Angela stared down at the scene, her dull, blank eyes taking in the gore in front of her.

From what she could see, there were tiny little things running around, inside that hospital lobby. Little things she neither knew nor cared for, though they all seemed incredibly familiar to her. They all kept crawling around on their deformed hands, their pale blue eyes reflecting back everything they saw. Large fangs protruded on either side of their mouths, and when she squinted, she could see their bleeding veins sticking out from their heads. Their skin was wrinkled, and their nails covered in black and red, giving a sort of tainted innocence she couldn't help but find enchanting. And when she saw them wandering around, their gazes aimlessly staring out at the darkness enveloping them, she was reminded of fragile children, who had lost their way in the woods. She saw that, and she walked closer.

Just beneath those children, were people. Grotesque people, covered in every shade of scarlet possible. That scarlet fiery, or anything like that; no, it was blacker, more elegant, embraced by the macabre surrounding it. Faces were wide with agony, their own, quiet lachrymose vanishing before her eyes. People's mouths were all open; some of the children pulled out their teeth, while others had their eyes removed, and she was left to stare at only black, gaping holes. A majority of the people still had their lab coats on, though their once pristine reputations were now sullied in a field of bodies. She could practically hear them screaming in pain, pleading that someone save them, anyone at all, no matter how much they've fallen. Who knows what would've happened, had someone actually answered them? They might even be coated with velvet, sharply contrasting to the pale flesh hidden beneath, like beautiful red roses, drifting across soft snow.

Beautiful, red roses, huh?

She placed her fingertips gently against the glass. She rose her hand steadily, before grabbing that golden handle. She paused for a single moment, before she shoved against the glass. Locked.

She turned her attention back towards those precious moments. She didn't know how long she stared at them, or how long she stood there. Perhaps the only way she could've possibly told time was through her own shadow; the moon was out after all.

And with that reassurance recalled, she began gazing at them, that very same nostalgia settling at the pit of her stomach. She stared and stared and stared, not once bothering to comprehend the massacre that lay behind the door. Just a few minutes later, one of the creatures turned back, and returned her gaze.

It was beautiful. For one thing, it was tiny, vulnerable, like some trembling toddler crying out for someone. It sat in a tiny, feeble ball, its hands on its knees, as it regarded her with curious eyes, the tiniest bits of life illuminating its pupils. It started opening its mouth, but stopped midway. She leaned closer, before cocking her head; it was gagging on something. Its head dropped down, and a second later, Angela saw something fall from its jaws.

A black, beating heart.

How cute.

Slowly, she crouched down, an amiable smile on her face. Yes, she's seen those children before. She knew who they were, knew their names, knew everything about them. Some were big, others small, some fat, others thin. Most were emaciated, starved for days on end just to see if their immune systems would react the same way as a normal person's, while others were so obese she often wondered when their stomachs would explode. She remembered those children, and she laughed, whether they cried, or smiled, or remained silent, if only to take in the madwoman's thoughts. It wasn't long before they followed suite, copying her every likeness, doing whatever they could just to please her. Though she never told anyone, she loved playing with them, even if it was on a simple whim.

That's right…

She loved playing with them, didn't she?

The portraits in her dream came rushing back to her, their own familiarity grazing her heart so easily. No, the woman didn't make them; she was always so kind, compassionate, caring. It wasn't like her to just torture someone, at least, just for the fun of it. Nor did the person in that broken painting; he never liked getting his hands dirty, and she always had to force him to dismember someone.

So that left the boy in the middle.

He had a talent for things like this. That's right; he was interested in studying someone, all the while wanting to create something no one else would even dare create. He was always in his laboratory, playing with solutions and needles, injecting those drooling children with drugs upon drugs, experimented with them to his heart's content. He determined the dosages, led the research projects, and in the end, aside from the ruined man, became her most valuable asset. They weren't really close, and whenever they did talk, it always ended in that same, awkward silence, at least until one of them decided to leave. Sometimes she'd laugh behind his back, since she knew how long he stayed cooped up in whatever experiments he'd been conducting. That's probably why he was so socially awkward.

And then he was taken away, just like that.

She lifted her finger, and tapped the glass. Perhaps the reason why she was so fond of these children, was because they were, in fact, his demons. Since he was always shoving her away, she decided to spend some time with them instead. She wasn't friendly with them, and she always regarded them in that same, condescending manner she did with her own subordinates. And even then, those idiots were still jealous of them.

