*whew!* Hope we're not updating too fast for you guys, but we're on a roll.  ;-)  Kabuki will get back on Harping on History soon enough, it's just that this story is very addictive.  You understand.  Not as much of a warning on this part, other than the normal frights and chills.  We're bonin' up on our horror movies and havin' a grand time of it.  Now for the thank-you's:

Malik Fan – Yeah, we try to keep one to two chapters ahead of the game, just to give us a bit of breathing space.  You always seem to be the first one to review – thank you so much for sticking with us!  Punctuality is always appreciated.  :-P  Thank you for the review!

ooo – Well, this might not be the normal Mokuba fic you'd expect, but he is pretty pivotal in this story.  Check out Stanley Kubrick's The Shining and imagine Mokuba as Danny Torrance… yeah, it's gonna get weird.  Thanks for checking this story out, I hope we keep you entertained.  Gosh, I guess it is hard to find Mokuba-centric fic.  We've never thought of that before…

SetoKaiba419 – We likes the comments, yes my precious, we does.  Yeah, from what sakuya tells us, it is much more intense in the dark.  I'm afraid Mokuba and Joey aren't ever going to know for sure what they saw, but of course would they really want to know?  And besides, there's going to be plenty of other things to keep them distracted.  We'll get to see Seto the Plough in this part, it's actually pretty funny to think about, but then we find lots of stuff in this story to be pretty funny – we have a sick sense of humor.  I would suggest watching Stanley Kubrick's The Shining or the ABC miniseries which is available on DVD of Stephen King's The Shining.  Kabuki's recently had to do a major analysis on the different versions of the book/movie/miniseries, which consequently inspired this fic after watching hours of the same ghosty footage and realizing that Danny kind of looks like Mokuba with a bowl cut *lol*.  The dog jokes come from a lovely episode where Duke challenges Yugi to a duel of Dungeon Dice Monsters, and Yugi has to save Joey from the perils of a dog suit.  It's hilarious if you haven't seen it!  Although Character Death is not in our outline at the moment, we won't spoil the suspense by promising anything.  As we've said, we're kind of making this up as we go along.  Thanks again for the wonderfully detailed review, SetoKaiba419, we always look forward to them!

sakuya – Sorry about the scare, but at the same time, we're glad we gave you a fright.  That is, in fact, the entire goal of writing horror stories.  *grin*  Now that mention it, meat locker is a funny word.  We tried to think of another one, but not even a thesaurus knows what to do with a problem like that.  Anyway, the word is so underused, we thought we'd give it a workout.  Glad you enjoyed it – thanks once again for the review!

And now on with the show – please don't forget to leave a review, though.  "No reviews and no comments make writers dull girls."

Part 5:

The world was little more than a hazy blur, and as he stared up at shadowy the wooden stairs that loomed over him in the darkness, he wondered where he was. He shook his head, wincing at the sudden dizziness which accompanied the motion, and climbed to his knees, holding his head in his hands. Everything was coming back to him slowly, and with a groan Kaiba remembered the significance of the stairway and why he was lying on a grime-coated stone floor. His eyes grew wide, and with a gasp he snatched the flashlight from its resting place and stabbed it upward, casting the beam toward the stairs. There was the hole through which he'd fallen, and the rotten stair he'd grabbed at the last moment in a desperate attempt to avoid the plunge, but he saw no trace of the thing he'd barely escaped from.

Seto wiped one hand over his mouth, squinting upwards into the dark in the hopes of seeing a bit of metal, a spring or mirror – anything to prove that what he'd seen had been some sort of a mechanical device planted by Pegasus as some sick practical joke. He waved the light back and forth, seeking any glint of metal among the rotting wooden stairs and supports. When he found nothing, he shook his head, one hand clutching his throbbing skull in pain. "Not happening. This is not happening." He tried to breathe slowly, letting his heart rate return to normal as he mulled the situation over in his highly analytical brain. "A trick. Pegasus is too clever to leave evidence lying around. I just can't see any machines, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're not there. He's got a hidden camera around here and he's watching me now, probably laughing at my fear. Get in control here, Kaiba! Don't let that freak get the upper hand."

