Who I Thought You Were - Yusei Fudo/OC [COMPLETE]

Chapter 5 - Yusei

I can see the huge, black and blue fist coming down. It's going to turn me into a Yusei pancake with a delicious side of duel runner and motor oil sauce. It's closing in. I'm running out of time to escape. My runner's going to give out. If the blue giant doesn't kill me, my runner might. Something breaks. I'm tumbling. I'm falling onto something soft...

My eyes bolt open, and I realize there isn't a fist the size of Kalin's ego about to crush me. My vision is fuzzy at first, but I know immediately where I am: Martha's place. My head and my abdomen hurt like hell, and trying to sit up does jack squat for my condition.

"Hello?" I ask, not feeling as lightheaded anymore.

"Well, look who's awake," a familiar voice says. The curtain next to my bed opens and Martha's smile greets me.

"Martha. What happened?" I rub my temples, trying to remember.

"You took a nasty fall off your runner, then Crow brought you here," she tells me.

"Nasty fall?" I remember my dream. "Oh, yeah. There was a duel between me and Kalin."

"When you were little, I told you dueling was dangerous! Now you're a wreck! Check out your runner."

"Huh?" I stare out the window, surprised. Not that my runner's there, though that is surprising, but that I see Nova's runner too.

"Surprised? Your friends pushed it the whole way here."

"Through the Satellite?"

"They got sick and lost their decks and quite literally the shirts off their backs. But they all knew what that runner meant to you. Hope is all anyone has left in the Satellite sector. Security's taken our decks and crime's taken anything that has even a little value. But people here have always looked up to you, Yusei. They thought you might get out of here, start a real life." She turns around and moves to the desk by the door. "Which is why it breaks my heart to know you're back here, dueling. I hope at least you won your little game."

"It's not what you think! There's people out there that want to destroy our home! All of us here are in great danger!" I know it's not smart, but I go on. "It's complicated, but there's these Dark Signers and—"

"You need to calm down, Yusei. I believe you." She grabs an apple and starts to slice it. "But if we're 'all in great danger,' then why are you trying to save us all on your own?"

"It's my job."

She sighs. "You'll just never change. Trying to do everything by yourself and ending up in a hospital bed. You've got friends out there that will follow you anywhere. Look at what they did just for your duel runner! Then there's Jack. You two were like brothers once. You need each other. Whatever happened, it's time the two of you forgave and forgot. Life's hard enough, but it's even harder without a best friend. And if it's true, if these Dark Signers you're talking about want to turn our home into a parking lot, you're going to need all the friends you can get, 'cause mark my words, I'm done bandaging your black and blues. Your life is just too important to ride solo." She hands me a plate of apple slices. "Eat."

"Thank you, Martha. For all your help," I say, accepting the plate.

"Now, there's two more things. One, Nova's downstairs and she told me about your little falling out."

"She what?" I can feel my cheeks turning red. "It was hard enough to get her to talk about it with me!"

"Calm down, Yusei. She didn't tell me everything, but I do think that you need to talk to her about it eventually. You two were closer than pages in a book. I'm not letting either of you throw that friendship away."