BookDragon: "Hey, it's been really hectic at the house. Mostly my relatives showing up 'cause of my mom's accident. It's been driving me crazy."

Bill: "When she says crazy, she means pissed off irritated crazy."

BookDragon: -_-U

Bill: "Anyway, on with the fic."

Chapter 8: Lurking in the Corridors

            Ann blinked her coffee colored orbs confused as all hell. She stood in an unusual place, beyond unusual. Her bare pale feet stood upon the icy floor as she only stood in the clothes she had stolen from Bill's room last night, a yellow t-shirt that said I Heart Duel Monsters on the front and on the back read Poke'mon Sucks, with these blue pants decorated with the back of a dueling card pattern all over them. Her hair still straggled in the wind, looking like a rat's nest or worse if you can picture it, but she ignored it and watched the clouds dancing around her, wrapping her like light gray sheets, looking slightly like smoke.  The floor seemed to be a giant mirror, reflecting the bottom of her numbing feet, and her hair tossing around. Her eyes with the slight breeze, just catching a familiar figure slowly walking toward her, a dark hand stretching toward her when her eyes flew open to Brian's olive face grinning at her.

"GAH!" She fell out of the large bed in surprise as he started to crack up in front of her, in a mess on the floor, being smothered with large fluffy blankets.

"Man, you shouldn't seen the look on your face!" She snorted at him annoyed, and stood up in the clothes from her dream, hopefully it was, and looked curiously around for Bill or Kyle.

"Where-"

"Bill's at another seminar with Pegasus, what the hell he's doing I don't know, and Kyle said something about surfing the net…Mokuba showed him that site, so their laughing their heads off. I got bored so I went to see if you were up…" He stopped and looked at her hair, making her a bit angry as she patted it down.

"Yeah, I know, do you know where the bathroom is?"

"Yeah, but you can't use it." She looked at him slightly pissed off, and scoffed at him.

"Why the hell not? Billy rules?"

"No, Bakura's been in there for like two hours, he ran in their when Bill showed him all those Fan girl stories. You can hear him scrubbing if you listen well enough, god I feel bad for him…" Ann shook her head annoyed, whipping the sleep from her eyes boredly, yawning widely and asked him if there was another bathroom she could use.

"Yeah, it's upstairs, but you got to do something weird to the door…what was it again?... something about banging on it and then slamming your head into the frame…" He looked at Ann's horrified glance, "Yeah, I know, it sounds pretty weird…but you _do_ know Bill can be like that…or is it that Ammon guy?"

"You met him?"

"Yeah, in a bad mood…I think he threw a fireball at the door when I tried to open it. Bill says he's not a morning person…anyway, I think I just heard Joey and Tristan get back from the food run…let's hope they didn't eat it all on the way back…" He left her standing puzzled in the middle of the tan walled room, rubbing her toes in the feathery carpet as she jerked the closet open and started looking though the clothes it had to offer, since she felt her stank, really bad, she dully remembered shoving them under the bed to get them out of her sight so she could sleep. Walking through the closet about twenty times, finding nothing but shirts and dresses, the room was defiantly for the female guests, probably made for Tea, Mai, or Serenity. Most definitely Serenity, now that she thought about it. Shivering at the picture of them being a couple made her grab a long black downy sweater, puffy and extremely soft, and drag the only pair of dress pants. They looked a lot like those pants jeans wear, puffing out all frilly on the bottom and a light sky blue, making her sick to her stomach to know she would be wearing them in a little while, after she cleaned herself of course.  She crept out of her room slowly, and down the hall quickly and found the bathroom door open and free. Thank god.

            The room was still steamy and was the whole time she bathed, and when she dressed, and clawed all the snarls out of her hair, not noticing it was darker and tamer when it was wet. Walking out of the bathroom, her hair dripping a bit, she took a bit of a walk around the house, going up a flight of stairs, and opening random doors, finding mostly bed rooms, two other bathrooms a lot larger than the one she had just used, a dance floor, and finally one that she hear loud singing from the out side. Wondering if her ears were working right, she turned the knob easily, and peered into the room curiously, to find a shocker.

"…Today's music an 't got the same soul

I like that old time rock 'n' roll

Don't try to take me to a disco

You'll never even get me out on the floor

In ten minutes I'll be late for the door

I like that old time rock'n' roll!" Ann looked gawkingly at him. Yami turning the radio up to the highest setting, putting loads and loads of gel in his hair as he stared into his reflection, getting it perfectly pointed and bouncing up to the sky, mouthing the words on the radio. Putting a good guitar noise from his voice in every once in a while, making him look all the more embarrassing. Snorting with laughter she caught his immediately knocked the radio off in frenzy and looked at Ann, totally frantic.

