Chapter XXI: Penumbra
Hello again, fans of Darkness Falls! We hope those of you who have been on vacation have enjoyed yourselves and were safe! And for those of you who are still on vacation, we hope you're having fun. Now before we begin the chapter, we have some notes to make about our universe.
First, there have been some questions about Jaden Yuki's past in this timeline and we're glad to oblige. This will differ from canon on the grounds that despite the great advances in medical science, the human brain remains unmapped, making erasure of bad memories a dubious proposition at best. Furthermore, there is a medication that can possibly weaken a person's memory of a traumatic event, but not erase it.
Anyway, when Jaden was six years old, he got the Yubel card. And as you all know, she gave him trouble. He was afraid of what she'd do, but he still cared about her, so he sent her up into space hoping it would help her like being sent into space would help the Neo-Spacian cards get stronger. But of course, he began having horrible nightmares of Yubel screaming in pain.
Nearly 7-year-old Jaden was taken to Domino Children's Hospital where he was treated for the nightmares and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. As a result of those treatments, he lost his ability to talk with duel spirits. He didn't forget Yubel, but he did lose contact with her. He was teased mercilessly by the students of Domino's Todd Beamer Elementary School and ostracized, something that followed him through junior high school.
When the opportunity to go to Duel Academy Central came up, Jaden decided he could make a fresh start. He didn't tell his new friends about Yubel, worried that they'd think him weird, though when his ability to speak to duel spirits returned, he gladly told his friends about that. It wasn't until the events of "Summer Love, Summer Fears" in our version of the Yugi-verse that Jaden felt he could tell his friends about the duel spirit he'd been close friends with and who had gone too far in trying to protect him.
Secondly, we now have to mention about how this new chapter will mark a deviation from canon in regard to the undubbed Season 4. Yusuke Fujiwara is not forgotten by everyone in this tale, but the spell he cast blocked Atticus's memory of the events in the abandoned dorm. Yusuke became one of many to disappear in the dorm, and when Atticus returned, he could tell no one of what happened. And that is where our changes to canon begin. Thank you for your attention. And onto the story…
Last time, the engaged couples discussed their wedding plans and it was decided that Pharaoh would be Jaden and Alexis's ring bearer, as Shirley the crocodile was a flower girl. The gang seemed hopeful that their nightmares had not been warnings but in the night, Annie woke up from a horrible nightmare that seemed more like a premonition. Jaden, when informed of this, bemoaned that he wouldn't get through his senior year without something bad happening. So what will happen now? Read on!
Disclaimer: Please see the previous disclaimers. We'll just be repeating ourselves.
Authors' reminder: We are deviating from canon in regard to Yusuke and Honest here. We figured the duel spirits would've figured out the truth of Honest's identity. Furthermore, we have given the abandoned dorm a name, Horakhty, after the merged form of the Egyptian god monsters.
The entire group was now confident that whatever this enemy was, they could meet it and beat it. They all seemed to think that this enemy was something called Darkness, and they wondered how it would reveal itself. But later that evening, a mysterious figure appeared on the Duel Academy grounds. A boy dressed in the elite Obelisk uniforms, formerly the uniforms of the Horakhty dorm, with sad periwinkle blue eyes and blonde hair that looked green tinged, as if it had been exposed to chlorine, stared out at where he'd found himself.
Atticus was running down the path, surfboard under his arm and backpack hanging off of his shoulder. He'd gone out for a late surfing session, and had lost track of time. Now, he was running to get back to the dorm before he'd end up being locked out, wondering if he maybe shouldn't have bothered getting dressed back into his uniform. And the young man in the uniform decided to take a risk. "Atticus?" he called out, knowing it was now or never.
The dark-haired young man slid to a halt, blinking a few times in surprise. He thought for sure that he'd been the only person out this late. "Uh...who's there?" Atticus called out, a bit nervously, looking around the surrounding woods.
The blonde teen stepped out from the shadows. "It's me, Atticus... Yusuke. Don't you remember?"
"Yusuke...?" Atticus muttered, frowning. Again, snippets of memory slammed before him, but left before they could fully register. However, even if he didn't recognize the stranger, he somehow knew him. "I... It's all a blur..."
