Hello hello again! Happy 2013 to you all! I hope you had an amazing holiday! I'm all healed up and ready to start busting out chapters again, and I will try to post as much as possible but I've gotta go back to work on Monday :( Anyway, I would like to thank all my amazing super awesome reviewers; Magdalene Thorne, Thanks for the Holiday wishes I hope yours was amazing! FiringShootingStar, lol I guess it would be a really late Happy New year now ^_^" Count Morningstar, I really appreciate all your messages and so far i'm LOVING your story, sorry I haven't reviewed it just yet! Scarlett Wolf, sorry if i disappointing you we'll just have to see what happens. :) JPKos, and my ever so mysterious Guest reviewer! You all are so amazing! ;A;

Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own Yugioh 5Ds. Just my OC's and the plot of this story. :)

Crow let out a shaky breath, it was late afternoon by the time he called Yusei and made sure Akiza and the twins got back to the garage okay to wait for the news; he stood outside his childhood home, a place that usually brought excitement and happiness coursing through his veins both to see his foster mother and to see his nest of kids.

But right now, the only he could feel was…yep, he was gonna say it; 'Fear.' Behind those doors waited the fate of the one girl he couldn't seem to get enough of, the girl who had touched a part of his heart he thought no one would ever reach. He would never admit it out loud but her ignorance of the marks on his face and how she would just stare at them when she thought he wasn't looking was what attracted him at first.

He then discovered her little quirks; like how much she cared even though she tried to hide it, the way her face seemed to glow from the depths of her soul when she smiled, how red her face got over even the littlest of things. Even how unwittingly sarcastic she was, or how she made his heart race with just a look, the way her presence alone would seem to light up his very soul.

Yet, as he stood by the Blackbird he couldn't seem to move that step toward the door. What would he do if that light was gone? The red head shook his head violently, "No! Gotta stay positive! She'll get through this! She has too…"

With that thought he clenched his fists and slowly, so slowly it felt like years, he took a step. And another, and another, just one foot over the other until he reached the door, and just as he raised his hand to knock it swung open his foster mother standing there with a soft smile on her face.

"Martha…" she leaned forward her arms outstretched, wrapping them securely around his shoulders. Almost automatically he returned the gesture, burying his face in her strong shoulder.

"She…she's gonna be okay right?" Asking that question alone almost sent him into a crying fit, but a better part of him just barely held himself together, if only by tape and glue.

"My boy…she's stronger than you all give her credit for." 'Yep, here they come.' And with that thought the water works began, but this time they were of happiness.

~0~0~0~

Crow wasn't sure how long they stood there, hugging while he bawled like a baby, but as they parted and the dark skinned woman lead him down the hall and through the door that lead to the little hospital wing that Doc Schmidt ran. As far as he knew the only patients he had were some local families too poor to afford medical care in the city or old folks who lost their homes.

Said gray haired doctor stepped out of a room at the very end closing the door behind him he sighed and looked up, seeing them coming toward him. Crow ran up to the man a flurry of questions leaving his mouth, the doctor merely placed a finger over his lips to silence him.

"She's okay; she's sustained a few minor scratches and bruises. However, both her shoulders are severely lacerated, given time though those should heal over. Considering the placement of the wounds she's very lucky, though what's concerning is it seems her white blood cell count is extremely low." Crow frowned,

"Those do what again?"

"They're cells that eat bacteria and fungi, and without enough of those to help the healing process I'm afraid she's gotten a pretty high fever." His eyes widened as fear coursed through his veins,

"H-How do we fix that?" The doctor placed his hands on his shoulders,

"I've given her an immune booster to help her fight off the infection and some antibacterial shots to help rebuild her white blood cells. The rest is up too her, so all we can do is wait." The red head let out a sigh of relief as he ran his hand through his hair,

"Thank goodness…" he sighed and then frowned when he noticed the absence of one very at-fault blonde; "Where's Jack?" Doc Schmidt looked at the door behind him,

"He hasn't left her side all day, I brought him a chair not too long ago but he hasn't said a word since I treated her." He nodded, "It's a good thing you brought her here too, seems like the entire city is looking for her." Crow frowned;

"Why?" the man sighed,

"Apparently they believe that since she delivered the first cure that she might hold the key to solving this 'satellite flu' mystery." He shook his head,

"But I know for a fact she doesn't! What she gave them was supposed to be it." Doc Schmidt nodded,

"I know that, but people are beginning to panic. And with the number of people infected increasing and the way the virus is evolving its only going to get worse." He nodded, honestly he had no clue what he was going to do. But all he could do right now was trust in Raven and talk to her about it directly once she was okay again.

