It's the moment you've all been waiting for!

REUNION TIME!

I hope you all enjoy this; I've put a lot of thought into the story and this is one of the benchmarks within.

There will be three parts to the reunion, firstly this will be the Friday night after Jaden and the guys arrive!

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As we all know, buckle up and enjoy the ride,

Writey x

Jaden's POV

I'd wouldn't call myself particularly shy, actually I wouldn't really say I'm shy at all.

Usually I'm quite a confident person.

But as the boat started to pull into the docks of Duel Academy, I felt as though I wanted to hide in a cupboard and not come out.

All the excitement I'd had built earlier during the day had completely vanished once Amalie had woken me up.

Actually, when I realised that we were within touching distance of the island, everything became a bit of a blur.

I'd managed to compose myself enough not to have a breakdown in front of everyone, something that at the time seemed like a good step but really, I was just overthinking everything like normal.

In a way, I was a shadow of my former confident self, even though I hadn't changed at all.

I guess that's what happens when you leave all your best friends behind on an island without saying goodbye, I thought to myself as the island neared.

Zane, Syrus, Bastion, Juniper, Amalie and I were in the last boatload of people that were scheduled to arrive on the island for the reunion.

When I say, 'boatload of people', I genuinely mean boatload of people.

It wasn't a small event taking place like I had originally thought, oh no, there would probably be hundreds of old DA alumni at the event over the weekend, a detail that Zane and Syrus had handily missed out when they had first explained about it to me.

Amalie on the other hand, she was having a great time.

She kept going up to people and introducing herself to them. Most people just looked confused at first but then when she explained about being my plus one, the conversation really started to flow for her.

I think the reason so many people were talking to her was partly from her personality but also, from the fact that she was my plus one and according to Zane everybody found that very interesting.

After several minutes of introducing herself to random people, Amalie came back to sit beside me, "wow, how exciting, I can't wait to actually get onto the island."

I understood why she was so excited, her starting Duel Academy soon and everything, I just wish I had her level of excitement as well.

We docked not long after Amalie had taken a couple of pictures of the island as it became more visible.

She had decided to document everything whilst we were here to show her family once she returned home.

She'd brought a photo film camera and a book that she could put all her pictures in, almost like a memento.

We all grabbed our luggage, once the boat had come to a standstill and followed the crowds to the exit.

I recognised a few familiar faces from some of my classes as we passed in the walkway. Most had been looking at me and Amalie walking side by side, something that my friend had clearly been oblivious too.

We came to a stop on the dock area, the bright sunshine beating down over us.

We had been informed that upon arrival people would be sorted into groups to be taken around the island by a tour guide. It made me laugh because people seemed to be confused as to why we needed a tour of the island, considering we all used to live here at one point.

One by one, people's names were rattled off until it was just the six of us left. There weren't any other tour guides left either, so I assumed we had just been forgotten about.

"You know," said a familiar voice approaching us from behind, "I don't usually do personal tours but how was I going to miss the arrival of some of my very best former students," said the voice of Chancellor Sheppard.

Suddenly, all my nerves disappeared.

It was nice seeing my former headmaster again, he hasn't really changed much, in fact, he stilled had the exact same attire he wore when I was a student. I didn't ever think much about it, but I wasn't sure whether I'd actually ever seen him wear anything different.

Seeing him first seemed to make it a bit easier, it almost calmed me down in a sense, I felt safer.

He came to greet us individually.

He made a joke about whether Syrus might actually end up taller than Zane whilst talking to the Truesdale's.

Bastion introduced him to Juniper, who got slightly embarrassed as he kissed her on the hand whilst saying how lovely it was to meet her.

He made his way to stand in front of Amalie who was still staring out across the island and hadn't noticed that Sheppard was behind her, "Amalie Wise, you're here a bit early to start your first and only year of Duel Academy."

Amalie took one last picture before turning around with a huge smile on her face.

"Uncle Sheps," she said giving the Chancellor a hug, "I wasn't sure whether you would still work here, given the fact that you're about 100 now."

