Chapter Text
It was finally over. Jaden's friends were safe. And now, the spirits of the guardian and the supreme king were one.
...
Kinda
Jaden, frankly, expected himself to be gone. To be melded together with Yubel into a new person. Nope. He's just Jaden. In Yubel 's body.
Yubel also expected more fanfare.
They could read each other's minds. Kinda. Jaden still thought this felt like a copout because they needed another season of an anime that had clearly finished the manga.
...
Okay, they were both bored. Jaden did not want to spend the rest of eternity here. Yubel agreed that he novelty of it wears off fast.
Jaden used their shared hand to examine what they were gripping.
That felt weird.
It was their card. Elemental Hero Chaos.
It was as close to a mirror as they had here. Pretty much all the white on the card had turned to red. The monster's orange eye had turned into Jaden's normal relaxed brown, the blue having more the look of his sharp yellow eyes, and it wore a purple crown in it's mess of wild hair. The wings were longer and dropped behind the card like a cape, and the monster's third eye looked more caring than Yubel's. Otherwise the design was the same as Yubel's, but it seemed like a completely different monster. It even had the Devine attribute instead of Dark.
As.. Chaos? focused on it, two more cards appeared in their hand.
One was Yubel. Or, well, Elemental Hero Yubel, apparently.
The other, Jaden found himself staring longingly at. Yubel felt a little guilty now.
A little while of staring later, Jaden was immensely bored. Yubel remembered this. The soul of the supreme king had always been craving constant stimulation. Wether it be through sword fights, duel monsters, video games, whatever. Yubel knew that, as content as she was to stay in this dimension and sleep until she was needed, Jaden would find that a fate worse than death.
"Come on, let's do something!" Jaden said with a voice that didn't sound like his or Yubel's, surprising them both. It was childish and high like Yubel, but sounded more like a boy. Like Jaden when he was a kid. Yet it sounded so distorted.
"... Alright. Where should we go?"
"I d'know, you're the one who knows about all this multiverse nonsense. You have any suggestions?"
"I don't actually know much about alternate universes."
"Oh.." Jaden questioned for a moment how you tried to take over the multiverse without knowing about it. "How about.. we go check up on Sy. I hope he's doing well."
Syrus Truesdale was not doing well. Jaden looked through the window at his best friend (Yubel couldn't bring herself to be offended) crying in his Slifer dorm bed. As in, Jaden's Slifer dorm bed.
Of course this would happen. Syrus just lost his brother, and losing Jaden too? It must be horrible.
"I'm sorry bud..." Jaden murmured subconsciously.
"Is someone there?" Syrus stuck his head out from under Jaden's sheets to stare out the window. Chaos ducked out of the way just in time for Syrus not to see them. Wait, no they didn't they're a duel spirit now.
Vaguely, as they hid next to the dorm, Yubel wondered what Jaden meant when he said Syrus had lost his brother and Jaden.
Jaden didn't understand what Yubel meant.
Yubel meant that Jaden was Syrus's brother too, so his brother and Jaden didn't make sense.
Jaden almost objected. He almost said he wasn't Syrus's brother, Zane was. But.. something stopped him. Jaden was.. Syrus's big brother.
A pit of happiness boiled in Jaden's chest at the realization. But it also made him feel guilty again. Jaden left him. Just like Zane did.
Jaden made a decision then and there that Yubel wouldn't be able to talk him out of. She didn't want to anyways.
Syrus sobbed into his pillow. He wanted Zane back. He wanted Jaden back. He missed his brother's sage advice, and his other brother's Jaden's amazing dueling skills, and his undying determination and how he'd always share his lunch when Syrus had an off day and-
He didn't think he could take it. They were both really gone. It felt like it had all been in a moment.
A strong breeze flew through the room. Syrus noticed the sound of something that had flown in. If this was some prank he swore...
But it wasn't. It was Jaden's deck. Syrus had put it in a case, so he'd never forget his.. his brother.
On top of the deck are the cards that had flown in. Three cards.
Elemental Hero Chaos was one of them. A card Syrus had never seen before. It was a fusion monster of what Syrus assumed were the other two. One was.. Elemental Hero Yubel!? Yubel was the one who took his brothers away! What was she planning now!?
But Syrus couldn't help but notice the other fusion component. Another card he had never seen. Elemental Hero Fire Heart? He hadn't seen that bef-
As Syrus looked at the card, he dropped the other two. It looked just like Jaden. It was the same age, with almost the exact same hair, save for the slow fade into crimson at the tips. The duel monster smiled, giving the vibe of the new youngster that the older heroes have to train. His eyes were different colors, one brown and one yellow. He had regal but simple attire, save for the flowing red cape on his back giving away that he was supposed to be a prince, along with the golden crown.
Syrus looked over and saw something.. odd in the window.
Frankly, the card didn't do them justice. Despite the nature of Yubel and the general evilness of a red purple and black color scene, the monster actually looked more like an angel than a demon. While Yubel's eye looked strained, the eye tugged and pushed until it was forced to be constantly looking ahead, Chaos's eyes moved just like it's other two. And with all three of it's eyes, the monster stared at Syrus with the most loving eyes he'd ever seen. He'd only ever seen that look from two people. Zane and...
"Jaden?"
Chaos, who had been growing increasingly frantic as they looked around in search of what Syrus was looking at, snapped to attention. They stared at Syrus, at Jaden's little brother, in disbelief.
"I.. has my mind finally snapped? I have been under way to much pressure lately..."
Chaos only stared. Until they turned into a ball of light and ducked back behind the Slifer dorm.
