Author's Note:
Chapter 31 is here!
Our good Signers are recouping after the events at FDA and Aki is dealing with events after the Fortune Cup duel. I also wrote some additional interactions between Aki and Divine and really tried to highlight what a creep Divine is…lol.
Finally, I also added a sexy little teaser at the end which I'm hoping to explore a little more in the upcoming chapters before I finish this story. I'm a bit of a pervert, after all…
Thank you for reading this story!
NineInchNailed.
"Do you know how far this has gone?
Just how damaged have I become?
When I think I can overcome,
It runs even deeper.
Everything that matters is gone.
All the hands of hope have withdrawn.
Could you try to help me hang on?
~"Even deeper" by Trent Reznor
Yusei took Ruka with him on the D-Wheel and sped off – Crow and Sherry following suit on their own bikes – in the direction where Carly was taken. The blue-haired girl clung to him, lost and insensible with anguish.
They were all back at the Seiroka Byoin ER, where they've now become regulars. Third time in what was under a month ever since the Sacrificial Arc had begun. First for Crow, then for Yusei and now for Carly. Was there ever going to be an end to this?
Once at the hospital, the friends endured three hours of waiting room hell while an emergency surgery was performed. Carly's condition has been listed as "critical."
Very few words were exchanged between the remaining allies. The mood was glum. Sherry had stayed the whole time and hers was a welcome support at a time when they were losing everyone else.
Yusei and Crow took turns getting water and snacks throughout the ordeal, although all the provisions were left largely unfinished.
The head surgeon came out after three hours to give them an update. Prospects were bleak. Carly's fall was hard. There was cranial damage and she couldn't breathe on her own. They would be performing more extensive neuro surgery tomorrow; there were a couple of operations to go before they could list her condition as no longer life threatening.
A weight had slumped onto Yusei's shoulder and he registered (distantly) that it was Ruka. Hands were over her face; she'd begun shaking as she cried, silently.
"I can't believe it…" Crow stammered.
"You won't be able to see your friend today," the doctor summarized. He encouraged them to go home and to try getting some sleep. They would be keeping Carly under keen around-the-clock observation and took their phone numbers to call if anything in her condition were to change.
"What happens now?" Sherry asked quietly when the surgeon departed.
"We should get some rest. Even if only for a few hours. Then we'll come back," Yusei said, carefully nudging Ruka. The girl stirred and let him get up to his feet.
The decision was reasonable and so the four friends were soon on their way, back to Poppo Time.
They made it to the clock-shop residence just as ribbons of yellow and purple light formed across the black horizon. A new day was about to begin.
Inside the garage, Bruno was sleeping soundly on the mattress in the corner. He awoke when they've raised the garage door and Yusei and Crow wheeled-in their bikes. Behind them, Ruka and Sherry closed the grim formation.
"Did you all just come back?" Bruno asked, rubbing his eyes groggily. Last they spoke was when they've departed to FDA around 10pm.
"Yup," Crow answered.
"I'm…going to see what we have in the…fridge…" Ruka said jumbledly. She staggered towards the stairs leading to the first floor and the kitchen. "Water…or to…eat."
"Ruka?" Sherry appeared next to her and put a hand on the girl's shoulder. "I'll come with. Would you like a cup of tea before heading to bed?"
The youngest Signer whispered some agreement.
Bruno looked around. "Where are Rua and Carly?"
"Not such great news, Bruno," Crow mumbled once the two girls disappeared into another room. "There's been trouble."
Yusei left just as Crow began explaining to the clueless mechanic that the Team 5D's had lost two more allies and everything else they encountered during this night. He strode past the kitchen – where Sherry was cheerfully chattering while fretting with a kettle and catatonic Ruka sat at the table – and went up to his (and Aki's) room.
There he headed straight into the bathroom and turned on the light, facing his own reflection.
The new and jarring feature was a coating of dry blood which decorated his right cheek. It was thanks to a piece of Solid Vision which cut through his futile defence during the duel and left a large gash.
What else?
Dark eyebags under his eyes, the mementos from traumatic and sleepless nights. These weren't new. If anything, they were now permanent and Yusei had begun forgetting what he looked like without them. Was there another time when things weren't gray, when there wasn't a hollow void inside his chest, when there was laughter in this house?
