Chapter 53
'Hello Veronie, did you miss me?'
Catilin's voice sounded strange and dark somehow. It sent shivers running up and down Joey's spine. He turned towards her as she placed a bunch of stuff down on the table, then turned towards him.
'Someone was here whilst you were gone.'
'I know,' her eyes narrowed for a second, 'I can sense them. Do you know who it was?'
'They didn't leave a name.'
'Interesting,' she stretched the word. 'Well I can tell you they were powerful, so that narrows down the list. What did they want?'
'She wanted me to solve some kind of problem for her,' Joey found himself studying Catilin as she moved around the cabin. 'But she didn't tell me what the problem was or how to solve it... Are you feeling alright?'
'Never better.'
'Then why...?'
'Veronie, did she tell you anything more about this problem?'
'Um...' he blinked for a moment, 'just that it was a mortal problem and that two others would help me solve it. But again she wasn't big on the details.'
'A mortal problem?' Catilin sounded almost angry. 'She said it was a mortal problem?'
'Catilin...'
'Silence,' Catilin flicked her hand up towards him. 'I'll show her a mortal problem.'
'Catilin...'
'I thought I told you to be silent.'
'What's going on? Why are you being like this?'
'I don't know,' Catilin picked up something from the table, something which looked a lot like a knife, 'why are you refusing to do as you're told?'
'Catilin...'
'Catilin's not home right now,' she laughed.
'What?' Joey stared at her. 'Who are you?'
'That's a good question,' she slowly started to disappear, 'but for now I guess you can call me your mortal problem.'
Tristan didn't know what was wrong with him; he'd never felt this way about anything before. The feeling of dread inside of him had turned into something else. Something so far beyond his understanding just trying to think about it left him with more of a headache than it was worth. He was right with what he'd told Yugi before, things felt wrong. Like someone had come along and changed the universe he knew into something unrecognisable. But that didn't make sense. Things were changing, they were different, but that difference wasn't necessarily a bad thing. So why did it all feel so wrong?
His eyes turned towards Octan. He was still hanging over Duke, staring down at him as though he were the most fascinating thing in the world. A part of Tristan spiked with the fearful thought that the less than sane ancient being might be taking advantage somehow. After all, there was no way any of them would know for sure what Octan was up to until Duke woke up. Fear turned into a wave of anger. How could he, knowing everything he knew about the guy, trust him with the mind of his friend?
'Boring a hole into me with your eyes isn't going to tell you anything Tristan,' Octan-Jay's voice was darkly amused. 'But it does tell me you lack patience. Do you really hate the waiting game that much?'
'I do now.' Tristan folded his arms. 'So how long do you expect this to take anyway?'
'I've done just about all I can do,' his gaze lifted toward him. 'Duke will awaken in his own time now. But now that I've said that I'm not so sure you were talking about Duke.'
Tristan was silent for a few moments. His hands clenched together so tightly they hurt, but the tension wouldn't leave his body long enough to release the grip.
'I think it's time for you to leave now.'
'Are you sure about that?' Octan-Jay cocked an eyebrow. 'Jay doesn't know how to deal with this. He doesn't even know what this is.'
'Does that really make him any less useful than you right now?' Tristan held firm.
'You're so tense, what exactly is it you're expecting?'
'I...'
'Tristan you look exhausted,' Yugi interrupted their conversation. 'I don't know what it is that's got you so wound up, but maybe a little sleep would help.'
'I can't sleep,' Tristan shook his head, 'not until this is over.'
'Until what is over?'
'I don't know,' he turned away from his friend, 'I just want this feeling to go away. Until it does I don't think I'll be able to get any sleep.'
'Tristan...'
'I'm fine Yugi... well no I'm not, but... I have to keep going. I have to make things right,' he began massaging his temples, 'and I'm not even sure I know what that means.'
'You've had a long day...'
'I know,' Tristan cut him off, 'but I can't sleep until it's over.'
As if he'd been waiting for this cue Joey appeared out of nowhere. His eyes turned over the occupants of the room for a few moments, before his gaze landed heavily on Octan.
'Joey you're back.' Yugi gave a half surprised laughed. 'But... where's Catilin?'
'That's what I'd like to know,' Joey focused his gaze on Octan. 'You're her keeper, right? The friend who looked after her whilst she was all alone on Sil.'
'That was me,' Octan-Jay smirked.
'I need you to tell me what's happening to her.'
'I'll tell you what happened to her,' Tristan gritted his teeth and glared and Octan, 'that monster abused his power and now we're the ones who are going to suffer for it.'
'What do you know about it Tristan?'
'I know enough. I know enough to know whatever's happening to her right now is his fault.'
'I thought he was her friend,' Joey looked momentarily confused.
