Disclaimer: If my name was Kazuki Takahashi then I wouldn't even be on this site, so, yes, I don't own YuGiOh GX.

Claimer: My series, my plots, my titles, my original characters…go get your own.

Remaining Chapters (Excluding this one): 4

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Jaden's POV

Time Skip – The Next Day (Day 15)

"You could still wake up in time to return with your friends, Jaden," Winged Kuriboh said, appearing in front of me.

I just sighed and rolled onto my back, staring at the ceiling. "I haven't come close to waking up in two weeks, how could I possibly wake up in less than a week?"

He flew to hover in front of me again, looking a little disappointed. "You've come very close, Jaden. Remember when you managed to get your hand to twitch?"

I have a humorless chuckle. "That was close to waking up?"

He dropped down onto my chest, lightly scratching my chin. "Don't be like that, Jaden. Why are you acting like you've given up?"

"Because I have."

"No you haven't and you know it."

"Oh, what do you know?" I sat up quickly, hand instinctively shooting up to catch Winged Kuriboh before he fell from my chest. My eyes locked on the door, ears straining to hear the turning of the knob, which I swore I just heard less than a second ago. Sure enough, a few seconds later the door slowly swung open, my heart constricting when I saw Alexis step into my room.

"First Claire, then Jesse, and now Alexis, I don't know how much more of this I can take," I whispered, vaguely seeing Alexis close the door behind herself, her eyes on the ground, her hand clutching the locket I have her last summer.

Winged Kuriboh landed on my shoulder, nudging my cheek lightly with the tip of his wing. "You knew that she would eventually come and visit you."

I frowned. "I hoped I'd be wrong." I turned and slid to the other side of my bed when Alexis approached. She grabbed a chair blindly, because she was keeping her eyes locked on my body, and pulled it to the side of the bed. She sat and grabbed my hand, which was lying limply on top of the sheets. As she held it between both of hers, I looked lifted the one she was holding and stared at it.

I felt nothing.

"See, Winged Kuriboh?" I whispered eyes still locked on my hand. "I'm no closer to waking up today than I was yesterday."

He frowned at me but kept silent.

"Hi, Jaden," Alexis whispered, making me drop my hand and look up at her. She pressed her lips together, eyes tightening in a flash of pain, before she continued, "I'm sorry that I haven't come to see you, like the others, but … but I haven't been able to."She cleared her throat, holding my hand in only one of hers as she reached up to lightly stroke my face. I closed my eyes and tilted my head, like I would if I could really feel her, which I couldn't.

"I haven't had a decent night's sleep since the accident."

I opened my eyes as she spoke up again, feeling something tighten in the pit of stomach. She moved a lock of hair from my forehead, continuing to move her fingers through my hair as she continued to speak.

"Every time I'd close my eyes, I'd relive the accident. Even when I was awake, I'd keep reliving it. It became so bad that I was afraid that I'd become insomniac." She smiled weakly, which only made me frown. I didn't even have time to say anything before the smile disappeared.

"I …" she cleared her throat, still running her fingers through my hair. "I don't really know what to say. Everyone who has come to see you actually looks a little better afterward, even if they themselves don't see it. I do, and it makes me sad that I can't look like them, but I guess I'm not really like them when it comes to this situation."

"Lex," I whispered, moving toward her but stopping, because for some reason I just couldn't bring myself to stand next to her. I felt that it was more important to watch her expression than anything else. Because I was staring at her expression, I didn't notice when she stopped running her fingers through my hair. I only noticed she did when she pulled her hand back and covered my other hand with it.

"It just occurred to me the reason why I'm so different from the others," she said.

I frowned and leaned forward. "Why?"

Winged Kuriboh sat down on my shoulder. "Maybe it's because she was in the accident."

"It's not because I was in the accident, that I saw your body become a crash-test dummy in person." Her voice caught, so she stopped to clear her throat. While she was, I glanced at Winged Kuriboh.

"I guess you're wrong," I whispered, throat tight because I did not like the way this conversation was going. He looked at me with a depressed expression before Alexis continued and I looked back at her.

"The reason why I'm different is because I love you, Jaden," she whispered, stopping to listen to something I suppose.

I covered my mouth with my hand and slowly shook my head. "It's just like I thought, Alexis is going to be the one that tears my heart to pieces," I whispered, ignoring the way Winged Kuriboh tried to comfort me. Right now, I was beyond being able to be comforted.

Alexis sighed and released one of my hands and started to run her fingers through my hair again. "It's really hard," she whispered, and I barely heard it. I guess it was more for her than for me. She tilted her head up and looked at my face, continuing. "This may sound mean, almost insensitive, but what I mean is that it's really hard to love you like I do."