The blue eyes shone eagerly. 'He does remember, but barely. I can help...' Out loud, he asked, "What's the last thing you remember?"
Atticus closed his eyes, trying to think. "I...I remember...blood. And...darkness... A mask, maybe..."
"Yusuke" moved a little closer. "It'll come back to you in time. In the meantime... you look different..."
Atticus opened his eyes in surprise. "I do??"
"Yeah," the boy answered. "I can't tell... but you seem different to me..."
Atty gave himself a once over. "I...don't feel any different. I mean...different from when?"
"When we knew each other... In the Horakhty dorm..."
"The Horakhty dorm??" More memories of a sparkling white building and symbols on walls appeared, causing Atticus to stumble back. He lifted a hand to his head, feeling a headache coming on.
"Atticus?" 'Yusuke' asked, moving forward to assist the nearly 20-year-old.
But when the other teen came closer, Atticus's headache only throbbed harder. Closing his eyes tightly in pain, he fell back to lean against a tree for support. "Agh...I c-can't..." Even though "Yusuke" was only trying to help, his close proximity only led to Atticus finally passing out on the forest floor. The memories flooding his subconscious and the pain of said memories had overpowered him, so his body had simply shut down in response.
"ATTICUS!!!" The teen boy beside him suddenly vanished to reveal an angel dressed in a blue gown. His hair was blonder than the teen boy that had been standing had, and was a great deal longer. His eyes were the same shade of blue however. 'What do I do now?' he wondered.
Suddenly, a few of Atticus's duel spirits appeared, surrounding their unconscious friend. They included a very grumpy Panther Warrior, some worried Scapegoats, and a Red-Eyes Black Chick. "Oh, man! It's never good when Atty passes out like this!" muttered a red Scapegoat.
"Yeah, but it had something to do with this guy! What did you do to him?!" Panther Warrior growled; he'd always had a very short temper and been protective of Atticus. Even if there was that one embarrassing event with the cape...
"Yusuke," now a winged angel, looked at the monsters with sad eyes. "I only wish to help you and him... Please let me."
Red Eyes Black Chick, essentially a Red Eyes Black Dragon in chibi form, squeaked, "You hurt Atticus somehow!"
"Chick's right! Why should we trust you?!" Panther Warrior snarled, sword in hand—um, paw.
The Scapegoats muttered amongst themselves, unsure whether to trust the angel or not. "Well...he IS an angel... Aren't they supposed to be helpful?" piped up a blue Scapegoat.
The yellow Scapegoat looked thoughtful. "Well, wasn't the Devil an angel before he turned to evil?"
The pink Scapegoat nodded in agreement. "Yeah... but that doesn't mean he's the same..."
"Well...I can help him... and I know what he meant... to my master," the angelic figure murmured.
"And just who is your master?" Panther Warrior asked for the others, still strongly against trusting this spirit.
"His name was Yusuke Fujiwara," the angel sighed. "But he is gone from this world..."
"Yusuke?! That's impossible! How can you be here when he's...well..." Panther Warrior looked away; they all knew what had happened to Yusuke, since Atticus knew in his subconscious what had actually occurred.
"I don't know why I'm here.... I know my master died...and yet... I feel his presence," the angel creature explained. "You would know me as.... Honest..."
"Honest! I remember you from when Yusuke hung around with Atty!" the red Scapegoat exclaimed, hopping a bit.
"You disappeared a little while before Yusuke did!" the blue Scapegoat added, hopping with his partner.
Red Eyes Black Chick bounced a little bit too. "Then if you're back... maybe he's not..."
"Impossible," Honest moaned. "I felt him disappear from this world..."
"He's right. Even Atticus saw it happen. But...a lot of strange things have been happening lately," Panther Warrior muttered, frowning and glancing back at his unconscious master.
Yellow Scapegoat looked back as well. "Uh... shouldn't we get some help for Atticus?"
Red Scapegoat smacked his forehead with a hoof. "Of course! Knew we were forgetting something! We gotta go tell the others so they can tell someone!!"
Honest managed to transform himself and knelt by Atticus's side. "I'll stay with him..."
"I still don't trust you... Scapegoats, Chick, you stay here too. I'll go tell the others," Panther Warrior stated before disappearing.
