Hiya... I know I'm super late again. I just haven't been feeling like myself lately. I haven't been writing like I used to. Or doing much of anything. And funfact: I get super depressed when I'm not writing, which sucks, because when I get super depressed, I no longer feel like writing, and it makes me feel worse. It's a vicious cycle. Anyway, none of that matters. I have been working on this chapter for a while which is why it might seem a bit disconnected, and it might be disappointing, and it might not be. It's not my best, but honestly I'm just glad I got it done. I hope you enjoy it nonetheless :)

It's also slightly longer than usual to make up for my lateness... I don't know if that helps?

Also, I KNOW the Inbetween is getting annoying and confusing, and I know you all came for the card-game-playing losers. Thankfully, this will be the last of THAT PLACE for a little while and we can get back to Yugi and co. maybe?

Oh... my head feels like it was violently penetrated by the Eiffel Tower...

I was laying somewhere hard and damp, my bangs sticking to my face. It wasn't the most comfortable strange place I'd ever woken up in; sure, the scorching hot sidewalk wasn't exactly pleasant, but this was definitely a step down from the blimp infirmary bed.

Another thing I noticed, though, was the noise, or, more accurately, the lack of noise. It sounded like that moment just before you go to sleep, where it shouldn't be so quiet, but it sounds like death and you're at peace. All of a sudden, I wanted nothing more than to keep my eyes shut and sink into the serene abyss of dreamland.

I inhaled the fresh air deeply, feeling more relaxed than I had in weeks. Wherever I was, I didn't want to leave -not ever.

"Good to see you're enjoying yourself," a deep and amused voice spoke up, breaking the beautiful silence.

Even though I really didn't want to, I began to drag my heavy eyelids up like two rusty garage doors, feeling my heart rate as it began to speed up drowsily like the flapping wings of a bird that is just realizing that it's in danger. Soon I was in a semi-sober state in which I could at least sit up and look around.

With a casual clawed hand stroking his chin and his legs crossed, a man leaned against the wooden walls of a small cottage. He looked like he had come from a fairy tale, dressed in his exaggerated jester clothes and donning his cryptic mask. The scene was completed by the thick forest of fir trees that surrounded them.

"You're that clown guy!" I slurred, recalling his face from a dream I had. I remembered him vaguely, and from what unclear memories I had, he was a pigsty -not just one pig, a whole fucking drove of them, all packed in one shitty little person.

"Peten," he corrected, pushing away from the wall and giving me a sweeping bow that I was at least 73% sure was completely sarcastic. "And don't be rude," he chastised. "I saved your life. If I hadn't found you, your soul would have been sent to hell and your every waking moment would have been agony and suffering, but hey, by all means hate me."

Oh, great. He reads minds...

"You..." I started to say, but my sentence was cut off by my own ignorance. It was a bit difficult to hate someone when all you could remember were bright flashes and echoes of emotions. Anger and hurt stood out the most, but that wasn't much to go on.

"Yeah, yeah..." he moved his hand away from his chin and waved it dismissively. "I know you don't remember me," he informed me calmly. "Weird though... are you a procrastinator?"

Aha, yes, professionally actually. "Somewhat," I lied, causing him to cross his arms. If he had a face, he probably would have arched his brow and smirked knowingly. I hated his hypothetical smug face already. Besides, what kind of question was that?

He nodded quietly, his mask hiding his emotions from me so effectively that it left me uncertain and anxious. What was he thinking?

He snapped his fingers and pushed away from the cottage, stepping -no, swaggering towards me like he had an agenda that he couldn't wait to fulfill. "I know exactly how to make you remember," he told me, and judging by the way he approached me, I decided I didn't want to know what he was thinking anymore.

"Why don't I remember?" I asked him, pushing my fists into the grass to heave myself up to my feet. I felt his icy claw reach out to my elbow to steady me and shuddered away from him, goosebumps immediately rising all over my body like an infection. I glared at him in warning, stepping away from him.

He tilted his head to the side, his hat slipping slightly. He raised his hand up to adjust it and raised his second hand, palm facing me in a peaceful gesture. "Well, I'm not quite sure. You're the only one who reacted this way," he replied, offering me his icky claw again.

