Hey everyone! Glad you liked the last chapter. Here's a new one. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own YuGiOh GX or Jess; she still belongs to ladydream-chan.
Claimer: This entire story is mine, the plot especially. Every OC is mine and everything about this story is unique. Any and all copiers in any way WILL BE reported to the administrators. Please don't take anything.
xXx
Jaden's POV
My walkie-talkie buzzed in my pocket. I glanced down at it, stopping in the middle of the sidewalk. Alexis squeezed my hand, looking at me questioningly. I shrugged and pulled it out, holding down the button.
"Jaden Yuki, go."
"Greiger's dead," Yusei said, voice flat.
I felt my shoulders sag slightly when I heard Alexis gasp. I murmured into the talkie, "Atem, you there?" There was a buzz of silence.
"Yes."
"Everyone meet back at Yugi's in ten; Yusei, where are you?"
"The bridge where Kalin killed Greiger, near Domino City Park."
"I'll pick him up, Mate. I'm heading over the bridge right now," Jim said, knowing where I was going.
"Yeah, I see him," Yusei confirmed.
I nodded and flicked off my walkie-talkie. I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair, feeling a heavy weight setting on my chest. "Let's go back," I whispered a moment later. I turned to go but was stopped by Alexis.
"Are you okay?" she asked when I looked at her with a raised eyebrow.
I shrugged. "No, another person's dead because of me."
She frowned. "It isn't your fault."
I smiled at her, grateful to see that she was trying to cheer me up but too far gone to care. "That makes two today."
"Stop that," she whispered, taking a step toward me. She pulled me toward her, resting my head on her shoulder and running her fingers through my hair. Oddly it felt right to be held like that, comforting. "Marik made the mistake to take on Bakura by himself. Atem even said his death was caused by his own hand; you can't blame yourself."
I pulled away, turning so I didn't look at her. "Oh, can't I?"
"No, you can't." She cupped my chin with her hand and jerked my head back so I was staring straight into her blazing eyes. "Blaming yourself won't do a damn thing and I refuse to stand by and let you continue doing it!"
I smiled at her sadly, shaking my head so her hand fell. "Sorry, Lex, but there isn't anything you can do that will stop me from blaming myself."
She pinched me.
"Ow!" I grabbed my elbow, which was turning red, and turned to look at her in surprise. "What was that for?"
"For being an idiot." She pinched me again, higher on my arm.
"Ow!" I swatted her hand. "Stop that!"
"Then stop blaming yourself!"
"Wait. Are you going to pinch me every time you think I'm blaming myself?"
"If I have to, yes."
I blinked and looked at her in surprise. She raised her hand. "Do I need to pinch you again?"
"No," I said, shaking my head. After a moment I sighed. "Let's go; we're going to be late as it is." I took her hand and began leading her back to Yugi's.
"Jaden," she said softly a moment later, her opposite hand curling around my elbow.
"Hm?" I looked down at her, staring at the top of her head.
"You're worried, about everyone else, right?"
I pursed my lips and looked ahead, stopping at the corner when the light flashed red. "Yes, of course I am."
"So why aren't you worried about yourself?"
I squeezed her hand, kissing the top of her head. "Silly, of course I'm worried about myself, too."
She simply scowled at me. "Not as much as you are the others."
I sighed. "True, but I know I can handle anything the Skulls try." At least I hope I can.
"You don't think the others can?" She raised an eyebrow at me.
"I think they can but after Axel, Chris, Emmy, Marik, and now Greiger, I'm not so sure anymore."
"Yet you trust they can but worry all the same?"
"Yes, but I know they trust me and worry the same, if not more, about me." I looked at her. "Isn't that right?"
She shrugged and looked back across the street. "I suppose so."
I chuckled and led her across the street; I could see Yugi's mansion off in the distance. "The thing is I'd worry no matter what was going on; I worried about them back at Duel Academy and I'll probably worry about them up until the day I die." Which hopefully won't be for another fifty years or so.
"And they did the same."
"Not all of them, but from now on, yes, they probably will." I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair.
"Hey," Jesse said, jogging up to us. He looked only slightly surprised at seeing Alexis on my arm. "Did you hear about what happened to Greiger?"
"You mean that he's dead?" I asked, heading back toward Yugi's; he quickly began to follow on my right. "Yeah, Yusei was over the walkie-talkie."
Jesse shook his head. "No, about how Kalin killed him."
I looked at him confused. "What do you mean?"
Jesse looked at me. "Kalin killed Greiger right in front of Yusei."
Alexis' hand tightened around mine as I stared at Jesse wide eyed. "He did what now?" I stammered.
Jesse placed his hand on my shoulder, squeezing it tightly. "Yeah, I heard Yusei telling Jack and Crow of the talkie." He raised an eyebrow at me. "Why didn't you hear them?"
I shook my head, shrugging off his hand. "Why does that matter?"
He sighed. "Good point." He jerked his thumb toward Yugi's house. "Let's get going; Yusei can explain it better than I did."
I frowned but followed him, not sure I really wanted to hear a better explanation.
xXx
"I just couldn't stop it," Yusei whispered, placing his face in his hands. Akiza sat next to him, trying to take a hand from his face.
"But it isn't your fault," she said. He shook his head.
"Doesn't matter. I was there, I could have prevented it." He sounded so defeated.
"You couldn't have stopped it, Yusei," Atem said. He sighed and ran his fingers through his tri-colored hair. "Kalin was there for one reason and one reason only." He looked at Yusei, who had finally pried his hands away from his face. "And killing you wasn't it."
Jack slammed his fist against the wall, eyes like daggers on Atem. "Are you saying that bastard Kalin was only there to kill Greiger!"
Kaiba leveled Jack with a cool gaze. "That's exactly what we're saying."
