Chapter XII: Shadows of the Past

Hello again, everyone! Yes, we updated in a week this time! Peach won't jinx herself. Anyway, for everyone who's wondering and has reviewed, first we'd like to explain that Darkness, the main villain in Season 4, has reared his head and is waiting to make his move. When he actually makes his move will be a surprise. For now, however, we are dealing with a different sort of villain; this villain comes from within. Jaden, particularly, had a rough past, and it's about to get him.

Secondly, we'd like to give credit where credit is due. In our original version of this tale, which sadly was lost when Peach's hard drive crashed, we had no mention of Jaden's inner battles, which RGZ Archer mentioned. We decided to explore that in the new version of the tale. So thank you very much for the suggestion, Archer and some suggestions which led to this chapter. And Rainwalker, thank you as well for your suggestions and we'll be glad to talk to you, too!

So, last time, the guys had a brotherly bonding moment and both the guys and the gals talked about the nightmare Rosa had. But the nightmare awoke something in Jaden. So how will he and the gang deal with this? Read on!

Disclaimer: We don't own GX. We never did. We wish we did. We just own our OCs and this tale. Thank you.

Authors' note: Jaden, Alexis and Yubel's ancient past together is chronicled in Peach and Ani's story, "How We Met." There is mention of Season 3 events that did not occur in our timeline. Thank you.

Jaden Yuki had fallen asleep in the bedroom he shared with Alexis Rhodes in sheer exhaustion after revealing a dark part of his past. And then Yubel appeared, looking sorrowful. "I did so much damage to him," she sighed, her leathery wings folded neatly behind her back.

Alexis looked up at the winged female duel monster, grateful she could see Yubel on her own. A small part of her was still angry at all the female monster had done to her fiancé, but most of her had forgiven Yubel. "Maybe...but you're helping to fix him now," she replied.

Yubel sat down on the edge of the bed, leaving Alexis close to the young man they both loved. "Alexis... I think...we need to talk... especially since what I did has surfaced like this," the duel monster explained softly.

Alexis brushed Jaden's hair lightly with her fingers. "What do you want to talk about?"

Yubel took a deep breath. "About the past, the present and the future... You have always been part of his life, you know... And that's why I wanted you gone..."

Alexis returned her gaze to the other. "You were a part of his life longer than me, Yubel. Even if all of it wasn't good..."

Yubel sighed. "Alexis... you became part of his life in the long past... You stole his heart back when he was a prince..."

Alexis's eyes widened. "What...what are you talking about??"

"Alexis... a long time ago... Jaden was a prince in the Duel Monsters kingdoms. He was the crown prince of the Monster Heroes kingdom and you were the princess of the Cyber Kingdom. And I was a boy who had served the prince and been a friend. But then to protect him, I was given the Dragon's Heart, which transformed me. I became... well," she paused, gesturing at her figure.

Alexis's jaw had dropped slightly, and she quickly closed it. "You mean...in the past, we lived in the Duel Monsters world? And you were human too?"

Yubel nodded. "Yes, and I was a human boy. Oddly, I had similarities to one Jesse Anderson."

Alexis blinked in surprise. "Really??"

Yubel nodded again. "Anyway, I was changed and Jaden promised we'd be friends forever. At that point, I loved him as a brother. But then... the change made me change..." She remembered that day. "We said we loved each other... And then, the Dragon's Heart made me... love him differently. And I wanted to be with him..."

"I see...but, how did I make you jealous back then? Were Jaden and I together like we are now?" Alexis wondered, her eyebrows raising into her hairline.

Yubel sighed, remembering all too well her descent into obsessed madness. "You and he met the day after my change occurred. You were betrothed and he was even more naive than he was when you met in this lifetime, I believe," she said, smiling at the prince's reaction to finding out what producing an heir met.

Alexis smirked. "I can see that. But we were betrothed...what age were we in, Yubel?"

