Osiris Red Dorm, Duel Academy

November 3, 2027

9:41 PM

"Help me! Not the water! Anything but the water!"

"Oh, water's not so scary," Yuki grinned at his friend's theatrics. "Just ask Bubbleman."

"Uh… dirty swamp water?" Syrus elaborated, attempting to make it more frightening. His shoulders slumped in discouragement; it had sounded better in his head. "Oh, you're right. Only a chump would be scared of that."

"Please inform your friend that I am no chump," Burstinatrix hissed in Yuki's ear, still trembling from horror at the prospect of being dragged to a watery grave.

"Well, I guess water can be scary sometimes," Yuki said carefully, trying to placate both the WATER and FIRE Elemental HEROs. "It was a good story, Syrus. Mid-level scares for a mid-level card. But me…" Yuki drew from the all-monster deck the two of them had put together, "I hope I get a high level. Oh," he sighed in disappointment upon seeing only one encircled star on the card he'd drawn.

"Oh, you lucked out. You hardly have to scare me— us— at all with that low card," Syrus said, hastily remembering to include the duel spirits, even if he couldn't see them. Honestly, Syrus was relieved by the low level his friend had drawn. If it had been up to him, they would have played something else, but the times he got to hang out with just Yuki were getting rarer and rarer, so he hadn't bothered arguing about it.

Ever since Bastion had befriended them and ultimately learned Yuki's secret, the dynamics of Yuki and Syrus's friendship had changed with the addition of a third person. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't easy, either— especially considering Yuki's general lack of awareness of how the people around him were feeling.

Case in point, the afternoons he had been spending helping Syrus with his dueling had now been replaced by rooftop discussions with Belowski— another new person Yuki'd decided he'd rather spend time with than his oldest friend.

Syrus could understand Yuki wanting to be friends with Belowski— really, he could. The two of them had a lot in common; besides their unusual ability to communicate with Duel Spirits, they were also both fusion users and neither had any use for the politics of the professional dueling world. They also both seemed to have a fondness for Duel Academy's roof.

"It's the best place to hang with my monster crew and spin our wheels and stuff. And dude? We have some deep talks, too. We're totally unraveling the universe. You should join us sometime."

"Sounds cool. Though we're not really a talking "crew" as you put it. Dueling is our thing."

"Hey, that's chill."

But while Syrus could understand Yuki's desire to spend more time with the other "magic duelist", that didn't mean he shared it. Personally, Syrus thought the professional dueling world was fascinating (he was the son of two pros, after all, and had grown up surrounded by it), and it was hard to follow conversations when he was the only one who couldn't see the majority of the participants. At first, Yuki and Belowski had taken the time to relate everything their monsters were saying to Syrus, but it had gotten tedious quickly, and eventually, Syrus stopped bothering to join them. With his fear of heights, it hadn't been that difficult of a decision to make.

Yuki, however, had never bothered to notice those little details— just like he hadn't seemed to grasp the idea that Syrus didn't want to spend an evening telling scary stories. But, beggars couldn't be choosers.

"All right. Well, I think I have a story that will do the trick." Syrus forced himself to pay attention as Yuki set aside the card he'd drawn. "Actually, it's more like… a memory. Back when I was a little kid, sometimes, late at night, I would hear somebody crying. They sounded really sad and lonely, and sometimes I even thought I heard them call my name. 'Yuki,' they said. 'Please come find me, Yuki.' It sounded like it was coming from somewhere nearby, so every time I heard it, I would go looking for the person, to find them just like they asked. But every time I did… there was nothing. Nothing and nobody there at all."

"And?" Syrus asked, holding his breath. In all the years they'd known each other, he'd never heard Yuki tell this story before.

"And that's the end." The other boy shrugged. "I never did find out what I'd been hearing. Eventually, I stopped hearing it and began sleeping through the night."

Behind Yuki, naturally unseen by Syrus, the Elemental HEROs glanced worriedly at each other.

