Can't Hide
Chapter 7: Overcast
(A/N) Yes, I'm back. Kinda, Sorta. If you've forgotten what happened in this story, I suggest you reread a few chapters.
Alexis walked through the corridors of Duel Academia, fiddling with her new tracking device – anxious, but determined to talk to Jaden. She'd already gone to his dorm, but he wasn't there. So by process of elimination, that meant he was either in the duel auditorium, or outside. There were only so many places to go on their island school.
The doors to the auditorium were wide open, as it always was on weekends. Students were scattered everywhere – socializing, observing, and dueling. Unfortunately, Jaden wasn't one of them.
"Only one place left," she muttered to herself.
She'd considered giving him a call, but she knew he wouldn't pick up. He was Jaden Yuki, after all. And 'stubborn' was his middle name.
Looking over her shoulders, she could see one of her bodyguards trailing 3 meters behind her. Alexis wished their principal hadn't assigned them to follow her. Wasn't the tracking device enough? What really concerned her the most were people's reactions to her men in blacks. All of them were clad in suits noir with matching sunglasses and had obvious wires sticking out of their ears. Cliché, but true. Mike, the one shadowing her, had a buzz cut and towered over most every student. So far, people had been too preoccupied with their own state of affairs to notice her 6'4" one. Alexis could only hope it would last that way forever.
Outside, the sun was shining, the clouds were fluffy and full, and everyone had a smile on their face. Alexis missed that. Smiling. She couldn't remember the last time she had a genuine, pure, smile on.
Lost in her reminiscing, she didn't hear the soft footsteps treading just ahead of her.
"Penny for your thoughts?"
Alexis refocused her foggy eyes and looked up at the familiar voice.
"I only accept quarters," she riposted.
Zane crossed his arms, slightly amused. He wasn't wearing his dorm colors, and instead was adorning a pair of loose dark blue jeans and a form fitting black polo shirt. Alexis was about to ask him why he wasn't in his uniform, but then she remembered he didn't go to school with them anymore. Plus, it was the weekend. Students were free to wear whatever they preferred then.
"Shouldn't you be resting? Your training starts this afternoon."
Alexis ignored his question.
"Hey, we match," she noted, pointing between their outfits.
It was true; they did match. She was wearing a denim skirt with a body-hugging black V-neck sweater.
Zane disregarded her comment and gave her a pointed look.
Alexis rolled her eyes.
"I'm not tired," she said in response to his previous question.
He arched an eyebrow.
"Those dark circles under your eyes suggest otherwise," he retorted.
Alexis sighed.
"Have you seen Jaden?" she asked.
Zane tilted his head a little, eyeing her meticulously.
"You can't help him, Alexis," he said, reading her mind. "He needs to deal with this on his own."
Alexis shook her head stubbornly, her hands balled into fists.
"No, he doesn't," she countered. "He doesn't need to deal with anything on his own. What he needs is to know his friends are beside him. He needs to know it isn't his fault."
Zane leaned against one of the pillars outlining the walkway.
"He does know that," he said. "But he hasn't accepted it yet."
"Then I'll make him accept it," she asserted. "So, do you know where he is?"
Zane remained quiet for a few seconds, weighing his options. But he knew nothing would stop the Obelisk Queen from getting what she wanted. Once she set her mind to something, she saw it through to the very end.
He aberrantly slumped his shoulder in defeat.
"He's on the beach, over at the north pier," he told her.
She gave him a half smile, before heading in that direction, with her bodyguard in tow. She was a few feet away when she turned around called out his name.
"Thanks!"
Zane shook his head, a small smile gracing his lips at her retreating figure.
"No problem," he answered softly. "No problem."
Alexis' heels sunk into the white sand as she bit back a curse. Every girl had a fanatical fad or two. Hers were boots and skirts. But at that moment, her black leather boots were not cooperating with her. She grumbled and blew her dirty blond bangs out of her line of sight as she took another step forward, onto the beach.
