Ryou wandered into an emptier section of the Kaiba mansion, wanting some air so that he could breathe more easily. The party simply had too many people in too little space for him to feel comfortable. He just needed to find a place where he could be alone until his heart stopped pounding like a runaway train. At least he could tell his therapist that he'd tried. He'd tried, and that was what mattered.

He slipped along the halls like a shadow, trying to find a place he could rest for a bit without being nosy and poking his head into every room. Finally, he found a tall set of intriguing double doors, one of them slightly ajar. He tiptoed up to them and peeked inside. A library. He could hide there for now, then track down Duke later when it was time to leave. He slipped inside and gasped at what he saw. This library easily contained thousands, if not tens of thousands, of books. Yes, he could be comfortable here.

He spotted a plush, wingback chair facing the dormant fireplace and crept over to it as he contemplated the surprising quantity of ghosts wandering around the Kaiba mansion. He wondered if it should worry him. It was so close to Halloween that the apathetic little wraiths he usually ignored appeared more clearly to him. As he curled up in the cozy chair, he could feel their presence, see them approaching him with caution and concern from all corners of the room.

"It's alright, you can come out." He called softly to them, encouraging them to approach him since he had nothing better to do than talk to them. Besides, he'd never seen so many distressed ghosts in one place. Surely they must wish to tell him something if they looked that worried. Whatever they had to say, he would listen with an open mind.

One ghost came right up to him, the spirit of a little girl. Judging by her clothes, she looked like she'd been dead for two hundred years or so.

"Hello there," he greeted warmly as the other spirits congregated around him more slowly. "My name is Ryou."

"My name is Samantha," she said hesitantly, looking nervous. "I've been like this an awful long time, sir."

"You wish to pass over," he observed understandingly. "I can help with that if you wish." He reached under his silvery dress shirt and pulled out the rosary he always wore now that the Millennium Ring was gone. It had been his mother's. He wrapped his hand around the crucifix, knowing that for some reason or other, there was a positive spiritual energy imbued within, an energy that protected him whenever he communed with ghosts. Besides, why else would he have been unable to touch it while in possession of the Millennium Ring unless there was something sacred about it that rejected the Ring's influence?

"I do wish it, thank you," she murmured, starting to look relieved. "We all wish it, in fact, but first, there is something you must know." She fell silent, too frightened to continue.

"Yes, what is it?" Ryou's forehead creased with concern as he studied her expression as she worked up the courage to speak again.

At last, she swallowed past her fear, and whispered two words that seemed to carry a terrible weight and meaning with them: "He's back."

Maybe Duke simply couldn't survive his self-imposed sex-strike, or maybe he was simply too swept up in the party to care about it anymore. He was buzzed on mojitos and his body felt alive from the music and the crowd and the dancing. He had missed the rush and the energy and the excitement of it all.

He and Ryou had split a while ago, agreeing that they'd text each other when they felt they were ready to go home. He'd joined up with Yugi and Joey and the others on the dancefloor, leaving intermittently for drinks before rejoining them again.

Now, though, he wasn't satisfied with just dancing. He needed more. That was when he'd spotted the birthday boy himself, standing off on the outskirts of the party as he sipped his drink with a sour expression. Even though he had no business doing so, Duke strongly disapproved of Kaiba's apparent moodiness. He had the world at his fingertips and was fairly attractive besides. What did he have to be grumpy about? Determined to turn the brunette's frown upside down, Duke swaggered over to the duelist with a sly grin.

"Happy birthday, Kaiba," he greeted as he reached the CEO's side.

Kaiba blinked and turned his cobalt blue gaze on his former classmate. He "hmph'd" in response, but said nothing.

"Come now, Kaiba, I don't even get a hello?" Duke stepped closer to him, bracing one hand high on the wall Kaiba was leaning against.

"Hello."

"That's no way to greet an old friend," Duke chided, refusing to be discouraged by the executive's unresponsiveness.

"We were never friends."

"Then why don't we start now?" Duke offered, dropping his hand from the wall and holding it out to Kaiba. "I'm Duke Devlin, the creator of Dungeon Dice Monsters. Nice to meet you."

Kaiba stared down at Duke's hand, then glared at its owner. He drained his drink and placed it on the tray of a staff-member that passed by.

"You know, Kaiba," the shorter man began, dropping his hand to his side. "If that's how you respond to every offer of friendship, it's no wonder you're so lonely."

Seto started at that, surprise passing from his face to be quickly replaced with annoyance. "I'm not lonely."

"Like hell you're not," Duke retorted, the alcohol getting the better of him as he stepped right up to Kaiba, pressing the brunette's back into the wall, his hands resting on his chest. His fingertips subtlely stroked the smooth fabric of his dark blue shirt as color rose to Seto's cheeks. He was still trying to look annoyed, but now he looked more disgruntled, more... aroused.

"It gets pretty lonely at the top, doesn't it?" Duke murmured, on his toes as he stretched upwards towards Kaiba's face. His veins felt like they were filled with lava, a hot, burning pressure consuming him as his body ached for human intimacy. He'd already gone three months without it, but he still hadn't adjusted enough to the deprivation to prefer it, and right now, he was willing to do anything with and to Seto Kaiba. He hadn't yet been pushed away or told off, so he took that as a good sign.

"All of that money can't take the place of real people, now can it? It's just not good enough," Duke whispered, their faces quite close now as Seto was swept up in the current of Duke's seductive charm. Was he really going to allow this? Was he really going to let himself be seduced by the dark-haired dice-master? Then Duke licked his lips, and Seto was done.