A painful bump on the back of his head when he was thrown by materialized damage and lost 1000 Life Points. All thanks to the Trap card, Nightmare Mirror: a classic exemplar from Set's sinister and torturous collection.
Yusei also noticed that the sleeves of the jacket Bruno lent him were torn up from the duel too; all the multiple times he had held up his arms to protect his face from harm. He'd need to apologize for ruining it. And, taking the jacket off, he saw that the fabric still wasn't able to protect him entirely: there were scratches of varying degrees all over his forearms and chest. They weren't too deep, thankfully, and would heal soon enough without leaving a scar. But the cut on his cheek might endure. So now he'll have the yellow criminal mark on one side of the face and a pleasing red gush on the other. A little bit ridiculous and a little bit funny. Something that him and Crow and Jack might have laughed at together…the way they used to once upon a time.
He removed his ripped-up shirt, tossed it into garbage, and turned on the water tap. Then he began tending to all the cuts he'd sustained with water and soap, cringing from prickling pain. He left the wound on his face for last. He opened the cabinet behind the mirror to scavenge for some leftover bandages and stumbled upon Aki's toothbrush. She must have left it here on their last morning together.
He found a pack of moderately large band-aids and closed the cabinet. Finally, he began rinsing the blood from his face, albeit gingerly and cautiously.
He heard a voice calling him and hummed indistinctly, preoccupied with his task.
"It's all ready," Sherry said, coming up to the open bathroom door. "The…tea," she finished after a small pause.
"Thanks," he responded, lightly dabbing at the cleansed cut and seeing that fresh blood was beginning to appear at the edges.
"That one looks really bad, Yusei," she said. "Geez. Can I help with that? It looks like it could use stitches."
"Just let me, okay?" Aki asked when he'd protested over her tending to the Sky Dragon of Osiris' mark on his bicep. Back at Crow's original apartment, while their friends and Mokuba Kaiba were waiting in the living room. Her hands brushed and lingered over his skin, taking gentle care.
"It's fine," Yusei responded, gluing the band-aid over it. This solution would suffice by at least keeping the bleeding at bay.
"If you say so," Sherry muttered, still standing by the door.
Yusei glanced at her. The jade-green eyes were locked upon him; in the vicinity of his arms and naked chest.
"I'm done now," he said, turning off the tap. "I'll come down."
"Great," she smiled and stepped back, letting him through as he walked into the bedroom and opened the drawer to pick out a new shirt. "I've never been in this room before, actually," she said. "It's neat."
"So this is where you used to bring anyone lucky," Aki had blurted out the first time he brought her here. He'd only wanted to give her a towel as her clothes got drenched by the rain and she hadn't finished unpacking. Although she apologized for it immediately, the comment startled him. Is that what you think I used to do, Aki? he thought. Since the day I've met you, you have been the only woman to occupy my thoughts. "I've never brought anyone here before," he confessed to her.
"Nothing special, as you can see," Yusei said offhandedly as he pulled on a black t-shirt. He wasn't embarrassed but, generally speaking, he didn't intend to be undressed in front of others like this.
"I wouldn't say that," Sherry noted. "Although…" she looked over at the writing desk, recognizing Aki's red coat hanging over the chair, "…I've got to say – it surprised me. I didn't know you've had so many scars on you, Fudo Yusei."
"You've got so many," Aki whispered, tracing her fingers over those nearly-invisible marks, "So much pain." He couldn't remember where he got most of them or what it felt like when it happened; which was from getting hit, which was from fighting back and which was from climbing trees by Martha's house. The only one he remembered vividly was from the battle with Dark Signer Kiryu, and that everlasting reminder stretched as a jagged white line across the right side of his abdomen. And Aki would always be caressing him, it was one of her new favourite (and delightfully weird) activities, to find each mark and demand how he got this one or that one. "Why are you so obsessed?" he asked her one of the mornings in bed. "They're like stories, you see?" she beamed at him. "Memories like impressions on the skin. Oh and it's also sexy. Actually yeah, Yusei, it's all just the last part. Now you know the truth about how shallow I am."
Yusei looked away, deducing that he and Sherry weren't talking about this room anymore. "I got into a lot of fights as a kid," he answered.
"I bet a childhood in Satellite didn't leave room for much else," the blonde woman said. "But don't get me wrong. It's not a bad thing, looking like that. In fact…it's like an outward indicator of your strength and endurance," she smiled, alluringly, and leaned against the wall. "So…I like that. No, I like that a lot."
