So, I've decided that I'm only going to write a chapter at a time for this fic instead of writing a few chapters then submitting one.

I've also decided that I'm going to finish this story before April, when my next fic, "Talk of the Town" comes out. Yes, that means I'm continuing this story, so far, since I got a lot of good feedback.

All main characters in this story belong to the genius who created Yu-Gi-Oh!

Enjoy!


"What's your name, Miss?" Mokuba asked as he approached Serenity. At the sight of him coming hear her, Serenity reflexively curled up her knees and defended her face with her hands. That was when the bruise on her left arm was noticed by everyone else in the room.

"We have to take you to a doctor," Kaiba said to Serenity, yet said so quietly only he could hear it.

Serenity felt so ridiculous, being frightened by a mere boy, but this was what she was reduced to when the people she loved dearest were the ones striking her with…-

"You," she heard Kaiba say, not sure of who he was speaking to. She moved her hand just in time to see him order the maids to call the medic from some sort of corporation.

"No!" Serenity exclaimed, causing the people in the room to stare, "please, enough people know about me already. I…can't see a doctor," she explained blankly just as the nurses were about to leave the small room.

"Call the doctor, anyway," the elder Kaiba said tersely, and both the maids looked at him suspiciously. "Now." And the two maids did small curtsies before scurrying out of the room.

"What if they find out I'm here?" Serenity moaned, feeling dizzy all of a sudden. "They will track me down and they will finish me off themselves." Serenity closed her eyes, her vision becoming blurry.

Mokuba and Seto exchanged nervous glances, knowing that she needed help. Mokuba came closer to the small table she was sitting on, and he grabbed her shoulders just in time before she fell on the small table, exhaustion sweeping all over her.

"Serenity," she whispered softly before she fell asleep with Mokuba still holding her shoulders.

"Does that mean she wants to find peace right now?" Mokuba asked Seto quietly.

"No," Kaiba replied. "Serenity is her name."


It took all the strength Serenity had not to grab her arm back from the doctor as he wrapped her bruised arm. She woke up in a quaint little bedroom, apparently a spare room, when the doctor applied stinging iodine to her injuries.

"Just let me wrap this one more time." the Doctor adjusted the spectacles falling off his nose as he finally cut the last shred from the roll of white cloth. "And there…I was hoping to finish before you woke up," the doctor said distractedly as he placed his supplies back inside his black bag. "But now that you're awake…could I ask how you got such severe lesions?"

Serenity noticed for the first time that both the Kaiba boys were in the room with her, and that both of them had visibly gotten more interested into the conversation right after the doctor asked that question. She felt something heavy around her head, and she noticed that the doctor had wrapped the wound around her forehead intensely.

"It was stupid really," Serenity answered, playing with the sheets around the bed she was lying on. Mokuba, who was sitting on the foot of the bed, looked nervously to his brother who was standing against one of the bed's posters. They both had a strong guess, well, they pretty much knew, as to what happened to her, but they weren't sure if they wanted anyone else to know.

"I work here," Serenity lied, "I'm a maid, you see, and I was carrying a box of cleaners up the stairs when I realized that I left my uniform in my car and forgot to change into it…and so then I turned around, but I must have tripped…and I fell…down the stairs…and yeah--yes, that's why you're here, I suppose." Serenity had never told such a lie in her life. She didn't even know if this house even had a staircase.

"I see," the doctor replied tentatively. "Does her husband know what happened to her?" he asked both Mokuba and Kaiba, nodding towards the ring on Serenity's finger.

It seemed as if Serenity, Mokuba and Kaiba just realized that the ring was there to begin with.

"I'm engaged," Serenity replied shortly, causing both the Kaiba brothers to look at her incredulously.

"And no, her fiancé doesn't know," Kaiba finished for her.

"Well, be sure to inform him then, and Mr. Kaiba, may I have a word?" The doctor asked as he and Seto stepped out into the hallway together.

"Is everything alright, Serenity?" Mokuba asked her, and Serenity spaced back into reality just in time to realize that she had been clutching her sheets with a vice grip. For the first time ever, when Serenity looked back at Mokuba, she didn't have an expression of pain on her face.

"It might just be," she said with a smile.


"Mr. Kaiba, do you know why I became a doctor?" the man asked as took off his spectacles.

