Elenion: I do not own the Yu-Gi-Oh franchise or anything associated with it. Also, let me say now that I have very little knowledge about Japan. With that out of the way, try to enjoy!

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The small candle flickered even as the slender hand cupped protectively around it. Any small amount of cool wind made the weak flame gutter. Rough and overused floorboards creaked beneath her feet, making the delicate girl wince. Any sound in the godawful silence of the deserted apartment could make anybody wince.

Shadows were cast across the girl's pretty face as she walked past the curtained windows in the living room that she had once assumed was safe. Now nowhere was safe. It was the middle of a civil war- a revolution. Anyone could be suspected of anything at anytime or place.

It was like constantly living at the gates of hell.

The auburn-haired girl fidgeted with the passport in her careworn khakis' pocket. It bore her name in large bold letters: Serenity Wheeler. Now the passport meant nothing. It served no other purpose than to be a thin piece of plastic-coated paper bearing her name, age, and height. There was no coming in or out of the country. Not legally anyway. Customs and any international areas were closed. Any foreigners in Japan were stranded in the country until further notice.

Once more, the candle threatened to die, to leave her in utter darkness. If there was one thing Serenity had come to fear, it was the dark. As soon as the sun set- leaving its bloody trail across the sky- the civil war began again. Dusk was like the calm before the storm, and afternoon was like the temporary peace agreement- that was, if you didn't count the snipers.

Silent tears trickled down her cheeks. She wasn't an innocent bystander now. Rather, she was deeply encircled in the rebel movement of the revolution, and everyday might be her last as a free human being.

Typically, the rebels had no jobs other than to cooperate with their side. As a result, most rebels- unless initially wealthy- were poor. It was for this reason that the teenage girl was adorned in such care and wash-worn clothes. Her khakis were threadbare and her normally pink blouse was more of a gray hue.

Her brother tried to keep her out of the fight as much as he could. Now, (as always) she was waiting for her brother to return home- worrying every time that perhaps this time would be the one time that he wouldn't make it.

His words to her when this all began echoed inside her mind: "Ya neva know when they're gonna hunt ya down, Ren. Ya just neva know."

It was true. Neither side of the civil war were predictable. Both sides were prone to violently attacking civilians with no apparent cause whatsoever. As much as she hated to admit it, Serenity knew that the side that she was fighting for did contain many blood-lusting leaders.

Still silently crying, the fragile girl set the candle on the windowsill. Her hair was clinging to the salty wet stains on her cheeks. Cautiously, she peaked out of the blinds, even though Joey had specifically told her not to ever do that. She only wanted one glimpse of her brother coming home… But he wasn't there yet. All Serenity could see was the slum outside their apartment building.

It had been weeks since the power in the apartment worked correctly. In fact, ever since the civil war began, nothing seemed to work right. And there was no light at the end of the tunnel- it didn't seem that anything would work right again.

'Please come home, Joey. Please don't be hurt. I love you, big brother.'

Serenity cupped her slender hand around the candle again. This one candle was the only thing keeping away all the stifling darkness of the apartment.

'Just let this night pass. I want it to be day.'

Breathing deeply to calm herself, Serenity slid the candle in front of the blinds so that it could be clearly seen by those looking into the windows. It was a mark that she worked for the rebels- a mark that would preserve her life if the rebel assassins decided to bully the people in her apartment building.

A key turned in the lock. The door creaked open.

Relief.

"Serenity?" A hoarse voice whispered. It sounded more like a plea than a question.

Something was wrong.

With a cry, the slender girl rushed to her brother's side. "Joey, you're bleeding," Serenity whispered back through her silent tears.

There stood her brother, leaning painfully against the doorway with crimson blood streaming down the left side of his paling face and clinging to his golden blonde hair. She draped his arm over her shoulder and helped him slowly limp to the couch where he gingerly sat.

Serenity carefully elevated her brother's leg up onto an ottoman causing him to hiss in pain. "Gods, what h-happened?"

"Don't worry about it, sis," Joey replied through gritted teeth. "I think it might be broken." He gestured at his leg.

"Where does it hurt?" Serenity bit her lip.

