Disclaimer: I most certainly do not own Yu-Gi-Oh. I can never create something so wonderful (sigh…)

Author's note: Thank you to all of my wonderful reviewer. But it is really tiresome to keep on posting messages back to you guys, please forgive me. If you have any comments, I welcome you to email me, and I'll probably reply back. Again, thanks to all of my reviewers, you guys are the best! Okay, now continue with the story. I hope you will enjoy it.

The Spirit of the Sword

Chapter 12

The Secret Room Underground

In the morning, the warm sunlight shone into Serenity's room from the big windows. The white curtains were already pulled open, allowing the sunlight to light up the luxurious room. Serenity was still sleeping. It was only her second day awakened from the coma. No one was in her room, except Seto Kaiba. After all, this was also his room. He was sitting at the blue sofa far away from the bed, thinking about what happened yesterday.

Yesterday, after he banged the door shut out of frustration, he went back to sit in his personal library and buried his head into all the papers and issues of his kingdom. He tried to occupy his thoughts with works. He didn't know why he was so confused, and what were all those feelings inside of his heart. However, he was extremely unhappy about one thing. Yami and the mutt had went to his library and demanded that they stay in Domino castle for a few more days, until Serenity feels better. Although Seto didn't want other people around in his castle, he didn't say anything to them. He could see that Serenity really depended on the mutt, and she would need him in order to recover faster. Then, he couldn't focus on his works, so he walked out of the library, wondering in the castle. When he finally realized where he was, he was already back in his own room. Serenity was asleep on the bed, with a faint smile on her face…

Seto was staring at Serenity. He observed her beautiful form on the bed. Her eyes were shut, preventing him to look at her big and hazel eyes. He had to admit, her eyes were extremely beautiful. Through her eyes, one could see her innocence and pureness. Serenity's auburn hair was spread out on the white pillow. Her hair must be very soft… It would be great to feel the softness of her beautiful hair… Seto thought. Although Serenity's body was totally covered by the soft silk sheet, Seto could just imagine her position right now. Suddenly, his eyes returned to usual keenness and coldness. He shook his head slightly, and moved his cerulean eyes toward the windows. He saw the bright sunlight shinning into the room, making the tiles on the floor extremely white and he could see his own reflection in the tiles.

What was I doing here? Sitting here like an idiot for the whole night! Seto snapped out of his thoughts. He stood up from the blue sofa and decided to go back to his own library. When he was about to go out, he saw that there was something on the table. For the past three weeks, everyone was just too busy worrying about Serenity. No one noticed the object on the table next to the bed.

Seto walked over to the brown table. There were a lot of stuff on there, such as make ups, hair brushes, a vase of white lilies, and a big mirror. Those objects were all neatly lined up. Why were those objects for girls in Seto's room? Well, it was for Serenity to prepare for the wedding. But she got hurt in the church of the wedding, so all those stuff were still there. However, the object that Seto saw stood out because it was all alone in the middle of the table. When he reached the table, he picked up that object. His eye immediately widened in shock.

What the…? Why is this on the table??? Seto looked at the object, with eyes wide opened. He reached into his pocket on his long trench coat and pulled out another exactly alike object. It was a white jade of the shape of his favorite Egyptian monster—Blue Eye White Dragon! He held up the jade dragon and looked at it under the sun. It can't be! It was translucent under the sun. Such a rare jade was hard to find; not to mention the rare jade made into his favorite dragon. Seto compared the two dragons in his hands. The patterns were exactly alike. He remembered that there were only four such white jade dragon in the world. Seto himself had one in his pocket; he gave one to his beloved little brother, Mokuba; the other one he kept in his security box in his library. He didn't remember what happened to the last jade. He had lost it about six years ago, or so he thought. (He didn't remember about the past, because he desperately wanted to forget the horrible past.) Where did this come from? Seto was still shocked to find the jade that he 'lost' a long time ago back on his table.

Hmph… forget it. It's not important. I have no use for it anyway. I should have just told the servant to make two, one for me and one for Mokuba. Why bother to make four? Seto put the jade dragon back onto the table and walked out of the room. He closed the door lightly so he wouldn't wake Serenity up. He changed his mind about going back to the library. He turned toward the stairs and went to the basement. There were two guards in heavy armored with swords standing at the entrance of the stairs. Seto walked past the guards and walked towards the door down the hallway. He pushed open a big and heavy door. The door was made of steel, painted black. Behind the door was the room he ordered to be built after Mokuba was taken away by Maximillion Pegasus. No one in the world, not even the people in his kingdom, except those that worked in there, knew about this underground place.

