Following Akiza's recount of Jack's last whereabouts, Yusei had grabbed his Jacket and headed out. The sky had turned from a beautiful day to an angry swarm of clouds with the promise of rain. Hoping he would find Jack before the inevitable storm he headed in the direction of the trees.

Akiza had volunteered to come with him to help him find Jack, but Yusei had declined, seeing it as an opportunity to talk to Jack alone. Now Yusei hung back, fighting between concern for his friend and the growing unease of having to confront him. With one last glance back at the house, and wishing he had accepted Akiza's offer, he turned away and began his search in earnest, his heart rising up his throat with every step that brought him closer to Jack.

Yusei was still unsure of his own feelings. With this new revelation he was beginning to wonder how much he really knew about his friends – Kalin was a prime example. Yusei had had no idea that his former friend had harboured such an intense hatred for him. And Jack was in love with him. Was he just blind to everyone's problems?

"Hey, wait there!"

Yusei was snapped out of his thoughts at the shout from behind him.

Relief surged through him as he recognised the messy orange hair of another of his old friends. Crow stopped in front of him, panting.

"Heard Jack's gone walkabout and thought you may want a hand." He said, falling in with step with Yusei.

"I appreciate it." Yusei replied honestly, glad that he could now avoid a one-on-one interaction with Jack.

"We'd better find him before it rains." Crow muttered.

"I'm sure we'll find him soon." Yusei reasoned.

Crow scratched the back of his head. "I am surprised he'd come out here. Long walks in the forest. Not very Jack Atlus."

"What am I saying?," Crow continued, "He's probably sipping tea in some overpriced cafe."

"But if he was going to do that then why would he go in a forest?" Yusei pointed out.

"It's Jack. Anything goes."

"So you're not worried?"

"I don't know. Are you?"

"Not any more." Yusei said, lifting his gaze to see the duelist, his white coat gleaming in the murky depths of the forest. Jack was stood a little way across from the forest path, where the trees opened up and the forest ended, apparently staring at the sky.

Leaving the path Yusei and Crow made their way towards him with Crow expressing his disappointment as a drop of rain hit his nose.

"We've been looking for you." Crow called out to Jack, who gave a grunt in response as he turned to look at the pair.

Yusei found himself looking away at the view when he felt Jack's gaze fix onto him. They were on a jutting edge of cliff that fanned out from the forest into a wide open space. Further ahead were large walls of rock jutting up sharply from the land.

"Come on Jack let's get back." Crow complained. "The rain's only going to get worse."

"If you want to go back then go, you're not in charge of me." Jack argued, indignation ringing in his voice at the notion of Crow giving him and order.

He stalked off in the opposite direction of the forest heading towards the rising cliffs.

"For fuck sake Jack, we've been out looking for you because we didn't know where you were." Crow shouted running after Jack, with Yusei following after them.

"No one asked you to come looking for me." Jack snarled, turning to face Crow as thunder boomed overhead.

"We thought you might be in trouble or lost. How wrong were we? You're just being the same old Jack Atlus and not giving a fuck about other people-"

"Guys calm down." Yusei interjected hurrying over the path to get closer to them so that he was in between his two arguing friends.

Jack snorted and marched further down the path as it narrowed against the opposing cliff and drop on the other side. Rain pelted in sheets showing no signs of relenting.

But Crow wasn't finished. He hurled after Jack, tugging his coat.

"Get off me!" Jack objected.

"Stop being stubborn and come back." Crow shouted, wiping wet hair out out of his eyes. "We're all soaking wet now because of you. So COME BACK!"

Yusei knew that Crow had the best intentions, but the way he was going about it wasn't going to work. The cold from the pouring rain soaking his clothes made him want to get back as soon as possible. But for that to happened Jack would have to decide himself that he wanted to go back.

He ran over, shouting above the rain and thunder a he approached. "This isn't helping just-"

"I'll do what I want!" Jack roared.

Yusei stepped back as Crow was pushed towards him.

"Oh, that's how it's going to be?" Crow's eye glinted seeing a challenge.

"Crow! Stop!" Yusei yelled to no avail.

Yusei attempted to get between the two again, expect was driven back avoiding Jack's arm as he lunged out at Crow.

Placing his foot behind him to regain his balance, Yusei felt solid ground for a second before it was snatched away, disintegrating under his weight. He staggered back, foot sliding over wet mud. With no grip Yusei felt himself lurch backwards.

He felt sick with fear as he fell back, arms flailing as he completely lost his balance. A scream ripped from his throat and he disappeared from sight.

Yep, apparently still going through with this one. I do have plans for future chapters and possibly additional chapters for one of my other stories. I'm open to suggestions – either for this story, one of my others or a new one entirely. Constructive criticism always appreciated.

Also very impressed I managed to figure out how to get that long line separater thing - I've been trying to find out how to do it for a while