Gods, I didn't think I was going to be able to upload this before the voting began...

Buuuut, it sorted itself out so it's all good. X3

Hope you enjoy. :)

"Would you like your apples purple or orange?" The woman asked, holding up one of each kind from the cart by her side.

"...What?" Seto blinked, frowning at her as he tried to make sense of what she'd said. Surely he'd heard wrong?

"Would you like your apples purple or orange?" The woman repeated, speaking each word slowly and clearly as one would to a small child or a simpleton.

So he had heard her right. Ordinarily, that would have been a good thing, but given the situation, it only served to confuse him further. Taking a step back, he turned to take in his surroundings. As he looked around, he was consumed by an overwhelming feeling of wrongness. The trees looked wrong, the grass looked wrong, he couldn't say how or why, he just felt it. Looking up, he frowned again. Should the sky be green? As far as he could remember, it always had been, but was it right? He looked to his left at the nearby river. It looked normal enough, with ducks and plant debris following the current up the side of the hill, but again, he felt that niggle in the back of his mind. What was happening to him? Why was everything suddenly so confusing? He heard a clicking noise and turned back to the woman to find her tapping the toe of her boot on the flagstone pathway impatiently.

"Are you going to buy any apples or not?" She demanded, taking a bite out of the purple one she was holding.

"Uh...no."

"Gah! Well, thanks for wasting my time, mister." Throwing the uneaten apple back onto her cart, she took up the handles and made to leave.

"Wait! Where am I? How did I get here?" Seto blurted out, grabbing one of her arms and trying to ignore how stupid he sounded. She froze and stared at him like he'd just grown another head. The silence lasted for almost a minute, then she threw back her head and let out a piercing shriek. Startled, Seto dropped her arm and backed off.

"What the...?"

"Did he do something to you miss?" A voice asked from close behind him. Whirling around, he came face to face with a boy about half his height with the strangest hairdo he'd ever seen. Like some kind of giant, tropical fruit. He was also holding something that looked like a cross between a sword and a cheese grater, which didn't bode well.

"He...he..." The woman sobbed, leaning heavily against her cart to keep herself from falling over, "He touched...my arm."

The boy's eyes flashed angrily as he snapped his gaze to Seto. "What's the meaning of this? You know physical contact is forbidden!"

"What the hell are you talking about?!" Seto growled, his confusion fast turning into frustration.

"Oh come now, don't try to plead ignorance. It's one of the Prime Laws! And while we're on the subject of the Laws, you don't look to me like you're working. What are you doing wandering around here?"

"I was working!" Seto insisted.

"Oh? So what were you doing?"

"I..." He trailed off as he realised that he couldn't remember. He had no idea what he'd been doing, but he had been working, of that he was certain.

"I thought so" the boy said, a look of smugness spreading across his face, "Looks like you're coming with me then."

"And how are you going to do that without touching me?" Seto sneered, folding his arms defiantly.

The boy looked at him strangely for a moment then spoke in a similar voice to that of a parent humouring a child. "Physical contact between humans is not allowed."

Still not understanding, Seto opened his mouth to argue further, but the words froze in his throat as a shadow fell over him. Spinning around to confront this latest annoyance, he found he could do nothing but stare instead. Before him stood a creature that could only be described as a dragon. It was pale and almost metallic with gleaming white teeth and bright, blue eyes that blazed with power. And it was huge; he had to crane his neck to see its head.

"Take him to the Tower" the fruit headed boy commanded. The dragon bowed its mighty head once then reached forward with one clawed hand. Seto let out a strangled whimper and tried to flee, only to find himself flat on his face with the boy standing over him holding out his weapon instead. He didn't even have time to insult him before he felt something cold and hard tighten around his waist. The next thing he knew, he was hanging eight feet off the ground and he could feel the dragon's hot breath on the back of his head. Through the terrified thoughts screaming around inside his head, he realised he'd quite like to faint. So he did.

