Notes: Thanks to Mega M for various plot suggestions in the last several chapters! And oddly enough, I can't find any proof that the Orichalcos sustained Dartz's life through the many centuries. It's a popular fandom trope, but the dub doesn't say it and I can't find that the original did either, so I decided to take a different route.

Chapter Eight

Valon was surprised when he went downstairs early the next morning and found Alister sitting wearily at the table, nursing a cup of hot chocolate. "What's up, chum?" he asked.

Alister stared at his phone. "I got a message that that man is alive. He was in an enchanted death."

"Oh yeah? I thought that didn't happen in real-life." Valon poured some hot chocolate and slid in at the table. "You don't look too happy about it. I thought you got over wantin' to dance on their graves."

Alister scowled. "I never liked them, but . . . knowing what Nesbitt did last night, and seeing how upset his friends were . . . I've been having to deal with the realization that they're not the heartless warmongers I thought they were."

"Former warmongers," Raphael grunted as he entered the kitchen. His Ragdoll cat Liu purred in his arms.

Alister traced a pattern on the table with a finger. "Kaiba was right when he told me I was a hypocrite to say I hated war. I know I was corrupted by the Orichalcos at the time, but . . . what could be more of a warmonger than someone willing to destroy the entire world to supposedly wipe out war? All the innocent people who would be killed. . . . All the kids just like my brother. . . ."

Raphael sat down at the table with Liu on his lap. "It sounds like you've been doing a lot of soul-searching."

Alister nodded. "I can't in good conscience hate the Big Five, especially not after last night . . . and especially not after what I've been thinking about myself." He sighed and finished his drink. "I'm glad Nesbitt's alright."

"I'm sure we all are." Raphael petted Liu and got up, leaving her on his chair. "We'd better get breakfast and then head out to help look for the Orichalcos stones."

Valon nodded. "It's gonna regret makin' enemies of all of us!"

Alister had to smirk a bit. Not much got Valon down for long. "It probably will," he said as he stood as well.

xxxx

Everyone mutually agreed that the Big Five should sit out the search for the Orichalcos, at least for that day. Seto decided to leave Mokuba with them and head off with the others who were going to participate in the search. When he called Gansley's house, Gansley agreed to that idea.

Gansley was the only one currently awake when Mokuba arrived. "How are you feeling, Mokuba?" he asked.

"I'm okay," Mokuba said. "But what about you guys?! You're the ones who really suffered yesterday. . . ."

"We're all exhausted and we've had more than enough of magic," Gansley admitted.

"Heh. Join the club," Seto grunted.

Mokuba looked around. "Where's Nesbitt? And Lector?"

"Everyone else is still asleep," Gansley said. "I might go back to bed myself for a while."

"You should," Mokuba said. "I'll be okay." He looked to Seto. "But try to call or text and let me know how things are going," he pleaded.

"I will," Seto promised.

After he left, Mokuba settled on the couch and took out his laptop. Gansley watched him for a moment and then started to turn to head upstairs. "You're sure you'll be alright down here," he said.

"Oh yeah." Mokuba smiled at him. "I've got a lot to do. You just go on back to bed. I'm sure you didn't get much sleep."

"I didn't," Gansley grunted in agreement. "Alright then. Let one of the servants know if you need anything."

"Right. Thanks!" Mokuba waited until Gansley moved tiredly up the stairs before booting up the laptop and opening the web browser. In a moment he had typed Makarios into the search bar and leaned back to wait.

The results on this browser's search were much the same, but Mokuba soon picked out another result that wasn't a Greek name site. He quickly clicked.

He slumped back, stunned, when the site loaded and it seemed to belong to some type of Grecian artifacts import/export corporation based in California. "Why would this come up?" he wondered.

A quick scroll-through soon revealed the truth—someone named Makarios was apparently the son of the five men who ran the company.

"Well, he can't biologically belong to all of them," Mokuba mused, "so he must be adopted. And five men . . . seems like too much of a coincidence to me."

He looked through the entire website but turned up no pictures of any of them, even on the About Us page where he had started. That also seemed strange.

"So now what?" he frowned.

There wasn't much in the way of contact information either, but there was a form to fill out if one wanted to do business. Mokuba tapped the edge of the laptop, pondering, and then started to type. If this lead worked, Seto wouldn't be too upset . . . he hoped.

Just one question nagged at his mind. If this really was Critias's missing younger brother, why hadn't he come forward to try to find a way to reconnect now that the curse over Critias had been broken?

There were a lot of possible reasons, he supposed. Did he even know that Critias had been freed by one of the Legendary Warriors? It seemed like everyone in the world had probably known about Dartz and the Orichalcos by the time that mess was over.

