I was quiet the whole ride over to Crow's place, angry and depressed at how quickly things had changed and gone astray. I just wanted to go back home and see my friends again. Instead, I'd been dragged into an alternate Dimension where Crow Hogan, one of my friends who'd died in my Dimension, was still living in this one. He'd invited me back with him to his place, and part of me was so concerned about what I was going to say to these strangers he'd talked about that I had never met before. The other part of me was amazed at how Tim was able to keep up with us on foot. Literally, he ran with us side-by-side the whole way.

I'd lost track of where we were going, the layout of the Old Satellite District from my Dimension not at all matching up with wherever the Hell we were in this Dimension. Crow pulled up beside a building I'd never seen before, a tiny little place tucked between a garage and a vacant lot of land, trash strewn about on the ground. The place had several wooden supports and a six-step wooden staircase leading up to the front.

I had so many questions, but no idea how or where to begin. I also didn't want to talk at all because I hated my speech impediment. Luckily though, I had Tim around to help, as he didn't know anything about the Dimension either, and hopefully could act as my mouthpiece.

"So, what is this place called?" Tim asked, me getting off of Crow's Duel Runner. I looked over at Tim. He hadn't even broken a sweat from all his running.

"We're in the Commons area, and I guess, as residents, that would make us Commoners." Crow explained. No mention of the Satellite or the B.A.D. area, I noted.

"Okay, and what about that city off in the distance?" Tim pointed to a large skyscraper that towered over every other building in sight.

"You mean Neo Domino?"

"N-Neo?!" I blurted without even thinking.

Crow looked back at me. "Yeah… Is… Is everything alright, Tyler? You're a little bit, I dunno… Is everything okay?"

"I-I-" I stammered.

"Everything's fine." Tim assured Crow, "Anyway, tell us about the city."

"Well, really, this whole place is Neo Domino City, but long ago we were divided into two different areas: the Tops and the Commons."

The Tops rang a bell with me. I knew it as the place where the wealthiest in New Domino City lived. Where Leo and Luna lived. Of course, I wasn't sure how much that statement held true here. Still, it sounded like, in this Dimension, the relationship between the Commons and the Tops was similar to the relationship between the Satellite and New Domino City.

"Could it just be a name change then…?" I whispered to myself, immediately disregarding that notion. After all, Crow was standing right in front of me. I wondered what else was different between this Dimension and mine, but more than that…

The version of me in this Dimension.

Another version of me had to exist because Crow knew me and we seemed to be friends, so where was I? Would this version of me come back here, and what would I say when he showed up? What would happen? Would it be like one of those movies where if our eyes met then the universe would collapse?

I sighed, shaking my head, forcing myself to put that out of my mind for the moment. Tim and I followed Crow up the steps as he continued. "Every day here is a struggle to survive. We make do with what we've got, but it's not easy, especially with Sector Security running around. The Topsiders on the other hand have everything. They live lives of luxury, and to them, we're like dirt beneath their feet. If a Commoner is spotted in the Tops or even seen talking with a Topsider, they get taken to the Facility and branded as a criminal." Crow turned back to Tim and me, pressing his fingers against the Criminal Marks on his face. "That's how I got these."

"Oh, so this is one of those places? The one percent controls the ninety-nine percent…" Tim muttered as Crow led us inside. "Yeah, I visited a place like that not too long ago. Actually, it was right before I met this guy. Yeah…"

"Hey everyone!" Crow shouted as I froze once more, greeted by the faces of strangers. There were three kids; a blue-eyed burgundy-haired girl, a purple-eyed green-haired boy, and a rosy-cheeked blue-haired boy.

"Crow's back!" the girl shouted.

"Hey Crow! Hey Tyler!" the rosy-cheeked boy greeted.

"H-hello." I greeted back, looking down at the faces of the kids.

"We got you guys some presents!" Crow grinned.

"Wow! Really?!" Amanda shouted, Crow giving the little girl a can of tuna and some cards. Crow then gave the two boys some cards as well.

Crow turned back to me. "As you can see, Tyler, not much has changed around here… Just like you remember it!"

