Welcome to another chapter! Hope you have all been well! It's a week until Christmas, so it's been very busy for us! This chapter will cover more about the Crimson Dragon, but Goodwin and his brother won't play too big of a roll. In this story, there is only one bad guy and Goodwin isn't it. Who will it be? Without further ado, please read and enjoy! I don't own rights to YuGiOh! 5Ds!

Remove the Mask

Shattered Pieces

Goodwin POV

I smiled as my brother came through the door. "Roman, brother, what can I do for you?" He nodded his head in greeting then turned and held the door open. "I see you have brought visitors. Please, come in and make yourself comfortable."

"I'm afraid this isn't a social call, Goodwin," Crow scratched the back of his head as Yusei put his hands on the shoulders of two young children. "We were wondering if you could tell these two youngsters what you told us when our marks appeared." They hesitantly rolled up their sleeves and revealed markings on their forearms; one had a claw and one had a heart.

"My word," I gasped, kneeling and examining their marks more closely. "So you found two more pieces."

"I think that you should tell them the story that you told us during the Grand Prix," Yusei took a seat to my immediate left. "I believe that they might be a part of this."

I returned to my seat and folded my hands. [A/U: We all know what happened, so I will just skip this portion and add it later.] "The fact that you two bear symbols of the Crimson Dragon tells me that you are to help in the fight against this evil."

"Why us, though?" Leo asked, crossing his arms over his chest. "We're just a couple of kids! We don't know anything about the world and how it words!" His words faded into unintelligible dialect until his sister nudged his ribs with her elbow.

"Don't you two worry about a thing," Crow smiled, patting their backs. "With us, you'll do just fine!"

"I'm not so sure about that," I intervened. "There is still one sign that hasn't appeared, and it is beginning to worry me. Could it be that the final signer hasn't been born yet, or is it already among us and we just aren't aware of it yet?" The signers before me all looked to the floor; silent. "Until the last signer is found, we need to keep everyone under safety supervision."

"We are big boys, Roman," Jack snapped, glowering at me. "We don't need your so called protection."

"I was going to suggest that you three look out for the young ones here; none of SS officers are trained enough for what might happen." I looked to the twins. "We will send someone to check on your parents, though, and let them know that you are being taken care of." I raised an eyebrow as Leo scoffed and informed me that their parents were rarely home. "In that case, may I suggest that they stay with one of you three or possibly stay here with brother and myself?" We agreed that they would stay here with Roman and myself. As they left, I looked down at Leo and Luna, bending slightly at the knees so that I was closer to their heights. "Why don't we go by the Tops and grab a few of your things before dinner?"

Yusei POV

"Where do we go from here?" Crow asked as we climbed onto our D-wheels.

"Let's head back to my place and go over the files again! I'm going to go check SS for anything I might have missed!" l yelled over my shoulder before merging with traffic. If there was even the slightest chance that we missed something, I would never forgive myself. The Crimson Dragon was going to have to wait; finding Akiza was my first priority. Mina was coming out of headquarters as I pulled up, Jack's previous and Rex's current assistant. "What brings you here?" I asked, dismounting.

"I was sent by Mr. Goodwin, he wanted me to look into Luna and Leo's parents info." She raised an eyebrow. "And yourself?" I told her of my last visit and how I had to jump through loops to receive the info that we needed. Her brows furrowed. "Let me guess, Trudge was the one making things difficult." I nodded. With a sigh, she gestured for me to follow her into the station and asked to speak to Trudge.

In less time than it took for me to park my D-wheel, he appeared in front of us, leaning against the front desk with a coy smile on his face. He was a large man, mid thirties, dark skin with scattered light scars, and a very edgy face. He was dressed in a standard white button up shirt and dark colored pants with black shoes, except that the first few buttons were undone; probably intentional. "Mina," he cooed, his voice low and verging on husky. "I see you missed me already." He reached for her hand, only to blink in surprise as she snatched it form his reach and poked his nose with her finger.

I had to bite my lip to hide the snicker that threatened to escaped me as she ripped him a new one. Right before my eyes, the big bad bully from childhood withered and became a little puppy with its tail between its legs; and it was quite the sight to see. They used to be coworkers, so she knew just as much as he did, if not more.I turned away as he began to fight back, not wanting to see what was about to transpire. For the next few minutes, there was nothing but hushed whispers and occasional mentions of standard protocol, but relief flooded my body as Mina called me over, a box in her hands. "Wow, you are good." I smiled, accepting it and turning my attention to the defeated Trudge that looked like he had just gone through a war. "Thanks for all the help, Trudge." He merely grunted, his shoulders hanging in defeat.

~L~A~F~

I couldn't stop the feeling of anticipation as I drove back through the streets of Domino. The fact that there had been one box that the police had held onto suggested that there was something in its contents that could possibly give us the break through that we needed to find her. Pain suddenly pierced through my arm, nearly sending me into ongoing traffic. Switching to autopilot, I rolled up my sleeve to find my mark glowing brightly. A familiar roar echoed in my ears as my consciousness was ripped away from my body to face the giant flaming dragon. It was then that I noticed that one of its clawed appendages was missing. It seemed to lock eyes with me as Stardust appeared next to me, then disappeared. "What does this mean?" I asked, looking up at my old friend. It only growled softly as it looked out into the span of space, the stars flying past us as silently as the darkness that was closing in.

