Yukei - Chapter 9

Chapter 9 - Memory

He'd been gone all day, or at least so they thought considering the house was empty when they came home. He was rudely disrupted from reading his paper when the garage door opened quickly followed by the sounds of an angry red head groaning as smoke poured out from the engine of his D-wheel. "Yusei!" he sounded, only to receive glares from the blonde haired man. "YUSEI!" He bellowed again, and got no response. Still the blonde man glared. "Oi! Yus'! I really need you… LIKE NOW!!!" the delivery boy's voice echoed off the walls, causing the once king to slam his fist down on the table he was setting at, making his coffee splatter on the table.

"How'd you break it this time?" Jack mockingly hissed at the smaller male, who earned a hard glare in retort.

"I dunno what's wrong with her, that's why I was hoping, Yus' could maybe figure it out…"

"He's not home." Jack stated calmly, lifting his coffee to his lips, taking a sip and going back to reading his paper.

Crow gave the man a confused, unbelieving look as he took his helmet off and sat it on the seat of his D-wheel. "What do you mean he's not home?!" he sounded. "Where else does he have to go?!" his voice chimed again, the anger reflecting in his tone.

Jack simply rolled his eyes at the red headed bird and took another sip from his coffee cup. "He does have a life beyond fixing your D-Wheel. Maybe he needed parts or found a repair job?"

The last statement seemed to calm the newest of the signers ever so slightly. "Oh… well he'll be home eventually, right?"

The problem with that statement was, that he wasn't. Hours went by and the young mechanic never came home. Before the two of them knew it, dusk was falling and the raven haired duelist still wasn't home.

"You think he's okay?" Crow asked; sliding himself out from under Blackbird.

"It's Yusei, I'm sure he's fine." Jack spoke back in a firm tone. "And Watch what you're doing, he won't be happy if you make the problem worse."
"It's MY D-Wheel, Jack. I built her; I can fix her. Yus' just knows more about this stuff than me's all."  came another quick retort as the two began to argue.

Jack made a move to say something witty in return, but both boys were silenced quickly when they felt an all too familiar pain shoot through their arms and red lights shone brightly. They both could feel it. One of their own was in danger, and not just anyone… it was Yusei.

They locked gazes, both worried for their friends. "Yusei!" they shouted simultaneously as they dropped what they were doing.

"He's not alright, something happened." Crow spoke, upset with himself for not paying it any mind.

"Just go look for him, I'll take out the Wheel of Fortune to cover more ground."  

The phone rang.

"Hello? This is Crow, but I'm kinda bus-"

"-Where's Yusei?!" the other side of the phone echoed, the voice obviously worried.

"Aki, calm down. You felt it too? We were just about to go look for him…he hasn't been home all day…."

"You idiots! Did you forget about last time?! What if those people came after him again?!" She growled at him.. "No, I don't have time for this. I have to go find him. He needs us. He's scared." she hissed before hanging up the phone with a thud.

Crow turned back to look at Jack, who just gave him a knowing look. She was right, and they both knew it. They could feel it through their marks. He was scared, even if was ever so slightly. Without saying a word more, the former king, put on his helmet and the bird duelist were out the door, moving in opposite directions. Cover more ground. That was the plan.  

All of them could feel it, something was a miss. Yusei was in danger, and he was afraid of whatever it was. You could suppose that was one of the benefits of being a signer. Even though Yusei rarely let his true emotions shine through, the marks would betray him every time and let the other's know how he really felt. It was rare when Yusei was afraid of something. So that only made even more important for them to find him quickly.

Jack covered miles of the city in the short time, Crow had covered blocks. The feeling on the raven haired duelist was weak so it was hard to pinpoint just where he was. Crow turned to asking people if they'd seen a man of his description, while Jack raced deeper into the city.

After an hour or so of driving, Jack found himself getting closer and closer to Satellite. He supposed it would make sense for whoever had the guts to come after him, to drag Yusei all the way out here. However before  he could cross the bridge his attention was caught when he heard the sound of what could have been a small explosion?
~
Crow felt like he had been searching for hours, asking just about everyone with no luck of finding his would-be little brother. "Yus's where are  you?" he spoke to himself under his breath.

