Author's note: Okay, before I can begin this chapter, I would like to that that I'm really, really, REALLY sorry that I haven't been able to upload anything for months. Trust me, as far as college goes, some of the classes I'm taking right now are not my friends, and because of that, I've been suffering mental writerblocks and constant headaches as time goes by. And to those who are reading my current fanfics, such as Crimson Stars and/or Alternate Dimensions, I'm sorry I wasn't able to get them updated and I know you all are getting impatience to read the next chapter. Again, my sincerest apologies, but it is what it is. But, finals are over, and I'm on early winter break, so hopefully I can update my other stories again as much as possible, depending on what am I doing.

But for now, this one is part of an idea that's been stuck in my head for a long time, but for some reason hadn't done this earlier, and by doing this, I could probably get myself recovered from writerblocks. All you need to know about this story is that it takes place between Crystallization and Crimson Stars. If you haven't read Crystallization yet, then I suggest you should go and read that one first, because a lot of my OCs here and a few certain plots that didn't happened in canon, and I don't want anybody to start reading this and start getting confused, like "what the heck is going on in this story". But enough of my rambling. I'll just let you guys sit back and enjoy reading this. ;)

Disclaimers: I don't own Yugioh 5Ds. I do own most of my OCs and this plot.

Chapter 1

Nightmare

"It's as they say, 'You can't change the world without getting your hands dirty'."

Those were the words that Rex Goodwin, in his Dark Signer form, told them before he ended up skewer the three girls with giant black needles made out of dark energy. Those words never cease to haunt her for the rest of her life.

What made it worse was that he had already killed two of her friends into this so-called 'sacrifice'.

First one, Hitomi Akane. Bound in the sky by crimson chains, covered in blood by the splinters of needles and a lance stabbed right through the chest. Therefore, she's dead.

Second one, Tsukina Yuna. Also bound to the sky by crimson chains, and blood spilled from her due to needles and a giant lance stabbed through her chest. She, too, is dead.

And the third one, Yumehara Crystal. Also bound to the sky by crimson chains and covered in blood due to the needles pierced around her. However, she hasn't been stabbed by the lance yet, so that makes her barely alive...for now that is.

That all changed when the black lance was thrown right at her, causing her to shut her eyes, waiting for that killing blow to hit her...

Crystal shot up from her bed and let out a scream. Then, she gasped for breath, looking around that she was in her bedroom inside the orphanage. She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.

'That was the third time in a row already,' she thought as she got up from her bed and head to the bathroom. As she was trying to regain her composure, she headed to the sink and splashed cold water to her face a few times, before looking at herself in the mirror. The purplenette could see dark circles under her eyes and let out a heavy sigh.

Although Crystal knew it was just a dream, the event of actually being killed really happened. For one thing, she happened to have the power of the legendary Crimson Dragon, whose role was the serve and protect the five Signers, the Crimson Star Guardians. After the Dark Signer War had ended, Goodwin had put three out of five Star Guardians, Crystal herself included, into the ritual so that he can obtained the the full power of the Crimson Dragon and use it to become a 'God' and recreate the world. However, his planned backfired after all the Crimson Star Guardians revived, and the Head Signers, Fudo Yusei, defeated Goodwin in the duel using his Savior Star Dragon.

Unfortunately, Crystal had to experience the horrible, painful memories of dying and reviving at the same time. She could remember the feelings of being skewered by needles around her body and then being pierced by the lance through her chest. Everything went black for her until she and two other guardians, Akane and Yuna, ended up somewhere deep in the Underworld and made their way back here on earth alive. She really had to thank the older guardian, Eden*, for reviving them, otherwise, she wouldn't be here with the rest of her friends right now, working together on the bridge that will finally connect Neo Domino City and Satellite.

