Chapter XVI: A Stronger Bond
Welcome back, everyone, to another chapter of "Darkness Falls." Well, thank you, everyone for your reviews, as usual and for reading. We appreciate and love you all! So onto the next chapter without further ado!
Last time on Yu-Gi-Oh GX: Darkness Falls, the gang awaited news of Jaden after a long night of worry. They got the sad news that Jaden had suffered his horrific nightmare. When the group came to him, Jaden had a hallucination of Violet and Jesse in their evil incarnations and then he saw his dark side through a mirror. The usually happy Slifer didn't take seeing his dark side well, and had to be sedated. So what will happen next? Read on…
Disclaimer: We've been over this… Just see the past…few hundred chapters of this series as to what we own and don't own. We also own our interpretations. And again, please remember that this universe is not bound by canon. Thanks.
Authors' Note: We would like to gratefully acknowledge the inspiration for the title to this tale. "Darkness Falls" was inspired by a line in the late Michael Jackson's amazing song, "Thriller." So we thank Mr. Jackson and wish that he has found his peace. Thank you.
Warning: Chazz is going to seem a bit different than his canon counterpart as he has seemed different in this series. He now has a big brother who means the world to him, and if Atticus is hurting, Chazz will worry. Yubel will also be on edge about the coming threat. There are mentions of Season 0, never aired in the US and nods to the Yu-Gi-Oh Abridged series made by LittleKuriboh. And finally, there is a mild make-out scene. Thank you.
As Jaden slept in his bed, knocked out after what appeared to be a hallucination, Alexis sat by his side, holding his hand. She still hadn't said a word, and the frown hadn't left her face for even a second. Yugi moved to her, knowing that look from 12 years ago when he'd awakened in the hospital, Teá sitting at his side. "Alexis... he'll be all right... Don't doubt his love," he said gently.
"I-I'm not," Alexis answered quietly, her voice shaking along with her shoulders as she spoke. "I just...it can't... All the times we joked about it...him turning this way... I never thought...it isn't him," she continued, tears finally forming and dropping to land on her lap.
Yugi reacted as any father would. He gently put his arm around the young lady and let her cry. "Shh... it's going to be all right... shh..." And Alexis did cry, more than she had in a long time. It was like all the tears she'd held back so many times were spilling out with the ones she was shedding for Jaden. She was comforted to have a shoulder to cry on, though. "I know," Yugi whispered. "Let it hurt... it's all right to let it hurt..." He knew full well she was aching for Jaden, pained for all that had happened. "You've gone through so much, too..."
"I-I just wish that I could help him," she muttered between breaths.
"You are... You've been a part of why he stayed as strong as he did," Yugi explained softly as Jayda and Kisara watched the teen boy's vitals. "He's done as I did... I wanted to protect everyone from me... And it was a bad idea..."
"W-When you...did what Jaden was thinking of doing?" Alexis asked, beginning to calm down a little.
"The silence was what did it to me," Yugi answered. "I was quiet and acted like I was all right when Atem left. But inside I was crying... And then, part of me just couldn't take the pain anymore..."
"Jaden's doing that...isn't he?"
Yugi was quiet for a moment, wanting to be certain of the situation before he answered. "What did he say when he was thinking of trying?"
Alexis thought back to that moment. "He said...that he didn't want whoever 'Supreme King' is to take him over... And that there was one way to stop it... H-He said...if he's gone...then he can't hurt me..."
Yugi's eyes widened in shock. "That sounds like... Bakura..." A memory came to him on a night at Duelist Kingdom when a dark spirit had taken control of a dear friend…
"Yugi, I've taken control of this creature. Attack me and you can win this duel!" Bakura Ryou shouted from across the field.
"But Bakura, if I do that, I'll be destroying you!" Yugi called back, clad in the costume of the Dark Magician, eyes wide with fear and pain.
"I don't care! It's better than being enslaved by an evil spirit! DO IT!" Bakura shouted back while in the guise of the Lady of Faith. Yugi, Bakura, Tristan, Joey and Tea had been trapped in a shadow game of Yami Bakura's making and while the dark being had dueled the Pharaoh, the good Bakura had pleaded with Yugi to destroy him to protect the world. But Yugi had found what he understood to be a way out at the time.
