"Tyler…?" Luna asked softly, lightly shaking my shoulder and seemingly bringing me out of my dream.

I groaned slightly, rolling over to look at her, wiping the sleep out of my eyes as Luna stood at the edge of my bed, fidgeting. "What's up?" I asked. When I noticed how pale her face looked, as well as the bags under her eyes, my expression hardened. "Are you alright, Luna?"

"Um…" Luna brought her hands together. "I'm sorry I woke you. It's just… I can't get to sleep."

I sighed. "Are you worried about tomorrow?" I questioned, Luna nodding her head feverishly. "Don't worry, Luna. You'll be able to take that Devack creep down no problem. Remember: you're a Signer, and Ancient Fairy Dragon and the Crimson Dragon chose you to save the Spirit World. They wouldn't have chosen you if they didn't think you could handle it. But I'll be with you every step of the way, I promise." I sighed once more. "Still, it's not fair that I get my own bed in this place when you and Leo have to share one. You can sleep here if you want," I told her, moving to get out under the covers.

"I…" Luna's voice was so nervous and so innocent. "I don't want you to go. Please, I'd… I'd feel better if you were by my side."

"Are you sure?" I asked softly. "I mean, I'm happy to stay, but this bed's really not big enough for the both of us, and you need the rest more than I do-"

Luna nodded. "I-I know, but… as I said, I'd… I'd feel a lot better if you were by my side. Please…" she repeated.

My expression softened and I cooed reassuringly. The poor girl. I didn't know how much help I'd actually be to Luna in the fight against the Dark Signers, but if all I could do was just help her get a good night's rest, then that's what I'd do!

"Of course, Luna," I smiled warmly, lying back down in bed and moving to one side as Luna got under the covers. I shuffled back just a little to give her some more room.

"Thank you, Tyler." Luna smiled back, moving closer to me. "I'm really lucky to have someone like you looking out for me."

"No problem at all, Luna." I continued to smile, trying my best to keep my voice low and soothing, though I probably wasn't doing a good job. "I mean, we're friends, aren't we?"

Luna nodded. "Yeah…" I could feel her warm breath mixing with the cold midnight air, tingling against my face, my brain for some reason almost trying to rationalize something, as though I wasn't supposed to be here, but I was. "But I'd like to be… more than that…" Luna's voice had lost its innocence. There was a look in her eyes as well. One I'd never seen before.

I gasped, feeling Luna's hand against my chest. I looked down at myself, clothed in what Tim had bought for me, and even though my brain once again tried to rationalize it, I knew that this wasn't really happening. That this never happened. "This… this isn't real…" I muttered.

"What do you mean?" Luna asked, her voice cool and sultry, so unlike her.

"These clothes, they… I should be…" I trailed off, looking back at Luna. "This never happened…"

"But isn't this what you want?" she asked.

I nodded. "M-more than anything, but-"

"Then come home." Luna edged even closer to me, pressing her lips against mine.

I woke up with a start, adrenaline rushing through my body.

I instinctively felt the need to put a hand to my lips, but I couldn't. I felt dizzy, like my world was spinning. I couldn't place myself. I closed my eyes, trying to slow my breathing.

Luna…

"Cheese and rice, Tyler. You almost scared me there." I heard Tim say. I opened my eyes to see him get up out of a director's chair that he was sitting in. It was only then that I realized I was restrained, lying down on an operating table in what appeared to be a dingy garage. I looked down at myself. My shirt was gone, the side of my abdomen bandaged up. I remembered I'd been shot and I started to panic. "Whoa, hey, take it easy…" Tim cautioned.

"What happened?" I breathed. "Where are we? What's going on?!"

Tim smiled. "It's alright. You're safe. We're in Dimension C-693. After escaping from those Kmartians in Dimension K-22M, I brought you here to get you fixed up. You know my friend I was telling you about? The crazy old scientist? He lives here. Well, a version of him lives here. I explained the situation to him, and he said I could use this place to patch you up while he was out running errands with his grandkid." Tim licked his lips. "You lost quite a lot of blood, and this place ain't a hospital. I couldn't risk giving you any blood without knowing your blood type, so I had to improvise."

"I-improvise?" I asked.

