Death and Beyond
Wednesday 28th of January 2009
Author's Note: Hello everyone. First of all, let me share good news with you. I've passed my GCE Ordinary Level Exams with Grade 1. I'm so happy. And I thought I'd fail. I won't bore you with the details, however much excited I AM right now because of that. So, here comes my brand new story. I don't really know how you all will find it but I'm rather satisfied with this first chapter. This story deals with supernatural and romance, as well as drama, angst and lots of other emotions. Don't worry; you won't be really confused, at least, for now. So, the story for you goes next. Right now, I'm in school and to use the internet to upload a story is not really in the manual of computer studies so I'll just rush a bit with it.
Disclaimer: No, not yet. I do NOT own Yu-Gi-Oh! or any of its characters. If I did, you think I'd let that manga/anime end like this…
Chapter One: I just can't be dead!
"Ugh—," Clutching his head with both hands, long slender fingers slightly massaging his temples from the migraine which invited itself. He was awoken by the loud noises from the living room. Voices; familiar or not were heard. That was when reality stuck him.
How could there be even the tiniest noise in his mansion when he hated visitors, parties and any other gathering?
He could not even remember how long he had slept.
Wait.
He had not been sleeping.
When the sound had penetrated his brain to disturb him from his supposed sleep, he had opened his eyes to find himself standing in front of the windows of his own bedroom, annoyingly staring at the large navy curtains.
He had to stop his head from pounding so much and he had to go down to scold Mokuba for bringing in people he did not really acknowledge. Holding out his hands to push the curtains open, he closed his eyes, feeling a very acute headache coming slowly.
Moving his hands to catch the curtains and draw them open, he failed at all the attempts. Feeling even more annoyed that before, he opened his eyes only to stare disbelievingly at his pale hand half through the curtain.
Quickly removing his hand, he examined it closely, he could actually see through it. It was like staring at the floor through water.
What was happening to him?
He was fading!?
How come?
Why?
All these thoughts occurred to him and each time he stressed to think about something, he felt a sting in his head. Trying to take hold of the curtains once again, his hand breached through them. His mind went haywire. He had to hold something.
Anything.
He reached out for his desk to touch a file and swore as his hand went through the wooden surface. Yet again, it was happening.
"Calm down." He ordered himself. There had to be a logical explanation to everything that was taking place.
Yeah, he got it.
It was a holographic reproduction of an image of him... or a RPG gaming thing.
That had to be it.
"… too bad it happened to…" He heard the voices from before and head back to where he first had the intention to. He was going to scold Mokuba and whoever the younger boy has brought to the mansion.
It was incredulous how come he thought about going into the living room and he did not even have to move a muscle to make out that he was amidst a crowd in his own living room. He did not take the stairs and neither was there an elevator in the mansion. No, that would be for KaibaCorp.
"How the hell did I get here?" He looked all around him and realised that nobody even heard his question.
Wait.
Everyone looked fine. By fine, he meant in their SOLID forms, not some phantom type.
Phanto—Whoa!
How the HECK did someone just get from behind him without passing next to him? Did they not have manners or was this too much to say a small 'Excuse me.'? There was only one explanation; the same curtain one. He was a hologram.
"I can understand what you are going through, he was a good brother." Glancing towards the source of the voice, he saw his arch-rival Yugi, the 'King of Games' (the title he always wanted to have back), talking to his little brother. That's when he saw that everyone was dressed formerly in black. And black colour did not usually give away a very happy impression.
…he was…
Was?
That meant he was… dead?
Seeing the sad look on Mokuba's face answered his question; He WAS dead.
"I AM dead." He repeated that for a couple of times more, hoping it to be a ridiculous joke, which unfortunately for him was not.
"I just can't be… dead. I just can't be. I can't." He closed his eyes, feeling suddenly so cold.
So cold.
As cold as death could be.
He was dead.
He, Seto Kaiba, was dead.
He could then understand why he was unable to touch anything before, in his room, let alone hold it. He was a spirit, a ghost… a platonic being.
"Yeah true Yug', Kaiba was a jer—ahem, uh, a good person, at least to Mokuba, right kid?" Joey agitated the fourteen year old Kaiba, trying to give rise to more courage to the younger boy, by helping Yugi cheering him up.
"That mutt!" Seto gritted watching at how tactfully Wheeler was handling the situation. He could yell all he wanted; after all, no one could hear him.
A look from Yugi told Joey to shut up and he instantly did that. Condolences sentences came from everywhere around. Mokuba could have as well got these people to record the same thing and replay it each time since everyone sounded monotonous.
