Disclaimer: I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.
Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh GX
Title: Enchantment: Chapter 5: Family Reunited
Romance: Yubel x Juudai x Johan
Word Count: chapter: 1,694||story: 8,433
Genre: Romance, SupernaturalRated: PG-13
Challenge: Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section I, #12, a multichap with exactly 10 chapters; Written for the Valentine's to White Day Advent, day 24, write about a brainwashing/trickery.
Summary: On Johan's wedding day, he goes for a breath of fresh air in the forest, and encounters a creature he's never seen before. He will still marry this day. But not who he expected. For who would expect to marry the King of the Fae?

Eyes of vibrant gold stared at Johan, replaced now and then by ones of deep warm brown, and on other occasions by orange and teal, and sometimes a face that resembled his own in many ways. He shifted and turned, hands clutching at the soft satin sheets beneath himself, trying to put a name to all of them and not being able to.

But he knew that he should. The eyes of gold and brown called to him the most, and a name tried to form on his lips. He knew this person, and wanted to know them again, though he hadn't seen them in far too long. Not in years, even.

No, more than years. Centuries. It had been so very long that he couldn't even be certain anymore. But far longer than he'd lived. It should've confused him, but in his dreams, Johan accepted it for what it was: the truth he'd never known before.

"Johan?" The voice didn't belong to any of the eyes, but it was as familiar to him as they were, and he sat up in bed, looking around.

"What -" He saw the figure in the corner, which stepped toward him, revealing itself. "Sapphire Pegasus?"

The winged unicorn bent his head, a light smile playing on his lips, as best the mouth could smile. "I've brought the others for you to meet."

Johan tilted his head a little. "Others?" He'd said no more than that before there were indeed others in there with him. A tiger that wasn't much smaller than Sapphire Pegasus, a violet cat that sat with her tail curled around her paws, a gigantic turtle that put the small creatures he'd seen in the rivers and streams around the village to shame, a beautiful brown eagle that perched on the turtle's back, a smaller creature that reminded him something of a cross between a cat and a squirrel, and last but most certainly not least, a gigantic hairy elephant – mammoth, his mind corrected almost on sight.

"Johan!" The violet cat perked up at the sight of him, eyes large and happy. "It's so good to see you again! We've missed you!"

Johan's jaw worked a little, especially when the smallest of them crawled up into his lap, then swirled up him to settle in the crook of his neck, purring happily. He raised one hand and rubbed it over the creature's head, a name coming to his lips.

"Ruby?" He could see the bright red stone in the newcomer's tail, and knew it for a ruby, but this was a name and it came with another word. "Ruby Carbuncle?"

Sapphire Pegasus nodded his great head. "We knew you'd start to remember us once you were here for a while." All of them looked absolutely thrilled just to have Johan there at all, and a part of himself he'd never known resonated to that thrill, and shared in it.

He wanted to ask who they were, but the more he looked at them, the less he needed to ask, because he knew.

"Amber Mammoth. Cobalt Eagle. Amethyst Cat. Topaz Tiger. Emerald Turtle." Their names on his tongue tasted like honey, sweet and strong and right, a flavor he'd ached to taste for all of his life and never known that he missed it until now, when they all drew near to him.

Tears did not sting his eyes. Or so he told himself as Ruby nuzzled against his ear and Amethyst and Topaz both brushed their heads against him and Amber and Cobalt leaned in as close as they could, as did Emerald.

Something else stirred in his mind and he looked over them all. "Where is -" One of them remained missing?

"Here." The voice came from outside a window that he'd been too busy marveling over his restored family to even notice. Johan looked outside to see a shimmering white dragon peering back at him, his voice deep and calm and rich. "Welcome back, Johan."

"Rainbow Dragon," he whispered, wiggling his way out from the pile of Gem Beasts and going to open the window. He rested one hand on his great companion's head, and did not care about the tears now.

He remembered them all. Other memories flickered into his mind, of other lifetimes with them, in other forms sometimes, but always finding their way to one another, always choosing one another over and over. He was Johan of the Gem Beasts, as they were his family, no matter what other family he found along the way. They would always remain first in his heart.

