Chapter Two

He was kneeling in the grass in Domino Canyon, just having regained consciousness from Khu's blast. As his eyes adjusted to the light from only the moon and stars, he found a lifeless form laying near him and another nearby.

"Gansley. . . . Nesbitt," he whispered in horror. "Dead. . . ."

Crump and Johnson were sprawled farther away, just as lifeless. He was the only one left.

"Lector?!"

He started awake, almost falling out of the chair. Gansley was staring at him, both put-out and confused.

"It's not like you to fall asleep during meetings," Gansley scolded. "Or perhaps you're finding this proposed venture as dull and humiliating as Nesbitt does?"

"Hey," Crump scowled.

Lector raised a hand to his forehead. "No, I don't," he retorted. "Even though I must admit it isn't something I ever thought I'd be doing."

"Maybe you haven't been sleeping well lately?" Johnson suggested. "Several times you've turned up looking like death warmed over."

That was the wrong choice of words. Lector leaned forward, glowering at him. "It's better than really being dead," he snapped.

Gansley waved his cane as a murmur swept through the room. "Alright, perhaps it's time we call it a night. We'll get back to this in the morning, after we've all had some sleep."

"But we haven't even got to my blueprints yet," Crump whined. "I've made some changes to the original design I mapped out years ago."

Lector stumbled up. "Maybe it is better if we wait until morning," he said stiffly. "Goodnight." He headed for the front door, replacing his hat on his head as he opened said door.

The swirling snow outside greeted him and he grumbled under his breath. By now it was several inches deep. He didn't have far to travel—only two blocks. But with the roads not clear, even this much snow might be enough to be dangerous right now. Still, he headed onto the porch, pulling the door shut behind him.

He hadn't been sleeping well lately, it was true. Most nights he dreamed about all manner of their horrible experiences, from being trapped in virtual reality to Noa trying to kill them to being assimilated into the darkness. He hated the latter especially; he always heard the others laughing and taunting him, and unlike in reality, when the darkness took him, they didn't care. But the memory that came more than any other was waking up and finding that everyone else was dead. Unlike in reality, they didn't wake up. It would probably come even more now that he had received that threat that let him know they were all in danger.

He reached the car and just slumped forward, placing his hands on the hood. It shouldn't be affecting him so seriously, should it? After all, they had all been restored to life by that angel. It certainly didn't seem to be affecting any of them at all. They never talked about it, never questioned it. Actually, did any of them really realize they had all been dead? Did they know about the angel? Did they know how badly Lector had been hurting when he found that each and every one of them had been brutally killed?

Khu had said he would regret not dealing with him in Kaiba Manor. Lector had said he would just have to regret it, since he needed to find Mokuba to keep him safe from Dr. Portman. He'd had no idea how much he would regret ignoring that threat, or that it would be his friends who would suffer because of it. . . .

He groaned and straightened. He would have to get the snow shovel out of the trunk and dig the car out before he could even drive away. Honestly, he had no intention of moving back to New Orleans, but he missed New Orleans' winters.

"Hey! Lector!"

The door banged shut on the porch and Crump hurried down the stairs and over to him. Lector, who was just going to the trunk, looked over in surprise. "What is it?"

"That's what I was going to ask you," Crump replied. "Lector, what's wrong?"

Lector gave a tired sigh. He had never intended to talk about it unless he was asked, but even now that he was being asked, he didn't know if it was the right thing. If none of the others were even shaken up, should he really force them to think about what happened? It was good if they weren't weighed down by the memories. He shouldn't be either. They had always dwelled too much on the past, but now they had been trying to move into the future.

"I . . . it's nothing," he insisted.

"Buddy, come on." Crump peered at him. "We all know you haven't been up to snuff lately. What's the problem?"

Finally Lector gave up. "I just . . . haven't been sleeping well," he said. "It's . . . hard to get used to, actually being able to sleep again . . . and dream. . . ."

"You too?" Crump chuckled. "I've been having some real doozies of dreams, let me tell you."

"Do you ever dream about what happened?" Lector cut in before Crump could start recounting whatever colorful venture he was remembering. "Do you dream about . . . being dead?"

Crump sobered immediately. "Yeah. Sometimes. It's funny, though. . . . I don't remember going to Heaven . . . or the other place. . . . The only thing I really remember is . . ." His voice lowered. "Your pain. But . . . I dunno, maybe that was the worst Hell we could've been stuck in."

Lector stared at him, stunned. "Crump . . ."

"That's the same with us."

