I really did try not to leave it hanging for too long. I wanted to make sure this was the best it could be before I posted it. Better late than never, I guess (good thing I don't write fanfiction for a living).

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh.

-O-o-O-o-

Mokuba twisted to the source of the voice. Such a strong, masculine voice; almost like Yami, but even more forceful.

Behind him stood a perfectly poised, copper-haired Adonis.

The boy had the kind of posture that made even Seto look like a slouching slob. He had his head cocked in a charmed confusion, much the way Seto had in Ishizu's office, except this guy didn't look like a deranged owl. His eyes, which matched Seto's, gazed down at the two brothers.

"You look like you're having trouble with your burden…Your very attractive burden," he said in a husky voice.

"Um, yeah, actually I am." Though tired, Mokuba wasn't too eager to hand his brother off to a guy who found him attractive while semiconscious.

"Do you mind if I help?"

"Could you tell me who you are first?" Mokuba asked, trying not to sound impolite, though he could have easily dismissed the guy.

The young man smacked himself on the forehead-a move that Mokuba thought was a rather clichéd way to make himself seem less threatening. "How rude of me. My name is Garrigan Stureno McSnowflake." His teeth sparkled like diamonds as he smiled. Mokuba thought maybe he should get those transparent teeth checked out; that might be a sign of tooth decay.

Seto, who had been about as responsive as a sack of potatoes until this moment, lifted his head. "Who are you talking to, Mokuba?" he asked with just the barest hint of his usual stern tone. He had to crane his neck to see the boy.

Garrigan Stureno bent over to look into Seto's face. "Hello," he said, his voice taking on the quality of an old school rhythm and blues singer.

Blue sparks flew from Garrigan Stureno's eyes into Seto's. Where there once was dazed annoyance, glassy-eyed enchantment reigned like the prince Garrigan Stureno was (how could such composure not belong to royalty?).

"What's with your eyes? Why are you staring like that?" Mokuba waved his hand in front of Seto's face. Seto continued to stare, a goofy smile creeping onto his face as Garrigan's hands slid around his torso.

"I think I'm in love," Seto breathed, though it didn't come out quite so well enunciated around the mouthful of saliva created by the sensation of Garrigan's toned arms around him.

Mokuba just stared, because what else could he do, really? "What is this. I don't even know."

"I know exactly what this is," Garrigan sighed. "It's what happens whenever I'm around some random guy. They go all flaccid and floppy when I speak directly to them, sometimes when I simply look at them." He shook his head. "It's most unbecoming."

Seto stood up to his full height, which was about five inches shorter than Garrigan's six feet, six inches. "You're making me anything but flaccid," he said, his voice completely back to normal.

Garrigan smiled coolly. "I think I like you. You're kind of feisty." He lowered his arms to Seto's waist. Mokuba pulled out a box of popcorn, ready for the inevitable smackdown.

Seto gave a little fluttery breath, his eyes rolling back a little. "Excuse me, I think I just had a minor technical difficulty."

Mokuba let his mouth drop open, the popcorn falling out. Why did he get his hopes up and think Seto's reaction was going to make sense?

Garrigan asked, "Do you guys live around here?"

Mokuba thumped himself to snap himself out of his irrationality-induced stupor. "Not close to here, but we live on this planet-I mean, in this area." He looked around and added, "Our car is over there. Why do you ask?"

"He's kind of fading." Garrigan nodded toward Seto, who leaned heavily on Garrigan. His head had flopped onto Garrigan's shoulder and his eyes had a faraway blank gaze. "Maybe we should get him home."

Mokuba was surprised to find that he agreed with this stranger. "Okay."

Once Seto was settled in the front seat, Mokuba in the back, and Garrigan at the wheel, they started home. Mokuba hoped Noah was awake by now; he couldn't continue his investigation all by himself and it looked like Seto was going to be out for a while.

"So are you new here? I don't remember seeing you around," Mokuba said.