Now in the present, Yugi stated, "Alexis, Bakura was actually enslaved by a dark presence, and he asked me to kill him... You may have learned about that duel in class..."
Alexis frowned, then nodded. "Yeah...I remember. That...does sound a lot like what Jaden said..."
"But... to sacrifice Bakura's life would've been wrong," Yugi said softly. "And Jaden needs to know that as well..."
"I know...but he doesn't seem to be listening to anything we try to tell him..."
Yugi released the hug gently and held Alexis's gaze. "We'll all tell him until he believes it again. That presence must be very, very strong that it's scared him so much. Bakura almost never remembered his possessions..."
"His possessions?"
"The dark presence possessed him a lot, and he didn't remember when those possessions happened. It was different than what happened with me," Yugi clarified.
"Do you think that maybe...who Jaden keeps talking about is like Bakura's evil spirit?" Alexis asked.
Yugi's face tightened. "I hope not... would anyone know of a past self that was like him?"
"Ah...oh! Wait, Yubel might... She talked to me about our past once before," Alexis realized.
Yugi nodded. "Can you tell me?"
"Sure...but she didn't mention anything about someone named 'Supreme King'..." And so, Alexis recalled as best as she could from memory, and retold what Yubel had told her.
Yugi nodded as she finished. "Hmmm..." Jayda had stepped out of the room to sit with Hisoka by this point and so the King of Games called, "Yubel?" Yugi, too, had the gift to see duel spirits and made use of it.
It was a long moment before Yubel appeared, and it was obvious that she was as bothered by Jaden in pain as everyone else. "You...called?" she asked, surprised to see Yugi.
"Hello, Yubel... I'm sorry to call you like this, but we must know how to help Jaden," Yugi began kindly. "Do you know of someone called the Supreme King?" he asked.
Yubel visibly tensed and frowned. "...Yes."
Alexis's eyes widened considerably. "You do?!" The duel spirit nodded, looking away.
Kisara, keeping track of Jaden's pulse, looked up. "Yubel? Who is he?" she asked gently. "No one's angry at you now. And if you know something, it will help us a lot so we can fight this... Supreme King, okay?"
Yubel sighed, crossing her arms over her chest as her gaze turned to the ground. "First of all...Supreme King is only a title. His real name is...Haou."
"Haou?" Kisara asked for confirmation. "Tell us as much as you can, please?"
"He's... Really, all he is… is Jaden's darker half. Everyone has one...at least, people do. So do duel spirits sometimes... They usually never even make themselves noticed, but... They can if something bad enough happens, or too many bad events happen... That's what they… well, I suppose you could say they feed off of negative feelings and take advantage of them..."
"How far back does this go with Jaden?" Kisara wondered.
Yubel seemed to be in deep thought for a long moment. "Unfortunately...the negative feelings he'd had in his past life...may have carried on to this one..."
Yugi and Kisara exchanged glances. "All that time," Yugi thought out loud. "If his dark side was alone and allowed to grow, he would be worse than...Atem was when he first came to me..." Kisara nodded, as the subject of when Yugi had first gotten his Millennium Puzzle was well-known to her.
"But I thought he was a good spirit," Alexis stated, looking confused.
"He was confused at first... He had definite ideas about what was justice, but it took a while before he realized that you just couldn't deliver a smack-down to whoever bullied me and my friends," Yugi grinned sheepishly.
"Oh," was all Alexis could think to say.
"But I should tell you that Haou can't be a true physical threat unless Jaden gives into him," Yubel said suddenly. "That is the only way a dark half can gain control... All he's been doing now is communicating with Jaden in whatever ways he can. As well as...using a future possibility to weaken his resolve..." As she said this, she frowned again and turned her gaze to the carpet.
"And Jaden's at a weak point right now," Kisara murmured, brushing the bangs from the sleeping boy's face. "Well then... Yugi, let's prepare for the long haul..."
"Agreed," he answered. "Mai, Joey and Teá can help Grandpa out while I'm gone. Thank you, Yubel... We'll make sure that this Haou doesn't get control..."
Yubel nodded, and was about to fade out when she made a last second decision. She knew it might be dangerous to tell them this, but she felt like she owed Jaden after inadvertently helping Haou. "Um...there's another thing," she began, a little hesitantly.
