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(3rd Person PoV)

"I activate my trap card, Defense Draw! During your turn and at damage calculation, I can make the battle damage that I would have taken to 0. And then I get to draw a card!" Yusei shouted.

A barrier appeared and protected Hideo.

He managed to protect his life points and both of them...but not for long.

"Well then, I activate a spell card from my hand, Wonder Clover! By sending a level 4 plant type monster from my hand to my graveyard, I can select a face up monster that I control and that monster can attack twice! Attack, Black Rose and crush Papa this time!" Aki shouted.

"Uh oh," Grian muttered.

"Oi Yusei! You better have a plan to not lose this turn!" Joel shouted, despite feeling physically weak.

Jack silently agreed with Joel. Yusei better have a plan to not lose. If there was one person that should defeat Yusei, it would have to be him!

"You're right, Joel! I activate another trap, Iron Resolve! By paying up half my life points, I can make battle damage be 0 and end Battle phase," Yusei shouted and a card flipped up on his field.

700 —> 350 LPS

"..." Aki was silent for a moment before making a fist.

"I then activate my Continuous Trap, Doom Petal Countdown! During my end turn, I can banish a plant type from my graveyard to inflict 300 points of damage to you," she said.

A whirlwind of rose petals appeared and ferociously spread around the room with the wind being too strong to bare.

Yusei covered his face as he felt pain from the petals.

350 —> 50 LPS

He then looked to see the clothes ripping from Hideo but he didn't move out of the way.

"I end my turn," Aki said but there was something very wrong.

Usually Aki's powers are limited to the end of her turn but the petals are still here.

Could it be...that she can't control them right now? Yusei thought and took a closer look at her.

She was just as confused as he was.

I need to end this duel and quickly before anyone else gets hurt, Yusei thought and drew a card.

!

Yes!

"I activate the Equip Spell, Silver Wing! Up to twice per turn, if my level 8 Synchro dragon would get destroyed in battle, it doesn't due to this!" Yusei shouted and equipped Stardust with the spell card.

Stardust Dragon's wings glowed and sparkled more.

"And then I activate another spell card, Release Restraint Wave! By destroying an equip spell that I control, any trap and set spells that you control also get destroyed which means...," Yusei waited for someone to finish his sentence.

"Thorn of Malice also gets destroyed?!" Aki said, shocked.

"That means Stardust and Black Rose's attack points go back to normal!" Rua exclaimed.

1300 —> 2500 ATK

3000 —> 2400 ATK

"Stardust has more attack points than Black Rose," Etho realized.

"Battle! Shooting Sonic!" Yusei shouted and Stardust shot an energy beam at Black Rose which destroyed the monster.

3600 —> 3500 LPS

"By sending Hedge Guard (ATK: 0. DF:2100) from my hand to the graveyard, I can prevent a monster from being destroyed but that monster's attack points get halved until the End Phase," Aki stated.

2400 —> 1200 ATK

"Black Rose Dragon is back," Scar noted.

"Meaning that Yusei needs to finish this duel now," Grian said.

...Aki, Yusei thought.

He wanted to finish the duel but he can't right now. He knows that something needs to happen first.

Then, despite the wind and the roses, Hideo began to approach his daughter.

"What are you doing? Stay back!" Aki yelled, taking a step back herself.

"No, Aki. I'm done staying away from you. I know my words can't fix the past but I swear that I will listen to you! I will listen to your pain and not drive you away again!" Hideo explained, determined.

"...Papa...n-no! I won't....just stay back," Aki said, her voice nearly a whisper at the end.

"Aki!" Yusei then shouted. "The person who will listen to your pain. Be the ears that you need, that person is right in front of you! You have a home and you always had! Your father is going to listen to you, no matter what!" He explained.

His words made Aki think.

Will this finally be different from what happened in the past? Can she finally accept her parents again?

Her father is literally risking his life just to approach her despite her powers feeling out of control...

Out of control?! Aki finally looked around the room and saw how grave the situation was.

Hideo then let out a cry of pain but he still kept going.

Stardust spread his wings in order to protect the spectators who were covering their face to protect themselves from the roses.

And Yusei was standing his ground, despite also being in pain.

There were two people who were willing to risk themselves in order to talk to her. In order to listen to her pain.

My powers...aren't responding to me. Stop it! Don't hurt them! Aki thought.

For what seemed like it was getting worse, Aki held her hand out and make a fist while thinking one simple command.

STOP!

Immediately everything stopped. There was no more wind and no more petals.

Only the dragons stayed on the field.

Everyone seemed to unfreeze after this.

"What...was that?" Rua asked.

"This is...the first time that I was able to have complete control over my powers," Aki noted and looked at her hand.

"Ah I get it," Scar said, suddenly.

