Chapter 27

SK was starting to feel unbearably bored. Jay, or rather Octan, had been sat in silent meditation for what felt like an age. Half idiotic thoughts began to move through his head; thoughts which included poking Octan with a stick just to make sure he was still alive. An amused half laugh rolled out of him, alive wasn't exactly the right word to use, but he didn't care; it was his stupid little joke and one a conscious Jay would definitely appreciate.

'You have a weird laugh, has anyone ever told you that?' Octan blinked slowly, before rolling his shoulders back in an exaggerated stretch.

'A few people,' he shrugged, 'so did you have any luck?'

'You guys gave me a lot of Huntays to go through.'

'I know,' SK's tongue skated across his lips, 'so have you found the one we're after?'

'You didn't list it,' Octan met SK's gaze and held it in that intense way only he could.

'What do you mean?'

'I mean, you only listed active Huntays; you didn't allow for the option the stones hadn't been used yet.'

'Well that's because we figured they had been,' SK licked his lips again.

'Really,' Octan rolled his eyes. 'I knew why you'd only listed active ones, that's not the issue here.'

'I see. So does that mean you haven't found it yet?'

'I never said that.'

'But…?'

'I said you didn't list the Huntay you were looking for; I never said I didn't find it.'

'What do you mean?'

'Jay might be childish,' Octan shook his head, 'but he picks up on things a hell of a lot faster than you.'

'I was only asking a question.'

'Whatever,' he gave a heavy sigh. 'Look, if you were going to perform some pretty powerful magic, wouldn't you want the most powerful, not to mention most hidden, Huntay you could find?'

'Wait, are you talking about the Sacred Huntay.'

'You're a regular Sherlock Holmes, aren't you?' Octan rolled his eyes again. 'I'm surprised you and Jay didn't figure it out on your own. I mean, come on, it's obvious isn't it? I mean, it's what I would use.'

'You fancy adding yourself to my suspect list then?' SK cocked an eyebrow.

'You know Jay at least has the excuse of being a permanent teenager to explain his childish behaviour, what's yours?' Octan rose to his feet. 'Look, I've given you a starting point here and since somebody's already got it set up, I suggest you stop wasting your time and go check it out.'

'We did what we needed to in order to protect her and Heart,' Duke's voice was level as Mind calmly folded her arms, 'we relocated her Id.'

'You what?' Joey stared at her.

Heart pulled herself up slightly in order to reveal a still healing scar half hidden by the waistline of her skirt. For a few minutes Joey found himself staring at it with mixed and uncomfortable feelings.

'So Mai was right, you did take her child from her.'

'No,' Duke's voice was calm as Mind shook her head, 'we took Heart's child. It was the Id, not the Ego, that makes it Heart's.'

'Does that really matter right now? You still took a part of my child away from its mother. Correct me if I'm wrong here, but don't Ids develop at the same rate the rest of a child does? Haven't you damaged my child by doing this?'

'No, I told you; we relocated her. Put her somewhere safer. Gave her a stronger host.'

'What's that supposed to mean?' Joey stared at Mind.

'We did nothing wrong. Unborn spirits, especially those belonging to powerful, or important children, are often hosted by Blesséd Mothers rather than their own. That way their birth is insured. And Ids count as powerful spirits.'

'So you're hosting her then?' Joey studied Mind curiously. 'I mean, I know that Catilin's a Blesséd Mother, or could be, so it would make sense for it to be you, right?'

'I may be an older entity than Heart, but in terms of power I am not that much stronger than she is. I might have been able to support the child better for a short while, but we didn't know how long we'd have to wait. We couldn't risk the child draining my powers too.'

'But then...?' Joey swallowed hard, not totally sure he wanted to know the answer.

Without hesitation Heart and Mind turned their gazes towards Body, who just gave a nonchalant shrug.

'You can't be serious,' Joey shook his head. 'I mean, you cannot be serious. Please tell me you're not being serious.'

'Body is a lot stronger than we are. He has the strength of Heart, Soul and I combined and then some. It doesn't matter how long we're stuck like this, the child's Id won't affect him like it will us.'

'I don't want to hear this,' Kaiba buried his face in his hands, 'I really don't want to hear this. This is too much.'

'Kaiba...' Joey took half a step towards him.

Before he could say or do anything else, Jay and SK entered the clearing.

'Looks like we've found Joey,' Jay grinned triumphantly, 'and a whole load of other people too.'

'So... what exactly is going on here?' SK turned to his cousin.

'Ask them,' Kaiba pointed towards the trio as he shook his head and started backing away. 'I can't do this anymore. I can't take it. I can't. I... I have to... I have to get out of here.'

With that he made his way out of the clearing and back into the forest like gardens of Kama Traydon. Joey took half a step after him, but Heart grabbed hold of his arm and shook her head. She then indicated towards Body who was throwing a meaningful look in Mind's direction. Mind gave a simple nod to his unspoken question and watched as Body took off after Kaiba.

'Err... okay, that was my cousin, right?' SK's tongue skated nervously across his lips.

'Yeah,' Joey could hear the less than muted notes of concern in his own voice.

'What's wrong with him?'

'According to him he's just tired, but I get the feeling there's more to it than that,' Joey sighed. 'Still we've got more important things to talk about right now.'

'Like why the hell you've abandoned Mai you mean,' SK licked his lips as he folded his arms, 'you're right, so start talking.'

He hadn't stopped struggling. No matter how distracting the conversation going on in front of him became, he hadn't stop trying to break free of the youth's control. It was almost impossible to believe just how strong the guy was. Even now, after he'd stalked off after Kaiba, Body's control over him was just as unbearable as it had been from the start. It was starting to really piss him off now. How could somebody who was just a part of a whole be so powerful? It didn't make any sense and the more he thought about it the more rage inducing it became.

'Do you know who you are?'

He almost jumped out of his skin at the sound of Jay's voice breathing quietly from behind him. He'd stopped paying attention to the others when the Helpers had arrived because he'd figured they were just going to spend a ridicules amount of time recapping everything which had just happened. So then why...?

'I could sense you,' there was something almost singsongish about Jay's voice. 'I didn't know I knew I could sense you, but I could. Like a tickly little feeling in the edge of my mind. I knew you were there somewhere, I could feel you. Could you feel me? Could you? Were you waking up as I was waking up? Were you making me wake up like you did before? Why won't you answer me?' Jay's face peered round at him. 'Is this some kind of game? Are you playing with me? I thought you didn't like to play games, so... so maybe someone is playing with you. Is that it? Is someone playing with you? Well, then I'll have to play with them, won't I?' A cruel but childish grin spread across his face. 'I hope it will be a fun game,' he clapped quietly, 'because I like to play.'