"Huh?"

Selene stared at the gate, no longer hanging from a single rusty hinge but now lying on the ground, cloaked by a thin layer of the dry, brick-colored dust. The sign that read, Dangerous, Do Not Enter had the faint imprint of the bottom of a shoe.

"Strange," she said aloud to herself. "This was still up last time I was here… Did someone come here after I did?"

It might have been curious first-years. In all honesty, in her own first-year she might have done the same thing if she had heard of a rumor of an abandoned dorm on campus. But she wasn't a first year, and these weren't mere rumors.

Shining flashlight about, she noticed a flash of red among the browning grass. Upon closer inspection, she realized it was a dark red rose, sitting before the gate. It was still fairly fresh for a cut flower with no water about, indicating that someone had placed it there very recently.

She would have to be more careful from then on. She couldn't risk being caught in the dorm.


"Ah~ looks like fifteen Ra students passed their promotion duels," Selene said, scrolling through the digital newsletter on her PDA. Scanning the list of names on the list she muttered, "More than usual."

"Selene! Kaiser!"

The two stopped walking and turned to see a familiar face running towards them. Her dark blonde pigtails flying behind her as she jogged.

"Oh, hey Calla," Selene said, closing her PDA as Calla stopped before them. "Just read the new DA Daily. Good job on it."

Calla raised her hand as she hunched over, indicating she was catching her breath. Standing back up, still a little short of breath but smiling she said, "Thanks- did you like the new formatting?"

"It's great, much easier to read."

"Good- that's what I was hoping for." Standing up straight, Calla shook her head before glancing at the Kaiser and then back at Selene. She grabbed her friend firmly by the shoulders, looking her dead in the eye.

"But that's not what I'm hear to talk about!" she exclaimed.

"Hm? What is it?" Selene asked, loosely circling around Calla's wrists, a bit perplexed at what she could be so worked up about.

Calla let go, staring at Selene, her mouth a little gaping and her brows furrowed.

"You haven't heard yet?"

"Heard…?"

"Jaden Yuki and Syrus Truesdale, they're your family right?"

"Where are you going with this?"

"They got caught trespassing into the old dorm!"

Selene felt her heart drop in that moment, her eyes widening.

"What? You're kidding!" she exclaimed half in disbelief and half in surprise.

Calla crossed her arms, shaking her head furiously as she often did.

"Not only that but apparently Crowler said if they don't want to be expelled, they have to participate in a tag duel against some pros!"

"Syrus…" Zane muttered, turning about.

"Eh? Zane where are you going?" Selene yelled as he began to walk away. She looked back towards Calla, her brows knitted worriedly, before looking back to Zane. Glancing at Calla one more time, she sighed. "Thanks for the info, Cal. Catch up later?"

Calla merely waved her hand carelessly I'm response. Selene gave her friend a three finger salute before sprinting towards Zane, who already made considerable distance away despite his rather leisurely pace.

"Zane! Wait up!" she called after him, feeling herself drain from running. She really had to work out more.

Catching up to him, slightly out of breath from running so fast, she huffed in mild annoyance.

"Gee, you know it's rude to just walk away like that?" she said, placing her hands in her hips. He appeared to have not heard her, as he continued to walk not looking away from straight ahead. Letting her arms drop, she looked at him concerned. He always had some reaction to what she said no matter what it was.

"Alright, what's wrong?" she huffed.

"My brother won't survive the duel as is."

Selene slowly blinked a few times, processing what he had just said. She knew Zane could be blunt, but his casual absolute brutality in that statement caused her to be a bit taken aback.

"A tad harsh, don't you think?" she finally responded after a few moments of silence.

"I know my brother, Selene." Zane shook his head a little, sighing. "With the way he duels, he should start packing now."

Selene looked at Zane. He seemed to be rather deep in thought, looking aimlessly towards the ground.

"Well…" she began, trying to think of something to say. "It's been a while since the last time you saw him duel, right? Maybe he's changed."

"You're too nice, Selene."

"You're much too cruel, Kaiser."

She paused, watching him mull over his brother's rather sticky situation.

"Trespassing into the old dorm, huh… I wonder what they could have been doing there."

"Nothing good, that's for sure."

"Hey you know, what that-"

Selene's words abruptly dropped. She was about to bring up the broken gate, but in doing so she would have inadvertently revealed her little investigations there.

