Here is another chapter after a very very long gap... I just hope it meets your expectations XD

Chapter Seven - Glory

Staring up at the ceiling, aimlessly flexing his hand, tightening them into fists and then slowing spreading them back out again, Jack Atlas welcomed yet another listless, irritating dawn.

His defeat irked him. He had been lying awake for almost an hour, his purple eyes staring into the deep darkness before the first ray of the sun, and feeling the infuriating truth settling in. Taking a deep breath, Jack attempted to dispel the weight that seemed to have fallen onto his chest, but each inhalation only made it heavier. Making a low, growling sound, Jack pushed his hands deep into the mattress. The square walls of the pitch-black room simply swallowed his expression of anger like a soundlessly pit.

It had been a long time since he had lost a duel. In fact, it probably since he split up with Kiryu and Crow three years ago. To think that he braved through all these thugs in Satellite, only to lose to a mere City kid barely half his height… it was humiliating. Carly had said something about Ruka being the junior champion, but all that had simply flown over his head. The black-haired girl then went on about how Ruka's deck was defensive to the core, made to block an aggressive deck like Jack's, and how it was understandable that he lost.

Bullshit. The fact remained that he lost.

Jack heaved himself out of the bed. It would be a waste of time to keep this up any longer. It wasn't like he could actually go back to sleep. He put his clothes on in the dark and deliberately ignored his Duel Disk and deck lying next to his bed. He wasn't ready for that yet. Turning away, he walked to the window to pull open the curtains even though that he knew the outside would be as dark as this unlit room. He just wanted to look outside, even if it meant looking at the ominous shadows the looming skyscrapers cast into the heavens. Anything to distract him.

The view outside was as he had anticipated. The sky just before dawn had already cast off the gripping blackness of the evening and was instead cloaked in a dark grey. Yesterday's clear weather had remained, and he now faced a fine, pristine sky. Yellow street lights glowed dimly all around him in this rundown residential district, their monotonous and languid illumination casting a drowsy sheen to the deserted streets below. Having grown up rough in Satellite, Jack habitually scanned the streets around Carly's house for anything that may seem out of place. Grey concrete walls, dark bitumen streets, tightly pulled curtains behind steel window frames – this neighbourhood really wasn't anything much. Jack let his eyes wander around the corner for just one quick glance before he would turn away and heads to the kitchen to make himself some coffee.

That coffee never came. What he saw around the corner was the distinctive silhouette of a D-Wheel and its rider, starkly incongruous with the neighbourhood's lazy air. Parked directly beneath a lamppost as if bathed in the accentuating glow of a spotlight, the owner was wearing a red shirt that Jack knew only too well. The man was reclining back in the seat of his blue machine as if he was enjoying himself. When he lifted up his helmeted head, he looked straight towards Jack's window with the unmistakable accuracy of having known where the blond young man was all along.

Jack's throat suddenly felt dry. He put one hand on his neck and rubbed it, feeling a slight acceleration of his pulse. He bit his lip. Kiryu was waiting outside for him. It was like when they were young boys again, with Kiryu coming to fetch Jack to fight it out with another duel gang that threatened their territory. Jack's heart clutched at the memory.

Down on the street, Kiryu raised his hand in salute towards Jack, and beckoned for him to come down as if it was just another game, another conquest to be made somewhere among the zones of Satellite.

Jack told himself to stay calm. It was just Kiryu, just like the old times. Play it like before, and no harm will come of it.

However, as he swiftly moved cross the living room of the apartment, he couldn't ignore the persistent feeling of unease, the sheer strangeness of seeing Kiryu here at this time. With a steady hand, Jack shifted through Carly's purse, which was left on the dining table, and took out her keys. He opened the door silently and closed it with equal prudence. She didn't need to know about this.

Kiryu was leaning against the lamppost when Jack ran down the stairs and came face to face with him. Kiryu had taken off his helmet, and his long, silvery blue hair hung in long fringes over his face in the same way as Jack remembered it. Even the purple ribbon that he used to tie his hair up had remained intact. Jack could feel Kiryu scrutinising him carefully with those golden eyes of his.

