Where It All Began

Blistering heat was a comfort by this point, she told herself as she slept. It was nothing, after all, compared to the frosted hell she'd just escaped, and the combined trauma of a near body-snatch she had gone through. A small smile graced Anzu's face as again human hands were caressed by a dusty breeze, hair blowing in her face beneath a brightly shining sun. It was peaceful now... A drowsy period of time that made her want to simply stay there for hours on end. She'd won after all; she deserved a break, didn't she?

Yet for all that had happened, there wasn't time to sleep she told herself, that fact knocking just lightly on the back of her mind. And as her senses slowly returned to her, she could feel a hand on her shoulder, and feel herself being rolled over somewhat. 'Anzu,' someone called, her eyes slowly opening as the source of the voice continued. 'Anzu... Anzu!' Faded... Distant...

And suddenly, it cleared completely. "Anzu!"

"Hnn..." The woman slowly sat up, blinking as the vision of her friend came into view. Yugi... It was... ...Ah! "Y...Yugi... Hng..." He was here... She had to get up then, she had to- A rush of dizziness swam over her as she attempted to stand, finding herself collapsing rather uncomfortably atop the boy instead of helping him up as intended. "Hnng..."

"Ahck! Ah..! A-Anzu," Yugi rasped, coughing as he was pushed against the ground. "Anzu, you probably shouldn't try to stand but... I... I think you're crushing my... Ghk..." He cut off with a wheeze, looking away awkwardly as his friend held silent.

...Oh... She was on top of him now... For some reason, she couldn't feel upset about that; if anything, she was glad. After all, he was here right? He was here... He had come for her, and she was... She was... "Yugi," she choked somewhat, her face currently nestled on the boy's vest. "I... ...I..." Why... Why did she feel like crying..? Why was she... The woman's hands clutched at her friend's vest as Yugi managed to squirm out somewhat, only to freeze and remain in place as Anzu cried at his lap. "Ah... Ahhhhhhnnn... Uaaaaah... This... All of this..!" Anzu continued to cry, arms wrapped around her friend's waist as she choked. "I couldn't remember anything," she wailed, the boy staring in confusion. "From the alley where I was taken with Jonouchi and up until just a few hours ago," she continued miserably, "I couldn't remember anything..! On the air ship, and at dinner... What's happening," the woman choked, her friend slowly attempting to comfort her in regards to the sudden and unexpected breakdown. "What's going on..? I... I'm so scared... I'm so... I've never felt so..."

Yugi frowned somewhat, recovering from the fall back as he looked to the woman. She was right... She'd... Never been like this, at least not when he'd last seen her, but... "Anzu..." The boy swallowed, before working up the courage to pull his friend close in response to the 'cling' he was under. "It... It's okay, alright," he said honestly, feeling somewhat nervous himself. "We're going to get out of here and... We'll find out why you can't remember anything alright," he continued, clearly not sure as to why that might be happening in the first place. Just what reason would Anzu have to just... Forget all of that? "We... ...We'll..." Yugi quieted as his friend continued to shudder in his arms, the boy looking around the now dry and arid canyon cliffs blankly. What did he say... He didn't even know what to say, so what could he possibly... "...This place..."

Anzu sniffed somewhat, pulling herself up to lean somewhat against her friend in a more stable and seated position. "It's the grand canyon," she said quietly, looking out at the sky as she swallowed. "I came here once, when I was little," the woman continued. "My dad was busy with another move, so... My grandparents offered to take my mother and I on a vacation while that was sorted out..."

"Your dad..?" Yugi stared, as though just realizing that he'd never heard about the man until this point. "That's right... I've only met your mom," he muttered, shaking himself. "What does your dad do Anzu?"

What did he do..? She wiped her eyes, lowering her gaze. She hadn't spoken about her father to anyone really. Then again, no one had ever asked, so why would she bother? "Dad... Dad's in the Air Force," she said with a swallow, turning to her friend as she continued on. "He's been in there a long time... Because of that we had to move a lot though," the woman told him, shaking her head. "And in the end, Mom couldn't handle it, so she divorced him... I still get to see him of course," she added quietly, holding her arms close as she spoke. "During his small bit of time off, he'll take me on a trip to the US to see a dance show, or a musical... But recently..." Tears began to fall down her cheeks, and she shook as she bowed her head to hide the expression. "Dad was part of a team sent to Egypt for an 'Airlift' mission... I didn't know the location until now, because he couldn't say, but he'd told me he'd be able to visit a few days ago... But instead of getting a call from him," she explained, voice reaching a fever pitch in panic, "I found out that he... That he... Gh..." Anzu continued to shake as the call came to mind again, holding her head in her hands.

'Mazaki-san,' they'd told her... 'We're sorry to say that we are calling with upsetting news... But your father was recently injured on duty. He's been admitted to the hospital,' they continued quietly, 'But he is in critical condition, and we're not sure that he'll-'

A small hand was placed on her shoulder, Yugi looking to her with worry as she turned back. Yugi... "Anzu," the boy asked, clearly sympathetic of the situation. "Why didn't... Why didn't you say..."

"Is it childish to say that I used to think he was 'invincible'," she whispered, a sad smile on her face as she turned away. "He was always so proud when he was sent out for a post in a peace-keeping mission, or even just to help out with some problems elsewhere in the country... But he was never injured," she continued, shaking her head. "Never... And then, just last week, it turns out he was caught in 'Gang Fire', with the rest of his team and whatever he was supposed to guard forced to leave without him! It's just... It's not fair," Anzu cried, curling up slightly as she bit her lip. "After all that time, he was finally going to be somewhere close... And now... I'm scared," she repeated, realizing now what was truly forcing the tears. "I don't know if I'll ever see him again... I don't even know if he's dead, or... Or..."

Yugi stood, slowly pulling his friend's hand up with a worried stare as the woman again turned to look at him. "...Anzu," he whispered, the woman in question staring back in silence. ...He was worried... Then again... Of course he was worried she told herself; when did she ever act like this? Rather than the 'boyish' manner she was so known for? She wasn't the sort to cry about things, she wasn't...

Anzu nodded, pulling herself up and grabbing her staff from the ground for support as she turned away. "I'm sorry," she muttered, shaking her head. "Seeing me like this..."

The boy shook her head, smiling sadly. "It's fine... Really," her friend said with a nod, looking up at the woman. "I'm just worried..."

Yes... She knew that. But right now, there was something else to do. "I'll be fine," she assured the boy, nodding her head with another sniff as she calmed herself. "Really... I just needed to get that off my chest. To tell someone... And..." Anzu slowly paled, eyes widening as she realized something else about the situation. She was here... And so was Yugi, but then that would mean- "And oh god... The others! Yugi," she hurriedly asked, her friend jumping at the renewed strength in her tone, "Yugi, the others, are they al-"

The boy nodded, biting his lip. "Yea- They're all here," he answered, quite clearly upset about the matter. "Jonouchi-kun, Shizuka-san, Honda-kun... Otogi-kun, Mokuba-kun and Kaiba-san... Besides us, they're here as well," he explained, "But I can't find them..."

All of those people... Oh god... Anzu swallowed, bringing a hand to her face as she paled. Jesus... "Just what kind of thing are they going through then," she whispered, shaking her head. "I mean... After that battle..." The woman turned to the side of the cliff, staring at the ashen remains of her opponent. After the business with the penguins, and the fight... Speaking of the battle... "...Ah! That reminds me!" She hurriedly ran over to the pile of ash at the edge of the cliff, Yugi blinking and following behind. Just at the edge the woman knelt by the pile, shouting as she came to it. "Ren..! ...Ren!"

Hands lightly dug at the ashes, the small golden cobra giving a yawn as the ashes were removed. A majority of them appeared to have stained the markings on his scales; the hieroglyphs were now a solid black, and easily identified. Ren however seemed to not notice, instead turning as Yugi came over before tensing considerably- his hood nearly flared completely, partially revealed in the face of the boy, and as her friend skidded to a stop the serpent refused to turn his gaze. Thankfully however, he seemed to calm on contact with her arm, and within an instant he had settled around her wrist in his usual position. "Ah... A snake," Yugi asked, the cobra in question looking to the boy with rolled eyes.

"Great; another genius," he snorted, the woman he clung to feeling much better for reasons unknown to her.

She fixed the serpent with a look, quite clearly unimpressed. "Ren..."

"Whaaaaat," he asked, turning back up. "Just saying; you see a cobra and that's the first thing you say? Come ON!"

Yugi blinked, staring for a few moments before shaking his head. Evidently talking snakes were simply beyond his understanding at the moment, and not something he needed clarification on. "Eh... Anzu," he instead asked with a cough, scratching his head. "Who is this?"

Hn? Oh, the snake... "Ren," the woman said with a small smile, lightly stroking the serpent's head. Surprisingly or unsurprisingly he responded quite well to this, initially tensing with a shocked scowl before melting into peace as the woman continued. "This is Ren," she repeated almost happily, "And he's apparently my 'familiar'... Whatever that means. I took the 'Black Mage' class," she added with a shrug, the snake continuing to hiss in comfort as the woman lightly rubbed his scales, Yugi merely tilting his head.

"Ah... Familiar," her friend repeated, Ren appearing to glare lightly at the boy in response. "...Are you sure," he continued, "Noa has been doing a lot of strange things, trying to get into our heads... I don't think that any of the classes come with 'pets'..."

"PET," Ren hissed, his hood successfully appearing in full before he was cut off.

"Oh believe me," a fourth voice chuckled, its owner evidently amused by the entire event. "This is most certainly not my doing..."

"Nn!"

"Noa!"

The group turned, Ren immediately becoming alert as the serpent and the boy shared looks. Evidently 'Noa' was considered more of a threat to the snake; besides a flared hood his fangs were bared and dripping with venom, threatening hissing filling the air. "Sssssssfff! You!"

Noa merely smirked, shaking his head as he hovered before the trio. "I see that you've realized the true intent of this game," he said calmly, looking to Anzu as the woman scowled. This 'boy'... He'd strung her along this entire time, and he dared to throw that in her face? Gh... "I also see that you haven't quite figured out everything else... Such a pity about your father," the boy added darkly, Anzu tensing even further in response. "Who knew a gang centered on cards could be so... 'Violent'," he continued, seeming to glance at 'Ren' as the serpent continued to hiss.

"Why don't you just stuff it in your tiny little receptacles," he growled, the boy chuckling as Ren was habitually 'shushed' by the woman he was partnered with.

"Hnhnhnhnhn... Seems to me that your 'familiar' is quite the concentration of your rage," he laughed, narrowing his eyes in suggestive mirth. "Why, if I didn't know any better," the boy continued on, "I'd say he's either mimicking the emotion from you or stealing it outright!" Stealing..?

"What are you talking about," Anzu hissed, Noa merely smirking darkly in response.

"Ohhhh... Who knows really," he chuckled, a large stone arch appearing behind him with the words. "But you know 'Yugi', if you hadn't thought it was easy coming into your friend's mind," he continued, "You certainly will in a moment. The relationship between you two is one thing," Noa added, crossing his arms as Yugi frowned, "But between your other one..."

"Other," Anzu repeated, narrowing her eyes as the others stared. "What do you mean," she shouted, "There's six other people here..!"

Noa continued to smirk, seemingly fading out in a flash of smoke before appearing again at the top of the enormous archway. "Well, that's for you to find out, now isn't it," he chuckled, narrowing his eyes. "You two are open with each other," the boy 'explained', "Or at least enough to pass through with the bare minimum of trickery... This mind on the other hand..." He rapped on the entrance with the toe of his shoe, grinning almost wickedly. "Hard as stone..."

