It's the next day and the start of the weekend, so no one had to worry about going to class. But everyone was very excited as today was the day that their loved ones were coming to the island to visit for the schools new holiday, 'Family Day'! Almost all of the students were waiting patiently at the harbor and talking amongst themselves as they anticipated the arrival of the ferry.
Jaden stood there apart from the crowd with Syrus and Bastion who were both excited to see their families after weeks of being separate from them. "I can't wait for you to meet my parents Jaden! Back at home I talked about you all the time to my folks! They even watched your match in the school duel against North Academy on TV last year! They could not believe that a duelist like you was friends with someone like me!" Said Syrus with a wide grin on his face. Jaden chuckled nervously because he didn't like that he was set on such a high pedestal. He felt like there was a lot at stake if he messed up his first impressions with his friends parents.
"I'm not that amazing, Syrus. But I'll make sure to say my helloes when they get here." Said Jaden as he rubbed the back of his neck. Alexis walked up behind him and tapped him on the back of the shoulder catching him off guard. When he turned around, he saw the beautiful blushing face of his girlfriend who looked equally as nervous as him. "Don't forget about me too, Jaden. I wanted to introduce you to my folks. Since we're dating and all, it's only appropriate that you meet them." Said Alexis as she twiddled with her thumbs.
Jaden mentally face palmed himself because the thought never crossed his mind that Alexis's family would also be coming to the school. Now he was even more nervous than before. Meeting your partner's parents is a pretty big deal! "O-oh yeah! Of course! I would love to meet them-MM!" Jaden almost fell over as Anastasia came rushing at him and flung herself on him with his face resting between her breasts, causing Alexis's complexion to become pale. "Me too! Me too! My mother's also coming to the island! You just have to meet her, my lord! She's already expecting you!" Said Anastasia excitedly.
Alexis's bangs covered her eyes as she stomped over to the other girl who was still possessively wrapped around Jaden, grabbed her by the shoulders and yanked her off of him. "You are way out of line! Did you forget that I'm the one he's dating you evil floozy?!" Alexis yelled out with fire in her eyes. Anastasia playfully stuck her tongue out and winked at the other girl teasingly. "Yes, but I'm the one who's living with him." When she said that, the fire in Alexis's eyes dimmed down and her eyes widened. "Living with him? Jaden? What is she talking about?"
Jaden was slowly backing away from the two feuding girls but stopped when Alexis started glaring daggers at him, causing him to gulp. "Okay, let's all calm down! I should have told you sooner, and for that I'm sorry. But it's not like I asked her to come live with me! She just showed up and said she transferred into my Dorm! That's not my fault!" He flinched as he could feel the icy aura Alexis was giving off, obviously displeased by his answer.
Anastasia chuckled as she walked back over to Jaden and clung herself to his arm making him turn stiff. "Don't be so modest, my lord! You know you like using me as pillow when we sleep together at night, isn't that right? You cling to me like a helpless little baby!" Anastasia said with a very innocent expression, but deep down inside she was cackling maniacally seeing how much she was beginning to bother her love rival. Alexis by now was seething with rage as she too walked over to Jaden and wrapped herself on his other arm, and soon enough both girls were pulling on him like it was a game of tug of war.
Jaden looked like he was starting to become sick with his face turning incredibly pale. He could feel a knot in his stomach that just wouldn't go away and he was starting to become over stimulated from all the negativity around him. He let out a deep sigh that almost sounded like a growl, "Come on! You guys are killing me right now!" He screamed out in irritation, causing both girls to let go of him. He stepped away from them as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'm heading out. I'm starting to not feel good. Just introduce me to your families later, okay? But right now I have a headache and want some time by myself."
He started to walk away from them with Alexis staring sadly in the distance as he got further away. Syrus nervously chuckled as he stepped in between both females, trying to defuse the situation. "Just let him go. He'll come back around eventually. It was partly all of our faults since we were piling so much on him all at once. So don't worry guy's!" Said Syrus with a forced smile as he glanced back and forth between both women who had their arms crosses and faced opposite directions from each other. 'Whatever you say, Syrus…" Said Alexis whose gaze softened as she looked at the floor. Well, there goes her plans of her parents meeting Jaden getting thrown out the window. She'll just have to do it later when he felt better.
Off in the distance, the students could hear the loud horn of the ferry as the boat was now in eyesight in the sea. "Hey everyone! The boats here!" Yelled a random student, gaining everyone's attention. Soon, everyone was rushing towards the edge of the peer as the boat parked and their families started piling off the ferry one by one. There was now chaos in the crowd as parents were frantically trying to find their kids.