Maybe he had tried to find Critias, but the portal had closed and he hadn't been able to get to him. But then why hadn't he gone to Yugi or Joey or Seto to help him?

Mokuba paused in his typing. What if Makarios and his Big Five weren't good guys? Or maybe the brothers had had some kind of falling-out when they had last seen each other.

No, he didn't want to think that. What kind of falling-out would last for over ten thousand years? There must be some other reason for their silence.

Taking a deep breath, he finished his message and hit Send.

Well, hopefully soon now he would have his answer.

xxxx

Critias definitely noticed the missing members of the group when the others came over to help. "The Big Five aren't here, I see," he commented.

"Can you blame them?" Joey frowned. "After everything they've been through, they deserved a break!"

"They should want to help find the Orichalcos," Critias retorted. "They should want to avenge what happened to them and make certain it can't happen to anyone else!"

"They will certainly join in helping us later on," Atem said. "Just not now."

"Haven't they done enough to prove they're not cowards?" Tristan scowled. "Not that they needed to prove themselves to you."

Mako's eyes flashed and he shook a strong fist in the air. "Mr. Nesbitt believed my father and I were in mortal danger and he did everything he possibly could to save us!"

Akio gave a firm nod of agreement. "That's right." They had spent part of an agonized night dwelling on what had happened before receiving the word that Nesbitt was alright. It was an immense weight off their shoulders, but they both felt they would be forever in debt to Nesbitt and the rest of the Big Five for that sacrifice.

"I accept they're not cowards," Critias said. "But I still think they should be here. When we were released of our curse, we didn't stop to take a break; we threw ourselves full force into bringing down Dartz once and for all!"

"It's not like they're running around havin' fun either," Joey retorted. "They're just resting, trying to get their strength back up."

"Let's not argue about it," Dark Magician Girl interjected. "My sister is going to take us to where she found her stone and we'll branch out from there."

Everyone was agreeable to that.

The area Magician's Valkyria led them all to was beyond the castle grounds and into a meadow nearby. Serenity and Téa especially stared in awe at the beautiful scenery and flowers.

"It's hard to believe there's so much danger here," Serenity said softly. "Why does the Orichalcos have to try to ruin this world?"

"We're going to make sure it doesn't!" Téa insisted.

In the distance a waterfall descended into a bubbling stream that was traveling along a bank near the group. Serenity knelt down, brushing her hand through the clear water. "It's so peaceful it's like a fairytale world," she said.

"Maybe, but don't forget that fairytales have some pretty messed-up imagery," Duke remarked. "They're not all dream world scenery and happy endings."

Serenity stood and resumed walking with the group. "At least they do end happy, though," she said softly.

"Unless you're reading something by Hans Christian Andersen," David said. "He not only came up with some seriously demented stories, some of them didn't even end happy at all. Some of them were bittersweet at best."

"Ah, so more like reality," Yami Bakura grunted.

Duke quirked an eyebrow. "I didn't expect you to be an expert on fairytale writers."

David shrugged. "I do have three sisters. The first time they were introduced to the original version of The Little Mermaid, my youngest sister cried for hours. And there's others much more twisted than that. I remember something about a girl whose boyfriend died and she had some body parts in her flower box? Something like that."

"Are you serious?!" Téa shrieked.

"That's what I heard anyway," David said. "I never read it myself. I don't even remember the name of it."

"I wonder what made him write such sad stories," Serenity mused.

"Well, at least he wrote some things like The Ugly Duckling that ended happy," Yugi remarked.

"What does any of this have to do with why we're here?" Seto grunted.

"Nothing, of course," David smoothly answered. "We're just trying to distract ourselves from thinking about the Orichalcos and how it might warp any one of us into cruel and heartless beings."

Magician's Valkyria finally stopped near the entrance to a forest. "I found the stone here," she announced, pointing to the foot of a large pine tree. "I looked all over for more, but I didn't see any."

"Orichalcos stones usually fall in groups," Dartz said. "It's strange there wouldn't be any others."

"Unless someone dropped it, maybe?" Valon suggested.

"Hmm. Perhaps they even saw Magician's Valkyria coming and dropped it hoping she would find it," Dartz mused. "We still don't know that she wasn't corrupted on purpose as part of the rebels' scheme."

"And we don't know if the only reason there are rebels is because of the Orichalcos corrupting all of them," Atem said.

"Well," Valon drawled, "I guess all we can do is spread out and look around for more of the things."

"And stay alert for any rebels," Critias growled.

For some time the group roamed the entrance to the forest and then gradually moved inward, searching around trees and bushes for any sign of the Orichalcos stones—or of the rebels. They didn't turn up either.

