"One need not be a chamber to be haunted."

~Emily Dickinson

-Chapter One-

The Offer

"Mikey, what are you doing here?" He knelt to embrace the smiling boy. "It doesn't matter." He rested his forehead on the boy's shoulder, clutching onto him. "What's important is that we're together. And I promise I won't let anyone take you away from me ever again!" He retreated slightly so he could look into his brother's face. Just as their eyes met, a thick white fog swept around them, blurring Mikey's features until he could no longer see him at all.

Even though he'd already opened his eyes and knew it had been nothing more than a dream, Alistair refused to admit that it hadn't been real. And why was everything so blindingly white? Am I dead? he wondered hopefully. His stomach growled just then and he closed his eyes against the light. Guess not...

"Is sleeping beauty finally waking up? Took you long enough," a voice drawled from somewhere to his right. Alistair's eyes snapped back open and he started to leap out of the bed he suddenly realized he was lying in, but his attempt was thwarted by an IV in his arm. Hissing in pain, Alistair quickly located the source of the voice he hated so much.

Seto Kaiba was leaning nonchalantly against the wall closest to the door, his lips curled upwards in an infuriatingly amused smirk. "I'm sorry, did I scare you?"

Alistair's confusion overrode his desire to wipe the cocky expression off Kaiba's face."Where am I?" he asked, though by the sterile look of the room he was in and the poster of the human body on the door behind Kaiba, he could only assume it was a hospital. "The Orichalcos should have taken my soul." His hand went reflexively to the Orichalcos stone around his neck.

Seto rolled his eyes. "Don't tell me you still believe all that crap about a magic seal that steals people's souls. We dueled, you lost, started seeing some sort of hallucination of your brother because of the high altitude, and passed out. I had some of my men take you here to the local hospital."

"How is this possible? Dartz—."

"Your pathetic excuse for a boss won't be coming back anytime soon; I made sure of that." His smirk widened in self-satisfaction and he added: "your little plan to take over my company failed."

Alistair could only gape at him. Dartz had been defeated? By Kaiba? That couldn't be! That meant that he had defeated the Great Leviathan and prevented it from leveling the planet, ruining the chance for Earth to once again be a peaceful, beautiful place. He gripped the sheets so hard he felt them start to fray, and shot Kaiba a ferocious glare, wishing that looks really could kill.

"Don't look so disappointed. It's not the first time someone's tried to take my company from me and failed."

"I don't give a damn about your stupid company," Alistair snapped hotly."You're pathetic if you think all this was just a plot to take over Kaiba Corp."

The remark stung, but aside from subtly tightening his hands into fists, Seto was careful not to let it show. How dare some nobody dismiss his life's work like so much garbage? "I suggest you take that back," he advised Alistair coldly, relaxing his hands. He had no reason to let Alistair get under his skin.

Alistair sniffed disdainfully."Why should I? What more could you possibly take away from me?" Seto was surprised once again by his seeming inability to rattle the fiery DOMA member. His mere presence was usually enough to intimidate people, and if it came to it, a snarky jab here and there never failed to throw people off balance, and the tone he'd just used sent all on the receiving end scurrying to do his bidding. But Alistair stubbornly refused to do any of those things. It was interesting. Annoying, certainly, but interesting.

"It's not so much what you have to lose, but what you have to gain that you're putting in jeopardy," Seto replied simply. As a businessman he knew better than to reveal everything without first piquing the interest of whoever he was negotiating with. This new tactic proved successful, and could see that he had Alistair's grudging attention. "The fact is that even though you've been nothing but a thorn in my side, a promise is a promise, and I'm not the kind of man to go back on my word."

"What the hell are you talking about, Kaiba?" Alistair demanded, his gray eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"Let me ask you this for starters: who do you think paid for you to be here? The answer is me in case you weren't sure. Next, where are you planning on going now?"

Alistair gritted his teeth. If he was gauging Kaiba correctly, he was planning on offering his help. Since Kaiba wasn't one to give anything away for free, Alistair could only assume that the price of Kaiba's assistance would be his humiliation at having to take it.

"That's what I thought; you don't have anywhere to go, do you? Seems like your only option is to throw yourself on my clemency."