Eventually, everyone was able to be reunited with their families and made their way off of the peer towards the school. But there was still one last person who exited off the boat, making a giant show while they did it. Four giant men wearing black suits and sunglasses were escorting a luxuriously rich, young looking woman who wore a gothic style black dress with her lilac hair done up nicely in a romantic tuck bun and a tiara placed on the top of her head. She held a black parasol over her to protect her flawless pale skin from the sun. Syrus, who was chatting with his parents, glanced at the beautiful woman with a blush on his cheeks. "Who… Is… That?!" He said to himself in disbelief. He had never seen someone so elegant looking in his entire life. She looked like she came straight out of a fairytale.
"Mother! Over here!" Said Anastasia who stood next to Alexis who was chatting with her own parents. The beautiful woman's silver eyes glanced around the peer trying to find the source of the voice when she finally found her daughter who was waving frantically at her, trying to gain her attention. "There you are kitten. It's so good to see you again. I've missed you." Said the woman who strode over to her, almost as if she was gliding on air with how smooth her steps were. Alexis curiously looked over to see who Anastasia was calling over and she accidently choked on her own spit as she saw the gorgeous woman approaching them. No way in hell that someone so young and beautiful could possibly be Anastasia's mom!
The woman finally made her way to them and lightly curtsied, her security guards were now surrounding their small group. Alexis's father, Mr. Rhodes, was also enamored by the woman's beauty. His wife saw what kind of face her husband was making and slapped him on the back of the head hard, making him come back to his senses as he tried to rub the pain away. "Sorry Hun…" He said apologetically to his jealous wife.
The woman brought a gloved hand up to her mouth as she giggled, her eyes smiling like the morning sun. "It's nice to meet you all. I assume you two are my daughter's friends? And to your parent's, it's nice to meet you as well." She said as she bowed her head. "My name is Lilith Bronwyn. But please, call me Lily. It's much less formal that way." Mrs. Rhodes, who now stood protectively in front of her husband looked at Lilith up and down, taking in all of her features. She looked way too young to be a mom. In fact, her and her daughter looked like they could practically be sisters!
"Well, Lily, my name is Monica Rhodes and this here is my husband Robert. We are Alexis's parents. And since we're on the topic, where's this boy you wanted us to meet, honey? Didn't you say you finally had a boyfriend? Because I don't see him anywhere." Said her mother who was starting to doubt if her daughter was actually telling the truth or not. Alexis sighed as a small frown graced her lips. "We got into a fight earlier… But he'll show up eventually. Then you guys can meet him. You will love him, I promise! He's a really good guy!" Said Alexis optimistically. After they continued to discuss more about each other, they all parted ways as their parents had to go to the school for an assembly. They planned on meeting back up with their kids afterwards for dinner.
"I have to go now, kitten. But don't forget, I want to meet Jaden later today. Make sure to bring him to me. It is of the upmost importance." Said Lilith to her daughter who bowed to her respectfully, before she left to join the other parent's for the assembly. Syrus watched as Lilith walked away with his mouth hung open. "Wow Ana, I always thought you were pretty but your mom is downright gorgeous. She looks just like a princess!" Said Syrus who started to drool, which prompted Alexis to walk over to him and help him shut his mouth.
"I think you meant to say Queen, because that's what she is." Said Anastasia as she too watched her mom walk away. "She's been the queen for the last three hundred years. And now that the Supreme King is back, she can finally retire and return to him his rightful title. She's been watching over our people for a very long time in his absence." Syrus looked at her shocked. "Did you just say three hundred years?! But she looks so young!" He said as he struggled to wrap his mind around it. "Is that so surprising? In every legend about vampires, we have been known to live for a very long time. That is a true fact." She said smugly as she glanced at Alexis.
"Which is why I am the right person to stay by his majesties side, not you, human girl. I only protect you because Jaden has asked me too. But I will never fully understand why he cares so much for you all. Human's come and pass within a blink of an eye in our lifetime. No offense, but he will live long after you all are gone. You humans are such fickle creatures." She said nonchalantly, dropping her idol act and showing her true colors for once. Alexis gritted her teeth in aggravation as her eyes started to become foggy with misty tears.
It didn't matter if she would die before Jaden. As long as she could die being by his side, that's all she cared about in the end. "So what if that's the case? Whether I die at one hundred, eighty, sixty, hell, even twenty years old! That's precious time that I would have spent being with him! I want to be by his side, no matter what!" Alexis said determined, the fire being reignited inside of her heart.
Anastasia rolled her eyes as she sighed. "You just don't get it, do you? That's how you feel, but what about him? Do you think it's fair that you get to die happily being with the one you love while he mourns your loss hundreds of years after you're gone? You can be pretty damn stupid, and selfish at that. But even if you two do end up getting married and live happily ever after, I promise you, I will take good care of him after you die." Said the young vampire girl as her eyes flashed red, and her lips turned up into a complacent smile.