When the door opened, heat immediately blew upon his face, making his bangs fly slightly backward. Seto didn't even mind the heat, as if he was already used to the heat after being exposed to it for a long time. The sounds of steel being hit upon could be heard the instant the door opened. Ding! Bang! Ding! There were about one hundred workers holding the heavy hammer, hitting on the red hot steel on the table. They were welding swords. There were also about twenty really high structures that looked like chimneys. Those chimneys had white steams coming out of the opening at the top. At the bottom of the chimney, there was an opening, and red hot melted steel (liquid) flowed out of the opening into a container. The workers poured those melted steel and iron into the mold of a sharp, long sword. Then, when the steel or iron had cool down a bit, they started to use heavy hammers to hit and weld the sword. Inside of the chimneys were liquids of melted steel and iron, as should be inferred. The workers were all sweating at both the heat and the physical labor.

Seto walked past some of the workers, inspecting on the progress. The head of the worker saw Seto and immediately ran towards him to report on their progress.

"My lord! We are still trying to figure out how to weld the strongest sword that could never break." Reported the head of the worker timidly. Seto would come here almost once every two days, but he didn't came for the past three weeks. Every time Seto came, the workers would all be scolded at the slow progresses or no progresses at all that they made. The workers were just about to celebrate that their king didn't come down here for three weeks, but now their king was here. Many workers started to sweat nervously. Almost all of them stopped working and stared at Seto, with cold sweat of course.

"Hmph! Imbeciles." Seto snorted. He was already in a bad mood for the past three weeks. "If you can't even do what I ask you to do, then what use have I for you?" Seto growled. He was directing his comment to all of the workers. Every worker lowered their heads. They didn't have courage to continue looking at their king's icy blue eyes.

"We're so sorry, my lord…" The head of the worker apologized meekly. "But without the newest insight into wielding the sword, our swords are already considered the best in the world; well… only one sword could break our swords… But our swords could break every other swords in the world…" He tried to explain to Seto.

"Stop finding excuses! If you imbeciles couldn't do it, I'll find a way and wield the sword myself" Seto growled angrily.

"Forgive us, my lord! But one as noble as you shouldn't be working in such a hot environment… We'll do our best!" The head of the workers were sweating profusely. He wouldn't dare let his king work here himself. He might be punished by his king for being useless, or he might be punished by god for making his divine king work like a laborer. Every workers kneeled down at the words of their head. They all said aloud "Don't worry my lord, we'll do our best."

"Hmph! You imbeciles better wield the strongest sword by the end of the month. My patience is running out! By the end of the month, no sword will means the death of all of you!" Seto threatened. With that, he turned around and went back to his library, leaving the workers to rush back to their position and started making the swords again…

Knock! Knock! There were two light knocks on the door. The person who was knocking tried not to wake the person in to room up.

Serenity moaned slightly. She slowly opened her sleepy eyes up. She sat up on the soft bed, with her long auburn hair hanging smoothly down her back. She extended her arms out to stretch them. Where am I? Serenity was confused about her location after just waking up. It's not her fault. She didn't even had the chance to get use to her new 'home' when she was wounded and then fallen into a coma. She just woke up yesterday from her coma. Silly me… I'm in Domino Castle… How can I forget? She looked a little disappointed that she was no longer with Joey and her friends. She tried to get off the bed, but her backs hurt a little. Serenity moaned out once again. I had to be more careful not to pull my muscle on my back. She reminded herself.

Knock! Knock! The door was being knocked again. It was the knocks that had awaken Serenity from her sweet dreams. "Who is it?" Serenity asked. She couldn't yell out too loud, because her back might hurt if she use too much energy.

"It's me, sis. Can I come in?" The voice of Joey Wheeler reached Serenity's ear. "Sure, Joey!" Serenity yelled cheerfully. But then she regretted doing that, for her wound on the back began to hurt a little, so she moaned slightly.

Joey opened the door and his head, with messy blonde hair, came out from behind the door first, making sure that the arrogant jerk (Kaiba) wasn't in the room. After he saw that only Serenity was in the big room, he walked in. Serenity giggled at Joey's reaction. She knew that his brother had always resented Seto Kaiba for his arrogant attitude. She also believed that the other reason hated Kaiba so much was because of the rumors about how cruel and heartless Kaiba was. Although she didn't know much about Kaiba, but after seeing him, she thought that maybe Kaiba was just cold. The rumors about Kaiba being evil and bloodthirsty was probably not true. Serenity thought optimistically.

