Note: Khu is my character.

Chapter Three

He hated this place.

All of them did, of course. Being wandering spirits in the real world had been better than the virtual world, and it had certainly been better than this. This constant, insistent darkness that almost seemed alive was always tearing at them, pulling at them, trying to drag them into it and do who knew what to them. The more they resisted, the more determined it became.

They tried to look at this as just one more challenge, one more obstacle, and one more reason to hate Seto Kaiba and his friends. The Pharaoh had jumped to the top of their hate list now, as had Yami Bakura. Those two had deliberately sent them here to suffer in the darkness, and they would regret it.

If he was honest with himself, he was growing tired of this. Plot revenge, try to enact it, get beaten back and left off worse than before. It was an endless waltz, over and over, and he wanted to break the habit but didn't know how. He had come too far to turn back.

The others were all arguing again. In annoyance he stepped away from them, looking out through the neverending blackness of this mysterious realm. There were other people here, but he could never find them. He could hear them talking sometimes, calling out for others, moaning, talking about who they had been before they had been left here. At first he had wondered why they were telling their life stories. Unfortunately, the longer he was trapped here, the more he was beginning to understand. They weren't telling their stories to strangers who might be listening—they were telling them to themselves, to try to keep themselves from forgetting. The more the darkness closed in, the more their memories went. Someday, that would be him.

How had he fallen so far in his bitterness and hatred that now he was consigned to a fate like this? His life had once been relatively normal, and profitable, and he had believed it would continue to be so. But when he had met Seto and Mokuba, his life had started its downward spiral and he had never come out of it.

The last thing he was expecting was to hear footsteps running towards him from somewhere in the distance. He stepped forward, cautious, straining to look ahead into the purple clouds. "Hello?"

"Lector!"

He couldn't have been more shocked at the sound of Mokuba's voice. The boy ran out, stumbling to a halt in front of him.

"Mokuba?! What are you doing here?!" Lector demanded.

Mokuba stopped running and leaned forward, his hands on his knees. "Some jerk sent me here. It's a long story." He straightened, his eyes narrowed. "But I really did want to talk to you. I didn't get the chance when you took over the city."

Lector frowned down at him. "Talk to me? About what?"

"About everything." Mokuba looked up at him with pleading eyes. "Why, Lector? Why did you go along with all of this? I know you were mad at Seto, but . . . to take it as far as you did? Didn't you care about us at all? Was it all just an act? Or did you care and then just stopped?"

Lector looked away. "You shouldn't be here, Mokuba. If the others see you, they'll try to use you to escape to the real world."

"There is no way to escape to the real world!" Mokuba cried. "The only way out is if someone shows up to get me! And they don't even know I'm here!"

"Well, they'd better not find you anyway," Lector retorted. He gestured off to the side. "Go hide somewhere."

"Where?!" Mokuba shot back. "And what do you care anyway?! You just stood by and let Nesbitt torch the warehouse he dumped me and Marik and Duke and David in!"

"Don't argue with me!" Lector snapped. His voice had taken on an authoritative tone.

Mokuba flinched. From his expression, he recognized that tone all too well, from the days when Lector had helped raise him and Seto on Gozaburo's orders. But after everything that had happened, he didn't know what to make of it or whether or not to obey. Still, it was also clear that he knew it would not be a good thing for the others to learn he was here. He took a step back. "You'll probably tell them anyway."

"If I was going to tell them, why would I bother telling you to hide?" Lector pointed out.

Mokuba frowned. "I don't know."

"So just go," Lcctor said. "It's not like you have any choice but to follow my instructions."

"Yeah, I do," Mokuba said. "I can run away!" He turned to do just that.

"I'm the only one here you can turn to, little Mokuba," Lector said. "You can run, but you'll be back."

"You're no better than anyone else here," Mokuba said. "Maybe you're worse. And there's no one here who can help me get home."

"That's true," Lector said. "Once you're here, you can't get out."

Mokuba swallowed hard. He didn't want to be here forever. Seto would never get over it. Somehow he had to find a way back.

