Oh my. Last update was 7 months ago. I apologize. I've been mighty busy. School, winterguard, holidays, etc. Anyways, main reason was my computer with all my files crashed and I wasn't allowed to hook it up to my new laptop because it had 20+ viruses. We ended up scratching it because they were in the registry.

If any of that makes sense to you, lol.

Chapter 8: Dark Signs Part 1

"Tank! Will you stop shaking the bridge? Everyone's gonna fall."

"Will you stop saying that?" Tank snapped, gripping the ropes tightly on either side of him.

"Just keep walking," Blitz urged.

Keisa could hear Tank and Nervin continue to bicker as they slowly crept across the swinging bridge. "Stop talking, keep walking," she called angrily. "I'm getting tired of waiting." She heard Blister say something about a "rat-infested hangout" and shook her head. "At least Sector Security won't even come out here," she mumbled to herself.

She looked over at the bridge jutting out from the size of the satellite. It was unfinished, looking more like a long shard of scrap metal than a bridge between Neo Domino and the satellite. Keisa figured it was more of a diminishing symbol of hope than an actual plan to connect the two places.

Maybe one day…

—

"We were supposed to meet Yusei here," Rally grumbled, kicking up dirt. The crew sat in the middle of an abandoned street, biding their time until their two dueling friends could—hopefully—catch up. "Do you think something happened to him?"

Keisa's ears perked up, but she continued to tighten screws on her bike reguardless.

"I'm sure he's fine. Let's just wait," Blister suggested calmly. Keisa liked this guy. He was like her brother in a way—always trying to keep people safe and calm.

"I hate waiting," Blitz muttered, dropping down onto a box with a grunt.

"What if he got caught?" Tank hypothesized dramatically. "And what if we never see him again."

Keisa froze and sent him a look over her shoulder.

"Shut up," Blitz snapped. "Are you trying to jinx us or something?"

"You guys are complete morons," Keisa sighed. "Hopeless."

A faint rumbling caught Rally's attention. Keisa noticed the change in the child and followed his line of vision to see two familiar runner coming their way.

"See?" She stood up and wiped her hands on her jeans. "They're here."

As Yusei and Crow rolled to a stop, suddenly doors flew open and the road filled with half a dozen children all yelling something about duel cards.

"Hey, hey," Crow laughed. "I brought you something better than cards! I brought you the new duel champ!" He gestured to Yusei, who removed his helmet and quickly surveyed the rest of his friends, not really paying attention to crow. His eyes lingered on his sister, who only shook her head bitterly.

"I watched that duel ten times!" a small voice told him. He looked down to see two boys looking up at him excitedly. Suddenly he was surrounded.

"Oh, geez," Keisa sighed.

"It's like they've never seen a duelist before," Rally muttered.

"Wouldn't be surprised," Keisa muttered, propping her bike up gently against a building. She bent down and wiped a few spots of dirt off the rims near the tires. She never really given much thought to what color she wanted to paint it. Definitely not pink. Too…bright.

"Keisa," a soft voice jerked her out of her thoughts. She straightened up and turned to face her brother, arms crossed.

As Keisa studied his face, though, her glare softened and she left out a puff of air, releasing a bit of the tension. She reached up and traced the bright yellow mark on his cheek.

"Did it hurt?"

"No," he said easily.

"Liar." She jabbed his mark with her finger.

"Ow." He caught her hand as she was about to do it again. He pulled her towards him and wrapped his arms tightly around her.

"Yuse—"

"I didn't know what to do," he whispered. Her eyes widened at the amount of morbid emotion in his voice. "When they told me that they had you and the others I—"

"I'm safe, Yusei." She pulled him tighter, suddenly feeling like she was five years old again, feeling like a little girl who needed her older brother. "I'm safe and it's thanks to you." She pulled away and looking up into his eyes, mirror images of her own. He may have been a year older than her, but they had the same eyes.

He smiled half-heartedly. "Right."

She pushed him away and turned back to her bike, fiddling with the center console. "You're an idiot, asshole brother who scared the hell out of all of us—but we're safe because of you."

Yusei smiled for real. "I really missed you, Keisa. You and your mouth." He ruffled her hair. "Where did you get that from anyway, surely not from me."

"You're not that cool," she laughed, swatting his hand away.

"Hey, Yusei," Crow called from a small fire he had started. He waved them over. His face was grim, all earlier jubilation gone. "Tell them what you were telling me before, about the signers or whatever."

—

"So what you're saying is—these 'dark signers' want to destroy the satellite?" Keisa clarified skeptically.

"That's right," Yusei nodded, staring at the dancing flames of the fire, his eyes far away. "I saw it in a vision when I was dueling Jack." Keisa scowled on impulse and made a mental note to strike "white" off her potential duel runner colors.

"If it's true, what d we do?" Blitz asked.

