"Are you sure you don't want anything?!" Seria called from the kitchen.

"I'm fine…!" I called back, eyes fixed on the couch as I stood in the living room.

"Are you sure? When was the last time you ate?!"

"I'm fine, Seria…!" I repeated.

"Alright, if you're sure…!" she said.

I sighed audibly, not at all meaning to show I was irritated or anything like that, at least with Seria. It really just only started sinking in, how much of a mess I'd made of things. I mean, I knew that. Even a retard like me wasn't that stupid, but… just looking at the couch, and being back… really being back… it just made things so much tenser, and I knew I had a long way to go.

Seria came back into the living room, a glass of red wine in her hand. "Okay, so, um… this… I mean, this is a surprise…" she verbalized.

"I… yeah…" I shivered, eyes transfixed on the glass.

"So, I… I just…" Seria paused, taking a sip of wine. "I can't believe this…!" she breathed, "I mean, I can, I just… have so many questions…" Seria's eyes widened as she caught me staring at her wine glass. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" she said quickly.

"You're allowed to d-drink, Seria…" I told her, though my eyes kept to the glass, partly because I found it easier to speak when I wasn't looking directly at someone, but also because I just couldn't look away. It wasn't deliberate, I knew that. She wasn't doing it to get under my skin. She knew what Kobi was like from what I'd told her, but that wasn't anything to do with her. What happened to me was not her fault, and I wasn't going to push my own problems and issues there on her. She was perfectly allowed to have a glass of wine every now and then. There was nothing wrong with that.

Seria hesitantly took another sip. "Well… I just… I mean… how?" she asked me.

I had absolutely no idea how to answer her.

"A-as I said, it's… it's a long story…" I sighed.

"Well, if you don't want to talk about it-"

My eyes quickly moved to Seria's. "N-no, I do, it's just… I can't…" I struggled, closing my eyes and sighing, trying to get my speech under control, while also figuring out how I could succinctly explain everything that had happened to me after I left. "Sorry, sorry. I… have changed a bit… as you can see, um… I'm back, but I've… been away, and…" I sighed once more. "I'm sorry, please let me start again." I said, keeping my eyes closed and focusing completely on the fluency of my speech. "I died and was brought back to life after being dead for a little bit, and because of that, my brain's a little bit scrambled, and that's why I can't talk normally anymore."

"You died…?" Seria asked quietly. I opened my eyes and nodded, Seria's eyes veering from mine. "The shoreline…" she mumbled.

I started to feel my heart beat a little bit faster. "Yeah…"

"We found your shoes-" Seria quickly cut herself off and shook her head. "Have you spoken to Luna?"

I sighed, closing my eyes once more. "No, I… I wanted to go and see Luna o-or call her, but… well, apart from the fact that she's still at school, I thought the best thing to do would be to come and see you first. You were the one that… gave me a home when I needed it. Even though I didn't deserve it. Nobody else knows I'm back yet, except you."

I opened my eyes to find Seria taking quite a big mouthful of her wine, downing the rest of her glass and setting it aside. "So, you did go through with it then? You killed yourself?"

I nodded once more and closed my eyes. "At the shoreline, like you said. I drowned myself." I explained.

"Tyler, look at me."

I scrunched my eyes for a moment, otherwise keeping them closed. "I ca… no," I stopped. "If, if, I… if I'm going to talk, I need to be able to say what I want to say, and not be trapped by my brain."

"I don't care about your stammer, just look at me." Seria pleaded, so I opened my eyes.

"Sorry," I groaned. "I-it's just easier if I focus on… t-t-t-talking…"

"That doesn't matter to me." Seria said, coming over and taking my hands in hers. "I want to look at you, and I want you to look at me. And I don't want you apologizing for something that makes you different."

"A freak, you mean."

I'd said it so damn flippantly.

Seria rolled her eyes. "Tyler, I'm a Psychic Duelist. If anyone knows about being a 'freak' because they're different, it's me."

I sighed. "Sorry, I…" I trailed off, looking down. "I-I didn't mean it like that. I wasn't thinking…"

"No, you weren't." Seria continued. "You just went off and did something really, really, stupid! And I… I thought I'd never see you again! You have no idea what we all went through! Me, Akiza, Yusei, Luna… you really have no idea, do you?" Seria squeezed my hands as she rightly berated me. "Tyler, when you said all that stuff and stormed out of here a month ago, I called Luna. I had to let her know what you were planning. She still cared about you."

"L-Luna…" I cringed.

"I thought she'd catch you when you went to deliver your letter to her, but I forgot that she was staying late after school that day. Eventually, she returned my calls and we organized a search for you."

