A/N: Hey! Um… I actually intended this to be a one shot (don't ask why, my mind works in strange and twisted ways sometimes), but after reading your reviews I felt compelled to write more – so I'm not guaranteeing that this chapter will be as good as the last or as long, but I'll do my absolute best to keep the quality up to snuff! Hope you enjoy!

The man stabbed again at him with the knife braking off yet another piece of the duel disk Chazz had grabbed for a shield when the psychopath, or whatever he was, had pulled out the knife. He'd given up screaming for help, no one could hear him over Jaden's music and now it was just a waist of the precious little energy he had left. Chazz could feel the life seeping out of him as the blood trickled down his arms and torso. He couldn't keep this up much longer; soon he wouldn't be able to fight back at all. And then the man wouldn't slit his throat, for some reason Chazz knew that he would be left unconscious to bleed to death.

The man suddenly lunged forward and, before Chazz could dodge, had grabbed a double fistful of the teenager's shirt. He hauled him off his feet then slammed Chazz bodily against the wall. Then again and again until Chazz was so stunned and dazed and in so much pain that he could barely think straight, let alone fight back. The stranger tossed him to the ground and proceeded to rip open the teen's shirt. What the heck is this maniac doing?

"Chazz Princeton will you stop making such an infernal racket!!! Whatever you're doing can wait until MORNING!!!" Chazz stiffened at the sound. Alexis! She was right on the other side of his door! If he could just somehow let her know that he was in trouble, then he might live…. With a sudden surge of strength he struggled, tried to pull free, to call out but his efforts were rewarded by being slammed against the floor several more times. His world slowly spun into black and memory as the knife blade began to carve a deep gash across his bare chest….

There was a long crack spreading across the ceiling above him like a spider web and after staring at it for nearly two hours Chazz could have sworn that it was moving. He rolled onto his stomach and glanced at the clock beside his bed. Ugh, it was eleven thirty. With a sigh he sat up, then hesitantly pulled out one of his earplugs. Good, for once the annoying mutants were asleep, now if he was really quiet he might be able to make it out of his room without waking them up. Why did duel spirits need to sleep anyway? Not that he was complaining.

Slipping his bare feet into the shoes next to the bed, Chazz grabbed his black coat and crept to the door as quietly as possible and then slipped out into the darkness. At last, free! Now if he could just make it down those stairs without waking up the entire dorm, he'd be golden.

The world glowed an eerie silver in the pale moonlight as his feet carried him away from the Slifer dorm. Slifer. It was sort of ironic that now, out the entire group, only he and Jaden were actually Slifer Reds. Even Syrus had moved up to Ra Yellow. Sighing, he kicked at a rock on the path in front of him and watched it arc away over the edge of the cliff only to be swallowed by the crashing ocean breakers below. Why did everything in his life have to end up being so blasted ironic? When he'd been an Obelisk Blue, he'd always scoffed at Jaden for being a Slifer and now he was one too. He'd run away from Duel Academy and become the best duelist at North Academy, only to come back to DA. He'd thought having one duel spirit following him around was bad enough, now he had an entire deck full of the things! And then there was this whole mess with Sartorius and his Society of Light…

Chazz glanced back in the direction he had come from but the dorm was now hidden from his view behind the bulk of the Lighthouse. At least Alexis was back now. Had he really done that to her? He absently fingered the bruise on his cheek that she had given him after her duel with Jaden. Apparently, he had… but it was Alexis. How could he have done something like that to Alexis? Why would he have done that to her?

He stopped and glanced down as he suddenly realized that he had reached the end of the pier by the Lighthouse. A few more steps and he'd be swallowed by the black ocean below and would probably drown as he was dragged out to sea by one of the numerous rip tides that surrounded the beaches of Academy Island. Not that anybody would really care if he disappeared. Right now, he was the least popular person in the school, nobody trusted him anymore – not even Atticus. Not that he could really blame them. They said he'd done some horrible things to people, like Alexis. Even level headed Bastion had somehow ended up brainwashed in the Society of Light. And he, Chazz Princeton, had 'converted' them all and been Sartorius's right hand man. Or, at least, that was what the others said had happened. They had fairly oozed sarcasm when they'd told him, too, and Chazz could almost hear them thinking – But of course, you remember that. You don't really have amnesia, you're just pretending. You probably enjoyed being in the Society of Light. They had refused to believe him. Nothing he could say would change their minds. They didn't understand that he'd never willingly inflict this much pain on himself.

