So sorry this took so long, I've been very busy lately. Anyway here's chapter five. I tried to add a bit more romance in this chapter, because I felt it's the factor that's been lacking from previous chapters. Anyway enjoy.
Jaden spent a great deal of time over the next few days, standing on the roof of the academy, hoping to spot a helicopter or a boat with Yugi in it. Joey had called back to let them know, he had found Yugi and they would come to duel academy, as quickly as they could. Sadly, there had been no word of when exactly, Yugi would be arriving. All they could do was wait, and hope for the best. Ever since he had awoken, people had noticed Jaden wasn't acting like his normal cheery self. He was behaving more like he had, when he had returned from the alternate dimension with Yubel. Because of this, he had not had much social interaction with his friends. It saddened them to see Jaden like this, but they did not know what to do. Alexis, however, was not just going to stand back and watch Jaden be miserable. She was going to find a way to reach him, and potentially cheer him up. Unknown to her, Jesse, Syrus and Hassleberry were doing the same
On the fourth day, since he had awoken, Jaden still stood there, waiting for a sign that Yugi had arrived. Most people would think, that Jaden would be lonely standing there all by himself. Unbeknownst to them, Jaden was never alone, he always had his duel spirits to keep him company. At that moment, the spirit of Yubel, who had remained out of sight for the last few days, appeared beside him.
"Why are you still waiting for him?" asked Yubel curiously.
"He's the only hope we have in defeating this new threat," answered Jaden seriously.
"How can you be so certain of that?" asked Yubel.
"Yubel, you saw how powerful those two were. I was completely overwhelmed. I may have saved the whole world from being consumed by Nightshroud, but these guys were on a completely different level. I don't know how, but their strength was beyond anything I could have anticipated!" explained Jaden.
"Hard to argue with that," stated Yubel, who knew that every word Jaden spoke was true.
"Not only that, I have a feeling they were both toying with me," said Jaden, remembering the strength the duo had possessed.
"To be fair, you took on both of them at the same time, maybe if you had duelled them separately, you would have stood a chance," suggested Yubel.
Jaden shook his head "No. I have a feeling that even if I took them on separately, either one of them would have defeated me," he said, sounding very sure of himself.
Yubel had a feeling, she would not be able to convince Jaden otherwise, so she instead decided to convince Jaden, that there were other things he needed to attend to.
"Well, if you really think Yugi is our only hope of defeating those two, I suggest we stop worrying about it for now, and deal with other matters," stated Yubel.
This caught Jaden by surprise, as he had no idea what Yubel was talking about.
"Other important matters? What are you talking about?" asked Jaden curiously.
"Jaden, you have friends who have travelled a long way, just to see that you were all right. Ever since you woke up, you have been very distant with them, and I can see it's upsetting them. I think you should go talk to them," stated Yubel.
This was another surprising statement from Yubel, especially considering how she had treated Jaden's friends as a child.
"No disrespect, but since when do you care about my friends, you tried to make sure you were the only friend I had when I was little," stated Jaden, reminding Yubel about her past mistakes.
"Yes, but you made me realise, that what I was doing was wrong. Not only that, I've come to terms with the fact, that doing that, was what pushed you to send me into space," said Yubel, looking a little ashamed of herself.
"Well at least we both realise now, that what we did was wrong," admitted Jaden.
"Indeed, either way, during your last year at the academy, everyone could see you had changed, and it hurt them! I know you just wanted to protect them, but let's face it, you nearly pushed all of them away!" explained Yubel.
"Now your reminding me of my mistakes," joked Jaden.
"Well call it payback, but just think about what I'm telling you," said Yubel.
Jaden stood there for a few minutes, reminiscing on his final year at the academy. The more he thought about it, the more he knew Yubel was right. Even though his intentions were good, he had hurt his friends emotionally. He felt there was one, he had been hurting more than the others though.
"Your right, I was probably hurting them more, then helping them. Especially Alexis. I have a feeling, she was hurt the most by the way I behaved," admitted Jaden.
"Agreed, but your doing it again Jaden. They just want to help you, but you're not accepting it, and your pushing them away again. When you were in the infirmary, they were all worried about you and I know they are willing to help in any way they can!" explained Yubel.
Although Jaden was touched by how worried his friends were, he couldn't help but ask Yubel a different question.
"Were you watching me, for the entire time I was unconscious?" asked Jaden.
"Only when you were alone, I'm supposed to protect you remember. What kind of protector would I be, if I left you alone and unconscious," answered Yubel.
"So, you weren't watching me, while my friends were there?" asked Jaden.
"Well, I decided they would be sufficient enough to protect, you should danger occur. Besides, I also thought you would want to catch up with them, should you wake up," stated Yubel.
Jaden wasn't finished with his question "Is it true that Alexis spent a lot of time by my side, while I was unconscious?" asked Jaden remembering what Fontaine had told him.
"More so then the rest yes. She also appeared to be the most worried and upset about your condition!" explained Yubel.
"Wow, I didn't realise she cared that much about me," stated Jaden a little amazed.
"To be honest Jaden, I think Alexis might be," but before Yubel could finish, she was cut off by another voice.
"Jaden," called the voice he recognised as Alexis.
Jaden turned to the exit, and saw Alexis walking towards him, carrying a tray of rice balls. Before saying hello, he turned back to Yubel, but she had vanished. Jaden figured, Yubel would finish her statement later, so he turned his attention back to Alexis.
