Author's Note:

Okay, here is chapter 25! It's a bit of a transition chapter, short and sweet. But, unfortunately, it continues being kind of depressing.

Thank you all for taking the time to view and to read.

NineInchNailed.

"When we are tired, we are attacked by ideas we conquered long ago."

~Friedrich Nietzsche

In the early hours of the morning, when Yusei awoke, he managed to eat all the breakfast they brought him and asked for seconds. He was still chugging water in preposterous portions but now at smaller intervals and beginning to feel satiated afterwards.

While eating breakfast number two, a woman in a white coat came to see him. She introduced herself as his physician.

"I remember you from yesterday," he said. Well, bits and pieces.

She smiled. "How are you feeling?"

"Better," he pushed the empty plate and utensils aside and sat upright. "When can I go home?"

She paused, studying the chart at the foot of the bed. "I wouldn't recommend it for another couple of days. I want to run more tests."

"Why?" He thought that aside from feeling weak, occasionally feverish, and the phantom pain in his abdomen that he was okay to go home.

She put the chart down and directed full attention to him. Her polite smile had evaporated. "Will you permit me to be perfectly honest with you, Fudo Yusei-san?"

He nodded and she resumed:

"The normal protocol after the surgery you have had is at least a week, with two-day recovery in the ICU, and then recommended physical therapy accommodations. We had also been giving you blood transfusions all day yesterday. Without painkillers, you wouldn't be able to move or function, at all. Now, I made a decision not to give you any medication since approximately 5 o'clock yesterday. Today, aside from dehydration and a mild fever, there doesn't appear to be anything else wrong with you. Going by this information I don't actually have the grounds to make you stay here anymore.

"But please understand my reluctance here," she continued, asking for his patience. And she had told him of how he was brought in yesterday. According to paramedics, he wasn't breathing when they had found him. He had a severe stabbing wound which had damaged his liver and caused internal bleeding. They had to restart his heart multiple times as he had suffered cardiac arrest on his way here and then on the operating table. He had lost approximately 50% of his blood level. Finally, they had lost him for over four minutes. All his vital signs had failed. They had begun the preparations to take him away.

Yusei looked down, eyes wide. He was deeply shocked by what he'd heard. And yet…what was this residual feeling… wasn't it lack of surprise, somehow? He had prepared to die back then. He had been ready. And so it had happened, exactly like the doctor had described. But where did this leave room for him to be conscious and back from it all?

"I know that everything I've said is a lot to take in," she said compassionately, noticing the affect her words had. "But I hope that now you understand my reluctance to discharge you. We were not actually sure if you had sustained brain damage. We couldn't estimate how long you were without oxygen when we had found you, added on top of the four minutes you were clinically dead during surgery. And yet now you are here, a day later, speaking normally and not appearing to have any impairment whatsoever. Additionally, without any pain medication following a major operation."

"Is this what it usually looks like after surgery?" he asked hoarsely, pushing back the garment to expose the previously wounded site of his abdomen.

"Not at all," she said.

"I don't understand."

"Neither do we. Now, this morning I had booked you for ultrasound, blood tests and psychological evaluations. Please oblige."

He nodded stiffly.

She had smiled then. "I'm very glad you're feeling much better. Your friends will be too. They've fought hard to see you yesterday. I have no doubt they'll be here for a visit soon too."

He forced himself to return a small smile. "Thank you. Very much," and he truly meant it.

"I've got to go now but I'll be back to check up on you later in the day," she promised and departed.

Yusei lay back and studied the panels on the ceiling, futilely trying to process and make sense of what he'd heard.

He had returned from most of the tests they'd scheduled for him and sat down heavily on the bed. He was hoping to rest as he still felt lightheaded and weak (and they still were forcing him to drag the IV around), when he heard extremely familiar and dear voices outside. Moments later Rua, Ruka and Crow burst into the room with cheerful yelling.

