Welp, we're back to once a month I guess thanks to "Adult Responsibilities" but whatever.

[Soundtrack: Breathe - Old City: Leviathan]

Serenity's eyes struggle to remain open as she tries to swim upwards towards the glimmer of the full moon reflecting against the water's surface. She can feel boulders in her skirts dragging her down, and with every stroke, her breath grows shorter and her vision grows foggier.

She can't even remember how she got here; all of her memories are black voids covered in blankets of darkness. The only thing she knows is this ocean surrounding her and the sense that someone she loves is in trouble. She wants to cry out but nobody can hear her underwater. She wouldn't even know who to cry out for. Who could possibly save her?

Don't leave me all alone here… I need you…

The image of the moon is then shattered as something big and dark enters the water, unceremoniously tossed and sinking to the bottom. It's a man, his arms outstretched above his head. Half of his fingers are curled inwards and half pointed ahead, almost as though he were pointing at Serenity as she tries to reach him.

At some point, words gush out of Serenity's mouth, completely out of her control, and she begins to wonder if it's even her body that she's operating at the moment. The fingers she can see raised above her head are calloused and the olive colored arms are covered in discolored scars. This isn't Serenity's body.

Even the thoughts in her head don't belong to her. She keeps hearing whispering, blocking out her own thoughts and memories and leaving her mind stranded in the present with this sinking man. Is he dead? Or is he just like her, left for dead in the ocean?

She can feel saltwater rushing down her throat, but she's powerless to cough it up, and it just keeps forcing itself into her lungs. Her eyes are stinging but she can't turn her eyes away from the sinking man, just a couple of feet away from her.

She feels a pang in her chest when in the darkness, she can see his two eyes open wearily. They narrow in recognition when they land on her and he begins to swim with purpose towards her.

Don't die. Not again. I won't let you die again…

It's too dim in the water to clearly trace the details on his face, but she can feel her mind almost religiously commit his face to memory -his strong jaw, his crooked nose, his long lashes, his short grey hair floating gently around his head; but as soon as their hands are close enough to touch, a dark emotion fills her chest, almost like a great sorrow as well as a great rage. Before she can even process these emotions, her entire body begins to feel heavy; her arms grow limp and her vision turns black.

Stay with me. I love you. Please, stay with me…

[Soundtrack: The March of Time - Hakuoki]

"Serenity?"

When Serenity awakens, she's in her bed in the room that had been assigned to her on the submarine. Her mind is so focussed on the handsome face in the water that she nearly misses Ryou's gentle voice calling out to her. She's startled when she can think her own thoughts again and move her own body and begins to idly fidget with her skirt her mind now full of the the texture of it and the thrill of voluntary movement.

"Are you alright?" he murmurs. He's seated beside her bed on a chair; the book folded on the bedside table indicated that he had been reading the entire time. She feels him sneak a hand under the covers and intertwine his fingers with hers.

She blushes and sits up, nodding and untangling her fingers to grab her hair tie from the table and pull her hair up in a ponytail. "I'm okay -just tired, I think."

"It looked like you were having a nightmare," he remarks, his tone soaked in worry. "Was it the same one as usual?"

With a shake of her head, she shifts her weight and wraps her arms around her shoulders. "It was a different one. The one I always have is about the Solitude falling apart."

Ryou nods and shuts his eyes, bringing up the memory of the dream himself. He has also been having the same dream occasionally. "You mean the one where it collapses on top of Zorc, Lorna, and the Warden?"

Serenity nods. "They were the only ones left in there, right?"

He strokes his chin and makes a thoughtful noise. "I think so. I can't shake the feeling that someone else was also there, but that would be impossible. Who else would be there?"

She shrugs and gives him a weak smile. "Even though we lost Lorna… Zorc and the Warden are gone for good, right? So at least we have less to worry about."

He smiles back at her, watching a strand of her hair slowly escape the ponytail to rest against her cheek. "As far as the Millennium Ring goes, I believe it's nothing more than an accessory now."

"So he can't control you anymore," Serenity notes, her lips widening gently in a grin. "I'm glad. He can't hurt you anymore."

Ryou chuckles from behind his calm smile and his hand reaches out to rest on her shoulder. "So what was your nightmare about? Was it the Inbetween?"

Serenity frowns and shakes her head. "I don't know. All I remember is a man's face… His face makes me sad for some reason and I can't explain it."

She's startled when the bed lurches as Ryou takes a seat at the edge of the bed. He reaches towards her face with a handkerchief and wipes something cold off of her face. Her hand jumps up to feel her cheeks.

