Author's Note:

Okay, I know I'm incredibly lame for having put Linkin Park lyrics into Part II intro but I can't help it – I've freaking loved that song for over fifteen years. Besides, I have always enjoyed the amount of angst in that particular song and I've always thought it was so appropriate for this fanfiction. So I'm happy I finally found a place for it!

Anyway, here is chapter 24. Part II is now moving along.

Heads up: it's still all incredibly depressing. And it won't get much better for awhile. Sorry about this, I guess I'm a sadist who loves torturing these characters.

As always, thank you for taking the time to have a look at this story and for reading.

NineInchNailed.

"I'm not sure this is a world I belong in anymore. I'm not sure that I want to wake up."

~Gayle Forman.

The empty Nothingness soothed and beckoned, as deep as the ocean waves. Warm and gentle, they washed over. Calm. Tranquil.

He never wanted to leave. It was so simple. When there is nothing. It's so easy.

Eyes flickered open into the white cloud of blur and heaviness brought them down again. He dived back into the weightless comfort of oblivion and, for a while, it had accepted him back.

But eventually he became aware of his body. Very gradually. One cell, one millimetre at a time. And it was incredibly heavy. And with each inch of muscle returning to awareness there was deep fundamental pain. It had burrowed itself deeper than skin, deeper than the bone marrow, somewhere within the substance of it all. And comprehending the existence of one's breath brought no comfort.

He didn't want it. This deep fatigue, this underlying exhaustion, it could not be grasped nor come back to. He wanted it to stop. He wanted it to slow down, to return to Nothingness again.

There was a pain point somewhere. It was somewhere to the right. And it was becoming more pronounced and (after some indeterminate amount of time) he couldn't take it anymore. He tried to reach for it but he couldn't (because he wasn't in this body), he tried again and failed. Again, and then there was a light plop over his side. Hand over his abdomen. And this was the grand extent of what he was capable of doing. The oblivion beckoned then and he embraced it, breathing out relief.

There was no time here but what could have been minutes, hours, days, months; sensation had returned somewhere.

Eyes slowly opened.

A white ceiling. Panels, slightly beige. Light breeze from somewhere.

His head, tremendous in heaviness, rolled to the side, and he blinked against the blur. The open window. The transparent cloud of the curtain. He heard his own breath. Slow and deep, it echoed against something over his mouth. There was a slow beeping noise nearby.

His mouth was dry and he realized he was parched. Thirstiest he had ever been. And he understood that if he couldn't have some water immediately that he was going to die – and that didn't bring with it that melancholic acceptance that he relished in but, instead, intense urgency.

He tried moving his head to look around him. His eyes settled on a plastic jug on the side table full of what looked like the world's freshest, most quenching water. He tried starting to reach it. A sallow hand came into his viewing field and it took a pause to register that it was his own. There were some tubes attached to it, one dark burgundy, one transparent. Tape everywhere. Discernible blue of the capillaries, veins spread out like webs.

Didn't matter now.

With that foreign unrecognizable hand he fumbled for the container, reached it; fingers slipping across the cold surface, the fresh condensation almost maddening, but not quite far enough to reach. Stretching out further, dull immobilizing strain awakening on every centimetre of skin. Sharpness in the nook of the arm, an IV needle digging in deeper. The jug now graspable, fingers closing in on the handle, pulling it towards himself so he could (possibly literally) dunk his face in it to drink it all, and the weight of the water so immense and shocking that it fell out of his hand immediately.

Sluggishly, he launched with an attempt at catching it but the container hit the floor with an explosion of sound. His own sudden movement detonated dark circles within his vision, ringing in his ears and he was falling somewhere but then something was holding him and then the bed was under his back, voices echoing on far distance but his head rolled to the side and for some indeterminate amount of time he floated in the Unconscious, voices not reaching and everything without a doubt-

(a dream)…

…Slowly he swam out.

Unfamiliar but kind faces. White coats. A speculum around the woman's neck. Her lips were forming words. He made the incredible effort to focus.

"Wha- is…-ame? What is…your name? Your name? Can you hear me? Can you speak?"

He attempted to answer. He had no voice. Throat was dry and tight. Breathing in lightly and trying. No. Trying again. "-u-" throat had closed, breath hitched. This was an impossible task. It was inhuman. Again. "Yu…sei."