"It was several centuries ago... for you, I believe it would have been about 2500 years ago," the monster answered thoughtfully.

Alexis practically fell off of the bed in shock. "T-twenty-five hundred years?! Seriously?!"

Yubel nodded. "Yes... and I watched as you two fell in love, as he longed to be with you... and then your wedding..." Her face turned down as she blushed. She was thinking of the wedding night that had nearly driven her mad.

Alexis caught the blush. "Yubel...since it was that time, and we were married... Did we...?" she stammered, blushing herself.

"You did... and it drove me mad nearly..."

Alexis's entire face was beet red at the thought, so she tried focusing on the other aspect of it. "It… it did?"

Yubel sighed. "Yes... and you were with child right away..."

Alexis subconsciously wrapped her arms around her stomach. "I...I was pregnant... With Jaden's baby," she muttered, half in disbelief.

"I wanted that to be me," the monster girl admitted. "And... one day, Jaden and I went on a trip when you were three months along. We were supposed to be gone for two weeks..."

"What happened?" the human girl asked meeting Yubel's golden-orange and blue-green eyes with her hazel-brown ones.

Yubel shifted uncomfortably. "Three days into the trip, we were sitting by a lake and I kissed him. He reacted in shock and I told him how I felt. And he tried to frame the words and I flew off in anger. He cried out to me that he was sorry, but I didn't fly back. I... thought about killing him," she moaned sadly. "But... I didn't... Something else happened, Alexis... and what he did was my fault because I hurt him emotionally..." This was a memory Yubel hated to relive.

Alexis frowned. "What did he do...?" she asked, somehow dreading the answer.

"He... tried to kill himself. He cut his wrist," Yubel said, hugging herself. "I managed to stop the bleeding and I flew him back to the castle. You didn't want to leave his side that night... But Queen Jayda insisted... And I sat all those hours and told her what I have been telling you..."

Alexis's gaze was on the ground. It was extremely hard to imagine Jaden trying to kill himself, even at his saddest moments. "You saved him..."

"I had thought about taking his life, but... when it came down to it, I couldn't and I couldn't let him take his own life. So, Alexis, I made a decision then that I would protect him and your past self and your children. You had a lot of children," Yubel explained, frown becoming a soft smile as she remembered all those kids.

Again, Alexis blushed. "H-How many??"

Yubel blushed as well. "Ten. Four boys and six girls, and they brought you both so much joy and your families as well..."

Alexis froze, face showing obvious shock as a single eyebrow twitched. "T...T...Ten??" she muttered before her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she fainted.

Yubel was grateful that she could catch Alexis, even in her spirit form. "Oh my!" she yelped, catching the human girl and easing her onto the bed with Jaden. 'I'd better get someone!' she thought quickly. Yubel stood and flew out of the room, looking around for a spirit or one of the gang to get help from.

As it happened, Usagi, Annie's duel spirit was walking by. Today she was in her Unknowing Guardian form, wearing a sailor suit with a navy blue skirt and collar, with red lines on the collar and navy blue cuffs on the white shirt. Her long blonde hair was still in the traditional "meatball" style, where she had two buns on the top of her head and two long pigtails flowing down her back. "Yubel? Is everything all right?" she asked, seeing the other monster fly through the wall, blue eyes wide with concern.

Yubel sighed in relief. "Usagi, thank goodness. I need your help. Can you go and ask Annie to come to Jaden and Alexis's room?"

"Of course!" Usagi answered. "What happened? Do we need to get Miss Fontaine too?"

"Uh, no, I don't think so. I was just telling Alexis about some...things, and one of those...things, ended up making her faint... And Jaden is fast asleep," Yubel explained, a little awkwardly.

"Okay! I'll be right back!" Usagi grinned, running for Annie.

The human girl was now sitting with her fiancé, enjoying cups of herbal tea. "Mmm... I love this blend," Annie sighed happily.