Okay, it's time that this got sorted out. "Sherry. I apologize if I had ever given you a wrong idea. But… I'm with Aki."
"But she's not with you."
That…that hurts. "I'm fighting to get her back."
"I know. I'm going to help you with that. But then…after… Leave with me, Yusei."
"After – then her and I are going to be together," he said.
"Is that your final decision?"
"Sherry… I love her." And here it was. The very first time he'd said it, out loud. Clearly and openly. And these three words carried with them the weight of this world and the suffering of his heart. If only he and Aki had had more time…if only he had a chance to tell her, face-to-face. If only he hadn't hesitated or wasted all those previous years…if only he wasn't such a coward. And the weight of those other useless choices could have suffocated him underneath.
Sherry almost winced but appeared to have caught herself in time. She looked away. "Even before I had left to France…I thought you liked her. But I didn't think it was that serious. Yusei…you and I-" she stared back at him. "You and I are the same. We have the same spirit, in dueling and in passion. We've had the same life, both deprived of our families, both having to find our own way. Haven't you felt our connection? Haven't you ever thought this?"
"Some time ago I may have agreed with you," he said. "But…not anymore. I have always had a family. Martha…Crow…Jack. Team 5D's. And Aki. You and I may have had our similarities but Aki… she's the one I've been looking for."
Sherry let out a small laugh. "Well! I'm glad this is out on the table now."
"I'm sorry, Sherry."
She waved her hand. "It's fine. I guess…I guess I should have known. Still, I thought that maybe…"
"I am sorry."
She sighed, hesitated…and then shook her head. "Don't worry about it. It's done. Now, back to why I came up here – let's go downstairs. I've made everyone tea."
"Sherry, you don't have to force yourself to stay and help us."
She paused and then looked at him. "Are you kidding? I want to help."
"Sherry."
She smiled. "What? Now, don't get me wrong: I had hoped that during this visit to Neo Domino that I'd be leaving with a certain guy by my side… But now I'm caught in the middle of a war between Team 5D's and an Egyptian God of Chaos. Say what you will but you all certainly know how to keep things interesting."
He smiled at her.
"So don't worry. You're all my friends, Fudo Yusei. And I wouldn't abandon you guys when you're in deep trouble."
"Thank you," Yusei said, honestly.
"Don't mention it. Besides, I know you all could use all the help you can get. But now – let's go?"
"Izayoi!" Yusei Fudo had called out to her.
Aki had lost their Fortune Cup duel. She fell to her knees, a pitiful and sniveling form, while the voices of spectators in the stadium continued harassing her. Help me…take me away from here…are you the one who can save me? Can you save me if I don't want to save myself?
Divine had appeared by her side then. He was what she needed now, a welcome and familiar source of comfort. She snuggled deeper into the coat he'd put over her and let him take her away, back to where the two Arcadia Movement trucks were. He helped her into one of them.
She thought he'd embrace her and stay with her but, instead, he took his coat away and encouraged her to get into calming water and await his return. "I can't miss the duel finals," he told her and departed to watch Yusei Fudo and Jack Atlas battle it out for the title of King. As he left he had locked the door behind him.
Aki was left all alone. She obeyed what Divine had recommended and poured water into the translucent tub they'd had in this truck. Divine always suggested getting into water whenever she felt anxious. He said the walls of this basin were specifically designed to calm the psychic brainwaves. "This can put to rest any noise you have in your head," he'd once said and she believed him.
She changed into a red one-piece suit and got into water. It was lukewarm, just above room temperature. Normally she would have found this calming but today she'd begun shivering right away.
She directed her eyes to the ceiling and tried to focus on purging the onslaught of thoughts in her head. The memories and feelings from her duel… That battle had left her with something, marked something on her, stained her. She felt like something had changed somehow; things wouldn't be the same after this. Rose Tentacles wrapping its thorned vines around Yusei Fudo and lifting him in the air, the pained shock on his face, him accusing her of enjoying inflicting pain… the silver dragon holding the rose dragon within its wings, and she shared with Black Rose Dragon the smothering sensation of this disturbing and embarrassing closeness…
"I hate this," she groaned, cringing. What were these weird, unnerving sensations? And this stupid barely warm water. I hate this, she repeated in her head, unable to relax and deeply uncomfortable. Enough. I'm getting out of here.
