Kaiba

One of the two cards Teleia had set flipped itself to reveal Soul Absorption and with his typical pomp and flare Atem took care of it within less than a minute. It was actually amusing to watch just how effortlessly he foiled every strategy set against him, when they weren't mine that is.

The whole play was one big anticlimax; completely pathetic despite the impressive death wish her eyes had been beaming onto us since Atem whisked Yugi away. Hell, he hadn't even blinked as Atem corralled him into the Puzzle like an overly trusting little idiot. I'd die before I willingly climbed into that oversized USB stick.

"No! No! No!" Teleia screamed, slapping her hands against the invisible barrier made by Spellbinding Circle like a toddler throwing a tantrum until she wore herself out and had to quit.

Atem totally ignored the moronic display. He closed his eyes serenely and cradled the Puzzle in his hand. He muttered some useless thanks to it and then let go. It swung free around his neck as he opened his eyes back up and smirked passed me, straight to Teleia, mocking her with his smuggest expression.

He approached her at a saunter, like he didn't have a care in the world. His fingers flickered to his Duel Disk calmly, plucking free Soul Taker and nimbly twisting it between his digits to reveal it to Teleia and me like a showboating amateur magician at a birthday party.

"Are you ready to be removed from my world?" He taunted in a tone of voice that was rich and dark, like auditory coffee. I huffed. I'd always known the Pharaoh had a sadistic streak; I'd been on the business end of it enough times. He liked to flaunt his wins and kick his opponents when they were down just a little bit more than could typically be considered 'sporting'. Interesting that his vacation in fantasyland and 'new' memories hadn't eliminated that dark little blip. That was fine by me. It might actually be fun to watch now that he was aiming his sadism against someone else.

Teleia sneered back at him and pursed her lips thoughtfully. Abruptly she violently bobbed her head back and forth like a supersized pigeon.

"Huk huuuk huuuuuk."

The gross lurching gurgle of someone trying to force themselves to regurgitate something from the bottom of their gut made my skin crawl. Her cheeks bulged outwards as her mouth filled with something I really didn't want to think about.

Atem didn't look at all bothered by the sick display. He just stood there and waited, content to just watch the fucking festivities.

With a final retch Teleia spat out a bubble of thick black goo. Despite her obvious attempt to projectile vomit it free from Spellbinding Circle it collided against the barrier with a slick slimy splat.

Urg. Disgusting.

My stomach turned as the gunk churned and reshaped itself into a miniature version of Sphinx Teleia's head that silently screeched at us in raw fury before retreating back into Teleia's throat.

What a weak escape attempt. So she sensed it too. This was where she got off; Atem was going to guarantee it.

"A good try, Teleia." Atem pronounced with that arrogant amusement he should trademark. "But by the terms of this duel fleeing Isis's body is impossible without an appropriate spell card." He effortlessly twirled his Soul Taker magic card in-between his fingers for dramatic effect before adding "Fortunately, we have one to exorcise your vile presence once and for all."

'We'. Tch. Spare me.

Of course now that Yugi was on the scene no one else mattered. Big surprise.

Atem had already reverted back to referring to the two of them like they were 'partners', or whatever cloying term he and Yugi used for each other. I didn't know what they'd been doing before I got out of the Jar but Atem now looked amped up. His eyes flashed like sirens and all the cuts, bruises and crumpled clothing fell away as insignificant in that signature stance of his that practically oozed confidence. How just Yugi's presence alone could have that effect I had no idea, but apparently Atem was now determined to put on a show just for him - and he wasn't even here to see it anymore.

Whatever. Let Yugi soak up all of Atem's attention like a human sponge. At least now I wouldn't have to listen to shoot off his big mouth. I snorted and turned my focus back to Teleia.

"Binding this world's magic to your trinkets for the Master's game was indeed cunning..." She cooed, the badly feigned calmness of her voice completely contradicting her murderous expression.

She was hunched over in the dirt on her hands and knees like a rabid animal and finally remotely interesting to watch. Seeing her being forced to grovel like that was appealing on its own, but it was her eyes that finally made her worth my time. They'd denatured into something darker. Something fiercer. Something I recognized.

