disclaimer: Emerald Twin Blade does not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX or any of the characters, settings, cards, etc. that appear in this fic that you may have seen in the show. In truth, she owns nothing that appears in this fic... except for the plot. That's all hers.
Emerald's News & Nonsense:
M'kay, here's the 2nd chapter.
I was really smiley when I saw the Reviews. X3! Especially when I saw KyoxSakiFan reviewed! OO! One of my favorite authors. XD! Yeah, that made my day.
... AND SPECIAL THANKS TO KellyQ! She reminded me about Yubel. XD! It's true, I kinda forgot, but she fits into this fic better than I'd originally thought. XP
... and excuse the chapter if half of it is centered or something... You guys should know the problems with FanFiction's editor. You put it one way, it doesn't listen; you try it again, it still won't. But when you're fed up, it sometimes goes to the way you had it once you post it.
Okay, go on. X3
: Fragment No.02 : Consequences
Blurs of dandelion yellow and royal blue rushed passed their eyes as the trio ran as fast as they possibly could toward the infirmary. Several Ra Yellow and Obelisk Blue students stopped their chattering to stare in surprise at the sight of Manjoume Jun carrying a severely bleeding Yuki Judai on his back. A few of the nameless teens began to follow after them, worried about the top Duelist of the academy.
"What happened?"
"Why is he bleeding?!"
"Is he asleep??"
An onslaught of questions was thrown at them with every step they took, and it took all of their self-control to not shout at everyone to just stay quiet and leave them alone. Sure, they had a right to be curious as to what had gone on to put Judai in such a terrible state, but for Heaven's sake! Couldn't they save the questions for later?
Tenjoin Asuka reached the door to the one-room nurse's office and slid it open, taking a step to the side to let Marufuji Sho and Manjoume walk in before her. The moment the black-haired boy had entered the clean-smelling white room with the injured Slifer on his back, Ayukawa Emi stood up from her rolling chair so fast that the seat rolled back into one of the empty beds. Her long string of copper brown bangs bounced from the abrupt movement, her dark gray eyes wide in shock.
"Is that Judai?!" she gasped, the first thing she saw being the amount of blood that had slipped down from the scrape and over his face.
By now, all of his chocolate brown bangs were completely soaked, about as red as his Slifer blazer, and small streams of the crimson liquid had become thick rivers that just about made his face look broken. Sho stepped forward, his Obelisk Blue coat tail waving for the second it took to approach her.
"Ayukawa-sensei! You have to help!! Judai was running through the halls and ran into a metal table; what do we do??" he cried, finding himself unable to keep himself still as he began to shift his weight from one foot to the other.
"He just wasn't watching where he was going… Now, where can I put him down?" Manjoume added, looking at the empty beds in the infirmary.
There didn't seem to be any patients there at the moment, so it looked like they would be the only ones there for a while. At least, they would be until all the other students came to find out what happened. The tall Obelisk dorm advisor walked over to the bed that Judai always seemed to be ending up in whenever he got hurt, patting the fresh white sheets.
"Put him down here and let me take a closer look, then." She said before looking over to the blonde girl that had come in with them, "Tenjoin-kun, please bring me a few damp towels; we need to clean off the blood. The bandages should be where they usually are."
"Right!" Asuka turned around and went straight for the towels as Manjoume approached the bed and slowly dropped the injured brunette down onto it.
The back of Judai's head instantly hit the pillow, and the blood slid under his ear and behind his neck until it hit the blank color of the sheets, creating spots of red on the once clean bed. His bangs fell back into the wound around his forehead, his eyes completely closed and his body motionless the entire time.
"Oh my God… How did his run-in with a table cause this?" the nurse asked, taking the warm, damp Slifer Red washcloth that Asuka had brought back to her and rubbing around his cheeks to get the slowly drying blood off.
"Well, it's a funny story, actually…" the black-coated Obelisk student began, but it had been Sho who cut him off.
"It all started when Asuka gave Manjoume a request from Samejima-kocho…"
Poink!
