Disclaimer: I don't own GX.
"Aster!" I yelled, grabbing him by the collar. "What did you do to Alexis?"
"I didn't do any of this!" Aster said, slapping my hands away. "I got a call about someone breaking into my room! I figured Alexis just set something off, so I came here to tell her about it!"
"And how can I believe that?!" I asked.
"I can show you the call log!" Aster said, holding up his cell phone.
Sure enough, there was a call from his security company.
I could only drop to my knees and pound my fists against the ground. This was my fault!
Alexis had been kidnapped by someone targeting me. She was kidnapped in the room I managed to get for her! She had been kidnapped because she was close to me! I couldn't stand it!
It's one thing when some mystic force captures my friends. But this? This wasn't magic! As far as I could tell, this was mundane!
'I know who did this!' I thought as I stood up.
Syrus and Hassleberry were running to the room when I brushed past them.
"Jaden, what's wrong?" Syrus asked.
"What happened, Sarge?" Hassleberry asked.
I walked straight to Chazz's room. Then I kicked the door open!
"Slacker, what are you doing?!" Chazz yelled. "That door cost me more than you'll ever make in a month!" Oh, thanks for insinuating I'll end up working a drive-thru rather than be King of Games!
Now, I would have said as much to him, if anger hadn't gotten the better of me, and I swiftly... kicked him in the "gut".
"So it was you who kicked me at the docks!" Chazz cried out in pain.
That's when Syrus and Hassleberry came running in.
"Jaden, what's going on?!" Syrus asked.
"And why is the enemy holding his gut?" Hassleberry said. But he didn't say gut.
"Princeton kidnapped Alexis." I said, rage fueling my voice.
"Kidnapped Alexis?" Chazz asked, voice returning to normal. "Why would I do that? What is wrong with this guy?"
"Jay, calm down." Syrus said, as Hassleberry ran over and kept me from throttling Chazz! "What happened?"
And so I explained everything I've already explained to you.
Even Chazz looked on in shock after I explained everything.
"She was kidnapped because I took this room back?" Chazz asked.
"No." Syrus said.
"Yes!" I shouted over Syrus. "Although, that's only if you didn't kidnap her yourself!"
"Let me see the crime scene." Chazz said, walking past us.
So the four of us made our way to Alexis' old room. I was willing to let Chazz play his little game. He HAD found out when the Dark Scorpions stole the Spirit Gate keys. If he wasn't the kidnapper himself, he may be able to find something.
Syrus, Hassleberry and myself watched Chazz as he looked around, keeping our eyes to make sure he didn't disturb anything at the crime scene.
"Aha!" Chazz yelled, while leaning under Alexis' bed.
"What is it?" I asked.
Chazz lifted up a piece of broken glass with dried blood on it.
"Clearly there was a scuffle!" Chazz said, in his best detective voice. "Alexis must have knocked down a vase or a picture frame, cut her attacker with it and hid the evidence under her bed to give us an important clue!"
Syrus and Hassleberry clapped.
"Y'know, Private, maybe I was wrong about you." Hassleberry said. "You might not be such a bad guy after all. Temper that attitude of yours, and you'd make a good member of our battalion!"
"Don't get me wrong!" Chazz yelled. "I'm not helping because we're friends! I don't even care about Alexis dating the Slacker anymore! But if it really is my fault she got kidnapped, I'll never be able to live with myself. At the very least, I'll renounce the Princeton name. I refuse to besmirch it anymore than it already has been by my brothers."
"Yeah, well, I still have some reservations about you helping us." I said. "Prove to me you didn't do this!"
"Honestly!" Ojama Yellow shouted, appearing on Chazz's shoulder. "The Boss had nothing to do with this! He was busy fixing up his new room!"
"It did look a little more organized than it did earlier." I said.
"That's because I've been working all night!" Chazz yelled.
"Alright." I said. "I'll keep from reporting you to the police for now." You'd THINK that would remind me to alert the authorities about Bonaparte, huh?
"Now, if you three don't mind, I think I'll bust for fingerprints." Chazz said. "But in order to do that, I'll need each of yours."
"Hey, we can all vouch for each other!" I said.
"You three were in here earlier, right?" Chazz asked. "I'll need to separate your fingerprints from anyone else's I find."
