Chapter Two
A shout emanated from within the car as Chazz Princeton pulled into a sharp stop in front of his garage. Tyranno yelled something incomprehensible, and Jaden, sitting beside Chazz, yelled back as loud as he can, "WHAT?"
Chazz made a gesture to cover his ears. Jaden didn't notice and went on talking. Exasperated, the raven-haired man honked the car horn, hard.
That calmed his friends down.
Chazz gave Jaden a disapproving look before climbing out of the car. Slightly abashed, the passengers crawled cheekily out after him. The three of them waited while another car arrived soon after.
"Any idea what this is about, Aster?" Chazz asked a silver-haired youth as soon as the latter stepped out of his vehicle.
Aster shook his head. "No clue. She did sound pretty upset though."
Chazz gritted his teeth.
"No worries, man." Jaden laid a reassuring hand on the other man's shoulder. "It's the anniversary of Zane's disappearance. She's bond to be upset."
"But this has never happened before," Aster mused. "It's one of those days in which I regret beating Zane all those years ago. Seriously, I don't think I would've done it if I knew what will happen to him afterwards."
"What's done is done," Chazz grated. "There's nothing you can do about it now. Might as well deal with it."
Jaden and Aster exchanged a worried glance, but Chazz already pulled himself together. "Come on, we might as well see what's wrong, since she was so eager to get you all to come here." The raven-haired man sighed softly and started towards his own house, his friends trailing behind him.
With a steady hand, Chazz unlocked the door, and saw Alexis sitting on the sofa facing the entrance. At first glance, Chazz saw the familiar warm hazel of her eyes staring at him, but she frowned ever so slightly and he saw something else there too, a fear deeper down in her irises, real and genuine fear.
"Chazz," she opened her mouth to speak, then stopped abruptly and licked her dry lips. He took a step forward subconsciously, and then, at the edge of his vision, the navy head reclining on the sofa shifted and turned.
For a second, Chazz thought he was dreaming… No, it was more like a nightmare, a vision that haunted him at the godless hours when he lay awake, staring into the darkness. Looking into those blue orbs that were locked with his own black ones he knew what this man's return meant to him. He could see, literally, his precarious life falling down in shreds. The keystone that he built his safety on was gone.
"Zane," Chazz rasped hoarsely. It was a blank statement.
Behind him he heard gasps of shock. A flash of white swept past him. Aster stepped forward.
"Zane…" the silver-haired young man's voice quavered. "Is it really you?"
Alexis's visitor stood up then. His tall and imposing figure undiminished, the former duelist had also acquired a muscular frame that filled up the thin shirt he was wearing. His navy hair was cut short, close to the scalp, and there was a steel glint in his blue eyes that was never there before. Chazz couldn't help but stare at this new, dangerous, and at the same time familiar Zane. Aster was going to add something when Zane replied in his deep voice.
The elder Truesdale cast a glance around the room and grinned. "Well, well, the whole gang's here," he said, as if amused. Chazz saw Alexis flinch and he frowned. These words were not what Zane would say; Chazz would sooner imagine himself uttering them than the blue-eyed man.
Jaden surged forward then. Nothing much about him changed. He still wore his brown hair long and although time has dented his soul somewhat, his spirit was still strong. "Zane, I'm so glad you're back! What happened to you? We were so worried. You never even contacted us – "
Zane's sight passed straight over Jaden. It was as if he didn't hear a word the younger duelist said. Confused, Jaden stopped talking and regarded Zane carefully. The tall man was looking at Chazz with the uttermost scrutiny.
"You deceitful, vengeful bastard." That came out of Zane's mouth in a low hiss.
Everyone stared at blue-haired man, especially Chazz and Alexis. The woman made to rise. "Zane, what are you talking about? Chazz – "
"Don't defend him, Lexi!" Zane's voice boomed. With three long strides he crossed the parlour floor. Chazz shrank back instinctively.
"Did you really think that I would never come back, Princeton?" Zane stopped in front of Chazz. His voice was rough and spoke of danger. "Did you really think that your crimes would never come to light? Did you really think," he took a deep breath, "that you could usurp everything that I had and live with it for the rest of your life?"
