Chapter Seventeen – The Induction

"I know I need to know exactly how Jared was inducted as 'Master' in Blood of Darkness…but I'm not sure I can open this file," Serena said quietly, ten minutes later.

"You're not alone," Kaiba whispered softly. She's close to how Mokuba acted on his first date. Nervous, but excited all the same. No…that doesn't apply here. Mokuba! I need to call and check up on him.

Serena laughed softly and smiled at Kaiba. "I know, thank you. I guess you could say I am a little excited about this…after all, it will help so much. And um…go call Mokuba, but I'm sure he's fine. I'll wait."

Kaiba forced a smile on his face; it was still a little surprising that she could read his mind without him knowing. At times, he found that rather annoying. "I'll be quick," he said coolly, pulling out his cell phone and dialing some numbers.

While Kaiba spoke to his younger brother, Serena stared at the computer screen, the file selected and ready to open. To open or not to open…What's there to lose? Nothing. But there is much to gain. I have to open this file. I need to. Biting her lower lip, Serena double clicked the file, a document appearing on the screen. Okay…now to read it. Serena giggled to herself. One step at a time…

"Couldn't wait?" Kaiba asked emotionlessly, staring intently at her.

"Oh…well, I um…I was just going to open it…I haven't exactly gotten myself to read it. Yet," she replied, a slight blush painting her cheeks.

"Well, let's see. This is about your father's induction…" Kaiba's voice trailed off as Serena handed him her laptop. He raised his brow in question.

"I'm not the best with computers or long documents. Maybe you can find a point of interest," she suggested, scooting closer to him.

"Maybe." Kaiba scanned the document, his eyes reading every word but not bothering to really understand what it was saying.

Ten minutes passed and he was still scrolling through it, searching for anything of interest. It had gotten deathly silent in the room; not even Joey could be heard from Téa's room yelling about how he challenges Yugi to another rematch and that this time he'll win.

"Got it."

Serena jumped a little and looked at Kaiba, questions in her eyes. "Got what?"

"What you need to know. It's all here. I'll read it to you." Smiling slightly, he grabbed her hand and squeezed it. The truth was going to be hard for her to face.

"Okay," she said softly and leaned her head up against Kaiba's shoulder. "I'm listening."

Kaiba looked at the document, found his place, and began to read. "Blood of Darkness; separately, those words mean nothing really. Blood flows through our veins and darkness comes in the night. But, when put together, those words mean more than just blood and darkness, they mean death to all those who dare to stand in the way of the clan.

"To join Blood of Darkness, one must sign their soul over to evil, so to speak. They are then driven to accomplish tasks created by their master, the all powerful evil one…as I like to call him, or her. I have watched many take membership in our gang for various reasons, but for nearly all, one reason is common ground. We are all bound together by our darkness…" Kaiba paused and looked at Serena. Her look told him to continue, so, taking a deep breath, he did.

"I have seen the one we call 'Master' be inducted. He was the evil one's son. He grew up here in this darkness, never knowing light. For him to be inducted, he had to face the light and take control of it. For him, the light came in the form of a young lady whose name I cannot remember now. He took control of her alright, until he found he could not harm her for she was with child. This news changed him and made him want to live in the light, something he knew he could never achieve. The ancient prophecy of the Egyptians is coming to pass I believe.

"The evil one was not pleased to say the least. Because he had not been able to control the light, he was punished, severely, destroying any hope of light within. But, as soon as his induction took place, his father died. His dying wish was for his son to destroy all the light; his child and her mother. I have come to know that half of this has come to pass as I brought the child to her uncle for her mother no longer lived; and Master is unable to harm any child, according to an unwritten law. There was something about the light inside of this child that brought me to realize the darkness I lived in was not all there was to life. Her silence seemed to tell me there was light within everyone. And when this child is grown, she will have amazing power; power strong enough to defeat her father. And when that day comes, all of us who bound ourselves to 'Master' will be freed. The devotion written on our arms and burned within our souls will be no more.

"I know that one day, Master will try to finish his father's last wish. But until that day, he will not be able to access his complete power. I know that I am one of the few who did not sell their minds, and for that, I am most thankful.

"For fear of being discovered, I dare not sign my name on this. I pray that one day, this evil will be destroyed. But until then, I must continue to work in this clan, to save my family from the evil one's grasp. As long as I pay out my debt to the one called 'Master,' or as those in the sun call 'Jared,' then one day, my family and I will reunite and be free."

Serena closed her eyes and bit her lower lip when she realized Kaiba had finished. "It's a journal entry…"

Kaiba just sat there, staring at the screen. Where would Pegasus have gained this kind of information? If what they knew about the Blood of Darkness was true, there was no possible way of getting this out of the person's mind.

"Seto, do you think you can hack the file?" Serena suddenly asked out of the blue.

"What?" Kaiba replied, shaking from his thoughts.

