M: Hello everyone! Got another chapter for you!

Jack: Finally! My turn to talk!

M: Yes, yes, I know you have been looking forward to this.

J: Prepare yourselves, readers, Jack Atlas is taking over.

Yusei and Crow: We're in trouble…

M: Please read and review! I'm beginning to wonder how 133 viewers (thank you all so much, by the way!) equals 0 reviews...huh! I don't own rights to Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds!

Trial of Roses

The Yellow Rose

"Hot dogs aren't all that great," I mumbled, watching the Princess fawn over the new food. "Actually, they are quite grotesque."

Crow suddenly shoved one into my mouth, smearing ketchup all over my face. "Aw, come on, they aren't all that bad!"

Reaching up to wipe ketchup from my eyes, I brushed my bangs and found more. He got it...in my HAIR! He knew that my hair could easily soak up any color it comes into contact with, and the thought of it turning red made my blood boil! Biting the food in half, I resisted the urge to spit it back out as the Princess gave me a smile. She giggled, saying I looked like a red Kuribou, and began to clean my face with a few napkins, surprising me that she was being so gentle. I remained stoic and poised until she stood back to examine her work, nodding in approval.

I rolled my eyes as Crow stuffed yet another one in his mouth; his fourth, I believe. This outing was completely boring me to death. Crossing my arms over my chest and closing my eyes, I leaned against a nearby wall, waiting for them to finish their little snack.

My thoughts trailed back to that night. The alleys were in a maze like formation, so the fact that we were able to escape was a miracle in itself. So how had we found ourselves in the Garden? The possibilities of us getting through the walls of ivy covered gates were just as slim, yet we got through as easily as walking down the street! Then we discovered her...

She was singing a strange song, one that I didn't recognize, but it wasn't awful. And her cloak made blending with the coming night easy. It wasn't until Yusei pointed out her silver band that I realized that she was THE PRINCESS, Princess Akiza! But something was off...

Why had she taken us in? We are nothing special, just three orphans trying to find our place in the world. Yusei had lost his mother during his birth while his father was lost in a scientific research mishap and ended up in the orphan system with Crow. Crow doesn't remember ever having parents, but had jumped from family to family. The orphan system was like a high maintenance adoption program that took in kids off the streets and placed them in families that would help raise them into "respectable" citizens. That's where they got their markers, which acted as a homing device. Those were deactivated last year though since they left the system and joined me.

I, on the other hand, had no such mark. My family was the uptight sort; appearance meant everything to them and they didn't care who they knocked down so long as they came out on top. They attempted to make me a perfect poster boy for their family business in medical technology, but I refused and ran away.

My eyes snapped open as a car pulled up. It was a cream colored Bentley with titanium rims, just screaming "Look at me! I'm rich!". A couple people around the stand began murmuring as the driver, a servant that I recognized from the castle, stepped out and opened the door for the Princess.

"Looks like it's time to go." I shoved Crow in the back seat first, gestured for Yusei next, and closed the door behind the Princess as we took our seats.

"Princess, your suitor has arrived at the castle." the servant informed as we drove back to the port where the yacht was waiting. "He is very anxious to see you again."

I felt her shudder and looked down to see her clenching the new deck tightly. My eyes narrowed. She had her powers, so what was she so worried about?

Her head suddenly snapped upward, making bird-brain nearly jump out the window. "I almost forgot!" She began rummaging in one of the limousine's compartments and pulled out three little tube-like things about the size of those jumbo pencils; one blue, one red, and one gray. "These are your pagers! Make sure you keep them on you at all times so that I can contact you in case I need anything."

I accepted the red one she handed me and activated it with a push of a button. A screen approximately the size of one of those portable DVD players expanded and showed a picture of the Princess with a little of her personal info. There were different links from the kitchen to the study and so on. One that caught my attention was the link to our individual pagers. I threw Crow a sideways glare as his grinning face suddenly came across my screen. So he figured out how to establish a video chat link...wonderful.

