A/N: Right, this is what I do when I get bored and lacking inspiration recently. This follows the basic lines of the series but with a few differences. It started out with me wondering what would have happened if some bit of humanity remained in Rudger and he took in Yusei when he was a baby to make up for killing his parents. And then it sort of spread from there into this. There's are no cards in this fic, I decided to do something slightly more like back in the orignal series when your monsters were more connected to your soul. Also, very dark fic, involved pretty much every type of abuse possible- because characters are at their best when they're suffering. And I know Yusei is a little OOC in this first chapter, but I do promise it's just the first chapter, it gets sorted pretty much straight away, it's just because he's lonely. Anyway... haven't decided on pairings yet, so if there's any you'd really love to see, tell me and I'll see if I can work it in somehow (I will do pretty much any pairing, as you know) and reviews are always loved. And that was a long note.

"Fudo!" Yusei's head jerked up to look at his teacher. Mr Cook. He glared down at Yusei. "Am I boring you, Fudo?"

"I'm done," Yusei said quietly. "And your example up on the board is wrong."

Cook snarled and backhanded him. Yusei was a genius, smarter than all of his teachers, and they didn't like to be reminded of the fact. And growing up in the Satellite wasn't easy. No one cared if teacher abused their students. Not even Yusei cared really. His friends had said he needed to keep his mouth shut, and he used to, but recently, he'd given up being good and quiet. He really didn't care, not now they were all gone.

"One more smart remark from you, Fudo and you'll be sent to the principal. Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal," Yusei said coldly as the other students snickered.

The teacher took a handful of his hair and dragged him to his feet. All the teachers hated him, Mr Cook especially. He had been a successful teacher, in Neo Domino for his holidays with his wife and young daughter when Zero Reverse happened and he became stuck in the Satellite. He was paid minimal amounts but it was something, more than most Satellites got. The fact that Yusei was smarter than him only fuelled his hatred.

"Crystal what?" Cook snapped.

"Sir," Yusei breathed.

Cook smirked and pulled Yusei to the front of the class. "Now, he's a life lesson for all you children. Take a good look at Fudo. He's a genius and doesn't he like to remind us of it? But, where do we suppose he's going to be in a few years time? Who thinks our dear Fudo is going to be doing anything worth his genius? Come on, don't be shy."

A few hands raised timidly. Cook sat on his desk at the front of the class, holding Yusei firmly, his back pressed against the edge of the desk. Surprisingly, this was gentle treatment when it came to Cook. In the city, a teacher would have been fired and shunned for treatment like this, but here, no one cared. Rumours were constantly flying around about what teacher did to their students- with their students. And Cook was one of the worst.

"Amy?" he laughed. "Where's Fudo going to be in, let's say, five years time?"

"With his friends," Amy sneered. "A prison punching bag."

"The Facility," Cook said, tracing a path across Yusei's cheek. "With a nasty gold scar down your cheek, Fudo? Just like your friend Hogan? Who thinks he'll be there?" Hands shot up. "Majority of people, Fudo. Where else might that intelligence get him?"

"Like Jack!" called a one voice.

"And Kiryu," added another.

"Dead?" he said. "Perhaps. Arrogance gets you into tight spots around here."

"He might get to the city," said Matthew.

The class joker- and teacher's favourite due to his hatred for Yusei- got a huge laugh from the class. Yusei knew he wasn't popular, and he didn't care. They were no better than him. None of them were any better than him and he didn't think he was better than them. He was only there because Rudger said so, he'd pulled a lot of favours to get him in and there were a lot of parents trying to get their children some form of education.

There was a knock on the door and Cook quickly released Yusei's hair. Three knocks meant it was the principal showing someone around. The parents didn't need to see how the children were treated until they'd paid up. Six adults walked in with a few kids. Mr Cook smiled.

"Hello, Principal sir," he said with a smile. "It's good to see some guests as well. This is Fudo Yusei, he's one of our most gifted students. He's just correcting the mistake I made to see who was paying attention."

He handed Yusei a chalk and smiled. Yusei stepped up to the board slowly and did as he was told, correcting the mistake in the complicated problem so it worked properly. He didn't see why Rudger couldn't look after his education like he always had. It would save him a lot of pain.