She was about to get up when, as if to make everything even more unpleasant, the Signer mark flared up on her forearm – that vicious, shining red – and caused her to cry out. "What is this?" she muttered, recoiling. The duel between Yusei Fudo and Jack Atlas…it was probably it. What were they doing? Why was she getting pulled into this, with these people she didn't know?
Just as suddenly, the light brightened and overtook her. There was airlessness and a touch of Nothingness.
She was flying. There was the night sky, the shining road ahead.
Next to her, floating within a similar red orb, was Ruka, one of the Fortune Cup duelists and Yusei's friends. The girl, who looked as confused and surprised as her, recognized her and said, "Aki-san."
"What's happening?" Aki asked and looked down, seeing Yusei Fudo and Jack Atlas, riding the D-Wheels at what seemed like a speed of light. Their dragons were flying alongside with them. "Yusei…"
Then came the visions of an Aztec pyramid. The worshippers and the people with Signer marks akin to theirs. The people of the stars, as Jack Atlas had called them as they passed by. Then a disturbing view. Satellite in ruins, purple fire ripping through it and destroying everything on its way, revealing a spider geolyph.
Where are we, what is happening? Aki questioned. However, she did not feel frightened. In fact, she felt warm. The warmth filled her to the brink and made her soar. She wasn't going to see the duel between Yusei and Jack but now she wasn't given a choice…it was destiny. The Signer marks had brought them all here together, into this mysterious space, to watch the battle unfold. These were the memories formed just between her and these three people.
The duel went on and damage had been dealt. And seeing both Jack and Yusei cry out in pain at certain points shocked her. "Is that power the same as mine?" she wondered. It looked like real damage. So this was a battle between Signers?
It had reached a boiling point. "This is the end, our bond loses to no one!" Yusei had exclaimed and ordered Stardust Dragon to attack after having powered it up. Stardust Dragon released its shooting sonic attack at Jack and he screamed. His scream faded away and the bright white light overtook everything again.
Aki flinched in the cold water of the basin. She was back.
"Yusei…you've won," she whispered and glanced down at her Signer mark, which was no longer shining. There was now a new King of Games in the city. And the four Signers had been summoned together to observe that crucial duel, connected in their fate.
Shivering, Aki came out of the freezing water and changed back into her clothes. She poured a cup of instant tea and took a seat on the couch. Replaying the events of what she'd seen, she sipped the tea absently and tried to warm up.
Divine had returned to the truck ten or so minutes later. He looked…puzzled. "So…that Satellite garbage had somehow defeated the King," he told her.
Aki nodded, facial expression neutral.
"It doesn't shock you? I have no idea what happened. Suddenly Jack Atlas had zero life points. And the Crimson Dragon appeared too. It was insane."
"The Crimson Dragon?" Aki had stirred. Do I tell him what I had seen?
"Yes," he said. "But as I said, not nearly as shocking as the end of the duel. Fudo Yusei is now King."
"Yeah," she looked away, disconnected. "Shocking." I won't tell him. He won't understand.
The compound truck began moving.
Divine slowly took a seat next to her, the top of his arm lightly touching hers. "What do you think of him?"
"Who?" Aki winced. "Yusei?"
"Yusei?" Divine repeated, eyebrows raised.
"Fudo Y-Yusei," she quickly corrected herself, stuttering. She shouldn't have called him by his first name. It was a mistake and an improper one…it made it sound like she was closer to him than they actually were. "And I don't know. Nothing, I guess."
"He's very lucky. His deck is weak if not for Stardust Dragon. Sure, while he does have some skills, luck had shone on him today. But as a King this Satellite garbage won't last long."
"Mmm," she hummed something indiscernible. She didn't have an opinion on that but she knew she had to say something.
"He got lucky during your duel, too," her companion said. "The way he had that last Trap. It was perfectly tailored to that situation. Personally, I thought you did very well during your duel with him, Aki."
"Thank you," she said in a small voice. Did she really do that well? She had lost to him…to him who had now become the new King of Games. Yusei Fudo… The way he looked at her (gazing into her, studying her, trying to figure her out), the way he spoke to her (defiantly, urgently, trying to break through to her). She should be hating him for defeating her. And yet… No, she didn't. She didn't have a drop of malice towards him.
