"So, are you happy with this decision?"
I nodded. "Yeah, I think so. I mean, I do feel more like myself, and for me, that's the most important thing. Well, that and being accepted. I feel much more accepted by Luna and Yusei and everyone than I did with Taze, you know? But I can't, um… I can't put all the blame on him. I mean, I wasn't being honest with him until after we had the fallout, and I guess by then it was just too late. I'm not complaining though, I'm… very grateful to have the friends I've got."
My psychiatrist nodded, a warm smile on his face. "I'm thrilled to hear everything's working out for you. Remember though that if you're not happy with how things are going, we can always schedule another appointment." He looked to the clock on the wall. "But as things are, this might just be our last session together. I still want you to keep taking your medication, until the prescription is done."
"I understand. Thank you so much for your help, sir. I really appreciate it." I said, getting up out of my seat and extending my hand to my psychiatrist, shaking his own for a few moments. "Are you going to the Gala tonight?" I asked.
"Uh, no. It's not really my kind of thing, but I hope you have a great time. Are you competing in the Grand Prix?"
"Honestly I don't really know at the moment. I mean, the deadline for registration is still a while away. I figured I'd just enjoy myself tonight at the Gala and think about competing another time."
"Well I wish you the best of luck if you choose to compete."
"Thank you." I smiled, nodding and then walking over to the door. I nodded once more, before opening the door and walking out.
It was around seven o'clock when I pulled up on my Duel Runner outside Yusei's place. That night, I had been asked by Crow to attend the World Racing Grand Prix Gala with Yusei and the others. The event was supposedly a formal one, but as I really didn't own any formal clothing, I stuck with my stuffy collared shirt and the best pair of pants I had.
I had met up with Yusei, Crow and Jack at Poppo Time, who were surprisingly wearing the same stuff they always wore, which made me feel a little out of place and confused as to why they weren't all wearing something more formal as Crow had advised me to, though I said nothing on the subject.
"Hey guys!" I smiled.
"Hey, Tyler!" Crow cheered as I entered the garage. "You look nice!"
"Thanks. You look the same!" I joked.
"Really? You're wearing that?" Jack asked, an eyebrow raised at my apparently poor choice in clothing.
"If you'd like to buy me a really expensive suit, Jack, be my guest." I said to him, to which Jack scoffed but said nothing. "So do you know what's gonna happen tonight?" I asked.
"Well, Akiza, Leo and Luna will be coming by to pick you up in the limo that was rented. Yusei and I will head to the event on our Duel Runners… and Jack-"
"I will be arriving after all of you, because I have something special organized that I need to go and get first." Jack piped up.
"Wait, what limo?" I asked.
Jack sighed. "A limousine is a type of luxury car that-"
"No, I know what a limousine is, Jack." I interrupted him. "I mean 'what are you talking about?'"
"Akiza's dad paid for it. He thought that she should arrive in style for the Gala, and since neither she nor the twins can ride Duel Runners, they thought it would be a good idea for them to go together. Luna insisted that you ride with them, so they're on their way here to pick you up." Crow explained.
"Oh, okay cool. I'll just leave my Runner parked outside then?"
"You might wanna take your deck though. This is a Duel Monsters thing we're going to after all." He said.
"Yeah, true." I shrugged, looking over at Yusei, who hadn't said anything yet, and was staring down at the ground, his gaze almost aimless. "Yusei?" I asked, causing him to quickly glance up at me. "You alright?"
Yusei didn't answer, and instead continued to look back down at the ground.
It was the first time I had seen or even spoken to Yusei since he went back to the Satellite a couple of weeks ago.
"Don't take it personally, Tyler…" Crow whispered. "He's been like this ever since he came back from the Satellite. Something's happened, but we don't know what. He won't say." Crow started to speak again, but was cut off by the sound of a beeping horn from outside. "Well, uh… That's probably your cue, Tyler."
"Alright, I'll see you guys there." I smiled.
I made my way outside, where I saw a limousine had pulled up beside the building. The window slowly pulled down, revealing Akiza, Leo and Luna to be sitting in the back.
"Hey, Tyler. You ready?" Luna asked. I nodded as she opened the door for me to get in.
"Yep. I'll just get my deck." I said, moving to retrieve my deck from my Duel Runner before getting into the limo, sitting down next to Luna and closing the door. "Thanks for coming to get me." I smiled, looking to the three of them. Akiza had her hair let completely down, and wore an absolutely stunning dress, positioned in a way which, either intentionally or otherwise, showed off a good amount of cleavage. Luna wore a similar outfit to the one she wore when the two of us went to Treetop, though her shoes were brown. Leo wore a dark blue tuxedo and similar shoes to Luna.
Akiza raised her hand, and I fell back against the seat as the limo started moving. I looked to the sides of where I was sitting, surprised by the absence of seatbelts.
"Everything alright?" Luna asked softly.
"I'm a little bit nervous, to tell you the truth." I sighed. "This is my first… you know… social outing."
Luna looked at me with great concern, as she was the only one who knew what was really going on with me. Akiza and Leo just looked confused by my statement.
Leo piped up. "Don't worry, Tyler. Crow's still a little confused as to why we're even going. He said that there's no point in us coming along, since we can't ride Duel Runners and we're not actually participating."
"Leo, he didn't say that." Luna objected.
