S: (is walking down the hallway, arguing with Cayenne) Dorky? What are you, in junior high?

Cayenne: Yes, 'Onyx and S' was dorky. And how would you know about junior high? It's been years! (snickers)

S: (glares) Not that many years. (opens the door to the story room and steps in, still glaring at Cayenne, only to fall headlong over Sakata Gintoki of Gin Tama, who is sound asleep in the doorway) ONYX!!!!

Onyx: (is standing next to Sesshomaru, laughing, while the Silver-Haired Bishi brigade stares; everyone from the previous chapter is back, along with the additions of Bengali from Thundercats, Wonrei from Zatch Bell, and, of course, Gin.)

S: (takes the hands that Bengali and Wonrei offer her and pulls herself to her feet) Thank you. Onyx…

Onyx: (grins) Don't you like the new name, Hikari? Cayenne?

Cayenne: ObsidianJade, huh? Much better.

S: (sighs and points at the Disclaimer Sign) Onyx and S/ObsidianJade disclaim any and all ownership of the characters listed above. For further disclaimer, see chapter one.

WARNINGSfor this chapter include ass-groping, fluff, language, some OOCness, lousy dialogue in first section, and Cayenne.

Cayenne: What?

S: Nothing, I was just stating the warnings.

Cayenne: I'm a warning?

Everyone in the room: YES!!!!

Cayenne: (grins)

DEDICATION: To Masaka1, because I added a special scene for you. You'll know it when you see it. (grin)

Additionally: See my endnotes: I'm running a Reader Contest! Prize is a free request one-shot. Really simple, too – all you have to do is read the story!

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

LIVES TO LIVE

Chapter Nine: Explanations

By three that afternoon, Joey was mightily pissed off.

Seto had occupied his time while invisible by playing chess against Damus, (losing twice, winning twice) working on the Duel Disk problem, (although making no real progress) and harassing Joey. The emphasis there being on 'ass.'

Cayenne, draped over the sofa with his head in Lustire's lap and a book in his hands, lifted his crimson gaze as Joey yelped yet again, spinning around and falling back onto the loveseat. One slender, jet-black eyebrow raised, one pale-blue finger gave a nonchalant, barely noticeable flick, and quite suddenly a very visible Seto Kaiba was bent forward over Joey, nose-to-nose with the blond. Joey's amber eyes widened slightly, but he said nothing, even as Seto leaned further into him, ice-blue staring into amber-gold.

And then Kaiba saw his reflection in Joey's eyes. Going white, he jerked upright and spun away, vanishing through the kitchen door with a swirl of his trench coat, leaving a very shell-shocked Joey behind.

"Come on, Mokuba, we're leaving," Seto's deep voice echoed through from the kitchen.

"But big brother - "

"Now, Mokuba!"

Sitting under the window against the far wall, shoulder-to-shoulder with Damus as they read the Ancient Spellbook spread across both their thighs, Celtos glanced up, his ears twitching. Amidst the general chaos of voices, Seto's shaken whisper of 'What was I thinking?' was almost lost. Celtos, however, heard it loud and clear.

The slamming of the front door seemed to shake Joey from his daze. "Wha'… what just happened?" the blond mumbled, shaking his head. "I look him in the eye and he takes off? What the hell kind of coward is he?"

"Your kind?"

"Eh?" Glancing towards the Elf, Joey shook his head slightly, as though trying to clear it. "What're you talkin' about, Celtos?"

Rising to his feet and pulling Damus up with him, the Elf offered Joey a careful smile. "You like him, don't you?"

"No! I'm not a freakin' masochist! All he'd ever want to do is treat me like a dog, and I got enough 'a that at Devlin's!" At Celtos' questioning glance, Joey shook his head. "I keep forgettin' you weren't around for all this… I lost a duel against Duke Devlin, y'know, dice boy? And he put me in a dog suit."

"I remember that," Damus piped up. "It was… awkward. I wasn't so fond of the dice."

"That was you? How does that work? You can't be in Yami's deck and the dice all at once, can ya?"

"Honestly, I have no idea. I think it's just that my spirit is bound to Master Yami…"

"Back to the point. I apologize if I hit a nerve concerning Kaiba," Celtos said mildly, "but it does occur to me that you've put a bit of thought into this, if you've already considered how he would treat you in a relationship."

"I ain't… I'm not… Shit. I need to go clear my head," Joey muttered, pushing off the loveseat. Shaking his head, he slowly followed Kaiba's path out. When the door shut behind him, Damus marched over to his cousin and jabbed a finger at his face.

"You – you infernal pain in the ass, you had no right to do that! You kept Seto invisible until just the wrong moment! If you're going to keep him invisible half the day, at least wait until the opportune moment - "

"That was the opportune moment," Cayenne interrupted calmly, his nose buried in his book.

"And how do you figure that?"