"Gh... NOA," Yugi shouted, narrowing his eyes. "What are you doing with the others?"

Still more chuckling came through the air, Noa merely shaking his head. "As I said before," he told them, fading from existence while he spoke, "That's for you two to find out for yourselves... Hnhnhnhnhnhn..."

And with that, he was gone. "Gh- Bastard," Ren hissed, the others holding expressions that said just as much about what they thought of the boy. "Come on! Let's get him," the snake spat eagerly, "Show him a taste of the 'inferno'," he continued, turning to Anzu as the woman flushed.

"A-AH- Hey," she responded incredulously, "We don't even know where he is..!"

"No... But we know that one of the others is past this door," Yugi continued, looking to the arch with a swallow. The woman turned, looking from Yugi to the door with a nod. That was right... ...Ah...

"Hey... Do most of your friends even know how to duel," Ren asked somewhat dryly, currently coiled around Anzu's shoulder for a more easy view of things.

"I think that Ryuzaki-kun taught Shizuka-san," the boy responded, turning somewhat as a slight breeze passed. "In fact, Shizuka-san seemed more worried that she didn't have her deck with her, so I think she might actually duel regularly." A small sound seemed to come over the air with those words, Anzu as well turning with a frown. Somewhere far in the distance... Was that...

"Did someone hear a sneeze," Anzu muttered, Ren 'shrugging' in response.

"Nah," he said plainly, "That was just you. Now then! So that's one down," the snake decided with a yawn. "What about your other two guys," he continued, "Black-hair-guy and brown-hair-guy?"

"Um... You mean Otogi and Honda," his partner asked dryly, the serpent again 'shrugging' in response as his tongue 'flickered'.

"Hey, not like I'd know," he offered in defense.

"Well you know," Yugi began, cutting the two off, "Otogi should be fine... He's pretty good with most strategy games," the boy explained, "And actually created a few small-time ones himself. In fact," he added, scratching his cheek almost nervously, "If it hadn't been for the 'Black Clown' disaster, I think his 'D-D-D' game would have done fairly well..." Very true... After the black clown, Otogi was put in a pretty bad spot, but if it hadn't been for that... "On the other hand," Yugi continued, "When you think about Honda..."

Anzu blinked, before biting her cheek with a wince. "Ah... That's right," she muttered, "He doesn't duel at all does he..."

"He's terrible," Yugi added with a moan, shaking his head.

Ren appeared to stare at the two in response to this, before turning to face the door that stood before them. "Hohhh... In that case we better move, shouldn't we? Given that these guys came close to beating you two," he added, looking to the pair for their reaction. The two both nodded in agreement, moving toward the arch as the snake continued on. "By the way," he said somewhat idly, looking away from Yugi as I spoke. "I like the vest; black leather. Suits you. It's pretty 'bad-ass'."

Yugi's response was the expected red-faced blush of embarrassment as he opened the door, needless to say.

"This... Is the wrong one."

For the past few moments Seto had been more or less shocked silent, standing motionless as the sounds of weeping passed over her and faded into darkness. Mokuba had placed all of his own attention on her as a result of the incident in fact, and whether or not this was a good thing could be debated really; after all, while it meant he didn't see much more of the hospital scene, it did mean staring at his clearly not fine older sister, wondering just what it was that could have possibly shaken her. With Kisara's words however she was snapped back into reality, fists clenched as she turned on the girl in a more than evident rage. "YOU," she spat, drawing her blade and running toward the child in an instant. "You MONSTER!" The blade was raised high, prepared to cut the girl in two as she screamed... Mokuba was staring in shock but saying nothing, merely standing in place as the sword was held high. But as Seto stared at Kisara with rage filled eyes she was met with blank, dull blue ones, staring, piercing... And in the end the blade fell to the ground in a clatter, shaking hand brought down into her steady one's grip as she ground her teeth. "Ghh... Hng..." She couldn't...

She couldn't... 'You... You saved my life,' a young voice whispered in the back of her mind, sounding more like a young woman than the girl before her. 'Who are you?'

'...Set,' a voice answered. 'Set, of the village Ash.' Tch... Those memories...

They weren't hers she told herself with a wince, and yet... Yet... "Hnhnhnhnhn..." Chuckling echoed through the air as Seto held her head, shaking somewhat in the darkness. "Hard, isn't it," a voice whispered, misting behind them into the form of a young boy. Mokuba jumped back into his sister as Noa appeared, a grin in place as he hovered in the air for the added 'height' required to speak above his 'guest'. "To kill someone you cared for... You just can't do it, can you," he continued, narrowing his eyes. The boy smoked from existence and into the air as the woman pulled herself from thought, snatching her blade off the ground with a growl.

"Gh... Hold still and you'll find out just how much I 'care' about you," she spat, blade gleaming in unseen light as she renewed her stance. "Now show yourself!"

"Now now," the boy warned with a sigh, smoke seeming to seep through the area. "Let's not be rude... She was just trying to help," he chuckled, appearing high above the siblings. Help?

Hah! She swore to hell itself that when she got to this kid, nothing was going to stop her from tossing him into the nearest patch of shark infested waters... "Noa," she snarled, tightening her grip on the sword. "Come down here and face me directly!"

Noa appeared to raise his eyebrows, a faux expression of consideration over his face as he looked down. "Hnn... With that sword," the boy questioned, raising his eyebrows. "I don't think so," he decided with a smirk. "Besides; there's something you need to see before you can meet your opponent," he told them as he shrugged, "And Kisara is going to find it for you." Find it..?

...'This isn't it'... Her memories then! Ugh! "In other words," Seto growled, fists shaking with anger as she nonetheless held her stance, "You're going to dig through our heads until you find it..!"

"Hn... It sounds so violent when you put it like that..." It was violent, it was invading her subconcious! The woman's thoughts were cut short however, as Noa continued to speak. "I suggest you listen to what this girl has to say," he warned, a dark smirk appearing as he vanished into smoke once more. "After all... I don't see any other way out of this place, do you..?"

A door appeared to Kisara's side at that, Seto's teeth grinding while their captor vanished completely. "Bastard... BASTARD," she roared, grip on her blade tightening further as the sword shook. "COME BACK HERE NOA!"

Mokuba as well appeared more than displeased, a thick scowl on his face as the 'room' fell silent. There was no response... Noa was gone, and they were left with a mute guide. "Tch... Great," the boy muttered, "So our only escape is through these doors then..."

Those doors... Hn! "There's probably something," she growled, crossing her arms as the sword was replaced at her hip. But what... What other way did they possibly have...

"There is no escape," Kisara stated plainly, apparently unaffected by the words. "As Noa-sama said; you must witness the correct 'memory', and you must follow me until I find it." The girl before them took hold of the door handle at her side, pulling it open as it increased in size to encompass the front of the room. "Perhaps... This one," she said monotonously, Seto going white as the familiar sound of a truck's horn came over her ears. That sound...

"Gh-!" Mokuba was snatched from behind without another word, face pulled into her robes and armor as the woman covered her brother's ears. "Nee-sama," he protested, pushing against her grip as the woman held him close. "Nee-sama, what-"

"Trust me," she muttered, eyes wide as she stared at the ground. "You do not want to see-" This. A rush of wind blasted through her, the truck slamming in, through, and past the two as it smoked around their form.

'NO! MOKUBA,' a voice shouted, 'SERI!' Seto bit her lip, bowing her head as the familiar scene replayed before them. The sound of screeching tires filled the air... And the truck's cargo capsized, falling on its side as multiple other cars drove into its rear or even the sides. And fires lit the area, springing from the candles that had lit the streets, from the gas that dripped from the vehicles... She could see herself, pushed to the ground among the wreckage, Mokuba held close, as her father lay prone at the front of the truck.

"D...Dad," she'd whispered fearfully, her eyes just as wide as her present counterpart's were.

"Nn... Hn... S... Se... ri," the man rasped, eyes growing dull. "Protect... ..." She'd remembered it differently, the woman noted with weakened eyes, grip on Mokuba slipping as the boy moved to turn. Her father... Her 'dad'... He'd died before he could finish his sentence. He'd...

"Wrong," Kisara said plainly, Seto slowly turning on the girl as the scenery shifted. "This one then." Another-? Mokuba and Seto both turned with a jolt, eyes wide as they were suddenly standing before a coffin. Incense burned before them, filling the room, and just ahead they could be seen with their aunt.

'We're sorry for your loss,' everyone was saying. 'So sorry...'

"This..."

"This is..."

Themselves. They were witnessing themselves, at their father's funeral..!

And Kisara had no reaction. "Also wrong," the girl repeated, the mutterings of Buddhist sutra disappearing from around them as they moved to a crematorium. In the place of a sunlit room were now almost pure white walls, and the majority of the crowd had vanished in the place of their Aunt and Uncle. Her aunt's hand had been on her shoulder, in the appearance of comfort... Yet while she held her hand there it was quite clear that she was more depressed over the loss of her brother than willing to aid her niece and nephew in that time. More horrified at the loss of her brother to such an accident. The casket was slipped into the chamber... Flames wrapped around the box in the chamber, and in her minds eye she could see it lapping hungrily at the sides quite clearly, even now. 'Why are they burning him,' Mokuba was crying, the current one biting his lip as tears developed in his eyes. 'WHY? Why are they burning him! Daddy! DADDY!'

Seto tightened her grip on Mokuba's hand and shoulders, her brother struggling not to cry as Kisara continued to stare in indifference. "Still wrong," she stated almost coldly, before they stood at the front of a grave. There was another stone just a short distance away from them... 'Honda Kimura', 'Honda Hisao' it read, the words only coming to her mind because they had passed them on the way to their 'place'. She didn't remember much of this day... Mokuba and herself were both still gripping each other's hands, as the smaller version's of themselves did the same. All she knew was that it had been the last time they visited the tombstone, and that...

That they weren't alone back then. 'Hey,' a young woman asked, coming up beside them with a sympathetic smile on her face. They'd turned, blinking as the likely just twenty year old woman held something out for them. It was a rice ball... Mokuba had quite eagerly taken one already at that time, and at the moment the past version of herself was hesitating. In the end, the woman had given her a look of understanding, eyes sad and quite clearly moist themselves. 'Did you lose your parents too..?'

The boy behind her had turned to look at them... His face seemed familiar, and his sister turned back with a worried frown as the younger version of herself took the riceball. 'Hiroto, come over here,' she called out, not standing from where she knelt down. 'I don't want you wandering off...'

'Hiroto' had scowled in response, crossing his arms in rolled up sweater sleeves. 'I'm not going to get lost!'

'No, but I don't trust that blond kid hanging around your school, and I spotted him by the entrance earlier,' she told him with a frown, the boy merely groaning as he looked back to the gravestone he stood before. 'Don't think I didn't catch you calling him to do that, you know what I think of him!'

'Aggggh, come on ane-san! We're in the same class, just because he's blond doesn't mean he's a creep or anything... Honestly!' Hn! Try explaining that to the majority of Japan... ...But hang on, Seto thought to herself, looking closer at the boys face as he scowled. This face... The mentions of a blond 'delinquet'... And 'Hiroto'...

"Honda, Hiroto" she muttered, narrowing her eyes in thought. In the memory, 'Noriko' as she was called gave them a few more rice balls, the two siblings taking them soberly before giving their thanks. She told them not to worry about what happened to their parents, and that no matter what, they had to look up to things... That things would look up. They'd never seen them again... And after that...