I'd seen them in the mirror every morning I'd woken up under Gozaburo's heel. I'd seen them on the faces of people who thought they stood a chance against me only to feel the gravity of that ridiculous assumption as I crushed them beneath my boot. They were the eyes of someone who knew they were beat and had nothing left to throw at their enemy except every last damn speck of their hatred. I knew exactly what was coming next; somehow, someway she was going to try to take us down with her.

It's exactly what I would have done in her position.

She didn't keep me in suspense.

"...But so easily can such trappings be ripped away!" She yowled.

Her monster copied.

"Skraaaawwwww!"

Bird of Roses's beak split open with a shriek and an audible clacking noise.

Were my new eyes not tuned to movement so precisely I would have missed what happened next. It would have been too quick. My vision sharpened at the motion as the Bird's vine-like tongue shot out of its throat and cut through the air. I tried to snap at it as it launched towards Atem and must have missed. This body was making it hard to react with anything like my usual accuracy.

"Dodge it!" I barked back at him. What a waste of my breath that was.

Atem wasn't phased by any part of this situation. His eyes narrowed in focus as he reached forward and actually caught the fucking thing out of the air; pinching it hard in his hand and then yanking back on it as it thrashed in his hand. Dexterous bastard.

Bird of the Roses squawked loudly as it lost its tongue in Atem's grip. The muscle tone in Atem's body raised to the surface of his skin as he braced against the monster with all of his strength. It only managed to drag him forward an inch until he tightened up his footing and planted himself in the ground like a stunted mutant palm tree.

"Give up, Teleia. This is over." He lectured, his expression was somewhere straddling the line between unimpressed and bemused. Like this was his everyday nine to five and he hadn't had a raise in years.

Bird of the Roses's flapped its wings and flailed pathetically. Atem smirked at that. Clearly he thought he had this all in hand – figuratively and literally. He didn't. It wasn't the stupid bird that he needed to watch out for. I looked passed the writhing monster to its rabid bitch of a mistress. She was now mirroring Atem's victorious smirk with one of her own.

Here it came. Whatever she was going to try – this was it. She licked her lips as a trickle of her own sweat slipped over them and her eyes darted to her monster's tongue.

Atem paid it zero attention as the appendage coiled around his arm, far too busy playing cowboy as he braced against the Bird. He wasn't gonna be able to ignore for long. The tongue was tightening like a snake, the barbs pricking his dark skin to draw tiny drops of bright blood to the surface of his forearm as it slowly inched down to his wrist.

"Ghrn?" "Now what?" I grunted, clenching my claws.

Shit.

I knew what her next play was going to be!

The thorny appendage slithered closer and closer to the underside of Atem's Duel Disk – creeping towards where the latch to unfasten it was.

"Your Duel Disk!" I snapped at Atem, the urgent hissing noise going totally ignored.

Taking away our only means to win the game was playing as dirty as it came and it was exactly what I would have done in her position.

Atem didn't even look my way, busy still grinning to himself and too enraptured in his own superiority as he wrangled the bird like he was at a damn rodeo.

Fine!

If I wanted the job done I'd have to do it myself, just like always. No big surprise there.

I forced my injured arm down onto the earth, feeling in shift beneath my talons and pile in the palm of these semi-functional dragon hands as I flexed my claws. They seemed sharp enough; and if they couldn't get the job done there was always my fangs. These jaws worked just fine and having a head on her shoulders probably factored into her plot. Being turned into a useless crippled dragon finally seemed to have a fucking benefit!

"Guuurooooooar!" With a sharp intake of breath I gnashed my teeth together, coiled my tail and lunged for Teleia.

"Kaiba, stop!" Atem's startling shout threw my attack off and my front leg buckled. Of course, now he was paying attention to me.

"Grrrrrrr." I snarled back at him, lifting my head up from the ground to throw the darkest glare at him I could fucking manage.

