In this chapter, we explore what life has been, and still is, like at the Kaiba compound. Enjoy.
Chapter 10 - At the Compound
Anyone who had seen the Kaiba mansion years before had not recognised it at all in the past sixteen years, for when it was built and owned by Gozaburo Kaiba it was believed by countless people that, with the large house and extensively detailed lawns and grounds, there was no possible way the land could be expanded upon. For a long time, they were proven right as it remained the same, until Yubel's surprise appearance at the presentation ceremony. Following that event, Seto Kaiba initiated plans for a massive redesign; the original house would be accompanied by three more of equal size, one for the Moto family, another for Mai and Joey, and the third for Tristan and Serenity. All four buildings were to be situated to form an unconnected square. The area within that square would be converted into a large play area for all of the children, a small duelling arena and a clear expansive yard for larger gatherings. All the work was done within a single year. The Motos were the first to move in, taking up residence in the farther-most house from the front. Joey, Mai and Christine were next, choosing the western building as their new home. Tristan and Serenity moved into the final one much later, after Serenity gave birth to twin boys, Kyle and Berend.
Life tried to progress as normal as it could possibly be, but the continued absence of Alexis in their lives and the threat of Yubel hanging over their heads consistently weighed them all down. Mokuba and Rebecca both smiled and laughed whenever Noah, Christine, Jaden and the Taylor twins were around them but at the same time were reminded of what they didn't have. As it went on through the years, it was privately agreed by the other parents that it was best for the morale of the two that none of them should have any more children until Alexis was returned home. The agreement was strongly kept to, except on one occasion.
Five years after the day Yubel appeared, it was soon made clear that one of the women was again pregnant. Ironically it was Seto and Kisara who had slipped up. Mokuba however waved away any guilt that they were feeling, stating that he and Rebecca were happy they were going to be an uncle and aunt again. Melissa Kaiba was born five months afterwards.
In the time since then, there had been no more new children. Under the careful eyes of their parents, the children gradually grew up into teenagers. By the time the older ones had turned eight, all of them had shown that they inherited the interest in Duel Monsters, using the duelling arena in the courtyard for a variety of reasons from simply playing the game for fun to being a way of solving an argument or a fight. To the amused notice of the adults, the majority of these fights and arguments were between the Taylor twins who were so unalike one another. Kyle was tall and slender and took after his mother in his looks; Berend was short but stocky and a mirror image of Tristan. They were also different in their hair colour; Kyle, like his father, had dark brown hair while Berend's was a light shade of brown tinged with the red that belonged to Serenity.
But the question that was on everyone's minds was if either of the two had gotten Tristan's volatile temper. The answer to that was yes, but only applied to one: Kyle. Once again, Berend was dissimilar to his brother, inheriting Serenity's much cooler frame of mind.
It was also noticed by Kisara and Mai who picked the least fights. Noah and Christine, who had been notorious as toddlers screaming who wanted to be the first to go down the slide in the play area, had become thick as thieves despite Noah taking after Seto and Christine taking after Mai. They both took to sharing responsibility in looking after the other children whenever the adults had to leave the compound, Noah especially increased his interest in that duty after Melissa was born. Seto and Mokuba had smiled at that, recognising that the boy had the Kaiba instinct to look out for his family.
It was a good thing that Noah and Christine had taken on such a level of maturity at a young age; two years later, when the children were ten, it was discovered that Yubel had somehow penetrated the compound's defences. For his birthday, Jaden had got a new deck of cards from his great grandfather. Unbeknownst to anyone, Yubel had converted herself into a duelling card and was secretly inserted by one of her minions into the deck. When she reached Jaden's hands, she began to plot a way to get him separated from the other children and obviously saw her chance when Kyle got into a fight with Jaden and challenged him to a duel. In that duel, Jaden summoned her to the field in Attack mode and sent her to attack Kyle directly, resulting in the elder Taylor twin being injured for real. Alarmed, Noah called for Roland who upon reaching the arena recognised Yubel on sight.
Realising the game was up, Yubel tried to coax Jaden to come with her. Frightened of her and appalled by what she had done to Kyle, he refused. Yubel scowled at him, spitting out in fury, "You will be mine!" and flew off into the air.
After that it became routine at the Kaiba compound to check any new duelling cards brought onto the property.
