Chapter 29
There was no doubt in Tristan's mind the others would question him not rejoining them for bed time, but he also knew there was just no way he could sleep anywhere without Kaiba. The pair of them had kind of come to an agreement they would stay together without either one of them saying a word and a part of Tristan was glad they didn't need telepathy to read each others' minds.
It was pretty late by the time they finally entered Kaiba's cabin, but no sooner than they had Tristan found his heart almost stopping dead in his chest. In almost the same way the control room Mokuba had been in was, Kaiba's cabin was covered in flowers. Only this time the flowers weren't white Lillyannu lilies, this time it was heather.
'That smell,' Kaiba half closed his eyes, 'it's so faint but so unmistakable, isn't it? She did this to us then as well.'
'What?' Tristan frowned for a moment.
'Don't tell me you've forgotten,' his eyes opened to meet with his. 'Catilin. Our wedding day. She didn't think it was right we weren't having any flowers, so she decided to do something about it without telling us.'
'I remember,' a soft smile pulled at Tristan's lips, 'she said it was purple, because that's the colour of love in the Tenth Order and heather because people consider it lucky. God she gets some crazy ideas into her head sometimes.'
'Tell me about it,' Kaiba moved passed him in order to start gathering it up. 'So I guess this means she's definitely watching us then.'
'Yeah... I guess...'
'You don't sound totally convinced,' Kaiba shot him a look.
'It's not that, it's just... whoever sent us the heather knows what it means to us. Just like they would know what the Lillyannu lily means to us. So if it is Catilin, then she must be getting visions of the future or alternatively she's back in the same way we are and I'm not totally sure I'm comfortable with either explanation.'
'Why not?'
'Because it's Catilin.'
'Good point,' he pressed his lips together. 'So if it is Catilin we have to worry about the fact that it is Catilin and she could pretty much do anything with the information. And if it isn't Catilin we have to worry about the fact it isn't Catilin.'
'God you're giving me a headache,' Tristan massaged his temples.
'No, that's just the heather,' Kaiba smirked, 'and it'll go as soon as you help me get it out of here.'
'Yeah, yeah, yeah,' he rolled his eyes as he joined Kaiba in their cleaning task.
For a few long moments there was silence as the pair of them concentrated on gathering the flowers into piles by the door. As they did Tristan couldn't help but wondered where they were going to take them as well as worry about what the others might think if they accidently came across them on the way.
'Next door.'
'What?' His gaze lifted to meet with Kaiba's.
'The flowers, we can take them next door.'
'How did...?'
'We've been married for fifteen years and you really think I have no idea what you might be thinking at any given moment?'
'So even without telepathy I have no privacy from you?' Tristan teased.
'Since when do you ever want privacy from me?' Kaiba smirked.
'Damn, I knew I should have gotten you to change your name. If you were a Taylor I'd be the one owning you.'
'Well it's too late for that now,' he laughed.
'Yeah, yeah, yeah,' he playfully rolled his eyes, 'so do you want me to get these next door whilst you...'
Before he could finish his sentence there was a loud pounding on the door to the cabin. For half a second the two of them exchanged wary glances, then Kaiba opened the door as Tristan hastily tried to gather up as much of the heather as possible.
'What the...?' Joey cocked an eyebrow at them as he made his way into the room. 'That Catilin girl you were talking about earlier, does she have some kind of weird crush on Kaiba, or does she just like sending people flowers?'
'What do you want Joey?' Tristan deliberately avoided answering his question.
'Everyone's getting ready to settle down for the night, I wanted to see if you were going to join us or not.'
'We still have a lot to discus here,' he exchanged an edgy glance with Kaiba.
'Nobody can have so much to discus they need to spend the night staying up just to talk about it,' Joey narrowed his gaze on him.
'Okay, you got me, we agreed it would be better if we stayed together, that way there's no risk of me saying anything to you guys which might pollute the timeline.'
'But you wouldn't have stayed in here with him the first time round, so isn't this polluting your precious timeline?'
'Since when were you an expert on time travel,' Tristan gave a callous shrug as he made his way out of the room with his arms full of flowers.
'Since when do you feed me the same line Kaiba fed Mokuba?' Joey followed him out of the room.
'You spoke to Mokuba before coming here?'
'I spoke to Mokuba when I couldn't find either of you. He might have fallen for your excuse, but I'm not totally sure I'm buying it.'
'Well that's your choice Joey,' Tristan entered the room next door and dumped the flowers he was holding down on the ground, 'but I don't know what else to tell you.'
'How about the truth?' Joey's eyes locked with his. 'Exactly how close are you and Kaiba anyway?'
'You should know I'm not going to answer that question Joey,' Tristan shook his head. 'Go back to your cabin, you've got a long day ahead of you tomorrow and a good night's sleep will definitely help.'
'Don't talk to me like I'm a child.'
'Stop acting like one and I wouldn't have to.'
'In this future of yours, you have kids, don't you?' Joey began to study him.
'What makes you say that?' Tristan half averted his gaze.
'Because you talk like a Dad, you know one who isn't a raging alcoholic I mean. So... do you have kids in this future of yours?'
'You know I can't answer that question Joey,' he shook his head, 'you'll just have to wait to find out.'
Half exhausted Joey found himself curling up next to Mai. He wanted to sleep, but how could he when his mind was still racing at a mile a minute? At what point did his children turn into people he didn't recognise? Arados was gay. Crovell was potentially in love with Jo. Love. The word left an almost sour taste in his mouth. How could love become such a blackening emotion? How could it hurt people in this way? He wasn't a fool; he knew all things had a darker side to them, even something supposedly pure. But love had blessed him with a wife and family he cherished above everything else, the thought it could turn his own son into such a monster…
And it was monstrous, wasn't it? What Crovell wanted to do went against every Silkoneon fibre in his being. Because that was the normal reaction to it. The Silkoneon reaction to it. The way everyone should react to it so... So why hadn't Jo reacted that way? The thought moved through him like an unwelcome wave of realisation. Jo's reaction to the whole situation with Crovell had been too cold and too emotionless. At the time he'd put it down to shock, but now. Leaping out of bed and accidentally disturbing a confused Mai, he rapidly made his way down towards the room they were keeping Jo in. Covo's face filled with a look of surprised shock when he saw him, but Joey just ignored him, flinging the door open and staring around the empty room.
'I'd almost forgotten you were such an expert at losing my children,' Joey found himself glaring at Covo. 'You were supposed to be watching her.'
'I… I was… I mean, I am.'
'Then where is she?'
'I…' clearly bewildered, he gazed past Joey into the room, his face turning pale the second he saw the absence of an occupant. 'It's impossible; I haven't left here since… since I relieved Mai.'
'Then where is Jo?'
'I… I don't know,' his voice was dry and wispy.
'You should have been checking in on her Covo, not just assuming she was in there.'
'I… I'm… I'm sorry.'
'Sorry doesn't get my daughter back Covo,' he gritted his teeth. 'Sorry doesn't put her back where we can see her. Sorry doesn't stop Crovell from…' disgust made the words catch in his throat. 'We have to find them. We have to find them now.'
'But…'
'No, no buts and no objections Covo; we have to find them now and pray that they haven't… And pray that we're not too late.'
