Warnings: Angry!Jaden and memories that don't really make sense.

Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh GX


Year Two: Descending Light


Jaden was in a foul mood.

Every inch of him ached. His hands were sore from dueling, his eyes hung heavy with lack of sleep, and his head was pounding, throbbing with a headache that had begun several weeks ago and had been ebbing and rising like a steady tide. At times it was little more than a buzz at the back of his head. At other times, it was so fierce that it almost blinded him. It ate at him like acid eating away at metal, breaking it down bit by bit until it was weak and useless. It tick-tocked at his skull, beating out the rhythm of a clock, slowly running out of time. It tore into him like the claws of a vicious, cornered animal (or Beasts, but Jaden didn't want to think about those. He never wanted to think about those again. Syrus could have his nightmares and fight them, and Zane could suffer his inferiority complexes and succumb, but what had happened to Jaden Yuki down there was more than a nightmare made flesh. He'd won. He'd beaten the Beasts back, and what shook him to the core was the undeniable fact that he shouldn't have. He should've died down in the crypt, from wounds and blood loss and that awful, creeping mist, with its suffocating hands. He should not be standing in the duel arena, fighting with Prince Ojin. He should not be trying to challenge the Light. He should not be aiming at saving the world. He shouldn't even be breathing. But he was, and that terrified him.) Jaden would've liked to call it stress and be done with it.

Jaden would've really liked to call it stress.

Unfortunately, he knew better. He didn't quite know how he knew better, but he did. With the same, unyielding sense that told him that there was something slumbering deep inside of him (was slumbering still the right word to use? It certainly didn't seem to be sleeping. Whatever it was, whatever name the power had, it was most assuredly not asleep anymore. What else could've pulled Chazz from the prison the Light had put him in? What else could've known that Alexis was going to fight against the hold It had on her? What else could be thrumming in his veins right now, hot and tempered and slowly but surely pushing him into place? Whatever it was, it had his body alive and tense, ready for a fight. He could feel every one of his cards, hear their voices on the edges of his mind, each calling out to him and trying to make it better. At once, it both calmed and amplified his headache, and Jaden wondered if he should be grateful, or furious), Jaden knew that his thundering head was not the result of something as mundane as stress.

Even so, Prince Ojin Rayner de Misgarth was undoubtedly a stressful man to deal with.

" Those things are your cards, not your friends." The man was saying, and his very tone made Jaden want to hit something. Preferably his opponent.

' Let me out for thirty seconds! I'll show him a card!' Burstinatrix hissed. Avion put a calming hand on her shoulder.

' Easy there, Burst. You'll pop an energy vessel at the rate this is going.'

' Yeah, chill out, Fire Lady.' Dark Panther said in his mellow voice. He was stretched out by Jaden's feet, observing the duel with the air of someone who could easily fall asleep. In a rare (these days) display of humour, Jaden wondered if he should introduce his Panther to Belowski.

' Don't you take that tone with me, you no good layabout!' Burstinatrix snapped, looking harried. Panther simply yawned. At his side, Aquos popped in and kneeled down, giving the large cat an affectionate pat before turning to face the still raging fire elemental.

' Burstinatrix, I guarantee that this isn't the best way to solve anything. I suggest-'

' How about I shove my foot up your ass? How's that for a solution?'

Aquos sighed.

' Oh dear, she's at it again.'

' Fuck yeah she is!' Flare Scarab appeared beside Burstinatrix, grinning. ' Now that's what I'm talking about! Jay, let us see a little action, would ya? I haven't been this pumped for a fight since The Fall!'

' I should think,' Neos said as he materialized at Jaden's side, putting a hand on the boy's shoulder, ' that you would treat that dark and terrible time with a little more respect and reverence. We lost our home and our King in that war.'

' Not completely.' Avion whispered, shooting a look at Jaden.

