Flight is the dream of many creatures. Humanity has spent decades attempting to emulate flight as best they could. Crow had even managed to incorporate it into Tinkering with the Blackbird Duel Runner for several months had resulted with a system capable of achieving controlled bursts of flight for as long as eighty-five seconds. Watching the graceless, stumbling, erratic, path Musume was clawing through the skies would have brought him to literal tears. Short of dropping her precious cargo onto the dirty streets far below, there was little she could have done worse – including colliding with a rooftop and taking a stumbling leap over the railing that bordered an edge as she attempted to continue in roughly the same direction as before.
No, as Musume was tearing his perfect dream apart beneath every mis-flap, Crow was being firmly escorted through the empty building. Other than the mild humiliation of being physically lifted with both arms pinned to his side and the thick bag placed over his head, it was not that far removed from life with his brothers. Yusei would not have put the bag over his face and Jack would have given him a few extra knocks along the way. Otherwise, completely the same.
Even through the careful constraints being put on him, Crow was able to make out at least some details of his surroundings. Each hushed footstep told him his overprotective porters were moving in the middle of a large group who – from the sweaty smell of anger and adrenaline – were only not imparting blows against him because they had been told not to. Then the lengthy series of sharp jostles threatening to bite off his tongue told him that somebody up the chain of command had anticipated he would try to take advantage of the confined space of an elevator to make an escape attempt. After ten straight minutes of trying to stop his teeth from chipping themselves to shards, Crow felt himself carried in a more horizontal fashion once again.
"Tell me if there are more stairs." Turning his blind eyes to either side, courage and fear gave him equal lack of reasons to restrain his flippant tone. "Give me an opportunity to empty my stomach in advance."
"Quiet!" A single hiss came from his right. Fear? Unless Crow was suddenly full of Musume-grade fury, they were scared of somebody other than him. Whoever was running this faction of Yliaster had them fairly whipped into line. "Lift your legs." Crow expected a blow to force him to bend at the knees as he stood resolute. "Please?"
"Why?" Testing every boundary he could push might reveal something about the bizarre situation. Any information – no matter how small – could be useful.
"So that we don't bash your knees when we load you into the truck." Complying with captors can lead to dangerous psychological problems further down the line. Weighing the risk of developing a rapport with a powerful criminal organisation against smashing his shins into unyielding metal, Crow curled both knees up against his chest. Taking what little effort that his legs had contributed didn't even bend the unyielding arms holding him in place.
On a 'kidnapee' level, it hurt to know any attempt at escape would have probably failed dramatically. On a more personal level, it was nice to know that they thought of him enough of a threat to put him in the hands of their biggest muscles.
"It's good to know that you care." Care over, the unresisting body was forced – albeit gently – into a chill metal seat. Then what felt suspiciously like giant elastic bands tied his arms to those of the chair. "Careful, you missed a spot." An extra tug on the bonds emphasised that such jokes weren't amusing under the circumstances.
A blinking computer screen was fasted to the wall in front of him. Input would normally take place through the keyboard on the desk yet the blinking light of a camera said that typing would not be necessary. An instant chat window had been put full-screen, blinking cursor awaiting his attention. Looking over one shoulder, Crow watched the guards close the thick steel door behind them and leave him alone in the back of the truck. After a moment, the engine
Crow Hogan. Green letters spilled across the centre of the screen. Menacing, deadly.
"Is this a movie? Are there snacks? I'd love some snacks." The cursor continued to blink silently. After a minute, the door squealed open to admit a guard with a bag of candy slapped atop a cardboard plate. Slamming down the confectionery, he left without saying a word of looking at the screen where another message was already waiting.
I had forgotten about your sense of humour. Beneath his feet, a slight rumble started up. The truck was moving. Decent suspension was stopping him from guessing any sort of details but there was definitely movement.
"Really? But it's my best quality." Trying his bonds, Crow found himself loose enough to wriggle free. It was unlikely they had been lax by accident, just tight enough for the guards to leave unharmed.
That point is debatable. After a moment, the screen refreshed. A point that has yet to be made clear is exactly why you are here.
Picking a toffee, Crow examined the sweet carefully. "Paris in the spring?" Tearing off the wrapper, he took a quick bite. It didn't taste of poison. No reason why it should. Any orders to kill him would have been carried out back at University Eight.
It's August. Crow pondered the truth for a minute as he chewed. There is no need to stall. Yliaster is not pursuing Sherry LeBlanc at this moment. A wry smile crept over his lips as Crow read the words. Not many people could tell the difference between his peculiar brand of humour and a bid for time. Whoever was at the other end of the line had studied him well.
"Why did you ask me to come? How did you lure Musume here?" So long went past that Crow expected the guards to drag him away again. Eventually, words started to spool across the screen.
