Flashback Four: The Tunnels have Secrets
The Gardens of Dragon's Haven 10:13 pm
"Yuzuki wasn't always a good girl,"
Nervin yelped in shock as Yusei dropped down from a tree beside Crow. He was wearing a white shirt and navy blue gym shorts, no shoes. "Ah! How long have you been up there?!"
"Awhile," the five Signers chorused.
"That's just annoying," Tanner grumbled.
"....Uh..." said Leo. "Crow was telling us about your little sister."
"Younger yes, little no." He sat down beside Akiza's lounge chair. "Hey, may I have some of the lemonade and rice balls?" He asked the psychic. The others exchanged glances and began talking among themselves for several minutes as Yusei ate.
"What happened to the story?" he asked after a bit.
".... Uh..." they muttered uncertainly.
"It's okay; you all have a right to know anyway,"
"Hey, Yusei do your parents know about Yuzuki?" Rally inquired.
"Yeah, you never did fully explain how you found them!" Jack complained.
"He doesn't need to share every little detail of his life you know!" Akiza snapped. Mikage and her brother Drake were returning with more snacks, two trays full, and set them out on the table as the others began crowding around. Some of the kids were asleep now, crowding into the gazebo but Leo, Dula, Lyelsa, Luna, Rally, and Dexter were wide awake.
"No one asked you!"
"Guys, it's okay." Yusei assured them. "During the Signer's War there was no time for this kind of thing. We didn't have the time to know any details about anyone's past or any time just to sit and talk and get to know each other without worrying whether or not a Dark Signer would strike. If we're going to be a team we need to know a lot of things about one another, things we might not be entirely comfortable with. Crow, you wanna take a break?"
"Be my guest," said Crow, waving a hand. "My jaw's beginning to hurt,"
"What have guys cover so far?" Yusei asked.
"I knew it was a good idea to record this!" Yanagi exclaimed.
"Are you recording every bit of it?" Saiga asked.
"Yup! It's not just the story that's important ya know! You could miss something!"
After a break in which Yanagi played back the previous narrations, the story continued.
"Wait!" Luna protested before Yusei opened his mouth. "I can't even imagine Yuzuki properly! The only time you described her was when she was a baby and that last description was terrible,"
"Oops," Crow muttered sheepishly.
"I have a picture," Yusei offered. "I'll get it," He was back within minutes. "Here Luna,"
"You kept it all these years?" Alex said, amazed.
"Why wouldn't he?" Akiza reasoned as Luna studied the photo and her fellow kids craned to look at it.
Yuzuki was in a nice looking building, just standing there with a bored look on her face. Her hair was raven black with long golden streaks running through it, much like her brother and hung to her shoulders, choppy and cut in layers. Thick bangs fell into her bronzed skin strands of hair drawing attention to piercing eyes, cobalt blue laced with aquamarine. She was wearing a red vest with a purple long sleeved shirt under it and blue jeans with a duel belt holding two deck cases, a pair of short brown boots and purple gloves with black fingers and she wore silver earrings; one was a star and one was a moon.
"Hey, when was that taken?" Crow demanded as Luna passed it to him and Yanagi described the picture for the benefit of the recording.
"After we met Mom and Dad," Yusei explained.
"Now this is a story I wanna hear!" Leo exclaimed.
Yusei leaned back against Akiza's chair, closing his eyes ad he breathed in the night air. The gardens went quite and still in anticipation. And when he opened his eyes, they were red and cloudy as if in the midst of a dream. The Crimson Guard choked back gasps as the images began to fill their heads as if they were standing in Yusei's memories.
Yusei's PoVN
Satellite the year 2028 June 14th
"Just great," I muttered, bringing the metal skateboard to a stop. I was in the tunnels of Satellite, the sunlight shining through the long cracks and gashes in the ground. "She's gone...again,"
"I am so glad she's not my sister," Jack commented, who was running along the subway platform and came to a stop.
"Not helping,"
"Aw, she vanished again!" Rylah complained, bringing her silver mountain bike to a stop beside me. "And yet that still impresses me every time!"
"We let her come out with us sometimes!" Crow complained, joining Jack on the platform. "What is with this?"
"You guys go on," I told them. "Yuzuki's probably just exploring somewhere." The infamous little troublemaker had been caught once for stealing from Security but had managed to escape before they could mark her. After that, she stopped causing so much trouble and started exploring the Satellite, going a little farther each time. I knew she could take care of herself but she was all I had and, naturally, I got worried.
"You sure?" Rylah asked. "I'll go with if you'd like,"
"No,it's--"
"Actually, I'll just tag along," she decided. When Rylah got an idea in her head, nothing was going to stop her.
