[Meanwhile]

Jude came to a stop, pressed his back against a wall, and slumped to the floor.

An armored figure and a green haired-girl stood in front of him. Mira I think was the name of the armored figure, and Ling was the other girl.

"What's wrong, Jude?" Mira asked. "Why did you run off all of a sudden?"

My brother pressed his forehead against his knees. "I... I needed to get away."

Mira patted his hand. "From what?"

"M-my memories."

"Your memories?" Ling asked, furrowing her brow.

"Y-yeah. M-memories I r-rather forget w-were coming back to me."

Ling gulped. "You must be similar to my brother."

Jude looked up. "Y-your brother?"

She scratched her head angrily. "Yeah, his name is Renshu. He also had to deal with bullying. That guy would put on a cheerful face, but I knew something had happened. When confronted he got sad. Like you, he didn't want to face the reality."

Ling's Renshu's sister? That's why she looked familiar when we first met!

"S-should I? W-would that make the scary f-faces leave me alone?"

Mira glanced at Ling who took a deep breath. They were probably trying to think of what to say next.

I curled my hands into fists. There wasn't much I could say to help him feel better either. If only I had come sooner that day...

***

{Six Years Ago]

My eyes widened as a crowd of fourth graders surrounded something, or rather someone. They were screaming stuff such as "Keep at it!", "Hit the brat harder", "Teach him a lesson!"

I ran forward. "What are you guys doing?" I snapped.

The kids turned around. Their face turned pale as soon as they saw me.

"It's his brother! Run!" one of the kids yelled, running away.

My eyes widened. I ran forward and watched a girl drop a boy and run for it. The kid's face was drenched in his own blood.

I held my hand forward. Wires sprung forth, causing the girl to come to stop.

"Where do you think you're going?" I asked as I cradled the blond-haired boy in one arm.

The girl turned around and laughed nervously. "Home."

I shot her a glare and grasped her by the neck, slamming her up against the wall. "You think that I'll allow you to go home after what you did to my little brother."

"I-if you don't go, he might die," the girl said, wincing.

"Don't think that I'll forget this." I threw her into the carpeted floor and ran off to get Jude medical assistance.

The girl coughed as she caught her breath.

"H-Hal?" Jude asked, opening his eyes. They were bloodshot.

"Don't talk now, Jude," I said, pressing his head against my chest. "You'll be fine."

"I-I was so scared," he said, gripping my shirt. His blood and tears soaked it.

I patted him on the back but soon regretted it as Jude recoiled. It was then that I realized his shirt was torn on the back as if someone had whipped him repeatedly. The wounds ran deep. Jude passed out in my arms soon after due to blood loss.

That girl and the other kids would one day pay for what they had done to my little brother.

***

[Present]

All Jude did that day was correct that girl on her spelling. They didn't have to go that far.

"Here I thought you ran away because you were concerned about your other brother," Ling said.

Jude glanced up. "I-I am. I-I wonder if t-there's anything he r-rather not remember." He adjusted his glasses. "I-If it were me, I wouldn't m-mind not remembering."

Jude...

"D-Dan would sometimes have n-nightmares. I-it made me think that t-there was s-something in h-his past," Jude continued.

"What kind of nightmares?" Mira asked, raising an armored hand toward her chin.

Jude hugged his knees. "I-I'm not sure. A-all I c-could get from them w-were that t-they involved i-ice and foxes. B-big brother couldn't handle s-seeing ice."

"Pagophobia, huh?" Ling said, crossing her arms. She gasped. "Wait, but you're an ice mage. How did you get close?"

He averted his eyes. "Sim..." He bit his tongue.

"Jude, are you okay?" Mira asked.

He nodded. "Y-yeah. I m-mean, I-I didn't u-use my ice i-in front of him."

Ling laughed awkwardly. "Right, guess that was a dumb question. Guessing you trained alone with Hal instead, huh?"

My brother nodded. He glanced at the pillar I hid behind and stood up. "Hal!"

I walked out as he ran toward me. "Y-you knew I was here all this time?" I asked, smiling nervously. His detection skills must've been better than mine.

Jude lowered his head. "S-sorry for running off like that."

I ruffled his light blond hair. "It's alright, little bro!" I smiled slightly. "I understand that you still have some things you need to get over. I'm sorry for having caused those unpleasant memories to resurface in the first place."

Jude hugged me. "T-there's one pleasant memory."

I blinked. "There is."

He nodded. "Y-yeah, when you let go of Fiadh to help me out."

I wrapped my arms around him. "I had to. I couldn't leave you in that state. Getting revenge could've waited."

"B-brother, were you the one b-behind her and her class getting s-sick?" Jude asked, looking up at me.

I turned away. "Maybe," I said, slowly letting go of him.

"W-why did you do that?"

I looked down at him. His eyes were filled with anguish. "I won't forgive anyone who hurts my family and friends. Whether they be school bullies or an entire country."

"B-but not all of them hurt me."

"Yeah, but they watched and did nothing. In fact, many of them egged Fiadh on."

Jude whimpered. "S-still."

I scratched my head and sighed. "Fine. I shouldn't have done that."

Jude smiled and jumped on my back. "L-let's go watch the matches!"

I nodded and ran ahead.

"Wait for us!" Mira yelled as she and Ling followed after us.