She was an unexpected addition to events. Maybe not as brilliant as it would have been a few days ago but it was still welcome news. As host to both the Crimson Dragon and Red Nova, she is a danger we could not allow to continue. Killing her would have more dangerous than letting her live so we extracted the spirits instead. An offhand way to mention this person clearly had the means and capability to manipulate two of the most powerful creatures Crow's family had ever heard of. If you had known sooner, we might have come to an understanding.
"I doubt it." Quietly glaring at the screen, he wondered who lay on the other end of the connection. Clearly somebody that wanted to be on his good side. "It sounds like we're both avoiding the question."
Maybe so. I summoned you because I had hoped we might work together. Why him? If somebody was going to be approached for partnership, why choose the low-ranking pro-Duellist instead of the reigning world champion or even the highly connected scientist/new King of Games? Why did you come? Shifting in his chair, Crow wondered if the leader of this Yliaster faction would be as amendable as his counterpart had been to Yusei.
"Robert Pearson is stuck in the Underworld. I want him out." Dropping the name was a calculated risk.
That is not possible. The reply came too fast for it to be the truth. Whatever Crow had asked would have been met with the same response. It was a power play.
"You have the ability to separate Musume from Crimson Dragon and Red Nova but can't get even one ghost out of the Underworld?"
It is not possible. It had to be a lie. Crow had come too far for it not to be.
"Fine. Point me in the direction of another faction. I'm sure one of them wants the Signer's on their side." Evil laughter cannot really echo through an encrypted message channel like it should but the slow type was more menacing for it.
Ha ha ha. Lowering his sweet back into place, Crow could feel his stomach tightening into knots. Maybe there were other factions that would have helped you. They follow me now. Several thoughts went through his head with at least three of them ending in a new face and change of name. Only one other remains and they will be under my command shortly. Nanashi. What remained of the Yliaster that Aporia had controlled. Their last hope of stopping whoever was talking with him in that vast truck.
"Then you can kiss this relationship goodbye. Sherry will come back to get me, she's too angry not to." Staying captive with Yliaster for a few months was a preferable alternative to facing down an angry Frenchwoman. Mainly on the grounds that Yliaster could only attack him from the shadows whereas Sherry could just as easily punch him in the light of day.
What you're asking for isn't possible. Not at this time. Among his many talents for upsetting people, Crow had learned how to provoke them into agreeing with his way of thinking. It didn't always work with the more stubborn people out there but often enough to get by. Jack was particularly impervious to this trick. We will investigate the matter further.
"Thank you." They sat in silence for another minute. "Wait, was that it? Couldn't we just have done that over the phone?"
It would be unfortunate if other parties were to become involved. The threat was clear. People Yliaster didn't want investigating them tended not to live very long. Crow knew of exactly one person who had managed to survive them without help from outside sources.
"So then," Picking another sweet from the stack, he continued to munch as the cursor blinked. "What do you want from me?" Nobody in his life had ever wanted to give him something and expect nothing in return. Being kidnapped did not indicate that was about to change.
We'll search for a way to restore Pearson while you ensure the world remains unaware of Crimson Dragon and Red Nova. Do whatever you must to keep Musume contained. That sounded fair enough. Nobody wanted other people trying to edge in on such deadly powers. You will also make Sherry LeBlanc cease her hunt. Crow mulled over the deal. It was a good deal for him. Providing that his head wasn't ripped off for agreeing to it.
"That's all you want?" None of the others would have agreed to it. Yusei had carried the burden without getting anything in return. But Crow was asking for payment. Before America, that might have meant something. Now he had a slightly harsher outlook on life.
For now. If that was the game Yliaster wanted to play, Crow was ready with a stacked deck. Few people could rig an outcome as easily as he and there was always a way to break the alliance later on.
"How do I contact you?" The cursor blinked at the same measured pace even as satisfaction radiated out from the monitor.
We will be in touch. Anyone working at a phone company could look up his mobile number. An organisation with Yliaster's vast reach probably already had it in their files. You had best hurry home.
"And here was me thinking we were just getting to be friends." Even though he would never feel completely comfortable working with them, Crow would admit that the meeting itself had been going rather easily.
Your brother's achievements are about to get him into trouble. You will doubtless wish to help. A slam came from behind as the muscle reappeared. We will make the necessary arrangements. As Crow was unbound from the chair, he realised that he had no way of getting Musume past customs. Technically not yet born, she had no passport. His new partnership was already paying off.
"If we do this," Letting his hands get bound up again, he pushed for one final addition to the agreement. "Sherry LeBlanc gets a clean slate. Everything she's done gets forgiven, even if she comes after you again."
Very well. Then the world went black as the sack went over his head.
When his vision cleared, Crow was blinking in the sunlight on the other side of the road from the La Réserve Paris. As he unwound the short length of rope from about his wrists, he received some alarmed stares from motionless pedestrians.
