Hidden Eyes Telling Lies S2 Chapter 3, a yu-gi-oh gx fanfic

Okay, another chapter up. Whew, this is taking forever, sorry guys.

Disclaimer: I only own Aurelia. The songs used here belong to their writers.

Stage fright is awful but manageable, Aurelia kept saying to herself. She could do this, after all, she was the one who suggested it in the first place.

Aurelia watched the dueling arena transform into a stage almost overnight due to the high quality workers she had brought in for this. Crowler wanted publicity? Well the daughter of Seto Kaiba going up on stage and performing for the first time would get some heads turning. She knew this; she counted on this.

Aurelia sighed and turned back from the arena. The workers were well under way and didn't need her watching over them. She absentmindedly ran her fingers through her hair. Usually she would have Aster here helping her relax and telling her how great she was, yada yada yada. But since his turn to the asshole side she was left in the dark here.

The students didn't know what was happening. They knew the dueling arena was closed off for construction purposes but they didn't know of what. They wouldn't until later when the concert was announced. Nobody knew but Crowler, Bonaparte and herself. But her voice, her talent, something so wonderfully good in her life, she felt she needed to share.

She sighed. No time like the present.

Chazz wandered to the duel arena or, what had once been the duel arena. It had been converted to an impromptu concert hall but no one seemed to know anything. It was early this morning when the news came in that there would be a concert this afternoon but no one knew who was singing. He had wanted to ask Aurelia, but she seemed to be missing as well, probably to organise everything. As it was nearing curtain time, students started gathering along with press who had also been invited for some reason.

"You coming Chazz?" Syrus asked as he and Hassleberry stopped outside the door.

He looked them over. "Jaden not coming?"

Syrus and Hassleberry looked away. Chazz had already guessed the answer. He nodded and followed them in in order to get a good seat.

"You ready Aurelia?" Crowler said as he joined her backstage.

"As I'll ever be." she replied.

Crowler glanced at her one last time before walking in front of the curtains. "Good evening ladies and gentlemen! Tonight, we witness a first in Duel Academy history!"

Aurelia glanced back at her band and they gave her a thumbs up.

"Today, our very esteemed leader has decided to show the world her voice. Introducing, for the first time on stage, Aurelia Kaiba!"

The band started up and the curtain pulled back. The spotlight blinded her from her audience of curious whispers and stares. Aurelia's grip on the mic grew slick with her sweat as she tapped out the beats on her thigh with her other hand.

I throw all of your stuff away
Then I clear you out of my head
I tear you out of my heart
And ignore all your messages.

The whispers started to die away.

I tell everyone we are through
Cause I'm so much better without you
But it's just another pretty lie
Cause I break down
Every time you come around.
Uh oh uh oh

So how did you get here under my skin?
Swore that I'd never let you back in
Should've known better
than trying to let you go
Cause here we go go go again

Hard as I try I know I can't quit
Something about you is so addictive
We're fallin' together
You'd think that by now I'd know
Cause here we go go go again

Someone to the left of her started cheering so she walked that way.

You never know what you want
And you never say what you mean
But I start to go insane
Every time that you look at me

You only hear half of what I say
And you're always showing up too late
And I know that I should say goodbye
But it's no use
Can't be with or without you
Uh oh Uh oh

She threw her hand away from her in a throwaway motion.

So how did you get here under my skin?
Swore that I'd never let you back in
Should've known better
then trying to let you go
Cause here we go go go again

Hard as I try I know I can't quit
Something about you is so addictive
We're falling together
You'd think that by now I'd know
Cause here we go go go again

And again and again and again
I threw all of your stuff away
And I cleared you out of my head
And I tore you out of my heart
Uh oh Uh oh

Uh oh Uh oh

So how did you get here under my skin?
Swore that I'd never let you back in
Should've known better
than trying to let you go
Cause here we go go go again

Hard as I try I know I can't quit
Something about you is so addictive
We're fallin together
You'd think that by now I'd know
Cause here we go go

Here we go again
Here we go again
Should've known better
Than trying to let you go
Cause here we go go go again,
Again. Again.

And again and again and again (x3)

The last note faded off and there was a pause where Aurelia couldn't breathe, then the audience broke out in thunderous applause. She felt like collapsing in relief but she just smiled and waved to them.

