CK: Hi, it's me again, and welcome to Chapter 3 of 'Death and Roses'! There're two things I need to tell you before I start...

1) Whenever there's a scene change (i.e. changing from reality to a dream), you'll see this:

(Death and roses, love everlasting)

I did this last chapter, and it was brought to my attention that you might not understand what that meant.

2) The next chapter will NOT be the last chapter of the story, as I had planned. Rather, I plan on doing two more chapters, since this story is going to be longer than I had thought.

Anyway, on to the responses!

Myotismon13: Thank you for the compliments, and for noticing the connection to the butterfly story! As I said in Chapter 1, I borrowed a lot from that story, but hopefully, not too much. As for the ending...well, you'll just have to wait and see. .-

Flowering Wolfsbane: Hey, weird is good! And the Twilight Zone is an old TV show known for having odd, supernatural plots that were very creepy.

CPegasus: Don't worry 'bout jumping around, now with the addition of (Death and roses, love everlasting...)! Wheee! See you online!

Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh or any comic strips or ice cream parlors or movies or really aaaaaanything in here except for, you know, the plot, the actions, the words, etc.

Death and Roses

Pegasus hugged his wife, and, when they had ended their embrace, crouched down next to her to meet her at eye level. "So, how long have you been awake for?"

"Mm....probably two hours."

"Gah....I'll never understand you morning people."

Cyndia gave him an accusing look, although she smiled to show that she was only teasing. "Just because some of us don't wait until noon to get up doesn't mean that we're morning people."

"Is it really noon already?"

"Yes, really. Honestly, the reason you stay so skinny is because you skip breakfast altogether and wake up just in time for lunch."

Pegasus chuckled and folded his arms onto her knees, looking up at her with doe-eyes. "Well, would you rather I wake up earlier and grow flabby on you?"

Cyndia wagged her finger at Pegasus, mockingly reproaching him. "Now you stop that. Those are my patented Bambi eyes, and only I can use them."

"Well, that was back when you were single. We're married now, we have to share everything. Like my shampoo that keeps running out so quickly?" Pegasus teased.

Cyndia blushed a little, but pretended to be indignant. "Just because I borrow a little of your shampoo......"

Pegasus laughed, then reached up and kissed his wife. "C'mon, let's go eat this 'breakfast' thing that you keep talking about."

"But it's lunch-time."

"So we'll have both. It'll put some meat on our skinny bones."

Cyndia laughed as she wheeled her way to the kitchen, following her husband.

(Death and roses, love everlasting...)

After an odd meal consisting of eggs, toast, and leftover pizza, Pegasus and Cyndia sat at the kitchen table feeling quite full. Croquet had left the newspaper on the table, leaving Cyndia to read the advice columns while Pegasus read the comics (of course). This resulted in Cyndia tsk-ing every few minutes at Dear Abby, while Pegasus went into fits of near-hysteria as he marveled at the genius of 'Opus' and 'Dilbert'.

After a few minutes, Pegasus looked up and turned to his wife, asking, "Any good letters in the advice columns?"

"Hm, well, there's this one woman who wants to know if its okay to have her minister baptize her ferret. What about your comics? Did Deanna have the baby yet?"

"Yes, meaning that 'For Better of for Worse' is going to abandon humor for sentimental shmutz for a week." Pegasus groaned at that last sentence, not being one for sentimental shmutz. He wanted the FUNNIES fer cryin' out loud!

Cyndia rolled her eyes a little when she heard him. "Honestly, is sentimentality so bad?"

"When it interferes with the comics? Yes, yes it is."

This remark was met with a chuckle. "You suck."

"Well, it's your fault that you went and married the guy that sucks." Pegasus, in an effort to appear insulted, pouted and crossed his arms like a three year-old would. This pose had its desired effect and made Cyndia laugh hard enough that she choked slightly on her tea.

Pegasus grinned as Cyndia tried to regain her composure. When she finally did, she sat up straight and guided her wheelchair over to where her husband sat. "Well, okay, maybe you don't suck." She rested her head against his should, peering up at him while she wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

"Aaw, you really mean it? I don't suck? That's the sweetest thing anyone's ever told me!" Cyndia giggled, and then squeezed her husband slightly. Pegasus stroked one of her hands with his own, asking her, "So, what do you want to do today? We have a whole Saturday in front of us."

