I'M THE WORST AUTHORESS IN THE WORLD. Cuz you know...life gets in the way of getting shit done. I was so upset about this. The plot is finally kicking in and I had like no time to write and now I'm writing every night (when homework isn't killer) and i FINALLY GOT THIS PIECE OF SHIT DONE! So, yes. That's why its super long. I've been gone 4 months might as well make it long. We're getting to more plot but not as much as I had hoped. We'll be getting into A LOT MORE PLOT next chapter. Like, holy shit every section has something important kind of chapter. So, again. Very sorry. I'm a senior in high school now. I have to worry about getting into college so my grades come first. (Sadly). Now, enough with my rambling. Onward with the chapter!

Chained to the Earth

Chapter 10

Now with Amane out of the house and heading to work, Jaden and Jesse can begin their search for a way back to their world. According to Jesse, it has been approximately twenty one Earth hours since they arrived. However, they were not sure how much time has passed in their world. It could have been days or even weeks. They were unsure of the time difference between Earth and The Realms.

Despite that, Jaden and Jesse were more than ready to start researching a way to get back. Both missed their friends and family dearly, and wanted to see them again.

The two decided that their best chances of figuring things out was to do a few tests. Knowing what they can and can't do will help them greatly.

"Alright Jay, you know what to do." Jesse said.

Jaden nodded his head and closed his eyes. He focused all of his energy together and hoped that it would work. So far, he has been unable to use his magic at all. Last he tried was early this morning, and he only felt a spark. Their situation would get nowhere if they could not use their magic.

When he opened his eyes again, his usual chocolate eyes were bright golden yellow. Jesse noticed this and grinned. He said, "You're doin' great, Jay. Keep it up!"

Jaden accepted his friend's encouragement and continued to harness his power. He held a hand towards the trees. A bright white aura engulfed his hand and his body was surrounded by a band of wind at his feet. With all of his energy being used at once, Jaden managed to set one of his armour gloves onto his right hand. It was dark black plated armour. It was light and durable despite its heavy appearance.

Jesse walked closer to his friend and examined the results. "How do you feel?" He said as he took a closer look at Jaden's armour glove.

Jaden shook his head. "Not too great. I'm completely drained just from this."

Jesse let Jaden's hand go and documented the results on a notepad he took from Amane's. "If that's the case, you'll have to rest for a bit. There's still plenty of daylight left to try anything else magic wise."

Putting his armour away, Jaden listened to Jesse and took a break. He walked over to the tree and sat down to rest. As he did, he couldn't help but remember a time when his magic was still weak. When he would train countless hours with his brother, day in and day out. The scars and the bruises he received during those sessions shows his dedication to the art of magic. And yet, now on Earth, his magic was completely devastated, he has been weakened to the point of beginner status. Like when he was a child.

And watching Jesse, how calm and collected he was, Jaden began to feel envious. There was no telling just how well Jesse will be able to use his magic. If it was as efficient as Jaden assumed it would be, then Jesse would be their greatest hope of getting back home.

So, as Jesse stood in the clearing, his fingers rubbing the metal of his rings, Jaden waited to see just what would occur.

"Alright; come on out, Ruby." Jesse said.

A bright red aura shined from the ring on Jesse's pinkie finger. Before long, a short line of aura puddled at Jesse's feet and began to take form. It took the form of a purple fox like creature with long purple tail set with a red orb on the end of it and four long floppy ears. Bright ruby colored eyes looked up into its master's light green ones and smiled. Ruby nuzzled her head into Jesse's leg and Jesse just laughed at the sight.

"How you been, Ruby? It feels like ages since I last seen you." Jesse commented, scratching behind her ear. Ruby purred at the action and leaned her head closer.

"So, you can summon your beasts then?" Jaden asked.

"Looks like it." Jesse replied.

"Then that means so far we have a glove and gem beasts at our disposal. It's not very helpful, don't you think?" Jaden complained.

