FOUR YEARS EARLIER

Mindy's POV

Syrus and I, along with the others in our group who now appear to me as family, we were standing outside in the streets of Domino City around midnight. We were waiting for Jaden to run back and give us some good news. You see, Alexis wanted to make sure everyone had a fun time tonight since we normally don't get that many times to hang out ever since we graduated from the Academy. She suggested we all go to this club downtown and have a night to remember. Syrus was worried that…well there was a long list of complaints. So Jaden volunteered to go into the club, which was just down the street from where we stood, and check it out before quickly returning here to give us his opinion.

"Why don't you want to go to a club?" I asked Syrus curiously while we were waiting for Jaden to return.

"You heard me earlier right?" He questioned. "I mean, I told everyone it was about the lights, the people, the-"

"I know what you said." I reminded him. "But those reasons didn't seem like actual reasons. They seemed like excuses and lies just to get out of going there in the first place."

"They are reasons…" Syrus started to protest but then he shook his head in defeat and tried a different approach. "Look, a lot of them were excuses but I swear to you that one of the things I mentioned that I hated about clubs was true."

"And which one was that?" I asked.

Syrus hesitated. I almost felt kind of bad for pushing the information out of him, but then again I wanted to know the truth. After a long, awkward moment, Syrus spoke so quietly that I could hardly hear him. "It's kind of embarrassing. You'll probably think it's silly."

"No, I won't. I just want you to tell me because I don't like keeping secrets between us." I pleaded. "I promise I won't tell anyone."

"How about this?" Syrus suggested. "If you can guess it correctly, I will tell you the truth."

I nodded slowly. It seemed didn't seem that difficult. I was about to make my first guess when Jaden came running back towards us.

"Jaden!" Alexis ran over to him and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. I had the urge to roll my eyes at the so-called-perfect-couple but I restrained myself. As Alexis broke away, she asked, "So what does the club look like?"

"I wasn't able to go in." Jaden explained. "The bouncer at the front said the place was nearly packed. He would've accepted if it were just me and the guys since there were more women in the place, however I told him that that wouldn't be an option. He told me to leave so…well…I left." He tilted his head to the left. "Do you think I should've challenged him to a duel? That might've gotten us in the club."

"No, it's alright Jaden," Alexis appeared disappointed but she put on a fake smile. "I don't think tonight is the night to make a scene."

"Well it could be." Chazz disagreed. He gestured to himself. "However, I think I would put up a better fight than Jaden. After all, I am the better duelist here."

Jaden scoffed. "You really think you're the better duelist?"

"As a matter of fact, I do." Chazz took a step towards Jaden. "Why don't we settle this like men?"

"If that's a duel you want, then that's a duel you're going to get." Jaden replied. He and Chazz got into position but Alexis and Blair held back their husbands.

I forgot to mention they were married, huh? Jaden and Alexis got married first, then Chazz and Blair got married a year or so later. Syrus and I got married this year around April. Jasmine and Bastion is the only couple who aren't married yet. Jasmine's been a little bit upset about that but I'll talk about that later.

"Chazz, let's just relax. We can settle this argument another day." Blair tried her best to calm down her husband.

"I want to settle this. I know I can beat him." Chazz argued.

Jaden looked to Alexis before answering, "Chazz, you should listen to Blair. We're all just trying to enjoy tonight right?"

"So are you saying that you're chicken?" Chazz countered.

"No, I'm saying that my wife put in a lot of time trying to get everyone together tonight and I don't want to be the one to ruin it." Jaden answered, unfazed by Chazz's attempts to provoke him.

"Let it go Chazz," Blair pleaded, "Please, for me?"

Chazz didn't respond. But his shoulders slouched and he let out a sigh. Satisfied, Blair gave him a small kiss on the cheek.

"If I may speak," Bastion chimed in. "Since we can't really go to that one club, I suggest we start walking around and try to find a place to hang out."

"I couldn't agree more." Alexis said quickly. And with that we all left.

Blair's POV

"What happened back there?" I asked Chazz.