"I was…uh…um…yeah…"

"I won't tell anyone…" She shivered, "…I'm just going to pretend that didn't happen…um…I'm guessing Yugi is definitely not here?"

"No, he's spending the day with Tea." Ann nodded expectedly, okay, that worked better than she had imaged. "So, I got the day to myself…you _won't_ tell him will you?" His violet eyes demanded her truthful answer that every moment.

"Oh no…never…cross my heart and hope to…never…ever." He looked puzzled at her.

"Is it really that bad?"

"…No…its just disturbing…I'm gonna go…um…I'm locking this door…bye..." He waved as she clicked the lock shut and closed the door fully. Shaking her head, completely dumbfounded at that one scene she was surprising in the back of her head, now speed walking down the hall, sputtering at it.

"God…you would've thought Yami could sing?!" She muttered under her breath as she stumbled onto another stair case. Wonderingly she let her feet take her up them, starting to wonder if there was infinite floors, it would be Bill's style, knowing Bill of course. But Ammon's? Bill was obviously in awe of Ammon, like he was of Shadi and Yami. That would probably never wear off, knowing Bill. She smiled at how much of an idiot he could be, it had just got funnier and funnier, he was the most animated of all of them, no wonder he was so comfortable in an Anime world. She walked down the pallid hall, reflecting the light and making the whole long path awake, eerily awake, like you could feel eyes on the back of her head. She was getting that creepy feeling again, like she defiantly wasn't suppose to be there, so getting smart she turned back and started toward the stairs, but found when she took a step forward, they leaped back. Blinking she started running after the fleeing stairs, always two feet in front of her, mocking her attempts of reaching them, even when she tripped forward and tumbled close to them, and stopped in the exact place where she had fallen. Getting irritated, she stood up and got the bright idea of walking toward them backwards, but only found them four feet away instead of two; she brought her face to her hands annoyed.

"Damn it." She mumbled, feeling all the more stupid, and found her bracelet still dead on her arm, so she only had the choice of going forward, which she knew she wasn't suppose to. Rather than sitting and letting someone find her in the  "out of bounds" she decided to check it out, walking by the long stretching doors, ever slim and made of some kind of wood, looking a lot like cedar. She tried to open only one of them, and it was locked, leading her to suspect not to waste any more of her time, assuming they were all locked she kept going up the hall, turning the corner, and up the next stretch of hall, to a stair case. She did this on every floor about five times, getting panicky and very tired, when suddenly out of the glow she heard a familiar voice.

"DAMN HIM!" It growled aloud, making her curiously turn the corner to find a red faced Kaiba pulling franticly on all the door knobs, with what Ann was almost sure she could see stream leaking out of his ears, she found herself sweat dropping at all his pissed off nonsense.

"Hey, don't bother I already tried." She yawned at him boredly, making his head spin upward to glare at her with surprise.

"What are you doing up here?"

"The same thing as you, being curious and disregarding Bill's rules, and trying to get the hell out." Ann told him boredly, "The only way out is up from here, from what I'm guessing…that or out a window."

"I already tried that an hour ago…you just keep falling until you grab the window sill." Kaiba spat annoyed as he removed her clenched white fists from the door irritated at Ann's look of astonishment.

"…have you tried any of those codes?" Kaiba glared at her.

"Yes…and I'm going to have a headache for a year, god I need an aspirin…" He pressed his eyes with his fingers, telling Ann it was pretty bad. Knowing Kaiba was always independent and powerful, or trying to look like it. It made her laugh sometimes in the middle of class when she thought back on it.

"What the hell are you smiling at?"

"…Nothing…why are you even up here?"

"That is my own business…" Ann rolled her eyes annoyed

"That figures…Well, what now?"

"Well, _I'M_ going this way, tag along if you wish, if you desire the company." He started forward and turned the corner briskly, adjusting his callor while doing so, making sure to look very professional all the while. Ann slowly shook her head. Kaiba's company was on the line of hell, but she supposed Bill wouldn't be happy if he got into trouble with the magical sort. Let's face it. Kaiba's a real dunce when it came to magic. She followed him with her head hung low, knowing this was not going to be at all enjoyable.   

            It was silent all the way through the three hallways and four staircases, in the fourth hallway, the boards under their feet creaked horribly, like no one had stepped on the floor for ages, like the house was even old come to think of it. It was just plain weird. It was enough to feel how wrong it was to be there in the first place, and the fact it was slowly getting darker wasn't helping matters. The squeak of the boards numbed the sound of her heart beating in her ears, uneasily fixing her callor as Kaiba persisted easily, making her feel all the more stupid to be freaking out. Her fingers grew colder as the sweat slowly started she was so freaked, staring at the back of Kaiba's head, trying to calm herself when a hand suddenly rested on her shoulder. She immediately screamed like a little girl and spun around quickly, coming face to face with Yami wince at the loud scream she had made. She heard Kaiba groan a moment later from both his presence and her shout, as she clutched at her chest feeling edgy and pissed off.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT?!" She yelled at him, as he cleared his ears with his fingers, and spoke a bit too loud for being normal.