"Not necessarily." Jesse sat down beside Jaden. Ruby curled up on Jaden's lap. "We can use minimal magic at the moment. That could change as we become more acquainted with Earth. There's still a chance we can get back home."

"How do you think we can?" Jaden asked.

"Well first we need to run more tests before we can even come up with a plan." Jesse reminds Jaden. "Once we know our limitations we can go from there."

"I guess..." Jaden mumbled.

Jesse ruffles Jaden's hair and smiles. "Come on Jay, lighten up. Where's your usual charisma?"

Jaden smiles and pushes Jesse away. "Quit messing around. This is serious." Jaden laughed. "We need to get back to it."

Jesse agreed wholeheartedly. "Then let's get to it." He stood up from his place on the ground and cracked his knuckles. "Alright, Ruby. Let's see whatcha got."

Ruby stood beside her master and waited for his order. Jesse looked around for an easy target. "Think you can aim for that tree over there?"

Ruby nods and lifts her tail into the air, the ruby orb shines bright. Magically energy charging up, she took aim towards one of the trees about 20 feet away. Jesse stood back and watched, amazed that his gem beast could gather this much power on Earth.

"Take 'em out." Jesse ordered.

Ruby fired her ruby orb off towards the tree. The magical ball of energy travelled fast, at almost 50 miles an hour. It reached the tree before Jesse could even take a breath. It became completely obliterated, the trunk of the tree split in two and the leaves smoking slightly from the heat. Ruby jumped into Jesse's arms and nuzzled her head in his chest. "Ruby Ruby" she squeaked happily. Jesse pet her head in reward.

"Great job, Ruby."

Back at the trunk of the tree, Jaden felt the earlier jealously returning. Watching Jesse and Ruby perform such a powerful attack with ease, he questioned whether or not this world was affecting their magic at all, but rather if he was just too weak to fight off this new world's barriers of magic. Jesse was showing signs that he was able to use his power just fine, and yet he could only summon one gauntlet glove. And the glove isn't even temporary. He can't use it yet. It wears him out.

Looking down at his hand, he couldn't help but wonder if he would only be a burden on Jesse. That with his weak magical power, they would never make it back home. Getting to Earth, accidental or not required large amounts of great magical power. But the way he is now he can't craft that much.

Closing his fist tight enough that he could feel his nails dig into the palms of his hand, he tried again to forge his magic. The bright white aura returned gradually, along with the gauntlet glove. The cold black armor felt cold against his skin.

Still to this day, he never understood why he had black armour as a magical weapon. It seemed like more of a demon weapon. The yellow eyes scared him at first as well. They reminded him of Haou. But he wasn't like Haou. Haou was so much stronger than him. He worked hard and he even has the rare Light Weapon ability. It was amazing to see when it was first discovered. Jaden strived to become that powerful one day, but life got in the way. The war made him become weary of becoming strong. He knew that one day he could be chosen to fight against the Demons, something he prayed every night would never happen. If that were to happen, all of his friends on the Demon side would become his enemy. He didn't want that.

But right now the war didn't matter. While on Earth there was no war. There was no Angels vs Demons. There was only life and death. But there was also freedom and fun. That was the kind of world that he dreamed the Realms would have one day. No more war. No more blood.

"You okay, Jay?" Jesse asked. He walked over to his friend who had been staring at his own fist for the past few moments. Jaden stood up from the ground and looked at his friend.

"We're going to get back home. And when we do things are going to be different." Jaden says in a serious tone.

Jesse wasn't sure what had come over Jaden but agreed with him nonetheless. "I hope so."

Jaden placed a hand over his face, the hand that was covered in the black armour mail. He concentrated his power once again to build more pieces of his armour. A helmet formed around Jaden's messy hair, containing it in it's metal walls. He lowered his hand and looked over towards Jesse. Jesse has never seen him in full armour. Only with the gauntlets and leg braces. But never full armour.

Jaden refuses to ever go full armour.

"Is that helmet heavy?" Jesse asked.

