I followed behind the correctional officer at a quickened pace, my heart pounding in my chest, sweat running from my forehead, wetting the caked blood on my face. There'd been plenty of times in my life that I'd been a nervous wreck, but this wasn't one of them. I wasn't nervous at all about meeting this Dimension's Director of Sector Security. I couldn't be, not when I was riding the high of letting Joel know I'd killed his dad. I was excited, relieved that that bastard finally had some inkling of my true feelings for him.

And once I'd finished speaking with Rogét about whatever the Hell it was he wanted, I'd kill Joel too. He deserved it.

I was pulled from my thoughts as I saw another correctional officer walking my way, Tim walking behind him, singing. "🎶Chickity China, the Chinese chicken. You have a drumstick and your brain stops tickin'. Information age of hysteria. It's calling out to idiot America.🎶"

"Tim! A-are you okay?" I asked. It was the first time I'd seen him since he got dragged away by those officers after killing that other inmate.

Tim stopped singing and beamed at me. "Hey, Tyler, what's up? Spill a little ketchup?" he asked, presumably thinking that that was what was on my face.

"It's blood." I said quickly.

"Nice. Blood's good for ya. It's natural, like sugar." Tim smiled, and those were unfortunately all the words we were able to exchange with each other, as the correctional officer in front of Tim urged him to move, as did mine, and we were quickly moved apart. I didn't get to ask what happened to him, or find out what it was the Director wanted from him.

My correctional officer stopped as we came to a wide door with an intercom beside it. Pressing a button, they then spoke into the intercom. "He's here, Director." The correctional officer then turned back to me as the door opened. "In here." They said.

I did as I was told, moving into the room.

It was a small room, most of its space being taken up by a table in the center. Sitting at one end of the table was an older man with short ash-blond hair, wearing a purple coat over a gray shirt with gray pants and dark gray shoes. His green eyes moved from the chess set he was playing with to me, and he smiled.

"Thank you. You may leave us." Rogét said, the officer bowing and leaving the room. "Please, have a seat." Rogét motioned to the seat opposite him, which I sat down in. He let go of the chess piece he was holding and placed his head in his hands for a moment as he continued to gaze at me. "My name is Jean-Michel Rogét, and I'm the Director of Sector Security here in Neo Domino City."

"I know." I told him, even though I hadn't known until my warden had told me.

"It's regular policy to question all those entering The Facility, be they a Commoner or a Topsider. I'm sure you understand."

I licked my lips, tasting more of my dried blood. "How many get questioned by the Director himself?"

Rogét continued to smile. "How many? Just those I feel that… need to be questioned by me, Nochi. It's my duty, you see, as Director, to learn about strange events that occur in the City. Events that may threaten the… safety of this City. Do you understand?"

I wasn't quite sure what to say, so I just nodded.

"There was something our drones had found some time ago, that I didn't think anything of at the time. But, well, due to recent events, I actually have indeed found it quite perplexing. Perhaps you could help me with it?" Rogét slid one of his hands down underneath the table before reaching up again, a few pictures in his hands that he slid across the table to me. My eyes, wide in fear, were immediately drawn to them.

The first was a rather blurry, but still legible photograph of my counterpart hanging from the ceiling in the house that Tim had found him in, the photograph possibly taken by a drone, as Rogét had said.

The next was a much clearer photograph of Tim and me burying my counterpart, the image more focused on me than Tim.

The final one was an aerial shot of the boat that Tim and I had arrived in, but it wasn't at the shoreline.

"Commoners committing suicide to escape their pitiful existence isn't exactly, pardon the phrase, uncommon. But what is, is, well…" Rogét had a smile stretching across his face as I looked back up at him and swallowed audibly. There was absolutely no way I could bullshit my way out of anything. The proof was right in front of me. We both knew it.

The afterglow that I'd experienced from my prior confrontation with Joel had vanished completely, and the sweat running from my pores was a hundred percent from nerves and fear. "Y-you took the boat…?" I whispered.

"I ordered for it to be… secured." Rogét took a while to choose his words. "It does, after all, look to be a marvelous piece of craftsmanship. I haven't seen anything quite like it before… at least, not from here. I need to be sure that it won't be used for nefarious purposes."

"What do you want?"

"I'd like to know who you are, why you're here, and what your intentions are. It's clear you bear an incredible resemblance to the Tyler Nochi of this world. Where did you come from?"

"I don't know."

Rogét's right eye twitched. "You don't know?" Rogét pulled his hands together at his lips as though he was pondering something.

"In relation to here, that's the truth. I don't even know where this place is, to be honest."

"Not… another Dimension, perhaps?" Rogét asked. I gasped, finding it suddenly very difficult to breathe as I looked down at my hands. I licked my lips once more, tasting a mixture of sweat and blood. "Our drones saw your boat just appear out of the blue in the ocean three days ago, with you in it. People and things don't just materialize out of nowhere."

"Okay… so I'm from another Dimension…" I admitted. "What are you going to do? Kill me? 'cause I don't fit in with your idealized world?"

"Kill you?" Rogét seemed shocked I'd even suggested it. "Don't be ridiculous. As I said, I just want to know who you are, why you're here, and your intentions."

"I am the Tyler Nochi of another world, I have no idea why I'm here, and my intention is to get home." I said, answering him straight. "I don't mean, or want, to cause any problems for anyone. In fact, the only reason that I'm here right now is because you arrested me and stole the only way for me to get home!"

"If I was to return the boat to you, Nochi, there would be nothing stopping you from, say, returning to this place with an army and threatening the peace I've struggled to uphold for so long-"

"I don't even know where 'this place' is!" I snapped. "And even if I did, I'm not in control of an army or anything. I wouldn't come here to just mindlessly kill."

Rogét's smile widened, placing a tablet on the table and touching it. "All I want from you is an apology. And if you don't give me one, I'll kill you just like I killed him." My voice came through the speaker.