:*:
Things changed again four years later when Jaden announced he wanted to go to Duel Academy. Remembering Yubel's infiltration of the compound and the fact she had never known her son was in danger at the time, Tea said no. But Jaden, thanks to picking up some habits from Joey, was persistently adamant. Eventually it was decided and organised for him to go under the alias of Jaden Yuki. The other children were then asked if they wanted to attend with him. They declined, having moved on to other interests. Noah was learning about technology from his father and uncle, Christine was pursuing a determination to be a watercolour artist, Kyle wanted to be a basketball player and Berend was aiming to be a social worker. Melissa, being at the age of nine, was too young to go.
As the next two years went by, the news from Pegasus of Jaden's escapades at Academy Island, first with the Shadow Riders and then with the Society of Light, brought the adults back to the memories of their own adventures. To their immense surprise, further news was given to them that Alexis and Dorothy, Mana and Fonda were at the academy also and that she had already begun reforming her bond with Jaden. Mokuba and Rebecca received their first look at their daughter in years through a photograph that Pegasus handed to them. In that moment, the two parents were blissfully happy once more, knowing that their little girl was safe, that she was with Jaden, and that in a matter of weeks their nightmare would finally be over.
:*:
On the dawn of Jaden and Alexis' birthday, the environment at the compound was one of excitement. The night before, the parents gathered Noah, Christine, the twins and Melissa together and told them the entire truth. The children were all spellbound to hear that they had another friend or family member out there, that she had been kept hidden away as a means of protecting her, and that she would be rejoining them the next evening.
Preparations for the celebration took up the morning and early afternoon, until it reached a lull at around two o'clock, as the only thing left was to wait for the rest of the guests to arrive, many of whom Kisara, Yugi and Tea had left to greet at the airport. Everyone took on something to avoid getting impatient.
Tristan and Serenity took to conversing with the guests that were already present. Kyle and Berend were at the duelling arena playing a duel for old times' sake while a now eleven year old Melissa was enjoying her time on the swings in the playground. Solomon in his gathering age retired to his bedroom to rest. Seto was out on the grounds with his security force. Noah and Christine were strangely nowhere to be seen. Mokuba, Rebecca, Joey and Mai were all in the study on the upper floor of the Wheeler household; Rebecca sat calmly on the futon reading a book, Mai was habitually re-examining her duelling deck, and Joey was noisily snacking on food.
Mokuba was the only person not searching for a distraction. All day he had been fretting that something could happen to Alexis at any time and he would never see her again. As she always was in times of worry, Rebecca had been his rock, voicelessly supporting him as the day was edging toward its end. At lunch, she had asked Joey and Mai if Mokuba could watch the sun set from their house, hoping that that would give him some much needed solace. They agreed.
Now he was there, standing at the window, looking out to the west as the sun started to dip down to the horizon. He knew his wife meant well but she had apparently forgotten the old phrase 'a watched beaker never boils'. He had been there watching for over an hour, but it felt more like he had spent a whole day waiting.
Mokuba sighed, casting his eyes down to the floor. "Is this day ever going to end?" he groaned tiresomely.
Joey looked up from the platter of food in his hand, concern appearing in his eyes as he pictured himself in Mokuba's position, looking out at the sun and wondering if his daughter was ever going to come home. Solemnly he put the platter down on the desk and walked over to the younger man, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Hey, don't worry, Mokuba. In a few hours, you'll have Alexis sitting between you and Bec, and be keeping a sharp eye on Jaden while you're at it."
He knew he had tempted Mokuba to smile; he felt the muscles jerk up towards his head, but it only lasted for a short moment as Mokuba directed his eyes to the sun again.
"I'd take Jaden being interested in her any day over this," he replied.
Before Joey could rebuff him, Roland came to the open door, announcing his presence with a cough.
"Excuse me, Mokuba. The von Schroeders just wanted me to let you know they've arrived."
"Have they been shown to their rooms?"
"Yes sir. Zigfried in the Kaiba household, Leon and his wife just downstairs."
As Roland left, Joey let out a low whistle between his teeth. The morning had been fun in getting everything ready for the party, fun enough to get peoples' minds off the worrying anyway. But the afternoon was dragging on; it was either quiet or too businesslike to be the leadup to a big bash. The tension needed to be defused, he thought, and it need to be defused now.
He had just the thing in mind. A duel. A big duel, big enough to snap up everyone's attention. The unbidden image of Seto duelling Yugi crossed his mind but he put that to the side. With Yugi at the airport co-managing the entourage of guests coming from overseas, that idea was impossible. Then it came to him.
"I'll be right back."
:*:
Out in the courtyard, Seto was going over a final piece of plans with his security force when Joey came striding from his house towards them.
