The Eye of Osiris

by Blay130

Kaiba's intrusion into the afterlife is met with unintended repercussions as his final duel with Atem attempts to force both the hand of fate and the Pharaoh. Bound together as allies in the aftermath, the pair have a chance to finally settle old scores while a foe from beyond the grave conspires to return to the living world in Kaiba's place. Post-DSoD. Prideshipping. Slow burn.

30. Chapter 30

Yugi

"Here goes nothing." I called back to Yami.

He nodded back with a determination that was contagious. "Right." I felt it fill me with courage as I squared my shoulders and turned back to the ancient gilded door.

I didn't like deliberately breaking things or big shows of force so for a second I just frowned down at the seal. Barging down doors was more of Joey and Tristan's thing. Those guys could get themselves into all sorts of trouble like that. Channeling the strength of my friends I drew my leg back and kicked upward, striking at the clay seal square on with my foot just like they would've done.

"Bmmmm!"

It worked. I hit it hard! The force even made the massive door behind shudder a little in place. I had to hop on the spot a bit to get my balance back, but as soon as I was steady again I took another look at the seal to inspect the damage.

My high kick had left behind a fracture in the clay, one that gradually started to open as the seal cracked more and more, like ice breaking. With a hollow thud the damaged pieces of the seal crumbled away from the end of the elaborate knot they'd been binding and fell to the floor. I jumped back in surprise as they disintegrated into piles dirt and melted into the floor before my eyes.

"Okay." I noted to myself, patting my heart as it began hammering in my chest. "That's the seal down."

I held still and waited.

I'd been expecting something terrible to happen; like a Blue-Eyes to burst through the door and chase me down the hallway, but there was nothing. Only silence and the sound of my own breathing. The fact that I seemed to have gotten away with breaking the seal open so easily didn't make me feel better. It only made me more certain that something scary was about to happen, but there was no point standing here waiting to become dragon-chow.

Okay. It was time to undo the rope. "Now it's just time for the kno- ahh!".

"Yugi!" Yami shouted from a way behind me as I jumped backwards and fell flat on my butt.

"I'm okay!" I assured him as I rubbed the back of my head, slightly embarrassed to have overreacted so badly to something relatively harmless.

Feeding back on itself the rope had reacted as I'd reached for it, twisting in the air like a snake and unraveling the knot at its end so it could flail as if it was alive. "It's just...the rope started magically untying itself." I explained, glancing back to Yami over my shoulder as he hung in the doorway to Kaiba's lab looking like he was two seconds away from charging over to me, holographic projectors or not. It pull itself free of the door handles and sped up as it uncoiled and flicked around, undoing all of the elaborate hitches that had been keeping it tied up and binding the door closed. With a final whip-like lunge the rope undid itself completely, bursting into a shower of golden magical spray and then disappearing into nothing. "I guess it spooked me a bit." I assured him with a nervous smile.

"Creeeeeeeeeeeee." The double doors parted down the middle, opening up on their own with a long creepy creaking noise. A tongue of dry, musty air that smelt like dust and old furniture blasted me in the face as I sat on the ground, watching the door slowly open itself.

"Be careful, Yugi."

"Yeah." I nodded, distracted by the wall of inky blackness I could see through the doorway. "I will be." I swallowed down a lump of dread, staring through the parted doors into the abyss of nothingness. There wasn't anything I could see or hear to clue me in on what was waiting for me on the other side. It could have been anything. The darkness was ominous and I couldn't take my eyes off it even as I stood back up. It felt like if I did, something was going to reach out and yank me through the door.

"You don't have to go in there. We can find another way to fix this place." Yami cautioned. His tone sounded serious. I didn't look at back him, even as I shook my head.

"I think I do." I answered. I could hardly walk away now; not after I'd broken the protective seal on... whatever it was that was in there. I had to finish this now that I'd started it. "For Kaiba's sake."

Yami didn't reply as I teased open the doors until the narrow opening was wide enough for me to fit through.

Turning back to him I put on my most reassuring smile. It was soft and not anywhere near as confident as the Pharaoh's when he was dueling, but it was mine. "I'll be quick, okay?"

Yami hesitated and frowned before eventually blinking. "Alright. Good luck." He hesitated before adding "I'll be here" in a mildly frustrated, powerless tone that I could understand.

If things went wrong in there, or I really did get attacked by a dragon, then there was nothing he would be able to do to help me.

Knowing that made everything seem so much more dangerous. I'd gone without any of the Pharaoh's help for the last half a year and those six months had been quiet, but this was just like when I was prepping for my valedictorian speech. Yami was a confident speaker and I'd missed not getting his feedback or suggestions, but I knew I'd managed it on my own. I'd overcome my fear of public speaking and given it my all. I would have loved to have had his help... but I didn't need it anymore. I could do things without him, I just had to try my best.

"Here I go!" I announced, planting one foot in front of the other.

The toes of my shoes disappeared into the void with my first step through the door but I could still feel them, so that was a good sign. I marched the rest of my body through the threshold, holding my breath with anticipation of anything and everything that could be thrown at me on the other side as I did so.

For a second everything turned black and then with a bright white flash I could see again as I crossed over into somewhere else, feeling the temperature and humidity of the air skyrocket.

"...Wow." The sight was... incredible. It was as if I'd stepped through a TV screen straight into a documentary on the Valley of the Kings. The whole corridor was a work of art.

A procession of huge pillars lined the new hallway inscribed from top to bottom in hieroglyphs and bright paintings of Egyptian figures covered the walls and even the ceiling like in the ancient tombs of Egypt's most famous Pharaohs. Almost all of them had Atem's High Priest in them. They were scenes of him winning wars and meeting gods, some looked more diplomatic with him simply seated on a throne with servants surrounding him and others were naval battles and huge parties. I wasn't an expert, but the outfits he was wearing and the iconography seemed a bit too much even for a High Priest, but that hardly mattered.

