Smoke has a peculiar effect. Even if clothes are washed several times, some amount of smell will still cling to the fabric for weeks at a time. The smell of burnt skin can last even longer. When Yusei came back to his senses, he was lying on his stomach with the tinge of singed flesh rising from nearby. For some reason, he appeared to have been placed face-down on a massage bed. "You're awake." That tone sounded almost disappointed. Feet wrapped in medical covers entered the view he had of the floor beneath him. "The good doctor was worried for a minute there." Dulls throbs radiated through his body as he tried to sit upright. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." Something gripped his neck and forced it back onto the bed in a distinctly un-gentle fashion as he realised who the voice belonged to. Knowing Musume was present was alarming enough to wake up the rest of the way and he started taking stock of his surroundings.
There was definitely something dripping through his bloodstream. Between that, the concussion he had taken after hitting the water and the searing pain across his shoulders, it was a miracle that he hadn't been unconscious long enough to suffer another seizure. "How long was I out?" The trainers moved out of his sight as Musume tugged at the corner of the curtains to peek outside.
"A few hours." Slowly running his right hand across his body, Yusei tried to take stock of his injuries. Bandages were wrapped tightly around most of his torso. Muscles spasmed as he tried to reach across and check his left hand. "Yeah, your back was burnt up fairly bad." A slim grip presented a phone beneath the bed. "I took pictures." Even without a background in medicine, the damage was severe. Part of him wondered exactly why she seemed to be delighting under his torture.
"Despite all the doctors trying to get you to stop." Another pair of feet entered his vision, wearing a pair of tattered old trainers. "Want to sit up?" Careful not to aggravate his injuries, Akiza slowly helped him upright to look about the room. Considering how many years had passed, he was surprised how well he remembered the room he had been placed in. Around the corner from the door, with glass windows offering good views of the city, the hospital had decided to put him back in the same room from eight years ago. Probably someone
"What happened?" Both women shared a glance, unhindered by the mask Musume still wore. If anyone asked, she pretended to be in shock. When one nurse had tried to take it off, she had broken his finger. Nobody had tried after that. Both were still wearing their clothes from the party with Akiza nestled inside a thick, thermal jacket.
"How much do you remember?" That was definitely a good question. His last bout of amnesia might have come about from breaking the laws of the universe but he was still human. Smoke inhalation would kill him as effectively as the next man.
"We got to the lifeboats. Some people were still left inside." That was when things started to get vague again. "I got some of them out. Collapsed." Unnoticed by him, the exertion of reliving events was pumping his heart faster and letting blood seep into his dressings. "Then somebody else was there." Resting his face in his palms, he struggled to remember more. Everything had been so clear in the moment, just light and shadows. "We got the last people out, swung the boat over. I fell." Although Yusei knew he must have hit the water, he could only remember the fall. "What happened to them?" In the struggle to hoist the boat, he had lost track of his companion. Being trapped on a burning, sinking boat was as close to certain death as it came.
"Nobody else was there." It sounded as clear to Musume as if she had been asked where the sun would rise. Walking back into that fire was lunacy, the dark outline she had seen merely a trick of the smoke. "Once the boat went down, emergency divers were dispatched. They found the bodies of the crew. Whoever took over the boat locked them in the freezer and tore off the handle. Everybody else is accounted for." Peering into the hazy recollections of his memories, the dark figure seemed to be slipping away, becoming an illusion of the fire and smoke. Could he have simply made a wet pillowcase for himself when he stopped in that room? And a burst of near-death adrenaline would explain how he carried the last three survivors out to the boats alone.
"America." Eager to prove his sanity, Yusei reached back to the tempest he had endured thousands of miles away. "They were in America, in the dust storm." Blood was starting to seep through his back at a faster rate, undoing the treatment he had already undergone. "It was because of them that we found the truck." Akiza gently – yet forcefully – pushed Yusei back down.
"There'll be plenty of time for that later. Try and relax." Indicating the door to her companion, she and Musume carefully left the patient to get some much-deserved rest. Akiza wanted to check in with his doctors and her companion hadn't left her alone for more than a minute since the boat had gone down.
For a second, it appeared that he had been left alone to rest. Then the door clicked open, momentarily flooding the room with the sound of hospital activities before it closed again. Silent footsteps disturbed his reprieve as two dark shoes appeared beneath his eyes. To better blend in with the hospital environment, they were hidden behind surgical foot covers. In fact, the entire ensemble was obscured beneath a medical outfit but he couldn't see higher than the concealed ankles.
"You made it out." There would almost certainly be no talking from the other party so Yusei spent what precious seconds he had trying to absorb everything he could about the portion he could observe. "I owe you one." Both feet moved apart slightly as an equally disguised arm reached down to touch the floor. Carefully tipping the latex-covered palm, a small object fell from the surface to clatter against the floor. Slightly warped and blackened from the fire, a ruby earring borrowed from Setsuko Izinski lay perfectly still on the ground. "Thank you." First one foot then the other vanished from his line of sight. After a few seconds, the door opened once more to let them out.
Reaching down forward with his hand, Yusei's throbbing fingers gently clutched the stone and brought it up to his vision. After a brief moment of examination, he tucked the accessory into his pocket. Whatever reason his guest had for not introducing themselves would be honoured, for now. But if they could get to him in the hospital then other parties could do so as well and blend into the crowd before anyone noticed.