"Mornin sis! How are ya feeling?" Joey interrupted Serenity's train of thought. "Hey sis, what'd ya thinking 'bout?"

"Oh nothing… nothing Joey." Serenity lied. She didn't want her big brother to start acting furiously because she was thinking about Seto Kaiba.

"Ya sure, sis? Ya can tell me anything on your mind." Joey said, with suspicious brown eyes. He pulled a wooden chair with red cushion on it towards the bed and sat down.

"Yes, Joey. I'm not thinking about anything." Serenity said. "Set… no, Kaiba let you stay here?" Serenity asked, shocked that Joey was still allowed to stay in the room. From what she had observed, Kaiba seemed to dislike Joey very much. He insulted Joey as a mutt, she remembered. She tried to look calm, because she almost called out Seto Kaiba's first name. She believed that Joey would be angered if the word 'Seto' came out of her mouth.

"Hmph! That arrogant jerk! He didn't even send us a message saying that ya're in a coma. What does he think he is?" Joey had an angry expression on his face. He tightened his fists and held them in front of Serenity, making punching movements. "I'd like very much to kick his ass, sis."

Serenity gasped. "Joey! Did you forget what happened last time you tried to fight Kaiba?"

"… Don't mention that, Seren. That's why you were wounded. I'm sorry, sis. I shouldn't have tried to challenge Kaiba when you were just right there. I wasn't thinking clearly at the wedding." Joey lowered his head in regret, but he gritted his teeth when he said the word 'wedding'.

"It's okay Joey, I'm fine now." Serenity said, reaching her had to Joey's shoulder, trying to comfort him. "Will you stay with me for a couple of days more? I think Kaiba would kick all of you out soon after I recover…"

"Of course, Seren. We'll all stay here for a few more days. We can…" Joey was interrupted when Tristan and Duke ran in; behind them was Mai with her angry violet eyes staring at both Tristan and Duke.

Tristan rushed to the other side of the bed and grabbed Serenity's hand. "Morning, Serenity!" He said cheerfully. "I'm so happy that you are fine!" Tristan's pointy dark brown hair was combed neatly. His eyes could only be seen like two lines, because he was smiling too happily at Serenity.

Duke rushed towards Tristan and smacked Tristan's hand off of Serenity. He then pushed Tristan aside and grabbed Serenity's hand. "Serenity! I'm extremely happy to see you wake up! Allow me to give you this." Duke's green eyes gave Serenity a sexy look, then he held out a pink flower and gave it to Serenity. "Pink rose, the flower that resembles your beauty, Serenity." Duke said with his low and seductive voice.

"… um… Thank you, Duke…" Serenity was uncertain of what to do. She tried to take her hands back from Duke. She didn't take the rose from him, but he stuck the rose into her hand. She blushed a little. She knew that both Tristan and Duke liked her, but he only saw them as good friends. Besides, she's married now…

Tristan came back next to Duke and pushed Duke away. Veins popping on Tristan's forehead because Duke pushed him away from Serenity. Then, Tristan was frustrated at himself for letting Duke give Serenity a pretty pink rose. Why didn't I think of giving her a gift? Tristan thought angrily.

"Hey, watch it, Tristan! Why did you push me, huh?" Duke screamed angrily. He came back face to face with Tristan and was about to punch Tristan in the face.

"I don't think so!" Tristan said, knowing what Duke was going to do to him. Just when Tristan was about to hit Tristan in the stomach, Joey growled angrily, stopping the fight between Tristan and Duke.

"Stop it, ya two! What did ya think ya're doing? Seren needs some rest!" Joey growled. He quickly ran around the bed to the opposite side, where the two were standing. He pulled them apart and growled again. "Didn't I warned ya two before?!? Don't even think 'bout getting ya hands on my sista!"

"But, Joey…" Duke and Tristan started to wine again. They had completely forgotten where they were. They had also forgotten that they had attended the wedding of Serenity and Kaiba. They couldn't believe that Kaiba took their dream girl away from them! Such an unpleasant and humiliating memory was already wiped out of their minds.