"Nnngh…"
… Poink!
"Aagh…" he groaned, feeling two drops of freezing, cold water sliding down the center of his cheek, one after the other.
Yuki Judai tried to open his eyes, only to find that he couldn't see anything… at all. This odd discovery instantly woke him up, his brain sending signals to his limbs to pick himself up and figure out where he currently was. What was even stranger was that his arms and legs weren't responding, either. Inside of his fully-conscious mind, he was panicking.
Why couldn't he see? Why couldn't he move? What exactly happened to him? He raked his memory, trying to come up with how this could have happened. And then it hit him.
The metallic sound of his skull colliding with the table earlier rang through him, making his body react with an unpleasant shiver. Oh, yeah, that's what happened. After that, he must have passed out… but where was he now? The infirmary? It still didn't explain how he was currently blind.
"Oh, look at what you've gotten yourself into, now, Judai…" a feminine voice cooed sympathetically.
His paralysis seemed to slowly be wearing off, but he was now able to form coherent words, "Y-Yubel…"
Two lights appeared near him, floating at an equal distance away from each other no matter where they flew off to. One was bright, golden orange while the other was a deep cerulean blue.
"Close your eyes… and reopen them. You will see."
Judai's completely black eyes dropped closed again, trusting the Duel Monster that had fused with his soul. When he reopened them, his vision was slightly blurry, seeing nothing but the two glowing orbs in the dim light that barely illuminated the darkness around him. A few blinks later, he was able to see his dear friend's form clearly.
The Fiend-type Duel Monster smiled at him as if he were a hopeless child as he bent down by his side to help him sit up, "Getting into trouble again… As always, huh?"
The brunette grinned sheepishly, picking up his right hand and scratching at the back of his neck for a moment, "Old habits die hard, right?" When he had successfully made the other chuckle slightly, he looked around again before asking, "Where exactly are we?"
"This is your mind right now, Judai… You hit your head pretty hard, so most of your lights are out right now." The horribly mutilated character motioned with his eyes at how there were only a few rays of light in the darkness around them, "Since you've awoken subconsciously, I'm pretty sure you can wake up for real now. Do you want to go see your friends now?"
Judai smiled brightly, nodding, "Yeah! I'm sure they're really worried about, especially Joha—…" He had to stop himself when he remembered that his best friend was no longer with them, but somewhere off in Europe. His chocolate brown eyes took a sad light into them as he turned his gaze from Yubel to the imaginary floor beneath them. His hands clenched and fisted his white pants as though he were in pain.
Yubel noticed this and made another look of sympathy at him, moving his discolored right hand to cover over one of his fists softly, "I know you're sad; everyone else can see it, too. You've avoided everyone and everything entirely for too long, Judai. The quickest way to recovering from, not only your head trauma, but from Johan's departure is to keep taking things as they come. Go on with life, because I'm sure that Johan wouldn't have wanted you to end up like this…"
At his friend's words, the Slifer Red student couldn't help smiling feebly and nodding in agreement, "You're right; I get it. All I can do is my best… not to worry anyone anymore."
The Dark Duel Monster also nodded, satisfied with his understanding enough to stand and pull him up along with him, "Let's get you out there before that little friend of yours drowns you in his tears."
With a laugh, the darkness in the room began to brighten brilliantly with multicolored lights, allowing them to exit as everything began to function properly again.
Well… except for a few key components that were for some reason unable to reactivate by the added power of the Duel Monster.
The mournful sobs of the smallest Obelisk Blue senior echoed through the near-completely white hospital room, effectively annoying a certain black-haired Duelist who was leaning against the threshold of the sliding door just to scare away curious students. The blonde-haired girl was sitting in the rolling chair that Ayukawa-sensei normally sat in, but since the woman had other things to take care of, she had left the three there to watch over the unconscious brunette.
