Chapter Seven: Alex – The Escape

"Hello?" I called, walking through the Ancient Forest I knew to be part of the Spirit World, having already been there twice before. "I heard you calling for help…who are you?"

I rounded another tree and came nose-to-nose with a white lion! I shrieked, stumbling back a few paces.

The lion chuckled. "I'm sorry – I didn't mean to startle you," he apologized in a deep, wild voice. I blinked.

"O-kay…I'm fairly sure you weren't the one calling me…"

"I was! You're Alex, right?" A young girl with green pigtails ran out from behind the lion along with…a little purple-haired kid in a Dark Magician outfit? "My name's Luna, I'm so glad my words reached you!"

"You don't look like you need rescuing!" I cried.

She laughed nervously. "Well, yeah, about that…Regulus and Torunka got to me before you could. Sorry."

"Regulus and Torunka?"

"I am Regulus," the lion said, stepping forward. "And any friend to the young Signer girl is a friend of mine."

"And I'm Torunka!" the mini Dark Magician cried, jumping up. "And don't let this tiny body I'm stuck in fool you, I'm actually a very powerful spellcaster! One of the most powerful in the Spirit World, if I do say so myself!"

Luna rolled her eyes. "He's a bit exasperating, isn't he?" Torunka didn't seem to notice her remark, as he was still busy ranting, but Regulus and I both laughed.

"Oh, your uniform…" Luna noticed. "You're in the Arcadia Movement? My brother and I were being held there, too, but some friends of Yusei's helped us escape before I came here…I won't be able to help you out when we get back to the human world. I'm sorry…"

"You know Yusei Fudo?" Then something hit me. "Wait! The human world? Can I go back? I mean…I thought Sayer had kind of…you know…killed me?"

Torunka laughed. "No way, the Duel Spirits would never let that happen! The Lightsworns would have burst out of your deck and taken the guy down as soon as let him hurt you!"

"…Torunka, I don't have my real deck with me."

He sweatdropped. "Oh…"

"Don't worry," Regulus said. "Although you came very close, you're still very much part of your world. You have your friend Seira to thank for that. And I'm sure another familiar face will be waiting to help you escape from Arcadia…"

My eyes flew open. No longer in the Spirit World, I was now looking around at the beige walls of a room I recognized as an Arcadia Movement cell.

I slung my legs over the side of the bed I was on and stood up, but nearly sank to my knees as soon as my feet hit the floor – an unexpected weakness had hit me, and my head spun for a moment.

"Sayer…" I growled, holding onto the nearby windowsill as I waited for it to pass. That lowlife had nearly killed me all for the sake of his precious Spirit World research!

Eventually, I was able to stand and made my way over to the door…and of COURSE it was locked!

"GAH!" I screamed. "Will someone get me out of here?"

Still not fully accepting defeat, I slammed my fist against the door and sighed, aggravated. How was I supposed to get out of here if I couldn't even get the flippin' door open?

As if in answer, the door slid open, only to reveal Seira standing there!

"Seira?" I blinked. "What are you – "

"Listen, Alex," she said briskly. This was the first time she hadn't referred to me as the subject. "I managed to convince Sayer to stop your brainwashing this time, but he's not going to be so quick to listen to me next time. He was waiting for you to wake up so he could start the next round – only this time strong enough that it could either never be reversed or it would kill you. I'll cover for you as long as I can while you get out of here, alright?"

I knew I didn't have time to question her. "Thanks…Seira."

She half-smiled humorlessly at me. "A few years ago, we killed a young boy due to our brainwashing techniques…I couldn't let Sayer make the same mistake again. Now go!"

I nodded, running by her out the door and down the hall as she hurried in the opposite direction.

BANG BANG BANG.

I jerked to a stop.

"Hey!" a muffled voice yelled from the other side of a door right in front of me. "Someone lemme outta here! If I miss my deadline, my editor-in-chief'll blow his top! Jack, please save me!...Jack…"

Had this someone been kidnapped by the Arcadia Movement, too? I ran up and pressed the button that unlocked the door, and it slid open, revealing – that black-haired reporter girl with the funny glasses that had been at the Fortune Cup! What had her name been again…? Carly! That was it!