Every door that lined the new hallway was as elaborate and richly decorated as the one I'd passed through to get here, made of gilded wood and stone and some of metal like the door to the Pharaoh's Soul Room had been back when we'd shared a corridor a lot like this in between our own Soul Rooms.

All of the doors were either open or ajar, filling the corridor with weird smells and sounds. From one close to me wafted the salty tang of sweat and the sound of weapons clashing against each other. Looking in I could see it was a memory of Atem's High priest training in a courtyard. The next door along wasn't as wide open, but I could hear the soft pattering of footsteps and a soft humming noise coming from the other side. It was a muffled arrhythmic muttering, like people talking.

"I'm busy. Whatever you have to show me had best be important, Isis."

"It is."

The mumbling grew louder as I crept over to the door.

The voices sounded familiar.

"This is what the Necklace has shown you?" The first one demanded.

Hearing Kaiba's voice made sense, given whose Soul Room I was in. The hoarse tone he used was clipped and businesslike. It had an edge but it wasn't as harsh as Kaiba's usually was. It was the voice of a busy man who had more things to do in the day than he did hours to do them in, like my dad's in the mornings before he had to catch a flight.

"Yes." Came the serene voice of a woman. I recognized it right away too. It was Ishizu's, but softer. Almost as if she was tired. "The masons have recreated my visions exactly as I have seen them, my Pharaoh."

Wait. 'Pharaoh'?

I leaned my head right up against the door, putting my ear to the wood. The bottom of my stomach lurched like I'd gone over the peak of a roller coaster as the door swung open and I almost fell straight through the doorway.

"Ah!"

The two figures standing by the far wall didn't react to my near entrance.

Both were illuminated by only firelight as braziers crackled around the outskirts of a large stone chamber and cast a harsh orange tone that slipped into the grooves between the bricks and dipped into the details of a huge carving spanning the wall in front of them. I was glad this wasn't a memory that I was visible in like the first one with the little Kaiba as I leaned in through the threshold for a closer look. He seemed pretty unique from that point of view.

Atem's priestess and High priest stood stiller than statues as specs of dust and motes of ash from the braziers fluttered through the air around them.

There were a few streaks of grey in Isis's hair and even though it was dark I could make out shallow crows feet in the corners of her eyes. The High Priest was clearly older too. A long pointed beard I could never imagine Kaiba growing out framed his chin, which had only become thinner with age as his cheeks had grown hollower. It wasn't the only new addition either. Around his neck was a familiar shape I'd recognize anywhere that looked really out of place on Kaiba's body; the Millennium Puzzle.

Standing side by side the priests were pensively staring up at the wall of hieroglyphs and Duel Monsters carvings that towered above their heads. I recognized it instantly as the stone tablet from the museum as it loomed over them, whole and undamaged. It looked brand new so it must have just been carved. There was a coat of color painted onto it that had clearly faded away in our own time and not a crack or fracture in sight.

"It is a collection of visions I have had many times in fragments over the years, beginning since long before you became Pharaoh." Isis's deep blue eyes lingered on the carvings of Atem and Mahad sadly. That explained why the Puzzle was around the High Priest's neck. He was the Pharaoh now. "But never have they been so clear or complete as in these last few weeks." she noted, casting her hand towards the massive wall of carvings I could barely see in the flickering darkness.

I wondered if Atem had any awareness from inside the Puzzle at this point. Had he silently watched his friends age through his High Priest's eyes like a window, or had he been unaware of it all? Thinking of being in that position, getting left behind and seeing Joey, Téa, Tristan, Duke and Bakura all grow up without being there with them, it made me shiver. I couldn't decide which option was worse - watching or not watching.

Isis traced the outline of Mahad's carving reverently with her thumb. The motion was slow and loving even though her expression was somber.

The High Priest, uh, Pharaoh didn't interrupt. He tapped a finger against his arms impatiently but waited until she'd finished before asking his question. "And what is this all supposed to mean?" He demanded in a very Kaiba-like way, turning his head away from the tablet dismissively.

Isis looked over the stone as she ran her fingers over the eye of the Millennium Necklace around her throat. "That the previous Pharaoh shall fulfill his destiny."

The Pharaoh threw Isis a mean look for her answer. I guessed that was his way of telling her to be more specific. He grunted at her tersely, studying the carving of the giant reeds that flanked figure of Atem on all sides. "You're certain that he will claim his place in the afterlife?" For just a second his hand moved to his chest to hold the Millennium Puzzle, but he quickly let it go.

"Yes." The older Isis inclined her head in confirmation.

"That is pleasing to hear." He noted. His voice didn't sound happy but there was something in the way his eyes shifted, warmed and looked almost relieved for a second that made the sentiment real.

"Until his place there is challenged." Isis added neutrally, "That is the tale of this sacred stone."

The Pharaoh's eyes narrowed and trailed over it again, carefully taking in all of the details before they stopped and glared at the image of Kaiba in irritation. "The stone masons have outdone themselves rendering me in such an outlandish garb."

"It is as I instructed them to, for that is exactly as the Millennium Necklace has shown it to me." Isis easily parried. "He is a descendant of yours, or something similar."

The Pharaoh scoffed bitterly. "A Pharaoh can have no descendants without heirs." His expression only became darker at that.

The comment made Isis pause and hesitate, her hand hovering in the air before turning back to the Pharaoh. "There is yet still time for you to take a queen." She noted lightly.

"It has never been a question of mere time." The Pharaoh replied bluntly. His jaw locked up and a muscle jumped in his cheek as his eyes were pulled to the carving of Blue-Eyes with a look that was bleak and melancholy. He ignored Isis's expression as her features down-turned in a wistful understanding.

