Finally it's up! The completed version of Sign Two! Hope you enjoy!
Sign Two: Only Part of the Tale
The Communal Japanese Mansion Grounds: Oceanside N.D.C suburban district December the 15th around 3:45 pm
"This place looks really good," Jack complimented, looking down at the huge Grand Room (living room) from the mezzanine above the kitchen. He and his ex-assistant now good friend, Mina, were hanging up the lightened artificial garlands from the wooden railings.
"I think so too, Mina agreed with a smile at him before looking below. Alex and Tanner, both ex-facility inmates, were down below, trying to find a good spot for the second tree under Luna's direction. It was heavy and the huge pot attached to it didn't help.
"No…" Luna corrected, with a frown, tilting her head slightly to the side. "A little to the left…"
"Aw, come on, Luna!" Tanner groaned from the window facing side of the tree. "This thing's heavy!"
"If you're feeling tired…" Alex grinned.
"Oh, as if you could carry this thing all by yourself!" he scoffed back.
"Now, now boys, play nice!" Yanagi called from the couch where he, Rally, and Akiza were making snowflakes. Scraps of different coloured paper lay scattered everywhere.
"Okay, that's good!" Luna approved with a thumbs up as Tanner and Alex continued carrying the tree. " Right there!" She pointed to a spot southeast of the original tree standing by the window as Dexter arranged the tree skirt on the floor.
"Thank you!" Tanner exclaimed fervently as they set the tree to rest.
"It wasn't that hard," said Alex smugly, admiring their handiwork, his fists propped against his waist. "Now all we need is the rest of the decorations. Where's Yusei and the others?"
"Still out," Luna sighed. "And we still need the food too," She joined Dexter on the couch with Akiza and Yanagi, looking at the supply of already created snowflakes on the coffee table. "Kiryu, Carly, Crow, and Rylah are getting that,"
"Wow, these are great!" She closely examined a very intricate snowflake. "Did you make all of these, Onee-chan?"
"Sure did." Akiza replied, sounding satisfied with her work. "I'm much better at it than Yanagi over there," She smiled playfully. "He's hopeless."
"Hey!" Yanagi shouted in protest. "That's not true! My dragon snowflakes are wonderful! And they go with the theme, too," He proudly displayed his latest Chinese dragon cutout.
"Theme?" Tanner folded his arms and raised an eyebrow. "What theme? And what's with the dragons?"
"Isn't it obvious?!" Yanagi exploded hysterically but before the two could really get going, Dexter cut in with a random comment.
"I think this group needs a new name," he interjected, examining yet another failed snowflake more closely with a deep sigh. Rally peered at it and snickered. "I'm glad you think it's funny," Dexter added to his friend huffily.
Rally was wearing a fresh set of clothes, a pair of brown colored loose pants and yellow shirt. His long blue coat hung over the back of the couch and his thick curly red hair was held out of the way by a loose band. He just shrugged and bent over a blueprint, examining it closely before erasing something carefully and adding in something else.
"A new name?" Alex repeated.
"For once I agree," Tanner added. "What group exactly are you talking about anyway?"
"You know…the Signers and all the rest of us," Dexter explained. "We're already going by the Sky Guard but we need a better name,"The failed snowflake maker had changed his usual attire sometime earlier, wearing a loose comfortable pair of jeans with a long sleeved yellow shirt under a short sleeved an open cream-coloured button up shirt. "And anyway, do you really want to be called 'Fudo-sama's entourage" all the time?"
"Well… No," Jack admitted, leaning on the mezzanine railing. "But all the same, I think it's kind of a silly idea. It's not as if what the damned paparazzi call us is actually of any real importance." Before Mina could cuff him with a sharp reprimand for his tongue, the ex-King leapt over the railing, landing like a cat on the floor below without any trouble. He wasn't wearing his long white coat anymore just a blue collared short-sleeved shirt (buttoned) and a pair of brown pants.
"Show-off," Akiza muttered, focusing on her snowflake, snipping out different patterns. He ignored her as Mina came running down the stairs, stepping in beside Jack to keep him in check (if at all possible).
