A/N: Not much to say… Except this chapter's early! W0ot!

Willowwind, here's the next chapter… and aren't I special enough to get E-mail anymore? –sniffle- only kidding. How's it going with the cousins from the state I can't even PRONOUNCE, let alone spell?

Disclaimer: If I said that I owned YGO and that I never told lies, you would believe me. (Think about it…)

Chapter Ten: The End of Azreal?

Joey awoke with a fading feeling of embarrassment, though he didn't know why. The more awake he became, the more he forgot it so it probably wasn't important. At least, not as important as breakfast.

Having rolled out of bed, Joey began to walk across his room to the door in order to leave the room. However, as he did so, he felt his eyes being drawn to his desk.

There was nothing usual about the desk, nothing special, it was exactly the same as he'd left it the day before; littered with pencils and rubbers, screwed up pieces of paper all over everywhere…his attempts at drawing over the last week and a half. No doubt he'd just sit down again today and leave in frustration, just as he had done everyday. But then again…he did have one idea…

Hardly daring to hope, Joey removed a pile of clothes from his chair and sat down slowly. Would he able to draw anything this time?

The pencil practically leapt into his hand, and the images to his mind. At first they came slowly, but then they just seemed to skip the pencil and pour out, fully formed onto the paper.

He smiled. Joey Wheeler had got his art back.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"Urrghmmph…"

"You're still alive then."

"Am I…? Oh good… That's great…"

"Still sick though."

"No…no I'm not…just because I sleep doesn't mean…that…"

"You've been sleeping for two days, Azreal."

"…Two days!"

"This is the third morning. Besides, you still have a fever."

"No… three days… I hafta get back to work…"

"Work? Excuse me, but you never seemed to do that much anyway."

"…I'm gonna get fired…"

"Az, no-one can expect you to work in the state you're in. And, coming from me, you know it's bad."

"…Stopped too long…I need to get back…"

"Az?"

"I hafta do this!"

"Azreal! How are you planning on working if you can't even stand up!"

" I can stand… I can so…"

"Woah!"

"…"

"She says. Good job I'm here, or you would've smacked off the floor."

"…but…"

"Just go back to sleep, alright?"

"…"

"Az? Azreal…? Well, I didn't expect you to listen to me that quickly… but who's complaining?" A shrug as he peeled Azreal off him and laid her back on the sofa.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

A few hours later, nothing had really changed. Seto was just about to finish a document on his laptop (Nothing of any importance- he was just to proud to write a letter grovelling to the Americans so he was putting it off for as long as possible.) when suddenly, he saw a flash of light. Which to him, could only mean two things:

A passing thunderstorm, or the appearance of a muse. What had he seen directly before Azreal appeared? A flash of light. As it turned out, unsurprisingly, it was the latter. Lots of the latter.

Not even Seto could remain uninterested as the room began to fill up with muses. He looked at them curiously- after all, the only muse he had seen before was Azreal, and he had a feeling that she wasn't exactly normal.

There were four of them, three girls and a guy. They were all tall, well, taller then Azreal, at least. But then, most people were. Plus, they all had blond hair and while Azreal's hair was light, it was undeniably brown. None of them wore glasses, though that could just be a coincidence. The three girls/women (Who could tell how old they were?) seemed to be very keen on light blues and whites, as well as dresses or long robes. Seto couldn't really get a good look at the guy, he was skulking round in a doorway behind the others. All in all, they looked very different to Azreal.

They still hadn't said a word to him, or each other. Two of the women headed over to Azreal. Seto stood up, but he didn't know why. Perhaps he was trying to regain some command over the room, or maybe it was just a subconscious movement in preparation for helping Azreal, should he be needed. Well, whatever the reason, it was completely instinctual.

This movement caused the guy to glance up at him, but his eyes barely stopped moving before he was scowling at the doors again. It also caused the third woman, older and evidently in charge, to look sharply in his direction, and head purposefully in his direction. Seto crossed his arms and waited. He wasn't feeling to hospitable.

"You must be…" The woman glanced down at a clipboard which Seto would've sworn hadn't been there a second ago and scanned the page. "Seto Kaiba?"

"What's it to you?" Seto asked, though he knew it was a pretty dumb thing to say.

"It must be." The woman sighed "You have a little reputation going that says you're a git. Sorry about this… We'll be right with you…" And she walked off, crouching down next to the other two by the sofa and talking to them in a low voice, leaving Seto a little surprised at her audacity. And something about that conversation had seemed oddly familiar…Just like when he first met Azreal. They hadn't exactly got off to a good start…

"Seto Kaiba?"

