Warnings: Atticus. And Jaz and Mindy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh GX

Year Three Part One: Journeys

Atticus was starting to get suspicious.

" Don't you think it's kinda weird?"

" What's kinda weird?"

" Yeah, Atticus, you're not making any sense."

" C'mon, you're telling me you haven't noticed Jazz!"

" Noticed what?"

" The way those guys've been acting."

" I've been a little distracted by the sudden drop in our student body."

" Jazz is right, Atty. You must've noticed!"

" I have, I have. It's just..."

" What, Atty?"

" ...Are you two telling me that you really haven't noticed?"

" Noticed what?"

" Atty, at least talk in a way that we understand."

" I can't believe you guys are actually ignoring this."

" Ignoring what?"

" C'mon Mindy, don't act dumb."

" I'm not! I just don't know what's got you so worked up and grumpy! You've been like this since the year started!"

" Actually, Min, he's been like this since last year ended."

" Hmmm?"

" He's been all grouchy since Jaden left to defeat the Light."

" ...Doesn't it bother you two? The way it all went down last year?"

" ...I..."

" Because it bothers me. It bothers me a lot. Don't you guys feel like you're being left outta the loop?"

" In case it's escaped your notice, Atty, we're always out of the loop."

" What?"

" Mindy and I aren't like the rest of you guys. We're not gonna be saving the world any time soon. We're just along for the ride."

" Jasmine..."

" No Atticus, listen to me. I had a lot of time to think about it this summer, and I realized something: I'm not the hero here. I'm not, okay? I'm barely even a side character. I'm just here. This is all one damn giant rollercoaster ride, but I'm not in the front row or the back. I'm somewhere in the middle, so I can't see what's coming and I can't rush out to meet it. It's a ride Atty. And I'm on it 'til it stops, for better or for worse."

" That isn't fair, Jazz. You can't just..."

" No, maybe it's not fair. Maybe it's wrong and I'm owed more than that. I've been there for all of it, too. I saw the Light take over Lexi just as much as you did, and I saw Jaden pull It back out of Ojin. I know that I'm a part of this story, but..."

" Jazz..."

" Mindy and I...we're not the main characters. Not here. This is someone else's story right now. We're not like Jaden or Lexi, or Lia. We can't be."

" Jasmine, you shouldn't just settle for-"

" What else can I do?"

" ..."

"..."

" What else is there, huh? Do I storm in and demand a bigger part? Do I disrupt everything for the sake of my ego? This isn't my story, Atty. Someday, I'll have one, and I'll look back on this and remember as something I was a part of, but it's not my story. Not this time."

" So you're saying we should all just sit back and let them plan behind our backs? Is that it? I should just let my sister hurl herself into danger and never raise a finger to help?"

" That's not what I'm saying."

" Really? Because it sure sounds like it."

" Guys, please don't fight."

" No Mindy, this needs to be said. Don't take your frustrations out on me, Atticus. I put up with last year, but now I'm drawing a line in the sand."

" Stop being so self-righteous! Our friends are in danger, right now. You know they're planning something."

" They always do."

" Not like this, Mindy. It's always been us waiting for whatever it is to come out way. This time they're..."

" They're?"

" ...It's like they're the ones planning the first move. Like they're the ones who'll strike first."

" It's their story."

" But they could get themselves killed!"

" Have some faith, would you?! You're running around, acting like they're little kids who need to be supervised, but they're not! They've faced this kind of thing before. We all have!"

" But you said-"

" I'd said we faced it, not that we'd fought it. Damnit, Atticus, you're acting like this kind of thing has never happened before! They've fought this before, and they've won! They've won, Atticus! So why don't you do what Jaden told you to and believe in them?!"

" That's my baby sister out there! You can't expect me to just sit back and let something happen to her!"

" She's not a baby anymore! Alexis grew up!"

" She'll always be my baby sister! And it's my job to protect her from anything that wants to hurt her!"

" Guys, come on. Stop yelling, please."

" He needs to hear this, otherwise he'll never understand."

" Understand what?"

