Chapter 54

'SK,' Kaiba half closed his eyes in order to get a better sense of his cousin's new presence, 'well it's definitely an improvement.'

'Thanks,' there was more than a note of anxiety in his voice.

After their discussion Kaiba had agreed not to tell SK what he knew about the situation until after they'd levelled the confusion. He understood why this had to happen, he also knew why SK was sounding so uncomfortable about it; this was going to hurt.

'It's okay SK, I've been through worse, remember?'

'You mean you know, but…'

Kaiba didn't need to see him to know SK was now staring at her. He could also sense she'd changed her appearance to that of the First's original face. From her reputation he knew she liked to keep people guessing about who she was and just how powerful she could be. It was why most people who met her didn't believe they had seen her true face, even though she probably revealed it more often than they realised.

'Why did you tell him when you didn't bother talking to the others about it first?' SK prompted after she failed to reply.

'I had to do something whilst you recovered,' her answer contained more than a note of boredom.

'Something like recovering yourself would have been more appropriate; we both need to be at full power in order to do this, remember?'

'And I am,' she appeared to fold her arms. 'You don't have to worry about that; I have a quick recovery time.'

'Power Limitless don't have quick recovery times,' his voice strained, 'not unless they're born with it and you weren't.'

'Well then I guess…'

'I helped her recover,' Kaiba interrupted her quickly, catching them both by surprise.

'You what,' SK frowned at him.

'I helped her recover,' he repeated. 'After she explained to me why you have to do what you're going to do I knew I had to help. There is a war coming and we can't afford to be confused any longer than we need to be.'

'Right,' he could almost sense the tense smile on SK's face.

Even without being able to see his full expression Kaiba knew his cousin was suspicious of his story. Whether he suspected foul play or not he couldn't say, but he definitely suspected something was going on he didn't know about.

'You're acting like there's more to this than pulling the three of us out of confusion,' Kaiba folded his arms and half turned away, 'is there?'

'No, not that I know of, but… your evolution has already been messed with once, I didn't think you'd want it messed with again so soon.'

There's a war coming SK, we don't exactly have much of a choice in the matter. Besides, you know how much I hate being left behind,' he smirked.

This appeared to be enough to appease SK, at least for the moment. A part of Kaiba suspected he was probably half sensing what was happening in hell. It wouldn't have surprised him if it had made it into his consciousness despite the girl's best efforts to block it out; after all if the power Kaiba could sense off of him was anything to go by it wouldn't take long before he figured out what was really bothering him.

'So are you going to make a start then or what,' Kaiba rolled his eyes. 'Only if you keep me waiting any longer I'm going to die of boredom.'

'What,' SK appeared to shake himself out of some kind of stunned silence. 'Oh, right, well I guess there's no time like the present.'

'Wouldn't you rather we did this somewhere else Pure,' the girl sounded a little curious. 'I mean, the proximity to the Face of Friendship might cause a few problems.'

'You're right,' his cousin half gasped, 'I hadn't thought about that.'

'Then take me home,' Kaiba kept his voice calm and level, 'we'll do it there.'

'Oh no,' SK shook his head in horror, 'we can't. I can't face Drake yet, not after what happened.'

'What happened,' he frowned, 'if you're talking about Duke's death then he already knows.'

'Then I'm not talking about Duke's death, but rather his part in my evolution,' he sounded pained. 'Catilin I could do… I had to do. Kasey would have been too young to understand. But Drake… Drake will hate me for this.'

'For what exactly,' his frown deepened.

'Didn't you know Pure,' the girl sounded amused, 'Duke died in order for SK to finish evolving.'

'What?'

'Duke died in order for SK to finish evolving,' she repeated with clear amusement. 'Duke is part of him now.'

'But how? And why?'

'Well that's obvious, isn't it? Duke's spirit was incomplete at the time of his death, because of everything the Teen had taken from him. Duke's spirit needed to find completion and so did SK's evolution.'

'You're saying he was drawn to something else incomplete,' Kaiba tried to comprehend what she was saying. 'You're saying that… that SK absorbed him?'

'That's exactly what I'm saying.'

'Does that mean he's still alive?'

'Huh,' SK frowned strangely.

'Does this mean that Duke is still alive? Does being a part of you mean that he's still alive?'

'Yes,' the girl was first to reply.

'Then I guess Crovell was right when he said he could still sense him.'

'Crovell knows I'm dead,' SK suddenly spurted, his voice sounding like Duke's as he did. 'I was hoping to see him before he found out, in order to explain.'

'You mean in order for things not to become more complicated than they need,' the girl sounded almost bored again.

'I… I guess you could say that,' SK's voice reverted back to his own.

'Well I guess it's too late for that now,' Kaiba sighed. 'He knows about Duke's death and he's less then happy about it… well more like in complete denial about it.'

'And tearing hell a new one whilst he's at it,' the girl smirked, 'he's really not a happy bunny. Although you would know that already if you'd been paying attention.'

'No, no this isn't about me not paying attention, you made sure I couldn't sense this, didn't you?' SK took an aggressive step towards the girl.

'I had to, sorting out the Mistresses took precedence, I'm sorry.'

'I have to go. I have to go to him.'

'Not till you've finished what you came here to do,' Kaiba's voice was firm.

'But…'

'Finish what you've started SK, then deal with Crovell.'