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He wanted to escape. But after such a long time of being conditioned he realized that he was trapped. Aster Phoenix was the heir to Slifer’s throne, not far away from his coronation. Although he didn’t really want to be king at all. That held so much responsibility, pointless duties that he knew he would hate wholeheartedly. Slifer deserved a king who loved their kingdom with all of their being, who could do their job flawlessly through this love. He wouldn’t be the right man for the job, he was sure of it. No, not him. He wanted to design cards, just like his father before him had. Sartorius insisted though that he must become king in his place, regardless of his lack of royalty. Seeing as Sartorius had never taken a queen, he had never conceived a child of his own; so he pushed his practically-adopted son into the position of prince. Although Aster lived in the lap of luxury, he could not seem to even tolerate it. “Of course I deserve it,” he pondered, “I just don’t want it.” Aster sighed with a frown. “Besides, why would Sartorius want me to be king? He knows of my ambitions and yet I’ve gotten myself stuck. There is no one to take my place.” He thought. What if there was? Would things be different? He thought hard for hours a day wondering what he could do to help himself. It was nighttime when Sartorius interrupted his thoughts: he had just come up with a plan.“Is something the matter, my prince?” Sartorius questioned, snapping Aster out of his trance.“You know that I would not like to be king.” Aster said bluntly.“I know. But you must, Aster. It is your duty.” Aster stared over Sartorius’ right shoulder. “I will not be the king you desire, Sartorius. I will hate every minute of the job. Anyone else would be a better king than me.”“You have been arguing for weeks and know I will not change my mind, and yet you still argue. I will teach you to be king, my prince.”“I’ll run, then.”“That is treason, Aster. You would be exiled just like the Princeton clan.”“I’ll find another place to live. Place Jaden as king, not me.”“Jaden? He is irresponsible, he would not be optimal for the position. He will not want to be king, either.” “He is part of a powerful family; it isn’t like putting a commoner in charge.” Aster spoke lowly of the civilians of his own kingdom.“You may be right, but that will not change my opinion. Why would he take up such a large responsibility?”“I’ll duel him for it. The kingdom could profit off of his dueling skills. Leave the decisions to the elders.” Sartorius considered this option. He knew Aster was not wrong, but Jaden was merely a child trapped in a late teen’s body.“He won’t refuse.”“I know he won’t refuse, Aster. But I’m not letting you duel him when you could so easily lose intentionally. I will duel him.”Aster gulped. “Alright.” He knew this was the best option, but feared that Jaden would not emerge victorious. “Please Jaden, I just hope you’re good enough to win,” Aster thought desperately, and prepared himself to sleep.- “The duel between King Sartorius and Jaden Yuki will start now. If Jaden wins, he will become prince. If Sartorius wins, Aster will become prince.” The voice echoed through the stadium, greeted by thousands of cheers from the watching crowd. Jaden looked around at them, gaining a mildly amused look from Sartorius. “Nervous, Jaden?” He asked flatly. “What? Of course not! Just really psyched!” Jaden gave a big cheesy smile. “It’s not often that you get to duel the king! And to become prince?!” Jaden was practically vibrating with excitement. “Calm down Jaden, you’re making a fool of yourself!” He thought to himself. “Alright, I’m calm.” Sartorius finally spoke, addressing Jaden in a flat, unbiased tone. “You may choose who goes first, challenger.” “I’ll go first.” Jaden took a deep breath, and drew his hand. He looked over his cards, smiling at them. “Sweet,” he breathed. “Alright, I summon Elemental Hero Bubbleman to the field!” Bubbleman materialized in front of him, getting into a fighting stance. Jaden smiled at his monster. “Since he’s out there alone, I get to draw two cards! He drew and looked over at Sartorius, trying to read his expression. He couldn’t. His gaze drifted down to his cards, and his heart leapt. “Perfect!” He swallowed. “I play the spell card Bubble Blaster! You see, this card increases Bubbleman’s attack by 800 points, to 1600.” He smiled, and prepared to set a trap. “And I’ll throw down a facedown and end my turn.” Sartorius almost smiled at the young boy’s enthusiasm. He drew his hand next, scanning his cards. Aster was seated front row in the stadium, trying not to fidget nervously. He gripped at the bottom of