Tragedy

A couple days had passed, and it was finally the day for the first- and second-year students to head on their field trip to Domino City where they would get a chance to tour the Kaiba Corp. building! It wasn't just for sightseeing but for the students to scope out potential careers as most graduates end up working there, which is not a bad career for future duelists.

Jaden and his friends were all sat together on the ship, in the distance they could see the glorious city as they got closer to the docks. "Land ho!" Said Jaden who excitedly hung his head out of the window, feeling the ocean breeze tousle his hair in the wind. "Get your head back inside Slifer Slacker before you go and embarrass everyone!" Yelled Chazz who was struggling with Jaden trying to pull him back into his seat.

When the boat docked, Jaden was the first to run off and looked around excitedly like a tourist. The last time he was in Domino City was when he tried out for the Duel Academy entrance exams, so he didn't have time to look around like he wanted. But this time, they were planning to stay for three days which gave him plenty of time to have some fun. "Alright, what to do first guys?"

His friends all got off the ship as well, with their luggage's in hand. "What we need to do is check in at our hotel. But after that we should have plenty of time to sight see Jaden." Said Alexis who was on her PDA, looking up the address for their hotel, Chazz struggling behind her as he volunteered to carry her stuff along with his own. "Fine, fine. But I choose what we're doing first! Now let's hurry up so we can have some fun!"

After about an hour of walking and switching trains, they made it to the hotel and it's safe to say the school didn't spare any expenses. This place was way too extravagant and must have cost a good amount of money to book a room for all the 200 students that went on the trip. The building from the outside looked like a castle, and the inside definitely matched the outside. From crystal chandeliers and pillars made of gold, this place had rich written all over it.

"Oh man, I'm feeling a little bit out of place here. This is way different from the Slifer Dorms back at home." Said Jaden who had sparkles in his eyes, not being able to contain his wonder. Syrus stood next beside him, also dazed by all the shining gold and the luxury that surrounded them. "You and me both, buddy."

Jaden could hear Haou talking in the back of his mind, saying something along the lines of a place fit for a king but he shook it off, trying to ignore him. He really wished he would stop surfacing up like that, it was starting to become really annoying.

They got in line, waiting to get to the front desk so they could check in when Jaden saw Aster already at the front. He glared at the boy not forgetting what he said to him the last time. That the next time they saw each other it wouldn't be so friendly meaning they would probably fight again here soon. And Jaden was waiting for it.

Aster finished checking in and gave his luggage to the concierge but instead of heading straight to his room, he left. And even though they walked right past each other Aster ignored him, like he had better things to think about. Jaden continued to watch as the younger student left. "That's odd…" "You say something, Jay?" Jaden jumped up startled turning his attention back to his best friend and rubbed the back of his neck. "Nope, I didn't say anything!"

They all finally got checked in and got their room keys. And when Jaden and Syrus made it to their room they were once again in awe. There were two king sized beds next to each other and a giant plasma tv screen mounted on the wall with a complimentary drink and snack bar too. Maybe Haou had a point. This really was a place fit for a king. "Alright, time to eat!" Said Syrus who started rummaging through the fridge eating all kinds of fancy snacks.

Jaden smiled at him and started going through his luggage also feeling hungry, pulling out a blood bag amongst extras he had also brought, provided to him by the headmaster in case of emergency. He opened up the top and happily started drinking away. As much as he hated to admit, this was a flavor he could never get over. But drinking from a bag didn't compare the real thing.

Syrus watched as his best friend drank to his heart's content, slightly flinching at the sight. "I don't think I'm ever going to get use to see you doing that." Jaden finished up and balled up the bag and threw it away in the trash, simultaneously wiping the blood that was still on his mouth. "I don't think I'll get used to it either, Sy. But this is my life now."

The duo hung back a little in their room to rest after their long boat ride and when they were ready, sent a mass text out to their friends for them all to meet in the lobby. Afte a little while, Jaden and Syrus met up with them who were all wearing their street ware instead of their uniforms. Jaden's eyes fell on Alexis who wore a beige turtleneck sweater and a black and gray plaid skirt with brown boots. He couldn't help but blush at how cute she looked.

