Still Water

by stereonightss

Crossed souls slip in and out of the river of dreams. But will their transit spell their demise? Or will it lead to something new for all mankind? Rivalshipping. Post-DSOD.

2. Chapter 2

"Bakura! Sorry I'm late!" Yugi called, jogging up to the little wood cafe table where Bakura sat.

"Oh it's no problem. It's so nice out, I could sit here all day." Bakura passed Yugi a cup and saucer and checked his phone. "Got you a latte."

"Thanks!" Yugi dropped two packets of sugar into the cup, disrupting the little floral pattern on top. "I was so wiped out from yesterday that I slept through my alarm."

Bakura smiled. "That was some party, huh?"

"Mhmm." Yugi said, absently stirring.

"So what's going on? You sounded worried on the phone."

Yugi leaned back in the chair, took a moment to consider his friend. Bakura was sitting peacefully opposite him, receptive, concerned, quiet. Yugi saw the darkness under his eyes and felt guilty for a moment. Bakura was always there to listen and dispense some comforting advice, but how long had it been since Yugi had listened to what was bothering him? He couldn't remember.

"I…think I had a dream last night."

"Okay. A bad dream?" Bakura asked, a weary understanding on his face.

"I don't think so. I woke up feeling strange. Not bad, just a little weird." Yugi pulled his golden treasure box from his messenger bag. "And this," he said, opening the lid and tilting it toward Bakura, "was in my hand when I woke up."

Bakura leaned over the table to look into the box. His eyes went wide.

"May I?"

Yugi nodded.

Bakura hooked the silver chain with one slim finger and carefully lifted the necklace out of the box.

"Incredible!"

Yugi watched the late morning light play off the silver cartouche pendant, and both of them were quiet for a while.

"Do you think it's a replica? Someone maybe messing with you?"

Yugi shook his head. "I really don't think so."

"So what do you think it means?"

Yugi began to answer, but the roar of a motorcycle engine from the street drowned him out. Bakura gently placed the necklace back in the box.

"We have a visitor," he said. Yugi slipped the lid on the box and put it back into his bag.

"Hey you guys!"

Bakura stood, grinning, and gave the wiry blond a long hug. "Malik! You're here early."

"Malik?" Yugi said, standing himself. "What are you doing here?"

They grabbed each other's right forearms, wrists touching at the pulse point, left hands clapping the other's right bicep—the tomb guardians' greeting.

"I'm here on business! I've got to be at KaibaCorp in an hour."

"No way!" Yugi said, sliding his chair over so Malik could sit between him and Bakura. "I'm working for KaibaCorp too these days."

"I'll go get you a coffee. Same old?" Bakura asked.

"Thank you," Malik said with a smile.

There was a beat of comfortable quiet as Bakura slipped into the cafe. Malik's bright, thickly-lashed eyes glinted and Yugi felt a pang of anxiety, echoing down from some buried memory of a shadow game.

"It's so strange to see you here after all this time," Yugi said. "I'm glad though."

"Me too. So you liked the kohl? You look great," Malik said, folding his hands behind his head.

Yugi blushed, wiping at the corners of his eyes. "This is left over from last night."

"Ahh, right, there was a tournament, no? I had to reschedule my meeting because of it."

"What are you doing with Kaiba Corp anyway?" Yugi asked.

Malik glanced around the street. They were alone outside the cafe, the mid-morning weekday street quiet but for the sounds of birds.

"It was my sister's idea at first. That I could use the connections and methods I acquired when I was running Ghouls to do something good. Something to redeem myself."

Malik's magnetic almond eyes darkened in an introspective squint.

"We started to cooperate with different organizations that fought against child abuse and trafficking. I mean, I had contacts in over 20 countries. We've done a lot of good work."

Yugi listened, cheek resting on his open palm, awestruck.

"KC Philanthropy Division reached out to us. I'm not sure if my sister talked to Kaiba or if he found out on his own. But they want to sponsor us, give us resources and facilities. They've got branches all over the world too. I'm pretty optimistic."

The bell on the cafe door jingled and Bakura stepped out with a cup of espresso and a little caddy of sugar packets.

"You're an angel." Malik said, gingerly taking the little demitasse cup. He stirred in a packet of raw sugar. "Oh, before I forget," he said, pulling a little maroon book with gold letterpress embellishments from his back pocket. "For you, from Rishid." He handed the book to Bakura.

"Ahh thank you. I'm really looking forward to this one." Yugi peered over at the book. Bakura opened it up between them.

"Poetry?"

Malik nodded, sipping his espresso. "He won an award for the last one. He's on tour in Europe with his publisher, or he would have come with me here."

"I'm happy for him," Bakura said, pocketing the book.

"Me too! Happy for both of you. It seems like you're making your dreams come true. Living the lives you want to live," Yugi said.

Malik turned toward Yugi and placed his ring-laden hand on Yugi's shoulder.

"We owe you, you know. This life we're creating for ourselves is only possible because you broke the curse."

Yugi froze for a moment, at a loss. The sincerity of Malik's intense gaze softened him.

"I just did what I had to do for…for my friends."

"We should celebrate! It's the first time we've all been together with nothing crazy happening." Bakura said.

Malik grinned, cheshire white teeth in the golden tan skin of his face practically radiating mischief.

"Tonight. I'm taking us out. I'm only here one more night, we have to do something. What do you say?"

The two of them looked at Yugi, and he paled. He desperately needed a night in, but their good cop/bad cop expressions were rapidly eroding his will to resist.

"Okay, okay. I'll call Jounouchi."

"Perrrrfect," Malik purred. "I hate to go so soon, but I've got to run. You know how long it takes to sign in over there."

"Ah, yeah. We'll see you later." Yugi said.

"Thank you for the coffee," Malik said, tenderly grabbing Bakura's hand. Yugi raised am eyebrow at Bakura, who flashed him a look that said later.

"I'll text you guys when I'm out," Malik said, then offered Yugi his hand. They clasped hands, threaded their pinkie fingers together and squeezed—the tomb guardians' goodbye.

"Bye bye!" Bakura said, giving a little wave.

Malik mounted a flashy red and white Ducati and put on a matching helmet. Bakura plugged his ears as Malik revved the engine, gave them a salute and sped off.

"That guy's one of a kind," Bakura said when the sound died down. "Thank god."

"Are you…" Yugi said, dangling the question with his wide violet eyes. Bakura looked out at the street. Yugi tried to read his profile, but the soft white hair had covered Bakura's eyes.

"I had some questions after we left Egypt. I couldn't tell what was a dream and what was a memory. The ring…well there was always mysterious stuff going on, so it wasn't unusual to find random numbers in my phone. Malik's was one of them."

Bakura drained the rest of his latte, now cold, and carefully replaced the cup in the saucer so that it made no sound.

"We got to talking, you know, kind of on the regular. It's hard to explain but I was very lonely after that all happened. After the ring went away. I think he was too."

He met Yugi's eyes and a quiet understanding passed between them.

"And, well. I don't know how it happened. It just sort of happened."

"Are you like…dating or something?" Yugi said.

"It's hard to call it dating when you're on different continents, but something like that, I guess."

There was a pregnant quiet during which Bakura hid his eyes again, waiting for Yugi's reaction.

"Well that's great. Good for you."

Bakura looked up, genuinely surprised. His face melted into a smile, and they laughed together at nothing in particular.

"Speaking of long-distance, have you talked to Anzu lately?"

Yugi leaned back in his chair and tucked his bangs behind his ears. "Oh yeah, about a week ago. She's doing great out there. She's got a boyfriend and everything."

Bakura gave Yugi a conciliatory smile.

"They met during that production of The Nutcracker she did. He seems like a nice guy."

"That's good."

They gazed into their empty cups for a long while. Bakura gave a quiet, almost imperceptible sigh.

"I don't know why, but the first thing I felt when I saw the necklace in the box was jealousy."

Yugi leaned back, waiting. Trying to give Bakura the space he needed to say what he needed to say.

"He…was not a good person. Definitely not by the time I got to know him. But, we were together for a very long time. When I was a child, when he would whisper things to me, I thought he was my imaginary friend."

Bakura threaded and unthreaded his fingers over and over again, kept his gaze low on his hands or his coffee cup.

"The part of him that existed before the ring got to him…I don't approve of the way he was, but I also understand. We were the same age the first time we saw someone die. You know, when I came to and saw my father and Shadi laying on the ground…"

Bakura blinked, silent.

"It's okay," Yugi said softly.

"I understand why he was the way he was. Anyone would be that way if they saw that."

Yugi started to understand. He rubbed the little rough patch on his neck where the chain of the puzzle used to chafe him.

"In the beginning, after I solved the puzzle, I was afraid too. I would black out and wake up next to someone who had been hurt. When he would come out, it felt like," Yugi rubbed his hands, looking for the words. "Sort of like being suddenly grabbed and blindfolded from behind. It was violent."

Bakura looked up at him, wide-eyed.

"It took him a long time to ask permission. But after the first time he finally did, it was always like that. I kept the door. I opened it when he asked and I opened it again to let him back inside. He let me have that, so that I could start to trust him."

