A/N: Wootage, it's an update! Unfortunately, you can kinda tell that I missed writing fluffier scenes and that I want to write something more conclusive for Ryou and Serenity, because the first scene is just that- a total overload, in fact. Ah well. Also in this chapter, we have more flashbacks chucked in purely for the sake of it, and two (hopefully) rather surprising surprises. I apologise in advance for them. (Sweatdrop) Hopefully, though, no-one saw it coming! I'd rather like to be unpredictable for once. ;-) I also have to apologise for the blatant disregard as to the laws of physics, but then, you're reading a fic about Superheroes, so I hope you won't mind. Heh.

And so! We begin with the immediate aftermath of Ryou telling Serenity he's Masquerade- remember that from the end of chapter ten?- and then it's sort of a 'meanwhile' to last chapter. You'll see where we get back to horizontal time, I'm sure. On with the show!

Disclaimer: I don't own. Goodness me, these get really old…

Twelve- An Ally or Two

"Ryou…" She answered awkwardly. "Come on. Sit down. Talk to me."

He did so, slowly. "I… I failed you." He said, not looking at her. "And all the others."

"How?" She asked, smiling reassuringly. "How have you failed, Ryou?"

"I… I wanted to protect everyone. But I failed."

Serenity placed a hand over his, trying to comfort him.

"None of this is your fault, Ryou."

"You don't know that." He snapped, suddenly looking right up into her eyes. "Why do you think Amane was taken? Why do you think you were targeted? Someone is trying to rob me of everything precious to me."

Serenity bit her lip slightly. Now was not the time to ask him to elaborate on what his words were insinuating. "Ryou, I'm sure that's not true." She told him, firmly. "There was nothing you could do to prevent this- any of it. There was nothing you could do."

"Yes there was." He said, so quietly, she had to bring her face close to his just to hear the words. "There always was. But I wanted to protect people. I wanted to help people. Then it was too late. Too many lies, too much deceit, too many bad choices. There was something I could have done. I could have chosen differently…"

"Ryou!" Serenity said, sternly. "I'm telling you- it is not your fault! Stop beating yourself up! You didn't start the fires! You didn't kidnap Amane! You didn't provoke anyone to do such terrible things! It's not your fault! Please, Ryou… believe me… You couldn't have stopped it. Please, I can't stand seeing you like this…"

"It is my fault." Ryou insisted, breathing shallowly, turning his face away. "By trying to protect people, I'm only endangering those closest to me."

"That's not true." Serenity tried.

"It is." Ryou closed his eyes. "Serenity… I'm going to be honest with you."

He was tired of lies. He was so tired of it all.

"Ryou-"

"I'm Masquerade."

The truth was out.

The consequences had yet to be decided.

Her grip tightened on his hand, and she stared at him in shock, as tears leaked from his eyes.

"I'm Masquerade." Ryou repeated, slowly. "It's me. I'm him."

"You're…"

"I'm sorry…" Ryou whispered. "I'm so sorry… All this time, I wanted to tell you… and now…"

"Ryou." She said, quietly, still not dropping his hand. "It's alright. It's alright…" She smiled slightly. "But… wow."

"Wow?"

"What else is it?" Serenity demanded. "Ryou, you're Masquerade! You can fly!"

"Yes." He nodded. "…You'll believe me so easily?"

"Well, you've never lied to me before." Serenity joked, but he looked away. "…Right?" Then she realised. "Oh…The cinema."

"And countless other times." Ryou sighed. "I swear to you, I was only lying because if anyone connected you to me then you'd end up…here." He tried to pull his hand out of her grip, but she refused to let him go. "But what good did it do? These people… they know who I am; they must do, and all these fires… And Amane… It's all to get to me. To force my hand. I'm sorry…"

"Don't apologise." She said, softly.

"But it's my fault! I was so selfish… I wanted to make myself feel good by helping people, justified lying to you by saying it was to protect you; and once again, I've spent so long trying to protect other people that those closest to me are the ones that have been hurt. I thought maybe I could do this… and I screwed up. I should have just kept out of it, let the police handle it, and then none of this would have happened. I should have realised I wasn't- ow!"

Serenity finally released his hand, letting him cradle it, now that she had slammed it against the wall. She raised an eyebrow, and said, without a hint of apology:

"Are you finished?"

Ryou couldn't help but smile. "…That depends. I dread to see what you'll do if I say no."