After a mournful silence she spoke again. "Whatever he is matters little, for it is what he does that is of greater concern."

The sorrowful lines of the Pharaoh's face settled into an unimpressed sneer. "Speak plainly."

"Very well." Isis replied, slowly taking stock of the various carvings. "He speaks an unknown spell of great power and from it is born a Shadow Game. It is to be played in the Field of Reeds with Osiris himself acting as arbiter." The Pharaoh's eyes widened at shock. He stared at her in open disbelief. "The loser shall remain bound there, fated never to be reborn or step a foot into the living realm again. The winner is to leave the land of the dead and return to life."

"What!"

Isis raised her hand up again to the writing on the tablet, gesturing at it. "As it was in my vision I have transcribed the incantation here."

The Pharaoh inspected the tablet cautiously, leaning back a bit from his hips to get a good look at it from top to bottom. He didn't give anything away even as he turned back to Isis after reading the inscription. "Such a dangerous sorcery is ripe for abuse, and you commit it to stone?" His eyes narrowed even more and his tone changed into one that was accusing. "How can you be so foolish?"

So Isis had foreseen Kaiba use the spell and recorded it from her vision; making sure the tablet was around in our time for Kaiba to use. They'd made a self-fulfilling prophecy, and they didn't even realize it.

Isis's reply was calm and matter-of-fact. "I wish to learn its secrets."

"Why?" The Pharaoh spat. "A spell such as this is nearly necromancy itself! It is not a spellcraft to study, nor toy with."

Isis didn't seem to bothered by the Pharaoh's anger. I wanted to say the same but this older version of the High Priest was kinda creeping me out. He was so thin he was almost skeletal. Comparing him to Kaiba was hard, especially when Kaiba wasn't only so much younger but had almost managed to get super buff in the last six months. Grandpa told me exercise helped with grieving. I wondered if someone had given Kaiba that same advice. Joey wouldn't cracking jokes about him skipping leg days it but I think that was because he was a bit jealous.

"It is intended to return those bound in the afterlife the living world." Isis sounded serene but there was an argumentative glint in her eyes. She put in a dramatic pause that made the Pharaoh start to scowl before speaking again with very slow and clear words. "A counter-spell made from its teachings may be capable of doing the very reverse. Of setting free those who have been sealed in stone in our world and releasing them to the afterlife."

The Pharaoh broke eye contact briefly, just so he could quickly look back at the carving of Mahad. That didn't for long before his eyes flicked again to the carving of Blue-Eyes. He stared at the dragon for a long time.

"With study, perhaps it is possible that those who have been sealed may be made whole once more in the next world-"

The Pharaoh gritted his teeth, his eyes darting back and forth like he was trying to imagine it, or thinking it through.

"-and that we may yet be reunited with them there when our times come." Isis added softly.

For a long time the Pharaoh didn't say anything. His expression was thoughtful and it made him seem so much wiser than the version of him I knew.

"I am aware of what such a thing means to you, Isis." He eventually said in a low, hoarse voice. I'd never heard Kaiba speak that quietly before. He opened his mouth to continue but then stopped and tried to stifled a cough that didn't sound good. It made his body shake and Isis held out her hand and took a step towards him before he waved he off with a dismissive growl.

"The sorcerer, Anubis." The Pharaoh continued, clearing his throat and changing the subject as he eyed the centermost portion of the tablet with distaste. I guess he recognized the carving of the Pyramid of Light. "Why is the pale mockery of the Millennium Puzzle made by that fool carved here?"

The question drew Isis's concerned eyes towards the carving of the Pyramid of Light too. "In one of my visions Anubis employed it to steal away into the Pharaoh's afterlife -"

"-Anubis is dead and buried. Defeated by the last Pharaoh." The Pharaoh interrupted sourly. "How can he possibly plant the seeds of such an insurgence from the grave?"

I guess they didn't know Anubis was going to come back and use Kaiba to try and defeat Atem again.

Beating the ancient sorcerer at the Duel Dome hadn't been easy. It'd taken all of us, plus an ancient prophecy, mystical dagger and the Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon to take him down. None of that had made it onto the tablet; only the image of the three Egyptian God cards sealed inside the Pyramid of Light, just like when Kaiba had activated the trap card.

"I have seen what I have seen and no more." Isis admitted regretfully. "Only in my most recent visions has Anubis's presence been made so clear." She added, her voice taking on an edge as she looked over her own carving. "He will turn us each of us against the Pharaoh in a bid to secure his victory."

A tense stillness settled into the air between the two as the priestess paused.

"The victor of this Shadow Game will indeed return to life, but should the Pharaoh lose to Anubis the sorcerer's escape will plunge the living world into an age of great darkness and turmoil." She concluded.

"But in losing my cousin's soul is yet preserved within the pleasures of the afterlife?" The Pharaoh interrogated, staring at Isis until she nodded in confirmation.

"At a great cost to the world of the living." Isis gravely emphasized. It was a subtle warning, one that the Pharaoh picked up on judging from his hardening glare. The two faced off for a minute before he turned back to the tablet with a swoosh of his cloak.

With a final look over the Pharaoh's expression hardened to be stonier than the carvings themselves. "Destroy the tablet." He abruptly commanded. "It cannot remain intact."

Isis blinked at the strange order, looking every bit as confused as I was. "But what of Mahad? What of Kisa-"

"Destroy it." He repeated with a thin growl. "That is my command, Isis. For as long as this spell exists, my cousin's eternal rest will be threatened." The Pharaoh scowled. "I will not be so negligent as to allow him to be ripped away from the afterlife when he finally takes his rightful place there." His chest jumped as he swallowed another cough. "Break it apart and bury whatever pieces remain."

Isis looked calm again but still sounded dubious as she asked "Bury them where?"