"Hey," Yugi said after a while, "that looks like a cave over there." He pointed behind a bush and up a small hill, where an opening in stone stood yawning wide above them.

"That looks like a perfect hidin' place for Orichalcos stones!" Joey exclaimed. He ran over and scrambled up the hill to look inside.

"Unless there are any Mother Grizzlies inside," Critias grunted.

Joey stiffened. "G-Grizzlies?!"

Critias came over and shined a flashlight into the cave. The stalactites and stalagmites the light hit glistened in various colors. "I don't see Mother Grizzlies or Orichalcos stones," he frowned. "It's probably safe to explore, but it might be pointless."

"We had better look, just in case it isn't pointless," Timaeus said. He advanced into the cave in determination. As he kept walking without anything going noticeably wrong, the rest of the group fell into step after him.

"This is a pretty big cave," Téa remarked after they had been walking for a while. "And there haven't been any Orichalcos stones."

"Or maybe you're speaking too soon," Seto said. He pointed to a green stone glimmering between two stalagmites.

Critias immediately hurried over for a better look. "This is definitely an Orichalcos stone," he snarled. "We should keep going."

Dartz and Mai shrank away from it, not daring to get too close.

"But uh . . . what are we gonna do with that thing?" Joey frowned. "We don't wanna leave it rollin' around to corrupt somebody. But if we take it with us, we're just asking for trouble!"

Critias promptly drew his sword and sliced the stone into fragments without a word. Then he sheathed the weapon and continued on his way.

Joey gaped after him.

Timaeus gave him a crooked smile. "You get used to him after a while."

"It's hard enough to get used to one Kaiba," Joey said. "I don't think I could get used to another one too!"

Seto grunted. "Typical Wheeler humor."

"I'm serious!" Joey retorted.

"The two of you don't get along?" Hermos frowned.

"That's putting it mildly," Tristan remarked. "They haven't liked each other from the first time they met."

"But that was in the past," Yugi hurried to say. "They're friends now . . . even if they won't admit it very much."

Seto and Joey eyed each other and then looked away.

"If there's any trouble, you'll see them come to each other's aid," Téa said. "But oh . . . I hope there won't be any more trouble. . . ."

"As do we all," Timaeus said grimly.

xxxx

Nesbitt felt like he was coming out of a fog as he slowly woke up. Then it started to process that he had rolled over against Lector and hugged him sometime during the night and someone had covered them with a quilt. He quickly turned red and moved to roll away, but the feel of an arm over him stopped him. Apparently Lector wasn't bothered by him being there. He even wanted it and had returned Nesbitt's gesture.

Nesbitt settled back into the soft pillow. He knew how Lector felt, wanting the reassurance and comfort that Nesbitt was alive. The past evening must have been traumatizing for him as well as for the rest of the Big Five. Maybe even others of the group as well. Nesbitt had experienced several such traumatizing experiences, sometimes involving Lector, sometimes one of the others. Crump was the only one Nesbitt had never seen apparently dead, but Lector had seen that too.

It's a wonder we're all still sane, he thought to himself. It's a wonder those kids are still sane!

Lector stirred, opening sleepy eyes to look at Nesbitt. "Nesbitt?" he whispered. "You're alive?"

Nesbitt's heart twisted. "Yeah." On another, different impulse, he hugged Lector close. "You feel this, don't you?"

"Part of me has to wonder if it's just a marvelous dream," Lector said. He hugged back. "I can feel you breathing, but it seems unreal . . . impossible."

"It's not," Nesbitt promised. "I'm real."

Lector relaxed. "I have to believe it," he said. "If I don't . . . I'll break."

Nesbitt debated whether to even mention having inadvertently rolled over in bed. Finally, not seeing his way clear to pretending it hadn't happened, he said, "I started out on the other side of the bed. I must have moved around again." He flushed.

"I must have moved too," Lector said. "I don't remember being this close to the center of the bed when I went to sleep."

Nesbitt hadn't even noticed that. He had been so caught up in being convinced that he had been the only one to move and feeling embarrassed by it. ". . . Oh," he said at last, not sure what else to say. "I guess so."

"You don't mind, do you?" Lector asked.

"No," Nesbitt said. "Do you?"

"No." Lector smiled. "Not at all."

Nesbitt finally sat up. "I wonder who put the quilt on us."

"It could have been any of them. They probably all saw us." Lector sat up too.

"Maybe they've already left to look for Orichalcos stones," Nesbitt said. "It looks like it's morning."

"I doubt they'd leave us here alone after last night," Lector said. "They probably decided not to go with everyone else."