I'm pretty sure most of us wouldn't have gotten away with a comment like that, but Sheppard just started laughing at Amalie

"Still got that sense of humour I see," he said through his laughs, "why are you here?"

She smiled and pointed at me before turning back around to take more pictures.

Sheppard's gaze met my own and a huge smile broaden out across his face.

"Well, well, well, I wasn't sure if you would be joining us this weekend, Mr Yuki," he said patting my on the shoulder and smiling, "I'm glad you decided to join us Jaden, it wouldn't have been the same without you."

"I wasn't sure either," I said honestly, "but I'm glad I'm here."

I could tell by the look on his face that Chancellor Sheppard understood what I meant, so I'm glad he didn't go any further than that. He always knew when to leave things alone, but I guess that's part of his job as a headmaster.

Chancellor Sheppard informed us of the plans for the weekend before we set off on a tour of the island.

I didn't really understand why we needed a tour of the island, it's not like I could forget the place, having faced death here several times in my life.

At least Amalie seemed to be enjoying herself. She was taking loads of pictures and asking all sorts of questions, which I'm pretty sure led to the tour taking far longer than it needed too.

We made our way around to the Obelisk Blue dorm and stopped to a halt.

"And this is where you will all be staying," Sheppard said turning to face us all.

Amalie took multiple pictures of the building as I stood in disbelief. The whole time I had been at Duel Academy, I had only been a Slifer Red but now I was about to stay in Obelisk Blue dorm, and it felt so wrong.

As if reading my mind Sheppard started to explain, "I know some of you might not take to this," he said looking at me and Syrus particularly, "but we had to divide everyone into groups and I thought that we'd pair all of you with the rest of your friends here in Obelisk."

I mean when he explained it like that it made a lot of sense, we couldn't put everyone together in one accommodation so there had to be some organisation. It was just a shame I couldn't spend my time in Slifer Red like the good old days.

All seven of us made our way into the Obelisk Blue dorm. It was already filling up with other guests who had also been paired together to stay here, but Sheppard assured us that we would have a floor all to ourselves.

When I think about it, I never really spent much time in the Obelisk dorm. I never really had a reason to be over here. Yeah sure, I duelled over here and walked past it on many occasions, but I'd never really spent a sustained period of time here.

I could see why people liked to stay here though, it certainly was cleaner and posher than Slifer, but I would always be a red through and through.

Chancellor Sheppard left us waiting in the line to go and check on other guests. I suppose he couldn't spend all day with just us.

Amalie squeezed her way forward to be standing in front of me, I'm sure she had been taking pictures rather than actually paying attention to where we were in the queue.

"This place is awesome," she said taking yet another picture, "I can see why you guys wanted to come back now."

Syrus, Zane, Bastion and Juniper had already set off towards their rooms leaving me and Amalie to get our keys on our own.

I smiled at her, "well, I didn't really stay here per say but I'm happy to be back, I certainly do have a lot of good memories here," I said as we made the front of the queue.

"A lot of good memories are you sure, you slifer slacker," said an all too familiar voice.

"What did you say to him, sir," Amalie said looking shocked at Doctor Crowler.

I smiled; I knew that wouldn't go down well.

"It's doctor thank you and who might you be young lady," Crowler said, already getting frustrated with the conversation.

"I could say the same thing to you," she said back, I could tell she was enjoying winding up Crowler, "I'm Amalie, can we have two keys please, I'm really bored of this conversation and I've got plenty to explore."

I burst out laughing, Amalie wasn't doing herself any favours with Crowler, but I sure as hell was enjoying myself.

Crowler gave a completely horrified look, "YOUNG LADY HOW DARE YOU TAL…"

"Easy Crowler, I've got this one," said another familiar voice.

Crowler turned and walked away as I was frozen to the spot.

Now, if you had told me less than ten seconds ago, I would have preferred having to deal with Crowler then I would have laughed, but in this situation, I wanted the doctor to come back.

"Hello, miss how may I…."

Atticus Rhodes suddenly stopped talking as he looked up from the desk and made eye contact with me.

"Umm, do you two know each other," Amalie said, clearly noticing the awkward tension in the air.

Neither of us replied, we just looked at each other.

