I do not own Yu-gi-oh GX

Back to the salt mines

Zane tightened his arms around Jo as she continued to burrow into his chest. After Jo had come to his door in complete distress, with no signs of letting up soon, Zane had lead her to the couch and taken her in his arms where she continued to cry. It had been a while since she had stopped crying, but she had yet to say anything and this worried Zane more than anything else did. At least the tears had been some sign of emotion, now Jo was just glazing off into space and did not show any sign of changing this action any time soon. Although Zane was greatly worried about what had pushed Jo into this state, he did not press the matter any farther. Jo would tell him what was bothering her when she was ready, he of anyone, knew how important it was for some people to keep things bottled up until they were ready to talk about them. Zane, however, could not help feeling somewhat peeved that fate had given him a girl that was exactly like him in this respect.

How in the world did Atticus and the rest of my friends put up with this standoffish behavior from me, Zane thought to himself now that he was at the receiving end of this treatment. She's in so much pain and I want to help her so much, but if I pressure her any I'll end up just pushing her away. Man how in the world do people put up with us!

"Zane," Jo muttered calling him out of his thoughts and causing him to look at her.

Zane stared down at the girl who had come to mean so much to him. Her face was stained with the red streaks, courtesy of her tears, and had a look of distress and suffering on her face. Her eyes, however, were a complete paradox with the rest of her face. They sparkled with a certain kind of fire and longing he had never seen before, and sent a shiver through out his body.

"Jo, what's wron…," Zane began to ask but was cut off as Jo's lips meet his in a fiery, powerful kiss.

They had kissed before, but never like this. Their other kisses had been sweet and gentle, this was fierce and powerful, and had the possible hints of leading somewhere. Jo's hands had worked their way into Zane's hair, pushing his head deeper into the kiss, and, instead of sitting in his lap like before, she had picked herself up so she was straddling him. It wasn't long before Jo had pushed him down so his back was on the couch and she was fully on top of him. Zane couldn't help but caress her back as she nibbled his lip asking for entrance into his mouth, which he quickly granted her. Who would have thought that The Kaiser would ever let a girl take the lead?

Things only started to heat up more as Jo slowly moved her lips to the side of Zane's neck and started to leave her mark, causing him to moan ever so slight. But despite how much Zane was enjoying the physical part of this, another part of him knew he had to bring this to a stop before it went too far. She had been very upset before, and Zane knew if they went much further then this, they would both regret it later. Curse his mother for teaching him to never take advantage of a girl no matter what.

"Jo, Jo…mmm..Stop!" Zane shouted as he pushed Jo off so they were sitting on separate parts of the couch again. "We can't do that, not yet, and not when you're this upset," he panted as he looked into Jo's eyes and tried to catch his breath. "I don't know what's dismayed you so much, but what ever it is, this is not the way to fix it."

Anger flashed in Jo's eyes as she heard what Zane said and she started to shake again, but this time out of anger. In fact, in Zane opinion, it looked like she just might slap him. Gosh, girls are confusing, Zane thought, one minute they're crying, the next they're making out with you, and then when you try to be the nice guy they get mad at you.

"How dear you!" Jo spat as she stood up from the couch and glared angrily at Zane. "What just happened had absolutely nothing to do with why I was crying and I can't believe you would think it would. I did it because I wanted to and I never thought you would be the type to be put off by a woman making the first move."

"Don't play the 'women's movement' card Jo," Zane snapped back as he too rose from the couch. "I know for a fact that this is not how you would normal act. Something has wounded you so much that you're scared of ending up on your own again, and you're trying to use us to avoid those feelings."

"That's not true," Jo mumbled as tears started to form in her eyes again.

But it was true, that had been exactly what had been going through Jo's head. Ironically, meeting her dad for the first time, which should have caused Jo to feel very happy and loved, had left her feeling very scared and empty. Never having been really close to anyone, apart from her mother who was now gone, Jo had fled to the one person she thought could make her feel complete again. However, being with Zane hadn't caused the empty feeling to go away completely. It had helped fill it a little, which is why she had tried to get even closer to him, an idea she now regretted, however enjoyable it might have been. Meeting Zane had been like finding a missing piece of herself, now, however, it felt like she was missing a new piece. Gosh why can't I just stay in one pieces, Jo thought.

"It is true Jo," Zane said his voice dropping into that low almost monotone style of his that made his fan girl melt and other duelist quake, "and I want to know why. What happened to you?" Zane asked as he walked over to Jo and pulled her into a hug. "What hurt my sea salt so badly?"