However, just because Eden managed to save them from ultimate death doesn't mean that it took the emotional scar away from her. Every time Crystal had that nightmare about that certain event, she woke up in cold sweat, (one time where she nearly woke up almost everyone in the orphanage) having a hard time breathing. And if that's not enough, she had a scar on her chest, which she received after being struck by a dark lance, as a horrible reminder from the time she 'died'. There wasn't a day gone by when she could glanced at her own scar without any discomfort while changing clothes or taking a shower. At least, no one had brought up that incident ever since they started helping out the construction workers with the bridge. Otherwise, Crystal wouldn't be able to handle it very well.

The purple hair girl stared at mirror for a few seconds before letting out a laugh.

'C'mon, Crystal. It's only a nightmare,' she thought to herself, 'Besides, you're not dead. Why worry so much about that stupid nightmare when we have other important things to take care of?'

Oh, if only things are easier said than done, vice versa.

Morning sun had rise bright and early, and the first thing that Crystal had come across upon while staggering to the kitchen was a calendar attached to the refrigerator with a magnet. That calendar contained the her and her friends 'name on it to see who gets to help out with the workers on the bridge on each different day. The purplenette checked today's date and saw that her name wasn't up there. Instead, four other names were up on there; Yusei, Jack, Crow, and Yuna.

"Thank god," she muttered in relief, "I really don't want to go up there today."

"Unfortunately, you may have to," someone said. Crystal turned around to see an older, Hispanic women, wearing a red dress and a white apron, behind holding a picnic basket in her hands. This woman happens to be the caretaker of the orphanage and her foster mother, Martha. "It turns out that those four have skip breakfast again."

"...Figures," Crystal rolled her eyes and let out a chuckle before grabbing the basket from the dark hair woman. She knew Yusei and Jack have done that several times before ever since the construction had started, but for Crow is a different story. He's the kind who never skips out on breakfast, unless there really wasn't enough food in the fridge. And although she became friends with Yuna for a short amount of time, Crystal could probably imagined her forgetting breakfast a few times, based on her personality.

Just then, Crystal looked around the orphanages and noticed something off about it. Or rather, someone is missing here.

"Hmm, that's weird," Crystal said as she walked out of the kitchen with Martha following behind, "I know Akane is outside with the kids today, but where's Aoi?"

A worried look crossed the older women's face, and she let out a sigh, "He left this morning, saying that he had something to take care of, but he never told me what it is, no matter how much I pry. Though whatever it is, I can't help but notice something is troubling him. I could definitely tell just by looking at his eyes."

Crystal pondered a bit. What could be bothering Aoi so much that he had to leave this morning? To her, he seemed fine yesterday. Could it be-? No, it couldn't. He already gotten over that...for the most part at least.

"I wonder if I should go after him to see if he's okay," The purplenette thought out loud.

"...Well, he said he'll be back tonight, but it wouldn't hurt to go out and check on him as long as you're careful," Martha agreed, "But you, my child, seem like you haven't sleep in a wink. Did you have trouble sleeping, lately?"

The purple hair duelist froze for a few seconds, but shook it off and then force a smile upon her face, "I'm fine Martha. Really, I just been tired lately, that's all."

She quickly said her goodbyes to Martha before rushing out of the house, holding the basket tightly in hand. Crystal could tell that her foster mother was just worried about her, but she couldn't bring herself to talk to anyone about her nightmares. Not yet anyway.

However, it was only a matter time until Crystal and her friends knew that something else bad is going to happened...

Author's note:...So what do you think? Like it? Hate it? Think I should continue with this? Yeah, I'm still recovering.

Anyway, depending on how it goes, I will continue writing this story, as well as getting back to my other ones. So until then, R&R! ;)

* BTW, Eden is an OC who does not belong to me. Rather, he belongs to EvanderAdvent, who is generous enough to let me borrow him. Like Crystal, Eden is one of a five Crimson Star Guardians. Though, I suggest reading Crystallization to see his personality and how he fits in this group. However, he's not going to appeared in this story, just mentioned.