"If beating you up is the only way to stop you beating yourself up, I'll do it." She said, hotly. "You're wrong, Ryou; you're totally wrong! This isn't your fault! You're a good person, you're doing everything in your power to help people; and if people take advantage of that- fine! But it isn't your fault. You do everything you can, and if you screw up… there's no point dwelling on it. When something goes wrong, you just have to say 'Okay, what's next?'! You have to keep going. You're a superhero, right? Accept it- the good, and the bad; and keep moving on."

"I wouldn't call myself a 'superhero'…" Ryou murmured, reluctantly. "And… what if there's nothing I can do?"

"Then you do nothing." Serenity told him, quietly. "And you move on without the things you've lost. But, never forget- you don't go without a fight."

"I'm not sure I can-"

Serenity overrode him. "Don't give up. Not until the bitter end. You can do it, Ryou, I know it."

"Don't you mean 'Masquerade'?" He asked bitterly/

"No." Serenity shook her head. "Masquerade is just… a mask and a name. He's nothing. The skills are yours. The heart and soul are yours. And that's the person I know. So you can do it."

Ryou remained silent for a moment, and then he laughed. "Thank you."

"…For what?"

"You did it again." He shrugged. "Every time that I… that I've felt like I couldn't… you've been the one to convince me to go on. To not give up. You're the reason I became Masquerade again. Thank you."

"No, you did that." Serenity answered, blushing furiously. "That was you, not me."

Ryou shook his head. "No. You make me feel strong again. You make me feel like I can do anything. I honestly… don't know what I'd do without you."

"Not a lot, from the sounds of it." Serenity teased. Ryou laughed in agreement.

"Well then." He said, abruptly. "I guess I better go and see if I can't find something other than 'nothing' to do…"

"Be careful!" Serenity warned, suddenly scared. "I know you have to go… But, for heaven's sake, make sure you come back!"

Ryou said nothing, but looked at her until, once again, she felt quite embarrassed.

"I'm frightened." She admitted.

"Me to."

"Take care." She whispered, impulsively throwing her arms around his neck. Ryou held onto her, taking comfort from the embrace. The last few days had been so dreadful, so awful, it had numbed his mind and heart; and at last, she was breathing life back into them. Adrenaline coursed around his body. He had a job to do, and it infuriated him that he had no way of doing it. But, for a moment more, he was content to stay there with her and forget everything else. He was happy to stay wrapped around her, and linger in a state of thoughtlessness, where, just for a little while, his troubles did not seem so insurmountable. "Don't get hurt." She instructed him.

"That's just what I kept saying to you guys." Ryou answered, bitterly. "Sometimes, things happen that we can't help."

"I know." Serenity answered. "You can't help being what you are any more then I can."

"You are exactly what you're supposed to be."

"I…"

They lapsed into silence, but they did not let go. As if they had entered a dream, they were not thinking about what they were doing, or what the consequences would be when they woke from it. For a moment, they just held each other as all the pain and loss and arguments and surprise and fear of their worlds washed around them. Their problems did not go away. Serenity still knew that, one day, she'd have to go home and face her mother. Ryou still knew that saving Amane would be all but impossible. They both knew that they hardly knew anything anymore. But, for a second, they could forget, and be comforted.

"Ready to go, Ryou?" Yugi's amused voice sounded; and, as though his voice was the alarm clock of their slumber, the two sprung apart, suddenly unable to look each other, or Yugi, in the eye. Ryou stood up, awkwardly.

"I'll see you soon." He stated.

"You better had…" She answered, sounding concerned, and then, the two boys left, the door swinging softly shut behind them.

Yugi, meanwhile, was in a moral conundrum. He so desperately wanted to tease his shy friend, but, somehow, he thought there had been more to the embrace then just their hidden feelings finally coming out. Ryou was going through the stuff of nightmares, and Serenity certainly wasn't having much fun either. He'd only stood, stunned, for a second, but he had sensed pain in their embrace; but a certain amount of comfort to. He couldn't take that away from the guy. So, instead, he merely said:

"Don't worry. I won't say anything to any of the others. And I won't ask."

"…Thank you."

And yet, Yugi noticed, there was some new purpose in his stride that hadn't been there before.

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

"Ryou!" Amane pouted. "Are you going to sit there and read all day?!"

"Not if you keep pestering me." Ryou answered, eyes glued to the page.

"But it's so boring…"

"It's a good book."