"Well, I don't care what you say," Dexter retorted. "I think the 'Crimson Guard' is a good one."
"Oooo!" Yanagi chimed excitedly. "That is a good one!"
"That is beside the point!" Jack objected. "And speaking of our great leader, where'd he and the others get to anyway?"
"Yeah, we weren't even talking about group names before you butted in with your random comment!" Luna agreed with a glare at her brother's best friend. She was worried, getting a bad feeling and here Dexter was either disregarding or just not noticing. "We were wondering where Leo, Yusei and Saiga are! Don't change the subject to…something…COMPLETELY IRRELVENT, DEXTER!"
He cringed away from the girl's furious glare and the flames surrounding her, a sweat drop on his head as everyone gapped in amazement at Luna's rare outburst. Dexter raised his arms in self-defense. "I'm sorry!" he cried.
"Aw, come on, Luna don't to be too hard on him!" Rally agreed. "It does us no good to worry any how! Yusei'll be fine!" He flapped a hand nonchalantly. "He grew up in the Satellite; he's knows how to take care of himself. Saiga and Leo will be fine too, you'll see." He sounded completely confident of his statement.
"Even Yusei gets into jams," Alex objected, pacing around on the living room carpet in his socks. "And now that the Earthbound Gods have been defeated, Goodwin has no reason not to cause trouble for us,"
"Maybe they just got side-tracked," Yanagi suggested, ever the optimist. "Or maybe Director Goodwin will turn over a new leaf,"
Akiza let out a short laugh of disbelief; Jack seemed to scoff in rare agreement with her. "Right…" Jack replied, folding his arms. "And maybe he'll take up gardening and chop no one to size but the poor little plants," His voice took on a mocking and sarcastic baby tone on the emphasized words.
"Yeah, Yanagi, you're sure cheery," Akiza's voice turned cold as she carefully set down the scissors, making sure they were closed. "I wouldn't put it past Goodwin to try something funny," Her cat-like amber eye narrowed as the empty thick glass bottle on the table began to vibrate uncontrollably.
"Hey,hey!" Rally protested, waving a hand as he noticed the impending danger. "Watch it!"
The warning came too late. There was a sharp cracking ringing through the air, searing like a sharp cut across a beating heart. The bottle exploded like a star , shattering into a million pieces of dangerous light shards as everyone ducked instinctively behind couches or shielding themselves with their arms. There was a silence, no soft clinking of glass against the carpet, skin or one another as they collided.
Luna looked up cautiously, seeing Akiza staring at a floating glass cloud as they twinkled in the light of the overhead lamps. They were almost frozen in midair, slowing coming back together. As she focused, the telekinetic Signer shuffled her deck absently.
"Impressive," the now eleven year old spirit seer duelist complimented in admiration. Calling out to the others, she shouted: " It's okay!"
Jack had reacted rather spectacularly, throwing himself over Mina on pure instinct, using his body as a shield. As soon as Luna had given the all clear, the bearer of the Crimson Wing Mark shuffled to the side, staring at the ceiling with avid attention and a grumpy look gracing his prefect face, arms folded. This look screamed with obvious meaning; 'Don't mention what just happened,'
Mina respected his wish, excluding of course the soft; "Thank you," He grunted and everyone decided to follow her lead.
"You don't have to do that you know," Rally pointed out to Akiza, rescuing his discarded yellow hat from the floor.
"I need the pratise," Akiza replied, softly, still focusing on her self-appointed task.
"Is it safe now?" Yanagi whimpered from his spot, curled up into a ball on the couch.
Alex rolled his eyes, stretching as he stepped out from behind the tree where he and Tanner had taken refuge. "Luna just said that, Yanagi," he replied. "What's the matter, gettin' hard of hearin'?"
"Hey!" Yanagi shot up, glaring furiously. "I may be old but I'm not hard of hearing!"
"I could've told you that," Tanner muttered, with a grin.
Alex ignored them both or pretended to. "Fine, fine I'm sorry. By the way, Akiza's getting better at all that stuff, the weird physicness."
