DISCLAIMER! All fictional entities in this segment belong to Kazuki Takahashi. I rented them.

Don't shoot me about little Prince Judai's/ Jaden's characterization! The way I see it, he may not have always been the benevolent savior he grew up to be. He's got the Supreme King's powers, after all...

PS: This is my first fic with Japanese names.

"YUBEL AND THE SPOILED SAVIOR-TO-BE"

I only told him what he needed to know: he was destined to protect the Kind Darkness against the Light of Ruin with the power of the Supreme King, and that I was assigned to protect him. All the other bits and pieces about our past lives probably would've made him more upset than necessary. You could say that I protected him from all those other little details. But, that was my job, was it not?

He doesn't need to know about the extras, but I remember them. I remember them as though they had all happened yesterday.

What I didn't tell him was that as a Prince, he wasn't always the benevolent hero whom everyone he'd ever had contact with adored. He used to be...how do I put this delicately?

He was rude. That's it. Rude, headstrong, spoiled and severe.

Even though he was royalty, this was a huge part of the reason why his circle of friends was small. I was in this circle. I was human, then. I was also his closest companion, possibly his only real friend. Everyone else did what he wanted because he threatened them with all sorts of punishments: spending an eternity laboring in the mines, being thrown into the hungry Chimeras' den, et cetera, et cetera.

I did it because I cared about him. All right, so maybe you can't exactly help a boy to change his ways by doing his homework for him when his tutors aren't looking...

...or by being the stool when he wants to steal treats from out of the cupboards.

And maybe it doesn't help when you let him win all the games you've ever played with him so he doesn't throw a tantrum and hurt himself, or others.

Nor does it change him if you clean up all of his messes, or take the blame when he rides a Sonic Duck inside the palace with his father's crown on his head and tramples over everything, including the precious family tapestry.

"I am a Prince! I don't deserve punishment!" I'd often hear him growl. He kicked and he pushed and he slapped and he spat. Once or twice, I'd seen him torture a Des Frog and drop it in the cook's stew when he had his back turned (I, of course, got the clout for that one).

He didn't even respect the roses in my garden. I had my own garden when I was human, with flowers of all sorts of colors and textures. I'd take him here to try to calm him down, and he'd just trample all over the roses just because their thorns had pricked him. I'd be lying if I said I completely did not mind this.

Nevertheless, I stayed with him. It's difficult to explain how, but deep down, I saw a different Prince: one who was kinder than the Prince everyone else saw, but much more confused, lonely, even. Confused about what? Despite how close we were, I couldn't tell.

I wanted to help him, but how? You could say that I was just as confused as my friend was.

One fateful morning, I received my answer. The King had requested that I meet him on the balcony for a private conversation. Shivers of apprehension rattled my spine, for when the King called someone out to speak to him in private, it usually meant that they were in big trouble. Had he found out about the Prince's egging the baker's shop because of the disagreement they'd had? I'd paid the price for that incident, but...

His Majesty and I stood side by side, gazing at the vast, green landscape stretching out below us. Since it was early, the sky was a light purple canvas over our heads, adorned with brush strokes of white clouds.

His voice was gruff and somber. "Yubel, you may be wondering why I have called you up here..."

I did not respond, as it was improper to talk back to the King unless he needed you to. I was too anxious to speak, anyway.

"Listen well, my boy. In the beginning, our universe sprang from nothingness, and split into two forces: Light and Darkness. While the Light faded out into the unknown, the Darkness engulfed the universe and nursed all life...

"However, the Light of Ruin, with its own overwhelming powers, is beginning to shine again, threatening to one day destroy the Kind Darkness. When that time comes, we need a power to reject the Light and protect the Darkness."

Though I listened to this well, I wondered why His Majesty was telling me all of this. The Light of Ruin? The Kind Darkness? What did this all have to do with me? Unless...my friend was involved in this, too. Not knowing what to say, I turned to him and nodded.

He turned to face me as well, his face etched with the kind of prophetic solemnity one would find on a sage. "Yubel, your friend, the Prince, was born with a kind of power in his heart, the power of the Supreme King. I know that power is the key to saving this universe that is shrouded in the Kind Darkness. But...until he matures from a boy to a man, someone must protect him..."

