Chapter 2: My Precious Darkness
Disclaimer: I do not own the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise, Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's or Reverse of Arcadia.
5D's
(Jaden's P.O.V.)
"Stop!" I bellowed as the Duel Spirit in front of me only seemed to get further and further away. Above the streets of New Domino City, a high speed chase was occurring, although my part in it all wasn't as interesting to the people below as the Spirit that I was chasing, the wind that was whipping past my face and getting into my eyes preventing me from discerning the true identity of the being before me.
"Left, Jaden!" a voice cried out in my mind.
Recognising it as Yubel, I immediately reacted, swerving sideways, careful not to catch my demonic-looking wings that I had gained through Yubel on the buildings on either side as the road. Just as I managed to get out of the way, a stream of purple energy shot past me, kicking up strong winds that nearly caused me to veer into the buildings beside me.
"Thanks, Yubel…" I muttered as the wind died down.
Yubel appeared to ignore me. "It's now or never!" she shouted over the noise of the wind that rushed past my ears. "It's gone rogue! You'll have to attack!"
I nodded grimly. This would hurt it, but there was no other way around this. The Spirit would be safe either way. I reared backwards until I was flying vertically – although still at an incredible pace – and held my right hand out, holding onto my right arm with my left hand, feeling the familiar rush of power build up in my body and seep through my pores, shrouding my hand in pitch-black darkness. Knowing that my eyes had begun to glow as Yubel's would – my right eye orange and my left eye green – I let out a grunt as a massive, powerful beam of sheer darkness shot out from my hand.
However, just as I had done so, I became painfully aware of the purple energy that was hurtling towards me. Unable to dodge, slow down or bring a shield up in time, I soon found splitting pain after being hit in the chest with the powerful energy blast at high speed just as my own attack hit home, causing the Spirit in front of me to shatter into fragments of light that slowly drifted away, sending the Spirit back to wherever it came from.
As for me, though, I found myself hurtling out of the sky at a pace faster than I could control. Pain washed over me as I finally ploughed into a building and I fell to the ground, wincing slightly in my semi-conscious state as rubble rained down on me, my wings glowing a dark purple before finally disappearing in sparkles of purple light. I vaguely noted the sound of approaching police cars as the police finally caught up with me and, eventually, I felt a hand on my shoulder and a faint, muffled voice called out to me before my own precious darkness washed over me… and I willingly surrendered to it…
I wasn't quite sure how long it was until I began to awaken, stirring slightly as the cover of darkness was pulled away from me and my consciousness slowly began return. A soft, rhythmic beeping finally reached my ears, pulling me from sleep and back into a world of pain. I must have grunted, because something attracted the attention of whoever was beside me. I heard a tapping noise as someone put their hands on the rails of the hospital bed that I could feel myself lying on, my head sinking into its soft pillows – a sensation that was not unfamiliar to me. Bandages had been wrapped around my head and I could feel more wrapped around parts of my arms, legs and torso.
"… Jaden…?" a distant voice called out to me.
'Huh…' I thought groggily, my mind struggling to catch up to my body. '… That… sounds familiar…'
Forcing my eyes open, I struggled to focus my blurred vision in the dim light of the room and identify the person who stood over me. When I saw the person's black hair and pale skin, I immediately identified who it was, even though I couldn't see their face. Nonetheless, I felt the need to make sure. I swallowed heavily, noting my dry, painful throat and attempted to speak.
"… Ugh… T-That you, Chazz…?" I croaked, pain flaring up as I spoke, momentarily forgetting grammar in favour of grinding out the words that I needed to say as quickly as possible.
"Yeah… It's me…" Chazz responded, a hint of his usual stubborn nature creeping into his voice.
"… What happened…?" I asked, my voice barely more than a whisper as I attempted to avoid another wave of pain.
"You got shot out of the sky again," Chazz told me bluntly.
"But…" I paused, catching my breath as pain wracked my body once again.
"Take it easy," Chazz grunted. "You crashed into a building and got almost completely buried in rubble. They had to dig you out. You hit your head pretty hard, too."
"… Huh…" I muttered, trying to make sense of things.
"Yubel told me earlier that she was going inside you to rest. She couldn't heal you as she was," Chazz informed me. "You'll be stuck like this for a while." There were a few seconds of silence before Chazz finally spoke up again. "Are you in much pain?"
"… Yeah…" I admitted without thinking.
Chazz made a move to get up. "Do you want me to get a doctor?" he asked.
"… No…" I told him, watching with clearing vision as he slowly sat back down on the hard plastic seat beside my bed.
It was at that point that I managed to get a much better look at him. Much like the rest of our little group, Chazz had aged significantly, his hair turning slightly grey as opposed to the jet black that it had once been and wrinkles were beginning to show themselves across his forehead and around his mouth.
His beloved black coat still remained over the purple shirt and black trousers that he had normally worn ever since we were young, despite the fact that the coat had become even more tattered and worn than it originally was.
If I had to say so, I'd say that the years had done wonders for his personality. Despite the fact that he was still as stubborn as a mule, he was still a good friend and he always did his best for others whenever it was within his power with nothing more than a sarcastic complaint. It wouldn't have been the first time that he had come to visit me in hospital.
Chazz rubbed his eyes, obviously bothered by the dimming light. He glanced towards the wall and let out a sigh. "Hold on a second. I'm going to turn on the light," he told me as he stood up and walked towards the light switch.
Within a few seconds, a sharp click sounded the lights had been turned on, chasing my encroaching darkness from the room. Unable to quell the slight pang of annoyance that stirred in my chest, I got to work, getting on with the task of sitting up, taking in the white walls and white tiled floor of the room. There was a window to my right, an automatic door to the lower left of the room, a set of wooden drawers to the right of my bed and a table to the left. An overhead light shone from above, driving my darkness from the room.