"That's it?" Syrus asked, his head dropping to the table. His face hidden, he didn't notice Yuki lift his arm in surprise, staring wide-eyed at nothing. Well, not actually nothing,of course— it was Winged Kuriboh, cooing sadly as he tucked himself under Yuki's arm. The Osiris gave a small smile.

It's all right, buddy. It was a long time ago.

He couldn't have known, of course, that it wasn't his comfort that Winged Kuriboh was seeking.

"Mwah ha ha ha ha ha ha! You boys having a fright fest?"

With a shriek, Syrus dove under the table, and even Jaden went rigid at the sudden noise. "We thought we were," Syrus whimpered from his hiding spot, barely peeking out to look at Professor Dean.

"Geez, teach, you just about gave us a heart attack!" Jaden said, clutching his chest. He shot a look at the Elemental HEROs, who were all laughing to varying degrees. You couldn't have called out a warning!? "But since you're here," he continued, as Syrus crawled out from under the table and sat back down, "How about you draw a card? The tougher it is the scarier your story has to be."

"Sounds simple enough," Professor Dean said, pulling up a chair. He drew a card and revealed it to the two boys.

"Whoa, that's a level twelve monster!" Jaden exclaimed.

"Yeah, I think I'm gonna go to bed now," Syrus said, edging away.

Professor Dean smirked. "Don't think you have the guts to hear about the shifting wood, do you?"

"Shifting wood?" Jaden asked, brow furrowing in confusion.

"Yep. Story says that a few students snuck out after curfew one night to go exploring in the forest and got more than they bargained for. The next morning, right when their headmaster noticed they were gone, one came running back— and only one. He claimed that he'd lost his friends in a network of tunnels they'd found while exploring a cave, but when he tried to lead the search parties back to it?" Professor Dean grinned wolfishly. "There was no sign of any cave— only trees— even though they looked for days. Even the kid who believed he'd been in the cave said it wasn't there anymore. The missing students were never found, and it remains a mystery to this day."

"Wow," Jaden said, eyes wide. "What happened to the kid who did make it out?"

The Osiris headmaster shrugged. "No one knows for sure since the Chancellor kept a tight lid on the whole thing. Most people don't think it's true anyway. After all, caves don't just disappear."

Jaden shot a look at Syrus. They both knew that sometimes reality was stranger than fiction, and caves disappearing was hardly the weirdest thing they'd ever heard of. Syrus, however, was staring hard at the floor and didn't notice his friend's gaze.

"Speaking of curfew, it's about time for all of us to be heading to bed." Professor Dean stood up and stretched. "See you in the morning boys." He smirked. "Sleep well."

"Later." Jaden gave a half-wave to their teacher, but his eyes were on Syrus, who hadn't said a word since the professor had started his story. "What's up, Sy?"

"That story he told— it's not just a story," Syrus said seriously, looking Jaden dead in the eye.

"How do you know?"

"Because the kid who escaped that cave… was my brother."

Alexis knew that Zane would disapprove of her sneaking out at night like this— he wouldn't be the only one, since she was breaking curfew— but her cousin would be particularly incensed because she was going to the one place he'd almost begged her not to (the almost being only because Zane never begged): the place where he'd last seen Atticus.

She also knew that the chances of finding anything were slim. Her father had sent search party after search party, expert after expert— even Uncle Yugi and the Hamids had flown over to help, to see if they could detect anything magical or paranormal going on. Every search and every investigation had proved unsuccessful.

Still, Alexis had to see it for herself— she had to know. Not that she didn't trust her father, or Uncle Yugi, or Zane, but… it wasn't just Atticus whom she'd lost that night he'd disappeared. Ever since then, nobody in the Kaiba-Wheeler family had been the same. With her loved ones falling apart around her, Alexis had determined that no matter what it took, she would get her brother back— either that or she would find out what had happened to him so they at least could have some closure. The not knowing was slowly killing the people she loved, and she refused to lose anybody else.

