Finally it's written! I at last have Chapter 11 written! I was halfway afraid that I wasn't going to get it done in time for the update this month. Bah.

Thanks go out this month to Raven Tsurara, Bookworm210, and Zeladious for their reviews; to Raven, Bookworm, OblivionDoctor, and Metarex for adding this jewel to their Alerts; and finally to Sword of Ragnarok and Metarex for Favoriting the story. I know it took longer than usual to get the chapter written, and I'm sorry for the long delay, but at least it's done and ready for posting!

DISCLAIMER: The same as all the previous chapters, I'm just too lazy to keep on repeating it up here.

Chapter 11

Tick Tock

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

Yuma waited. Fists clenched on his knees, he waited, tense as an over wound spring. It felt like he'd been in the waiting room for an eternity, felt as if each second ticked by the clock was counting down Ryoga's life….

Tick.

Yuma was tapping his foot on the tile. What was going on? Was he still in surgery?

Tock.

He looked over. Rio, Ryoga's younger sister, was waiting a few chairs away, looking about as anxious as Yuma felt. His fists clenched harder, his nails digging painfully into his palms.

Tick.

Agh! What was happening? Had something gone wrong? The waiting was driving him up the wall…

Tock.

Kotori said something to him. Yuma didn't even register the words. He was too worried, too scared to think about anything other than his friend/rival's condition. Zei said something, but like with Kotori, Yuma didn't even register it.

Tick.

Swish. Clack, clack, clack.

Yuma looked up. There was a doctor, still in his scrubs and facemask, pulling off bloody rubber gloves, his face grim. "Which one of you is Miss Rio Kamisiro?"

Rio stood. "That's me. Is Ryoga okay?"

The doctor—okay, surgeon—pulled the facemask down off his mouth and nose. "He's…alive." He said. "Your brother is still unconscious, and we managed to repair a good deal of the damage, but…."

But. Yuma hated that word. Usually when someone used the word but, it meant that bad news was sure to follow. Rio must've been thinking the same thing, because her face went from worried to worrieder…if that was even a word. "But…what?"

The surgeon shook his head. "Despite the surgery, we're still not quite sure he'll make it." He replied. "I'm sorry, but he's too weak for visitors right now, even family. We have him in the ICU on life-support, but he'll need to be monitored closely for the next few days. We'll keep you updated on his condition, but right now we're just not sure if he'll hang on."

Rio nodded, her face falling. "I see," she said softly. "I can fill out my information…."

"That would be great," the surgeon said, nodding. "If there's any change, for better or worse, we'll be sure to let you know first. Are there any other relatives we can notify?"

Rio nodded as she took the data pad. "Our father's…I'll put his information down, for all the good it'll do…." Her face soured slightly, which made Yuma wonder about what the Kamishiro siblings' father was like that made him so dislikeable.

When Rio was done, the surgeon looked to Yuma, Kotori, Zei, Tōya, and Kaito were sitting. "Do you all know him?"

It took Yuma a few seconds to register that the surgeon was talking to him. "Uh, yeah. We're classmates. Friends." He answered. "We all go to the Duel Academy."

Kaito looked like he wanted to debate the fact, but he wisely decided to let it slide. For now. Currently, there was a bigger problem.

Whether or not Ryoga would live.

As they left the hospital after filling in their information as secondary contacts, Zei spoke up. "I've…never seen anything like that before." He shivered, and his voice somber. No trace of his usual goofy, idiot, laid-back silliness. Now he looked scared. Quiet and scared. "And I never want to again. Ever."

Yuma gulped down bile. It had been several hours, but he couldn't get the image of Ryoga lying on the ground, unmoving, with a stain reddening his uniform shirt and jacket….

He looked over to where Rio was waiting, next to Kotori, for the light to change. She looked the worst of all of them, like she was about to burst into tears.

The light turned. The group crossed the street, going their separate ways shortly after.