Levering himself upright with several pained gasps, Yusei reached for the chart hooked over the side of his hospital bed. "First degree burns, superficial second in places." All things considered, he was outrageously lucky. That fire would have killed him if it had a minute more. The first-degree burns would be healed in a few days and the second-degree burns would gradually recover over the coming fortnight or, maybe, month. He'd manage. Pressing both feet against the cold floor, Yusei noticed the melted remains of his dress shoes carefully positioned beside the bed. It had been a nice suit while it lasted. Limping over to the door, he opened it with a sour grunt.
Walking directly towards him with Akiza at his side – and ruining any chance of quietly sneaking out – was the unpleasant face of Dr Streiter. Realising that he had been spotted, Yusei's only option was to straighten up and put on a brave face. Even though he wanted little more than to punch the man who had stolen Akiza's offered job before she could obtain it for herself. "I'm checking out." Although the pain, exertion and fumes had knocked him out better than a blow to the head, the actual wounds were relatively minor. Keeping him for observation was a waste of time. "Give me a form to sign and I'll sign it. I don't want to stay here a minute longer than I need to." A smug look from the doctor said everything. There was just no reasoning with some people. Especially when only one of them was not dealing with any legal troubles.
"Can we discuss this in your room?" Moderately grateful for the excuse to sit back down – he had utterly underestimated the amount of effort that it would take to stand upright with his injuries – Yusei carefully limped back to rest on the side of his bed. Entering the room, Akiza quietly closed the door behind them with Musume throwing herself into a chair outside.
"What's there to discuss?" Pain could be a fantastic motivator. It was making him aware that slumping would crumple the skin on his back and to sit bolt upright. "I'm out. Second-degree burns will heal easily enough, nerve damage from the third-degree burns means they won't even hurt."
"What he's trying to say," Using the overwhelming telepathy of not suffering from excessive smoke-inhalation, Akiza convinced Yusei to stop talking. And to recant his words if the option was available. "Is that his injuries are manageable without an extended stay in hospital."
"Dr Fudo, I clearly value your colleague's opinion." Right there, as he had the audacity to refer to Yusei as 'Dr Fudo' but dismissed Akiza's actual medical degrees with 'your colleague' in that disgusted voice was when the physician lost any sort of authority. "But" Then one hand grabbed him by both lapels and dragged him close to the smoke-stained face.
"I took on the best Duellists in the world and beat every single one." Growling the words through the throbbing in his head only reinforced just how little staying in the hospital meant to him. Between pounding flashes of darkness, Yusei realised that he had grabbed the doctor with his thickly burned right hand. "I negotiated with an international tribunal after almost two weeks without sleeping." If anyone listened very carefully, they would have heard his voice start to break under the stress of restraining himself. "So unless there is a vital medical need for me to remain here, I am going to check myself out." Enough emphasis went on the word that it was in danger of collapsing under the weight.
"I've had medical training." Touching either shoulder was out of the question so Akiza placed an authoritative hand on his left upper arm instead and stopped Yusei from turning his doctor into another patient. "I can make sure that he doesn't overexert himself." Unlike the other doctor, she knew enough that Yusei wasn't actually cracking up under the strain but just putting on a good enough show that he would be let out. "Or are you going to explain to the entire SRC legal department why you're refusing to let a member of their staff leave?" The threat was clear. An international tribunal had come together and Yusei was still allowed to walk free. One mildly incompetent physician was not a challenge.
"I'll get that paperwork sorted." That greasy hair of Streiter's was only matched by the panic-sweat pouring down his face. Drawing him in even closer, Yusei let the smell of burning match the intensity of his gaze for a second.
"You do that." Then he let go and watched with grim satisfaction as the doctor stumbled back in an instinctive effort to gain some protective distance between them. Unable to marshal a scathing comeback, he scurried out the room with every intention of slamming the door shut behind him. But something about that growling dragon mask had him fleeing down the corridor without another word.
"You shouldn't strain yourself so soon." Magically appearing at Yusei's left, Akiza gently lowered him back onto the edge of the bed. "It could cause complications."
"I've only got some light burns." As much as his wooziness was draining attention, her presence was forcing a prideful instinct to show no sign of burden. "And he had it coming."
"Oh?" Perching herself by his side, she noticed that he seemed to have not noticed to be topless. "In that case, I can probably call him back. You can give it another go." A gruff chuckle instantly turned into a wince of pain. Shallow breathing was the extent of his exertions at that moment. Dragging Streiter up again would have to remain a joyous fantasy for the time being.
A young nurse cautiously perched his head around the corner of the door before Akiza could give any more cause for mirth. "Exit paperwork." From the way that he awkwardly shuffled into the room to hand them the clipboard, it was clear that Musume was still glowering on the other side of the door. "Streiter looked a bit shaken up. About time someone put a bit of fear in him."
"Give him my apologies." As Yusei scribbled his signature on various lines, he noted the disrespectful absence of any title.
