SUMMARY: Jack's childhood was not always so happy. There was a time when he was in a dangerous gang. When a stranger stops him and hands him an item, he doesn't realize at the time that he saved his life...
Setting: Before Jack escaped to the Satellite. Around 13 years of age.
I thought of this when I listened to 'Beat it' by MJ, and when I saw the duel gang episode.
ONESHOT!
"Jack!" Martha called after the teenage boy with heat. She couldn't believe this! She had raised this boy! She couldn't believe she couldn't see it!
She had found the child in question talking to his younger 'brothers'. They chuckled wildly, and Martha nearly hated to barge in. Then she remembered her quest.
"Jack Atlas!" she bellowed, and the children looked up at her with curiosity and fear. Yusei looked to Jack with a questionable look. She heard a ,"What did you do now?" from Crow.
"Yes Martha?" he asked in a smooth, accented voice, his young muscled body growing nearer to her. He stared at her with hard violet eyes that were too old for his age. Although only thirteen, he stood several inches taller than her.
"What's the meaning of this?" She asked, pulling out a dark blue and black striped armband from her dress pocket. She immediately recognized it as a duel gang that killed their loosing opponents. She was frightened for the kids safety, angry that he was a part of this gang, and was horrified to know he was running around with murderers.
The boy's eyes widened, and that proved what she was thinking was true. Her hand trembled with anger. His eyes dodged from her to her hand, and when it looked back to her, they held anger.
"Where did you find that? You were looking in my stuff?" he said in a tone he had never directed at her before. It was spat with malice and hatred. What was happening to her son?
"Jack! Don't talk to Martha that way!" came from a angered Yusei. Crow just watched as the horror unfolded.
"Just shut up!" Jack hissed.
"It is my house, and I have the liberty to look in your stuff." Martha said calmly, looking at the devil that was taking over her kind 'son'.
In one, swift movement, she felt the stinging pain on her right cheek. She heard the smack, felt the pain, but it hadn't really sunk into her yet. She heard the gasp from a young *Johnathan Heartly and his younger sibblings* as they just came upon the scene. She staggered back, and looked at the boy she had basically raised in muted shock.
He had just slapped her.
"What did you just do?" screeched an angered Crow who advanced toward the blond, who was stopped by a comforting Yusei.
The violet eyed blond stood there in shock as well, horrified at what he had just done. He couldn't believe he had slapped Martha. The woman who raised him. His mother!
"I-... I..." was the only thing he said. He picked up the armband that she dropped by the shock and grasped it in his hand. He couldn't stand to look at the disappointment and horror on her face, so he turned and fled. He knew where he was going, and he didn't really care now if he came back.
"Jack!" he heard Johnathan shout, but he didn't listen. He fled from the scene with regret and fearful tears streaming down his face.
XoXoXoX
He had kept running until his breath stung and his legs were numb. He was about 3/4 of the ways to the KRONOS hide out.
As he stopped for a quick break, he reflected on what he had done. He knew Martha might forgive him, but he couldn't forgive himself. And with that, he walked to his destination with regained breath and still-numb legs.
The fog was getting denser, and he could swear there were shadows lurking about. On that note, the boy moved quicker, wanting to get out of this dark alley way. He froze when he heard footsteps behind him. He swiftly looked behind him, and saw nothing. He turned back to resume his walking, when a man in a light tan trenchcoat stood before him. He looked down at the boy with a neon-green eye, the other trapped behind the silvery-white hair that cascaded in his face. His hands were in his pockets, a smirk on his lips.
"Hmm... seems as though I found a little spy. Well, what's your mission little spy?" he said in a dark tone, stalking toward the boy with menace. Jack didn't say anything, just backing up the steps the man took.
"Don't you know that there's going to be a battle today? You don't want to be hurt, do you little spy?" he asked, revealing news to Jack. He was unaware that there was going to be a fight today. Between whom?
"I can do what ever I want and there's no one to stop me." Jack said sternly, hiding his worry behind his facade. The man's brrow raised and his smirk raised into a full grin.
"Mmmm... spirited one. Don't think i've met you before. The names Jake, but you can call me Raider. And what about you, little spy? Who are you?" he asked, his dark tone lightening some.
"Atlas. That's all you need to know." Jack said furiously, starting to walk away from this strange man. Guess he'd have to find another way to HQ.
"Wait. I wasn't done talking to ya yet." the man said, stretching out to grasp his right arm.
"Let go of me!" Jack said with venom, and his arm started to glow with a crimson light. It etched on his skin the wings of the Crimson Dragon, to always protect him from danger.
The man didn't let go, but just stared dumbstruck at this kids arm. He knew what he was now. But... how...?
"You're a signer." Raider said with awe, trying to contain the boy that struggled beneith his grasp. He saw the blue and black armband he wore. 'He's with KRONOS.' he thought. He was suddenly thankful he had gotten to him.
"Let go of me you creep!" he shouted, wriggling in the mans grasp. The man took his free left hand to shove the sleve of his coat to his elbow on his right, revealing a mark of his own. It reacted immediatally, glowing with the intensity that it was on the child. It was the tail of the dragon. The boy took one glance at the mark, and stopped fighting.
"How the...?" the teen murmured, mostly to himself.
"I see now that you are of great importance. It's too late for me now. But maybe I can save you from my fate." Raider muttered, digging in his pocket for an object. Jack just stood there, unsure of what to do. He had never met another person with a glowing mark as he had.
