Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! However, I am claiming OCs I might have. I only accept constructive criticism.

Obsidian's Pearl

Chapter 14

Don't Ever Forget

Kaiba watched the sweat roll down the brow of the blonde before he haphazardly wiped it from his face. He knew Joey wasn't sweating because of how long they had been running; it ran farther than that. For some reason the brunet knew what the alert meant. Someone from Obsidian had successfully found and broken into the hive. Who was another question but it didn't matter, especially with the death hanging thick in the air. He could tell the others had no idea. How could they? The information had only been relayed some hours ago which didn't give Atem a whole lot of time to tell the others. He was still trying to figure things out.

The group came to a halt inside the barracks. All around men and women were suited up heading to their different posts around the organization. Isis moved over to the computer Odion was currently clicking around on. A grimace showed prominent on his strong features and he glanced at his sister. After a few more codes the computer system went on lockdown along with any other item that was linked to the system. The doors began closing and opening at an alarming rate while the lights flashed on and off.

"Where did the signal come from?" Shadi asked.

"The restoration bay!" Odion said over his shoulder as he moved to a panel of suits. He tossed one to everyone and they slid into the white material. "Atem is meeting us there!"

The group once more took off down the hall, dressed in white, and glided past the shoving bodies and panicked commands. Isis' heart was pounding with its usual adrenaline before a battle, but it was also panicking. If one of them died, she didn't know how she was going to feel about it. Somehow she felt it was her fault. She should have told them sooner, all of them. She shook such thoughts from her mind; she needed to focus. Those kinds of distractions got you killed or horribly wounded.

They took the stairs rather than the crowded elevators and made it to the medic bay. Nurses were rushing around trying to take the newborns from their beds as they cried from the commotion. Some of the interns looked utterly frightened and just ran in circles till a soldier showed them where to go. The doctors were grabbing their emergency kits just in case anyone got hurt. Kaiba felt utterly surreal amongst the squabble. His adrenaline should have left him dizzy but he felt more acute to everything.

Atem came towards them from the opposite direction wearing a suit much like them. His face was set in a hard mask but his eyes showed a sense of panic. He pointed down a hall he disappeared to. They all followed and paused where they found the man standing before an office: Pegasus office. It was dark inside and thick black mist was wafting out from under the door. The blinds were down so no one knew what exactly was going on inside. The short leader did a series of motions and everyone followed the silent commands, even Kaiba knew exactly what they meant.

The group took on a V formation. Atem created the point while Kaiba and Isis made up the second row. Odion, Shadi, and Joey created the third row and Pegasus, Croquet, and Mai stood together behind them. They were trained in battle but they weren't apart of the main group. Atem glanced back to them and spoke in a very low voice, "Precision plan V." Taking in a breath he said in an almost whisper, "Yugi is in there…so be careful." The team visibly stiffened but said nothing.

Atem counted to three and extended his foot easily kicking the door in. As if the air pressure of the room was off, the dark like mist funneled and began sucking them in. "Hold your ground!" Atem called as his boots began to screech across the steel floor.

The power behind the magic proved to be to strong and soon all of them had been pulled into the room. Croquet gave a grunt as he was launched across the room deeper into the darkness. Pegasus ran for him but Mai stopped him along with the barricade. They offered hopeful stares to the man. The remaining were able to continue standing but now they were engulfed in darkness; pure darkness. Isis shivered at the pure evil that wrapped around them blinding them from morals. Luckily all of their eyes adjusted and gave off a dull glow, showing the room as a colored night vision. No one moved. They simply waited for action.

They didn't have to wait long for a loud stomp reverberated around the room. Their ears shifted to the space before their eyes and they picked up breathing. Was it Croquet? They adjusted their ears more to the soft breaths and Atem's eyes grew wide. It was Yugi. Looking over the group made a cautious movement to him and found it was indeed the boy. He had been dropped by someone or something for he lied in a crater created by a combination of his assailants throw and his dead weight. He was in a fetal position and currently unconscious. Atem held out his hand, palm facing the boy and the hairs on the back of Kaiba's neck stood up. The oddest tingle of energy moved through him before it was suffocating the room.