"That's you, is it not? Conversing with your, I'm sorry, his stepbrother, Joel Banzu, yes? Telling him that you had in fact committed a murder?"

"Y-y-y…" I sighed, "yes, it is…"

"Then you must be able to understand my concerns, Nochi. I am simply one man dreaming of Neo Domino City's future, and its place in the world. To have a murderer in our midst, someone with such a blatant disregard for human life such as yourself, to have just appeared out of nowhere one day, it doesn't paint the best picture of you, or your world."

I planted my hands firmly onto the table and looked directly into Rogét's eyes. "Look: as Director of Sector Security, I'm sure you have a lot more important things to do than worry about each individual person in the City, but Kobi Banzu was an abusive alcoholic rapist. To have him as a member of the Neo Domino City Public Administrations Bureau, surely that reflects negatively on the organization as a whole. I'm not trying to excuse what I did. I know that killing is wrong. I hadn't planned on killing him at all until I found out what he'd done. He effectively caused the Tyler Nochi here to end his life, so I thought that it was only fair, right and just, that I end Kobi's life. Now, Kobi did tell me that the reason Joel is here is because he was arrested for selling drugs, and that does show me that Neo Domino City isn't just blatantly favoring the Topsiders over the Commoners, that it does have a sense of law and justice, and… I do, I really do thank you for giving Joel some form of punishment. The Joel in my world… he's pretty much been able to get off scot-free." I looked down. "But it's not enough…"

"Oh?"

"I don't care about what you want to do with your City, but the fact that you group people like Crow and Eric – good people – in along with people like Joel…" I shook my head, "and let rapists go free-"

"That's enough, Nochi. You've told me everything I need to hear. You're free to go – back to your cell." He said sternly. A shallow breath escaped me, my eyes refocusing on the pictures on the table. Rogét smiled. "You can take those with you, if you'd like. Hogan has already seen them, as has your… companion, whose story corroborates with yours."

"C-Cr-Crow…" I stammered.

Ty, if you tell Crow or Shinji or anyone else, it's gonna destroy them.

Eric's words flashed through my mind. "Wh-what did you say to him?" I asked.

"Not much. Hogan came to his conclusion without any help from me. I will say though that he doesn't have the opinion of you that you have of him." Rogét laughed as I snatched the pictures from the table and stuffed them into my pocket. "Very nice talking with you, Nochi." I heard him say as I made my way out of the room.

The female warden brought me back to my cell, ushering me inside as Tim sat on his bed, playing Black Sabbath's 'Iron Man' on a harmonica. "Yo, Jibby-Joe! Wanna jam with me?" Tim asked.

"Not right now, Tim…" I muttered, our warden leaving through the elevator. Celina's cell was empty, and I presumed she was on her way to being questioned by Rogét for whatever reason. I could see Crow looking at me out of the corner of my eye with disgust. He sighed and shook his head, like he was judging me. I turned to him, "Crow, I-"

"That's Hogan to you. We're not friends, so you don't get to call me by my first name." Crow shook his head once more. "I should have noticed it before. Your stutter, your confusion, Hell, your body is entirely different to his!" Crow shouted, breathing heavily and looking away for a moment. "I should have known you weren't the real Tyler. You're just some stranger."

I'd had as much as I could take. If I was going to get yelled at by anyone, I would rather it have been someone from my own Dimension. "Oh, fuck you, Crow." It hurt to say it, but staring at the blank spot on his forehead made me feel not as bad. "You think I want to be here? I'd much rather be back in my own Dimension."

"Actually, I've been meaning to talk to you about that," Tim interjected, pausing as I turned to him. "Okay, I know you're gonna freak out when I tell you this, so just try not to, okay?" Tim sighed, and from his statement, I presumed the worst, inwardly readying myself. "I… banged when I should have binged."

I furrowed my brows, not at all understanding what he was talking about. "What?"

"It's my fault. I thought it wasn't and that you were just absent-minded and didn't know what was going on in your own Dimension, but before when I was singing, the whole thing with the boat popped into my head and I realized I flubbed a lyric."

My heart skipped a beat. "You mean… we're only here 'cause you messed up a fucking song?!"

"Well, it's really more of a jingle than a song-"

"I can't believe this!" I shouted. "What the Hell is wrong with you?! First you deny one hundred percent that you're the reason we ended up here only for you to admit now that you got a lyric wrong, and then Rogét tells me that you've pretty much told him everything!"

Tim sighed, falling back on his bed in a huff. "Don't wrinkle your tinkle."

"Is this all just one big joke to you, Tim?! You just make jokes all the time while you fuck with people's lives? You might have brought me back to life, but apart from that, all you've done is ruin it!" I snapped, hearing Crow gasp from behind me. I turned back to him, still heated. "Yeah, yeah! I killed myself as well, Crow! Me and the Tyler from this world, we're pretty much the same person, only difference is that your Tyler was raped by his stepdad! And you want to know something else?! Where I come from, my Dimension, my version of your Tops and Commons – my City – is unified. But in my Dimension, you were killed one year ago. You had an accident during an attack on the City and you fell from the highway! I went to your fucking funeral! Do you understand, Crow?! We were able to unite Satellite with New Domino City – your Commons and Tops – but it cost you your life. It didn't mean anything! Unification between the Commoners and the Topsiders doesn't mean shit. Life is pointless, and we're all going to die eventually-"

"You really like the sound of your own voice, don't you?" Tim interrupted. I was about to snap at Tim, but he got up and slammed his hand on the glass separating our cells, causing it to crack as I jumped back in fear. "Shut up for a second, will ya?" Tim sighed. Tim tensed his muscles, and the cameras and microphones in all our cells shorted. "Everything's under control. I knew about all of it. All the drones spying on us, that there were cameras in the house with your twin's dead body. They came after the two of us because they, or at least Roger, knew that we weren't from this Dimension. How would he know that if he hadn't have seen us arrive in the boat? Are you following me?"

