Kukki Boo: Surprisingly, yes, I am still alive. Although I'm sure you were probably questioning that fact considering this is yet another late update, but I've been trying to my hardest to set things right and update as much as I can. Thanks for the review and enjoy the chapter!

Rena Redhead: Yes, I did try my hardest on that Art 1 scene. I think you'll like the rest of the scene that I portray in this chapter as well. But who wouldn't? I mean, demonstrating the pain and suffering of one whole year in an Art class is totally cool and hip. Wow… I have no life. But that's okay! Cause that fact contributes to the fact that I write so much! Anyways, thanks for the lovely review my darling, and I certainly hope you enjoy the chapter!

AmePiper: Hello honey! I miss you terribly! I hope you're not mad because of all my late updates(even though I'm totally kicking myself for failing you all so miserably) But I'm going to try my hardest and make it up to you. How are you by the way? How's life? Is everything going well? I haven't heard from you in a while, and hurts knowing that. I hope everything is going smoothly, and that you enjoy this chapter!

Journey Maker: Thanks for your review and I hope you enjoy this chapter for I once was lost, but now I'm found!

I'm so sorry for all the delays! I hope they will cease soon!

Chapter 9: Classroom of Broken Dreams

"Okay class… class, I want it quiet!" Ms. Darochell demanded, and within a second the whole room hushed down and there wasn't a sound that was made. She looked around the room with her hands on her hips, "Now that I have your attention… today we will be drawing an animal. It can be any animal of your choice, but make sure to use lots of shading so you can give me a real seven layer bean burrito." Seto turned towards Kori, who shrugged and mouthed that she would explain later. "No talking, and make sure you really try your hardest to get the shading just right."

The sounds of paper and pencils clashing against one another was heard as the class began its work on their project of the day. Tea had a smile on her face as she began to create the griffin-like creature that had appeared in her mind and was becoming alive on the paper. Tea was actually excited about being in this class, for she had always had a way with art and loved to sketch in her free time on the weekends. She couldn't wait to show Ms. Darochell her wonderful creation when it was done.

Across the room, Yugi was sitting there, staring at the piece of paper blankly. Unlike Tea, Yugi had no artistic abilities whatsoever. Not to mention the fact that he had to be the least creative person the face of the earth. Sure, he could always think up new strategies to use in a duel, but when it came to art and drawing, well, he was kind of like Tristan. There was no skill to be found.

"You should probably start drawing," Ellie recommended, not looking up from her work, "She'll see you." Yugi raised one eyebrow.

"See me?" Suddenly the chilling feeling that he had felt before had returned as he looked up to find Ms. Darochell hovering over him with eyes like a hawk.

"What are you doing, Mr. Motou?"

"Uh… trying to think of animal to draw?"

"Look Yugi, I don't like having slackers in my class. This isn't some joke, this is art and it is a very serious matter. I know you're all new and you probably think this class is simply a 'joke' but believe me, this is a very serious class." Yugi stared at her, puzzled. He didn't understand how him sitting there had made it look like he didn't take it seriously. But obviously his silence only angered her more. "Look bud, do you want to go to ISA? Do YOU?"

Suddenly the room fell completely silent and Ellie looked up from her work in fear. "Uh-NO MA'AM!" Yugi responded quickly without another thought.

"That was the right answer… now I suggest you begin on your drawing right now before I change my mind." Ms. Darochell finally wandered away and Yugi let out his breath.

"Wow… that was a close one," Ellie commented.

"Um… what is ISA?"

"It's the place that teachers send you when you're bad, but Ms. Darochell likes to abuse that power. That's where most of our former students went."

"And where exactly is ISA? What does it even stand for?"

"No one's really sure… but it can't possibly be good."

"It's true," Lillian said after over hearing the conversation from the table beside theirs, "Every students that's ever gone there has never come back. People say it stands for Internal Suffering Association… a place where kids are tortured for all eternity." Seto rolled his eyes. This was becoming way too weird for him to believe, how could any third rate art teacher be a threat?

"Seto," Seto jumped and twisted around to find the demon herself standing behind him, eyeing his work carefully, "Why don't you try focusing on your work, rather than chatting with your friends? The fur on the lion needs a lot more shading. If you ever hope to pass this class, you better start listening to me."