"Not a chance." The nurse snorted. Yusei raised one eyebrow as he carefully held out the board to be returned. "Guy rubs a lot of people up the wrong way. Bastard's got connections so nobody wants to speak out." An unfortunate state of affairs but – as long as he didn't do anything too conspicuous – there was little the staff could do. "Here, I thought that you could use these." Dipping a hand into one pocket, he came back with a face mask and medical hairnet.
"Thanks." The fire had singed the ends of his hair. He could feel them as he awkwardly tried to put the covering on with his one good hand. Luckily, the nurse was professional enough to say nothing when Akiza reached up and did it for him. "What's it like outside?"
"There's a lot of reporters crowding the doors. We've been releasing a lot of the patients from the boat in batches and everyone's hungry for an interview." Although a lot of people had nothing worse than scraped shins, the hospital had checked over everyone properly. "What you didn't hear from me was that the ambulance bay around the back is empty."
"We owe you one." Looping the mask over his right ear first, it appeared that some tiny modicum of luck still existed in his life. Trying to sleep with burnt ears was a nightmare but his soft flesh seemed to have been spare. "How do I look?" Keeping some hair free from the net, it dangled down to cover his criminal facial marking. With the combination of dark trousers and no top, he looked like a rejected cover model for a bad punk-rock band and the nurse was willing to say as such.
Toying absently with the handset that had been sent to her, their young guard was considering which party to reach out to about a very specific problem when the door beside her opened. "We're going back to Poppo Time." Looking up at Akiza's words, any outward display of emotion was muted by her mask as the nurse went back to his duties. One thing was clear though. They would be making the trip back alone.
"Good for you." Standing up, circumstances made the choice for her. Her options had realistically only been two people and having to be around one of them also meant being around Yusei. After the boat, her animosity towards him was right back at the highest possible levels. "I've got some stuff to sort out."
Akiza knew there was no point in arguing. There was a ranking system for the group's stubbornness. Until Musume had risen from the nearly-dead comatose state she had been in, the most stubborn amongst them had definitely been Akiza. It appeared that the combination of her genetics and Crow's upbringing had produced a monster which understood no convincing.
"Be careful." With Yusei's back looking like so much bubble-wrap and the stench of smoke still curling around them all, there was no real need to speak the warning aloud. "We don't know what's going on yet." It was almost certainly because of at least one of the three but simply pinning it on Yliaster would be too hasty. This sort of attack was completely outside of anything that they had done before. "Make sure to call us when you can. Let us know you're alright."
"Sure." Noticing the effort Akiza was taking to help her companion walk down the corridor, Musume curled a lip beneath her mask as they inched past her. "See you around." Unlike the slowly departing pair, she didn't have to worry about the crowds and was able to simply elbow her way through the front doors. Just because she didn't have to worry about the crowds did not mean that they shouldn't worry about her.
As Musume elbowed, shoved and – in the case of one journalist who grabbed her arm in an almost rabid attempt to get a quote from anyone leaving the hospital – punched her way to freedom, Yusei slowly shuffled down staff corridors in the direction of the ambulance bay. Word had spread from a certain nurse about the sudden reality shock that Dr Streiter had been introduced to and nobody seemed in any hurry to have them escorted out of the secure areas.
Curiously, they weren't the only ones who were intruding in places they should be. This was made unsettlingly clear as the pair actually managed to reach the ambulance bay and breath fresh air for the first time in hours.
"That was fast." Limping around on the spot, Yusei glared suspiciously at the figure waiting immediately outside the external doors. Leaning against a wall was a face that he hadn't seen in months. "Hang on, let me finish this." Raising one hand in a slight wave, he was dragging the last of a cup of coffee from the other.
"Inspector." Dressed in plain clothes, it was difficult to tell the 'off-duty' cop from a vigilant private citizen. "Akiza, you remember Inspector Kazama." Although he had only been a sergeant when Jack sabotaged his undercover operation, Kaz was steadily climbing the ranks. He was just like a younger, less grumpy Trudge except people liked seeing him and it didn't take a solid decade to enter an intimate relationship.
"Kaz." Nodding familiarly at the officer, she knew how long the odds were that he just happened to be in the ambulance bay at the exact same time they were trying to sneak out of the hospital. There was a far more obvious explanation. "Trudge?"
"Trudge." As Vice-Chief of Special Investigations, Trudge was involved in the first-response investigation into the boat sinking. As Chief of Special Investigations, Mina had deployed her best people and taken a nap on the way to her warm office to help coordinate in comfort. There were perks to being the leader. "Hey, check this out." Noting the massive look of doubt that Yusei was expressing through bloodshot eyes, Kaz stuffed his cup in an overflowing bin. "Buddy." Whistling at an ambulance driver just coming off duty, a wave of his badge and the sight of a crispy celebrity extended that shift just a while longer. "Can we get a lift?"
"Whistle at me again and you'll find out what getting hit by an ambulance feels like." Ambulance drivers are known for being miracle workers with mobile hospitals. Considering the massive amount of equipment they contained, being hit by an ambulance would make being rescued by one impossible. "You get signed out by a doctor or is this an escape scenario?" A little-known fact about ambulance drivers is the amount of weaponry they keep hidden within reach. Having vast quantities of medication nearby made them permanent targets for several types of criminals.
