Title: Lullaby Killer

By: Morgan Johnson

Disclaimer: In profile

A/N: I must apologize for something that was truly not my fault. I had lost the chapters but found them again so after writing the fourth chapter and considering rewriting it, I have decided to make this story instead of ten chapters long at least eleven or twelve so that I won't have to rewrite the fourth chapter. There is a death in this chapter and I hope that you like it...

Chapter Five: Discord Erupts

The city was easy to travel through as not many people were left there. Still the gang and Kaiba went very carefully, which led them to be extremely tired. With no people left and Kaiba's car out of gas, they had been forced to walk the entire way. It's easy to say that they were none too happy about it.

Joey kept complaining about having to walk, Mai kept telling him to be quiet for Serenity's sake, Tristan kept staring out into nowhere and Yugi kept his head down. He knew that this was apparently his fault and he didn't want anyone reminding him of it if he complained about their current situation.

Serenity however looked like she was making progress; she was no longer laughing, nor was she crying silently. She was simply calm and at least like that the gang and Kaiba had some kind of peace even if it was minimal.

Half an hour after leaving Yugi's place, and a dozen complaints later, the gang and Kaiba arrived at Bakura's residence. The house was small and painted a sickening yellow color. The fence upfront was falling apart and the lawn had not been cut in months.

Yugi grimaced at the look of the house. He remembered going there a few times after school to invite Ryou over and remembered the house as white and being freshly painted. The fence had been white as well and had been set up perfectly, the lawn had been neat and the house had once had a warm feeling to it. Now it only made him want to leave running and never come back.

After the whole ceremonial duel, Ryou had become a bit unstable, requesting to be called Bakura at all times. He had gained an undeniable hate towards Yugi and those that he had once called friends. He no longer spoke to anyone involved with Yugi nor did he continue to attend Domino High. The last that anyone had heard from him was that he was getting along quite well with the Ishtars, in particular with Marik.

More than once had Ishizu called Yugi to ask if he or anyone had any news of her brother and Bakura. It seemed that a bit of the old spirit had been left in him and it wasn't a good influence, not at all. Several times had Yugi thought of calling him up and inviting him over as he had before but the fact that Ryou was now Bakura and his best friend was a once psycho didn't really appeal to him.

"Bakura, get your butt out here, NOW!" barked Joey getting a reprimand from Mai and a snicker from Kaiba. Even though they were dealing with a serious situation it never tired to see the mutt put down, at least Kaiba thought so.

Kaiba approached the front door, after passing through the jungle of a lawn, and went to knock when the door opened on itself. It made a loud squeaking noise, the same noise you hear when you step on an old wooden step. A whiff of something rotten hit him and he took a step back. Everyone remained still and it seemed as though no one was going to enter. Mai, forcing herself to stand up right, entered the house and called out to the rest that were left outside after a minute had passed.

When everyone entered they saw that the house was completely empty. Not a single piece of furniture or trace of anything alive was present. The odd thing was that it smelled as though something had died and been locked up for a while. After finishing their search, emotions were running high. Tristan looked like he was about to lose it and so did Kaiba.

"So if it's not Bakura then it must be Marik" stated Kaiba looking like someone who had just been told grave news. "Wait a minute Kaiba," started Tristan, "Just because the house is empty doesn't mean that Bakura didn't do it. He could have easily moved out after stashing bodies here, at least it smells like that. I'm out of here, you guys do whatever you want but I am not letting a psycho get me just because I'm with you guys."

And with that Tristan left the home with no one following him. If he wanted to leave then it would be his funeral, funeral indeed. Kaiba looked around and took off to the opposite direction that Tristan had taken, that only left Joey, Mai, Serenity and Yugi at the home.

A loud squeak was heard from upstairs that alerted them that they were not alone in the home. Mai, once again, was the first to dare to approach the threat and begun to head up the stairs. Joey sat Serenity down on the floor and closed to the front door. Yugi and Joey followed Mai, who was already upstairs, towards where they had heard the noise and saw that they were in front of a closed bedroom door. Mai turned the knob and opened it in a flash.

The bedroom was nothing like the rest of the house. This room held a bed, dresser, night table and a small refrigerator. Pictures littered the dresser and Mai went to inspect them. Dozens of pictures of the gang were present, all with their faces scratched out. The fridge, which Joey went to inspect, held nothing but bottles full of a red liquid. After opening one up, Joey saw that it was blood, but he couldn't tell if it was human or not. Yugi went towards the bed and looked beneath it; so far he had seen too many movies not to, but found nothing but dust.

Mai turned to see the others and noticed that the squeak had come from the closet door in the room and saw that it was half open. Gulping loudly she approached it and as she was about to open it heard a scream from downstairs. Joey and Yugi took off leaving Mai all alone upstairs.

When Yugi and Joey arrived to the bottom of the stairs they saw Serenity huddling away from a stray cat that had apparently entered through an open window that they hadn't noticed. Serenity continued to cry incessantly as Joey tried to calm her. It took them half an hour to realize that they had left Mai upstairs and that they hadn't heard a peep from her the entire time. When Yugi went upstairs he realized why. Mai was hanged from the ceiling fan, her blood dropping to the floor, drop by drop. A Note lay underneath her now stained with her blood, it read:

Golden hairs upon her head,

Fearful as we finally met,

Sleeping, Pretty darling,

She did not cry,

As I sung her a lullaby,

Care she did not,

Therefore she sleeps,

Watch the others until we meet.

When Joey headed up to see why Yugi hadn't come down, he busted out in tears at the sight of Mai dead and he wept until Yugi cut her down and placed her on the bed. She looked so peaceful a though she were just sleeping, Joey felt horrible not only because she was dead but also because he had neglected her by only paying attention to his sister. If anyone was at fault for her death it was him.

Serenity made her way up the stairs and saw both Yugi and Joey crying and only smiled. She sat herself on the bed and began to play with strands of Mai's hair, whisteling softly as though she Mai were simply a doll to play with. Joey felt enraged at what was happening and if not for Yugi he would have thrown himself out the window. Yugi began to look around for any way that the killer could have left the house without them noticing and he saw a slight glimmer coming from the closet. While Joey's thoughts were elsewhere and Yugi was focusing on the closet, none noticed that Serenity kissed Mai's forehead and let herself quietly out of the house.

Misery: So like it? Tell me but remember no flames. I hope you liked it and the killer's identity won't be told until the last chapter or maybe the one before that. Many more deaths are to come…Oh and if you don't understand the whole Serenity thing, she is kind of losing her mind with the whole death thing and all…later