I couldn't take my eyes away from the crack in the glass. "I-I think so…"

"Right, well that was the thing, the only thing that I didn't know – where the boat was, but I had a good idea of how I could find out. That's why I let myself – that's why I let us – get captured, and why I threw the oil onto that jerkoff. Otherwise, we could have waited forever for Roger to start questioning us. And of course, I had to tell him that, that that boat was the one that we came in, but the thing is, is that he can't even use it. He needs the power source, which is the crystal ball. When you went off to take care of your 'family business', I went ahead and buried the ball. Not only that, but thanks to my awesome skills, I was able to get Roger to let it slip where he's keeping the boat. It's in the Securities' Storage Facility – adjacent to the Kaiba Corporation building. All we gotta do now is break outta here, find out exactly where the Storage Facility is, go there, get the boat, get the crystal ball, and we're set." Tim collapsed back on his bed. "Seriously, Tyler, gimme some credit."

I felt both some of my anger and fear leave me. "Wait, so… this whole time since we got here, you've-"

"Been playing them like a monkey plays the tambourine." Tim flashed me a smile.

I couldn't believe it. I'd been so focused on me and what I was doing, over-investing in my counterpart's life in this Dimension, freaking out about potentially being trapped here, and never getting to see my friends, or Luna, again. Meanwhile, Tim was two, three, maybe even ten steps ahead of me and everyone else. It did hurt a little bit to find out that Tim had only thrown the oil over the other inmate so he could get interrogated and not to defend me, but then again, it was all so that we could get home, and in a way, that meant that Tim did do it for my sake.

It was just so amazing, for him to have thought this far ahead and manipulated Rogét in the process. Even so, a thought struck me, a flaw in Tim's otherwise so far flawless plan. "What about the fact that the boat was dead when we got here?" I asked softly.

Tim tapped his nose knowingly. "I figured that out too, young Tyler the Terror-"

I sighed. "I told you, please-"

"We can use the Real Solid Vision thingamajig to recharge the boat. I was watching some guys Duel before. That Yuyaas was using a bunch of gay hippos – not that there's anything wrong with that. But it got me thinking, maybe there are some cards that we could get our hands on and use Real Solid Vision to recharge the energy of the crystal ball. Do you know of any cards like that that could help?"

In my mind, I heard Apple Magician Girl clear her throat and I smiled. "Yeah, I might know of a few…"

"Then it's settled. We'll break out of here, get the boat, get the ball, recharge it, and be on our way." Tim smiled.

"When?" I asked.

"Whenever we can." Tim shrugged.

"You won't be able to get out of here." Crow said. I turned to him. "Not unless they let you. This place is guarded around the clock by correctional officers inside and the Arrest Corps outside. Your best bet is just to wait out the time until you're released."

"I'm sure somethin'll come up…" Tim laid back against his pillow as the elevator dinged, its doors opening as our warden and a few correctional officers stepped out.

"Excuse us, the feed to your cells dropped out." Our warden explained as the officers replaced our broken cameras and microphones with new ones. "My God." She said, noticing the massive crack in the glass between Tim's cell and mine. "What the Hell happened?"

"I just tripped and hit my head." Tim shrugged once more.

Our warden sighed, turning to the other officers. "Right, we'll have to make sure this gets fixed too." She then turned to face us, looking at us each individually as she spoke. "By the way, tomorrow night, you'll be allowed out for an extra hour. We're having a Facility-wide Duel Tournament that you can either watch or participate in, if you'd like. Now, if you'll excuse me." Our warden turned and left with the correctional officers, new cameras and microphones attached to the walls of our cells.

Tim turned to me. "Bingo."

The following day seemed to drag on until nightfall, every minute feeling like an hour, and every hour feeling like an eternity. On the plus side, I was actually able to get something to eat without some motherfucker tripping me up and making me drop my food, and I was actually able to have a shower, so I could clean all the blood and other crap off of my face.

I didn't bump into Joel during my recreation, probably because we had differently scheduled times, but I was certain that I'd run into him during the tournament, which was another incentive for me to not get involved with any of that shit. I was still adamant in my desire to kill Joel, but I couldn't do it in public, or around any correctional officers.

Crow wasn't talking to me anymore. I had no idea if he'd told Shinji at all about me, and I wondered if he'd spoken to Eric, and found out that he'd already known about me. None of it mattered though. I had bigger things to worry about than my counterpart's sad drug addict of a stepbrother, or the still-living counterpart of my dead friend.

In spite of Tim's nonchalance about the whole thing, I was nervous as Hell. The way that he just rattled off all the stuff that we had to do, escape from The Facility, break into the Storage Facility, get the boat back, retrieve the crystal ball from wherever Tim hid it, recharge the energy of the ball somehow... it was just a really tall order. The closest thing I'd done to any of that was break into the Securities' Storage Facility back in my Dimension when I was a part of Team Satisfaction, to get mine and Crow's cards back after they'd been confiscated by Sector Security, and cards were Hell of a lot easier to smuggle out of a place than a freakin' boat!

I sighed. I just had to take it one step at a time, I told myself. As long as I kept my head down, and followed Tim's lead, I'd be okay.

And maybe, just maybe, I'd be able to see Luna again.

My eyes moved from Rogét's photographs as I looked up at the flickering fluorescent light in my cell, which I probably shouldn't have done, while Crow was prepping his Duel Disk and Deck for the tournament. Celina was lying on her bed, her sheets in a crumpled heap, the girl seeming to be in a worse mood than I'd seen from her previously. I'd asked her how her interrogation with Rogét went, only for her to tell me it was none of my business.

Tim was sitting on his bed, this time playing DragonForce's 'Through the Fire and Flames' on a harmonica I had no idea how he even got, the glass pane having been injected with some sort of resin to re-stabilize it. Tim stopped playing when the elevator started making noises, only for the bell to ding as the doors opened. Our warden stepped out, powerful and confident in her stride. "Good evening. The Facility Duel Tournament will be starting shortly, are any of you wanting to enter?"