I didn't really consider the fact that Atticus might be here. I'd never really given it much thought, but come to think of it, I do remember someone saying he started to teach here not long after Duel Academy graduation.

I had no idea whether he knew about the argument with Alexis. If he did this conversation was about to go south very quickly.

"Jaden Yuki," he said hesitantly at first.

I couldn't tell whether there was any hatred in the way he said my name.

Suddenly he exploded into life, "I don't believe it, you're here, oh man, wait until Alexis finds out, I'm so excited, I didn't think you were coming, people said you might be coming but I wasn't sure, man, this is so great!"

Well, clearly, he had no idea, something that if I got to talk to Alexis, I would have to mention to her.

"Hey, Atticus, how are you man," I said guiltily.

It was hard talking to him knowing what I had said about him, "oh this is Amalie by the way."

He turned to look at Amalie and his facial expression changed, "is this your girlfriend?"

"Hi, hello, I'm Amalie, as I have explained to a number of people today, I'm not Jaden's girlfriend, just his friend," Amalie said clearly frustrated and wanting to leave.

Atticus loosened up again, "oh right, hi, nice to meet you I'm Atticus, I used to go to school here with Jaden."

Atticus spoke to us a while longer before people in the queue behind us started to get impatient.

"Right, well, I best let you guys get going, here is your key Amalie," he said, handing her room 207.

He picked up the last key in our groups collection and handed it to me, "and Jaden, I kept this free just in case you did show, so here you go."

He handed me room 218, "oh are we not next to each other," I said looking at Amalie's key.

Atticus smiled at me, "unfortunately not but you are next to someone else," he said with a twinkle in his eye.

His face suddenly turned very serious, "you should probably have a good chat with your neighbour, might help you both out."

I looked at him puzzled but before I had a chance to ask him what he meant; he had already moved onto helping another guest.

Amalie and I made our way upstairs to find our rooms. Atticus explained that we were on the second floor and each floor had roughly 18 rooms on it, plenty of room to fit me and my friends. Each floor also had a common area on it, I suppose it was an area for everyone to socialise.

I dropped Amalie off at her room before heading to my own. I was right at the end of the corridor, so I only had one-person next door, clearly that was who Atticus had meant for me to talk to.

As I unpacked everything, I put on some music.

It wasn't that I was delaying everything, I just wanted to compose myself before going to find all of my friends.

I spent an hour or so just relaxing in my room, but I kept thinking about what Atticus had said.

Why did I need to talk to my neighbour I thought to myself.

I heard the door of the room next door to me close.

I'll do it later, I thought to myself.

I decided it was time to go and face everyone, I'd delayed it for almost three years, no good waiting any longer.

I made my way down to the common room and I could hear plenty of noise coming from within the room.

Amalie had told me that she was going to phone her family and would be down in a little while, so I was facing this on my own.

I made my way into the room and a wave of emotion came over me at the sight of so many familiar faces, all of whom went absolutely silent upon my entry.

Sat in front of me were so many familiar faces. Zane, Syrus and Bastion I had already seen but Chazz, Hassleberry, Axel, Jim, Aster, Chumley and Blair were all staring at me with a mixture of shock, happiness and wariness.

For a few seconds it was silent but then I decided to speak first, "is it okay if I join you all?"

Everyone looked at me again, I wasn't sure whether this was good or bad.

I looked at Syrus, who just smiled and patted the space next to him on the sofa, encouraging me to join them.

I made my way over towards the seat but Chazz stood up and blocked my way.

"You've got nerve," he said sounding very hostile, "thinking you can come back here and walk in like nothing ever happened."

I took a step back. I should have been expecting some hostility, everything had been too easy so far. I looked around at everyone for some support, but no one would look at me in the eyes.

Chazz was right.

I backed up, scared, unsure of my current situation but I felt a reassuring hand on my shoulder guide me back towards the centre of the room.

I turned to see who it was, and I was greeted by a warm smile from an all too familiar face, "hey buddy, long time no see."

Jesse Anderson.

How I had missed him, it wasn't easy leaving but not saying goodbye to him, after everything we went through, was something I had been replaying in my mind over and over again on the journey here.