Jaden touched the helmet with his free hand and moved his head a bit. "A little but not really."

"Well that's good." Jesse commented. He touched the helmet himself and even knocked on it. "It's durable, that's for sure."

"Yeah. Whenever someone tries to attack me where my armour is I can't feel a thing." Jaden replies.

Jesse steps back and looks at Jaden. Wearing only a single glove and a helmet he looks rather silly. "How come you don't wear the full armour? Wearin' bits and pieces of it won't do you much good in battle."

Jaden's eyes darken and he looks away. He closes his eyes and clenches his fists. "I can't. I'll never wear the full armour."

Jesse became worried at Jaden's sudden dark mood change. "Why not? What happens when you wear the whole thing?"

Jaden stayed silent for a moment. He didn't want to think about it. It happened once. He got excited and things went bad. He doesn't want it to happen again. He pulled the helmet cover over his face and replied, "You don't want to know" and walked away. Jesse could tell that what Jaden was keeping from him was personal. He didn't want to bring it up anymore if it would make Jaden uncomfortable.

But he couldn't help but be curious about it. What was Jaden hiding about that armour?

After hours of long searching throughout the library, the group found nothing useful about the Fallen. Every history book they've come across spoke nothing of them at all. And if they did it was brief with information that they already knew because of Yugi. There was no information about The Fallen at all in this library.

"Find anything yet?" Chazz asked from across the room.

"Nothing yet." Blair replied. She tossed another failed attempt book aside and collapsed onto her back. She was utterly exhausted. "This is hopeless. The Fallen have obviously erased themselves from history. We're not going to find anything here."

Zane lifted his head and looked in Blair's direction. "Wait. Blair, what did you say?"

Blair sighed. "I said they've probably erased themselves from history. They obviously don't want us to find them. So, that has to be the reason why we can't find a single trace of 'em."

Standing up from the piles of books, Zane crossed the room to Blair and stood over her. She opened her eyes and saw him standing over her and blushed. "Blair, you're a genius."

Sitting up, she scratched her cheek and giggled. "Well, I wouldn't say that."

"You are." Zane argued. He took her shoulders in his hands and shook her gently. "We can't find any trace of them because there is no trace left to track. They've completely rid themselves of an existence in the history books. That's why no one knows about them. It makes sense now."

Blair removed Zane's hands from her shoulders and smiled. "Well at least we figured that out. But how does that help us? We can't get any intel on them now."

"That's not completely true." Chazz interrupted. He stepped up and began to think to himself. "If they aren't in the history books that may just mean that they erased their existence in literature. There's still a possibility that someone knows of the Fallen."

"That could be true." Zane agreed eagerly. "We can't give up hope just yet. Someone out there has to know something."

The sun began to peek in through the library windows. Dawn was coming and the library would soon be open to the public. They had to get out fast before the librarian showed up. No one could know they were here. They had to act fast.

"Come on. We'll go my house. We're safe there." Zane said.

"Wait, why your house?" Chazz asked.

"Because, you idiot." Zane hissed. "In my home lives a demon and an angel. Them being myself and Syrus. The people in my area are used to an Angel being around them and won't question if they feel angel power nearby. That way we can sneak the others in and discuss what we've learned so far."

Blair cut in next. "Can't we just talk with them telepathically. It would be much faster."

"Trust me. I'd rather not have Aster's voice in my head." Zane complained.

Blair and Chazz both agreed on that and they quickly escaped through the window of the library. From rooftop to rooftop they fled toward the Truesdale home.

Making it home, Zane open the door and let Chazz and Blair inside. Chazz has been here before but Blair was immediately in awe at her surroundings. She walked around the living room gazing at every little thing from the pictures on the walls to the coasters on the table.

"Wow, Zane. You're home is so beautiful." Blair gasped. She sat on the couch and her body sank in comfortably. "Can I move in?"

"No." Zane replied right away without a second's hesitation.

"Meanie." Blair muttered.

