Chapter Four: Runaway

Stepping into Elodie's apartment, I was surprised by how homey the place was. It wasn't in pristine condition, of course, by it wasn't a makeshift shack like what I had back at the bridge, either. There was a living room with a sagging, holey couch and a chipped coffee table that had a stack of water-damaged books replacing a missing leg. There was an ancient upright piano against one wall, the keys yellowed and chipped, with sheet music spread all over the front ledge and books stacked on top of it. Some pages were aged and printed, but others looked hand written on scraps of notebook paper. Crow also noticed a banged-up guitar leaned against the piano's side. A card game lay abandoned on that table, a couple ratty blankets were crumpled on the couch, and some second-hand toys were scattered around the floor. The walls were decorated with finger paintings and drawings of sunshine-bathed houses, trees, and meadows full of woodland creatures. They gave the place a comforting brightness that made me smile with ease.

An open doorway lead into the kitchen, and I saw Elodie sitting at a rickety table, her back facing me, wincing as she dabbed her scratches with an antiseptic-soaked cloth. A first aid kit lay open on the table in front of her. Her jacket hung over the chair, revealing the black tank top she wore beneath it. Her ponytail was pulled over her shoulder, exposing her back, and I noticed the skin across her shoulders and neck was pale pink and twisted. I realized in horror that it was a burn scar.

What on Earth happened to this girl?

Elodie suddenly perked up and whirled around, her eyes landing on me. "What are you still doing here?" she demanded sharply. "I told you to go."

Steeling myself, I marched across the living room toward her, and she stood, the cloth still pressed against her arm. "I'm not leavin' until I know everyone is happy and well," I responded firmly.

"I can take care of this myself," she insisted, indignant.

"I know," I agreed. "But I still want to help."

"Why?"

"Because it's the nice thing to do. Besides, it's my fault you got hurt, so I'm going to fix it."

There were only two chairs at the table, so I pulled the other one toward me and sat down in it so I was facing her. I gestured her to sit down, telling her with my face that I wasn't leaving until she complied. With an angry sigh, she plopped herself back down in the chair and extended her arm to me.

"Thank you," I said with a smile, taking the cloth from her hand to begin brushing away some of the dirt and dried blood. "Nice place you got," I said, trying to distract her from the pain. "How did you find it?"

"Luck," she replied with a shrug, looking anywhere but at me. "This whole building was abandoned. A majority of the rooms are too damaged to be livable. This one is in the best shape. I managed to get the plumbing and some of the electricity working, so we have running water and heat in the winter, but we conserve as much as we can so we don't draw attention to us."

"So you're a handy woman?" I said, grinning so she would know I was teasing. "I like that."

Elodie roller her eyes. "I had to be to survive, didn't I? I'm not skilled in any way, but I can learn. An old library a couple blocks from here had some books that I used."

"I saw all the books on the piano. You like reading, then?"

Elodie shrugged again. "It's not like the library will fine me for not returning them."

I laughed at that one, putting down the cloth and pulling some antiseptic cream out of the first aid kit. "Speaking of the piano, you play? The guitar, too?"

"Mostly piano. Have since I can remember. I'm working on guitar, but I'm not very good at it yet."

"I actually play a bit of guitar, myself," I informed her proudly. "I'm self-taught. It's fun, and the kids like hearing me play. If you want, I can show you some stuff I know."

Elodie didn't respond. She still wasn't looking at me. She was starting to remind me a bit of Yusei. All silent and mysterious.

"You have some pretty awesome kids out there," I tried again, nodding towards the door as, after cleaning my hands with some sanitizer, I began dabbing some of the cream over the cuts.

This time, Elodie smiled and replied, "Yeah, they're great."

"How did you find them?"

"I found some of them, and some of them found me," she replied. "They were homeless and needed protection, so I offered to let them stay with me. I've taken care of them ever since."

"That's really kind of you. Not many people would do that."

Elodie cast her eyes down and her expression darkened. "Well, I was once like them, alone out on the streets. I couldn't say no."

"Didn't you say a European woman raised you?"

"Well, yes, but that was before… What about you?" Elodie blanched, quickly turning the conversation away from herself. "How did you meet your nest?"