his jacket sleeve. “I summon Arcana Force III: The Empress to the field. You see, this monster relies on the flip of a coin to function. When we flip this coin, there will be a different effect based on how it lands. However, I trust that luck will be on my side.” The card flipped, landing on heads. “If this card lands on heads, which it did, each time you Normal Summon or Set a monster, I get to summon one Arcana Force monster from my hand. I’ll also set one card facedown,” Satorius paused to take a breath, “and end my turn.” Jaden drew his next card, but deep inside, he knew he had nothing to worry about. -“Alright! Elemental Hero Wildedge, attack!” The warrior lunged straight for Sartorius, slashing with his massive blade to deal the final blow. Sartorius flinched as his life points dropped to zero. There was a hint of irritation in his eyes. The crowd was on their feet, cheering and screaming.Jaden looked with shock as the king then bowed before him. Holding his hand up to the audience of townspeople, all eyes were on him, and he felt a feeling he had never felt before. “But, what is it?” Jaden wondered to himself. He figured he would never truly know, but that was alright. For now, he just smiled back at them.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Jaden’s first few weeks as prince were all a blur. It had all gone so fast, with princely knowledge and manners shoved down his throat. Jaden was never the type to present himself as a prince would; the staff of Slifer Palace knew that, yet they continued to try and correct the youth.” Meanwhile, Aster Phoenix was waiting for him to crack. “I know he will. But, why did I propose him to be king? I know there are much more suitable options, and yet I’ve faltered,” he mumbled under his breath while he looked off the balcony at the stars. “Slifer is a beautiful kingdom, but why would he ever want to rule it all? Those are ambitions larger than I thought someone as thick as Jaden could possess. Or, maybe he doesn’t. The reality will hit him, I’m sure.” Aster sipped his tea and looked out at the bright and bustling city of Ra, Slifer’s capital city. “I suppose it’s not my problem anymore,” he reassured himself, and straightened his back. “At least I can still live here.” Aster turned on his heel to return to his room and prepare himself to sleep. He walked the lavish hallways of the palace, lit by gorgeous chandeliers hung masterfully. “I’d say I should have stayed prince, knowing how Jaden will handle it. But he made a choice to be here; I can’t feel bad for that. Pity, maybe,” he told himself, deep in thought. He was almost at his room now, and his tea was almost empty. “I must admit that I’m curious as to why. Maybe I should ask. Yeah, I think I will.” Aster entered his room and set his teacup down on the nightstand, then left to go find Jaden. His room was surprisingly close to Aster’s; it made Aster feel a little less alone in such a large palace. He found himself at Jaden’s door soon and lifted his hand to knock, but found himself intimidated. He withdrew it an inch or two, but did not return it to his side. “Why would I be intimidated by Jaden? He’s barely royalty!” He shook off his doubt and knocked, for real this time. There was no answer. “It’s nearly curfew for him by now; why wouldn’t he be in his room?” Aster questioned, then remembered that he was thinking of Jaden. “Of course he’s not in his room. It’s Jaden, he’s never had a curfew and even if he did, he’d break it.” Aster scrunched up his nose a little at the thought. “He won’t survive in a place like this.” He turned sharply to leave, but caught glimpse of Jaden coming down the hallway to his room. “So he isn’t late after all. That’s a surprise.” Aster thought. “Hey Aster!” Jaden cheered from across the hallway with a big smile. “What’s up?” Aster pushed a finger to his lips with a sharp hiss. “I need to talk to you,” he said softly. Jaden gave him a confused look. “Okay, come into my room.” He led the way in, unlocking it with the key around his neck. He sat on the bed next and gestured Aster to sit next to him, but Aster shook his head curtly and declined. “Do you want to be prince?” Aster asked Jaden bluntly. “Well, I don’t have a choice! I won the duel.” “I’m aware. I asked, do you want to be prince?” “Well, truth be told, I didn’t duel Sartorius to be prince. I just wanted to duel the king.” Jaden smiled at Aster softly. “That’s what I assumed.” Aster balled his fist. “You don’t know what’s in store for you. I’m warning you that there will come a day when you won’t want to be prince anymore, and you’ll have nowhere to go.” It can’t be so bad, can it? I’m living the good life! Delicious food all the