Heyyyy... so y'all must be enjoying these regular updates, eh? No? I'm not sure how long it will last, but this seems like a comfortable pace to me :)

I was fast asleep when life decided to fuck me up the ass again; and I don't mean that in the physical sense, because if I did, then at least someone would be fucking me. No; I totally meant it in the Murphy's-Law-And-Satan-Had-A-Baby kind of way. Do you know how long it takes for me to fall asleep? A long fucking time. Do you know who just got woken the fuck up? Me. It's like I can't even sleep without something going the fuck wrong -and I was dead, so I mean, the quality of my life had a default of "shitty" and just sorta alternated between "super shitty" and "not as shitty as it could be"

True to his word, however, Joey let me sleep in his bed while he slept in the clinic with his sister, who he had placed under the physician's supervision (to the poor girl's distaste). He wasn't prepared to take any chances with her, and rightly so. Whatever had happened to her last night was fucking scary. However, that was beside the point at the moment.

In both an abrupt and violent manner, I snatched away from dreamland (goodbye, my dark prince, Sebastian Michaelis), and thrust back into my life (death?). I let out a startled yelp and gripped the sheets as what seemed like an earthquake knocked me into the floor.

"Oh… fuck…" I moaned helplessly as my head collided with the floor. I felt like my entire brain was shifted from one side of my skull to the other and pinched the bridge of my nose wearily, trying to keep my dizziness from making everything much shitter -if you know what I mean. Cautiously, I grabbed the side of the bed and hoisted myself up off the ground, trying not to slip again, only to -wait for it - fall back down again, my feet sliding against the blankets, my back slamming against the ground, this time however, the ground seemed more irritated by the impact than I was.

"Ah… Ow…" the ground hissed from beneath my back. "Not how I imagined waking up with you on top of me, but I'll take it."

That shameless flirting…

"God dammit, Duke."

"S-Sorry," he replied with a pained chuckle. "I couldn't help myself… Now, can you get off of me?"

Yeah, this was also not how I imagined being on top of a boy either, and I was pretty sure my ears were getting impossibly red. "Y-You'd better not be enjoying yourself!" I snapped, sounding more nervous than sassy, as I rolled onto my stomach. I planted my hands on the ground, preparing to push myself up, and caught a glimpse of that infuriatingly cocky grin on his face. I glared at him for a moment before finally standing up.

It looked like what Joey had neglected to mention was the fact that he had offered to let two other people share his room as well, Duke and Tristan. The former was attempting to get to his feet, while Tristan was still sprawled out on the ground mumbling something that sounded suspiciously like "Serenity"... The perv. With a long sigh, I stepped towards him and gave him a nice, hard kick to his side. That woke him up real good.

He was startled to his feet, holding his arms out in front of him, ready to fight his unknown assailant, while Duke and I were the only ones to be seen. I gave him a pointed look, which was made even more biting by the mocking laughter that Duke was struggling to keep in.

"Hey, what gives?" Tristan growled, alternating his accusatory gaze between Duke and me. As an answer to his question, however, the blimp shuddered aggressively once more, knocking the three of us into each other and back into the floor. "Oh…" came his reply, muffled by the underside of Duke's arm.

It took me one drowsy second to realize that I was holding on to both Duke and Tristan's shirts for my life. I slowly released my grip and lifted myself off of them, feeling sufficiently mortified. "Right. Well, I'm going to pretend that didn't just happen," I stated, dusting myself off and carefully heading towards the door.

"Aw, c'mon. You must have enjoyed it a little bit," Tristan teased, making my brow twitch. "I've been workin' on the ol' pectorals. Could you tell?"

I let out a choked shriek. I wasn't sure what was worse: the fact that he had just asked me that or the fact that I actually could tell -not that I was going to give him that ego boost he was fishing for. "We are not talking about this, Tristan!" I heard the boys laugh from behind me and chose to ignore them.

"Where are you going?" Duke asked. "It's probably just turbulence. We're on a blimp; remember?"

