Chapter 38

It felt like he was waking up inside of a dream. It was disorientating, but it was also surreally logical like waking up in a warm bath you didn't remember running. Everything made a lot more sense now, but at the same time made no sense at all at the same time. Joey didn't question the feeling anymore than he questioned the darkness around him. And even though he knew there was something very, very wrong with the situation there was nothing he wanted to do to correct it.

'Veronie...?' A voice from his left made him turn.

For a few long moments all he could see was the darkness, then Catilin's image began to blur into view. From where he was it looked as though she were floating in a dark pool of water. Only the water was all around her, making her hair swirl in all directions. A faint smile twitched at his lips as he admired the serene beauty of her position. Something told him he'd seen Lillyannu like this on more than one occasion; not surrounded by darkness like they were, but in some kind of pool of water. Lillyannu had always been serenely beautiful.

'This place feels strange,' Joey's voice sounded drugged and heavy, 'where are we?'

'I... I'm confused...' Caitlin's head moved from side to side, making her hair appear to swarm around her. 'I... I shouldn't be here. I'm not... not anymore... They... they said... they... they promised. I... I'm not... not supposed to be here... not anymore. Why...?

'Where is here?' With a lazy kind of effort Joey half swam half rolled towards her.

'Our minds, but... but far... far back... so far back... back in the place... the place where we are all one.'

'I don't understand.'

'We're so far back we... we're beyond the boundaries. But I don't... I don't understand. Why are we... why are we so... so far back? Why are we where all minds link? I don't understand.'

'All minds link?' Joey felt some sense of reality returning to him. 'Can we... can we get to other minds from here?'

'All minds... all minds are linked... if you... if you go back... back far... far back... all minds become one.'

'Is it possible for us to go even further back and leave our own bodies?'

'Bodies... our bodies... where... where are our bodies... I don't... I don't understand... Why... why are we here...?'

'Cat... Catilin, I need you to... to hold together just a little bit. Can you do that for me, please?'

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

'Catilin,' as he finally reached her he placed a hand on her shoulder.

Almost as soon as he did images flashed through his mind. He found himself filled with so much information in one hit he wasn't sure where to even begin sorting through it. It was enough to jolt him back to his senses and he quickly pulled his hand back from her. They needed to get out of this place and find out what happened to them, but how.

'Catilin,' Joey made his voice as firm as possible, 'Catilin you need to concentrate on the sound of my voice. I need you to tell me how we can get out of this place.'

'Our bodies... someone else is... why are they... I don't... I don't understand... Why are we here?'

'I don't know why we're here Cat, but we have to find out, okay? I need you to tell me how we can leave this place and enter someone else's mind.'

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

'Because whoever has our bodies won't give them back without a fight. We need to know what we're up against. We need to get into someone else's mind. Someone nearby. But I need you to hold it together and tell me how to do that. I know you know how.'

'Relocate... we need to relocate.' Catilin's gaze met with his.

'Yes, yes we need to relocate.' Joey nodded. 'You need to tell me how to do that.'

'Tell you...'

'Yes.'

'Show you...' Catilin reached a hand towards him and placed her fingers on his forehead. 'This is how...'

Serenity had asked all the questions she needed too. Well all but one. There was still one little thing she needed to know, but wasn't sure how to word the question. After all, she didn't want to appear rude or offend their guests. But no matter what she had to find out what had happened to her brother. She didn't believe for one second Simüte had put him in any deliberate danger. If she had to guess she'd have said Simüte's plans for whatever day he'd been on before arriving here hadn't including time travel. But if he was here did that mean Joey was back in his body? The thought was unnerving and Serenity did her best to suppress it.

Just as she did the doors to the room opened to reveal Mokuba and Kaiba. There was something strange about the way both of them looked, but Serenity couldn't put her finger onto what. Then Mokuba's gaze made a sharp turn towards Lillyannu-Catilin and he sucked a strange breath in.

'Marana.'

'Marana?' Lillyannu-Catilin frowned.

'Mitte dros leloto, fito sai keta se?'

'Zooh asta sai?' Simüte-Joey took a step towards him.

For a few moments Mokuba's gaze flicked between them. He looked as though he were debating something or was about to lose his nerve. Then a firm resolve appeared on his face and he drew a deep breath in.

'My name has been forgotten, but it shall be reclaimed,' Mokuba held his head up high, 'my name Simüte is Nicolie Ashmar.'

For a few seconds shock descended upon the room. Kaiba's eyes turned angrily towards his brother, but his body remained strangely fixed in place.

'Mokuba you've been brainwashed, wake up right now.'

'Because that'll work.' Tristan rolled his eyes. 'Can't you for once just accept this situation might be beyond your understanding?'

'Can't you for once just accept that I'm not going to buy into all this fairytale nonsense?' Kaiba gritted his teeth as his hands twitched into fists. 'Mokuba's been brainwashed by your friend Bakura and...'

'Wait, Bakura's behind this?' Yugi cut him off.

'You could say that.' Bakura's voice chuckled out of the darkness.

'You're the spirit of the ring, aren't you?' Yugi's eyes glanced around for him. 'Your real name is Baraku.'

'Baraku Nima to be precise.' The voice sounded darkly amused. 'It was thanks to your little trip down memory lane that I was able to rediscover my true self. I understand my motives a lot more now, along with the true power of those trinkets you're slowly accumulating. But I can't really do much about it without a body of my own, now can I?'

'Nicolie you're helping this man?' Lillyannu-Catilin's eyes turned towards Nicolie-Mokuba in horror. 'Why? Why would you do that?'

'Because you promised me I would always be an Ashmar.' Nicolie-Mokuba gritted his teeth. 'You broke that promise and I want my name back.'