'Everything else could wait, damn it!'

"Can I see her?" the grey haired man smiled softly,

"Of course, but no fighting please. She desperately needs to rest right now." And with that the doctor stepped out of the way, opening the door for the red head. The room was small and rectangle shaped and smelled of sterile cleaner, the wooden walls faded slightly,there was a window at the far end, though the blinds were currently shut, so any light from the snow outside shone through small cracks.

It was almost too intimidating to continue moving forward, except that is for the familiar form on the bed sitting directly in front of him. Long black hair cascading over the starkly white pillow, as equally white bandages wrapped around her forehead, her cheeks a flushed red with fever as a clear mask covered her nose and mouth that made strange puffing sounds as she took each ragged breath.

The clothes she had been wearing before had thankfully been taken off and replaced with a long sleeve dark blue shirt, standard patient gear he assumed as he slowly approached the bed.

An I.V. was attached to her arm, pumping in some strange clear liquid. Both her slender shoulders were wrapped in white gauze and Crow could see the brownish color of dried blood through it, lightly he brushed his fingers across her own, afraid to do more harm to the already fragile looking girl. Kneeling down next to the bed he carefully held her hand in his own,

"Has she said anything?" he whispered to no one in particular, though a familiar Australian accent answered;

"Not since at the track." Looking directly across the bed he met the amethyst eyes of his blonde brother and friend, though he seemed to wear his usual frown Crow could see concern in his eyes and something else…guilt?

"Jack." The blonde didn't look up, his eyes fixed on the sleeping girl, but he knew he had heard him.

"She's stubborn right?" Crow smirked, the blonde nodded,

"So determined to take on the world but hasn't got the power to do it." The blonde murmured.

"Stubborn idiot, doing all that just to end up here, and for what?" the red head shrugged,

"For us probably, I heard her say that during the duel when that crazy light surrounded her." They didn't say anything for a time, until Jack broke the silence again.

"She didn't even know how to Turbo Duel until today…can you believe that? A person riding a D-Wheel like she does and has no idea how to accomplish its very function." He chuckled as he said this, making the red head smirk as they stared at the sleeping girl.

"Silly girl…it somehow doesn't surprise me that you didn't know. But Jack here, he took good care of you, and even though he doesn't know much." Jack glared at him, "He does know dueling, so you couldn't have been in better hands. So even though you lost and he'll mock you endlessly for it I'm sure he's proud of you." He looked at the blonde know, his deep purple eyes staring widely at his own.

"And I'm sure you don't blame him for any of this, because he taught you well." The blonde bent his head leaning it against his hands, he didn't make any noise but Crow could tell by the subtle way his shoulders shook, he was crying. He looked back at the sleeping girl;

"So come back to us soon okay?" and Crow could have sworn for the smallest second he felt her squeeze his hand.

"Look to the beginning."

Raven looked around, one minute she was playing near a small pond with little ducklings and a small waterfall across the way in the forest outside of Alturas as she had when she was little, and the next an unfamiliar voice was speaking to her again. "Who are you?"

"I am a friend." Well that's helpful, she couldn't see anything beyond the trees around her so she felt kinda foolish talking to herself. As if reading her mind a man in a light blue button up shirt, black pants and a long white coat that seemed to shine as what she could only describe as sparkles floated off him.

But it wasn't this that drew her attention, it was his black spiked hair his bangs hanging down one side of his face, covering one of his cobalt blue eyes. He smiled down at her, one of his hands reaching out helping her to stand, though he still towered over her.

"You look…familiar. Have we met before sir?" she was being as polite as possible as to not offend this new person, his smile remained.

"No but I believe you know someone who is very close to my heart. I sensed that he might be in danger and I believe you are the only one who can help them." She was confused by this, and shook her head.

"I'm sorry but I'm not a savior or a hero of any kind, I barely know the difference between slang and actual speech!" it was a flimsy excuse she knew but the idea of saving anyone was scary. Strong hands landed on her shoulders,

"It's alright child. You have all the tools you could need for this task, now please we haven't much time left." For some reason his words seemed to soothe her and she nodded.