Shark, you'd better survive…you need to survive, if only for your sister's sake.

000

They finished the duel between Yuma and Kotori the next monday. It ended in a draw, mostly because neither player was trying very hard. At least, Yuma wasn't—he was still distracted by the previous day.

They both got passing grades, and when the end-of-class bell rang everyone was grateful to get out of the school. Yuma itched at a spot on his chest, just where his heart was.

As he reached to scratch, he felt the key, cool against his skin, brush against his hand. He remembered Christopher Arklight's words about it; "Do not let it leave your sight. Under no circumstances are you to remove the Emperor's Key, understand?"

Yuma understood, all right; someone wanted the Key to get into the Astral World.

How are they going to be able to get there, without Astral there, anyhoo? He's…gone. Dead, at least that's what I thought. Until a few days ago, that was true; he had genuinely believed Astral to be dead. But then, last Friday, the remaining Arklight brothers, Christopher and Thomas—formerly V and IV, respectively—had turned that upside down by telling him that Astral could be brought back.

That he wasn't dead.

The prospect had lifted Yuma's heart, given him hope. There was a chance that his old partner could be revived. But, there was one little snag.

He had absolutely no idea how it could be done.

That reminder metaphorically kicked him in the metaphorical butt. It didn't entirely diminish his hope, however. It could be done, and that was enough to cheer Yuma's spirits.

At least, until reality hit him in the face in the form of Shark getting hit by a car, driven by some jackass texting behind the wheel. Sure, the guy had realized what happened, but only after he'd noticed the blood all over his freaking windshield….

"YUUUUMMMAAAA! FLYING FACE-KICK!"

Yuma was yanked out of his angry reverie just in time to duck Zei's shoe. The shoe was closely followed by the rest of the surfer's body, which proceeded to crash into the lockers behind Yuma. "Zei! What was that about?!"

"Gwagh…that hurt. Why'd you duck like that, Yuma?" Zei groaned, upside-down with his backpack on his chest.

"I didn't want your footprint on my face, is why. And what's with the flying kick?"

Zei jumped up. "You're not gonna guess what gets started this weekend!"

Yuma blinked at him. "Ooohkaaay." He said, drawing it out. "Big surfing tournament, and you're entering?"

Zei shook his head. "Here's a hint; it involves dueling, and a sweet card as a prize…."

"No. Way. I'm not entering a Duel Monsters tournament." Yuma stepped past Zei to his locker and went about exchanging his school things for his sneakers.

"Aww, c'mon! It's a tag duel tournament, and I need a partner!"

"Then why are you asking me? Why not annoy Tōya into partnering up with you?"

"He said no. Something about his grades slipping and needing to get more studying done…." Zei's face, puppy eyes and all, shoved itself into Yuma's personal space. "Pllleeeeeeasssse, Yuma? You're an awesome duelist, and I'm waaay too afraid to ask your cousin to partner up with me—"

"No." Yuma said, shoving Zei out of his face. "And begging and pouting and doing puppy-eyes won't get me to change my mind. You know why I don't like dueling for tournaments, and you're not going to get me to duel."

"I could pay you…."

"I said no!"

"Oh, come on!" Zei followed Yuma to the traffic light outside the building, hovering like a second shadow. "Don't be a spoilsport, Yuma, please! I really need a partner to enter!"

"Then go pester someone else! I'm not—OW!" Yuma's chest—no, not his chest, something in his chest hurt. Bad. It took a few seconds to realize it was his heart.

"Yuma? Hey, Yuma, what's wrong?" Zei was crouching next to him, a steadying hand on his shoulder.

Yuma looked up at him. He hadn't even realized that he'd gone to his knees, and now everyone in the area was gathered around him and Zei, worried looks on their faces. He recognized Shisui-sensei not far off, making his way through the after-school throng of students.

"I…I'm fine." Yuma said, standing up again. His heart was still hurting, although not as badly as the sudden pang a few minutes ago.