"What? Sure he did! He said-"
"Let's not start this again…" Akiza interrupted. Leo sighed, the four of us sitting in silence. I decided to take the opportunity and speak up again.
"Look, while we're all here, I just wanna say to you guys… I really appreciate that we're all friends. Akiza, please thank your father for me when you see him. This is really nice." I turned to Luna, who was sitting beside me. "And Luna, I'm flattered you wanted me to ride with you." I winked.
I took a deep breath before I slowly walked down the steps of the event hall, keeping my eyes firmly on my feet with each step until I reached the bottom. I exhaled, looking up at the sheer number of other people, who I assumed the majority of were contestants, in the main room. Most of them talking, some of them drinking, and a great deal of them dressed in formal clothing.
For that night, I had one and only one objective to follow: try not to embarrass myself.
"The World Racing Grand Prix Gala!" Leo cheered. "This is amazing! Even better than I expected!" Leo sprinted to different corners of the room, quickly taking in the sights, causing Luna to let out an exasperated sigh.
"Not in public, Leo…" she cringed.
It was safe to say that Leo was back to his old self.
"I'm still a little confused why you guys decided to come, no offense." Crow said, looking to Akiza and Leo in particular as the six of us started walking around the event hall.
"Well… um…" Akiza mumbled, before looking at Yusei. Crow looked at Yusei too, before sighing.
"I'm sorry." Crow apologized. "Things have been really intense lately, so maybe all of us being here together will help take our mind off things."
"I guess…" Akiza muttered.
I looked around. All the food that had been laid out seemed to be very messy, in terms of eating it, so I resigned myself to the fact that I wouldn't be eating, just in case I spilt something on myself.
The rest of the group stopped walking, and so I did as well.
To myself, I wondered why we had stopped, and then I saw Carly. She was taking photographs of a few guys, one of whom had really pointy, maybe brown, maybe dark red, hair. When she saw us, her attention immediately faltered. "Hey guys! Over here!" Carly waved as she ran over to us, camera in hand.
"Hey, Carly…" Crow said with a minimal amount of enthusiasm. "What are you doing here?"
"What else? I'm doing a story. After all, this is like, the premiere Duel event of the season! The whole city has been looking forward to it!" Carly sighed ecstatically. "Just look around! All of the world's best Dueling teams are here! Team Unicorn, Team Lightning, Team Mantis, Team Oz! And I'm gonna do a report on all of them!" Carly pointed to each of the teams, and when her finger stopped on Team Oz, my eyes widened. Because there, standing with Team Oz, was Joel, my stepbrother.
"Holy crap…" I muttered.
"I know, right?" Carly sighed. "I am gonna have my work cut out for me, but it'll definitely be worth it."
"No, it's… It's…" I trailed off. "Be back in a sec…" Before I knew it, I was making my way over to Joel, who was busy talking to, who I assumed were his teammates. Unfortunately for me, I caught him at the end of a very weird conversation with one of them.
"…I mean, he was freaked out by the question. I just wanted to know how he was able to keep it so big while being flaccid, 'cause seriously, if that thing was erect, it'd do damage. Anyway-"
"J-Joel?" I asked quietly as he turned to me, his eyes widening as he took a step back.
My eyes widened in response. The last time I had seen Joel was just before I went with Yusei and the others to Rex Goodwin's Mansion. So much had happened since then, and I wondered if Joel had been in contact with my mother. After all, she probably had her own recollection of the events that happened and the conversation she and I had, not that I really cared about her at all. I was just a little worried that Joel mightn't have wanted to see me.
My muscles tensed just as Joel's expression began to change.
"Tyler! Bro, it's been so long!" he shouted, giving me a quick hug. "Dude, I'm so sorry about what happened with mom. As soon as I heard what happened, I left straight away. I wanted to call you, but I didn't have your number saved into my phone. I tried to track you down, but I couldn't find you anywhere. And then Taze called a few days later, said that he found you and you were okay, and that you had an apartment and everything. Now, I don't like Taze at all, but I'm happy that you found him. Oh, I forgot to ask, have you still got amnesia?"
I blinked a few times, taken aback by Joel's unloading of information. "Yeah, I haven't remembered anything really, but that doesn't matter. And you don't need to be sorry about mom either. I couldn't give a shit about her to be honest." I motioned to the two guys he was standing near. "Are you with these guys?"
Joel turned back to them, before turning around to me. "Oh, no. We were just talking." Joel faced the two guys. "You guys can leave now." Joel instructed. One of the guys shrugged, the other mumbling something under his breath as the two of them walked off. "Anyway, what's going on with you and Taze? Did you guys come together or-"
"Um, if it's alright with you, can we not mention Taze, please?" I interrupted.
"Why?" Joel asked softly. "What happened?"
"It's… just something that I don't wanna talk about, okay?" I sighed.
"Okay, well you're probably gonna have to talk to him soon."
"Oh yeah?" I jested. "When would that be?"
"In about fifteen seconds. He's walking over here." Joel said, nudging to the side. My eyes widened as I saw Taze walking towards me, a smile on his face, his hand intertwined with a girl's, who walked beside him.
"Oh fuck…" I whispered. "Taze!" I greeted once he had made his way over. "What are you doing here?" I asked, my tone of voice making it entirely obvious to everyone that I didn't really care. "I mean, surely you're not here because of the tournament. You hate Duel Monsters."