The boy in question would've been far more intrigued in what was being said if he had been able to focus on anything but the stabbing pain currently shooting from his head down through his body. His eyes were watering and he had to bring his card hand up to his face, trying to shield it from the unseen force that was pressing in on his body. His stomach rolled over itself, and it was all he could do to stay on his feet. Neos' hand on his tightened, and something warm flooded through his system.

" My cards..." he hissed, " ...are...my friends."

" That must be a pretty lonely existence." Ojin said, rolling his eyes. A cold smirk came over Jaden's face.

" You have no idea." He brought his card hand a little ways away from his face, still blocking the light from the fixture right above his head from hitting him. The blinding headache dulled for a moment, the warmth rippling through his body slowly steadying him. After a moment's repose, Jaden carefully lowered the cards, taking care not to look directly into the lights above him. His body no longer feeling like it was swaying from side to side, Jaden gave a soft smile to the unseen spirits around him. In response, Neos gave his shoulder another squeeze, and then vanished from sight.

Across from him, the Prince was frowning, glaring at Jaden with a look of puzzled anger.

" Don't think that you can get to me." He snapped at last, forcing Jaden to look away from his precious spirits. The royal had his fists clenched around his cards, his skin pale as bones under the harsh arena lighting. Unflinchingly, Jaden met those burning eyes, blazing with the same conviction he'd been seeing in the eyes of every member of the Society since the beginning of the year.

Jaden felt his stomach twist with nausea. That look was really starting to become sickening.

" Your cheap tricks won't do a thing!"

At any other time, Jaden might've blinked at the accusation. It seemed to come completely from left-field and had nothing to do with what was going on. Something like a lifetime ago, Jaden Yuki might've blinked cutely, tilted his head, and innocently asked what Ojin was talking about.

But a lifetime ago, Jaden had never looked into the eyes of a member of the Society. A lifetime ago, Jaden hadn't had to watch his dearest friends scream as they tried to shove an invading force out of their bodies. A lifetime ago, Jaden hadn't looked into the eyes of the Light of Destruction, and bested It in the only arena that mattered.

So Jaden didn't blink at Ojin's strange proclamation. He merely raised a brow, every movement his body made feeling detached from his senses somehow.

" The hell are you going on about now?" He asked tiredly. The Prince only glared harder, if that was possible.

" That trick you're using, that 'oh, I'm so lonely and alone, feel bad for me' line you're trying to sell. It won't work!" Ojin smirked and flicked a strand of hair out of his eyes. " If anything, it makes me feel even better about beating you. After all, if I can't even beat some no-talent, whining, lonely loser, how can I call myself a worthy of the Light?"

For his own part, Jaden didn't feel any of the anger that exploded out of the stands behind him. Syrus was snarling like a lion woken from a noon-day nap and he could feel the intense heat of Atticus' glare. Hassleberry sounded as though he was being forcibly held back by a struggling Mindy, Jasmine and Jesse, each of whom was spitting curses, Jesse in several Scandinavian languages if Jaden's ears were working correctly. And of course, while he couldn't see her face, Jaden knew the look that Alexis was sporting; that supremely disdainful, flashing-eyed look of a queen glaring down at a worm. Lia's voice alone was missing from the cacophonous fray that trumpeted behind him, but Jaden didn't notice. His mind, once again abuzz with the thrum of a headache, had latched onto one comment.

' I'm not lonely.'

It was strange that that was what his mind had chosen to focus on, but he couldn't seem to force it to go elsewhere. He could only puzzle over the use of the word 'lonely' as the world around him erupted into chaos.

' I'm not lonely. I'm not.'

Alexis had started talking. Jaden couldn't quite hear the words, but he knew her voice, knew it better than he'd ever admit to, and he knew what she sounded like when she was mad. And boy, did she sound mad. A little under her furious tirade – what was she saying? He couldn't make his ears focus on anything but the sound of her voice. The words wouldn't register. He thought maybe he should be scared, but he was too numb- Jaden could hear Atticus pipe up, and then the Rhodes siblings launched the brunt of the anger full force. Ojin was replying – Jaden could see his lips moving- but the buzz of the headache had risen to a dull roar, drowning out everything, even the increasingly insistent calls of his monsters.