"Wherever you see fit. I care not." The Pharaoh sneered disinterestedly with a flippant wave of his hand, as if the subject was a bad smell he could waft away.

Isis frowned at the instruction ever so slightly and paused. I think she was choosing her words carefully.

"This is fate." She eventually cautioned. "It will not be changed so easily."

"I said destroy it!" The Pharaoh shouted. The cold calm snapped and the burst of anger made him look ten years younger. Suddenly he was looking a lot closer to the Kaiba we knew.

Isis didn't even flinch, like she was used to it. They stared each other down for a few more seconds before she agreed, sounding so tired. She looked lonely and glanced longingly back at the depiction of Mahad.

"Khrr!"

With a short strangled noise the Pharaoh leaned over again, the sharp ridges of his spine pulling against his robe as he coughed roughly in splutters that made his body shake.

"Pharaoh." Isis whispered quietly, the tension between them forgotten instantly as she stepped forward and reached out to him. Her hand gripped his arm as he hacked nosily, the sound and movements of his body only letting up as he spat onto the floor.

His spit was red.

"The air in here is poor for your constitution." The priestess's expression was steady and complicated. Strength layered on top of sadness, acceptance and a deep friendship – the kind I felt when I looked at Téa or Joey. I could see it all in her eyes.

In a smooth motion the Pharaoh pulled away from her and straightened up his robes with a sweep of his hand. "The air here is the least of my ailments." He replied with disinterest, dragging his hand across his mouth to wipe off the red trail that had leaked out one side of his lips. "You know that as well as I."

Isis rubbed his thin arm gently, like he was fragile and could break if she touched him too hard and then retreated back a step.

"Isis." The Pharaoh muttered. He leveled a meaningful look at her. It was intense and pointed but almost sympathetic. His long and slightly gnarled fingers wrapped themselves around the base of the Millennium Puzzle and tensed into a steady fist. "My cousin gave his life to save our world. I will not allow the betrayal of that sacrifice to be my legacy."

After a few seconds of sharing the look Isis dutifully bowed her head.

"Yes... my Pharaoh." Her sad look evaporated and something focused and determined took its place, like she had a plan. "I shall attend to the tablet's destruction personally."

The Pharaoh grunted and apparently that was all it took for Isis to know she'd been dismissed. The priestess turned on her heel and slowly walked out of the room with the short cloak draped over her shoulders rippling behind her.

When he was certain he was alone the Pharaoh sighed, deeply.

The fist that had been clutching onto the Puzzle loosened and he palmed the Item. The look he gave it was pinched and regretful and the following one he gave the carving of Blue-Eyes was hollow and agonized. He let the Puzzle go and slowly stroked the carving of the dragon's neck. The motion was so tender it didn't suit him, but it didn't stay that way. Abruptly everything about him shifted – the hand softly petting Blue-Eyes coiled backwards, his fingers tightening into a fist as the Pharaoh's expression morphed into one of anger and he thrust his arm forwards in a furious punch that slammed his hand into the harsh stone wall. His knuckles cut open and mangled at the impact as he left his fist there, embedded in the tablet and hung his head.

"Damn it." He hissed.

With a wet slap he slammed his hand back against the tablet a second time, rubbing in his blood all over the paint and into the grooves of the stone carving.

"By Pharaoh's blood." He muttered into the stone, leaning towards it so close his forehead almost touched the tablet. "If it is truly destiny that this tablet be made whole once more then I name this stone the doorway between the world of the living and the dead." The Pharaoh's eyes narrowed as a long trickle of red slipped down the surface of the stone. "May it open only once." He growled.

Another round of harsh coughs bubbled up from his throat as closed his eyes and covered the face of the Blue-Eyes carving with his clean hand.

"Forgive me, Kisara..."

"...GAAAAAAROOOOOOOU!" As if the Blue-Eyes White Dragon was answering him a loud echoing roar bounced around the walls and ceiling. The Pharaoh didn't react to it all, even as it rang out like it had been played over a loudspeaker.

Oh no.

That sound hadn't come from inside the room, it'd come from somewhere in the corridor... behind me.

"PzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZT!"

I recognized that noise!

A new crackle of supercharged white electricity shot down the hall way, slamming closed the door to the Pharaoh memory in my face as it arched over the doorway in front of me and careened down the hall, briefly lighting up everything it passed at it ricocheted on through.

"...I guess I know where to find the Guardian." I noted out loud, glancing down the steadily darkening corridor that the zap had come from. If there really was something wrong with this Guardian like the little Kaiba said then the job of finding it had just become much easier. I stepped back from the door I'd been pushed away from and took a deep breath before marching straight down the hallway towards the deepening darkness, squinting a little as the elaborate carvings and colorful paintings that covered every surface began to look more faded and damaged with each new step I took in that direction.

As the light illuminating the hallway dimmed I noticed a piece had been ripped out of the neck of the next pillar along. That set me on high alert. It also had a hole in the middle as if a huge blast had clipped it, and the wall behind it had a chunk missing. I swallowed nervously and stepped as lightly as possible down the hallway, dodging over the dislodged chunks of plaster and stone that cluttered the floor. Ruined things weren't a good sign, but at least they meant I was heading the right way.

The next pillar along was maybe only six foot away and it was damaged too. Deep and long claw marks covered its surface and it had been upended to lie on its side. The banged up pillars and walls continued deeper down the shadowy hallway in a long trail of destruction. The partially broken and tipped pillars made it look like a large creature had crashed its way through the corridor and that matched up with what Yami and I had been suspecting. All of this could easily be the work of one of the Blue-Eyes White Dragons in Kaiba's deck, especially if it had gone bad and started lashing out for some reason.

For my safety I hoped that wasn't the case, but if it was then I'd deal with it. For Kaiba. And, also so I could leave this creepy place and not ever have to come back. That was a big motivator as well.

