Nice: Sorry for the uber-belated update. To find out why I haven't updated see the recent chapter of the Singing Kaiba Brothers. Oh yeah read my other fic Yu-Gi-Oh and the 108 Stars of Destiny, too. I kinda left you guys guessing who the shadowed person is at the end of the last chapter, didn't I? Well I'm sorry about that too. Man, I'm doing a lot of apologizing today aren't I?
Joey: You're just like that kid in that show Neon Genesis Evanglion, what's his name? Ah yes Shinji. You're just like him.
N: No I'm not! I don't live in world that is under attack by angels nor live in a place called Tokyo-3 nor am I unstable nor do I have a dad who is trying to destroy the world, again!
J: No! I meant that you apologize for everything even if it is not your fault.
N: Oh okay. Oh do you know what I found out? I found this book in the bookstore that was all about the heroes, villains, and antiheroes of manga and guess where they put Yugi at?
J: In the heroes section right?
N: That's what I first thought when I was looking in the Hero section but he was in the antiheroes section!
J: But why? He's a good guy!
N: I know! But I think it said something about Yami and the Items in it and that was part of the reason. They didn't even put Kaiba or Bakura in the book anywhere! Not even Zorc!
J: What are those people thinking?
N: That's what I thought! So my readers, what do you think? Is Yugi a Hero or an Antihero? Where would put Kaiba or Bakura or any of the main villains of Yu-Gi-Oh? Well let's get started. Joey do the disclaimer.
J: Nice doesn't own anything.
On with the fic!
Ch. 7: The Day After 2
"Okay everyone! Make sure that the seriously wounded are taken to the infirmary immediately!" ordered Lady Tea, as her soldiers staggered back into the castle. Some were looking down, ashamed that they didn't win or grieving for a fallen friend.
The gang were the last to come into the castle. Tea and Mai were questioning Yugi on what had happened, Kaiba scolding Mokuba for leaving Roland's side during the battle, Bakura was thinking about all the blood he spilled, and Duke and Tristan were comforting Joey, who was worried sick that Serenity might be dieing.
"Don't worry man. That sister of yours is tough like you. She'll pull through," said Duke.
"She gets her strength from you, too," said Tristan.
"….," said Joey.
Lady Tea walked up to him. "Sir Joey," she said.
Joey looked at her. As soon as he did, Lady Tea gave him a good hard smack in the face that sent him to the ground. Joey looked up at her angrily.
"What was that for?" he asked.
"That is for acting like a big baby! You need to have hope and not give up so easily!" exclaimed L.T., jabbing her finger at him. She turned to walk away but winced in pain.
"Hey! Are you alright?" asked Yugi.
"It seems that attack hurt me more than I thought," she replied holding her side. "Anne!" she called.
The maid that they had met when they got to the castle ran up. She gasped, "Milady, you are injured!"
"I'll be fine. Could you led our guests to the gallery? I'll be there in an hour. Also, give them some food and water," said L.T. She walked away to the stairs that led to the infirmary.
"Well, if you would follow me," said Anne. She led them down a long corridor to a huge room covered in pictures.
"Wow! Look at all the portraits!" exclaimed Mokuba as he looked around.
"There are some couches here to sit down. I'll go get your food," said Anne as she left.
The gang examined the pictures. They were amazed on how life like they were. Then, they realized something.
"You, guys. These are portraits of us! Well, our past selves," exclaimed Yugi.
It was true. They saw a portrait of Henry and Margaret. Another with Lady Tea in it.
" Hey look! It's Mako! And look! Here one of you Tristan!" exclaimed Tea.
Tristan walked up to the portrait of him. There was a caption. He read it.
" It says that his name is T. Tristan Gray. I wonder what the T stands for?" said Tristan.
"Dunno. Maybe the T is like a title or something," said Duke.
"Now this is the portrait I like," said Bakura. He was looking a portrait of himself.
"You know, it's kinda weird that the you in the portrait looks exactly as you now. Like he had the millennium ring back then. But that's just being silly," said Tea.
"Maybe, since you are from England, this is your ancestor or something," said Duke.
"You mean Ryou's ancestor. Not mine," said Bakura.
