Chapter 14

'I know we said we'd be working to their plan now, but I think we should stick with one little change the kid made to it.'

'You mean...?'

'It'll pose a longer distraction for them, won't it?'

'You're right, it will. Plus it'll be harder to detect, more so if you also...'

'Exactly what I was thinking; the longer we can hold off... you know, the better.'

'Still, either way you need to get going now. Playing things by their rules might have brought us a little more time, but we're still on a deadline here. The height of this storm is still approaching.'

'I'm aware of that, but from this point onwards timing will be everything, because the absolute truth here is, we only get one shot at this.'

SK didn't know what bothered him more; the fact Jay still hadn't delivered his report to any of the Mistresses or the fact the guy had now disappeared off the face of the heavens. If he had to guess, knowing Jay's history, he'd have said the second one. A heavy sigh escaped him as he made his way out of yet another empty chamber only to half jump with a mixture of surprise and shock to see someone in the corridor ahead of him. A deep frown of confusion pulled its way across his face.

'Don't tell me you...'

'That's none of your concern SK.'

'Actually I think it is,' he licked his lips, 'I mean...'

'Really SK I'd be less concerned with how I came to be here and more concerned with what I'm planning to do now that I am,' he held up his right hand revealing a small strange golden scarab-like statue clenched between his forefinger and thumb.

'What is that?' SK licked his lips again as he took a step towards him.

'You know for a guy who claims to have been a scientist, you're really not very good at the whole reading thing. You might want to try actually looking through some of the texts available to you sometime SK, that's if you want to become a decent Helper at some point.'

'Cut with the insults and just tell me what that thing is already.'

'As you wish,' he smirked. 'This, SK, is called a Scarna. It was used in four of the six Disconnected Realms in order to control the Silkoneon population. In those Realms it was this thing and not the so called Shadow Games which threatened their people. But it wasn't just Silkoneons who could be controlled by this nice little piece of Reama Tech; it had a similar effect on the other breeds too. Okay, since you don't have a Sintoy you won't enter a Silen state or become more powerful because of it, but you will have the same decrease in intelligence and compulsive need to obey me.'

'Why...?' SK's tongue skated across his lips as he shook his head.

'Things are very, very wrong SK and the only way to fix them is for the order of things to change; something which could very easily happen now the heavens are left unguarded.'

'Their not unguarded, I'm here.'

'Not for long you won't be,' he chuckled, 'and the second you leave someone will come running and she will be so distracted by your little absence she won't realise what's going on until it's too late. Until the seat of power has been claimed by someone who will do more than sit around like some apathetic coward doing nothing.'

'I... I don't understand...'

'Just what kind of idiot are you?' He rolled his eyes. 'I'm trying to take the seat of power away from the First. Don't you get it SK, with all three Mistresses mortalised anyone could come in here and claim the power for themselves, including one of them.'

'But they could only do that if...' SK cut himself off as a shock of realisation ran through him.

'Whichever one of them dies first can change the order of things by claiming control in their own right,' he fixed his sights on SK. 'But death is a messy thing SK and that's exactly where you come in.'

'What...?' SK licked his lips and took a step back to him.

Almost as soon as he had the Scarna left the other guy's hand and flew towards him. In the blink of an eye it had made its way round SK and landed on the back of his neck. The cold feel of metal was instantly followed by a sharp pain, which crushed its way down his spine, before rising up and penetrating his brain. A strange sensation moved through his head and neck, like someone was sucking the intelligence out of him and into the Scarna. Within seconds his mind had dulled and a thick stupor had set in.

'Can you hear me SK?'

'Yes,' SK's voice sounded child-like and wistful.

'Good, because I want you to do something for me SK,' the other guy crossed the distance between them and pressed something into SK's hand. 'I want you to take this and use it to kill Seto Kaiba.'

From the start this had been the most dangerous part of their plan and the fact the kid had wanted to use a modified version of it as well didn't exactly set his mind at ease. Still it was too late to turn back now. For a moment his eyes glanced towards the clock on his desk as his head started to swarm sickly. He hadn't expected it to feel quite like this, but then again he hadn't been sure what he'd expected. He allowed himself to slump forward over his desk and close his eyes, with any luck he would be out cold in a few more moments and then... then he would just have to trust fate was really on his side.

Considering the hard time he'd given his brother recently over the lack of time they spent together, Mokuba was almost cursing himself for being late. Okay, so maybe a part of him had delayed making the journey to Kaiba Corp because he knew his brother and Tristan were probably going to be mad at him for the things he'd told Duke and Téa, but it wasn't as though they knew why Tristan was staying with them. Still that was no excuse for him to be late, not even by five minutes.