"What is it, Yubel?" Kisara asked, pale eyebrow raising in question.
"What I mentioned about darker halves and everyone having one... Jaden may not be the only one to be worrying over in the near future. I mean," Yubel hesitated, practically feeling the darkness in the room breathing down her neck, waiting to see what she would do.
Yugi put his arm around Alexis again, knowing that as strong as she was, the young woman was terrified of what would come. "Yubel...who else? We must know," Kisara said firmly but kindly.
Yubel sighed, taking the plunge. "Everyone."
The two 30-somethings exchanged glances. "Then we'll face it," Yugi declared, softly of course. "Alexis... we'll face it with you..." Alexis nodded; part of her had practically sensed this coming, truth be told. They all had, even though they'd forced themselves to brush the feeling off as paranoia.
"One more thing," Yubel said, getting their attention again. "It's already started. I'm not sure how many of Jaden's friends, but...at least one or two are already falling with him..." She tensed immediately after that, and quickly faded out, unable to risk staying amongst the darkness in the room any longer.
Yugi sensed it. "Kisara..."
"I sensed it too," she murmured as her own duel spirit appeared. "Bianca..." A Blue Eyes White Dragon in smaller form than usual flashed into existence next to her, casting an eerie white light around the room to those sensitive to it. "Do you sense it as well?" the mistress of the dragon asked. The dragon nodded and sent images of light versus shadow to Kisara. "So we do have a new enemy... And depending on Jaden... this fight may be far more difficult. So we have to get him back to full strength and his friends as well, if we're to prevent far worse than we've ever faced."
Yugi's expression tightened. "We can do this. For heaven's sake... our group faced something like the Devil!"
"Yeah, Zorc and pals," Kisara said wryly. "Good thing no one ever came up with a show for them..."
Alexis was extremely confused as she looked from Yugi to Kisara. "Uh...wait, do you know what enemy we're going to be facing?"
"No, but these things go in cycles," Yugi sighed. "The rule seems to be that the villain gets tougher. I faced Pegasus and a bunch of his goons... Marik and his goons... Seto's virtual stepfather, the Big Five... Dartz... and then Bakura who was controlled by Zorc...And then it was over..."
"Famous last words," Kisara said, rolling her eyes in frustration.
Alexis tensed. "Then...are you saying this is going to be the toughest enemy we've ever faced?"
"Probably," the duelist and doctor groaned together.
"But for Jaden's sake, and all of yours, it had better be later rather than sooner," Kisara concluded as Jaden began softly snoring.
Alexis sighed, frowning. "But...Yubel said it was the near future... And that some of our friends were already getting like Jaden... But who??" she muttered, brows furrowed in thought. Of course, it was crucial to figure this out as soon as possible.
"Whoever else is having nightmares, I'd guess," Kisara said, having been filled in by Miss Fontaine.
"Well...as far as I know, that's only two people besides Jaden," Alexis replied, frown deepening a bit.
"Okay... We'll sort this out, honey," Kisara said gently. "Do you want to sit here with Jay while we talk to your friends?"
"Yeah...I don't want to leave him again... At least, not after what he said..."
"Okay... he's probably not going to be awake for a while... And we figure out what else is best for him," the doctor stated. "He won't leave school... I think that's one thing that's important... But he's going to need a lot of help..."
"I just hope we get him through this before whatever's going to happen, happens," Alexis said through a sigh, taking Jaden's hand again.
And so the not-so-young adults stepped out of the bedroom to give the young couple some privacy. Yugi took a deep breath as they entered the room. "Guys... we need to have an urgent conversation. It seems you're facing an enemy and you need help to fight this enemy... But that means you tell us what's going on within you."
Everyone in the room exchanged glances, each filled with a mix of emotions; shock, surprise, worry, distress, fear, and tension. A few of the group seemed more nervous about this than the others. "A-Another enemy??" Syrus decided to ask for the others, brows angling downward to match his frown.
Yugi nodded. "Yes, I'm afraid so... But the first enemy we deal with is the enemy within... You may not entirely beat it, but when the new enemy comes, you will be ready to fight it with everything you have. As you all are right now, you may have difficulty fighting this enemy. Now... who besides Jaden has had nightmares?" he asked, looking around the room, meeting their eyes with kindness in his own.