That was why she was out here now, despite all the warnings, all the rules and promises she was breaking— she had to save the family she still had.

It hadn't been all that hard for Alexis to get her hands on a topographical map of Academy Island (her father did own the place) or to figure out where, approximately, Zane thought the cave entrance had been. She had spent the summer studying and planning how she was going to get there, and finally, an opportunity had presented itself.

She shined her flashlight on the map for a moment to double-check her position, before turning it back on her surroundings. "I already passed the three cherry trees, the next landmark should be a big boulder…" She scanned the area again. She didn't see any boulders… hesitantly she took another step forward; she didn't want to go too far from the cherry trees in the wrong direction.

She turned slowly in a circle, determined not to miss anything— aha! There was a rather large rock, peaking out from behind the thick trunk of an oak tree. She stepped around the tree to the left so that her flashlight's beam revealed the boulder in its entirety. "Bingo. Now, from the boulder, I need to go about thirty meters east…"

Alexis tucked the map under her arm and picked up her compass from where it rested on her chest, hanging from a cord around her neck. "That's… this way. Based on what I measured my strides to be, thirty meters is about… twenty— no, forty steps this way. One, two, three…"

Most people thought talking out loud to oneself was a sign of mental instability, and normally Alexis wasn't prone to it, but in an eerily silent forest in the middle of the night… it was better than nothing.

"Thirty-eight, thirty-nine, forty. It should be—" Alexis almost dropped her flashlight in shock. There, directly in front of her, was the gaping mouth of a cave.

Yuki tossed and turned in bed, going over and over in his mind what Syrus had told him earlier that evening. He'd known, of course, about Atticus Kaiba's disappearance only a few short weeks after he'd arrived for his second year at Duel Academy, but he'd never known the details.

Everyone had assumed, back then, that Atticus had been kidnapped by someone hoping to get a ransom from his father. Mr. Kaiba was one of the richest men in the world; there was a reason why Yuki had never been able to have a playdate with Alexis without Mr. Roland or Mr. Fuguta being nearby. His parents had assured him that there was no way the perpetrator would get away with it, not when they were going up against Seto Kaiba.

They had seemed so sure that Yuki had pushed away any thoughts about Atticus's disappearance, convincing himself that the older boy would be fine. Then, completely coincidentally, he'd stopped hanging out with Alexis as much as he had before since they had been transitioning from little kids into preteens around that time. It had just been expected for him to stop hanging out with her and start spending more time with Syrus.

Besides, while they attended Domino High, Alexis had been tutored at home. There hadn't been a lot of opportunity to be reminded about her missing brother, except at the New Year's reunions…

Come to think of it, two years ago, the reunion had been hosted by the Devlins instead of the Kaibas, who hadn't attended. That would have been only a few weeks after Atticus disappeared. Then, at the beginning of this year, things had been back to normal, except Atticus hadn't been there.

How could all of this have just gone over my head? Yuki wondered. Am I really that clueless, or were Mom and Dad and everyone else deliberately trying to keep it away from me? Syrus and I saw each other every day, and he never brought it up— and Atticus is his cousin!

Frustrated, Yuki threw off his covers and reached for his Osiris red jacket. He needed to get out, go for a walk and clear his head.

Whooo….wooo…?

Yuki turned at the sound to see Winged Kuriboh looking at him questioningly. "Goin' for a walk," the boy murmured to the fluffball. "Need some air."

Necroshade materialized next, frowning in concern. "Are you sure that's wise, young one? Is there not a curfew you are supposed to follow? What if you are seen?"

"We'll go into the woods," Yuki answered, stumbling toward the door after shoving his feet into his sneakers. "No one'll see us there."

Necroshade clearly wasn't thrilled with the idea, but he followed along behind dutifully anyway, Winged Kuriboh bobbing along beside him. The entire deck had felt Yuki's restlessness; maybe a late-night walk really would help.

