Cold, white walls were the first thing that had greeted her when she'd awoken, followed by the face of her father. Both of her fathers, actually, exhibiting different faces but the same tears. She had bitten her lip and quietly asked to be alone, not willing to tell Leo to his face that she would've gladly stayed dead if it meant Zarc hadn't been given another chance to destroy the world.

He only wanted companionship. Like Yuya. She shook her head, clearing her head of her own conscience - or more accurately, her conscience of another life. That need for companionship hadn't justified what his companions had made him do.

A bouquet of daylilies caught her attention; their golden petals shimmering before her tired violet eyes. She thought it odd for a moment - she once remembered telling a rival, no, a close friend, before he went mad, that she loved daffodils the most, for some sappy reason about them representing rebirth and her trying to plant them on New Year's as a kid.

That memory was quickly replaced by a memory of Ruri's thirteenth birthday, when her brother Shun had gotten her a beautiful chocolate cake, featuring two hummingbirds with their beaks dipped deep into the golden tubs of frosted daylilies. He'd flashed a big grin and told her he had another surprise, given her a Monster card - but unlike the yellow and orange borders of the cards she usually used, this one had a beautiful jet black border to accompany the art of a woman dressed in a Raven's garb. In three other dimensions, she had received three other cards like it - one white, one purple, and one with the same old drab orange.

But it didn't matter now that they were beyond her reach, much like the presence of her brother. She shifted quietly in her hospital bed and wondered if she could bug a nurse to give her a remote to the television - assuming society hadn't imploded on itself, perhaps there was a replay of a Duel Monsters tournament she could watch.

"Chaos continues in Heartland as the refugees of the Xyz Dimension struggle to flock to their ruined home..."

Beep.

"...mayor of Crash Town would like to declare a state of emergency, opening the vacated..."

Beep.

"...Leo Corporation, currently led by Himika Akaba, hopes to aid the relief efforts..."

Beep. She sighed, and turned her head quietly to the pink Duel Disk located below the bouquet of flowers. A neatly written note lay on top of it, attached with a sticky.

Ray. Please call me when you are feeling better. We should talk. - Himika Akaba

"You don't even remember me, do you, mother?" Ray sighed softly, as she gently folded up the note and let it slide from her hand into the wastebasket. The time she'd spent in Reira's mind as a spirit had told her enough about the mother who had cuddled her after her early losses in the Junior League, her long rosy locks falling around a slightly knitted brow. In the present, her steely expression and gaudy hair buns had made her seem almost like the evil queen out of a cliched fairytale.

"Perhaps they'd remember you better if you spoke to them." The curt remark broke her of her silence, and she turned her head to face the sharp red-rimmed glasses of Reiji Akaba, the brother she'd barely known. He'd just entered the room, sliding off his rain-soaked hoodie onto a chair.

Her fist clenched as a thought echoed in her mind with Serena's lowered pitch. "Like you're one to talk." Ray bit her lip, and instead tried to concentrate on the logical reasons for her silence - she hadn't become the Queen of Duelists in the previous United Dimension through reckless, hot-blooded plays.

"I'm not sure what to say to my family yet, Reiji. The girls-they-...well, I had only turned into them a few days ago, and the united dimension is still in chaos. Aren't there more pressing issues?"

He adjusted his glasses, and in the brief moment she can see behind their shades, a flicker of concern - almost like the one she'd seen him hold a few fateful days ago as he'd watched Yuya howl in pain as Zarc began to revive.

"I understand that, but you've been unconscious for a few days and everyone who previously knew you did come to visit. They really do want to know if you're okay."

"You mean they want to know if Yuzu, Serena, Rin, and Ruri are okay." She stresses the last remark. If this was Shun, he'd definitely have shifted uncomfortably and looked away - she knows, somehow, that he'd beat up the entire Heartland Academy for her if he wanted to, but nothing short of that disgusting Parasite Fusioner making her swing at him like a puppet would make him harm a hair on her head.

But Akaba Reiji just swallows quietly and keeps his cool. If he has any emotional cards, he holds them close to the heart. Not unlike her, until someone had gone and blown all those careful calculations out of her heart for two years that now seemed from another life. She guesses that he hasn't had anyone like that; his eyes still hold a glint of determination that has long vanished from what she remembers of their father's sorrowful, desperate visage.

"I... cannot really speak for them regarding that." This is the first time she's ever heard him pause. As Serena, the Reiji she remembers was a firm yet charismatic commander, willing to go to the deep end to stop Leo's mad plan while keeping his head planted on his shoulders when confronted with manipulative men like Roget. Now, he's carefully choosing his words, masking a tone of uncertainty that sounds suspiciously like a whisper of I can't read you, and I'm not sure if I can trust you.

"However, to be frank, I can understand if you want to take your time to rest and recover."

"You all need my assistance. Our mutual enemy is still out there." She interjects, only to be surprised when he shakes his head.

"No. We can take it from here, if Zarc has lost all his power. We don't even know if you're even in good physical health, given the circumstances of your resurrection."

She responds by sliding out of the bed and answering his steely gaze with her own burning stare as her dark red hair falls around her shoulders. He, like another silver haired man she remembers from long ago, before he was twisted beyond recognition, isn't really sure how to deal with her, once the surface details have passed and everyone's tried their best to make sense of her presence in the world, except this time, instead of being the first female Queen of Games, she's the savior that wasn't, the jailor whose keys were taken from her in a mad bid to open a Pandora's box.

And just like back then, it looks like she'll have to take the first step towards fixing everything again, or at least putting it back to some sense of normal. A plan begins to form in her mind as she strides towards the last gift on the little bedside drawer - a set of purple jeans and a light blue t-shirt, paired with a white jacket that makes her think of a trimmed labcoat.

Reiji seems to understand and immediately moves toward the doorway to let her change; for now, he seems willing to be her ally. "So what's your next move, sister?"

"You Show Duel School, brother." She replies curtly, pressing her thumb firmly against the Duel Disk's screen to bring up the card shop app. "I want to see what Shuzou and the children think of my style of Dueling."

Noting a deposit of credits from her father's name, she silently thanks him and orders a few booster packs based on whatever research she can manage to do while they depart the hospital. She wasn't ready to confront him yet, but if she was going to confront the world, she was going to need her tools of the trade.