Blue Scapegoat sighed. "He's so stubborn!"
"How he could be so stubborn after that duel with Alexis, nobody knows," Pinky the Scapegoat stated.
Red Eyes Black Chick nodded. "Yeah... Right, Daddy?" it called to a monster that suddenly towered over the group.
Red-Eyes Black Dragon chuckled. "He wasn't this bad before that happened, son. I think...he's trying to make up for a severely bruised pride."
"Yeah... Good thing Dark Magician Girl took pictures," Yellow Scapegoat said with a naughty grin.
While most of the spirits stayed by Atticus's side, Panther Warrior quickly made his way to the Slifer dorm. It was the closest, and he knew that some of Jaden's heroes might still be around at this time.
Elemental Hero Neos, as it happened, was outside the Slifer dorms in conversation with Yubel. "You believe the threat is now upon us?" he asked.
Yubel nodded, frowning. "I can sense it. I have the whole year, but now it's much stronger. It's as if it's surrounding the entire island...but I can tell this isn't its only target," she explained.
"Perhaps we'll be able to contain it here," Neos offered, and then saw Panther Warrior out of the corner of his eye. "Panther Warrior?"
The armor-wearing cat stopped beside the two spirits, the worry obvious on his face. "Neos, Yubel, I'm glad that you're still here. You need to tell Jaden that Atticus is in trouble."
"Trouble?" Yubel asked, instantly considering it Darkness's doing.
"Yes... He passed out; I can explain more once he's taken care of," the cat warrior stated, looking back at the woods with concern in his eyes.
"Of course," Neos answered. He and Yubel, along with Panther Warrior headed through the dorm walls into Jaden's room.
"Okay, so... Alexander the Great had... the Millennium Ring?" the Slifer asked his fiancée as they were studying Dueling History for Senior Students.
Alexis sighed and rubbed her forehead. She loved her fiancé, and understood that he really was trying. But it got a bit tiresome after the fifth time. "No, Jaden..."
"Yeah he did... See?" Jaden pointed to the history book. "I was right!!!" He jumped up and down happily as Alexis sighed, smiling. "But... maybe we should take a break..."
"No time for a break, Jaden," Yubel stated as she and the other spirits appeared.
Alexis blinked in surprise, especially when she saw Panther Warrior. "Panther Warrior??"
"Yubel?" Jaden asked. "Neos, what's up?"
"Atticus is in trouble," Neos answered without preamble. "Panther Warrior can fill us in..."
"He's passed out on the trail near the main building. I can explain what happened on the way..." Panther Warrior began.
Alexis was on her feet in a heartbeat. "He's passed out?! Not again," she muttered, remembering their first year.
Jaden gripped his fiancée's hand. "It'll be okay, babe. Let's get a med kit and call Miss Fontaine! And let's get to him..." They got a medical kit from a cupboard in the room and called the nurse as they ran toward the forest.
On the way, Panther Warrior filled the two humans and two duel spirits in on what had caused Atticus's unconscious state, omitting that it was a duel spirit that had inadvertently caused it. He chose not to mention that 'Yusuke' was in fact a duel spirit, and that the real Yusuke had supposedly died in the Horakhty dorm.
When they arrived, 'Yusuke' was still kneeling at Atticus's side. "Alexis?" he asked, looking over the Obelisk girl he remembered last as a middle school student eager to follow her brother's path to Duel Academy.
Alexis blinked, frowning. The teen looked familiar to her, but she couldn't attach a name to the face. Or remember where she knew him from. "Do I...know you...?"
"My name's Yusuke... Yusuke Fujiwara," the supposed teen answered, still watching Atticus. "It's been a long time," he smiled.
Jaden smiled a little, moving forward, but then he sensed Yubel's unease. 'Yubel,' he thought/sent, 'what's wrong?'
'Whether or not he's speaking the truth, Jaden, that person isn't a human. He's definitely a duel spirit,' she sent back, frowning.
"Yusuke...your name sounds really familiar," Alexis mused, trying to remember who the person was.
"I go to school with Atticus... or I did," 'Yusuke' answered, wondering how long it would be before the humans figured out who he was. 'But I have to keep this up, because they will have no warning of the impending disaster,' he thought.