"You did well," Divine said again and placed his hand on her shoulder. "Except for the part where you've told him some things."
Aki felt something cold and unpleasant twist in the pit of her stomach.
"Why did you tell him all those things about you? Things that you've only told me? Did you think he cared?"
"I…I don't know," she said in a small voice.
"That disappointed me."
Aki took a little sip of the beverage. Divine's hand was still upon her shoulder. She wanted to say she was sorry but her lips seemed glued together.
"You know he was only using you, Aki," Divine said. "He found something the two of you had in common, something that hurts you and he used it to weaken you. To win the duel. That's all he did."
Aki nodded stiffly.
"That's why you disappointed me. That you had listened to him. That you had fallen for that. He manipulated you. That Satellite garbage tricked you. He played you and that's how he won. And he did the same with King Jack. Aki, he doesn't give a fuck about you."
"The mark has guided us…the pain is trying to tell us something," Yusei Fudo had said to her. There was passion in his voice. "I'm sorry, Divine," Aki said quietly.
"Me too," he said regretfully and let go of her shoulder, finally. "I thought you were stronger than that."
"I'm sorry," she repeated, tearfully. Was he right, was she too gullible?
"You have to think for yourself," the Shooting Star of Satellite had told her.
"I also don't want you to be surprised if that Yusei never speaks to you again. That's weakness, Aki. You have to keep things bottled up or else you'll be taken advantage of. You know how we – psychic duelists – are, don't you? Nobody will ever treat us nice without a selfish reason. And then they'll backstab us the second we open up."
"I will take on your sorrows," was what the fellow Signer of the Crimson Dragon had said to her. His promise still resonated like an echo in her ears. The shared vision all the Signers had shared and the four of them only. No one else had seen it or understood it. She was a Signer too. She shared a destiny with Yusei Fudo. "Y-yeah," she managed.
"You're a psychic duelist, Aki. You're a Black Rose Witch. I am the only one that is capable of loving you," Divine said and turned, emerald-green eyes meeting hers.
"You have to love yourself!"
That was a love confession, the first from the head of Arcadia Movement. Aki blinked and looked down again. Why didn't she feel happy to hear it? Why wasn't she jumping with joy?
"Aki…" Divine mumbled and suddenly his hand was touching her upper thigh.
She recoiled a little, into the side of the couch, as if trying to get away.
"Aki, do you trust me?" he asked and she could feel the intensity of his glare drilling into her. "You have to trust me. That I know what's best. So do you?" His hand slowly travelled up, slipping underneath her skirt.
"Y-yeah," Aki shivered, feeling threatened and, even, afraid.
His hand stopped right where the line of her panties began, hovering what felt like millimeters away. He then squeezed her inner thigh and leaned over, suddenly kissing her.
Aki was being kissed for the first time in her life (forceful, hard, wet, unpleasant). He moved closer to her. She felt the touch of his tongue and teeth, nose upon her cheek.
He pulled away a short time later and ran his fingertips over her cheek. Tears filled Aki's eyes and she quickly looked elsewhere, blinking them away. She wanted to scream. She wanted to get away. For the first time that she could remember, she wanted to run home, back to her parents. She thought back to the vision she had with the other Signers, the warmth and the exhilaration filling her heart. Divine was telling her to bottle it all up and Yusei Fudo was saying that he would be there for her.
"I should have done that a long time ago, huh?" Divine smirked.
Her trembling lips formed into a grimace of a smile.
He leaned over closer again. She shut her eyes instinctually, thinking he was going to do it again. But instead, she heard him whisper: "Aki, tonight. Keep your room open. I'll come to see you."
She gulped, understanding what it was that he implied, and feeling not only scared but downright terrified suddenly.
"You've never been with a man before, right? No one's ever given it to you?" he asked. His mouth was near her cheek. She could feel his hot breath on her ear. "That's good. Pure, untouched Aki. I'll break you in, tonight."
Aki nodded, dazedly, trying to suppress her shaking. She'd only just had her first kiss but now… there would be more things in store for the evening. But isn't this how she always thought it would be? Divine would be her first everything. It would be okay. It would be just like the first kiss (forceful, hard, wet, unpleasant), and it wouldn't be a big deal; it would happen the way it's supposed to.
And the way she owed it to him.
