This is the part where we take a bit of a swerve. There's still going to be plenty of what the rest of the story has been full of, but this is where I start adding extra things on top, just to push things ahead and make sure to inject just a little bit more whimsy back into the whole operation.

Kind of.

When I started this spinoff project, I told myself. If "Good Intentions" is all about the Kaibas' lives once magic is gone, then this is going to be what happens if magic gets injected back in. But I always had a certain . . . hesitation. I was conservative about it.

All bets are off now, baby.


.


"You're a smart boy," said Yugi, "so I don't think I have to sugarcoat anything. You know how important this is. You understand how lucky Mister Kaiba is to be alive, don't you?"

Sotaro nodded grimly. "Those men had guns. He could have died."

Yugi returned the nod, looking like nothing so much as an ancient sage. "Now. I've made sure that we have some time before anyone is able to hurt you again. Or Mister Kaiba, or anyone else here. But we have to use that time carefully."

His voice was a strange melding of his own and his host's; it seemed like the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle was actively entreating for his host's help. Relying on Yugi Mutou the person, rather than Yugi Mutou the vessel, to speak to this child.

Sotaro didn't see that in Yugi's face, but he clearly saw something else, because his eyes narrowed. "Did you kill people?" he asked. His voice was blunt. "Is that what you mean? That's how you made sure they can't hurt us?"

Yugi's eyebrows raised, quite slowly. "Yes, Sotaro. That is precisely what I have done."

Yuki, standing behind the couch where her son was seated, flinched violently. Kohaku, at her side, squeezed her hand. They were standing sentinel at either of Sotaro's shoulders, and they seemed determined to stay there for the rest of linear time. Their eyes never left Yugi, as though they thought he might decide none of this was important enough to waste time on, and swipe Sotaro away, right out from under their noses, and they would never see him again.

Yugi's eyes flitted up to them for a sliver of a moment, but he did not speak.

Sotaro chewed on this new information. Eventually he said: "Were they gonna hurt us more? Hurt Mister Kaiba more?"

"Yes. They would have."

"Would Mister Kaiba do the same thing you did? If he was in your place, I mean."

Yugi frowned. Something about this question seemed to surprise him, and he was mulling over many possible answers before deciding on one. The Yagamis both had the impression that this, like anything else, was a game to this spirit. All social interactions were a contest to him. The main thing about this situation that stuck out to them was that he seemed to be taking it very seriously.

For whatever reason, this conversation with a seven-year-old was immensely important to him.

"I believe that he would have. Put in my place, I think Mister Kaiba would have made the same choice, and done the same things, that I have done. I cannot speak with certainty. You would have to speak to Mokuba if you want to know for sure. He knows his brother better than I."

Sotaro grunted. His little face screwed up in concentration as he considered Yugi's words. Finally, with a decisive nod, he said: "Okay. I believe you." Yugi's shoulders actually sagged with relief. "So, what now? What did you mean about using time carefully?"

Yugi pulled out a deck of Magic & Wizards cards and began to shuffle them. His fingers moved with swiftness and precision, and Sotaro was entranced in spite of himself. Yugi said, as he made his cards dance in front of him: "Do you know what I mean, if I say the word 'afterlife'? Have you heard people talk about what happens when someone dies?"

Sotaro hummed. "Sometimes," he said after a time. "I guess, it's a place where we're supposed to do whatever we want forever. Sing songs and play harps, and meet all the people we never met before. Grandmas and grandpas and all. Sometimes people talk about how if you're bad, and you don't repent—that means apologize, but they use a special word to make it more important—you'll get punished."

Yugi's eyes were dancing. He smiled. "That's quite astute. Yes. Excellent. I like that answer. Tell me, then. Do you believe that the afterlife is real? Do you think that it exists?"

Sotaro shrugged. "I always thought it was just stories. Fairy tales. It's not real, it's just something people say to help you learn something. Fables. But, I mean, you do magic and stuff. That shouldn't be real. That shouldn't be allowed to happen. This is a whole different world we're in right now. That shouldn't be real. But it is. So, I guess I don't know about the afterlife anymore. If it is real, I guess that wouldn't surprise me."

Yugi nodded. "Good man," he said. Sotaro smiled, proud of himself for answering correctly. He glanced back at his parents. Kohaku reached down and ruffled his hair; Yuki put a hand on the boy's shoulder.

All three Yagamis turned back to Yugi as he began dealing out cards in a straight line in front of them. Each card presented had a different kind of monster, a different class, with various elements marked on the corners. "Do you know," Yugi asked, "how it is that Pegasus Crawford came to paint these monsters? Create this game?"

Sotaro shook his head. "Nuh-uh."

"He went on a trip, when he was younger, to Kemet."