"Mmgereegawww," Jo mumbled as she spoke into Zane's shoulder so her voice was very muffled, to upset to roll her eyes at Zane's anomalous pet name.

"What?" Zane asked as he stroked her hair.

"My father just showed up," Jo said again this time more clearly, while she stared into Zane's eyes.

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Later that evening at the dueling dome……

"Yeah it's time to get your game on," Jaden shouted as he slipped into pre-Jaden mood, right before the final match of the tag-team tournament between Syrus and him, and Zane and Jo. Right now, he and Syrus were in a private 'dressing room' waiting for the finale duel to take place.

"Yeah, get your game on," Syrus said less enthusiastically as he stared down at his shoes. For whatever reason Syrus just could not seem to become very excited about tonight's duel or shake off the strong feelings of worry and dread he had about his brother. He had purposely shown up an hour early so he could talk to his brother about what Jo had said the other night, Zane always showed up early for his duels, but he hadn't been able to find him. He had even gone to the manger's office to see if Zane or Jo had shown up yet, but when he got to her office, he heard her shouting on the phone and decided he would come back later. Her voice sound pretty horse, so Syrus assumed she had been shouting for a while. However, that had been an hour ago and Zane had yet to show up. He was really worried about Zane; it wasn't like his brother to not show up early for a duel.

"Don't worry Sy," Jaden said sensing his best friend's anxiety, "you'll be able to talk to Zane after we kick his butt in this duel."

"But Zane isn't even here yet and he always shows up early for duels," Syrus shouted concerned, "what if something happened to him. What if he ran into that jerk Tanner down in the underground and is laying dead somewhere in a ditch!"

"Chill Sy," Jaden sweat dropped, "you sound like my ma with all that 'laying dead in a ditch.' I sure Zane's fine. Who knows," Jaden laughed, "maybe Atticus's plan worked and he and Jo are making out on a couch somewhere."

"Oh come on Jaden, when do Atticus's plans ever work."

"Well with all the relationships Atticus tries to set up, he's bound to get one of them to work," Jaden said scratching his head. "Besides, nobody knows Zane better than Atticus, so he's probably the mostly likely one to actually fix Zane up with someone."

"Yes, nobody knows Zane better than Atticus, and that is the problem!" Syrus snapped. "I'm his brother, I should know him better than anyone else, or at least know a side of him that nobody else does, but I don't. I don't know anything about him, Jo was right I'm no better than a fan," Syrus finished his rant as his shoulders slumped.

Jaden was about to retort Syrus statement with commits about how despite how cold Zane's behavior was, he still cared about Syrus, when the manger, Anna, stormed in looking livid.

"Well you two can pack up your cards and get out of here, tonight's duel has been forfeited, congratulations you two have won the tag-team tournament," Anna snapped as she continued to stomp around the room muttering something about 'stupid goths.'

"What no duel?!" Jaden asked, shocked at the idea of having a duel canceled.

"What do you mean forfeited?!" Syrus asked as a wave of panic ran through his body. Zane would never forfeit a duel, growing up Zane had always told Syrus that giving up on a duel before even trying was worse than losing. Something horrible must have happened for Zane to have not even show up.

"What I mean by forfeited, you little hobbit," Anna snapped turning on Syrus, "is that your punk brother and his little emo girlfriend have decide that their sad, pathetic, 'let's go cut ourselves' little lives are more important then this duel. After everything I've done for them, they don't even have the decency to show up for the most important duel of the tournament!!!!"

"If they didn't show up, then where are they," questioned Syrus, ignoring the 'hobbit' commit.

"How should I know," Anna braked as she walked out the door, "but considering how they found those bodies, those two underground duelists are probable at the police station if they missed out on the morgue."

The door slammed as Anna finished her tirade casting an eerie silence around the room.

Morgue, bodies, "Zane," Syrus shouted as he ran out the door desperate to find his brother and prove to himself that Zane was not dead.

"Wait Syrus," Jaden cried after him following him out of the door, "what's a morgue?"

But Jaden's words fell silent on Syrus's ears as he continued to race down the hallway. Images of Zane as Hell Kaiser kept flashing in his mind, but these slowly morphed into images of Zane as he was before this whole mess, and those images were followed by early memoirs of them together as young children.

