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

Part Two - Chapter 2 - Yusei

Broken. That's how I feel. I thought that maybe seeing her again might make me feel less empty, but it didn't. When we were little, I had a hard time being myself. Being with her was like little pockets of air when I felt like I was being real. She isn't those little air pockets for me anymore. She couldn't even say something to me when I saw her again. She wouldn't even look me in the eye. That's not the Nova I've loved all these years.

"I'm going after her," I say after she's gone.

"Don't," Crow says. "I saw it in her eyes, Yusei. She's hurting. I think she needs some time alone with her thoughts."

"Thinking can be a dangerous pastime," I mutter. "Speaking from experience."

"Not for her, and you know that," Crow retorts. "Leave her be for a few. She'll come around. She always does."

I grab Crow's collar, pulling him closer to me so the others can't hear. "And what if she doesn't?"

"She will. You know she will."

And I do. But what if she doesn't?

"I'm heading back to the garage," I say,  mounting my bike. Crow gives me a small "see you," and I drive off.

I keep driving until I'm on the track from the WRGP. I feel a sense of peace whenever I'm here, even though the guys and I fought to save the world here, and that made me feel very un-peaceful. I don't know. There's just something about it. It's like knowing why you like strawberries, and not raspberries. It's unexplainable. Like how of all the girls on planet earth, I had to fall for Nova.

I felt it in the way that she kissed me a year ago that she loved me too. What changed? Why isn't she the Nova that I remember?

What hurts the most is that she won't talk to me about it. The last time I saw her before she left, she clearly had something on her mind, but she didn't share it. What could be so bad that she wouldn't talk to me about it? I didn't do anything to her that I know of, and I didn't say anything to her that I know of. I want my Nova back. The one that would snort when she laughed. The one that would always keep a level head. The one that would wear her feelings on her sleeve. The one that would wrap me in a hug whenever I felt down about something. The one that would break down in front of me because she trusted me.

"Thought you'd be here," someone says from behind me. I turn around and it's Ally.

"The guys tell you I'd be here?"

"Nah. I know you well enough to know where you'd go to think. And FYI, she doesn't hate you."

"How do you know? And please don't say female intuition."

"Sister intuition. She's just confused about you."

"What does she have to be confused about?"

"You remember exactly who she was as a Dark Signer, Yusei. And so do I. But she doesn't. She can only imagine the things that she did to you, and that's worse than actually knowing, because she's imagining every terrifying thing that she can, trying to figure out what she'd done. She's afraid that you won't see her as Nova anymore."

"Why wouldn't I? I was never mad at her for leaving. I got a little annoyed that she never tried to talk to me, but I could never be mad at her for being a Dark Signer." I take a breath, my fingers brushing cold metal as I put my hand in my coat pocket. "Truth? I felt sorry for her, and I felt like a jackass."

"Well, you have your moments. But why, Yusei?"

"Because," I begin, feeling the tears about to sting my eyes, "because I was the reason she became a Dark Signer in the first place, and I'll never forgive myself for that."

"That doesn't make you a jackass. It makes you human. And stupid."

"Why stupid?"

"Because you and I both know that you could never make my sister go bad. She had insecurities, and those bastards took advantage of them. So, to say that you're the reason my sister turned evil? That is the stupidest thing I think I've ever heard."

"Wow. You know, you should go be a public speaker. Making me look like a dumbass." I smile wryly, staring at the still water.

"You don't need help from me. None of you boys do."

"Thank you for that. But, Ally?"

"What's up?"

"Why wouldn't she talk to me?"

"I just told you, idiot."

"No, I get that part. But today, she was all buddy-buddy with Jack and Crow, and hit it off with Akiza pretty well, but she couldn't even say two words to me. Why?"

She hesitates before answering. "I think...you should ask her yourself."

"Did you forget the part where she won't talk to me?"

"She wanted to puke at the thought of talking to you a year ago, before all the Dark Signer stuff happened. How's this different?"

I can't think of an argument. "Fine. Point taken. What am I going to do?"

"Well first, you're going to man the fuck up."

"That much is obvious."

"Second, you're going to meet us at the pier tonight. She and I were going to have quality sister time, but you need to have a face-to-face conversation with her a hell of a lot more than I do."

She's right. But how am I going to tell Nova how I really feel without sounding like I felt sorry for her?

A/N: Hey, hoomans! We got another update here faster than planned. I wanted to do a chapter where we see Yusei after he got ditched by Nova and how that shook him, and I really wanted to write a heart-to-heart featuring Allison. This chapter is also kind of filler, because I didn't want to have a chapter that was basically the last paragraph of P2 Ch 1. It'd be pathetic. And if I were to make this any longer, it'd be pathetic bits of bullshit that's all "I love this, this and this about her," because we've seen a lot of that, and too much just makes a character look pathetic. I think we can all agree with me when I say that pathetic is not the first word that comes to mind when thinking of Yusei, and I'm not going to make him look that way. Truth be told, for me, characters whose entire character revolves around one thing, like being Loverboy, have no real substance to them and are just annoying fillers. They need to be able to stand on their own, and that's what makes Yusei a great character. No way in hell am I taking that from him.

Enough of me yakking. We'll have a new chapter up soon, and it'll be a drama llama!

BFN!

— Kal 💙

P.S. — The song of the chapter is "If I Can't Be With You" by R5. I feel like this is just the way Yusei is about our OC, so let's just play it while we can.