Akiza rewarded the ex-Facility inmate with a small smile but did not allow her attention to waver from the glass cloud. "Thank you,"
"Well, before we all have a meltdown, instead of being such downers, why don't we just call them?" Mina suggested, sensible as usual as she crossed to the holo-com set into the wall just outside of the kitchen.
"First good idea all day," Tanner approved as the ex-secretary tapped the touch screen, accessing the communication circuit lines. The blue screen brought up several options; saved messages and so on. Before she could do anything however, the line rang singing "We ride to survive"
Check it out!
It's time to make your move.
Never has a moment felt so right. No doubt!
It's down to me and you.
Moving faster than the speed of light!...
"What the heck…?" Jack and Alex both exchanged looks as the ex-king raised an eyebrow, arms crossed.
"Leo's idea," Luna explained as Mina answered it, tapping the talk icon on the screen. It wavered and flickered on to reveal Leo holding a steaming mug and wrapped up in a thick green blanket, his cheeks pink with cold. People were moving around behind him, the hum of chatter serving as background noise. The tones of the walls behind him were warm, brown and golden yellow/ orange very much dimmed to non-eye burning level.
"Leo!" both Mina and Luna yelped in surprise as Alex, Jack and Tanner chuckled at the irony. "We were just about to call," Mina continued once she'd gotten over the initial surprise. "Is everything all right? Are you okay?"
"Yeah, it's okay, I'm fine," he assured them, sipping at his drink.
Akiza joined Mina by the monitor; the glass bottle was mostly in one piece with a few shards lying discarded on the table but it still had thousands of cracks in it. "Where is Yusei and Saiga?" she asked sounding nonchalant but actually very much concerned. The two of them had become like (two of) the brother's she'd never had, apart of her family and she didn't want to lose them. She'd already lost one family.
"They're fine too," Leo told them. "Everything's fine and it's just—"
"Then where are you and why are you wearing a blanket!?" Luna demanded, jumping on the couch to get a better view. She was wondering if her brother
had done something wrong and hoping he hadn't. Mina and Akiza moved to the side in order to allow everyone a better view of the screen.
"Because I donated my coat to the needy! Let me explain!" Leo shouted back. Luna opened her mouth to argue back but decided against it, closing it and nodding before she could be reprimanded.
"Thank you," said an appreciative sounding Leo. "We just ran into a little…uh…distraction."
"Distraction?" Mina repeated, looking back at the others with a confused voice and expression that was shared amoung them.
"Yeah, pretty much," He shrugged but then looked worried. "But don't panic okay? Um…We're at the hospital. And!" He rushed on before anyone could interrupt. "At first we weren't here for any of us but for another person but in the…uh process…Yusei…he kinda…um, well… he…crashed." He said the last words in a small voice.
There was a moment's shocked pause as if time had frozen as they absorbed this shocking revelation. They were use to thinking of Yusei as invincible (almost) unshakeable. Yusei didn't crash. Yusei didn't crash. He crashed? Luna was in shock. Akiza's eyes flared in terror for the man who had saved from herself. "What!?" The glass bottle shattered again into a scattering of pieces like golden rain.
15 minutes earlier… the Tsubasa Medical Complex-the ER Center
From two or three stories overhead, you the bird watch as Yusei turned a sharp corner, riding the chestnut and violet Duel Runner that felt so strange, alien and unfamiliar to him…yet familiar at the same time. It was a bizarre feeling, not to mention the sensation that the wheels weren't really hitting the black asphalt as if the Runner was gliding through the air. He shook his mind clear of these thoughts, not noticing the stares he was attracting.
You cruise through the air, down to arch level, flying just above the bike and a little to the side and rear, just seeing the red of his helmet and the blue of his jacket. A chestnut helmeted head was leaning against his shoulder. You zoom forward flying alongside.
It was bad enough that he had to ride with only one hand, the other wrapped around the waist of the injured female passenger, her head tilted back against his shoulder, her closed eyes visible under the purple visor, lips slightly parted as if fighting for breath. But now he had to deal with this weird Runner. Just prefect.