I turned around to look at them and tried to become aware of my own body again. My heart was thudding in my chest and bile was rising to my throat. Was I just overreacting? Was I just letting myself panic again? Every fibre of my being was telling me that something wrong was happening, but with my well of canon knowledge slowly depleting, I couldn't really argue against that feeling.

"No, something is wrong," I told them firmly. "Can we just… Can we go ask Kaiba what's going on?"

Tristan frowned slightly and replied. "He's probably a- OOF!" Before he could finish, the entire vessel shook again, and this time, it cemented my fears. I managed to stay on my feet when it happened, holding onto the door handle so tightly my knuckles paled, but the boys were down on the ground again, limbs tangled and faces obscured. "You know what… Let's pay Kaiba a visit." Tristan resolved in a drooping voice, matching his tone to the hair sticking to his forehead.

We weren't the only ones to sense the blimp's shaking; on our way to the cockpit, we found the rest of our group, as well as Zephyr, who appeared a bit out of it as he rushed ahead of everyone else. He looked like he had dressed himself hurriedly, while his hair looked like he had just emerged from a rainstorm. His haste didn't make much of a difference, however, as we all burst into the cockpit at once.

Sun was already there, standing dutifully at Seto Kaiba's side. She eyed us briefly before whispering something into the CEO's ear. When did she start working for KaibaCorp? You know what? It didn't matter. It was four in the morning and this fucking blimp wouldn't stop shaking. I needed to stop overworking my precious few brain cells trying to figure shit out that didn't even affect me, when it was very likely those brain cells weren't going to get replaced anytime soon.

Clearly, the blimp glitching out wasn't part of the plan, since the look on Seto Kaiba's face when he spotted us could have poisoned the entire ocean beneath us. You know, maybe if you squinted a little, you could kinda see the water turning black as death and, slithering out of the inky abyss, a little puff of green smoke in the shape of a skull sitting atop two crossed bones.

"What's up with the turbulence?" Joey demanded, and in a slightly less aggressive tone, Tristan added, "Yeah, some of us sleep past five…"

Just then, the ship jerked again, and I immediately found myself taking a couple of steps back towards the wall. I was going to fetal-position this one out hope for the best.

"Careful," Zephyr warned, grabbing my wrist and preventing me from stumbling back.

"Don't touch me," I growled, glaring at him and snatching my hand away. I gingerly slid down the wall and made sure I was sitting tightly. I let out the breath I had been holding in and covered my face with my hands.

Okay… breathe, Lorna. Was the blimp going haywire because I existed or was it canon? Why couldn't I remember anything past season 2?

"I've lost control! Alcatraz's computer refused access! There's no signal from the tower!"

"That's impossible!" Mokuba's voice rang out.

I removed my hands and looked up at the monitor. There was an island filling up the screen, with a giant unusually shaped tower protruding from it. Was that supposed to be our destination?

"What's that place?" Tristan inquired.

"That's where we're holding the finals -Alcatraz," Kaiba replied tensely, his shadow growing larger and larger in sync with his mounting frustration. "That pitiful wreckage is all that's left of the founder of KaibaCorp, Gozaburo Kaiba…" Yugi perked up in interest upon hearing the name.

"Our step-dad… Gozaburo Kaiba," Mokuba explained, "tried to take over the world using the massive military empire he founded. These ruins are all that's left of his ambition. After he died, my big brother turned KaibaCorp into a gaming company. That island used to be the central headquarters until my brother tore down the all military factories. Then he built that duel tower on top of the rubble as a symbol of the new KaibaCorp -"

"That's enough, Mokuba!" the elder Kaiba scolded, causing Mokuba to flinch and then nod obediently. It looked like he had overshared and his brother was none too pleased.

I sighed and tried to tune out the conversation, reaching into my overall pockets and pulling out my ipod, and, just for the record, I did not condone sleeping with fragile electronic devices in your pockets, especially when you're not sure whether said device (and all the music on it) exist in this dimension or not. If I was going to go through this without my tunes, I might as well jump into the ocean and end my life for real. So whatever was happening with the blimp, it would have to take a backseat to the sweet sounds of Aaliyah.