"Bit of both. Can you get us past the reporters outside? I've got an undercover car a few blocks away." The driver mulled it over for several seconds. Kaz was definitely holding a police badge. And she was shrewd enough to recognise the distinctive criminal brand that couldn't be easily hidden.
"That's weird." Making a show of checking her watch, she clambered back into her seat. "Looks like I've got a few more minutes before my shift's over. I can do a quick run around the block to see if there's anyone in trouble."
"Thanks." Opening the rear door for the escapees to clamber through, Kaz quickly took up the passenger seat in the front of the cabin. "Hey, do you have one of those hats spare? I've always wondered what I'd look like as a paramedic."
"Sure." Waiting until the rear door was fastened, the driver sent a withering look at her co-pilot. She was already starting to regret this favour. "Can I borrow your Shock Baton? I've always wondered what I'd look like clubbing a heckler."
"You're welcome to borrow mine. How about I give it to you over drinks while I apologise?" Giving a coy smile, he jammed a cap on his head and matched her glare "Kaz." Reaching out a hand, that smile widened slightly.
"Aiko." Shaking the hand once, she actually smiled at his blatant optimism. "But it'd better not be that slop I saw you drinking before." Hospitals and police stations had one thing in common – universally awful coffee. "I expect a proper apology."
"Can we go now?" It was rare that Yusei had to push a point but they were doing an astoundingly poor job of sneaking him out of the hospital.
"Sure thing." Sharing an eye-roll with Aiko, the policeman looked back at the main cabin where the patient was perched on the edge of the gurney and holding the wall opposite for support. "Poppo Time, coming right up."
"Actually." Most people would have watched their life flash before their eyes in the fire aboard the boat. Yusei had seen something very different. "There's one stop that we have to make first."
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" In the pre-dawn mist that surrounded the city, few people were awake. Those that were shuffled around like zombies. For those who viewed night and day as either free lighting or that time when fewer distractions were around, the exact time didn't matter. "What if someone from security sees us?"
"We're on the grounds." After a few false starts, they had discovered that keeping his legs in a semi-permanent crouch was the easiest way forward. "They know we're here." Local security tended to take a preventative approach. If anyone came within spitting distance of a building, they were put thorough background checks.
"Step." The step to Building Eight was only an inch high but enough to cause slight difficulty. The SRC had been designed to be accessible for everyone yet nobody had thought about if a recent burn victim trying to sneak into their office. "And why do you expect the doors to open for us?" Even if they had been allowed to get that far already, getting inside was more difficult. There wasn't an inside man this time.
"Because you have access." At which point, the doors opened. "Hang on." Taking a knee, he refused to let any signs of pain flicker across his face. Singed fingers curled around the discarded earpiece on the floor and the lanyard it was tied to. They were something that he had been forced to protect from anyone who might try to abuse the authority they represented. Picking them back up was no grand gesture but reinforced his silent promise to keep standing up to whatever came. They could try and frame him, blow up a boat beneath his feet and he would match anything that came.
"Got what you needed?" It was clear that he could stand back up without her help but Akiza gripped his arm and hefted just the same.
"Not yet. We need to go to my office." Limping in the direction of the elevator, it wasn't just security personnel that had spotted them on the grounds. The cameras would have picked them up and that meant the computer behind them was ready with a projection hovering in the lift as the pair stepped inside.
"Abi." Smiling through the pain shooting across his back, Yusei was relieved to see the glowing blue spectre of his creation. "It's good to see you."
"How could you let this happen!" Floating up to eye-height, she glared out at Akiza even as the sheer volume of her voice rattled the reinforced container. "He hates parties but you insisted that he go and look at what happened!"
"That's enough!" It was rare that he had to raise his voice. In fact, it was the first time that he could remember having to do so with Abi. She usually was a lot better at reading the room. "It was my choice to go and I took Akiza with me. Is there anything that you want to complain to me about?" Taking advantage of the vagueness of his question, she switched conversational tracks as the lift rose up the shaft.
"Astronomy is complaining that I'm screwing with their data. They sent three emails claiming the moon is slowing down." Spending their nights stargazing in remote locations did strange things to the astronomers from time to time. It didn't help that a few of them engaged in recreational activities that they claimed helped their studies. "And Mr Pessimal wants you to know that he has almost finished his preliminary report." Even though she was pretending to act professionally, outraged eyes were actually glitching as they glared at Akiza. Abi had never actually been this angry before and didn't have any visual cues prepared.
"Did any of them fail their drug tests?" Of the many excuses that had come from the astronomy department – including the position of the planets affecting their moods (there was an unusual amount of astrologers in the astronomy department) – this was a new one. It was more likely that a few of them had overly indulged in 'special pastries'. Plain marijuana wouldn't cut it at the SRC. Yusei had to pretend that several genii who worked under him didn't exchange experimental chemical concoctions which made marijuana look like literal grass. Since they had even managed to iron out the kinks, he let them enjoy themselves as long as it didn't get out of hand.
The lift doors opened at the same that Abi started replying. Flickering out into the hallway, she didn't let it faze her. "Not recently. But their data is only marginally off. It's probably just a prank." Exactly what inspired the various minor skirmishes between scientific factions was unclear but their sense of humour was 'quirky'.