"Please, can we, can we not get into that right now? I know I did wrong by Luna, but…" I trailed, Seria's words slowing me to a stop. "Wait… what? How… how, how would you know if she was staying after school? How… how did you get Luna's number? Since when have you-"

"Will you just listen?" Seria asked softly, looking at me with repentance. "A few days after you moved in with me, I met Luna down at Café la Geen. It wasn't a planned meeting, but I'd recognized her from that date you two'd went on, and from the information that Sayer had on her from the Arcadia Movement. I knew that the two of you were friends, I mean. I reintroduced myself to her and we got talking. She told me about what happened with the whole Ark Cradle business and what happened between the two of you, how you left after Zone was defeated and that she hadn't heard from you." Seria sighed. "I… I told her that you were living with me, and that you were okay. She missed you, Tyler, and she wanted to sort things out with you, but with everything that happened with Zone, she thought that you needed time to sort things out on your own first. I… I offered to let her know how you were going, so we exchanged numbers and I called her every week or so, just to let her know how you were doing. And I'd been doing that right up until after you disappeared. That's why I kept insisting that you call her, because… she was waiting for you to call her."

I was already unable to articulate sentences, but Seria's statement almost left me completely at a loss for words, stumbling over the letter 'W' like a complete and utter spastic. I paused, taking a breath. "You didn't think of telling me any of this?! If I'd have known she wanted to talk to me, I would have gone and-" I stopped, eyes wide. I was getting far angrier than I should have. It was how it started with Kobi. He'd work himself up into a completely unreasonable rage and then fly off the handle, using me as a punching bag. I couldn't let myself get like that. I was home now. I was safe. There was no reason for me to be getting angry. Not at anyone else. It was my fault. All of it. I sighed. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell at you. I'm… I apologize." I exhaled sharply. "I appreciate you looking out for me, Seria, and I know that I've m-m-m-m-made a… a num-m-m-m…" I stopped, finding myself no longer able to continue speaking.

"A number of mistakes?" Seria asked softly. I nodded. "That's alright. We all have. But what matters is what we do after, to try and fix things."

"Th-th-that's why I came back. I came back because I wanted to fix things, but now… I don't know if I can…" I could tell I had either started crying or was on the verge of it, but there was no point in me trying to hold anything back. "I've b-been lucky to have p-p-people in my life who care about me, but I d-d-don't d-deserve any of them. I mean, l-l-look at the p-people who I'm supposed to care about. I turn on them for one fleeting moment of revenge." I sighed once more, and against every part of my brain telling me otherwise, I looked straight into Seria's eyes as I spoke. "I got more love and kindness from you than I ever deserved, and if you never want to talk to me again, I just want you to know that I appreciate you and all that you've done for me, so much."

"I know that, you silly boy. C'mere…" Seria sighed, pulling me into a hug, and I felt her place a hand to the back of my head. My body tensed for a moment, feeling trapped within her embrace, but I fought against that as best I could, shivering just a little. "We've all been struggling this past month, but let's just relax. I'll get us something to eat, and you just… sit down and tell me… whatever you want to tell me." Seria pressed her forehead against mine and smiled gently at me. "Okay?"

"Okay…" I muttered.

Seria's smile widened and she ran her hand through my hair. "I like your hair, by the way." She said after a while.

A smile broke onto my face. "I was gonna say the same about yours. I like it long."

I sighed, removing my Duel Disk and placing it on the coffee table before sitting down opposite Seria, a bowl of vegetable curry and several plates between us.

"Why don't you tell me about that Duel Disk?" Seria suggested, eying it curiously.

"It… belonged to the me of another Dimension." I explained poorly.

Seria's eyes widened, almost spilling her food. "What?!"

"I know, it… it sounds insane, but that's where I've been for the past month or so. Another Dimension, trying to get home." I sighed. "Well, two, three Dimensions, actually. One was this weird Dimension where-" I cut myself off and shook my head. "Actually, you don't need to hear about that…"

"No, what is it-"

"No tru-trust me, you don't. But… I ended up in a world a little bit like this one. A lot like this one, actually. Same people – some of the same people," I corrected myself, "similar buildings. When I first got there, I thought I'd made it home. And then, I started to notice little things that weren't the same, but the big thing that made me realize something wasn't right was, well… Crow was alive…"

"You mean your old friend? The one who died last year?"

I nodded. "Yeah. I knew then that something was up, but Tim insisted that everything was fine and-"

"Wait, hold on, who's Tim?"

