Hey everyone! Glad you liked the last chapter. Here's a new one. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own YuGiOh GX or Jess; she still belongs to ladydream-chan.
Claimer: YAY! This ENTIRE STORY IS MINE!!!! And the one or two or three OCs that show up that aren't Jess are also mine. :)
xXx
Jaden's POV
Jesse and I jumped out of the car. We had just reached Domino City Hospital. The Pyramids parked around us but we didn't wait for them. We ran into the building, only pausing momentarily for the doors to open.
"You guys sure got here fast," Jim said once he noticed us. Everyone else quickly looked at us. Jesse sped over to him. Alexis stood up and walked over to me. She was holding Maria.
"How's Julie?" Jesse asked. Jim placed his hands on his shoulder.
"Whoa, calm down, mate. She's perfectly alright. They're removing the bullet and bandaging her up. She won't even need a sling or anything." Jesse breathed a sigh of relief and nodded.
"Sounds like she sure lucked out," Tristan said. Everyone quickly spun around to see him and the others standing behind me. Their jaws fell once they recognized them.
"Joey Wheeler! Seto Kaiba! Marik Ishtar! YUGI MUTOU!" Chazz yelled. Joey smirked and Seto.
"Hear that, Rich Boy? He said my name first." Kaiba glared at him but said nothing. Atem chuckled and took a step forward.
"I'm not Yugi. My name is Atem Adams. Yugi is just a very close friend," he explained. Aster raised an eyebrow.
"You're not related at all?" Atem shook his head. "But you guys look so similar." He chuckled again.
"We get that a lot, but I assure you we're not related." He smiled somewhat knowingly at his other members. All of them, even Kaiba, gave him some knowing smirk back. I looked at Jesse with an eyebrow raised. He just shrugged.
"Who's the other guy?" Blair asked. Tristan pointed at himself.
"Me? I'm Tristan Taylor." Axel looked at me.
"Any particular reason you have four great duelists and some random person with you, Jaden?" he asked. Tristan deflated slightly at hearing that. Joey just laughed at him.
"I thought you left to get help," Tony barked. I glared at him.
"I did get help! And what concern is it to you anyway!? You're not one of us, Tony!" He pointed at me.
"Neither are any of your friends from Duel Academy yet here they all are!" I flinched slightly. Alexis grabbed my hand and squeezed it.
"Hey, over stepping your place there, Tony," Jesse said. Jim and Axel nodded.
"We're here because we want to be here, Tony. Jay doesn't want us here anyway," Syrus said. Tony just folded his arms across his chest.
"How can they help us, Jaden?" Bastion asked jerking his head toward the men standing behind me. I glanced back at them. Atem looked at me and smiled. He looked at Bastion.
"We can't say how we can help here." Atticus cocked his head to the side.
"Why?"
"Because we'd be arrested," Joey said as he sat down in an armchair. Everyone else slowly sat down. "So wheres…" He looked at me. "What's her name?" I sighed.
"Julie." He nodded.
"Yeah, where's Julie?"
"I'm right here. Who's asking?" We turned to see her walking toward us. She was buttoning up some old flannel shirt. I recognized it as Jesse's. She must have dumped her ruined shirt. Jesse quickly went over to her.
"Are you okay?" She took a deep breath and looked at him.
"Physically, yes. The doctors assured me I'll be fine. But…Jesse." She took his hands and pulled him toward the couches around us; no one was sitting on this one for some strange reason. She forced him to sit down but remained standing herself. He was looking at her confused. "I know who shot me." His eyes grew wide and he jumped to his feet.
"Who?" He looked ready to go hunt him down and kill the bastard; something I'd gladly help him do.
"Giese," she answered. Jesse froze. He slowly turned to look at her.
"Giese?" he gasped. She stared at him worried and nodded. He blinked a few times and then staggered forward.
"Jesse!" she screamed as she grabbed him. She supported him as his legs buckled underneath him. I quickly jumped up and rushed over to them.
"Jesse, buddy, can you hear me?" I called out to him. His eyes were wide and blank.
"He's in shock," Julie said. She began pulling him toward the couch. "Help me set him down." I nodded and we both helped him sit down on it. He was still staring at nothing. "Jesse, baby, please speak to me." She was holding his hands tightly and trying to get some response out of him. Everyone moved to sit down around us, Jim on the other side of Julie and Alexis on the other side of me.
"Who's Giese?" I asked. Jesse choked on something, almost a sob, and began to shake. Julie squeezed his hands noticeably.
"He's not here, Jesse," she assured him. I gasped when I saw something I've never seen before…ever….There were tears running down Jesse's face. Tears running down his face. Jesse has never cried in front of me…ever! Then again, I've never cried in front of him. Hmm, we're not very open friends, are we?
"Who is Giese, Julie?" I demanded. She looked at me; she looked heartbroken.
"He's Jesse's uncle, the one that brought him here. The worst guardian he's ever had." Jim placed his hand on her thigh. She looked at him.