"Yusei!" Rua screamed and jumped to hug him. Ruka refrained and bashfully brought out a big container, saying there were baked cookies in here.

Crow was beaming. "Finally we can see you without any trouble, Yusei. Yesterday they gave us quite a headache. How are you feeling?"

Yusei felt embarrassed of his appearance (health, lack of upkeep and the fact that he was only wearing the colorless hospital gown) but his friends didn't appear to care nor notice. "Better," he smiled. "Everyone…thank you for coming."

"Of course!" Rua let go of him and jumped back with a wide grin. "We wished we could have stayed here overnight! Do you want anything from the cafeteria downstairs, Yusei? We can go get something for you."

He said "It's okay, thanks," because he didn't want to inconvenience them but Crow urged them on. "Actually that's a good idea, get him the biggest and fattest slice of pizza you can find there. And, if you can, try to get the whole thing!" He handed Rua some money. "You'll have to make do without my delivery pizza, Yusei," he laughed. "Hopefully this one won't be too disgusting."

Ruka departed with her brother but not before handing him the bowl of cookies directly and lightening up with the brightest smile when he thanked her.

Crow stayed back and when the twins left he opened his bagpack and brought out some folded clothes. "These are for you to change into when they're ready to let you go. I've gone through stuff in your room."

Yusei was so grateful to all of them that he didn't know where to start. "Thank you," he said again and then he managed to add "I think I can go home soon," before he dug into cookies. They were quite possibly the best he's ever had.

Crow eyed him. "Really? No offense, Yusei, but you don't look great."

"I know," he pushed back the container. He had already finished all the baked goods and felt significantly better.

Crow continued looking at him somberly. "Do you remember much from yesterday?"

Yusei frowned and lapsed into a silence, trying to bring the broken pieces together. With every hour, they'd become clearer and more potent. "Most of it," he finally managed.

"You know what you looked like when we found you?"

He could imagine, especially after his doctor's vivid description earlier, but he wasn't sure he wanted to. But that allowed him to ask a more poignant question: "How was Aki?"

Crow shivered and looked away. "She wasn't doing very well when we found the two of you." The shocking images, the blood, the smell of death and that horrific, desperate screaming… Crow never thought he'd rid of it in his nightmares. "We took her to this hospital too but she recovered quickly enough."

"Where is she now, is she alright?"

Crow was a bit flabbergasted at that but came up with something to say, quickly enough. "Yeah, I think she's gone home to her folks." A lie was the best choice right now. He didn't want to be placing any additional worry on Yusei right now. Besides, he was also sure that it's where Aki was. She was kind of off yesterday but she had to have gone to see a doctor and then went home. She wasn't answering phones or texts because she was sleeping or still recovering.

Yusei nodded, feeling relieved but also a little disappointed she wasn't here with others right now. He wished with all his heart that he could see her now. He had missed her. "What about Mahdi?" he asked next.

Crow shrugged. "Not much to say here. He's gone. Dead, I mean. I even double checked with the hospital today. Looks like it's all over now, huh?"

"Yeah," Yusei sighed and rubbed his tired eyes. "I want to go home," he said. There he could sleep for two days straight with no nurses checking up on him every hour. He could gather his strength and battle off any of the strange, remaining pains, much quicker.

"Talk to your doctor yet? Don't be crazy. I'm shocked we're actually able to talk like this less than 24 hours later."

"I did. I have two tests left to do. Then I think I can get her to let me leave here."

"Yusei!" Crow threw his arms up in exasperation. "You almost died yesterday. They had you in surgery for a long time. The Crimson Dragon even appeared, did you know that? There were a few minutes there where all of us believed, without a doubt, that you had died. You alive and being like this is a miracle! So can you stop rushing, please?"

That wasn't exactly true, Yusei thought, afflicted by Crow's despair. I was ready to die and I did. I had said my goodbyes. And now I'm back, somehow.