"The expression in a person's eyes when they're getting ready to kiss you is unguarded, that's why." Turning a page, Cayenne peered at his cousin, who was standing, mouth agape, in utter disbelief. "What do you see when Celtos is about to kiss you, moron?"

"That he loves me," Damus answered automatically.

"He's not a moron!" Celtos added, just as automatically, and Cayenne waved him off.

"I don't believe this," Damus muttered. "You're doing it again! I thought you said you were going to stop!"

"I never said that."

Celtos and Damus exchanged looks, disbelief morphing into wide grins. Throwing their arms over one another's shoulders, they began to sing cheerfully, "Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me a match, find me a find, catch me a catch - "

"OUT!" roared Cayenne, and the two fled the room, laughing the whole while.

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

Joey returned a couple of hours later, his sneakers dusty and a few bits of leaf stuck in his hair. He'd been in the park, Celtos realized, recognizing the scent of the grass that clung to the boy. Why he'd seen fit to take a nap in a leaf pile, the Elf had no idea, but he didn't bother to ask.

"Come to any conclusions?" he asked quietly, as the boy joined him and Damus on the couch.

"Yeah, that Kaiba's a freakin' lunatic."

"I meant any helpful conclusions."

"Not really. I mean, it would be one thing if I really knew that he liked me, but I think he just gets off on havin' someone around to insult." Joey's voice was hesitant.

Celtos and Damus both snorted, and Joey threw them an offended look. "What?!"

"Joey, being called a puppy is only as much of an insult as you make it," Celtos answered, shaking his head a little.

"Eh? How'd ya figure that?"

"A puppy is something that almost everyone adores. Something sweet and innocent and completely endearing."

"So, what? Moneybags thinks I'm cute and helpless?"

"Conversely," Celtos continued, as though Joey hadn't spoken, "puppies mature into dogs, something that is strong, loyal, protective, and potentially dangerous."

Joey sat silent for a moment, digesting this, before speaking again. "So… what, is he saying… that he just doesn't think I've reached my potential yet?"

A narrow grin flickered over the Elf's elegant features. "Exactly."

"That ain't a whole lot of reassurance, Celtos."

"Fine, then," Celtos sighed. "Then how's this? Every time he looks at you, his eyes dilate, and his pulse, body temperature, and breathing spike; all classic signs of arousal."

That earned him an openmouthed stare. "How do you know all that?"

"I'm an Elf."

"And...?"

Damus, who had been silent this whole time, gave a soft chuckle. "All of an Elf's senses are more acute than those of a human. Their hearing and sense of smell are almost as keen as that of a canine, and their eyesight is twice as sharp as ours."

"Oh." Joey mulled over that for a moment, then, "So, you can tell when anyone's getting'… excited?"

"Yes. Makes a handy lie detector, too," Celtos added thoughtfully, falling silent as the rest of the monsters, and Yami and Yuugi, filtered into the living room with bowls of popcorn and sodas in hand.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The chime on Yami's watch dragged Yami half-out of his blissfully unconscious state. He and his Hikari were sprawled out in Yuugi's favorite bean-bag chair, next to the coffee table. The television was still on, but someone had muted it, leaving the rubbery, black-and-white monster rampaging silently through the cardboard city. A glance at the windows showed only darkness outside; angling his head, Yami could read the luminous face of his light's watch. Eleven o'clock! The last time he'd checked it, it had only been eight-thirty. A glance around the living room showed that Joey, Mysti, and Gaia were gone, and his sleep-fogged memory vaguely supplied that Joey had gone home just as Yami was dozing off, and Gaia and Mysti had gone up to bed some time earlier. The remaining monsters were still in the living room; sound asleep on the couch and loveseat, or, in Kuriboh and Silvis' case, the floor.

They all looked comfortable enough that Yami dismissed the thought of waking them, remoted the television off and turned his attention instead to the sleeping angel in his arms. Yuugi's face was still as smooth and round as a child's; it seemed the passing of the years seemed to make no difference to his appearance. Gently stroking the boy's silken cheek, Yami bowed his head briefly, once again thanking every god he knew that he could spend his days and nights beside Yuugi. Keeping a hand on the boy to steady him, Yami scooted carefully out of the beanbag and stood up, gathering the young duelist in his arms. Cradling the boy close to his chest, he carried him easily up the stairs to their shared room and settled him among the cool sheets. Both of them had changed into their pajamas before the movies started, and now, they had only to go to sleep.

Except that Yami couldn't. His accidental nap had left him wide-awake and alert, and after an hour of squirming around and counting sheep, ceiling tiles, and Kuriboh Brothers, he finally rolled out of bed so his constant thrashing wouldn't wake Yuugi. He paced on silent feet down the upstairs hall, peering into the open door of the guest room, where Gaia and Mysti were asleep in their separate beds, but turned towards one another as though the space between them did not exist. Smiling faintly, Yami left them and walked down the stairs to the living room, instinctively avoiding the squeaky spots in the steps.

