Salutations: I tried to get this up Sunday, but my Internet was down, and when it did work yesterday, this site wouldn't let me log in . Hope you enjoy it. It's a long 'un, I think. Also, the genre for this chapter has changed from humor to drama. Just a head's up. Everything you've wondered about (provided I did what I set out to accomplish and actually entertained you) should be answered in this chapter.

Warnings: OOCness, no longer one-sided Jaden/Chazz (both sided; shonen-ai), and the oh-so-wonderful... dub names. T-T

Disclaimer: Ladyvella42's soul (c) Kazuki Takahashi

Chapter Eleven: Explanations

Syrus stormed across the dorm room, fuming as there was a polite knocking at the door. Why can't people SLEEP at one in the morning? Why must they run around, banging on peoples' doors? People, I might add, that ARE trying to sleep! And Chumley wasn't helping, either - he just remained as motionless as a sloth.

He wrenched the door open and yelled, "He's NOT HERE, so GO AW-" He froze at the sight of the person standing before him in his pajamas, cradling a fat cat in his arms, looking exhausted. "Oh."

Banner gave a slight cough. "Ah... I apologize for waking you, Syrus, but... you said he's not here?"

"Who's not here?" Syrus squeaked, flushing.

"Jaden. Jaden isn't here?" Banner said, frowning slightly.

"Um... he went to the outhouse."

Banner sighed and scratched his chin. "Syrus, this is important. We need to locate Charlene and Jaden. Both of them have gone missing, and we need to speak with them."

"How come?" Syrus inquired. 'Charlene seemed pretty intent on not letting anyone figure out where they went... I guess I'll have to stall...'

Banner looked annoyed now. "If you see either of them, give me a call. This is very important, Syrus." He turned and briskly headed back in the direction of the academy. As soon as Banner was out of sight, Syrus heard a loud yell echo through the Academy's grounds - a noise that seemed to be coming from the Obelisk dorms.

A very, very familiar yell.

Atticus.

Syrus bit his lip. What is going on around here tonight? He thought for a minute, then made his decision. He grabbed his shoes and headed toward the Obelisk dorms. 'I'm coming, brother...'

---

Chazz's mouth went dry as the figure in front of him slipped into focus. Instinctively, he pulled Jaden behind him. Jaden didn't object. He was too much in shock to do anything other than stare at the person holding the flashlight.

"What... what are... what are you doing here?" Chazz whispered in anger.

The person laughed. "What, I don't get a 'Hey, how are you?' from my own brother?"

"You bastards disowned me!" Chazz said, shaking uncontrollably from the anger welled up inside him. Jaden gently placed his hands on Chazz's shaking shoulders.

"True, that," the person replied thoughtfully. "Ah, well. Surprised to see me, Chazz?"

"Yes, I am, Jagger," Chazz said through clenched teeth, backing away from him. "I thought I'd never have to see you again. In fact, I desperately hoped I'd never have to see you assholes again in my life. Speaking of which, where's the other one in this party?"

"Slade had to deal with someone," Jagger replied with a cocky smirk. "Actually, a few someones. Those 'friends' of yours, if that's what you can call them, are being too meddlesome for their own good, you see."

Jaden paled, but remained determined. "If you hurt our friends-"

Jagger looked surprised. "Oh! I almost forgot about you for a moment, Jaden! Jaden, the one who ruined Chazz Princeton's life." When Jaden said nothing, Jagger smirked again. "Yes, Jaden, after you so humiliatingly defeated my beloved brother in front of the whole world, you ruined his life. I'm still trying to figure out why you're here, together. I would have thought that you would have tried to kill Jaden by this point, Chazz."

Chazz remained silent for a moment before finally responding. "No, Jagger. Jaden didn't ruin my life." He straightened up. "You did."

Jagger looked at Chazz with a mild expression. "I see. Go on, dear brother. Tell your love how Slade and I ruined your life. Tell him everything."

Chazz clenched his fists. He tried to speak, but found it difficult. Finally, he managed to choke out a response. "You two call yourselves brothers? How is forcing me to do things I don't want to do an example of brotherly love? You made me so depressed and angry at myself that I just wanted to get it over with on my own." Biting his lip, he ignored the tightened grip Jaden had on his shoulders and continued, "Then I came to Duel Academy. Finally, I was away from you. I left Duel Academy after losing to Misawa in order to get away from the mockery, and I ended up at North Academy. Then you came back and forced me into a duel with Jaden, a duel that marred the long-standing Princeton name. I decided to stay at Duel Academy. And now I'm happy. I have friends. These friends care about me! That means more to me than any 'family legacy' did, Jagger!"

