Oh. My. Freaking. God. I've finally finished this beast. 50 chapters over 10 years. Despite how long it took I'm proud of this thing. It's been in the background of my life for those years and I've thought of it often even if my muse didn't cooperate enough to actually let me write it. During this time I've gone through three education post-secondary education changes, life changes and a suspected diagnosis of Asperger's that I'm pretty sure is accurate. Anyway, enough about me.

Thank you to all the readers and reviewers out there who followed this story all the way to this conclusion. You guys don't know how much each review meant to me and I love getting that email from about reviews. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

The song in this chapter is The World Is Ours Tonight by Gloriana which I have had in mind for this epilogue almost since the beginning. I suggest listening to it while reading this.

All the stars keep on falling around us

We were almost broken

Holding on as we felt our worlds collide, collide

Sometimes all the answers, baby, are right outside your door

Sometimes all that we need is a little time, time

One Year Post-Graduation…

Blair stood at a window of one of the hallways of Duel Academy and stared out towards the Slifer dorm. It had been a year since Jaden and the others graduated and there were new students living in the old building but her eyes still seemed to search for it. Hassleberry was graduating this year and then it would just be her left.

Jaden was still a hero among the student body but he was slowly turning into a legend. Soon there wouldn't be anyone among the student body who remembered Jaden or his group of friends who had changed the world so many times.

She huffed out a laugh to herself as she thought back to the man in question. God, she had been so gone on him. It was rather sad she never noticed he wasn't the slightest bit interested in her.

"Blair, whatcha doing? Don't you have class?" Hassleberry unexpectedly joined her at the window and caught sight of what she was gazing at, "Ah, yeah. I still turn around to tell him something sometimes like he's still here. Syrus too. I should call him and ask how his start-up league is doing."

Blair glanced at him, "You ever try calling Jaden?"

Hassleberry snorted, "Every once in a while I try. He's never answered. Who knows where he is now?"

Blair smirked, "Jesse."

Hassleberry laughed, "Right, Jesse would."

They stared out at the red building sitting innocuously in the sunlight. "You ever think about what our lives would have been like had we never met Jaden?" Blair asked out of the blue.

Hassleberry nodded even though she hadn't turned to look, "Sometimes. Jaden turned so many of our lives around there's probably a bunch of people thinking the same thing." He clenched his fist, "I still have nightmares about dark world and the shadow realm sometimes."

Blair nodded. She hadn't gone to dark world like the others but she still had the occasional nightmare about what she had seen in the shadow realm. On one memorable night she had screamed and brought some of the younger girls running. Unfortunately, she couldn't really explain her experiences to them. "Me too," she admitted quietly.

"You see the pictures Alexis sent from her school in America?" Hassleberry asked, steering the conversation back to happier subjects. "It looks amazing over there."

Blair nodded. She was happy for the older girl who had taken her under her wing while she had been enrolled here. She would make a great teacher. "It looks like she's found a nice guy too. Good for her."

Hassleberry nudged her, "You're not jealous are ya?" he teased.

Blair smiled, "No. I've got Marcel and we're doing just fine."

"Oh yeah, how's he doing? Any more evil impulses? He kill his father yet?"

Blair turned a glare on him, "He's doing just fine Hassleberry. He and his father have worked things out between them. He's coming to visit next weekend."

"That's cool."

"Blair Flannigan and Tyranno Hassleberry!" They both winced at the shrill voice, "You two should be in class!" Crowler stomped towards the two of them. "Get to it or I'll have you both for detention!"

"Uh, no thanks Prof."

"Yeah, I'm goin'."

Crowler watched them, hands on hips until they disappeared around the bend. He sighed as he loosened up and turned his own gaze out towards the Slifer dorm. Truthfully, he had noticed them a while ago but had said nothing. Just hearing about his previous students had made him freeze. He missed those troublemakers. Even Aurelia stopped by the school less and less as she slowly turned things back over to Chancellor Sheppard and the other administrators. Soon she would own the school and island only in name. She had other things going on for her right now anyway.

