These are some scenes that I wrote that got cut from the original (because there were just too many subplots and I didn't want to distract from the main ones). I'm adding them as an extra, sort of. They don't include any songs, just character interaction and plot.

You could ignore them, if you want.

-O-o-O-o-O-

Marik Used to Be in this Story

Later that day at rehearsal, Marik was laughing at the fact that Joey's wig was on crooked when Bakura descended from the balcony. "Marik, there's a phone call for you upstairs."

Marik looked at Bakura, confused. "On the office phone?"

"It's your sister."

Marik wasted no time getting up the stairs. What could Ishizu want after all these years?

He picked up the receiver, noting its heaviness compared to the old (or new, if it were before the fall) phones. "This thing ought to be a lethal weapon," he thought, feeling the cold metal against his face. "Hello?" he whispered into the phone.

"Hello, Marik."

Her voice made him feel like a little kid. "Hey, sis."

"What have you been up to lately?"

Marik hoped he didn't hesitate too long. "Not much."

"Hmm. You don't sound very happy." Ishizu's voice held a hint of concern. "Did you go back to Domino to do 'not much'?"

"I'm working with Yugi and his friends."

A pause. "Are you still dueling?"

"Well, no, but we're doing this new thing where we do performance art about it."

Another pause. "Marik, come back to Egypt." The hint became a full-blown spoiler.

"Why? I'm doing perfectly fine over here."

"If we're talking about the same Domino city, then, no, you are not doing fine. That place is a wasteland. It's been that way since the fall of dueling." She let out a sharp breath. "At least over here, we still give the game the respect it deserves."

"It'll be that way here, too, just wait. We're doing a whole play on it." Marik could feel the excitement rising in his face. "You'd love it. It's going to start a whole revolution. We're going to bring dueling back."

Silence on the other end. "Are you still there?" Marik asked.

"I'm here, but…"

"You don't think we can do it, do you?"

"I didn't say that."

"You just admitted dueling didn't get the respect it deserved over here, and you want us to give up on it. Don't you think we could restore its respect over here?"

Ishizu sighed. "If people abandoned dueling at the drop of a hat for some plastic cubes, what makes you think they'll even try to understand? Clearly, they think it's just another trendy game. Why do you think they'll try to revive something they think is 'so last year'?"

"But this new play we're doing is sort of educational, on top of entertaining. It'll change how everyone thinks about dueling, we're all sure of it."

"You shouldn't depend on one play to do that."

"We're not going to do just one play. We'll think of something else to do after the play stops running."

"You're completely sure you want to continue?"

"Of course."

"Very well. But you can always come home, whenever you like."

"Sure."

Bakura was waiting at the top of the stairs. "Was everything okay over there?" he asked, genuinely concerned.

"Everything's going to be all right," Marik answered, looking over the balcony's railing. Then he ran downstairs to grab some popcorn and watch Mai and Kaiba attempt the first number without kicking each other.

"Attempt" being the key word.

-O-o-O-

The Plight of the Beta Couple

Bakura, Kaiba, and Mokuba gathered in the upstairs office of the Black Dragon Theater. They stood around the desk, staring at a stapled pamphlet with a pair of dice on the cover. Though it was as dry as the humor on its pages, it smelled like Duke had soaked it in his signature scent.

"So this is it," Mokuba said. "The new ending."

"Let's see the damage," Bakura sighed. He picked it up.

The scent was ten times worse; those few inches made all the difference. Bakura and Mokuba recoiled and fanned the air. Kaiba flung himself in front of the trash bin next to the desk and violently vomited into it.

Bakura held the script at arm's length. "Bloody hell, that cologne is strong."

"He's been doing that a lot. He'll be fine after a few minutes." Mokuba covered his nose with his shirt. "But I'd scrub my hands with steel wool and bleach if I were you."

"How are we supposed to read this? There's no gas mask strong enough, and I don't think we could afford them, anyway." Bakura tossed the pamphlet back on the desk. "I wonder if Mai has something that could neutralize the smell."

Kaiba finished vomiting and wiped his mouth. He started to get up, then dropped to his knees to dry heave over the trash bin.

"Are you all right over there?" Bakura asked. Mokuba put a tray over the pamphlet to block the smell.

"I'm just great." Kaiba ripped open a package of Dramamine and popped two. He sat back against the desk, then snatched the package back up and took two more pills.

"You're eating those like they're Skittles," Bakura said incredulously. He looked back at the covered pamphlet. "I really must talk to Duke about his cologne."

"You just rest, Seto. We'll look at the ending," Mokuba said.

Bakura propped up the tray to create a shield against the stench for Kaiba. With their fingers clamped firmly over their noses, he and Mokuba read over the new ending to Awesome Flotsam.

"This completely cuts out the big ending number, as well as the secret song," Mokuba noted with chagrin.