They all watched in awe as Yugi's body began to tremor before black ribbons of crackling power tore their way through cracks in the floor. They cocooned around Yugi in an almost loving way and shielding his small body from sight. Kaiba found the display of power intriguing. He hadn't seen anyone really use their hidden abilities so to see Atem show what he was capable of showed just how much was hidden in the small lean body. Once Atem was pleased with the shield he slowly pulled his hand back and cracked his neck.

"Who dares to enter my domain?" Atem growled in a rich authoritative baritone.

The room thumped and rippled in dimension. The mere fluctuation left Kaiba feeling nauseas and dizzy. He swallowed hard and rebalanced himself focusing his energy to his legs. Soon enough he stabilized and was even able to wipe the sick feeling away. Looking around like the others he felt it again but this time it was across the room. Next it moved right before them before going to the rear; at one point the power was beside Yugi before ghosting away. Kaiba looked over at Isis and found she had moved closer to him, in an almost defensive pose. Extending his leg he made a move to be closer to her.

"Answer me or I shall drag you out of these Shadows!" Atem warned as he slowly raised his hand. There was no response. "Have it your way." An ancient eye burned into the man's forehead and his body pulsed with power that reverberated across the room. It was pushing out, like sonar tracing for what could be in the room. Kaiba even felt it tickle across his brain curious of whether he was friend or foe.

Suddenly the sound of something whizzing through the space caught their ears. It was moving so quickly that when it hit Atem's extended hand it cut into his flesh. Atem flipped his hand over and spied the item with some perplexity until it glinted from the darkness. "Fa'r!" The curse was clear and concise but didn't relay the severity of what was in his hand before it activated.

The dark piece of volcanic glass known as obsidian cracked down the middle and shot dark angry shreds of darkness from within it. It shot Atem back into the glass wall shattering it with his body before he finally came to a halt against the hallway wall. The rock had been dropped from his hand in the action and three of the furious bands took to the team. Isis charged it to kick it the stone away when its protectors wrapped around her throat and held her high before disposing of her by launching her back. Kaiba jumped behind her to catch her and from the force of her body, they were forced back into the others. Hitting the other glass wall Isis looked around to find herself on top of Kaiba, with Mai and Pegasus down with them. Joey, Odion, and Shadi had been fortunate to dodge them but were now being beating by the tendrils till they were thrown into the opposite side of them.

Atem returned to the room running full fledge and used his agility to dodge the black whips lashing out at him. One aimed for his ankles just as he leapt. He twisted through the air and went to land his heavy boot on the piece when it launched itself away from him. One of the arms managed to tangle in his hair and sent him flying back. He flipped so his feet hit the wall and redirected his energy forward. The leader flew back towards the bodiless assailant and punched at one of the ribbons to only have it turn to mist, before solidifying to blow him back.

Kaiba watched with bated breath as more angry black limbs began to grow more rapidly through the room. Soon everyone had an enemy of their own and despite their efforts could not beat the pebble. By the fifth time Kaiba was struck back, he tasted blood in his mouth and found the punch from the darkness had busted his lip. He heard a grunt as someone slid across the floor before slamming their head into the heavily cracking glass walls. Isis sat up on her knees before collapsing down. He smelled blood and rushed over to feel the wetness growing against the top of her head.

"Isis! Stay with me!" Though he knew she couldn't die from the blow passing out was inevitable.

"I…I'm…sorry." Isis went slack in his hands but her breathing and heartbeat were still strong and present as ever.

"Kaiba to your left!" Kaiba heard Joey yell from across the room before the blonde was launched through the air. The brunet immediately rolled cradling Isis in his arms as a tendril lashed at him, cracking the floor where the blow as meant for him.

"Atem! What are we to do?" Shadi asked as he leapt backwards from the enemy. "We're four men down and cannot beat this thing."

Atem looked to find Kaiba dodging with Isis in his hands. Joey lay in a heap in the corner while Mai was on the other side of the room. Shadi was nowhere to be seen in the room but he could hear his shallow breathing in one of the corners. Watching the tactics of the magical stone Atem found it was forcing them all back against the walls towards the farthest corner from—"YUGI!" The man immediately ran in harm's way back towards the little heap. He increased his efforts and spotted Pegasus slowing standing up. The doctor gave him a look that promised of assistance and when he was close enough to Pegasus, the silver-haired man extended his arm successfully close-lining Atem.