"What are you thinking?" Atem angrily demanded, like I was the asshole just face-planting into the floor for kicks because it was such a great way to pass the time. He returned my vicious leer with a glare of his own. "Don't forget that injuring Teleia will harm Isis!"

I hadn't forgotten, I just didn't care. Fake-Ishizu and all of his dreamworld weren't fucking real and he couldn't possibly be stupid enough to not realize what Teleia was planning.

"She's trying to take your Duel Disk!" My voice came out as another pissed off roar. I writhed on the floor like a useless worm, trying to use whatever leverage my tail and other wing could give me to push myself back onto the three legs I had left to work with.

He frowned at me, totally distracted from the Bird as his eyes climbed all over me, trying to figure me out.

"Garooooou!" "Pay attention!" to the Bird, not me!

If it took his fucking Duel Disk we'd both be finished!

"Just stay still." He concluded, not getting the message at all. Of all the moments to drop his irritating ability to figure me out this was the worst one he could have damn well picked. "I'll end this and return you to normal." He told me with that supreme surety that never failed to grate on my nerves.

Not if he didn't have a Duel Disk he wouldn't, and I couldn't go back home like this!

With an audible 'snap' the Duel Disk on Atem's arm was unlatched. "What?" Atem barked in surprise and turned his head back to his arm in shock, only now realizing what was about to happen. Stupid idiot!

The tongue snatched up the unclasped device like a constrictor and lashed backwards, the tug pulling Atem off balance and back toward the monster as it recoiled into its mouth. The device disappeared in a single gulp, moving down the Bird's long green neck and into the its body as one large angular lump.

It fucking just ate the Duel Disk.

"Ahahahaha!" Teleia cackled, "Now this is done, little Pharaoh!"

I didn't matter! I'd tear her monster apart and get it back and then I'd make her pay for that!

"No!" Atem shouted.

Teleia howled with laughter. Even her damn Bird joined in on the fun with a high pitched screech of amusement.

She paused for breath, her lips cutting into a grin as sharp as a scalpel. "My my, just how well will you fair against my magnificent Master without all your servants and spells at your beck and call?" She mocked.

I grit my teeth; the inhuman fangs I was now stuck with pricking into my gums until I slackened my jaw slightly.

"-And behold, my parting gift!" Teleia declared, her voice overpowering his and stretching her fingers out to brush against the boundary of her makeshift Spellbinding Circle prison to activate her other card. It sent a spray of sludge flying from its edges as it flipped up.

Fissure's card art was unmistakable. A sinewy hand grasping desperately upward towards the sky as the ground cracked open to drag them back down.

She brayed with laughter as the card took effect. Fissure's effect pounded the ground around us, shredding the rocks under our feet like broken glass. Jagged shards of stone splintered upwards from the force as the terrain was ripped apart.

"It'll be such a shame to crush your lovely bodies. Such a true shame-" Her expression only got crazier with each word. "- But it is as you say, little Pharaoh-" With a quake that almost sent me back to the floor and a low deafening crunch the ground carved apart. Spellbinding Circle shattered into gold light as the broken ground beneath it compromised the circumference of it's outer ring. "-The game must be played." She snickered, rising up from the floor to stand as subterranean cracks lanced forward toward us.

I reared up onto my hind legs and tried to side step the crevice as it opened up at my feet. It was either nonsensical instinct or reflex, but I opened up the wings on my back again without a second thought and pumped them to get the hell airborne as quickly as possible. The grinding snap of my dislocated shoulder didn't let that happen and slapped me back down with a stab of pain just to make sure I didn't try flying off again. There wasn't enough time anyway. A massive chunk of earth split off, snapping upwards over our heads to crush Atem down like a gnat. And he just stood there. I slammed my front claws into it, trying to wrestle the slab back down and gouging deep scars into the rubble as it rose up all around me.

Snarling at Atem to "move!" did nothing.

He didn't even react; still frozen staring at the spot on his arm that had until a few seconds ago been covered by his Duel Disk.

"Yugi..." He muttered to himself, lost in thought, or shock, it was hard to tell. "Without the Duel Disk I can't call the spell to release him." He glanced up at me wide-eyed, like somehow the ground crumbling around him was of no importance in the face of Yugi's situation.