The loud sounds of waves crashing and the salty smell of the sea were comforting. But Alexis had not come there for relaxation. The pier was right in front of her, although it was obvious no one was on it. She looked in every direction, searching for some sign of Jaden. He was nowhere to be found. The only other person that seemed to be with her at that moment was Mike, who was still keeping his procedural distance and stood a few yards behind her in the woods.
Well, there was one thing she hadn't tried yet. She cupped her hands over her mouth.
"Jaden!" she called. "Jaden!"
The only response she got was the unappealing squawks of a flock of seagulls.
She took a deep breath and tried again.
"Jad–"
"Up here, Lex," a voice cut her off.
Alexis spun around and was greeted with Jaden's murky brown eyes. He was sitting on a low branch of the tree behind her, one foot dangling carefree and the other pulled close to his chest, propping his arm. He was still in his Slifer Red outfit. Alexis briefly wondered if her fashionably challenged friend had any other clothes besides his school uniform.
She shook her head free of her trivial thoughts.
"I've been looking everywhere for you," she said, holding back the scold in her tone.
Jaden shrugged his shoulders and scratched his head.
"Yeah . . ." he replied. "Sorry about that."
Alexis walked up to the tree and stood right below him.
"What are you doing here all by yourself?" she asked, though she already knew the answer.
Jaden's gaze drifted from hers and locked onto the ocean's foamy waves.
"Just thinking," he said.
Alexis' lips twitched.
"That must hurt," she teased.
She could see him refraining from a smile as he shook his head.
All Alexis could do was twiddle her thumbs as she watched her friend get lost in his own thoughts and guilt. She chewed her lips, feeling somewhat useless. She was torn between just walking away and running up the tree to give Jaden a good lashing. A long silence passed between them until she couldn't take it anymore.
"It's not your fault," she blurted out.
Jaden stopped whatever he was mulling over and looked at Alexis in bewilderment.
"What?"
The normally confident girl suddenly felt very vulnerable and exposed as she bit her lip.
"It's not your fault," she repeated. "Dark–Wing. The duel. The bet. The tie . . . you can't blame yourself for what happened."
Jaden slouched back into the trunk of the tree looking as crestfallen as ever.
"I gave you my word that everything would be alright. I promised I'd keep you safe, and I didn't. I broke my promise."
Alexis' heart nearly broke.
"No, Jade . . ." she sighed, using his nickname cautiously. "You didn't break anything."
"How could you say that?" he fumed. "I promised you. Then I fell for his trap. And now look where we are. That Shadow Rider is after you, and it's all my fault."
"No it isn't," she argued.
"Yeah, it is!" he cried, fire in voice and eyes. "It's my fault. I couldn't protect you!"
Alexis felt something burning inside of her as well. She loved her friend dearly, and was sympathetic toward his feelings, but all his self-pity was seriously getting on her nerves.
"I'm not a D-I-D, Jaden," she snarled.
"I know you're not," he bit back, caught up in the moment.
Then he faltered, blinking rapidly in confusion.
" . . . What's a D-I-D?"
Alexis gaped and nearly toppled over thin air. She had a sudden urge smack him and laugh all at once.
"What?" she asked, uncertain if she'd heard him correctly.
"What's a D-I-D?"
"Damsel in distress," she answered.
A look of enlightenment replaced his former anger.
"Oh."
He paused and looked at her.
"Well, you're definitely not a 'damsel'," he observed.
Annoyance dissipated, Alexis exhaled noisily.
"Jaden?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you know what a 'damsel' is?"
" . . . Yeah."
"Really?"
" . . . No."
A small chuckle found its way through Alexis' lips.
"You're laughing," Jaden stated.
"Yeah," she agreed. "I am."
Jaden smiled.
A comfortable feeling passed through them. Jaden was back to normal.
