Chapter 33

Whereas the others had decided to stand around and talk until they'd figured out what they were supposed to do next, Catilin had decided to search for clues. After all they already had two, so logic would suggest there be at least one more stashed away somewhere. And even if there wasn't at least she would be doing something a little more productive than the rest of them, who despite promising to put their differences on hold were still managing to throw in the more than occasional dig and nasty comments.

'What would Mokuba be doing with Piper's deck?' The sudden and unexpected sound of Duke's voice made her jump.

'Huh?' She blinked as she turned towards him.

'Well if Kaiba is telling the truth about us being the ones who've body swapped, then I'm really Mokuba right now, remember. If that's the case then I probably have everything on me Mokuba would have had before he arrived here, including this,' he took a deck of cards out of his pocket and handed it to her.

Catilin carefully scanned her way through the deck. In the last few months she'd watched Piper play a dozen or more times so there was no denying these were definitely her cards. When she came across the decks staring centre piece she paused for a moment and pressed her lips tightly together; she hadn't expected this.

'I don't understand,' her eyes lifted to meet with Duke's, 'she agreed with me that she'd been created, she even said she had a keeper, how could it not be Téa? It doesn't make any sense. Unless...'

'Unless what?'

'Unless this is the third clue. It's possible, isn't it?'

'That depends on whether or not you think it's likely for Téa or Piper to be working with or for the gods,' Duke shrugged. 'I don't know, I think that's a little too much for me to believe now.'

'But she has been created, someone created her, if it wasn't Téa then who was it?'

'I don't know, maybe Mokuba's leading a double life he doesn't want anyone to know about,' Duke smirked. 'I mean, he's a Win and one of Win's powers is to Glamour, right?'

'The powers were all divided up, remember?' Catilin pulled a face. 'We don't know what powers Mokuba has that I don't or Mai doesn't or Tristan doesn't. No one's really checked to see what powers we all have, so...'

'So it's possible Piper could be Mokuba?'

'Maybe,' she pressed her lips together, 'but...'

'But what?'

'Piper said something which makes sense if she's Téa but not if she's Mokuba,' Catilin tilted her head to one side. 'She said there was a guy she liked, who her keeper liked, who didn't know she existed. That doesn't make any sense if its Mokuba, does it?'

'Wait, did Piper say there was a specific guy she liked or did she just imply it?' Duke studied her closely.

'She didn't tell me who the guy was, but she told me there was a guy she liked and that he didn't know she existed and the reason she liked him was probably because her keeper did. That made sense for Téa. Téa likes Yugi, so if Piper is her onchasen and created by Téa and likes the same person Téa does because she likes him then it makes sense.'

'Okay, I need you to break this down for me a little more here Cat; Piper said she liked this guy because her keeper does?'

'She said she didn't see where else those feelings would have come from.'

'So she doesn't know for sure if her keeper likes this guy, she just suspects the feelings for him came from her keeper.'

'Yeah,' Catilin's face filled with disappointment. 'I guess that means it might not be Téa after all. People, even created people, need to know where their feelings have come from and when things are confusing it's easy to try and find sense which makes sense but isn't always true.'

'So it could be Mokuba using a Glamour then?'

'Nu-uh,' she shook her head, 'Glamours don't create new people and Piper is a new person. Only a Flip or an Assume can create new people.'

'A Flip or an Assume?' Duke frowned. 'Wait, Flipping, isn't that the ability the Pure has to alter her genetic structure?'

'Uh-huh.'

'So what's an Assume?'

'It's the process which created the Nameless,' Catilin's face became serious for a moment. 'The First has the power to take possession of other beings, but she only uses it on beings she's specifically created to take control of.'

'That suggests it's possible for the First to take possession of anyone if she wanted to, but she chooses not to.'

'Uh-huh.'

'And since those are both Mistresses powers it stands to reason the Win parts would have them divided amongst them too, right?'

'Uh-huh.'

'So which do you think Piper is more likely to be, a Flip or an Assume?'

'I don't know. I don't know which one Mokuba would have ended up with. I don't even know if I can do either. But I do know a Flip is more stupid than an Assume because it causes more problems. Flips want lives of their own, Assumes don't really have enough sense of self to care most of the time. Not unless the First wants them too. Just like they only have names if the First wants them too.'