"What's it to you?"

"It is you, then. I heard you were rude git."

"'Git'? What are you, British? You sound like a Harry Potter novel."

"Not exactly… Now, c'mon!"

"I'm not going anywhere."

"But it's your turn! You have to!"

"What? Do what? Go where? Just who do you think you are, coming here insulting people and giving half-formed explanations!"

"Didn't I introduce myself? Opps. I'm a Muse, 3rd class. Name of Azreal. Currently assigned to an artist with a lack of ideas. And you're my on-site help. Everyone has to do at some point… Think jury duty. Anyhoo, I'll explain better later! We hafta get goin'! Sorry, I'm running a little late…"

"A muse. Sure. Whatever. I'm outta here."

He hadn't got away, of course. He was still in this, and it seemed like things were finally coming to an end. What kind of end, and who's, remained to be seen.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Yugi was putting some bin liners out onto the pavement outside the game shop for the bin men to get in the morning when he saw them. Ryou and Téa, walking along the road together. He didn't know what had happened to the group recently… There was only a few days of the holiday left and they had barely met up. Everyone seemed to be doing their own thing. Grandpa had seen fit to give him a load of chores in the shop, Duke had phoned Yugi the other night very excited about something- Yugi hadn't been able to understand much, but from what he could glean from the babble Duke had some very important meetings this week that could make him rich and established across the world- either way, it would take up most of Duke's spare time; Mai was spending a few days in Paris with her cousins after her aunt got sick at the last minute and couldn't go, Tristan was also out of town, Joey was busy with goodness knows what and had hardly been seen or heard from over the last few days, and as for Ryou and Téa… Well, they just hadn't been seen either. And although Tristan and Mai were due back the next day and Duke was scheduled to finish whatever deal he was doing then as well, (but it had been originally intended to finish the day before, so Yugi didn't hold out much hope) the group still seemed very disjointed.

Ryou and Téa had stopped and were now standing by a crossroad. Yugi was about to call out to them when his voice stopped on his lips as Ryou and Téa squeezed hands and went their separate ways; Téa round the corner and Ryou continuing up towards him, though he still hadn't noticed Yugi. So Yugi called him.

"Ryou! Hey!" He shouted, waving. Ryou looked up, surprised, waved back, and walked a little faster till he reached the shop.

"Hi there, Yugi." He said "I haven't seen you around for a while… Putting the bins out?" He added, nodding at the black bags.

"Nope." Yugi joked, dumping the bags. "Just taking the rubbish for a walk." He sat down on the wall that bordered the garden and sat down next to an overgrown bush, gesturing for Ryou to do the same. "I'd ask you to come in, but I have a feeling Grandpa would just have us both mopping the floor."

Ryou laughed. "I'll help if you really want me to. I haven't got anything else planned today."

"No, it's alright." Yugi replied. "It won't take long. Was that Téa with you down there?"

"Yes, it was." Ryou nodded "She had a dance lesson, and I was heading up to town, so…"

"Oh, don't let me keep you if you need to get off." Yugi said anxiously.

"It's alright. I only needed to buy a stamp. It'll keep."

They sat in silence for a while. Yugi knew- and had a suspicion that Ryou knew- what needed to be addressed. It was just a matter of working up to it.

"You've been spending a lot of time with Téa recently, haven't you?" He asked eventually. Ryou nodded.

"Mmm."

"You must really like her." Yugi laughed, in an attempt to cover up his awkwardness.

"Yes, I do." Ryou replied uncomfortably, hiding behind his hair. Very useful stuff, hair. Yugi put this down to shyness, but in truth Ryou was feeling a little guilty. "I hope you don't… I didn't realise…"

"Shut up." Yugi said, nudging him "Before you embarrass both of us."

They found interesting spots in the sky and on the floor respectively, and studied them for a while.

"Not that I blame you." Yugi said slowly, still embarrassed. "I mean I-" He was surprised when Ryou stood up and held a hand to stop him talking.

"I think this has gone on long enough." He said. "What do you reckon?"

For a moment, Yugi wondered vaguely what was going on, then he was surprised to realise that Ryou was apparently addressing the bush. He was even more surprised to hear the bush respond.

"Yeah, I guess… This is just getting sad."

Then Yugi recognised the voice almost instantly. "Téa?" He asked. Sure enough, Téa stood up from behind the bush and stepped over it.

"Hi Yugi, Ryou." She said, as though she hid behind bushes in people's front gardens everyday.

Yugi looked back and forth between them in confusion. Ryou shrugged, and Téa said nothing.

