Chapter Eight

Lector was still badly shaken as they drove towards Kaiba Manor. The sight of Johnson, or Johnson's body, acting out with no apparent soul present was absolutely chilling. And Yami Bakura sending him away without blinking an eye was rattling too. It was true, Lector had just stood and watched without so much as trying to help. But had that been because of still-existent hatred towards Seto Kaiba, or because he had been so horrified at what had been happening that he hadn't been able to think clearly?

How could the bodies have woke up without their souls? He had his. Were the others still back in the Shadow Realm? They must hate him if they were, both for trying to help Mokuba and for getting back when they didn't. Now Johnson's body was in the Shadow Realm. If they all found it, they might decide to share it in order to have one again. And if they ever made it back here, what would that mean for him?

He had never thought he would need to be afraid of those who had been his allies, even the closest people he had had to friends for years. He knew they hadn't wanted him to be swallowed up by the Shadow Realm's darkness, but maybe they had even changed their minds on that after he had tried to help Mokuba and after ending up back in his body, which was all they had wanted for endless ages. Had it really only been months? It seemed like years, eternities.

"Lector." Seto's voice suddenly cut into his thoughts. "We're here."

Lector started back to the present. Kaiba Manor was looming over them as the chauffeur drove them through the gates. It had been so long since he had seen this sight, dating back to the days of Gozaburo's rule over this house and KaibaCorp. After Seto had taken away most of his power, he had rarely come to the mansion at all.

"You're to stay right beside me at all times," Seto continued, his voice cold and unrelenting. "I don't trust you on your own."

"And just what if nothing's wrong in there, Mr. Kaiba?" Lector retorted. "Then what?"

"Then you make your decision of who you're going to work for and go back to downtown Domino City," Seto replied. He opened the door and stepped out.

Lector got out as well, just as the Bakuras were pulling up and exiting their van. He felt Yami Bakura's suspicious, searching gaze on him, but didn't turn to face him. Instead they all walked up to the porch without speaking and Seto unlocked the front door.

The eerie stillness that met them inside the entryway chilled them all.

"Oh my," Bakura gulped.

"Something is wrong," Seto growled. "Mokuba!" He walked briskly in front of the others, desperate to see or hear his brother, but to no avail.

"That window is broken," Yami Bakura noticed.

"No!" Seto broke into a run now, fearing what all of them were wondering. Had Mokuba been kidnapped right from the house?!

Then came the answer. "Seto!"

Seto ground to a halt. Mokuba's voice was coming over the speaker system. "Mokuba, where are you?!" he exclaimed. "Are you alright?!"

"For now," Mokuba said. "Marik and I just barely got away from some creepy scientist and two members of the Big Five. And Seto, the scientist said they don't have their souls!"

Seto clenched his teeth. "That's what the thief says too. We ran into one of them."

"What about Lector?" Mokuba demanded. "Is he the same way?!"

Lector started, awkward and surprised by the boy's concern. "No," he said. "I'm not."

"Lector?!" Mokuba was stunned. "You're here?!"

"It's . . . a long story," Lector stammered.

"And right now there are more important things to talk about," Seto interjected. "Are they still here?"

"Probably," Mokuba said in obvious disgust. "They were going to spread out and look all through the house to find us."

"Alright." Now Seto was on high alert again. "Don't leave your station as long as you and Marik are safe there. And don't give any hints as to where you are, in case they're hearing."

"Seto . . ." Now the fear and worry was slipping into Mokuba's voice. "Be careful. . . . It's really you they want. All those Big Five creeps could say was 'Destroy Kaiba.'"

"They won't get the chance," Seto vowed.

The sound of another vehicle pulling up outside startled all of them. Bakura turned to look out the still-open front door. "Why, it's Yugi and the others," he said in surprise. "Except Téa. . . . She must still be at work."

Yugi got out of Solomon's truck and ran for the stairs, the others following close behind him. "Kaiba!" he called. "Are you alright?!"

"Yes, for now," Seto said. "And I'm going to make sure I stay that way."

"Well, you won't if those Big Five sleazeballs get their way," Joey piped up. "Gah! There's one of them now!" He pointed a shaking finger at Lector, who turned to face him.

"At the moment, I'm just worried about Mokuba's safety, Mr. Wheeler," Lector told him.

Joey rocked back with a surprised blink. "Hey, you actually sound normal, unlike the guy we ran into coming here. Are you . . . I mean, do you . . ."

"It should be obvious, Wheeler, but in case it isn't, yes, he is in possession of all his faculties," Seto said, still not able to make himself refer to souls and the presence or absence of them.

