Meanwhile, Tea had also heard the familiar voice ring through the trees. She also heard Kaiba's reply. Despite her caring nature, she was also stubborn. He'll get to Mokuba before I could anyway. She thought to herself. Plus he'd probably be rude about me finding Mokuba or something. She huffed to herself, balled her fists and walked faster away from Kaiba than she had before. Incorrigible boy. She thought as she moved away.

As she walked further from Kaiba, the trees began to become more and more dense, the light intensity decreasing with it. She caught sight of an object deep within the trees; it was shining unnaturally brightly, resting on the floor below the canopy of trees. She felt drawn to it. As she approached it, the object got dimmer, so she was able to focus on it properly. It was what looked to be like a ball, but with inscription written on it. It was completely out of place in the woods. Tea was not sure what it was, but remembered what the effeminate voice had told her and Kaiba earlier.

"Computer, what is this object?" She called out, feeling slightly foolish talking to empty air. However, this feeling was replaced with relief when she had her reply.

"Object identified. Sphere of life. This will free one of the three current inhabitants of the virtual world. They will wake up back in reality and be freed. There are no catches. This is a one-off. For use, hold the ball and push in the buttons on the side." The computer fell silent.

Tea grinned. She had found her way out of that place. She bent down and picked up the sphere, her fingers ready to set her free; but something stopped her. She sighed. Her conscience. She shook her head. She couldn't abandon Kaiba on his own, no matter how incorrigible he was. And she couldn't risk leaving Mokuba trapped in the virtual world. Out of the three of them, she knew he should be the one to be set free. She laughed ironically; Joey and Tristan would be yelling at her not to be so selfless. Yugi too probably. But she couldn't help it. She began to traipse back towards Kaiba and hopefully find Mokuba.


"MOKUBA!" Kaiba shouted, catching sight of a familiar block of black hair dancing through the trees. His side too was getting darker and darker as he ran further from Tea. The figure turned around and Mokuba turned to smile at him, before running towards him and jumping up for an embrace. The younger Kaiba began to bawl into Seto's shoulder, leaving him to comfort the little one.

"Seto, what's happening? Where are we?" Mokuba asked, sobbing, "All I remember is getting into the limo and then everything went black and then I was here in this place! Why are we here?"

"That is what I am trying to find out." Seto said coolly, though still trying to comfort his brother. He set Mokuba down on the floor and looked at him intently. He doesn't look virtual, but that could be an illusion. He has Mokuba's short term memory, but still... My virtual characters could do that. There must be some way to tell he is real or not.

"Big brother, what are you doing?" Mokuba asked, dodging his brother's gaze. "What's wrong?"

"Mokuba, the day after your fifth birthday I took you to a café in Domino City, what was the name of the café?"

"What?"

"Answer the question Mokuba?"

"You didn't take me to a café. We went to the zoo. Seto I don't understand why you are doing this? What's wrong? It's me!" His eyes began to fill with tears again.

Seto sighed. If it was a virtual character appearing from his own memories and current thoughts, this Mokuba would have named the café he was thinking of at the time. So that wasn't it. Mokuba had answered the question right. But all that had accomplished was that this was not a projection of his own thoughts.

"Kaiba, Mokuba!" A familiar voice rang out over the trees. Kaiba rolled his eyes. Another irritation.

"Tea?! What are you doing here?" Mokuba asked, running towards her.

"I don't really know. I blanked out and found myself here with your brother." She shot a glance to that brother who gave her an icy stare. She shook her head and continued. "What about you?"

"Exactly the same. Except Seto doesn't seem to think it's me."

Seto appeared disgruntled for a second before regaining his composure. He hadn't expected his brother to see through his guise. Perhaps he should give him more credit.

"Kaiba, this is Mokuba. The computer told me there were three current users in the virtual world. And there are three of us. Mokuba is real. He isn't imaginary." Kaiba gave her a sideways glance before turning back to Mokuba who was giving him the puppy-dog eyes. Yes, this definitely was Mokuba. No computer programme could give such good puppy-dog eyes. Kaiba gave him a small smile before ruffling his hair.

"Sorry kiddo, had to be sure." Mokuba grinned at his brother and smiled at Tea who gave him a warm smile back.

"There was one more thing." Tea said, sorry to interrupt the two brothers. She had never even seen such a little smile from Kaiba. She was shocked. She hadn't thought him capable of smiling. But there again, she hadn't seen him and Mokuba interact. Maybe he smiled a lot with Mokuba around. The smile was so uncharacteristic that it completely lightened his face, giving him an almost handsome edge. Tea was jogged out of her reverie as the two boys blinked owlishly in front of her, waiting for her to continue.

"I found this." She revealed the glowing sphere from her backpack. "The computer said it was supposed to free someone from the virtual world, with no catches. But it is one use only." She paused before leaning down to Mokuba. "So it is yours Mokuba."

