Chapter 32
(following anime episodes 104 and 117)
Note: I mixed the episodes and changed their order, so the plot will have more sense (but You will see soon what I am talking about)
Part I
While waiting for Hanako, Bruno and Sherry to come back from their mission; Yeager was hiding at Poppo Time with the rest of Team 5D's members. Standing in front of the mirror, he was trying to get his hair done with some plastic hair rollers and with a hair curler in his hand, while muttering to himself in worry, because he couldn't stop thinking about the safety of Yusei and his other three friends, "Is that place really the home of the true enemy? To sneak into that place is a fearless, I mean, reckless thing to do!" He murmured into his chin, looking at the frightened face of his own reflecting in the mirror, "Is there is a relationship between M.E. and Yliaster, Yusei would probably find it!" Yeager couldn't handle the stress anymore, so he grabbed his head, as his face contours altered by the worry and concern, "As usual, a set of hair strengtheners that doesn't work! Just my luck!" He cursed the hair equipment his found in the Poppo Time house, unsatisfied by its quality.
While Yeager was complaining about the whole situation, Jack was drinking his coffee, Crow was making lunch and Rua was dusting the room, trying to kill the time while waiting for Yusei. Watching the scene with Yeager's hair, Jack just left an indifferent humph and grabbed his cup of coffee, "We believe in Yusei and you're worrying about your hair... There's more going on then that useless stuff!" But the very first moment Jack tried to take a sip of his coffee, Crow approached him from the kitchen, complaining about something almost in the same tone as Yeager did just a moment ago.
"My piercing had suddenly come off", Crow murmured, displeased by the spoken fact while trying to fix his earring.
"Useless!" Jack hissed again, finally taking a sip of his coffee.
"Man, why did we let Hanako go with them?" Crow complained again, sounding like a spoiled child that was left in the school by his parents by force, "If only she was here, she would have fixed this already!"
"The vase!" Ruka's worried voice echoed from upstairs, following a strong hit of the porcelain against the floor, right after the vase broke, so Ruka was coming downstairs to clean up the mess she made, when Rua rushed to her to help her.
"Don't worry about it, Ruka!" He assured his twin sister, helping her collect the broken pieces of the vase.
"Useless!" Jack commented once more, taking another sip of his coffee, but just before his lips reached the cup, the handle on it broke just like the vase, making the cup fall down straight into Jack's lap, spilling the hot coffee all around his lap, "Hot! Hot! Hot!" He started shouting, crying in pain from the heat of the beverage, wiggling on the couch, "Man, where's Baby now when you need her the most?" He asked, grabbing the cup and seeing how the handle has to be fixed, but then he just took a kitchen cloth and started clearing the spilled coffee from around him.
"Really, guys", Rua muttered displeased by the lack of Hanako's presence at home, "We should have apologised to her..."
"I now", Ruka added, agreeing with her brother, "And look what is happening to us... It's like things just keep breaking apart without her!"
"Don't worry, guys!" Crow moved to the twins, having the urge to help cheer up the kids, since it was what he was doing the best, "She will be back soon!"
"I don't know about you, guys", Ruka mumbled to Crow's words, "I have a bad feeling about all this", she then moved her eyes to the vase, feeling like something terrible is going to happen, when all of a sudden, her fear was followed by a glow on her arm.
"What the...?" Jack commented in disbelief, "The Birthmarks..."
Yeager immediately turned around to see what was going on, seeing how all of the Signers had their Birthmarks revealed: Ruka, Jack and Crow, since only they were in the room, "What is going on?" But just when Yeager said those words, a strange energy distortion flooded the room and spread a strange energy wave all around, disturbing their presence, so everyone covered their eyes and curled their bodies to protect themselves, while the Birthmarks' glow kept growing stronger and stronger.
"What was that just now?" Crow asked once the strange energy distortion stopped.
"I don't know", Jack answered after he snapped out of the shock everyone experienced, "But these Birthmarks are trying to tell us something!" He moved his eyes to his forearm, feeling the strange and indescribable force dragging him to a place unbeknownst to him.
"You can feel it, too?" Ruka muttered in fear, while her voice was filled with concern and worry, "It's like Crimson Dragon wants to tell us something!"
