Hi! Just got back from a camp, and it was such a pain. No showers, no toilets, temperature below ten degrees-and I live in a place where the lowest temperature I had to survive through was about thirteen degrees. Okay, I've finished whining.

Anyway, after camp, I rushed to finish typing up this chapter. Because I left the plot in my mind for a long time, it sort of got mixed with other ideas for later chapters, and the result was a very mixed chapter that I'm not quite sure how to organise. I'm not sure if I like this final product, but it'll do. Please don't flame me for this chapter.

As usual, my huge thanks to Miorochi, The Duelist's Heiress and Koragirl for their reviews! They were a large morale booster.

Yugi had expected Tea and Efrona in some sort of ruffled state when they arrived. However, when he opened the door, he found not just two ruffled girls, but one unconscious girl being half dragged by her friend.

"She fainted on the way here. I really need to take care of the last of this mess-could you take care of her wounds?" Tea asked desperately. Shock made Yugi silent, and he could only nod. She smiled gratefully at him, and they both carried Efrona over to a couch. Once she was laid out comfortably, Tea abruptly fled the house.

Yugi hastily began working on her wounds. With a flush of shamed embarrassment, he took off her jacket and shirt. The sight of her skin made him gasp. His horrified eyes took in what they saw for several moments, before Yugi remembered he was meant to be treating her wounds. He immediately set to work.

"She's completely scarred, Yami!" he said to his hovering partner. Yami observed her with hawk eyes before turning away, respecting the girl's dignity since he was not her treater.

Whatever she had suffered for those scars-was it also his fault? All her misfortune began when one of his unknown enemies showed up on her doorstep.

Did I do something wrong in a past life? Was I such a brat as a kid that I deserved to be haunted?

All I ask for, during both my waking and conscious moments, is peace. A sense of true serenity that isn't a mask. Maybe even belonging. I was beginning to receive them.

Once your naiveté is destroyed though, you can't ever get it back. Your nature will be stained forever, like mine is, and there is nothing that can be done to remove it. Sadness and pain just become a part of you-they help create the mask of serenity worn. The silver lining in the white clouds. Memories and reminders help create the person you become.

They are the trigger to pain as well. Not an ache, but an unhealed, raw pain.

Sometimes, I don't want my memories. I want to live life without having constant regrets. I want to feel complete joy and happiness, be utterly taken in a moment like that, without holding back on emotions. I want every emotion that I show to be real, especially positive ones. I want to be a light-hearted person without feeling strange about it. I want to know what my real personality is, behind all the grave sadness, loss, tragedy, regret, etc, because I don't even know who I truly am. My memories confuse and hide things, because my past is so messed up.

I don't want to remember…those moments that become my shame…and those that scar.

The comfortable unconsciousness which had enveloped her, leaving her mind to lock itself deep within her soul for contemplation, slowly receded. Gradually, Efrona began to realise the darkness she was seeing in front of her wasn't the same one that she had been staring at while cursing her own memories. It was actually the inside of her eyelids.

Disorientated, she opened her eyes blearily, and was met with the scene of a dark, unfamiliar room. Alarm ripped through her and she shot up from her horizontal position. The action made her gasp in pain. Looking down, she saw, beneath the blanket covering her, that she was dressed in a tank top she normally would never wear. Lifting the shirt, she found the wound on her side and back that she had acquired before had been bandaged carefully.

Her hand and other wounds had been similarly taken care of, and she could feel several bandaids plastered on her. Wondering who had bandaged her, she looked around the room.

It was a homely bedroom, with all the furniture expected for a boy's room. A few posters of duel monsters hung on the walls and the back of the door. Efrona felt a small smile lift the corner of her lips at the comfortable atmosphere of the room, despite it being boyish. Her eyes shifted to the desk in the room, eyeing the golden box sitting there. An Egyptian eye as well as many hieroglyphics was carved on it.

Ah, well that explained it. Yugi's room. Judging from the sky outside, it was pretty late at night.

Efrona silently slipped out of the bed and crept outside the room. Despite the dappled moonlight dimly lighting the inside of the house, the atmosphere was still comfortable. Again, Efrona felt that sort of wistfulness that came with looking at something she once had. This was the type of atmosphere home felt like, but it wasn't her home. Nowhere was.

She padded into the kitchen and took a drink, sighing after it. It was only then, somewhat peaceful in mind, that she began berating herself. She must have worried Tea by fainting, and Yugi had probably been worried when he saw her. Had Tea dragged her to Yugi's house anyway?

