Disclaimer: Don't own YGO all you stupid peoples who think I do. If I did...yeah. I have plans...

But yeah. See? I got you a new chapter for Christmas! Worship me! And thank you for all your reviews...I need a better summary don't I? HELP! Please? ...

Anyways, once again, please enjoy the second chapter of When Black Petals Fall

2. Trapped Inside
Seto picked up then, shrugging and leaning back, trying to keep the rawness and emotion out of his voice and overall he did a fairly decent job, although he stumbled a little every so often and his voice shook a little bit. But for the most part, he managed to hide his emotions but it was still obvious to everyone that he was under quite a bit of stress just being under here. He'd practically had to fight Mokuba tooth and nail to keep him the hell away from here earlier that morning, and in the end he'd gotten his way.

"We didn't realize what we were getting ourselves into really. We thought it was just going to be another one of those challengers ready to duel me and Yugi and then get their asses kicked. After that, we figured we'd get what we came for and then get the hell out." His voice shook for a second then and then he shrugged, looking normal again. "I was here to get some files and bonds to seal a contract personally with a contact of mine. We'd actually been in touch since Battle City so I never really figured it was him."

Malik nodded, then explained why he'd been there. "I was there because my Millennium Rod went missing." Marik didn't say anything, just jerked his tanned thumb at Malik to motion that his reason was exactly the same. Those who spoke and Isis turned to Serenity to hear her reason and the girl shrugged slightly, looking a little uncomfortable as she spoke.

"I went because Joey and the others were going. I know Joey was going because Yugi was going, who was going because someone stole his grandfather's Blue Eyes again." Serenity looked down, then realized that she still had to speak and she fidgeted slightly, looking at her hand in her lap and twisting her sweater at the same time. "That was why Tea and Tristan were going wasn't it? Because Yugi and Yami were going…they never actually thought a bout why they did any of their stuff, just that they did it and it would turn out okay in the end." Her voice had turned bitter at the end and she flushed and didn't speak for a little bit before stating up again. "I don't know why Mai came…I just know that she did because of Joey. She felt sort of like I did…that something was wrong. And because of her harpy ladies…they went missing. You know she loves-" She broke off and a strangled sound escaped from her throat and she looked as if she was going to choke for a moment. "She loved them so much."

Bakura didn't say anything, just kept staring at the ground, his eyes wide and all absorbing but not comprehending. It wasn't known whether he was trying to block them out, or whether he was pretending not to listen. But he surely felt the combined efforts of the others, forcing a multicolored stare his way and he shifted slightly but he didn't look up and no one spoke, unsure whether or not to provoke Bakura to speech. It seemed Isis had not enough qualms to hesitate so much and went through, looking grim.

"And you Bakura?"

Bakura raised his head, looking weary and a dry smile split his face. He looked a mess; they hadn't noticed it before since he'd always been looking down and his hair in the way, but really…he looked just awful right now. His eyes were lined with black bags and his once tanned, then pale skin, was now ashen and his bones even more sharply accentuated than before, making him look as if he were in the process of becoming a mummy. His eyes weren't as dead as the rest of them, but they were still a little deadened, with hints of resignation.

"Me?" He looked all too amused as he spoke in his dry rasping voice. He laughed a short and harsh bark of a laugh and leaned back. "You know damn well why I went." He looked at the others through suddenly narrowed and almost accusatory eyes. "Well? Don't you?" He laughed again and looked down again. "I went because he went. I was supposed to protect him." Bakura laughed quietly, as if he was suddenly alone and leaned back against the sofa, his face turned upwards as he laughed. ""Protect him? Protect him? Protect him?" For a moment, his face twisted in an ugly fashion and a funny expression crossed his face. "Fucking bullshit." And then he stopped talking again, finding the ground interesting again.

"It was this room, wasn't it?" Serenity nodded absent mindedly to Marik's question.

