Kaiba awoke the next morning with a renewed sense of purpose.
Bring Atem back.
He needed to convince Salem to help him but their relationship was still too fragile.
Even though they've had several near death experiences together, they've really only known each other a month.
Kaiba knew he cared about this woman in a way he couldn't quite describe. It was like looking at himself in the mirror. She had Atem's features but Kaiba's intelligence.
He didn't put it past himself to be attracted to his own brain but something about Salem specifically was dangerous.
Or at least he had thought.
All of Salem's alternates seem to be after something, whether it be money, power, or the watch. But, Salem herself seemed...content.
She didn't have to work yet made sure she stayed educated and involved in the world. Her investments made her wealthy.
Kaiba knew that any other human would choose a life of luxury and never work again.
That's why he was drawn to her. He guessed…
He felt the bed shift and he looked next to him. He smirked at Salem's sleepy face and sat up.
She let out a huff of air and then yawned, not ready to take on the day.
"What happened? Normally you're up and dressed already." Kaiba said with a chuckle. He stroked the side of her face and placed a kiss on her forehead.
Salem rolled herself up to a sitting position and stretched.
"I was having strange dreams. I'm still a little freaked out actually." She said crossing her arms and trying to comfort herself.
"Oh?" Kaiba was no stranger to freaky dreams but usually when he thought through them, he felt better.
Salem nodded and sighed, "Yeah, there was this big red dragon and I was asking me to help it." She ran her fingers through her tangled curls.
Kaiba's heart dipped. "Big red dragon?" He asked in disbelief.
"Yes! It was so gross, it looked like a big snake with wings and it had two mouths!" She said with a shiver. She got out of bed and stretched a second time, letting her joints release different cracking sounds.
Kaiba stared at his hands against his bedsheets.
Slifer.
Slifer the Sky Dragon.
Atem's God card of choice.
Atem was speaking to Salem in her dreams.
"What was he saying to you?" Kaiba asked. He stood up from the bed, trying to remain as casual as possible.
What did this mean?
He knew Atem wanted to come back but what was the point in him reaching out to Salem as well?
Salem studied Kaiba's face carefully before answering. She knew something had startled him or he wouldn't be asking for details.
"He? Do you know this dragon personally?" She said, amusement in her words.
Kaiba stayed silent, unsure on whether to tell her about the card yet.
Salem rolled her eyes and continued, "The dragon told me that it needed help. It wanted...to live. To be alive, again. It had a really deep voice and something in its eyes was...I don't know. Desperate?" She explained, heading into the bathroom to get ready for the day.
Kaiba followed her and stared at her reflection in the mirror. She looked back at his reflection and became concerned.
"Tanin? Are you alr-"
"That dragon was a Duel Monsters card." Kaiba blurted out.
Shit.
Salem raised her eyebrow as she began to brush her teeth.
Kaiba stepped further into the bathroom and sighed, "It was a very rare card…" he trailed off, battling with himself on whether to tell her the importance of the card.
Salem spat in the sink and rinsed her mouth out. She cleaned off her toothbrush and put it back in its case, "Was?" She asked, leaning against the counter, wincing as her bruised hip made contact with the marble.
Kaiba ran his fingers through his messy hair, "He took it with him when he died."
Shit.
Salem crossed her arms and sighed.
"Atem? Took a card? To his grave?" She was in disbelief. If Atem's spirit was trying to reach out to anyone, it wouldn't be her.
Kaiba needed to find a proper explanation but there wasn't one. He knew that Salem was a woman of science and he can't just say "It was magic".
Salem rolled her eyes, "Are you just trying to freak me out? If you are, you're bad at it and it's not funny." She walked out of the bathroom and took a brush from her tote.
She brushed past Kaiba again and this time, he grabbed her by her waist and pulled her close.
"I can…I can explain better. Just spend the day with me. I can-"
"Tanin, just work thought it. I'll try and follow." She said putting a hand on his chest and standing up on her toes to plant a kiss on his neck.
He smelled the mint on her breath and felt arousal curl deep in his belly.
Oh…
No. Stayed focused.
She went to the mirror and began brushing out her hair, waiting for Kaiba to speak.
He took a deep breath.
Alright.
"I guess this is happening now." He thought.
"What do you know about Ancient Egypt?" He started carefully.
