Chapter 26

Hours of arguing back and forth had taken its toll on all of them. Tristan and Mokuba had left the Southern Palace a little after nine, two hours later Tristan found himself tossing and turning in his bed, frustrated that a whole day had been wasted and literally no progress had been made. Hell they'd even gone so far as to make reverse progress happen in the form of Joey's missing sister.

A noise of frustration escaped him as he flipped onto his back and slammed his fists into the mattress behind him. He was exhausted, but he couldn't sleep. He just kept thinking about how the bed felt too big, how the room felt too empty and too cold and about a dozen other clichés which all amounted to the same thing. He missed Kaiba.

Sighing heavily, he rolled onto his side and closed his eyes. The faint smell of his companion drifted towards him, making his heart ache. Desperately he tried to imagine the feel of his chest under his head, the soft beating of his heart, the deep sound of his breathing, everything which made him feel safe. Everything which suddenly felt so far away. Tears sprang to his eyes and silently rolled their way down his cheeks. He was miserably alone and exhausted, so why not cry himself to sleep?

Being chained up wasn't exactly the most restful experience in the world, but somehow he'd managed to drift off to sleep. Although truth was he only realised he had when his eyes opened onto the familiar, softly lit room of the dream world he and Tristan shared. He wasn't totally sure how he'd managed to end up here with his powers currently cut off to him, but then there was a lot about shared dreaming he didn't understand. It was why neither he nor Tristan could control it; not yet anyway.

'Tristan,' he gently nudged the heavily sleeping form resting against him, 'Tristan, please wake up, I need you.'

No matter how many times he'd used the phrase in their shared world, Kaiba couldn't help but think wake up was the wrong thing to say in a dream. Still, it hadn't failed to work before and now was no exception.

'Good morning,' Tristan's voice was soft, as he stretched and stared up at him, 'I was having this horrible dream where someone had stolen you away from me.'

'That wasn't a dream Tristan, this is.'

'Please don't tell me that.'

'I'm sorry, but I don't have a choice,' Kaiba shifted his gaze away, 'I... I need you to... I need you to rescue me.'

The words instantly made Tristan sit up. Glancing towards him Kaiba couldn't help but note the look of intense concern and anxiety on his face. It was a look which let him know he was loved, but at the same time it filled him with his own feelings of concern. What if the stress of this situation was too much for Tristan? What if...?

'I need you to tell me where you are,' Tristan's voice cut off his train of thoughts. 'We've been trying to find you but we have no idea where to start; is there anything you can tell us which might help?'

'It's a basement, with a door that leads out onto street level. But I have no idea where.'

'Are you alone?'

'No,' he shook his head, 'Téa and Mai are here too.'

'And Serenity?'

'Serenity?' Kaiba stared at him in confusion. 'No,' he eventually shook his head again, 'she's not with us.'

'What about Jay?'

'I haven't seen him,' he frowned. 'What's going on?'

'You wouldn't believe just how ridicules this situation has become,' Tristan sighed. 'There are a lot of people missing, but all I can think about is how much I miss you.'

'I know,' he lowered his gaze again, 'that's why... Please Tristan I need you to save me.'

'You're afraid,' Tristan's face filled with a look of terrified disbelief. 'What's going on? Who took you? What are they doing to you? And why...?'

'I…' his own sentence was cut off by a sharp feeling in his stomach tugging him back to reality. 'Tristan,' he felt his eyes bulge with fear.

'No, you can't go yet Seto, please. You have to stay with me; I need to know what's going on if I'm going to help you.'

'I'll try, but…' there was another sharp tug, 'I don't think I can hold on,' his face fell in despair.

'You have to,' his eyes flickered about in a pleading manner. 'We've been talking about finding ways of controlling these shared dreams of ours and now is as good a time as any to start trying. Please, stay with me.'

'I don't think I can.'

'Please.'

'I…'

But it was too late. Reality jolted its way through him and he found himself trapped again within the confines of his former female counterpart.

'No,' despair welled up inside of him as he stared around the basement. 'No, no, no, no, no, no, no.'

As the words moaned out of him there was a strange sensation in his protruding stomach which caused him to look down. At first he had no idea what it was, but then something slowly dawned on him; the baby was kicking, that's what woke him up.

'You're alive,' he laughed in disbelief, 'you're actually alive.'

The kicking sensation came again and with it the realisation this unseen living being needed him. With mixed and uncertain feelings he found himself wrapping his arms around his stomach.