He felt the moist blood that was now clumped in his hair and winced as he felt about the gash.  He stared at his fingers, shining the light on his bloodied hand, the striking red almost painful to look at after being surrounded by so many black shadows.  "How long have I been out?" he looked at his watch, noting that it was half past ten, but he had no idea what time he had come downstairs in the first place.  "Was it a few minutes?  Perhaps a half an hour?  Maybe days?"  He began to panic, his hands shaking slightly in anxiety, but he shook his head to clear his thoughts.  "Okay, let's look at this from a more realistic point of view.  The wound is not deep, therefore I shouldn't have been out for long.  Besides, the blood is still moist, so the wound must have been made at least within the last fifteen minutes or so."  He began to feel calmer, speaking out loud made the room feel less imposing as he cast his flashlight around, exploring his surroundings.

"But that still doesn't explain why I'm still alive.  That fall should have at least broken a few bones…" he searched around, and found he was standing beside a large pile of papers and manuscripts that appeared that have been tossed down the center of the spiral staircase.  He found a marble statue of a nude man, which at one time must have graced the main foyer, kneeling with arms outstretched towards some unseen benefactor as though in submission.  Kaiba moved closer, looking at the statue morbidly curious when he suddenly realized that the statue had been carved in such a way that the eyes had been carved out.  Despite this, the marble man was smiling.  Kaiba shuddered involuntarily and backed away from the strangely gruesome sight, bumping into a precariously stacked pile of molding cardboard boxes, knocking one of them so that the rest spewed across the floor into the darkness as the top box fell forward, spilling papers over his head.  He cried aloud, finally giving voice to the fears he had tried so long to repress, as he turned, prepared to do battle with the innocent boxes.  Dust was clumped in his hair, and he wiped his eyes furiously, smearing drying blood over his eyes and nose in his haste.  "Damn, Pegasus!  You are a slob!"

Kaiba sighed in frustration and sent a pointed glare at the smiling marble man that would have made Yugi tremble in its wake.  Deciding to never mention this incident to any of his fellow duelists, Kaiba decided to start his search for the generator.  He found, unfortunately, that this supposed electrical room had doubled as a storage facility for quite a long time.  "With all this shit around here, the only problem with the generator might be that it's covered in dust or buried under worthless crap."  With his mind made up, he began to plough through the debris, using his beaten body as a shield from the numerous piles which were now hardly more than mold and dust.  Many of the papers had long since become glued together, the words faded with age, and the pages yellowed if not crumbling. 

He reached one wall, but still the generator eluded him. With a curse, he turned and began to travel the perimeter against the stone wall, knowing that the generator wouldn't be sitting in the middle of the room. Cobwebs as thick as yarn greeted him at every turn, and he beat them away with his flashlight until the device began to resemble a stick of cotton candy. At one point, tired and out of breath, he unleashed his rage upon a hapless portion of the stone wall, kicking and beating it in his rage. He was disturbed from his ill tempered display, however, by a familiar scraping sound. Something was moving about the staircase. The Dragon Master paused, his eyes wide and terrified as he listened, hearing the sound continue and pause in a manner peculiarly sporadic. He pressed himself against the wall, his breathing little more than shallow bursts as he waited, trying to gauge his opponent.

It was too obvious that whatever was on the stairs was intending to frighten him, and the knowledge only made Kaiba angrier. He tightened his grip on the flashlight, intending to use it to club his opponent to death, when he began to notice a pattern to the movements. The sound would persist and pause in a manner seemingly random, but Kaiba began to fancy that a mechanical precision was being employed. With a snort at his own derisiveness, he ignored the scraping sounds and continued his search for the generator. "You don't scare me, Pegasus. Call off your cheap funhouse tricks and let me find the source of the damn power outage, you freak." The sound paused and did not resume. Kaiba smiled smugly, "I thought so. Industrial Illusionist my ass -- you're just a pathetic man with nothing better to do than to try to scare people in a basement. If I find out you intended those stairs to cave in, I'll wipe that smug smile off your face – I'll sue you for every penny of your stupid company!" His smile widened when he noticed a faded green cloth, coated in dust and against the nearest wall. He shook his head and trudged through the papers towards his goal. "Finally!" He threw back the burlap to reveal an old generator that was in decent condition, and beyond, shrouded in cobwebs and darkness, loomed the elevator. He smirked. "That explains the noise. Wanted a little more fun at my expense before I got out of here, didn't you Pegasus. Well, the joke's on you. I'm not afraid of your mechanical monsters."