I sighed. "Fine,"
"We have to get back," said Crow sounding, regretful. "Kiryu says we need to go over some things. We'll fill you guys in later,"
"Okay, then," said Rylah as Jack and Crow vanished into the shadows of the platform. "Let's go!"
We traversed the tunnels for several minutes in relative silence, the pause broken by the sounds of wheels clacking against the rails and Rylah's occasionally bursts of song. I didn't object; Rylah had a nice voice.
"How long has it been?" she asked, once we stopped for the fifth time. Yuzuki had left signs to mark her way, long silver needles that she stabbed into the walls. I sighed looking at the three tunnels before us.
"Awhile," I replied., looking for one of Yuzuki's needles. "Here we go. It's deeper than usual. She must've been this way before,"
"You never cease to amaze me,"
"Is this the bad part? Where it gets sad?" Carly asked. Jack raised an eyebrow at her. "What?"
"Rude,"
"Sorry..."
"It's fine, Carly," Yusei assured her. "And no, this is the happier part,"
"Question," said Ushio, making everyone jump. Apparently Yusei's former arch nemesis had been so quiet everyone had forgotten his presence. He scowled but continued. "Why are you okay with talking about this? And how are you putting these pictures in our heads?"
"The Crimson Dragon told me how," he said simply. Silence greeted this remark.
"Enough with the cryptic replies!" the officer barked.
"What does that mean?!" Crow snapped.
"I think he means why is this easy," Drake clarified, sitting by his sister Mikage and speaking for the first time. He had messy brown hair, brown eyes and light peach skin. "Isn't it still hard?"
"That's not what I'm talking about!" Crow snapped but he was ignored and he folded his arms, grumbling.
"Not exactly," Yusei replied, looking down at his mark. "The memory...it still hurts but at the same time..."
"Lemme guess," Jack interrupted. "You think that somehow, Zuki-chan survived,"
"Yes, but we'll come back to that," Yusei replied.
"It makes sense to me!" Mizuki ( the little girl Crow took care of) chimed, chomping on a pork bun with both hands.
"You have some on your face," Crow grinned at her, wiping it off as she smiled at him.
"What are you talking about?" Ushio demanded.
"Shush!" Tank ordered. "Let's get on with the story!"
"Okay," said Yusei, taking a swig of lemonade to wet his drying throat. "So, Rylah and I followed Yuzuki's needle trail and went into the middle tunnel..." The scene in their minds unfroze and faded back in.
~~*~~*~~*~~*~~
We heard cross mutterings echoing up the tunnel length. "Rylah, do you have--" Rylah flicked on the lantern, a large flashlight that could be both. "Arigatou,"
"Zuki, are you down here?" Rylah called as several rats scuttled passed us. She screamed and threw something at it. "Those are disgusting!" she complained. "Ew...I bet the City doesn't have rats like this!"
"You're still not use to it?"
Rylah glared at me as we made another turning and found an abandoned subway office; you know one of those things at the end of platforms. There was light coming from it and Yuzuki's humming. "Zuki!"
"Hi, Nii-kun!" she called, seemingly oblivious to the isolated environment of this place. We reached the platform and carried our bike and skateboard to the door...uh...doorway. There was no door. Instead, a string of electrical wires was stringed across the bottom.
"What's this for?" I asked her as we stepped inside the cleaned place.
"Keeping out rats,"
"Yuzuki, why are you here?"
"Exploring,"
"This place is isolated!" I objected. "No one would even know where you are if something happens!"
"She stuck needles in the walls," Rylah reminded me.
"That's not the point!"
"Aw, come on, Yuse!" Yuzuki whined. "There's something down here and it's been bothering me for weeks!" Those words could've come straight out of a horror flick.
"All the more reason to leave," Rylah chimed in shivering. "This place is beginning to give me the creeps,"
"Let's go Zuki,"
Yuzuki pouted. "I just wanna find out what it is!'
"And what if--what was that?" Rylah looked very uncomfortable. She hated horror movies, hated when they seemed to reflect life and she hated Jack for playing them at the loudest volume possible.
"I didn't hear anything," Yuzuki and me chorused. "Maybe you're just imagining things," Yuzuki suggested.
"I'm telling you I heard something!" Rylah complained.
Suddenly I heard the crunch of footsteps. "Did you hear now!?" Rylah demanded in a whine. "I hate this! Curse you, Jack!"
"This is getting creepy," Leo objected as they watched. They all looked like ghosts in the midst of the scene.
"Don't worry; it doesn't last," Yusei assured him.
