Love & Hate
"It's not just about the city, or the car crash," Trudge sighs. "They aren't happy with you lot either."
"Why? We didn't do anything wrong," Carly frowns.
"You snuck her into the hospital," he snaps. "If it were up to them she'd have been slung in a cell and the keys would've been thrown away!"
"They're not serious about this, are they?" Akiza frowns. "No one has been hurt."
"This is about as serious as it gets," he replies, grimly.
"You're following me again," Selene muses.
She glances over at a stack of wooden boxes. The silverish fox creature with viridian shapes on its sides, and face pokes its head out. It sniffs the air before darting back into its hiding place. She looks around herself to make sure no one's coming. Then she leans over, making sure she doesn't tip the pile of boxes she's sitting on. The pale silver eyes of the creature stare straight into her own. She draws back and swings her legs, ready to jump down.
"Hey, who're you?" someone yells. "Get down from there!"
Selene glances back to the creature, but it's long gone. She hops down from the boxes and races through the corridors created from stacked steel crates. She can hear the person hurrying after her, but she quickly veers to her left and vanishes from sight. As she makes her way through the paths between the crates, something quickly becomes apparent to her. Staying close to the steel crates, she glances back, but there's nothing there. She jumps as the fox creature lands on her shoulder, and tries to cling to her. She pets it on the back and starts running again.
Loud yelling erupts in the streets of New Domino City. There aren't many calm people as the city's inhabitants' work together to clear the rubble and debris. Some of the tallest buildings have been reduced to three inches high. The rest is lost amongst the chaotic mountainous rubble. Though, in the centre of all of the ruins, stands a new building. It's so new that there aren't any windows, just the rectangular slots. There's no furnishings, no carpets, and the electricity hasn't even been connected to it yet.
Yusei is on the stairway to the third floor of the empty building. He makes his way along the empty, dusty hallway. One of the doors is slightly ajar, light creeping into the hall. He pushes the door open into a stale room. In one corner, half-hidden is a table with an old computer. At the other is a worn brown couch. The rest of the room is grey concrete, undecorated and uninviting. A cool breeze enters from the large rectangle that will one day be a full-length window. Then, on the left side of the window hole comes movement.
"So you came," Selene comments, her back to him. "I guess you worked it out then."
"This is the only empty, intact building between the square and," he begins.
She turns to her right, and stares at the floor. "That place? You can say its name you know. I'm not going to go crazy and lose my temper," she adds quietly. "or my control…"
"Selene, I didn't mean it like that," he says, soothingly.
"Just like I didn't mean to lose control," she says, and kicks at the ground before she starts slowly walking to the other side of the room.
"You don't want to hurt people," Yusei glances around the room. "You come here to think about what you did, don't you?"
She laughs bitterly, humourlessly, stopping in her tracks. "You wouldn't understand," She starts walking again
"Then tell me, help me understand," he urges. "Let me help you."
She looks at him, avoiding his eyes. "I can't drag you into my problems. I won't burden you with them,"
"You're not a burden," he tells her. "You're a good person who's made mistakes and wants to be better. That isn't a burden. You aren't a burden."
She starts walking back to the other side of the room, where she waited for him. Her eyes show how tired she is, despite trying to hide it with a false happiness. She shakes her head slowly, as if wondering what to say or how to say it.
"… My heart has always been there for you…" Selene glances at him, unsure whether she's saying the right thing.
Yusei frowns, not sure what she means. He waits for her to explain further, he can see the hurt in her eyes. She still won't look at him. There have even been times when Yusei caught her watching him, but there's never been a time when she's refused to look at him.
"I thought… I really, really thought, it would be alright," She starts backing away from him, still unsure about what she's saying. "but it's not."
Her breathing has become faster, and he can see that she's panicking. She doesn't give him the time to speak to her, she just starts talking again.
She slows, but keeps walking backwards, and whispers. "It already aches…"
He steps forward, and makes a move to speak to her. She tries to speak before he can again. This time, he doesn't let her cut him off.
"Selene," he urges, but to no avail.
She looks into his eyes, and he suddenly has no words. Her eyes are shining with tears, and some have already fallen. She's not smiling, but he can see happiness in her eyes. The happiness is overridden by a great aching sorrow. It's suddenly so clear that he doesn't understand.
Yusei knows, so suddenly, that he doesn't her. She's a complete stranger to him. Yet, at the same time, he's a stranger to her. They know nothing of each other, and still they can't regret how they've fought in their own ways for each other.
She chokes back a sob and whispers, so quietly that he struggles to hear. "I can't stop my heart from beating,"
Having said what she wanted to, Selene takes one final step back. She disappears, having fallen from the window opening. Yusei races over, and he peers down at the sloping street. The window lets him see everything on the street, both ways. There are groups of people, large and small. They seem averse to standing still, and they walk up and down the street. Yusei looks over the entire street, but there's one person he cannot see; cannot find.
Selene.
Author's Note: Hello, I hope you enjoyed the final chapter of Love & Hate. I'm sorry I made you wait, but, I've been stressed out over Dusk, and, I really don't want to let this story go. I love this story to pieces, and it's so hard to say goodbye, even though there is a sequel, which I will turn my full attention to the moment I have this chapter uploaded.
Wow, what a long chapter! I honestly didn't think I'd reach five hundred, nevermind one thousand and seventy seven! Oh well, it's a bit longer than expected, so I hope you weren't really short on time. Oh wait, that's right, you're too short on time to have helped me with my editing, so of course. I understand, I could've used your help on editing up to chapter 8, but, I've somehow coped on my own. Don't worry about it.
See you on Night of Ever!
Kpoplover1110 – Thanks for sticking around, even when the story slumped. You kept me going with amazing reviews, so I owe you a lot. You're great, thank you. Buuut, if they ever invent some machine that sends fans into the 5dsverse, I'll duel you for Yusei.
Hollyyyyyyyyyyn – My wacky, wonderful, incredible, invincible, fantastic, funny, and supportive friend… If you ever reach this page, which I highly doubt because of reasons that are entirely my own doing, I owe you a lot too. Hope you don't mind that I'm going to ignore your advice about the names when they talk. :P Ja ne!