Crowler sighed. Soon even Hassleberry and Blair would be gone and the only people here who would remember would be the staff. Jaden would only be remembered for his records and by stories passed down from others. Chazz Princeton, Syrus Truesdale, Alexis and Atticus Rhodes; they would all be known for their careers and not as his troublesome but beloved students.

Crowler sniffed. Maybe he should have lunch with Chancellor Sheppard and reminisce. He hoped the others were doing well with their lives.

There's no going back to the start again

Time will tell us how the story ends

So beautiful, we can make it right

The world is ours tonight

The only thing I have is everything to lose

I would lay it all on the line for you

To be here by my side

The world is ours tonight

Two Years Post-Graduation…

Syrus sighed as he eyed his desk. Contracts, legal forms, sponsors, and venue requests piled over its surface and combined into stacks forming their own little paper city. He snorted; Skyscraper III: City of Pages. He wondered if Chumley could make that into a card. He wondered what Jaden would think…

He glanced at the small spot where his laptop sat and the three picture frames that resided behind it. One of him with his brother and parents when he was younger, one of him older with his brother and Aster standing at a dinner table on the night after they had gotten the news that their league was becoming more reality than dream. He turned to the last one; and one of him, Chumley, Aurelia, Bastian, Chazz, and Jaden at the Slifer dorm sometime during their first year.

He smiled wistfully as he picked up the frame. Chumley was doing well at Industrial Illusions; he'd sent an email out to all of them that he'd been promoted to head of design this year. They still hadn't heard from Bastian but they assumed he was doing well in that other world. He did have an amazon girlfriend watching his back. Aurelia and Chazz had finally gotten engaged after his career started gaining momentum and her singing career took off. And Jaden…

He snorted; who knew where Jaden was. Every once in a while he'd get a postcard with no return address from somewhere around the world. Exotic places with notes written on the back; comments about the food, a note mentioning he had seen Syrus on a TV program after their league took off, stories of little kids he ran into that reminded him of them.

Syrus wiped his suddenly damp eyes. He missed their school days something awful sometimes; bad guys and world changing events aside. This league was his dream and finally accomplishing it with Zane and watching it grow made him nostalgic. He still kept up with Alexis, Hassleberry, Atticus, and Chazz and Aurelia when they could but it was hard. They all led totally different lives now.

There was a knock on the open door to his office and he jumped before realising it was just his secretary Karen (he had a secretary; can you believe that?). "Sorry Mr. Truesdale but something came for you in the mail," she said.

Syrus frowned, he rarely got anything other than work mail at the office and from the sounds of it this was something different. "Okay, do you know who it's from?"

Karen click-clacked over to him in her very high heels. Honestly he wondered how she hadn't broken an ankle in those things. "There's no return address on it sir," she noted as she handed it over.

It was a postcard. Syrus smiled, "Thank you Karen, I know what this is."

"Very well Mr. Truesdale. Don't forget you have that dinner with Senrigan Group tonight at 7pm." Karen reported as she headed back to the door.

"I remember," Syrus answered. "Shut the door on your way out would you?"

Karen dutifully shut the door behind her and Syrus waited a beat before looking more closely at the postcard. It was a picture of two bronze men reaching out to each other on opposite pedestals. It proclaimed "Greetings from Derry, Ireland!" across the bottom.

On the back was written simply: "I miss you too Sy."

Syrus fell back into his chair with a laugh that was more of a sob. Goddammit Jaden…

Turn the pages, we'll write another chapter

Be the last one standing

Burn those bridges down and we'll never go back, no

Two Years Post-Graduation…

Alexis chewed on her pen as she went over her answers in her workbook again. Something wasn't fitting right and it was nagging at her something fierce. She usually did well in this course and the fact that this essay topic was troubling her just gnawed at her.

"Babe, that pen is going to explode if you bite it any harder."

Alexis startled and looked up to find David smiling at her from his recliner; they were over at his place tonight. "I can't figure out how to word this like I want and it's driving me crazy," she said as an explanation.