"Maybe you can just change the words so they're about dice games," Bakura suggested. "Why isn't Tristan here?"

"We can't show him this. It'd destroy him. Plus, I think Duke would kill him if he found out," Mokuba said.

"Bakura."

Both Bakura and Mokuba looked up from the script. Kaiba was sitting very still on the floor by the trash bin. He didn't look back at them, but down at his stomach.

"Can Noah be the understudy for the role of Priest Seahorse?" Kaiba asked quietly.

Bakura and Mokuba froze and exchanged surprised glances. Kaiba never asked for an understudy. "I suppose. Why do you ask?"

Kaiba finally looked up. "Because by the second month of the show, I'll be too far along to do the more complicated numbers."

Bakura gaped. Mokuba just stared. "You're…you're what?" Bakura was barely aware of the words passing his lips.

Kaiba looked out of the window at the pediment. "Hmm. The tin roof's rusted."

"What…how…this isn't the time to discuss repairs!" Bakura sputtered. "You're pregnant?"

"Why didn't you tell me?" Mokuba went over to Kaiba.

"I didn't know until today," Kaiba answered.

"How did you even get pregnant?" Bakura was beside himself. "You're a man!"

Kaiba sighed exasperatedly. "Yes. I'm a man. I'm a man who's had his plumbing rearranged by aliens so he has not only a penis, but a uterus, egg sacs, birth canal, and his very own vaginal opening." Kaiba snickered. "The aliens were even kind enough to fix my pelvic hole and make the opening muscles extra strong. Wasn't that considerate."

"How far along are you?" Mokuba asked. Bakura grabbed a paper bag and began to breathe hysterically into it. It was only a matter of time before the aliens came for him, too.

"It just moved, so it's probably not coming out for another four months." Kaiba looked back down at his stomach. "An abortion's too risky at this stage."

Bakura crumpled the bag. "What did I tell you about using proper protection?"

"I used a condom, okay?" Kaiba snapped. "I couldn't afford health care, so I couldn't get the pill or the morning after pill. The only doctor I could afford didn't catch it in time." Kaiba sighed, frustrated. "And I guess the condom didn't catch it either." He sat back on his heels.

Mokuba and Bakura exchanged a look. Bakura left the room muttering, "Holy life imitating art, Batman."

Mokuba closed the door behind him and sat down next to Kaiba. They sat in silence for a few minutes until Mokuba asked, "Do you know who the father is?"

Kaiba wouldn't look at him.

Mokuba turned his whole body to face his brother. "It's not…one of the customers, is it? Like Keith?"

Kaiba shook his head. "It's worse. It's Yugi."

Mokuba stared. "Are you going to tell him?"

"He's going to notice after a certain point." Kaiba folded his arms. It only drew Mokuba's attention to the slight bump in Kaiba's abdomen.

"You can't not tell him and wait until he has to notice," Mokuba said. "You can't spring this on him."

"Yugi doesn't need to be involved. I can handle this on my own." Kaiba pulled the trash bin closer in case he needed it again.

"But don't you want his help?"

"No." Kaiba grabbed the trash bin and vomited into it again. "I can't keep relying on Yugi to save my life. I'm not some weakling." He wiped his mouth. "I can take care of myself and I can take care of this child."

Mokuba exhaled through his teeth. "Well, I think you're being foolish."

Kaiba gaped at the challenge. His ego deflated rapidly.

"Think about the child," Mokuba continued. "You don't think he'd benefit from having the King of freaking Games as a father?"

Kaiba shut his mouth. "Could be a girl," he muttered.

"That's irrelevant. You said it yourself: Yugi is a prodigy and a worthy opponent. He's the only one who can rival you in intelligence. Don't you want your offspring to have the best possible upbringing?"

Kaiba stared ahead, thinking. He wasn't clenching his jaw, so Mokuba went on.

"I'm not saying you need Yugi or that you can't do it alone. But you don't want to live with the fact that you had a golden opportunity and you passed it up. You want to give that kid the best chance in life and be proud of the great job you did," Mokuba concluded.

Kaiba looked out the window again. "Will Yugi even want me?"

"You won't know if you don't ask."

Kaiba pushed the trash bin away. "It might not even survive. I'm healthy enough, but I haven't been that careful."

"You should still tell Yugi. If this kid is anything like you, it has a good chance of living." Mokuba put his hands on Kaiba's shoulders. "Even if it doesn't survive, both of you need to prepare for it. You both need to be ready for either outcome."

Kaiba stared straight ahead. "I'm not going to marry him or anything. I'm just going to try to make this work. Whatever it takes." He stood up and went to the desk, being careful to only breathe through his mouth. "Let me see how Duke's butchered the ending."

Mokuba stood up. "I'll get Bakura."

