Author's Notes:

When I gave my very first public reading, it was this story in its unedited form up through this chapter. It took me two days to get this chapter written, during which the boy constantly begged me to read him the parts already written. By the time this chapter was finished, he had told some of the other kids about my story. So, when I sat down to read it to him, I found myself reading to a cozy audience. They loved the story and begged that I finish it before the week's end. At that point, it meant writing two chapters a night. I was pretty terrified.

This chapter centers around my favorite pairing in Yu-Gi-Oh: Tristan Taylor and Serenity Wheeler. Not a popular pairing, but I love them nonetheless.

The game Tristan plays to free Serenity is based on a rather fun board game called Pirateer. If you come across it in your travels, you really ought to pick it up!

An Interview with the Cheshire Cat

"Now, where did Kaiba go?" Joey Wheeler stopped just outside the door trying to pick the same direction the CEO had vanished down.

Tristan stopped behind him, looking up and down the hallway. The brooding teen was nowhere in sight. "Come on, Joey. We don't need him. Besides, he probably wouldn't help us anyway."

"Yeah, that creep's probably just looking for his brother, never mind the fact that there are other people missing."

Tristan bit his tongue. He knew Joey was worried about both his sister and Mai, but he himself was only thinking about Serenity. No need to add that fuel to his friend's fire. "So, where should we begin?"

Joey looked back and forth, up and down the hallway again. He finally decided on the hallway to his right, the better lit hallway. The two went tearing down the hall, trying half the doors and calling for Mai and Serenity. They finally came to a T in the hallways.

"I'll go this way," Joey pointed to his left, again toward the better lit hallway. "You go that way."

"Yeah, we'll cover more ground this way," Tristan tried to force the courage he wasn't feeling into his voice. He watched Joey's back as he disappeared down the hallway, and then turned to face the darkness. His heart caught in his throat.

This is for Serenity.

He looked around for any sort of light source to help fend off the darkness, and soon discovered he could pull down a wall sconce. Candle in hand, he started down the hallway.

"My dear, you make a lovely doll." Maximilian Pegasus carefully set a doll with long light brown hair on a chair.

"You just wait! My brother is going to rescue me!" Even in doll form, Serenity Wheeler was strong in her faith that her older brother would keep her safe.

"Oh, I certainly hope so!" Pegasus nearly bubbled over with glee. Serenity's doll face failed to show her annoyance.

Tristan tested each door he came to as he made his way down the hall, sconce in hand. Some, unsurprisingly, were locked. Others opened into more darkened hallways that only filled Tristan with more dread. He finally came to a door that led to a dimly lit hallway. He considered it long and hard. One barely lit hallway in a maze of dark ones was a bit suspicious. His gut told him that Serenity was down this hallway. It also told him this was a trap. Finally, he decided to take his chances. He stepped into the hallway and slowly closed the door behind him. Nothing happened.

"Maybe this won't be so bad, after all."

Again, he tried every door as he walked down the hall, determined to find the girl he'd been harboring a not entirely secret crush on.

A faint ringing sounded in the room. "Ah, that must be dear Joseph now," Pegasus mused.

Serenity pursed her lips together. She had no idea what the game designer had planned for her brother, but she was sure it wasn't anything good. "Joey's going to defeat you!"

"Faith in your brother? How touching." The girl-doll tried to glare at her captor.

As the door clicked open, Serenity cried hopefully, "Joey!"

The door gave way, the first in quite a while. He nearly fell through the opening as the door swung open. As he attempted to regain his balance, he heard a familiar voice, "Joey!" He stepped inside the room, and the voice changed from relief to surprise, "Tristan?" At the far end of the room, bathed in a spotlight, sat a doll that strongly resembled Serenity Wheeler. Sitting there in her doll-sized kimono with her long hair pinned up on her head, Tristan realized she was just as lovely a doll as she was in person.

"Serenity! Hang on, I'm coming!" He stepped toward her and the floor lit up. "What the...?"

An odd laughter filled the barely lit room. "Not who I was expecting, but no matter." Tristan didn't stop to wonder who was expected in his place. Pegasus' voice continued, "You've just stepped into my shadow game."

"Great. I like games," Tristan replied sarcastically.

"Then I'm sure you'll enjoy this one," replied the disembodied voice. "To rescue dear Serenity, you must simply make your way across the board."

"Is that all?" Tristan muttered under his breath. Beneath his feet, grid lines formed across the room. The teen could see images inside some of the nearby squares. The square he was standing on had an image of grass in it. Some of the ones at the edge of his vision had images of rocks in them.

"To move across the playing board, you roll these dice." On cue, three dice half as tall as Tristan appeared in front of him. "You must use the rolls on all three dice in their entirety, or else you forfeit your turn."

"Sounds simple enough."

"Oh, and there's one more thing- you cannot move through spaces with rocks or deep water.

Can this guy have any more rules? "Let's get on with this."

From her chair on the other side of the board, the Serenity-doll called out, "Tristan, be careful!"

"Don't worry about me, Serenity. I'll be all right." He tried to sound brave even though his knees felt like jelly. For her sake, he couldn't let his fear show. He reached out for the nearest die. It and the other two vanished, and a giant dice cup appeared over his head. The three dice tumbled out, nearly hitting Tristan in the process. "Hey!" he protested. The voice offered no apologies, so Tristan read the dice. "A two. A four. And a five." He looked at the squares to see what he could do. To his great surprise, he discovered that he could actually see the floor images several squares away. I guess the first step would be to get to her. He took all three rolls in a straight line, landing himself next to two rock squares.

His next roll was more challenging. On his first step, he learned that he couldn't move diagonally. He ended up backtracking and ended up by a series of water squares. A few rounds later, he made it around the water and straight into a rocky field. Each roll was more difficult to use the farther he got into the board. He could hear Serenity calling out words of encouragement, which only served to discourage him as the travelable path became narrower and shorter. He finally hit a point where he was forfeiting every single roll.

"Tick tock," Pegasus' voice practically sounded like it was singing.

Tristan glared at the floor, "Like I'm not all ready feeling the pressure." He touched the dice, putting all of his hope into the touch. Please let me reach her! To his great surprise, the dice all rolled low numbers, exactly what he needed to reach the end of the board and the platform where the Serenity doll sat. "Finally!" He walked up the steps and picked up the Serenity doll in a nearly crushing hug.

"Tristan!" The doll clutched his jacket and cried. He smoothed her hair for a moment before he realized, "Hey, She's still a doll! What gives?"

The voice calmly responded, "Oh, you have to get back to the other side of the board."

"What? No way!"

"Pegasus! That's not fair! He's done what you wanted! Let us go!" Serenity demanded.

"Demanding, just like your brother, only more tactful." The images disappeared from the floor. "Maybe I'm becoming soft in my old age. Or perhaps I'm just an old romantic at heart. Ah, young love..."

"Let's go before he changes his mind." Tristan held the Serenity doll close and sprinted across the room, ready to be far away from the voice waxing rhapsodic.

He started to reach for the door to get them out of the game room, but she stopped him. "You came for me, Tristan," her voice was tinged with surprise.

"Of course, I did. I will always keep you safe, Serenity." The doll blushed and suddenly grew into a full-sized living girl. Tristan hugged her in relief.

Serenity snuggled against him, "Let's go find Joey."