"Crazy party." Ignoring the onlookers, he crossed the road without waiting for the lights to change and practically sprinted up to the front desk. Nothing more than a professional flicker of curiosity crossed the receptionist's face as he approached. "Has Sherry LeBlanc returned yet?" With the sun barely risen, his dishevelled appearance and an urgent question about his travelling partner, it was anyone's guess what conclusions were being drawn.
"Miss LeBlanc called down a while ago to ask that she not be disturbed." One thought went through Crow's head – people asking not to be disturbed generally had a good reason to not be disturbed. "If I may," Appearing in one manicured hand by magic, a deep green turtleneck had been summoned by mysterious powers. "You have a... distinctive cut just below your chin. It would not do to alarm the other guests."
As he hurriedly donned the jumper in the lift to his room, Crow had to admire the professionalisms of the staff. He had turned up at dawn with a fresh wound on his neck and their only response had been to offer him a cover and foot the bill. If he could somehow get Jack to being even halfway as effective, they would never squabble again.
"Sherry?" Knocking on the door as he fumbled for his keycard, Crow could hear the sounds of a violent argument going on inside the room. Lamps breaking, furniture shifting, screaming voices, the works. "I'm coming in." No sooner had he managed to enter than he was met by the most incredible sight.
Tumbling around as if drunk, stumbling in circles and shouting in terror, Musume was risking the safety of everything in the room as the still present wings and tail flailed wildly. Even as she turned to look at his entry, one wing clipped him on the arm and sent Crow spiralling to the floor. As she hunched over him, he saw that her face was glowing in jagged patterns.
"Crow," Grabbing him by the front of his jacket tight enough to risk choking her father out, Musume them close enough together for the lights in her face to reflect off his. "They wont go back in." A slim tail could be coiled around one leg and hidden beneath a long skirt. Wings were a lot more difficult to hide.
"Fogash!" Patting her grip garnered him breathing room. Well, 'no longer actively choking' room. "Kidnapping aside" A few precious brain cells went from healthy grey to morbid grey as her grip momentarily tightened again. "My kidnapping, my one!" Each slip that would have formerly earned him a sarcastic punch now could have easily ended with broken bones. Whatever changes she was going through, monstrous strength was among them.
"Could you try letting go of him?" Sore over the muscle relaxant injection that had betrayed her back at the university, Sherry was disguising the fading effects by sipping from a glass of white wine as she relaxed on a couch by a wall. "Unless you care to pay the bill for getting his brains out of the carpet?" Even the pounding blood is in head couldn't stop Crow from hearing just how unconcerned she was at his plight.
"Think about it." Breathing almost entire mouthfuls of air, Crow's panicked brain thought very fast indeed. "Back in the lab, you had no problem dealing with them. You just need to calm down." A frightened look in her shining eyes proved that calming down was impossible right then. "Let me make a call." Scuttling backwards, Crow scurried to his feet as he reached into a pocket. Unbelievably, Yliaster had left him with both his phone and wallet intact. Not even a petty guard stealing the money inside. That was nice of them.
Dialling a number, he was pleasantly surprised when it connected on the second ring. "Hey, Jack," Cracking his neck bones back into place, Crow tried to keep his tone lighter than the grave matter it was. "Just a quick question. When you get angry, how do you keep yourself from reacting?"
"If you are setting up one of your stupid jokes," Porcelain shattered at the far end of the call. "I will put aside a few hours to pound your face into the dirt before going back to my therapy." If simply hearing the question had caused him to waste a precious cup of coffee, Crow had no doubt that Jack would follow through on his threat.
"I could really do with the answer, old pal." A lot of couples and close friends develop code words. Women enjoying a night on the town might say 'That reminds me of my uncle' when they need some backup or two constantly bickering brothers could use 'old pal' for times when they need to really focus on the current problem. "It's important." To date, neither brother had used their phrase unless it involved family, coffee or was a vital situation. This fit two of the three for Crow and the remaining one for Jack.
"...Block out everything around you. Think only on your breathing." Really getting the methods to work involved years of constant use. In a pinch, they might be able to grant a few minutes relief. "Focus on a particularly happy memory. Feel what you felt then."
"Thanks." Though they were pushed for time and Musume was almost weeping on the floor, Crow might never get such an opportunity again. "Can I ask what yours is?" Stubble brushed against the phone as Jack rinsed his hands under a tap.
"Remember that time you tampered with the air gap on my wheel?" Only one in a long line of pranks that had been happening over the course of a few weeks, Crow had finally stepped to a more intense level. What should have normally caused the tire to sag over the course of the day had almost resulted in catastrophic damage after Jack took it out for a drive.
