Sakakku

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Chapter 8

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Seto approached the house from the desert. It lay on the outskirts of a large city; the location and size let him know that this was an upper-class home. Nearly as nice as his.

It had to be Taylor and Devlin, who else in this town was that well off?

Seto hopped easily over the fence and into Devlin's property, cowl stored away in his pocket: Taylor and Devlin would recognize him. Even so, he hesitated, creeping slowly up to the house. No one was there, but he heard voices floating from the front of the house. Recognizable among them was his former business rival, Duke Devlin. Seto placed a hand on the doorknob and found it unlocked, much to his surprise, and sauntered in.

He was standing coolly in the middle of the kitchen when Duke appeared in the doorway. "You can stay in the rooms upstai-" he was saying, until he caught sight of Seto. His jaw dropped. "Kaiba?" he asked in utter disbelief.

Seto smirked a little and nodded. "Who else?"

"How did you get in?" Duke answered the question for himself, however, when his eyes traveled to the back door. "Tristan never remembers to lock it," he mumbled, a faint grin sprouting on his face. He looked up at Seto: "Kaiba, we've never been close friends, but you have no idea how glad I am to see you."

"Mister Duke Devlin, sir?" came a lisp. Seto debated ducking into a doorway, but Duke held up a hand. "Come on in, Tommy," he said kindly, and a blue-haired boy entered the room and looked up at Seto.

"Tommy, this is Seto Kaiba," Duke said, gesturing at Seto. "You know who he is?"

"Yes," Tommy said seriously. "He's the one the people in the palace are after."

Seto's eyes narrowed; how did this young boy know about the dealings inside the palace?

"And I think he started the duel competition!" Tommy continued, smiling goofily, "The one that Espa was in."

So this boy knew someone who had been in Battle City? Espa, Espa… ah yes, Espa Roba. By the looks of it, this was Espa Roba's younger brother.

"The Robas are employed by Marik and Bakura," Duke explained to Seto, placing a hand on Tommy's shoulder, "but they're not their allies. In fact, Espa Roba and Tristan left, to go looking for Joey."

Seto's eyebrows raised. Putting off the purpose of his visit for the time, he asked, "And you didn't go with them?"

Duke's slender face formed a scowl; "I would have, had they asked me," he said tightly. "They didn't tell me they were leaving."

"Hm," was all Seto said. He lifted his chin: "Attend to your business, we'll talk later."

Duke stared at him, but Seto ignored his gaze, simply moved over to the table and took a seat, folding his arms and closing his eyes partway. Duke finally gave up and shrugged, and called the rest of the Espas into the room. They followed him into a side bedroom, glancing curiously at Seto, those who recognized the boy sucking in their breaths.

Duke's voice, explaining to the boys that they could stay in the bedroom and the house as long as they wanted, floated back to Seto. A long period followed where Duke, obviously unused to children, tried to coax them into pajamas, put them peacefully in bed, shut out the lights, and finally cave to their demands of a bedtime story. Seto had to grin at Duke's clumsy retelling of "Sleeping Beauty"; he got a lot of it wrong. As far as Seto knew, Aurora was a blonde, not a petite redhead, and Duke completely left out the 'sleeping' part. He called his version "Blinded Beauty", in which the heroine lost her eyesight and the dice-wielding prince defeated the dragon/monkey to let her see again. One thing that Duke was successful in doing, though, was putting Seto to sleep; he let his head fall slowly to his folded arms.

However, it didn't have the desired effect on the Roba's, who immediately begged for 'just one more'. "Fine," Duke's voice was heard, sounding a mixture of amused and exasperated, "but that's all." He hesitated a long, long minute, and cautiously began to tell his tale.

Once upon a time, there was a group of friends. They didn't always get along, and they fought a lot, and some members of the group felt a little left out. But they were close in their hearts, and they promised to protect each other.

Except that one day, something terrible happened. One of the friends was very powerful, and a lot of people were jealous of him. A lot of people wanted that power.

And something happened that the friends promised would never happen: that power was taken. And their friend was… he was lost.

And all the rest of the friends were hurt. And the whole world was covered in darkness.

Devlin's voice faltered, then resumed his tale.

They spent a year in a cold, lonely existence. Some of their friends were prisoners. Others were tortured, maybe not physically, but mentally.

But then one day, they remembered their promise to each other. That they would always be friends, and they would always fight for each other. And they set out to try and save the world.

After a few minutes of silence, during which Seto became aware that his hands were trembling uncontrollably, one of the brothers spoke up: "Did they save the world?"

"I hope so…"

xXx

"So I'm glad you're okay…" Duke said, turning away from the fire he'd built in the corner. In his hand he held a kettle of boiling water, and he carefully poured the water into the two mugs that already held tea leaves. He and Seto busied themselves for a while, experimenting with other flavorings, until Seto took his first sip and got down to business.

"I want to fight against Marik and Bakura," he explained. "And I believe Yami is alive." Seto said it with a firm jaw and icy eyes, daring Duke to disagree.

Duke's eyes flickered downward. "I do too," he said in a half-whisper, touching his heart lightly. "I know it's crazy to believe your dreams… but when my dreams and my heart agree…"

"Dreams." Seto said the word flatly.

Duke shrugged, perhaps embarrassed. "Crazy dreams… that Yami and Yugi are alive."