' ...Am I?'

Lonely. The word shouldn't fit. He wasn't lonely. He had more friends than he knew what to do with. He had Syrus and Lexi and Lia and Atticus and Hassleberry. He had Jesse, and Chazz, and Brier and dozens of others. He had letters that he wrote to Chumley as part of their pen-pal idea. He had an entire hard-drive full of e-mails from Akimi-chan and Natsuki-chan and even that little bokukko Fuyubi, telling him to eat right and not be lazy. He had his cards from Shin-kun and Netsuke-sempai letting him know how Fuyubi was doing – because she didn't tell him if she'd failed; she had too much pride to admit that, the little brat- and Hark-chan trying to act cool whenever they met and like she hadn't missed him at all, and poor, lovesick Haruka-chan, whose affections he neither returned nor felt worthy of and his hundreds of babysitters, each remembering him fondly and still sending his Christmas cards and New Year's greetings and Osam-

Jaden's mind screeched to a halt.

The previously fuzzy world had slid into sharp focus. Everywhere he looked, there were hard angles and deadly points threatening to spear him through the chest. His headache had shifted to match his new view-point, his head throbbing and jolting like a thousand little swords were raining down on his skull. His vision swam and, for one, terrible moment, he was thrust back to that place of darkness, where his cards lay blank and empty in front of him and a vicious, cruel voice cajoled him to see the Light.

Jaden brought his hands up to his eyes, partly to block out any light, but mostly to stop the stream of tears that threatened to overflow. In the back of his head, the roaring picked up, and Jaden bit back a cry of pain. Even with his eyes covered, he could still feel the sharp edges of the world digging into his body. In fact, the pain had intensified, the stabbing swords now javelins hurling into his skin and being twisted once they found their mark. He gritted his teeth against the sounds that threatened to come bubbling up out of his throat. All around him, chaos reigned, the shouts of his friends and the beseeching cries of his monsters mixed together with the gloating voice of Prince Ojin, battering at his sense even as he tried to make sense of it all.

And, even more painful, underneath it all was the slow, angry hissing that Jaden knew, beyond any doubt, was the Light of Destruction challenging him to combat.

Jaden pressed the balls of his hands deeper against his eyelid as colour and images exploded into focus.

There, there is a sturdy table, like the one in his dining room.

And the lamp on the end table by the couch. Green and hideous and a wedding present from an old friend of his mother's. He can't remember the name she'd told him. He can barely remember anything at all.

The couch where he used to play videogames with some of his babysitters. Their faces blur together in his mind, formless, shapeless, and, worst of all, completely devoid of any recognizable features. He can no more tell one face from another than he can jump off the roof of the Obelisk Blue Dorm and start flying.

Back on the table-there are cards now, colourful, bright, beaming cards. He can't see their faces, but there are voices, so many sweet, happy voices, and he can hear them. At long last, he can hear them!

Now, a hand reaching across the table. It flips a card, and something swoops into his stomach. A card, but he can't make out the picture. A new voice, just one more in the friendly fray, pipes up, but he can't make out the words. There is a deeper voice now, talking, explaining, and the flash of light reflected off a pair of glasses.

O...

Osa...

His mind stretches, and he grasps at the fleeting, flying shards of memories as they float around him. Only there's nothing floating around him, is there? Of course there's nothing, because he's in his house, alone with his cards and his television and something else, someone else...no, something else, and he's dueling...

He's dueling...

Osa...

Oh, why won't the name come to him? He knows it, and he knows he knows it more than he's ever known anything before- but isn't that a lie?- and it's frustrating and it hurts and he wants to remember that name!

