Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX

Chapter 3

Memories Flooding Back

I see Yubel one more time, and this time it is for longer. She does not speak nor move, instead she stands in the one spot for a full five minutes, her mismatched eyes focused intently on me. Her face is unreadable, an impenetrable fortress, but her gaze burns. Literally; the scar on the back of my shoulder pricks with fire when she looks at me, causing me to wince involuntarily. I have to fight to keep my eyes open because I am afraid to close them; if I do and Yubel disappears, I will feel more defeated than I ever have before in this fake life of mine.

It is late at night and I haven't tried to reach into my mind for a few days - the energy has been pulled out of me, though I have no idea why. But when I do finally try again, I am not even a minute into it when my eyes snap open instinctively to stare at Yubel, partly in horror and partly in awe. She is terrifying, she is beautiful, she is mysterious. Most of all, she is annoying, because I desperately want to know who she is. I have no real idea.

Yubel is a card, the card I woke up with and the one with whom I will never part from. However, in and of herself, she is a stranger to me. I don't know who she is or where she came from, though when I force myself to stare into her eyes - briefly, for my scar stings more when I look directly into those eyes - I can tell that she knows me.

I only wish she would speak. I want her to talk to me, tell me who I am and who she is, but she doesn't say a word.

And when I open my mouth to ask her for myself, she is gone. Just like that, Yubel vanishes and I am all alone in this house with nothing but a card for company. I lean forward to pick up the card I had previously been holding but I am forced to drop it - the card is burning.

How is this possible? Yubel's card is impossibly hot to touch, but it is fully in tact and carefully kept; it isn't on fire.

I don't know what that was. I don't know how to call her back to me. I don't know what to do.

So I am, I suppose, very lucky that the door goes at this moment and I have to stir and go answer it.

Although when I do, I wish I hadn't.

Because this is the point when my fake life begins to fade and my old life begins to return, and in these first moments, I realise that my amnesia was never a curse.

It was a blessing, one that I wished away.

How foolish I was.

/

"Thought we'd never see you again, Your Highness."

"You gave everyone a real shock when you disappeared."

My head is aching and so I can barely make out the words being said, nor see the people speaking them. It is dark in this van - there are no lights and we are in the back of the dingy van, being bounced around terribly since whoever is driving is doing so recklessly and at a speed far over the limit.

I am not alone. There are two people here with me - how did I get here?

The memories from a short while ago flood back: I answered the door and was blindfolded and dragged out the door of my house, a hand over my mouth to stop me making noise. I'm glad only that I had my wits about me enough to shove the precious Yubel card deep into my pocket, wondering how it got here.

One of my kidnappers must have picked it up. But why? And how? It was so hot to touch …

The blindfold is gone now but it is too dark for that simple fact to really make a big difference. Too dark for me to see who is in front of me.

"Who are you?" I growl, trying to sound threatening and unafraid; I don't succeed.

"Easy there, mate, you got nothing to be afraid of" one voice answers - an Australian accent, which surprises me, since I don't know anyone with such an accent. At least, Jaden Yuki doesn't. "We've just come to take you home."

"What?" I gasp.

Take me home? Where is home? Where are we going?

"There's no point, Jim. He doesn't remember us."

"Who are you?"

Now I'm desperate enough that I don't even care how pleading my voice must sound. These people, I think they are from my past. They know me even if I don't know them. They could hold the key to revealing my past to me.

"Calm down" the second voice says. This one has a different accent, closer to home. "I'm Axel and this is Jim."

"We're your advisors, mate."

"Advisors?" I ask, completely confused. "I don't get it."

"Of course not" says the second man - Axel, I think.

"See, we lost you a while back. Nobody knew what had happened to you. The place is falling apart without you, Yuki, one of the rival counts is still trying to take over" Jim says. "See, we were just going to rule ourselves but then we got a tip that you were here, and we looked around for you until we were sure."

"Sorry, but I … I don't …"

"Easy, mate. You've lost your memory, right?"

I nod, forgetting that they can't see me, but Jim still seems to understand.

However, he doesn't answer me. Neither of them do, and when I start talking they tell me to be quiet until we get to a safe place.

I don't know whether to be reassured or terrified at this news.

Please R&R