Chazz no longer moved back. He stood his ground, staring back at Zane with indignant anger. "I don't know what you're talking about," he firmly stated. "I never did anything against you. I didn't usurp anything of yours in my entire life." He bit his lower lip. "If you're bitter about Alexis, I understand that, but we all thought you were dead."
"You might well think that I was dead," Zane replied. "After all, you took everything from me." Turning to one side, he pulled back his earlobe, revealing the piece of skin behind his ears.
"You would surely know about this, Princeton," he murmured.
Chazz looked at Zane's flesh in horror. Where skin was supposed to be there was a dark and gaping hole. No blood oozed from it, but Chazz could imagine the pain it must have inflicted. He pondered wildly if it went all the way through Zane's skull.
From behind Zane he heard the sound of footsteps. "You're mad, Zane," Alexis's voice, taunt and shivering with fear, came to him. "I don't know what happened to you but you're mad to just heap all these accusations on Chazz. We really didn't know – "
"Yes, you're allowed to be all happy and ignorant," Zane rebuked. "After all, you had your friends, you had Atticus – "
"No I did not!" Alexis fairly shouted. "Atticus is dead!"
Zane slowly turn around. "What did you say?"
"Atticus is dead, Zane," Jaden continued when Alexis covered her face with her hands and sank back down into the sofa. "That was eight years ago. Him and Sy. In a car crush."
"My brother… as well?" Zane questioned emotionlessly.
"Yes, Syrus too," Jaden swallowed. "I… I'm sorry to tell you this, but they're gone." Seeing Zane's face fell, Jaden made a gesture towards the lounge. "I believe we should all sit down and get our stories straight, Zane," the brunet said with solemn maturity. "We're not going to solve anything by standing here yelling at each other. These ten years has been tough to all of us. We might as well hold on to each other and try to get through this as a whole."
Almost imperceptibly, Zane nodded. His shoulders slumped just a bit. Jaden had the distant impression that he was facing a splintered flag pole, once tall and majestic, now desolate and bearing a flag of a kingdom long forgotten and fallen.
Silently, the people flied into to sit on the sofas in the lounge. As Chazz moved past, he sought Jaden's hand and squeezed it. Jaden smiled to himself. In Chazz Princeton's strange language of gratitude, that gesture spoke volumes. He watched as everyone walked past him before stepping forwards. It was still a bit too much for him, the brunet thought, with Zane coming back on the anniversary of his disappearance and this mess they are getting into. He could still hear his own voice, telling Zane that Syrus and Atticus are dead…
Yes, Jaden reminded himself, Syrus and Atticus are dead.
He shook his head, and sat down beside Tyranno. The former Ra Yellow student kept silent through the entire encounter; now he looked at Jaden and gave him a rueful smile. Jaden grinned back also, a grin that had more sorrow than mirth.
"Z… Zane," hesitantly, Alexis broke the restrictive silence, "where were you?"
Zane looked at Alexis with his blank blue eyes before turning away and starting to speak. "I lost that duel," he began.
"I remember," Alexis replied.
"I don't suppose you knew what it meant for me, though?" came Zane's bitter response.
Alexis swallowed, unsure of what to say.
"It was the one match I could not lose, yet I lost it," Zane laughed, a hollow and rasping laughter. "Did you not guess that I got out of the underground duelling ring with a condition applied? That's how I got out with no ransom; I was my own ransom."
"I promised to give them the profits of my first ten duels, and I promised that I would win these duels, every single one of them… but I did not."
"So – " Alexis started, but she could not finish.
"So they took me back after that; as soon as I stepped off the arena they were there. They took me back to the darkness, to the clandestine arenas, to the electric shocks and the jeers of masked audiences hungry for my screams, my blood, my pain. And because I broke my contract, they kept me there, like a prisoner. And there I stayed."