When the Principal and parents left, Cook pushed Yusei against the board with a hand in the centre of his back.

"Now, the answer to my earlier question," he said cruelly. "A boy who looks like Fudo will almost certainly find a living in pleasing others, if everyone catches my drift." There was a murmur and snickering from the students. "If he isn't already. So, today's life lesson, standing out from the crowd is only useful if its for your looks, everything else is useless, be content to be mediocre. You'll get further. Class dismissed."

He let Yusei go as everyone packed up and left. Yusei packed up quickly and hurried out, hoping to avoid what he knew was coming. Matthew and Amy wouldn't pass up what Cook had given him. Unfortunately he wasn't fast enough. And was quickly surrounded and thrown against the wall. They were laughing. Last year, he had Stardust to protect him, and he'd fought back and they left him alone more often. It helped that Jack and Crow had been with him. Now Jack had taken Stardust and vanished and Crow had been locked up for theft once again. He just grew tired and wanted it all to stop.

When Yusei came in, Rudger was mildly surprised to see he looked even worse than usual. He had promised himself he was going to look after Yusei, for his father's sake, but it wasn't easy. Every time he looked at the boy, he could see his father in him. Although, it went only as far as looks. There were a few similarities in their personalities and those few were strong, but Yusei was cold and distant, while his father had been open and almost childish at times. He'd done his best with Yusei, and Demak- ever faithful to him and being good with children- had helped as much as he could, but Yusei struggled at school and since his few close friends began to vanish one by one, he'd grown even colder and more isolated.

"Another bad day?" Rudger said softly.

"Worst yet," Yusei replied, dumping his bag and heading to his room.

Rudger sighed and shook his head. He really didn't understand the boy. He knew it was hard to be smarter than his classmates, but then, he'd had his brother and Yusei's father to share his troubles with. He did miss them so much. He had never thought about the consequences that Zero Reverse might have had on those closest to him and he swore to himself that he would never let Yusei discover the truth behind Zero Reverse. It would crush him.

"Should I go and talk to him?" Demak asked quietly. "See what I could get out of him? Maybe try to ease him a little?"

"I doubt it will do much good," Rudger sighed. "But if you think it will help, feel free to do so. I think the only thing that will make him any happier is dropping out of school, and I don't think we should let that happen. He's old enough but… he's far too much like his father sometimes."

When Demak opened Yusei's door, the teen was curled up under his covers, his uniform thrown in a pile of the floor. Demak sighed. He could just make out a white piece of material under the covers- his father's lab coat. Rudger had given it to him when he was a child and Yusei would always snuggle into it when he was upset.

"Are you ok, Yusei?" he asked.

"I want to hate them," Yusei whispered. "I want to hate them so much, with everything I have, but I can't. I just pity them."

"What happened today?" He sat on the bed next to Yusei and gently lay a hand on his side. "You seem worse than normal."

"The maths teacher, you know the one I always have problems with, who hates me?" he explained shakily. Demak hummed in response. "He dragged me up to the front of the class today. He just wants to humiliate me in every way possible."

"And?" he encouraged gently.

"And he all but said I was a cheap whore," the boy admitted. "So of course everyone had a great time with that. He told everyone that's all I had any hope of ever being."

Demak sighed and rubbed his side gently. He knew Yusei was struggling, everyone knew that. Then it occurred to him that he'd heard something that might cheer him up a little.

"Your friend Crow is being released today and he'll arrive early tomorrow morning," he said. Yusei looked up and for the first time Demak could see the tear tracks down his cheeks, the tears already dried up. "If you don't tell Rudger, I'll let you skip school and we'll go see him."

"Thanks," Yusei said, giving Demak a rare genuine smile- not just the one he'd put on to please Rudger. "Why won't Rudger just let me drop out? Does he like seeing me like this?"

"Yusei, Rudger loves you," Demak told him. "You know, when you were a baby, he took you in because he felt he owed it to your father, he wasn't interested in looking after a child but you're far more than that now. He sees you as his child now."