"Hey guys! You might what to see this!" cried Mai. She and Joey were looking at one portrait. The Kaiba brothers were looking at the one next to it.
"What's wrong?" asked Yugi.
"Look at the portraits. Who do you see?" asked Joey. Yugi looked at the one Kaiba was looking at.
"No way! But that's Rosenkreuz! Why is he in here? I thought he was on the Yorkist side!" exclaimed Yugi.
"This one… This one looks like Serenity!" exclaimed Tea. She was right. The woman in the picture looked exactly like Serenity. The only exceptions was that this one had a lighter hair color. It was almost a pinkish color. And the other difference is that she looked at least a year and half older than theirs.
"Read the plaque under it!" exclaimed Mai. Yugi got closer and read the plaque.
"This panting is of Lady Serene, the Pink Rose of England. The sister of Sir Joseph and the… oh my gosh!" said Yugi.
"What? What is it? What does it say?" asked Duke.
"It says, ' And the wife of Christian S. Rosenkreuz III!"
"WHAT! His Wife!" yelled everyone.
"Is that what that kid meant when he said that she looked like 'her' to get hurt?" wondered Tristan.
"You," said Joey to Kaiba, "married her?"
"Hey wait a minute here! I didn't marry anyone! That was Rosenkreuz who married her, not me!" exclaimed Kaiba.
"But what did she see in him?" asked Tea aloud.
"She saw good in him, that's what," said a voice behind them.
They turned around to see Lady Tea standing behind them.
"How long have you been in here?" asked Yugi.
"I came in when you were reading the plague," she said. She walked up to the painting and touched it.
"What did you mean when you said she saw good in him? 'Cause all we saw was anger and hatred," said Duke.
"He's only like that now because she's gone," replied L.T.
"She left him for someone else?" asked Mai.
"Actually yes. You see, Death became her husband instead of Rosenkreuz."
"Death?" asked Tristan.
"She was…murdered the day before their wedding," said L.T. sadly.
"M-murdered?" stammered everyone.
"By who?" asked Joey.
"We don't know. The village that they lived in was attacked by soldiers," said L.T.
"Soldiers? Lancastrian or Yorkists?" asked Kaiba.
"The survivors just said that soldiers attacked. They couldn't tell if they were Lancastrian or Yorkist."
"Where was Rosenkreuz?" asked Yugi.
"He was lured away from the village by a message to him saying that a member to the Crusaders wanted to talk to him in a town 10 miles away. He left and when he got there he realized it was trap to lure him away. He hurried back to the village, but it was too late. She and their baby were dead."
"Baby? What baby?" asked the shocked Joey. 'They had a kid!' he thought.
"The baby she and Rosenkreuz found when they came upon a destroyed village. It was a girl and she was the only survivor. They adopted her and she was theirs. I remember when she came back with her…."
Flashback
"Hey everyone!" cried Serene as she and Seto entered the castle. Seto was leading the two horses to the middle of the courtyard where everyone was sitting.
"Back so soon sis? I thought you would be gone for at least two weeks," said her brother Joseph.
"Well… Something unexpected happened and we had to turn back," replied Seto.
"Something? Something like what?" asked Henry.
Serene dismounted her horse and carried a slightly moving bundle to her friends. The bundle cooed.
"Something like a baby," said Serene. She unwrapped the bundle to show them a baby girl with auburn hair and blue eyes.
"You had a baby! I didn't even know you were expecting!" exclaimed Tristan Gray.
Serene hit him on the head. "I wasn't. I didn't have this baby, you dummy. This child is the only survivor of her village. So I have taken upon myself to raise this child as my own," she said.
"Well since it's yours now, I guess I'm an uncle now!" exclaimed Joseph. He took the baby from Serene. " Hello there!" he said in a baby voice, "I'm your Uncle Joseph!"
The baby took one look at Joseph and let out a loud wail. Joseph quickly handed her back to Serene. She immediately stopped and snuggled closer to Serene.
"That's the first time she has cried since we found her," said Serene bewildered.
Lady Mai let out a laugh. " She recognizes you as her mother now since you've shown her love. And it will take some time for her to get used to the rest of us," she said.
