Chapter 11

All eyes were fixed on the sickly figure which emerged from the shadows. Joey's stomach clenched and unclenched several times as the noise at the back of his head started buzzing.

'Catilin... but I... I don't understand... I... I thought...'

'You thought a faulty cage could hold me?' Catilin laughed.

'I...'

'Don't you get it? This sickness is like a gap in the bars, enough for me to reach my hand through and grab at things. Weapons. Keys. Whatever tool it takes to get myself out again.' A dark smile spread across Catilin's face. 'I got lucky with the first tool I found,' her eyes turned towards Ahna, 'so easy to use and so many ways I could use it.'

'Like you used that child to kill the other Guardians?' The Pharaoh shot Catilin a look.

'No,' she shook her head, 'I can only slip a hand through, I can't use any of my powers.'

'So Ahna willingly did your bidding?' Joey's gaze flicked between the two women.

'I don't know if willing is quite the right word from the amount of bitching she did about each and every task I asked her to perform.' Catilin chuckled. 'You should have heard her resistance; it was like watching someone slowly losing their mind. There was something so thrilling about it. I mean, I know I'm an expert at driving away a person's sanity, but normally I'm inside their head. Now I'm not saying I don't enjoy it, but there's something so artificial about an insanity I've placed there. But with her,' her eyes flickered with excitement, 'I don't think I've ever had so much fun.'

'What do you want?' The Pharaoh took a step towards her.

'I want the walls of the cage to come tumbling down,' Catilin wiggled her fingers in as she spoke, 'I want my freedom.'

'And what makes you think we'll do that for you?'

'Because I'm the one with this, remember.' She held up the Shadows to Light card. 'It's the only way to reverse all the damage that's been done, unless of course you want to leave them all that way and let me have my fun.'

The noise in the back of Joey's head became louder. It was now edging on the point of making him dizzy, but for once he could still hear everything going on around him. There was something strange about the sensation, almost welcoming. For a moment Joey couldn't help but wonder why he'd found it so hard to live with, then his eyes moved towards the bottle of pills he'd thrown at Ahna. He'd first turned to them because he didn't understand what was happening to him, they numbed his brain and stopped him from being able to think clearly. It was as though someone had thrown him into a never ending cycle just to stop him from understanding what was really going on.

'So what do you say Veronie,' Catilin broke the silence which had formed, 'are you going to let me out of my cage.'

'Why are you asking me,' Joey's gaze went up to meet hers, 'I don't have that kind of power.'

She gave a breathy half laugh, but said nothing.

'Those pills Ahna provided for me, they were your doing, weren't they?'

'Yes.'

'Why? To make me easier to manipulate? So I wouldn't notice what was really going on? Or... or because you were trying to turn me into a cage?' The noise in his head was almost overwhelming, yet Joey somehow could still concentrate on what was happening.

'I wondered how long it would take for the irony of the gesture to be found on you,' Catilin smirked, 'and she would consider herself better than me. But if she really were better than me she would have told you she'd set up home in your body, instead she acted like a parasite the way I did.'

'You're right, she did. She acted exactly like you. But she wasn't the one making me sick. She wasn't the one forcing me to push her away.'

'Nobody forced you to do anything Veronie; you chose to push her away. Every single time you took one of those pills you were choosing your own life over hers.'

'I wasn't thinking clearly then,' Joey shook his head, 'but I am thinking clearly now. Clearly enough to know what needs to be done.'

'So you'll free me from my cage?'

'To get back control of the Shadows to Light card, I'll do what needs to be done.'

'Joey you can't seriously be suggesting giving into that monsters demands,' the Pharaoh gawked at him.

'I'm doing what needs to be done.'

The noise inside Joey's head was starting to make him dizzy, but he wasn't fighting it this time. And because he wasn't fighting it he was able to think clearly; much more clearly than he had for a long time. Whatever fog had pulled over his mind and blinded him from the truth about Ahna and Catilin had finally lifted. He knew what needed to be done. He knew what she wanted him to do.

'Joey...' SK edged towards him.

'I know what I'm doing SK,' he shot a look towards him.

'But...'

'I know what has to be done.'

A cruel laugh rippled out of Catilin, forcing Joey's attention back towards her. The noise inside his head was starting to fill him with a wealth of knowledge. Things he'd only half understood before were a lot clearer now. He knew what it was controlling her, just like he knew what he had to do.

'Summon him,' Catilin folded her arms, 'summon the Blue Eyes Knight. It took three of you to make the cage; it'll take three of you to break it apart again.'