"Yeah. It smells as good as it tastes, too," Syrus replied, smiling.

"Yeah..."

"Annie!" Usagi called, appearing before the couple, "I need you to come to Jaden and Alexis's room! She fainted..."

Annie's eyes widened and her lips formed a nearly perfect O in shock. "What?!"

"Yeah... it's all right. Yubel said they were chatting about... stuff... and Alexis passed out. Can you come?" Usagi asked.

"Sure... Sy? Honey, can you help me?"

Syrus nodded. "Of course. I hope she's okay..."

They quickly headed down to the room and got in. Annie sighed, checking her friend's pulse. "Sy, get a wet washcloth, will you?" she asked calmly.

"Okay." He quickly went to the bathroom, and returned a minute later with a damp cloth. "Here you go, Annie. Is she all right?"

"Yeah... just give me a minute..." The dark-haired young woman laid the cool cloth on Alexis's forehead and elevated her legs. "Alexis? Can you hear me?" she asked softly.

Alexis groaned, and a moment later her eyes opened a little. "Annie...?"

"Oh, good, you're awake... Yubel called Usagi and Usagi got me and Sy. They said you fainted," the dark-haired girl breathed in relief.

"Oh... yeah... I remember that..." Alexis blushed a little when she remembered what Yubel had said, but she didn't faint again, luckily.

"Just take it easy for a few minutes," Annie said. And then she moved to Jaden. "He's sleeping pretty soundly... He had it hard, harder than any of us thought..."

Syrus frowned a little. "Without telling us...we'd never know..."

"Yeah," Annie sighed. "And I thought I had it rough... that's nothing compared to Jaden..."

"I think we all had it rough to different degrees...it's only just starting to become known," Alexis said thoughtfully.

"Yeah," Annie agreed.

Jaden stirred in his sleep. "Mmmm... nooo," he moaned. "No... don't leave..." Whatever it was that was scaring him, Jaden was not sleeping easily.

All three turned their attention to the Slifer. "Jaden?" Syrus asked worriedly.

"I think he's having a nightmare," Alexis muttered, pushing herself up onto an elbow.

Annie sighed and said, "We'll ride it out with him. He's not in deep sleep; otherwise he wouldn't be talking..."

And then... "No... guys, I didn't sacrifice you!" Jaden cried out, expression contorting.

"What?!" Annie gasped.

"Sacrifice us...?" Alexis asked to the air, eyes wide.

"But...I don't think we've ever been in a situation like that," Syrus said, confused. Usually, nightmares came from memories in the subconscious.

"No, we haven't... What is he seeing?" Annie wondered.

Jaden's face was contorted in obvious emotional pain. "Sy... I didn't... but you hate me anyway..."

"What is going on?" the dark-haired girl muttered, frowning in concern and puzzlement.

Syrus tensed. "I don't hate Jay...there's no way I could ever hate him."

"Jaden...whatever you're seeing, it's not real," Alexis tried, taking his hand.

Jaden was shaking like a leaf. "No! Yubel! Let Jesse go!" he cried out, his eyes snapping open. "NOOO!!!" he yelped, sitting up.

Alexis and Syrus couldn't stop the instinctual reaction to pull back a little. But both quickly moved back to their surrogate brother/fiancé. "Shh, Jaden, it's okay," Alexis soothed, squeezing his hand.

"It was a dream, Jay," Syrus added.

Annie moved close too. "Jaden, it's okay," she said gently, checking his pulse and doing a mostly visual examination of him.

He was visibly trembling. "No... it's not... I did bad things," he explained, sounding terrified. "Or... I don't know..."

"Jaden...what was it?" Annie asked, mentally taking note. His brown eyes were wide and teary, his hair was disheveled and his skin was pale. The hand Alexis held was sweaty and clammy as well.

"I... You guys would've hated me," Jaden moaned weakly.

The three exchanged worried glances. "Jaden...I could never hate you. I love you," Alexis replied, squeezing his hand to emphasize the point.