"I missed all of you, too," he murmured, cuddling Ruby in his arms. He didn't need to ask why they were in fae lands. They were spirits, would always be spirits, and the fae and spirits were as connected to one another as he was to them.

That brought his mind right back around to why he was here in the first place and he bit his lip, even more uncertain of how to feel. He remembered Juudai as well now, at least to some extent. He couldn't bring up any particular memories, but he knew him, and Yubel, even without those. And he knew that he'd never be allowed to leave here.

Ruby nuzzled against him again, that oh so familiar trill whistling deep into his soul.

"I'm going to marry Juudai and Yubel," he murmured. None of them said a word to go against it. Perhaps they knew as well as he did that there was nothing that could stop it. He couldn't say for sure, even now, if he wanted to. With the memories flickering to life, he knew that this was not at all the first time that he'd met them.

"Juudai loves you," Amethyst Cat spoke softly. "And Yubel will care for anyone who treats Juudai well. As you will."

There was no argument there. Johan could not even envision himself hurting Juudai. Perhaps a harsh word or two, if Juudai needed it – and he knew that Juudai would need it as well, because Juudai was far from perfect, no matter how strong he was. But at the same time, he knew that Yubel would appreciate that. Would perhaps even help him on occasion.

He wasn't even certain how he felt about Yubel as an individual, though. Perhaps once they knew each other better he'd have a better idea. And that would not come until after the wedding.

He glanced out the window again, trying to gauge how long it was until sunset. The window didn't face east or west, but from the fall of the shadows he thought it was getting on toward the afternoon. His stomach growled, making its own views on what time it was plain: dinnertime.

The Gem Beasts glanced among themselves at the sound of that, and Cobalt Eagle took off, vanishing through the door. Johan fidgeted, looking out the window again. The grass spread out smooth as silk, green as Emerald Turtle, and an odd mixture of wild and trimmed. Tall trees rose up higher than Johan could see from the window, casting cool shadows over everything. What he could see of the palace from here reflected what he recalled seeing when he first arrived, magnificent materials, buttressed and improved by the workings of magic.

Compelled by curiosity, he looked around the room he found himself in. Smooth marble formed the walls, with well-woven tapestries hanging from them. A closer look caught his breath in his throat and he touched one of them with the tip of one finger.

"Is that...me?" The weaving was far finer than anything he'd seen before in his life, quite nearly a perfect image of himself and the Gem Beasts, all seven of them and Rainbow Dragon seated around him, while he smiled and laughed with them.

"They've waited for you for a very long time," Rainbow Dragon spoke from outside. "You took your time this time."

Johan only half-understood what he meant, but shrugged a little. "I don't think I planned it that way?" He knew now that he'd had more than one life, that he'd had several lives, and in each of them he'd ended up linked to Juudai and Yubel somehow, just as he always found the Gem Beasts again.

Maybe it had something to do with Juudai and Yubel being fae? They could afford to wait this time.

The rest of the room ended up being as magnificently decorated as he could have ever imagined rooms for him being. While he'd never sat down and thought about what it would be like to have a home fit for a prince or what his personal favored decorations for such a place might be, it seemed that Juudai had, because that was what he had now. Everything gleamed in his preferred colors, but made of materials so costly and fine by mortal standards that no one he knew could've ever afforded them if their families saved for a thousand years.

Johan lingered in the door to the bathroom he found connected to the bedroom where he'd woken up, wondering if he dared to take a bath. He didn't feel exactly dirty, but just worn out from everything that had happened to him today. A bath might help with that.

But what would I wear after that? He eyed what he had on now; it wasn't in perfect shape, but he didn't know where any other clothes were.

"Johan?" Amethyst Cat nudged the side of his leg. "You have an entire wardrobe right over there." A gesture of her head indicated a door that he hadn't checked out yet, and doing so revealed a room fully the size of his parents' house.

One full of every kind of outfit that he could ever have imagined for himself, and several that he'd never dreamed could exist, much less that might look good on him. And just like everything else here, every stitch was of the finest weave and material possible. Perhaps a few weren't possible, but they existed nevertheless.

Johan drew in a long breath. "I'm going to take a bath."

To Be Continued