"Y-yeah…" I shivered. Crow was completely wrong of course. Everything had changed and nothing was how I remembered it. That said though, I was reminded of the hangout of mine and Crow's former Duel Gang, Team Satisfaction, and while that place wasn't exactly run down, it had a very drab and gloomy feel to it. This place however, was very quaint and homely. No maps of the different territories or old tables and chairs. Instead there was an old CRT television sitting atop a coffee table, several old couches and a dusty keyboard propped over on a stool.

Crow must have noticed that I was staring at the keyboard, 'cause he patted me on the back and said "You can play that later if you want."

"I'll get started on dinner!" Amanda chirped.

Crow turned to Tim and me. "When was the last time you guys ate?"

"I-" Once again, Tim cut me off, putting a hand on my shoulder.

"A while ago for this one. It's probably a good idea for him to eat."

"T-Tim, I-"

"You don't want a stomach ulcer, do you?" Tim asked me softly.

"N-no…" I mumbled.

"Right, so just sit back and play the keyboard or whatever. Let the kid make you dinner or whatever."

"I can't even play the keyboard…" I whispered to Tim.

"What do you mean you can't play the keyboard? It's just chords and scales." Tim dismissed. "A baby can play the keyboard." He said, the door at the back of the room opening as a blue and purple-haired young man came through, wearing a Turbo Dueling outfit.

"Hey, Shinji." Crow greeted.

"You sure took your time, Crow!" he said.

"Sorry, I took a little detour," Crow smiled, "as you can see…"

"Good to see you again, Tyler." Shinji smiled, "The kids've really missed you."

I felt my face heat up. "Uh, hey… man… how's it… g-going?"

Shinji sighed. "Well, actually, it's kinda weird that you guys come back here now after what's just happened."

"What do you mean?" Crow asked.

Shinji opened his mouth to explain, but then sighed. "I think it's just best if you guys come through." he motioned. Crow, Tim and myself were led into the kitchen by Shinji, my eyes widening as I saw another group of people I didn't know: A red and green-haired boy wearing an orange shirt, baggy green pants and a white jacket. An indigo-haired girl wearing a red jacket and a skirt that showed way too much of her legs, at least for someone her age. A yellow and brown-haired boy in what looked to be a really posh school uniform. A very young child in a light blue hoodie, gripping a stuffed bear in their hands. And finally, someone who seemed to be my own age, a young man with curly black hair, solidly built, wearing a loose-fitting green T-shirt and shorts. "These guys were getting harassed by Security, and so we jumped in to help them." Shinji's eyes paused on Tim. "Oh… who are you?"

I quickly turned to Tim. "Oh, yeah… guys this is-"

"Professor Tim Ihansha. I met Tyler here out on the road, and we've been travel buddies for about a week." Tim smiled.

"Professor?" Shinji asked, "Are you a Topsider then?"

"Well, I'm a top bloke. But nah, I'm not a Topsider. What's my job have to do with anything anyway?"

"Sorry, it's just that… out here, when someone says they've got a job like a professor or doctor, I get a little anxious. Those kinds of people live in the Tops." Shinji said.

"You don't need to worry about me, mate. I'm not from around here. But… if I can make an observation, it seems like you guys really hate the Tops." Tim verbalized the obvious.

"Of course we do," Crow spoke. "Those Topsider bastards stole Turbo Duels from us…"

I could feel a couple pairs of eyes staring at me. The girl in the red jacket and the young man in the green shirt. "What do you mean?" I asked.

Crow turned to me with wide eyes and seemed almost stumped by my question. "Wh… you kn-what?"

"What?" I could feel my body starting to shake. I shut my eyes tight and, in a moment of weakness, asked "Look, th-this is all great and everything, but would any of you know where Yusei is?"

"Yusei?" Crow asked, tilting his head to the side, "What's a 'Yusei'?"

I froze. It was suddenly made clear to me that Yusei didn't exist in this Dimension. Or, at the very least, no one knew who he was, which meant there'd be no way for Tim and me to get the boat fixed.

"I-I-I need some air…!" I said, moving away from the group. There were too many people, none of whom I really knew. I could feel those suicidal thoughts and impulses start to build inside me, and as I left the kitchen, ignoring one of the kids' questions, I headed outside, slamming my head several times against the closed garage door.

