◊ (Memories of Girls I Once Knew) ◊

I had a weird feeling that today wasn't going to be a good day. I already expected it not to be pleasant because of the funeral but I expected things far surpassing the harsh things Jaden and I have been through before, this meant nothing but bad.

"You alright Lex?" Jaden asked walking into Kate and my room.

"Not exactly, today is not going to be a good-day." I said sadly.

"Well of course it's not because it's her grandparents' funeral. It's not supposed to be pleasant." He said.

"No, like something weird as out of the place bad." I said.

"When you have these feelings it's never good." Jaden said sitting on the bed next to me.

"Yeah, well it's time to get dressed for the funeral, bye." He nodded and left the room. I dressed Kate and myself.

"Mommy, I don't want to go." Kate said.

"Why not?" I asked sitting on my bed in the hotel and setting her on my lap.

"I don't want to see them dead. It's sad." Kate said.

"Don't you want to say good-bye?"

"As long as I don't have to see them," She answered. "I want to say good-bye; I just don't want to see them."

"Alright," I said hugging the small girl.

We walked out into the hall where Jaden was leaning against the wall directly in front of the door. "She okay?" He asked, referring to Kate.

"Yeah, but she doesn't want to see them. It upsets her."

"I understand. If I lost my parents at such a young age, and if I was a bit older, I'd probably do the same thing." Jaden said.

"Yeah it's understandable not wanting to see those people who have taken care of for so long dead, I'm so sorry." I said to Kate.

"Sorry for what?" She asked.

Jaden smiled. "She's right; you have nothing to be sorry for you. You can feel bad for her loss but you can't be sorry for her, just be… word, Lex?" He asked.

"Um… apologetic, no. Sympathetic, that's it."

"Yeah. You can't be sorry for Kate for loosing her grandparents, only sympathetic for her lose and their death." Jaden completing his correction of my words.

"Thanks Jaden, and you too Kate." I said trying to fake a smile.

We arrived at the place and about 80 people were standing there, there were a lot of caskets and Kate held tighter to me. "Lexy, I'll go say good-bye first, and then I'll watch her." I nodded, watched and waited as I saw Jaden walk up to a double casket, her grandparents.

After a while, Jaden returned. I handed Kate to him. He nodded as I walked over to the casket and stood there. My tears pouring onto them. "Sorry… I didn't come… earlier." I said crying and lowering my head.

"Look Honey, there is a women crying for your parents, she's quite young, maybe you should comfort her." A woman walked over to me, and put a hand on your shoulder.

"You met them recently?" She asked.

"A few months, I paid for their move, freedom, and took care of everything they needed. Yeah, I met them recently but I guess I did all I could for them. They would have been better back at Kaiba Corp." I said lowering my head.

"You worked with them for Kaiba too?"

"I work for Kaiba, I guess. I'm a duelist and he pays me to duel so I guess I work for him, not like them though."

"Oh, well at least you've got a chance to meet them lately; it's been almost 6 years now."

"You're her mother…" I said.

"What? Are you crazy, no way?" She said confused.

"No, not her, her." I said pointing at Kate in the seats.

"Wait a minute, how old's she…"

"6 years old, their granddaughter." The woman looked from Kate to her grandparents to me.

"Funny how things turn out, I left them with her, they leave me, with her. I guess it's all for a better reason now."

"No, they left her with me." She looked at me.

"Kate has been living with my boyfriend and me for a while now, we care for her now. We're the legal caretakers and guardians of her." She nodded and let her arms drop.

"I figured my mistake was so bad that I couldn't fix my mistake. Don't tell her who I am, all right? I'm sorry that they died too, I'm sorry. I haven't seen them in so long… that I left them. Leaving her with you, not taking my responsibility but I'm glad she's with someone with a good heart, bye." She said walking back to Kate's father, her husband.

"Bye." I said quietly to myself really and returned to my seat. Soon the ceremony was finished with horrid lies about their deaths in a 'tragedy' that 'wasn't supposed to cause deaths' they were just 'too late to save themselves' it was an 'accident, we're sympathetic to you all.' There words stomped on the good morals these people were like and soon they were about to close this caskets. Kate jumped off my lap and ran to the casket of her grandparents.

"Good-bye," She said with tears. Climbing into the casket and resting against them. I couldn't move and neither could Jaden. Her grief was so much, so hurtful that everyone stared in awe at the love that they shared.

