Chapter LVIII: Lonely No More

Welcome back, everyone to Darkness Falls! Again, it's Peach's fault for not getting this up quickly. She has been taking a course in Victorian literature and had to write her first course paper in almost eight years. It's fun to read a lot of new books but to write an academic paper after so long is… unnerving. Anyway, before we begin this latest chapter, we are pleased to announce that 15animefreak15 has won DeviantArt's Valentine's Day Contest with her Ed, Edd and Eddy story. It's worth a read, folks! And thank you all, as always, for your patience and your continued reading and reviews. And now, we continue!

Last time on Yu-Gi-Oh GX: Darkness Falls… Zane and his fiancée, Jackie announced that they were expecting their first child. Zane's parents were happy, but Jackie's parents reacted badly. Zane and Jackie made arrangements for her to come out to Duel Academy so they could marry away from prying eyes. And then the rest of the gang began preparations for the final battle against Darkness's remnants. So what will happen when Violet confronts her darkest shadows? Read on! And no, WE DON'T OWN THE YU-GI-OH franchise or its related characters! Seriously! We only own stuff that we don't profit from!

Warning: Off-color language.

The group headed back to the infirmary and everyone knew it was time to help Violet deal with her darkness. It was about 10 AM now, and they had all eaten breakfast. "We'll need to set up a lounge here in the main building for this," Fonda said thoughtfully as she and Annie went into the nurse's office alcove. "What you kids did before was brilliant. What can we do to help this time?" she asked Annie.

"Well... we need a lounge chair this time that Violet can stretch out on..." Annie started to pace a little, thinking it through. "We'll need a clean linen scented candle and some freshly laundered blankets... She needs to be as relaxed as possible..."

"Okay, we can make that happen," Fonda nodded. "When you're ready, you can get her."

The teen girl nodded too. "Violet?" Annie called to her friend.

"Yeah, Annie?" Violet called back from Bastion's bedside.

"We're going to set up a room... and then it's your turn to work through your darkness..."

"O-okay..." It was obvious that she wasn't very confident about what was going to happen.

Annie shivered, sensing the lack of confidence. And yet she went to work with the others to set up the room down the hall. They set up candles, a lounger and the blankets, and then Annie went to get Violet. She padded into the room where Bastion remained sedated. "Hey, Violet," she said softly, laying a hand on her friend's shoulder.

Violet didn't look up at Annie at first, her grassy green eyes locked onto her slumbering lover's face. She gripped his hand tightly in her own, and her own face was a swirling torrent of emotions. "Hey..."

"The room's set up, Violet... it's time..."

Katai, sitting next to Hiro, looked up at Annie. "You mean..?"

"Yeah," the dark-haired 17-year-old girl explained gently. "Violet... it's going to be okay..."

Violet squeezed Bastion's hand a little. "No, it's not," she muttered. Darkness's shadow was speaking to her the same way it had to Bastion when he'd tried jumping. "You guys are gonna think I'm such a baby... that I'm a wimp..." Images of the group laughing at her and abandoning her filled her head.

"No we won't," Annie murmured softly. She knew Darkness's influence was still strong in her best friend's mind. And so she would counter with the truth. "We all had things in our minds and hearts that people might think us wimpy for... And yet, none of us laughed at each other. We won't laugh at you, Violet... Please... Your life and Bastion's life depends on this... Please, Violet..."

Violet hung her head low, eyes closed. It was obvious that she didn't fully believe Annie. "...Fine..."

Katai stood up from her chair and moved to her daughter-in-law. "Sweetheart... I'm right with you... And I won't laugh, either... It's obvious you're hurting and you need to finally heal..."

"I'll remain here with Bastion, in case he wakes up," Hiro added.

Violet hesitated for a moment, but then kissed the knuckles of the hand she held. "I… I'll be back, Bastion," she stammered, slowly getting to her feet.

Bastion chose this moment to stir. He murmured in his unconsciousness, "Be free, Violet..." Whether or not it was a desire for her to be free of her demons or simply for her to let him go, no one could be sure.