"Mm, doesn't really matter to me. What about you?"

"I think today's one of those days where it's alright to just lie around the house and do nothing."

"That sounds like a plan to me."

Approximately five hours later, Pegasus lay slumped on the den couch while Cyndia sat lazily in her wheelchair. They had spent their day watching the movie 'The Birdcage', watching old cartoons from the sixties, attempting to make brownies but ultimately eating the batter, and, to top it all off, engaging in a rambunctious pillow fight. By that point, the sugar from the brownie batter had worn off, and they were a bit worn out.

Pegasus, who had overdosed badly on the batter, looked over at his wife, who also seemed to be stuffed with the gooey substance. Her wheelchair glimmered slightly, and Pegasus suddenly felt sad, even though he had been so happy only seconds ago. Pegasus remembered when the doctors had told Cyndia's family that she would need a wheelchair for the rest of her life. Surprisingly, though, they were somewhat happy to hear this. They had expected much worse. They had thought Cyndia was going to die.

Pegasus remembered the day Cyndia got hurt vividly. She had suffered spinal damage, and had lost the use of her legs. But she recovered nicely, and she had been doing well ever since the accident.

Ah, yes....'the accident'. Nobody ever liked to talk about what had happened to Cyndia. Everyone just called it 'the accident'. It wasn't even really an accident, but it was vague enough that people could say it freely without bringing up painful memories. And no one really wanted to remember what had happened. All anyone wanted was a phrase that was non-descript enough that they could forget.

Pegasus's thoughts were interrupted when Cyndia, feeling quite bloated and sluggish, moaned, "I dun think that we should have eaten all that batter....."

Pegasus grinned. "But it tasted so good at the time."

Cyndia grunted slightly as she attempted to pull herself upright in her wheelchair. "Ugh.......I am NEVER eating another brownie in my life."

Pegasus smirked. "You've said that before when you had too many brownies."

"Well, this time I mean it."

"Right."

Pegasus checked his watch, then sat up, somewhat uncomfortably. "It's only five in the afternoon, but I'm ready to hit the sack."

"You've only been awake for a few hours!"

Pegasus stood up, then began to head out of the room while still talking. "Yeah, but you wore me out with pillow fighting."

Cyndia grinned impishly, remembering. "I beat you good, didn't I-...."

Cyndia would have continued her sentence if it hadn't been that Pegasus, tricking her into a false sense of security, had just picked up a pillow and thwacked her on the head, screeching, "Your guard was down!"

And thus began an hour-long pillow fight, after which the insane couple collapsed and fell asleep in their den, not awaking until the next morning....

(Death and roses, love everlasting...)

Pegasus was trapped in the dark room once again, just like the other dreams. Once again he was alone, but this time, he could see a mirror several feet away from him. He walked closer to it so that he could look at his reflection.

But it wasn't his reflection that he saw. It was Cyndia. Cyndia stood at the other end of the mirror, peering at him from worlds away yet only through half an inch of glass.

Pegasus, stunned, put the palm of his right hand against the glass, trying to see if he could reach through to Cyndia. As he did so, Cyndia raised her left hand and pressed it against her side of the glass. When Pegasus moved his hand away, she moved hers away. And when Pegasus blinked in surprise, so did she.

Pegasus realized with a start that she must be his reflection. But when he looked down at himself, all he could see was the same old Pegasus.....red suit, white hair, one eye missing. But even as he was checking to see that he was the same person, so did Cyndia. It was a very odd experience.

Pegasus stepped back from the mirror for a second, and the second he did, his surroundings changed completely. Now, there was not just one mirror. He was in a hallway lined from top to bottom with mirrors. And in each and every one, Cyndia stared back at him.

Pegasus looked to his left and right. The hallway seemed endless in both directions. But very far off to the right, he saw, was a spot on the wall where there was no glass. Instinctively, he ran towards it, and as he did, several different Cyndias did as well.

After a few minutes of running, Pegasus stopped, gasping for air. When he had finally caught his breath, he looked up at the spot on the wall where there was no glass. What he saw was beautiful calligraphy spelling out a phrase on a piece of canvas stretched onto the wall. The only problem was that he couldn't read it. It was written backwards.

Following his instincts once again, Pegasus turned around to look at one of the mirrors. He looked at the calligraphy written above Cyndia's head just as she looked at the calligraphy written above his. The message that Pegasus saw surprised him.