"But we can't both read it at once!" She pointed out. "Can't we do something? Please? Come on, it's a lovely sunny day! Come into the garden! We haven't been out for months, and now the weather's good again! Please, I'm bored…"

"Eleven years old, and you can't amuse yourself?"

"Ryou…"

"Alright, alright, I'll come outside."

"Yay!" Amane grabbed his wrist and pulled him in the direction of the back door. Ryou allowed her to do so, reading his book as he went and knowing his way around through some sort of internal radar. Without so much as glancing from the fantasy world before him, he chose to take off his socks rather than put on shoes, and ventured out barefoot. Amane ran out onto the grass, the first time she had felt it under her feet this spring. Laughing, she threw herself down onto it- for it had hardly been cut over the winter months either, and gazed up at the clouds. For a second, she was content; but then she realised her twin was not with her. She sat up, and scowled at him. He remained oblivious, sitting on the swing, reading his book. He fully intended to ignore her, she could tell.

"Ryou!"

"I came out." He pacified.

"Can't we do something? You've been reading all morning..."

"I want to."

Amane frowned all the harder, and then noticed their ball, lying, half overgrown by grass. She picked it up, wrinkling her nose in disgust. It had been left out all winter, had been put through snow and wind and rain, and had lain abandoned in the mud; it's owners unable to brave the elements to come and rescue it. Rubbing some mysterious green scum from the ball's faded surface, she tossed it at her brother. He'd have fun if he wanted to or not.

"Ryou! Catch!"

"No." Ryou stated, simply, not looking up. Amane fell silent. In fact, it seemed the whole world did. The birds stopped singing. The wind stood still. No cars passed on the road outside. Peace at last.

"Ryou…?"

"What?" He asked, wearily.

"How are you doing that?" Amane asked, fearfully.

Ryou blinked, and, for the first time, looked at her. "Doing what?"

She pointed at the airspace above his head. He glanced up, and to his immense surprise, the ball was hanging there, as though held by an invisible arm. Ryou put his book down.

"I…" He was at a loss. "I don't think it's me…"

And at this statement, the ball decided to succumb to gravity again and dropped, bouncing off his head and rolling away down the lawn. The twins, however, were too preoccupied to laugh.

"I think that means it was." Amane replied, in awe. "Ryou, the ball was floating."

"I know that!"

"It shouldn't."

"I know!"

"Well…" Amane hesitated, and then ran after the ball. Having retrieved it, she called to Ryou: "Try it again!"

"What?! I said, it wasn't me!"

"You don't know until you try." Amane pointed out, reasonably, and tossed the ball at her brother, hitting him in the face and rolling back to land at her feet. Puzzled, she threw it again, and, as before, it hit Ryou's head and bounced away.

"Amane! Stop that!" Ryou protested.

"It's not my fault." Amane tried, bending over to pick up the ball. "You must have done something. It's not my fault if you're not…" She turned back to face him. "Doing it." She completed, awed.

Ryou, looking amazed himself, was watching as his book carefully, tentatively, floated up in front of him. He looked at his sister in shock, but the book did not fall.

"I think… I think the air is listening to me."

Amane looked at him, in wonder and fear. Slowly, she smiled. "This is so cool…" Then she gasped. "Do you think I could…?"

Ryou shrugged. "I didn't think I could! Here, try it!" He let the book fall. Amane placed it on the ground closer to it, and thought very hard about it floating, but it remained resolutely on the ground.

"…Try to get the air to lift it up rather then getting the book itself to move." Ryou suggested after a painfully long time. "That's what I did. I think. If I can do it, I bet you can! Concentrate!"

Amane nodded.

But the book didn't move. It never moved.

And so came the first thing that she and her brother could not share.

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

Serenity's head was in a whirl. Ryou was Masquerade. Now she had time to stop and think about it, it seemed inconceivable. Not so much that he was a 'superhero', but that one person could have so much stuff going on in their life. Restlessly, she rolled over.

"You okay?" Téa asked from the bed next to her. Both of them were being kept in overnight as a technicality, but they'd been moved to one of the general wards. Joey, however, was in the burns ward next door, and he'd probably be stuck here for a while. Dully, Serenity realised that her father was somewhere around the hospital to. What a family they were. All in hospital, and all as bored as could be.