"I pumped you with this stuff called Turbulent Juice, which seemed to do the trick." Tim walked over to the table, freeing me from my restraints. Tim then walked over to a desk as I sat up, handing me a mirror and a tube of liquid from atop it. The tube read 'Turbulent Juice', the underside reading 'Dosage: apply generously to make things purer, stronger.'

"Wh-what…?" I asked weakly, not really comprehending what I read.

"You're looking pretty good now, hey? No one'll be able to tell you'd died."

I looked at my face in the mirror, inspecting it. Like before, I could hardly believe the eyes staring back at me were my own, but this time it wasn't because I was horrified or upset. I was surprised and overjoyed. My eyes seemed to be brimming with life. I touched my face, and realized there were significantly less blemishes, and that my face wasn't as round or fat as I'd let it become in recent months. In fact, as I looked down at myself once more, I realized how… good I actually looked. I could actually see muscles on my chest, and I seemed to have lost most of the fat around my stomach I'd put on as well. It reminded me of how I used to look back in my Team Satisfaction days.

"Th-th-th-this is amazing!" I stammered, feeling myself up and down my body.

Tim cringed a little. "Yeah, it seems the only thing we weren't able to fix was the stutter. I don't know if that'll go away with time or not. In normal circumstances, they don't – you're stuck with them. I mean, some kids do grow out of them, and some worsen or improve during puberty, but you didn't get your stutter in a normal way, you weren't born with it, or, you know, this isn't normal is what I'm saying. It might take time, it might not, we'll just have to wait and see." Tim sighed. "But I can teach you some speech techniques if you want, to help improve your fluency. There's airy-speech, beat-talk, using filler words…"

I wasn't really listening. I was too busy looking myself over. "Oh, nah, it's fine." I ran my fingers through my hair, thicker, stronger, longer and much more prominent. "This is fantastic…!" I continued to gush. However as my eyes were drawn to my pants, they widened and I turned to Tim. "Wait, I just thought of something. Those clothes you bought for us, you paid using money from another Dimension, right? Doesn't that mean that even though we got away that they can still go to that Dimension and-"

Tim shook his head. "You've got nothing to worry about. My friend took care of everything while you were sleeping."

"H-how long was I out for?" I dared to ask.

Tim shrugged. "Not that long. About a week."

My eyes widened. "A week? I was unconscious for a week?"

"Yeah. Don't worry though. You're perfectly fine." Tim yawned and stretched his arms out behind his back. "Anyway, now that you're awake, we can continue on with our multiversal road trip. I've got loads more to show you-"

"No way!" I snapped. "If babies getting their balls cut off is just the tip of the iceberg, I don't want to see the rest of the ice. That shit was insane!" I sighed. "Look, Tim… I'm not stupid; I know what you were trying to show me. That people have it way worse than me. I… I knew that already. I've known that since forever. There are people that have, you know, actual problems to deal with. Diabetes, AIDS, cancer… infantile genital mutilation, but you didn't need to show me that last one. I know I shouldn't be down on myself all the time, I want to move on from what happened, I really do, but…" I sighed, "It's hard…" I shook my head. "I don't need to see any more weird shit. Please, just… take me home… I want to go home…"

Tim sighed a lengthy sigh, turning away from me and walking back over to the desk. He stayed silent for quite some time. It wasn't lost on me that I was utterly and completely at Tim's mercy. If he wanted me to stay with him forever, if he chose not to take me home, then of course I'd have no choice but to stay. I had no idea what Dimension I came from, after all, and I had no clue about the world outside of the garage. I wouldn't be able to survive on my own. I needed Tim, but more than that I needed Tim to take me home.

Tim sighed once more, but still faced away from me as he spoke. "Listen, Tyler, I usually get involved in things of my own accord, and normally it's just me. I'm not trying to push things on people, or make them change their worldviews. I only did what I did with you 'cause I wanted to help you see that life was worth living. I didn't expect things to go how they did in the end. Basically, what I'm trying to say is… I'm sorry for getting you shot, and if you really just want me to take you home, then… I'll take you home."

"R-really?" I couldn't tell if Tim was joking or not, so I had to ask.

Tim nodded, turning back to me. "But you gotta promise me you're not gonna try and kill yourself anymore. If you've got a problem, then you've got to work through it. You can't just pussy out and end it. Luna wouldn't want that." Tim smiled. My eyes widened and Tim chuckled. "You were talking in your sleep before. I heard you say her name a couple times."