"Why the hell would he want to do that!?" Crow demanded, jumping from his place on the couch.
Kaiba shrugged while Atem's eyes narrowed in thought. "I would assume it's the same reason Bakura killed Marik." He looked at Crow. "To get to us."
"To get to us!" Jack yelled.
"Oh, they got to us all right," Crow muttered, eyes blazing.
"Get those thoughts out of your heads you two dunderheads!" Akiza snapped, chucking a pillow at Jack's face. "There's more at stake here than the two of you seem to comprehend! Don't be idiots for once in your lives!"
"Don't get so high and mighty, Princess!" Jack snarled, turning to face her with a dark look in his eyes. "Just because you're banging the leader of the Signers doesn't mean you get to tell us what to do!" He pointed at her. "You have as much power as Crow does!"
Akiza snarled at him, and probably would have attacked him if Yusei wasn't clutching her hands the way he was. "Stop," he whispered. He looked up at Jack. "Sit down, Jack. We can't be fighting like this. Greiger was just killed and the two of you are getting ready to rip out each other's throats and I won't stand for it!" His cobalt eyes turned instantly to ice, causing Jack to snap his mouth shut and fall back into his seat.
"Yuse, what do we do?" Crow asked, looking at him.
Yusei shook his head, dropping his head against the back of the couch. "I don't know; I just don't know."
"Maybe we could help," Blair murmured.
Jack pounded his fist against the arm of his chair. "Not this shit again!"
She glared at him.
"Blair, we've been through this a dozen times! You guys can't help!" Jesse said, exasperated.
"You guys aren't giving us the chance to!" she objected.
"We're trying to protect you!" Jim snapped. Everyone started arguing then, loudly. Their voices melted together, becoming a loud noise all together. Then everyone fell silent for a moment, or maybe it was because I just tuned them out. I couldn't hear anything beyond the buzzing sound in my ears. I squeezed my eyes shut and pressed my fingers against my temples, rubbing them in a circular pattern, trying to ease the searing headache forming between my eyes.
"Jaden?" Alexis whispered, hand on my arm. She sounded far away. "Are you okay?"
I nodded, causing lightning to flash across my eyes as pain speared my brain.
"Jaden? Jaden!" She sounded alarmed and it took me a moment to figure out why. My legs buckled beneath me and I fell to the ground. Somehow I managed to catch myself, falling only to my knees while one hand clutched my forehead. Still, even though the buzzing grew louder and more painful, I could still hear everyone arguing, as if they didn't see me fall or hear Alexis scream.
I lost it.
"Shut up!" I screamed, jumping to my feet and kicking over the coffee table in the middle of the room, the glass top shattering into a million pieces. For once, everyone listened to me. I couldn't see and hearing was difficult but I wasn't going to let this go on any longer.
"That's enough! Everyone shut up for once and listen to me!" As I yelled, my vision slowly cleared. "Five of us are dead! DEAD! None of you seem to understand that!"
Jack snorted, "Don't be ridiculous, Ja-"
I threw a large shard of glass at him, slicing across his cheek. Blood trickled from the wound and down his chin. "I said shut up!"
His eyes grew wide and he smartly snapped his mouth shut.
"I am sick of the arguing!" I turned my head sharply, glaring at Blair. "And tired of the whining! We're going to do this damn thing my way and I don't give a damn if you like it or not! This arguing and this whining ends now!" I stamped my foot on the ground, snapping a piece of the already mutilated coffee table in half. I glared heatedly at the front of the room, not really looking at anyone. "If you want a God-damned dictator, fine! I'll be the dictator!"
I saw, out of the corner of my eye, Yusei and Atem sharing a secret smile, which I ignored. Everyone else was silent for a moment before Jesse cleared his throat, stepping forward. I glared at him, waiting for an argument.
"All right, Mr. Dictator." He smiled at me. "What's your plan?"
xXx
Narrative POV
The room was near completely dark, the only light coming from a naked blub swaying above a metal table. There was a phone resting in the middle of the table, two figures sitting at either end. One was Kalin, the other Bakura. Surrounding them were the rest of the Skulls, all cloaked in darkness. All were silent until the light in the phone began to blink red. Kalin and Bakura looked at each other. Bakura reached out and pressed a button on the phone, pulling the handset out of the cradle.
"Everyone is present and accounted for," Bakura said.
"Except for Sartorius," Kalin corrected.
"Good," a voice said from the phone. "Sartorius was expendable. He served his general purpose: to strike fear into the Bloods."
"Kalin and I have achieved our appointed missions," Bakura reported.
"Excellent; I knew you two were the right ones to select for these very important tasks."
Both Kalin and Bakura beamed slightly at the praise.
"Now the Bloods, Pyramids, and Signers are rattled. They're fighting amongst themselves but I'm not sure how long this will last."
"What do you mean?" Kalin asked.
"Jaden Yuki is taking dominance and everyone is following his lead. This inner confliction will be gone by nightfall. Tomorrow they will be out with a new plan, one created by Yuki."
"Should we be wary of this plan?" Bakura asked.
"Yes; he may seem dimwitted but when it comes to this life, the life of leading a gang, no one is smarter than him." The voice sighed. "But it matters not. Everything is going according to plan. I recruited each of you because you have a unique vendetta against the Bloods, some of you even have some against the Pyramids and Signers. I want you to harness all of you anger and rage and aim that toward your individual targets."
"Yes sir," everyone said loudly, snapping to attention.
"Good. And remember one thing: Jaden Yuki is mine. If any of you kill him, I will kill you slowly and much more painfully than anyone else would." There was a buzz of silence, everyone tense at the threat they knew their leader would carry out. "Dismissed."
xXx
Dun dun dunn! :)
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-x-Anime-Queen-2011-x-
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