Nesbitt had to admit that sounded likely. He started to push himself off the bed. "Let's get something to eat," he said.

Smiling, Lector got off the opposite side.

They were both surprised when they went downstairs and found Mokuba sitting on the couch, busily typing into his laptop. "Mokuba?" Lector exclaimed.

Mokuba jumped a mile. But, quickly recovering, he looked up and beamed. "Lector! Nesbitt!" He set the laptop aside and leaped up, running over to them. "I'm so glad everything's okay. . . ."

"So are we," Lector smiled.

Nesbitt nodded but looked awkward. It always made him uncomfortable learning how much others had been worried about him. ". . . What are you doing here, Mokuba?" he asked. For once he hoped he didn't sound rude.

"Seto asked Gansley if it was okay if I stayed over here while people look for the Orichalcos stones," Mokuba said. "Gansley said Yeah and went back to bed."

"So everyone else has gone?" Lector surmised.

Mokuba nodded. "I've just been working quietly on my laptop, so I hope I didn't wake anybody up. . . ."

"We didn't hear you," Lector said.

"That's good," Mokuba sighed in relief.

Nesbitt looked down at his Smartwatch. "That's the time?!" he exclaimed in disbelief.

"I guess you guys were tired," Mokuba said. "It's understandable after last night."

Lector nodded. "It certainly is. And right now we'd better get something to eat. I don't even know whether to call it breakfast now."

"It's more like lunch," Nesbitt grunted.

"Do you want something to eat, Mokuba?" Lector asked.

Mokuba's eyes lit up. "Sure!"

Chuckling in amusement, Lector led them into the kitchen and looked in the fridge to see what kinds of food they had to work with. Finally deciding on breakfast sandwiches, he started putting them together and then set about melting the cheese.

"Are you guys going to Penguin World today?" Mokuba asked.

"I'm sure Crump wants to," Lector said. "I don't know if all of us will."

Nesbitt shrugged. "I'm alright with it."

"How long do you think it'll be before it's ready to open?" Mokuba wondered.

"Hopefully just a couple of weeks or so," Nesbitt said. "Crump wants to have it open in time for the Christmas season. I need to run some more tests on the mini-sub and the rest of the penguins need to get here."

"That's gonna be so awesome," Mokuba beamed.

A sound at the doorway brought their attention up. The rest of the Big Five were standing there, still looking a little sleepy as they studied the scene in the kitchen.

"Good morning," Gansley greeted.

"Good morning," Nesbitt returned. "Do you want breakfast sandwiches?"

"Sounds good to me," Crump said. Gansley and Johnson concurred.

Lector quickly made some more and soon they were all settling around the table to eat. The meal was peaceful and pleasant; Mokuba felt perfectly at home sharing it with all of them. He loved that they were all friends now. When life-threatening things weren't happening, life really seemed about perfect to Mokuba. Seto was even starting to loosen up and learning how to accept feelings of considering others his friends. It was wonderful.

It was after they had all finished and Gansley's maid was coming to load the dishwasher that a knock came at the door. Gansley raised an eyebrow. "Kaiba's back already?"

"Probably not," Mokuba said, although he wished it would be so.

They all went into the living room and Gansley opened the door.

A man who looked like Mokuba fifteen or twenty years older was standing there. His long hair was pulled back in a ponytail and he was wearing a business suit, but the resemblance was undeniable. "Hello," he greeted Gansley. "Is Mokuba Kaiba here? . . . Oh, there you are."

Mokuba stood gaping at him. "Ma-Makarios?" he stammered.

The older double grinned. "Yeah, that's right."

"Would someone explain what's going on here?!" Nesbitt exclaimed.

"I wrote a letter on the form on this website," Mokuba said. "Makarios was the son of these five guys who run this import/export business, and I thought maybe it was the one from Atlantis and . . . well, I just wanted to get in touch with him." He looked back to Makarios. "But I never thought you'd show up in person!"

"Hey, when we got your letter, we had to come," Makarios said. "But we decided it might be too much of a shock if we all came to your door, so my dads are waiting in the rental car."

"Wait a minute," Crump exclaimed. "Are you trying to say you and these Atlantis guys are all still alive?! It's been over ten thousand years!"

Nesbitt frowned. "You can't expect us to believe that!"

Makarios gave an uncomfortable laugh. "Yeah, well . . . Atlanteans are pretty long-lived. We can be killed, but if nothing violent happens we can live on for a real long time. We're not immortal, but we're probably the closest thing to it." He looked around. "And uh, it might be better to talk about this kind of stuff inside. Who knows who's listening."

Nesbitt grunted, still not convinced.