"I-I had a dream about her…" I said, feeling my face get a little hotter. I licked my lips as I remembered the kiss in the dream, the feeling of it as real as any kiss or moment I'd shared with her.

"Yeah, I gathered that." Tim stretched his arms out. "She's your ex, right? The one who broke it off with you because you tried to kill your brother?"

"Stepbrother." I affirmed. "But, yeah…" I shook my head. "I don't know what's going to happen when I get back. I've been gone for a little over a week, but…" I trailed off. This whole thing was far beyond my comprehension. As far as I knew, my visits to the Spirit World, the Underworld, and the Ark Cradle all took place within the same Dimension, and if that was the case, did that then mean that there were multiple different versions of the Spirit World and the like, each existing within their own Dimension? If so, then that truly meant that the scope of the world, my Dimension, was far greater than I could have ever thought possible, and my understanding of it was therefore almost non-existent. A thought suddenly popped into my head, which I couldn't not verbalize. "Wait… is time… does time move differently in different Dimensions?"

Tim sighed. "That's a big can of worms you're opening there, but mostly, no. In general terms, time in this world is relatively the same across each Dimension, but there are always exceptions to the rule. When you move outside the Human World though, each other world has its own, I guess what they constitute as time. It's difficult to really explain it because time in the Human World, in terms of seconds, minutes, hours or whatever, is a human construct. Gods measure time differently because they have their own interpretation of time. Each World does really. Do you know about the Nine Worlds?"

I did know about the Nine Worlds. It was a term I'd heard Rex Goodwin use once before, and aside from that, one that Taze and I had discovered in our youth whilst undertaking a homework assignment for school regarding mythology, which I guess now wasn't really mythology.

"A little…" I answered sheepishly. "I know there's the Human World, the Spirit World, and the Underworld – the other two I've actually gone to as well, but I don't know about the others."

"That's alright. The point I was getting at is the same amount of time has passed in your Dimension as it has in this one. So you've basically been gone for a little over a week."

A week in my Dimension. I wondered if anyone even knew I'd disappeared. Seria probably did, but only because we lived together. She might have told Yusei and the others, or reported me as a missing person to the Public Security Bureau, but did the others even want me back? Did they even care?

You can do whatever you like because I am done helping you!

You told me you'd never do anything to hurt me! Well, what do you call teaming up with the bad guys to destroy the city and kill us?!

Yeah! You hurt my sister! Y-you mean poopface!

I sighed. I'd made too many mistakes to be able to come back from and repair the relationships between me and my friends, and even forgetting the rest of my friends for the moment, I couldn't just come back to New Domino City and show up at the apartment out of the blue, especially with how things ended between Seria and me.

I sighed once more, closing my eyes as I tried to fight back the unease in the pit of my stomach. If I had never have gone with Yusei to that damned Momentum Express Development Organization, none of this would have happened. If I could just go back, I thought.

Wait…

"Um… Tim, i-is there a way that we could… I don't know, if interdimensional travel is possible, then is time travel possible too?"

"Time travel?"

I nodded. "Everything started to go wrong when I decided to join Yusei to go and investigate this place called the Momentum Express Development Organization. If I could just go back-"

"No way." Tim interrupted. "No time travel. That shit gets outta hand way too quickly. If you wanna travel through time, go to Craigh na Dun or get a Time-Turner. But I'm not getting involved in any of that wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey stuff. Too much can go wrong."

My heart sank. I didn't want to do it alone, and I assumed that with Tim having experience with interdimensional travel that he'd also have experience with time travel. It sounded like he did, but I thought that, you know, he'd be able to help me. To hear that he couldn't, or wouldn't… I just wasn't sure what to do.

"B-but then what am I supposed to do about my friends?" I whined.

"I don't know. Did you ever apologize to them about what happened?"

I felt as though my heart stopped for a moment. "N-not really…" I answered truthfully.

Tim quizzically raised an eyebrow. "'Not really'?"

"W-well, I… I mean, I tried to. I apologized to Akiza, and I tried to apologize to Luna, but she wouldn't even hear me out. And it probably wasn't even the right time for personal stuff. The Signers were trying to save New Domino City from being destroyed, but… I just… I couldn't stand to look at Joel, knowing what I knew and what I'd been through. I left, and… I haven't spoken to any of my friends since then… except for Jack, but that didn't end well either…"

"Then you know what you have to do then, don't you? Apologize, dumb-dumb!"

