(3rd Person PoV)

Yusaku had a headache. It's as simple as that.

He scuffled his scarf closer to his face as he walked through the snowy path to get to his apartment. He just wanted to get away from the bright lights, the loud bellows of the carolers, and avoid people all together.

He rubbed the temples on his head as he maneuvered his way through the crowds of tired adults, screaming kids and laughing teens his age.

After all, it is a time of joy.

Not for Yusaku though. It hasn't for some time.

Finally, from what he felt like forever, Yusaku made it to his apartment. He went up to his room and shut the door behind him. It was quiet...too quiet.

Well since Ai isn't around, he can't have his conversations with Ropoppi. It was oddly lonely. Not that Yusaku cares or anything since it's a feeling that he's used to.

He unwrapped his scarf and tossed it to his bed, not bothering to hang it up. He took off his jacket and also tossed it onto his bed.

He pulled up a seat and sat down, exhausted. He was really considering getting some medicine for his headache but decided against it in the end. He just had to suck it up for a couple of minutes and then he'll sleep it off.

He went to his computer and checked Link Vrains' logs.

Nothing suspicious or dangerous was happening. After all, it's still under renovation after the whole Tower of Hanoi happened.

Still...Yusaku was worried that something might strike again.

He then stopped and turned off his computer. He got up and went to where his clothes were.

He grabbed his pajamas and quickly changed.

He fell front face onto his bed and curled up into a ball, waiting for sleep to claim him as he felt his head pounding and pounding.

...

Yusaku blinked and he was suddenly somewhere else. A lab with multiple different artifacts around him. Some were broken while others were stacked neatly against a wall.

He looked around, confused until he heard a noise in front of him.

He could only see the back of him but it was of a small boy with auburn hair who seemed crouched over something. Over the sparks of electricity, he could hear the boy humming Jingle Bells to himself.

The boy wasn't familiar to Yusaku at all. How did he get in here? It wasn't his room!

He took a step back and nearly knocked something down. As he struggled to place it back where it was, the boy finally turned around.

His eyes widen and his mouth broke into a large smile.

"You're here! I've been waiting for you!" The boy cheered and ran up to Yusaku.

"...what?" Yusaku asked.

"You're finally here! Just in time for Christmas too," the boy told him.

"Do I know you?" Yusaku asked but the boy laughed at this.

"Don't be silly. Of course you know me. Now come on! The others are waiting at the bus stop," the boy grabbed Yusaku's hand and pulled him over to the door.

He opened it and they both went out with a green drone following them while holding onto multiple wrapped presents.

Yusaku had many questions running through his head but none had a clear answer to them. All he knows is that this boy, whom he was twice the size of, was dragging him to who knows where and towards whoever the others are.

When they arrived at what Yusaku assumes is a bus stop, a bunch of kids around the boy's age looked at him.

"You're late, Yuga!" A purple haired boy snapped.

"Sorry to keep you all waiting but look who came by," Yuga pointed to Yusaku.

"You're finally here! Now we can all celebrate Christmas!" A blue haired boy cheered and a purple haired girl nodded.

"Looks like you came in just in time," a blue haired girl said and pointed to the upcoming bus.

"Phew. Any longer and we would have missed it," Yuga sighed in relief.

Yusaku said nothing but was noticing how warm and small Yuga's hand was. If this was a dream, then why is his hand so warm like that?

He blinked and saw that he and the kids were suddenly on the bus.

He was confused. Did time suddenly skip? But everyone else seemed like they haven't noticed it.

Then again, they all think that they know him somehow.

He looked at the kids who were sitting on the seats and some were standing up.

Their names came right into his mind like they were always there.

Gakuto, Luke, Haruka (although she prefers the name Tiger), Romin, Asana and finally, he glanced next to him to see him taking a nap on the seats, Yuga.

What is going on? This is a dream...right? But if it was then how come I could feel how warm his hand was? And this pole that I'm holding onto. It's cold, Yusaku thought.

Another blink and suddenly, he and the kids were in front of a house. How did they get there?

"So who's knocking?" Luke asked.

"Don't be scared, geez," Tiger rolled her eyes and knocked on the door.

It opened to reveal a raven haired man who was wearing a dark blue Christmas sweater.

"You're here. All of you. How was your bus trip? Good?" The man asked.

"Yep! It was long but other than that, it was fine," Romin explained.

The man gave her a nod and took a step back so they could all enter in.