"Memento mori."

Pegasus had barely read this message when it began to melt away, dripping as through it was on a piece of paper left outside during a rainstorm. As soon as the old message disappeared, though, a new one took its place.

"In pace requiescat."

Pegasus had only just finished reading those words when he felt a sharp pain in his chest as though his heart would explode. And with that, he fell to the ground and the world was no more.

(Death and roses, love everlasting...)

"Pegasus?"

ZZ-ZZ-ZZ-ZZ

"Pegasus?"

ZZ-ZZ-ZZ-ZZ

"Pegasus."

ZZ-ZZ-ZZ-ZZ

"Pegasus!"

Pegasus felt a sharp jab to his shoulder, and he sat up abruptly, realizing that someone was trying to wake him up. He looked around frantically to find that he was in the middle of a movie theater, and that the end credits were rolling.

Cyndia, who was the one who had poked him, gave him a slightly disapproving look. "Fall asleep, did we?"

Pegasus yawned, then sat upright and attempted to look lively. "Mebbe."

He and Cyndia were now seventeen. They had been going out for the last two years, but they had kept their relationship a secret from their families and friends. This was supposed to be their two-year anniversary, but Pegasus had been unable to resist temptation and had fallen asleep in the middle of the 6:15 screening of 'Titanic'.

Cyndia, who was sweeping dry, stale popcorn off of her shoulders, noted: "You spilled your popcorn on me during the big romance scene."

"Which scene?"

"The big roman-......oh, never mind."

Pegasus looked sheepish as he noticed the extent to which the popcorn had gotten spilled. "Sorry 'bout that."

Cyndia, after having picked the final kernel out of her hair, turned to him and smiled reassuringly. "It's alright. It was four hours long."

Pegasus rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and turned to her, asking, "Do you want to go get some ice cream? We've got 45 minutes before our curfews are up."

"Sure."

Several minutes later, after a trip to a Dairy Queen stand, the two sat on a bench near the park, debating the endless flavor war of rocky road vs. chocolate chip cookie dough.

Pegasus, who had finished his ice cream and was working on eating the cone, commented, "Cookie dough is all well and good, but sticking it in vanilla isn't exactly genius. There's a million ice creams where someone took some sort of candy and stuck it into vanilla ice cream."

"But if you believe that, then rocky road's no different. I mean, that's just chocolate with marshmallows and nuts."

Pegasus would have replied, but as Cyndia began to take another lick of her ice cream, a big glob of chocolate chip cookie dough fell off of the cone and into Pegasus's lap. Cyndia giggled a little as Pegasus tried to wipe it off of his pants leg, getting the sticky substance all over his hands in the process.

Cyndia watched him, still giggling. "I guess that's karma. That has to be divine retribution for getting popcorn all over 't there have been a less messy way of karmic retribution?"

"It could be worse. What if the ice cream had gotten into your hair?"

"If it had, I would've had a lot of explaining to do when I got home."

Cyndia's giggling continued, and when it ended a smile remained as Pegasus finished the sticky task. When he had finished, stains of ice cream still remained on his fingers.

Cyndia posed a more serious question for Pegasus as he tried to wash his fingers off in a nearby water fountain. "So where did you tell your parents that you were going for four hours?"

"I said that I had just realized that a major report on the Battle of Waterloo was due next week, and I hadn't gotten any research done, so I needed to go to the library and wouldn't be back until late."

"I told my mom that I needed to go to a friend's house because her boyfriend had broken up with her and she was very upset."

Pegasus grinned a little as he wiped off the last bits of ice cream. "They'll believe anything, won't they?"

"Well, they'd probably rather remain ignorant. It's probably easier to ignore the evidence and just think your kid is sweet and innocent and wouldn't do aaaaaanything behind your back."

"That's true."

Cyndia took a lick of what was left of her ice cream, then sighed and stared off into space.

"I wish we didn't have to lie to them."

Pegasus looked at her and knew that she was feeling guilty. He could tell. Her eyes were like windows, and whenever he looked at them, he could see exactly what she was thinking. He could see if she was happy. Sad. Angry. Lonely. Afraid. The cool blue of her eyes were just like glass. He always thought of them as her Window Eyes.

He gave her a reassuring smile. "It isn't our fault."

"Then whose is it?"

"Theirs."