"I wasn't talking, and I think my lion looks just fine," Seto said plainly.

"Excuse me?"

"I said my drawing looks fine, I don't see how it needs more shading." Kori shut her eyes and buried her head in her arms in fear as Ms. Darochell's eyes began to glow. She flipped out a paintbrush that had been tightly gripped in her hand and held it in the air. A blade flipped out from the bottom and Seto's eyes widen.

"If you even DREAM of getting an A on that, you'll PUT SOME MORE SHADING ON IT." With the blade closing in on his hand, his pencil jumped back onto the paper and began to shade in the lion like his life depended on it. Ms. Darochell flipped her knife back into the paintbrush and nodded her head in approval.

Mokuba watched as Ms. Darochell turned her back and started walking towards the front of the room. He turned his head, "Nii-sama!" Mokuba whispered. Ms. Darochell stopped and twisted around immediately.

"NO TALKING!" Mokuba shut his mouth completely and turned back around. He nervously took his pencil up with his hand and continued his drawing on a whale.

"Wow… she's kind of…"

"A demon? Yeah, that's what we believe her to be," Rain whispered, pretending to be doing her work but instead seeing no point in continuing what she had already made. Rain looked over at Kori. "Do you think we should tell them?"

"Why not? Everyone deserves to have a little hope." Seto raised one eyebrow.

"What do you mean?" Rain leaned over to the side a bit so she could be heard more clearly within her quiet tone.

"Well you see… there was this girl once, a long time ago… who was in this class. She was… a little odd, slightly insane, and Kori and I always believed her to be some sort of hyperactive murderer." Mokuba and Seto blinked, not exactly sure what to say or how to feel about where this story was going.

"But other than that, she was kind of… nice, to say the least. She once told of a prophecy…"

"Oh no, here we go again," Seto rolled his eyes.

"She believed there was a way to slay the demon and gain freedom at last."

"Well, what did she say?"

"She didn't say anything," Kori turned and pointed towards a lone collage taped to the wall. The image was of one girl with short brown hair, with various pictures surrounding her enlarged head. There were also little bits of words and sentences pasted around the different figures. "Within those words is the method to bring down the demon of fire and save the Art 1 class from our imminent doom."

"That's all? All she left for you guys is a collage of random words and pictures? How is that supposed to help us?" Seto frowned, and gave a low growl. He had a son to save, and instead the Big 5 stuck him in this stupid art class with yet another prophecy left for him to decode.

"It's the only thing we can call hope…" Rain said sadly, "I use to love doing art, but now Ms. Darochell has led me to only despising it." Rain took up the piece of paper she had in front of her and ripped it in half. Mokuba frowned and took the two pieces.

"Hey… you shouldn't rip your artwork… especially not a good artist like you," Mokuba tried to fit the pieces back together again. Rain shook her head and looked out the window sadly.

"It's no use now… it's all worthless." Mokuba's eyes widened as he pieced the artwork back together again to reveal an amazing picture of a blank doing blank. Kori sniffled as she tried to hold back tears.

"It's true… by now we've lost all hope…" Kori buried her face into her hands as she tried to hide her face from Seto's gaze, "I just wish I could see my boyfriend one last time… I miss Richard so much…" As strange as it was, Seto felt incredibly guilty watching these two girls have their dreams ripped apart. He wasn't one to care for others, but if slaying this so-called demon would allow him his freedom and give these two girls hope once more, Seto would do what was necessary to bring Ms. Darochell down.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, Tea was already hard at work to perfecting her image of a graceful stallion galloping through a valley. Lillian looked at the drawing with a saddened face.

"Man… I feel bad for you. It looks like you're a pretty good artist." Tea took her eyes off of her creation to look at Lillian, slightly puzzled by her statement.

"I don't understand, why would you say that?"

"Because Ms. Darochell is never happy with what anyone creates and if a true artists creates something beautiful… well, let's just say the real artists are the ones that get their feelings hurt a lot in here," Lillian glanced over at Kori and Rain, "Those two are fantastic artists… but Ms. Darochell has completely shattered their confidence. I'd hate to see the same happen to you. Artists are people who should be praised, not hurt."

