A/n: A big thanks to ScarletLycrois for helping make this a better story. Hope you guys like the new and improved version.
'Big Bro'
Chapter 1 –Jaden's Fate
A family of three was currently in the living room of a medium size house in Domino City. The windows were all open to let in fresh air currents, the room was warm from the hot, sunny morning and now that it was evening time, the skies were finally cooling down. The last of the autumn leaves were turning brown and crisp, and slowly starting to fall from the branches of the trees. There were pictures hung on the walls of the living room. In the photos was a family portrait of a twenty-seven year old man along with his wife who was a year younger, their one and only son Jaden Yuki, had just celebrated his sixth birthday on the last day of April. The latest addition to the pictures on the wall was a photo from that day, with Jaden eating cake messily, so much so that frosting from the cake had reached the tip of his party hat. The photo capturing a moment where some icing was in the middle of drooping down onto his shoulder. It was September now, almost time for school at Duel Academy to start.
Jaden's father works for Kaiba Corporation, and was always designing brand new ways to duel and make the holograms even more realistic than before, Jaden's mother on the other hand works at Duel Academy as the Obelisk blue dorm leader of the girl's dorm and also the school nurse. She is also training Fonda Fontaine as an apprenticeship and works as the school's nurse when Jaden's mother visits for the holiday. Since his parents are so busy working he rarely sees them, so he's learned to take care of himself when they're not around. Because of this they weren't at all that close as they should be.
Jaden's father had short brown hair with hazel eyes; he was around 5, 11. He still had on his Kaiba Corp suit on from working not long before. Jaden's mother has been doing volunteer work during the summer when not working at Duel Academy. She has lighter brunette hair then her husband and was a few heads shorter than him; along with bright green eyes 'like Celtic Guardians cape! 'As Jaden once told her. Currently she is wearing a red top with white around the edges and blue jeans with a decorative flower design on the bottom part of the legs. Jaden, who looks almost exactly like a younger version of his father, was wearing overalls. The side of his left shoulder slipping down due to the overalls being slightly too baggy. Jaden never complained though, it wasn't often his parents had the time to spend the effort of buying clothes for him so he was happy.
Recently however, things weren't so great at the Yuki household. A few days after Jaden's sixth birthday strange things started happening. His parents started hearing their son talk more to his deck of cards, they knew he liked talking to himself about his comic books and pretending to be a superhero as he had a large imagination –something they once praised Jaden before of having. He would lock himself in his room after their family meal and hear him talking to someone whenever they passed his door, at first they passed it off as an imaginary friend but after a few weeks an incident occurred where Jaden was somehow involved when a friend of his was left in a coma after a duel. After that event rumors started to spread across the town. Worried, they tried to pinpoint the cause of the accident and realized things started to get bad around their son's birthday. His parents had given him one gift in particular that Jaden had grown attached too and this Yubel card was the centre of their concern. Yubel wasn't just your regular card, in fact it was a spirit in that card. They didn't believe it at first, until Jaden's friends who he dueled turned up in the hospital one after another. They didn't want their son to have such a dangerous cardin case something worse would happen. They were worried for Jaden as well as the rest of the children in the neighborhood. They have to get Jaden to hand it over for his and everyone else's sake. For the greater good.
They had just finished supper and it was his favorite food of all time, fried shrimp. Now things were tenser within the whole living room of the Yuki household. They were all standing in the middle. Jaden was near the fireplace, his parents facing him. He wished they could just understand Yubel.
She may be a lot different than most other duel monsters, but she really cares!
His thoughts were interrupted by his father.
"Hey come on now son, this talk was long overdue. We need to do something about the duel spirit Yubel. She dangerous, your mother and I are really concerned about your safety." His father's voice echoed the living room.
Jaden figured something like this might happen, even though he knew Yubel did those things only to the playground bullies who would get physically violent after losing to him, he didn't want her to be taken away. She protected him. She was his first friend he ever had. She gave him advice, whether it was dueling or how to build a fort in his room, she was there. After she attacked someone who was only trying to comfort him Jaden ran back home and tried to explain it to her, that not everyone was out to hurt him but she didn't understand and would snap easily if she felt Jaden was under danger.
"You can't do that dad! She really didn't mean it, she won't do it again I promise." Jaden tried to reason with him." And she would never hurt me! Never ever!"