Yusei glanced down at her briefly through his own blue visor, eyes narrowed. Well, this is an unwelcome development, he thought. She isn't looking too good. She's getting worse by the second!
"Yusei!" Leo called as he sped up his moped, biting his tongue in a somewhat futile attempt to keep his teeth from chattering. "There's the hospital!" He pointed as Elva cruised up beside Leo, looking entirely too small for Yusei's Duel-Runner. The Dueling Champion nodded once in recognition of the younger boy's announcement, most of his attention focused on his passenger.
Leo and Elva though, looked up to see the hospital grounds quickly approaching, a large piece of the natural world transported within the concrete buildings of the city.
The Hurricane Gates, tall magnificent pieces of black iron worked art, a collection of curls and spirals hammered and melded together perfectly guarded a long smoothly red-bricked road leading to the complex pg buildings as it spilt off into different paths. It traveled past rows of trees and green grass, the trees protected by black fences, the center road leading to a glorious red sandstone building and its parking lot. It was seven stories (the building) and massive with several peaked buttresses on the rooftop as if the place had been a castle in bygone days with a long wall that was capped off by two towers. The many wings and additions over the years were obvious but not very. Several other buildings were spread on its flanks and behind it.
Elva and Leo both gasped with genuine awe, just couldn't contain astounded gasps of wonder as they cruised to as top before the gates, Yusei at the front of their line.
"Business?" the thin light-skinned guard inquired, leaning out of the booth, lifting his cap to see better.
"Emergency Room," Yusei replied grimly as his cobalt blue eyes narrowed with impatience. "Now,"
"Excuse me…?" The guard peered at Yusei as the nineteen year old duelist met his eyes squarely, dangerous anger flaring in them. The guard gasped, recognizing the face under the visor despite the girl his arms and the lack of the usual red Duel Runner. It was the face of the very duelist that he and his family had come to respect for achieving so much.
"Oh! Yusei Fudo-sama Sumimasen, my apologies! You called head with an EC, of course. The doctors are all set and waiting. Just go on to the Emergency Circuit P3, sir." The guard moved to hand to hand the Duel King a set of papers but realized his hands were full. So he handed them to Leo instead and opened the gate with a tap of his finger on the control panel.
"The ECP3 is THE SECOND DOOR TO THE LEFT!" he yelled after them as the Yusei wasted no time in racing through the now opened gates without a backwards glance. "GOOD LUCK! She'll need it."
How would I feel if this was the way I found Yuzuna? If she was in this girl's place? Yusei wondered. He didn't know where that thought came from; it was unwise to think of it. The thought numbed him so an image quickly followed completely uninvited. It nearly ripped his heart and made his throat run dry. If he hadn't been on a Duel-Runner (or whatever it was) especially with a passenger, he would've squeezed his eyes shut to block out the awful image dancing cruelly in his mind's eye. It stabbed at him like glass shards, like a sword piercing his very soul and being.
His one hand loosened on the steering skid for just a fraction of second but it was more than enough to cause disaster. Yusei's heart pitched sharply as the Runner wavered dangerously. Damn, Yuse, what is WRONG WITH YOU!? He exploded at himself silently. He titled his body in the opposite direction of which the bike was falling, to no avail. It titled further as Yusei swerved around an oncoming ERV. Screw it!
He swung the unconscious girl into his arms, leaping off of the Runner sideways, tucking in his body and twisting in the air so she was protected and wouldn't hit the ground first. He heard the screech of tires, a crash as the Runner fell in a shower of sparks, the crunch of metal, a child's scream of panic and terror. He heard the splintering and cracking wood with a blur of green encroaching upon his vision as his body hit cold metal and harsh cruel wood, sharp pieces scraping at his skin as they cut through his jacket. Screams echoed in his ears as something cracked above them and he shielded her body with his own. I wouldn't let anything happen to Akiza-chan, Luna, Carly, Mina or Rylah-nechan and the same goes for you. Darkness fell.
An---EC- Emergency Call---ERV Emergency Response Vehicle. I will explain who Rylah is shortly and why Carly and Kiryu are present ( in their thoughts)