The room was lively. A small evergreen Christmas tree was in the corner, fake snow decorated the shelves, Christmas lights were flashing green, red and blue, and Yusaku could smell the sweetly scent of food coming from the tables and an area to what he assumes is the kitchen.

"Guys, the kids are here!" The man called out.

"Yes! Now we can finally get our Christmas party started!" A guy with orange hair cheered.

"About time," a man with yellow hair stated before getting scolded by a girl with black hair and swirl glasses.

Yusaku stayed back as the kids went in to place their presents under the tree and began to chat with the others in the room.

"So you're here too?" The raven haired man approached him.

"...yeah," Yusaku decided to play with the charades which seemed to work as the man gave him a nod and he said, "you can start off with the food that we bought and/or made. It's in the kitchen," the man pointed.

Yusaku nodded and went over, avoiding a teal haired boy who was talking with Luke and Gakuto.

He went over to the kitchen and saw the rows of Christmas cookies, chocolate fudges, chocolate brownies, a plate of ham in the middle, slices of strawberry shortcake, and many other foods that he couldn't immediately think of from the top of his head.

A woman with crimson hair was humming to herself as she was placed a pile of paper plates on the side in the little space that food didn't occupy.

She then looked at Yusaku who realized that he was staring.

"Don't be shy, take some food. It's for all of us including you," the woman told him.

"Thank you...," her name flashed in his mind, "Aki."

He took some food, went in a corner and ate it. It was something simple like one brownie, one slice of ham and two pieces of toast.

He had a bit of an appetite but wasn't so hungry that he'd eat one of all.

When he finished eating, he noticed that time skipped again and everyone was watching Luke and the teal haired boy (Rua) dueling. It was in a format that Yusaku haven't seen before.

"Yusaku, come look," Yuga walked up to him and motioned him over.

Yusaku got up and walked over to the crowd.

It seemed like they were having fun. Tiger was teasing Luke about being backed into a corner like this while a teal haired girl (Ruka) was chastising Rua about taking too long for his turn.

"If Luke wins, then it'll be his third win in a row," the orange haired guy (Crow) sighed.

"Heh, if he was up against me, he would immediately lose no matter what format we play," the yellow haired man (Jack) scoffed.

"Aha! I play this spell card! Now your set card is destroyed and my monster is free to attack yours!" Luke called out.

Rua - 500 LPS —> 0 LPS

WINNER: Luke

"Aww! I was so close!" Rua crossed his arms and pouted.

"You both dueled well," the raven haired man (Yusei) told them.

They both smiled at him before Luke placed both hands on his hips.

"Who's next?" He asked.

Yuga turned to look at Yusaku and asked, "have you played in the Rush Duel format?"

"...no, I haven't," Yusaku replied.

"Do you want to try? You don't have to duel against L-," Yuga suggested before getting interrupted by Luke who said, "oh right, Yusaku hasn't tried out Rush Dueling yet. Let's duel then!"

"Now hold o-," Yuga was about to say something before Jack interrupted him, "well someone needs to get this kid off his high horse."

"If you ju-," Yuga was again interrupted but this time by a blue haired guy (Bruno) who spoke up, "now don't be rude, Jack. Let Yusaku decide."

Well now the pressure was on him. Duel Luke or not duel him and making himself look like a fool.

"I would duel him butI don't have my deck or a duel disk though," Yusaku muttered before Yuga pulled something from his pocket and took something off his arm.

"If you are going to duel Luke, then use mine. Don't worry, adjusting to Rush Duels is easy," he assured him.

"Alright," Yusaku placed on the Duel disk, which it's blade turned into a seven and placed Yuga's deck in it.

(Time skip)

Luke had 800 life points left while Yusaku had 100. One may look at it that Luke may win a fourth time.

Luke had just summoned his Ace monster, Rush Dragon Dragears (ATK: 2500. DF: 1500) while Yusaku had Yuga's Ace, Sevens Road Magician (ATK: 2100. DF: 1500) out on the field.

"Now I activate my spell card, Fire Dragon's Heatflash! When I have a face up dragon monster, I can destroy a spell or trap card on your field. And I choose that one!" Luke declared and pointed to the card on the left.

"Trap card, Magical Sevens Barrier. By tributing a level 7 or higher Spellcaster, I can negate the destruction of a card on my field," Yusaku stated, coolly while flipping over a card on the right. (Fan made card made by me which may make an appearance in a Sevens story)

"Aww man! I end my turn then," Luke sighed.

"My turn then," Yusaku drew a couple of cards to make his hand have 5 cards.