"Yes," a voice answered behind her. Spinning around, Efrona let a sheepish expression show as she saw the 'intruder'. The glass she had in hand ready to hurl she hurriedly put back down.

"Ah, I guess I spoke aloud," she said, rubbing the back of her head. She smiled a little goofily, uncomfortable with being in the same room as Yami. There were some unanswered questions between Yami, Yugi and her that she really didn't feel like discussing, and she also wasn't sure if Yugi and his mysterious, memory-less counterpart knew what caused her to look so beat up. "Sorry if I woke you-or Yugi, whoever first. I thought I came down quietly."

"It's not a problem. We were expecting you to wake up soon."

"Where's Tea? She's alright, isn't she?" Efrona leapt at the chance to ask. Yami nodded.

"She's fine-she went home a few hours ago for some rest, and left some clothes for you in case you had to stay here for awhile. You shouldn't really be moving right now." He eyed her standing position in the kitchen disapprovingly, and she laughed awkwardly.

"My wounds aren't very bad, I'll live. Um, did you get an explanation?"

Yami sat down at the kitchen table, observing her with shadowed eyes. She shifted uneasily, uncomfortable with the tense silence between them. Why did he look so gloomy?

"You were talking in your sleep a few hours ago, just when Yugi came to check up on you."

Efrona jumped, and cursed inwardly. Sleep talking was something no one knew about-it was a very rare habit of hers, and no one but her knew about it. She hadn't intended anyone to find out-she was rather scared about what the content of her unconscious words was. It seemed there was going to be a discussion about what she spoke about.

"What did I say?"

"The main phrase? I don't want to remember."

Efrona swallowed silently. She just had to say that in her sleep.

"It was the sincerity which was surprising," Yami went on. "You mentioned that you did not want your memories, and you didn't want to remember them. I know that you must have many unpleasant experiences, but still I wonder why? Why don't you want them? Memories are an essential part of a person." He looked at her with a mixture of disbelief and curiosity.

Efrona didn't reply immediately. She didn't know how too. How were you meant to explain it to a spirit who desperately wanted his memories? She was an enigma to him-someone who did not want her own memories. She must've sounded so very ungrateful.

"Do you know why Tea dragged me here? About me being in a gang fight with someone I used to know and all that…yes? I passed out afterwards not just because of pain and lack of energy, but because I was remembering moments from my past. They are ones I don't wish to have-I want nothing to do with them, because they point out that I haven't changed from my time as a street girl. I'm still a violent, dangerous person. Not a good person. Would you like to see one of my memories? It's not a very personal one, but it does hurt."

Without waiting for his permission, she reached up and touched her fingers to his temples. They both fell away from their physical selves.

Yami found himself in a dimly lit alley, during what looked like the middle of the night. Yugi stood beside him-his mind had followed Yami's to wherever they had been sent. Further down the alley, very close to them, was a large group of what looked like punks. All had switchblades in hand; all had malicious smirks on their faces. One person shifted, revealing why the group was so clustered-they were surrounding a small formed girl. A younger Efrona, both Yami and Yugi realised. It wasn't hard to see-the blue forelocks and eyes, and short height were Efrona's physical distinction.

"Stay still and we won't torture you for long, brat," one of the people surrounding her shouted out. Efrona wrinkled her nose.

"You honestly think I'm that stupid? Like hell, bastards."

Her words lit a furious fire amongst the punks. They lunged for her at the same time.

Yami and Yugi were unnoticed-the two assumed they were unseen spirits in one of Efrona's memories. They watched in horror as the aimed knives went for Efrona. And gaped in shock when she dodged and weaved away from the blades under people's arms and elbows. She became the person Tea had described to them earlier-a fighting machine, granted maybe less skilled and agile then what was described to them.

She slammed one person against the wall, socked his face and as he slumped, she sent a high kick that knocked him unconscious. Sensing the blade aimed for her neck behind her, she whirled around, using the heavy weight, and swung it straight at her attacker, sending both falling to the floor. Dodging another knife, she grabbed a wrist that just passed her face with both hands and twisted it brutally, also bending it backwards. The two ghostly observers could almost hear the crack of bone breaking under the fierce pressure it was put under.

"Damn bitch! She broke my wrist!" The injured man howled. The group retreated momentarily. They had obviously underestimated her strength.

"Don't mess with me then, punks. Had enough?" Efrona asked cockily. She raised an eyebrow challengingly. It was meant to be intimidating, but it was the wrong moment to use the tactic, and she misjudged the situation. They would not back down from her challenge just because they knew they had underestimated her.

