AnimeKiwi369: I think over a week of no updating is enough for you to wonder.

Copper: Get on with it.

AnimeKiwi369: You're more impatient than usual.

Copper: Can you blame me, siren girl?

AnimeKiwi369: Hey, I'm not a siren until E period English Monday. That's when my Odyssey project it due. And it's going to be fun.

Copper: Please! Get on with it!

AnimeKiwi369: Did I mention that my softball team was creamed yesterday?

Copper: No! And I don't care!

AnimeKiwi369: I drove in the only run we got. And I had fun. We were mudalated so bad, I had fun. Isn't that sad?

Copper: Yes! But get on. To. The. CHAPTER Chaos Queen AnimeKiwi369!

AnimeKiwi369: I like that name. Maybe I'll change my pen name to that.

Copper: That's it! Star-Rose Dragon! *Begins to materialize dragon*.

AnimeKiwi369: Okay. Okay. This chapter focuses on you and Yusei. And it's better in th sense that it's nicer. I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's or it's characters. I just own my own characters, the storyline, and the name I gave Yusei's mother. *Sneaks off*.

Copper: Finally. Now onto the story.

AnimeKiwi369: *Comes back in siren costume* Boo!

Copper: Aah! *Falls backwards*.

AnimeKiwi369: Sorry, Copper. Now, onto the chapter.

Chapter 17

Runaway Copper

"C-Copper?" Akiza repeated, her eye widening. She saw a piece of paper resting delicately on her daughter's pillow. The female Signer went over and picked the piece of paper up. She scanned over it. It read:

'I…I can't…I don't know…I need time…to think…Don't try to…Find me. I'm sorry… –Copper'

Her handwriting was barely legible. Tear stains were on there as well. The dark-haired girl was so upset that she ran away? The burgundy-red-haired woman couldn't wrap her mind around that. Yes, her daughter was very unstable at the moment, but did she really have to run away?

Akiza clenched the note hard, feeling her maternal instincts kick in. She felt her heart constrict slightly with worry. The psychic hurried back downstairs to the kitchen. Yusei was still leaning against the counter with a barely-filled wine glass in his hand; it didn't look like he had a drink yet. His head was tilted to the ceiling with his eyes closed. He opened his eyes and looked at her. The dark-haired man gave a heavy sigh and emptied the wine into the sink, but still held the glass. A thin veil of red liquid clung to the sides of the crystal.

"I just can't bring myself to drink my problems away." He told her, gripping the counter again with one hand.

"Yusei." She said, going over to him. Her voice shook as she spoke. She held out the piece of paper.

"Hmmm?" he asked, taking the note from her. He read it over. His eyes widened as his hands began shaking. Both the paper and wine glass fell from his hands. His wife stepped back slightly as the crystalline glass shattered into hundreds of little pieces.

"Yusei? Akiza?" Nan asked, concerned, "What happened?"

"She ran away!" the dark-haired man exclaimed in disbelief, "I can't believe she's so angry she'd run away."

"Oh no." the brunette said quietly.

"Where could she have gone?" Akiza asked her husband, giving him the phone, "Who do we try first?"

"I don't know." He replied, "I think we should try everyone we can think of."

"Son, don't forget; Cyli had a fight with her friends." His mother reminded, "I'm not sure she'd go to her friends who were not happy with her after that fight."

"I have to try something, mom." The blue-indigo-eyed man said. He dialed Crow's number and listened to it ring a couple times.

"Hey, Yuse, what's up?" the ginger-haired man asked on the other line, "Something wrong?"

"Crow, is Copper there by any chance?" the Dragon Head Signer asked.

"Not that I know of. Hang on a sec." he said.

"All right."

"Raven!" they heard Crow shout up the stairs.

"What?" their daughter's friend asked.

"Did Copper come over when I wasn't payin' attention?" the ginger asked.

"No!" she yelled, "And I really don't want to see her right now either!"

"All right!" the gray-eyed man yelled up and went back to the phone, "Sorry, Yuse. She ain't here. Why did you think?"

"Copper ran away." Yusei said bluntly.

"Oh, no." Crow responded, "I'll keep a lookout for her."

"Thank, Crow." The dark-haired man replied, "Bye."

"Bye."