Bakura smiled with his lips but his eyes stayed sad. "Is that so?" he said quietly.

"The other me…he fought himself to get better. To become more decent. He had a good foundation to work with, before he was sealed away. I was lucky."

Yugi gently touched the back of Bakura's hand, and Bakura desperately clasped Yugi's hand with both of his own, startling them both.

"There's nothing you could have done to save him." Yugi said emphatically. "It seems to me that he had a death wish before he ever found the ring. It wasn't your job to save him." Yugi said.

Bakura's eyes welled up with tears until they silently spilled over, dripping onto their hands. He nodded and sniffled.

"I'm sorry, I…I didn't mean to get so emotional. It's a lot. I haven't talked about him in a long time and I've never told anyone in person that I…that I'm…"

Yugi offered Bakura a napkin. "That you're gay?"

"Yeah," Bakura said. He blew his nose.

"It's great! I'm glad you told me. I mean, we could all kind of tell anyway."

"Really?"

"Really." Yugi said, smiling.

"I just. I've felt like such a freak my whole life. This hair," he said, picking at a lock of his silvery white hair. "Everything I went through with him…with the ring. I've felt alone, like a total outsider my whole life."

Yugi watched his friend deflate into toneless resignation. His heart ached on Bakura's behalf.

"You're not alone. You're not a freak. We all saw some crazy stuff because of the millennium items. I'll never know what it was really like for you to deal with someone like that, but I know the pain and the loss of sharing your body. I bet Malik does too."

Bakura nodded, subdued.

"Plus, you should never feel bad about the way you are or who you love." Yugi cupped Bakura's folded hands. "We love you no matter what."

Bakura brightened. "Me too."

"Plus," Yugi glanced around, conspiratorial. He lowered his voice. "I think Kaiba's gay too."

They both burst into giggle. Bakura transitioned into open laughter, and Yugi sat back, satisfied, as Bakura wiped the remnants of tears off his face.

"I could have told you that. Takes one to know one," he said, smoothing down his hair. "How did you find out though?"

Yugi frowned, thoughtful. "It's hard to describe. We're working on this project, and I get to sort of…read him. And I just know."

Bakura sat back and gave Yugi a coy smile. He opened his mouth to speak, then closed it, shook his head a little.

"What?" Yugi said.

"It's nothing. You should bring it to him. The necklace." Bakura said. "He'll know what to do."

"He will, won't he."

Yugi seemed relieved as he took out his phone to text Kaiba, scrolling through the six different numbers in his contact reel to select the one Kaiba used for confidential but personal correspondence. He typed and sent a message, then placed his phone down on the wood table.

"Feel better?" Bakura said.

"Yeah. You too?"

Bakura nodded. "Definitely."

Yugi's phone vibrated and the camera flash blinked three times. A response from Kaiba. Yugi lifted his phone.

"That was quick. What did he say?"

Yugi rolled his eyes. "It just says 'C-lab. One hour.'"

"I'll walk you to the train," Bakura said, slipping into his jacket.

"I'll need you to lay completely still. If there's any movement at all, it will skew the readings," Kaiba said, lifting the bay of a large cylindrical machine to reveal a long slab and three sets of data ports.

"I'll do my best," Yugi said, gripping his own arms. The plain cotton hospital robe felt thin in the conditioned air of the laboratory.

"You won't need to. I'm going to place a set of restraints and bracers on you for the duration of the scan."

Yugi groaned, threaded his hands into his own thick hair and tugged.

"Get in."

He frowned over at Kaiba's wide back, at the shoulder blades making little peaks in the thin fabric of the lab coat as Kaiba prepared the scanner from a console on the wall. He steeled himself and laid down on the scanner bed.

"If you insist on being uncooperative, I could always knock you out," Kaiba said, turning to face Yugi. When he saw the anxiety on Yugi's face he softened. "Mokuba…administers lorazepam to me when I undergo brain scans. I could do the same for you."

Kaiba looked so human wearing a standard KC lab coat with pair of reading glasses perched on top of his head—not average, for his eyes still glowed with a cold intensity and his exaggerated proportions made the holo clipboard in his hand look like a toy—but human. Fallible. Yugi relaxed.

"It's okay, I can handle it."

Kaiba looked smug. By the time it occurred to Yugi that he'd been played, Kaiba was securing a padded band to his head. He tried to convey his frown through the head restraint.

"This machine reads brain waves and neural activity with extreme accuracy. I'll provide you with stimulus and the computer will analyze your response. We'll analyze the data afterwards." Kaiba said, initializing the machine.

"Is this entirely necessary?" Yugi said, drumming his fingers on his stomach.

"Yes. Not only that, we'll both need to conduct a sleep study. You're not the only one having unusual dreams."

Yugi strained to see Kaiba out of the corner of his eye. Kaiba was gazing at something in his hand, and a sort of reverent awe crossed his face.

"Tell me what you remember from last night." Kaiba said flatly, a hypnotist's inflectionless tone.

"I remember coming home…going to sleep…then nothing."

"What were you dreaming about?"

"I don't remember."

Kaiba dangled the necklace from his wide splayed hand, the chain woven around his fingers.

"You were dreaming about him, weren't you?"

Yugi felt his pulse quicken. Kaiba looming over him, dangling Atem's necklace was filling him with a restless heat.

"I wasn't. It was…Mahad was there."

"Go on."

"I was in a room. A white room."

"A room like this one?"

Yugi squinted at the bright fluorescent lights above him.

"No. It was dark. Lit with candles."

"What else was in the room?

"There were symbols on the walls. I think they were hieroglyphs."

"What happened in the room?"

"Mahad was telling me something."

"What was he saying?"

"He was telling me about…I think it was about you."

Kaiba balled his fist, lifted the necklace above his own head so he could gaze up at it.

"When he addressed you, did he call you by your Horace name?"

Yugi was speechless. The answer stuck in his throat, jut outside his own comprehension.

Kaiba was suddenly leaning over him, his blue eyes clear and emotionless. He lifted Yugi's wrist from where it lay at his side and dropped the necklace into Yugi's upturned palm. Kaiba covered Yugi's hand with his own, closed Yugi's fingers around the pendant.

"I…I'm not sure." Yugi said softly.

Kaiba let his hand go.

"That's enough for now. I have the data I need."

Kaiba walked to the other side of the room to deactivate the scanner. Yugi pressed his fist with the necklace to his chest and sighed, feeling like he had failed somehow.

Kaiba returned to remove the restraints. "It's as I suspected. Atypical neural oscillations. I had similar scan results this morning."

Kaiba helped Yugi sit up. Yugi rubbed his temples.

"What does it mean?"

"Theta wave spikes this extreme in amplitude during waking consciousness is highly unusual." Kaiba said, swiping through the readout on his holo clipboard. "When you had moments of brief recall," Kaiba pointed to two spikes in the dataset with his stylus, "your theta wave activity was two standard deviations ahead of the mean…for a sleep state."

Yugi chuckled. "So…what does it mean?"

Kaiba smirked. "To distill it for you, you have flashes of a waking dream state. A split of the locus of consciousness between present sensory awareness and the generative but subconscious awareness of a dream state. But, rather than halving the activity in each region, as one would expect, your neural activity doubled in both areas."

"Is this because of PowerLink?"

Kaiba placed his clipboard on a table. He shined a pen light into Yugi's right eye, then the left.

"I don't know for sure, but I intend to find out. Can you come back tonight for a sleep study?"

Yugi hemmed as Kaiba slipped a blood pressure cuff on his arm. "Well, you know, Malik is here, and he wanted us to go out tonight…"

Kaiba watched the numbers oscillate and then settle on the digital display of the monitor. "Your vitals are perfectly normal. It can wait until tomorrow night."

Yugi was pleased. "I'm gonna live, doc?"

Kaiba rolled his eyes. "I won't accept your failure to live until I've repaid you for the match I lost a year ago."

Yugi laughed. Typical Kaiba.

"Do you want to come with us? Out tonight?"

Yugi watched Kaiba's shoulders tense and then relax. Kaiba smirked, and Yugi steeled himself for some cutting little monologue about the frivolous nature of fun-having, when Kaiba crossed his arms and said, "Fine."

"Really?"

Kaiba lifted his chin, staring at Yugi down his own nose.

"On one condition."

"Okay."

"You meet me in the E-branch gymnasium at 5pm. You're going to be Jounouchi's handicap."

"Oh god," Yugi said. "Do I want to know?"

"Wear suitable gym clothes."

Yugi was doubled over, panting, one hand braced on his knee as be dribbled the ball with his other hand. Sweat trickled past his ears and dripped down onto the polished wood floor of the gym. He glanced up just in time to see Kaiba make a shot from clear across the court to swoosh neatly into the basket, soundless but for the bounce when it hit the floor again.

"That's our match!" Mokuba said, pumping his fist in the air. "Better luck next time, you guys."

"Kaiba you freak! You're what, 6'2"? We shoulda had a handicap." Jounouchi yelled, placing a big warm hand on Yugi's back.

"I'd be much obliged to give you a handicap, Jounouchi Katsuya." Kaiba called from the other side of the court, grinning with faux malice.