With renewed vigour they attacked her. This time their attack was more planned. People began getting in blows on her. Efrona had bruises forming on her arms, and cuts slowly bleeding out slow trickles of blood. Every so often she would put a hand to her ribs-they were bruised, cracked or broken.

"Kid, you can't last long in this fight. There's tons of us, and only one of you. Why try and make your punishment worse?" A punk called out, rather mockingly. Efrona bared her teeth, like a defiant animal.

"Damn it, I didn't do anything wrong!" She yelled in frustration. "Are you punks mentally retarded, or deaf? I said it before. What happened before was self defence-I don't exactly want to get raped." Efrona had a self-berating face after her words-it didn't look as if she had meant the last comment to slip out.

"Smart mouth wench, your punishment's going to get worse in the end!"

A tick mark formed under Efrona's left eye. Her attacks became more frantic and less planned as she weakened in strength. Her breathing became heavy and gasping, sweat beaded her brows, and she stumbled occasionally, nearly getting run through by a knife a few times as well.

Yami's eyes widened. "They're backing her into a corner." He could see it despite his limited knowledge on street fights. They were spread out around her, gradually closing in and limiting her fighting and dodging space.

Efrona spun around on her heel and found herself nose-to-nose with one goon. Realising too late, she tried ducking under the mass of spread arms around her, but found herself trapped. One particular gangster stepped forward with his knife.

"This is what you get," he said casually.

"You won't beat me," she snapped, and lunged to attack him with a kick.

He dodged, barely moving, and she sped past him with a confused look on her face. The gangster smirked at her vulnerable back, and plunged his knife in deeply. She gagged and spun away, falling heavily.

"Ha! What happened to the mouthing off, wench?" the gangster that had stabbed her teased.

"…you…bastard…I'm not…giving up!"

Blood dribbled from her back and a trickle from her mouth while she said the words and the attacker's knife jutted out from the stab wound, glinting in the dim light.

"Not…going to die!" She gasped. "I'm not going to lose this!"

"You already have," the gangster that stabbed her said, and moved forward, revealing a second knife.

Something wild and desperate glinted in her eyes. They turned grey as if she had stopped paying attention to the world, and completely focused on survival. With speed that came from desperation, she surged forward, letting the attacking knife stab into her arm. She wrenched her arm at an angle, and the blade was jerked out of the gangster's hands, to drop to the floor. She smashed his jaw with a fist, seized the knife he dropped and swung around to face the waves of gangsters suddenly trying to attack her.

The only restrain she had, was not to kill. Bruising, slashing and maiming with a knife were alright by her. She slashed and fought her way out of her boxed in situation, ignoring the bloody wounds inflicted on her own person.

The ferocity of her attacks startled the other gangsters, but they didn't really fear her until she successfully took down five people in one move, slashing at and nearly hitting someone's eyes, slamming a man so hard in the groin it was doubtful whether he would ever have children again, and dealing with the rest similarly. All in less then ten seconds. She snarled as she finished with that batch of attackers efficiently.

"Shit she's freaking lost it!" someone yelled. The remaining uninjured gangsters of the group backed away slightly, seeing the blood-tinted, yet still not death-stained knife in her hands. Efrona glared at them with the promise of a demon about to unleash hell on earth.

"See? Told you I would win. Wouldn't want to be killed because of someone pathetic like you. Now beat it."

Her eyes were cloudy from weariness and loss of blood, but they blazed a more effective threat than words could. The remaining gangsters saw the look, took one look at the glinting, dripping knife in her hand, and ran away like dogs with tails between their legs.

Once she was sure they were gone, Efrona stumblingly walked into another alley close by, clinging onto walls for support. Worried, Yugi and Yami followed. Finding a deserted alley, she stopped there, and they stoped as well. With a sense of horror and the feeling of nausea, they watched as she slowly reached behind herself and pulled out the knife that had been lodged in her back. Blood gushed out worse then before.

Endurance could only last so long. Efrona fainted dead away.

"Efrona!" Yugi and Yami called. The scene around and in front of them blurred and vanished, leaving them to fall through darkness.

Efrona's hands dropped from their position covering the sides of Yami's head. Yami blinked and opened his eyes, staring at her dazedly. Yugi was nearby, breathing quickly, eyes wide. She looked away from their shocked expressions.