Tea bit her lip; she couldn't believe how hard all of these students had had it in this class. But could Lillian really be telling the truth? Could a class really be that bad? Sure, Ms. Darochell didn't seem like the most kind or patient of all the teachers she had dealt with over the years; but she didn't seem as bad as everyone had been making her out to be. Could it be that they had all be exaggerating?

"Well, while I do feel bad for what has happened to both Kori and Rain, I do feel as though Ms. Darochell will have no problem with what I have to offer her," Tea took up the finished drawing in hand and started walking towards Ms. Darochell. Lillian looked on and sighed. She didn't know whether she should tell Tea to stop or simply watch the scene play out accordingly.

"Ms. Darochell, I've completed the task," Tea said proudly, holding out her drawing in plain view, "I think you will be quite pleased."

"Hm…" Ms. Darochell said, looking at the drawing more closely, "It's good but… the head is all wrong." Tea's eye twitched.

"W-What do you mean?? The head is fine!" Ms. Darochell shook her head.

"I'm sorry but it just won't do." Tea stood there, speechless. No one had ever disagreed with her work; most had come to adoring it. But this woman… she couldn't possibly be an art teacher to see such flaws in it. Tea growled in frustration and sat back down at the table, ripping out a whole new sheet of paper and violently drawing something she knew Ms. Darochell couldn't resist. Lillian sighed.

"I hate to say it, but I told you so." Tea ignored her and continued to work. Yugi shrugged and turned back in Kori and Rain's direction.

"Well, now Tea's upset. She'll probably be at that for a while now… what were you guys saying? A prophecy to defeat Ms. Darochell?" Kori nodded. Yugi looked over at the collage for himself. It was the oddest thing, none of the words looked like they made any sense.

"Death… Fire… Demon… Water… Melt… Death…?" Seto crossed his arms.

"What kind of prophecy is that?! It doesn't even make any sense!" Seto stated in anger, "This whole thing is just one big trick… I just know it." Mokuba cocked his head to the side, staring at the poster with deep interest.

"Death… the people who have died… fire… power the fire within her eyes… demon… the one who has imprisoned us… water… can be doused with water… melt… and then melt… death… and then she will die." Kori, Yugi, Seto, and Rain all stared at Mokuba.

"Wait… did you just figure out what all those words meant?" Mokuba got up and walked over to the class sink. Rain brought her hands to her face.

"Oh no! If Ms. Darochell sees him, he'll go to ISA for sure!" Kori stood up and held out her hand.

"Ms. Darochell!" Kori called, "I need your help!" Ms. Darochell turned in the opposite direction of Mokuba.

"Yes Kori, I'll be there shortly." Now all eyes were on Mokuba, whom was calmly filling a small bucket full of water. It wasn't long before the bucket was nearly full and Mokuba turned off the water. "Mokuba?" The whole class was quiet as Ms. Darochell spotted Mokuba from across the classroom. "What are you doing?"

Mokuba walked over to her with the bucket in hand. Her eyes widened and her hand reached for her deadly paintbrush. "Don't.you.DARE!" Just as she managed to flip her blade out, Mokuba dumped the whole bucket all over Ms. Darochell, her body was soaked from head to toe. All the students sat and held their breath, and time stood still. "No… NO!"

Ms. Darochell proceeded to melt right before their eyes, crying for help and proclaiming her revenge. "I'LL BE BACK!" She yelled, just before she was reduced to a puddle of water. The whole class was silent for a moment, just before the room exploded with cheers and cries.

"We're free!"

"We did it!"

"Ding dong, the demon's dead!" Rain and Kori were jumping up and down, hugging one another. It wasn't long before everyone in the room had resorted to hugging one another and crying with joy, everyone except one person.

"I'm done!" Tea declared, holding up her piece of paper. The class fell silent. "Ms. Darochell?"

"Um… she's dead, dude," Connor explained.

"Dead?"

"Yeah, she's right there," Skyler pointed to the puddle on the ground. Tea eyed him.

"Are you guys serious?" They all nodded. Tea sighed and ripped her drawing in half. "Oh well." Seto turned his attention back to Mokuba.

"Mokuba… how did you figure out that she could be killed with water?"