"You said you wanted to talk to me," Lector said, folding his arms. "Are you just going to leave and not try any more?"

"You didn't really answer my questions," Mokuba said quietly. "I figured you weren't going to."

Lector scowled and looked away. "I don't really know the answers anymore."

"If you have to ask . . . then you probably don't," Mokuba said. "I know you couldn't care about Seto. And what about me?"

Lector gave him a long, hard look. "Why do you even want to know? What's done is done."

Mokuba looked away. "If you really cared . . . that'd make it even worse, what you did. And I'd feel really crummy. But . . . I'd probably also wonder if there was any way to bring back the you who cared."

"Now that's all nonsense," Lector insisted.

Mokuba's shoulders slowly rose and fell. "I figured."

The sound of other voices startled them both. "The rest of the Big Five are coming," Lector hissed. "Go hide behind that rock!"

This time Mokuba complied. He had wanted to talk to Lector, not the rest of the group.

"What's going on, Lector?" Johnson intoned as they approached. "It sounded like you were arguing with someone."

"Now who would I be arguing with?" Lector countered.

"I don't know, but we definitely heard voices," Johnson said.

"That's right," Gansley agreed.

"Well, there are no shortage of those around here," Lector snapped. "Why should you be surprised if you heard some?"

Listening behind the rock, Mokuba had to frown to himself. It really was strange that Lector had ordered him to hide and wasn't telling the others about him. But maybe it was a trick, meant to bring Mokuba into a false sense of security and trust about him. He didn't want to fall for it.

Still . . . what if there really was more to it?

A memory flashed through his mind, of a time when he had wandered off in boyish curiosity in a shopping mall and Lector and Seto had spent close to an hour looking for him. Lector had been furious upon coming across him at last, playing with toy trains in a collectibles store.

"What were you thinking, Mokuba?!" he demanded. "What would I have told your father if we hadn't found you?! What if you'd been kidnapped?!"

"I'm sorry," Mokuba sniffled. "I didn't mean to cause trouble. . . . I didn't. . . ."

"Of course you didn't," Seto spoke up. "We were both worried. Weren't we, Lector?"

Lector stiffened, caught. "Yes," he finally admitted with an uncomfortable cough. "Worried."

"Worried for your job or worried for me?" Mokuba muttered in the present.

He paused, listening as Lector continued to argue with the rest of the Big Five. They would be furious if they learned he had lied, so there wasn't any personal benefit for him in that. But still . . . how could Mokuba really trust him?

xxxx

The Shadow Realm was a horrible place. The living darkness was always pulsating, always reaching for everyone who had come, hoping to drag at least some of them down with it.

Yami Bakura insisted on Bakura going in front of him to try to keep him safer. He was very tense, constantly looking from one side to the other and furiously trying to ward off the dangerous tendrils.

Seto was calling for Mokuba almost non-stop. The longer he walked, the more frantic he became. How would a kid deal with a place like this? He knew Mokuba was strong, but this horror was tearing at his heart and soul, even after everything he had experienced. To think of what Mokuba must be going through, when he was all alone . . . !

Or was he alone? What if he had found the Big Five? What would they do to him? Would they all try to possess him? It was too horrible to think about, but now the image wouldn't leave Seto's mind. They had had no qualms about possessing Tristan; they certainly wouldn't care if they possessed Mokuba. Gansley and Nesbitt had each tried to kill him on different occasions.

Téa jumped a mile as the darkness grabbed for her with what looked like thin fingers. "What is it with this place?!" she shrieked. "How is the darkness alive?!"

"It's not the darkness," Atem said grimly. "It's the victims in the darkness."

"Isn't there any hope for any of them?!" Téa exclaimed.

"There is hope for anyone, if they can conquer the darkness in their hearts," Atem said. "These people have forgotten how to do that. Or some of them may have never known how."

"I wish we could help them all," Yugi said sadly.

"The first step towards conquering one's inner darkness," Atem said, looking to Yami Bakura, "is wanting to."

Yami Bakura didn't acknowledge that.