Cyndia looked unconvinced. Pegasus took her hand in his (the hand NOT holding the ice cream) and tried to console her. "Look, if it weren't for the fact that they keep squabbling, we wouldn't have to sneak around like this. If they'd just grow up and stop fighting with each other, then we wouldn't be in this situation."

Cyndia smiled sadly. "We're just some screwed up version of Romeo and Juliet, aren't we?"

Pegasus tightened the grip on her hand as he smiled warmly. "Hey, Romeo and Juliet had to kill themselves in the end. Things haven't gotten that bad for us."

Cyndia smiled a little. "I guess."

Even though she was smiling, Pegasus could tell that Cyndia was not reassured. He could tell by looking at her Window Eyes.

Pegasus tried to distract her from her guilt, at least for the moment. "How did our families end up fighting so much anyway? I remember that they were friends when we were little...."

"Money. My dad and your dad kept betting on baseball, and my dad always won. Your dad got a little upset, and wouldn't pay back what he owed. Then everything span out of control."

Pegasus, despite himself, couldn't help but smile a little. "Your family always did tell us to root for the Yankees."

"Hey, my family's originally from New York. It's in our blood to be Yankees fans."

Pegasus chuckled a little at that, and watched as Cyndia ate the last of her ice cream cone. He checked his watch to see how late it was. "I think we'd better get going. We have about 20 minutes before we need to be home."

Cyndia nodded. As she got up, Pegasus went back over to the nearby water fountain to get the remaining ice cream off of his hands, since they still felt a little sticky. As he was doing this, he heard a low whistle that sounded like it was coming from across the street. He turned his head to see a group of teenage guys walking down the sidewalk on the other end of the street. Most of them seemed to be talking amongst themselves, but one, the one who had probably done the whistling, made a phone-shape with his hand. He then moved his hand towards his ear, mouthing the words, "Call me." Your basic immature gesture made by a teenage guy on the street.

Pegasus now turned to Cyndia, and he could see through her Window Eyes that the poor soul across the street had no idea what he had just done. That guy had just set himself up for an explosion. Pegasus had been unfortunate enough on several occasions to see Cyndia's rage unleashed, although, thankfully, it had never been unleashed at him.

Cyndia's temper was building up, and in a few seconds, she would let out her fury. Until then, she had her hands clenched into fists while her teeth grinded against each other. One of her eyes began to twitch ever so slightly, and Pegasus felt it best that he intervene, or the guy across the street would probably die.

Pegasus grabbed Cyndia's shoulders to restrain her just as she began screaming wildly, trying her best to struggle her way out of Pegasus' grasp. "YOU GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE, YOU DIRTY LITTLE SHIT!!!" Pegasus, in a desperate attempt to restrain her, held her arms behind her back to keep her from maiming the guy.

The guy on the other side of the street, obviously startled, looked around him quickly to check that her rage was, in fact, aimed at him and not someone nearby. Cyndia quickly picked up on this and started screaming, "I'M LOOKING AT YOU, YES, YOU!!!!! YOU SONUVABITCH!!!"

By this time, the guy's friends had caught on to what was happening, and seemed to be trying to usher their friend down the street as quickly as possible. Cyndia continued to shriek. "WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING?!!!! DON'T YOU FUCKING WALK AWAY FROM ME!!!!"

With that, the group of guys made their way quickly down the street and made their way around a street corner. Pegasus waited a few seconds until Cyndia seemed to have calmed down somewhat, and then released her.

Cyndia turned to Pegasus, slightly miffed. "Why'd you stop me?"

"Because I don't want to have to testify against you in court."

Cyndia sat down and sighed. "He was being an asshole."

"Maybe, but I'm not sure that that's an offense worthy of the death penalty."

"Is my temper really that out of control?

"It is. Really. Don't you remember Alice?"

Cyndia smiled a little. "Yeah, I remember. That was too bad, what happened to her."

Pegasus remembered Alice well. He had been there when she had broken. She was a porcelain doll that Cyndia had gotten when she was three, and whom Cyndia had treasured ever since. Throughout her childhood, Alice had been Cyndia's pride and joy. She had always had a special place on Cyndia's bookshelf, where she would stare blankly at any and all passers-by.

Unfortunately for Alice, Cyndia flew into a rage one day when she was eleven. In her temper, Cyndia kicked the wall where her bookshelf was, and Alice, who had been sitting too close to the edge of the shelf, toppled onto the hardwood floor face-first.