"And you just happen to have the ink to do it?" Syrus asked.
"My hobbies are none of your business, shorty." Chazz said.
"This used to be Aster's room." I pointed out. "You might want to get his prints too."
"Right." Chazz said, nodding. "I want to ask him a few questions anyway. Like why he left the scene of the crime. But before anything else..."
Chazz quickly placed his Ojama Yellow card under the bed.
"If the criminal returns to the scene of the crime, I'll have one of my men stationed here." Chazz explained.
Ojama Yellow flew right up to me and began dancing in front of my face. "Did you hear that? Boss admitted I'm one of his men."
"I'm getting into my role!" Chazz shouted as I smiled. After calming down, Chazz added, "I'll place another in Aster's room. I doubt he'd be dumb enough to talk about a crime in his own room, but the kidnapper may have been after him. Then I'll try to leave the last stooge with Jasmine and Mindy. The kidnapper may just be after girls."
As Chazz led Syrus and Hassleberry back to his room to get their prints, I made sure to hide Neo-Spacian Dark Panther in Alexis' room too.
Once the fingerprinting was done... That makes it sound like I printed something from a computer out of my fingers... Anyway, once that was done, Syrus, Hassleberry and me headed back to our room.
"I can't believe we're relying on Chazz!" I shouted as I crawled into my bed.
"I can't believe how efficient he is!" Hassleberry said, clearly impressed.
"I should have been there for her." I muttered.
"You couldn't have known this would happen." Syrus said. "We'll report it to Doctor Crowler tomorrow, and..."
"He could be the one who did it!" I yelled. "He clearly still hates me! And he asked Aster to provide Alexis a room."
"But he wouldn't go after Alexis." Syrus said. "She's an Obelisk."
"WAS an Obelisk." Hassleberry pointed out. "Personally, I think it's Aster Phoenix himself. He just so happened to get there before you did, Sarge? And he provided the room in the first place."
"It could have been Chazz." Syrus hypothesized. That's the word, right? "He seems too eager to help. I don't buy that he spent all that time cleaning up his new room. He could have had someone help him. Plus, with so much money, he could have hired someone to do it."
We traded a few theories on how each person could have pulled it off. But eventually, we all had to get some rest. Stressful day, even more stressful night, we were very tired.
Thing is, I forgot how, when I'm upset, my brain likes to betray me!
See, now I was dreaming of major events in my and Alexis' relationship!
It was after Syrus and I had gotten back from the girl's dorm, during my and Alexis' duel on the lake. Ah, our first duel...
Sy and I were settling back in, when someone knocked on the door. Seems to be a common occurrence, doesn't it? Someone knocking on our door in the middle of the night!
"Wha is it?!" I groaned as I pulled myself to the floor, then to the door.
I opened it and saw Alexis standing there.
"Lex!" I said. "Wh-What are you doing here? I already won Sy and my freedom."
"Don't worry, Jaden." Alexis laughed. "It's nothing like that. Did you lose something?"
Alexis then held up a standard issue Duel Academy PDA.
"Uh..." I murmured as I realized I didn't have it on me. "How did you know I lost this?"
"I checked to see if the message I sent you was there." Alexis said. "Don't worry, I didn't check any other messages."
"Thanks." I said, as I reached out for the PDA.
Thing is, once I grabbed it, my hand overlapped with Alexis'. I felt my cheeks grow warmer. Yeah, I was full on blushing! But why? I mean, I never touched hands with a girl I thought was cute, but... Yeah! That was why!
"Uh... thanks again." I said, quickly grabbing the PDA from above.
"You're welcome." Alexis said, finally letting go of the device.
"Do you need someone to walk you back?" I asked.
"No." Alexis said. "I know this island pretty well myself."
"Alright." I said. "G'night."
"Good night, Jaden." Alexis said. "Sweet dreams."
And then she left. I quickly closed the doors and crawled back into my bed, confused why my cheeks would feel warm.
That was the first time I had any indication that I liked Alexis as more than just a friend who happened to be a highly attractive girl.
Normally, these wouldn't be nightmares. However, when you feel so much guilt over not saving your girlfriend.
'I get it!' I yelled to my own mental state. 'I could have saved her! I'm doing my best!'
