S-S: And... Done! Chapter 2 is ready to be posted! *Flinches, then cradles right hand*

Doccy: Are you alright?

S-S: Huh? Oh, yeah, my mom accidentally knocked a towel rack onto my wrist earlier today while we were cleaning one of the bathrooms. It's just a little bruised.

Doccy: Good, then let's get this chapter posted.

Sky: H-Hold on, how much crazy is going down this time?

S-S: You didn't read Doccy's "Void Therapy", did you?

Sky: That's... his version of the story from Jay's POV, isn't it? And no, I haven't.

Doccy: Then let's just say a lot.

S-S: Indeed. Alright, so neither of us own Yu-Gi-Oh 5Ds, but you should still enjoy anyways!

Chapter 2

With Jay refusing to speak anymore, Trudge walks over to Akiza with a thick file in his hands. "Here you go, Akiza. This is everything we have on Jay Alkain. If you could look over it real fast…?"

"Of course." She takes it and opens it while walking away. Almost immediately after opening it, however, she stops and looks at the Sector Security officer incredulously. "This is… these are his actual records?" She shakes her head slightly. "I figured something was up with him when you told us how you met, but… this is…"

"Something else entirely, yeah," Trudge agrees. "And you've only seen the first page. It gets weirder."

Leo pipes up, "What's weird?"

I'm kind of curious too…

Akiza explains that the file says Jay hasn't eaten or drank anything since his arrival at this facility—and he's been here pretty much the entire time since he was found by Trudge. Yet, he looks physically healthy, and he certainly isn't dead. How on earth can he be alive if he hasn't had anything to eat or drink in twenty years? That isn't normal. That isn't human. I look at Jay through the window again, focusing on his horns. If he isn't human… what is he?

A chill runs up my spine; the redhead is staring at us, though if he's looking at someone in particular I can't tell from this distance. …Well, that's stupid, he couldn't possibly be looking at anyone in particular; what is a window for us is a mirror for him. Still…

But that's all we find out from the file itself; Akiza can't stand around all day, she has to actually go in and speak to Jay. The doctor that had just finished the word association test—ironically named Baldwin—goes back into the room with Akiza, and Trudge stands just inside the door of what could very well amount to an interrogation room. Akiza sat in the chair Doctor Baldwin was in, and Jay raises his face to meet hers.

They sit there, staring at each other for a good minute. If I didn't know any better, I would have said these two knew each other, built-up tension from some event in their past hovering thick in the air between them. But I do know better; Jay's been in this facility for almost as long as Akiza has been alive. There's no way these two could have met.

Finally, Akiza breaks the ice with a quick breath, almost steadying herself. "So, your name is Jay Alkain, correct?" She sounds almost unnerved for some reason. Then again, she just had a staring contest with someone whose very appearance creeps me out.

"Yes," he replies smoothly.

"How old are you, Jay?"

He purses his lips for a moment, shaking his head slightly. "I don't know."

Akiza blinks in response, then goes on to observe the rest of Jay's face. Her eyes settle on the mark on Jay's face—the two black rhombuses that were black instead of the usual yellow. I can't remember seeing anyone with a mark like that during my stay at the Facility… but, didn't it mean…?!

"What is that black mark, Jay? Is it a mark from the Facility?" Akiza's voice cuts through my thoughts.

Jay's response confirms my thoughts as he nods, elaborating with the mere words, "Death row."

Yusei tenses at the confirmation; no doubt he's not comfortable leaving Akiza in there with someone who was sent to death row. I don't blame him. As corrupt as Goodwin was… the only sort of criminals that obtained death row were serial killers and/or rapists. Not even Kalin, after bombing a Sector Security building in Satellite and beating one of their officers to death was condemned to that sort of fate. Which begged the question of what he could have done to land himself on death row.

"Why did you turn yourself in, Jay? Why did you choose to live your life here, in isolation?"

"Better than making it worse," he replies simply. Considering what Trudge said about his powers, and the whole death row thing… His words ring true. Psychics without control of their powers are a danger to everyone… it's a sad life indeed.

"Don't you have a family, Jay?" I can't help but notice that Akiza keeps ending her questions with his name.

If it was possible, Jay's eyes darken as they narrow slightly. "Not anymore." He pauses. "My fault." Akiza's resulting sigh of pity seems to set off the redhead, as his hands twitch a few times before he clenches them, gritting his teeth.

"Don't you want to be with someone? Not be alone all your life?"

Akiza… I don't think he wants to hear that… An unsettling feeling churns in my gut; something is about to go down and I have no idea what it is.

