XXI. A Future Ruined
One second there was Z-one, and the Momentum reactor, and the Ark falling apart all around them. The next… light. Blinding light that poured through even when Yusei closed his eyes, then a rush of wind and the sudden feeling of being off-balance. Yusei stumbled and fell, expecting to feel the tiled floor of the Ark Cradle beneath him, but instead he found earth. He blinked rapidly to get rid of the white spots dancing in front of his eyes and tried to focus.
Through watering eyes, he could make out a bright blue sky. A second look, once his vision cleared up, revealed a wide stretch of land covered in grass and weeds. In the distance, he thought he could see buildings. Where the hell was he?
"Yusei? Yusei!"
Aki? Yusei turned around to see her running towards him. Behind her, the rest of the group was slowly catching up. They were still in the same relative position they'd been on the Ark Cradle, but the Ark itself was gone, and so was Neo Domino. What had Z-one done?
"What happened? Where are we?" Aki asked when she reached him. She refrained from touching him, coming to a stop an awkward few feet away from him. Yusei didn't reply right away, looking past her at the rest of the group. Aporia stood to the side, looking around and undoubtedly searching for Z-one. Yusei hadn't caught all of their conversation, but he'd been woken up by Z-one and Aporia talking.
"Where's Z-one?" Aporia inevitably asked mere seconds later. Antinomy and Paradox both looked around, alarmed. Aporia looked at Yusei. His eyes narrowed.
"Where's Z-one?" he said again. "What did you do?"
Why did everyone always think he'd done something? "Nothing!" Yusei protested. "Z-one—"
But how to explain it when he barely understood what had happened either? Z-one had said he'd stop the Ark and the next moment they were here. "He said he was going to stop the Ark from falling."
"No…" Aporia took out a deck—hadn't he lost his?— and stared at it. Antinomy and Paradox drew nearer.
"Aporia, what happened?" Antinomy asked. Aporia remained mute for several charged seconds, during which Yusei looked around helplessly. Aki was at a loss, taking in the new environment with ill-concealed unease. Sherry was looking straight ahead into the distance, much like she had been before.
"Z-one gave me his deck. Said I should use it to protect myself and that he needed to go do something. Told me not to look back."
That last bit, inexplicably, got the most reaction out of Antinomy and Paradox. Antinomy froze up. Paradox kicked at the ground.
"He didn't." He whirled on Yusei. "Tell me he didn't!"
Yusei almost wanted to back down in the face of Paradox's anger, but he gathered himself. "Z-one went into the Momentum Reactor. He said he was going to use Clear Mind to stop it."
"That fucking idiot!"
Antinomy turned his head away.
"He's dead, isn't he?" Aki said in a small voice.
"He fucking sacrificed himself to send us back!" Paradox shouted. "How could he?!"
"He said it was for the best." Aporia looked anguished. "He said we should give up on the Ark Cradle."
Antinomy threw his hands in the air and took off at a brisk pace away from the group. Paradox made an abrupt motion with his hand. In the distance, something exploded.
"Idiot," he muttered again, and to Yusei's astonishment, he heard Paradox's voice breaking. "Self-sacrificial idiot, why's it always the same with you?"
Yusei didn't reply. He stood around awkwardly, torn between doing like Antinomy had done and walking away to get his thoughts in order or trying to find out where exactly they were. Aki looked much the same. Sherry was no help.
"Where did he send us to?" Aki asked in a small voice.
"The future, obviously." Those were the first words Yusei had heard from Sherry in a long time. Her voice was hoarse and she was still looking straight ahead. "So is this you mythical ruined world?"
Paradox took a deep breath. "Yes," he said, voice carefully controlled. "I don't know the exact date, but we are most certainly in your future. Long after the Machine Emperors have perished." He gestured at the ruined skyline in the distance. "That is Neo Domino."
Aki gasped. Yusei clenched his hands so tightly he could feel his nails through the leather of his gloves. Neo Domino. He'd gone from one city in ruins to that very same city, only ruined in a different way in a different time. Was there really no way to save it?
Antinomy returned, looking slightly less dazed now. He turned to Delta Eagle, which had miraculously survived the trip and was parked next to Paradox's D-Wheel a few meters away from them. "It's July 2116… The 17th," he read. "Almost three in the afternoon." He straightened up and addressed the group at large. "We died about five years ago, so our base is empty now. We shouldn't stay out here."
Paradox scoffed. "It's the middle of the day."
