Wow, I am a shitty person. I'm so sorry that I haven't updated in forever. I've been really stressed out with school and I kept getting stuck with this. It's really short this time guys because I just can't think of what else to put in here. I need to get the plot moving, so I kinda did. Not too much but I did. I'm not very good at planning my chapters out. I'm trying, I really am. I'll try and make sure the next chapter is longer and gets further into the plot. I'm really sorry. But thankfully Summer is almost here so I can waste my summer on writing fanfiction. Seriously, just writing fanfiction the whole Summer sounds amazing.

Anyway, I'm rambling. I apologize for the short chapter and the crazy late update. I'll try and get the next chapter out within the next month. Finals and projects are coming up so I need to focus on that for now.

Please remember to review when you're done. If you feel that I deserve it anyway.

Thank you!

Chained to the Earth

Chapter 9

Weary and Dreary

"What are we supposed to do? We don't even know where this castle is?" Aster complained, his arms crossed over chest as he looked around at his friends at the table.

After leaving the castle, everyone returned to the secret base at the border. It wasn't much of a secret now, thanks to the palace guards finding it, but it was still secret to the people, and it was the only place they could go to talk.

"That's why we need to figure out where it is, do some research." Alexis replied.

That was easier said than done. The Fallen have not been seen for thousands of years, not to mention no one in either side wants to talk to any one of them about anything. It was up to them to find out what they need to know. They could not rely on Yugi too much. He has other things to worry about.

"How are we supposed to do that? It's not like there's a section in the local library about The Fallen. Where are we supposed to look?" Chazz asked.

"We need to look deep into the history books, journals and anything else we get our hands on." Alexis said.

"That's easier said than done." Zane muttered.

"But still possible." Alexis said with a grin. She stood up from the table and spammed her hands down on the wooden table. Everyone turned to face her. "We have to do this. For Yugi and his majesty Ryou. They're counting on us. So we have to do our best to get any information we can."

"Yeah, but how do we get it? We aren't exactly the town's favorite people!" Aster questioned.

"We'll have to do what we can. Remember, this isn't just for Ryou, we're doing this for Jaden and Jesse too, and their brothers." Rei said.

"So, if we're doing this," Chazz spoke up. "When do we start?"

It was dark out now, almost pitch black. Curfew has long since passed. If they hung around much longer, someone would grow suspicious and come looking for them. They didn't have many options here. They could only do what was best.

"We have to start now. While its dark. We can get around better in the darkness." Zane said.

"That may be. For you guys. But we," Aster said pointing to the others angels. "can't see as well in the dark. Not to mention our clothes kinda stand out."

"Then we'll start the search. You can go home and get some rest. Don't mention the plan to anyone." Zane replied.

"I'm not just going to sit around and let you do all the work." Aster shouted.

"You can and you will. It's only until morning, when curfew has lifted and you being up and around isn't a damn problem." Zane shouted back.

"That's enough." Alexis interjected. She got between Aster and Zane and glared at them both. "This is not the time. We need to be quiet and we need to be cooperative. This is serious. Jaden and Jesse, and everyone else need us to do this. We have to get as much information as we can so we can save King Ryou. So, knock it off."

Everyone remained silent. Alexis looked around at her friends and saw for the first time the intensity and the tense atmosphere. She could see now that her friends were scared. They did not show it right away, but she could sense it. She has been leading them into this fight, its dangerous and she knew that. And yet she never asked them for their opinion on it. Voluntarily offering their assistance to Yugi, creating the plan on her own. She never asked for their input.

She was working solely on her own feelings and motives. She never asked her friends what they wanted.

"Look," She sighed. "I'm sorry that I'm dragging you all into something dangerous. But its the only way we can get Jaden and Jesse back. We have to do this. We need to allow Yugi to be able to concentrate on finding them. Not to mention we have to find King Ryou before word gets out to the Dark Realm. Bakura will take this to his advantage and further his attack on our Realm. We can't let him do that. We all want peace, right? So, we have to stay strong and we have to do what we can."

The silence reigned on, and it wasn't until Chazz stood up from the table and walked over to Alexis.

"Don't worry, we got your back. We all want to find those dorks. And we all want our realms to remain separate." He spoke with a calm tone. "But what you're asking us to do is dangerous. We can't just simply accept it. We're also demons. Your king is not our problem." Alexis wanted to retort but Chazz continued before she could. "However, we will help you get him back. Ryou is a good king to your people. He is also my king's kin. I know family is important to most people. So, to have Ryou returned safe and sound, then I'll help you. Don't worry. You can count on me, Lexi."