"How will we ever find Mokuba?!" Bakura exclaimed.

"You'd think he'd be nearby," Yami Bakura growled. "When being transported to the Shadow Realm, it's generally the same space, just a different plane. But perhaps that demon didn't take him to the same area. He may have left him wherever the Big Five currently are."

"There has to be a way to locate Mokuba quicker than this!" Seto snarled.

Atem paused. "We might be able to reach out to him if we all stop and concentrate," he said. "If we can establish a link with him, it might pull us towards him."

"Then let's do it!" Seto immediately demanded.

"Alright. Everyone gather in a circle and link hands," Atem directed. "Then close your eyes and concentrate on Mokuba. Imagine that you are sending a message to him and focus on that image. Don't let it go!"

Everyone obeyed, with no one trying harder than Seto. This was his little brother, the most important person in his life. He had to make contact! He had to let Mokuba know he was here, and to find where Mokuba was. He had to get his brother out of this Hellish place!

"Seto!"

Seto stiffened. "Did you hear that?!"

"I . . . felt something," Téa said slowly.

"Perhaps Kaiba is the only one who will actually hear Mokuba's voice," Atem said. "But I sensed him as well. Can he hear you, Kaiba?"

"I'm not sure," Seto frowned.

"I heard him too," Marik said. "I can't seem to have a conversation with him, but I can sense what direction we should go towards."

"So do I," Seto said. "Let's go diagonally left." He broke the circle and marched ahead.

Marik and the others hurried after him.

Yami Bakura was still tense. "Something isn't right," he growled.

Bakura looked to him in surprise. "What do you mean, Yami? Surely this isn't some kind of a trick of this realm!"

"No, I don't think so," Yami Bakura said. "But I'm sensing something aside from Mokuba, something dark and familiar. Something I never wanted to feel again."

Bakura was stunned. "But . . . what could that be?"

A tall man suddenly stepped out of the darkness, spear bared. His dark hair was pulled back in a ponytail, while his long bangs fell partially over his violet eyes. A vicious scar on his cheek stood out against his tanned skin. He was dressed in the garb of ancient Egypt.

"Oh my," Bakura gasped.

"I thought once someone became part of the darkness, they couldn't come out again!" Téa exclaimed in shocked surprise. "From the looks of him, he's been in here a long time!"

The man sneered at her. "Those of strong will can keep their sense of self and their form, even in the darkness," he replied in perfect English.

Yami Bakura was standing stock-still, staring at him without speaking. Pain flashed through his eyes. "It is you," he said at last.

The newcomer tickled his chest with the spear. "And it's you, Bakura," he taunted. "So you're still around and you've taken up with these modern humans."

Yami Bakura reached and snatched the spear, holding it away from him. "I never wanted to see you again," he said, his voice pinched tight in his pain and hurt.

"Oh? Why?" The other Egyptian just looked amused and cruel. "Because I left you for dead after pretending to be your friend all those years ago?"

Bakura gasped in horror. "You're Khu!" he cried.

"What is all this?!" Seto burst out. "Where's Mokuba?!"

He was ignored.

Atem had been staring at the man as well. "Oh no," he gasped.

Khu looked to him. "Ah, my Pharaoh," he said with a mocking bow. "You're looking well too. It's a shame we never saw each other after you ascended to the throne."

Atem shook himself out of his daze. "I always thought you had been executed for trying to assassinate me," he said. "Mahad never spoke of it. . . ."

"He wouldn't have," Khu said flippantly. "It was a point of contention between him and Seto."

"Seto?!" Atem was further stunned. "What does he have to do with it?!"

"He allowed me to live," Khu said. "I was merely exiled from Egypt for my treachery against the Prince."

"That doesn't sound like Seto," Atem frowned.

"Not ordinarily," Khu agreed. "But it was different in this case." He looked to Seto. "Isn't that right . . . brother?"

Seto's mouth dropped open. "You're not my brother!" he boomed.

Unruffled, Khu just shrugged. "Oh, that's right. You're our descendant." He smirked. "But you look almost exactly like him."

