Chapter 54

As the image in front of him became too bright to watch, Covo was forced to turn his head away. After a few moments, however, the intense glow died away to nothing. When he turned his head back the wall in front of him had reverted to being nothing more than a normal wall again. Even the glowing cave paintings had faded back to their barely visible origins.

'I guess that concludes Crovell vision,' Covo sighed with deep disappointment. 'I wish I could see whatever it is which will happen next, but I guess I'll just have to wait until I see them again. Wait,' he gave a half laugh and shook his head, 'what am I saying, they're not going to tell me. I mean, I practically had to drag what happened the first time out of Ahna kicking and screaming. Still,' he folded his arms and tilted his head to one side, 'I've seen enough of what's happened so far for them to at least fill me in on the final moments. It would only be fair after all I've been through for them today.'

Sighing again, he stared around the now dark chamber. It suddenly occurred to him he had no idea what time it was. Checking his watch, he was amazed to find it was the early hours of the morning.

'And I'm trespassing in a Temple,' he groaned. 'Somehow I doubt anyone's going believe I'm here because the First's son wanted me to learn the truth about the Chaosen. Or that I witnessed the battle of a lifetime take place through the eyes of a baby, because he projected it onto a wall for me.' He laughed. 'Hell, I'm not even sure I believe it,' wearily he rubbed his face with his hands. 'I guess the best thing for me to do now is leave quietly before I'm caught. I also might want to stop talking to myself,' a strange smirk pulled its way across his face, 'this might have been a pretty maddening day, but the last thing I need is to completely lose it now.'

Trembling and sick with dread, Yugi knelt heavily on all fours as the truth of his actions slowly came back to him. He felt ashamed and completely horrified that he'd allowed himself to become like that. A guilty kind of pain pressed against his chest as he stared cringingly down at his hands. He barely even recognised himself. Tears blurred his vision as a single question repeated itself over and over in his head; why?

'It's alright Yugi, it's over now,' the ghostly image of the Pharaoh appeared in front of him, placing a hand on his shoulder as he did.

'I... I've been so horrible,' he shook his head. 'I… I… oh god,' he squeezed his eyes shut as an all too vivid memory rose to the forefront of his mind.

Hot tears rolled down his face. Every inch of him now burned with pain and guilt and self-hatred at what he'd become. Nothing around him was real anymore. The only thing which existed was complete and utter misery.

'Téa,' the word wailed out of him, 'Téa!'

'Well at least he's back to normal,' Kaiba rolled his eyes.

For a moment he allowed himself to watch Yugi curl up into a ball and sob for all he was worth. Yes it was a pitiful and uncomfortable sight to watch, but somehow he needed to see it, just to be sure Re was really gone for good. When he finally managed to convince himself that Yugi really was Yugi again, he moved his attention to Jay and Ahna. They were mopping around looking pretty sorry for themselves in much the same way they had the last time. Clearly they were back to normal; that's if you could really call either of them normal.

Kaiba's gaze then shifted towards his cousin, who was just pulling himself out of his hiding place. It was pretty clear from the look on SK's face things had turned out better than he'd hoped. But considering how pessimistic the guy could be at times, it wouldn't have taken much for things to turn out better than he'd hoped. Kaiba now turned his attention towards Win, who was casually slinking towards the far side of the chamber. His rich brown eyes were turning over everything going on around him with a muted kind of boredom and it was clear he was just waiting to see what happened next.

'Yuug,' the sad sound of Joey's voice broke the silence.

Mild feelings of irritation rolled through Kaiba as he realised the blond muppet was sympathising with Yugi. Still vivid memories of Yugi using the Elemental Axe against him rose in Kaiba's mind, turning his mild irritation into anger.

'What, you're going to pity him, after everything he's put us through?'

'It wasn't exactly him though, was it?'

'I didn't see you making such clear distinctions the last time,' Kaiba gritted his teeth. 'So, how are we going to punish them?'

'What do you mean we?' Joey cocked an eyebrow at him. 'The way I see it you're still on punishment for your own misdeed.'

'Actually, the way I see it, I'm the one who's going to be deciding what happens this time.'

Duke's voice was calm and commanding. Turning towards him Kaiba noticed not only was the blue-white aura still swirling around him, but he was also still holding the Elemental Axe.

'Crovell?' Joey's eyes darted towards the glowing dark blue baby in the bubble.

'It's my turn. Without me you'd never have been able to permanently rid this reality of the Reganna.'

'Yeah right kid,' Kaiba gave a half laugh and lowered his head. 'Look, you've done enough; it's time to leave this to the grownups.'

'Don't call me kid,' Duke's grip on the Axe tightened. 'You more than anyone knows what I'm capable of, so I demand you show me a little more respect.'

'I'll admit you're powerful and intelligent and more impressive than the mutt you call a father will ever be, but you're a baby right now. Maybe in a few years you'll be old enough to dish out the punishments yourself, but right now...'

'I'm sorry Crovell, but I'm going to have to agree with Kaiba on this one. Wait,' Joey glanced about in mock confusion, 'who said that?'

'And for a second there I thought you might have actually had a brain.'

'Watch it Kaiba.'

'For what it's worth, I agree with letting Crovell finish this one off,' Win smirked.

'What?' Kaiba turned towards him. 'You can't be serious.'

'Why not?' Win began casually examining the nails on his right hand. 'I mean, even in his infantile state the kid is easily the second most powerful being here. He's not quite at my level yet, but it won't be long before he over takes me. On top of that, he's also the one who's going to sort out the power mess I created, not to mention splitting me back up into the four Voices,' his dark eyes flicked up to meet with Kaiba's. 'So why not let the baby have his bottle?'

'I'm not leaving this up to a baby,' Joey folded his arms, 'I don't care how powerful my son thinks he is, I...'

'So are you going to summon my girls back out and explain your objections to them, then?' Win cut him off. 'Because I think they were more than happy to leave this one to Crovell.'

'They... they were?' Joey blinked at him.

'Of course, why else do you think you guys were put back in control?' Win met and held his gaze. 'They chose to leave the field, meaning they chose to leave this to Crovell.'

'You... you really think so?'

'Yeah...' Kaiba found himself smirking slightly as he allowed himself to read Win's mind, 'he really does think so and what's more, I think he's right.'

'You're agreeing with him too,' Joey rolled his eyes, 'well I guess I should make this unanimous then.'

'Seto already knows this because... well, why wouldn't I tell him,' Win casually flicked some of his hair out of his eyes, 'but the fate of the power block on his and Tristan's bodies also rests in Crovell's hands.'

'What?' Joey's voice was filled with tense anger. 'You mean if Crovell chooses, the Pure's punishment could be revoked?'

'He means exactly that,' Kaiba couldn't help but grin, 'and I for one can't wait to see what bubble boy will do.'