"Still." Antinomy started walking, not looking if anyone was following him. Yusei was loath to trust him now, but he had no other choice. He was almost a hundred years in the future and he knew nothing about this world. The Machine Emperors might be gone, but that didn't mean there weren't any other predators.
All too soon, they reached what looked like the entrance of what had once been an industrial compound. Yusei frowned and looked up at the sun for a way to orient himself. The place looked familiar. For a moment, he saw it bustling with life, Neo Domino ahead of him and the Ark Cradle floating over it.
"… Is this Momentum Express?"
Antinomy cast him a sideways look. "It used to be."
Paradox and Aporia walked past them and took the lead along with Antinomy. Sherry dragged behind. Paradox threw her a worried look and made to slow down, but Aki got there before him. The fire in Sherry's eyes was honestly scaring Yusei, but the rest of her movements was dulled, almost zombie-like.
"We're here," Aporia announced after another five minutes of walking. He stopped in the middle of an empty field surrounded by the ruins of shot-down buildings. For a moment, nothing happened. Then Aporia's eyes glowed and a screen appeared in front of him. He, Antinomy and Paradox all put their hands on it.
Within seconds, the ground underneath their feet shifted and slid apart, revealing a staircase that led straight down into the darkness. The hatch was wide enough to easily manoeuvre Antinomy's and Paradox's D-Wheels through. The three men went down and Yusei, Aki and Sherry followed reluctantly.
The moment they'd entered, Aporia's eyes glowed again. The hatch closed and for a second, they were shrouded in complete darkness. Then lights came on all around them and Yusei could see the long staircase down towards what had to be a series of underground tunnels. Had those always been there?
Antinomy must have read his mind. "The tunnels hadn't been completed yet when we found the place, but the structural integrity was sound. We've been expanding upon it for years. The technology left in Momentum Express was essential for our time travel research, even though it didn't always go well."
He touched the back of his head. Aporia and Paradox both winced, though Yusei had no idea for what.
"This is where you lived?" Aki asked. Antinomy nodded as they reached the bottom of the staircase. Another door was unlocked easily by Paradox and then they were inside the actual building. The door behind them seemed to be made of weapons-grade steel, probably made to withstand any and all attacks from the Machine Emperors. The doors in front of him were a lot flimsier, though they too were more reinforced than your average kitchen door.
"Home sweet home," Paradox called out bitterly. He wiped away some dust. "You'd think that with the place hermetically closed off, there wouldn't be any dust."
"You're not getting out of the chore list again," Antinomy said with a forced chuckle. Paradox didn't laugh. Antinomy looked away.
"So now what? If Z-one said to give up on the Ark…"
"I thought you'd be happy about that?" Sherry said. Yusei startled. She was so quiet lately that he almost kept forgetting about her presence.
"I am," said Antinomy. Yusei gritted his teeth. Hadn't it been Antinomy's plan in the first place to use the Ark to get the City and Satellite working together without their knowledge? And now he was here claiming he wanted nothing to do with the Ark? Goddamn hypocrite.
"We need another plan," Aporia said. "We now know the reason why Neo Domino's Momentum Reactor went out of control a second time. But we cannot prevent the separation of the City and Satellite; that is tied to Zero Reverse. We've never been able to change anything about that."
Yusei was tired of all this. He was tired of hearing how his own city had caused the destruction of the world. How his parents' invention was responsible for the suffering and eventual destruction of the entire human race. No wonder Z-one'd said he was tired. He really didn't want to think about any of it.
"How about we sleep first and regain our senses," he said, trying to make his words into a suggestion and not an excuse to get as far away from the whole lot of them as possible. To his surprise, Sherry backed him up.
"Sounds great. I don't want to see any of your faces right now."
Of course, she was a lot less tactful about it than he had tried to be.
"I'll show you the way," Paradox told her. Sherry nodded wordlessly, shouldered her bag and followed him, leaving Yusei standing between the rest of them. He looked around. They probably wouldn't appreciate it if he went around wandering the place on his own.
"There's a free room in that hallway," Antinomy said, monotone. "Third door on the right."
Yusei nodded and left without a word. As he left, he saw Aki turn towards Antinomy to ask something. It stung. He was very far from home right now and the people he'd thought he could trust had turned out to be far less so than he'd ever imagined. Jack and Crow were still in Neo Domino ninety years in the past. He truly hoped he'd see them again soon and yet, the way he'd left Neo Domino behind, he wasn't so sure.
oOoOo
The Ark was gone. The Ark was gone with Yusei and Aki on it, and Crow knew they weren't dead, but they were nowhere to be seen and what if they got hurt? They could be badly hurt and he'd have no way of knowing. All his calls had failed. It wasn't just that they didn't pick up, the numbers didn't even exist. He'd tried calling Yusei, he'd tried calling Aki, he'd even tried calling Bruno and got nothing.
