AnimeKiwi369: Sorry for the long wait.

Copper: A week isn't that long.

AnimeKiwi369: Seems like it. I'm sad.

Copper: Why?

AnimeKiwi369: Softball might be cancelled.

Copper: That's too bad.

AnimeKiwi369: Yeah.

Copper: Maybe updating will help you.

AnimeKiwi369: Me? Yes. You? Not so much.

Copper: Great. Just great. Who does the chapter focus on? Me?

AnimeKiwi369: Yeah. I kinda focus on your relationships with Yusei and Akiza...And Lane.

Copper: Just to the disclaimer.

AnimeKiwi369: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's or its characters. I only own my own characters (Copper, Lane, etc.) and the storyline. And I also own the name I have given Yusei's mother: Nan.

Chapter 14

A Difficult Day

Yusei knocked quietly on his daughter's bedroom door. He doubted she was up. It was well past eleven. But the light was on in her room. After he told Copper to leave the kitchen, he had spent about half an hour comforting his mother. The dark-haired Signer didn't know why the brunette had gotten so upset just seeing his father's handwriting. He thought it was because she still missed him and seeing the barely legible writing just took her back.

He didn't know why he had acted uncaring towards the dark-haired girl for showing Nan the logbook. She was only trying to help. But it caused his mother to become upset. He didn't know what it was that made him act protective to his mother and not towards his daughter. Copper was his flesh and blood, but he was Nan's flesh and blood. Maybe it was because he wanted to be protective of his mother since he had never known her until now.

The dark-haired man had talked to his mother after she had calmed down enough to speak. She had just told him that the mostly blue-indigo-eyed girl had offered to let her look at the old logbook because she had seen how much his mother had been missing his father. It was just an honest act of kindness.

Yusei sighed and opened the door. Copper was asleep on top of the bed, hugging her pillow against her chest. She was a bit tense. He went over and sat on the bed next to her. He noticed small crystal droplets clinging to her dark eyelashes. Had she been crying? He didn't blame her if she had been. He had told her to leave the kitchen while Nan was upset in a tone he never used with her.

I regret using that tone with her. He thought, starting to stroke the girl's silky hair, It's not her fault my mother got upset. Yes, she brought out the logbook. But she only wanted to help. I shouldn't have told her leave like I did. The dark-haired Signer moved a piece of hair away from his daughter's ear.

"I'm sorry, Copper." He whispered. She trembled a bit, as if hearing it in her sleep, "Sleep well." he told her, lightly brushing his lips on her temple. Her lower lip trembled a little more.

The dark-haired duelist got up and retrieved a blanket from the closet where his daughter kept towels and extra blankets. He pulled a large, thick one down and put it on top of the young psychic. He looked down at her again, noticing her moving eyelids again. She had been dreaming a lot lately. He wondered what she was dreaming about at that moment.

Yusei remembered when the dark-haired girl had been little and always seemed to be awake before him and Akiza. She would sometimes sit on the end of the bed. He also remembered how their daughter would tell them about the dreams she had the previous night. Some had been very silly and she had laughed during the entire time she had told them. The blue-indigo-eyed man took one last glance at his daughter before turning off the light as he left the room.

Later that Night

Copper, although still asleep, felt her breathing increase rapidly as she didn't just watch the current dream. She was living it.

The dark-haired psychic was in a turbo duel with Lane. But it wasn't normal. The track was jagged and…not right. There were purple flames outlining what the track was supposed to be. It took her a moment to realize it was a shadow duel.

Lane was ahead of her on his runner. He glanced back at her. His eyes weren't normal either. The scleras of his eyes were pitch black; making the only color in his eyes the blue of his irises. The dark-haired girl looked at her friend's arm. A purple glow was coming from it; she saw her right arm glowing crimson intensely. Wh-why was Lane a Dark Signer? He was so mild-mannered. Was he forced or did he choose to become one?