"Pretty much the same way you did," I replied, deciding to ignore the switch in topic as I lay a gauze pad over her cuts and then began winding a bandage around her arm. "I found them on the streets and reached out to them, offered them a place to be safe. I've had them with me for almost two years now. It's been a very memorable two years." I smiled as memories of fun times with my nest scrolled through my mind. "I don't know what I would do without them. Honestly, I think they're the only things that keep me sane in this place."

Elodie nodded thoughtfully, as though she agreed. I finished wrapping her arm in silence, fastening it with a metal clamp. "There, good as new. Just try to avoid any more falling walls until this heals, 'kay?" I joked lightly.

Elodie gazed down at her arm without replying. Her gaze was so intense, I wondered if she was trying to memorize the grain pattern in the bandage material. I blew out some air, patted my knee and stood. "Well, is there anything else I can help with before I get goin'?"

Elodie looked back up at me, eyes piercing my soul. "I don't get you."

"Huh?" I replied, slightly taken aback.

Elodie stood, pushing her chair back with her knees. "You keep offering help and following me around. Why? Are you trying to get me in your debt? Do you want something from me?"

"Whoa, okay, slow down, Tiger," I said, waving my hands at her. "I don't want anything from you."

"You actually expect me to believe you stuck around for no reason other than 'you want to help'? Everyone has a motive. I just don't understand why I haven't figured out yours yet."

Where on Earth was this coming from? "Is just wanting to help not a good enough reason?" I asked defensively. "You read auras, Jennie reads minds; have either of you gotten even a hint of an ulterior motive from me?"

She squinted at me suspiciously. "It's the fact that I don't see one that's putting me on guard."

I raised an eyebrow. "Okay. You've clearly dealt with some unpleasant people. Sorry to not be as bad as they are. If I'm really bothering that much, then I'll go, okay? You know where I'm at if you need anything."

I stood and walked past her, heading to the door. My hand had barely touched the knob when Elodie suddenly called, "Wait, Crow… wait."

I turned, my hand still on the doorknob. That was the first time she had actually called me by name. "I'm sorry," she raised her hands helplessly. She looked so tired. "I have no grounds on which to accuse you. But you're right. The majority of people I meet turn out to be very unpleasant. So that fact that you seem so honestly good… it's strange to me."

Releasing the doorknob, I turned to face her fully. Finally, we were getting somewhere. "Was it unpleasant people who put those scars on your shoulders, or was that an accident?"

Elodie flinched, one hand reaching up to touch the back of her neck. She quickly grabbed her jacket and pulled it back on. "It wasn't an accident," she muttered.

"That's what I thought," I nodded seriously. "Who did it?"

She shrugged. "Just some bullies from the orphanage I lived at."

My eyes widened. A couple of kids did that to her? "What did they do, push you into a fire?"

"No," Elodie shook her head, still rubbing her neck self-consciously. "They threw a pot of boiling water on me."

"Didn't your matron not do anything about it? How did you wind up on the street?"

Elodie snorted. "You think I stayed in a place where kids threw boiling water on me? That wasn't a first offense, either. I high-tailed it out of there as soon as soon as I could."

Oh. She was a run-away. Those didn't usually survive very long out here, especially at a young age. "How old?"

"Ten. About two years after I discovered my powers."

Ten?! "How the heck did you survive?"

"I dunno... I just did. My powers helped a little bit."

"And how did you discover your powers?"

Elodie looked around uncomfortably. I backed off. "Sorry, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"No, it's fine," she shook her head with a sigh. "I've just never… well, I've been able to sense what other people were feeling since I could remember, but it wasn't until I was eight that I realized the way I sensed things was different than others. It was around that time we started learning how to duel. I was always a shy kid, got picked on a lot, and one of the older boys bullied me into dueling him. Said if I won, then he and his lackeys wouldn't beat me up. But when I attacked, I broke a couple of his ribs."

She grimaced. "He was a jerk, but I never actually meant to hurt him. I was just… scared, you know? Scared and angry about being teased. I just wanted him to leave me alone."

A note of pleading was starting to enter her voice. As if she was afraid I wouldn't understand. Afraid I would see her as a monster. "Hey, it's okay, I get it," I said, moving to sit down on the couch. I patted the seat next to me, and after watching me for a moment, she walked over and sat down, though she sat as far away from me as possible. She pulled up a knee and rested her chin on it, wrapping her arms around her leg.

"The other kids were terrified of me. The bullying got worse, and no one wanted to stand up for me in case they got bullied, too. Most of them thought I deserved it. I endured for two years before I left."