"You've grown even taller, Jack." Kiryu broke the silence with that rather high voice of his. "And amazingly, you still haven't gotten a Marker on your face."

"Why are you here?" Jack stayed a few metres away from Kiryu. He was being cautious; he didn't know what Kiryu may have up his sleeve. The golden-eyed young man didn't have a D-Wheel the last time Jack heard from him. But then again, that was before he was sent away to that place.

"You're saying that you can come into the City at will, but I can't?" Kiryu spat on the ground. "I'm disappointed in you, Jack, seriously. I thought there would be no way in hell for you to lose to that rich little girl at Tops last night, but man, she made all your reputation go straight down the drain."

Jack froze, stunned. So Kiryu had been trailing him all along? The thought of his moves being followed annoyed him. He felt like a youngster again, following behind Kiryu together with Crow, as the older man guided them through the dangerous, winding paths of Satellite. In light of what happened later, he had sworn not follow anyone blindly ever again. Being put in this situation was uncomfortable. And moreover, he had thought that he would never be in this situation again while he lived.

"What are you talking about?" Jack snorted. "You are a dead man, Kiryu. And the last time I checked, dead men don't pry."

Jack didn't miss the sudden rigidity of Kiryu's entire body. The thin eyebrows above the golden eyes furrowed only slightly, the only visible expression of the unconstrained, passionate fury that Jack knew was swelling up behind those yellow irises. Knowing that Kiryu was probably too angry to speak right now, Jack continued on.

"I know you have a grudge against me for leaving you," he stared straight back into Kiryu's face, which flinched as he said this, "but what's with the idea of going on a rampage over the City?"

"Oh, so the noble Atlas-sama is going to protect the City folks?" With a chilling grin, Kiryu spat out those words. He was still tense. Jack kept a wary eye on the distance between Kiryu and himself.

"It's not a matter of protecting City folks. You want to know why my face is still clean and unmarked, Kiryu? It's because I don't go out and do things that literally ask Security to arrest me. I don't take unnecessary risks to harm myself, not like what you did."

Kiryu growled this time, a guttural, beastly sound that Jack didn't remember having came out of his friend's throat before. "Is that still what you think? Ungrateful brat." He leaned forward towards Jack. "You still think what I did was wrong?"

Jack kept his voice even. "Killing Security Officers aren't ever going to free Satellite. You should know that."

"Jack, are you telling me that you still don't think about revenging your homeland?" Kiryu gritted his teeth. "Do you still not think about how to get it out of the City's shackles and do something useful for Satellite? You have no right to talk to me like that when I've been having concrete advances, and all you do is protecting yourself."

Jack tilted his head. There was something new in Kiryu's words that he hadn't heard before, even in his friend's maddest ravings. Dismissive as he was, he was intrigued.

"We simply had the misfortune of being born in the wrong side of a narrow land bridge, Jack." Seeing Jack's interest, Kiryu's face softened. He didn't come here to fight with Jack, and he reminded himself of the task that Aki had hoped he would be able to achieve. "Don't you think it's unreasonable to judge people just based on their birth like that? These people in the City, no matter how corrupt and despicable they are, they still have the rights to live in luxury. And what did we have while we grew up?" Kiryu took one stop forward. "Jack, don't you want to change that? Don't you want to reign over a Satellite prosperous and powerful enough to rival the City?"

"What are you getting at, Kiryu?" Jack replied simply.

"Would you like to join us to free Satellite, and shift the balance of power to our hometown?"

"That's exactly what you said back then. How would you do it this time?" Jack frowned. "You're gonna take on all the Security and the infrastructure with your D-Wheel?"

"Not just that, you fool." Reaching for his Duel Disk, Kiryu disconnected it from his D-Wheel and held it up in the lamp light for Jack to see. It was a strange thing, unlike any other Duel Disks Jack had ever seen, and was inky black with curved, ominous wings on either side of it. An unsettling feeling stirred up within Jack, but he couldn't name the reason. Kiryu was holding it delicately in his hands as if it was something extremely precious, something he might even risk his life to protect.