He groaned and Jounouchi-san, who had been driving him around when everything had gone wrong, clenched the steering wheel more tightly.
"So stupid," he growled over the radio, now once more broadcasting news continuously. The picture it painted was not pretty. "How could they have done this? They've destroyed the city!"
He wasn't wrong. Whoever had given the order to shoot the Ark out of the sky had only added to the destruction the Machine Emperors' short-lived invasion had caused. The inner city of Neo Domino was in ruins and the people on the streets were in no shape to help anyone. If not for the sudden disappearance of the Ark, the damage would have been even worse. He could only hope the twins were safe now. Ruka's death… It had been one of the scariest moments in his life, the moment he'd thought that this time they were done for, this time they wouldn't make it out alive, their luck had finally caught up with them.
But she was still alive. That much he still knew. Rua was a Signer and Ruka was alive. They had all survived. Neo Domino could rebuild. It would have to rebuild. They could do this. As soon as Aki and Yusei returned, they would just all tackle this together somehow—
"—Council is calling for the arrest of Team New World, Team Chevalier and Team 5D's. If spotted, please do not approach, individuals are highly dangerous. Wanted people include—"
Crow stared at the radio as it droned on. He continued staring as it mentioned the names of Team New World, and then Team Chevalier, and then his own team. Yusei, Jack, himself, Aki. This wasn't right. They'd been trying to help! They'd wanted to save the city, not destroy it!
He'd already been arrested so many times. He'd thought that was finally all behind him. And the kids, oh god, the kids. What if they were held responsible for his actions? What if Security came after them? He had to go find them, he had to cross Daedalus Bridge and get to Satellite. He unbuckled his seatbelt. He had to—
"Crow," Jounouchi-san said. "We'll help you, but you can't go out on the streets now. Have you called Jack?"
Crow breathed in and dialed Jack's number. At least this one was working. Jack picked up after five seconds that felt like an eternity.
"Crow! Where did they go? Are you safe?"
"No idea. I'm with Jounouchi-san, you? Where are the twins?"
"They're safe. I sent them home. I'm hotwiring a car."
Sounded fair. What was one more crime when they were already wanted for something far worse?
"Where are you going?"
"Home."
"Can he come to Kaiba Corp?" Jounouchi-san asked. Crow relayed the question. Jack laughed bitterly.
"From Tops right through the city center? You heard the news, right?"
Yeah, that was a no. Jounouchi-san steered them past a blockade and Crow ducked down, hoping that the Kaiba Corp logo on the side of the truck would be enough to stop Security from pulling them over.
"Tell him to stay put. I'm calling Mokuba to send someone over," Jounouchi-san said. Crow bristled. Just tell Jack to stay put and wait for Security to find him?
"Trust us, please. Five minutes. If Mokuba can't get someone there in five minutes, tell Jack to do whatever he thinks best."
Crow grit his teeth and told Jack the news. Jack didn't say anything for several seconds. Crow heard the engine of a car start up.
"I want news in two minutes," he said at long last. "If not, I'm leaving. It's Tops, it's gonna be crawling with Security here."
"Agreed." Crow nodded. "Two minutes. If not, Jack's leaving."
Jounouchi-san didn't seem perturbed by that. Neither was Kaiba-san when they called.
"Two minutes? Yeah, I have someone in the vicinity. Tell Jack he'll be there. Blue truck, license plate Ha 20-51. His name's Chen Huiliang."
Jounouchi-san nodded in satisfaction and hung up. Jack, having followed the conversation, grumbled a brief confirmation. Crow pulled a face.
"Rich people, I swear."
Jounouchi-san laughed. "Right? You should've seen his brother, he was even worse than Mokuba. But it's pretty damn useful, times like these."
"What's to say you're not handing us over to Security? Why trust us?" Sure, Yusei had met Mutou-san and Yuki-san, but that was decades ago for them and Yuki-san wasn't even around anymore. Crow had no love lost for Kaiba Corp. They hadn't been there after Zero Reverse either.
"We have been working on this for decades," Jounouchi-san said. "I trust Yugi. If he says it's okay, then it's okay. Besides," he gave Crow a wry smile. "I don't think you would've gone without sleep for a week to keep the city powered just so you could destroy it. You're good people, the lot of you. You weren't the fucking idiots who tried to shoot the Ark out of the sky and destroyed the place in the process."
