Chapter Six

Hearing her name, the duel spirit looked over at Jaden and smirked. "Well well well, so you do remember me. That's a surprise." she chuckled. Jaden glared at her and kept his protective stance in front of Jesse.

"Yeah well you want another surprise? Here's one...get out." he muttered darkly. Yubel blinked in surprise. Sure, she had expected Jaden to be not happy to see her but to tell her to get out was quite a surprise in deed. Shaking her head at the thought, Yubel crossed her arms in front of her chest and smirked.

"Now Jaden that's no way to treat your best friend is it?" Jaden's eyes narrowed.

"We're not best friends...not anymore Yubel." It was true. Yubel had never really been his best friend and the only reason he had used her in the first place was to try and fill that empty hole in his heart that Jesse had made when he moved away. Shaking his head at the thought, Jaden shook his head to try and shake away the tears that were starting to form in his eyes. There was no reason to cry any more because Jesse had come back and even though he was different, he was still back and that was all that mattered.

As if reading Jaden's mind, Yubel couldn't help but smirk.

"Oh, I see what's going on here now. Now that Jesse is back you're going to pretend that we were never friends aren't you?" Jaden felt his blood run cold when he heard Yubel say Jesse's name. How did she know about Jesse? He had moved away way before Yubel came into the picture so how could she have possibly known about him?

"How do you know Jesse?" he asked, narrowing his eyes at the duel spirit before him. Yubel smirked and turned her gaze towards the sleeping Jesse. It was obvious that his rest was anything but peaceful as his head tossed back and forth angrily on the pillow and his face was covered in a sheen of sweat. Yubel couldn't help but chuckle when she saw Jesse in so much pain and she knew that it was all her doing.

Turning her attention back to Jaden then, Yubel looked at him innocently and smiled. "Why…how can I not know about Jesse? After all, he was my best pawn yet." Jaden raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Pawn? What are you talking about Yubel?" he asked not liking the look she had given Jesse a few moments ago and he had a feeling that she was the reason for his friend's current condition. On his shoulders, Winged Kuriboh and Ruby Carbuncle were eyeing the Yubel suspiciously but when she heard her master whimpering in fear and pain on the bed, Ruby looked back at him and let out a small cry of concern.

"Ruby!" she cried leaping off of Jaden's shoulder with Winged Kuriboh right behind her. Jumping up onto the bed, Ruby let out a small whimper of concern when she saw how much pain her master seemed to be in and she gently laid down on his chest and nuzzled his cheek lovingly even though she knew he wouldn't be able to feel it. Behind her, Winged Kuriboh looked sad as well seeing his new friends in so much pain and so he did the only thing he could do to comfort the little duel spirit and that was drape one of his wings around her shoulder.

As Jaden watched the little scene, he couldn't help but smile before he slowly turned around and frowned at Yubel.

"Now…I'll ask again, what do you mean Jesse is your 'best pawn yet?'" Yubel chuckled at this and ran a hand through her hair as if disinterested by the conversation.

"Let's just put it this way Jaden…just because you and Jesse were friends a long time ago does not give you the excuse to forget about me." Jaden frowned.
"What the heck are you talking about Yubel? Jesse has nothing to do with this!" Yubel's eyes narrowed and a cold glare spread across her otherwise emotionless features.

"Once again Jaden, you choose your human friends over me. Do you have any idea what it was like to be in your deck and have you not use me because Jesse was afraid of me? You would always send me to the graveyard when you could just so you didn't have to play me now do remember?" For a moment, Jaden simply stared at her in confusion before slowly…things finally started making sense. Of course, when Jaden and Jesse always dueled one another, Jaden would avoid playing Yubel at all costs because he knew that Jesse was always afraid of that card for some reason.

Shaking his head at the thought, Jaden clenched his fists then as a thought occurred to him.

"So…you figured that since Jesse was the reason I never played you, you decided that you'd have your revenge on the one person who got between us." Yubel smirked when Jaden finally figured it out.

"You always were the clever one Jaden. Unlike your friend over there who was always getting between us." she said raising an arm and pointing towards Jesse. Jaden's eyes narrowed and his protective stance remained firm.

"Leave him alone Yubel. You cannot punish Jesse for my choices. If you have a problem then take it out on me and leave Jesse out of this." Yubel looked over at him amused.
"Leave Jesse out of this? I don't think so…after all, he's going to be the key to my revenge." Jaden frowned at this.
"What do you mean Yubel?" Yubel looked over at Jaden for a moment and couldn't help but smirk before turning her attention back to Jesse. Slowly, her eyes started to glow a deep orange and a strange orange glow started to form around Jesse. Winged Kuriboh and Ruby Carbuncle cried out in surprise when they saw the glow and both duel spirits hopped off of the bed as quick as they could. No sooner had they landed safely on the floor did Jesse slowly open his eyes and sit up from where he was laying.

