Chapter 22

Sighing heavily, Taylor turned his gaze towards Drake. His lover was still encased in the body of a half grown cat and although Drake could understand everything he was saying it didn't exactly help the fact no one else could.

'You know I'm beginning to wonder if somebody wants to keep me mute,' Taylor repeated for what felt like the millionth time.

Even he had to admit he was getting tired of the same circular conversation, but what could he do, it was the only thing he could think about.

'You mean somebody other than Ni,' Drake played along by asking the same now redundant question.

'Who other then Ni would want this, I mean…' he hesitated.

It was strange, up until this point his mind had been pretty much blind sighted. He couldn't see beyond his evil half brother. He didn't want to see beyond him. But now…? Somehow the repetitive boredom they were trapped in had finally taken its toll on his thought patterns. He was finally able to see things in a clearer context and that included the possibility of someone else being involved.

'Maybe…'

'What if it isn't Ni?' Taylor cut Drake off as he leapt to his feet with almost feverish excitement.

'What?'

'What if it isn't Ni? What if there is someone else out there who wants to keep me mute?'

Who?'

'How should I know, but what if there is? What then? What if we've been going about this in completely the wrong way?'

'Then we take a deep breath and start from the beginning,' Drake frowned. 'Like who would have the power to do this to us and why?'

'The why I think is easy,' Taylor began to pace, 'if we can't talk then we can't tell.'

'Tell what?'

'Tell… anything. If we were to see something happen or find something out we'd be unable to report it, no matter how hard we tried.'

'But we haven't seen or done anything worth reporting,' Drake tilted his head, 'doesn't that make this situation redundant?'

'Only if you ignore the possibility that the something we're being kept quiet for hasn't happened yet.'

'Then what would be the point of…'

'Would you take a leap of faith a minute here Drake,' Taylor cut him off. 'I don't know anything for sure, you know that, all I can really do is speculate and I get the feeling I'm not far wrong here. Something is about to happen that we're…'

Suddenly his entire body felt as though it was flooded with pain. Crying out he gripped a hand to his chest and half collapsed to the floor.

'Tay,' Drake half mewed the word, unable to do anything but watch in his catlike state, 'Tay what is it? What's wrong?'

For a long time Taylor couldn't answer him. Then, like a bolt of lightning shooting through his senses he knew exactly what was wrong.

'Lus!'

'What about Lus,' Drake's eyes flickered in concern.

'Lus, Lus, Lus, Lus, Lus,' Taylor found himself unable to get anything else out.

'Tay…'

Before Drake had time finish what he was going to say, Taylor found himself Jumping to Lus's side. As he materialised in the Motos' living room Arados appeared before him with his arms spread out as if to form some kind of blockade. It took Taylor a few minutes to realise he was doing the same.

'What on earth…' Lus half spluttered from behind them. 'What are you guys doing here?'

'You're in trouble,' Arados gritted his teeth, 'we have to protect you.'

'In trouble,' he sounded even more shocked, 'I'm not… I mean, look.'

Taking in his surroundings for the first time Taylor realised he and Arados were standing as a barrier between Lus and Yugi. For a few moments Taylor wasn't completely sure what it meant, then something dawned on him.

'You were trying to take his powers away,' Arados spoke Taylor's thoughts for him. 'Why?'

'You don't understand…' Lus's voice was quiet. 'You… you don't understand.'

'Damn right I don't understand,' Arados turned round to face him. 'Why the hell would you let anyone take your powers for. You need them.'

'I… I don't want to lose them,' he stammered. 'But I… I don't have the luxury that you guys have.'

'What's that supposed to mean?'

'He's not well, you know that,' Yugi's voice was tight but gentle, 'and the only way for him to get better is…'

'No,' Arados cut him off sharply, 'there has to be another way. You can't take his powers away from him. Don't you get it; he'll die if he's not connected to us. And he needs his power for the connection to work.'

'That thoughts nice in theory Ara, but I can't take the chance, not anymore. I can't just let my son get sicker and sicker even if he won't die because of his bond to you. I just…'

'Lus,' Arados turned back towards him, 'tell your father you don't want this. Tell him that you need me and Tay's connection to you in order to get better. Tell him.'

'Ara I can't,' Lus stared up at him with half tear filled eyes. 'You don't understand, I need to take this risk. I don't have any other choice right now.'

'But why,' the words came out of Taylor even though he knew they wouldn't be heard. 'Why must you do this? What's so terrible that you can't rely on the help of your Ohpayo Cousins?'

For a few long minutes after Taylor had spoken there was silence. Then Arados and Taylor both made their way towards Lus and the three of them huddled into a three way hug.

'You can't do this to us,' Arados's voice broke more than a little. 'Whatever it is you have to face, whatever it is you have to go through, you have to let us go through it with you. We need you as much as you need us Lus.'

'I wish I could have you,' Lus whispered. 'I wish I didn't have to break the triangle, but I have no choice anymore.'

'Where is there no choice?'

'My powers give me a secondary immune system,' his voice was hauntingly faint, 'and that would prevent any treatment from working properly.'

'How?' Arados's voice broke with tears. 'Shouldn't having a secondary immune system help you get better faster?'

'Not in this case it doesn't.'

'Why not?'

'Because… because it's…'