"Excuse me, who's child is this?" I pulled myself together and stood forward. I saw the person who called. It was her mother.

"You might want to move your child off of my parents and help her understand." She said to me. She handed Kate.

"Mama," She said staring at the woman, her mother. She was sure taken aback.

"Katelyn, no." She said. "I'm sorry but no, you're wrong." She ran off and her husband followed her.

"Daddy." Kate said in tears. I held her and rocked her back to sleep but she wouldn't. She reminds me of a girl whose parents she had no clue where they were, where they had been, where they would be. To her, they might as well me

Ж (Flashback) Ж

"You don't have parents Alexis, they're dead." A girl at school said.

"I do so." Another girl answered.

"Where are they?"

"At home."

"What home, you've never invited anyone to your home. You're an orphan."

"No I'm not, I'm… me. That's all I have to be."

"So you're good at everything, it's only because you have so much time at your orphanage to practice the strategies and work at it."

"No, I'm just good. Because of my brother."

"You don't have one."

"I do too." She said with tears coming from her eyes.

"Then take me to your place, then."

"I can't." The girl said crying.

"Why not Alexis?" She asked smart-like.

"Because my parents are gone."

"You admit it, they're gone."

"Yeah, gone, I'm not sure where though."

"I know…" Then, the girl punched her. She couldn't take it anymore. After then, she promised that she wouldn't take their harsh words that hurt her so. However, she never got a chance to keep that promise because the next day she was expelled for knocking out the girl and sent to another private school, this one had guys that she made friends, which is where she met a boy named, Zane. At the school, no one ever saw their parents; their parents too were 'gone' off to where they didn't know so she never got to defend that promise. So that scared, timid frightened girl never came out again, and she didn't want it to. It meant she was just as bad as they were. That girl was I.

Ж (Flashback Over) Ж

I didn't want my need to be accepted and not tormented to come out that I'd do anything. I feared that about myself. Kate reminds me of me and how that she tries so hard to be strong, mature and not a bother but she causes more problems like that. Her parents abandoned her with her grandparents who accepted her even though they couldn't take care of her. No matter how hard the circumstances, they kept her so she would have love in her life.

I carried Kate back to the hotel still crying as Jaden followed. "It's not fair." I said crying.

"What was going on?" Jaden asked.

"That was her mother." I said simply. Kate cried louder.

"Man those horrible people leaving her with us when they gave birth to her."

"You think they're horrible for leaving her with two people who love her, when they clearly don't?" I asked.

"Well… no… but." I place my hand on his lips.

"They didn't want any more emotions to be stirred up then already were. It's only natural for human beings to want to escape the lime light when too many emotions collide." I said.

"But Alexis, shouldn't she be with her parents?"

"If they wanted her, yes, of course… if they wanted her, we should return without another thought, but since they don't' it's best if we keep her with us."

"You're right as always."

"Thanks, but… they sicken me as well." I said. "They gave birth to her, she should mean so much to them. How can she not?"

"They didn't want a child, responsibility, it was an accident."

"An accident, how can such a wonderful thing, be nothing more then a mistake, an accident?"

"It's all in the eyes of the beholder. For you Kate is such a wonderful thing, something to care for, nurture and love but for them it's a lot of unnecessary problems and responsibilities."

"I want to give them a piece of mind for doing this to Kate." I said, about to lay Kate on her bed. Jaden put a hand on my arm.

"I'll do it Lex; she needs you to be there for her, comfort her. Reassure her I'll be back, okay." I nodded understanding Jaden's thoughts. I kissed him and he walked out.

I leaned against the wall and closed my eyes after locking the door so Kate wouldn't run off.

- (Dream) –

"Hello Alexis." A voice said.

"That you, Ladle?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'm sorry but I do not bring good news about your trickery of fate." I gasped.

"What went wrong is Hailey…"

"No, she's fine. Yours, your trickery on fate on that part should go down perfectly but it's concerning Kate."

"What about her?" I asked concerned.

"It was a sacrifice, something had to be lost. It was either two people or one child which equals out but in order for your trickery of fate you much half lose both."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Fate killed her grandparents, and Kate will be taken away from you in three days."

"Why?" I asked.

"You had to lose a child that you 'had'. Kate was already born so she couldn't be lost, it's the first child you've 'had' so she's gone. Fate is not going to kill her; however, she is going to be taken from you. Sorry." Ladle said. ◊

"So she is going… where?"