"You're right", Crow nodded his head, "Let's go!"
"Right!" Jack and Ruka shouted determinedly in unison, so Yeager and Rua looked at each other, not knowing what was going on, but they just followed the other three, running outside the house and picking up the pace through Neo Domino City by foot!
"Why did we come here?" Rua suddenly decided to interrupt, so Crow turned over his shoulder, meeting Rua's curious eyes.
"I don't know", he gave as an answer, panting softly from the running, "But the Birthmarks guided us!" He explained, moving his head back to the front, but then Jack's body abruptly came into a halt, so Crow stopped, frozen in place.
"What's that?" Jack murmured, like he was trying to explain the reason behind his sudden stopping, even though it was unknown to him as well. He pointed his finger to the strange shuttle resting on the surface of the sea, so Rua followed his finger, seeing familiar characters around.
"Hey, that's...!"
"Bruno!" Crow shouted after Rua saw them, "Yusei!" He added, calling out for his friends, as he started running towards them, with the group following behind.
"Guys!" Bruno greeted with a soft smile, but Yusei said nothing, he just turned around, letting everyone see him holding Hanako's dead body inside of his hands.
"Yusei", Crow looked at him, realising by the look in his eyes that something was not right, but then his Birthmark stopped glowing, "The Birthmark stopped glowing, so it looks like it was pointing us towards Yusei!"
"Yes, but why?" Rua asked, looking at Crow first, seeing the way he was looking at Yusei.
"Yusei", Ruka whispered his name worriedly, watching how his eyes were softly red, like he was crying, "Is she all right?" She then asked, wanting to know what happened, but Yusei just moved his head to the side and bowed down, avoiding eye contact.
"Tch!" Yusei just silently mumbled, while his hands were shaking.
"I guess we have a bigger problem", Jack commented, taking attention away from Yusei to himself, "What is that?" He asked, pointing his finger up into the sky, showing a huge hole right in the middle of the clouds.
"We saw that in the dimension!" Yusei explained, looking up into the sky, but his and Jack's words left both Rua and Yeager confused at the topic rounding them.
"What, what?!" Rua finally spoke, turning curious at the topic, wanting to be a part of what seemed a very interesting conversation, "You can see something?"
"I can't see anything!" Yeager added, holding his hand flat above his eyelids, trying to see what was in the distance.
"Look at that big hole in the sky!" Jack shouted, pointing his finger up into the sky, but there was nothing there.
"Big hole?" Rua asked, wanting to know and to see; but no matter how hard he tried, he was not able to see anything up in the skies, "Where?!"
"You guys can't see it?" Crow blinked his eyes, looking down at little Rua and then moving them to Yeager, realising how puzzled their looks were, but then it occurred to him, "Ah, maybe we can see it because of the Crimson Dragon's power?" He assumed, looking at the Birthmark on his forearm, thinking about what he just said, as it seemed like the only reasonable explanation.
"Geez", Rua protested unhappily, "Why don't I have a Birthmark?"
"What in the world is that?" Jack muttered with his loud and strong voice that was now vested in a worried and rather concerned tone.
"That which leads to the destruction of mankind", Yusei started mumbling to himself, moving his eyes down to see Hanako, "and the last Momentum!" He added, remembering the vision of his Father that he saw, after Hanako and Sherry disappeared in the wormhole.
"What are you talking about, Yusei?" Jack asked, moving his eyes to Yusei, but he seemed so lost and distant, with his eyes focusing on Hanako's body that was still resting in his hands.
"It's just", Yusei started, but his voice was now even weaker and more silent than before, "Something I heard about that will someday be a threat to us!" He finally finished, doing his best not to show the pain that was kicking the walls his tears were hiding behind, while his hands kept trembling by the sight of Hanako's lifeless body lying in his arms.
"Ah, it disappeared!" Ruka shouted with a dose of surprise in her voice, keeping her eyes glued to the sky, so everyone looked up again.
"What's going on?" Jack questioned in aghast, seeing how the strange metal construction started disappearing from the sky until there was nothing left, but pure white and fluffy clouds.