"Count me in." Crow said, slotting his Deck into his Duel Disk and attaching it to his wrist as our warden unlocked his cell, Crow stepping out.

"What about you three?" she asked.

"N-n-no thank you," I said as politely as I could.

"No thanks, bruv." Tim grinned.

"Go to Hell…" Celina grumbled.

Our warden smirked, walking over to Celina's cell. "You know, the only reason I've been kind to you so far is because I've had specific instructions from Director Rogét. I'd advise you to not push your luck, girl. Rogét's done questioning you, and I'm not sure why he still wants you kept here. I'd keep my mouth shut, you understand?"

Celina scoffed, swinging her legs over her bed and standing up. "Why don't you come in here and make me? The only reason I was captured is because you cowards ganged up on us. You're too weak to fight alone. In fact, you're weak period."

Our warden twitched, baring her teeth for a moment before shaking her head. "You've got quite the mouth on you, Belfri." She said, which I silently agreed with. She shook her head again, turning back to Crow. "Hogan, come with me."

Crow nodded, following the warden into the elevator, the doors opening and closing as they stepped in. Celina scoffed once more, sitting back on the bed. I glanced over at Tim to see his eyes veering toward the camera in his room for a moment.

"Tim-"

"Wait…" he cautioned, "just a moment…"

I nodded, keeping to my bed as Apple Magician Girl appeared beside me, though I was sure like with Explosivo, I was the only one who could see and hear her.

"Hey…" she cooed, "we're behind you, okay? Me and all the other Spirits, we won't let anything happen to you, I promise."

"Thanks," I mouthed to her, and Apple Magician Girl smiled back, her hand phasing through mine as she reached out to me.

"Once we're outside The Facility walls, if you Summon us, we should be able to better assist you."

I nodded, Apple Magician Girl fading away. I turned back to Tim, who was now sitting on his bed, staring intently at the door to his cell. Celina sighed, turning over on her bed and laying on her stomach with a grumble.

I kept my eyes on Tim, my heart beating faster and faster as I watched him, eventually losing track of time. It felt as though my heart had jumped into my throat as Tim discarded the red blazer he'd gotten from the Kmart Dimension and stood up, tensing his muscles as all the cameras and microphones in our cells shorted once more.

I flinched, having been sitting right below mine, quickly moving from my bed as a shower of sparks rained down on it. Celina too, got up, rolled off her bed and backed up against the side of her cell.

"Get all your stuff together. We're going now." Tim said simply. I swallowed, reaching over and grabbing my Duel Disk and Deck, slotting the latter into the former and slipping my hand inside it.

A figure suddenly dropped down from the ceiling of our quarters, looking at the three of us in our cells.

"You…!" Celina gasped.

The figure tousled their red hair back, before turning to face Tim and I for a moment, revealing a man possibly a year or two younger than myself, wearing quite an odd combination of clothing. A blue long sleeve shirt, underneath an orange jacket with a missing right sleeve, and a black glove on his left hand but not his right. It was all quite weird.

"Hey, it's Carrot Top!" Tim cheered.

"Uh… sorry, you must have me confused for someone else…" the redhead muttered, walking over to Celina's cell. "I'm here to rescue the princess." The man twirled a key between his fingers and unlocked Celina's cell, the pompous indigo-haired girl grabbing her Duel Disk and stepping out.

"Thanks." She said to him.

Tim breathed in, tensing his body as he reached out his right hand, tapping on the pane of glass between our cells, the glass almost dissolving into powder at his touch.

"Ho~ly shit…" I whispered.

Tim flashed me a smile. "Right? And those guys need a key…" Tim then elbowed the door to his cell with his right arm, causing it to come off its hinges and crash into the other side of the wall. "Oops… I might have overdone that…" he said sheepishly. I joined Tim in his cell before turning to Celina and her… well, I guess 'friend'. Though it honestly perplexed me how a girl with an attitude like hers could have any friends at all.

Regardless, this whole situation reminded me of when I broke out of the Arcadia Movement with Luna and the others, how I couldn't have done it alone, and I figured that this was a similar situation – regardless of my opinion of Celina, we could work together and help each other escape. "If you guys are going to break out too, do you want to go together?" I offered.

"No." Celina said bluntly. "No offense, but you'll just slow us down."

"Yeah, offense taken." I told her, having had enough of her attitude. Tim just chuckled heartily.

"You're a funny little lady. Just know that the only reason you're not dead right now is 'cause I haven't killed you." Tim smiled at Celina so innocently, it was actually pretty disarming. Tim turned back to me. "Anyway, we should get going." He told me. I nodded, following Tim out of his cell and over to the elevator, which was unfortunately the only way off the floor.

We made our way in and Tim studied the control pad for a brief moment before mashing his hand down on it, pressing every single button, the doors closing quickly.

It felt like an eternity with the doors closed, the small elevator space feeling warm and claustrophobic. I looked to Tim and saw him just whistling to himself as though he didn't have a care in the world. It was like he'd done this sort of thing a thousand times before.

The doors opened suddenly, and Tim rushed out into the corridor. From what I'd seen, it all looked the same, but I was glad that one of us seemed to know what to do and where to go. I followed him, trailing behind more and more as Tim was much faster than me. I don't think he realized how fast he was. Or maybe I was just slow. That was probably it.

We trekked down a long hall, until Tim suddenly stopped, stretching one of his hands out to keep me back. "Wait…" he cautioned.

"Wh-what is it?" I asked.

"Stay here. I'll go on ahead, take out any officers and clear a path for us."

"What?"

"Trust me. It would be easier for me to fight alone if I need to and not have to worry about your safety. Just stay here, and I'll come back for you once I'm sure the coast is clear. In the meantime, if an officer finds you, just say you changed your mind about playing cards and got lost."

"But what about the fact that our cells are trashed and Celina's gone too?"