"Can you take a look at their equipment?" Astronomers shared a lot of their data so it was potentially dangerous if the equipment was actually faulty. "Just in case. Akiza, would you mind?" They had finally reached his office but opening the heavy door was beyond his means. Careful to remain within distance to grab Yusei if he fell, she pushed open the door and scooped up his arm as they entered.
"What are we here for anyway?" Ignoring the question, he shuffled in the direction of the safe in the left wall. Waving off his support, he placed his left hand against the wall for balance and carefully began entering his lengthy code.
Putting the entire building into lockdown had also enabled a handful of additional security features to make the process more arduous. Even with the already crispy sensation from the burns on his back, having a needle jabbed into his finger sent a tiny shiver through his body as a blood sample was taken.
"He's scared of needles." Irked with her father for his earlier scolding, Abi was quick to sell out the secret.
"I'm not scared of them." Growling slightly as his fingerprint was scanned and checked for a pulse, Yusei didn't appreciate the gossiping going on behind him. "I just don't like them."
"Like how you're not scared of insects." Sagely nodding to his words, Akiza had spotted the perfect part of his back to insert her dagger of betrayal. "But just never got around to visiting the entomology department since setting up their labs." Din had blackmail material on everyone. As she had a unique relationship with the SRC Director, he had intentionally let slip a few choice tidbits of gossip.
"Isn't there something in the Hippocratic Oath about not torturing your patients?" With the last layer of security (in the form of a flickering retinal scan) safely passed, the thick safe door swung open. A few items lay inside. Old mementoes from the first days of the SRC that were too dangerous to simply leave lying about, some files that covered projects which had 'never taken place' at the SRC. Lying atop the piles was a stack of cards that only two people in the world could have reached without a full military assault. Reaching out his burned right hand, Yusei wrapped it about his Deck and withdrew it from the safe. "Okay then." Putting the cards in his pocket, he closed the container back up again and turned to face the room. "Ready to go home?"
"Unless you've got another errand to waste time on." Propping him up on her shoulder again, Akiza gave a weary smile. She had been awake a lot longer than she had expected and could really do with some sleep. And it was obvious that she wasn't the only one. "Abi, can you take care of everything for a couple of days? Yusei's going to be taking things easy." A pointed aspect of that smile perfectly explained that he would be getting rest regardless of whatever fresh crisis arose. Despite their differences, Abi and Akiza could always agree on what was best for Yusei.
Since the biggest news in weeks had broken and the waking public would be hungry for answers, news helicopters were buzzing all across the sky. Over the bay where the first wave of emergency divers had reported a locked walk-in fridge which had contained the dead bodies of all crew that had been outside the ballroom. Over the harbour where the survivors had been checked out with first-responders. Circling the hospital where the few injured had been taken in order to receive medical attention. Under different circumstances, Musume would have simply flown to where she needed to go. But getting seen would have drawn more unnecessary attention. Instead, she had to resort to walking.
Having to walk after the action pace of a Turbo Duel just underlines how drastically dull the ordeal really is. When actual flight is possible, it becomes a sort of punishment. Cutting through a network of alleyways near the hospital, the quiet progress was noted by an unexpected party. Since the screaming on the boat had sent the screaming in her head spiralling out of control, she could be forgiven for being a bit distracted. But being distracted in a dark alley was just reckless and Musume was never reckless. It was why she heard the creak of a wheel moving and instantly focused on the situation.
"Who's there?" Narrowing her eyes, a slight gleam started to burn. Her mother was a safe distance from that place. She could afford to cut loose a little. If only she had been facing the right way. Unusual city acoustics had made it sound like the noise had been coming from ahead instead of the other direction.
Judging from the click that came from behind Musume, there was something pointed right at her that nobody wanted to be on the business end of. "What the fuck are you doing here?" If she hadn't just barely recognised the voice, the confrontation would have ended there and then. Turning on the spot, she saw the weirdest getup since... well, since some of the more 'artistically' dressed patrons on the sunken ship. "Wait, let me guess." Carrying a narrow tube tightly under one arm, Obake was still covering his eyes – even in the dead of night – with a pair of stolen novelty sunglasses. But that wasn't the weirdest part of his outfit. That honour went to the fisherman waders and the fluffy jacket he had shrugged over the top. "Another supernatural crisis that involves destroying the lives of innocents?" Pointed directly at her centre mass was a sharp metal implement straight from a horror film. In addition to his new ludicrous outfit, it appeared that he had somehow pilfered a small harpoon from whatever shack he had stumbled through.
"Shouldn't you be scurrying back to your hole in the ground by now?" She had intended to ask him for anything he knew about Yliaster but there was something intensely aggravating about his tone. And the fact that he appeared to be dressed as a fisherman/prostitute/pimp was having an odd effect on her sense of humour.
"Have you tried getting across a city without being seen?" In a life where every networked camera, every police report, every mode of transport was a way of being hunted down, getting around was increasingly difficult. At least people had assumed he was on his way to a costume party and not raised questions about the harpoon. "We don't all have magic powers to turn us invisible or whatever." Other than turning mildly sarcastic, his tone didn't change from its aggravating registers.