Annie and Katai jerked in alarm. "He's going to try again," Katai moaned. "Violet..."

But Violet sensed something else from the words. "Maybe... or maybe not," she murmured softly.

Annie's face tightened. "What?" What Bastion had done made her fearful and perhaps she misread what he said.

"Maybe... he means it in a different way..." Violet didn't appear to be any more sure of her words than the others.

"Violet... he might... But for his sake, you have to confront this, and for your sake, too," Annie said shakily.

"I know..."

"Then... let's do this..."

The three women headed out of Bastion's room, out of the infirmary and down to the special lounge room. The room was illuminated only by candlelight and every member of the group was in there. The teachers were in another room observing, like they had those nights in Ra Yellow. Jaden smiled softly. "Hey, Violet," he greeted gently.

Violet was a little surprised by the set-up. It was dim, and the room was filled with her favorite scent. Almost the instant she'd entered the room, she'd felt her body relax. "Hey, Jay..."

"C'mon over. We fixed a special place for you to lie down," he explained, taking her arm and guiding her to the lounge chair, covered in blankets. He remembered the night he had dealt with his own darkness. And he knew Violet needed reassurance as all of them did. "Just relax... Let whatever's going on in you come up..."

"Thanks..." Violet sat down on the chair, slipped off her shoes, and then laid down. It reminded her of old cartoons where someone would do exactly what she was and talk to a therapist. Then that reminded her of when she had gotten actual counseling, twice, though not in the same way as this. It made her nervous all over again, and she frowned.

Everyone got comfortable in their seats, Zane looking around curiously, but eager to help in any way he could. "All right, Violet," Annie began, "just relax and remember that we're all here for you. You're safe here and you're among the people who love you... Whatever has been hurting you must be brought to the surface and reckoned with. To defeat your darkness, you must confront it head on. Whatever you need to get off your chest, we will all listen and help you through it. Go back as far as you need to..."

Violet nodded slightly, closing her eyes as her hands clung to each other tightly. She knew what her darkness was, what the problem was. It had been haunting her for years, even before the Mike incident. That had only made it worse. No, this problem started back much farther than that. And she'd known about it for even longer. "I know what you guys are thinking... that this all probably started with Mike... but it didn't... I didn't even know Cherri, Triana, and Mike when it started... I hardly knew anyone, and I only had one real friend. Her name was Courtney..."

Annie started slightly at this but maintained her composure. 'If there's any time I needed clinical detachment, it's now,' she thought. "Tell us about Courtney..."

Violet smiled a little at the memory of her first friend. "I was so different back then. Shy, quiet, curious and mischievous but scared of a lot of things. Courtney had blond hair and brown eyes, and she was in my kindergarten class. We had a lot in common, and we became friends. We'd play together all the time... and she was so much braver and more outgoing than I was. She helped me get over my fear of bees, and got me to try new things. Bobby was thirteen then, so all I really had was her.

"But then... a little while after we entered the first grade... she left. Her dad was never around, so her mom moved from job to job, house to house. They'd moved a few times while we were friends, but never far away. Until then... she was moving to New York. Her mom had found a good job there, and... and I was happy for them. But... after she left... I was alone again..." Violet's face tightened from the ache, and her eyes opened slightly in a show of sadness. "I never saw or heard from her again after that..."

"How did that make you feel?" Annie asked, knowing the obvious answer, but also knowing Violet had to state the feelings to let them out.

"I was sad... and a little angry, I guess. I was mad that she left and made me all alone again... I didn't know if I'd be able to make another friend," Violet muttered, closing her eyes again. The scent of clean linen washed over her anew.

"And when did you make other friends after that?"

"I was actually surprised... not long after, I met Triana and we became friends. She was different from Courtney, more like me- but still more outgoing and popular. But she brought out the me you guys know... we became even closer than Courtney and I had been... At first, I was worried that she might leave, too. But eventually... I thought that maybe this time, I wouldn't be left alone again."

