Chibi: I feel alive this week… for once. No Geometry homework, no English test coming up since we just took our, "Romeo and Juliet," test yesterday, and no—
Yusei: But now your whole World Geography class knows that you and Matt are STILL dating.
Takeru: And he said the "L" word yesterday.
Chibi: You two can shut up! Just because we did a project together, they figured it out… the vultures. It's been almost 3 years! It's not exactly a big secret. But I will admit… the L word made me smile. XD
Takeru: But Mr. Arlinghaus knows about you guys dating so he's gonna pick on you two more than he already did!
Chibi: Neither of you are helping! Please read the chapter while I beat these two into oblivion!
Crow threw his hands in the air. "That's preposterous!" he exclaimed with steam coming out of his ears. "If she was gonna fall for someone else, why couldn't it have been me? I have no one!" Yusei's eye twitched… it seemed like it was doing that a lot lately.
"Because then I would have to kill you," Yusei mumbled only loud enough for himself to hear. The scientist pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation. "Crow, the only thing I really need to hear about this now is if you think I have a shot of getting her back. Were you even invited?"
A blank expression crossed the other duelist's face. "Uh… let me go check on that! I probably haven't checked my mail box in weeks!" he said as he ran out his apartment door. Not two minutes later, though, he was back with an arm's full of letters, bills and magazines. The ginger laid them all out on the table, scrimmaged through the envelopes until he found a pink on with is name on it in Aki's hand writing. "Yup, I've got one right here. And of course I think you have a chance of getting Aki back, you idiot. You were the one that saved her from her powers, you were her first love, you were the one that opened your arms to her when no one would… except for Divine, but he's dead now, so he doesn't matter."
Crow's statement sparked a light of hope in Yusei's mind, making him smile. The man stood up, which in turn, Takeru stood up as well, wondering what his former master would say.
"So… I have your support when I barge through the doors begging to get her back?" Yusei joked.
Crow laughed and put his arm around his friend's shoulder. "Of course, I'll even help you drag the body out and bury it! Well, only if you wanna go that far, that is," the ginger said sheepishly. Everyone in the room gave him a scared look, a look that said that they were secretly questioning his sanity. He sweat dropped and snickered. "I'm joking, calm down! Anyway, where are you guys staying until you go see Jack?"
"Just some run down motel a mile or two away from the race track," answered Takeru with a heavy sigh of disappointment. "I like nice hotels better… they're cleaner and have more food."
An imaginary light bulb shined over Crow's head. "Why don't you guys just stay here until you have to leave? It's cheaper and we actually get to hang out! It'll be just like when we were little, right Yusei? Oh those sleep overs in each other's rooms… watching movies, eating popcorn, playing Kings and peasants since we couldn't exactly play Kings and QUEENS, and drawing on Jack's face when he fell asleep. Good times, good and painful times. God, Jack was always in such a horrid mood after he woke up to find his face marked up with pen. Martha would then ground us… for a week… with no physical contact with anyone in the orphanage. Man, she really was crazy!"
"Crow, you're rambling," Yusei pointed out with a snicker.
The short ginger shook his head, getting back on track. "Right, sorry, anyway… do you guys want to stay here or what?" he offered again, holding his arms out as if waiting for someone to hug him. Yusei looked at Takeru, who was nodding rapidly. He just didn't want to stay in a roach infested motel. They could've stayed in some stranger's house and he wouldn't have cared just so long as it was a nice place.
The crab haired duelist nodded. "Thanks Crow, that means a lot," he said with a small smirk. Riku and Takeru jumped up and down, spinning in circles while holding hands.
"Pranks on Yusei and Crow!" they chanted together. Crow then began to bang his head on the nearest wall, while Yusei merely face palmed. He grabbed his "son" and dragged him out the door so he could help get the bags that they had left at the motel. They both walked home, talking about what they would do during their stay here in Northern Japan with Crow and Riku. Takeru went on and on about how they would play pranks on the servants back in the old days of three thousand years ago. He said that they used to poor urns of water onto the maid's heads and they'd run away screaming since they couldn't see him or Riku. Yusei couldn't help but laugh at the ridiculous stories that his partner told.