A tear slides down his face and the older boy's voice grows concerned but that doesn't matter, because a new voice has come, a new voice, softer than clouds and sweeter than sugar and more dangerous than a cornered tiger, whispers into his ear.

' No, don't be sad. I won't let you be sad. I will never let anyone make you sad again, alright my Darling?'

Darling, Darling. No one has ever called him 'Darling' before. No one...

Except...

The other boy is moving now, carefully coming around the table. The cards are in disarray. Scattered, like leaves to the wind. Like pieces of a puzzle thrown over the board. Like a shattered mirror, the shards left to lay where they fell.

Falling...

The other boy is falling now. He's falling so fast, like a baby bird who can't figure out how to fly. He's falling, and Jaden wants to go to him, but he can't, because Jaden's falling too, and the cards are falling with him, but they're not cards, they're bits of glass and in them, Jaden can see images, and pictures, and one shines brighter than the rest, bright and beautiful and silver and purple and black and warm, dual-coloured eyes that look at him like he's the only thing that has ever existed and Jaden reaches out to touch but as his hands close over it, a sharp pain explodes in his palm and then...

And then...

And then...

Wordlessly, he looked down at his palm.

And cried out.

Because there, plain as day and red as rose petals, was a smear of blood.

Jaden choked, and tried to scream, but the wind hit him with a gust that felt like a physical blow, and then he was being hurled back, his fingers unclenching on the rock, and rocketing forward into the not-whiteness that was before him. As he crashed into it head first, he gave a cry, more blood splattering out from his mouth. The current of energy ripped through his skull and sent shockwaves down his body, and it was only distantly, in between the jolts of pain, that he recognized the pleasant warmth the electrical charges left in their wake...

And then Jaden, from the depths of his very being, called up a strength he didn't remember having from a part of him that he didn't know, and pushed at the not-white, burning, painful vastness in front of him. His skin scorched, his body stung, his vision swam in and out of blackness, but he pushed, harder and harder until the blaze of pain was dulled to nothing, and all that remained was the warmth of that slumbering thing deep inside of him. That thing, that glorious, powerful thing that had pulled him from the jaws of death, that terrible, angry thing that had yanked Chazz back from the edge of the abyss, that great, god-like thing that forced Jaden's eyes open and his body forward even as his mind screamed for rest...

That thing exploded outwards, as Jaden wordlessly summoned Flame Wingman onto the field with barely a thought, and finally, piercing through the numbness and sharp spires that the world had turned into, he at long last heard a noise.

A soft, keening cry, filled with pain and a sorrow Jaden both didn't understand and recognized sounded across the duel arena. Jaden heard it over the rush of blood in his ears as the world swam with silver for a split second. He heard it over the roar of Wingman's fire blast to the Satellite Cannon. He heard it, even, over the grating noise of Prince Ojin's gloats as the Cannon remained intact. Across blood and battle, Jaden heard that one cry even as his shattered memories flew from the catacombs of his memory and began to reshape his childhood before his very eyes.

Jaden heard the cry even as he raised his head to meet the deranged gaze of the Prince, his eyes blazing to an unmistakable gold.


When Mindy had heard the first whimper, she'd worried, but no overly so. Everyone in their group was st least peripherally aware of Lia when Jaden dueled. There was something he did to her, not out of malice or, really, any fault of his own, that caused her a decent amount of pain every time she sat down with them to watch. There was an unspoken agreement between them that someone had to be sitting next to her, and that someone would have to be ready to haul her away if things got too bad. Usually, there was a bout of pain and a little bleeding, but Lia was a tough girl and she hated the fuss the others made over her. Mindy, in the middle of her own self-discovery, had decided that until something went horrifically wrong, she wouldn't do anything more than offer Lia a hand to squeeze.

Squeeze it the girl had; until Mindy was sure she'd have bruises in the morning.

But the whimpers, while worrying, weren't all that frightening.

It was when Lia started crying that Mindy knew something bad was happening.