His eyes had closed heavily and he submitted to floating again. But he returned faster this time, driven out by thirst for water.

Blur, then the perspective stretched and contracted. Focus eventually reached, wavered. Seeing the same woman in white coat again. She was still trying to speak with him. "Full name? What's your full name?"

"Fu…do. Yusei," he managed with significant effort. He could hear his voice better. It was but a whisper. He'd begun panting.

"Do you know where you are?" Sound still muted but no longer broken up.

"No."

"You're at the hospital. I'm your doctor. Do you remember what happened and why you were brought here?"

No. Flashes. Mudded, unclear, sequences backwards and fevered dreams spliced with pieces of visions, puzzles of reality. There was no semblance of time.

Instead of attempting at patching this together now he rasped out: "Water."

They moved very quickly then or perhaps he perceived with delay: the bed moved so he was sitting up and there were multiple arms flashing and then the oxygen mask was pulled down and suddenly there was a plastic cup in front of him and he raised a weak hand, grasped it and at the taste of cold water he nearly choked. His throat felt ten times smaller for all of it but it didn't matter. He forced all of it down. They had another one ready. He drank three glasses in a row and still didn't feel satiated but they wouldn't give him more.

He lay his head back and almost as quickly he was reclining again. Vision starting to cloud. So much energy used up just for this.

The doctor and the nurses were still trying to talk to him. "Fudo Yusei? …Else? …Feel…any pain?" but he drifted off again.

Crow was pacing outside while Rua and Ruka were excitedly chatting with Bruno and Carly. Jack was standing nearby but looking as stoic as if it were a normal weekday morning.

"I think we may get to see him now!" Rua cheered.

"I hope so! We won't bug him for long but still – if we could see him even for a little bit!" Ruka agreed.

"I know but let's not hope too high and be disappointed," Carly added and proposed: "It's still early and he had a big procedure right? It may be better that they let him rest and don't let us in."

Rua, Ruka and Bruno sighed with frustration but they could all agree that Carly had a point.

Crow was silently studying the door. About ten minutes ago, as they were waiting hopeless and contemplating calling it a day, they've heard a loud cluttering noise coming from the room. They've all jumped to their feet, alerted and about to bolt inside, but the medical personnel beat them to it: they had already run in and locked the door behind them. Crow had attempted to peek in as much as he could but he achieved zero success.

Eventually an orderly came out of there and notified them that Yusei had briefly regained consciousness and caused the commotion by accidentally dropping the water jug. Physicians were tending to him now but he again emphasized that due to extent of their friend's injuries and the still weak condition, that they should be prepared not to get to see him today.

The Team 5D's was feeling stubborn and decided to continue sticking around until they were explicitly told to get lost. Or maybe hoping to try what Aki did and sneak in when there wasn't too much personnel nearby.

Crow continued watching the door and wishing for his best friend to feel better and soon.

There was the sensation of the cold, firm ground. The sight of white, almost porcelain, hands. Red hair in the peripheral, blown by the wind. The breeze on the skin. The tired ache in the body. The nourishing feeling of the heaving breath.

A long, slow, intake of air. Holding it in those new lungs until they nearly burst. Letting it out. It felt incredible. Alive.

Looking up and seeing the horizon line, the city below, circuits of highways on the distance like dead millipedes, the gray morose giants of skyscrapers.

And then feeling the unimaginable power, pulsating with each pump of the beating heart.

A big white smile. Rising from the ground. Smaller, delicate hands balled into fists; studying them. The power beat so intensely through this body it nearly took away the new breath. That which used to be so dormant was now fully alive.

Need to…need to test this. Try it out. Hands fumbling for a duel disk but finding none. It was left somewhere. The bike. Scowling with frustration but realizing a better way was possible. Finding the deck of cards by the hip. Looking through and picking out the first monster. It was weak, plant type and ordinary. But nonetheless.

"Come!'" a voice that was now all hers. "I order you!"

A hand raised towards the heavens and tossed the card to the ground. A monster had begun materializing out of the card. Struggling, pulsating with effort, as if being birthed. Tendrils stuck on frames but pushing out. And then it was out, three feet tall and as real as anything. It did not have a mouth prior but now it did. It's ripped out and screeched horrifically and she just laughed and laughed.

The unspeakable power now finally all free to do her bidding.

She ordered the monster to disappear and it did. Something trickled over her lip. Raised hand and touched the source, discovering a drop of blood. Evidence of nosebleed.