"Thanks!" she sighed happily, exiting the room. "I owe you one! Hey, wait, I have this funny feeling like I've seen you before…"

"I was at the Fortune Cup," I explained, "and a few rooms down from you a few seconds ago."

"Oh, now I remember!" she cried. "But…why on earth was an Arcadia Movement duelist thrown into a cell? Oh, I smell a scoop! Time to get fact-hunting!" She turned and started running away, something fluttering out of her waist bag and onto the ground in the process. "Well, that's what I should say, but if I stick around here, I'm bound to get caught again! Anyway, thanks a million! See you around!"

By the time I thought to call back over to her and tell her about the paper, she was already around the next corner. Curious, and more than willing to embrace my inner snoop, I read:

"Jack Atlas, the former king and Sector Security Director Goodwin are both originally from Satellite!"

Jack…Jack Atlas? As in ENFORCERS Jack Atlas? And the director of Sector Security, too…isn't that ironic?

Okay, think later, find a way out now!

I ran to the elevator that lead to the ground floor, which was visible from the railed galleries that made past the different floors. I tried pressing the button to go down and – BEEEP. The door didn't open, by the way. Are you kidding me? It had to be electronically locked! Oh, well – there had to be a staircase SOMEWHERE, right?

I set off down the gallery again, but didn't run this time – I didn't want to make it look like I was in a hurry.

Just as I reached a corner that led off the gallery into an inner hallway, I heard footsteps. Very close footsteps. Someone was right around the corner, and whoever it, judging by the sound of their steps, stopped just as I did…as if they were mirroring my every move. Oh please, oh please, oh PLEASE let it not be Sayer…!

I froze, not daring to move, my breathing erratic. I didn't have my deck with me, so I couldn't rely on my Duel Spirits for protection if whoever was around that corner turned out to be an enemy. I didn't even have my Arcadia Movement deck on me anywhere!...I quickly shook the thought out of my head. I wouldn't want to call upon those Duel Spirits, anyway. They weren't rightfully mine to command, like the Lightsworns were, and most of them were monsters that Sayer himself and the rest of the Arcadia Movement probably used. I wanted nothing to do with them anymore…the mere thought sickened me…

Perhaps not thinking clearly, but not caring either way, I decided to just go for it and face whatever was obviously waiting for me to move head-on. Forcing my feet to move, I ran around the corner.

"Ugh!"

Oops. I hadn't meant to ram straight into whoever it was. Guess I didn't try to stop hard enough. I looked up to see who –

"Yusei?" I gasped as my eyes met two indigo blue ones that were staring at me in bewilderment. No doubt about it, it was him!

"Alex?" he cried.

Suddenly mute, I tried to speak. So many things wanted to come out, so many thoughts whirring through my mind, so much déjà vu, so many memories of him just now coming back…

"Hey, Yus," I managed to choke out.

It was strange – now that I was finally reunited with my oldest friend after two years, I couldn't bring myself to look at him.

Yusei apparently wasn't giving me a choice in the matter, because just as I thought I was finally going to get my breathing back to normal, I felt him grab me in an embrace so tight it almost physically hurt.

Not that I was complaining.

"I'm so glad you're okay…" he said quietly.

Two years…it had been way too long. I wrapped my arms around his back, leaned into him and reveled in the sense of absolute security enveloping me. Yusei's shirt…his hair…his scent…this was no dream.

I couldn't think of a reply to his statement, but I don't think I really needed to say anything.

Eventually, to my chagrin, he pulled back to look down at me.

"I was so – you had everyone worried when you disappeared like that. Why are you here? What's been going on…?"

"I – "

"Well, isn't this touching!"

Utter dread crept through my being as we broke apart and turned to face the newcomer. I recognized that voice, and never wanted to hear it again as long as I lived. In fact, I rather felt like punching said voice's owner in the face.

Sayer smirked as he beheld the scene before him. "I came here to catch a trespasser, only to find a trespasser I wasn't looking for and an escapee. My only ticket to the Spirit World that hasn't managed to slip through my fingers and Yusei Fudo together…interesting."