"Just what," Yugi said finally "Is going on here?"

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"What do you reckon?" Rebecca, Millierie's secretary, asked the two medics anxiously, but in a low voice so that Seto wouldn't overhear their conversation. She may be here on work, aka. The Right-hand person in running the musing community, but she had always had a bit of a soft spot for her boss' rouge daughter.

"No doubt about it." The first medic replied "This girl doesn't just need to return to Wherever, she needs a hospital, fast!"

"I don't know why we weren't informed before." The second one scowled. "Signs of something this serious would have been showing up for days, even weeks!"

Rebecca shrugged uselessly. "I'm afraid I don't have any answers for you, but I'll look into it." She promised. "However, it sounds as though you should be getting that girl out of here now!"

"Right!" The two nodded, lifting Azreal between them and beginning to carry her to the door.

"This would be a lot easier if she didn't keep changing her mind about being muse or ethral." Number two said, half-jokingly this time so Seto could hear.

"You," Number one said, nodding at Seto. "How long has she been doing this?"

"Since I've known her." Seto replied, letting the mask of coldness slip in his worry. "More frequently since she's been sleeping."

The two medics glanced at each other, and though they did not make any response to Seto's statement, they both walked a little faster.

"Is she going to be alright?" Seto asked suddenly as they left the room.

"Of course." They replied, but they did not meet his eye.

They did not materialise and put on a human form as they left the room. Why should they? They were medics, not muses! Besides, just because Azreal was fading in and out of human's viewing range, didn't mean they had to.

Of course, they were being watched. And most people are a little freaked to see a body apparently floating of it's own accord down the stairs.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"We're taking Azreal to a hospital back in Wherever." Rebecca explained hurriedly. "She is the priority right now. When and if she recovers, we'll have a review of this case to see if she keeps her job and if all the screw-ups down here were her fault or not."

Seto knew Azreal hadn't exactly done anything, but he couldn't see any screw-ups… He nodded anyway.

"It is the management's opinion that this case can still be salvaged, however, so until such a time that the case is either deemed completed or aborted, Azreal will be replaced and the case handed to another muse in the attempt to repair the damage. At the end of the case, you will have your mind wiped as originally planned, both of us, Azreal and her replacement, as will the others she made contact with. Any questions?"

"Who's replacing her?" Seto asked stonily. Rebecca gestured at the guy to come forward.

"Lira Klio." Rebecca said, proudly. "One of our best."

"I get jobs done twice as well and twice as fast as anyone else!" Lira smiled, showing perfect white teeth. "If I were you, I'd sure be pleased to meet me!" He laughed loudly.

"Likewise." Seto replied through gritted teeth. He already disliked this guy.

There are some people in this world, and apparently in Wherever to, that are blessed with good looks even though they don't deserve it. Lira was evidently one of them, with fashionably messy blond hair, ice blue eyes and dressed like he was god's gift to women. Evidently, nothing was different in Wherever then it was on Earth. He was attractive and good at what he did, and he knew it. Seto could already tell this guy had an ego the size of Scotland. No-one could deny that he had it made, even though he didn't deserve it. He was a complete and utter jerk, it was clear to see.

This statement was often attributed to Seto himself in the girls toilet's and changing rooms, though of course Seto had no way of knowing that. But I divulge.

Rebecca could already see the tension building between Seto and Lira, and decided to make herself scarce.

As soon as the door closed behind her, Lira's smile faded.

"You want to be like that?" He snarled "Fine. Just stay out of my way while I try and save this John kid so I can get home and back to my comforts!"

"His name is Joey." Seto spat back, determined to find some sort of a comeback, however lame.

"Whatever." Lira dismissed. "I was supposed to be on leave till I had to go and pick up the pieces that mongrel left behind. It's very appropriate that she's named after the angel of Destruction."

"At least she doesn't have a girl's name." Seto retorted. "Klio. A muse from Greek Mythology, right? I believe she was the muse of History and heroic poetry, am I wrong?"

"I earned that surname!" Lira said angrily.

"Really?" Seto smirked, glad to see that he was already irritating the guy. At moments like these, he was almost glad Gozaburo had made him read all those text books… "What did you do? Write a poem about yourself?"

"I wouldn't expect you to understand, you pathetic human!" Lira shouted. Seto shrugged and left him to smoulder. Looking completely unconcerned, he re-booted his laptop and accessed the internet.

"What are you doing?" Lira asked, annoyed at being ignored. He looked over Seto's shoulder at the website he was on. "Hey, isn't that the comic I'm supposed to get updated?"