"Yami and Yugi?"

Duke flushed. "In the dreams… yeah, they're separate people."

"Hiding in the desert."

It was so unexpected that Duke spilled his tea. "Aaah!" he yelped, waving his scalded hand. "The desert?" he demanded, in between cries.

Seto raised his eyebrows. "You okay?" he asked calmly, struggling against a faint grin.

"Yes…" Duke said finally, fetching a cup of cooler water from a basin in the corner to dip his hand in. "What makes you say the desert?"

"What makes you react to that so violently?" Seto countered.

"Because…" Duke's eyes dropped. "Because that's where they are, in my dreams."

"Mine too." He raised a hand, cutting off further questions. "Stop. No debating this; no worrying about how it's impossible. Yami is still alive… the Pharaoh is still alive. Yugi is still alive and they are two separate people hiding in the desert. Agreed?"

Duke's face split into a smile. "How serious and practical we are about this," he teased lightly, even while nursing his burned hand. "Even when you would have dismissed this as nothing more than crazy theories a year ago…"

Seto lifted his head firmly. "We're agreed?" he asked again, unwilling to admit that Duke was right.

"Y-yes…" Duke said, then more decisively: "Yes!" As if saying it would make it true.

Seto nodded. "Good. And you know that Joey escaped…"

"Yes," Duke said, with a genuine smile, "The Robas told me. That's why Tristan and Espa left; to go after him."

"They have an idea of where he is?" Seto demanded.

Duke shook his head and smiled again: "I doubt it."

Seto sighed and shut his eyes. "Well, neither do I. But it's good that they're looking. That's what I'm doing. Are you going to help me?"

"Of course," Duke declared. At Seto's surprised look, he grinned. "You knew I was going to say that, Kaiba, or why did you come here? Besides, it's about time we all started doing something. That's why I'm so quick to agree to come… and I want to believe that everyone else is leaping at the chance to, you know. Save the world."

When Seto didn't say anything, Duke jumped out of his seat. "I'll start getting my things together," he announced. "Should we leave tonight?"

"Yes…" Seto said, although he really wanted to sleep…

Duke paused and glanced over his shoulder. "It'll, uh, take me a while to gather everything…" he said, looking at the circles under Seto's eyes. "Do you want to rest? So you're at full strength?"

He never received an answer… other than a faint snore. Duke broke into a smile, hoping that they would find Joey soon. Joey would love to hear about this…

The lingering curve of his lips brought to his attention a strange fact: he had barely stopped smiling since Kaiba arrived. He wanted to keep these happy feelings for as long as possible.

xXx

"Oh, Odion!" Téa exclaimed, jumping off her bed and rushing to meet him as he stepped through the door. "I'm so glad to see you again! Where have you been?"

Odion gingerly placed the tray of food down on the table and rubbed his head, turning to lock the door carefully. "Téa, I have good news…"

"What is it?" she asked eagerly, ignoring the food.

"Joey escaped," he informed her, placing a hand on her shoulder. Her jaw dropped first, and her knees wobbled dangerously, but a smile blossomed on her face.

"Oh!" she cried, hugging herself. "Oh, I'm so glad."

"That's where I've been the last few days," he said, following her as she plopped happily on the bed. She snatched up a pillow and squeezed it tightly, unable to control her glee. Odion perched on the end of the bed, placing the food tray between them. "Marik and Bakura were… unhappy."

She shot a glance at him, quickly checking him over to be sure he was okay. "No one else wanted to be near them," he explained, "so I volunteered. I assume someone else took over feeding you?"

Téa nodded. "A woman named Mel."

"She was good to you?"

"Oh, she was fine," Téa said, "I just… missed you, I guess." She shot him a smile. "Because we're friends, right?"

"Yes… friends…" Odion said, but then sighed and rubbed his temple again. "And I want to help you, Téa."

"Help me?" she asked, stopping in the middle of reaching for a piece of bread.

Odion glanced around nervously, as if paranoid. "Listen, Téa. Marik and Bakura are especially angry because they've lost a bargaining chip. You see-"

Before he finished his sentence, the dreams she'd had the last several months replayed in her head in high speed. Yugi and Yami oh they were alive they were hiding in the desert they were living in an oasis they were alive oh they were safe and they were two not one-

"The Pharaoh lives," Odion said in a low voice. "He and Yugi Moto live- as two separate bodies now, no longer sharing control. They used the magic of the Millennium Puzzle to do this- and the Puzzle has helped them grow more powerful. Marik and Bakura believe that the two were hiding, probably in the desert, for the last year, training for the day the Pharaoh would attempt to take back what is his." Odion took a deep breath, noting the paleness of Téa's face: "But the Pharaoh is on the move now, and Marik and Bakura know even less than they did before. They are furious; they are in a tight position. But they had two playing chips on their side of the field…"

"Me and Joey," Téa said in a hollow voice.

"You and Joey," Odion echoed. "And now that Joey Wheeler has escaped…"

Téa slowly met his gaze, fear in her eyes: "It's just me."

Odion nodded slowly, then moved his hand to wrap around his own throat. Swallowing nervously, he breathed, "Let me help you. I can get you out of here."

It took a minute to sink in. "But wouldn't you be risking your life?" she cried.

"…yes…"