----------

When he opened his eyes again, the first thing he noticed was that he was on the ground. The next thing he noticed was that the ground was moving. He bolted upright and looked around. He appeared to be moving along a rough path through a dense forest in a wooden cage on a cart pulled by the strangest horses he had ever seen. They looked more like two headed lions with wings. But since that was ridiculous, he decided that they were just really ugly horses.

"Hey!" He called to the driver of the cart, shuffling over until he was right behind him.

"What?" He replied gruffly, not even turning to look at Seto.

"Where are you taking me?"

"To the Tower."

"What's that?"

Now the driver did turn to look at him, the frown on his face reflected in his brown eyes, "Are you serious?"

"I'm never anything else."

"I can believe that. You look like a grumpy git."

"..."

"The Tower is where anyone who breaks one of the Prime Laws ends up, and once you go in, you never come out."

"People keep mentioning these Prime Laws, what the hell are they?"

"The rules that our kingdom lives by. There are four Laws, and, like I said, the breaking of any of them is enough to land you in the Tower."

"What are the chances of you letting me go?"

"If I do, it'll be me that goes to the Tower in your place. Sorry."

"Hnnnn..."

----------

They continued on in silence for what felt like hours before the driver pulled the cart over and jumped down, settling on a flat rock by the side of the road. Pulling a flask of water from the pouch at his side, he took a long drink then chucked it to Seto through the bars. Once Seto had quenched his thirst and thrown the flask back, none too gently, the driver set about devouring the snacks that had been in the pouch along with the water.

"So, what's your name?"

"Kaiba, Seto Kaiba."

"I'm Tristan."

"That's nice..."

His food finished, Tristan stood back up and pointed behind Seto. "If you look over there, you can see the Tower. It's on the top of the next hill."

Seto turned and, sure enough, through the trees he could see what could only be the Tower. It was a tall building, made mostly of glass with a steel frame. It was shaped in a way that, if seen from above, must have looked like a symmetrical cross. It dipped inwards towards the top and was capped with a circular structure, also made primarily of glass. He couldn't explain why, but it felt eerily familiar, like he knew it very well.

"That...is the Tower?" He asked quietly.

"Yup. And it has that effect on most people. Shall we be off then?" He said almost cheerfully, reaching to climb back up onto the cart. Without warning, an arrow flew out of nowhere and thudded into the grip his hand sought. Yelling in shock, he fell backwards onto the path. Barely a heartbeat later, a rain of arrows descended on him, silencing any further protests he might have had. Shocked beyond belief, Seto could do nothing but sit where he was and gape.

"Are you ok?" A voice asked from somewhere to his right. Turning, his eyes fell on a tall young man with blond hair, chocolate brown eyes and a bow slung over his shoulder.

"...Yes. I suppose" Seto blinked, still a bit dazed from watching the guy he'd been speaking to just moments before get murdered in front of him.

"Good" the other boy said, pulling a short handled axe from his belt and advancing on the cart. Seto shrank back as far as the bars would allow and widened his eyes in fear. The boy stopped for a second, laughed, then continued forward.

"I'm not going to hurt you, it's just that I don't have a key and I can't be bothered to fish around in that guy's pockets" he explained, still smiling in amusement, "There's no reason to start doing rabbit impressions."

Embarrassed, Seto snarled at him and looked away. Once the lock was taken care of, the boy pulled the cage door open and stuck out his hand.

"I'm Joey, but you can call me 'my saviour' if you want" he smirked. Seto stared at him coldly for a moment then pushed past him to get out of the cart. He made it less than four metres before he realised he had no idea where he was going. Turning back to Joey, he found him leaning against the cart, amusement playing across his features once more. Embarrassed again, Seto folded his arms.

"Where the hell am I?"

"On a road. In a forest."

"...Could you be a little more specific?"

"I could."

"Are you going to be?"

"No."

Grinding his teeth, Seto had to remind himself that Joey was the one holding the weapons, so attacking him was probably not very smart. Chuckling, Joey stood up straight and beckoned.

"Follow me; I'll take you somewhere safe."

