At 5:00 pm, when Kaiba was finished for the day, he woke his brother.

"Time to go home?" he asked between stretching and yawning.

"We're actually going to the museum," Seto replied as he hung up his dueling cape.

"Why?"

"Remember when I said I'd explain everything? The museum has some visual aids for the explanation."

"Are you sure you're ok?" Mokuba asked, eyes still squinting as they adjusted to the light. "First the woman, then Yugi, now a museum?"

"They all connect, I assure you. Just let me show you, preferably before it closes."

Due to a massive donation by Maximillian Pegasus to the Domino Museum of Science and History the 'tour of Thebes' became a permanent exhibit. At such a late hour, the museum was free of tour groups and field trips, leaving only a few visitors scattered throughout the building.

After paying the fee and being run through security, the Kaiba brothers stood in front of the giant hieroglyphs retrieved from the Valley of Kings. Seto remembered vividly the first time he stood there with Ishizu. He'd denied what she had told him about his past and his future. He refused to believe the absurdity of reincarnation and fate. Would Moki be just as skeptical?

"Do you know what these are?" Seto asked as a way to break the ice.

"Giant rocks?"

"You are so sassy, you know that? No wonder you're a good lawyer."

Mokuba laughed at his own joke before pointing to some of the creatures depicted on the 'giant rock' "It's supposed to be the root origins of Duel Monsters. The Egyptians had monsters carved into stone tablets and would pit them against each other, but I'm not sure how they determined which one was stronger." He gazed over the pictures again. He'd seen the exhibit years ago when he was still in school. "Maximillian Pegasus used the core concepts to create the game mechanics, and the drawings here as inspiration most of the monsters in the game. Also, Yugi's nameless pharaoh was the best at it, during his time."

"All true," admitted his older brother, "Though the tour guides probably leave out the part where the monsters were real. They were sealed and summoned out of the stone tables to fight."

"So, where'd the monsters come from?" One thing Seto liked about his brother: he caught on quickly.

"People. Some people had otherworldly being inside them. Some were humanoid, some were animalistic, some were violent, some weren't, but under Pharaoh Atem's reign, they were extracted and sealed using the millennium items." He pointed to the chiseled engraving of the pharaoh's image."

"That was Yugi's pharaoh? Yami?"

"Atem," Seto corrected, "But there's more." He guided Mokuba's attention to the pharaoh's opponent. "That's me, or a past incarnation of me." The shock on his younger brother's face was expected. "Yeah. I was a priest named Set, and Atem and Set were cousins. When Atem sealed himself to keep the evil from destroying the world, Set became pharaoh."

It was too much at once. Mokuba shook his head in disbelief. "How? How do you know all this?"

"I saw it. Ten years ago, when we all went to Egypt. Me, Yugi, and all his dork friends. During all that, I saw my past and the Pharaoh's battle for even and even helped him defeat Zorc."

"Zorc?"

"Zorc was a demon trying to destroy the world, but Pharaoh Atem defeated him an was able to return to his own time." Seto had to admit the more he talked, the crazier it sounded.

"And you were a priest and you fought with monsters against Yugi and…" Mokuba spotted the stone table Set was depicted summoning, "That's your Blue Eyes." He fell silent as the reality of it all hit him. "And now, instead of fighting stone tablets with monsters on them fighting Atem, you fight cards with monsters on them fighting Yugi. Look, look, he even has the Black Magician. Holy crap, Bro, when were you going to tell me all this?"

"There's actually one more thing," Seto exhaled and took a deep breath before delivering the final bit of exposition, "Remember when I told you the monsters came from people? Some people would bind their soul energy with their monster to make it stronger. And when they were sealed, they died. Atem's most loyal priest did this, binding his life force with his monster to give his king a powerful weapon against Zorc. The Black Magician was the result."

"And?"

"And the owner of the Blue Eyes White Dragon did the same for Set, for me."

"Who was he?"

"She was a woman Set had fallen in love with. Her name was Kisara and I watched as she died in Set's arms, defending him with her life and after her death. I never imagined in all my life that I'd see her again, much less host her in my office."