" Don't glare at me, Atticus Rhodes."

" Then don't goad me."

" I'm not goading you, I'm trying to tell you something!"

" What?"

" That maybe Alexis doesn't need protection, from anyone! Maybe she's strong enough to stand on her own!"

" And what happens when she gets overconfident and is in over her head?"

" That's what Jaden's for!"

" Jaden?! He's got it worse than her! He'll run himself ragged by the end of the month!"

" You just don't trust him!"

" I trust Jaden to be a good guy and I trust him to come through in the end, but no, I'm not gonna trust a guy who gave my sister back her memories of the Society of Light!"

" She needed those! They made her strong!"

" They hurt her!"

" 'That which does not kill us makes us stronger'!"

" Don't you try and go all philosophical on me, Jasmine Makita! Lexi was hurt bad by what she remembered."

" But she came back fine!"

" She's been weird all summer! She barely spoke a word to us and she kept staring into the distance!"

" She went through a lot! She had some stuff to sort out!"

" Of course she did! But she wouldn't have if Jaden hadn't given her back her memories!"

" Atticus, think about what you're saying. You want Lex to be ignorant?"

" Better ignorant than in that kind of pain, Min."

" You don't know what you're talking about."

" Don't you even fucking start with me, Jazz. I'd give anything to get rid of my memories of the Abandoned Dorm, but I can't."

" ...That's what this is about, isn't it?"

" What?"

" Mindy, what are you talking about?"

" You're still trying to save them, aren't you? All those people you lost."

" ...I..."

" You're still trying to make up for what happened that night."

" ...It's not...that isn't..."

" Oh god, she's right, isn't she? That's why you're trying so hard all the time. You still feel guilty."

" ...You couldn't possibly understand."

" No, I can't but..."

" Oh, Atty."

" ...Atticus, they're gone. That night is behind you, and nothing will change it. It's time to let go and move on."

" ..."

" Atticus-"

" No."

" Huh?"

" It will never be gone. It will never be over. That night will haunt me until the day that I die. And I'll live my whole life trying to make up for what happened."

" But it wasn't your fault."

" I brought them there, Min. I made them come along. I...I killed them."

" Atticus..."

" That's why...That's why I have to protect Alexis and the others. I have to make up for what I did that night. You might be content to sit around and watch them die, but I'm not."

" That's not what I said at all!"

" It was what you meant."

" No, it wasn't!"

" Jazz is right, Atty. All she said was-"

" It's the same thing! Sitting around, letting them throw themselves into danger, it's just as bad as throwing them yourself! And using that stupid excuse, that it's not 'her story'...it just makes me –"

" It's not your story either!"

Atticus froze. Across from him, Jasmine was teary-eyed but firm. Mindy looked in between, hands clasped and already crying. Jasmine was panting from the exertion of her yell. Atticus, though flushed from fighting with her, went very pale under the blood. His eyes never left Jasmine's.

" ...What?"

The redhead shook her head, trying to gather her thoughts.

" It's...It's not your story either, Atticus. I'm not sure whose it is, but it's not mine, and it's not Mindy, and it's not yours either. Maybe it's Jaden's, and maybe it's Syrus', and maybe, right now, it's becoming Alexis', but it's not yours."

She stared hard at him.

" Don't try and make it into something it's not."

Atticus met her gaze for a few seconds, bewildered. Then his eyes sharpened, his face went dark, and Jasmine knew she'd failed.

" Don't tell me what to do." He snapped and stormed out of the room slamming the door shut behind him. Jasmine breathed and sank onto the bed. Mindy was at her side in a moment, wrapping an arm around her shoulders in a one-armed hug.

" You okay?" She asked after a few minutes of silence.

" I meant it." Jasmine whispered. " I meant what I said. It's not our story. I didn't understand that last year, not at first, but I do now. I'm sure they'll come and get us before the end, or we'll find our way to them, but we won't have a role. It's not about us. It's about them."

