A/N: This chapter comes with a warning, and that is that even though I've been writing fics on this site for almost a year, and before that since I was 9 or 10 and stories since I could write and been making them up even before that, this is probably the most horrible thing I've ever had to write for any fic- CHARECTER DEATH. So, unless you're particullary intrested, skip down to the bottom for a brief summary, because to a lot of you this won't mean anything. Also, my first attempt at anything vaguely angst-y, so it's terrible. Even more so because I HATE angst. Even more so when it has to be mixed in with a humor fic like this...

Willowwind: Ahhhhhhhh! Double negative! 'I don't know hardly any cards'! Ahem. In other news, I play the card game quite a lot, so I know all the rules, but I actually know very few cards off the top of my head except the ones in my deck and the ones people I've played many a time use. Now, I was going to write a proper duel, but... I just cheated and used the Destiny Board. Sue me.

Disclaimer: I told you...

Thirteen: We are the Dead

Lira had missed to the extent that he had been aiming for his heart and instead got his lung. Azreal watched helplessly, knowing he would die slowly and painfully. She went over to him, not knowing what else she could do.

"You didn't get it…" Lira smirked, wheezing. "My death is my own…"

Azreal stared in horror at the knife sticking out of his chest. Should she pull it out…? Or was it the only thing keeping more blood in? Would taking it out make it worse or better…? "You see?" He continued as tendrils of white mist played around his ankles. "The Nothing has come for me."

"What have you done…?" Azreal asked. "What have you done!"

"You ruined my life. You won't ruin my death."

"I can't save you!"

"I don't want you to!" Lira snarled, reaching out. At first, Azreal thought he was going to strike her, but then he grabbed her hand.

Azreal stared at him. Why? Was he seeking some last comfort? Some final forgiveness? Suddenly, he let her go briefly, transferring his grip to her wrist.

"Dead man's Grip." He panted, blood coming from his lips. "You remember? I won't kill you myself… whatever I'm holding comes with me to the grave…"

"Let me go." Azreal begged softly. Dead man's Grip is common across species- when someone dies, their bones and muscles lock up, and whatever they are holding is almost impossible to make them let go of. But the Nothing was still playing about Lira's feet, waiting for him to die. And when his body was absorbed, Azreal would be taken to… "Please, Lira."

"No!" He replied venomously. "This time, I won't fail!" Suddenly he flinched back, even as he lay on the floor, letting go of Azreal's wrist as he did so.

"You okay?" Seto asked, replacing his boot on the floor from where he had kicked Lira's head.

"Fine." She gasped, clinging her wrist. She suspected it was broken- Lira's grip had been fuelled by years of hatred and rage, fed by bitterness. Yet still she went back over to him. Lira Klio was dying, but he was moaning in fear.

"You see?" He groaned breathily "It's not taking me!" He pointed down, where the white mist was beginning to recede. "It's not going to take me, it's… take me…not… why…"

"Ssh…" Azreal said, her heart going out to him no matter how much she hated him. "You have to figure out what you need to do."

"It's too late! It's too late! It won't take me!" Lira was panicking now.

Seto, watching this exchange, may have found it a little strange, had he not seen it before. When Muses die, their bodies are absorbed by the Nothing that surrounds their lives. They don't mind this at all though. There is an old superstition that if the body is not absorbed then the soul is trapped, trapped inside a body that it can't work for all eternity. As Azreal herself had put it: 'Of course, no-one believes that. Till the moment just before they die.'

When Muses die, it is a far more complicated process then when humans do. For creatures that live so close to, surrounded by the Nothing, it makes sense that there should also be an Everything. Azreal said it was the subconscious will and wish to live. Seto always privately thought of it as something akin to The Force, but he'd never admit that. The odd thing was, Everything seemed to be completely detached from the person's conscious thought- almost like their conscious, Jiminy Cricket style. This, of course, makes it notoriously difficult for any Muse to kill themselves or to be murdered, but it can happen. Sometimes willpower alone will not keep you alive.

Another oddity of the Musing death is that just before the last moment, one of the feathers from their wings will fall out, known as the Wish Feather. This feather will grant the heart's desire of whoever uses it, which at the time of imminent death is usually to live. There is only one thing the feathers can't do, and that is bring someone back to life. He'd never forget the day when Azreal got hers…

"You need to clear your conscious, Lira!" Azreal was saying urgently. "Unless you do, the Nothing won't take you!"

"But I don't know…" He said pathetically, chocking on his own blood.

"Then, for once, let me help you…" Azreal said quietly. "Why did you want to become a Muse?"

"My parents wanted me to." Lira said. Everything seemed distant and far away, and somehow this let him see his feelings with far more clarity then ever before. "My parents wanted me to be a Muse… They wanted me to be the best possible… Whatever I did, it wasn't good enough… it was never good enough…"

"Your parents are dead, Lira." Azreal reminded him. "They died five years ago."