Inconsequential.

Yusei's doctor came out with the last of the personnel after having been in there for ten minutes. The Signers eagerly approached her to listen to the updates.

"Fudo Yusei had awoken for a short time but he's gone back to sleep again. We will continue blood transfusion for another four hours. We'll keep the other IV and will continue checking up on him every thirty minutes. He appears to be in some pain and we gave him a light sedative." She paused then, wondering if she should finally make a mention at just how successful the patient's procedure and recovery has been. The patient cognizant, intelligible, despite certain brain death for four minutes on the operating table. And not a trace of the injury left. As a result, the patient shouldn't actually be feeling any pain but it could have been psychological or residual discomfort. She had also decided that they won't be giving him any other medication but that they'll be monitoring to see if he requires it. This was the most unprecedented case, after all.

"His DOA state appears alright," she continued. "He was able to answer some questions. We still need to keep him here for at least a couple of days and observe him for any signs of neurological damage. But the prospects so far seem promising."

"Doctor, when can we see him? Today?" Rua pressed.

She shook her head. "I'm sorry but I don't know if it's a good idea. He needs all the rest he can get to recover. Trust us, he's in good hands. We'll do our very best with him."

"No!"

"Doctor, please? Can we just see him? Even for 5 minutes?"

"He's sleeping," she repeated, firmly.

Crow stood up. "Doctor, please," he asked earnestly and seriously. "Last we saw Yusei he was…I don't know how to describe it. We just need to see that he's okay. With our own eyes. Please?" Because it was true. Seeing Yusei like that. Approaching the warehouse and hearing those horrible bone-chilling noises. Feeling of dread - potent, frightening. They sensed that something bad had happened but just how bad could it be? Finally running in and finding Aki, hysterical, insane, (she was the one wailing, making those awful sobs that he never thought were possible) and she was clutching Yusei who was bloody from what it seemed head to toe… He literally looked gray. Crow didn't know people could ever look like that. And running over, trying to talk to her, trying to help Yusei but she was glued to him, she was completely unaware of anything, and it was impossible to get her to release him. He literally had to pry her away and she fought and resisted him like a wild animal for those few crazy seconds. And Yusei wouldn't react. Wouldn't move. Wouldn't make a sound. Wouldn't breathe.

The doctor studied him. Seeing his desperation and dedication. Turning and seeing the same within all of them.

"Alright…" she uttered, extremely reluctantly. As everyone instantly rejoiced she shushed them. "But! You all go in. And you go out. A minute. Tops."

"Yes, yes, of course! Thank you, thank you!" the thankful Signers cheered.

Doctor was shaking her head, unable to believe she was permitting this over her better judgment, but unable to withstand the perseverance of such devotion. Still, she had stepped away from the door and motioned them to go in. "One minute!" she reminded strictly.

The friends quickly rushed in.

From behind the corner, Aki watched silently. Cursing. Ra…it was still there. It was waiting. They needed to obtain it. It didn't belong to Yusei Fudo. It didn't come to him. It belonged to them. But now the Signers were there and they couldn't go in.

"Will come back," she decided and turned away to go check on the previous vessel. It had to be around here somewhere.

The Team 5D's stood motionless inside the room, words lost in upset and shocked silence. Nobody knew what to say for a small, uncomfortable amount of time. But at least they had all seen Yusei in a similar condition before, during a battle with Dark Signer Kiryu.

"Hey, Yusei, it's us," Crow attempted to their unconscious leader, the first one to speak. "It's good to see you."

"Yusei looks really sick," Ruka whispered, quite upset.

"Yeah, but it's only just now," Rua tried to sound cheerful. "He'll be all better very soon, I bet."

"Yeah," Carly agreed, quickly. "When we visit tomorrow I'm sure Yusei will be up and running by then."

They lingered a little longer, not knowing what to say or what to do in situation like this. Carly broke the silence again: "Tomorrow, let's bring something to help him regain his health faster!"

"Yes, good idea!" Rua eagerly jumped in. "We can bring his D-Wheel maybe so he's even more encouraged to get better!"

"I can bake some cookies!" Ruka clapped her hands together.

"And we can all bring some flowers to make this room brighter," Carly continued. "I think it will make a huge difference."