It had been a blitz match, a game Mokuba called Around the Universe, a modified version of Around the World. Both teams raced around the court to make shots from five different points, neither team progressing until both teammates had made all five shots in order, without missing—five times in a row. If they missed, they had to run back to the starting point and try again. Jounouchi had gone first, beating Mokuba for time by three shots when he tagged Yugi in. But by the time Yugi had sunk the second shot, Kaiba was half way around the court already.

"Okay!" Mokuba clapped and rubbed his hands together. "Game set match! Time to settle up," he said cheerfully, trotting to the center of the court. "Come on, you guys."

"Sorry, Jounouchi!" Yugi said as they walked. "I'm sorry!"

"It's okay, man. This was a dirty match." Jounouchi said, and pointed to his own eyes, then at Mokuba, insinuating I'm watching you.

The Kaiba brothers lined up on one side of the center line, and Yugi reluctantly stepped next to Jounouchi to mirror them.

"Okay, repeat after me." Mokuba said. "I, Jounouchi Katsuya, do hereby pledge, in accordance with the agreement upon which I shook the hand of one Kaiba Mokuba," Mokuba paused and made an expectant little circle with his hand.

"I, Jounouchi Katsuya, do hereby…ugh. Whatever, we shook hands, so I agree."

"I agree to allow my sister, Kawai Shizuka, to go on an unsupervised date with one Kaiba Mokuba, even though she's totally old enough to decide that for herself, and also I solemnly promise, as per the terms of the agreement, which I sealed upon losing this game of basketball, not to text her until tomorrow morning." Mokuba said, carefully enunciating the last words.

Jounouchi groaned.

"I agree." He thrust out his hand, and Mokuba shook it with relish.

"But be like…a gentleman, all right?" Jounouchi said, gripping Mokuba's shoulders. "Like, courting, like its the 50s or something. Buy her a rootbeer float or something. No weed and definitely no Netflix," Jounouchi whispered, narrowing his eyes.

"And don't forget the security protocols," Kaiba said, folding his arms.

Mokuba grinned and flashed them a double thumbs up.

"Gotcha, gotcha."

"And no later than 11PM." Kaiba said.

"Oh come on!" Mokuba tugged his brother's elbow.

"Midnight. No later. I'm telling Isono."

Yugi couldn't help but smile. He tried to memorize Mokuba's flushed elation, the sheen on Jounouchi's tan skin, the cut of Kaiba's wide shoulders in a rare sweatsuit. If he could take these memories with him, he would show his other self some day.

"Yugi."

Yugi bristled. Kaiba only used that tone of voice when he was about to issue a challenge.

"As per our agreement, I'll meet you in lobby at 7."

"Sounds good." Yugi said, suddenly sheepish.

"Bye bye guys!" Mokuba said, already jogging over toward to locker rooms. Kaiba walked out the front entrance, toward the elevator bay that went to his private office suite.

"That kid." Jounouchi said, running his hands through his hair. "Think he's a good match? For Shizuka?"

"She seems really happy," Yugi said.

"She does huh." Jounouchi "Guess I better get used to this," Jounouchi said, looking around the room.

"You'll be part of the dynasty," Yugi said.

"Second degree royalty." Jounouchi said, thumbing his nose.

"It doesn't sound half bad," Yugi said, hooking Jounouchi's elbow with his own and pulling them both toward the locker room.

"Yeah but you only say that because you like Kaiba." Jounouchi said, exaggerated unpleasantness dripping from his voice.

"He's not so bad once you get to know him," Yugi said as they sat down on the locker room benches.

"I don't know, its been five years," Jounouchi said, untying his shoes. "When will I get to know him?"

Yugi pulled his sweatshirt over his head and then hung it from his arm. He swirled the combo lock dial on his locker. "It takes time with him. Lots of layers to get through. A little patience goes a long way."

Jounouchi threw his own t-shirt on the ground and pulled a towel from his locker.

"You could really make friends with a tree. With a rock. Onions have layers, I bet you could get to the heart of an onion and find a true friend."

"And what's wrong with that?" Yugi said.

With a practiced, automatic coordination, they looped their towels around their waists and kicked their boxers off.

"There's nothing wrong with it. That's why everybody loves you."

They turned their showers on at the same time, hung their towels at the same time. This was a dance that invented itself back in high school, out of Jounouchi's instinct to protect Yugi from bullies in gym class. They entered and left the locker room together, showered together, made the right amount of chit chat to diffuse any awkwardness. By now they had it down to a science, running on instinct. The routine was comforting to the both of them, despite the fact that it had outlived its original purpose.

"You're coming tonight right?" Yugi said, craning his neck to keep his wiry hair out of the water stream as he quickly lathered his body with soap from the dragon-shaped soap dispenser in the shower.

"I'm staying home tonight. You go paint the town red. Pour one out for ol uncle Katsuya."

"Aww, why?"

Jounouchi finished rinsing and twisted the handle to shut off the shower. He fluffed his hair and began to pat his body dry.

"If I'm being honest?" he bunched his shoulders up, eyes distant. "I still can't really relax around Malik."

"Ah." Yugi said.

"I don't hate him, I just feel kind of weird whenever I see him. He got inside my head." Jounouchi shook his head as if to clear the feeling. "He almost killed you."

Yugi pulled on the ends of his bangs, squeezing out the moisture. After a moment he said, "I understand. I do."

"Nothing against the guy. I know he came around. You'll have fun."

"It's okay. I'm gonna try and make it an early night myself. I'm exhausted and I'm backed up on inventory at the store."

Yugi pulled on his black waxed denim jeans and a vintage black pac-man shirt with the sleeves cut off, both relics of a shopping trip with his other self. He slipped on his favorite studded cuff on his left hand and tied a braided leather band around his right. He considered the boots, his favorite, that he'd worn there but opted to keep the black Converse sneakers with white binding and laces that he'd worn to play basketball. He looked at himself in the mirror.

"Sure you're not going on a date and the whole Malik thing is just a cover?" Jounouchi mumbled as he tied his sneakers.

Yugi wasn't listening. He was trying to figure out what was missing. He went back to the locker and pulled his collar from his bag. There was a glint off the treasure box as the bag shifted open and Yugi carefully opened it and took out the pendant from inside.

"Is that the Yug—I mean, Atem's necklace?" Jounouchi said.

Yugi looked at it a long time.

"Yeah."

He slipped it on and secured the clasp.

"Looks good." Jounouchi said, and they shared a moment of bittersweet grief. Jounouchi shook himself into motion and hugged Yugi around the head, messing up his hair.

"All right, let's jet!"

"Yup," Yugi said, and they closed up their lockers and headed towards the elevators.

"You're bringing Kaiba?" Jounouchi said, hitting the button for the ground floor.

Yugi shrugged. "He's my friend."

"Admit it, you just didn't want to take the train."

The elevators opened on the lobby and they stepped out. Isono was waiting for them near the tall glass doors.

"Mr. Jounouchi, your car is ready."

Jounouchi looked at Yugi and they both shrugged.

"Good night, Uncle Katsuya."

"Oi, don't have too much fun without me."

They bumped fists and traded grins.

"Impossible." Yugi said.

Isono led Jounouchi outside and Yugi walked over to the fountain in the middle of the lobby. A Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon carved from marble dropped clear streams of water into a shallow black granite pool. Lights in the mouths colored the water in a rotation of purple and yellow and teal. Yugi let his eyes unfocus, tried to center himself by timing his breathing with the changes of the lights. He watched the cycle happen once, twice, three times, before he felt the presence of someone behind him.

He turned to see Kaiba standing quietly, watching him with those intense, unreadable eyes.

Yugi watched back for a moment. Kaiba was wearing close-fitting black chinos with a black cashmere v-neck sweater. He was wearing a pair of shiny but well broken-in chelsea boots and a white blazer was slung over one arm. He looked undone without the trademark jacket, less the warrior but more dangerous for how relatively understated his dress was. He looked good.

"Kaiba." Yugi said, slipping his hands into his pockets to hide his nervousness.

"Let's go." Kaiba said, turning quickly toward the doors.

It took the changing of the fountain lights from blue to purple for Yugi to unfreeze himself and follow after Kaiba, sound of flowing water and the click of Kaiba'a boots in his ears.

Bakura took a long drag on the mouthpiece. He puffed out his chest, parted his lips a little, blew out a little cloud of smoke. He repositioned his tongue and tried again.

"No, like this," Malik said, grabbing the hose from him. Malik settled the mouthpiece in the corner of his mouth and took a quick but deep puff. He formed his small but full mouth into a perfect O and puffed out, one, two, three, and sent three neat little smoke rings floating above their heads.

"I don't know…Yugi, you try," Bakura said, peering over the ornately figured hookah that sat on a low table between them. He plucked the last olive from a little plate between them and put it in his mouth.

Yugi lifted the hose to his lips and took a deep drag. His left eye watered but he steadied himself. He made a little O with his lips and puffed. The first exhale was formless, the second a weak oval, but the third was a small, clear ring.

"See? It's easier than you think," Malik said, handing the hose back to Bakura. Bakura tried again, but what came out was just a rushed cloud.