"Surprisingly, to her true parents. By accident Jaden's talk to them caused them to want her back so that they may correct their mistakes and take proper care of her. So by law they could, without interference from anyone."

"I understand. It's best this way. I'll have my own child soon and she deserves full care that Jaden and I couldn't give her, though we did our best." She nodded and I woke up.

- (Dream Over) –

I woke up and Jaden knocked on the door. I got up and opened it. He sat down on my bed while I sat on Kate's next to her. "They…

…Want Kate, I know."

"How?" He asked.

"Ladle," I answered.

"Ah, and you're okay with this."

"Fate doesn't like being tricked Jaden. It doesn't like it at all." I answered.

"What?"

"Fate gave us a choice, our deaths, or hers, Hailey's."

"Yeah."

"We choose neither because we found default in their plan, right?" he nodded.

"Yeah, because your brother inherited the plant, right?"

"Yeah but they took the lives of an old couple and a middle aged child from us. This was equal to the 50 of the deal. We would have paid anyway."

"What do you mean?"

"It's about innocence level with age. A new child full of innocence and few years or two people with a fair amount of years and fair innocence. So in order to still make their dept to us, they took an old couple, little innocence, many years and a child from us with a lot of innocence and quite a few years."

"That seems like…"

"More then what they needed, it is but then again, it's not."

"They were old so they didn't have the young both would have given and the child is not being killed, just taken which is…"

"Cheating them."

"Yeah, so they did both to make it fair."

"Are you going to be alright?" He said. I walked over to him and looked at Kate.

"I should be, she's going home to her parents, where she belongs, right?"

"Yeah, so we should be happy for her. If she wants to go."

"She has to, for everyone's sake. I'll suffer, but then again, I'll be fine." I said with tears from my eyes. Jaden held me and I cried thinking about losing another small child that would be an important part of my life.

"I think it's my fault, sorry." Jaden said.

"No, fate's just a jerk." I said.

"How long? They didn't say."

"Ladle said 3 days." I answered.

"So we just have to do as much for her as we can in that time right?" I nodded.

"Yeah, make her as happy as we can. But most of all, we won't tell her we're leaving." I said.

"What, why not?" He asked.

"We don't want her to suffer, or us to. It's best if there are no good-byes. It just hurts us more." I said. "We'll meet again, I just know it." He nodded.

"I know it too." He agreed.

"Will you watch her; I'm going to take care of a few things." He nodded.

"She's sound asleep and I'm here. She'll be fine." I nodded and he watched me leave.

I walked over to the police department which I had, had enough of for one lifetime. "I need the listing for these people." I said holding out Kate's adoption form listing her parents' names on it.

"Seeing as that's a legal document, we will comply."

"I'm glad." I said smiling as best I could. They showed me the address. I wonder how Jaden got it. Well that doesn't matter, he took care of it is all that matters.

Wait a sec, this address is way off in another country! I picked up my phone and called Jaden's. "Hey Lex, what's up?"

"I need the address, how'd you find it?"

"I went to the hotel and asked where they were." I sighed.

"Thanks Jaden, wait… our hotel."

"Yeah, where are you?"

"At the police station," I said sighing.

"Come back and go to room 110, alright."

"Thanks," I hung up and went to the room.

I knocked on the door. "Who is it?"

"Alexis Rhodes, Kate's adoptive mom." I said. Her mother opened the door.

"Are you here to yell at me too?" She asked.

"No, I'm here to talk with you."

"Not yell?"

"No, not yell."

"Alright then, you can come in." She said stepping out of the way. I sat in a chair that she had set out.

"I want to know why you left her in the first place."

"I didn't want a child, I had a job to take care of and I was just recently married. I couldn't handle taking care of a child. My husband didn't want a child and refused to take care of her. He wanted her aborted."

"That's horrible, and evil."

"I know, so I promised I'd leave her with my parents so she wouldn't ruin our relationship."

"He seems like a horrible husband."

"If I had a choice to marry him I would agree with you."

"You didn't have a choice?"

"Ha! You think I'd marry him by choice, that's a laugh. His family is old fashion, if he can…

"Beat you in a duel, he wins you as a right and can marry you, right?" I asked.

"Yeah, how do you know? Did Jaden do the same thing to you?" She asked seeming sympathetic to my situation.