"You were friends a long time, weren't you?" Zane asked.

Violet nodded. "Years. Around a decade, actually. And for a while, we stayed that way. I met Mike and Cherri soon after that, and we were all so close... Even if I wasn't popular and the other kids made fun of me, I knew I would always have a friendly table to sit at during lunch. And friends to hang out and have fun with after school, on the weekends, and over break. It was perfect... I thought it would last for a long time... maybe even after graduation... Back then, I was planning on staying in normal schooling. Becoming a chef."

"And then Mike changed all that," Tyson growled dangerously. He'd heard it all, and even though Mike was still serving his sentence, that didn't stop the dinosaur-obsessed duelist from wanting to go medieval on the abuser's butt.

Rosa placed a calming hand on her fiancé's arm, knowing that anger wouldn't help right now. Violet tensed a little. "Y-yeah... I guess I didn't know it then, but... I was still hurting from when Courtney left, years ago. Instead of facing it and accepting it, I buried it... which probably made what happened all the more worse. I was so happy when Mike asked me out; I'd had a crush on him for a while.

"I knew that Triana did, too, but she seemed to accept it and was happy for us. I remember our first slow dance... our first kiss... our first Christmas... I can see now, that I was blind. I was so in love with him, so glad to not be alone, that I brushed off his advances. When he'd try getting us to go further. And then I pretended not to notice when he'd start staring at Triana more, hold her hand sometimes... I… I thought he was just being friends with her, like always..." Her face scrunched up as her voice became strained, and her eyes started to grow wet from the memories.

"And then that day happened," Aster said, blue eyes flashing dangerously. He'd heard what had happened once he'd become a full member of the gang and it made him mad as well. "And you were alone again..."

Violet nodded, and the tears started to flow. "I knew, r-right then, that... that they were gone. H-how could I be fr-friends with them anymore? I thought I'd at least h-have Cherri, but... a few days later she called. Said that her f-family was moving to... to Canada. We both cried... b-because really, we were all each other had. And... and suddenly... it had happened again. B-but this time, it was so much worse... I didn't have a-anyone to run to anymore; I was alone at school with no friends. It hurt so much, I..." Violet stopped, sobs shaking her words and crumpling her body. She didn't want to go on, to tell how she had felt during those long months, what she had done, what she had thought. They probably wouldn't believe her. Only Mary knew the whole truth.

They all sensed it. Jaden looked at his friends, his lover and his brothers-in-law, particularly Atticus. "Violet... don't hold it back," he said softly. "If you do, it's only gonna get worse... Whatever it is... we'll get through it..." While he hadn't had Violet's experience, he knew what remaining silent could do. Violet shook her head, still crying into her hands. It was going to take a little more than that to make her go farther, into deeper, darker territory. She almost wished that Mary could tell them for her, but she knew that would do nothing.

Abruptly, Annie moved from her place near Violet's lounge chair and pulled her best friend into a hug. "Violet..."

Violet flinched badly at the sudden contact, but then moved into the hug when she realized what it was. "A-Annie... I can't... I d-don't want to..."

"You have to... Violet... I'm right here with you..."

And then another person joined the hug. "Violet... angel... Please, sweetheart... I'll walk that path with you... no matter where it goes," Katai added.

Violet shuddered, comforted but still frightened about telling this next part. She leaned into Katai, only second to her own mother, as her sobs started to wind down. "D-do I have to?"

Katai squeezed both girls in her strong yet delicate arms. "You have to, sweetie... Your fate and Bastion's rides on this..."

Violet knew the older woman was right. The two parents, everyone, were counting on her to get through this. She had to if she was going to help Bastion get through his own problems. 'If only he were here with me,' she thought sadly. "F-fine... I'll k-keep going," she muttered. And then as the two other women released from the hug, something pressed against Violet's chest and reflected pinkish light in the room. It was the symbol of Bastion's eternal love for Violet and it hung around her neck, where it had been since last summer on that late June morning he had proposed.