Yeah, no kidding. And I was a dragon by the way. Thanks for the consideration, Pharaoh.

"He'll be fine!" I bit back. I'd bet he was a lot better off than us right now!

As though to prove my point a void yawned open under my claws. My elongated body lurched downwards into nothing and my stomach spun out from the sudden shift in gravity as the stone beneath my back legs crumbled and gave out.

Damn it!

I smacked into a rocky ledge as I free fell down the fissure. It didn't hurt as much as it should of. My scales must have absorbed the shock of the impact.

Rocks as sharp as knives rained over me, easily scattering across the thick scales covering my body but sharp enough to slice across the thinner leather of my wing and stab at my eyes. Without hands or arms to shield them I craned my neck backward and buried it behind my good wing which smoothly moved forward like a protective armor plating.

"Grrr-oof!"

Atem fell in on top of me, making me bark at the unexpected weight as he collided onto my back like a hobbit-sized bag of sand and knocking the air out of my lungs. With a snarl I threw him off of me.

His descent brought a new cascade of rocks and dirt down into... wherever the hell we'd fallen into. A cavern? Some sort of cave network? Earth and grit poured into the fissure to bury us.

"Gh!"

I heard Atem's muted grunt of discomfort from somewhere off to my side and blindly groped around the approximate space with my damaged wing, feeling the ends of his stupid hair and the sharp angle of one of his shoulders.

"Grrrrf!"

The dislocated wing was such a damn pain! I ignored it and brushed Atem back toward me. I didn't exactly want him close, but I didn't want him crushed either - not unless it was by me and my deck. My wing shoved him over until he thumped against my chest, then I slid it back over my head and his whole body to blot out the debris.

I glared him down beneath the umbrella of my wing. I'd taken the brunt of the fall but it looked like he hadn't exactly escaped the rocks either. Road rash had scuffed up one of elbows and a jagged edge of something had cut a small slice into his cheek. It bled a little. The color matched his eyes - though they seemed weirdly glassy. He looked out of it. He stared back at me but he didn't look as focused as usual. He better not have smacked his head on the way down.

"Kaiba..." he started, trailing off without adding anything useful beyond that. I sneered at him. He better not get used to this nonsense. I was Seto fucking Kaiba, not his caring-servant pet-dragon meat-shield.

"Rrrrroooh!" A sort of ridiculous sounding reptilian whine jumped out of my throat before I could stop it as an especially heavy chunk of stone smacked against my left side.

I groaned, the sound just coming out as a hiss as I raised up my left wing even higher like a blast door. I couldn't keep it still. The bones trembled with effort and sent jolts of pain zapping down it back into my shoulder. Atem watched it shudder and twitch as I strained to stop it and glanced back to my face with concern. I kept my teeth gritted and growled at him, just to make sure he remembered who the fuck he was dealing with.

"It's almost over." He assured me.

I already knew that! The light above us dimmed as the fissure filled, smaller lumps of grit and chunks carved lose by the card crumbling against my scales. It was a relief to lower my wing until it limply slumped against the ground. That hurt, but the brief flash of pain was so much better than the low key agony of keeping it raised up.

Sighing would be too obvious, so I exhaled through my nostrils. The air down here was so hot it wasn't going to be noticeable; this place was like a fucking sauna. It was so dry I could see it Atem's sweat evaporate as it formed.

"Are you alright-" He questioned softly, like he actually cared,

"-Yugi?"

But apparently not about me. That figured.

He frowned as he held up the Puzzle in both hands, closing his eyes to listen deeply for some nonsensical reply from his precious host.

"I can't hear him." He muttered, loud enough for me to hear. As if I cared. Yugi was probably safe and sound lounging around in the Puzzle - unlike the two of us who had just been buried alive.

"He'll be fine, idiot." Great job assessing everyone who was actually present and accounted for. My unintelligible snarl made him pause and actually pay me some attention, though the dumb look on his face made it clear he had no idea what I was trying to say. He gave up on figuring me out and give the Puzzle a final once over just to make sure Yugi wasn't going to magically appear – again.