'Joey, don't do this,' the Pharaoh gritted his teeth as Joey bent down to reach Ahna's deck.

'I have to Yuug,' Joey refused to look at him, 'don't you get that?'

'I don't get why you would choose to help a monster like that. After everything we've been through I would have thought...'

'Yugi, this is what has to be done,' Joey's gaze lifted to meet with his. 'Don't you get that?'

'Joey's right,' Tristan's voice was strangely calm, 'this is what has to be done.'

A part of Joey didn't know if he was glad of Tristan's support or not; it made the buzzing level of noise in his head feel weird. Ignoring the sensation, Joey activated his dueldisk and drew a deep breath in. Then, finally, he summoned the Blue Eyes Knight.

Kaiba didn't know what annoyed him more. The fact he was still in the godforsaken warehouse he'd been sick of the first time he'd seen it. The fact he was still dressed up in some ridiculous outfit being forced to believe he was being projected by his own holographic technology. Or the fact Joey was now the one in control of the supposed dueldisk projecting his image. All he knew was that his annoyance increased further when he spotted the girl meeting once was too much for one lifetime.

It didn't take him long to assess the change in situation since his blackout and for a moment his annoyance was replaced by an almost smug feeling.

'I told you your little plan wouldn't work,' he folded his arms and smirked at Joey.

'My little plan?' For a moment he looked confused, then he shook his head. 'I remember now...'

'If you'd have executed her like I suggested...'

'That is not an option Kaiba,' Joey cut him off. 'It only didn't work last time because she didn't anticipate the strain which was put on Cat's body. A strain which would reveal itself as a sickness. A sickness the darkness made worse, because it meant there was a bar missing. She made a mistake.'

'What on earth are you babbling on about Wheeler?'

'She made a mistake.'

'Who made a mistake?' Kaiba frowned. 'You're not making any sense.'

'No... no I'm making perfect sense. For the first time in a long time everything is making perfect sense to me now. I know what I have to do.'

Joey lifted a hand towards the Catilin girl which caused chains of light to rise up from the ground and restrain her.

'What are you doing?' She struggled against the chains.

'What has to be done.'

'But...'

'You didn't honestly think I was planning on freeing you, did you?' Joey's voice took on the annoying multi-tonal qualities it had the last time Kaiba had been forced to follow Joey's orders. 'I told you I was going to do what needed to be done. I'm going to repair the cage. I'm going to seal you away for good.'

'I should have known you weren't giving into the darkness's demands,' Yugi made his way to Joey's side.

'I'm sorry for the deception, but I had no choice. I had to make it think I was going along with it or it would never have allowed me to summon the Blue Eyes Knight.'

'Don't call me that Wheeler,' Kaiba glared at him.

'I am not Joey Wheeler,' he shook his head. 'He is a part of me, but he is not me and I am not him. Not yet.'

'What's that supposed to mean? And don't give me more of your fairytale...'

'Can't you for once have a little faith Kaiba,' Tristan cut him off.

'Faith in what exactly?'

'The most powerful being in the multiverse,' SK's licked his lips as they flickered into a smile.

'Please, give me a break, since when was Wheeler...'

'Since he became the First,' Tristan tried to appear cool, calm and collected, but it was clear, at least to Kaiba, that he was a little uncomfortable with the idea.

'Joey's the First?' Téa frowned. 'The First what?'

'The First Mistress of Light,' SK licked his lips again, 'Jay told me back at the time of the Disconnection the Mistresses feared their existence was under threat, so they found three potential souls to attach their essence too. Souls who would save their existence should anything happen to them. Souls who became known as the Brotherhood of Brothers. After the Disconnection the threat they'd sense appeared to disappear, only to reappear again with the Khining of the Brotherhood.'

'No wonder you reappeared so quickly when I destroyed your completion,' Catilin gave a cruel laugh. 'I just thought you were being impulsive, but clearly you had it all planned out, didn't you?'

'You didn't think I would face you alone else, did you?' Joey met her gaze.

'I thought maybe you'd gone a little senile in your old age. But you know what, this is definitely better.' She smirked. 'Mortal bodies are much more fragile and so much more fun to play with.'

'You won't get to play with anything. Your fun ends now.' Joey moved his hand in a semi-rotation and a card appeared within it.

'What do you think you're doing?' Catilin again struggled against the chains.

'Ending this,' he whacked the card into his dueldisk, 'once and for all.'