Disclaimer: I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.
Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh GX
Title: Worrywart
Characters: Shou
Word Count: 1,000||Status: One-shot
Genre: Angst||Rated: PG Challenge: Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section B16, write a 3rd person POV; Written for the One Character Boot Camp, prompt #34, staking
Note: This takes place in season one, after Ryou was defeated by Camula and before Juudai duels her.
Summary: Having trouble sleeping after his brother's duel against Camula, Shou frets over what must be done, how to do it, who can do it, and if it can be done at all.

Shou brought the stake down with all of his strength, aiming to pierce the heart of the monster that had been his brother and put him to rest once and for all.

At least that was his goal. What actually happened was that Ryou casually batted away the sharp piece of wood with his sleeved arm and grabbed hold of the back of Shou's neck.

"Good-bye," was all that he said before Ryou yanked him closer and his sharp teeth bit into Shou's neck.

Shou jerked awake, eyes wide, entire body covered in sweat, a scream hovering on his lips, his fists stuffed into his mouth to keep that scream from escaping. It took him nearly five minutes to get himself calmed down, taking in huge gulps of air and staring at the wall, trembling from head to foot.

He didn't think he'd woken Hayato up, and Juudai was spending the night in the infirmary, not yet ready to get back on his feet still. He would be soon, Ayukawa-sensei told them, but not yet.

Shou told himself all of that over and over again, trying to focus on what was going on around him, not the horrible images he'd seen in his dream.

It wasn't real. It wasn't. Camula… Camula didn't do that to him.

What she had done to his brother was even worse, keeping him trapped in the form of a small doll, but at least that way he could be saved. Shou hoped. Shou believed with every ounce of his strength.

This wasn't the first nightmare that he'd had since that horrible moment Camula defeated his brother. He didn't think it would be the last, either.

No. She didn't beat him. She cheated. He was still learning this whole thing about respect dueling and how it worked, but he was pretty blasted sure that it didn't involve stealing someone's ace monster and threatening people with being bitten by vampires if your opponent didn't do what you wanted. It had been a long time since he read the rules of dueling as well, but he thought there was something in there about fair play and good sportsmanship.

But Ryou lost anyway and he'd been strange before that and Shou didn't know what to think other than he wanted his brother back and everything else to be back to normal.

No one said anything about vampires or evil duelists when they sent the information pack.

Shou threw himself back on the pillows, but carefully so. He didn't want to wake Hayato up. That might mean talking and Shou really wasn't into that right now either.

He stared up at the bottom of the bunk bed ahead of him and wondered what was going on with his brother. Was he still in that little doll or did his nightmares have some kind of truth to them? If – when – they faced Camula again, would his brother be by her side, a loyal enslaved minion?

Shou shuddered and found he was very grateful that he hadn't had any appetite for most of the day. He didn't think he could stand to see his brother like that. Bad enough that his dreams had turned into a creature feature. He really, really didn't want it to happen in real life.

He pulled his blanket up over his head and thought about sleeping again. He didn't bother to check the time; it was too dark to be anything at all but the deepest part of the night.

The part when vampires roamed.

He grit his teeth and tugged the blanket tighter around himself. Maybe if they couldn't see him, they wouldn't bite him? And didn't they have to be invited inside?

I kinda wish I'd watched more vampire movies now. Well, not quite. But maybe he'd know more about how to get rid of them than he did now.

His neck itched, right where Camula had bitten it, and he snaked one hand up to rub at it. What if that turns me into one?

Shou swallowed at that thought. He hadn't felt any different since then, aside from how angry he was at all of this happening, but maybe she needed to bite him again? He hadn't watched that many vampire movies, but he thought he remembered a couple of them saying that a vampire's victim needed to be bitten more than once before they changed themselves.

Yeah, it didn't matter how late it was, because he wasn't going to get any sleep any time soon. He still stayed where he was under the blanket. He wasn't a vampire yet. Maybe if someone could defeat Camula, he wouldn't ever be one.

That lead to wondering if anyone could beat her; if his big brother couldn't, then who? Maybe Juudai, that was the only person he could think of who might stand a chance, but with all of these evil Games of Darkness and the fact that Juudai was still so very weak himself...

It just didn't look like they stood a chance.

Maybe I could try? The thought had barely passed through his mind before he started to choke on his own laughter. As if he could stand a chance against her when his big brother, the perfect duelist, couldn't.

But… he almost did. If she hadn't had me, then... He shook his head, dismissing the thought. Just because Ryou was that strong didn't mean that he was. Besides, he didn't have one of the Spirit Gate Keys. She wouldn't even look at him as anything more than a light snack.

It was all up to the people who did have the Keys. Shou wanted it to be Juudai. He knew that Juudai wanted it to be Juudai, too. He just didn't know how it could all work out. Or if it could.

Or if beating Camula would free his brother and Chronos-sensei. What little hope he had, he clung to with all of his strength. There wasn't anything else he could do.

The End

Note: Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the story. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.