"Fine, thanks." Serenity rolled over again, but it was pointless when she wasn't ill and wasn't in the least tired. Poor Ryou. He had lost his parents, and thought he had lost his sister; and yet, as soon as he had her back, someone sought to take that away from him. Her blood boiled. It was so unfair. What had he done that made him deserve to be so very…alone? She knew he was alone. He had his friends, but he was alone. He worked alone, and she was fairly sure that he lived alone. What did it put a person through, to have everything he'd worked for taken from him? What did it take to go out there, put his neck on the line, and put himself in danger for the benefit of others? It took a lot… It took so much… Somehow, Serenity had always thought it took more then she had.

But she couldn't let him go alone. She swung her legs off the bed.

"Serenity, where are you going?" Téa asked her, carefully.

"Toilet."

"But you're taking your clothes…"

Serenity looked at her, holding her blackened clothes. Well, she couldn't be expected to save people in pyjamas, though she was sure she'd heard Masquerade had done it once. She tried to think of some lie, but could not. So she stood, silently begging. Trying to word it turned into a disaster. "Ryou… he…" Téa sighed.

"There's going to be a nurse coming round soon. You better get out of here quick, or she'll see you leaving."

"Téa…"

"I'll cover you."

Serenity smiled, and hugged the other girl. "You rock, Téa."

She laughed. "Go on, then!"

Serenity nodded, and dashed out of the room, ready to make her getaway. Téa turned to the old woman on her other side, who actually was ill, and had woken up just in time to witness the end of this exchange. She raised an eyebrow.

"Love." Téa explained.

"Ah."

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

The cavernous room was still, silent, in the warehouse at the forgotten end of town, right at the end of the row, on the left. The soul focus for the three occupants was the little clock, slowly ticking away the minutes. Even the small plane that shared their space could not distract them from the ever moving hands. Amane, sitting on the floor because it was easier with her hands and feet bound, watched it silently. Time was almost up, and he wasn't here. He had to get here.

The alarm rang out, bright and cheerful. 3PM. Miller slammed a hand down on it happily.

"He's not here!" He declared. "My, my, what a pity… Ah well. Time for stage two, I suppose…"

"Stage two?" Penelope asked, her voice tinny and small in such a large space, and the echoes failing to take the edge of fear from her words. "What's stage two?"

"The most wonderful stage of all!"

Penelope swallowed. "This wouldn't have anything to do with the… the plane, would it?"

"No, it's there to look pretty." Miller laughed, in unusually high spirits. "Yes, the plane, girl! What else?" He hurried over to it, and then said, in a monotone voice: "Passengers for the 3:15PM flight of Domino City please board now! This is the final call for the 3:15PM flight of Domino City!" Chuckling to himself, he walked back, as if on an afterthought, and casually hauled Amane up. "Well, you heard him, ladies! Let's climb aboard!" He did so, dumping Amane in the back before heading through a door that presumably lead to the cabin. As soon as he was gone, Penelope went to her friend, trying to unbind her. But the ropes were knotted tightly, and stubborn under her touch.

"This is madness…" She whispered, still struggling. "He can't possibly fly this thing…"

"Mmm…" Amane agreed.

But he could.

It was not an overly large plane, that was for sure. In fact, it reminded Amane of something as innocent as the Red Cross ones, that carried out aid parcels and dropped them to waiting, devastated, areas before. Indeed, the only feature of this room was a hatch in the floor, one seat, and, for some odd reason, what appeared to be the floating paper lanterns that were so popular at new year, and that Amane always thought were closer to balloons. Then, from the cabin, there came a noise. Penelope sprang away from the ropes tying Amane. She hadn't even managed to loosen them.

Miller, however, paid them no heed, as he pulled the door shut, humming happily to himself. Then he turned, and stopped dead when he saw Penelope.

"My dear, what are you doing back here?" He demanded.

"I-"

"You should be up front!"

Penelope gasped. "…Wha… what? But I don't…"

"Your dad's a pilot, isn't he? Surely, he's shown you a few tricks…" He wheedled.

"Um… yes, but I can't-"

"The autopilot will be on. You'll only have to make sure it's done the right thing." Miller pleaded, grabbing her arm.

"I told you, I can't!"

"Do it." Miller said. There was no friendliness in his voice now; just the tone of someone on the edge. There was steel in his voice, and in the gun he was pressing to the back of her head.

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

Seto looked down at Bakura's face, which stared back at his, looking for some shred of humanity that had long since disappeared. But Seto never did anything indecisively, at least not openly. He had been pleaded with. He had also been threatened.