Dark arms shot from the floor and held Atem to the floor. More shot up around the group; they created a cage over the crouched Kaiba and wrapped themselves around Odion's ankles and wrists. They were bound. "PEGASUS! What's the meaning of this!"

"Treachery my dearest Pharaoh." Pegasus gave his signature chuckle as he wiped the blood from his lip. "Come to me my Cro-Cro!"

"Croquet is this beast?" Odion hollered as he continued to struggle with his bonds.

"Obviously you fool!" Pegasus held his arms out and three arms charged him; one wrapped around each arm while the third encircled his midsection. It carried him across the room to where they all witnessed the darkness picking Yugi up in his egg shaped safe house. Pegasus pulled a dagger from his coat pocket and dug the sharpened edge into his right hand. He hissed at the pain and held it over the stone. His blood sizzled against the stone and like a starving child; the stone suckled it in causing the urgency of the limbs to increase.

"Pegasus! Take me instead!" Atem grunted as he struggled against his holds. "Of what use could Yugi possibly be to you?"

"It's never been about me Atem; it's always been about Master Bakura and his bidding. Obviously Yugi is more valuable to him than you, at this point anyway. But enough of this, I should be going."

"You'll never escape!" Odion grunted, "This whole sector along with the rest of the hive is on lockdown. Nobody gets in and no one gets out!"

"Ha! You of all people should know the power of magic. How do you think Ryou was able to astral-project into the training bay? Master Bakura's power surpasses all of you, especially you Atem. You don't stand a chance of getting little Yugi-boy back, unless of course you manage to get your hands on his corpse." Pegasus mocked sensitivity when fear actually shown across the brave leaders face, "Oops! Did I say that? Hmm."

"Know you are no longer with us Pegasus! Mark my words; we will slay you and your master."

"Ha Atem! As if I was every for you! Infiltration doesn't happen in one day or one year, you should know that." Looking down at the stone he called, "Now take us away!" A blinding black that was so dark and thick began to bubble from the stone, causing crackles of power to form around it. A loud explosion rang through the room causing the obsidian to bloat and pop across the area. Kaiba wrapped his body around Isis' as he felt the aftershock ripple through and launch them from the room all together.

Drip. Sssss. Tink-Tink.

"Seto?" Kaiba's eyes blurrily opened to find three concerned looking Isis' spinning around a more solid version. Eventually they all combined to one. He slowly sat up and looked around where he was. Glass, rock, steel, and medical supplies littered the area. The piping system was dripping and pouring water along the once hallways while one pipe was blowing out steam. Shadi and Odion was walking around the rubble with hard faces.

"Where is he?"

"Pegasus is gone."

"No, Atem." Kaiba wouldn't admit it but he was worried about him. It almost felt like he was related to him.

"No one knows but he is somewhere in the hive. We can feel his anger." Isis clenched her jaw as she surveyed the area once more. Kaiba did the same.

The brunet was shocked to see just how damaged everything was. The whole restoration bay was destroyed. Miles of a once thriving medical utopia lay in disarray sprinkled with ground spackle, water, and blood. Looking more closely he spotted a crushed hand peeking out from where the room had collapsed into the floor. A few pale bodies in lab coats were lying around. Some were coughing up blood, others were moaning low because their foot or arm was turned the opposite direction. There were others who weren't doing anything.

In-fact many lay motionless, eyes wide open, with their lips posed in the last breath they took. He spotted a group of women huddled in the corner around three carts of incubators. The carts contained five racks to where you could transport five babies at a time. He was disgusted to find blood splattered against the cracked and some shattered compartments. The women all had glass and metal from the carts stuck straight through their bodies with the remnants of the newborns exploded bodies along their lab coats, faces, and hair. He felt pain on his arm and found Isis staring at the same scene, squeezing his arm in anguish.

"Isis, look away." He took his hand and turned her head towards him. Tears lined the bottoms of her eyes. "Don't."

"We weren't enough; we didn't do enough Seto," she whispered in response. "We failed."