"We gone home, pack up, and use the pipeline to get out of here," Tank suggested.

"It would never pan out," Keisa shot him down. "Right now, Yusei's runner is probably the only one that has a chance of making the time limit—we know that. Then you have to add in the drag of added weight and the fact that it would take us months to go back and forth to get everyone."

"I know you guys are scared—I am, too." Yusei took his gloves off and rolled up his right sleeve slowly. Keisa's jaw dropped and she grabbed his arm, jerking the sleeve up higher.

"And what the hell is this? I don't remember Sector Security being artists," she snapped.

"It's not a tattoo," he explained softly. "This mark has made me a part of this war. It means I'm a signer. And if I don't fight the dark signers, then there's no hope for anyone." He glanced up at his sister's still-angry face.

"You know I'm with you," Crow spoke up, a serious look on his face and an intense glint in his eyes. "I'll help in any way I can."

"Yeah," Keisa nodded, watching Crow look towards the group of little kids with insane care. "I'm right here, too."

—

The fire still crackled, muffled a little by the snores of the sleep group around it. Yusei sat up and looked down at his younger sister's sleeping form. She had set her sleeping bag up next to his, but was turned away from him.

He knew what he had to do. He never wanted to feel the fear and anxiety he felt back in Neo Domino when realization had hit. When he had seen the picture of his sister and their friends—when he was told they were being held captive—the darkest, thickest fear settled deep in his chest. No. That wouldn't happen again. He would protect them this time.

He stood up, prepared his runner, and gave it a hefty push to get it moving.

"Little late for a joy ride, isn't it, Yuse?" a voice stopped him.

"So what?" he responded flatly, knowing exactly where this was going to end up.

"So if you're planning on going after the dark signer scum, I'm coming, too," he declared, crossing his arms.

"It's too dangerous," Yusei argued. "Just go back to the others. This is my battle."

"What?" Crow raised an eyebrow. "Okay, well, just try and stop me."

"I've already put enough people in danger, Crow," Yusei grumbled, pushing his runner further down the road.

"Wha—hold on!" Crow called to him quietly. He ran after his friend and stood in front of the tires. "Who's gonna have your back against the dark signers, huh?"

Yusei shook his head. "You don't understand—you face them, you play for keeps. This isn't just another duel." Crow's eyes narrowed. "They put up a force field. No one leaves until it's over. All the battle damage is real. Even if you manage to win, you're still talking about a world of hurt. And if you lose—game over." He looked his friend in the eye. "So tell me—that sound like fun to you?"

"Well, you sure haven't lightened up," Crow sighed, scratching his head. "But you're not the only one with something to lose here, you know."

"There's no going back. You sure about this?" Yusei knew there was no arguing with him anymore. Crow was absolutely stubborn, but he was his own person and could make his own decisions. Yusei wouldn't stop him. He couldn't.

"Yeah."

Yusei took a deep breath, a small smile sliding onto his face. "Well, in that case, let's go."

Crow grinned. "Alright, but you have to leave some of those dark signers to me." He noticed one of the sleeping forms roll over past Yusei's shoulder. "Keisa is going to be so pissed off at you, man."

Yusei rolled his eyes. He'd thought about that. With another push, they were moving down the road—this time towards Crow's runner. "She'll get over it."

"Not quietly, though," Crow laughed. "We'll probably be hearing about it for days."

"It's for her own good. The day she gets that duel runner up and going…" he trailed.

"That's the day shit hits the fan," Crow laughed. "There'll be no stopping her. But you can't be too hard on her for that—you're the exact same way."

"Right."

"No! Really!"

"Sure."

"Hey, where are we going anyways?"

"The old reactor," Yusei explained as they both saddled up on their runners and kicked them into gear.

"I'm not going there!" Crow exclaimed. "What do you think you'll find there? Tetanus?"

"Funny. But I think Goodwin was pointing me toward it," Yusei called over the wind.

"If you say so," Crow muttered, shooting ahead. "Try and keep up."

—

"Wake up! Yusei's gone!" Rally yelled hysterically.

Keisa shot up, heart thumping loudly. She looked over to where Crow had been and noticed his nest empty, too. Somehow, this calmed her a little bit. To know that her brother was with an old friend soothed her a bit. He wasn't in major trouble. Yet.

"Crow's gone, too," Keisa noted.

"What if the dark signers got them?" Tank blurted out.

"Unlikely," Keisa responded flatly. She stood up and stretched. "Let's split up and look for them." She tucked her deck into its case on her hip.

"Blister, can you stay here with the kids in case they come back?" Blitz called over.

"Sure," he responded with a thumbs up.

"Did they say Crow's missing, too?" Keisa heard one of the kids ask. "Is he gonna be alright?

Not when I'm through with the two of them, she thought, storming off.