Me: And I'm back with another chapter of Crystallization.

Crystal: Grrr...

Me: Crystal, we gone over this a couple of times already, okay? No more throwing knives at me. Got it?

Crystal: I'll...I'll managed.

Me: Good! As for you readers, I don't own Yugioh 5ds, but I do own Crystal and this certain story plot at the end. R&R. ;)

Chapter 52

"A…Aoi?! W-Why…?" I stuttered in fear as I staggered to the ground. I tried to get more words out of my mouth, but my throat was locked. Aoi…a Dark Singer? N-No. This has to a mistake! A dream! An illusion! There's no way Aoi can be a Dark Signer!

"You have got to be joking!" Jack shouted in disbelief.

"Aoi, what happened to you?!" Yusei yelled. "Why did you turn yourself into a Dark Signer like this?!"

Aoi didn't answer. Instead, his brown-black sclera eyes glared down at us with no doubt, automatic hatred, which pierced my heart. I could only stare back at him in horror.

"Aoi...this is a lie, right?" I stupidly asked him, feeling my voice shaken. "T-There's no way you could be a Dark Signer, isn't it?"

I saw Aoi glared at me coldly, "Might as well ask yourself that again Crystal, Because this isn't an illusion you're seeing." He held up his arm and reveal a wolf shape birthmark to me, similar to the one in my dreams. "This is real... this is what I am now!"

I felt my own heart piercing as soon as he said that, staring at him and his mark in disbelief. Aki went beside me and stared at Aoi with the same look on my face.

"That can't be right," Aki interjected. "Aoi, you wouldn't choose to become like this!"

Aoi shifted his gaze to the Rose Duelist and smirked at her, "Heh, it seems you also survived from the building, Aki. It's such a shame to know that you're also a Signer, because then, that would also make you my enemy!"

I felt something was wrong with Aoi from his aura, and the way he talks, so I faced him again, "Aoi, the darkness is messing with you. Please snap out of it!"

"SHUT THE HELL UP!" Aoi snapped at me, and I flinched. "You're the real reason I became like this, Crystal! Because of you, I got crushed under the building, and wasn't able to survive back at the hospital! If only you hadn't put yourself and Aki in danger like that, I wouldn't have to die and become like this!"

That did it. My own heart had just broken into million pieces already, just by hearing that. "That...that can't be right," I said. "There's no way that you would say those things!" I got up, then charged at Aoi, ignoring all my friends calling me. When I almost made contact to him, I failed to notice a duel disk strapped to his arm, and him placing one of his cards on it. This sent a heavy wind at me, which sent me flying backwards. I screamed has my back collided and skidded across the ground.

"CRYSTAL!" Everyone cried and ran towards me. Akane and Aki helped me up a bit, but that didn't stop me from keeping my eyes locked to the sky in crazed disbelief.

"Why... Why...?" I uttered as tears form in my eyes.

"Crystal..." I heard Akane muttered, and then started shouting to Aoi. "What the hell is wrong with you?! What makes you think that Crystal deserved this?!"

Aoi locked a cold glare at the scarlet head girl, "Stay out of this, red headed non-Signer! This has nothing to do with you!"

"Why you..." Akane shot a glare back at him.

"Easy there, man," Kiryu told Aoi, though he smirked in satisfaction. "At least you made quite a scene here with Chris in a hard way. That, I admit, I enjoyed seeing." Kiryu let out another sadistic laugh again.

"Young Singer," Demak stepped up, facing Ruka. "Is this what you're searching for?"

He held up the card for her see, and immediately, Ruka gasped, "That's Ancient Fairy Dragon!"

"If you wish to get it back, you must come and fight me. I will neither run nor hide," Demak revealed his Dark Signer Mark to Ruka. "My name is Demak, and I possess the mark of the Monkey."

Then, Rudger stepped up in front of the other Signers. "Everyone must go alone at this point. We'll meet again at the Four Stars of Destiny," Rudger told us, and turned around to the other Dark Signers. They turned their back at us, and walked away, disappearing into the thick fog, which makes it almost impossible for us to see.

"Wait! We're settling things right now!" Yusei yelled, and ran after them.

"Yusei!" Aki cried out to stop him, but Yusei had already disappeared to the fog. Jack followed him. The rest of us stay behind, and watched them go. Akane helped me up to my feet again, but I kept my eyes locked to the ground.

"Crystal...?" Akane tried to speak to me, but I looked away and ignored her. My mind shut down in this painful moment.


Everyone regrouped back at the orphanage with Riku hugging his older sister, in guilt and sorrow, and three young boys, who were crying and explaining to Dr. Schmitt of what happened. Everyone else was silent.

"I'm sorry... this is all my fault!" Takuya cried. "Martha went and tried to save me!"

"I see..." Dr. Schmitt started to say sadly. "Martha..."

Ushio dropped down to his knees, and tried to stare at Dr. Schmitt in his eyes, "I'm sorry. This is my fault. I was there. I could've grabbed Martha's hand before she fell."