Taze smiled at me with a big shit-eating grin. "It's true. I'm not a fan of Duel Monsters. I'm actually here for another reason. I didn't know you'd be here though. This really is a pleasant surprise."
"I bet it is." I smiled right back.
"Oh, how rude of me! Allow me to introduce Rayna Kaiho." Taze said, motioning to the girl standing beside him.
The girl smiled at Joel and I. From her looks I assumed her to be around the same age as Taze and I, and I was quite intrigued by the amount of time it must've taken her to have her hair styled the way it was. It was a pinkish sort of color, and was tied with two bows at the sides of her head, making her hair loop around and down. "I'm sure you've heard of me. I'm a Musical Duel star, and I've been singing pop music professionally for the last three years."
"I've never heard of you." I said honestly.
"Maybe if you didn't have amnesia, you'd know who she is, and R.E.M." Taze stated.
"Alright, faggot, listen up." Joel interjected. "I think it's hilarious that you're here with a date even though it's plainly obvious that you're gayer than Maximillion Pegasus, and you're obviously butthurt by whatever happened between you and Tyler. You came over here, so don't start talking shit unless you wanna get your teeth knocked out. My advice: fuck off. Go do whatever it is you came here for, and then leave. Don't talk to us, and don't bring some floozy over and act like you're better than us."
"Floozy?" Rayna asked. "Why don't you say that again? I don't think I heard you the first time." She said, getting in Joel's face.
Joel folded his arms. "I get it. You're trying to act all tough 'cause I can't hit you 'cause you're a girl, right? How old are you, sweetheart?"
"What's going on here?" Crow asked. I fidgeted, turning to see Crow, Akiza, Carly, Leo and Luna standing behind us.
"I could ask the same thing." Taze smiled, looking over behind me.
"Nothing's happening." Joel said. He looked at Crow. "Oh, hi. I don't think we've met. Joel Bānzu. I'm Tyler's stepbrother."
"Crow Hogan." He introduced, the two shaking hands. Crow turned to me. "You never told me you had a stepbrother."
"Oh, I thought you were there when we last met him. My bad." I sighed.
"So these are your friends…" Taze mulled. "Do they know that you're a pill-popping lunatic who visits a psychiatrist every week because you're screwed in the head and tried to commit suicide by throwing yourself off a building?" he asked. Suddenly, the room got much hotter, the air much thicker. Taze put a hand to his mouth. "Sorry." He feigned an apology. "Was that still private? I figured that they would've known, you know, seeing as they're your friends and everything. Or maybe you just didn't want them to know that you're a drug-addicted, suicidal retard because you knew that if they saw you for who you really were, they wouldn't be your friends anymore."
I felt sick, like I was going to throw up. I wanted the ground to open up beneath me and swallow me whole. It didn't.
"Well… I'm gonna go. Leave you to pick up these pieces. I do hope you'll stay though. We're playing a gig here tonight, and it's gonna be something really special." Taze smiled again. "See ya later, Tyler."
"See you at school, Akiza." Rayna waved to her, before quickly following Taze as the two of them walked off.
I didn't need to look at anyone to know that they were all staring at me, judging me. A lump rose in my throat, my voice dry and crackly. "I-I-I…" I sighed, angry at my inability to get any words out. "I-I'm gonna go… home now, guys." I turned to Joel. "Joel, it was nice seeing you again."
"Whoa-whoa-whoa, hold on!" Joel said, reaching out and gripping my arm to prevent me from leaving. "Is what Taze said true? Did you really attempt suicide?"
I started shaking. "I'm not having this conversation right now. Please just let me go…! I… I want to go home…" I breathed, though my tone probably came across as a low whine.
"Answer me!" Joel demanded, his stare piercing my eyes.
"Akiza…!" Leo whispered, but he was still rather loud. "What's 'committing suicide'?"
"It means Tyler tried to kill himself." Akiza explained.
"What?!" Leo shouted, turning to me. "That's stupid! Why would you do that?!"
"Leo!" Luna yelled, seemingly more offended than I was. She looked to me, and I knew she could tell that I was struggling. "You don't understand! H-his mom, she… Look, Tyler knows that what he did wasn't the best choice to make, but how would you feel if our parents said they didn't want to see us anymore? Imagine how Tyler must've been feeling, especially along with everything else we had all gone through!"
"Wait, what are you saying?" Joel asked.
"Luna, did you know about this?!" Akiza questioned.
"Um…" Luna stumbled, looking away. Akiza's eyes widened.
"I don't believe it! You knew! And you didn't tell us?!" She shouted.
"Hey! Don't bring Luna into this!" I snapped, ripping my arm from Joel's grip. "I didn't want her to tell anyone! But you know what? I'll tell you this now: Luna was the one to stop me. She talked me out of it, okay? So if you're going to be angry at anyone, it's me. But Luna… She is the best person I know, and you have no right being angry at her." I straightened myself up before speaking again. "Oh, and for the record, if I still wanted to kill myself, I could have. I've had plenty of opportunities to do it over the past, what, seven months now?"
The shocked, and somewhat irritated expressions on the group's faces made me rethink my choice of words.
"I'm not saying I'm going to! I'm saying I could have if I wanted to, and I obviously haven't, so there's nothing to worry about!" I tried to assure them.