"Do I have to?" I whined, flinching away from it. "It's not like I can run away from you. I don't even know where I am."

"Fair enough," he told me, gesturing towards the cottage, an instruction which was straightforward enough. Whatever I was here for, it was inside those four walls.

I looked around for the door handle, a small golden, bejewelled thing that was too precious for this world. I turned it gently and pushed the door open, only to find myself in yet another forest clearing. "What's this?" I asked, as I felt myself being pushed through the door by Peten into an identical area as the one I had been in before.

Peten elected to ignore my question, and for a few moments, the only sound in the clearing was the sound of our shoes shuffling against the grass and dead leaves. I couldn't hear anything else; not a single bird, wolf, or insect.

In the middle of the grass, however, in place of the cottage was a small lake, that looked more like someone photoshopped an uneven one hundred square feet out of the ground and replaced it with nothing. The only indication that it was a lake was the fact that some of the 'nothing' washed against the weeds and grass at its bank. "What are we doing here?" I asked in a shaky voice.

"You know, Lorna," he spoke, my name rolling off his tongue like it belonged to him. I almost gagged. "When you dream, you never really forget. It always comes back to you -like déja vu. The Inbetween is pretty similar. You don't forget what happens here; your mind just files it away for when you need it. If I gave you some time, I'm sure you would just remember on your own… but unfortunately for you, I don't have time." He said his last words darkly. Time for what?

I didn't even have time to process the thoughts in my head as they flitted through, and before I knew it, I was walking towards the lake, my legs moving automatically. Fuck, man, I thought I'd fixed that.

BiIG BrO tHe r.

It was coming from the lake.

ITHURTSITHURTSITHURTS.

Wait… "Ryou!" I cried out, my legs beginning to submerge in the scalding hot water of the lake. I was on a steep decline, and every moment I remained in the water made me feel like my nerves were being compressed and broken, cut at their roots, and all I could bring myself to cry out was "Bakura? Where's Bakura?"

Why couldn't I stop my legs? I just kept going down, down… down… deeper…

It was up to my shoulders and then I could see everything happen again.

"Saturn, attack!" - "TÉA!"

I definitely remembered that, and it echoed in my mind. Not my best moment… Oh, my God, I hoped she was okay. I blacked out right after initiating that attack. I didn't even remember getting that gross demon stuff off of me.

As my head began to submerge, a new image came up of something I couldn't recognize. My vision was clouded and shaky, but I could remember the feeling of my arms flailing around. Something pure white leaped around across my field of vision and through my peripheral sight, shooting silver bolts at me, and to shield me, I saw a pair of huge raven wings spread in front of me. It all happened too fast, but I felt like I needed to know it.

"Mystical Elf? How is it possible though…" The voices were so faded, almost like I was hearing them in my sleep.

"Goddess, are you alright?"

"I have to fin n…"

Him again?

They went on for a time… I could scarcely hear them, let alone recognize them, but whatever they were talking about, it was in this place… somewhere. I just couldn't exactly comprehend what this place was… where this place was… Was it in my head? Or was I physically there?

The voices began to fade away like they were walking away from me, leaving me behind, and all I could hear was the rustle of the blades of grass as they swayed with the wind, and all I could wonder was why could I hear grass when I was under -

Involuntarily, my legs jerked beneath me, my neck craning back and my arms waving around erratically. I was drowning. Of course I was fucking drowning. I walked into a Lorna-deep lake and expected myself not to drown? Who does that? Well… me, apparently. Though I didn't exactly remember issuing the order and sending it to my brain.

Something both cold and warm grabbed at my forearms and began to tug me upwards. Was I being saved? I couldn't feel relieved because boiling water was still rushing into my lungs and my eyes were still stinging, opening and closing sluggishly, going against the heavy water.

Lorna! Hang in there!

Who…?

My vision was clouding… or was that the water? It was getting darker, too, but the persistent force kept pulling on my arms, determined to bring me to safety, making the burn go away and replacing it with a cool, tingling sensation. It was a pleasant change from the heat and the tight pain that had covered my entire body.

