Yu-Gi-Oh GX - Crossroads (1/11)
Jun. 17th, 2009 06:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
heleentjeStory Title: Crossroads
Chapter Title: Tranquility
Author: Heleentje
Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh GX
Rating: K
Characters: Johan, Yubel, Judai, Gem Beasts
Word Count: 2030
Warnings/spoilers: spiritshipping-if-you-squint, psycheshipping-if-you-look-sideways-and-s
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh GX or any of its characters
1. Tranquility
Two days after graduation, Duel Academia was all but deserted. Most of the students had already gone home for the holidays, and the few remaining ones were also preparing to leave soon.
Tenjoin Asuka was still residing in the Blue Dorms, as the procedure for her studying abroad hadn’t been completely finalized yet. Manjoume Jun too, had decided to stay. He would be heading for the Pro Leagues soon, but he didn’t have a sponsor yet, and he flat-out refused to go back to his brothers.
Tenjoin Fubuki hadn’t left either, partially because his sister wasn’t going home, but mostly because Kaiba Corporation was still trying to deal with the reappearance of Fujiwara Yusuke, and trying to figure out the legal implications. Needless to say, Fujiwara himself was still at Duel Academia as well.
Marufuji Sho had stayed behind to be with his friends, and was currently trying to gain Kaiba Corporation’s approval to set up a new Pro Circuit, along with his brother.
Both Johan Andersen and Austin O’Brien were spending their days at the Academia too, though they wouldn’t be around for much longer. Kaiba Corporation had provided an all-expense trip back home for both of them, to thank them for their help. Johan had complained about this at first, arguing that they would need all their resources to restore the building that had been destroyed, and that he had managed to get to Japan on his own, so he could get back on his own as well.
He had finally caved in when they had all but shoved the plane ticket into his hands, saying it was non-refundable and that if he didn’t take it, the money would be lost. He would be leaving the very next day, and O’Brien’s flight departed two days after that.
The entire group usually spent their time together, reminiscing about everything that had happened at the Academia. This meant that Johan and O’Brien often didn’t know what the others were talking about, but they enjoyed listening all the same. Fujiwara was still very nervous, but no one really blamed him. Fubuki was trying to involve him as much as he could, which more often than not led to embarrassing stories about the time they were both still studying together (It seemed like Fubuki himself was often the main instigator of whatever crazy thing they had gotten themselves involved into).
And of course (it was unavoidable, really) almost every conversation seemed to end with Judai. He had disappeared after the graduation ceremony, and hadn’t been seen ever since, but no one was overly worried. Principal Samejima had alerted Kaiba Corporation, but apparently Kaiba himself had told him that he knew ‘from a very reliable source’ that Judai was very much alright.
They were sitting in the schoolyard when Judai came up again.
“It figures, Judai disappearing like that,” Manjoume started the conversation.
“He’ll come back. He always does in the end.” Asuka said reassuringly, and both Sho and Johan nodded in agreement.
Fubuki spoke up: “Where do you think he went off to, though?”
The question was left hanging. Manjoume shrugged nonchalantly and started rifling through his deck. The Ojama Trio appeared, but he swatted them away before they could say anything. He cast Johan a ‘dare-you-to-say-something’ look, but Johan just shrugged and smiled pleasantly. Fujiwara appeared to be slightly shocked and looked at Honest, who was standing behind him, then back at Manjoume before looking at Johan, who quickly mouthed “It’s normal”.
“He’ll come back.” Asuka repeated, ignoring the three-way conversation. “One way or the other, he’ll be back.”
A murmur of agreement was heard, and Fubuki spoke up once more: “I’m glad he was there, you know. It was scary.”
Sho actually laughed at this: “Aniki always manages to save everyone!”
“True,” Fubuki agreed, “But you don’t know what it was like. You were all gone, and I couldn’t remember. Like none of you had ever existed.”
“You forgot about us?” Asuka sounded shocked.
“It was Darkness’ power,” Fujiwara said, “All those who were beaten, were erased from existence.” He shivered slightly.
“Judai remembered, though.” Johan said.
“Judai’s different. Darkness couldn’t get to him.”
Johan looked troubled: “Except for the time when he dueled me. His Fusion card had been infected.”
Everyone turned to look at him.
“You had to duel him?” Asuka asked, “What happened?”
“It was in Domino. Judai seemed to think I was his enemy. It turned out alright in the end, though. Rainbow Dragon managed to get through to him.”
“And the card... What do you mean by infected?”
“Something about Saiou slipping an infected card in his deck. I don’t know the details.”
“The cards of duelists with darkness in their heart became tainted,” Fujiwara explained once again, “Honest said that when he impersonated me, the aura of darkness was so strong that he had to destroy those cards.”
“So that’s why all those cards were burned!” Sho looked a bit scandalised. “Still, it was probably for the better, then, right?”
“Yeah, probably...”
“Say, Johan, why were you in Domino in the first place?” Asuka asked, switching subjects.
“I called him.” O’Brien spoke for the first time, “I thought we could use all the help we could get.”
Johan nodded, then frowned: “I didn’t see you in Domino, though. What happened?”
“I had already been defeated by Darkness by the time you arrived. You couldn’t have seen me.”
