Chapter II: What Have I Done?

Greetings, GX fans and readers of "Bittersweet Victory!" Wow. I am very impressed at the response to the first chapter of this new tale. Yes, Zane is back to himself and perhaps a bit better. But Syrus has paid a heavy price for his brother's turning to the Dark Side. Thanks to my reviewers, as always! You all make my day, especially when I hear that wonderful ding that says I have email! And so, thanks to syrusfanatic12, Sho-Syrus chan, Saundersfamily007 and lunarlight20 for their reviews! A note for all you YGO and Sailor Moon fans… Usagi's attack is known as Starlight Honeymoon Therapy Kiss in the subtitled "Sailor Moon Stars," which never aired dubbed in the US… you can see the attack on YouTube…

Recap: Syrus beat Zane with the Angelic Guardian of the Moon, Usagi and her Silver Moon Extra Cleansing Kiss magic attack. However, though Syrus won and saved his brother, he paid a very heavy price. Zane, now back to himself, has just watched as his brother's breath rattles ominously in his chest as Jaden Yuki cries for help…

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Yu-Gi-Oh GX… It's not going to happen…

Oh, God, what did I do to him? Please let him be all right, Zane pleaded silently. The black-haired, gray-eyed young man had come out of the darkness that he had willingly entered a couple of months before in the name of gaining victory and power because his blue-haired, gray-eyed little brother had dragged him back to the warm sweet light. To Zane's horror when he'd become aware of himself in the real world, Syrus was unconscious in the arms of Jaden Yuki. But it got much worse. Jaden had sobbed for Alexis Rhodes to get Vonda Fontaine, the school nurse and then Syrus had taken a deep breath. As the smaller Truesdale exhaled, a horrible rattling sound came from his chest.

"Sy? SYRUS!" Jaden cried out. Sy had stopped breathing and it was as if Jaden's own heart stopped beating for a moment. Then Jaden quickly remembered how his mother had taught him CPR and he thanked God that he actually remembered the lesson. Forcing himself to be calm, Jaden quickly pulled Sy's yellow jacket open, removed the specs and tilted Sy's head back, opening his airway. Compression and breaths… "C'mon, Sy, don't give up!" Jaden kept pumping, knowing that the compressions he was doing were keeping Sy's blood pumping to his brain. An eternity later, it seemed, Miss Fontaine arrived and took over. She quickly ripped the small boy's shirt off and pulled out a defibrillator. She strapped the pads to his chest and turned on the electricity. Syrus started breathing again, thankfully.

"What happened?" the mahogany-haired gray-eyed nurse asked, worried. "What kind of duel was this?! Jaden?" She had another nurse with a gurney and they lifted the blue-haired boy onto it.

Zane was sitting on his knees, still in shock, so he couldn't answer. Jaden, very shaken, couldn't get the words out. "All right, then, let's get him to the infirmary. We'll worry about what happened as soon as we've got him stable." Miss Fontaine and the other nurse quickly moved the gurney into the academy and raced down the hall to the infirmary. They moved Sy into a cubicle and got him hooked to an IV, an EKG reader and other medical monitoring devices. The group of kids following Miss Fontaine and the other nurse were held in a waiting room.

The room was filled with concerned kids. Alexis Rhodes sat next to her brother, Atticus, her light brown eyes brimming with tears. Chazz Princeton looked sad, too, his gray eyes stormy and he was running his fingers through his black hair. The Ra Yellow, unknown to Zane, paced the room like a caged cat and Jaden Yuki was sitting in his chair, seemingly locked in his own mind. Zane looked at them, still in shock at what he had just done.

No one's said anything, he realized. They should, though. I… What have I done? I almost killed my brother… What if he..? Zane didn't want to complete the thought, and didn't because a white-haired young man burst through the door looking extremely panicked. At first, Zane didn't recognize who he was because of the hair and white uniform, but then when the boy spoke, the young man realized who it was…

"Everyone, what the deuce happened? Did I see what I think I saw?!" Bastian Misawa asked in a rush.

"Are you back with us and the Sarge then, Private Misawa?" asked the still-unknown Ra Yellow in a Texas accent.

"Yes, I am, Hasselberry. I came to my senses when I saw Syrus… how is he?"

"We… we don't know…" Atticus Rhodes said softly. "He stopped breathing and Jaden had to do CPR. They brought him back, but they haven't let us see him yet."

"Oh, my… Zane, were you actually dueling him with shock collars?" Bastian asked, horrified.

"I was, and…"

"You were trying to kill him…" Jaden Yuki spoke for the first time in 20 minutes, and yet if Zane and the others hadn't been looking directly at him, they would have assumed that some dark creature had spoken. Though Jaden spoke, it didn't completely sound like him. In fact, everyone in the room feared this voice. And there was something in Jaden's eyes that no one had ever seen… unbridled fury. "I told him you had to be playing around and that this was just you acting… But no…I was wrong… you didn't care… and I guess he was right all this time… you hated him… and you hated him enough to kill him…" And then, the usually so calm and happy Jaden Kiyo Yuki snapped. With a guttural snarl, he launched himself at Zane.

"Sarge!" the unknown Ra Yellow yelped, grabbing hold.

"Jaden! Slacker, what are you doing?! He's not worth it!" Chazz yelled, also holding the Slifer Red back. Jaden struggled, still snarling, for a couple of minutes.