"Yeah, sorry," I shook my head, damning myself for being such a scatterbrain, "he's, um… he's how, why I look like this." I said, putting my hands to my chest. "He, um… he, he was the one that brought me back to life. Used some sort of magic, I think. S-something like that. He's got weird powers. He says he's human, but…" I trailed off, shaking my head once more. "I-I know, it all sounds crazy, and I can't prove a lot of it but," I looked down at my jacket, fishing around in my pocket for the USB that Tim had given me from Mokuba. "This," I showed the USB to Seria, "this has got a couple photos on it that'll probably explain things better than I'm able to."

"And where's this Tim now?"

"I don't know. I got back here alone." I paused, debating whether or not to tell Seria I'd spent a little bit of time in the Spirit World before deciding against it, at least for the moment, moving to place the USB on the coffee table.

"Okay… so, what about the Duel Disk? And this other version of you? Did he give you his Duel Disk?"

"Not exactly… He, um…" I blinked probably way more times than necessary, feeling my throat tighten. "He died. He was dead." Seria stayed silent as I continued. "When we arrived, Crow mistook me for him, but Tim found him. He'd taken his own life." I was regretting talking more and more, as none of what I was saying was appropriate conversation anywhere, least of all at the dinner table, but Seria seemed genuinely interested in what I had to say. I cleared my throat. "He had his Deck and Duel Disk nearby, along with a suicide note he'd written." I sighed, stuffing some food into my mouth to shut myself up for a bit.

Seria exhaled, looking down at the table. It was clear she didn't know what to say. I was the same. I'd said too much with no tact to how I'd been speaking. "So…" Seria started, but then she just shook her head and sighed.

"He wasn't weak, Seria." I felt the need to jump to the defense of my counterpart's memory. "I know that killing myself wasn't… isn't the answer, but…" I sighed once more. "You know how I told you about that dream I had on the Ark Cradle? The one where…" I was only able to hold myself back for a moment, "Kobi… where Kobi raped Luna?" I asked. Seria nodded slowly. "W-w-well… in that Dimension, Kobi… the counterpart of me that was there… Kobi had raped him."

"Oh my God."

"And that's why… why he killed himself." I swallowed. "I know it doesn't justify it, but… I… I get it… When I found out that he did that, and that Kobi was the reason why… I just… I snapped." I closed my eyes, tensing them shut. "I'm sorry… you don't need to hear any of this-"

"No, I want to know what you've been through." Seria said quickly. "What did you do?" she asked softly, but I shook my head.

"Something I don't regret but probably should."

A few seconds passed, and then, bluntly, "Did you kill him?"

I hesitated, just like Joel did on the Ark Cradle, and that was enough confirmation. Seria put a hand to her lips, looking away from me for a moment. "S-Seria-"

"Tyler," Seria interrupted, "you don't have to explain anything to me. You killed one person… but I've played a hand in the deaths of at least a dozen young men, women and children, that were either Psychics with unstable powers or people like you… people with connections to other worlds. You could have ended up like them, but instead, we're here, talking, having a meal. What you said before, about not being sure if you could make things right, I know you don't really think that way. You wouldn't have come back otherwise." Seria smiled weakly. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Luna. I haven't been talking with her recently, so I don't know for sure how she feels now, but… I mean… we held a service for you, and to say she was upset would be an understatement. I think all of us…" Seria stopped. "Sorry… even though you're here now, it's kind of hard to think about."

"I'm really sorry I put any of you through that. I don't blame her or you or anyone for hating me-"

"I don't hate you…!" Seria sounded like she was starting to get a little irritated. "Tyler, it's so easy to wallow, and if everyone did it, life would just be, well, shit, to be frank." I'd never heard Seria swear before, and it was a little disarming to hear her do it. "Remember what I told you? Don't take everything you have for granted. I know it's…" Seria sighed, "I know it's hard. I know. And I want you to know, sincerely, I'm glad you're back."

"Thanks, Seria." I fumbled around with my food, a little cooler, and I realized that the sun was no longer hitting the table through the window, the sky outside a purple haze. "So… I have kind of a weird question, and… you don't have to answer, but…"

"What is it?" Seria asked softly.

"You said… you held a service for me? Who… who came?"

Seria's mouth dropped open a little as I asked probably one of the worst questions I'd ever asked. "Well… I mean, it wasn't a huge thing. N-not to say, you know, it wasn't a big deal, but it was just… a small, intimate sort of thing. Aside from me, there was Akiza, Yusei, Jack, Leo, Luna of course, that reporter woman, some woman – Martha, I think, and… your mother."

"My mother came?"

