Author's Note: Well, this was inspired by a very strange dream I had. Sho and Edo were best friends, and Sho had an eye patch. I thought it'd be fun to try to make this strange idea work. It was pretty hard. Sho and Edo? That's a bit strange. But that's what fanfiction's for, right? I wish I had an eye patch . . .

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. I just had a dream. And not even an inspirational one . . .

Why do these things always happen to me? I didn't do anything wrong . . . I would never steal niisan's deck. He gave it to me! Why is that so hard to believe . . . There's a rumour on the internet that I stole it. Some of niisan's fans decided to take it upon themselves to steal it back . . . and punish me for stealing it in the first place . . . even though I didn't steal anything! I really didn't do anything to deserve this . . .

~~POV Change: Third Person~~

The sun had almost completely set as Shō Marufuji hurried down the street, carefully placing his bunny ear headband on his head as he went. He was running late for his shift at the gay bar, Usagi, and if he didn't hurry his boss would give him a lecture on punctuality. Again.

Shō was usually a very observant person, especially lately since Ryō Marufuji's fans had been getting bolder at expressing their hate for Shō's very existence. He was in too much of a hurry to properly notice his surroundings tonight. If he had, he might have noticed that he was being followed. Unfortunately, even if he had noticed it wouldn't have made a difference. He was completely outnumbered.

They waited until he was about two blocks away from the bar. Shō had decided to take a short cut through an alley to make up for lost time, which gave his pursuers the perfect opportunity to attack. He had been in this part of town enough to know not to struggle when he felt the blade against his neck. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, hoping that whoever it was just wanted money. Of course, he wasn't that lucky.

"He's the freak who stole the Kaiser's deck. See if he has it on him and make him pay, or we're finding new boyfriends."

Shō opened his eyes to find himself surrounded by five scary looking guys, each of them holding a knife. He could see a few girls standing a few feet away, glaring at him like he had killed their children instead of stealing a deck that he didn't even steal. He didn't know where they had heard such a thing, but he knew it would be worse for him if he argued, and he didn't want to know how much worse it could get.

The blade on his neck was pressed down harder until he could feel blood dripping down it. He could feel his hands starting to shake, and he dug his nails into his palms to try to control himself, but he forgot all about that when a fist was shoved into his stomach. He fell to his knees, struggling to breathe. He didn't have time to recover before something heavy came down on his head and everything faded to black.

"Shō . . . . . . Shō . . . . . Shō . . . . ."

The voice was strangely familiar, but Shō couldn't figure out who it was. All he could think about was the pain. His entire body felt like it was on fire. He tried to open his eyes to see whose voice it was, but he instantly regretted it. The left side if his face screamed in protest, and he whimpered pitifully.

"I'm sorry. I should have told you not to try to open your eyes. An ambulance should be here soon. Just try not to move too much."

". . . w-who . . . who are y-you?"

"It's Edo. Don't talk anymore. Just relax until the ambulance gets here."

What was Edo doing there? Did he save him, or did he just find him? Was he dying? Shō had so many questions, but it hurt too much to talk, and he was told not to. It was getting harder and harder to stay conscience. He didn't even know if Edo was still there. All he knew was pain. He was able to stay awake until he heard sirens, and then he slipped away again.

When he woke up again, he was in a hospital, or he assumed he was in a hospital. It was too dark to know for sure, but it smelled like a hospital. It was strangely quiet, and he began to panic internally. He couldn't have gone deaf, could he? He sighed in relief when he faintly heard a phone ringing.

"Are you awake?"

"Edo-kun? What are you doing here?"

"I couldn't leave you alone after what happened, could I? How do you feel?"

"It doesn't really hurt anymore . . . but I can't see."

"There are bandages covering your eyes. That's why you can't see. I'm sorry that I didn't get there sooner."

"Bandages . . . I'm not blind, am I?"

"No, you're not blind. Your eyes just need to heal."

"Heal, wait, what were you doing there?"

"Your brother was worried about you, and he asked me to find out how you were doing. It's a good thing he did, or you could still be in that alley. Why did those people attack you?"

"I don't . . . niisan . . . niisan's deck. I stole niisan's deck, but I didn't steal . . . he gave . . . I'm tired . . ."

Shō could feel sleep creeping upon him. The last thought he had was that his boss was going to give him a very long lecture before he fell back asleep.

~~POV Change: First Person~~

I've been in the hospital for a month now. My left eye got infected, and the doctors weren't able to save it. They say I'm lucky I didn't lose both of my eyes. Edo still comes to visit me almost every day, and he even pays for all of my hospital bills. I had to beg him to not tell niisan anything. I don't want to worry him, or for him to come back from America early. Edo promised not to tell, even though he thinks I should.

The rumour that I stole niisan's deck is still floating around on the internet, and has even been in a few dueling magazines. My apartment was trashed a week ago. It was probably some fans trying to take niisan's deck back again. Luckily Edo had the deck when that happened. I asked him to hold onto it for me just to be safe.

I can't believe how crazy these fans can get. They don't even know niisan. Why do they care if I have his deck or not? It has nothing to do with them. Why would they want to attack me and trash my apartment? I've never done anything to them. I really don't know if I want to be a duelist if this is the way the fans act . . . I worked so hard for this? I feel like I just wasted my time. I guess I'm just not meant to be a duelist.

Edo has tried to correct the fans, but they won't listen to him. I told him to stop before they turned on him, too. I don't think they care what's true and what's not. They'll believe whatever they want to. The only person they'll listen to is niisan, and I'm beginning to doubt if they'd even listen to him. They're so full of hate. They just want a scapegoat to direct their anger at. Why can't they just enjoy the game? Is that so hard?

I'm so tired of all of this. I'll just stay in this hospital for the rest of my life. No one can hurt me in here, and I won't duel anymore, which is what they want. Everyone wins. I haven't watched the sunset or sunrise since the attack. Half of me will never see the sun again.

-丸藤翔 (Shō Marufuji)

Author's Note: This was the hardest thing to write in the world. I don't really care if it's bad at this point. I worked for hours on this thing, and I'm publishing it. Yes, it's probably bad. Yes, Edo is probably out of character, even though he only had a few lines. It's good enough . . . maybe.