Title: Being Marked
Summary: Getting marked. It hurts like heck. The Public Security Bureau gets an iron grip on you. And there will always be one person that will assume they can tell what kind of person you are by that thing their precious Security carved onto your face. One-shot.
Rating: K+ for safety.
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds.
Getting marked is not a good thing. One, it hurts like heck. Two, the Public Security Bureau gets an iron grip on you. To them, you just become a lengthy number in a database matched with a yellow shape or two. And third, without fail, there will always be at least one person – and usually it's more than just one – that will assume they can tell what kind of person you are by that thing their precious Sector Security carved onto your face.
I'm not saying nobody deserves to get marked…but you think they would cut some slack to a nine year old. One who was just snitching spare parts for his friend's Duel Runner. Apparently not.
Tyler Parr, age twenty – two, wiped his brow in the searing heat. It was the middle of summer and scorching hot, and he was stuck cleaning an abnormally large pool on the roof of one of the tallest buildings in New Domino City for some rich family who was always away on business. They supposedly had kids that stayed in the penthouse while they were off who-knows-where for important business - more important than your kids? - But Tyler had failed to see them yet. Well, save for times when he saw their heads - twins, huh? - Secretly watching him work as their heads peeked from out the window.
He hadn't even met his boss, the owner of the penthouse, yet. He had been hired three weeks ago by a cleaning lady who he had known when they were children. She probably wouldn't have given him the job if not for that, thought Tyler as he self-consciously brought his hand up to the curved Criminal marker on his cheek. It wasn't the most pleasant job, but better than being broke. Great way to start earning money, make an honest living, never having to steal necessities again to survive…
He tried to be a good pool guy, and he was. Never any fallen leaves or scum in the pool, never so much chlorine it would burn someone's eyes, but enough to have the pool water clean and blue.
His boss didn't even notice these things when he fired him a week later.
He knew it was helpless the moment he saw the guy's reaction to the mark on his face. His Boss couldn't get past that one of his employees had actually been to the Facility. Someone like that in his home, near his kids while he was away on business trips…
"You're fired," the Boss said in a clipped voice, shoving the rest of the week's pay into Tyler's hands. Anger simmered inside of Tyler's heart.
"Why?" he asked in what he hoped sounded like a calm voice, though Tyler knew perfectly well why he was fired.
His Boss flinched for a second and said, "I'm sorry, but…" he helplessly gestured to the mark on his former employee's face then walked away. "Just take the elevator down." he called over his shoulder, disappearing into the penthouse. Tyler's Boss –former boss- leaned against the wall in his living room and sighed. He was approached by his kids.
"Hey dad! Why did you fire the pool guy?" asked Rua, bouncing up and down. Rua and Ruka had watched the whole thing from the window.
The twins' father looked down on them, and then put one hand on each of their shoulders. He said slowly, "You kids remember that anyone, anyone, with a yellow mark on their face has been to the Facility. That means they did something bad to get there, and most of the people from the Facility are dangerous. Do you understand?"
Ruka nodded a bit seriously, and Rua looked a bit confused but said, "Okay, yeah, we understand. Hey Dad, do you want to have a quick duel?"
Rua's father shook his head and told his son, "Sorry Rua, I have to meet your mom at the office building then we have to leave for that press conference in France…you understand, don't you?"
Rua was crestfallen but Ruka said quietly, "Yes…we understand. Bye, Dad."
As the twins' father left and shut the door, Ruka sighed to her brother, "We're used to it."
Tyler was leaned against a wall in an alley way near the penthouse. He ran over him being fired in his head. He ran over all the times he'd been turned away from jobs he was perfectly capable of, all because of a mark he had earned when he was a stupid teenager…
Tyler sighed and looked up at the sky.
"Time to go somewhere else," he said aloud to no one in particular.
I remember finally getting out of that metal box with Taka, Blitz, and Nerve. Imagine my feelings when we saw that small, static TV on the ground near the box.
"Hey, look at Yusei's face," one of them said, I don't remember which. I leaned in closer. There was Jack's face on the screen, which was normal…but so was Yusei's face.
A face that now had a jagged criminal marker on it. I felt a lump in my throat. "They marked him!" I exclaimed. Was there not anyone they wouldn't mark?
Again, I'm not saying nobody deserves to get if you make one mistake, one stupid mistake, even if it was very long ago when you were a kid, that mistake stays on your face the rest of your life.
The End
Author's Note: Well, my second story. It's pretty simple…hope you like it anyway! Also, please check out my other story, Doomed. It's better than this one, in my opinion. In case it wasn't obvious, the beginning intro and outro were narrated by Rally, first person. The actual story was third person. Just making it clear if it wasn't already. ^^ I may modify this is the future, based on reviews. Reviews are loved, and please no flames. Thank you for reading!