A small part of me waited for a snide jab at my inability to effectively prioritize, and the feeling was only met with an odd emptiness at the back of my head -kinda like when you scream into a canyon and your voice doesn't echo back. I suppose that was a good thing; the last thing I needed was ol' Two-Face McBackstabber jabbing his gross millennium stick into my brain like a dog that won't stop humping your leg.

I felt someone at my side and opened my eyes to find Téa resting against the wall beside me. She gave me a shy smile and I paused my music just in time to hear her ask, "How are you feeling?"

"Physically? Or mentally?"

She smiled. "I'd imagine you're not doing too well either way. Sorry, it was a pointless question."

I gave her a reassuring glance. "Well, if I had a dollar for every time someone asked me that in the past couple of weeks, I'd be richer than Kaiba. But I do appreciate it."

"What are you listening to?" she inquired, and I handed her one of my earbuds, playing the music again and trying to drown out the conflict and agitation playing out in the scene before me.

I sighed and wrapped my arms around my torso in a futile attempt to rub the cold away from my arms. It was obvious that none of Kaiba's budget went into heating. Curse my decision to wear short shorts, leaving the blotchy skin of my legs vulnerable to the elements. By the time we got to Alcatraz I would be frozen -you could even say… I would catch my death. Ha ha… Wow; it certainly didn't take me long to start making shitty jokes.

"This is nice," Téa's voice tore me away from my thoughts. Her eyes were gently running over my face and her hair cascaded down her cheek softly. How did she manage to look like she had gotten a full eight hours of sleep? She was surely cheating somehow.

I cleared my throat and looked down at my lap. "Yeah… it's the only thing I have left to remind me of home. I used to sit for hours with my headphones in… just thinking about my life."

"That must have been lonely," she noted, her voice delicate and concerned.

"Not really," I replied quickly. "I mean, I didn't really have that many friends, but I didn't need them."

"Everyone needs someone," Téa began. Ah… yes, I dissed friendship in front of the official Friendship™ spokesperson.

I shrugged. "I had my mom and dad. And they had to put up with me." Don't you dare fucking cry, Lorna Beck. Every time I thought about my parents, they just felt farther and farther away. It made me want to ram my head into the wall and get rid of all those pesky feelings. I really wouldn't ever see them again, would I? I mean, I would once they died maybe… but that was cruel -waiting for them to die.

"Nobody else?" she asked.

After a bit of reconsideration, I added, "Well, I had my aunt and uncle, too. They came to visit sometimes with their kid. He was pretty cute… a bit of a handful though…"

"Oh, I love kids!" Téa exclaimed in a low voice. "How old was he?"

"He was…" I sighed. "Ah… no, he is seven. I mean, he should be seven right now. His name was Kenny -short for Kennosuke… But that's a bit of a mouthful for a little kid, especially when you're living in the US."

Téa let out a lilting laugh and moved her hair behind her ear. "You know this is really the first time I've heard about your life before you came to Domino City."

My face reddened as I shrugged her comment off. "Yeah, my life wasn't that interesting. I had a pretty ordinary life… I was a little weird and a bit of a loner, but it was fine."

"You don't sound very happy with it," she noted leaning in idly.

I let out a short breath and crossed my arms. "It wasn't very long, so I can't exactly say I'm satisfied with how it turned out."

"What… do you mean?" she gasped, her eyes widening.

Shit… I had to break it to all of them eventually, wouldn't I?

Just then, as though to save me from the awkward conversation I was about to have, the blimp jerked really quickly, and like the sharp descent of a roller-coaster, we were going down. I felt the vessel hit something and all the monitors in front of the pilot were going haywire. Téa quickly handed me back my earbud and grabbed my hand tightly. She was holding my fingers in uncomfortable positions, but I didn't want her to let go. "Joey, what's going on?" she asked, trying to figure out what the two of us had missed.

