When All Was Lost...

Chapter Twenty-Three

23

A Warm Welcome

The engine whirred in the tunnels and soon a beam of light came fast approaching.

"That's Yusei! Quick Akarii, follow me!" Rally said as he gripped my hand and pulled me along with him. We pulled off into a little run down shack. There was a broken couch draped in an old sheet, A rickety shelf in the right corner, it seemed to contained a mash up of parts and tools for mechanics. There was a make-shift computer, home made but well taken care of and around it were scattered photos of faded memories.

My memories...

I thought to myself as I touched each one that had me in them. The images alternated in poses and faces. Some seemed can-did, others seemed posed. We looked like a bunch of typical teenaged trouble makers. Our standing order never changed much. I always stood next to one specific male it seemed. Wild orange hair and a grin a mile wide. He seemed to always be on my right. A taller ash-haired male on my left with a gentle smile and sapphires for eyes, and the tallest of us was a blonde with sharp violet eyes, who always stood behind. Probably because he was the tallest. I was in the middle. Surrounded by gentle touches and brotherly faces.

Brotherly...

This thought would shake a few things loose too...as another male often took up my memories...

"That's Crow." I heard Rally say as he caught me looking hard at the boy on my right. "I Don't know all that much about your past Akarii, but I do know that apparently you used to live with him, so if anyone would know anything...He would."

"I lived with him, huh?" I blinked and stared a while, "I wish I could remember that...then maybe I would feel better about talking to him." I wanted to believe Rally. He seemed genuine. As genuine as our smiles were in each one of these old photographs. My heart ached whenever the name Crow got mentioned. Or anything having to do with how close he and I supposedly were. It hurt that I didn't remember, and it hurt me more to think about telling this person I didn't remember him. It was like the guilt of a broken promise...There was a faded spot on the wall, probably where this photo that Rally handed me was originally stuck.

"Sit on the couch in here, Akarii." said Rally as he led me politely,"Just wait a bit, Yusei can help clear all this up."

Yusei...Yusei...

I know this name too.

My amber eyes shifted to the ash haired male who stood on the other side of me opposite of the one called Crow.

Is this him?

Something told me it was.

"Just wait...okay?" Rally gave me a kind smile and quickly disappeared behind the drapes that made for the door to this shack.

I could hear the screeching halt of a Duel Runner's Tires come before the entrance and an excited Rally welcomed home its rider.

"Welcome back, Yusei!" I could hear him practically beaming on the other side.

"Hey, Rally..." a low toned voice answered him in response. It sounded kind of gentle and familiar to me.

"Hey, so listen...I gotta tell you something...and I'm gonna need you not to freak out, okay?"

"Okay...?" the doubt in Yusei's voice was apparent,"Why would I freak out?"

"Okay so...say by chance-" though before Rally could finish that sentence, there was quite a commotion amongst the entire group who all seemed to storm him at once.

"We found Akarii!" They all belted.

"WE!?" Rally huffed sounding none too pleased.

"Okay, Rally found Akarii." said Nervin in attempt to correct the accusation,"The girl who disappeared from here 3 years ago..." he said,"She was your friend right?"

There was a silence that fell upon the group. A sudden serious tone took to the voice that belonged to Yusei.

"Are you sure!?" he sounded shaken,"I mean...absolutely sure!?"

"We all saw the photos." said Blitz

"It certainly looks like her." said Tank.

"She said her name was Akarii, Yusei..." said Rally,"The girl we're talking about...she's in there." I could tell by the motion of the shadows on the other side of the drapes that Rally was pointing directly at me. I stood but I didn't move.

"It's definitely Akarii Rhodes, but listen-"

It seemed Yusei didn't want to "listen" anymore. I watched his shadow dance across the drapes as he approached them and swung them back with both hands and stood before me now. The ash-haired male from the photographs. With eyes deeper than the ocean's blue. Those eyes stood open wide upon me. I simply stared back. As I watched him, I listened to the many voices in my head. The many voices that were his.

"Yusei...Fudo..." I muttered out this name and he instantly responded with my own.

"Akarii..." His voice came out in a quiver. He himself was shaking as he approached me. A Brown gloved hand reached for my face, as if to test if I were real. He cupped it with both hands. They smelled like leather, sweat, and motor oil.

All familiar smells to me as I placed my hand over his and nestled my nose slightly into his palm that held these memories.

These hands are bigger than I remember...

I closed my eyes and tried to recover my missing moments with this person before me. Even through his leather gloves, his hands were still warm, and gentle.

"It's good to see you...Yusei." I said as I opened my eyes to meet his and I jolted in shock to see them lined with tears.

"Akarii...you're okay..." he said softly, trembling still. It seems my presence was a shock to him, as I imagine it would be had I really been missing for 3 years like they say.

"You're okay!"

I couldn't react fast enough, as his sudden force took over and pushed me off my balance. For a moment, we were both off the ground, with no way to catch ourselves.

To Be Continued