"You can say that, but how do we know that's true?" Joel asked.
"Because I've been taking these fucking things!" I shouted, reaching into my pockets and ripping out the bottle of pills and shoving it in Joel's face. "You know what these are?! These are what I've been prescribed to take by the psychiatrist that I've been seeing! You think I don't know how messed up I am?! I'm well aware!" I shook my head furiously, my throat hoarse from the yelling I'd been doing. "I-I-I-I-I'm sorry!" I stammered. "I-I-I've got-I've got to go… I-I-I-I just… I-I can't deal with this anymore…"
I broke into a run, getting as far away from everyone else as I could. I didn't care how much of a scene I had inevitably created, I just had to leave. I ran up the steps and out of where I'd come in from, making my way outside. I started running again, unfortunately tripping over a crack, or shift, in the pavement and skidding briefly across the concrete, tearing my pants and ripping apart the skin at my knees, blood running down my legs.
I collapsed onto the ground completely, accepting defeat as I just rested against the ground in silence, my only company the fluorescent lights shining down on me from the signs above the event hall, and the slight stinging sensation of blood running from my open cuts. I closed my eyes as I forced my breathing to slow, even though my heart was going ten to the dozen.
I could hear the sound of high heels tapping against the ground at a solid pace. I opened my eyes to find the fluorescent light blocked by a shadow from a person looking down at me with concern.
"Hey…" the woman spoke softly.
I turned immediately, sitting up. "Seria… What are you doing here?" I asked.
"Oh my…!" Seria's eyes widened as she noticed the blood on my legs. "Let's get you cleaned up." she said, bringing the Birkin bag she was holding down to the ground as she opened it, retrieving a bandage as she got down on her knees and started padding the area, and then wrapping it around my left leg. She then proceeded to do the same to my other leg with another bandage from her bag. I just stayed silent, my body jerking every so often as my diaphragm continued its spasm. "I saw what happened between you and your, um… friend. Do you want to talk about it?" she asked as she finished up.
"Not really…" I muttered. The rest of my body started shaking again, and then I broke. "I'm such a mess…" I told her, tears forming and then running down my face. Seria's expression softened, a soft coo coming from her as she sat down beside me, putting an arm around my shoulder. "I thought I was okay now," I admitted. "But I'm still the same fucked up person I was, that I've always been since… since the Arcadia Movement…! Taze hasn't changed me. The pills haven't changed me. And I want to change so badly… What… What can I do?" I asked, looking at her.
Seria reached into the breast pocket of her blazer and pulled out a handkerchief. "You can start by wiping those tears away."
"Right…" I mumbled, taking the handkerchief and cleaning my face with it. "Thank you…"
"What you can't be, is someone who hates who he is, or someone who takes for granted everything he has, even the little things." Seria smiled. "You've got a really great group of friends in there, who just want to support you. And they don't know what you've gone through, or what you're thinking. Only you know that. But they can't help you if they don't know. The choice is yours, but… if it were me, I'd tell them exactly what happened, and maybe they'll understand then why you did what you did."
"Oh no-no-no-no-no." I whimpered. "I made an absolute ass of myself, I can't go back in there now."
"Yes you can." Seria whispered. "You need to. For them and for yourself. If you keep running, or freaking out every time something bad happens, how are you ever going to cope with anything?"
I sighed. Seria had a point. Medication or not, I was terrible at coping with anything. Even small things threw me off so easily, which other people would just take with a grain of salt. I knew that I wouldn't just wake up one day and be a different person, it would take time, and effort, for me to change. But I didn't have to do any of it alone, so long as I was honest with myself, and the people who cared about me.
"You're right…" I said, getting to my feet. "What can I say? You're right." I extended my arm to help Seria to her feet, which she took.
"So are you gonna come back in with me?" she asked.
"Yeah…" I smiled, the two of us walking hand in hand back inside the event hall.
"How are your legs feeling?" Seria asked.
"They still sting a little, and I'm gonna have to get a new pair of pants but… I'm fine. Thanks." I walked down the steps at a much slower rate than before, but I did feel a bit better with Seria by my side.
The Gala seemed to be in full swing now. Everybody was either engaged in conversation, eating the catered food, or sitting down and Dueling or trading cards at a nearby table. I could also hear Taze's voice come through the loudspeaker as he continued to test the microphones on the stage right on the other side of the hall.
I caught sight of everyone, including Jack who had arrived wearing a very nice and probably custom-tailored suit, situated near the tables eating and chatting with each other. I couldn't see Yusei anywhere, but Joel was still around for whatever reason.
I cautiously walked up to the group, Seria standing back as my heart started racing. I wouldn't have blamed them if they told me straight up that they didn't want to talk to me anymore, but I had to at least try and not only apologize for how I acted, but also try and make them understand how I was feeling, if they were willing to listen.
"Hey…" I muttered. Leo stopped eating and looked towards me, Carly stopped fiddling with her camera, and Joel stopped drinking whatever he had in his hand. Jack, Crow and Akiza stopped talking, the latter looking to me, with Jack seeming to show disinterest, and I wasn't sure if anyone had told him what went down before.
"Tyler!" Luna shouted, rushing over to me and giving me a hug. "I'm glad you came back!" Luna smiled, holding me tighter.