"I got you… I got you. It's okay…"

A rush of icy wind blew over me and I opened my eyes abruptly, taking in the new scenery, a blur of violet, green and crimson. Above me was a golden figure, a tall knight, his armor glimmering above me like the sun. I felt like I was blind for a moment until the sun moved and all I could see was the dull bronze above me.

"Who are you?" I asked, pushing dirt beneath me and sitting up.

The figure took a few steps back and bowed slightly. "A friend," he replied with a voice like the trickle of a stream and just as pleasing. He extended one of his gauntlets to help me up and I found myself grabbing it easily and without a second thought.

Standing up beside him, I found myself significantly smaller. "Well, uh…" I let out a sigh and a nervous chuckle. "I don't know whether or not to thank you. I just don't know what's what here."

"Ah, well…" He laughed. "You get used to that. I'm on your side, though."

I felt dread pooling at the pit of my stomach at the thought of staying here any longer. 'Getting used to it' wasn't exactly on my agenda. "Can I get out of here?"

"Yes," he replied, gesturing towards a path in the large forest we were in, and began to walk; I followed him. I knew better than to fully trust him, but there weren't many other options.

"Can you get me out of here?" I asked, looking around at the never-ending lines of trees all around. Our path was clear enough, but the end of it wasn't, almost like it went on forever, which, I had to admit, wasn't exactly a comforting thought.

The helmet turned around and I saw his eyes, bright hazel, shifting between brown and emerald like the foliage shifting around us. "N-No…" he replied hesitantly. "It's not quite that simple. We need to find one of the seven Gatekeepers."

I took a deep breath. Something told me this wasn't going to be all sunshine and rainbows. "Well, fine. Where do we find one of those?"

He rubbed his neck and looked behind him. "Peten was one of those Gatekeepers."

Oh, shit. I knew where he was going with this. If Peten was a Gatekeeper, then this wouldn't be quite as straightforward as I had so foolishly hoped. "Are they all assholes?" I asked miserably

We were beginning to approach a mountainous region. The way in front of us was almost completely blocked except for a small canyon in front of us. I don't know if you remember it being mentioned earlier, but I was an Arizona girl, and as an Arizona girl, I just want it to be known that we very much prefer being on top of the canyon, not at the bottom.

Undeterred by the dark cavern he was leading me into, the man in armor replied, "Just about every single one is an asshole. Last time I was here, I almost died because Mystical Elf didn't think it was my time to leave." He sounded irritated, and sarcastic… and human? I knew I should have caught on to this earlier, but was he…

"Are you also… in a coma?" I inquired slowly, feeling a bit nervous about hearing the answer. Was he with Sun and Zephyr? Or was he normal -like me? I wanted to question him about that, too, but there was no way of getting any sort of reliable answer out of him. I trusted Zephyr before, and look where that got me.

He peered at me curiously, almost like he had expected me to know the answer to that question. "I am."

Oh… I didn't know why, but his answer made my heart sink. I guess, part of me wanted him to be the mysterious disembodied voice I kept hearing in my head. Putting a face and tone to the voice would have made me feel considerably more comfortable.

"What's your name?" I demanded, stuttering on the last word and looking down. I shivered as a cool breeze ruffled my clothes. I suppose going to a whole other realm didn't mean getting practical clothing, so I was stuck with the flimsy hospital gown I had been wearing when I was ambushed.

"Y-You don't know… do you?" he asked, sounding almost dejected. Was he really?

"Am I supposed to?"

He stopped walking just before the mouth of the gorge, putting hands on his hands on his hips and stretching back in annoyance. He let out a quiet groan and mockingly lamented, "And here I was, thinking we were pals."

My heart sped up slightly at his tone. "I… I'm sorry. I don't remember you."

He chuckled and straightened up, moving his hands to the bottom of his helmet. In one quick move, the helmet was off and underneath it was his face. His skin was bronze and the sweat falling from his hairline did nothing to obstruct his handsome features. His eyes were dark and his lashes were long, like they belonged to some fairy prince. What stuck out the most, however, was that his hair was a startling shade of blonde, contrasting with his face. He had a nasty case of helmet hair, and it was ruffled and sticking out everywhere, but somehow that was even more celestial? I just… didn't know?