The dark-haired man sighed as he hung the phone up. He looked at his wife. Her eyes were very worried, "Who should we try next."

"Try Jack. I'll try Kalin and Misty with my cell." She replied, grabbing the said object.

He nodded as she dialed. He turned back to the phone and dialed the number for the Atlases. The other line rang more times than when he called his bird-named friend.

"Hello?" a slight Australian-accented voice asked. But it was a young voice.

"John, please tell me Copper's over there with you." He said.

"Sorry Yusei." The young blonde replied on the other line, "She's not. I doubt she'll come here after that fight we had with her."

The dark-haired Signer hit his fist on the counter again, "Thanks anyway, John." He sighed, "If she does go there, please tell her that we want her home."

"She run away or something?" he asked, a bit jokingly.

"Jonathan, it's not a laughing matter." Yusei told Jack's son sternly, "Copper is all we have. We don't want to lose her."

"I'll tell her that if she comes here." The boy on the other end responded.

"Thanks."

"Good-bye Yusei." John hung up.

"Bye, John." He replied even though the boy on the other end had already hung up. He sighed and looked at Akiza.

"Thanks anyway Misty." She was saying. She paused slightly, "Bye."

The psychic hung up her cell phone and looked back at her husband. Tears were in her eyes. She fell into his chest. He put his arms around her, resting his head on hers. Both were shaking.

"This is all my fault." Yusei said, "If I had just been a father to her…"

"Will you stop blaming yourself?" Akiza exclaimed, pulling away from him. She couldn't help herself; the first mood swing of this pregnancy was happening, "Everything that's happened to her in the past month has caused this. The fights she had with you and her friends put her over the edge."

"Akiza?" he asked a bit startled from her tone.

"I'm sorry. I-I couldn't control myself." She apologized, mentally cursing her mood swings. She had been so prone to them when she carried Copper, she didn't know how bad they'd be this time.

"No need. We just have to find Copper right now. You're right anyway." He sighed, "I'll call Trudge."

"Yusei, Akiza," Nan started, breaking her silence again, "I think you should call Martha and Hideo and Setsuko before you do anything. Just in case."

Both of them nodded. The redhead called her parents, while the brunette's son called his foster mother. They had the same results as with their daughter's friends. They hadn't seen her. The blue-indigo-eyed man sighed as he finally dialed Trudge's number.

"Hello?" the officer's gruff voice asked, "Yusei, is that you?"

"Yeah, Trudge, it's me."

"What do want?" Trudge inquired, "I'm kinda busy."

"Well this is important." He shot back, "Copper ran away. I need you to help me find her."

"That is important." The older man admitted, "I'd love to help but you see, I'm kinda off duty." He said the last words hurriedly.

Akiza snatched the phone from her husband before he could blink as she heard the officer. "I don't care if you're off duty, help us!" she commanded, "Someone help us find our daughter!"

"All right. All right." He responded, "Just stop yelling. I'll help."

"Good." She replied stiffly, hanging up. She turned towards Yusei, "It might be easier to find her if we get the others to go out looking for her. That means besides you, Jack, Crow, Kalin, John, Raven, and Lane."

"I'm not sure if her friends will want to after that fight." He pointed out. His wife only glared.

"At least try." She commanded. He sighed again and nodded.

Each of his friends was willing to help. Copper's friends weren't as, but their fathers basically forced them with guilt. As Yusei was calling, Akiza snuck upstairs. She wasn't going to be left out in looking for her daughter. She changed into the leather riding suit she hadn't worn in a long time. She didn't know the last time she had ridden her duel runner. She went back downstairs as the dark-haired Signer finished calling their friends.

"I'm going, too." She told him. He nodded warily with worry.

"Yusei, I want to help, too." Nan said, finishing cleaning up the shattered wine glass, "Let me take one of your cars."

"Thanks, mom." The blue-indigo-eyed man replied, "But I think it'd be best if you stayed here in case Copper comes back."

"All right." The brunette responded, "That makes sense. Both of you, please be safe."

"We will." They both responded at the same time, heading out to the garage. The two Singers silently slipped their helmets on.

"You head east." Yusei said to the psychic as they raced out of the garage, "I'll head west for now."

"All right." She cried over her shoulder as she headed in her direction.