"It's not your fault, Mister Ushio," Micchan protested.

"Yeah, if only we listened," Takuya agreed while sobbing.

"It's all our fault!" Jun cried. We could only stared at the three boys crying in grief, but I don't blame them. I know how they feel, because our mother figure is gone, and... Aoi turned into a Dark Signer, and perhaps was gone too. However, there was one certain person, who was annoyed by their crying. That certain person was Jack.

The blonde duelist slammed his fist down on the table, "Stop with all this crying, okay?! It's no one's fault that this happened!"

"He's right. It none of your faults," Yusei said to the kids. "It's all the Dark Signer's fault."

I couldn't take a heart to listen to this, so I placed my arms on the table, buried my face to them, and let my tears blurred my eyes. Then, I felt a few people surrounding me and comforting me. The twins, Rua and Ruka, hugged me tightly, also letting their tears fall in sadness. Akane and Riku placed their hands on my arm and told me it's going to be okay, but I can tell they were uncertain by this. Then, Aki came behind me, and rubbed both of my shoulders gently.

"There have been strange occurrences going on in Satellite, lately," I heard Yusei explained again. "The flaming hieroglyphs, the black fog in Satellite, everyone that caught in the black fog with Martha and Rally trapped in it. This is all the Dark Signers' doing."

"So, you're saying that if the Dark Signers are defeated..." the doctor started to say.

"Then the reverse will happen. Everyone will come back," Yusei finished.

"Is that true?" the boys asked.

Yusei knelled down to them in their level. "We'll definitely beat the Dark Signers, so don't cry anymore, okay?" Yusei told them, and they nodded. He then, face Dr. Schmitt. "We'll be leaving as soon as we're ready, so don't wait for us."

"Alright, it's up to you, everyone. Good luck," the doctor nodded.

"Thank you," Yusei faced the three boys. "Be sure to get some sleep, okay?"

"Okay... night Yusei," the boys waved Yusei good-bye, while Dr. Schmitt led them back to their bedrooms. Once Yusei gently closed the door, he turned around, and had his bangs covered his eyes. I noticed that there was something that he said to the boys that were possibly not true.

"Yusei, is it true that once we beat the Dark Signers, everyone will come back?" Jack asked. Yusei remained silent, still hiding his eyes under his bangs. "Well, is it?"

"I...I don't know," Yusei murmured. Everyone was taken back by this.

"WHAT?!" Jack yelled.

"What do you mean by that?!" Ushio demanded.

"It's just that... what I wanted to believe will happen," Yusei admitted.

Jack angrily slammed his fist on the table again in response. I flinched from where I was sitting but, didn't move. Both Jack and Ushio were yelling at the raven hair duelist for lying to the kids, and everyone else can only stared at this scene in distress. Then, to prevent this from turning chaotic, I got up from my seat, getting attention from everyone.

"Crystal?" Yusei started to say to me. I looked up at him, and he started to flinched when he noticed my puffy eyes from crying so much.

"Yusei...you're...you're pathetic," I uttered out in anger, noticing him taken back by this.

"W-What?" he gaped out.

"You're so pathetic and stupid for lying to yourself and to everyone else like this!" I yelled at him. I mentally smacked myself, because never in my life, that I ever yelled at Yusei like that. "You're not the only one who feels lost like this! You're not the only one who has to deal with someone you lost! I'm sure some of us in here are trying to deal with this later on! Even I...I..." I stopped myself and looked at the ground, letting my bangs covered my eyes.

"Crystal..." I saw Yusei coming towards me, but I backed away from him.

"Yusei...I...I can't deal with this...anymore," I uttered out and darted through the door.

"Wait, Crystal!" Yusei cried out to me.

"Crystal, come back!" Akane shouted.

"Crystal!" Aki called out behind me. Everyone else tried to call my name to stop me, but I ignored them.

I ran out of the orphanage in distress, and head to the deepest part of the woods. I found myself standing near the oldest pine tree, and leaned my back against it, choking into tears. My heart still aches as I stared into the starry sky. My visions blurred from the tears in my eyes. There were too many painful thoughts that went through my mind, and I can't take this anymore. My best friend is now a Dark Signer, and he's gone... for good.

"AOI, I AM SO SORRY!" I wailed as I sat on the ground, curled my legs, and buried my face to my arms. "I'm so sorry. This happened, because I let you died like this!" I muffled in tears. "I'm sorry... Aoi..."

"Crystal...Crystal..." I looked up to see Cecilia in front of me and had her hand on my arms. "Please...I know this is painful to you...but you need to stand strong. Aoi isn't completely gone, yet."

"How would you know?!" I snapped at her in tears. "Didn't you know what would happened, if the Dark Signers were to be defeated? They'll disappear into dust, and go back to the dead! Poof! Just like that! Meaning they can't be save, Cecilia! Never! You don't even know what it feels to lose someone, who you really care about!"