"How did you even get back to land?" Not that she actually cared but the list of people who knew about Yliaster barely reached the double digits. Even losing a potential ally could be a great setback. "When the boat went down, you didn't make it to any of the rafts." She had checked the three lifeboats for anybody who could have potentially colluded with Yliaster but nobody had stuck out as they floated in the life rafts while the cruise ship sank beneath icy waves.
"In case you forgot," That device was still held loosely in his hand. Musume didn't like something so much like a weapon in the hands of somebody who hated her so much. "It was a short distance to the shore." A rookie mistake would have been to try and swim in the opposite direction of the boat to escape quicker. Swimming directly away allowed a person to escape the risk of being swept up by the turbines beneath the waterline. Either would have been drastically hampered by wearing a full suit. Which explained the new look. "Just stay away from me."
"Hey." Stepping into his path as he tried to move past, she could feel the cloying presence of Red Nova feeding her anger, feeding off it. It was a struggle to keep it in check when she was already so angry from the boat. "What's your problem? We've saved your life twice now." Saving a person's life generally earned a lot of favour. Despite saving his twice (or three times, if Yusei's original offer of protection) it only appeared to be deepening some sort of grudge he had against them.
"When? When Yliaster had no idea I was even in America?" From the other side of the argument, events seemed a lot more monochromatic. "Or how about when I tried to sneak into the first proper party of my life and the boat exploded?"
"How is either of those our fault?!" Turning deeper into the alleyway, Obake began heading for another exit as Musume strode after him. "Who killed those Agents in America? Who jumped out of a window instead of going for a lifeboat?" At the time, she had been grateful that someone had eliminated the danger but killing those four people had quickly come back to haunt them.
"Fourteen!" Shouting in a hushed whisper to avoid drawing attention, the pale man whirled on the spot and thrust the pole in his hand like a lance. "That's how old I was when a death sentence was put on my head. A child finds some computer files and has to die for it?! Where were you all then?" Waving the barb about, Obake appeared not to have seen the Pegasus Trinidad pictures which revealed just how much Musume looked like a younger Akiza. "What about the times they caught me? Times they tortured me? For information, to make a point. Who came to save me then?!"
"Always so quick to blame somebody else." At the time they were facing off in that alleyway, nobody had mentioned to her how Obake had seemingly stumbled across the unhackable and unmovable files. Musume genuinely had no idea who was responsible for drawing him into the war. "What have you done to change your situation? Hidden away, hoping they would eventually forget about you? Admit it, you never even thought about trying to fight." Then he said something that made even Red Nova step back so that she would always know it had been her choice to react in the manner she did.
"Maybe I could earn my freedom by selling out you Signers to Yliaster. Then you can see what good fighting them is." In retrospect, she should have taken a minute to process her rage. As it was, Musume shoved Obake back down the alley with one foot stumbling over the other in an attempt to regain balance. Reaching a mouldy wall behind an overflowing dumpster, he bounced against the bricks and straightened with a tight jaw at the unwarranted attack.
"Don't," Smashing a palm into his sternum, she snatched the four-foot device from his grip as he fell against the slime again. "Threaten," Draping the barrel across her right forearm, she aimed and pulled the trigger in one fluid motion. "My family." To his credit, Obake didn't scream as the metal rod went through his shoulder and pinned him to the wall. Worse torture had been visited on him and she had shot directly through the same place a piece of rebar had pierced some years previously. Some might have called it fate, some might have claimed that a higher power had intervened to move the path of the projectile just enough to avoid fresh injury and all of them would have called the experience excruciating. Most of the pain receptors in Obake's arm were already dead from the previous injury but it still hurt more than most people would ever endure.
"Go on," Slumping slightly as blood began pouring from his wound, gritted teeth snarled up at her in carefully targetted insults. "Kill me. Prove how much better you are than Yliaster." Although it was a small consolation, the barbs had perfectly attached the anchor point to the wall. He wasn't in danger of falling.
"Kill you?" Dropping the device by his trembling feet, she watched the first drips of crimson liquid collect at the end of the road and began falling to the ground. "You're not worth the effort." Turning on her left heel, she unhurriedly left the man pinned to the wall and vanished back into the night. A cracked bulb flickered overhead and went dead in dramatic fashion, leaving Obake in the darkest part of the alley and hidden from anybody who might have chosen to help him.
Most people would have panicked and tried to simply drop or maybe step away but either could make the metal pole cause more damage as it exited through the hole again. Balling up as much material from a lapel as he could fit into his mouth, Obake carefully inched his way off the metal rod. Exactly how shrill the screams were as he slid free from the anchor and cutting cold air began circulating through the latest injury of his body was up for debate. Fallout considered, it had possibly been a bit too much to declare utter hatred of her precious family.
Peeling off the jacket as far as he could, endless layers of duct tape were crudely patched over the hole. It would require greater care once he was in safer grounds but keeping the blood inside would have to suffice for the moment. Wiping off as much blood as he could from the metal pole, he squished the weapon into a dumpster. It was better not to leave any signs of the brutal encounter but getting the rod out would be impossible with one arm. Tugging the ruined jacket back into place, he stumbled off down the maze of backstreets and alleyways as the last of his blood dripped from the metal pole in the wall.
