aww, i hope i didn't make anybody too sad with that last chapter. if i did, then i feel bad. (

but in case i didn't, on with the story.

Jaden heard the latch in the door click, and stepped back. Syrus pulled the door shut behind him, and, glancing up at him with a haunted look in his eyes, continued down the hall without another word.

"Hey, Sy, wait up!" Jaden shouted, hurrying to catch up. Syrus didn't even lift his head to acknowledge him.

That couldn't be good.

"What did he say to you?" he asked, not even daring to imagine all the things that could have gone on behind that door.

"Huh?" Syrus looked up. "Oh! Hey, Jaden."

"So what did he say?" Jaden repeated.

Syrus smiled. "He said he loved me. He was just trying to help me, you know?"

"No, I don't. I don't get it. Didn't you say he hated you?"

The bluenette shook his head. "I thought he did. He just wanted me to do my best."

Jaden frowned. "And he thought that completely ignoring you was going to work?"

Syrus sighed. "So what? Everybody makes mistakes, Jay. I made up with him. The least you can do is forgive him."

He seethed at the prospect. This was the person who had nelgected and hurt Syrus all his life. Broke him. Nearly drove him to suicide. And Syrus was willing to just... forgive him? Why? It didn't make any sense...

Unless you knew Syrus. And Jaden knew him, all right. He was passive and shy. He'd sooner give in than argue with somebody. It wasn't his fault- he was just too nice.

But what was the point of nursing a grudge? Syrus wanted them to live and let live.

So that's what he'd do.

"All right," he said finally, trying not to sound as reluctant to agree to this as he felt. And judging by Syrus' reaction, he'd done a good job of keeping his doubts to himself. Syrus wrapped his arms around the taller boy's waist.

"That's great," he said, pushing his head into Jaden's side affectionately.

"Well... live and let live, right?" He clenched his teeth behind his smile. "I mean, like you said, he was trying to help." Yeah, and a lot of good that did you.

Syrus let go of Jaden suddenly and crossed his arms over his chest. "Yeah... right."

Jaden stared quietly at him for a moment. "Sy? You all right, buddy?"

Jerking his head up, as if he'd suddenly regained focus, he looked over his shoulder. "Oh. Sure. I... I'm sorry. I guess I kind of... zoned out, or something."

"It's okay," Jaden replied. "You're probably just tired. Come on, we'll go home and you can rest for a while."

Syrus nodded slowly. "Right."

It was almost as slow a walk back from the Obelisk dorm than it had been getting there, but at least this time, they were going someplace they wanted to be.


He'd lied again.

The whole point was for Jaden not to know. It would only make him more angry. It would only give him a reason to hate Zane even more than he already did.

Why cause anybody any more upset?

He kneeled beside Jaden, who was so occupied with his work. Scrubbing the blood out of the carpet.

His blood. This was all his fault.

He couldn't blame Zane.

His arm hurt because Zane had twisted it.

But he never would have done it if Syrus hadn't cut it.

But he wouldn't have done that if Zane hadn't hurt him.

But Zane wouldn't have done that if he'd been good enough...

It kept going around in circles. If one of them was guilty, then so was the other. Two brothers, more connected thn they'd thought. A kind of mutual destruction. Both of them fell short, and both of them hated it.

And as far as he knew, both of them hated each other.


What was this? Some kind of twisted nightmare? All he wanted was to wake up, to his normal life, and his normal brother. To the life everybody knew about, where he was a great older brother and where he didn't have these sick thoughts and painful emotions.

But that wasn't his life. In his life, everything was wrong.

Syrus had cut himself. He'd done it because he was so badly hurt, and Zane himself was the one to blame.

Jaden hated Zane. He hadn't even needed to say it. Everybody blamed Zane. The big bad brother, who had tormented Syrus until he'd nearly lost his mind. There was no need to point out the obvious. It was all his fault.

Zane hurt Syrus because he loved him. Because he didn't know any oher way to show it, than to try and train him to be as good as he was. That wasn't going to happen. He was a decent duelist. He just didn't... believe in himself. And that was Zane's fault, too.

There was only one thing left to bear alone. The one other reason Jaden had to hate him, and for Syrus to hate himself. He could find a way to blame himself for it. He always could.

Self-loathing. Yet another problem that his hateful, and cold-blooded brother had caused him.

Now Syrus thought that Zane hated him. Again. Had raised his spirits so high, only to strike them down again in the course of two minutes. Had nearly twisted his arm out of the socket, then ordered him to get out of his sight.

And go right back to Jaden. His aniki. His new big brother.

His new lover.

Their parents had always been so proud of their eldest son. He was so intelligent. Practically a genius. But he didn't need to be to see what was going on. Turning the corner, to see Syrus in that that trouble-making Slifer's arms. A sickening way for his bad luck to make it's point. All the signs had been there, finally culminating into the two of them falling in love.

And he didn't have to be a genius to see where this was going. For all his faults, Jaden was a great duelist, and he was going to make something of himself one day. He'd leave. He'd break Syrus' heart. And if trying to kill himself was how he handled Zane's abandonment, imagine what Jaden leaving him behind would do to him.

This was only the beginning of Zane's troubles.

Under other circumstances, Jaden would be the perfect friend for Syrus. He, unlike the rest of the world, really cared. He saw what before only Zane could see-- what a great person Syrus was. And unlike Zane, Jaden wasn't afraid to tell him so. Syrus was beginning to see what he was worth, no thanks to Zane.

But to his credit, he'd helped the bluenette lose what little confidence he had.

It hurt Zane to see his younger brother in so much pain. It hurt to put him through so much torture, simply because he couldn't be the kind of brother Syrus needed. It hurt to know that it was his own fault he'd nearly lost him.

But what hurt the most was why it hurt him so much.

Because he was in love with his own brother.

gotcha. /smirks/

and you thought i was lying about the incest. shame on you all.

lol- just kidding. review me and we'll call it even. LMAO.