For a few moments, there was a slightly tense silence and no one moved. They all knew who were having the nightmares. Or at least, the girls knew both, while the guys only knew one. Finally, with a nervous glance at her fiancé, Rosa stepped forward. "I have..."
Chazz, too, stood from where he was. "Me, too..."
"Okay... what were the dreams about?" Kisara asked.
Chazz took a deep breath and told her. "I've had bad dreams about what happened in the past... But somehow, it's worse... The beatings go on forever before I wake up. They've gotten longer... And then I hear a voice telling me that we're all dark and evil and it's what we deserve."
"Chazz...bro..." Atticus couldn't stop himself from pulling his little brother into a strong hug, having had no idea. Alexis hadn't told him yet, and the description of his brother's nightmares only made it worse.
"I didn't say anything, because... bro... I didn't want you worrying after you helped me get better this summer," Chazz murmured.
"I'd rather worry and be helping you than not knowing and having you suffer through it alone," Atty replied just as softly, tone slightly pained.
"I'm sorry, big brother," Chazz apologized, burying his face in Atticus's blazer.
Mindy moved behind her boyfriend and hugged him too. "Always talk to us," she murmured.
"We're here for you...you don't have to hold it in anymore," Atty added strongly.
"No, Chazz, you don't have to be so... stoic," Annie asserted, eyes tearing.
"Acting like nothing's wrong doesn't make what is wrong go away," Syrus agreed, keeping hold of his fiancée's hand. Chazz nodded.
"Rosa... you too..." Tyson gripped his fiancée's hand, knowing how hard this would be for her.
Rosa squeezed back, just as nervous as she had been when telling the girls her first nightmare. Of course only Tyson knew of the second, but even he only knew half of it. "My nightmares aren't like Chazz's... They were each different... And it was only for the past two nights..."
"But what was it that happened?" Kisara asked, taking note. "What was unusual about the dreams?" Rosa didn't mind talking about the first; she'd already gotten that off of her chest with the gang. So she reiterated her first nightmare for the doctor and King of Games, about the darkness and the fire and how real it had all felt.
"Rosa...what about the second nightmare?" Yugi asked, the fatherly tone coming into his voice again. Being a dad for nearly 9 years had done that to him. It was easy to be more like a dad than some hero, he reflected.
Rosa paused at this, gaze turning to the ground. Sure, telling Tyson about her past was one thing. But telling everyone? The idea made her even more nervous than the idea of telling them about her first nightmare. "It..."
Annie moved close, taking Rosa's other hand. "Rosa... please... It's all right to share. Nobody here will judge you. Whatever it is, we'll get through it..."
Tyson nodded. "Please, darlin', don't hide from them..."
Rosa took in a breath, let it out as a sigh, and decided that it was only fair. Even Chazz had told them about what had happened to him. "This one was strange...it was as if, there were two different nightmares... But I never woke up in between. The first wasn't bad; it was...normal..." After a moment's hesitation, she told them about the first part of her nightmare. Finally, the last person whose past had been a mystery had unraveled it for the group of friends.
The entire group looked at Rosa in sympathy. "Rosa... they just couldn't stand how special you were," Yugi said with a slight smile. "I got teased all the time when I was a kid. Tea was my only friend when I was the age you were when those kids called you what they did. I got called... well... I won't repeat it, but I played dress-up with her when no one else would. And I also played Sailor Moon..." He couldn't help but blush at the admission.
Kisara didn't blush, but she added, "I was teased for being different, too. When you're six years old and going to college, you're automatically a freak. My mom had to remind me that I'd been given a gift and I needed to see where it took me. What those kids said... It didn't matter..."
Rosa was obviously surprised, but somehow she felt better. Maybe she was a little more at ease, knowing that she was just different and not a freak. Yugi and Kisara were right; it didn't matter what those kids had said. She had a loving fiancé and a group of close friends, as well as her family. "I...I guess you're right... I didn't think about it that way until now..."
"It's hard when it happens to you," Kisara understood. "You feel like you're the only one getting ripped apart and no one cares. But you realize one day... that you're not alone... So... what else happened in the nightmare?"
