Yugi's terrible words filled the room, echoing and reverberating around them.
"Wait, what? I don't get it. How is that even possible?!" Jou said from his corner.
"The ritual," Kaiba said before Yugi could reply. "It's the ritual."
"That's right. I think you understand it, the ceremony, the rites. What they do."
"It's a contract," Kaiba said slowly, "between him and some dark…power." Kaiba chuckled humourlessly. "I can't even say the words, this is ridiculous." He pressed the tips of his fingers to his eyes and then ran his hands roughly through his hair. Yugi had never seen him this frustrated before, and his tone became gentler.
"It might sound ridiculous, but it is true. On some level, you believe that. Look at all this stuff," Yugi gestured around the room. "You've been looking for them, the incantations, the rites. You won't find them. They've been lost for aeons."
"I know," Kaiba said sourly. He stared down at his desk, his eyes unfocused, unseeing.
"Back then, it was Ishizu who insisted that I was Set," he said impassively. "She showed me the ancient tablets, begged me to help you. I…totally dismissed her. I thought if anyone would know what's happening to me, it would be her. But...she has no clue," he said haplessly.
Yugi was honestly taken aback; for all his posturing, Kaiba had gone as far as to contact Ishizu. The Ishtars might have been the Pharaoh's guardians, but even they only knew what had been handed down through the generations, and this malevolent, black magic had had no witnesses, far less transcribers. The only reason that Atem had known was because he saw all, knew all in the spirit world. He wasn't surprised that Ishizu couldn't help Kaiba. He glanced over at Jou, and judging by his stunned expression, it looked like this was the first that he'd heard of it, too. They listened as Kaiba continued in his low monotone.
"The things that happened in Battle City…they had a very specific context. The puzzle, and the rod, and the God cards, and fanatical lunatics…huge moving pieces in some weird, shadow conspiracy. But this – there's no catalyst. There's no cabal, no plotting or scheming, no one trying to steal something or kill me. At least, not in real life," he grimaced.
"How could I just wake up one day and be someone else?" he mumbled, fingering the edge of a book, almost talking to himself.
"I thought if I could find the ritual, if I could understand it, I would get some peace. I know what it means, but I don't know how it works. If I could – I just need to know how to stop it, stop the dreams, the visions, everything. There has to be a way." Kaiba raised his eyes to Yugi's. "There is a way, isn't there?"
"Yes, but you won't like it."
"Hey, I still don't get it. I barely understand what you guys are talking about, here," Jou said, diverting the conversation from the more ominous direction it was taking. "Rituals and possession – and Yuug said something about a bloody knife...this is some scary shit. You've been keeping a lot from me," he said, eyeing Kaiba steadily.
Kaiba's silent, unwavering gaze spoke volumes.
"I have," he said eventually. "I didn't want you to know. I still don't. Maybe Yugi and I should-"
Before Jou could cut Kaiba off with an angry interjection, Yugi beat him to the punch.
"No, we need him."
"What?" both Jou and Kaiba asked at the same time.
"If you want to fix this, we need him."
Kaiba started to object, but Yugi interrupted him.
"Kaiba, wait. Just let me explain this all the way through, then you can decide what you're willing to do. Both of you."
Kaiba's exasperated sigh mirrored the sentiment of Jou's helpless shrug.
"Sure, whatever, but just start from the beginning again, please, I really don't get it."
"Ok. When the High Priest Set was possessed back in ancient Egypt, he performed a ritual to make sure that his spirit would come back to his body, no matter what the incarnation, and now he's trying to take over Kaiba's body-"
"No, I get that part, what I want to know about is the ritual. What did he do?"
"That's not relevant," Kaiba said quickly. However, Yugi promptly answered.
"It was a human sacrifice."
"Yugi, don't!" Kaiba roared, and Jou immediately countered.
"Yugi, you tell me everything!"
Jou didn't need to be so agitated, Yugi had every intention of telling him exactly what he wanted to know. He just looked at Kaiba calmly. "He has to know, Kaiba. He has to."
Kaiba's stony silence filled the study, and Yugi resumed his explanation.
"It was a human sacrifice. See, the way the ritual works, to seal the contract you need something of great value to exchange for eternal reincarnation."
"A human life."
"Not just any human life. An innocent. Someone with a pure soul, and a kind heart, untouched by the world's evil." Yugi sounded like he was quoting from a book. Jou looked back at Kaiba then, searchingly.
"So, in these dreams, you're seeing yourself killing an innocent person."
Kaiba met Jou's eyes and gave a slight nod.
"With a knife?" Jou's voice sounded small, tinny.
"I cut her heart out," Kaiba said deliberately, holding Jou's gaze.
"I'm in a dark room made of dirt and stone. Strange symbols on the walls, on the floor. Altar in the middle. I say the words, I raise the knife, I bring it down…" he mimed the actions subconsciously, clutching an imaginary knife in his fist, slowly making a stabbing motion in the air. He noticed with an almost imperceptible start and roused himself, quickly snatching his hand back down.
"There's so much blood, it just won't stop coming, and it's hot and wet and slick and I can barely hold the knife anymore and I can taste it, it's in my mouth and I know she's screaming, she's screaming, but I'm…laughing. I'm laughing," he finished, incredulously.
"That's the ritual. That's what I do in my dreams every night. That's what I see every day when I'm pouring coffee, or taking a shower, or walking up the goddamned stairs. Those same images. Over and over and over again."
Kaiba stared wrathfully at Jou as if to ask 'Are you happy now?' Jou just blinked, dead air stretching between them until he finally spoke.
"That wasn't you, though."
"It was."
"But it wasn't!"
"I'm sorry, Kaiba, but we had to tell him," Yugi said, reluctant to interrupt their exchange, but keen to get back to the matter at hand. "And Jou is right, it wasn't you. But this is all beside the point. We need to stop this, fast. It's getting stronger, isn't it? You can feel him now. His emotions, his thoughts. It's like you've started sharing space in that body, and he is going to push you out if you don't stop him."
Kaiba took a long shuddering breath and exhaled forcefully. Yugi could see the strain this conversation was causing Kaiba; keeping an open mind had never been his strong suit.
"So how do I stop him?" Kaiba asked, clearly exercising the last of his patience.
"Fight fire with fire," was Yugi's firm response.
"So, you're saying…I need to do my own ritual?"
"Yes, exactly."
"With my own sacrifice."
"Yes. That's where Jou comes in."
o.o.o.o.o.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.o.o.o.o.o.
Shit's about about to get wild!