"No," Seto answered, although he really didn't care.

"Well, in this town, it ended before you were probably born," the doctor said, almost humming, as he cleaned his glasses with a handkerchief from his pocket.

"What did?"

"Oh, why, the Lottery of course," the doctor said dispassionately, pushing his glasses up his nose once more.

Seto Kaiba's face scrunched up in confusion. "Domino played the Lottery?" he asked, turning back to the doctor, not believing what he was hearing.

"A little over two decades ago, actually," the doctor explained. "When I saw those people, those defenseless people, my stomach felt sick. I could never pick up a stone and throw it, at anyone. How others could just stand there and watch…Anyway, I became a doctor simply to defy the Lottery, to help and aid people. I remember exactly the way the victims' bodies looked when those savages were done, and I can't help but think that that young girl in there has shockingly similar injuries."

"What are you implying?" Seto asked defensively.

"You tell me." For a second, Kaiba realized the brilliance the doctors could truly have.

"She didn't want anyone else to know what happened," Kaiba little more than whispered so that the doctor could barely hear him.

"I don't know how she survived, and please spare me the details, but that girl needs help! Do you have any idea of what kind psychiatric problems can arise with being tortured in such a vulgar way?" The doctor whispered in an excruciating voice. "That girl's life will never be the same again." The doctor finally regained his calmness and quietly walked past Kaiba.

"Good day, Mr. Kaiba," he said before he left down the stairs, although for Kaiba, it had seemed anything but.


Seto quietly crept open the door of the room Serenity was currently residing in, his face completely blank and still.

"Seto…umm…we have a small problem," Mokuba explained as soon as the elder Kaiba walked into the room. Mokuba was now standing, wringing his hands nervously as Serenity paced around her bed, whispering inaudibly to herself.

"She wants to go back," Mokuba whispered to Seto as the two brothers watched the girl.

Serenity stopped pacing as she was mentioned. She looked both boys in their eyes, her breathing shallow. "No, I need to go back." She came up to Kaiba and held up her left hand to his face so that he could get a good view of her ring. "I might not be alone in this world. If Tristan knew that I was alive--"

"You need help, Serenity." Kaiba had never used her name before, but he couldn't think of anything else to call her as he repeated the doctor's words.

Serenity, completely ignoring Seto's words, continued, now looking at Mokuba instead of Kaiba. "I want to tell him that I'm alive. He'll be so happy! We were destined for each other, and he'll see me and whisk me away where no one will ever be able to hurt me again."

"I don't believe in destiny," Kaiba mumbled so that only he could hear himself.

Mokuba simply shook his head when Serenity looked at him. "Like Seto said, you need help, and we want to help, but taking you back to the town that did that to you doesn't exactly sound safe."

"Please," Serenity begged, "I need to see if at least someone that I care for is on my side."

"How do you know that he wasn't one of the people stoning you?" Seto asked.

"I just do. If you want to help me, then you'll take me across the bay."

When silence was their only reply, Serenity spoke: "Fine, I don't need you help!" She started marching past Kaiba toward the door when he grabbed her hand and held her back.

"You're not going--"

Serenity moaned.

"--alone."


Serenity's face looked so different with hope on it, Mokuba noticed as the Kaiba brothers and Serenity rode through the woods in Kaiba's limo. Mokuba had been sitting across from Serenity whereas Seto was sitting diagonally to her.

By now, it had become evening, and as the trio sat quietly in the car, Mokuba couldn't help but think it looked like they were driving through a scene in a horror movie.

Mokuba wasn't the only Kaiba boy looking at Serenity. Seto couldn't help but see the ghostly way the shadows on the tree branches hit Serenity's face as the moon struck her with its ethereal glow. She looked transparent, something Kaiba found oddly intriguing.

Serenity ran a finger through her newly dried hair, never taking her eyes off the moon that was playing hide and seek through the branches of the forest. She wondered if Tristan would like the dress Kaiba and Mokuba and bought her before they left town. It was blue, a color that Tristan wasn't very fond of, but the dress was pretty and it's skirt felt so soft around Serenity's legs. Tristan preferred Serenity in earthy tones, but when Mokuba had come into her room with the dresses his personal shopper had bought, this blue one was definitely the prettiest.