He was mulling over herbal tea or warm milk when two pale lights gleamed out of the darkness, startling the Pharaoh enough that he jumped backwards. There was the faint, metallic 'click' of a lamp being turned on, and Yami found Celtos regarding him with a steady gaze. The Elf's amber eyes had caught the faint light coming from the kitchen and reflected it back, catlike. Yami absentmindedly added this to his mental 'Interesting Things About Elves' list, and nodded at the swordsman.

"Can't sleep?" Yami asked quietly.

"No. But I don't want to disturb them," Celtos murmured back, nodding at Damus and Mirai. The elder magician was curled up, catlike, on end cushion of the couch, his head pillowed in the Elf's lap. Mirai was sitting up on Celtos' other side, her side tucked up against his arm and her head resting on his shoulder. Both magicians were sound asleep.

Yami smiled a little, cheered by the quiet scene. "You must be very happy to have them back."

Celtos did not question the plural; while Mirai was missing, Damus might well have been a different person. "You have no idea," the Elf chuckled. "No question that their family has it's share of problems; insane cousins, a senile grandfather, more magical blowups in a year than I can count – but they're my family, too. Losing them would have destroyed me."

"I know how you feel," Yami answered, dragging the bean-bag chair over and sitting down, facing Celtos. I love Yuugi just as much, even though I don't show it sometimes. At least," he added ruefully, rubbing his hickey-covered throat, "not in the ways I'd like. It's hard to find the words to tell him, though."

"Especially if that's not what you're used to," Celtos nodded sagely, glancing to the side. "But you might be surprised just how easily it can happen."

Yami followed his gaze to the loveseat, where Lustire and Cayenne were both asleep, so entwined together it was hard to tell which limbs belonged to whom. Cayenne's face was tucked in the hollow of Lustire's throat, and the soldier was resting his cheek possessively on the mage's ebony hair. Both of them looked surprisingly innocent in sleep.

"That's the only time you ever see Cayenne so calm," Celtos remarked, seeming to read Yami's mind. "It makes a pleasant change."

Yami smiled back at the Elf, but a wisp of sadness lingered in his eyes. "I wish it were easier to find words," he whispered, his mind straying back to the boy he'd left sleeping upstairs.

Cayenne's earlier words nudged the edge of Celt's memory. "Look at his eyes just before you kiss him, when his expression is unguarded. Look into his eyes, and speak from your heart."

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

The clang of metal on metal reverberated across the roof of the Game Shop. Behind its high, arched facade, the roof was actually flat, and it made an ideal place for the monsters to get a little training in. Right now, Damus and Celtos were standing in the middle of the roof, while Gaia, Lustire, Cayenne, Mirai, Mysti and Joey were arrayed along the edges. Yami and Yuugi had watched the first few minutes of their practice, but excused themselves some time ago, although neither of them specified why. The spellcasters were meditating; Cayenne and Mirai calling balls of glowing light into their cupped palms; Mysti was calling a field of energy around her entire body. Gaia and Lustire were silently moving through martial arts stances.

Damus, stripped down to only a pair of light sweatpants, was bent at the waist, trying to catch his breath. His bare chest and face were dripping sweat, despite the heavily overcast sky and the slightly chill wind. Swiping his tightly braided hair back over one shoulder, he held up one hand in a 'hold on' signal and began examining his staff. Celtos, wearing his own tan cargo-style pants and a dark green tank top, his hair loosely ponytailed at the nape of his neck, nodded slightly, planting the point of his sword against the roof and leaning against the hilt. He and Damus were frequent partners for battle training, and they had a good system worked out. Damus would use defensive spells and act as a target, before they switched, and Celtos was put through his paces trying to dodge or deflect a variety of minor spells. Usually, Damus could easily defend against all but Celt's strongest attacks, but so far, more than half of his spells had failed, and he'd wound up blocking with his staff at the last moment.

"I don't understand this!" Damus snapped, exasperated, and wiped the sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand. "Defensive spells haven't been this difficult for me since I was twelve! And my staff is scratched!"

"Scratched?" Celtos echoed in surprise, sheathing his sword and walking over. "I thought you'd enchanted it to be indestructible?"

"I did! It's as though my majik lost its potency the moment we entered this world. And it's been getting worse and worse the longer we stay here!"

"Well, I'm certainly not going to continue our practice with you like this. It's too great of a risk," Celtos declared firmly, then, glancing over Damus' shoulder, "Mirai, focus!"

Damus turned around in time to see Mirai's majik-orb fluctuate wildly. Acting instinctively, he went to throw up a shield around the unstable ball of majik – and nothing happened! Alarmed, Gaia, Lustire, and Joey scrambled away. "Cayenne!" Damus shouted, and the blue-skinned mage snapped out of his meditative trance, getting a shield up around Mirai's deteriorating orb a split-second before it exploded.