"Come to think of it", Rua abruptly broke the silence once the construction was all gone, "What are you guys doing here? Weren't you in the Momentum Express?" He asked, turning to Yusei and Bruno, seeing how Yusei still kept that sorrowful and deplorable facial expression.
"It's too long a story for the moment", Yusei started, not wanting to talk about what happened to Hanako, until the doctor checks her condition and sees what really happened to her, because he was refusing to believe that she died just like that, in a blink of an eye, "We have to return to Momentum Express right away!"
"Did you find something?" Crow asked curiously, wanting to participate in the mission now when things looked like taking out of control.
"As we thought", Bruno started, seeing how Yusei was still struggling with hiding his tears away, "Momentum Express is a company being controlled by Yliaster!"
Everyone was silent, when Yeager screeched in surprise, "My word!"
"Over there is the only evidence which indicates Yliaster's existence!" Yusei finally added, clearing his throat to hide his grief away, but then Crow's eyes landed on Hanako again, seeing her chest was not moving at the motion of the breathing, so he started to worry about her, because Yusei still hasn't tell them what really happened.
"And what happened to her?" Crow muttered, pending for some detailed explanation after seeing the way Yusei was behaving.
"She", Yusei started, looking down at Hanako's pale face, "Got sucked into the wormhole..."
"WHAT?!" Crow screamed with his eyes wide open, before his entire body experienced shivers running down his spine.
"I'll tell you everything later", Yusei just muttered, "I have to take her to the hospital as soon as possible!"
"Is she OK?" Rua ran to Yusei, looking up at how the colour from her face got completely sucked out of her skin.
"Baby", Ruka ran to them, standing next to her Twin brother and taking Hanako's hand, gently cradling it to wake her up, "Wake up!" She added softly, as ears started gathering in her eyes.
"Maybe she is unconscious", Rua assumed, seeing his sister desperately trying to make Hanako wake up, "Or maybe she is in a coma... So she will wake up later!" He tried to make a guess, wanting to assure himself that Hanako is still alive and that nothing bad happened to her, but the look in Yusei's eyes killed his every hope.
"I don't think so, Rua..."
"No!" Rua cried, finally letting his tears roll down his face, grabbing the jacket that was wrapped around Hanako, trying to wake her up, after Ruka already gave up on that idea.
"Yusei", Jack finally spoke, piercing Yusei's ears with the strictness of his voice that crossly slipped over his lips, "She better wake up or I will-"
"Jack", Yusei returned, calling out his name in the same tone as he did, "You go and check the Momentum Express with Bruno!" He ordered, trying to keep his cool, "She needs to see a doctor, so I can't go with you!" He explained, seeing how Jack's mouth was left open, because there was still an attempt to say what he wanted to say in the first place, but after seeing Hanako's state, he just gave up on it and nodded his head in understanding.
"I'm coming with you!" Crow added, looking at Yusei with strong determination, because after all of the years he spent with Hanako, he wasn't able to leave her in a moment like this one. And even though he never asked for Yusei's approval, seeing his friend nodding in agreement to his statement made his heart at ease.
"Bruno, take Jack to the M.E.!" Yusei added strongly, moving his eyes from Bruno to Yeager, "And you Yeager, take the twins back to safety!"
"Understood!" Yeager flattened his hand and placed it at the corner of his forehead as a sign of salutation, before he took the twins and started walking them back to Poppo Time.
"And Aki?" Yusei asked in confusion, looking around and seeing how she was missing, "Where is she?"
"She went out this morning to practice on the Highway", Jack explained, moving to Bruno, so that they can go and check the Momentum Express right away.
"I see", Yusei murmured, feeling how Yliaster will not stop now, and what happened to Hanako was just a beginning of a long and tough battle waiting for them all! He got caught into his thoughts so deeply; he completely lost the sense of reality around him.
"Okay, no time for that now", Crow added, knowing Aki was safe as long as she was a Signer and had Birthmark of Crimson Dragon to take care of her, protecting her from everything like it did to him and the others, because Hanako was his priority right now, "Hanako needs medical help!"
"Right", Yusei nodded, as the entire group separated, "Let's go!"
