Chapter 4

'I'm not sure I believe you're really here,' Duke glanced across at his guest as he attempted to prepare for his meeting and dry off at the same time.

'I'm not sure if I do either,' Tristan averted his gaze as he tugged at the sleeves of his jacket.

There were a few long moments of silence.

'How are you?'

'More than a little sick of that question,' Tristan's whole body tensed.

'I...'

'Sorry, it's nothing personal, I just...' he shrugged.

There were a few more moments of silence. Duke gave a nervous cough and focused his attention on Tristan for a moment. He didn't look as hollow as Duke had been expected, but then Duke had assumed Tristan had spent the last three months on the road travelling, getting by on whatever little money he had to scrape together. He had expected Tristan to come back looking thinner, but more alive because of his experiences. Duke wasn't about to say Tristan appeared to be the complete opposite either, but he wasn't far off.

'Tristan why are you here?'

'Do you mean back in Domino or...?'

'Both, either, I'm not sure it makes much of a difference, does it?'

'I need to ask a favour of you,' Tristan met his gaze.

'And let me guess, the others aren't to know about it, right?' Duke cocked an eyebrow.

'Actually I couldn't care less if you told them about it or not,' Tristan rolled his eyes, 'I didn't wait until you were on your own because I didn't want them to know about it. I just wanted to avoid the hassle of a whole load of questions I don't want to answer.'

'How do you know I won't ask you the same questions they would have?'

'Because you're the one who doesn't ask questions,' Tristan clasped his hands together in front of him. 'You're also the only one I trust enough to do this. The others would just act on their relentless concern for me, whereas you'll do what I ask because you know it's what I need.'

'Great, so now all I need to know is what it is you're asking,' Duke folded his arms, 'and can you make it quick I'm due to head a staff meeting in less than ten minutes and I'm not ready for it yet.'

'Well I guess that will stop you from asking too many questions regardless then,' Tristan got up from his sitting place and walk towards Duke. 'Here, I want you to have this,' he pulled a sealed unmarked envelope out of his pocket. 'If anything happens to me I want you to open it.'

'If anything happens to you?' Duke frowned. 'Anything like what?'

'Does it matter?' Tristan turned away from him. 'To be honest I'm not sure you're going to understand what I've given you or why anyway, but... The contents of that envelop will remind me of who I really am. If anything happens to me I want to be able to remember.'

'I don't understand,' Duke shook his head.

'You're not meant to,' Tristan made his way towards the door. 'Just make sure you don't open that envelop unless something happens, okay? I only need to be reminded if something happens. If nothing does then I will just take the envelop back.'

She gave a heavy sigh and stared up at her ceiling. Inside her she felt the baby stir slightly and, for an odd half moment, she couldn't help but wonder if it was restless because of the storm or for the same reason she was. She couldn't help but laugh at her own thoughts, her baby wasn't conscious enough to be restless because of the storm, but it could probably sense her anxiety. And she was anxious. More than anxious. So anxious she wished she could just disappear down some hole somewhere and never see anyone ever again.

The baby made several more uncomfortable movements inside of her making her stomach feel oddly tight and sore. She wasn't sure if it was normal or not, but the last thing she wanted to do was draw any more attention to herself. She was already the talk of the whole Temple and not in a good way.

A gentle tapping at the door made her start; it was too early to be dinner time and she'd specifically requested not to be disturbed. For a few moments she was too stunned to think, then the tapping came again.

'Crovell? Crovell are you alright in there?'

'Go away Covo, I don't want to see anyone right now,' she kept her voice as level as possible. 'I'm not well.'

'I know; I just wanted to know if there was anything you needed.'

'I'm fine,' she turned away from the door.

'No, no you're not,' Covo's voice was calm and level. 'If you were fine you wouldn't keep shutting yourself off from everyone like this. Please let me in Crovell, I can help you. I want to help you.'

'I'm not the person you think I am. I'm not the person who deserves the kindness of anyone, especially not someone like you.'

'What's that supposed to mean?'

For a heartbeat there was silence. Even she had to admit to herself she wasn't totally sure what she'd meant. Covo was a nice guy, strong, caring, protective, not to mention the only person in the entire Temple who'd come close to making her feel good about herself. He was one of the good guys and that was the whole problem. After what she'd done she didn't deserve a good guy. She didn't deserve anyone.

'Crovell? Crovell...?'

'Please leave me alone Covo,' she closed her eyes, 'I just want to be left alone.'

As soon as they arrived on the Kaiba's doorstep Joey knew something wasn't right. His gaze turned out towards the storm behind him and a deep rooted shudder ran down his spine as he remembered Catilin's words from the night before.

'Are you okay Joey?' Mai placed a hand on his shoulder.

'It's raining here too.'

'So if it rains on Sil there can't be rain anywhere else?' Mai rolled her eyes. 'It's just a coincidence Joey, nothing more.'

'I know... I mean, I know you're right, but...' he gripped the material of his shirt, 'I feel like it's more than that.'

'Is this a Silkoneon thing or a Mistress thing?' Mai frowned at him.

'I'm not sure, but there's one way of finding out.'

'Oh no, you're not talking business with Yugi tonight,' Mai narrowed her gaze on him, 'you know how hard Mokuba's worked to get his brother here, he will not be happy if you chase him off in the first five minutes.'

'If it's a Mistress thing it concerns him too, whether he likes it or not,' Joey folded his arms as the door behind them opened.

'Maybe, but it can wait. We promised Mokuba, you promised Mokuba and I'm going to make sure you stick to it.'

Joey sighed and felt himself relenting. Mai was right; whatever was going on could wait. Although if anyone else brought it up Joey wasn't going to sit back and say nothing. The two of them followed the butler who'd opened the door to them through the house to the same dining room Joey and the others had relived Kayma's story in. The others were already gathered and there was a spread of food across the table just waiting to be eaten.

A huge grin pulled across Joey's face, food was one of the few things which could make him forget about everything; unfortunately for him the storm outside had other ideas. Seconds after he crossed the threshold into the dining room a bright streak of lightning lit up the sky outside. In the exact same moment an excruciating blast of pain shot through the back of his skull, blackening his vision and very nearly making him black out. His cry of pain was joined by that of two others.

'Joey...?' Mai's voice was filled with concern. 'Joey are you alright?'

Joey shook his head and stumbled almost blindly in the direction of the nearest chair. Somehow he managed to sit himself down without falling over. The pain was nowhere near as intense now, but it was still strong enough to throw his thoughts into complete disorientation. Somehow he managed to shift his gaze towards the other two hosts. Kaiba was leaning heavily on another chair for support, whereas Yugi was gripping his chest as though he were in the middle of a heart attack.

'What the hell's going on?' Kaiba's face screwed with pain as his hand shot up to cover his left eye.

'I... I don't know...' Joey shook his head as the pain finally started to subside.

'I knew coming to this thing was a bad idea,' his uncovered eye glared at Joey.

'You say that as though this is my fault somehow.'

'Isn't it?' Kaiba lowered his hand and Joey felt his heart almost stop dead in his chest.

'You... you can access the Pure's power?'

'What?' The expression on Kaiba's face was unreadable.

'You... your eye... it's...'

'My eye is what?' Kaiba winced again as his hand tapped around his left eye socket.

'Your eye's Flipped,' Joey swallowed hard. 'You... you've Flipped your left eye.'