Combining three days into one chapter for this one!
Slifer can't stay open without a headmaster...can it? (Ghost Stories)
Jaden pulls an all-nighter. (Dreams/Nightmares)
Chazz skips out on dinner. (Dissociation)
Year Three, Second Half - Chancellor's Office
"So, wait. Hold on. Run that by me again?" Jaden asked.
Chancellor Sheppard sighed. "Right now, you're the only student in Slifer. Everyone else has been promoted. And you've more than earned being promoted as well. Of course, if you wanted to stay in Slifer, that would be fine…"
"But we don't have any teachers in charge of Slifer!" Dr. Crowler finished. He slammed Sheppard's desk with his hands. "And we don't have the staff to spare. Especially not after the last few…incidents. It's getting harder to get teachers to stay."
Jaden sucked a breath in through his teeth. "But, no one's been in charge of Slifer for a year and a half, right? Shouldn't this have been a problem before now?"
"Duel Academy's been through a lot the past few years," Chancellor Sheppard admitted. "We've been looking into it and trying to find someone, believe me, but we've been playing too much damage control."
"Well, it's not that big a deal anyway." Jaden shrugged. "Slifer still has a headmaster anyway."
"What are you talking about?" Chancellor Sheppard asked.
Silently, Jaden bent down. When he stood back up, Pharaoh was nestled safely and comfortably in his arms. The cat let out a yawn as he stared up at the ceiling of the chancellor's office.
"You can't honestly…" Dr. Crowler groaned. "That flea-ridden creature is not a teacher at Duel Academy, and certainly not the headmaster of the Slifer dorms."
"Unless you're recommending him for the position, and I don't think he's qualified," Chancellor Sheppard added.
"Of course he's not qualified! He's a cat!" Dr. Crowler protested.
Jaden laughed. "Of course I'm not saying Pharaoh's not in charge at Slifer. But, see, Banner's ghost has been sticking around. Banner's still here." He reached under Pharaoh's head to scratch under his chin. Pharaoh purred. "So, through Pharaoh, Banner can still be the head honcho. At least until I graduate, anyway. After that, you can probably close Slifer down until you find someone new if you want, but I'm staying put."
"So Banner's been haunting the Slifer dorms this whole time?" Chancellor Sheppard blinked. He looked desperately at Dr. Crowler. "Are we supposed to believe this… this ghost story?"
"Normally, I wouldn't, and even now I'm struggling to consider it," Dr. Crowler replied. "But after the past few years… I'm inclined to believe anything, especially if this slacker's saying it."
"I'll tell you what. Pharaoh can attend all the meetings and everything you need him to be at," Jaden offered. "And Banner can tell me everything the students need to be informed about. And I'll act on that. But if it becomes clear I'm not informed about something I should be, I'll accept a promotion to Yellow or Blue, wherever you want me, without fighting you on it. That way you don't have to take my word on it. I know the ghost thing seems a bit far-fetched."
"That logic seems sound to me, Chancellor," Dr. Crowler admitted. "And even then, like I said. When it comes to ghosts and spirits and whatnot, I'm inclined to believe Jaden on it."
"Alright, then, I guess that's settled," Chancellor Sheppard decided. "We'll be keeping an eye on you of course, and if we have any concerns that the arrangement isn't working out, you'll hear from us and we'll meet again. But for now, you're free to stay in Slifer, provided Pharaoh does his part."
"Sweet!" Jaden shot them a grin. Pharaoh jumped out of his arms as he gave his salute to them both. "Thanks Chancellor, thanks Doc! You won't be disappointed!" he called out as he left the office.
"I don't like the idea of having that cat back at all our staff meetings," Dr. Crowler mumbled as he watched Jaden go. "Still, I suppose that's the best we're going to get from that boy."
Year One - Slifer Dorms
When Jaden awoke, his heart beat rapidly with adrenaline and fear.
But…he wasn't sure why.
See, here was the thing. He used to get these nightmares when he was younger. Bad ones, apparently, that were really messing with all sorts of aspects of his life. He didn't really remember much about that time other than it happened, the whole thing was a blank now. He'd tried asking his parents before, but they danced around the subject and obviously didn't want to talk about it. So as far as he knew, his parents had taken to see him to a doctor about the nightmares. And then the nightmares stopped.
Or, they had at the time. Now was a different story.
Since starting at Duel Academy, Jaden's dreams weren't the nicest. But the thing was, once he woke up he couldn't remember what it was about. But he kept waking up feeling afraid and sweaty and more exhausted when he'd fallen asleep. But, more awake, too. When the dreams woke him up, he just couldn't bring himself to fall asleep again. Apparently whatever he was dreaming about was that bad. More than once he'd woken up to find he'd been crying in his sleep.
