Hellowe!

For some reason last chapter didn't immediately upload, so you might have missed it. In that case, go back a chapter! You won't understand this if you didn't read it. If you have read it, good!

Now, enjoy the twelfth (or the eleventh) chapter of Heart to Beat!

Chapter 12

When dinner was over, everyone went back to their respective rooms, deep in thought. Most of them were thinking about the Terrorking Posseidon and how this was once again a tournament of life or death. But this was not for everyone the case. When they entered their room, Rose and Maya immediately went over to their beds in total silence. Maya went to sit cross-legged with her back against the wall, whilst Rose immediately laid down, her back facing Maya. This didn't go by unnoticed by Maya and she knew very well that it wasn't because of the Terrorking Posseidon. Rose hadn't said a single word since Rex had pretended to have beaten the Terrorking Posseidon all by himself. Maya didn't like these kinds of silences. They made her feel really bad and uncomfortable. There was no way that she would be able to cheer Rose up, but there was a slight chance that making Rose talk about it would relieve her a bit.

"I'm sure that Rex didn't mean to hurt you.", Maya started. At first, it seemed that Rose wasn't going to reply, but eventually she did.

"I know."

Maya was a bit taken aback by that answer as she hadn't expected Rose to realise that. She searched for a good question in order to make Rose explain herself better, but unexpectedly, she went on.

"It was just too humiliating."

"I understand, but I don't think that Rex is mentally laughing at you. He didn't seem very…"

"I don't mean it was humiliating for me!", Rose suddenly interrupted Maya, slightly annoyed by her friend's misunderstanding. "It was humiliating for him."

Maya was getting confused as she couldn't think of something humiliating that had happened to Rex. Aside from Rose, Weevil and she herself, nobody knew about his lying. Although she was afraid Rose would get angry at her for still not understanding what she meant, she decided to ask. "I don't understand…"

Rose closed her eyes and sighed deeply while trying to keep her self-control. Was Maya trying to make her cry or what?

"Maya, Rex is proud and strong and self-confident. Everyone thinks of him as someone who can take care of himself, who never needs any help. Then, he's saved by a weakling like me. That's a terrible humiliation!"

A silence fell over them as Maya couldn't come up with anything useful to say. She knew Rose was right. Rex didn't seem like the type of guy that accepts being saved by someone else and especially not a girl. "You're not a weakling…" Rose, however, didn't reply so Maya knew she didn't agree.

"Rex doesn't think you're a weakling either. I'm sure of that." Actually, she wasn't sure. She had never expected Rex to be such a coward, so who knows what else he was thinking. The only thing she knew was, that his own actions were hurting Rex. He had been very silent after his lie as well and didn't dare to look Rose in the eyes anymore.

"Yes he does. But that doesn't matter."

"No?", Maya asked slightly confused.

"No, because weakling or not, if he only slightly cared about me, he wouldn't have done it.", Rose paused for a few seconds so she could find the strength to go on without making her voice crack. "He doesn't care a shit about me."

Maya quickly searched for an argument to prove that Rose was wrong, but she couldn't come up with one. She was right. Even if Rex really thought of Rose as a weakling, he would never hurt her like that if he liked her just a tiny bit. It was quite obvious that he considered his reputation a lot more important than Rose's feelings. "But still… he looked so upset during the rest of the evening. He hardly spoke a word and when he did, his voice was so low as if he didn't want anyone to notice him. It's crystal-clear that he's feeling extremely guilty, but what does that mean? That he just doesn't like to hurt people, or that he cares about Rose after all? Man, this guy 's complicated… and then there's that Terrorking Posseidon…"

On the other bed, Rose kept on thinking about Rex. She had already accepted that she didn't mean anything to him, but was now searching for something to blame herself. Where had she made the crucial mistake? Where did it go wrong? "Man, I just did everything wrong. It already started the first evening we met. Although he said that he enjoyed dueling me, I'm quite sure now that he didn't mean that and I can't blame him. I did a very lame duel full of mistakes and stupidities and forgetting to draw cards. Damn, just why do I always have to forget to draw cards? I must have really annoyed him for hours. I don't blame him for not wanting to tell anyone that I saved him. In fact, he doesn't owe that to me. In the end, he was in danger because of me. If I wouldn't have been so incredibly stupid and curious to know where that smell came from, nothing would have happened to him in the first place. Besides, he was the first one to save me. Without him I would probably be dead by now. He's right. He doesn't owe me anything. I had to save him, because he had to save me, so I can't blame him for wanting to save his reputation. It was my fault he got into the situation and he doesn't need to pay for my stupidities." Strangely enough, Rose suddenly felt kind of relieved. She had found out the reasons why she didn't need to be angry with Rex and that made her feel a bit happier.