Noticing his friend was awake, a broad smile spread across Jaden's face and he happily ran over to the other male.

"Jesse, you're awake!" he cried happily kneeling beside the bed and looking up at Jesse. However, when Jesse slowly turned to face him, Jaden could feel the smile on his face slowly start to disappear when he noticed that something was terribly wrong. Jesse's usually soft green eyes that were always filled with innocence and happiness were now dull and lifeless.

"Je…Jesse?" Jaden asked slowly reaching out to place a hand on Jesse's shoulder when the teal-haired boy slowly began to stand up. It appeared to Jaden that his friend was in some kind of trance and his suspicions were proven correct when Jesse stood up and slowly started to make his way towards Yubel. Eyes widening in shock, Jaden quickly reached out and grabbed his friend's arm.

"Jesse, what are you doing?!" he cried in alarm. Stopping when he felt the hand wrap around his arm, Jesse slowly turned his head and frowned slightly at the Slifer red student.

"My master needs me." he said with no emotion in his voice at all which caused a small shiver to run down Jaden's spine.

"Master?" From where she was standing, Yubel smirked and nodded her head.

"That's right Jesse. Come to me." she said slowly reaching out a hand towards the boy. Nodding his head, Jesse managed to yank his arm out of Jaden's grasp and reached out and took Yubel's extended hand in his.
"Master." Jesse said softly as Yubel smiled and pulled the dazed boy towards her. Once he was in her reach, Yubel wrapped her arms around Jesse's waist and rested her head on Jesse's shoulder. Looking over at Jaden then who had a mixture of confusion and anger written on his fine features, Yubel smirked as she held Jesse close.

"How does it feel Jaden? To know that the one person you care about most in the entire world, is under my complete control." Jaden's eyes narrowed in rage and he was clenching his fists to tight that the blood was starting to drip onto the floor in little droplets.
"Get…away from him." he said coldly. Yubel smirked and slowly reached up with one of her hands and began to tenderly caress Jesse's cheek enjoying the reaction on Jaden's face as she did this.

"It's such a pity really. All this poor boy wanted was his best friend just like me and just like me…you left him alone." she said softly, as if feeling some sort of pity for Jesse. Jaden's eyes narrowed at this and he shook his head in disagreement.

"I never left him alone Yubel. He has been in my heart since the day he moved away and that is where he will always be no matter how far we are apart." Yubel frowned at this and she pulled back the hand that was caressing Jesse's cheek.

"Oh really? So…does that go for when he's dead as well?" she asked with a wicked smirk. Jaden's eyes narrowed to slits.

"What are you talking about Yubel?" Yubel smirked and shook her head.
"Now I wouldn't want to ruin the surprise Jaden. Now…let's get down to business. I know that there is room in your heart for only one of us Jaden and tonight, you're going to have to choose which one of us it is." Jaden scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"Please, it's not even a hard decision. I'd pick Jesse over you any day Yubel." Yubel smirked at this and shook her head.

"I had a feeling that you'd say something like that Jaden and I must admit that I'm sorry to hear that." Jaden raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms in front of his chest.
"Oh? And why is that?" As if to answer his question, Jesse slowly reached into his pocket and pulled out what appeared to be some sort of pocketknife. Eyes widening in fear as Jesse brought the knife up and held it to his throat, Jaden looked over at Yubel horrified.

"What are you doing Yubel? Stop it! He could kill himself!" he said turning back to Jesse who stared back at him with those dull green eyes. Yubel chuckled at this and she looked over at Jaden and grinned.

"That's the idea. With Jesse out of the way, there will only be room for me in your heart Jaden and we can finally be together just like you were younger. Now…I must admit that I really do pity the poor boy seeing as how he was abandoned by you just like I was and I might be generous and spare his life…on one condition." Jaden frowned.

"And what is that?" Yubel grinned a wicked grin then and chuckled.

"Why…you duel me of course. If you win, Jesse's life will be spared and I will leave quietly but if I win then you will be mine forever and Jesse…dies."

To be continued…

A/N: Hey guys. Sorry it took forever for me to update this chapter but I lost two grandparents over the span of one month and things have been really hard. But I'm slowly getting back into my stories and should have updates on a regular basis. Thanks again to all of you who reviewed and I hope this chapter was worth the wait