"Shush, Leo!" Luna ordered. "I wanna listen!"
"What do I have to with anything going on here?!" Jack demanded.
"Rylah asked you over and over again to not watch horror movies at night," Crow replied. "Especially at high volume."
"A good scare won't hurt,"
"You nearly cause World War Three, Jack," Crow drawled.
"Hello?!" Alex demanded. "Can we get back to this and stop talking so much?" The memory unfroze.
"We should--" A loud sneeze interrupted me. "Who was that?"
"I'm too scared to sneeze," Ryla muttered, choosing to hide behind me.
"I didn't sneeze," Yuzuki put in. We exchanged glances.
"I think we should leave now," I put in handing Yuzuki her own skateboard and picking up mine. Rylah climbed on her bike and we left that place as fast as possible. The crunching sounds continued and wind whooshed pass a coat. No one was wearing a coat.
"I should've stayed topside," Yuzuki whined.
"Geez, ya--what the hell is that!?" We came a to a screeching halt and crashed into a vast room full of crumbling machines.
"Ow....I think we made a wrong turn...." Yuzuki muttered. The floor creaked.
"Move!" I ordered, standing inducing more cracks. I hastily sat down again.
"Great, now we can't move cause we'll fall!" Rylah complained. "But if we don't move we'll fall eventually. Wonderful!" The floor cracked again.
"We'll have to risk it," I decided. "Yuzuki first then you Rylah,"
Zuki sighed, crawling on her hands towards safer ground. "Please be nice karma, please be nice..." Crack. "The gods hate us,"
"Zuki-don''t--" Crack.
"AH!"
"Rylah!"
"I'm ookay..."Rylah called. "I think--" The piece of floor she was holding onto cracked and bent out farther. "--that I really hate you two. Zuki, why can't you be normal?" That's about when the entire floor shattered into a million pieces and sent us tumbling into darkness.
Yuzuki screamed as I felt someone grab my arm.
Darkness overwhelmed the scene and everyone yelped.
"Wha- what happened?" Carly stammered.
"I blacked out," Yusei explained. "Don't worry, there's more."
"Can't we skip to the good part?" Nervin asked.
"No, or we won't get it!" Yanagi objected.
"Shush then," Yusei ordered as sounds began to filter through the dark curtain.
~~*~~*~~*~~*~~
"Ow..." I moaned.
"Shush, sweetie, you're gonna be okay...everything's fine, just fine," Someone wiped my face with a damp cloth. I couldn't see a thing expect for some light piercing my vision.
"Uh..." My bones ached and I felt bruised everywhere. "Yuzuki..."
"Your sister's fine, Yusei," the person--I guessed it was a woman--replied. "She's still out though and so's your friend."
Wait...so how did she know my name? And how--oh wait, me and Yuzuki looked alike; it was obvious. I struggled to open my eyes but they felt like lead. "How..."
"Sleep now. You'll be fine, honey,"
When I woke up again I realized I was in a room painted with a warm harvest yellow that reminded me of Crow's shirt. "Ow..."
"Yusei?" Yuzuki sat up, moaning and rubbing her head. "Where are we?"
"Don't know. Where's Rylah?"
"No way! It's so bizarre! Are you sure you're not clones or something and this isn't an abandoned lab?" Rylah's loud voice answered our question.
"The abandoned lab is six miles away and we prefer it that way. And no, we're not clones," a male voice protested.
"Yeah I know," The door opened as footsteps shuffled away. "Hi, guys!" Rylah greeted cheerfully. "Howya doin'?"
"Weren't you deathly terrified earlier?" I asked her.
"Shut up! Come on, I got someone I want you to meet," She waved at us frantically and disappeared out the door.
"Lah-chan!" Yuzuki wailed, running after her. "Wait!" She was right outside the door. "Oh,"
"Rylah, where are we?" I asked her.
"Underground in the East Sector,"
"Oh good we're not far from the hideout," Looking around it was obvious this wasn't our place. We were standing on a balcony over looking a room full fixed up computers, the motors still whirring. "Who saved us?"
"Oh, yeah! You're not gonna believe it!" She grabbed my hand, tugging me along. "Come on, come on slowpokes!"
"I've never seen her this excited about something," Yuzu commented.
"When was she ever?" I countered. She lead us into a kitchen that, while it was relatively clean, it looked more like something out of a history book on the feudal era.
"Chitta, baka! I swear, is this so hard!? You still can't cook worth beans and you're suppose to be a super genius!"
"Each to their own,"
"Don't lecture me,"
The two people arguing as they bent over the cooking pit did not seem to actually be arguing. It was more like playful banter. And why did they seem so...familiar?