The psychic looked on her field. Star-Rose Dragon and Star Sorceress Nova were out. Lane had a gigantic monster out; an Earthbound Immortal. She looked at the spell and trap zone. The continuous Speed Spell-Second Sight and trap Two-Sided Star were in play.

How appropriate. Copper thought seeing the spell.

The dark-haired girl looked at the face down in her spell and trap zone. There was one. Star-Rose Mirages. Her ace trap card. She turned her eyes towards the screen of her runner. The Dark Signer that was once her friend had three facedowns. The blue-indigo-eyed, double-Marked Signer had 350 life points left, while the blue-eyed boy had 1200. She only had one speed counter; he had eight. And it was his turn.

She looked at Lane's eyes again. They were sad and regretful. For one instant they were like that. The next, they were full of vengeance.

"Sorry, Copper." He told her in a monotone.

"Lane, don't!" she shouted.

"It's too late, my love. I cannot force back the hand fate has dealt us." The ice-blue-haired boy raised his arm, "Earthbound Immortal, end this."

The gigantic monster began reaching out its monstrous hand down at her. Her runner's wheel hitched on a rock, throwing her forward off of it. She felt herself hit the ground with such hard force, it made her insides rattle and heart pound tenfold as she rolled in debris, causing her to scream in agony. A sharp pain forced its way into her abdomen, making the whole pain increase again and her vision and senses go hazy. Copper stopped rolling as she landed on her side. She barely registered Lane's runner come by her. He went by her and crouched down. He gently brushed his hand—his ice-cold hand—against an exposed part of her slightly scratched up cheek.

"Copper, I'm sorry, but I could not stop it. I can't control it. Be glad that your runner saved you." He apologized, "Forgive me, love. We will settle this, another day."

"Lane…" she whispered in a ragged breath as he moved away from her, mounted his runner, and sped away into the cold night. Tears found her dull eyes as her vision went black, "Lane…Why?"

Copper bolted upright, breathing hard, her heart pounding as she woke from that horrible nightmare. Tears were again pouring from her eyes. That had been the worst dream she had ever had. At least she hoped it was a dream. Her forearm hurt a little and she looked at her Marks.

They were shining deeply.

I hope that wasn't a vision of the future like I've been seeing of the past. She thought, seeing the blanket on her. Maybe dad put this on me.

The young psychic saw her pillow on the ground and hugged it back to her chest. She grabbed her cell phone, not caring how late it was. Even though Lane probably wouldn't have his phone on or near, she had to call. The dark-haired girl hastily turned it on and dialed her ice-blue-haired friend. That dream was so real. It frightened her. Tears didn't stop again; she'd been crying an awful lot lately.

The phone rang and rang.

"Lane, please, please, please pick up." She begged. She felt herself smile slightly when she heard the sound of the other line being picked up.

"Ngh." The blue-eyed boy's voice sounded on the other end with a yawn.

"Lane!" she exclaimed in relief.

"Cyli-Elizabeth Sori Fudo, do you know what time it is?" he asked, using her full name, stressing the second part of her first name and her middle name, "It's four-thirty in the morning." He told her, "And I was in the middle of such a nice dream, too. There was a beach and all of us were there and Robyn and Cadie caught Raven and Johnny boy kissing under a palm tree. And then they told Jack and Crow, who basically started going at it and then your mom broke them up with her dragon. It was almost as funny as that story Martha told us…" he told her in dreamlike state. He must have been falling back asleep. She didn't have much time.

"Lane..." the psychic whispered again, tears obvious in her voice again.

"Copper?" he asked, sounding more awake, "What's wrong?"

"Promise me you never become a Dark Signer no matter what." She said, calming down a little, "Please promise me that."

"Uh, Copper, how could I become a Dark Signer?" he inquired.

"Lane…Please, just promise me that." She told him, begging slightly.

"Yeah, I promise. But what has you so upset?" the unseen voice asked.

"I had a nightmare where you were a Dark Signer and we were in a shadow duel. Lane, it frightened me." she whispered.