"Wrong," Kisara's voice hissed again, and once more, the scenery shifted. Noriko and her then eight year old brother disappeared into smoke on the wind, and as Seto closed her eyes in the face light that resulted both herself and her brother had to grind their teeth. This... All of this, these memories... Their worst memories, supposedly hiding something 'else'... The vision cleared, and in an instant both of them found themselves staring with wide and blank eyes, tongues held in shock.

"N-Nee-sama," Mokuba whispered, hesitantly stepping forward as they looked to the gates they now stood in front of.

"This..." This was...

"The orphanage we stayed at," her brother continued, watching as a pair of children walked on their own to the gates. The orphanage...

"...Damn this 'Noa'," she cursed, narrowing her eyes. "Damn him..!" And behind her, Kisara said nothing.

The desert was known for its harshness, that much was true. It was also known for the great beating sun that was both loved and cursed by its denizens, a place where water was as rare and treasured as gold in the furthest regions. It was known for howling jackals that prowled its night skies, and for the eerie barks of the fennec fox, for the slithering cobra and the scraping, rasping sounds of the saw-scaled viper. It was home to what some of the world considered the most feared arachnid, the scoprion, and it was known as the largest region of its kind. But mostly, it was known for sand.

Lots. And lots. Of sand. As he walked through this sand however, he could see flashes... Two children running along side him, with one or two goats with them as the rest walked behind. Each time he paid attention however, each time he stared, they vanished, leaving him standing with his staff in the middle of a 'sand storm' as a faded mirage and the sensation of a happy memory vanished. "Keep moving chabar," the 'ghost' told him when this happened, Katsuya staring at where the last illusion had stood before nodding. "We're almost there, just keep moving."

"Righ'," he muttered, taking a step forward only to freeze with dull surprise. All about him the sands vanished, as though simply 'deleted' from existence. And for a brief moment, great and almost draconic cliffs stood before him, clawed stone reaching out from around a number of ancient styled clay buildings. A village of yellow-white stone, filled with people in robes with smiles on their faces as they went about their business. But it was only a moment... And in an instant all but a small outcropping of stone vanished from the cliffs, with the buildings reduced to near ground level rubble amidst shards of broken pottery and rusted blades. Katsuya swallowed as he entered the ghost town, looking from building to building as their forms flashed in his mind. He could hear children laughing as they played with clay horses and cheetas... See ghosts of them running through the streets before each vanished in a blaze of fire. Before they turned toward him and shouted for someone with the tone one would use to tattle on a sibling.

'Leave, TRAITOR,' someone roared, their angered face hidden in shadow as the sensation of something wet came across him. 'You're not welcome here, with your LIES!' The blond wiped his face, frowning as he found nothing there. That... Felt almost like he'd been spat on he told himself in slight aggravation, and yet...

A dull wind passed, and he looked around with a frown. There was nothing but dust there. Nothing but dust and a deserted ruin. "Where is this place," he whispered, wiping the sand from his fingertips. "What is th's..?"

"It is an old and long abandoned village," the ghost said plainly, voice tight as Katsuya looked around. "Hidden from the outside world until just recently... It was a village of trade, and at the same time, a village of outcasts... You seemed to manage better than most though," he added, his 'friend' merely walking through the sifting sands. "Perhaps that is why they detested you so." Detested eh...

The blond said nothing in response to that comment, merely continuing on his way with a confused and altogether out of place expression on his face. All these ruins... He could hear the bustling of a haggling merchant on the side, attempting to convince a man to sell the gold he was peddling from a raided tomb. He could hear the surprised screech as a woman carrying wheat was almost toppled over by her running children, and the resultant giggles from the pair as they were cursed at from afar. And a well... He could see- Katsuya froze as he came to the large hole in the center of the ruin, frowning at its appearance. Alright... There used to be a well there, and closer toward him just ground in general but... "Ah..." There was something there... "...A cavern..." The blond knelt down, peering into the well lit hole with squinting eyes as he attempted to make out the bottom. It looked almost as though something had burst out from there really, and that the well had simply been a casualty in that line of fire. There was a small wall dividing the cavern in two after all, or at least the ruins of one, and from the rocks along the ground it was fairly obvious the wall had been broken from the 'inside'. As for stairs that would take him there... He looked up, moving around the gaping hole toward the half sunken cave at the side. There were two entrances from what he could see in there, but given that this was closest... Not to mention more familiar he thought idly, frowning somewhat. Hnn... "I've been here before, haven' I," he asked, approaching the hole to look at the 'stairs' leading downward. "Th's place... 'Ve been here, haven' I."

"That's right," his 'friend' answered promptly, almost seamlessly following the blond's thoughts in order to pursue the conversation. "Not often though," the ghost added, "For as honest and honorable as you were, you were more often than not chased out of the boundaries of the village whenever you came close to the center. Lucky for you," he added somewhat dryly, "You only came during the wet season; which thankfully meant no problems with water, a fairly high source of importance in such a place as this." Ah...

Yea, water was probably important in the desert, wasn't it. Katsuya kept silent as he walked down the steps, hand tracing along the sides of the spiralling path until he came into the first cavern. The hole more or less centered around this area; it had been broken out from the inside and in the center, and in his minds eye he could tell that in both the past and future it was resealed, covered with sand within a short amount of time. The moment in time that he stood in now was merely a half way point, a brief period of ruin and misery that reeked of unrest. This was what made up the chamber as a result; sand, dust, and fallen brick. The rest of the chamber however was strange, and out of place. To the side there was what seemed to be a funeral pyre, topped by an enormous vat meant to hold molten metals. To the other side was a ruined altar of sorts, and a hall that passed to the other room. A hall that was more or less made useless by the lack of a wall in the room. Closer to the center however, and just before the funeral pyre, was a great domed stone, carved into the shape of some strange sarcophagus mold for seven items. Stone blocks sat to the side as well- stone that had only slightly weathered, which had been pounded into bits to free whatever the mold had created. As to what those were...

It was blurred. "Hn... Well tha's a lil' anti-cl'matic," the blond muttered, passing the stone by as screams came through his mind. Katsuya held his head a moment, wincing before moving toward the other room. Maybe he'd find out eventually... Find out what connected the screams to the mold, what made this place so important. Or maybe... "...Hey... You know what this thing w's used f'r," he asked the ghost in his mind, receiving a pause in response.

"...Something terrible," the ghost said plainly, Katsuya frowning somewhat at the cold and flat tone used. "Not something I would enjoy speaking of," he added, quite obviously wanting nothing to do with the subject. Oh...

Probably something personal then he thought to himself, looking around the second half of the chamber as he approached the fallen wall. What little remained of the hole was more than enough to illuminate the area, despite the sun suddenly trading places with the moon when he'd come down the steps. Passing the ruined and nearly vanished well that had once traveled up to the grounds above he could see carvings of all kinds along the walls, depicting dragons, eagles, and monsters beyond any he had seen even on tv. Unlike the tablets of Egypt however, or of the field, the monsters were not bound it seemed. In fact, as he brushed a hand along the wall, he couldn't help but think that they were not even true 'monsters' at all... That they had been a 'people' in their own right, not bound to whatever 'other realms' his own had spoken of. "I've seen these b'fore," he found himself whispering, remembering a hand far smaller than his own brushing against the stone in the same fashion. "These carvin's... I've seen 'm," he muttered, the monsters appearing to flicker off the stone in simple and flowing movements.

"Indeed you have," he received from the ghost in response, the spirit apparently over whatever caused him to tense previously. "But only a few times. While it's true you came down when you could," he continued softly, "That was long ago, and soon enough an impossibility. After adulthood," the shade explained, "You came here only twice before death..." Death..? The spirit snorted at the sudden thought he'd gleaned from the blond, likely shaking his head. "Hn! You didn't think that you lived for so many years did you," he asked, Katsuya frowning while the spirit went on. "I don't even know if you are who I think; certainly you look and sound like him, but the fact remains, it is still you. I can't begin to fathom why such a reincarnation would happen... In fact, I had been almost certain it was someone else until recently..." Eh-Ehhh... Someone else out there looked like him?

Damn this was confusing. The blond sighed, shaking himself. In all honesty, he'd be better off not asking he supposed. He'd just end up more confused, and really, he didn't want that... "Righ'," he muttered, taking a seat along one of the far walls by a ruined pillar as he continued to shake his head. "'F course..." Of course...

Katsuya closed his eyes as a breeze blew a few bits of sand into the hole, the light shifting from night to day as walls appeared in his mind. As carvings restored themselves, light returning to the rooms. Slowly he opened his eyes, the sand falling from his shoulders. The well was repaired... Standing tall, like some enormous pillar in the center of the room. And standing before him, with his back turned to the blond... "...Me..?" No... That 'other' him, from his dreams he realized, narrowing his eyes at the darkened skin. But he was younger here, younger than even Mokuba. He wore nothing but a tunic tied down with a sash, and he sat before the somewhat worn halls in curiosity as he stared at the immense and varied carvings of what looked to be three great deities dividing from a fourth. He didn't find himself questioning why he was alone in the chambers though; from what he knew, these caverns were always empty...

"Or at least," the spirit added, "They were for all but one week of the year." One week..?

The blond found himself standing, narrowing his eyes as the smaller 'him' continued to stare at the wall. Despite the presence of the ceiling, the room was well lit, more so than even the version lit beneath an evening sky. Mirrors, curved and formed of polished bowls were positioned about the room in tunnels it seemed; and with these mirrors, light was reflected into the chamber, filling it with enough sunlight to spread across an entire village. He could hear... A voice, Katsuya told himself, frowning somewhat. He could remember a voice in his mind, and from the shadows beside the boy seemed to come eyes, staring in curiosity. A set of golden cat's eyes shimmering from the corner... Gleaming orange metal, encasing similarly coloured glass ones, glaring out at the very edge of the darkness the mirrors could not reach. and, seemingly from solidified shadows a set of blazing red ones. 'What happened here,' the boy asked, the shadows seeming to answer despite them not facing each other.

'Refuge,' spoke the first, with a growling tone that stirred the depths of the waters in the well.

'Sanctuary,' whispered the other, his growls drifting across the sands like a breeze.

'Flight,' the final stated, 'Hiding. This is where they were protected. This is where it happened... 'What' happened,' it clarified, deep rumbling seeming to shake the earth and the skies themselves.

And the boy continued to stare at the carvings, a curious expression on his face. 'But why,' asked the boy, the shadows in the corner seeming to shift among themselves before the second one vanished from view.

'There are many names for these reasons,' whispered the first, seeming to shrink back into the darkness in some sort of fear filled reaction.

'However we do not speak of them,' the final muttered, the boy tilting his head in confusion.

'...But why,' he asked, the shadows merely answering with patience and calm as he reached a hand out to the walls.

'Because to speak of them would mean their release,' remarked the last shadow, the boy before them still staring at the stone. There was more silence in the air, before yet again that same word was uttered.

'Why..?'

Chuckling came about the room, and Katsuya stepped forward as the conversations continued before him, only faintly finding them familiar to him. 'Hnhnhnhnhn... You are a curious child,' the shadow muttered, now alone with the absence of the first. 'But how is it that you speak with us? It has been many years,' it continued curiously, 'Since a true connection has been achieved.' A true connection, he found himself wondering, narrowing his eyes. But what did that mean? The draconic shadow continued to speak, thick hide seeming to melt out of the darkness to arise above the boy from the corners between the ceiling and wall. 'Our ways have been lost to time,' it explained, red eyes blinking down at the boy below. 'There were once days when we walked along the sides of men, accepted as their equals and companions. But these times are gone,' he lamented, the boy before him staring. 'And so we are cast to the shadows, if even that.'

The answer was expected really, but even so it seemed too serious a question to pull a smile at. 'But... Why?'