The garage door vibrated several times as I smacked my head against it, before I was grabbed and pinned to it, my eyes coming face-to-face with Tim's. "What the Hell are you doing?" he hissed.

My entire body was shaking. "I can't do this! It's too much! There're too many people! I don't know anyone here! Yusei doesn't exist! We can't fix the boat-" I was silenced as Tim punched me in the stomach, Turbulent Juice spewing from my mouth as I dropped to the ground.

Tim stared down at me, cracking his neck and then his knuckles. "You need to calm down. You get stressed so easily. So there's a couple people in there that you don't know. So what? That's no reason to bash your head against the freakin' garage! And as for the boat, we'll find another way to fix it. Just calm down, okay?" Tim broke a smile and helped me up, though I could barely breathe from his punch. "Now, I'm gonna go and check on the boat, make sure it's still there. Get back in there and just… I don't know, be quiet and don't talk. I'll think of what we need to go and do next once I've checked on the boat. Don't let anyone know that you're not from this Dimension. Think you can do that?"

"I-I-I think so…" I wheezed, sucking in as much air as I could.

"Bada bang bang…!" Tim winked, and with that, he walked off, hands in his pockets. So carefree and confident.

I kept breathing heavily, trying to regulate it, before heading back inside. Amanda rushed up to me as I came back through the door. "Tyler, are you okay?!" she asked.

"Yeah." I nodded, lying. "I'm gonna go back in there now." I told her, pointing to the kitchen as I walked toward it. I made my way back in, ignoring the stares I got from Crow and Shinji as I made my way to the back.

The girl sitting at the other end of the table sighed. "Why the Hell are we just sitting here? We should be out looking for Zuzu."

"Calm down, Celina." The red and green-haired boy said.

"'Calm down'?!" Celina asked, "She could be in danger, don't you care?!"

"Of course I care. But if we go out there now, there's a good chance we'll get caught by Sector Security."

"Fine. Stay here if you want, Yuya, but I'm going." Celina told him.

"If she's going, then I'm going!" the yellow and brown-haired boy said, getting up from the table as he and Celina walked out of the kitchen and out the front door I'd come in from.

"Celina! Sylvio! Wait!" Yuya called as he rushed over to them, only to have the door slammed in his face. Yuya sighed.

"Hey, Tyler. Where'd that friend of yours go?" Crow asked.

"He's gone to go check on something. I don't know when he'll be back." I told him.

"Alright, as long as he stays out of trouble." Crow nodded, "Are you really okay though? You've been… I don't know how to say this… acting pretty strange since I last saw you."

"I'm fine."

"You sure?"

"Yes, I'm fine."

"Alright. As long as you are." Crow said, refraining from taking his eyes away from mine for a few moments, before eventually turning to Yuya. "So, what's your story?" he asked.

"He says that he and his friends came here from another Dimension." Shinji explained. I looked over at Yuya.

"That's right. We came here to look for allies to help us fight against the Fusion Dimension." Yuya added.

"The Fusion Dimension?" Crow mulled, before smiling. "Okay, Tyler, I think this Yuya guy has you beat with strange behavior."

Crow's comment aside, I turned to Yuya. "You come from another Dimension?" I asked softly.

"I know it sounds completely insane." He admitted, but I shook my head.

"No, it doesn't." I told him, his eyes meeting mine. I felt my face get a little hotter and I shook my head once more. "I-I mean, it sounds insane, but I believe you."

Yuya's eyes widened. "Really?"

"Yeah." It took me all of my willpower not to confess that I wasn't the Tyler that Crow and Shinji knew. I decided instead to veer away a little from that part of the conversation. "These people from the Fusion Dimension… do they use Duel Monsters as well?"

Yuya nodded. "That's why we need to gather as many strong Duelists as we can to help us fight them." Yuya looked down before fetching something from his pocket. "This." He said, placing a card on the table. "This is what we used to come here."

I looked down at the card. It was a Spell Card called Dimensionizer, but the card's text box was blank.

"We'd like to help you out," Shinji said, "but we probably wouldn't be much help. Sector Security keeps confiscating all our best cards. In terms of other Commoners, we're doing pretty well – there's not many of us here who even have enough cards to make a full Deck – but in terms of everyone else, and the Topsiders… well, I'd hate to say it, but you'd probably be better off asking them for help, not that they'll care about anything or anyone other than themselves."