"Shhh…" he told her gently, "C, it was only a dream. Nothing else."

"But I've been seeing the past lately." Copper confessed.

"And you think that this was a vision of the future?" he inquired.

"Yes."

"Copper, listen to me," Lane said to her, "what you saw was probably nothing more than a dream. You've been stressed, no?"

"Yes." She repeated.

"I say to not worry about that now. It's probably just stress and you're worrying about these visions. Just don't worry about it, all right?"

"All right, Lane." The dark-haired girl whispered again, "Sorry for waking you."

"Yeah, it's okay. But let me sleep the rest of the night, 'kay?" he asked, yawning.

"'Kay." She responded.

"Thank you. Good nigh…" his voice trailed off before he could finish the word 'night'. She faintly heard the sound of her friend's soft snore. It wasn't a bad snore, like Leo's, but it did make her giggle a little.

"Thank you, Lane." She said even though he couldn't hear her anymore.

Copper hung up her phone, still too awake to go back to sleep. That dream had shaken her up too much even feel tired; she didn't think that she could fall asleep again soon. She continued to hold the pillow tightly to her chest and pulled the blanket back around her shoulders. Although Lane had talked her though, she couldn't get it out of her head.

She especially couldn't get what Lane had said twice. Love. More specifically, "my love". Did that mean he had feelings for her as well? She was sure he did, but she wasn't completely positive. And she didn't want to admit it. She'd feel embarrassed if he didn't. Or was it just that dream?

The dark-haired girl shuddered slightly and got up from the bed. She moved to Fairwin's cage, where the ferret was asleep. She noticed she was still in her clothes and silently changed into something different. Copper turned on the light and looked at the calendar by her computer.

"Great," she muttered silently, "volleyball practice today. Of all days to have a nightmare, did it have to be tonight?"

She sighed and changed out of what she had changed into her volleyball clothes. She was a bit cold and put a pair of jeans over the short volleyball shorts. The dark-haired girl slipped out of her room, sealing the door shut, so the light didn't disturb Yusei and Akiza. She quietly went downstairs. She silently checked her grandmother's bedroom to see if the door was closed; it was. The psychic went into the kitchen and started to at least make herself breakfast. She put a piece of bread in the toaster and waited patiently for it to pop back up. It always seemed to take forever.

The young psychic put the tea kettle back on with fresh water. She was used to making breakfast for herself during summer, since her parents worked. Copper still felt a little bad for what happened the previous night and wanted to make it up to her father and Nan. She put on the coffeepot as a surprise for her father and would make her grandmother something to eat when she got up. Or later if she wasn't up before the girl went to volleyball.

She placed a small pan and made a couple eggs and cut an apple. The dark-haired girl finished placing the food on the plate she took out and put the hazelnut spread back in the pantry when she finished putting it on her toast. She went outside to the garden and sat among the roses. The blue-indigo-eyed girl looked up at the window up in the attic.

When she finished eating, she set the plate aside and lied back on the ground. She looked up at the stars. It was one of her favorite activities. It always relaxed her. Copper began to feel tired again as she stared at the sky; she slowly took her plate and cup back to the kitchen. She tiredly went into the living room and lied down on one of the couches, closing her eyes.

Later that Morning

The dark-haired girl felt someone shake her shoulder and she opened her eyes. Her mother was crouched in front of her.

"W-What?" she asked, yawning.

"You're going to be late to practice if you don't leave soon, honey." Akiza told her, "Why are you down here anyway?"

"I had a nightmare early in the morning, came down, ate breakfast, got tired, fell asleep." Copper responded listing things, too tired to form more than one sentence.

"All right." Her mother said, "But you are going to be late if you don't leave within probably ten minutes. You want me to drive to you?"

"Shouldn't you be at work though?" the dark-haired girl asked.