My mouth dried and I felt my cheeks heat up at the sheepish grin he was giving me. "Still don't remember me?" he asked, pointing towards his face.

Oh, trust me. I thoroughly examined that fine work of art and if I had ever seen such magnificence, I would have remembered it.

Ah, of course, I didn't quite say that.

His soft laugh reached my ears (which were probably quite red) and he reassured me, "Hey, don't sweat it. This place can mess you up." I tried to look at his face again, but it was like his beauty was blinding. No, I'm sorry. Enough exaggeration. I'm done.

"Yeah," I murmured sheepishly, taking a step towards him. "Let's just… get out of here quickly before everyone thinks I'm dead again and I end up in another morgue." Quickly remembering that I hadn't gotten his name, I asked, "What should I call you?"

"Malik," he replied coolly. He was right; the name was certainly familiar.

I gave him a wry smile and quipped, "Any relation to Marik?"

He let out a sigh like he'd been asked that before, possibly by me. With a good-natured chuckle he told me, "Nope. Well, kinda… He's my anchor."

"Your… 'anchor'?" I asked. I was making a joke, not asking for another complication. God dammit.

He was being incredibly patient with me, considering the fact that all us coma people were apparently supposed to come with all this prepackaged information. "It's how we're able to project ourselves in the Realm of the Living. Most coma patients remain with their bodies, but something brought us here instead."

"So… these anchors…" I spoke slowly, trying to put the puzzle together. "Our souls are… connected to them?"

He nodded swiftly. "That's the gist of it. They allow us to have a physical form as well. Most of them… just don't know it yet."

A familiar face popped up in my mind and I hastily demanded, "What about Ryou Bakura? I saw him here, too."

Malik averted his eyes and bit his lip. "He must be one of the anchors. I've seen him around, as well."

"Do you think he's my anchor? I mean, he saved my life… I'm pretty sure…" The memory was still fuzzy in my mind, but his face was clear as day, and although I couldn't remember what he did exactly, I could remember the urgency and the dependence I felt.

Malik gave me an apologetic smile and shrugged. "Probably. I don't know. I think he might be one of the more self-aware anchors though. He was helping out another one of us when I first saw him." His eyes darkened and he looked down. "She was a little girl… Three years old."

My heart sunk to the bottom of my gut. I hadn't given much thought to the others who were brought here, and I had always assumed they were all around my age or older, but the vision of a little girl in this place, all alone… It made me want to find her and keep her from harm, as terrified as I was for my own safety.

"Anyway, you up for going in there yet?" he asked me, bringing my attention back to the dark and perilous gorge before us. 'Yet'? Maybe I wasn't as good at hiding my uneasiness as I thought.

My stomach was performing an entire gymnastic routine inside of me, but we couldn't just stand there. "I guess so. Just… stay with me so I don't get lost."

He chuckled, showing me a flawless row of teeth. Dental hygiene was very important to me, to be honest. Or maybe I was just laying it on a bit thick with the admiration. "Sure thing. It looks like a one way path to me, but if you're worried, how about this: at every intersection, we take the right? That way, if either of us lags behind, we know which way to take."

I nodded, goosebumps rising on the back of my neck in anxiety. "Sounds good. I just hope it doesn't come to that."

The gorge was a claustrophobic lair of nightmares. The two mountains standing tall at either side were made of dark gravel-like dirt which refused to let even a sliver of light into the canyon. I felt like an ant crawling through a tiny crack. Looking up, I couldn't even get a small glimpse of the sun. It smelled like dust and dead things, too, which made me all the more restless as we walked.

What made it even more terrifying was the death-like quiet all around. Malik wasn't saying anything, and neither was I, for fear that we would miss something like a telltale sign of impending doom. I didn't want to die. I mean, I was in a coma, so I was already teetering on the edge as is.

"Are you alright?" Malik asked in a hushed voice. In the darkness, the shape of his head turned to face me, and I involuntarily stumbled towards him to the point where I was practically leaning against him. His gauntlet brushed against my elbow and I blushed, thankful for the darkness that hid my face.

