Kias: Thank you for reviewing, glad you liked the chapter and the duel! :) I'm not much informed about other techniques because I never watched other spin-offs (apart from some episodes of 5D's and I started watching Arc-V a bit). Nonetheless, I wouldn't write them anyway because I want this story to be authentic to the show and believable… :)

I only own my OC's!

I was looking around the place. Of course, there was nothing but mist. I was used to it by now though. As much as it annoyed me, I knew there was nothing I could do to actually make it go away!

"First dark figures, then children's laughter… What's next?" I asked myself sarcastically. Great, now I was talking to myself. I started playing with the bracelet on my left wrist. This mist was literally driving me to insanity!

Suddenly, I could hear something cracking from behind me. I quickly spun around with my heart rate increasing. However, there was nothing. I turned back to where I had been looking before… Only to be met with light purple eyes looking right into my light blue ones. Only one person I knew had that eye color…

I quickly looked up to see Sartorius towering over me. However, his whole appearance was different. He was dressed in what seemed to be white and blue uniform. His long hair was lifted in the air, and white light was glowing all over his body.

The biggest change was his face though. Instead of seeing a usually calm look on it, it was contorted in a huge, sinister grin. His eyes were staring at me, filled with insanity.

I've never seen Sartorius like that, and at that moment, I couldn't help feeling frightened. I wanted to run, I wanted to scream, and I definitely didn't want to stay here! The worst thing was, I was scared of someone I looked up to as a parent figure…

I let out a scream and turned around to run… When he caught my right wrist harshly, spinning me around in process.

"Foolish girl… Did you really think you could outsmart me?!" Sartorius shouted at me. "Stop it, please!" I cried while looking away. All of this was like a terrible nightmare, and I wanted to wake up so badly…

However, my pleas apparently only made it even worse, because wind started blowing violently. "I WON'T! YOU CAN'T RUN AWAY FROM YOUR DESTINY, OR THE LIGHT!" The man roared, his eyes dangerously narrowed at me. "NO, PLEASE, STOP IT…" I screamed back.

"Miss, wake up!" Someone was shaking me by my shoulders. I quickly opened my eyes to see a girl from a seat next to me with her hands on my shoulders. "What…" I asked in a daze while still feeling dizzy. "You don't remember screaming while you were sleeping?" She questioned. I put a hand on my forehead and gave her a perplexed look.

I was still feeling disoriented… "What?" I repeated. "You were screaming some words like 'stop it', and a name 'Sartorius'." The girl explained, her brown eyes looking at me worriedly. It was then I noticed something. All of the girls from our helicopter were standing around my seat.

"I was?" I asked slowly. The girl nodded. "It doesn't matter, I'm fine." I quickly tried to brush it off. "You're sure?" She asked. I quickly nodded. The girl let out a sigh but sat back into her seat. Other girls started walking back to their seats. I let out a sigh while playing with the bracelet on my left wrist.

"What's that?" The girl's voice asked curiously. "I have the same one. Now you'll never forget me, 'cause you'll always have it with you." The boy's voice echoed cheerfully.

I blinked before looking at the bracelet in surprise. I still had no idea why in the world I was hearing those voices inside my head… It was quite confusing. Before the day I had the Entrance Exam, I had never seen that bracelet… Then why was I experiencing this?! Did it mean something?

Letting out a deep breath, I kept looking at the thing on my wrist. If I were to trust those words, this thing was apparently given to me by someone… But if it was, shouldn't I know more about it? Was there something I didn't know? If I had had it before, then why couldn't I remember any of it?! And why were Mum and Dad so worked up over this little thing?!

"Is that your bracelet?" A voice from next to me asked. I quickly looked up to see the girl who had woken me up. Her brown eyes were looking over the thing on my wrist. "Yes?" I raised an eyebrow at her. "It's so beautiful! Where did you get it?!" She demanded excitedly.

I had no idea why she was so excited over this thing… But I decided to go along with it. The sooner we finished discussing this, the faster people would stop bothering me.

"I don't know, really. I just found it in my drawer a month ago." I responded honestly with a shrug. My eyes landed on the bracelet for a few moments. "Why are you asking?" I then looked up at the girl. "Those bracelets used to be on sale about nine years ago at the Domino City. It was a limited edition only; they don't sell it anymore!" She explained with this huge grin on her face.