"Yeah. So you... That's your happy memory?" As the repair work had mounted, Jack had hatched a devious plan. Next time that Crow had tried to take his own Duel Runner out for a ride, he found both hands glued to the handles and the engine disabled. It had taken five hours for Yusei to get back from a job before help came. Jack had spent the first two hours laughing. Crow had spent the last two trying to keep his bladder from exploding.
"Musume." Crouching opposite her, Musume could see that Crow was careful to keep far away enough that he could lunge to safety if the wings started misbehaving. "Focus for a minute. Ignore Sherry, she's probably just staring angrily at me." Glaring was an understatement. All the errant muscle control she had lost as a result of Crow's betrayal had relocated to carefully refining the intensity of her glare down to almost dangerously fine. Atoms could have been cut apart in that gaze. "Tell me. Our happiest memory. What is it?"
"What?" Wings, tail screaming, Crow being an idiot. Nothing was right in the world.
"Just tell me." Edging in a bit closer gained a slight amount of trust while lessening the chances that he could get away in time if she lashed out. "Best memory, you and me."
"Ours? You mean you you or my you?" What had always been tempting ideas in the back of her head were now very audible screams and bellows that overlay the rest of the world. It was growing impossible to discern what was real from what everyone else could hear.
"Either. Both. Whichever makes you smile more." They only had spent a few short weeks together over the years yet she was almost as close to him as the twins. He hoped there was at least one great memory she had of them.
"Back at the tournament." One thing inside her was squeezing Musume's head beneath a crushing grip. "You asked me to come up on stage with you." It was the greatest mundane achievement of her life. Signers and Dark Duels didn't matter, it was the biggest moment that she could brag to the world without sounding crazy. "Even though it was dangerous, you still wanted me up there with you." Tortuously slowly, that illusionary grip on her skull began to slip away as her balance shifted.
"What about in my other life?" Both observers had noticed the change immediately. "Your best memory with him?"
"Five." Start young, get the muscle memories embedded in deep. "I asked you to teach me how to fight." Most parents would have played with their children until they lost focus. Crow had taken the opportunity to tell her that there were bad people in the world. "Still got the scar from where I fell down trying to do a flying kick. Probably." Sandpaper being drawn through her veins could have compared to the sensation sliding beneath her skin. Then she tumbled around the floor as pain shot through her spine.
"Probably?" Covering her up with a hotel robe before the hospital gown could fully fall apart, Crow managed to preserve her modesty following the moment of vulnerability.
"Used to be on my arse from where I landed bad." Head bowed, she could still hear the screaming bellows inside her. Back to normal. Or as normal they had been before Yliaster had caught her. "Not sure what's happened back there with the tail."
"I give it two minutes before Crow asks if you want him to check." Covering concern with snip, Sherry was leaning forward on the furniture as she made sure her friend was okay again. "All men are alike."
"Except she's my daughter." With the supernatural event over, there was plenty of room for quiet outrage to fill the space. "Sort of. It's a long story."
"Strange. Because Musume bears a stunning resemblance to somebody else we both know." Sensing the inevitable argument coming, Musume straightened up with one hand clutching the robe closed.
"I'll go and take a nap." Trying her best to avoid actually looking at the simmering spectre of rage or her own cowardly Crow, she was more eager to avoid the upcoming argument than she had been to escape Yliaster. At least they had been drugging her up to the eyeballs. Eyeballs that were still radically altered from before. "What?" Trying to send frantic eye signals that he didn't want to be left alone ended after the first darting glance failed to return from an interesting pillow on the couch.
"Nothing. We'll get you some glasses." Each iris shone in a different shade than before. It was impossible to tell that they had ever been another colour. Having mismatched eyes – known as heterochromia – wasn't unheard of. While her right eye shone in a blazing yellow, the other glimmered in glowering gold. That wasn't the most startling change.
"Why? What is it?" One of the many ornate furniture pieces in the room was an elegant drawing table, complete with splendid mirror between two ornate candlesticks. "Oh. Right." She had felt it was different even as the spirits had scorched their way back into her soul. Even her unearthly appendages had only reinforced that this was new territory for all of them. For just a brief instant, she had believed that maybe circumstances were still tenuously under her control. "Well, whatever." Ignoring the reverse image reflecting back at her, she headed off for that nap. "Nothing a pair of glasses wont fix."
"Will she be okay?" Sherry had at least waited until the door was pulled closed before asking the question. As an added precaution, she slipped into French. Musume might be capable in the language but she probably wasn't fluent enough for long conversations.
"Hopefully." Most of Musume's life had been spent with a Mark branded on her arm. Then she had collected the rest like supernatural jigsaw pieces until she could capture Red Nova from Jack. They had been contained in a pair of thick emblems. Emblems that were now lined all over her body, seared across her face in jagged lines of red and purple. They had been glowing when the powers were running rampant and Crow had thought they would fade once Musume got them both under control. "I didn't know it could be like that."