Through the mist, the man handed the boy something. A MP3 player? Jack looked at the object in question. Why would some stranger with a glowing mark give him this?
"What's this-" he was cut off, for when he looked back to the man, no one was there. The blond teen stood there for a while, confused. "Raider?" he called out, trying to see into the mist. He could have sworn he was right there! He didn't hear footsteps or anything. At last his arm wasn't glowing anymore.
"Don't go down this path, Atlas. It's darker than you can ever imagine. Just beat it kid." he heard Raiders voice echo. And then silence. Jack decided to take Raiders advice, and he started running the way he had came, and got out of the alley way. Clouds still covered the Satellite, but at least he could see!
As Jack walked out, he stared at the silver and black technology in his hand. The ear buds wrapped around the slender object, coiling it. He unwrapped the object, and put the little objects in his ears. When he switched it on, it bleeped. Black words flashed across the green screen.
'Michael Jackson - Beat it (Remastered) - Thriller' flashed on the screen. "Who's this?" Jack asked, not knowing the composer, song, or what the last word was meant for. Through all of this, he clicked play.
He was introduced by a police siren, then a guitar solo. Then he heard the man sing.
"They told you, 'Don't you ever come around here. Don't wanna see your face, you better disappear.'
The fire's in your eyes, and their words are pretty clear. Just beat it. But you wanna be bad! Just beat it!
Beat it!
No one wants to be defeated..."
As Jack listened on, he just go more confused. What did this have to do with him? Why had Raider-
Then he remembered. Raider was the leader of an enemy gang! How could he be so stupid to forget? Had Raider not seen his armband? Why had he let him live? What was so important?
Jack turned and ran to HQ, trying to get some answers. By the time he had gotten there, his lungs were burning once more. He had ran all the way from the mid point to there. At this point he didn't really care, and he opened the door into the old coffee shop, where the gang's head quarters were.
They were everywhere. Bodies cascaded the floors, tables and chairs. There were broken duel disks and cards everywhere. Along with this was all the blood. He thought he'd be sick.
He noticed that not only was his gang among the ruin, but the opposite as well. They had fought, and if he were here and had't met Raider, he would be among them, lying cold and lifeless on the floor.
"I-is anyone still alive?" he asked in the void of death. At first ther was nothing. Then he heard a wheezing sound.
"Hello?" he asked with fervor now. Then he finally got a response from the back of the store.
"K... Kid? Tha... that you?" he heard the voice call out, and he immeditaly reconized it. Raider.
Jack walked over the bodies, not touching the dead of the fallen. He finally reached the survivor, bleeding furiously from his torso. When he coughed, blood ran from his mouth.
"D.. didn... didn't I tell ya ta... ta beat it kid?" he asked, his life force ebbing away. Jack looked at his bloody savior, shocked.
"Didn't I tell you I did what ever I pleased?" Jack said, trying to smile. Raider smiled weakly back, his white hair stained red with his own blood. His green eyes pierced into the teen's with intensity.
"Guess you did, didn'tcha?" he asked weakly, trying to sound firm.
"Why did you do it? Why didn't you let me die with the others?" Jack asked, and Raider chuckled.
"It was... t-to late f... for me kid. They picked... they picked the wrong guy. B-but I can sense that you're perfect for the job. You're... gonna... do great things some... some day... save the world. Gonna escape from th... this dump.. I know it..." Raider was murmuring, the light in his eyes fading, the crimson mark on his arm glowing.
"But I still don't understand! Please, help me!" Jack pleaded, wanting this man to survive.
"You will... soon... Take care Atlas... My time has come... Promise me that you'll finish what I was unable to do." Raider muttered almost inaudibly. Jack nodded. Raider's green eyes rolled back in his head, all of the light escaping from them. Then the crimson mark on his right arm vanished, and the man before the teen faded peacefully into nothing.
"Raider... I promise...", Jack said before getting up from his crouched positions, walking over the bodies, and walking out of this coffee shop forever.
XOXOXOXOXOX
Jack walked back to the orphanage with the words still on his mind. 'Save the world. Gonna escape from this dump, I know it.'
As he hit the small ring of tree's around the house, he ripped off the armband, throwing it into oblivion. He saw Crow, Johnathan, Yusei and Martha tilling the flowers behind the house. He was home! Safe and where he was loved.
"Martha!" he shouted, running toward the brown haired lady. The group stopped and looked at the sight. They saw Jack, blood on his hands and clothes, running toward the baffled Martha. He trapped her in a hug, smiling. The group of children looked shocked as well.
"I'm so sorry! I'll never do that again! Martha, you're like a mom to me! Please, promise to keep me safe..." Jack muttered in her shoulder, and he sounded like when he was five, when he was frightened by lightening. She hadn't heard words like that from him in a long time. She smiled, and hugged him back.
"Of course I will." she said, breaking the hug to look at her 'son'. He smiled at her with warm violet eyes.
"What happened to you? Are you hurt?" she asked, and the younger kids gathered around her. He chuckled, and shook his head.
"I'm fine. Trust me... it's a long story..."
Okay! i'm done! Tell me what you think! Remember, this is before Jack left, so he was kinder then.
*Johnathan and his sibblings are OC's from my story 'Missing Memories'. Please check it out.
You know what to do! Please review!
~ILJA~