"I know you two didn't really get along-"

"Well it wasn't that we didn't get along. It's just…" I sighed. "I mean, you know the story. She grew up in a different era." I suddenly cracked a smile. "But let me guess. She found out I killed myself and then basically didn't give two shits after that, right?" I asked, Seria hesitating. "You don't have to lie to protect me. I know what she's like. My mom's a lovely woman – to the very select group of people she likes and whose 'morals' don't conflict with her own. To everyone else, she, well…" I shook my head. "Anyway, that's not something I really want to get into."

"Are you going to let her know that you're okay? I mean, she is your mother-"

"Oh, no, no, no, no. It would do n-n-neither of us any good if we got involved in each other's lives again. Trust me, it's better off that she doesn't know anything about what's been going on." I paused. "You… you didn't tell her anything, right? Just that I was missing and presumed dead?"

Seria hesitated. "Everyone knew that you'd been struggling."

"So she gave one of her speeches then? About how suicide is wrong and selfish and how I'm a stupid child? Listen, she can think whatever she wants, I don't really g-g-g-give a damn anymore. She hates people that are fat, just because they're fat. She thinks being gay is wrong and on the same level as diddling kids or taking drugs, and she believes that taking medication to treat a mental illness is cowardly and shows you're weak, unable to deal with any problems yourself. So… what the Hell does she even know anyway? I did everything for her. I protected her from him and I never got any sort of acknowledgment, so she can go to Hell."

"Tyler-"

"I don't want anything to do with her, okay? A-a-and I-I know that's rich, because everyone probably feels the same way about me, but… it's just best if I forget about her…" I exhaled. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm tired, I'm angry, I just… I'm sorry."

"I know. We've got a lot to catch up on. And listen, I'm the same, I don't quite know where to begin with everything that's happened, but… we can take things slowly. You're back now, and we don't need to rush into anything. I've actually got a bunch of flextime I'm owed, so I can take some time off, and we can just talk and figure out what we're going to do, okay?"

"I appreciate the offer, but I can't ask you to do that. This is my mess that I need to clean up, and I'm not going to let you take the fall for me in any way. I-I-I'm not letting anyone sacrifice themselves for me. I… I-I can't…!" I tensed my hands. Her death was my fault. "I won't…!"

Seria's brows were furrowed, and I realized I was shaking. "What are you talking about? Sacrificing?" Seria got up from her seat and came over to me. "Hey, hey… it's alright…" she cooed softly.

"I'm fine…!" I breathed. "I'm alive, and that's enough. I just…"

"Whatever happened to you while you were away, you know you can talk to me about, right?"

"Yeah…" I mumbled, my eyes sticking to the table.

"I mean, not just bits and pieces. You can tell me everything. I won't judge you, Tyler. You can trust me." She urged, suddenly taking one of my hands in hers as I flinched from the sudden contact, my eyes drawn to hers.

I'm sorry…! I'm sorry… I didn't mean to…

N-no… I…

I'm sorry… I shouldn't be scared, least of all of you…

"I do. I do trust you, Seria…" I whispered, gently squeezing her hand.

And I did. So I told her.

Everything.

It would have taken a normal person half an hour, maybe forty-five minutes at the most, to fully explain everything that had happened to me to Seria, but thanks to my speech impediment, the time stretched further and further along. We stayed up long into the night, and eventually, after many false starts and trip-ups, I was able to explain everything to Seria. How Tim had found me and brought me back to life, our trip to Dimension K-22M, accidentally going to Dimension S-534, finding my counterpart's corpse and assuming his identity, killing Kobi's counterpart, getting arrested, meeting Joel's counterpart, Tim killing him, escaping and getting forced into the Friendship Tag Cup, my partnership with Tim, my friendship with Fizdis, seeing Jack, Leo and Luna's counterparts, allying ourselves with the Lancers, winning the Friendship Tag Cup, Martial Law getting declared in the City, my Shadow Duel with a Dark Signer, Fizdis's sacrifice, and the whole Interdimensional War thing.

In spite of what Tim may have thought, I actually hated the sound of my own voice, but Seria had sat and listened quite happily, seemingly captivated by my story, just as she'd done after everything that had gone on after Zone and the Ark Cradle.

And just like back then, when I'd finished, Seria gave me a hug.

I'd ended up reheating my food several times, and we'd since moved from the kitchen table over to the coffee table, where Seria and I were sitting, going through the photographs on the USB. Not because she didn't believe me, but she wanted to know what Tim looked like, but when we opened up the USB, I was in for a shock.

There were more photos than just the three of me and Tim that I'd known about.

Way more.

As in, over a thousand.

Apparently, not only were there several hundred photos taken by drones of Neo Domino Topsider and Commoner citizens, but the High Council had been spying on us in our hotel rooms. 'Us' being every single competitor in the Friendship Tag Cup. They had photos of every room at every hour, everything timestamped down to the exact second. What really threw me was that there were photos of some of the competitors showering, like Tim, Celina, Shinji and the other Luna.