"My ankle hurts like a bast-"

"It was them wasn't it?" Serenity interrupted angrily. By them she meant the opposite side of the revolution- the oppressive, totalitarian board of government. Her dexterous hands were wiping the red stains off his face with a wetted washcloth.

Joey remained quiet. Above anything, he didn't want his little sister to get upset.

"Why did they target you?" Serenity asked worriedly.

He was spared answering by a sharp knock at the door.

The two in the room froze. Serenity's eyes darted over to the door. If it wasthe other sidethan Joey was in no condition to run anywhere, and she wasn't about to leave him.

"Hide, Ren," Joey growled under his breath.

Wide-eyed she turned to him and shook her head.

"Dammit, Serenity! I can take care of myself!"

The sharp knocking came again.

This time, her big brother grabbed her roughly around her slim waist and practically threw her behind the couch. "Stay dere, Ren, will ya? I mean it," Joey hissed urgently as he got to his feet. He tenderly tested his weight on his ankle before he put all his weight back onto his other foot. 'Dis damn ankle…'

Joey drew himself up to his full height and tried to fight the impulse to collapse from his pained leg. Whoever it was that wanted to get in was going to have to go through him first, even if it killed him.

A pair of honey-colored eyes peered over the couch in alarm. Serenity kept her panic under control. This was not a good time to lose her head.

BAM!

The door burst from its molding as someone threw all the weight they could against it. Three men in black sportswear rushed into the room. Before Joey could even react, he was pinned against the wall. Serenity leapt from behind the sofa to aide her brother, but she was grabbed roughly by her auburn hair and thrown onto the floor with a soft cry.

"Serenity!" Joey called as he saw his sister hit the floorboards with one of the men towering over her. He felt ready to vomit- waves of pain were trembling throughout his entire body- but he had to do something.

"Stop that!" A man's voice yelled from the doorway. It sounded vaguely familiar.

"Tristan?" Joey mumbled in surprise.

It was indeed his old friend Tristan Taylor at the door with an extremely worried expression on his face. At his word, the three men dressed in black outfits released Joey and stepped back towards Tristan. Serenity picked herself up and threw herself into Joey's arms, which immediately wrapped protectively around her- no matter how much pain he felt. The poor girl was shaking in his arms.

"What da hell do ya think ya're doin', Tristan?" Joey growled as a wave of pained dizziness swept over him.

Tristan walked over scratching the back of his head. "I could ask you the same question."

Joey was pretty unruffled by this point. That was some scare they'd given his little sister, and he wasn't about to take that lightly. "Whaddya mean by dat? We moved here, ya jerk! We live here! The local leaders transferred us here two weeks ago" He tried to take a step forward, but a hiss of pain escaped his lips instead. Serenity gazed at him worriedly, before guiding her limping brother gently back to the couch.

Their friend swallowed, obviously embarrassed. "Well, I never heard about that. We thought it was some rebel impersonator living here, because there was a candle in the window. I never thought that you would…"

Serenity was having a hard time with her brother. He was too riled up to sit down. She gave him a bit of a push that was enough to send him tumbling onto the couch with a yelp.

Tristan looked with concern at his friend. "These guys didn't hurt you that bad, did they?"

Joey glared at his friend. "Don't give em so much credit, Tristan. It wasn't your hit men dat did dis. It was…." He let it hang. It was extremely easy for everyone to figure out what he meant by that. Someone on the other side had decided to ruff him up a bit.

Serenity brushed off her khakis, because of all the dust that had rubbed on them when she'd been thrown to the floor. 'Men… Always acting before they think things through…' She cast an acid glance in the direction of the three men near the door while ginerly touching her forehead where her head had banged against the floor. She was going to have a nasty bruise right above her eye. Her own side of the civil war had attacked her. Granted, it had been unknowingly, but it sure didn't inspire much confidence.

Swallowing, Tristan shifted on his feet nervously. He'd royally screwed up, and he knew it. "Ehh… I guess we'll be going then," he cast a look in Serenity's direction, "Sorry, Serenity… and Joey…" He signaled for the three hit men to follow him and turned to leave. "I'll… uh… get someone to fix this door for you."

It did need some major fixing. The whole door was swinging on one hinge and the deadlock had made a nice hole in the doorframe.

In response, Joey just growled.

"I'll see you guys at the local meeting tonight?" Tristan asked, still feeling like a fool.