I couldn't help feeling a bit surprised once I heard those words. That meant this thing was basically from Domino City?! I lived there until I was seven… If she said they were on sale nine years ago, then I was six back then. I was there during that 'limited edition' mania… But then why couldn't I remember where I got that bracelet from?! Now that I thought of it, I didn't remember much of my life in Domino City back then in general… Not even people from neighborhood. You would have thought I'd remember at least something… But it was all blank. Weird.

"Really?" That was the only thing I asked her. The girl nodded. "In fact, they used to be sold in pairs." She added while moving a strand of blond hair out of her face. "As in, two of them?" I raised an eyebrow yet again. "Yes." "Wait, how do you know about this? I used to live in Domino City, but aren't you from Europe if you applied for this branch of academy?" I gave her a questioning look.

She rolled her eyes. "My older brother lives there, that's why. I begged him to buy me those bracelets, but a young boy and a woman snatched the last pair right under his nose." She explained with a frown. "Oh." I said simply.

If what that girl said was true, if you could buy two bracelets back then…

"What's that?" "I have the same one. Now you'll never forget me, 'cause you'll always have it with you." Those voices were echoing in my head. Could it mean I was given this thing? Could it be that this was actually some sort of a memory? It must have been, either that, or I was officially going crazy.

Seeing I had no chances of figuring it out at this moment, I decided to just drop it. Instead, my thoughts wandered over to the girl's words about me screaming while sleeping. She did mention I was saying some words like 'stop it' and 'Sartorius'… But why? I definitely couldn't remember what the dream was about.

"Attention to all students, we'll be landing in five minutes. Please remain seated." The pilot's voice echoed through the helicopter. All of the girls quickly looked through the window in excitement. I rolled my eyes but decided to look through the window as well. I could see a huge island below us. From what I could see, there was a huge forest, some buildings, houses and a huge building in the center.

I couldn't help grinning. So far, I've liked the forest the most!

Yes, time has literally flown since my Entrance Exam. So here I was, flying to what would be my prison for the next three years.

"I knew you would make it to the Academy! I'm so proud of both you and Ben!" Aunt Maria shouted over the phone excitedly.

"Congratulations, cousin. I knew you had it in you!" Ben told me over the phone happily.

"See? It wasn't that bad." Sarina noted once I called her. "I guess so." I rolled my eyes. "Anyway, I'll only say 'congratulations' because my brother is trying to snatch the phone out of my hand so he could talk to you." She stated.

I let out a laugh, trying to imagine what that looked like. "Fine, give him the phone." I said. "You're in?" Sartorius asked through the line. "Si." I replied. "I knew you could do it." "Is it because you predicted it or you really knew?" I asked playfully. "Let's say I had faith in both you and the cards." He responded after a few moments.

I sighed while putting things in my backpack. Here I was, off to hell…

Once I stepped out of the helicopter, I slung the backpack over my right shoulder. I took a quick look at my surroundings. We landed at the top of the building, and other helicopters were slowly landing. From here, you could see the whole island perfectly!

However, I had no time to observe the view because we were told to go downstairs. I followed the other girls inside the building. We were walking through a long hallway until we were met with two women standing outside one door at the end of it.

"Please form a line." One of them asked politely. I stood there third in line to the left. From what I could see, those two were giving us our uniforms.

"Your name?" The woman questioned once it was my turn. "Serena Accardi." I answered. She looked at the paper in her hands. "Let's see…" She trailed off. After a few seconds, she nodded. Then she took some clothes out of one of three boxes next to her feet. "Here's your uniform. Once you change into it, walk out of the changing room and into the main room." She ordered. "Thank you." I nodded before taking my uniform and walking through the door.

Once I was in the changing room, I quickly put the uniform and the backpack on a nearby bench. I decided to observe the clothes better once I saw what I looked like in them. I quickly changed into my new uniform and put the old one in my backpack.

I then decided to look at myself in front of a nearby mirror. I was wearing a black, sleeveless, v-neck shirt and dark red dress which went a bit past my knees. A sleeveless, white jacket with red marks on the sides of my arms and at the front was over my shirt. I was also wearing black leggings, a red belt, and knee-length, red boots.

Why I got the red uniform was unknown to me, considering I could see other girls wearing blue or yellow variations of my own one. I would have rather taken the blue one, or even the yellow one; because I looked ridiculous in red, my own hair was red as well!

However, they must have given this to me for a reason, whatever it was. I let out a sigh and looked at myself again. After a few seconds, I frowned. Everything looked fine, apart from my jacket. It just didn't look right… I decided to unbutton it. Now it looked much better. I let out a smile before looking at myself one more time. I decided to keep the bracelet on my wrist. It would be my charm for luck during next three years after all!