With an abrupt movement Zane rolled back the sleeves of his shirt. Alexis gasped, and even Chazz grimaced in imagined pain. The man's arms were covered with a web of white scars, layers and layers of scars. Soundlessly Zane pulled the fabric down again to cover them.
"I thought I'd be there forever, but I was wrong." The blue eyed man continued. "I was taken out."
"Really?" Jaden jumped in. "Is that why you're here and – "
"No, far from it," Zane fixed his glare on Chazz again. "Thanks to you."
"Your brothers came into the arena one day, Chazz. Yes, your elder brothers. I didn't recognize them with their masks on, but after my match I heard them talking. I remembered their voices from when they tried to buy over Duel Academy."
"They wanted me; that much was clear. I had moments of wild hopes. I thought that they were there to get me out. I thought you've persuaded them. Little did I know what they really had in mind."
"They got me out, all right. They took me back to their labs, and they treated me politely, but they never allowed me to get out of the place nor to contact anybody. I grew impatient, but I presumed that they were working things out. Then one day they called me to their office. We exchanged amenities, and they gave their word to let me go. I was glad, happier than I ever thought possible. They even offered me refreshments during our talk."
"But that was the end of everything. I had no idea how I passed out, but when I woke up I was lying in a dark and dismal room, my hair cut as you see it now, and with these two terrible holes in my head. In case you've been wondering, yes, they do go all the way into my cranium."
"For that's what the Princetons wanted me for. They wanted my brains, my duelling genius. They stole what defined me as Zane Truesdale: my consciousness. Each day they would drug me and chain me up to countless machines. So, with my brain waves as the model, they developed their current bestselling duel simulation software, the DuelKing." Zane looked at Chazz. "I'm sure you would know that, wouldn't you?"
Chazz could hear his own heart beating in his chest. Of course he knew of his brothers' software; everyone in the game industry knew it. Based on a high-level artificial intelligence system, its simulations rivals that which was produced by Kaiba Corp., and there are many who claimed it to be even better than Seto Kaiba's programmes. So thorough were the AI's strategies, the critics praised, that even the king of games himself, Yugi Moto, would find a worthy opponent in it.
Indeed, Zane Truesdale would make a worthy opponent to Yugi.
The youngest Princeton felt sick. He felt like tearing himself open; Zane's words echoed in his brain, hammering his skull into pieces. Just to imagine what Slade and Jagger did to the other man…
"So, folks, what's your 'story' then?" Zane asked, mockingly.
The door bell rang.
Glad to be relieved from the lounge's oppressive atmosphere, Chazz stood up and almost ran to open the door. A lean and angular face greeted him as he swung the door open.
"Hey Chazz," Bastion began, "sorry I'm late. The – " he stopped as he saw the scene from above Chazz's shoulders.
Chazz said nothing. He stepped aside to reveal his guest to the astounded Bastion.
"Here comes one who will tell you more, Zane," Jaden murmured as Bastion moved towards them.
The Ra Yellow genius walked with a pronounced limp. He was wearing a pair of wire-rimmed glasses over his chocolate eyes and his brown hair, despite his young age, already started to go grey. His eyes were wide open and he grasped the back of the sofas for support. Chazz saw Bastion's knuckle go deathly white.
"You… you… Zane?" Bastion stammered, but his mouth immediately pursed into a tight line and he scowled, almost accusingly.
"That can wait," Zane replied emotionlessly, "for now, tell me," his voice cracked; he coughed, "tell me whatever they say you can enlighten me on."
Bastion sat heavily down on the sofa after a glance around the silent crowd. "Is this about Atticus and Syrus?"
Jaden nodded.
Bastion gave a small, bitter laugh. "What do you want to know, Zane?" He gave the taller man a sidelong look, a look full of spite. "It was around the anniversary of your disappearance. Syrus didn't want to stay in Domino because he said he couldn't stand the memory duel, and we agreed to take him out to the countryside. It was just like any beautiful day: Chazz rented a holiday house for us in the mountains, Jaden and Alexis were already there, and Atticus was driving to get Syrus and I. We were climbing a hill; he turned the corner and the truck was right there. I screamed for Atticus to stop, but it was too late. When I woke up, my leg was as you see it now." Bastion grinned hollowly. "And what can you do about it? It was eight years ago… we all tried to forget –"
"Did you say eight years?"
