When Zane Truesdale was just a growing five-year-old boy, innocent and eager for the world, he slipped in the marshy outskirts of the dojo and snapped his left knee. He'd screamed the loudest scream that he'd ever remembered and people came running. They wrapped the leg up in ice and put it in a cast; and he was told not to run, not to walk, and not to move with that leg for some time. As a five year old, Zane found this very difficult (…it really, really hurt!) and so it was a very trying time for his usually placid temper.

A rainy day later, he sat utterly alone in a far-off corner of the house, alone with the dust, his cards, crutches and a big, wooden structure that he rested theory books on top of. Zane was trying his best not to sniffle aloud; the pain was especially bad today.

I'm not gonna cry! I won't do it! If I'm gonna be a duel master, I can't do it!

But he felt his vision blur with a few warm tears.

'No... I'm not allowed to cry...' he moaned softly, letting his head fall onto the wooden structure.

Clank!

Zane let out a surprised yelp as a harsh, abrupt sound emitted from where his head fell. It sounded terrible. He raised his head and brushed the thick dust away... and looked at the wooden instrument in wonder.

'It's a piano...' he whispered in wonder, tears drying on his pale face. Tentatively, he outstretched a finger and pressed a key.

The sound was much nicer this time and Zane's bright eyes widened with delight, pressing more keys with his short, delicate fingers. He couldn't move them quickly on the slippery surface, nor move them very accurately, but it made him feel happy for some reason. He let his small mouth stretch out into a happy smile.

A declaration was made to his duel deck and the old piano: 'Okay. From now on, you two are gonna be my best friends!'

From that day, Zane remained faithful to his word, even after his body healed. He studied the world of duel monsters as much as he could in the day, but always came back to play the piano at night. He stole recordings of popular piano pieces and learned to play them simply by ear. By all means, Zane was an extremely talented duelist and musician.

Unfortunately in life, sacrifices always have to be made. When Zane left for Duel Academy, he had to mostly leave behind the child self that loved to play the piano when darkness fell.

Mostly, because one other person knew of his second talent, and that was his first Academy friend: Atticus Rhodes.

The 'incident' happened early in his first year. There had been an exhibition of duel cards based upon musical monsters, and there had been some instruments placed in the display room for the students to try out on the day. The night before, first-year Zane Truesdale skipped his rendezvous at the moonlit pier and silently crept into the display room.

He had initially intended just to sit at the piano, but he couldn't resist. This one was so much bigger than the one in the dojo; it was new and shiny, and when Zane let loose an unsteady melody his heart simmered away with old joy. It didn't take long for the memory in his fingers to return, either. With a contented sigh, Zane closed his eyes and made music.

That is, until the erupting alarm sounded shrilly enough to wake up Crowler in two seconds flat.

He slid off the keys with a discordant bang and ran to the door, but it had automatically locked in the meantime. Zane looked around wildly as he heard the quiet pattering of feet. There was nowhere to escape. Nowhere to hide. He'd be caught, for sure!

'No...' the boy groaned, dizzying adrenaline sliding up his veins to frenzy his heartbeat.

'Zane! Up here! Here!'

He looked up in panic at the new voice. He saw Atticus Rhodes, a semi-stranger from his dorm, with a rope dangling from a medium-height window. 'Quick, climb up!'

'What are you doing here?' Zane hissed in shock as his body leapt into action. His fitness was still there, and he leapt onto the rope with ease, climbing as Atticus pulled with might with his bare hands. The two landed in a muddled heap outside the deadlocked room, just as the lights inside were blared bright white.

They heard Crowler's overtly-saccharine squawk: 'Any boy I find who is responsible for breaking me out of my beauty sleep tonight will be SEVERELY PUNISHED! This handsome face takes work, you know!'

Atticus snickered derisively and Zane rolled his eyes as they huddled outside nervously.

'Not only that,' Crowler continued dramatically, 'but you have broken our SCHOOL RULES, of which have been hallowed, worshipped and kept sprightly by Duel Academy students for decades!'

'Let's run,' Atticus whispered to Zane, who nodded. They hastily fled the scene of the crime and only started to calm down when they reached the Obelisk Boys' dorm.

Zane couldn't help but stare in bewilderment at the boy who had saved him- who was still panting heavily, wearing a huge grin on his face. 'Why did you save me?'

'Hey, is that any way to greet the one and only Blizzard Prince?' Atticus chortled happily, fixing his Obelisk blazer. 'Not that I mind. It's cool.'

Zane shot him a dark look: the kind of look that usually made people want to turn tail and flee before their hopes and dreams were decimated. But Atticus kept grinning cheerily, and it was making him feel uncomfortable. He didn't seem to be affected by Zane's laconicism and unfriendliness at all.

'I saved you 'cause you're usually kinda uptight, but tonight you broke out, and wow, you're really good on the piano! You've got the real deal, bro!'

That flabbergasted Zane. 'But...why were you outside at all?'

'I've been following you around for ages! You weren't at the pier doing the loner thing like you usually do, and then I remembered how you kinda jolted when they were talking about the piano in the hall, so I thought maybe you had some sort of secret talent. And boy, I was right!' Atticus gave a trademark gleaming smile. 'Hey, it's cool if you don't want me to tell anybody. I get that you're like the king of this year group. But, you've got to do me one little favour in return.'

'And what would that be?' Thinking of extortion and blackmail, Zane's teal eyes narrowed and became icy cold. He folded his arms defensively and tensed.

Atticus smiled again, looking without a care in the world. 'It's easy! You've just gotta let me be your friend!'

That's a little favour!?