"Domino is a big city, is it not?" Garrigan gracefully made a turning signal with his hand. It was much more elegant and regal than the almost drunken, vulgar manner in which Seto had done so earlier. Mokuba was about to wonder why he was analyzing the choreography of Garrigan's movements (let's face it; this guy must've been conceived, birthed, and raised at the barre—Mokuba alternated between trying to get the resulting mental images out of his head and marveling in their grandeur) until he realized the more important question: why were any of them using hand signals when they had a perfectly good turn signal on the car?

"So, are you new here or not?" Mokuba managed to tear his thoughts away from the image of Garrigan and Seto making arm signals at each other while wearing spandex long enough to repeat his question.

"You could say that," Garrigan answered a little less patiently than before. "I used to live here a long time ago, then I left. Now I'm back."

"Where did you go before you came back?"

"Somewhere else." Mokuba could see Garrigan's diamond teeth gritted in the rearview mirror. He decided he wasn't in the mood to push it, since the guy was kind enough to drive them home.

As they pulled into the driveway, Seto shifted in the front seat. "Hmm…what happened?"

Garrigan, who'd been avoiding Mokuba's tapping at his shoulder, was at the passenger side in half a second. "You fainted. Luckily, I was there to help you get home."

Mokuba snorted under his breath. "Yeah, and I totally didn't carry you out of the museum."

Garrigan ignored him, and surprisingly, so did Seto.

"You're still here," Seto panted. He started to swoon at Garrigan's icy cool demeanor until Garrigan scooped him up in his arms, bridal style. "You're stronger than my Blue Eyes."

Mokuba was getting good at questioning of his perception of reality lately. He really hoped Noah was up and halfway sentient because Seto seemed to have a severe case of the vapors.

"Where have you been?"

The all stopped in the foyer at the tinkling bell of Rosemary's voice. Mokuba expected Seto to at least growl at her, but he seemed too preoccupied with rubbing his nose in Garrigan's shoulder.

"We went to the museum," Mokuba answered.

Rosemary folded her porcelain arms. "You're not allowed to leave without adult supervision."

"Seto was with me."

"Not good enough. Both you and Seto are under our care, which means both of you have to get my permission to leave the house."

"Wait, what, do you mean, 'our care?'"

Rosemary's perfectly coiffed head bounced on her swanlike neck toward Garrigan. "He's my helper."

Seto raised his head to gaze shakily into Garrigan's eyes. "I get to be near you all day? Ohh…" Garrigan supported his head as Seto lost consciousness yet again.

"Garrigan, perhaps you might put him down for a while. He'll need to eat sometime."

"Sure. Where's his bedroom?"

"I'll show you the way," Mokuba offered. Garrigan merely grunted in response.

"Don't think you're getting away that easily. Come back downstairs and we'll have a chat about your transgression," Rosemary reminded.

"Yeah, sure, transgression." Mokuba led Garrigan upstairs.

In the upstairs hall, the group ran into Noah. Not only was Noah unaffected by Rosemary's presence downstairs, he actually eyed Garrigan suspiciously. "Who are you?" he asked Garrigan.

Garrigan ignored him and continued to whisper to Seto, whose dazed smile broadened, though he couldn't possibly be hearing anything Garrigan said.

"Hey! I'm talking to you!" Noah yelled down the hall.

"Don't bother. He only really talks to Seto and Rosemary," Mokuba said. "That's Garrigan, Rosemary's new helper."

"Huh. Well, his bedside manner leaves something to be desired."

"Please, don't say 'bedside manner.'" Mokuba put his hand over his face. "I went to see Ishizu and she said Rosemary's dangerous. Worse than the Shadow Realm, even. We don't know how much worse, yet. She's still looking some things up."

Noah looked at Mokuba sideways. "How do you know this isn't a false alarm?"

"Look at the sky."

Noah went back into his room and looked out the window at the lilac sky.

"Oh my god, the clouds are sparkling. It's going to be like acid rain, with less dignity." Noah turned back to Mokuba. "How long has it been this way?"

"Since at least this morning."

"Where was I?"

"Incapacitated."

No rim shot came from the rafters. "No, I'm not playing it and you can't make me!" a voice from above yelled. "It wasn't funny the first time, and it isn't funny now. It's just a bad, bad pun."