My heart clenched before tearing in half. I guess I never realized how hard I was to love, and I loved Alexis enough to realize that maybe, loving me was bad for her. And, as hard as it was for me, I sat there and listened as she continued.

"I keep thinking about it, why I do love you, even after everything you put me through." She pressed her lips together, eyes darkening."First you hurt me – unintentionally of course – when I saw you wrapped up with the Obelisk girl behind the Slifer dorms."

I nodded, remembering that stormy day.

"Then there was last summer, when every secret you'd been keeping from me came to light. Brook, Danny, your family, when I learned all about that, it felt as if you didn't trust me, as if you didn't love me enough, as if you didn't love me as much as I did you, and it hurt."

I realized that she was rambling and I wanted to tell her that it was okay, that she didn't need to keep going, but it wouldn't have been fair to her. She needed this, needed to vent, so I let her.

"Then last winter, there was you and Claire. You told me about her before, but you never told me that you guys were actually an item, a secret one or not." She frowned and stopped her hand, just staring at me."But I understand now that you didn't see the need to tell me, though that still isn't any excuse."

I couldn't help but smile at her. "No, no it is not." I pressed my lips together when she started to talk again.

"Of course, that's just you and I can't blame you for that." She smiled and I frowned, wondering where this was going."It's one of the things I love best about you, your child-like view of most things."

I pouted. "What's that supposed to mean?" I demanded, smiling when I heard Alexis giggle lightly to herself. My smile fell when she stopped giggling and frowned. She stared at my face, slowly moving her hand through my hair. When she didn't say anything, only continued to stare at my face, I moved closer to her, looking at her closely. "Alexis?" I whispered.

"You look like you're sleeping," she whispered suddenly, voice catching as she moved her fingers from my hair and lightly stroked my closed eyelids. I closed my eyes, feeling empty when I felt nothing.

"I do this all the time when I want you to wake up." I opened my eyes, seeing her smiling sadly, and I felt something coil in my stomach when I saw the tears brimming in her eyes. "You once told me that it was a nice way to wake up."

"That's because it is," I whispered, looking away when her lips quivered and her smile vanished.

"And that's what I need, Jaden," she croaked out, making me look back at her. "I need you to wake up." Her hand tightened around mine as the tears that were brimming in her eyes fell down her cheeks and onto our joined hands. "You can't give up, Jaden. You can't leave all of your friends like this. You can't leave me like this!"

Her words were cut off as a silent sob tore its way out of her chest. Alexis closed her eyes tightly and pressed her lips together. Because she was silent, I said, "Alexis, I don't want to leave you like this; I don't want to leave any of you like this, but I don't think it's up to me." I chocked on nothing and looked away, pressing my hand against my mouth to keep from breaking down.

"I still need you, Jaden," Alexis said, making me look back at her.

"No, Lex, no you don't," I whispered, forcing myself to stop when she continued.

"I need you to be alive and okay. I need your child-like mannerisms. I need your courage and your big, strong heart. I still need you." Her voice broke again, but she forced herself to continue through it, and tore my heart to pieces. "Please, Jaden, don't leave me. Not yet." Slowly, never taking her eyes off of my face, she stood up, releasing my hand and framing my face with both of hers. She moved closer to me so her face was just a few inches from mine. "Please, Jaden, wake up. For me."

I gasped sharply, holding my breath as she slowly lowered her face toward mine, never stopping until she pressed her lips to mine.

And everything changed.

Slowly, I lifted my hand up and lightly touched my lips. "I … I can feel this."

Winged Kuriboh gasped and looked at me. "You what?"

I swallowed and continued to stare at Alexis, relishing the feeling of her lips against mine. That was the only thing I'd been able to feel, and I felt all the tears I'd been holding in trickle down my cheeks in a steady flow. For once, I felt closer to the world of the awake, like at any moment I was going to wake up. I felt insanely hopeful.

And that's when everything went wrong.

My hand fell from my lips as Alexis' head snapped away from mine and we both stared at my heart monitor, which was screeching loudly, which could only mean one thing:

I was flat-lining.

"What … what's happening?" I whispered, about to continue when I felt something lightly touch my shoulder. I turned around and saw nothing but bright, warm, inviting light, which could only be one thing. When I realized this, I felt my heart plummet to my feet, vaguely seeing Winged Kuriboh cowering behind my shoulder out of the corner of my eye. I slowly shook my head back and forth, whispering,

"No … not now."

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