Alexis smiled at her friend. "Thank you, Chazz. I'm glad I have your support." She turned to the others. "How about you guys? Are you in?"

Moments passed before Alexis received a reply.

"We should follow Alexis' plans." Rei said. She stood up as well. "We can only do so much right now and we can't afford for the war to advance or get any worse. Not to mention Jaden is still out there. We have to get him back. But that means we need to get Ryou back first. That's our main objective here. To save the king of this realm from the king of another."

Aster nodded. "I get it. We need to do this and we need to do it now. There's not time for negotiation. If you we're going to start we need to go and start. Which means, you three," Referring to Zane, Rei and Chazz. "Need to get going. We'll all meet up again in the morning. Until then, we have to get moving. We'll get suspected before long."

"Then we need to get going." Zane proposed. He picked up his little brother and laid him in his arms, he turned to the rest of the group. "I'm going to bring my little brother home and then meet with the rest of you in a little while. I shouldn't be long."

"Just get to the library when you can. And make sure Syrus is alright before go. He used a lot of energy earlier." Rei said.

"Right." Zane muttered.

Alexis and Aster watched with great sadness as their friends left their hideout into the darkness of the world around them. It was their time to search for answers while they could do nothing. All they could do was hope that they find something that would help them understand their new foe.

Until then. All they could do was wait.

It was morning and it was a whole night wasted. Being side tracked by Masao and his little sister really bit them in the ass for time. It was hours of on foot travel that could be separating them now, and the thought alone pissed off Jehu to no end. He was close to finding his brother, but he let himself give in to the guilt of letting a girl die. Even though the girl was killed by his hand any way.

He didn't get any sleep. He just sat by Haou the entire time and stared up at the stars, the scene playing out in his head of the girl in her final moments, feeling her heart beat in the air around him.

He watched that girl slip away. He too watched as the life was drained from her body and she was whisked away into the night. She never uttered a sound, she remained quiet throughout the whole ordeal. She didn't feel any pain, she didn't struggle. She just stopped breathing.

The spell he used was a medical spell, an old one that was created thousands of years ago. It was developed during the beginning of the war, to help the wounded that could not be saved die a peaceful death, one without struggle or pain. He had killed that girl. And what was worse is that he dragged Haou into it. Even though he volunteered his power, he helped to kill her. He didn't know what the spell was, so he wouldn't have known. Needless to say, Jehu did not know the spell would kill her either.

He didn't know until a few hours later when he looked into his spell book, searching desperately for answers for what happened. Even after finding the answers, he couldn't stop thinking about it. The guilt was too much and it kept him awake throughout the night. Haou had no problem getting to sleep though. He didn't know that the spell was used for killing people. If he were to find out...Jehu shook his head. He didn't even want to know what that guy would do to him.

'You're a fool.' Jehu thought to himself. He stood up from against the trunk of the tree. He placed his hands on his head, gripping locks of his teal hair tightly. He growled to himself. 'You killed that girl! It's your fault she's dead!'

"No." Jehu hissed softly. He glared at his feet and crouched down, his hands still in his hair he gripped even tighter. "That's not true."

But he didn't even believe himself. The words rang untrue in his mind.

While Jehu had a mental breakdown, Haou began to wake up from his slumber. He heard Jehu's rambling in his sleep and he was not very happy. Waking up Haou while he slept was never a good idea. Jaden even knew not to do it unless it was important.

Opening his eyes he looked around. When he saw Jehu, crouched down a few feet away, hands on his head and muttering to himself, he knew it was nothing good.

Getting up from the tree, he walked over to the demon in question. "What the hell are you freaking out about?"

Jehu growled just hearing Haou's voice. "Back off would you! I'm trying to calm myself down."

Haou raised an eyebrow. "Ok. I'll rephrase the question." Haou knelt down at Jehu's side. "What's wrong?"

Jehu gave Haou a side glance. "Why do you care?"

"Are you still on that?" Haou asked. He still hated the guy, but he didn't want to see him having a mental breakdown. He had a heart. "Dammit, I just want to help you."

Jehu stood up and started walking back to the tree. "It's nothing."