I then took my Deck Box and looked at it, thinking of where to put it. At the end, I decided to strap it to the belt, at the right, front part of my waist. Putting it in a pocket would have been easier, but this uniform had quite small pockets. Quite a stupid design, really. I get it that skirt didn't have them, but jacket could have bigger ones!

Once we entered the main room, I could see other guys and girls there. All of us were apparently waiting for someone to show up at the screen. And, after about five minutes, the principal started his welcoming speech. He was a man in his forties, with black hair and dark brown eyes.

I didn't bother to listen to the speech though. Instead, I was looking around the place. Most of the students were listening to the principal's every single word as if their life depended on it. I rolled my eyes in disbelief. Of course. What else to expect from dueling fanatics?

Suddenly, I could feel someone's eyes on me, so I quickly turned around. A man was staring at me with a frown on his face. He had pointy black hair and dark eyes which were looking right at me. He was dressed in a dark blue uniform.

There was something odd, almost scary about him… However, what I wanted to know was why he was staring at me like that. Was me not paying attention to the speech that obvious?!

I quickly looked at the screen and away from the man. I wasn't really interested in hearing the rest of it, I just wanted to pretend. Luckily, I didn't have to wait long because it was over after a few minutes.

At the end of the speech, we were told to head to our dorms. As we were exiting the hall, women from before were giving us Duel Disks and something called PDA. The latter apparently served as a communication device around the island.

Anyway, I walked out of the building and sat on a nearby bench to get some fresh air. I then turned on my PDA to see which dorm I was in. It was apparently called Slifer Red… Why it was called like that, I didn't know. Nor did I care. From what I could see, the dorm was located near the entrance of the forest…

I couldn't help grinning yet again. I could go right into the forest to search for some more plants! Suddenly, the red uniform didn't bother me anymore. I was near the only thing I liked here, and that was the only thing that mattered!

After a few minutes of silence, I decided to head to the Slifer Red dorm (a really odd name, but again, that wasn't my problem).

A construction which reminded me of a shed was in my view. I frowned for a moment before sighing. It looked terrible…. The only thing that looked fine was its new, red paint. That, and the dark red roof.

From what I could see, there were many doors of this shed, for the upper and lower floor. Stairs were there as well. Letting out another sigh, I walked to the door number 6. I hoped the inside looked better than the outside… Fingers crossed.

I opened the door and walked inside. "Mamma mia." I breathed with a smile on my face. I had the whole room to myself! It was small, it had a small bed, night desk and a table with a chair, and a small bathroom was on my right.

I threw myself at the bed with a grin. It may have been small, but it was worth it! I didn't have annoying roommates, which meant I wouldn't have to talk to people. That meant I wouldn't have to talk about Duel Monsters! "Finally, something good in this hell." I smiled and grabbed my pillow tightly. I soon found myself drifting off to sleep.

Someone knocking on the door woke me up. With another groan, I opened my eyes and stood up. After rubbing my eyes, I quickly walked to the door and opened them.

A girl with short, purple hair and purple eyes was looking at me. She was also dressed in the Red uniform (I would really have to learn the odd name of the dorm). "Yes?" I looked at her questioningly. "I'm sorry for interrupting you, but welcoming dinner is about to start." She explained sheepishly.

I blinked for a moment. Welcoming dinner? That was when I could hear my stomach growling. The girl looked at me in surprise. "Thank you then!" I smiled sheepishly before slamming the door in her face. A bit rude, I knew that… But I wanted to avoid an awkward situation with my stomach growling so loudly.

It was then I realized how hungry I actually was… I haven't eaten a thing since this afternoon when we arrived at the island! So after trying to tame my hair by tying it in a ponytail, I ran out of the room.

Some students were walking towards the upper floor, so I followed them there. They were walking through the door which were bigger than others. I walked inside what seemed to be the dorm's dining room. A lot of benches and tables were inside… And food was on the table!

Before I knew what I was doing, I raced to the furthest bench in the room. I then sat down and grabbed a nearby fork. I didn't even bother to see what was on the plate, I was so hungry that I could eat an entire horse…

Suddenly, someone took the fork out of my hands. "Not yet! We need to wait for the professor's welcoming speech!" A guy with wild blue hair and green eyes glared at me. I glared back. Why would anyone listen to that stupid speech anyway?! It was only holding you back from eating! Now that I thought of it better, those 'welcoming dinner' speeches weren't smart at all. They would starve us to death before we even started dueling… Or, in my case, they'd just starve me to death. I had no intention of dueling here. I would avoid it as much as possible!