"That's Egypt," Sotaro said immediately.

"Quite right," Yugi said. His smile turned doting. "That is my homeland. Where I was born. Mister Crawford joined an archeological team, on-site at an ancient temple. He found old, old stone tablets. Preserved from a time before the pyramids. You know about the pyramids, don't you?"

"They're at Giza," said Sotaro dutifully.

"Yes. And on those tablets that Mister Crawford found, he found images. Carved into them. Of monsters just . . . like . . . these." He tapped at three monsters in turn: an elf in armor with a sword; a magician with a staff; a demon with bat's wings.

Sotaro studied the cards carefully. "Not just like these," he eventually decided. "These look like they're from cartoons. Or comic books. Ancient people didn't make art like this. Or if they did, we've never see any of it."

Yugi laughed. "Very true! You have me dead to rights. Of course, Mister Crawford painted each monster in his own style. He took inspiration from the tablets, though. Do you see?"

Sotaro nodded, but a frown crept onto his face. "But what does all this have to do with what you said before? About the afterlife?"

"Well," said Yugi, "some of this is just conjecture on my part."

"A guess."

"Correct. I am guessing right now." Yugi held up his hands. "However, I believe that these tablets represent guardians. Not just for us, the human beings who call on them in this world where we live, but also where they live, for creatures much like themselves. Like soldiers in an army."

He picked up one card, the demon, and set it on one side of the table. He drew another card, a woman with white wings, and set it on the other side of the table. He took up the elf in armor and set it in between the other two.

"Think of Heaven and Hell, the place where souls are rewarded and the place where souls are punished," Sotaro was nodding along, "as two separate places. Countries. On the border of these places, there is a barrier country. That is where most monsters live. This is where they train. Where they become soldiers. Do you understand?"

"I think so." Sotaro pointed to the woman with wings. "This is like a guardian angel."

"Yes," said Yugi. "When we play this game, we invoke our guardian spirits. We honor them. We help them to train. But we can do more than that. We can go further than using their cards and bringing them recognition. If you and your family are going to stay safe, we have to do more than that. Specifically, you have to do more than that."

"Me?" Sotaro looked confused; not frightened but perplexed. "Mama and Papa both said I have to stay here, though."

"I know."

"Mister Kaiba said, too."

"I know." Yugi sighed. "Things are different now. I am going to reach out to my own guardians now. Speak to them. I am going to ask for their help. With that help, I am going to guide you to the barrier world, so that you will be able to find a champion spirit to fight for you. To protect you, and your family, and send Gozaburo Kaiba back where he belongs, along with every sad and sorry fool he has roped into helping him."

"Champion spirit," Sotaro repeated.

"That's right."

"Who am I supposed to find?" he asked. "What spirit is gonna be strong enough to do all that? These numbers are just for the game. Aren't they? They aren't real. Even if I do find a bunch of spirits who look like all these cards and stuff, how am I gonna know which one can fight against—like—guns and stuff?"

"That's what I'd like to know."

It wouldn't do to say that a Kaiba's voice inside his own home was surprising to hear, but all the same the fact that Mokuba had managed to slip into the room without anyone noticing was worthy of note. Yugi, for as focused as he'd been, flinched at the announcement of his host.

The boy stood by the table, eyeing the cards, arms crossed over his chest. Wrapped all in black, with his hair pulled away from his face, violet eyes gleaming like gemstones, Mokuba Kaiba looked like a king at court.

He looked like his brother.

He felt like his brother.

Yugi leaned back and tilted his head to one side. "You, of all people, should be able to guess who I have in mind to champion our cause. I put the question to you, Mokuba: of all the multitudes of Duel Monsters in all the world, which one would your brother trust to take his place on the battlefield?"

The irritation, the anger, the anticipatory disdain, sloughed off the young Kaiba's face. "You. You want. You want to recruit her."

"But of course."

"That's why you need him. That's why you can't go alone. She's never going to listen to you."

"Precisely." Yugi waved a hand. "The Blue-Eyes White Dragon is a queen among kings. Surely, there are creatures stronger than she. But none share her ferocity. Pegasus Crawford was so much righter than he knew, when he first described her as an engine of destruction."

Mokuba frowned. "Hm."

"But," Yugi continued, "with that ferocity comes danger. The queen of dragons is capricious. She is as prone to punishment as she is to generosity. She is protective. Oh, yes. But she will brook no interference in her domain. She is not a gentle mother. And I, quite frankly, and not strong enough to defend myself if I speak the wrong word."

"Yet," said Kohaku shortly, "you would have our child face her."

Yugi looked over. "Yes. I would."

Yuki scowled. "We shouldn't have to explain to you why that's alarming."

