Chapter 6

Realm of Darkness…

“You think brother has gone mad?” asked the youngest Shadow prince.

“What makes you think that?” replied JB, not too sure himself.

“Well look at him. For the past three days his concentration has been off and now he’s even talking to himself,” said Yugyeom. 

“I can hear you guys you know,” muttered Jackson.

“Sorry brother,” said JB and Yugyeom in unison.

“It’s been three days. Three whole days and the Lighters haven’t been to Moonlight Falls to train. Mark can’t really be mad at me, can he?” asked the frustrated Jackson.

JB and Yugyeom just stared at him blankly, not sure what to say.

“You guys are no help. Fine I decided. If the Lighters don’t show up tomorrow, I’m going to go looking for them,” proclaimed Jackson.

“Brother, don’t be rash. We’ve never been to the Realm of Light. Let alone know where the Lighters live,” said JB.

“So what should I do?” asked Jackson.

“I think I’m with Jackson on this one. I miss seeing my cute master BamBam too. And I know you wouldn’t mind seeing Jr either. Even though you won’t admit it out loud,” teased Yugyeom.

“That’s besides the point,” blushed JB, trying to keep a straight face. “We can’t just barge into the Realm of Light. We would stick out like a sore thumb. And what if mother and father finds out?”

“What they don’t know, won’t hurt them,” said Jackson.

Realm of Light…

“Are we really not going to Moonlight Falls again tomorrow brother? It’s been three days,” complained BamBam.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you actually did train when we go there,” stated Mark; his comment made BamBam sulk. 

“Brother quit picking on our baby brother. He just misses his Little Yugie,” teased Jr.

“You guys are both the worst,” said BamBam, as he stuck out his tongue at his older brothers.

“But seriously though, why are you avoiding Moonlight Falls?” asked Jr.

“I’m not,” lied Mark. “I mean we don’t really have to go there to train, we can just train here.”

“If you’re not avoiding Moonlight Falls, that means you’re avoiding a certain someone named Jackson,” teased BamBam.

Jr gasped,” Oh no BamBam, you just mentioned He Who Must Not Be Named.” Both of the younger Lighter brothers burst out laughing.

“Now who’s being a meanie,” said Mark, slightly blushing. “Besides you’re not all that innocent yourself brother. Does the name JB ring any bells?” Jr immediately stopped laughing and turned red.

“I guess your reaction is my answer,” continued Mark; his turn to laugh.

“In all seriousness brother. Why are you avoiding Jackson? What did he do or say to you?” asked Jr.

“Yea, from what we saw he really was worried about you and cared for you tenderly,” said BamBam.

“A little too much if you asked me. He wouldn’t even let us help,” said Jr.

Well I can’t really tell my bothers I’m avoiding him cause I’m too embarrassed to face him. They’ll never let me live it down. 

“What if they come looking for us?” asked BamBam.

“You really think they would? They don’t even know where we live or who we really are. I mean JB wouldn’t on his own. I can’t say the same about your Little Yugie or Jackson.”

He wouldn’t really come looking for me would he? Then again, he rarely thinks things through. I guess facing him is better than having him causing a scene by entering our realm.

“Fine. To avoid the hassle and to limit as much trouble as possible, I guess we can go to Moonlight Falls tomorrow.”

“Yaayy,” celebrated BamBam. Jr even managed to smile. 

The next day at Moonlight Falls…

“They’re still not here,” said Yugyeom.

“Let’s just wait a little longer,” replied JB.

“I’ve waited for three days, now four,” said Jackson. “I’m done waiting. Let’s go. We have to flash all the way, since we can’t fly”

As the Shadow princes were about to leave, the Light princes flashed in.

Mark stared at Jackson nonchalantly, showing no emotion. I’m just going to pretend nothing happened. Just play it cool Mark. You can do this.

Jackson was a bag of mixed emotions. He was happy to finally be able to see Mark, afraid if Mark was mad at him, and mad at Mark for avoiding him.

So you’re just gonna show up four days later and act like nothing happened? So annoying, yet I can’t quit you. 