"Looks there's a lot that we didn't know." Nobody had exactly been keeping secrets from Sherry. It was more that she just hadn't been there for the big reveals in recent days.
"Yeah. We should probably talk." Indicating the low couches, he took one while Sherry seated herself in the other. "Things got weird recently. Really weird."
"Would that be when Musume showed up again without anyone telling me? Or during the Pegasus Trinidad?" Being cut off from the Signers had hurt more than she would readily admit. Their alliance had been strained after she joined Z-One but gradually returned to one of trust soon after. When she saw Musume in the middle of the tournament, she had expected the phone to ring at any moment. Right up until Crow had landed in Paris.
"Both." Touching fingers to the side of his head, he could feel where a growing lump where a guard had hit him. "Musume's from the future." Looking up, he waited for the derisive outburst. "Huh. I expected more of a reaction."
"I do not react so easily." Folding her arms as tightly as she could, she glared at him to continue the story. "Z-One came from the future. The novelty faded long ago." When it was put like that, time travel had become slightly tired. Even Yusei had done it.
"In the future – her future – a lot of stuff went bad. Akiza died first, then Jack died trying to stop Red Nova." There was no reason to stop and explain the significance of Red Nova. Z-One's files on the Signers had been highly extensive. "Luna managed to stop it in the end. She got stuck in the Spirit World with Leo. All of it broke Yusei. Full-blown depression." Patient eyes waited for the bit that he was trying to avoid. "I got sick. Not clear exactly what. The Crimson Dragon tried supercharging my immune system but it mutated the bug as well. Ended up ageing me right into the ground." After so many tellings, the story was starting to get old. Hopefully it wouldn't have to be told again.
"Fascinating." Even though she wasn't letting it show, the story actually had Sherry enthralled. "Now skip to the part that means something to me." A slight smile crossed his face. He could tell that she was bluffing yet humoured her anyway.
"There was a Shadow Duel during the tournament. Yliaster had the perfect trap for Musume. They didn't expect me to spring it first." Flashes of recollection marred his expression. They hadn't been fond experiences. "Spent some time in the Netherworld until she got me back out. Found an old friend stuck down there. Yusei's dad as well." Scratching his jaw, he couldn't really equate it to any other first encounter. "Weird guy." Nobody else yet knew of the ambiguous warning the late Fudo had given him.
Obake was the obvious choice yet Crow was finding himself suspicious of all his friends. Yusei had lied, Akiza had been keeping secrets, Jack was never exactly trustworthy, the twins could be fooled into just about anything and Sherry was revealing herself to have enough mob connections to build an actual mob.
"Fascinating." This time, she noticed how the dire events seemed to be dragging away from her original question. "Now explain how your 'sort of' daughter looks almost exactly like Akiza."
"Noticed that, did you?" Not deliberately trying to play on pity, Crow had just been trying not to uncover the one topic that was making him personally uncomfortable. "From the sounds of things, we were close in that future. Musume doesn't seem eager to go into it. I can guess why." At least everyone could universally agree on that. Nobody wanted to imagine their parents doing the nasty to each other. "I swear, I never thought about Akiza in that way. For all we know, it was just a drunken hookup." Like just about every single man in history before him, Crow had the right idea only to fail miserably with the execution.
"Nobody could get drunk enough to consider you a good choice." Scowling at the unintended slur to her friend, Sherry was growing increasingly angry with him. "Not without dying of alcohol poisoning first." After all the events of the past few days caught up with him, something inside the young mang just snapped.
"Is this all some big joke to you? Is that all I am!?" Stabbing four fingers in his chest, Crow resisted the urge to rise from shouting to screaming as he stood up from the couch. "I pay for an expensive dinner, you don't show up. You send me a plane ticket, I get stuck in some dead-end Dallas airport." It had been one of the more harrowing tricks he had fallen for. After sixteen hours in various cramped cabins and relay flights, he had spent five more waiting at a tiny airstrip in the middle of nowhere before getting a call from Elsworth. At least the butler had the decency to sound apologetic.
"I have literally been beyond the ends of the earth and back again in the past week. Every time I make a move, you make fun of it. If you don't have the guts, at least have the basic human decency to tell me to my face." Sherry unwound herself from the sofa and stood opposite him. Over the past eight years, Crow had gained a few inches. Not enough to stand against Jack but able to brush shoulders with Yusei if he stretched slightly. Similarly, Sherry had developed into a tall woman with an intimidating presence to match. In the tight ranks of companies working for Industrial Illusions, she had made it her job to crush her way to the upper echoleons.