"They're awake!" Rylah announced, dropping my hand like it was a rock and skipping over to them.
"Lah-nechan!" Yuzuki complained. "Yer freaking me out with the cheeriness!"
"You sure?" the other woman asked looking at us with a smile. The man looked up as well, shuffling to stand by who I presumed was his friend.
"Holy shit!" Yuzuki yelped after a stunned silence. I was too shocked to reprimand her for the language. They almost exactly like us! The male could've been me from the future or something but his face was longer and narrower, the skin was darker, tanner and his eyes were wider and sea green not blue. I was a head shorter in comparison and his hair was like mine, accept longer and thicker and a section of his bangs fell in front of his right eye and the black hair was devoid of gold streaks. He was wearing greasy white t-shirt and ragged jeans cut-offs, his knees scuffed up and his sneakers were banged up.
The woman--who I now presumed was his wife-- was taller. She looked like an Amazon nearly six feet tall at least with caramel skin that matched with her waist length honey brown hair streaked with gold and apparently Yuzuki and I had inherited our mother's cobalt blue eyes but hers were more narrowed, bangs framing her face. Her face was wider than the man's; more like mine and Zuki's and the skin was a shade lighter than ours. The hair was actually tied into a braid though that was coiled into a bun in the back of her head. She was also wearing a t-shirt but it was brown and she wore jeans and socks.
The four of us stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity before the distant memories started coming back.
"Mom...Dad?" I whispered, remembering Mom panicking the time I gotten too close to an experiment and fallen into a vat of oil.
"You fell into a vat of oil?!" Ushio burst out laughing. "Wow that explains alot!"
"Shut up!" everyone barked.
Luckily she'd fished me out just as fast but then she nearly drowned me in the water.
"No way!" Yuzuki objected. "How come yer down here then!?"
"I've seen them before Yuzu,"
"I am Kaoriko Fudo," Mom explained coming closer, her hand outstretched towards us. Yuzuki scuttled behind me with distrust in her eyes and Mom's eyes filled with tears. "I'm sorry that we didn't come for you...but we couldn't..." I felt my face soften towards my mother.
Rylah had somehow shuffled out without anyone noticing. Dad came forward quickly and stood before Yuzuki, kneeling in front of her and settling his hands on her shoulders. "Do you trust Yusei?"
"More than anything!"
"Yusei, who do you think we are?"
"I remember you," I said simply, grinning.
"Ha!" Mom exclaimed in triumph, making us jump as she nearly crushed me in a hug.
"Weren't you crying a few seconds ago?" Dad asked in puzzlement.
"Be quiet." she ordered.
"Mom...can't ..." I coughed.
"Ack!" She released me instantly looking guilty and crushed (emotionally). I felt guilty and I didn't know what to say so I hugged her back.
Dad sighed. "I suppose we should explain everything. You don't hate us, do you Yuzuki?"
"You knew us the instant you saw us," she realized, her glare fading.
"Of course we did, sweetie, how could we not?" Mom laughed. "Welcome home, Yusei, Yuzuki." She pouted. "Is it okay if I get a hug?"
~~*~~*~~*~~*~~
"Oh...." said Mina as they returned to reality. "That's how you met your parents,"
"How come you never told us?" Crow asked, sounding hurt.
"They told us not to,"
"Oh. Because of Goodwin right?"
"Right."
"Is there more to that?" Carly asked.
"Yes, but that's not really important to the current story," Yusei yawned. "Can we finish this in the morning?"
More yawns and the sounds of soft snoring agreed with him. Saiga turned off the recording and shook Yanagi awake. Crow, Martha and Mina poked and prodded the kids upstairs and everyone drifted off to their rooms or late night recreational activities. Only Yusei and Akiza were left.
"Yusei?"
"What is it., Akiza?" he asked as they walked towards the castle side by side.
"About your sister...you really believe that she survived whatever happened to her?"
"I do."
"Then I do too," She smiled at him, looping her arm through his.
Yusei sighed, closing his eyes and doing a most un-Yusei like thing. He leaned his head on her shoulder, a smile on his lips. "Arigatou, Akiza,"
"You're welcome,"
Stop, stop! It is not the end! I simply decided it was time they go to bed! Don't think this the last chappie! There will probably be more than six flashbacks.
By the way about the part when Yusei literally show's them his memories: we shall pretend that Yusei was also verbally speaking for the benefit of the recording. And yes I decided that Yusei's parents are alive. The kid needs some joy in his tragedy-marred life. (that was all Goodwin's fault anyway!) Please keep reading! Read it! Read it!