Chapter Six

Seto was furious. It was horrible enough to have to come to believe that something such as possession was real, but to come to believe it because it was happening to him was one of the worst possible indignities and violations. He hadn't even seen Crump; the man had just suddenly leaped out of the shadows and into Seto's body before he had been able to do a thing about it. Now Crump was dragging Téa along with him, cackling about how the rest of his associates would have to focus on possessing some of the others instead; he wasn't going to let any of them leap into Téa's body. He wanted Téa all for himself, as herself.

"After all," he sneered, "it'd be a little hard to be attracted to you knowing it was really Johnson or Gansley in there!"

Téa was still straining against him. "You're sick, Crump! I'm not going to go anywhere with you!"

"Oh? Not even if it meant Mokuba's safety?"

She stiffened. "Why would it mean that?!"

Crump just leered at her. "Because I said so!"

Seto strained for control, outraged at this display. "What you say . . . doesn't go, Crump," he snarled. "This is my body. Get out!"

Crump just laughed. "Make me."

In Seto's mind, he was confronting Crump at the doorway to his soul room. He glowered at the bigger man, outraged. "I will." He lunged.

The mental struggle between the two souls caused Seto's body's grip on Téa's wrist to loosen. She pulled free, relieved that she wouldn't have to resort to kicking Seto away from her with a vicious dance move.

Seto looked up, holding a hand to his face. "Get out of here, Téa!" he rasped. "Go find Mokuba! I'll come . . . as soon as I get rid of this snake."

Téa swallowed hard. She didn't want to leave him here. But finding Mokuba was certainly vital. Finally, even though she was reluctant, she nodded and turned to run. "Be careful, Kaiba," she begged.

Seto didn't reply.

xxxx

Mokuba was growing angrier by the moment. "You creeps!" he screamed as he struggled against Khu again. "Where did Crump go?!"

"Most likely, off to possess whoever has arrived first to save you," Gansley replied. "Maybe your brother."

Mokuba went stiff. "No!"

"Oh, he would certainly do it," Johnson smirked.

"I know he would," Mokuba said in disgust. "But Seto wouldn't let it happen! He'd fight Crump all the way and kick him out!"

"We'll see," Gansley sneered.

"Someone's coming now," Nesbitt announced.

Téa ran into view, her eyes filled with worry. "Mokuba!" she exclaimed when she caught sight of him in Khu's grasp.

"Téa!" Mokuba struggled in vain to get free. "Where's Seto?!"

"He's . . ." Téa swallowed hard. "He's coming. . . ."

"Crump got to him, didn't he?" Johnson sneered.

Téa glowered. "He's going to be fine."

"Of course he is!" Mokuba cried. "You can't keep my brother down!"

"Maybe not, but we can certainly try," Johnson retorted.

"And as for you, young lady . . ." Gansley took a step towards Téa. "You will make a perfect way for one of us to enter the real world."

"As if!" Téa shot back. "You won't take me without a fight. And even if you get me, it won't be a good disguise. Your voice will come through whoever you possess." She smirked. "I'd be spotted immediately."

Gansley's face contorted in disgust, but he wasn't deterred. "We'll worry about that later."

"No," came another voice. "We'll worry about it now."

Everyone looked up.

"Seto!" Mokuba exclaimed in relief and joy.

"Kaiba!" Téa looked to him with a start. "Are you . . . well, you know, yourself?"

"Yeah." Seto glared at his enemies. "I kicked Crump out. And now I'm ordering you to let Mokuba go if you don't want to find out what I can do to you." He looked to Khu, who barely batted an eye.

"You can't really do anything to me as long as I'm holding onto Mokuba," Khu pointed out.

Mokuba tried to kick him, but this time Khu didn't react.

"Look, I don't know who you are or why you're so interested in my little brother," Seto snarled, "but you're going to regret not letting him go when you had the chance."

"Please. I've had three millennia to hone my powers in this realm," Khu said.

"Then why do you want to leave?" Mokuba spat. "Your powers won't work in the real world!"

"I have unfinished business there," Khu replied. "And one way or another, I'm going to see that it's finished."

"Not with my brother, you're not," Seto snarled.

"Kaiba! Téa!"

Again everyone looked up. Marik was running toward them now, followed by the rest of the group.