"So take a break," he suggested. "Eat something, go for a walk; talk to your boyfriend…"

She smiled ruefully and set the book down. "I have been rather consumed with schoolwork now that exams are coming up," she admitted.

"I hadn't noticed," he deadpanned.

Alexis threw the pen she'd been chewing at him. He caught it and exaggerated getting shot; holding the pen to his chest like it was an arrow and moaning about dying. She laughed until his squirming knocked over her purse off the coffee table along with her glass of water. They both blinked at the mess in surprise before turning back to each other.

David winced at her look of annoyance, "Sorry, I'll help clean up. Grab a towel and I'll try to save the stuff in your purse."

Alexis fetched a towel from the kitchen and was on her way back when David's muttering of "Oh shit, oh shit" reached her. She sighed, "What did you do?"

"Some of the water hit a couple of your cards. They'll be okay we just need to leave them out to dry. Everything else is fine though."

Alexis placed the towel on the ground and glanced at the cards he was talking about. Double Passe and Cyber Blader lay on the table glistening slightly from moisture. They would be fine though. Alexis spared Double Passe another glance.

"What is it?"

She met David's eyes, "Pardon?"

He shrugged at the cards, "Where'd your mind go just then?"

Alexis looked once more at the card. "I told you about Jaden Yuki right?" she asked.

"Yeah, the troublemaker you were friends with in high school."

"I think trouble followed him rather than him making trouble but that sounds accurate enough," she smiled. "I was just remembering the first time I dueled him. He was down to 200 life points and still turned it around to win."

"Huh, he sounds good," David mused then smirked, "You didn't happen to have a crush on him after that right?"

Alexis ignored him and put her purse back on the table after making sure the rest of her deck was fine. Unfortunately her blush answered for her. "You did, didn't you?" David crowed.

Alexis reluctantly smiled, "For a while, yeah I did. But I soon realised he had absolutely no interest in anybody male or female. He was only interested in dueling. I thought he was asexual for the longest time." She smirked, "Until third year when I realised he was actually just Jesse-sexual."

"I'm lost. Who's Jesse?"

"Jesse Anderson, the pro duelist. He was from another school but transferred for a year during our third year. He and Jaden got along like a house on fire."

"You know Jesse Anderson? The pro with the Crystal Beast deck?" David said wide-eyed. "Jeez, why didn't you ever tell me? What else you hiding out from me?" he asked with a smile.

Alexis rummaged through her purse until she found her small book of photos. She really should have digitized them a while ago but she kept forgetting. She opened it to the first picture of her, Aurelia, Chazz, Jaden, Syrus, and Chumley and showed David. "This is us during our first year at Duel Academy," she pointed at each of them in turn, "Aurelia Kaiba actually owned the school but we didn't know that until later in the year. She's engaged to Chazz Princeton, the pro duelist. Syrus Truesdale started his own pro league with his brother Zane and Chumley works for Industrial Illusions." She turned the page to a picture of Zane and her brother. "You've met Atticus and that's Zane there."

"Wait go back, you didn't tell me anything about the other guy in that first picture."

Alexis flipped through the book to a better picture of Jaden; one that was taken in third year with just him and Jesse in the middle of a conversation. They had no idea she had taken the picture in the first place. "You obviously know Jesse Anderson," she pointed at the boy and then at Jaden, "And this is Jaden Yuki."

"Huh," David replied. "What's he doing now?"

Alexis looked back down at Jaden. "We don't really know. He's traveling; that's all I know. I'm sure Aurelia and Jesse know more. I haven't seen him since the night we graduated from Duel Academy."

"Did you guys have a falling out?" David asked in confusion.

Alexis shook her head, "No, that's just who Jaden is. He's a free spirit. He's rarely in one place very long. And I know that wherever he goes he's helping people."