"You're crying," Ryou muttered, his voice again colored with the same apprehension from before. "What is it?"

Her shoulders weakly rise in another shrug as she replies, "I don't know. I'm just really sad and I can't control it." Her voice is heartachingly weak as she spits the words out, her lips quivering and her eyes blinking away a steady stream of tears. "I don't know who he is, but he makes me feel so broken." Each word is accented by a gasp as she pulls her arms up over her chest and bows her head down. "I'm sorry…"

Ryou doesn't say a word the entire time, gently stroking her hair with his hand until her sobs still and the shuddering in her shoulders are no more. He offers her the handkerchief again and she gratefully takes it, giving him a reassuring smile. "Are you alright?"

With a firm nod, she says, "Yes, I think I am now. Sorry for making you worry so much…"

He chuckles and shakes his head. "Don't apologize for that."

She soaks the handkerchief in her snot and tears before folding it up and placing it on the bedside table. "I can't really explain what just came over me, but I don't think those were my own feelings."

At that, he perks up. "If they weren't your emotions, then did they belong to someone else?" Serenity simply offers up a noncommittal grunt. "If so, then whose were they?"

"I wish I knew," she says, her eyes glaring a hole into her sheets. "If only I knew who that man was, I'd have an idea whose feelings these are. Whoever they are, they really love him…"

Ryou frowns, reaching for Serenity's hand. "Well, we'll keep a lookout for him, then. We might find him somewhere in the Inbetween."

She nods and closes her fingers around his and breathes in slowly, shutting her eyes and replacing that man's face with Ryou's. The two of them aren't really officially a couple, or at least, the two of them haven't really discussed the idea. Ryou would say he felt it the moment he laid eyes on her in the Inbetween -a beautiful fairy wielding a silver bow and arrow and facing off fearlessly against a fierce knight; she is the definition of light with a laugh that can breathe life into the dead.

Serenity can feel it, too, when his eyes are on her. Many a time has he saved her life and she never feels safer than when he's nearby. There is a darkness in him, however, that breaks her heart, and if being by her side brings a smile to his face, then she wants to be by his side all the time. It makes her heart flutter in anxiety to consider what her brother would say if he knew she and Bakura were this close, and perhaps that's why she's never gotten around to talking to Joey about these feelings. The only person who she's told anything is Mai.

While Serenity was fond of Mai during the Battle City tournament, it was only after the two met in the Solitude that they truly found companionship in each other. The two have been nearly inseparable since, a union that Joey would either constantly bemoan or constantly praise. It's no secret that Joey has feelings for Mai himself, a fact that Serenity is too timid to bring up.

[Soundtrack: Lab Practicum - Half-Life 2]

Just then, a sound is injected into the once comfortable silence -it's the unmistakable sound of Maximillion Pegasus's voice. Serenity frowns when he brings up the hunt for Lia's murderer again. The duo left it up to Malik, Rex, and Sera to investigate while the two of them got some much needed rest. Serenity can't really explain how she felt so tired; it was as though the moment the lights went out in that room, she could feel her energy being wiped out as well, and she knows Ryou felt it as well. In fact, since Lia seemed to be anchored to Ryou, he must have felt quite literally like his energy had been sapped.

"Immunity?" Ryou mumbles to himself as Pegasus's announcement comes to an end. "He's raised the stakes. He wants to incentivize all of us to participate in the investigation and turn us all against each other."

She nods and rubs her hand over the goosebumps that formed along her arm. "He doesn't like that we're relying on each other because it will only make it harder for us to kill each other in the next round…" she says grimly.

"Well, not for all of us," he remarks. "Someone here had no problem killing Lia. I wonder what will happen to the murderer once they've been discovered. It's only a matter of time…"

She sighs. "If they're discovered. The entire investigation just seems impossible."

"You mentioned earlier that you think Lia was the one with the murderous intent," he reminds her. "That's a good lead. None of us knew her, and none of us have any reason to believe that she wouldn't kill us."

She just nods. "Yeah. Leon mentioned it, I think. And I can't stop thinking about it. So if she was the one who took out the spear and tried to kill someone, her intended victim is the most likely suspect, right?"

"That certainly makes sense, but if someone was targeted by her, why keep it quiet? If they killed her in self-defense…"

"Because we wouldn't believe them," she answers before he can finish. "Why would any of us believe that whoever killed her did it in self-defense when it's so much easier to turn against them? If I were the killer, I wouldn't say anything either…"

Ryou stares at her in shocked silence, but he can't help but think that she's right. It would be way too risky to confess, especially now that it has been a few hours since Lia was murdered. "I wonder, if the killer confesses at the meeting with Pegasus, wouldn't they get immunity for being the 'first to correctly discover the murderer's identity'"

Her breath catches in her throat. "That… could be true actually."