Only Alexis understood, but she had been avoiding Chazz ever since Sartorius had finally lost his hold on her three days ago. She was the only one who actually believed him because she couldn't remember anything either. Everyone was willing to believe her, though, which was good. He wouldn't have been able to bare it if she had to go through this too.

The wind whipped around Chazz's legs and sent a shiver up his spine. The temperature had drop considerably since he'd left the dorm. Oh well, it felt good just to be able to get away from everyone and think. He crossed his arms across his chest as another cold gust blew from the ocean and he reflexively rubbed his upper arms to stop them from getting numb. Chazz flinched and quickly stopped as he felt pain stab wherever his fingers touched. Oh, yeah. He'd almost forgotten about one of his other mementos from his time in the Society of Light – the dozens of razor cuts all over his upper arms in various stages of healing which meant he'd been cutting himself for a fairly long time while he had been brainwashed. It was his only proof that he hadn't been completely happy about throwing it in with Sartorius's lot when he'd been acting like that freaky tarot card guy's puppet, but he hadn't mentioned it to anybody – it would have brought up too many painful questions about his past, like why he would have even have thought about cutting himself in the first place. He didn't want to be forced to remember why he had resorted to pain, all that mattered was that he had stopped after that whole thing with North Academy and hadn't purposefully cut himself in over a year. Well, it would have been over a year if it hadn't been for Sartorius.

He stared out over the silver tipped black waves. All of this wouldn't be quite so bad if he could just remember what had happened instead of having his imagination try to fill in the blanks. But no matter how hard he tried to over come the wall in his mind, all he ever found was that terrifying black void of nothingness between the end of his duel with Sartorius to suddenly finding himself dueling Jaden with a freakish monster that he had never seen before and Ojama Yellow crying on Jaden's side of the field and his black coat hanging on the sidelines because he was wearing an all white uniform for some reason. The void in his memory did yield a few things, though, a series of strange, disembodied feelings that almost seemed to have belonged to someone else. Pain, power-lust, invincibility, pride, and… was it, care? Not just for someone, but also having it returned? Where had that come from? What happened? That last feeling had been a stranger to him since his parents had died. Sure, he cared about Alexis, but that was – and probably always would be – one sided; he'd forced himself to accept that fact.

Another gust of wind whistled around him making the bottom of his coat billow and snapped out behind him and whipped his hair against his face. He let his head slowly sink down until his chin was near touching his chest. Why did his life have to be so messed up? Why couldn't he ever seem to do anything right? Heck, he'd even managed to mess up helping Alexis, Syrus, and Hassleberry look for Jaden after that duel with Aster. Instead of being useful, he'd got himself brainwashed. Typical. Everything he touched blew up in his face. Especially, if it was something important to him. That was always when things when 'bang' the loudest.

Chazz felt a single, mutinous tear escape the corner of his eye and trace its way down his cheek. He automatically raised his arm and wiped it away with his sleeve,

"I should head back – I'm losing my mind out here," he mumbled to himself, pulling his coat collar higher against the cold and then turning to head back down the pier. He lifted his eyes from the ground… and found Alexis staring back at him. Surprise sent him stumbling backwards and Alexis's hand darted forward to grab him before he could tumble into the swirling black waves below. For several moments all he could do was stare at her in shock. What was she doing out here?

The memory suddenly splintered and faded around him leaving Chazz in darkness. What was going on? Where was he? Was he dead?

As if on cue, his entire body soundlessly screamed at him in excruciating pain. Scratch dead – I don't think you can hurt this much after you die. Somewhere in the distance Chazz could hear footsteps coming towards him. Who was it? Had that maniac come back to finish him off after all? He had to open his eyes, had to move, had to see if now he was safe, but he didn't seem to be in control of his body any more; it wouldn't respond to his commands.

Then he felt a gentle touch on his cheek and his body stirred, awakening from its death-like state. Chazz forced his eyes to open part way and tried to focus on the face leaning over him.

"Alexis…?" His voice came out as barely a whisper as he stared up into her wide, terrified eyes with confusion. Why was she here? He had a feeling he knew at least one possible answer to that question but he couldn't concentrate well enough to remember, pain was overwhelming his mind. He felt her gently take a hold of his hand.

"I'm here. Lie still." Her voice was soft and soothing. He let his eyes slide close again and oblivion swirl him away as he listened Alexis issuing orders to other people in the room. It was alright. He was safe now. This time the blackness brought up no memories.