“You guys do what you want. I’m going to go train,” said Mark, as he turned to walk away.

“Stop right there…Master Mark,” threatened the annoyed Jackson. “I need to talk to you...please.”

“Why do I have to listen to you slave?” replied Mark.

Jackson flashed next to Mark, to block his escape route.

“Are you going to follow me like I asked or do I have to force you,” hissed Jackson.

“You wouldn’t dare,” said Mark.

“Wrong answer,” said Jackson, as he scooped up Mark bridal style and flashed away from the others.

“What is your brother planning to do to mine?” asked BamBam.

“I honestly don’t know. But it’s not like he can hurt him,” replied JB.

“That’s right. Oh did you know that if you guys didn’t show up today, that we were going to go looking for you?” grinned Yugyeom.

“See I was right brother. I knew they would do something like that,” said Jr. “That’s probably why Mark agreed to show up today, fearing that you guys would come looking for us.”

“Did Mark tell you guys why he’s been avoiding our brother?” asked JB.

“Nope. Not a word,” said BamBam.

“Did Jackson say what he may have did to our brother?” asked Jr.

“Nothing from him either. He just been talking to himself for the past three days. Any who…I missed you master,” said Yugyeom, as he flashed next to BamBam and rubbed against him like a loyal dog.

“Ewww….quit rubbing against me. You’re so annoying,” giggled BamBam. “Let’s see if we can find you a stick to fetch.” The two youngest princes flashed towards the waterfall, laughing.

“Must be nice to be so young and carefree,” said Jr.

“You say that like you’re so much older than they are,” laughed JB, as he rested his chin on Jr’s shoulder from behind. 

“What do you think you’re doing?” asked a surprised Jr. He didn’t even notice JB flashing behind him.

“What? I can’t show a little affection? Did you miss me?” whispered JB.

Jr didn’t know how to answer, so he just nodded his head. 

“Jackson put me down this instant,” demanded Mark.

“Fine. We’re far enough from the others. I’ll put you down if you promise not to runaway and listen to what I have to say,” said Jackson.

“I don’t have to promise you anything.”

“Then I’ll just continue on holding you like this until I’m done saying what I have to say. It’s not like I didn’t hold you in my arms for hours before,” teased Jackson.

“Ugh…fine. I promise I won’t run away. Now can you put me down,” blushed Mark.

“Magic word?”

“Now.”

“Try again,” said Jackson, as he hugged Mark closer.

“Fine…fine…please,” said Mark.

“That’s more like it,” smiled Jackson, as he placed Mark down.

“So….?”

“So what?” asked Jackson.

“You said you wanted to talk, so talk. Quit wasting my time,” said Mark.

“Look I’m sorry if I crossed the line last time. I thought I was just teasing you as I normally do. I know I can be a bit much at times, but I really didn’t mean to offend you. I figured I’d take advantage of the circumstance, given that you were still weak. I was just so worried about you after you fainted and I just wanted to lighten the mood. Then you go and disappear for three days. Three whole days. You know how much will power it took not to go looking for you after the first day? If you didn’t come today, I was really going to go to the Realm of Light, even if I didn’t know where to start looking. Just say you forgive me and aren’t mad at me. Please? Then you show up acting all cold, as if nothing happened. Ugh…why must you be so annoying? Yet I can’t stop myself from liking you,” blurted out Jackson. Did I say too much? Did I really just confess to him?

“Mark say something…anything,” pleaded Jackson. 

I can’t believe he just confessed to me. I didn’t avoid him because I was mad, I was just too embarrassed to face him.

Mark slowly walked up to Jackson. 

What is he going to do? Blow me away? Splash me with water? Use his blood bending technique? 

Jackson braced himself for whatever Mark was going to do to him and closed his eyes. He then felt something warm against his lips. He opened his eyes and saw that Mark was kissing him. Jackson suddenly felt like the wind was knocked out of him and he couldn’t move. But he knew this time that Mark didn’t use his powers. He didn’t have to. All it took was a kiss.