Chapter 25

He could feel the monster starting to recede. With every nightmare he managed to get out of his head, he could feel the monster move further and further back into his subconscious. And more; he could feel a cage starting to close in around the monster. He was winning. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath in and tried to focus. Somewhere just beyond his reach he could almost feel the memories of the conversation start to rise, replacing the monster.

An image began to swell in his head. Nightmares and fear pushed to the surface faster than anything else. He wanted to scream. He needed to scream. But he didn't. He couldn't. If he screamed now, he would be letting the monster win. He couldn't let the monster win. Not when he was so close to caging it forever.

He opened his eyes again and looked around for a clear surface. Some small space he could draw his latest nightmare onto. He had to get it out of his head now. If he got it out of his head now maybe he could win this. If he got it out of his head now maybe he could cage the monster and reach the information he needed. He had to get it out of his head. He had to win. He had to. One small space. One little bit of space. He had to draw. He needed to draw. He had to get the nightmare out.

Covo had been quietly watching Ahna for quite some time. There was something about the way she was acting which felt a little off. He didn't know what it was exactly, but it had him worried and, from the way Crovell wouldn't stop crying, he got the impression he wasn't the only one.

'Can I try?' Covo held his arms out towards her.

'I'm more than capable of comforting my own son thank you,' Ahna's voice was so tight it was almost jarring to hear.

'I know, but sometimes a change of hands works.'

'I doubt this is one of those times Covo.'

'Please,' a slightly forced smile pulled across his face, 'at least let me try.'

'Fine,' she glared at him as she handed her baby over, 'see if you can do any better, clearly I'm incapable.'

Almost as soon as he was in Covo's arms, Crovell stopped crying.

'Great,' she turned angrily from him, 'well that's just perfect. Prove what a bad mother I am Covo.'

'Don't... don't say that,' he stared at her, 'you're a good mother.'

'Good mothers can stop their babies from crying Covo,' she gave an almost violent dismissive flick of her hand, 'and I couldn't even do that.'

From his position he couldn't see whatever it was about his face Body was showing Kaiba, but the reaction it caused was both amusing and slightly disturbing. Crazy thoughts began circling around his head as he tried to figure out exactly what could have put such a frozen look of fear into Kaiba's eyes.

Almost without warning the look of fear morphed into a look of anger. Kaiba clenched both hands into tight fists, let out a loud frustrated cry of pure rage and launched an attack against Body. The male Voice dodged every single attack effortlessly, leading them through a bizarre dance of aimless violence and near misses. After a strangely short space of time, Kaiba fell onto all fours, gasping for breath. For the first time he was able to see the full extent of the haunting look of exhaustion which dripped off of Kaiba; the hollowness in his cheeks, the paleness of his skin and the dark circles under his eyes were much more noticeable now.

There was a look of concern in Body's visible eye as he stared down at Kaiba. After a few moments he knelt beside him and placed his hands on Kaiba's shoulders.

'Get off me,' Kaiba knocked Body's hands off and pulled himself away.

For a moment Body's face filled with a hurt expression. He shot a look in Mind's direction and she just tilted her head to one side in a kind of sympathetic gesture.

'Make him talk,' Kaiba's voice was quiet as he lifted his head and stared at Mind. 'Make him talk.'

'He has no voice,' Duke spoke as Mind shook her head, 'he cannot.'

'You found a way around it, so surely he can too. Make him talk.'

Body cast Mind a questioning look, to which she simply nodded in reply.

'There is one way,' Duke's voice toned with caution, 'but it's not the clearest form of communication. Body is willing to try, provided that you do not get too frustrated by its awkwardness.'

'Whatever,' Kaiba half turned his head away, 'just so long as he's able to answer my question.'

The sensation began as pressure in his throat, which slowly rose up, forcing words to escape his unwilling lips.

'Body talk.'

Kaiba shot a confused look in his direction, before giving a half laugh and shaking his head.

'Fine, I guess I should have expected that.'

'Body talk,' he found himself repeating.

'Who's face is that?' Kaiba turned his attention back towards the youth.

'Body's face.'

'Don't lie; I know it doesn't belong to you,' his facial features tensed. 'Where did you get it?'

'Body's face.'

'I thought I told you not to lie,' Kaiba clenched his fists again, 'where did you get that face?'

'Body's face.'

'Stop saying that; it's not your face, it can't be. I want to know where you got it from. I want to know how you got it.'

'Body's face.'

'If you say that one more time, I swear I'll kill you.' Kaiba's voice edged with irrational hysteria. 'That is not your face. That is not your face. It cannot belong to you. I want to know how you got it and I want to know now!'

'You know, he might respond better if you weren't shouting at him Kaiba,' Joey sighed and rolled his eyes.

'Shut up.'

'Hey I'm only telling the truth,' he shrugged. 'What's so bad about that guy's face anyway?'

'It doesn't belong to him,' Kaiba gritted his teeth.

'How do you know?'

'Because I know who it does belong to and I want to know how this, this… thing got his hands on it,' Kaiba's body shook with emotion. 'How did you get it? Tell me how you got it.'

'Body's face,' the words once again forced their way out of his mouth.

'It is not yours. Stop saying that it's yours. It doesn't belong to you and I want to know how you got it. Now tell me.'

'Body's face.'

Growling in frustration, Kaiba swiped at the youth again, who simply caught hold of his fist and held it there. A mixture of exhaustion, anger, pain and several other intangible things wrote their way across Kaiba's face.

'It's not yours,' Kaiba's voice trembled as he shook his head, 'it's not yours.'

'Body's face. Seto, Body's face.'

'No it isn't.'

'Yes. Seto, Body's face.'

'It can't be.'

'Yes.'

'No. No it isn't,' Kaiba's voice came out as little more than the whimper of a little boy; as if his own irrational anger had drained what little energy he had left.

'Yes,' as the words were forced out of his mouth, Body nodded. 'Seto, Body's face.'

'It can't be,' Kaiba lowered his head, 'it can't be.'

'Yes. Body's face.'

'How can it be...' his voice was barely audible, 'how can it be... how can it be your face, when it's his face? How can that be possible?'

Body gently stroked stroked some of the hair back from Kaiba's forehead, before running his hand down Kaiba's cheek and resting it under his chin.

'Seto.'

'It's his face. It's his face. How can it be his face?' Kaiba's eyes lifted to meet Body's. 'That face can't be yours. It can't be yours. It can't be, because it's Tristan's.'

For a few minutes there was silence. Then slowly the two word reply rose up through his throat and exploded in desperation from his lips.

'Am Tristan.'