I picked up the Dimensionizer Spell Card carefully, studying it for any differences it might have to a regular Duel Monsters card, but it didn't seem to have any.

"The forces of the Fusion Dimension are huge. That's why we need as many people as we can get to help us. We already have members of our team, The Lancers, in this city, but we need more support." Yuya continued.

"Well I hope for your sake that you're able to reunite with your teammates, but as for me partnering up with a Topsider, that's never gonna happen." Shinji said, getting up from the table. "Alright, I'd better go find us something to eat. The kids haven't eaten since breakfast."

Crow turned to his dark-haired friend. "You don't need to worry about the kids. I got 'em a can of tuna before, so they'll be alright. And it should do us for tonight."

"Ah," Shinji nodded. "In that case, I'll go find them something for breakfast tomorrow."

"You're more than welcome to stay of course, Tyler." Crow told me. "We've still got all your things. Although…" he trailed, myself turning to Crow. "Yeah," he smiled, "I get it. You just want your Duel Runner back, don't you? That's why you're all on edge. Did Sector Security take your Deck and Duel Disk too?"

My heartbeat quickened. "A-actually, um… I didn't get my Deck or Duel Disk or Duel Runner confiscated. I… had an accident." I admitted, recalling my Turbo Duel against Jack, or at least his doppelgänger, and how he destroyed my Duel Runner along with my cards and put me in a coma.

"An accident?" Shinji asked.

I nodded, licking my lips. "Mm. I was Turbo Dueling a guy named Jack, and well, I-"

"Wait, Jack? Do you mean Jack Atlas?"

My eyes widened. I'd assumed that since Yusei didn't seem to exist in this Dimension, or Crow and the others didn't know him at the very least, that the same could have been said for Jack, but I guess I was wrong. I should have said no, but instead, I said "Y-yeah-"

I jumped back in fright as Shinji slammed his hand down on the table. "That fucking traitor!" he snapped. "Abandoning us is one thing, but attacking us too?!"

"Calm down, Shinji," Crow sighed.

"Shinji, it wasn't like that." I tried to assure him. "Jack wasn't himself."

Shinji chortled. "Give me a break. Jack's always been himself. That's all he's ever been, and all he's ever thought about. Still, I'm impressed you even went up against him, and I'm glad you're okay." Shinji looked to the front door that Celina and Sylvio had left from. "Sector Security's after Yuya and the others, so I said they could stay here for the night, as long as they don't get the kids implicated." He said, waving back to Crow and me as he headed out the door.

"Why is the Public…" I sighed, shaking my head, "Sector Security after you?" I asked Yuya. "Does it have something to do with this Fusion Dimension?"

"I'm not sure." Yuya answered. "I think they might have mistaken us for our comrades, Zuzu and Yugo. If that's the case, that means they're in Neo Domino somewhere, and I have to find them." Yuya sighed. "I just wish that Celina and Sylvio didn't go off on their own like that…"

"Are they competent Duelists?"

"Yeah, but we need to stick together. We've already lost Gong, Dennis and Declan, three other Lancers."

"Brother…" I heard the hooded kid whisper.

"We should have arrived here together." Yuya stated.

"Well you can't do much about that now, can ya? Now come on, you guys have had a long day by the sound of it. Why don't you get some sleep?" Crow suggested. "I'll wait up for your friends to come back."

"Are you sure?" Yuya asked.

"Yeah, it's no trouble." Crow assured him, turning to me. "Tyler, you should get some sleep too. Do you remember where your room is?"

"U-uh…" I stammered. "No…"

"Ah, that's alright." Crow smiled. "Eric, show Tyler where your room is."

The black-haired young man nodded, getting up from his seat and smiling at me, motioning for me to follow him.

I followed Eric out of the room and up a small set of steps, turning down a corridor as he opened the door to the first room on the right.

It was a small bedroom, two king single beds on opposite sides of the room, a bedside table between them. A wardrobe which presumably had some clothes in it was next to the door we came in from. There were no curtains, blinds, or even windows, but there were a bunch of cards on my bedside table. "Everything is how you left it. Cards everywhere, all your clothes are still in the closet. And here." Eric handed me a card. The Tricky. "I held onto it all this time. Now it can go back to its owner."