More chuckling, followed by a gloomy sigh as the creature closed his eyes and slipped down the wall. 'Ahhh... You are still but a young child I suppose,' the shadow whispered, seeming to draw closer to the boy as he stared. 'Come here young one,' it continued, the boy doing just that as he curled up into the darkness with a childishly oblivious smile. 'Rest your eyes... We will send you back to your village later,' it went on, 'When the storm above has passed...'

The boy continued to smile at this, and in an instant he faded away to a cloud of dust, along with the light around him. The ceiling above remained of course, blocking out whatever time of the day it could have been. But there was no light, at least not much, falling into the room, and it was because of this that he was placing a hand on the well at the side for support, squinting in the darkness. Now, from the other room, he could hear screams... The very ones from his dreams, the lamented cries and curses of men and women as they watched their children fall into a bottomless pit. He could see someone peering around the corner in front of him, body locked with horror before fleeing through a second exit to the side. And then with a jolt the well, seemingly out of anger, collapses on itself, forcing him to draw back with a shout... And the light above is sealed, the hole where the well once traveled to blocked by a stone that no one else will ever find. And the room was left in darkness yet again. "...What happened here," Katsuya whispered, gripping his staff as a doorway appeared just behind him in the form of an old and stone archway. "What happened..."

"Tragedy, chabar. Tragedy..."

Unlike with other memories, Kisara did not simply 'change channels' after finding that it was the 'wrong one' to Mokuba's surprise. Not to say he wasn't a little relieved of course, given the hell that constantly jumping memories seemed to be putting his sister, not to mention himself through, but the fact was...

This was far from the one that he wanted to see, and if they could have 'switched' to anything else he was almost certain he would prefer it over this. Before them he could see himself, and the form of his younger sister. Standing outside the gates beside them, and as he stared it felt almost as though they were children again. As though their dad had died eight weeks rather than eight years ago, as though they were being abandoned by their aunt once again, with that final stony request only fulfilled with a grudging heart.

This was where it all began. This was where the true problem struck, where the crossroads really appeared. And as smaller versions of themselves passed through them like ghosts, guided by the orphanage caretaker, they found themselves forced to follow. They found themselves taking small steps forward with Kisara right behind them, the strange and almost draconic girl warping reality simply with her thoughts it appeared. The scene shifted... They were at the park he'd played in as a younger child, or at least he was. Seto wasn't there, and he could remember why that was as well. It had been the day they entered the orphanage... The day that their records brought up nothing, that they were deemed 'orphans' simply due to the lack of evidence otherwise. He'd run off after being shown the room he'd be staying in, afraid of what would happen, wanting to just go home back to his dad...

But dad wasn't there. No matter how much he wanted to be playing with him, like the other boys and girls were playing with their parents, he wasn't there. He wasn't there, and what was worse, he wasn't coming back, a fact that had left him miserably clinging to the chain on the swings as he forced himself not to cry. 'Hey,' a boy about his sister's age asked at one point that day, militaristic hair-cut standing out from the usual messy mops of the other boys. 'You lost?' He'd shaken his head and lied, saying that his sister would be coming for him soon. That he was just fine, even though there was no one else in sight And though it looked like the boy was about to say something more, a loud 'Hiroto! We're leaving!' came through the air and summoned him away... With the vision rendering him naught but dust in the wind.

And it began to get darker... The sun began to set, and eventually they were left with nothing but a red sky, bleeding across the horizon. No one else was left in the park, so no one was there to see him finally cry. He wasn't coming after all; he'd waited all day... But in the end- "Mokuba," a voice called out, the real one watching sadly as his sister, or the memory of her at least, ran forward with a momentarily worried and red face. He remembered... Just how afraid he was that day, when they'd been left at the side of the road to walk to the building. How shocking it was when his sister's hair had been cut down, shaven into the typical style of most other boys that age, clipped to match their cousin's spare and old clothes. Even from a 'mop' that had been left after the 'bubblegum' issue it was frightening, something that still scared him now. "Mokuba," the girl repeated, running forward as he'd looked up from the swing set. "Mokuba, I was worried..."

"Ah... Nee-"

He'd quickly been cut off with those words, the girl frowning just slightly. "Hey- remember what we said," she'd told him, giving the boy a somewhat warning look as he nodded slowly.

"H-Hn... Right. ...N-Nii-sama... ...Am I in trouble," he'd asked through his tears, receiving a sad smile in response before getting a hug.

"Of course not... I was just worried about you," she'd answered, helping her brother from the swings. "You ran away... I didn't know where you'd gone, so I had to think of all the places you could be..."

Mokuba, the 'younger' version at least, had wiped his eyes, staring at the ground as the tears were quickly replaced. "I'm sorry," he cried, sniffing loudly as he held his sister's hand. "I just... I thought if I went to the park," he continued, "That he'd come back! That I'd see daddy coming and... And... Ngggh..."

The smaller Seto stared, taking his hand. "...Mokuba... I know... I know it hurts," she began with a slight choke, "But... Come on," she'd said, turning to him sadly. "Lets go home... Remember what I said? From now on, 'I'll be the father', okay," she told him with a smile, eyes just barely betraying the emotion. "I'll protect you, and make sure you live happy for the rest of your life, so don't worry about anything, and don't think about what happened! Alright?"

"Ah... Ne- nii-sama... ...B-But... But nii-sama," he'd cried, shaking his head. "You can't be a 'dad', only boys are 'dads', and-"

"And that's just what I'll be," she interrupted plainly, still smiling sadly as she led the boy to the orphanage along the sidewalk. "Alright? I'm your 'brother'... So stop crying... If they see you like this," Seto had warned, "If you show them weakness, they'll only try and hurt you more. So you have to be strong, okay," the girl told him seriously, "Be strong. We aren't 'dogs'- so no whining, alright?"

He'd hurriedly nodded in response to that, swallowing back his cries as he sniffed. "A-Ah... R-Right," he said with a swallow. "Not a dog!"

"Good... Now lets play a game, okay," 'Seto' whispered, before vanishing into smoke along with the memory. "I have just the thing..." A game...

Mokuba looked up at his sister as the scene whirled again, the woman's head bowed somewhat as she closed her eyes. Those words... Those words that she still lived by even today... That was 'nii-sama' for him he supposed, eyes softening in sadness before he looked back to hide his tears. That was his big sister...

Somethings, he supposed, just never changed.

"Checkmate," someone said as the memory stabilized itself, the two siblings looking back as they were met with the outside view of a classroom window. Birds were chirping in the trees at the side... A few remaining sakura petals were falling from the trees, but by this point a majority had been replaced by green leaves. Ah... This was the elementary school by the orphanage she realized, face somewhat torn between emotions at the moment. Because they were so close to this building, because the school and the orphanage were on the same grounds, they would often play games there... This time she noted, it was chess.

Something they'd done almost every day. "Wuaaaah," the younger Mokuba cried before them, face wide and grinning as he laughed. "You beat me again! Nii-sama," he shouted, no longer slipping over the honorifics, "You're so good!" Two years... It'd been two years since the last memory Seto told herself, staring at the tired version of herself through the window. Two years of hiding behind a curtain and praying she wasn't caught. And even now she felt dizzy... That the lines of reality were blurring, more and more before her eyes right now, that the exhaustion she'd hidden so well back then was resurfacing. 'You don't deserve this,' a nasty, hissing voice whispered in her ear, coating her thoughts in despair as she stared through the window. 'This adoration... You aren't worthy of it at all...'

Seto immediately shook herself of the thought, still staring through the window in silence. She couldn't think that, could she? True, she didn't deserve it but... With the sounds of that voice, it was almost asking her to 'disappear'. That couldn't be the answer... Instead she thought back to those times, those happier times she could recall only faintly. In that classroom... They'd play so often, whenever Mokuba felt bored really. And no matter what she would put on a smile for him, and tell him that everything was alright, so that he didn't realize anything was wrong. But that day, as the TV flashed behind them, she wasn't smiling. She'd dropped her facade, not focusing on it as she looked to the screen. On the TV, Gozaburo Kaiba was giving an announcement. He was being awarded a large sum of money for his participation in a renowned, World Wide chess tournament. And in just one week...

He was coming to their orphanage with as many gifts as were worth this money for the children there. Coming, in person, leaving enough time to possibly speak to him... This was her chance. This was her one chance, her opportunity to change everything, or so she had told herself then and there. Gozaburo Kaiba had one of the most powerful companies in Japan, a billionaire in his own right, unchallenged in power. With that, her promise could be fulfilled. No one would hurt her brother. Nothing would stand in their way to make that amusement park for kids like them. For kids like the two she'd met at that cemetery, for the kids that lived with them. They'd play as much as they wanted... No problems at all...

"That's right," she found herself muttering under her breath, cloak blowing in a slight breeze as her gaze faded with her thoughts. "I started my plan here..." And she never looked back... Never...

And with those thoughts they could hear the sounds of a car pulling up, the scenery again changing so that they were turned in the opposite direction. The familiar black, rolls royce car arrived... The staff of the Orphanage, or at least the head, was waiting by the gates, holding them open with a nervous and white palor. And then he appeared, visible for the first time since he'd jumped out that window. Standing there, identical in every detail to the man she'd known from that time. "It's him," Mokuba said with a quiet swallow, watching the man crush his dying cigar before coming forward to greet the Orphanage owner.

Yes... "Kaiba Gozaburo..."

The smaller version of herself was watching, as expected. Staring out the classroom door with an odd look on her face. "Mokuba," she'd whispered, looking down at her brother as they watched the man vanish to another room. "Remember my promise," she'd asked. "What I'm about to do now will make sure it happens. That man is Kaiba Gozaburo," she'd explained to the boy, "And he's the owner of Kaiba Corporation... If we get adopted by him," the girl told him, swallowing back her unease as she enacted the plan she'd prepared long ago, "If this works... We won't have to worry about a thing..."

Mokuba had looked up curiously, still too young to really understand what he had heard. "Adopted," he asked, his sister nodding as she stared down the walkway.

"That's right; and even if I have to force him," she'd muttered darkly, "I'll make sure this happens..!" Even if she had to cheat. Even if she had to do something drastic... Time passed once again. As Gozaburo returned from his publicity stunt, he was stopped by the two small children, the younger hiding behind her as she looked up.

"Can I help you boys," he'd asked, looking down at them oddly.

And she had immediately, without bowing, looked the man in the eye, holding the stare. With all the gall in the world she'd held that gaze, and made one single request to the man. "Please," she insisted, watching as the man raised his eyebrows in slight confusion. "Adopt us!"

Gozaburo's reaction was almost expected really. "Adopt you," he'd repeated, narrowing his eyes. That was all he said, and yet the second message was obvious. 'you're kidding'... 'you can't be serious'...

She was... Most definitely, she was. "That's right... We ask that you take my brother and myself in as your sons. Of course," she'd added, the present day counterparts both watching with frowns as the past unfolded before them, "If you don't wish to do so... We could always have a match of chess on the decision; if I were to win," she continued in explanation, "You would have no choice but to take us in! And if I lost, then nothing would happen," the girl finished almost plainly, "And we would stay here."

She would always remember, always, what that man had said in response. "Hnhnhnhnhn... What an interesting boy you have here," he'd told the man behind him, the caretaker currently wiping his brow in unease as he narrowly escaped an awkward position that could have otherwise unfolded. "Interesting... But foolish," he continued, a frown still sitting on his face. "Boy, I've won six world-championship titles in the game of Chess; to challenge me is to challenge God himself! Impossible!"

"But there are no impossibilities when it comes to competition," she'd answered, using one of the man's own quotes in response as she narrowed her eyes. "Are there?"