I tried to put my best smile on, "hey Jess," I said incredibly quietly.

"Chazz, why don't we let our friend sit down with us," Jesse said moving past me into the room.

He must have come in just after me because he wasn't in the room when I arrived.

"Jesse, seriously, you're just going to let him off after what he did," Chazz said, completely shocked.

Jesse sat down in the seat next to Syrus and looked at me, "no I'm not, but he is still my friend Chazz, as he is all of yours, I think we should at least let him explain himself before we make any rash decisions."

He looked me giving me a reassuring smile.

Jesse had given me a chance, a chance to put things right.

I went to the middle of the room and faced everyone.

At first had seemed pretty easy but when you get thirty eyes all staring at you, it does become intimidating.

I composed myself before looking at everyone, "I know you're probably all wondering what happened," I said.

I paused everyone remained quiet and I looked at Jesse who urged me to continue.

"I… I never meant to do what I did, I just… everything got on top of me, I wasn't myself, it wasn't any of your faults, I completely blame myself, I don't know if you can forgive me, maybe some of you have," I said looking at Syrus and Zane who just smiled and nodded, "but honestly, I should have said goodbye to you all, I want to share everything with you all, be honest with you all, something that maybe I wasn't at DA, be honest."

I hadn't realised but a tear had escaped from my eye and run down my cheek as I had been talking.

"All I can say is that I'm sorry for what I did, I missed you guys" I said, looking up, wiping the tear from my cheek.

Silence. That was all that followed.

I had put every ounce of emotion into it, it all just came out at once, I wasn't sure if it was the right stuff to say. I just knew that's what I wanted to say.

I bowed my head in shame. Clearly it wasn't good enough. I should have known.

Suddenly, I felt a pair of hands on my shoulders.

I turned around and Jesse smiled at me.

"Jay, you don't need to be sorry, we all just missed you," I looked around to seeing everyone nodded in agreement, "I'm just glad to have you back," he said, pulling me in for a hug.

That was it. Everything I needed. I didn't need to be forgiven completely; I just needed a starting point.

Gradually one by one, my friends came up to me, some forgiving me, some having a laugh with me, others (aka Chazz) less than impressed but being tolerable.

After that everyone relaxed. Everyone started to ask me about my two years away. I told them about my family, the job I've been doing and just how much I had actually missed everyone. I also filled them in on not duelling and explained why. Everyone seemed to understand my reasoning even if they didn't agree with it.

I'd opened up to everyone, but there was one person I hadn't spoken to yet and I wondered where she was, "hey Jess, where is Alexis."

Jesse had told me all about the time they had spent together, and I had this weird feeling inside, something that I'd never really felt before for anyone. I couldn't work out the feeling, I would have to ask Amalie later, she would know what the feeling was.

"I don't know mate, she said she was going to come down here when I saw her earlier, maybe she just fell asleep or something," he said, not looking up from his phone.

He was adding me into the group chat before we went for dinner. He said it was only fair I was included now that I was in the group again, although, I wasn't sure if everyone would agree.

We all talked for a while longer before I decided I needed to head back and get ready for dinner.

As I made my way back to my room, I was checking my phone because Syrus had told me he would text the group about where to go for dinner because I didn't have a clue where I was going, but I hadn't heard from him yet and was stressing..

As I neared my room, I heard the door to my neighbour's room swing open except, I wasn't paying any attention still.

They came out at a very fast pace and we both collided into one another hitting the floor with a thud.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," said the other person.

I froze. I knew that voice, I hadn't heard it in two years. Now everything Atticus had said made sense.

The other person stopped in their tracks, realising it was me they had crashed into.

I slowly looked up and was met with a pair of bright golden eyes.

There you have it folks, I hope you all enjoyed.

That was only part one of the Reunion. There's still TWO more.

Let me know what you thought, what did you make of Jaden's apology. Wow is the neighbour, what do you think will happen in the next part.

The next part will be out as soon I as can write it, so you guys just sit tight, and I'll try and get the next upload out soon.

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You'll hear from me soon,

Writey x