Gansley stiffened and went pale. "Lector!" he gasped.

"That's right." Lector stopped running and glowered at him. "My old friends. I've come back. I don't want Mokuba being used as part of this scheme."

"That isn't your choice to make," Johnson said. "But how are you alright?!"

"You can thank the Pharaoh for that," Lector replied, gesturing behind himself at Atem. "But I'm tired of all our schemes backfiring on us. I never wanted Mokuba to be used as a pawn in our revenge against Seto Kaiba. I'll fight you if you keep on with this."

"And so will we," Atem declared. "Two of us have Infinity Items. We will fight you off at every turn."

Johnson looked worried. "We didn't have time to plan this out well. What do we do?"

"I can trap everyone in their own personal Hells, just as I did to Lector," Khu said. "And I can assure you, not all of them would get out. I don't know how Lector did." He sneered. "But it's very difficult to keep hold of one's sense of self while all the memories you regret from throughout your life are ripping through your heart and soul. Most people have many of those, both things they caused and things they're the victims of. I'm sure my old friend Bakura, for one, would have a terrible time drowning in the darkness."

Yami Bakura glowered. "I lived with the darkness for three thousand years and I have regained my sense of self. I didn't know I'd lost it until we separated and I realized I had become so poisoned I thought I was Zorc."

"Isn't that touching, that your identity crisis is over," Khu mocked.

"Khu!" Atem stepped forward. "Release Mokuba. I don't know what it was you wanted back in ancient Egypt, but Mokuba certainly had nothing to do with it then or now. He doesn't deserve to be used by you as a way for you to supposedly get what you want."

"Maybe not, but I intend to anyway," Khu sneered.

Atem glared. "Did you mean what you said earlier, that my priest Seto is your brother?"

"Oh yes." Khu's eyes darkened. "Ahknadin secretly married my mother long before he married Seto's. But she was a commoner and Ahknadin was weak-minded. He divorced her because he just didn't think he could keep it secret forever and he felt it just wasn't proper for one in a high position to have married an average villager. Later, when he abandoned his second wife and Seto, he sent them to the same village. Seto and I discovered we were half-brothers and grew up together."

"Honestly, I don't care," Seto snapped. "That wasn't me. All I care about is taking Mokuba and going home!"

"Which you won't be doing without us," Gansley insisted.

"Hey, none of us are going home with unwanted passengers," Tristan snapped.

"You got that right!" Joey cried.

"Khu, why did you want to start a revolution?" Atem persisted. "Were you trying to get back at Ahknadin?"

Khu gave him a cold look. "In part, perhaps. But that's information you don't need to know right now."

"We're wasting time," Gansley agreed. "Let's get out of here!"

"We're not taking you creeps with us!" Joey snapped. "What part of that don't you understand?!"

Atem nodded. "I won't be opening the portal connecting the realms until I can be sure none of you will be able to come with us."

"Or until someone forces your hand?" Khu abruptly brought his arm around Mokuba's throat and began to squeeze unbearably. "Open the portal now, or he dies!"

Mokuba gasped, his hands trembling as he reached up to try to force the arm away. "No. . . . Don't do what he wants. . . ."

Seto clenched his fists, his hands shaking. "You slime!" He looked to Atem. "Pharaoh, there's no choice. Open the portal now!"

Lector stepped forward before Atem could respond. "I didn't want Mokuba hurt!" he snapped. "Let him go!"

"This is the best way to have revenge on Seto Kaiba," Gansley pointed out. "He loves that boy more than anything else, including KaibaCorp."

"You'll have to choose, Lector," Johnson said. "Either you support our current plan or you align with our enemies. There is no middle ground here."

"Lector . . ." Mokuba gasped. "Give up your hatred for Seto. If you . . . really care about me . . . you won't keep trying to hurt him. . . ."

Lector clenched his fists. "I can't turn off my feelings just like that. But I don't like this plan. If you won't let the boy go . . ." Suddenly he ran at Khu and vanished. Khu gasped and stiffened, his eyes going blank. When he spoke again, it was in Lector's voice. "Then I'll make you."

The arm around Mokuba's throat loosened. He gasped and stumbled forward, rubbing at his neck. "Lector . . ."