"Try me, Sayer," Yusei snapped as he took a single step forward, somewhat in front of me. "You aren't going near her again."

Sayer looked right past Yusei and shot me a fierce look, placing a hand on his deck – a jolt of pain racked my body and I moaned, recoiling.

Yusei gasped, turning and grabbing my hand. "Alex! What's wrong?"

"I-I'm okay…but S-Sayer's a psychic duelist, like Akiza," I spat out, still trembling slightly from the aftershocks of the attack. "He can bring cards and their effects to life…he used it on me to control me for long enough to get me out of Satellite, and now he's using another one to hurt me and psych you out!"

I was starting to despise Sayer more and more – he knew that types like Yusei were hurt more if people they cared about were hurt, and definitely wasn't afraid to use that to his advantage.

"How very insightful," Sayer said, almost as if he were taunting me. "Now as much as I would love to take care of you two myself, I have another mouse to catch. So I'll leave these two to you." He turned behind him, where…two boys were walking towards us…

"Okita? Liquid?" I cried. My former teammates walked past Sayer and stopped a little ways from Yusei and me. They didn't respond when I called their names. Something was wrong…

"Take care of these imbeciles, will you?" Sayer smirked.

"Yes, Sayer," Liquid replied monotonously. "As you wish."

"Objective confirmed," Okita echoed. "We will do our very best to subdue them!"

"What are you guys thinking?" I yelled. "We were friends, remember?"

Sayer laughed, his face darkening. "Just a short while ago, I treated them to some very intense brainwashing. I'm using them as guinea pigs to perfect a more powerful process of brainwashing that I'll use on you, once Fudo is out of the way! Compared with before, their dueling skills and ruthlessness are on a whole new level."

"Hold on a sec! Brainwashing?" Yusei turned to me, eyes alarmed and questioning.

"You heard right," I sighed.

The psychic maniac smirked, turning around to walk away. "You should just relax and give up already. Soon enough, you too will be under my command! And for good this time!"

He disappeared down the next hallway, leaving Yusei and I facing Okita and Liquid, who had their duel disks at the ready.

"Over my dead body she'll be!" Yusei yelled after Sayer before turning back to the situation at hand. I barely noticed, however – I was too busy trying to get the two boys to snap out of it. Yusei had managed to snap me out of my brainwashing, even if it was just for a moment, but what if the brainwashing Sayer used on them was too strong to break by contact with friends alone?

"Guys!" I yelled. "Come on, get ahold of yourselves! I don't want to fight you guys…!"

Okita replied, "All who oppose Sayer must be destroyed."

Mentally, I was beating the crud out of myself. Physically, I was just clenching two sweaty fists.

Is this what Yusei had felt like when he saw me brainwashed? When he tried to talk to me, only to have me react as if I had never known him…? Had it hurt him like this was hurting me now?

"Sorry, Yusei," I whispered.

"What was that?"

"Nothing." I looked away from Okita and Liquid and back up at him. "I don't think we can get ourselves out of this one without a fight. Normally I would say I could handle them myself, but…I don't think I can."

"You're right," Yusei nodded. "With you in the state you're in and those two being psychic duelists… So, it's a tag team, huh?"

"I guess so."

Yusei reached into the pocket of his blue jacket and pulled out a deck of Duel Monster cards. Handing them to me, he said, "Itsuki found your deck the day you disappeared. I've been keeping them for you." He cracked half a smile. "When we get out of this mess, we'll have to go back and let him know you're okay!"

I smiled as well, loading my cards into the wrist dealer of my duel disk. "And I'll have to apologize to my little bro for making him worry…ready, Yusei?"

My friend nodded. "Let's do it!"

"DUEL!"

I am SO sorry it took so long to get this out! Being a sophomore is HARD! Especially when you're in advanced classes!

Okay, now that I've got that out of my system… Yes, I know I skipped over the Spirit World rescue from the game, but trust me, there's a method to my madness!

…

One day I'll find out for myself what exactly it is.