Cerulean: Blue: Sadness.
Lament: To grieve over.
Seto discovers something in Alister that he refuses to give up without a fight.
How far would you go to save your enemy's soul?

Warnings: Shounen-ai, out-of-character characters, dub names

Thanks to everyone who reviewed!

Cerulean Lament

Chapter 3: A Warning

The sound of their footsteps echoing in the dark. Heavy breathing as they ran. Other than that, silence.

A stumble, a yell of pain, an almost fall.

The other set of footsteps stopped abruptly. "Are you ok?"

A string of curses.

"Shall I take that as a yes or a no?"

Seto pushed himself off the wall. "I'm fine." But he didn't sound fine, not even to himself. The pain in his ankle had blossomed into a stabbing agony. He could barely stand, let alone run, and Yami saw it.

"How much farther?" the Pharaoh asked.

Seto clenched his teeth. "The door should be up ahead," he said. "It's too dark to see. If only we'd brought," a gasp of pain, "flashlights." He leaned against the wall again, breathing harshly. He shut his eyes tight, hoping to stem the tears of pain that threatened to fall from their cerulean depths. "I'm sorry," he gasped out, his inability to control the tone of his voice matching his inability to keep up with the uninjured Yami.

A slender pair of arms wrapped around his waist, pulling him up off the wall. "I'll help you," Yami said, somehow supporting the taller and heavier teen's weight on his frail form. "It's not as if we're in any hurry."

Seto raised an eyebrow. "It's only a matter of time until they realize we're down here."

Yami shrugged. "Nothing we can't handle." He looked up ahead. "Hey, is that it?"

The faint light of the underground tunnel gleamed dully off a pair of metal doors. Seto nodded. "Yeah. Get me closer."

"Yes, master," Yami replied sarcastically.

But Seto wasn't listening to him. He fingered his card-shaped locket for a moment, then pulled it off and slid it through the lock. A small green light lit up and the doors slid open, revealing a slightly better lit elevator.

Yami looked impressed. "Why Seto, the locket doubles as a key? And I thought you were just a pretty face."

"What's got you in such a good mood?" Seto grumbled as the doors slid shut behind them.

"I just thought I'd try your way of dealing with fear. Denying it and covering it with sarcasm."

Seto frowned at him.

Yami rolled his eyes. "If we can clear up those pictures, it might get us one step closer to freeing Yugi! And Alister. And everyone else."

Seto was still frowning.

"Well," Yami admitted, "that and I get to feel you up without you being able to do anything about it." The Pharaoh's hand dropped from Seto's waistto a bit lower than the brunette would have liked.

Seto glared at him. "If you don't remove your hand from my ass by the time I count to five, so help me, sprained ankle or no, I will dropkick you."

Yami grinned.

"One…"

There was a thump on the roof. The elevator stopped.

Yami looked up. "I think there's something on top of the elevator…"

"No kidding," Seto hissed back.

They both stared fearfully at the top of the small metal box they were now trapped in. Hours passed as they waited, or so it seemed like hours to the two prisoners. After a few minutes, however, when there were no more noises, Seto deemed it appropriate to speak.

"I think it's gone," the brunette whispered.

A thump came from outside one of the walls. Yami glanced fearfully at Seto.

A claw tore through the metal wall as if it were paper. "Down!" Yami yelled, throwing himself at Seto, bringing them both to the ground. Seto let out a cry of pain that turned into one of surprise as a huge monster flew over them and tore through the back of the elevator.

"That…was no hologram!" the brunette gasped out from under Yami.

Yami nodded and quickly got off of Seto, offering the former CEO his hand. "Sorry about that," he said, keeping his eyes downcast. "I'll bet that hurt-"

"You saved my life," Seto cut him off. "There's nothing to apologize for."

"But your ankle-"

"Was already hurt. It's fine, really." Seto took off his trench coat, intending to leave it behind, when he heard something small fall to the floor. Curiously, he turned his head a fraction to look at the small gleaming object from a different angle. Suddenly, he gasped and threw his coat in a corner, swiftly kneeling down and picking the object up.

"What is it?" Yami asked, looking over Seto's shoulder at the necklace with the small green stone hanging off it.

Seto clenched the necklace tightly in his fist, the object reminding him with sharp detail of his last encounter with Alister. The thought made his face burn. "It's nothing," he said, standing up to face Yami.

The Pharaoh shrugged and turned to inspect the still closed elevator doors.

While Yami's back was turned, Seto slipped the necklace around his neck, under his shirt where the spirit wouldn't be able to see it. Because when Seto had told Yami it was nothing, he was lying. Because he didn't want the spirit to know how important the small green stone had just become to him. Because the necklace had belonged to his stalker, his enemy, his inner demon, his reflection.

