Judgement of the World

Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix

A/N: its not so bad...

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Martha walked down the hallway of the orphanage, pleased as the children were busy doing their chores. One day soon the bridge would be built and one day these kids would be gone, either grown up and out in the world, or maybe they would find themselves adopted. Either way she was pleased at raising a group of, mostly, responsible kids. Both pleased at how well the children behaved and grateful, how blessed she was that Satellite never turned on the children. There may have been gangs fighting for control of the splintered part of Neo Domino. They may have charged 'tolls' for passing through their territory, but they never attacked the orphanage.

She made her way down towards the backyard of the orphanage where Crow was currently parked. Between him and Yusei they had managed to secure supplies for the orphanage and Yusei had been carrying the new textiles in their box up into the upper floor of the orphanage. Meanwhile Crow was in the back with foods, and medical supplies. These, now routine, runs were always a time of excitement for the youngest of the kids, with each delivery a surprise. Now that the threat of a delivery wasn't mostly gone the children were settling comfortably into this new routine.

Martha could see from the back window that Crow was preparing to leave, undoubtedly to see to his own little group of orphans. Yusei had already notified her that they had dropped off the supplies to Crows' kids, and they were already managing on their own. But with Crow's D-Wheels' design it made sense that he help out, allowing for what would have been three trips to be cut down to only two.

She stepped down the back steps and out into the yard to thank Crow and say good bye, under a bright blue sky and warm yellow sun. Yet it was when he caught sight of her and something about his posture seemed to become suddenly tense. Which was disconcerting since Crow had, until now, been his normal cheerful self. Unsure of what to expect, Martha walked up to Crow who suddenly found his helmet interesting. "Crow? Is something wrong?"

"Hey Martha?" The words were dragged up with some form of reluctance, his fingers began beating an off rhythm on his helmet, something serious was clearly bothering Crow. "Remember when we came back here for a break after we'd formed Team Satisfaction back when we were younger?" Crow asked before mounting his D-Wheel.

The question seemed to come out of nowhere, though Martha instantly recalled those days. After the trio joined that friend of theirs and left to run the same gang activity as all the other teens and adults who had given up on Neo Domino coming for them. Generally speaking Crow and Jack changed the least during that time, it was Yusei who had the biggest change of personality. Granted he had never been the most engaging of personalities, that had been Crow, while Jack waited for people to approach 'him'. Yusei was a blend of the two, willing to answer questions and respond to people's attempts at socializing. But just as comfortable as hanging back and observing everyone's actions in a pleasant quiet manner. Only after they left did Yusei seemed to have been broken by something, the laughter and smiles had disappeared. "Yes?"

Crow sat there, his focus somewhere ahead of the front tire of his D-Wheel and his voice was retrospective. She waited patiently for him to speak further and as the silence grew, she began to suspect he was about to give up and fly away. Nervous little bird that he was turning into after all. "You tried to get me to talk about Yusei, I know. But in all honesty I didn't know at the time, neither did Jack. We just accepted that the change happened, one day he just shut down like he is now." Crow looked ahead of his bike rather than at her, it was the juxtaposition between a beautiful day and this horrible slice of land. A bright cheerful day for picnics, hanging out and talking about the darkness in another person's soul.

"I doubt he'll talk about it even now. But during that EarthBound thing, I... I suddenly remembered how you asked me back then if something happened to Yusei. Something that changed him so much as he had by the time we were established in our gang." Crow elaborated, turning a bit to look at her, and in his eyes she could see his indecisiveness. This was personal stuff for Yusei, but the guy internalized 'everything' and the odds of him actually 'talking'? Zilch. Crow had hoped that by the time the Earthbound thing was over Yusei would have emotionally been cleansed of that weight. That maybe he kept that ridged self discipline when he was 'on the clock' as the groups' head. Only their whole trip showed nothing more than the same self contained, emotionally distant Yusei he had gotten used to.

But this was 'Martha' so, this was the matron who raised them, and worried about them. Sure telling her would add a worry probably. Or she would have the words that neither Crow nor Jack had to heal Yuseis' wounds. She had always been that way, finding the words they couldn't, and teaching through them or action. "He blames himself for this." With that Crow jerked his head out towards the rest of Satellite.