It was disgusting, but I knew my having them wasn't vindictive or some sort of power play by Mokuba. He couldn't have gone through every single photo, so I supposed he just thought to copy everything over without even looking at it. He probably didn't even know what the High Council was up to, but I just couldn't believe the extent that they had apparently gone to. I mean, Tim didn't really care. Most of the photos with him in them had him naked anyway, showering or not, and I'd seemed to luckily avoid having any naked pictures of me taken. But it was just gross. Their whole society was gross.

Seria licked her lips, her eyes glued to the screen which showed a particularly good shot of Tim conversing with me during one of our Practice Duels. "Wow…" she breathed. "Tim's really… hot…"

"Yeah…" I agreed without even meaning to, clicking through more photos.

Seria cleared her throat. "And you don't know where he is?"

"No." I lamented. "He could be anywhere in the multiverse right now. I was supposedly the only one who made it here. He was going to bring me back here."

"Shame." Seria mused. "I would've liked to have met him and thanked him for bringing you back to life and looking after you." Seria smiled, turning to me as I thought to myself that it wasn't just him. "And what about evil not-Goodwin? And this Interdimensional War?"

"I don't know. R-R-R-Rogét said he'd return to his Dimension, and then persuade 'The Chancellor' to invade this one, but I don't know if he even made it back to his. But Slade was from Rogét's Dimension anyway, and he was supposedly here on reconnaissance last time. Just because he's dead now… doesn't mean there might not be others here doing the s-same sort of stuff."

Seria put a thumb to her chin. "It's definitely a problem. We don't know for sure, and even if we did, we can't just go around broadcasting it to people. It'll be the Ark Cradle all over again. But… we can at least show the authorities what's on here. Most of what's on here." She corrected herself.

I shrugged. "Whatever you think is the right thing to do, I'll… I'll do it. I mean, you know that stuff's… I had no idea that stuff was on here-"

"I know." Seria assured me. "Don't worry. I'll take care of it."

My heart skipped a beat as my clicking landed on a rather unflattering close-up of me alone in the bathroom, taken in the middle of what was obviously a massive speech block. My face was all screwed up and demented-looking. "Oh no…"

Seria turned to face me. "You don't have to be embarrassed. You're doing the best you can."

"No, it's not that. I was talking to… F-F-F-F-Fizdis…"

Do you ever have that sometimes? You barely think about something, someone, and then one day they just randomly pop into your thoughts?

"That Spirit?" Seria asked softly. "The one that…?" she trailed off.

I nodded, exhaling lengthily. "I think in this photo, it was right after I'd had a nightmare. Fizdis came in, a-and we got talking."

How am I supposed to feel about that…?

There's not a right or wrong way to feel about anything…

"Tyler…" Seria breathed, looking into my eyes. It must have been my tone or something, because Seria suddenly asked me "What happens if this fails? What happens if, hypothetically, no one else wanted anything to do with you now? What would you do then? Would you leave New Domino City? Would you… would you try and kill yourself again?"

Though I was a little surprised, it was a perfectly reasonable set of questions. I'd told her everything that had gone on with me but not how it actually made me feel, and with my past history, she had every right to think that I was one incident away from crumbling. That I'd overreact like I did last time, and I'd definitely admit, it was an overreaction, at least when it came to the perspective of my friends.

And I'd have liked to have thought that I was at least in a slightly better place than I was back then, even if only slightly.

I closed my eyes and shook my head. "No, no, of course not. I get why you think I would, but that wouldn't accomplish anything, and I know that now. Not everyone gets a second chance, and I've had… way more than that, so if they don't want anything to do with me, that's perfectly fine. I'll… be upset, sure, but… I've been lucky to have any support from anyone, so… yeah, I'm not going to kill myself…"

It was the truth. As much as I blamed myself for Fizdis's death and wished it was me instead of her, there was no point in, well, pointlessly throwing my life away, especially since it would fly in the face of all that she and Tim had done for me. I was fortunate, unlike those children in K22M, to be alive and healthy and free most of all; free to get my life back on track.

I opened my eyes to see that Seria had a smile on her face. "Good. And you know that… if you ever need to talk to anyone-"

"I know. You'll… you're here…" I fumbled over my words. "And… I appreciate that, really." I hesitated. "A-a-actually, there is… one thing…"

"Yeah?"