The brilliant burst of light left everyone momentarily flash-blinded, but Cayenne lit into Mirai before his eyes had even cleared. "What in the Hell were you thinking, putting that much power into a mediation orb when you can't control it? Do you honestly have such lousy control that you can't even keep that stable? You could have killed us, you idiot! You - "

"Cayenne, that's enough," Damus said sharply, seeing his sister's eyes beginning to well up. "Mirai, explain."

"Uhm, well, you see, I was kind of… distracted, by what you and Celtos… uhm, were… talking about…"

"My majik, you mean?" Damus' tone was drifting towards 'annoyed.'

A significant blush presented itself on Mirai's features, spreading itself from the roots of her hair down to the neckline of her shirt. Considering the shirt was one she had borrowed from Mai, it was a heck of a blush. "Um, yeah, you know, 'cause, your majik… is interesting," she managed, not sounding remotely convincing.

"Mirai, you wouldn't by any chance have something to do with Damus' majik malfunctioning, would you?" Celtos questioned, his own tone just short of threatening.

"Uhm… Well, I was maybe-kinda-sorta theoretically looking in big brother's Ancient Spellbook, and maybe-kinda-sorta theoretically found these really nifty spells…"

"Oh, please tell me you were not reading from the thirty-fourth chapter!" Damus groaned.

Mirai winced and looked at her brother through one half-open eye. "…yeah."

"What's in the thirty-fourth chapter?" Joey wanted to know, cautiously moving back from the door with Lustire and Gaia.

"Sexual majik!" Damus answered, tone fast moving from 'annoyed' to 'severely pissed.' "Aside from the fact that you shouldn't even be reading the Ancient Spellbook without my permission - ," Mirai flinched, "exactly what you were doing in the Sex Majik chapter I do not want to contemplate! And if that had anything to do with the purple hippopotamus - "

Mirai winced again, a little harder this time, and Celtos slapped himself in the forehead. "Mirai, I hope your boyfriend can take care of himself!"

"What does the purple hippopotamus have to do with Faaro?" Gaia questioned, looking bewildered, then clapped a hand over his mouth in alarm. "Shit."

Damus turned a disbelieving stare to his sister. "You're sleeping with the Flame Swordsman?"

"Wha – aat?"

Lustire clamped a hand over Joey's mouth, Celtos burst out laughing, and Cayenne gave a high-pitched, slightly hysterical giggle that earned him several odd looks.

"The hippo is because inexperienced mages wind up summoning… questionable animals when they're engaged in, ah… distracting activities," Celtos explained haltingly, blushing all the while. "The fact that it was bright purple probably should have tipped us off, but neither Damus nor I considered that Mirai would be in a relationship behind our backs…"

"Guilt-trip much?" Cayenne grinned, and got two dirty looks in reply.

"We can discuss conjugal relationships with Pyro monsters later," Damus said, ignoring Joey's near faint, and Mirai gave him the most miserable look she could manage. "Right now, we need to address the issue of my powers not working." So saying, he reached forward into seemingly empty air, an expression of concentration on his face, and his hand vanished to the wrist. Pulling his arm back, his hand reappeared, holding the spine of a thick book. Which, about halfway out, seemed to get stuck… in thin air. Gritting his teeth, Damus seized the book with both hands, tugging on it, but to no avail. Cayenne seemed to find this absolutely hilarious, and was forced to sit down on the rooftop, rocking back and forth with the force of his laughter. Gaia and Joey were chuckling softly, and even Lustire was clearly struggling not to laugh.

"I'm glad you all find this so amusing," Damus seethed, bracing one foot against seemingly thin air and yanking. The book, however, remained stubbornly where it was - until Celtos reached over Damus' shoulder, intending to help pull. The instant his fingertips touched the book, it popped free, sending Damus flying backwards, knocking himself and Celtos flat on their backs, and sending Cayenne flat on his back as well – with laughter. Damus spared his cousin another dirty look and flipped the book open. "Page?"

"One thousand, six hundred and ninety-two."

"At least you remember. And here I was wasting my time looking for porthole spells…" Damus sighed heavily, flipping to the appropriate page. He scanned it briefly, then snorted. "No wonder I'm having trouble! 'Transferal and Enhancement of Magical Abilities through Intimate Contact.' You've been siphoning my majik into Celtos and increasing it tenfold!"

"Well, that explains why he can summon, at least," came Yami's voice, causing almost everyone on the rooftop to jump. Yami and Yuugi were standing just in front of the walk-up, and Seto Kaiba was standing behind them, glowering at the entire group.

"Hey, pervert!" Joey shouted cheerfully. "Come to get some more of my ass?"