Alexis flipped to the last picture in the book. Taken on the night of their graduation, it was all of them packed together. Syrus, Blair, and Aurelia in front because they were the shortest. Hassleberry and Atticus with arms around the other's shoulders, grinning like fools. Herself standing just behind Blair with her hands on the younger girl's shoulders. Jaden and Jesse standing next to each other and she remembered they had their hands clasped even though it was hidden in the picture. She didn't think Jaden had let go of Jesse's hand the rest of the night. Chazz standing behind Aurelia so she could lean against him with his arms around her. Zane sitting in his chair at the side of the group with Aster standing just behind him. She hadn't noticed at the time but Crowler had snuck in and was proudly standing behind all of them. Even Axel lurked off to the side. It was perfect.

David slid in behind her and wrapped his arms around her. "You miss them don't you?"

She nodded, "Yeah." She looked back at him with a smile, "But I know that wherever they are, they're doing well. And we'll always be friends."

David gently took the book from her and flipped back to the beginning, "Tell me about them?"

Alexis smiled and began, "Well, I first saw Jaden at the entrance exams. He was late as usual…"

We don't need all the answers baby

We've just gotta try

I refuse to walk away this time, this time

Two Years Post-Graduation…

Aster tossed his keys on the table by the door and yelled through the apartment, "I'm home! I even ditched Emeralda for the rest of the day so it's just you, me, and some garbage TV!"

He found Zane sitting on the couch staring at said TV. Thing is, it wasn't on. "Zane?" he tried, "Are you okay?"

"It's only a couple of weeks until March break."

Aster tilted his head as he tried to make sense of that, "Uh…yeah?"

"And I have been going over it every which way for the last week and a half since we started scheduling things for March at the league."

Aster was starting to get worried. He sat down on the couch with Zane, "Going over what?"

Zane finally met his eyes, "I booked off March break for myself."

"Okay…?"

"I want to bond with you."

Aster blew out a breath in surprise and fell back. This wasn't where he thought tonight would go. At all. "You've been thinking about this for the last week?"

Zane nodded but said nothing as he let Aster ponder this. It wasn't really a new thing. They'd talked about it casually on and off for the last two years as their relationship grew. The world knew Aster Phoenix was off the market but they didn't know who he was dating and since his fall from the pro leagues himself, no one cared who Zane was seen with. The fact that Aster had moved leagues to affiliate himself with Zane and Syrus' league meant that they could also be seen in public together and no one was the wiser.

The last two years, every March, Aster disappeared for his heat for the week of March break and came back miserable. Zane knew Aster was hibernating in a place where someone could keep an eye on his health for that week but it was still taking a toll on the young man; perhaps more so emotionally rather than physically. But now, Zane knew himself to be ready for this next step.

Aster shook his head, "This is big Zane. This isn't something you can back out of."

"I know that."

"Not to mention my heat isn't exactly relaxing."

"You know my health has improved." And it had. Greatly. Zane could stand and walk and even jog for a short amount of time. He wasn't back to what he had been before the underworld dueling, he never would be, but he was vastly improved from where he was after returning from the alternate dimension.

But Aster was still hesitating. "Zane…I don't know if you've thought this through enough."

Zane turned to the younger man and put his palm over Aster's clenched fists. "I've been talking to Dr. Shaw about my health. He and I are of the opinion that because I will be your bonded mate your instincts will be tuned in to my health and you won't be as…"

"Dangerous?"

"Vigorous as you could be." Aster tried to look away but Zane tapped his chin to get his attention again, "If we bond before your heat your instincts will have settled enough that you won't be a danger to me. I trust you with my body."

Aster pushed his hand away, "This isn't just about your health Zane, this is about your life. Our lives. We'll be bound together mind, body, and soul and I know for one thing that my mind is not the prettiest place to be."

"And mine is?" Zane replied, "You know who I used to be. I still get those urges sometimes. I usually take it out on your creepy fan mail."

"Huh. I thought Emeralda took care of those."

"I asked her to send them my way."

Something niggled at Aster's mind. "Is that why sometimes when I get home you can't wait to slam me into a wall?" he smirked.

Zane's brow rose, "Like you're complaining?"

"I didn't say that."