"A few hours ago, you were worried that other people would find out you were alive, but now, you want to reveal yourself to all those people?" Mokuba asked, keeping his eyes fixed on Serenity's figure.

Serenity looked away from the sky briefly to answer the question, "Today is Tuesday, and Tristan always chops wood for the fire on Tuesday nights," she explained before looking out the window again.

"But shouldn't he be in mourning? Didn't his fiancée die the other day?" Seto asked, skeptical.

"Chopping wood was his way to relieve stress. There's a good chance he's in the field right now." Her eyes never left the sky.

Mokuba decided to give Serenity the benefit of the doubt. Seto, however, was not so optimistic, but nevertheless he remained quiet all throughout the ride.

A half hour later, Serenity ordered the chauffeur to stop the vehicle. The limo was parked behind a run down, wooden picket fence. The night had become so dark that the silhouette of a shack at least 200 feet from the fence could lightly be made out. Even harder to notice was the form of a human moving just beyond the shack.

"This is the Taylor family farm," Serenity said so quietly that the Kaiba brothers had to strain their ears to hear her. Her eyes were locked on the moving shape. "And that figure down there is Tristan." Without thinking, she jiggled open the door of the car, but before she could get out, she felt a hand around her wrist.

"You're going out there alone?" Mokuba asked, tightening his grip on her hand. "The whole reason Seto and I came out here was to make sure nothing happened to you!"

"But Tristan's here! I have nothing to worry about!" Serenity exclaimed.

"Or so you think," Kaiba pointed out. "He could have been one of the people stoning you! You're just going to walk out there and expect things to go happily ever after?"

Serenity finally jerked away her hand from Mokuba. She bowed slightly. "Thank you for all that you have done for me, but I am finally at home now." She gave the brothers one last look before closing the door and running down the field.

Mokuba and Seto knew that if they called out her name, she would be exposed, so they kept quiet as they watched her run.

"Do you think she knows what she's getting herself into?" Mokuba asked, his eyes glued to the limo's window.

"Keep your eyes on her," was Seto's only response.


Tristan must not have heard Serenity running across the field. His back was to her and the sounds of the ax slashing the wooden logs blocked out all other sounds in the vicinity.

She took a moment to catch her breath, thinking, what did one say in such a situation. 'Hey, I know you thought I was dead, but you were wrong so here I am!'?

A smile spreading quickly across her features, she breathed, "Tristan!"

Tristan seemed to pause for a moment, put down his ax and wipe the sweat off of his eyebrow. Then he picked up his ax and started on the logs again.

Serenity was confused. She was only a few feet behind him. "Tristan! Tristan!" she called, walking around the log and appearing in front of him. Tristan's eyes looked up at her for a second, then he looked back down.

"No. You're just a ghost. A stupid ghost that won't leave me alone!" he said to Serenity, focusing on the wood.

He thinks my ghost haunts him! How romantic!, Serenity thought. She walked up to Tristan, put her hand under his chin and lifted his face so that his eyes were looking directly up at her.

"No, not a ghost," Serenity assured. "It's ok. I'm here, I'm real and this is not a dream."

Meanwhile, the two Kaiba brothers watched, or at least tried to watch through the darkness, the scene unfold.

"If this works out for Serenity, then she and Tristan have a pretty romantic story to tell," Mokuba said. Seto, though, gave no reply, his eyes being occupied by the small silhouette of Serenity so far away.

"No, no," Tristan repeated. He tried to move Serenity's hand from his face, but as soon as he saw and felt her bandages around her wrist, his eyes focused on Serenity's face for the first time since she got here.

"Bandages?" He asked.

"Yes," Serenity answered. She moved her bangs so that Tristan could better see the bandage wrapped around her forehead. "For the injuries that were caused by the Lottery," she assured.

Tristan dropped the ax he was holding and came closer to Serenity. Normally, Serenity would have moved back, but this was Tristan. He put his hands around her shoulders, looking deeply into her hazel eyes. "But..you were supposed to…the Lottery, you got the black piece of paper," he asked more than reminded.

"Yes, I know that Tristan, but when I fell into the bay, by some miracle I survived! We can be together again! You and me, Tristan, it's not over," Serenity told him, holding out her shaking hand against his face, her engagement ring meeting his eyes.