"Now in order to keep this disease from spreading beyond Neo Domino you must look to the past to save the future! The one who bound you and the Crimson Dragon is the key!" His voice echoed through out the forest sending ripples through the water below her.

"I can't stop him! I can't….not by myself!" she wrapped her arms around herself,

"My dear, you are never alone. Not only will the Dragon be with you, you also have my son and all his friends as well.!" Raven gasped, "Are they not your happiness?"

Nodding she looked up, "They are! I would protect them with everything I am!" she felt the man's approval,

"Look to the past Raven….to the past." His voice echoed around her as darkness consumed her.

~0~0~0~

Pale blue eyes snapped open; blinking a few times they focused on an unfamiliar wooden ceiling. There was a beeping noise coming from beside her, beeping in time with her own heartbeat. 'A…heart monitor? Am I in the hospital?'

Slowly and with very little pain she sat up, she felt the itchy pinch of an I.V. in her right arm and the clip on her finger for the heart monitor. The only window in the room was closed but she could see a tiny bit of sunlight streaming through the blinds, so at least she knew it was still day time.

But other than that she noted, she was alone.

Rubbing the sleep from her eyes she stretched out a bit, wiggling her toes first. 'Alright, the little piggies seem to be in working order.' Continuing this check all the way up her body she noted the only sore spots were just below both her shoulders, lightly running her fingers over the white gauze it felt as if her marks had scabbed over underneath.

As the memories of her duel with Isaac came back to her the door on the opposite end of the room opened and to her relief it was Doctor Schmidt that walked in, his eyes widened as he looked from the chart in his hand to her before smiling.

"Raven, welcome back." She smirked at his humor, but as she opened her mouth to reply back she found her voice would not come. As she grabbed her throat to message it the doctor walked over to the bedside table and poured some water in a glass before handing it to her.

Smiling her thanks she downed the cool liquid, relishing how it felt going down her dry throat. Clearing her throat she managed to get some sound out, but the kind man beat her to it.

"I know you must have some questions, but first; how is your pain? Does it hurt anywhere?" Motioning to her bandaged shoulders and making a shrinking motion with her fingers he nodded,

"That's to be expected, you skidded pretty hard against them but thankfully it scabbed over very nicely so the pain should lessen given some time." Clearing her throat she tried speaking again;

"H-ow…Long?" the two words scrapped against her vocal cords but she was proud she got them out.

"You've been asleep for about 3 days now, its pretty remarkable how fast you healed. Your bruised ribs and burn was gone by the time you came in, and it seems your white blood count has returned to normal now. I'm sure the boys will be very happy once they get here later." Her eyes widened,

"W-Where?" the doctor smiled,

"Crow, and Yusei had to work and Jack had something he had to take care of. But they all said they would come by later to visit. Just as they've done everyday since your accident." She couldn't believe what she was hearing, had they really done so much while she was in dream land? It made her happy to know that she wasn't alone,

"I'm actually really impressed also…" she lifted a brow. The doctor smirked,

"Crow seems to be very smitten with you, more so then I've ever seen with anyone. You're quite the lucky girl." Blushing she stared at her lap,

"I know…" After taking a deep breath and running a hand through her bangs she noticed how matted they were, the hair behind her shoulder no doubly a mess of tangles. Looking at the doctor hopefully she asked;

"S-Shower?" The man chuckled,

"I will have Martha prepare a bath for you so as not to irritate your shoulders. Just make sure not to get them wet." She smiled widely and nodded as he walked out of the room again.

And once again she bowed her head and silently thanked the Crimson Dragon for allowing her to meet such amazing people.

~0~0~0~

Raven sighed as she stepped out of the bathroom, a towel on her head like a hood, sadly she had no clothes here so she was forced to put on a new pair of the standard hospital garments of a dark blue tee shirt and matching pants. Though because of her height they practically pooled at her feet, but at this point in her life, she was used too it.

As she got back to her room she noticed Jack, Akiza, Luna, Leo and Yusei standing there, looking inside the room she once occupied. Curious she stood as stall as she could to try and see what was so interesting, though all she could see was the top of Bruno's head as he flailed around. There was also a strange running sound coming from inside her room,

"Crow relax I'm sure she woke up and went to get some water. Stop freaking out." Yusei said calmly, she smiled, 'I always liked how Yusei would be the calm reasonable one in a crisis.' Jack spoke now,

"I doubt it, she probably fell down a well somewhere for all we know." She sweat dropped, 'Does he really think I'm that stupid?' a voice in the back of her mind replied with a definite "Yes" Sighing she tapped Jack's shoulder; he didn't turn instead made a noise to show he was listening.