Syrus nodded. "I could never hate my brother, Jay." Jaden desperately needed a hug and pulled his arms around his surrogate brother, fiancée and surrogate sister-in-law to be. They held him tightly for a long moment and his shoulders bobbed as he silently cried.

Usagi and Yubel appeared, but invisible to their human friends. "What did he see?" Usagi wondered, now clad in a white sailor suit with a navy blue collar, sheer short sleeves and a white skirt edged in yellow and blue with a white bow at the back that looked like butterfly wings. She was in her incarnation as the Guardian of Pure Dreams.

Yubel frowned deeply, looking away. She'd been able to watch the entire nightmare play out, and knew what it meant. "Something that could have happened if I hadn't changed..."

Usagi caught it. "It was really bad, wasn't it? People would've died?" she asked.

"Not...died, exactly. At least, not how most of them were taken," Yubel replied, glancing over at her angelic-looking companion.

Usagi understood, remembering what happened to her friends so often. "They got resurrected or sent somewhere where they were just captured and it seemed that they were gone?" she asked drily.

Yubel nodded, the surprise evident on her face. "Yes, that about sums it up... But how did you know?"

Usagi sweat-dropped and grinned sheepishly, despite the seriousness of the situation. "It happened to me and my friends a lot. And when I learned to use the Imperium Silver Crystal, it was always supposed to kill me, but I always ended up being resurrected or just weak for a few minutes." And then she looked at Yubel seriously. "Oddly enough, you kind of look like a couple of the people I had to face and saved or defeated... My friends might've seemed to die to help us win, but they always came back alive somehow... Weird," she concluded, looking bemused.

Yubel sweat-dropped. "I suppose the audience likes it better when the good guy wins and those who died come back however possible..."

"Oh, yes... people don't like it when their favorite characters die and aren't somehow resurrected," Usagi agreed. "And parents' groups complain when it happens in cartoons."

"I'd hate to see the parents' groups' reactions to all that's happened to this group if this were a show," Yubel replied, thinking back on all that Jaden had filled her in about.

Usagi nodded. "Yeah... If the animation companies didn't want the fifth season of my show dubbed because of what the parents' groups would've done, I'd hate to think how they'd react to this group... Especially what happened this summer..."

"Or what might have happened that Jaden saw in his nightmare," Yubel agreed, looking over at her lifetime friend as he trembled in his friends' and love's grip.

"Well, let's be thankful it didn't happen," Usagi sighed, grateful for that.

"Yeah," Gyroid added sadly, appearing with the female monsters, speaking in his customary high voice. "I know Sy wouldn't like being angry with Jaden..."

"And whatever happened to everyone, about them being sacrificed, it sounds horrible! No wonder Jaden looks so distressed!" Cyber Tutu added, sounding much like a concerned little girl.

Usagi put a friendly hand on Cyber Tutu's shoulder. "His friends are his life. Burstinatrix told me a lot last school year about it. To see them hurt... would be devastating. Yubel, did he really see a possible alternate timeline?"

Yubel frowned, but nodded. "Yes, he did. The chance of it happening is near impossible now, since I'm no longer influenced by the Light of Destruction. But who knows what the future truly holds..."

Gyroid shivered. "I hope whatever it was doesn't ever happen."

The duel spirits now watched unseen as Jaden calmed down enough to talk again. "Guys... it was really bad..."

"We heard some of it, Jay...you were talking in your sleep," Alexis replied, still holding him, fearful of what was going on.

"I..." Jaden blinked a few times, trying to make sense of the specters of his nightmare. "I saw us... in this dark place... and Alexis... you, Tyson, Atticus... Chazz... you all got captured in a duel and this guy kept sacrificing you and I had to duel... and Sy, you saw and thought I did it... And... I guess I pushed you away without knowing it... I'm sorry," he moaned.