Pulling down the thick green cotton around his neck, she exposed the thin line running across his major arteries. It had only been a small wound but it hadn't been treated between the security room and them finally breaking Musume out. Under the right circumstances, a narrow scar would show up. "This is not the sort of thing I call 'fun'." It was a quiet, dangerous tone. "I have not been able to have 'fun' for many years now. There is either work or hunting down the scum who murdered my parents." Covering up the wound, she kept one hand over the material for a moment longer than was strictly necessary. "Did you think that I happened to be in Paris by chance? Or that I have a weekend off?" Still pretending to sleep in the next room, Musume stretched her hearing as far as it could go.
"Yeah, Musume probably rang you up. You and her have been best buds since last time you betrayed me." It was a cruel remark that he never would have made before being trapped in the Underworld. "What did she give you? Information on Yliaster, funds to get your company back?"
"She let me see my parents again." It was enough to stop him dead. Knowing Musume was from the future and finding out she could move so freely through time were two very different things. "The night we first met, she talked to me for a time. Asked me to do things in exchange for meeting my parents. Act as a validator for your friends, convince them of her intentions." Water was starting to gather in her eyes but she blinked it away. "I had heard those words before and told her I was not interested in such a trap. Then she did something. Took me back to that day that changed everything." It had been a sunny day, filled with laughter and love. Even as their company was being taken from the family, both her parents had spent as much time as possible with their daughter. "She was rough with my parents, forcing them to listen as well. Musume told them things, what I had done and how Yliaster would one day fall." She sniffed and wiped her nose with a finger. "They did not believe her at first. But it started to sink in when I shared what I remembered of them. Stories my mother would sing when I was too excited to fall asleep." Between his brotherly brain trying to pick an unfeeling comment, Crow was quite embarrassed to find both his arms had suddenly pulled Sherry uncomfortably close to him.
I'm sorry, let me jump through that window, catch the next plane out of the country and live the next eighty years as a goat in Tibet. Went his inner voice.
"There, there?" Went his actual voice.
With all the grace and speed of an iceberg – which are notorious for their rapid movement – he felt two arms reach down to wrap about his shoulders. It occurred to him in that moment a disadvantage to being short he had not thought of before – trying to comfort somebody taller than him. Even though he was making the correct soothing noises and rubbing her back, tradition dictated the consoling party was wept against as opposed to from somewhere above. Despite the logistical problems presented by biological (and vertical) shortcomings, it was an indispensable moment of comforting contact between the two broken people.
"Because of what she did, my parents died knowing that I would be safe. They died knowing that they would be avenged." Enjoying the embrace for just a greedy second longer, Crow stepped back again. It took more effort to remove his arms than he might have guessed. Rubbing his eyes failed to lessen the guilt he could feel building behind them.
"There's one more thing I haven't told you." That was never a good thing to hear and she knew it wasn't going to be good news. "To get what I needed, I had to make a deal with Yliaster."
"Only because you were stupid enough to get caught." Nobody but a Signer would have had the gall to do what he had done. "What deal did you have to make?"
"They agreed to look for a way to save Pearson if I kept Musume under control." Looking slightly off to one side, he tried to stop the universe from moving onwards. "And if you stopped looking into them."
It was the first slap that hurt the most. Maybe the second and third had more power behind them. The fourth, that had a nasty backhand to it with unyielding fingers for extra snap. All that Crow really registered was the first one.
"How. Dare. You." Insulting the judgement of her friend had been one thing. Attacking her personal vendetta of two decades to avenge her parents was another. "How dare you!"
"Because otherwise they torture and experiment on Musume while leaving the soul of my friend stuck in a bleak limbo." Touching his swelling lip, he was relieved to find no blood on the tips of his fingers. "Kill me and come after you for good measure as well."
"You have already made it clear that I don't matter to you." Crow grabbed her hand as Sherry turned to leave.
"That's not true." A fifth – or maybe sixth, the blows were starting to make him slightly dizzy – slap across his already reddening face bit the inside of his cheek in a painful lump. "I made sure that you get a clean slate with them, starting right now. Nobody is coming after you. You get to just walk away."
"And you don't?" Grasping the front of his jumper in one tight hand revealed the scar across his neck once more. "You've had eight years to get free."
"So did you!" Standing there shouting at one another was not the best way to make progress yet it was still progress. "When they came back, you didn't have to get involved. They came for me, not you."
"Who said that you always have to do these things alone?" Balling up even more material, she dragged him to the limits of his height. "Sector Security, Grieger, Musume. All you have to do is reach out and ask for help."
"Are you fucking serious right now?" Grasping each wrist in a tight grip failed to give him the purchase to pull them away. No matter how many tugs he tried. "You could have asked me for help at any time, any time, and I would have been there."
"Why would I call you?" Both of her hands were slowly pulling the jumper tight enough that the material was starting to stretch. "What reason would I have to expect you to come?"