"No, we can't," Tristan told Serenity, tightening his grip on her shoulders. "When I found out you got the black piece of paper, what was I supposed to do? I thought I was never going to see you again, Serenity. I had to, in that moment, cut you out of my life. I did the only thing I could think of…"

"No, Tristan," Serenity pleaded, her voice shaking from the pressure on her shoulders. "Tristan, please don't tell me you were one of the people throwing stones at me." She could not cry, her body was too numb. "Even if you did, just lie and say you didn't, but please don't tell me that you stoned me!"

Tristan shook his head. "I only threw one stone at you, Serenity," Tristan explained. "Actually, it was a bit bigger than a stone--"

"--the stone that sent me off the cliff!" He did not have to tell her. "Tristan, no…no, oh gosh no…" And Serenity, the emotional wreck, kept repeating those words to herself for the next few seconds until she realized that she was not safe with this man anymore, and that Tristan's grip was tightening.

"This wasn't supposed to happen," he told her, "Nobody survives!"

"Why is it a bad thing when someone does!" Her voice could not be raised higher than a whisper, but still her life was pouring out with her words. Her hand, still on his cheek, moved away from his face. It seemed as though she would collapse right then and there, but in an instant, her hand flew through the air and hit his cheek with a force so hard that it made Tristan cry out and release Serenity as his hands instinctively felt and massaged his sore cheek.

Serenity did not have to think twice. She started dashing across the field, faster than when she ran threw the forest just one day earlier, feeling more betrayed than ever.

The door to the Kaiba limo flew open for her as she ran up to it. She didn't look back; she jumped onto the floor of the car and Mokuba quickly shut the door while Seto shouted at the driver to go. Though, the car could have taken its time, for Tristan was not chasing Serenity. He simply looked to where she ran, and he noticed the shape of a car drive away.

He was not going to chase her, not yet, not now. Now, he had to perceive the fact that she was still alive.


She was still bent on the car floor, her hand over her mouth muffling her whimpers.

He could have said, "I told you so." but even he wasn't that heartless.


Old Man Warner was standing outside his house, breathing in some of the fresh night air, when he saw a black car speed past his house, nearly two feet in front of him.

"Darn teenagers," he cursed, "they have no regard for the speed limit."


That night, Serenity had fallen asleep without changing her clothes. She did not eat her dinner, although she knew this could not be healthy for she had not eaten in two days.

In the middle of the night, she was awaken by a knock on her door. She jolted upwards.

"Who is it?" she called. It would truly be a miracle if anyone could understand what her feeble voice was saying.

"Serenity?" No…that voice…it was impossible.

"How did you get past security, Tristan?" Serenity asked, jumping out of bed and placing her ear to the door.

"I pleaded to Kaiba, and he understood that I needed to talk to you."

"I don't believe that. You probably snuck in. Leave before I call security!" She cried. Then she felt a push against the door, and was nearly thrown back when Tristan came into the room.

"I was only knocking to be polite," Tristan answered. "I realized you left the door unlocked as soon as I got here." he came towards her while Serenity backed up.

"I swear, if you come any closer--" She was interrupted by his laughter.

"Serenity, you never were good at threats," he said. He kept creeping towards her until he backed her into a wall. There he grabbed her wrists while she tried to fight him of to no avail.

"Get off of me! Get off! Get off! Get off!" She pounded her wrists against Tristan's chest, but Tristan held her wrists even more tightly as a response, laughing.

"Now, Serenity, there's only one thing I have to tell you: WAKE UP! WAKE UP!"

Serenity opened her eyes to find that she was indeed still in her bedroom, but she was still sitting on her bed, with her wrists held against Seto Kaiba's chest. He was kneeling in front of her bed, annoyed. Serenity assumed that the only reason he was holding her hands were because she was no doubt, thinking that he was Tristan, thrashing her hands against him.

"I'm sorry, Kaiba," she murmured, "did I wake you?"

He released her wrists and shook his head. "My home office is on this floor. I was trying to get some papers filed, however your incessant screaming kept me from doing my job."

Serenity blushed. "I guess saying that I had a bad dream would be a very severe understatement?"

Kaiba stood up and dusted off the white trench coat that he had been wearing all day. "I came in here because I heard you screaming, and I had to kick open your door since I didn't bring my key with me. Then when I got in here, I saw you shaking like a fish out of water in your bed. I tried to wake you up, but then you started hitting me," he explained, his voice a monotone.