He watched as she slowly rose from her position and moved over to where Joey was hoisting up dead bodies with Odion and Shadi. After a brief melancholy exchange, Isis began helping them with the deed. Mai was running around with the few living medical workers and less wounded interns tending to the dying and horribly hurt. Kaiba swallowed the bile in his throat as he moved over and found a small baby's arm, still wearing their medical band, resting a few feet from him. Of all the places they had to land it would be in the maternity ward.

Slowly he rose to his feet and steadied himself. His shoulder was killing him and he figured it was dislocated. Bracing himself he popped it back in place with a gasp and let out a long breath. He made his way through the rubble, determined to travel the whole area. The sad thing was he could literally see the whole area. Nothing was standing. All of the rooms had been destroyed. The closer he moved to the center the more he found a black goop sizzling and breaking down whatever it came in contact with. A smudge of it dripped onto his head from one of the hanging pipes, and ate a section of his bangs away. Luckily it wasn't enough to be noticeable.

He finally made it to the quadrants center and held his nose at the smell of burning flesh, scorched in the worst of ways. It hung heavy and stagnant in the arm. Charred bodies and body parts were scattered around it, trimming a huge crater in death. He guesstimated the hole had to be at least eight feet deep and five foot wide. He realized it was the location where Pegasus transported out. But how had he done it? Looking down in the center he found a man standing in the center. Atem.

"Leave me…" The leader didn't know who it was exactly, considering his senses where off. But he did know he wanted to be left alone.

"What makes you think I'll take an order from you?" Kaiba slid down the wall of the crater and landed in the flat center. He slowly made his way over to Atem.

"Hmph. Why should any of you take orders from me?" He clenched his hands into fists, "My orders have done nothing but take innocent lives and hurt my council."

"Shut the hell up Atem." Kaiba made long strides to the man and spun him around grasping the charred pieces to his suit top, "Don't you dare turn into some little whiny bitch just because we had a loss." He could tell the man had been crying. "Pull it together! Don't you want to find Yugi and kill Bakura?"

"Yes."

"Then shut the fuck up, wipe your nose, and get planning!" Reaching back Kaiba punched Yami hard across the face. The smaller of the two flew across the charred earth and came to a halt against a piece of fallen wall. Kaiba blinked a couple of times and looked down at his hand; that particular "takeover" felt natural. In-fact, nothing felt pushed or forced. He felt completely natural being an asshole to Atem.

Atem slowly stood up and made his way back over to the taller male. "I appreciate you standing strong by my side," twirling around Atem roundhouse kicked Kaiba in the stomach. The burnet slouched forward wheezing for breath. He fell over into a puddle of the black sludge that happened to be cool and inhaled. A mouth full of the darkness hit his palate and his brain cried out for him to swallow. It was down his throat before he could stop it.

Atem either didn't notice this or chose not to, "But don't ever touch me without consequences Seth."

Seth. Seth. Seth.

"Seth?" Slowly a pair of deep dark hues shown to a crying woman's face; she resembled Isis. However the shade of her eyes and skin was somehow different. "Seth…I'm…sorry…"

"For—" The strong taste of blood hit his tonsils and he rolled his head to cough raggedly. Large clumps of destroyed insides were hawked up too. When his breathing finally went to normal panting, he returned on his back and looked up into the pained face. He gave a small chuckle, "For that hm?" He wiped the blood on the side of his face on the back of his hand.

"If I had—"

"Silence woman." He gave a small smirk as indignation flashed before her saddened eyes. "I remember how furious I was able to make you back then."

"That has yet to change." He followed her eyes down and found the large gaping smoking hole in his chest and coughed once more. "You foolish, foolish man! You should have allowed me clearance to paradise."

Tears splattered against the man's face as he forced himself up. He rested his head against her lap and wrapped his arms around her. "Priestess…know that I have been a fool many times regarding my people, my country, and my cousin our…" he let in a series of deep pants before continuing, "…our prized leader. But this was one redeeming moment of my lifespan."

"Do not speak such words to me at this time High Priest I—"

"Allow my selfishness to bellow in my last moment's woman." He reached a shaking hand up and ran it through her hair. A tear trickled against his palm, "Do not cry. We all are reborn in some way. I myself shall see you again. However, forgive me when you do."