'...Friend...?' Zane echoed incredulously, double taking.

'That's right! I'll be your best bud. I'm a pretty good duelist and I'm a lady killer. You're a great duelist and everyone respects you. Together, we can rule the academy in our senior year!' Atticus flicked a peace sign and winked. 'And honestly, you look like you need to smile more. You know, you'll get early wrinkles if you-'

'Atticus.' Zane broke in, feeling entirely drained by his chatter already. 'Fine. I'm not too good with other people, but I need to repay you. I can try… to be your friend.'

He did not expect the rambunctious shout of 'SWEET!' and the warm bear-hug that toppled his body onto the floor.

This guy… has the ability to make you feel as though you're the centre of the universe. It's definitely a dangerous trait, but it seems like he's too clueless…

Atticus' grin grew wider, as he clambered up and helped up an entirely shell-shocked Zane. 'Alright, I scored a new best buddy! I'm hitting the hay now. Catch you tomorrow morning, Kaiser!'

'…Right…'

From that day on, Zane Truesdale remained a loyal, close friend of Atticus Rhodes. He didn't mind, it was refreshing sometimes to have such a… energised fellow around the place. Atticus was the warm spirit that he needed to stop losing touch with the world.

He knew he was lucky. Perhaps, if Atticus had never caught him playing the piano that day, they would never have met, and would have continued on separate pathways…

…No. Who was he kidding? Atticus always got what he wanted.

'Hey, what're you thinking about, Zane?' Atticus' voice, the voice of his caretaker, broke the phantasmagoria with concern. 'You've been out of it for the last hour. You okay?'

'…'

These days, Zane had to settle for being entirely imperfect.

His old, desperate desire for perfection was his imperfection. Perfection had lead him into pain, again and again. Pain had changed him into the darkest manifestation of himself. That dark self- 'Hell Kaiser'- had caused his body to falter and fail him, changing him into a shadow of what he used to be. And that shadow was his current, imperfect self.

'…'

He couldn't find the words that would radiate confidence about his future. With his heart condition, he wasn't entirely sure that he had a lasting future. Syrus had his old Cyber deck now, and he was glad for it. But that meant that there was the huge task of rebuilding an even more powerful deck…

No, not powerful, he corrected himself mentally. Respectable.

Forgetting to respect his cards, his opponents, and himself, was the worst thing that he had ever done. Zane swore that he would try his best to become someone worthy of respect. For Syrus. For Atticus, too. For everyone.

'…I'm trying, Att.'

It would be easy, if only I wasn't held back like this.

He closed his eyes and drifted…

…When he opened his eyes, he saw that he and his bed had been carefully shifted over to the side of the large bedroom. Atticus was there with a gleaming smile, standing in front of something large that was covered with a thick cloth.

'Evening, sunshine!'

Atticus smirked as Zane gave him the trademark cold glare that had as little effect as his own puppy-dog expressions.

'We got you a present. From all of us, Zane.'

Zane furrowed his teal brow, and trained a curious eye on his friend. '…Huh?'

Atticus grinned and with a flourish, took off the cloth. Zane gaped as he saw the huge white grand piano sitting brand-new in his room. It glimmered brightly in the moonlight and seemed to emanate a strange aura of calm that whispered to him.

'Atticus… you…!'

'You're going to have to forgive me,' his best friend said cheerily. 'I told everyone how much you loved playing the piano. So we all chipped in and got you this gem here! It's a get well gift.' Atticus produced his ukulele out of nowhere and started strumming tunelessly. 'And now we can duet together!'

'I forgot about the piano for such a long time…' Zane whispered, his heart seeming to swell with a foreign emotion. 'I forgot that I knew how to play.'

Atticus' expression was lighting up as he saw Zane's eyes drown in the new instrument. 'I thought it'd do you good. When you play, the piano sings and becomes whatever you want it to be. So, since I know you don't always like talking, you can at least vent through this.'

'Thank you,' the teal eyes seemed to express wordlessly, as they flickered over to meet his gaze.

'Go on,' Atticus encouraged. 'Have a play!'

It seemed to take forever, but Zane managed to move slowly out of his bed and fixate himself onto the stool. Then he hesitantly placed his fingers upon the cool keys. 'I don't know…'

The first notes echoed strongly in octaves: A… G#... C#...

It was just like the day he'd snuck into the exhibition room, years ago. The melody came out clumsily again, and his fingers shifted and slid. But the sound was pure, plaintive, expressive and warm. Zane felt like for the first time, he had something to fall back on.

'That's how you do it!' Atticus cheered on proudly, watching from the side. Zane felt a small smile steady his face as the melody grew stronger, more regal, just like how he'd heard it on the CD back when he was a five year old.

Of course. He'd forgotten, been smothered by wishes, for such a long time. He had another world, aside from duelling. He had more than one thing that made him feel… happy.

For the first time since he'd fallen, Zane Truesdale felt as though he had a future to look forward to.

A/N

I don't particularly understand why many think that Atticus would be the most talented musician out of the two. In a way, music is similar to dueling: there's a difference between 'reciting' and 'performing' it; just as how Zane says there is a difference between 'using' and 'playing' a card. Personally, I think that Zane would be great at music! He's got the kind of personality that expresses itself via actions, and he's dedicated to his focus. The first three notes that Zane plays on the new piano are from Rachmaninov's Prelude op.3, no.2 (I think it really suits him. Loud and melancholic, then slow, soft and haunting. Listen to it on YouTube sometime!)

Leave a comment with your opinion about Zane's musical (or lack thereof) ability… Flamers, flame all you like.