Crawling In The Dark

"The reality is you've already lost everything, what you need to do now is let go of your past and move on. Now leave the old Zane locked up in that steal cage."

"What about my friends?"

"They're all gone, except me."

The scene played over and over inside of his head. The whole duel was rewinding and then playing again and again, but the little bit of what Shroud said seemed to stick with him the most. He knew that in a weird way, Shroud was right. He had lost it all, his friends, his reputation, and his pride. And had it not have been for his friends, he wouldn't have lost it. His friends all deserted him.

No...He couldn't think like that. He couldn't think that his friends had all abandoned him, out of all of them he knew that at least Alexis was still going to be there. She would never leave him, they had been friends for a long time, in fact since he met Atticus, and the two of them were childhood friends, so Zane knew Alexis since she was just a little kid, only a few years younger them himself. He knew she wouldn't leave him like everyone else had.

But still...He'd lost it all, and all because of the way he had been thinking. What made him hit rock bottom? He couldn't say...No one could say. All they knew was the top duelist of Duel Academy had lost it. Hell some of them thought he lost his mind, and that wasn't that far from the truth. He had kind of lost his mind, only while dueling Mad Dog, with the help of Shroud he turned from the good boy to a bad boy. And all it took was a few negative words on Shroud's part.

Why was it that after graduating from Duel Academy that he started losing it? He was doing fine at Duel Academy, and now that he was gone, he'd went down hill, and everyone knew it by now. It had been in the news and it had been in magazines all across Japan. The majority of him blamed his friends, and another part of him blamed himself, and then the last part told him it was not his fault and it was not his friends fault. So then whose fault was it?

Finally, the flashback started fading away. The last thing he remember was Mad Dogs' lifepoints dropping to zero and then the whole thing faded to white. Zane sighed in relief when the flashback ended, but his relief disappeared when another flashback started. Only this flashback was back when he was at Duel Academy, he was standing on the docks with Alexis.

FLASHBACK

His cold blue eyes finally looked up from the sea, only to look at the brown haired girl next to him. She was silent, she had been like that for the passed ten minutes. Sure, she was usually quiet for a while, but she never stayed quiet this long. Usually she was either ready to talk to him, or willing to give him the advice.

"You okay, Lex?" he asked, his normally cold tone left him instantly.

Alexis blinked, finally turning away from the water, she started walking away from him and away from the lighthouse, without so much as a good-bye. "Lex?" Zane questioned, he gently reached for her wrist and the second he touched her, she jumped in surprise and turned to face him.

"Zane..." she spoke softly, her eyes were locked into his, but she didn't look happy. In fact, she looked like she had been on the verge of tears. And without warning, she wrapped her arms around him, burying her face in his chest.

Zane blinked and stared down at her in surprise, he wasn't expecting something like this. Finally she pulled away from him, wiping away a few tears that had slid down her cheeks. "What's wrong?" Zane questioned, his eyes were soft, it wasn't like he was looking right through her, like he usually did to everyone.

"He's gone..."

END FLASHBACK

He remembered that flashback, that was when Alexis told him that Atticus had turned up missing. He couldn't help but feel bad for her at that time. And after that moment, they were at the lighthouse more and more.

Zane shook his head, trying to clear his mind, what was he thinking? He couldn't turn back now. It was to late to turn back and start all over. After what happened in the duel with Mad Dog, he couldn't turn back. He had already changed, and for the better, or so he liked to think.

But just as he thought the flashback was out of his mind for good, another one came. Again, it just had to be one with Alexis. Like most of the other flashbacks that swam around in his head that night. But this one was different.

FLASHBACK

It was one of those nights, one in which is was cloudy, hiding all of the stars, and chilly. He remembered it being chilly, because Alexis showed up without so much as a jacket on. She smiled at him and stood next to him, her eyes scanning the sea, as if looking for some kind of sign. She still wasn't happy, she was worried about her brother, and it wasn't hard to tell.

There had to be someway to get her mind off Atticus, but the only thing he could think of was telling her something that had been on his mind all day. And he doubted if she would feel the same way. So he couldn't tell her, at least not yet. Then what was left to do? He couldn't take the silence, he needed to hear her say something. Just to make sure she was okay.

"They still can't find him," Zane mentally sighed as he heard her first words, he turned away from the sea to look at her, "They've been searching the whole island. That means..." she trailed off, being unable to say what she wanted to.

"They'll find him," Zane said softly.

Alexis sighed and nodded, she turned away from him, "It's getting cold, I'm going to go back in. Night Zane." she said as she started walking away from him.

Zane watched her leave, but he wanted to tell her, he wanted her to finally know. "Lex, wait." he said quietly.

She stopped and turned to look at him.

Zane sighed and stared at her for a minute, what would she think if he told her now? "I..." he started, but was unable to finish the sentence. He couldn't tell her, not today, not anytime soon. "Good night, Lex." he said quietly.

Alexis smiled and turned away from him, walking back to her dorm.

He couldn't tell her. He'd have to wait until the time was right, and that wouldn't be anytime soon, especially if she was to busy worrying about Atticus. He would have to wait, at least until after they found out what happened to Atticus. But what if they never found out? He would never be able to tell her exactly how he felt about her. Well, if that was the case then he would have to tell her before he left Duel Academy, he would be sure to tell her, even if Atticus was still missing. If he didn't tell her before he left then it would be to late. Sighing, the teen turned away from the water and walked back to his own dorm.

END FLASHBACK

He never did get the chance to tell her. He was going to tell her the last day that he was at Duel Academy, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. Not then and defiantly not now. He could never go back and tell her, especially after some freak brainwashed him. There was no way.

Zane cursed as flashbacks swam around in his head. When would they end? They were started to get annoying. But he didn't think the flashbacks would end anytime soon, if at all anything that was part of Shroud's plan when he brainwashed him. But the flashbacks weren't helping any, except by giving him a headache.

Sighing, the teen turned and started walking back down the sidewalk, back to the Underground Duel arena place, he had nowhere else to go, he didn't really want to have to return but he had no choice. What was he supposed to do? Maybe if he got some sleep the flashbacks would end. He just had to hope that was the case, otherwise he was going to literally go insane from them.

He walked down the stairs of the Underground Duel place and instantly spotted Shroud, he was leaning against a wall watching as Zane came down. He smirked as Zane walked down the last few steps, "Welcome back Mr. Truesdale." he said.