"Jaden…We're your parents and we know this is the best option. We're just worried about you. You'll thank us in the long run. We need you to hand her over to us; it's for your own good." Jaden's mother had stated.
"No! You don't understand! She's my friend, you can't take her away." Tears were running down the boys face. He was clutching the card Yubel to his chest. Her spirit came out of the card; after hearing the boy's cries. He was the only one who could see her in the living room; she was comforting him, trying hard not to attack his parents for making him cry, even though it was her fault to begin with.
"I'm afraid you're the one who doesn't understand Jaden, you don't have a choice here. Yubel has already put three people– that's three people in the hospital! What's to stop her from sending more of your friends?" His father said back to him. He folded his arms across his chest and waited to a response. When hearing none, other that Jaden's sniffles he let out a deep breath."We can take her by force if we need to." He said in a deep voice, he was so close of just grabbing the card despite his sons' protests.
"No! You won't touch her! Stay away."Jaden threatened and backed away towards the fireplace that was currently not being used. His breathing became shallow, his eyes turning a golden yellow color; he was also holding his head. Yubel was glad Jaden was defending her but he was losing control of himself and that she knew that it could end badly.
"J-Jaden…?"His mother said. She was surprised by his sudden change of eye color and tone of voice. She had her hands clasped together in worry 'Did Yubel cause this?'
Mr. Yuki's thoughts were similar. She saw him try and grab the card from their son, but he just screamed and the house shook and not so long after that the roof collapsed on them and everything turned black.
The only memory Jaden has after the argument was of Yubel telling him to move away from under the fireplace. His vision was blurry and there were clouds of dust which were causing him to cough. Yubel had warned him not to move so much in case he could trip over the debris. It was only a few minutes that Jaden was standing there but it didn't take long to realize that he was standing alone. Through the piles of dust he thought he could see his mothers ring shining on her hand. Yubel had sensed his thoughts and before he could take one step to searching frantically through the debris she had blocked him from moving so much. Something was telling him that whatever Yubel was blocking him from she didn't want him to see.
Jaden closed his eyes and scrunched his face and started to cry. He didn't know what to do and was confused. He heard some rustling and whispering from outside which raised into a large commotion but still he kept his eyes shut. He sat down on the fireplace floor tiles; he put his arms around his knees and tried to block the noise out. Soon someone came across him under the fireplace with a gruff voice.
"Hey there's a little boy here!" The stranger went to gently grab him. "...here kid we got ya...it's going to be alright..." He picked him up after he got most of the debris that were blocking the entrance of the fireplace out of the way. Jaden was covered in dirt head to toe and his wrist was sprained. His vision was getting blurry and his eyelids heavy. The last thing he heard was a few of the men from the pile of rubble. "There's another two bodies here."
Later at the hospital he was told his parents didn't make it. He was the only survivor. I killed my parents...was the only thought that crossed his mind.
The police also came around who also asked him questions. 'What were you guys doing before the explosion, was mommy and daddy fighting? Did they put you under the fireplace? He didn't say he was the one who caused it; he didn't think they would believe him anyways… he just kept saying he didn't know anything. How he really wished that was the case.
Soon after he was in good health he was released and put into a foster home, from there he would spend months moving from one foster house to another, he hated the system. No one wanted to play duel monsters with him. They all thought he was cursed. He had put friends in the hospital and killed his parents, he didn't blame them one bit. All he had now was his heroes and Yubel.
A year later…
A young man a women in their late twenties wanted to adopt a child. They already had two biological children; Zane and Syrus Truesdale. Zane was nine and Syrus was six. They wanted another child, but since their boys were already older, they didn't want such a huge age gap between them. After discussing it for awhile they finally decided to adopt. They were searching for the right child. They wanted a boy around the age of their sons. They had also told them about their plans of adopting a new brother. The said boy would be sharing a room with Syrus.
Zane was indifferent which was usual of him, ever since he was a toddler Zane had never been the most of expressive of children. Syrus was quite nervous about it. The two brothers had decided not to wait in the car and go along with their parents to meet their new brother. The parents greeted the orphanage owners and were told by them to go ahead and wonder around the place and talk to the kids. Zane and Syrus stayed with the owner as they were being asked questions.
"So are you excited for your new brother or sister?"
Zane grumbled with a huff. "We're having a brother. Stop talking to us like we're adopting a new puppy."
Syrus sweat-dropped. "Z-Zane! Be nice!"