Kaiba didn't answer, just gave Joey a glare that fell somewhere between disbelief, fury, and alarm. Yuugi, smiling, stepped in to help,

"Kaiba has some good news for you, everyone. He thinks he's only a day or two away from a solution with the Duel Disks! We'll be able to participate in the Tournament!"

"That is excellent news," Damus answered after a moment of surprised silence, still flipping to the index of the Spellbook. "Isn't that much quicker than you'd expected?"

"Yes," Kaiba answered, a faint smirk reasserting itself on his face, "but I had some unexpected help."

"Eh? Who'zat, Moneybags?"

Kaiba might have ignored Joey, but the expectant gazes on him dragged the answer out nonetheless. "Saggi."

"Saggi?" came a half-dozen incredulous echoes.

"How in the name of Horus did you convince him to help you?" Cayenne demanded. "That miserable clown is harder to manage than I am!"

"How, exactly, can Saggi be helpin' you? He's not a machine monster, I can't see that he's got any kinda technical skills," Joey piped up, at the forefront again.

Kaiba grimaced slightly, but forced out an answer anyway. "I needed a guinea pig. Saggi is useful because he can tell me when I've established a porthole to the… monster realm."

Yami and Yuugi exchanged grins. To hear Seto, who, even now, stoutly refused to believe in 'that hocus-pocus past-life Egyptian crap,' saying that he was working to establish a porthole to an alternate dimension was entertaining, to say the least. Seto looked like saying it made his teeth ache.

"And you've made progress?" Celtos asked carefully.

"I've established a porthole, yes, but it's not large or stable enough to use yet. Unless you'd like to risk ending up in Peguasus' deck - " a collective shudder ran through the group – "it will take a while longer to get the calculations I need."

"We can wait," Cayenne answered instantly. "But again, how did you get that…clown to help you?" The tone of 'clown' might have been better suited to terms like 'raw sewage' or 'slug slime,' but Kaiba ignored it and answered.

"Fairly simple. I just threatened to increase his attack points."

"How is that a threat? I'd think he'd be delighted," Gaia muttered, just loudly enough for Kaiba to overhear.

"I had a Crush Card in my other hand."

"Oh, spirits, you didn't infect him, did you?" Celtos groaned.

Perplexed, Kaiba shook his head. "No, why?"

"Because Dark-Element monsters are terrible babies when they're sick," the Elf answered, ignoring Cayenne's angry hiss. "The last time Damus caught a cold, he stayed in bed for a week, moaning."

"And if you think that's bad," Gaia grimaced, making sure he was behind Lustire and well out of strike range, "you should hear Cayenne. He spends his sickdays ranting at the top of his lungs that the universe and every god in it has a vendetta against him, and then Lustire has to come in and shut him up."

That earned Gaia a few odd looks. "How could you know that? Your rooms are on a different floor than his."

The Knight rolled his eyes at Damus, sighing. "Yes, the floor below. Directly below, as a matter of fact. And while the walls in the mansion may be soundproofed, the floors and ceilings aren't." By this point, Gaia was looking mildly ill.

Lustire promptly blushed a brilliant shade of emerald, and Cayenne let out a delighted cackle. "Bet you'd never have pegged Lustire as a screamer," he snickered, and Gaia's dark-grey face went slightly ashen.

"No," he answered miserably, "and your language, Cayenne…"

"At least I don't laugh like a rabid hyena when I'm drunk," Cayenne shot back, still grinning.

Gaia threw his hands up in exasperation. "One time, ONE TIME, you mix ale and Elven wine, and they never let you forget it!"

"In my defense," Celtos said mildly, "I did warn you it was potent."

"I do not laugh like a rabid hyena. And I wasn't that drunk," Gaia snapped.

Damus rolled his eyes skyward as though praying for assistance. "Gaia, you were that drunk. You hit on Lustire."

"He was wearing his robes; I thought he was a girl! Besides, I'm partially color-blind, I thought his hair was blon - " Gaia abruptly cut himself off, blushing until his cheeks were the color of charcoal. "Never mind," he mumbled, casting a sidelong glance at Mysti. Although she had finally come out of her mediation trance, she appeared not to have heard.

"That still doesn't explain – wait, color blind?"

"Yes," Gaia answered, exasperated, and Cayenne snickered in the background.

"No wonder he clashes with his horse!"

There was a moment of dead silence before everyone on the roof, save Cayenne, Kaiba, and Gaia, burst into laughter. Even Lustire chuckled, a deep rumble of sound.

"What?" Bewildered, Cayenne glowered at everyone until Joey finally laughed out an explanation.

"Cayenne, you are so gay! 'He clashes with his horse'?"

"He does!" Cayenne answered, defensively. "Hell, the horse clashes with itself! Purple and yellow?"

"This comin' from you, who dresses like a sadomasochistic pervert. Wait, what am I sayin'…"

"I AM a sadomasochistic pervert!" Cayenne countered with a fang-baring grin. Lustire smacked him soundly upside the head, and Cayenne laughed harder, jerking the soldier to him and planting a violent kiss on his lips.