Having no other choices that he could see, Seto clenched his fists and followed.

----------

The 'safe place' turned out to be a small camp comprised of twenty or so roughly built wooden houses and a chicken coop.

"Oh yeah, I feel secure now" Seto said flatly, "No way is the guy with the dragon going to touch us here."

Joey ignored him and strode forward into the biggest of the buildings. Seto was just trying to figure out how best to get away from the place without being shot when Joey re-emerged and all thoughts of escape flew out of his mind. Standing next to the infuriating blonde was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. She had long, auburn hair, soft brown eyes and a face that shone with gentle innocence.

"Hello" She smiled, her voice just as soft as her eyes, "My brother tells me you were on your way to the Tower."

Seto nodded, not sure what to say.

"We are all escapees from that same fate" she explained, "I suppose you could call us rebels if you wanted a simple explanation."

Seto looked around again and contained a snort. The people around him looked more like disgruntled protestors than rebels.

"I assume you broke one of their stupid laws?" She continued, stepping towards him and waving her brother away. From what he could see, she appeared to be their leader.

"Yes" he grunted.

"It has been this way for as long as any of us can remember" she sighed, "They expect us to live to work for the kingdom and nothing else."

"Who's 'they'?"

"The five sorcerers who control this kingdom. They make the Laws, and their dratted Dragon Riders enforce them."

"Dragon Riders...you mean like that punk with the freakishly large head?"

She raised her hand to her mouth and, to his delight, started to chuckle. "You must mean Yami. He's their leader and the best at what he does."

"Yami..." he repeated, not liking the way the word tasted.

"But, if all goes as planned, he will not hold his position of terror for much longer" she added, her voice hardening and her eyes suddenly blazing with an inner fire.

Slightly startled by this unexpected change, Seto raised a questioning eyebrow.

"We are planning a coup" she said proudly, "We are going to storm the Tower, the place where the Five reside, and forcibly remove them."

Seto couldn't hold in his snort this time. "I'm sorry" he said in response to her quizzical look, "But from what you say, these sorcerers sound dangerous and your 'rebels' don't look like they'd last long in a fight."

To his surprise, she merely smiled again. "We are more prepared than we seem" she said simply, "Now come, you've had a hard day and you need to rest, I will show you to your bunk."

Speechless again, he followed her to one of the huts and sat down on the thin pallet she indicated. He was halfway through the process of laying down when she turned at the door to look back at him.

"By the way, my name is Serenity."

And with one last smile, she left him to his rest.

----------

He was awoken the next morning by the sound of a commotion outside. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he pulled himself up and headed out into the dull, grey morning light.

"What's going on?"

The two people causing all the noise stopped shouting at each other and turned to face him. One was Serenity, her chest heaving in anger and her eyes alight with the fire he had seen briefly the night before. The other was a pale young man with hair as white as snow and brown eyes that were as hard and unfeeling as Serenity's were kind and caring.

Stepping past the stranger, Serenity addressed Seto in a voice of forced calm.

"Bakura here has informed me that many have come to him expressing a desire to hold off the attack until we are greater in number. I disagree, if we wait much longer, the Five will learn of our plan and it will be too late."

"But what's the use of it being a surprise, if it's a surprise that fails dismally!" Bakura cut in, stepping between Seto and Serenity.

"It will not fail!" Serenity shot back, "As long as we all hold together, it will not fail."

"That's easy for you to say, you aren't the one this blasted plan is hinging on!" Bakura snarled.

"What plan?" Seto interrupted. Bakura shot him a scathing look then stalked off to the side to gather his thoughts while Serenity explained.

"We plan to distract the Riders in the centre of the city by causing a commotion while a small strike team infiltrates the Tower and disables the source of their power."

"It won't work I tell you!" Bakura shouted, stalking back over, "I have some magical abilities, yes, but I'm still no match for the Riders! They'll be finished with us in minutes and be back at the Tower before you even get halfway in!"