Seto ran to Mokuba and pulled him into an embrace, which Mokuba tightly returned. Then Seto looked up and stared. "Lector, you possessed Khu?!"

"To save Mokuba," Lector said. "Now, all of you, get out of here with him now!"

"Lector!" Gansley boomed. "You are not going to cheat us out of this method of escape!"

"There's nothing I can do to stop you from trying," Lector retorted. "But I don't want this man to get loose back in the real world. I'll hold him off."

Khu's eyes flickered. "No . . . you won't," he spat.

Crump arrived on the scene just in time to see all of this madness. "What the heck's going on here?!" he boomed.

"Crump, grab a body!" Gansley yelled. "We're getting out of here!"

"Not if I can help it!" Atem cried. The Infinity Puzzle glowed. "Bakura, can you create a barrier around us?"

Yami Bakura growled. "I don't know. Ring, will you cooperate and do that?"

For once the Infinity Ring didn't put up a fight. It glowed, surrounding the group in a protective beam. As Atem shifted them all back to the real world, the Big Four slammed helplessly into the barrier and could not penetrate.

Mokuba looked back to Lector as the realm began to fade. "Lector, you still have good in you!" he pleaded. "You should come back with us and try to start your life over! Maybe you'd be able to get back in your body. . . ."

"I still hate your brother too much, Mokuba," Lector replied.

"You conquered the darkness in your heart enough to reform out of the darkness of the Shadow Realm," Atem said. "You may not still hate Kaiba as much as you think you do."

"Well . . ." Lector hesitated. "Maybe we'll see."

The Shadow Realm faded, depositing everyone back in the Kaibas' living room.

"Oh wow." Joey rubbed his head. "That was a trip."

Téa looked around. "Are we all here?"

Marik hurried over to help Mokuba up. He hugged his friend close. "I think so. . . ."

Mokuba hugged Marik in turn. "Except Lector. . . . He didn't come with us after all. . . ."

Seto grunted. "I doubt he could adjust back to the real world. He'd probably only try to come up with another scheme to overthrow me and take over KaibaCorp if he got back."

"That's what I thought too," Mokuba said. "But now I just don't know."

"We'll probably never know," Marik said.

"I wonder if the rest of the Big Five are going to be really mad at him," Mokuba remarked.

"Or perhaps he'll be angry with them," Bakura said.

"It's hard to imagine the Big Five splitting up," Téa said. "But this might do it."

Yami Bakura was silent as he walked away from the group. Bakura hurried after him. "Yami? Are you alright?" He touched the man's arm.

Yami Bakura paused. "At least we didn't run into The White Death," was all he could say.

"But you ran into the man who hurt you so deeply in your youth," Bakura said softly. "That would weigh on anyone's soul, especially when he isn't repentant at all."

Yami Bakura reached and patted Bakura's hand. Now that the crisis was over, he allowed the weariness in his heart to show in his eyes. He didn't know what to say to Bakura's comment. But from the look in his eyes, he didn't need to say anything.

"I wonder if we've seen the last of that creepy Khu guy," Téa said with a shudder.

"I'm afraid not," Atem sighed. "He was determined to get back here somehow. I'm sure that he will find a way to do it."

"It must have been hard for you to see him, Atem," Yugi said quietly. "Since he pulled the same fake friend thing on you that he did on Yami Bakura."

Atem nodded. "It wasn't pleasant. And I'll still have to contact Shadi. I want to know what my priest Seto will have to say about Khu."

"I really don't care." Seto looked down at Mokuba. "As long as he stays far away from here."

"But we should be prepared in case he finds a way through," Atem said.

Yami Bakura clenched a fist. He didn't want to see Khu again, although he had vowed to settle the score with him. He was sure that Atem was right and Khu would insist on appearing at some point.

"At least we can be grateful that we're all safe now," Atem said. "I know that what happened was hard on all of us. Hopefully we can each talk about our feelings with at least one person, instead of bottling up the pain."

Mokuba looked down. "Maybe if I'd really talked about things more, Yami Marik wouldn't have decided to cart me off to the Shadow Realm."

"He still would have, I'm sure," Marik said. "But it would be good if you talked about things that are bothering you, Mokuba. I was very worried about you, and I know your brother was as well."