Now Lector jumped a mile. The others had come outside and over to them without him even hearing. Like Crump, they were all completely serious. It was Johnson who had spoken now, and Gansley and Nesbitt nodded in agreement.

"Come back inside, Lector," Gansley implored. "It's going to keep snowing all night. It would be more sensible just to stay here. Crump asked us to while you were dozing."

At last Lector nodded. He would rather not go off upset.

". . . None of you have ever talked about what happened," he said as they went back up the walkway. "You don't act like you're bothered at all."

"You haven't talked about it either," Johnson pointed out. "We didn't want to bring it up if you were trying to deal with it by not thinking about it."

"I have been trying to do that," Lector admitted. "Only it comes out in my dreams anyway."

". . . I think the worst dreams I've been having are about us failing to save you," Crump said after a moment. "Or you being pulled into the darkness in the Shadow Realm and not being able to be saved from that." He hesitated. "I know it doesn't help much, but focusing on reality is about the only thing that works when the memories and the What Ifs get too strong. I think about how we're all here now, alive and well, and that we've got a new start. And that's pretty good for fighting off the nightmare fuel."

Lector slowly nodded. That was true, and he should be able to do that too, he felt. Maybe in time.

"And to think, I wondered if I needed to be afraid of all of you after I got back to my body and the rest of you didn't at first," he mused as they headed back inside.

"It was logical to wonder that," Gansley shrugged. "Things went directly from us having a conflict to you being sent back to your body."

"I can't even say we weren't kind of mad at first," Crump said. "I sure was. And I was even madder when I saw you in Kaiba Manor, with Kaiba!"

"And I said several cold-hearted things after we thought you had been pulled into the darkness for good," Gansley said. "I didn't mean any of them, although I tried to convince myself that I did."

"I thought you did," Crump said.

"But in the end, our caring for you won out," Johnson added.

"And strangely enough, that's apparently what saved the rest of us," Nesbitt remarked.

Gansley nodded in agreement. "You were perhaps given a second chance when you earned it by protecting Mokuba, Lector. The rest of us earned it by protecting you."

"That's an interesting way of looking at it," Lector said.

"It adds up," Crump said. "So, are we looking at my blueprints or is everyone too tired?"

"Let's go ahead and look at them," Lector said. "We can be thinking about what to do with them while we're getting ready for bed."

Crump's eyes lit up. "Now you're talking!"

xxxx

Seto Kaiba, of course, wasn't big on Christmas or Christmas decorations. But he knew Mokuba loved everything about Christmas, so for his brother's sake he tried to be festive enough to celebrate. They had experienced an interesting evening of setting up the Christmas tree and draping garland along the banisters. Mokuba was delighted, and Seto loved seeing his innocent enthusiasm.

Really, it amazed him that Mokuba could stay as innocent and untainted as he did after everything they had been through. He even had compassion and caring for many of their enemies, such as the Big Five. Seto certainly didn't in general, although he had a certain respect and gratitude for Lector after he had tried repeatedly to protect Mokuba during various calamities.

"I wonder how Lector's doing," the boy suddenly broke into Seto's thoughts.

"I'm sure he's doing just fine since he's with his friends," Seto grunted.

"Yeah." Mokuba smiled a bit. "Being with the people you love always helps." He hesitated. "Do you think they have a chance of making it as honest people?"

"Heh. I really wouldn't know," Seto said. "I'm more inclined to say that most people don't change that much, but considering all the changes we've seen in people around us, it would sound laughable and narrow-minded to say that." His eyes narrowed. "What I will say is that I trust Nesbitt the least of any of them, after what he tried to do to you."

"I don't trust him either," Mokuba frowned. "But then I think about all the awful stuff Marik tried to do to innocent people because he thought the Pharaoh killed his father, and I wonder if even Nesbitt could learn to be good. That angel Kasumi sure thought he had a chance."

"I'll believe it when I see it," Seto said. "Maybe." He glanced at the clock. "And now it's really time that you should be getting to bed, little brother."

Mokuba sighed. "Okay." Smiling again, he hugged Seto before starting to pull back. "Thanks for a great evening, big brother. I had an awesome time."

Seto returned the gesture. "Sure."

He stayed up after Mokuba went to bed, thoughtfully studying the decorations they had put up. Christmas had been an amazing holiday when their parents were alive. Even Seto had loved it then. He had always tried to make it special for Mokuba when they were left alone, including during the time they had lived at the orphanage, but it hadn't been magical like before. Reality had crashed down hard on Seto by that point and he had known there were no jolly old elves running around the world delivering Christmas to all the good girls and boys.