With a frown he finally let it go. Instead he bent the leather cover of my wing back a bit and took a look at the cave ceiling, just to check it was still raining rocks.

As the one they were raining on I could tell him categorically 'yes, it was' - or I would of if I still had my normal vocal cords. I kept trying not to wince as the remaining pebbles smacked against my bad wing.

"I can help you with your shoulder." Atem offered, staring at it like he doubted the craftsmanship and expected it to give way at any second.

"Grrmph." "No way." I tried scowling at him to show exactly how little I wanted his 'help' but doubted the expression would take on my current face so bared my teeth at him too.

As if I'd ever allow that. I didn't need anyone else's help.

"Unless you're too afraid to let me?" Atem taunted; clearly trying to play me.

Still no way.

I'd pop it back in once I was human again and right up until that very second I didn't want anyone man-handling any part of my shoulder. Excessive man-handling was the original cause of the injury, so it was logical not to want people poking around at it. Hell, letting someone whose cultural breakthroughs in medicine probably still involved leeches and blood letting mess with the joint was definitely not happening.

That was sensible, not cowardice.

I didn't know if he could sense his little attempt at baiting me had fallen flat or had just lost interest, but he dismissed the idea just as quickly as he'd proposed it and leaned back against my scales while rubbing at his forehead.

The possibility of him having a head injury was becoming more and more likely by the damn minute.

Atem

Kaiba's body remained curled around mine like a great snake as the last small showers of stone tumbled over us. The close proximity that had seemed to be a source of such bother for him earlier was now going completely ignored.

The heat of this place and the sweat streaming from my forehead made me feel as though I was melting away, yet Kaiba's scales were cool and smooth. It was difficult to will myself away from them, but I could hardly stay pressed up against him any longer. I was surprised he hadn't already attempted to throw me off of him again. Wrapped around me as he was I watched the end of his tail flick in irritation out of the corner of my eyes as I held the Puzzle in my hands. The warm, familiar feeling of Yugi's spirit was not forthcoming.

My bones ached but I paid them no mind as I slowly found my feet and stepped out of the barrier Kaiba's encircling wings had made. Steeped in the cavern's deep shadows and hidden from sight the short peak of a fallen rock caught my heel.

Kaiba barked hoarsely as I tripped backward and collided with him for the second time in as many minutes. I fell on him as he had been trying to stand and with a skitter of claws against rock we both collapsed once more to the floor. A thick plume of dust and dry soil rushed up and made us cough in tandem; Kaiba's draconic throat creating a violent hacking noise.

How strange. Grace was not something I usually lacked, especially in dark places.

"Be careful. The ground is uneven." I muttered, though I doubted Kaiba heard it and that suited my purposes just as well.

I studied our point of ingress as he cleared his throat. The sunlight of the world above hung over our heads like a distant star. It was a long drop; we had been lucky to survive it. A slender beam of light filtered through the collapsed rocks that now made up the ceiling of the cavern we found ourselves it. The breech was barely the size of my hand - certainly not enough to escape through - but enough to provide some much welcome illumination, no matter how sparse.

The sunbeam crawled across my arm, shining in the trickle of blood that dripped from my cheek onto my forearm. I frowned at the glossy droplets as they fused with the collection of welts left behind by Bird of the Roses' tongue. It was not the new addition of the blood that stopped me short - rather it was the lack of the device that had taken that place but only a few minutes ago.

"We need to leave this place." I noted, keeping my voice level with a calmness that was far from real. Teleia was clearly capable of covering great distances at speed. We needed a plan of escape to have any hope of recovering my Duel Disk, and quickly.

How could I have allowed its theft to happen?

Without it Yugi was now a prisoner of the Puzzle. He had trusted me unconditionally and I had unwittingly guided him into his own incarceration. I needed to assure him this was only temporary; that I would not leave him to what would had been my fate had he and our friends not helped deliver me to my afterlife.