The dark-haired man focused on the road as he rode out of one of the gates in the community they lived in. Copper, he thought, I'm coming to find you. I don't care what you're feeling towards me; I'm bringing you back where you belong: home.

A Few Hours Later

It was nearing eleven and still no sign of Copper. The dark-haired Signer was getting more worried by the second. They should've found her by now! What if something bad had happened? No! He thought, I can't think like that. But if she is hurt…I don't know what I'll do. I do know that I will track down whoever hurts her and…and…

He shook with rage, thinking of what he'd do to someone who hurt his daughter. He thought he'd end up back in The Facility. He took a deep breath to calm himself. Getting angry wasn't going to get him anywhere. Yusei pressed one of the buttons on the screen to contact the others.

"You guys find her, yet?" he asked, worry obvious in his voice.

"I wish I could say I have, Yusei." Kalin sighed, "But I've looked everywhere I can think of on my end."

"I have the same results, Yuse." Crow relayed.

"I called your mother; she's not back at that house. And she called my parents and Martha. She isn't there either." Akiza said with a trembling voice, "Stardust, I'm getting more worried each second I don't find her."

"I'm sure we'll find her." Trudge replied, "She's gotta be somewhere."

"Maybe the kids will have had better luck than us." Jack suggested.

"Sorry." Raven replied, hearing the aging blonde duelist.

"We haven't found her." John added in.

"It's like she disappeared off the face of the Earth." Lane commented in a low tone.

The dark-haired man took a ragged breath, feeling his heart constrict tightly in his chest. Dark thoughts couldn't help but creep into his head. He had never felt so hopeless. Not even when Martha had been absorbed by Uru. His grip on his handles tightened dangerously.

Yusei sighed, "You guys head home. I'll keep looking."

"Not a chance." They others responded.

"All right." The blue-indigo-eyed Signer replied.

As he kept riding around, his thoughts came back around to the note Copper had left. It was so vague. The tears and nearly-illegible handwriting probably hurt the most. He regretted not being there for her. It was the worst decision he had ever made.

Later—1 A.M.

Yusei wasn't sure how much longer he could keep up the search without losing it. They'd been searching for nearly six hours! He was almost ready to give up. But he refused to. As he thought back to the note, the phrase 'I need time…to think…' That phrase. He couldn't get it out of his head.

"Where does she go—Wait!" he exclaimed, realizing a crucial detail, "I know where she is!"

The dark-haired man sped off to the place he knew his daughter would be. His heart pounded in his chest as he got nearer to the place where he proposed to Akiza. Copper always went there to think.

Yusei pulled into the spot that had the ocean view with a hillside nearby and a tree with blossoms he and his wife called 'star-roses'. They only bloomed once a year. Normally in May. They were always beautiful. His daughter always begged to go see them when she was little. That had always made him smile.

He stopped and saw it.

Copper's duel runner. Her helmet was resting on the seat. But she wasn't there. He looked fearfully at the cliff edge. There was a railing, but it could be climbed over easily. The dark-haired man ran over there and looked fearfully over the edge. His daughter wasn't so unstable that she'd commit…suicide, was she?

"Don't bother thinking what you're thinking, dad." A familiar feminine voice said, "I wouldn't dare end my life purposely."

His head snapped up and he looked around. But he didn't see her. Was he imagining it? "Copper?" he asked, moving away from the edge.

"I thought I wrote to not try and find me." the unseen girl commented.

"Where are you?" Yusei inquired.

"Up here."

The Signer looked up at the tree. Copper was sitting on one of the branches that were hidden by foliage. She had her knees up to her chest and she didn't have a jacket on. Her arms were around her knees. The psychic was looking at the ocean. Her cheeks had dried tears clinging to them.

"Copper," he addressed, "come down from there before you get hurt!"

"Why?" she asked, not looking at him, "Because if I do, it'll take time away from your precious engine."

"No. I don't want to see you to get hurt." He told her, "I don't care about engine. I care about you. Please come down." He commanded.

"Make me." Copper replied, still angry.

"Copper," Yusei sighed, "Fine. If you aren't coming down, then I'm coming up."

He went to the base of the tree and hauled himself onto to lowest branch. He climbed up until he reached the branch below his daughter. She turned her back to him, giving a slight sniffle.

"Why can't you just let me be, dad?" she asked quietly.