He knelt beside the device, already examining the mechanics with expert hands. It was a simple enough job, something anyone could fix once they survived the staircase and the darkness. All he needed was a screwdriver and a –

Pegasus's voice returned to him suddenly, and he clenched his fists as the remembered the key words 'garage' and 'tools'. He slammed his fist against the generator with a dull thump. "Damn it, the tools!" Pegasus had said the garage was inaccessible through the hotel, only from the outside. He should have gotten them before even checking the door. He groaned, slumping against the generator in the dusty darkness. "What a stupid mistake!" Kaiba imagined the laughter his predicament must inspire in his enemy and shook his head, scowling in anger. "Well, I'm not beaten so easily. I don't need tools to fix this damned generator. That elevator's my ticket out of this hole, and I'll get this heap of junk running if it kills me."

On the stairs the scratching returned for an instant then was still, but Kaiba didn't notice. He thrust his fingers into the guts of the machine, prying the panel back with the lip of his flashlight and his stubby fingernails. The wires were all color coded. He could have the thing hotwired in a manner of moments, Pegasus be damned.

***

Yugi curled up in the couch with a warm plate of spaghetti and a glass of Cherry Coke. Tristan had found the liter bottle in a pantry space, and the gang had all agreed that even warm cola was better than trusting the water in this place. The spiky-haired duelist twirled his heavy silver fork lazily, wrapping the spaghetti up in a large ball which he brought to his mouth. When he proceeded to eat, it was in the manner of an ice cream cone. From his place on the floor Mokuba giggled and began wrapping his spaghetti as well, mimicking Yugi playfully. Tea looked from one to the other and sighed. "Can you guys please try to remember table manners?"

Duke and Tristan looked up from their voracious eating. Their faces were equally speckled in tomato sauce as they questioned in unison, "What?"

Tea blanched and turned away from them in disgust. "Nevermind!"

Duke shrugged and continued his munching as Tristan continued. "There's not even a table, Tea. How can we have table manners?"

"Ugh, you guys are slobs! Joey, you're the only one who knows how to behave in public."

Joey shook his head but didn't tear his eyes away from the crackling fire as he gazed into the hearth. "That's cause I'm not eatin' anything, Tea." He couldn't stop thinking about what he'd seen in the meat locker, and watching his friends gulp down spaghetti wasn't exactly the best image for his scarred mind. He couldn't help but envision blood and maggots every time he saw the food. At the thought, his stomach lurched in warning, and Joey took another sip of his cola warily. "Jeez, I'm tired. This haunted house stuff wears a guy out."

At the mention of haunted, Mokuba paused in his eating and stared at the kitchen doors which seemed a toothy mouth grinning dangerously in the darkness. He put his plate down and pushed it away, his appetite gone. "Yeah, I hate it."

"Aw c'mon!" Duke slurped up a particularly long noodle and wiped his mouth with a paper napkin. "It's not that bad. Maybe you guys only thought you saw something in there. I mean, I don't get any bad vibes from this place and if Pegasus said we'd be safe, I believe him."

Joey shook his head. "If he told ya ta jump offa cliff, would ya do it?"

"That's not what I mean. But tell me this, did you try the close your eyes and count to three thing that he mentioned? He said it'd work."

"Well it didn't." Joey took another slurp of cola and squeezed his eyes shut against the heat of the fire. He was terrified, but he didn't want to let on in front of Devlin of all people.

Tea nodded, noticing the reaction of Joey and Mokuba to the topic. Even Yugi had gone pale, placing his food aside. "Let's just drop it, ok guys?"

