NOTE: This is starting to look like a kind of short story: ten chapters – fifteen at most, probably. Maybe I just need more inspiration….
Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!
Chapter 5: Separation
Yugi woke up blearily. What had happened to him? He tried to vaguely recollect his thoughts. He and the others had been walking…down a creepy passageway…Tea started complaining about something when the torches suddenly extinguished…and….
That was all. Yugi was sure he had pettily fainted after the shock. But what had been the shock?
The ghost. That was it. It had to be. Now, he was going to get the details filled in. Yugi opened his eyes and looked around. That was strange…. The last he knew, he had been underground. Now, he was in a regular hallway on what seemed to be a floor of the mansion itself.
He looked around. Ryou laid a ways away. But where was everyone else? The boy stood up and ran over to Ryou, shaking him awake. It was beginning to be a repetitive pattern…they would blank out; wake up and not know where the heck they were.
"What is it, good chap?" Ryou sat up.
"We're lost…again," Yugi sighed. "No one else is here with us."
"Oh dear," Ryou stood, "And the lights are back on. …That is to say…the lights were off before, weren't they? And then-"
"That ghost appeared."
"Ah, so it was a ghost," Ryou nodded. "I had wondered-" he stopped.
"Ryou?" Yugi began panicking. Not another possession…not another possession, please!
Instead, Ryou just narrowed his eyes a bit and smiled slyly, "Come on, Yugi. Let's get out of here."
Yug peered at him closely, "You're…not Ryou."
"Maybe," he smirked.
"Now: you've either been possessed…or it's Bakura. I would say Bakura, given normal circumstances, but…under these weird circumstances, I'm not so sure."
"Well I am," Yugi suddenly said again. Although, this time, he was just a bit taller, with a few more changes visible.
"Ah, Pharaoh, so good of you to join us," Bakura sneered.
"I'm only here to make sure you don't harm Yugi or Ryou. But I want you to agree to a truce. I know you do love these sort of…places," Yami looked around uncertainly, "But the boys and others aren't too comfortable here. I propose we get them out of here as fast as possible. Deal?" Yami stuck out his hand.
Bakura just laughed, "You expect me to make a deal lickity-split? I don't think so!" Bakura continued to laugh.
Yami's brow furrowed. "Then what do you propose we do?"
"I couldn't care less what we do. Actually, I want to explore this place. There is a certain presence here that I want to understand."
"If it's that ghost-"
"Him, yes…but there is a stronger presence here… I want to figure out who or what is making all of these wonderful things happen. Indeed, this place does seem cursed. But it can only be ghosts," he chuckled.
Yami seemed to think for a minute, "Well then…why don't we explore while we look for a way out?"
Bakura inspected him closely, and then smiled ever so slightly, "Now you're speaking my language."
"JOEY! JOEY, JOEY, JOEY! WAKE UP! DON'T LEAVE ME!" Mai shook Joey hard.
"Ah…dad, five more minutes," he waved her off. Mai sighed. That was all she needed to here. Joey was alive.
"Geez, Mai, what were you yelling about?" Tristan sat up, rubbing his head.
"Just checking vitals," Mai replied. Tristan rolled his eyes. He looked ahead of them. They were still in that same corridor and a door had opened in the hall. He looked around.
"Hey! Where's Serenity!"
"And Duke?" Mai added.
"WHAT!" Joey suddenly popped up, "Where's Serenity!"
"Dude, that's what we just asked," Tristan retorted.
"Maybe they went down that hall," Mai pointed to the newly opened doorway.
"Well, let's get goin'!" Joey cried, rushing forward into it.
"Joey! I said MAYBE!" Mai shouted.
"It's no use Mai. We had better just follow him before he gets lost," Tristan stood and began running, "Dude, wait up!"
"Don't leave me here!" Mai yelped, running after the two boys.
"Ren? Ren! Ren! Where are ya?" Joey called down the hallway. He could vaguely hear Tristan and Mai's voices from behind. But still he ran. He couldn't wait for those two: they would catch up sooner or later. Right now, he just had to find his sister! Who knew what horrors could have befallen her in this wacky house?
Joey suddenly stopped as he saw a shadow whiz past him (the torches were the only things to light the hallway). His eye twitched. "T-Tristan? Come on bud, this ain't funny…."
A shadow suddenly sprung from the ground in a solid mass and bared it's fangs at Joey.
"Y-AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Joey shrieked throwing his hands up in alarm and running back the way he had just come. He was about to pass Tristan and Mai, when, "YOU'RE GOIN' DA WRONG WAY!" he shouted.