"What is that, Kiryu?"

"Can't you tell? It's a Duel Disk." An intoxicated grin emerged on Kiryu's face. "A Duel Disk that grants you the power of Psychic Duelists."

"What... did you say?"

Jack caught his breath. How was that possible? The powers of the Psychic Duelists – the ability to materialise empty images – endowed upon a Duel Disk? What fiendish conception had been created to allow anyone to have such strengths? Thinking back to his experience in the past few days, Jack involuntarily shivered. He didn't like Psychic Duelists, just like everyone else, but he may well have accepted Kiryu's offer had he remained the same person who lived in Satellite. He admitted that the prospect of having such a power was indeed tempting, and he would easily have given in to it. But Yusei's obsession with it, Carly's vague replies when Jack asked her about it, and Ruka's victory that still grated on his mind made Jack instinctively wanted to get away from it as far as possible. Moreover, it was Kiryu who was standing in front of him offering it. True, they were best friends, but Jack no longer knew whether it was wise to still trust this man before him.

"Hesitating now, are you, Jack?" Kiryu smirked. "Don't worry. It's nothing dangerous." He leaned forward again. "But you know what? A man can do anything with this. There's no need to fear the Security, no need to grovel before the City folks. Imagine what would happen when we use this on our enemies, Jack. We would get back at the City for the persecutions they've been dealing to us all this time, and not just that too. We'd be invincible. Invincible, Jack! All you need to do is to agree to come with us and we'll be given this omnipotent power to rule over all duelists for real!"

"You're mad, Kiryu."

Jack squeezed those words out between his teeth. That was the only conclusion he could draw. He could not otherwise rationalise the other's mad dreams and ambitions about conquering the City using those unholy, forbidden powers.

Kiryu gave him a look. "Only mad men have the determination to do what others don't dare to do." He gave a crooked grin. "So, what's your answer, Jack? Are you going to walk away from this once-in-a-lifetime chance? Are you going to walk away from this power that some people may even die to get?"

"They can die for all I care." Jack growled a reply. "I'm not taking that thing from you, Kiryu, especially not after the Black Rose Witch hunted me down during my last night in Satellite."

"So you figured it out," Kiryu glanced coldly at Jack. "Then you should know the consequences of rejecting our offer."

"'Our' offer?" Jack mimicked his words. "Don't screw with me. What exactly happened in there?" He fixed his purple eyes on the other man. "What on earth did you do to that woman Izayoi Aki?"

Kiryu narrowed his golden eyes. Jack tensed; he felt as if Kiryu was going to lunge towards him with that anger that he still remembered vividly. But nothing came of it. Kiryu simply shrugged, as if dismissing everything that Jack had said, and walked back to his D-Wheel and got on it. He started the engine. Jack saw no point in stopping him.

"I knew you wouldn't come over to our side, but she told me to try. It was probably meant to be this way. See you later, Jack."

Then he left, his engine loud and pounding in the still silence of the City that has yet to awaken to the day. Jack observed Kiryu leaving. At the moment, there wasn't anything he could do to stop Kiryu. He knew he had been right about the guess concerning Izayoi and the Black Rose Witch, who had been roaming the back streets of Satellite in recent times. It didn't take a big leap in logic to conclude that she must have been there too, been to the same place that Kiryu was locked up in. If only he knew what Izayoi did to cause such a situation, then everything would fall into place.

Jack looked up, back towards Carly's apartment. He had wanted to leave everything alone, but since his old friends had made it obvious that they were going to drag Jack into this business whether he liked it or not, he decided to throw in his lot. He remembered the deal he had make with Ruka before their duel last night, and Jack Atlas had never been someone to go back on his word. If Yusei wanted to know the story, well then, Jack would tell him everything.

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Yusei stood on the balcony of his home and felt the glorious warmth of the rising sun settling on him. Eyes half closed, he sighed contentedly in the invigorating morning air. Located at a high point on Tops, the Fudos' house had an unobstructed view towards the Neo Domino harbour and the sea. The light of the sun gradually dispelled the early mist draping over the water and the houses down near the harbour, and Yusei spied the streetlamps going out one after the other as the golden fingers of dawn crept along the concrete rooftops and streets. He signed again, appreciating the serenity of this scene over the sleeping City. Putting his hand on his brow to shield the light, Yusei looked out to the sea, to the place that he knew was out there.