"We were in that hallway when we realized…"

Serenity stepped into the hallway, through the door and caught up with the rest of them and smiled a tense smile, looking around nervously. They were standing in a long hallway with a well polished, clean wooden floor that creaked only a little bit as they stepped on the floor. The hallway opened up obviously to an open hallway with a ruby colored carpet and then everything else was closed off and only open to the others by doors.

There was also a large staircase close to where the entrance hall which was also wood and with a sapphire colored covering on the stairs with diamond designs weaving around each other intricately so that it seemed almost a shame to step on them.

"So, where the hell were we supposed ta meet this guy anyways Yami, Yug'?" The two spiky headed people turned towards Joey and then blinked at each other with a strange expression on their faces.

"Eh…I'm really no-"

BANG!

Before they could finish speaking, a slam was heard throughout the house, so that it seemed that everything was shaking for a moment and it felt like things were falling. They covered their heads and would have been silenced had it not been for the loud yells that were expressed and then everything was silent for a second and then another slam hit and everything went dark.

When their eyes adjusted a little to the dark, they realized they could still see a little and their eyes narrowed to see better but there was no need. In about two or three minutes fluorescent lights turned on and there were slight whimpers and shouts as the sudden light overtook their senses.

When nothing more happened, they felt better but then they absorbed the unforgiving reality…and wished that they had never entered. The shutters were all closed tightly suddenly and the door had slammed shut. Everyone looked taken aback but it was Marik, Bakura, and Seto who got it first and then Joey then Yami and Yugi. With a shout, Mark and Bakura both went for the door, slamming into it with their shoulders and Seto went for the windows. Joey went for the windows on the other side as did Yami and Yugi on the other side. The girls immediately raced up the stairs to check on the windows and balconies up there and the other two hikaris did the same, thinking just one step more.

After several minutes of trying to break through, nothing happened. With a despairing cry, the group regathered in the living room, hands on knees and bent over, trying to breathe properly.

"They're locked up way too tightly." Bakura said quietly, his voice hoarse like always and he narrowed his eyes and glanced at the ones that had gone upstairs. "You guys didn't find an exit or anything, did you?" Malik shook his head and looked halfway annoyed.

"Stupid question Bakura, if we had, we wouldn't be here, would we?" Bakura leaned over and smacked the blonde across the head. Bakura shook his head and scowled and leaned back again, his expression darkened.

"You idiot. It was a rhetorical question. So now how the hell are we supposed to get out?" Seto pulled out his laptop from his briefcase that he carried around everywhere and activated it quickly, placing it on his lap as he took a seat on the ground, his brow furrowed a little bit as his hands began to move over the keyboard. He looked furious as he continued and then his eyes widened, and he cursed heavily under his breath as he continued to type. "No…no, that's not…that's…"

He looked up with a worried and uneasy expression and the others looked at him. "It's almost stupid to try to get out…" Seto stated quietly. "This guy…I don't know if he's a mastermind or not, but he knows how to trap us." He scowled. "The doors are enforced from the inside with iron and lead as well as titanium…fire won't help us there. Same with the windows, the windows are bulletproof, the shutters the same as the doors. Thing is, maybe we could still get out if we can but thing is, this whole place is tripped out with lasers outside of all the exits so we couldn't get out with being fried to a crisp."

"Well, couldn't we figure out the source and cut it there?" Marik asked, his jaw muscles working furiously but strangely enough seemed calm outwardly.

Seto shook his head almost regrettably and crossed his arms and leaned back discontentedly. "See the thing is we could, if the lasers power source wasn't so conveniently attached to something outside."

"Well, isn't there a way you could hack into the system and kill it?" Ryou suggested, though he looked doubtful.

