Chapter 36

Joey was worried about Mai; it was only three months ago she'd given birth to their daughter, for her body to have been under that kind of stress again so soon, especially after spending three days chained up in some dank basement, was just too much for her. Exhausted she lay in a state of semi-consciousness as Joey watched protectively over her, cradling their new born son whilst Jo lay sleeping on the bed beside her mother.

'Joey...' the weary murmur rolled out of Mai.

'I'm here Mai,' he kept his voice as soft as possible.

'Joey, I miss you...'

'I know.'

'If you don't find us soon he's going to kill our baby. I know you're not ready to have another one; I'm not either, but I still don't wanna see her die.'

'Him, Mai.'

'Huh...?'

'I've rescued you already. And you've already given birth to our child; a little boy.'

'What…?' In a strange kind of slow motion her eyes blinked open. 'Am I dreaming?'

'No,' he smiled lovingly down at her, 'you're just very tired.'

'From giving birth,' a strange level of realisation toned through her voice, 'I remember,' her hand moved to touch the small cut on her right cheek.

'I would have healed it for you already, but you were lying with your head on that side and I didn't want to disturb you if I could help it,' Joey adjusted the position of his son in his arms to free his right hand. 'Here, I'll do it for you now.'

'No,' she shook her head, 'I want the reminder.'

'You want the reminder?'

'It was awful Joey but I survived. I want to remember that I survived.'

'Okay, I guess I can understand that.'

'How are Kaiba and Téa doing?'

'Téa's doing fine, I think. But…'

'They still not back?' Mai's face filled with a weary expression of concern. 'You should check up on them, make sure they're alright.'

'It's not been that long yet,' he shook his head, 'and you still need me. Besides they're probably fine; my bet is that rich boy's just too embarrassed to face everyone.'

'No, you don't understand…' she tried to sit up, only to fall back in exhaustion.

'I understand that you need rest.'

'Joey, please, Kaiba went through so much I don't think it's possible for embarrassment to keep him away. Please, go help them.'

'I'm not going anywhere whilst you still need me Mai. I'm sure they'll be back soon enough, I mean, it really hasn't been that long.'

'He burnt Piper's deck card by card,' her expression crumpled with the weight of the words, 'please Joey, I need to know they're okay.'

'Card by card?' Joey felt sick.

'Please.'

'Alright, I'll give them a call, in a bit, but...' he gave a nervous little laugh, 'well I just wanted to know what we were calling him.'

'Huh?'

'Our baby Mai, does he have a name yet?'

'He?' Mai shook her head in confusion as she tried to sit up again and failed. 'But I thought…'

'Kaiba got it wrong; they were Khindeled.'

'Khindeled?' She gave an exhausted laugh of contentment. 'You name him.'

'Huh?'

'You name him, Joey; I said you could, remember?'

'Then I'll name him what he is,' he smiled softly as he stared down at his new son, 'Arados.'

For a few moments the look of confusion returned to Mai's face. Then she gave a strained laugh of realisation and a soft smile pulled at her lips.

'Miracle; you're naming him Miracle.'

'Aye.'

'I like it, but...'

'But what?'

'I'd like it better if I knew Kaiba was okay.'

Punching felt good. Punching felt good and the fact he was doing it to protect his lover and child made it feel even better. The fact his opponent wasn't able to put up much of a fight just added to the satisfactory feeling punching gave him. But in his frenzied state it took him a while to realise the reason the other guy was no longer fighting back was because he was unconscious. It was as that realisation broke SK's strained voice, crying at him to stop fighting and heal Kaiba, finally reached him.

With haphazard speed he secured his beaten opponent to the wall using the same chains he'd used to imprison Mai. He then made his way towards the table and was almost shocked to see how much blood there was, despite SK's best efforts to reduce the bleeding by apply pressure with his lab coat. A task not made any easier for him to do whilst also trying to cradle and sooth a screeching infant.

Filled with panic, Tristan automatically checked Kaiba's pulse. It was still there, but it was incredibly faint. Shifting SK out of the way, he removed the lab coat from the wound and set about willing all his powers into healing it. Every inch of love he felt for Kaiba riveted through him, producing an unbelievable glow beneath his hands. For some reason the healing process was painfully slow. He didn't know if it was because the Pure's powers were being suppressed, because of how weak Kaiba currently was or if there was another reason involved somehow, he just knew he didn't like it.

'You can't die,' he gritted his teeth as the gaping wound pulled together into a twisted scar, 'do you hear me, you can't die. I won't let you.'

With a final burst of power, he managed to close the gap. Despite his best efforts Kaiba's skin still bore the disfiguring remnants of the brutal incision, but he was too exhausted to do anything more about it; for now it was more than enough the wound was closed. Almost without taking a breath, he went to check Kaiba's pulse again. Still there, still weak, but still there. Relief washed over him as he passionately kissed his unconscious lovers lips, before turning his attention towards the straps binding him to the table.

His hands were shaking so much it was nearly impossible for him to undo the clasps. In the end he gave up and grabbed one of the unused medical looking knives from the shallow tray on the nearby table. Cutting through the thick binds wasn't exactly easy, but at least he made visible process and that made him feel better. As the knife broke through the last strap and his slightly scattered mind remembered something about a power controlling device on the back of Kaiba's neck, he decided removing this safely was his next course of action. After all, Kaiba would need all the strength he could get if he was going to recover.

'Can't that wait?' SK's voice was more than a little strained.

'No,' he shook his head, 'Seto's barely holding on as it is; he needs the Pure's power more than anything right now.'

'But… I... I think your kid's crying because he's cold. I used my lab coat to... to try and... to... I... I have nothing to wrap him in.'

'Here, take this,' callously he shrugged his off his jacket and handed it to SK. 'And maybe you could do me a favour and take Taylor home and organise something… anything for him. I've got to concentrate on saving Seto right now, okay?'

'I... err... I...'

'SK just go.'

Tristan didn't even turn to check if he'd left; the sudden deafening silence was enough to let him know that was the case. With all his attention focused on deactivating the device, it didn't take him long to work out it operated on a similar system to the Scarna. Knowing this made everything else easy; as soon as it detached, Tristan took no time in dropping it to the floor and crushing it underfoot. Somewhere in the back of his head he knew there was a word which described the feeling he had of making sure the damn thing was completely and utterly useless, but he couldn't bring it to mind.

As he scooped his unconscious lover up into his arms and Jumped his way to the Kaiba mansion he couldn't help but think there was something else he should have done before he left. Something important he was forgetting. But he didn't allow himself to dwell on it for long. The only thing that mattered right then was the fact Kaiba was safe. It was only as he lay Kaiba gently down onto their bed he realised SK had said he. As that realisation dawned on him, a smile pulled its way across his face.

'The cousins were Khindeled,' he breathed, 'Seto, we have a son.'