"I wonder if the sunrise is the same in Satellite…"

That murmur simply slipped out of his mouth. Yusei frowned, even though he was still looking at the same beautiful scene as he was seconds before. A little while ago, Jack had called him on Carly's phone, and said that he wanted to see Yusei as soon as possible. After receiving the call, Yusei had arranged with the guards at the main doors of Tops to let the Satellite resident through. He was mystified about Jack's motive. Nonetheless, he was determined. If Jack was going to talk, Yusei won't stop him.

The blue-eyed young man sighed, his breath warm in the morning air. Aki had stopped talking to him in the past few years. Yes, he knew she was worried and she was hurt, and he had always reassured her that he would be there to listen. But then she shut everyone out when she really needed to talk. She would glare coldly with her almond-shaped, amber-coloured eyes, piercingly and angrily at the world around her with deep enmity. Yusei had decided to not push her. He believed that people can only start to change when they were ready to take that step forward, and he wanted Aki to find her peace at a pace she was comfortable with. After all, wasn't that how every teenager grew up? We were all angry at the world once upon a time, thinking that no one understood us, thinking that there was no point in speaking out our pain.

Now Yusei was alone on this balcony where Aki and he used to watch the sunrise as kids, and regretting he had allowed her find her own path. Aki wasn't like everyone else. She didn't reach out for help or comfort like everyone else. She locked herself in, deeper and deeper, brewing all her emotions behind a cold and carefully crafted facade until it erupted all at once. Yusei wished he didn't have to leave the City as often. Aki showed him a happy front during the brief times they had together between tournaments, and Yusei had thought that everything was going to be alright, that Aki had come to accept and grow into herself. He was very wrong.

He was expecting Carly's ancient little yellow car when he heard the sound of an engine heading towards him. Yusei peered down from the balcony, only to see a D-Wheel with its seat placed in the middle of its giant wheel approaching him, the steel of the contraption shining silvery-white in the morning sun. The rider was dressed in a similarly stainless white riding suit and donned a blue helmet. Screeching to a stop outside the garage of Yusei's house, the white machine tilted backwards a little and rested easily on the ground as Jack stepped off and removed his helmet. As if knowing where Yusei would be, the blond man looked straight towards the balcony and caught Yusei's eye. For a while the two held each other in their sight, neither of them peeling their eyes away.

Yusei shifted first, signalling that he was going downstairs to open the main door, and left the balcony. Moments later, the Fudos' front door creaked open, and Jack stepped in wordlessly. A modestly furnished lounge greeted him, comfortable and sufficient but without extravagance. As to be expected from this household.

"A seat?" Yusei motioned towards the sofa.

Jack took the offer and sat down, placing his helmet on the floor beside his feet. Yusei sat down too in the seat across from Jack. It was the blond man who broke the silence.

"I'm not here just because of that wager I made with Ruka yesterday," he grumbled. "Don't get me wrong."

Yusei let out a long breath. "Fine."

"I heard that you are interested in me because of my birthmark, how it's similar to Izayoi Aki's."

Yusei shifted his gaze. Jack was looking straight towards him, those purple eyes unblinking.

"Is that true, Yusei?"

"Does that matter?" Yusei replied cautiously. "That wouldn't have much to do with what you're going to tell me."

Jack blinked.

"Yusei, let me ask you two more questions. Aki Izayoi – she is a powerful Psychic Duelist whom you think is currently in Satellite, right?"

Yusei nodded slowly.

"Why would you think she's there?"

It was a simple question, but Yusei found it very, very difficult to answer.

"She made a mistake. She… committed a crime." Those words were squeezed out of his mouth as if their mere sounds grated his tongue.

"A crime?" Jack repeated his words questioningly.

"It was unintentional, but what she did was definitely outside the scope of law." Yusei continued in a low voice. "But I have reasons to doubt the sentence wasn't carried out. I believe she had been secretly transported to Satellite." He looked back up at Jack.

