Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's: Rainbow Stardust (OLD)

Chapter 5: Scars Don't Heal

TW: Scars and blood

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We didn't leave the sewage plant just yet. Someone was waiting for us on the road just above it, and Yusei knew exactly who.

We both stopped to meet him as he stood, looking down at and down on us.

"You've brought a little girlfriend? I was under the assumption that this would be a one-on-one encounter," Jack Atlas taunted Yusei from above.

"She's got her own mission. She won't be interfering in our conflict," Yusei said, giving me a side-eye. I understood what he was saying immediately.

Stay out of our fight.

It might seem obvious, but it was an important message that I'd have to be completely blind to ignore.

"I looked at that moon, Yusei, and I knew you'd be coming. It was on a moonlit night like this that I left the Satellite, after all," Jack mused. "How long has it been now?"

After a moment of silence, Yusei answered him. "Two years."

"Two years, eh...?" He huffed a strange kind of laugh. Reminiscent, yet amused, perhaps? "You've made an impressive Duel Runner on your own," he added. "Did you make hers as well?"

"Just this one," Yusei confirmed. "Since you stole the one I made earlier. And how's it running now?"

"Broken down by now, mate."

Yusei didn't like that answer. The tension was terrifyingly thick. For some reason, my arm began to hurt again.

Huh. Remember when my scars healed? I'd thought they had at the time... But thinking back, it must've been around this time they started re-opening themselves again.

"And where's my card?"

"Stardust Dragon? Jumping straight to the chase, are we, old pal?" Jack chuckled a bit before revealing the stolen card from his coat pocket.

Maybe it was wishful thinking on my part, but Jack had kept Stardust Dragon safe in his coat pocket, right by his heart. That's what it seemed like to me, anyway. But Yusei wasn't satisfied with that.

"That card was our dreams," Yusei said.

"And who exactly would 'we' entail? Surely not the girl standing beside you?" Jack must've been on the verge of laughter.

I turned my head away from him, ashamed that Yusei's confrontation with Jack wouldn't be taken seriously because of my presence.

"All of my Satellite friends, Sylvia included." Yusei didn't seem to care that I was ruining his encounter with Jack. I turned to Yusei, surprised.

...I didn't deserve this. I didn't deserve Yusei's whole, pure... acceptance. My heart ached. I couldn't do anything to repay him. I was here to repay my debt and he was already making it harder and harder to pay him back.

"You're still saying such absurd things," Jack chuckled. "If it's so special to you all, you can have it back. I certainly don't need it anymore."

He tossed the card to Yusei, slicing it through the air like it was no big deal.

Damn, I wished I could do that. That was actually super cool.

And then Yusei went ahead and examined his own card for a second, before doing the exact same thing Jack did in the entirely opposite direction, like did the wind not blow the card away at all?! How?!?

But I had to keep my mouth shut. Yusei and Jack were still staring each other down. Finally, Yusei stood from his Duel Runner.

"I'll win my card back from you in a duel. That is why you came, isn't it, Jack?"