Zane shrugged nonchalantly, "I'm a possessive sonofabitch and I fully acknowledge that."

"Don't talk about your mother like that. She's a wonderful lady."

That finally got a reaction out of Zane as he rolled his eyes and stood up. Wordlessly he held out a hand to Aster who grasped it and was pulled into his arms. Zane had gained back some of the muscle tone he had lost since Dark World and he was still tall so Aster would always appear small and lithe compared to him but they both knew who was really stronger and really, Aster let him get away with so much. After all this time, he didn't have any walls when it came to Zane, save one.

"You once told my brother that I was your future," Zane interrupted his musings. "Let me be that."

Aster could feel that last resistance crumbling when Zane hoisted him up into his arms and into a searing kiss. Aster held on, arms and legs wrapped around this man he loved, and knew he was finally ready to take that next step as well. As Zane walked them in the direction of their bed and trailed fiery kisses down his neck Aster moaned and breathed out one word:

"Yes."

There's no going back to the start again

Time will tell us how the story ends

So beautiful, we can make it right

The world is ours tonight

Three Years Post-Graduation…

"Honestly man, I don't know what to tell you," Atticus said as he keyed open his hotel room. "This is your mess up. I'm not dueling on my sister's birthday. I barely get to see her as it is, I'm not missing this."

"I'm terribly sorry Mr. Rhodes. We'll get this sorted out right away."

Atticus thumbed off his phone and threw it on the bed with a snort. Yeah, like hell was he missing his sister's birthday. Especially this one. David was planning on proposing at the party and he was not missing that. His baby sister getting engaged!

Atticus flopped onto the bed. This was his last day in Spain and he had plans tonight with a girl he had met the first day here. She was interesting and funny and didn't particularly care that he was a pro duelist which was a plus nowadays. He used to love the fame and attention but it was starting to wear thin when the girls he was interested in were only interested in his money.

His phone beeped beside him, indicating a message, and he fumbled for it. 'Nice duel today. You could've done better.' was all it said.

Atticus scoffed and thumbed open his messenger app. 'Fuck you Phoenix I was beautiful.'

'Hey I wasn't the one who sent that. Zane had my phone.'

'Well tell him the same thing.' Wait. 'He knows the passcode to your phone?'

'He's in my head Atticus of course he knows.'

Atticus snorted and dropped his phone. What is his life that that is a conversation he has with someone? Although his life was pretty messed up way before Aster ever came along. That made another thought bubble up in his brain.

Had he ever told Jaden thank you for saving him? He couldn't remember doing it and now who knew where the kid was nowadays. Maybe Aster knew?

'Hey, you know what Jaden's up to nowadays?'

'Nope. Not even Aurelia knows. You could ask Jesse but I doubt he'd tell you anything.'

Atticus snorted. Yeah, Jesse kept in constant contact with his boyfriend so he would be the only one who knew where Jaden was. Thing is, according to Jesse, Jaden would rather not have anyone else contact him.

His phone beeped with another message, 'What makes you ask?'

'I can't remember if I thanked Jaden for saving my life.'

'Don't think you need to. Saving people is just what Jaden does. He knows you're thankful.'

'Yeah what did Aurelia call him? Batman?'

'There are many things Aurelia calls him depending on the day and her mood.' A beat. 'Don't worry about it Atticus. Jaden would just shrug it off anyway.'

'Thanks man.'

Atticus sighed through his lips. Aster was right of course. To Jaden, saving people was just what he did. You didn't expect to get thanked just for breathing. That's what Jaden did; he breathed and he helped people. God he missed that kid.

Atticus' phone chimed with an alarm this time and he jumped. Right, he had a date tonight. Time to get his sexy on.

The only thing I have is everything to lose

I would lay it all on the line for you

To be here by my side

The world is ours tonight

Four Years Post-Graduation...

"We should just elope," Chazz declared dramatically as he entered the room.

Aurelia blinked at him over the top of her book. She took in his exhausted demeanor as he flopped himself on the couch with her before setting her book aside. This wasn't just Chazz being dramatic; this was something they needed to talk about. "Is the press hounding you again?"