Alistair let out a growl of frustration, never taking his eyes off of Kaiba's smirking face. He didn't have to take this! He didn't need Kaiba; he didn't need anyone! His stomach growled again and he felt his resolve rapidly ebbing. Without Dartz, he had no home, no job, and most importantly: no money. He could probably rustle up enough through dishonest means to get by, but where would that lead him? Did he intend to stay a criminal forever? He thought of his brother who would never have the chance to make anything of himself. Perhaps it was his responsibility to do what Mikey never would, for both of them. What difference did it make where his fresh start came from if in the end he finally earned his freedom? Indeed, it made sense that Kaiba should be the one to help him achieve this; it was Kaiba's fault that he had ended up here in the first place! Kaiba's fault that he had no home and no family to return to! Kaiba owed him!

"Why would you want to help me anyway?" he demanded of Kaiba, glaring at a point just over the champion duelist's shoulder. "Feeling guilty about what you did to my family? Because let me tell you: paying me off isn't going to bring them back!" He expected his statement to make Kaiba rethink toying with him, but to his surprise, what could almost pass as a look of pity through Kaiba's normally cold blue eyes.

"I hate to break it to you, but you were tricked. Your family may have been murdered, but not only does that have nothing to do with me, it wasn't my step-father who was behind it either. Dartz just wanted you to think that so you'd join his pack of goons."

"That's a lie!" Alistair was stunned by Kaiba's allegation. Somehow though, he knew that it was true. That he'd been used. A pawn once again.

Seto shrugged indifferently before crossing his arms. "Believe whatever you like, but the fact remains that without my help, you're screwed. So what's it going to be? I don't have all day."

Alistair allowed his shoulders to slump in defeat. "Fine."

"I'm sorry, what was that?"

Alistair hated the smugness of Kaiba's tone, but managed to swallow his anger. "I'll accept your help."

"Oh thank God you're willing to 'accept' my help; you had me worried for a minute; I don't know what I would have done if you would have said no." Seto smirked again. "Now that that's settled I'm going to send the doctor in so he can make sure you're not going to collapse again, then we're going back to Domino." Without another word he swept out of the room, his signature white trench coat swishing dramatically behind him.

Alistair took his moment alone to collect himself. He had failed again. First Mikey, and now himself. How could he have allowed himself to be so easily deceived? He scrunched his eyes shut, pulled his legs up to his chest, and rested his forehead on his knees.

He could remember it all so vividly even now. The hiding, the running, Mikey getting into the tank, a smile on his face, his Dino Dude action figure nestled in his arms, and the amulet Alistair had given him with their mother's picture inside glinting on his chest. Then the terrible explosion and the unnatural heat. He remembered being thrown backwards and having the wind knocked out of him only to try to inhale air so hot it left him dazed and coughing.

Then there was the smell he'd never been able to shake: burnt rubber, charred metal, and something he wouldn't, couldn't think about. He remembered calling out hoarsely for his brother like he'd done so many times before, only this time, Mikey never answered. He'd lain on the ground crying for what seemed like a very long time.

He'd had no intention of leaving, but then the bombs had started sounding again and basic human instinct had forced him to flee. He'd no sooner struggled to his feet when he saw the scorched remnants of Mikey's Dino Dude lying on top of a piece of twisted metal. He'd picked it up before running unsteadily in the opposite direction, still wiping tears off his face, but too scared to fully comprehend the finality of the loss of his best friend and the only family he'd had left.

Soon thereafter, while hiding in the basement of an abandoned building, Dartz had found him, offering him help and protection.

During the ride to safety Dartz had confirmed what Alistair had already known from rumors swirling around the many refugee camps he and Mikey had grown up in: it was Domino's Kaiba Corporation providing both sides of the revolution with weapons. Dartz had told Alistair that he was in charge of an organization called DOMA that was dedicated to making sure companies like Kaiba Corporation wouldn't be allowed to exist anymore. He'd then offered Alistair the opportunity to join him-an opportunity Alistair had readily seized upon, the anguish caused by his brother's death still fresh.

Then had begun the years of training: learning to fly planes and jets, ride motorcycles, being taught how to duel, and studying Kaiba Corporation's every move, obsessing over every news story, hacking into their mainframe to spy on then CEO Gozaburo Kaiba and watching as his son, Seto, staged a coup and took over, re-establishing Kaiba Corp as a gaming company and shutting down their weapon's division. Alistair hadn't been impressed. KC was no longer funding war, but Seto Kaiba was every bit the ruthless businessman his adopted father had been. Equally cold and calculating, and twice as cocky.