"My morning sickness was bad again and your father's making me stay home again. I think he thinks it's the flu. But I'm going in anyway." The psychic told her, "What your father doesn't know won't hurt him."

"All right." She said, "You can take me in, mom. But how will I get home?" she asked with a bemused smile.

"Dove will probably take off work for a little bit to get you and Raven and then take you home to your grandmother and Raven back to their home. She's still sleeping by the way."

"Um…Okay." The young girl replied, sitting up as her mother stood. She got up, "I'll be back in a minute."

"All right, honey. I'll be down here."

A Couple Hours Later

Copper let herself back in with her key and found her grandmother sitting at the kitchen table, looking at what looked like some of his runner schematics. She seemed very interested. There was a small piece of paper by her with a pencil. It looked like she was redoing it at a smaller scale or something. The dark-haired girl was unnoticed as she put her keys back on the rack. At least, she thought she was.

"Good morning, Cyli." Nan greeted formally with her the first part of her actual name, "Or should I say afternoon?" it was about twenty after twelve.

"Good afternoon, grandmother." She told the brunette back going over to her, "I take it you saw the note my mother left."

The older woman nodded, "But I also found what I think is your father's blueprints for an engine?"

The dark-haired girl looked over at the prints, "Yeah; this was for an engine that didn't work a few years ago. He still tries working it sometimes; but to no avail yet. The genius that helped with the engine for the first Grand Prix my parents were in isn't in New Domino anymore." She informed, sitting across from her grandmother.

"Who was that?" her grandmother asked curiously.

"Bruno. He lives in France with Sherry Leblanc, his wife, and his twin kids, Amelia and Richard. He's like a super, mega genius type guy. I've only met him a couple of times."

"I see." Nan commented, "I may have found the problem, but I'll speak to your father about it later." She rolled up the blueprints and set them aside, "So you do sports?"

"Yeah." Copper responded, "Volleyball, swimming, karate, and softball occasionally. And I'm not sure if counts as a sport, but I'm also a dancer."

"I take it you do well in each." The blue-indigo-eyed woman commented.

"I think I do. I'm a black belt in karate, in fact." The dark-haired girl told her and a faint, unnoticeable blush formed, "My friend, Lane, you met him, said about a month ago, when we were in the past, that I'm lethal with and without my psychic abilities when I tossed him over my shoulder."

"Why did you do that?" the brunette asked confused.

"I thought it was one of Sayer's psychics and I was paranoid at that time. I had been there for almost a whole year." She shuddered a little.

"Oh." The other woman replied, "Was it interesting being in the past?"

"Uh, I guess so. I was nervous for most of the time, since I was trying to make sure that Sayer didn't get my mother back. But it was kinda interesting." The psychic looked down, "I'm having some trouble talking about it though."

"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to intrude." Nan apologized.

"No, it's all right." Copper reassured, "I know there some things you'd like to know about me."

"There are." The brunette admitted.

"Where do you want to start?" the dark-haired girl asked.

"I'm curious about your powers. How did you get them?"

"They're hereditary. My mom's a psychic duelist and they were just passed down to me, I guess." She shrugged, "My mom's, however, just showed up."

"I see." Her grandmother repeated.

"Other things that I've inherited are my appendix; I had to have an appendectomy last summer and my dad had one when I was three. And both my mother and I are allergic to mushrooms." The dark-haired girl informed.

Nan stayed silent as she studied over her granddaughter. It felt so strange to say that. Granddaughter. She hadn't even known her son, but here she was. Sitting with her apparently only grandchild, it was a bit odd. Yet fascinating. The brunette wanted to get to know the psychic, like how she hadn't with her son.

Copper felt awkward as she watched her grandmother look over her. It felt like forever. After the brunette averted her eyes, she stared at the table. There was too much silent lately the dark-haired girl felt. How much longer is this day going to last?

