Saturday morning, Seto indulged himself just a little bit. He understood that presentation mattered, and since he planned on graduating high school very soon indeed, it wasn't so much an indulgence as it was an early purchase of something he'd need to buy sooner or later. He'd gone to the consignment store and gotten some nicer clothes, which included a trenchcoat the deep color of midnight. It was worth the money, especially since he knew that if he didn't make himself look somewhat presentable, Noah would give him hell for it. He had taken the gold scepter with him when he went out to "work" that night, although he couldn't properly justify to himself why he had done this.

Of course, magic didn't exist, so that voice in his head urging him to take the scepter with him for when he faced off Noah was just his imagination. Yet, he had listened to the voice, tucking the artifact through one of the beltloops of his pants, but behind him, where the coat could hide it. He felt different as he walked down the sidewalk towards KaibaCorp HQ. He felt less like a victim and more like a victor, even though he hadn't even won the game yet. This feeling stayed with him up until the point where he entered the forty-fifth floor of the tall office building and was led by a security guard to a meeting room where a chess board had been set up in the middle of the table and Noah Kaiba was waiting for him. Seto was fifteen minutes early, which made Noah scowl.

"Alright, let's get on with this," Noah said as if he were already bored. "I'm a busy person, so you should be grateful that I made time for you in my schedule." The guard took up a position along the wall, fading into the shadows as the two teens faced each other.

"Right, because at this time of night, you'd usually already be drunk at a club," Seto retorted, unable to keep the nastiness out of his voice. Something about Noah Kaiba made his skin crawl and the bile rise in his throat; that spoiled, arrogant snob needed to be put in his place, and Seto would take pleasure in doing so.

Until this point, Seth had been content to remain as an observer of Seto's life, learning what he was and what he did, but there were times when he did wish to interfere. It grieved his soul to see his reincarnation selling his body just to make a living, tortured his heart to see how it was affecting Seto and what he had to do to cope. If he could have interfered with that, he would have, but he was always too far to do so, since Seto would leave the Millennium Rod with his coat when he went to be with a client. If he could have had his way, he would have taken Seto far from the people who wished to use him then throw him away.

Until this point, he'd been unable to stop Seto from what he was doing, but now that his host was about to sit down to chess with a young man whose heart was filled with a tangible evil, he could no longer sit idly by. If he didn't step in, things might get terribly out of hand.

Forgive me, Seto, but I can't let you do this alone.

"Roland is going to make sure that nobody cheats during this match. Whoever's caught cheating will be forced into automatic surrender," Noah was saying as Seth took control and gently sealed away Seto's soul, protecting the teen from what was about to happen.

"Believe me, I will not be cheating," Seth said smoothly, seating himself across the table from his opponent. Since Noah's focus was on Seth, he didn't realize that dark, swirling fog had materialized around them, enveloping the three of them and the table. "Did you bring the Blue-Eyes White Dragon card?"

"Although I highly doubt it will be leaving my possession, yes, I did." Noah pulled the card out of his wallet and held it up to show Seth the image on the card.

"Good, lay it on the table next to the chess board." Noah did so; he was willing to play a fair game, and in truth, he was sincerely hoping that this match would actually present a challenge to him. He was awfully board with his life, taking joy in few to none of his daily activities. Sure, he was a genius, but that meant that nothing was difficult enough to provide adequate intellectual stimulation. That's why he'd turned to partying, which did him little good in the end. He wanted this to be challenging, yes, but in the end, he had to win.

"As a means of ensuring fair play, I propose we play a Shadow Game. That way, we won't need to use our hands to move the pieces and there's no way for either of us to cheat."

Noah opened his mouth to speak, probably to ask what he meant by a "Shadow Game," but just then Seth had begun to warp the room, stretching out the space between him and Noah even as they both rose up on towers of dark matter and the chess board became a large, checkered battlefield beneath them, the pieces taking on new life. Of course, each set of chess pieces took on identities from the respective players' memories and souls. Seth's pawns were represented by a green-clad knight in dragon armor (a past reincarnation that Seth recognized as Christian Seto Rosenkreuz), his bishops were represented by his own Egyptian self, his knights were the legendary knight Critias (who had been reincarnated through Seth) riding his own dragon form, his rooks were the spirit of the proud Kaibaman, his king was Seto Kaiba, looking stronger and more confident than he was at this point in his life in this universe. And his queen, his powerful, precious queen… She tipped her head back to look up at Seth with a gracious smile, her blue eyes gentle and affectionate.

"Kisara…" he whispered, unable to help himself as he stared down at his long-lost lover.

This was a part of the Shadow powers Seth had best channeled in Egypt as pharaoh: tapping into the metaphysical stream of consciousness that could draw from a single soul's past, present, and future.