The lights came up so she could see them all and relished in their happiness and approval. Somewhere in that sea of faces, her boyfriend was watching too and that just made her feel even better.

Chazz stared agape at where Aurelia waved from the stage. He knew she could sing but he never knew she expressed a want to perform as well.

"She's good." Hassleberry said as he applauded.

"She's better than good, she's great! Why didn't she ever tell us she could sing?" Syrus said jubilantly.

Alexis and Bastian applauded with smiles on their faces and Chazz took all of this in before looking back towards where his girlfriend walked the stage.

"Hey guys!" she said over the mic. "I know this is a big surprise to you all but not only is the owner of this school a teenager, she can sing too. I've got a couple of more songs that I'm going to sing and you should also know that I wrote that last song and the only song that I didn't write myself is this next song called Just Breathe by Anna Nalick.

She sang Just Breathe and Invisible, the two songs Chazz had heard her sing before, that day in the meadow. Before they broke up the first time and he accused her of being a shadow rider. Before everything went to hell.

But…now that he thought about it. He had never heard the first song before so she must have written it recently. But when? Perhaps they were after the break-up?

"Chazz, you okay?" Alexis asked.

"Fine."

"Okay guys, I've got one more and then I'm cutting you off. This one I wrote a while ago and it's called Naturally and its dedicated to someone very important to me." Aurelia said as she sweat under the spotlight. Her audience of students had responded better than she hoped they would.

How you choose to express yourself
It's all your own and I can tell
It comes naturally, it comes naturally

You follow what you feel inside
It's intuitive, you don't have to try
It comes naturally, mmmm, it comes naturally

And it takes my breath away
What you do so naturally

You are the thunder and I am the lightning
And I love the way you know who you are
And to me it's exciting
When you know it's meant to be
Everything comes naturally, it comes naturally
When you're with me baby
Everything comes naturally, it comes naturally
Ba-ba-baby

You have a way of moving me
A force of nature your energy
It comes naturally (you know it does)
It comes naturally, mmm yeah

And it takes my breath away (every time)
What you do so naturally

When we collide, sparks fly
When you look in my eyes
It takes my breath away

You are!

Everything, baby, comes naturally

She smiled again as they applauded but she knew no one in the arena actually knew who she had dedicated that to. Except one.

"Thank you guys so much. It was great to come out here and sing for all of you. Catch you on the flip side." she said as she waked toward Crowler.

"Aurelia Kaiba everyone!" he said and they applauded again.

When Aurelia made it backstage she leaned against a wall and breathed deeply. She was hot, sweaty and uncomfortable in her clothes, not to mention her hair was a mess, but Ra, she felt good!

She waited backstage with her band, chatting with them while the auditorium cleared out and everyone went back to their lives like normal. As everything started to get quiet and her band started packing up, she headed out.

Someone had left a door open so a nice breeze floated through, carrying the unmistakable scent of her mate. He was here.

Two arms came out and dragged her into a side classroom and she laughed knowing it was him. "Chazz!"

He pushed her back into the door so it closed and silenced her with a kiss. "You were wonderful." he said. "Why didn't you say anything?"

She dragged a hand through her hair and laughed. "Ever since the duel with Aster, Jaden's been on everyone's minds; except Crowler of course. Apparently after the whole Shadow Rider debacle the school's reputation and publicity have gone down. That's why he's been using you as guinea pigs to try and get it back. Well, I wasn't going to sit back and let him walk all over my friends so I volunteered."

Chazz stared at her. "You volunteered to be Crowler's bitch in order to get publicity for him?"

She gaped at him. "I am not Crowler's bitch!" she laughed. "I used him as much as he used me. He gets publicity for himself and the school and I get to sing."

"Frankly I'm kind of surprised you've never sung on stage before. You're already famous so why didn't you?"

She sighed. "I'd never really plucked up the courage to before. That, and I didn't really have any written material of my own to sing. Most of those songs today were mine but I've just never really had the muse I needed before."

Chazz smirked. "You mean me."

She rolled her eyes. "Cocky."

"I did want to talk to you-"

"Which is what we're doing."

"-about yesterday." she gave him a look. "With Alexis." he clarified.

"Yeah."

"My brothers have been calling again, wanting to know how I'm doing at school and whether or not I'm the top student." Chazz said.