Duke, the person closest to us, was the one to answer as he reached blindly for something to hold on to. "Someone hacked the ship. We're changing course!" Unable to find something, he came crashing down against the wall at Téa's side. "Ah… shit," he grunted, his hand reaching behind him to rub his back.

By the time the blimp had managed to start its ascent again, everyone was on the ground, holding on to all manner of things and struggling not to be flung away.

"Do something, Kaiba!" Joey growled, his arms wrapped protectively around his little sister, nearly obscuring her from our vision with his broad chest.

The blimp seemed to have steadied quite a bit now that it was fully under the hacker's control and everyone was starting to get back up to their feet. I decided that this wasn't exactly the best time to spice up my life, so I switched off my ipod and put it back in my pocket. I could still feel Téa's hand wrapped around mine and both of them were starting to sweat a bit, so I slowly eased myself out of her grasp before giving her a shy smile and using the wall to get myself off the ground.

Once I was up, I lent my hand to help Téa up as well, and she accepted it graciously, touching my shoulder lightly to steady herself. She directed her gaze to the front of the blimp and muttered, "Lorna, look at that."

I turned my head to look in the same direction. Just as the pilot was typing away, trying to get some sort of response from the console in front of him, the largest monitor's image distorted and turned to static, almost as though it were seeking a signal of some kind. Was it supposed to be a message from the hacker?

"You guys alright?" Duke asked. He was standing now as well, leaning against the railing and clinging to it slightly in case of another sudden quake.

I gave him a nod and then turned my head back towards the monitor. An image slowly came into focus -a… kid? He looked like he was no older than Serenity with a dishevelled mop of turquoise hair on his head and bangs covering his forehead. He was staring right at us through the screen with a smirk on his face and malice in his dark blue eyes.

"Just who the hell are you?" Kaiba demanded, his face so red that you would think it was trying to compete with Duke's vest.

That's Noah… Kaiba's step-brother and Gozaburo's biological son.

My hand whipped to my head, startled by the intensity of the voice. He wasn't even trying to hide who he was -his voice was completely clear in my head, like he was in the room right next to me. I glanced around to see if anyone else had noticed my abrupt movement, but everyone was still fixated on the boy on the screen.

I thought I told you to stay out of my head.

Well, I need to see what's going on.

Well, why don't you bring your lazy Egyptian ass down here instead of invading my privacy, you dirty wet sock?

'Dirty wet sock'?

Fuck off.

You know you're making a mistake choosing them.

I resisted the urge to groan very loudly and make a very unflattering face; not for Malik's benefit, of course, but because the last thing my friends needed to worry about was the fact that he was still trying to talk to me.

I'm not choosing anyone. I'm choosing myself. And doesn't your conscience bother you at all when you act like a piece of shit?

Proving my point, he chuckled and I swear to whoever that in that moment I wanted to stick my arm down his skinny little throat and pull his intestines out. You're much bolder in your head than you are in real life. I like it.

I scoffed and then attempted poorly to disguise it as a cough when I got a raised brow from Duke. Flattery won't get you anywhere, bozo.

And here I thought we were friends. I'm sad now.

Don't mock me. I could feel my heart burn with an intense frustration that almost felt like rage, but not quite. Why wouldn't he leave me alone? Did he get off on fucking with me? Was that his kink? And why me?

I heard him laugh in my head -clearly I wasn't the only one being bold. Usually, his voice was reserved and emotionless in my head, but now he didn't even care. He must have known he was pissing me off, which was why he kept doing it.

You're insufferable -you know that, right?

I do try. I could practically see the smug smirk on his annoying face.

God dammit, I shouldn't have been indulging him, but he was in my brain and I couldn't concentrate on anything other than the sound of his voice.

"Hey, Lorna?"

A hand on my shoulder reminded me that people other than Malik were much more worthy of my attention at the moment, and I turned to look at Téa. "Yeah?"

