My breaths came short and fast as I shot into a sitting position, and I carefully laid back down. Every inch of my lower torso screamed in agony from my sudden movement. Blinking a few times, I started to look around at my surroundings.
Peach colored walls, metal bedframe, white curtain next to me. I was home.
The curtain pulled back, and a very large person glared down at me, "Yusei Fudo. What on Earth were you thinking, pulling that stunt?"
"Hi Martha."
She checked my temperature as the lecture started, "I get woken up in the middle of the night by Crow, who has brought you in with several pieces of metal in your gut. Then I find out that you wiped out doing a Turbo Duel. What were you expecting? A paved path? Of course you wiped out!"
"I wasn't expecting paved roads. I knew that wiping out would get me hurt, but the deck the other person was using was dealing real damage, and I would have died if I hadn't crashed."
Carefully, she sat at the foot of my bed, "Well, the good news is that you'll make a full recovery. The shrapnel missed everything vital by some grace. What I am concerned about is how weak your body is right now. You are thinner than I have ever seen you before, and you've been out for three days. That's not normal for you."
"Three days?!"
Martha brushed some of my maniac hair away from my face, "Young lady, what happened to you since I last saw you?"
"In the facility I was electrocuted multiple times, and then one more time after that when I got my runner back. I've also been couch surfing in the city, so my meals were inconsistent."
She let out a deep sigh, "I can't blame you for that, but that nice girl who came with your friends mentioned that you were in multiple duels where the damage was real."
"Aki's here?"
Her eyes narrowed, "Yes, but Yusei, how many duels did you participate in that had real damage?"
"Two or three? But I won them so it wasn't that bad."
A glint of red caught my attention, and I forced myself to sit up.
My runner had two or three kids playing with it, "How'd that get here?"
"Your friends pushed it here, while Aki protected them. How'd you meet her?"
Once again, I laid back down, "We were forced into the same duel tournament. Are my friends alright?"
"Thanks to that nice young lady. You should really thank all of them once I let you up."
I nodded, "Thanks Martha. Where would I be without you keeping an eye on me?"
"Probably driven half mad by your powers, living out on the street."
Rolling onto my side, I looked over at her, "I was dueling Kiryu. He was completely insane, and I think it might have happened because of his visions. Do you think that could be the case?"
"Besides Kiryu and Jack, I haven't personally known anyone who could see the future. But in the legends visions were connected to insanity. So it could be the case."
A quiet knock came from the door, and Martha went over to open it, "Ah, hello Aki. Do you want to talk to Yusei?"
"Yes, please."
Martha moved to the side, "She just woke up, so she's still a little out of the loop."
"I can hear you!"
Aki came in, dressed in her normal outfit, and sat in a chair next to my bed, "It's good to see you awake. You had us all scared."
Carefully, I stretched out, "From what Martha said, it's because of you that my friends made it here safely. Thanks for that."
She attempted to smile, but her eyes didn't join in, "You're welcome. But since you've been out, some Signer things have happened."
My head snapped towards her, "What happened?"
"Yesterday another symbol appeared. This one was over the city, and I felt like Luna was near it. Can you see what happened on a computer?"
I nodded, "Yeah, mine's under the seat of my runner. Can you get it for me?"
Aki rushed out of the room, passing Martha on the way. Martha helped me sit up, and handed me a bowl of soup, "Yusei, you might want to talk to your friend about how her wardrobe isn't built for Satellite. You know that it's not just the people that is the threat here."
"I'll try to talk to her about it. Especially about the shoes."
My hair got ruffled as Martha moved towards the door, "I don't want you out of that bed unless its to go to the bathroom, understood?"
"I know, Martha."
Not long after Martha left, Aki came back in with my laptop, "Thanks Aki. If you want, Martha offered to loan you some clothes that will keep you warmer here."
She looked uncertain, "Are you sure?"
"Yeah, plus you've seen what the terrain is like here. You'd be better off with tennis shoes or boots."
Her eyes angled down to look at her high heeled sandals, "You do have a point there. Okay, I'll go ask her, but only if you check."
"I'm on it, you don't need to worry."
Trying to find information with only a vague clue isn't the easiest way to get details, so I started making guesses on what the headlines might be:
Light in the sky: 450983 hits
Purple sky: 20391 hits
Purple fire: 25 hits
Scrolling through the stories under the purple fire search, all of them were from last night. Each one of them had a similar story as each other, which made me very concerned. The Arcadia Movement HQ had been attacked, and none of the people inside have been found.