"I'm still not seeing the connection to Alexis here."

"They told me that they would be keeping an eye on you because you were the enemy and you had tried to mess up their plans before."

"So did you!"

"That doesn't matter. I think they're chalking it up to teenage rebellion or something, the point is: if I am seen even being courteous towards you they will perceive you as a bigger threat than you already are." Chazz explained.

Aurelia rubbed her forehead with the heel of her palm. "So now your brothers are stalking my because I'm Seto's daughter and they think I'll corrupt you or something?"

"Sweetheart you already have."

"That's not the point-did you just call me sweetheart?"

"Uh…no…?"

Aurelia felt her insides melt. "You did." she smiled and sprang onto the balls of her feet to kiss him lightly. "I like it."

He wrapped his arms around her. "Good to know."

"You're distracting me though. What does Alexis have to do with anything?"

"Right. Well those spies who are watching you are also watching me and if I'm not seen at least flirting with another girl they are going to suspect something's up."

"Why?"

"I don't know. Because I'm a guy? Because I'm they're brother? Because they think that guys my age are supposed to be leaving a trail of girls left, right and center like they did? Who knows? The point is, I picked out the one girl I knew who wouldn't give a rat's ass about me trying to flirt with her."

"Alexis." Aurelia sighed.

"Exactly. They think I'm trying to get in her pants when really-"

"You're trying to get into mine."

"I wasn't going to say that." he smirked.

"But you were thinking it." she replied. She sighed. "I don't like it, but I can see your point. Alexis is too wrapped up in Jaden to even pay attention to you. But Chazz, if she even seems to be-"

"Falling for it? Oh yeah, I'm outta there."

She snorted. "Good to know." she glanced back at the closed door. "I have to get back out there. There's some reporters who I know are dying to talk to me."

"Fame's gone to your head already."

"Shut up." she said before she did just that with a kiss. "I'll talk to you later. Oh and Marguerite called, she wants your phone number. Should I be worried about her too?"

He snorted. "We're just talking over recipes. Go ahead and give it to her."

"Already done." she said with a cheeky smile before turning the doorknob.

"Aurelia I-" he started.

"Yes?"

"…I hope the interviews go well." he said, clearing his throat.

"Sure." she said while giving him a disbelieving look. "If you say so." she threw out as she left.

"If I can say so." Chazz whispered to himself and the empty room.

Aurelia leaned back against her closed door and sighed happily. A bunch of the people there actually weren't reporters, they were scouts. A few of them offered her record deals as well, which had totally taken her day from good to great.

She told them that she would have to think about it before deciding anything, and she would talk it over with Seto later, but right now she just wanted to revel in having one of her dreams come true. She could actually go into a singing career and she would make sure that it was on her talent alone and not her money. Or rather, Seto's money.

Aurelia turned and collapsed on her bed. She had a job, a boyfriend and the near possibility of a record deal. Damn, life was good.

Aurelia squatted, poised. The wind ruffled her hair gently and the birds were singing but she didn't look up. She was waiting.

"Closer, closer, that's it, come on." she whispered to herself while she waited like a vulture on the railing of the school hallway.

This is how Chazz found her. Squatting, both feet under her, balanced precariously on the ledge of the balcony, with a water balloon. She looked like a cat waiting to pounce. He shook his head and smiled, no doubt this was another prank on Crowler.

"Aurelia." he said.

She glanced up at him with a smirk. "You may want to duck." she said before letting the balloon fall.

Splash! "AHHH! My HAIR!"

Aurelia dove behind the ledge and pulled Chazz down along with her. Crowler continued screaming until he was well away from their spot. They both shuddered in repressed laughter until he was gone and then collapsed from it.

"Oh Ra, did you hear that scream?" Aurelia giggled. "That never gets old."

"You know, eventually, Crowler's gonna find out it's you doing all this." Chazz said.

"Pft, I know. But until then…" she smirked. Her smirk fell. "Did you need me for something?" she asked.

He looked up. "Slacker's in a funk. He's not talking to anyone and he's moping. Last I checked Jaden doesn't mope. I've tried talking to him and Syrus and Hassleberry are falling over themselves to cheer him up."

"And you want me to talk to him." Aurelia said.