"It's not that easy!" I insisted. "I had an argument with Jack just before I killed myself, and as for Luna, she made it very clear that she wanted nothing to do with me. If she wanted to talk to me, she would have tried calling or texting me or something, but she didn't even do that!"

"Well did you ever think about calling her?"

"Yes! Every fucking day!" I snapped. "The only reason I didn't call her was because I thought if I did try and call, she'd just not answer or ream me out. She didn't want anything to do with me then and she probably won't want anything to do with me now, which sucks 'cause…" I sighed, my tone even more whiny and strained, "I'm still in love with her…"

Tim looked at me for a few seconds before turning and walking over to a laundry basket, picking out a faded blue shirt and tossing it to me. "Put that on. Here's what we're gonna do: I'm gonna leave a note for my mate here, then I'm gonna take you back home, then you're gonna buy some presents or whatever to help smooth things over with your friends, and then you're gonna invite them over and sort your shit out."

"But it's been a week. I can't just show up like this with no explanation! They'll have too many questions, and I-"

"Just tell them what happened." Tim cut me off. "That you made a stupid mistake, and you're sorry. If these guys are really your friends, I'm sure if you apologize and you're honest about everything, they'll probably forgive you. And if they don't, well then at least you'll know, and you can stop thinking about what might have happened or how they might be feeling." Tim sighed. "Look: I'll stick around for a little bit, and help you explain everything to your friends."

My eyes widened. "R-really? You would? I-I'd really appreciate that. Thank you." I smiled, touched that Tim was willing to help me out so much.

"No worries…" he shrugged, "it's the least I can do for almost getting you killed again."

"I think you've already done enough…" I said, looking down at my chest. "I'm just not sure I'll be able to keep myself in as good a shape as this."

Tim grabbed a notepad on the table and jotted something down on it. "You don't need to worry about that, trust me. The Turbulent Juice is gonna take care of all that." He told me. "Anyway, that's enough jibber-jabber. In another few hours, the sun will set. Put that shirt on and follow me."

I did as Tim asked and quickly put the shirt on. It was tight and didn't fit me very well, but I didn't really care. I wouldn't be wearing it for very long, I thought. Besides, the clothing wasn't important. I had to think about what I was going to say to Luna, Seria, Yusei and the others. Sure, the fact that Tim was coming with me comforted me, but that didn't change the fact that I was the one at fault, and I honestly wasn't sure whether Tim being with me or not would really change anything. Tim did have a point though. I had to see my friends and the one I loved one last time and just talk to them about what happened. If Luna and the others didn't want anything to do with me after that, I'd still be upset, sure, but at least I'd know for certain that everything was over between us, and not pointlessly wonder about what could have been.

I followed Tim out of the garage and into a well-kept backyard, the dimension-hopping boat sitting in the sun, light shining through the crystal ball. "I had to move the boat out into the backyard so my mate could park his ship in the garage when he gets back." Tim explained. "Anyway, you all set?"

I put a hand to my lips. "Yeah, it's just… I don't know what I'm gonna say to everybody. My roommate knew that I was going to try and kill myself, and it's been a week since then. She might have issued a missing persons report-"

"If she has, we'll deal with that, okay? Don't worry. Just think about what you need to say to your friends." Tim hopped into the boat and I followed him. My eyes stayed on Tim as he fiddled with the cylinders, but my mind continued to rack itself on what I was going to say and do when I got back to my Dimension. "🎶Bing, bang, bone. Let's get you home!🎶" Tim said, once again in a sing-song sort of way.

Electricity circled the boat, distorting my view of the backyard and resulting suburban area around me. Sunlight continued to move through the crystal ball and cylinders, catching and then projecting light in various colors all around the backyard, once again reminding me of Infinity.

I grabbed onto the railing of the boat for a moment and felt myself get a little shock. I closed my eyes, fighting against the overwhelming feeling of vertigo, and tried to visualize myself back in New Domino City. I would arrive back at the apartment with Tim, bouquet in hand which I'd give to Seria, and then I'd apologize for what I'd put her through. I'd ask for her forgiveness, and, hopefully, she'd accept. Then, I'd try and get in touch with Luna, Akiza, Leo, Yusei and Jack – try and explain the notes I left for them, and attempt to get through it all without stuttering. I'd apologize in person for everything that happened on the Ark Cradle and promise that I'd do whatever I could to make it up to them. Then, if I had to, I'd get on my knees and beg Luna to take me back, even though I know I didn't, and still really don't, deserve her.