"Gaia," said Damus, as the two parted, Lustire with a lip bleeding from Cayenne's fangs, "I promise you I will soundproof every floor and ceiling in the mansion as soon as we get back."

"That," answered the nauseated Knight, "would be greatly appreciated."

"Oy, Gaia," Celtos said sharply, glancing up from the index pages he was reading over Damus' shoulder, "why didn't you try just banging on the ceiling?"

"And try to stop those two?" Gaia answered scornfully, gesturing to the again-liplocked Cayenne and Lustire. "You're kidding, right? Why do you think I spend so many nights sleeping in the stables?"

Damus quirked an eyebrow towards the Knight, and Celtos frowned. "At the time," the Elf answered, "I thought you had elected to sleep with Zephyr voluntarily Not that you'd been chased out of your room by a pair of sex-crazed maniacs," Celtos answered pointedly.

Cayenne equally pointedly flipped him off, never breaking contact with Lustire.

"No, thank you," Celtos replied seriously, and turned back to Gaia. "You really need to stop being such a doormat, Gaia."

"Easy for you to say! You're sleeping with the Head of the Deck! The others have to listen to him, and, by association, you!"

"It's not like that," Celtos began, but he was cut off as the overcast sky abruptly decided to unload its contents on the city. With a mingled chorus of yelps, curses, and laughter, the group scrambled for the door. It took a few moments to get everyone inside, and, as a result, the majority of them got thoroughly drenched. Kaiba, having been closest to the walkup and therefore currently driest, bid a curt farewell to Yami and Yuugi and deserted the premises as fast as he could reach the door. If he saw Joey behind him, dripping wet, hurt, and bewildered, he gave no indication.

Clustered on the landing, the monsters milled around for a few moments before Cayenne, who, having been farthest from the door, was wettest, announced flatly that he was going to take a hot shower and headed down the hall for the bathroom, dragging Lustire with him.

Gaia, meeting Celtos' eyes over and between the heads of the others, sighed slightly, took a deep breath, and shouted after the mage, "And incidentally, Cayenne, I'm only colorblind to red and green – I can see my horse just fine!!"

Looking equal parts proud and terrified, the Knight bolted for the guest room, while Amystria followed at a slightly more sedate pace. Mirai, head ducked and looking sheepish, scuttled off to the guest room behind them, intending to work on less hazardous forms of meditation under the half-Elf's guidance. Yami and Yuugi, relatively dry, excused themselves to resume whatever… activities Kaiba had interrupted. From the disturbed state of their clothing, it wasn't that hard to guess. Joey, still staring blankly down the stairs, gave his head a slow shake as he pulled himself out of his daze.

"I don't get it," the blond mumbled, walking past Damus, down the stairs, and finally throwing himself on the living room couch. The mage followed him down, slowly, his nose still buried in the index of the book, searching for a counter spell. Celtos, having stopped at the linen closet long enough to retrieve towels for the three of them, dropped one over Damus' shoulders as he passed him and another on Joey's head before going into the kitchen. Shortly, the soft clatter of dishes being moved and the sound of water running drifted out to them, accompanied by Celtos' low humming as he searched for the dish soap.

Carefully coming down the final step into the living room, Damus considered the couch for a moment – Joey was sprawled across almost the entire length of it – before sitting on the floor with his back against the coffee table.

"What is it that you don't understand?" Damus asked calmly, looking up at the boy. Joey, rubbing his head vigorously with the towel, gave a somewhat muffled response.

"Sorry?"

More rubbing with the towel, another incomprehensible mumble.

"I can't understand you with a towel over your head."

There was a frustrated growl and the towel was finally hurled aside, nearly knocking over the table lamp in the course of its flight. "I said Kaiba!" Joey snapped, his hair standing up in a manner that nearly rivaled Yuugi's. "Ya happy? I'm obsessed with the man that makes puppy cracks about me! I'm fallin' in love with a guy that treats me like crap! He spends the whole mornin' gropin' me, he tries to kiss me, but as soon as I look him in the eye, he goes flyin' out the door! He think he's too good to be seen with me, is that it? Seto Ice-Blood Kaiba, too good for anybody but himself!"

Out of breath, Joey had to stop for a moment, and Damus quickly pounced on the opportunity. "What did you see in his eyes?"

A faintly glazed look was his only answer, and Damus quickly elaborated. "When he was about to kiss you, earlier. What did you see in his eyes when he was so close to you?"

There was a significant pause. "Everythin'. But I don't believe a bit of it."

Damus was considering his response when Celtos' aimless humming gave way to an actual song. Both he and Joey stilled as the low notes drifted out to them, the song wrapping itself around their minds and bodies. The words were in a language that Joey couldn't begin to understand, but the sheer power of emotion behind the song was incredible; a sense of awesome tragedy, an equal sense of undying hope.

