A Brother's Isolation
Hello, again, Yu-Gi-Oh GX fans! I was amazed to see the amount of mail in my inbox when I came home from an appointment a short time after posting my little Syrus one-shot. I agree he is adorable. It's no wonder so many of you like him. Well, now I'm writing a one-shot with another character who may not be loved as much, and certainly not by his classmates or his family. I'm talking about Chazz Princeton. When we first saw him, he seemed like the classic, stuck-up rich boy. "I have everything, and I could buy and sell you a million times over," seemed to be his attitude. But then we saw beneath that veneer. We saw a boy who was treated as a pawn in a horrible game of chess, played by his brothers Slade and Jagger. Slade held ambitions of financial control while Jagger held political goals. Chazz wasn't given a choice but to be the next King of Games or suffer the consequences. So I am continuing the theme of brothers in this fic… Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Peach Wookiee doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh GX. If she did, Slade would be publicly humiliated on Wall Street and Jagger would be at the national convention of whichever party he's chosen
Author's note: This story takes place in Season One, after Chazz has returned from North Academy.
My name is Charles Xavier Princeton, but everyone around Duel Academy knows me as Chazz or "the Chazz." My mom had a thing for the X-Men, so that's why I got the middle name Xavier. I was a surprise; Mom and Dad had already had Slade and Jagger, my big brothers, a long time before I came along. The good thing is Mom and Dad were pleased that I was coming; the bad thing was… I cost Mom her life. Mom found out she had cancer when she was five months pregnant with me. She could've aborted me, but didn't because she wanted me to live. She died when I was two months old, so it was up to Dad, my oldest brother Slade and my second oldest brother, Jagger to raise me. They did okay, but then Dad went crazy and killed himself when I was two.
My brothers were almost old enough to take care of themselves and thanks to our servants, did. They had dreams about what they wanted to do in the world. Slade wanted to use our family company, Princeton Corp, to take over the world of finance. He would become the biggest power on Wall Street and control that part of the world. Jagger, though, wanted to control politics. He could figure out the success secrets of both major political parties in the country and rise to the top. That, to me, is a scary thought because the idea of Jagger with his finger with control of nuclear weapons is one thing I don't want to contemplate. Then again, both of my brothers with that kind of power is a scary thing.
Well, when Dad left us, Slade and Jagger decided to put me in their plans. They weren't sure about how to include me until the day Duel Monsters roamed the earth. Yeah, you heard me right. It happened when I was just about five. At first, everybody thought the holographic systems of Kaiba Corp had gone crazy, and then someone picked up heartbeats from the monsters. A lot of strange things happened, and so my brothers came to the conclusion that the King of Games could control the world. So they handed me a dueling deck and made me start learning the game. They put me in training and if I didn't do well, I'd be… disciplined severely. I don't want to talk about it, but what they did made me pull away from other kids.
I became a really good duelist, and yet my brothers didn't care. They became engrossed in their own plots and I was alone… When I entered Domino's Duel Academy Prep School, I was still alone. A lot of kids went there, including Atticus Lee Rhodes and his little sister, Alexis Harper Rhodes (who I think is a goddess). I found myself in the company of boys who pretty much kissed my boots, but I couldn't really call them friends. They lived, it seems, to take my orders.
Of course I made it to Duel Academy as an Obelisk Blue student, the best there was, supposedly. My lackeys stayed with me, but again, I didn't really have friends. I tried to charm Alexis since her brother had gone missing a year before, but she obviously didn't like my attention at Duel Academy any more than she'd liked it at prep school. And then I met Jaden Kiyo Yuki. He was a Slifer slacker, and yet he was a good duelist. He wants to be the next King of Games… Unbelievable that people seemed to like him better than me. And I actually heard Alexis might be falling for him!
I didn't worry about any of this until after I dueled Jaden during the promotion exams. Dr. Crowler wanted me to duel Jaden in order to humiliate him. It turned out I was the only one to be humiliated because after that day, the Obelisks turned on me. I was even more alone. And then I had to duel Bastian William Misawa, an incredibly smart Ra Yellow. I was worried I couldn't beat him so I went, stole his deck and chucked it in the Pacific. I knew it was wrong, but my brothers taught me you do anything and everything to win the game. And if you don't, you're not worthy of the Princeton name. I wonder who taught them that? Well, whatever…It didn't work. I still lost.