"I summon Stray Familiar (ATK: 0. DF: 1400) and I tribute it to Advance Summon Sevens Road Warlock (ATK: 1100. DF: 1700) and then I'll use its effect. By sending a trap card from my hand to the graveyard, I can add a level 7 or higher Dark attribute Spellcaster from the graveyard to my hand," he explained as a purple robed humanoid appeared on his field.

A card came out of the graveyard slot and he took it.

"And if that Spellcaster happen to be Sevens Road Magician, I can add a level 6 or higher Spellcaster from my graveyard to my hand. Sevens Road Witch was sent to the graveyard to activate Sevens Road Magician's effect on my last turn but she'll make an appearance on the field," Yusaku added.

"Hmm, his dueling skills seem to be no joke," Jack noted.

"He always seem to bounce back," Romin said.

"Now I will tribute Sevens Road Warlock to Advance summon Sevens Road Witch (ATK: 1600. DF: 1000)," Yusaku stated.

A humanoid and feminine monster appeared on his field and then he added on, "by sending a card from my hand to the graveyard, I can special summon a Spellcaster from my hand and if that Spellcaster is Sevens Road Magician, Sevens Road Witch gains 400 attack points. Call up your teacher!" Yusaku called out, feeling more confident.

Once again, Sevens Road Magician appears. Luke looked nervous at this.

1600 —> 2000 ATK

"I now activate Sevens Road Magician's effect by sending the top card of my deck. For every attribute that's in my graveyard, Sevens Road Magician gains 300 attack points," Yusaku stated.

"Now that I think about it, how many attributes are in Yusaku's graveyard?" The black haired girl with swirly glasses (Carly) asked.

"Not that many, I think there's only two attributes. Dark and Water," Gakuto replied.

"If Yusaku draws a monster with a different attribute, then that means more attack points," Rua stated.

"Does Luke have a counter for that?" Ruka asked.

"I'm not so sure," Tiger replied.

Both Yuga and Yusei had hopeful expressions on their faces. It was oddly comforting on how much faith they had in him. Could he pull this off? Yusaku thinks he can.

"...draw!" He drew a card and a dramatic pause happened.

...

He flipped it over to reveal...

"Windcaster Torna! That's a wind monster!" Yuga cheered.

2100 —> 3000 ATK

"Now attack Dragears, Sevens Road Magician! Sevens Magic Attack!" Yusaku shouted.

800 —> 300 LPS

"Oh no! I'm open for a direct attack!" Luke cried.

"And I will take that opportunity! Attack, Sevens Road Witch! Sevens Slinger!" Yusaku shouted and the witch shot an energy ball at Luke, ending the duel.

300 —> 0 LPS

WINNER: Yusaku

"I lost! Awww," Luke complained.

"That was a good duel, it's been a while since I dueled for fun," Yusaku noted and gave him a nod.

"And that's what Rush Duels are all about!" Yuga popped up from behind him.

"Well that was an exciting duel but is it ok if we play a lower stakes card game?" Crow asked.

"Uno is not a lower stakes card game," Aki told him.

"Don't worry, we have plenty of games to play," Yusei assured them.

(Later)

Everyone went to play their own games. Some were playing Bingo, a handful were playing this drinking game with non-alcoholic drinks and others were playing cards.

"Ace of Spades," Yusei placed down a card.

"+4," Yusaku also placed down a card.

"Jolteon, I choose you!" Yuga exclaimed while placing down a card.

"What are you guys playing?" Ruka asked as she walked by, looking confused.

"Don't worry about it," Yuga assured her.

Asana looked up from her Bingo card to glance at the clock and spoke up, "it's almost an hour until Christmas. Should we pass out gifts now?"

"Not a bad idea," Bruno nodded.

They all went in a circle and passed out gifts to one another. Yusaku just sat in the corner, feeling awkward.

He felt really out of place here and somewhat felt guilty as he didn't have any gifts to give.

But why should you feel guilty? After all, it's just a dream, a voice in the back of his head told him.

Shut it, he told that voice.

Bing Bong~

The clock chimed midnight and everyone got up and hugged one another.

"It's Christmas!" Luke cheered.

"It's the most wonderful time of the year," Gakuto nodded.

"Cheers to that," Crow agreed.

Yusaku was just staring at the cloak, blankly.

Christmas huh? Wonderful time of the year? In the past years, those don't go hand in hand to him anymore.

But maybe...?

"Yusaku? Are you alright?" Yusei approached him.

"...is it ok if I'm open with you? Just for a little bit?" Yusaku asked.

