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: This entire story is mine, the plot especially. Every OC is mine and everything about this story is unique. Any and all copiers in any way WILL BE reported to the administrators. Please don't take anything.
xXx
Jaden's POV
"Onii-Chan, what are you guys going to do now?" Jess whispered to me, her head resting against my shoulder as I held her.
I frowned and looked out the window, smoothing my hand over her hair without thinking about it. "I don't know. I'll have to talk with Jesse and see if he has any ideas."
She nodded, her chin digging into my shoulder. Her hand clutched the front of my shirt. "You'll be careful, right?"
I smiled and brushed my lips over her forehead. "Of course I will; I always am."
She nodded again.
"Here, why don't you go see if Julie needs help with Maria or something?" I set her down on her feet and she ran off toward the bedroom where Julie was with Maria. I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair.
"Any ideas?" Jesse asked, walking over to me.
I shook my head. "No." I looked out the window, stuffing my hands in my jean pockets. Jesse stood next to me, silent as he allowed me to think about what Bakura told Marik.
"You know," he said after a moment. I looked at him out of the corner of my eye. He was staring out the window, "it isn't your fault, no matter what Bakura told Marik."
I frowned and shook my head again.
He spoke before I could. "Don't you dare blame yourself, Jaden. When the Skulls targeted you, they targeted us whether or not it was their intention. Anyone who wants to kill you will have to kill all of us to get that far."
"Don't talk like that," I hissed, looking over my shoulder as I heard Julie enter the room, bouncing Maria in her arms. I glared at him. "I'd rather die then let you die."
He looked over his shoulder casually, eyes darkening when he saw his family. "What good would that do?" He looked at me. "When you'd leave Jess and Alexis behind?"
My heart clenched but I ignored it, keeping my expression blank. "Jess has Tony and Alexis has Atticus. You are all Julie and Maria have."
"You forget about Nathan."
For a moment I did. "Julie and him are still on the fence with each other, right?"
He frowned. "Not so much, but yes, I suppose she still has some qualms with him." He sighed then and ran his fingers through his hair much like I did a few minutes ago. "Okay, how about this: neither of us die and you don't blame yourself at all?"
"But it's a game to him, Jesse! A game of torture meant only for me!" I tried to keep quiet and my voice ended up sounding too desperate for my liking.
"He's torturing us all, Jaden." He smiled at me. "And we have the King of Games on our side, who do you thinks gonna win?"
I chuckled despite myself and nudged him with my elbow; he was chuckling too. Jesse was the only person who could make me completely forget about everything bad that's happening around me.
"Okay," I said after a minute. "I won't blame myself. It isn't going to do any good anyway."
Jesse smiled at me, throwing his arm around my shoulders. "That sounds more like my bestest buddy!"
I laughed and tired getting him off of me but he just started giving me a noogie. I was half tempted to flip him over my shoulder but he has always been able to read my thoughts and released me once it passed my mind.
"Can I assume the two of you have come up with a plan?" Yusei asked.
I sighed and turned to see that he and everyone else was staring at Jesse and I. "No," I said.
"What can we do?" Julie asked, handing Maria to Nathan. "We don't even know where to begin." That right there is one of the things I love and hate about Julie at the same time: she always says exactly what everyone is thinking when she knows it's the truth.
"Well," Jack said, jumping to his feet. "I don't know about the rest of ya'll but I don't intend to keep sitting around doing nothing while I'm being hunted by a bunch of psycho maniacs."
"And what do you intend to do?" Akiza said.
Jack smirked at her. "I intend to hunt the hunters."
"You want to go out and hunt down the people who are trying to kill you?" Chazz clarified, sounding like he thought Jack was out of his mind.
Jack just nodded.
"You're out of your mind," Chazz said.
"No, I'm not. Listen, these Skulls always seem to get the jump on us because we aren't ready for them. And don't say you are because if you were then Marik wouldn't be dead and neither would Emmy or Axel." His voice was hard as he looked pointedly at Atem and me; we both flinched slightly.
Akiza kicked him in the butt, an annoyed look on her face. She was actually looking much better, having slept for a few hours. Her battle with Sartorius was only this morning…it seems so long ago.
