Author's Notes: Final chapter! A little sad, maybe, but all good things must come to an end... Special thanks to everyone who has followed this through to the end (and cookies to those who have reviewed^_^ ... *sigh* I really wish I could send you cookies anyway...)! ! !

Note: Unless you have read anything by ElodieKumari94 about her OC, Elodie, then this is something you'll need to know to understand the end: Elodie is a psychic with several different abilities. The only one you need to know for this however, is that she can see other people's auras/ feel other people's emotions.

Enjoy^_^

Chapter Ten - Truth and Consequences

"NOOOOO!"

Yusei sat bolt upright, breathing hard and shaking uncontrollably. His mind was a myriad of images of what he had just witnessed. 'What's going on? Where am I?' He hadn't been lying on a bed before; last he'd known, he was standing in a tower. Yet he sensed that something was different then it had been a moment ago. Out of instinct, he glanced at his right arm; the Head mark of the Crimson Dragon glowed dimly there, though only just a moment ago it had been the Dark mark of the Spider. Yusei was having a hard time telling which was reality. Had it all been a dream? Or was he dreaming now, perhaps?

"Yusei?" He jerked his head up to find the source of the voice. Crow placed a hand on Yusei's shoulder, a look of concern in his deep grey eyes. Yusei looked away again, his sapphire blue eyes darting around the room, taking in the rest of his visitors. 'Akiza? JACK? What's going on? Why are they here? HOW are they here?' his mind screamed. It felt like someone was strangling him; just what the DECK was doing ON? He had witnessed every single person standing before him now either sacrificed to an Earthbound Immortal, defeated by an Immortal, or turned into a Dark Signer like himself! Yet here they all were: Leo, Luna, Akiza, Jack, Crow, Kalin, Misty, Naomi, and Elodie, all gathered around giving him worried looks. Leo, Misty, and Naomi definitely did NOT look like Dark Signers anymore, and Crow's right arm also glowed dimly, much like his own strangely did, along with Akiza's, Luna's, and Jack's.

Yusei swallowed hard. Everything he had just experienced couldn't possibly have been a dream; it had been to real for that, but this was too real to be a dream as well. So which was reality? They couldn't both be!

His answer came from a dark-cloaked figure standing in the corner whom Yusei had glanced over. "Don't be too worried for your friend; his mind is a little muddled right now, confusing reality with what he just experienced - an alternate reality, if you will."

He felt Crow tense at his side. "What did you DO to him?" Whoa. Since when was Crow concerned for him? Yusei had only ever terrorized him. Unless...

The man in the corner didn't hesitate in his answer. "I gave him what he asked for: He wanted to stop Zero Reverse, so I simply showed him the consequences of that choice. You should be grateful; I could have made his choice a reality."

With the man's response, everything started to make more sense to Yusei as a few memories started to return. Zero Reverse. His parents. Satellite. His friends...

"That still doesn't tell me what the deck you just did to him!" Crow fumed.

"You really don't want to know what the boy has been through. Believe me."

Yusei took a deep breath and spoke before Crow could retort again: "If you won't believe him, Crow, then believe me; you don't want to know."

Everyone stared at the raven-haired boy as he scooted himself backwards on the bed and leaned on the headboard for support; no one had thought he'd say anything considering the wild fear they'd seen in his eyes when he had first come around.

The Time Caster - for that was who the man was - broke the sudden silence. "Must be getting some of his memory back," he muttered. To Yusei he stated, "But now you realize why things had to happen the way they did, don't you?"

Yusei nodded. "Then all of that was just a dream?"

"Not a dream, no," the Time Caster answered. "Dreams often times make no sense and have no logical sequence of events. I suppose you could call it a vision, but often times visions make little sense either. I would call it an 'alternate reality,' though I know that doesn't really explain anything. If Zero Reverse had been stopped, what you saw is exactly what would have happened.

"You see, everything in this life has a purpose - a reason - for happening. There's also a reason why we are not allowed to go back and change anything in our lives. While sometimes the change would bring about a better ending, that's not always the case; in fact most of time the ending is far worse. But when you're looking back, all you can see is how everything would be better if this one thing hadn't happened. Most people can't see the reason it happened or the amount of good it had brought; they can only see how they're sure it would've been better.

"And, at first, maybe the result would be better, but, as you quickly found out, the situation can become much worse than before, too. You may not ever realize the reason for something, but I assure you, there always is one. You may have grown up without parents, Yusei, but it has only made you that much stronger, given you that much bigger of a heart to care for others with. It has shown you the meaning of true friendship and loyalty and what it takes to stand up for yourself and others. It has given you true courage in the face of adversity and shown you that a real hero is one who does not count the cost of helping others, even if it means he receives nothing in return or he may lose his own life for the sake of others. It has made YOU a hero to so many.

"I hope you take what I've just told you to heart, Yusei; you have so much to live for in this life and have brought so much hope and strength to those around you. I know your father would be proud." Without another word, the Time Caster turned and left the room.