Rosa sighed again, squeezing Tyson's hand. He hadn't heard about this part. "The nightmare turned dark...I could feel it. It was like my first one... And it was short, like my first one..." The difference between the two halves of her dream was like night and day to Rosa. She told what had happened, smiling a little at the part where Tyson saved her from Jorge.
"As if I didn't hate that... thing before," Bastion growled first when she finished. Tyson, though, took several deep breaths, trying obviously not to go what Jaden referred to as "Incredible Hulk dinosaur," for the way the Texas Ra yelled when going into dinosaur mode.
Rosa knew that was going to happen, and turned to place her free hand on his cheek. Her other hand still held his in a tight grip. "Just stay calm, Tyson. It was a dream; you saved me in it as well as out of it. He's gone," she said soothingly in her native tongue.
"I know, darlin'," he answered back in Spanish. "What he did to you, though... You aren't anyone's property..."
She smiled. "I know that. And you've showed him that both times, Ty-Ty. I am only yours...and you are only mine." He squeezed her hand again, lovingly.
"Rosa... why didn't you ever tell us about yourself?" Mindy asked softly.
The Spanish girl blinked, and ended up surprising everyone with her response. "You never asked." The teens looked at each other blankly, along with one silent tween... and cracked up.
Violet sweat-dropped. "She has a good point. It never came up..."
Jasmine nodded. "We never did... We're sorry, Rosa..."
Rosa smiled. "It's all right. The only part of my past that ever really came up was Jorge. I can understand if you never thought to ask..."
The group fell silent, all feeling guilty. "In all the times we talked about our past... We never asked," Annie said, tears of sadness coming. "How was I so thoughtless?"
Rosa blinked; she really hadn't expected everyone to react like this. Annie was the only one on the verge of tears, but they all held the same expression of pain and guilt. 'I knew I had a bad feeling about telling them for a reason,' she thought, frowning. "Really, it's okay. Every time the past came up, there was always something horrible happening that was weighing on everyone's minds," she tried.
"Rosa... that's no reason for us to be lousy friends," Jasmine countered. "All the terrible stuff that happened... We should've known and had you talk about your whole life."
Rosa rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly, not wanting her friends to feel guilty like this. "None of you were lousy amigos, first of all. You were my first amigos, and you still are. You've all helped me, and Tyson, with our problems. You let me join in on the fun," she pointed out, the slight stress of the moment causing her to again blend her native language with her second language.
"But we should know more about you," Annie answered, managing to get control. "Rosa... don't be upset that you shared... It's right that you did..."
"Then please don't be upset that you never asked about my past," Rosa replied.
The team nodded. "Darkness," Yugi muttered finally. "Why does that sound... familiar?" He couldn't be sure why it did, but it did.
When Yugi said the word "Darkness", something momentarily clicked in Atticus's brain. In his mind's eye, several strange images flashed through his head. A teenage boy with blue-gray eyes and green hair. A sparkling white dormitory. A shadowy basement. Along with the images came a dull thudding in his forehead, a slight headache. And a chill ran up his spine as if he'd seen a ghost. Wincing, Atticus lifted a hand to his forehead and seemed to lose his balance for a few seconds.
"Bro?" Chazz asked in alarm.
"I-I'm okay....I think," the eldest Rhodes sibling stammered out, muttering the last part and blinking a few times. The images were gone as quickly as they'd come, and Atticus couldn't seem to bring them back. He rubbed his temple, willing the light headache away.
Yugi had seen the fear. "Atticus... take a deep breath... Try to remember, if you can..."
Atticus breathed in and out, calming himself down. But he still couldn't seem to pull up the memory that had appeared to him in pieces. "I...I can't..." he said, frowning.
Chazz frowned and moved to his brother for a hug. 'I won't lose my big brother," he thought, hugging the older boy as tightly as he could.
Atticus blinked in slight surprise and looked down at his brother, but then smiled a little. "It's okay, little brother," he soothed, placing an arm around him.
"Tell me when you remember," the youngest Rhodes whispered back.
"I will," the older boy promised.
GXGXGXGXGXGXGXGXGXGXGXGXGXGXGXGXGXGXGXGXGXGXGXGXGX
It was well into Tuesday when Jaden awoke from his drug-induced slumber. "Huh?" he asked out loud in the quiet bedroom. Only his mother, father, Kisara, and Alexis were in the room.