"How do you know?" asked Seto.
"I'm a mother, too. Trust me. I know," said Mai. She got up. " Tea, would you help me find some baby thing for…for…What's her name again?" asked Mai.
"We forgot to name her!" exclaimed Seto.
"What should we name her?" asked Serene.
"How about Rose?"
"That's a wonderful name!" exclaimed Serene. She looked at the baby. "Hello baby Rose," she said lovingly. "I'm your mommy and this is you daddy."
"Daddy!" exclaimed Seto.
End Flashback
"They were so happy with the baby. Serene had taken in many orphans before, but she all called them her little brothers and sisters not sons and daughters," said L.T.
"Why is she called the 'Pink Rose of England'?" asked Mokuba.
"Her and her brother are of Lancastrian and Yorkist blood. And what happens when you put red and white together?"
"It becomes the color pink," said Bakura.
"Correct. She thought of herself a part of both houses, not just one. She hoped that ,one day, both houses and England would be united. Is it united in your time?" she asked.
"It sure is. It's even called the United Kingdom," said Yugi.
"Then Serene was right about everyone being united one day," said L.T. "The Rose Crusaders and us were going to be friends. We almost were, but then we got the horrible news…
Flashback
"I can't believe that the bride and the groom are late to their own wedding!" exclaimed Keith.
All of Serene and Seto's closest friends and family were gathered in a chapel. This was the first time that they were together and didn't try to kill one another.
"Maybe something's wrong with Rose and they forgot?" said Isis.
"Hey Michel, did your brother say anything to you yesterday?" asked Henry.
"No he didn't. All he said that he got a message from one of you saying that you needed to meet him," said Michel.
The Rose Crusaders gave each other questioning looks. Then Pegasus spoke up.
"We haven't seen Christian since the day before yest...ter…day…," he slowed down after realizing something. A shocked look came upon their faces.
"We need to find them now!" exclaimed Joseph. They all rushed out of the door and onto their horses and into carriages. They quickly rode to the village were the couple lived but were in shock when they got there.
The once lively, quiet village was now just a dead town filling with the cries of the dieing and the smoldering remains of houses.
They hurried to the house were Serene and Seto lived. They found the ransacked house and quickly dismounted and ran through the demolished garden and to the busted in door. They stopped when they saw who was in the front room. Seto was on the floor, holding Serene's dead, bloody body, urging her to stay alive, to not leave him.
Michel was the first one to speak. "Brother? It's going to be alright…."
"You know…it hurts so much…But yet…I can't… I can't cry… I can't cry for her…Why?... Why can't I…?" said Seto with his head down.
"How tragic," said Bakura to himself. He looked outside at the beautiful spring sky. 'Today was such a nice one, too."
End Flashback
"It little of us died that day…" said L.T. sadly. She sighed. "They were best friends and then lovers, so the pain was greater for him."
"Best Friends? How…?" started Tea.
L.T. put up a hand to silence her. "That is a story that only Rosenkreuz can tell you. All this storytelling has made me hungry. Where's the food that I asked Anne to get you?"
"We haven't seen her since she left," said Duke.
L.T. sighed and walked to the door and yelled, "Anne! Anne Where are you?" She stopped and thought aloud, " Where can that girl be?"
In the castle kitchen
Anne was sprinkling a fine powder over the food and into the drinks. She was humming while she was doing it. Soon she was done and said, " They won't know what hit them. After they eat this, they'll be e dead before they hit the floor!"
Then she heard Lady Tea calling for her. She smirked and looked down at the floor at the real Anne who was bound and gagged. "Don't worry little girl, I'll be back to kill you after your Mistress and her friends are dead. Hahaha! Those Lancastrian slime will die!" proclaimed the fake Anne in a male voice. Then he grabbed the tray and said in Anne's voice, "Coming Milady!" 'Yeah I'm coming to kill you!' thought the fake sinisterly.
To be cont.
N: So did you like this chapter even if it was late. Who was the Fake Anne? Does he/she work for Richard or some one else? Find out in Chapter 8: Don't Eat It! Poison Food and Tristan Gray