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

Well, chapter four's up and school's almost over! I'm happy!

Again, thanks for the reviews!

Cerulean Lament

Chapter Four: Escape

Seto opened his eyes. Deep crimson ones looked back, worry evident in their cherry depths. "Yami?" he asked, clutching his aching head as he sat up. He was back in the dark corridor filled with monsters. He and Yami were sitting against a wall, Yami's Obnoxious Celtic Guardian standing defensively in front of them, keeping the flood of monsters at bay. Seto's Vorse Raider was nowhere in sight.

"What happened?" Seto asked dozily.

Yami slipped under Seto's arm and pulled his taller companion up. Seto cried out in pain as his ankle hit the floor. Yami quickly apologized, then explained, "You tripped. You were only out for about a minute, but your Vorse Raider was defeated." He quickly glanced over his shoulder. "And my Celtic Guardian will be too, as well as us if you can't get us out of here."

"Right." Seto was missing his cloud-filled dream already. "There should be a set of doors up ahead."

The Pharaoh nodded and quickly brought Seto to the steal doors, the brunette stifling cries of pain every other step. Once they were directly in front of the doors, Seto once again took out his locket-key and slid it through the lock.

The doors remained closed.

"What?" Seto frantically slid the card through again. The doors still didn't open. "They must have changed the codes," he said, quietly disbelieving.

A cry of pain made them both turn around to witness Yami's Celtic Guardian being slashed into pieces by a monster. They were defenseless.

Yami cursed.

Seto looked at him, surprised.

"What?" the Pharaoh asked, catching his look.

Seto shrugged. "I half thought you'd swear in Egyptian…Or something…"

Yami laughed. "So this is how I will meet my end. Laughing."

Seto shrugged again. "Why not?"

"No one's dying!"

Seto and Yami looked up as Rebecca's voice came down from mounted speakers on the walls.

"Need a hand, boys?" she asked smirkingly. At that, the doors slid open. Yami dragged Seto through and the doors slid shut behind them, decapitating the claw of a monster that had been a little too careless.

The claw began to twitch on the floor.

"I'm glad I tagged along on Kaiba's little field trip," Rebecca said smugly. "Let me know if you want me to upgrade your system."

"I'll think about it," Seto said dully, watching as the monster claw twitched.

"Come on." Yami took the brunette's arm. "Where are we going next?"

Seto looked around and pointed down another gloomy corridor. "There. But if they've changed the codes, the doors might not open…"

"Don't worry about it," Rebecca's voice came from an unseen speaker. "I'll be the door-opener. You guys just hurry."

Nodding, Seto and Yami started running, though later Seto would stop to wonder just how he survived that night with a sprained ankle. He tried not to think of the pain as he dashed down the hall next to the Pharaoh. Instead, he concentrated on the running itself, the forcing of one foot in front of the other, the doors opening before them and closing behind them, and of Yami running beside him.

They soon reached a larger set of doors, which Rebecca immediately opened. The two dashed in and were suddenly surrounded by computers and large wall-sized monitors. They had made it to Seto's secret computer lab.

"I can't access the central computer," Rebecca's voice drifted down to them. "It's on a different system."

Once again taking out his locket, Seto said, "I'll take it from here." He slid the key through a lock, accessing a retinal scan. Once the machine had accepted the scan, a voice test came up. Seto spoke his name and the computer asked for instructions.

"Shut down and reboot with backup," Seto ordered the system, taking back control of his company, for the moment, at least. He slid the disk containing the pictures of the ruins into the drive and told the computer to analyze each image, cross-referencing them with every known archaeological database. As the computers began to do this, Seto opened the link so Rebecca and everyone else above ground could see too.

Under the truck and trailer, under the road at the main entrance to Seto's underground corridors to Kaiba Corp, Dr. Hawkins looked closely at the enhanced images he was seeing. "Amazing," he breathed.

"What is it?" Duke asked from next to Honda.

"The inscriptions," Dr. Hawkins said. "The inscriptions read: 'After its ten thousand year long slumber, the black serpent will swallow the sun, and then paradise will rule once more.'"

"But what's it mean?" Rebecca asked.

