NOTE: Apologies, apologies: that's all I seem to be giving lately. Yes, I'm VERY sorry that I haven't updated this in FOREVER. But here it is now! Please read! Not much left now!

Haha, BUT…you get a scary…ish…chapter for Halloween! Whoa…I've been writing this for a year…COOL!

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!

Chapter 11:

The Living; The Dead

Tea looked around at her surroundings. She seemed to be doing that a lot lately. She was surrounded by a dense fog which continually floated about her. The air was rather chilling and she rubbed her arms to warm them up more. She walked around some.

What weird dreams this boy has…but maybe I'll find him somewhere…and maybe I can get some answers from him.

She suddenly looked up, feeling a presence near her. In front of her, she saw a darkened silhouette against the cloudy fog. Putting on a small smile, she ran up to the figure and soon saw that it was indeed the person she had touched. She then stopped, seeing she was preoccupied with a young boy before him.

The older boy knelt down and put his hands on the younger one's shoulders. "Mokuba! Please, give me some straight answers! What are you saying? Where are you!"

Tea thought this was a rather strange question to ask. The boy was right in front of him!

The boy looked up at him and his black hair fell against his face, "I'm not who you think I am, Seto…. I'm not only your brother-"

"Whatever, Mokuba, but please, where are you!"

The boy suddenly seemed to tense slightly and he looked over at Tea. She froze, meeting the boy's eyes. It was the same child who had reached out to her in chains in that room where she had first woken up.

The boy gave a quick smirk and she saw his features begin to change into another familiar face-

She gasped, Him! 'I reject what you say; and I also interject amazement.'

Seto turned and suddenly noticed Tea, his mouth opening slightly. Seeming as if he had more important people to gape at, he turned Mokuba's head and his eyes suddenly widened as he saw the transforming face as well, before the boy disappeared in a vapor of smoke, melting in with the fog around them.

"MOKUBA!" Seto cried out.

Tea stood there. What a strange dream….

And what are YOU doing here….? Tea jumped as the voice whispered into her ear, filling her entire body with the cold sense of dread. Her mind blanked out.

Was he…was he here too? Or…is it just the impact of the dream…?

Seto stood there, staring at his empty arms now, as if disbelieving what he saw. He slowly then turned to regard Tea's presence, and to her surprise, he began walking over to her.

Tea backed up slightly. She didn't know this man…but he had had her body with her….

Before she was aware of it, he had taken her by the shoulders.

Tea looked up into his eyes, slightly frightened. He looked back at her with vacillating expressions:

Concern, surprise, irritability, care….

"Tea…what happened to you?"

Mai watched, devastated, and feeling completely useless as Tristan was flung into the air by the force of the oncoming vehicle.

"TRISTAN!" Mai cried out, stumbling to her feet and trying to walk towards him. Joey suddenly whipped past her and her head turned synonymously with the bike. She locked eyes with Joey for a moment who looked…

Scared.

"Joey?" she whispered. Joey's eyes had ceased to be red and he looked at Mai in that second with complete horror and remorse; tears threatening to spill, as if he could not believe what he had just done.

"Joey," she repeated his name and then looked to where he was going. Her eyes widened in shock, "JOEY, WATCH OUT!"

Joey turned to face the front of the vehicle and gasped as he saw what was coming.

"JOEY, JUMP! JOEY!" Mai cried out, holding out a hand as if that alone would stop him.

It was too late.

He couldn't jump…there was no way he would make it…. Mai's hands flew up to her face as if to hide her eyes, put her fingers were parted in that distressed way.

CRASH.

Ryou blinked through the chlorine-stinging water and saw a flash of lights heading their way. Unconsciously, his mind slipped form him, and his mouth opened, letting the last of his air escape as he and Yugi sank to the bottom of the room just as the lights shrank to definite beams.

Mai's eyes widened and her pupils almost completely disappeared as she witnessed the most horrific thing she had ever seen.

Glass clattered everywhere – some even nicking her and she covered herself to make sure she did not get hurt too badly. And suddenly, she felt a wave of water smack into her full force, sending her to her bottom. She coughed as the wave washed over her head, temporarily cutting off her supply of oxygen.

When she felt it safe enough, she looked up and to her horror, she saw Joey lying amongst the glass; blood covering him in dozens of cuts and grazes; the motorcycle lying on his right leg, crushing it.

His eyes stared up at the ceiling, his mouth agape in surprise.

Mai began to run for him, but hesitated. What about Tristan?

Her head spun around to face Tristan. She saw his head craned crookedly –had it snapped? She cringed- watching her. He gave a forced smile and looked towards Joey, signifying that he was still alive and that she should focus her attention on Joey. Mai nodded and sprinted over to him, disregarding the glass shards as she knelt down beside him. Immediately, she felt his blood join hers as she wiped off his face and laid his head on her lap.