Noah and Mokuba ignored this voice. "What happened to that lock of hair you were playing with earlier?" Mokuba asked.

Noah shrugged. "I just woke up and it was on my face. I threw it away; it had drool all over it."

"You were kind of obsessed with it since last night."

Noah winced. "Really?"

"You acted like that whenever you saw Rosemary or anything belonging to her. Or even if she's in the area. How did you get over that?"

"I don't know. I kept trying to create a mental replica of her voice and something about it sounds kind of…off. I thought it was just my imperfect memory, but then I heard her talking when she entered. She really is a little off, so that must have cured it."

Mokuba had to resist the urge to do a happy dance. He wouldn't have to fight this all by himself after all.

"So what happened after you went to see Ishizu?"

"We ran into Garrigan and Seto started acting weird. He's falling all over Garrigan like a Pokemon breeder or something." Mokuba shuddered. "It's creepy, but I think Garrigan's into that."

"Maybe Garrigan's dangerous, too," Noah suggested.

"Why do you say that?"

"He's her helper and he's acting rather suspiciously. Also, anyone who reduces Seto to a puddle can't be your average innocent guy."

"Good point."

"Mokuba, I'm waiting," Rosemary called from downstairs.

"What does she want?" Noah asked. They noticed that Seto's room door was closed and had remained so during their entire conversation.

"She doesn't like that I went to the museum without supervision." Mokuba started down the stairs and paused. "Maybe you should pretend you're still in love with her."

"Do you think she'll care enough to suspect something if I don't?"

"Probably. Maybe she's working with Ms. Toilet to make Gozaburo hers, or whatever she wants to do to him."

Mokuba had almost forgotten about Ms. Toilet, with the impending violet doom. Once they cleared up this whole business with Rosemary and Garrigan, they'd deal with her.

Rosemary sat on the couch, legs perfectly crossed like a lady. Her skin shone under the light, but it wasn't a "slathered in body butter" shine, it was more like a kissed by light kind of deal. The glitter brushed over her cheeks (which somehow did not make her look like a stripper, but gave the impression of a mature princess) helped this effect.

Noah cocked his head. Not that he didn't want his faculties back, but he was kind of amazed that what melted him the day before had absolutely no effect on him now. He didn't know why he'd even been attracted to her in the first place, really. Come to think of it, she smelled kind of weird. No, not weird…He'd smelled that scent before. It wasn't the same scent on that lock of hair, either, but he couldn't place where he'd smelled it.

"Noah, I'd like to talk to Mokuba in private, if you don't mind." Not even her voice was as melodic as before.

"But…I want to stay here and bask in your glory." Noah was starting to regret passing up drama classes.

Rosemary just smiled. "Noah, do you know how babies are made?"

Noah mustered up his meager acting skills. "Yes. But babies don't have to be the result," he drawled in the most lecherous voice he could manage.

Rosemary smiled even more brightly—any brighter, and she'd short circuit. "Of course. But how do you think you got here?"

"Obviously, when my father and a woman loved each other very much, they…" Noah trailed off. His eyes glazed over and his mouth fell open. "Oh, the horror…"

"Think about it." Rosemary turned back to Mokuba. "Next time you go out, tell someone first, okay?"

Mokuba blinked. "That's it?"

"Well, anything more would be superfluous." Rosemary's voice carried a hint of impatience, but it wasn't as offensive as Garrigan's tone. She seemed more preoccupied than annoyed.

Mokuba didn't know whether to be relieved or even more suspicious. "Okay, then."

"Good." Rosemary smiled again. She headed for the stairs. "I'm going to check on Seto."

Mokuba waited until he was sure she was out of earshot. He dragged Noah, who was still reeling from the revelation, into the den to discuss a new plan.

Upstairs, Rosemary and Garrigan hovered over the unconscious Seto, holding a wand, a syringe of glittery fluid, and a cooler labeled "magical uterus and other necessary parts."

"Let's do this." Rosemary rolled up her sleeves.

-O-o-O-o-

Oh, dear. It's getting all science-fictional and crazy-fantastical. And kind of squicky.