Before she knew it, she found those children sitting there, in front of that glass door, staring at her obediently. They were all shaking, the poor little things, quivering with excitement at the very thought of leaving the hospital and everything here. They were happy, so very happy.

And just like that, something clicked.

She smiled, as she grabbed the handle once again, the ghoulish moonlight behind her. "Good," she murmured softly. "Now, open the door."

Their footsteps echoed throughout the empty air, the deep, dark ebony making way for crisp air kept getting icier, and the frostbite enveloped subtly around them. The bodies on the ground have long since faded, remnants of limbs and blood still sporadically dotting the ground. Whispers menacingly drifted toward them, haunting melodies that threatened them with each second past, a dirge or two asking that they joined them. And yet, they simply kept walking, their eyes never once taking in their surroundings.

Yusei's gaze fixed at the back of that strange woman's head. His hand was still in hers, her own warmth carefully pouring into his without the slightest reluctance. His shoulders have long since relaxed, the tension from before easily slipping from his mind. He wasn't smiling, though all the same, he was content. At the very least, it beat standing around there, looking out at the bodies.

But for some reason, as they kept walking, he told himself not to look down. He forced himself to concentrate on her, only her, as they passed through the darkness. He brushed aside the pounding on his skull, and hid away whatever crimson memories resurfaced from his mind. It was difficult at first, but gradually he managed to get used to it. Soon, he was able to will those unpleasant thoughts away, sometimes for minutes, other times hours.

Hours?

"Hey," he suddenly called.

"Hmm?"

"How far did we go?"

"A while."

His eye twitched, as he stared down at her hand. Before long, he tugged at her arm, and they both stopped. The woman turned with that same, odd smile on her face, and cocked her head. After a long, tentative pause, she started giggling. "What?" she asked.

"Do you even know where we're even going?"

"Nope."

He just stared at her.

"What?" she repeated.

"I thought you knew where you were-"

"Of course I don't," she stated arrogantly, as she tightened her grip on his fingers. "Look around you; pitch black. Still, it's beautiful, don't you think?"

"…Are you serious?"

"I am. Why? Are you meeting with someone? Is that why you're in such a hurry?"

He clenched his teeth. "You've got a sick sense of humor."

"All joking aside."

"Let's just go-"

"Hold up, hold up," she said, stopping Yusei before he even got a chance to walk past her. When he turned back to her, he still saw her, grinning ear to ear, with that stupid, carefree expression so messily painted on her face. "Seriously, where do you think you're going?"

"Out," he answered bluntly.

"Out!" she exclaimed. "Aren't I your savior though?"

He scoffed. "Some savior you turned out to be."

"You know, there's more to life than just walking."

"Great. I'm leading."

"No you're not!" she said happily, dragging him back to her when he tried leaving once again. "Ah, you're always so impatient."

Again, that same silence.

"What?"

"We've barely talked for the past ten hours."

"No; you barely talked for the past ten hours. I, on the other hand, was a riot."

"Butt jokes don't count."

"Sure they do," she stated, promptly swinging his arm through the air. "Talking, after all, is a form of communication, a way to portray our thoughts and feelings. I was thinking of butt jokes, and simultaneously, I was feeling playful. Since I communicated to you those butt jokes and my playfulness, I was, in fact, talking."

"I take that back; we barely talked about anything meaningful."

She regarded him with wide, curious eyes. Before long, she stole away from him, one hand jokingly clutching her heart. "Butt jokes can be meaningful."

"No, they can't."

"What'd you have against butt jokes anyways?"

"Getting off the topic," he said, tearing his eyes away from her. He looked around, as the unpleasant fact slowly dawned on him that they may very well be lost. He bit the inside of his cheek, a grim frown tugging at his lips. They should've seen something by now…

"They're fun."

He scowled. "I thought we were off the damn butt jokes."

She blinked, before removing the surprise altogether. Carefully, she brought their hands to a halt, as she turned her eyes toward the very same nothingness he kept staring at. A calm, relaxed smile graced her face. She took a deep breath, and let out a soothing sigh. "You need to calm down. Stressing out about it won't get you anywhere."

Yusei groaned. "You really want to wander around here for the rest of your life?"

"Who knows?" she answered demurely. "Considering the reality you came from, maybe that wouldn't be such a bad alternative."