Silence fell over the group. Manjoume got up and left soon afterwards, mentioning that he was going to look for dinner. Asuka and Sho followed him, and Johan decided to go and gather his stuff. Fubuki and Fujiwara headed back for the Blue Dorms. O’Brien just stayed where he was.
--
Packing had been an easy affair. Since he had left right after O’Brien had called him, Johan had only taken a few essentials with him. He had borrowed some school uniforms while staying at the Academia, and his clothes had been washed to previous day, so after half an hour, Johan had left his room again and was now roaming the campus.
Ruby was sitting on his shoulder, carefully taking in the sights, even though she had seen the island several times already. Johan felt himself becoming strangely nostalgic. Even though he had gone through a lot of trouble on the island, the good times were still prevalent in his mind.
He was glad O’Brien had called him. Admittedly, the conditions hadn’t been ideal, but he had been happy to meet Judai again. They had never properly said goodbye after the Dark World situation, and even though they had kept contact via e-mail, Johan preferred talking face-to-face.
Only now Judai had disappeared again. And once again without saying anything.
Johan didn’t let it bother him. He knew the other boy too well to be disturbed by it. Judai had things to do, things he couldn’t do with other people accompanying him. So even though he missed him, Johan would let him go. Judai would return one day, he was sure of it.
He had been wandering around aimlessly for a while, when he came across the same place they had all been sitting earlier. O’Brien was still there, and since he had nothing better to do, Johan decided to join him.
“So you’re leaving soon as well?”
“My mission has been completed.”
“Are you going home?” Johan wasn’t deterred by O’Brien’s lack of eloquency. He rarely was.
“Yes. My parents remember me again, they’re expecting me.”
“They forgot about you?”
“I was erased like everybody else.” The memory didn’t seem to be a happy one.
Johan frowned. He couldn’t imagine what it was like to forget everyone. It bothered him, more than it should have, perhaps.
They sat in silence for some time, before Johan spoke again:
“Why did you call me? I’m hardly the most suited person for this kind of stuff. You need Judai for that.”
“You know Judai was already dealing with it. I just figured we could all use some help.”
“Still, I’m not sure if I’m the right person.”
O’Brien turned to look at Johan: “You and Judai work together very well. I don’t think you two could be beaten in a tag team duel.”
Johan grinned, slightly embarrassed: “Well, I guess you’re right. That doesn’t mean I don’t want to face him as an opponent, though!”
“I never said that. But you share a close bond with each other. Therefore, you were the best-suited person to call for assistance.”
“If you put it like that...”
Johan rifled through his deck until he found Rainbow Dragon. If he hadn’t come here, he would never have gotten the card. He realised he had difficulty remembering life before he had found Rainbow Dragon.
In fact, the same went for Judai. When he first met him, there was something so familiar about him... It was hard to imagine not knowing the other boy.
Ruby chirped, and Johan noticed, to his surprise, that it was completely dark already. He got up and brushed some grass off his clothes.
“I’m heading back. Are you coming too?”
O’Brien shook his head.
“Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow, I guess,” Johan pocketed Rainbow Dragon, “If you want, I think there’s still food left.”
He waved goodbye at O’Brien and headed back for the Blue Dorms. He wasn’t used to staying there anymore. Like so many people, he had been drawn to the Red Dorms when he first came to Duel Academia. But with Judai gone there were no Osiris Red students left, so the dorms had been closed off for the summer. Maybe there’d be new students the next year, but for now, it was easier to only keep the Blue Dorms open. All of the remaining students were from Obelisk Blue anyway.
Johan wasn’t too fond of the rooms here. Too big and too luxurious. He preferred a simpler style.
That didn’t mean he wasn’t going to miss Duel Academia, though. Back in Europe, he lived on his own, and even with the Gem Beasts, he usually started missing human contact after a while. He sometimes regretted being sent to North School. While it was definitely closer to where he lived, he liked the atmosphere at Duel Academia better. He remembered having seen Manjoume when he was still in his first year, but he had never really cared about the rankings, so all the commotion about Manjoume becoming top student had gone straight past him. After a month or so, Manjoume had gone back to Duel Academia, the dust he had left in his wake had settled down and everything had gone back to normal.
He had forgotten all about Duel Academia until he had been offered to come here. He still wasn’t quite sure why they had declared him to be the best duelist of North School, since he had never expressed any interest in the rankings, but he was glad he had been chosen nonetheless.
Technically, he had already graduated, so he was free to do what he wanted. His plans for the future weren’t very well defined, though. He had an apartment back in Norway, and he could easily support himself with the money he had gotten from winning tournaments, so for now, he was planning on taking a break. Maybe he’d join the Pro Leagues later on. If Sho and Ryo ever managed to create a new Pro Circuit, he’d likely join them. He strongly suspected he wouldn’t feel at home in the current Pro Leagues, being the person he was. But Sho and Ryo had the potential to break the status quo, and he hoped they would succeed.
There was no need to worry about that now, though. Not on his last night in Japan. It was still early, but he reasoned that he’d better go to sleep anyway. His flight was scheduled to leave the next evening, but the trip from Duel Academia to Tokyo would take some time, and he knew he probably wouldn’t get much sleep on the plane. It would probably pay off to sleep while he still could. After all, he had a long journey ahead of him.