Notes: I have debated with myself for months over to what extent Kalin's past mental and emotional issues will be a continuing burden. Canon indicates he's getting better, but realistically he would definitely still have bad days, at the very least. I kind of headcanon that he'll be alright going forward with no more delusional outbursts, for more or less the reasons Radley explains, but I feel like Kalin would worry about the possibility anyway. The discussion of how Kalin revived Radley was inspired by XenoEmblemFTW.

Epilogue

Kalin sighed as he stood on the stone balcony, looking out over the castle grounds. It was still night and Radley had fallen asleep some time before, but Kalin was having trouble staying asleep. He kept seeing that wretched sword plunge into Radley's body, and Radley looking at him with pain and regret before falling over dead.

Kalin ran a hand down his face. Maybe it was selfish, but he needed to talk to someone now. He didn't want to burden the Bunch, much as Radley didn't. And Radley hadn't roused up when Kalin had gotten off the bed. He didn't want to wake Radley up to talk about the day's events. Radley needed the chance to rest after such a horrific experience.

He took out his phone and dialed a number.

It was still late at night in New Domino City when Yusei's phone rang. He reached for it, blinking the sleep out of his eyes. "Hello?" he half-mumbled.

"Hello, Yusei." Kalin sighed, leaning against thestone railing.

"Kalin?!" Yusei sat up in bed. "What is it? What's wrong?" He knew Kalin wouldn't call at this time of night unless something terrible had happened.

"Nothing is wrong now," Kalin assured him. "We're all alright."

"But something happened earlier?" Yusei deduced.

". . . Yes." His voice shaking, Kalin told it all while Yusei listened in growing horror and anger.

"That's outrageous!" Yusei exclaimed. "Is Radley doing okay now?"

"Yes, thankfully," Kalin said. "Although I'm sure he's more shaken up than he'll readily admit." He paused. "I am too."

"I'm so sorry you had to go through something so horrible," Yusei said sadly. "Maybe if I'd been there, I could have helped fight the guy and it wouldn't have happened."

"Or maybe he would have taken you out too," Kalin said bitterly. "I couldn't do anything! I just stood there and watched it happen!"

"Try to focus on how you were able to save Radley afterwards," Yusei said. "I know it won't take away what you saw; nothing can do that. But saving him isn't a small thing."

"No, it isn't, and I'm so thankful," Kalin said. "But I still wish I could have stopped it in the first place. It shouldn't have happened. We're still shaken up from what happened in the Duel Monsters world, and now there's this to try to recover from too!"

"Yeah," Yusei sighed. "I know the feeling. It's never easy recovering from things like that. I still have dreams sometimes about Bruno dying . . . and you."

"I'm sorry, Yusei." Kalin sighed too. ". . . Radley told me I've saved him more than once. I guess that's true, but it's still strange to think about after you saved me so many times. I was always the one needing help, and now I've been able to help someone else."

Yusei smiled a bit. "I'm proud of you, Kalin. You've done good."

"I'm glad I can," Kalin said. "Being able to actually help my loved ones is an amazing feeling. But it doesn't take away the horror of seeing them harmed."

"It never can," Yusei said. "All you can do is try to focus on the good."

"I try," Kalin said. "Some days it's easier than others."

"I know," Yusei said. "Some days the memories really hit hard."

Kalin sighed. "At least that garbage is going to pay for what he did. This new organization of Yugi's will handle it. But . . . Yusei . . . Yugi asked us to be part of the organization and help fight magical crimes. Radley said we'd think about it, but . . . I don't really want to do it. I don't want to set us up for more incidents like this one. There's no guarantee it would turn out well another time."

"Kalin . . . it's completely okay if you don't want to do it," Yusei told him. "Radley would tell you the same thing."

Kalin gave a dark chuckle. "The problem is, we run into things like this even though we're not part of some secret organization."

"That's all the more reason not to do it," Yusei said. "You have enough stress in your life, Kalin. You don't need more."

"Is it really right, though, Yusei?" Kalin wondered. "Maybe it's selfish of me."

"After all you guys have been through, it's not selfish at all," Yusei insisted. "Your first responsibility is to your loved ones. Radley, and the kids, and the Bunch, and the town . . . they all need you most. Yugi can manage without you guys. I'll help him if I can. Bruno will too."