And what about the true meaning of Christmas? What had he thought about that?

Their parents had believed in it and had taught them about it. Seto still remembered the worn but loved Nativity that was brought out every year. But once he and Mokuba were alone . . . once he had needed to be both parents and big brother . . . had he ceased to believe?

He really hadn't known what to think of God in quite some time. He had rejected the paranormal in general after Pegasus had stolen his soul and he couldn't make himself face that chilling truth. But he had finally been forced to concede to its existence over time. And several weeks ago he had seen what had purported to be an angel. It was hard to deny that, and impossible to deny that after she had announced what she was going to do, four dead men had been alive again.

But . . . they deserved second chances when his and Mokuba's parents didn't? When so many other good people didn't? What kind of God would do that?

Seto frowned, slumping back in the chair and tossing a pen to the desk. He could say that good people had their lives in order while troubled or bad people had made disasters out of their lives and needed the chance to fix things, but good people had unfinished business too. His and Mokuba's parents had had a family to raise.

God's ways were not man's ways indeed. There would probably never be any real answers until one died. And even then, who was to say that one would agree with the answers? Seto didn't know that he ever would or could.

Frustrated, he started to get up from his desk. But he paused at the sound of the door opening. "Mokuba?"

Instead, it was Hobson who came to the open doorway, unwinding a long scarf from around his neck. "It's only me, Mr. Kaiba," he said.

Seto raised an eyebrow. "You were out late."

"Merely taking a late-night walk, Sir." Hobson smiled in that eerie, sort of knowing way. "Will that be all?"

"Yeah. Go do whatever it was you were going to do. I'm going to bed." Seto turned off the light and headed for the stairs.

"Very good, Sir." Hobson stayed downstairs and went into the kitchen.

Shaking his head, Seto went upstairs and to his room for bed.

xxxx

Téa stretched and yawned in exhaustion before flopping over her desk. She was still working at Mr. Thorton's holiday decor and toy store in the Domino Mall, and with Christmas season upon them, work hours were often insanely busy and sometimes there was inventory to be taken afterwards, such as tonight.

It was nice, at least, that Serenity had decided to try working there just over the holidays in order to have money to buy presents for Joey, Duke, and the others. A familiar and friendly face was always welcome. Téa liked Mr. Thorton, but it wasn't always easy dealing with his stressed-out nature. And at least one of the other employees was a disagreeable person who always seemed to be in a bad mood and took it out on everyone else. Of course, Téa being Téa, she could never go very long without commenting on it or scolding the woman for her attitude.

Things had been very interesting for the last several weeks, especially with Seto. Now that he was willing and able to acknowledge that he thought of the others as friends, he was actively making contact with them, at least at school. He didn't call or visit any of them at home to shoot the breeze, and he probably never would, but that wasn't necessary for a friendship. Everyone was just happy and amazed that he wanted to be friends now.

Téa straightened and then leaned back, looking up at the ceiling. While stocking shelves tonight, Serenity had very enthusiastically mentioned an upcoming event. Téa hadn't expected to start thinking of it again, but now the memory was running through her mind.

"Duke's going to take me to the Christmas dance at the community center," Serenity chirped, her eyes sparkling.

"Oh . . . that's great, Serenity," Téa said. She wasn't surprised by that, and yet, the topic had caught her off-guard.

Worry filled Serenity's eyes. ". . . I should have asked if you had any plans for it, instead of going on about me," she said in chagrin.

"No, you're fine!" Téa exclaimed. Even after everything, Serenity was still very overly sensitive and sometimes lacked self-confidence. "I'm sure I'll be going, just to dance by myself if nothing else."

"Maybe Atem will ask you. Or Yugi," Serenity suggested.

"I'm sure Atem would just feel awkward at something like that," Téa half-laughed. She was sure he would, too. "Yugi might ask, but only because of knowing I'd like to go. He's not much of a dancer. . . ."

"Well, I hope you get to go," Serenity said. She smiled. "I'm hoping Joey will ask Mai."

"That would be interesting," Téa said. "Do you think he would?"

"Mai needs to get out and enjoy things in town now that she's here," Serenity said, "and Joey knows that and wants to do things with her. He's just not sure what she even likes besides beating people at Duel Monsters."

"I'm sure Mai would be very touched by Joey asking her," Téa said sincerely.