* * *
On their way to the hospital, Yusei explained to Crow in detail what happened and how it all happened, while they were in the Momentum Express, telling him why Hanako looked so lifeless. Hearing his story, Crow somehow kept believing Hanako really was just unconscious or in some kind of a deep coma, because the wormholes were a huge unknown term to them and they had no idea what happens to someone who gets sucked in by it. So after Yusei's story was over, the awkward silence took over them, like they had nothing else to talk about; but luckily the Neo Domino hospital was very close, so it didn't last for too long.
Once they were inside, Crow checked Hanako in at the reception desk, "You think she will be all right?" Crow asked, watching the medical staff running through the hallway with Hanako's body lying on the bed, taking her to the room, as the light above it turned on and started shining bright red, with only white letters spelling emergency room above the top jamb of the door. Crow got lost while watching them leave his eyesight, he forgot how he asked Yusei a question, but then he looked around, seeing how Yusei was just silently sitting on the chair in the waiting room. Crow approached his friend slowly, letting a powerless sigh escape his lungs, as he closed his eyes and tried hoping for the best, but then someone's step kept nervously echoing through the waiting room, making him look at Yusei first, seeing how he was still lifelessly sitting next to him, knowing the steps were not coming from Yusei. Interested in who it was, Crow raised his head up, seeing a familiar face nearby, "Breo?"
"You guys?" The blonde male questioned in confusion, moving to Crow and Yusei, seeing those two members from Team 5D's looking like something terrible happened.
"What are you doing here?" Crow asked curiously, blinking his eyes the member of Team Unicorn, knowing they were supposed to have their match against Team Catastrophe around this time.
"I'm waiting for Jean to leave the emergency room", he explained, pointing his finger to the direction where the room was, when the medical staff started rushing out of the room and taking Jean lying on the bed with them, covered in bandages.
"Jean!" Breo shouted in worry, as he rushed towards the medical staff, so Crow did the same, taking Yusei's attention away from his thoughts, so he slowly followed them behind.
"What in the devil happened?" Crow shouted terrified by what he was seeing, not knowing what was going on.
"Well, I'm completely clueless myself", Breo tried to explain, "Right in the middle of their duels, their D-Wheels suddenly crashed..."
"Crashed?" Crow asked, while Yusei was just silently watching them, attentively listening to their conversation.
"Yeah", Breo nodded his head, but then the staff started moving Jean's bed to another room, so he excused himself, "Sorry, but I'll give you a call later!"
"Sure", Yusei muttered all of a sudden, watching Breo leave the waiting room, while waving his hand and shouting behind.
"See you for now!"
"Strange", Crow murmured into his chin, commenting his surprise to himself, while he did his best to understand what happened, but then the sound of a ringtone made him snap out of his thoughts.
"Yes?" Yusei answered his phone, so Crow moved his eyes to his friend. It was Bruno. He was so loud, his voice was breaking through Yusei's speaker so harshly, so even Crow was able to hear what they were talking about.
"Yusei", Bruno shouted in shock, "We have a problem! Everything's gone!"
"Impossible!" Yusei added crossly from this side of the phone, "Are you sure?"
"There's no mistake!" Bruno confirmed, "But how could such a large facility vanish into thin air?"
"I don't know", Yusei murmured, trying to calm himself down in order to think straight, "It's just like before!"
"Yeah", Bruno agreed, remembering how everything related to Yliaster just keeps disappearing the moment they find something out about them, but then he remembered Yusei was in the hospital to check on Hanako, so he started being curious about what was going on on Yusei's end, "And about Baby?"
"We're still waiting for the doctors to come out of the emergency room", Yusei explained, "She's been inside for over an hour..."
"I see", Bruno muttered in response, "Did they say anything?"
"No, nothing..."
"Ah, can this day just get any worse?" Bruno asked rhetorically, sighing at the feeble feeling residing in his soul, not believing what was going on, "Jack and I are going back home", he soon added, after taking a deep breath, "Call me if you will need anything!"
"Got it", Yusei answered, barely able to talk, so he rather kept it short and clear, before he hung up his phone.
"Nothing again, huh?" Crow commented as soon as the sound of the hung up call reached his ears, but Yusei just shook his head, incapable of think of something rational to say.
"Yusei-san?" Someone called for Yusei's name all of a sudden, and after remembering that grown, deep voice, Yusei's eyes widened, as he turned around to meet the person calling for him.