Seeing I unfortunately had to wait, I decided to look down at my plate. The portion wasn't big… But the choice of food certainly made up for it. It was fried calamari with arancini… I see they at least knew what good stuff was. That, plus we were kind of in between two Italian islands, which was still Italy… And they ate this!

I smiled. This was just too good to be true…

Then, a man walked into the room just as everyone sat down. He looked like he was in his fifties. He had short, dark green hair and grey eyes. "Good evening, Slifer Red students. My name is Alessandro Rossi," He started his speech. I didn't listen to it, I only heard how he wished us luck and that we could do anything if we did our best. Professor Rossi… An easier name to remember, considering he was Italian, and he had the same Italian accent like me.

Once the professor finished his speech, it was finally time to dig in. I quickly grabbed the fork and took one fried calamari with it. Even the food tasted good… It made me proud to be Italian for sure.

After five minutes, I was done with the dinner. That portion was unfortunately the only thing we would get tonight, so I decided to get out. Just as I was closing the door of the dining room, my phone started ringing.

I took it out of my pocket to see who was calling. It was Sartorius… My thoughts went back to that dream I had this afternoon but didn't remember. However, I decided to forget about it and just answer the call.

"Hello?" I asked once I was on the line. "Serena?" Sartorius' voice answered. "Yes?" I responded. "I'm not interrupting you?" I shook my head. "No, you're not. I've just finished my dinner." I explained with a smile. "Then it's a good thing I hadn't called you earlier." He responded in amusement. "I agree." I chuckled. Even Ben knew that interrupting during a meal would make me quite angry…

"What do you think of it for now?" The man then asked me. "They have good food and a beautiful forest. Everything else is just stupid, including the uniform. Even my dorm has a weird name." I sighed with an eye-roll. "I see." Sartorius responded simply.

I raised an eyebrow. I had a feeling he didn't call me to hear how I was doing… It was only the first day after all! "Is there a particular reason you had called me? How's Sarina?" I asked. "Sarina's fine." He paused after a few moments.

"You're right, I do have a reason for calling you this late." "What is it?" I asked curiously. "I want you to be extremely careful from now on." Sartorius said firmly. My eyebrows furrowed in surprise. He sounded so serious about this… "Why?" I demanded. "Because you'll be in great danger in the future."

Shivers ran down my spine. Wait, so the person I looked up to was now basically telling me how I was going to be in some sort of danger?! I knew Sartorius' predictions were never wrong, but this was the first time he actually predicted something about me…

"Are you sure?" I asked warily. "You know my predictions are unfortunately never wrong." The man noted coldly. "I know they're not! It's just that… Telling me this doesn't exactly make me feel at ease, if you know what I mean." I responded truthfully. "Would you prefer something happening to you without being aware of it?" He asked as if he dared me to answer that question.

I frowned. "No… This has nothing to do with you! I'm just nervous…" I explained. "Sorry." I then added. "No, I understand this is so sudden. However, I'm just trying to help." Sartorius replied after a few moments of silence.

I let out a sigh. "So, what kind of danger awaits me?" I asked while leaning on the pillar of the dorm with my left arm. "It's not clear. What I do know is that you can't trust anyone until you get to know them better." I whistled. "Well, I still have you, Ben, Sarina and Aunt Maria." I reminded with a smile.

It was silent for a few seconds. "Sartorius, are you still on the line?" I asked in confusion. "Yes. My apologies, but I've got to hang up." My eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Why did he want to hang up so quickly? "Alright then." I said simply. "See you then." I said when he hung up.

Looking at the phone, I frowned and put it back in my pocket. Sartorius was certainly acting strange… He never hung up nor changed the subject so quickly. It was as if he wanted to just finish the conversation as fast as possible… Weird.

I looked up to see the sun still hadn't set. Maybe I could go and see that forest before turning in. So I decided to just head there.

The forest had a lot of Mediterranean trees and plants. It looked a lot different from trees in Japan… I liked it though. It was a nice, pleasant change. It was definitely huge…

I walked through some trees to what seemed to be a small clearing. There was a cliff near it, which was looking right at the Mediterranean Sea. A big oak tree was not too far away from it. Looking around the small place, I walked closer to the tree and put my right hand on it.

This place was so peaceful, and the view was just beautiful… Definitely the place that made the most impression. At that moment, I forgot about all of my worries. Stupid dueling school, just being here, my parents' and Sartorius' strange behavior, and even the mysterious bracelet left my mind for a few seconds.