"How can Jaden think he's better than me?" Chazz continued to prattle on about that silly argument. "I'm obviously the better duelist. I could've proved it right then and there if you-"

"You're not even listening to me at all!" I snapped. I love my husband, but he can be so stubborn at times. "You are both equally good duelists and that's that."

"What are you saying?" He asked me. "Whose side are you on?"

"Yours; I'll always be on your side." I promised. "My point is that you have nothing to prove, nothing to worry about, nothing to be ashamed of. You don't have to prove you're the better duelist because it doesn't matter. What matters the most is that…I love you, and there is nothing in this world that could ever change that."

Chazz stayed silent for a few minutes before whispering to himself, "I'm still the better duelist."

"Well, you're not the bigger man."

"What was that?" Chazz's attention was immediately turned to me. "What did you say?"

"Say what?" I pretended to have no idea what he was talking about. "I didn't say anything! I think you might need one of those hearing aids or something because I know for a fact that I totally did not say any-"

"This bar looks nice." Jasmine announced.

Chazz and I, along with the others, turned our attention to Jasmine, who was pointing at a bar across the street. It looked pretty vacant, except for a few crowds of people drinking away their problems. The bar itself, looked to be in good shape and the employees looked willing to take care of their customers. It looked pretty small, but had plenty of room for the eight of us to hang out in.

"This seems like a great place to stay for a while." Bastion walked to where Jasmine stood and put his arm around her.

"Hmm…this place seems familiar somehow." Syrus said cautiously.

"Come on, Syrus." Mindy begged. "We've got to go somewhere tonight. This place isn't loud or obnoxious…"

"If you're trying to guess why I don't like clubs, that's not why." Syrus said. "And I didn't say I didn't like this place. I just said that it's familiar."

"What do you think Alexis?" I asked.

"Sure," She smiled. "I don't see why not."

The eight of us walked into the bar with open-minded opinions. However, we weren't expecting to see a well-known, blue haired, duelist as the bartender. After all, he could be working as a professional duelist all over the world and yet he was working at this bar.

"Zane?"

Jaden's POV

Zane looked up and I instantly saw recognition on his face. He knew who we were but he ended up saying, "can I help you?"

"Zane, it's us." I walked up to the counter Zane was working behind and took a seat in a nearby bar stool. "Come on; don't tell me you're trying to forget who we are."

"I still remember all of you Jaden." Zane explained, wiping down the counter. "But I'm working right now so I have to keep things professional. So, can I get you a drink?"

"I'll just take a coke." Alexis took a seat in the bar stool beside me. I gazed at her in the corner of my eye with curiosity. Usually, when we go to bars, Alexis always orders some kind of wine. I decided to ignore this for now; it's not like it's important. The rest of our friends sat down in bar stools around us and ordered some alcohol. Zane turned so that his back was to us as he reached for some wine bottles, beer cans, and Alexis's coke. As we waited Alexis asked Zane, "So, why are you working here?"

Zane paused. "Does there have to be a reason?"

"There kind of does," Bastion chimed in. "You gave up a career of professional dueling for this? I mean, it just doesn't make sense."

"I don't have to say anything." Zane stated.

"I will," Syrus blurted out, "he's doing all of this to help Ramona."

Zane whirled around to face his brother, a look between surprise and anger. "How do you remember that?"

"When we were walking around outside, I told the others that this place seemed familiar." Syrus explained. "I suppose I still remember a few things from the last time I came here." He turned towards us. "Zane is helping Ramona pay her way through medical school."

"Aw! That's so sweet of you!" Blair cried.

"It still doesn't make sense." Jasmine pointed out. "You could make a lot more money in pro dueling than you could as a bartender."

"True," Zane admitted.

"Trust me when I say that you're one of the greatest duelists I know." Alexis said. "You're just as good as Jaden, if not better."

"I think you're forgetting another great duelist." Chazz argued.

"Not now, sweetie." Blair told Chazz.

"Well, if you must know," Zane started, "Ramona doesn't want me traveling around because she has a bunch of student loans and doesn't think she'll be able to pay them at all. I'm helping her out by working here and giving her about 60% of what I make."

"Are you and Ramona dating?" Mindy asked.

"Well…we're just friends right now." Zane said slowly.