Crow glanced up up at the clear sky and seemed to come to a resolution in his mind before continuing. "Apparently there was a building that had some information about his birth parents that he found. That's how come he started saying his name was 'Fudo, Yusei', but what we didn't know... what he didn't 'tell' us, was that he was related to the Fudo who created the Momentum Project. He's felt he should accept the responsibility of that day himself, for all the death of that day and for the situation that we've endured since it. He feels its his responsibility to take the blame for his fathers' error that robbed Jack and I of our parents. Though he knows, now, that his father was betrayed by his own apprentices, Yusei still. He hasn't changed since that battle and I don't know if the Yusei we knew is ever going to come back. I expected some change now that the whole thing is over, but apparently he hasn't let go and if he hasn't well. You wanted to know."

Martha blinked at the information, stunned to think Yusei could, of his own volition, accept that kind of burden. He was so young, even now far too young to just accept that day as being his crime since his parents were dead. The child inheriting the sins of the father was now officially off her list of moral stories that she was going to recount for the kids. If it was going to end up making someone as kind and sweet as Yusei turn into 'this'?

"Thank you for letting me know, Crow. Now you should run along for your own kids." She replied before slapping him hard on the back sending him comically forward.

"Hey what was 'that' for?" He protested as he rolled his shoulders in a vain attempt to ease the pain from the slap.

"What was with that 'name'?! How dare you three roam around Satellite with 'that' as a title!" She huffed at him, watching his offended cluelessness slowly, very slowly, melt into dawning realization.

He looked down for a moment knowing this was just her way of keeping him from beating 'himself' up, then with a forced, faked cough gave a, "see you later, Martha." And drove off slowly so he didn't kick up dirt at Martha before turning the corner and revving up to speed out of the orphanage grounds

Martha watched him leave, allowing him to have something less dark to focus on while he was driving back to his little brood. She could hear as he he picked up speed after he turned the corner, thoughtfully not leaving her in his dust and drove back to his home. Allowing her to turn and look at the orphanage she had run for so long and critique it. Sure it wasn't anything glamorous, but it was home to her and many small children. There were some hardy breeds of bush that proved that given time beauty 'could' be restored to battered landscape. The windows weren't cracked or missing, or holes in the walls letting in the cold winds inside.

All in all it was a stable building that housed numerous small children who needed that stability and safety. Things she had been more than happy to try and provide them, while somewhere in there a teenager was carrying more than just a box of supplies from Security. Originally she was just going to look for Yusei and ask if he could fix the television. Now her mind was churning with thoughts of what she should say to the poor boy. Well he 'was' in charge of this new 'group' of his and she knew that he wouldn't just talk about himself. So she felt it was important that she have this talk 'now' before he was gone.

Because Yusei 'was' going to leave. He wasn't a child, and was far too smart to stay in a rundown part of Neo Domino working with junk. The boy deserved to go where he could use that mind to do great things. A young man who taught himself the intricate designs of computers on his own, who 'built' his D-Wheel out of scraps. A young man who would fight and die to protect his friends. But did they know this burden in his heart? Would they know to observe when he might need them even if he didn't give that need voice? Knowing now that he was related to brilliance would he look upon his own talents with shame? Hold himself back because of a guilt he had no reason to accept?

Now felt like the right time to find Yusei and strike up one of those quiet private conversations that parents had with their kids. The ones that reaffirmed bonds when the parent knew it was closing in on the time when that child would spread their wings and fly out into the world. So that he would be reminded that he would always have a home at the orphanage. His D-Wheel was still parked where he left it, meaning he was probably on the upper floors still putting away whatever was packed in the boxes he came back with.

She passed through the back door into the kitchen of the orphanage to see the boxes still resting there. Several girls were digging through the boxes and putting the grocery away without prompting. Though they were also having mini meetings on what went where with each item, she took a peek into the fridge and the freezer to see if anything new was there. Rewarded with milk, cheese, butter in the fridge, and a surprising box of ice treats which wasn't something she expected.

"Did we put it in the right places, Martha?" The girls asked as they went to Marthas' side looking at her for confirmation.

"Very right," she answered with a warm smile, placing her hands on the tops of the nearest heads. "Now I just have to see where Yusei put the rest of his things."

"We heard him go upstairs!"

Martha nodded and left the girls to their duty and left the kitchen towards the stairs. She could see a few of the children fussing their way through such tasks as laundry and dusting. Which was odd since normally the children did their chores with an upbeat sort of feeling. When Martha reached the upper floor she found it both clean and quiet, leaving her free to look for Yusei. Her ears stayed alert for the sounds of Yusei working on putting away the things he brought. Since an easy glance showed he wasn't at the hallway supply closet she went to the bathroom to see if he was there.