"Me too…" I looked down at her and smiled. Luna pulled away and I sighed lengthily, looking to the rest of the group. "I'm sorry." I apologized. "I don't want to keep secrets from you guys, and… I need to learn how to be more open and accepting of what's happened and where I'm at. If you'll let me, and if you want me to, I can explain… what happened…"
The group was silent, until Joel stepped forward.
"Yeah, okay. Go ahead." he said.
I took a deep breath, taking a moment to think about what I was going to say, and how I was going to say it. "It was right after the Dark Signers when, um, Leo and Luna invited me to stay at their place for the night. I decided that I'd call my mom. Now I'd had this idea in my head since we were in Rex Goodwin's Mansion. Akiza, everyone, you know how I can talk to Duel Spirits. And Joel, you know how I summoned Explosivo in our Duel. Well he actually called out to me… and told me that, um, my getting amnesia was, more or less, planned. As you can imagine I was… pretty pissed to hear that. But he promised me that I would be accepted back into my family with open arms. Anyway, so, I, um, I had this idea, I was obviously very hopeful. Um, I would call my mom and, uh, tell her everything that happened, and hoped that, because of what Explosivo said, you know, she'd be understanding and… well…"
I paused.
"…Is that it?" Joel asked.
My eyes widened. "Oh, no. I was just taking a break so that my explanation here would be easier to follow. Anyway, that wasn't the case, as Joel knows. I could barely get a word out during our conversation, and before I knew it, it was over. Explosivo appeared again, and told me that… he had no idea about what would happen and what they would do. I was angrier at Explosivo for lying to me, than I was at my mom not wanting anything to do with me. I mean, I understand why Explosivo lied. I had to help you guys against the Dark Signers, and I probably wouldn't have been able to do anything if I was wallowing in self-pity and knowing that, after everything was said and done, I'd have nowhere to go. Of course, then I didn't think I had anywhere else to go, you know? I was, I was screwed. And… I gave up. I-I felt so alone, and… and just worthless. So I just decided, I was gonna do it. I was gonna jump."
Jack, Crow and Carly looked at me with confusion, empathy and disbelief respectively, Leo looked at me wide-eyed, while Joel and Akiza seemed to be silently urging me to continue.
"So I walked out into the, uh, the pool area, and got up on the ledge. And there's like, a huge gap between the penthouse where I was standing, and the street underneath me, so I figured… that would be it. I was so close to death, and although there was still, I think, this little part of me saying 'you know that you shouldn't do this', every other part of me was saying 'just do it. No one cares about you'. What I failed to realize was that… There was someone who cared about me. And… she found me, held onto me, and begged me not to go… So how could I go…?"
"Tyler…" Luna whispered, her voice uneasy. I turned my attention to her, watching tears run down her cheeks as she sniffed. She rushed into my arms again as I held her against me, feeling her body shake. Luna knew most of, if not everything, that I had just explained to everybody else already, so I was a little taken back by her sudden breakdown. Perhaps by bringing up what happened, I was also bringing up, for Luna, the emotions of that time, a time that I'm sure she would've rather forgot. In retrospect, I recognized that perhaps my explanation of what happened and what I was thinking was a little too heavy to have talked about in front of the twins, but I couldn't go back on what I said now. It was out there.
I looked down at Luna, before facing the rest of the group again. "I realized that, of course, I would never get back everything I lost, and suddenly that didn't matter to me. I was really lucky, because I had met these truly amazing people who had accepted me, flaws and all, and made me feel welcome. Even though I felt alone, I wasn't. And that was enough for me." I smiled. "You guys… are my family."
I wasn't sure how my words came across to Akiza or the others, but I sincerely hoped that, having explained myself, they would understand and they wouldn't think any less of me. The latter to me did seem like it was too much to hope for though.
Akiza smiled slightly as she closed her eyes, running her gloved hands through her hair. Leo looked to Luna, who looked to me, and I briefly smiled at her. Jack shook his head, but started chuckling to himself. Crow seemed to be going over what I had said in his head, while Carly just seemed frozen, not that I was really concerned about what she thought of me, as my explanation was more for everyone else.
I turned to Joel, and my heart sank as he walked off in silence.
We had moved our group to the other side of the hall, as there was a bar set up on that side. The bar was also near the stage that had been set up for Taze's performance, which is why I was interested in going over. He was talking with Rayna and some other guy who was sitting behind a drum kit.
I sat on a stool at the bar, thumbing a glass of water in one hand, my bottle of pills in the other. I sighed.
I hadn't really spoken to anyone since my little speech earlier on. They might've not known what to say, or they might've just been trying to give me some space. Truthfully, I didn't even know what to say anymore, or if what I did was even the right thing to do. I wasn't really making any effort to be included in the group's goings-on for the moment either.
I jerked as I felt two hands clamp around my shoulders either side. Joel started laughing, probably at my reaction, as he sat down on a stool next to me.
"Sorry. Couldn't resist." He admitted as I slumped back against the stool, sighing. Joel sat down beside me.
"Where's Jack?" I asked. "I never got to tell him how awesome his suit looked."
"He got a little upset that Crow was, uh, well he seemed to be fawning over Team Unicorn earlier, and so Carly went off with Jack to fuck him… I'm assuming."
"Good to know…" I said, slipping my pills away as I moved forward in my seat. "I thought you left." I said bluntly.