'No, Jay is her friend, Octan is a good for nothing waste of space who takes advantage of those around him for his own gains.'
'I know you don't like me Tristan, but that's not exactly a fair description.' Octan-Jay shook his head.
'You take over Jay's life and fail to do the one thing you promise, then you manipulate Catilin's mind creating a monster in the process; all because you wanted to. I'd say my description was more than fair.'
'I told you, I did what I did out of love.'
'And so you're completely justified right?'
'Tristan what's going on here?' Joey grabbed hold of his shoulders.
'Oh it's a long story and one I think I've no choice now but to tell.'
As soon as Kaiba had arrived back in Domino he'd headed straight for his office. He needed to catch up on everything he'd missed whilst competing in the Battle City tournament and minimise any damage to his reputation losing to Yugi once again might have caused. Mokuba had opted to stay with him rather than return to the Kaiba mansion alone. Whatever brainwashing trick Bakura had pulled on him had left his younger brother marginally disturbed. Kaiba wasn't totally sure how he felt about that, but he was glad Mokuba was staying where he could keep an eye on him.
As the evening started to turn into night, Mokuba had curled up on a chair on the fair side of Kaiba's office and drifted into a light sleep. Kaiba knew from experience his brother would happily sleep like this till morning if needs be. Not that he was planning to pull an all nighter, but the sense of power and control he gained from being in his office wasn't going to allow him to leave any time soon.
A sudden commotion in the corridor outside caused both brothers to start. A wave of annoyance and anger hit Kaiba as he rose to his feet in anticipation of some kind of trouble. Trouble no doubt attached to Yugi and his little friends.
'I'm telling you, you've got to let me pass,' an unfamiliar voice was yelling. 'I know it's late but I'm pretty damn certain Mr Kaiba will be very interested in what I have to say.'
There was a murmuring of voices making some kind of low volume protest.
'I understand it's late, but I've worked too hard and waiting too long to be turned away now.'
There was another low murmuring of voices.
'No this cannot wait until morning. Not for me. I have to see him and I have to see him now. Let me pass!'
There was a further murmur of protests right before the doors to Kaiba's office crashed open. The man stood on the other side was tall with a wild mop of shoulder length black hair. The wild look extended to the excitement of his clear blue eyes and was accentuated by his richly tanned skin. The long shorts and t-shirt was in-keeping with the rest of his appearance, but the white lab coat he was wearing filled Kaiba with momentary curiosity. This man might have been a complete loony, but the juxtaposition of his lab coat had earned him five minutes of Kaiba's time.
'Who the hell are you and what right do you have to come barging in here like that?' Kaiba kept an air of assertive calm about him. 'Do you have any idea how late it is?'
'Do you?' The stranger licked his lips. 'You're nothing and everything like I expected; young, brilliant and a workaholic.'
'Spare me the analysis.'
'I tried your home first; they told me you were here.' The stranger held Kaiba's gaze. 'I apologise if I'm keeping you from your work but I'd sooner that then keep a growing boy from his sleep.'
'Well I was sleeping until you came crashing in.' Mokuba glared at him.
'I apologise, but I really need to speak to your brother.'
'My brother is a very busy man,' Mokuba folded his arms, 'what makes you think he'll have time to listen to you?'
'Because what I have to say is important.'
'Oh really?' Kaiba cocked an eyebrow. 'And what makes you think that?'
'Well if you must know there are two reasons this is important to me, but maybe only one of those reasons will make it important to you as well.' The stranger licked his lips again. 'The first is professional, the second is personal.'
'And just which reason do you expect me to be interested in?'
'Agree to hear what I have to say and you'll find out.'
Kaiba found himself studying the guy again; there was something about his confidence which impressed him. The guy's five minutes had increased to ten, but whether or not he would get to use all of them was yet to be seen.
'Okay,' Kaiba sat back down, 'you have five minutes, but if I feel you're wasting my time...'
'Trust me; this won't be a waste of your time.'
'Prove it.'
'I'll start with the professional bit then,' his tongue again glanced over his lips, 'not because it's more important but it is the reason which brought me here. You see, you're not the only young, brilliant man here Mr Kaiba. I too excelled in my chosen field at a young age and I now stand before you with the end result of my life's work. I only finished putting the last pieces of the puzzle together a few months ago and as soon as I did I flew all the way here from Egypt to track you all down.'
'If this has anything to do with Egyptian fairytale mumbo jumbo then you're five minutes are up.' Kaiba rolled his eyes. 'I'm afraid I'm not the gullible type, but I can put you in touch with a bunch of dweebs who would have the time for you.'