"See… Tim was… Tim was going to come back here with me… and help me buy gifts for everyone. I-I-I don't know what happened to the rest of my money, but, um… I mean… I was wondering if you'd help me buy presents for everybody? Tim figured that might help smooth things over with everyone. And… I do want that. I can't just show up out of the blue and ask for everyone to accept me-"

"Tyler-"

"E-e-especially now I'm not… good with words…" I sighed. "I mean, I've already got ideas. I've thought about it a little. Akiza's present is easy. 'Botanica's Encyclopedia of Roses'. There's a copy of it at the library, but I want to get her a new copy. As for everyone else, I'm not sure. I mean, Jack and Leo have gone, and Yusei's never really been a material person, and Luna, I just… I don't know… is it wrong that my first instinct is jewelry? Is that a bit too much?"

"Tyler, your money, um…" Seria sighed, "something happened…"

"Oh, well, I mean, if you needed it for anything, that's, you know, fine. I mean, I wouldn't have gotten the job if you hadn't have recommended me in th-the first p…lace, so-"

"No, it's…" Seria sighed, her expression changing, and she closed her eyes. "When you… when you disappeared, as in… when the authorities had deemed what happened as a disappearance, we decided on holding that service for you. Sort of like a funeral. We knew… even though, officially you were 'missing', with everything that had gone on… with everything that you'd said to me, and put in those letters, that you… you'd killed yourself. But… everybody just needed closure. That's what I thought… so I… I extended an invitation not only to your mother Dibana, but to Joel as well. I know you two especially didn't get along, but I thought he might just want to pay his respects. He didn't come." Seria sighed and then licked her lips. "When I arrived home from the service, I found that the apartment had been broken into. Nothing of value had been taken… except for your bank card. I got Miss Simington to help investigate, and we found that the bank card had been used and the money in your account had been withdrawn. Joel had broken into the apartment, taken your bank card and all of the money in your account and fled the City."

It was hard for me to even be surprised by what Seria had told me. Honestly, it was just par for the course with Joel. He'd always put himself first, to the detriment of everyone else. And after having had to deal with him in Dimension S-534, I was just done with him.

"Fine. Good. I don't care. As long as he stays out of my life, I'm happy." I said bluntly.

"Tyler-"

"I'm just sorry that he broke in and left you with such a financial burden. I mean, I wasn't good for much, I know, but, I was at least able to help you there in that respect. The money that I had left, that was for you." I shook my head, quickly getting up from the seat. "Damn. I've really… fucked things up here, haven't I?"

"You're home now, and that's the most important thing." Seria assured me. "So… how long were you planning to stay? Assuming everything goes well, I mean." Seria asked.

"It doesn't matter if everything goes well or not. New Domino City is my home. I'm not leaving. That's not saying I'm expecting I can just move back in here with you. Obviously, I'll go and find a place of my own-"

"Don't be ridiculous. You're staying here." She said matter-of-factly. "But I don't want you doing this sort of thing again."

"Are you serious?"

"Of course I'm serious!" Seria maintained. "If you're just going to run off again and-"

"N-no, I mean, even after everything, everything I've done and everything I've told you, you want me to stay here?"

Seria softened almost immediately. "Yes. Tyler, I don't know about the others, but nothing's changed between us. The fact that you… the fact that you did some things you weren't proud of in that other Dimension doesn't matter to me. You came back here to ask me for forgiveness, but I should be asking you for forgiveness. After everything I did with the Arcadia Movement-"

"That's forgotten." I spoke softly.

"Well then, so's everything bad that you've done then. It goes both ways, Tyler. At some point, I think we both have to stop apologizing for the past and work towards a better future. Know what I mean?"

"Yeah… I get you…"

"Then that's what we'll do," Seria smiled. "Tomorrow, we'll get up early, get some breakfast somewhere, maybe, and go shopping to get everyone's presents. Although…" Seria suddenly stopped, putting a finger to her lips, "maybe it's best not to have you walking around in broad daylight while the authorities think you're missing… Hmm…" Her eyes brightened, and she looked back to me. "You know what? Leave it with me. I'll sort everything out."

"A-are you sure? I-I-I mean-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's all good. I got it. Um… just, be awake by, like, eleven or something, okay?"

"Okay…"

"Alright." Seria nodded. "You remember where your room is, right?"

"Uh…" I stammered. I remembered, but it wasn't my room. "I-I-I-I-I wasn't expecting bed privileges right away. I was thinking I'd build up to bed privileges and sleep on the couch or a futon or something in the meantime."

"Tyler, I'm not having you sleep on the couch like a drifter. If we're agreed that you're living here again, then the guest bedroom is yours. We can work out what you're going to do for a job and everything later, once we've sorted everything out with your friends."

We.

'We' as in, the two of us.

It was such a small thing, and she probably didn't even mean it to have the effect that it did, but honestly, it nearly broke me.