"I did."
"Why'd you come back?" I asked. Joel placed a bit of paper in front of me. I picked it up. "What's this?"
"It's a check."
"It's blank." I noted.
Joel nodded. "Write down any amount on there, and I'll pay it."
My eyes shot out, and I turned to my stepbrother. "…Are you serious?"
Joel sighed. "Okay, well, within reason. I'm not made of money. Look… I know you probably don't want money from me, 'cause then it would seem like I'm pitying you, but I get that it's hard and… I'm part of that reason and… if you can't take money from your family, who can you take it from?" Joel looked behind him and then turned back to me as I smiled, touched by his gesture. "Well… I'm gonna go do some pot, and then try hitting on that MILF you came back in with earlier."
"What? Seria?"
"That her name? Cool. You know if she's seeing anyone?"
"No idea."
"Well I'm gonna find out! Wish me luck!" he said, patting me on the back as he swiveled out of his seat and walked towards the toilets with confidence. My eyes followed him as I tried to figure out how Joel could be so sentimental and generous in one moment, and then so bold and unfiltered in the next.
"Tyler," Luna spoke, making me almost jump out of my skin. "Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." She said innocently.
"Luna… How much of that did you hear?" I asked, turning to her.
"How much of what?"
I shook my head. "Nothing, just… Joel was saying stuff, i-inappropriate… stuff… I'm sorry for swearing before as well. What's up?"
"…I just wanted to see how you were." Luna said.
"I'm fine." I smiled. "But listen, I should have never expected you to keep everything a secret, and I'm terribly sorry to have put you in that position." I apologized. "I shouldn't have been putting all that pressure on you."
"That's okay. I'm just glad that it's out in the open now, as in, you don't have to hide it, or pretend like it never happened. Does that make sense?"
I nodded. "I don't want it to define me though. It was a stupid decision…" I mumbled. "How's everyone else?" I asked a little bit half-heartedly, worried about the answer.
"Leo's a little confused, but that might just be because he's tired. Crow had no idea, but he's just glad you're okay. Akiza's the same way, but… I think she might be hurt that I was the only one who knew."
I nodded once more. "I get that. I just didn't want to worry anyone." I felt my voice get deeper and lose its tone as I finished talking. I turned to Luna. "What about you?"
"…I-I'm good. Thanks for sticking up for me by the way." Luna smiled.
"My pleasure." I flinched as the high-pitched squeal of an electric guitar came through the speakers. I turned to the stage. "Looks like Taze is about to start playing."
"Oh… Do you want to go home then?" Luna asked.
"Nah. I mean, I already missed the opening, right? If I miss Taze's performance, then it's like there was almost no point in me coming. Well, aside from… you know…" I sighed. "What I mean is, when I look back on tonight, all I'm gonna remember is how I came clean about… this…" I said, motioning to myself. "And while that's definitely good in its own way… I was really hoping that tonight I could just, sort of, relax. I can't really remember the last time I had a stress-free moment, just to chill out. I think listening to music might help might help with that."
"But, um… Leo told me that you had a fight with Taze at Yusei's place the day that Sly… um…" Luna trailed off. It was obvious to me that Luna was still a little upset over what happened. I frowned, putting a hand on Luna's shoulder.
"Don't worry about Sly anymore, Luna." I smiled. "He's not worth thinking about anymore. Besides, you've still got Yusei, Akiza, Leo, me. Same thing with me and Taze, right? If I've got you, then I don't need him, do I?" I smiled, nudging Luna softly on the shoulder. "Still…" I mulled, "I would like to hear him play live – see how good he is without me." I swung out of my seat and reached a hand out for Luna's. "Wanna watch with me?" I asked, Luna nodding quickly as she took my hand, the two of us walking over to the stage where a small crowd had gathered. "Hey, um, where is Yusei, by the way? I haven't seen him since we arrived."
"I don't know. I think I last saw him talking with some of the other teams. He, um… He wasn't around when you left before, or when you told everyone else what happened. Should… should he know…?" Luna mumbled.
"I'll tell him when the situation comes up. Jack or Crow will probably tell him when they see him anyway…" I said. I watched Taze fumble around on stage for a few moments, and from the periphery of my vision, I saw Luna staring at me as a red color crept onto her face. "You okay?" I asked, turning to her.
"You're a lot better now, aren't you?" Luna muttered. "I mean, I… I can see it… It's like this weight has been lifted from you…"
"Well I don't know about that." I said softly. "It seems like every time I think it's all gonna be okay, something happens and then I'm right back to where I started."
Luna shook her head. "I don't think that's true. When I… When I look at you, Tyler… I…" she stopped, turning away as her blush returned.
The sound of footsteps caused me to turn behind me as I watched Joel approach, but there was something different about him. His eyes were closed slightly, and both his sclera were a dark pink.
"Hope I'm not interrupting anything…" Joel teased.
"Are you okay?" I asked. "Your eyes look a little weird. I mean, mine were a little pink before because I'd been crying. You haven't been crying have you?"
"Dude. I just did, like, a shitload of cones. I'm serious. Like, I did one cone at first, so I could get, like, more boss and shit, and then I went and hit on the MILF, but then I struck out and I was upset, but then I did five more, and now I'm like…" Joel trailed off.
