Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! and I am not making any money from this story.
Warnings: Death, Spoilers
Music Lover's Alert: This story was inspired by "I Will Follow You Into The Dark" by Death Cab For Cutie. I have been meaning to write a story that goes with this song for quite some time, but wasn't in the mood until I heard some news from a friend that I found both touching and disturbing at the same time. This is also dedicated to you and your loved ones, dear friend.
Also partially inspired by the fact that Robert Heinlein wrote Time Enough For Love towards the end of his life.
Author's Note: This is a sequel/epilogue to The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, Rakitan industries, and Buildings Don't Fall. If you have not read all my other stories, the dynamics between the characters may not make sense. However, if you are already a fan of mine, enjoy!
Don't Panic! This does not mean that I am leaving or anything terrible like that. It just means that I got inspired to write the end of my saga before finishing the middle. There will be many more fantastic adventures to come.
Patrick and Sean will be used interchangeably. For those of you who don't remember, he already died and got cloned at the request of his ghost.
I Will Follow You Into The Dark
Patrick Taylor jogged through the pristine garden behind the Kaiba mansion. He wore the uniform of a general in Japan's army. Although Japan had been more or less at peace for over fifty years, he liked to remain in peak physical condition. From the stories his family and friends told him, one power-hungry maniac could tip the balance and sent the world into chaos, or worse, slavery again. On occasion, their world faced new threats, but Patrick was always available to step up to the challenge of setting things right again. He had learned when he was sixteen that he was not Kisara's biological son, but a clone of a legendary man who had fought to set the world free from tyranny while everyone else hid in the safety of their homes. At first the realization that he had been Sean Carson was overwhelming and he was afraid of living up to his own reputation, but as time passed, he rose through the ranks of the army easily until he became General Taylor.
Patrick stopped dead in his tracks when he saw a frail woman with long white hair and an equally frail man with short silver hair sitting on a bench beside a bed of lilies. The couple had their eyes closed, and they were holding hands. "Mom? Uncle Seto?" he said with uncertainty.
The red-headed general approached the still people on the bench, but they did not rouse to greet him. He knelt in front of Kisara and took her bony hand in his. It was still limp and slightly warm to the touch, but no pulse flowed through her wrist.
Patrick new this had to happen eventually. His adoptive grandmother Agatha had passed away thirty years ago, and he had seen many more friends and comrades fall in the line of duty. His biological mother had also passed away before he had the chance to meet her. However, this was different. Kisara and Tristan had been his primary caretakers, with a little help from Serenity, Mokuba, and the rest of his family. Tears streamed out of the seasoned soldier's chocolate brown eyes as he felt the last bit of warmth fade from the flesh of the woman who had dedicated her life to keeping him safe through his second childhood.
Finally, Patrick stood and made his way back into the mansion. Instead of jogging this time, he walked. Every second of his fifty years seemed to weigh heavily on his shoulders. Life seemed so much shorter and more precious now than ever.
When he got inside, he found Tristan, Serenity, Mokuba and Katie sitting on the white leather couch in the living room watching television. Each one of them looked almost as old and frail as his mother and Seto. Patrick made an attempt to speak, but hiccupped the first time.
Everyone in the room looked at him.
"Mom and Uncle Seto are…" Patrick began.
They all understood immediately. Tristan and Katie stood to go comfort Patrick while Serenity and Mokuba held each other close in sorrow.
"He was the best big brother I could ask for," Mokuba said softly.
"He was the best husband I could ask for… one of the best, anyway," Serenity added.
"Do you think he'll be waiting for us when we go?" Mokuba wondered.
"Who knows? He was always so impatient and had to do everything right away, but for us… who knows."
After a while, they got up the courage to call the rest of their family members and tell them of Seto and Kisara's passing. When everyone had been notified, they called a local coroner.
Sarah and Janet Kaiba were the first to arrive. Serenity gathered both of her middle-aged children into her arms and weeped into their graying hair. Sarah was dying her hair to maintain the rich, dark auburn color of her curly locks, but Janet was letting hers turn silver like her father's.
Joan Saunders and Tamara Rakitan came next. Joan hugged Mokuba while Tam wrapped her lean, yet still strong arms around Patrick. Although Mokuba and Joan had married more as a publicity stunt to protect the family than from love, they were still close friends and both of them loved Seto.
Tam, Patrick, and Katie sat down on the floor together. Katie wormed her way into Patrick's lap, but Tam did not seem to mind. Katie's dyed blond hair and face lifts made her appear more Sean's age than Tamara's age, but Tam took better care of her health and knew that she would probably outlast the diva.
"I used to think that you would go first because you were ten years older than me," Tam mused. "Now that you're part of the next generation, it looks like that won't be the case."
Patrick pushed her silvery white hair out of her face. "I know, but what matters is that you're still here with me now." He gave her a soft kiss on the lips, in awe of how she kept her beauty through more than eighty years.