"Welcome back, Jaden," Kisara said gently. "You were out a long time."
"How long?" the boy asked.
"Nearly twenty-four hours, son," Hisoka answered.
"The guys stayed for a little while, but then they had to leave," Alexis added.
"How are you feeling, Jaden?" Kisara asked kindly, checking the Slifer's pulse and other vital signs.
He blinked and smiled a little, his mind clearing of figurative cobwebs. "Better..."
All four people looked relieved at both the smile and his answer. "That's great, Jay... We were all worried about you," Alexis said softly.*
Jaden looked into the eyes of the young woman he loved. "I'm sorry I scared you," he murmured softly. "Babe... forgive me..."
Alexis sighed, smiling a little. "Jaden...of course I forgive you. You didn't mean to scare me...you're more scared than I was. I'm just glad that you're feeling better," she whispered, squeezing his hand gently as she spoke.
Jaden pulled her into his arms and the three older adults quickly exited. "Let's give them some time alone," Jayda suggested.
Hisoka nodded. "Good idea, Sugar Jay."
Back in the room, Alexis wrapped her arms around Jaden, pulling herself against him in a loving embrace. And then he kissed her. 'I won't hurt her again,' he thought, keeping the pressure on her lips strong but not too strong. She melted into the kiss; it felt like it had been ages since their last. Her eyes slipped closed as she pressed back, giving a muffled sigh of comfort. The Slifer moved his hands up and down her back, through her soft blonde hair. He held her in the kiss, deepening it.
One of Alexis's hands sifted through Jaden's matted brown hair, while the other clutched at the back of his pajama shirt. She opened her mouth slightly against the kiss, tongue brushing across his lips. Jaden allowed her in and they were soon letting their tongues dance. Perhaps they'd have gone farther, but then Jaden's head remembered something his libido might not have. He broke the kiss and muttered, "My parents are in the next room..."
Alexis blinked a few times, then blushed. "Oh, uh...good thinking," she whispered back. That would be awkward for them to walk in on.
"Remember when you came home from the hospital?" he asked, blushing deeply.
"You mean...for my appendix, or after the attacks?" she answered with a question.
"After the attacks," he answered, remembering how Atticus had walked in on them.
She blushed. "Yeah, I remember that..." The couple had gotten into a reunion make-out session the day Alexis had been released, and they hadn't known Atticus was home. And they found out when he'd come into the bedroom to check on his sister. He had whooped excitedly and killed the mood. "But I don't think your mom and dad would have the same reaction," Alexis added as an after-thought, sweat-dropping.
"No... They'd just back out of the room... or yell like they did when we were in the tub..."
"Or both..."
"Yeah," he agreed sheepishly. "Well... I'm sorry I didn't tell you what was going on... And I'll tell you from now on..."
She smiled, touching her forehead to his in a gesture of affection. "It's okay... Thanks, Jay..."
Jaden closed his eyes, holding this moment in his head and heart. Alexis Harper Rhodes loved him, and that wouldn't change. "Love you, babe..."
"Love you too, Jay," she whispered happily.
GXGXGXGXGXGXGXGXGXGXGXGXGXGXGXGXGXGXGXGXGXGXGXGXGX
Jaden made his appearance out of the room on Tuesday evening. The gang celebrated his return at Ra Yellow, enjoying a full five-course meal, courtesy of Professor Sartyr. And then that night, Dr. Otani made a suggestion that stunned the group. "Maybe Jaden should move back to Slifer..."
"But Karen, I thought you said it was better that Jaden had Alexis with him," Violet said, confused.
"That I did... I'm thinking they need a change of scenery," the plump Asian woman answered calmly.
"You mean, you want both of them to move into Jaden's old room??" Syrus asked, a little surprised.
Karen nodded, smiling. "Jaden, you mentioned how happy and safe you felt there..."
"Yeah... but it's not fair to Lex," the brown-haired Slifer mused.
Alexis took his hand and offered him a smile. "Jay, I don't mind. Slifer isn't bad; I've stayed there before, remember? Besides I really only care about being with you."
Blair grinned. "It'll be nice to have another girl down there... I've been staying in Chazz's room since it has a separate shower..."