" I thought that too." Mindy gave a soft smile. " And you know?" Jasmine shook her head. Mindy stood, spinning around with her arms wide. The sun streamed in through the open window, and a breeze that smelled of the ocean played with the curtains. Mindy laughed, a sounded that reminded Jasmine of silver bells.

" I don't think it matters that it's not ours. Because we'll find our own stories. We'll find them and make them into something grand. And you know what else?"

She stopped spinning. The sunlight caught in her hair and made her eyes sparkle. She looked very pretty, but different than how she normally looked. A different kind of light was in her face. She looked more grown up than Jasmine had ever seen her old friend.

" What?" She asked, unable to resist Mindy's infectious grin.

" Someday, when we look back on these days, and we talk about the epic that is Jaden and Lexi's story, we'll have something better than everyone else- We'll get to say we were there."

She looked out to the sparkling blue ocean and for a moment, Jasmine could almost picture her friend old and gray, talking to a child she was balancing on her knee. She wondered if Mindy's eyes would look the same.

" And isn't that enough?"

Jasmine got up to stand next to her friend. Outside, the day swam by slowly in the blue of the sky, and somewhere, Jaden Yuki began to make a plan of attack.

" Yeah." Jasmine breathed. " It's enough."

It was almost midnight when the trio came back.

Alexis, Jaden and Chazz had run out on a mission to the place where Jim had started picking up the vibrations. He'd offered to come, but they'd declined, citing that they were going to " ...do some things that you will not understand, and will take way too long to explain right now, so just sit tight. We'll be back.", and then vanished into the approaching night.

They'd all but set up base in Chazz's living room. Blair might have overtaken one or more of the bedrooms (even Chazz wasn't sure, because he didn't dare go back there after one incident in which he'd had the unfortunate timing to catch Blair as she left the bathroom in only a towel, and proved that her aim was almost as good as Lia's), but she was gone from the Dorm a lot. She might fawn over Jaden whenever he was within sight, and send him 'bento's like crazy once she'd figured out what the boxes were from the 'Juudai-sama' fans, but a majority of her time seemed to be taken up with nagging and looking after a boy in the Ra Yellow called 'Marcel'. Lia mentioned that he was a small, dopey eyed young boy who certainly didn't look his professed almost 15 years. Still, he kept Blair out of the Dorm and out of their hair, so no one questioned it.

Currently, Lia was sitting cross-legged on top of the kitchen table, a book in her hands. She refused to be any lower, given that Shirley was lurking underfoot somewhere. She'd run into Jim several times and, at his pleading insistence, tried to force herself to be able to be around the crocodile without suffering from a panic attack. More often than not, the attempts led to her diving into the nearest arms she could find (sometimes Alexis, sometimes a confused Jesse, and once a protesting Chazz, who'd proceeded to drop her and then start a fight, sufficiently distracting her from the reptile), but she was getting a little better.

She wasn't screaming at the sight of Jim anymore, which was a vast improvement.

But she still refused to be within biting range and from the kitchen table, though she told no one, she could leap to the counter where the knife block was. It was comforting, and helped her not whimper every time there was a flash of green under her feet.

For her part, Shirley seemed to get some kind of sadistic pleasure out of making Lia jumped. She could probably sense the fear the young girl was exuding, but why the reptile wriggled and squirmed and tried to get close to Lia was a mystery. Jim had jokingly said that Shirley just liked her, to which Lia had screamed and started scaling the nearest tree, shouting that she most certainly did not like Shirley back.

Jim had been disappointed, and Alexis had been fighting off a migraine. It took them an hour and a half to get Lia to come back down, and she only did that after Jim had retreated t a safe distance.

Lia had gotten better, but she refused to touch Shirley, and the second Jim started to let the crocodile out of the improvised backpack he carried her around in, Lia was retreating to higher ground

Jesse was sitting with Jim, not bothered by the bright green mass that was waddling around the room, looking for entertainment. She kept eyeing Hassleberry and Syrus where they were sitting by Lia, but one warning look from Jim had her wandering off, knowing that even a playful nip would be met by disapproval. Hassleberry was carefully sorting through his cards while Syrus stared hard at the copy of the symbol that he'd received. Chazz had made photocopies, and they'd each been given one.