"Waaaah!! Aniki isn't going to wake up, is he? He probably got brain damage from running into that table! Who's idea was it to make a solid titanium table?!" came his muffled cries, his glasses spotted with drops of water where they lay in his lap and his tears soaking the bed sheets where he buried his bare face.
Manjoume's eye twitched at Sho's constant blubbering, mumbling before yelling, "What a complete waste of resources… and would you just stop already?! You've been crying for so long, I wonder if you've already drowned the guy!"
The mint-haired boy immediately sat up at the thought the other boy had sent into his mind, looking to the sheets and seeing that the water of his eyes had run all the way from the side of the bed to completely cover over Judai's left arm. His gray eyes were wide in fear as he let out a scream, running to a different bed and grabbing its clean sheet.
"Oh my God! I didn't even think of that!! What'll I do if this makes him even sicker!?" he exaggerated, yanking off the seemingly-unconscious Slifer's damp bed sheets and throwing the new ones over his entire body, head included.
He was about to reach over and uncover his friend's face, when he saw the white sheets rustle a little underneath. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end at the sight, fear creeping up on him. Had Judai turn into a zombie?
"Aaagh!! What the Hell!" his voice rang as invisible arms began to try to push the blankets off of him.
"AAAAH!! ANIKI'S TURNED INTO A ZOMBIE!!" Sho shouted, running off to hide behind Asuka, who had gotten up from her chair and was slowly approaching the bed.
Her arm reached out as her hand took hold of the blanket, pulling it off gently to reveal a very awake, very confused Yuki Judai. The brunette blinked his chocolate brown eyes innocently up at her before easily sitting up and staring.
"Uhm… Asuka? Why did Sho just shout 'Zombie!'"? He asked, eyeing the little blunette warily, "Has he been watching those scary movies with Manjoume again?"
"He makes me!!" Sho defended himself, pointing accusingly at the black-coated Obelisk student standing by the door.
"Do not; you're the one who bothers coming over to my room, anyway..."
Suddenly, the room fell quiet. Everyone was staring at Judai, who was acting as if nothing at all had happened. He was smiling, sitting Indian-style on the bed with that usual obliviously happy-go-lucky look on his face. The only difference about him this time than from any other time was that he wasn't wearing his Slifer jacket, which had been taken off to clean at the blood that had traveled around his neck, and the fact that where were several bandages wrapped around his forehead, making his bangs hang a bit higher before falling into his eyes.
"Judai, are you okay? You hit your head against a metal table! Don't you have a headache, or something?" Asuka questioned, taking a step closer and bending over to get a better look at the boy's eyes.
His eyes looked normal… no dilation or anything, so nothing bad seemed to have happened there. The fact that he wasn't twitching or anything meant that he still had complete control over his body and movements in general, so that was cleared… Maybe something could have happened inside of his head?
She shook her head, backing up again as she concluded that if he wasn't acting any different than he usually did, then he escaped that incident with pretty much no damage at all.
The boy shook his head, "I'm fine! My head doesn't hurt or anything… It might be because of Yubel's power, though. That was how I was able to wake up again!"
The three Obelisk students froze; Yubel? What did that monster have to do with all this? And with Judai, of all people? Didn't he defeat him to bring everybody back from Dark World?
Sho decided to take a step forward to get his attention, grinning nervously as he asked, "Y-Yubel? What do you mean, Aniki? Yubel's gone."
"Oh! I didn't tell you guys, did I?" he said, feeling all earlier anxiety to tell his friends about what had happened disappear since the moment seemed perfect to tell them, "Well, Yubel and I… uhm… How do I put this?"
Manjoume Jun stomped up to where the other boy sat and snatched him by the collar of his black T-shirt, pulling him up into his glaring face, "Are you trying to say that that sick creature is still around?!"
Judai pushed the black-haired boy away, not enjoying being in closer quarters with him, "Hey! Don't call him sick! He's still my friend, and now, he lives inside of me!"
Again, everyone fell silent.
"… Come again?"