It hadn't been hard to dog Kaiba; he was far more of a public figure than Gozaburo, constantly forcing himself into the spotlight, enhancing pre-existing gaming technology, and finally partnering up with Industrial Illusions, owned by Maximilian Pegasus, creator of Duel Monsters, to bring the world the first 3D dueling arenas and causing the popularity of the game to skyrocket, and later releasing Duel Disks which allowed duelists to summon holograms even outside arenas.

Alistair had used Kaiba's need to stroke his own ego by having all his duels taped to his advantage and studied them meticulously, memorizing the other man's strategies, his strengths, and his weaknesses. He'd watched all of Kaiba's business meetings, watched him working in his office, listened in on his phone calls, tracked his cars, watched every interview he ever gave, read every article he was quoted in. It got to the point where Alistair knew so much about Kaiba it was as though they shared a life.

Luring the Kaiba brothers to Duelist Kingdom, disguised as Pegasus, had been his idea, and Dartz had agreed, offering to buy up enough shares of Kaiba Corp to get their attention.

Alistair had let his emotions get the best of him that first duel, almost costing him his soul. He had vowed that the next time he and Kaiba met, it was Kaiba who would lose his cool. Unfortunately, Kaiba's absurd refusal to accept the fact that the powers of the Oricahlcos were real had kept him from being emotionally affected by the images Alistair showed him during their second duel atop one of Kaiba's company planes.

Once again finding himself without any choices, Alistair had sent the plane careening towards a cliff, intending to kill both of them, and Kaiba's brother Mokuba by default, but Kaiba had cheated defeat a second time.

The last clear thing Alistair could remember was the agony of the Seal of Orichalcos ripping his soul from him, and thinking he could see Mikey.

He had hazy memories of being soulless, but wasn't sure if any of them were even real. He thought he could remember his name being called, and feeling an overwhelming need to aid…someone. But he couldn't remember who or why. He supposed it didn't really matter anyway; DOMA was a part of his past now.

While a doctor checked Alistair over, Seto sat in a private room off the lobby with Mokuba, who'd insisted on coming along, refusing to be separated from his brother since his return.

"Do you think he'll be alright?" Mokuba asked, his dark blue eyes full of concern. The depths of his sibling's sympathy never ceased to amaze Seto.

"Yeah."

"Did you tell him?" Mokuba pressed, absentmindedly squeezing the action figure he had been saving in his pocket, and now intended to give back.

"Not in so many words. Just that if he'll accept it, I'll help him."

Mokuba raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. He had every reason to believe that Seto had done more than politely offer to lend a hand to someone in need. He knew that their upbringing was partially to blame, but he wished that Seto would come to understand that compassion was by no means a sign of weakness.

Before he could lecture him, the doctor came back, requesting that Seto sign some papers before releasing Alistair into his custody. The papers signed, Seto had gone to collect the former DOMA employee. He had several more choice things to say to the redhead that Mokuba need not hear.

Mokuba kicked his feet back and forth under the uncomfortable plastic chair he was sitting in while he waited for his brother to come back. It hadn't been easy to convince Seto to help Alistair out. "He tried to kill us and take over my company!" Seto had snapped the first time Mokuba tentatively reminded his brother of the promise he'd made Alistair during their first duel. "And besides, I only promised to help him if he managed to defeat me, but if you recall, I defeated him. I owe him nothing."

"Don't you feel bad, though?" Mokuba'd insisted. "He was right about one thing: we were lucky that even though our childhood wasn't the best, we at least had each other. Alistair didn't have anybody. And if anything ever happened to you, I'd probably do some pretty crazy things too, wouldn't you?" The answer of course, was 'yes' as evidenced by the lengths Seto had gone to rescue Mokuba from various kidnappers over the years.

"Ugh...fine. I'll write him a check. Now will you stop looking at me like that? You're not a dog begging for a scrap off the table, so unless your goal is to look like Wheeler, cut it out." Mokuba'd bit his lower lip and frowned. "What is it now?"

"Nothing, it's just…Giving him money seems...callous."