Without hesitation he made his way out of the elevator and prayed his brother was so caught up in his work he wouldn't notice the fact Mokuba was running a little behind. The second he opened the doors to his brother's office, however, his heart almost stopped dead in his chest. His brother was slumped over his desk and stood behind him with a knife raised high above Kaiba's back was SK.

'Oh my god SK, what are you doing?'

'Must kill Seto,' his cousin's voice sounded strange and childish, 'Seto must die.'

'What?' Mokuba's mouth felt dry. 'What the hell is wrong with you?'

'SK kill Seto.'

'No... no this can't be happening. SK you don't want to do this. SK...!'

His cousin ignored him and started bringing the knife down, but as he did someone charged past Mokuba and knocked SK back towards the window.

'Duke?' Mokuba wasn't sure if he was relieved or not to see the older boy there.

'What the hell's going on?' Téa and a sickly looking Yugi appeared beside Mokuba as Duke tried to wrestle the knife out of SK's hands.

'I think he's gone mad,' he pressed his hands against his face. 'I think SK has completely lost his mind and I don't know why. How can this be happening?'

'I don't think this situation is as straight forward as you think,' Yugi placed a hand on Mokuba's shoulder although Mokuba got the feeling it was more to support Yugi than to comfort him. 'When Téa told me Tristan was with Kaiba I just got this sense that I needed to be here. I can't explain it, especially since I'm still feeling like I'm about to die or something,' his image flickered for a moment between his own and Joey's, 'but it was like I just knew something was wrong.'

'So you do think SK's gone mad then?'

'No,' Yugi shook his head, 'I think there's a lot more to it than that.'

Mokuba turned his attention back towards the Duke and SK. Somehow Duke had managed to wrestle the knife out of SK's hands and kicked it clean across the room. He then attempted to restrain the Mistresses' Helper.

'Kill Seto, kill Seto.' SK struggled. 'Must. Have to. Let me.'

'Can someone get some rope or something for me to tie him down with?' Duke shot a look in their direction. 'I don't think I can hold him for much longer.'

Without hesitation Yugi began to fumble with one of his belts. In his sickly state it took him a while to get it off and every second which passed made Mokuba's heart beat with the panic that SK might break away from Duke and somehow succeed in killing Kaiba.

'Téa grab a chair,' Yugi glanced towards her the second he managed to get the belt off.

She nodded and did as she was told, whilst instinct made Mokuba help Duke and the clearly weakened Yugi force SK into the chair. Short work was then made of binding SK to it, although it did require Yugi removing another of his belts.

'Kill Seto, kill Seto.' SK struggled against his binds. 'Must. Understand? Must kill Seto. Have to. Understand? Let me.'

'What do we do?' Mokuba took a few steps back and swallowed hard. 'What's wrong with him?'

'I don't know,' Yugi sank exhaustedly to the floor, 'but I think we should try and get hold of Joey. He understands more about this kind of thing than we do.'

'You really shouldn't be out of bed Yugi,' Téa shot him a look as she pulled her phone out of her pocket.

'I know,' Yugi wiped some of the cold sweat from his forehead, 'but can you imagine what might have happened if I wasn't?'

'The Fables won't just show you anything you know,' Catilin stared at her, 'only what you need to see.'

'I know, that's what I was told,' Mai found herself tentatively running her hands across the cover.

'Told by who?'

'I'm not sure I can really get into that right now Catilin, all I know is that they wanted me to look in this book which I'm guessing means there's something I need to see.'

'Well whilst you're at it tell the Fables I need to see the passage about this storm,' Catilin pouted. 'It's shown me a lot in the last two days, but not what I wanted to see.'

'What exactly has it been showing you?' Mai frowned at her, mildly concerned by the way Catilin was whining like a little girl.

'Mostly cryptic stuff about Win,' she folded her arms, 'there were a few other things mixed in there too, but nothing about the storm.'

'Maybe you just don't need to know about the storm right now.'

'Then why was I able to find that passage before?'

'I don't know Cat,' Mai sighed, 'I honestly have more questions than I have answers. All I know for sure right know is that I need to read from this book.'

'Okay,' Catilin pulled a face for a moment, 'sorry I'm being so bratty, I just don't like it when things don't go the way I want.'

'I'm sure the Fables didn't do it to you on purpose Catilin.'

'I know,' she lowered her gaze, 'but maybe I couldn't see what I wanted to see because I was bad before. Maybe the Fables are punishing me.'

'I don't think that's it Cat. I'm not sure if these Fables are supposed to have an inbuilt morality, even if they do have a mind of their own. You just couldn't find what you wanted because you weren't meant to.'

'I know.'

'Good, then maybe you can help me understand whatever it is I'm meant to find,' Mai took a deep breath as she opened the book, 'because I get the feeling this is going to be about as straight forward as a triangle.'

'I'll help you Mai,' Catilin laughed, 'the Fables are my family's legacy and I'm an expert in them.'