"My jade! Where is it?" Serenity suddenly screamed. She wanted to take the jade-dragon necklace that she always wears, but found that the necklace wasn't around her neck. She had forgotten that she took it off to put on another necklace during the wedding.

Joey, Tristan, and Duke turned to look at Serenity. She was now turning her sheets up and down, thinking that the necklace might be on the bed or tangled in the sheets somewhere. She fumbled around the bed, but didn't find anything. "Joey! Where's my necklace? Have you seen it?" Serenity was on the verge of crying. She liked that jade very much, even though she didn't remember how she got the jade.

"What necklace?" All three of them asked at once. They were confused about what Serenity was talking about. Even Joey had never notice that Serenity wore a jade-dragon necklace around her neck.

Serenity stopped fumbling. She looked up at them. Her eyes turned watery at the thought of losing the necklace forever. The necklace was very important to her. It had been through hardship and loneliness with her in the past six years. "I have a white jade necklace. It was in the shape of a dragon. It has two eyes made out of blue stones that shines under the sun. Also, the whole jade was translucent under the sun. It's really pretty! Please, help me find it."

"Sure…" The three guys started looking all over the room. Although they didn't know what's so special about that necklace, but since Serenity really wanted it, they'll help her find it. Tristan lowered his body and searched on the floor. He even looked under the bed, but didn't see anything. Duke went to all the closets and drawers. He opened every closets and drawers up, trying to see if the necklace might be there. Serenity continued to fumble on the bed. Joey was just standing there. He looked around the room, pondering on where the necklace might be. Suddenly, his brown eyes caught something on the table next to the bed.

"Ah-ha! It's on the table, sis!" Joey said. He walked to the table and picked up the necklace. "It's beautiful! Where did ya get this, sis? I want one too… Wait a minute, this is the Blue Eyes White Dragon! Where did ya get this, seriously?" Joey was shocked that his sister would possess a necklace in the shape of the ancient Egyptian monster.

"Give me, Joey!" Serenity held out her hand, desperately to take her necklace back. "Thanks, guys, for helping me out!" Serenity said once Joey gave the necklace back to her. Then, she remembered that Joey asked her a question. "I don't really remember where I got this necklace, but it is so beautiful! I never take it off and it helped me make it through all those hard years with mother."

"Oh…" They all answered together, amazed at the beauty of the white jade. Everyone could tell that the white jade was extremely rare to be able to turn translucent under the sun. They were also amazed at the design of the necklace. It must be hard to carve such a complicated design onto the jade.

"Hey, why don't we take Serenity to the big garden outside? The sun seemed nice and warm today." Suggested Tristan.

"Yea, I want to go outside too!" Serenity said cheerfully. She felt a bit uncomfortable just lying on the bed. Besides, she didn't move much in the past three weeks due to her coma. It would be nice to take a slow walk outside in the beautiful garden.

"Sure, sis. Let's go!" Joey said. He picked Serenity up by her arm and supported her, so that she wouldn't fall. His movement showed how much he loved his little sister, and might at time be overprotective of her.

"I'm fine, Joey, I can walk by myself…" Serenity said. She tried to stand up on her own instead of leaning a bit towards Joey.

"Let me help ya, sis. I didn't want to see ya fall. Ya're still a bit weak after the coma." Joey insisted on holding onto Serenity. Tristan and Duke looked at Joey and Serenity. They envy Joey for being able to held onto the shoulder of Serenity. They wanted to do the same too, but with Joey around, they won't have the chance to do it.

They walked toward the door, then down the long hallway, and finally out of the castle into the garden. It took them about twenty minutes to get to the garden, proving that the Domino Castle was extremely huge.

Serenity smiled happily at the sight of the garden. There were white lilies, red roses, red roses, white daisies, blue and purple orchids, and some little orange flowers that she didn't recognize. "It's so beautiful!" Serenity smile sweetly at Joey. She inhaled deeply. The air was fresh! The grass were green and soft. There were also some trees, with beautiful green leaves. On some of the trees, there were fruits. Serenity saw several apple trees and several orange trees. She raised her head and saw the clear blue sky, with white cotton clouds.

Serenity, Joey, Tristan, and Duke were too focused on the beautiful scene that they saw in the garden. They didn't realize a pair of icy blue eyes were also looking out the window from the second floor (library). The owner of that icy blue eyes noticed the four figures at the garden and stared at them, observing every moves they made…

Not much happened in this chapter… Next chapter will be more interactions between Kaiba and Serenity :). Okay, please review!!!