She frowned slightly. "Are you alright?" I really needed to keep a tally of how many times people were asking me that.

"Uh, yeah. Why?" I asked, feeling anxious. I couldn't let them know Malik was still talking to me. I needed to handle this on my own.

"You haven't been answering me," she replied, her tone laced with concern.

"S-Sorry… I spaced out," I murmured, looking away from her. I didn't think she completely believed me, but her face told me that she had accepted my explanation for now -I still needed to be careful next time -not that I'd allow for a "next time" to happen.

She gave me a half-hearted smile. "I was saying that the blimp is docking somewhere."

I looked over at the monitor. Sure enough, I could see a giant metallic structure on the screen and we were pulling up over its helipad. "Where are we?"

"Not sure," she replied with a shrug and then placed a hand on her hip, her eyes trained on the giant monitor. "The place just came up out of the ocean."

"For real?" I asked. Fucking rich people and their fucking undersea lairs…

The entire room dimmed as we descended into the gigantic structure, and immediately I remembered my things. What if we wouldn't be able to get our things back? I fidgeted anxiously, turning around to look at the door and then back at the monitor. No, no… Maybe it would be fine… I hoped.

You seriously don't remember anything from this season?

WHAT IS YOUR FUCKING DEAL?

"L-Lor'?" Tristan's voice interrupted. I noticed that Téa had flinched away from me, stunned by the volume at which I had just spoken.

Everyone in the room had turned to look at me. Shit. What did I do? I was panting and my arms were crossed over my chest tightly. I moved my eyes around the room, glancing at each of the people whose eyes bore into my head. "U-um… I…Did I… say that out loud?"

Two people, who I definitely didn't need giving me shit, were giving me knowing looks -Sun and Zephyr. They knew exactly who that shout was meant for -not that I was about to indulge them by telling them they were completely right.

From Sun, my gaze turned to her right and landed on Kaiba, whose face was unreadable. He had a frown on his face, but it was less severe than his usual frowns, so perhaps in retrospect it may have been the closest thing to a smile he could manage -y'know outside of his sarcastic and maniacal ones. "Oh, you did, Beck. Very loudly, in fact. But you did take the words right out of my mouth." he informed me, turning his back on me and raising his fist at the static on the giant monitor.

One of my favorite things about Kaiba was his ego; his innate need to bring everyone's attention back to himself took everyone's attention away from me, which thusly made Kaiba my favorite person in the room. I still felt mortified that I had yelled like that, but maybe everyone would just let it go and cut me some slack?

I awkwardly hunched over and rubbed my arm, leaning back against the door, watching everyone dismiss my strange outburst in favor of trying to figure out Noah was up to. Honestly, it was a great decision because literally nothing about me was interesting and if I were them, I would ignore me, too.

Just then, the blimp shuddered slightly, indicating that it had landed, and right on cue, Noah reappeared smiling menacingly. "Would you get off the blimp, please, Seto?" he asked in mock kindness. "The rest of the duelists, too, of course."

"And what if I say 'no'?" Seto snarled at him. I felt my stomach twist up in knots. This kid just took control of a massive KaibaCorp blimp and flew it to his super-secret lair. Did Kaiba really have to act like he had any say in whatever was going to happen next?

There was a loud noise like robotic limbs moving and the monitor changed to show us a view of the docking area that we were in. Lining the walls were what looked like dozens of guns and if I were to guess, I'd say they were all aiming for us. "I'm not giving you a choice," came Noah's chilling reply.

I felt myself being pulled to the side, a large hand gently wrapped around my left arm. Duke nodded slightly when our eyes met and he muttered, "Stay close, okay?"

I replied with a tiny smile, blushing at the contact. I mean, I appreciated it because I was very liable to get lost in a mess like this, but still…

The descent from the blimp was solemn and surprisingly organized. At first, Kaiba decided to act like a little shit, provoking Noah to fire his guns at the blimp (which was surprisingly bulletproof -four for you, Kaiba), but we eventually did as we were told. The CEO himself was front and center (like he would settle for being anywhere else) while the rest of us were walking in twos or threes behind him. I stuck close to Tristan and Duke at the back of the group trying not to shiver as we passed by the cold metal panels on the walls. And how did Kaiba even know where we were supposed to go anyway? Maybe it was his special Kaiba instinct.