I imagined holding Luna in my arms as I felt a pressure pinning me to the boat and I sighed once more, feeling my senses fade away.

"Well, here we are," I heard Tim say, "I told ya I'd get ya back safely."

I grunted as I opened my eyes and stood up, looking around and finding Tim and myself standing in the boat at the shoreline, below a Combat Lane in a familiar city. "Yeah… you did…" I said breathlessly, turning to Tim. "Thanks, Tim." I smiled.

"You're welcome." Tim smiled back, his pearly white teeth almost blinding me. Tim then turned back to the boat. "So have you thought about what you're gonna say to your friends?"

"Y-yeah…" I muttered, "I mean, I have, but there's so much I want to say. The first thing I'll probably have to explain is my speech impediment if it takes me more than five seconds to say something."

"Right…" Tim said, but the warmth of his tone was gone as Tim looked at the center of the boat.

"I-is something wrong?" I asked.

Tim fiddled with the central components of the boat, lowering and raising various cylinders. Suddenly, Tim smacked his hand down against the side of the boat. "Damn it…! This thing's outta juice."

"Y-you mean-"

"Yeah, looks like I'm stuck here. I guess all the dimension-hopping screwed with the MD5 hash Majoogily Interdimensionalizer."

"What's that?"

"I dunno. I just made that up. But I'm sure everything's fine. The boat wouldn't have let us come here if it didn't have enough of whatever the Hell powers it to get us to where we wanted to be. Probably. It just means I might be staying here for a little longer than I thought I would." Tim sighed once more. "I should have asked my mate to take a look at the boat when I had the chance. I don't even know what the Hell powers this thing. I thought the crystal ball did, but…" Tim trailed off.

I felt terrible. I mean, don't get me wrong, I was glad to be back, but it wasn't right that Tim had to be stuck here. "I'm sorry, man. I'd offer you a place to stay, but as I said, I… had an argument with my roommate before I left, so even if I sort things out with her, I don't know if she's gonna be okay with an extra dude crashing at her place. It would be kind of a dick move if I just showed up and asked if you could stay after everything that's happened. I still need to smooth things over with everyone." I swallowed. "But, if I do smooth things over with everyone, my friend Yusei might be able to fix the boat. He's hella smart. He developed this program called Fortune, which, well I don't need to go into any of the details, but if anyone can fix the boat, it's him."

"Alright then, let's go!" Tim hyped as he got out of the boat, putting the crystal ball into his pocket. I stepped out of the boat and brushed myself down, turning back to Tim as I heard him grunt. My eyes widened as I saw him holding the boat above his head like it was nothing.

"What the Hell are you doing?!" I asked.

"Uh, I'm taking this with us – duh!"

"T-Tim, that's crazy. You can't carry that boat around with you!"

"Uh, yeah I can. I can deadlift dragons. Carryin' this thing through the city would be nothin' for me."

"That's not what I mean! It's just…" I sighed, not wanting to argue with Tim but doing so anyway. "Look: if I show up at Yusei's with the boat unannounced, he's gonna be thinking a lot of things, and probably mostly that I'm just trying to use him. I've only got one chance to make things right with him and everyone else, and I really don't want to screw this up. Besides, if the boat's out of p-power, no one else is gonna be able to use it to go anywhere, even if they did somehow know how to operate it. I think it's best if we leave it here for the time being, and once I've sorted everything out with my friends, then I'll be able to ask Yusei to help us. And I promise that that'll be the first thing I do once everything's taken care of."

Tim's eyes narrowed. "You do realize that people can still use this as an actual boat, right?"

"No one's gonna steal it, Tim. There might have been a time when people would have, but things are different now. Trust me, we can leave the boat here, I'll try and smooth things over with everyone, I'll get Yusei to look at the boat, he'll be able to fix it 'cause he's awesome, and you'll be able to go back to your Dimension. It's all gonna be okay." I assured Tim, as well as myself.

Tim shrugged, setting the boat down just out of reach of the water. "Alright, you know more about this place than I do."