Zane looked at her, expectantly waiting for her to finish her sentence. Frowning, had to quickly think of a way to twist her words into something else.

"... That-… that dorm is a dark place now…" she managed to stammer out. "I hope they're okay."

"Yes, I hope so too," Zane said, focusing his gaze straight ahead.


Selene liked to think of herself as an honest person, but that in itself was a lie.

She didn't like to think about it, but was forced to think about that after she had almost accidentally let it slip that she had been going on secret investigations to their old dorm.

Kicking up the bright emerald grass with her boots in her frustration, she thought about the guilt she had attempted to keep buried away. Had she done something that day, maybe none of that would have happened and Atticus and Yusuke and all the others would still be there. And her guilt of constantly lying to Zane, even though she knew he cared about them as much as she did. Still- she supposed this might be a time where the end justifies the means.

"Argh-!"

Selene was pulled out of her thoughts by a sudden, loud exclamation. Turning around, she realized she had wandered near the area of the red dorm. And a familiar red-clad figure was mindlessly stomping around in what seemed to be frustration.

"I can't believe the nerve…"

"Jaden?" Selene said, walking towards the figure who hadn't seemed to notice her presence. Waving her hand before his face, she repeated herself. "Hey, Jaden."

"Oh-" Jaden looked up, smiling- "Heya Selene!"

"Needed to clear your head too?"

"Yeah, I guess you could say that."

"About what?" Selene realized that she may have sounded a little commanding, and tried to think of something to say to soften her words a little. "If you don't mind telling me, of course."

"Syrus… His brother, that Kaiser guy said something about an off limits card! And because of him Syrus doesn't have any will to duel!" Jaden clenched his fists, holding them up as if he was about to fight somebody. Clenching his jaw, he continued. "And when I went to go request a duel to see how good this guy really is, Crowler tore up my request form!"

Jaden threw his hands up in the air, mimicking the movement of someone tearing up a piece of paper and scattering it everywhere before bringing his hands back down.

"I can't believe this. Who does that Kaiser think he is?!"

"Kaiser? Oh- you mean Zane. Well, yeah. He can be a…" Selene paused, thinking of the blue-haired boy. She tapped her finger against her chin, casting her glance a little to the side. "... a tad rough around the edges."

"You know him Selene?" he asked, staring at Selene with inquisitive eyes.

"He's a good friend."

"Your friend?"

Jaden clapped his hands together, his face brightening as if he had just come up with the most ingenious idea in the world. An expression that made Selene a little more than worried.

"That's it! Selene, tell Kaiser I want to duel him!"

"Wh-" Selene furrowed her brows. "Jaden, are you sure?"

"Positive. Never surer of anything in my life." He smiled, giving a thumbs up. "If beating him mean Syrus will have the passion to duel, then I'm absolutely positive I want to!"
"Jaden, I know you can duel like hell but trust me- the Kaiser is even better."

"I know but it's just so frustrating standing around doing nothing!"

Jaden lightly stomped the ground, his shoulders tensing as he clenched his fists once more. Selene sighed, shaking her head a little.

"Yeah, I know how that feels," she said, more than a little sympathetic to that feeling. Sighing once again, she tilted her head. "You always seem to find yourself in trouble, don't you? Trespassing into the old dorm and all."

"So you've heard?" Jaden nervously laughed, scratching the back of his head.

"I don't know who hasn't." Selene shook her head once more. "What were you even doing there?"

"Well…"

Jaden cast his glance aside, twiddling his fingers. She didn't look away from him as his lips moved, attempting to explain why he was caught trespassing on prohibited grounds.


Jaden concluded his tale, leaving Selene a bit stunned. Jaden talked about how he believed his life was in danger in quite actually the most casual way possible. There was also quite a lot to process about the whole story.

"Alexis…" Selene muttered, thinking about the fresh rose she had seen in front of the dorm. She looking back up to Jaden, who was patiently waiting for her to respond.

"So, then you know the rumors aren't just rumors."

"Yeah," Jaden said quietly, nodding his head.

They stood in silence for a few more moments. Jaden described the man he dueled as a fraud, so then he probably wasn't a clue to the disappearances. She would have to go see for herself, she presumed.

"Hey, why you look so down?"

"Hm?"

Selene's vision refocused, having gotten lost in her thoughts again. She saw Jaden, whose raised eyebrows told of mild concern.

"Come on, what happened to the smiling Cece I know?"

