"So? Who am I dueling? Can't you just tell me now?" Wheedled Jaden, prodding Professor Banner in the side, as he danced nervously, practically giggling in delight. The sun gleamed down, making the trees rustle like chips of emerald, and the sea sparkle breath-takingly.

"Now, now, Jaden. Your opponent will be stepping off of that boat in just a few moments." Said Professor Banner with a little smile, his long hair swaying in the breeze as everyone turned anxious eyes to the huge grey boat cutting through the air and water, like a bison, causing huge waves to splash up around it, heading straight towards the school.

"But Professorrrrrr…!" Jaden groaned, but wandered to the front where Syrus was standing, along with the head of the school, and Dr. Crowler. Everyone looked anxious, and incredibly nervous.

The boat finally pulled its way into the harbour, making a screeching, grinding noise as it came to a halt. It dropped the gang-plank with an ominous thud, and everyone shifted nervously on their feet. They saw the cluster of students on the top of the boat, of course they did. All of the students were in drab colors, greys and greens, and the occasional teal. There was one boy in a long, black coat. Girl's giggled, seeing his hair, seeing how handsome he looked from afar.

"Well, Jaden, meet your opponent!" The head of the school said, looking at Chazz.

Chazz sneered, stepping down the gang-plank confidently, and walking down to the edge of the dock, looking at Jaden with a triumphant smirk on his pale, pointed face. His eyes glittered like a dark, smokey glass.

"Hey, Chazz! Where's my opponent?" Jaden called, waving at the other boy.

"I AM your opponent, Jaden." Chazz spat, deflating somewhat. Who did Jaden think he was to speak to him like that? Wasn't it OBVIOUS who his opponent was? Chazz snarled faintly.

Zane, meanwhile, stood off to the side, looking at Chazz. The boy had lost so much weight, it scared him. All the Obelisk Blue's noticed it; Chazz's cheekbones stood out so sharply he looked as though he had had plastic surgery. His eyes seemed even larger now, and his wrists were skeletal. His hands were shaking faintly from all of the drugs that he had taken, and his ribs were sharply lined by the soft black turtle-neck that he wore under his long black coat.

Jaden, as usual, was oblivious.

"Well, Chazz, c'mon! Let's duel!"

Chazz sat in the locker room, his head in his hands.

"Do you understand, Chazz?" His oldest brother, Slade, demanded.

"Yes. Yes, I will be the best." Chazz said quietly.

"I didn't hear you!" Interjected Jagger, his silvery eyes half-closed.

"Yes! I WILL win! I WILL be the best!" Chazz yelled, screaming it at his older brother, glaring up at him.

"Good. And eat some food, you look starved."

"So nice of you to care." Chazz spat.

"If you die, then you'll screw up our plan." Slade growled, rolling his eyes. "Stupid boy."

Chazz nodded, and took the offered briefcase. But he didn't touch the cards. He merely went to the bathroom down the hall, and dropped the briefcase on the ground by his feet, sobbing.

He pounded his fists on the porcelain, bruising the white skin, shoulders heaving. "MAN UP, CHAZZ! MAN UP!" He screamed at himself. He had to do this, he couldn't disappoint his brothers – if he disappointed his brother's he would let his whole life crumble down around him, and their lives too. The future of his entire family rested on his shoulders now.

Jaden had been running to go comb his hair – after all, this duel was being cast on live T.V.! Chazz had seemed surprised by that, but not nervous. He was clearly used to the media coverage of his family.

But then, something stopped him. He heard a faint pounding sound, thumping, and then a muffled sob.

"MAN UP, CHAZZ!"

The cry broke the deadly silence of the hallway, leaving Jaden standing beside the bathroom door, shocked. Chazz?

He heard Chazz crying, but he couldn't believe it. Chazz never cried, Chazz was too strong to cry! Chazz was…Chazz! This wasn't like him at all.

He opened the door a crack, only to see Chazz kneeling on the floor, his shoulders humped forwards like he had been whipped. His shaking hands were red and bruises from where he had slammed them into the porcelain, and his face was white and bloodless.

