Serenity Wheeler's Apartment.

Just tidying the couch. She straightened a pillow. Just fixing the frame. She touched a frame of her picture with her and her brother. It looked crooked, but she made it more crooked. Just fix it again. She fixed it back to how it had been before.

"Serenity, are you okay?" Tristan asked as he got ready for work again. "You don't look good."

Oh no, she could not make him worry. "Hey? Oh. Sorry, Tristan. It's . . ." What to say? He was already understanding enough about the whole accidental cheating thing some time ago. He blamed it on Kaiba, swearing he gave her strong alcohol on purpose. She doubted that, she woke up just fine with clothes on still. It would be strange for anything to have happened.

Not to say something didn't happen, but most likely it didn't. There wasn't an ounce of anger at her, but Tristan was staying closer to her. He was even starting to ask if he should move in.

"Serenity." Tristan just smiled at her. "It's okay. Whatever's wrong, you can tell me. Hope you tell me soon, but you can tell me when you are ready." He gave her a quick kiss. "This isn't still about that Kaiba deception thing, is it? I don't blame you for that."

"No." Yes. Maybe. Serenity was incredibly nervous. It had been weeks since she had her period, and after the Seto Kaiba thing, it left her anxious. /Serenity: Nothing happened. Clothes were on./ Nerves, just nerves.

She had been with Tristan a couple of times, but only recently. She felt too much guilt to get too close after that strange night. /This is incredibly stupid. Just go take a test./ No, that was admitting pregnancy could even be a possibility! /You had clothes on, Serenity. Don't let your nerves take you down./

It couldn't be a possibility. It was not . . . gonna . . . "There's probably just something medically wrong with me. I should be going to the doctor to check out what kind of condition I have." Because it couldn't be pregnancy.

Fix the cushion again. Just tidying the couch.

"I know you were in and out of doctors as a kid," Tristan told her, "but you've been great for a long time. I think you are nervous about something. You don't . . . you say you don't remember-"

"I don't remember at all!" She said quickly.

"Okay." Tristan looked worried. "I forgive you, but if you have tremendous guilt that won't go away because of what happened? You might need some more space. I've been trying to hold onto you even tighter lately, but . . . maybe you need the opposite?"

"I don't know if I do," she admitted.

"Hey, it's okay," he promised. "I promise. Tristan Taylor is right here, day or night." He gave her one last kiss. "I'll see you later. You make the next date when you are ready. Okay? Whether it's in a month or you wanna get spontaneous tonight."

"Okay." She smiled at him. That wasn't it either, she wasn't feeling smothered. Just worried. So worried.

As he left for work, she did feel a small amount of relief. /That's all it is. Stress. It messes me up real bad too. It's all just stress./

The doorbell rang. Yes, more distraction. "Coming," she said as she came straight to the door. It was probably a friend.

When she opened that door, she wasn't prepared to see . . . "Shit."

"Not the first time I heard that when someone opened the door for me," Seto Kaiba said to her. "I need to talk to you."

/I don't want to!/ "I'm fine. I told you, I have a boyfriend. It was just a fling a month ago, right? Even you said it was just a thing. What do you want then?"

"I'm curious about something." He put both his hands against the sides of the doorway, half like he wanted to break them, and half like it was supposed to support him. "Anything new happen since our night together?"

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"You had your period. Right?"

Why? Why would he ask that? How? "Why would you even . . .?" How would he ever even guess?

"Egyptian gods suck." Kaiba's words straight to her. "Another version of us are helping to save the world."

"What?" That didn't make any sense.

"A parallel version of us is saving their world," Kaiba said again. "Ask fucking Yugi to explain it if you want. While they do, we have to pay the price."

"I?" A parallel universe. "A price?"

"I always wondered how God's Brew worked. Such an exorbitant price. So addictive. Had to have been made by the gods themselves." Kaiba stared straight at her. "Our price to pay." He tossed a card, about the size of a duel card. "Is Azure."

Azure? As she picked up the card, it started to dissolve and revealed a picture with . . . "What?!" Oh no! He was kidding, right? He was kidding. He was kidding? "You are kidding! This is a sick joke, right?"

"Yugi and Téa Gardener have spirits taking half of their lives. That's their price to pay. Those spirits are being forced to live for them. That's their price to pay. I don't know what the others are," Kaiba said to her as he sighed. "Let me in."

"You're crazy." No. "It just can't be."

"You are Joey Wheeler's younger sister." He remembered who he had been. "I've seen you. You were on my ship. I even forgot that moron brother of yours. It was the work of the Egyptian gods." He stood up straight and tossed her a pregnancy test.

