Chapter 27

As Tristan found himself slowly coming round, he became more than aware of the fact he was being watched. Knowing he was in a somewhat compromising position, he felt his insides squirm and the same confusing blast of emotions he'd felt the day before came back to him in spades.

'You know it's rude to stare, right?' He groaned as he opened his eyes.

'We're not staring, we're waiting for you to wake up, there's a difference.'

The unfamiliar voice caused Tristan to start slightly as he turned his gaze towards the pair casually stood a couple of feet away. They were both dressed in purple and white Egyptian styled kilts and were roughly the same height and build. But that was where the obvious similarities between them ended.

'In case you're wondering, I'm Peri and he's Seteau,' the one with dark hair and even darker eyes was the first to speak. 'You'd be surprised how many people still get that the wrong way round.'

'You're the Mortal Gods, aren't you?' Tristan found himself studying them. 'The Two Lovers. The only deities of the Tenth Order allowed on the Mortal Plains.'

'It's because we're not blood,' Seteau shrugged as he casually examined his surroundings.

'Well that's debatable really, isn't it?' Tristan carefully got to his feet, waking Kaiba in the process. 'You were... marked out by the gods for a reason Seteau; they wanted you to change the direction mortality was moving in so they had a hand in your existence.'

'Ah, so you do know our story, how interesting. When exactly did you learn it?'

'I...' Tristan hesitated as a part of him realised he couldn't remember learning about it, he just kind of knew. 'I don't know, but I guess I must have learnt it from Win.'

'You don't sound so sure about that,' Peri's gaze gave him a slow once over. 'You know things aren't quite right, don't you? When he said things for the two of you would be different, he wasn't just talking about him,' he indicated towards Kaiba.

'What?' Tristan frowned. 'What are you talking about?'

In response Peri waved a hand in front of himself and a glass case rose up from the ground. As Tristan remained in place staring at the case, Kaiba got to his feet and moved towards it.

'Hey cool,' he laughed, 'I like the one with the knight on it.'

'Knight?'

Tristan's frown deepened as he joined his friend at the side of the case. Inside was two duel monster cards; one the Blue Eyes Knight, the other completely blank.

'No,' Tristan's head swarmed as his heart pounded sickly in his chest, 'this... this isn't happening. How... how can it be blank?'

'You should know the answer to that,' Seteau's voice was firm but compassionate, 'it was destroyed, remember? The Sharpshooter doesn't exist anymore and nothing has formed to take its place. Nothing can.'

'Nothing can?' Tristan stared at him. 'You mean if I were to lose to someone using a Light to Shadows card it would have no consequences for me anymore?'

'Who knows,' Peri shrugged, 'that's not really our concern. What is our concern is that you accept our challenge.'

'The rules will be different for you,' Seteau picked up, 'because his condition means it's impossible to test him fairly at this time you will be competing on his behalf throughout this little game. Not everybody was happy agreeing to this but... everything for you will be slightly different, although I am not permitted to go into more details than that.'

'Why not?'

'Because it concerns things which have not happened yet and still may not happen. And now I have reached the limit of what I can tell you so please don't probe the situation any further.'

'This conversation is just wasting time anyway,' Peri folded his arms, 'we're supposed to be telling you about the challenge.'

'The challenge?'

'It's the first stage of this game you and the others are playing. Once you accept you will be faced with a challenge which will test you. Although, from what we have seen of the other players' challenges success and failure is about as straight forward as the situations themselves.'

'What happens if I am successful?' Tristan studied Peri for a moment.

'Then you will have won both soul cards and the two of you will move on to the next stage of the game.'

'And if I fail?'

'The cards become ours and we move on,' Seteau positioned himself beside Peri. 'The same is true if you decide to forfeit as well.'

'So it's in my best interest to accept?'

'Yes.'

'Okay,' Tristan pulled himself into a stance of defiance, 'I'm ready, so bring it on.'

Mai found herself walking through a lonely and desolate field. Well maybe desolate wasn't quite the right word for it. For some reason desolate always made her think of dry and barren landscapes and this one was actually fairly green and luscious, even if it did go on forever. She must have been across walking for a good hour when she spotted a strange looking structure in the distance and that wasn't all she spotted. About halfway between where she currently was and the structure itself were three slowly moving figures. Instantly she started picking up pace. It didn't matter to her who these people were or why they were there, she knew she had to get to them and quickly.

It didn't take her long to pick out recognisable features from all three figures. These small little details made her heart pound with excitement as her feet moved effortlessly into a run.

'Joey,' the words burst out of her as she flew towards him.

Her shout was loud enough to cause the figures to halt. Without waiting to see if they managed to spot her or not, she lowered her head and closed the gap between them.

'Mai?' Joey laughed in surprise as she skidded to a halt.

'Joey I've…'was as far as she managed to get as her gaze lifted towards him and her eyes nearly popped out of her head. 'Joey you're pregnant.'

'And you're not,' he rolled his eyes, 'tell me something I don't know.'

'Jo,' a strange kind of relief flooded through her as she dropped to her knees and wrapt her arms around his bulging stomach, 'I was scared I'd lost you. But don't worry, Daddy'll keep you safe for now, but Mummy will work out a way to get you back in her, promise.'

'Yeah,' Joey mimicked her tone, 'and then Mummy'll give birth to you and say yes to marrying Daddy and everything will be right with the world.'

His words caused a mixture of joy and grief to run through her. She wasn't totally sure she understood where the feelings had come from, but when combined with everything she'd been through it caused her to burst into tears.

'Hey, hey what's wrong?' Joey stroked the hair back from her face as he awkwardly knelt down to comfort her.

'I was so scared,' she sobbed, shaking her head, 'I was so scared I'd lost her forever. And all I kept thinking about was how much I'd let you down.'

'You didn't let me down Mai, how could you?'

'Joey I thought I'd lost our baby.'

'I know.'

'I was so afraid you'd hate me for that; I know how much you wanted to get to know Jo after everything she did for you.'

'Mai I could never hate you,' he cupped her face, 'not for something that wasn't your fault.'

'I missed you,' Mai threw her arms around his neck, 'I missed you so much. I thought when you saw me without her you'd never want to speak to me again. I was just so afraid.'

'Mai…' Joey held her as tenderly as his bulge would allow, 'it's okay, please don't cry. I know you must have been going through hell, but it's alright now. And we'll fix this thing soon, I promise.'

'I missed you,' she tearfully kissed him, 'I missed you so much.'

'I know,' he kissed her back, 'I missed you too. I love you Mai. I'd do anything for you, you know that. Even give birth to our child if I have to.'

'I know,' she gave a choked sounding laugh.

'There's no need to cry, okay?'

'Oh Joey,' she sniffed, 'I really do love you.'

'I know.'

As she gazed into his eyes she realised she'd never felt more in love with him than she did in that moment. It was weird, all the fears and insecurities she had about Ahna and Crovell's importance in his life suddenly disappeared and it became impossible for her to imagine him being in love with anyone but her. In fact she'd never felt more certain of his feelings. She found herself kissing him again, before burying her face in his neck.

'Joey,' the words breathed out of her, 'marry me.'