I looked down at the card, "Oh, uh… th-thanks… man…"

Eric nodded to me, lying down on his bed and picking up a graphic novel from his bedside and proceeding to read it.

"Um…" I stammered. "Um…" Fuck. I was getting more and more annoyed with my speech impediment. "I…" I sighed, shaking my head. "Never mind…"

Eric's eyes drifted from the comic. "What's up, Ty?"

I sighed once more, smiling for some reason. "I don't know. Th-this all just feels a little… surreal…"

"How so?"

I scratched the back of my head. "You know that saying? 'The more things change, the more they stay the same'? I guess it's sort of like that. I mean… I have been gone for quite a while."

"True." Eric nodded, a beep sounding from a nearby tablet. Eric reached over and picked it up.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Just got a message from someone…"

"Ah," I said, Eric tapping away on his tablet before putting it down and locking the screen. "Alright, so, I guess I'll hit the hay then…" I muttered, clearing the cards off of my bed.

"Okay, I'm gonna go talk to Crow about a couple things." Eric told me, putting his comic aside as he got up and left the room.

I sighed, putting the cards – an assortment of old Normal Monsters like Larvas and M-Warrior #2 – onto the bedside table before sliding underneath the covers of my bed. The mattress was awful, but I couldn't complain. I rested my head against the pillow and I looked up at the ceiling, wondering how my friends in my Dimension were doing, and wondering if Luna was thinking of me as I was her. Her bed was much comfier than this one, if a little bit small, I thought.

I sighed once more, turning to the side and pulling the covers further over me, and eventually, thankfully, I drifted off to sleep.

"Hey, psst, wake up…" I heard Tim whisper.

I scrunched my face together, turning and opening my eyes wearily to the darkness. I could just barely make out Tim standing over me. I couldn't even tell what kind of expression he had on his face. "Tim…?" I mumbled. "You find the boat?"

He didn't answer right away, which worried me. I became more worried when Tim said "I'm gonna say some things that you won't like to hear. I need you to promise me that you won't freak out."

I sat up in my bed, noticing that Eric seemed to be in a deep sleep in his bed. "What's wrong?" I asked, rubbing my eyes.

"The boat's gone."

My eyes widened, and I momentarily forgot that Eric was asleep next to me. "Wha-" Tim put a hand to my mouth and silenced me.

"Shush…!" he hissed. "I told you not to freak out." Tim leaned closer to me. "Listen, when I got to where I'd left the boat, I couldn't find it, but there were a couple of clues, and it seemed to have been taken to someplace in the Tops. I couldn't figure out exactly where. This place is dumb and I need to have a better look around." Tim explained. "Anyway, I was coming back here to tell you, and…" Tim sighed, stopping.

"What?" I asked softly.

"Not to pile more bad on top of bad, but… I know where the you in this Dimension is… and you're not gonna like it."

"Oh my God…" I muttered breathlessly, standing in the center of a dirty, musky room. A chair, knocked over, was positioned just below a reinforced ceiling fan, a rope tied at one end to one of the blades. The other end tightly wrapped around a person's neck.

Mine.

Well, strictly speaking, the dimensional counterpart of me. He looked to be about the same age as me. Same black hair, though shorter than what mine had become. His body as well looked to be almost malnourished. For me, living in the Satellite and being 'forced' to undertake various 'physical activities', helped me develop a decent body, which I eventually lost to months of delivered food and soap opera reruns, and then thankfully got it back thanks to Tim. But my counterpart here looked like he'd been worked to the bone and never had a decent meal in his life.

Looking up at the body of my twin, I was absolutely horrified. I wanted to look away, but I just couldn't. Tears were starting to well up in my eyes, my diaphragm beginning to spasm as I walked forward, inspecting the body of my counterpart. His arms had two long cuts down the middle of them, as though he'd taken a knife and got about halfway before stopping and deciding on another way to take his life. "How long have you been here?" I asked 'myself', my voice breaking. I let out a low, defeated groan before forcing myself to look away, tears flowing, my eyes and nose running like faucets.