As I walked its length the hallway seemed to be getting slightly wider with every few feet. I thought it was a trick of the light or my eyes being funny until finally the now slightly-less-than-narrow corridor opened up in a large, circular antechamber lined by pillars and flaming wall sconces.

Something big stirred and groaned, right in the middle of the room. I took cover behind the last pillar I'd passed just to be sure, but I didn't really need to. The longer I stared out at it from behind my cover the more sure I became that it wasn't going to come after me. In fact, the monster looked like it could barely move.

It was weird to see one of Kaiba's dragons out of its usual attack mode. Even seeing it played in defense mode was rare despite the fact it had very good defensive stats. I guess setting it that way contradicted Kaiba's personal approach to life. This Blue-Eyes instead struggled to stand and fell back down like it was being pushed back to the chamber floor by something I couldn't see. Its claws scratched grooves into the stone underneath it as it snarled out an angry growl, tentatively pulling itself onto it's feet only to gnash in pain and sag back down. If this was Kaiba's Soul Room, then why was it trapped in place and stuck behind a sealed door? I couldn't imagine Kaiba abandoning one of his dragons on purpose, especially in a place like this. Its tail twitched slovenly and it I think it became vaguely aware of me as a loose chuck of plaster from the wall crumbled under my feet. It growled faintly, sounding weak and scared.

"Hey, it's okay." I told it as it tried to get up and tumbled down again. I hoped it was friendly. Or more friendly than Kaiba, at least. It snarled in reply and shuffled it's limbs like it wanted to get away from me the closer I got as I came out from behind the pillar. "I'm here to help."

I really was, and if it recognized me Blue-Eyes should know I wasn't an enemy. Atem and I had sent our own monsters to fight at the dragon's side against other opponents a few times. Maybe it would remember that. Or maybe not. Instead of listening it bared its teeth like it was mad, looking every bit as angry as Kaiba did when Atem turned the tables on him in a duel. Blue-Eyes inhaled abruptly and snorted, its slitted nostrils rapidly filling and emptying while the light played across the surface of its uniformly colored eyes. With no pupils it was hard to tell exactly where the dragon was looking, but the shine of white across the glossy surface of each eyeball showed its line of vision as the monster's gaze jumped all around me. As it finally made eye contact the dragon moaned at me like it was in pain and then settled to lie limp on the floor.

Was it damaged somehow?

I looked over it closely. On careful inspection I could see something small and golden glinting from its body.

"What is that?" I questioned, squinting at the shining object in the low light. It looked like a stick, or a small pole was jutting out of Blue-Eyes's chest, right underneath where it's neck joined up with it's torso. With a coil of its body the dragon snapped at me, hunkered down to hide the thing from sight and went completely still. Other than a long low hiss it didn't seem inclined to do anything else as I stepped closer. Only then did I notice the slight movement of its limbs as it twitched its tail, its talons, its legs, its arms, its wings and flexed its jaw as though testing its limbs.

"Blue-Eyes?" I realized what it was doing just in time to react.

"GaROOOOOU!"

I leapt out of the way as it lunged forward with teeth and claws, missing me and bashing its head into the pillar that had moments ago been behind my back. It shook its head in agitation, shaking it around wildly and roared with rage. The snake-like nostrils at the tip of its snout flared, sniffing at the air while its body wheeled around the chamber looking for me.

"Woah!" I yelped as the while scales twisted around so that it could try and slash me again. Its wings arced outwards as it reared up onto its back legs, briefly giving me a better look at the golden object. It was the hilt of some kind of weapon! Something small. Maybe a knife, or a dagger?

Blue-Eyes howled in agony and I ran away from the gnashing teeth as it snapped down at me. Its next swipe sailed right over my head and struck deep into the stone wall behind me.

"Hey! Calm down!" I called out, watching it writhe and its long body curl backwards as it tried to yank its talon free from the wall. I think it was stuck. Now was my chance!

"And I bet I know what's making you so angry." I added to myself. I put on my game face as I charge back over toward the dragon's chest. It tried to bite me as I dodged under its jaws and I was really glad for the worn down threads on the underside of my shoes as I slipped under the arm Blue-Eyes had embedded into the wall and jumped for its torso.

"GaRrrrrOooUUuu!"

I'd never heard a dragon scream before, until now. It was as loud as thunder as I closed my hand around the gold hilt and tried to pull it free. It was elaborate; too elaborate for hunting or fighting with and covered in hieroglyphs and winged snakes. Blue-Eyes twisted and turned as I braced against it and pulled back with all my weight.

"Urgh! It won't budge!" It felt stuck. I couldn't move it even as I pushed back with my legs. I was almost thrown off as Blue-Eyes flailed and roared. "It's okay." I ground out through gritted teeth "I'm going to get it!"

With a huge rally of its strength Blue-Eyes stopped trying to pull itself free and instead lunged forward into the wall, powering through the stones and plaster to break straight through it with me hanging on to the dagger sticking out of its chest.

I hadn't known breaking out of a Soul Room was possible, but now I did. It was like clipping out of bounds in a video game. Outside was just space - endless star-studded space, exactly the same as I'd seen before ending up in Kaiba's Soul Room to begin with. The cosmos stretched out in every direction, still just as expansive and beautiful to look at as it had been the first time, but cold and unnerving.

"Pyzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzt."

The hair on my neck stood on end as a static charge filled the air around me, drawing my eyes back to Blue-Eyes.

"Ah."

Without its trapped paw to distract it the dragon was staring at me narrowed eyed with its mouth slightly open as it collected a new blast of white lightning in its mouth. Its free arm brushed me away from its body, my sweaty hands slipping off the knife as Blue-Eyes punted me across the chamber and blasted at the ground where I fell. Rolling away wasn't the most dignified way to dodge but it got me away from the attack as it blew apart the stone floor, opening up another hole into outer space as the bricks fell away.