Salem's eyes widened and she smiled, "Ah! I love Ancient civilizations! Egypt is my favorite, we know so much and so little-"
"Yes well there are many tombs that haven't been discovered-"
"Oh I know," Salem interrupted. "Recently they found another tomb inside the pyramid of Giza that has encrypted codes and messages that are supposed to be able to unlock it. I've been looking at pictures for-"
"Salem. You seem to know a lot-" Kaiba tried to continue.
"Yes, my specialty is ancient technology and artifacts. It's actually how I thought of the watch-"
"Artifacts?" Kaiba was getting sick of her interrupting him. She was obviously just excited but the conversation was getting tedious.
"Yes! Actually just before we met, I was reading about the genocide of Kul Elna. Apparently the Pharaoh gave an order to kill an entire village in order to make these, hmm, I guess it was like blood gold? They had a specific name-"
"The Millenium Items." Kaiba stated plainly.
Salem put her brush down and looked at Kaiba's reflection in the mirror.
Speechless.
Kaiba decided to continue, hoping she would fill in any blanks for herself.
"Yugi's grandfather actually found one of those items and gave it to him as a gift." Kaiba watched Salem carefully. When she didn't interrupt, he continued.
"The artifact was the millennium puzzle-"
"Oh…" Salem said, her eyes widening.
Kaiba raised an eyebrow, "What?"
"I had heard...I don't know…I'm a woman of science so I don't like to learn off speculation but, I'd heard that those items were cursed." She said, feeling embarrassed for even mentioning it.
Kaiba tilted his head from side to side and then shrugged.
"You aren't wrong."
Salem snickered and rolled her eyes, "What did Yugi get possessed or something?" She said laughing.
Kaiba bit the inside of his cheek to keep from shaking some sense into this woman. He didn't understand how a woman a smart as Salem ruled out the possibility of possession…
Well, he didn't believe it at first either…
Shit.
Salem stopped laughing when she saw the serious expression on Kaiba's face. She narrowed her eyes and walked up to his still figure, "What does this have to do with my dream, Tanin?" She placed her hands on her hips and stared into his deep blue eyes intently.
Kaiba knew that all of his misadventures with the friendship squad would be difficult to explain. Showing her would be the best course of action.
"Get dressed. We're leaving." He said flatly, moving into the bathroom to start his routine.
Salem scoffed and grunted, stripping off her pajamas and stepping into the shower.
Kaiba watched her shower as he finished brushing his teeth. He enjoyed the view as much as he did the first time he saw her completely naked. He felt his cheeks grow hot as he watched the water run down her body in clear rivulets.
Mmm.
No.
There's no time.
He caught her gaze and she winked at him, beckoning him to join her.
Kaiba legs moved on there own as she opened she shower door, giving him a better view of her front.
Fuck.
"I'll make time." He thought to himself, as he threw his shirt on the floor and stepped out of his pajama bottoms.
He wrapped one arm around Salem's waist as he got inside the shower and shut the door behind him.
They sat in silence in the back of the Kaiba Corp town car.
Kaiba held Salem's hand in his, watching her gaze out the window. He smiled internally.
He didn't know why he felt so calm in her presence, especially since Atem has finally validated him.
He knew that showing Salem all of his research inside the space station might ruin things, but it was worth a try.
They had bonded over their knowledge and past trauma. She had even told Kaiba that she had the technology to bring the dead back to life. He just hoped that the nature of Atem's death wouldn't make Salem think he was playing a practical joke.
Kaiba absentmindedly squeezed Salem's hand as the town car approached the base of the orbital elevator.
Salem gave his hand a reassuring squeeze in return, realizing that he was going to take her to the Kaiba Corp Space Station. She rushed out of the car excitedly as soon as it came to a stop.
Kaiba quickly got out and caught up to her, surprised at her enthusiasm. He lead her inside, shivering at the emptiness on the first floor.
There were only a few coders working compared to the hundreds when he was active in his hunt for the pharaoh.
The female coders greeted Salem respectfully and went about their work. Kaiba wondered why they were being overly formal, but then he remembered he had just fired a member of the board for racist behavior.
He pulled Salem into the elevator with him and sat her between his legs. He whispered in her ear to hold on as the weight sensor chimed.
Kaiba smirked to himself when the elevator took off rapidly gaining speed. He had always loved this part of visiting the space station. He looked down at Salem who was beaming out the window, taking in the mass of their planet, now getting further and further away.
The elevator slowed to a stop and Kaiba helped Salem stand. He tried to hold her steady as she wavered but she fell against his chest.