Unconcerned with the possibly fatal blow she had dealt, Musume was more focused on the grim reality of what she had lost. Before, she had been unstoppable. Now, any normal person could easily ambush her in an alleyway. Pulling out her phone, she placed a call to an unusual choice. Since it was still before dawn, she went straight to the answering machine. "Hey, it's me." There was never any need to introduce herself. Either people knew who she was or they weren't important. "I need your help with something. I'll be outside." Ending the message, she could feel the momentary rush of adrenaline already fading. Walking really was incredibly dull.
Acting as a crutch by lifting Yusei's undamaged arm, Akiza carefully helped him up the stairs at Poppo Time. Going was slow as he could only move with his legs and had to be careful not to flex his back. If either of his brothers had been present, jokes would have been exchanged. Hoshi was kindly filling in for them, gradually following the pair up the stairs, one step at a time and hissing every time they paused. Walking really was incredibly painful.
"Where are they?" Even though he would have hated to greet his brothers in his condition, Yusei was concerned that they weren't at Poppo Time. News of the boat had already spread across the city and he would have expected them to be guarding their home.
"They 'volunteered' to help Trudge." Exactly what her tone was meant to imply was unclear. Either the grizzled policeman had drafted them to irritate any suspects into giving up their secrets or they had badgered him into letting them join the investigation while their brother recuperated. "They're down at the docks with Clive, trying to find anyone who noticed anything last night." The silver-haired sailor had an uncanny personal ability to be friends with everyone. Even Jack had been known to call him 'captain'. If anything had been amiss at any of the marinas, Clive would be the one to uncover it.
"Poor Trudge." Wincing slightly as they made the second floor, he wasted no time in savouring the accomplishment. "Did you notice that he wasn't there to pick us up after the boat?"
"Disgraceful." Even with the massive calamity that had happened, Trudge would have been late anyway. He had been banking on spending more than five minutes at home with Mina before heading back to collect them. "He deserves to deal with Jack and Crow."
"I know that you're just saying that to be nice." Actually being able to feel the air through the canyons of his burns, Yusei felt a wave of affection for his interim doctor. Also, pain as exposed nerves were stimulated and flared into fresh agony. "But it's weird to see them working together. Or doing anything socially productive."
"Crow used to be a Sector Security officer." Admittedly, he had signed up to take advantage of his position and quit as soon as the department switched over to being regular police. "And Jack..." Even in intense pain, a deadpan look was able to convey that his brother had never done anything more arduous for society than not committing a crime. "Has other strengths."
"Yeah, let's go with that." With his current inability to open the door to his room, it probably wasn't the best time to be speaking about Jack's shortcomings. Shuffling across the room, he levered down to fumble with a handle before Akiza swept in to save him from himself. It wouldn't be the first time that she did so and was far from the last. "Here." Carefully taking the pile of cards from his trembling fingers, she carefully put them beside a set already inside.
"Oh?" Able to straighten up by himself, he tried to maintain independence by closing the drawer with his knee. It earned him a bruise, knocked everything in the drawer in chaotic directions and ended up proving that it was the smallest changes that could save the day. "You're keeping your Deck in my room now?" Duelling etiquette was a delicate and detailed topic. Leaving your Deck in the care of someone else was a sign of the deepest trust. Jack would sooner share his coffee than leave even one of his cards in someone else's hands.
"Well, Crow needed his room back." Evading the question slightly, she tried to avoid meeting his gaze. "And you weren't using yours so I decided to borrow it for a while." And he had been asked by the ICC to demonstrate the effectiveness of his neural inhibitor. So the two nights that he had needed sleep since the dinner party had been under close observation at the SRC and they had yet to negotiate the tricky problem of room allocation.
"Ah." If she hadn't known better, she might have said he sounded disappointed by the answer. Lowering him onto the bed, she watched as he winced while settling into place.
"I need a shower." Beneath a jacket that had been passed to her by Clive during the rescue, Akiza's beautiful dress was in tatters and the clinical smell of hospital was clinging to her hair. "And you need some rest. Here," Slipping the fisherman's jacket on the back of his office chair, she demurely gestured to an almost invisible fastener at the base of her dress. "Unzip me." While it was possible to do the dress herself, having both hands occupied working the tiny piece of metal made it impossible to catch the front as it peeled away.
Having burns across most of his back and down one arm could excuse his trembling fingers as they carefully moved the zip just a fraction lower than was strictly needed to take the dress off. "Thanks." Before the fire, sinking ship, burns and hospital, there had been a plan which included the words 'far enough'. Instead, she quietly slipped out of the room with a towel keeping her modesty protected and a small bundle grabbed from a drawer in her spare hand.
While Yusei struggled to undo his belt and let his trousers slip to the floor without actually moving his back, Akiza carefully slipped out of her own outfit. The dress was ruined, gashed from the struggle to the lifeboats, sodden in seawater during the ride and imbued with the stench of smoke. Her shoes had gone at some point when she hadn't been paying attention. Only one earring was still looped through her lobe, the other dropped on the boat. Only the thick jacket showed no signs of damage. She would remember to thank Clive for that when returning it. For now, it just joined the heap on the floor as she reached for the shower controls
Once the water was running and steam filled the room, she stepped inside the tub, crumpled to the bottom and let terrified tears stream down her face. This hadn't been a Shadow Duel with equal stakes or a game that had a fair chance of being won. Somebody had slipped aboard the boat with the intention of killing everyone aboard. Because of her selfish stubbornness, Akiza had put herself, Yusei and even Musume at risk from being caught in the fallout. Abi had been right. Regardless of knowing about the danger beforehand, she had made the choice which had brought it into their lives.