He had no idea if these were the same nightmares he'd had before, but it was messing with his sleep schedule pretty badly.
Looked like tonight was another one of those nights. Time to say goodbye to a good night's sleep.
Knowing that resting was a pointless effort by now, Jaden pulled himself out of bed. There wasn't much he could do at this time of night. Morning? Whatever. Nothing was going on on the island, and he didn't want to wake up Syrus and Chumley.
All he could really do was go through his cards. Maybe there was a new strategy he could work in, or some way to adjust his deck so he could duel even better. Winged Kuriboh settled into his lap, either to give a second opinion. Which was usually positive, but hey, that's Winged Kuriboh for you.
By the time Chumley and Syrus rolled out of bed, Jaden was fighting off a yawn. His eyes stung, and there was a sharp pain in his head. Good thing he'd given up staying awake in class a long time ago.
"Whoa, Jay, did you stay up all night again?" Syrus asked after putting on his glasses. He looked over Jaden. Whatever Syrus saw, it made him frown. "I know you wanna keep working on your deck, Jay, but this might not be the best way to go about it. You look exhausted."
"Yeah, if you sleep in class again, Dr. Crowler might give you detention," Chumley added. "And detention's totally not licious."
"I'm fine, guys, honest," Jaden assured them with a yawn. "Just let me get changed and I'll be good to go."
"Yeah, good to go to sleep, maybe," Syrus said. "You're turning into some kind of nocturnal animal. It can't be good for you."
"I know, I know," Jaden muttered. "I'll try to stop staying up so much."
Well, at least he could look forward to sleeping in class, detention or not. Now he was too tired to dream about anything.
Year Two - Slifer Dorms
Chazz stared up at the ceiling, resting his head on the mattress he was sprawled out on.
How long had it been since…when did this Society of Light thing even start, anyway? Right after the slacker tried to leave? How long had it even been since then? He wasn't sure. He couldn't be.
His time in the Society of Light was a blank, a blur. Went by in a flash, if you will. No, wait, too soon to start making jokes about it, his brain didn't like that one. He only had bits and pieces in his memory, playing out in his mind like a montage in a movie. Converting duelist after duelist into members of the organization. Enough to get a general idea of how much damage he'd caused almost single-handedly.
And, sure, he could make all these excuses about how Sartorius tricked him when he was converted himself, how it couldn't be his fault. But Chazz didn't have it in himself to lie to himself right now. He was stupid and let his feelings get the better of him. He fell for that trap hook line and sinker, and if he'd actually been smart about it he would've done better, not get taken over like that.
Slifer Red was being promised tons of fried shrimp for everyone that night, but Chazz wasn't sure how to handle being around all those Society of Light victims. Everyone attending Duel Academy right then was a victim of the Society of Light in some way or another. Besides, Chazz was pretty sure he forgot how to move his legs and arms. He did have those, right? You need those to walk and eat fried shrimp. More reason to stay where he was.
The Chazz didn't want to wallow in his guilt publicly anyway. If he had his way, no one was going to think any of that was bothering him, and the Chazz always got his way.
Somewhere in the middle of that thought, the door to his room opened without any warning. Jaden poked his head in.
"Oh, you are here, Chazz, sweet!" Jaden said, more to himself than anything.
"You know, slacker, most people knock before entering someone else's room," Chazz told him. He rolled his eyes. That was Jaden for you, he shouldn't be expecting any better.
"Well, I didn't see you at dinner so I saved you some fried shrimp. Brought it up here for you," Jaden replied. He elbowed the door open further. Sure enough, his hands were full, holding a plate piled with fried shrimp.
"Thanks." Fried shrimp was definitely the best food Slifer had to offer. "But I'm not really hungry."
"Not hungry? Aw, no way Chazz, it's fried shrimp! You gotta want some." Jaden frowned. "Is everything okay? I haven't seen you in awhile, actually, have you just…been here?"
"What do you think?!" Chazz demanded.
"I'm sure not being able to see my cards for a couple of days because of the Society of Light and having to fight against them isn't nearly as bad as being brainwashed by them, so I'm not gonna say I understand, because I probably don't," Jaden replied. "But I know it can't be easy. If you wanna talk, I'm here for you. And it's not just me. Alexis, Syrus…"
Chazz sighed. "Thanks, I guess, but the Chazz can handle himself," he muttered.
"If you say so." Jaden didn't look entirely convinced. But he carefully put the plate of shrimp down somewhere he must've deemed appropriate and made his way back out the door. "The offer still stands. Catch you later, Chazz. Good luck!"
Chazz huffed once Jaden was gone, blowing a few strands of his hair off his face.
Back to square one, then.