"I was wondering how you were handling the shower problem," Alexis said with a smirk. She, too, had used Chazz's room for the privacy.
"Yeah... I'm glad Chazz was so generous," Blair smiled at her sort-of-roommate.
"Yeah, yeah... I'm a saint... not," Chazz groaned with a return of his old acerbity.
Atticus grinned and ruffled his brother's hair. "Maybe not a saint, bro, but you're still a good guy."
Chazz flushed. "So... what would it take to move Lexi and Jaden down there?"
"A complete revamping of that dorm," Yugi said clearly, frowning as he had been down there himself to see the place. "Had I known what condition that dorm would be kept in, I never would have allowed such division..." The King of Games was not amused.
"You mean the Slifer dorm is finally going to get fixed up?" Syrus asked excitedly.
Yugi nodded. "I had... a conversation with Seto on the subject... And I don't know what Kisara did, but Seto is coming out personally to supervise the refurbishing and renovation of the Slifer Red dorm. What did you tell him?" he asked Kisara.
The white-blonde doctor got a slightly naughty grin on her face. "Oh... I have my ways of getting what I want from Seto... And he ultimately doesn't mind." Scout and Jayda exchanged glances, knowing that Kisara definitely got what she wanted from Seto, and he loved being manipulated. Meanwhile, the group of teens sweat-dropped, having an idea and deciding not to ask. Even if it was pretty weird thinking of Seto Kaiba, the founder of their school, in that sort of light.
Axel looked at Jesse and whispered softly, "Awkward moment... it's like walking in on... your parents..." His cocoa-brown skin gained some ruddy tones.
Jesse, too, was a bit red. "Yeah...ya never really wanna think about your teachers that way... Or in this case, your school's founder and your doctor," he whispered in his Southern accent.
"Yeah," Axel groaned softly.
"So... how long until Lex and I move in?" Jaden asked curiously.
"Hmmm... Saturday," Kisara answered. "Seto's coming out tomorrow and bringing some good contractors to get to work immediately. And he's going to take reasonable suggestions on how to improve the dorm." Predictably, the students in the room began making their suggestions.
"Definitely needs pest management. There are cockroaches...and even rats," Alexis stated, shivering. The Queen of Obelisk Blue might be tough, but she did not like the wild variety of rat or creatures that were highly likely to survive a nuclear holocaust.
"And... better windows," Jaden added.
"It could use better insulation, too," Syrus piped up.
Kisara nodded and started taking notes on a pad of paper. "And better mattresses," Bastion added. "I had kinks in my back that night I slept at Slifer..."
"Oh, and the roof leaks a lot!" Violet stated, remembering freaking after cold water slipped down her shirt one cool and rainy afternoon.
Yugi nodded. "Okay, guys... What else?"
"Better grub, sir," Tyson added. "Professor Sartyr's kept us fed and Miss Dorothy too, but still... I think we could do a little better in the food department as a general rule..."
"That's a great list... Seto is going to pay," Kisara muttered, looking both naughty and mad at her husband at the same time. "He should've known better than this..."
"Kisara?" Jayda asked.
"Seto didn't pay close enough attention to the state of Slifer... he should have," the white blonde doctor muttered, wicked and angry look not leaving her.
"Well, he is pretty busy, isn't he?" Atticus asked.
"Oh, he should've known about this," the mother/young doctor sighed. "He loves this school." The truth was, she was a bit frustrated with her husband and knew such oversight could lead to the school he loved being shut down. 'How could he be so thoughtless?' she mentally mused, eyes flashing.
Yugi realized he'd better cool her off, knowing from experience that Seto's wife was dangerous when riled up. "Kisara... he pays attention to the reports, but some things just slip past him..."
"Well... I'll talk to him tomorrow," she stated, eyes losing their flash. And so the preparations for the renovation began...
So Seto is in a little trouble with his wife for perhaps not thinking of the state of the Slifer dorms. Kisara will make him pay for that in a manner she sees fit. And Slifer is being redone. In real-world logic, any private school where rats and cockroaches were allowed to run rampant would be heavily penalized by the health department and possibly shut down. Next time, a mystery rears its head and the gang must solve it. Stay tuned, at long last, for "The Ra Mystery!" So until then, please read and review! Thank you!