuusei and Jack died before anyone else, and then darkness would rule over them - or until the King of the Netherworld made it to the Condor geoglyph.

Perhaps if he hadn't caved to sentiment, that would have been him, and he would have had the aim of rebuilding the world into one where there would be no more Signer wars, where no one else would need to go through such a thing. He wondered if he would have faced Crow then, if he had, as well as those in front of him.

But such thinking was merely wasting time.

"Hey!" It was Rua again. "I can fight too!"

"No. You can't ride a D-Wheel, Rua," Yuusei said, "and you'd end up making it difficult for the one who was carrying you."

"Yeah, yeah..."

Dejected the boy might look, but he did not seem rebellious - at least, not in this instance, with so much riding at stake. A small relief.

"Then allow me to join you."

All of the assembled Signers and their hangers-on turned to him once more.

"Godwin," Yuusei started with a frown, "it would be dangerous. There's no way of knowing how much protection the Crimson Dragon could give you, even with your brother's arm."

Ah, so they knew, then. Rudger must have revealed it to them in his duel.

"Besides," Jack said, still looking like he wanted to inflict a world of pain on Rex, "I've never even seen you duel. As far as I know, you don't even have a D-Wheel!"

Of course, all Jack himself was aware of when it came to Rex's duelling capabilities was the fact that he could, and that he had a deck.

Rex's eyes closed, and against his will the fist of his real arm clenched. This wasn't how he'd hoped for it to happen. But could he really turn away now that he'd come this far? With this much at stake? All for the sake of a few secrets that may well have been aired even had events gone as planned.

"Ah," he said. "That. I am afraid I'll have to find one to borrow for the duration, as mine... that is, my old one... is currently owned and operated by someone else."

He'd known it for a fact from the moment he'd passed by the bike on his way into Old Momentum. Aesthetically it was as different as could be, but the general schematics, the measurements... there was no mistaking the D-Wheel he himself had built from scratch.

"What?"

Jack, astonished.

"Who?"

Yuusei, still watching him steadily, with an expression Rex wasn't too comfortable with.

"I do not see how that is of any importance."

"Godwin. There are things you aren't telling us. If you're going to fight alongside us, we're going to have to do it together, or not at all."

Had it really been so long since he'd hated the way everyone's eyes were on him? Perhaps not. He had garnered the attention of the public more than once in an inappreciable way, but the experience that this put him in mind of most were the looks those in Satellite had sent his way when he had first started to build Daedalus.

Personal. Uncomfortable. Something he would have to work through.

"It is... currently in Crow's hands," he allowed.

The widening of Yuusei's eyes told him that the boy knew enough to put at least some of the pieces together. Not all of them, by far, but enough.

No one else could know just how much Crow reminded him of himself, at that age. No one else could think to connect him to her - the little things he'd tried to forget, tried to put to the back of his mind, but came back at the slightest provocation.

No. No one here could even suspect that much.

"That's the Blackbird," Yuusei said carefully, his eyes meeting Rex's, "and Crow told me he'd built it himself. But we don't have the time to argue details."

"What?! But Yuusei-!"

"Jack."

The two shared a look, Jack narrowing his eyes and Yuusei fixing his friend with an stare that was achingly familiar to Rex - his father had had eyes like that - until Jack looked away with a grunt.

"Hn! Do what you want. Find a D-Wheel, if you can. Just don't slow us down."

"I can guarantee you, that is the last thing I would want to do."

It had been many years since he'd ridden a D-Wheel with its original purpose in mind, but far be it from him to be caught out unprepared. He excused himself, and went to seek out one that would best work to his advantage, trying to not think of the reason why, of who he would be facing.

It was bad enough that his plans had been torn to shreds, and they would, sooner or later, be revealed.

But his composure was cracking, and bringing all of the pain that he'd thought he'd left behind back with it. Losing was not on his agenda, and neither was bringing down his fellow duelists in the upcoming duel.

Instead, he worried for himself. For the secrets he knew would come out into the open that he had never planned for. Feared, for the outcome of the duel. For what would happen to Crow afterwards, either way.

And to think, a part of him whispered back, if things had gone to your plan, then you would be the one they would be swearing to take down.

And that would be fine by him, as long as his goal had come to fruition. Even should they defeat him the world would, at least, be rid of the threat of the Dark Signers for another five thousand years.

Hypocrite.

He'd been one for as many years as he could remember, ever since Zero Reverse. Saying one thing to one person, and another to the next. Trying to save Satellite, and then reinforcing the separation the moment he had the power. The word had no longer held any meaning for him.

And if it's all just a trick of your mind? Something you're telling yourself out of misplaced hope?

It had been some fifteen years since he'd given up on misplaced hope. Around that time, too, he had stopped seeing the dead in every face he passed in the street. Lost potentials and maybes in every child.

He could not say for certain that Crow was definitely his just yet. But so many things pointed to the theory being truth, an awful truth with recent events in mind, that while his head, full of plans and strategies and scientific logic, told him to not get too attached... his heart, the heart that had held on to his brother even after all of these years, that had kept tabs on his friend's boy and stepped in when things had proceeded too far in the facility... his heart would not let go, and refused to listen.

Rex knew how dangerous it would be, as he drove out to meet the others.

He could only hope that the pain from knowing who Crow might be didn't kill him before Crow himself had a chance to.

Yuusei nodded to him as he approached once more, D-Wheel in tow.

"Godwin. Ready?"

The others all were.

He nodded, once.

It didn't matter if he truly was or not. There was a battle to be fought. It was with that thought that the Crimson Dragon's power took them up and transported them all to where he was...

Crow.

"I have two gods within me, but I have chosen the path of darkness! Run. RUN!"

He had thought that he had lost everything once before, and run, he had. Thoughts of his brother only made the ache in his chest deepen.

This time, he would not run. More than that, he could not.

He had a duty, after all. To Satellite. To Neo Domino. To himself.

To the one facing them, a new insanity in his eyes that he was sure would haunt him if he even survived.