"How bad is worst?" he asked. She looked at him and was about to respond when Jesse suddenly turned to her. He wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly, his face buried in her chest. She stroked his hair and held him tightly.
"I thought Bloods were tough," Kaiba whispered to Marik. Julie heard him and whipped her head in his direction. Her eyes were set in a deadly glare.
"How would you react if the man that stole your innocence suddenly reappeared in your life after eight years?" she snarled. Everyone gasped when they heard that. Jesse continued to shake, his hands contracting around Julie's shirt.
"Oh…my god," I whispered as I turned my head away from them to look at the ground. Atem glared at Seto, who seemed to be wishing he was anywhere else but here. "I never knew."
"I didn't want you to know," Jesse whispered. I tuned to see him. He was slowly pulling away from Julie, but he still looked really freaked out. Neither of them were letting go of each other. "I wanted to forget all about that man." He let out a shaky breath.
"So this Giese man is your uncle?" Atem asked. He was looking at him with very caring eyes. Even Joey, Tristan, and Marik looked worried. Kaiba still looked to be looking for a rock to crawl under…with his normal, cool composure of course. Jesse flinched at hearing that name. He shook his head.
"He isn't really my uncle. He made that up when he saw my picture in the adoption papers. He just wanted me for…his sick pleasures." He sounded extremely afraid as he admitted this. Julie was holding his hands tightly.
"Why does Julie think he's the shooter?" Axel asked. She whirled around to glare at him.
"Do you think I'd tell Jesse anything about Giese if I wasn't one hundred percent positive I was right?" Axel was unfazed by the venom in her voice. "But to answer your question, Axel, I know it's Giese because Tony explained he had to be able to get a clear shot from over five hundred yards away. Giese is the only man who would even want to come after us Bloods with that kind of skill."
"He's an excellent marksman?" Joey asked. Jesse nodded.
"Yes. He was a brilliant hunter. I still remember the house was filled with all of his trophies. Sometimes I was afraid I'd end up among them." He pulled his hands away from Julie and buried his face in them. She shifted to rubbing his back.
"Do you actually think he's a member of the Skulls?" Jim asked. Jesse shrugged.
"It wouldn't surprise me one bit. He wasn't pleased at all when I finally ran away from him." Axel leaned back against the couch and looked at the ceiling.
"Actually, with that information, I can understand why it would be Giese. He did, after all, only shoot Julie. Even after I came into perfect range and was a prime target. He came with only one objective."
"Or order," Atem said. We all looked at him. He had his hands folded in front of his face.
"What do you mean?" I asked. He lowered his hands and looked at me.
"Well, you guys completely or nearly completely wiped out the Skulls years ago. The only remaining member or members would most likely seek help from people who hold grudges against you guys. If they found out about Giese and Jesse, they very well likely asked him to join for the chance to get revenge on him for leaving him." Jesse's face hardened.
"So that's why he only shot Julie? To get to me?" Boy, he sounded pissed! Atem nodded.
"From what I gathered…yes." Jesse cursed under his breath and shook his head. Julie grabbed his hands and squeezed them.
"Relax, I'm fine."
"But I'm not." She frowned and leaned against him, holding him tightly. He turned his head to brush his lips over the top of her head. He turned toward me and reached across me to grab Maria from Alexis, who handed her over. He cradled her in his arms as he leaned back against the couch. I looked away from him.
"So, Atem, you're saying that any of our old enemies could be members of the new Skulls?" Axel asked. Atem nodded.
"Who better to take you out than people who have motive?" We Bloods looked at each other. We'd gathered a lot of enemies over the years. I noticed Axel's face grow hard. But I looked away from him when Alexis squeezed my hand tightly. I looked at her and then away. I couldn't look at her and I don't know why. I saw Jesse and Julie murmuring out quietly to each other out of my peripheral.
I never knew how rough a life he had before I met him years ago. My mind wandered back to when I first met Jesse. He was struggling to get away…from a…man with…guns…a…hunter…I quickly looked at him
"That's Giese?" I screamed suddenly. Jesse's head snapped up to look at me confused. Then realization flashed across his eyes and his expression fell. Obviously he forgot I'd met Giese once.
And I kicked his ass.
"Perfect. You know what we just realized don't you?" he asked. I cursed under my breath and looked down at the floor.
"What did you just realize?" Joey asked. I began shaking my head. I took my hands away from Alexis to thread them through my hair.
"I'm a fucking idiot!" I whispered.
"Jesse, what is Onii-chan talking about?" Jess asked. I looked up at him. He had started rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands. Julie was holding Maria.
"Jaden?" Alexis called. I just shook my head again.
"Damn it, someone tell me what the hell is going on!" Emmy yelled. I sighed and looked up at her.
"I've met Giese. When I first met Jesse. Giese was pretty much beating the living shit of him. So, being…well, me, I jumped in and kicked Giese's ass."
"So?" Jim asked. Jesse looked at him.
"Giese didn't like that."
