Chapter 32

Mov hadn't hung around for long, leaving her to proudly survey the playing field as the last of the challenges came to an end and the remaining players had their chance to regroup. There was something about this situation which just made her feel so alive and exhilarated and she couldn't think of a single other time in her entire life she'd had this much fun. For a few long moments she found herself playing with the axe as though it were some kind of twirling stick. As she did she heard someone approach her from behind.

'Mov sure isn't happy; did you do something to offend her?' The redhead's voice was edged with amusement.

'Does it really matter?' She stopped playing with the axe to turn towards her.

'I guess that depends on how important her opinion is to you.'

'The only opinion which matters is that of the Master,' she met and the redhead's gaze. 'Is he not pleased with me?'

'The Master is very please with you,' the redhead folded her arms and smirked. 'You have performed better than he could possibly have asked for and he knows you will not disappoint him in the next stage of the game.'

'Tell him I thank him for his confidence in me.'

'Why not tell him yourself?'

'Because I'm itching for the next stage of the game to begin,' she crept towards the edge of the cliff they were on. 'I wish those fools would hurry up and find the third clue already. They were split into three teams for a reason and the other two managed to find their clues alright. Who'd have thought the group the Master had the most interest in would be the most disappointing?'

'They had more distractions than the others; give them a break they'll figure out something is missing sooner rather than later.'

'They've had enough of a break; they need to find that final clue already.'

'You sure are impatient,' the redhead laughed, 'does the Master's game really excite you this much?'

'More than you know,' her jaw line hardened, 'I feel as though I've been asleep forever, but now... now I feel awake again. Now I feel alive again. My blood is itching for things to move forward, is there no way we can lead them to the third clue?'

'No,' the redhead shook her head, 'that would be cheating. They need to figure this all out on their own.'

'There's a lot for them to figure out,' she rolled her eyes, 'I'm not convinced they're capable.'

'Oh, but they are. Just like they're capable of overcoming everything this situation will throw at them. Have a little faith, their village is strong.'

'How can I have faith in them when they can't see what's really going on here,' she shook her head. 'They're not even trying to see beyond what they're being shown.'

'Is that the way you see it?' The redhead laughed. 'Because from my point of view a very different story is going on down there; not all of them are walking through this situation so blindly.'

'They don't count; the Master said things would be different for them anyway.'

'I wasn't talking about them,' the redhead placed a hand on her shoulder, 'take a closer look at some of the other players; they're minds are opening even if they can't be sure what it is they're seeing just yet.'

'You don't even know them,' she turned towards her, 'how can you have so much faith in them?'

'I told you, the Master believes in them and I... I believe whatever the Master believes,' a proud little smile pulled at her lips, 'haven't you figure that out yet?'

It had happened so quickly no one had been able to stop it; although Yugi doubted any of them could truly have believed it would. The way Mai's fist had connected with the side of Tristan's face was hard enough to have been felt by all of them. She went to hit him again, but Joey caught hold of her arm and pulled her back. For a few long moments there was silence, during which Tristan used his hand to check the damage and the red beginnings of a small bruise were already visible.

'You should have told us,' Mai was the one to break the silence. 'If you had told us what had happened we might have been able to do something about it.'

'What could have been done exactly?' Tristan's voice was quiet. 'That fake had destroyed a part of his soul, that's not something the First could have healed and you know it.'

'Even if that is true you shouldn't have kept this from us. God sometimes you can be such an ignorant...' she stopped herself and frowned. 'This doesn't feel right,' she stared down at her hands, 'why was I the one to hit you?'

'Because I couldn't do it right now,' Joey folded his arms.

'But you were the one who held me back,' Mai met his gaze. 'Doesn't this feel wrong to you? You were the one getting worked up about knowing the truth just now and I'm the one who reacts to it. That's not the way this should be and you know it.'

'Does it matter?' He shrugged. 'You're still saying what needs to be said. Although if anything I'd say you were letting him off a little lightly,' Joey turned his gaze towards Tristan. 'Right now I don't care if it was your fault or not, you hurt him and that's the one thing I promised myself you were not allowed to do. If last night I was confused about where my loyalties lay, now they couldn't be any clearer; you're a danger to him Kaiba, you're using him and manipulating him and I will not allow that to continue you.'