"I didn't mean to show you the more gory parts of that memory…but those are the types of memories I don't want to have. It made me a smarter, more discreet street girl, and afterwards even a working teenage loner, but it's things like that, that have made me lose some of the more…innocent aspects of my personality. If I didn't know the harsher reality of life, I might be a little nicer, more honest, more willing to accept friendship and warmth and less surprised that there are nice people in the world…"

She cut off, and suddenly grinned, once again shocking the two males in the room. The grin looked positively sheepish, and the complete opposite of her grim, wistful expression a moments ago. This had to be female complex-mood swings.

"I'm sorry, I'm whining, and I shouldn't," she laughed. "Plus I sound like a ranting idiot right now. I guess what I'm trying to say is, while you might want your memories back, you don't know what they are. But they must have made you become the person you are now-a good, admirable person. I know what my memories are, and they don't add up to being a good person. So I wonder what I am right now."

"Just because you did…not-so-good things in the past, doesn't mean you're a bad person now," Yugi said. "You did what you had to, to survive."

"And hurt people, broke rules, along the way. I've even hurt friends, Yugi, intentionally or not. See what I've become now-I have a worse mood swing complex than most females trying to decide which one is my real personality."

"But you've changed now, and it's not good for you to keep thinking back into the past in your circumstance," Yami advised. "It's something you told me before-why not take your own advice?"

"The past is part of my present, Yami. It's the reason why I'm still jumpy about having all of you people as my friends-you're in danger. I'm dangerous. I'm dangerous not just for your safety, but dangerous for your purpose," Efrona snapped, and then paled and clamped a hand over her mouth. That hadn't meant to come out.

"Purpose?" Yugi asked. Yami looked at her cautiously.

"That person who murdered your family and hurt you three years ago, is he still after you?!" he asked in alarm. She stood up suddenly.

"I can't answer that, I can't say anymore," she said firmly. "Otherwise I might change your destiny, Yami. It's late, we should all rest. Thanks a lot for taking care of my wounds…and since you probably saw my back, I'll tell you this-most of the scars came from that fight I showed you."

She walked rapidly to the doorway, and then stopped. "Oh, I forgot to talk about one thing. Did you dream of a house full of screams a few nights ago?"

"Y-yeah," Yugi said, startled. Her mouth settled into a hard, tight smile.

"The part of my life when I was Elisa, I remember my home being a happy, lively place. But that night when my family was killed, the name Elisa died, as well as any association to the name. How I remember my old house in Australia, with my name Efrona taken up-I remember it as a house of horror. Hence the screams. Sorry that you had to see and hear that-I'll have to look into how you did anyway. Goodnight." She walked away.

Yugi sighed. Here she went again, distancing herself, just when she was beginning to get comfortable with society. She was a fifteen year old whose reasoning was warped because of her experiences, and lack of anyone to point out why her logic was flawed. She might be dangerous, but it wasn't really her choice to make whether her friends stayed and took the risk or not. Neither was it her choice whether to be given help-given help was offered freely by friends.

She had always been the most enigmatic figure in the whole of their group, the most enigmatic friend he had so far. In fact, she was really no better than the rest of them-a teenager trying to work around the bumps in life, trying to do that whole 'finding yourself' concept.

Yugi glanced at Yami, who had a thoughtful expression on his face, and inwardly laughed. He smothered it quickly before his counterpart could sense it. He had a best friend who was a spirit too mature for his teenage-looking years (discounting the five millennia he had been asleep), but who had a bit of a rash and self-conscious streak in him at times, when stuck in strange situations. And then he had a new friend who was trying to be mature and responsible, yet she had a lot of realisations to make before she could achieve that. Then there was him and his other friends, Tea, Joey and Tristan. Mediators who improved themselves at their own pace, and stable ground for the other two.

Yami and Efrona were in the same boat, just like they were when fighting a psycho Dartz-it was an odd thought, but true. Destiny was ironic in putting those two together to puzzle at and help each other.

I know this chapter is a little bit mixed up. Basically, it's just after Efrona's gang fight. While she's unconscious, she contemplates how life made her what her personality is at this point in the story. She has a lot of bad memories she doesn't want to remember, or associate with good ones. She talks in her sleep, and Yami hears about her not wanting to remember. When she wakes up, he questions her, and she shows him and Yugi a bad memory of a particularly painful gang fight that nearly killed her. She, Yugi and Yami have this discussion on how memories create a person. She reveals a little too much info and shuts up pronto. She clears up that little deal with Yugi and Yami witnessing one of her nightmares, but not completely, since she's not comfortable sharing too much with them at the moment. Then Yugi comes to several epiphanies about his best friends.

Phew, I think that's it in a nutshell. Until next chapter, you know what I'll say-please leave a review!