Yen's match was probably over. Hopefully, she won.

Yuzuki and I looked around the forest, but we couldn't see Orion anywhere.

My sister sighed and turned around. Her eyes focused on the big screen television outside of the arena. Marina announced Yen as the victor of the fourth match.

"Seems that your time is up. I'll continue the search," my sis said.

I gulped. "You sure you don't want me to continue helping you?"

She sighed. "You know that you can't do that. You'll be disqualified. Plus, that'll mean we'll run of time to look for Orion in general as his match is after yours."

I nodded and stepped forward. "Fine. I'll go on ahead."

"Hika!"

I turned around. She wrapped her arms around me. "Take it easy. I don't know exactly what went down between you and Kun all those years ago. What I do know is that it has to be something serious if the two of you are reacting like this."

Glancing over my shoulder, I watched as Kun watched as the ring was rebuilt. His eyes looked as sad as mine probably did.

I would've thought that he would be different. He said that he didn't blame me for what happened, and it didn't seem like he was lying.

My eyes widened as it clicked. The look on his face was one of guilt. Why did he feel ashamed? I was the one who caused him to fall off the edge of the cliff all of those years ago.

Yuzuki opened a portal in front of me and nudged me ahead. "Go. Don't worry about Orion. I'll be sure to find him."

I smiled slightly. "Alright. Thanks for the push, Yuzu."

She grinned. "Any time, little bro."

I strode on ahead, but before I did, another portal appeared in front of the one my sister had made.

Yuzuki and I gasped as Orion emerged from it. Walking behind him was a man with platinum blond hair and deep blue eyes.

Something about him reminded me of the ones who tried to kidnap me years ago.

"There you are, Orion!" Yuzuki exclaimed. "Did you barely arrive?"

Orion rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled. "I sorta missed the last boat here."

"That explains why we couldn't find you," I said.

"Yeah," Yuzuki said, shaking her head. "It was futile from the start."

The man with Orion smiled as he turned to look at me. "Are these two your friends, son?"

"So, you're Orion and Stella's father," Yuzuki said. She bowed her head slightly. "Nice to meet you."

He grinned. "The pleasure is all mine. Orion's told me a lot about you, little lady."

"Dad! Don't lie!" Orion yelled, stomping his feet on the cement.

His dad laughed and turned around. "Alright, alright. I won't reveal any more of your secrets."

Orion closed his eyes. "What secrets?"

"Old man, why are you taking so long? You better not be embarrassing Ori," a voice called out from the portal. Stella poked her head out, causing me to jump.

Their dad grumbled. "I'm not doing that."

"Yes, you were!" Orion exclaimed.

Yuzuki nudged me. "Let's go on ahead. Seems like this could take a while."

I nodded.

"Wait, I'm coming with you!" Orion said, running for Yuzuki's portal.

Stella meanwhile yanked her dad into the portal her brother and they had come from.

"Can't you be a little more gentle?" Orion's dad said, grumbling.

"Can't you be a little more mature?" Stella asked in a mocking tone. "You're a grown man with two kids and a granddaughter for crying out loud."

"Well, first of all, I'm rather young to be a grandfather," he said, rolling his eyes as the vanished into the portal.

He was right about that. Stella had her daughter at a very young age. Which was surprising as she seemed pretty stern.

My face reddened as I recalled that I was expected to have a kid with Yen in a few years. I was too young to be a dad. What did her parents expect from our marriage anyway? Was our kid to be some sort of savior?

"You made it," Yen said, smiling as we appeared by the stands.

"Y-yeah," I said, turning away. Bad timing.

"What's wrong?" Yen asked, tilting her head.

"I-it's nothing."

Hal chuckled as he walked up the stairs with his brother on his back. Mira and Ling followed behind them. "Looks like you were blushing. Were you thinking something naughty?"

Lei's eyes widened. "Really, Hika?"

"What? No way!" I snapped.

"P-pervy brother," Jude mumbled, pouting.

Hal snickered. "Sorry."

"You sound like Silas when he was younger," Amun said, sighing.

Silas blushed. "D-don't remind me."

Hideo laughed. "You've changed a lot since then."

"Have I really?"

"Oh, seems Hika's here!" Marina yelled before Hideo could answer his brother. She waved at me. "Hurry up or you'll be eliminated!"

"I'm coming!" I yelled, running past Mira and Ling. Wished that Yuzuki had opened the portal next to the ring, but oh well. It was still quicker than by foot.

Kun smiled slightly as I got closer.

"About time you show. Thought that you weren't going to," Kun said.

I scoffed as I jumped into the ring. "I told you that I wasn't going to miss it." I pointed my hand at him. "Just so you know, I plan to beat you again!"

Kun flashed me a toothy grin. "Hey, you got lucky that one time." He pointed his sword at me. "Please show me everything you've gone, old pal."

Maybe fighting against him wasn't a bad thing after all. It gave me a chance to take him on without the stakes of our last proper match.

I summoned my wand and transformed it into its gauntlet form. "Same goes to you, best friend," I said, grinning back at him.

**Solar Note: Hope that you enjoyed the chapter :). Look forward to Kun vs. Hikaru! Plan to have it out on the 7th (this series's (and me being on this site) fifth anniversary)!**