"Well at least for now, do you mind trying not to swear, and not talk about drugs and stuff? I mean, Luna's kinda on the other side of me, and she can hear you."
Joel's eyes widened, before looking at Luna. "Right! Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! Sorry!" he apologized profusely before shushing himself, a finger against his lips.
"Have you seen Yusei?" I asked.
"Yeah, he's with, um, what's his name…?" Joel asked, his face looking as if it was frozen, before he spoke again. "Crow… talking to… Team Unicycle… or something… Anyway, I just came over to… …watch the train wreck… Why are you stickin' it out with Taze…? Especially after he just blurted all that crap out."
"Just 'cause I hate Taze more than I hate Sayer doesn't mean I don't wanna listen to his music. He's a good musician, just a terrible person."
"Hey, just like The Black Keys. They're terrible people."
"What?"
"Nothing…"
Taze weakly strummed a couple of times on his guitar, moving his left hand about before tapping the mic on the stand in front of him. "Hey, uh, thanks for staying for our show. Just want to give a quick shout-out to the Public Security Bureau for pulling off this awesome night and allowing us to play here." Taze strummed his guitar once more. "Hope you guys have a good time. Okay, here we go…"
The sound of a motor.
A crash.
A thud.
It all happened too quickly for me to react, and I only visually processed the last few seconds of it. That's perhaps what scared me the most.
A brown Duel Runner flew overhead, soaring above the ground before colliding with the stage, and Taze's body. The stage started to fall apart immediately, both Rayna and the drummer were able to get off before it collapsed and got out of harm's way for the moment, but Taze was pinned under the right side of the back wheel of the Runner, his face forced against it as blood started trickling from his body.
Luna turned away, burying her head against my chest. My eyes widened and I started shaking, an uneasy groan escaping my lips.
Foolishly I tried to convince myself that what had happened really didn't. Whether that was because I didn't want it to happen, or because I found it almost impossible that it did happen was debatable. I couldn't deny it though. It was staring me right in the face.
Taze was dead.
The man on the Duel Runner laughed wildly before turning to face a few of the partygoers. "All of you, gathering here together and having fun… You make me sick, you know that? Turbo Duels being displayed how they are. It was bad enough with the Fortune Cup when we had someone from the Satellite competing, but now all these damn foreigners too? This city and its image are just a big joke now!"
My eyes struggled to deviate from Taze's lifeless husk. I tried to pay attention to the man and the fact that his Duel Runner towered over us, but I only managed a few short glances upward.
"Is this real life? Is this really happening right now, or am I just totally off my face?" Joel asked himself out loud before tapping me quickly and roughly on the shoulder.
"You're not imagining things." I heard Carly's voice from behind where Joel was standing. "That's Dobocle Bokuru."
"Restrain him!" a voice echoed through the hall as Public Security Officers seemingly came out of nowhere and surrounded Dobocle. Two officers stopped in front of Luna and myself, arms outstretched and obscuring my view of Taze's body for a moment.
My former friend's carcass rolled out from under the Duel Runner as Dobocle pushed forward, ramming into an officer and taking him down as well. As much as I didn't want to look, I couldn't keep my eyes from Taze's corpse. I knew then that his emotionless and bloodied expression would be one permanently etched into my mind.
"Tyler…" Luna mumbled, her voice just barely breaking through to me. My eyes widened, and I reminded myself that now was not the time to grieve.
"Stay with me, okay? I'm not gonna let anything happen to you." I told Luna, wrapping an arm around her as the whole place seemed to erupt into chaos. Dobocle just knocked down everything in his way. Chairs, tables, people. He didn't care.
I turned, gripping Luna's wrist as I led her back the way we came in, as far away from the violence as possible. I kept at a pace which I was sure she could match, and the two of us eventually made it right to the other side of the hall, near the emergency exit there.
"Wait… Where's Leo?" Luna asked, panicking as she looked to me. The two of us had stopped, now mostly out of harm's way, though I was extremely pissed at myself for not keeping a closer eye on Leo. He hadn't come over with Luna, Joel or Carly, and I honestly had no idea where he was, or if he was even okay.
"Luna!" I heard Leo's voice call out to her. We both turned to see Leo and Joel rush up to us as Leo nearly tackled Luna with a hug. "I'm so glad you're okay!"
"Leo!" Luna hugged her twin brother back.
"You know, we were, like, right behind you." Joel said. "Leo was walking over just as the dude crashed through the place."
"What about Akiza? And Crow, Yusei, everyone?" I asked.
Joel shrugged. "Dunno."
The screeching of Dobocle's Duel Runner was silenced as more glass shattered. The four of us turned as the whole atmosphere of the place changed, silence gripping the hall.
"I'm not in the mood to run back." Joel said. "You guys run, I'll just walk briskly." He motioned.
Leo, Luna and I looked to each other, shrugged, and made our way back over to the other side of the hall at a healthy click. My eyes widened as I saw Akiza backed by her Black Rose Dragon, Dobocle and his Duel Runner having crashed through another window. In mere moments, another group of officers had swarmed around Dobocle, but Dobocle quickly got back on his Duel Runner and sped off into the night, some of the Public Security officers trailing after him. The remaining officers went back inside the building to deal with the commotion that had arisen from the whole incident.
I ran up to Akiza, and was soon followed by Leo and Luna. "Akiza, are you alright?" I asked.