"Actually, she wants to be just friends so she can focus on her career right now while you want something more out of your friendship with her." Syrus smiled.

"Even if that were true, you won't be the one to tell her that." Zane said darkly. "Do you understand?"

Syrus fixed his posture, as if someone replaced his spine with a metal pole, and said, "Yes sir!"

"Well, I'm gonna go fresh up on my makeup real quick." Jasmine announced quickly before turning and dashing to the restrooms at the back of the bar.

"Oh, I'll come with you." Mindy called after Jasmine before rushing afterwards.

"Hey, wait up." Blair chimed in, also rushing towards the restrooms.

I looked over to Alexis. "Are you joining them?"

She shook her head. "Nah, I'll be fine. I don't need to freshen up or anything."

"Alright, but I need to go to the bathroom so I'll be right back." I told her.

"Sure, go make sure your makeup and hair look fabulous." Alexis teased which made me laugh. I turned and headed towards the men's room. Before I entered, I turned to get a glimpse at Alexis. Zane was handing her the Coke she ordered. A part of me wishes I would've stayed standing there a few seconds longer, so I would've seen what happened next. Instead, I just turned and walked into the restroom and didn't look back from that point on.

Looking back on that moment that was pretty dumb of me, wasn't it?

Jasmine's POV

"Whoa, that was a bit rude." Mindy said once we entered the woman's restroom. "I mean, you just rushed out of there for some silly reason and…oh hey. Why are you crying? Are you okay?"

"I rushed out of there because I didn't want them to see my pain." I sobbed. I started rubbing my face, trying to wipe away the wet, mascara-stained, tears.

"Hey guys I just…" Blair stopped when she saw me crying. "What happened?"

"Please leave me alone." I demanded harshly.

"O-Okay, I just came in here to…" Blair scanned the area for an excuse. "Oh! I had to pee so…I'm just going to…well yeah." She rushed into the nearest stall and closed the door behind her.

Mindy gave me a look. "If you think you can just go ahead and get rid of me so easily, think again. I'm not leaving this bathroom until you either tell me what's going on or you find a way to get yourself under control."

"I can't get rid of you, can I?" I let out a shaky sigh. "It's just that Zane and Ramona sound so perfect, it's like they're married already. Alexis and Jaden sound perfect together too, and everyone else is pretty much married and…"

"Is that what this is about?" Mindy asked. "You feel sad because you aren't married yet? For God's sake Jas-"

"Oh don't you start there missy." I said angrily.

"It's Mindy."

"DOES IT LOOK LIKE I WANT TO BE CHEERED UP RIGHT NOW!?" I shouted. "Look at you. You and Syrus are already married, so don't even try to understand what I'm going through."

"You don't have to compare yourself to Zane and Ramona." Mindy suggested. "You deserve Bastion, and you guys are such a cute couple. Being married isn't everything."

"I agree." There was the sound of the toilet flushing before Blair walked out of the stall and went to the sink to wash her hands. "Besides, Ramona and Zane aren't that perfect of a couple…"

"Oh, I see. So you think that anyone besides you and Chazz are an imperfect couple." I started.

"I don't think…"

"Well, guess what? I've got some news for you." I took a step closer to Blair. "I don't want your advice about who's a great couple or not. I don't understand what Chazz even sees in you. Maybe he's with you just to get laid or something, that's just my opinion. But my point right now is that you should leave me alone."

Blair looked like she was going to cry. "That really hurts Jasmine."

"Yeah well, I'm hurting too so go be hurt somewhere else." I demanded.

"Hey, what's going on here?" The three of us turned our heads to see Jaden walk in. Yes, Jaden walked in to the restroom. The WOMAN'S restroom!

"What the hell, Jaden?" Mindy screeched. "You can't be here!"

"I heard you shouting and arguing and I wanted to make it stop. You're my friends after all." Jaden explained. "However, we've also got some bigger issues going on outside so let's settle this later and I'll need you guys to follow me."

Worried, we all followed Jaden outside to see Bastion, Syrus, Alexis, and Chazz all passed out. Blair gasped, "What happened?"

"Simple, people got spiked…" Jaden said, "again."