Chapter 1

A light wind swept gently round him, as he stared around the crowded square lit by the warming glow of street lamps and office lighting. He couldn't help but think the detail was perfect, even down to the positioning of jumbo TV monitors on the high rise buildings around him.

'Hey, what's the matter is everything okay?' The sixteen year old brunette to the right of him's voice sounded with perfect timing.

Turning towards her, he couldn't help but smirk at the craftsmanship which went into making her.

'Yes Téa, it was nothing,' he suppressed his urge to add the million or so puns circling his mind.

'Hey Yugi, there you are,' a familiar voice called from behind them.

'It's Mai Valentine,' he informed his companion, as he turned towards the voice, pleased that the timing was finally just right.

'Oh joy,' Téa groaned as she too turned round.

'I know you guys missed me,' Mai happily ran towards them.

'It's such a shame we don't hang out more often.'

'Yes, it is, isn't it,' she pulled Téa into a gentle neck-lock. 'You look snazzy Téa, is this a date?'

'We're just sleeping together Mai.'

'Wait, what?' He broke character and stared up towards one of the TV monitors.

The sound of laughter reached his ears, as the scene around him froze and a window containing the rather smug faces of his friends appeared.

'What part of sticking to the script do you guys not understand?'

'The part that actually says we have to,' the blonder of the two continued to laugh, as his velvet brown eyes shone mischievously in his sixteen year old face.

'We have one week to finish this, the time for messing about is over,' he gritted his teeth.

'Hey I thought I was supposed to be the Kaiba of the group,' the other boy rolled his eyes. 'And come on Lus, a few changed words isn't hard to alter back.'

'Yeah, whatever,' he folded his arms moodily.

'So you want to continue or not?'

'Tomorrow.'

'But you said yourself…'

'I know what he said,' he glared up at him, 'but I'm not in the mood for this anymore.'

'Geez, when did you lose your sense of humour?'

'When I almost died.'

'Oh come on, that was five years ago,' he gave a half cough, half laugh noise of disapproval, 'and we both know its not true Lus Moto.'

'Yeah, well,' he shrugged.

'Look,' Arados suddenly appeared next to him, 'we know our joke was probably counterproductive, but give us a break; we were up all night working on this.'

'And I shouldn't complain because I wasn't?'

'That's not what he means.' Taylor sighed, as he too appeared beside him. 'He's just saying that we both needed… a laugh. You of all people should understand that.'

Angrily, he shrugged and turned away from them. He didn't know why, but he got like this sometimes. His mood would suddenly flip a full circle and he found himself completely unable to control his temper.

'Come on Lus,' Arados chided gently, 'you've got to admit it was funny.'

'No, it wasn't.'

'Yeah it was,' Taylor pulled Lus into a neck-lock and riling his temper further by ruffling his scruffy reddish brown hair.

'Get the hell off me,' he pulled away from him, 'I'm not in the mood.'

The other two exchanged a wary glance.

'Okay, okay, we're sorry,' Arados averted his gaze, 'chill, okay?'

Growling in inexplicable agitation, he used his gift to hide himself from their sight.

'Lus, you're just being childish now,' Taylor rolled his eyes.

'Am not,' he continued to sulk.

'Lus please…'

'Please what?'

'Please don't do this.'

'Do what?'

'Sulk.'

'I'm not sulking.'

Taylor and Arados exchanged another glance. He knew what they were thinking. Or at least he thought he knew. Turning, he made to leave; he didn't want to be around them right now. But, just as he reached the door, his body suddenly flooded with pain. Gasping, he found himself bent double within a matter of seconds, his invisibility clicking off as he dropped heavily to his knees.

'Lus, are you okay?' His friends anxiously ran towards him.

Everything in him wanted to scream at them to help him, but the words refused to pass his lips. Breathing in convulsions, he slowly allowed himself to fall onto his side as his body began to shake with uncontrollable violence.

'It's okay Lus,' Arados reassured him, as his arms suddenly gripped him tightly.

'We're here for you, you got that?' Now it was Taylor's turn to comfort him. 'It'll pass, you've just got to calm down.'

Lus's eyes strained to blink as they stared blankly at everything and nothing. His head snaked of its own accord, out of sync with the rest of his fitful body and every second struggled breath escaped with a strained squeak.

'Lus, Lus its okay, you've just got to calm down, you've just got to breathe.'

'I… I… I… can't breathe,' he somehow managed. 'I can't breathe, I can't breathe.'

'Yes you can. Lus you can breathe.'

'No,' he moaned, before mouthing meaningless words.

'Lus you can,' his friend's voice continued, 'Lus you are. You are.'

'No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,' he repeated the word to the point of gibberish. 'I… I can't… I… I can't… I… make it stop… m-make it stop.'

'Its okay, its okay, its okay,' Arados's voice was low and almost tearful, 'its okay.'

Half sobbing, half panting, he slowly felt the tension lift from his body. The convulsions softened into shivers and his jagged breathing began to deepen. Exhaustedly he lay there as his body came to a quiet stop.

'Its okay,' Taylor breathed as he gently stroked the hair out of his eyes. 'See, everything's okay.'