Chapter Thirty-Three

33

Betrayal And Heart Break

"Jaden! Jaden wake up!" Dorothy's pounding on Jaden's door disturbed Connar from an awkward sleep as she seemed to have passed out on the deck by her door earlier that morning. The student shop owner, Dorothy, was greeted by two shocked Slifer males and a Ra who shared the confusion.

"What is it ?" Jaden blinked. Curious as to why there was such a commotion, Connar sat herself up and rubbed her eyes.

"Oh, Jaden, it was awful!" said Dorothy,"I was at the docks this morning, unloading some goods near the shore." she stated,"Then I saw them!"

"Saw what?" Connar yawned sleepily.

"Huh? Connie?" Jaden blinked,"Did you...sleep out here?" he asked,"If you locked yourself out of your room you could have crashed in ours! We would have made room!"

"Thanks Jaden." Connar chuckled,"But no I woke up early this morning and sat out here, I must have fallen asleep again some time after that." she chuckled,"Anyway, , What did you see?"

"Cards!" she exclaimed,"Cards tossed everywhere!"

"Tossed!?" The friends all looked to eachother and took off running to the docks.

"Be careful now, guys!" Dorothy called after them. Once they arrived Jaden got a closer look at the water logged cardboard in the water and noticed a few things.

"That's Ring of Destruction," he said softly,"And Vorse Raider...Bastion...these are all of your cards!"

Misawa's!?

Connar gasped softly and thought to herself.

There's no way Princeton really did this...?

She thought back to the morning scene she witnessed when she saw Chazz running from the Ra Dorm's direction. She didn't want to believe it was true. But the feeling only became more uneasy.

"It's my own fault." said Bastion,"This deck was in the desk that I moved to the hall way yesterday when we were painting..."

"But...who would do something like this?" asked Syrus.

"Someone who doesn't want him to advance, that's who!" Jaden huffed,"I mean...this was your deck, and now it's ruined." suddenly a realization hit Jaden and he gasped,"Aw no! What are you going to do now, Bastion!? Your Promotion exam is in less than an hour!"

"M-Maybe we can explain the situation!" Connar stated.

I can only hope it's not what my gut is telling me it is...

xxxxx

They rushed to the Duel Field field only to be greeted by Chazz, who was waiting patiently with the teacher while wearing a complex look of exhaustion and guilt. Connar could feel her heart tighten as all signs seemed to be pointing to the theory that she was trying so hard to deny.

"Ah! Bastion! You made it!" sighed in relief, but his tone soon changed when the followers pulled up behind their Ra Yellow class mate,"Oh, and I see you've brought some friends..."

Chazz's face of complex emotions shifted once he got a glimpse that Connar was among the crowd and he quickly shifted his expression into a smirk.

"...I hope you duel better than the company you keep." he scoffed.

"Hold on..." said Jaden," Chazz is your test opponent?"

Connar twitched as she felt Jaden's tune change.

"I'll bet then that he was the one who tossed your cards, Bastion!"

"Pardon!?" Even seemed surprised to think that Chazz could sink that low-

"N-Now, hold on, Jaden!" Connar said as she stood defensively between the two with her arms out.

Chazz gasped slightly as he looked down at the female student, who would still stand to defend him...even with trembling arms.

Connar...even now still, you would...?

"Why are you defending him, Connar!?" Jaden snapped. She tensed up when he raised his voice- she never did take being yelled at very well, but she still remained standing between them.

"It's...it's not fair to accuse someone...without proof!"

Jaden let out a huff and an irritated grunt.

"He's Chazz! He's always giving everyone around him a hard time, that's all the proof I need!"

"I don't know what he's talking about, !" said Chazz,"I didn't do a thing."

"Is that so!?"

The minagerie let out a startled gasp and looked over at the accusatory female voice as Connar remained in her position with her head down.

"Zane?" Jaden blinked,"Alexis?"

"I saw you, Chazz!" said Alexis,"This morning...by the water...you dumped them in and ran off!"

Connar's body twitched as the final piece fell in place, and her trembling arms fell slowly back to her sides.

"So...that confirms it, then..." she said softly.

Everyone gasped and blinked back at Connar who kept her face hidden from them.