"Are you alright?" Chazz asked as he sat back down again.
I found my gaze becoming directed towards the dimming light outside the window, noting the Moon's presence in the sky, cutting through my encroaching night. "… Yeah…" I responded quietly, fixated on the view outside the hospital window.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Chazz frown and turn his head towards the window, most likely to see what I was looking at. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, he turned back towards me. "So, how's your leg?" he asked.
I noticeably flinched, the subject taking me off guard. I didn't want to talk about that. Not at all. "How's the pro-Dueling going?" I quickly asked, swallowing heavily, refusing to meet his slightly-disinterested gaze.
Chazz seemed taken aback, but seemed to get the message quickly. Turning his eyes towards the ceiling, he began to think. "Alright, I suppose. I'm doing well. I'm scheduled to Duel against Sy next week. I never thought I'd see the young'uns so excited to see old men Duel," he smirked as I looked back at him.
"Don't put us down. We're not that old, yet," I smiled slightly.
Chazz scoffed. "Do you really have the right to say that? You're 51," he reminded me.
"I'm still young," I protested half-heartedly. "Just because everyone else is younger in contrast with me, that doesn't mean that I'm old."
Chazz suddenly decided that he was bored with our conversation and decided to take it in a different direction. "How's it going between you and Jesse?" he asked with a slight cough as if attempting to disguise what he had just said.
I froze at the sound of that name. Feeling something stirring inside me, I recognised Yubel's presence and felt the grand majority of my pain melt away. Spotting my walking stick that was hooked over the railings on the right side of my bed, I immediately grabbed it and slowly turned around in the bed, careful not to hurt myself any further and fully intent on getting up.
"H-hey! Don't hurt yourself!" Chazz frowned, standing up, fully intent on stopping me.
I pushed past him and made my way to the window, staring at the dimming world outside where my darkness was overcoming the light. Forcing it back. Winning. It was… beautiful… and I was cut off from it by a layer of glass and this… this light! The light in the room now bothered me more than I could ever say and, without thinking, I allowed words to flow off my tongue like water, my tone one of disappointment, sadness and maybe even a little loneliness.
"… Chazz…?" I began, gaining his attention as he approached me from behind. I reached up to place my left hand on the glass that separated me from the outside world as he let out a soft grunt, confirming that he was listening. I paused for a few seconds, feeling Chazz's gaze boring into the back of my head. "… Why do you shun me…?"
I heard Chazz take a step back, his reflection that showed in the smooth glass revealing his shocked expression. He seemed to pale further. I heard him swallow heavily and he took a step forward, attempting to get over the shock that my words caused.
"S-shun…? What are you talking about? I don't shun you," Chazz grinned nervously. In his reflection, I could see a bead of sweat running down the side of his face.
Despite my slight surprise at his reaction, I continued. "… I've said it before… The darkness is me… Why must you mortals insist on driving me away…?" I spat out, memory after memory playing over in my mind, each worse than the last and each one connected to… that man…! Nonetheless, my voice remained quiet, never escalating to a shout.
I heard Chazz sigh in irritation. "You aren't still annoyed about that, are you?" he groaned, regaining his nerve.
The grip that I had on my walking stick tightened, the wood of the handle groaning under the strain. I failed to notice, my mind elsewhere. I felt myself begin to shake with anger. Power welled up inside me and released into the air. The minutes passed as my power built up and up, gathering in the air, shrouding the light and darkening the room significantly until…
Smash!
… The room went dark, shards of the light bulb fell to the floor with a quiet tinkling noise, drowning the room in darkness. I heard Chazz take a few panicked steps backwards before quickly composing himself. I wasn't going to harm him. I had no fight left in me and he knew that, but now that the lights were out, I could properly see my reflection in the glass and the cause of Chazz's odd behaviour around me became apparent.
Bright golden eyes that cut through the darkness that surrounded us stared back at me from the glass, their gaze filled with animosity. When had I last been this angry? When had I last been this… jealous…? I couldn't remember, nor did I attempt to try to remember for very long.
Chazz spoke up, refusing to let this go any further. "This isn't you talking, Jaden. That's only the Supreme King," he tried to convince himself, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.
"… I am the Supreme King…" I quietly reminded him.
Chazz tried another tactic. "What's your wife going to think about all of this? What about your children? Would they be proud of you like this?"
I didn't answer – a habit that I picked up during my third year of Duel Academy, around the time that I came back from Dark World. So many years later, everyone had figured out that that meant, 'You already know the answer. Why are you asking me?' I didn't like to be asked unnecessary questions. Therefore, I remained silent.
Chazz let out an exasperated sigh. Throwing his hands up in the air in defeat, he appeared to give up and turned to leave, his feet crunching on the broken glass on the floor. Deeming words to be useless at that point, he walked out the door and quietly closed it behind him without another word.
I felt myself calming down and the golden eyes in the glass faded. I took a deep breath to calm myself. As much as I hated to admit it, Chazz's words had forced me to think, although it wasn't quite what he had wished for me to contemplate.
I found myself thinking of the past. The not-so-distant past, to be precise. Back to when my little boy left. Back to when my little girl went missing. Neither were pleasant memories and I had done my best to suppress them.
Something during recent events had struck me as surprising. It was a rather welcoming revelation, actually. It was something – or someone – who had caught my eye. I couldn't be certain that it was the person that I thought that it was, but the resemblance was uncanny in more ways than one. I found myself staring at the darkened sky, mumbling to myself with a slight smile as I watched the first stars of my night twinkling above New Domino city, stretching far into the distance.
"… Daichi… Hitomi… What would you think about him now…?"