I roughly brushed my arm across my face to wipe the tears away, catching sight of a table in the corner of the room. Atop it rested a Deck of Duel Monsters cards, a weird contraption, and a piece of paper taped to the table. I walked over to it, peeled the paper off the table and read it to myself.

A suicide note.

Crow,

I'm sorry. I don't know how you must be feeling right now, if you're reading this. Believe me, it wasn't an easy decision to make, but I haven't been completely honest about myself. I left the Tops because of my abusive stepfather, thinking that a life in poverty in the Commons would be better than a life broken. In some ways it was, because I was able to meet you, and Shinji, Eric, Damon, Sesu, Tony. You became my new family, a family that I will love and cherish forever. But it's just gotten too much for me. The living conditions of the Commons is just too much for someone like me, a weakling, to cope with. I know it seems like I've taken the easy way out, but the truth is, even if we could restore the balance and reunite the Commoners and the Topsiders, I could never forgive my stepfather Kobi for what he's done. I'd have felt like I'd have to kill him to even get some small amount of peace within myself, and then I'd just be sentenced to The Facility for murder. There's no happy ending for me. I'm sorry.

Please take care of the kids. They can have whatever cards they like from my Deck, and, if they're willing to share, my Duel Disk is theirs too.

Tyler

It was my handwriting too. This person, who lived in a completely different Dimension to me, was almost exactly the same as me. We had the same feelings of hopelessness, the same damn stepfather. I had no idea if the lives we lived were really any different, but regardless, it seemed as though they ended the same.

There were so many emotions swirling around inside me that I didn't know how to express.

I turned back to Tim, who was staring up at the hanging corpse of my counterpart. "Can you bring him back?" I asked.

"What, you mean revive him?" Tim sounded perplexed. "Tyler, he's too far gone. Look at him. I was only able to revive you because I got all that water out of your body and freed up your airways. You hadn't been dead for that long. I don't know how long this one's been here for." Tim poked my counterpart's hand and I flinched. "Besides, even if I was able to revive him, if he's anything like you, he wouldn't be very grateful-"

"I was wrong, Tim." I told him. Tim turned to me, almost looking surprised by my statement. "He's so young. I'm so young. We don't have very long to live as it is, and… we throw it all away because we're unhappy. I get why he did it. I'm not going to stand here and pretend that this doesn't make sense, because according to this letter, we've lived very similar, if not exactly the same lives as each other." I turned away again. "Can you get him down?"

"Get him down?"

"Please." I begged. "I want him buried. He deserves to be buried."

I heard Tim grunt before the rope hit the floor with a dejected smack. "I need to find a place to bury him then." I heard Tim say. "For now, I'll set him down on the couch." Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Tim take my counterpart's body over to a dilapidated, soggy couch and sat him down across it. Tim left the room, presumably to see if there was a place close enough to bury him, and I found myself staring at the body. Aside from the incredibly pale skin, massive cuts on his arms, and signs of rope burn around his neck, it looked like he was sleeping.

Tears began to flow from my eyes once more and I walked over to him, sitting down beside him on the couch. "I'm sorry." I found myself saying. "I'm sorry you had to go through all that shit with Kobi." I turned to look at myself and let out a wailing cry of defeat, burying my head in my hands.

"Okay, I've found a-" Tim silenced himself, probably at the sight of me being such a wreck. I heard Tim walk over to me, patting me reassuringly on the back. "I know this must feel weird for you. I've watched countless people die in my life, but I've never seen my own corpse." Tim spoke softly. "If you need to talk about it, I'm here."

I brought my hands away from my face, turning to Tim, my tears glistening and distorting my vision. "I never thought about it from the other side before…" I whispered. "All I ever really thought about was how I was going to do it, and then actually doing it, but not what that would do to other people. How… how people would r-react if they saw me like that, hanging from the ceiling. Crow and the others, they obviously had no idea that I'd gone and done this…" I felt myself start to break down again, more tears flowing from my eyes.

Tim reached over and grabbed my counterpart's cold lifeless body, holding him in his arms as he walked outside. I sighed shakily, my diaphragm spasming as I followed Tim outside, my legs shaking with every step.