Jagger laughed. "Have you lost your tiny mind? Has being in the lowest rung of the ladder at this school given you delusions of 'friendship' and 'friends who love you'? Reality check, Chazzy. Those so-called friends don't give a damn about you, they just pretend to like you because they feel sorry for you."

"That's not true!" Jaden insisted angrily. "I care about Chazz-"

"Oh, of course!" Jagger barked a laugh. "Yes, yes, of course! How did you two end up together, anyway?" With another smirk he added, "Have you done the lewinsky yet?" He jerked his hips suggestively.

"Why are you here?" Chazz demanded sharply, ignoring Jagger.

"Isn't it obvious?" After waiting for a response that didn't come, Jagger shrugged. "We came back for you, Chazz."

"Any reason why?" Chazz hissed. "Or did you just come back to-" His question broke off as he saw the worried look on Jaden's face.

"To beat you into shape?" Jagger suggested, placing emphasis on the word. "Perhaps. Slade and I agreed. We just wanted to kill you."

"You-" Jaden took a step in front of Chazz, but Chazz grabbed his arm. Attempting to tug his arm free, Jaden glared at the black-haired girl. "Let go, Chazz. I'm going to kill the bastard."

"No, this is a family matter," Chazz said. "And frankly, I'm finished with it. Let's go." The two turned to leave before they heard the sound - the unmistakable sound of a trigger being cocked. The two stopped dead in their tracks. Slowly, Chazz glanced back at Jagger, who was holding a gun with an almost eager look on his face.

"I'm not finished with you just yet," Jagger said slowly. "And I won't be until Slade gets here. Don't you want to see both of your brothers before you die?"

"I don't have any brothers," Chazz replied quietly. "Just call Slade and tell him to hurry up. If I'm going to die, it may as well be now."

Jagger scowled. "He's getting rid of your pals. He'll take as long as he needs."

"Tell me something," Chazz said. "Why did you make me a girl? Was it to humiliate me in death?"

"Partly," Jagger replied, glancing at his cell phone with a frown. "We came to kill you for humiliating our family name. But there was another reason. And that was to ensure that nobody ever found the body of Chazz Princeton, which ensured that we wouldn't be found out."

"One thing wrong with that ingenious plan," Chazz snapped. "DNA, moron. I still have Chazz Princeton's DNA."

"That's why we got Bastion Misawa to perform the actual surgery," Jagger said, another smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "He knew a few ways to alter your DNA."

"Bastion Misawa - !" Jaden's eyes widened. "No way! Bastion wouldn't-"

"He would and he did."

"No..." Jaden's expression became vacant and unreadable.

"Yes. We threatened to kill all his buddies if he didn't do as we demanded. What would you do if you were put in that kind of a decision? Would you permanently alter one friend's appearance or lose them all? We took his weakness and used it to destroy you, Chazz. Of course, he miscalculated; we had no intention of killing any of your friends - until now," Jagger sneered, waving the gun. "I must say, Misawa did a damn good job of it, though. You fooled most of the staff and many of your fellow classmates."

"Sheppard?" Chazz pressed. "Atticus?"

"Sheppard had no clue. Still doesn't, I think. Slade paid someone to imitate Sheppard in order to go kill Misawa, but apparently, Misawa is too wrecked by guilt that he's been driven insane. It makes things easier, don't you think?" He chuckled. "Less of a mess, eh? And Atticus was another innocent pawn. He just happened to set the stage. We overheard him trying to persuade his sister to go to the dorms to meet you, Chazz, when we were visiting last week. It was the perfect time, and made things even easier. Your friends sold you out. They're not very good friends, are they?"

"Shut up!" Jaden yelled, taking a step toward Jagger. He froze when the gun became aimed at him.

"Don't think about it, you little runt," Jagger said sharply. Keeping a close eye on the two in front of him, he pressed a few buttons on his cell phone and waited. Finally, he said, "What is taking you so long?" He waited. "Are you kidding me? There are only two you were supposed to worry about, the Rhodes siblings- What? But he's four feet tall!" Fuming, he paused. "Well. That complicates things... Well, then ignore them and hurry up! I've been waiting for a very long time, I'm getting very impatient. Better yet, bring them here and we'll deal with all of them at once." He hung up. "Seems your pals and two of your teachers are meddling."

"Two teachers?" Chazz said blankly.

"Yeah. They're holding Slade back. I'd help him, but-" he waved the gun again, "I have to make sure you two don't get away."