"Jaden! Stop staring at my woman! And you better not be thinking about drinking my darling Alexis's blood again!" Said Chazz who pulled Jaden into a head lock, drawing the attention of other students and strangers alike. "I wasn't! And keep your voice down! You look like a crazy person saying stuff like that out loud!"

Alexis started twiddling with her hair. She was hoping that her outfit would impress Jaden and from the looks of it, it seemed to have worked. But then she shook her head and gently slapped her face. Why did she all of a sudden care so much about what he thought about her? Get a grip she told herself. "Well, where to first?" Jaden's lips pulled up into a giant grin and he started chuckling like a giddy child. "I have one idea…"

A little bit later, the gang found themselves in an unexpected place. Jaden chose to go to a friendly local flea market, causing everyone to sweat drop. He was the one who was the most excited to be in Domino City and he chose a place he could visit anywhere in the countryside? "Isn't this place the best?! Look at all the unique stuff guys!" Said Jaden who was jumping from stall to stall.

"You sure you don't want to go anywhere else, Jaden?" Said Alexis who jumped when she heard a roaster crow that was in a cage next to her. "Why would I want to do that? This place is awesome! Look at all the cheap stuff and all the crops these people grew! They worked hard you know!" Everyone chuckled, yup, he was still Jaden. Still as simple as ever.

They all gave into his whims and had a good time shopping together regardless, until Jaden sensed that something wasn't right. He looked into the crowd, analyzing all of the people, and saw a little girl zipping her way through the giant group of adults. She looked like she was wearing dirty and tattered clothes.

"Hey, you guys stay here. I'm going to check something out. I'll meet up with you later!" He said as he took off running after her giving no time to explain, pushing past people to see if he could find the mysterious girl. "Where did that little girl go?" He said to himself, thinking that he might have lost her. He didn't know why, but something was telling him that she needed his help. "Hey, thief! Get back here kid! You need to pay for that!" Shouted a vender not too far away. Jaden made his way towards the scene and saw a glimpse of the girl who seemed to be running away with a watermelon in her arms.

"Wait! Stop!" He yelled as he continued to pursue her. The little girl saw him running behind her and only picked up the pace, ducking into an alley trying to lose him but Jaden wasn't about to let her get away that easily and ducked into the alley right after her. But after some aimless wandering in the back alleys, he was about to give up when he felt the hint of a dark aura nearby.

"This feeling… could it be?" He made one final turn and found himself at a little makeshift house built from an abandoned shed. He didn't want to be detected, so he sat at the corner to watch if anything was going to happen. He saw the little girl walk into the shack and kneeled down like she was talking to someone. "Here! Eat this sissy, it'll make you feel better." He heard the girl say to someone.

Jaden sighed; it seemed like he had found some homeless children. He stood up and slowly started approaching her with his hands up as to not scare her. "Don't be afraid. I just want to talk, okay?" The little girl jumped up startled but glared at Jaden making him falter. "Don't come any closer! You're a bad man who wants to take my sissy away aren't you?! Well, you can't have her! I won't let you!" Jaden looked at the girl confused. "Bad man? No way! If anything, I'm the good guy here!"

He smiled at her warmly and after close examination of his face, she started to relax. He didn't seem that bad after all. Then a weak almost quiet voice came from inside the shack. "Big sister… I'm still hungry." He got closer and looked over the girl's shoulder and what he saw was a tiny pair of glowing red eyes peaking from within the shadows. His eyes widened in shock, that wasn't what he thought it was, could it?

"Don't worry Issa! Your big sister is going to find you more food! I'll take care of you!" Before she could take off running again, Jaden grabbed her by the arm stopping her. "I just want to help you, okay? My name is Jaden. May I please know the two of yours?" He asked as he kneeled to her eye height.

The little girl hesitated but shyly replied. "M-my name is Mina, I'm ten years old. And that's my little sister Issa, she's six… She's really sick mister. Can you help us?" She said with tears starting to form in her eyes. "That's all I wanted to do. Now, let's see the problem." She grabbed him by the hand and lead him into the shed where his suspicions were confirmed.