"What - " Joey began to whisper, but was quickly shushed by Damus.

"We are being given a gift," the mage whispered back, barely loud enough to hear. "Even I rarely hear him sing." Smiling faintly, the mage leaned back against the table, his eyes drifting closed and an expression of deep reminiscence coming over his face.

On the landing of the stairs above them, a whisper of movement caught Joey's attention. Turning, he found Cayenne and Lustire there, both still wet and towel-clad, listening intently to the song. Lustire had his eyes closed, his face entirely relaxed, as if everything but the song had ceased to exist. Cayenne's eyes were closed, too, but his face looked… pained, as though the song brought back memories of anguish that had never quite healed.

Slowly, silently, the rest of the house's occupants drifted out onto the landing as well. Amystria, face peaceful and calm; Gaia, an expression of mild bewilderment over admiration, a man seeing easy use of a skill he could never hope to gain; Mirai, beaming with delight, for, as Damus had said, despite their closeness to the Elf, they rarely heard him sing. Yami and Yuugi listened with sheer wonderment in their eyes, as though they gazed for the first time upon one of the worlds' great marvels.

All the while Celtos continued to sing, unknowing and unbothered by his audience, as the song moved out of tragedy and despair and further into hope, and something that sounded like joy. When Damus, still reclining against the table, lifted his own voice to match the Elf's, it wasn't the intrusion into the song that it should have been, but rather, the filling of a space they hadn't realized was there. Together, their two voices made the song even more incredible; when the song soared to its conclusion, it filled those listening with a sense of transcendent joy.

The last note faded into a slow silence, none willing to disturb the echoes dancing in their memories, until Celtos peeked out of the kitchen door, blushing and sheepishly rubbing the back of his head.

"Didn't realize I'd attract an audience," he mumbled, but Damus stood up and beckoned the Elf forward before he could escape back into the kitchen.

"Celtos, I…" Damus closed his eyes briefly when his voice choked, then, very deliberately, bent from the hips in a deep bow. Clearing his throat, he straightened, looked the Elf in the eye, and managed a clear, "Thank you. That song has always been my favorite."

Smiling, Celtos dipped his head. "I know. And thank you for joining in. The last verse lacks when it's just me."

"Hardly," Damus muttered, but was forced to clear his throat again when the word caught. Celtos, his blush receding, gave the mage's shoulder a kind squeeze and sat down on the arm of the sofa. Joey, still staring in shock, pulled his feet up enough that Damus could sit down next to him.

"Celtos," Yuugi spoke up finally, the first to find his voice, "that was incredible! I never knew you could sing!"

"All Elves can sing, Master. It is one of the gifts of our people," Celtos answered, waving it off.

"A gift that he received doubly," Amystria noted, even her soft voice carrying in the quiet room, "for a finer voice has not been heard among the Elves for generations."

"Amystria exaggerates," Celtos argued, his blush reasserting itself. "I'm not really that - "

Damus took the fastest and most effective route to shutting him up. When they separated a full two minutes later, both rather out of breath, Joey took the opportunity to ask what the song meant.

"Meant? Well, it's an old Elvish ballad – very old, actually, several millennia. It tells the story of the two great Kings who ended the Last War."

"Kings?" Yami asked, at the same time Yuugi echoed, "War?"

"The Last War fought between Elves and Spellcasters," Celtos, Damus, Mysti, and Cayenne elaborated in rather disjointed harmony.

"You were at war?" Yami repeated, incredulous.

"As I said, this was millennia ago. And the song doesn't translate all that well, but the essential tale is this; millennia ago, the Mages and the Elves were locked in an ancient blood war. The war had lasted for nine of the Spellcaster's generations, so long that neither side could remember why it started. The long war had robbed both sides of all the young, the strong, and the brave, and both sides were nearing extinction. At last, the two young Kings who led their people made the decision to end the war. Simultaneously, the High Mage and the Elven King sent their envoys to the other side. When they learned that their enemies had the same idea, they decided to meet." Celtos paused, chuckling a little, and Damus took over.

"The song goes on to tell about how the two young leaders arranged their meeting through envoys and lieutenants, and how the soldiers reacted with a mix of fear and joy to the news the war would soon be over. When the two leaders finally met, it is said that lightening burst and split the sky, although it was blue and clear of clouds, just because of the meeting of their power. For, despite their youth, the two Kings were the most powerful warriors their races had ever seen." Damus stopped, bumped his head affectionately against Celtos' shoulder, and the Elf picked up where the mage had left off.

"When the two young Kings met, they became instantly entranced with one another. They became lovers that night, and the war was officially ended the next day. Since then, Elves and Mages have been allies… for the most part," Celtos added, mildly, but there was a sharpness behind his amber eyes as he glanced towards Cayenne, now standing with the rest of the group at the bottom of the staircase.