"But the streets couldn't have been better, could they?" I asked, remembering all too well how difficult it was before Jack and Yusei brought me to Martha's. "Scrounging for food, constantly hunting for a place to sleep, always weary of a crook or gang attacking you…"

Elodie stared at the opposite wall, her eyes misty and distant. "That's probably why I wound up getting involved in gang life. It wasn't long before duel gangs heard that a psychic child was running around Satellite. I got recruited by my first one about three months after I ran away. I was starving and freezing, and they gave me shelter and food… as long as I did what they said. If I didn't meet their expectations, they beat me and left me for the next gang to pick up." Her arms tightened around her leg. "I hurt a lot of people. All to save my own skin. It's a cruel world. Eat or be eaten. Survival of the fittest."

I breathed out, trying to imagine a ten year old girl being turned into a weapon for gang brutality. It wasn't unheard of, but it didn't happen often, and the child never lasted very long. I watched Elodie for a moment. She had shared her story in mostly an apathetic, monotone voice. As though she had accepted what had happened, but rather than healing, she had made herself numb to it.

"How did you get out?" I finally asked.

Something happened in her eyes. Something shimmered in them, like a ray of sunlight hitting water. It looked like pain. "Well… I met someone."

"Who?"

Elodie turned her head away from me, looking toward the piano. "A boy."

Oh.

"He was a street kid like me, about a year older. I wasn't willing to listen at first, but… he was persistent. He helped me escape from the gang I was in at that time and protected me. He also strengthened me. I wasn't doing well in the gang life, see. I could hurt people with duel monsters, but my dueling was mediocre at best, so I rarely won, despite that powers. I was weak and scared. I tried not to let it show, because the kind of people I hung around would tear me apart if I revealed any sort of vulnerability, but they would figure me out eventually. But… this boy actually taught me how to duel. How to fight. And he didn't try to use me. He gave me more control over my life. Taught me to fend for myself. For a while, we were a team…

"And then I left."

"What?" I asked incredulously. "Why?"

Elodie shook her head again still not looking at me. "We were getting too close. I was becoming dependent on him. I saw things in him that scared me. I wanted to get out before I got hurt. Or before I hurt him. That was about two years ago. I haven't seen him since."

"That seems wrong," I voiced, finally speaking my mind. "He was your friend. If you trusted him-"

"It's naïve to think something like trust can thrive out here," Elodie interrupted me, turning her head again to look at the wall opposite us. "Satellite life is dog-eat-dog. Anyone will betray you if a good enough deal comes along."

"That's not true!"

"Really?" Elodie finally turned her eyes to me. The expression in them was steel. "You told me one of your friends got into the city by 'being a jerk'. He betrayed you somehow, right? Left you in the dust to chase a better life on the mainland?"

I thought back on what Yusei had told me about Jack. How he had stolen Yusei's D-wheel and Stardust Dragon to use as his tickets to the city. I thought on the duels I had seen him fight on the television at my hideout. "Well… not me, specifically…"

"And is he the first one to ever stab you in the back?"

Kiryu's face, with his black eyes and wicked grin, flashed in my mind. My stomach twisted.

"Didn't you at one time believe that those people would never betray you? And look what happened. People change, and here, it's never for the best. In the end, the only person I can trust to look out for me was myself. And by myself, I spare myself unnecessary pain, and I'm not tied down by anyone. It's best to keep your head ducked down and not get involved in anything unnecessary. I used to hate my abilities, but now I can use them to protect myself and my kids. I know how to survive out here, and it's not by making 'friends'."

"Surviving isn't the same as living."

Elodie frowned at me. "What is that supposed to mean?"

I stood up. I couldn't stay seated, not when I was so fed up. "You're talking as though people who believe in friendship and trust are idiots who are going to get their butts handed to them one day as if they ask for it. It doesn't work like that, alright? Yeah, some people forget what's important and hurt their friends to chase their own goals. That doesn't mean you just stop trusting people. I'm not deceiving myself when I say there are people in this world who care about my existence and will have my back in a nasty situation, and I'm not stupid when I offer them that same gesture. Sure, people change, but it's not only for the worst. If you ask me, only weak people let bad situations tear them down."

Clearly offended, Elodie got to her feet as well. "Look, if I insulted you in some way, then I'm sorry. I'm just being realistic-"

"No, you're not," I cut her off. "You're banking on the worst possible outcome. Pessimism is not the same as realism."

