'.....It's time.', Ice thought to himself as he saw Indigo Zap waiting for him. "Hey Zap."
"Hi Ice. I'm here like you asked. So what is it that you wanted to tell me?"
"Zap....you know how I didn't have much of a past when I first came here?"
"Yeah. You seemed pretty touchy about it. Is that what this is about?"
"I did some things that I...wasn't too proud of." As Ice spoke, Zap's friends were watching and could hear everything clearly. "I wasn't nearly as nice as I am now."
"Ice...that doesn't matter. You couldn't have been that bad."
"No I was worse. In fact I was almost downright evil."
"Well...whatever you tried to do....at least you didn't hurt anyone. Right?"
"I caused my family pain no physical harm could ever deal. My parents had to hide away my brother Shadow. And when my brother Ace tried to save me, tried to bring me home, I tried to destroy him. And when he defeated me I stole one of his cards. This all started when a monster called Dark Mist forcibly bonded with me. I was overcome with a desire for power and stole the rare cards of any duelist I defeated. With each card I gained more power but my true self faded away each time. And this was my undoing. Ace's bond with the card I stole was so strong it gave him new strength and he managed to take it back from me. I was defeated, but Dark Mist still had control. And when I revived, there was pretty much nothing left of me. Dark Mist wanted vengeance and he kidnapped Ace's girlfriend. He used dark power to control her like a doll and made her duel against Ace. She broke free of his hold by Ace rekindling her memory. Ace and his friend, the new dueling champion Burst Stream challenged Dark Mist. He split himself in two. One half being his physical form and the other half controlling me. Dark Mist was destroyed by Burst, and Ace defeated me while I was still under Dark Mist's influence. But because we were so closely bound, I faded away with him. I was stuck in a void of shadows, and in there I forgot what made me hate my brother. And I realized soon that I never did. But with how many times he beat me, I wanted to try and beat him. Not with another power using me like a puppet, but with my own strength! Red Dragon Archfiend saw my resolve, and liked the fire that burned in me. With his help I escaped back here. I enrolled in Crystal Prep, and the rest is history." Ice noticed the shocked and pained look on Zap's face. Zap's friends were also in disbelief! "And at the tournament, my brother told me how much I had hurt my family. He told me how much he wanted to save me, and how many times I refused his help. And through it all, he and Shadow were willing to accept me back. So were my parents. I guess you could say I got a happy ending.", Ice said with a small smile. "And I'm telling you this because you deserve to know. I also wanted to know....that despite my past, all I've done....would you still love me all the same?" Indigo was silent for a couple of minutes. She then walked up and pulled Ice into a tight hug.
"I'm only wish that you told me sooner.", she said. "That way you didn't have to bear this all by yourself." Ice was in tears now.
"B-but I don't understand!", he sobbed. "The things I did, the horrible things I tried to do! I'm a monster!"
"No you're not Ice.", Zap said as she held him even tighter. "If you were, you wouldn't have gotten close to me or the others. You wouldn't have patched things up with your family, and you wouldn't have had me. Maybe you did some bad things. But that doesn't mean that's all there is to you. And you said it yourself that you weren't in control. And to answer your question, I don't love you the same. After hearing this, all you've been through, it makes me love you more." Ice cracked a smile and wiped away his tears. "Now shut up and kiss me!", Zap said with a smirk. Ice gladly obliged her.
"That...was ...beautiful!", Sour Sweet said as she blew her nose and the others came out of hiding.
"....How long were you all listening?", Ice asked.
"Long enough to hear every detail.", Sugar Coat replied. "And we don't care about what we heard."
"Yeah Ice! The you we know now is the only one we know!", Lemon Zest said with a smile. "And like you told Indigo, you literally weren't yourself back then! So why mope about it now?"
"You know what?", Ice said with a genuine smile on his face. "You're right. And Zap?"
"Yeah?"
"This Friday after school. The Mall. It's a date.", Ice said with a wink. Zap nearly fainted as her friends caught her.
"You gotta admit he's pretty forward.", Lemon Zest said as Zap recovered.