Kaiba put down his cup of Turkish coffee and extended his open hand to Yugi, who handed him the hose. He took a deep drag, leaned back and executed a languid French inhale followed by a dense and precise smoke ring.

"It's child's play. I've literally seen children blow better smoke rings," he said.

Malik laughed and took the hose from a sheepish Bakura.

"This is why the world needs our organization, and your support. All those orphans smoking hookah pipes in shacks and stealing from tourists for subsistence could be playing DuelLinks instead, right?" Malik said.

Kaiba raised his coffee cup and Malik raised his hose with its carved wooden handle, an informal toast to their new partnership.

"It will give vulnerable children direct recourse for change. If just one child in every community progresses in the Links world, they can make allegiances with children on the other side of the world. If a child in Germany saves his allowance to buy card games, video games, candy, the links world will not only awaken him to the possibility of spending what to him is an insignificant trifle on something meaningful, like helping his gaming partner bring plumbing to their village; it will also give him the ability to do so directly," Kaiba said.

Malik nodded and said, "We've devised a way to subsidize the administration of an organization that will re-distribute wealth invested in the Links world to the children who need it most. My organization will make DuelLinks hardware available to children in these marginalized communities, both victims of abuse or trafficking cases that we've already worked with and also children who show promise based on a dueling aptitude test devised by the developmental psychology research trust at Kaiba Institute."

"But how will you find those children?" Yugi said, cupping an earthenware mug of mint tea.

"Same way we deal with the abuse cases: field agents. More than 85% of our field agents are already duelists, since they were recruited or converted from the associations I made when I was controlling the rare hunters," Malik said.

"We'll fund safe spaces for vulnerable children to access and play the game in countries that cannot sustain commercial Kaibalands. This generation of linked children will build solutions for one another outside of the exploitive influence of governments and economies." Kaiba said.

Malik took a deep drag from the hookah pipe and handed the hose to Bakura. He blew a thick and even ring of smoke, then gently pushed it forward with his hand. As it hovered above them he blew three fast, small rings that flew through the center of the larger one before dissipating into the hazy air.

"It's a very ambitious program. But it'll be true magic if it works," he said.

"It sounds like the kind of thing that would draw the attention of greedy people," Bakura said.

Kaiba nodded and exhaled two smooth streams of smoke from his nostrils.

"We'll have to be very meticulous about how we account for distributing funds and resources in different countries. But the accounting department of the philanthropy division is literally the best in the world," he said with a smug smile.

"The first step is to connect children and allow for a flow of communication and information," Malik said.

"Do you think it will really solve humanitarian crises? Giving underprivileged children access to a video game?" Bakura said.

"Video game is the wrong word." Yugi said, leaning forward. "The Links world is a collective projection of an alternate reality, created by our connected consciousness. It's as real to your experience as anything you can see and feel right now, and it grows and changes organically like our world."

Kaiba folded his arms, crossed his long legs. He smiled, letting Yugi say what they were both thinking.

"Link world is real enough to the mind to have significant physical effects on the body. I may not bleed if my avatar gets cut, but the experience of being wounded will raise my stress hormones and even potentially cause swelling or a pain signal or a healing response in the area my brain identified as being effected," Yugi said.

"Not only that, we hypothesize," Kaiba flashed Yugi a secretive look, "that concentrated will drives can resonate using the Neurons-derived technology called PowerLink to a degree that is significant enough to alter our physical reality."

"You're talking about ESP," Bakura said, eyes wide.

"Not exactly," Yugi said. "Remember when I…when the other me would duel? And he would pull the card he needed in the most crucial time?"

There was quiet all around as they reverently, wordlessly agreed.

"Well, that wasn't luck. That was willpower. A powerful determination to victory. The fact that he knew exactly what he needed to create that outcome focused his mind. I could feel it from inside when he did it." Yugi absently reached for the puzzle that wasn't there. "It was a single-mindedness, a focal point where he directed his whole awareness. The card he needed. And it appeared on top of the deck every time."

He smiled, remembering that feeling of shared exhilaration every time they drew the hoped-for, game-winning card. He continued.

"I feel like we all do it to some degree. Jounouchi does it, it's how he's able to consistently pull wins out of a chance deck. I did a little reading, you know, and it doesn't seem so far fetched to me. The idea that conscious awareness changes the physical outcome—they proved that with those experiments with light right?" Yugi looked at Kaiba. "The quantum observer changes the nature of light from a wave to a particle."

"Your explanation is pseudoscientific at best. The truth is more complicated than that, but in essence, you aren't entirely wrong." Kaiba said. "In fact…"

Kaiba glanced around the hazy little restaurant, the one singular establishment in Domino owned and operated by Egyptian ex-pats. Malik had brought them there, but Kaiba had discretely instructed the the maître d' to turn away other patrons for the rest of the night. They were more or less alone, one or two low tables on the other side of the restaurant still occupied with guests finishing their shisha, the light from the coals under the ornate windguards making the silver pillars of each hookah look like arabesque lighthouses. Kaiba lowered his voice.

"Data from the coliseum monitors cut out for the duration of our duel with Diva," he said, shifting to face Yugi. "My own DuelDisk recorded nothing between the time my lifepoints dropped to zero and the time I woke up. But the data from your DuelDisk had no gaps. I thought the it was corrupted at first because the readings were so erratic. It took six months to interpret. It finally revealed an accurate but astounding representation of what was happening to your body during that time."

Yugi's eyes went wide. "What do you mean?"

Kaiba paused, chin high. Then he shrugged.

"It's not confidential data anymore, so I may as well tell you. You experienced significant autonomous nervous system activity after my disk stopped recording. Your body rapidly adjusted—faster than should be medically possible. From that point on there were two neuronal signatures, two distinct brainwave patterns. Two determinative drives coalescing at significant timestamps."

"Well, we…we're different people," Yugi said softly, eyes distant.

Kaiba looked down his nose at Yugi, and Yugi couldn't tell if the faintly pained expression meant awe or covert disdain.

"When I compared the readings to the records we had on the Prana called Sera, I determined that your neural activity is similar in frequency, with a few vital differences. During the duel with Diva, Atem's neural activity peaked directly before the draw phase—presumably in an effort to manifest an outcome. At those moments your neuronal activity oscillated in such a way as to resonate with his, causing an increase in the amplitude of his thought patterns."

"What he did, the monster he drew. It was a new monster, one I'd never seen before."

"A strong and clear manifestation of reality-altering will," Kaiba said.

"Yugi boosted the pharaoh's mental power?" Malik said.

"It's more like…" Kaiba steepled his fingers and squinted. "One sets up the shot, the other executes it. I've tried unsuccessfully to replicate the process with an AI designed to copy Yugi's brainwaves, but the result was almost fatally unstable."

"But we did…something like that when we summoned that fusion monster," Yugi said.

"Yes. Because your brainwaves did precisely what they did during the duel with Diva…albeit at about 15% intensity."

Yugi looked at him incredulously. Malik and Bakura shared a look but said nothing. Kaiba took a sip of water.

In the dense silence, Yugi fidgeted with the pendant around his neck. He traced the hieroglyphs with his thumb, trying to remember what he felt in those moments when Atem would make the perfect draw. It was a deep faith in his ability…a confidence, a trust…a support and openness. It was love. An unconditional, all-encompassing love.

"Is that a cartouche?" Malik said, half to break the silence.

Yugi felt like he'd been caught doing something intimate. "Yeah." He cupped it in his hand, lifted his chin and tipped his open palm toward Malik.

Malik read the hieroglyphs and smiled. "Praise on the name of the king."

Bakura nodded. Kaiba threaded his long fingers together and pressed them to his forehead, closing his eyes, whether in prayer or in annoyance Yugi couldn't tell.

Bakura took a drag from the hose, exciting the dwindling coal above. The sound of the bubbling water made Yugi giggle a little, and they all relaxed as he tucked the pendant back into his shirt.

Malik caught the eye of the proprietor across the room and made a discrete gesture, to which the proprietor grinned broadly and nodded toward Kaiba.

"Seto! You're too fast for me. Thank you."

"Yeah, thank you!" Bakura said.

Kaiba gave a smug little smile and shrugged. "It's nothing."

"I'm glad you came out. I know it's a busy time for all of us," Malik said.

"This was fun," Yugi said, smiling.

"Malik's flight leaves early tomorrow, we should probably get going," Bakura said, checking his phone.

They all stood.

"I look forward to a new kind of rare hunting," Kaiba said, offering Malik his large hand.

"I'll find the minds you're looking for," Malik said.

They shook hands and Bakura gave Yugi a warm hug.

"Home safe you guys," Yugi said. "Hope I see you soon, Malik."

"Me too," Malik said, helping Bakura into his coat.

"Send your sister my regards," Kaiba said.

"And Rishid," Yugi said.

"Of course," Malik said.

Kaiba went to get his jacket from the coat check and Yugi watched Malik and Bakura head toward the door. They were laughing and talking softly, and Malik had his arm around Bakura's waist. They looked natural, easy.

Yugi caught Kaiba out of the corner of his eye as he walked back, jacket slung over one shoulder. He was watching them too, with a knowing half-smile.