"Because I like you!" Truth exploded outwards in a single blow that he couldn't take back. "I like you, Sherry."
"What are you talking about?" Those hands had the strength necessary to pull out of his own yet they stayed put while he held on.
"Did you never ask yourself why I kept asking to meet up for eight years?" Not that he had been completely obsessed. Crow had tried having relationships yet they never seemed to last long when he was travelling around the world to participate in various tournaments. Strangely, the few sane women he felt compatible with had an unfathomable desire for him to be more than a voice on a telephone ten months of twelve. "You're talented, intelligent, strong, stubborn as an ox and more impressive than people give you credit for. How could I not be attracted to all that?"
Each mighty slap had left him with stinging cheeks while leaving a narrow strip down the centre of Crow's face untouched. Gently placing a hand over each glowing circle, Sherry carefully tilted his head back as she leaned in to press their lips together.
"There." Speaking softly for the first time since the argument had begun, she admired the awestruck gaze staring dully back at her. "Would that be enough?"
"Yeno." Switching the words midway, Crow realised he wouldn't give her the satisfaction of an easy win. Also because he had managed to grind his brain into a gear other than 'completely stalled'.
"No?" Drawing in even closer, she moved for another divine moment of contact as his thoughts stalled once more. "Are you sure?"
"Yes. I mean, no. I mean." Sliding a finger up to cover his lips from hers, Crow tried to figure out the complexities of grammar as eight years of himself screamed out from the past that he was blowing it. "It was wonderful." Simple answers screwing him over, he went for the more lengthy route. "But it's not what I want."
"Then what," Pulling down his hand, she kept touched the tips of their noses together, lips dancing just beneath with each word. "Do you want?" Crow looked into a living forest held captive inside Sherry's eyes and realised that every breath whispering through her lungs made her lips flutter ever-so-slightly against his own.
"I want" It was impossible not to notice how the light sparkling across her irises made them shine brighter than any emeralds. "I want for you to be happy." Slipping a finger down the padded cotton of his jumper, Crow knew it could feel the pounding beat of his heart. "Even if it means going after Yliaster again."
"What?" Pulling back, she dropped the alluring air like so much fragile glass. "Are you serious? What about your arrangement?"
"Don't worry about it." Waving aside the threat of bodily torture for himself and Musume and the eternal bleakness of Pearson seemed a simple matter. "We're just using each other. Yliaster knows that they won't catch Musume again and I know they're the best chance I have of setting Pearson free. Maybe I can find some way to get him out but they probably can't stop Musume if she cuts loose – especially now." Considering how much damage she had done while trying to avoid doing so, Musume had clearly become a formidable power to be reckoned with. "This deal benefits them more than me."
"So you won't try and stop me from going after them again?" It sounded like a complete reversal of his earlier stance.
"Not at all." That is, it sounded like a complete reversal until Sherry realised that Crow had never actually asked her to stop investigating them in the first place. "Just as long as you don't forget that I'm here if you need any help." Peering through the narrow crack at the hinge, one faintly glowing eye watched the proceedings.
"And what if I decided that revenge was no longer necessary?" Of course it still was for her. Z-One may have given her the closure necessary to move on from her parents but their company was another matter. Crushing the people who had stolen it was good business. "What would you want then?"
"In a perfect world," Sensing the moment, he carefully stretched up to where her face was waiting. "I can tell you exactly what I would want." Passing over her lips with his, he reached as high up her cheek as he could. "To take you to dinner and see where things lead." Only two sorts of men would have passed up that sort of kiss – idiots and those genuinely trying to do the right thing.
Sherry was trying to figure out if a criminal smart enough to evade Sector Security by himself could even know what the 'right thing' was when there was a knock at the door. Taking advantage of the interruption, she opened the door to reveal a thin man in a suit waiting outside. "I'm looking for Crow Hogan." Looking her up at down, certain assumptions were likely made. "Which you are not." Smoothly stepping between the pair before blood could be spilt, Crow winced as sharp nails dug into his shoulder. "Mr Hogan." With a cap tucked under one arm, the figure could just as easily be an honest worker as an Yliaster Agent. "Your plane is ready at the airport. We can leave as soon as you are ready." This would have to be the transport that Yliaster promised. They could certainly move fast.
"Can you pick us up at the rear entrance?" No matter how high-profile the hotel may have been, there was always a rear entrance for unobtrusive exits. Strangely, the same held true for shady hotels. Only middling reputations failed to account for people needing to sneak out. "In about five minutes?"
"Of course, sir." Inclining his head respectfully, the wiry man calmly toddled off to do his bidding.
"It looks like Musume and I will be leaving sooner than expected." Much as he hated to. For the first time in his life, Crow resented his brother for getting into trouble. "My new friend mentioned that Yusei was about to be in trouble. I have to go." Sherry would understand. Of course she would.