Muttering still, as if to himself, Dr. Hawkins said softly, "I've had my suspicions, but I never thought…" He looked down at his granddaughter. "I think it means…Atlantis…It will rise again."

Back in the underground computer room, Seto was staring intently at a picture. "This looks familiar," he mumbled half to Yami, but more so to himself. Before Yami could ask what he meant, the computer connected the all-too familiar green lines of an all too familiar symbol.

The brunette shook his head. "No. Well, yes, that's what it is, but…" Blue eyes widened as realization crossed the former CEO's face. "Paradias," he whispered. He shook his head, leaned his head back, then yelled it to the ceiling. "Paradias!"

Before Yami had a chance to even try to make anything of what his companion was saying, the brunette's fist came crashing down onto the metal desk. Yami heard the snap of a finger breaking, but Seto didn't seem to notice. "Seto?" Yami asked, cautiously reaching a hand to touch the taller teen's shoulder. "Seto, what-"

Seto shook Yami's hand off and stood up, continuing his mumbling as he paced. "I can't believe I didn't notice it before! How foolish could I have-"

"Seto!"

The brunette suddenly stopped his pacing and spun to face the Pharaoh. "Paradias," he said again, "is a secret financial organization that's rumored to control a small portion of every company in the world." He sat down at one of the computers and brought up another picture. "Your friend Dartz," at this, Seto jerked a thumb at the image, a young man in a deep purple business suit with long silver hair, one eye green, the other gold, "is the president."

Yami gasped. "Are you sure?"

Seto shrugged. "How should I know? I've never seen the guy before."

The sound of a computer exploding made them both jump. The sound of several more made Yami pull Seto out of his chair and away from the flying glass fragments.

"What the hell?" Seto looked upon the ruin that was once his computer lab. What was left of the computers was twisted hunks of metal, some still smoking; random wires and shattered glass.

Before Seto had time to grieve for his lost computers, Yami tugged fretfully at his sleeve. "Seto?"

Seto, who by this time was not in the best of moods, spun around, growling. "What?" he snapped. His eyes, however, went past Yami to the sight before them, what Yami's trembling finger was pointing at. A huge dragon now lay before them, its eyes and fangs sparkling malevolently. It was not the dragon, but rather the person currently standing on its head that they were so surprised to see.

The man smiled, before throwing off his cloak. Long, white hair came cascading down over shining metal armor. One green eye and one golden eye looked down at them, disdain and amusement showing through. A deep chuckle escaped his throat, slowly growing deeper and louder until it was a maniacal cackle. Darkness engulfed them all – the room, the twisted remains of the computers – disappeared.

Seto, being the business man that he was, was the first to regain his composure. "Dartz, I assume," he said, an air of arrogance surrounding him, a defiant refusal to let this man frighten him.

Dartz smiled. "Why, yes. A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Kaiba." He gave an elegant bow.

"Oh, the pleasure's all mine," Seto snorted, angrily unable to deny the man was graceful, like a butterfly floating through the air, as cliché as that sounded. At this analogy, Seto was unable to contain a chuckle. Yes, the man was a butterfly all right. Flamboyant as hell.

Dartz only smiled more. "Care to share what's so funny, High Priest?"

Seto's head snapped up to toss the white-haired stranger an icy glare. "Do not call me that."

"Why not?" He paused, regarded the brunette for a few long moments. Suddenly, the smile returned. Eerie, Seto thought as a shiver ran up his spine. "Yes, I remember you," Dartz continued. "From that battle, long ago in Egypt." Suddenly, he snapped his fingers and Seto was no longer wearing the sleeved black shirt and leather pants he was used to, but a white kilt, a royal purple tunic with a large gold ankh on the chest, a flowing white cape, and a tall head dress, also accented in gold. Dartz looked over his handiwork, then frowned, finding a flaw in his perfect replica of the priest's garb. He smiled suddenly, and snapped his fingers once more. The kilt became shorter and the tunic disappeared, revealing the brunette's little seen torso.

"There," Dartz said, nodding to himself. "Much better."

Seto felt the color rising on his face, from anger or just plain embarrassment he couldn't say. He was so flustered that no words came out when he opened his mouth to speak.

Apparently, Yami had no such problem.