Joey didn't look convinced. "Well, that's . . . good. I think. Not that he was any less dangerous with his soul!"

"He was a vital ally when we were in the Shadow Realm," Atem said. "I would like to believe that he is not an enemy now."

Tristan narrowed his eyes. "Yeah, well, that's harder for some of us to believe than others."

"That's understandable," Lector said. "But there's no time to argue about it now."

"No, there isn't." Seto took off running ahead.

Lector chased after him, but stumbled to a halt when Gansley and Nesbitt each appeared from a different corridor and stood facing them. "Destroy Kaiba!" Gansley cried.

"What are you two doing?!" Lector demanded. "You wanted to destroy him with your superior intellect, not with brute force!"

"Kaiba." Nesbitt lunged.

Seto dodged and grabbed his arm, flipping the man over his shoulder to the floor. "These aren't your friends, Lector," he said. "Not that they ever were to begin with."

"I know," Lector admitted. But it didn't make this easier. It was still hard to believe that these were bodies without souls. Any minute he expected them to start talking normally, to show intelligence and not brute strength, to be the people he remembered.

And it wasn't pleasant news that Dr. Portman was here. He would probably have to choose that much sooner whom to align with, and he still didn't like either option.

Although . . . he had never thought he would say it, but he was starting to think that Seto was the lesser of these two evils. He didn't feel good at all about Portman doing her mad sciencing on the other Big Five members.

Of course, she would likely try to manipulate him into working for her again. She might even say something utterly terrifying, like that she had deliberately pulled the others' souls out of them and she could do the same to him.

What if it wouldn't be a lie?

Now he was just being ridiculous. Surely the bodies had just woke up that way, for some reason. Surely they hadn't woke up normal, the same as him, and she had done some unnatural evil on them!

"Lector?"

He started in surprise at Yugi's concerned voice. "What is it?"

"Are you okay?" The kid was looking up at him with worry-filled eyes.

Lector stared down at him in disbelief. "After all I did to you and your friends, you ask me that?"

"You look like you need someone to talk to," Yugi said. Seto was now punching Gansley, sending him against the wall. "I know it must be hard, seeing things like this."

". . . It is hard," Lector admitted. "But I'm not about to go bearing my soul to someone whose body I tried to take over."

"I understand," Yugi said. "But I'm here if you do want to talk."

"How can you even want to?" Lector countered.

"It's easier when they show a good side, like you've shown by being protective of Mokuba," Yugi admitted. "But I would hate to think I hadn't been attentive to anyone who needs help and compassion, even if they still act like an enemy."

"I've never met anyone like you," Lector said, shaking his head.

"Join the club," Seto grunted. He ran ahead, desperately looking for Mokuba and staying on guard for a sudden appearance of Dr. Portman.

Everyone else quickly followed.

xxxx

In the Shadow Realm, the spirits of the Big Four were angry, confused, and feeling abandoned following Lector's mysterious departure. The Egyptian Khu, who was still mortal and had been trapped in the Shadow Realm since ancient times, was angry enough for all of them. He was pacing back and forth in the purple fog and darkness, tightly gripping his staff.

"Your friend made a fool out of me," he snarled. "He actually possessed me to keep me from harming that Mokuba brat. And then he was suddenly gone! Where did he go?!"

"He must have followed Yugi Muto and the others back to the real world," Johnson said. They had had this conversation many times before, but that didn't stop Khu from initiating it again. All of them recognized in him what had been burning in them for years: hatred . . . wounded pride . . . the desire for revenge. . . . It would only be a matter of time before he decided to take out his rage on Lector, if he hadn't determined that already.

And would they join him? They couldn't deny that they were angry if Lector had deliberately left them. But, as Johnson had logically pointed out, why wouldn't Lector leave them, after what they had done to him? Well, they had not personally trapped him in the darkness after discovering his sheltering of the abducted Mokuba—Khu had done that—but they had laughed and encouraged it and supported it.

Still . . . none of them had honestly thought that the darkness would swallow Lector and make him a part of it. They had all thought he would keep hold of his sense of self, that after a few minutes he would want out and to be with them again. They had all been shaken, even horrified, when it had looked like Lector had instead been killed. They still didn't understand how he had escaped the darkness, even when he had coldly explained that the Pharaoh had helped him. Now he was gone again, and likely back to the real world, where they all badly wanted to go.

A flash of light and another Johnson dropping into their midst startled all of them back to the present.

"What on Earth?!" Gansley exclaimed.

