Lost Heaven
by BridgitKiido

Disclaimer: I don't own GX.

Spoiler warning: This story will contain references to flashbacks first mentioned in the fourth season. However, the majority of it takes place during the first and second seasons. There will be heavier spoilers for those (though, obviously, things will be quite different in parts).

. 7 .

He gives you a wave of his long brown tail
Which says: I'll see you again!
You'll meet without fail on the Midnight Mail
The Cat of the Railway Train.'
-Andrew Lloyd Webber and T. S. Eliot, "Skimbleshanks: The Railway Cat"

It had all sounded so easy in his head.

After his fight with D.D. (which had been unexpected in itself, in more ways than one, to say the least), Edo had planned the entire thing out. He would take the helicopter that Samejima had sent (though the man wasn't on it) back to Duel Academy and find Saiou. From there, he would duel him and free him from the Light of Destruction. Mizuchi had said he was one of the only ones who could, and now that he knew exactly what had happened, he felt as though he was the only one who could.

Unfortunate that he had underestimated the Light's dueling abilities, no?

Then again, he hadn't really ever seen Saiou's deck before. How was he to know that he had such dangerous monsters in store? The Light Ruler's power was like nothing he had ever faced before – and he had faced Bloo-D.

(This, and a small part of him was scared to duel Saiou and win, scared for his friend's safety, for his life almost.)

As Edo's body turned to dust before him, Saiou – no, the Light of Destruction in Saiou's body, because Saiou's soul had taken Edo's side – smirked. Perhaps this boy could be of use to him, once his body was recreated. The soul that it housed was useless, of course, but the body would be an excellent servant.

It was easy enough for the Light to create Edo's body again from the ash. It was a near-omnipotent force, especially with all of its supporters to draw energy from. It made a few changes, of course, to suit its liking – the hair would have to be pure white now, with even paler skin, and of course, the irises in the eyes were pointless novelties. But when he was done, there stood an emotionless, fully obedient clone of the boy who had dared to try to destroy the Light.

And the Light smiled with a malevolent grin. White Thunder's charisma was useful for spreading the Light's message and power, but this White Phoenix would make an excellent bodyguard.


Part of Judai's being was yelling at him inside, telling him that he had to do something, that he had to duel Manjoume or Sho or Misawa or someone and free them from that strange force that had taken over the island. He was the chosen protector of kind darkness, or at least that was what the Neo-Spacians had said – he should be doing something to live up to that!

But the louder part was fearful. What if something happened again? What if he killed them, like he'd killed Asuka's brother? Sho had clearly stated that he didn't want to die – if he was worried enough to say that, there was a chance it could happen. It was hard enough living with the stain of killing one person accidentally – he couldn't deal with dueling someone, knowing that they would probably die if they lost to him.

Which was why he was in Chronos' office that morning.

"You want to what?" Chronos asked him, shocked as the Osiris Red student held out the pendant he had been wearing around his neck. Half of it had been given to him by the Gravekeeper clan, the other half by Fubuki.

"I want to give you this," Judai repeated. "It holds some sort of power connected to dark energy – if I'm right, it should at least protect you from the Light thing that's going around."

"But Judai – "

"Principal Chronos," Judai interrupted, "I can't do anything to fix what's happening, but I'm not going to stand back and let them get you if I can help it. But I can't ask you to come with me and hide – even if you agreed, they would notice."

Chronos hesitated for a moment before finally giving in and accepting the pendant. "All right then, Judai – I will wear this, na no ne. But tell me, where will you go, na no ne?" After all, he was the principal, and therefore had a duty to make sure that all of his students – sane or not – were accounted for.

Judai attempted to smile. "Don't worry about me – Kenzan and I found a cave underground the other day. We're going to go down there for a little while with Junko, Momoe, and Kabayama-sensei. Hopefully we'll be able to come up with a plan of action there."