"What have you done?! What is this?!" Noah shrieked, completely out of sorts as he stared around him and at the chess board. "You've drugged me!" he shouted, pointing an accusatory finger in Seth's direction. Seth just chuckled and crossed his arms, now holding the Millennium Rod in his right hand.

"I don't know what you're talking about. We're just two ordinary teenagers sitting down to a high-stakes game of chess. That's what he sees, anyways," Seth said, nodding in the direction of the man Noah had called Roland. Noah looked furious, but Seth remained calm. "Come now, let's do what we came here to do. Shall you go first, or shall I?"

"We'll determine it with a coin toss," the green-haired teen snapped. Noah was still angry and confused, but he was confused enough that he couldn't resist Seth's attempts to get the game on track. He pulled a silver dollar out of his pocket and tossed it into the air, catching it and laying it on the back of his hand without looking.

"Your call," Seth said graciously, his eyes flashing.

"Heads." Noah looked at the coin and scowled. "It's tails."

"Then I'll go first. Pawn to E3." One of the eight green knights on the chess board strode forward until he was centered in the square directly in front of him. Strange that even his pawns, the lowest pieces on the board, were represented by someone noble.

"Hm. That's my opening move. Couldn't come up with a strategy of your own? Pawn to E6," Noah snapped, and one of his pawns, a small raven-haired girl, stepped forward to mimic the other pawn's movements. Seeing his little sister move as his pawn made something uncomfortable stir inside of Noah, but he pushed down the strange feeling. He needed to focus. He needed to win, if only for the sake of his pride.

Seth smirked. He'd tapped into Seto's knowledge and understanding of chess, and as the myriad of master strategies filled his mind, he felt certain that there was no way he'd lose this game. They continued the game, one move at a time. The first time a piece was taken, it was Seth's bishop slaying one of Noah's pawns. Noah winced as he watched, his eyes wide as he was faced with the vision of his little sister being cut down in cold blood.

"She didn't—she's not—I mean, you didn't really—" Noah was tripping over his words as what was left of his humanity surfaced briefly, rebelling against what he'd just seen.

"Don't worry," Seth assured with an amused chuckle. "This is just a drug-induced hallucination after all, isn't it?" Noah grunted in frustration, glaring at his opponent.

"Don't be such a smart-ass!" he yelled back, having shaken off the shock of the gore. He made his next move, and the game continued. Noah was surprised that a prostitute was capable of implementing such complex chess strategies, and he found that as much as he wished to crush him in this game, he truly was enjoying the challenge. Gradually, one by one, the number of pieces on the board dwindled. As Seth contemplated his next move, Seto Kaiba turned his head to look up at him, arms crossed and hips jutted casually forward in a cocky sort of confidence. It seemed to be his default stance.

"Don't screw this up!"

Seth nodded to his king, acknowledging his words even as Noah gasped in shock.

"They can talk?!"

"Of course they can talk," Seth retorted. "They're people too, you know." He faced Seto Kaiba again, curious about the alternate universe he had come from.

"What's your story? How did you become a Kaiba, if I might ask?"

"Our father died a few years after our mother did," his king answered. "And he"—Kaiba nodded in Noah's direction—"died in a car accident when he was ten. We were in an orphanage for a few years before Gozaburo, the international chess champion at the time, visited as part of a publicity stunt. I challenged him to a game of chess, and if I won, he had to adopt Mokuba and I." He smirked with satisfaction. "Obviously, he underestimated me, and I won." He frowned then, and sighed almost imperceptibly. "Gozaburo abused me in the name of education for several years before I overthrew him and took control of KaibaCorp and my own life. Everything I have, I earned through hard work and determination. I don't depend on anybody for anything, because in the end, we're all alone in this world. People may call me cold and heartless, more machine than human, but I don't care. They speak out of ignorance, so their words are meaningless." He lifted his chin proudly. "All that matters is that I know the truth."

Seth found himself sobered by the story. "Thank you for telling me," he said with another nod, showing respect to the corporation president acting as his king in this match of Shadow chess. Although it wasn't the actual soul of Seto Kaiba, it was a mirror of his soul, a reflection of it, which meant that it was identical to its source.

Seth then called out, "Knight to G7." Critias moved accordingly, his dragon leaping into the air to fly to the assigned square. The dragon landed gracefully, and Critias studied his new surroundings as if trying to anticipate Seth's next move.

"Queen to A5," Noah commanded, and his queen, a woman from Noah's life that Seth could not identify, moved to where she'd been told, even as her expression turned dubious. Were his own pieces doubting him?

"Bishop to H8," Seth ordered, and the High Priest Seth walked with dignity to the designated position. So the game continued, and Noah grew increasingly distressed. He was losing. More of his pieces were slaughtered and disappeared from the board, and he began to feel cornered. It wasn't hopeless, though. It couldn't possibly be. He was a champion. He couldn't lose this.