Was he implying that I would be his guardian? I did not know why it would have to be me, nor did I ask. Instead, I felt my heart set ablaze. This was my chance to finally be of real help to him!

"Your Highness, let me take on this task!" I blurted out. My face burned right after I'd realized that I'd talked back.

But the King only nodded. "Very well. However, the only way to do this is to adorn yourself with an armor of hard scales, so that you may never be hurt. You'll have to lose your human form and become a hideous beast, a dragon far too ugly to look at." He almost looked apologetic in telling me the price for my volunteering.

Any other person may had rejected these conditions in a heartbeat, but not I. "I don't care! If it will protect him, then so be it."

Later that day, the transformation went underway. I'd be lying if I said that it was painless; on the contrary, it was the most agonizing thing that'd ever happened to me thus far, in the physical sense, at least. I lay there screaming on that stone table, bound and blind to my surroundings, but not to the pain as they severed this, slashed that, and tore away through my chest.

All I could do to dull the pain was concentrate on the darkness in front of my mutilated eyes and think of my dear friend. I prayed to the spirits that he wouldn't try to go looking for me.

But he must've, because somewhere in the confusion, I heard a familar voice:

"Yubel?!"

I couldn't answer him, for I had become too weak from the intense blazes of pain and the loss of blood. I didn't want him to see me like this; I could only imagine the look of pure horror on his pale face. Just before I passed out, I thought I could hear him running towards me, desperately calling out my name before the footsteps of the guards marched up behind to take him away...

When I first awakened and looked myself over, I didn't recognize myself. No longer was I a human boy, but a tall, winged, three-eyed monster, of a shape so distorted out of recognition, there was nothing to compare it to. Why, I could hardly tell if I were still a boy, or not!

I wondered if he would recognize me? I snuck out through the back entrance of the castle, hood over my head.

Peeking around the corner, I saw him pacing back and forth. They hadn't let him see me since he'd tried to stop the transformation, but I deemed that now would be the time to speak to him, since he was alone. For the first time in who-knows-how-long, I noticed that his face was streaked with tears. And these weren't the result of a tantrum.

"My Prince?" I called out to him. My voice did not sound like my own; sounded more like the hissing of a serpent and the growling of a lion.

He turned my way, startled. "Who's there? As the Prince of this kingdom, I command you to show yourself!"

I dared to inch out of my hiding place, almost too nervous to pull down my hood. "I...Your Highness...it's me, Yubel."

His fierce brown eyes narrowed suspiciously. "You can't be Yubel! You're taller than he is, and you sound funny! Besides, how can I be sure of this if I don't see your face?"

My heart thrashed against my ribcage. I stepped a little farther out of the shadows, claws over my hood. "I'm sorry that you had to see me hurt like that. Please, let me explain--"

I dropped my hood. To my dismay, he stumbled backward and landed on his rear. "Wh-What in the name of--who are you? WHAT are you?!"

I dove over to help him up, but looking at the frightened glint in his eye almost made me drop him. "It's me, Yubel," I repeated.

"Yubel! Is that you? Wh-What on earth did they do to you?! You're...you're..." For the first time, he looked like he was at a loss for words. I couldn't blame him; the King did say that I'd be too ugly to look at.

"A monster? Yes, I am. But I did this for a reason. I did this for you."

"How could you? I never told you to become such a gruesome creature!"

I was going to explain the situation, when several village boys popped up out of the blue and interrupted our conversation. Just what I needed.

"AAH! A monster! And it's got the Prince!"

"Don't look into its eyes! It might turn you to stone!"

"But somebody needs to save the Prince!"

"...Then again, maybe this serves him right?" one of them mumbled under his breath. How dare he!

I got in front of him and hissed. I didn't want to hurt these boys, but I also didn't want them saying awful things like that about my friend.

That's when the rocks started flying. Panicking, they gathered a pile of stones off of the rugged ground and tossed them at me. Since I had an armored hide, they didn't hurt me. Their rocks aimlessly bounced off of me like tiny rubber balls. I just stood there and took the blows, all for him.