"There are that few who haven't succumbed, na no ne…" Chronos muttered. Of course, Emi Ayukawa wouldn't be on the list – she ran the infirmary, which she had declared a completely neutral zone. She wouldn't have turned white, but she wouldn't hide either.

Napoleon… well, Napoleon was a lost cause, now. Chronos was actually lucky at the moment – the vice principal was out at a new convert brunch, socializing with the rest of the members of the Hikari no Kessha. That was the only reason he and Judai were able to have this conversation.

"Well, I suppose I can't stop you, na no ne," Chronos replied. "Stay safe, Judai, na no ne."

"I will," Judai promised, and with that, he left the room, to return to the rest of his resistance group. He couldn't stay away from them for too long – though he knew Kenzan wouldn't turn white, thanks to his Dino DNA, he couldn't guarantee the same about the others.

Chronos, meanwhile, placed the round pendant hesitantly around his neck. Then, almost as an afterthought, he hid it beneath his robes. It probably would not be a good idea to alert the Kessha to the fact that he had it, after all.

While Napoleon was out, meanwhile, he would quickly send a small e-mail to an old colleague of his. It had been a while since they'd spoken, yes, but someone in the outside world had to know about what was going on.


Ryou's training had gone quite well. Though Samejima had been reluctant at first, the Kaiser had won their duel, and so as per their deal, the former principal had agreed to teach him the secrets of the Tails side of the Cyber Style. And though the Tails side was technically the dark side, which was what had taken the others, Ryou had agreed to train with the cards, focusing immediately on keeping a balance between Heads and Tails, light and darkness. And respect. Always respect.

At this point, he was (on Samejima's suggestion) taking a short break from his training to stay in town for a little while. He had rented an apartment – it was rather comfortable, for such a small room.

He was just about to look through the phone book to choose a restaurant from which to order some takeout for dinner – he didn't really feel like going to the store for groceries even if he was positive he wasn't going to burn it – when his cell phone rang. And when the caller ID stated that it was his brother on the phone, Ryou picked up.

"Hello."

"Hi, Brother."

"Hi, Sho. How are you?"

"I'm more than fine," Sho replied, and though his tone seemed normal enough, something in the back of Ryou's mind started feeling a little uneasy. "I've just been hanging out with some new friends lately. You should really meet them sometime."

"Maybe I will."

"It's been a while since I've seen you." Again, there was that uneasiness. "How has your training been going?"

"Fine. I'm actually taking a break from it right now for a little while. It's somewhat difficult, but I think I'm getting the hang of balancing it pretty well."

"Do you think you might be visiting Duel Academy any time soon? I'd love to see you."

Ryou thought this over for a moment. He wasn't sure what, but something was definitely different about Sho. And it was as though something was trying to penetrate his own mind, too, though he couldn't tell what. It was being blocked by something, but he could tell it was there.

At that moment, a new e-mail message appeared on Ryou's computer – he had been catching up on some of the latest up and comers in the Pro Circuits, for when he decided to return. It was from Samejima, forwarded from Chronos.

As he skimmed the contents, his eyes widened for a moment, but then he replied to his expecting younger brother, "Maybe. In fact, I think I might come at the beginning of your next semester, to say hi."

If what the message said was true, then it wasn't just a feeling.


"I really don't think it's a good idea this year, na no ne," Chronos muttered hurriedly into the phone. "I know it's been scheduled for a long time, and I know the students will be disappointed, but Duel Academy is… undergoing a rather difficult transition period, and so I don't think we're quite ready to host any exchange students, na no ne."

Cobra, on the other end, was not going to let up. "For the sake of the relations of our schools, Principal Chronos, I really don't think you should simply cancel the program on such a whim." Though the tone of his voice implied that there were far more reasons than just 'for the sake of relations'.

"But I really don't think…" Chronos began.

"Principal Chronos, de aru," Napoleon suddenly burst into the room, sweeping his white robe behind him. "There you are – I've been looking everywhere for you, de aru."