Meanwhile their parents walked to the back of the house where the yard was turned into a mini playground. This one boy caught their eye. It was the one boy in the adoption place that wasn't playing with the other kids. The other children were playing by the swing set or see-saw whilst this boy was sitting on the wooden edge of the sandbox, a bit further away from the rest of the kids. He was looking at duel monster cards. Their children also loved the game. The Truesdale parents walked up to him.
"Duel monsters huh?" Mr. Truesdale said." I'm not really good myself, but I sure love to watch my sons play!" Jaden looked at the man who talked to him. He had blue hair. Weird. He was probably around 6 feet and he had green eyes. "Hey what's your name kiddo?"
"…Jaden Yuki." Jaden said quietly, he was fumbling through the new cards he and Yubel put into his deck. The name Yuki sounded familiar to Mr Truesdale but he couldn't put his name on it.
"I'm Zack Truesdale and this is my wife Samantha Truesdale." He put on his brightest smile."Nice to meet you." He took out his hand for Jaden to shake. Which he did so gently. Zack chuckled.
"Why are you all hereby yourself Jaden?" Miss Truesdale asked. "You can't really play duel monsters by yourself."She was 5'7 and her eyes were a shade of grey.
"They don't want to play." With him at least.
The couple took it as the other kids don't play the card game.
"Well I guess it's not a game for everyone… but that doesn't mean they couldn't play with you Jaden." Mr. Truesdale stated.
"I don't care..."Jaden said looking down. Deep down he really wanted friends, but he would only just hurt them in the end.
"Are you sure? My sons would love to play with you and not just because they like duel monsters." He heard the woman say.
"Mmm...Umm...maybe…"
This boy really needed parents, it didn't look he doesn't have any friends.
How old are you buddy?"
"Seven…"
"Well Jaden...we like you. What would you say if we decide to adopt you?" They wanted to help the poor boy. He couldn't get the help he needed if he was in foster homes all the time.
Jaden was shocked. Of all the children they wanted to adopt him...Why?
"Um…have you seen anyone else, I'm sure they would be a better choice…"
"Yes. But we want you. Of course it would take some time with all the paperwork but it would be worth it." Mr. Truesdale beamed. Jaden thought about it.
"…If you're sure…" He didn't know why he wasn't telling them to not to adopt him. He was cursed. How long would it take for them to get hurt? Maybe he just wanted to get out of the foster homes.
"Great, were on the same page now! You won't regret it!" Samantha was jumping around like a little kid.
'What have I done 'Jaden thought? He was scared what might happen in the future.
A few months later…
After tons and tons of adoption paperwork, Mr. and Mrs. Truesdale had finally made it through all the process. They were bringing home Jaden today and just arrived at the foster care home Jaden was currently in. They walked in to be greeted by the adoption people, Jaden was behind them. All he had was the clothes on his back and his dueling deck. He shook hands with them and made the final touches in the adoption, and then we brought him home.
When leaving the foster house Jaden saw a few figures upstairs glaring at him. The rest of the children who were waving at him from the steps were happily smiling at him, but Jaden didn't have the heart to wave back. Throughout the whole car journey to the new house his new parents tried to break the ice by asking him simple questions such as what was his favorite color. Did he like sports? Did he like animals or pets? Jaden tried to be good and answer them but froze when he was asked what his favorite dish to eat. He tried to say fried shrimp but the words wouldn't come out of his mouth as images of his real parents flashed through his head. The Truesdale's knew they touched a sensitive subject and stayed quiet.
Jaden counted how many trees they passed, how many lampposts, when they got nearer to the suburbs it turned into counting dustbins and gates. He felt a mixture of emotions...fear, happiness, confusion...guilt.
"This is your new home Jaden." Mr. Truesdale informed the new member. As they walked inside, Jaden was given a quick tour of the house. It was a three bedroom place with two bathrooms a large kitchen and two living room areas. It wasn't the biggest of houses but it wasn't small by any means. Mr. Truesdale worked with Industrial Illusions, even working with the man who created duel monsters he still didn't know all the rules, While Miss. Truesdale worked at the museum in Domino city. It had a large backyard for the children to play in; along with a pool with a variety of water toys in it.
"Boys! Come down, there's somebody I'd like for you to meet." Two Bluenettes came into view on top of the stairs, one darker blue than the other. They walked down looking at their new adoptive brother.