"What?"

"Think about it," she said quietly, as she pulled him toward her. Quickly, she grabbed his waist, and started pushing him left, then right, then left again, her clumsy steps reminiscent to…some dance she just came up with. At first, he was shocked, and tried removing himself from her grip, but soon, he eased into her unpredictable beat, and resigned to her game, evidently too tired to put up another fight.

As he struggled against her footsteps, clutching to her desperately, embarrassingly, she only chuckled, as she imagined their entangled, disorganized silhouettes. "You really couldn't move anywhere, with all those bodies surrounding you."

"But-"

"And now look!" she continued, slowly pushing him away, if only to get him to dance on his own. "You've got so much room! You could do anything you want here, come up with any idea. Butt jokes, fart jokes-"

"Enough with the jokes," he muttered beneath his breath.

She laughed freely. "There's nothing here, nothing at all. It's already a different, isn't it?"

He couldn't say anything. He could only stare down at the weird woman, who began twirling around, keeping his hand in place. When she stopped, she brought her hand down, this time on his arm. Carefully, she maneuvered his other hand toward her waist, and with that, she picked up the dance again. The tempo was slower this time, more deliberate, as she allowed Yusei time to catch himself.

"Just follow me," she said. "See? Doing better already."

He relinquished his reluctance then, as he looked down as his feet, concentrating on the steps she kept taking. Left, then right, another left; she wanted to turn now. He stumbled again, and just like last time, she chuckled. "Well, almost."

"Why're you doing this?" he asked finally.

She looked up, her playful smirk still there, on her face. "What?"

"You know what I mean," he said frustratedly, as he regained his balance, all the while falling to her hypnotic rhythm.

She pretended to think. "You were interesting."

"That's it?"

"And as you can see, I was right."

As the seconds passed, the two kept dancing, sometimes slow, like this one, other times, fast-paced, to the point Yusei couldn't even keep up. Though she kept on laughing and laughing, in the end, she simply swayed to the music in her head, and Yusei followed her, as she asked him to.

He never noticed the small, shimmer of light peeking, just through the black.

Akiza stood there, frozen place, her tiny hand still on that knob. She trembled at the noise, the anguished cries reverberating from one end of the hall to the next. Just below the crack of the door, she could see flurried shadows racing past, screaming for someone to come rescue them. Her eyes watched them steadily, her heart in her throat, trying to will them away to safety. And yet, despite that, she flinched whenever those shadows disappeared, forced down by an animal just behind the door. She couldn't help but jump away when she heard growling.

Gradually, the screams died down, replaced by moans and pleas. Sobs echoed from the corridor, and by the time she regained her senses, only silence remained. From the cracks, she could see tiny loveless shadows prowling outside, the black greedily taking in the unforeseen horrors lying just ahead. They kept searching and searching, those shadows, their noses sniffing around, all the while passing the locked door with each second.

They stopped for a moment. She could feel their eyes boring the door, their aimless wandering gone the moment they turned toward her.

Akiza held herself still. Her trembling, icy hands clutched her chest, and she held her breath, trying not to make the least bit of sound. Her bangs fell over her face, with golden orbs staring out into the uncertainty. When she heard scratching, she fought the urge to back away from the door. Her own heartbeat pounded against her eardrums. She bit her the tip of her tongue, trying to keep herself from crying out. All the while, she shut her eyes, and hoped that they wouldn't come in.

But as quickly as they came, they left.

She heard the door unlock then.

Slowly, she reopened her eyes, and allowed her hands to sink back to her side. Carefully, she made her way forth, the soft, artificial wind blowing through the room. She paused for a single moment, before continuing on with her trek, listening in the outside. Once again, her eyes settled down to the cracks, before looking back up. She reached for the handle.

"Akiza!"

She jolted, before swirling back. "What?"

"Are you suicidal?" Sayer whispered quietly, staring at that door. "If you go out there-"

Just then, the lights flickered back on.

Her lips parted slightly, blinking at the sudden burst. She looked back down at Sayer, and saw him lying in that hospital bead, shaking, more badly than she.

It's funny, seeing him like this. Though she'd no idea what to make of him now, from the fact that he'd gotten out of prison, to being here, acting like he was a victim, in the end, he was still Sayer. Though he was the man who more than likely befriended her for her for her powers, who'd kidnapped other people, who experimented on them, she couldn't find a single ounce of hatred in her. He'd given her home, took her in when no one else would have. Even after he used her, against Misty, against the world, it was hard, to see him like this.