"Oh, I'm so glad you've done your research." Seto replied sarcastically "Imagine if you had no idea what you were doing!"

"Shut it." Lira snarled. "So, you actually read this trash?"

"You're not very supportive."

"Hey, I just have to inspire the guy. No-one said anything about encouragement. Or telling the truth."

"Hmmph."

"So, you didn't answer my question. Do you read it?"

"Read it?" Seto laughed "I run the whole friggin' website for him! Didn't know who it was when I started of course… And he doesn't know who I am, thank goodness…" Seto had never admitted that to anyone, except Mokuba- and he hadn't even told Mokuba that it was Wheeler's comic. So he moved on quickly. "There's a character named after you, you know."

"Really?" Lira replied in a carefully bored tone. "He must have had some residual Memories form our last encounter."

"Last encounter?"

"Oh yes. You think he started that comic on his own? Not one of my better cases… So, is this character any good? I hope he didn't make me look ugly…"

"Oh, the character's nothing like you."

"No?"

"Nope. I mean, he has more Morals then you, and he's a thief."

"I hardly think that you, of-"

This very interesting 'discussion' was interrupted by Mokuba bursting into the room.

"Seto." He said slowly. "What is going on… and why was that Mitsan girl floating down the stairs?"

Uh-oh.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Téa and Ryou explained themselves, trying not to laugh as they did so. Their trick had been cruel, yes, but funny. Very funny. Yugi was laughing to, which was a nice surprise for them. They were glad he could see the humour in it. To be honest, he had never been all that enthusiastic to set Téa and Ryou up and it was great to see them give as good as they got. Plus they were the last to people Yugi would expect to do something so devious…

"Hey." He said suddenly, with a strange look on his face. "Have you told Duke and the others yet?"

"No." Ryou replied, confused. "Why?"

"Because I have a brilliant idea…" Yugi grinned.

"I'm intrigued." Téa said "Tell me more."

"Um, Téa…?" Ryou said tentatively "Didn't you really have a dance class?"

"Yeah," Téa said lightly. "But it doesn't start till-" she glanced at her watch and started t run down the street. "Fifteen minutes ago! Sorry guys!"

The other two watched her go in slight disbelief.

"Anyway…" Ryou prompted. Yugi opened his mouth to continue, but was interrupted by Solomon sticking his head out of the game shop door.

"Yugi." He said "I'm sorry to pull you away from your friends but this floor won't mop itself!" He went back inside.

Yugi's face fell. "Well, I guess that's it… Maybe I can phone you or something… Anyway, I'll see you tomorrow. Are we all still meeting up at the park?"

Ryou nodded, then added "I'll give you a hand, Yugi. I want to find out this idea of yours!"

"You sure?"

"Oh yes. When you get cunning, Yugi, it's usually worth seeing…"

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Mokuba had been walking innocently along the hall when it happened. Well, not really innocently, as he was going with the intention of eavesdropping on his older brother, but still. He was worried about his brother, suddenly using that creepy room and not letting him in… and now he could hear Seto's voice again, even though he had heard no-one enter the room.

"Is she going to be alright?" he heard his brother say as the door opened, and a body, that he quickly recognised as the weird Mitsan girl, floated out, carried by invisible threads. Mokuba instinctively knew he couldn't be seen, and went to hide in his room for a while. Once he had convinced himself that he was sane and that all the strange events of the past week were connected, he went to confront his brother.

He had to know what was going on.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Rebecca knocked softly on Millierie's office door. "Ma'am?" She called out. "It's me."

"Oh, come in 'Becca." Millierie called, and as her secretary entered the large room, stood up. "Well? How is everything?"

"Azreal has returned to Wherever Miss, but is in the General Hospital."

"The General Hospital!" Millierie exploded "Then why am I paying for private health care!"

"The…the General Hospital was nearer, ma'am. I'm afraid it doesn't look good."

"Oh Lord…" Millierie groaned "It had to be Azreal, didn't it? Pass me my coat, please, Rebecca." Rebecca complied, but still asked a question.

"Where are you going though?"

Millierie looked at her as though she was a fool. "The hospital!"

"Millierie…" Rebecca said slowly "I speak to you now as a friend…you can't just up and leave. There's no time to organise the proper security, and it's not safe out there…besides, we're up to our necks here, someone's been illegally Speed Inspiring and now half of Shakespeare's plays have been affected… we need you, Millie."

Millierie looked at her desperately. "I know! But I've already missed so much of Azreal's life… she needs me to."

Rebecca looked at her. "Alright. Go on. I'll cover you."

"Thankyou." Millierie gasped, already half out of the room.