Later that Night

Yusei pulled into the garage after what felt like the longest day in years. He sighed as he pulled off his helmet and went into the kitchen. Copper was busy with pots and pans and plates. His mother was sitting at the table and he heard running water from upstairs. He figured Akiza was taking a shower; he hoped that she was feeling better. He looked more closely at what his mother was doing and saw she was looking at a blueprint for an engine prototype that had just never worked. The dark-haired man went over to his mother.

The dark-haired girl turned towards her father as she heard him come in. She decided she was going to tell him about the dreams she'd been having. When she finished speaking to her grandmother, she'd started to think about her dreams. All of them made her shudder, even the one where her parents were in that café-like room. She thought it was because she seeing the past. Copper didn't want to keep them a secret from her father. Yes, she had told her mother and could help her through it, making her feel better. But she wanted her father's understanding, too; she wanted him to hold her close and whisper it was all right. It was like how she wanted that from both her parents when she had been homesick in the past.

"What are you doing with these blueprints, mom?" her father's voice asked, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"I think I found the problem with this." Nan told him.

"You did?" he inquired surprised.

"You're using the wrong equation for this type of engine." She replied, pointing to a portion of the blueprints that had some equations on it.

"Really?" he asked and she nodded, "Can you show me what the right equation is?" she again nodded as he sat next to her.

Both started conversing while Copper was getting up the courage to actually tell Yusei her dreams. She turned to her father, taking a deep breath.

"Dad?" she asked. She then saw him sitting with his mother, looking at the runner schematics. She sighed; the dark-haired girl knew better than to try and ask her father something when he was looking at a schematic.

When she finished dinner, she tried to put the plate in front of her father, but he hardly touched it. Same went for Nan. Copper left the room and took her mother's plate up to her parents' room again. She tried to eat herself. But dinner was a waste. She couldn't find her appetite. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her father get up.

This could be my chance. She thought, hastily getting up. Copper hurriedly found her father going up to the study, where he kept his personal laptop. He didn't notice her again.

"D-Dad?" she asked again. He did notice her that time; that was good. He looked at her.

"What is it, Copper?" he asked, beginning to go out of the room.

"I-I want—no, need—to tell you something about me." she replied, looking down.

"Can it wait?" he asked, "Your grandmother and I are on a breakthrough that could really boost business tenfold with this engine."

"Oh, all right." The dark-haired girl responded, suppressing a sigh.

"Thanks." He told her, quickly going back downstairs. When he was out of sight, she let out the heavy sigh she'd suppressed.

"Guess I'll go back to mom, again." She said to herself, going down the hall to her parents' bedroom.

Copper opened the door and went in. Akiza looked up as she saw her daughter come into the bedroom. Her posture wasn't straight; she was a bit slouched. That indicated she was upset. Why though? The dark-haired girl crawled onto the bed and lied down, putting her head in the redhead's lap. She was shaking slightly.

"Honey, what's the matter?" she asked gently stroking her hair.

"Everything." The other psychic got out through now violent sobs, "Nothing's going right. I can't tell anyone anything! Especially dad! I think he's changing… He promised he wouldn't forget us…" her voice trailed off quietly.

"Shhh…" the Claw Signer told her as gently as possible, "I'm sure he's not changing. What was he doing that made you act like this?"

"I just asked if I could talk to him, but he said later." She responded, "He's never put me off for anything! Not even for a deadline or for an engine schematic." she put the emphasis on 'never', "Never… Never…" she repeated over and over, more sobs escaping.

Akiza let her child cry. There were times where, that was all she could let her do. But she wished she could do more. She wondered what made her husband tell their daughter that. She pulled the dark-haired girl away from her lap and placed her daughter's head on her chest. She felt the blue-indigo-eyed girl's hot tears on her chest.

"Please don't let go." Copper whispered, like she did when she was little.

"I won't." the dark amber-gold-eyed woman replied. Her daughter was shaking a bit violently. She hummed a little bit to try and calm her down.

"Thank you, mom." She whispered.

"You're welcome."

"Ugh." The young psychic said, pulling away from her mother, "I hate crying. And I've been doing so much lately."