He had made his decision.

He turned his back on Bakura, dropping the power over him.

"Go."

Bakura stood, but then hesitated. "Will… you be okay?"

Seto smirked. "I can handle it."

Bakura nodded, and headed towards the gaping hole that used to be the doorway.

"Bakura? This isn't over. Also…"

"Yes?"

"You forgot your mask."

"Oh."

As Ryou reached out to take the mask from Kaiba's hands, he couldn't help but notice the watch he was wearing. And, by some cruel twist of fate, the numbers chose that precise second to click gleefully over to 3:15PM. Ryou cursed violently, and snatched his mask. Kaiba conveyed his surprise by raising an eyebrow slightly.

"What now?"

"At 3:15PM, the city will burn…" Ryou muttered to himself, and then he sighed. "Great. Absolutely bloody fantastic."

"Oh, having a bad day?" Kaiba smirked.

"Don't start." Ryou warned. "This is your fault! I only had to get to the other end of the row! And if you hadn't delayed me…"

"Well, don't allow me to delay you any more." Seto shot back, becoming more irritated by the second; and, seeing the sense in his words, Ryou darted out of the relative darkness of the warehouse, and straight into Serenity.

His reflexes were surprising even to himself as he grabbed hold of her, stopping her from falling over. However, he was not impressed with the fact she was here rather then where she was supposed to be, and he was stressed enough. He said nothing, but his face said everything, and she gazed up at him sheepishly.

"Hi."

"Hello." He smiled slightly, but couldn't make it look real. "…What are you doing here, Serenity?"

"I'm here to help."

"Don't be stupid, Serenity, please." Ryou said, softly. "It's not that I don't appreciate the offer, it's just…"

"You don't think I can." She sighed. "You think I'm useless."

"No!" Ryou protested. "No, of course not! But you don't understand…"

"You don't understand." Serenity shot back. Suddenly, she waved an arm in front of his face; and as she did so, it changed. The colour instantly darkened, and it bent and stretched and twisted as though it was liquid. Ryou stared at it, surprised to say the least. Serenity sucked her arm back to it's normal shape. "…But, if you listen," She continued, smirking slightly, "Perhaps I can explain."

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

Serenity sat in her room, alone; so very alone. She was supposed to be asleep, but how could she? Her mom and dad had been arguing for so long, always kept shouting at each other, and now her mom had taken her away. She had left their dad and Joey behind, and when Serenity had asked, had only said they couldn't come. Somehow, Serenity knew this wasn't just a holiday. They wouldn't be going home. So she would never her brother again. It wasn't fair. Her dad was a bad man, but Joey hadn't done anything. They shouldn't have left him behind. And Serenity hadn't wanted to go anyway. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair.

Her tears pooled and spilled over, but then evaporated on her cheeks, hot with rage, and she howled with anger. Why had her mom done this? How could she? It just wasn't right! And she'd never see Joey again! Joey had known it, to- that's why he had taken her to the beach. In anger, she kicked the doorframe. Immediately, her mom came running.

"Serenity! What are you doing?!"

The girl gawped at her, standing stone still in the centre of the room. Her mom frowned. She was certain her daughter had kicked a wall or something, and yet Serenity was stood stock still in the centre of the room… Putting it out of her mind, she moved to hug the little girl, assuring her that she loved her, doing what she could.

But Serenity wasn't listening. Somehow, she had just kicked the door- but she had not left this spot. Slowly, she stretched out an arm, and it just kept stretching until it bumped into the door. Serenity looked at it in an appalled fascination. Her arms stretched so far… Her mom shuffled, about to let go, Serenity, gasping, pulled it back, and waited for her mom to leave.

Then the fun really began, as the young girl found she could stretch and twist her body into all manner of shapes. Long into the night she played, gasping with happiness as she discovered she could even change colour.

But she didn't tell her mom. She'd keep it a secret from her mom, and that would teach her.

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

"Shape-shifting." Serenity said, defiantly. "Well…Sort of. I can warp my arms and legs a little, but I never got it as good as it was the first time. I can change my face, though; I know that's not much, but… I'm out of practise. I thought it was freakish and weird… it kinda is… so I ignored it. and all those stories, all those books… I just wanted to distract myself from the fact that I really was like someone out of a book… But I was never brave enough to go out, do what you do, to try and help… until now." She looked him in the eye. "I want to help you."