Flowers, yes, Crow thought and somehow that brought something to his attention. "Has anyone seen Aki yet? Is she back?"

"Oh," the rest of the friends looked about themselves as if expecting her to have sneaked by, somehow.

"Well, she was going to see a doctor," Carly said. "Maybe she's still waiting."

"Yeah I know but I thought she'd be done by now," Crow said. Besides, she doesn't yet know that Yusei had woke up for a bit. That would make her so happy.

"If she's not with a doctor then Aki nee-san might be resting somewhere," Rua suggested a very plausible scenario.

"I saw her on the roof," Jack suddenly spoke up.

They all turned to look at him except for Carly who was ignoring him.

"When?" Ruka asked.

Jack shrugged uncaringly. "Fifteen or twenty minutes ago. I guess."

Crow had a bad feeling form in the pit of his stomach and he thought it was stupid to feel like this. But he couldn't help his anxiety. "Why was she on the roof?"

Jack shrugged again. "I don't know. Fresh air?"

Crow chewed on his bottom lip. And, with that good timing, the doctor had peaked into the room and hissed at them. "You got extra time but it's time for all of you to leave."

"Yeah, yeah, fine," they all agreed and hurried out. She didn't leave them be: she actually began pushing them out of that hallway, not letting them linger outside the door anymore. "Please come back and visit him tomorrow, okay? Nothing more today," she requested, obviously not trusting them to keep their distance.

But this time the Team 5D's could agree with her, having been somewhat satisfied with what they had accomplished today. "Okay, that's all fine! Thank you very much and we promise won't loiter here anymore. But we have another friend in the hospital here and we'll need to find her."

"Reception," she answered and pointed to the desk on the distance. She then stood and waited until they walked in that direction before she had allowed herself to leave.

"Can you guys check with reception where Aki may be and I'll go check the roof?" Crow suggested and, when his friends agreed, he sprinted to the elevator. There he mashed the button as if doing that would make the elevator come faster.

When he finally made it to the roof he saw nobody there but a couple of stressed out doctors smoking by the railings. They weren't paying attention to anyone else, engrossed in their own conversations.

Crow looked around, approached the high railing and tentatively looked twelve stories down. He obviously saw nothing but the normal hospital traffic: patients coming and going, ambulances, cars.

He stepped back and breathed in the cool, fresh air. Feeling less anxious. He didn't like why he suddenly felt worried and felt like punishing himself for having such sick and senseless thoughts. After all, what was he thinking, that what – Aki would kill herself or something? What a ridiculous and disgusting thought. And why? Why would he even think of something like that? How did that make any sense, especially now that Yusei was fine and everything turned out fine?

"You gotta get a grip on yourself sometimes," he reproached himself bitterly and departed.

He reconvened with others near the third-floor reception and found out that nobody was successful. The hospital didn't actually have records of Aki doing appointments or checking out. They only had her logged upon arrival.

Finally, after lingering around for a bit, they all decided to split up and search for her. They agreed on a meeting place, twenty minutes search time, and promised to text each other if anything, and then went their separate ways.

Jack aimlessly took the first floor. He didn't actually have any enthusiasm for this task. He was sure that Aki was fine. What he wanted the most was to go back to Poppo Time and to sleep. And then to get Blue Eyes Mountain coffee. In fact he wouldn't have minded one now. He would never drink that gross cheap sludge they call coffee here. But he did want something to wake him up.

Stifling a large yawn he passed through a large visiting area populated with disgusting coughing people. Some busy rooms. Then, in the corner of his eye, he saw a flash of red. He turned and saw Aki enter the elevator across the hall. Before he could do anything or even react, the doors closed and the arrow showed "Down."

He approached and waited for another elevator to arrive. What was down anyway, a basement? He didn't think there was a lower level here.

Already feeling extremely annoyed with having to chase her like this, he finally made it to the lowest level. The air was a little damp here. Is still smelled very chemical and clean, same sterile atmosphere, but everything seemed slightly darker. No windows. Very few people. Claustrophobic.

He had no idea where she'd gone after this. Looking around the labels by the doors he began exploring the floor. It didn't seem very patient-accessible and, in fact, he wasn't sure if he was even allowed in here.

Eh, whatever.

He peeked through the windows as he walked. What he saw was mostly lab equipment. A couple of sick and pale visitors sitting with tickets in front of a plasma lab. An elderly man by the gamma-ray room. A pissy doctor leaning on a cane, writing something on a board inside a private diagnostic room. A janitor wearily swiping a dirty rag in front of the boiler room. The metallic double doors to the morgue.