"Eh? What do you get, Scar?" Grian asked, almost unimpressed.

"Hate may be more powerful but love can control her power and not have it out of control," Scar explained.

"That's not a bad explanation, Scar," Joel praised him.

They turned their attention back to the duel.

Hideo collapsed to his knees out of exhaustion.

Aki ran up to him out of concerned.

"Papa, are you ok?" She asked.

Hideo looked at his daughter and smiled. "I'm alright. Everything is alright," he assured her.

Happy tears flowed down her cheeks and she smiled at him.

She helped her dad up and looked at Yusei.

"Yusei...finish this," she gave him a small nod.

He returned that nod.

"Trap card, Synchro Ring. When a monster that I control battled your monster but didn't destroy it, I can attack again but with double the attack points," Yusei said.

2500 —> 5000 ATK

"Shooting Sonic!" Yusei shouted, determined.

Stardust Dragon shot an energy beam at Black Rose Dragon which finished the duel.

3500 —> 0 LPS

Aki leaned on her father and hugged him tightly.

There was a few moments of silence before it was broken by Yusei's footsteps as he approached them.

"Aki," he said and she looked up and smiled at him.

"You have a home if you chose to now," he said and she nodded.

"My home," Aki looked at her parents with fondness, "is here. With my parents," she said.

"Yahooo! Friendship wins again!" Rua cheered while his sister sighed with relief.

"Looks like Yusei could pull that off in the end," Scar said and Joel nodded, slightly.

"Yusei, I just realized something!" Rua ran up to them and then he said, "I knew it! I knew that the marks are a mark of friendship! It brings others together...even if I'm not a Signer myself."

"A mark of friendship huh? Yeah, I agree with that," Yusei nodded before taking his glove off to reveal his Signer mark.

Aki looked at her arm that held her own Signer mark.

"This is not a detestable mark. Like how Rua said, it's a mark of friendship," Yusei told her.

"I see it now. Thank you," Aki said.

A mark of friendship huh? It would be nice to have close friends like them but...Grian thought, before turning to Etho, Joel and Scar.

In our world, it's hard to do that.

(Time skip to the next day)

Yusei, Aki and Grian were being shown something on the screen by Mikage, Jack's assistant.

She was flipping through profiles of people and showing a couple of videos.

The one that she showed was about a young kid who seemed to be getting experimented on. He was hooked up to some machinery and seemed to be dueling.

Like Aki, this kid seemed to have psychic powers and could bring his duels to life.

However, the kid wasn't doing very well and was stung by electricity in the next scene.

To this, Aki turned away, not wanting to look at the screen.

"We found this not too long ago when the Arcadia Movement building collapsed. It seemed like they took kids and experimented on them. Divine seemed to have wanted their psychic powers outside of duels and send them to war zones. There were some selected duelists that he handpicked himself," Mikage explained and then she showed them the tablet where she was airplaying the video from.

"And one of those duelists was you, Aki," she said.

Aki shook and ran out of the room.

"Don't run from your problems! It'll only make this worse!" Mikage shouted after her but it fell to deaf ears.

Grian was just staring at the screen while Yusei walked after Aki.

I wonder what causes psychic duelists to gain their powers. Mr. Izayoi told us that Aki gained her powers when she was 8 and during a duel against him. So is it genetic or it just happens? He thought.

Meanwhile, Yusei went looking for Aki when he found her sitting on a chair with her arms leaning on the table.

He approached her and she glanced at him.

"You know...I would have been ok with it. He...Divine, he's still someone special to me since he helped me during my darkest days. Even if he had malicious intentions, I still can't fully hate him not matter how much I want to," Aki explained.

"I understand. I also have a friend who has hurt me both in the past and in the present. Those feelings of friendship are still in my heart. Even if I'm scared to face him, I have to at least try to save him," Yusei explained.

Aki gave him a sad smile before looking down at the table.

"I'm sorry for saying that you couldn't save anyone," she apologized.

"It's alright. Our duel made me open my eyes a bit more. I'm now less afraid and I felt like I could at least try which is more than I felt when I faced Kiryu for the first time in forever. I have you to thank," Yusei said.

"No problem Yusei but I should be thanking you. You helped me give my parents a second chance. Even if we have our problems, I'm sure that it'll work out," Aki nodded.

"It will. I can assure you that. No one has the right to turn their back on you, not after all you have been through," Yusei told her.

Aki turned to look at him and had a soft smile on her face.

A/N: idc what the anime says, they're canon in my heart!

Also I swear I have the funniest screenshot ever.

I don't remember which channel this was on. This might have been on either Scar's or Grian. Anyway, it's funny because that's kind of how Scar and Grian got their Duel Runner. They (Scar, Etho and Joel) "stole" it.

The commentator might have predicted the future /j

Cya in the next one -Flare

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