"Joey, please," she cried; tears falling like Niagara Falls, "PLEASE. You can't leave me like this1 PLEASE! Joey, I LOVE YOU!"

She clutched his blood-stained arm in her hand and put her head against his matted blonde one.

She cried freely, letting all emotions escape her, "Please…just give me a sign of life and I'll help you…."

She looked up, thinking that maybe he was unable to…and that she should check for a pulse. But as she looked up, she noticed a couple of corpses lying a few feet away.

In shock her hands flew to her mouth as she gasped, causing her to get blood on her face as well, "RYOU! YUGI!" She quickly checked Joey's pulse, feeling a slight vibration. Ryou was still holding Yugi as if he was his only lifeline. They did not look like they were breathing.

Tristan lay on the ground, panting for breath. His body hurt like the flames of the Underworld all over. Nothing was left unscathed. He winced as he tried to move. But he could move nothing below his waist.

No…not my back…it can't be broken!

He felt a few tears escape him and saw the blood still flowing over his lower leg where he had gotten his first injury from Joey.

His breathing became harder as he strived to keep alive. He could hear Mai panicking in the background but every sound was muddled to him at the moment.

His sight was spinning and his mind felt blank. Nothing was discerned correctly….

Something stepped into his line of vision. …A shoe?

He strained to tilt his head up a little more and sent his eyes to the extreme corners to look to see who was there.

His gasp came out as a cough of blood.

"D-Duke!" he coughed violently, crying as the spasm jerked his body, causing him to feel pain everywhere.

Duke glared down at him emotionlessly.

"Duke…h-help!" he spat.

Duke held something up. Something that glinted in the moonlight….

A dagger.

"D-Duke!"

Someone stepped out from behind Duke, who was significantly smaller and physically different.

Tristan's eyes widened as the boy smirked.

"Good night Tristan." He turned to Duke and looked up at him, both giddy and with authority.

"Kill him."

"MA-!" Mai froze when she heard part of her name being called. She stopped her rush to Ryou and Yugi full of human curiosity.

But as the saying goes…

Curiosity killed the cat.

A small breath of surprise escaped her when she saw the ghost-boy look at her with eyes of icy-hatred.

Mai's eyes then landed on the knife embedded in Tristan's back and she gave a shriek of terror.

The ghost suddenly bent down and ripped out the knife, throwing it in her direction, all in one fluid motion.

Mai's scream pierced the night.

Tea flinched at his touch. Why was he so near her, like he knew her?

Wait…he knew her name….

"W-Who are you?" she inquired.

Seto looked shocked beyond belief.

"What do you mean, "Who are you?" I'm Kaiba, you idiot."

Tea blinked, "K-Kaiba?"

"Yeeeah," he replied, "What? You lose your memory or…some…thing…?" She looked at him blankly and Seto understood.

"Gardner, what happened to you? What's with the sudden memory loss? Why did you faint?"

"I-I don't know what you're talking about!" Tea squirmed out of his grasp and stumbled backwards, "And that boy that was there before! Who was he? He was…he was the same boy who told me to warn someone to…to do something before their time came! To…to, what? He never said!" Tea clutched her head and fell to the floor. Her mind was beginning to pound.

"Gardner, what are you mouthing off now-"

"SHUT UP!" she shouted, tugging more at her hair. Her head was throbbing…flashes of memories ran though her mind…. She couldn't take it anymore…her head was going to explode.

She felt a pair of arms encircle her.

The dagger hadn't hit her. In fact…the kid had horrible aim. Mai sighed in relief seeing the dagger veer off above her line of vision.

She barely registered the sound of a clink.

Something jutted into her back, and her sigh became her last breath.

The boy smirked as he walked over to the pile of four corpses. He saw the dagger lying to the side where it had rebounded off the dangling piece of glass that he had aimed for. In turn, the glass broke free of the wall and plummeted into the girl.

A trigger of sense sped through him. He huffed. He had business elsewhere now….

With one last look at the four friends he laughed lowly, "Rest in peace fools." He felt energies surrounding him and suddenly smirked. "Or…not."

Tea looked up, and to her surprise, she saw blue eyes staring back at her. Those eyes looked up.

"She belongs to me, Kaiba."

Seto jerked backwards upon seeing the familiar ghost take hold of Tea. His eyebrows furrowed, "She doesn't belong to anyone…she's her own person."

The ghost smirked and held her tighter, "Not when you possess her soul…and her memories."

Snarled and lunged at him to rip the boy off Tea, if necessary, "Get your filthy hand off her!"

Seto suddenly made contact with the floor of his dream world and he stood up immediately, not letting anyone get him while he was down. He looked around everywhere.

They were no where. They had just…vanished.

Seto's eyes suddenly snapped open.