Zane ignored her and went upstairs to check on his brother. The house was quiet so he assumed that Syrus was still asleep. Walking up the stairs he listened closely for any noises that weren't from Chazz and Blair. When he got to the top, he made his way towards Syrus' room and stood outside. He lifted a closed hand to knock on his brother's door but decided against it. If he were still asleep he didn't want to wake him up. So, he opened the door on his own and slowly peeked his head in. When he did, he saw Syrus sitting by the window. He was in his pajamas and his glasses were on the side table. He was calm. His breathing was steady.

But something was still off about him.

"Syrus. How are you feeling?" Zane asked. Stepping inside, he shut the door behind him and leaned against it.

Syrus didn't answer right away, but rather he leaned back against the chair he sat in and looked up at the sky. "I don't understand."

Zane raised an eyebrow. "You don't understand what?"

"I don't understand anything." He turned his chair so that he was facing his big brother. "I don't understand my magic. I don't understand my strengths. I don't even understand my purpose yet."

Zane crossed his arms over his chest and took a deep breath. "Syrus, magic works in different ways. I can't answer all of your questions because I honestly don't understand your power either."

"I know that, Zane! But what I really need an answer to right now is: why am I not improving? I've been training since I was a young child and my skill level is still low! My magic doesn't get any stronger! How can I help Jaden if I'm still such a weak child?" Syrus exclaimed.

Wallowing in his own self pity, Syrus didn't see Zane come up to him. He didn't notice until he lifted his head and the hand came down across his cheek. The sound of the connection was loud. The stinging pain in his cheek was great. Syrus held his cheek, now burning from the slap he just received. He looked up at his big brother with shock and fear.

"You're a weak child because you choose to be. You're acting like a brat." Zane shouted angrily. "And the reason you can't improve is because you don't want to. I've seen you train. You do the same things over and over again. You never change. In order to improve you need to step out of your comfort zone and accept change. You have to give yourself a challenge."

"But Zane, I-"

"I already know what you're going to say. Save it!" Zane said, interrupting his brother. "I know you've been working hard, but doing the same shit over and over again won't get you anywhere. You need to let go of the child inside of you and make way for the adult you're about to become." He takes his brother's shoulders in his hands and looks him in the eye. "What you did for Yugi yesterday was one example of stepping out of the comfort zone. But that's not what you need to do in order to get stronger."

Syrus' shoulders loosened. "I don't understand. It was right but also wrong?"

"Exactly." Zane replied. "You showed confidence and tried something new. But what you did for Yugi was risky. You could have died. I don't want you doing something stupid like that to prove yourself. But you did show that you have potential. Use that as your inspiration. Get stronger!"

Syrus nodded to his brother and finally understood. "I get it, Zane. I'll do my best." He could hear voices from the living room and looked toward the door. "Is someone here with you?"

"Yeah. Chazz and Blair. The others should be here soon. We have new information on the Fallen." Zane said.

"The what?" Syrus asked.

"I'll fill you in when you come downstairs. So, hurry up and get dressed."

"Alright."

Zane moved away from his brother and then walked out of the room. The talk they just had was not what he expected to have happened. He only expected to check on him and see if he was up. But in a way, he was glad that they had that talk.

With everything that was going on, Syrus would have to get stronger anyway. With Bakura and his unknown plans, as well as the Fallen making their move, anything was possible. Everyone has to be alert and in top shape. Anything could happen at any time, so they had to be ready.

Yugi maneuvered through the halls of the palace. The guards watch his every move, not wanting to risk anything happening to him. The stares and the atmosphere were unsettling. He's never felt unsafe here before, but now, now he felt out of place. An uncrowned king walking the halls without his lover was like a choir with no songs to sing. It was unnatural.

As of right now, Yugi didn't feel he deserved to be here. Without Ryou, he was nothing. The tattoos on his finger showing their love was all he had. He had no crown, no official documentation of a wedding to signify he has authority to rule of the realm. He has nothing. And yet, here he was on his own.