"I couldn't care less!" Seto snarled. "Get out of my way. I'm going to find my brother!" He pushed past Khu and stormed off ahead.

"Kaiba!" Téa exclaimed. She chased after him.

"Wait!" Marik yelled. He ran after both of them.

Atem was still standing where he was, thunderstruck. "You and Seto are brothers?!" he gasped. "I thought Seto was Ahknadin's only child!"

"There are a lot of things you thought," Khu retorted.

"Well, we really don't have time for this right now," Yugi interjected. "The modern-day Seto is really worried about his brother Mokuba. He was brought here by a real creep and we're all trying to help find him!"

"That's right," Solomon spoke up. "So if you'll be so good as to let us pass . . ."

"By all means." Khu stepped aside. "Look for the little brat. Just don't expect to actually find him! And don't expect this is the only time you'll see me."

"I won't," Atem said coldly.

Yami Bakura glowered at Khu. "I never have settled my score with you," he said, holding Bakura's wrist to keep him as far away from Khu as possible. "But rest assured, I will."

To his alarm, Bakura leaned over him and glared at Khu as well. "I have a score to settle too!" he cried. "You almost killed Yami, after you made him think you were his friend!"

Khu looked to him in amusement. "Oh, that's right. You love that man."

"How do you even know that?!" Yami Bakura demanded.

"I have my ways," Khu smoothly answered.

"He would have been loyal to you forever!" Bakura spat. "You betrayed him for your revolution!"

"Hush," Yami Bakura snarled. "This conversation isn't worth having."

"Maybe not, but I'll still be watching you," Khu sneered before stepping back into the darkness and letting it cover him. His voice echoed eerily around them. "And when the time is right, I'll be back."

Everyone was left chilled by the encounter.

"Why that creep!" Joey burst out. "He's gonna be sorry he ever showed his face around here!"

"Unfortunately, we are the intruders here," Atem said. "And I don't doubt that he has many tricks in mind to stop us from completing our mission and getting away safely."

"Why did that crumb want to start a revolution anyway?" Tristan frowned.

"To be honest, I don't know," Atem sighed heavily. "But I'm having a hard time believing that the story he told us now is true. How could he be my priest Seto's brother? Seto never mentioned him at all, not even in the afterlife!"

"I think you need to find a way to have another talk with that guy," Tristan said. "If Khu is going to cause us trouble, we need to know more about him!"

"I agree," Atem said. "When we get home, I will try to contact Shadi. He may be able to get in touch with Seto."

"Lots of luck with that," Tristan said in frustration. "Shadi only shows up when he feels like it."

"Well, maybe he will feel like it," Solomon said. "Especially if he knows we saw Khu."

"I wonder how he ended up in the Shadow Realm," Atem remarked. "He must have grown to adulthood outside of this place. Time stands still in here."

"And hey, where the heck have Kaiba and Téa and Marik got to?!" Joey suddenly realized.

"Oh no!" Yugi gasped. "We were all so involved with Khu that we didn't stop to remember that they ran off ahead looking for Mokuba!"

Atem's eyes narrowed. "I wonder if that was what Khu wanted."

"What?!" Joey stared at him. "Why would he want to keep us from Mokuba?!"

"Why did he want to pretend to be my friend for two years before trying to steal from me?" Yami Bakura spoke up, his voice dark and filled with pain. "He likes using people for his own sadistic desires."

Bakura laid a hand on his shoulder. "Doesn't he have any heart at all?" he sadly wondered.

"Perhaps that depends on why he wanted to start a revolution," Yami Bakura grunted. "He never told me either, except that he didn't like the current government in Egypt."

"Well." Atem looked ahead. "We'll have to deal with him later. Who knows how far away Kaiba, Téa, and Marik are by now. We have to catch up with them!"

"Right!" some of the others echoed.

"Wait up, you three! We're coming to get you!" Joey called as he ran ahead.

"Hey! Don't you go getting lost too!" Tristan yelled, giving chase.

The rest quickly followed.