Tim smiled warmly at me. "I was the one that trashed 'em, not you. And as for Celina, well, I think we can both agree she's got issues. We gave her the chance to come with us, and she didn't want to. Hopefully, she'll pull attention away from us and get caught, and when she does, won't blow it for us. Now stay put, okay?"

My body tensed. "A-alright… b-but… Tim…!" I stuttered like a bitch, "pl-please be careful!"

Tim nodded, giving me a thumbs up as he moved ahead quickly. I took a couple of steps back, pressing myself against the corridor wall until Tim was out of sight. I sighed.

Tim could take care of himself, I told myself, but that didn't stop my heart from pounding in my chest.

In my sudden isolation, a thought crossed my mind. It was a stupid thought, but nevertheless, one I couldn't ignore:

Tim wouldn't just leave me here… would he?

I closed my eyes, shaking my head as I assured myself that wasn't, and couldn't be, the case. Tim wouldn't do that to me.

Wouldn't he?

"Tyler!" Joel's voice ripped me from my state of panic as I turned to face my counterpart's stepbrother, his Duel Disk on his left wrist and a shank in his right hand, slowly encroaching on my space. I'd never seen a more prominent look of anger on his face. He stamped his feet on the ground as he stepped closer to me, and I could feel the impact of his feet on the ground, the sound echoing around the corridor like sharp hits, not unlike the ones he and his father used to give me. "So you killed my father, huh?! Huh?!" he snapped, continuing to walk towards me.

My panic, my fear of being left behind had vanished, faced now with the person I hated the most. More than Kobi, more than Explosivo, more than Sayer… more than even myself.

"Haven't you realized it yet, Joel?" I called to him as he continued his approach, "I'm not afraid of you. I never should have been. You're pathetic."

"Pathetic? Pathetic?! No, the only one who's pathetic is you, taking the life of an innocent man with familial spastic paraplegia-"

"Is that what he had?" I asked, holding back the urge to laugh. I had no idea whether Joel knew it or not, but familial spastic paraplegia was a hereditary disease, which meant that, if Joel was to live out his life, there was a chance, a great chance, that he'd end up in the same state his dad had been in. "Fantastic!" I smiled. "I couldn't think of anyone more deserving of a disease like that than your family."

"Shut up!" Joel pointed the shank menacingly at me. It honestly did frighten me, even though his reaction was totally justified and completely expected. Even with my body having been returned to a similar state that it was in back in Team Satisfaction, and me probably being physically stronger than Joel at this point, my body wasn't stronger than a knife. I knew if Joel got the opportunity to stab me, then that would be it. Joel could very well kill me, and I knew not only did he want to, but also that he'd try. "You killed my father, so now I'm gonna kill you!"

My hands moved against the sides of my pants, and it was then that I remembered the photographs I'd gotten from Rogét, and an idea, a crazy idea, started to take shape in my head. I remembered what Yusei had said about the Dark Signers, and my own experiences with them. How Misty had lived on with her brother's death in her heart, how Kalin's desire for revenge still tethered him to our world. I realized that if I was going to be faced with death, I could, at the very least make Joel believe, that I was the same as them.

"That's not going to work on me, Joel." I said with a calm tone, even though my heart was racing. I reached into my pocket, retrieving the photograph of my counterpart hanging from the ceiling, and tossed it to Joel.

Joel took the photograph, his eyes moving from mine as he looked down at it, continuing to hold out his shank to threaten me. Over time, I noticed his hands start to shake, his grip on the shank loosening slightly. "This is…!" Joel's eyes went wide, his hands trembling.

I smiled. "Me." I lied. "I couldn't deal with the pain that you and your father had caused me, so I took my own life. My shameful act denied me the right to enter Heaven, and I died with nothing but hatred in my heart. I was taken into the darkness, consumed by it, body and soul. But do you think I could not control the darkness I inhabit? I clung to my hatred of you and your father, and that hatred birthed a new body with which I was able to return to this world. I've cast aside the shackles of the living world and I now only exist to enact justice, and then and only then will I finally be able to rest!" I removed my vest and took off my shirt, placing them on the ground, giving Joel a clear shot at my chest in the process. "You can kill me with that shank, but as long as I have hatred in my heart for you, I'll come back, and my restless soul won't stop until you're dead."

I took one step towards Joel and he dropped the shank and the photograph, the implement falling to the floor with a clatter. "Stay away from me, you demon!" he snapped, honestly scared out of his tiny little mind.

I licked my lips, quickly making up the ground so that I could retrieve both the shank and photograph for myself. "No…" I said coolly, tingeing my voice with a low death growl. All that band stuff with Taze had to eventually come in handy.

"I mean it!" he yelled, his voice quivering. "Stay away or I'll-"

"You'll what? You abused me, your father raped me, surely there's not much more you can do to me than that." I continued distorting my voice as I spoke. I took another step forward, and Joel turned tail and ran – straight into Tim.

"Hey, what's going on on this side?" Tim asked, Joel staggering back. "Oh, hey, cool, you took your shirt off." Tim noted. "Lookin' good." He smiled, until his eyes shifted to Joel. "Who's this?" he asked.

"That's Joel." I told him.

Tim's eyes narrowed. "You mean-"

"Yep." I said, raising my eyebrows.

Joel stepped back from Tim's imposing figure before flinching and moving forward as I took another step toward him. "Let me go!" Joel begged, "He's gonna kill me!"

"No he's not." Tim said calmly, bringing his right hand out, clenching it into a fist. "This is what you get for hurting my friend." Tim opened his hand out and a bright blue light came forth, forcing me to shut my eyes.

When I opened them again, Joel was nowhere to be seen. There wasn't a single trace of him left.

"What in the…?" I trailed off.

"He won't bother you, or anyone else anymore." Tim said simply, walking over and putting a hand on my shoulder.

I flinched, looking down and away. "Y-you called me your… f-friend… even after all that stuff I said, you still th-th… th-"

"Think of you as a friend?" Tim finished for me, and I was grateful he did. "Of course I do, you silly duffer."