"He might listen to you more than he does us."

Aurelia stood up. "Almost sounds like you care Princeton." she said mockingly.

"Pft, his moping is throwing me off my game. He's my rival, he has to be able to duel me." Chazz said, crossing his arms.

"Uh huh, I'll talk to him." Aurelia said with a smirk. "Heaven forbid anyone throw off The Chazz's game."

She leaned down to give him a peck on the lips then sauntered away.

Chazz got up quickly and rushed to her side. "Aurelia."

"Hmm?"

He kissed her. A quick kiss that put another smile on her face. Aurelia hugged him close and buried herself into his chest.

She felt his chuckle reverberate in his chest. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were part cat with all this snuggling."

Aurelia froze before looking up. "Is that bad?"

"No! It was just a joke." Chazz said, waving his hands.

"Oh." she said awkwardly.

Chazz sighed and pulled her back into his embrace. "I like you." he said quietly.

"I should hope so, with everything we've been up to."

"No." he lifted her chin. "I really like you Aurelia."

She smiled. "I know." she said as she grasped his hand and put it to her lips. "I like you to." she glanced down the hallway. "I need to go talk to Jaden." she said

"Way to ruin the mood Aurelia." Chazz grumbled.

"Hey, that's what you came here to ask me to do anyway and besides, it's getting late."

Chazz sighed, "Fine. Go talk to the Slacker, I'll see you at dinner."

Aurelia smiled and pecked him on the lips once again before taking off. As she left her boyfriend behind her she puzzled over his words. "I really like you?" she mumbled to herself. Where had that come from all of a sudden? And the comment on her being half-cat, way too close to the money.

Ugh, between Jaden, Chazz and Crowler and Bonaparte, she was being torn at the seams. High school sucked and she wasn't even a student.

Aurelia knocked quietly on Jaden's door. "Jay, come on open up, it's me." No answer. "You better be dressed at least." she said before opening the door.

The room was clean. A lot cleaner than she remembered it being. Syrus and Hassleberry were out and probably headed to dinner soon, so their shoes were missing, but so were Jaden's. His bed was made, his bag was gone and he was nowhere to be seen.

Aurelia lifted her chin and took a whiff of the air. She still smelled Jaden strongly so he was here recently. But where had he gone to now?

"Aurelia? What are you doing here?" she heard Syrus ask behind her.

"Looking for Jaden. Did he finally get out of his room?" she said.

Syrus blanched. "No, Hassleberry and I left him in there this morning and we haven't seen him since." he ducked around her and into the room. "His stuff is gone!"

Syrus started breathing hard. Oh no.

"Call the Coast Guard! Call the Marines!" Syrus took off shouting at the top of his lungs. Aurelia rubbed her forehead, this wasn't going to end well.

Syrus rallied up everyone else and they took off running. Chazz glanced at her and she nodded as he ran to catch up with them. Once they were gone, Aurelia took up the scent again.

Jaden went north. Aurelia followed the scent over the bridge and to the docks. She glanced around but didn't see him.

Aurelia glanced toward the boathouse. "He better not have." she growled. She tore off and through the door of the boat shed to find the spare boat inside missing. And Jaden's scent was everywhere.

Aurelia looked out over the water. "You better bring that boat back in one piece Jaden Yuki!" she yelled. She sighed, "And bring yourself back as well." she said quietly.

Aurelia met back up with everyone for breakfast the next morning. Everyone except Chazz. As they started into the dining hall, they knew why. Chazz was already there, and…wearing white?

"Chazz, we were beginning to think you disappeared too." Syrus said as they noticed him. Aurelia was still staring at his jacket. "Are you all right?" Syrus asked.

"Yup, never better."

"You look different, did you get a haircut or a nose job or something?" Syrus asked.

"No, he got a new wardrobe." Bastian answered.

"Is someone getting married Princeton?" Aurelia asked.

"Nope, I just finally woke up and I've seen the light." Chazz replied.

Aurelia gave him a look. "Clearly you haven't." she said.

"The Society of Light holds all the answers." he said and started laughing maniacally.

"The Society of what?" Syrus asked.

Aurelia watched him closely. He did seem different. "I think he finally cracked Sy."

"I have joined the Society of Light because I have seen the light!"

"Yeah we got that part." Bastian said.