I pointed up from the shoreline to where the bridge intersected with the mainland. "There's a Rehabilitation Center a few blocks from here. If they let us use the phone, I can call us a taxi into town or get someone else who might be able to come and get us."

"Lead the way."

So I did. Tim followed behind as I made my way into what I remembered to be the Satellite Sector. There were people walking around that I'd never seen before, and plenty more Security officers patrolling the area than I last remembered, but I didn't pay it much thought. That is until I reached the Rehabilitation Center, or, more accurately, where it was supposed to be.

In its place stood a police station. I knew that because there was a sign just outside which read 'Kōban. Civilians to be admitted entry by Sector Security only'.

"What the Hell…?" I whispered.

"Where's the place?" Tim asked.

I cleared my throat. "H-here. It's supposed to be here, but… it's not."

"Yeah, I can see that."

"S-something's not right." I stammered.

"Clearly." Tim deadpanned, grabbing me by the shoulders and moving me around. "Turn around, bright eyes. Is this your home? 'Cause if it's not, we've got a problem. Also, you've got a lot of drones flying around. Like, more than necessary."

"D-Drones?" I looked around, noticing for the first time a fleet of drones hovering through the air.

I turned back to the Rehabilitation Center-turned-police station, trying to make sense of it all. The Rehabilitation Center was here the day I took my life, and it wasn't as if it was just the signage that changed and they had to relocate some officers into the building. No, the entire building was a different shape and everything, and there were certainly no drones patrolling the Satellite last time either. The small, minute details that I'd shaken off before were beginning to fit together like a puzzle. But then just like that, the puzzle in my mind shattered, because I saw something, someone that my mind wasn't prepared to see.

Crow Hogan.

Yusei… you, Jack, and Tyler are my brothers!

We don't know where Bruno is, but… Crow… He… he's dead…

Crow was literally one-in-a-million, and I'm… I'm thankful that I even got to know him…

For a moment, I couldn't believe it was really him. How could it be? He died! I went to his funeral! I saw his body! But there he was, peering out from behind a dilapidated building, sitting atop his Duel Runner, the Blackbird. He had the same dark gray eyes, the same orange hair, the same clothes on that he used to wear, it had to be him. Crow turned and I got a better look at his face, noticing the absence of the M-shaped Criminal Mark, the one that he used to have on his forehead – the first Criminal Mark he ever got. The other ones, the dot on his forehead and the ones below his eyes were still present on his face.

"What's going on…?" I whispered, my mouth dropping open as I started to shake, Tim no doubt feeling it as he gripped my shoulders.

And then, as I continued to stare at him, eyes wide in panic and confusion, our eyes met. I didn't know what to do. Tim obviously noticed something was up because I heard him ask me "Hey, you okay?"

Crow's eyes lit up as he saw me. He looked around for a moment before smiling and beckoning me over. Once again, I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to stand in the middle of the district looking like an idiot, which I probably did, but I was just so confused by what was going on.

I was reminded of my run-in with Okita and Liquid, and how I thought they'd perished with the Arcadia Movement. Maybe it was the same with Crow, I thought. Maybe he hadn't died against the Diablo.

I quickly shook my head at the absurdity of the thought, reminding myself that I went to his funeral and saw his body. Something strange was obviously going on, and against my better judgment, I went over to him, Crow getting off of his Duel Runner. "Hey, Tyler! It's good to see you again…!" Crow greeted with a smile and a handshake, but he sounded almost as surprised to see me as I was with him, which of course couldn't be true. "Man, I haven't seen you in over a year. I almost didn't recognize ya! How've you been?"

"Um… good… Crow…" I lied, due to my present predicament. I found it difficult not to stare at the blank spot on his forehead where his M-shaped Criminal Mark should have been. "How have you b…" I felt a block coming so I stopped, putting a curled finger to my lips to try and hide my facial spasm and squinted for a moment. "b-b-been…?" I forced out. "How have you been?" I repeated, damning myself.

Crow sighed. "I tell you what, I've seen better days!"

"Ah, so this is one of your friends, eh?" I heard Tim say rather loudly, giving me a fright. I didn't even know he walked over with me. Tim smiled, giving Crow a hard handshake. "Professor Tim Ihansha, winner of the nineteen ninety-four Triwizard Tournament and seventy-fourth Hunger Games. Incredibly attractive and always erect. How do you do?"