My fingers found the familiar angles of the Millennium Puzzle by memory alone. I closed my eyes to focus upon it, the smooth surface of the Item comfortable and solid in my hands. I frowned, feeling a heavy bead of sweat race down the channel my brows formed as they knitted together in determination.

"Yugi... " With practiced ease I willed my thoughts inside of the Puzzle. "Are you here?" I asked.

There was a snarl and a grumble from Kaiba's chest. I refused to let is distract me from my task.

"Speak to me." I pressed.

"Graaahou gnh."

Unlike Kaiba the Puzzle remained silent.

"Can you hear me?"

I flooded the Item with my senses, searching deeply, listening so very carefully for an echo of his spirit or the sound his voice until -

"-Grrrrhn nnr aroou."

Kaiba's meaningless growling snapped the thin thread of my concentration.

I rounded on him sharply, feeling my temper rear up and assert itself like a wild horse. "Will you cease your perpetual growling!" I ordered him, firmly, tightly. I tried to explain but didn't trust my words - they came out short and clipped. "Yugi is missing and we need a retrieve my Duel Disk, yet I can hardly hear myself think over your unrelenting noise."

Kaiba scoffed, forcefully, his expression darkening and becoming harsh.

"Grrrrhngr!"

He leered at me - narrowed blue eyes cooling to become glacial and defiant. They trailed my own to my arm and hissed pointedly at the place my Duel Disk no longer adorned as I wearily met his accusatory glare.

"You blame me for this?" I realized. An incredulous anger rushed through my veins.

A short, sharp bark was his swift reply and then Kaiba seemed to scowl to himself as he recalled his words were far from human. He fell back on more draconic methods of communication with a natural ease as he curled his lip at me in affirmation and snapped his jaws in my direction with a gnarr of varying tones that no doubt would translate into some suitably acidic retort.

I bristled at his brazenness and pulled a card from his proverbial deck.

"'Spare me', as you would say." I replied, tilting my chin upward to meet his eyes as they glared venomously at me from atop the column of his long white neck. His lack of care filled me with ire. He was hardly a blameless victim here. Yes, he may be a dragon temporarily - a powerful creature that he had long coveted with an almost fanatical appreciation no less- but Yugi's situation was not so similarly attuned in his favor!

"You may be a dragon for a little longer but what of Yugi? His soul is now trapped!" I seethed, my sudden increase in volume being answered by a rebellious snarl before my sentence could complete.

Even stripped of its powers the Millennium Puzzle was still a labyrinthine maze that still held many dangers; a near infinite abyss of twists and secrets. I would not wish the fate of being sealed within it on anyone ever again, let alone Yugi. The very thought sent an feverish shiver down the length of my spine.

Kaiba continued to growl at me; the sound as deep and threatening as encroaching thunder and much like a steadily nearing storm, growing in volume and ferocity. The sound echoed between my ears, stirring up the low hum of the headache I had been nursing since the lake and agitating it with grim determination. I didn't want to contend with his rotten temper, but equally would not allow his belligerence to go unchallenged.

"And what of your own actions?" I countered. It was from the corner of my eye I had witnessed him lunge for Teleia - violent intent gleaming in his eyes like sunlight reflected on a blade. "Was it your intention to bite Isis's body apart in your bid for victory?" I interrogated, not caring to sheath the anger in my tone. Kaiba squared his shoulders - or tried to - as though he were still a man preparing for a fight and stood up as tall as the limitation of the cave's ceiling would allow to glower down over me. Aggression and outrage made his reptilian features feral and pinched. "Perhaps if you had spent less time distracting me I would have noticed her plan sooner." I concluded with finality.

Kaiba roared back with such intensity that the burst of breath blew free the hair that my sweat had slicked to the sides of my face. What had been a slowly building rage suddenly erupted with volcanic intensity. His roar was becoming familiar to me, yet as the sound of his fury crescendo-ed a new noise, a sharp secondary buzz, joined together in unison with his bellowing howl. A small pocket of blinding light swelled at the back of his wide open maw.

"Pyzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzt!"

I barely found the time to dodge out of the way as a blast of white lightning rushed passed my body.

"Hngh!"