"Sabrina was the woman from your past life!" His outburst drew attention from the few patrons remaining. Seto hushed his brother. "What does all this mean then?" Mokuba asked lowering his voice, "Her being here? Are you two supposed to fall in love and get married?"

"I don't know," Kaiba responded, "Kisara and Sabrina are very different, just as Set and I are very different. I just thought you should know. That's why I froze when we first met, that's why I went to Yugi and I know it all sounds insane, but it's true."

Mokuba gave his brother a juvenile smile, "It sounds so cool though. Seeing your past life crashing into your present, it's like a sci-fi fantasy novel."

"You're taking this incredibly well," Seto pointed out.

"What? Did you think I wouldn't believe you?"

"I didn't believe Ishizu when she first told me. Or any of the times she told me."

"That's because you have a stick up your butt and no sense of adventure. Seto, my soul got trapped in a friggin trading card after I was kidnapped by Maximillian Pegasus. I saw card games put people in comas. This is about par for the course." His mind was racing with thoughts of matchmaking, and life-and-death games. "Am I allowed to ask questions? About your past and stuff?"

Seto sighed in exasperation. "In the car yes. Not here."

It took all of Mokuba's self-control not to blast him with questions the walk out of the museum back to the car. Once they were seated in the back Mokuba was literally bouncing up and down like a child until his brother finally gave the go ahead:

"Fine, ask away."

"If you were supposed to help Yugi, then why are you two dueling on the 'giant rock'?"

"My mind was being controlled by my father, or Set's father. He wanted to serve Zorc and used me to attack Pharaoh Atem." Kaiba explained.

"So our dad was a douche in our past lives too?"

"Yeah…he's also Ishizu's dad."

Mokuba raised an eyebrow. "In the past?"

"No in the present?"

"Huh?"

"Set's father in the past was Ishizu and Marik's father in the present, at least until Marik murdered him. Understandable."

Mokuba took a brief moment to think up another line of questioning. "So who else was in the past, or had past lives, beside you and Yugi, and evidently Ishizu's father."

Kaiba considered not explaining why Yugi was different, but he was detail oriented to obsession. "Technically Yugi isn't Atem's reincarnation. Atem's soul went into the Millenium Puzzle, not reborn into Yugi even though he was destined to one day hold Atem's soul. He just wasn't born with it."

"Ok, so aside from you and Ishizu's dad, who else?"

"Me, Ishizu, Sabrina, Yugi's grandpa, and Ishiz's father. There was also Bakura, but he also was similar to Yugi: a thief named Bakura sealed his soul into the Millenium Ring so when Ryo got it, he became the host for the thief Bakura."

"Bakura?" Mokuba hadn't heard the name in years. "None of Yugi's friends though?"

Kaiba shook his head. "They were Yugi's friends, not Atem's. Atem's friends bonded their soul energy with their 'ka's the monsters living inside, and now are cards in Yugi's deck: Black Magician and Black Magician Girl."

"So…I wasn't there either?" Even though it was a past life, not being included in Seto's previous adventures somehow made him feel left out.

"No, you weren't," Kaiba thought for a moment, "Well, maybe you were, but I didn't see you in the Pharaoh's memories because you'd been kidnapped while the end of the world was going on."

"Shut up!" Mokuba said with mock indignation, "I got kidnapped as a means to get you, you know. It's all your fault."

"Fair enough, I suppose."

"So, were you seeing all of this through Set's eyes?"

This one was harder to explain. Seto had to think before answering. "It was more like being a ghost. I could see and hear everything and move about at will, but no one could see me and I couldn't change anything or interact with anything."

"And Sabrina? She and Set were lovers? Betrothed?"

"Neither, she was an outcast," Kaiba's eyes wandered to the visions of her hanging limp in Set's arms, "Set saved her from being stoned by a village and nursed her back to health. They bonded over it, but then Aknadin tried to attack Set when he chose Atem over a chance to seize the throne. Kisara took an attack meant for Set and was mortally wounded. Her dying wish was to protect the one person who'd shown her kindness. He sealed her soul with her ka into a stone table and the Blue Eyes was born. Even after thousands of years, we're still connected."