The room was completely silent for a moment; no one could think of anything to say after that. Yusei was the one to finally break the silence. "How is it all of you are here anyway? Last time I checked, only Jack, Crow, and I actually live here..."

Everyone smiled and relaxed, seeing him back to his normal self. "Well," Crow started, "Jack, Akiza, Luna, and I all found out 'cause of our marks. We could feel you freakin' out - that right there told us something was really wrong - but we could also feel that were unconscious - that really freaked us out. We came as fast as we could, and when we got here, we found that guy, but he wouldn't tell us anything except that you were unconscious but fine, which totally made zero sense. After that it was just a matter of waiting for you to come around."

"Well, that explains four of you..." Yusei trailed off.

"I just came with Luna on our duel boards," Leo answered with a shrug.

"Elodie and Naomi were with me, out shopping," Akiza responded. "We stopped by Misty's boutique to see if she wanted to come to lunch with us."

"But I already had a lunch date with Kalin," Misty continued. "He arrived right after the girls did, so we were all there when her mark lit up."

Yusei nodded, satisfied, and then the room fell silent once again. Leo was the one to break it this time, his curiosity getting the best of him. "Yusei," he wondered aloud, "I know you said we didn't want to know, but I can't help it! What happened?"

Yusei sighed and averted his eyes downward. At the same time, he could sense someone's eyes boring holes into his soul: It couldn't have been anyone except Elodie. He glanced back up in time to see her glowing amber eyes fade back to their normal hazel. She knew what it was he'd seen. Her normally calm countenance was faltering as she struggled to comprehend what it was he'd just been through.

"Trust me, Leo," she spoke in a wavering tone. "It's much better if you never know. If either of us were to tell you, you would regret having asked."

"Ah, c'mon! Pretty please?" he begged. "Whatever it is, I can handle it!"

"Fine," Yusei gave in with a sigh, lowering his eyes again. "For starters, you were a Dark Signer."

"WHAT?"

"That's not the half of it," Elodie whispered.

"I WAS A DARK SIGNER?"

"You were warned," Luna pointed out as Leo started running around in crazy circles.

"I WAS A DARK SIGNER? THAT'S SO NOT COOL! YOU'RE RIGHT; I'M SORRY I ASKED!"

"He didn't even hear the worst part," Yusei sighed.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH - " BAM! Everyone spun around to see that Leo had run into the wall in his sporadic moment of - well - being Leo.

"Leo!" Kalin rushed over to where the boy had fallen. "Are you okay?"

The boy sat up as if nothing had happened. "JUST AS LONG AS I'M NOT A DARK SIGNER!"

"Doesn't miss a beat, does he?" Crow commented to Yusei.

"Hm." Yusei smiled. "That's Leo for you, I guess."

"That definitely must have been one crazy dream-vision-whatever you wanna call it," Naomi commented. "I mean, no offense but Leo? A Dark Signer? I can't see it!"

"Well, he was better at dueling... But you don't know that half of it." Yusei shook his head. As much as he wanted to explain what had happened, he knew it would be better to keep it to himself; he had already seen how it had effected Elodie, and he couldn't stand the thought of putting his other friends through that, too. Some things were simply better left unsaid.

But there was one thing that did need to be said. He had lost Akiza in that 'alternate reality' as the Time Caster called it. He vowed right then and there that he would never let her go. He looked over to her only to discover she had already been staring at him. Caught in the act, Akiza blushed and looked down. Yusei finally got up from his bed and went over to where she had seated herself on the floor. He sat down beside her.

"Akiza." She gazed back up at his smiling face. Yusei reached up with his right hand and cupped the side of her face in it. His eyes fell half closed as he leaned towards her, and they shut completely as he pressed his lips gently to hers. The room fell deathly silent. As he pulled away after a moment, he whispered, "I love you, Akiza."

A loud "OOooOO!" filled the room, started by Leo but the other boys quickly joined in - all except Crow, however, who was hooting with laughter instead. While the guys "Ooo"-ed, the girls "Aww"-ed, and now it was time for Yusei to blush along with Akiza. But the raven-haired boy didn't mind; he loved her and didn't care who knew it.

As he gazed at the people standing in his room, it was difficult to believe he ever could have wished for anything different. It was true that a lot of hard times had come their way, but they had always made it through before; Yusei was confident that as long as they had each other, they would always make it through to see the better days on the other side of the hardships.

After everything he had just been through, this evening felt like a new beginning, and Yusei was determined to make the most of this 'second chance' he'd been given.

"'Cause tonight's the night the world begins again."

Author's Notes: Good ending? ? Yes? No?

Haha you can actually thank ElodieKumari94 for the Leo-running-into-a-wall scene XD. I don't even remember where that came from but one day it just kinda came to mind and I was all like "AHAHA! I should totally use that!" So I did ^_^

Oh, by the way, I don't actually own the last sentence. Nope, I dont. It's a line from the song "Better Days" by the Goo Goo Dolls. And I don't own it.

So...Any final reviews out there? Pretty please? I will love you forever for reviewing a final chapter^_^