"Now I see why this song is your favorite, Damus," Yami smirked.

The mage mirrored his Master's expression. "Well, the circumstances of our meeting were somewhat different, but it ended much the same way," he answered, snickering. Celtos gave a very slight moan and dropped his upper body back, letting his head hang down behind the back of the couch.

"Well, it wasn't my fault! When the most beautiful creature in the world is skinny-dipping in front of you? Particularly when he has a voice like the one you've just heard?" Damus smiled, the reminiscent expression returning to his face as he laid a possessive hand on the Elf's knee. "It was his voice that first drew me too him, but his laughter that made me fall in love."

"It was the Ballad of the Moon Goddess, wasn't it?" Celtos asked, his voice slightly strained from the position of his head and neck.

Damus made a vague sound of agreement, then sighed faintly. "You know, I wish you'd grow your hair back."

Celtos, his head still upside-down behind the couch, snorted slightly. "Easy for you to say. You can tuck yours inside your armor when you fight, but mine's too thick for that. And leaving long hair out just makes it a target for tangles – among other things." This time, there was a fierce severity to his voice, and Cayenne flinched, growling under his breath.

"Elf," the blue-skinned mage gritted, and Celtos lifted his head to look at him, "you can just kiss this!" And, turning around, Cayenne tugged the towel off his waist and bent over.

Yuugi and Mirai both snapped their eyes shut. Yami looked, but only briefly. Lustire rolled his eyes and sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. Amystria and Gaia both turned away, blushing purple and charcoal respectively, and fled up the stairs before things could get any worse. Joey snickered, Celtos sighed, and Damus, never one to pass up an opportunity, cocked his finger and thumb in the classic 'gun' pose used by children everywhere, bent his thumb, and –

"YOW!!!" Cayenne scrambled upright, one hand on his singed butt-cheek, the other holding the towel in front of himself in something vaguely resembling modesty. "Damus, you son of a bitch!!"

"What the heck did you jus' do ta him?" Joey demanded, barely getting the question out around his laughter. Nearly everyone else, even those that hadn't seen exactly what transpired, were laughing, at Cayenne's expression if nothing else.

"Spark shooting," Celtos explained, a wearily amused look on his face. "It's one of the first skills that mages learn, and its uses can be… diverse."

"Like zappin' your cousin in the butt?"

"Regretfully, that is probably the most frequent application."

"Wish I could so somethin' like that to Kaiba. Might get his attention," Joey mused as Cayenne vanished up the stairs, his towel firmly back in place, trailed by everyone else save Celtos, Damus, and Joey.

Damus' expression went from mischievous to thoughtful in the blink of an eye. "Joey, do you play chess?"

"Never had the time to learn. Why?"

"Because to get Kaiba's attention, you're going to need to beat him at his own game. And you may not be able to beat him in the upcoming Duel Tournament, but seduction is as much of a game as chess."

"And you're gonna teach me?"

Mocking an old-fashioned Hollywood gunslinger, Damus blew imaginary smoke away from the tip of his finger. "Bulls-eye."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

S: Six… thousand… words… (DIES)

Onyx: (pokes)

S: (resuscitates) See? I told you Cayenne was nefarious! And yes, he's done this before. The song that Damus and Celtos were singing is from 'Fiddler on the Roof.' (Don't own that, either. But my mother played Yenta in her high school's production!) And no, that does not qualify as part of the Reader Contest. (See below)

Additionally, if anyone is confused as to ages (Yami's thoughts on Yuugi in particular), I am considering everyone over 18 for the duration of this fanfiction. My thoughts, it's the summer after school graduation. It's mentioned earlier that Kaiba is already taking college courses, and I'm considering this post-series. Yes, I know, Yami, Millenium Items, etc. It's AU. I started this back in the Duelist Kingdom arc, and followed my original plot despite developments on the show. I don't play nicely with canon… Or cannons. But that's beside the point.

On Celtos' singing: Those of you that have actually read Lord of the Rings: remember how Legolas sings so often? Yeah. Same thing. Those of you that haven't read LotR? Well, you should!! It's a fantastic series of books, and it's super easy to find them now that the movies made the popularity surge. Check any local store with a book isle, or try Bookfinder (dot) com for cheap overstock books, new or used, of any description.

READER CONTEST!!! Anybody notice the movie quote earlier in this chapter? Well, if you did, congratulations! That reference is one of three; two movie quotes, one television reference (from a popular sci-fi series), that I have inserted randomly into this story. The first reader who can identify all three references, and their sources, gets to request a free one-shot!! Good luck and happy hunting!

OOOOOOOOO

Can't get enough DMxCG? Dive into my new one-shot, Under the Moonlight. Craving more S/J? If you don't mind a bit of sand in your shoes, stroll over to These Games, my Ancient Egypt fic! Done plugging now. Please review!!