"After I… t-told you everything I've been through, I was honestly expecting that… you wouldn't want anything to do with me. You'd take one look at me and tell me to get lost." I admitted.

"No." Seria shook her head. "I'd never do that. Even… even if everyone else turned their backs on you, I wouldn't. I told you, I know what it's like. The Arcadia Movement… as much as I regret a lot of the work I did there, it was a place, the only place where I wasn't judged because of a part of me that I couldn't control. And yes, I do know how to control my power, but that didn't stop people from judging me regardless. People… people are afraid of things they don't understand." Seria stopped suddenly, as if trying to hold herself back from saying anything else. "I was lucky enough to be given a second chance myself, so… I'm not going to judge you, and I'm not going to turn you away. Like you said, New Domino City is your home, but more than that, your home is right here."

"S-S-Seria…" I stammered, my face getting a little hotter.

Seria shook her head once more. "Anyway, um… Your bed's still… still there. In fact, all your stuff is still there, except for your… card." Seria sighed.

"Forget about that…" I whispered, and the two of us went quiet for some time.

"Hey…" Seria spoke up after a while. "You're tired, huh?"

I hadn't even realized it. All that shit with the final round of the Friendship Tag Cup, the title bout against Jack, Neo Domino getting thrown into chaos, my Shadow Duel with Sergey, getting thrown back here and winding up in the Spirit World, had all happened in the span of one day. It wasn't that my body was tired – I'd rested long enough in the Spirit World – but I just felt so mentally and emotionally drained by everything that had happened.

"Y-yeah…" I breathed.

"Come on then." She ushered, taking me by the hand and leading me down the hall and into the guest bedroom. And as Seria had said, all my stuff was still there, not that I deserved any of it. The bed had been made, which was admittedly not something I usually did. Seria had obviously come in and tidied up the place.

A shallow breath escaped me as I caught sight of a photo that Seria had stuck up on the wall.

A photo of me with the words 'In Strength, For You' written underneath.

I walked over to it, overcome with a stillness as I recalled what Tim had said to me.

You might feel small and insignificant sometimes, but never forget that somewhere out in that vast multiverse there's someone who loves you. Doesn't matter what kind of love – empathy, the bond between friends, sexual attraction or unconditional love, someone, somewhere out there loves you.

"You know… it really is great that you're back." Seria said to me, breaking me from my thoughts.

"Huh?" I turned to her.

"I just… I don't want you thinking that coming back here was a mistake, because… if nothing else, I missed you."

"I missed you too, Seria." I smiled.

Tim was right.

"Anyway, I'll… leave you to get some sleep. See you in the morning."

"Good night."

Seria moved to the doorway but stopped there, turning back to me. "If you… I don't know, if you have a bad dream or something, come and talk to me, okay?"

"O-okay…"

Seria nodded, and then excused herself, closing the door behind her as she left. I tossed my jacket atop the desk and shimmied under the covers of the bed. Everything smelled new, fresh. It was great.

I pressed my head back against the pillow and closed my eyes. Weirdly vivid images formed in my mind, making my head spin. Faces, shapes, morphing and melding together nonsensically amidst a background of color, like a demented magic eye poster. I felt like I was going to be sick, but not in a bad way.

On the contrary, tomorrow was going to be the first day of the rest of my life. I'd buy a bunch of presents, see my friends again and patch things up with them (or start to at the very least). No, for the first time in a long time, things were looking up for me.

All I had to do now was not screw it up.

"…Yes, hi, it's Seria Dale calling. I need to speak with Doctor Fudo regarding… w-well it's not an emergency, but if he could just get back to me whenever he has a moment… I just need to speak with him…" Seria's muffled voice came to me, and in my state, I wasn't sure if she was speaking to me in a dream or I was half-awake in a morning fog.

I sighed, rolling over in bed and letting myself drift back into unconsciousness for what felt like only a moment, but when the next moment came, Seria's voice was gone, and I was cold.

I opened my eyes, the rest of my body stiff as I stared up at the ceiling. It took me longer than it should have to realize, to remember that I wasn't in the hotel room with Tim anymore. I was home. Home alone.

"New day…" I whispered to myself. New day, new life. I could leave everything involving Kobi and Joel and all of that shit behind me. I had the entire rest of my life to look forward to. Thanks to Fizdis and Tim.

I tensed every part of my body, willing myself to get up as I scrambled out of bed. I didn't have a phone anymore, so I wasn't sure what time it was, and Seria had wanted me up by eleven.

I hadn't even realized that I'd had the best sleep I'd ever had until I was stripping down for a shower. I'd always felt so groggy and crappy waking up each day for the Friendship Tag Cup. In fact, the only other time I'd had even close to a comparable night's sleep was the brief amount of time I'd spent at Luna's place.