Sitting in the corner of the shack the farthest away from the light sat a pale, skinny little girl with glowing eyes and fangs protruding from her lips. Jaden covered his mouth in disbelief trying to hold in his emotions. Who would turn a little girl into a vampire like this? That was just cruel!

"Two months ago, some bad men broke into our house and killed our mommy and daddy. They didn't hurt me cause I hid, but they hurt my little sister! I thought she was dead, but then she woke up like nothing happened. And ever since then she's been sick. She says she's hungry all the time and I try to feed her but it doesn't work! She keeps losing weight. Can you help us?"

Jaden didn't know what to make of the situation. He had never met another vampire, and never thought the first one he met would be just a little kid. "I'll try my best. I think I have something that can make her feel better but you have to wait until I come back tonight, okay? Don't go anywhere! I promise I'll be right back!" The little girl wiped her tears away, still sniffling a little. "O-okay mister. Please, don't forget about us. A lot of the adults here just ignore us."

Jaden felt his heart twinge with sadness. His heart felt like it was literally breaking for these two siblings, they were too young to have gone through something like that. He kneeled back down and pulled the girl into a tight hug stopping her crying. "I promise I won't forget! I will come back for you!" The little girl nodded and smiled up at him, and then he hastily left to rejoin his friends. He was definitely going to figure out a way he could help them.

He found his way back to the flea market where he saw his friends waiting for him where he left them. "What's the deal slacker?! Why'd you just take off like that?! We've been waiting forever!" Said Chazz wearing a tacky pair of glasses he probably just bought.

"You guys won't believe what I just found…" His face was still very solemn. Alexis walked over and grabbed his hand, squeezing it. "What happened, Jaden?" He couldn't hold it in anymore and fell to his knees not being able to hold back his emotions and proceeded to cry.

They moved to a more private location where he could explain what happened. He told them about the little girl he was chasing that led him to her little sister who had been turned into a vampire. "She was stealing just so she could feed her sister. But I know better that an anyone that that isn't going to help her." His friends were all lost for words, now all just as upset as he was. "That's so awful. Who would do such a thing to a kid?" Said Alexis, struggling to hold back tears.

Jaden's brows furrowed in anger. "What do you think?! A god damn heartless monster is what!" His eyes started glowing red and without even thinking, he punched the table they were sitting at and broke it in half. "Jaden, calm down! You're going to make a scene!" Said Syrus who started rubbing Jaden's shoulders trying to bring him back down. "I can't Sy. I just CAN'T! I need to do something; I have to help them somehow!" He took a deep breath and clamed himself down, his eyes fading back to brown.

"I told them I would come back here tonight to see them. I'm going to bring her sister a blood pack, I know that'll help at least a little. I don't know how long she's gone without eating but I went a week without anything and I was at my limit. They've been alone together for two months; I don't know how long she lasted as long as she has."

"Do you want us to come with you Jaden? We'd be more than happy to help." Suggested Bastion but Jaden shook his head. "No. I have to go alone. They were scared just meeting me. They obviously don't trust people and who could blame them." Jaden stood up from the table. "The sun is starting to set so I'm going to head back to the hotel to do what I need to. I don't want to keep them waiting."

He left his friends who continued to go shopping and made it back to the hotel where he stuffed his backpack with a couple of blood packs because he figured she was probably going to need more than one. And when the sun finally set, he left to go back to the flea market to meet up with the two sisters.

The moon was high in the sky, and he knew that they were probably waiting on him by now. He continued walking but stopped as the hair on the back of his neck stood on end. A smell wafted in the air, the alluring smell of fresh blood. "Oh no…" He took off running, following the smell that was leading back to where their shack was. Was he too late? Did something happen? He found his way back to their makeshift home through the back alleys, and what he saw made his heart stop. He dropped his bag and fell to his knees. Mina's body laid on the ground in a giant puddle of blood, and her throat had been savagely ripped out.