"Zane Truesdale." The older one had called himself. The younger one was behind him clutching his shirt to his side. Apparently he was a shy." Syrus" was barely heard from him.
"Why don't you guys show him around the house? I'm going to start a special supper and welcome of our new family member! "Miss Truesdale said "We bought you some clothes Jaden, you'll find it in your dresser. The boys will show you the way if you get lost, won't you, you two?" They all nodded.
"Alright." Zane replied. "Follow us. That is the kitchen where our mother just walked in. To the right of the entry way is the living room." Zane pointed to the places he was mentioning. "Straight beyond the passageway is the stairs to bathroom." They started heading upstairs. "This is your bedroom at the end of the hall on the left; it's also Syrus's room so you'll be sharing. My bedroom is right next to yours. Across the hall is the secondbathroom and our parents' bedroom is down on the right."
They entered Jaden's new room and looked around. The posters and toys were Duel Monsters themed and there was even a deck on the nightstand next to Syrus's bed. There was an alarm clock that had ToonWorld on it, Jaden recognized the clock from an advert he saw whilst at the orphanage, in which the clock would sprout out characters from ToonWorld when the alarm went off. Just the thought of Syrus being woken up like that made him laugh secretly inside. His bed was on the left, it was a twin bed. The theme of the bed sheets and pillow cases were Kuriboh, Syrus's has a Dark Magician and a Dark Magician Girl theme along with his own dresser with brand new clothes sitting in it. There was a small TV in the room, with a couple of DVDs next to it. One had Battle City and the other said Duelist Kingdom.
"Your parents weren't kidding when they said you like duel monsters." Jaden said after he absorbed most of the room.
"Yeah...But I'm no good." Syrus said gloomily. Zane frowned at his brother.
"Hey, we got to work on your self confidence Syrus. I also like dueling; I have an Elemental Hero's deck."
"Really?There's a new kid in our school that duels with that deck...An Ashton or Aster or something like that..." Zane said.
Syrus shuffled on the spot. "Anyhow, I'm sure you wouldn't want to duel with a loser like me."
"Nonsense! I would duel both of you!" Wait! What I'm I saying! What if something bad happens?
"I'm sure he would Sy. You like dueling; you just need to get your heart in the right direction." Zane also thought he needed more confidence. "Come on lets show Jaden the yard."
"O-Ok…"Syrus said but he knew they were both right, but he just couldn't help himself.
The three of them went out the back door. "This is the pool. Syrus doesn't know how to swim, so he has arm floats whenever he goes in."
Jaden suddenly had a feeling of nostalgia of his time in the pool with his family. This was like his house before besides the siblings and pool.
A Thousand dragon and a Baby Dragon floatie toys were in the water.
"Thousand Dragon is mine; the Baby Dragon is Syrus's. Mom bought you your own floatie as well." He handed Jaden a box and he opened it. It was Elemental Hero Bubbleman.
"It's sweet!" He really liked his new family. He just hoped he wouldn't ruin it.
"Boys! Time to eat!" Their mother called out.
"So? How do you like it so far Jaden?" Zack said at the dinner table.
"It's good. Much better than the foster home." He grabbed fried shrimp and put them on his plate. He hadn't had any since the night of his parent's death.
"I sure hope so." Samantha said. "Here you got to have more than Fried shrimp! You're growing boys. "She put some mashed potatoes and green beans on his plate.
Later that night in Jaden's and Syrus's room…
"Hey Jay, you still awake?" Syrus said nervously.
"Yeah I am...What's wrong?" His voice was shaky. He looked at the clock next to his bed. It said 12:45 am.
"D-DO you like me?"
"Where did that come from?..Yeah I do."
"W-would you mind if I call you big bro?" It was dark in the room but Jaden could imagine him trembling with fright.
This made him confused. 'Didn't he already have a brother? Why would he want to call me that? Did I deserve such a title?'"Don't you have Zane?"
"Yeah but… it's not the same. It just feels right to call you that. I-I want to if you don't mind it." He was pleading with me.
"Go ahead Jaden. You'll learn to become stronger." said Yubel
I then complied and answered yes. Syrus got up from his bed to mine and hugged me. "Ok then… big bro!" Yes. I got to learn to control for Syrus's sake.
(B/N: Hello everyone this is ScarletLycrois (formerly TrixieCherry) and I just want to say hi to everyone and say that if you find any mistakes to blame me and not flame charizardatemymathteacher!)