"I don't know; to tell you the truth I just made the whole thing up."

"…What?"

"Yeah… I only did that cause I thought it would be funny."

"…I guess it doesn't really matter why he did it, just that he did and now we're free," Kori and Rain agreed, "I hope we'll see you again some day in the future!" They both raced out of the room in joy and happiness, as did the other students in the classroom. Soon only Tea, Yugi, Mokuba, and Seto remained.

"This has been one weird challenge after another…" Tea said, shaking her head, "I'm hoping this means it'll be all over soon." Suddenly the scene disappeared and there was laughing to be heard from all around them. Whiteness surrounded them, the four became alert and looked around the room for their enemy.

"I think I'd know that laugh from anywhere…"

"Noah…" Noah's image appeared before them, as well as the image of Lector and Nezbit.

"You four put on quite a good show… it almost breaks my heart to have to separate all of your from one another."

"What are you talking about?" Nezbit disappeared and re-appeared behind Tea, taking both her arms and holding them behind her back.

"Yugi!" Tea called out.

"Tea!" Yugi tried to run towards her, but Lector flew right in front of him and restrained him as well. "LET HER GO!" Yugi yelled, flailing his body in an effort to get out of Lector's lock around him. A portal appeared behind Nezbit just as he had turned. Nezbit shoved Tea through the portal and walked through himself before the portal disappeared. The same happened for Yugi with Lector. "TEA!" Yugi called one last time before he was gone. Only the two brothers remained.

"Don't think for a second that you're going to separate me from my brother, Noah!" Seto declared, standing firmly in front of Mokuba. Mokuba was clutching to the back of Seto's shirt as he stood behind him.

"Think again, Seto." Noah snapped his fingers and Mokuba was forcefully pulled through the air into Noah's arms, "He's my brother now."

"Don't even think about taking him away from me Noah… I swear, I will rip you apart piece by virtual piece if you don't unhand him this instant!" Seto held his fist in the air, "I will not have another person taken from me!"

"Oh Seto… if only life were that simple for you…" Another portal appeared behind Noah as he started to start walking backwards towards it, "But don't worry, there's someone waiting to see you" Noah disappeared into the black portal with Mokuba locked in his arms. Seto was alone now.

But not for long.

The long hallways grew dark with despair. There was a cold chill that wisped through the air, calling forth fallen souls that sought revenge. There wasn't a sound to be heard, except for the burning wood from the torches that hung from the sides of the walls, and of course the voices of the two boys walking along these corridors of fear.

"…I spy with my little eye something… brown!" Steven put his hand up to his chin and rubbed it a bit.

"Hm… is it my hair?"

"Nope."

"Your hair?"

"Nope."

"Is it… the wood from the torches?"

"Nope."

"Is it… hey, there's a door!" Steven pointed ahead.

"Nope, it was actually my sandals."

"No, no, really look. There's a door over there!" Steven said, running ahead and over to the door that was in front of them, marking the end of the seemingly endless hallway. Shu quickly jogged behind him until they both reached the door. They stared at it with huge and curious eyes. Steven looked around.

"So I guess this is a dead end, then."

"Now what do we do?"

"I guess there's nothing else we really can do… except go in of course." Shu turned his head towards Steven.

"Uh… I don't know, Steven. Are you sure? Maybe we shouldn't…" Shu said nervously, looking around the empty hallway for an alternate route they could possibly take. But there was none. It all came down to this single dead end.

"It's our only choice, Shu, unless you want to turn back and run into those two thugs who kidnapped us again." Shu sighed.

"Fine… I guess we have to, don't we?" Steven nodded and reached for the doorknob, Shu shut his eyes and flinched at the sound of the old metal door creaking open. Shu opened one eye to see a completely dark room in front of them. "Well… that was a waste of anxiety."

"Hold on," Steven walked back and grabbed a torch from one of the holders in the hallway, "There, now we can go in." Steven held out the torch in front of him as he took baby steps into the unknown room with Shu clinging to his back. From what little light the torch produced, it appeared as though the room was completely empty.

"…Now can we go back?" Shu asked, looking into Steven's face. The door screeched behind them and slammed closed, causing Shu to jump with fear. "Okay, now I'm scared!" Steven twisted around, waving his torch in the air.