"I'm not sure if the killer has realized this either, but there's definitely more at stake."

"If only there were a way to contact the police… Whatever is going on here has to be illegal…" She glances forlornly at her phone, which is essentially useless this far below sea level. "Under the sea, nobody can find you or rescue you…"

Ryou tenses and tightens his grip on Serenity's hand. "That might not be entirely true. At least, not for us."

"What are you saying?"

"We're anchors with the ability to access the Inbetween, correct?"

"Yes…" she replies uncertainly. "But we can't control it yet."

"But what if we could?" he says, placing a hand on the Millennium Ring adorning his chest. "I know for a fact that these items are linked to the Inbetween. Zorc's spirit used to reside in the Inbetween with the Ring as his anchor. I'm willing to bet it's the same for the Pharaoh and the Puzzle. If we can find him, we can reach Yugi and our friends."

Her face lights up. "So we're not totally cut off."

"Yes, and no," he replies. "While it is definitely possible, the Inbetween is a vast place, and the Puzzle itself is a vast realm in and of itself. We must first find the Puzzle, and then find the Pharaoh within it, which is no easy task."

This information doesn't darken the expression on Serenity's face. "That's alright. I know we can do it. There must be a way to go to places in the Inbetween just by thinking about them, though. I remember when I found you in the Solitude months ago, all I could think about was how worried I was about you, and when I opened my eyes, I was by your side."

Ryou blushes at the sincerity of Serenity's words. "Be that as it may," he says after regaining his composure, "the Puzzle may be designed to be difficult to find in the Inbetween. Such realms always have hidden doors and can be quite dangerous. The Solitude was quite similar to the Puzzle in that regard."

"I'm sure the Pharaoh would find us, though. We're his friends," she says, still beaming. "I know we can do it."

[Soundtrack: Chizra - Unreal Gold]

The submarine mess hall is big enough to fit an entire Naval crew, but it just makes Serenity and Ryou feel small and more alone than before. They are the last people to arrive to the hall, save for Malik, who seems to have not arrived yet. The rest of the guests were all spread out across several tables. There are Sun, Zephyr and Rafael occupying a table at the far left, while Rex and Sera sit at the farthest table to the right. Mako and Enzi accompany Leon at a table in the center of the room. They are by far the loudest table, their laughter reverberating around the room. Serenity isn't sure how anyone can laugh in this situation, but it seems like the two older men are trying to lift the youngest boy's spirits.

Part of Serenity aches to sit at Mako's table and surround herself with that laughter as well, but that ache is quelled by the stronger ache of distrust gripping her heart. She catches Mako's eye and he flashes her a bright smile, but she can barely muster up the strength to smile back. Without a word, she and Ryou make their way over to a table in the right hand corner closest to the door. They don't even bother with getting up to fill up plates of breakfast, simply sitting there because they feel the need to be there.

"I wonder where Malik is," Serenity muses. "Do you think he's already eaten?"

Ryou shrugs and sends an anxious glance to the door. "Perhaps, but why would he wander off on his own instead of trying to come find us."

She shakes her head and looks down at her lap before letting out a small, startled gasp. "Wait. You don't think…"

He narrows his eyes once he realizes what she means. "That he wants to get immunity for himself? You think he might have decided to keep to himself?"

She's quiet, but he can tell that her mind is already going through these scenarios. "I don't want to think that he'd do this after everything we've been through together, but he's done bad things before… He let Marik send Mai to the Solitude… The entire time, all he cared about was finding Lorna, and now that she's gone -"

"He's unpredictable…" he says. "Yes, I agree."

"Was I wrong? For wanting to help him?"

"No, absolutely not," he replies. "Your strong empathy is one of your greatest strengths. Letting something like this change such a fundamental and beautiful part of your spirit would be a horrible thing. You are one of the strongest people I know, and Malik is fortunate to find an ally in you."

Serenity grins, patches of red painting her cheeks. "Thank you, Ryou. That means a lot to me."

[Soundtrack: Dead Angle - Umineko No Naku Koro Ni]

It's deathly silent in the dormitory wing, and dim as night with the power-saving lights on the ceiling barely casting enough light to read the nameplates by the doors. A single shadow crawls along the wall as Malik paces restlessly back and forth down the hallway. He had heard Ryou and Serenity leave Serenity's room several minutes ago while hiding in the shadows.