"Do you think you can hack the file," she repeated, turning her body to look at him. "If my uncle found this file years ago, then there's a possibility that it is still there; or at least, the file's origins could be in its original inscription. So, if you hack the file, can you find out its origin? If we find the origin, we may find the source." Her voice was filled with excitement, but inside she was aching. To learn that her father had killed her mother as a part of his induction was not the greatest knowledge. And to learn he needed to kill her to gain his complete power was not too thrilling either.

I thought she didn't know anything about computers? "I can try," he said quietly, his fingers suddenly flying across the keyboard with familiarity.

"I don't know much, didn't say I didn't know anything," she said, her eyes shining gently.

Kaiba didn't reply, but continued typing on the computer. Suddenly, he stopped, a window popping up on the screen. "Serena?" he asked, his brows rising in question. "What language is this?"

"Arabic," she said quietly, confused. "The almighty Seto Kaiba is having problems hacking? Here," she teased, moving his hands from the keyboard and typing into the little boxes. "Password," she mumbled aloud, chewing on her lower lip. "Can we bypass this?"

"We should be able to," he replied, typing in codes at record speed.

"Access Denied," the computer blared at them, shocking them both.

"Isn't there a way to bypass this?" Serena asked anxiously. They had to find out where this file originally came from; then maybe they would learn the name of one of the men in the clan and learn more information.

"Hey Serena, what are you two doing?" Joey asked, popping out of Téa's room and walking over to her and Kaiba, everyone following behind him.

"Uh, well, we just learned about Jared's induction into Blood of Darkness and we're trying to find out the origins of this file," she answered as brightly as she could.

"I can't get past this firewall!" Kaiba yelled out in rage, slamming his fist down onto the end table beside the couch he was seated on. Everyone jumped at his sudden anger, except Serena.

"It's alright; the important thing is that you tried. We already learned so much information; it'll help us in the duel tomorrow," she said to him calmly, taking his hand in hers and rubbing her thumb along his knuckles.

Kaiba calmed slightly and looked at her. I don't know what it is about her, but she brings me so much…peace? "Us?" he questioned, smirking.

"You aren't dueling alone Seto. I'm going to be there, so will Yugi, Joey, Tristan, Téa, and Serenity. We're all standing behind you, especially me, since my life depends on it," she said gently, her eyes gleaming at her attempt to lighten the mood.

"Yeah Kaiba, as much as I don't like ya, I'm gonna stand behind ya this once. Serena is my friend and she's depending on ya to win this. It's not just another duel, and it's not gonna be like when ya dueled Pegasus. Somethin' is tellin' me this is gonna be harder and as much as you won't want to admit it, you're gonna need our support," Joey spoke up, his eyes holding fire inside of them. He didn't just dislike Kaiba, he practically hated him. But Serena's life depended on him and so he'd have to stand behind him and trust him.

"We're all behind you Kaiba. Every one of us," Téa said quietly, smiling at the emotionless face staring back at her.

"Kaiba," a quiet voice spoke up, bringing Kaiba's attention to his archrival, Yugi. "I want you to use my Dark Magician, along with these cards," he said quietly, handing Kaiba five magic cards all benefiting the magician. "It's helped me out of many tough spots and well, I want you to use it. I know you'd probably prefer my god card, but true strength—"

"Doesn't lie in power, but in one's heart," Serena finished for him, smiling at Yugi.

"Thank you…and, I'll try to remember that," Kaiba said quietly, and shocked everyone by accepting the cards. "You'll get them back, don't worry," he teased, knowing very well how much Yugi loved those cards.

"Since we're giving cards to help you out, I have three I need to give you as well. And I expect these back because I'm going to use them to defeat you in Battle City," Serena said brightly, pulling her backpack out which lay by the couch. "My uncle sent me these cards to boost my deck. They will prove most useful." Grinning, Serena handed him her three Gate Guardian cards, watching him with great interest as he studied the cards.

"I'll give these back; if I didn't, the press would have a field day with the information you'd give them. But…don't expect them to be enough to beat me," he said, a smile showing on his hard face.

At that moment, Kaiba's stomach rumbled, telling him he was low on food. Blushing slightly, he looked at all the faces around him. "I guess all this giving of cards has made me a little hungry."

"A little?" Serena asked, her eyes holding that teasing glint.

As if it were a joke, Kaiba began to laugh a true and genuine, heartfelt laugh. It was as if he couldn't help it. Everyone joined in as Joey's stomach grumbled in agreement with Kaiba's, followed by Tristan's.

"I'll order in pizza," Serena said, giggling. We're going to make it, she thought gladly as she took hold of the cell phone Kaiba offered her and dialed in the numbers to the pizza place she had eaten at with Joey and Yugi a couple weeks before.

Note: Lady Light – I have no idea…heh, but I suppose in my story, he doesn't. That or his mind had a mental lockdown. Happens to me so many times *sweatdrop* Anyways, in my story, Kaiba doesn't read Arabic…and I did mean Arabic…I guess I forgot to change it on this chapter. Anywhoie ^_^