Yuki didn't pay attention to where he was going (he had Necroshade and his excellent night vision to guide him back) and he didn't feel much like thinking at the moment. He just needed to get away from the thoughts, let his mind empty itself so it could rest, and then start up again later.

He wandered aimlessly, enjoying the freedom of an unoccupied mind until he felt something cold brush up against him. A spasm of complete disgust wracked through his body, and he shrank back in revulsion. He was suddenly overcome with nausea, and he leaned against the first available tree, fighting not to retch. What was that!? He wondered.

Strangely, somewhere in the back of his mind, it was possible he might also have thought, It's him!

…

Necroshade vanished a split second before Winged Kuriboh felt it. The small creature let out a shriek of pain at the sudden burning cold searing through his very being, Necroshade's disappearing act suddenly making sense. The DARK master wouldn't dare hang around any concentration of his corrupted element.

Shuddering under the weight of the darkness— though now that he knew it was there, he was able to protect himself from the worst of its effects— Kuriboh bounded over to Yuki, whoo-ing frantically at him in alarm. What he saw when he floated up to his duelist's face made him pause.

Yuki's eyes were glowing gold.

Alexis's mind felt sluggish. There was a terrible ache in her chest, and she gasped and shuddered under an intangible weight that seemed to be dragging her down.

It's so dark… cold… and lonely. Where is everybody? Where'd they go? She pressed a hand against her chest, trying to suppress the ache, but it only made it worse. There's no point. There's nobody else here. A sob welled up deep within her and she cried out in anguish, falling to her knees as the weight only got worse.

The darkness seemed to resonate around her, echoing with— with nothingness. She was so empty, she couldn't take the pain, oh someone please make it stop! She let out another wail of agony, barely able to feel the tears streaming down her cheeks for the ache in her heart. There was a feeling of overwhelming loss, of crippling futility… She shuddered, her skin crawling, the nagging feeling that she was forgetting something, something important, growing in the back of her mind—

"What am I doing here!" She screamed into the darkness, thrashing against its hold. "Tell me! Why am I here!? What am I doing!? There must be a reason, there must be something…!"

Nothing… nothing…nothing… The answer came back from everywhere and nowhere at once; it could've been only in her head and she wouldn't have known—

Alexis felt her ears pop, almost like when riding in an airplane except not really, and then she gasped in relief as the horrible weight vanished and the agonizing emptiness was suddenly filled, leaving her free to feel exhausted instead.

She sucked in a breath of sweet, sweet air that she hadn't even realized she'd needed, feeling like she'd just broken the water's surface after diving too deep, or emerged from a long, long tunnel into the light. All she knew for sure was that the pain was gone and she could breathe and oh, it felt wonderful—

"Lex? Lex! Talk to me, Lex! Please, say something!"

Alexis blinked her watery eyes and gazed up— that was strange, when had she fallen down?— into a familiar pair of soft brown eyes.

"Yuki?" She struggled to pull her thoughts together into a coherent pattern. It was the middle of the night. She was outside. She was being cradled in Yuki Muto's arms— she was what?

Blushing furiously, Alexis wriggled away from her childhood friend, quickly turning away so there'd be no chance he'd see her red cheeks, which she was sure were glowing bright enough to be noticed even in the dark. She tried to get to her feet, but fatigue suddenly seemed to overcome her, and she slumped back to her knees.

"Hey, are you ok?" Yuki asked, attempting to come closer again.

Alexis threw out an arm to dissuade him. "I'm fine! Just…give me a minute." She took some deep breaths to get herself under control. Her face felt sticky, and she was surprised to find it damp when she reached up to touch it. Have I been…crying?

Only when she finally felt composed, she, at last, turned around to face the Osiris red, who was studying her with a vaguely baffled expression.

"What are you doing out here?"

"That's funny. I was about to ask you the same question!" Alexis snapped, harsher than she'd intended to cover up her embarrassment. "This place is completely forbidden! They catch you here and they'll expel you, stupid!"

Yuki didn't seem at all concerned. "Yeah, okay, so then why are you here?"