A moment of silence passed. I felt so stupid.

I looked up at Tim. "You know what's funny?"

"What?"

"As far as I know, this Joel never apologized for what he did. H-he refused to put any of the onus on himself. The Joel in my Dimension at least apologized to me. Even if he might not have meant it, just hearing those words… the Tyler here never got to hear them…" I trailed, starting to titter. "Maybe if he had, he wouldn't have killed himself…"

"That's not funny…" Tim said softly, putting his other hand to my shoulder. "Listen, Tyler: I really can't condone or support what you did to your stepdad here, but… Family's not s'posed to hurt each other… and home is s'posed to be the one place you can go when the rest of the world isn't making sense, the one place above all you can go to feel safe."

I started to feel myself get a little choked up. "I never felt safe…" I admitted. "Not with Kobi and Joel around…"

"Never?" Tim asked. I shook my head, stupid tears starting to well in my eyes. "Well it's time for that to change." Tim told me. "We were brought together by chance, and I'm glad, 'cause now I'm able to help you. No one should have to go through what you've been through, especially alone." Tim's hands moved to his sides, and he gestured with his head to my discarded clothes. "But now's not the time to get into all of that. I've taken care of all the guards I could see. Put your shirt and that back on so we can get going."

I nodded, moving over to fetch my clothes, setting Joel's shank – the weapon he was going to kill me with – onto the ground.

It was weird. Surreal. Unfinished. Watching Sayer get eaten by Misty's Earthbound Immortal was so satisfying for me. It drowned me in this foreign sense of pleasure that only Kobi's murder was able to top. But seeing Joel just disappear in a blinding flash of light… it didn't feel right.

I didn't know if his death was painful, painless, or if he'd feel pain even after the fact, but it wasn't me who killed him. Yes, he wasn't my real stepbrother, and I had to reiterate to myself the fact that everything I did or would do in this Dimension was completely meaningless, that it wouldn't change anything in my Dimension in any way, shape or form, but Joel had to pay, whether it be my Joel or another.

The bruises and scars that he and his father had left me had been healed by time, Explosivo, Leo's Life Stream Dragon, Zone, Tim… but I knew no matter how many times my body was healed, whether I was brought back from the brink of death or not, the scars in my mind would never heal.

Joel wasn't Tim's to kill. He was mine.

The fact that I believed that frightened me.

I followed behind Tim, stepping over the bodies of a bunch of correctional officers. I had no idea whether the officers were simply unconscious or if Tim had killed them. Frankly, I didn't want to know. I was just glad I didn't have to deal with them.

Tim walked casually with his hands in his pockets as we turned to reach what seemed to be a dead-end. "We're trapped." I noted.

Tim shook his head. "Down there," he pointed. I looked down to see a closed-off air vent at the very edge of the floor. Tim walked over to it, prying the grate off with his hands and tossing it aside. "Grate job so far…" he smiled, and I knew he was going for a pun.

I pretended not to hear it as I followed Tim down into the vent.

It was a tight fit, and I kept my eyes low, purposely averting my eyes from Tim's, ahem, admittedly shapely rear. I was reminded of the time when Yusei, Sherry, Bruno and I infiltrated the Momentum Express Development Organization, and Sherry, Bruno and I had to sneak through one of the vents to get away while Yusei stalled that Clark guy with a Duel. I sighed. That whole thing was such a mess, I thought. If I hadn't have gone, I probably wouldn't have been here.

I returned my eyes to Tim, realizing that if things hadn't have ended up how they did, I would have never met Tim.

By the time we reached the end of the vent, my knees were aching. Tim quickly jabbed at the grate, which came off and Tim dived out. I crawled to the edge and peered out, discovering that we had somehow made it to the very top of The Facility, a rooftop area with seemingly no way of getting down.

Tim helped me out of the vent, the cold night time air making me shiver. I turned away from Tim immediately as the redhead reached up and grabbed one of his pecks.

"How are we supposed to get down from here?" I asked.

"We scale the outside of the building. Climb down." Tim told me.

"Climb-"

"It's them! Don't let them escape!" someone's muffled voice sounded. Tim and I turned to see two men clad in black and dark-red armor standing atop the wall. They jumped down suddenly, activating their Duel Disks as they faced us.

I activated mine in turn, but Tim cracked his knuckles and walked forward. "These jokers are mine…" he dismissed.

"Jutte Fighter!" one of the guards shouted, moving to place the card onto his Duel Disk, but Tim had already moved to him faster than my eyes could see, his right arm caught in Tim's hand. Tim smirked, and with his free arm, chopped through the guard's arm, blood running from the open wound, darkening his armor and staining the floor.

The guard dropped his cards as Tim took a step back before kicking him into the wall. The guard fell to the ground, unmoving. "Your Life Points are zero." Tim said menacingly.

My heart beating defiantly in my chest, I turned to see the other guard having Summoned a Search Striker, the Monster's gun pointing toward me.

Thinking quickly, I drew a card from my Deck and threw it onto my Duel Disk, praying that it was a Monster and that they'd protect me.

Apple Magician Girl appeared with a smile, moving to my front as I found the two of us quickly engulfed by a red apple-shaped bubble, Search Striker's shots quickly bouncing off its reflective surface.

The cold air vanished immediately, the scent of apples filling my nose as I inhaled. "Oh, thank you so much…!" I breathed. She couldn't imagine how relieved I was to see her in physical form.

Apple Magician Girl turned back to me and smiled. "I told you I wouldn't let anything happen to you."

I returned Apple Magician Girl's smile before gasping, as out of the corner of my eye I saw Tim literally reach into the live guard's chest and rip his heart out, the guard dropping to the ground, face-planting as Search Striker disappeared.

"I put you in face-down Death Position." Tim snarked as I stood there shaking.

"Oh my goodness…" Apple Magician Girl gasped, sounding rightly horrified. I cringed at the sight of Tim throwing the guard's heart around like it was a ball, blood squirting out like a ketchup packet. Tim suddenly stopped, kicking the heart off the side of the tower and running his blood-drenched hands through his hair.