Jaden withdrew quietly, his face somber for once. He quietly walked towards the duel arena, and felt a queasy feeling in his stomach when he entered, everyone cheering for him. But it wasn't because of all the cheering fans, the students. It was because two pale young men sat in the front row, their eyes narrowed, washing over him.

The Princeton Brothers.

And boy did they look mean…

And then Chazz walked out, and there were roars of the two schools clashing, cheering for their opponents.

Jaden was smiling and grinning, and Chazz was looking intense, but there was something different. Jaden was watching Chazz, seeing how he kept glancing nervously to his brothers to see if they approved of what he was doing. And then the worst happened, and Jaden sent Chazz's monster to the graveyard.

Both boys faltered for a moment, Chazz out of fear that he might lose, Jaden from the look in Chazz's eyes, and that fear, refusing to look at his brother's when he was doing something wrong.

But Chazz summoned his monster back and the duel went on, both boys throwing out cards in the desperate attempts to defeat the other. Chazz was battling for the love of his brothers, and their respect. Love and respect that he thought he would be able to earn by winning this duel.

But Jaden was battling to show Chazz that Duel Academy wasn't down and out for the count, and not only that, he was trying to show Chazz that when you get defeated in a duel, you don't lose everything. You just have to learn to pick yourself up again.

Chazz's eyes widened as Jaden's own eyes filled with a pride and a passion, a sort of fire, that he knew he would win this duel now. And then he threw up his cards, revealing the end of the duel.

Chazz's breath became hitched, his eyes widening as his life points dropped to zero. His monsters were gone, his defenses shattered, and his hopes of ever living up to his brother's standards gone forever.

Chazz's brothers were on stage faster than anyone could blink, and Slade had grabbed Chazz, slapping him across the face. Jagger swept his feet out from under him, snarling.

"You FAILURE! You couldn't even win a duel? What sort of brother are you?" He demanded furiously, picking his brother up again as Slade hit him.

But Jaden had rounded up Zane, Alexis, and Syrus. Bastion, too. And they were driving away his brothers, yelling some things. But his humiliation was so complete that he couldn't do anything but stumble away, gasping for air.

He had no brothers no, he had no family…no reason to function anymore. His brothers didn't want him, and his shoulders began to heave as he felt his cheek swelling where the bruises had raised up on his skin. He could only stumble out of the room into the hall, where he collapsed onto the ground, sobbing quietly.

Zane came out, and saw Chazz. He would normally have stayed away, but Chazz was so crumpled. Like a piece of paper that his brothers had written instructions on, then thrown away when they realized that there was a better way to do things.

He gathered Chazz into his arms, letting Chazz curl forwards, his head on Zane's chest. Chazz was too light in his arms, eerily so, as he carried him away from the entire scene.

He carried Chazz to his own room, sitting down on the couch, Chazz sitting next to him, burying his head in his hands, sobbing, shoulders rising and falling. Finally, Chazz stood, eyes closed.

"You're coming back to Duel Academy?"

"Yes."

That was all Chazz said – this was the only family he had now.

He walked to his old room and gathered his books, his clothes, his drugs. Everything. And then he made his way to the Slifer Red, to his new room, next to Jaden's. He put everything away neatly, his body shifting into its natural pattern. Fold the shirts, stack the pills neatly, make the bed. Then change into fresh nightclothes, and slide under the bedding.

Chazz's shoulders heaved as he lay in bed, feeling the cold bedding around him. The tiny room pressed in, and as he grabbed a bottle and poured the pills out onto the bedding, watching the tiny pills gleam white in the darkness. He shoved handfuls into his mouth, grabbing a bottle of warm water, and swallowing them all. Then another handful, and another, washing it all down with the sour-tasting water.

After a while, his vision started blurring, and his heart hammered in his chest. Then a merciful blackness overtook him, and he fell into the bedding, his eyes closed, drifting away from the real world as it was, escaping to a world where the only friends and family he needed were pretty white pills with neat little labels.