I wiped the tears away from my eyes to see the grave that Tim had dug for my counterpart – a massive hole into the Earth, a shovel propped up beside a couple of empty barrels, his pistol on top of one of them. It wasn't the grave that I would have preferred, but it was better than leaving my counterpart hanging from the ceiling for Crow or someone else to find.

Tim gently lowered my counterpart into the hole and stepped back, glancing at me and my counterpart. I looked down at the body lying in the ground and his eerily expressionless face. I felt like I was going to throw up, and I exhaled shakily once more.

"You ready?" Tim asked, turning to me.

I nodded. Tim nodded in return, grabbing the shovel and proceeding to fill in the grave. I exhaled shakily once more, more tears running from my eyes. Tim and I stood there, staring down at the grave for a while. I wish I could have helped him, save him from my stepdad, from himself, but I couldn't. I just felt absolutely powerless and pathetic.

At least now, I thought, he couldn't be hurt anymore. Tim and I were the only two that knew where he was buried, or that he was even buried or dead at all.

I only realized then just how bright the sky had become. The sun was rising, the darkness giving way to a blue light.

"Come on. We should go." Tim told me.

It took me a while to hear what Tim had said, but eventually, I turned to him and nodded, the two of us moving back into the house.

My eyes were drawn back over to the table and I walked over to it, slipping my counterpart's suicide note in my pocket. The strange contraption beside it, I noticed, a metallic-looking gauntlet, had a compartment for a Deck of cards, and I realized how similar it was to a Duel Disk.

I picked up the Deck and went through it, interested to see how my counterpart's Deck differed from my own. I remembered when I was first learning to play Duel Monsters, and my mom bought me a copy of Yugi Muto's Deck. It was one I'd chosen, under the assumption that if I was to have a Deck like the King of Games that I'd be able to win like he did. Of course, it was very stupid of me to think like that, but I was eight years old and didn't know any better. Eventually, when I, as a part of Team Satisfaction, defeated the Magician's Four, I was able to add their cards to my Deck and make some improvements somewhat; differentiating my Deck from Yugi's a little.

Still, the Deck I had at that point was nothing like the Deck my counterpart had. I mean, yes, it was still a Spellcaster Deck, and yes, it seemed to focus on the Dark Magician as mine had, but there were cards in the Deck I'd never seen before. Multiple different variants and counterparts to the Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl were in the Deck, and even the original cards had different artwork. Overall, it looked, in theory at least, to be a much more powerful Deck than my own.

I took the Deck of cards and slotted them into the Deck Zone of the gauntlet, before fitting my left arm into it. It was a lot heavier than it looked. Definitely heavier than my old Duel Disk. I inspected the gauntlet, trying to find a button or a switch or something to activate it. I ended up pressing anything that looked like a button, and eventually, the two cores of the gauntlet emitted a blue light, and a blade formed out from the side of the gauntlet. The bottom of the gauntlet, what I presumed to be an empty space, turned out to house a screen of some kind that just said 'Awaiting connection' on it.

There was no doubt about it. This was some sort of new Duel Disk.

I wasn't sure if it was really my place to keep my counterpart's things, but I decided, in a sense, that they were mine. And plus, I thought, they'd help me keep up the façade that I was pretending to be my counterpart, at least for the moment.

"Hey!" Tim called, standing by the door. "You comin' or what?"

I turned to Tim and nodded, powering off my Duel Disk, the blade of blue light disappearing.

Tim yawned, stretching his arms into the air as the two of us approached Crow's place. "Look, I've been out all night, and I'm pretty buggered. I'm gonna catch some z's. Almost caught 'em all." Tim patted me on the back once more. "But, when I wake up, if you want to talk about anything, I'm happy to listen."

"Thanks, Tim." I said, forcing myself to smile. The sky had brightened a little bit more, but I still couldn't shake the sight of my counterpart.

Tim gave me a thumbs up, stretching his arms above his head once more as he walked inside, past Eric who was sitting on the steps outside Crow's place.

"Hey, Ty."

"Oh… hey, Eric…"

"What are you doing out late?"

"Nothing." I told him, but it was hard to keep the dreary tone out of my voice.

"You weren't doing anything?" Eric asked.