He didn't think he could tell him this. Instead, he asked quietly: "Crimson Dragon appearing… What else happened? Anything strange?"

"Not that I recall. We waited for you outside the room. Then the Signer marks lit up and we all felt what the Crimson Dragon had been trying to tell us; that you had died. But then the doctors came out and said you were fine." Crow laughed at that, "Never thought the dragon could be wrong, but hey! Couldn't be happier at its mistake."

"Did the doctors also tell you about this?" Yusei pulled aside the fabric of his hospital shirt to show him where the injury had been.

Crow stared, dumbfounded. "Um…did you have the world's best surgeon?"

"Maybe. But even so – there'd be some evidence left. At least bandages."

"Yusei. I-. I don't," Crow stuttered, shocked. He stared, open-mouthed. "Yusei, yesterday… Yesterday, I swear. The way you were. You had a massive injury. I saw it. They could barely bring you back. I'm...not even sure how they had been able to."

Yusei put the shirt down. "Well, somehow they did."

"What did your doctor say?" Crow asked, pulling up a chair so he could sit by the bed.

"She couldn't say how this happened."

"Guess they were pretty surprised too, huh? Almost like magic. I don't get this."

"There is also something else, Crow. The Sky Dragon mark is also gone," he showed him the arm.

"What the hell!"

"This one surprises me also," Yusei rotated his arm around, doing a visual check for himself as well, in case it had shrunk and hid somewhere. "I don't know why it's gone."

"You still have the card?"

"Yeah, it's in the deck," he waved in its direction.

Crow got up so he could take a look. "What are you going to do with it?"

"I don't know. But I don't think it belongs to me anymore. It's as if I had used it for the last time yesterday, Crow. It doesn't make sense, does it?"

"It doesn't but at this point I'm a believer in anything," Crow said and picked up the deck.

"If I remember correctly…find a yellow monster card in there. Be prepared."

Crow started going through the cards and paused when he stumbled upon a card that startled him. He quickly skipped it when he saw the yellow card peaking a few Traps away. It was side-by-side with the red Sky Dragon of Osiris. "What the hell is this Yusei?" he asked, studying it up-close. "Is this even a monster card? It has no stats and some cryptic description. What language is this?"

"Yeah, Mahdi had it. Winged Dragon of Ra. It may be the strongest monster ever to exist. But he didn't get to use it to its full potential."

"Are you going to use it now? Spoils of war?" Crow laughed but somewhat uncomfortably. "Jack would never beat you." He put the card back with Osiris and placed the deck back into the belt. He forced back a shiver. He didn't feel comfortable with those two cards, they never quite felt like they belonged here.

"No, never," Yusei said firmly and he meant it. Then he lay back on the bed and sighed, feeling weary. The day had only just begun but he already wished it to end.

"Any other surprises up your sleeve, Yusei? This was your best day yet. So far you can really keep them coming."

He shook his head.

Crow noticed his tired and deteriorating condition and regretted to have overstayed his welcome. "Ok, Yusei. Hang in here another day. Then see tomorrow if you're set on getting out of here? We'll leave you alone for today."

"I don't know. I can't sleep here when they're checking up every hour."

Rua and Ruka returned then, carrying eight slices of pizza, two in each hand. "They wouldn't sell a whole one so we had to improvise," Rua laughed.

Yusei accepted two plates and invited the gang to help and they've all gladly dug in.

By the time they had finished, a nurse came to take Yusei for the other two tests. The visitors prepared to give him privacy and to leave for the day. But he had made his decision then. "Everyone, can you give me a couple of hours? Then we'll all go home. Together."

The twins were too surprised to say anything and Crow just sighed defeat. And as Yusei departed the orange-haired Signer thought of the other unexpected card he had seen in his possession and wondered why he had it:

It was Aki's beloved Black Rose Dragon.