Everyone picked up the odd note in Zane's tone. The blue eyed young man was once again staring daggers at Chazz.
"Now I know why you never knew," Zane breathed. "Atticus, he never… he never had the chance to tell you. He was the only one who knew about me." He glanced at Chazz. "Eight years ago… that was when your brothers took me in. A pretty impressive coincidence, with you renting the holiday house, don't you think so, Princeton?"
Chazz opened his mouth to rebuke, but he caught the look on Jaden's face just then. The brown-haired youth was also staring at him, not with the vengeful anger of Zane, but with a hollowness that tore Chazz's heart apart. There was no trace of any hatred, yet Chazz saw no possibilities of forgiveness. The raven-haired man sank back down into his sofa. Did he not secretly rejoice when Zane disappeared? He knew he did, and he knew that his friends knew of it too. And when Atticus died… Alexis was so distraught, and it could not be more obvious to everyone that Chazz took this chance to get close to her. In fact, Tyranno used to joke, especially after a few drinks, that Chazz and Alexis's happiness was based on the Atticus and Zane's tragedy. However, whenever the duelist said that everyone would laugh and dismiss the thought to the back of their minds…
Not anymore.
He heard Alexis say something, but his brain did not register it. The conversation flowed on around him, within his house, around his possessions. But something in Chazz Princeton knew that everything he's built up, everything he's been living in the past ten years, are falling apart.
--
"Were you truly ignorant about this?"
"Alexis! Please… you know I would never, never do such things! I would never kill anyone – "
"Not even for me?"
Silence.
"I knew that you loved me, Chazz. But you also knew that I loved Zane –"
"I accepted that. You know I did."
"But then Zane disappeared, and then Atticus and Sy died…"
"And you were so alone." He put his hand on her arm. "I couldn't… I couldn't bear seeing you like that. Lex, I've always cared about you."
She turned away.
"Don't you trust me anymore?" He almost shouted in exasperation. "How long have you known me? If you didn't care, why did you marry me in the first place anyways?"
"I truly believed that I would love you, and I guess I did, during these years. You are a good man, Chazz. There's nothing I can say about that. And yes, I've known you for almost a dozen years now," her brown eyes were clouded. "But I'm afraid of you at the same time. You hide yourself so deep that I'm afraid to reach towards you," she shook her head. "You've been through so much," she took a deep breath. "I could never imagine how you lived with your brothers in your family, how you felt when you were defeated, banished, discarded. And I know I do not have the strength and resolve that you had; I know I wouldn't be able to climb back up from my falls as you did, again and again."
A long pause. "You're so strong, so determined, so adamant in pursuing your dreams. I don't know what you're capable of. When Zane called you those names, I was enraged, but then I thought about it…"
"Lex! Don't! Please, trust me!"
Footsteps. A passionate whisper.
"You're right. I know you would never love me completely. I know Zane would always be alive in your heart. But that didn't stop me. I'm tired of fighting, Alexis. I can't always climb out of one fall after the other. I need you. You know… you know how weak I truly am, deep down. I couldn't afford to lose you, Lex. I've lost… no less that what Zane's lost. Please believe me."
"Chazz…"
"Shh… Alexis Rhodes, I am yours. Always has, always will be."
--
There, there, the second chapter of Faithless.
This story is not so much about pairings (although Chazz/Alexis and Zane/Alexis is present through the whole story) than it is about the various relationships the characters had with each others. I really want to use this fanfic to explore the idea of betrayal, whether intentionally or not, and its consequences in a person's life. That's why I called the whole thing Faithless. The idea of trust and promises is the base of this story, and it's all about people's decisions in whether or not to stick to their promises. Apart from that, I've also thrown in a few romance/horror/sci-fi aspects here and there (eg. the idea of the Princetons stealing Zane's brain).
In the next chapter, Chazz confronts his brothers in a rage.
See you then.