"Crow! Did you find him yet?" he heard a familiar voice shout from across the street, so he looked up spotting Aki and the twins. He dropped his head down, giving them a shake and a defeated stance.

"Crow!" Aki shouted at him again, holding her arm. He looked back up at her doing the same. Something was wrong. Their marks were shining brighter but they could no longer feel Yusei's presence. What in the world could that mean? He raced over to her and they three signers gave each other worried looks.

"Can you…" he started looking to the other two.  They both shook their head.
~

He didn't exactly know where he was, but there was smoke pouring out the building when he got there. Jack was growing a little more worried - not that he would ever show it - since he could no longer sense his adoptive kin through his mark. "Yusei…" he hissed worried for the young man, as he pulled his D-Wheel to a stop and approached the building.  He instinctively covered his face as he made his way inside. It was a run-down place, that was for sure. He made his way in further. Even without the help of the Crimson Dragon, Jack's instincts told him that Yusei was here.

That's when he saw it.

He turned the corner, and found what could appear a small laboratory of a sort, the door was jammed open, the computers in the room were shattered, and sparking. There was a small fire spreading from the back of the room, and a chair in complete ruin in the center of the room.  He heard laughing, a maniacal laughing coming from down the hall. The sound gave him chills; even more so because he was sure he knew that voice.

He followed it.

Violet orbs went wide at the sight. There he stood, laughing like a mad man. There was Yusei amongst the chaos of this place, a few of what looked like - the workers of this place- lying at his feet.

"Yusei!" He bellowed, and the raven haired Signer jerked around, giving the blond a wicked grin. "Yu-sei…" he stumbled on the man's name when he saw his hair was a wild mess (more than usual anyways) and only one eye was open, shining a wicked red. There was a purple glow about the room, and Jack's eyes traced to the duelist's arm. There was his Signer mark - glowing purple?

"Yusei what happened to you?! Did you… did you become… a Dark Signer?" he spoke, fearing the purple glow that had over taken his mark meant the worse had happened.

A small wicked chuckle came from the frame of the male before him. "Dark Signer?" he spoke in a coy tone. "Don't compare me to those pathetic fools." he growled, turning his full attention on the blonde. He took a step, and then another. Before Jack knew it, he was prowling towards him in a oh-so-not Yusei fashion. There was something off about him, something not right.

"Yusei, we have to get out of here! Come home!" Jack shouted at him, and received a harsh glare from the boy.

"Home? What, with you? Why would I ever want to do something like that?!" he growled, his voice obviously angered. Just what did he say to set him off so bad?

Jack had to get him out of there, and it seemed like he would follow him - even if it wasn't in the fashion he liked. So the once king turned away from the boy and made for the outside, dashing down the hall.

"Get back here! I'm not done with you, Jack Atlus!" he heard the voice behind him growl followed by quickened footsteps.

Good, at least it would get him outside. Jack came through the door, only to find himself instantly hit in the face with the feeling of  the cold rain pouring down from the sky above. The Raven haired signer soon followed after and stopped before the blond man, his face plastered with a wicked grin. Jack's eyes widened at the sight of the boy, now that he could see him clearly. "Yusei… what happened to you?"

His nose wrinkled up in anger as he growled at the blond. "Do not address by his name!"

Jack was confused. His name? That was Yusei, wasn't it? So of course he would call him by his name. "What do you mean by that?!" Jack barked back, and only received a solid punch to his jaw. His eyes narrowed at 'Yusei'  and he balled his hands into fists. If that was how he wanted this to go down, fine. He knew he was stronger than the young mechanic and would bring him home out cold if he had to.  "That's how you wanna play? Fine, bring it Yusei."

His one open eye flared again. "I told you! Do not call me, by his name!" he growled swinging another punch at the former king, who quickly moved out the way.