"What?" Mai and Tristan looked at his retreating form. They looked the way he had come. Both of their faces paled. A long, black mass was hurtling through the air right towards them.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Mai shrieked and Tristan yelled. They took off in the way Joey had come. And soon, they even overtook and passed him.
"Hey guys! WAIT UP!" he yelled, trying to run faster. The end of the hall was approaching.
"Left or right!" Mai cried.
"Left!" Tristan commanded. It was the original way they had been going.
They two skidded into the hallway –Mai tripping in her boots, and smashing into the wall- and they turn to face the left.
Tristan gasped as he saw another dark shadow with fangs. "Right, right, RIGHT!" he barely yelled, turning around.
"T-Tristan, wait!" Mai gasped, still in pain from her sudden collision into the wall. She turned to face the new threat. Her eyes only widened. She couldn't scream. There was no energy left within her.
Mai felt herself blacking out. She began falling backwards. The last she felt was that of someone catching her, and lifting her up into the air.
"Mokuba? Mokuba? MOKUBA!" Seto called out in every direction of the cramped, yet grandly decorated hall.
"Must you shout so loudly?" Tea whimpered, trudging behind him, holding her arms, "You'll attract…things."
"Oh, what? Ghosts? Is that what you're trying to say?" Seto retorted. "There are no such things as ghosts," he lay down, and continued to call out, "MOKUBA?"
Tea sighed. Of all the people to be stuck with: it had to be him. He knew there was a ghost too. He just had to! Who could deny the presence that had been with them early? Who could deny that voice? Heck, it had been speaking directly to Seto!
It wasn't that she didn't want to find Mokuba: no, of course not! She just wanted to do so quietly. If he would just shut up!
What time was it? She looked at her watch. It was almost ten o' clock. They had been here for hours already! How were they going to get out?
"Kaiba, it's ten o' clock already. We should really find some escape or-"
He rounded on her, "I'm not leaving without Mokuba!"
Tea set her face, "Or find a place to rest or sleep at least! Maybe Mokuba will find us. Who knows? Maybe he's with the others! Or maybe we're all just paranoid! Yes, that's probably it," she babbled, beginning to walk around in circles, throwing her arms out at different highlights in her philosophies. Seto just stared. Tea was really losing it in here. Perhaps they should rest before she did something really drastic.
"I'm losing my mind! That must be it! Dad always did say I would go nuts someday! It's in my blood!" Tea grabbed her hair and started tugging on it, still walking around in circles, muttering.
"Gardner, quit acting like a moron!" he grabbed her shoulders and made her face him. His stare bore down into her skull. She looked him over quizzically.
She started nodding her head slightly, "Know what?" He didn't answer. He only gave a slightly confused gaze. "You're really handsome," she said in a nonchalant way.
Seto's eyes widened. Okay, now he knew Tea was losing it. She had just complimented him! Highly too….
Realization suddenly hit Tea, "And this action proves my point! I'm going to go insane in here! Get me out!" she pulled herself out of Seto's grasp and continued to walk down the hall, "Help me, Lord! Help me!"
"Maybe we should get some rest," Seto suddenly stated. Normally, he really wouldn't care that Tea wanted to rest. However, given the circumstances and the fact that he was not really comfortable around this crazed Tea –who seemed to have gotten a totally different attitude about him (not all that bad either)- he hoped that a good rest for her would bring her back to normal. Heck, what had happened to the calm Tea Gardner?
"Now you're speaking on my terms!" Tea held up a finger. "And lookie here! It's a living room! What'd ya know? Perfect place to get some rest!" she skipped into the room. Seto sighed. He hoped he didn't have to live with this girl for too much longer. Still, he followed her into the living room. It had a strange resemblance to one of the living room sin his own mansion.
Of course, that did make sense. Gozaburo had dumped this place and built up another one. He wouldn't be surprised if-
Seto stopped. What it the two mansions were exactly alike? Then he would know a way out of here! Except for the creepy caverns where he had been before, Seto had always had a vague sense of familiarity about the place. Mmm…. He would explore tomorrow – hopefully with a head-on-her-shoulders Tea.
Tea sat on a –surprisingly not dusty- couch. Of course, being in her state at the moment, she did not take much notice to it.
Seto, however, did. Tea lay back against the sofa, closing her eyes. Seto sat door a small ways away from her, and examined the couch. How was there no dust on it? Surely after years of filth and grime and wreckage, this couch had to have at least some dust on it!
But no….
"Gardner?"
"Mmm…what?" she groaned, lolling her head to face his.