Seto's eyebrows shot up. What was this girl doing? Why was she being so... kind? Mokuba gave his brother an unsure look. "I don't want to leave you guys here, what am I going to do?"

"Mokuba, you need to escape. Leave me and ... Gardener here. You go and get us some help. You know the KaibaCorp drill don't you? You need to leave. Go now. I promise I will see you soon." Tea nodded encouragingly and let Mokuba know how to escape. He followed the instructions and the sphere got lighter and lighter. Soon Mokuba was engulfed in light, causing both the remaining two to shield their eyes. When the light had gone, Mokuba too had almost vanished, leaving the two alone.

Kaiba turned towards Tea and began to walk towards her; she could not interpret his expression so backed away from him, until she hit a tree. Kaiba put one hand on either side of the tree next to her head, making sure she couldn't escape.

"Why did you do that?" He demanded.

"What?" She said, trying to sound confident, though inside she was quivering in fear.

"Why did you not use the sphere to escape yourself?"

"Do I really have to answer that for you Kaiba?" Tea asked rhetorically, outraged. "Do you think I would just use that and leave you both alone? And what about Mokuba! I couldn't leave him stuck inside this place. In danger. I couldn't do that. So don't you try and be all high and mighty with me-"

Seto opened his mouth to say something. "Oh no you don't, you are going to hear me out. I do not know what your problem with me is Kaiba, but I am not some selfish person out for just personal gain. Whether you like it or not I do care for Mokuba, and even though it is very minimal, I care for you too. I can't just leave people I care about in danger, just because I am given an escape route. I won't run out on my friends. Ever. And that includes you Kaiba. I am your friend. Whether you like it or not." Tea was breathing heavily after this, panting. She looked into Kaiba's eyes and for a moment something inside them seemed to melt, and there was hesitation creeping into his features. Kaiba, hesitant, unsure? No, there was no way.

Seto meanwhile had been so taken aback out of her actions he needed to find out what she had to gain from them. When he had said that she cared about him and his brother something inside him tweaked, sending a flurry of emotions through him. She actually considered him a friend. Despite everything he had done and said to her? Maybe he had been being too harsh. The girl in front of him, who he noted looked quite scared of him, was not just a cheerleader. There was more to her. Much more.

He hesitated before removing his arms from by her head. She looked at him before brushing herself down.

"Thank you." He mumbled.

Tea's eyes widened. Had the great Seto Kaiba actually thanked her for something? Perhaps he wasn't quite the selfish arrogant idiot she had been giving him credit for...

They stood staring at each other for a while before the scene around them dissolved and they were transported to what looked to be the empty field again. However, standing in the middle of the field this time was a huge mansion. It looked to be designed in the same way as Pegasus's castle was; white exterior and the doors were just as extravagant, but it was somehow more creepy for Tea than it had been when she had approached Pegasus' castle with her friends.

"I guess we go in there then." Tea said to Kaiba, slightly unsure whether they were on talking terms.

"It seems that way." Kaiba replied in a calm voice. "Shall we?" He asked.

What? He's actually waiting for me to come with him. A change already! Wow, this is going well! Tea thought to herself.

"Err, sure." She replied brightly and they began to approach the door to the house.

Inside, Tea could see was a long corridor, spreading for quite some distance. The floor was wooden, with red furnishings lining the side and crimson throw rugs on the floor. The walls were white and there were chandeliers lining the inside of the corridors.

At the end of the corridor, Tea could make out a large room, and she could hear distant chatter. She recognised the laughing; surely it couldn't be. She beamed: it was her friends! They were here too! She began to run down the corridor towards the laughing.

"Gardener," Seto shouted behind her, "Wait, where are you going?"

Tea ignored him. She was going to be reunited with her friends.

As she got closer and closer to the room she began to hear their conversation. They were talking about, she stopped as she heard her name, followed by a lot of giggling. She crept closer and closer to the door and stood in the doorway. Sure enough, she heard the laughter of Yugi, Joey, Tristan, Duke, Serenity, Mai and Rebecca.

"And her hair," the voice of Mai choked through her laughing, "She really thinks that looks good on her? It is so last century." The laughing happened again. Tea subconsciously reached to touch her hair.

"I feel sorry for her," She heard Yugi's high voice said. "She has no one else so she feels she has to tag along with us. I know she thinks I'm her best friend and all, but what do we actually have in common? I am good at Duel Monsters, she well... I have loving family, she..." There were roars of laughter from the boys.

"And that stupid friendship thing," A boy's Brooklyn voice piped up, Joey. "I couldn't get that permanent marker off for hours, no matter how I tried. Yeah it saved you Yugi but the number of times she bangs on about it. You would've thought she would've noticed by now that we don't like her!"

Tea was listening quietly to all of what had been said, she felt warm tears fall down her cheeks as she heard their hurtful words. Were these her friends?

"Guys?" she called out hesitantly,

The laughter stopped and there was some intense whispering. Tea caught many, how longs and did she hears but she waited patiently. Surely they had an explanation.