"Like Radames and Aida." The younger found the star-crossed Egyptian lovers a fair comparison.

"At least they got to die together," Seto lamented. " Set had to rule the rest of his life alone knowing even in death he would never see Kisara again. Her soul was merged with the Blue Eyes sealed in a stone table. He ruled, died, and spent eternity alone." As he spoke, he couldn't help but think of Yugi. The spiky haired shrimp had given so much of himself to others but now in what was supposed to be the prime of his life, he was alone. No Tea, no Wheeler, not much left of a family with his grandfather's health declining. Nothing but his tiny game shop. Kaiba at least had Mokuba, but Yugi had no one.

"She was with him in spirit," Mokuba tried to offer some comfort. "And now you have a second chance with Sabrina."

Kaiba's handsome face contorted from pensive to disdain. "Kisara was meek, shy, pure and it made her all the more beautiful. Sabrina Harrison is cunning, sharp, and aggressive. If Kisara is somewhere inside her, she's very well concealed.

The driver interrupted their conversation when he pulled under the portico that was the entrance to the Kaiba mansion. The interrogation was far from over. Over dinner, Mokuba pelted Seto with and endless barrage of questions. Kaiba tried to answer all of them fully, but they come so many and so fast, he often had to interrupt himself to keep up with his brother.

How did Bakura work into this whole story?

What exactly was Zorc? How did Atem defeat him?

Could people with 'ka's summon them or did they just live within a person until they were extracted? Did the extraction process hurt?

How did they move the giant stone tablets from one place to another? Who got to keep which ones? Did they trade them like Duel Monsters cards?

What happened if someone won or lost a Shadow Game? Did they make bets or was there a set prize?

How did the Millennium Items work?

What did Ishizu do in her past life?

What kind of priest was Set? To what deity?

Why did the Shadow Games stop with Atem?

Was Kisara prettier than Sabrina? Or did they look the exact same?

Was Atem's hair as crazy as Yugi's?

Did Seto get to see any Shadow Games take place? Was it cool?

Were the monsters astral projections or actual physical creatures that could tear stuff up?

After an hour and a half, Mokuba finally ran out of questions to ask, and left Kaiba in his office to get some time to himself. Mentally exhausted, the mogul just sat in his lounge chair, enjoying the quiet for a few minutes. It didn't last long. He couldn't' just sit and do nothing, it wasn't in his nature. He retrieved an ol violin from a cabinet below his bookshelves and removed it from the case. It hadn't been played in months and the strings needed replacing, but the bow was still good and it was still playable.

It was almost therapeutic fine tuning each string back into perfect pitch. It took time to get all four strings in harmony and coat the bow with sufficient rozin, but he enjoyed having something productive to do without being work. When he was first adopted, Gozaburo required Seto to take violin as a means of teaching him culture and self-control, but over time, money became more important and the violin, along with all of his toys and games were disposed of as being "unnecessary distractions." He'd learned enough though to keep going on his own. He started first with just scales, then arpeggios, not playing any tune in particular, just creating harmony. The tones resonated throughout his office as the scales became smoother and faster, then turned into melodies. And for a while, he just played, letting the tones resonating through his office relax him.

A knock on his office door interrupted his concentration. He scowled until Mokuba stuck his head in the door. "What's up?" he asked, all trace of his displeasure and being interrupted gone.

"I know I bugged you all through dinner, but I have one more question and then I promise I'm done," Mokuba plead, sliding into his office all the way so he could close the door behind him.

"What is it?"

"You said Kisara's soul was sealed away in the tablet, bound to her ka right?"

'Where is he going with this?' Kaiba thought, "Yeah, why?" he said aloud.

"If her soul was in the stone table, how did it get reincarnated into Sabrina."

Seto leaned forward and placed his violin on the coffee table, gently loosening the bow before placing it down as well. He looked down, trying to think of an answer.

"I don't know," he said finally, "But I do know what we can do to find out."