I know that Timaeus is meant for Yugi (or Atem, I suppose), and that's the whole thing. I had to make some … alterations for the sake of how this story unfolded. Besides, the seafoam green matches with Noa's hair.

And we all know how significant hair color is in anime, don't we?

… Yes, that's the best excuse I could come up with.

Don't look at me.

.

Silence fell like a funeral shroud over the Kaiba Estate. No doubt the child soldier of Paradius had an image of Gozaburo Kaiba lounging in his office, like a king at his throne, or else huddled in a bunker with his most valuable treasures like a dragon, fully prepared to send men and women out to die for him but entirely incapable of placing himself in the line of fire. The boy would have been stunned into a numb stupor to see Gozaburo dressed in canvas and body armor, rifle in hand, standing at the ready alongside those men and women.

"We call ourselves civilized," Gozaburo growled, low and confident, as he turned to face his team. "We delude ourselves into thinking that war and peace are places we can inhabit. No. This flux between safety and the battlefield is the natural state of humankind. We must be prepared to fight, to kill, for our own sakes. If a man sends soldiers and servants to fight us, then we'll fight them. I'm not asking you to fight for me. I'm not paying you to fight for me. You stand here, strong, stubborn, and now comes the time for you to prove it. Fight for you. Fight for your survival. Show this band of zealots just how momentous a mistake they've made."

They didn't answer.

They didn't salute.

The fire in their eyes was answer enough.

Amaya, standing across the room from her husband, was watching the front gardens from her own vantage point at a window. "They're moving," she said, quietly, quickly; her voice flowed like water across every head. "Time to earn your stripes, boys and girls."

Gozaburo would have stunned young Aleister; Amaya would have shattered his entire understanding of reality. Not only did the master of the manor fight with his soldiers; so too did his lady wife. If anything, Amaya looked more bloodthirsty than he did.

She pulled a long, wickedly curved knife from her boot and gripped it in her dominant hand.

At a nod from her husband, Amaya Kaiba vanished from sight.

Gozaburo checked his gun, turned around, and settled in for a siege.

.

Isis Ishtar swept through Kaiba Manor like a ghost, letting the Millennium Torque guide her as best it could; there were vanishingly few timelines where she would ever have cause to enter this house and, whenever she did, it wasn't ever for long.

The telltale whipcracks of gunfire nipped at her heels, and she redoubled her efforts.

She had to move.

So focused on this simple act, keeping her legs moving, Isis nearly barreled into Seto Kaiba as he guided his brother and Joey Wheeler through the lower hallways. They stopped, all four of them, and stared at each other like they'd never met another young person in all their lives.

"What do we do?" Seto asked.

It wasn't clear if he was deferring to Isis because she could see the future, or if it was because she was his elder. Perhaps it didn't matter, either way.

"We need to get somewhere with an open view of the grounds, and the sky," Isis said. "The only way to be sure that this fight doesn't end in disaster is if there's enough room to see it all through. We need to see what Paradius is sending your way."

Seto immediately turned to his brother. "Noa? What do you think?"

Noa's brow furrowed as he leaned on his cane. "I think I know," he said eventually. "Come with me. We're going all the way up."

The others fell into step behind Noa. It didn't take long before it was clear he wouldn't be able to keep pace with the others. Seto whispered an apology, then he hefted Noa up into a firefighter's carry and tossed the other boy's cane to Joey. Noa didn't look happy to have someone nearly a full year his junior lift him up like a sack of potatoes, but he kept quiet.

Noa led the small congregation through winding halls and maze-like corridors until they reached the service elevator. Here Noa slipped down from his brother's back, pulled something from his pocket, and swept it in front of the keypad off to the right of the sleek steel doors.

"There's a flat section of roof just above us," Noa said, "that I think Chichiue wants to turn into a helicopter landing. It's as high as we're going to get without climbing." He glanced Isis's way, with a suddenly fearful, and pleading, expression on his face. "Please tell me we won't have to climb."

Isis smiled sadly. "I don't know, Noa. I have no idea." She shrugged. "In most futures where a battle with Paradius comes to bear, it never touches this house. Lord Dartz will know defeat, of that much I'm certain. I just hope we can see him defeated without . . . well. Casualties."

"I guess we'll have to see," Noa said grimly. The elevator beeped, and the doors whispered open. "Come on. Let's get moving."

.

Once the three cards were united, in their bearers' palms, something changed.

As Noa beheld Timaeus, and Seto regarded Critias, and Joey observed Hermos, they could feel the coming storm. The cards had power all their own, able to change the shape of the world by themselves; but, when they were held in the hands of those who could speak their names, those who could fly their banners, these knights of eld were rendered transcendent.

Isis spoke.

"Wake, ye warriors of antiquity. Know ye now who wears your sovereign's crown, who rips free his valor and drapes it o'er his untested shoulders. Know what ye hath been called upon to do. Come forth, meet your vessels. Do guide their hands, be their armor as they be your spears. Ride to meet the tide."

Three boys stared down at the cards in their hands.

These talismans thrummed like heartbeats.

Lightning crashed in the distance.

Seto, Noa, and Joey all heard a different voice. Each voice asked the same question.

Do you deliver us?

"Yes," said Seto.

"Yes," said Noa.

"Yes," said Joey.

Day folded into night in a blink; a short eternity later, the gods rose their voices in chorus and heralded the coming of blood.