"Ryou…" He whispered to himself. He stopped at the doors to the throne room and looked at the large doors. The last time he was here was when the crisis began. Since then, nothing has gone right and everything has gotten worse. Yugi wasn't sure if he could handle it on his own. But he had no choice. He pledged to keep this realm safe for Ryou, so that he can come home to a realm the way he left it.

Walking through those doors, Yugi was met with an empty room. Now looking at it, the room seemed much bigger than he last remembered. With no one else here with him it would feel that way.

By the thrones was a scroll, freshly wrapped and written. Yugi knew that this was the start of Kaiba's game. He had no choice but the follow in his words. If he didn't, he didn't want to imagine what would happen to Ryou. So, he took the scroll in his hands and untied the scroll and began to read it over. It said the following:

Yugi,

If you're reading this that means you're being a faithful dog and doing as I say. I applaud you. But your simple actions of following directions are nothing to be praised for. With your King in my hands it would be in your best interest to do as I say. So, I'll get straight to the point.

You are to stay inside the palace at all times. You aren't to speak a word of anything to anyone outside of these walls. If you do so, I will take the head of your king. I am not afraid to do so, so don't test me. While you are in these walls, your lab is off limits. If you step foot inside my intel will notify me immediately and the same actions will apply.

Do yourself a favor Yugi and just relax. Doing nothing is all I ask. So, take a break and lay low.

Yugi crushed the paper between this fingers and resisted the urge to scream. He hated this. To be ordered around. To do nothing was absolute torture. He couldn't do anything to find Ryou. He could only rely on his children now. They were his last hope.

"It's up to you now." He mutters softly to himself. He couldn't risk Kaiba's goons hearing him.

He rolled the scroll back up and exited the room. Kaiba's orders were simple. He was to do nothing. So, being in the throne room was pointless. No one was to come in, as no one was to come out. No one would come to see him. He could meet with no one. So, Yugi decided to head back to his chambers to get some rest. Perhaps a stop by the healer to get some sleeping herbs first would be best. Despite how tired he was, he knew that he would have a rough time trying to sleep on his own knowing that Ryou was being held against his will. He couldn't stand the thought.

And yet there wasn't a single thing he could do about it.

"Your highness." Crowler said with a bow as Yugi walked passed him.

"Good morning." Yugi replied. He stopped in his tracks and turned to face his advisor. "How are things holding up."

Crowler gave a nervous twitch of his fingers before replying. "Not so good. King Seto has completely overridden our forces. We're watched at every moment. It doesn't even feel like the realm of light anymore."

Yugi lowered his head and took a deep breath. "I understand. Please, keep an eye on things. I want updates as often as you can."

Crowler nodded and bowed a final time before allowing Yugi to continue on his way.

"Alright Amethyst, take a bite out of Jaden." Jesse ordered.

The pink feline got into position and launched herself in the air in Jaden's direction. Jaden took a step back, watching as she came right towards him. With her claws out, she scratched Jaden's face, but not too much to leave severe damage. Jaden stumbled back, holding his face in his hands. Thankfully there was no blood, but man did it sting!

"That hurt!" Jaden complained.

"It's supposed to!" Jesse retaliates. "How else am I supposed to know if her attacks are effective."

"You're just saying that because you wanted an excuse to attack me." Jaden shouted.

"Yeah, I did." Jesse agreed, laughing a bit.

Jaden rubbed his face and tried to take his mind off the stinging. "Well, we know your attacks work. So, now what? How does that help us get home?"

Jesse grabbed a stick from a nearby branch and began to diagram his plans into the the dirt. "Now see here, we were sent to this place by a collision of magical energy fused together. However that power became unstable, thus transporting us here. So, I figure the best way to get home is to do the same thing."

"You mean build up our power?" Jaden asked.

"Exactly!" Jesse replies. He draws an "X" in the ground representing himself and an "O" representing himself. "We'll launch high range attacks from a good distance away. And when we do, we'll meet each other halfway and quickly form a barrier around ourselves, just like last time."