A blink of red. Through the miniscule space inside those double doors. Was Aki in there?! The fucking morgue?

Jack Atlas had stopped, frozen. He wouldn't move. It didn't make sense for her to be there so why should he attempt to go there? That'd be really stupid, no? Exactly. It's not like he was freaked out by the idea of dead bodies and autopsies on dead bodies. It was stupid because Aki wasn't there.

Then he heard a familiar voice echo through those doors. Unfortunately, that sounded kind of like Aki.

"Damn it," he mumbled under his breath and swore repeatedly as he typed a text to the whole 5D's group. "Come to morg." it said. He lingered over the press button, then gingerly deleted it and slowly walked through those doors.

There wasn't much there. Mostly lab equipment. An empty desk where an orderly or security or whoever should have been sitting and monitoring people going in here. Lots of filing cabinets and other office stuff. A hallway leading to where deceased people were probably lying around.

Creeping down that hallway, pace of the snail, he began to distinguish what the voice was saying.

"Not an infinite amount of time after all. A shame. But at least this body is in better condition. No more anemia or fast approaching expiration date."

Jack reached the corner, pressed his back against it and then, as invisibly as possible, glanced around.

Aki was standing next to those stacked refrigerated cabinets where bodies were kept. And there was one on a pullout table in front of her. The white sheet was pulled back to reveal its face. She was…narrating to it.

"Odd at first but now not at all. Have to put in effort to recall past memories. Without focus, seeing the new host's only. Distracting but not debilitating. Temporary, likely."

Jack stood frozen, fighting off the urge to come out and yell, What the hell are you doing! on top of his lungs.

Aki laughed and pulled the sheet back over the original Mahdi's face. "Enough. Goodbye." Then she looked up and said, "Come out, Jack Atlas."

Damn right! Jack agreed and stepped out from where he was listening in. "Aki. What the fuck? What the hell are you doing here?" Because he just found her speaking nonsense to a corpse of their past enemy!

A small smile touched the corners of her lips. Instead of answering, she pushed the body back into that enormous filing fridge, closed the little door and then began approaching him.

Involuntarily he took a step back. Jack Atlas never felt fear but perhaps this could have been one of the times he could have felt such an emotion. It was all this horrible creepy setting. Just as quickly, he forced himself to recover by fueling his confidence with fiery anger. "Why are you here?" he repeated loudly. "Why were you talking to that bastard? After what he did? I will never forgive you."

"Jack Atlas, why have you allowed yourself to be reduced to that pathetic existence?" asked a flat, doubled voice. She was speaking over her own echo.

"Huh?" he was so shocked by the randomness of that question that he didn't move while she had approached closer.

"Is this the life Jack Atlas had always dreamt of?" she continued and grinned, showing teeth. "No money. No property. No fame. No glory. No power of his own?"

"The fuck! No power?" he snapped and growled. "How dare you insult me like this, Aki!"

"I'm glad you're angry. You should be. You have to be angry to realize the path of your current future," she said and at that she suddenly closed the space between them, a hand shooting out with lightening speed. Before he had a chance to even realize what had happened, a hand closed over his throat and with monstrous unnatural strength he was backed up against the wall.

"F-" he began and every muscle in his body tensed to shove her away (I don't care that she's a girl) but the familiar amber gaze locked on him…and there was something indescribable in it, something horrible and petrifying and unknown. He was entirely paralyzed as she spoke slowly and measuredly.

"You look into my eyes and you see the future you have chosen, Jack Atlas. The path you are on."

And inexplicably Jack was suddenly somewhere else.

The battle against Set and blood duels were over. They had all settled back into Poppo Time. But that didn't last long. Almost a day later Rua and Ruka moved back into their condo at the Tops. Their parents were coming back and they were promising to take them away soon. To London.

Yusei and Aki were the next to move out. Aki went back to school and made plans to study medicine. Yusei accepted an opportunity to conduct research at Momentum Investigation and Development Section for the city. He began developing some new program to aid with keeping Momentum balanced. And the two of them were planning to move in together as soon as Aki was to graduate from the Academy.