"I know you're lying." Haou said. He stood up and turned to face Jehu who was still ignoring him. "Something's bothering you."

"It's none of your business."

"I beg to differ. You were fine until last night. So what's up?"

"Just drop it." Jehu mumbled.

Haou walked over to Jehu. "Why are you keeping yourself so closed off?" Haou grabbed Jehu by the collar of his shirt and pulled him to his feet. "Is it because I'm an angel? It is because of this goddamn war? Well, news flash buddy, you need to get over it. We're in this together, so we're going to have to communicate if we want to see our brothers again."

Jehu clenched his fists at his sides. "Not everything is about you." Haou saw Jehu's anger, watched as it escalated but never pulled away from him. "My anger has nothing to with you being an angel. It has nothing to do with the war."

"Well then, what is it?" Haou asked.

Jehu said nothing. He didn't feel that he needed to. His business was his own. And yet...he wanted to tell Haou everything. He wanted to get this off his chest. But his problem concerned Haou as well. To drag him into this would cause even more problems. They could not afford unnecessary tension.

"Hey," Haou said softly. He bonked Jehu on the head. Jehu was shocked by that action and just simply stared at Haou, a bit freaked out.

"What the hell was that?" Jehu cried out.

Haou ignore him. "Talk to me. Keeping stuff inside will only make it worse."

Jehu grabbed Haou's hand that was still clenched around his shirt and removed it from himself. He looked into Haou's eyes.

"If you want to know so badly, fine." Jehu directed his eyes to his clenched fist. "It's about the girl."

"Masao's sister?"

"Yes."

Jehu reluctantly pulled out the spell book from his vest pocket, and began to looked through the pages for the spell that was used. Haou waited for Jehu to find whatever it is that he was looking for. When Jehu showed Haou the spell that they had used, Haou took the book from Jehu and began to look it over.

Every second that passed of Haou reading over the spell, Jehu could see the anger in Haou's eyes growing.

"This spell…" Haou hissed. He clenched his fingers into the cover of the book, the spine beginning to bend. "It was designed to kill people." He closed the book, turned around and took a few steps back. "You used a spell that would deliberately kill that girl."

"I didn't know." Jehu replied.

"You didn't know." Haou said. "And that makes it any better."

"It doesn't. But, dammit I was desperate." Jehu hissed. He stepped up closer to Haou. "And what about you, Mr. Innocent? You joined in. You helped kill her."

"I had no idea that the spell would kill her." Haou shouted.

"Yeah, well. Neither did I? So, you can shut the fuck up because we both fucked up." Jehu shouted back.

"What do you mean we? You're the one who said that the spell would make her feel better. You lied to me!"

"I didn't lie. It's what I thought at the time!"

Haou began to pace back and forth. He didn't know what to think, let alone what to do. Jehu didn't know the spell was meant for death at the time. Okay. But what does that mean now? They still killed that girl. She's dead because of their actions. She could have gotten better. She could have lived on and done something amazing. But they stopped that from happening, all for the sake of a little boy's hope. Not only was that hope destroyed, but his life has changed now. He no longer has a sister to grow up with it.

"What do you plan to do with this information? Are we just going to move on and forget this happened?" Haou asked.

He didn't want to leave this where it stood. It goes against his moral. He wanted to know that Jehu felt the same; that he wasn't completely subjected to cruelness.

"I don't want to toss away this experience like it doesn't matter. That's the last thing I want to do." Jehu started. He sighed. "But, we have no real choice here. We have to find our brothers. And we have to get out of here. We don't belong here."

"So, that's it then?" Haou groaned.

"Unfortunately yes." Jehu replied.

Haou stayed silent. He ran his fingers through his hair. He didn't know what to do. This was so much more complicated than they expected. None of this was supposed to happen.

"Alright. Let's just get back to finding the boys. We were close before." Haou said.

"Right." Jehu said.

Breakfast at the diner was a bust. Amane learned this early in when she asked for a table for 3 and they looked at her like she was a mad woman. However, they gave her a larger table anyway, not wanting to upset their favorite regular. The waitresses did not see Jaden or Jesse either. She had to order three times what she usually ate in order to have enough to give to the boys. Jesse was disappointed that her plan was unsuccessful, but was glad that she was trying. Jaden however, did not care much how it turned out because he was able to eat. He was just grateful they could touch things in this dimension.