"Hideo?" Yusei murmured in surprise, seeing the Senator of Neo Domino city in the hospital, "What are you doing here?" He asked, approaching Mr. Izayoi, who was with his wife in the waiting room.
"Haven't you heard?" The senator asked, while his wife had one hand wrapped around his, holding him close to her.
"Heard about what?" Crow approached them, being interested in Aki's parents and what brought them to the hospital.
"Aki crashed around half an hour ago on the Highway?" Hideo explained, looking at Yusei with sadness in his eyes. There was not much worry about what happened, but he looked rather sorrowful.
"No!" Crow abruptly shouted, as his voice echoed through the empty waiting room, so he gulped at his own reaction and lowered the tone of his voice, "Is she all right?" He asked weakly, feeling a bit embarrassed for getting carried away at the news.
"Yes, she is", Hideo nodded his head, "We are going to visit her in the room, so you can go with us!" Hideo explained, seeing how both Crow and Yusei nodded their heads in agreement, so Mr. Izyaoi escorted them to Aki's room, explaining to them what happened with her D-Wheel, while they were on their way.
"Aki", Crow muttered into his chin with his voice filled with concern and worry for Aki's safety, seeing her through the small window on the door to the room where her body way lying on the medical bed, and her head was wrapped in bandages.
"Please, come in", Hideo smiled softly, letting his wife inside and waiting for Crow and Yusei to enter as well, but only Crow did it. Yusei, on the other hand, was stopped in that attempt, because his phone rang; it was Bruno again.
"You go, Crow", Yusei nodded his head, "I have to take this one", he waved with the phone and turned his back to his friend and Aki's parents, moving back to the hallway of the hospital to answer the phone call.
"Yusei!" Bruno shouted in worry again, "Something terrible happened! Aki was-"
"I know", Yusei cut Bruno's intention to say what was on his mind, "We just talked to her parents in the hospital. It seems she got a nasty contusion, but her life is in no danger!", he explained, looking through the small window to the room, seeing how Crow was with her parents inside, checking on her state, "Did her D-Wheel lock up?"
"Y-Yes... How did you know?" Bruno muttered in disbelief, not knowing how could Yusei possibly know what was going on, if he was with Hanako in the hospital this entire time, "I checked her D-Wheel when Jack told me what happened, so we took her runner back to the garage!"
"I see", Yusei murmured, remembering what happened to Breo's team, so he assumed it had to be connected, since they were the next ones to go against Team Catastrophe, "So you were able to analyse the data?"
"Yes, there's no doubt about it", Bruno nodded on the other side of the line, while Crow slowly started exiting Aki's room, hearing Bruno's words coming from the speaker of Yusei's phone, "There are signs that the wheels locked up!"
"I knew it!" Yusei hissed through his teeth angrily, furious at the fact that his assumptions were true.
"Those guys!" Crow shouted angrily, not giving Yusei the chance to finish what he started, as he just moved his palms up his forearms like he is rolling up his sleeves, ready to fight, so Yusei interrupted his call with Bruno.
"Crow, where are you going?" He shouted, while Bruno was still waiting on the line.
"Isn't it obvious?" Crow threw at him crossly, "I'm going to find 'em and pound the everlovin' daylights out of 'em!" He shouted furiously, while walking down the hall towards the exit.
"Stop, Crow!" Yusei shouted, wiggling his hands in unpreparedness, not knowing what to do with Bruno on the line and Crow losing his mind, "Bruno, I'll call you later!" He just said indifferently into the phone and hung up, before he started running behind Crow, trying to catch his pace, "I know how you feel, but if you do that, then you're no better than them!" He shouted behind Crow's back, bringing his body into a halt, so Crow turned to him.
"But, at this rate-!"
"We'll get even with them", Yusei looked sharply into Crow's eyes with strong and fierce fire burning and heating up his cold blue eyes, "In our duel!" He finished, still waiting for Crow's response, wanting to calm him down and help him cool his temper.