"No" Serenity said, her sudden calm silencing Bakura. Turning her head to face him, she looked him straight in the eye. "You can and will succeed in distracting them. We have waited too long as it is, the Riders only grow stronger and we are running out of food. We do this now, or never."

He opened his mouth as though he wanted to argue, but shut it again in the face of all the nodding heads around him.

"Fine" he said quietly, his voice hissing dangerously, "But when we're all rotting in the Tower, you remember who brought it upon us." And with that, he swept away through the crowd of onlookers.

"I apologise for him" Serenity said, moving to stand by Seto again, "He is volatile and rude, but he is one of the strongest among us. We need him."

"So...you're doing it today? Attacking them I mean."

"We are" she replied, bowing her head in a shallow nod, "Will you stand with us?"

Seto let out a sigh. He'd guessed this was coming. Did he really want to get involved in a battle he knew so little about to save a kingdom that he couldn't even remember arriving in? One look at Serenity's gentle, pleading face and he had his answer. She hid it well, but he could see that she was terrified. He couldn't leave her when she so obviously needed all the help she could get.

"Yes. I'll help."

And there was that smile again. The one that made his stomach somersault. Clapping him on the arm in thanks, she turned and walked away to prepare for the upcoming battle, leaving him in the capable hands of the tall, white haired, one eyed weapons master of the group. As he followed him to be given a crash course in kicking ass, he prayed to the God he didn't believe in that he hadn't just made the biggest mistake of his life.

----------

They came at midday. Falling from the sky like rain and shattering the primitive buildings under their clawed feet. The huts were already gone by the time the screaming started, the attack was so sudden. People ran in every direction, desperately trying to escape the wrath of the Dragon Riders. One, lone voice cut across the terrified wails of the decimated rebel camp. Yami sat atop his great blue dragon, sneering down at the people below him.

"By order of the Five, you are all to be executed for high treason. There will be no mercy!"

And so the slaughter began. Talons gleamed with blood and swords bit through flesh as the Riders worked their way through the camp. Seto, caught up in the group of people desperately trying to outrun the dragons, looked back and felt his blood run cold. One person alone was standing stubbornly in the centre of the clearing, facing the dragons with her chin held high and a sword in her hand. Her brother lay dead nearby, which seemed only to strengthen her resolve as she stood, waiting for them to come within range. How could he be so cowardly when she was standing there all alone? Stopping dead in his tracks, he started to fight his way back through the crowd to get to her. He had to hurry, they were almost upon her.

Pushing past the last of the runners, he broke into a sprint and tore across the clearing. With a burst of sickening dread, he realised that he wasn't going to make it, he was too late. He kept going anyway. Mere feet away, she turned her head suddenly and looked right at him, having noticed the movement out of the corner of her eye. For a split second, a flash of happiness crossed her terrified features, and the last thing he saw before the dragon breath hit and the world went black was that sweet, gentle smile.

----------

Laying face down on the ground, he found that he couldn't move. The world was spinning, despite the fact that his eyes were closed, and he had no idea how much time had passed. He took in a deep breath and almost choked. That was it. That was what was wrong with the grass, he realized, it smelt funny. It didn't smell like grass at all, it smelt like...cheese. Forcing his eyes to open, he found that he was no longer in the clearing; he was in his office at KaibaCorp. And he had his face in a plate of grilled cheese. Groaning, he sat up and peeled half a sandwich off his face. What was going on? The last thing he remembered was being thrown to the ground by a blast of white hot heat. The same blast that killed Serenity.

Serenity. That name stirred something in his memory, even as the recent events started to slip from it. He knew her, she was Wheeler's sister. He couldn't remember ever having exchanged more than a few words with her, so why did the thought of her now make him feel things he never had before? And why had he dreamt of her? Had it really been a dream? It had felt so real...

Tired and confused, he walked over to the couch that he had slept on countless times when working late and flopped onto it. There would be plenty of time to speculate on these new feelings in the morning, but for now, he needed to sleep.

Well, there you have it, the fic spawned from the sentence, 'let's talk about cheese.' X3