Chapter 58

The underside of his left arm had begun to itch and, as it did, Arados couldn't help but notice the fact the blue line was finally starting to expand. It had taken more than long enough from first appearing to start, so he couldn't help but take comfort in the thought it probably meant the change to the underside of his hands wouldn't occur till the following day. It was admittedly a small amount of comfort, but he was glad enough to take it, especially since False and Lus were doing everything they could not to get along.

Sighing heavily, he found himself secretly wishing there was someway he could force the two into friendship. For a moment he even contemplated using his Blue Ice as a means of doing so, but he couldn't come up with a viable enough plan. Instead he was forced to listen to the pair of them bicker without bickering and wonder to himself exactly how he'd gotten himself caught in the middle of this mess.

They were nearing the point of giving up searching Giya, when Lus suddenly came to a dead stop. The other two automatically did the same and Arados quickly turned his gaze towards him.

'What is it?'

'Can't you sense that?' Lus's whole being was tense.

'Sense what?'

'It feels like a… I don't know… a distress call of some kind.'

'You've only just noticed it,' False rolled his eyes.

'You've known it was there?'

'I knew it was there ages ago.'

'Then why didn't you inform anybody about it?'

'I thought you guys knew. I mean, we are heading in the right direction for it.'

'If we knew then why would we be talking about giving up on searching Giya for the Teen?'

'Well I figured it was your way of saying you wanted to go help whoever it was sending out that distress signal.'

'Then why didn't I just say that?'

'Maybe because anyone with half a brain knows you don't alert anyone to the fact you've picked up a distress signal. Not directly anyway. Because if we're being watched…'

'Stop being such a Balancer about this!'

'Guys, please,' Arados interrupted them before their argument could get anymore heated, 'there's really no need to fight over this. And if I'm being perfectly honest, I still can't sense this so called distress signal.

'Well that's because you're still weakened from the loss of Light,' False shot him a compassionate smile, 'it's understandable you wouldn't have picked up on anything. Shame the Passive One doesn't have the same excuse.'

'Watch it False,' Lus glared at him, 'you're on really thin ice at the moment.'

'Thin ice doesn't bother me oh Mortal One,' he shrugged. 'In fact, I'd say the thinner, the better.'

'Why you…'

'Guys,' Arados cut him off, 'we agreed to get along, remember?'

'Yeah, whatever,' now it was Lus turn to roll his eyes. 'Lets just answer this distress signal, since we're already heading that way anyway.'

'You took the words right out of my mouth,' False shot him a look, 'I never said you could do that.'

The stalemate had dragged on for an intense amount of time, with neither side making so much as a finger twitch. Kaiba knew if Ni began attacking them he'd be free to focus the retaliation on the evil god, but as long as he didn't make a move, then nether could they. Because they couldn't be seen acting as the aggressor against the devil. It was such a bindingly underhanded move for Ni to have made. To force Kaiba's team into attacking first and therefore putting himself in the position of the innocently wrong. If the thought didn't make him squirm, Kaiba probably would have screamed with the frustration of it all. But as things were he didn't want to give Ni anymore of an opening against him.

'What's it like to be so powerful and yet so completely powerless brother?' Mokuba's voice suddenly echoed out of the shadows beyond Ni and Helen. 'Do you like it? Or does it make you squirm?'

'Mokuba…' Kaiba gritted his teeth. 'Show yourself. Show yourself right now.'

'Now, now, now brother, there's no need to lose that temper of yours is there? Besides, what would showing myself really accomplish exactly, it's not as though you can see me.'

'Stop being a pedantic bastard and give me back the children you stole from me. Because you did steal them from me.'

'No I did not. They are not your children,' Mokuba's voice toned with hated, 'they're mine. Mine and Serenity's. And we're not the ones who stole them Seto, you are.'

'How can we be the ones who stole them, when you're the ones who have them,' Tristan retaliated.

'You know how,' now it was Serenity's voice seeping through the shadows towards them, 'by making them pledge themselves to you. You know demon law.'

'But they're not demons.'

'Of course they're demons.'

'What would you know,' Kaiba snapped, 'you didn't raise them.'

'No, but I gave birth to them and I knew from the second they were born what they were.'

'Didn't mean you had to abandon them though, did it?'

'I didn't want to be the mother of demons.'

'No, you just wanted to become one instead.'

'That's not how it happen,' her voice hissed fiercely. 'I didn't leave to become this. I didn't leave to live this life. Not to begin with. And, if it were up to me, I would have chosen any other life than this. But this is the one I'm stuck with.'

'Bet you couldn't be more pleased.'

'Maybe I am a little happy with it,' her voice settled slightly, as two blurred masses pulled their way out of the shadows, 'but that's only because I've grown accustomed to my fate. And that is why I need to be the one to raise my children; because demons should be raised by demons.'

'Do you really believe that?'

'Of course I do, don't you?'

'No,' Kaiba shook his head, 'I believe those children should be raised by the ones who love them the most.'

'And you think you love my children more than I do?'

'Of course I love them more than you do,' he gritted his teeth, as he reached for one of the vials hidden in his pouch, 'I'm the one who's raised them. I'm the one they come to when they've cut their knee. Or who they call for when they're sick. I'm the one who's there for them, no matter what. They're my children, blood and birth be damned.'