Yugi, Yusei and Yami brothers

Unfortunate meeting

Yusei's pov

The next morning - after being proven right, surrounded by the entire group, sleeping slumped on the wall, on the floor, against the bed and even in the bed all sound asleep - I get out of bed and step through all of them, before heading downstairs and outside. I need to do maintenance on my bike, and even maybe some upgrades, and it's a nice way to clear my mind.

It must be hours later, when I feel a tug at my pants and wheel myself out from under my bike. Jack and the others stand around me, the sun glaring behind them so I can only see their outlines. I feel an unease I've never felt in their presence, not even after they broke their bonds. It's something that squirms and inches it's way down from my chest to my stomach.

"Is there something I can help you with, Jack?"

"Yeah, you can get you ass out from under that bike, get on top of it and go fucking beat this guy. I have not been able to eat my ramen in weeks, while you got to do whatever you wanted for the past few weeks. I want to be able to eat my ramen and drink my tea. So go get your ass in gear, because I am tired of living in trash because you were not here, and having an internal crisis."

"I need you to do something, because every time I see the guy, I just want to crush him under foot, and that would be backsteps. I am not taking any steps back, or relapsing, not after all my hard work to get away from the Witch I was made into. You get out there and kick his ass, so I can go back to being my normal, girl self without having to worry about my powers going out of control."

"I need you to fix my bike too. There's something wrong with it that I just can't find, no matter where I look, and you are the only one who's willing to stay up all night in order to find a small letter mistake in coding, or a simple wire mix up in the engine. I need you to go out and beat this guy, so I can keep bringing more orphans here and  continue taking care of the ones here. This guy needs to go."

I can't bring myself to say anything, it's not even been a full day, and they've already crushed me under expectations, needs, wants and pressure. I can feel myself relapsing, going back to the way I was before, when I was slowly degrading myself. I know I shouldn't, that I really can't afford it at this time, not after so much forward progress, but it's necessary to keep me alive here, after all I'm alone and they don't care, they just want me to carry the burden and nothing more, can't have support or friends or family, need support...

A hand settles on my shoulder and I lean into it, using it to bring myself back to the present and the current time. I recognize this hand, after shaking it, and occasionally bumping it when playing a game, and relax, leaning into Kaiba's leg further, to stabilize myself. Fingers gently run through my hair, further grounding me to the here and now. I nuzzle his leg as a thank you, since I'm still getting my raspy wheezes to normal.

I finally feel like I can look at them and pull myself slightly away from his leg, looking at the group. I grin when, instead of them, I see the back of everyone but Yami, who's crouched quietly by my side, his gaze locked on the others, but his presence mingling with Kaiba's enough to create a soothing atmosphere for me to ground myself in. I grin and settle in deeper, wanting to see the complete and total smack down about to happen.

"I don't really think you deserve ramen or tea right now, bitch. I think, as a matter of fact, that if the ramen and tea were to suddenly find itself all set alight in a fire of payback and revenge, it would be nothing more than a sign that you were being a complete and utter asshole and karma wanted to make you her bitch. I love that idea, because you would deserve every single thing karma and the people around you did, since they would never cross the line and lower themselves to your standards."

"I am not at all on board with Yusei going out to beat this guy. You want to kill him, from the way you talk about him, and that means you obviously don't have any mercy in your heart or a single cell in your body. If you think you'll relapse or back step just by looking at, or being near this guy, then obviously you haven't made as much progress as you thought and would deserve to take a few steps forward, with no guidance and no light in the dark. That is the only way I would ever believe you had even a shred of humanity in you."