I was searching the castle's server for anything that I could find about the royal family while waiting for the Princess to finish preparing for her visitor. I'm not the gossiping type, but I had learned at a young age to be informative and resourceful while keeping your head down. Jack Atlas wasn't going to let himself be duped by anyone, and the way I kept it that way was by checking for any secrets someone might have. It wasn't that I didn't trust the Princess, I just need to keep an eye out for my number one: Jack Atlas.

The servant from dinner last night flashed across my screen as I was finishing up an article about one of the wings collapsing. "Will you inform the Princess that her suitor, Prince Koda, is in the courtyard?"

I nodded, put away my pager, and knocked on her door. "You're supposed to report to the courtyard."

Silence…

"I'm coming in." Cracking the door, I spotted her standing near the window. I felt my cheeks warm as she turned to face me, smoothing out her lacy cap sleeves.

She was wearing a floor length dress that at first reminded me of the bitter brown champagne that I once stole from an adult party, but against her hair and complexion, it looked more like a pink. There was white floral lace decorating the top that slowly disappeared as it reached toward her knees, and an ivory sash tied into a bow around her waist. Her dark magenta hair was curly, framing her heart-shaped face nicely. What caught my attention the most was the worried look in her eyes.

"Princess?"

"Sorry to keep you waiting. Let's go." She attempted to cover her worry with a smile as she walked past me. "Jack?"

"Yes?"

Although her smile didn't reach her eyes, I saw something that looked like hope in their depths. "I would appreciate it if you would come with me..."

Bowing, I followed her to the courtyard. Along the way, she told me a little about this suitor, Prince Koda. He was from the neighboring kingdom to the west and was very intelligent. Evidently, he was responsible for a lot of the strategies used in the businesses of his region. When we arrived at the courtyard, she dismissed me verbally, but her eyes seemed to beg me to stay. "If you need anything, just call me." I said, bowing my head. "I won't be far."

She turned away from me and disappeared into the courtyard. What was she so afraid of? I wondered, leaning against a nearby pillar, crossing my arms. Whoever this Prince Koda was didn't seem to be on her friend list, and she wasn't particularly fond of him. I blinked as my pager began to chime.

Crow's grinning face appeared on the screen. "Sup, Jack!"

"Crow, I'm a little busy at the moment."

His grin fell into an annoyed frown. "Why did you get to go with the Princess, huh? We could use plenty of help getting rid of all these bugs! You know how Yusei is with bugs!" Crow left the screen and was replaced by a pale, shivering Yusei. "He's scared stiff!"

"Not my problem." I said, not even fazed by the tides of bugs. When was the last time they had an exterminator? There were spiders and boxelder bugs crawling over every inch of the room they were in.

"Help me, Jack!" Yusei whimpered, sweat dripping off his face as a spider crawled over his foot.

My lips tilted into a smirk. "As much as I would love to lend a hand, I'm currently waiting for the Princess to finish meeting with her suitor."

"Wait, she's with who?" Yusei suddenly grabbed the pager, earning a yell from Crow. His eyes, which were normally sapphire colored, were now a deep lapis and tight with worry. Something was bothering him...

"Some guy named Koda."

"Prince Koda? Jack, you need to keep an eye on him." Yusei's eyes suddenly got even darker; that only happened when he was serious. "He's a fourteen year old bully who doesn't know how to keep his hands to himself."

My head shot up as a muffled shout came from the depths of the courtyard.

"Gotta go." Slipping the pager into my pocket, I began sneaking through the courtyard's statue garden. The hedges were about shoulder height surrounding each statue, and had white peonies decorating them. There were really no good places to hide, so why couldn't I see them?

The sound of fabric tearing from my left caught my attention. A hushed whisper followed by more tearing of fabric sent my blood racing. I would have seen them by now, but there was no sign of them! Spinning on my heel, I scanned every inch of the courtyard.

"Now, now, Princess, don't go and ruin the game for me..."