"He's right though," Jesse said.
"Yes," Greiger agreed with a nod.
I looked at Atem and Yusei, seeing both of them staring at me. They shrugged, leaving the decision up to me. I sighed and nodded. "Okay, Jack's right."
"Jaden, you can't be serious," Blair whispered.
"Sitting around here won't do any good. The Skulls are out there not in here and we won't have a moments peace as long as that remains fact." My tone was firm and hard, silencing further protests by my friends.
"What are we going to do?" Hassleberry asked.
I glared at him. "There isn't a 'we' this time, guys. You stay here."
"Not again!" Atticus complained.
Jim placed a firm hand on his shoulder, keeping him from jumping up. "Sorry, Mates, but Jaden's right."
Julie nodded. "These Skulls are just too dangerous. It's best if you just stay here with Yugi and Serenity; it's safer that way."
"What good was us coming if we can't do anything?" Syrus asked.
"If you guys want to help why don't you help Yugi try and dig up more information on the Skulls?" I offered.
"How's that?" Bastion asked.
I shrugged. "Yugi's the one to ask, not me."
Everyone looked annoyed that I was shutting them out (again) but they really couldn't help this time, even if Chazz does know kung-fu (1).
"So how are the rest of us hunting these hunters?" Joey asked, standing up and cracking his knuckles.
"We'll split up and scatter around the town, keeping communication with the walkie-talkies." I grabbed mine, changing the channel to 1. Everyone else did it without being told to. "Yusei you and Greiger go together and check out the park and the twenty-first district of the city."
The two of them nodded, looking at each other.
"Jack and Crow will go and check out the docks and warehouse district."
Crow nodded and looked excited while Jack looked annoyed that I was ordering him around, but he didn't complain; he nodded curtly.
"Atem and Kaiba will go check out downtown."
"Okay," Atem said, looking over at Kaiba who nodded as well.
"Tristan and Joey will go look around the residential district of the city."
The two of them nodded and bumped fists.
"Jesse, Jim, Julie, and I will go out on our own."
They nodded, understanding, while everyone else looked a little startled.
"Alone?" Alexis whispered.
"Isn't that a bit dangerous?" Akiza asked.
I shrugged. "Possibly, but the four of us have our own ghosts we want to kill and being together would cause each of us to tie the other down. Besides, we can cover more ground if the four of us go by ourselves."
"What about Akiza?" Aster asked.
"I'm hanging back, at least for now," she answered. "I may look better but I can barely see straight." As if to prove her point, she reached out to smack him across the arm; she ended up smacking him across the face.
"Geez! You're so violent!" He pressed his hand against his face as he ducked another one of her blindly thrown shots.
"Okay, enough," I said fiercely, stopping the nonsense before it began. "Let's get moving; the longer we stay here the longer the Skulls have to get ahead of us."
Everyone nodded and headed out without much fanfare.
xXx
"Be careful, Jay," Jesse called as he ran down the street toward the north side of town. I waved my hand at him. The four of us decided to head in the general four directions: Jesse was heading north, Julie was heading south (they're choice, not mine), Jim headed west, and I was going east. I was just about to turn the corner away from Yugi's mansion when I sensed someone following me.
'A Skull?' I wondered. As I turned the corner, I grabbed my gun and spun around, pointing the barrel the person behind me.
My heart literally stopped.
Alexis was standing behind me, eyes blank as I pointed a loaded gun in her face.
"Alexis!" I gasped, dropping the gun quickly. She nodded. "What are you doing?" I demanded.
"I'm going with you."
"What! No you're not! You're going back to Yugi's mansion right now!" I placed my gun back in the hem of my pants, tucking my shirt and jacket around it.
"No, I'm not."
I glared up at her, heart beating rapidly in my chest. "Yes, you are."
She glared back at me. "You've been avoiding me ever since Emmy was murdered."
"What? I have not." Yes, yes I have.
"Yes you have!" She stamped her foot on the ground, glaring at me. "Why are you blowing me off?"
"I'm not-" I began but she cut me off.