"Sacrificing us...in a duel..?" Alexis asked, tensing slightly at the thought.

"But Jay...you have nothing to be sorry for. You've never pushed me away," Syrus said, frowning.

"But... I might've... Jesse... he's kinda like my twin, you know? And if... I don't know..." Jaden let go and laid his head in his hands.

"Uh-oh," Annie muttered, comprehension of the situation hitting her like an attack from Elemental Hero Thunder Giant.

Alexis kept her arms around Jaden as Syrus looked over at his fiancée. "'Uh-oh'?"

"Sy..." Annie motioned and they stepped away from the other couple. "I'm worried," she explained softly as Alexis tried to comfort her fiancé, rocking him like he was a frightened child.

"Worried? About what?" Sy asked. Of course they were all worried about Jaden, but Annie made it sound like something else was worrying her.

As it turned out, she was worried about Jaden. "I don't know how much he can take... He's acting like he's got post-traumatic stress disorder. I've read a lot about it... Did he say anything?"

Syrus's frown deepened and he straightened his glasses on the bridge of his nose. "He said...that he'd been treated for it as a kid..."

Annie groaned. "It happens sometimes, that the symptoms can return. And Jaden's had a lot happen to him the past couple of years. All that stress has gotten to him... He was probably under a psychologist's care."

"I think he mentioned a doctor. But I can't remember his name..."

"It's not good if it's returned like this... and if he's seeing what might've happened to us... Maybe he's still afraid we'd abandon him," Annie whispered. "We may need Miss Fontaine and Dr. Otani, if it's this bad..."

"Should we get them now?" Syrus asked, worry for his friend having increased tenfold.

Annie sighed softly, the worry evident in her features. "We'll call Miss Fontaine... And the gang... And then Miss Fontaine can call out to Domino Children's. Dr. Otani was good with me, Alexis, Violet and Rosa when we were in the hospital and she was good with Violet at the beginning of the summer, remember?"

Syrus nodded. "Yeah. I just hope these nightmares aren't a bad sign that something's going to happen..." Annie nodded again, gravely.

And in the meantime, Alexis had helped Jaden lay back down. "Lex..." He held her hand in a death grip.

"I'm right here, Jay... Just try to calm down, all right?" she said softly.

He nodded, at least not trembling now. "Don't leave," he whispered.

"I won't," she whispered back reassuringly, running her fingers gently through his hair in a calming gesture.

"Alexis," Annie called softly. "I need to talk to you... Jaden, she's staying with you, okay?"

"Okay," he answered softly, releasing his grip so his fiancée could get up.

Alexis hesitated for a moment, but stood and walked over to Annie and Syrus. "What is it, Annie?"

"I think we need to get Miss Fontaine and maybe get Dr. Otani out here from Domino Children's. Did Jaden tell you he saw a psychologist when he was a kid?"

"Yeah...I think his name was Dr. Yancy," Alexis answered, remembering.

"Hmmm... Dr. Otani may need to know that... Jaden's mom and dad can fill Dr. Otani in... I hope we're not facing a new problem soon," Annie muttered. "I don't think Jaden can take much more of this..."

"I don't know if any of us can, Annie... We've been through so much already," Syrus said, looking at the ground. Most of them were stretched to their limit and teetering on the edge. And without Jaden, he knew, the group just might shatter.

Annie nodded. "Yeah... we can't take much more of this... We need a break... I just hope we have time... We all have to be able to fight if something bad does come. We need a little time and a lot of luck and help..."

"All we can do is hope for those things...but right now, we need to try and help Jaden," Alexis said.

"All right... I'll call Miss Fontaine and get the gang. Maybe if we stay around him, Jaden will calm down enough," Annie said, pulling her PDA out of a pocket on her skirt.

She quickly dialed and made the needed calls. Within three minutes, Miss Fontaine was at the door of the room. "Hey, guys," she greeted gently, holding her medical kit.