Jaden, rather than wait for Miss Fontaine, knelt at Atticus's side and began first aid. "C'mon, Atticus... wake up, man... We're right here..."
But Atticus remained unconscious, mind still trying to recuperate after the onslaught of suppressed memories. Alexis dropped down beside her brother, taking his hand. "It's okay, Atty... We're here... Miss Fontaine's on the way to help," she murmured, squeezing his hand.
The angel duel monster masquerading as Yusuke Fujiwara sighed. "How long have I been away?" he asked, not totally sure of the passage of time. "Alexis... the last time I saw you, you were at Duel Academy Prep... Are you a freshman?"
Alexis blinked in surprise looking at him. "Uh...no, I'm a senior. You knew me back then??"
"Senior? What year is this?"
"It's the spring of 2019, Yusuke," Jaden answered carefully, eyes narrowing slightly, keeping his face down so as not to let Yusuke know he suspected what was happening.
"Yusuke," predictably, looked stunned. "Four years... What happened?"
"How do you not know?" Alexis asked, staring at him in confusion and suspicion.
"I don't know where I've been," 'Yusuke' answered.
It was at this moment that Miss Fontaine arrived. At the sight of an unconscious Atticus, she groaned softly. "Oh, no... not again..." But she went straight to work. When she couldn't rouse the large Obelisk student, she met Yusuke's eyes. "Young man, I'm going to need your assistance..."
"Okay," he answered. He helped her get the young man onto a stretcher and soon they were heading to the infirmary.
'Yubel, any read on this guy?' Jaden sent to her.
'No... Aside from the fact he's a spirit, I can't find much else. He's hiding it very well,' Yubel sent back, obviously annoyed.
'Neos?'
'No idea, Jaden... but I somehow sense he has a hidden motive,' the leader of the Neo-Spacians sent.
"Jay...?" Alexis asked from beside him. She noticed he was apparently in deep thought, and was a little worried.
He met her eyes, knowing she'd get the message. "It's okay," he mouthed. She blinked, but decided to just trust him for now. Besides, he usually knew what he was doing for stuff like this...or at least she hoped he did. They made it to the infirmary quickly, and there Jaden made calls to the gang. And soon the group was crowded around their injured comrade and sizing up the newcomer.
'Yusuke' looked around at the gang. "Syrus Truesdale... you haven't changed much," he grinned at the bluenette.
Syrus was startled, staring at the stranger who somehow knew his name. He looked familiar, but even with a name he couldn't remember from where. "Y-You know me??"
"Yeah. Your brother and I were buddies. You were attending Domino Middle School, the last I checked... But you're dueling?"
"Uh...yeah. But, wait, you were friends with Zane??" Syrus tried to think back on his big brother's friends, but only Atticus came to mind.
"Yeah. It's been a while. We met at Duel Academy Prep and spent some time together. I don't think we were at your house much..." The angel spirit was lying here. The boys had met at Duel Academy, but hadn't been friends earlier. Syrus scratched the back of his head, a little confused. Surely his brother would have mentioned Yusuke. "It's been too long, but that's okay," Yusuke soothed, smiling a little.
Annie moved forward and introduced herself. Something caught her attention when she touched his hand. 'Huh?' she thought. And then Rei, the Guardian of Mars appeared next to her. 'Rei, what is it?' she sent.
'Annie...he's definitely not a human,' the black-haired spirit sent. She was staring at Yusuke with her fiery gaze, seeing straight through his guise like the other spirits.
'Does he intend to hurt us, Rei?'
'I...don't think so. It's hard to sense anything aside from the fact that he's a duel spirit,' the fairy monster answered.
Annie nodded. 'Thanks, Rei...'
Jasmine, sitting at Atticus's side, had no ears for the group greetings. "Atty... please come back to me," she pleaded softly.
Alexis was sitting beside Jasmine. "He will...he always does..." she muttered, frowning. And this time there wasn't going to be any Shadow Riders to mess things up.
"We'll stay with you until he wakes up, Alexis," Mindy said.
"Yeah, sis... We're not leaving," Chazz added, his gray eyes burning with intensity.
Alexis smiled; Atticus was going to have a lot more people to wake up to. "Thanks, guys...bro..."