Jack swung, drilling a punch into 'Yusei's' shoulder sending the small frame stumbling backwards. "Then tell me what  you mean by that!" he growled again, swinging at the smaller male again.

He moved out the way this time, and delivered a hard kick to the back of Jack's knee, causing the taller man to stumble and hit the ground temporarily. He spit at the ground, right in front of the blond man, as if to show his disgust. "Are you that blind? I am not your precious Yusei." he hissed at him, looking down at him with a proud glare.

Jack slowly brought himself to his feet, and took a fighting stance once again. The two went back to exchanging blows, both pausing only to spit blood to the ground. They exchanged glares, and hits for a few more minutes, before 'Yusei' managed to strike Jack hard in the shoulder causing him to stumble backwards, ever so slightly.  The blonde only glared in return.

"Fine, then, Not-Yusei. Just who are you then?" he growled, his voice mocking and showing he didn't really believe the boy's story.  

He stood with a proud stance, as he wiped the blood from his cracked bottom lip and spat the excess to the side. "I suppose for the time being… you can just call me Yukei." His red eye looked over the blonde with a triumphant grin upon his lips. "Now then, Jack…" he continued hissing his name at him. "I'll just leave you be, seeing as you're much too injured to continue…. And I'm afraid little Yusei would have a fit if I "accidentally" killed one of his "precious" friends." he mocked the other man, making a move to leave the scene.

That was his one mistake.

As soon as he turned his back to the former king, Jack charged him. Before Yukei knew what was going on, he felt his arms twisted behind his back, and his small frame quickly restrained by the blond man. "Well then Yukei… you obviously don't know me very well. I'm not afraid to rough Yusei up, if it gets the job done." he growled before delivering a hard blow to the back of his neck.

Black.

Jack gathered the unconscious boy up in his arms, and sighed when he looked down at him. Bruised, bloody; how was he going to explain this to Crow? Just what exactly happened to him? He let out a sigh and lifted  his legs up, so that he could carry him to his D-Wheel. He paused when he heard stirring.  There was no way he could came back after a blow like that… not for a while anyways. Jack's eyes looked down at his would-be brother again, and paused when he saw blue eyes struggle to open, and an obviously weakened look of pain come across the boy's features. "Jack?" his voice breathed out in a tired heavy tone. He smiled at the other duelist - unsure if he was awake enough to tell.

"Sleep Now, Yusei." he spoke, and as if on cue, the smaller boy's head was soon resting against Jack's chest, out cold once more.

~

Crow's eyes widened, along with everyone else's when Jack finally came home that night. He came in lifting Yusei off of his D-Wheel, carrying him in his arms like a small child that had fallen into a deep sleep. They pestered Jack with questions, wondering what happened, but he said nothing, and simply walked past them, carrying Yusei up the stairs to his room.  

The door creaked open, and there Jack was. Setting next to the mechanic's bed, as the boy lie there in a deep slumber. Crow looked back at the other's with a look that they could easily read, and soon Aki had her hands on the kid's shoulders.

"We'll come back tomorrow… Rua, Ruka… come along.." Aki spoke. Even though she was worried she knew that it was best to leave Yusei in their care for now.

"But I-" Rua sounded, who looked to his sister, who only shook her head. "Fine." he pouted as Aki lead them down the stairs.

The two boys stayed in silence for a while, Crow taking a seat beside Jack, and they watched their brother sleep. "Is he gunna be okay?" Crow sounded in a quiet voice, bearly breaking the silence.  Jack said nothing. Crow let out a sigh, lifting himself from his seat - returning soon enough with a few bandages and other medical supplies. Jack continued to set in silence as the orange haired duelist began to tend to Yusei's wounds.

"What happened, Jack?" Crow tried again, speaking a little louder this time. He was only met with the sound of the rain pouring down on the roof above head. He let out another sigh. It was rare to see Jack so worried. He gave the blonde a pat on the shoulder, and let out another sigh. "I'll leave him to you tonight then." he spoke before leaving his room, to retire to his own.

Jack sat there all night.

~~~~~~ That was over a month and half ago ~~~~~


To Be Continued…