Chapter 5 - And I'm warning you now - this is where the story starts to get a little strange . . .

"Seto – time to end your duel. We've got the deck."

"You're kidding," Seto replied to his brother's announcement through the communicator on his collar.

"Problems at the ol' company, Kaiba-boy?" Pegasus asked. "Perhaps it takes someone older and more mature to run a business, hmmm?"

"I would hardly consider Industrial Illusions a real company," the younger duelist retorted, not adding his thoughts about the maturity aspect of Pegasus' comment. "But something has come up, and I must take care of it immediately." Pegasus looked disappointed.

"But we haven't finished our duel! I haven't even had a chance to play Toon World!" Seto would have smirked, but decided against it. No sense in making this creep angry on my way out.

"We'll finish it later," he responded as he walked away.

"Yes, we will," Pegasus said to the empty room. And I didn't even miss my favorite cartoon.

- - - - - - - -

On their way to the planned meeting place, Duke and Kira ran into one of Pegasus' employees.

"Oh, great," Kira sighed, becoming very tense.

"Don't worry," said Duke, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Let me take care of it."

"Hey, Devlin!" the suited man called out. "How are the dungeons doing today?"

"Dungeons are just fine," replied Duke, chuckling nervously. He and Kira kept on walking as the man passed, hoping that he wouldn't say anything about Kira.

"Who's your friend?" Duke stopped short, then slowly turned around to face him. Kira stayed where she was.

"Girlfriend," he finally replied. "She wanted to see where I worked now, so I'm giving her a little tour."

"Girlfriend, huh?" the man repeated, slightly suspicious. "Shy one. She's pretty cute."

"Uh, thanks," said Duke, and the man disappeared around the corner. Duke rejoined Kira in time to see her shiver. "Has you father always had such creepy guys working for him?" Kira shook her head silently. Duke could tell that she wasn't going volunteer an explanation and he decided not to press her. "At least the difficult part of this little mission is over, right?" he said, referring to the deck of cards she now held in her hands. He spoke into his mouthpiece. "We've found the White Dragon." He had just spotted Kaiba as they turned into the main hallway. Duke and Kira joined him.

"Okay, you two get out of here. I've got to get to working." Duke headed toward the hallway leading to his small office. "That's a strong deck you've got, Kira," he added. Right, Seto thought. As if he would know – he's only been dueling for what, a year? He and Kira started for the main entrance of the castle, according to plan.

"Copter is already in position, White Dragon." Kaiba heard Mokuba say through his headphones.

"We're on our way," he replied. Kira had a sudden inspiration

"Hey, come in here a minute," Kira said and she took off down a side hallway and into a spacious room.

"Where are you going?" Kaiba asked incredulously. He followed her into the hall where the only furniture was an elongated table and a tall wooden chair. Kira sat down in the chair and looked around.

"I bet he still spends all of his time in here, at least while he's not watching cartoons." Kaiba was looking around rather nervously. He wanted to spend the least amount of time in the creep's mansion as possible.

"We'd better get out of here."

"What are you worried about? You have a valid reason to be here." Taking down her hair, so that it fell in front of her left eye, Kira crossed her legs and picked up Pegasus' glass of wine.

"He must have been really anxious to duel you. Left everything just like it was in here," Kira observed.

"Dare you to drink it . . ." Kaiba reverted back to the days back in the orphanage where life was composed of such challenges from the other children.

"What? You don't think I would?" Kira laughed. "Wonder if it's even real . . ." She lifted the glass to her lips and was about to taste it herself when Kaiba walked over toward her.

"Kira!" he exclaimed, even though he was laughing in spite of himself. Taking her arm, he grabbed the glass out of her hand and placed it back on the table. Wish I had some iocane . . .

"What?" Kira asked, feigning innocence.

"You're crazy," he grinned as he dragged her toward the door.

- - - - - - - - -

"Not my Blue Eyes Toon Dragon!" Pegasus was standing in the middle of the room, holding the two pieces of the stuffed creature in his hands. Then he shrugged, letting the destroyed toy fall to the floor. She is mostly definitely my daughter . . .She already has Seto Kaiba doing her bidding . . .

- - - - - - - - -

Seto and Kirandra sat across from each other in the back of the Kaiba Corp helicopter. Kira sat facing the rear, as if watching Pegasus Castle disappear through the back wall of the plane. He was the first to speak.

"How long has it since you actually dueled with that deck?" As her head dropped down, her hair fell over her face so that he couldn't see her expression.