"I can't tell you how much I've missed this…" Tim said, turning to me, taking a step back at the sight of Apple Magician Girl. "Whoa, hey, magic flying lady in a bubble…!"

"This is Apple Magician Girl, one of my counterpart's cards." I explained. "She's a Duel Spirit," I turned to her, happy to say "and a friend."

"Apple?" Tim scratched his head. "Oh, that's why it's shaped like an apple," he said, presumably referring to the bubble. "I thought I could sense someone else in the cell with us before. Good to have you with us, Red Delicious." Tim reached out a hand for her to shake, but Apple Magician Girl simply looked down at the blood-covered hand and Tim pulled it away. "Oh… yeah… right…" he muttered sheepishly, seemingly not even noticing how much blood was on his hands until now. "Anyway, we'd better move it before more guards come. I mean, I could do this all night, but we've got a lady present, so best not subject her to that sort of stuff."

Tim jumped up onto the wall as I stood below, Apple Magician Girl's bubble slowly disappearing, the cold air returning to take its place around me.

"I'm sorry that you had to hear all that stuff I said to Joel." I told her, the Duel Spirit turning to me. "Using my counterpart's suicide as a way of scaring him, you must think I'm crazy… I-I-I know I'm crazy…"

Apple Magician Girl nodded half-heartedly. "Your state of mind does concern me." She said honestly. "You talk about darkness, pain and suffering, but you have people who love you, who care about you. I can see it in your heart. You must still feel that too. Isn't that why you're escaping?"

"Yeah…" I nodded, "I have to get home to my Dimension, and make peace with my friends. There's someone in particular… a-a girl… that I have to see again…"

Apple Magician Girl twitched, almost as though she too could feel my heart beat just a little bit faster. I instinctively flinched as she reached out to me and she stopped, rightly assuming it was a reflex from all the abuse I'd suffered from Kobi and Joel. "I'm sorry…!" she cautioned, "I'm sorry… I didn't mean to-"

I fidgeted. "N-no… I… I'm sorry… I just… with everything that's been going on recently, it's been more prominent. I guess I've just been thinking about it more and more, but… I shouldn't be scared, least of all of you." I closed my eyes and allowed Apple Magician Girl to touch my chest.

"It's like your heart and your mind are at odds with each other." She said softly as she placed a hand upon me. "Your heart is telling me that all you want is to be loved and be happy. But when I hear your thoughts, your mind tells me you just want revenge for what's happened to you."

"Yeah…" I sighed. "That's pretty much it…"

"You didn't deserve it…" she whispered, "We both know you didn't… but you have to let go of that now…"

"I'm not sure I can…"

"Then let me help you…" Apple Magician Girl smiled as she removed her hand from my chest, pulling me into a hug.

The warmth of her embrace was welcomed, but I wasn't quite sure where to put my hands. After a few moments of standing completely still like an idiot, I ended up placing my hands on her shoulders, the two of us staying together for a while. I breathed in. She even smelled like apples.

I'd almost lost my sense of place by the time Tim cleared his throat. "Yeah, listen, if you guys are gonna make out, that's cool and all, but we should probably get outta here first."

Apple Magician Girl broke the hug and moved away from me as I turned my attention to Tim. "Funny." I remarked. "How do we get down from here though?"

"I told you before. You climb up the wall, we climb down the tower, and then swim across to the mainland."

"What?"

"Well there is a bridge we can use, but they'd be expecting that."

"Tim, I-I'm not very good with climbing or swimming. I mean, I used to be, but…" I trailed off, "besides, wouldn't they expect the fact that we'd expect them to cover the bridge, so they'd cover the waters on the outskirts. Wouldn't it be better-"

"Tyler, trust me. I escaped from a POW camp back in Vietnam. I know what I'm doing."

"This isn't a foreign country, Tim. This is a whole other foreign Dimension."

"Just trust me, okay? Jeez, did you not learn trust as a kid growing up?" Tim sighed. "Sorry, I didn't mean it like that…" he sighed once more. "Listen: I've thought this all through, okay? Just follow my lead, and I promise you, you'll be fine." Tim reached a hand out for me to take, which I did, the older man lifting me up to join him atop the wall, Apple Magician Girl floating up to join us.

My heart skipped a beat as I realized just how far up we were. Granted, the distance between the top of the tower and the ground was less than the distance between Leo and Luna's Penthouse and the ground of the Tops, but still, I wasn't exactly the best with heights.

"Um… when you say 'climb down the wall'…" I muttered, trying to stop my legs from shaking and a sick feeling from developing in my stomach.

"Yeah, actually, now that I think about it, it'd probably be easier just to jump down." Tim looked down off the edge of the wall.

"Jump? Jump?!" I repeated. "You're kidding-" I stopped as Tim suddenly jumped off the wall, my legs starting to shake. "Oh my God, he wasn't kidding…" I swallowed audibly. "There has to be another way to get down from here."

"I can get us down." Apple Magician Girl smiled, my legs suddenly buckling as she scooped me up into her arms. "It's alright, I've got you." Apple Magician Girl assured me, and I found myself clinging to her as she took off after Tim. I forced my eyes closed as the cold night air whipped at my face. "You love her, don't you?" I heard her say. "That girl… Luna…"

I opened my eyes for a brief moment and immediately wished I didn't, closing my eyes once more. "H-how d-d-did you-"

"That's what I see when I look in your heart." Apple Magician Girl cooed. "Don't worry, Tyler, I'll make sure you get to see her again."

"Aw, crap!" I heard Tim snap. Against my better judgment, I opened my eyes and looked down at Tim. Aside from the paralyzing fear of the ground drawing ever closer (in spite of me being safe in Apple Magician Girl's arms), I could see Crow, Shinji, Celina, Yuya, and a bunch of other people I didn't recognize, running across the courtyard, all of them probably escaping too. "Those meddling kids are gonna screw this up for us!" Tim suddenly brought his arms out above his head, pointing his right leg down, his body suddenly changing direction as he dropped down into a cordoned-off area near a pipeline.