The nurse stepped into the room and checked Jaden over. "Okay, we're going to get through this, Jaden. Honey, everything's in your file about this. You're not the first person to have this kind of reaction to trauma and you won't be the last. Just let yourself relax..."

"Can... can everybody stay in here tonight?" he asked, sounding like a much younger boy.

Fonda thought it over and nodded. "Okay, I think that's all right... I think you just need to relax today. Stay in here and just let yourself unwind. Jaden, we're calling your parents and they'll be here in a few hours. Alexis, your mom and dad are coming too. It's going to be okay..."

Alexis blinked in surprise. "My mom and dad? Why?" she asked.

"You need the support, Alexis," the nurse pointed out as Jaden went to get his pajamas on in the bathroom with Syrus's help. "He's not the only patient. Families who are dealing with a sick member are patients too, and friends and lovers are patients because they're dealing with stress from helping that person. And it's not a bad thing to feel stress, but you're going to be dealing with possibly long-term stress and you need people around you to ease it off."

Alexis frowned. "I guess you're right..."

"It'll be all right," the nurse soothed. She got Alexis to sit down and Annie too. "So did anything else happen?"

"Yeah... Alexis fainted for some reason," Annie explained matter-of-factly. "Sudden shock apparently. Yubel and Usagi didn't tell me what it was, though..."

Alexis's blush returned. "Er, it was nothing... Don't worry about it," she said quickly, sweat-dropping. Miss Fontaine wisely didn't ask more.

In the bathroom, Jaden quietly pulled on his Bubbleman print pajama bottoms and a bright blue top. Sy had quietly handed him the pajamas as he changed and now, Jaden stood in front of the sink, looking into the mirror, but really not looking. He looked blank and sad. Finally, Syrus couldn't take it anymore. "...Jay...?" he asked hesitantly.

"Sy... sorry," Jaden muttered, eyes cast down. "Why'd this happen now..? I'm really a freak again..."

"Don't say that... You're not a freak, Jaden. And you can stop saying sorry," Syrus tried again, brows angling downward.

"I've put you through this... You guys were in the line of fire because of me..." Jaden's insecure and frightened side was back full force, worse than nearly two months ago when the girls had been hurt and Yubel had made her move and worse than over a year and a half previously when Kaibaman had dueled him. "What if another bad guy comes? What if... what if they figure out... how to make me bad like I saw? Then it's my fault..."

"Jaden, don't..." Syrus placed a hand on his friend's arm, hating to hear him talk like this. "You can't blame yourself. Remember what Yugi said? And Kisara? If you blame yourself, you'll just hurt yourself and everyone else in the end...you can't..."

Jaden remembered. "Yeah... I just..." And then he sank to his knees, crying again. Syrus felt tears sting his own eyes, as he dropped down beside Jaden. He wrapped his arms around his surrogate brother, wanting to comfort him like Jaden had comforted him so many times. Jaden just held on.

Miss Fontaine had heard on the outside of the bathroom and called, "Boys, do you need help in there?"

"Y-Yeah," Syrus called back, shaking a little.

Miss Fontaine came right into the room and knelt next to the young men. "Jaden... Honey, can you get up?" Jaden didn't respond, holding onto his surrogate brother like a life preserver. "Okay, Syrus, help me get him to his feet," the nurse requested. Syrus nodded, keeping his arms around Jaden as he and Miss Fontaine worked together to pull him up. Together the nurse and small Obelisk got Jaden to his feet and he allowed them to lead him to the big bed he and Alexis shared. He lay down on it, that same blank expression on his face. "He just needs to rest for a while," Miss Fontaine said gently, covering the Slifer with a light blanket. "How did he start talking about it?" she wondered.

Syrus frowned. "We were talking about something. And he brought it up..."