"Kind of an odd couple, don't you think?" Yugi said.

"Hardly. Hardship in early life breeds solidarity. Lost boys always find each other," Kaiba said knowingly.

They could hear Malik's Ducati ripping down the street as they got into the waiting towncar. Before long the lights of Domino were streaking their faces blue and yellow through the tinted windows.

"Can I see the data you were talking about? My brainwaves?" Yugi said.

Kaiba narrowed his eyes, appraising Yugi—Yugi, fists balled in his lap, jaw set, eyes bright.

"Isono, take us back to HQ."

"Yes, Seto-sama."

They rode in silence for a long while.

"If you're going to come to the lab to review the data, we may as well conduct the sleep study tonight," Kaiba said, looking out the window.

"That's okay with me," Yugi said, pulling out his phone to type a quick text his grandfather.

Kaiba pulled up the sleeve of his sweater, revealing the silver gauntlet underneath. He curled his hand in to press a stud on his inner wrist and held it to his lips.

"Mokuba," he spoke into the gauntlet.

There was a brief moment of static and then a high feedback whine. Then a sharp click, then silence. Kaiba clenched his teeth.

"Isono," he said curtly to the partition.

"Seto-sama, we are aware of Mokuba's position. He has detail-3 coverage from a distance of five meters. May I suggest you rest in the assurance of his safety."

Yugi quirked an eyebrow at Kaiba and smiled, raising his hands in a gesture of resignation.

Kaiba softened. "Very well."

They pulled up to the entrance to a private parking garage on the south side of the building and Isono extended his arm out the driver's side window to hold his RFID tag up to the sensor. The gate opened slowly.

"Shall I accompany you to into the building?" he said as they pulled up to a bolted door.

"That won't be necessary," Kaiba said. "Goodnight, Isono."

"Goodnight, Seto-sama."

Kaiba exited the town car, stepped around it and opened Yugi's door.

"Thanks," Yugi said, sliding out.

"This way," Kaiba said, leading them toward a corner of the garage. Isono slowly pulled away, and Kaiba stood in front of a supporting concrete pillar. He ran his fingers over the yellow paint that banded the column until his index hit an indent. The column parted with a hydraulic hiss, revealing a one-man service elevator.

"After you," he said, and Yugi stepped in.

It was tight in the elevator, and Yugi was reminded of how small he felt whenever he stood next to Kaiba. With their ten-inch height difference, Yugi's eyes were about level with Kaiba's collarbone. Yugi could feel the heat from Kaiba's body on the back of his thighs, and he could smell the faint scent of a vetiver and labdanum, some expensive cologne. He counted the floors as they descended to distract himself.

Six floors down, the elevator chimed, and Kaiba reached around Yugi to press his thumb onto the rear exit lock. The doors opened onto a long hallway lit on either side by LEDs in the floor. They stepped out together and Yugi began to walk down the hallway, but Kaiba placed a hand on his shoulder, halting him. The walkway began to move, conveying them forward.

"Welcome, Mr. Kaiba," said a synthesized voice from the ceiling. "Neural print registered. Welcome, Mr. Mutou."

"Oh wow. It can scan our brainwaves without a headset?"

"It can do much more than that," Kaiba said. "This is my private laboratory. Even Mokuba needs clearance for entry."

Yugi watched in amazement as Kaiba rapidly tapped on holofields projected to his left and right with both hands, solving puzzles framed in maths and programming languages and chess moves, each screen counting the time to his solutions in milliseconds.

"Competency demonstrated. Access granted," said the synthesized voice.

The conveyer belt came to a gentle stop before a wall with a small keypad on it, and Kaiba reached under his collar for the card-shaped locket. He pulled it over his head and inserted it into a slit on the top of the keypad.

There was a hiss and a rush of air as the wall parted, opening on a huge laboratory. It was a maze of ordered chaos, computer terminals and workspaces lining every wall, and half-completed prototypes hung or shelved or suspended from the ceiling. There was a large rolling glass panel covered with erasable paint marker sketches of rejected headset and DuelDisk designs. Along the far wall was a long counter with an eye and hand washing station, an emergency shower and a first aid kit. There was a partition in the counter, and on the other side was a rudimentary kitchen, a small white couch and an arm chair.

"This way," Kaiba said, walking to a central station that housed several physical screens, arms for projecting holofields, and a large chair with a swiveling keyboard. Kaiba gestured to the chair and Yugi tentatively sat down in it, his feet dangling. The wide back and high-placed lumbar curve felt comically large, like he was a child sitting in an easy chair.

"Access code YM0604 dash 2, subtask 3," Kaiba said, swiping down a holofield.

Yugi watched a stream of data flow on the screen before him. Kaiba tapped and swiped through different views, pinching the readout to enlarge it.

"Here is your last draw phase before my disk cuts out. And here," he said, indicating a peak in the graph, "is where we start to register two neural patterns."

Yugi's heart sped up a bit as he took in the graph. Here was proof of his other self.

"This is your baseline vital readout at the moment of entry," Kaiba said, swiping over a side menu so they could view it. "187 over 120 for your blood pressure and 113 BPM for pulse—indicative of a potentially fatal hypertensive crisis. EEG readout indicates what can only be described as seizure-like activity. Until you apply the algorithm to the graph."

Kaiba perched on the arm of the chair and swiveled the keyboard around. He typed a few lines into a command prompt on the holofield and the graph split in two.

"Here. Your EEG reading. The one above," Kaiba pointed a long slim finger, "is Atem's."

Yugi scanned the readings. "Here," he said, indicating areas where both readings peaked, "is this what you meant, where we manifested an outcome?"

"This is the draw phase," Kaiba said, indicating a region of relatively stable activity. "Two seconds prior, there is activity roughly concentrated in his parietal lobe, then the occipital, indicating a form of visualization." Kaiba swiped another menu down, twin models of the brain with different regions highlighted in pink.

"Mere milliseconds after that activity in his brain, your corpus collosum connects disparate cortices to create a complex resonance. And here," Kaiba said, pinching the graphs so they were overlaid, Atem's baseline brain activity in purple and Yugi's in red, "you can see the reciprocity, a sort of neural call and response. This pattern of activity and hyperactivation of the corpus collosum is, if I'm correct in my analysis, a snapshot of quantum activity in the brain."

Yugi considered the data, hand on his chin. "I guess you were right," he said, looking up at Kaiba. "About occult nonsense. Leave it to you to find the science behind magic."

"All magic is disguised science. The universe obeys a set of principals, period. We simply haven't uncovered all the principals yet."

Kaiba activated a second holofield. "Access Code TRA dash 1025, subtask 2. Here," he said, opening a graph with pink and blue overlaid datasets, "is the data from when I crossed," Kaiba narrowed his eyes, brows furrowed, "to where he is."

Yugi gasped.

"My readings in blue. The data in pink is output from an AI I programmed to react to my brainwaves with your oscillstory resonance patterns. I was only able to run such a complex program because of quantum components we reverse engineered from the pieces of the millennium cube left by Diva."

Kaiba stood and let out a sigh of withheld aggravation.

"As you can see, its an incredibly unstable process. When I was on the other side, my body was undimensioning minute by minute. I was there for one, maybe two hours. And half of it was wasted finding the palace where he was."

Yugi's eyes were distant but he was grinning. He couldn't help himself, imagining the palace, its people…Atem.

"When you first told me about what you did, digging up the puzzle, I was shocked. Angry, even," Yugi said, turning in the chair to face Kaiba. "I was worried for you, that you couldn't let go of him. It was hard for me, you know. But I had a long time to prepare for it. I knew before anyone that we would have to send him back."

Kaiba was wide-eyed, silent.

"I understood your desire. I still do. But at that time it felt wrong." Yugi touched his solar plexus, imagining the familiar heat that would radiate out when he would give control to his other self. "But now…"

"Now?" Kaiba said, impatient and a little anxious. Yugi met Kaiba's wild eyes and held them.

"One of the last things he said to me that day, at the coliseum. You know, before he returned to his world," Yugi smiled, " was 'we will meet again.' I didn't think it would be so soon."

A pained look crossed Kaiba's face, and he broke eye contact. He typed a passcode into the holofield to his right and a column of light illuminated the center of the desk in front of Yugi.

"Release the Dimension Cube," he said.

"Yes, Mr. Kaiba," came the synthesized reply.

Slowly, the cube descended from an aperture in the ceiling, and stopped to hover in the light field right above the desk. Kaiba passed his large hand through the field and gently removed the cube. He extended it to Yugi.

"This is what will bring us to him. It's my hypothesis that your presence will stabilize us and keep us there long enough."

"Long enough for what?" Yugi said, carefully taking the cube in both hands.

"I hope to find out when we get there. You've been dreaming too, haven't you?"

Yugi gently turned the cube over. It was cool and heavy in his hands, a familiar weight to the unfamiliar shape. "That's right."

"The results of the sleep study tonight will help me determine how soon we can leave. Mokuba and his team have finished construction of the launch pod. The rest is up to us."

Yugi placed the cube into the column of light. Kaiba closed the holofields and the cube ascended up through the aperture once more.