"I have my reasons!" She dug her nails into her palm to prevent more tears from falling; she was not going to cry in front of her— childhood— crush. Yuki looked at her with a serious glint in his brown eyes— a rare countenance, for him.

"It's not… about your brother, is it?"

She inhaled sharply, the old grief suddenly coming back, sharper than it had in months. "If you must know, yes. This is… this is where Zane says he last saw him. You know Zane was the last one to see him, right?"

He shifted uncomfortably. "Sy, uh… Sy told me."

"I came out here to see… I had to know if…" she reached up and held her head in both hands; it was beginning to ache. What had happened? She'd been following the map, she'd found the cherry trees, then the boulder, then—

"The cave!" her head snapped up and she looked around frantically, forcing herself to her feet.

"Woah, take it easy!" Yuki exclaimed, reaching out to steady her as she swayed back and forth.

"It was here! I saw it! I went inside to look, and then… I don't remember." She turned to look at him as if she'd just realized he was there.

"Yuki? What happened? How did you know I was out here?"

He shrugged. "I didn't. I came out for a walk. Then, suddenly I felt… something. It was cold and…slimy? Anyway, after that, I'm not sure…" He narrowed his eyes in concentration. "I think I went to find out what it was?" He had a vague recollection of track it down. Expel it. Defeat it. Destroy it! but that didn't really make sense, did it? "And then the clouds covered the moon, so I couldn't see anything, but I could hear you. You were…crying. Loudly." He dropped his gaze, shuffling his feet. "Anyway, that's how I found you."

"I was crying," Alexis repeated, remembering the wetness on her cheeks. It would explain a lot— the fatigue, her headache— but why would she have been…

"Yeah." Yuki seemed reluctant to meet her gaze. "Do you, uh," he fumbled through his pockets for a moment, "want these?" he offered up a half-full packet of tissues. Alexis, trying not to seem too pathetically grateful, nodded and accepted his offering. She angled away from him and blew her nose as quietly as possible, using a second tissue to wipe her eyes.

"We should head back," Yuki said once he was sure she'd finished.

"No." Alexis wrapped the dirty tissues into a ball and stuffed them into her pocket, thrusting the packet back toward him. "I saw it. I saw the cave where my brother disappeared, and now it's gone. Something happened here, and it's the first clue I've had to my brother's disappearance in years. I'm not leaving until I figure it out."

For a moment, Yuki looked as though he might protest. But then, a flicker of understanding passed through his eyes, and he nodded. "All right." He pulled out his phone, the blue-white glow lighting up his face as he opened it. "We should write down everything you remember now, while it's still fresh in your mind. What happened first?"

"I remember stepping into the cave," Alexis began, "and then I must have been knocked unconscious, because the next thing I knew, I was trapped— stuck in the dark with no way out." She shuddered. "It was cold, inside and out, and I felt really lonely, and there was this horrible ache in my chest…" She shivered again and turned her gaze back on Yuki, "…and then you were there, and it was over. I wasn't alone anymore."

Yuki's thumbs moved rapidly as he typed. "And you don't remember anything else about the cave itself? Could you hear anything, smell anything?"

Alexis slowly shook her head. "Not really. It just felt like… nothingness. I don't even remember sitting or standing on anything— no rocks or dirt like you'd think would be in a cave. It was like I was just…floating." She frowned. "I don't ever remember Zane saying he felt alone or afraid. He always talked about it like it was a normal cave that he got lost in— until he went back to find it and it wasn't there anymore."

Yuki nodded thoughtfully "When I found you, there was no cave, either. You were just on the ground, seemingly in a random part of the forest."

"There was a cave; I saw it with my own two eyes," Alexis insisted. "Besides, we already know it's a weird disappearing cave because no one was able to find it after Zane escaped it, either."

"I'm not doubting you," the Osiris assured her, "I was just thinking that it must have disappeared somewhere in between you getting here and me finding you."

"But why did it disappear? It's not exactly a normal thing for caves to do."