The new Johnson got up, his eyes blank. "Destroy Kaiba!"

"Well, he certainly gets to the heart of the matter," Crump darkly chuckled.

The first Johnson just stared in disbelief. "This . . . looks like my body," he stammered. "But it's animated on its own. How?!"

Khu stopped pacing and sneered. "It could either be magic or some new science," he said. "Someone must have animated it and it went after Kaiba. Then someone sent it here to protect him, probably either the Pharaoh or Bakura."

"But what do we do with it?!" It was rare to see Johnson so rattled, but coming face-to-face with his soulless body was more than enough to do it. The other members of the Big Four looked disturbed as well.

"Here's a thought," Khu grinned. "Why don't you see if you can enter it and take control?"

Johnson blinked in surprise. "When it's up and moving around, do you think I even could?"

"Who knows," Khu flippantly shrugged. "But there's no harm in trying."

"Yes, try, Johnson," Gansley encouraged. "Then at least one of us will have a body . . . and perhaps we can take turns using it." He gave a dark smirk.

"Objection! It's my body," Johnson exclaimed. "I don't want everyone in it!"

"You're still loyal to the team, are you not?" Gansley retorted.

Johnson stared at him. "Well, yes, but . . ."

"Then if we all want to use it in order to experience being alive again, you wouldn't deny it of us, would you?"

Uncomfortable, Johnson rocked back. "I guess not. . . ."

"Good. Then go forward and try to reclaim it!" Gansley gestured at the soulless body, which was starting to walk off while yelling about destroying Kaiba.

". . . I will never not find this surreal," Johnson proclaimed. He awkwardly stepped forward, then broke into a run. "H-Hey! Come back!"

"Not just surreal; this is downright bizarre," Crump said.

Johnson leaped forward, lunging at his body while desperately wishing that this time it would work. They had never been able to re-enter their bodies while they had lain in comas at KaibaCorp, but maybe now . . . possibly, it would be different.

There was an immediate and strange sensation of passing through a doorway, even a dimension. Then Johnson blinked, opening eyes that were once again looking through glasses. Stunned, he held up his hands, still in disbelief.

"It worked," he gasped. "I'm actually back in my body! And it's no longer acting on its own! I'm fully in control!"

"Excellent," Gansley smirked. "At long last, one of us has achieved what we have wanted for so long."

"But we're all still trapped," Crump complained. "Even if we all share Johnson's body, we won't really be alive as long as we're in this place!"

"I'm still looking for the way out," Khu said. "When I find it, your former associate Mr. Lector is going to be very sorry. I'll destroy him whether or not he's found his way back to his body. And none of you will be able to stop me, if any of you even want to!"

"I can get all of you out."

They all started and looked up. A cruel person with wild hair and a heartless grin was watching them from the shadows.

"How long have you been there?" Nesbitt asked.

"Long enough. I can open a portal right now and deposit all of you back in the real world. Your other bodies are running free just like Johnson's. You'll all have the chance to reclaim your bodies and your lives."

"Why would you help us?" Gansley frowned. "And if you can really do this, why didn't you offer before?"

"My only desire is to reign chaos and heartache." The character's eyes went bloodshot and veins began popping out on his face. "You will cause a great deal of it. And the only reason I waited was to see your feelings build up even more."

Khu's lip curled. "I don't trust you at all. But if chaos is all you want, we'll give you plenty of it. Just send us back."

"Very well." Yami Marik waved his hand and a hole in space opened. Through it, they could see Gansley's and Nesbitt's bodies getting up to chase Seto Kaiba in the Kaiba mansion. Hearing them coming, another figure turned to look, his eyes filled with fear and horror.

"Lector?!" Gansley boomed.

"He's got his body back!" Crump cried. "And he's with Seto Kaiba!"

"Does that make you hate?" Yami Marik grinned.

"It sure makes me feel something," Crump grunted. "Why is he with Kaiba?! Did he completely sell out?!"

"Kaiba could have simply caught him," Gansley mused. "Even when he was helping Mokuba, he still insisted he hated Seto Kaiba."

"Yeah, well, right now I'm not so sure I believe it," Crump growled.

"We'll be sure to ask him when we get there," Gansley said.

"Alright, let's get back there!" Crump exclaimed. "But hey, where's my body?!"

"Oh, I think you'll be pleased with its location," Yami Marik cackled. He stepped aside from the portal. "Now why don't you get out of here before something else goes through instead of you?"

They didn't need any further encouragement; they stepped into the hole in space. Then they were barreling through the portal and back to the mortal plane.