At this the man hid a slight smirk, narrowing his eyes in thought. "Hn! In luck and chance perhaps," he eventually told her, arms held loosely at his sides. "But Chess is not luck... Yet you still challenge me?"

Why hadn't she relented? She was too stubborn really, that was part of it. But perhaps if she had simply been called on her cheat, or even just pulled out of her ruse those years ago, none of this would have happened. None of this...

But it was impossible to change the past. So "Of course," she had responded. Of course...

It had all been for Mokuba after all, it had always been for Mokuba. "Well... It's clear from the look in your eyes that you don't plan on backing down anytime soon," Gozaburo had decided, nodding his head. "Very well! I'll fight you- and if you win," he continued, "I'll uphold this agreement of yours. But I won't be holding back," the man warned, the younger version of herself nodding in response.

"I'd expect nothing less." She'd planned only for that after all...

And at that age, she'd never realized just how obvious she had been. "Good! Now... If we could borrow one of your classrooms," he'd asked the man behind him, the trio quickly being led off to the classroom at the side. The door was closed behind them, and sitting at one of the desks, the game was set up...

And the game began, as the scene before them changed in a whirl of smoke. "Nee-sama," Mokuba whispered from outside the classroom, the room having shifted to that scene already as pawns and knights flew across the board. "That day... You'd already known what you were going to do, didn't you," he asked quietly.

"Of course she did." The two turned, frowning as Kisara stared blankly toward them with those words. All these memories... She'd almost forgotten the girl was there, watching their every move and gauging their reaction. "Seto-sama studied all of Gozaburo-sama's movements, all of his strategies," she explained, "Until, before the match, she had formulated a plan for each and every move he could make. It was the ultimate cheat," the girl continued blandly, "And it was such intelligence that earned your place in the Kaiba mansion." This girl...

Tch! Inside the room, the game had passed its half-way point, with the occasional idle comment on the quality of the board, or the intelligence of the move arising during the time coming to that moment. But as the game progressed further, Gozaburo began to fall silent. He narrowed his eyes, even pausing at some of his moves before staring at the board with both incredulity and shock...

And possibly even awe. "Gozaburo-sama knew that you cheated," Kisara said plainly, repeating the fact that had remained unsaid for so long. "And yet, he took you in... Why is this, I wonder," she continued, both Seto and Mokuba staring with narrowed eyes as they turned from the window. "Why would such a man take in one whom he knew had attempted to fool him..? This is where it all began," she continued, holding out her hands as she looked to the two. "This is the path that leads to 'that memory'. It is an important one," the girl told them, the siblings gritting their teeth in annoyance. "One I must find, for that is Noa-sama's wish. It is his wish that you see this memory," she pressed, "That you remember, before it is too late." Too late..?

What... "What the hell are you talking about," she muttered, staring at the girl. "What on earth..."

"There is a time," she told them in her same flat tone, eyes appearing almost shadowed. "A time you have forgotten. And even if I must repeat every occurrence within your mind," she told them, "I will find it." Every... Single... What...

What..!

And with that another door appeared, a field of darkness replacing most of the scenery in a blast of wind that knocked any clear words from her mouth. Arms were brought up as a shield, eyes covered by the hat she wore, until finally the gale died down for a small light to appear in the corner. "This..."

As the door opened, the girl gestured to the side, blank face still staring toward them with half-lidded eyes. "Welcome home..."

It was the mansion... From over seven years ago.

The door behind him, made simply from a hanging cloth that was nailed and forced into a stone archway, appeared about as oddly placed as anything else he'd seen that apparently resided in his mind and subconscious thoughts. Whatever was beyond the cloth was clearly different from what was around them it seemed though, as the other side of the arch was unchanged, and made of empty space. All the same...

Something told him this was the 'meal ticket' that Noa had mentioned, and that if he didn't take it, he wouldn't be finding a way out anytime soon. "So you're going in then," the spirit in his mind asked, Katsuya nodding in response.

"Not like there's anything else to do..." There was no answer in that regard to that comment, the blond moving forward and beyond the cloth curtain as he pushed it back with his free hand. In an instant, the change was apparent, even as his eyes closed over. The sanded ground was replaced with soft plush carpet... The beating sun swapped out for chandelier lighting, with stairways and lusciously painted walls taking the place of the stone. Dust and grime seemed to clean itself off his skin in an instant, and the clothing that had grown stiff with dirt now floated as the waving robes were meant to do. Despite this change however, it was not the numerous 'what's that surprised him.

Rather, it was the 'where', something that caused the blond to freeze in place and look around the room with wide eyes. "You've been here before then," his partner asked with evident surprise, Katsuya nodding in response.

"Hah! Try 'live'... Th's 's Seto-chan's house," he muttered with a swallow, the ghost appearing to pause with the words.

"Seto... Chan," he asked somewhat blankly, Katsuya rolling his eyes.

"Oh c'mon, it ain't like y' knew her b'fore t' know abou' any name d'f'rences... 'Nless there's somethin' y' wanna tell me," he added dryly, glaring at midair as the ghost again paused.

"Yes... Of course not... Still," the spirit muttered, "From your interactions with others, I'd have thought... Hnn..."

The ghost appeared to trail off in his mutterings, Katsuya rubbing his head as he wandered the halls. Secretive ghosts aside... Time to figure out where the hell he was in this whole 'memory/computer' scheme. "Damn this is some weird shit," he muttered, shaking his head as he passed a painting of the year's 'hanami' trip. Way too damn weird.

"Ohhh... I don't know about that," his 'friend drawled. "It's probably not as weird as everything else you've experienced..."

Everything else? "An' jus' how would you know," the blond asked somewhat accusingly, again turning to thin air on impulse. "You told me y' couldn' see my memories," he continued, "Jus' th' top thoughts."

"True," the spirit answered, "But if this was beyond your comprehension," he continued with a chuckle, "You'd likely be holding a conversation with that suit of armor, wouldn't you." Suit- Katsuya jumped as his attention was drawn to the suit in question, the blond nearly crashing back into the massive set of red coloured armor in his panic.

"N-NHYYY! Tha- That wasn' there b'fore!" And neither was that blue one... Or the green one for that matter! Damn it! Dull laughter continued in the back of his mind as he continued to panic, the blond swallowing as he stepped away from the red and silver suit. "S-Sheesh... Don' creep me out like tha'," he growled to his partner, "'m havin' a weird 'nough day as it is... Lost in my own head..."

"Perhaps then, I could assist you." Ah what?

The blond turned toward the source of these words, eyes widening as they met with a small boy in white. The boy looked almost familiar in fact, despite his obvious young age. A mop of silvery white hair, along with grey eyes that seemed to come from his memories... However, the rest seemed all too out of place he realized fairly quickly. The skin was as pale as his clothing, and sprouting from his waist and back were four brilliant and feathered white wings that matched in complexion. Even odder however, were the odd metal protrusions in the place of his ears, a small bit of the devices covering over his forehead to point a horn forward in the shape of some sort of bizarre helmet. It was as though he'd been mashed together with some sort of monster, incomplete in design and juvenile in appearance. As though something was missing...

Yet he couldn't help but think he knew this boy. "Y-You... Who are..."

"I am 'SERAPH'," the boy stated plainly, bowing his head politely before staring forward with dull and faded eyes. "I am a program created by Noa-sama," he continued, "Formed from your thoughts with the intent of leading you throughout your fragmented memories." Woah... This thing came from his head?

And more on that topic, his memories were... "Fragmented," he repeated, raising an eyebrow. Just how the hell were they-

His thoughts were cut short by a snort in the back of his mind, the spirit evidently finding something inaccurate about the situation. "'Seraph'," he burst out in surprise, looking over the thoughts the blond had on the boy. "...Oh PLEASE," the ghost muttered as he rolled his eyes, "He looks nothing LIKE-"

"What w's that," he asked somewhat innocently, the ghost tensing. He knew something?

The ghost immediately choked, shaking himself off and choosing to save his rant for another time. "Nothing," he muttered, voice quieting. "Nothing at all." Yea...

That was bullshit and he knew it. But besides that, it was probably better to pay attention to the 'program', given that the 'ghost' was probably going to be there for a while. This kid... "Seraph righ'," he asked, the boy staring blankly in response as his charge continued. "Y' said my memories were... Fragmented," he said again, adjusting the staff in his hands.

The boy nodded, before turning to gesture down the hall as he moved. "Correct; if you could follow me," he told him, Katsuya shrugging as he did just that. "I will explain... As I stated moments before," the boy began, "Your memories are fragmented. Though most are straightforward, fitting perfectly into the life that you live now," he continued seriously, "Many appear to be from a time not accessible to yourself. They depict things that reach beyond the laws of physics, and beyond my own understanding. More over," Seraph continued, looking back at the blond with his default blank-eyed gaze, "They are divided into fragments, locked in the depths of your subconscious." Locked in his-

Hold on... So these weren't visions, they were memories? (Or the past ones at least..?) Katsuya stared, frowning somewhat as he stopped half way through the hall. Thinking about it now, he supposed it made sense; why the heck would he see visions of the 'past' right? Useless. But if they were memories... "If they're locked away... Then how c'n you get t' them," he asked, frowning as the boy turned.

"I cannot access what is locked away," Seraph answered, blinking slowly before continuing on down the hall. "I can only know that they are there, and that they are inaccessible. As I said," he continued, wings seemingly casting light against the shadows of the hall, "Your memories are fragmented... There, but not there. It is all very strange," the boy told him, "And it is for that reason I was sent to guide you."

Eh? This kid was to keep him from losing himself! "O... Oh..." He blinked, rubbing his head as he looked around the halls they were walking down. Creepy... Though looking around, he supposed he could see why. Portraits of sorts were hanging on the wall he noted, despite the real counterpart normally being bare. They seemed to flicker as he passed, shifting in imagery, from 'memory' to 'memory' regardless of whether or not he considered it his. Christmas dinner... Summer with Shizuka and Mokuba... Someone striking a crocodile down with fire as a small boy screamed, claws tearing the side of the boy's face... And someone commenting on... Well, 'something' he was wearing. A 'hat' it seemed. And following this, conversations of scars...

'Yeeeeep,' he heard himself muttering, the image of himself dabbing the side of a boy's cheek with brine water coming to mind. 'That'll probably end up as one,' he muttered, the boy holding back a wince in the sting of the salt water to frown.

'What? A scar on my face,' he shouted, before crossing his arms. 'Maaaaan...'

At this he could hear himself snorting, ruffling the boy's hair. 'Hey hey now, don't be too upset... It looks cool,' he shouted with a grin, laughing loudly. 'And if anyone asks where you got it, you can say 'I got in a sword fight,' he continued, receiving a groan in response.

'But I got this from a rock running from that crocodile,' the boy muttered sheepishly, the memory of his 'other' self merely grinning. 'It wasn't even something cool, like the crocodile!'

'Well. They don't know that, now do they?'

Just where were these conversations coming from he asked himself as the voices ended, the group turning into another hall. These memories in his head, where were they from..?

And this Noa guy... There were so many similarities to the one he'd heard about in December, but that just couldn't be right! "...Jus' who is Noa," he asked his guide, Seraph turning with blank eyes as they turned down another hall.

"You know who Noa-sama is," he said plainly, Katsuya frowning in the resulting confusion.

He supposed so, but... That just raised more questions on the matter entirely! "So I know who he is... He's tha' kid Hobson told me abou' then," he continued, "But that doesn' explain how he's here."