Syrus kept replaying his first day of school. Determined to impress his cooler, older brother Syrus had opted not to have his mother walk him into his new classroom. However, upon enter the classroom and seeing all the new kids, the butterflies in Syrus's stomach had grown so much he had ended up throwing-up all over his uniform. He had been so upset that the teacher had to call Zane in, much to Syrus's embarrassment, to wait with him until their mother showed up. Zane, however, had been pretty and surprisingly understanding about the whole thing. He had even told Syrus about the time he had been so nerves about going to his first sleepover party, at Atticus's, that he had their mother sew his favorite stuffed bumblebee into his sleeping bag so no one would know about it.

Syrus had been so distracted by all his memoires that he did not even notice when he ran head first into Atticus and the rest of the gang.

"Syrus," Atticus asked as he helped the bulenett to his feet, "what's going on? It's all over the arena, that the duel has been forfeited. Zane would never forfeit a duel! Do you have any idea what's going on?"

"Anna said something about bodies, police station, and something called a morgue," Jaden replied as he caught with the rest of the group.

"Morgue?" Alexis asked in a shaky voice. Images of Zane's pale body lying on a cold metal table instantly appeared in Alexis mind making her stomach tighten. He can't be dead, Alexis thought, he's one of my brother's oldest friends, I've know him for almost my whole life. He just cannot be dead!

"Yeah, I was not sure what that was either," Jaden said as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"A morgue is where a duelist goes after they duel me, a morgue is the place a person goes when they can't duel any more," a cold, icy voice out to the group as a dark figure stride over to the group wearing a familiar dark coat. "Honestly, what kind of Nancy-Pansy doesn't know what a morgue is?

"TANNER," Syrus shouted recognizing the black trench coat Tanner was wearing as the one that symbolized his brother's alter ego Hell Kaiser, "What have you done to my brother!"

"Brother," Tanner mocked with a life laugh, "so that's why he was willing to give his blood for you. Pity, that such a great duelist like Hell Kaiser had to be held back by a little speck like you. But I guess I should thank you; after all, without you there wouldn't be a new king of the underground."

Tanner's words hit Syrus's like a brick. He wanted to snap back at him, to tell him he was not a speck and that he had never held Zane back, but he couldn't. Doubt pledged Syrus again, as he, thought about what Tanner was indicating. Two people now in the past 48 hours had told Syrus that in someway he had hurt Zane. First Jo and know Tanner. And what did Tanner mean by 'new king of the underground,' what had happened to his brother.

"What do you mean?" Chazz asked, the shock of hearing that Zane might actual be dead had shocked the rest of the group into a state of silence, all except for Jaden who was to stupid to figure out what was going on.

"You mean you all haven't heard," Tanner hissed as a sick smirk appeared on his face.

"Just tell us what you meant you bastard," Atticus shouted as anger filled his eyes, making clear to anyone why out of everyone else in the world he had been chosen to be Nightshroud. Atticus was normal a kind and easy going person, but when it came to the safety of his family and friends, especial Zane who he had know for as long as he could remember, he could became very aggressive and belligerent.

"Hmmmm," Tanner laughed as he folded his arms clearly loving every moment of holding power over him. "What I mean, you idiots, is that Hell Kaiser is dead and that little bitch of his is gone as well."

"Hell Kaiser is dead, dead, dead,…little bitch gone, gone, gone…" the words Tanner had just spoken seemed to echo off the wall of Syrus mind. It just couldn't believe it. It could not be true, his brother could not be dead, he just couldn't be. This was Zane, The Zane Truesdale, the Kaiser of duel academy, he just couldn't be. It can't be true, it just can't be. Tanner had to be lying, he had to be.

"YOU'RE LYING," Syrus shouted as he pushed Tanner out of the way and started running out into the street headed to Zane's apartment, desperate to find some sort of evidence that Zane was still alive.

"Syrus wait up," Jaden called after his friend as he and the rest of the gang ran after him, but not before Atticus, pulled a very out of character stunt and punch Tanner strait in the nose.

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Back to Zane and Jo

"Your father," Zane asked shocked. Of all the things, that Jo could have said he had never excepted that.

"He just showed up at my door after all these years," Jo said as she turned and flopped down on the couch again. "Just out of the blue, he shows up. I waited for eighteen years and now he shows up. Turns out, he did not even know he had a daughter. He saw me on the news clip they did of us after the elevator."

"Some guy sees you on television and shows up at your door claiming to be your father," Zane asked both skeptical and concerned. The last thing he needed was some psycho stalking his girlfriend.