"Alright Princeton, jokes over." Aurelia said as she patted him on the head.

Chazz batted her hand away viciously. "This isn't a joke Aurelia! The Society of Light is real and you can join, everyone can join! You just have to see the light."

Aurelia stared at him confused. Chazz had jokingly smacked her before, but never that hard. He turned back to the others and started preaching again, never once looking back at her. What was happening?

"Well, I for one, am not going to join some society just to 'see the light' as you put it. Later guys, I've suddenly lost my appetite." Aurelia said as she walked past them all and out into the fresh morning air. She'd come back later when breakfast was over and grab some food from Dorothy.

Later in the morning, from her room, she heard voices yelling. "Jaden!" Aurelia glanced up, that was Syrus.

"Front and center!" and that was Hassleberry.

"Your best friend's looking for you!" they both shouted.

Aurelia sighed and got up out of bed. She found both Syrus and Hassleberry glaring daggers at the other.

"Jaden's my wing-man!" Hassleberry said. "Got that twerp?"

"Oh yeah? Well who's known him longer? Huh? If you could count you'd know it's me by a year! And you're just a dumb rookie!" Syrus said.

"Take. That. Back." Hassleberry growled.

Aurelia slapped them both over the head. "Enough." she said.

"Need I remind you two, Jaden's lost!" Alexis said.

"Well he started it." Syrus said, pointing to Hassleberry.

"Did not! Tattletale."

"Have you even started looking?" Alexis asked.

Syrus picked up a box to look under it and Hassleberry lifted a rock. Alexis sighed, "Guys, we're looking for our friend, not a hamster."

"You fools will never find Jaden!" Chazz's voice rang from above them. "Haven't you heard the good news? He's given up dueling. You know why? Because he refused to embrace the fundamental truths of his own destiny."

Chazz said all of this from the roof of the Slifer dorm, looking very much like he was the king of the world. "In other words, Jaden didn't see the light."

"Somehow, I doubt that was the reason." Aurelia said quietly.

"The Society of Light." he finished.

Hassleberry and Syrus glanced at each other. "Well, looks like he's finally gone AWOL." Hassleberry said.

"Not me, Jaden. After all, he left the island yesterday. That loser's probably lost at sea by now." Chazz said and started up with the maniacal laughter again. Aside from the drama, that didn't sound like Chazz at all.

"Princeton get down from there!" Aurelia called up to him. "You're lucky you're rich cuz the school's not going to pay for your medical bills if you fall!"

Just then Chazz slipped and went over the other side of the roof. They could still hear him shouting so they knew he was fine.

"He's finally gone off the deep end." Syrus said.

Alexis sighed and Aurelia face palmed. "I'll go see if he's all right." she said. Aurelia left Syrus and Hassleberry under the watchful eye of Alexis while she walked around the building to the back. Chazz was hanging off the gutter rail still cackling.

"Princeton get down from there!"

"I'm trying!" he shouted back.

"If you fall, I'm not catching you." she threatened, even though she would.

"To late." she heard him say before he started plummeting for the ground. Aurelia tackled him mid air and landed with her on the bottom. Ouch.

"Uh, I think you elbowed me in the ribs." she said with a grimace.

"I thought you said you weren't going to catch me?" he said with an equal grimace as he leaned up over her.

"I didn't mean it." she said

"Aurelia." he said softly and she looked up into his dark eyes. They were lost in each other's eyes; grey locked with blue. She brought one of her hands up to brush back his hair and he caught it, placing a swift kiss on her palm. This was the Chazz she knew.

"I'm sorry." he said. "For yesterday. I didn't mean to hurt you."

"I know." she replied. "But what has gotten into you?"

"I've seen the light Aurelia, and it's amazing! The Society of Light opens your eyes to so many things." he gushed.

"Like what?"

"The past, the future."

"What about the present?" Aurelia asked.

"What about it?"

"Forget about the past Chazz and don't worry about the future. Live in the present, here, with me."

Chazz lowered his forehead to hers. "Oh Aurelia, that is your darkness talking. Embrace the light and come with me."

Aurelia shook her head in confusion. "I was always with you."

"But that was in darkness, now we can be together in the light! All you need to do is open yourself to it."

"And if I don't?"