'At first it was just me and my brother,' he kept his voice low so he wouldn't wake the others, 'and I took care of him because he needed me. Then there was Tristan and I took care of him because in some strange way we needed each other. And now... now there's you and I... I... I know I'm going to take care of you too. Not because I have to, not because you need me to, but... but because I want to.'

A strange and unexpected laugh rippled out of him as he was suddenly filled with an overwhelming love for his child. It had hit him with such ferocity there was no doubt in his mind these were his own feelings and not the Pure's. He didn't care whether or not this was how he was supposed to feel or if it was just the extreme nature of the situation at work. All he knew was so long as he had breath to fight he would do everything in his power to stop the madman who had captured them from killing his baby.

The kicking sensation came again and this time he smiled. No matter how weird the feeling or how unnatural the situation, the kicking felt good to him. It was an acknowledgement of the fragile life growing inside of him; a halo of good in a pit of darkness.

'No matter what happens I won't let him hurt you, I promise. And even if I have to die to make sure you're safe, you'll still have Tristan to look after you. And he will look after you because he's your Dad and if I love you, then he'll love you; I know he will,' he leant his head back against the wall. 'And if he doesn't, then I'll come back from the dead and force him to change his mind. I'll be the Pure then too so he'll have no choice but to listen.'

The baby kicked again and he couldn't help but laugh.

'You'd better be smarter than Crovell for all this trouble you're causing Taylor Kaiba,' he lowered his head as a strange feeling of pride moved through him. 'Taylor Kaiba, sounds weird, but... I guess it's who you are.'

'Right, that's it Dayena,' SK crashed angrily into her chamber, 'you've messed me around for more than long enough. I don't know what sort of game it is you think you're playing here, but I have had just about enough of it.'

'I knew I should have posted more of my council members to watch you,' a sly smile tugged at her lips. 'You're stubborn, head strong and very trusting of your instincts, everything a good Helper should be.'

'I don't want to just be a good Helper,' his jaw line hardened, 'I want to be the best. And if that means taking you on in order to get back to the Mistresses then you'd better believe I'm going to do it.'

'You're not just slow boiling all that lovely potential you have, are you,' she found herself studying him, 'you're really starting to live up to it now. But you've barely even begun to discover who you are. Or rather, who you will be.'

'Stop being so cryptic and tell me the real reason you moved me onto your council, because I don't believe for a second this little charade of yours has anything to do with me accepting my death.'

'You're right, it doesn't. There are a great many reasons why I brought you here, but for now I will give you the most important one. I brought you here to test you.'

'Test me?'

'Whether you realise it or not SK, you are exceptional. There have been few Guardians who could have done what you've managed to do and not be completely destroyed by it. But just because you have the potential to surpass Octan, doesn't mean you will. And for now it was more important to make sure you really have what it takes to serve the Mistresses on your own.'

'On my own?' SK's tongue skated across his lips. 'Why would I be on my own? What about… what about Jay?'

'Jay has a different destiny, he always has. He's one of six you know, all important for different reasons, but only Jay's destiny had an uncertainty attached to it.'

'An uncertainty?' He frowned.

'His destiny could only be fulfilled if certain other events were to conspire. They have, therefore his destiny has come to him. Unfortunately, due to the nature of this destiny, there is no guarantee he will make it out of this situation with his existence intact and it is more than likely he will rejoin the light.'

'What...?' His expression crumpled.

'I'm sorry; I know you have become rather attached to him. But there is a high probability he will either fall by his own hand or he will be sentence to ascension.' 'What...? I... I don't understand...'

'In order to fulfil his destiny Jay must commit a sin punishable by death or ascension under Balance Law. There are very few exceptions made to this rule and I'm not certain the circumstances will be enough to save him.'

'Why... why are you making him do this?' SK's tongue glanced over his lips again as he slowly shook his head.

'I am not making him do it. When we... when we told him what must happen he had a choice; he could have just walked away.'

'But it's not in his nature to just walk away.'

'I know and that is why I get the feeling...' she cut herself off. 'In order to stop the Council from finding him too quickly his records were altered. He has a few days at the most before they'll cotton on to what's happening and send their Balancers after him. You must make certain the sacrifice he's making is not in vain.'

'Of course, I'll do anything.'

'Then go do what you do best SK,' she forced a smile onto her face as she met his gaze, 'go help the Mistresses.'