"I guess," Joey grimaced at the thought of walking.

And just like that, Tristan and his three men were gone.

Serenity bent down by her brother's leg, trying to examine it. She tenderly pushed back the leg of his jeans so that she could see his ankle more clearly. His ankle was red- almost purple, actually- and swollen to nearly twice its normal size. "Tell me if this hurts," Serenity whispered as she gently applied pressure.

Joey yelled in response. "Dammit! That hurt like hell…"

"I don't think that you should go to the meeting tonight, Joey," Serenity said sternly.

He blinked at her. "What did you say?"

"I don't think that you should go to the meeting tonight," Serenity calmly repeated. "You're in no condition at all."

"Ah, Ren. Dere's no way. I'm fine." Joey pleaded. He didn't want her to go to the meeting. Every time there was one, he tried to think of some excuse so that she wouldn't be able to go. And every time, she had to convince him that she wasn't a baby anymore.

"You are far from fine, Joey," Serenity said worriedly.

Her brother stumbled to his feet. "Look, I'm really ok. See, I can even walk a few…" But his head suddenly reeled and he sat immediately back down on the sofa. He put his head in his hands in frustration. The local unit wouldn't like it if he didn't show up to their meeting.

"All right, Ren. I'd try ta convince ya not ta go either… but I know dat I can't," he looked up at her as she pulled on a jacket. "Just be careful, sis."

She smiled at her brother and kissed his forehead. "I will, big brother." The petite, auburn-haired girl made for the door. This would be the first time in weeks that she'd gone out at night alone, and she still feared the darkness. But she put in a brave face.

"And don't volunteer for any-ting!" Joey called from the couch as his sister disappeared into the hallway.

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The chilly night air was blowing right through Serenity's jacket as if the jacket wasn't even there. Out of alleyways, imagined and real ghoulish faces leered at her as she passed. Serenity's breathing quickened. She had always hated the walks to the local unit's meeting place- an abandoned warehouse in the heart of the slums- but alone, it was ten times worse.

Any little movement in the corner of her eye would cause Serenity's heart to skip a beat. Minutes passed by like hours on the dark, deserted streets. No light shown from any windows, despite the many people who were most likely watching Serenity cautiously as she went by. The unbidden eyes following her were unnerving, and Serenity checked the street sign to see just how far she had to go before she would reach the warehouse.

BANG!

A gunshot. Serenity froze in place. It hadn't been from all that far away.

Now footsteps… Two people… Sprinting in her direction…

Breathing rapidly, Serenity pressed her back against the nearest wall. The petite girl clawed at the bricks in the building's wall desperately praying that no one would see her. It was possible that the shadows of the street would conceal her from sight.

The first runner passed her by without so much as a glance in her direction. His running was panicked- his arms thrown everywhere. He was probably just some poor guy- not that much different from her brother- who had gotten on the wrong side of a man with a testy temper and a gun in his pocket.

"Fuckin' coward!" A loud voice broke through the street's icy silence as the second man went thundering by Serenity with a gun in his hand.

BANG!

He fired again into the air for no reason in particular. Someone nearby a car alarm went off, sending a chorus of man-made noise straight to the heavens.

Serenity waited in the shadows for a few more seconds to be sure that they were gone before stepping out into the sidewalk again. Call it fate, but she had once again been reminded how the streets were an unyielding place where brains didn't always win over brawn.

For someone so innocent, Serenity knew an awful lot about the streets. It was sad, really. The revolution was really tearing the country apart. Everyday lives were ripped in half for mere sport of some hitman or another. So many people just wanted this civil war to end, but that didn't seem a likely occurrence any time soon.

Without further incident, Serenity reached the warehouse where her rebel unit was pooling together to hear gods-knew-what news. It might just be another counting to see how many people had been recently killed or had decided to turn sides, but then, it might actually be something really important.

Afterall, over the past few weeks, the other side had grown more unforgiving and unreasonable than they had been previously. Granted, both sides had always had a bloodthirsty streak…

Serenity stared at the looming figure of the dark- and supposedly deserted- warehouse. Everyone else would be in the basement about now to avoid detection.