Gansley stepped aside. "Do come in." He was reeling, and he just kept staring as Makarios complied. This case kept growing more and more bizarre.

Lector gave Mokuba a strange look. "What exactly did you write in your letter, Mokuba?"

"Well . . ." Mokuba shifted. "I said Hi and who I was and said that if the name Critias meant more to them than some story by Plato, they might wanna talk to me." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I didn't think I should say too much, just in case it was a wild goose chase."

"The name Critias means a whole lot to us." Makarios leaned on the door once Gansley shut it and folded his arms. "What do you know about him?"

"He's free of the curse in the Duel Monsters' dimension," Mokuba said. "But I think he thinks you're dead. Dartz's daughter Chris thinks you died in the Battle of Atlantis."

"Yeah. . . ." Makarios looked away. "For a long time I was upset with the men who took me away. I knew they were protecting me, but I felt like my place was at Critias's side . . . even though Critias himself didn't want me to fight."

"We have ways to travel to other dimensions now, so if you wanna see him again, you can," Mokuba offered.

Makarios sighed and gave a sad smile. "I've wanted to see him so badly. I wanted to set him free from the curse, but the dimensions were sealed, and of course I wasn't one of the chosen warriors, so my hands were tied either way. Then, when he was finally set free, he went back to the Duel Monsters' dimension—I guess since Atlantis is gone and he can't protect it anymore—and the portals closed up again before I could get to him. I kind of hoped maybe you guys had ways of traveling between dimensions, but . . . I don't know, I hadn't come forward because I guess I'm afraid Critias will think I'm a coward for not being at the Battle of Atlantis. . . . I really am a coward when it comes to facing him."

"He'd never think that about you!" Mokuba protested. "You said yourself that he didn't want you there!"

"That was back then, though," Makarios said. "In so many years he might have changed his mind."

"You should try to see him," Lector spoke up. "You owe that to both of you. There's a portal open right now that you could go through."

"Really?" Makarios's eyes flickered with hope.

Mokuba nodded. "You really should! Especially since it looks like the Orichalcos is loose in the Duel Monsters' dimension. There's no telling what might happen. . . ."

"The Orichalcos?!" Makarios stiffened. "Then you're right, we really should go over there! We need to help this time." He wavered. "I just hope Critias won't still be mad at the guys. . . ."

"He was pretty mad yesterday," Crump said.

"But once he knows they preserved your life, surely he'll feel differently," Johnson said. "They didn't fight, but they did something much more valuable."

"Where is the portal?" Makarios asked.

"It's at the Turtle Game Shop," Mokuba said. "Seto doesn't want me going into the Duel Monsters' dimension, but we could take you to the portal." He looked back at the Big Five for confirmation.

"That's right," Gansley nodded.

Makarios brightened. "I'll really see my brother again. . . . Thank you so much, all of you."

"Hey, sure thing," Crump said. "It was really Mokuba's idea, though. None of us knew anything about it until you showed up!"

Gansley nodded and turned to head for the stairs. "Just give us a few minutes to get dressed and we'll take you to the portal."

The Big Five had just got upstairs when Nesbitt decided to speak. "Doesn't it seem more than a little strange that Mokuba would find these people so easily?" he said.

"Honestly, by now I don't know what's strange anymore," Gansley wearily replied.

"I wonder if he was really hoping to be found," Johnson suggested. "After Dartz's defeat, they didn't need to hide anymore. Maybe they weren't trying to."

Lector nodded. "I saw the look in his eyes. I recognized it all too well—that longing to be reunited with a loved one. I can't believe he isn't sincere."

Nesbitt looked away. He had recognized that look too. Instead of persisting in his argument, he crossed to the window. As he pulled back the curtain and looked out, he could see their Atlantean ancestors getting out of the rental car and starting up the walk.

"Hey, what do you see?" Crump asked.

Nesbitt was still gawking. "They look almost exactly like us," he gasped. "They look maybe fifteen to twenty years older than us, but aside from that . . ."

Gansley shook his head. "We'll be down with them soon enough. For now, don't let them catch you spying on them!"

Nesbitt slowly stepped away from the window but was immediately replaced by Crump. "That's just bizarre!" Crump exclaimed.

"They are our ancestors," Johnson said, pushing up his glasses. "You know what they say about family resemblance."

"Yeah, but most people don't see it firsthand!" Crump retorted. ". . . Hey, my ancestor is clean-shaven! That's a freaky sight. I've had a moustache for as long as I could grow one!"

Gansley sighed and looked to Lector, who had been silent. "Apparently it's going to be one of those days," he said.

"Just as long as it's not a day where any of us get hurt," Lector emphatically replied.