"No, I think we should talk about it. You haven't even told us what you saw in there, Joey, and I for one want to know." Duke finished his pasta and placed the bowl on a coffee table, eying the others authoritatively. If there was indeed something bothering everyone, he felt he deserved to know all the details. Besides, Pegasus had specifically placed him in charge of the group. What sort of a leader would he be if he didn't check into the well-being of his fellow students? "I think if we discuss the situation we can come to some sort of conclusion about it." He smiled and threw a strand of long dark hair from his eyes. "I for one don't believe in ghosts."

Mokuba shook his head, his eyes wide and afraid as he continued to stare at the kitchen doors. "Maybe you should."

"Hmm?" Duke turned his attention to the younger Kaiba, taking in the child's distraught condition with controlled sympathy. Children imagined all sorts of things. Mokuba was probably just getting caught up in the fantasy of a haunted house. It was indeed a rather intriguing idea, but Duke rebelled against his urge to believe in such nonsense. Superstition was for suckers. "You ok, Mokuba?"

Mokuba was about to respond, but his words turned into a small shriek when a loud whirring sound manifested all around them. Joey leapt to his feet, his fists balled as though ready for a fight and Yugi clutched his Millennium Puzzle. "What was that?"

Tristan and Tea stood as well, glancing all around with frightened eyes. Tristan shook his head, "I don't know, but it doesn't sound friendly!"

Duke was the only calm person in the group, and he stood slowly, turning to the head of the staircase with an expectant expression. "Relax, you dummies, it's only the elevator. I guess Kaiba got the thing working."

Indeed, the elevator was lit, and the shadow of a platform moving into position became visible moments before the doors slid open and Seto himself emerged. The entire group gasped, and Mokuba, who had been in the midst of running to his big brother, skid to a halt in shock. "Seto, what happened to you!"

The eldest Kaiba was an absolute mess. His face was riddled with tiny cuts and smeared blood. Dust was in his hair and all over his coat. The smell of old rot and mildew accompanied him as he stepped into the room, his eyes hard with some unknown fury. "Pegasus happened to me, but I'm alright Mokuba. It was nothing I couldn't handle."

Yugi stepped forward. "Are you ok, Kaiba?"

Mokuba walked toward his brother, meeting him halfway in a hug. "Ugh, you smell bad, Seto!"

"I know." Kaiba ruffled his brother's hair before descending the staircase. In the dark, he seemed a resurrected corpse. His skin was pale against the dark blood, and his white duster was dingy and torn. He seemed the victim of some horrible construction accident. "Did you save any food for me?"

The question roused Tea from her shock and, with a curt nod, she ran to fetch the additional pasta as Kaiba strode across the foyer and collapsed into a leather armchair, sending up a cloud of dust. Mokuba handed Seto a glass of Cherry coke, and when Tea emerged with the food the teenager began to devour the meal with more voracity than either Duke or Tristan had shown earlier. Tea thought of scolding him, but all she had to do was look the state of his clothes to realize that her comments might not be appropriate. After a few moments, Yugi settled in across from Kaiba and cocked his head. "Can you tell us what happened?"

Seto paused a moment and shrugged. The image of the scratching thing of the stairs had already faded, but those burning eyes and the sheer humiliating terror he'd felt was fresh as a new wound. He shook his head and took another bite of his pasta. "Once I finish eating, Yugi."

Silence again, and from his place at his brother's side Mokuba began to worry. He'd never seen his brother look so awful, even when the bullies had attacked them as kids, Seto had always kept that self-confident gleam in his eyes. Now, though, the gleam was duller. Something horrible had happened, but Mokuba couldn't know until Seto told him. He put a hand on his brother's arm and nodded. "You tell us when you're ready, Seto." The older boy nodded, and surprisingly abandoned his food to wrap Mokuba's hand in his own, squeezing reassuringly. Though the others might have been surprised by the display of affection from the reserved Kaiba, Mokuba felt a knot of fear well up for another reason -- his cool and collected brother's hand was trembling. The younger boy's eyed widened, and an image flashed into his mind, of a smiling thing on a rickety staircase, and he felt his stomach churn as he felt he was falling.