Seraph briefly paused, turning to look up at the blond with blank eyes. "Ah- Of course; I understand," he told him. "I will explain; Noa-sama resides within this realm as a program," he began, Katsuya's eyes widening with the words.

"A... A program," he repeated, the boy nodding in response.

"That's right," Seraph told him. "Noa-sama has been coded into this device for almost nine years now," he went on, eyes showing no emotion in regards to what he said. "He has been unable to die since the day of his accident."

The Kaiba Mansion looked almost identical in appearance to what it looked like from the real life counterpart, even after the six years that had passed. There had been very few changes since Gozaburo's death after all; the paint still gleamed regally, and the carpet was still plush and vacuumed, with marble flooring creating an echo beneath their feet. Things like this held no specific memories of the man; so why bother changing them? The company had been what represented that man, that company and all that she had sought to destroy. By this point, there was only one thing remaining of that... The mansion was not it.

But the mansion they stood in now however was not the mansion of their time either, and as they moved, it seemed that the house did the traveling 'for them'. Without moving an inch the halls passed by them... And in just moments they realized what was happening. "This... It's the day we were adopted," Mokuba whispered, watching as from across them a slightly younger Hobson led the two children down to their rooms.

'You will live on a tight schedule,' she'd been told, Mokuba having been given a room on the right wing while she received one surrounded by class rooms on the right wing. 'There is much you need to learn after all. You will take an assessment class and test in one hour as well,' he'd continued seriously, 'So be warned.' Assessment... Hah!

As if it could be called that! As if being grilled for all the knowledge of her current classes and then so could be considered 'assessment'! The only reason she did so well in her English that day, earning the right to an 'advanced' teacher beyond most of Gozaburo's control was because of her father... With everything else it had simply been a 'we have much to work on', and endless hours of studying! The room shifted in response to the thoughts it seemed, taking them to the small section of a library where she'd spent so much of those years in life. By this point she could tell it had already been a number of hours since her 'assessment' of that time; she was nodding off as the teacher explained what sorts of things to expect from her next classes for physics, head snapping back each time she caught herself from sleeping in the midst of a class meant for those at least four years older. And then...

-SNAP!-

A great, stunning crack came through the air, a switch having landed on the table to jerk her from her approaching slumber. The 'small' Seto looked up with shock, staring at the 'assistant teacher' Gozaburo had hired into the room with wide eyes as the man sneered. 'Listen closely,' he warned, lips curled back with distaste. 'You were adopted to surpass Gozaburo, so that you can successfully further this company. And until then,' he went on, 'There will be no sleep, not unless you plan on leaving here with your brother...'

That threat had been all that was needed to put fear in her eyes, and with a stiff nod she'd given her answer. 'I understand,' she'd responded fearfully, hands clenching her knees as she stared at the switch. 'It won't happen again...'

'It better not... Unless you want the next snap of the switch to be on your back...' The teacher in front of them had seemed to stare at them oddly through this exchange. And in the coming days, when the switch did indeed connect, it seemed none of those staring teachers would open their mouths, plenty of money lining their pockets to keep them silent. Her only escape had been that English class... Where they had felt no need to worry about her skills.

Where there was no 'assistant', no ragged and break-neck schedule planned out by her new father, no watchful eyes to send her into a paranoid fit looking over her shoulder, wincing with the expectation of the next strike. She hadn't realized she was in the 'right' back then though. She'd had a suspicion, but she'd never realized... That she could have actually fought back even then, rather than waiting those few years.

"This is the wrong one," came a flat tone, pulling Seto from her thoughts abruptly.

"N-Nn!"

The scenery shifted again, smoking from existence. Dinner, first night she realized immediately, the elaborate and over-the-top banquet of food that would forever be their dinner so long as the man lived meeting their eyes. "So Seto," her 'father' had asked, sitting at the far opposite end of the table as the children turned from their end. "Tell me... What are your plans for Kaiba Corporation?" Hn!

Even now she couldn't help but snort, despite the fact that she had held a completely different reaction that day. That kind of question was obvious after all... There was only one possible answer in the end. "Ah..." But even though she'd known the answer, it had still caught her off guard as she ate. "...I plan on building amusement parks," she'd eventually said, Gozaburo visibly tensing at the words.

"...Amusement parks," he'd repeated, narrowing his eyes. It was almost as though he'd truly expected her to say something else really... Almost as though for him, he'd had the conversation already, and that he had only just realized it was someone else he was speaking to. She'd chalked it up to expectations back then.

But something seemed off. Something seemed dangerously off about the look that she'd missed in his eyes... "That's right," Mokuba, the false one, was saying now, his voice merely hovering in the background as she observed the man before her. "Nii-sama hopes to build theme parks all over the world, a place where orphans like what we used to be can go to play for free," he cheerfully announced, fully expecting their new father to share their beliefs.

Gozaburo had stared at them in silence, as though expecting them to say 'just kidding' within any moment. But there was nothing else for them to say... So in the end he'd snorted, and returned to his meal. Returned with apparent hopes to cast the topic aside and force it out later on. "Hn! How boring," he'd muttered, both children staring incredulously at what had been their dream for so long.

"Boring..? Games aren't boring," she'd shouted, narrowing her eyes as she stood from her seat. Her fists had smacked against the table to send a slight shudder through the furniture as their 'father' paused once more. "Games bring people together, purifying the soul! They allow people to think clearly," she continued with an argumentative roar, "To take a break from the stresses of the world... How can you say something so important is boring," she continued, eyes widening as her 'father' stared.

"How? Hn! The world doesn't turn for games and amusement parks," the man growled in response, placing his silverware down as he turned on the girl with grit teeth. "The reason I adopted you was so that you could further this company, not scrap it down for 'toys' the moment I hit the grave! Hobson," he shouted, the old man bowing from the side at that moment before stepping forward. "Confiscate any and all playthings you find in Seto's room and luggage," he'd ordered, the Seto of that time left watching with a shocked and confused frown. "And until you realize the meaning of this company," he warned the girl, "You won't be seeing those again..."

She never did get those things back... And as the scene shifted once again, the girl having been taken to her room to help find all of these things, Seto found herself narrowing her eyes. "How incredible," she could remember Hobson muttering, arms laden with the numerous things he'd found stowed away in her one bag. "After taking all of these, there's barely any clothing at all... We'll have to take you in for some new clothes," he'd told her, the girl merely sitting stubbornly and silently at the side. "So that you can be prepared for whatever events Gozaburo-sama has in store. ...Your next class begins shortly," he'd continued, giving a warning bow before leaving the room. "Prepare yourself..."

Her response was merely to sit on the edge of the bed as she had been, staring at the wall with narrowed eyes. And at this point, the scene moved to a completely different location yet again, only one that she couldn't recall. At least not for a moment. "Nh- this..." Seto blinked, looking up from the balcony they stood on to stare at the far right wing. Over there was her window, where Jonouchi had peered in on her long before... And that meant...

"This... My balcony," Mokuba said with a swallow, turning back to watch as his own young counterpart stared longingly toward his sister's room. The younger form was considerably shorter than her brother, if that was even possible... And despite the young age, it seemed as though he understood just what was happening, and just what their 'father' was doing. "...I remember this," he whispered, eyes growing distant and misty as he spoke. "I'd wanted to help so..." So he'd taken a knife from the kitchens, she realized, the images flashing through her head from the likely interference of either Noa or their guide. He'd cut out the pages of one of the library's books, some old 'Ancient History' novel ironically, and slipped in his entire deck of cards before pulling the book shut using another book cover. And after that...

"Hobson," he'd called out, meeting with the man in the hall. The old man had looked down, staring at the small boy with an odd expression as he returned from where he'd locked the toys away, expression more or less neutral as he bowed his head.

"Hn..? Is something wrong then, Mokuba-sama?"

The boy shook his head, swallowing nervously. "Ah... No... It's just... It's just that nii-sama forgot this book," he'd told him, holding it out as Hobson looked it over. "I was wondering if you could give it back to him." The relief he must have felt when the man nodded and walked away... When rather than opening it, he'd simply held it closed...

The scene shifted to one she was more familiar with, Seto staring almost blankly at her collapsed, couch-ridden form. At the exhausted form she held, even with a few hours left before what would become her standard 'bed time'. The book was dropped in front of her face... And as she looked to it in disdain, she found herself only dully listening to the butler's words at that time. "Seto-sama," Hobson warned softly, placing a hand on her shoulder in a calming gesture. "Classes begin in an hour; try not to sleep too long," he'd continued, the girl nodding stiffly in response.

"I understand," she'd told him with her usual, stubbornly masked tone, waiting for the man to leave. "I won't be late." And as soon as he was out of sight, as soon as she looked over the cover of the book that was it. She'd had enough... Her face had twisted from her indifferent mask into that of a demonic rage and she'd turned on the device with all the anger that had built up throughout the day. "AHHHHHRRRGH!" The book was tossed to the side of the room, even leaving a small and pinprick dent in the wall to the side. But when something fell from its covers she'd paused, picking it up off the ground and opening it with surprise as she ignored a papercut the crudely shaped hole within left her with. "Eh... This..."

There'd been a letter in there... A crudely written letter that spoke of writing through memory rather than proper structure. 'Nee-sama,' Mokuba had written, 'I know things are hard, but we'll pull through right? I'll try to visit in class,' he continued cheerfully, 'But until then, use these to relax, okay? I love you... - Mokuba' All hiragana, nothing else... Mokuba was still learning how to write let alone know any kanji after all, so it was only expected. Flipping through the cards she could remember laughing, shaking her head at the images that met her eyes. 'Kid cards', she'd told herself. Weak ones, the only kind that weren't snatched away from the 'toy pile' at the orphanage really. And at the end...

Her smirk had fallen for the emotion of slight shock, eyes widening in surprise as she picked up a crudely cut piece of paper. "Ah..." Drawn in crayon it sat before her, hiragana characters sitting at the top to name what would be written in katakana. A great big, blue-white dragon with a ridiculously large blue eye, blasting out a torrent of equally blinding flames in a scribble. 'Buru-Aisu Howaito Doragon'. Hahaha... 'Blue-Eyes White Dragon'... He'd made her a blue eyes... He'd made... "...Just wait," she'd promised herself, holding the cards close and replacing the deck and book on a shelf in the room, "Someday, I'll get the real dragon... I promise... No matter what..." She'd promised...

"And you 'always' keep your promises, don't you," Noa asked, a smirk on his face as the others turned toward his form.

"Gh- You," the woman snarled, quickly finding herself cut off by the expression on the boy's face.

The boy smirked, taking a step behind the program he'd created as he brushed a hand across the back of her head. "I see that Kisara has been working hard," he chuckled, watching as the other two glowered. The boy almost seemed to interact with the child as a parent would a favoured daughter, an image flawed only by his height. And as he brushed the girl's head he shook his own, smirk still in place as his eyes closed over somewhat. "So many memories," he muttered, the words triggering a response from the program.

"This one wasn't it," the girl responded, continuing to stare ahead despite the slight worry laced in her tone.

Noa merely continued to smirk, evidently perfectly fine with this fact. "Oh... Don't worry," he assured the girl, moving back from her to look toward the others. "I'm sure we'll find it eventually," he stated, the voice almost taking a threatening turn as a result.

Gh... This bastard... "What the hell do you want," Seto spat, eyes wide with rage as she stared the boy down. "Showing us all of this... What is it inside my head that's so important to you," she roared, drawing her sword but nonetheless standing in place. "What do you WANT from us!"