"Does it not strike you weird that there is no dust on this couch?"
Tea looked down at the sofa, "Hmm. Indeed it doesn't. How noticeable…." Nothing was really getting through to her mind.
A sharp crack of thunder suddenly resounded outside and echoed into the mansion. Tea jumped sky-high and clung to the first thing she could grab hold of.
This being Seto's arm. Seto was sure she was cutting off his circulation: she had a tight grip when she wanted one.
"Gardner, it's just thunder! Get over yourself!" he pushed her off his arm.
"Well, sor-ry Kaiba, but it just caught me by surprise, okay?" she mouthed back at him.
Seto blinked. Was she back to normal already? All it took was a simple shock to her system? Well, in this place, he could surely do that at any given point, should she fall into that insane state once more. Otherwise, bring on the thunderstorms!
"We'll look for Mokuba in the morning, okay?" she yawned and rested her head against the arm of the couch. Seto snorted. She hadn't even answered his question. Oh well. Perhaps a good night's sleep would give him the answer.
Mokuba felt nothing. It was as if all sense had been drained from his body. He hung limply against a wall –was it a wall? It looked just like the rest of this ghastly place to him- and sighed. His eyes had lost their normal sheen. What had happened to him? Where was his big brother? Where were the others? Why was he thinking so slowly?
Had he been drugged? But who would drug him? There was no one here! Unless…Tea's ghost.
"Ah, Mokuba, you're finally awake."
Mokuba's head jerked up at the sudden voice. It was an unfamiliar voice at that, and the body that belonged to it was also strange to him…yet also quite familiar. It reminded him of someone else…but whom?
"Do you know where you are, Mokuba?" the new boy said, looking down at him. Mokuba tried to think.
"Well…last time I knew, I was in some passageway underneath my stepfather's old mansion." The other boy merely smirked.
"And you still are! Look down, if you will." Mokuba couldn't help but to look down. When you're hanging limply, that's the only way to look!
Mokuba noticed a living room –strangely similar to his own back home- and two people there. Tea and Seto! Tea was resting against one end of the couch in there, and Seto was lying back against the opposite side. Obviously, they didn't want to be too near each other.
"But…how am I up here? …And Seto's down there," Mokuba blearily thought out.
The boy laughed in a high-pitched voice, "That's my little secret, Mokie." Mokuba jumped. No one had called him that for years! Only Seto knew that that was his nickname! Where did this stranger get this information? "Well, so you did recognize that long lost name. Good. Now…would you like to return to your family?"
Mokuba was thoroughly confused. "Return? But…I thought…." Surely he had been brought here for another purpose, rather than just sitting here, looking down onto Seto. He was still puzzled about the looking down part as well. Unless…Tea's ghost. It was all making sense now!
Mokuba's head shot up with new determination, "You're a ghost, aren't you?"
The boy laughed again, his lip curling into a smirk, "Very good, Mokuba. Very good."
Serenity clung to Duke's arm in sheer terror. This house was truly freaking her out. How had she and Duke been separated from the others? It made no sense! Duke and she were just wandering around, either looking for the others, or looking for an exit. Either one would work.
"Duke…you don't happen to remember anymore from that…possession or yours, do you?"
"Ack…I don't know," Duke muttered, "Although," he stopped, "this section right here looks kind of familiar."
"Good!" Serenity sighed, "Now, where are we going?"
"Well…I think the garage is…that way," Duke closed his eyes for a moment, opened them and then pointed down a corridor to the right.
"Great! Let's go! We have to get out of here! What will our parents say when we don't show up tonight? Are we going to get out o here alive? What if that ghost…with the dagger is lurking around here right now!" Serenity whimpered.
"Calm down, Ren," Duke soothed, "Everything will be okay. As long as I'm here with you, nothing and no one will harm you," he patted the hand on his arm.
On the opposite side of the room, watching them walk off, a boy smirked in a most maniacal way. He looked down at the dagger in his hand. It had been a gift at one time. It was a collector's dagger, but still a grand knife. "Yes…I'll be sure to remember those words, Duke. 'As long as I'm here…no one will harm you.'" The boy ran his finger over the edge of the knife.
Dun, dun, dun…. Oohh…what's this ghost boy up to? Are the others going to meet up anytime soon? Will something happen? PLEASE REVIEW! Until next time!
(PS: A review sort of brought this to my attention. I've always considered my two genres for this story equal. But, in the context of any other onlooker, one would be primary, and one would be secondary. Which should be the primary? Horror, or Suspense? I don't care, just please tell me one or the other, thanks!)