"I guess, but I also love him. We were friends and he accidentally without knowing it was challenged for my rights, he won like he always does, and well I ended up being expectedly engaged to him."

"At least you love him, if I could duel; this wouldn't have happened."

"Really?" She nodded. "Because Kate can teach you how to duel when she stays with you. Why the change in heart?"

"He likes kids now, but he's a horrible man. I don't want Kate to be exposed to him. He plans on having 6 or 7 kids, in addition to Kate."

"That's crazy."

"I know but unless I beat him in a duel, I don't get my rights back."

"Jaden is number one duelist around and I'm number two. We taught Kate and she's amazingly good so she can teach you, just don't get caught or both your lives will be in danger." I warned.

"Thanks, I'm sorry he's going to take Kate from you. I should have said anything to him, I'm sorry."

"It's perfectly alright; she's your daughter so you own her rights now."

"But if she could beat him and me in a duel, then she'd have both our right, right?" She asked.

"Yeah, I guess."

"Then that's what we'll do. She'll free both of us."

"But don't return her, alright." I said smiling.

"Why ever not?"

"Because she's your daughter and she deserves her real mother. You can give her more love then I could."

"I doubt that, you have such a strong bond with her. I know it; I saw how she was in your arms. It's how she was when she was first born."

"Thanks, I've been around another two children."

"That's nice, you're good at it. You'll be a great mother and Jaden shows great promise likewise at being a father."

"Thanks."

"You're welcome. It's no lie, you're good with children."

"You're too kind. So how did you end up in the duel?"

"My boyfriend and true love lost to him and lost his rights to me." She said sadly.

"I know that I'd feel the same way if Jaden lost to a stranger who was evil."

"If I become free. I'd be so happy. You have no clue."

"I'm quite sure I know how happy you'd be seeing as I'm already at that stage." I said smiling at her.

"Do you think Kate will forgive me? I don't want her to hate me. I'd rather her be with you but he's already filled out the paperwork for her return."

"I know." I said laying a hand on her shoulder.

"But I know that I still have a year of high school left with Jaden then college. Who knows where I'm going from there. It's too crazy to have a child then. I know that in about 6 years I'll have my own child but until I've settled down with Jaden then, it's all too unknown."

"Glad to know that you have a good life ahead of you. You're one of the few happy people around."

"I don't know if that's true. Jaden and Kate both have bright futures and you have one as well. At least hopes for one."

"Thanks Alexis, I enjoyed this visit."

"I'm surprised Jaden yelled at you during his talk with you earlier."

"He didn't?"

"Then why did you say that…

"You coming up here sounded like something and over protective mother would do."

"Really, thanks I guess." I said smiling.

"You're welcome Alexis."

"I know this isn't normal but uh…"

"What, you can ask me for anything."

"Maybe sometime in the near future, can I come see Kate?" I asked.

"But of course," She answered.

"So you were a soldier?" I asked.

"I was a nurse in the front line with my husband there too." She answered.

"I wish my parents would forgive me for leaving Kate with them."

"They seemed pretty happy to have her there with them. I'm sure that they forgive. That's the kind of people they were."

"I sure hope you're right Alexis. Well my husband will be back soon and who knows what'll happen if he finds you here, so bye." I nodded and went back to my room.

Jaden opened the door when I knocked. Kate ran to my feet and hugged me. "What's going on?" She asked.

"You're going home to your parents in a few days, alright?"

"No, they left me. You didn't." I picked her up and hugged her.

"Understand that the best place where you can help your mother and Jaden and I am there. Please be good for them and teach your mom how to duel for us so she can beat your dad, alright?" I asked with tears down my face.

Kate was a different girl then she use to be. Much like I was much different then how I use to be. Life is always like that. Just when you think you know a person, of yourself in this matter; they change on you.

A/N: I'm so sorry that I haven't updated in… what is it?...a month now. You were probably thinking I gave up on this story with the slow boring nature that I'm writing at but as this is the concluding chapters, I'm working with. I was really trying to make sure I got everything A+ work as a good-bye and sorry present for you guys. Sorry for the stupid lack of updates, sorry again and thanks for reading. Sincerely, your writer: Aniecä.

P.S. The extra time has something to do with the extreme 2x long length of the story as well but not as much because it still look me apx. 4 hours to write. Sorry again, Anieca.