The boy shook his head, and the penetrating blue gaze of Seto stared back at him. He was on his knees, his hands on Mokuba's shoulders desperately. "Mokuba!"

"Huh? What?" Mokuba shook his head, the dizzy falling feeling making his legs shake. "I – I'm ok, Seto." He reached out one small hand and touched a large tear in the white trench coat. "I'm sorry you fell down the stairs."

Seto sighed. "I couldn't help it. They were old." Then his eyes widened, and he moved in close to his little brother. "What did you say?"

"Uh, I'm sorry that you —"

"How did you know that I fell down the stairs, Mokuba?" The boy shook his head again, wincing as the grip on his shoulders tightened, then fell away. "How could you have known?" Seto turned to the rest of the group, his voice a low and menacing snarl. "Who knew those stairs were too weak to hold me? Did you know, Devlin?"

Duke took a step back as Kaiba advanced, his hands up in a placating gesture. "Whoa, hold on! I don't know anything about stairs."

"Oh really. And I'm sure Pegasus didn't mention the mechanical ghost down there, either?" Seto moved forward, snatching Duke by the jacket and hauling him close. "You helped him, didn't you! You helped him and thought it'd be funny to throw me through a staircase!"

Duke struggled, but Seto was far stronger than the dark-haired duelist. "Get him off me! He's gone nuts!"

Tristan came up behind the owner of KaibaCorp and laid a powerful hand on his shoulder. "Let him go, Kaiba. He hasn't said or done anything wrong the entire time he's been here."

"Yeah, you're the one who's goin' around attackin' people!" Joey stood at Tristan's side with his fists at the ready. He didn't particularly like Devlin, but he couldn't just sit back and let Kaiba rough up the poor guy without good reason.

Kaiba stared at the blond, his body shaking with his anger and his mind still whirling from the surreal incident downstairs.  He hated the fact that his young brother had somehow learned about his fall, his failure. Did the boy know anything else that had happened?  He had immediately suspected Duke, the dice-duelist had shown unabashed respect and admiration for the devious Pegasus, and Kaiba's nerves were teetering far too closely on the edge to have any patience for his lies.  For a moment Kaiba imagined himself standing giddy above the bruised and bloodied body of the emerald-eyed Devlin, his limbs twisted into odd angles, and a pool of blood spilling onto the expensive tapestry that covered the pristinely waxed wooden floor.  For a moment, Seto allowed the power and fierce pleasure to wash over him, and Duke's eyes grew wide as the Dragon Master's face darkened, his eyes becoming mere slits and his pupils widened until he appeared a wild beast.

"I said get him off of me!" Duke's screams had reached a pitch that no one had ever heard him use before, and Tristan tightened his grip on Seto's shoulder, balling his other fist with the stern decision to punch the man back into his senses if he didn't cooperate immediately.  Kaiba allowed the more logical part of his mind to pull him away from the edge, and his face grew deathly pale as he placed Duke back onto his feet, he knew he couldn't take on both Joey and Tristan at the same time.  Still reeling from the frightening encounter, Duke backed away toward the fireplace, keeping a close eye on Kaiba and a hand close to the poker next to the hearth in case he needed it.

Joey relaxed immediately and clapped Tristan hard on the back, making the other boy jump.  "Thanks, man.  This is only the first day of detention, and already these guys are gettin' into fights.  Somebody's gotta keep peace around here since the Dice-Man left in charge can't handle it," Joey smiled triumphantly at Duke, who merely glanced at him, his attention still focused on Kaiba.  Joey shook his head.  Although the blond didn't want to mention it, he knew something big had happened downstairs. They all knew Kaiba was acting far too strangely, even for him.  Seto obviously not only needed to talk about it, but also needed someone to look at all the cuts and bruises he had on his body.  His right arm looked a mess, and now that Joey was standing behind the tall boy billionaire, he could see a large gash had been made on the back of his head.  It was no wonder he was acting so wacked.