"Forgive you for—"

"Shhh. I grow cold. Warm me."

The woman draped herself across the body, holding it close, before it went limp.

Seth. Kaiba. Seto.

Atem remained crouched down by the brunet's body as he slowly came too. He watched as the man pushed himself up on all fours and coughed raggedly. His whole back shook from the throat wrenching prattle.

"Who are you?" Atem asked curiously between wheezes. He licked his lips in anticipation.

"I'm…I'm the FC." Kaiba slowly looked over at Atem, "I'm Seth. The fallen comrade, the second in command of Project Pearl, and your cousin…" More coughing took over; however it was scratchier and more brutal sounding than before. Blood tinged in black poured out in buckets till a large lump of flesh barfed from his lips and hit the level ground with a wet splat. Kaiba took in long deep breaths to settle himself. He shifted his eyes upward and gave a serious face.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"You wouldn't have believed me."

Kaiba smirked, "I actually believe you."

Atem helped him to his feet, "Is that…" he pointed to the congealed flesh on the ground.

"Yes. It is my wound. I suppose with this type of remembrance I had to regurgitate my wound." He touched his chest gingerly. Confusion was a heavy mist covering his mind's eyes and he didn't like it. He knew but he didn't.

"Perplexity must be strong within you?"

"Indeed."

"I can see how you would be. This reincarnation you have created is more than tricky. Between traveling through time and genetic code you had to relive another life without knowing anything about your true one. And from those few past memories that have surfaced now you have to work through who you are. I couldn't imagine the complications."

"Well Atem, thank you for complicating the matter further. Despite what has or has not happened I am Seto Kaiba."

Atem gave a small smirk, "Well I will be calling you Seth now, whenever I deem it appropriate whether you like it or not. For some time I considered the possibility you wouldn't return."

"It was plausible." Looking over at the shorter male he found him giving him a look of undisguised admiration. "Atem, I'll punch you again if you don't stop."

"Sorry Seth." Atem's eyes brightened further at the soft growl given by the man.

"What about Pegasus?" Kaiba didn't want to ponder things anymore. He wanted to focus on the here and now. "What exactly happened?"

Atem's face hardened and he turned slightly away from Kaiba, surveying the ground. Reaching down he picked up a sliver of glossy rock and held it out to Kaiba. "Volcanic glass."

Deep blue eyes scrutinized the stone, "70–75% SiO2, plus MgO, Fe3O4 …so it was pure obsidian?"

"Yes. When I first spotted it I knew things wouldn't turn out well. After surveying the sight I found how the operation happened."

"And that is?" Kaiba slid the fragment away in his boot. Since a few ideas were returning he knew where he could go to further analyze the item. He knew it could give clues to OO's location.

"Pegasus has always had the stone but was able to conceal it in some way or form. Perhaps Croquet brought it in through a, ahem, cavity in his body. Originally it wasn't pure obsidian since we have scans for that, however if it was manipulated in a lab it could easily morph. Pegasus had many years to perfect it and once it was done, all he needed was Shadow magic to birth it. That's where Croquet came in. He was magically pulled into the room thus why he was ahead of us all. He offered himself to the stone after Pegasus activated its bewitched qualities I'm sure Bakura bestowed on it before handing it off."

"How was it so strong?"

"It's had quite some time to generate energy. It was feeding from Croquet and we would have known that if it hadn't have been for his sunglasses. When offering a mineral your life force your eyes often change a strange color or the whites of one's eyes speckle black. It also explains why his hair was such an odd color, yet I didn't bat an eye to it." Atem quietly cursed himself before continuing, "Croquet offered his body to the stone while Pegasus offered his blood. With the combined energy Bakura was able to channel in on them, not know our location, but channel in on them and push astral-projection to actual teleportation. It's a hard trick and quite taxing; I was only able to use it with Yugi since we were linked."

"Why can't you now?"

"I've shielded him. I wrapped him in some of my essence. I cannot penetrate it myself. Only he can leave it if he chooses to. Not even Bakura can touch him. The maniac will become frustrated by that."

"So what you're telling me is that the shrimps safe?" He ignored the glare the lean man offered and watched as he nodded. "Then why so worried?"