God, the City. Crow hadn't even been able to take in the full scope of the destruction. From the constant blathering on the radio, it was the inner city center that had been hit the worst, while the outer suburbs and Satellite had escaped relatively unscathed. He gave it another ten minutes before someone tried to use that as evidence for a Satellite conspiracy as well. What a fucking mess.
Crow wasn't exactly sure how, but they arrived at Kaiba Corp in one piece and without being stopped by Security a mere ten minutes later. Jack, accompanied by a Kaiba Corp employee who was summarily dismissed, entered another fifteen minutes after that. He looked a little worse for wear, but thankfully alive. Crow had never been so happy to see him again. At least there was still someone here in this damn place that he knew and trusted.
"The twins?" he muttered.
"Home. Should be fine," said Jack. His face told Crow that he had his doubts about that. The twins' parents had never been a shining model of parenting, but at least they'd be looked after. They were far too young to get caught up in this mess.
"Right," Kaiba-san said, clapping his hands together. "I don't think this went the way any of us wanted it to go, but at least we have power again. Jack-kun, Crow-kun, Security will probably come looking for you. We're happy to keep you here but I fear my employees might not be so keen on that." He made a face. "Is there anywhere you think you'd be safe?"
"Martha," Jack said immediately. Crow wanted to agree so badly. He wanted to go home. But it was too dangerous. He shook his head.
"Jack, no. Ushio and Mikage know her, they'll look for us there. The kids…" he swallowed. He just couldn't get them caught up in all of this. Jack sighed, suddenly looking small.
"I suppose you're right."
"Anywhere else?" Kaiba-san asked. They shook their heads.
"They can come with us," Mazaki-san said. Mutou-san nodded in agreement.
"We still have the shop. Security won't be looking for them with us."
"Good plan." Kaiba-san nodded at them. "That okay with you?"
Staying with the King of Games? Any other day, and they would have been ecstatic. If only they had any idea about everyone else… But Crow nodded. It'd have to do. Until they found everyone else again, it was the best idea they had.
oOoOo
It took until the rumbling of his stomach got too much even for him before Yusei found the energy to venture out of the room he'd chosen. It was a small room, barely large enough to house a bed. It had probably been an office once. He made it to what he'd come to think of as the common area and found everyone else already there. They looked up when they saw him enter, but no one said anything and Yusei felt no need to break the silence.
There was something that looked like a kitchen attached to the room. No one stopped him when he entered, so he helped himself to the food in the fridge. He'd had better. He'd also had worse.
"What are we going to do?" Aki asked after Yusei had already long finished his food. They'd sat in uncomfortable silence for fifteen minutes, no one willing to speak up or leave.
"We are going to go back and try to fix this mess again," Paradox said. Yusei refused to point out that that mess was their fault in the first place. "I don't care what you are going to do. You can go back to Neo Domino. We'll handle this."
"Oh, so you're gonna make plans without us again?" Yusei spat. Antinomy shook his head.
"Yusei, seriously, go back home. There's no point in you staying here."
"How many times do I have to say this?" Yusei said. "I want to help. I've offered since the beginning and if you'd let me, maybe we'd actually get somewhere without getting in each other's way."
Antinomy and Paradox exchanged looks, then both looked at Aporia, who shook his head.
"We have to tell them sooner or later," Antinomy said, mouth pulling into a grimace. Aporia shrugged and Paradox glanced at Sherry, who stared back defiantly. Antinomy gestured at a table.
"Before you decide on anything, you have to listen, and I mean that," he said. "Sit down, please. We need to tell you about time travel."
Time travel? The way they'd made it look, it seemed fairly straightforward. Go back in time, change things, hopefully come back to a better future. Yusei bit his lip. But there had to be more to it, hadn't there? The physics alone were mind-boggling…
"Time is… Linear. A vector, if you will. It goes in one direction and one direction only, and most people are carried along with it at a rate of one second per second."
Yusei nodded. "So the progression of time is a dimensionless quantity."
"Yeah." Antinomy tilted his head. Aporia waved a massive hand.
"Doesn't matter."
"You're right." Antinomy ran a hand through his hair. "So every once in a while you get people or creatures who can deviate from that path. Take a detour, slow down a bit, stop to check out the sights…"
"Yeah, we get that. What's your point?" Sherry said.
"The good news is, once you've traveled through time, you're not bound by its rules anymore. Whatever you do in the past won't threaten your existence in the present. I could go back and shoot my past self in the head and I still wouldn't disappear—I wouldn't recommend it, though."