It was now in her hands. The test she didn't want to take. It was the biggest test of her life.

"Go pee on the stick," Kaiba told her. "Confirm what the card already knows."

"Well, maybe it's wrong. We never did anything, we just talked."

"If it's not, then that just means we have to keep at it. To save the world, we clearly have to have a child," he said. "It's on the back. I have to help save the other me."

"Why? Wh-why would some baby with me be helping to give some kind of payment?" It was absurd.

"I don't know, but Egyptian gods based a lot of things off fertility. New life. Creation of other gods," Kaiba said to her. "Just take the test."

It was wrong. It was stupid. It was a waste of time. "Don't touch anything." She just wanted to command him while she went to the bathroom. He could probably afford anything she had with ease. Still, it was her home and her stuff.

He was not invited.

—

Kaiba stayed close to the bathroom door. He already knew how this would play out. Giving him a whole month before addressing him again. Not letting him remember her or Joey Wheeler. /Seto: Yeah. There will be a new little Kaiba on the way./

He started to make calls on his cell phone. He had already got a head start on everything, knowing what would occur, he just had them all waiting for his final word.

Kaiba was many things, a bastard to several people, but he wouldn't leave a bastard. He wouldn't let his son or daughter go. It was his blood. His responsibility, his family, just like Mokuba. He also wouldn't let it fester around with a mother who lived in a simple apartment that had a job that only covered her living expenses. Nor would he have anyone question it's upbringing.

It would never be considered a bastard. He would never allow it.

When she came out of the bathroom, she turned to face him. "I'm-."

"I'll finish that thought for you," Kaiba instructed. He took her hand and slid a ring on her finger. "The future Mrs. Seto Kaiba."

—

She looked at what he slid on her finger. It was a ring. "Are you kidding? I have a boyfriend and I'm not pregnant." She held up the stick to prove it.

"I won't let my family be torn down in reputation in any way," Kaiba said. "You are moving in with Mokuba and I, and we'll raise it together, married."

What kind of fantasy world was he living in? "No. I'm not even pregnant."

"No. That's a charming word," Seto Kaiba responded. "I don't hear it very much. Probably because everyone wants something in this world. I can make anything happen. Just name it."

He was trying to buy her off? "I don't want anything."

"Everyone wants something. If not you, then someone else you know. They want something," Kaiba said. "That's how the world works. Figure out what you want and I'll take care of it. Then we'll load up anything you want to keep and move it into the Kaiba residence."

Ugh? He just wasn't getting it! "I'm not pregnant!"

"Which doesn't really mean anything because you need to get pregnant. The outcome of what must happen doesn't change."

Okay. Some goddess needed her to get pregnant with him, but it was just? "I have a boyfriend." His expression still said he didn't care. "No, I can't just jump into any of this. Even if there needs to be a baby, it doesn't mean you have to marry me."

"He or she will see me every morning, in our home," Kaiba corrected her. "I won't allow you to 'just get pregnant'. Think hard."

Serenity felt offended by that. She was trying to be nice. Sure, she had heard about stuff happening lately to the others. Joey kept her in the loop. But? /Not me. I'm not a part of anything. Joey is, or his friends. Nothing ever involves me./

Since Kaiba wasn't moving, Serenity left her apartment. She stayed over on the side of the stairs. She looked over every once in awhile to see if he left.

There was nothing Kaiba would consider of value to take from her apartment, and she couldn't deal with his all or nothing options.

Finally, he seemed to get the hint she wouldn't follow his command and left. He went out toward the elevator. His attitude still seemed to be the same. Thank goodness she never got to know him that well.

Game Shop Some Time Later . . .

Mokuba waved at Yugi's spirit they all called Atem. "Hey, is Masika here?"

Atem gestured to the back.

That was normal. Masika didn't like to be in Atem's presence much. She was in the back counting things. "Hi, Masika."

Masika waved to him. "Mokuba, hello."

"Can you do me a huge favor?" Mokuba asked her. "It's a really big favor." He wouldn't sugarcoat it. Kaiba had tried several things with Serenity, without getting aggressive about it. None of it worked though. They would have to start getting meaner if he didn't find someone she connected to. "Please?"

Masika came toward him. "What is it?"

"Come with me in my car and head to Serenity Wheeler's with me?" he asked. "In exchange, I'll tell you a secret Kaiba's been hiding."

"More secrets?" Atem's voice wasn't far. "What I wonder are those?"

Shoot. Damn. Atem was a great guy. He really was, but every time he was around Masika, she just clammed up so fast. "Nothing to do with you," Mokuba told him. "It's a secret, and it's only for her, and only if she helps." He took her hand. "What do you say?"