"Simple. I love you." He answered, "No matter what you think, I'll always love you."

Copper felt those words hit her in the stomach. He had said the same thing to Akiza in the past. Those had been the words that he said to her when she was convinced by Sayer her powers were out of control. She felt her lower lip tremble again.

"Copper?" he inquired.

She wiped her eyes with her forearm, "What?"

He sighed, "I haven't been a very good father this week, have I?"

"You can say that again." She scoffed.

"Please come down and tell me what's wrong." He repeated.

"I don't want to come down. Just leave me alone, dad…" she told him. She wanted to be alone, "Why can't you do that?"

Yusei climbed up another branch, so he was closer to his daughter. He lightly touched her arm. He smiled a little, "Because you're my little girl." He told her.

"You sure about that?" the girl asked, "You sure you won't think otherwise when I'm back home."

"I'm sure, baby." He insisted.

"Please don't call me that unless you really mean it." The dark-haired psychic replied.

"Copper, I do mean it." The dark-haired man told her, "I always mean it. You've always been my baby girl. Ever since I first saw you. You don't know how proud I was when you were born. I can still remember how it felt to hold you for the first time. I'm so sorry for how I've acted this week." He repeated for the second time that night, "Please, tell me what's been bothering you."

The psychic sighed and went down one branch. She went down another and another until she reached the branch closest to the ground. He followed her down, but went all the way to the ground. The girl stared at the ground below. It was a good six feet to the ground.

"Come on, Copper." He tried coaxing, "I won't let you fall."

She sighed and slowly lowered herself off the branch. She stumbled slightly, but managed to stay upright. The dark-haired girl looked at her father. Yusei gently reached out his hand, but his daughter just walked away over to the hillside. She sat down and brought her knees back up to her chest. He didn't go to her right away. He first went to his runner and hit the button on the screen.

"Hey, guys, I found her." He said.

"That's great." They responded.

"Akiza, I need you go back home and bring one of the cars out to where I proposed to you."

"That's where she is?" his wife asked.

"Yeah." He told her, "I don't want her to drive her duel runner, so bring one of the towing lines, too."

"All right. I'll see you in a little bit."

"Okay."

Yusei went back over to where his daughter was and sat next to her. She turned away from him again. He sighed…again. The aging duelist moved closer to her and gently stroked her cheek with his rough glove. He saw a tear run down her cheek and land on his glove. She started shaking.

"Copper?" he asked gently.

"I'm sorry." She whispered, "Daddy…I'm so sorry."

"Why are you apologizing?" he asked, "I should be asking for forgiveness."

"But I got mad and yelled at you. Just for you working on the engine." She replied.

"Copper, I don't blame you. I haven't acted like a father to you." He pointed out.

"But I…I sn-snapped…at you." The psychic replied, more tears flowing down her face, beginning to go hysterical again.

The Dragon Head Signer wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her back into his chest, "Shhh…You've been stressed and haven't been sleeping well. Everything that's happened in the past month has been building up and you just couldn't hold it in anymore."

She looked up at him, "How did you know I haven't been sleeping well?"

"Your eyes gave it away." He responded, "Dark circles always indicate it. Why haven't you been sleeping well?"

"I…I-I've been seeing the past ever since I woke up your mother." She told him quietly, "And I've been having a lot of nightmares. Then I'm afraid to sleep. I've only been getting a couple hours of sleep a night."

"I'm so sorry I wasn't here for you to tell me sooner." He apologized again.

"I am too." She agreed. "I really wanted to tell you all week. I wanted my dad to hold me close and tell me everything was going to be all right. Yes, I had mom, but there's just something between a father and daughter that…that…I don't know how to phrase it. Do you get what I mean?"

Yusei moved a piece of hair away from Copper's face and turned her head towards him. He leaned forward and kissed her forehead; she felt a bit warm. Exhaustion maybe? "I know what you mean. I'm so sorry, baby." He repeated.

The blue-indigo-eyed girl gave another sniffle and then turned into her father. She buried her face in his chest, gripping his shirt tightly. She shook, but not just from the tears. The dark-haired man held her tightly, trying to get her to stop shaking. He gently rubbed her back and arms. He lied back a little on the grassy hillside.