"Yusei!"

My eyes shot open as a voice echoed in my mind. I scanned the surrounding area and found myself parked before my place. The streets were quiet and the lights were on, telling me that Jack and Crow were inside; there was no one else on the streets. The voice echoed again, but it ended in a scream, causing me to hold my head in pain for a few seconds. The monitor on my ride began to chime, telling me there was a call.

Luna's worried face filled the screen with the Goodwins and her brother arguing in the background. "I heard it again, Yusei! The same voice crying out for help, but this time it was one voice, not many!" I told her that I had heard it too and her face relaxed slightly as I told her that I was at my place. We ended the call and I took the box inside, but I was unable to shake the uneasiness that was in the pit of my stomach.

They instantly quieted when I placed the box on the coffee table, all of our eyes locked on the container. There was a million things going through my mind, all of them were centered around the box's contents. What were we going to find? I lifted the lid and revealed its contents in the faint white light coming from the fixture above us... I was speechless.

"What the bloody hell is this?" Jack muttered, picking up a photo of Akiza that had the word "target" written in red ink above her head. "Is this some sort of joke?"

Crow held up a document. "This says that she was kept under strict surveillance at the request of the parents because of a strange phone call they received. The caller wanted them to release their custody over Akiza and hand it over to an unknown organization. They never stated who they were nor who they worked for, but they insisted that she be removed from her parent's care due to their lack of understanding her abilities."

I heard Jack say something about this being absurd before everything around me faded, leaving the document and photo in my hands the only things that were in focus. The document was dated two days before her disappearance, and the photo's time stamp was the same day. The document continued off of the one Crow was holding, telling of the phone calls becoming threatening and strange vehicles beginning to park outside the manor. My blood ran cold as I studied the photo: it was a snapshot from the surveillance camera near Akiza's room, and it showed her in the arms of a masked man wearing all black clothing. The only thing you could see were a pair of eyes that were the color of toffee. What made it worse was that her bedroom door was open and it revealed the three of us, sleeping on the floor.

Crow POV

I held up a hand, stopping Jack's words, as Yusei suddenly stood from his chair, dropping the document that he had been holding. "Yus?" His eyes rose to meet mine, but they were glazed over and dark, a look that I haven't seen since Trudge bullied her on the playground. "What is it?"

For many seconds, he remained silent, his body showing signs of an internal battle. When he finally spoke, his voice was almost growl-like and broken. "...she was taken...from right under our noses..." His fist lashed out and hit the wall, leaving a dent and blood as his knuckles split open. "...we were right there..."

I picked up the photo and felt my chest tighten as I saw us beyond the bedroom door, catching onto why he was acting like he was. "Yusei, this isn't your fault!"

"Yes it is!" he nearly roared, turning to face us and revealing the moisture gathering at the corners of his eyes. "I was right there! I was right there and I didn't save her!" His voice cracked as he fell to his knees, his fists banging on the floor. "Dammit, why didn't I save her?!"

Jack and I could only watch as our best friend tore himself apart, knowing that no matter what we said or did, he wasn't going to quite. For what seemed like an hour he stormed about his house raking his hands through his hair. He picked up the picture when he finally calmed down, saying that we needed to increase the clarity of the image to see if we could bring any features of the man's face into focus and then go from there. I sighed as he disappeared into the kitchen, the sound of the coffee pot and beans grinding soon filling the air. Standing, I walked into the kitchen to see him leaning against the counter, one arm over his eyes. "This isn't your fault."

"Yes, it is."

I slammed my fist on the counter next to him. "Like hell it is! We were right there too! We are as much to blame as you are! This isn't all on you, Yusei! This is on all of us!" I grabbed the front of his shirt and brought him within inches of my face. "Do you understand what I'm saying?! If you don't stop beating yourself up over, we wont have a prayer of finding her! You need to get your head out of the ground and focus on finding her!"

"Don't you think that finding her has been on my mind for the past twelve years?!" He shrugged me away moving past me and pouring himself a cup of coffee. "There hasn't been a single day that I haven't thought of her!"

"We haven't forgotten her either!" I grabbed his shoulder and forced him to look at me. "You aren't the only one who misses her and wants her back! We shattered too when she disappeared, you weren't the only one!" His eyes grew wide at my words, but wasn't done yet. "The second I realized that she was gone, I thought that I had something wrong to upset her! I blamed myself for being late to her birthday party because of my stupidity! I was supposed to finish a lesson early that afternoon, but because of my stupidity I didn't get done until later that evening! I wasn't able to contribute to her birthday because I was so late! And then to wake up the next morning, finding her bed empty..." My words stalled, my voice cracking. "...I thought it was all because of me..."

"Crow..."

"And he may not want to admit it, but Jack feels just as guilty as you and I do," I continued, releasing him and taking a few steps back. "He was also late to his birthday, but he wanted to be fashionably late. He was four hours late but earlier than me! He even forgot to get her a gift and said that he himself being at her party was better than any gift! It still haunts him today that those were his last words to her!" I locked my eyes with Yusei's. "We all shattered when she disappeared, not just you."

He nodded, took a deep breath and handed me a cup, pouring me some coffee as well. "And now its time that we pick up the pieces."

I clinked his mug against mine. "Together."

What do you guys think? Let me know in comments! See you all next time!