"Blue-Eyes, stop!" I shouted as it shot off another, and then another, chasing me with lightning as I ran around the edge of the room away from its breath. "Please!" I yelled, as the attacks opened up more and more gaps in the ceiling and walls, destroying any pillars that got in the way as I ducked and weaved between them. "I can help you!"

At that the dragon roared, angrier than ever and its next sweeping burst of white lighting cut a scar across half of the room, destroying the last three remaining pillars in one go. The room lurched ominously and loose stone started falling from the ceiling.

This was bad.

"Kurrrrrrrrrrrrchkkkkkkkk" A deep, low rumbling sound like mountains rubbing together made the room shake and begin to quake apart. The walls, ceiling and floor all pulled away from each other, separating into their own small platforms and levitating away from each other against the backdrop of black, star-filled space. The corridor that I'd come from unwound like there was nothing keeping it together anymore, leaving hunks of pillars and whole doors to float around on their own islands without anything to connect them. Within seconds the part of the floor I was standing on broke away and separated itself from the nearby stone bricks, creating a platform surrounded by nothingness as I scrambled back from the edge of the newly made ledge. The fragments of the chamber and corridor swirled around Blue-Eyes as it floated in the middle of the wreckage, occasionally beating its wings and throwing its head around the rubble in a rage like it was searching for me.

I ducked down as its eyes swept over in my direction, my platform floating just far enough above the dragon's head to shield me from view so long as I didn't stand up fully.

"What do I do now?" I murmured softly as a platform with a door and a few lumps of stone floated past me on a slightly quicker orbit that my platform's. I noticed too late as a large portion of a broken pillar followed after them, crashing into my island with enough force to send me flying over the edge.

"WAAAAAH-huh?"

Something grabbed my arm. Its grip was like a vice as it stopped my fall and slowly reeled me back up towards the platform, yanking me over the lip of the drop so I could get my breath back as my heart caught up to the great news that I wasn't going to die.

"Yugi." My rescuer greeted - or said in a way that was close to a greeting. It was more like a factual acknowledgement of my name.

I glanced upward as I panted, my pulse going a mile a minute. "Kaiba!"

Cold blue eyes stared down at me as Kaiba crossed his arms over his bared chest. The baggy red sleeves of a coat I'd never seen before slid against each other as he did so. The look he gave me was unimpressed, skeptical and filled with recognition - like he knew exactly who I was and thought I was being a pain. The expression alone told me that despite the weird Egyptian clothes, this was Kaiba. The real deal. I was sure of it.

"Thanks for the save!" I led with, not getting much of a reaction beyond a stoic stare. "It's good to see you."

"Why are we in space?" Kaiba immediately questioned with tight words, his narrowed eyes flashing around the cosmic backdrop before coming back to land on me.

"I honestly don't know." I laughed breathlessly. And if Kaiba didn't know either then I guessed no one would. "Wait." I added, glancing up and down Kaiba's body. "Weren't you a dragon?" He was the last time I'd seen him, at least.

"I was; yesterday." He replied shortly and for a second I thought he wasn't going to say anything else until "A lot's happened since then. Keep up."

"Right." I agreed, not really knowing what that was supposed to mean but going with it anyway.

"Pyzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzt!"

"Watch out!" I called, ducking and pulling Kaiba down with me just in time as a blast of white lightning flew over our heads.

"What!?" Kaiba snapped, watching wide eyed as the platform floating behind us was decimated and crumbled away. All of the rubble was sucked downward in an arcing spiral as it was pulled toward the center of space.

"Kaiba, don't." I warned but he ignored me. He strode back to the edge he'd pulled me up from and glared downwards towards the direction the blast had come from.

"Pyzzzzzz-"

"Blue-Eyes, cancel attack." He shouted tersely with complete authority, yelling down to the dragon as it charged up another blast with sparks of white electricity gathering into a ball in its jaws.

"-Zzzzzzzt!"

Blue-Eyes didn't listen.

"Arg!" Kaiba grunted, holding his arms over his face to shield his eyes as another beam flew past his head, barely missing him. He stumbled backwards away from the ledge and glared down at the dragon furiously.

"Blue-Eyes! I said canc-"

"I don't think that's going to work." I interrupted, trying to break it to Kaiba gently that on this occasion his most precious monster probably wasn't on his side.

He sneered at me, apparently only accepting the idea as Blue-Eyes blasted yet another attack in his direction that flew over our platform in a burst of light and then belted out a deafening roar.

"GARRROOOOU!"

The pupils in Kaiba's wide eyes shrank and almost seemed to quiver in shock for a moment before he blinked them and his face settled back into its normal expression. Even by Kaiba's standards that was a weird reaction. "Yugi." He growled, glaring at me like this was my fault before I could ask him if he was okay. "What the hell is going on? Where are we?" He demanded.

"We're in-" I had to pause. I'd wanted to tell Kaiba we were in his Soul Room, but I wasn't sure if that was strictly true or not anymore.

"Forget it." Kaiba scoffed, not even giving me three seconds to think up how to finish my sentence. "This just a dream, it's not like it matters." He concluded.

I frowned at that. "This isn't a dream."

"What ever you say." He countered sarcastically, not believing me at all. I guess that is exactly what a dream person might say though. "Because talking dragons are so normal."

Talking dragons? I hadn't heard anything like that?

"GarooooouuuuuuUUUUUU!" Blue-Eyes roared out again, making Kaiba scowl and then turn his head away from his monster dismissively like he was ignoring it. It just sounded like a normal roar to me but the way Kaiba had gritted his teeth at the sound made me think twice. Was it something only he could hear?