Yusei thought of Z-one, and of the time Antinomy had apparently killed him. He didn't want to find out how true that statement was.
"So if we can't erase ourselves, then what's the problem?" Aki asked. "You've been so reluctant to let us travel back to the past with you, but it can't actually harm us, can it?"
"Not physically, no," Paradox said. Yusei frowned.
"Does time travel affect your mind or something?"
"Not in the way you think, Yusei." Antinomy sighed. "Look, if you travel through time, you're not bound by causality anymore, but the rest of the world still is. That includes your younger selves."
"Meaning?" Sherry asked.
"Meaning that if you travel back in time and undo the reason why you went back in the first place, your younger self won't have any reason to go back in time. They will remain where they are. You can't take their place because there won't be a free place to take."
"I don't get it," Aki said, her voice trembling. "We can't go back?"
"If you come with us and we succeed, you can't go back to Neo Domino. There will be no place for you there." Antinomy took a deep breath. "There will be an Izayoi Aki and a Fudou Yusei there, but it won't be this you, and unless you can somehow convince the entire world that there are two of you now, you can't ever live there again."
"Leave Neo Domino?" Yusei blinked hard. "But we can't leave… We belong there, right? It's where we've always lived."
"And so has the Fudou Yusei who never went back in time," said Paradox. "Don't you get it? You'll have to give up your place in Neo Domino. All the people you know, all the people you've ever met… Unless they're time travelers themselves, they won't remember you. They'll only remember this other version of Fudou Yusei, and seeing you will just freak them out."
"That's what's waiting for you if you come with us. We can't change that," Antinomy said softly. Aki toyed with the sleeve of her sweater, eyes downcast. Yusei looked up at the ceiling. Never go back to Neo Domino? But he'd grown up there… Everything he knew and all the work his parents had done was in Neo Domino. He couldn't just abandon it! Maybe Antinomy was wrong. Maybe they just hadn't tested this properly. There had to be a way—
"I could go back when I fought you," he told Paradox abruptly. Aki gasped in realization. "Everyone was waiting for me to come back. There was no other me."
"Because you didn't undo the reason why you traveled back in the first place."
"We defeated you!"
"Think!" Paradox made a disgusted noise. "I know you're smarter than this. Why did you go back?"
"Because you tried to destroy Duel Monsters." Yusei spat.
"Wrong."
"You—" No, he hadn't known about that until he'd actually met Yugi-san and Judai-san… He'd seen the world fall apart right after Paradox had— "Because you stole Stardust Dragon."
Paradox nodded. "And did you stop me from stealing it?"
Oh. Yusei looked down. "I didn't prevent you from doing so."
"No, you only took Stardust Dragon back. You got lucky. If you come with us now and we succeed, you won't be."
"That's time travel," Antinomy said. "Look, you don't have to come. We can handle this just fine on our own. If you want an out, we can just take you back to 2031. I guess you'll notice what we do in the past, but you will be able to keep living in Neo Domino. You'll be fine."
Yusei took a deep breath, then another. This was really the price? They had already destroyed all the work Yusei had done, and now they would take him away from his home too? From everyone he'd ever known and loved?
"That's not fair," Aki whispered. "We're trying to save the world."
Paradox laughed. "Whatever gave you the impression that any of this was ever fair? The world has never been fair to us and it won't be fair to you either. If you want out, now's your chance."
Back to Neo Domino, where Jack and Crow and the twins still were. Back to Neo Domino… Where the entire city was in ruins. Could they really not help at all? Just let them go off on their own? He glanced at Antinomy. If they died and Yusei could have prevented it… And if they failed, how could they still save the world?
"There's really no other way?" Aki asked.
"You could always kill your other self. That'd do the trick."
Antinomy shook his head. Aporia actually snorted. "We can't do that!" Yusei said. How could he just say that! He couldn't go kill himself just because— Ugh, time travel made his head hurt. How had Antinomy dealt with this all these years?
"I'll come," Sherry said. She hadn't spoken in a long time. Now she crossed her arms and looked at Antinomy and Paradox in turn. Paradox's eyes widened.
"Sherry, are you sure?"
"It's not like I have anything left in Neo Domino, do I? Not in that timeline, so why should I care about it?" She caught Paradox's eyes and the two of them just… stared at each other for a while. Yusei exchanged a look with Aki. What was going on there?
"You can still back out," Paradox said.
"I won't."