Yusei was finished with the last two tests quickly and returned to his room where he, with increasing effort, succeeded changing into clothes Crow brought him. The pain at his side still seared with each movement, getting sharper the more tired he was becoming, but he also knew that it was all muscle and neural memory. His body was still under the faulty assumption that he had the wound. If he could conquer the faults of his mind, he could do anything.

He was sitting on the bed, a little out of breath and trying to fight off dizziness, when his doctor came in with a clipboard.

"Oh, you've changed. I guess your friends support you leaving today."

"Not really but they'll accept it."

She smiled and started examining the tests. "Here comes my last opportunity to force you to stay here. We've fastracked your results."

She went through them thoroughly, flipping back occasionally, but in the end she sighed and put the clipboard down. "Well, what can I say that I haven't said earlier today: aside from low blood pressure, low levels of iron and dehydration, you're fine. Nothing detected by psychological. Nothing on ultrasound."

"So I'm free to go?"

"You know my reluctance but I can't back it up. I just hope you realize that it's not often that we had patients brought in with severe trauma, on the brink of death, just to be entirely healed the next day. Let's just say you gave your surgeons quite a fright."

"I understand."

"Do me a favour and try to take care of yourself still. Take this," she quickly scribbled on a prescription pad and held out the paper. "Iron supplements. Take them twice a day until you finish the bottle. Then stay hydrated as much as possible, eat as much as possible and sleep it off."

He reached to take it but she wouldn't let go of the paper just yet. "And if you feel worse at any point, come back here immediately. Doctor's orders."

"I will," he promised.

"Are you in any pain whatsoever now?"

"No."

"Good. Fine. I'll see you out."

He got up a little shakily but stubbornly powered on. He made sure to grab the deck of cards and any other belongings he could find.

"Sure you can walk?" the doctor attempted to bait him one more time.

"Certainly," he took one last look at the room and exited with her to find Crow, Bruno and Carly waiting in the hallway. Rua and Ruka had gone back to Poppo Time.

"Well, we don't want to let him go just yet but he's very insistent," the doctor said to the patient's friends.

"No, we agree with you," Crow shrugged dejectedly. "But we can't deny that he's doing better faster than we thought."

Yusei was tired of explaining himself repeatedly and tired in every fibre of his body. Honestly, he just wanted to go home. To sleep in his bed, in his clothes, without being checked up on, without being cooed over, with no more needles, scans, hospital smells and sounds of illness. He didn't need to be here anymore. Instead, the only thing he said was: "Ready?"

"I brought my car, this way," Carly nodded and lead the way.

Yusei said his final thanks and graces to the medical personnel that took such good care of him and followed his friends out. Nothing ever felt as nice as the air outside, the sounds of the city, the busy streets. He had to stop upon exit and allow himself to cherish this sensation for a few moments. He had said goodbye to all this, to all of them… and now he had it back. His heart filled with fragile happiness until it felt like it might burst.

Thankfully, Carly had found a parking spot close by.

By the time they made it to the car, the all-familiar blurry and graying vision returned. Yusei could tell that Crow had noticed he wasn't doing 100% but he appreciated him keeping his silence.

It was all better once he got a chance to sit down in the back. There he slumped against the seat and closed his eyes, letting the gray take over and the ringing in his ears drown out his friends' voices. But then he let it guide him back. He opened his eyes to find Crow next to him, studying him silently and unhappily.

"Are you sure it's a right decision for you, Yusei?" Bruno asked from the front passenger's seat.

"Yeah. Just need to sleep," he mumbled and let his eyes close again. Then as the car began moving he let the movement and the engine sooth him and dozed off.

He came to what appeared like a second later because someone was shaking him. It was Crow with a mix of annoyance and concern splattered all over his face. "We're here."

Somehow they had travelled twenty-five minutes in a blink of an eye. Fighting off from passing out from exhaustion again, Yusei scrambled out. He put his foot on the ground but just as he got up and put all his weight on it, the ground had disappeared from under him. He realized that he was going to fall but then there was a hand, a shoulder, and all the support he could ever need, and then Crow's face swam out into his point of view.