--

Chazz didn't know how long it was before he opened his eyes again. It could have been minutes; it could have been days. Well, it probably hadn't been minutes because he wasn't in his room anymore. The walls around him glowed along with the covers of the bed he was in and the bandages which were covering most of his body. The uncomfortable pressure of an oxygen mask was clamped over his nose and mouth lead to the conclusion that this was the infirmary. Beside him someone murmured in their sleep. Ignoring the pain that movement caused, Chazz shifted his head to see who else was in the room with him and if he hadn't only been sixteen, the shock he got would have given him a heart attack.

Alexis sat in the chair next to his bed, peacefully asleep, one of his hands grasped gently in her own. Chazz stared at her for a moment, mesmerized. Okay, either I'm dreaming or the pain medication they're giving me is giving me really vivid hallucinations. Or maybe Alexis has lost her mind again. She'd never actually do this, would she? If only… if only…

He lay very still and watched her, making the most of this rare opportunity and this almost unheard of physical contact. His ears perked up as he heard her whisper something in her sleep – a little more coherently this time.

"Chazz… what's…?"

Now I know I'm dreaming. He continued to watch silently, wondering what she was dreaming about.

--

Alexis glanced uninterestedly at the numbers of the dorm rooms she passed. She knew exactly where she was going after delivering so many messages from Sartorius there. By now she didn't even have to think about it, her feet just walked there on their own, but tonight was different. She wasn't delivering a message, she wanted somebody to talk to and out of everyone in the Society, he was the one she knew the best, the one that she trusted the most. After all, she had known him since Duel Monsters prep school.

She stopped in front of his door and reached for the handle. When the door silently swung open she glanced around the room, looking for Chazz Princeton but she didn't see him at first. His long white coat lay across his bed where it glowed eerily in the moonlight let in by the open curtains. Alexis let out a small sigh as she finally spotted his spiky black hair sticking out from over the bed. She raised an eyebrow. What was he doing down there?

The carpet on the floor muffled her footsteps and Chazz didn't even look up as she entered. He probably hadn't heard her. Alexis rounded the corner of the bed which he was leaning against and finally got a look at Chazz. She had to bite her lip hard to stop herself from yelling, her teeth nearly drawing blood. He was sitting on the floor with his back resting against the back of the bed, feet flat on the floor, knees bent, positioned so that he was in the darkest shadow the moonlight created. He was completely shrouded in darkness. The left sleeve of his shirt had been rolled up past his shoulder to expose his entire arm. Red droplets were slithering down his skin and slowly dripping onto the already stained towel he was sitting on so that he wouldn't leave any evidence of what he'd been up to. His right hand rested next to him the still bloody bare blade of the razor cupped in his palm. The other half healed scars and scabs marring his pale skin belied the fact that this wasn't the first time he'd gone after himself with a razor lately. How long had he been doing this to himself? A vague memory from prep school from nearly three years ago drifted to the surface of her mind.

It was the week after the midterm dueling exams and grades had just gone home with students the previous day for students to give to there parents. Alexis was running down the hall towards her fourth period class, a large pile of books clutched to her chest. The bell was about to ring at any second and her teacher had said that if she was late one more time he'd give her a detention, which wasn't really fair. She had gym third period and that teacher never gave them enough time to change before the dismissal bell rang, so no matter how quickly she changed she always had to sprint for her next class.

As she rounded the last turn, Alexis suddenly came face to back with that arrogant jerk, Chazz Princeton, who was in her homeroom. She desperately tried to stop herself from crashing into the other teen, not noticing the extremely painful limp in the boy's stride. Barely avoiding smacking into him, Alexis tripped over her own feet and stumbled, grabbing hold of his upper arm to stop herself falling flat on the floor. Chazz let out what Alexis thought was an extremely over exaggerated yelp of surprise, or maybe pain, as she tighten her grip on his arm. He shoved her off, snarling something about she should watch where she was going, and limped into his classroom. Alexis stared after him for a moment in disgust. Her head snapped up as the late bell for fourth period rang. Wonderful, now she was going to be late again.

Alexis blinked and continued to stare at the young duelist, who still had yet to notice her. Was that why he had yelled so loudly all those years ago? Had he been doing this to himself for that long? And why was he cutting himself? He was in the Society of Light and one of Sartorius's favorite members – shouldn't he be happy?