Paradox nodded, broke eye contact with Sherry and swallowed. "You two?"
Aki shook her head. "I have to think about it. I can't just… Not now."
"Me too," Yusei added. He needed time for this. Right now, he really wished Jack and Crow were here. He hoped they were okay. They had to go back and find them, at least, before they did anything else. And Ruka… She was alive, but they didn't know how she was doing. Had she gotten hurt badly? Had she recovered okay? How could he just leave Neo Domino behind when there were so many things to be done?
"It's okay," Antinomy said gently. "We can spare a few days. Just take your time."
Time. As if he hadn't dealt with that enough already.
oOoOo
Tops was in ruins. She and Rua gingerly made their way around the rubble, trying to get to their home. Jack had brought them to the entrance and then, when his face was broadcast across the city with the newly restored electricity network, he'd left to find a working vehicle that could get him to safety.
Ruka could see their home in the distance. it looked intact. Maybe someone should clean the pool, but other than that, their house had escaped the destruction of the Earthbound Gods. She tripped over a rock and stumbled. Rua grabbed her arm before she could fall.
"You okay?" he asked, peering at her closely. "Does your head hurt? Are you feeling dizzy?"
"Rua, I'm fine." She gave him her best smile. This was going to be worse than when she'd come out of her coma. Of course, she hadn't actually died that time.
Rua had brought her back to life. She glanced at the birthmark on his arm. He had wanted to be a Signer for so long, but now he didn't seem particularly happy about it. The Crimson Dragon had meant well. It had saved her life. So why was he so angry?
"We're almost home," he said, hoisting her arm over his shoulder. She didn't really need the support but welcomed it anyway. The sky was perfectly blue and perfectly empty. Had the others escaped? Where were Jack and Crow? If Yusei and Aki had died, Ruka was sure she would have felt it, but what about Bruno? What about Sherry and Paradox? The uncertainty was wreaking havoc on her mind. They had tried calling them, but Crow's phone had gone to voicemail and Yusei and Aki's numbers apparently didn't exist.
"I wish we knew they were okay," she whispered. Rua's face fell.
"Yeah…"
They made their way to their home in silence. Using the elevator seemed like too much of a risk to take, even though Momentum was back up and running. It was a long trek and they had to pause a few times to catch their breath, but they made it to their thankfully-undamaged door. Ruka tried the handle. It was unlocked.
She and Rua exchanged a look and activated their duel disks simultaneously. Ruka carefully pushed the door open.
"Freez—! Oh, thank god, it's you two!"
Ruka blinked. In the hallway was Ushio-san, weapon lowered to the ground, his face a picture of relief. He crouched down to their level. "We thought they'd taken off with you."
"Ushio-san?" Ruka looked around. Why had he been in their home? "What's going on?"
But Ushio-san was already on the phone. Ruka and Rua glanced at each other.
"Yes, Mikage-san, the twins are here. They're alone, yes." Ushio-san looked them over. "A bit scuffed up, but in one piece. Yes, okay."
He shut down the phone. "I'm sorry we didn't find you before," he said. "I'm glad to see you're both okay."
"Ushio-san, what are you talking about?" Rua asked. Ruka narrowed her eyes. Something didn't add up. Sure, she'd died, but Ushio-san didn't know that. Why had he been waiting for them here?
Ushio-san growled. "I can't believe I let myself be fooled by them. I honestly thought they'd changed, but to attack the City like that!"
"Um, who?"
"Yusei and Jack and Crow. I'm glad you kids are fine."
Ruka recoiled. Rua raised his hands. "Whoa, wait! They didn't attack anyone! They were trying to save the city!"
Ushio-san sighed and shook his head. "I'm sure that's what they told you. Why don't you kids freshen up a bit? We called your parents. I'm sure they'll be here any minute."
Ruka exchanged another nervous glance with Rua. Mom and Dad were coming? She'd often wished they'd come by more often, but now? Why now? She didn't want to see them and explain why Rua was now also a Signer, or the events that had led up to that.
"They didn't betray anyone," Rua said, voice tight with anger. "Jack tried to save us. Yusei and Aki were trying to stop the Ark from attacking us."
Ushio-san didn't seem to have heard him. "And Team Chevalier too… Ah, I don't blame you kids. You're young. You already went through a great deal. You should just rest up a bit, and we'll make sure everything gets back to the way it was. You won't have to worry about them anymore, we'll find them and we won't let them get near you."
Rua stamped his foot. "They didn't do anything wrong!" he shouted. "They were trying to save all of you! Ask Kaiba-san, Jack and Crow were helping out everywhere!"