The boy snapped his fingers, taking them to an office hallway within a wave of dust as he shrugged. "Important to me," he asked, feigning surprise on his face. "Absolutely nothing. But to you," he whispered almost threateningly, "Everything. There's something important you need to know," he warned, raising his voice as he drifted back with an almost insane gleam in his eyes. "Something you've forgotten... As to what that is," the boy finished, vanishing from sight completely as Seto grit her teeth. "...Allow me to refresh your memory," he whispered, briefly appearing behind the woman as he whispered in her ear.

"Gh- Noa..!" The woman turned instantly as she was met with thin air, eyes widening with rage. "NOAAAAA! Get back here," she screamed, clutching her blade in her hand as she looked about the hall. "If you want to tell us something then TELL US OUT RIGHT! Stop forcing us to fish through our own minds!" Their only answer was a series of chuckles though, and with that, the woman turned away with a thick scowl. Before them, another door had appeared... Kisara stood at the side of it, waiting expectantly as the others stared, waiting for the rage to pass and the silence to be broken. This door... "Tch... Mokuba," she told her brother, reeling in her anger as the boy stared. This wasn't the time... They needed to get out, and for now, that meant listening to the bastard that had them cornered. "No matter what," she continued, "We can only move forward understand? There is no looking back, no matter what lies beyond this door..."

A short silence was her answer, before the boy nodded determinedly. "Right," he said quickly, his sister reaching for the door handle. "...Let's go, nee-sama."

The door was opened. For a moment blinding light filled the air, both of the siblings shielding their eyes in the glare. A wind blasted past, disintegrating the door and bringing them within whatever room lay beyond. Within seconds however it had cleared, with both staring in slight shock yet again as the memory beyond the door was revealed.

"This..." Mokuba's eyes widened as he stepped forward, staring in shock. "This is..."

"CEO's office of KaibaCorp..." But it wasn't the same she realized quickly enough, staring toward the chair that faced them back first. For one, the chair was completely different... But for another the computer was gone, papers littered the desk almost haphazardly rather than sitting stacked beside a bamboo plant. But more importantly, as a shadow was cast across the floor...

"Can I help you," the man had asked, Seto taking in a sharp intake of breath at the sound of her 'father's voice.

Just ahead of her 'she' appeared, the form she'd held at a mere fourteen, ghosting through the real life counterparts with a scowl across her face. "It's about the Virtual System I developed," she'd said stonily, eyes wide with evident anger. Vocal lessons... The vocal lessons had just completed she realized, her past voice sounding just slightly higher than the cover she used now, combined with the high-collared jacket she'd used for fear her lack of an adams apple would be discovered. But if she was right...

Then that meant she knew what this day was. "There's nothing to talk about Seto," Gozaburo told her plainly, turning on the chair as he gripped a number of papers tightly in his hands. "We've talked about this before," he continued, "Now leave the room before I have you sent out."

But she didn't leave the room. Instead she held her ground, an icy glare forming in a close predecessor to the one she so knew now, fists clenched in determination that was so typical of most her age. "No; you know why I created that program," she'd roared, shaking on the spot. "'Virtual Reality' is meant for entertainment, not weapons systems! And yet you want me to hand it over so you can test some kind of... 'Satellite'," she pressed incredulously, "Something that could potentially set the entire world against itself?"

Gozaburo, needless to say, had had enough of his 'son's arguing... And as the man stood from his chair to push a button on the phone at the side, Seto felt herself wince despite the knowledge that it wasn't there. Despite the knowledge that all of this had already happened long ago, and frankly, that if she wanted she could punt the fool through a window had this even begun to happen again. She still winced; the scars on her back didn't want others after all, and the memories of fear and paranoia were more difficult to cut off completely than she'd thought. "I asked you to leave," the man was warning, eyes narrowed as his voice hovered over the air. "Did you not hear me properly? We have discussed this- I will be taking the program you developed for your 'test'," he explained with a finite tone, "And I will use it to further the company that you will soon take over, do you understand?"

"Do YOU?" Maybe it was the shock that allowed her to continue as she did, shouting with as much gall as she had. She'd never shouted at Gozaburo like this. Never. True, she had clearly shown her anger and hate for the classes, but for some reason the back of her mind had told her to just bear with. But now she didn't care. He'd taken everything by this point after all... Her voice, her name, her identity altogether... Yet he'd never even once threatened to make Mokuba leave, even at her worst moments. What worse could he do? What more could he have possibly done? "This isn't meant for war," she'd snarled with that in mind, reassuring herself that Mokuba would be safe. "It's meant for games! For children and their families to calm down after a long day of work and spend time with each other, you can't just twist it for you own ide- Gnggh!"

Papers scattered across the air as Seto closed her eyes, her younger self ducking under the sheafs tossed her way. "Don't make me LAUGH," her 'father' had spat, throwing the papers across the room and in her face. "Your foolish dreams of amusement parks and video games mean nothing to the world Seto! MEN don't sit around playing with cards all day, and neither does any SON of mine! Now you listen," the man growled, look almost demonic from where he stood before both her younger self and her present one, "As my son you are going to take over this company in my absence... A company devoted to dominating the world through military trade, something YOUR program can help attain. Not just in weapon systems either; defense systems, observation... You WILL give me that program Seto, if you expect to succeed in anything!"

No... That was the last straw. The final load she refused to bear. No... No... "NO! You're wrong Tou-san... Wrong," she'd growled, shouting her rage and venting all that had built up over the years. "This is just twisted, sick, and- Gh- HEY!" At that moment Gozaburo's two security suits had come in, grabbing her by the arms as she pulled roughly from their grip. "G- Let me go!"

"I said 'Get out'," the man said plainly, taking a seat as he gestured to the door. "You wouldn't listen; so, I'm doing it for you," he continued, bowing his head. "Take him away; tell Hobson to send him to his room and brief him on his return to class. We'll speak when I get home," Gozaburo added, sending his 'son' a dangerous look as the girl continued to struggle.

"Wh- Let go," she snarled, tugging at the arms as she was pulled back and toward the door. She could remember her thoughts... Her shock at all of this, the surprise that her 'father' would go so far as to remove her from the room to force his way. She should have expected it all, and yet all she had been able to see in the back of her mind was the man that pulled her out of 'Kuma's strike, the one who had given her those days in the summer off at that business 'party', the man who... The man who was a monster, and a master of manipulation, one that she had seen the true colours of from that point on. "Tou-san," she screamed, "TOU-SAN! Please, just listen to me! You can't do this," she roared with wide eyes, "You can't..! Tou-san... TOU-SAN!"

The sound of slamming doors filled the air, and as Seto opened her eyes to the empty black space before them she could see Mokuba looking up at her almost miserably. "...That was the last time I called him by that name," she said quietly, staring at the ground despite her face seemingly looking ahead. "While he never took all of the program data," the woman continued bitterly, "He was still able to attain enough to jump further ahead than he already was. He cut his ties to his partners," she whispered, "Having no more use for them... And behind him he left a bloodied trail on both sides of the battle field..." So she'd made a plan, a voice whispered in the back of her mind, a breeze passing as they were left in thick darkness with Kisara once more. So she'd decided that, before everything went to hell, she would take matters into her own hands...

And in her obsession to succeed over the man, and in her obsession to win, no matter what, her obsession that was created with the realization in regards to Gozaburo's final, erroneous message... Everything was lost. Everything...

Everything..!

"This is still the wrong memory," came Kisara's usual words, the woman no longer caring about what the girl said. Bring what memory came next, bring the screams and the blood she'd spilt, she would take it all. She didn't care any more... At the side however, Mokuba seemed to fix the girl with a gaze of fire, his hands gripping the wakizashi at his sides as his sister stood limp. "Perhaps another one... December 5th, 2010, 12:41PM," Kisara began, Seto's blood draining from her face as Gozaburo's mad and dying cackle met the air. That date... The woman forced herself to stand still, pushing the memories to the back of her mind as her thoughts from mere moments prior were proven wrong. "Or May 7th of 2011," she continued, Seto's eyes widening further as her sword fell to the ground. "...December of the same year... January of the next... Or maybe-"

"That's ENOUGH," Mokuba roared, both blades held tightly in his grip as his sister lost herself in the screams around them. "You... I spent so many years, dreaming, wishing to see my sister smile again... To see her make friends with someone who 'knew'," the boy cried, charging the girl before him as tears ran down the sides of his face. "I won't let you do this any more," he screamed, charging the girl as Seto snapped herself from stupor. "I won't let you keep us here!"

"Nngh!"

"MOKUBA," she screamed, realizing what the boy was doing. "N- DON'T!"

For the first time since they'd met, they saw emotion on Kisara's face. A flash of fear, with wide and horrified eyes as Mokuba's blade struck her at an angle and cut her cleanly in two. For a moment, she seemed to hover in place, a thin line dividing the two halves as Mokuba took shuddering and ragged breaths... And then, without warning, the girl burst into a collection of white pixeled light, vanishing in streams of zeroes and ones with a quiet scream.

And then it was Mokuba's turn to shout, his eyes widening as a deep rumble passed from below. "Ha-HAAAAAHH!" Crumbling had erupted around the area... Seto charged, skidding on her front to just barely catch her brother's arm as the ground beneath them fell away, fingers wrapping around the boy's wrist as his swords fell to the chasm below. The screams were continuing... Monsters were eating at her body, the same as that old nightmare she'd thought she'd shaken away with her 'revival'. Mokuba's screams joined in from the events of Death-T as she remembered, but rather than helping, rather than saving him, she had laughed... She'd...

"Mokuba! Gh..." The woman tightened her grip, her brother staring down at the chasm in horror as tears began to dot her eyes. Her brother... How had she ever done that to him... How? How could he look at her as he did, how could he ever speak to her as he did..! "Mokuba... I've got you, so don't let go," she told him, swallowing as more strain and emotion than ever seen on a regular basis entered her tone. "Don't let go... Don't..."

"H-Hahhh... I... I'm sorry," the boy cried, weakly holding on as tears flooded his face. "I just wanted her to stop," he whispered, slowly being pulled up the cliff of darkness that had appeared. "I just wanted the screaming to stop, to keep it from going back to... To..."

The boy was pulled close, though for whose comfort it was uncertain as his sister's arms wrapped around him. "I know," Seto whispered, slowly standing up as she looked over the side of the cliff. "I know... It'll be alright though," she continued, partially to herself. "We... We'll just find our own way out. We just need to be cautious... We need to..." She trailed off, holding the boy close as the screams continued to erupt around them, bringing forth emotions she had long since worked at forcing back. "Nggh..." Pain... "Hnggg..!" The monsters were back, gnawing at her bones, peeling the skin from her very flesh, and yet nothing was happening, it was all in her mind...

"N-Nee-sama," her brother cried, tears visible in his eyes as he forced the woman to open her own and look down. "N-Nee-sama..!"

"It's not there," she told him, looking at him as the realm continued to collapse, screams echoing around them. Was he seeing these things? Was... Was he in danger..? "It's not there," she continued despite her own pain, "Just ignore them... It's not..."

"But it is there, isn't it," a voice muttered, Seto pulling her brother close only to tense as a 'spotlight' fell around them. Beside them, and somewhat to the distance stood Noa, but unlike his previous appearances his eyes were filled with rage. They were wide and maddening, and as he hovered above them it was plain that he was done 'joking' with them. "You... To think that someone with such a close bond, and such a difficult life... You killed her..." The two swallowed, looking to where Noa was staring down as he continued. "I created that girl from your dearest memories, and you killed her... Of all the things..." The sky appeared to disintegrate behind the boy... Vanishing into nothing but darkness and the occasional string of code, leaving them to hover in place. It was darker than the black around them, darker than any void in space, than anything possibly seen by the human eye... There was nothing there. It was simply empty. Nothing. And Noa stood at the center of it all, like some demonic god of shadows. "You... Find your own way through your memories," he told them, snapping his fingers as a vast and barren wasteland appeared around them, no wind blowing about them as they looked around in shock. The screams were gone... But Noa still spoke, and any humor or charisma that he'd held before had vanished from his words. "Until I decide what to do with you," he growled, "You won't find anyone... No monsters, no humans, no life... You will be alone," he sneered, eyes narrowing briefly before regaining the insane expression from before. "Left to find your own way... So good luck," he called out, disappearing into a shower of pixels as a crazed and rage filled grin came over him. "And enjoy the prison of your own memories," he snarled. "Because you can't ignore the past... Seri!"

