Ulrich362

Fable: "Yup. This was is always kind of mix between happy and sad, but it's more on the happy side."

queen of stars

Fable: "Alright, Shay. Enough searching for Nova. You and Crow have a performance to do."

Shay: "Grr...fine."

Angel: "Thanks for the encouraging words, Angel! We'll keep at it!"

Seena87

Fable: "I understand that feeling! Hope you enjoy this chapter!"

Angel: "Now we got Blackbirdshipping! The shipping name for Crow Hogan and Shay Obsidian! So for this AU, it follows the canonical ending but the dimensions didn't unite, so um...yeah! Not much else to say. Enjoy!"

Ship Name: Blackbirdshipping (Crow Hogan x Shay Obsidian)

Name Reason: Named so because they both use bird archetypes, the "kuro" in Kurosaki means black, Crow's deck specifically is a Black Feather deck, and crows are black.

Night Rides

Shay woke up, screaming.

It was loud enough to wake up the whole house.

Crow was the first to reach his door. He quietly open it, gently easing the door open so as to not startle the male even more.

"Shay? Are you alright?" Crow spoke softly. Shay didn't answer, sitting up in his bed, his hands pressed over his ears as if he was trying to block out screams that no one else could hear.

"Crow, is Shay okay?" A hushed voice asked. Crow turned to see Amanda, Tarren, and Frank in the hallway. All of them were still dressed in their pajamas, probably jerked awake by Shay's nightmare.

"Don't worry, ya little Jackals. I'll take care of him. You three should get back to bed."

"But Crow!" Tarren whines, rubbing his eyes. "What about Shay?! He needs us!"

"I know you three mean well, but we talked about this. Shay is going through a difficult time right now and too many people can really stress him out."

"But-"

"No buts. You heard Crow." Shinji had appear, his hair still a mess from rolling out of bed. "Come on, all of you, back to bed." Shinji began to usher the kids back to their room. "We can check on Shay in the morning. For now, let Crow handle this." Crow gives his best friend a grateful nod before turning his attention back to the room. He step quietly inside, cautiously approaching the Xyzian.

"Shay?" Crow called, calmly placing a hand on his shoulder. For a while, Shay didn't move. Crow realized that he was doing the breathing exercises his therapist had instructed him to use. He waited patiently for Shay to finish. Slowly, his breathing became normal and he open his eyes. His eyes were watery and his face was still a bit pale.

"Another nightmare?" Crow asked. Shay didn't bother to answer, even if he wanted to deny it. "Come on." Crow pulled him up so that Shay was standing. "Get dressed. Let's go for a ride." Before Shay could argue, Crow left the room to get himself ready.

Crow lead the way through the streets, the only sounds were the hums of their engines as they drove. Occasionally Crow would glance back to make sure Shay was still with him.

Shay had moved to the Synchro Dimension a little more than a year ago. It was a shock to everyone when Shay announced that he was moving. It seem to have came out of nowhere. Honestly, it wasn't at all a big surprise to Crow. Even though the war had ended and the Xyz Dimension was back to its beautiful state Shay never seem able to smile anymore. And considering all that had happen, it made sense as to why Shay would chose the Synchro Dimension of all places.

Xyz had too many memories and was one of the symptoms of his silent pain. The Standard Dimension was the other symptom, mainly because of Yuya and Zuzu. Of course, the two didn't know and that wasn't their fault. And Shay understood that. Poor guy. He fought so hard in the war, only for him to still lose.

The Fusion Dimension was out of the question for obvious reasons, so that just left the Synchro Dimension. Shay was planning on living alone, but Crow couldn't allow him to do that. It was easy enough, changing the storage room into a bedroom. Shay seem right at room. The children were excited to have Shay around and Shinji was grateful for the extra set of hands, although weary at first.

But then, the nightmares started. At first, no one knew about them. The only clue was that Shay seem to always be very tired every morning. It was only until Shay started waking up screaming that his secret was out. It took a lot of talking, but finally, Crow manage to push Shay to see a therapist.

It was a long, slow going process but Crow knew that trauma wasn't something that just...went away. Healing took time. And Crow swore to himself and to Shay that he was going to be there for him every step of the way.

As they rode, Crow could see the tension leaving Shay's face. Driving through the darken, quiet streets of the city with the cold wind in your face. It was relaxing and serene. Crow figured out pretty quickly that driving their D-Wheelers seem to bring Shay peace, at least for a time. Another thing they had in common.

After doing a few laps around the neighborhood, Crow called back to Shay.

"You ready to head home?!"

"Yeah!" Shay shouts, over their bikes' engines. They pulled back into the house's garage. Shay pulled off his helmet and Crow noted that he looked much more like himself.

"Feel better?" Crow asked as he was setting his own helmet down.

"Yeah." Shay's voice was quiet. "Sorry, about waking you guys up."

"It's fine. Don't worry about it." Crow assured. "We care about you, Shay, and no one should ever have to go through this alone." A small smile crosses Shay's face. It was tiny, but filled with warmth.

"Thank you."

"Anytime, Shay. Anytime."

Fable: "Alright. We're almost done! Just seven more!"

Angel: "Next up is Blinkshipping! Yuya! Zuzu! Yugo! Grab your scripts!