"Who are you looking for?" he scoffed,

"Haven't you heard? We're looking for that air head Raven, so leave us alone and let us get too it Raven." She nodded and began to walk away,

"Great! Let me know when you find her." He nodded; she smirked when it got deadly quiet behind her as 7 pairs of eyes turned toward her.

And that's when it began; the hugging war between Jack and the twins with Akiza, Bruno and Crow looking at them with an amused look. Though as she looked at Crow he seemed to be purposely avoiding look at her, 'Is he…' but the thought was cut short as a hard fist landed directly on her head.

"Ow ow ow! Why?!" she said rubbing her head and looking up toward the smug looking blonde,

"That is for losing a match I could have easily won!" she sweat dropped, 'That's the part he focuses on?' but another hard fist on her head stopped her from voicing her thought.

"Ouch! Why now?!" Jack's purple eyes could have glared holes through her,

"That is for making all of us worry so much and dueling a man that could have very well killed you." She winced, at some point she had come to expect some sort of scolding about that. But to be perfectly honest she didn't feel the least bit bad about that. She bowed to all of them,

"I-I'm sorry about those first two things….but…I won't apologize for dueling Isaac. It was my battle to fight, and hiding behind you all would have made things worse than they already are."

She tried her best to maintain eye contact with them, but had to turn away as Crow scoffed and began walking toward her. She could definitely feel it now, and as he brushed past her and through the door into the main house mumbling a loud;

"Whatever." She knew for sure, he was angry with her.

Crossing her arms she stared at the closed door, "He's got no right to be mad, I didn't do anything wrong." She whispered.

"Clearly you're more of an idiot than I gave you credit for." Jack's eyes bore into her as he said this lighting her fire even more,

"Excuse me? I am not some freakin princess that needs to be protected when things get tough! I have the scars to prove that!" She groaned loudly as she remembered the twins, Akiza and Bruno were still standing there.

"Thank you for visiting and making sure I'm okay, but as you can see I'm fine." With that she threaded her way back into the room, shutting the door hard behind her. Lying back down on the bed she felt that fire inside of her still blurring her thoughts, sighing loudly she tossed the pillow across the room landing with a dull thump at the foot of her bed.

Raven had to admit, she was a bit ticked off that he was mad at her.

Rolling to her side as the door opened again, this time it was Yusei and Jack, she huffed loudly but didn't have the heart to tell them to go away.

"Raven." She wrapped her arms around herself as Yusei said her name, she felt the bed dip slightly at her feet.

"What do you want?" she whispered,

"Stop acting like a petulant child, will you. It's undignified!" she huffed again, but as her more rational mind began to seep its way back in she sat up pulling her knees to her chest.

"Better?" she deadpanned. Jack leaned against the wall in front of her, his arms crossed and with Yusei sitting at the corner of the bed,

"Do you understand why Crow's angry?" the dark haired man said, she shook her head.

"He's got no right to be angry at me for dueling Isaac, he's my problem not yours." She mumbled. Yusei shook his head,

"Raven it's more than that and you know it; why didn't you tell anyone you saw him after the festival? Or about the man hunt for you? Even about your dad and how he's the reason this is all happening? We're your friends Raven, how are we supposed to help you if you don't say anything?" She curled tighter into herself at that,

"I couldn't…it wouldn't have been fair to you all…" Jack scoffed,

"What the duce does that mean? Shouldn't we be the ones to decide what's fair to us?" Shaking her head she tried to find a way to phrase it,

"Make us understand Raven." She looked up as she felt the pure worry and confusion in his voice,

"How? How am I, someone who's never had a friend in her entire life, supposed to suddenly lean on people all of a sudden?" She stared directly at them, "How do you expect me to just come here and dump all of my stupid problems on you all? All of you, especially Crow, have been so kind to me that dragging any of you into this would be unfair…no it would make our relationship more unbalanced."