Miss Fontaine nodded. "Did someone else have a problem? Something that may have triggered this?" Syrus, Alexis, and Annie all exchanged glances. Rosa had specifically asked the girls not to mention it, and Tyson had mentioned Rosa's wishes as well. Miss Fontaine sensed it. "Guys... I have a feeling you're worried about betraying a confidence, but I need to know if someone was worried about a nightmare or just talking about it. You don't have to say who, but I have to know what may have triggered this episode to help Jaden. Okay?"

Alexis sighed. "Okay... Someone did have a nightmare..."

"They talked with us about it, and that's when Jaden brought up all of this," Syrus added.

Miss Fontaine nodded. "All right... Well, that helps. I'll be able to tell the doctors that. Jaden, everyone's outside. I told them all to wait until I was done with checking you out before they came in... Can they come in now?" Jaden didn't respond. So Miss Fontaine asked Alexis the same question.

Alexis looked at Jaden for a moment before answering. "I guess so..."

"Okay." The nurse headed out of the room and everyone filed in.

"Slacker? You okay?" Chazz asked, sitting down next to the bed close to his sister. Jaden wasn't talking.

"Sarge," Tyson added, sitting at another chair, "we're all here... The platoon stands with its leader..."

"He may not say anything, guys," Alexis said, so that they wouldn't get too worried that Jaden wasn't speaking. His eyes still held that horribly blank look, a look that somehow seemed incompatible with the Jaden that they all knew and loved.

Bastion sighed. "We know, Alexis... and we're here for you as well. He's just... I've never seen a case like this before..."

"I did," Axel and Tyson said at the same time.

Syrus couldn't help but blink and stare at the two army boys. "You did?"

Axel looked at Tyson. "VA hospitals?" he asked.

Tyson nodded. "Yeah... You want to?"

Axel nodded. "Okay. We visited vets' hospitals and army hospitals with our dads. A lot of the men and women who served in combat came back with PTSD and they needed help to get over it."

Tyson added, "They used to call it shell shock. People who've been through wars or bad experiences relive the trauma and need counseling and other stuff to get through it."

"Then...what do we need to do to help Jay?" Violet asked.

"Whatever we can to help him through. He might get different emotionally, but we have to understand that that's just the PTSD talking. He may get angry or he won't talk at all, but we just have to ride through it with him," Axel answered calmly.

"Hmmm... so we'll just be a shoulder to cry on," Annie translated.

"There's nothing else we can do..?" Alexis asked, frowning.

"Not much else we can do," Tyson explained, not wanting to tell Alexis what had happened to those men, women and children who, despite the best efforts of the psychologists and families, had succumbed to the disorder.

Jaden turned slightly and seemed to gain back some expression. "Guys?" he asked softly.

"Jay, bud, we're all here," Atticus said first, sending the younger boy a smile.

The pajama-clad Slifer sat up and gazed at the people around him. "Thanks, bro... guys... This hasn't happened in a long time... and that nightmare I had... maybe I saw something that would've happened... Or maybe I saw something I've been afraid of... Losing everybody..."

"You're not going to lose any of us, Jay," Alexis said reassuringly, smiling as well.

Jaden wasn't quite at a smile yet, but he held out his arms for a hug. "Thanks, babe..." Alexis wrapped her arms around him, glad that at least for the moment he was talking again.

Everyone hugged Jaden individually and he managed to lie down and fall into a calm sleep. "Chancellor Shepherd is calling Mrs. Kaiba and the Yukis and your parents, Atticus, Alexis and Chazz," Miss Fontaine mentioned to the group. "I think it's not only Jaden that needs help here; you kids do too..."

Axel nodded. "Yeah. You're right, Miss Fontaine. And we'll accept the help…" And so the gang waited, while notifications went to Domino.

We hope Jaden hasn't gotten too out of character here, everyone. We all know what happened in Season 4, but that isn't happening here. Jaden is just going through a very rough time. He will be okay; it will just take some time for him to feel better. Next time, please join us for "Intervention." Until then, please read, review and stay tuned! Thank you!