As the tension in the air grew thicker, the atmosphere lightened up when they heard a sweet sounding voice come from behind them. "Uhm, excuse me? I heard you say the name Jaden? You wouldn't happen to be talking about a boy named Jaden Yuki, are you?" They all turned around to face the source of the voice only to see a woman who looked to be about in her early thirties. She had wavy brown hair that reached her shoulders with soft looking brown eyes. She wore glasses and had a white lab coat over top a yellow tank top and a pair of blue jeans, and she also wore brown sandals.
They all looked at her confused wondering why she was looking for Jaden when it finally hit them. "No way! Could it be that you're Jaden's mother?" Said Syrus in wonder. Could he possibly be meeting the woman who gave birth to the person who he idolized the most?! The woman chuckled as she scratched her cheek.
"No, sadly I'm not. But I do think of him as my son. I did raise him after all. But I haven't seen him in a very long time. When I heard about Family Day and found out he came to this school, I just had to come and surprise him! But I was the one surprised when I saw he wasn't here. Until I heard you guys speaking about him just now. So I take it you're his friends?" She said with a smile on her face. Compared to Anastasia's mother, she was beautiful in her own way. She had an innocent aura around her, like they could imagine a halo on top of her head. She made them feel all warm and fuzzy inside just from how she spoke.
They all left the docks and headed to the Slifer Dorms into the mess hall where they all sat down to eat some ice cream as they spoke. "My name is Elena Yuki! It's a pleasure to meet the people who my Jaden calls his friends!" Said Elena as she dug a giant scoop of chocolate ice cream on her spoon and shoveled it into her mouth one bite after the other until it was all gone, and she was already asking for a second serving. She had to have raised Jaden, because the more they spoke with her the more they realized how much her mannerisms were just like his.
Syrus cleared his throat before he spoke. "You say you're not his mom but you guys have the same last name, and you raised him. Are you his sister?" Said Syrus curiously, but he only prompted a head shake from her as she stared down at her second ice cream with a sad gaze. "It's not like that either. I'm not surprised he hasn't talked to you guys about me. He must think I abandoned him, but the truth of the matter is I lost him when the system took him away from me." When they heard this, it all started to make a little bit more sense the more details they got.
"You see, Jaden doesn't have parents. I was his social worker when he came to live with us at the orphanage I volunteered at. When I met him, he was only eight years old. He was a pretty rotten kid too. He got into a lot of fights and the other kids were scared of him because of his quick temperament. People didn't want to adopt him either because they thought he was some kind of demon child." She said as she giggled, fondly thinking about her memories from when Jaden was a little kid. She then pulled out her cellphone and started scrolling through her old photos until she found the one she was looking for.
She turned her phone to them and sure enough, it was a photo of Jaden as a kid standing next to a younger version of Elena. But that Jaden looked so different from the one they knew today. Jaden didn't smile in the picture at all, despite being forced into a loving hug by Elena. His brown eyes look glazed over with all the life gone from them, like he had already given up. And he had a really pronounced scowl with a sour expression on his face. It looked more like a younger version of Haou than it did Jaden. "No way! That's really him? But he looks so… angry. That's not like Jaden at all now." Said Syrus with intrigue in his voice. He had always assumed Jaden was friendly. He made friends with anyone wherever he went, with ease!
Elena took her phone back and continued looking through more photos she had of him until she put the phone back in her pocket. "That's because he had me. I was the only one willing to take a chance on him, so I fostered him. He didn't have a last name when I met him, so I gave him mine. It was hard at first. He used to bite me and scratch me whenever I got too close. But eventually, he started to trust me and all of his hate went away. He started making friends and took a lot after me, as you can tell." She said with a fond smile as she wiped a tear from her eye. "I really do think of him as my son."
Alexis sat next to her and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, seeing that the older woman was starting to become very emotional just talking about him. It was obvious that she cared about Jaden very much. "If it's not too much to ask, what did you mean when you said you lost him? If you don't feel comfortable answering, we completely understand." Said Alexis as she continued to comfort the older woman. "No, no it's okay! I'm the one who brought all of this up anyways."
Elena said as she took a deep breath to get herself to relax. "Everything was going so well until Jaden entered middle school. He got into a fight with a kid who was bullying another student when Jaden went to defend him. But old habits die hard I guess, as Jaden beat the bully up so bad he ended up in the hospital. The kid was on life support from a brain bleed Jaden caused." Alexis and Syrus covered their mouths in disbelief after hearing what she had just said to them.
Jaden was such a gentle soul. But maybe that incident is what turned him into what he was today. Jaden didn't like fighting, he always tried to avoid it if he could. But with threats coming at him from all directions, Jaden has had no choice but to result to violence. He must be having a real mental struggle with himself. Like this is the reason he so easily loses control to Haou when he gets into a fight or feels any kind of negative emotion. It's better to run away than face what you did.