Crow left next. To everyone's surprise he enrolled into Public Security program. To become an officer. They rejected him at first due to his criminal record but with Ushio and Mikage's good word he was finally able to get in.

Because Jack had no money and Carly made very little as a journalist, they stayed at Poppo Time where rent was cheaper. Bruno stayed for a bit as well and he contributed some money by doing ad hoc mechanic work at the basement. It didn't pay too much but he didn't bother them and it was helpful. But he didn't stick around for too long. One day he decided that he had to go find his own purpose here. And just like that, he was gone.

"Look at yourself, the former champion – the fallen King. Do you like what you see? Is this how it should be?"

It was him and Carly then, the remaining residents of Poppo Time. He didn't even like this freaking place and the landlord Zora was the biggest pain. But he had to tolerate because they didn't have enough money to find something better.

He had spent too much and didn't save enough. He received some residual royalties from the sales of his movie from years back and some other merchandise but it was drying out quickly. He tried to attend as many events as possible to promote himself but interest in him was going away rapidly. He wasn't King anymore; he was a powerful duelist but so were many others now, it seemed.

Jack started dueling in tournaments for some money but something was wrong. He began losing. And they were good duelists but there was no way they should have won. He was so convinced that they cheated and he tried to tell others but no one would believe him.

Carly supported him but in order to make money she had to take on extra hours. She worked 8am until 9pm, every day. Eventually Jack had to swallow back his pride and get a side job while trying to make dueling money his main source of income. There were good days and there were bad. He had no job experience and he didn't complete any formal schooling. Nobody wanted to hire him. He had to humiliate and lower himself even further by asking the Café La Geen to hire him again. The waitress there was able to convince her boss. Jack had a lot resting on this job and so he worked hard to overcome his past mistakes but the job was difficult and demeaning. The customers who were clearly below him ridiculed him. He wanted to quit but he had no other job lined up and so he had to stick with it. One time a customer was rushing him and he accidentally sprayed hot steam all over his hand. After that, a whole week he had a severe burn and had pain holding dishes. Worst of all, it had also affected his dueling capacity and he had to miss a speed tournament he knew he would have won.

At night he would lie and wonder where things have gone wrong.

On some mornings it was impossible to wake up. There were days that he wished he could get on his D-Wheel and to go somewhere, anywhere, and never come back. But he couldn't because he couldn't just leave Carly.

"You can never outrun what awaits you."

And as bad as everything was, it was on its way to becoming worse.

Carly had gotten pregnant, despite all their precautions. And Jack liked kids but he didn't think he was ready to have one at 21 and with the way their life was now. Carly cried and said she could get an abortion if that was going to make him feel better but that she loved this baby already and wanted to have it. He supposed he loved it too but not what it was doing to their life.

His dreams of getting on a D-Wheel and driving away, free of constraints, free as a wind to chase anything he wished were now furthermore extinguished. He had to cut down on time spent dueling in favour of more stable income. He took on extra shifts at the Café with hopes of getting promoted. Because in eight months Carly wouldn't be working anymore and then they'd need to buy all that stuff for the baby, and then also make arrangements for when Carly would go back to work, because he couldn't support a whole family on a waiter's salary and because somebody always had to be home to watch the kid. And then the pregnancy was challenging and Carly was constantly sick and then the doctor told them that there may be a complication with it and then-

"Now look back to what you have always dreamed of, Jack Atlas."

A little boy ruefully watched other kids playing with others. Nearby, their well-off parents were observing them and then calling them to come home to their TVs and toys and extravagant meals. The little boy was always alone and other kids on the playground thought he was strange. They began spreading rumours about him. They knew he was an orphan so they laughed to themselves, saying that he had undiagnosed diseases, that he had lice, that he only owned one set of clothes, and that he had no friends because he stole cards from them. He was a freak.

These were all such filthy lies and the boy hated all of them, their snobbishness and their privilege. He hated how lucky they were and even more how little they appreciated what they had.

Crow and Yusei became his friends eventually and it was the best thing ever. Finally, for once in his life, he wasn't alone. He was not a pariah. Now at least they had each other. And he could begin to dream and aspire.

At first he wanted to get extremely good at dueling and show to the kids that shunned him all these years. With Yusei's and Crow's help and constant practice with them he was able to. And despite his cards not being as strong as those snobby kids', he was still able to win. He enjoyed fighting them. He relished in this revenge. And he was actually good at this. He could become even better.