'What are you planning to do exactly?' Tristan met Joey's gaze. 'You and I both know you can't just ban him from seeing me or something as ridicules as that. So tell me, just what are you planning to do?'

'I haven't decided yet, but trust me you'll be the first to know.'

'Joey...' Yugi took half a step towards him, 'don't you think you're being a little harsh here. I mean, we don't know exactly what happened back then and for all we know there was nothing Kaiba could do to stop the evil Mokuba from destroying Tristan's card. And... well I'd say it was pretty obvious just how guilty he feels about it.'

'And that's the problem,' Joey's hands clenched into fists, 'all this time I was worried there might be genuine affection there, when it was nothing but guilt.'

'What?' Tristan stared at him.

'He said it's nothing but guilt Kaiba,' Mai took up a strong position beside Joey. 'The only reason you're sticking by Tristan like this is because you feel guilty about what happened, that's all.'

'No,' he shook his head, 'no that's not the reason at all.'

'Are you telling me guilt has nothing to do with it?' Joey gave an arrogant half laugh.

'I...'

'You know what, I don't even want to hear it,' Joey shook his head and turned away. 'You've already proven to me exactly what kind of man you are and unfortunately for me it's the exact kind of man I thought you were. Selfish, selfish, selfish, selfish.'

'Stop picking on Seto,' Kaiba jumped to his feet and glared at Joey.

'It's okay,' Tristan placed a hand on his shoulder, 'I can defend myself.'

'But Seto, she doesn't know what she's talking about.'

'Did he just call me a she?' Joey cocked an eyebrow.

'I told you Wheeler, he sees things as I see them,' Tristan gave a heavy sigh. 'In fact, he's always been able to see things as they really are and I think his memory problems might have helped with that.'

'Really?'

'Think about it,' he folded his arms, 'it's not just your perspectives which have been altered, it's your memories too.'

'Uh... and you can't build a house on quicksand,' Catilin made a small noise of realisation.

'Err... Cat, I might need a little help with that one,' Joey blinked at her.

'She means if someone's memories aren't stable to begin with then it would be impossible to lay someone else's memories over the top without them sinking and becoming lost or muddled up somehow,' Duke smirked slightly.

'Come on Joey, that one was even obvious to me,' Mai's face filled with an amused look, 'and I almost never get what she's saying when she talks like that.'

'No, but I almost always do,' Joey frowned. 'But, wait, this raises more questions, not less. I can buy the whole quicksand memory thing, but how do you explain his perceptions not being altered? You don't need a memory in order to be able to see what a person does or does not look like. He sees me as a girl, how do you explain that?'

'Because you are a girl Wheeler,' Tristan rolled his eyes, 'and isn't it possible that's what everyone else is seeing too, but your minds have been altered to recognise each other as the people you all think you are rather than as the people you actually are? Recognition is a part of memory and if you can't remember who a person is how can you recognise them for who they're supposed to be?'

'Since when did you start talking like Catilin?' Joey shot him a nasty look.

'Please Wheeler, just because you failed to understand the logic of my sentence does not mean I was talking like Catilin. For a start I didn't use a single metaphor or childish intonation, for a second...'

'This isn't fun at all, stop fighting now,' Catilin stamped her foot.

'And who exactly said any of this had to be fun?' Joey cocked an eyebrow at her.

'Because this is a game, remember hiet braysta?' A stupid smile pulled across her face. 'We're all mirrors, that's a part of the game; we don't need to know how it works, we just need to know it is for when it will be important.'

'Err... again that went over my head a little.'

'She's trying to say now's not the time to be fighting with Kaiba for the sake of fighting with Kaiba,' Ahna rolled her eyes. 'I know you're angry at him and... whatever, but you can deal with that after we've rescued our son. Or had you forgotten the stakes of this little piece of madness we've found ourselves in?'

'Fine,' Joey grunted and turned his head away, 'but that rich bastard better watch his step, because I'm not going to forgive any mistakes he makes; especially if they jeopardise our mission to save my son.'