"I'm sure it's just your age, honey. Being a teenager is a difficult time."

"I hope you're right." Copper replied. She yawned, "I'm exhausted from everything. I think I'm going to go to bed."

"So early?"

"I've had a long day." the girl replied, getting off the bed, "And I didn't have that great of sleep last night."

"I can understand that." Akiza responded, "Good night, honey."

"G'night." Copper told her mother, leaving the room. She heard her father and grandmother's voices downstairs. She went down a few steps and saw them in the kitchen, happily going over the engine design.

Nan laughed melodiously, "There was one time your father tried to get an engine like this to work when he was working on the Reactor and it literally blew up in his face!" she laughed at the memory of her and Hakase.

"Sounds like when Crow, Jack, and I were working on a new engine for the WRGP!" Yusei laughed back, "I can't tell you how many times that backfired on us!"

How about the time it backfired on us? The dark-haired girl thought fiercely, feeling a bit jealous, The red in my hair was nonexistent for three months, dad!

The psychic stalked back up the stairs to her room. She didn't know why she felt so angry at that moment. Maybe it was a teenage thing or having to do with lack of a good sleep for the past few weeks. Or maybe it's all I can do to keep the tears from falling. She thought numbly, I shouldn't be jealous of Nan. She's only spending time with her son, who she hasn't seen since he was a baby.

Copper sighed as she changed, But he isn't spending any time with me. Argh! Why am I being so selfish? She screamed at herself mentally, I shouldn't be. I've spent more time with dad than she has. I've never felt like this! I don't like feeling like this!

"I feel so torn." She mumbled several minutes later, crawling under her covers after closing and locking her door. She turned the light off and sank into her pillows, "One half of me wants to be selfish but the other half doesn't. Is that normal?" she asked no one.

Of course not. She finally told herself.

"I-I wish that things could be normal." The dark-haired girl whispered, falling into yet another uneasy sleep.

Coming up in Lost and Found:

"I have a quick question?"

"Fire away."

"It's about Copper. Does she seem a little on edge to you? Or tense?"

"Just a little. don't think it's anything to worry about. She's a teenager."

"If you say so, son."

"That was the worst one yet."

"Something bothering you?"

"Well actually—"

"Sorry. Can you hold that thought until later tonight? I'm finally going to try and work that engine before work starts. And it's going to take at least an hour and I want to get it working before work actually starts. If I don't, I'll be working late tonight."

"Fine."

"I'll see you later."

"Yeah. Whatever."

"Akiza, are you sure you're all right?"

"I don't know."

"What do mean 'don't know'?"

"It's strange. Our life right now."

"Still no answer?"

"Yeah. I don't get it! We're her best friends! Why won't she answer?"

"Calm down, Ray. People are staring."

"I don't care! Copper is our friend! She knew we were meeting up today. She never blows thing off! And she's been doing it all week!"

NEXT TIME—CHAPTER 15: UNRAVELING EDGES

AnimeKiwi369: I have a feeling you're going to be killing me within the next few chapters.

Copper: Oh, you better be afraid.

AnimeKiwi369: Sorry. But it adds to the plot!

Copper: Whatever. Why must I be the tortured one?

AnimeKiwi369: I don't always torture just you. I torture you in my TWENTY YEARS AGO stories, I torture Akiza mostly in my NIGHTMARE trilogy, and I torture Rikki and Akiza in my FOUND LOST LOVE stories. So there. I mainly torture Akiza.

Copper: And her family.

AnimeKiwi369: Dang, you caught me. Well I can't hide that.

Copper: How many reviews?

AnimeKiwi369: Just 10 again. And before I request reviews, I appreciate everyone that reviews for me, has reviewed and followed my stories, and enjoys my work.

Copper: When will you update again?

AnimeKiwi369: Hopefully soon. I have a short week, but I also have a few projects and an essay. So please be kind and please review! ;D