"Come on, Seto," although Yugi's voice seemed hesitant, he appeared to know exactly what he was doing.  "There's got to be a first aid kit around here or something.  We need to get you some bandages and probably a change of clothes."  Yugi stepped forward, carefully judging Seto's movements in case he had spoken too much.  It was a very precarious situation at the moment, especially since Mokuba was still kneeling on the floor, seemingly dizzy.  Tea pulled the boy to his feet and aided him in sitting down on the couch.  Kaiba was very sensitive about his pride, and Yugi needed to choose the exact words to keep from insulting him. Everyone in the room was tensed and ready in case Kaiba completely snapped. They'd all seen how he dueled, and they knew that if pushed too hard Kaiba was a wild card.

Kaiba looked down at his clothes, deep in thought.  He nodded listlessly and sat down on the couch again next to his younger brother, wrapping a protective arm around him.  Tristan grabbed Duke's arm and two flashlights, heading toward the stairway.  "We'll go find that first aid kit!" Tristan called as he attempted to keep Duke at a distance from the combustible Kaiba.

"Wait!" Kaiba called, "Don't use those stairs.  Keep to the elevator.  I don't know how well built those things are, and I don't trust Pegasus for an instant."

"Yeah, and stay together too, guys!" Tea pleaded, suddenly very worried for two of her friends leaving the group.  "We don't want you two to get lost or anything."

"Alright, alright.  If you're sure this elevator's safe, we'll take it, right Duke?" Tristan looked to the green-eyed duelist with hopeful eyes, but Duke was still glaring at Kaiba.  For a minute, Tristan wondered if the dice-loving duelist had even heard him, but was relieved when his friend nodded.  "Great.  We'll be back in ten – twenty minutes tops.  Oh, and if we're longer than that, send a search team out for us!" He smiled before closing the elevator doors and heading up the elevator shaft.

Seto stared at his brother with worry.  "Are you alright, Mokuba?" his voice bespoke of his fear, and although the bushy-headed kid smiled up at him, his worry was not forgotten.

"I'm okay, big brother, now that you're back," he leaned over and hugged Seto tight.  Kaiba had to smile at his brother's actions, Mokuba had always been terribly honest; perhaps that was the reason the poor boy was always being kidnapped.  Seto reluctantly had to push his brother away when he saw Tea smiling at them -- it could be embarrassing at times to have a younger brother that respected you so much. 

Yugi and Tea sat down on a couch opposite them as Joey tossed a few more logs on the diminishing fire and turned on a few lamps in the room to ward off the darkness. "You know, I'd forgotten that the electricity was on.  We shoulda reminded Duke and Tristan about it so that they could've found the first aid faster."  Joey commented as he lit the final lamp and sat down in one of the big leather chairs near the group.

"So what happened while I was gone?" Seto smiled weakly at the three as the fire blazed in the fireplace.  Somehow the room seemed much more inviting with the numerous lamps lit, even if they were covered in dust and cobwebs. He was getting used to the creepiness of the place.  After the basement, anything seemed inviting. Between the warmth from the fire and the fatigue that fell on him from his problems downstairs, Seto finally began to relax.  Mokuba was curled up on the couch in the nook of his arm, clutching his dirty trench coat tightly, as though he were afraid of losing him.  Even though Kaiba's right arm was still throbbing with the pain of the piece of wood that had stabbed him during his fall, he wasn't about to let go of his brother.  He needed the boy's strength as much as Mokuba needed his.

"Well, it's kind of a long story…" Tea grinned, glancing to Yugi and Joey for help.

"Do not open the meat locker in the kitchen, Kaiba." Joey's eyes were hard and determined.

"Well why not?  Has the meat gone bad?" Seto smirked.

"You could say that…" Yugi whispered in a half-hearted attempt at humor as he focused his attention on the blazing fire to keep his fear from returning. 