"Jaden, come on…" Alexis Rhodes said finally. He was still struggling to get at Zane, but when the blonde-haired, light-brown eyed Queen of Obelisk Blue laid her hand on Jaden's shoulder, he slumped against the Ra Yellow's and Chazz's grips. "I think Zane's sorry and he's back. Besides, that won't help Syrus now." Chazz and the Ra Yellow finally released their grip and Jaden sank into a chair.

Zane took a deep breath. "I have no defense for what I did out there. Heaven knows I have no defense for what I just did to Syrus. I wish I could blame somebody for how I've been dueling, but the truth is…I chose to do what I did. Jaden…I think if you'd beaten me at the Graduation Duel last spring, I would've started to turn then."

"Why did you do it, Zane?" Alexis asked. Zane made himself meet her eyes. When Atticus had gone missing, Zane had made a promise to protect her like the older brother that was missing, and Zane had felt she became the sibling that in some ways he'd wanted. They were good friends and understood each other, and their relationship was that of brother and sister, despite the beliefs of many around Duel Academy that the relationship was otherwise. And now, Zane looked into the eyes of one who had trusted him as her brother and saw horrible pain and something else he couldn't be sure of. "I can't believe you'd actually hate your brother…"

"Alexis…" Zane drew a shaky breath. "Part of me did," he said, just barely above a whisper, "ever since Camula. I…hated having to make the trade. I wanted to save my brother, but part of me hated him because he got caught and I had to save him. That part of me that hated losing… I let it get stronger. And after Aster and I dueled and then things went wrong, I let the dark part of me consume me. Atticus… you saw how it was when we dueled." Atticus nodded.

"You were different. Everything we'd learned as duelists… you gave it up. When I was Nightshroud… I almost gave it all up. But there is one thing I don't think, even as Nightshroud, I could've done. I could never have knowingly hurt my sister. I wouldn't even entertain the possibility. Lexi is my world, and I could never knowingly hurt her. I just can't understand you, Zane. How could you even think of hurting Sy?" Atticus's eyes were almost more hurt than Alexis's, speaking strongly of betrayal.

"I honestly don't know, Atticus. Like I said, I wish I had someone to blame, but I don't. I gave into anger and fear and… I don't know what else. Jaden…"

The brown-eyed boy looked up. He'd had his head in his hands after he'd slumped into the chair and as he now looked up at the other boy, everyone could see the Slifer Red had been crying. "What?"

"You're a better brother than I ever was. You tried to understand and you even fought for and with him. When he was in third grade, there was a kid who'd been bullying him. He'd started really learning about how to duel and this kid knew how to duel. I'd been sitting at the playground and Sy had challenged the guy to a duel. He was going to use Power Bond to win, but I had a feeling he'd lose and the guy would pound him. So I stepped in, stopped the duel and told Sy I would never have given him that card if I thought he was going to use it wrong…"

"So, why," Jaden asked, no real emotion in his voice at this moment, "didn't you show him how to use it?"

Zane sighed. "I just didn't think about it. The truth is, Jaden, I'm not like you. I don't think about how to teach people the right way. I certainly didn't think about how to help my brother. You've been a better brother to him in a year and a half than I've been our whole lives. I didn't deserve him as a brother."

"You don't know, Zane," Jaden said, emotion coming back into his voice, "you don't know what it was like last year. After that little incident where he tried to raft away, he cried himself to sleep that night. He said he knew for sure you hated him. He said when you were little kids, after you came back from training in the Himalayas, that you were cold and you acted as if he didn't exist sometimes. He cried himself to sleep so much and then we had to duel the Paradox brothers. Where were you when he needed you, hmm? Oh, yeah… you were too busy being a snobby Obelisk." Zane started at this, and even Alexis and Atticus raised eyebrows, but Jaden continued, "For a while during the stuff with the Shadow Riders, I thought maybe you'd changed and had decided to not be so cold. But what you've been doing… you called him a little maggot! If something happens…" Jaden was still angry, but more of this was from his own pain.

"I'll tell you what's going to happen, Jaden, if my brother dies. Even if I'm not charged with murder, I'll know what I did the rest of my life. I'll have to face my parents and I'm already facing you guys. And then… I'll have to face him…" The image of Syrus lying in a casket, possibly with his treasured Mr. Fuzzy Bear lying next to him was too much for Zane. He barely made it to a chair before he started crying. "I'll never get to tell him… I'm proud of him…"

Meanwhile, back in Syrus's infirmary cubicle, Vonda Fontaine looked at her patient's vital signs. I can't do this alone, she realized. I need help, and Syrus's parents need to come… She picked up her PDA communicator and called Chancellor Shepherd. And then she walked out to the waiting group. Zane stood up.

Vonda Fontaine took a deep breath. "Zane, Chancellor Shepherd is going to get your parents here. And we're calling to Kaiba Corp for them to send a doctor immediately. Your brother is breathing on his own, but his vital signs are pretty weak. I honestly don't know what's going to happen at this point…"

And in the infirmary cubicle, Syrus Aidan Truesdale fought for his life…

Another cliffhanger…Well, we've got the old Zane back and he is emotionally tortured. Perhaps the best revenge is the revenge that the other person didn't intend. This took a little longer to write than I intended. Writing an angry and upset Jaden is rather difficult; however, I think the Jaden I've written is something that could definitely happen.

Read and review, everyone!