"But there's no guarantee that we'll get home that way. How do we know doing the same thing again will bring us back to our realm?" Jaden asks.

"There is no real way of knowing. That's why we have to hope that everything will work out." Jesse replies.

"I guess so…" Jaden mutters.

A silence fell between the two. It was an uneasy silence. Both wanted to return home, but there were so many possible variables to consider that the actual task was difficult to plan out. But they had to do what they could. It was all they could do.

Jesse lifted his head and looked into the clearing of the trees. He couldn't see anything from where he was, but he felt something. He stood up slowly from off the ground and moved around Jaden to get a better look. Jaden watched him do this and began to feel nervous.

"What's going on, Jess?" Jaden asked worriedly. He stood up from the ground and moved next to his friend. "You sensing something?"

"Yeah." Jesse replied. He could feel someone close by but couldn't see anyone around at all. He began to worry. He looked up in nearby trees. On the cliff sides. Nothing.

Suddenly, a sharp pain ran through Jaden's neck. His eyes widened and he fell to the ground instantly, his body heavy like lead. His body felt hot and he couldn't move an inch. He was paralyzed. Jesse saw this and got down on one knee to see what had happened.

"Jaden?! What happened?!" He asked frantically. He shook Jaden gently to try and get him to move his body, even a little bit. But he couldn't move anything. Jesse saw something in Jaden's neck and pulled it out.

It was a dart.

He examined it for a moment. He didn't understand where the dart could have come from. It had a small glass chamber where there was a strange liquid inside. "What the hell?" Jesse muttered. He looked through the forest again frantically. Someone was definitely watching them. And now they were being attacked. "Come on out here where we can see ya. Hiding in the dark just ain't fair."

No one came out from the darkness. No one showed their faces to them. Jaden was slipping, falling into an unconscious state. He wouldn't last much longer. Jesse held the dart tight and waited until he had a feeling of where this person was hiding. When he got the shiver in his spine again, he threw the dart in their direction. He waited a moment but nothing happened.

"Back down…"

Jesse's shoulders stiffened when he heard a voice. It was clear to him. On his right side. He turned his body around and saw a man dressed in black. He had a gun in his hands pointed directly at him. Jesse couldn't see his eyes behind the tinted shades. As he looked around the vicinity more began to follow and they quickly became surrounded.

"What is this?" Jesse mumbled.

"Don't try anything." The man ordered again. Jesse stood up from the ground and turned to face the man completely. "I'll shoot you. I'm not afraid of your demon curses."

'Curses?' Jesse thought to himself. "Come on now. You don't need to be so scared. I won't hurt cha."

Another dart fired and it went straight into Jesse's collarbone. The paralysis quickly set in and he fell face first into the ground. He tried to lift his head but couldn't. He could only turn his gaze to the man in front of him. "I don't have to worry too much about that now, do I?" Jesse growled and turned his gaze to Jaden whose body was being tied up.

"What are you….?" Jesse tried to finish his statement but couldn't. He was left unable to speak. His limbs now useless he was forced to do as these men commanded. They controlled his body now.

The man in front of him crouched down and turned Jesse's head so that he held eye contact. "You shouldn't have come here. You're kind aren't welcome. But lucky for us that you did." He grinned and gripped Jesse's hair in his hands. "I've been wanting to experiment on things like you."

Jesse bit his lip. The pain from his grip was firm. But his heart dropped when he heard the word "Experiment". He's heard what experimentation has done to survives of it. It doesn't end well at all. The humans are relentless. They show no mercy.

Jesse's eyes grew heavy and he began to fade into the darkness. His head was dropped into the grass. He stayed still for a moment before using all of his strength to look to Jaden again. He watched as Jaden's body was dragged away by two of the other men. He tried to move his arm, to reach out and grab onto him. But he couldn't move a single muscle in his body. His eyes closed and he began to slip, but one last thing came through his mind.

"...Jesse…" It was faint. "Keep fighting."