"Oh my…" Apple Magician Girl quickly changed course to follow Tim. She landed gently beside him and set me down.

"Thanks for carrying me." I smiled.

"We don't have time for that. Those kids are coming this way, and they're gonna make us more of a target. We have to make a move for the water now." Tim instructed, stretching his muscles.

I nodded, removing Apple Magician Girl from my Duel Disk, her physical form disappearing while her spirit form remained. "I don't want your card to get wet." I told her, slipping her card back into my Deck and closing the compartment off, deactivating my Duel Disk.

I had no idea if my Duel Disk was waterproof or not, but I didn't care. I'd rather keep the cards safe but have a non-working Duel Disk than risk getting any of my cards, least of all hers, damaged by the water.

Apple Magician Girl's Spirit faded away, and I followed Tim to the edge of the pipeline, where a small drop into murky water waited below us, and just a small distance away from that, the mainland of Neo Domino City.

Tim dived in, resurfacing moments later. "Come on…! Jump…!" Tim urged. I hesitated and Tim held up his hands. "Come on, I'll catch you."

Apple Magician Girl had gotten me this far, but I had to do this for myself. If I couldn't even make a small jump, I didn't deserve Tim's help. I wouldn't deserve to go home, or to see Luna again.

I took a deep breath, making sure my Deck was secure. I jumped, my throat tight as my heart raced. Instinctively, like the retard I was, I'd actually jumped away from Tim. I guess part of me didn't want to land on top of him, not that it mattered. Tim rose up out of the water to meet me, catching me and pulling me down.

"The Hell was that? Why'd you jump away from me?" Tim asked.

"I don't know. I panicked."

"That's alright…" Tim groaned. "Oh, shoot…" he muttered. "They're behind us now…"

"Who?" I asked, turning back to see Crow and the others all standing at the pipeline.

"Hey, get your own escape route, poseurs!" Tim called up to them before turning to me. "C'mon…" Tim started swimming and I followed, poorly. Even with the water providing resistance, the Duel Disk was making it rather difficult for me to swim. I heard splashes in the water behind me, and assumed that the others had followed. Whether or not they'd even seen or heard us, I didn't know, but eventually, they did see us, they had to, as the water and surrounding area became bathed in multiple yellow lights.

I closed my eyes and quickly turned away as I found one of them on me.

"Well, well, well…" Rogét's voice called out from afar. "When I heard there was a tournament tonight, I assumed it was a Duel Monsters tournament, but it looks as though I was misinformed. It seems to be a swimming competition."

"Son of a Banshee…" Tim muttered as I moved about aimlessly.

"You didn't get very far, did you?" Rogét chided, and I forced myself to open my eyes and make them adjust to my surroundings. Rogét and a bunch of Sector Security officers were standing on the other side. "Now, why don't you all come up here, and we can escort you back into The Facility…"

"Follow my lead…" Tim whispered to me, making his way across the water to the other side where Rogét was waiting. I did the same, and eventually, so did everyone else.

I made my way up the steps as I watched Tim hold out his arms again for an officer to cuff him, and just as an officer was about to cuff him, Tim pulled away, the officer stumbling forward as Tim gave him an uppercut to the jaw, the officer's head snapping back harshly as he dropped to the ground.

Rogét's eyes widened. "What the Hell?"

"You underes-Tim-ated me, Roger. I've been playing you like a Fiddler on the Roof." Tim brought his right leg back and his left arm forward, assuming some sort of fighting stance. "Now who else wants some? I can go all night."

Rogét snarled at Tim. "Seize him-"

Suddenly more lights came down from above, the sound of helicopters blaring overhead as four men in white and light-blue armor jumped down, intercepting Rogét, and separating him and his officers from the rest of us. Tim put a hand behind himself protectively, and I could see for the first time that he seemed a little uneasy.

"Jean-Michel Rogét," one of the men in white began, "the Council has requested the presence of yourself and these individuals here. You are all to come with us to the Kaiba Corporation at once. This is mandatory."

"I don't think so. This is a matter of Security, and with all due respect to Mr. Kaiba, this is none of his business!" Rogét pointed to Tim. "This man just assaulted, possibly killed, one of my officers-"

"There's no possibly about it," Tim chimed in, relaxing his stance, "that mofo's dead."

The man in white stepped closer. "With all due respect to you, Mr. Rogét, you've been abusing your power quite a lot lately – Power that the Council gave you. If you do not wish to comply, we're more than happy to strip you of your title, but I know for certain that that's not something you want, so I'll say again: you are all to come with us to the Kaiba Corporation at once."

Rogét pushed air forcefully from his nose. "Fine."

The Sector Security officers moved away as we were ushered to move forward by the men in white. It was only after I noticed the Kaiba Corporation insignia on the left side of their chest plates that I started to get some sort of understanding of what was going on. Some understanding. I had no idea what the Kaiba Corporation wanted with us, but I was sure it would be better than getting sent back to The Facility.

I looked over at Tim and saw that his relaxed state had returned. In fact, he seemed almost… happy. It took me far too long to realize why.

We were going to the Kaiba Corporation, which was just across from the Securities' Storage Facility, where the boat was.

There was absolutely no way in Hell that Tim could have planned this. I could tell by his stance before that he hadn't. He was ready for a fight, but now it seemed like we didn't have to go through with one.

Whoever this Council was also seemed to be at odds with Rogét, which I hoped would work in our favor. Maybe, I thought, the Council could even help us get the boat back, and we wouldn't have to break into the Storage Facility.

I just hoped that whatever Kaiba Corporation wanted with us wouldn't be too much of a hassle, that it could be sorted out quickly, and that whatever the case with the so-called Council, we could get the boat back and I could be one step closer to getting home and seeing Luna again.