Butterflies were fluttering in her stomach. Despite the fact that it was her own side, Serenity couldn't help but feel anxious. Even that night, her own side had unknowingly attacked her. It didn't inspire any real confidence, and it surely defeated the promise that the people in the division would look out for each other.

The petite girl entered the warehouse. It was dank and musty inside with cobwebs strung in every corner. In itself, their meeting place was probably the most miserable place in the entire city.

One foot-worn staircase to the basement later…

There was a guard at the bottom of the stairs, but he presented no problem. Serenity was easily recognized among her comrades.

All the lights were dim- probably a precaution, although the basement had no windows. Even the fluorescent bulbs that had actually been turned on were so coated with grime that the faces of other people were barely even recognizable. Once inside, Serenity looked around for a familiar face in the grimly shadowed room.

"Hey, Serenity! Over here, kiddo!"

The auburn-haired girl looked over to see a familiar face. Mai.

"Where's Joseph?" The blonde girl raised an eyebrow quizzically, then her eyes caught the rising bruise above Serenity' right eye. "What happened?"

Serenity gingerly touched her bruise and sighed. "Joey's at home and this… It was a mistake… Tristan's hitmen suspected our apartment as one of theirs' and… well…."

"What an idiot!" Mai exclaimed, hitting her own forehead with the palm of her hand. "He attacked you?!"

A sudden banging on a wooden box that served as a podium interrupted their conversation. The division's leader stepped up to address the assembled crowd.

"I suppose that most of you don't know why you are here," a rebel spokesperson stated loudly looking over the crowd. The voice of the man speaking was echoing slightly in the large room.

There were some mumblings in the crowd.

"But before I get to the more pressing news… We have received our new digital projection equipment from Kaiba Corp."

Mai smiled. They had been waiting nearly a month for that order, and with the new projection equipment (which was originally meant to be used in gaming software), they could project images of objects that weren't actually there. Virtual reality could thus be used as a weapon.

The leader continued, "As you know, the CEO of Kaiba Corp, Seto Kaiba, has decided to remain neutral in this civil war. Therefore, the same projection equipment has been sold to the other side- our enemy."

Now the crowd turned fearful. If both sides of this revolution had the same equipment, then neither side had any advantage.

Mai shrugged silently. She had expected no less. It was a well-known fact that Seto Kaiba was an opportunist, and he had lost no time in securing a neutral spot so that he could work the war to his company's advantage. Moral values meant little to him, or so it appeared. However, he was also playing a dangerous game. Remaining neutral in a countrywide war was an almost impossible task, but so far, the great Kaiba had managed. Serenity, however, seemed shocked at such double-play.

"But on to the more pressing news," the leader said grimly and wrinkled his forehead in concern, "This local unit has been given an order that this division- and this one alone- must try to seek negotiations with the other side."

There was a simultaneous intake of breath from everyone at the meeting.

This was too much for a certain hot-headed Mai Valentine. "Why do we need to negotiate? If this dumb organization wants to negotiate with the enemy, why can't the head do it themselves?"

The leader glared at the blonde woman who had dared to interrupt his speech. "Apparently, some of our hitmen teams have decided to act without orders from any of their superiors."

Serenity crossed her arms over her chest. That was surely obvious to her. Their hitmen teams were pretty much from the bottom of the barrel.

"And," the leader pinched the bridge of his nose to try to stall an oncoming migraine, "these hitmen killed men that we were hoping to hold prisoner to reach a negotiation in exchange for some property. As of now, those hopes have been shot, and the head of the revolution thinks that this division has been specifically targeted by the other side."

This was far from good news. Everyone was silent for a moment.

A man in the crowd spoke up, "So what kind of negotiations does the head want?"

"They want us to send two people to relay the news that our hostages are dead and possibly negotiate our sorry asses out of this mess," the leader replied, aggravated. "And we've already picked our people for the job."

There was tense silence. Usually, they asked for volunteers, but this must have been a special case.

"Kai Steps and Serenity Wheeler."

Serenity froze in her spot. There was no way…

"For now, everyone else may go home."

The auburn-haired girl felt people pat her back as they stepped out, but she didn't even feel any of them so much as touch her. The only thing that was passing through her mind was 'Why me?'

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Elenion: Because I'm weird, I've already uploaded the second chapter. So don't stop here!