When Tam had first showed up on his doorstep on his sixteenth birthday, Patrick was shocked and confused that a woman of fifty could take such an interest in him. He expected his new stalker to be weak and easy to escape, but soon realized that her decades of experience in martial arts made her more than a match for him. He grew frustrated with her constant attention one day and got into a confrontation with her. This resulted in him being strapped down to his own bed with her grinning down at him and chiding him about respecting his elders. At first he didn't understand why his parents let this crazy blonde assault him, but in that moment he realized that her love for him was unwavering and would remain so for eternity.
Patrick's surrogate mother Katie and the former prime minister Joan had also shown interest in him, but didn't share Tam's persistence and determination. They were perfectly contented with their other attachments, but slowly grew closer to him over the years.
"When Jessica passed last year, I thought it would be the end of the world, but Mokuba pulled me through. The thing to remember is that there will always be people who love you no matter what, so don't go doing anything stupid like dying on us before your time," Katie said.
Sean nodded, and then glanced at Janet and Sarah. They were older than him, but not nearly to the point where they could die any day. Their children were grown, and too busy leading their own lives to come down to the Kaiba mansion at the drop of a hat.
When the coroner arrived, they all strode out to the garden to find Seto and Kisara sitting right where Patrick had discovered them. The coroner started to examine their bodies while the family watched.
"It feels strange… having my wife die with another man," Tristan said to Serenity.
The coroner glanced up from his work to see Tristan and Serenity holding hands. Not only that, but Serenity was holding hands with Mokuba and Mokuba was holding hands with Katie and Katie was holding hands with Sarah and… his head started to spin. This wasn't at all what he expected to find when he was called to lay a member of the esteemed Kaiba family and the woman who could transform herself into the Blue Eyes White Dragon to rest. He expected them to be more dignified and aloof, but there they were, not one of them with an empty hand or dry eye. He finally decided that it was none of his business and went back to his work.
The coroner gave the Kaibas and Taylors some paperwork to sign, and then called in another member of his crew to help him carry Seto and Kisara's bodies out to his van.
Joan turned to Sean. "Will their souls be coming back?"
Sean shook his head. "I don't think so. They've done all they needed to do here. With me it was different. I wasn't anywhere close to ready to go."
Tristan choked back another set of tears. "Besides, I think they've been around enough times already. Ancient Egypt and all."
"You mean those stories Yugi told us?" Sarah asked.
"Yeah."
The coroner pushed more papers at Tristan. "Mr. Taylor, we have a pair of open spots here in Domino Cemetery. Would you like us to reserve one for you?"
Tristan looked down at the map. "Yes, wait! No. We need four, um… six or… uh. Oops," he looked up Serenity for help. He couldn't believe he said that so openly in front of the coroner.
"Cremation would be a lot easier," Janet butted in, "just mix everyone's ashes together. Father never believed in mumbo jumbo burial rituals anyway."
Everyone gaped at the woman with sharp, electric blue eyes. As the CEO of Kaiba Corporation, she had the most to lose by spilling their secrets. However, Janet stood tall in her neat white suit and blue tie.
"Come on! We can't hide forever. Haven't you always dreamed of telling the world?"
Sarah's violet eyes glistened. "Are you sure, big sis?"
"If not now, when?"
The coroner was beside himself. He had the opportunity to make a fortune selling prime grave plots, and he was about to lose it. "Wait! How about a crypt or a monument or both? I could give you twenty plots for the whole thing."
Janet's pupils dilated. "Now there's a thought. Tell me, how high can you build it?"
"As high as it needs to be! Whatever specifications you want!"
"How about a statue? Sarah can design it," Janet said more to her family than to the coroner.
"On one condition: you make me young again!" Katie demanded with a feeble cough.
Sarah smiled softly. Her aunt Jessica had taught her many forms of art, and always taught her to represent people the way they were on the inside rather than how they appeared on the outside. "I wouldn't sculpt you any other way."
The coroner was even more confused now. "Is this going to be a monument to the revolution, or…"
Janet, Sarah, and Patrick stood in a row in front of the coroner with their geriatric parents behind them as if they were protecting them. "It is, but it is so much more than that. We want this to show our family as they really are, not how we pretended to be to the public all these years," Janet said.
"Huh?"
"Mokuba is my real father," Sarah began.
"And Serenity is as much of a mother to me as Kisara was. She loves my dad just as much as she loves Mokuba and Seto," Sean added.
"And Katie loves my dad, too," Sarah said.
"And Joan loves Seto," Janet said, "She only married Uncle Mokuba to keep the media quiet."
"And there's more, but since some people aren't here, we'll leave it at that for now," Sean finished.
The coroner blinked. "How is this possible? I… I thought you were a good family. I thought…"
"Still want to build us that monument?" Janet asked with a smirk.
Currency signs floated through the coroner's head. Building a monument to one of the most famous families in history seemed like a good idea initially, but now that he knew what he knew, he wasn't so sure. This could make or break him. At least he would collect a lot of money from this particular project, maybe even enough to retire.
"All right," the coroner said at last, "I'll make your family the biggest, fanciest monument I can."