"Of course. I'm here to listen," Yusei assured him.

"This...has to be the best Christmas that I had. And the first Christmas that I had around people. I was never close to anyone and I couldn't remember who my parents were...," that was all Yusaku could say without revealing too much.

But in his mind, many unspoken things were said. How he bounce from foster home to foster home. How his trauma multiplied from the Lost Incident. How the only people whom he trust now may have better lives to attend to than his.

Despite never saying anything, Yusei could understand. Maybe not fully but he can tell how much Yusaku is valuing his time with them.

"We're glad that you're here with us, Yusaku," he stated.

Before Yusaku could say anything, Yuga spoke up, "Hey Yusei! Should we give Yusaku his gifts now?"

"Gifts?" Yusaku asked and Yusei turned to give the smaller boy a smile.

"Thank you for reminding me. They're in the closet, can you go and get them, please?" He asked and Yuga nodded and ran off.

"You really shouldn't have. I didn't bring any gifts for you," Yusaku stated.

"It's nothing. Everyone deserves something for the holidays," Yusei told him with everyone else agreeing.

Then Yuga came in, carrying a couple of gifts in his arms while having a bag dangling from his fingers that weren't occupied with carrying the presents.

"Here ya go!" He said, cheerfully and gave them Yusaku.

"I...," he was speechless.

He was a stranger and yet to them, he was a familiar face. In this world which supposedly is a dream, his very existence is a paradox.

Why would they give a stranger gifts? He thought.

"Well duh! It's Christmas, everyone deserves something," Rua spoke up.

"And you don't need to give us a gift because you being here with us...," Romin started.

"Is a gift all in itself," Aki finished.

"Merry Christmas," Asana stated.

They all repeated what she said

"And don't worry. Anytime you feel down, you have friends now and you'll have many more to come," Carly stated.

"This may not be real but your experience sure is. Never forget that," Gakuto said.

"You're never alone especially at Christmas," Ruka added on.

"When life is kicking you down, get up and kick back. Never let yourself get beaten like that," Jack told him.

"Exactly! That's what being alive is truly all about!" Tiger declared.

"Don't forget to have fun even if you're on a mission," Crow said.

"Rely on yourself and your friends. They will have your back," Luke said.

"Everyone has bad days but as Jack said, you need to get back up. How you do is up to you," Bruno added on.

"You're much stronger than you think...," Yuga started.

"And others, especially those close to you, have much more faith in you than you realize," Yusei finished.

"Thank you...I won't forget this. Truly," Yusaku stated, his voice shaking with emotion.

He turned to the door before looking back at the group.

"I'm going back home now. But thank you for having me over...Merry Christmas," he said with a smile.

"Bye! Merry Christmas!" Everyone waved and Yusaku's vision went white with the last two faces being Yuga and Yusei smiling at him.

...

...

...

His eyes flew up and after seeing the dull color of his ceiling, Yusaku could tell that he was back home.

He sat up quickly and remembered what happened.

"So it really was a dream...," he said before looking down to the side of the bed to see Ropoppi rolling up to him.

"You got mail. It was dropped off," they told him.

"Mail?" Yusaku got up and went to the front of his room and opened the door to see the same gifts from his dream.

He picked them all up and shut the door behind him. He placed the gifts on his bed and looked through them.

One was from Kusanagi, another from Kusanagi's brother, Jin (Yusaku assumes he was well enough to pick a gift), another was from Shima (weird but Yusaku wasn't in the mood to complain), another was from Aoi and her brother (a thank you gift probably from saving Aoi).

He held onto one of the gifts tightly across his chest and stood there for a while. Ropoppi was looking at him, curious.

After a short while, Yusaku turned around and opened a window to feel the crisp, winter air blowing at his face. He could feel the cheerful air coming from the people around the area.

"Isn't it cold?" Ropoppi rolled up to him again.

"Yeah...but it's the good kind of cold," Yusaku told them.

"Good kind? I don't understand?" Ropoppi asked.

Yusaku didn't reply at first. He just stared outside some more with a fond smile on his face. Ai, if he were here, would probably call it creepy as Yusaku usually never smiles.

He then looked down at Ropoppi and said, "Merry Christmas, Ropoppi."

"Christmas? Ah yes, I've heard of that holiday before! Merry Christmas to you too!" They said, cheerfully.

Perhaps this Christmas wasn't so bad after all, Yusaku thought, remembering the group from his dream.

A/N: this took me longer than I expected but it was worth it!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Hope you liked it!

Cya in the next one -Flare