When they got to the motel, they went back up to their room, Takeru refusing to go inside since it looked run down and not fancy. Yusei rolled his eyes and got both sets of belongings, tossing Taka's things to him as they went down the elevator. They checked out as soon as possible and began walking back to Crow's apartment.
Takeru nudged Yusei. "Hey, do you think this is… well, a bad part of town? I mean, just look at everyone on the corners yet it's so late," he pointed out. Yusei furrowed his brow at Taka's statement. He glanced around and saw a group of around five tall men, all of them with two or more markers staring them down with a menacing look in their eyes.
The champion shrugged and kept walking. "You forget where I grew up, Taka. Living in Satellite when it wasn't exactly the friendliest place wasn't a picnic for people. I started getting jumped by gangs like that when I was six. Martha wasn't stupid, either. She taught each one of her orphans' self-defense and made sure they had a pocket knife handy," he explained with a small smile.
"What's that have to do with anything now?"
Yusei pulled his shirt up and revealed a pocket knife sticking out of its place. "Never leave Neo Domino or Satellite without it." Takeru just stared at the weapon that his friend had concealed from him this whole time.
"How did you get that passed airport security twice?" Taka yelled, confused.
Yusei laughed. "On the outside, it looks like a pen, but if you press one of the buttons… we got yourself a knife. A scientist carrying around a pen at all times is common just in case we come up with a new invention or theory, so it looks in place in my pocket. Plus, do you really think people would expect someone like me to have a knife on me?"
"You're a genius, have I ever told you that? Because you are," Takeru said, feel a bit defeated and inadequate compared to his older friend. Yusei smiled and nodded once in thanks for the kind comment. They both ignored the street gang and continued to make their way back to Crow and Riku's apartment. When they got there, their hosts helped them unpack. Yusei and Takeru would have to sleep in the living room since the small apartment only had two bedrooms, which were already occupied by Crow and Riku. Yusei didn't really see a problem with it since there were two couches for them to sleep on. Though, Takeru did call dibs on the most comfortable one.
Crow let out a yawn. "Alright, change of plans. I think the movies and pranks and joking around will have to commence another night. I'm worn out from my duel today and you guys must be tired from your trip here all the way from England. What do ya say we hit the hay?" he suggested, eyes already droopy.
Yusei nodded. "Sounds like a plan. Good night, guys," he said as Crow and Riku retired to their rooms. Takeru tossed himself onto his couch and fell asleep right when his head hit the pillow… literally. Yusei went to go see if he was already asleep, and his friend was out like a light. Finding the given almost impossible, Yusei shrugged and turned off the lights, walking over to his couch and laid down, falling asleep just about as quickly as Takeru had.
*Yusei's dream*
He was in France with everyone sitting around him, all of his friends dressed up and smiling. A worried Yusei glanced around the room, trying to figure out just where he was. Reducing his options, the scientist deduced that he was in a chapel. Dressed in a black suit, he sat in the front row of the pews next to Jack and Crow, who were wearing the exact same thing he was.
"Here Comes the Bride," began to play on the piano and everyone in the room stood, even Yusei. His mind told him to sit back down, to stop the wedding, but his body just wouldn't move. He glanced back at the church doors and saw Aki, looking as beautiful as ever in her elegant wedding dress, walking down the aisle with a big smile on her face. She seemed… really happy… happier than she ever looked with Yusei, so he thought. Her hair was pulled back into a bun and she had a bouquet of roses, her favorite flower, in her hand. The woman made her way down the aisle, took a quick glance at Yusei and smiled brighter. The man smiled back, nodding once, but he didn't want to. He just wanted to snatch her away and take her for himself. Was that a selfish thing to do? He just wanted to hear why she left him without much closure. To him, it still felt like they were in love back in Neo Domino.