Ushio-san faltered just a little at that name. "He will be brought in for testimony, I'm sure," he said. "I'm sorry, kids. I didn't want to believe it myself either, but the evidence—"
"It's just a misunderstanding!" Ruka said. "Please, Ushio-san, you know them! They would never try to hurt anyone! Yusei worked so hard to get the city reunited, why would he try to destroy it?"
Ushio-san didn't get to reply. Ruka heard the elevator doors slide open, footsteps through the hallways and then Mom and Dad burst in.
"Rua! Ruka!" Mom immediately scooped the two of them up into a hug. "Oh, thank God you're all right! We were so worried when we heard what happened!"
Their parents were actually here. It had been how long since they'd seen them in the flesh? Ruka had lost count.
"We're fine, Mom," Rua gasped out. "You can let go now." He glanced at Ruka and Ruka knew, by unspoken promise, that he'd never tell their parents about her dying.
Mom and Dad looked the same as they always did, completely put together, not a hair out of place. It was almost impressive, given that they'd run here. Mom let go of them and got up. Dad nodded at Ushio-san.
"Officer, you have our gratitude for looking after our children. We'll take it from here."
Ushio-san looked uncomfortable. "Sir, with all due respect, I need witness statements from your children."
"Surely it can wait until tomorrow? Look at them, they don't need any more stress today. It must have been such a terrible day for them."
Ruka felt her eye twitch. They hadn't even been here for two seconds and they were already talking over them. "Mom, Dad, we're fine," she said. "If Ushio-san needs statements now, we can give them." And clear everyone else's names. It wasn't right for them to be accused of something they hadn't done.
"Out of the question," Mom said. "You two must have been terrified today!"
Rua grabbed her hand, grounding her. Yes, she had been terrified and Rua had been too, but how would Mom and Dad know? They hadn't been here for the Machine Emperors. They hadn't been chased around the entire city thinking they were going to die any second now. They hadn't actually died.
"I'll come back tomorrow, then," Ushio-san said. "Be safe, kids. Sir, ma'am."
Ruka watched him go. Even if he had been accusing the others, she'd rather have him around now. Having their parents around after so many months was just… awkward.
"We never should have left you unsupervised like that," Dad said, shaking his head. "Rest assured that your nanny has already been fired. It was very irresponsible of her to let you out of her sight. I have no idea what she was thinking, letting you hang out with those Satelliters all day."
Ruka's thoughts came to a crashing halt. Next to her, Rua froze.
"They didn't do anything to us," she said with forced calm. Rua's hand tightened around hers.
Dad shook his head. "You're just kids, it's not your fault that they fooled you, really. We should have been more careful. They have criminal markers, for God's sake." That last part was more of a murmur than anything else. It cut through Ruka like ice.
"That's not what they're like!" she protested. "And Aki-neesan isn't even Satellite!"
"Izayoi Aki?" Mom said. "She comes from a very prestigious family, that's true. But Ruka dear, have you heard about her history? She's one of those psychic duelists! Who knows how many people she's hurt!"
They were actually doing this. They were actually going to claim they knew better when they hadn't been around for ages, when she and Rua had spent so much time on their own.
"You should go to bed now, both of you." Mom said. "We've talked it over on the way here, and we think it's better you don't go back to Duel Academia either. We'll hire tutors, like before. Won't that be better? You'll be perfectly safe here, and then you won't have to deal with those Satellite kids. I hear they're having to admit them to city schools too now, can you imagine?"
Ruka felt dizzy, like her entire world was being turned upside down. No more school? She wouldn't see any of their friends anymore? How could they do that? How could they just waltz in here and think they knew better, and then take everything away from them? She felt her breathing become faster, heavier. She was hyperventilating and she didn't know how to stop it, she needed to get out, she needed help, she needed—
"You're wrong."
Rua's voice was a lifeline and she clung to it with all her might. His hand was warm in hers.
"Rua, dear, you're tired. Tomorrow you'll understand," Mom said gently. Rua's grip became painful, but Ruka didn't let go.
"Yusei helped us when we had no one else. He protected Ruka when she fainted during the Fortune Cup," Rua said. "Where were you then?"
"It would be better if you two just didn't participate in any tournaments. Rua, you know your sister is weak—"
"Stop talking about me like I'm not even here!" She burst out. "You're taking everything away from us! You don't even know them and you're already judging them just because they lived in Satellite! They couldn't help it! They had no choice!"