Kaiba couldn't help but notice his brother's grip tighten as he heard Yugi's words.  He glanced down at Mokuba, wincing as his brother's eyes squeezed shut in fear. "Maybe we should talk about this later…"

"Well what happened downstairs?" Tea pushed, placing her hands neatly in her lap as her jaw became firm.  Kaiba's mind whirled back into the black abyss, the scratching noise, and the smiling wraith.  He looked away from the girl in frustration at himself for being unable to voice what he saw, but in that instant Mokuba jerked as though an electric shock had gone through him.  His head snapped up, and he stared into his older brother's eyes with such a strange expression that Kaiba had to look away.

"Oh… Seto!  That's terrible!  I'm so sorry!" the boy gripped Kaiba painfully around the waist and Seto winced slightly. 

"Sorry about what? Ah, please don't squeeze so hard."

Mokuba loosened his grip, but still clung tightly to his waist. "Oh big brother, I'm sorry. Pegasus shouldn't have let you go down there. He told me that the dark was dangerous and . . ."

"When did he tell you that?"

"Well…" Mokuba faltered. "He told me in my head."

Seto stared at him in complete confusion. He remembered how Pegasus had pushed him away with a thought, and he wondered what sort of power the man possessed to be capable of reading minds and moving objects even without that fancy gold eye thing.

Yugi cocked his head. "You mean like with the Millennium Eye? Oh… he doesn't have it anymore. Well, I guess that's odd."

Seto ignored him. How could his brother have possibly known what he had seen?  Mokuba was completely distraught, clutching his arm and seemingly on the verge of tears. Seto, being naturally curious, thought purposefully about the thing in the basement and was rewarded with a soft sob from his brother. It was a disturbing realization that Mokuba was reading his thoughts, and he almost pushed the boy away. How could he possibly help his brother if his own unchangeable memories, thoughts, and feelings were the cause of Mokuba's pain?  He sighed in frustration.  He had never in his entire life been in a situation where he could not help his brother, and of course he'd never been the cause of it either.  He felt terribly hopeless then, and more of a failure than he had before.

Yugi noticed Kaiba's face darken, saw Mokuba's reaction, and knew then that whatever had happened to Kaiba must have truly been terrible, perhaps just as bad as what had happened in the kitchen.  Joey stood then, looking extremely anxious as he stepped over to the fire.  "What is it Joey?" Yugi watched him carefully.

"I don't think we need to talk about this stuff anymore, that's all."  There had been few times that Yugi had seen his best friend this frightened.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that this is just too crazy for one night, okay?  I mean, I could barely handle that shit in the kitchen, but now Kaiba's got some wacko story too?  No, sorry Yug, this is just too much for me.  I for one think we should all just go upstairs and sleep on it."

Tea nodded, "You know, I think a good night's sleep will do us all some good."

Mokuba stared up at his big brother, "You're not going to leave me alone tonight are you, big brother?"  Kaiba smiled reassuringly.

"No, I'll come with you, as soon as I clean up a bit.  I feel terrible.  But don't worry, Mokuba, I won't make you sleep alone tonight. Not in a hotel that belongs to Pegasus."

Yugi sighed in frustration.  He was growing more and more certain that Pegasus hadn't had a hand in the gruesome sights they had seen this evening, and he was getting tired of hearing the man get blamed for everything that happened.  Surely Pegasus had appeared terribly weak earlier this evening, something that he would never show if he were running the show.  He had seemed just as ready as they were to get out of here, so why had he bought the creepy hotel in the first place?  The pieces of this puzzle just didn't fit together, no matter how much Yugi tossed them about in his mind.

"Well, as soon as Tristan and Duke get back we'll fix you up, Kaiba, don't worry." Tea smiled at them, but her eyes kept darting back to the elevator as though she was afraid the two wouldn't be returning.  Joey had to agree with her, he didn't particularly like Tristan being alone with Duke, simply because he didn't want his best friend to be tainted by somebody that liked Pegasus.  More importantly, however, he didn't want the house to get to them.  The pair had yet to actually see anything frightening like Yugi, Mokuba, Joey, and Kaiba had seen. Of course Tea was also spared, but she was at least with the group for now. Joey didn't want to think about what other horrors the hotel had in store for them all.