Lia put the book down.

" Done?" Syrus asked. She nodded tiredly.

" How'd it end?" Hassleberry didn't look up from his cards. By the couch, Jesse sat up and stretched, yawning tiredly.

" The same way it did the last time I read it." Lia tapped Notre Dame de Paris against the table. " Tragically."

" Ah only evah saw th' Disney version." Jesse confessed sheepishly. Lia gave a sardonic smile.

" Not the truest adaptation, but a good one nonetheless."

She might have said more, or a lighthearted discussion about timeless childhood films might have broken out, had the door not banged open.

Jesse looked up, his smile of welcome quickly changing into a look of horror as he took in the scene.

" Hey, y-Jesus Chrahst!"

Chazz held the door open as Jaden led Alexis in. She was hunched over and had her hands covering her eyes. Between the fingers, blood was dripping.

" Moi god, wha' 'appened?!" Jim leapt from the couch to make room as Jaden gently deposited Alexis. Lia hurried over, a wet washcloth in her hands that she gave to Chazz, her fear of Shirley temporarily forgotten.

" We need ta get 'er t' the nurse, blokes." Jim reached down to pick the bleeding girl up, but Chazz blocked him. " The bloody 'ell, mate?"

Chazz shook his head curtly.

" Jaden." He said, never looking away from Alexis. Lia knelt and took the older girl's hand over the arm of the couch, holding it tight.

"Aniki, go." Syrus whispered, even as Jim looked around in confusion. Jesse shifted until he was behind Jaden, and put a hand on his shoulders.

" Hurry up, Jay." He whispered so softly it was almost inaudible. " Yo' th' onleh one who can."

Jaden nodded once, then got to his knees.

" Mate, Oi don't know wha'cha're plannin' but we need ta-"

Jaden pushed Alexis' hands aside. They all got a glimpse of her bleeding, tightly shut eyes before Jaden put his hands over them.

" And from thine eyes, I will wash all lies." He whispered. The same silver light that had saved Alexis' sight the previous year began to glow on his palms, his face half hidden in shadow. The world coloured vibrantly, the shadows growing darker and everything seeming to glimmer slightly. Jim looked around him, awe-struck, though all the others kept their eyes on the slowly relaxing Alexis and the suddenly-distant Jaden. Shirley eyed the boy strangely, before bowing her head slowly and leaning against his side. Lia flinched, but said nothing, only squeezing Alexis' hand encouragingly.

After a moment, the light died away and Jaden sat back.

" It's done." He whispered in his strange voice. Jim opened his mouth to ask something, but Jaden was saved from answering by Alexis gingerly sitting up, holding her head.

" You okay?" Chazz asked softly.

" Yeah, I-" She froze suddenly, her eyes shooting up. " Chazz!"

" What?" He was next to her in an instant. Leaning against Jesse's steadying arm, Jaden's eyes found hers as well. The veins still bulged around them, paler than the rest of her face.

" I saw it." She whispered. " It was faint, and it was different somehow, but it was definitely there."

" What are ya talkin' 'bout?" Jim asked, the only one looking thoroughly confused. Alexis didn't look at him as she answered, instead speaking directly to Jaden.

" There's no mistaking it. The thing that disrupted the Bio Bands that day was the Light of Destruction."

I told you Atty wasn't over what happened that night. He's got a long way to go before he can face that particular demon, but like I said, he isn't the most stable of persons right now.

And I wanted to show how Jasmine and Mindy feel throughout all of this. They usually get pushed to the side, but here's how they really see themselves in the grand scheme of this thing.

And the return of Alexis Lightslayer! Yay!

I don't really have all that much to say about this chapter, because I think it's pretty straight forward. Some chapters I have a lot to say about, but this one, this is just...well, you guys can figure out what's going on in it (to a certain extent) all on your own. And what you can't figure out was probably meant to be revealed later. Like that last little section there.

Enjoy thinking about that.

I'll see you tomorrow for the next chapter!

MoS