Lia didn't cry, not really. Mindy indulged in it frequently, Jasmine was known to lock herself in her room for hours on end to get her feelings out, and even Alexis tended to get teary-eyed as her anger built towards a towering rage. But Lia didn't. None of them had really seen Lia cry since that incident with Chazz in first year. She was an intense, emotional person, much as she liked to pretend that she wasn't, but there was no denying that when it came to tears, Lia bottled them up inside of her until there was no one around to see.

So the sight of them sliding down Lia's cheeks as she leaned forward, unnaturally entranced by the duel, made Mindy's heart stutter to a stop.

" Lia?" She whispered. A quiet yelping sound, like a dog whose tail had been stepped on, answered her. " Lia, sweetie?"

With another soft whine, Lia leaned forward again, her eyes transfixed on the smoke covered duel arena below. Her hazel gaze was oddly glazed over, a fever-like flush spreading across her cheeks. She looked pale, not, thankfully, in the same way the Society members did, but sickly. The thin sheen of sweat on her brow didn't help.

" Lia, honey, lemme help." Mindy reached forward as more tears started to stream. It disturbed the older girl to see Lia so vulnerable and weak. Lia Shanner was many things to many people but no one, not even Chazz in one of his foulest moods, would ever accuse Lia of being weak.

She pulled gently.

" C'mon, let's go. We'll go somewhere." She cajoled. Lia shook her head.

" Il blesse. Je ne l'aime pas, mais je ne peux pas partir."

Mindy shook her head, only half understanding what the younger girl was saying.

" Sweetheart, we have to go. You're getting paler by the second and I don't think you'll be able to stay up right much longer." There was a weird feeling in the air, a kind of quiet humming power that was slowly gathering. It reminded Mindy of the few moments before a thunderstorm hit, when the air was heavy with unspent lightning. She pulled again, this time more insistently.

" J'ai besoin de rester ici." Lia whispered, her eyes never leaving the stage below. The smoke had cleared somewhat, and Jaden was standing with his hands pressed against his eyes, his face scrunched up in pain. With a sinking heart, Mindy realized that the poor boy looked about as well as Lia. He was pale under his ever present tan, and his whole body was held rigid in that stark, blinding light.

Mindy shivered, and averted her eyes.

" Lia, I'm not kidding." She pulled harder. " C'mon, we're leaving, right no-"

The room exploded.

Not truly, not in terms of light and sound and heat, but there was no other word to accurately describe what happened in that split second. There was silence, an unnatural, unbreakable silence, followed by the breaking of the storm. A rush of power, the same power that had hummed around them and saturated the air only moments before, broke over the group like a wave crashing on the shores of their island. Mindy felt herself being pushed back into her chair, the cracks and crevices of her own self-image suddenly filled to the bursting. Understanding ripped through her confusion, and, for little more than one, shining second, Mindy knew what it was that filled the air around her and filled her so completely. She knew the name of the power, and what it meant. For that one, blazing second, Mindy saw silver, and felt her soul kneel in piety.

Sacred Mother who bore us and loves us...

Lia gave a pained, echoing cry and collapsed against the older girl, shattering the spell. Mindy's arms came up to catch the brunette as she went down. Something wet pressed against her wrist and she tried to get Lia upright again, and Mindy tried very hard not to think about the arm she had resting against Lia's collar.

Down in the arena below, the two duelists were recovering from the blast of energy. Prince Ojin struggled to get back on his feet and Jaden calmly walked forward, towards his opponent's side of the field.

" I-I play..." Ojin stuttered, his calm severely shaken as Jaden kept walking, his eyes hidden beneath his bangs. " I-I play the Spell...the Spell card...I play-"

" You want to surrender." Jaden whispered, but it carried. Oh, did it carry. " Right now."

Mindy shivered, pulling the seemingly catatonic Lia closer to her in order to shield the younger girl. That was not Jaden's voice. It couldn't be Jaden's voice. It was too old, too strong, too inhuman. Moreover, there was something in that voice, something Mindy couldn't name – not since the light of her epiphany had faded- , something that commanded respect and attention.