"Wow, er… strong grip…" Crow said nervously, turning back to me. "So this guy's a friend of yours?"

"Yeah, man, we go way back. We've known each other for, like, a week. He was sleeping for most of it though." Tim announced.

"That's cool. Any friend of Tyler's is a friend of mine." Crow smiled, turning to me. "It's a good thing I ran into you. I was on my way back home actually. You should come with me, what do you say? I'm sure Amanda, Taren, and Frank would love to see you again. Eric too."

"A-Amanda…? And…" I trailed, unable to put any faces to the names that Crow had mentioned. "Y-yeah, okay…"

"Awesome!" Crow smiled. "I knew you were still cool. Oh yeah, Shinji and Sesu said they might stop by as well…"

I blinked quickly. Two more names I didn't recognize. My retarded brain was still trying to understand what exactly was going on. I sighed. It was like the amnesia thing all over again. "O-okay…"

"It'll be just like old times!" Crow's happy expression left him for a moment. "Except Damon won't be with us. He… was arrested last year, thrown into The Facility." Crow shook his head. "Sorry to throw that on you like that. Anyway, let's get goin'!" Crow looked around for something, and then turned back to me. "Oh, hey, where's your Duel Runner?"

My Duel Runner had been destroyed a year ago by a Ghost posing as Jack. The Crow I knew knew that, but this one obviously didn't. I tried to quickly think of something I could say, "Uh… um, um, um, um, um…"

"Oh, wait, don't tell me. Security seized it from you, right? Don't worry, we'll head back to our place, meet up with the guys and then sneak into the Security storage locker to get it back." Crow hopped back onto his Duel Runner and moved forward in the seat. "Anyway, climb aboard, Tyler."

"We just need a quick sidebar." Tim said, yanking me away from Crow and pushing me against the wall. "What the Hell's the matter with you?!" Tim asked. "You said that guy was your friend and you're looking at him like he's an AIDS carrier or something!"

I shook my head quickly. "N-no, you don't understand." I continued breathing heavily, glancing toward Crow to make sure he was far enough away so that I could say what I said next. "He's dead…" I whispered.

Tim's eyes widened. "What? Are you sure? Did he bite you? Are you infected?"

"H-he's not a zombie, Tim!" I hissed. "I went to his funeral. I remember it, but… everything that he's saying about Amanda and Frank and Damon… I don't know who any of those people are…" I exhaled lengthily, my difficulty to comprehend what was happening showing clearly on my face. "Tim, this isn't my Dimension. I have no idea where we are or what's going on. This is all just so fucked…"

Tim grunted, moving his head to the side. "I'll take your word that something's wrong. After all, you know more about this place than I do-"

"Are you listening to me? This isn't my Dimension…! You've taken me to the wrong place…!" I told him, Tim gripping my chin and pushing my cheeks together, forcing my lips to pucker.

"Hey, don't interrupt me. And don't tell me that I've done something wrong." Tim warned, the joviality gone from his voice. "I wasn't the one that committed suicide 'cause my girlfriend dumped me."

"How dare-"

"Shut up…!" Tim said quickly, closing his eyes and shaking his head. "Listen: we'll figure this out, okay? Let's just do our best to not cause a scene. We'll go with this guy, we'll figure out what his situation is. Who knows? He might be able to help with the boat. I couldn't even get you out of here anyway since the boat's dead. Just be totally un-Tyler and try and keep cool, okay?"

I nodded quickly, barely able to force out a "Mhm…" with Tim pulling his hand away. Tim's pleasant smile returned as he directed me back over to Crow.

"Is everything okay?" Crow asked.

"Yep. Dandy as a… dandy… thing, I don't know, let's just go." Tim grunted.

Crow patted the space behind him and I slinked in underneath, gripping just above his waist. "Tim, was it? I-"

"Don't worry about me. Just go where you want to go. I'll keep up. A run'll be pretty good exercise."

"What? Are you serious?" Crow asked.

"D-don't… don't question it, Crow. Tim just does what he wants." I muttered.

"Alright," Crow shrugged. "Don't say I didn't warn ya!" Crow revved his Duel Runner and then the two of us took off, heading to a place I knew nothing about, with a stranger who happened to look like my dead friend.