"Tea," Yugi said, his voice upbeat and clearly false, "We were just saying-"

"I heard everything." She said faintly, her eyes welling with tears. Yugi's face grew cold.

"Well then," Tristan said standing up from the settee as well. "Why are you still here?"

"You... you... meant those things?" Tea gulped back a sob. She had hoped everything they said, their cruel words that had hurt her far more than anything that had happened to her in the past.

"Of course we did." Duke said smoothly.

"So...so... we're not friends?" She whispered.

The group in front of her laughed, making Tea feel about an inch tall.

"No Tea." Yugi said, sobering up and looking at her coldly. "We aren't friends. We have never been friends. You are completely delusional if you thought we could ever be friends."

That was enough. Tea turned from her friends and ran from the hall. Her eyes were filled with tears so she didn't see Kaiba blocking her path just outside the hall and crashed into him, almost falling over.

"Gardener-" Kaiba began hesitantly as he gripped her shoulders.

"Don't." Tea sobbed. She remembered the words, those hurtful words, that her friends had uttered. And their cold, empty expressions. In fact, she would only remember this afterwards, they had no irises. Their eyes were pure black. But they had spouted her biggest insecurities, her biggest fears. Even if they were not real, they had certainly unhinged her. She leaned into Kaiba, who still had his hands on her shoulders and wept.


"Gardener, wait. Where are you going?" He huffed in annoyance as he watched the girl bound towards the room at the end of the hallway. He had a bad feeling about leaving her on her own so he chased her, keeping a little way back. He watched her freeze and then creep slowly into the room. He crept forwards so he was almost right next to the entrance and listened to the conversation and watched Tea's expression change.

The things that her friends were saying. Kaiba gritted his teeth, if they had been talking about him he would have told them where to go and the way he treated them it may have been just; but to talk about Gardener like that? He looked at her face. She was standing still, tears trickling quickly down her cheeks. She looked... broken. He almost charged into the room to shout at the people who were being hurtful, but then Tea's voice croaked and the voices stopped.

Kaiba pricked his ears. The falsely happy voice of Yugi resonated around the hall and Kaiba sneered. Surely Gardener wasn't going to fall for that. He was right.

"I heard everything." She said, her voice sounding weak and broken. Even from outside the room, Kaiba felt the atmosphere go chilly, and he crept closer to the door, watching the scene take place. Immediately he could tell that her friends weren't themselves. Their eyes were empty, completely black. Kaiba gritted his teeth. Another challenge. But this one was unfair, it was cruel. He knew Gardener well enough to know that her friends meant the world to her. If they were taken away... he did not know how she would cope. As he pondered this he felt himself begin to feel sorry for the girl in front of him. It was cruel to do this to her; he felt, almost protective over the girl. What is going on with me? He asked himself with incredulity. Before he could ask himself any more questions he felt someone hurtle into him and instinctively grabbed their shoulders to steady their fall. It was her.

"Gardener..." He said hesitantly, unsure of what to do or say. He looked at her face, empty, every bit of life disappeared. She looked tortured.

"Don't." the girl in front of him said and leaned towards him, resting her face on his chest and crying. Kaiba was so surprised at this he didn't immediately throw her off. Instead, instinctively he gently wrapped his arms around her small frame and before he knew it, pulled her closer to him. Letting her press her entire weight into him. A wave of emotion passed through him as he caressed her back. He knew how to comfort his little brother. He had gotten into plenty of scrapes and had often cried in Seto's arms, but as he moved his fingers lightly over her back he realised he felt nothing like he had done when comforting Mokuba. This emotion was new, strange, different. It scared him. What was the girl in front of him doing to him? This realisation scared him and he drew away, clearing his throat.

"We should find somewhere to rest." He said gruffly. He didn't catch Tea's eye but he could feel her gaze boring on him. It made him colour under her gaze and he wished she would look somewhere else.

"Yes." Her voice replied weakly and they began to walk down the corridor.


Tea wept into Kaiba's shirt, not caring if the CEO would complain about it, nor if he threw her away almost immediately. She needed to cry and if Kaiba had any heart he would let her. Surprisingly, he did, and what was even more surprising was that she felt his arms snake around her back. For some reason, she felt safe in his arms. Protected from the words of her friends, and above all comforted. She shivered involuntarily as he traced her back with his fingers, the shiver taking her off guard and distracting her from the unpleasant thoughts of her friends. What was Kaiba doing? But before she could think more of it, she felt him drawing away and clearing his throat.

She looked up at him, trying to catch his eye, but he seemed determined not to catch hers. She wondered what had made him change his attitude. Was Kaiba's iciness melting? A warm sensation flooded through her, the same sensation as when she had seen Kaiba smile. Did she... did she like Kaiba? The sensation was weird, but not abhorrent. It was interesting, new... she replied an absent yes to Kaiba's suggestion about finding somewhere to sleep. And followed him down the corridor.