"But how should I react when I see him again tomorrow? Should I stick my nose into the air and start acting unfriendly? Or should I just ignore him? Actually, he doesn't deserve all of that. I think that the best thing to do is to act normal and friendly, as usual. As if nothing happened. I'll even smile at him so that he knows he doesn't need to feel guilty or anything!

…

But I'm not going to do what I planned on doing during dinner though. Not anymore. He wouldn't appreciate it and besides, it's not my task to do. He should do it himself or ask Weevil, I don't have anything to do with it. On the other hand… I'm quite sure it would make him happy. Perhaps, if I can make sure that nobody finds out I'm behind this, that I can spare him the humiliation and at the same time just do what I planned on doing. But is he worth it?

…

I guess that loving someone means you want to see them happy?

…

Did I just imply that I love him?

…

Oh dear, then the rest of this tournament is not going to be fun, because the feelings aren't mutual."

After a few more moments of wicking and weighing, Rose suddenly got up and walked towards the door.

"Where are you going?", Maya asked confused and worried.

"I'm going to drink coffee at the bar. There's probably one somewhere." Without waiting for Maya's response, Rose exited the room and closed the door behind her. As she was walking along the corridor, it occurred to Rose that that was the lamest argument ever possible. Maya knew that she didn't like coffee and why would she go to the bar, a public place where she might meet Rex? The last thing she needed was to see him now. It would ask too much of her energy to look him into the eyes and smile at him. Yet she would try, it just had to work! "But that's of no importance right now. I'll easily find something to reply if Maya asks more questions. Right now, I just have to make sure that nobody sees me here or everything will go wrong."

When she reached Espa Roba's room, Rose stopped still and carefully looked around before knocking on his door. "Come on, Roba! Open the door! Nobody may see me here!"

She heard footsteps on the other side of the door and after another moment it opened. Espa Roba looked at Rose questioningly. "Hi.", Rose said, putting on a friendly smile. She had decided that he had never done anything to her, so there was no reason to act unfriendly to him. It would be unfair not to give him a chance. "I would like to do you a proposal. Face to face, if it's possible."

Espa Roba gave her a quick inspection, looking up and down, before nodding and opening the door a bit farther so she could come in. Once she was in the room, Rose waited politely until he offered her a seat. In the meantime she examined her surroundings until her gaze landed on a row of photographs. Not being able to believe her eyes, she went to take a closer look. In the meanwhile, Espa Roba had closed the door again and was leaning cross-armed against the door, curious at what this girl had to say to him.

"Are they… your brothers?", Rose asked, her gaze still on the pictures.

"Yes, they are.", Espa Roba answered, still sitting on the fence.

"Wow, you resemble each other a lot. I almost don't see any differences."

"I'm the oldest brother."

"Must be tough sometimes… and lively. I'm an only child."

There had been times that he would have answered she was a lucky girl, but now he knew from experience that he loved his brothers more than anything. People like Rose had to be lonely.

"Take a seat.", Espa Roba gestured at one of the chairs that were standing around the table. Rose did as she was told and Espa Roba sat in front of her. "How can I help you?"

"Do you have your Serpent Night Dragon with you?"

Espa Roba frowned a little at the question and answered with a yes.

"Good.", Rose thought. There was no point in continuing this conversation if he wouldn't have brought it. "Well, I would like to bet my Frostosaurus for it tomorrow."

Espa Roba raised an eyebrow as Rose took a card out of her pocket and let him see it. It was Frostosaurus. "Here's the deal: If I win tomorrow, you give Serpent Night Dragon back to Rex and if you win, you get my Frostosaurus. I know it's not as rare as Serpent Night Dragon, but it's stronger and only requires one offer. Seems like a fair deal to me."

Espa Roba leaned forward to take a closer look at Frostosaurus. It looked quite prestigious and was a lot handier than that useless Serpent Night Dragon. Rose had to realise that, no doubt. "Why would you do all that for Rex? I'm positive that you know what a huge risk you're taking."

