Hindsight Is A Wonderful Thing
Chapter 1
Third Time Lucky
Hey guys, so this is my first story on here and I'm a bit nervous about it. I got the idea from re-watching Yu-gi-oh GX after far too many years away and I thought this would be a really interesting thing to write about.
So you know it kind of spears off from the anime after they get back to earth.
P.s. sorry about this being so short, seemed a lot longer when I originally wrote it.
Edit: I've re-written most of what you see beneath, hopefully it's a lot better now. And sorry about the bunched up spacing, I can't seem to get my computer to display it any other way.
It was 2:30 at night when Jaden knocked on the door to Alexis' apartment. It was a weak knock, more of a loud tap than a full knock.
Jaden was lucky that Alexis had, in her stupidity, decided to stay up after coming home from her evening shift in the local bar to study for her upcoming nursing exam and was still awake to hear the noise. She opened the door to have Jaden practically fall into her arms. As she helped him regain his balance she noticed two things; he'd been crying and he smelled like a brewery.
When he was stable on his feet Alexis took his face in her hands and looked him dead in the eyes with a hard expression on her face.
"Jaden Yuki, you're drunk aren't you?" She asked in a stern voice. The barely decipherable mumble she got in return gave her all the answers she needed.
Her tone softened "Dammit Jaden, this is the third time you've shown up here in the dead of the night drunk, you're lucky I'm actually home this time." She said, pulling him inside and closing the door behind her "I think my landlord is starting to get suspicious."
After closing the door and guiding him over to the sofa Alexis stood over Jaden and gave him her hardest possible stare "Jaden, how the hell do you keep getting this drunk, if Chancellor Crowler or Vice Chancellor Bonaparte found out, they'd have your head on a platter."
"So what, why should I care?" Jaden slurred, pulling a flask from his jacket and taking a swing "They're gonna kick me out anyway." He continued, taking another swing, cringing momentarily, and putting the flask back in his pocket.
"First things first, give me the flask, now." She demanded, her tone serious, Jaden sighed and handed over the little silver flask. "Now, why on earth would you think they'd kick out of Duel Academy?" Alexis asked, her firm tone now gone, now replaced by a voice akin to that of a concerned mother.
"Well it's obvious" He replied, slouching in the chair, his voice suddenly serious and lacking any slur "It's all my fault, Viper, the school getting transported to that weird dimension, the duel ghouls, Marcel and Blair getting hurt, Jesse…" He stifled a sob and brought his hands to his face "Jesse going missing, it's all my fault Alexis, it's all my fault and I don't know how to make it right." With this there was no holding back, tears started streaming down his face and he fell to his knees in front of her. "The drinking is the only thing that takes the pain anyway, the guilt, you gotta understand Lex."
"Jaden, you've been there for me through a lot of stuff, when I was looking for my brother, through all that stuff with the Shadow Riders and when I was under Sartorius' power and part of the Society of Light, you've helped me countless times and because of that I'm here for you." She kneeled down, brought his face up to hers and wiped the tears from his eyes "and besides, even if all that hadn't happened, I'd still help you because we're friends." With this she helped him to his feet.
"Alexis," He stammered, seemingly sober "I don't know how I'll ever be able to repay you."
"You can beat this Jaden, that's how." She gave him a warm smile "But first you need to bathe, you smell like a brewery." She then stripped him of his signature red jacket and black shirt and gasped as she saw, for the first time, the many scars that had amassed on his torso.
"Don't worry," He answered the question she wanted to ask "A lot of those are old scars from childhood, I learned that hard way it's a bad idea to climb trees shirtless." He shot her his trademark grin but Alexis saw through it, saw the hurt in his eyes. She dropped his shirt and jacket and embraced him, shivering as she felt the cold of his skin on her bare arms.
After releasing Jaden from the embrace and taking a moment to compose herself and wipe away the tears that were threatening to form Alexis then pointed to the bathroom "Bath, now." She commanded, the sternness in her voice returning.
As he shuffled in the direction she had pointed, she ran a hand through her long blonde hair, let out a heavy sigh and followed him.
When Alexis reached the bathroom Jaden had managed to free himself from his jeans and was fiddling with the taps.
"Here, let me." She said, reaching over and turning on the hot water. "Let it fill and then climb in," she instructed, reaching for a clean towel to give him "I'm going to put your clothes in the wash, you're going to stay with me tonight Jaden, is that ok?" She asked gently, receiving only a slight nod in response as he sunk into the water with a weary sigh. With this she left him to go to the kitchen to put his clothes into her old, beaten up washing machine and to prepare some food for Jaden.
As she bundled his clothes into the washing machine she pondered over what he had said earlier "Does he really feel that guilty about everything that happened? I knew he and Jesse were incredibly close, almost like brothers, so he was bound to be upset about him not going missing but does he really blame himself for what happened to Blair and Marcel and everyone else?" As this thought persisted Alexis searched through her cupboards, looking for something edible for her and Jaden to share.
"I'm gonna have to go shopping in the morning" she decided, looking at her barren cupboards. She managed to find a can of soup at the back of the cupboard and prepared it and heated it. As she was walking towards the bathroom she heard Jaden's voice.
"Kuriboh, she's trying so hard to be there for me but I don't think I can do it, I mean it's my fault that everything happened, if I'd never challenged Viper we wouldn't have been sent to that other dimension and none of the other students would have turned into duel ghouls and Jesse would be here now, maybe he was right, maybe I do only duel for myself." Alexis heard the water rustle as Jaden got out of the bathtub. She backtracked her steps and set the soup down on the coffee table in the living room.
When she heard the soft thudding of Jaden's feet on the wooden floor she turned around and saw him wrapped in the towel she'd given him. "Jaden, I'm going to go shopping, theirs some soup for you on the table." She quickly grabbed her purse and jacket and headed for the door. Her hand was on the handle when she heard his voice.
"Now, isn't it a bit late? No-one will be open, at least let me come with you."
She turned to face him "No, I'll be fine Jaden, you stay here. Theirs soup on the table and try to get some sleep." And before he could reply she was gone, door slammed shut behind her.
Jaden shrugged his shoulder and went and sat down and tucked into the soup with reckless abandon, the last thing he remembered was it being 3:45 and Alexis still hadn't returned. By then he had to admit defeat and allow himself to fall into sleeps warm embrace.