"I set you free from your tormented soul. May you rest in peace." Jaden followed the voice entered the shack and saw Aster there, standing in front of Issa who had blood all over her mouth. His sword made out of light was unsheathed and he pointed it at the little vampire. 'NO! STOP!" Before Jaden could take another step, Aster plunged the sword into the girl's heart, setting her ablaze in blue fire. And when the flames finally settled, the girl's body was the color of ash and slowly broke apart until there was nothing left.

Jaden couldn't feel anything except the beating of his heart that was pounding in his chest, his adrenaline rising. His body started moving on auto pilot and he lunged forward, punching Aster in the face and sending him flying through the flimsy wall and crashing into the side of a nearby brick building. "HOW COULD YOU?!" He jumped high into the air and landed on Aster pinning him down delivering blow after blow to his face. Jaden was beyond enraged and he didn't even need to rely on Haou's strength. All he could see was the color red, his killer instincts taking over.

Aster took every blow until Jaden stopped to catch his breath, his face was now bloody and bruised but he seemed unfazed by the assault. "Why? Why did you have to go and do that?! I could have helped her!" Jaden slid off of Asters lap and held his head in hands. Aster used his sword to help prop himself up, blood profusely dripping down his face. "Helped her how? She had already killed her sister before even I got here. What would you have done if you found her before I did? Took her under your wing? Let her live with the guilt of knowing what she had done? She was far beyond help. The kindest thing to do was to put her out of her misery. That's what I would have wanted if I was her."

Jaden glared at the younger boy with much hatred. "But why did you have to kill her?! She was just a little kid! How could you do that so easily?! Don't you feel guilty at all?!" Aster leaned against the wall and looked up at the sky. "She wasn't just a little kid anymore. I would feel guilty if she was human, but she was just another blood thirsty demon. I wish I found and killed her earlier if it meant her sister got to live." Jaden stood up again to try and punch him but Aster quickly blocked it with his sword.

"Face it, Jaden. You can't have sympathy for these things. They're a plague that would be better off being wiped off the face of the earth. You know who should be the one that feels guilty? You. It was your kind that did this to her!" Aster tackled Jaden and the two started rolling around on the ground trying to overtake one another but Aster managed to get on top and had his sword pointed right at Jaden's neck. "Your kind did this… you're… all monsters…" Aster began to sway back and forth and collapsed, his injuries finally getting the best of him. His sword slowly dissolving.

Jaden rolled the younger boy off him and laid on the ground, exhausted. What would he have done? Would he have done the same thing and mercy killed her? Would that that have been the right thing to do? He didn't want to admit it but there was truth to what Aster had said.

He stood up and slowly walked over to the girl's lifeless body and closed her eyes to put her at rest. He then scooped her up in his arms and laid her body in the place they once called their home next to the pile of ashes that was used to be her sister. "I'm so sorry you two… you both had so much life left to live." He went back to his bag to retrieve his things and looked at the unconscious pro duelist still lying motionless on the ground.

"Kill. Kill. Kill." His instincts were screaming at him to finish him off, but he didn't want to prove Aster right and behave like the mindless killing machine everyone saw him as. But damnit was he incredibly tempted to. "Bastard… I hope you wake up feeling every ounce of pain I gave you as a reminder of what you did." Said Jaden as he left.

Aster shuffled around slightly; his unconscious mind started to resurface with some of his most tragic repressed memories. He was back in the body of his ten-year-old self, running by a river with a ball in his small hands. "Hey, wait up! You're too fast I can't keep up!" He looked over his shoulder and saw a small girl with silver hair and beautiful blue eyes chasing after him. Her smile was so infectious it would brighten up anyone's day. "No way! You just need to learn how to keep up!" The two continued to play until the sun set, and then the memory ended.

He slowly started to wake up and propped himself up on his arms, clutching at his head that was throbbing with intense pressure. Jaden really let him have it. He gritted his teeth and a single tear slid down his cheek. "Arista… I do all of this for you." He stood up and went back to the hut and pulled his sword back out from his chest. He set the building on fire with his sword to dispose of any evidence of what had happened. He did feel regret, he didn't want to show his enemy weakness but he still had a heart. He knew better than anyone what it felt like to lose a sibling to a hungry blood sucking beast. What Jaden called cruel was his act of mercy. A mercy no one had showed him.