"I was being cautious..." The anger drained from her face abruptly to fear.

"…Cautious? Why?" He looked at her carefully through the dimness, his violet orbs striking like lightning in the darkness.

"...Egypt was a dangerous place…very dangerous…let's hope Ammon hasn't placed a few traps out…"  Kaiba rolled his eyes at him annoyed.

"Let's us go, we're not getting out any faster by just pushing carbon dioxide around." He kept forward fumingly, making Ann shrug as Yami walked forward in his stern yet superior stance, Ann just pursuing them both unsure of what else to do.

"…What do you remember about Egypt?" Ann asked confused when she thought about it further.

"Not really anything…just what I've been told…" Ann nodded, getting that it was only him that did not remember. She had heard that he had sealed his memory away when he locked the magic away to save the people; she wondered if he had even been told even that.

"Ammon says it was a treacherous time, where no one was safe, your world is calm compared to back then…or so Ammon had told me."

"And already it's a dog-eat-dog world, how much as Ammon told you?"

"…What I need to know for now is his words." Yami's voice sounded a bit feed up so she didn't continue with this subject, and instead, she stuffed her hands into the silky cloth pockets and started annoying at the puffed pants bottoms. It was silent again for a time, making her ears hurt with the buzz of it, until she scrummed to it's power gloomily.

"…So…was Bill still at the seminar when you left Kaiba?"

"Yes. He usually takes about six hours for each one. Which is usually four times a week…"

"What do you think he does for six hours?" Ann asked him curiously.

"How the hell am I to know? I stay out of that business with that psycho…he should too if you ask me." It was true Peggy had turned a bit twisted, maybe he had changed…that or had Bill under some kind of charm. That would be hard with out his millenium eye. But he was ill, in his heart, and has been for a long time; there was nothing she could do about it. They kept forward through the steady growing gloom, Kaiba and Yami's shadows walking in the most serious manner, imprinted shadows moving swiftly on the walls, followed by her jerking nervous one, looking increasingly jumpy with each silent trot. She felt like a foolish child compared to them. It only made it worse when Yami just stopped in the middle of the hallway frozen a moment; he held his arm out to stop her behind him.

"Hold." His voice was calm and commanding, Kaiba made sense to listen to it, and stopped dead.

"What?"

"Did you hear that?" They were silent, the three pairs of ears working furiously at the dimness, Ann holding her breath at the lack of sound, becoming restless. Yami's breath was deep and steady, his violet eyes staring at the back of Kaiba's head, concentrating on his ears. Kaiba turned to his stare a few moments, with an irritated glare to them, crossing his arms immediately on the spin of his heel.

"…I have no time for childish games Yami, let's stop with act and keep on." He turned back quickly to his striding pattern, making Yami hesitate a moment, then start after him, Ann just ran after them both. Her eyes were wider and more alert at that brief listening period, feeling more and more unsafe as the light grew darker and darker. The corridor became longer and longer, after each pair of stairs. On the twentieth hallway it went completely dark. They were lucky that Kaiba that a packet of matches in his pocket. Yami tried to strike one several times, but ended up wasting about three of them when Kaiba forcefully took them back with a glare and lit it with a flick of his wrist, holding out in front of them, watching it quickly eat the rest of the wood. Afraid of disappearing light, she had never wanted to have a candle so badly in her own entire life, and looked to the door wishfully, catching a small glimpse of a swift shadow that didn't belong to any of them. Ann immediately flinched in response and almost screamed, swallowing it and taking in a quivering gasp. Yami turned to her, forcing a candle into her hands immediately, with the weirdest look covering his stern face. Blinking in surprise she held the green waxy texture in her shaky white hands, looking down at the heat of the dancing flames.

"…It's been following us for about five floors now." He told her calmly, holding a lit candle of his own, watching the shock twist to fear on her face.

"…What do you think it is?" Kaiba asked him boredly, not taking it seriously at all; being the average "I don't believe in this Magic bullshit" Kaiba. Ann just put her hand to her wrinkled forehead, getting already tired of his attitude at Yami's angry look.

"Nothing you would believe Kaiba…I doubt we will find our exit by the way we are traveling as well…we need to open the doors."

"How do we do that?" Her voice crept out timidly. Yami smiled at her shyly, reminding her a bit like a fox, as he pointed to her arm with total confidence, at the bracelet underneath the black fluffy material of her sweater.

"You'll use that."

BookDragon: "Sorry for the cliffy guys, I'm still trying to work stuff out."

Bill: "Review please."