The guests sat down as Aki took the grooms hand. Yusei's eyes narrowed when he realized… that he hadn't seen the groom's face. He had been facing forward, not looking at his future wife as she gracefully walked down the small walkway. He had red hair, a little taller than Yusei by about two inches, and had a well-built figure. Something about the man struck a memory in Yusei's mind, but he couldn't place his finger on what was so familiar. He's seen this man before! But… he's never met anyone named Jeremy anywhere, so how could he have known him? Maybe it was merely an odd case of Déjà vu. Just as Yusei was about to relax in his seat, the groom looked back at him with a sly smirk on his face. The former Signer's eyes widen at who was standing with Aki at the altar.
"Divine," he said quietly, only loud enough for himself to hear. Divine smirked and snapped his fingers, causing all movement around him to stop. Yusei tried to move his feet or arms, but to no avail. The physic duelist, who was long thought to be dead after Misty's Earthbound God literally ate him, was standing right in front of Yusei, eyes glistening with evil intents. Divine grabbed a hold of Yusei's face, as if to study him. "Divine, how can you be—?"
"Quiet now, Mr. Fudo, it's rude to speak during a ceremony as grand as this!" the wicked man said in a caring tone, though Yusei knew he was anything but. The red haired man was a snake trying to pass as a human… and they both wanted to punch the other in the face. "You're the reason why I was devoured by that Earthbound God all those years ago, Mr. Fudo, and not it's time to pay for your unjust deeds."
"Unjust deeds my ass, you manipulative snake! You used Aki as your pawn to get ahead in life, to spread physic dueling everywhere, and to shock fear into everyone's hearts about you! You wanted to rule the world like a mad man, Divine, and you know I can't let something like that happen," Yusei spat as the other man let go of his face. A growl escaped his throat as Divine walked up to a frozen in time Aki, still smiling and looking forward. The former Arcadia Movement leader put his hand on Aki's cheek, snickering.
"Beautiful young woman she turned out to be, eh, Mr. Fudo?" the man teased.
"What do you want to do with her?" Yusei asked back.
"Simple: I want to take away the one thing that you truly hold dear to your heart, snatching it away from you right under your nose. Aki was the greatest choice. You've been separated; she needed someone to latch onto while you were back in Domino preforming all your silly tests on your Fortune Momentum. She believes that you forgot about her," he explained, a ravishing tone lingering in his voice. It was like venom to Yusei's ears.
"She knows I would never do that!" the scientist countered. "She knows I love her too much to just forget her like an old Duel Monsters card."
Divine snickered. "If she believes that you love her, then she's stupider than she appears to be."
"Shut up! You can't have her, I won't let you! How does she not remember all of the horrible things you did to her?"
"Because of this," Divine said before snapping his fingers once again. Almost instantly, his face and hair changed completely from their original form. Instead of red hair that came in front of his eye and flipped up, it was now brown and straight. He had a smaller frame and blue eyes, no scar on his face from the burns he received from when Carly beat him as a Dark Signer years ago. "Meet Jeremy Hawthorn, Mr. Fudo." Yusei also noted that his voice was a bit different sounding.
"That's impossible!" Yusei declared, becoming extremely pissed at the man before him.
"I'm a physic duelist, Mr. Fudo, I can do just about anything," Divine bragged with a smirk. Then, out in the distance, a loud and hollow sounding bell rung, crashing the once quiet scene. "Ah, that's my cue! I bid thee good-bye, Mr. Fudo. I hope to see you at the wedding in two weeks!"
"Wait!" Yusei shouted as he shot up from the couch, sweat covering his body and he was breathing heavily. He quickly and nervously looked around the room to figure out just where the hell he was. Crow's familiar apartment walls filled his clearing vision. He glanced over to the other couch to find Takeru wide away and staring at him oddly. The clock read 9:12.