"I... I do... of course I do," Cecilia turned away with a sad look on her face. "I know what it feels like, and I feel the same way as you do. But, if you're going to continue be like this Crystal, then I don't know what else to do with you anymore."

She faded away, leaving me behind in the dark woods. I buried my face again and muffled a cry. It's painful. Too painful. I don't want to deal with any of this... Crimson Dragons... Guardians... Signers... Dark Signers...I don't care if I have an important role for this. I can't deal with this anymore.

"It hurts, doesn't it?"

I broke out of my thoughts, and shot up, seeing a familiar blue hair Dark Signer in front of me, "Aoi?! Aoi, what are y-mmrph!" I felt his hand covered my mouth as he pressed his fingers to his lips.

"Shh!" he shushed me, and looked around cautiously, before facing back to me. "I can't let them know that I'm here with you."

I stared at him in silent confusion as he slowly removed his hand, and helped me up back on my feet. Staring into his brown, Dark Signer eyes, I backed away from him, afraid and confuse of he's going to do next. "Aoi...why are you here?"

Suddenly, he reached his hand at me, and I flinched. Then, I realized he was doing something that I didn't expect him to do. His hand began to caress my face for a bit, and wiped off the tears from my eyes. I stood there frozen, while I felt the sharp coldness from his hand, and the next thing I know it, Aoi pulled me towards him. He wrapped his arms around me tightly, and had his chin above my forehead.

"I'm sorry, Crystal. I didn't mean to say all those things to you back there, yet I still hurt you," he started to say, hugging me even tighter. "Everything I said was a lie. I only said it just to make them believe I'm on there side."

I blinked in confusion. So, he didn't blame me for his death. He didn't think it was my fault, so why? Why is it that I still don't believe him? Those thoughts began to run into my head. Unintentionally, I wrapped my arms around his waist, buried my face to his shoulder, and hugged him back. Part of me is still confuse of why he became a Dark Singer, yet another part me still miss him as a normal person. Yet, I'm still desperate to know the answer. We held on to each other like this, before I gently pulled away from him, staring into his eyes.

"Then... why?" I asked softly. "Why did you become a Dark Signer?"

I noticed a sad look in his eyes, meaning I must've hurt him by asking that. But then, he placed his hands on my waist and leaned forward, and I could've sworn that I felt his lips brushed my forehead, which made my cheeks turned red.

"It's cuz... I want to see you again," Aoi murmured gently. His hand came and gripped my chin firmly, directing my face to his. He leaned down towards me until he had his lips met mine.

He kissed me.

Oh god... I felt myself blushing so hard that I could've sworn that I'm starting to freak out inside. My mind went blank and I started to make some sort of jerk of reaction in surprise. I never expected myself to experience this, nor I have any interest to. I mean, I don't know a lot of people who are in relationships like these, so no one told me what it feels like. But, I read couple of books of what it's like to kiss. However, this is completely different from the real thing! Now, my mind is racing in confusion and panic!

But then, I relaxed a bit, closed my eyes, and surprisingly went along with it. It was gentle at first, but then it started to get passionate, though it tried to prevent itself from crossing over to that borderline. As our lips synchronized with each other, I placed my hands on his chest, and Aoi's hand began to wrapped around my waist, pulling me closer to him. His lips were so cold, but they're also so soft that I couldn't even resist. I took time to savor this of what it supposed to feel like. Even though I sensed some uncertainty and nervousness, while he kissed me, I slowly began to realized why Aoi did that.

Honestly, I never knew that he felt that way towards me. Maybe I did know, but wasn't too sure of myself. Either way, I was mostly too oblivious to notice this. How long had Aoi feel this way towards me? I have no idea, but I had a feeling that he had feelings for me a long time ago. Yet, I felt so stupid, and was angry at myself for not realizing that.

Finally, we broke off each other from our kiss and I gasped for breath. I realized that I was holding my breath during that time, which wasn't the smartest to do. Then, I saw Aoi staring back at me again.

"...Aoi?" my voice trailed off. Aoi pulled me into a hug again and held me very tightly. Then, his hand directed my face towards his again.

"Crystal, listen," he said to me. "There's something I need to tell you."

Before I can ask why, he leaned down and whispered very softly to my ears.

"Promise me... Promise me that you won't get yourself involved with the Signer/Dark Signer War."

Me: And that's that!

Crystal: *blushes very deeply and tried to say something, but couldn't get anything except for the squeaky noise out of her mouth*

Me: Crystal?

Crystal: *still blushing* I...er...um...er...*turns around to the nearest wall and hides her face, preventing anyone from seeing her blushing*

Me:...Well...I guess the uptake at the end of this chapter made Crystal utterly speechless. *chuckles* Though, it's about time that I put it in there. Well, I hope you readers like it, especially for the part at the end. However, this is only the beginning of the good part. Eventually, there will be more twists happening in this story. Please R&R as always, whether you like it or hate it. ;)