Seto'd sighed in irritation. "So, what, you want me to move him in with us?"

"Well…"

"Have you lost your mind? Not only is that ridiculous, it'd be dangerous; he'd murder us in our beds."

"I don't think so."

"Then you're naive."

"Maybe, but think about it: He was only trying to kill us because he thought Gozaburo's weapons killed his family, but that isn't true; Dartz did all that. So if we tell Alistair what really happened, he'll have no reason to hate us."

Seto'd stared at his younger brother incredulously. "What kind of fantasy world do you think we're living in, Mokuba? He's not some stray you can tame and make a pet out of. He's a lunatic who tried to crash our plane into the side of a mountain!"

"You sent Yugi's grandfather to the hospital because he wouldn't sell you a trading card!" For one moment, Seto had looked stunned, then he'd set his jaw and balled his hands into fists. "That was different," he'd managed through clenched teeth, not meeting his brother's eyes. Mokuba had been savvy enough to seize the moment.

"Come on, our house is so empty! Trudy'd love to have someone else to cook for, and he could stay in the master bedroom; it's not like we're ever going to use it, and you could get him a job at headquarters."

"Why do you care so much?" Seto'd demanded. "We know Yugi better than this guy and you've never asked me to open our doors for him. Not that I ever would..."

It had been time for Mokuba to play his trump card. "He reminds me of Noa, and we never got the chance to help him."

Seto had been afraid Mokuba would bring that up, and against his better judgement, he'd found himself saying: "Understand that I find this naive to the point of recklessness, and that even if you're right and he's harmless, I'm still going to have to deal with his mouth which I'm not looking forward to. The only reason I'm even entertaining this insanity is that I believe in keeping my enemies close. I don't have time to constantly wonder when he'll show up again."

Mokuba had his doubts about Seto seeing Alistair as an enemy, and suspected that his brother actually sympathized with the DOMA member's pain and secretly wanted to help him. But of course, he'd vocalized none of this to Seto.

Just as he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket to play a quick game of online Capsule Monsters, Seto, followed by Alistair, stormed back into the room.

"Come on, Mokuba; we're leaving. And you'll be happy to know that this ingrate has deigned to come with us." Behind Seto's back, Alistair flared his nostrils, but said nothing.

The ride from the hospital to the company jet was a tense one. Seto had driven with Mokuba riding shotgun, leaving Alistair to sit in the back, shooting glares in Seto's direction at regular intervals over the seat. Mokuba had suggested listening to the radio and had even reached out to turn it on, but a look from his brother stopped him and he sank back into his seat.

Though he was careful to maintain a mask of anger and disgruntlement, Alistair was puzzled. Why would Kaiba do anything to help him? He knew Kaiba extremely well, and their wasn't a single altruistic bone in his body. Selfishly shoving this one and only act of charity in Alistair's face seemed to be part of his motivation, but it couldn't possibly be all of it. If that were the case, Kaiba would have just cut him a check and been done with it. He wouldn't bother giving him a lift back to Domino. Back to Domino, Alistair repeated the phrase silently and mentally shook himself. As though I belong there. I don't belong there, I don't belong here. I don't belong anywhere.

"I don't want to go to Domino," he said, suddenly feeling claustrophobic despite the luxury car's spacious back seat. He even wrapped his hand around the door handle as though meaning to leap out of the car onto the crowded highway.

"Oh, no?" Seto rolled his eyes and didn't bother turning around. "Where would you like to go? Back to where you came from? Be my guest, but you'll have to find your own ride there since I don't feel like getting blown up."

"Shut up!" Alistair snarled, and even Mokuba felt his jaw drop at the cruelness of the jab. "How dare you say that to me? I changed my mind; I don't want any charity from you. Pull over; I'm getting out."

"No, you're not." Seto was quickly growing annoyed by Alistair's theatricality. It was a different brand that that of Pegasus, but just as grating; it was no wonder the redhead had managed to impersonate him so well.

"Yes, I am. Pull over. I'd rather get hit by a bus than stay in this car with you."

"Is that so? I was under the impression that you actually had a brain underneath all of the nonsense you love spouting. My mistake."