"Yes you are!" She stamped her foot again. I groaned and buried my face in my hands, shaking my head. I could hear my heart beating in my ear; Alexis standing right here, out in the open, when there was more than half a dozen people out there thirsting for anything that would torture me further than they already have.
"I thought you said I wasn't supposed to leave your side for even a moment?"
I looked up then, seeing that she had lost all of her anger. She was staring at the ground, her hand folded against her other arm across her chest. "Lex, that isn't fair. I'm just trying to protect you."
"By leaving me alone and completely ignoring me?" She looked up then and I could see how much pain I caused her; it made me sick.
"I…I just have a lot on my mind."
"And I understand that." She took a hesitant step toward me and, when I didn't take one back, she took my hands in hers and pulled them down and around her, pressing against me so she could wrap her arms around me and rest her head on my chest, just beneath my chin. "You're trying to protect people you love without getting others killed in the process."
"That is my goal," I whispered, tightening my arms around her waist.
"But you fail to understand what everyone seems to get."
"And what's that?" I personally thought I had a pretty good grasp on the situation.
"Julie and I were talking about it while I was helping her with Maria and then Jim and Jesse talked about it with us also."
I frowned, not liking where this was going. "And?"
"And they all agree that leaving me back with everyone else is dumb."
I pushed Alexis back, keeping a firm hold on her shoulders. She looked startled but I didn't care.
"Dumb! Me trying to protect you is dumb!? I fail to see how that is true!"
"Jaden, calm down." She placed her hands on mine, staring me in the face calmly.
"Calm down!" I tried to pull my hands back but she kept them firmly on her shoulders, hands tightening around my wrists. "How can I calm down? Everyone I know is ganging up on me when all I'm doing is trying to protect the person I love most!"
Alexis released my hands, placing her own on my cheeks and holding my face tenderly. I felt something wet slide between her hand and my cheek; I realized a moment later that it was my tears. I was crying.
"I know," she whispered. "They know, but that's the exact reason why leaving me behind with everyone else isn't a good idea."
"How is that not a good idea?" I said softly, my hands loosening on her shoulders.
"Jaden, they know that you love me and would do anything to protect me. Therefore they know that if they had me then they'd be able to get you to do anything they wanted. If you leave me back with everyone else and they come after me then that's just putting everyone else in danger."
Damn logic.
"But being with me out here while I'm hunting Skulls isn't a smart idea either!"
She shook her head softly. "Jesse thinks they wouldn't try to come after me if I'm with you. They want to torture you, Jaden, not go hand-to-hand with you."
Damn logic.
"But-"
She pressed her hands against my face. "There aren't any more excuses for you to come up with. Everyone knows I'm safest with you and, whether you like it or not, I'm coming with you."
"When did you become so damn stubborn?" I demanded softly, closing my eyes and shaking my head in abandon. There wasn't anything else I could do or say to change her mind. She was coming with me and I just have to deal with that, even though I still don't like it.
"I've always been stubborn, but you've just always made good decisions about my safety and everyone elses, except now." Still holding my face, she pulled my head down and pressed her lips to my forehead lovingly. "Everything will be okay, Jaden."
I slowly opened my eyes and looked into hers, still not feeling this was the best way to go but too tired to argue any longer. "No, it won't but I'm just going to have to live with that."
xXx
Narrative POV
"Everything is pretty quiet over here," Crow said, sighing.
Yusei chuckled and shook his head while Greiger rolled his eyes. "Only Crow would be disappointed at not finding some psychopath to fight," Yusei said, chuckling a little.
"Yes," Greiger agreed with a nod.
"What about you guys? Do you guys see anything over there?" Crow asked, a little excitement in his voice.
"Sorry, Crow, but it's pretty dead over here as well," Yusei said, holding down the button on his walkie-talkie so Crow would hear him. He and Greiger heard Crow cuss. "Why are you so desperate to find a Skull, Crow?" Yusei wondered.
"Just because I want to find them. Jaden and the other Bloods shouldn't have to deal with these guys again and they've already lost two members."
"Yes, and Julie nearly three times," Greiger commented. Yusei had the button pressed down so Crow heard his comment.
"Yeah, that too. Really, these Skulls are pissing me off and I don't want to see another Blood be killed by their hands."