time, servants and maids who will do whatever I want! It’s not bad, why wouldn’t you want to be a prince?” “You’re really a fool. You’ll understand it someday when your naivety is gone. You could have saved yourself had you declined our invitation. I can’t say I ever thought you would refuse, though.” “If you hate it so much, you should be happy that I took it from you! Right?” Aster narrowed his eyes. “Yeah.” “Then, I’m glad to do it for you, Aster.” Jaden grinned widely. “The least I can do for you is teach you how to be a prince correctly.” “Hey, they’re already teaching me enough as it is!” Jaden groaned. “They’ll only teach you what they want you to know. I can at least teach you what you’ll actually need,” Aster smirked. “Tomorrow, we’ll start. Okay?” “Okay. They stop lessons at noon.” “Perfect. Meet me in the courtyard” Aster grinned at Jaden, and let himself out of the room. “Goodnight, your Royal Highness,” he bowed a little. “Just call me Jaden.” Jaden laughed.--- At noon, Aster waited for Jaden in the courtyard. The gardeners were trimming the bushes in silence. “All of this space, and I still feel trapped,” Aster thought to himself. Jaden arrived shortly after, untucking his shirt and unbuttoning himself for comfort. He also dug a hair tie out of his pocket and tied up his long hair. “They won’t be happy to see you like that.” Aster almost giggled at the new prince. “Oh well. How do you dress like this every day? I miss my sweatpants!” Aster smirked at Jaden. “Get used to it.”“Princes don’t tie up their hair! They keep it down to show off its natural beauty!” Jaden mocked his servant teachers. “That’s why I keep mine shorter.” Jaden rolled his eyes.“First lesson is posture,” Aster said. “You’re slumping.” He corrected Jaden’s posture, and Jaden grit his teeth.“Do we really have to stand like this?”“When adults are around, yes.” Aster’s words triggered a loud sigh from the shorter boy. “Now, walk like that.” Jaden did. “Chest out. Don’t look at your feet.” Truth be told, Aster Phoenix knew that these things weren’t that important. He wanted to shape Jaden into a more solid, clean-cut person; he knew it would get him through the days in Silfer Palace. The duo trained for hours. --- “Now that you’re a prince, you need a new deck. So I’m taking you out to buy one.” Aster pulled on a light jacket and dropped a roll of bills into his pocket. “They’ll let us go out alone? No guards or anything?” “No. But I always did, and nothing ever happened to me. And besides, a guy needs to have fun sometimes.” Jaden pulled up his hood and the duo left the palace undetected to go into the city of Ra. “It’s nice to see this place again. I thought I’d never be allowed out again.” Jaden sighed with relief. “Where are we going to shop for cards?” “The blue building on the corner of Luster Avenue and Exodia Square.” The two walked in silence. Jaden Yuki had missed his home city. “Why didn’t Sartorius ever have a kid, Aster?” Jaden broke the silence. “Sartorius wasn’t prepared to be king. He wasn’t meant to be, he only became king about a year ago. But, that’s a story for another time.” Jaden only nodded. Nothing else was spoken until they were inside the shop. Aster approached the counted with confidence, asking the young worker to show him their best cards. “Of course, sir.” The worker was tall and built, with piercing gray eyes. Jaden lingered behind Aster. He brought out a case with three heavy locks, setting it down and looking up at the two. He bowed at the sight of Jaden. “Greetings, your Royal Highness,” he said with a smile, locking eyes with Jaden. Jaden was taken aback at the intensity of the young man’s grey eyes. They almost pierced through his skull. The boy couldn’t be more than a year older than him. “You can... Just call me Jaden,” Jaden breathed. The boy nodded and looked away with a small smile, unlocking and opening the case. “These are our best cards.” Aster browsed through the cards, consulting Jaden every so often. Jaden found himself uninterested in buying these prestigious cards. Time passed, but only Aster decided to buy new cards. “Jaden, I told you that you needed a new deck.” “I love mine just the way it is,” Jaden protested. But, the entire experience seemed like a blur. Aster paid and they left, but Jaden didn’t really stop to think until he was in bed. As he closed his eyes to sleep, he could only see grey eyes. “I’ll feel better in the morning,” he told himself and went to sleep.---Across the city of Ra, the shop worker was telling himself the same thing. “It isn’t possible,” He lectured himself, “under any circumstances.” He shook his head gently. “I cannot have allowed myself to fall in love with the prince of Slifer.”