"I'm disappointed in you, Noah." Gozaburo, Noah's king, was speaking to his son now that he had only five pieces on the board. "You should have destroyed him by now. Clearly, you've learned nothing from all my lessons about how to annihilate your enemies without mercy." Noah's expression twisted into one of horror.

"No, father, I've learned from you!" he insisted. "I'm doing my best. Just you wait and see! I'll make you proud, Father!"

Seth shook his head sadly as he watched the exchange. "You'll eat your words, Noah Kaiba." It wasn't a boast: it was a warning. For in the next few turns, Seth had killed his remaining pieces defending his king. Seth had two bishops, at G2 and G3, two knights, at E2 and F4, two rooks at C3 and D2, Kisara at C1, Seto Kaiba at H5, and one queened pawn (Rosenkreuz now riding a Blue-Eyes White Dragon) at B3 all left on the board. While he'd taken minimal damage, Noah had lost everything but his king, a disgruntled Gozaburo standing on H2.

"Checkmate."

"No…" Noah's eyes were wide as he stared at the chess-board, stunned. This couldn't be true. He was a genius, a champion. "No, no, no! You must have cheated! That's the only way you could have won!" Kisara stepped forward, lifting a shining silver sword in her hands.

"You have failed me, Noah!" Gozaburo shouted at his son, looking like the embodiment of rage itself. Kisara approached Gozaburo, looking grave and calm, a sharp contrast to the opposing king.

"You must have cheated!" Noah insisted, pointing at Seth once more as he threw a temper tantrum. Kisara held the sword in both hands above her head.

"You have failed!" were Gozaburo's last words before Kisara plunged the heavy sword into his heart. Gozaburo fell, bleeding, onto the chess board.

"I did not cheat, Noah," Seth said, his face serious. "You lost because of your own disrespect for life. If you do not honor your pieces and their sacrifice, how are you supposed to win? When you sacrifice them so easily, how will you ever know when to stop? You will sacrifice and sacrifice until you have nothing left. You lost and you have nobody to blame but yourself." Noah was still in shock as the world around them contracted and reshaped itself into the meeting room on the forty-fifth floor of KaibaCorp Headquarters.

Seth picked up the Blue-Eyes card from the table, relieved that his beloved was no longer in the clutches of such a black-hearted scoundrel. He tucked it safely away in an inside pocket of his coat as he stood. He couldn't give control back to Seto just yet, even though the danger had passed. He didn't want to disorient him anymore than necessary, didn't want him to get himself into anymore trouble than necessary, so he'd have to remain in control for a little while yet. He held out his hand to Noah.

"Thank you for the match."

Noah glared at him with fire and venom, arms stubbornly crossed. Seth lowered his hand and shrugged, then nodded politely to Roland before putting his hands in his pockets and walking to the elevator. Tonight, while Seto slept, he would plant some false memories of the chess game in Seto's mind. He knew that he needed to ease his hikari into this arrangement; he'd already been through so much, he didn't need anything else upsetting him.

When Seto came to himself again, it was to find himself at Ryou's house picking up Mokuba. He felt somewhat dazed, only speaking when spoken to as he was preoccupied with trying to recall what had just happened. Well, it was almost one in the morning, so he was getting Mokuba—who was asleep—from the Bakura household. That meant that he was done with "work" for the night. He could remember seeing his clients, he could remember collecting payment, he could remember making his weekly payment to the pimp. Yet, he felt like there was a hole in the sequence of events. What had he done when he finished with his last client? He could only draw a blank. He racked his brains for the missing memory as he carried his sleeping brother home, starting to worry that perhaps his last client had drugged him, or that perhaps something far more sinister had happened between the last thing he remembered and finding himself at Ryou's house. He was too exhausted to stay awake worrying over it, though, and he went to bed as soon as he got home, falling into a deep sleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

Author Notes: Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Fun-Facts: "Don't screw this up!" is something that Seto Kaiba says to Yugi/Yami at least once in the main series anime; in the manga, Seto Kaiba tells Yugi/Yami during the Battle City finals that he was "abused in the name of education." Christian Seto Rosenkreuz is from the "Duelist of the Roses" videogame. Kaibaman is a Duel Monsters card from Yu-Gi-Oh: GX. Legendary Knight/Dragon Critias is from the end of Yu-Gi-Oh Season Four. All of the moves inside the chess game are complete bollocks, but the checkmate is legit.

(I kind of just imagine the Seto Kaiba chess piece looking up at Seth and being like, "Pft, I haven't worn that since Duelist Kingdom.")

What was your favorite moment? Did something surprise you? Post it in your review! I was kind of nervous about this chapter, so please let me know what you think of it! Remember, more reviews = more chapters, so keep reviewing! Lots of love to my dedicated readers/reviewers!