Chazz's eyes turned dark. "Then we can't be together."

Aurelia's eyes widened. "What?"

"Until you embrace the light, Aurelia, you are still a creature of darkness and…" he sat up.

She followed him, bracing her arms behind her. "And what? Go on, say it!"

"…You must be destroyed."

"Convert or destroy huh? Well I'm sorry, but I will not be a part of this!" she pushed him off of her. "And the Chazz I know wouldn't be either!"

"I'm the new Chazz." he said from the ground as she stood up.

"Well, I liked the old Chazz better. The one that wasn't on a seek and destroy mission for some Society that I've never even heard about until today." Aurelia said.

"You're choosing your downfall." Chazz warned.

"Well fine! I choose to be myself because that is the only thing in my life I can choose. It's the only choice I have to make. My identity is mine and not even you can take that away from me!" she screamed and wheeled around, running for the woods.

"Aurelia!"

She kept running.

Aurelia finally collapsed against a tree trunk in exhaustion. First Aster, then Jaden and now Chazz? What the hell was going on, on this island? Seriously, was there a crazy bug going around?

Aurelia scraped her claws against the bark of the tree. She'd lost two of her friends in two days due to asshole-ness and medical injuries. Not to mention her boyfriend…

Her heart lurched and she felt her eyes sting. Chazz had slapped her away like nothing. Rejected her in favour of some kind of society. But if he thought she would ever convert to something like that than he really didn't know her at all. And that hurt even more.

"Secrets on top of lies." she whispered to herself. A drop of water hit her hand and she contemplated rain before she realized that it was a tear. She hadn't even realized she was crying.

Aurelia angrily wiped away the tears and looked up at the sky. She really wanted to call Aster right now. When did her life turn into some kind of messed up soap opera featuring magic and dueling?

She couldn't even call her duel spirits right now because they were watching Aster for any hints of why he was acting this way. For the first time in her life, Aurelia felt well and truly alone.

The next day, Aurelia woke early in order to get to Dorothy early. She knew Dorothy would be preparing breakfast around this time for when the rest of the dorm finally awoke, and she wanted to bypass everyone and get her breakfast early.

When she stepped into the kitchen however, there was no Dorothy. In her place, was Chazz.

"Aurelia." he said as he noticed her. "I figured you would come down here early."

She crossed her arms. "Look Chazz. You can forget about me ever joining your crazy society of light." she said, getting that out of the way off the bat.

Chazz looked away and sighed. "Aurelia, I'm only trying to look out for you."

"No you're not. You've joined a society who's adopted a convert or die policy. Don't you know any history? That never works out for anyone."

"Soon everyone will be joining Aurelia. Come with me, please." he held his hand out.

Aurelia shook her head. "No Chazz." his hand dropped. "Things were good as they were. I want that again."

"Things weren't good as they were. We were hiding Aurelia. Hiding from everyone to protect ourselves from the darkness in others. Our relationship was doomed Aurelia. I just didn't see that until now."

"Doomed?"

"Yes. But in the society, we don't have to hide anymore. We can be ourselves."

Aurelia curled her lip and pointed at him. "Is this who you are Chazz? Preaching about light and goodness? Wearing white? You hate white Chazz. This isn't you." she shook her head. "You've changed Chazz. The reason our relationship is doomed is because you've changed completely."

"No I haven't! You just want everything your way!" Chazz yelled. "Everyone has to be exactly what you want them to be! You wanted the perfect boyfriend, but I'm not perfect. At least not back then I wasn't. I am now. I see the light Aurelia, and it's made me a better man."

"A better man huh?" she scoffed and put her hands on her hips. "And what happens if I never join your 'wonderful' society?"

Chazz's gaze hardened. "You must Aurelia. There is no choice."

Aurelia shook her head. "No Chazz, there is. It's something you've forgotten entirely. It's called free will." she turned away. "I will never submit. I will never conform. I will never change my decision."

She walked out on him then. She stayed in her office for the rest of the day.

Wow. Okay. And now begins the Society of Light. And the end of Chazz and Aurelia's relationship...maybe...

Songs used: Here We Go Again - Demi Lovato and Naturally - Selena Gomez. I love the song Naturally because Chazz is the thunder! Manjoume Thunder! I know, I'm that much of a geek.

Review Please!