Miss Fontaine, over at her desk, smiled. She remembered the events of two years ago when Atticus had been brought in along with Jaden and how no one in the then small group had left either boy. "You kids can stay, but remember, you all have class in the morning. Yusuke... we'll have to find you a room again..."
"Yes, ma'am," he said eagerly, thinking his plan had worked.
"Yusuke........what........" Atticus groaned, face contorting into an expression of pain and confusion. He was going through clips of memory in his unconscious state, reliving certain pieces. Stumbling upon Yusuke in the basement. Seeing the blood. Taking the mask.
"Bro?" Chazz asked, eyes wide with worry.
"Atty..?" Alexis murmured, taking his hand. She hated the feeling of déjà vu she was getting.
"...don't....go..." Atticus moaned, brows furrowing as he grimaced. Yusuke was disappearing, fading away. Again.
'Yusuke' sat close to the bed, frowning in concern. "He's with you, Atticus... you're not alone..."
Alexis looked over at 'Yusuke', eyes narrowing in suspicion. "What do you mean? Do you know what he's dreaming about?"
'Oh no,' Honest/ 'Yusuke' thought. So he tried to cover. "Ooh," he moaned softly, feigning a headache. He held his hand to his head, closing his eyes. "I... can't remember much."
"Are you okay?" Syrus asked.
"Just... a headache, I think," 'Yusuke' explained, keeping up the act. Miss
Fontaine raced into the room and helped him to a bed close to Atticus. "Just rest," she said. "It'll pass."
"Thank you, Miss Fontaine," he answered, lying down. After a while, the room got quiet. "Lex," Jaden whispered about an hour after nearly everyone else was asleep.
"Hmm? What is it, Jay?" she whispered. Alexis had even begun to doze off, though she tried staying awake in case Atticus woke up.
"About earlier... I don't think he's who he says he is..."
"Who? Yusuke?" The young man nodded, face grave. "Why??"
He met her eyes and held her gaze. "Yubel sensed something."
She frowned. "Well...what did she sense?"
Jaden lowered his voice as far as he could without making himself inaudible. "She senses that he's a duel spirit..."
Alexis's eyes widened. "But...that doesn't make sense. How is he doing this?" She whispered, referring to looking human and being tangible.
"I'm not sure," the young man answered. "But... we have to find out..."
"How?"
And Jaden Kiyo Yuki, never one with complete plans, stayed true to form. "I don't know..."
Alexis nearly face-planted, but managed to stop herself and sighed instead. "Well, unless we figure out how, we can't..."
"Yeah, I know," he groaned softly. Over on one set of chairs, Bastion muttered equations in his sleep. Violet had managed to flip around so that her head was hanging off of the seat, muttering equations of a different kind. Rosa and Tyson were drifting on another set of chairs, just on the verge of sleep.
Tyson, on the edge of sleep, opened his eyes slightly. "Sarge? Everything okay?" he asked groggily.
"It's okay, Private, go back to sleep," Jaden answered softly.
"You heard him," Rosa muttered, shifting against him to get more comfortable. Syrus sat in another chair beside Annie, glasses slightly askew as he dozed. Because of their height difference, Sy was using Annie's chest as a pillow while she rested her head on his head.
"Mmm," she muttered softly in her sleep.
Jesse's head was dropped back over the back of his chair, snoring lightly and looking much like a certain Slifer. Jim's visible eye was closed, arms crossed over his chest as Shirley slept at his feet. It was hard to tell if he was actually sleeping, though.
Axel had taken up guard at the door, knowing that if a threat presented itself, he would be ready to fight it. Adrian, meanwhile, was typing information into his mini-laptop computer of what nature, no one knew.
GXGXGXGXGXGXGXGXGXGXGXGXGXGXGXGXGXGXGXGXGXGXGXGXGX
The next morning, the gang raced to class and took an exam. And every available moment they had, they were in the infirmary waiting for Atticus to wake up. But it wasn't until late in the day that Atticus seemed to finally be waking up. The sun was already dropping past the trees when he showed the first signs of coming out of it.
"Atty? It's okay," Jasmine murmured, holding his left hand in her hands.
"Yeah, bro," Chazz added softly, Mindy at his side.