It had belonged to Alister.

"So now what?" Yami asked, breaking Seto from his thoughts.

Limping only slightly to the doors, Seto said simply, "We get out." With that, he opened the control panel and smashed the controls with his fist. The doors slid open, revealing the dark corridor beyond. Seto leaned gratefully on his once rival's shoulder and together they made their way into the hall.

A horde of monsters was waiting for them.

Yami shifted beside him. "Seto, I know this may be hard for you to believe, but these monsters are real."

"Yami, I was on the elevator, I know."

"I'm glad you've realized that. Now, would you believe that they come from another dimension and that some of them talk?"

Seto raised his eyebrows.

Yami smirked. "Do you have a better explanation?"

Seto smirked back. "I think you're nuts. But we haven't got time to argue." He activated his duel disk. "Shall we?"

Yami did the same. "After you."

Together, they barged into the mass of monsters. Yami summoned his Obnoxious Celtic Guardian. Seto summoned his Vorse Raider. The two monsters began hacking a path for their duelists to follow.

Seto's ankle was killing him now. He clenched his hands into fists, his nails digging into his palms, making small drops of blood form around his nails. But he didn't notice. He felt like he was….falling. No, the rest of the world was falling away from him, taking his troubles and worries along with it. Even the pain in his ankle was receding. Suddenly, he wasn't in a dark monster-filled passageway deep beneath Kaiba Corp. There was a clear blue sky above him, the bright sun's warm rays beating down friendly upon his back. He appeared to be standing on a floor of fluffy white clouds.

And fluffy wasn't a word Seto used lightly.

"Where…am I?" he asked, not expecting an answer, as there wasn't a soul in sight.

"You're the genius," a voice said behind him. "You tell me."

That voice…Seto spun around and came face to face with Alister. His eyes widened. "But how?"

Alister shrugged. "No clue. But it is rather nice here. Much better than where I was before." He put his hands behind his head and leaned back, drifting lazily to land in an especially fluffy looking pile of clouds.

Seto blinked, choosing to ignore for the moment the physical impossibilities of what he was seeing. "Where were you?" he asked, folding his legs beneath him to sit in front of the red-haired duelist. Funny, his ankle felt fine now.

Shaking his head, Alister propped himself on one elbow so he could look at the brunette seated before him. "I don't know. Where all lost souls go, I suppose. It was dark, that's all I remember. Dark and cold. And…" He trailed off and met Seto's eyes directly. "Lonely."

Shifting uneasily, Seto turned away.

"I didn't expect to be seeing you so soon," Alister continued, also looking away. "Actually, I never thought I'd see you again. In Hell, maybe. If lost souls can even make it to Hell."

"Sorry to disappoint you. I'm not finished yet. Hell will have to wait."

Smiling softly, Alister replied, "Yes, I'm glad. It's so good to see you again. I just hope you don't fall as well…"

"Stop being so dramatic."

The intensity of his voice made Alister look up again.

"You're not lost. You haven't fallen. Your soul just isn't where it's supposed to be right now. I will fix that soon enough." His eyes were filled with passion, an unspoken promise that he would indeed do as he said.

"Yes," Alister said. "I am not lost. Not as long you keep me in your mind, Seto."

Seto snorted. "And I suppose that's how you're communicating with me right now? I'm having an out of body experience or some nonsense like that?"

The red head shrugged. "Maybe. Or maybe you're just hallucinating. Either way, I don't care. I'm here to warn you, Seto."

"Warn me? About what?"

"Be careful of Dartz."

"Who?"

"You'll know him when you see him. Trust me."

"But-"

"Shhh." Alister put his hand on Seto's arm. "Just promise me you'll be careful."

All words fled from Seto's mind at the touch. All except for two. "I promise," he whispered.

Alister smirked. "I'll hold you to that, Seto. See you in Hell."

"Hn. Sooner than that, if I have my way."

"Let's hope you do. Goodbye, Seto."

Seto stood. Pain flooded his ankle. The beginning of Alister's name became a cry of pain. "Wait!" he gasped out.

"Wake up, Seto."

Seto fell to his knees.

"Seto. Wake up."

His voice…It was changing…

"Seto."

He sounded like…

"Seto!"

…Yami?

To be continued…

AN: Well, here's a short chapter to hold everyone over. I've been really busy lately, and I know I'm not going to have time to post everything this weekend (Anime Boston! I'm going as Millie from Trigun with a group of friends) so I typed up this short chapter. And it's a cliff-hanger! Gasp!

R&R!