"I get it", Crow sighed, unwrapping his arm sling and taking it away from his injured limb, "In that case, I'll be the one getting even!" He said determinedly and angrily, tensing up his right arm that was still recovering from the fracture and wrapped in bandages after his cast was removed, "You can't expect me to sit idly by when a member of the same team ends up like this!" He added angrily, because he couldn't help but feel guilty and responsible for what happened to Aki, "If I just hadn't screwed up in the first place, this wouldn't have happened!" He finally took the arm sling and threw it on the floor, not showing any signs of pain anymore, "I'm gonna avenge Aki!" He added with a strong willingness to fulfil his promise and do his best to make Team Catastrophe suffer for what they have done to Aki.
"Good", Yusei nodded his head in agreement, seeing how Crow was able to calm down, so he even managed to smile, although weak and barely visible, that smile was still there, decorating his sorrowful and heartbroken face, but then he saw the doctor approaching them from behind.
"Crow Hogan, is it?" He asked referring to the person that checked his patient Hanako in, looking at them both, not knowing to whom to talk to, since the medical staff just brought his patient into the emergency room and he didn't know with whom she came to the hospital.
"Doctor", Crow nodded his head in response, giving him a confirmation of his identity.
"How is she?" Yusei asked, jumping into their conversation, looking at the doctor, who seemed a bit disappointed in the outcome that he was soon about to reveal.
"Theoretically... Dead!" The doctor started, shaking his head powerlessly, "She suffered brain death and her cerebrum is dead!" He explained, looking at the two young boys, thinking about how his patient was as young as them and yet her life ended in such a terrible way. But he just cleared his throat and grabbed some professional coldness for his voice, before he continued, "However, some parts of her brain are still alive... Her brainstem still has some functions, so we attached life support equipment to maintain ventilation..."
"Wait, is she dead or alive?" Crow interrupted the doctor's words, blinking his eyes in confusion, because he couldn't quite keep the track of what he was saying.
"We managed to get her body breathing again", the doctor explained, "Right now, the medical equipment is the only thing that is keeping her alive".
"But she will be fine...?" Yusei murmured, feeling his heart beating inside of his chest so strong, he could hear its strong beat hitting his eardrums. He looked at the doctor, finding it hard to breath by all he just heard from this man dressed in the white coat, but there was no response from his side, so Yusei started muttering again, lost in his sorrow, "Doctor, tell me she will be fine... She will wake up, right?" He questioned, while his voice kept shivering in fear of hearing something he didn't want to hear, remembering how Hanako's body was cold and she was not responding to any signs from the real world.
The doctor just shook his head, "I am so sorry, boys... We did all we could", he finally spoke it up, sighing powerlessly at those words, knowing there is nothing else he or his staff can do about the young girl's condition, "But no one has ever recovered from that state..."
"No..."
"Impossible", Crow murmured into his chin right after Yusei's weak words of protest against the cruel reality, feeling how his heart slowly started breaking apart, because up to this point, he was really hoping how this was all just a temporary situation and that eventually everything will get back to normal; back to how it was.
"Accept my condolences", the doctor added, because it was his job to report the truth and keep it calm and real, "She was very young... So we will leave her life support turned on for a while", he added, still looking at the boys, "However, we will have to turn it down some time in the future, so we will need someone to sign the papers", he explained, brining his job duties to the end, "You can even sign for organ donation if you-"
"Organ donation?!" Yusei abruptly roared through his teeth, reaching for the doctor's collar and grabbing him just below his jaw line and pinning his body against the wall in sheer anger, because those words were the last straw of his patience, "Are you fucking with me?!" He shouted angrily, as his hurt and mourning voice thundered through the hallway, painting the hospital walls with its painful sound.
"Yusei", Crow immediately jumped in, grabbing Yusei's forearms, gently trying to pull him away from the tight grip, "Calm down!"
"Let go, Crow!" Yusei pierced Crow with his cold eyes, moving them back to the doctor, who was sweating at Yusei's sudden and unexpected reaction, "She's gone... So how do you expect me to calm down?!"
"Listen, boy", the doctor tried to calm him instead, but it just made it all worse.
"You shut up!" Yusei screamed, before his royal blue eyes started collecting tears inside of them, "I just lost the only woman I ever loved in my life and you're telling me something about organ donation?!"