Yugi smiled, and that reaction seemed to disarm all three of the Yagamis. "There is one person. One soul. In all the planes and all the corners of existence. There is but one whom she would never harm. It is he, and only he, who is ever safe in her presence. More so than her own children, more so than her servants. More than anyone, and anything."

Mokuba looked like he had just come to an understanding. "Niisama," he said.

Yugi nodded solemnly. "Yes."

"Sotaro isn't Niisama," Mokuba said. "Are you sure you aren't suggesting something stupid?"

Yugi cleared his throat. "Kaiba is Kaiba is Kaiba. Seto is Seto is Seto. Souls present unique facets in each world they inhabit, but they are yet the same jewel. They are spread wide, the same even in their divergences, throughout the worlds." He held out his hands. "Note, as an example, how I was able to inhabit this Yugi Mutou, through this Millennium Puzzle, despite offering my soul up to a different artifact, and awakening to a different host, than any of you would know. Am I not a different man, compared to the one that you know?" Mokuba nodded. "Yet here I am. I am not the man who forged a bond with this Yugi Mutou. But I am he, and he is me, all the same. The same is true here. Sotaro is Kaiba. Kaiba is Sotaro. Perhaps we mere mortals mark a distinction, unable to see the linking threads as we are, but she will know."

Mokuba frowned. "I think I get it," he said, sounding like he didn't want to admit it, "but I get why they're worried."

Yugi nodded. "Of course. I do not begrudge them this worry. But this is what I can offer as a solution in this moment. I am certain I needn't impress upon you how limited we are in terms of time, resources, and options."

Mokuba's frown deepened. He closed his eyes, opened them. "I had a whole speech ready for why you're an asshole for this. I was fully ready to preach for an hour. But this is smart. If you're telling the truth, and we can actually get the Blue-Eyes here, ready to fight, when Niisama wakes up? He might actually take things easy for once."

Yugi nodded. "This is precisely what I hope to achieve."

Mokuba sighed, shook his head, and his shoulders slumped like he'd been defeated. He looked over at the Yagamis: first the boy, then his parents, each in turn. "I can't believe I'm saying this," he told them, "but this sounds like a good idea. There's no way Niisama could ever be mad about this. I think meeting the Blue-Eyes would make up for everything that's happened to him in the past three years." He turned his attention back to Yugi. "You aren't planning on sending Sotaro alone, are you? Because if you tell me that's what your plan is, I'm gonna start in on that speech after all."

Yugi held up his hands defensively. "I am certain that whatever speech you have prepared would not be unwarranted. But no. I understand well enough your reservations." He turned to Yuki and Kohaku. "I would have you accompany your son. The both of you. I would have all three of you journey to the Mountain of Furious Lights. I can promise you that it will be an experience like no other. It will not be easy, per se, but you will witness things that vanishingly few people have ever seen."

Kohaku looked supremely unimpressed. "Such as . . . ?" he asked.

"The magic that I have performed thus far, in this world, is simple sleight-of-hand, parlor tricks at best, compared to even the most mundane of miracles in the Barrier. This is a serious mission, aye, a matter of survival. But that does not mean that there is no joy to be had."

Sotaro reached out and took up one of Yugi's Magic & Wizards cards in his hand. "It doesn't sound like there's much of a choice here. This is important. Mister Kaiba got hurt, really badly, for us. It's our turn to do something for him." He looked up. "If Mister Kaiba was awake, and healthy, you'd have him do this. Wouldn't you?"

"I would," said Yugi.

Yuki and Kohaku shared a look. They both had the aura of people who didn't want to admit the logic of what they'd been told. The briefest of nods sealed their agreement. Yuki turned her attention back to Yugi. "All right," she said. "How do we get to this Barrier, then? What do we have to do?"

Yugi smiled; there was no missing the relief in his eyes. "For the moment, I would suggest taking to the kitchens and putting together provisions for your journey. I can sustain Yugi's body myself, but I cannot do the same for you."

"It's like camping!" Sotaro declared, inspired. He grinned at the prospect.

The last of his misgivings left Kohaku's face as he chuckled and patted his son's head. "Something like that, buddy. Something like that. Let's go see what we see, huh?" He spared a glance at Mokuba, who nodded almost dismissively. "If we're going to do this, then let's do it. I think I'm tired of sitting on my hands."

"I'll talk to Roland," said Mokuba. "We'll see if we can't get everything set up for you guys. I think he'll be happy to have something to do. Same as you. Yugi. Atem. Whatever I'm supposed to call you." Yugi's eyebrows raised as he regarded the young Kaiba. "If this goes sideways, and they get hurt, don't come back here. Just . . . don't. Get me?"

Yugi nodded. "I do."

"Good."