They spent several minutes like that. The dark-haired man pressed his cheek against the top of his daughter's head. After a while, the girl's crying ceased, but still didn't let go of her father. He felt so warm and she was freezing. She was still shivering and felt very weak.

"D-Daddy?" she asked.

"Yes, sweetheart?" he inquired in a loving tone.

"I-I forgive you." She told him.

"Thank you." He replied.

"And I'm really, really, really, really, really, really sorry for screaming at you like I did." She mumbled, "I really shouldn't have done that."

"Copper, it's all right. I forgive you." He insisted, "You were angry and had the right to be. But now it's behind us."

"Sayer…He…the way he tried to get mom back, it really scared me." she told, "And the way I woke your mother scared me, too."

"I'm sure those two incidents did." He agreed, "But you stopped him and brought my mother back to our family."

"I-I guess you're right." She commented, shivering more.

Yusei let go of his daughter and took off his jacket, wrapping it around her. He pulled her close again.

"Any better?" he asked.

Copper nodded slightly against his chest, "A little bit."

He took off one of his gloves and felt her forehead. It was a little warmer than before and a lot warmer than it should've been. She shivered at his touch. It must have been exhaustion. He hoped that was it anyway.

"Dad?" she inquired.

"Hmmm?" he asked, looking her in the eyes.

"I hurt my wrist again." She admitted.

"We'll go get it checked later, okay?"

"Okay. And I, um…" she trailed off.

"What is it?" he inquired.

"I…I slapped Lane." She muttered, averting her eyes, "I was just so angry and they were accusing me and I just couldn't take it. I tried apologizing, but they just left. I really regret it. I doubt he likes me now. I really like him, but I couldn't help myself."

"Don't think like that, baby." He said, "I'm sure he, John, and Raven will understand that you're just stressed. They're your friends. I'm positive Lane will forgive you. I know he likes you. A lot."

"How do you know?" she asked.

"Father's intuition." He replied playfully, "That and he inadvertently told me. I see the way he looks at you. He really likes you."

"Dad, can you please maybe take tomorrow off?" Copper asked.

Yusei smiled at her, "I'll take the whole week off if you want me to."

"Really?" the psychic asked.

"Yes. I think you need it after I ignored you all week." He replied, "And we'll have daddy-daughter days, like we used to when you younger."

"Dad…" she trailed off. She looked up at him and smiled, "Thank you."

"I love you, Copper." Yusei told her. She smiled again and buried her head back in his chest.

"I love you, too, dad."

Coming Up in Lost and Found:

"I'm so glad you found her."

"I am, too."

"M-Mom? You're not mad?"

"I'm just relieved and happy you're safe."

"I'm sorry, mom."

"It's all right."

"I don't think I've ever slept so great. No nightmares. Just peaceful dreams."

"Do you have any plans today?"

"No; I normally do things with John, Raven, and Lane, but I still haven't really spoken to them. I was thinking about asking them to meet up with me later so I can apologize to them."

"Be safe, Cyli."

"I will."

"I'm sorry. Guys, I'm so, so sorry. I know I probably don't deserve to be forgiven for how I yelled at you guys and then slapped Lane. But I can only ask to be forgiven. I miss you guys. I miss my best friends. I want my friends back."

NEXT TIME—CHAPTER 18: REKINDLING FRIENDSHIPS

Copper: I can't believe you scared me with that siren costume!

AnimeKiwi369: I'm sorry. I just needed to get you to stop being so angry at me.

Copper: Well, I'm kinda glad you did that. I got to see how you finally stopped torturing us!

AnimeKiwi369: Finally stopped? Uh, yeah. Sure.

Copper: Oh, no. The story isn't close to the end is it?

AnimeKiwi369: Not really. There's still about nice chapter plus the epilogue.

Copper: Meaning there's a lot more torture coming.

AnimeKiwi369: Well, not just to you.

Copper: Oh, no!

AnimeKiwi369: Everything will work out. And now going to the reviews. I'd like to get between 12 and 20 now, if it isn't too much trouble.

Copper: Please, please, review! AnimeKiwi369 will update sooner when she gets that many reviews! And then the torture will stop!

AnimeKiwi369: I think I need to put the siren costume back on. I appreciate everyone who will and has reviews and read. I'll update soon, but I will update sooner if I get between 12 and 20 reviews. So please be kind and please review! And don't forget to vote on my poll!