"I know it sounds like a typical soap opera cliché, add in the old photograph of him and my mother and you have the movie of the week," Jo sighed as she slumped even further down the couch.

"Old photograph?" Zane asked with raised eyebrows.

"Yeah," Jo replied, "Jack Maaka, that's his name, he had this old photo of him and my mother looking more than a little comfortable together and the rest of his story about being in the navy fits with the little my mother told be of him. He also kind of looks like me and he has the same color hair. I know it sounds crazy Zane, but something is telling me that this man is my father. Plus he did say we could do a DNA test."

"Then what's the problem Jo," Zane asked. "I mean I know a father showing up that you have never meet before can cause a whole bunch of emotions," he added when he saw the look Jo was giving him, "but you can get the DNA test and if it came's back positive you have a new father and if not then you never have to see this man again."

"Your ability to be blunt no matter what the situation continues to amaze me, Truesdale," Jo smiled as Zane came over and kissed her lightly on top of the head.

"So when do I get to meet this Jack Maaka," Zane asked as he set down next to her on the couch.

"That's the other part Zane," Jo said as she looked into his eyes, "he's in the navy and has to move to New York tonight."

"What," Zane asked as his mouth fell open. He couldn't lose Jo, not after all this. He couldn't face all his friends again without her, she couldn't leave now.

"But I'm not going to go," Jo decide as she saw the shock in Zane's eyes, "I mean my whole life is here, we have the tournament tonight, and I can't leave you," Jo said and as she did Zane pulled her into a tight hug.

Thank goodness, she's staying, she staying, Zane thought, and then as Jo spoke again his heart stopped.

"Unless you told me I could go," she said as she looked into his eyes.

"I…I, I," Zane started but he couldn't finish. How could he finish, she was asking him to let her go. Is this how Dad felt when Mom told him she was going away to a different collage, Zane thought. But as he thought of his father Zane remember all the pain he felt through out his life having never known him and he remembered the last letter he had read. His father had given up his career, whatever that had been Zane couldn't remember, to make his mother happy when he found out she was pregnant with him. His parent's entire relationship had been long distance, if they had made it work, then he and Jo could to. Besides his parents had only had letters, he and Jo had e-mail.

Zane lend in and kissed Jo deeply, before pulling her in so her head was resting under his chin. "Just promise me that when I drop you off at the airport you won't look back, it's time for you to stop being salt," he said reflecting off the story she had told him in the underground not to long ago.

"Oh Zane," Jo sighted as she leaded in and kissed him again.

"Come on I walk you back to your place and help you pack a few basic things, I'll send the rest of your stuff over later."

"But what about the contest, we are supposed to duel tonight?" Jo asked.

Zane just smiled as he pulled out his cell phone, dialed a number, and let a message. "Hello Anna, this is Zane. Just to let you know Jo and I won't be dueling tonight so you can just declare Jaden and Syrus the winners."

"Thank you so much Zane, I really don't know what to say."

"Just say you'll write to me every chance you get," Zane said as he and Jo went out the door and started walking to Jo's places. Unfortunately, when the got to the bottom of Zane's apartment the ran into a rather unpleasant guest going through the trashcan Zane had thrown his black trench coat in.

"Tanner," both Zane and Jo said as the glared at the man in front of them, Zane automatically stepping slightly in front of Jo.

"Well if it isn't Hell Kaiser and little Miss Hellfire," Tanner sneered as held up Zane's coat.

"Hell Kaiser's dead Tanner," Zane said as he stepped in closer to Tanner clearly showing him that his scare tactics didn't work.

"And Hellfire been cooled," Jo said stepping behind Zane so he still separated her from Tanner. Jo had always prided herself on never letting men push her around, but she wasn't stupid enough to stand up face to face with a guy who was twice her size.

"What?" Tanner asked shocked as he started at the former power couple of the underground.

"I've got a little brother, Tanner," Zane said as he and Jo walked past him, "and friends and a family. I don't need that place anymore, and Jo is headed out for a new life. If your want to be 'king of the underground' go right ahead. We wouldn't be in your way any longer."

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Well I hope you liked this chapter; there is only one more to go before it's over. I'm sorry it took so long to up-date but school had been so hectic. Please leave me a review and tell me what you think, if you are a little confused over Syrus reaction don't worry it will be explained more in the next chapter and will have a very sweet brother fluff moment. Well thanks for reading.