"They were never proud…" Lira replied. "Why weren't they proud? Why couldn't they…" He trailed off. Azreal bit her lip. His blood was soaking into the knees of her jeans as she knelt by him, but she pushed it from her mind. He had reverted to his muse form a while ago, his wings spread behind him, being stained red. She didn't have much time…

Many feathers had fallen from his wings, but only one remained white. Azreal picked it up.

"It's not taking me!" Lira laughed hysterically "The Nothing won't take me!" He felt something being pressed into his hand.

"Your Wish Feather!" Azreal yelled. "Use it! Use it now! For heavens sake… Use it now…"

Lira opened his fingers, letting it fall. "No. What do I have… to live for?"

"Lira… fine. Why did you Speed Inspire? Why did you lie and cheat your way to the top? Why did you tell everyone I kissed you as opposed to Vice Versa?" Azreal racked her brains, trying to think of questions that would clear his conscious in the sparse seconds remaining to him before he died and his body was rejected by the Nothing, left to rot, a Muse's worst fear. To her surprise, Seto walked over, and, placing a hand on her shoulder, he said clearly and quietly:

"Why did you have a relationship with Ruby Kiyoko?" He asked. Azreal looked up at him, puzzling. Seto just looked back.

Lira's first thought to this question was because his parents had wanted him to be married to the future President. But, somehow, the lack of blood was clearing his mind, and he knew.

"Because… because I love her?" He said, unsure, trying the words out. "Because I love her!" His words were slurred, his tongue to big for his mouth- a mouth filled with blood. But now he knew. "I love her… Oh gosh… I love her… I love her…"

"Yes!" Azreal crowed, grabbing the discarded Wish Feather. Technically, it shouldn't work for anyone else until the person who it belonged to was dead. But Azreal had never been one for obeying rules. "Okay, Wish Feather… Grant Lira Klio's Heart's Desire! Bring Ruby Kiyoko here!"

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

Ruby was walking- or balancing- along one of the narrow streets when she felt it. A tingling at the back of her neck. She turned sharply, too confident to doubt what her senses were telling her. True enough, right there, in one of Venice's many canals, a porthole had opened. There was no doubt as to whether she should go through it, but the reason for calling her had better be really good… Not only would she have to leave her current client, she'd have to dive through the murky waters. But the tug was too strong. Someone really wanted her through that vortex. So she went.

The teen she was working with heard the splash, and turned to find his new Muse Guardian had disappeared without a trace.

"Huh? Ruby? Dove siete andato…?"

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

"This better be good…" Ruby grumbled as she stepped through the other end of the Vortex, sopping wet. "I had to jump through a Venetian Canal to get here, and now-" Her complaints were stopped dead in their tracks as she saw the scene in front of her. "Lira…?"

His eyes snapped open as she came and knelt next to him. "Ruby?"

"What have you done to yourself?" She asked, horrified.

"Ruby!" He cried desperately. He knew he had only seconds before he died. He had to tell her, or he'd be trapped. "Ruby! Ruby, Ruby Ruby… I love you. I just realised… I love you…"

Ruby stared at him. "I'm sorry." She said, turning away. "I heard that too many times before, and it was always a lie, Lira. I can't believe you…"

Lira didn't care. He'd told her. But he still had to ask. "Do you love me?"

"I did."

"Then… Do you hate me?"

"…I did."

"Good…" Lira sighed. "That's good…" His eyes closed. "It's still not taking me, is it…? My soul will be trapped…"

"You have to tell us how to get out of this dome." Azreal said, coming close again. "You have to tell us how to get out, and why we're here, and what we have to do…"

"Up." Lira said simply. "Up. Upupupupupupupupup…" He smirked, a shadow of his former self. "The rest you do, lazy." His eyes closed for the last time.

Azreal sucked in a breath. Had they made it in time?

Yes. They were forced to cover their eyes as the white tendrils snaked with impossible power up his legs, over his body, before exploding into a large flash of light and then dying down into a gentle glow where you could just make out the body dissolving.

Lira Klio had made it into the Nothing. It was more then he deserved.

Azreal went over to her sister, both of them crying without really knowing why.

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

"This is your last chance." Ruby said. "Come back to Wherever with me Az."

"I just visited you a few days ago!" Azreal replied. Ruby was preparing to leave again, and was offering her sister a chance to go back with her.

"I wasn't talking about a visit." Ruby said, piecing Azreal under a knowing glare. "We miss you, Az. Come back with me."

Azreal laughed. "With no powers?"

"Why not?" Ruby looked at her sadly. "You can't even call a vortex on your own… who knows when we'll next get to see you? Besides, the Muse population doesn't even hate you anymore. You saw for yourself how much they adore you."