The brunette dug under the covers to pull his Slifer jacket up so he could put it back on, "Yubel was my guardian in another life, y'see… and he's been following me through all my past lives up until now. When I defeated him, I used Super Fusion to fuse our souls together… That was how I ended the game."
When nobody said anything for the third time, he began to get a little nervous; maybe this wasn't the time to tell them, after all. The worst that could happen was that they wouldn't believe him, and that wasn't too bad, so he started to relax upon realizing this.
"Let me get this straight…" Manjoume began, taking a step back, "You've got him inside of you, now? What's he trying to do? Kill you?"
"He's my guardian, Baka! He's here to protect me, not destroy me!!" Judai snapped, growling because his new/old friend was being criticized.
Sure, he manipulated several people, threw their school into another dimension, possessed his best friend, and tried to destroy the universe, but he was still a good person in the end! The worst of everything he'd tried to do didn't happen, so Judai thought it was alright.
'Judai, I don't think your friends like me…' Yubel's voice hummed in his head.
His feminine voice was a bit odd to hear inside of him, because it was somewhere off to a corner of his mind. If he focused really hard on that one spot, he could hear him.
He frowned, replying to him in thought, 'I don't think so, either… but give them some time! At least Asuka and Sho could come around. Don't bet on Manjoume, though.'
"HEY, YOU!! I'm talking to you, here!!" Manjoume shouted.
Judai jumped a little, realizing that he had zoned out for a bit to talk to Yubel in his head. Another worried look had come to Asuka's face as she lightly pushed the black Obelisk out of the way to put her hand over the injured boy's bandaged forehead.
"I knew you still weren't well… Not even you can recover that fast from something like this." She said, checking to see if he had a fever.
"H-hey! I'm not sick!" Judai exclaimed, scooting backward on the bed so that her hand no longer touched his face; he didn't like being touched at times like this.
"Yes, you are. The moment you stopped arguing with Manjoume-kun, you stared straight ahead and I saw something in your eyes, though, it only lasted half a second." Asuka made a firm look, "You need to lie back down and rest. I'm going to go get Ayukawa-sensei."
Okay, now it was getting annoying. Judai could understand her being worried and all, but he was fine! Did he look sick? Save for the bandages, he looked like nothing happened! When he refused to lie down again, the girl put her hands on his shoulders and tried to force him. This, however, only proved to spook him. He jumped out of her reach and landed standing on the other side of the bed.
His reflexes were still good, so that was another sign he was alright. Turning to run out the doorway, Manjoume seized him by the shoulder and tried to yank him back onto the foot of the bed. Judai, however, merely shrugged off his Slifer jacket, letting the other boy lose his balance and fall onto the bed himself.
Taking a few running steps toward the sliding door, the only person who stood in his way now was Sho. The small blunette looked at him with big eyes filled with worry.
"Aniki…"
"Sho…" He didn't want to hurt his friend… his best friend since he first starting coming to Duel Academia. Just when it looked like he didn't have a choice, the mint-haired boy stepped out of the way, giving him room to leave. A shocked look came to his face.
"Why…?"
"Aniki… If you feel like you're fine, then go. If we find out that you're not feeling good again, then I'm gonna drag you back here myself!" The determination in his eyes burned, letting him know that he meant it.
The brunette grinned, nodding, "Wouldn't have it any other way…"
With that, he dashed out of the infirmary.
Emerald's Notes & Nonsense:
Well, there's the second chapter...
I don't know if this was a filler or not, but all I know is that this had to be written because it leads to what happens in the next chapter...
which I believe will be a little bit more fun to write because there's more mention of Johan and some memories! X3! Yup, yup, it'll be fun...
But be aware, I think I'm kinda messing with Judai's health for a reason, here. o.o; Yup, yup, I believe I am. Just be prepared, y'all.
... and Review! XP! It needs to be said in every chapter; it's the chant we feeble authors have to put to gain encouragement to continue. XD! ... and that's kinda hard for me, because no matter what, if I'm excited, I'm gonna go for it. XD
The third chapter won't take long.