Kalin exhaled, sharply. "Thank you, Yusei."

In the room, Radley suddenly jumped a mile, a hand flying to his stomach as he woke up.

Kalin jumped too. "Radley just woke up," he said. "It looks like he's had a nightmare. I have to go."

"Yeah," Yusei said in concern. "You should. But call me any time."

"I will," Kalin promised. "Thank you again, Yusei." He hung up and opened the glass door. "Radley?"

Radley sank back into the pillows and looked over at Kalin. "It hurt . . . so much," he whispered. "I know I wasn't conscious for too long, but it was long enough."

Kalin went back to the bed and climbed on, gently laying his hand on Radley's. "I'm so sorry," he choked out. "I can't imagine how it must have hurt."

"Knowing you would be hurt was the most devastating thing, but . . . I can't deny that the physical pain was tremendous as well." Radley sighed. "You'd think I might be used to pain after being tortured in the mines, but . . ." He shook his head. "I'm not."

"No one should have to get used to that," Kalin said darkly. He hesitated. "Radley . . . I really don't want to join Yugi's group, at least not now. I will if you want to, but . . ."

"Hey . . . Kalin." Radley smiled sadly at him. "I don't really want to either. I tried to be polite to them, but it's . . . not the right time. Maybe in the future, but not now. After what we just went through, that's the last thing we need, honestly. We've gotta have time to try to recover."

Kalin relaxed. "I thought that's how you'd feel, but I wasn't sure."

"We're not really cut out for that kinda thing," Radley said. "Although I guess nobody is, really. It's something they have to grow into." He laid back on the pillows and looked up at Kalin. "But I haven't grown into it. It was exhausting fighting for Crash Town all those years. I don't feel like I'm cut out to fight for the whole world too."

"Maybe I should feel ready to, after I almost destroyed the whole world," Kalin said. "But . . . right now I just want to fight for my whole world—the kids, the town, the Bunch, Yusei, Jack, and Crow . . . and you."

Radley smiled. "That's plenty for anyone. That's what I want too."

Kalin hesitated. "Radley . . . when I was trying to revive you, I kissed you on the forehead. Then I was afraid maybe it wouldn't work if I didn't follow the fairytales exactly. I think it was starting to work, actually, but I didn't want to take any chances. I also kissed you on the lips."

Radley blinked in surprise but didn't look queasy or appalled as Kalin wondered if he would. "Yeah?"

". . . I thought maybe you'd find that too awkward or weird," Kalin admitted. "And yet I wanted you to know."

Radley looked up at the ceiling as he pondered how to word his reply. ". . . When I realized Brittanie only liked how I look and just wanted to get me into bed, I was disgusted thinking about how we'd kissed sometimes. I wanted to wash my mouth." He looked back to Kalin and smiled. "I don't want to now. Sure, it's not usual for friends, but it wasn't a usual situation. And you really care about me, unlike Brittanie. I'm just happy you were willing to do anything, even something awkward, to get me back."

"I always will," Kalin said with a slow smile in return.

"I know," Radley said. "That is what true love is."

Kalin smiled more. "I should have known you'd understand."

"It's all I ever wanted, to be loved like that," Radley said. He snuggled closer to Kalin and Kalin held him with a smile.

"Most people do," Kalin said. "But many aren't . . . and some don't recognize it even when they are."

"You're thinking about you and Yusei," Radley realized.

Kalin sighed. "It's impossible not to. How could I have been that blind? And . . . I guess part of me wonders . . . if I could be so delusional back then, what's the guarantee that it won't happen again? What if I have some kind of medical condition that brings it on?"

Radley looked at him in surprise. "Kalin . . ."

"I don't want that to happen," Kalin said helplessly. "I don't want to hurt you like I hurt Yusei. And I don't want to hurt Yusei again!"

Radley shifted to face him better. "We could look into it, if you'd like," he said. "But honestly, I don't think there's that much to worry about. Your worst delusions came when the evil magic got hold of you. You admitted recently that before that, you hadn't stayed mad at Yusei in the Facility. You were rational and reasonable. You didn't want revenge. The evil magic made you think you wanted that. You were on a power trip before that and you let it get out of control. But you came down from that before you became a Dark Signer. You're sadder and wiser now. I believe you can control it and I don't think you will allow it to happen again. I'm not afraid of it happening in the least."