I let out a sigh of relief and spread out my arms while the warm wind was breezing past me. It felt so good to be free…

Suddenly, someone's hand landed on my shoulder. I turned around with a scream while my heart was literally near to jumping out of my chest from shock. The guy let out a yelp and jumped back while I quickly ran and hid behind the tree.

I took a deep breath to try to calm down my heart rate. That guy scared me so much… Who was it anyway? I finally decided to step out of my hiding place. Once I walked out from behind the tree, I could see Axel looking at me with a frown and his arms folded. It was almost as if he was waiting for me to come out…

Looking at him better, I realized he wasn't wearing the uniform I have seen today. Instead, he was dressed in a red tank top, black sleeveless vest and pants.

"Your scream can certainly pierce through one's ears." He noted. "Wouldn't have happened if you hadn't come from behind my back." I reminded a bit annoyed. "I didn't mean to scare you. I was just surprised to see someone else here. Everyone else is at the dinner after all." Axel explained while looking away.

I rolled my eyes. "Well, I'm not there anymore. Besides, I wanted to see the forest." I stated. He didn't say anything. Instead, he walked over to the cliff. "You're Italian?" He presumed, looking away from the sea and right towards me. "My accent's that obvious?" I questioned. He nodded.

"From which part of Italy are you from?" "Actually, I was born in Domino City. My parents met there, but they're from Rome." I explained. "What about you?" I then asked. "My family lives in southern France." He said simply. "So we're kind of neighbors, huh?" I raised an eyebrow. "If you could say so." He responded with that frown still on his face.

I looked at his clothing better. "Which dorm are you in?" I asked curiously. His eyes landed on me. "Obelisk Blue." He replied curtly. "What is that?" I asked, sounding completely clueless. More weird names, that was for sure…

"Wait, so you don't know how the dorms work?" Axel looked at me incredulously. "Nope. I didn't even want to be here in the first place. I hate dueling." I replied nonchalantly. "No offense, but what are you doing here then?" He asked.

I rolled my eyes. "I'm here because my parents forced me into this prison, that's why. I'm not allowed to get out of here until I graduate." I stated. "But enough about me, tell me at least what the thing is with the dorms." I quickly added.

"The West Duel Academy is modeled after the central academy in southern Japan. This island has three dorms; Obelisk Blue, Ra Yellow, and Slifer Red." Axel started once he sat at the edge of the cliff. I sat next to him. "The way you're ranked at the exam is the way you get sorted into the dorm. Obelisk Blue is for the ones who are excellent, or went to a prep school. They have the best dorm."

I looked at him for a moment. Obelisk Blue… I would definitely have to remember all those names. "Then there's Ra Yellow. It's the second-best dorm, for good students. Finally, there's Slifer Red, the lowest-ranked dorm for those who did the exam the worst." I rolled my eyes. That meant I was in the worst dorm possible, huh?

Now that I thought of it, I kind of deserved it. I studied for the exam the least I could, only so I could get passable grades. Studying was never a problem for me, I had good grades back then… But this was my way to rebel against my parents' decision to force me into this school. Hence it made sense I was a Slifer. I had bad grades because I didn't bother to learn more. It was something I intended to keep doing.

"Well, thanks for the explanation." I cracked a small smile. Axel simply nodded and looked at the sea. "Do you remember the professor from today's speech?" I then asked. "What about him?" He looked at me. "Who is he?" "That's Thelonious Viper. He's the head of the Obelisk Blue dorm." The guy said. I simply nodded. At least I knew what that man's name was…

That was when Axel stood up. "Where are you going?" I looked up at him in confusion. "Back to my dorm." He responded as if it was obvious. He then walked away without another word. "Good night to you too!" I shouted sarcastically to him before huffing. That guy was weird… First, he talked a little, and then he would walk away like that…I started playing with my bracelet.

"I love it! I'll never take it off!" The girl squealed.

I looked at my wrist in confusion. There it was again… A memory, or a hallucination, I wasn't sure what exactly it was.

At that moment, the wind started blowing yet again. I let myself fall on the grass with my arms spread out. Finally, I could get some peace and quiet… I could finally forget about all of my problems, at least for this short amount of time.

That's the fifth chapter done! A little note; don't expect seeing Serena dueling much in these few chapters. She said she'd avoid dueling as much as possible, and this is still a set up for the upcoming events in the story. Things have picked up the pace, and it should get even quicker to the real thing soon.

I hope you liked it and until next time! :)