I can still hear Bastian… He wasn't gloating at beating me, but he stated the obvious. "You cheated, you lied, you lost." More than you know, Bastian. There I was, kneeling on the floor, fighting the urges to cry or throw up because I knew when Slade and Jagger got hold of me, I wouldn't be able to sit for a week. After hearing Bastian turn down promotion (which kept me in Obelisk Blue), and everyone leaving, I finally was able to get up. I also was able to cry a little. I don't like anyone seeing me cry, and I especially don't like my classmates seeing it. I wandered around for a little bit so I could get my thoughts together, such as they were. I wasn't sure what I was going to do, but for a few minutes, going to the cliff behind the Slifer dorms and jumping sounded very appealing. It might actually be quick. But then I thought of something else, so I headed back to Obelisk Blue, packed my things, got my yacht and left the school in the early morning.
You have a lot of time to think when you're wandering the ocean. I wasn't sure where I was going, but all I knew was that I wasn't going where Slade and Jagger could find me. Well, it almost happened. My yacht crashed, sank and I almost drowned…almost, because Chancellor Vincent Augustus Foster found me and took me aboard the North Academy submarine. You couldn't just let me drown, could you? Sure, I thought about beating Jaden, but part of me just didn't care. Anyway, I ended up at North Academy and got myself a new card for my deck. He is the most annoying little monster that I have ever met, but oddly, I kind of like him… Just don't Ojama Yellow and his brothers that. I'd never hear the end of it. I became North Academy's top student on my own merits, not because I was one of the rich kids or because my brothers had connections. I dueled everyone and beat everyone. I had a new deck and I learned how to use it.
I returned to Duel Academy, but not in the way I expected. The annual School Duel was going to be held, and as the top student of North Academy, I got to face Duel Academy's top student…Jaden, of all people. I was looking forward to dueling him…that is, until Slade and Jagger showed up. And then they told me I had to beat him because of family duty. I've had that drilled into me that I had a duty to the family from the cradle. So I tried giving myself a pep talk in the bathroom. I didn't find out until later that Jaden heard me and almost didn't want to duel me because of it. We dueled, he won and Slade and Jagger disowned me. In fact, Slade was so mad at me, he grabbed me by the collar and I thought he was going to kill me.
"Let him go!" somebody shouted. It was Jaden! After all I'd done to him (or tried to do), he was actually sticking up for me…I've called him a Slifer slacker, a pathetic loser, and a couple of other things that would have to be bleeped if I actually said them. And yet here Jaden was, standing up for me and telling my brothers how much they sucked. They left the academy and I felt alone again… But only for a little bit. The next thing I knew, the guys from North Academy (including that kid, Jesse Anderson, who's kind of like Jaden—God help me if they ever meet) were on the sub, saying how much they were going to miss me. And then I was being tackled by the Slifer boys, Bastian and Alexis. They were glad to have me back. But I still felt kind of alone. Not as bad as before, mind you, but still I felt like I was by myself.
A month later, Slade returned to Duel Academy with the intention of beating me to buy the place and tear it down. He also made it clear that I couldn't use my really powerful deck to beat him. Everyone thought I was going to lose… everyone, that is, except Jaden. He helped me find the abandoned well where people abandon their cards when they don't want them because the cards are too weak or something. But I found out that just because monsters don't seem strong, that doesn't mean they're not strong enough to win. I won and Slade didn't get to buy Duel Academy. Don't tell anyone, but I love my new deck…yes, even Ojamas Black, Green and Yellow. They know what being brothers means. When the duel was over, the entire academy was cheering my name… and my cheer. "CHAZZ IT UP!" Just keep saying it, guys. It felt good to know they were cheering for me, and meaning it.
I was isolated for most of my life, but now, I'm not alone anymore. But don't let anyone know I told you that. The Chazz might not stand alone anymore, but he still must act like he is.
I must read Chazz in an unusual way. I think there was a good heart underneath all of the anger and elitism. What do you think, guys? Read and review… please?