Seto picked up Tea and set her in his arms. He knew her soul was somewhere…that much he was sure of. So…he was going to look for it. And her friends as well.

So he had not believed in soul-separation before…or ghosts. But he also did not believe in such real dreams. He had awakened badly shaken and felt like everything that had happened in the dream had been real. To an extent at least…

And another thing…he had not forgotten a single part of it. Normally, dreams were dismissed by him and he forgot them instantly. But this one lingered…and it lingered like an actual memory.

There was also the fact of that ghost. Yes, normally, he didn't believe in ghosts either, but this place had too many inexplicable things happening: even some things Seto himself could not prove, unless the answers were very radical.

So he was allowing himself room for the thought of an actual ghost. After all, what with the many magical things that had supposedly been happening in his life, what wasn't he supposed to believe now? If he didn't start accepting the ghost now, he'd be bombarded by the other geek's comment about it sooner or later.

…If they survived, that is. Or if they had not lost themselves within the confines of the house.

Seto turned to face the door and stopped. His eyes widened slightly.

"Mokuba…."

Mokuba stared back at his brother, "Hey, Seto. How are you?" He gave a sincere smile, albeit a tired one.

"Mokuba-" Seto began walking towards him quickly. He stopped. There was something on his brother's back.

"Mokuba…who's that?" Mokuba looked forlornly at the head on his shoulder. His hands were behind him, supporting the figure.

"It's…it's Ren. I don't know….if she'll make it or not…or if she's even alive right now." Mokuba sounded chocked up.

"Mokuba," Seto took a step forward, "Let me see her-"

A shot fired.

Seto's breath shuddered and he looked at her shoulder, where he felt the heat and the pain.

His pain-shocked expression turned upwards to regard Mokuba.

How could he…?

No…not Mokuba….

Serenity's head was lifted, and her arm was raised with a gun pointed at Seto's shoulder. Her crazed grin was the last thing Seto saw before darkness overtook him.

(If I ended here…would you all kill me?)

(Fear not. I need to get somewhere else with this before I end.)

Seto's eyes fluttered open. He sat up slowly, trying to recollect his thoughts. IT suddenly occurred to him that he had been shot.

Was it fatal? Am I dead? …This looks nothing like the "Heaven" I've heard about. ..Purgatory then?

Seto unconsciously felt his shoulder, and to his surprise, there was no wound there. He looked at it with his eyes, just to make sure he could believe it by seeing.

"Nothing is there, Seto, trust me. I did not want you dead. Just unconscious…and not in the sleeping way." Seto's eyes snapped around to regard the all too familiar voice.

The ghost boy floated in front of him.

"I did not want you dead, Seto. No, no, not you. The rest were more or less expendable. But before I take your life…I wanted to get something clear to you. Well, many things, actually."

"How about a name, first of all, brat?"

The boy laughed, "Oh, why does everyone ask about that? I already have someone trying to figure that out…" he snapped his fingers and in the darkness, a light illuminated and Tea's slumped figure appeared. She looked up, a bit dazed.

Mumbling, Anzu said, "'I reject what you say; and I also interject amazement.'"

Seto furrowed his brows, "What nonsense is she going on about?"

"I gave her a riddle to solve," the boy replied, turning back to Seto, "Care to try it?"

"No."

"Ah, I thought so," the boy smirked. He glanced at Tea.

Tea met his gaze. She jumped.

I reject what you say; and I also interject amazement….

I reject what you say….

No.

I also interject amazement….

Tea's eyes widened, "His name…Kaiba!" she looked up towards Seto.

"Yes?" he turned towards her. That wasn't right…. There was an echo….

He looked out of the corner of his eye to see the boy looking at Tea just as expectantly, as if she had been speaking to him….

Tea noticed the same thing. Could it be….

"His name…it's Noa!"

"Noa?" Seto turned to the boy, who was still watching Tea.

Tea set her eyes, taking a leap of faith here:

"Noa Kaiba."

Seto spun around to face her, "WHAT!"

Noa clapped, "Very good, Tea Gardner." He turned to Seto once again, and Seto regarded him.

"Do the dreams all make sense now? Yes, Seto, I am Noa Kaiba. –

"I am your stepbrother."

FINALLY! FINISHED WITH THAT! Only a chapter and an epilogue left! Whoa…I've still got o figure out the rest of the least chapter. I've got the beginning to it and the epilogue planned out…but not the real ending, haha…maybe I shouldn't have told you all that. Anywho! I hope this made your Halloween (or All Saint's Day…whenever you read this…weird how this chapter is totally opposite a saint) better and little more…gruesome! I'm sorry for the wait, but it's finally here! Thanks for putting up with me and reading it! PLEASE REVIEW!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

And happy one-year-anniversary-of-this-fic to me:-D