'But we're not talking about this being the First; we're thinking this is Mokuba, right?'

'I still don't see why it would be Mokuba,' she shook her head. 'This is giving me a headache now; can't we just look for another clue?'

'You really think there is one?'

'There has to be, why else would the game be on pause right now?'

'To walk a mile is to know the truth. When boundaries blur, the line becomes clear.' Yugi grinned as he and Mokuba rejoined the rest of the group.

'So you found another clue then?' Mai smiled at him.

'Mm-hmm, it was over there,' he pointed, 'you guys should have been checking for it last night.'

'We had other things to distract us last night, remember?' Mai placed a hand on her stomach. 'This situation is more than a little bizarre.'

'Mm, I know hiet braysta.'

Kaiba found himself giving a heavy sigh and rolling his eyes. Every now and then one of them would do something or say something which made him think their actual personalities were starting to reinstate themselves. Then an exchange like that would happen and Kaiba found himself losing faith in all of them. How could they be so close to the truth and so far away from it at the same time? It wasn't as though they weren't aware something was wrong; it was more like they were too stubborn to let their true personalities to pull completely through whilst being too self aware to act completely like the people they thought they were. And this just left Kaiba dealing with weird hybrid personalities which either highlighter how similar some of the crossovers were to each other or alternatively just how different.

'I am. Reflection. I reflect. You are. Reflection. You reflect. The dreamer sleeps. The sleeper dreams. What once was, sees what now is. To walk a mile it so know the truth. When boundaries blur, the line becomes clear.' Tristan's child-like voice broke into Kaiba's train of thoughts as he perfectly recited all of their so called clues.

'That's a surprisingly good memory for someone who doesn't even remember his own name,' Mai blinked in amazement.

'What do you expect Wheeler,' Kaiba shrugged, 'for him to be a complete sieve when he's like this?'

'Well... yeah.'

'Remind me never to let you look after him when he's like this,' he folded his arms, 'because clearly you're clueless.'

'When things get back to normal, Kaiba, you won't have a say in who does and doesn't get to look after him; not if I have anything to do with it.'

'What makes you think you have the right to make decisions like that,' Kaiba glared at him.

'What makes you think you do?' Mai met and held his gaze.

'I don't. Contrary to what you're thinking Wheeler, I haven't manipulated Tristan into staying with me. I've never hidden what really happened to him from him and he chooses to stay with me anyway. And at the end of the day his opinion is the only one that matters.'

'That's what you think.'

'And you call me the selfish one, but from where I'm standing it's clearly the other way round.'

Before he knew what was happening, Joey's fist once again made contact with the side of his face. Kaiba found himself giving a slight grunt of disgust as he placed a hand to his cheek to check the damage; for someone who thought they were a girl they sure as hell hit like a man.

'Don't you dare talk to him like that, you self-centred bastard,' Joey glared at him. 'Right now we only have your word that Tristan's choosing to stay with you, for all we know you could be lying; we already know how good you are at that. So when all this is done and he's thinking like himself again...'

'I hate to interrupt this important conversation of yours,' the sound of Mov's voice caused all of them to start, 'but I would have thought you'd want to start the next stage of the game of my uncle's game by now.'

'Huh... your uncle?' Yugi frowned. 'But... Fray said it was his uncle's game. I know Set is your uncle too, but... he's also your grandfather and I thought you called him grandfather.'

'You're right,' Mov pressed her lips together, 'we do.'

'Please don't tell me what I think you're going to tell me,' Kaiba began massaging his temples, 'this situation is ridicules enough as it is without that being true.'

'Without what being true?' Mai shot him a curious look.

'I would say if you were actually yourself right now Wheeler you would have figured this one out, but that would be giving you too much credit,' he gave a heavy sigh.

'Watch it rich boy, Mai's not the only one who can throw a punch here,' she glared at him.

'Whatever Wheeler, just let me ask you this; technically speaking who else besides Set, is brothers with Du and Sta?'

'No,' she laughed in disbelief, 'you can't possibly mean…'

'Crovell Lutoni,' Kaiba met her gaze, 'this whole game is being run by your seven month old son.'