"Come on, bro... You can come out of it," Alexis muttered quietly. It was only half a minute, but it seemed like an hour when Atticus's eyes finally opened. They were out of focus from being unconscious for such a long period, and he was obviously very confused.
"Welcome back, Atticus," 'Yusuke' smiled.
Atticus blinked, staring at Yusuke...but seeming to look right through him. "...Who are you??"
"It's me... Yusuke Fujiwara... Remember?"
Though he had spent most of his unconscious time reliving the memories of Yusuke, he now couldn't remember any of them. "Yusuke...n-no," he answered.
"Atticus doesn't remember you, Yusuke," Chazz asserted softly, "and you don't have any memory of the past four years... Why is that?"
"I... don't know," 'Yusuke' answered, eyes shifting slightly.
"Why am I in the infirmary?" Atticus asked. He was having trouble remembering what exactly had happened before he passed out; heck, he couldn't even remember doing so.
"You saw me and passed out, Atticus... You had some sort of headache," Yusuke tried again, gently. 'Should I make them all think they know me?' he wondered.
"It's so hard to remember," Atticus murmured, reaching up to hold his head.
"Just relax, big bro," Chazz soothed.
Jasmine moved to brush her boyfriend's brown bangs. "Atty... it's okay... just let yourself get better..."
"Just rest and relax, bro," Alexis added, placing a hand over his. Atticus sighed, resting back against his pillows. He was really getting annoyed with this not remembering problem.
The young adults looked at whom they were beginning to regard as an intruder. And Honest could sense it. 'I need to hypnotize them,' he thought, preparing to use his powers. But luckily, the other duel monsters intervened.
"No... Please don't do that," Avian said, appearing before the angel monster. "They can help you..."
"But..."
Burstinatrix appeared as well, arms folded over her chest. "It may be hard to believe at first, but this whole group isn't like most of the students at this school. They'll want to help."
"But... they will be in danger," Honest explained to the duel spirits, not realizing that their human friends could hear everything now.
Usagi, in her Angelic Guardian of the Moon costume, explained, "It's all right. They know danger is coming and they know they have to face it. Yubel's friend, Jaden has fought and won against the forces that have threatened us all before..."
Yubel appeared, nodding. "If you reveal yourself to them now and help them, they will be stronger against the oncoming Darkness. You must tell them what you know and lend them your powers..."
"Don't run from them, as you're thinking of doing... Live up to your name, Honest, and be honest with them. Jaden and Alexis know the truth, but have not revealed what they know about you. Let them help," Usagi finished, meeting the angel's blue eyes with her own.
Honest took a deep, yet shaky breath. Bastion caught it. "Yusuke, are you all right?" he asked curiously.
"My name... isn't really Yusuke," the young man's clone said slowly.
Jaden and Alexis exchanged glances, wondering if he was about to give himself up. "Wait, what do you mean that's not your name??" Violet asked, confused.
'Yusuke's' figure began to blur, glowing with light. "Yusuke is the name of my human friend... and he did know Atticus and Zane Truesdale. My name... is Honest," the angel monster said, revealing his true form.
The trappings of the teen boy fell away to reveal an angel figure. Bastion blinked. "A duel spirit? How is this possible? I've been unable to see them!" He'd been able to see them once, but then as a young man of science, had turned away from the ability, deeming it a child's fantasy. But now, he could not deny the evidence in front of him.
"Crikey... So that's a duel spirit?" Jim muttered; he too had been unable to see them.
"Dios mio," Rosa murmured a few words in Spanish and crossed herself upon sight of Honest's angelic form.
Atticus blinked and stared at the spirit. "Honest...?" Though his memories of Yusuke had been suppressed, his memories of the duel spirit hadn't been.
Honest nodded. "I'm here to help... and hopefully be helped. Atticus... you remember nothing of my friend, do you?" The other teens had various expressions of shock on their faces at the sight of the angel monster and couldn't say a word.
Atticus frowned. "I...do... But...I can't… get to them," he tried to explain, knowing it probably sounded stupid.
"You can't remember because whatever happened was so bad, part of you doesn't want to," Chazz explained, his eyes getting a faraway look.
Atticus looked over at his brother in surprise. "How...how did you know?" That sounded exactly like what his problem was.
