Chapter Twenty-One: Set-up or Reality?

Many times, I wonder what life would have been like had I done things differently. Where would my brother and I be if I had chosen a different path? If I had not challenged Gozaburo, for one?

But such instances only make my nightmares worse, for I feel even guiltier. Somehow, that is the only feeling that has been left to me besides sorrow or anger. I should have done this or been prepared for that...and all of it is worthless because I cannot go back.

If I could go back, I'd have taken my brother and run away, preferring life in poverty than this. But then I am straight back to worsening my nightmares.

The sound of a moaning wind complete with a creaking door or coffin drifted in the utter night within doors. As he walked on farther, the sounds grew louder; eventually a distant wailing baby came from a room lit in blue colors.

What's in this room? Yugi asked.

"We won't know until we check it out," the Spirit answered, louder than usual to cover the tones of the spooky music.

Before the short teenager could enter the area in the blue light, a skittering sound came from his right. Fortunately, he heard it over the music and moved to the left, eyes trying to pierce the blackness to see what was there.

"That sounded like a scorpion."

A scorpion! Yami, there can't be scorpions here! That's insane! That's unfair! We've got to get out of here!

"Yugi…calm down. I doubt they'd be real. And I doubt that if they're real they could even harm us. Something would have been done to them to make certain they couldn't kill us. Kaiba's lost his backbone in doing anything truly dangerous."

…I'm glad about that.

The pharaoh didn't reply. Instead, he stuck a foot out before him, yanking it back when he felt something try to prod it. Then, the skittering sound vanished down the hallway, soothing Yugi and making Yami smirk.

"I think it was kind of like a remote control car, only instead of hearing an engine, we heard real scorpion sounds. There was probably someone nearby controlling it, too."

If you say so.

Now, attention ready to turn toward the blue-lit room, they entered it slowly, eyes scanning all around for potential threats.

A large mirror stood propped against the corner of the room, instantly drawing the eyes like the sound of sirens or someone saying, "Don't look." Other than the large mirror, rats scurried in cages all around the room, like a large tunnel. Knowing Yugi wanted to swallow convulsively, the Spirit of the Puzzle locked his jaw. Still…he had always hated rats back in Egypt, too. After the glass around the room, Yami shrugged.

Of course, he went to look in the mirror.

"Hmm. Nothing special about this." Dimly, in the bluish light, the punk stood confidently before the mirror, looking at himself.

About to turn away, something darker flashed in the mirror. Yami looked back quickly. A face besides his own rested in the mirror, a pasty pale one with deep red lips and ebony hair. With a grin, the face bared a set of sharp fangs, teeth glistening with the residue of blood.

Yami! Get us OUT of here!

The Pharaoh turned around, heart beating hard, but no one stood there. Yet, the face in the mirror didn't make sense if no one stood behind him…

Calming quickly, he replied, "A trick mirror. Just one that gets a figure in it. There's nothing to fear, Yugi. Just be on lookout for the card that must be hidden here."

Trying to sound as nonchalant as his other self, Yugi joked, I hope it's not in with the rats.

"Hmm. Good idea. Let's check it out."

Oh, no…

Yugi did not want another repeat experience like those maggots. Reaching his hand into the worms disgusted him enough.

The spooky music had ceased being a distant wailing child and now played a thunderstorm. Between the clashes of thunder, a chainsaw whirled, painting a vibrant picture in the mind.

All the walls had the small extension of a wire tunnel, holding in the piles of rats. The cages only reached as high as Yami's mid-calf, forming a small box with the wall and floor two sides of the snare.

"Hmph. I wonder what the animal rightists would say about this, Yugi?" Yami smirked as he continued looking at the rats so thickly in the cages they crawled atop one another.

His attempt to lighten the mood for his other self failed. Yugi did not respond and only formed a presence of quick breathing in Yami's mind.

Unseen, at their backs, the mirror tilted to allow out the figure who had watched them through the other side.

"I see no card."

"Oh, don't you?" came a low reply with a chuckle.

YAMI!