"Let's go. It's getting late," Kaiba said.

Yugi hopped out of the chair and took one last look around the lab.

"Thank you. For showing me."

Kaiba nodded and led them out the hallway, to the conveyer. He rubbed the bridge of his nose as they floated toward the elevator. Yugi yawned, stretching his arms high above his head.

"Good night, Mr. Kaiba," said the synthesized voice as they entered the elevator.

The floors passed by, one after the other after the other. They must be going all the way to the penthouse, Yugi thought. His eyes watered, bleary, as he stared up at Kaiba's wide back in the tight space of the elevator. He leaned his forehead against the space between Kaiba's shoulderblades. Kaiba stiffened, but slowly relaxed.

"You're tired."

"It's like one AM," Yugi said, his voice muffled by Kaiba's sweater.

"There should be pyjamas in the righthand locker when we get out. Guest toiletries are in the second drawer in the bathroom. I'll meet you in the second to last room to put on the monitors," Kaiba said as the elevator chimed, opening finally onto a skylit anteroom, sparsely but tastefully decorated in trademark white.

"Okay," Yugi said, bending down to unlace his shoes.

There was a moment where Kaiba was struck with the urge to sink his fingers into Yugi's mass of spiky hair. It looked so much like Mokuba's used to, wild and wiry, thick and glossy. He knew better than to try.

Kaiba hung his sport coat in the entryway and ran his hands through his own hair instead. He walked to the compact kitchen and lit the burner under a kettle of water. He left the water to boil, and went to move a roller cart from a closet of equipment into the far bedroom. He was connecting a tablet to the console in the cart when he heard the kettle whistle.

By the time he came back with a cup of instant coffee, Yugi was sitting on the bed in his boxers and a comically oversized blue silk pyjama top, open on his bare chest. The pendant gleamed against his pale skin.

Yugi shrugged. "The bottoms just fell off."

Kaiba laughed to himself and shook his head. He clipped an oxygen monitor on Yugi's outstretched finger and, one-by-one, peeled the adhesive off tiny monitor disks and stuck them onto Yugi's body. Yugi bent in time with Kaiba's large hands, compliant and relaxed.

"I know the drill by now," Yugi said, gently bending his head forward so Kaiba could stick the final monitor to the back of his neck.

"Next time you can apply them yourself," Kaiba said, a note of something pinched in his voice.

Kaiba moved a plush white velvet chair next to the bed, and set the tablet and his coffee on a nearby end table.

"If anything abnormal happens, I'll be monitoring the readouts. But as much as you can, try and treat this like a regular night's sleep."

"You're not gonna sleep," Yugi said, brows raised.

Kaiba blew on his coffee. "I'll sleep in the next dimension."

Yugi felt a little guilty as he nestled himself under the thick comforter, mindful of the wires as he found a comfortable position.

Kaiba lowered the lights from his tablet, and the only light left in the room was the green glow of the monitors and the soft blue light of the tablet illuminating Kaiba's face, his cobalt blue eyes phosphorescent in the near-dark.

"Goodnight, Seto." Yugi said.

Kaiba's eyes widened a fraction, then softened, half-lidded. He quietly said,

"Goodnight."

Mahad meditated, preparing himself for the coming storm. He lifted his head to the wind, testing the briny air. The wind was against them. Water slipped silently around the hundred foot wood barque in the thinly starlit dark. There was a rustling sound as the hull dipped fore and then rocked back aft, see-sawing gently before stilling once more. He knew in that moment they had come. He opened his eyes.

The magician turned toward the form that had materialized on the deck: two figures crouched together, the taller cradling the smaller as they huddled tightly in the humid, fragrant air. Kaiba's long limbs were curled around Yugi like a spider with its catch, his right fist balled around a long golden was scepter, braced against the deck of the boat. There was a fear, a frozenness, that made them look like lovers from Pompei, calcified in a final moment of desperate consolation.

"Go forth, thou spirit of ice: float away," he said, waving his long emerald green scepter over them.

It was Kaiba who unfurled first, lurching up on one knee. He lifted his right arm, using the golden scepter to pull himself upright. His fingers were scraped from pressing into the wood. He sucked the blood from his knuckle and gripped Yugi's shoulder and shook it gently.

"Yugi."

Yugi was sitting in the fetal position, arms curled around his knees, a blue faience ankh cradled against his naked chest. It clinked against the pendant he wore as he lifted his head to look around.

They took a moment to get their bearings. Yugi got up on one knee and faltered. Kaiba pulled Yugi up by the arm and they stood precariously like baby deer in the gently rocking boat. Yugi picked at the kilt on his hips, white linen under a pleated indigo sash, secured with a golden brooch in the shape of a wadjet. Kaiba was smoothing down his own kilt: over it, looping from his shoulders to his hips was the pelt of a leopard. Yugi turned around, finally setting eyes on Mahad.

"Mahad! Where are we," he said.

"This is Atet," Mahad said, sweeping aside his long cloak to gesture down the length of the boat. "The barque of a thousand years. The millenium ship."

They squinted in the dark. They were in a long, elaborately figured boat: a king's boat. Its mast bore a painted sail, more form than functional. They were standing at the front of the boat. Behind them, at the other end, was a thatched cabin, its contents shrouded in darkness.

"Why have you brought us here," Kaiba said, instinct bringing him into a warrior's wide stance, the scepter held menacingly in front of him.

"This is the night ship's journey. You're here because you belong here," Mahad said sternly, inclining his own scepter, a stylized djed with an oblong emerald at the top.

Yugi put a cautionary hand on Kaiba's elbow, and Kaiba dropped his arm down, the forked end of the scepter making a little click as it touched the deck.

"This is the sun god's boat, isn't it?" Yugi said, glancing down the length of the ship. "We're here to protect the sun god."

Mahad nodded. "You're here to fight Apep. The chaos beast."

At that moment there was the sound of sloshing water and a deep rumble. Mahad took his place next to Yugi and raised up his staff.

"Remember our training, master. It's buried in your heart, hidden in the mist of dreams. Remember," Mahad said. Then turning to Kaiba he said, with a reverent nod:

"Set—you whom the world calls Kaiba. The sun's journey depends on your strength. We're counting on you."

The lean taut muscles in Kaibas forearms twisted as he clenched his balled fists. There was a rush and a fine mist of water and he turned just in time to lay eyes upon the enormous, twisting black form of a serpent that rose in coils on either side of the barque. It was blacker than black, like it sucked all the light from the pinpoint stars, indistinct in all its features but for two glowing, slitted red eyes and the sucking gravity of its cavernous maw, more sensed than seen.

"Now, warriors. Now!" Mahad said, stepping back with one leg to brace himself as he unleashed burst after burst of pulsing black magic.

Yugi's eyes were wild-wide and his heart was pounding in his chest, so hard he felt it bouncing the pendant. He had no duel disk, no cards. He gripped the base of the blue faience ankh in his left hand and his panic-blown mind went completely blank. His right hand moved of its own accord, extending out with the fingers upright and pressed tight together. He felt a quiet litany of unintelligible words start to fall from his lips.

"Yes, yes. Do what it is your birthright to do, young Horace," Mahad said, his staff glowing the same turquoise green as the ankh in Yugi's hand, now luminous with a powerful light.

Kaiba was poised with the scepter in front of him, carved face of the sha at the end glowing green like Mahad's staff. The serpent spun and lurched at Kaiba's outstretched arms, and Kaiba swung the glowing scepter like a bat, striking the serpent on the nose. The serpent recoiled and withdrew, but an ominous red light began to glow in its jaws.

"Call the dragon," Mahad said, desperation in his voice.

Kaiba's eyes rolled back in his head and he tapped the forked end of the scepter against the deck of the ship once, twice, three times. Three glowing orbs appeared around his head, cooling into into three wide blue eyes. The eyes swirled and scattered, and the body of each dragon materialized in a spiraling rush of white, growing from the eye out.

The Blue-Eyes White Dragons each took a place above the warriors, Mahad and Yugi in the back and Kaiba in front. Their feet marked the points of an equilateral triangle that appeared, glowing gold through the wood of the boat.

The serpent Apep unleashed a brutal burst of red flame, searing the wood of the barque around them. Yugi screamed, eyes wide, and the light of the ankh engulfed them, protecting their bodies from the tongues of fire with a mirror force dome.

"Go forth, my Blue Eyes," Kaiba said, and the dragons raised their heads together, stretched their jaws wide. "Burst stream of destruction," he cried, and they let fly their beams of white lightning right into the serpent's open mouth. It made a horrid sound as it swayed back and fell into the water.

The flash of light when the burst hit blinded them for a moment. Kaiba stepped back as the smoke swirled and dissipated, squinting in the ominous silence to see if they had won.

"It's not enough. I can sense him moving beneath the water," Mahad said.

Suddenly, the barque lurched to the side. There was a whine as the wood creaked, then a sharp crack as the mast snapped in two, pulled into the water by the serpent's tail. They stumbled, struggling to keep their footing as the dark water splashed over the deck.