"No. There's too many systems blended into one and it's encrypted to some kind of code that I can't understand." Seto cracked his knuckles before returning his hands to the keyboard. "And don't get started on that, so the great Kaiba can't do this shit mutt. I'd like to see you try to do this…or your pathetic little genius friend." Kaiba cast a warning glare, his blue eyes narrowed as he glanced to the side where Jou was standing, his mouth halfway open. Then he returned his gaze to the screen in front of him. "I could crack it…but it would take me a while." Something in his temple clicked and he glared at the screen accusingly before continuing again. "There must be at least a hundred different codes piled on one another…" He trailed off for a moment before continuing. "And each code will take an indeterminable amount of time. This person was planning this for a very long time."

He closed the lid of his laptop, revealing the Kaiba Corporations logo on the lid and stood up after placing the laptop back in its briefcase and stood, brushing himself off. "Not to mention that there's something interfering with the connection I've got so I can't get contact with the outside. And this is private property so no one can enter without being in trouble with the law."

"So pretty much, we can't get the fuck out, and no one can get the hell in." Bakura summarized brutally, his fists clenching tightly. Ryou looked as if he wanted to smack Bakura but thought the better of it and kept his hands in his coat pockets for the time being.

"And someone's obviously been planning this for about a year at least…which means we don't know what the hell they have in store for us. But whatever it is, it's not good." Yami said quietly, crimson eyes furious. "So does this mean that they're here with us, or that they've got a decoy in here?"

"That's the problem." Seto looked exhausted and leaned back in his chair with a cool expression on his face. "We have no idea."

Joey, Tristan, and Tea looked towards Yami desperately. "Can't ya just bust outta here with yer Shadow powers or somethin' Yami?" The blonde ran his hand through his hair with a troubled expression and glanced at his sister worriedly.

"No." The quintet, Yugi, Yami, Joey, Tea, and Tristan, all looked towards the source of the duo with strange looks, taken aback and then blinked at seeing who had spoken. Bakura and Malik looked up and shrugged, their expressions strange. "We know how to use shadow magic better than Mr.-I-Forgot-My-Memories, remember?" Yami glared sullenly.

"Hey, I got my memories back, remember!" Bakura scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"Don't be stupid. Even if you managed to get all your memories back, you didn't regain the experience you lost in the time you didn't know." Bakura grinned smugly and then returned back to the topic. "They've got everything planned out. There's something that completely nullifies Shadow magic out there. I haven't run into it too often, but it's just the way it is. I can't do anything about it and neither can you Pharaoh Idiot since you don't know how to do anything And Marik can't do anything, since he's missing his Rod. And the hikaris don't have what it takes since their power isn't as offensive as ours."

"So basically we have to wait out whatever it is before we try to get out?"

"Exactly."

"Well…SHIT."

"We took that piece of news pretty well didn't we?" Malik asked weakly and shook his head and his sister only gripped him hand and squeezed a little bit reassuringly. Her expression was serene and she listened patiently with the air of someone who had no desire to do anything else but listen.

"I'm surprised none of us passed out." Serenity said softly, with a slight smile on her face. "None of us screamed or anything like in those horror movies. We didn't just start going hysterical either…I don't even think we panicked for a little while, we were expecting things to end up okay…It didn't take us more than a day or two to realize that things would never be all right."

"But still, those idiots held onto their foolish, desperate hope and relied on luck. LUCK." Seto scoffed contemptuously and shook his head. "Did they think luck was going to guide them through everything? Sooner or later…their luck would have to run out. Their luck was down into the negatives when we went into that house and someone was going to have to pay the price."

Bakura scoffed from where he was, his head still leaning against his knee. "Yeah…and for once in their miserable life, they didn't have anyone to do it for them." His smile was dry and wicked underneath his hair and he looked half mad for a moment. "They didn't have any sacrifices that were willing to give themselves up this time. For once, the thrice be damned 'Heart of the Cards' wasn't going to come through for them because this wasn't about a duel." The white haired thief laughed callously where he was, then quieted, seemingly subdued. "Dear Ra…they couldn't understand what was going on in there because they couldn't control anything. Instead of being a player…they were only pieces in a one person game of chess."

The other regarded Bakura with carefully indifferent expressions before nodding gravely.

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