'Fairytale mumbo jumbo?' The stranger shook his head in confusion. 'I'm talking about hard facts Mr Kaiba. About DNA and archaeology. I'm a scientist not a storyteller. My life's work is to actualise my thesis on whether or not it's possible to trace a family line from the time of the Pharaohs to the modern day. And trust me when I tell you this thesis has serious scientific merit.'
'Go on,' Kaiba didn't know what it was about this guy, but there was something compelling about his passion.
'It all started soon after I completed my thesis, whilst I was waiting for my research grant to come through. An archaeologist friend of mine had put me onto this fascinating case.' The stranger licked his lips. 'To begin with it all appeared straight forward enough, a Pharaoh and his two cousins. But when you scratched beneath the surface a little some rather... odd facts came to light. Facts which indicated the Pharaoh and the elder of his two cousins were half brothers. Of course that was just speculation on my part until my grant came through and I was able to test my theory out. DNA is a wonderful thing when you can find it.'
'I'm still not sure what part of this I'm supposed to find interesting.'
'I'm getting there, but you need to know where I'm coming from in order to understand the importance of all this. At least I hope so.'
'Then you might want to explain faster, your five minutes are almost up.'
'Okay, well,' he licked his lips again, 'the Pharaoh and his half brother made up two thirds of a triad known as the Brotherhood of Brothers. The third was the brother-in-law of the half brother. Apparently they were a force to be reckoned with and one matched only by the sisterhood formed by their daughters. Daughters born within hours of each other on the same day. Their names were Lilly, Annu and Talma and it's their lines I've traced to their modern day descendents. And that's where you come into all this Mr Kaiba. You are the modern day descendent of Talma, the half brother's daughter.'
'And you expect me to buy this because?'
'I don't expect anything Mr Kaiba,' the stranger licked his lips for what felt like the millionth time, 'in fact from your reputation alone I knew you would be unlikely to believe me straight out like this. That why I brought proof.' The man dug around in his coat pocket for a few moments, before pulling out a floppy disk. 'Here's all the information I've gathered, all the tests I preformed, all the facts checked and rechecked. I'd hate to second guess a man I barely know, but I'm hoping that disk contains all the proof you could possibly want. I have several copies, so feel free to hold onto the disk until you've verified it.' He tossed it down onto Kaiba's desk.
'And if I verify this is little more than nonsense, will you leave me alone?'
'Of course, but I don't think that you will.'
'We'll see.'
Kaiba slipped the disk into his computer and began looking through all the information. Even as a child genius he couldn't say he understood it all; after all his field of expertise was the technological. What he did understand was enough to earn the stranger another ten minutes of his time.
'I'll have to have this information verified you understand,' Kaiba clasped his hands together.
'Of course, but from what you've seen so far...?'
'Your research is... intriguing, but I hardly see its importance. I really don't think it warranted you bursting into my office and demanding my time.'
'Then allow me to explain the personal side of this,' once again the stranger's tongue skated across his lips. 'You and I have a lot in common Mr Kaiba; I too was orphaned at a very young age. Fortunately for me my mother's side of my family were... more generous with their help than yours. Although sometimes I really wish they weren't. My grandparents were prone to acts of selfishness. So much so I lost contact with my father's side of the family completely.'
'At what point is this supposed to interest me?'
'I'm getting there,' he licked his lips again, 'you see about seven years after my own parents died, I was told cousins of mine on my father's side were also orphaned. I'd only met the one cousin before my parents died and he was about two or three the last time I saw him. I was studying genealogy in one of my accelerated learning classes at the time I was told of my uncle's death and it got me thinking about what turns people from being relatives into a family. I was almost fifteen and back then I promised myself one day I would track down my cousins and give them back a sense of family. Unfortunately for a fifteen year old desperate to get out of the clutches of controlling grandparents other things take president and finding my cousins got put onto the backburner.' He paused for a moment to take a deep breath. 'But just because I lessoned its importance doesn't mean I ever forgot about it. And when I started my research into the three cousins I can very much tell you I had meeting my own in mind. Maybe it was wishful thinking on my part, but... well a part of me hoped it would give me an excuse to trace those long forgotten cousins of my own.'
'Just where is this going?' Kaiba frowned.
'The line from Talma to you wasn't easy to trace,' he licked his lips, 'not like the lines from Lilly and Annu. Then, just on a whim really, I tried to see if I could trace Talma's line down to myself. I didn't really hold out much hope but...'
'You found a connection?'
'It was like the pieces all suddenly fell into place. But I wasn't the connection, you and your brother were. And at that moment I knew I had to find you.'
'What exactly are you trying to say?' Kaiba narrowed his gaze.
'Of the three descendents of the Brotherhood I want to track down, I came to you first for a reason.' The stranger's tongue skated across his lips several times as he once again held Kaiba's gaze. 'You see you and your brother Seto Kaiba are my long lost cousins.'