Yugi clutched the ankh to his chest and thought of Atem. It was finally time to protect him. I cannot lose, I cannot lose, I cannot lose, he said to himself. His stomach tightened and he felt something shift within him. A warm sensation trickled down through the top of his head, pooling in his chest. It dripped down his spine and into his legs and in that moment he knew exactly what to do.

Yugi stepped into the center of the glowing triangle, close behind Kaiba.

"Trust me," he said. He placed his open palm in the middle of Kaiba's back and resumed his whispered litany, eyes closed in prayer. Kaiba leaned into the touch, raising the scepter over his head with both hands, the figured head pointing up to the sky between the three dragons.

Yugi's eyes snapped open, lips moving silently as he spoke the words through Kaiba's mouth:

"We offer you our servants as tribute," Kaiba cried, his rich voice humming with the overtones of Yugi's gentle tenor, "Come forth, Draconic Sibyl, the White Mage of Silence!"

The bodies of the dragons faded to twinkling emptiness, and in the light shone between them came a woman with long, blown-back white hair, dressed in a white toga. The toga was secured at the shoulder and the waist with brooches of sapphire and gold. On her bare right arm in deep blue was the tattoo of a dragon, tail curling in a spiral around her shoulder cap and twisting its way down her arm, with the roaring, blue-eyed head atop her hand. She drifted down to the boat, gold bangles on her ankles jingling softly as her bare feet touched the deck.

Mahad moved to stand next to Kaiba and raised his staff. Yugi dropped to one knee behind them, cradling the ankh to his lips with both hands, eyes distant as he turned inward to channel his energy toward thm.

"Come to me, my faithful servant," Mahad called, and there was a crack of lightning and a flash of pink smoke next to the White Mage of Silence. There in the clearing smoke stood Mana in gray and gold, hat cocked to one side on her wild brown hair. She raised her wand, now slate gray with shining gold accents, to push her pointed hat back into place.

The water began to fizzle in front of the barque and a blast of steam hit them as a fireball shot out of the murky water into the air.

"Blaze burning!" Mana shouted, shielding them from the grazing blow with her upraised wand. She grunted, forcing the white fire from her wand to deflect the spinning fireball.

"Now, Seto," Mahad said, holding his staff at an angle before him. Kaiba crossed the staff with his was scepter, and Mana, panting, pointed the curled end of her wand where their staffs joined. A green light grew at the junction, swirling and pulsing with the lilt of Yugi's voice behind them.

"White Mage of Silence, attack!" Yugi called.

"Silent Execration!" Kaiba cried.

The White Mage lifted her hand high above her head, and the light from the magicians' crossed wands shot up to gather in a spinning mass above her head. The serpent reared out of the water, a ball of red flame growing once more in its open jaws. They fired together, bright neon green and dark burning red clashing in a blinding flash of light. The aftershock of the explosion knocked Mana off her feet, sending her sliding down the deck. Mahad lifted his arm to shield his face, and Yugi dropped his fist to the deck to balance himself.

"Did it work?" Yugi said, squinting against the smoke.

Kaiba walked to the prow of the boat, gripping his scepter with both hands. He stepped up onto the edge of the boat with one leg, scanning the water for motion.

"Seto, be cautious," Mahad said.

There was a beat of silence, then a piercing shriek as the serpent surged up and whipped through the air straight at Kaiba. Its jaw was hanging off, one side blown away, and its left eye was singed closed. There was thick, oily blood gushing out of its face and into the water, streaking the waves with darkly iridescent swirls.

"Seto!" Mahad said, scrambling forward.

"Kaiba!" Yugi said, horrified, stumbling to his feet.

"Disappear!" Kaiba screamed, flipping the scepter so the pointed, forked end faced up. The serpent made to swallow him, and he shoved the scepter high into the roof of its gaping mouth, grinding it up through the bone with a powerful, rage-filled thrust.

Even from a distance Yugi could see the muscles in his back straining under the skin, thick lean cords of muscle in his forearms pulsing as he drove the scepter up with an animalistic scream. Shining oily blood spurted out from the wound, spraying over Kaiba's arms. Apep writhed and bucked against the scepter. Kaiba yanked backward, jerking Apep's head half into the boat, and the scepter popped out with a squelch. The serpent hissed, red eye sliding closed, and sunk lifeless into the water, leaving a smear of oily blood behind it.

Kaiba staggered back, panting. He leaned heavily on the scepter to keep his balance. Yugi got to him just in time to catch some of the weight as his legs gave out. Yugi lowered him tenderly to the ground.

"Are you all right?" Yugi said, searching Kaiba's eyes.

Kaiba wiped a droplet of oily blood from his cheek.

"Hmf! I refuse to lose to anyone but you." He said, breathless but arrogant, propped up on a quivering elbow.

Yugi exhaled, relieved, unease slowly fading from his face.

Mahad brought Mana to her feet, straightening her hat himself this time.

"Master! We won," she said, beaming up at him.

"Thank you, Mana. Well done."

"Mana!" Yugi said as he helped the exhausted Kaiba lean back into his lap. "You look different. I like it."

"Upgrade!" she said, giggling. "I've been practicing," she said, winking at him.

The White Mage knelt in front of Yugi and Kaiba, placing her open palms on the deck. She dropped her forehead to her hands in silent supplication. The blue dragon tattoo on her arm rippled as she raised her torso up and bowed again, prostrate before them.

"Silent Magician, " Yugi said affectionately, gently cupping her cheek to bring her back upright. "Is that you?"

"Kisara…" Kaiba whispered, squinting through the pain in his back and shoulders.

The white mage took Yugi's hand and squeezed once. She slid closer to them, leaning over to brush the hair from Kaiba's face. She kissed her index and middle fingers, then lightly touched his forehead.

"She wants to thank you for sharing your power," Mahad said.

"You're welcome," Yugi said, holding her clear blue eyes with his own until he knew she felt his gratitude too.

The light around them had begun to change, murky gray giving way to purple and pink and a final, triumphant gold. Yugi felt drained but at peace. He laid his palms on Kaiba's shoulders, comforted by the soft but regular rise and fall of Kaiba's chest.

"You've done it, everyone," came a familiar voice from behind them.

The hair on Yugi's neck stood on end. His skin prickled with goosebumps from his ears down to his fingers. Kaiba's eyes shot open and he forced himself upright again.

"Atem!" Yugi said, head turning toward his other self, tears welling in his smile-crinkled eyes.

Atem stood behind them, gold crown and gauntlets glinting in the growing light, purple cape fanned out behind him. His eyes shined a deep mauve in the blossoming dawn. He raised his fist in the air, and the sun began to crest over the horizon, bathing them all in gold.

His squared shoulders, his quiet dignity, the softness of his gaze, it was overwhelming to them. Tears streaked Yugi's face. Mahad and Mana knelt reverently, faces full of awe. Kaiba's eyes were wide and hungry and he swallowed heavily.

"Thank you, my friends," Atem said, locking eyes with Yugi. The two stared silently for a moment, and then they both nodded.

Kaiba struggled to get up, reaching toward Atem, so close to them now. His elbow caught the corner of the end table and sent his half-empty coffee cup clattering to the ground. The sound of it rolling on the floor brought him to his senses, and he looked around the room, panicked.

There was his penthouse guest room, tablet on the floor by his feet. The sun was peeking in through the gap in the curtain that shielded them from the ten-foot windows and the view of all of Domino city below, gilding the little puddle of spilled coffee. The sliver of sun that cut through was shining on Yugi's sleeping face, glinting on his thick, dark eyelashes, making his ruffled bangs look like actual gold—so much like Atem but for the pale color of his skin. His lips were parted and his brow was furrowed. He turned over, tugging loose one of the wires still attached to his body.

Kaiba was hit by the absurdity of his own disheveled, panicked, sweat-slicked state. He peeled off his sweater and undershirt and tossed them over the arm of the chair. He padded over to the bathroom to splash some water on his face.

His hands were shaking. He braced himself against the sink with his hips and stared at his blanched, shaking hands. His knuckled were bruised and bloody where they had been in the dream. There was sticky black oil under his fingernails. He turned on the faucet and let the cool water fall over his hands. He stood there for a long time, the sound of the water soothing his frayed nerves.

He saw some motion behind him in the mirror and his heart skipped. There was Yugi standing in the doorway, shirtless, worrying the pendant between his thumb and index fingers. There were still two little monitoring disks stuck to one side of his neck.

"Kaiba," Yugi said, drowsy. He rubbed the sleep from his eye, concern wrinkling his brow.

Kaiba felt his chest tighten. He was tongue-tied, breathing heavy, a part of his consciousness still stuck in a dream. He stared at his own hands as though they might tell him what to do.

"You must have fallen asleep. You had a nightmare?" Yugi said.

Kaiba didn't answer. He shut off the faucet. There was a tenuous silence, and he shut his eyes against it. What was happening to him?

Suddenly he felt a hand on his bare shoulder, a startling but welcome warmth. Yugi was close behind him, so close that his breath tickled Kaiba's skin when he said softly:

"It's okay. You're okay. We're home now, you don't have to worry."

