A.N. - the sequel…has arrived…

As If The Night Is Gone-Recently recovering from his harrowing experiences at the hands of Adrik, and dealing with the guilt of Bozidar's sacrifice, Captain Yusei Fudo, A.K.A. Snips, has vowed to avenge his young savior and hunt for his new greatest enemy. His squad, Team Ammon, proves their loyalty and joins him on his quest for revenge while his friends await his, hopefully safe and whole, return on the home front. The plot thickens when Adrik discovers their identities and goes for a more damaging shot.

Chapter 1- The First Hour

The dark house was completely silent, the silence that seems to give more weight to the air itself, and the world outside mimicked the stillness, only breaking when a breeze would reveal itself through the rippling of the branches in nearby forests. The large group of friends within were also very still, the peaceful stillness that comes with becoming detached from the world about them; all the digital clocks about the building shone dimly into the pitch: 1:00 A.M.

It is at this time that one of the young friends become scared; trapped within his own tormented mind, the images of recent suffering flicker before him with such realistic sensations that his throat clenches and his heart begins to pound in recognition of what is "about to happen". He watches himself from a distance, seeing from what seems to be a 3rd person viewpoint but feeling everything like he did that day.

Adrik is there. Adrik is always there in his dreams.

He is laughing as the blood wells over his thick, merciless fingers as he burrows them into a gaping wound, a bullet wound to be exact; but his fingers are not the only source of agony, instead the true torment lay in the fact the fingers had been soaked with lemon and coated with salt before invading the flesh of a raven haired soldier. The recipient of the torture opens his mouth to give voice to his pain but no sound comes, it feels as though his throat has been stuffed with cotton even though he knows that Adrik had not done that this time, he has before, but not this time.

"Sing for me little bird," the Russian jerked his fingers and the poor man again tried to scream, but it seemed futile, "Tell me about your home, your family, anything you want little bird. Sing your heart out and I will make all the pain go away." He…he wanted it to stop. So badly, so, so badly…yes; he could just tell him about- NO! He must not speak! He WILL not speak! Not to Adrik. Not ever.

The raven haired man shudders violently before shaking his head firmly, his jaw clenching with the effort it took to keep it shut; the Russian man looked into the azure eyes that glared at him with such strength and ferocity that his free hand moved of its own accord and slapped the young man's head to the side where it cracked soundly against the stone wall that lay behind him. The man slumped in his chains and Adrik cursed colorfully as he knew he would get nothing out of the boy this day; he forcibly yanked his fingers from the wound and mixed the remaining lemon juice and salt together before splashing all over the torso of the boy. His many wounds burned and yelped with the sudden onslaught but the only noticeably reaction was a full body jerk before he returned to stillness.

"Take care of him knave." He spat in the direction of another prisoner, no, not one to be tortured, for he had already been broken to the point of beyond repair…or he was almost at that point; our dreamer knew this prisoners story well for he had seared it to memory out of deep caring for him.

Before the our dreamer had arrived this prisoner, Bozidar was his name in the dreams and it always struck a chord deep within the sleeping man, had received all of Adrik's attention and had come so close to being completely broken. So close in fact that the cruel Russian truly believed him to already be so…but this was not so.

The young man, Bozidar, was very strong to have survived thus far for he lost everything when he was taken from his homeland and had witnessed the massacre of everyone he knew. He had lost all reason to live that day and had done many things wrong on purpose just in hopes that Adrik would just put a bullet through his head…that day never came…at least that we have seen.

1:26 A.M.

The dream seems to brighten when Adrik leaves and Bozidar's gaze finally rises to meet the man in chains, or at least his face, for the man in chains is detached from the world, not in sleep mind you, but in a darker realm where almost nothing can reach except for the purest sensations. His dark amber eyes flicker with worry and glint in the dim light with fresh tears that had formed as he had listened to the victim's cries.

"Yusei…"his voice is hoarse and he doesn't speak again as he rises to tend to the wounds and wash away the painful fluid concoction that was poured upon the other…

1:47

Our dreamer is thrashing in his sleep now, his head moves the most while the rest of his body twitches anxiously, and his eyes flicker restlessly, wildly under his eyelids as he tries to fight the paralysis that comes with sleep. The dream had changed again, much more drastically this time, into a dark hallway where shuffling steps could be heard in the distance.

He can't see! He can't see anything!

He must try to reach him though! He must try!