"You're mine," Divine whispered and pulled back, giving her another fleeting smile. Then he got up and went to speak to the driver.
Aki hugged her legs and curled into a ball, squeezing her eyes shut. Keeping them closed until the truck arrived at Arcadia headquarters.
Divine helped her into the building and she let him guide her, feeling numb.
"Do you want anything?" Divine asked her in the lobby. "Tell me and I'll order for you. Have them bring it in."
"N-no, thank you," she managed. "I just want to go to my room. I'm tired."
"You're a little out of it for sure," he said gently, "So please go and rest up." He reached and pushed a stray strand of hair from her forehand, "But at night, remember: 10 o'clock. I'll come."
"Yeah," she forced a smile, "See you soon." She hurried to get away then and he let her.
She made it to her room and closed the door behind her. She looked around, focusing her gaze on the bed. Scenarios of Divine coming to see her tonight flashed in her mind. Getting underneath the covers with her. Climbing on top of her. Settling between her legs. And this room…this room wasn't ready. She hadn't cleaned up in awhile. Books were clattered about. Some of her clothes were on the floor (like the way they would be later). She would need to tidy up…get it all ready…for later…
Aki shivered, violently, and staggered towards the bathroom. Maybe she could take a shower after that awful, freezing bath earlier. And she was still so cold…and besides, didn't people sometimes shower before...it happened?
Aki removed all her clothes and studied her reflection in the mirror. Her lips were white. Her eyes were bulging a little. Her skin looked drained of colour, green. Her whole body seemed deflated, almost. She looked sickly. Ugly. She felt repulsive. She glanced away and turned on the water in the shower cabin, going in when it became warm and hoping it would help still her uncontrollable and inexplicable shakes.
I guess I'm scared, she reasoned. But that's not abnormal, is it? The shock from her duel, the mystical overwhelming vision of the Signers' destiny, Divine's promise for later… A lot of things were new and frightening. She continued trembling and so she turned up the heat of the water until it was nearly scalding but she'd accepted it.
She knew that she could do this (I don't have a choice). She was sixteen, basically an adult (but I'm not and he knows it). She was free to make decisions like this. Divine wasn't just her guardian…he also said he loved her. He was kind of like her boyfriend. She could lose her virginity to him and it wouldn't be a big deal.* Sex was a thing that everybody in the world did and it wasn't a big deal. It didn't have to be this right of passage. She had known girls in school who had slept with their boyfriends when they were much younger and it clearly wasn't this huge, life-changing event.
But why did she have to feel so scared? And it wasn't good butterflies-in-your-stomach-scared sort of feeling. It was legitimate fear, feeling of dread. Wasn't sex supposed to be this exciting hot thing?
Aki pressed her back against the wall and slid down to the floor of the shower cabin, scrunching her face and wanting to weep. Even under the hot water the shaking wouldn't stop. Her skin was broken out by goosebumps. She remembered her first kiss. It wasn't pleasant. Wasn't it supposed to be nice? Aren't people supposed to enjoy kissing? Didn't she like Divine?
Something flashed within her mind. The dark attentive blue of his eyes. The yellow scar on his cheek. The warmth of his hands on her face…his hindered breath…the touch of his lips. It was a sudden, very vivid image, of kissing Yusei Fudo inside some garage. Aki gasped and her eyes snapped open. "What the hell?" she muttered to herself, flushed and deeply embarrassed. That was horrible. Why did she think of something like that? God, she couldn't believe she let something like that enter her head. Especially after everything that happened today… and what was going to happen later with Divine.
Aki pushed the wet hair from her face and embraced her knees. She'd just stay a few more minutes here…to get warmer…to try to relax. She only had a few hours left and she needed them to rest up, to clean up her room, to get ready… And she would never think of that stupid thing from earlier, again. She'd just shampoo and…
"Aki," Yusei had said. The drops of water resonated with the heat of his body, dripped from his hair. Her back was against the slick wall of the shower cabin.
"Sometimes I don't know what to do with all the feelings I have for you…" her voice answered. "I'm crazy about you." One hand slipped from his shoulder, trailed down his chest, the muscles of his abdomen, to his lower stomach, touching-
"Oh my god, oh my god!" Aki shrieked, shaking her head. Stop that, STOP THAT. She buried her bright red face in her hands. That was the most embarrassing thing she had ever envisioned. EVER. She quickly turned off the water and got the hell out of that shower. She had to get away from those shameful, graphic thoughts (memories) and she could never permit herself to think them again. Why did they come into her head anyway? Why was she so sick?