"So now not only is Giese out for revenge on you, Jesse, but on Jaden as well," Atem said. Everyone gasped and quickly looked at me. Because Giese was after me, he'd also be after everyone else I held dear. This meant Jess, Alexis, and all of my friends.
"This day just keeps getting worse and worse," I mumbled. "I forgot all about that." Jesse looked at me.
"I'm glad you did. Giese is not the kind of guy you'd want to remember." I just nodded.
"So Giese is a Skull. Should we be afraid?" Bastion asked.
"Yes," Jesse said quickly. I looked at Atem. He looked like he was thinking.
"Where'd Axel go?" Blair asked. Jesse and I quickly looked to where he should be sitting. Sure enough, he was gone. We looked at each other.
"He said he had something he needed to do," Jim said.
"What kind of thing?" Marik asked. Jim shrugged.
"It's Axel. You never know with him."
"Does Axel have an enemy that may want him dead?" Kaiba asked. My eyes grew wide and my head whipped up to see Jim, Jesse, Julie, and Emmy wearing similar expressions. "I'm taking that as a yes."
"He wouldn't go alone," Jesse said. Suddenly a gunshot rang through the air.
"He would!" I yelled as I jumped up. Jim was up before me and was running in the direction the sound came from. The sound came from the back of the hospital. I glanced back to see everyone running after us. Jim slammed through the doors and froze. I nearly crashed into him.
"Jim, tell me we're not one less." He looked at me.
"Than I'd be lying." I swallowed and looked around him. I froze.
"No…not again." Axel lay on the ground in front of us, bleeding profusely from a fatal gunshot in the head. It wasn't as professional as Chris' murder, but the affect was the same.
"Now we're down to five," Jesse said. I nodded mutely. Alexis walked over to me and grabbed my hand, squeezing it. I just continued to stare at Axel's lifeless body. Jim walked over to it, knelling down next to it. He pulled something out of his blood.
"I just figured out another member of the Skulls," he said.
"Who?" Marik asked. Jim stood up and looked at us. He held up what he just pulled out of Axel's blood between his thumb and forefinger. It was a rubber snake. More specifically, a viper.
"Viper," I said. He nodded. His face was very grim. Once Axel officially jumped ship to us, they had become very close. Now Axel was dead. Killed by the very man that trained him to be the man he was: Viper. That was the only name Axel gave us about the man.
"So there's Giese and Viper. That can't be it," Joey said placing his thumbnail to his lips. I nodded.
"It's not and as long as we're in the dark, we might as well be running around screaming 'Come and kill me now, Mr. and Mrs. Skulls!'" I said.
"Jaden," Alexis whispered. She placed her hand on my arm. I jerked away from her, infuriated. I began pacing.
"That's not true, Jaden," Jesse said. I stopped my pacing and glared at him.
"It so is! Giese nearly killed Julie and Viper just fucking killed Axel! We had no knowledge of them being in the Skulls and even though we know now, we can't protect ourselves from them! Giese you said yourself is a great hunter and we know that Viper is. For God's sake, he trained Axel! We might as well be running around with giant targets on our heads!" Atem took a step forward.
"I think you're being a bit ridiculous, Jaden. Just relax and we'll figure something out." I turned my glare to him.
"How can we figure something out when we know next to nothing!? Damn it, Atem! We can't fight what we don't know!"
"But you can't know anything about the Skulls. There's just no way," Hassleberry said.
"That's my point!" I yelled. Alexis quickly walked over to me, taking my hands and refusing to let go when I tried to tug them free. I just took in an unsteady breath.
"Actually…that's not entirely true," Joey said. I blinked and looked up at him confused. Everyone else was looking at him confused.
"Mind explaining, Mutt?" Kaiba asked. Joey rolled his eyes and looked at Atem.
"I told you about them, Atem." Atem nodded.
"Ah, yes. Them. I forgot about them, they could really help us out." He looked at me. I narrowed my eyes.
"Who are they?"
"Old members of the Skulls," Joey said. I blinked once.
"Wait, when I said that the Skulls were back, you guys freaked out. You mean you knew about the Skulls?" I demanded. Joey looked around the place.
"Well, I kind of forgot about them until now. I met them a few months back. They saved my life and knew I was a Pyramid but because they saved me, I spared their life. Atem was the only one I told about them."
"Why did they leave the Skulls?" Emmy asked.
"I don't know. You'd have to ask them."
"Will they help us?" I asked. Joey smiled.
"We sure can ask. I know how to find them. You, me, Jesse, and Atem can leave right away to go talk to them. Everyone else can go to the game shop and wait for us."
"They're close?" Jesse asked. He knew who we were talking about. All of us had left Axel's body. There was nothing we could do for him; he was already where he needed to be. Joey nodded.
"Yeah. They live just a twenty minute drive from here in New Domino City." Atticus looked at us as he walked over to a car that was heading to the game shop.
"Who are you guys talking about?" I looked at him, my hand on the handle of the passenger side door.
"The Signers."
xXx
A ha! :D
Not gonna say much, just review, review, review!
-x-Anime-Queen-2011-x-
-o-Mel-o-