Spinning quickly, Yami couldn't resist the urge to back away as the pale figure smiled again at him. Only this time, no mirror stood between them. The crisp white shirt he wore stiffened from blood down the front, the black pants and coat accenting the red on white.

"Heh. Co—"

The lights went completely out, leaving them both in darkness. A wind went by, and Yami tensed, expecting an attack. But nothing of the sort happened. Well, almost nothing of the sort. Something flapped by in a large crowd, the tiny, high-pitched squeaks emitted leaving no doubt of what they were. Usually, though, bats' squeaks sounded above human hearing. It just convinced Yugi that these were no regular bats.

Vampire bats!

Nonsense, Yugi, Yami thought, ducking his head instinctively, though no bats had been in danger of impaling themselves on it.

After awhile, once silence had come again but for the tape playing steps outside in long grass, the blue lights flickered back on.

"Ah, here's a card." Yami stooped down and picked it up from where it lay near the mirror, almost like the vampiric man had dropped it there when he had no doubt changed into a bat. Except those things didn't happen.

They had found another Left Leg of the Forbidden One.

The path to the right seemed like a good one. Darker, cooler, more secluded. No one would follow him this far. Still, Joey kept up his quick pace as he raced between what seemed like rock walls and as he heard a few nasty crunches under foot.

"I don't wanna dink what dat was!"

Arms in front of him in order not to crash into anything, the blond teen sped off down the corridor until a glint of light came from ahead. The light did not appear artificial—not strong enough for that. And its silvery essence pooling on the floor shone too pure for some sort of creepy concoction.

Moonlight. And stars.

"A winda? Just how far did I come?"

How could a basement have a window that gleamed outside? Then again, thinking back, Joey realized that he had been going uphill ever so slightly. Apparently, this passage led to a real window that looked out into the yard.

"De Kaiba mansion is huge."

Catching his breath, Joey had to return his eyes to the darkness in order to see any detail of the room. Nothing caught his attention. What he stood within appeared a simple, ordinary room. A chair sat nearby, and it represented his own century, not years earlier. A desk, empty, a bookshelf, filled, and a lamp turned off. Joey thought of turning it on and investigating, but he remembered how he had been chased and didn't want to leave any clues. Plus, turning a light on inside a room with a window would illuminate him to the outside.

"First, I wanna check what's out dere."

Going to bathe his body in the iridescent air, Joey gazed up at the dark sky, realizing that the time had grown even later. A smattering of stars decorated the black velvet, but the oblong moon remained what gave Joey a slight shadow.

There, sitting on the window pane, taunting him that he hadn't seen it before, rested a Right Arm of the Forbidden One. He snatched it and grinned at it, polishing the fake card before slipping it with the other one he had.

Then, he turned his gaze from the nearsighted window to the farsighted yard.

Someone stared at him.

Blinking and taken aback, Joey skedaddled off to the side of the window, gulping before peeking back out.

The form wore dark clothing, but the eyes glowed red. Quickly, Joey looked away again. He tried to calm his heart, believing this, too, had to be a setup of the haunted house and not some real spirit out to murder him for-no-real-reason otherthanithadtobevengefulandfullofangerasallghostswere…(1)

Slowing the panic in his mind, Joey tried to talk himself into calming down.

"It's just some person dressed up. Not a ghost, not some vengeful bog spirit out t' eat my flesh. I'll just go on by and get back in de house and I'll forget all 'bout what I saw. Dat's right, Joey-man. We'll just go back down de corridor…"

Taking his first step by the window, his curiosity and natural impulse took control of him. He had to glance outside it just once more…

The glowing red eyes pressed before the window pane, close enough to look right into Joey's.

The teen stared for a split-second and then ran fast and hard back the way he'd come, brushing into something soft like fur on the walls. It only made him go faster.

(1): In case you need a translation: "He tried to calm his heart, believing this, too, had to be a setup of the haunted house and not some real spirit out to murder him for no real reason other than it had to be vengeful and full of anger as all ghosts were…" And naturally, this is Joey's belief, not my own opinion.