Every cell of her body circulated with heat. Her skin was flushed bright red. It was all the result of that scorching water…it had to be…
Aki wrapped a large towel about herself and rushed out of the bathroom, too humiliated to face her reflection in the mirror.
Outside, she looked at the bedroom door. 10 o'clock Divine had said.
No, she had decided. I don't want to. I don't want that to happen.
She locked the door.
The three Signers, joined by Bruno and Sherry, were solemnly seated around the kitchen table.
Sherry had served all of them some silent tea.
"Thanks for doing this Sherry," Crow spoke up, his eyes drilling a spot somewhere inside the cup. It was a good thing that she was with them, after all. They had been up all night (except Bruno), distressed and on the edge. Any extra allies they could get at this time were extremely instrumental.
"You all need to stop thanking me. It's what friends do," Sherry responded.
"Yeah," Ruka made a small noise. Her eyes were far away. She was hunched over in her chair, nearly disappearing inside the blanket that Bruno had draped over her.
"After this, let's all try to get some rest," Yusei said. His phone was by his side and he was eyeing it, fearful for a call from the hospital on Carly's condition.
"Will…try…" Ruka managed in a tiny voice.
"Yusei is right," Sherry said. "All of you should do that so-"
"So we can come up with a plan?" Crow interrupted.
"Something like that."
"What is our plan?" Crow asked the room and was met with uncooperative quietness.
Bruno attempted with a suggestion after a tense minute had passed. "Do you all want to investigate that senator – Higuchi Tetsuo – and his new Freedom Forward technology?"
"Would be a good way to start," Yusei agreed, somewhat distantly. "Set has involvement in it for some reason. What is their end goal?"
"Probably something bad. That senator said the new tech will launch on Monday. Same day that the city is lifting the dueling ban," Crow added.
"Three days left," Bruno noted.
"You all should bring in some reinforcements," Sherry said. "Get your Public Security friends involved again, to help with investigating this. I bet both Ushio and Mikage can find out additional things on that senator that you wouldn't be able to."
Carly probably could have found out everything, Yusei thought regretfully. The journalist girl was always so good at conducting all the research and finding all the answers. "That's not a bad idea, Sherry," he said. "We can reach out to them later today." Besides, it would be good to hear if they've discovered anything about sects of Public Security being paid off by their enemies.
"Holy shit!" Crow jumped up from the chair, suddenly. "I have another idea. You said reinforcements, right? Why don't we get in touch with Kiryu?"
"Kiryu?" Yusei repeated.
"Yes! I know Jack had tried to get in touch with him back when those sacrificial duels were happening. But that hippie got rid off his phone. If we're planning to go against Jack, another Team Satisfaction member can only help us."
"How can we reach him, though?" Yusei asked. "Only way is to travel to Satisfaction Town and ask him. The trip is a day's worth by D-Wheel and we don't have a lot of time left."
"Why don't you boys leave this to me?" Sherry smiled. "I can get there much quicker. I have some LeBlanc family privileges, after all. I can bring your message to Kiryu and get him to join the battle."
"Sherry…" Crow gaped at her.
"Are you sure?" Yusei asked.
"Absolutely," she got up to her feet. "I'll be back this evening. I will see you all soon. Wish me luck." She departed shortly after.
The rest of the Signers have split up, also. Like a ghost, Ruka headed upstairs to hers and Rua's room to take a nap. Crow went for a drive, claiming inability to sleep, and Yusei sympathized with him. As tired as he was, thoughts continued assaulting his psyche.
He went to the garage where he analyzed his D-Wheel for some time. It still needed some work to get back to the way it used to be. Maybe he could do that until exhaustion would grant him mercy and drag him to sleep.
Bruno approached him just as he was about to begin. "Would you like some help with your D-Wheel now, Yusei? Or do you still want to do it all yourself?"
Yusei sighed. "Why not. If not too much trouble, Bruno."
"No trouble at all," Bruno lit up. "Just let me get my stuff!"
As the other mechanic left, a strange thought nudged in the back of Yusei's mind. It was almost like a dormant realization. Before he realized what he was about to say, Yusei asked: "Bruno…why are you here?"