'You sound like a child.'

'I am a child. I am all that's left of Nicolie Ashmar after you turned the rest of me into a Tracker. I want my name back.'

'And I want my brother back,' Kaiba moved with speed to pin Nicolie-Mokuba back against the wall, 'snap out of it already Mokuba. Can't you see this is another one of their tricks?'

'Don't you find it just fascinating to know a man with so little faith is the reincarnation of the man who created the Millennium Items?' Baraku laughed.

'Show yourself Bakura and undo whatever it is you did to my brother.'

'Why is your answer to everything an over exaggerated anger and a refusal to believe what's going on around you?' Tristan shook his head.

'Considering the way you've been acting today Tristan, I don't think you can really talk.' Téa shot him a look.

'For a start my anger wasn't over exaggerated and I also wasn't denying what was going on around me I was just getting frustrated by it.'

'Will you two dweebs please be quiet, it's not as though you ever have anything useful to add anyway.' Kaiba didn't even bother to glance towards them, he just continued to pin Nicolie-Mokuba to the wall. 'Bakura tell me how to reverse the brainwashing you did to my brother right now.'

'I'm not brainwashed,' a strange shockwave of pink energy shot out of Nicolie-Mokuba knocking Kaiba backwards. 'And I am not working with you anymore Baraku, you hear me?'

'You can't go back on our deal now Nicolie.' Baraku's voice taunted. 'I told you, I can always find another to help me.'

'What is it you want anyway?' Lillyannu-Catilin glanced around for their invisible guest.

'The resurrection of your people,' he chuckled. 'You see that little trip down memory lane was most informative. I know exactly how much power your people would afford me and I am a man who desires power. Between the Millennium Items and your kind I would have more than enough power to complete my brother's plan. It's just a shame Hamen couldn't be around to see this too. Well not yet anyway, he's one of the pieces I'll have to wait on.'

'And how exactly is it you are here?' Simüte-Joey gritted his teeth.

'Did you know I was born dead,' Baraku's voice was darkly amused, 'I'm a Vii Sen. Vii Sen have an extended mortality.'

'Extended, but not unlimited, you still should have ascended long before now.'

'Ah, but my extended mortality allowed me to figure out away to become immortal, or at least a kind of immortal. In much the same way Lillyannu and Yoam did.'

'What do you mean?'

'He means he infused a part of his soul into an inanimate object.' Lillyannu-Catilin's face paled.

'Unfortunately for me I sealed a part of my soul into the ring after the Disconnection had begun. It left giant holes in my memory, obscuring my brother's true plan from me.' Baraku sneered. 'Who'd have thought the Pharaoh would have the key to unlock the truth and now to complete my brother's plan I must set everything back to the way it was before everything became forgotten. That's where you and Simüte come in.'

'I won't let you.' Nicolie-Mokuba turned towards the doorway. 'I knew you were using me, but if I'd have known it was for this I would have stopped you.'

'Stopped me, but not the awakening, right?' Baraku laughed. 'You still want that to go ahead, don't you?'

'I...'

'You people are crazy,' Kaiba's voice was angry but level. 'Unbrainwash my brother right now so the two of us can leave here. I've got much more important things to do with my time.'

'I'm afraid I can't let you go Kaiba,' Baraku tutted. 'See my brother's plan involved your predecessor. He might be long gone now, but you'll do quite nicely in his place.'

'What do you want from me?'

'Now, now Kaiba that would just ruin the surprise. What do you say we take this party somewhere a little more private? Nicolie take Kaiba to Sil.'

'But...' Nicolie-Mokuba stared at an empty spot not too far away from himself.

'Take Kaiba to Sil now or so help me I'll find someone more compliant than you.' Baraku's voice was deathly serious. 'Now Lillyannu and Simüte you're welcome to join us. In fact, I insist upon it. After all, I can't reawaken your people without you.'

As unnerving as it was to watch someone else controlling her body, Catilin's mind felt much more settled now they were in their new hiding place. Her thoughts weren't completely clear, but she could think straight enough to assess what was going on. It took her a while to find the train of thoughts she needed, but once she had she found herself turning towards Joey with a strange kind of urgency.

'Baraku Nima was Tao's uncle.'

'What?' Joey frowned at her.

'It was the last and most important piece of information Lillyannu passed onto me,' Catilin turned her attention back towards her window to the outside world. 'Tao's father was a man who became known as Simonus Karinal. In truth he was actually two men, Simonus Tao and Karinal Nima. Karinal was born dead like Baraku, only he didn't accept his life as a Vii Sen quite so easily. He chose to take over the body of a man born on the same day and at the exact same time as him, Simonus Tao. Any Vii Sen who takes the life from the living in any manner is considered cursed and because of his method Simonus Karinal was more cursed than most. He was insane and his insanity led to his suicide, but not before he fathered two children. Tao and Nima.'

'Tao and Nima were also considered cursed...' Joey's voice sounded curiously distant as he spoke.

'Tao more so than Nima, since he was the first born. He was also a powerful sorcerer and a loyal cousin to Yoam, but...'

'But...?'

'The two men who were trying to destroy our people were both Tao's uncles. Their interest in him couldn't have just been in the fact he was powerful. They must have known something about him even my Khine didn't know. Maybe something to do with the curse.'

'And now you're saying the evil spirit of the Millennium Ring knows it too, right?'

'That evil spirit is Baraku, remember?'

'I know, this is just a lot to get my head around.' Joey sighed. 'So what do we do now?'

'We have to stop Baraku.'

'But how?'

'I don't know,' Catilin could feel her mind start to buzz with disorientation again. 'I know I should but... I just don't know.'