He chuckled at her frustrated face and lead her to a trash can. She ran to it and immediately vomited her morning smoothie.
Kaiba let out a hardy laugh and felt his stomach lurch.
Oh shit.
He ran to the trash can and pulled in front of him, dry heaving and finally puking up the contents of his stomach. He looked over at Salem who sat leaning back on her hands, smirking.
"Fuck You." He said pushing the trash can away.
He thought this would be a moment of payback for all the times he'd vomited in front of her, but he'd forgotten how long it had been since he actually used the orbital elevator.
Salem scoffed and stood up, "Not with your regurgitated egg breath. No thank you." She laughed.
Kaiba rolled his eyes as he straightened to a standing position, "You threw up too." He said as he lead them to the lab.
"Yes, and a blueberry and hemp smoothie taste and smells the same coming up as it does going down." She explained with a laugh, following Kaiba into the large space.
"Mhmm yeah, you tell yourself that." He chuckled as the lights flickered on and the super computer powered up.
He watched Salem look out the large windows in awe. He typed a code into the computer and a projection of Pharaoh Atem popped up.
Atem's full body was displayed and Salem gasped.
She walked up to the projection and studied his clothes.
Kaiba watched as her eyes landed on the millennium puzzle around Atem's neck. He typed in a second code, this time pulling up a full length projection of Yugi.
Salem stepped closer to the two projections and noticed Yugi wearing the puzzle as well.
Kaiba gazed at her face, seeing her trying to process the information she was given. He typed in one last code, making the projection of Yugi morph into Atem in Yugi's clothes and the projection of Pharaoh Atem disappear.
The projection was replaced with a picture of the stone tablet that told the prophecy of the Egyptian God cards.
Kaiba crossed his arms and watched as Salem studied the tablet.
It looked like...like she was reading it!
Of course.
Of course she can fucking read it.
He saw Salem's expression darken when she gazed at one of the God cards.
She was staring at Slifer.
Kaiba kept silent as he saw something in Salem's eyes click. He typed once more, this time pulling up pictures of the pharaoh's tomb and the entrance to the Egyptian afterlife.
Where the ceremonial duel was held.
Atem's final resting place.
He kept his eyes on her, seeing her eyes water as she read the hieroglyphics. He then pulled up his schematics for his travel pod, along with information on the Plana cube.
He watched Salem put her hand over her heart as she read over everything. A single tear fell from her eye as she read the final words on the projection.
Mission Successful
Kaiba projected a picture of Atem using Slifer the Sky dragon during the Battle City Tournament.
She covered her mouth and let out a half chuckle, half sob.
Kaiba crossed his arms and sighed. This was it.
He had ruined everything. He knew she was going to say that he was insane like everyone else di-
Kaiba gasped when he felt Salem's arms around him in a crushing hug. He blinked down at her as she pulled him into a passionate kiss.
He returned the kiss with equal fervor, not needing to understand her thoughts. He wrapped his arms around her waist and held her even closer.
When she finally broke the kiss, she reached up and stroked her thumb across Kaiba's cheek. He blinked and touched his face, wet with his tears.
"When did I start crying. I don't want her to see me like this…" Kaiba thought, turning red in face.
He was immediately pushed down onto his back. He felt Salem crawl on top of him, straddling his pelvis.
Salem's face was inches from his. She kissed his tears away, pecking his lips as she crossed his face.
Kaiba's heart fluttered with a mixture of happiness and guilt. He felt so loved by this woman but he didn't know if he felt the same way. He liked her more than he's liked anyone besides Atem.
He looked at her with sad eyes when she finally pulled away.
"Don't worry, Tanin. If we work together, we can bring him home safely." She said, brushing her nose against his.
Kaiba furrowed his eyebrows, "What?" He was in disbelief, was she really going to help him?
Salem grinned from ear to ear, "We're going to resurrect Pharaoh Atem." She knew that she was the only one who could do it without causing the end of days.
This time.
She would follow her alternate's advice.
And help Seto Kaiba.
Kaiba rolled them over and kissed Salem roughly, snaking his hand to the nape of her neck and pulling the hair at the base.
"It make take a while-" Kaiba interrupted Salem with another kiss, biting her lower lip as he pulled away.
Kaiba looked into her big brown brown eyes and smirked,
"Then we'd better get started…"
Thank you so much for reading! Your reviews give me the inspiration I need to keep going! I know this isn't my more popular story but the King will be joining us very soon!
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