"You don't look fine, Tsukumo." Shisui-sensei had caught up to them. "You look pale. Are you sure you shouldn't see the school nurse, at least?"

"I said I'm fine," Yuma said, but it came out halfheartedly. Shisui-sensei lifted an eyebrow that said I don't believe a word of that. "All right, I'll go get some aspirin or something."

Shisui-sensei nodded. "Utaki, stay with Tsukumo until the nurse is sure he's okay." He said. "And, if you have to, escort him back to his apartment."

Zei nodded. "C'mon, Yuma." He nudged Yuma back inside, the small crowd dissipating.

Once inside, Zei looked to him with concern. "Seriously, man, what was that? You grabbed your chest and yelled 'ow' out of the blue, and then went to your knees. Do you have a heart condition or something that nobody knows about?"

Yuma shook his head, just as confused as Zei was. At first, he'd thought the pang of pain was from the Emperor's Key, but when it had escalated he knew that it was coming from him. "I…I have no idea where that came from."

"You ought to see a doc about that," Zei suggested. "I mean, if it's something serious, like an aneurysm or someth—"

"It's got nothing to do with that," Yuma replied, absently. "I've felt something similar to that, when…"

When something bad was nearby.

He stopped suddenly, realizing what it meant. Only then, it had been when Astral had been residing in the Key, during the WDC, with Tron and his schemes. Now, that pain had come from inside him, not the Key.

What if some of Astral's…essence or something rubbed off on me?

He belatedly realized that Zei was talking. "…in there, Yuma? Hey, you still awake in there?" Zei waved his hand in front of Yuma's face. "When…what? What're you talking about?"

"Ummm…" Yuma's thoughts took a few seconds to come back together. "It's…nothing. It's nothing. Don't worry about it."

But Zei wasn't going to 'not worry about it'. "It's about that Astral guy, isn't it? You're thinking about him."

"Yeah. No. Well, kinda." Yuma said, sighing. "It's just…back when I was in Heartland, tracking down Numbers cards and competing in the WDC, I'd sometimes feel this…pain, sort of like outside the school just now, but it'd come from the Key and not me."

"And you said that Astral guy hung out in the Key," Zei said, pointing to where it was under Yuma's shirt.

Yuma nodded. "It usually meant that something bad was nearby. Like someone turned evil by a Numbers or Tron." He didn't bother explaining that to Zei's confused look. "It stopped after…."

Zei cleared his throat a few seconds after Yuma trailed off. "So, if you had something like that happen when you still had this Astral guy around, it must mean that something bad is going to happen, right?"

Yuma nodded. The question is, what?

000

Power…it was a surge of power. What was it?

Don't ask me. It felt almost like him.

Bah! Impossible! He's dead! Without him, the Numbers have no power!

No…they don't need him to have power. It's his apprentice. The boy who wears the Key.

…The Key? You mean…?

Yes. It still exists. The power we felt…it came from the boy. Not him. Not the Key.

The boy…who would have thought he had power worthy of him.

We'll need to guide him. Him and the others. The boy is Light.

Light…I wonder if Astral had any idea who he chose when he chose Tsukumo Yuma as his apprentice….

000

Yuma whimpered in his sleep, caught up again in one of his nightmares. Sleeping as he was, he was oblivious to the sigil forming on his chest, over his heart like a tattoo:

Hikari.

No, the Hikari at the end is not a reference to my pen name. It is completely to do with the story, so no egoness there. This chapter marks a turning point in the story, where we get to see more than just a few duels against some weird guy in a suit and Kaito getting knocked out and the Arklight brothers coming into the picture. Don't get me wrong! Damien and his master and the Arklights all have their parts to play in this, but now I'm tossing another actor onto the stage of this play that is Remembrance.

I hope you all liked it, and don't forget to Favorite, Subscribe, and Review if you do. Keep reading, everyone!

~HikariHellion