"Hey Lex, what's up?" asked Jaden a little surprised.
"Nothing much. I just thought you might like something to eat," answered Alexis, who was now standing in front of him.
Having mentioned food, Jaden realised he was starving.
"Thanks Lex. Um, do you want to go somewhere else to eat?" asked Jaden.
"No that's ok. I like it up here, you can pretty much see the whole island," answered Alexis.
With that, they both stood near the edge of the roof and helped themselves to the rice balls. They ate in silence for about five minutes, before Jaden broke it.
"It really is great to see you again Lex. I'm sorry I've been so distant lately," stated Jaden looking at Alexis.
"That's ok, I'm just happy to see you again. Its been far too long if you ask me," stated Alexis smiling.
"Yeah. Sorry I didn't contact you. I've been traveling almost non-stop since graduation, and I never stopped to think about whether I should send you guys a postcard," said Jaden, a little ashamed of himself.
"Again, its ok. So, um where have you been traveling?" asked Alexis, trying to lighten the mood.
"Wherever the road would take me I guess. I made money by winning small time duelling tournaments, but the money would run out very quickly," stated Jaden.
"With your appetite, that doesn't surprise me," joked Alexis.
"Yeah, thankfully Professor Banner, convinced me to cut down a little on buying food, so we could at least have shelter every night," laughed Jaden, "What about you? How's life?"
"Very good. College was a lot of fun and teaching here has been a real privilege," answered Alexis. "But I guess life after graduation, has been more exiting for you,"
"Actually, aside from the occasional challenging duellist, my life's been pretty uneventful, until now," said Jaden, looking ahead and becoming a little glum again.
Alexis could see Jaden was very scared of this impending threat. She needed to let him know he wasn't alone.
"Jaden, I know your scared, but please remember your not alone," said Alexis putting her hand on his shoulder, as he turned to face her, "I'm scarred to. We all are, but if we work together, we can beat this."
"Thanks Lex," said Jaden, showing a genuine smile, which Alexis was overjoyed to see.
Having cheered Jaden up, Alexis had a feeling, that maybe now was the time. The time to tell Jaden, how she felt. Although Alexis had no doubts, that Jaden would pull through like he always did, she still didn't want to take the risk.
"Um Jaden?" asked Alexis, starting to blush.
"Yeah Lex," answered Jaden, turning towards her again.
"There's been something, I've been meaning to tell you," stated Alexis, blushing a littler heavier.
"What is it?" asked Jaden, curious by the way Alexis was acting.
Alexis put the plate, on the ground and took one of Jaden's hands. "Jaden I, lo," but before she could finish, she was cut off by another voice.
"Hey Jaden, I knew I'd find you up here" called the voice, as Alexis let go of Jaden's hand.
Jaden and Alexis turned their heads towards the entrance and saw Jesse walking towards them.
"What's up Jesse?" asked Jaden curiously, surprised by Jesse's sudden arrival.
"Well I know you're a little worked up from your previous duel, so I figured, maybe a friendly duel with no stakes would cheer you up," said Jesse smiling and holding up his deck.
"Like old times?" asked Jaden.
"Like old times," answered Jesse.
"That sounds awesome," said Jaden. He was about to charge off, before realising that Alexis hadn't finished her statement. "Hey Lex, what were you going to tell me?"
"Don't worry about it, I tell you later," said Alexis. She was a little annoyed about being interrupted, but she knew this might be the best thing to cheer Jaden up.
"Are you sure?" asked Jaden.
"Yes, go enjoy the duel, besides, I'm sure the entire academy will want to see this," stated Alexis.
"Alright, talk to you later," said Jaden, who exited the roof, to go and prepare.
Jesse was about to follow, but Alexis couldn't leave his actions unpunished.
"Jesse," called Alexis, walking over to him.
"Yeah," answered Jesse still smiling.
Without warning, Alexis slapped him across the face.
"Ow. What'd you do that for?" asked Jesse, highly surprised and putting his hand to his cheek.
"Jesse, I was about to tell Jaden how I feel," answered Alexis, looking very annoyed.
"Feel about what?" asked Jesse, still confused.
"I was going to tell Jaden, I love him," stated Alexis, on the verge of slapping Jesse again.
"You love him? I thought Syrus and Hassleberry were only joking about that," stated Jesse surprised.
"Wait, what are you talking about?" asked Alexis curiously.
"Oh well, back when Jaden was still unconscious, I mentioned to them, that you must really care about Jaden, as you seemed the most eager to stay by his side. Then Syrus was like 'Oh Alexis has been in love with Jaden since day one' and Hassleberry was like 'Yeah, I'm amazed she didn't just bravely kiss the Sarge, hoping he would then awake and pick her up and carry her away into the sunset'!" explained Jesse, doing his best impressions. "By their tones, I thought they were kidding."
Alexis took a moment to take in what Jesse had said, before deciding what to do.
"If you'll excuse me Jesse, I need to have a quick word with those two," stated Alexis, who exited the roof, to look for Syrus and Hassleberry.
Jesse had a sinking feeling, that within the next few minutes, there would be two more people, with bright red hand shaped marks on their face.
Thanks for reading, please let me know what you think in the comments. To be continued.