"What do you mean?" Bruno called out as he was digging through the tools in search of a torch mask. "At Poppo Time?"
A glitch, an anomaly… Yusei touched a hand to his forehead, suddenly disoriented. Thoughts and pieces of fevered dreams, like shards of broken mirror, flashed before his eyes. When he lay dying at the hospital, he had seen his friends' futures. He had seen all of them (they leave, they will all leave and I won't be able to stop them) but he hadn't seen Bruno's. "You don't see him because he's fulfilled his mission here," the mysterious figure told him. "The same one he'd fulfilled in your time too. Except here he didn't come back."
"I'm sorry, Bruno. Forget it," Yusei apologized for asking such a strange and inexplicable question. "I don't know why I asked that." I'm tired, I'm just so tired.
"No worries," Bruno hummed, still busy.
Yusei shook his head to get his senses back. He needed to go to bed soon. Maybe just an hour of work, tops.
"Yusei."
A different voice. Deeper in tone, more stoic and detached. A voice long thought gone and forgotten.
Yusei looked up, recognizing it, and his eyes widened. "Antimony."
Antimony came and stood by his side. Spiky hair, a vizor over his eyes. Bruno's alternate personality. The one he hadn't seen since he defeated Z-ONE. The one he thought had died during their duel. But then Bruno had appeared just as he'd said goodbye to Z-ONE and the two of them returned from Arc Cradle together, while the structure crumbled around them. He was too happy to ask how or why; he was only too glad to have his friend back.
"Why?" Antimony asked.
"I…I think I had a vision. A dream. Something was different."
"Where?"
"I don't know," Yusei attempted. "Different…here." Are you supposed to be here? He looked at the alternate persona of his friend, almost as if seeing through him. Something that wasn't supposed to be here, somehow.
"You will have a chance to make a choice," Antimony said, echoing the words Yusei had heard within his unconsciousness when he had crossed over into the realm of Nothingness. "Choice is your power, Yusei. You can choose and change destiny."
"What does that mean?"
"I can't say."
"I can choose to change Aki's, Jack's and Rua's destinies? I can fix this? How do I do that? How can I choose that?"
"I don't know."
"This isn't helpful to me!" Yusei exclaimed, exasperated.
"I know," Antimony said and walked over to his laptop and quickly began typing something on the keyboard. "I know it's not. But this is."
"What is it?" Yusei approached.
"You need to go here," Antimony said and stepped back. The computer screen revealed a satellite map, with a dot pinpointing a location and a name. "This is where you'll find the answers you seek."
"Is that…can it be?"
"Yes."
"How did you…"
"It all had to come in due time and not a moment earlier. When all the circumstances and events had unfolded and narrowed down towards this."
"I don't know if I can leave, not with the way things are," Yusei attempted. "How long I might be gone. I can't."
"There is a direct flight on Concorde leaving in four hours. You can arrive there in eight hours."
Yusei took a step back. This was all too sudden, too confusing. "Antimony… Bruno. I don't know."
He handed him plane tickets that he'd somehow already obtained, as well as a printed page of instructions. "You can be back within one day, Yusei. But this is the way you will know what to do. How to save all your friends. And you will know the truth."
"How do you know this?"
"I will tell you one day," Antimony said. "Or maybe I won't have to. Because you will already know."
Yusei nodded. There was no time to waste... He would demand answers from Bruno later, when he's back. He packed a small carry-on luggage and left Poppo Time a short time after. He texted Crow and Ruka when he was at the airport, telling them that he'll be back within a day but that he needed to travel to discover the truth. He asked them not to worry and to await his return.
Four hours later, Yusei Fudo had left everything behind as he boarded a plane that was flying to Cairo, Egypt.
*Just in case it's not obvious - this whole situation is NOT okay. Divine is taking advantage of a vulnerable, confused teenager. He's like 27. This is very gross. Aki just doesn't know better because she's only 16! And being manipulated by a creep and a pedophile!*
Okay, so that last part was a little mystical but all will be explained in due time! Importantly, next chapter reveals answers to many questions. Including what happened to Yugi Muto! Is he still alive?
Also in the next chapter I'm bringing back Dark Aki and what's happening for all our evil Signers in the meantime.
Stay tuned and thank you for reading!