Then one of my assailants aimed a little higher than the others and fired a stone right into my third eye. Every monster has a vulnerable point, I suppose. I threw back my head and screeched in pain, but I refused to stumble out of position, not even when the other boys began firing at my head, as well.

Any other person probably would've shielded his face, or curled up into a ball, or even flown away. But not I.

From behind my back, I heard him gasp, "Yubel! Stop it, stop it right now! I command you!"

Suddenly, the boys stopped. Despite how much they disliked him, they still couldn't disobey him, for he was royalty. He stormed in front of me and stretched his arm out. His cheeks became a violent red, his eyes shimmering with fresh, angry tears.

"H-How dare you!" he sputtered. "I ought to...I ought to...I ought to have you all thrown into the Chimeras' den for this!" He snatched up one stone at a time and threw them back with all of his might. "No, those mangy beasts don't deserve to eat you...you urchins! I ought to destroy you all where you stand!" He nailed them each right in the center of their foreheads, as though they were Sonic Ducks in a shooting gallery.

Those boys could take no more of the Prince's outburst, and took off to the streets as quickly as they could, wailing. I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a little frightening to see him so angry. I'd seen him upset before, but not quite like this.

Reaching out to squeeze his shoulder, I called, "Judai!"

Trembling, he collapsed on his knees instantly, breathing hard and fists clenched at his sides. Tears trickled down his face like tiny rivers. Judging by the way he glared straight ahead, I guessed that he was thinking about going after our attackers.

It may had been my imagination at the time, but I swear that I could see, if only for a fleeting moment, his fierce brown eyes changing into an even fiercer hue of gold. The hairs on the back of my neck prickled. I could only think of this as the gold in his eyes began to fade out:

Haou...

Gingerly, I scooped him up into my arms. He did not respond to this, nor did he resist. If I was going to explain all of this to him, we would have to be somewhere where we'd be entirely alone.

Thus, I did not take him to my rose garden. Using my newly acquired wings, I carried him to the seaside, instead. I set him down on top of a flat rock and sat myself across from him. Vivid strokes of pink and orange danced across the twilit sky. The ocean stretched across the horizon like a rippling violet blanket strewn with diamonds. A light and salty sea breeze danced between the strands of our hair.

Despite the tranquil atmosphere, he was still not comforted. He contined to mumble, "They...they had absolutely no right to throw rocks at us...who do they think they are...?"

"Judai?"

He looked up at me, his eyes still glistening with tears. "Why, Yubel? Why did you do this? I-I never told you to become a--"

I took him by his hands. They felt so small and tender in my larger and scalier ones. "Of course you didn't."

"Then why did you? I don't understand!"

"I did this so that I could protect you. You house a great power in your heart, a power that will one day save our universe from the Light of Ruin. And it's my job to guard you until you grow up into a man and can harness this power..."

Did he understand this? Maybe, maybe not. I didn't expect him to, at least, not right away.

"Yubel?"

"Hm?"

"Wh...When I saw you in there, lying on that table...I...It's taken me until now to realize that I've taken you too much for granted. No matter how many of your roses I've trampled, no matter how many whippings you've taken for my mischief, you still stayed with me. You've given me your time and energy without ever complaining...you've even given up your human form, just for me!"

"...It's all right--"

"No, it's not! It's not fair, not at all! But I'll make it up to you..."

He pulled away and took out something from behind him. He dropped them into my hands. It was a small, crooked bouquet of roses, with their broken stems mended together with fly paper.

"While I was waiting for you, I tried to fix all of the roses I'd broken," he said quietly.

At that moment, I felt like crying. Not because I was sad, but because my heart pulsated with warmth, the kind of warmth one would feel when he knew that his dear friend could be a kind person, after all. Nevertheless, I would not cry. I needed to be strong, for him. I just closed my eyes and nodded, accepting his gift.

He scooted closer to me and rested his head against my chest, his tears dampening my rough skin. "But there's more, Yubel. I promise you, that no matter what anyone says, no matter what they do, I'll always love you...and you, only."

And the rest, you could say, was history.

END