Yusei seemed to consider this thought, Jack, not one for deep thoughts just rolled his eyes,

"Don't be so daft! Friends have each others backs when we need them, so if one of us is in trouble it's not the end of the world to help them out because then they'll help us when we need it." Raven seriously had a hard time believing that,

"Jack's right, have we ever given you a reason not to think we wouldn't be there when you need us?" the fire inside of her burned out at this, because the truth was they hadn't. Every time she needed them, they were there even without being asked too. She sighed and sat Indian style looking at them sheepishly,

"I'm sorry, you're right." Yusei smirked in her peripheral vision and patted her hand, "So um…should I catch you both up on what I know?" They shook their heads,

"Doc Schmidt did that while you were asleep, and Carly's been doing some digging to throw Angela off your trail. We just have to be a bit more careful when we're out in public for the time being." She nodded as relief flooded through her; once again her friends had her back and protected her.

"Who the duce is this Isaac bastard?" Jack said clearly not willing to ignore the elephant in the room, Yusei sighed.

"H-He's the one who…um…" she lightly traced her fingers over one of the scabs where the mark used to be. Of course Jack, not one for subtly, said it for her;

"He put those damned things on you?!" she cringed at his tone but nodded.

"That's all the more reason you shouldn't have lost!" she bit her lip,

"Way to rub salt in the wound Jack." Yusei sighed,

"I-It wasn't about winning or losing Jack. I'm sure if I had been alone I would have ran as far and as fast as I could from him…but since you were there, then Crow and the others it gave me the strength to keep fighting him as hard as I could." Lightly rubbing the bandages on her arms she continued,

"Before, in Alturas, I wasn't able to fight him…every time he would come for me I simply obeyed and took whatever he did. He made me believe that no matter where I went or whatever I did, there would be no place for me, that I was nothing."

"But you escaped; you must have found strength somewhere?" Yusei's voice was confused; she stared at the blinds wishing they were open.

"I took an opportunity, but I still knew even when I did, I wouldn't find anyone who'd help me. Isaac is the one who made me believe that, mind you it didn't actually sink in until after my parent's died."

"Then where did you get the runner?" Yusei was sure asking a lot of questions today, but Raven didn't mind now that she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she could trust them, though that's not to say it didn't hurt immensely to remember.

"M-My parent's actually, I guess they figured I wouldn't be able to stay there forever. So after I escaped I hid out in the forest for a while, in a secret area that I would go to sometimes. Apparently they built a concealed shed around it; it took a while for me to figure out how to ride it. But when I was finally able too…it was indescribable that feeling." She smiled.

"And you know the rest up to this point." Then she remembered something, something Isaac had said specifically; "I see you didn't get my present I left you." She suddenly leaned forward toward Yusei,

"You didn't happen to get any flowers did you? An odd number of carnations or a really pretty black one?" his cobalt eyes widened,

"How did you know? It came a few days ago while you and Jack were off at the track, are they important?" She groaned,

"What did they look like?" Yusei thought for a second,

"Well I think there were around 13 or so of these white carnations and a weird black one that looked like a daisy. Are they significant?" Raven paled and jumped from the bed, her mind screaming at her to find Crow. Just before her fingers touched the knob an arm around her waist stopped her, physically lifting her off the ground as she kicked.

"Raven, what the hell?! Stop kicking me!" Jack's voice was in her ear, she pulled uselessly at his arm,

"Jack we have to find Crow! Please let me go! We have to find him!" she could feel tears in her eyes as Yusei appeared in front of her holding his arms out to keep her from hitting him, or hurting herself.

"Raven, calm down. Why do we have to find him? What's wrong?" Taking a couple deep breaths her voice cracked as the tears fell,

"T-The flowers…that's how we communicate in Alturas…the daisy is actually a Lenten Rose, they're a poisonous flower that means 'Beware', and the odd number of white carnations mean 'Death*'. Isaac meant to kill me, but since he didn't…he'll…" more tears fell now she could barely get out the next sentence.

"Help me…please…Crow he doesn't know…I can't." she leaned heavily over Jack's arm, gripping it tightly with her hands.

"Jack." The blonde nodded and gently placed her back on the ground as Yusei walked to the hook that had her coat and a pair of boots sitting under it, handing it to her with a reassuring smile.

"Let's go."

Dun dun dun! Can anyone guess who the man from Raven's dream was? Virtual cookies to anyone who guesses right!

*I actually heard that on TV but I don't remember where the superstition originates. the Lenten Rose doesn't actually mean a death threat though, but it's a really pretty poisonous flower! XD Please review with any thoughts, comments or helpful comments!

Till next time! :3