"I want to believe you're right," Kalin said quietly.

"And even if by some cruel twist it did happen, I would stand by you through it all," Radley said. "We would fix it. I know Yusei would be there too, and all of our other friends."

"I know," Kalin said. "I will never doubt my friendships again. It's myself I doubt. If that really happened, I would be capable of hurting everyone I hold dear." He shut his eyes tightly. "And if I actually did, I don't think I could live."

"If it happened, we would get you the proper help before anyone could get hurt," Radley vowed. "But I still believe you're fine."

"I hope you're right," Kalin sighed.

Radley hugged him close. "We'll look into it when we get home, for your peace of mind."

Kalin hugged back. "Thank you."

They rested in silence for a while, still awake, enjoying each other's presence.

"I'm so glad Marty and Billy have been able to patch things up," Radley said. "I always believed they could."

Kalin nodded. "It's good to see them happy again. I haven't even seen much of that myself, since their problems started because of Lawton and Barbara."

"I'm sorry that thinking they'd lost me is what spooked them into taking action, but at least something did," Radley said.

"Sometimes it takes a tragedy to do that, unfortunately," Kalin said. A haunted look passed through his eyes at the memory of what had finally snapped him back to reality during the calamities in Crash Town.

Radley hugged him. It was all too obvious what he was thinking about.

Kalin clutched him close.

Radley chuckled after a moment, hoping to lighten the mood. ". . . As I feared, Scotch is planning to take the animatronics with us and make his own haunted house."

"Oh no," Kalin smirked.

"He said there was no sense letting perfectly good Halloween decor go to waste," Radley said.

Kalin shook his head. "How's Biff going to deal with that?"

"He'll stay far away from where Scotch is going to put them in the plane," Radley said. "And he'll stay away from the haunted house too."

"It's good that Scotch is okay with not being able to share that with Biff," Kalin grunted.

"Oh, he wishes he could, but he knows that's not going to happen," Radley said.

"Is there even room for everything?" Kalin had to ask.

"Scotch certainly hopes so. The church, however, had no animatronics or projectors." Radley frowned. "So I suppose those ghosts were real."

"Why there, of all places?" Kalin wondered.

"I don't know. Another mystery of the area, I guess." Radley stared out the glass doors. "I hope the curse on the forest will break."

"The fairies deserve that," Kalin said.

"That one we met was nice," Radley mused. "I wouldn't mind meeting the whole colony if the majority are agreeable."

"Maybe sometime," Kalin agreed.

"Marty will probably want to come visit when he can," Radley said. "His great-uncle and his uncle and aunt all want to see more of him."

"That's great," Kalin said. "Do you know if anything more was explained about the diaries?"

"The other messages told other things about the castle, mostly," Radley said. "John said he really does want Marty to get those when he dies for real. Of course, Marty hopes that won't be for a long time."

"Maybe it won't," Kalin said. "He seems spry for his age."

Radley smirked a bit. "So is my family. You know, I've actually met my great-great-grandparents?"

Kalin stared at him. "Really."

"We're kinda notorious for longevity," Radley smiled. "I plan to keep the tradition going."

Kalin hugged him. "You'd better."

"And you'd better be with me every step of the way, Kalin," Radley said softly. "Long life is a curse without one's loved ones."

"I think at least some of my ancestors have been long-lived too, if the family album wasn't exaggerating," Kalin said.

"Good," Radley said. He sighed. "I'm glad that Marty's family has ended up being quite nice." The hint of sadness and longing in his voice was unmistakable.

"I'm sorry yours isn't." Kalin hugged him close.

Radley hugged back. "Oh, but my true family is," he said softly.

Kalin had to smile. He still wished there was some way to reunite Radley with his biological family when Radley still missed them so, but he was happy and honored to be considered part of Radley's real family.

Eventually they both slipped to sleep again. When Marty quietly opened the door to check on them, he had to smile at the sight of them snuggled close and at peace.

"How are they?" Billy whispered.

"They're good," Marty said as he shut the door again. "Just like we are again."

Billy smiled.

The two reunited friends put their arms around each other's shoulders as they headed back up the hall. Indeed, all was well.