Ten Little Duel Monsters
Serenity looked at Ryou, shocked that he would suspect her. "I brought this with me when I heard a thump. I thought I'd have to protect myself."
"A likely story," snorted Kaiba, rather miffed that the person he suspected was dead. Aside from having another death (he was growing used to it), being wrong was a major blow to his ego.
"It's the truth!" Serenity protested, trying not to look at their accusing stares.
"There's only the three of us left now," said Kaiba. "And you seem by far to be the most likely to have killed everyone else."
"What about Joey!" yelped Serenity.
"What about him?"
Serenity burst into tears. She moved towards Ryou, expecting to receive a hug and permission to cry on his shoulder again, but he moved out of the way, so she simply stood by herself, bawling.
"I would NEVER k-kill Joey!" she gulped. "It's not my fault that I'm here! I just got an invitation! I just w-wanted to have f-f-fun with my brother and friends, and n-now he's gone, along with ev-everyone else, and-and- WHEN IS THAT STUPID BOAT COMING!" she continued to wail.
"Haven't you figured it out, Wheeler?" snarled Kaiba. "THERE IS NO BOAT. We're not allowed to leave this island...ever. We're stuck here until we find the killer or are rescued. We haven't been able to find my laptop, so our only hope is for Pegasus to turn up."
"Unless he's behind all this," Serenity said, sniffing and rubbing her eyes with the back of her sleeve.
Kaiba stared at her. "I never thought of that."
"No, you were too busy blaming me!" Serenity said reproachfully.
"You know, that is a distinct possibility," said Ryou. "He does own this island. I can't believe no one thought of this before."
"What do we do now?" asked Serenity.
"What do you mean, Wheeler?" asked Kaiba. "We do the same thing we've been doing. Stick together, watch each other's backs. We should probably set up a watch system at night so that two people keep guard and the third sleeps, just in case a person guarding is the killer."
"But there's one problem you haven't noticed, Kaiba," Ryou said in an uncharacteristically calculating voice. "We've already searched the island for the killer. We also haven't been able to find your laptop; it's possible that someone threw it into the ocean to ensure that we never found it. If we can't find Pegasus or your laptop, how do we get off this island?" (A/N: It's like a bad Gilligan's Island remake:) ) "There's a limited amount of food on this island, unless we can grow our own. And unless anyone here knows how to make a boat that can actually float," Serenity shook her head; Kaiba curtly turned his to one side, "I think we're stuck here."
"And what do you suggest we do?" asked Kaiba.
Ryou paused. "I don't know. I have no idea."
Serenity looked down the stairs and gulped. "Can we move her? I don't like to just look down there and see..."
"That should be the first order of business," agreed Ryou. "Then we have to make sure that none of us follow her."
Later, they all gathered in the living room, Kaiba carrying a picture frame with him.
"What is that?" Serenity asked.
"It's the copy of that poem, "Ten Little Duel Monsters," that was hanging in your room," Kaiba replied. "If you'll notice, it points out all of the ways that people are going to die beforehand." He began to read it aloud.
"'Ten little Duel Monsters looking so fine,
A mirror broke in one's face and then there were nine,'" Kaiba looked up. "That was Gardner; a mirror fell on her.
"'Nine little Duel Monsters pondering their fate,
The past killed one and then there were eight;' Ishizu was strangled with her necklace, being killed by the past.
"'Eight little Duel Monsters looking at the heavens,
A star fell on one and then there were seven;' Yugi was suffocated and had star chips with him when he was discovered.
"'Seven little Duel Monsters going after chicks,
Someone took offense and then there were six;' this would describe Wheeler, and then there was that distasteful attack with the picture.
"'Six little Duel Monsters going for a dive
One drowned in the water and then there were five;' Tristan was pushed off a cliff. He would have landed in the ocean if there hadn't been a rock in the way.
"'Five little Duel Monsters hiding from the gore,
One couldn't clear his mind and then there were four;' Marik was found with that staff thing he carries, which is supposed to brainwash people.
"'Four little Duel Monsters unable to see,
One tripped and fell and then there were three;' Ribbon fell down a flight of stairs.
"'Three little Duel Monsters eating food brand new,
But one choked and died and then there were two.
Two little Duel Monsters: just a pair of nuns,
One left the abbey and then there was one
One little Duel Monster left all alone,
He disappeared and then there were none!' These are the lines that haven't occurred yet. The next supposed murder seems pretty straightforward: one of us is going to be poisoned."
"It says 'food brand new,' though," observed Ryou. "If the food is still sealed, then how can it have been poisoned?"
"This is Pegasus's island," said Kaiba. "I suppose that he could have poisoned the food before it was sealed."
"Yes, but that doesn't make sense. Then he couldn't be sure when we'd eat the poisoned food. Even now, it could take months to go through all the food to get to the poisoned part."
"Hmmm..." Kaiba mused. "Maybe he'll come and plant it?"
"I say the best plan is to dig through the pantry and only eat the things in the back," Serenity suggested.
Kaiba sighed. "It's not the best plan, but I don't see what else we can do. We can't starve to death."
Serenity and Ryou opened up cans of soup for dinner, poured them into bowls, and heated them over a stove with Kaiba supervising them, to assure that they were not working together. Serenity suggested bread to go with the soup, but it seemed so much easier to poison something through a flimsy plastic bag than a can of soup, that the idea was dropped.
At the table, they sat for a long time, watching the soup cool, reluctant to eat it. After ten minutes of silence, Kaiba picked up his spoon, ignoring Ryou and Serenity's gasps.
"I've never backed down from anything out of fear," he said coldly. "And I'm not about to start now. But if I do die, will you tell Mokuba that I love him?"
The other two nodded.
"For the record, if I live, I never said that." Kaiba dipped his spoon into the now-cold soup sitting in front of him, inserted it into his mouth, and swallowed.
Within seconds, he had died.
A/N: Aww! Kaiba's so cute here! I wasn't sure if it was entirely in character for him to do something so stupid, but I can totally picture him saying that.
Oh yeah, and to make up for the long delay, another chapter will come out in a week or less.
Nicole: Good theories all around! Glad this makes you think!
TCD0012: Um, yeah, about that making-you-wait-thing... (hides under bed)
Everyone comes up with good explanations for every death; I could write another version with all of them! Yours is particularly well thought out; it would do well!
-glomps Yuugi- : Haha, I love your name! Fun review! It made me giggle, thus contributing to another chapter!
SiriusIsthar: Yeah, it's just one big circle now, isn't it? Candlestick is capitalized! It feels loved!
JessiePotter: Are you psychic? How'd you know who would die next?
Athena777: Yeah, boat-not-coming-thing supposed to keep ya in suspense. :P Evidently, it worked. Yay!
Doma Yuset: Yeah, I made Seto sweet in this chapter. I couldn't resist.
Aerith Queen of Cetra: Revenge is always a powerful motive.
I updated! Soon-ish-kind-of-sort-of-late-after-all-eternity...
Coolgirlmich: Thank you!
BlackTiger57: I'm a lazy updater! (hides) So, either Serenity or Joey framing Kaiba? Understandable (I mean, they don't like him much, do they?)
Kaiba-Kun: Umm... yeah... ummm... tsk... well... I updated... sorta soon...
Rachel: Well, since you said please... :P
Pegasus: lllll
Tristan: llll
Kaiba: lll
Ribbon: ll
Mai: ll
Ryou: lll
Yami Marik: ll
Bakura: ll
Yugi: l
Alister: l
Marik: l
Serenity: l
Dartz: l
Joey: l