"And optimism is?" she fired back. "I just don't let myself get sucked into false hope. I've been let down too many times in the past. I know better than to take risks."

"You've just buried yourself so far down in your shell, you've lost sight of hope!" I jabbed a thumb at my markers. "Look at my face, Elodie. I've known hardship. I've lost battles. I've been betrayed and locked up. But do you see me abandoning hope and calling it a farce? I hold to my dreams because, even if they never come to pass, at least I'll know I lived hoping for a better world, not wallowing in a worse one! Holding to hope is what true strength really is! You can't just sit around and wait for things to get better!"

"You think I haven't tried?" Elodie shot back, eyes pulsing gold in anger. "Why do you think I ran away from my orphanage? Why do you think I accepted that boy's help in the first place? Rejecting things that could cause me pain is how I make things better for myself."

"And by doing so, you're simultaneously stopping things from becoming even better," I informed her. "You give up before you've even started! Elodie, I've been alone before. Having friends, no matter how risky, is always better than being alone."

Elodie stared at me, her eyes digging holes through me. She was slowly shaking her head, denying everything I was trying to tell her. "I can't accept that, Crow. Friendship and hope may work for you, but it's only ever hurt me. What you're saying goes against everything I know."

It was my turn to shake my head. "You keep saying that you can't possibly have hope. You can't possibly make room for friends in your life." I pointed out the window above the couch. "But those kids out there are proof that you don't believe those things for yourself. Why take care of them if having people around is just a burden? Why raise them to be good people if you have no hope for the future? Why let them play together if having friends will just hurt them in the end? Or do those rules only apply to you? You keep saying hope and friends are no good, but everyone else has great experiences with them. You sure you wouldn't also be happier if you just gave people the chance?"

Elodie turned her gaze to the window, her widened eyes following the kids as they played their game. The door was still slightly open, so we could hear their laughter and as they chanted.

"Red rover, red rover, send Jennie right over!"

Jennie looked at the kids in her row anxiously, but they all encouraged her. She released Tristan and Joey's hands and, with a nervous smile, got into a starting position and sprinted to the other line. She ran into Danny and Cari's joined hands and tried to break through, but the other two barely managed to catch her. Danny and Cari's line celebrated their victory, and Jennie's line applauded her effort. Jennie looked disappointed as she joined her brother's line, but she still laughed and smiled with the others.

"Jennie's just like you, right?" I asked. "Escaped from an abusive foster home, hunted because of her abilities. But look at the life you've given her, with friends and love. You can give that to yourself, you know. Believe it or not, that kind of happiness is worth the risk."

Elodie turned away from the window and sat back on the couch, staring at the coffee table. She looked almost helpless, lost in a whirlwind of her own thoughts. I sighed, scratching the back of my head. I had a feeling that it would be better for me to leave now.

"Look, Elodie, only you can decide how to live your life. I'll apologize for getting preachy, but I won't take back what I said. Think it over, okay? And please remember that my door is always open if you want to accept me as a friend."

With that, I turned back to the door, but once again, Elodie's voice stopped me just as I was touching the doorknob. "Why?" she asked, looking up at me. "Why do you care?"

I locked my gaze onto hers. "Because in you, I see what I could have been: alone and without hope. There's enough despair in this place already." I glanced outside again, remembering what Yusei had said about the Dark Signers. "Speaking of which, you and the kids be very careful these next few days. There's more going on with the black robed priests and the purple fires than you realize. Don't go near any of it, alright? If you ever need help, you know where I'm at."

Elodie didn't break eye contact with me. Her eyes seemed to be begging me for something she wouldn't allow herself to request. But I had done enough. I opened the door and stepped outside, and this time, she didn't stop me.

A/N: So for those of you who read this story previously, you'll see A LOT of obvious differences. First off, this exchange didn't take three freaking chapters. Second off, they didn't wind up as best buddies after their first meeting. Elodie still opens up to Crow after some pushing, but she isn't all "woe is me!" and "you couldn't possible understand!" and all that crap. But Crow still tries to talk some sense into her and extends the hand of friendship. I think this version is much more realistic.

By the way, for those of you who did read the previous version of this story, please let me know if there is anything you thought I should keep or something I didn't do right. I will gladly take any constructive criticism as long as it isn't trolling. Please let me know if you think something isn't working.

As always, thanks for the support!