Feeling along the rough walls that cause his abused palms to whimper as he tried to follow the sounds the two made as one literally dragged the other towards their freedom. He stumbled and cried out silently as his voice refused to come to him; the wall suddenly fell away and he realized he had reached an intersection.

Where is he? I must find him before it's too late!

1:52 A.M.

THERE!

A gloomy figure slowly made his way towards him, stopped for a moment before continuing again.

"Bozidar!" our dreamer tried to yell but only his lips moved; a shadow moved behind the younger man who could not hear our dreamer and the brutal form of Adrik shaped itself in the tar-like blackness. "No!" he gasped silently and cursed the silence that bound him. Our dreamer began to run towards his friend.

He will not die like this!

I won't allow it!

I PROMISED!

NO! His legs refused his bidding and sluggishly moved at a slow pace, growling, again: silently, he tried to move his legs faster, urged the muscles to move him like he knows they can…

1:54 A.M.

A shot reverberated throughout the whole tunnel system…

"!" it was the first sound he has been able to form and realize that he had actually spoken; the shadows wavered but stilled again quickly: holding him in their clutches. "No….no…. no…. no….,"

"Yusei!" the shadows mocked him with the voice of Ghost, his friend was not here…not yet anyway…that happened when the dream ended. "Yusei snap out of it!"

"No….no…. no…. no…. no…." tears were rolling down his cheeks and soaking the soft ground beneath him…soft?

"Yusei?" other voices were saying his name, his friends, he could name them all, but the pain in his heart didn't end. He could see the tunnels brightening themselves until he could see Bozidar's bleeding form in the tunnel, crumpled as he moaned and rasped as he slowly died from a wound to his stomach.

"NOOO!" The people who were around our dreamer in reality jumped at this and looked to each other in worry, his cries had brought them here and there was no doubt as to what their friend was reliving. "NOO! DON'T DIE LIKE THIS!"

In his mind, he could see the dying young man raise his head and look directly at him, his heart plummeted at the condescending look in the amber gaze,

"Why Yusei?" pain tore through his whole system, everything seemed to ache and breathing became difficult as more sobs shook him, he tried to reach out to hold the young man but was flinched away from. "Why?"

"I-I…"those on the outside were screaming his name, "I-I'm s-s-so s-sor-orry Bozi-zidar! P-p-ple-lease!" The shadows pulled him away from the dying man as he slowly looked away from the raven haired dreamer, "PLEASE!" The shadows threw him away from their abyss: Bozidar will stay instead of him.

His blue eyes opened with a yell of denial escaping him one last time.

His friends watched as the tears continued, as he seemed to gaze into the distance where utter nothingness lives, as none of their words consoled him,….as his heart, that was just beginning to repair itself, fell to pieces yet again as the pain pierced his soul with such guilt and torment.

"Forgive me…" ….forgive me Bozidar, for I cannot forgive myself…

A.N. - this is a mess…hope you guys were able to differentiate between the dream and reality! Other than that I would like to thank a series of people who reviewed the last chap of Aftermath:

mangosmoothie1- your reviews always make me make sure that I keep my stories clear, that they make sense, and they also make me smile as you urge the continuation of the story itself!

ForeverWildfire2.0 and ElodieKumari94- your reviews were what gave me the main idea for the sequel that you, hopefully, have just read! (EVERYONE GIVE THEM COOKIES!)

TheLightOfDarkness95- for reminding me that I should NEVER "let haters bring me down" and for the praise you dumped upon me in your last review! (You little suck-up! I'm blushing! XD)

gobayern- for making sure that I block my ears from those who are trying to be little sons of bleep blopps! XD

jazzmonkey-for pointing that person out for what they are "a little monster" and for noticing my failed attempts at romance between Yusei and Aki!

Rocket 13- Even though I'm not sure if you have an account, I certainly hope you get one :D, you still took the time to review and I find that fairly rare! So thank you for that! Hope you find this equally entertaining!

Jayfeathers Stick- your fun reviews with all their CAPS and emotions remind me of how I review and their guaranteed to make me giggle with blushies! Here is your sequel my friend!

Netiri Vi Britannia- thank you for being a best friend when I needed it most during this story! Your endless compliments and encouragement motivated me to keep going and not drop behind in my story! You've NEVER offended me! (Yet you still apologize:'D) you ALWAYS read my chaps (no matter how LATE or CONFUSING they were) and you were always ready for the next chap! (Just as I can't wait for yours!) I hope that you enjoy this first chap of the sequel to Aftermath!