Happy Not Happy (Part 4)

DIMENSION: ANIME (The One That Pays to Save the Day)

Serenity went back in her room. It was called a room, but on Kaiba's estate, it felt like her own little home. It was on the back of the house with it's own garden just outside the back glass doors. With benches and a pond and lovely fish. She really wanted to enjoy it, but she couldn't. She felt too much guilt about what happened with Tristan.

Neither of them were speaking in that room.

"All this just for Mai?" he finally spoke. "Mai Valentine, someone who stole Joey's soul? She was like 24 when they first met at Pegasus' tournament. You know, when we were sixteen? Sixteen?"

She was eight years older than Joey. Yeah, she knew that, but it wasn't nearly as bad now. Joey wasn't that young. Tristan couldn't accept Mai because she stole his soul. Serenity didn't know how to take it either with Mai. She wasn't the best thing for Joey, but she also needed help, and Joey would go through great lengths to help her.

Plus, the obvious fact she hadn't told Tristan yet. "You need to get along with Mai when you see her."

"I can do a lot of things," Tristan said, "but Mai Valentine? That's hard. She's a soul stealer."

"You have to, and don't go on about that with Joey," she warned him. "Whether you like her or not, she was affected by God's Brew." She watched his look. "She's pregnant, and Joey thinks it might be his."

"What?!"

"Kaiba has a card for Mai and Joey he'll give when they arrive." Which pretty much sealed it. "Joey hasn't told her yet. He's trying to process it himself right now." Tristan was real upset, but he needed to understand. "Tristan?"

"So is this payment just making everyone have babies or something?" Tristan asked. "What about Téa and Yugi, are they expecting something too?"

Ugh. "You know how they paid their price."

"Then maybe it's something like that for Joey. We can't just assume it's the same thing. What god would say she's worthy of really being involved like that? Maybe she's just a sacrifice or something."

Oh, he didn't want to accept it. "Tristan. I'm tired. I want to rest for awhile." She watched him start to fluff her pillows and gesture to the bed. "By myself."

"I wasn't insinuating anything," he said to her. "I was just making it comfier. I won't be far."

No. "Tristan. I want to rest, and I want you to leave," she requested.

"Oh. Yeah. Sure." Tristan came over and held her hand. "I'm not real far, okay? If you ever decide you need to get out of this, I'm sure we'll find a way. Kaiba doesn't have to win."

///Serenity: I'm not a game./// Just, the way he acted? His words? Sometimes, this whole thing felt less like it was about her. He blamed everything on Kaiba, and he just pushed him as the villain. He had even mentioned when he was the villain and Joey and his friends 'conquered' over him.

And yeah, Kaiba was sort of being pushy, but after talking to Mokuba more, she could start to see why. And he wasn't forcing anything like physical relations to have a baby, or even pressing the marriage. He just wanted to stay close with his future family.

"Why don't you rest, and I can take you out for dinner?" Tristan smiled at her. "My treat."

"I agreed to dinner with Kaiba," she reminded him. "At 6:30."

"But you don't have to feel forced to eat with him. You already live with him," Tristan pointed out.

"She doesn't have to."

Serenity saw Mokuba at the door with a gift. He walked in and gave it to her.

"It's a gift to welcome you," he smiled at her. "You don't have to eat with me and Seto. You can have cooks fix you something anytime you want. It was just an invitation, you can turn it down if you want. At anytime, Seto explained that before."

Right there. That was a nice gesture. She looked at the gift. "Thank you. I will be coming to eat with you two." He was even going to have his little brother there, so Tristan shouldn't be upset.

She had been extremely upset at first with Kaiba. When she told Tristan, she probably had some of that bleeding through, which made him even more standoffish. Not even once did Tristan blame or fault her, it all fell on Kaiba. They hugged and he promised to be there for her no matter what, and she felt better. Tristan would stay even though her looks had changed. He would stay even though she was supposed to one day have Seto Kaiba's baby. A girl couldn't buy a boyfriend like that.

She felt a lot less like someone giving in because of power like Masika made her feel. She even invited Tristan to come with her when she moved in, which was super quick. Kaiba's men were ready to grab everything as soon as he gave the word.

But? So far. Seto Kaiba hadn't pushed for anything. He wasn't dousing her with love or affection, he let her pick a living space, he dealt with Tristan, and he invited her to dinner and then left. Mokuba had done nothing, he was just handing her a housewarming gift.

This wasn't the work of someone being evil or wanting to possess her. It was just the work of someone who wanted their family to stay close by. ///Serenity: He is saving Joey just because of this. Don't think of them as nice, if it wasn't for this, no one would help.///

"Oh, why do you still have that?" Mokuba noticed the God's Brew container. "You're not drinking that, are you?"

"No, of course not," she promised. "I wanted to keep the bottle. If it's really from gods, it might hold some clues in the future." That was something her brother would say and do. "A lot of things ended up being pieces to a puzzle or a game back when Joey was in the thick of card came playing. I want to make sure I don't mess up."

"Oh yeah." Tristan picked it up and looked at it. He opened it up and smelled it, pulling his nose away. "That is absolutely raunchy, who would drink that?" He closed it back up. "Maybe god drinks expire quicker." He put it back and looked toward her. "Are you sure you don't want to dine with me? If not, I'll come with you."

What? ///Serenity: Tristan, did you just invite yourself?///

"I'd rather be there with you, to make sure you're okay," he told her.

"Fine," Mokuba said easily. "But if you make a scene, yell, or start to bug Seto, you're out."

What? Tristan had just bothered Seto even more than Joey had that day already. "Are you sure that's going to be okay with your brother, Mokuba?" she asked.

"Why wouldn't it be?" He seemed confused but shrugged and got on his telephone. "Hey, Seto. I just invited Tristan to dinner too. If he acts up, we'll throw him out."

"And I would care why?" Seto Kaiba's voice sounded through the phone.

"I don't know, manners? Serenity wanted to make sure it was fine with you."

"I don't care." He hung up.

Mokuba put his phone away too. "Better?"

Oh. "Yes, thanks," Serenity said. ///Serenity: Seto doesn't treat Mokuba differently because of his age? Mokuba was a teenager, but he could invite someone to dinner with no problem. Equal footing. They both treat each other with equal footing.///

"Hope you enjoy your gift. I was out shopping with Masika but I didn't know sizing, so I got you something without sizing." He waved goodbye and left.

"Probably bribery shopping for what she conned you into," Tristan muttered. "I still don't know if that was right or wrong."

"A baby is involved too," Serenity reminded him.

"Both ways. I wonder which is worse? Getting stuck with babies, or getting stuck with spirits?" Tristan asked himself. "I personally think babies would be much better than sharing a body."

Serenity looked over to him.

"They are actually up even higher," Tristan said, taking his hand and putting it up real high. "Like there's no difference at all, kids are great. Um?" Tristan looked like he wanted to say something. "Dinner. Right. I'll get ready for it. Yeah." He didn't look so well. "I'm going to go stop by the Game Shop and see how everyone's doing first. I'll see you soon for dinner, okay?"

She watched him leave. What was that strange pause? She opened her gift and saw a pretty necklace. It sparkled. She used to get those all the time when she looked different, right before she stayed with Tristan.

Tristan kept all the really bad people away. He was sweet and adorable and really forgiving toward her. If only he . . . could share some of that forgiveness toward Mai and Kaiba too. ///Serenity: At least Mai. If he can just get along with Mai . . ./// it was going to be important to do that.

Still? Who was she to judge.