"I'm fine. A bit scared," I admitted. "I hope this thing ends soon."

The sound of his shuddering sigh echoed all over and he replied, "Me too."

After he spoke, I heard something accompany his echo, like low whispers. Putting a finger to my lips, I gave him a meaningful glance and saw him react by holding his breath and nodding. I strained my hearing to get a clear indication as to what those sounds were.

Big brother, come find me… I'm all alone. It's scary.

"Amane?" I mouthed, earning a puzzled look from Malik. Grabbing on to his wrist, I began to move us forward.

"What did you hear?"

"A voice… one that I've heard before," I informed him. I was beginning to feel a bit sick.

We rushed through the canyon, my legs almost moving robotically, pushing me towards the source of the voice. I wasn't sure why… but then again, I wasn't sure of many things nowadays.

"Are you sure we should be going towards this voice?" Malik asked me, not even bothering to keep his voice down; there wasn't much of a point what with our heavy footsteps on the dry ground echoing all around us.

"Yes," I replied breathlessly and without a second thought.

The farther in we went, the wider the trench stretched and the greener the ground became. We were getting close to the end and making our way to the other side. The scent of fresh grass and flowers began to mingle with the scent of dust and we could feel a breeze run through our hair.

Before I could finally emerge, I felt something tug me back and turned around to find Malik giving me a concerned expression. "Wait. Did you hear that?"

In my haste, I hadn't been paying attention to the sounds around me, but after a moment's silence, I heard it. A dull thud resonated around us and it seemed to be coming from the gorge's exit. The potential threat was like acid under my skin, paralyzing me and reducing me to a meek mess of a person.

Malik grunted and grabbed both of my arms, forcing me to face him. "Lorna, you need to Transmogrify right now."

"T-Trans… morgi… What?" I asked, looking up at the solemn expression on his face.

"We… all of us… have the ability to Transmogrify in this realm. It means we can morph with our spirit being and gain its abilities in order to survive out here," he explained slowly, though his words could have been gibberish for all I could comprehend at that moment. "This armor that I'm wearing," he continued, nodding at his getup, "It's from my spirit creature, and I can use its abilities to protect myself."

"A-And… how do I find my spirit creature?" I asked.

He sighed. "I'm not sure… I Transmogrified involuntarily when I was put in great danger, but try to remember… maybe you've done it before. If you have then…"

From the back of my mind, the vision from the boiling hot pond came to me. If Transmogrification meant what I thought it did, then perhaps I actually had done it before. I could recall the feel of it: the thick outer skin, the weightlessness, the power pulsing throughout my body, the electricity at my finger tips.

"You're doing it!" I heard him say as a flash of white blinded me.

My eyes were burning and blood vessels were contracting at my temples. I opened my mouth to scream, but only a weak puff of air came out along with a quiet moan. I could feel myself being held by someone and my hands reached out for the nearest solid object to grab.

And just like that, the large growing balloon of tension was popped, deflating pathetically and returning to me my sight and my peace of mind. I took in a deep breath, filling in my lungs, and opened my eyes.

Malik was holding me up, preventing me from falling to the ground. My face reddened and I spoke, still trying to regulate my breath, "What just happened?"

He helped steady me and let go of me as soon as I was capable of standing on my own. "Look at yourself," he told me, his face a mixture of surprise and content.

Heeding his words, I examined myself, only to find that I was wearing much more than the simple hospital gown I had been in earlier. My entire body was covered in thick silver that contoured around my entire body like it was made for me… and it probably was. At each of my joints, holding the armor together, were long, colored strips of light -violet, red, green. The silver coating was also covered in crystals that beautifully reflected the light from the end of the tunnel. I held up one of my hands to examine the clawed gauntlet I now possessed, testing it with quiet fascination.

"It's pretty impressive," Malik remarked, smirking at me. "I wonder what it does."

The mere thought of having powers made my gut explode with the sensation of thousands of frantic butterflies. My eyes went to Malik's face as he extended his arm out towards the exit of the canyon, watching me expectantly. "Let's go check out that noise then."

Ryou… where are you?

The expression on Malik's face changed abruptly. "Hey! I think I just heard that voice."