"You'll have to come back if the Shakespeare thing crops up!" Rebecca called after her, shaking her head.

"I know!"

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

A/N: Chapter ten done, and whew, that was a hard one! All that in one day! You've finally met Lira (CoughDorian!Cough) and boy, is he a jerk! You wouldn't believe the extensive research gone into this chapter… and I use extensive in the smallest sense of the word… I've planned this story to be thirteen chapters in total, which isn't far off my original estimate of twelve chapters. As there are only another three to go (!) I thought this would be a good time to give some background. Only read it if you're interested in how stories come about, like me! But, I must admit, I'm beginning to think I'm the only background loving freak out there… But hey, I'm bored.

The Names

I went on good ole' www. behind the name . com (No spaces)for most of the new character's names from this chapter, and that's where I got all the traditional Muse names. For example, this is what it had to say on the subject of 'Klio':

KLIO

Gender: Feminine

Usage: Greek Mythology

Extra Info: Related Names

Options: Contribute Information

Derived from Greek kleos meaning "glory". In Greek mythology she was the muse of history and heroic poetry. She was said to have introduced the alphabet to Greece.

Lira is just a name I made up… see the characters section…

And, although I couldn't find a way to mention it in this fic, Rebecca's second name is:

ERATO Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Extra Info: Namesakes
Options:
Contribute Information Means "lovely" in Greek. In Greek mythology she was the muse of lyric poetry.

Rebecca had no real significance, though.

The name Kiyoko is a real Japanese first name:

KIYOKO Gender: Feminine
Usage: Japanese
Extra Info: Comments
Options:
Contribute Information Means "clean child" in Japanese.

Though I didn't know that till just now... Shrug

Azreal, of course, is the Angel of Destruction, 'The Left Hand of God', according to Mythology.

Doug, Ruby, and James were just randomly picked names… no story there. Azreal's human name, 'Anna', however, is kinda an inside joke, when we had to write a story for school and Scooby saw fit to call her heroes Anna and Tim. Since then it has been an ongoing argument, mainly themed on the basis of 'You Can't Call a Hero Anna!'. Mitsan and Millierie were just names I made up by shoving a load of random letters together and hoping it worked.

Azreal's sisters, Ruby, Emerald and Opal were named after their eye colours as mentioned earlier. Yes, that does mean that Ruby has red eyes. But what are you going to do?

The Characters:

Not one of these characters were created specially for this fic. Azreal, Lira, Phoenix and Maya (The Characters in Joey's webcomic) were all around before hand for an original story I'm working on, in which Lira, Maya and Phoenix are a bunch of thieves of Magical artefacts.

The Origins and Development…

Azreal Kiyoko- The most recent of my original characters, in the story she is a rather bad bounty hunter who is sent on the trail of the three thieves… only she's not very good at it, and ends up on the run herself. She's the character that no matter where she goes or what she says, something bad always happens to her. And it's always to do with the other three…

Lira Klio- He started life as an Andalite (an alien kinda like a blue centaur or deer) in a set of Animorphs fics which I never put online, where he was Elfangor's partner and best friend before dying a tragic death. Later, after he became human, his name, for some incomprehensible reason, became Chris. This was a very early version of the Lira you can see in my story today. (You can see Chris and Maya in my fic 'We're not alone!') Needless to say, I changed his name back! Needless to say, he is not this much of a jerk in 'real life'. Just a bit cold. This Lira was modelled on an exaggerated Dorian Gray from 9th Elsewhere.

TheComic & Story:

One of the fics in the set of Animorphs fics that I mentioned early had a band in it, and I wrote all the lyrics for their songs down in a notebook. My favourite was one called 'Angel With Broken Wings', add an 's' and presto!-It became the title for Joey's webcomic. I've lost that notebook, the fic and the lyrics now, unfortunately…

The characters for it are all either in a fanfic or original story, even Phoenix who makes a brief entrance in 'Something in the Air'. But one day, she will get her own fic! Grr!

Some of you may be wondering why I chose Joey to need the inspiring. Well, in the original version, which was a present for Scooby in exchange for a mega cool Yami fan-art, the idea was to make Joey's life as miserable as possible, but it backfired on Ryou. Azreal wasn't even involved. I decided to keep it as Joey to give the most tension between Seto and him… plus, I just can't imagine Joey being able to draw, so it's been interesting.

You may also wonder why a webcomic. Well, I just wanted some way for Seto to have unwittingly helped him! Why? I have no idea….

Well, that was long and boring… oh well! Now, I have to go remind everyone that it's my birthday on Thurs!