"…Serenity, no." Ryou answered, slowly, pushing his surprise away. "You can't. You said yourself, you're rusty, out of practise… I can't put you in any more danger."

Serenity scowled. "You're not, I am. Amane's my friend to, and so are you, and I want to help however I can! I want to help."

"Ren…" Ryou tried. "I can't let you do…"

"Please." She said, quietly. "I want to… I want to help people. I want to use my powers like you do. I'm always relying on other people. Just this once… let me help?"

"I…"

"You don't have to be alone anymore."

Ryou said nothing, looking at her doubtfully. Not in doubt of her abilities or her determination, but in doubt of himself; if he would be able to handle it if she got hurt, or if he'd fall into more guilt that he'd been unable to crawl out of this time. And then there was the surprise at her words. 'You don't have to be alone anymore'. But did she mean that he was-

"Look out!"

Instinctively, both of them turned towards the source of the noise- Kaiba, one eye blackened and looking a little worse for wear, was standing in the doorway of the warehouse, not looking impressed. With the speed that had made him famous in duels, he threw his arm out to the side, and the large, burning paper balloon that would have fallen on them had he not been there followed it's path, landing instead on top of one of the old warehouses, the old felt roof crackling and flaring up immediately. Ryou and Serenity gazed at it, both thinking how that could have been them.

"Idiot." Kaiba stated, aggravated.

Ryou let it pass. The fact of the matter was that his opponent was right. "Thanks."

Serenity, meanwhile, was facing her second revelation of the day. "Kaiba… him to?! Well… I… I guess it explains a lot…"

Seto glared at her, and then turned back to Ryou.

"Didn't you have somewhere to go, Bakura, or is it your intention to stand underneath falling balloons all day?"

"I'm going! Goodness!" Ryou snapped back. He took a step forward, and then hesitated. "That is… we're going."

Serenity smiled grimly, and nodded.

Seto rolled his eyes and turned away, apparently finding this scene too sickening to bother with, and disappeared back into his domain. Serenity did not spare him a glance as they ran along, Ryou pulling his mask on as he did so. Soon his face was covered, and he was ready for business.

But he wasn't alone anymore.

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

Their aim was clear. The balls of fire, drifting across the sky, came to an epicentre, spiralling out from a definite point of the sky. And it was no coincidence that above that point was a plane, crawling as slowly as death along the sky. Unfortunately, by the time Masquerade and his new accomplice arrived at the scene, things were well underway.

All over the city, the balloons were falling like deadly snow, and beneath them, hapless homes and businesses were succumbing to a fire unlike any scene since the Great Fire of London. Fire crews battled as best they could, but there was too much fire, and too few of them. Across the city, people began to panic and move listlessly about, or be stunned into paralysis, staring at the burning buildings or at the Kaiba Corporation HQ, which had always loomed over the horizon, but now was a huge column of fire, licking greedily at each window of the plush offices. Seto was not going to be happy when he found out. To the civilians of Domino, it seemed as though the whole world was burning under the fire that rained down from the sky, the most deadly precipitation. And so far, all the police could think to do was to stand about underneath it and shoot whatever ammunition they had up at it. Masquerade quickly spotted the chief of police and ran over to her. They let him past the barrier the moment they saw his mask. He was glad, in that case, no-one had taken to impersonating him yet.

"Not now, kid." Ayako said gruffly, barely glancing at him. "This is serious stuff, not petty theft."

Masquerade ignored the jibe. "There are hostages on that plane you're trying to shoot down." He said, coldly.

Suddenly, Ayako was listening. "Hostages? How many?"

"Two."

Ayako drew in breath, cursing. "The ones that went missing." It wasn't a question.

"Yes. Penelope Hightman and my- Amane Bakura. Innocents." Masquerade continued. "Stop the firing."

"Stop the 'firing'?" Ayako echoed. "Kid, that's the exact reason we're shooting to begin with!"

"There are hostages!"

"I know!" Ayako shouted, showing stress for the first time. "But what do you suggest I do? Let him burn the entire city down?!"

"No! But…"

"It's not easy." Ayako said, suddenly. "Sometimes, you have to choose who to save. And everyone knows better then you. But, at the end of the day, you have to believe you're doing the right thing, or this job will kill you. And when it's a choice between lives… You have to save as many as possible." Regardless of her words, in the next lull between shots, she shouted "Try to damage it just enough to force him to land! We can deal with this a lot better at ground level!"