"I haven't heard that name in a long time," she scoffed, wincing in embarrassment at her old nickname.

"Come on, cheer up!" Jaden firmly smacked her back, causing her to stand up straight and a little wind to be knocked out of her. "That's what you always told me, right?"

"Things change. It's been years after all."

"Yeah but some things don't change." Jaden pressed his lips together, as if he was thinking. "I mean, you're still playing with that old deck gramps gave you right?"

Selene's hand moved to the small leather pouch attached to her belt, as if to check it was still there,

"Yeah, I am."

"Jaden! Jaden!"

Selene's head turned towards the direction of the calling voice where she saw a shorter boy frantically running towards them, waving his arms in the air. He barely managed to stop before them, stumbling a little forwards.

"Jaden- it's time for dinner," Syrus said before noticing the girl. "Oh, hi Selene."

"Hello, Syrus," she said, giving a small wave.

"Anyways you better hurry. Banner said he'd feed your food to Pharaoh if you're not there soon."

"Alright, be there soon Sy." Jaden turned towards Selene, attempting to give her a comforting pat on the shoulder. "Look, I'm not sure what's bothering you but don't let it get you down alright? I gotta go, catch ya later!"

"Right, see you."


"You've been awfully quiet today."

Selene looked from her space on the bed to see Zane, in his desk chair turned towards her.

"That's rich, coming from you," she scoffed, moving the textbook from her lap onto the bed. Leaning back against the pillow-covered headboard with her arms and legs crossed.

"And silence is strange from you." He shifted his chair so it faced her rather than the desk. "Are you alright? Is your head bothering you again?"

"No, no… It's just…"

Selene tugged at the sleeve of her oversized nightshirt, having been far too comfortable for her to change out of just to study. She shook her head, unsure of what quite to say. Unable to formulate her thoughts into coherent sentences.

"Look- I keep telling you, you should really see Nurse Fontaine about it."

"It's fine, Zane. They come and go. Anyways, it's not my headaches this time believe it or not."

"Then what is it?" Zane moved from his desk towards her. Moving papers and books she had set there earlier, he sat down at the foot of the bed. "This silence from you is disturbing."

"I just can't stop thinking about Syrus and Jaden."

Zane moved further onto his bed, picking up more scattered papers.

"What about them?" he said, setting it off to the side. "Their possible expulsions?"

"Well- yes- that-..." Selene stammered, unsure of how to aptly express what she wanted to say. "And trespassing into our old dorm…"

"They were being foolish, that's all."

"Foolish, huh." Selene thought of her own rendezvous to their old home.

"Yes. It's dangerous there. And you said it yourself, that building hasn't been the same in a long time. Not since…"

"Yeah."

"Zane?"

"Yes, Selene?"

"What do you think happened to them?"

Zane paused, absolutely silent. He was admittedly a little surprised by her question, and unsure of how exactly to respond in a way to avoid upsetting her.

"What do you mean?"

"People don't just disappear, do they?" She shifted her gaze askance. "You don't think they're…"

"Selene- Look… I know you feel responsible-"

"If I had just followed Atticus that night-" she muttered.

"- but you can't keep letting your misplaced guilt eat away at you over something that is in no way your fault. What happened was none of our faults."

"You don't understand."

"I do. I may be one of the few people who understand." He looked towards the ground before glancing back at her. "They're my friends too, Selene. Did you forget that?"

"Of course not-" she shook her head- "it's just…"

He grabbed the textbook she had set down earlier and shut it closed. Gathering up the remainder of the scattered notes on his bed, he stacked them upon one another and straightened them out before laying them down on his lap.

"I think we should stop for the night."

"But-" she began to protest.

"We can always put in more hours over the weekend." He raised his hand, as if to stop her from raising another word of resistance. "You're not going to help anybody, especially not yourself, as you are right now."

She didn't respond. He sighed, standing up.

"Get some rest, Selene."

Selene stayed quiet for a few moments before muttered a small, "Alright then."

She jumped off his bed, taking the notes he had collected and her bag which she had carelessly thrown on the ground earlier. Stuffing the papers into the bag, she walked towards the exit of his room.

"Well, good night, Zane."

"Good night."


I feel like I accidentally made Zane a little OOC this chapter. Well, hopefully it wasn't too bad. Also the duel meant for this chapter ended up being moved to a later chapter since I'm still Very Unsure about my duel writing skills. Hopefully you guys don't mind too much! See you next chapter!