"It's tragic, for sure, but the environment they grew up in—"
"Yusei built our duel disks and our duel boards for us," Rua interrupted. "Where were you for that? He'd always help us with our homework. Aki-neesan would help us at school. Jack and Crow always looked out for us and made sure we got home safe. We were always alone and they actually helped us out!"
"It was a mistake to leave you unsupervised—"
"That's not what it's about!" Ruka screamed. She hadn't felt so angry, so helpless in years. "You don't get it! You always think that you can just throw money at your problems and that they'll go away! They cared about us!" She could feel the tears welling up. A week ago they'd still been with the guys. They'd been upset, but they'd all been together. They'd been fine. "Crow made us hot chocolate when the Ark Cradle appeared," she whispered. "He gave up his room for us. They didn't want us to go out all alone because it was way too late. Where were you for that?"
"That's more than enough," Dad said, voice raised. "I think you both need to cool down. You're staying in your rooms until tomorrow morning, and when you have a clear head again, we'll talk this over and get things sorted out."
They'd lock them up for all eternity. Rua met her eyes and glanced behind him. Ushio-san hadn't closed the door yet. She gripped Rua's hand in confirmation.
"No," she whispered.
"Young lady, you listen here—"
She bolted, Rua right behind her. They made it to the stairs before their parents had time to react. Rua kicked the fire door closed behind them.
"Rua! Ruka! You come back here this instant!"
Footsteps behind them. Rua pulled her along, faster and faster in a dizzying spiral down the stairs. They were faster and they knew this building through and through. They had to make it. They had to get out of here right now, they had to find the guys.
"Kuribon, please, guide us." Ruka whispered. There were tears streaming down her face. She had to keep running. The footsteps behind them hadn't stopped yet, they were thundering down the stairs, and if their parents caught up with them, they'd never get out again. Kuribon appeared in front of her, leading them down the stairs and outside. They burst through the outside door and kicked it shut behind them again. Ruka was gasping but she couldn't stop. Rua was pulling her along. Kuribon veered left sharply just as they were nearing the exit gates of Tops and Ruka pulled Rua along.
"This way!"
Kuribon led them to the high fence separating Tops from the rest of the city. They followed the fence for a few minutes, careful to stay out of sight of any passers-by, until Kuribon halted and chirped. Ruka studied the fence and bent low. She tugged. Part of the chain-link fence came loose in her hands.
"Thank god for bad maintenance." Rua grinned as he followed her out of Tops into the now-ravaged streets of Neo Domino. They were still a very long way from anywhere familiar, and Ruka didn't know how they were going to find the rest of the guys when Security was patrolling the entire city. But they had to try.
"I should've known I'd find you two here."
Rua whirled around, pulling Ruka behind him and activating his duel disk. Ruka knew who it was before even looking. She'd known and trusted that voice for almost two years now, but now…
"Ushio-san," Ruka said softly. "Please let us go."
Ushio-san stared down at them. They were still out of arm's reach. They could run. But outrunning their parents was one thing. Outrunning a trained police officer ?
"I hadn't even made it out of Tops before your parents called me," Ushio-san said. "And y'know? I wasn't even surprised. I kinda figured this would happen."
"Ushio-san, you don't understand—"
"See, that's the thing, I don't. Things don't add up and I'm pretty sure the two of you can explain what's going on here."
Ruka and Rua exchanged a look. Would he actually be willing to listen?
"Yusei didn't want this to happen," Ruka said.
"So you've said. But he broke into a high-security facility and collaborated with people who tried to destroy Neo Domino City. How else are we supposed to interpret that?"
Ruka glanced around. They were still standing right outside the fence of Tops. Maybe Ushio-san would be willing to listen, but if anyone else caught them here… "Ushio-san, can we talk in private somewhere?"
Ushio-san grimaced. "My car is nearby. That okay?"
Rua didn't look happy about that at all and there were plenty of reasons not to enter a Security vehicle right now, but what other choice did they have? If they could convince Ushio-san, they might just be able to get the guys pardoned again.
"Yes," Ruka said. Ushio-san nodded.
"Well, come on then. Let's talk."
Happy birthday to me!
Real talk, the story is not finished yet. It's not even close to being out of its draft phase. But real-life circumstances and my eternal penchant for procrastination made it so that I spent far less time working on this story than I wanted. So I'm updating to give me the incentive to work on it.
This means that updates might be every two weeks instead of every week like before. I will aim for weekly updates but I cannot promise that.
Comments, as always, very welcome!
Next chapter: Hindsight is 20/20 (except when it isn't).