"Sorry about that. But at least you woke me up before I did any damage, right?" Serenity tried to smile as she wiped away a sweatdrop.

Kaiba tried to keep from rolling his eyes as he started to walk through the door.

"Kaiba?" And Seto turned around to face Serenity, still sitting on her bed.

"I…umm really did mean what I said at the car, that I really am grateful for what you did for me," Serenity said, her eyes cast to the floor. "So once again, thank you."

"Did you ever think there was a reason you survived?"

"Of course, although I didn't take you as much of a believer in destiny," she mused.

"I'm not," he replied.

Serenity sighed. "Well, the point is that I'm alive, and aside from these minor injuries, I'm well. That's more than can be said about others who picked the wrong paper during the Lottery. Now all I can do is look ahead. I have no idea where I'm going next."

Kaiba wanted to ask her about the Lottery and about growing up with such a custom, but now was not the time. "One day at a time, I guess." He started to leave and close the door when he heard Serenity's voice.

"I guess," Serenity repeated. "Good night, Kaiba."

Kaiba slightly nodded at her before he closed the door and left Serenity to sleep.


End of Chapter I


Oh wow…it's finally done.

I hope you guys liked the chapter. I tried to put in as much Seto/Serenity as I could without making it look overstuffed.

Next chapter: Serenity meets Yugi and the gang for the first time.

Now I'm going to thank you reviewers individually, although now I'm nervous because this website put a ban on doing so, but you guys said such nice things I think you deserve a thank you.

Amarie Miriel-Thanks for reviewing, and I'm not sure exactly. From what I interpreted, since Tristan isn't married yet and doesn't have a family of his own, he chooses with his father and the rest of his immediate family. Although, these things were never truly clarified in the original "The Lottery," so I'm just assuming.

ChaosMagicianGirl-Thanks for reviewing! I'm glad you like the concept.

Crimson Breeze-I know, poor Serenity. But things start getting better for her in the next few chapters. Actually, her life gets a lot better. Thanks for taking the time to review. (And don't think I haven't forgotten about the dot dot dot. I just don't feel like doing that right now.)

Fireflyofhell-Thanks for reviewing.

Lady Psychic-Thanks for taking the time to review and saying I should continue!

Landi McClellan-Well, killing certain people isn't exactly what the lottery is for. But you find out more about the Lottery in the upcoming chapters, and you finally learn why it's played soon.

LazerWulf-The Lottery will be explained in due time, so just relax. They were only trying to kill Serenity because she drew the wrong piece of paper, but that all has to do with the origins of the Lottery being explained so you'll just have to keep patient.

Lilxangelxsweetz-Thanks for the review!

Losaye Maiden-Yeah, I know, this Lottery gave me the creeps when I first read the original story by Shirley Jackson. Thanks for the review!

new blue-Thanks so much for the review! I'm glad you like the story, and don't worry: the Lottery will be explained soon enough.

MistressMoonDemon-Thanks for the review, and when I read "The Lottery" last year (I was also in ninth grade) I was freaked out.

Revolutionnnaire Rouge-Thanks for reviewing! Your review was so sweet. Anyway, yeah, "The Lottery" is definitely a story to cringe at.

Sam-Yeah, I wanted to see a happy ending for "The Lottery" too. That's partially the reason why I wrote this fic. Thanks for the review!

Sapphire Dragon-I'm glad you think the idea rocks. Thanks for the review.

Shanichan11-I know, the whole concept behind the Lottery is barbaric and idiotic. But thanks for the review and thinking that the story is kawaii so far.

SwordPrincess-Thanks for the review! I'm glad you liked the story so far.

Vespera-Oh my god, I want to give you all the cookies and brownies that you could possibly eat right now! Your take on my story so far was so perceptive! What you said in your review was exactly what I wanted other readers to pick up in the story: the prologue that reveals a little about the town but not too much, the fact that other people can live with the Lottery whereas Serenity despises it with a passion, why an innocent life is taken, Serenity's new situation with the Kaibas and how Serenity's desperate situation will eventually break through Seto's uninterested exterior (although, I wanted Kaiba to seem interested as soon as he found out where Serenity came from at the end of the prologue). Thank you so much for your discerning review!

And that's all for now! Read/Review please!

-Celestial Night