"Okay, Yusei", Crow said strictly, grabbing Yusei and separating him from the doctor by force, "That's enough!" He added, pushing Yusei few steps away, so he can keep an eye on him, while he moved his eyes to the doctor.
"I'm sorry, but I am just following the procedure", the doctor explained, adjusting his coat, "She will be transferred to the room 117 on the first floor in fifteen minutes, so you can go see her then".
"Thank you, doctor", Crow said, seeing how the man nodded his head, feeling sorry for their loss, but it was his job to hide it away from his eyes and his face contours, "We will let you know if something comes up!" He added, watching the doctor leave, so he looked back to Yusei just to be shocked at how he was not there. Caught by surprise by what happened, Crow stared turning around, looking for him, seeing him moving to the emergency room where Hanako was lying, "Yusei, were are you going?" He asked, running behind Yusei and trying to catch his speed.
"To her!" He hissed, not turning behind, "I'm taking her to Satellite! Doctor Schmidt will know better!" He explained, still walking fast through the hall of the hospital, but his words made Crow gasp at the sudden idea that popped inside of Yusei's head, not knowing what has gotten into him all of a sudden.
"Are you crazy?" Crow screamed, picking up the pace and jumping before Yusei's eyes, preventing him from going any farther, "You heard what the doctor said, Yusei! She is on life support! If you shut the equipment down to transport her body to Satellite, you're going to kill her!" Crow's anger was rising more and more, feeling how his hands started shivering in sheer wrath, because he was ready to punch Yusei to stop his reckless ideas from succeeding!
"No, Crow", Yusei answered, "They have no idea what they are doing! She can't be dead! There must be another diagnose and explanation for her condition!" Yusei added, clenching his fists and squeezing his jaw, trying his best to calm down and fight the tears in his eyes, but this time, emotions were stronger than his mind and his will to take control over his own body's reactions.
"Yusei, I know how you feel", Crow sighed those words as calmly and he possible could, trying to bring some sense back into Yusei. He knew that, if anyone understands Yusei right now, it was him, Crow the Bullet himself, because after what happened with Aki, he was also hurt and scared, lost and in fear for her life, for her health, but he also knew that letting their emotions control them is not going to bring Hanako back to this world, "But those strong emotions you're feeling right now won't make Hanako magically wake up!" He explained, placing both his hands on Yusei's shoulders, keeping him in one place, "Medical equipment is showing only one thing regardless of the person operating with it... If the doctor said her brain is dead, Dr. Schmidt will not tell you something else!" He raised his eyebrows at Yusei, asking for his reaction in return
"I know", Yusei finally gave up, releasing the tension from his body and bowing his head, "I just can't believe she's gone, Crow..."
"There", Crow just sighed in unavailability to say something to cheer Yusei up, because no such words existed, "Let's go see her, shall we?" He asked, tapping Yusei's back, seeing how he just nodded his head, so both of them moved to the elevator, going back down to the first floor, searching for the room where Hanako was, until they finally reached the number 117 planted on the white door without any windows attached to it, so it was not possible to see inside, "You go first", Crow smiled weakly at his friend, encouraging him to enter inside, knowing Yusei probably wanted to have some time alone with her right now and seeing how Yusei immediately nodded his head in return just made him realise he was right.
