Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX

Chapter 1

As strange as it may seem, the two had somehow managed to fall into an unofficial routine.

They awoke early and either floated around the house, doing odd chores here and there and practicing their own duelling techniques, or, less frequently, going out scouting. Zane did this more often – if they split up, which was a rarity in and of itself – since he proved to be better at it; his darker clothing made it easier for him to glide around unnoticed in the cover of the trees Dark World provided, and his natural quietness made it easy for him to pick up information without alerting the guards or people to his presence. This was fine with Aster; it meant less work for him. However, it also left him doing more of the household chores, something he had never really had to do before and could not say he enjoyed.

Cooking had become a necessity for them; so had cleaning and other basic chores which neither relished but which had to be done. They shared this work reluctantly, and got it done, but that didn't mean either of them took any sense of accomplishment from it in the way they did whenever they managed to pick up information from one source or another about Dark World.

Their routine was simple enough: wake up, do chores, possibly go scouting and then return, cook dinner, and then go to bed. It was the simplest of routines for them and it was little wonder that, after six days of this, they were both restless and unwilling to continue, even though their low profiles were essential to their overall plan.

The simplicity of their routine wasn't the only undesirable thing for them; neither of them was exactly willing to share a bed with the other either, but it proved to be the best way to do things after a few days there. It wasn't that the house came equipped with only one bed – it had, in fact, a double bed and two singles, all in separate rooms – but more that there weren't many blankets and besides, the coverings they did find were very thin and of poor quality; they certainly did not provide the necessary warmth for Dark World nights, which were very cold, especially in a large house with cool air and no electricity and thus no heating.

Zane and Aster shared a bed at night simply for this: the body heat. It was the best way of keeping warm that they had found and, after a couple of nights, the two found that their initial discomfort over this situation had more or less faded away in favour of keeping warm.

/

If there was one awkward time of the day, it was most certainly mealtimes. Breakfast was no longer a meal that they took part in and lunch was often just a sandwich – or something similar to, at least – which was easily consumed on one's own. However, it was the evening meal that proved slightly uncomfortable, when the two dined together on whatever they'd managed to cook up – ingredients in this world were far from what they were used to, but they took what they could.

Zane quickly learned that his companion wasn't enthusiastic about eating in silence, and so usually they found themselves making conversation, more often than not about the world they were in and about what to do next.

And so it was under these exact circumstances that the two found themselves on their seventh night in the house, eating something which Zane had cooked, that closely resembled a stew of some kind, and talking simply about their situation.

"Did you find out anything from those people we ran into earlier?" Aster queried, referring to the group of runaway humans whom they had encountered earlier that same day – he had not spoken to them since he had been searching through an abandoned village at the time; it had been Zane who had interacted with the frightened people.

"They mentioned a patrol that was heading here in the foreseeable future" Zane replied. "If they happen to be close to the Supreme King, we might just be able to find out more about his true identity."

Aster nodded in understanding; he realised that Zane was, of course, referring to whether or not it was actually Jaden who was the King.

"How big is the patrol?"

Zane closed his eyes and said, "They didn't say. I assume that means a fairly large number."

"Whatever, we'll be able to take them on however many there are" Aster replied, fairly confidently, as he toyed a little with the food. "What I'd like to know is just how big the actual army is."

"Maybe our new friends will be able to tell us."

Aster smirked at the same time Zane did; their 'new friends' was, naturally, a reference to the oncoming patrol, which both were pretty certain that they could wipe out easily enough. After all, they hadn't yet come up against anyone who'd given them anything more than basic trouble. Goblins, mostly, and they didn't qualify as skilled duellists in the books of anyone who could classify as a pro.

"Shall we face them here or elsewhere?"

"Let them come to us."

An expected reply. The two fell into a thoughtful silence as they continued with their meal; it wasn't tasteful but it was edible, and that was all they could hope for given the rather unusual ingredients they had to work with. It had quickly become clear to them that pork, lamb and beef weren't really the favoured meats – if they were available at all in this desolate place – and they had recently been consuming meats which came from goodness knows where; they weren't sure they even wanted to know which animal some of them had come from. The only thing they had ever queried was whether or not the meat was human flesh, which the seller had denied that it was. Aster wasn't initially satisfied with such a reply, but after hearing from Zane that humans supposedly tasted like pork he was fairly convinced that their meat was not human flesh: it had tasted more like duck that had been overdone with spices and out-of-date herbs.

And it had been better than whatever they were eating now, which was edible but pretty tasteless and undesirable.

After consuming only half of said meal, Aster rose from his seat and began to wash the bowl in the sink which had been earlier filled with hot water for this purpose. Zane tossed his empty bowl into the water alongside its partner and departed from the room, leaving Aster to take care of the washing up, as was their agreement; whenever Zane did the cooking, Aster did the washing up, and vice versa.

It was strange how easily this routine had been established. It was even stranger that the two had, thus far, managed to stick to their own set rules without argument.

As the hot water worked its magic in cleaning the dirty dishes, Aster let his mind wander.

If there really was a patrol heading there way, and especially if it was big in numbers, then the two of them had best prepare for what was coming. After all, just taking them down did no good whatsoever; they had to use them to gain information to the best of their ability.

He smirked a little into the water; he could hardly wait.

Please R&R