"No," Jay replies sternly, still gritting his teeth. "I can't go home. I have no home. Not for someone like me."

Oh she's definitely gotten him agitated now, and that definitely isn't good.

But she still presses on, no doubt sympathizing with him based on her past as the Black Rose. "Jay, I'm here to help you. I can feel your pain; I'm psychic like you. I can help you, just let me—"

The final straw that broke the camel's back.

"SHUT UP!"

With one hand, he flings the table against the wall, the area where he grabbed it shaped with his hand. It looks like Trudge moves to restrain him with a taser, but Jay roars before he can get it out. The ground trembles violently, and it's nearly impossible to stand anymore. A sickening crack draws my attention back into the room; Baldwin lies with his neck twisted at too odd of an angle against the wall, and Trudge seems to have been blown through the door.

And yet, somehow, Akiza is untouched. Trembling in fear, but completely untouched. Jay walks towards her, and she tries to shuffle away, but he reaches over and touches her forehead.

Then everything seems to just stop.

There's a pressure in my head.

I can vaguely recognize the Crimson Dragon's power surfacing in the Marks on my hand and back.

My chest tightens; I can't breathe. There's only smoke.

Smoke. Burning. Something's burning.

I open my eyes.

I'm standing in the middle of a street, burning buildings on fire all around me.

And suddenly a violent wind kicks up, the fire surrounding me, but not quite touching my body.

My legs quiver. I think I'm going to fall.

"You left us to die!" Leo's voice echoes loudly over the flames.

What… why…? Leo…?

The fire draws closer to me, and now the crinkling of the blaze and the thundering of buildings collapsing is drowned out by screaming. I can see them, through the fire. People screeching, thrashing about, trying desperately to escape the greedy fire that was trying to consume them. I can't do anything to help. I try to reach out for them, but my arms won't move.

"There were nine million people alive in New Domino, the day before you woke up."

A scream catches in the back of my throat. That time, that voice was the one that spoke to me in my dream on the plane. This scene in front of me, this is exactly what I saw then, isn't it?

"The only villain here is you." Akiza's voice this time, but who is she really talking to?

And then whatever barrier there was around me that shielded me from the flames disappears; now the wind blows it at me from all directions. That choked-back scream finally has a voice to back it now as I can feel the flames dancing up my body, searing at my skin. Like when I touched the oven burner when I was young, only all over and a million times worse.

"Lucky you."

I close my eyes, still screaming. I want this to end…

Someone's shaking me by the shoulders. I think I hear them say my name, too. I slowly open my eyes, flinching as the sun assaults my eyes. It's warm on my skin. Too warm. The burning of that vision comes back, and I instinctively try to slap at my own arms—to find that I'm not on fire; to find that I'm sitting next to the partially-collapsed roof of the facility in which Jay is held; and to find that my brother is the one desperately trying to bring me back to reality, a stream of blood down the left side of his face from a cut on the side of his head. Dust hangs in the air and settles on us as well, likely from the insulation in the ceiling.

I blink. "What…?"

Yusei sighs in relief, letting go of my shoulders. "You're finally responsive. Come on, we need to get out of here—the rest of the roof can collapse any second now, and we can't discuss anything if we're dead."

Finally… responsive…?

He eyes the room that was once Jay's cell; still somehow intact despite being the epicenter of the quake, if Jay's power was the cause. "I-I have to get Akiza and Trudge out of there. You take Shoshan and get outside, the others should already be out," he tells me.

Shoshan. Where is he…?

A mixture of sobbing and extremely rapid breaths finally registers in my mind, and I turn around. Leaning against part of the fallen ceiling, knees pulled to his chest and hands over his ears, is where my green-eyed friend is, tears streaming down his face like a child being forced to face their biggest fear.

…

Oh god. Shoshan must have seen that vision as well. And he's deathly afraid of fire.

"Shoshan… are you…?" I slide over to him, pressing a hand to his face. He doesn't so much as blink in response. So I change tactics, tugging at his left arm. "Shoshan, it's alright. Nothing's on fire, but the roof of this building might collapse any second now, we need to leave." Still no response. I sigh; if pulling his arm didn't work, then the only thing that might is… Sorry about this, Shoshan… I slap him in the face.

That has the intended reaction; he jerks back, blinking, and cupping a hand over his now-pink cheek. "Wh-What…? What was that for?"

I scowl, quickly explaining what was going on again. The urgency of my words is met with another section of the roof crumbling and landing mere feet from us, stirring up another round of dust that coats our bodies. If this situation was in any way not dangerous, I would probably humor everyone by commenting that we look like walking ghosts. But we're risking our lives by lingering around here any longer; I can only pray that Yusei's found Akiza and Trudge and has gotten them out as well.