No, he wasn't going to allow this; he was going to claim this for himself, as the pleasure he knew he deserved. His mouth possessed Duke's in a firm, demanding kiss as his hands found Duke's hips and tucked them against his own. The suave, sensual being pinning him to the wall moaned as he did so, encouraging Seto further. He already knew what he wanted from him, knew what he planned on doing with this bold creature who'd dared to call him out on his lies. Pure, unmitigated lust flooded Kaiba's mind as his hips rocked once into Duke's, the motion quickly answered with the same. Good, they were both on the same page concerning where this was going. Just as he was starting to fantasize about clutching Duke's head to his crotch and seeing those bright lips shine with more than his own saliva, everything was ruined for Seto.

"Fag."

He wrenched his mouth away from the other's, looking up to glare at his step-father. He could feel the late Mr. Kaiba's scorn and disgust like sandpaper rasping across his skin even as he felt warm, soft puffs of air against his chest through his shirt. He knew what Gozaburo wanted, and as much as Seto hated letting him win, he couldn't continue this with Duke knowing that Gozaburo would be watching and mocking him the whole time.

"I have to go."

Kaiba dislodged Duke and briskly strode towards the mansion, fleeing the party in order to confront his hallucination. Duke was shocked by this development, and he watched the tall brunette walk away for a few moments before it finally occurred to him to say something.

"Can I at least have a rain check?"

Seto was almost at the door when he turned and smirked at Duke. "Sure," he answered, then disappeared. Duke was still panting from the experience of kissing Kaiba as the man in question stalked the halls of his home, going straight to a place where he knew he'd have total privacy: the library. He slammed the door shut behind him and turned to the translucent image of Gozaburo.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Seto demanded, arms crossed.

"I think the correct question is, what the fuck is wrong with you?" That smug comeback stung more than Seto would ever admit to himself.

"Don't I deserve to be happy? For once, could you just not screw things up for me?" Kaiba already knew what the answer would be, so he didn't know why he bothered asking. Maybe because he would like to hear that question answered in the affirmative at least once in his life.

Gozaburo opened his mouth to answer, but his expression was abruptly transformed from smug hatred to true terror. Sudden white light glowed brightly from behind the man, and Seto shielded his eyes from being blinded. With his arm in front of his face and his eyes screwed shut, he didn't see the doorway to the Afterlife open up behind his step-father. He didn't see the great rush of ghosts that forced Gozaburo Kaiba through that doorway with them as they all passed on to the other side. He didn't see the chalk pentagram glowing on the carpet around Ryou's feet.

When the brightness behind his eyelids faded, Kaiba dropped his arm and opened his eyes, Gozaburo nowhere in sight.

"Yes."

Seto's head snapped to look in the direction of the calm voice that broke the silence. There stood Ryou Bakura, tightly clutching the pendant of his necklace in one fist, stood only a few book-cases away, looking tired and paler than usual, but wearing a soft smile of satisfaction.

"What?"

"Yes, you do deserve to be happy," Ryou replied, his kind words taking Seto by surprise as they struck him in the heart. Kaiba wanted to ask him what he was doing there and what had just happened, but before he could, Ryou took a step forward, swayed, and collapsed, his knees buckling under his own weight.

Seto rushed forward, shoving Gozaburo out of his mind as he tried to rouse the Brit. He was unconscious, though, having passed out. Brilliant. He gingerly lifted the shorter man in his arms, surprised by how light he was. He hesitated for a moment, not sure what to do with him. He did know one thing, though: he wasn't going to leave him alone in the library.

"And with no less nobility of love/ Than that which dearest father bears his son/ Do I impart toward you," Mokuba read aloud as he leaned against the inner wall of his pillow fort. He was reviewing the parts in Hamlet that he'd already read with Seto, because he felt like there was more there for him to understand. These lines reminded him of Seto and himself: even though they were brothers, Seto was the closest thing Mokuba had to a father, and as such he acted and operated as one.

He was contemplating this when Seto himself entered the room, much to Mokuba's surprise. He was even more surprised, though, when he realized that Seto was carrying someone.

"Seto, what—"

"He passed out," Kaiba said brusquely as he approached the pillow fort. "Can you please keep an eye on him and let me know when he wakes up?"

"Of course," Mokuba answered, watching curiously as Seto lay his burden down inside the fort. For the younger Kaiba, it was of more interest to him that his brother was touching another person than the fact that Ryou Bakura had passed out. Kaiba straightened up and glanced down at his guest for a few moments before he cleared his throat and turned away.

"I'll see you later."

"Bye, have fun!"

Seto left the room, still feeling somewhat shell-shocked. He wasn't allowing himself to think about what had happened in the library. He couldn't bear to. Part of him wanted to return to the party, get drunk, and pretend nothing had happened, but he knew that being around people right now would just irritate him, so he instead retreated to the refuge of his own room. His hands trembled, but he couldn't let it show. He was alone, but he couldn't let it show.

Once locked into the safety of his room, he collapsed onto his bed and closed his eyes. He was tempted to sedate himself again, but he decided against it. It was too risky, given the present circumstances. Too many people were around, too many things could go wrong that would require his attention. He'd cope on his own for now.

Author Notes: Okay, maybe that wasn't much of a plot-twist. Maybe you did see it coming, but I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless! And yes, FINALLY Seto runs into Duke and Ryou in this chapter! Separately, of course, but they'll all be in the same room for the first time next chapter... Maybe. ^-^ I dunno know yet.

Anyways, please review and let me know what you think!