They waited in silence for about fifteen minutes more until they heard a loud voice breaking through the trees.

"Come on, I just have to pee, I went outside to PEE, geez-"

"Atticus?" Jaden said, confused.

"Shut up before I punch that pretty face of yours-" someone snapped.

Alexis, Crowler, Banner, Syrus, and Zane walked into the forest, followed closely by Slade, who was prodding an irate Atticus in the back with the barrel of the gun in his hand. Jaden was surprised to see Banner without Pharaoh. He became more surprised when he caught sight of Crowler in his midnight-blue pajamas.

"What took you?" Jagger demanded. "And why are you bleeding?" he added, nodding at the bruises forming around Slade's eyes and the blood dripping from several cuts on his arms and face.

Slade wiped the blood off his mouth and pointed the gun at Alexis. "She decided she was going to eavesdrop on our earlier conversation and alert him-" he pointed at Crowler, "-and him-" Atticus, "-who decided to inform him-" Banner, "-and him-" Zane, "-and he-" Banner, "-went and woke him-" Syrus, "-who decided to come and see what was happening. They all tried to kill me - the midget even went as far as to shove a pen in my eye - so I had to resort to getting the gun out to get them to cooperate."

"Yeah, it's not like we weren't being threatened or anything," Zane said sarcastically, rubbing his arm tenderly.

"Why are you even here?" Alexis demanded of the Princeton brothers. "Chazz isn't even here-"

Slade barked out a laugh. "He's right there, Miss Rhodes." He pointed at "Charlene." Alexis, Crowler, Banner, and Syrus all gasped.

After blinking a few times in confusion, Alexis shot a shocked glance at Atticus, who averted his gaze, then at Zane, who also looked away. "You knew? About... this?"

Atticus nodded grimly. "I was the first to find out. I - er - let it slip to Zane. And Misawa."

"Misawa knew," Chazz said, shooting a glare at his brothers. "He was the one they hired for this little experiment."

"But Bastion wouldn't do that," Syrus interjected.

"To save your life, he did," Chazz said darkly.

"Enough of this," Crowler interrupted. "Let the students go back to the school."

"The students are nothing more than pawns to these men," Banner said softly. "They won't hesitate to kill all of us in order to avenge their prominent family name."

"Squinty-eyed guy's got it," Jagger said, nodding his head. "And personally, I've had enough of you all to last a lifetime. So, it's time for all of you to have a tragic accident in which you all 'drown.'" He laughed again. "Which, naturally, means I'm going to shoot each of you and shove you into the ocean. If your bodies are ever found, they'll never figure out who did it. Plus," he added with a sneer, "they might believe it was suicide. And with my darling brother, they'll have no trouble believing he committed suicide."

"Let's see. Who should go first?" Slade stroked his chin thoughtfully. "You." He nodded at Zane, who looked about as angry as anyone had ever seen him.

Zane's lips formed a thin line. "If you think that killing me is going to avenge your family name, go right ahead. Shoot me." He held his arms out. "Unless you're too much a coward to do it."

"Big brother-" Syrus cried.

"Quiet."

Syrus fell silent, and tears welled in his eyes.

"There's no need to kill all of us," Banner said, eerily calm. "In fact, there's no need to kill anyone here. You're overreacting to something that should be of no concern to you-"

"Shut up!" Jagger yelled, losing his cool for the first time that night. "Nobody would be having this problem if you'd all just minded your own fucking business!"

After a moment's pause, Atticus spoke up. "You don't understand. This is our business."

"You had no right destroying your own brother's dignity the way you did," Alexis added scathingly. "You mess with one of us, you mess with all of us."

"Fine," Jagger snapped. "Fine. Then you'll all die together, if your pathetic 'friendship' insists on it."

Jaden exploded. "He's your brother! Goddamn it, you're supposed to love him! So what, he made a mistake! He's human, all humans make mistakes!"

"Shut - UP!"

Jagger pulled the trigger.

The sound of gunfire rang through the quiet night, though it was drowned out by the cries of horror.

Jaden's eyes widened in shock. As the blood poured from the bullet hole, he began to lose consciousness. The last thing his mind registered was Chazz grabbing him... around the shoulders? His arms...? God, his arm hurt... he must have fallen on it... maybe... Damn, that was his dueling arm, too...

Then, the pain faded as his arm went numb. The world was the next thing to fade... It faded in a black cloud as he began falling into the darkness... falling... falling...

---To Be Continued---

Whew. Exhausting. Hope it didn't suck. Please review! If there's something I neglected to mention in this chapter that you think I should have, let me know so I can fix it up. Thanks!