He started to think that maybe he could be even great. And once he is great he could become rich. Because money ruled the world and money made you a more powerful person. Money gave you everything. Greatness, money and power together and you could become famous. People would hold you in their hearts and cheer you on and you could feed on that power and channel it into the passion of your soul. You would become the world's best duelist. You would become King. And you would have all the means at your disposal never to return to the way you are now: living at that shared house at Martha's, scavenging garbage for food and cards, your career paths paved to factory work or to end up in prison.

"A great King who had arisen out of those slums, like phoenix from the ashes that sought to drown him."

The dream grew in Jack Atlas' heart and he let it colour his life. He let it be his guiding light. A bright ray of hope leading the way out of hopelessness and darkness. He held it in the palm of his hand and let its shine spill over from the volume of his desire.

"Have you seen enough?" a voice asked him and he was back. He was sitting with his back against a wall. Aki was crouched in front of him. Looking compassionate. Different.

A sheen of sweat covered his skin, pulse thumped in his ears. The images of his past and his future still circulating like ghosts before his eyes.

"That was the darkness of your heart. And the thing about darkness is that it feeds off the smallest of insecurities. It latches to a single smallest error. But ultimately, it always turns into the truth."

He tried to say something but couldn't.

"You cannot change this. It has been set in motion already," she reiterated.

He swallowed in a throat that was dry.

"You are powerless to stop it, Jack Atlas. How does it feel? Whipped into second place. Held back by your selfish acquaintances and other so-called romantic distractions. Why don't you return to your former glory, King Jack? Why don't you take back what was rightfully yours."

"What do you want?" he managed.

"To give you an opportunity to change your destiny. It is within your heart's desire to change the future you have seen. You only have to wish it. And it will be yours."

"Why?"

She smiled slowly, intimately. Before his eyes she morphed into someone else. Luscious dark hair. Beautiful petite body. Big black eyes that worshipped him and guided him. It was Dark Signer Carly.

"Let me help you, Jack. I know I haven't been as good to you as I should have been," she purred. Her voice was honey, caramelized with confidence and seduction. "I will help you achieve your dreams. I will never hold you back. I will let you do anything. You. Want."

"Anything," he repeated. Thoughts slowing down. Serene. Hypnotized.

She leaned in close. "Make a wish, Jack," she whispered.

He thought of the ultimate dream and he could almost feel it in the palm of his hand. Closing the fist tight, the light of the dream shining through his fingers. It pulsated with every beat of his heart. He held it and he would never let it go.

"Make a wish and you can have all the power you desire. All the freedom you had fought for. All the glory you deserve."

He slowly closed his eyes and when her lips pressed against his, he gave in.

After twenty minutes the remaining Signers gathered at the third-floor lobby with no results and with no Jack Atlas yet in sight.

"Anybody text him yet?" Crow asked, typing up a message to him which went approximately like, "Where the hell u ?" He glanced at Carly.

"Not really," she murmured, looking away.

"Okay, well, now what do we do?"

Ruka was yawning and rubbing her eyes. Rua was very soon to follow suit. "Let's wait?" Bruno suggested.

And so they waited. Five minutes. Ten. Time stretched so slowly and each minute had felt like an hour. At around a fifteen minute mark Crow couldn't take it anymore. "We either go look for them both now or we go home and get some shut eye," he proposed.

Bruno, Ruka and Rua all agreed, all yawning so wide and so frequently that they had tears in their eyes.

"I think we should go home," Carly agreed. "Honestly. I think Jack will be fine getting there by himself."

Crow eyed her, wondering if those two had a fight of sorts.

"Yea," Rua attempted tiredly. "I bet Aki-neesan actually left awhile ago and was picked up by her parents. She probably forgot to text us."

"Could be, actually," Crow concurred slowly. He wasn't 100% convinced but, truthfully, he was incredibly tired and also super hungry and they also weren't doing anything productive by just standing around here.

"Let's come back tomorrow morning and visit Yusei?" Bruno joined in.

"Yeah," Ruka yawned widely. "I still want to bake."

"Ruka-chan, I'm sure he'd love it," Carly urged her on.

"Okay, it's decided," Crow concluded, stretching his arms tiredly, and started towards the exit.

It was early evening that Aki and Jack made it outside the hospital where they were met by a group of Public Security representatives.

