AN- This fic is not actually off of hiatus, but I've been working on this chapter for a long while and have finally decided to post it up. My apologies for the long wait, and hopefully the next chapter shouldn't be so long in the making!

Reviews appreciated. :D

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-gi-oh or its characters.

Thoughts flashed through her mind like mini-lightning strikes as she fell forward through the air. Desperately she hoped to reach the other side, but more prominent than any of that was her fear for what would happen if she didn't. Not for herself, no, but for her brother... What would he do if she didn't make it across? Would he be sad? Upset? Angry? Angry... He might be angry that he'd worked so hard to help her in the past, and indeed since they had been reunited. He deserved all the time he could get with her, and to sabotage that would be utterly devastating. She had to make it!

The time it took seemed like an hour, but in actuality it had only been a few seconds, seconds that had passed so slowly that time seemed to be crawling. Then she realized it. She had missed. A shocked cry rent the air as she scrambled for purchase, desperately clutching at the sharp, crumbling edge of the torn flooring. Bits of pipe and debris dug into her palms and fingers, drawing specks of blood as she tried to haul her body upwards to safety. Tremors shook her body as she cried out, pleas bubbling from her throat, "Help! Please!" The adrenalin rush that had flooded her body took her off balance, dizzying her. More crumbling, and slowly, agonizingly, rock crumbled and fingers slipped.

The nauseating feeling of falling once again enveloped her, dragging her downwards without mercy. Then... it stopped. The jolt of a sudden pause in her descent tore another cry from her, and she looked up in shock, "Y-you caught me..."

"I could hardly just let you fall, could I?" With a quick smile, Marik managed to carefully pull her back up and over the side of the ledge, placing her gently on the floor. He had jumped just as she had started to fall, clearing the gap with relative ease and hoping that he'd be able to make it in time to prevent her falling into an even more dangerous predicament. He looked her over quickly for injuries, quickly noting the traces of blood that ran across her hands. That was lucky... he thought in relief, leaning back from his crouched position, "Are you alright?" But I still don't trust this ledge... Wonder why that is? Obviously, his natural cynism was starting to get the better of him, lovely.

He let out the breath he had been holding when she had nodded, pulling himself to his feet again. He neglected brushing himself free of the dust that had manage to collect itself on him, knowing that doing so would be utterly pointless. There was so much dust in the air that he could feel the tickle of it as he breathed, and he wondered faintly if any had gotten into their lungs. However, considering that neither had started choking just yet, it was fairly safe to assume that they didn't have to worry overly much about it.

Glancing around, he waited patiently while the younger of the pair regained her bearings. With the threat of yet more aftershocks, it was vital that they started moving again as quickly as possible, but it wouldn't do for them to move while Serenity was still recovering from her shock.

"Marik?" Serenity asked slowly, brushing the dust off of her shirt distractedly. Her hands trembled noticeably, whether from shock or pain, or maybe both. She paused briefly in embarrassment, ashamed of herself for not being able to make it across the gap, "Thank you for helping me..." Hazel eyes swirling with a mixture of emotions, brought on by the sudden events that she had been forced into.

"Its alright," Chuckling, he pulled the leaflet out of the pocket he had stowed it in, glancing over the map, "Do you think you're feeling well enough to make it out of the building?" This was, of course, assuming that they didn't run into anymore mishaps...

"I should be," Nodding once again, Serenity straightened herself properly, also glancing around, "I want to get out of here more than ever... I want to see how bad it is outside..." She knew that there was probably a lot of damage; knew that she would probably end up more worried than ever about her brother, but maybe it wasn't so bad? Maybe the other buildings had fared better? Hopefully... Hopefully everyone was alright, and preferably not stuck in a similar situation as herself and Marik were. Perhaps they both had had bad luck today? Well, hers must not have been quite so bad, given the fact that she had ended up with somebody to help her. Marik, on the other hand...

Said Marik interrupted her train of thought before she could get too side-tracked, "Then why don't we get going? I think we may have lingered long enough, if you're sure you feel well enough to travel." Of course, he didn't mention the fact that he was sure there were going to be more tremors soon, and those tremors were likely to be the ones to bring the building down completely. If they didn't move quickly they were likely to either find themselves trapped or flattened beyond repair, and he was pretty sure neither of their siblings would appreciate something like that happening.

---

Amazing how the building seems to get worse and worse the further we get to the exit, Marik mused as they scrambled over the latest pile of stone that had collapsed in from the ceiling, I wonder if it'd fall over entirely with one poke. He'd been thinking a lot since they had begun to journey once again, only speaking occasionally to give words of encouragement to the one whom he was currently trying to Shepard safely out of danger. To anyone else, his thoughts might have been deemed as crazy, but to him, it was just a way of amusing himself to pass the time. Not, of course, that the terrain wasn't difficult enough to keep him occupied; even he had to stop regularly to catch his breath, or else to check for anymore cuts or bruises.

Brushing his unruly blond bangs out of his eyes, he crouched down on the small ledge jutting out of the mound of debris and offered his hand to the struggling girl just below him. She was actually doing quite well for herself, from his previous impressions of her. She had her brothers determination, doing her best to make her way over all of the obstacles and to keep pace as they scaled the different piles of rubble as and when they came to them.

With a gentle tug, Serenity was finally next to him, panting lightly in exhaustion, "We… We should keep going…" She looked up and met his eyes, and Marik resisted the urge to sigh. She wasn't going to be able to keep going like this for much longer, especially not when it was getting harder and harder to get a decent breath of air. How did he know? He was starting to feel the effects of it as well, and he had lived in a desert! Shaking his head, he nodded and offered her a hand once again.

"You go first," Nodding with encouragement at her squeak, he gave her a boost up to the top of the rubble and quickly hopped up after her, clinging tightly to the few hand-holds that presented themselves to him. Hopefully the decent wouldn't be as taxing as the way up had been! More importantly, hopefully it wouldn't cause as many un-due bruises…

---

Sirens were blaring, people were running, the ground was shaking… Or, it had been.

With a groan, Joey Wheeler pushed himself up from where he had been laying unconscious on the side-walk, sprawled amidst the wreckage of a couple of nearby shop fronts. People were milling around everywhere, shouting and calling to yet more people, who were also shouting and calling. More prominently was the pounding ache that rattled through his skull with each footfall or yell from the herd of buffalo also known as the general inhabitants of Domino City. Now at least he remembered why he hated headache so badly.

"My, my… Do mine eyes deceive me, or do I recognize this poor, injured mortal laying sprawled on the path before me?"

On second thoughts, oblivion was much more preferable…