It wasn't the voice of teenage boy. It was the voice of someone who led armies into battle. It was the voice of someone whose lightest decision shaped the world. It was the voice of someone who knew where he stood against the Light of Destruction, and knew no fear because of that knowledge.

It was a voice too great to belong to the plane of existence Mindy was on.

The purple-haired prince was gibbering in fear, the paleness of his skin for once not coming from his possession. Somewhere behind her, Mindy heard the pretty redheaded woman give a small gasp.

" What is he doing?"

" Somethin' very, very stupid." Jesse whispered in response as he climbed to his feet.

" Anderson, where d'ya think y're goin'?"

Jesse pushed past the still irate Hassleberry, his bright green eyes focused on Jaden. Mindy watched him go, tightening her grip on Lia as the boy passed. In the arena, Ojin's fingers nervously skittered over his deck.

" You...You aren't...you can't be..." He pleaded, even as Jaden stopped a few feet in front of him.

The boy paused, as if to consider the prince's whispered plea. A slow, cold smirk stretched his lips and the Slifer walked forward with more purpose, causing Ojin to scrambled backwards.

" No! Stay away! Don't come any closer!"

" Then surrender." Jaden said softly. " That's all I want. Just your surrender. Give up, and I promise not to touch you."

Ojin slapped his opposite hand onto his deck, a trickle of sweat sliding down his face.

" I surrender! I surrender! Just get away from me!"

" Alright." Jaden extended his right hand. His fingers just barely skirted Ojin's forehead. On the stairs, Jesse picked up his pace.

" Jay!" Came the warning shout, but the Slifer ignored it.

" Now then, why don't you show me your real face?" Jaden tilted his head, and Mindy squeezed her eyes shut and buried her face in Lia hair, unwilling to see what transformation her friend had undergone. Because her eyes were shut so tight, she missed the flick Jaden made with his wrist, and the flash of light as something white and formless was seemingly ripped from Ojin's body. She missed the look of triumph on Jaden face as he reached forward and closed his hand around the mass, squeezing tighter and tighter until it vanished into dust around his fist. She even missed the way the entire room flickered to silver as Jaden performed his actions, silence forced upon his audience by the weight of his power. The only part of this event Mindy experience was the blood-curdling scream the rose from Ojin as the mass was extracted, and the dull thud of two bodies colliding as Jesse vaulted over the barrier and crashed into Jaden, taking him down even as the Slifer smiled at the unconscious Prince out of golden eyes.

As Mindy let her face slowly rise from the protective barrier of Lia's hair, a soft whisper, this time in a voice less ancient but no less powerful, echoed through the hauntingly silent duel arena.

" After all that..." Jaden murmured staring up at the ceiling with tired brown eyes, apparently unaware of Jesse's weight or his concerned frown, "...after all that...

" I still can't remember her name."


And here, my dears, is the slight return of Yubel.

I thought long and hard about whether or not Jaden would fully remember her, and I decided against it. There's just too much fun in screwing with him next year.

Yes, Mindy's point of view. She was the best choice, because she's far enough away from the centre that she isn't still bleeding like Chazz or Alexis, but she's not ignorant about what's going on. Also, Mindy is the least likely to question things. She'll accept what's happening, if it helps.

Rayner is a Danish last name meaning 'pirate' or 'robber', and is a name given to warriors. I thought it would suit Ojin.

And, I forgot to mention this last time, but yes, this is set in the early 2020's. It's about 2024 in the story as of this chapter. So we are Five Minutes Into the Future. Yay, TVTropes!

Il blesse. Je ne l'aime pas, mais je ne peux pas partir." - It hurts. I don't like it, but I can't leave.

And we FINALLY got farther in Jaden's dream sequence.

Oh, and the next chapter is gonna be WEIRD.

See you all then,

MoS