I placed my laptop on the side table, and finished my food while waiting for her.
After an hour, Aki returned wearing a strange assortment of clothes from my old group. Kiryu's signature red shirt paired with my old hoodie, Crow's cargo pants, and Jack's boots. Together, they looked so strange, but that might have been just because I was used to them being on different people.
She returned to the seat, "You are right, this does feel better. Why did she have so much in the attic?"
I grabbed my laptop, pulling up the news sites, "She's raised a ton of kids, and this is the hospital here in Satellite. She sometimes gives clothes to people who don't have anything. And I found a few articles, but you won't like the news."
Carefully, I handed it over to her, and her face darkened as she read it, and then put it on my lap as she started pacing, "Why was the Movement's headquarters attacked?"
Placing my hand on her knee, I spoke softly, "Aki, why are you asking me, if you already know the answer?"
"They were looking for me."
My hand moved to her shoulder, "I'm sorry. This is why I wanted to leave the city, so no one else would get hurt."
She lurched off the chair, wrapping her arms around me, "I hate him for tricking me, but at the same time, he was there for me. After my parents abandoned me, he made me feel special."
I gently held her as she cried on my shoulder, "I can almost understand. But at least you have friends now."
Even with my pathetic attempts at cheering her up, it took her a while to stop crying. When she finally stopped, she looked at me, "Let's get a shirt on you so your friends can visit you."
It was only at that point that I saw bandages covering my whole torso. Blushing furiously, I nodded, and held up my arms as Aki pulled on an extremely baggy shirt that used to belong to Dr. Schmidt.
Shifting to get more comfortable, I looked up at her, "Thanks Aki, it makes my life easier having another girl around."
Her smile didn't reach all of the way to her eyes, "No problem Yusei. It helps that your friends aren't scared of me either."
"There's nothing to be scared of. You are a human just like the rest of us."
As I said that, I recalled how my friends would joke about how easily I could shut off my emotions, saying that I turned of my human disguise.
"Yusei? Are you alright?"
I looked at Aki, "Sorry, what?"
She lowered herself to my level, "You zoned out for a minute, are you sure you're okay?"
My smile was just as genuine as hers was, "Yeah, just distracted."
What was left of her smile left, "Have people called you a witch?"
Laughing, my concerns melted away, "Aki, you are looking at the witch of Satellite."
"That's how you understand my problems so well. You've been through the same things."
"More or less, I just met the right people. Martha never said I wasn't a witch, she just asked if I was a good or bad one."
Aki smiled back at me, the smile finally reaching her eyes, "I never thought of it like that. But did you ever hurt someone?"
"She has, but that's part of learning to control powers like that."
We both looked at the door, where Martha was holding a bottle of water. She came and gave it to me, "Yusei's powers have put a couple people in comas. Unless her brothers made some disappear, they all recovered."
I raised an eyebrow, "I doubt that Jack would ever do such a thing. He wouldn't even take out the garbage when he lived here."
Martha smiled, "Excellent point."
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the pity on Aki's face. I turned to her, "See what I meant? Martha never pretends that I'm perfect, and I honestly prefer that."
Aki nodded, "How'd you learn to treat her that way?"
Martha started cleaning up from my breakfast, "In Satellite, I learned that nobody is perfect. Once I learned that, I raised my kids to understand that as well. And from there, I just kind of had to do my best."
With every word that Martha said, Aki calmed down a little bit more, "Martha, would you have sent Yusei to a boarding school if you still lived in the city?"
For a moment, Martha paused, "Depends on how close it was. But most likely I would, mostly so I could regain my breath so to speak."
Sinking into the pillows, I spoke up, "The one duelist that you went against mentioned something about Duel Academy. Did you get sent there?"
She nodded, "My parents freaked out and sent me away because they didn't know what to do to get rid of my powers."
Martha turned to her, "Aki, I need help in the kitchen, and I don't trust anyone besides Yusei. Will you take her place?"
I smiled as Aki went with Martha, and I started working on getting in touch with either of the Signers still in the city.
Please let the twins be safe.
A/N: Thanks to Let's-Go-To-Vermont and Dark Lord of the Fallen Angels for reviewing on the original version of this chapter!