Kaiba's eyes widened. "What do you mean home—"

"Your hands," Yugi said, tipping his head to the side to look at the mirror. He stared at the reflection of Kaiba's bloody knuckles. "The dream. I was there too."

Kaiba turned around, leaning back against the sink to put some space between them. He looked down into Yugi's wide violet eyes. They were calm and clear.

"We had the same dream." he said flatly.

"Well. It wasn't a dream," Yugi said gently. "At least, I don't think so."

Kaiba exhaled and his whole body slowly started to relax.

"What did he say to you? At the end?" Kaiba said.

Yugi raised his eyebrows.

"When you were staring at each other. I could sense it. Something between you. Is it mind reading?"

Yugi's eyes darkened. "I don't know. Maybe."

"If there's evidence in your neural signal, I'll find it. I just have to analyze the data."

Yugi smiled, exasperated but amused. "You and your data. Can we at least have some breakfast first? It's like six thirty in the morning."

Kaiba clenched his jaw. "If you expect me to act as though what just happened isn't highly unusual, I'll have to add an MRI to the tests you'll be taking today, because you aren't in your right mind."

Yugi smiled and crossed his arms, purposely assuming the posture of challenge he'd learned from his other self. With Kaiba shirtless Yugi could see the ripple of tension flow from Kaiba's neck down his long arms. The bloody knuckles twitched.

"I'm supposed to work at the store today. If you want me to do more tests for you, you'll have to best me in a game," Yugi said, eyes narrowed.

There was a moment where Kaiba didn't know whether to be irritated or amused. His eyes passed over Yugi's compact frame, all sharp elbows and lean muscle. The confident stance was as rattling as it was magnetic. Even standing barefoot in his boxers, even though Kaiba towered over him, Yugi had a formidable presence. Kaiba swallowed.

"Well?" Yugi said.

His jaw was set, he was looking up at Kaiba coyly. Goading him.

Kaiba smirked and reached over to peel a monitoring disk from behind Yugi's ear. Yugi reddened but stood firm.

"Fine," Kaiba said finally. He dialed a code into a small console on the wall.

"Good morning, Mr. Kaiba," came a pleasant voice from the console.

"I would like some breakfast. Two place settings. A pot of coffee." he said, watching as Yugi mouthed the words to him. "French toast. With apricot compote." He paused, and Yugi mouthed more slowly. "Sorry, apple compote. Scrambled eggs." He raised his eyebrow as Yugi nodded, mouthing the words as an incredulous Kaiba repeated them. "And toast, rye. With butter. Orange juice. And bacon."

"Will that be all, Mr. Kaiba?"

"And a grapefruit."

"Certainly. Anything else?"

"That will be all."

"Yes, Mr. Kaiba."

The air crackled between them and Kaiba smiled. Their little wager had brought him back from his dream-rattled state. He felt refreshed, excited.

"Chess?" he said.

Yugi frowned. "Rivals for Catan. We'll play Duel of the Princes."

Kaiba nodded. "Under the coffee table in the living room. I'll get it."

Yugi stepped back to let Kaiba pass and watched him disappear down the hall.

Yugi felt strange, electric, something between pain and excitement prickling his skin. He thought about the dream, about the sound of Atem's voice, about how he felt in the moment that it looked like the serpent would swallow Kaiba. He thought of Kaiba's muscles rippling as he speared the monster, about Kaiba's head in his lap. A wave of giddy lightheadedness passed through him from the bottom of his spine up, a feeling like the start of a roller coaster dive.

Yugi took inventory of the last twenty-four hours, pressing the pendant around his neck between his thumb and forefinger.

A blooming awareness took root in his stomach and he blushed. He made a mental note to text Bakura. They needed to talk.

Mokuba let himself into the penthouse where his brother stayed on late work nights. He removed his white suit jacket and hung it on a peg above his shoes. He picked up the two coffees he had set on a side table and started in toward the living room. Surely his brother would need a pick-me-up if he'd been at work late enough to stay in the penthouse suite. Mokuba was expecting to see Seto among holofields and paperwork, pale but lucid, dressed for work.

What he saw when he crossed into the living room almost made him drop the coffees.

Kaiba was sitting languidly on the sofa, plush white terrycloth robe open on his bare chest, game cards in his right hand. He was grinning devilishly, chin high. Yugi was sitting cross legged on the floor on the other side of the coffee table, shirtless, barefoot, jeans unbuttoned. He was sucking on a piece of grapefruit and considering the spread of cards on the coffee table. Kaiba draped his arm along the top of the couch, and his posture was so relaxed, so leisurely—almost sensual, Mokuba thought with a wince—that Mokuba felt like an invader in his pleated slacks and crisp collared shirt.

"Oh god, uh. Hi. Should I come back?" he said, taking a step backward.

"Morning, Mokuba," Yugi said, eyes still trained on the cards.

"You missed your curfew last night," Kaiba said, looking at the cards in his hand.

"I missed my…well what were YOU doing last night," Mokuba said, flustered.

"It's no good," Yugi said, shaking his head. "This is it," he said, carefully placing a card on the table.

Kaiba laughed, haughty.

"Mokuba! I'm going to have to ask you to handle the tech audit yourself. I have to analyze some data and perform some tests this afternoon," Kaiba said. "Right, Yugi?"

Yugi sighed. "Yup."

"Okay. Well, its almost 8. Are you at least going to come to the board meeting?" Mokuba said, frowning. "It's the projections for next quarter, we should really both be there."

Kaiba waved dismissively. "Yes, of course."

Yugi ruffled his wild hair. "I need a shower."

"Need to cleanse yourself of your defeat?" Kaiba said, crossing his arms. "You're welcome to use the shower here when I'm done." He stood, slipping his hands into the pockets of his robe. "Mokuba, I'll see you in the board room."

"Okay…Nii-sama," Mokuba said, watching his brother disappear down the hall.

Yugi reached up to grab a little plate of toast, two slices left on it. He offered it to Mokuba.

"Toast?"

Mokuba put the coffees down on the table and sunk into the couch, frowning. He took a piece of toast and began to chew on it, unsure what to say. He took out his phone instead.

"Oh! How was your date?" Yugi said.

"My date. Oh yeah," Mokuba said as he put down his phone, smiling at the memory. "It was great. We had a great time. I'll tell you all about it next time we debug."

"Ah, great. I'll tell Jounouchi it sucked," Yugi said, winking.

Mokuba chewed thoughtfully on the toast.

"I haven't seen him like that in a long time. Nii-sama." Mokuba said, eyes distant. "He looked…happy."

Yugi smiled. "He's always happy when he's winning, isn't he?"

Mokuba squinted. "It's different. I don't know how to explain it." He looked over at Yugi—Yugi, kind eyes, cross legged on the floor, leaning back on his hands, comfortable and open. The food on the tray, the cards on the table, Yugi's belt draped over a chair. It all made the stylish but sterile white room look lived-in, imbuing it with a human warmth. Mokuba shrugged.

"Well anyway it's good to see him like that."

He got up suddenly and patted his hands with a cloth napkin that was draped on the side of the coffee table. "Okay, I have to go prepare some papers."

Yugi got to his feet and stretched. "See you this afternoon maybe."

"Yeah. Hey, Yugi," Mokuba said, caution tinting his voice.

"Mhm?" Yugi said as he threaded his studded belt into the loops on his jeans.

Mokuba chewed the inside of his lip. "Ah…thanks for the toast," he said, turning quickly toward the door.

"No problem," Yugi said quietly, blinking as Mokuba disappeared beyond the doorway.

Yugi felt suddenly vulnerable now that he was alone in the stark white room. Least he could do was tidy up.

He gathered the plates and stacked them on the cart, then went to work stacking up the playing cards, settling them back into their box. He was folding up the napkins when Kaiba stepped into the living room.

"I left you a towel and a washcloth," Kaiba said from behind him.

Kaiba's damp hair slicked to his forehead. The color had returned to his face. He was tucking the end of his collared shirt into his white suit pants.

"Thanks," Yugi said, straightening the cart now stacked with their empty plates.

Kaiba took two cufflinks from his pocket and flicked his wrist, catching his cuffs with his last two fingers. He struggled with the small, understated cufflinks in his large hand.

"Here, I got it," Yugi said, taking the little cuff link from Kaiba. He deftly inserted it and smoothed the cuffs until they were folded over neatly. Kaiba offered his other wrist and Yugi inserted the second cuff link, smoothed down the other side.

"Thank you."

"Mhm."

"B-lab at 4pm?"

"Mhm."

Kaiba nodded and grabbed either side of the blue silk tie that was draped over his shoulders.

"Have a good day," Yugi said, standing in the doorway to the hall, the domestic color of their exchange making him feel awkward and warm all over.

Kaiba smiled and nodded before he turned toward the door. The smile was so soft, so genuine, it was almost alarming. No, it *was* alarming, if the speed of Yugi's heart was an indication of alarm.

Yugi waited, rooted in the doorway until the soft chime of the elevator from the other room underlined his aloneness in the expansive suite. He let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding.

"What would you do," he said softly to the cartouche pendant.

Silence answered him.

He picked his phone up off the table, typed a little message to Bakura. He shook his clammy hands out and headed toward the shower.