"There are... some things I didn't want to remember," the youngest Rhodes sibling explained, still with that peculiar expression on his face. "But... you need to remember them, bro... Not all at once, but... soon..."
Atticus sighed, closing his eyes. "I know... I keep trying, but then this happens." Many nights he had tried unlocking the memories buried in his mind, only to pass out and wake up in the morning with nothing. It was like there was a locked door, and he had the key, but it was lost among hundreds of others. And with each failed try he got further and further away from the door.
Jasmine kept grip on her love's hand. "It's okay... It'll come... Don't force it..." His face was white from the strain of trying to remember.
Miss Fontaine raced into the room again and took the young man's pulse. "He needs to just calm down right now... Just relax, Atticus..."
The sick Obelisk took in a few deep breaths, trying to do as Miss Fontaine told him to. He sighed, frowning. "I know, I know... It's just hard... I've been waiting for it to come for four years..."
Honest laid his hand on Atticus's shoulder, using some of his energy to calm the young man's body and mind. "Just rest now... things will be okay... and perhaps you will remember when you wake up..." Atticus blinked a few times, all of a sudden feeling very sleepy. It was only a minute before he drifted off to sleep thanks to Honest's powers. "I have powers of suggestion," the angel creature admitted softly as Atticus rested. "I was thinking of using them to make you think you remembered Yusuke..."
"Remembering someone we didn't even know... How could you do that?" Syrus asked.
"I... can hypnotize people. But perhaps someone with strong resistance or a strong duel spirit wouldn't be able to be controlled," Honest mused.
"So...can you tell us more about the real Yusuke?" Alexis inquired, wanting to remember her brother's friend.
"Of course," Honest answered, smiling lightly. Miss Fontaine, wisely, said nothing. It seemed that the abnormal would always be normal at Duel Academy and that she might as well accept it. The group sat around the room, ready to listen.
Bastion looked completely stunned. "This... this is impossible..."
Violet offered her fiancé a grin as she held his hand. "Just listen, Bastion-baby. I'll talk to you about all of this later," she whispered.
Bastion nodded, dumbly. And so Honest began his tale. "I was bonded to Yusuke when he was very young. His parents died and he thought they abandoned him. It was then that I revealed myself to him and told him that I would be his family. He was adopted over a year after his parents died, but he didn't trust the people who took him in. He feared being forgotten as he felt he had been by his parents. But then he came to Duel Academy and met Atticus and Zane..."
"Hey...now that I think about it, when you were pretending to be Yusuke, you were wearing the same uniform as Zane and Atticus. Was he in that special dorm too?" Syrus asked. He remembered Zane telling him about the Horakhty dorm before it became the notorious abandoned dorm.
"He was in the Horakhty dorm," Honest confirmed. "Yusuke was a brilliant duelist, but his loneliness and his fear of being alone proved to nearly be his undoing... He began looking in books for information on how to forget the people he had loved and lost, but...what he did... backfired..." The angel moaned softly in pain at this memory, and was partly thankful Atticus was blocking out what Honest did not know for certain. 'But I have surmised what he did... Perhaps I don't want to know. But I must know,' he thought.
"You okay there, Honest?" Jesse asked. They could all see the obvious pain in the spirit's expression.
Ruby Carbuncle materialized on Jesse's shoulder. Most of the time, she spoke in a language that humans could not understand, but communicated only with Jesse in their minds. And now, she asked him telepathically, "May I try helping?"
Jesse smiled, patting the fox-like spirit on the head. "Sure thing, Ruby."
The little creature hopped down from Jesse's shoulder and hopped onto the foot of Atticus's sick-bed. "Honest... please talk," she offered telepathically. "Whatever happened, it wasn't your fault..."
Honest groaned softly. "I promised to protect him..." Ruby brushed against the angel-spirit in an attempt to comfort him. And he absently scratched her behind the ears. He found some strength in that, and managed to continue, "One evening, he came to our room with books and told me he had found a way to perform a ritual... But he didn't wish me harmed in the process. So he laid his deck down and left it in his room. I had no choice but to stay behind. And then... I felt him cry out... Then... nothing..." A tear came down Honest's glowing cheek. "I couldn't sense him anymore..."
"You mean...you think he's..?" Alexis couldn't quite ask the question.