"What's it saying?" I asked curiously.

"Some nonsense." And at that Kaiba gave me an icy look that told me not to push him anymore for an explanation before changing swiftly the topic to something else. "Where's its scar?" He demanded, glancing back down at Blue-Eyes from our higher vantage point and studying it with a possessive look. He seemed to think I knew more than him for some reason but I was equally confused by everything going on here. Even more so with his strange question.

"What scar?" I felt my eyebrows pinch into a frown.

His eyes narrowed and he stared grimly at the middle of Blue-Eye's body. "Blue-Eyes always has the same scar when it attacks me in a dream." Kaiba explained sourly. I glanced back at Blue-Eyes in confusion, and a little bit of suspicion. I'd just seen Kaiba's Blue-Eyes cards up close in his vault. None of them had any marks or tears - no defects that made sense to manifest itself in his subconscious as a scar - but Kaiba didn't have the full set. Did he feel guilty for ripping up Grandpa's Blue-Eyes? He'd never shown any sign of it when summoning his own onto the field or bragging about them. He'd never apologized to Grandpa either, or for any of the mean things he did to him. I wanted to ask, but as I opened my mouth the Blue-Eyes we were currently dealing with ended the conversation. It made Kaiba scowl as the dragon snapped up at him and then opened its jaws wide.

"It's going to attack again." I called out as Blue-Eyes lined up our platform in its sights again. It pointed its mouth towards us as sparks of lightning pulled together at the back of its throat.

"Pyzzzzzzzzzzzzz-"

"Come on." Kaiba ordered and casually strode to the edge of the platform. "We need to move." And with that he leapt over the side of the island into outer space.

"Kaiba!" Was he crazy!?

I ran to the edge and skidded to a stop, looking down to find Kaiba glaring back up at me like he was bored with his arms crossed over his chest on a platform that must have been floating by just beneath our own. "Get down here." He commanded.

"Okay." I nodded and then jumped down as well, setting off at a sprint to keep up with him as Kaiba quickly glanced around and ran off the edge of our new platform as the previous one exploded into a mess of lightning and stone.

"-Zzzzzzzt!"

We jumped and ran from island to island dodging through the wreckage like mascot characters in an old video game, ducking behind things and dodging off the sides in random directions to land on whatever platform was next passing by. I wasn't sure what Kaiba was thinking, until the constant barrage of attacks finally paused and it instead started roaring again in a rage. "We lost it." I noted, as it swung its head around and bellowed. All of our running around must have created blind-spots for Blue-Eyes, but it wasn't beat yet. It began firing its attacks off randomly, taking down platforms one at a time as it tried to find us. It took down an empty island, then a passing pillar and finally a platform with a door distantly behind us.

He glared at me for noticing, but Kaiba winced as the last one was destroyed, massaging his temple as splinters of wood replaced the door's orbit. That worried me.

"Are you okay?" I asked as we stopped running and jumping to catch our breath, panting behind the cover of a large metal door. These doors and the memories inside of them were part of who Kaiba was. Blowing them up couldn't be good for him, though from what I'd seen it was the memories of Atem's High Priest that would be taking the hit while were were on this side of the sealed door.

"It's nothing." He replied in short clipped words. The standoffish tone created a tense silence as we rested against the door and breathed heavily.

I was the one to interrupt the pause, but given who I was with that was to be expected. "Hey, Kaiba?" I glanced his way as I wiped a bit of sweat off my forehead with my sleeve. This wasn't really the time or place for my question, and I knew that, but after everything I'd seen in here hadn't I already decided it was time to start making time for Kaiba? That began right now.

"What." He grunted disinterestedly, pulling his head back from peaking around the door we were squatting against.

"When we're both back in Domino again we should do something." I proposed evenly.

"You'll have to be more specific. I've got lots of 'somethings' to get done when I'm back." Kaiba replied indifferently.

I closed my eyes and scratched my chin with one finger as he completely missed my meaning. "I mean, meet up." I tried again.

"Sure. Let's do lunch." Was Kaiba's sarcastic response. It was like he didn't believe me.

"I'm serious." I pressed. "I know you've always liked Atem more than me, and I know it's hard with him being gone." Kaiba's clear blue eyes sliced back to me in an instant, focusing on me properly the moment I'd said Atem's name. I kept going, now that I had his attention for real. "Losing a friend is really tough. I understand that better than anyone." I added softly, looking down away from Kaiba's eyes as they somehow become more intense with every word. In fact, it had to be even tougher if you didn't have that many friends to begin with, like Kaiba. "I was a bad friend to you, to leave you to go through that alone." It was a confession and getting it off my chest made me feel so much lighter, like I could breathe fully for the first time in months. "Let me make it up to you."

"We're not friends." Kaiba stated matter-of-factly without missing a beat. "And mark my words, Yugi. If we meet up again, it'll be to duel." He shot back. "Not for some pity party."

"You like to duel. I get that." I replied carefully, trying to find a way to get through and have a real conversation with him even though he clearly didn't want to have one with me. "But can't you just turn it off for a minute?"

"I don't 'turn off'."

Something about the way he said that was strange. It wasn't boastful, or sarcastic, or angry and those were the three Kaiba settings I knew best. It was blunt and sounded almost a little resigned.

Maybe he really couldn't?

Alright then. That just meant I had to come at this from a different angle. Like Atem would have done.

"Okay. Then I accept your invitation." I declared, fixing Kaiba with my most determined look. I had to be firm. I couldn't let him deflect and fall back on insults to get out of it.

"What are you babbling about?" Kaiba sneered.

"You just invited me to lunch." I noted, feeling a smile pull at my mouth at the way his eyes became suspicious and irritated. "So I accept." I concluded. I could almost understand why Atem liked taunting him so much now, the look on Kaiba's face when he own words backfired on him was pretty priceless. "You've got a secretary, right? Just have them send me the time and dates when you're available."