"So when you saw my birthmark, you naturally thought that I, a Satellite resident, might somehow be connected to her." Jack concluded. "Sorry to disappoint you, Yusei, but I've never heard of her in my entire life."

"I figured." Yusei replied.

"But there is something that I can tell you." Jack crossed his arms. "Have you ever heard of a place called – Rosewood?"

Yusei shook his head. The name was alien to him.

"What if I tell you… that's where the City stows certain people… whom it doesn't want to punish strictly according to the law?"

"You mean…?" Yusei caught his breath.

"That's where all the troublesome outlaws are sent." Jack continued. From the surprise and trepidation in Yusei's eyes, Jack knew this fit the profile that the other man was looking for. "And by troublesome, I meant criminals that the City had to save in order to preserve its standing. They can't be killed, but had to be hidden away from the public. Isn't that what you think happened to Izayoi?"

Yusei let out the long breath that he had been holding. He was terribly relieved. If what he suspected was true at all, then this place called Rosewood would be the location that he had been searching for. However, at the same time, uncertainty crept up his heart. If he could not find Aki there, would that mean that she was indeed gone, and he had been stubbornly chasing an illusion all this time? Worse still, what if she had already escaped from that place, and was truly planning that revenge the other man spoke off?

Jack paid close attention to the King of Riding Duels in front of him. A sliver of doubt fluttered past in those usually firm blue eyes. The blond man frowned a little. Yusei must still be digesting this new piece of information, but Jack wasn't finished just yet.

"But there's something you need to know. The entire complex of Rosewood burnt down some time before I left Satellite."

Yusei glared at him.

"Almost everyone in there, guards, prisoners, medics, died a great fire. Nothing but black ashes was left when the fire service and Security got there." Jack didn't cut Yusei any slack. "If you went to search for Rosewood Institute a few months ago, you might have found it. However, you won't find anything now."

Yusei slowly shook his head. "If everything is gone," he replied steadily, "then what's going on now wouldn't be happening. Moreover," he stared into Jack's purple irises, "you wouldn't have bothered to tell me this."

Jack looked away. "A few weeks after Rosewood went down in that fire, we started to have someone roaming around Satellite at night. There were rumours about how it was a ghost out of that place, but no one believed it. That is, not until they saw some of the devastations that person did. Pretty damn terrifying, with entire streets ripped apart and buildings blasted from the inside out. Still, I dismissed it, until the day that person actually chased me out of Satellite and I had to run into the City."

Yusei pressed with his questions. "So, he was the one who dared to chase you out of Satellite?"

Jack gave him a grave look. There was a pause.

"No, it was a woman, wrapped in a black coat with a fiery red Duel Disk." He swallowed. "They called her… the Black Rose Witch."

Yusei felt his knees go weak even though he was sitting down. He clutched at the sofa with his suddenly sweaty hands. Events were clicking together in his mind.

"Now, Fudo Yusei," Jack asked, "you know Izayoi Aki better than I do. What do you think is happening?"

Yusei put his hand to his forehead and shut his eyes momentarily. "Why are you even telling me this, Jack Atlas?" He muttered a reply. "What can you gain with letting me know about Aki in Satellite?"

"In Satellite?" Jack echoed Yusei's words. "I thought you knew that she is already aiming for the City?"

"How… did you know that?"

"I was approached by one of my former acquaintances early this morning." The meeting with Kiryu flashed past Jack's mind. "He seemed to have known Izayoi… while they were at Rosewood."

There's gotta be more to it than that. Jack's mind added that thought, but he didn't tell Yusei. Kiryu must have met Izayoi Aki at Rosewood, and somehow figured out a way to harness her powers.

Now, the question was: did Kiryu really believe in his mad dream of freeing Satellite through brutal force, and had he managed to convince Izayoi Aki into joining this plot that had almost gotten Kiryu himself killed once already?

Jack didn't really care, to be honest, and yet Kiryu decided he still wanted to get Jack involved. Jack wasn't sure that he could stand up to a powerful Psychic Duelist such as Izayoi if he opposed Kiryu. But Yusei, with his bonds with her, may be able to.