"The last time I finished a duel was about five years ago," she finally answered without looking up. "But if you're wondering, I've been able to keep up with all of the new rules, and cards . . . mostly because of Duke." Seto smiled to himself. She wouldn't be a challenge for him – every week, he practiced new strategies and card combinations against his duel-simulator program in his laboratory at Kaiba Corp.

"I was actually more interested in seeing the cards you have in that deck," he responded honestly. "I just assumed that you already had my deck memorized."

"Don't flatter yourself. You're not worried about our duel, are you?" She looked up, smirking at him. Seto scoffed.

"Not a bit. That Dark Magician Girl is practically mine already." Kira didn't respond, but smiled to herself. It was so simple to get him on the defensive. "So what happened with you and your father?" Her head went back down toward her lap and her deck.

"As if you really care." She replied in a low voice, as she turned away from him to look at her cards. Seto said nothing after that, but for some reason, her last remark refused to leave his mind.

"You're right. I don't. Sorry I asked," he muttered. But he wasn't so sure himself. Suddenly the sides of the plane morphed into walls of dusty stone. I must be dreaming. Then he was running, running without reason through a dark ancient hallway. He came into a mostly bare room, lit only by two torches suspended on opposite walls. "WHAT. . . ARE . . . YOU . . . DOING?" The voice, speaking through heavy breaths, was his own, but the words certainly were not. Before him, an older man dressed in the robes of an Egyptian priest hovered over the still form of a young woman shackled to a stone table that rose waist level from the ground. As the priest turned to face him, the sharp knife he held reflected the fire from the wall. The light danced in his eyes, and, added to exuberant smile on his face, it gave a shuddering eerie feel. He came toward Seto, the knife still raised.

"Oh, excellent. You made it. I've finally found a way to make you more powerful than your cousin, Atem. Now you will be the rightful pharaoh, Set! It's time!" The priest tried to hand him the knife, and he soon realized what was expected of him.

"No, I can't! I have to tell you . . . ."

"You are weak, Set! And the pharaoh of Egypt must be strong. But I can help you be stronger!"

"Wait! You don't understand!" Again, Seto heard himself speak in protest, before he could even interrupt and ask who Set was. A piercing light shone from the priest's left eye, which appeared to be made entirely of gold. Seto recognized it from his Duelist Kingdom battle with the creator of Duel Monsters. Pegasus' Millenium Eye! Now the knife was in his hand, and he began walking toward the stone table, feeling as though he were being controlled by a completely outside force. No, wait! What am I doing? Seto watched helplessly as he himself administered the lethal strike. Even when the tip of the knife's blade first pierced her, the pale-skinned woman did not cry out. Seto suddenly felt different, as if he was back in control of his actions, at least partially.

"You," he pointed, turning back to the priest. "You did this!"

"No, my son," the man replied grimly. "You did." He pointed to the blood-stained knife that Seto still held in his hand. As the weapon slipped out of his grip, the blade cut across the palm of his hand leaving a streak of red. "You killed her."

"No!" Seto ran back to the table and released the young woman from her bonds. But it was of no use – it was already done. "Kisara!" He held her dying form to his chest with one arm, with the other he tore his cape and wrapped it around her. Her eyes closed in pain and he felt her body go limp in his arms. "No!"

"Set," she whispered, almost imperceptibly. He leaned his head down closer to her. "It's okay. This is not the end."

"But I didn't mean . . ." Then he felt the shallow breaths stop. Her calm voice echoed in his mind as he stood there holding her. "It's okay. It's okay. It's . . ."

"Are you okay?" Slowly the stone walls became the inside of a helicopter as Seto's head snapped up at the sound of Kira's voice.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, fine." He muttered, putting his head back down. Must've been dreaming. Such a strange dream, and it was almost like that vision or whatever it was that he had when he dueled Ishizu in the Battle City finals. This was all her fault. Ever since he had gone to that museum to see those stones . . . Seto found himself staring at the diagonal dark red line that had marred his hand for as long as he could remember. Suddenly placing his hand face down on the seat beside him, he looked guiltily back up at Kira, who was staring at him strangely. Then realization set in. That girl – Kisara – looked just like . . . no, that was ridiculous. His imagination was working overtime. It was just a dream, after all. . . I've been working too much. I really need to get more sleep. . .

Okay, y'all know the drill now. Review the chapter and let me know if it was too confusing for you to follow! Cheers!