Chazz shifted until his head was in her lap, "They never stop!"

"Well we are both famous people. They should know more than most how busy we are with our careers."

"Two years of busy?"

Aurelia paused a moment; this sounded like more than just press annoyance. Chazz was stubbornly blocking her however. "Chazz what's really going on?"

He sighed and closed his eyes. She could feel his trepidation from their bond but she was unsure as to what exactly he was afraid of. "Someone suggested…that we're stalling because we're not completely committed to it," he finally admitted.

Aurelia tried to parse that out, "But we're mated. We're in more of a commitment than they can ever realise."

Chazz looked up at her, "I know that, you know that. Everyone who is close to us and is in the know knows that. And to any of your people that we may actually come across we are married."

"But not to your people," Aurelia finished. The pieces were coming together. "Oh honey, why didn't you say anything? I wasn't in a rush because to me it's just a piece of paper. We're already married in my eyes."

Chazz sat up and turned to face her, "And I totally get that, but to the rest of the world we're…not."

Aurelia leaned forward to catch his downturned lips. These were darker fears that had been building under the surface in him for a while. They'd been so busy they barely had time for themselves lately; it's no wonder she missed this in him. "We'll start planning immediately," she said quietly as she nuzzled in to him.

"We don't have to do this if you don't want to," Chazz suggested as he leaned away to meet her eyes.

She knew what he was about to say. "You're not pressuring me. This is something you want and if it makes you happy then we're doing it."

Chazz pulled her to him in an almost suffocating embrace, "Thank you."

"This really has been getting to you hasn't it?"

Pink dusted his cheeks as he studiously avoided her eyes, "It might just be a stupid human thing," She nuzzled him mumbling "not stupid," which she felt him shake his head at, "But I want you to be mine to the rest of the world and not just those in the know. And I want them to know that I'm yours. I want to make it official."

Chazz squawked when she suddenly pushed him over. She slid up his body, prompting a shiver to run through him, and caged him in between her arms. Black eyes met blue cat's eyes as Aurelia took him in before a smirk pulled at her lips enough that one of her fangs poked through. "Oh sweetheart," she purred and he shivered again, "official or not, you've been mine since the day we met."

We can't take it back to the start again

Time will tell us how the story ends

So beautiful, we can make it right

The world is ours tonight

Five Years Post-Graduation…

Jaden squinted at the harsh sunlight overhead. Why he had decided to come to Australia in the summer he had no idea. Well, he kinda did. Jim had somehow gotten a hold of him (*cough*Jesse*cough*) and asked him to come and help someone over here. It turns out a little boy had been put in a mental institution after he said he could talk to his duel cards. He was young enough that normally this would have just been brushed off as imaginary friends but the poor boy was so adamant and when no one believed him he retreated so far into himself he no longer talked.

It had somehow gotten through the grapevine to Jim even though Jim's specialty was animals and not people. Which is why Jaden was here.

"Jaden!" That boy's name is Cory and with Jaden's help, he had found his voice again.

Cory rushed down the beach toward Jaden holding the shells he had found. "Look Jaden, Rocky and I found these cool shells! Look this one even has a crab in it!"

"Ookay bud, maybe put that one down. That shell is the crab's home. You don't want to take away his home do you?"

"Oh no!" Cory gently put the crab back on the ground and watched it scuttle back into its shell. "Rocky" watched the crab as well, sticking close to Cory's side. Rocky was actually the card Rock Spirit which was the first card Cory ever received; also the first duel spirit to ever contact him. He was by far Cory's favourite and it seemed the feeling was mutual.

Cory's parents were well-meaning but they didn't understand that Cory could see and talk to duel spirits. Jaden's parents had been the same way when he was younger. Fortunately or unfortunately for him his parents were rarely home so they never saw the extent to which their son communed with duel spirits. If they had, he probably would have ended up like Cory.

