Chapter 40

If it meant getting inside someone's head and causing them any kind of torment, Re didn't really mind following one of Gan's little plans, even after it seemed redundant. But then again the original antagonist always knew how to make things a little more interesting; so it would be interesting to see just how much he could exploit this situation knowing what he knew about them from the Face of Friendship's empathic abilities. Not that they worked for him anymore of course. Everything to do with the Passive Mistress had to be stamped out in order for him to maintain control.

Unfortunately that had also meant accepting his assigned gender. As a being which had always taken great pride in its own genderless state; to have to accept the limitations of masculinity or femininity made Re sick to his stomach. But the Face of Friendship was definitely female and the only way to stamp her out was to accept the exact opposite. But becoming male irked him, not just because his host was a poor specimen of masculinity to begin with, but because his current disguise wasn't exactly a whole lot better. If he had to be male, he wanted to be male and not one of these pitifully washed out excuses of manhood he had to choose between.

The sight of Kaiba on his own almost brought him to a stop. When they'd entered Kama Traydon they'd been able to sense the fact the group had separated out again. It didn't take a genius to work out Kaiba had been the one to stalk off on his own, no doubt tailed by that nuisance of a stalker Body. Re allowed his eyes to scan the area he was in for a few moments. He found it more than a little suspicious to find Kaiba on his own like this, but even so...

'Hey Seto, wait up,' no matter what Re couldn't let him get away.

'Tristan?' Kaiba frowned as he turned round to face him.

'Don't you just hate this place,' he stalked his way up the path towards Kaiba, 'I mean if it wasn't for that damn rule I would have died here. It's kind of a shame I didn't.'

'I thought I told you I didn't want you talking like that,' Kaiba's eye twitched a little as he studied Re's disguise. 'How did you get here anyway?'

'I just woke up here,' Re shrugged.

'I see... and how much do you think you can remember?'

'What kind of a question is that?' Re laughed and stared at him like he was mad. 'How much do I think I can remember about what, exactly? I already told you I don't know how I got here.'

'Okay,' Kaiba folded his arms, 'how long do you think you've been here for.'

'I don't know. I know I've not been awake for very long, but I could have been here for a while before that.'

'What's the last thing you remember?' Kaiba's eye twitched again as he continued to study him.

'Now that's the question you should have asked before,' he smirked. 'The last thing I remember some guy was hitting me from behind with... something.'

'Where?'

'One of the smaller rooms downstairs,' he shrugged.

'And what had you been doing before then?'

'Oh for god sake,' Re rolled his eyes and half turned away from him, 'some maniac knocked me unconscious and I'm the one you're giving the third degree to?'

'I'm just seeing how much you can remember.'

There was something in the tone of Kaiba's voice. Something Re was certain the real Tristan would know exactly how to react to. He could feel his own resolve to continue with this little act start to slip; then a fiendishly clever little idea came to him and the frustration he felt just melted away.

'I can remember all the important things,' he cocked his head to one side as he slinked his way towards Kaiba, 'like you.' He gently stroked the side of Kaiba's face before placing his hand under his chin, making sure their gazes locked for as long as possible. 'So, is anyone else here or is it just you and me?'

'Unfortunately we're not alone,' Kaiba broke the gaze and turned away from him. 'Joey, SK and Duke are all at the Sacred Huntay along with these four weirdoes.'

'Four weirdoes?' Re tried to keep his voice as light and curious as possible.

'Yeah,' Kaiba glanced back towards him, 'they call themselves the Heart, Mind, Body and Soul of Win, but I don't trust them.'

'Why not?'

'Because one of them was claiming to be you and how can he be when you're standing here right now?'

'One of them was claiming to be me?'

'Yeah, he even tried stalking me when I took off a while back. I needed to get away from Joey for a while; that dog is so dumb it gets on my nerves.'

'Where is he now? This guy claiming to be me I mean,' Re glanced around.

'I sent him packing the first chance I got. It wasn't easy though; the way he kept clinging to me, I thought I might have to file a restraining order. In fact the thought of having to see him again is really turning my stomach, but I guess I have no choice. As much as I hate to admit it, without any powers we need the others to fix this mess. I just hope those four weirdoes don't have anything to do with the Reganna.'

'The Reganna,' Re almost couldn't keep the surprise out of his voice; so they already knew about them.

'Apparently they're back and they've somehow managed to get that weakling Yugi to fill the number three spot.'

'You mean they have the Face of Friendship onboard?'

'Looks like it.'

'Huh, well isn't that a surprise.'

Re wasn't totally sure how he felt about how much they already knew about this situation. It did make him question why Kaiba was so easily falling for his little disguise; then again Kaiba wasn't exactly thinking rationally right now. Not if his little display earlier was anything to go by.

'Oh I don't know,' Kaiba shrugged, 'if any of us were going to fall under the Reganna's control, it would have to be Yugi. I mean, he's one hell of a duellist, but ever since the Face of Friendship set up home in him he's been... less than stable. In fact I'm surprise something like this didn't happen sooner.'

'Really?' Re wasn't sure if Kaiba was deliberately trying to taunt him or not.

'Yeah, I mean with all that empathic energy messing with his head, I'm surprised Re didn't show its ugly head sooner.'

'What makes you so sure its Re?' He narrowed his gaze.

'Considering the other two parts of the Reganna haven't changed, it's a reasonable assumption to make,' Kaiba met and held his gaze, 'don't you think?'

'Yeah, I do.'

'So I guess we'd better head back to the others now, right? I mean, we have to let them know those weirdoes are trouble, don't we?'

'Couldn't have said it better myself,' Re smirked at him. 'You really don't like these guys, do you?'

'Of course not, it's pretty hard to trust anyone who you can't understand or who doesn't understand you,' Kaiba shrugged again. 'And if you can't trust them you sure as hell can't like them, right?'

'Right.'

Duke didn't know what else he could do but stand in a motionless silence, cradling the baby Crovell as close to him as he possibly could. Everything in him wanted to scream out and warn Joey he was being deceived, but he was afraid if he did so, he'd end up tied up alongside SK and the others.

Why was Joey letting them fool him like this? Any idiot could see that they were just the Reganna in disguise. Duke may not have come up against them before, but he was more than aware of what Ahna's Glamour ability could do and, from what Catilin had told him, he knew the dark trio would stop at nothing to get what they wanted, even if all they wanted was to mess with your head. Surely Joey must know how foolish he was being.

In his arms Crovell gurgled, his large browning eyes staring questioningly up at Duke. In the time since he'd been born, Duke had wondered more than once how the hell someone like Joey could have an offspring as highly intelligent as Crovell was. But up until this point he hadn't really truly believed Joey to be an idiot in comparison. And he was an idiot if he was allowing himself to be fooled like this.

'Da da da da da,' Crovell chirped, 'da da.'

'Are you trying to tell me something?' Duke frowned down at the child.

'Da da da.'

'I don't know what you're trying to say,' he shook his head. 'You know, I understood you a whole lot better when you didn't use words.'

'Da da,' Crovell ignored him and continued to chirp happily, 'da da da da da da da.'