He doesn't know why he's even there, but in his mind, he's better off alone. The one person who truly understood him is gone, now, and he won't even get to spend the afterlife with her, and it was all his fault. Of course, thoughts of her dulled over the few months since she's been gone, but the blame is fresh, and the blood on his hands is as vibrantly scarlet as ever.

Part of him wonders what would happen if the lights go out right now. Maybe someone would murder him, too, and it would be way less than he deserves. He isn't suicidal by any means, after all, he's already dead, and if he can't escape his troubles in death, then there really is no end to it all.

"THE LIGHT IS NOT DEAD. IT YET LIVES ON IN THE WIND. BUT WIND ALWAYS DIES AFTER A STORM, AND WHEN I LEAVE THIS REALM, IT IS NOT I THAT WILL ERASE IT, BUT THE MONSTER WHO LOVES IT THE MOST."

Those were the last words that escaped Lorna's lips before Malik shot a ball of energy into her small body. The memory of the Warden's voice still ignites a flurry of rage, making his guts churn uncomfortably beneath his skin. "The light was erased by the monster who loved it the most…" he mumbles to himself, halting right in front of the door to the showers. "I guess I am a monster, aren't I."

He walks into the bathroom and heads towards the area with the sinks. He wets his hands and splashes water over his face in an attempt to wash the darkness away. He only notices the tightness in his chest and his escalated breathing rate when he looks up into the mirror.

"I'm the only murderer here," he grunts, his voice raspy and aggressive. "I killed her. I'm so sorry, Lorna… I deserved to be hated by you. I deserved every terrible thought that's ever crossed your mind about me."

"Do you now?"

The voice is unmistakable. It's her. He doesn't even need to turn around to know that it's her. He can see her tiny body leaning against one of the closed shower stalls with her arms crossed over her chest. "Lorna," he chokes. "But how?"

"Hmm… can you keep a secret, Malik?"

He turns around to make sure the reflection in the mirror isn't just some cruel hallucination, but there she is, still standing barely 3 feet away from him. He's almost afraid to approach her. "You're dead."

"Yeah, and so are you, ya dingus," she replies with a dry laugh.

Something is wrong, though. Her eyes aren't their usual warm brown color. They're dark and cold, and void of passion or feeling. It's like speaking to someone who's only pretending to be Lorna, but who could possibly look exactly like her and imitate her voice so well?

"I've gotta admit, hanging out with murderers is not my style. Especially when they murdered me."

Her words are freeze every nerve ending in his body. He can't even move. "L-Lorna, I'm so sorry…"

Her voice is even sharper now. "You think that's gonna cut it? You think that's going to bring me back? That I'll magically come back to life just because you have some creepy crush on me that I never even wanted? Like that guilt justifies what happened? You're a disgusting little coward. You don't even deserve to say my name."

Malik can't even speak now, his jaw is slack and his tongue refuses to move. She's right; of course, she's right.

"Why don't you just kill yourself and save everyone else the trouble?"

He gasps in disbelief at the words spilling out of her mouth, and all it takes is just that brief moment to take in Lorna's appearance in its entirety. She's wearing a large hoodie, long enough to reach the middle of her thighs with long black tights, and staining the front of that hoodie is a dark maroon color, which, at a time like this, he can only associate with dry blood.

"Lorna, what happened to you?"

"Are you still talking to me? I thought I told you not to say my name again!"

More firmly now, he repeats. "Lorna, whose blood is that?"

This grabs her attention, and she lets out a maniacal little giggle. "This?" she gestures to her hoodie. "Well, it's not mine if that's what you're asking."

He can feel a new emotion swelling in his chest -betrayal. Whatever this thing is, it can't be the Lorna he knows. "Did you hurt someone?"

"Hurt someone?" she repeats, her tone sounding almost sarcastic. "I can show you how I got these bloodstains if you want." Her small hands reach into her pockets and pull out a glimmering knife. "I'll give you a five minute head start. Okay?"

Malik spends the first 30 seconds of his head start just staring incredulously at the thing standing in front of him. Her face is Lorna's; there's no doubt about that. Her voice is Lorna's. Her body is Lorna's… but there's no way that's Lorna.

"Well? Clock's ticking." she reminds him, twirling the knife handle between her fingers.

That's all he needs to hear to turn on his heel and leave. He could have overpowered her, sure, but he's afraid of more than just her knife.

[cackles maniacally the way only an author could]