"No, but it seems to be for this one. It disappeared last time."

"Yeah, but Atticus and Nathaniel disappeared with it. Why didn't that happen this time? Why am I still here?"

Yuki looked at her questioningly. "Nathaniel?"

"Nathaniel Simmons[1]. He, Atticus, and Zane were suitemates for a while."

"Ah." Yuki nodded thoughtfully. "Maybe… it takes time for the cave to make someone disappear? And I got here before it was finished," he made an abortive gesture with his hands, "disappearing you?"

"That doesn't tell us anything about what this thing is or where it comes from or why or how it works!" Alexis clenched her fists in frustration. "I finally find a clue to my brother's disappearance, but instead of answers, it just leaves me with more questions! It isn't fair." She kicked a tuft of grass that was unfortunate enough to catch her eye.

"It's okay, Lex." Yuki tentatively reached out and put a hand on her shoulder. "Someway, somehow, Atticus is still alive and all right. We won't give up until we find him."

"'We'?"

"I'm gonna help you."

"You don't have to do that, Yuki." Alexis suddenly looked very, very tired as Yuki noticed the dark circles under her eyes for the first time. Glancing around, he realized there was a good reason for that— the sky had lightened by several shades. "I don't want you to get in trouble because of me."

Yuki cracked a sheepish smile. "Would it help if I said that you weren't the only one who blacked out tonight? And that I was going to investigate anything weird that goes on anyway?"

"What!? Yuki, what are you talking about? When did you black out?"

"Remember the cold, slimy thing I felt? It was right after that." He shrugged in a rather spectacular failure at attempting to be nonchalant. "I have no idea how I got here. One minute I was taking a walk in the forest, and the next thing I knew I suddenly felt really cold— like, unnaturally cold. I don't remember anything after that, not until I found myself standing over you."

"Wow." Alexis sank to her knees. "What is going on? Do you think the cave got to you too?"

"I would, but…" Yuki sighed. "You remember when I dueled Belowski, and you and Syrus and Bastion all fell asleep?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, after the duel, but before you woke up, Belowski and I… talked. And he said that… my eyes were glowing."

Alexis's own eyes widened. "Glowing?"

"Yeah. And changed color too, apparently. Belowski said they were gold."

"Well, that couldn't have been the cave, then. You weren't anywhere near here at that point." She paused, considering. "Do you have any idea what might have caused it?"

"Nope. I don't even know when it started, 'cause both Dr. Crowler and Belowski were too far away to really see my eyes until the duel was over. After that, it faded pretty quickly— took maybe only a minute. I talked to the Elemental HEROs about it, and they don't seem too concerned, but…"

"It's freaky."

"Yeah."

Alexis absorbed this information. "So I guess that means we're in this together whether we want to be or not. Something weird is going on at my Dad's school, and we have to figure out what it is." She got back to her feet. "All right, I'll accept your help— if you promise not to tell anyone what we're doing." She held out her hand.

"Of course!" Yuki grinned— a real, Yuki grin this time— and clasped her hand in his. "After all, we can't have you take on strange, supernatural phenomena all by yourself!"

Alexis raised an eyebrow. "You really were worried about me, weren't you?"

Yuki blushed— and he didn't have the advantage of the cover of darkness to hide it. "Uh oh," he said, looking skyward to hide his face, "Sun's up. We'd better get back before they notice that we're gone."

The two of them walked back side by side, enjoying the peace and quiet of the early morning. When they finally got back to the edge of the woods, they had to go their separate ways— Alexis to the girls' dorm and Yuki back to Osiris.

"Well, guess this is it," Yuki said, waving goodbye over his shoulder. "See you in class! Oh, and if anyone asks, I was never here!"

Alexis smiled softly as she headed back to her dorm. But you were. And you saved me. And now I might still be able to save my brother, too. She glanced out at the western horizon, still rather dark without the sun's rays having reached it yet. Be at peace, brother… wherever you are.

1. Yusuke Fujiwara