"This place is huge," I whispered to the boys on either side of me as we passed through a pair of large metal doors and into a huge room. I only had the briefest moment, while the doors behind me slammed shut and did away with the only sliver of light in the room, to examine my surroundings; there didn't appear to be anything notable however.

The entire group buzzed restlessly, some calling out into the darkness and some talking amongst themselves, until a blinding light shined and silenced them all. Out of the light, almost like they simply faded into existence, five men stepped forward, each wearing a suit and tie. Were these old farts working under Noah? Watching the wrinkles on Kaiba's forehead get even deeper than they already were, I figured that it was safe to assume they were.

The moment one of them opened his mouth, however, a searing pain shot through my body, like a jolt travelling from my temples to the tips of my toes. My knees buckled and I latched on to the nearest sturdy objects to keep from plummeting to the hard metal ground, digging my nails in with a vengeance. A shrill beep filled my ears. I couldn't breathe, let alone scream.

Are you okay?

Air. I need air. I'm dying. I'm dying. I'm dying.

Lorna, answer me. Can you hear me?

I don't wanna die.

Faces filled my vision, Téa's face being the only one I could recognize. She stared straight into my eyes. I could feel myself start adjusting to the pain, my hands losing their tension and slowly retracting. Duke and Tristan were both hugging their arms to their bodies, winces of pain stuck on their faces. Did I do that? My head hurt too much to speak… I would have to apologize for this later.

I felt something cold and slippery slide down my lips and tasted something foul. My gut lurched and I felt a burp rise to my throat; I covered my mouth, letting it out along with the taste of rotten eggs and iron. I raised a hand to my lips and saw something black and runny staining my fingers. More of what felt like acid reflux came from my lips; and with each lurch of my chest, my body hurt more. My throat felt like it was being torn apart from the inside.

Lorna… Hang in there…

It hurts… Please… be quiet… His voice was so overwhelming, hitting every single one of the taut cords in my mind, playing a disorganized aching rhythm in the back of my head.

"What are you doing to them?" someone roared, sending a whole new knife through one of my temples and out the other. Them? Who's them?

Straining my vision, I could see three other people on their knees: Zephyr, Sun, and Serenity. Serenity met my gaze and mouthed something at me; I couldn't even tell what she was trying to say, but it was likely she thought that whatever she was feeling had something to do with her being my anchor. Did my being in pain somehow affect her? I watched with a form of agony-induced lethargy as she shut her eyes slowly. That same black substance was running down her face, secreted from her tear ducts and her nose; and not only that, but thin wisps of smoke poured out of her mouth.

I was the only one left on my feet, but I could sense the muscles in my legs involuntarily relax, pushing me into Téa's waiting arms. Her touch was like a literal flame, singing my cold skin upon contact, making everything even more unbearable. What was going on? Why was this happening to me?

The last thing I could see before passing out was the floor disintegrating beneath everyone's feet and a startling shade of blue.

This chapter was rather uneventful -yknow until the end. But next chapter will be somewhat more exciting. Welcome to my new and improved Virtual World Arc.

It won't be like your usual Virtual World Arc... but I suppose I'll let you see for yourselves.

Also I meant to ask: People keep telling me they ship Zorc and Lorna... like is that... a thing? Zorna? Lorc? What would you call them? Not saying it's canon... but it's interesting that so many people ship them haha How many of you actually ship them?

(keeping in mind that when I say Zorc in this fanfic, I absolutely mean the Zorc that is several storeys tall and wants to destroy the world -because like I mentioned, Zorc has trapped TKB somewhere else -so the Yami Bakura who talked to Lorna, was and always has been the Zorc that wants to destroy the world)