"I do, but the way you obtained the card from Rex doesn't please me. I don't like that kind of injustice. I once lost a card that way myself." That last sentence was a total lie, but it made Espa Roba think that she didn't do it just for Rex and that's the effect she wanted to accomplish.

Espa Roba looked down as he was feeling slightly guilty. "I regret my actions from back then.", he paused a few moments before continuing, "That's why I will accept your proposal."

Rose suddenly got a smile from one ear to the other. "Really? Oh, thank you!"

Espa Roba smiled slightly back at seeing Rose's happiness that he thought was suspicious.

"Oh, and could you do me one last favour?", Rose asked.

"What is it?"

"If I win, will you please hand over Serpent Night Dragon to Rex yourself? I don't want anyone to know I'm behind this."

"Why?"

"I have my reasons. So, will you do that?", Rose asked, a bit afraid of the answer.

"Okay, but I will win.", Espa Roba smiled at her to make clear that he was looking forward to it.

"We'll see about that.", Rose smiled back.

He accompanied her to the door so he could let her out and they said goodbye. Standing back in the corridor, Rose immediately wanted to get away out of fear of meeting someone, but when she wanted to turn into the direction of her room, she noticed a figure standing at only a few meters from her in the opposite direction from where her room was. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw it was Rex, who was staring at her with wide eyes, motionlessly.

Rose immediately gathered air and strength in order to say hello and smile at him. She opened her mouth a little, feeling her muscles ready to take the laugh-order, but suddenly tears were welling up in her eyes. As if by magic, Rose felt all the strength and fake happiness slip away as she lost control. In order to save her dignity, she quickly turned away towards her room. Hoping that Rex wouldn't call after her, she took fast steps, but resisted the urge to start running. Luckily for her, he didn't and Rose knew that he hadn't seen her emotions. When she got into her room, Rose was extremely relieved to see that Maya had left, because she was in quite an unstable state. She let herself fall on the bed and pressed her head in her pillow in order to hold back the tears that mercilessly wanted to come out.

"I won't cry over a boy. I won't! I promised!"

Rose vividly remembered her own words from when she was a little girl. Her parents were having a discussion, because one of Rose's cousins had had a boyfriend who had cheated on her and the girl had already been crying for weeks. Too young to understand everything that was being said, but understanding the core of the situation, she had suddenly exclaimed with full pride: "I will never cry over a boy!", and she was positive that she was right.

Now, that statement was about to be destroyed. Rose desperately moved her head in her pillow, causing the tears that were coming out anyway to dry up immediately. "I refuse! I refuse! I refuse!" She felt how her whole pillow was turning wet, but she still didn't admit to herself she was crying. She never would! While she was moving in her bed, she noticed the Frostosaurus in her pocket and took it out. She looked at it for a few seconds and suddenly got a very bad feeling in her stomach. Espa Roba was quite a famous psychic duelist. Even when he didn't cheat he was good.

"I'm going to lose you… for a boy."

Rose kept staring at her card for a few moments before she suddenly wiped away the remaining tears on her cheeks and grasped for her deck in her bag. She quickly spread out all her cards in front of her on the bed and starting thinking of all possible combos she could come up with.

She couldn't lose Frostosaurus! She just couldn't! She had to prevent it from happening!

Rose: Poor Weevil… he's sick.

Maya: And he's mad at us.

Rose: And he doesn't like potatoes.

Maya: And that's why he's mad.

Rose: But that's totally beside the point right now.

Maya: Yes! The point is that next chapter we'll have Seto!

Rose: Woehoe.

Maya: I know.

Kaiba: Finally… after all that sentimental bullshit in this chapter.

Rose: That's no bullshit! Next chapter: Kaiba's sentimental bullshit!

Kaiba: Working is no bullshit!

Rose: Yeah right, working. You're just reading OUR fanfiction on YOUR laptop.

Kaiba: … How does that even work?

Rose: And you're secretly on Tumblr!

Kaiba: Tubr… what?

Maya: Never mind Seto. But I have seen you there… or at least pictures of you.

Rose: Yeah, and some are very ugh ugh ugh. I can show you.

Kaiba: I don't want to know.

Rose: Luckily, then I can search more pictures of Rex!

Maya: And potatoes…

Rose: Shh, they mustn't know! And some people will get even more sick. And we don't want that.

Maya: You're right. R&R!

Rose: !