"That's enough, Dartz!" the Pharaoh cried, drawing up to his full, if a bit meager, height.

Dartz chuckled lightly. "Ah, yes. How nice to see you again, Pharaoh. Been betrayed by anyone close to you lately?"

Yami growled and activated his duel disk. "Your ranting is painful. Let's duel."

Seto reached for his duel disk and did the same, breaking Dartz's illusion and returning to his normal clothes. The two duelists both drew their legendary dragon cards, Yami with the Eye of Timaeus and Seto with the Fang of Critius. The two majectic beasts appeared at their masters' summons, each standing protectively over their respective duelists. It was quite a sight to behold.

Dartz remained unimpressed. "Why, Timaeus," he said airily, "how is that eye of yours?"

Timaeus reared his head up and let loose a mighty roar that shook Seto and Yami. Dartz remained immovable on his larger beast.

"Now, now," Dartz said, shaking his head, an amused smile crossing his face. "I have no wish to fight. At least, not yet." He raised his arms over his head and closed his eyes. A strong wind began to blow, whipping Seto's and Yami's hair, but somehow not managing to touch Dartz's. He opened his eyes suddenly, the two colored eyes glowing fiercely, and Timaeus and Critius vanished from the two duelists' sides. The wind stopped and Dartz began laughing. "Now do you see?" he asked, once his laughter had subsided. "I didn't come here to challenge you. I came here to warn you. It's easier to surrender." He looked down at the two of them, a feral gleam in his eyes. "However, if you do insist on opposing me, I will crush you in the worst way possible." He straightened, as if hearing something, then took a slight bow. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I do believe you have some guests to attend to." With a smirk, he and the dragon disappeared.

As one, Seto and Yami spun to face the two metal doors, currently being clawed down by an array of monsters.

"Come on!" Seto shouted as he grabbed Yami's arm and lunged for a secret elevator. They reached it just as the monsters tore the doors down. They flooded into the room as one large wave, claws and fangs glinting menacingly. The elevator doors closed just as the first of the monsters saw them and lunged for the metal doors.

"Now where are you going?" Yami demanded, looking at the digital numbers over the doors as they counted the floors they were swiftly counting.

"Up," Seto replied tersely. "To the roof."

"The roof? But-"

Seto cut him off with a wave of his hand. "Just trust me," he said quietly.

Yami opened his mouth as if to say something, thought better of it and remained silent, only nodded.

The rest of the ride to the top was in silence, except for the scraping and roaring of monsters climbing up the elevator shaft beneath them.

The elevator shuddered to a stop and the doors opened. Seto grabbed Yami's arm and pulled him out of the elevator, leading them closer and closer to the edge of the building. A few steps away, the monsters burst out of the elevator shaft, coming up in a raging wave, like water released from a dam. Seto cursed and spun them both around, still keeping a tight grip on Yami's arm, ever so slowly backing them to the edge of the monstrous skyscraper.

"Now what?" Yami asked nervously.

Seto only laughed. "Now we make our grand escape." With that, he drew a card from his deck and slammed it onto his duel disk without even looking at it. A bright white light flashed, momentarily blinding them. When they could see again, a dazzling white dragon stood majestically before them, its wings spread protectively around them. Seto's grin widened, his eyes took on that half-crazed look he got whenever he was in the heat of battle. "Now, my Blue Eyes!" he cried, standing tall, pointing a condemning finger at the attacking monsters. "Attack!"

The dragon roared mightily, throwing back its head as a beam of purest white light shot from its jaws, demolishing the front line of the attackers.

The Pharaoh watched, his eyes wide as he suddenly wondered just how he was always able to defeat the dragon master. "Seto?" he called above the roar of monsters. "Seto, this is all well and good, but to defeat all these monsters with just your Blue Eyes..?"

Suddenly broken from his trance, Seto's eyes moved reluctantly from his dragon in all its glory to the small and tired looking Pharaoh. "Right." He once again grabbed Yami's wrist and turned them around, looking out over the building to the tops of the other skyscrapers of Domino. "Jump," Seto said softly.

"What!"

Seto cut him off with a sharp wave of his hand. "I trusted you," he said, referring to their adventure in Noa's virtual world. "I jumped for you. Now it's your turn. Trust me," his eyes pleaded.