The main security guard was taken aback when he saw the two Signers. In particular, he was shocked to discover the same girl that he saw Mahdi tie up in the warehouse during the night.

She introduced herself and it didn't take long to convince them of her true identity. The boss always had ways of convincing people if they were dubious. On occasion, the security guard had witnessed some of those perplexing and yet frightening abilities in person.

"Him, too?" was the only thing the middle-aged man inquired about the tall brooding stranger standing by her side.

"Oh yes, Jack Atlas is a new addition to the team," she grinned and reached to caress his muscular arm.

Jack appreciated his Wheel of Fortune in the parking lot. Then he returned his eyes to her, black as night, the way Dark Signers appeared. "Why didn't you go in there and take Ra back?"

She ran a hand through that lush red hair which was now entirely her own. "Mmm, definitely thought about it. Got a better idea. You'll see tomorrow."

He turned away uncaringly and started heading over to his D-Wheel.

The Public Security motioned to a tinted car for Aki.

"You follow us, okay, Jack?" she called after him. "Then you'll have anything you need to become the strongest duelist in the world."

Jack nodded and started the engine.

Then the car and the legendary D-Wheel drove off.

Yusei slept within the oblivion and the Nothingness had blessed him with no dreams. He awoke twice. First, was when there was dull pain in his left arm and he groggily registered that a nurse had pulled out an IV needle. That blink of consciousness lasted but a split second.

The second time was all him. It was dark inside the room and nighttime outside, only light from the hallway coming through the tinted screen door. The clock on the wall clocked twenty after midnight.

His whole body still weighed down, weary. He felt hot and cold at the same time, a thin layer of perspiration over his skin. It was hard to move but he needed to attempt to. Additionally, he was still painfully thirsty.

He slowly swung his feet down and waited until his vision cleared, somewhat. Then, using all his effort, he stood up.

If it wasn't for one hand on the bed he would have toppled over entirely. But with that limited support he managed to check the falling impact to one knee. He panted as he watched the dark floor swirl and tilt; tried to fight off the nausea. Every muscle ached and felt as thin as skim milk.

But he refused to go back to bed. Clenching his teeth and gathering his strength he scrambled up. He saw the clear IV that was still attached to him and noticed that it could be moved. He grabbed onto it and it provided some much-appreciated support.

His first stop was to pick up that cursed plastic water container and, holding it in those infuriatingly weak and shaking hands, drinking almost half of it before pausing for breath. This got him both lightheaded and a little more energized.

He paused to look through the window and to relish the cool breeze on his fevered face, the fresh smell of rain and the sleepy, gauzy illumination of the city during the night. He thought of all his friends and of Aki, wondering where they were now and what they were doing.

The bathroom was his next stop. The lightbulb shone a bright electric yellow and he had to close his eyes until he could better adjust. Finally, he turned the tap and slowly looked up at his own reflection, studying it with sore eyes.

Dark eyebags. Greenish yellow skin-tone. Slightly sunken cheeks. Cracked lips. Dry mouth, taste of copper faint but remaining despite all the water he's drank. He looked further down. A white hospital garb, rough and stiff. Nothing else underneath, they had cut away all his clothing. The IV tube going into his arm. A bubble of cotton stuck with some tape over the nook of his other arm. He peeled it away and tossed it into garbage, revealing a large purple bruise where another needle apparently nested.

Then slowly, very slowly, he pushed back the side of the garb to look. A flash of the torn wound, blood pouring out like from a tilted water bottle, shaking brown gloves clutching over it to keep it in, keep it all in from escaping and then falling forward into the ground, vision assaulted by swirls of gray, screams echoing on the distance.

Nothing.

He pushed the cloth further and traced his hand over the place that he saw but nothing at all. He turned back and looked for an exit wound and there was nothing at all, either.

Could it all have been a dream? He thought it could have been. But there was still pain there and he remembered it all too well from. It lingered, burrowed itself somewhere underneath, even if there was no evidence left. And if he had moved too fast, it became sharp.

He returned his gaze to the mirror, registering the tired dismay and confusion in himself. At least there was comfort in the familiar Signer mark on his left forearm, the head of the Crimson Dragon. He was still connected with them. They were all still together. And then caught a sight of his left bicep.

The mark of the Osiris. The dark twisting mark that sunk into the skin and tattooed itself greedily wherever it found place while he bled at its comfort.

It was gone.