After she had managed to regain enough control to stand again, she carefully towelled herself down and wiped her face clean. Some people had mastered the art of crying gracefully but Akiza had found few reasons to shed tears in previous months and her puffy eyes showed it. Combing her hair back into place with trembling fingers, she left the towel to dry on the back of the bathroom door and stepped out into the corridor.
Entering the uncertainly owned bedroom again introduced her to a strange sight. "That looks... uncomfortable." Yusei's back still in agony whenever it touched anything so the orders to keep his body relaxed were best followed by laying himself flat on his bed. A pillow under his chest left enough distance from the mattress for his head to hang loose but it did little to help the wounds on his right arm.
"At least it only looks that way." So much of his back had been burned that it was difficult for the hospital to deal with it. They had coated the worst parts with burn salve but options had been limited in terms of covering them up. "Don't worry, they only tickle a bit. Except that one," Using his unburned left hand, he managed to gently touch a spot just above the waistband of his boxers without aggravating the injuries. "It kinda itches." Quiet footsteps approached the edge of his bed and he could feel Akiza evaluating the damage. "Don't even think about it."
"No idea what you're talking about." With so much damage to so much of his body, even Akiza was able to doubt she could do much to help with serious repercussions to herself. "Chilly in here."
"Helps keep the swelling down." An open window was keeping the room too close to freezing point to be comfortable for most people. Winter was closing in and the mornings were getting frosty. "Was there something I could help you with?" Twisting his neck all the way to the side let him see Akiza from the corner of one eye. She was dressed in a comfortable pair of shorts and a baggy shirt, one blanket bundled under an arm.
"Move over." Settling on the edge of the bed, she shuffled over to reach a point beside him.
"What do you think you're doing?" Moving was difficult in his current state but Yusei did the best he could with one working arm. Unfurling the blanket, Akiza spread it over herself and squeezed slightly closer to him.
"Hush." Dragging his working arm under her head, she nestled it under a pillow and held them in place by resting her head atop the bundle. "Give me your hand." Although the fire had spread from his arm, the flowing path it had taken kept the wounds superficial compared to those on his back. Taking his wrist in a gentle grip, Akiza carefully wrapped his arm over her midriff and pulled them closer together so that the blanket at least partially covered his form. It was still uncomfortably chill on his back yet something about the unyielding pressure of her hand holding his in place was undeniably relaxing. A few minutes after he stopped trying to tug his hand back, those gentle fingers moved from his wrist to start tracing absent patterns on the back of his palm.
"What are we doing?" That smell was back again. Like strawberries mixed with excitement.
"Taking a nap." Breathing in slower breaths, Akiza was clearly keeping to her words. Not even soldiers could learn to control their sleep as well as doctors who regularly worked four straight shifts without break. After the events of the night before and having volunteered to help patch up the wounded at the hospital, Akiza was ready to spend the day asleep.
"No, I mean us." Just enough space existed between his pinned arm and her head for Yusei to bend his wrist and gently brush the hair covering Akiza's face aside.
"Doing what scientists always do." Drawing his arm in a bit tighter, she didn't seem to care just how much it was trembling. It wasn't from pain, that much was certain. Only his upper arm was hurting and she was being careful not to aggravate those areas. "Seeing what happens."
"Are we going to talk about what happened last time?" Forcing her tired eyes open, Akiza watched the fingers brushing back and forth just above her singed lashes. If it hadn't been for the warmth at her back, she doubted that she could have relaxed enough to sleep. Even as the next words sent her heart pounding. "Eight years ago?"
"Do you think it really matters?" Idly moving a finger around on the hand held in position over her stomach, she could feel where the hairs had been singed short under the intense heat of the burning boat. "After everything that happened, I was too confused to try again then. I'm here now." Gentle breaths ghosted over her ear as Yusei leant in slightly to the contact for the first time that he could remember. "Go to sleep. I'll still be here when we wake up."
It was the small things that were drawing Yusei away from the pain in his back. How Akiza's fingers fit between his own, her slowing pattern of breathing as she nestled in his arms. That way she had said 'we'. Real peace did not come as easily as his calm did but even the recent events couldn't quite match up to the feeling that lay slumbering in his embrace. Careful not to aggravate his injuries further, Yusei carefully drew his companion in slightly closer and breathed in that heady scent as he drifted towards dreams that could no longer be preferable to reality.
"Hey, Yusei?" Even though it had been years since he had last been unafraid of going to sleep, he would put it off if she asked.
"Mmmm?" Forcing an eye open a crack, only the blurred colour of her hair filled his vision.
"You still owe me a dinner." A slight smile crossed his face as the darkness closed his eyes.
There's a bit of a backlog I'll be working on clearing so you can expect a few more chapters soon. They were meant to be happening in real-ish time but delays happen. Just like reviews.