It had been a grotesque sight for the eleven year-old Pegasus. There on the ground lay the shattered pieces of something Cyndia loved dearly, as though it were a real person instead of a plaything. Alice's face had split into tiny little fragments, and her limbs were twisted horribly. Tiny powdered bits of porcelain surrounded the doll fragments. It was rather strange seeing one of Alice's eyes half-closed on her face, while another one lay half-open several inches away. Cyndia had wept terribly. Alice had been like a close family member to her. Even though Alice was glued together soon afterward, it always stuck out in Pegasus's memory, because it was the closest thing to death that he would see until he was seventeen.

(Death and roses, love everlasting...)

That night, Pegasus dreamt once again of the dark room, the one with no walls or ceiling. This time, though he was not alone. He sat in audience of faceless people, each of whom stared at a small stage that seemed to be set up for a magic show.

In a puff of smoke, the man with the cigar appeared on stage, dressed in a magician's cloak and top hat. He waved around a wand, and with another puff of smoke, Cyndia appeared next to him, dressed as though she were his assistant.

The man with the cigar then stood on a small box, addressing the crowd and waving his arms about for dramatic effect. "For tonight's show, my lovely assistant and I," he gestured towards Cyndia and himself, "will perform a disappearing act! Prepare to be amazed, my friends..." The man cast a yellow-toothed grin directly at Pegasus. "Prepare to be amazed."

The man waved his wand, and a human-sized box appeared on the stage, between him and Cyndia. The fact that the box was shaped like a coffin was not lost on Pegasus. The man escorted Cyndia into the box, and as he shut the door on her, she waved at the audience coyly.

The man stepped away from the box, twirled his wand a few times, then pointed it directly at the box. With a puff of smoke, the box's door opened all on its own, and revealed.......

......a gravestone.

Once again, the man looked at Pegasus with the yellow-toothed grin. He waved his wand, and with another puff of smoke, the box's door closed and opened again, revealing an IV.

The man repeated these motions, and the door closed and opened to reveal an IV.

One more time, the man waved his wand, and with yet another puff of smoke, the box's door closed, then opened to reveal Cyndia, who waved to the audience. As the man made his way over to the box to guide Cyndia out, she teasingly stole his wand, and then pushed him into the box, shutting him inside. The faceless audience laughed.

Cyndia tapped the box with the wand one, two, three times. She waved the wands deftly, then tapped the box one more time. The smoke that ensued enveloped both her and the box. When the smoke cleared, the man with the cigar stood outside the box, while the box's door lay wide open, revealing a bouquet of flowers inside.

The flowers were roses.

The faceless audience went wild, applauding, whistling, and cheering for the man with the cigar. The man took several bows, heeding the cries for an encore by continuing to puff away at his cigar.

"WAIT!"

The audience stopped applauding and the man with the cigar stopped bowing. All of them turned to looks at Pegasus, who had stood up and was calling out to the man with the cigar.

The man with the cigar, unfazed, stood upright and puffed a smoke ring in Pegasus's general direction. "What is it, Mr. Crawford?"

Pegasus tried his best to ignore the blank stares of the faceless audience. "Where is Cyndia? Where did she go?"

The man with the cigar grinned. "She disappeared. Weren't you watching?"

"She couldn't have disappeared. She must have gone somewhere. Where is she?"

"Mr. Crawford, she disappeared, just like I told you."

"But that's IMPOSSIBLE!"

The man with the cigar laughed, as did the faceless members of the audience. "Mr. Crawford, nothing is impossible while I'm around. I think you're just going to have to face the fact that this little magic show of mine didn't have the happy ending that you had wanted."

Pegasus remained stern. "Where. Is. Cyndia?"

The man with the cigar sighed as he puffed another smoke ring. "If you really want to find her, look in the box over there. If she's really gone somewhere, and didn't disappear, like I said, then you should be able to find a trapdoor or something that would lead to her location."

Pegasus seemed skeptical of the man, but he still went onto the stage and made his way over to the box. He opened the door cautiously and peered inside, but as he did so, the man with the cigar crept over and pushed him inside the box, shutting the door behind him. And so, Pegasus disappeared......

The dream ended quickly, as Pegasus was abruptly awoken by someone thwacking him on the head with a pillow.