However, this did not stop Amane from trying her second phase of the plan. A new look. The clothes that Jaden and Jesse arrived in were tattered and stand out, even if they can't be seen by others. It was odd and they needed a new look if they were to one day be seen by the mortal eye. Amane wanted to be ahead of the universe and change their look now before the time came.

So, here they were. In the middle of the mall at ten in the morning. The crowd right now was small but it would quickly get busier as the day went on. Amane only had an hour to shop before she had to get home and get ready for her next shift. So they had to shop fast.

"Alright, where do you guys want to go?" Amane asked.

"How should we know? We've never been here?" Jaden complained.

"Oh yeah." Amane pouted. She began to look around until she saw a directory a few feet away. Making her way over, she stopped to look through the floor plans of the mall and where everything was located. When she saw a boy clothing store, she knew just where to go. "We're going to go here."

Jesse went to look at what she was referring to but Amane was already pulling them away and towards the elevators.

"Whoa, slow down." Jaden yelled as he was being pulled.

"No time. We need to get moving." Amane replied.

On the elevators, Jaden and Jesse took a second to catch their breaths, while Amane stood in the elevator, bouncing on the balls of her feet. Her excitement was peaking. Getting off on the third floor, Amane led the boys to a trendy store that sold great clothes for boys their age (supposedly, she never asked their ages) and they would also suit their personalities.

"Alright boys, let's start shopping. You can have anything, but keep the prices reasonable." Amane said.

Jesse walked in first and looked around, his eyes examining everything that store had to offer. He knew that this was going to be challenging. He was used to wearing all black, but from what he's seen in this dimension, people can wear an arrange of colors all at once.

Jaden, however, was curious to try new clothing. Wearing all white was becoming repetitive. He wanted to explore new colors. His favorite color of clothing at the moment was red. He wanted to wear red.

Splitting up, the two began to look for new clothing. Amane watched as the boys looked through the racks at all different styles of clothing. Amane decided to help Jaden first. She knew that Jesse would have no problem figuring things out on his own. She was worried more for Jaden, that he would pick something completely obscure.

Standing at the racks by Jaden, Amane looked around as well for something that would fit Jaden's personality. Something that would work for him.

"What do you think about this?" Jaden asked. He held up a T-Shirt that says "Have Fun Ask Questions Later" and Amane couldn't help but giggle. It looked like something Jaden would wear.

"I love it. You should get that one." Amane said.

Jaden nodded and kept looking for other things to go along with it. Amane helped him and eventually they found a pair of skinny jeans and regular pants, as well as a white jacket to keep the white of his usually look going.

Over with Jesse, he kept the black as part of his new look, but it was not as overpowering as before. It also wasn't as intimidating either. He chose a long black jacket and a long sleeved white button up shirt with frills on the sleeves. And black pants. It was simple but it worked for Jesse.

It was perfect timing because it was almost eleven o clock. Amane quickly paid for the clothes and they left the store.

"That was fun, wasn't it?" Amane asked excitedly.

"I guess. I mean, all we did was pick out something new to wear. And it was only one outfit." Jaden said.

"Well, its better than wearing what you have now." Amane pouted.

"Are you saying that our clothes are ugly?" Jaden complained.

"I'm not saying that at all."

"I think you implied it."

"I did not."

"Come on y'all, this ain't funny. We gotta get back so that we can start investigatin'."

"Jesse's right." Jaden said. He looked to Amane and smiled. "I appreciate that you did all this for us, but we really should get back so we can start figuring out a way to get home."

Amane smiled. "I understand. Getting home is your main priority. I shouldn't be trying to change you and make you fit in. You don't belong here." She put her arms around both of the boys shoulders and held them close as they walked. "I guess I'm getting a bit too attached to you two."

Jaden put his arm around Amane, smiling. "I like you, too. You're pretty cool."

As they were leaving, a man at the food court. He was in his late twenties, he had jet black hair that was neatly trimmed, and blue eyes, coffee in hand as he sat at one of the many tables. He noticed Amane walking by. He watched her as she left the mall, smiling and giggling in glee. However, that's wasn't all he saw.

He saw Jaden and Jesse as well.

Reaching into his suit jacket pocket, he pulled out his cell phone. Flipping it open, he pressed the phone to his ear and waited for an answer on the other end.

"Hey, it's me. You're going to want to hear this."