She moved slightly so that she could see his face properly – before it had been partially obscured by his bangs which had cast most of his face into even deeper shadow. His expression was almost completely blank as he stared out of the window in front of him. Not a completely unusual expression for Chazz Princeton but the worrisome part was his eyes. His dark slate gray eyes which were usually bright and cold and attentive were dull and lifeless like those of a dead man or someone being mind controlled. She felt a slight ache in her chest as she saw this. She had to help him, had to find out what was wrong.

Alexis opened her mouth, unsure quite how to start,

"Chazz… what's-?"

At the sound of her voice, Chazz jerked up guilty, his still dull eyes widening slightly in panic.

"A- A- Alexis!" he stammered out of characteristically, "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I wanted to talk to you," she said, leaning over and picking up the razor blade from where it had fallen about a foot away from Chazz's hand, "but it looks like I'm not the only one who needs somebody to talk to." Alexis examined the razor. The moonlight caused the metal to flash and turned the blood along the edge an inky black. She waited expectantly for an answer of some sort but none came. She sighed and sat down on the floor next to him in the pool of silvery light created by the window. Reaching out into the shadows, she gently touched his hand, her eyes locked on his face,

"What's wrong?" she asked quietly. He glanced sideways at her and then looked away again, eyes focusing on the red/brown stains on the ground below his left arm.

"Nothing," he mumbled hoarsely. "I'm fine."

Alexis rolled her eyes at this comment,

"Fine? You're not fine! You're cutting yourself with a razor blade, for pity's sake! When has that ever constituted as being fine?" Chazz didn't look up at her and she continued, "There's got to be something wrong, Chazz. This isn't like you!"

This made his head snap up a spark of life finally flashing up defiantly in his eyes,

"Not like me, huh? How would you even know? If you hadn't walked in just now you never even would have guessed! You think you know me – but you don't!"

Not one bit intimidated by this out burst, Alexis settled herself into a more comfortable position,

"Alright then, enlighten me."

Chazz blinked and stared at her in surprise,

"What?" He had obviously been expecting her to leave.

She shrugged,

"Well, you just said that I don't actually know you so enlighten me. Tell me about yourself. You've got me curios!" She smiled at him. "But first let's get that arm of yours cleaned up. I don't feel like having you bleed to death while you're talking to me." Alexis walked out to the bathroom and grabbed the necessary medical supplies from the large selection of bandages, disinfectants, and other things that the school required to be stored in the upper cabinets in case of an emergency. She came back out to find Chazz still sitting in the exact same position she had left him in. She reached a hand down to him,

"Come on, I can't bandage your arm when you're sitting in a corner like that." Uncertainly, he took her hand and allowed himself to be pulled to his feet and lead into the bathroom where she had him sit on the counter top by the sink so she could see what she was doing more easily, much to his embarrassment. Alexis began to clean up the blood that had run down his arm,

"So what's the first thing I should know about you?" She asked as she worked. Chazz raised an eyebrow at her,

"You were actually being serious about that?"

"Of course. How about this: what was that whole thing your brothers had about 'world domination?' Were they always that weird?"

Chazz shook his head slightly, wincing she swabbed around a particularly deep gash,

"Naw, they only ended up like that after they left home and our parents died."

"Your parents are dead?"

"Did you really think I'd have to put up with Slade and Jagger if they weren't?"

"I don't know – I never really thought about it before. How did your parents die, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Car crash when I was eight. Dad fell asleep at the wheel and they went off the road, hit a solid cement wall," he stated bluntly, his voice emotionless.

"Oh, I'm sorry."

He shrugged slightly,

"It was a long time ago." There was silence for several minutes as Alexis finished bandaging his arm, processing this new information she had just learned about Chazz. He slid off the counter as soon as she finished securing the bandage.

"It's awfully late, you should probably be heading back to your room," he said. Alexis nodded,

"Yeah, I probably should." She walked across the room and out into the hallway, calling quietly over her shoulder, "Goodnight!"

"Goodnight!" Alexis heard the door click quietly shut behind her as she headed back towards her own room wondering what else Chazz wasn't telling anyone.

As the memory/dream ended, Alexis woke up but instead of the details of the dream becoming fuzzier and fuzzier as she became more awake, they remained vibrant and clear, almost as though they had been burned into her memory. Yawning and stretching slightly Alexis opened her eyes only to find that it was still late at night and that a pair of weary slate gray eyes were contemplating her from the hospital bed.