I narrowed my eyes and spotted the so called prince under the statue of a Jack's Knight. My jaw clenched and my blood boiled as he shifted and the Princess's tear stained face became visible. Her dress skirt was dirty and pulled up to her knee by the hand that wasn't pushing her against the statue's base. One of her lace sleeves was missing and there were scratches on her person, making her pale skin blotchy and pink. Reaching out, I grabbed him by his collar and threw him to the ground with a loud thud. My anger for the little cretin rose as I heard the Princess begin to cry softly. He was going to wish he had never crossed the great Jack Atlas, servant of Princess Akiza!

"How dare you, you low life!" the prince shrieked, standing and dusting himself off. He was a thin twig with broad shoulders, his pale gray hair was disheveled from my little toss, and angry eyes the color of grass glared at me from behind a pair of black framed glasses. "I'm the dashing Prince Koda! How dare you lay a hand on me!"

"How dare I? How dare YOU lay a hand on Princess Akiza!" I shouted, my hands latching onto the front of his expensive looking suit. "If you ever lay a hand on her again, I promise to personally kick you out of the castle." I paused, blinking as he punched me in the face, then grinned. "You're going to have to try harder than that if you want to take me out. Care to try again?"

He struggled as I lifted him off the ground and threw him a good six feet away. Standing, he threw one last look toward where the Princess was still crying, locked eyes with me, then ran away bawling his head off. I was probably going to get punished for it later, but it felt good knocking that little punk down a few notches.

"Jack..."

I turned and dropped on my knees before the Princess, checking her for any injuries besides the scratches. Her hands were shaking as she was trying to cover herself, trying to hide them from me. Gently but firmly, I grasped her wrists, and pulled them away from her body. There were many bruises beginning to form along her arms and one was forming on her left cheek. Finger marks decorated her like bloody sprinkles on a cupcake. I blinked. Did I just compare the Princess to a cupcake?

"Here he is! He's the one who hurt me!"

Releasing the Princess, I stood and faced the still crying prince who was now accompanied by the King himself. He was about two feet taller than I was, and wore a crimson robe encrusted with jewels and vine patterns stitched with gold thread. Next to him stood the Prince, who was holding his nose with a white piece of lace. I thought was a handkerchief, but then I remembered that a strap from the Princess' dress was missing. That little punk...

"Jack, was it?" the King asked, glancing from me to the Prince to me. "You are one of her new personally appointed servants, correct?"

"Yes, sir." I nodded, bowing slightly. "I am Jack Atlas."

"Did you cause the Prince harm?"

"Only because he was asking for it, sir." I bit back a smirk as the King's brown mustache twitched, his cocoa eyes twinkling.

"And why did you do it, son?" he asked, leaning down and locking eyes with me.

I stared right back, showing him that I had nothing to hide. "I was doing my job, sir: protecting the Princess from those who wish to do harm."

"Akiza was hurt?" I nodded as the King straightened, and moved the hedge aside for him to see the damage for himself. His eyes darkened and I noticed that his lip twitched. "By whom?"

"Prince Koda, sir."

"Your Highness, I assure you that this lowly servant is lying!" Prince Koda cried, pointing at me. "He was the one who hurt the Princess, and when I tried to save her, he overpowered me!"

"Quite your whining, you big spoiled brat. I don't care if you are a prince, but that doesn't give you the right to harm anyone." I growled, slowly taking steps toward the now cowering boy. "Especially the Princess I serve."

"Now, now, Jack." The King pulled me to a halt, his hands resting on my shoulders. "I understand what happened quite clearly now. Please take my daughter back to her room and help her clean up."

"And the Prince, sir?" I asked, picking up the now silent Princess, and turning back to the King. "Would you like me to escort him from the castle? It would be my pleasure."

The King chuckled, whispering in my ear. "As much as we would enjoy it, Jack, I think we should send him home as he is. His pride will be wounded enough when I inform his parents of the incident."

The Princess was silent until we reached her room, where Crow and Yusei were waiting. I'm going to have to change my shirt since it was soaked with her tears. Her head hung low as I placed her on the bed. "Thank you, Jack..."