Yami looked down from the dizzying height, hesitated, then looked again to Seto. "I trust you," he said at last, quietly so that Seto barely heard him. But he did hear him, gave Yami a thankful smile, grabbed his hand.

They both jumped off the building, in silence, hand in hand.

Yami felt strangely peaceful. He was falling, but Seto was there, his chestnut hair whipping around his face, sharp blue eyes on his, always on his, a constant source of reassurance. It felt so right. Yami was sure something like this must have happened in the past because he suddenly knew that everything would be alright.

A flash of silver and blue flew by them. Yami yelped in fright, closed his eyes, then opened them again. A long gleaming neck stretched out before him. A striking blue eye was turned to him, as if to make sure he was aright. "Seto?" he asked, half expecting the dragon to answer.

A long pair of arms grabbed him from behind. "W-What's going on?" Seto's shaky voice asked fearfully.

"Your dragon saved us," Yami replied with a warm smile. "Isn't that what you planned?" The smile faded. "Isn't it?"

Seto's arms tightened around his smaller companion, as if Yami were his life line and if he let go he would plummet to his doom. "Actually, I'd planned for one of my jets to have been hovering here to catch us…" He reached tentively down, fingers brushing smooth silver scales. "It's real?" he asked, sounding like a child unable to believe the sky really is blue.

"So you could believe that the evil man-eating monsters are real, but you don't believe your own Blue Eyes is?" Yami sighed. "My dear Seto, you have much to learn."

Sighing, Seto let his head drop to Yami's shoulder. "I suppose." He was tired, so tired. The sun was beginning to rise. Slants of light emerged from the horizon, banishing the darkness from the skies. He hoped Mokuba had slept some. Sleep, yes, he dearly wanted to sleep. His eyes slowly drifted shut.

They snapped open when Yami cried out. The Blue Eyes had disappeared to be replaced by one of Seto's jets. A jet that was currently on fire and losing altitude fast. Seto looked around. An impish creature with wings was hovering in the air beside them, cackling wickedly. Seto cried out and turned his attention to the blinking control panel.

"We've got to land it," he said aloud, climbing over Yami to get to the control panel. He tried to pull the plane up, but only succeeded in making another light on the panel turn red and beep angrily.

With a final cry of anger, he hit the control panel with bared fists. "We're doomed."

Yami shook his head. "No, we're not."

Seto sighed. "Yami, I can't land this-"

"It doesn't matter. We'll be fine."

"But-"

"No!" Yami's eyes shone with determination. "We've come too far to fail now. The gods won't let us die like this, not now."

Yami's proud stare left little room for failure. Seto inwardly sighed and reached for the control panel. A small hand shot out and caught his wrist. Seto looked up, Yami gave a slight shake of his head. Their eyes held an unspoken argument in which Seto protested and Yami once again shot him down. Seto eventually gave up, crossed his arms firmly over his chest, and leaned back. Yami did the same.

They sat hopeful, doubting, helpless, as they fell through the air.

The ground crept ever closer. Seto tensed with each passing second, his heartbeat and breathing taking on a wild tempo. Yami, on the other hand, was completely calm. Sensing Seto's anxiety, he turned in his seat to face the brunette. Seto was staring out the window, watching the ground come closer and closer. The Pharaoh frowned, reached out and touched the former CEO's cheek, making him jump. Seto pulled away, but Yami put his other hand out, grasped Seto's face, forced their eyes to meet.

Deep crimson eyes threatened to consume his soul. Seto tried to resist, but the Pharaoh's eyes pulled him deeper, washing over him in a crimson tide. Suddenly, all was calm. There was no tension, no impending doom. Only hues of red and violet.

A flash of silver swooped under them, catching the jet lightly before it hit the ground. The dragon set the machine lightly down.

Seto smiled serenely. Reds and violets danced before him. The brunette closed his eyes and slumped forward, onto Yami, before passing into peaceful darkness.

...To be continued…

w00t! I seem to have an obsession with eyes! Anyway, finals are this Friday and next Monday! Then no more school till next year, my last year of high school! Hopefully I'll be able to update sooner over the summer!

Thanks for reading!