"You and me both, Crow, but we can't protect them when they won't even protect themselves," Yusei said, sighing as he remembered that the Bloods were running around this Skull-infested city by themselves.
"Don't worry, Yusei. They can handle themselves pretty well."
"And that's what worries me," he said, sighing again. Just then, before Crow could speak again, Yusei's head snapped up and he looked to his right, into the trees of Domino City Park.
"What is it, Yusei?" Greiger asked softly, following Yusei's line of vision.
"I thought I heard something." He narrowed his eyes and tried to peer into the darkness.
"A Skull?" Greiger wondered.
"Maybe." Yusei put of his talkie, ignoring Crow calling out for him to answer. He pulled a gun out of the waistband of his pants. "You head that way-" he pointed in front of him "-and I'll go into the park to see if I can find the Skull."
"You shouldn't go by yourself," Greiger said.
Yusei smiled at him. "I'm going to try and get him out, Greiger, and lead him out here. That's why I want you standing over there." Yusei jerked his head toward the bridge where he pointed for Greiger to go.
Greiger nodded and Yusei hurried into the dark line of trees, disappearing quickly into the shadows. Heeding his leader's orders, Greiger walked over to the bridge, pulling out his gun to inspect it for a moment.
"Left all alone, Greiger?"
Greiger spun around quickly, pointing his gun at the person who spoke: it was Kalin. He stood just a few feet away from the African Signer, smirking widely and wickedly at him. "You must be Kalin," Greiger said, voice steady.
Kalin's grin spread wider. "Well, I'm mildly surprised you knew it was me."
"Wasn't that hard to figure out; I've heard a lot about you from my fellow Signers."
Kalin's grin fell quickly, face twisting up in a dark scowl. "You mean your fellow traitors! I worked so hard to get my three best friends into the Skulls with me and how do they repay me? By turning their backs on me and starting a new gang without me! And, just to rub more salt in my wound, they agreed to help the Bloods!" Kalin spat at Greiger's feet. "You make me sick."
"The feeling is mutual." Greiger released the safety on his gun, keeping it level at the space between Kalin's eyes.
"Go ahead and pull the trigger, Big Guy. You won't kill me." Kalin held his arms open wide, inviting the bullet.
"But I will!" Yusei yelled, jumping out of the trees. Kalin and Greiger both turned their heads quickly, seeing the leader of the Signers at the end of the bridge, his gun leveled at Kalin's head.
Kalin smirked wickedly at his former-best friend. "Yusei, it's been too long."
"Not long enough," he said. "If I recall, you said the next time you saw me you'd kill me." Yusei looked himself over. "And I seem to be pretty much alive."
"For now, maybe," Kalin said, all humor gone from his dark tone. "If I weren't under orders right now, you would be dead."
"And what orders are you under exactly, Kalin?" Yusei wondered, taking a step toward the bridge.
Kalin smirked. "Just this." He then reached into the pocket of his pants and threw a knife at Greiger. The knife spun in the air quickly, embedding the large blade end in Greiger's chest.
He gasped and his gun fell from his hand, clattering against the pavement without going off.
"Greiger!" Yusei cried as he watched his friend stumble backwards. Seeing what was about to happen, he forgot about Kalin and rushed toward Greiger, but he was too slow. Greiger hit the edge of the bridge and stumbled over the edge, falling into the rushing water beneath it. Yusei clutched the edge of the bridge as he watched Greiger's body disappear with the swift current.
"Kalin!" he snarled, turning around quickly. Again he was too late; Kalin had already disappeared as quickly as he had appeared, his mission complete. Yusei looked around and spotted Greiger's gun. He picked it up, too large in his hands but perfect for Greiger. His teeth ground together and he glared up at nothing, hand tightening around the gun in his hand. "You are dead, Kalin. I swear to God, I'll kill you myself!"
xXx
T.T I love Greiger! :( I'm so sad!
But I shall survive!
Reviews are magical! They help this story update faster (no lie!) so review! Really guys, review.
-x-Anime-Queen-2011-x-
-o-Mel-o-
1. Yeah, Chazz knows kung-fu. See War Between Gangs chapter 33 for why I came up with that. :)