Seto looked down at Mokuba, his blank eyes glittering. Desperate, Mokuba lunged for the dagger in an attempt to wrench it from his brother's grasp. That object had to be the cause of it all.

Neither of them heard the footsteps in the hall.

Yuugi and his friends walked into the room just in time to see Seto step to the side to dodge Mokuba, grab his younger brother's forearm, and use the momentum to crash the smaller boy through the window. Mokuba hung doggedly onto his brother's wrist as he dangled several stories above the empty sidewalk below.

"Kaiba!" came Yuugi's shocked voice from the doorway.

"Niisama," whimpered Mokuba, his knuckles turning white.

Seto's head snapped upwards, as if he had suddenly been shaken from sleep. "Wha…?" The dagger fell from his hand and onto the floor as his eyes closed and he lurched forward. In a moment, Jounouchi and Honda were helping the Kaiba brothers away from the window and back onto the safely solid floor.

"Niisama," shouted Mokuba, running, arms outstretched, towards Seto. He was slumped over, pale to almost white, supported only by Honda.

Jounouchi held him back. "Stay back, Mokuba. In case you hadn't noticed, he just tried to kill you."

Mokuba shoved against the arms that blocked his way. When he found that this didn't do anything, he settled for kicking Jounouchi sharply in the shin. "No! That wasn't my brother! I want Niisama!!"

"Itai!! What are you talking about?"

Mokuba darted away and snatched up the dagger from the floor. It lay cold and innocent in his hands. "It was this. It started glowing, and he went…strange. He said something about power and finding the pharaoh. I just…just…" Tears glimmered in his eyes. "I just want my Niisama back."

Yuugi changed into Yami, who took the rogue item from Mokuba. "There has to be some way to defeat this power. It just seems to keep coming back."

The nurse suddenly darted into the room. "What happened? I thought I heard-" Her mouth dropped open at the scene before her.

"Um…the patient got out of bed," said Anzu, trying to come up with a good excuse.

"And…ano…the window broke," added Jounouchi, trying desperately to keep Mokuba from running to Seto, favor his nastily bruised shin, and do it inconspicuously at the same time. Yami was hiding the dagger behind his back.

"How did that happen?" she inquired, helping Honda drag Seto back onto the hospital bed.

"Flying little kids," muttered Jounouchi.

"What???"

He smiled at her with what he hoped was an innocent sort of expression. "I didn't say anything."
"Sorry about that," added in Mokuba. "I think it was an accident. We can have it repaired."

She nodded, still not quite convinced. "I'll have someone come and help clean up the floor and you." She eyed the cuts on Mokuba's face, shoulders, and hands from the glass. "You okay, kid?"

He nodded. "I'm fine. It's just from when the window broke."

She shook her head. "You kids have to be more careful. I'll be right back."

Seto's eyes blinked open as she left. "What happened?" he asked.

"Niisama!" Before Jounouchi could hold him back, Mokuba was at his brother's side.

"I'm sorry, Mokuba," he said softly, covering his eyes with one hand. "Where's the dagger?"

"Yami has it," answered the youngster.

Seto nodded. "That's good. I…I don't want it-or all its foul promises."

There was a moment of silence. Suddenly, the dagger exploded into hundreds of tiny shards, little pieces pock marking the wall and making everyone duck.

The nurse came racing back in. "What on earth was that?"

Everyone blinked silently at her, no one saying a word. "Um…dagger go boom," said Jounouchi, laughing sheepishly. Soon everyone had joined in, though nobody volunteered any information.

*

A week later, everyone had recovered at least passably, in body and mostly in spirit. Mokuba's scrapes had nearly disappeared. Bakura and Malik's wounds were turning into scars, and Yuugi was happy to have his Yami back.

In fact, everyone was so relieved that they decided to throw a party, Jounouchi generously volunteering Yuugi's home for the event. They all gathered for dinner, each bringing some sort of food or drink, and all quite punctual.

Except for Malik, who was late.

He took long enough to get everyone worried before roaring down the street on his motorcycle. "Guess what, everyone?" he asked breathlessly, rushing into the house. "I found something else in the carvings!"

"What?"

"The pharaoh once lost a game of senet to a slave!"

"You liar!" shouted Yami, snatching the photo of the carving and scrutinizing the inscriptions. "You did that on Photoshop!"

"Nah, the pharaoh just can't take the fact that he's not an invincible game player."

Seto was now examining the photo with interest. "Perhaps I should learn this game too…"

And soon everything was chaotically normal once again.

Owari