"Um… are you okay, man?" Takeru asked, rubbing his eyes. Obviously, he had just woken up, or he had been wracked awake by Yusei's scream.
Crow ran out of his room with a baseball bat. "Where's the robber? I got this!" he shouted, hair a mess from his night's sleep. Riku then followed with a hammer, but he looked too sleepy to even be able to use it. Crow noted to never rely on Riku if a burglar ever breaks into their apartment in the middle of the night. Slowly, the ginger put his weapon back down. "Having nightmares again, Yusei?"
Said man nodded and got up as quickly as he could. "Dude, what's the rush? We've got, like… four more days here. Unless you guys slipped me some kind of drugs and I don't remember anything from the past few days," Takeru muttered, still half dead from his slumber.
"We'd never drug you," Riku admitted, setting his hammer on the table. Takeru smiled; glad to know that he hadn't been drugged!
"We're leaving for France today," Yusei said sternly.
"Today… what for and don't we have to visit Jack before we even think about heading for France?" Taka questioned, getting up from his couch and stretching. "You can't be serious, man."
"I'm dead serious. We're leaving for France," Yusei said again.
"Well, what's with the sudden rush then?" Crow wondered, pulling up a seat at the table.
"You know how I have dreams that sometimes tell me important things or warn me of something?" he quizzed while getting his as well as Takeru's belongings together.
Crow and the others nodded.
"Well, I had one last night and I know who the groom is… and you are REALLY not going to like who it is."
"Who is it?" Riku asked.
"Divine… he's back and he's the one marrying Aki. He's assumed a fake identity and name and the only reason he wants to marry Aki is to keep me from being with her. I have a bad feeling that he wants to do more than ruin my love life though… I think he's going to try to bring the Black Witch side of Aki back, to resurrect Arcadia," Yusei explained in a monotone voice.
Everyone in the room just stared at him like he was crazy.
"I'm telling the truth! Do you think I would lie about something like this?" he shouted, an angry look plastered on his face.
"Everyone pack your bags, we're going on a last minute vacation to France! I really should've taken French when I was offered to take it back when we were fourteen…" Crow mumbled. "Uh… anyone know how to say, 'get that bastard off my friend's girlfriend!' in French?" No one answered him. "Yeah, didn't really think so."
Riku pouted. "We didn't even get to play pranks on them…"
"We can do that when we get to France!" Takeru reminded his former Yami companion.
"Ah, no, I think we should go get Jack while Yusei and Taka go to France. It's the least we could do since Yusei knows what the new face of Divine will look like," the ginger pointed out. "Besides, I wanna go see Jack! I've wanted to duel that damn bastard for over a year and I've never gotten the chance to since our circuits rarely compete with each other! Oh, I can't wait to see the look on his face when I beat him! World King, please, he can't defeat Crow 'the Bullet' Hogan!"
Yusei couldn't help but laugh at his friend eagerness. "Alright, so it's settled. Crow and Riku are heading down to southern Japan while Takeru and I make… another… twelve hour trip over to Europe again. Then, we'll all meet up somewhere, find Divine and make him wish that Earthbound God really had eaten him. When you mess with Yusei Fudo's girlfriend and you try to take over the world, you don't come out unscathed."
Chibi: Alright, Chi-Chi has a party to get to, so I gotta go, bye guys! Hope you enjoyed the chapter and the twist!
Yusei: *eye twitch* you brought Divine back? I'm going to kill you!
Chibi: And that's my cue to leave! *runs out of the room*
Yusei: Damn you, Chibi!
Takeru: Uh… s-since Yusei's pissed and Chibi is gone, I guess I'll do the one thing. Uh, Reviews + Being nice + no Geometry homework = a happy Chibi Duelist. Have an awesome day while I try to keep Yusei from killing the author lady!