Lucky for Shoshan and I, there's a small path out of the building that has—so far—been spared most of the destruction of the earthquake. We have to crawl for a few minutes, though, where the ceiling has fallen but not all the way to the floor yet. It ends up taking maybe twenty minutes to get from where we were to the exit.

And man, is it chaos out here.

The entire front lawn of Solemnace is full of Sector Security, EMTs, and people I assume are the patients of this place. About ten feet from us, three officers are trying to restrain someone that's thrashing about, screaming about the end of the world. He's not the only one talking about something like that; I can hear fragments of conversations from other residents of Solemnace rambling on about it at well.

An officer comes up to us, asking for our identification and reason for being inside. I tell him that we were observing our friend Akiza trying to help Jay Alkain when the earthquake hit. I also mention that my brother might still be inside trying to help get Trudge and Akiza out of there. He nods, and runs off to speak to a few other officers. I see a few of them head back inside… could they be trying to get them out?

'Hey, Sky, what was the spell for healing again?' Yusei's voice echoes in my head.

'Dziedet, but why? Are you alright?'

'I'm fine; Trudge just has a few broken bones, and I can't drag him and Akiza out of here.'

'What happened to Akiza?!'

There's no response. I try again, but he's completely shut me out. That's… really strange. I can't remember the last time he wouldn't let me contact him. Just what happened with Akiza…?

"Oi! Sky, Shoshan! You guys have any idea what the hell's going on?!" Crow's voice pulls me back to reality, and I spot my orange-haired friend running up from my left. Leo, Luna, and Jack are all behind him—but Jack is walking slowly, holding his side, and Luna looks extremely shaken. "Our marks all started glowing when that quake hit, and then you, Shoshan, and Luna all started screaming bloody murder!" Crow adds. "The hell was that about?"

Wait, Luna as well? "Luna, you saw it too?" I ask.

She blinks, then looks at me. Her face is pale. "I did," she admits. "And… I know that Jay caused that, somehow. But… it doesn't make sense…"

I nod in agreement. Jay has never met Leo before, and Akiza going into his cell was the first time he met her. So there's no way that he could have Leo and Akiza making those comments in that vision. But the fact remains that we still saw it, and still heard those comments.

"I'm lost. What'd you guys see?" Crow asks.

"New Domino was burning… and there were three different voices, too," I say. "That's the confusing part. Leo was one of them, and Akiza was the third. Saying things like 'You left us to die' and 'The only villain here is you'."

"Huh? I said that?" Leo tilts his head to the side. "I think I would remember saying something like that, especially if it was to Jay. Pretty sure I've never met a guy with horns before."

We're clearly missing a big part of the picture. Though Jay's clearly the center of it… maybe Akiza could tell us more? …Of course she has to be alright, first… "I know, Leo. If only we knew more about him…"

"What about Yusei? Where is he?" Jack interrupts, wincing slightly. I think he's bleeding underneath where he's holding his side.

Must've been hit by part of the roof or something. He really needs to get looked at by one of the EMTs.

But before I can say anything in response… the sky goes dark. Even though there's not a cloud in sight.

What in the…?"

Our marks are glowing again, darker than normal. Lightning flashes in front of us—but it's purple, and forms a crater in the ground. And out from the pit rises… some sort of creature. It's made of that same purple light mixed with black, held together by some sort of metal. The creature looks like a lion ready rip any of us apart, and yet appears humanoid enough to be bipedal and… has a Duel Disk as part of one arm?!

All around us, more purple lightning flashes. More of these sames creatures show up, though they all appear different. All of them have the appearance of some predatory beast aside from the humanoid aspects.

Then two red eyes appear on what has to be the first creature's head, staring right at us.

"SigNErs… weLcoME to ThE Void."

To be continued…

Sky: *Mouth agape*

S-S: Doccy warned you, didn't he? Lots of crazy, remember?

Sky: But... this is...

Jay: At least you didn't have my perspective on New Domino burning. You honestly had it easy there.

Sky: *Shudders* If that was the EASY version... I don't think I want to know yours.

Jay: Trust me, you don't.

S-S: I happen to think your perspective was cooler though, Jay.

Sky: Of course you would...

S-S: Haha... I think Lucy and Z.Z. are starting to rub off on me.

Sky: Lovely.

Doccy: Ah well. Please don't forget to review!

S-S: Also, check out Void Therapy on Doccy's profile if you want to see Jay's perspective of this chapter and the end of the last one! It's really good!