"I'm fine." She sighed, retrieving her Black Rose Dragon card as the Signer Dragon disappeared.
I watched Taze's body get wheeled away.
He was one of the small number who lost their lives in the unfortunate tragedy, though his death was definitely the most gruesome.
Everyone at the Gala seemed to be shaken by what had happened. Public Security officers were busy tending to the injured, and other competitors who escaped with only minor scrapes and bruises were assisting where needed as well. Jack was being interviewed by some reporters, Akiza, Yusei, and Crow were being questioned by officers, and Seria was sitting with me as she applied a new set of bandages in place of the old ones. The small silver lining I found was that Dobocle's interruption had completely overshadowed my outburst, which admittedly was a terrible way for me to have been thinking.
I sighed, looking over at where the stage was, now completely destroyed and restricted by a line of tape. I winced as Seria placed a hand on my leg.
"Oh, sorry. I didn't think that would hurt." She apologized.
"No, it's… I was just… thinkin' about stuff…" I sighed once more, and Seria looked away.
"…So I met your brother…" Seria smiled, returning to look up at me.
"Stepbrother." I noted. A moment of silence went by, and I averted my eyes from hers. "I'm sorry he hit on you."
"Oh no, it's fine, really." Seria assured me. "He was actually quite charming. Not really my type though, and I would recommend to him that he refrains from consuming Cannabis in a public place like this." More silence, Seria's expression fading quickly. "I'm… I'm so sorry about… your friend-"
"Please," I cut Seria off, not wanting her to say anything more. I was sure she could tell I didn't want to talk about him. "This entire day has just been…" I trailed off, closing my eyes. "A stressful, emotional…" I stopped, shaking my head as I bit my lip. "I think now is the perfect time for me to head on home, before any other crap happens."
Seria nodded slowly. "Okay. How did you get here? Did you get dropped off? Did you-"
"I came in a limo with Akiza and the twins." I said, opening my eyes. "I have… no idea what's going on with that, if another one's coming to pick us up, or when, if Akiza has to call, no idea."
Seria looked around. "Well by the looks of things, Akiza's almost done talking with Officer Gantry about what happened, and those two," Seria smiled, directing my attention to the twins, who looked to be fighting off sleep next to each other "look like they're ready to go home too."
I smiled at the twins, for about a second, and then I remembered everything that happened and how much they'd gone through in the one night alone. It was my fault. I knew that much. Granted, I wasn't the one who gatecrashed a party and killed a bunch of people, but I definitely wasn't a saint either. It wasn't just about me. Leo, Luna and everyone else deserved a moment to relax and unwind, and I, yet again, turned the whole thing into a public display showing how unstable I was.
The twins at the very least deserved a good night's sleep.
I walked over to the twins, bending down. "Leo… Luna…" I cooed. Their eyelids flickered, and I took that to mean they were both still semi-awake. "You guys want to go home?"
Luna groaned, opening her eyes partway. "Yes, please…" she mumbled, before closing her eyes again.
"Are you able to walk?" I asked softly. "Or do you need a hand getting up?"
"Can you carry me, please…?" Luna muttered.
A smile slowly formed on my face. "Sure…" I whispered, reaching underneath her, and lifting her up from the floor. Luna wrapped her arms around my neck as I looked down at Leo. "Need help there?" I asked him.
He sighed, which quickly turned into a yawn. "No… No, I'm getting up…" he grumbled, groggily getting to his feet. We walked back over to Seria, who had since been joined by Akiza and Joel.
"Public Security is not letting anyone come into the event hall, so we can't get picked up." Akiza explained.
"What does that mean?" I asked.
"It's a safety precaution, I hear." Seria said. "You're free to leave, it's just that I think the officers don't want any new people coming into the building. I'm happy to take you and twins home if you'd like."
"That would be great. Thanks, Seria." I smiled.
"What about you, Akiza? Do you need a lift home?" Seria asked.
"Oh, no. Thank you for the offer, but I'm fine. Crow's taking me home." Akiza stated.
My eyes veered away, and I licked my lips, silently wondering why Yusei wasn't going to take Akiza home, though I didn't ask.
"Yeah, I think I might as well head home too…" Joel sighed.
Seria turned to my stepbrother. "In your state, I would very much recommend using the auto pilot." She warned. "Unless you'd like to get fined or lose your license."
"Yeah, yeah. I hear ya…" Joel mumbled. "Hey," Joel faced me, reaching into his left pocket and slipping a bit of paper into my right pocket, as my hands were full carrying Luna, who had seemingly fallen asleep in my arms. "That's got my address and stuff on it. Come over sometime, okay?"
I nodded. "Yeah, okay."
Joel turned to Seria. "Bye, gorgeous." He teased, before walking off.
"Sorry…" I whispered to her.
"It's alright." Seria assured me. "My car's down in bay parking. C'mon, let's go."
"Yay…" Leo groaned unenthusiastically, obviously using all of his willpower to stay awake.
I turned to Akiza, half-expecting her to say something in regards to what had went on during the evening, but she didn't. I looked away, and then started walking off with Seria and Leo in front of me.
I looked down at Luna, a beautifully serene expression on her face as she slept peacefully.
I smiled, holding her a little tighter as I picked up the pace to catch up with Leo and Seria.