"V-Vice Principal Napoleon," was Chronos' nervous reply as he attempted to smile. "I've just been discussing some things with Professor Cobra from West Academy, na no ne." Turning back to the phone, he replied, "Of course we're still able to host the exchange program this year, na no ne." After all, if Napoleon found out that he had been trying to cancel it in order to prevent the Hikari no Kessha's influence from spreading further… well, amulet or not, there was still only one Chronos, and hundreds of white students who would easily have his head if Saiou commanded it.

Though mildly unnerved for a moment by Chronos' change of heart, Cobra was quite pleased. "Excellent. Now, about the exhibition duel I was suggesting…"

"Oh, no, no, no, we can't have that, na no ne," Chronos interrupted. "The exchange students will have never experienced Japanese culture before – it would be so much more of an educational experience if there is a different sort of welcoming event. Like, say…" he wracked through his brain until an idea struck him. "A concert, na no ne!"

"A concert?" Cobra tilted his head in a mildly annoyed manner.

"Yes," Chronos replied. "And I know just the person who will perform, na no ne. A former student of this school, even, na no ne."

"Well, fine then," Cobra sighed. "You're hosting it, after all – I can't complain. I'll see you at the start of the next semester then." And with that, the other end of the phone clicked off.

Chronos sighed with relief as Napoleon, apparently having found what he needed without Chronos' help, left the room. He then searched through his notes. He kept track of all of his former students' exploits, after all, and it just so happened that his nephew's step-sister's cousin's aunt's brother-in-law's niece had a friend whose uncle was one particular former student's manager.

He just hoped that he would be able to be true to his word and get the young idol named Asuryn to perform on the island, especially given everything that had happened.


It would be the start of a new school year, now. Not that Asuka was particularly worried about that – she had asked the principal of her current school, and he had agreed to give her the first week off. It was a good deal for him, really – he kept the secret of her career path and let her stay out of school x number of days more than normally permitted, and he got free tickets for him and his family of four to her concerts. Though she would have given him the tickets even if he hadn't agreed to that – he was a nice man, and she respected him a lot.

She had almost been unable to perform this concert, actually. Just the sheer fact that it was on Duel Academy Island turned her father against the idea completely – apparently, even a year and a half after the fact he was still paranoid about the place. But after promising that she wouldn't so much as touch a Duel Monsters card while she was there and that she would be careful, he reluctantly agreed.

(Though she had sort of guilt-tripped him. After all, he had destroyed one dream of hers – why was he destroying a second one?)

She had brought fourteen red roses with her on the boat, which she planned to leave in front of the Abandoned Dormitory in her brother's memory – two for each day she planned to be there. The rest of the boat carried various cargo – pieces of the stage that would be set up in the week before the performance, microphones and other electronics, her clothing and make up (though it was a necessary evil, Asuka still didn't really like the make up all that much), and some trailers for the workers. She'd gotten permission to sleep in her old room in the Obelisk Dormitory (even if Chronos had seemed a little reluctant on the phone), so that was taken care of.

Her hand reached into the pocket of her jacket and stroked the small, rectangular fold-up mirror that resided there. It was a bit of a nervous habit, just to make sure it was still there and hadn't fallen out.

And as the boat rode the waves, Asuka stood at the prow and smiled as she saw Duel Academy for the first time in far too long.


Author's Notes: D.D.'s dub name is The D, while Bloo-D's name got changed to Plasma. Don't ask me why – probably something like 'oh, we can't mention blood on a children's show, the kids will scream in terror!' Professor Cobra, meanwhile, is dubbed into Professor Viper.

This is approximately where the Asuka that I play at Econtra is pulled from, if anyone is interested in knowing that.

And to the person asking for fluff… well, I'm not sure what your definition is, and I'm not promising anything that will definitely fit your definition, but the next chapter sees some Asuka and Manjoume interactions, if that's what you're looking for. Perhaps not fluff, persay, but this is marked tragedy for a reason.