The abrupt evasion saved me from the potentially lethal attack, but was not without its own punishment. My sight blackened at the edges as I winced in pain. I clutched tightly to the sash binding my side as a new wave of warm and blood rushed to the surface of the fabric. The wound burned anew like a hastily kindled flame and seared at my side as though I had been branded by it. It wasn't healing at all.

Despite our obviously mutual frustration with each other both Kaiba and I fell silent and stilled as an ominous sound rumbled above our heads.

Several rocks fell free from the cave's ceiling and with a tense lungful of breath I braced for the worst, throwing my arm across my face to protect my eyes. I didn't dare to breathe again until the tumbling of stone eased into a shower of pebbles and then, mercifully, mere grit.

"Control yourself!" I thundered to Kaiba, the words rushing free from my mouth with a staggered exhalation of breath.

Even transposed upon his draconic features his expression was as human as ever. The blank look of surprise that graced his face as he surveilled the impact of his apparently accidental blast was quickly replaced as he recovered his usual scornful defiance. With a rebellious snarl he snatched his head away to glare off in the opposite direction to the one I currently occupied, seemingly only bothering to reign in his temper now that it could prompt a cave in.

"Be more mindful of our surroundings." I pressed, though this time I was stubbornly ignored.

Fine. If Kaiba was so content to sulk then I would let him. It gave me time to search for Yugi once more. Without his petulant snarling undoing my concentration and unraveling my focus perhaps this time I would finally find him.

"Partner?" I called out into the Puzzle's darkest reaches; my need to hear him becoming only more pronounced for each second I failed to do so.

The answer I hoped didn't come. The projection of Yugi's thoughts didn't echo back to answer me in kind, but instead where my Partner's phantasmal presence should be there was only nothing. I could no longer feel his spirit as I had easily done in the moments after guiding him inside of the Item. The silence, the lack of him, it was foreboding.

An ill-feeling overtook me.

When I had dwelt within it as the Spirit of the Millennium Puzzle focusing so keenly in on the Item had once been routine - the treasure a willing conduit for my disembodied soul. Now I could scarcely stand to probe the very shallowest of its depths for even this meager length of time. Where once I had known sanctuary there was only a deep dread. A tight smothering darkness creeping in at the edges to drink all the air and life from my body.

I let go of the Puzzle hastily, as though it had scalded me. It caught on the cord around my neck and pendulously swung back and forth as my vision swam.

The cavern seemed to be shrinking, the cave narrowing all around. An oppressive heat lingered thick in these depths, enough to make me feel near lightheaded. Ordinarily such places promised the relief of shade from the desert sun and made for cool respites, yet instead it seemed the warmth was as thoroughly trapped in here as we ourselves now were.

Kaiba made for a good distraction; twisting his neck around to observe our surroundings while irritably flicking his tail like a hungry lion held at bay on the end of a chain.

It seemed he was not so similarly afflicted by the heat.

Instead he busied himself with an obvious dedication to mastering the newest weapon at his disposal. He practiced lighting a blast in his throat and then swallowing it back down before it could escape outward to bury us both. Each repetition filled the cavern with the fleeting glow of white light and cast deep shadows against the cave wall that danced within the black silhouette of his fangs. That was not all that the outline of his body made clear in the darkness. His left wing was held at a strange angle and now very clearly crooked in comparison to the other. He flinched each time it accidentally buffeted against the cavern floor before jerking it back to his side. It was a painful spectacle to watch.

With Yugi absent there was little more I could do to remedy his situation- yet Kaiba's I could still help, if the oaf would allow it.

"Stay still." I bid him - utterly unsurprised when he did little more than turn his muzzle in my direction to glower at me. I marched to his side, stepping over the cavern's rough terrain to do so with discomfort as each uneven rise and fall of the earth sent pricks of hot pain through the wound in my side.

Kaiba glared as I neared his shoulder, apparently already identifying it as my target. With a hiss of warning he subtly angled the wing away from me. He flinched as he did so, though he tried hiding the reaction behind an impudent toss of his head.

"Let me see." I would give him little choice in the matter. Shielding us from the rocks had clearly made the injury worse.