Why.. was Jaden so scared? It was just Syrus. Syrus wouldn't judge him for looking different, it was freaking Syrus!
But as Jaden looked at Chaos's.. his claw... He just couldn't do it. He didn't want Syrus to see him like this.
Like a monster?
Jaden couldn't help but agree. He didn't want to hurt Yubel's feelings but...
Yubel understood. It wasn't normal for humans to look like this. She couldn't fault Jaden for being scared.
Chaos was snapped out of their thoughts when Syrus left the Slifer dorm. With them in his deck. The boy wiped his tears and headed into the academy. Chaos smiled brightly.
As they followed, nobody seemed to see Chaos. They could faze through people just fine.
Syrus stopped to talk to someone THAT WAS JESSE. In a moment of pure blind panic, Chaos scampered through the roof of the school. Nobody saw them. They just had to watch over Jaden's little brother and not be around Jesse. Even though they were in Syrus's deck. This could only end well.
Little to the duel spirit's knowledge, Jesse Anderson was looking at the roof with mild amusement.
"Jesse? Hello?"
"Oh, uhm, yeah, what'd ya ask Sy?"
"I asked if you were free later today."
"Oh yeah, I don't think I have anything!" Jesse yelled back to Syrus as he rushed out the door of the school, right past Syrus.
Jesse bumped into Hassleberry on the way out.
"Wow, where you going soldier? Shouldn't you be going to class?"
"A duel spirit is running away from me! Can you believe it!?"
Hassleberry, despite not knowing what Anderson was talking about, let him go "Get that coward! Wherever you are, eh, duel spirit, fight Jesse like a man!"
Jesse craned his head towards the school to look, only to notice that same spirit ducking off the roof. This chase was on!
Jesse skipped all his classes to chase that spirit around. Duel spirits didn't show up often, so he needed to meet this guy. And he needed to know why he was running away.
It was dark by now. Jesse was just about tuckered out. Until he noticed, by the Slifer red dorm, that duel spirit was looking in one of the windows. Jesse couldn't see inside the window from this angle, but he knew the duel spirit was watching over whatever was inside, and it wouldn't be on a hair trigger right now.
Jesse thought there weren't any more transfer students this year. Nobody could have just gotten this card, you don't get that close with a spirit that fast...
The thought left his mind as Jesse, having snuck up on the spirit, pounced and pinned them to the ground.
"I got you now!"
Syrus and Hassleberry stuck their heads out the window.
"What you doing soldier?"
"Finally got that slippery duel spirit I told you about earlier! The one that kept running from me!"
"Good job soldier." Hassleberry said with a little less enthusiasm as Jesse strangled the air.
Syrus just stared. It was the spirit he saw earlier. Was that a duel spirit? " "Jaden?" Syrus asked, almost to quiet to hear. Chaos heard it though.
The duel spirit kicked Jesse off him once his guard was down and flew away.
"Hey- damn it!"
Jesse turned his head towards Syrus. "Hey, were you you.. looking at the spirit? I didn't think you could see them."
"I didn't think so either, but.. I've been seeing that one all day. Ever since.. I found this. Syrus took a monster from his extra deck. Elemental Hero Chaos.
"Huh. I haven't seen that one before." The divine attribute tipped him off this card wasn't just obscure.
"I- hold on- here. I found these along with it."
"That one looks just like-"
"That's what I thought, it looks like Jaden doesn't it."
Hassleberry agreed with their sentiment.
"Syrus where did ya get these?" Jesse said, oddly serious.
"I don't know. I was crying and they just.. flew in through my window."
"Mh-hm." Jesse nodded "I've really gotta find this spirit now. Syrus take these back." Jesse frantically shoved the cards into Syrus's hands and took off.
More searching later, Jesse decided to stay in the bathroom for just a quick break. He needed to find his friend. As he leaned on all the stalls, he heard breathing on the other side.
"I can hear ya, ya know." The spirit jumped "You don't have to be shy pal. I ain't gonna hurt ya. I just wanna know why you're running away from me."
"I don't know." They spoke for the first time, quiet and scared.
"Hey, it's alright pall. You just shy? I get get it."
They were both quiet for a moment. Jesse thought about that card Syrus showed him.
"Hey, do you know someone named Jaden?"
The breathing stopped for a moment. Jesse frankly couldn't believe it was true.
"Jaden? Are you in there?"
"I, uhm.. kinda."
"What do ya mean?"
"I mean.. well, you know in that other dimension, when a went to confront Yubel?" Yubel noticed how he talked like she wasn't there. She almost spoke up, but Jaden really didn't want to spook Jesse.
"Yeah... What are you getting at?"
"Well, at the end of that duel I kinda.. fused with her?"
"Wait what?"
"Yeah it's a long story but.. it's Jaden that's talking to you right now."
"Yeah, she's here. We just didn't want to scare you off or anything." Jaden chuckled with no humor.
Jesse stared at the floor. "So then, why were you running away? Did you think we wouldn't accept you or somethin'?"
"I already told you. I don't know. I just.. I don't want Sy to see me like this."
"Hm... Is it alright if I see you like that?"
"Huh?"
"Syrus showed me your card. I'd like to meet the real deal."
"...sure. Just give me a minute.
Jaden took some deep breaths (with some help from Yubel), and stepped through the wall, leaning on a sink.
Jesse stared for a moment. It looked to be in two moods at once, two sides he assumed belonged to the fusion components. One he could recognize as Jaden immediately. That worried yet determined look that Jesse knew all too well. The other one looked completely apathetic to the situation. That part was probably Yubel.
"I think you look nice."
"Thanks."