Thankfully, now Cory's parents had a better idea of what was going on with Cory even if they didn't really understand. They were more thankful that Cory had regained his voice and was out of the mental hospital. And that meant Jaden's job here was done.

"Cory, why don't you go show your parents what you found?" Jaden suggested.

Cory's parents were at the beach as well, staying cool under an umbrella. His dad was sound asleep in a chair while his mom was reading a book but still keeping an eye on her son. Cory ran over to them and dumped his shells in his dad's lap, startling the poor man awake.

Jaden chuckled at the scene before fishing out his phone. He hit speed dial 1.

"Hey darlin', didn't think I'd be hearin' from you for a while."

Jaden couldn't help but grin at his boyfriend's voice. That southern drawl still made his skin tingle. He knew Jesse knew as well and always emphasized it when he remembered. "I'm pretty much done here Jess."

"Yeah? Cory doin' alright?" Wow his drawl had become more pronounced. He must be home.

"He's great. The family's great and everyone's getting along. No more hospitals for the little guy."

"That's great Jay."

"Has Aurelia popped yet?"

"Nah but she's real close. I'm heading to Domino first thing tomorrow. Did she tell you she's havin' twins?"

"Yeah she did. She sounded so excited over the phone." Jaden also knew that it wasn't just because it was twins. Things were working out like they should and the future was looking better and better.

"According to Chazz she's actually a couple days past due and she's cranky about it."

"Wouldn't you be if you had two humans wrestling inside you all the time?" Jaden replied with a laugh.

Jesse laughed, "S'ppose I would."

Jaden stared out over the ocean. "Hey Jess, can I use your card for something?" he asked.

"Well sure, but what for? I thought Aurelia gave you a card to use if you ever needed anything."

Jaden smiled, "I know, but I also know that even if she said she'd never use it to track me, she's still doing it."

"Aw darlin', you know she ain't using your card, she's usin' your phone."

"Wait, what?"

Jesse laughed. Jaden pulled his phone away from his ear and looked it over. Dammit, she had given it to him before he left. Whatever, didn't matter right now. "Doesn't matter, I don't want her seeing this purchase and I'll turn my phone off too."

"Come on Jay, don't shut me out. You know she don't mean anything by it."

"I'm not doing it to shut you out Jess."

"Then why?"

"Because I don't want her to see me coming."

The silence on the other end was deafening. "Jay, do you mean it?"

He sounded so hopeful. Jaden knew he was the one putting a strain on their relationship only having contact by phone or Skype. He hadn't seen Jesse face-to-face in three years. He hadn't touched him in three years. That itch beneath his skin that told him to go and never stop had ruled his life these past five years with an iron fist. Honestly, there were many times he wondered to himself and to Jesse why his boyfriend didn't just leave him. Jesse always replied with a firm "Not on your life Jay".

But now, to hear the hope in his voice just brought that back into focus.

Jaden caught sight of Yubel and Banner out of the corner of his eye. They were both smiling at him like they knew exactly what he was doing. And that itch beneath his skin? It had finally dulled enough that homesickness had settled in its place. It didn't mean it was permanent…but to see his family again, to be there for his best friend when she gave birth, to meet his niece and nephew, to hold his love again…

"Yeah Jess," he smiled, "I'm coming home."

The only thing I have is everything to lose

I would lay it all on the line for you

To be here by my side

(The world is ours tonight)

Want to be there by your side

The world is ours tonight

The world is ours tonight

The world is ours tonight

I will be writing more in this series and I'm thinking of editing and maybe rewriting parts of this and posting it on AO3 but for now this is the end. What Jaden was referencing when it came to the future is something I'm working on for the Bonds Beyond Time movie. Who the hell knows when I'll publish that or if it will even be on this site. I'm primarily on AO3 and you can find me there under the same username but I haven't posted anything there yet. And none of my favourites over there are Yugioh at all. It's mostly Steve/Bucky from the Marvel universe so be aware of that.

Thank you again to everyone who took the time to read this, review it, follow it, favourite it, etc... You guys rock.

Love ya!