Wiping away a few tears, Violet carefully wrapped her fingers around the delicate, rosy crystal. The two sapphire eyes looked up at her, and a warm feeling spread through her chest. It was almost as if he was right there, holding her as she continued. She closed her eyes to imagine him there. "I eventually got so depressed that Mom and Dad had me see a counselor. Around that time, I was going through what I thought was depression. Now I know it also might have been bi-polar syndrome... Before I was diagnosed with depression and got medicine from a doctor, I was a mess...

"There were only a few rare moments in the day when I wasn't crying or raging. I felt such a deep sadness... and at the same time such a fierce rage... That part of me wanted to make Mike pay... to even make Triana and Cherri pay, though they hadn't meant to hurt me... I'd never felt that way before... Knowing that no matter how angry I was, I couldn't hurt them with my fists, I came up with another method. I began to build a second deck... it had aliens, too, but... but they were monsters. And... And I made them worse, I'm sure of it. By filling each card with my anger and hate... It was… is… an evil deck... I still have it, even now... I didn't have the guts to throw it away..."

"Where is it?" Jaden ventured.

"I... I need Tiffles," Violet stammered nervously.

"Want me to go get him?" Jaden offered, knowing he could run fast and get the cuddly plush toy. Violet nodded silently, fidgeting nervously in her seat. She hadn't even looked at that deck since just before she came to Duel Academy. "It'll be okay, Violet... I'll be right back!" Jaden ran from the room alone, and out the academy's main building. As he ran he sensed a familiar presence at his side. "Yubel? Any idea what we're dealing with?" he asked verbally.

Yubel frowned as she flew beside him. "I'm not sure, Jaden. From what she said, I can only guess. It sounds kind of like what happened to me, but different. Instead of being changed by a supernatural force, these spirits were corrupted by the emotions being fed to them as they were collected by Violet. They were put together for one purpose and one purpose only; to cause pain. For revenge," she explained.

"So it's kinda like the Heart of the Cards got... corrupted," he said, trying to understand. "Right?"

She nodded. "I think so. That sounds about right, anyway. The problem is that even though you were able to 'cure' me, I don't know if you'll be able to 'cure' them. This is a different case..."

"Yeah..." Jaden remembered what he'd initially sensed from Aster's deck... anger. He and Yubel reached Obelisk and the Misawa-Haverbrook/Truesdale-Hanson suite and he raced into Violet and Bastion's room. On the bed was Tiffles the Watapon. And then Jaden sensed it. An almost black aura rose from the plushie and buffeted Jaden like a strong wind. "Oh, man," he groaned, stepping forward.

Yubel winced. "I feel it, too. Such a strong feeling of anger and hatred... it's no wonder she kept it hidden. Who knows the consequences if one ever tried dueling with such a deck," she murmured in awe.

Jaden kept moving to Tiffles the Plush. He picked it up and shivered. "It's in here... Why didn't I pick up on it before?"

"Perhaps it was because you didn't know about it. Also, I can sense the spirit of the actual Tiffles here as well. I think it was blocking the aura before, but let you sense it now..."

"Yeah... We'd better get back..." Jaden and Yubel again moved quickly, the young man holding the plush toy like it was a bomb about to go off. He raced back to the main building and handed it to Violet, the fear of the deck in his eyes.

Violet saw it and bit her lower lip, getting the same sensation when her favorite plush was in hand. "I... I told you it was bad..."

Suddenly, each of the other group members' duel spirits appeared with them in protective posture. "Your deck is very, very angry," Usagi, dressed as the Guardian of Pure Dreams stated, her bright blue eyes wide with terror at what she sensed.

Gyroid had appeared next to Syrus, his cartoon eyes in a classic wild take. "That thing's really mad!"

Red-Eyes Black Chick appeared on Atticus's lap, squeaking fearfully and shaking in its shell.

Beside Alexis appeared Cyber Tutu, who also wore an apprehensive look. "It's scarier than Cyber Blader when she's mad!"