"Kaiba, we need to talk."
Seto held up his hand, telling him to wait, and spoke again to his guards.
"One last thing, all guests must be here in the courtyard before sundown. Noone else can see Alexis being brought here."
"Yes Mr. Kaiba," they chorused quietly.
The group disbanded as the guards headed off to their posts. Seto turned back to Joey.
"What is it?"
Joey approached him. "Things are getting too quiet and tense around here if you know what I mean. You know that all of us are looking for things to do to stop worrying ourselves to death."
"Your point?"
"Your bro is my point. He's gonna fall apart before we even get within an hour of sunset."
Seto's lips formed a grim line. As he had been frequently since they had become husbands and fathers, Joey was right. He too had seen Mokuba was on edge but had been busy with keeping everyone safe to do something about it.
"What are you suggesting?"
"A duel, Kaiba. You and me."
Seto stared back at him guardedly. Joey tensed, readying himself for what was probably going to be a negative response. He knew Kaiba would prefer to have Yugi as an opponent and remind Joey that he always lost a duel with him. The Joey of old would shout back to that remark with the boast that he had been getting better in the duels between them in the past three decades, but the Joey of the here and now kept his mouth shut. Seto's blue eyes wavered, visibly reconsidering, and a moment later he met Joey's gaze again.
"Alright Joey. Get your deck," he answered. He put his hand to his earwig, speaking into it, "Roland, inform all family members and guests that a duel will be taking place in the arena."
Roland must have asked who would be duelling, Joey realised as Seto soon spoke again. "Joey and me. Oh, and find Noah and Christine. I haven't seen them since lunch."
:*:
At the back of the compound grounds lay two things that had been left untouched by the massive renovations of sixteen years prior; one was a small hedge maze which Seto and the guards had taken an excruciating effort to explore. The other was the forest, a good place to hide, good enough that Seto had failed to notice Noah and Christine hiding from him and his team there. Once they were gone, the two teenagers re-emerged and resumed on their own distraction. Christine nimbly reached up her hand and redirected Noah's eyes from watching his father depart to staring into her violet eyes. The thin line that was his mouth curved back into a smile and he circled his arms around her, drawing her into an embrace. Her lips came to his, meeting in a soft kiss. Christine's hands went from his chin to behind his ears as he held his head forward. He parted from her for just a moment to gaze into her face again. Not for the first time he wondered how things between them could have gone so beautifully right, remembering years back to when they were toddlers and they could not stop fighting. Then came the time when they did stop, when Melissa was born. The natural Kaiba big brother protective instinct kicked into him almost immediately, at the very moment he first looked into her wide sapphire blue eyes which looked back into his with curious wonder. From there Noah stopped arguing with Christine. Christine, not expecting the sudden change, felt vastly alone despite having Jaden and the twins around. Without either of them even knowing it, Noah had become such a central part of her life that she could not help gravitating towards him and invite herself into looking after Melissa alongside him. The two began to learn about responsibility together, and that itself naturally evolved to them looking out for all of the younger children as well.
Then when the both of them were fourteen, after Jaden left for Duel Academy, the twins starting to go their own way and with only Melissa in need of their watchful eyes and care, Noah and Christine felt they were less needed and spent more time with each other when Melissa was with one of the adults. During one such time, they realised the true depth of the relationship that had gradually been rising between them, beginning their love with a simple handhold and an innocent kiss from Christine to Noah's left cheek.
Smiling at the memory, Noah returned his lips to hers.
:*:
Leaving the forest after a few more stolen kisses, Noah and Christine were heading back to the courtyard when an announcement came on via the loudspeakers.
"To all compound residents and guests," Roland's voice boomed across the grounds. "For your entertainment, a duel between Seto Kaiba and Joey Wheeler will be taking place in the courtyard arena."
Christine smiled wryly. "Daddy," she said, shaking her head. "You never stop trying."
Roland continued. "And Noah Kaiba and Christine Wheeler, will you please make yourselves present? Mister Kaiba is concerned of your whereabouts."
"Heh," Noah snorted amusingly. "He just wants to show me the value of beating a Wheeler."
Christine grinned mischievously, taking him by the arm. "Then how about we show him there's a much better value in another area?"
"You sure?" Noah asked. "I believe your dad will flip his lid if we do that."
Christine's grin softened into a warm smile. She leaned into him. "That's just something he's going to have to get used to."
Next up, Seto Kaiba vs. Joey Wheeler for the…oh, uh, um…I've forgotten just how many times they've duelled in the past three decades.