I looked at myself in the bathroom mirror, feeling my pecs and running my hands down my chest. I had as much of a perfect body as I was probably ever going to have, and I wasn't going to ruin this one.

I blasted the water over my body and my mind was already off, racing to think of what presents I could buy for everyone. I didn't want it to become background noise, lest I stood there wasting water, but as I racked my brain, a thought popped into my head. One I hadn't really thought of but probably should have at some point.

Whether or not my friends accepted me, why did that matter? Could I not just have been happy on my own? Why did I need the approval of others to be happy? Was I so weak that I had to define myself and my happiness through others? Was Joel right?

Even after all this time, you still can't stand on your own two feet…

"No." I told myself aloud. Joel wasn't right, but at the same time, he was. Having friends was great. It gave me a purpose, but I didn't know who I was back then. I had no real identity of my own. I needed everybody else. But I knew who I was now, and if I was to completely allow myself to become dependent on everyone else, to the point of being unable to function otherwise, then what would happen to me if something happened to them? Or they all left like Jack and Leo? I'd be alone again, and the cycle of self-destruction would repeat.

I didn't need that. I didn't want that. I was better than that. I fought through Kobi and Joel's abuse on my own, with no help from my mother or Explosivo or Taze or anyone. I had to get stronger for myself, like Tim, because there was no way in Hell that I was going to let myself get put in a position like that ever again. To feel, as Tim had said, like my existence was defined by the likes of them and what they did to me or how they made me feel.

I sighed, resolved. When it came to Yusei, Luna and everyone else, I'd give it the best damn shot I could, and if it happened, it happened, but I wasn't going to beat myself up about it if it all went to shit, and they collectively decided that they wanted no more to do with me.

I stepped out into the living room, fully dressed and ready for whatever the Hell the day threw at me, renewed with a sense of understanding and focus. I walked over to where my Duel Disk rested and gently ran my hands over the glove, pausing as my fingers hit the Deck compartment, thanking the Spirits for watching over me.

I looked over at the countertop and saw, underneath the phone hooked to the wall, a post-it note from Seria:

'Hey,

I've taken the USB with me for Mina to look over. If you need me, call me, okay?

I'll be back soon.

Seria

xoxo'

I softened. Seria was really going above and beyond for me, taking everything in stride. The fact that she was so accepting of me, where I'd been and what I'd gone through, spoke wonders about her belief in me. And she obviously trusted me enough to think I wouldn't just run away while she was gone, not that I would, but the fact that she didn't even seem to think I would was reassuring of her faith in me.

There was one thing though. One thing that had been bubbling within me ever since Seria had told me about it. Something I needed to say, get off my chest.

I grabbed the phone from its holder, quickly punching in the number and pressing the phone to my ears as it rang. The ten seconds it took for the line to click was torture for my nerves, I could already feel the block forming in my throat, but I forced every fiber of my cursed being to focus. I closed my eyes. I knew exactly what I wanted to say. All I had to do was say it.

"Dibana speaking…" a voice came through the other line.

I breathed in through my nose and spoke as calmly and as firmly as I could. "You…" first stutter of the day, "can't blame me for what happened."

"…What?"

"I shouldn't need to apologize for anything. You were a good mother, but you married a fucking monster, and I'll be damned if you're going to come to my service and lecture everyone about how much of a shithead I was."

There was a pause. "Who is this?"

"Your son." I answered.

A few moments passed before I heard a click, and the line went dead. I couldn't help but laugh softly to myself. Probably not something I should have done in retrospect, but damn did it feel good! It was about fucking time I stopped taking shit and started giving it. She didn't need me? I didn't fucking need her!

I put the phone back in its holder. I didn't care if she tracked the number, I didn't care if she thought it was a prank call, I didn't care if she got the authorities involved. I was tired – done with her, absolutely.

I went and sat down at the coffee table with a sigh, looking at my Duel Disk once more before picking it and taking my counterpart's Deck out of it. Then I picked up my other Deck, the one I'd won the Friendship Tag Cup with, and laid them both out in front of me.

Thirty-nine cards in my counterpart's Deck. Only Fizdis was missing.

I looked at both Decks for a while and decided I'd make something new out of both of them. They might not have been the best Decks, but they got me home, and if I was going to keep anything from that whole ordeal, it was going to be them. I started picking out cards from both Decks and putting them into a new pile.

I don't know how long I'd spent, but at some point, my focus was pulled to the door of the apartment, Seria calling to me from behind.

"Tyler! We're back!"

"'W-we?'" I asked aloud, turning to the door.