"Anyways, after that incident, the State deemed that I was unfit to take care of him. He was too much of a trouble child and they concluded that I wasn't giving him the home life that he deserved. So, they forced me to sign him back over to public child services where they placed him in an all-boys foster group. It was I either did that, or they would have sent him to juvenile detention. So I made my choice. And at twelve years old, Jaden was taken away from me. I haven't seen him in four years." She couldn't hold on any longer as she started bawling her eyes out. Everyone, even Anastasia, looked at her with much pity. They felt so bad for her, and for Jaden, who they were bothering to have him meet their parents all morning. If they had known what his childhood was like, they wouldn't have rubbed their families in his face like they did. Now they felt like shitty friends.
"If you've waited four years to see him again then we aren't going to make you wait any longer! We'll go and get him for you right now ma'am, so you just wait right here! We'll be back soon!" Syrus said as they all took off to look for him. They searched the school grounds and even went to the roof but with no luck. "I think I have an idea of where he might be." Said Anastasia to the group. "And you know where too, Alexis." Alexis placed a finger to her chin as she thought about it, until it dawned on her. "The cliff! Of course!"
Jaden was once again sitting at his new favorite place on the island with his feet dangling off of the ledge. He was mad at himself for running away like that, but honestly the girls fighting was a good excuse for him to make his escape. After all, families were a sensitive topic for him. And he didn't want to admit, but hearing his friends talk about theirs made him angry and jealous. "Ugh! Why did I do that?! They're probably pissed off that I ditched them like that… I should go apologize the next time I see them." He said to himself. "There's no need for that. We aren't mad in the slightest. But there is someone who really wants to see you." Jaden turned around startled, not having sensed his friends approaching him. He slyly wiped a tear that was in his eye and stood up with his hands in his pockets, trying to act as nonchalant as possible.
"If you're talking about your parent's Alexis, I'm sorry but I'm just not in a good head space right now. Maybe another time, okay? Before they leave, I promise." Alexis walked up to him and grabbed his hand in her own and tightly squeezed it making him confused. "No, I'm not talking about my parents. Someone far more important desperately wants to talk to you. Just follow us, okay?" She said with a warm smile on her face. Jaden blushed as he squeezed her hand back. "Uhm, okay? Lead the way then I guess."
Elena was pacing back in forth in the mess hall with her heart stuck in her throat. She had been waiting years to see him again and now she finally had her chance! But what happens if he didn't want to see her? What if he hated her for what she did and told her to get lost? That was her biggest fear that he would reject her. She heard commotion coming from outside and sat back at the table trying her best to compose herself.
Outside, Jaden was hastily being pulled along by Alexis who hadn't said a word to him since the moment they left the cliff. Now he was starting to get worried that this was all secretly a trap she made for her parents to ambush him. "What's with all the mystery guys? You're starting to freak me out here!" He said nervously as they finally made it to the door to the mess hall. Alexis stepped aside and gestured for him to open the door. "Go on. They're inside."
Jaden still being confused, sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck. But he grabbed the door handle and pulled it open. "So what's the big surprise?-" He stopped talking as his eyes fell on Elena who sat in front of him with a warm welcoming smile on her face. His eyes were wide with shock as his mind went blank. Was this a dream? Was he just imagining her sitting there? It couldn't possibly be real!
Elena cleared her throat as she looked at him up and down, the corner of her eyes becoming wet with tears she was desperately trying to hold back. "Hello, Jaden. It's been a long time! Look how tall you've gotten. You're bigger than me now! Are those contacts you're wearing in your eyes? They look really cool." But Jaden didn't respond. He was still in too much shock to compute anything that she way saying. Elena started to get anxious thinking the worse that maybe this was all just a big mistake. "I understand if you hate me. I didn't want to give you away-Oh!" She was quickly cut off as Jaden ran at her and picked her up, swinging her around in a circle in a tight hug. He then sat her down and buried his face in her chest as he began to sob. He lost all his strength and fell to his knees while still holding on tightly to her. "Mom! I missed you!" He said between hiccups.
Elena started crying too with happy tears as she hugged him back while rubbing his head and shushing him gently. What was she so worried about again? "I missed you too, Jaden. I thought about you every day you were gone. And now that I found you, I am never letting you go again!" Jaden continued to cry while his friends looked at the pleasant family reunion. Their eyes were now also starting to feel hot with tears watching the mother and son finally being reunited.
Jaden could feel the shackles on his heart start to loosen slightly as he finally felt the love and acceptance he had been craving for so long. Ever since his life was flipped upside down, he felt like he was slowly starting to lose his way again and he was becoming someone he wasn't happy with. But now, he was the happiest he has ever been in a long time.