Seto nodded. "I still don't like revisiting the past, but if you need to sometimes, Mokuba, I should never make you feel like you can't."

Mokuba managed a smile. "Thanks, big brother. Marik." He paused, remembering something. "Seto, were you really possessed?!" He gave his brother a worried look.

Seto grimaced at the memory. "As much as I'd like to say it was a trick, I know it wasn't. Yes, Mokuba, I was really possessed. I had to fight off Crump. But he made a big mistake thinking he could control me."

"I'm sure he did," Mokuba smiled, though the worry over Seto having had to go through something like that was clearly in his eyes.

"Wait, what?!" Joey exclaimed. "Kaiba was possessed?!"

"And he admits it?!" Tristan added in disbelief.

Seto grunted. "It would be pointless to deny it."

"And it wasn't pointless denying any of the other stuff that happened?!" Joey retorted.

Seto just gave him an irritated look.

"Oh well," Yugi smiled. "Anyone can change."

"Yeah," Téa said, sounding far away.

"Well," Joey exclaimed, not seeming to notice Téa's distracted behavior, "I'm up for pizza! Who's with me?!"

Almost everyone chorused in the affirmative.

"Yeah!" Joey pumped the air with a fist. "Pizza party at Kaiba's! How about that!"

"I never agreed you could have it here," Seto exclaimed.

"Aww, come on, big brother?" Mokuba looked up at him with bright, pleading eyes.

Seto sighed. "Alright. But they'd better clean up after themselves."

"We will!" Joey made a beeline for the phone. "Thanks, Rich Boy!"

Seto just stood and watched him, his expression clearly showing that he wondered how this had just happened . . . and if he would regret it.

"So, a lot of crazy stuff went down tonight," Tristan said. "And I have to say, I'm really wondering how Bakura was saved from Lector's fate, especially since Yami Bakura sure didn't believe in friendship at that point."

Bakura shook his head. "I don't need to know. Not if Yami doesn't want to talk about it."

Yami Bakura gave a heavy sigh of resignation, his shoulders rising and falling. "I suppose you really have a right to know. Perhaps it's information that will be important sometime. The only way I could help you was by catching a Shadow Leech and manipulating it to drain only your memories of our experience there."

Tristan gaped at him. "No way! You deliberately gave Bakura partial amnesia?!"

"I had to!" Yami Bakura spat. "I didn't know how to stop the darkness from encroaching on him! Once he didn't remember, he was at peace and the darkness had no claim upon him!"

"Yeah, but still . . ." Tristan shuddered. "That is messed-up."

Bakura was standing and staring at Yami Bakura, stunned beyond belief. Finally he smiled, slowly and sadly. "Perhaps once I would have agreed with you, Tristan. But I don't now that I understand Yami. I couldn't. Yami did the only thing he knew to save me. He didn't understand that the light of friendship and love would have had the same calming effect. But things are different now."

Yami Bakura was equally stunned. "Bakura. . . . You're not angry with me?"

"No." Bakura shook his head.

Tristan still looked disturbed. "Well, I just hope you won't try that on me someday."

"Not unless the situation is critical and absolutely nothing else works," Yami Bakura grunted.

Seto sighed, deciding he really didn't want to be part of that conversation. Instead he said, "Yugi . . . everyone . . . I do owe all of you my thanks for helping me save Mokuba."

Joey, who had just found the telephone number he wanted, gaped at Seto. "You're thanking all of us?!" he gasped. "That's awesome, but you don't have to thank your friends for pitching in and helping out with rescuing another friend. Mokuba's our bud. Of course we'd help him!"

"That's right," Yugi smiled. "But Kaiba, you're also our friend. We came for both of you."

"I know," Seto said. "And I'm grateful."

Joey blinked, rapidly. "Okay, who are you and what did you do with Kaiba?! . . . And are we sure we want him to come back?"

Seto rolled his eyes. But as Joey reached the person at the pizza parlor and everyone started calling out what they wanted on their pizzas, he stepped back, thoughtful.

Honestly, he wasn't sure he would ever get used to antics like this. Nor was he sure he wanted to. But on the other hand . . . this feeling of belonging, this camaraderie. . . . This was what it felt like to have friends.

It actually didn't feel bad at all.