When All Was Lost...
Chapter Thirty
30
The engine whirred in the tunnels and soon a beam of light came fast approaching.
"That's Yusei! Quick Akarii, follow me!" Rally said as he gripped her hand and pulled her along with him. They pulled off into a little run down shack. There was a broken couch draped in an old sheet...A rickety shelf in the right corner, it seemed to contain a mash up of old parts and tools for mechanics. There was a make-shift computer, home made but well taken care of and around it were scattered photos of faded memories.
My memories...
Akarii thought to herself as she touched each one that had her in them. They differred in poses and faces. Some seemed can-did, others seemed posed. They were simply... a bunch of teenagers.
Their standing order never changed much, however. She always stood next to one specific male it seemed.
Wild orange hair and a grin a mile wide.
"That's Crow." she heard Rally say as he caught her looking. "I Don't know all that much about your past Akarii, but I do know that apparently you used to live with him, so if anyone would know anything...He would."
"I lived with him, huh?" she blinked and stared a while.
She wanted to believe him.
He seemed genuine.
As genuine as the smiles they shared in each one of those old photographs. Her heart ached whenever the name Crow got mentioned.
Or anything having to do with how close he and she used to be.
It hurt that she couldn't remember.
And it hurt her more to think about telling this person that she didn't remember him...
There was a faded spot on the wall, probably where this photo that Rally handed her was originally stuck.
"Sit on the couch in here, Akarii." said Rally as he led her politely,"Just wait a bit, Yusei can help clear all this up."
Yusei...Yusei...
I know this name too.
Her amber eyes shifted to the ash haired male who stood on the other side of her...oppisite of the one called Crow.
Is this him?
Something told her it was.
"Just wait...okay?" Rally gave her a kind smile and quickly disappeared behind the drapes that made for the door to this... shack.
She could hear the screetch of a Duel Runner's Tires come to a hault and an excited Rally welcomed home its rider.
"Welcome back, Yusei!" she could hear him practically beaming on the other side.
"Hey, Rally..." a low toned voice answered him in response.
In a way...it sounded kind of gentle.
And familiar to her.
"Hey, so listen...I gotta tell you something...and I'm gonna need you not to freak out, okay?"
"Okay..." the doubt in Yusei's voice was apparent,"Why would I freak out?"
"Okay so...say by chance-" though before Rally could finish that sentence, there was quite a commotion amongst the entire group who all seemed to storm him at once.
"We found Akarii!" They all belted.
"WE!?" Rally huffed sounding none to pleased.
"Okay, Rally found Akarii." said Nervin in attempt to correct the accusation,"The girl who disappeared from here 3 years ago..." he said,"She was your friend right?"
There was a silence that fell upon the group. A sudden serious tone took to the voice that belonged to Yusei.
"Are you sure!?" he sounded shaken,"I mean...absolutely sure!?"
"We all saw the photos." said Blitz
"It certainly looks like her." said Tank.
"She said her name was Akarii." said Rally,"The girl we're talking about...she's in there." she could tell by the motion of the shadows on the other side that Rally was pointing directly at her. She stood but couldn't move.
"It's definitly Akarii Rhodes, but listen-"
It seemed Yusei didn't want to "listen" anymore.
Akarii watched his shadow dance across the drapes as he approached them and swung them back with both man now stood before her. The ash-haired male from the photographs... With eyes deeper than the ocean's blue...
They shot open wide upon her.
She simply stared back.
As she watched him, she listened to the many voices in her head.
The many voices that were his.
"Yusei...Fudo..." she muttered out this name and he instantly responded with her own.
"Akarii..." His voice came out in a quiver.
He himself was shaking as he approached her.
A Brown gloved hand reached for her face, as though to test if she were real. He cuppedher cheeks with both gloved hands.
They smelled like leather, sweat, and motor oil.
All familiar smells to her as she placed her own hands over his and nestled her nose slightly into his palm.
These hands are bigger than I remember...
She closed her eyes and tried to recover the missing moments with this person before her...
Even through his leather gloves, his hands were still warm, and gentle.
"It's good to see you...Yusei." she said as she opened her eyes to meet his and jolted in shock to see them lined with tears.
"Akarii...you're okay..." he said softly, trembling still.
It seems her presence was a shock to him, as she imagined it would be... had she really been missing for 3 years like they say...
"You're okay!"
She couldn't react fast enough.
His sudden force took over and pushed her off her balance.
For a moment, they were both off the ground, with no way to catch themselves...
To Be Continued