"He's the one who chased Ruka the other night," Yusei murmured, "isn't he?"

Jack nodded, not seeing the point in telling a lie.

"Does he also know that man called Crow?" Yusei pressed on.

Jack narrowed his eyes, irritated at how persistent Yusei was about the issue. "Yes," he conceded at last, "all three of us grew up together in Satellite."

Leaning forward, Yusei refocused on Jack. "He did more than just approach you, didn't he, Jack?" Jack's eyes widened just briefly, but Yusei caught on. "He must have mentioned Aki to you. You felt threatened, and thought it'd be best to tell some things to me?"

Yusei thought Jack would fume at him. But to his surprise, Jack looked away. "Kiryu's mad." He muttered in a low voice. "He must have seen Izayoi as a wonderful weapon to take over the City and Satellite with. Even if I don't want to get myself involved, he's not going to allow me to turn back now. I still remember when Izayoi chased me into the pipe leading to City on that night…" his voice trailed off, apparently unwilling to remember what he went through. With a small cough, he regained his composure. "That man – Kiryu – he was one of my best friends." He swallowed. "Even when we were kids, he had the dream that he would liberate Satellite from the City's rule. We thought it was a good idea… until he took matters into his own hands and almost beat a Security officer to death."

Yusei let out a breath. "I'm amazed that he's still alive."

"That's what everyone thought." Jack conceded. "But obviously… he was sent to that place."

Yusei didn't reply to that, nor did Jack continue. The two of them sat silently for a little while, each immersed in his own memories of the friend whom he used to know. With a sigh, Yusei was the one who broke of the reverie.

"Would I still be able to go investigate Rosewood?"

"Go investigate?" Jack's voice was doubtful. "You don't mean –"

"I want to see that place myself," Yusei answered Jack's thoughts. "Besides, I have a suspicion I want to confirm."

Jack tilted his head incredulously. "You don't think… Izayoi herself burnt down Rosewood?"

The ends of Yusei's mouth twitched in a pained grimace in confirmation.

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His early meeting with Yusei being over, Jack was riding his D-Wheel back to Carly's place in the risen morning sun. His unique D-Wheel attracted quite a few looks from the drivers of other vehicles, but he was too lost in his own thoughts to notice.

Yusei had asked him to accompany him into Satellite, a request that Jack had begrudgingly agreed with. He wasn't too keen to go back to that place, but it wouldn't hurt to see how things were doing back there. Jack grunted. This was really getting too complicated, with too many old acquaintances and buried emotions being involved. Jack Atlas was used to being decisive and with only himself to look out for. This wasn't his forte.

For one moment, he really felt envious of Yusei, and even of Kiryu. Yusei, because the little brat grew up so comfortably in the City, and even if he lost what was most dear to him, he could afford to search for it and get it back. Kiryu, because he stayed true to his wishes – however mad it might be – and was actually making good progress with companions that shared the same aspirations as him. What did this make of Jack? All the blond young man wanted was to be the king, and had worked hard to achieve that in Satellite. Yet it was all nothing. He ran, defeated, from Izayoi Aki, and lost all that by coming into the City as a fugitive. He knew very well that, had he not being saved by Yusei, he would be in a detention centre for good by now. The feeling of being dependent on the King of the City, a man who represented in the establishment that Kiryu and Crow and Jack grew up detesting, was nauseating.

Without Jack noticing it, the road had led him close to the looming Duel Stadium. The white sunlight was reflecting off its shining roof tiles, blinding him in their brilliance. The main entrance, a gaping hole of comfortable darkness, was open and waiting for whichever rich City duelist had booked it for the day. Jack let his gaze move up the building's grandiose curves and imposing lines. It was a place that he had always associated with the luxury of the City. It was a battleground reserved for the King of Riding Duels, Fudo Yusei.

How ironic would that be if Yusei were born into Jack's place sixteen years ago.

Jack shook his head. Tearing his gaze away from the stadium, he kept his focus on the road heading back to Carly's place.