"It'll be soon enough." Azreal said firmly. "Besides, I would rather stay with people who didn't need me to save them before they liked me."

Ruby hugged her hard, still crying from earlier. "You must have seen from your visit where you belong…"

"I did." Azreal pulled away slightly, to look her sister right in the eye. "Here."

"If you stay here, you will die. I can't do anything for your friends, but…"

"I'm staying, Rubs. I belong here."

"Okay." Ruby smiled sadly. "As long as you're happy, you could claim to belong with a potted plant for all I care." However, Her face crumpled and she cried harder.

"Why are you crying?" Azreal asked. "Why?"

"Because I'm looking at the living Dead."

As all this unfolded, no-one saw Jenna shifting slightly, except for Ryou, who noticed the weight movement in his arms. But now didn't seem like a good time. He watched, holding his breath, as she slowly woke up.

"If we are dead," Mokuba replied stonily to Ruby's earlier comment. "Then let the dead walk. Let them crawl back and cling onto life, because you only get one, after all. We are The Dead? Fine." He shrugged. "Then we are The Dead who won't lie down and accept it." He saw the doubt in Ruby's eyes. "If you claim we are Dead, then our abilities are as dead as we are- Not. Much." He'd never thought he'd ever say something like that, but...

That'd make a good song… Jenna thought blearily.

Suddenly Ruby laughed. "He's got a whole lot of Everything." She commented. "You'll go far with these people, Az. I mean, Anna." She smiled slightly as she began to head back through the vortex. "Yes… Anna Mitsan, of the Human race." She gave a final wave, and plunged back through the vortex into the icy waters of the canal, coming face to face with her worried charge.

"Avete rimasto qui? Tutto questo volta?" She asked in surprise.

"Naturalmente!" He said, pulling her out. He was about to demand where she'd gone, but on seeing her worried face he felt inclined to ask instead: "Che cosa é la materia?"

Ruby went to tell him, but then shook her head, closing her mouth. "Niente. Sono benissimo." She gestured and continued to walk in the same direction they had been earlier, leaving her very confused charge to chase after her.

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

"Why are you crying?" Seto asked quietly, trying to keep the conversation private from the others. "Why do you cry over that jerk?" To most, it wouldn't sound sympathetic at all. To others, however, they knew it was just his way of telling Azreal not to cry.

It was some minutes since Ruby had left. Lira was dead. Now they were just trying to get their heads together before they went 'up'.

"He's not worth crying over, Az." Seto muttered. "He never apologised, never redeemed himself… He only told you the way out so the Nothing would accept him. A bad person doesn't deserve your tears."

"You're wrong." Azreal sniffled. "Sure, I never liked Lira, I'll never miss him, but I'm crying because another living being is dead and because the only ones who'll remember them will have nothing good to say." Azreal sobbed quietly, but without wavering. "I'm crying because another soul has died without love. I'm crying because the World has just taken another lost soul that'll never find it's way. There's no such thing as a bad person. There are just people who have been mislead, misguided and misunderstood; as much by their own hearts and minds as by anyone else's. And I'm crying because no-one can see that."

That to…I should write this down. Jenna thought, her mind becoming steadily more active over the last few minutes, as she surfaced from her dream world in the same way a diver would surface from a vat of treacle.

"You can see that…" Seto reminded Azreal. He had no idea what the hell she was on about, but for once was sympathetic enough to realise now would not be a good time to tell her."And, let me tell you Az, if anyone's going to change the world, it's you."

Jenna remembered that she had five senses, not four, and finally, at last, opened her eyes to see Ryou, Yugi and Mokuba watching her, Anna and Seto off to one side, and she watched as first Anna, and then Seto, came over to her.

"We won?" She checked, having got her bearings and succeeded in sitting up.

"You did." Ryou said. "And I swear, next time I'll tie you to a chair and force you to learn how to play!"

Jenna laughed. They all did. (Except Seto, as it goes without saying) It was relieved laughter, the laughter at how unlikely this all was, how dumb, and from pure joy of being alive against all odds. Surviving, no matter what.

For a little while longer, at least.

Eventually, some time later, Mokuba stood.

"I hate to say this…" He said regardless. "But sitting here is doing us no good at all. Let's move." The others stood up around him, and Mokuba blinked, not used to taking the initiative. He glanced up at the ceiling, as though he could see through it up into the next floor. If they were to trust Lira, then that's where they had to go. So they'd go.

Just to see what would happen.

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

A/N: Urrgh, that was terrible... espically if my Italian is as bad as I think it probably is... Okay, summary: Lira popped his clogs, but first he told Azreal how to get out- Up. There were tow OOC inspirational speeches on the parts of Azreal and Mokuba, and, Oh yeah, Jenna woke up. So, until tomorrow my spudunkles!