"Lean on me, I'll help you," he said. Another shoulder suddenly appeared at his other side and he could stand effortlessly and it was Bruno and he was smiling and encouraging him as well.

"Everyone," Yusei breathed out and hung his head down. They understood, of course. And they would always be there for him. In his room, he would peacefully sleep through the remainder of today and then tomorrow go check up on Aki. He worried about her. What if she was feeling more sick than she had let on?

The two of them got him upstairs as if at a speed of light. There, once his head touched the familiar pillow, he began drifting off immediately.

Carly's voice reached from afar, all but a distant echo. "Yusei…need…anything? Water?"

He rasped out something resembling a "No," and let the waves of deep sleep carry him far away.

He was suddenly and violently jolted awake with a bright pain in his forearm. He sat up, groggy, faint and feverish, dark ache on the right side of his abdomen. Hand over the shining red birthmark. Swirling vision in the dimmed room. Nighttime outside.

"Aki…" he whispered, reaching to touch the faint imprint on the bed sheets. Where the girl who was most dear, used to be.

Aki. Still missing. Calling him.

He was back to that fateful night.

He staggered out of bed, answering the fateful call. Somehow he overshot or overestimated his strength and awareness. There was a noise of something crashing, items falling and there was a bright pain at his elbow. He had somehow veered into the night side table and knocked off a lamp. Still he got up to his feet and hurried to the door, swaying.

Blinking away the dark spots from his vision he had opened the door to find Crow who'd just run up the stairs. He was wearing same clothes from when he came to visit him at the hospital today…or yesterday…or in the future?

"What…" Yusei attempted, breathing heavily and leaning against the door post. Disoriented and sick.

Crow's forearm was shining the same red hue. "Yusei, don't!" he yelled. "We'll figure this out ourselves, okay?" He then turned and ran back down.

Yusei stumbled back into his room and made it to the bathroom where he repeatedly gathered ice cold water and splashed it on his face until he could gain back some senses. He felt like he was deeply drugged, more exhausted than he had ever been. Nonetheless the refreshing coolness of the water helped somewhat. He came out slowly, found his shoes by the door and finally made his way down. Using the wall for support and watching where he was stepping very carefully.

Nobody downstairs. Empty kitchen and living room, both left in sudden disarray. Shouts outside. He distinguished Crow's and Rua's voices. The Signer mark still shone on and on, beckoning him.

Then a loud inhuman screech resonated, so loudly that the windows trembled. The screech returned a moment after. It wasn't human, it didn't belong to an animal, could it have been a Monster?

He made it to the wide-open doors of Poppo Time and outside, in the darkness of late evening, he saw his friends standing by the exit. Shouting, pointing somewhere.

"Yusei!" Ruka noticed him and ran over. Hands hesitantly reaching out as if to hug him or to touch him but not quite daring. She looked anxious and maybe even frightened. "Yusei!"

He wanted to tell her that everything was okay but then his gaze had travelled to where Bruno was gesturing and his blood turned cold. Eyes opened wide. If he wasn't leaning against the door he may have lost his balance.

In the middle of the plaza, off by maybe fifteen metres, floated a disturbing Duel Monster he vaguely recalled from somewhere (Makyura the Destructor). It was the one making the bloodcurdling shrieks. Underneath it was a shadow and a black D-Wheel next to it.

Long flowing red hair, a colour as deep as the richest velvet, the most fragrant rose. A dark long cloak with the hood pulled up. A white mask, sinister, emotionless. A hand clasped over the shining mark of the Crimson Dragon's claw, her personal and distinguishable birthmark.

Aki as a Black Rose Witch called out then: "Your presence is requested, Fudo Yusei. You have been summoned. And I will take back from you what is mine."

Alright, so now we have evil Aki versus all the Signers. Shit will continue hitting the fan and our heroes' prospects will continue being bleak.

Stay tuned.