Great, now she didn't want to say. Mokuba knew Atem was trying to get along. Yugi said so, he really was trying. Masika was just . . . not comfortable having a casual time with Atem. Too much past friction.

"I know that Kaiba wanted information on Serenity," Atem said to Mokuba. "I wonder if it has something to do with that?"

"I want Serenity and Masika to have a conversation," Mokuba said to him. "That's all." He better not try to use his power to make her spill secrets. "And you better not use your power over her to make her spill secrets!"

"I wouldn't use power over her." Atem seemed like he was bored over that statement. "I use nothing. If she talks, I'm The Greatest Pharaoh that cannot be Greatest Pharoah or 'Sir'."

Huh? "What do you mean?"

"Tea dictated she could not call me Greatest Pharoah," Atem said. "She couldn't accomplish that easily though. At least she is down to 'Sir' now." He leaned a little to the left from Mokuba. "Atem is still preferred, but not demanded, Masika."

Yeah. That look? Atem was a good guy. The only thing he wanted was to be treated like a normal person. To talk to Masika like a normal person. It would take a lot longer than a month though, Atem was involved in hurting her accidentally in the past. Even if he didn't know he killed her cat, and he didn't know about the curse of Kul Elna. It was hard to get past that kind of bitterness. "You'll get there, Atem," he encouraged him. "It'll just take time, don't push it."

"Oh, The Greatest Pharoah who isn't called The Greatest Pharaoh will never not push," Masika said. Almost offishly?

Yeah, that was definitely not in a nice way. "Is everything okay between you two?"

"We all have our own secrets," Atem answered. "You don't need to worry about us knowing Kaiba's secret, we already know. We saw his card."

"Really?"

"Yes. I don't know what you'd want Masika for, but your business is your business." Atem just moved away back to the front of the store.

Mokuba looked back toward her. He didn't know their secrets, but at least she could come peacefully. "Please come with me? For me?"

Masika nodded to Mokuba. "Sir, may I leave with Mokuba?"

"Of course," Atem told her. "Stay out as long as you wish."

She bowed toward Atem again and then quickly headed for the door. Mokuba was right behind her.

Atem watched them both leave, while Joey was coming back in. "A game?" Poor Joey. Without a plan, Joey tended to be more miserable lately. Today, he had an extra depressive flare.

"Nah." Joey's voice was soft. "You only got to ask questions, right? Of the gods and stuff?"

Hm. That didn't sound good. "Yes, only questions for us."

"So, they didn't volunteer anything else?" Joey asked.

"Nothing I can reveal yet to you Joey."

"Then did . . . wait, did you know?" Joey was definitely angry. "You couldn't know, you would tell me!"

His friend was very on edge. "It was not our place." The goddesses would share nothing of others.

"Screw not your place, yes it was!" he demanded. "I had the right to know about Mai!"

Mai? "What's wrong with Mai?" Atem asked.

"You mean, you don't know about that?" Joey asked. "Oh. Sorry, Atem. I jumped the gun." He closed his eyes and just hung his head. "I don't know much. Just, a cat like Ebonnee showed up when I was talking to her. I found out . . ." He wasn't speaking easily. "I'm scum."

"You found out you were scum?" That made no sense, Joey was not scum at all.

"I am. I? I had this stuff called God's Brew one time when I was talking to Mai about escaping," Joey confessed. "I woke up in her bed with her. I didn't want to frighten her away, she was already spooked enough to take a deal to get out. I crawled out of bed and acted like I slept on the ground."

God's Brew. "It's doubtful it was your fault, Joey." Bastet had used those words with Sekhmet. "Goddesses spoke of God's Brew."

"I looked the stuff up for Kaiba. It's a Duke Devlin side business."

"Duke Devlin?" What?

"He mentioned that the real owners are a familiar cat and lion goddess pair to you. I think I'm screwed," Joey admitted, "Last time I talked to her, Mai said she was pregnant. She thought it was Skeezy's. But I don't know, maybe, I mean?"

Oh, Joey! Those goddesses again! What could they have wanted from a child between him and Mai? "I don't have any doubt, Joey. I don't know why they would need something like that, but they made it happen."

"Then . . ." Joey kicked the counter. "Then Mai's got mine, but she's still caught with Skeezy!" He kicked the counter again and turned. "I gotta go before I bring this whole place down!"

Atem watched him run off. Why? Why did all of his friends have to keep hurting over this payment? They agreed to the sacrifice for them, but why did others not getting any say have to be pulled into it?

Kaiba must wield another card for Joey too.