Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX or 'At The Sign Of The Sugared Plum'

Chapter 8

Bad News

Some two weeks passed, and Jaden saw his bluenette boyfriend (not that he'd call Jesse that in public) regularly, every two or three days. During that time, more people continued to die of the plague, and each week the number of deaths shown in the Bills Of Mortality seemed to get higher and higher, until even Jaden Yuki began to be in dismal spirits. People lay dead in the streets if nobody happened to see them die, and it often took a while for the death cart to arrive. The death cart began to come in the daytime as well as at night, because the hours of darkness weren't enough to collect all the bodies and transport them to the plague pits.

Jesse told the brunette that Redfern Manor had not been enclosed and that Atticus Rhodes had recently left for the security of the country. The servant there had been taken to a pesthouse (a hospital for people sick of something contagious) and so the plague hadn't spread to the rest of the house.

Even Jaden was grumpy on that morning - he'd been up ridiculously early making bread with herbs strewn through the mixture, because he couldn't sleep. The previous week, he had heard horrible news from Jim: Hasselberry had been taken on the death cart. Jaden sorely missed his friend and hadn't been in the best of moods in the week since his death. He'd accepted that Hasselberry had died, but what he couldn't stand was the thought of his body being thrown without any care into a plague pit, along with so many other poor corpses.

The news came on a perfectly sunny day, when - if the houses enclosed had been open and there had been people laughing in the streets - everything would've looked calm and happy. Jaden was thrown the wasted bread outside when he suddenly saw a man running towards him, a young man with a cloak and reddish purple hair. The man stopped in front of Jaden and surveyed him.

"You're Jaden, right? Jaden Yuki?"

"Yeah, that's me. Who are you?"

"I'm Adrian" he panted, tired from the running. "I work in Mapleside Manor."

That's where Jesse works, Jaden thought.

"What's wrong?" he asked fearfully. "Does Jesse need me for something, or does your mistress want special breads or cakes?"

"No" Adrian said grimly. "It's our house. Our house has been enclosed!"

Jaden felt all the blood in his body run cold.

"Jesse told me to come and tell you. I've got to go tell Princeton at the tailor's, too."

"Tell Chazz? Why?"

"You didn't know? Chazz is Blair's sweetheart, and she's shut up in that house just as Jesse is, and the master and mistress, and their children."

"How did you get out, then?"

"I ran off. Two maids got away as well, but Jesse and Blair shouted down to me and told me to run and tell you two about it."

"Thanks."

"Well, I've got to go. I'll find a way to sneak out of the city. Good luck."

"Good luck with what?" Jaden whispered.

"Jesse said that if you go around to the back window, he said you'd know which one, then he'd speak to you from there."

"Thanks" Jaden repeated, recalling that Jesse had said this once before.

Adrian nodded once and then ran off the tell Chazz Princeton of Blair's enclosed house before running home.

Aster had never seen Jaden like this. He walked into the shop as pale as a sheet, like he'd seen a ghost or several. Like he'd just heard something truly awful. Maybe another neighbour had been taken sick? He glanced out the shop door to their only good friend in the neighbourhood's house. No signs of plague there, so Jim must be okay. What, then? He asked his cousin and the brunette near enough broke down into tears. He turned his back on his cousin and told him that Jesse had been shut up in Mapleside Manor. He told him about Adrian, and all that he'd said.

"Who is it that's sick?" Aster asked fearfully.

"He didn't tell me."

"It may not be Jesse. He might be as well as ever."

"But he's shut up in a house of plague!" Jaden growled angrily. "He'll catch the plague and get sick and be in pain and then he'll die and …" Here came the tears. "I have to go and see him Aster!"

"Go then" Aster whispered.

He was scared that it may be dangerous for Jaden to go near a house full of plague, but he knew better than to argue. He had seen what Jaden felt for Jesse, something that he'd never heard his cousin admit and - knowing Jaden - his cousin didn't even realise himself. But he knew Jaden - he knew that he was in love. Aster had grown reasonably fond of Jesse himself, and realised that if he was willing to love Jaden, and he definitely was, then Aster wouldn't be able to stand in their way.

Aster hugged his little cousin until he stopped crying and then Jaden walked out the door. He walked off in the direction of Mapleside Manor, leaving Aster to worry and hope that everything would be okay in the end.


Please R&R