Those were the last words he left them with and it was with those words that Seto found herself standing by her brother in silence, eyes still as wide as they were with the arrival of the screams and nightmares. A breeze was passing now, and the wind was blowing just enough to bring a gust of wind beneath her cloak... But for the first time in a while, she found herself wondering...

Just what were they supposed to do now?

AN: Ummmmmm... Find a map? (That wasn't funny. I'm sorry.)

Alright! So following this we get Jou VS Oka, which should be fun... We'll also get a small bit from Noa at the start, so heres to that... Following that chapter, expect some lead up into Shizuka-Otogi-Honda VS Ota, annnnd, depending on the amount of space in the chapter, a bit of the outside world as well.

On a MUCH more important note, I have a job now! What does this mean?

Well, I'm working five days a week, and I spend the sixth one with a friend... In other words, SLOW UPDATES. It'll probably take about a week per, given that I have long hours (And awesome pay, hehe), and would rather not tick my friends off by spending every free hour outside that on a computer typing fanfiction. It's called life.

You never know though; I've warned everyone about slow updates before and in the end nothing changed. And the fact is, I don't actually spend that long typing (Probably takes... 4, 5 hours for a full chapter, start to update?)... So who knows.

Also, the song 'Kagefumi Etoranze' is awesome, but not subtitled. Right now, I'm kinda picking apart a google translation to make decent lyrics (it couldn't translate pebble, how pathetic is that?)... But hey, it's good for what I'm typing up next chapter in terms of mood.

With all that out of the way, given the timing of things, there are NO COLOURED PICTURES. And probably won't be for a while; timing and all you know? I'd rather get the chapter out to you within a week rather than delay it a full second week to colour something all crude-like.

I do however have a screenshot from the anime for Noa's crazy face, right here. Remove the spaces, paste the link: http : / / naraku. us/ noa/ 103/ 103x40. jpg

Anonymous Review Responses

First off, hey there Crazikido2! First off, keep at the reading; I'm always happy to get new readers, and hopefully by the time you get here to see your response you aren't brain dead… The length is a little intimidating I would imagine. (Very sorry about that.)

But why is it cold in LA? I would think it's colder here, in Southern Ontario, though that's not really true any more now that spring is finally here… In any case, given that your latest review was chapter 59, I'd say that you'll make it to the end fairly soon... So until then, happy reading! (And yes, he kinda is whipped...)

Thank you Lurkerella~ Thank you~

As a matter of fact RandomProjects, yes. Yes Ren IS Malik. I'm glad you like the riddles as well, as that was a fairly self conscious point for me.

Of course, so was 'Ren', hehehehe.

And yes! Right up there, a nice update mixed with mindscrew on the past and answers on the present. And of course, for Seto's memories, we just get 'BAWW.' Because those memories are no fun.

And trust me; Anzu might not get it, but Ren certainly has a sneaking suspicion on things… (I had far too much fun with the panda deal)

Actually, what I meant was that it means BOTH; the kanji can mean either blue or pale, it just depends on how its used. You probably should stop using the Chinese kanji like that though, ahahaha…

This is true. But clearly Cornelius brings up nasty memories Iona, along with Cornelius… THE SECOND!

Yea, I always found it hilarious that the penguin guy was not only the one going after more than plain old vengeance but also the most expressive of the big five… (Seriously, the others have faces of STONE.)

I'm glad you like the background! Most of it actually came from the anime; the only exception is 'Dad', who somehow got stuck in the line of fire trying to get Ishizu back to Japan… After all, there were a few months between her arrival and the competition; she'd have had work in Egypt still.

Back on Anzu though, I feel like I was a little too happy about making that happen… …Oh well. I hope you enjoy this chapter, and I'll see you soon!

Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner

The section that's going to beat you with a MAGIC STICK.

It'll make sense next chapter.

The chapter title 'Where it All Began' kinda speaks for itself I would think.

Anzu really does say 'I was scared' in the anime. I figure this situation would probably warrant that same line still.

Also ship-tease! (Even though we already know this fanfic ends in Peachshipping… Why the heck is it 'peach' though, ANZU MEANS APRICOT.) Along with... Not-Shiptease. (Erm... Manipulashipping anyone?)

And now that you all know Malik is Ren, you're gonna be picturing some weird crap.

Like Anzu stroking his hair. Which is pretty close to what she's doing now by rubbing his snake-y little head. It's like the Shizuka-RobotMonkey!Honda situation! AHAHAHA.

Originally, we had two sneeze takes here in the anime, referencing the joke the Japanese have in that if someone is talking about you, you'll sneeze. First, Yugi mentions that Honda can't duel (Honda sneezes, and Otogi asks if he has a cold, as they've just escaped the dinosaur attacking Shizuka… Which Honda drove into a lake.)…

Then Yugi mentions, after Anzu agrees, that Shizuka doesn't even know the rules… (Shizuka sneezes, and Otogi pushes Honda away for giving her germs... At which point Honda's all 'Then I'll give you germs!' and tackles him. IT GOT PRETTY WEIRD.)

Of course, things are different here, but nonetheless. Oh Malik, you line stealing snake! (PUNS.)

Speaking of Malik, Noa's actually brought up a good point here, albeit in passing; see, Malik's hate and anger are all being used up by, well… The embodiment of his hate and anger (cough'Yami-Malik'cough). His is all gone! In other words, he has to borrow it off his host… While this worked fairly well with Bakura (Lets face it, Bakura was pissed too), this gets a little weird with Anzu…

And Noa's right; Malik's pretty much starving the woman of those emotions unless he's touching her, which is part of why she got so weepy. (And also why she's capable of mad cackling while that thing is on her wrist. Yeaaaaaaaaaa… He's a little bit of an amplifier given that his own present emotions get to double back...)

Yugi's still not sure about 'Ren' of course… He just can't prove anything right now. So until then, enjoy the former antagonist being the team pet. (This will actually help him not end up dead by the end of Battle City...)

How good of a duelist is Otogi? It's a good question. He never duels in the manga, but the fact is, in the anime, he and Jonouchi did play each other using booster packs picked at random… So he's probably not someone to mess with.

In Japan, the wake and funeral are generally in the same date; this is because, what with it being Japan, most people (98.2% actually) are cremated. Even with this, funerals in Japan are among the most expensive world wide! (Can cost up to the equivalent of 25,000$!)

Generally, the wake will go like this; guests wear black, and will bring condolence money to the next of kin, with the amount being anywhere from 3000 to 30,000 yen. Guests are then seated (next of kin closest to the front), and the Buddhist priest will chant a section from a sutra. Family members then offer incense three times before the deceased (currently in a coffin on dry ice, with six coins, a white kimono, and burnable items they liked sitting with them… They are NOT wearing the kimono, they're wearing their 'last clothes', in this case a suit!)…

The wake ends when the sutra is complete; each departing guest is given a gift (worth about half or 1/4 of their condolence money), and the next of kin may or may not find themselves sitting vigil with the deceased over night.

The funeral procedure itself is fairly similar to the wake; a priest will change a section of sutra, and in addition, provided the deceased was of Buddhist faith, the deceased receives a 'precept name', a 'kaimyo', to superstitiously prevent them from coming back by speaking their old one. These names vary depending on payment for the funeral, and the fact is that these kanji involved are very old, and very rare; with the exception of the Chinese, very few people can read them.

Any ways… At the end of the ceremony, flowers might be placed in the casket, before it's closed off and taken to the crematorium. The family watches as it's slid into the chamber, and afterward pick out the bones from the ashes with chopsticks (in what is the only acceptable time to have two people holding the same object in their chopsticks at once) before putting them in the urn.

On another note, (as you all say 'Wait- HONDA!') in Japan, a tradition that's growing less common is that when the spouse dies, the name of the living one will be carved on their tombstone and covered with red ink, which is removed when that person also dies. This is both to save money, and also to show that they will eventually follow their spouse into the grave. As I said though... It's not followed nation-wide anymore.

Honda? HONDA? That's right; they actually met in passing back then now. Because I'm a prick. And a weirdo. Not that we didn't know this… Since Honda wouldn't have really paid attention to Mokuba at that time (and since Mokuba, despite his mop, would still look VERY different after seven/eight years), and since Seto was still 'Seri' at this point (complete with a dress actually…), he wouldn't have recognized them years later. This is similar to what happens in Mokuba's swingset flashback; Past!Honda doesn't link the two, because it was such a short meeting back then, and he didn't really bother remembering.

Honda's sister likely would of course… But she never sees Kaiba after that, not even once. In any case, what with high-school not being a requirement in Japan (albeit highly recommended), the legal age a person can live on their own is 15. This requires the consent of a 20 year old though…

Luckily, 'Noriko' is not fifteen, she's twenty at this time. Think about it; she has a three year old son, four by the time Battle City comes around. Anyways; so yes, this makes her quite a deal older than Honda (by TWELVE YEARS)… An oddity, but not so uncommon as one would think.

Hey! A note on 'dad' related terms. First off, a few chapters back we had Siegfried refer to his mother as 'Mutti'; this is, in German, about as formal as calling someone 'Mom', or in Japan's case 'Kaa-san', and is fairly 'in the middle'. If used with a more childish tone though, it takes more of a 'mommy' sound to it. ('Kaa-chan', or 'Haha'.)

As for the 'Dad' fun, Seto referred to Gozaburo as 'Tou-san', which is pretty much the same as 'Dad', and definitely not up there with 'Father'. So it's safe to say Kaiba was pretty comfortable with Gozaburo, up until that 'one day'. Now, while Seto and her male counterpart called him 'Tou-san', Noa one ups this with 'Chichi'; this is VERY informal, and is borderline 'Dad/Daddy'… Though given his attachment to the man, and the fact that Noa died when he was 12, it's understandable. In terms of Anzu, she's probably using 'Tou-san' as well... Though who knows.

Originally, all of Jou's scenes (until the end) were filled with him shouting threats to the Big 5 in the anime. He's kinda distracted by Seraph this time around… Though all the direct lead up into his duel comes next chapter. (It's short enough, I checked.) Of course... As to everything else, you now know that the 'ghost' has a living counterpart; how else would it know about 'Kaiba'

?

And back to Kaiba already, the cliff scene was moved; it originally came when Mokuba tried to open the door of the orphanage classroom, wishing to 'change the past' so that his brother wouldn't end up the way he did.

He fell off a cliff instead. D'OH.

And speaking of that, I altered a bit of his line; in the original, he mentions that after that day, Kaiba never smiled. In the fanfic however, she does smile… Just really, REALLY rarely. The fact is, Mokuba feels that's partially due to Jonouchi's involvement, but that's besides the point; he doesn't want that to disappear, so he's fairly ticked at all the trauma Kisara is visibly putting her through. And that trauma is canon too; Kaiba was more or less frozen in place during most of this, speaking only rarely and otherwise watching as it happened... But he really did tense up a few times in regards to what they saw.

Well, that's it for now; there's no art today, so until the next chapter, enjoy!