"And what makes you think I'll actually do that?" He countered with eyes like icebergs. It was a question, rather than a rebuttal. It didn't seem like he was going to try and argue with me judging from his tone, but then again he hadn't put up much of a fight when I'd told him I'd be the one to duel Diva instead of him on live TV in front of a stadium of his fans either. Not backing down, facing him without blinking and channeling all of Atem's boldness and confidence had proven to be the best way to get him to agree to what I wanted. Now it was starting to look like that strategy could work outside of the dueling arena too.

"Because I'm going to come after you if you don't." I decided, speaking clearly and with conviction, just like I had at his exhibition duel at Kaiba Land. "You got that?"

"Is that another threat?" His face said he couldn't care less if it was, but he watched me very closely and gave himself away.

"Yeah, maybe it is!" I nodded, not giving in an inch. It was a threat of lunch, so not much of one by most people's standards, but then again Kaiba wasn't most people.

"You're overplaying your hand, Yugi." He cautioned me with an aloof expression. "I was surprised to see you'd grown a backbone when you started making demands in my stadium. It aroused my curiosity." Kaiba's voice heated up with a note of warning before getting slightly louder. "But don't think you can order me around. I learned intimidation tactics from the best and you're just a little barking dog in comparison."

Yeah. Now that I'd spent some time in this place I knew that too well – better than Kaiba could guess. "It's not my preferred method." I admitted steadily. "I just want things to be better between us, so I'm going to make that happen."

"Hnh." Kaiba grunted and turned away from me again to look back at his dragon. "Best of luck with that."

That sounded almost like acceptance and he went out of his way to pretend to ignore me as I smiled at him, which was a pretty solid confirmation. Kaiba's eyes went back to scanning the platforms and rubble that was floating all around us to blank me out, so I did the same.

"Oh! Hey, down there!" I pointed, spotting a familiar sight way below us on another section of floating stone. "That's the door that I came though." I called out as I turned back to Kaiba. "If we can get to it I bet it'll take us out of here."

"I'm not running from my own dragon." Kaiba shot back, his eyes suddenly shining brightly with anger in a way that I'd always found kind of creepy.

"Kaiba, we've got nothing to fight it with." I reasoned firmly, drawing my eyebrows to down to look just as serious as Atem would have. Kaiba checked under one of his coat's sleeves for a minute and then scoffed nastily for some reason. "We're sitting ducks here, and we're running out of islands." I frowned. Blue-Eyes didn't show any signs of letting up. At this rate it'd find us. It was just a matter of time until its process of elimination finally caught up to our position. Kaiba had to have realized that by now. "It's going to find us eventually." I warned. And we had no way of knowing how many of these doors could it destroy without harming Kaiba. Sitting by while it blew them up one by one to look for us could be even worse for him than running away.

"Tch." Kaiba scoffed, glaring down at his rogue dragon one last time before growling "Fine." He cast his eyes over to the door I'd pointed at and scowled at it with a look of dark calculation.

I nodded, appreciating that he was going to go along with my idea without much of a protest.

"Now we just have to figure out how to get over theeeeeeerrreeeeeeeeeee~" My sentence went long and high pitched as I felt Kaiba snatch up the back of my jacket and haul me up off my feet like a sack of potatoes. After watching him once toss Mokuba onto a helicopter I already knew exactly where this was going! "Kaiba, don't. Please!"

"You're the one that wants to get over there so badly." He deadpanned as the arm that was holding me up coiled backwards and his whole body lunged forward in a quick surge as he physically threw me off the platform.

"Not like this! Ahhhhhhhhhh!" Being tossed through space had to be one of the scariest things ever. My stomach bottomed out as I fell through through the void, reaching out my arms as far as they'd go as the platform with the gilded door got closer and closer.

"GARRRRROOOOOOUUUUUU." Blue-Eyes roared out, so I guess it had spotted me in the air but that was the least of my problems as the ledge I needed to grapple onto came speeding towards me almost too quickly for me to grab at.

"Umf!" It knocked the wind out of my chest as I landed, my upper body catching onto the ledge as my legs dangled off it into absolute nothingness.

"I made it! Thank goodness!" I shouted with a sigh, pulling myself up carefully until Kaiba's bark of "Move, now!" made me scramble onto the stone ledge quickly as possible. I just managed to roll out of the way as he backed up on the platform above me, sprinted to the edge and long jumped across the distance to somehow land in a dramatic crouch by my side like an action hero in a movie. All he was missing was an explosion and the effect would have been perfect.

"Pyzzzzzzzzzz-" It was like Blue-Eyes had read my mind and wanted to help out!

"Quick!" I shouted over the loud buzzing sound of the charge building up. In a rush we each grabbed one of the handles and pulled back the entrance to the double doors in unison which would have been cool if there was any time to take in our team coordination, but there wasn't. Kaiba almost wrenched his half of the door off its hinges as he yanked it back and I tried to copy, shifting mine open more than enough to escape through.

"ZZZZZZZT!"

With a shout we both jumped through the doorway, the shot fired at our heels blasting the door I'd opened loose from the wall and into the space station corridor as I ducked down to dodge it.

"Kaiba, are you okay?" I called out, glancing around to catch sight of him. Kaiba turned translucent as the ball of white lightning stuck him in the back and passed right through his body, like he was a ghost. "Kaiba!"

"Relax. I'm fine." He noted, seeming completely unaffected by the hit. "This dream was getting predictable anyway." He told me as his body was slowly converted into tiny balls of light that then evaporated into the air before my eyes.

"Kaiba, wait!"

And just like that I was left on my own again.

"GaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrooooooooooooOOUUUUUU!"

With Blue-Eyes.