Chapter 32

'Mokuba,' Kaiba felt his whole body turn cold the second his brother stumbled out into the clearing.

With a fluttering like a cold heartbeat moving through his stomach, Kaiba watched as Mokuba slowly collapsed to the floor and fell into a deep state of unconsciousness. Almost as soon as he did, a young boy, roughly between four foot five and four foot seven in height and of indistinguishable age, appeared above him. He had sleek, shoulder length, glossy black hair, which hid half his face. His visible eye was one of deep blue and it shone with an impishly mischievous look. He was dressed in nothing but a pair of scruffy black jeans and his feet were bare.

The young boy's eyes scanned his surroundings curiously. The second he spotted the trio he bounded recklessly towards them and pounced into their arms. Instantly the trio showered him with an abundance of affectionate kisses.

'Okay,' Joey gave a nervous laugh, 'I wasn't expecting that.'

'It's pretty cute though,' Duke tilted his head to one side as the others shot curious looks in his direction. 'I mean, for a reunion, the way they're acting, it's... cute.'

'Okay, I'm just going to pretend you know cute is not a word you should be using to describe something like that,' Joey smirked. 'In fact, unless you're using it to describe a girl I really don't think it should even be in your vocabulary.'

'Just because using the word would insult your own sense of masculinity, doesn't mean it does for the rest of us Joey,' Duke rolled his eyes.

'We could take a vote on it.'

'Must the two of you be so idiotic,' Kaiba made a noise of disgust as he went to assess his brother's condition.

First of all he checked for a pulse. Once he was satisfied his brother was still alive he checked both sides of his face to make sure they were intact.

'Well at least we know they don't get them that way,' he sighed in relief.

'What was that?' Joey's question cut into him.

'It doesn't matter,' Kaiba shifted uncomfortably as he got back to his feet. 'Just be grateful you got what you wanted.'

'What I wanted?' Joey frowned.

A mild feeling of irritated annoyance moved through Kaiba. Gritting his teeth, he turned his head away and used his right arm to indicate at the foursome.

'Oh I get it,' Joey laughed again, this time with more enthusiasm. 'So what now?'

'We get answers,' Kaiba folded his arms.

'You mean we interrogate Soul?'

'If that's how you want to put it.'

'Yeah, good plan. One problem though, Soul can't talk.'

'I know, but if Mind regains her control over Duke, she can,' Kaiba shrugged. 'She can communicate with him and Duke can bridge the gap between them and us.'

'So nice of you to ask Duke about this first,' Joey cocked an eyebrow at him. 'What if he doesn't want his mind controlled again?'

'Are you kidding me?' Duke almost squeaked with excitement, before giving a nervous cough. 'I mean, I don't mind.'

'Then it's settled,' Kaiba smirked. 'Now all we have to do is get them to agree to it.'

Kaiba turned his attention back towards the foursome, just as the overly energetic Soul attempted to pull Body to his feet. With great effort he succeeded, but the still weak youth was forced to lean heavily on Mind in order to remain standing. This didn't seem to bother Soul much though, who, with monkey like agility, climbed up onto Body's back, wrapping his legs around the older boy's waist and his arms around his neck. Heart clapped in amusement, causing Soul to transfer himself onto her with a speed and skill almost impossible to believe. She gave him several affectionate kisses for his efforts, before he leapt down from her back and began darting around the area of the Sacred Huntay like some kind of manic child.

As he made his hectic way back and forth across the Huntay, he leapt on and over people as if to prove he could. On one of the several occasions Soul used him as a springboard, Kaiba couldn't help but note how light and agile the boy was. A weird smile tugged at Kaiba's lips although he couldn't be quite sure what the reason for it was.

'This ridicules,' he gave a nervous cough and tried to regain some kind of composure. 'How can someone so... animalistic be responsible for anything but chaos?'

At the sound of this complaint, Soul stopped in his tracks and turned towards Kaiba. Pushing his shoulders back, he raised himself to his full height and stared, almost challengingly, at him.

'Way to go Kaiba, get him angry why don't you?' Joey rolled his eyes.

A sharp clap from Mind caused Soul to turn back towards her. She nodded at him and, after nodding back, he again turned towards Kaiba and the others, giving them a waxy apologetic look.

'So does that mean you guys are ready to talk to us now?' Kaiba met his gaze.

As if in reply, Soul bounded towards SK, swinging himself up onto the Helper's back and into the same position he'd first used on Body. He then rested his head on SK's left shoulder and closed his eye. SK gave a loud gasp of shock as his head fell forward. His whole being then shuddered and after a few seconds his gaze rose to meet with Kaiba's.

'I am Soul.'

He still wasn't totally sure what was going on. The way Ahna and Jay were acting was at once familiar and yet totally alien to him. Somewhere in his head he knew what was going on here, but at that moment in time it was beyond his comprehension. It had taken some time, but Ahna had managed to quieten Crovell. She now held him in the exact same manner Jay held the Axe; these were weapons they could use, they deserved no more and no less affection or attention than that. It was almost chilling to see, but at the same time...

'So exactly what are you planning to do?'

'We're going to finish what we started last time,' Ahna's eyes met with his.

'Last time?'

'He still doesn't remember,' Jay pouted. 'Why doesn't he remember yet? Make him remember.' His eyes turned towards Ahna's.

'If I knew how, believe me I would,' Ahna's face puckered into a strange expression. 'But right now he's little more than a corrupted Mistress of Light, until he overpowers her, he's not going to remember anything.'

'We need to help him overpower her.'

'We can't. This is his fight and his alone. This isn't the same as it was for us. Even the Passive Mistress has a stronger will than a mortal.'

'Maybe we should go play with the others now,' Jay grinned. 'Maybe that will help him remember.'

'No,' Ahna shook her head, 'we can't risk tipping things back into their favour.'

'But...'

'Right now I'm the oldest little sibling,' she gave a darkly amused half laugh, 'and that means what I say goes, got it?'

'Oh, but...'

'Give him some time; he'll come back to us.'

'But waiting is so boring.'

'I know, but in the end it will be worth it.'