As she passed the supply closet she checked it and found several new blankets for both the warm and cold months. She shut the door and moved further down the hallway and into the bathroom itself only to find it also empty. Martha planted her hands on her hips as she tried to think of where Yusei could have possibly gone. But as she racked her brain she couldn't think of a reason he would stay upstairs if his work was done. He was more prone to either leave all together or work on his ex-girlfriend.

Ex Girlfriend. For all the pain that Yusei had inflicted on himself the fact that he found himself a flesh and blood 'girlfriend'. Originally she was just utterly amused that he, surprisingly, found his sexual urges at all. She walked into one of the bedrooms and peered down into the backyard to make sure that Yusei's ride was still there. That he hadn't somehow missed her on the way up and left, though if he wasn't upstairs, and he wasn't at his D-Wheel he had to be in the house. Yet to think his first run through Neo Domino and he found his future wife!

Martha was 'not' letting this go either. She had met Aki and decided that she liked the well mannered young lady. The balance of a proper young lady and a guy from the street was probably the stuff of romance novels back in America. Yet what she wanted most was for Yusei to get out of his shell, to stop blaming himself for things that were clearly not his fault. For a relationship to work, people needed to be honest with 'themselves' as well as their partners. If Yusei's 'honesty' was one of self inflicted pain, she needed to get this corrected and quickly.

She walked down the stairs and opted to start doing a sweep of the house in general, going to the family room of the orphanage. The room held two large, old and battered couches for the kids. The cushions had holes that had been stitched back up on several occasions, partly due to the lack of proper thread. There were side tables on either sides and a long table for drinks, popcorn and other things. As close as they could make the place look like a mansions' living room rather than a dilapidated living room. With pictures on the walls drawn by the kids themselves. There was a tired wooden television stand on the far side of the room. A television that was currently sporting some crabby little spikes...

"Yusei?" Martha called out as she walked towards the television and was rewarded with Yusei lifting his head up and peering at her from over the top of the unit. Because 'VOICING' a reply was not in Yusei's style of speaking.

"Can it be saved?" She asked by the table and watched Yusei dip down behind the television again. After a brief pause and sound of something being plugged in she heard him give the go. Leaning down she picked up the remote control and powered on the television. She watched as the screen came to life with an image of the local Neo Domino news.

The television was a bit of a gift, Yusei was able to repair it, but now they could legally get reception from the main land. Instead of the illegal methods that Yusei normally used, which was his reason for not getting the orphanage a television before. The television was large enough for everyone in the room to view it easily. Interestingly enough the kids weren't 'that' interested in the television as Martha was. Being deprived of it all their lives, they found more excitement in the day to day than something on the television.

Which to be fair was true, as blessed as the orphanage was in avoiding trouble it wasn't like the kids could step past the grounds. There was enough danger in that to keep the kids on the orphanage grounds and Yusei was a real life dark hero for them. Still, once the chores were done and the evening took over, there was the random kid who would come looking for Martha because of a bad dream. They would curl up on the couch at her side and would sleep to the news or random show.

Making Yusei's ability to give them access to more kid friendly shows from around the world a blessing.

"Thank you Yusei, I don't know who told you that it was broken," Martha began when Yusei dipped down and she heard the click of a tool box shutting. "I'd like to talk to you for a bit, in private as well."

Yusei reappeared with his toolkit in hand, and walked up to her with expectancy as to what she wanted to talk about. Personality of a soldier with a heart of gold this one, and it brought Crows' words back to the front of her mind. How he had closed himself off, observed his friends rather than engage them, always prowling the surroundings in case there was a danger to them. How could Yusei do this to himself? How could he turn on himself so hard at such a young age?

And how could Martha convince him to stop, that it was not his fault and he was free of the blame? But even as she pondered that question she realized he was waiting for her to guide him to where they should talk. Shaking herself free of the sad thoughts for now, she turned off the television and gestured for him to walk forward. "I think your garage will do, since the kids don't hang out there." Also it was his safe place and she wanted him to feel comfortable about the topic at hand.

His eyebrow rose up in confusion about why she wanted to talk there, her choice made him aware that whatever they were going to talk about. Apparently it was of a personal nature for him, since it was where he normally hung out when at loose ends. He couldn't think of one of the kids needing him or something he could help with via his presence. Personally he was planning on just moving out to watch the bridge being built for a bit. He was going to have to call Jack and discuss what had been going on in Neo Domino. But he really didn't want to have 'that' conversation while in listening distance of anyone.

So instead he walked towards his usual haunt, Martha at his back and his thoughts focused on what happened to Rua in Neo Domino.