After Crow's encouragement, Yusei slowly placed his palm on the handle of the door to the room 117 and gently opened it, revealing the room interior inch by inch, until his eyesight completely covered the inside of the room. It was pure white, small and peaceful, with no other beds around, just one: and there it happened, the moment he finally saw her dead body lying on the medical bed, "No", he murmured softly, feeling week in his knees, but the unknown force kept pushing him towards her, pulling his steps closer and closer to the bed where Hanako was lying. She was covered in pure white bed sheets all the way up to her collar bones, with a mask hiding her lips and her lower part of the face, while the weak and soft breathing sounds kept leaving the respiratory equipment followed by repeated beeping coming out of the ECG monitor screen placed at the upper corner above the bed, "What have I done?" Yusei muttered into his chin, horrified by the sight of his beloved one lifelessly resting before his eyes, making him lose his strength and pull his body down on his knees, "This is all my fault, Baby!" Yusei whispered weakly, burying his face into the bed sheet, next to her hip, finally letting all those clusters of tears leave his eyes, as they slowly started disappearing into the sheets, "None of this would have happened if only I took a good care of you... If only I was never caught in by other things!" He started grieving, feeling how every word he left to scold himself was burning his soul inside of his chest, making his heart to scream in pain, scratching its way out of his chest, producing so much pain around his upper body, "Please, Baby... Tell me I am dreaming!" Yusei cried silently, still covering the bed sheet with tears, "Tell me this is just another nightmare of yours and that you're going to wake up soon!" Yusei added, grabbing the bed sheets and squeezing them tightly between his fingers, "Please, Hanako... Open your eyes!" Yusei slowly raised his head, driven by the last atom of hope he had in his heart, as his eyes just unintentionally moved to Hanako's pale face, eagerly waiting for her to react, but all that happened was another wave of beep sounds spreading the high pitched sound around the room, "Wake up, Baby", Yusei murmured, taking Hanako's hand gently into his, kissing her fragile, cold fingers softly, like he was trying to gently wake her up from her deep sleep, "Wake up so I can tell you how much you mean to me!" He murmured into the kiss on her fingers, while looking up at her face, with his eyebrows raised in the process, but she didn't react, pulling him back into reality, back into the cruel world she left, making his body to produce even more tears and push them down his cheeks, "You have to wake up, so I can let you feel how my heart races whenever I see your smile, so I can show you how my soul trembles at the sound of your voice and how much my mind craves your existence!" He gently intertwined his fingers with hers, trying to warm her cold skin up with his touch, after he removed his gloves, "I know it's too late now, but... I'm sorry, Hanako", he sighed into her hand, trying to warm her up with his breath once his hands unsuccessfully tried, "I probably waited too long to express myself, when all I ever wanted was to keep you from crying, so you will always be happy and keep that beautiful smile of yours burning the sadness away", feeling his heart breaking into millions of pieces like a fragile porcelain cup full of sadness and sorrow, Yusei was not able to stand the whirling winds of emotions from the inside of his body, so he leaned his forehead against Hanako's hand, muttering into the bed sheets, "I just wanted to protect you, but... I couldn't keep that one single promise..."
"Yusei", Crow whispered weakly, feeling sorry for what was going on inside of Yusei's heart. After he stayed in the room for too long, Crow got worried for him, so he entered inside, hearing Yusei's words of mourn and grief, placing his hand gently on Yusei's shoulder.
"It should have been me", Yusei muttered in response to Crow's calling, "I am the one who deserved to die after everything I've done to her!" But Crow stayed silent, so Yusei continued to express his feelings to his friend, feeling like he needs someone to hear all of those torturing unrealistic daggers that were cutting the flesh of his soul piece by piece, "It's not fair, Crow! Just when I decided to tell her everything, she-" Yusei abruptly stopped, because tears started leaving his body again, making his lips unable to move so that the words can come out, "How am I supposed to tell her that now? How am I supposed to tell her what's in my heart, Crow?" He asked, squeezing the bed sheets all over again, so Crow just tapped his back gently, knowing nothing will change what happened.
"Let's just go back home, shall we? Crow proposed, seeing how Yusei looked away and moved his eyes back to Hanako, looking at her with so much hope in his eyes, like he was waiting for her to wake up, even though the doctors said she will never do so, "She is not going to wake up if we stay here", he added, trying to move Yusei away from the bed, because he thought it would be easier for him to deal with his emotions, if Hanako was not near him, "Besides, we still have some scores to settle!" He added, wanting so bad to avenge Aki and go against Team Catastrophe, so that they can proceed in the W.R.G.P. to the finals and have their finally clash with Yliaster, because they were the ones behind Hanako's death and only they were able to provide them with some answers to what happened to their foster sister! And once they win their battle against Yliaster, they will finally avenge Hanako and her death will not be in vein.
"I will never forgive myself", Yusei's impaired voice made Crow snap out of his determined thoughts, so he looked at Yusei moving up on his feet.
"Come", he just said, escorting Yusei out of the hospital, knowing nothing else can be done and even less said to change the situation, because none of them could turn back time and change what happened to Hanako. And the only hope they had left right now, the only ones that could explain what was going on, were the three members of Yliaster!