"For obvious reasons but beyond that my Aibou has a bad habit of being sacrificial especially when it's not called for. I fear he'll leave the cocoon for his own personal complexities. But I hope he at least waits until we arrive before considering it."

"Can you not mind-link with him?"

"No…he's out of range. Meaning Bakura's lair is laden with just as much magic as ours. It shields our communication. All I can do is feel his emotions. He's still not aware of what's going on thank Ra." He moved around the crater heading for the side to head back to the council. "What we need to do now is regroup and prepare for an attack."

"I couldn't agree more. It's time Bakura was completely eradicated. I'll take the stone down to my lab," he paused when he found himself putting ownership over a space in the hive, "and see if I can pinpoint its origins. I might give us clues to where OO is exactly placed."

"Good thinking Seth. I will handle the damages, no matter how severe they are." Atem gave a heavy sigh and looked over at the taller male to find him gripping his skull. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Just one of my usual migraines."

"They've always stemmed from your mind digging deep within itself to find who you were and who you are."

"Whatever Atem. I'll just handle it as I usually do." Kaiba knew there was some military grade aspirin around the hive somewhere if he was a part of it at any time.

"Don't overexert yourself Kaiba. I don't want your mind suffering along with your body and spirit. You'll be useless to me then."

"Even on my deathbed I'm more help than anyone else on the council, especially the Mutt." Recognizing Joey as a dog felt natural and oddly enough he received a little bit of joy from it.

"Hm. Good to have you back."

The two finally came across the group clustered together talking quietly. They all turned and gave Kaiba a look. They knew. They all knew he was partially back and on his way to a speedy recovery. They didn't say anything; they simply shared a silent conversation. Scanning their faces Kaiba played little clips of conversations, arguments, spars, and laughter he had shared with them. They were all his friends at one point and it was a nice feeling to know where he belonged. All while he lived his other life he always felt like he was striving for something that had never been offered to him. He knew why now.

Tiny little fragments of memories began to piece themselves together under the disheveled brunet hair at a very slow rate. He remembered designing and leading a team to have Pearl built. He remembered hiring workers under strict security. He remembered Obsidian forming. He remembered dating Kisara. He remembered when Tea, Tristan, Serenity, and Yugi's grandpa were murdered. He remembered when Kisara died. He remembered when he died. He remembered when Pegasus joined. His memories were binding together, weaving a complicated pattern that was chronologically organized. Yet and still it wasn't enough. It was like knowing the existence of unicorns but never quite catching or seeing one. He was drowning in his memories and he wasn't sure what would happen or what else he would know.

"Seth?"

Looking up he found the crystal blue eyes of Isis looking upon him hopefully. Out of everything Kaiba knew he'd always be sure of one thing: He loved Isis Ishtar.

PLEASE READ:

What what! I just popped this out like a mother having her seventh child. I am so full of ideas because we're getting to the climax of this tale. I didn't want this thing to have a ton of chapters but make up for it with lengthy chapters. So sorry if you expected this to go to like thirty chapters and beyond; because at this point I don't see that happening, if it does okay. If not, okay. Lol. Hope you liked it! I worked hard on it. Sorry for typos I'm tired of looking at it.

Arabic Words:

Fa'r – Shit

This was posted especially for:

Zoelle – I love how you said "oreo blizzard climate", made my day! Thanks for the large too!

Tru Mel Meiko Mei Ling – Glad we finally got to talkie-talk! I was tired of the back and forth motion of missing one another. Thanks for keeping me focused on writing this guh! Also I know you'll peep what looks like Prideshipping in this. You always do! (wink wink)

Starynight90 – I guess at this point it means posting faster for here I am! Usually once I get to the parts I've been dreaming of writing since I came up with the story idea, I'll blaze through writing the chapters.

Lace Kyoko – For some reason I totally thought of you when I wrote that part. I was like, "If no one else gets a kick out of this, I know Lacie Ky-Ky will." Yea, I have a weirdo nickname for you. Sorry if you hate it…because I'm not changing it. Ha ha ha. But really, I won't. Thanks for reviewing bud!

Still Stands: If I don't get one measly review, no new chapter, however if I do get one measly review, new chapter.

REVIEW!

Well I'm Out.