"Why didn't you use your powers?" She flinched at my harsh tone, but I didn't care. "You are more than capable of defending herself. Why didn't you stop him from touching you?"

"Jack, maybe now isn't the time to question her."

"Can it!" I growled at Yusei. "You didn't see what the Prince was doing, so don't even try to pretend like this was no big deal."

"I'm afraid..." she whispered, her eyes still staring down at the floor.

I kneeled in front of her, grabbing her chin, and raising it so she was looking me in the eye. "Why are you afraid of your powers?"

Her eyes filled with more tears. "Because I'm the reason my brother was never born."

"That's impossible, everyone knows that the Queen was in an accident and the baby was lost." Yusei said, kneeling next to me and placing a hand on her knee. "Why do you think it was your fault?"

"She still had three months to go..." the Princess sobbed, shoving our hands away, and burying her face in what was left of her dress. "I was going to ask her maidservant if my mother was available...but I overheard her speaking with someone on the phone...she spoke of killing my mother and taking my brother..."

My eyes narrowed. "Let me guess, you lost control..."

"I didn't mean to! I couldn't help it! I just got so angry at her!" the Princess sobbed, her body shaking. "The whole wing suddenly caved in..."

"That's right." I heard Crow whisper. "They didn't expect the Queen to survive the accident, let alone the procedure to remove the stillborn Prince."

She nodded, falling to the floor as she began hiccuping between sobs. "My mother -hic-was impaled by-hic-a ceiling beam...the baby-hic-died on-hic-impact..."

We all sat around the Princess in silence as she broke down, crying her heart out into her dress. Something didn't seem right... Didn't the report I read earlier say that the Queen had been staying in one of the oldest wings of the castle? If the wing had been as new as the rest of the castle, then...

I gently grabbed her by the shoulders and forced her to look up at me. "I want you to listen to me very carefully and engrave every word I say next into your mind: It wasn't your fault."

"But-"

"No, listen to me." I gently shook her, trying to get her to focus only on me. "The wing your mother was staying in was older than the rest of the castle, right?"

Her forehead furrowed and frowned in confusion. "Well..."

"Yes or no?" I asked lowly.

"It was quite a bit older than the rest of the castle," she admitted.

"If it had been newer, it wouldn't have caved in like it did."

She blinked at my words. "If it had been...newer..."

"If that wing had been remodeled when the rest of the castle was, then if wouldn't have fallen in so easily. It would have been able to withstand your power." I explained, scrubbing her face with a rag I found on her bedside table. "It wasn't your fault. It was never your fault."

"R-Reallly?"

I smiled and nodded as she hiccuped, her crying finally done. "Now, let's get you cleaned up. You look like Yusei does after a battle with a spider."

"See, Yusei, I knew he had a soft side."

Hearing Crow's comment sent my blood boiling. If I didn't do something quick, they are going think I'm growing soft! I can't risk rumors of the great Jack Atlas becoming a teddy bear! "That's it, Crow, YOU'RE DEAD!" I bellowed, launching myself at the orange haired nuisance.

_
Back in the Garden...

One of the bushes had started to die, this time the roses were yellow. They began to wilt, their once soft petals becoming brittle and brown. The greenery of the bush turned dull, nearly decaying off the branches.

Beneath the Garden...

The Concealed One's head bolted upright. The Princess was losing trust in someone... A growl rose from her throat as the yellow roses died. Whoever it was better prepare themselves for judgement. She blinked in surprise as the rotten blooms were suddenly replaced with small new buds and the greenery slowly progressed back to a faint lime green. Her head fell back down to its resting place, closing her eyes to return to her dreamless slumber, slightly curious about what had occurred and who had caused this sudden growth.

M: Well? Did you have fun?

Jack: Not too bad, huh?

M: It was actually pretty good.

J: The great Jack Atlas always delivers.

*Yusei and Crow are seen rolling their eyes*

M: Please read and review!