"Grrrrrrrrr." He thrashed his tail back and forth as though it were a whip, coiling it as he did so.

My fingers extended toward the problematic joint, inching through the air toward the slender bone that connected the shoulder of his wing to his withers. Unceremoniously and with no warning other than an irate snarl I abruptly found the world around me tilting to one side as an answering swipe from Kaiba's tail brought me to me knees. I barely heard my own shout as a ripple of agony rippled across my body from my injury.

I struggled back onto my feet as quickly as my muscles would permit. Everything ached.

Kaiba stared down at me, warily. His expression was indignant and yet still full of reproach.

"Will you mind your strength!?" I demanded, gasping for breath through the sudden frisson of pain that raced around my body from my injury's agitation. I hoped it was mere coincidence he had struck me in the side he already knew to be wounded, but doubted it. He had chosen the place he knew he could achieve the most damage with the most conservative amount of effort, no different from if we had been dueling.

With a pair of heavy thuds he thumped his tail against the ground as though daring me try again. Of course he wouldn't let me help him without a fight, despite the fact he had gone to some length to come to my aid only moments earlier.

I crossed my arms as I contemplated the stubborn fool's actions. He had protected me without hesitation; almost without even thinking. Was this because he, Seto Kaiba, had truly wanted to, or was it some compulsion inherited from my steadfast High Priest? The later seemed more likely than the former.

Either way Kaiba's vigilance was all that had saved us from accruing another death counter. In fact, he had reacted so quickly to Teleia's actions it was as though he had the foresight to predict them.

Ah.

The realization washed over me.

"You knew Teleia's plan."

I stole a glance toward him as he snorted to himself, a little of the fury leeching from his pose as the tight coil of his tail released and his shoulders hitched uneasily.

My thoughts drifted in lazy circles instead of marching with their usual precision and order; it was becoming difficult to concentrate and yet suddenly it seemed so obvious. "You were trying to warn me." I concluded, raising my voice only loud enough to close the distance between us. I listened closely for his answer. I needed to understand this.

"Grnh." Came his prickly reply, but beneath the incomprehensible sound there was a tone I recognized. I supposed it was a sort of insult of affirmation; something akin to "Duh" or perhaps calling me an "idiot."

All too quickly I comprehended the reason for his upset. He had been trying to warn me against Teleia's actions and I had all but accused him of sabotage.

"I see." I swiped at my forehead to wipe away the sweat gathering under my hairline.

A contemplative hush descended as we stared at each other. Or rather, I stared and was in turn glared at, no different from one of our duels. The reprieve was fortunate; despite Kaiba's accusatory leer it gave me time to gather my wits and form a strategy. After all, my next words would need to be perfect to restore what remained of our tentative equilibrium.

"I concede that I misjudged the situation." I settled upon, crossing my arms over my chest as I did so with the finality of a book cover closing.

Kaiba's attention was caught on the word 'concede', the sullen curl of his lip relaxing to sheath the threatening fangs he had been exposing like a jackal caught in a hunter's trap.

"Ghnnnn garooo" he huffed out still irritated but now haughty too, my mind supplementing a reply of "damn straight." over the top of his draconic grumblings. It might not have been a completely accurate guess, but by the bright semi-victorious shine that crept into the corners of his eyes I surmised it was close.

With a derisive snort and a rumble of something I suspect to be along the lines of 'took you long enough" he finally eased his glare and turned his head away. I nodded slowly, though he could no longer see me do so.

Understanding him wasn't as hard as I had first thought it to be now that I was truly paying attention. There was still meaning in the small adjustments to his expression; to the movements of his body and the sounds he made. Discerning the proper interpretation was challenging but hardly impossible - somewhat like playing the first round in an unfamiliar game.

I smirked in the half-light.

Like all games, it was now mine to win.


AN: I'm not very happy with this chapter but I've been struggling with it for a month now and needed to get it published so I can move on and write the rest of the story. If you think something works/doesn't work let me know! I'll likely end up editing this one quite a bit down the line so any feedback helps a great deal.