Chapter 56

The early morning light of a new day was just starting to filter through the curtains when they arrived back. Kaiba gave a weary sigh as he placed Mokuba's soundly sleeping body down on the bed next to Tristan. It had been a long day and Kaiba was pretty sure he could sleep for a week at least, but he knew he wouldn't. The three of them, his family, had just come through a major storm. And even though he prayed with everything in him Mokuba would be alright now, he knew only time would truly show what damage had been left.

He felt Body's hand on his shoulder as he found himself watching the two sleeping forms on the bed.

'You're still not him you know,' he glanced towards him.

The youth smirked and puffed out his chest proudly; I know; I'm better looking.

'Yeah, you keep telling yourself that.'

A mocking pout appeared on Body's face; so you don't think I'm better looking?

'No,' he folded his arms, before the implication of what he was saying dawned on him, 'I mean…'

Body waved his hand dismissively; I know what you meant. His gaze drifted down towards Tristan; you know I'll have to go soon.

'I know,' Kaiba lowered his own gaze.

The thought made him feel strangely sad. Despite the less than pleasant start of their acquaintance, Body had really grown on him. The youth had worked hard to really earn Kaiba's trust and admiration and Kaiba couldn't help but respect him for that. He flicked his gaze back towards the youth and hesitantly reached towards the long fringe hiding the left side of his face. Nervously he swept it back and allowed himself to really study the transplanted features which split the youth's face into two badly matching halves. For some reason it no longer looked horrifically grotesque to him. Instead it looked sad and pitiful, like a cute dog who'd lost an eye.

Sighing heavily, he lowered his hand and allowed the fringe to fall back into place.

'I guess this is goodbye then.'

Body gave him a sad smile; yeah.

'So are you…?'

Before Kaiba could finish his sentence, he found Body's lips pressed against his own. For a moment, even though he was completely free of the youth's control, Kaiba felt powerless to resist. Somewhere in the back of his head he tried to blame it on the Pure, but he wasn't totally sure that was true. Body wanted to say goodbye to him the same way he'd introduced himself and Kaiba... Kaiba was willing to let him.

When the kiss ended, the youth tilted his head to one side and his face filled with another sad smile; see, I knew you liked me really.

'Whatever,' Kaiba turned away.

There were a few minutes of silence before Kaiba felt Body press something into the palm of his hand and close his fingers round it. Instantly he glanced back up, but the youth had already vanished. In confused, he stared down at his hand. Opening it, he saw a key strung to a chain like a pendent; the gift he'd given to Tristan for his birthday. He gave an amused half laugh and shook his head. Taking a deep breath, he leant over his still unconscious friend and refastened the chain around his neck.

Sighing heavily, he perched on the foot of the bed and leant back against the bed post. At some point during the last couple of days he remembered thinking watching other people sleep was a weird thing to do. Suddenly it didn't feel so weird. Maybe it was because all his exhaustion was suddenly returning to him tenfold. Maybe it was just the deep and almost confusing feelings of sadness he had knowing he'd never actually see Body again. Or maybe it was because watching them sleep was a mindless action and he needed to be mindless. Whatever it was he was pretty sure it would keep him there until one or both of them woke up.

Tristan stirred slightly in his sleep, but only enough to roll onto his side. A slight smile twitched at the corner of Kaiba's lips, although he couldn't totally be sure why. In fact in that moment in time he couldn't totally be sure about a lot of things. Vaguely he remembered something Yugi had said about him only caring about himself; that wasn't true. Yes the Pure had forced Tristan into his life, but he was the one keeping him there. In much the same way Body had, Tristan had really grown on him. There was a depth and meaning to their relationship which allowed Kaiba to understand why people bothered having friends to begin with.

The only problem was, the barrier between him and the Pure was gone now. Last time her feelings had been overwhelming, so much so that Kaiba hadn't been able to pick out his own amongst them. A part of him was terrified that might happen again and he wasn't sure he'd be able to stop it. For half a second he found himself envying Tristan; the guy had been through hell, but at least he knew his own mind. Kaiba used to think he knew his own mind, then the Pure became a part of him and...

Somewhere in his tired brain he knew he had to find some way of figuring out his own head. He knew he should have spent the last few months doing just that, but with everything else that had been going on it just hadn't been a priority. As grateful as he was to get the Pure's powers back sooner rather than later, he wasn't totally sure he was ready. But what could he do exactly other than hope her feelings wouldn't be so overwhelming, or that she'd actually keep her distance so he could sort out his own from hers.

He needed to sort out his own head. He knew that now. In the tired, half light of the morning, as he sat there watching the two people he cared about most in the world sleep, he knew one thing with absolute certainty; he needed to take some time to sort out his own head. So why did it feel more tempting to bury his head in the sand?

The first thing Mai became aware of was the feeling of lying in a cramped space. This quickly moved on to the knowledge that she was sleeping on a single bed with someone else. Someone who was cuddled up so closely to her she could smell the faint scent of sweat and cheep shampoo coming from his hair. She carefully opened her eyes to find Joey sleeping next to her.

'Marry me Mai,' Joey mumbled in his sleep, 'I love you.'

Despite herself, she couldn't help but smile. Those words were all she needed to know he'd been possessed. But just because he'd been possessed didn't mean he was forgiven.

'Joey,' she kept her voice low as she gently shook him awake, 'Joey.'

'Not now Mai, I'm planning our wedding.'

'Doesn't the bride have to agree to get married first?'

He mumbled something inaudible and she shook her head.

'Come on Joey, wake up.'

'But I'm not asleep.'

'Yeah you are Joey. Come on, wake up.'

Giving a tired sigh, his eyes blinked open. Shifting his head, he smiled lazily up at her.

'You're awake.'

'And so are you, now,' she smirked.

'I love you Mai, you have no idea how much.'

'Joey,' she turned her head away, really not wanting to ask this question, 'who was she?'

'Who was who?'

'The girl you… the girl… the…'

'The girl I was with?' He finished for her, pulling himself up as he did.

'Yeah, who was she?'

'She was you.'

'What?'

'She was you,' he repeated, 'or at least a part of you.'

'I don't understand.'

'Don't worry,' his eyes were filled with such a loving look of devotion she couldn't help but melt for him, 'I'll explain everything. But before we get into the serious stuff, I'm going to ask you this one last time, then no more till Jo's born, I promise,' he took a deep breath in. 'Mai, will you marry me?'

It had been nearly a week now. A week since he'd committed his fiendish crime and still Téa hadn't woken up. The guilt coursing through his veins was made ten times worse because no one knew what was wrong with her. Her case had the doctors totally baffled. She wasn't in a comma, they knew that. In fact, her strong brainwaves and the way she would occasionally murmur something indicated she was just asleep.

Asleep, but completely unable to wake up and it was all his fault.

'You shouldn't be so hard on yourself Yugi,' the Pharaoh's ghostly image appeared beside him, 'you were being controlled by Re at the time.'

'Why should that be an excuse?' Yugi shook his head. 'It still doesn't change what I've done.'

'Don't beat yourself up about it,' Yoam rested his hand against Yugi's shoulder, 'nobody's blaming you for this.'

'Well they should. They should and I defiantly should. Because if she never wakes up I'll never forgive myself.'

'She'll wake up, eventually Yugi; I have every faith that she will.'

'And if she doesn't?' Yugi stared at him. 'What then?'

The End.