"Who's there?!" Steven yelled, shifting his torch in all different directions, "Show yourself!" Shu broke away from his strong hold on Steven's shirt and wandered back over to the door. He grasped the knob in his hand and tried to pry it open, but it seemed to be jammed shut.

"Um… Steven? I think we're stuck…" Steven quickly walked back over to Shu and pulled him over to his side.

"Don't worry, we'll be okay as long as we stick together. I'm sure there's another way of getting out of here." Shu gulped and nodded. He hoped more than anything in the world that Steven was right, because he hated the idea of being trapped.

With his hand stretched out and guiding the way, he slowly moved along the wall, looking all around for any sort of sign of a way out. Shu stared at the designs and pictures engraved into the wall. "That's weird…" Shu said quietly, "It looks like this is some kind of… shrine for snakes… or something."

"Snakes?" Steven took a deep breath, "I don't like the sound of that." At some point they finally stopped once they hit the corner of the room and realized there was some sort of statue jutting out from the side of the wall. Steven turned and held out the torch in his hand in the statue's direction. Steven and Shu's eyes widened.

The statue was, what appeared to be, a serpent like creature that had three heads instead of one and was extended out with it's mouth open, as if it were about to devour it's next meal. Steven took a couple steps back.

"Maybe this is the part where we turn around and run…" Something brushed against Steven's ankle. Steven yelled and dropped the torch onto the ground. Shu ran over to his side in response.

"Steven, are you…?" There were snakes that surrounded them from all directions; their tongues shot in and out of their mouths and their eyes were focused on the two boys standing in front of them. "…What do we do now?" The snakes were already slithering closer and closer to them, moving in for the kill. Shu looked from the snakes to Steven, looking for any kind of sign of a plan. There was none to be found on Steven's frightened face.

"Uh… Uh… RUN!" Steven shouted. In a split second one snake managed to fling itself into the air and right at Shu. Shu screamed and held out his arms in defense. Steven held his breath and shut his eyes from fear. Everything went deathly quiet.

Shu stood completely still, looking around at the strange green glow that surrounded his body like a protective bubble. Steven was standing still as well, not sure whether to be happy or afraid of this newfound force that had just protected Shu from being attacked by the venomous snake. The snakes were now hissing in fury, another attempted to do the same thing.

"Watch out!" Steven shouted, jumping in front of Shu. Another green, glowing force field formed around Steven just as the snake tried to sink it's teeth into Steven's neck. The protective orb deflected the snake and sent it flying to the ground. Steven blinked, slightly confused as to what had just happened. The snakes began to recoil in fear and disappeared into the shadows of the room.

"What… I'm… confused." Shu asked, wondering whether or not it was safe to reach out and try to touch the green orb around him.

"I'm just as confused as you are… any idea what we did that might've created this?"

"Not a clue." the green orbs exploded in unison and lit the room revealing a hidden doorway on the other side of the room. It instantly disappeared afterwards leaving Shu completely unharmed. "Do you think going down that hallway is our best bet?"

"It's better than standing around waiting for those snakes to get us. I'm not sure if those weird bubbles will be back to protect us if they come back."

"Good point." Without another moment to lose, they sprinted off down the next unfriendly corridor unsure as to what they would run into or what they might discover along the way.

A/N: Gosh guys… I am so sorry for everything. I mean, I promised you so many things, and yet here I am, with another late update. Seriously, I feel terrible. I hope you guys can find it in your heart to forgive me, cause I really do feel bad. I'm currently on vacation, but that doesn't mean I'm on vacation from my story. This chapter was really hard to plot out and I did end up re-writing it a couple times over before I actually got to, well, what you just read now. So I hope you understand. I'll try my very best to get the next chapter up and running very soon. I hope you guys are still by my side, cause I love you kids and you make it all worth it.

P.S: This chapter is dedicated to all of those who have survived the Art 1 class this year. You may have thought it was all just 'oh another random/weird Kari story idea' but NO. It was all REAL(well, most of it exaggerated, but at the same time not… it's kinda hard to explain) Anyways, it's been a long year for Art 1 students, but now we're finally free!