Seaside Gull appeared on Rosa's shoulder, his feathers ruffled. "Oh my goodness! And I thought my mistress was scary!" he muttered in Spanish.

The three Ojamas had appeared on Chazz's shoulder. "I'm gonna need new bikini briefs," Ojama Yellow whimpered, huddling with his brothers.

"Eww, that is disgusting," Amethyst Cat groaned.

"Well, I'm going to need a new shell," Emerald Turtle moaned, eliciting another shocked exclamation from the other Crystal Beasts.

Violet toyed with one of the plush's fuzzy antennae. "I told you guys it was bad... it's even freaking out the duel spirits..."

At that moment, the spirit Tiffles appeared. "Normally, no one would sense it. I usually block it out."

"So... how do we take care of this thing?" Blair wondered, Maiden in Love standing next to her. "I mean... it's not like a bomb we can disarm... is it?"

"I... I don't know. I'm not even sure if it's safe to take it out, but... I'll have to if we're going to try anything," Violet muttered, frowning nervously.

"Yeah... We've got to sense this thing full on," Jaden murmured.

"Are... are you guys sure? I don't know what's gonna happen..."

The young adults and students nodded. Blair took a deep breath. "Violet, we saw Atticus through a literal firestorm... We have to see you through this... All of us do."

Violet nodded; they had a good point. Swallowing down her nerves and digging up her courage, she slowly pulled down a zipper hidden beneath the toy's fur. Reaching into the stuffing, a familiar jolt shot through her when her fingers brushed the cards. It was so strong that it made Violet literally jump in her seat, eyes wide and hair standing on end.

The aura that Jaden had sensed earlier now came out full force. Everyone in that room, even those who couldn't see duel spirits shook from the impact of the dark deck. And in the observation room, the teachers who were standing wobbled. "What in the world?" Vellian Crowler gasped at the dark wave buffeting him.

Don Sartyr's eyes narrowed. "This has just gotten very serious..."

Andrew Shepherd shuddered. "Extremely serious, everyone... brace yourselves!"

Violet, wanting to get it over with, grabbed the deck and pulled it out in one quick motion. Instantly, she gasped, and dropped the cards as if they had shocked her. They fell to the floor, spreading out in a messy heap face-up. The images, which had already been illustrated to look monstrous, had somehow become even more menacing so over time.

One of the fallen cards seemed to stare right through Annie. It was of a white monster, known as Alien Mother. It frightened the Moon Kingdom deck holder, and yet entranced her at the same time. She reached for it and too late, Usagi shouted, "ANNIE, DON'T!!"

Annie picked up the card... And then it felt like fire racing through her veins. She screamed as if she was being torn apart from within. The hatred, anger and other dark emotions rent her very spirit with their force.

"ANNIE!" Violet shouted fearfully, eyes wide as she reached out and grabbed her best friend's arm.

Mary appeared in an instant, face a mixture of fear and anger. "Shit! I wasn't fast enough! I forgot to warn you not to touch the cards!!" she cursed, fists clenched. Annie didn't answer. Her eyes had gone horribly blank, like a person either unconscious... or dead. And yet, she remained standing like a marionette whose master held the strings but did not move her.

"A-Annie?" Violet whispered worriedly, moving her grip to the unmoving hand as her heart pounded in her chest.

Mary's eyes slowly narrowed. "Is that..." They snapped open wide in sudden horror. "Violet! Get away from her!"

And then Annie blinked, her eyes losing the blank stare. They turned from the usually friendly shade of blue to a hellish crimson. The usually friendly sweet face turned cold and cruel and she grinned wickedly. "Hello, Violet... remember me?" she asked in a demonic parody of Annie's voice.

And so Annie has been possessed. It's probably not a good thing… So how will this be dealt with? Find out next time in "Demon's Reckoning!" Thanks to Yami no Matsuei/ Descendants of Darkness for the title. So until next time, please read, review and stay tuned! Thanks!