"If you ever happen to pass my way again," Leaning down to let her breath whisper past his ear, hairs raised on Crow's neck at the close contact. "Don't bother calling me." Such venom was because Yliaster had just flaunted their partnership with Crow right in her face. Even if they were willing to let her prior offences slide, it was just rude.
As she stalked off into the small dining room, Crow moved into the bedroom to stir the figure splayed out across the bed. Luckily, he was a tidy traveller and kept most of his belongings in the bag. By the time that Musume was faking a yawn and tucking herself into one of his spare outfits, Crow had gathered up his few scattered belongings. "Here." Passing over the scarf he had bought at the airport – which seemed like months but had only been days ago – Crow also held out a pair of sunglasses. "See? Glasses solve everything." For a person trying to impress a lady, Crow was consistently making the wrong calls.
When they entered back into the main room, Sherry was waiting once again. "Thanks for everything." Holding out a hand in a rare symbol of respect, Musume gripped Sherry's palm. "Give the idiot a call if you ever need me to pay back the favour." Reaching out his own hand, Crow was met with frosty silence and folded arms. "Hurry up." Already out in the corridor, Musume didn't have to worry about upsetting the other guests anymore. She was having too much of a good time for the wings to burst out. "We have a plane waiting." Unable to detect any chink in that armour that she had recently lowered, Crow simply stepped out into the corridor as Sherry gave no indication that he mattered more than the patterns on the wallpaper.
"For the record." Standing in the doorway with a scowl upon her face, Sherry was the most beautiful sight Crow had ever seen. "Playing you for a fool has amused me these last few years." Then the door slammed in his face hard enough to send a gust of wind down the corridor.
"What are you smiling at?" Sitting opposite that scarred face on the plane had forced Crow to endure any number of sly glances and smirking looks in the hour since it had taken off. Eventually, he could bear it no longer.
"Nothing much." It was said in such an innocent way that he could have almost believed the lie if he hadn't known her. "Just that it's kinda funny how hard Sherry slammed that door. Must have been a rubbish kiss."
"Hey, I..." Red embarrassment appeared around the edges of his neck as he failed to avoid the trap she had set. "How did you know about that?" For someone who claimed to have been sleeping, Musume had obviously heard a large amount of the conversation in the other room. It was possible that she had seen a few things as well.
"To think, it only took you eight years and me being kidnapped to get a date." Coming from brothers would have ensued a fight. Coming from his daughter raised an embarrassed smile and a faint blush.
"I would like to think that my natural charm had something to do with it." A pained chuckle came from those painted cheeks. Whatever other changes were sweeping through her form, intense agony was one of them. Not in the normal sense. Being hungover could feel like the world was trying to crush you. Musume was feeling like every cell in her body was erupting from the inside out and the entire universe was just a thin membrane slapped atop the cracks. Anything could happen.
"What do you think about their deal?" And there it was. While sitting in the car, waiting for the plane to take off and every moment that they had been in the air, Musume had known she was being kept under observation on the orders of Yliaster. Had it been Yusei sitting in that seat, at least one broken limb would have happened. And maybe one severed.
"They probably want something else." Crow wasn't going to waste time with fake apologies. It was the deal that had been presented and a damn good one. "Keeping the world from finding out what you've got hiding inside you is the sort of thing that we do without being asked." It was always a choice to go around screaming the truth to whoever would listen. It was also possible to skip to the end and check straight into the psychiatric hospital. Better to keep the truth under wraps. "I'm worried though. What they said at the end... I've tried calling Yusei and he's not answering. Not even answer phone." After that, he had tried Akiza. She had told him to leave it alone.
"We'll take a look once we get back." One of two reasons that Musume had gone to Paris in the first place was because she knew how dangerous Yliaster could be. "And I promise not to terrify the world with my great big flappy wings."
"Let's not evenSHIT!" Eyes widened as an alarming thought smashed into Crow's mind from several angles. Opposite him, Musume raised a single eyebrow in moderate concern. When he failed to show any outward sign of recovering from his stupor, she felt obligated to speak up.
"We're going to have to eventually. Food has to come out somewhere." It was a dreadful joke that managed to shock him back into awareness.
"I'm going to have to explain to your mother how we snuck off to Paris and you ended up getting wings." Getting smashed in the face by an ethereal appendage had raised the level of injury Crow could expect in his life. It still fell short of the wrath that telling Akiza he had let their daughter run off and grow wings and a tail would bring.
If he was really lucky, Yusei was in so much trouble that she wouldn't notice. But – Crow mused over the probabilities as Musume laughed opposite him – things would have to be really bad.
I'm back. I'm updating. And I will (hopefully) be doing it more frequently.
But will you be reviewing?