"Confirms, what!?" Chazz snapped.

"...I saw you too, Chazz...this morning..."

What!?

Chazz gasped.

No...she saw that!?"

This seemed to make Jaden even more angry.

"If you saw him then why did you bother defending him!?" he snapped.

"I didn't see it!" she snapped back,"All I saw was Chazz running from somewhere..." she said softly,"I didn't see him actually tossing the cards so...I couldn't accuse him of anything."

A hush fell upon the crew as Connar remained weakly in place, visibly trembling.

Even you...huh Connar?

Chazz huffed to himself and quickly averted his gaze.

Jaden felt complicated. He was angry, but she was hurt, and he didn't know which emotion to act upon so he let out a heavy sigh.

"Listen...Connie..." he said softly," I know you try to see the good in people...but sometimes...it's just not there."

"You don't know anything!" She snipped startling Jaden into baking up a few steps.

"Take it easy, on her Jaden..." Alexis said softly,"Try to remember in Connar's situation it's a little more complicated..."

"Complicated HOW!? ...Huh?" Jaden blinked as he noticed a couple drops of water falling to the floor. He looked up to see if there was a cieling leak, only to realize that the droplets that fell, were actually from Connar's tears and he felt shaken inside.

"Connar...come here." Zane notioned her gently to come to him as he opened his arms for her. She sighed but kept her face down as she reluctantly obliged and gently stepped towards Zane's embrace. It was warm, and a little awkward, but comforting. Like a big brother whose little sister was in tears and he had no idea what else he could do to console her other than give an awkward sibling hug.

Pat. Pat.

It wasn't tight or forced nor was it passionate. It just was. A gentle arm limped around her shoulders across her back, and the other sort of crossed over with a palm resting on her head, gently stroking her long pink hair a few times over softly before finally resting on her shoulder. Just standing there like that.

"Connar..." Syrus sighed as he watched the scene that clearly came awkwardly for his older brother Zane, but he was touched that Zane cared enough to try...

"I've known Connar for years..." Syrus said softly,"But I don't think I have ever seen her cry..."

" She doesn't like for people to see her cry..." he said softly," but She'll be all right." he sighed,"She's just not very good at handling being yelled at...which I think has been happening quite a lot for her given recent events." he said nothing more after that. Jaden however felt a little bit guilty for having been one of the ones who yelled...

Alexis sighed.

" I normally wouldn't snitch, " she said, "But you don't mess with someone's deck!"

"Yeah, no joke!" said Jaden,"That's low, even for you!"

"Aw come on!" Chazz shrugged,"Who's to say I wasn't throwing out my own cards?" he blinked,"I guess Bastion and I just have similar decks, that's all!"

"Liar!" Jaden huffed.

"No one calls me a liar..." Chazz growled," And No one calls me a thief!"

Connar twitched as Chazz made this his defending statement, mainly because it was only a reminder that he had lied to her, and everything she envisioned him as through the passing time was crumbling away piece by piece. She gripped tightly to the back of Zane's blazer, keeping her face pressed against his chest, refusing to even acknowledge Chazz with even a glance. Feeling this, Zane shot a glare at the the other Obelisk male and tightened his hold on Connar a little more pressing her against him slightly.

Chazz took the sting hard when the pinkette wouldn't even give him a glance and he averted his own gaze as well. Remaining stubborn in his defense.

"Fine, then you're not!" Bastion huffed,"Let's just have our duel, shall we?"

"But how?" Jaden blinked.

"A good duelist always has a spare deck." said Bastion,"Or a few of them...remember you saw all my different formulas?" he asked as he began unfastening his blazer,"Well they were all for my different dueling decks!" Everyone jumped back with a start as the Ra student ripped open his blazer and flashed the crowd with 6 different deck holsters attached to his chest,"And each one of them is as powerful as the next!"

"Hmph, yeah!? Well you can go ahead and have your 6 decks...because all I need is one!" said Chazz as he held his own deck forward,"Now let's start!"

"And here I thought you would never ask~ Chazz!" Bastion chuckled as he took his step onto the duel field. He swiped out one of his decks and slid it in, activating his duel desk system,"You're finished!"

"Bring it on!" Chazz huffed.

"DUEL!"

To be Continued