"I think so," Honest confirmed. "But... I'm no longer sure... How can I still be tethered to this world if my human friend is gone?"
"Well...isn't there two types of gone?" Violet asked suddenly.
"There are... but... I thought I felt him die... Now, I am not sure," Honest said, confused.
"But if his soul ended up trapped in a place like the Shadow Realm, then it would feel like he died... I mean, what if there's something that trapped his soul and his body?" Violet was trying to explain the thoughts in her head, and as usual was having problems getting it out right.
"I don't know," Honest answered softly.
"Maybe... I can help," a sweet feminine voice asserted. A young blonde woman with green eyes, and wearing a feminine version, in pink and blue of the Dark Magician's clothing, appeared. "Hello, everyone!" the Dark Magician Girl said cheerfully. Bastion's eyes were as wide as saucers.
Violet patted him on the head. "Remember, we'll talk later," she muttered to her love. Oh, that was going to be a fun talk.
"Hi, Dark Magician Girl!" Syrus greeted cheerfully.
"Hi, Dark Magician Girl," Annie greeted as well. In her first year, when she had developed feelings for the then-Slifer boy, she suspected that his heart had belonged to the very lovely creature. But now, she knew that not to be the case. That didn't stop her from being slightly jealous. 'How does she look so much better than me?!' Annie thought.
"Hey, Annie, Syrus," the monster girl greeted eagerly.
"Dark Magician Girl, you said you could help us with this? How?" Violet asked, catching her best friend's jealousy and deciding to get to the point quickly.
"Well, I know the difference between humans being trapped and being dead," the pretty duel monster answered. "And... death is like a cold hole where the person once was... There is no return from it..."
"So...how can we know if Yusuke's dead or trapped?" Alexis questioned, hoping the duel spirit would have an answer.
"Honest... what do you feel that makes you unsure?" DMG tried. Everyone leaned forward and listened.
The angel spirit thought carefully, reaching out. "I... feel his presence... ever so slightly. It's as if... he's not entirely here..."
Alexis blinked suddenly, remembering. "Wait...that's what I felt when Atticus disappeared."
Dark Magician Girl met Alexis's eyes. "You felt that?"
Alexis nodded. "It's why I didn't give up on him... I knew he was still out there… somewhere." She smiled softly at the sleeping teen as she said this.
"That's why you were so sure that whole time," Jaden realized.
"Like when we ran into you near the abandoned dorm," Syrus added, the pieces fitting together easily.
"Yes. Alexis, you didn't give up because you could tell he was alive, as could his monster friends," Honest agreed. "And now... I sense it... He's alive... but trapped..."
"If it's the Shadow Realm again... That might be what Atticus can't remember," Alexis said thoughtfully.
"The Pharaoh stopped the Shadows from destroying the world again... but evil can only be held at bay... It can never be entirely eradicated," the female mage sighed sadly.
Annie moved forward to her. "Dark Magician Girl... it'll be okay... We'll hold it back again," she soothed. Sure, Annie might be slightly jealous, but she could hold back that jealously. And the truth was she liked Dark Magician Girl.
"Yeah. We've done it before, too. And whatever's going to happen...we'll stand against it," Syrus added determinedly.
Honest was smiling now. "He's alive... he's alive," he murmured over and over again.
The spellcaster smiled, remembering when the Pharaoh had been reborn in Yugi. It was like sunshine.
"You feel good?" Annie asked her.
"Yeah... just remembering," Dark Magician Girl answered softly. "It's good to know when someone comes back to you..."
"You mean like when the Pharaoh came back to you?" Violet asked, smiling.
The blonde sorceress nodded, smiling in bliss. "I remember that day... And now Honest is having that day..." Annie nodded, smiling too. And her slight jealousy drew its last breath and died.
Honest has managed to make himself known to the group, and unlike in canon, he didn't get destroyed or tethered to Jaden before he died. And now, Bastion has regained his talent to see duel spirits that he lost at a young age. This is conjecture on your authoresses' part, but we believe it is not an unreasonable one. As for Jim, it's never been established that he could or couldn't sense duel spirits. So we went with it. Anyway, next time… "Nightfall." Please join us then, so until then, please read, review and stay tuned! Thank you!