'Well, as normal as a guy like him can get anyway,' she thought to herself.
He jumped off the branch and landed with a soft 'thud' onto the sand, right in front of Alexis.
A wide grin had settled on his face.
"Want to go back and look for the others?" he suggested.
Alexis smiled.
"Sure," she said.
But their peaceful moment was short lived. A small scuffling sound came from the trees behind Alexis. She twisted around, seeking out the source of the disruption.
"What was that?" she wondered aloud.
"I don't know," Jaden said.
Another scuffle noise, but this time, a grunt followed. Alexis' heart started beating faster and her hands grew clammy. She took a step back from the trees and stood behind Jaden. It was that feeling again. The same one she got in the pit of her stomach when she saw Principal Sheppard walk into her classroom and the same one when Syrus had phoned her and told her Jaden was missing.
"Uh, Lex?"
Alexis glanced at Jaden out of the corner of her eye.
"Yeah?"
"Where's that bodyguard that was following you?"
Relief flooded through her veins. How could she forget Mike, her protection?
"He's right over . . ." Alexis halted. " . . . there?"
She pointed to an area of the woods to their right, where Mike should have been. But wasn't.
A small, ominous breeze blew by.
Alexis gulped. The feeling she had worsened.
"Mike?" she called out. "Mike, where are you?"
No answer.
And another gust of wind came by.
Alexis and Jaden exchanged a look of panic and worry. The same thought went through their heads. Something bad had happened to Mike.
Jaden took a sudden step towards the woods, and Alexis immediately grasped his arm, pulling him back.
"Where do you think you're going?" she hissed.
"Why are you whispering?" he murmured back.
She dug her nails deeper into Jaden's arm.
"I don't know," Alexis gritted through her teeth.
He ignored the pain caused by her sharp, manicured cuticles and took another step forward. Alexis had no choice but to follow him.
They weren't but a few yards into the fairly dense forest when Alexis notice something out of the corner of her eye. She unlatched herself from Jaden and stared at what appeared to be a pair of sunglasses.
Black sunglasses.
Alexis picked it up and examined the spectacles. The glass was cracked and the frames were completely broken. It looked like an elephant had trampled over it.
"Oh my– "
"Hey, Lex! Over here!"
Alexis jumped at Jaden's cry, dropping Mike's sunglasses in the process. She ran towards his voice just a couple meters away.
Jaden stood somewhat hunched over a large mass of . . . something, Alexis wasn't quite sure what.
And she wished she'd been left in the dark.
Alexis gasped and choked back tears the moment Jaden turned around to reveal an unconscious Mike.
Her bodyguard lied there, unmoving and awfully pale. His eyes were wide-open, pupils blank. He looked the same way her other guards looked when she'd found them with her brother the night Jaden went missing. He looked like the life had been sucked out of him.
"Is he . . ." Alexis gulped, almost afraid to ask.
"No," Jaden said. "He's still breathing."
Alexis licked her lips and placed a hand over her racing heart. He fingers instinctively ran over her crystal pendant – her tracking device.
The wind started picking up once more, this time stronger. She looked up at the sky, and noticed that the sun was no longer shining. Thick, gray clouds were beginning to form and a small rumble could be heard from the far off distant.
"Do think whoever did this is still around?" she asked Jaden, still staring at the overcast sky.
He shook his head, looking at her with apprehension.
"I don't know. Maybe."
Alexis' eyes skimmed over Mike's pasty face before she glimpsed down at her glittering, diamond-like gem.
"Do you think this an emergency?"
Jaden was taken aback.
"I – um, well, yeah."
Alexis nodded slightly.
"Ok."
And she squeezed her pendant.
(A/N) And I'm slowly getting back to my stories. I'm terribly sorry for the long wait. I'm in my senior year of high school right now, and I need to focus on my AP's and college applications. Hopefully, you'll see another chapter out by the middle of next month. Hopefully. And the pairing is still a surprise.
