Chapter 51

The pain in his chest had brought him back to Yugi's flat almost instinctively. He might not have been able to see what was going on, but from what he could sense Yugi was now lying unconscious on the floor whilst someone half hid in the shadows of the room. A part of him felt as though this were a pointless move to make, considering he couldn't see them properly either way, but the effect was enough for him to flick an energy ball into his hand and prepare himself for attack.

'Who are you,' he kept his voice level, 'and what have you done to Yugi?'

Almost as if by reply, the room around appeared to shimmer and melt. The next thing he knew he was outside. His blurred vision scanned his surroundings, but as they did an image of the place somehow found its way into his mind. He was in a two tiered school playground connected by a flight of stone steps. Around him a school buildings almost completely encircled the playground, apart from two paths on the lower part, one leading to the school playing field, the other to the school gate, the top half of it leading round behind the school buildings.

Kaiba had never seen this place before in his life, but for some reason he'd felt as though he'd been here before. That he knew this place like the back of his hand. But that was impossible, because there was no way he could have ever seen this place before. Because this place didn't have any significance till after he'd lost his vision. Swallowing hard, he allowed the energy ball to dissipate, as he waited for the shadow to make their identity known.

It didn't take long for her to step forward and even though he couldn't see her clearly, he knew her hair was in childish bunches and she was wearing an adult sized version of a white and red checked school summer dress. She'd even capped the image off with short white ankle socks trimmed with a frilly white and red checked edge and dusty red closed toe sandals.

'Aren't you a little old to be wearing that now,' he could hear the nerves creep into his voice. 'I mean, it's got to have been a good long time since you were… here.'

'Only about ten years,' her voice was soft and familiar, 'but I'm glad to see the three of you were aware of me.'

'Of course, even when they were just a part of us and not actually us, the Mistresses made sure they kept tabs on the Balance Council since they have been the reason most of the unrest has occurred.'

'I know. I just wish there was a mid-ground between them and the restless, because right now neither side is right.'

'So you're not on either side?'

'No, not currently.'

'And…' he hesitated, 'and what about him, your mentor?'

'So the rumours about him have even reached this far then?'

'You are the way you are now because of what he did to you, aren't you?'

'You make it sound like I was nothing more than an experiment as far as he was concerned.'

'Aren't you?'

She was silent and it was pretty clear she didn't have the answer to his question. Or at least not one she could be fully sure of.

'I'm sorry, the Council should never have allowed him to take you on at such a young age. They should have forced him to wait till you were old enough to officially start your training. They should have…'

'You think I'm angry at them, don't you? But if I hadn't started my training when I did I wouldn't be the Prodigy Child, now would I?'

'Of the three, you were the one they picked,' Kaiba lowered his gaze.

'I have been told so, many times, like it's something I should be grateful for. There were three of you he put forward and you were the one the Council thought could handle it best. You were the most powerful and the most promising.'

'So you do resent them then?'

'Right now I don't know how I feel about any of it, but I do wish…'

'Wish what?'

'I wish people would stop saying there were three of us, the thought has always made me feel uncomfortable; like a death sentence or something.'

For a few moments they were both silent. Then Kaiba took an apprehensive step towards her.

'You're from the Circle of Six too, aren't you? The Third of the Six Disconnected Realms.'

'Do you consider yourself part of the Circle of Six now Pure,' there was a flat note of curiosity in her voice.

'I am a combination of both Seto Kaiba and the Pure Mistress, I have two sets of memories, two identities now completely fused together; to be honest I'm not totally sure what I consider myself to be a part of anymore.'

'You're from the Sixth of the Six Disconnected Realms,' her blurred mass turned away and appeared to be examining her surrounding, 'yet you were the first the Khines were born into. A few years later it was the turn of the Second Realm, then the First not too long after that. Everyone thought it would continue in the same manner, with groups of us being born every few years or so till all six had the potential to… reconnect. But it didn't work out that way. The Third, Fourth and Fifth Realms all held off exactly nine years before producing their Khines.'

'And it was the Catilin of each of those Realms put forth by your mentor. You were competing for a place with two other versions of yourself more linked to you than you will probably ever realise.'

'Oh I know exactly how linked I am to them Pure, make no mistake about that,' she appeared to shift her gaze back to him for a moment, before sighing heavily and visibly lowering her head. 'Tell me Pure; do you know which Realm of the Circle of Six the beast and its army ended up in?'

'The Fifth.'

'And do you believe the Catilin in that Realm has the power to control it?'

'No one has the power to control it,' he shook his head. 'It doesn't matter how strong you are, whether you're Limitless or even a Master of Masteries, no one has the power to control the beast.'

'Not even Ni?'

'Especially not Ni, the beast has no respect for him.'

'Then you fear this can only mean there's trouble ahead, right? That the host is taking liberties she shouldn't be taking?'

'Do you know something about the Firth's Catilin?' Kaiba frowned. 'Something you think we should know?'

'I know the deal was made with Ni because it was the only way he would give up on pursuing Helen.'

'Are you trying to say you had something to do with it,' Kaiba became defensive. 'Is that why you attacked Yugi?'

'I did not attack the Face of Friendship,' her tone was calm and serious. 'I simply prepared her for what is to come.'

'What's that supposed to mean?'

'Your evolution came sooner than any of you were truly ready for. I understand the reason for it, but it has left all of you confused and that confusion is a potential weakness. A weakness none of you can afford to have right now. What I did… what I've done will help the Face of Friendship with the confusion.'

'So you're making us battle ready?'

'You have at least nine months, probably closer to a year before he'll mount his full scale attack against you. You have to be ready and in order to be ready the confusion needed to be dealt with sooner rather than later. You're the last one. The only one left to correct and as soon as your cousin has finished recovering from the last correction we'll finish what we started.'

'SK back? Wait, does he know…?'

'He doesn't know about anything currently going on in hell, I couldn't have him distracted right now.'

'Why not?'

'Right now Ni is preoccupied with the Prince of Chaos, we're not going to get an opportunity like this again so I had to use it in the most effective way possible.'

'And once you're done?'

'Once I'm done SK will be able to sense where he actually needs to be right now,' there was something odd about the tone of her voice. 'You know, I'm lucky the increase in his power has left him so susceptible to mine.'

'Do you mean you plan to manipulate him often?'

'No, it's not in my nature to be so manipulative. And even if it was he won't be susceptible for long; once he's used to his new power level he'll be able to stop even someone like me from inhibiting him.'

'At least that's something, I would hate to think my cousin's gone through a massive transformation to end up just as useless as before,' he smirked and folded his arms.

'Oh come now Pure, we both know you don't think SK is useless.'

'No, you're right, I don't, I've just…'

'Been reminded of your younger self recently,' she finished for him.

There was a moment of silence.

'So, did you have this conversation with my sisters too?'

'No.'

'Then why…?'

'You look like someone I used to know… or at least how he might look when he reaches your age,' her voice was strangely soft. 'Maybe I'm just being stupid but… I felt like I needed to spend some extra time with you.'

'So the Prodigy Child is sentimental?'

'Isn't everyone, just a little?'