I pursed my lips. "It's getting closer."

We pushed on ahead, entering the forest on the other side. It was almost identical to the one that we had been in before the canyon and if I didn't know any better, I would have thought that we accidentally went backwards. My silver and his gold were the only colors interrupting the monotonous green and brown surrounding us.

Along with the whispers the grass made as we passed through it, we could hear the pleading girl speaking with even more desperation than before. I could see a pulsing light in the distance every time she spoke.

Again, Malik pulled me back against him, stopping me in my tracks before we could reach the source of the voice. "I heard those footsteps again, Lorna. Be careful."

I turned to look at him and nodded in understanding. I still didn't know how my powers worked, so I suppose Leeroy Jenkins-ing into the grove ahead wasn't such a good idea. "Thanks," I told him with a small grin.

We slowed down our steps, keeping our ears open and ready to catch the slightest of noises. The soft thudding that Malik had mentioned began to come more frequently and the girl's voice began to warp like a broken record.

We stopped in our tracks, listening to the footsteps, and sure enough, their source found us waiting. A large creature stepped in front of us, some kind of large animal, towering above us at almost double my height. I wasn't quite sure what it was, but it seemed like a mix between a koala and a kangaroo, and it was wearing a purple gold-trimmed vest with bright red sneakers and matching red boxing gloves.

In the time that we were both gaping at it, we missed it speaking to us. "Wh-What?" Malik stammered, staring up at it in alarm.

The creature put one of its hands on its hip and tilted its head to the side almost in boredom. "You two are goin' the wrong way," it told us in a gruff and distinctly Australian accent that made me question my sanity for a brief moment. It raised its second arm and thrust its thumb behind it. "That's where the realm o' the dead is. No use goin' there."

"Are you a Gatekeeper or…" Malik asked it, finding his voice long before I managed to find my own.

The creature moved its hand to scratch its snout and grunted. "Yeah. Name's Oz," he told us. "If you're lookin' to go back to the realm of the livin', I'm your guy."

"'Au-zee'?" I repeated under my breath.

"Don't wear it out," it told me, turning its sharp gaze towards me. "Anyway, this place ain't safe for you, so you need to hurry on outta here."

Please don't leave me again. Please.

The voice was sobbing now and I felt my heart tug.

"Ignore it."

Startled, I looked up at Oz. "What?"

"I said 'Ignore it', kid. That ain't nothin' but trouble," it said sternly. It put its hands together and began to crouch down. Its gaze travelled around the wood, surveying the trees and the dirt, and after it was satisfied, it turned to the right. Making Malik and I both jump, it punched the ground with one of its gloved fists, causing the dirt beneath to collapse, almost like that pile of dirt only existed to cover the hole beneath. Oz turned to the left after that, punching a similar hole on the other side.

"What's that for?" I asked, watching its actions quizzically.

"For jumpin' o' course," it replied.

"Jumping?" Malik repeated in disbelief.

It nodded its furry head. "One for light and one for divinity."

On cue, beams of light shot from each hole; one white and the other gold. I suppose it went without saying which hole was for which person, but I was still reluctant.

"Now go on. Get outta here," it ordered impatiently, tapping its foot swiftly.

I gave Malik a look as if to ask whether or not he trusted this, and all I got in reply was an uncertain shrug and a look that said, "Let's just do it." We had nothing to lose by jumping and nothing to gain by staying in that god-forsaken forest.

I groaned upon getting up. This habit of waking up in a different place than where I went to sleep (or in my case, fell unconscious) was getting very out of hand. I was in another room, apparently still on the blimp, but Sun and Zephyr were nowhere to be seen.

"Lorna… are you awake?" a groggy voice asked me.

I shot up, searching for Malik, and found myself face to face with another blond boy instead. "M-Marik?"

Fuck.

Well, hey, that was... something. Now that I've given you more to chew - anyone got any theories? Why are there anchors? What's going on with the Gatekeepers? Why is Peten such a dick? I mean, what is that asshole's game? Do you trust Malik? Who is Lorna's anchor? What's going on with Amane's voice being everywhere? Aha isn't Oz the best?