I shook my head, doing my best to force life into my eyes. "No, just… went for a walk…"

"You and your friend weren't burying something?" he suddenly asked.

My heart stopped, or at least it felt like it did. There was no way he could know. How the Hell could he know?!

"E-Eric it's not what it looks like-"

"Save it. I know a dead body when I see one. You're a murderer. And once Crow wakes up, I'm telling him."

It was like my heart was getting caught in my throat. It was clear that Eric hadn't seen who we'd buried, not that it really mattered, at least to him. "N-no, Eric, you don't-you don't understand!"

"I'm listening." Eric's gaze didn't waver, which only made it more difficult for me to think of what I was going to say. Part of me wanted to lie my way out, but I couldn't think of a convincing lie. If I had more time to prepare, I probably could have thought of something convincing to say, but all I could think of saying was the truth, no matter how crazy and outlandish it all sounded.

I sighed. "Okay, this… this is gonna sound really strange, but… those other guys sleeping in the house right now? Those ones claiming to be from a different Dimension? I believe them. A-and the reason I believe them is because… I'm also from another Dimension. Not the same one as those people, I've never met them, but… I'm not the Tyler you know." I stopped. "Knew. That body that I was getting rid of. That's your Tyler, the one from this Dimension. He hanged himself, and I just thought he deserved to be buried."

"…What…?"

"I know. I know it sounds crazy, and way too convenient that all this weird shit is happening, but it's true." I told him. Eric didn't reply, he just kept looking at me like I was insane, which I was, but I was telling the truth! "Listen, I might not be the same Tyler that you know but trust me when I tell you that he… went through some stuff, and he kept it together for as long as he could. I don't know what his relationship with you was like, but…" I sighed, and against my better judgment, I reached into my pocket and gave Eric the note. "This is a suicide note that he left. It was for Crow."

Eric read the note, his eyes moving along the paper, widening and narrowing until he finished reading. I expected him to give the note back to me when he'd finished reading, but he didn't. Instead, he folded the note several times over and then tore it at the crease, ripping it to pieces.

"Eric, what the Hell?!" I snapped.

"No one can know about this."

"Eric," I said breathlessly, "I'm… I'm not from here. I'm from a Dimension where this place and the City are unified. A Dimension where either you and I never became friends, or you don't exist. A Dimension where I made a foolish mistake and threw everything away, and I have to get back there and make things right."

"Ty, if you tell Crow or Shinji or anyone else, it's gonna destroy them. You can't say anything to them. Promise me that you won't."

"E-Eric, I-"

"Promise me!"

I closed my eyes and sighed. "Okay… I promise…"

"Good." Eric smiled. "I won't tell Crow what I saw either. Let's just keep it between us, okay?"

"If you think that's best…"

"I do." Eric nodded. "Shinji and I are gonna go get breakfast for the kids in a bit. You should probably try and go back to bed. Once those kids wake up, you won't get a moment of rest."

"Right… okay…" I turned and walked through the front door of Crow's, unsure if I could really trust Eric, or if I did the right thing by telling him I came from another Dimension and that the Tyler he knew was dead. It probably wasn't the best thing to do on my part, but my mind was just such a mess, it just felt like it was the only thing I could do.

Nevertheless, I did my best to put that out of my mind for the moment. After all, I thought, if anything went to shit, hopefully Tim would help me. He was in this with me, after all.

I headed back into my room to find Tim having crashed on my bed. I sighed, and then I noticed Tim's pistol lying on the nightstand.

I tensed my left arm, before detaching and releasing my Duel Disk from my arm, propping it up against the drawer next to Eric's tablet, before walking over to the nightstand.

My counterpart might have been the one to take his own life, but as far as I was concerned, Kobi was responsible for his death, and as much as I tried to push the image of his corpse from my mind, I couldn't, and I found myself reaching for the pistol.

"I'm not a murderer, Eric… not yet…" I muttered, the words that my counterpart had written burning themselves into my mind as I tucked the pistol to the inside of my vest.

I left the Tops because of my abusive stepfather, thinking that a life in poverty in the Commons would be better than a life broken.

I could never forgive Kobi for what he's done.

There's no happy ending for me. I'm sorry.

It was time for Kobi to pay.