"It's me that he wants." Masquerade stated, simply. "He won't land for you, no matter how much damage you do."

"We have to try!"

"Let me go up."

"Stay out of this, Masquerade. Let the professionals deal with it."

"I am a professional!" Masquerade said, snapping suddenly. "All the fires, the disappearances, and now this… it's all to get to me! I have to go up."

Ayako glared at him. "Fine. I don't have the men to spare restraining you, this time. You're welcome to go up there if you can, but I'm not going to stop the guns."

Masquerade stared up at the plane, still dropping the deadly fireballs as though the supply was unlimited. Fairly soon, it would have moved out of the range of the police. But that would be too late; and at the moment, with all the projectiles buzzing around it, it was completely inaccessible.

He had to get them to stop shooting. He had to, or Amane was done for.

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Up on the plane, Amane decided to take stock of the situation.

Penelope had been forced, at gunpoint, to go into the cockpit. The door was open, so if she tried anything funny, or so much as turned round, she would suddenly find she had a bullet as a nose piercing; despite the fact she did not know how to fly a plane. They'd have to hope the autopilot did its job.

Meanwhile, she was left alone in the compartment with the Pyromaniac and his gun, and he explained to her in delight the process. The paper contraptions were apparently based on the paper bombs used by the Japanese military in World War Two, but these ones did not explode. No, like mini hot air balloons, each had a small burner tied onto it, and would float until the paper itself caught fire. And then it would fall to the ground, lighting anything that would kindle beneath it. As he lit and tossed them out, he seemed in a state of permanent glee.

She herself was strung up, quite literally; her bound hands now tied around a hook in the wall that had probably once been designed to hold a stretcher of some sort. From there, she was standing right in the draft from the hatch, and had a wonderful view of what was going on in the world below.

This was exactly why she hated flying.

In addition, Ryou, the local superhero, was nowhere to be seen. Amane hated to think what could have happened to him over the last few days; and knew that if he had missed the deadline, something was seriously wrong. Ryou had never underachieved in his life.

And yet, he wasn't here.

Of course, Amane had no intention of just waiting around to be rescued. The only hurdle she had was thinking of how, exactly, she was going to waggle out of this one. Ryou had always said she had a 'Houdini complex' when it came to getting out of situations she didn't like. But, today, inspiration escaped her. Something about the awful fires below, and the colossal wind blowing up through the hatchway, and the Pyromaniac throwing balloon after awful balloon out clouded her thoughts. She had no idea what to do. Suddenly, Penelope shrieked. Amane tried to turn her head, but couldn't due to the position of the hooks. She cried out, but Penelope had already abandoned her post, and came darting into her line of sight.

"That was my house!" She shrieked. "You just dropped it on my house! My mom was in there, and my brother!"

"Causalities of war." He shrugged, levelling the gun at her. "Get back in there." He gestured towards the cockpit.

"No!" Penelope screamed. "I don't care anymore! Shoot me if you want to! This isn't right! I can't let you do this!"

"Penny, don't say that…" He wheedled. "I don't want to shoot you…"

"My mom. My brother." Penelope whispered. "I won't let you do this!" She suddenly launched herself at him, hurling her whole body towards him, landing a punch on his face before he grabbed her arm and twisted her around, and she dropped out of the hatch.

Amane stared at the spot where her friend used to be. The wind continued to whistle through the now empty hatch. The Pyromaniac began his methodical work again, as though nothing had happened; and the attack and throw had happened so quickly, Amane could almost pretend that her oldest friend had not just been thrown out of a plane.

Almost.

"You…" She hissed, but he did not turn around. "You… You're going to regret that. I'll make you regret that. You killed her! You killed her! I won't forgive you! You killed her! I won't forgive you!"

"Do keep it down." He said, tiredly.

Amane shook with rage, some long since dormant feeling stirring inside her.

"You killed her. I won't stand for that. You won't get away with it…"

She snarled.

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Joey winced slightly, as, for the umpteenth time, he knocked his arm. Heavily bandaged now, they still hurt despite all the medicines and salves they'd rubbed into the raw burns. But, it didn't matter. It was better then burning to death, or letting his sister get hurt. Speaking of whom, why was she running down the corridor past the ajar door to the ward?

