Pain of an Angel

Yusei panted heavily as he and Jack returned to the duel stadium after their duel went inside the Crimson Dragon. The pain in his back had reached it’s peak, and he struggled to keep himself from revealing said pain. Yusei dismounted his D-Wheel and ran over to Jack, who had crashed as the landed. His friend was unconscious, forehead bleeding heavily. Yusei reached down and found trhat Jack was still breathing. He sighed with relief and took off his blond-hiared friend’s helmet to look at the wound.
The paramedics arrived as Yusei ripped his own shirt to try to bandage the wound enough to slow the bleeding. Jack was loaded onto a stretcher and wheeled out of the stadium to a waiting ambulance. Yusei watched with worry, not listening to the jeering crowd that, despite Yusei’s obvious concern for the former King, hated him enough to delude themselves that HE had caused the King’s crash, just because the young man was from the Satellite. Himuro ran up to Yusei’s D-wheel and began wheeling it away, while Yanagi, Rua, and Ruka began pulling Yusei out of the stadium before the swarm of reporters could get to him. Himuro led them into a service tunnel, effectively eluding the reporters as the group made their way to Saiga’s hideout.
~*~*~
Yusei sat in a chair as Himuro checked his wounds. He was uncomfortable being shirtless around another man, but Himuro insisted that if Jack was so seriously wounded, Yusei needed help as well. Yusei decided not to argue, especially since his back was throbbing so bad, he was really beginning to worry. Himuro was now trying to figure out what was up with those ridges.
“Yo, Yusei, have these things always been here?” he asked, running a finger down one ridge. Yusei cried out in pain, surprising everyone. They all knew Yusei had an unnaturally high tolerance for pain. For him to cry out like that from a light touch meant that an ordinary person would have passed out from the pain long ago. Yusei pulled himself together before answering.
“Yes, they’ve always been there, but they’ve never hurt before today. Something happened in that duel against Aki that made them start throbbing. The pain’s steadily increased since then, and they feel like they’re going to burst,” Yusei admitted through gritted teeth, knowing he could no longer hid his pain from the others. Ruka and Rua looked up at Yusei concerned. HImuro frowned, but Yanagi looked like he just remembered something.
“Yusei, you’re an orphan, right?” Yanagi asked. Yusei looked at him in surprise before nodding. “And there’s no record of your birth?” Another nod, Yusei wondering where this was going. “And you’ve had those ridges on your back for as long as anyone can remember?” Another nod. “interesting.... Yusei, I think the pain will get worse before it gets better, but when it goes away, your true powers will be revealed,” the old man said cryptically. Yusei looked at him puzzled, but another wave of pain hit him ,and he finally passed out.
Himuro ran up to Yusei and gently placed him on the couch on his stomach, not wanting to aggravate the young man’s back further. He was debating whether to call an ambulance while he ushered Rua and Ruka to the next room, when Yanagi gave a whoop of triumph. Confused, he ran back over, Rua and Ruka following behind him, all three stopping short with their mouths hanging opne at the sight before them.
The ridges on Yusei’s back had opened and pearly white wings were slowly coming out. Once his wings were fully exposed, the wounds sealed up and the ridges disappeared. Ruka walked up slowly, her hand reaching out to the feathery wing, wondering if it was merely and illusion. The wing was real, and she gasped as Yusei began to stir.
“Unngghhh,” he moaned, opening his eyes and sitting up slowly. His back felt different. It not longer hurt, just as Yanagi predicted, but there was something strange going on. The ridges on his back felt like something was attached to them. He tried moving the muscles attached to them in his upper back and was surprised at the strange sensation of his new appendages moving slightly. Confused, he reached behind him and his hand came in contact with feathery wings. ‘Wait wings?’ Yusei thought, eyes widened in shock. He looked at Yanagi who was the perfect picture of silent triumph. ‘Yanagi knew this would happen. Is this my “true powers”?’ Yusei thought. Rua looked at his hero in awe.
“I knew you were a superhero, Yusei! I knew it!” he cried gleefully. Ruka sighed.
“Rua, superheros are supposed to be humans with supernatural powers. Yusei’s an angel. From what Yanagi said earlier, he wasn’t born here, he was sent here and adopted by his parents for some reason,” she chided. Rua pouted.
“I say he’s a superhero,” he said stubbornly, causing Yusei to smile. Human, angel, it didn’t matter. Yusei was Yusei, and with whatever new powers he had, he would reunite the city and the Satellite.