He'd just shut the door behind him when it hit him. All those nights Yugi slept over, his brother's current condition…

Yugi and Seto were likely having sex just a few feet away from him.

Mokuba stopped to ponder that, then shrugged and went about his business.

-O-

While the rest of the players took their bows on stage, Kaiba was in the bathroom with his head in the toilet. The Dramamine's effects had long since worn off and he'd barely made it to the bathroom in time.

"He's just a fetus and he's already kicking my ass." Kaiba wiped his mouth with toilet paper. "He's definitely Yugi's. Or he'll take after me."

When he was sure he was finished, he opened the door. Yugi was waiting outside, on the couch.

Kaiba clutched the doorknob. How long had Yugi been out here?

Yugi looked up, concerned. "Are you all right?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Kaiba adjusted his priest robes.

"Because for the past few weeks, you've been puking everywhere," Yugi said, matter-of-factly. "Is it Yami's Abysmalinth? He can kind of give you a contact hangover sometimes."

"No." Kaiba felt his knees start to buckle. He dragged himself over to the couch and plunked himself down on the opposite end.

Yugi watched the players through the hall doorway. "Your acting was great."

Kaiba put his head on the couch's arm. "Thanks."

"Especially during the Riverdance duel." Yugi chuckled. "Never thought I'd see you swoon. I was worried for a second there."

Yugi turned to face Kaiba, when he didn't get an answer. Kaiba was curled up at the end of the couch, leaning heavily on the arm. His normally steady posture was limp. He looked even more uncomfortable than the night he tried to pay Yugi back for the cards. From the look on his face, Yugi could tell that Kaiba was miserable.

"You weren't faking, were you?" he said softly. He slid over to check Kaiba's pulse. Still going strong.

Kaiba gave a weak laugh. "I'm a better duelist than actor."

Yugi removed his Dark Magician cape and hat. "I gotta get you to a doctor." He reached down to help Kaiba up, but Kaiba resisted. "Look, I'm sure Noah would drive us there."

"That's not necessary," Kaiba muttered.

"How can you say that? You look like death!" Yugi said. "And I don't think this is courtesy of Nacho Hell."

Kaiba rolled his half open eyes. "That's because it isn't."

"Then what is it?"

Kaiba grabbed Yugi's hand and pressed it against the slight bump in his priest robes. Yugi stared at Kaiba, confused, until he felt the tiny kick.

Yugi's eyes widened as he took his hand away. "Holy shit on a hospital bed."

Kaiba sighed exasperatedly. "Don't swear in front of our child, Yugi."

Yugi paced in front of the couch. "I don't even know what to say. I guess we could…" He looked at Kaiba. "How far along are you?"

"Four or five months."

"Damn." Yugi made sure he only mouthed the word. "Well, do you want me to stay around and help, or…"

Kaiba stared ahead. "Mokuba thinks it would be best."

"But do you want me around?" Yugi pressed.

Kaiba looked past Yugi at the dueling poster on the wall. "That's up to you. The kid's half yours, anyway."

Yugi quit pacing and faced Kaiba. "Wait, are you implying that we should get married?"

Kaiba finally made eye contact. "Yugi, please."

"Cut the bull, Kaiba. This isn't your style," Yugi said. "You got altered by aliens and I knocked you up. Do you want to get married, or do you not?"

Kaiba was silent for a few minutes. "I don't like getting close to people outside my family." He sat up. "So you'll just have to join it."

"Okay. So we're keeping our own last names, then?"

Kaiba smirked. "I'm definitely not changing mine."

"Fine."

-O-

Five months later, Kaiba and Yugi checked on their son. The infant was sleeping in his crib, but it was almost time for his feeding. His breath blew the blond tendrils out of his face. The rest of his blond hair (which could darken to Kaiba's brown or even Yugi's tri-colored tone) stuck up in small spikes.

"He needs a name," Yugi said. He grabbed a diaper from the package for later.

"Jaden." Kaiba tested the temperature of the milk in the bottle.

Yugi shuddered. "God, no."

The baby opened his eyes. The hint of violet in the gray irises made Yugi wonder if babies' eyes really did change colors.

Kaiba put his milk pump away. "Jack."

"Maybe," Yugi said. A motorcycle revved outside. "No, not Jack," Yugi decided.

Kaiba sighed, frustrated. "Then, Dimitri."

The baby turned his head toward them. His eyes moved from Kaiba to Yugi, then he put his hand in his mouth.

"Okay, let's name him Dimitri," Yugi agreed. "We can't keep calling him, 'kid who belongs to me.'"

Kaiba picked Dimitri up to give him his bottle. "Dimitri Kaiba. It fits."

As he drank from the bottle, Dimitri stared at Kaiba's card necklace. Kaiba gave him a rare smile.

"You'll be seeing a lot of those when you get older, kid."

-O-o-O-o-O-