In an instant, Joey was on his feet. He grabbed his grubby trousers and shirt in his clumsy hands, pulling it on as he ran along. He had to find out where on Earth she thought she was going in such a hurry. But first, he had to find a suitably private spot to change out of the ridiculous hospital pyjama bottoms and into some real trousers. Of course, by the time that was done, Serenity was some way ahead of him; and it was thanks to the Romans and their wonderfully straight roads that he was able to keep sight of her at all. She didn't really seem to know where she was going, but appeared to be running on instinct, running from something. Or towards something that she desperately wanted to reach but didn't know where it was. The clock on top of the museum boomed out that it was 3:00PM, loud enough for most of the city to hear, but it was all but ignored. Still, Serenity ran, on and on. Joey was impressed at her stamina. He couldn't even catch up with her…!

Sometime later, they had pounded right over to the other end of town. Joey looked up at the roof of one of the warehouses in disgust. It was peppered with holes, holes the rough size and shape of a yo-yo. (1) He shuddered involuntarily. This was not a place he cared to revisit. They had to get out of here. And yet, as he tore his gaze away from that hell-hole, he realised his sister had gone. He took a step forward, ready to find her and get her out of here, but then something distracted him. Looking up at the sky, he could just make out bright spots. Orange balls, looming larger and larger, like falling stars.

The only problem with that was the fact it was only 3:15 in the afternoon.

Before his eyes, one of the stars drew closer and became what appeared to be a burning paper lantern. It drifted a little, before settling on the roof of a warehouse a little further down the row. As he watched, the roof caught alight, going up like a leaking gas main. Cursing, Joey ran against his instinct and towards the burning building, somehow knowing that would be where Serenity was.

And, indeed, silhouetted in the flames and running past them, running further into the row of the buildings was his sister. But she wasn't alone. Running beside her was a masked man… although he looked to be little older then her.

There was only one person who wore a mask like that. Masquerade. Joey blinked. But what on Earth was he doing with Serenity…?

(1- See Yu-Gi-Oh manga vol. 6. But, in short, a gang Joey used to be a member of wanted him back, and threatened him with the new craze- Yo-yos. I know it sounds dumb, but hey. They were yo-yos of DOOM. Anyways, after Joey gets beat up and Yugi almost strangled, Yami ends up with them on the roof or their disused warehouse; which is so old that a Yo-yo easily breaks through it. I'm sure you can imagine the result…)

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"You don't have to be alone anymore."

Am I alone? I suppose… Now that Amane's gone again, I am. I guess that, for most of my life, I've been alone. I suppose that, by the time I was ready to make friends again, I was used to being a loner, and I didn't know how anymore.

How pathetic.

Of course, it wasn't always that way. Before I got the Ring. Before I got my powers. That was where it started falling apart. Because I always had to leave Amane behind. That was really the first time I really did anything independently. Or, at least, the first thing I did independently that Amane couldn't come and interfere with. My early childhood was a lot like that. Amane was my first friend, and we found the idea of being twins so cool that we wanted to be alike in every single aspect. Until we were six or seven, it worked to. After that… we started to build interests, interests that differed. But it was alright, because she had Penelope and I had Jay, and the four of us had a great group.

And then, Monster World. And that was the end of that.

That was, really, when I lost all my close friends. Even Amane was awkward around me- and who can blame her? I would give anything to have the same circumstances of those first thirteen years back, but, in some ways… I wouldn't. I'd love to see Jay again. I would love if it had never happened. But it's not all bad, at least not for me.

Because how ever hard I find it to make friends, there are those that found me, and would not take 'no' for an answer. I know Joey was the one who, at first, was the most adamant about it, probably because I was seated next to him that first day. Maybe he took a liking to me because I ignored the girls that were telling me not to be 'contaminated' by him. Whatever it was, the whole group of them have proved to be great people. So I can't let Serenity down now; not when she's going so far beyond what she needs to. I can't let Amane down either. If she's still alive.

3:15PM. I missed the deadline. I just hope I can reach them before anyone truly meets their deadline…

I have to.

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A/N: And there we have it. I don't really have much to say… Hopefully, the chapter speaks for itself. So, instead, I'll skip straight to the rhetorical questions!:

When the Trust catches up with Seto, can he really 'handle it'? Now that we know Serenity has superpowers to- Surprise!- will she be able to help Ryou? Will they be in time? What will happen if Joey finds out? And what other surprises are in store…? Very little actually happens, but it's more flashbacks and it's more Seto-centric-ness in A Superhero Story Chapter Thirteen- A Trust…

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see you then!