Why was she like this? Shouldn't she be more excited, angry, concerned? Shouldn't she be bombarding him with questions, interrogating him until she broke down crying, screaming? Shouldn't she be demanding where all those missing kids were, why he's lied to her, all this time? Shouldn't she be asking him what he meant when he told her to stay away from Yusei? Shouldn't she ask him how he even got out of prison to begin with, who his new benefactor was? Isn't that what a normal person would do? Isn't that how she felt before?

But the thoughts never occurred to her. Instead, she regarded him evenly, and calmly came towards his bed. Sayer looked up at her, with pleading eyes. "Akiza-"

"It'd be bad if the police find us here," she stated, causing him to fall silent.

The fact that he'd shut his mouth as soon as she brought up the notion, was more than abnormal. Considering the fact he was supposed to be in jail for the rest of his life, someone influential must've gotten him out. After all, he wouldn't even be here in this hospital if they hadn't. After all, there was no way he could bribe anyone, or even cover his own expenses; if memory serves, Sector Security confiscated all of the Movement's funding, didn't they? So whoever this person was, they must know everything about Sayer, about the Movement. What were they using him for anyways?

But she brushed aside her curiosity, at least for now. "How long have you been here?" she asked.

"A week." he answered automatically.

Same time as Yusei then. "What happened?"

"I already told you what'd happened," Sayer said, as he stole another glimpse at his injuries. "Akiza, I suggest you not go out there."

She waited for a few seconds, before making her way back to the door. She placed both palms against the surface, and pressed her ear against it. She closed her eyes, and waited, tuning Sayer out with everything he was saying. It was faint, but she could hear breathing.

What was going on out there?

"Akiza-"

"I'm not." she said finally, as she began searching around the room, at the white, empty walls plastered before her. Even from here, she could smell iron coating the air, and it was because of that she decided not to go out. There was a breeze though, when she came in. A breeze that came from this room; nothing on the ceiling, nothing on the walls…

Her eyes fell beneath the bed. Again, she brushed aside Sayer's words, as she crouched down, and lifted up the curtains. She found a large, iron vent staring back at her.

"What're you doing?" Sayer asked.

"Getting out," she muttered, dragging her fingers toward the nails. They weren't tightened; all she had to do was unscrew them, and she'd be able to get it open.

But this was a hospital though; everything was supposed to be perfect, accurate, else complications would arise. She highly doubted anyone would make a mistake as stupid as this, even Jack. Carefully, she peered through the darkness.

And heard giggling.

Hurriedly, she screwed the nails shut, and moved herself out of the bed. Well, at least they can't get in.

She stared at that door once again. If those things came in to attack, Sayer won't be able to get out of here alive. Who locked that door anyways? Were they waiting for her to come out? Were those things with them?

She took a deep breath, and came back toward Sayer. Her eyes drifted toward the needle jammed into his arm, and she sighed; the blood bag was almost empty anyways. So she came toward that bookshelf, gripped one of the shelves with both her hands, and quickly, began wiggling the tiny thing from its place.

"What're you doing now?" Sayer asked exasperatedly.

"Getting out," she repeated, as she pulled the shelf out. It dropped to the floor with a loud slam. Her fingers steadied the board in her hands, then with one huff, she hoisted it in front of her.

No deck, no duel disk; if only Crow would tell her how she flung those guys around, it'd be a lot better. As of this point, she'd no idea how to control anything.

She came back to the door. "Sayer," she called, "can you move?"

"…What?"

"You have crutches, don't you?"

"No."

"Then just stay there," she said, as she walked toward the door. She gripped the handle tightly, her thumb nervously hovering over the surface. There was something out there. "I'll come back when I'm done."

Sayer rapidly sat up, his eyes wide with shock. "You aren't going out there."

Normally, she wouldn't. She'd wait for someone to come, probably argue with Sayer a little, all the while worrying over Yusei's safety. She'd try calling for help, and if that didn't work, she'd stay here, and wait until someone came to her rescue. She'd try and use her powers, even though she didn't know the first thing about them, to escape this hospital.

But with one, fluid motion, she opened the door, with that single shelf in hand. She was right; there really was something out there.

That something was racing toward her, with a single needle in hand.