"I think so too," Serenity smiled. "I'm so glad she's back, Téa, but we haven't seen much of her. . . . Joey hasn't wanted to get her involved in all the dangerous stuff, of course, and during downtime she keeps insisting she's preparing for the tournament that's coming up. She's really nervous. . . . It'll be her first tournament since . . . well, you know."

"Yeah." Téa smiled too. "You know, it's going to be hard knowing who to root for, especially if some of our friends in the tournament have to face each other. Yugi's not entering, of course. He just likes playing Duel Monsters for fun, not for money or even to win. Atem isn't sure if he might enter. He's never entered a tournament just for fun or for money either, and he isn't sure if he wants to. I don't think Kaiba's entering either. He doesn't seem to like tournaments much anymore, unless he's organizing them. Yami Bakura is definitely entering, since he wants to make a career out of dueling like Joey does."

"Joey will be there," Serenity nodded. "He's hoping that he and Mai will face each other. He thinks it would really be fun to duel her when there's nothing life-threatening at stake. It probably would be fun, but I'd be really nervous if I was the one facing Mai. She's such an amazing duelist and person, and I'm . . ."

"You're an amazing person too," Téa cut in with a firm smile.

Serenity blushed. "Thanks, Téa."

Téa got up from her desk as she came back to the present. Things had changed so much for all of them lately, mostly for the better. The biggest problem she had to deal with during downtime was wondering how to deal with her feelings for Atem. And while somewhat rattling and inconvenient, she would rather try to figure that out instead of dealing with actually life-threatening problems.

She had to admit, she really did like daydreaming about being at the dance with Atem.

Would Seto go to the dance by any possible stretch of the imagination?

. . . Of course he wouldn't. And why on Earth had such a thought come into her mind in the first place?

Shaking her head and muttering to herself, she began to prepare for bed.

xxxx

Most everyone settled down quickly. After spending a little time examining Crump's new blueprints, they dispersed to the bedrooms upstairs to try to sleep out the rest of the snowstorm that was still in full effect outside. But for some reason, Gansley was still not tired. He paced his room for several minutes before going to the door and stepping into the hall.

Lector's troubled dreams and the conversation they had shared had dragged unwelcome memories to the surface. Gansley was remembering over and over the heartless things he had said regarding Lector's fate after Khu had trapped him in the darkness and it had overtaken him. "It's for the best. . . . I didn't want the outcome of Lector betraying us. We're better off without him. . . ."

But Lector hadn't set any of them up for a fall, as they had encouraged Khu to do with him. Lector had only tried to protect that child from them. And as Mokuba had pointed out, them not knowing he was there hadn't hurt any of them.

Of course, they hadn't wanted Lector to be assimilated into the darkness. They hadn't thought he would be. But the others had been visibly shaken when it had happened. Only Gansley had said cold things in regards to it and had refused to acknowledge how he had truly felt deep down.

He slumped against the wall, passing a hand over his eyes. It was strange; he had done many things through the years that were cruel and heartless and felt no remorse for them. But to have encouraged any harm to come to Lector and then acted as though it didn't matter deeply troubled him.

He sighed and pushed away from the wall. Lector was alright, and Gansley and the others had tried to redeem themselves regarding him by risking everything to protect him. That was what he should focus on, as Crump had said. Thinking about what was past and gone was ridiculous and unproductive.

A voice at the end of the hall suddenly broke into his thoughts. One of Crump's servants was on her phone. Ordinarily Gansley would have immediately tuned it out, but part of a sentence he heard caught his attention.

"It's still hard to get used to him being back. It was nice having the place all to ourselves all that time. Now, not only is he back, but the others are usually around too. They're all planning some project together, you know. They're even all staying over tonight. None of them are younger than their forties, and yet they're having some kind of grown-up slumber party."

Gansley rolled his eyes. This was certainly an irrelevant and foolish conversation, nothing to be worried about. He turned to head back to his room.

". . . No, I don't know how often we should meet to talk about it. They could get suspicious. . . ."

Now Gansley was interested and concerned. He started down the hall in the other direction, towards the maid. He kept to the shadows, trying to move quietly.

"We have to be careful about that. If Seto Kaiba gets involved, we're done. He would put everything together faster than any of them."

Gansley hid around a corner very near to the girl. She shifted in the very short skirt that was part of her uniform, but Gansley was unmoved. Typical of Crump to insist on the servants wearing something like that. They were all pretty, young girls, of course.

"No! I don't like that. We should move more slowly."

Something rustled behind him. He started to turn to investigate, but not soon enough. All he could see was a flash of silver and a dark silhouette before something hard struck him on the head and sent him to the floor.