Having enough of the endless torment that was my own mind, I decided to clear my mind. Or, rather...
I ran across Academy Island to tucker myself out! If I couldn't stay asleep, I'd sure as heck make sure my body couldn't handle staying up!
Now, when I say "ran across Academy Island", of course I don't mean all over the island, just randomly running wherever.
At one point, I saw a helicopter start to land one the heliport.
"That could be the kidnapper, getting away!" I shouted.
Flare Scarab appeared next to me.
"Jaden, you must calm down." Flare Scarab said.
"How can I?" I asked. "This is all my fault! If Alexis wasn't in her new room, she wouldn't have been kidnapped. She wouldn't be in the new room if Chazz hadn't taken the old room back! Chazz wouldn't have taken that room back if I wasn't dating her! No matter how I look at this, it's all my fault!"
"There is no reason to believe she wouldn't have been kidnapped in her old room." Scarab pointed out.
"Still!" I said. "The criminal is targeting her to get to me! Crowler, Chazz, Aster... It doesn't matter who did it! The reason is because of me!"
"Talking to yourself?" A voice behind me asked.
I turned around to see Blair, taking a stroll across the island.
"Blair?" I asked. "What are you doing up at this hour?"
"Jaden, I'm a pre-teen who is away from Mommy and Daddy for the first time. If you were in my shoes, wouldn't you want to explore the wide island you were just enrolled to?"
Y'know, I couldn't argue. After all, I did always want to be trapped in a toy store all night long when I was young.
"Still, you could be in danger!" I shouted. "Look, you can't tell anyone, but someone kidnapped Alexis."
"So, you're available then?" Blair asked with an innocent smile.
"Uh... No!" I yelled. "But if someone is going around kidnapping people, you could be in danger!"
"Why would I be in danger?" Blair asked. "After all, we're soul mates. Who would dare tear us apart?"
'Wait a minute...' My sleep-deprived mind started up. 'Her parents are influential. She could have called someone up to kidnap Alexis!'
Okay, not my most rational thought, but I STILL say it had some merit.
"You did it, didn't you?!" I shouted.
"What?" Blair asked, looking genuinely hurt.
"You got rid of Alexis so you could have me all to yourself." I said.
"Jaden, I would never!" Blair cried out.
"Ha!" I said. "Yeah, right! And this coming from the girl who uses the Maiden in Love? Force others to love you! After all, we're soulmates, right?!"
Okay, I'm officially not proud at all for this. Especially not after Blair ran off crying.
"Blair, wait!" I called out after her.
But she just continued to run off, crying.
"Smooth, Yuki..." I muttered to myself.
"So, do you want me to try talking to her cards?" Flare Scarab asked, crossing his arms.
I just shot him a glare. Sleep-deprived, worried Jaden no good at talking to people.
I went back to my room and tried to get some sleep. Didn't work. I kept waking up all night from nightmares.
So, the next day, as we were walking to class, Syrus and Hassleberry had to keep waking me up on the walk. Yeah, my body had gone into auto-pilot. In fairness, developing a way to walk and sleep at the same time probably wasn't my BEST idea, but I never knew it'd be used this way!
"Come on, Jaden." Syrus said. "Just go back and we'll tell Crowler you're sick."
"Can't tell Crowler I'm sick." I said, half-groggy. "He a suspect. Besides, he think that because Alexis absent too, we got each other sick last night."
"Okay, you need to wake up, because I'm having an easier time understanding Hassleberry." Syrus said.
"Sarge, you can't lead us while you're tired." Hassleberry said.
"I not tired." I said. "I just need a nap. I get it in class."
"You sound like a caveman!" Syrus yelled.
Before I could shoot back a retort, my cell phone went off. I quickly answered it. Syrus and Hassleberry looked at me.
"Well?" Hassleberry asked.
"Is it..." Syrus started.
"Yeah." I said. "A text from the kidnapper."
Author's Note: So, for bonus fun while waiting for the next chapter, try and guess who the kidnapper is in either the reviews or PMs. I won't say much, but I will tell you this. The kidnapper has at least been name-dropped, if not appeared. It's not gonna be something dumb like Franz or Bob Banter from the Genex arc appearing with no foreshadowing.