"You think you're better than me, don't you?" Alistair wanted nothing more than to throttle the arrogant CEO and watch in the rearview mirror as Kaiba turned blue. But he couldn't. It would be worth dying himself if he could take Kaiba out with him, but Mokuba was innocent. Alistair wondered if Kaiba knowingly used his brother as a shield. Probably, he thought bitterly.

"I don't think anything about you," Seto sniffed. "That would imply that you're worth thinking about at all." That wasn't true. Seto had thought a lot about him since their first duel at Duelist Kingdom. He found Alistair fascinating. Why someone who was smart enough to override his security system would waste their time on something as meaningless as spying on him Seto had no idea. Alistair could have trashed the mainframe if he'd wanted to, could have made millions for himself selling any number of their designs to rival companies, could have made millions more forcing Seto to buy his own company back-a myriad of lucrative and damaging things. But he hadn't. He'd just watched. It should have been creepy, and to a certain degree it was. Alistair had said he knew 'every detail' of his life. Did that mean he'd been spying on him at home too? The thought prompted Seto to briefly rest his hand on his wrist as he drove. No, he decided, Alistair would have used that against him if he knew. "Sit back and shut up. I don't expect any gratitude from someone as obviously boorish as you, but keep your mouth shut. And stop acting like you're too righteous to accept help from me because that's just stupid. There's nothing noble about throwing your life away." This time Seto did glance back at Alistair and caught his momentary look of surprise before it was hidden beneath petulance.

"Whatever," Alistair mumbled sourly. "But don't you dare talk about my country like that again." He crossed his arms and turned to look out the window. Nothing noble about throwing my life away, huh? As if he'd care one way or the other.

In the front seat, Mokuba caught his brother's eye and raised his eyebrows slightly in exasperation as though to say: 'why would you goad him like that?' Seto frowned and looked away which Mokuba knew meant he didn't have an answer.

Once they were on the plane and heading towards Domino, Seto decided to take a nap and retreated to his section of the massive aircraft, leaving Mokuba with Alistair who he'd decided was docile enough to be trusted around his brother. But just in case Mokuba's childishly trusting nature was rubbing off on him, Seto told his bodyguard, Saito, to keep an eye on things.

Mokuba took the opportunity to give Alistair the Dino Dude back. As soon as he laid eyes on the action figure and had it placed gently in his hands, Alistair was hit by a wave of sadness that he tried his hardest to hide from Mokuba.

"Thank you," he whispered, hugging the ruined toy to his chest before gently stowing it in an inside pocket of his trench coat.

"I'm so sorry about what happened to you and your family," Mokuba said sincerely, his eyebrows knitted and his eyes shining. "I can't imagine what that must have been like."

"You're nothing like your brother, are you?" The fact that a kid as thoughtful and even-tempered as Mokuba could be related to a bastard like Kaiba was inconceivable. Mokuba looked taken aback. "Never mind. Thank you for saving this for me."

"Of course. Look, Alistair," Mokuba shifted uncomfortably in one of the plane's plush seats. "I know that Seto can come across like someone who doesn't really care, and he has a bad habit of being...blunt, but he was just as touched by your story as I was. Nobody understands what it's like to be robbed of your youth more than my brother does. That's why he wants to help you."

Alistair snorted derisively. Kaiba, touched? Not likely. His guess was that Mokuba had felt compelled to help and had convinced his brother to do so.

"He's not as coldhearted as everyone thinks he is." Mokuba looked at him so imploringly, and reminded him so much of Mikey, that Alistair regretted being so harsh about the one person the kid had. He didn't like or trust Kaiba, but his sibling was someone he felt he could.

"What are you guys planning on doing for me anyway?" he asked, figuring Mokuba, unlike Kaiba, would give him a straight answer.

"So Seto didn't tell you…" Mokuba couldn't prevent himself from rolling his eyes. "If you want, we have a spare bedroom at the house that you're welcome to. We can help you get a job too." And by that he meant that he would try to appeal to Seto's better nature and beg until his brother agreed.

"You'd really do all that for me?" Alistair's disbelief was evident and it occurred to Mokuba that he'd never been shown any sort of kindness before.

"Yeah."

"Why? You have every reason to hate me."

"No, not really. You were being manipulated by Dartz, that wasn't your fault. I should know: I've gotten the short end of the manipulation stick myself more times than I care to count, and so has Seto. There's no way we could hold something like that against you."