"We can't stop what is destined to happen as you know." Yugi went on.
"Yeah, yeah, destiny and all the bull with that." Seto added, knowing all too well that he was speaking for nothing.
"Yugi, please, I'm sorry but I don't really wish to talk about that right now." Mokuba suddenly interjected. The boy had to organise a sort of luncheon as the custom usually stated and he really had not wanted that. If Roland had not persuaded him, he would have been in his room, thinking about his brother at that moment; that brother, who had always been everything to him, who always did everything for him.
That brother who was… gone and that too… forever.
Mokuba had always been a very sensible and emotional child and thus he could not hold back his tears however much he tried. He had lost the one person he really held dear to him. Taking a chair from the nearest table, he sat down, letting the tears fall freely. Yugi and Joey quickly came over to him and as Joey proceeded to tell the teen something; his friend took hold of his arm to stop him from doing so. Mokuba needed to cry. He could not bottle up his feelings.
"Mokuba…" Seto was speechless. He truly wished he could touch Mokuba, make him feel that he was right there, near him but he could not. "All that because I'm freaking dead, damn it!"
Seto looked back to the two dorks and found it hard to believe at how the concern their faces showed seemed genuine. Maybe, just maybe, they did consider Mokuba as one of their own.
"Who am I kidding? They always are there to support each other and if ever Mokuba needs someone right now; if not me, they will do just fine." Surprised at his own words, Seto turned around, not wanting to witness his own blood's grief. It was then that he registered the faces of the people present.
He did not have to make his way anywhere particular as he could pass through just anything so, he just took some steps in the room, listening to whatever was being told about him by the others.
"That was totally unexpected, I tell you Devlin. God knows how he found himself in that lift." That voice was familiar. Seeing the hairstyle, Kaiba immediately recognised the dork named Taylor something. The pencil-head was speaking with the dice idiot he knew had a company of his own dealing in some Dungeon Dice Dual Monsters game or something like that. He never really acknowledged those, er, persons before.
He stayed back to here the reply of the dice-guy, which did not take much time to come. "Who was he to know that the lift in question was defective, huh? Besides Tristan, Kaiba always thought he did the right thing but I have to say, the guy does have some self-respect. I would never have thought that his death was going to have such an impact."
"You mean the fan girls?" Tristan asked pointing towards a group of girls some metres away. Devlin sighed and cleared his throat. "No you idiot, I meant on our own lives. I thought we were enemies or something but Kaiba did leave a huge hollowness behind."
"Did I now?" Seto asked as he continued his little walk. At least, he was not flying or maybe not just yet. "Aw, how sweet! They've even put my photograph with flowers all around for everyone to stare at." He mocked.
Oh great, there were two females in particular standing there. He could recognise those two, anywhere. One of them came from time to time to meet her mutt brother and the other would just plop out from nowhere just to make herself get into the spotlight. Blond and red-head; both related to the dog and company somehow. They had absolutely no right to be here, first hand. He could as well go see what they had to say.
"Well, hun, looks like one of the bachelors the most prospective, is gone from the map. You missed your chance, just like those tons of fan girls out there." Mai Valentine said, smirking at the younger girl.
"Mai, what are you saying!" Serenity exclaimed as she placed a hand to her mouth.
"Don't tell me you were not attracted to the now deceased?" Mai asked back.
"Of course I wasn't!" Another exclamation came from the girl.
"I believe you, hun! Quit the pleasantries; you really, really were not a little tiny smallest bit attracted to him?" Mai noticed the younger girl play with hem of her black dress, her cheeks quickly having several tints of pink as she nodded her head.
Kaiba rolled his eyes. He really did not need to be there right then, listening and watching that of all his way through the guests, literally, he spotted some faces he really did not ever think he would see at his own funeral. Who could do that actually?
Three of the men he was not really in love with, stood in a corner, in a very deep and what seemed like an interesting conversion for them.
Closing his eyes, Seto imagined the last time he thought about going somewhere, he just had to concentrate on that and there he was. So, considering his former experience from his bedroom to the living, he called on to where he wanted to be. "Far most corner of this room, now."
Now, that did not work. He was still in the same place. "Right, I guess it works only from room to room. Idiocy." He had to live a dead life or rather a ghost life; the ghost being him.
There was only one thing to do; he had to walk over to Von Schroeder, Pegasus and Dartz on his own. Did Mokuba invite them? "Hah, invite? Inviting someone to a funeral; quite impossible."
"Kaiba-boy will be missed. Oh, I will miss him, at least. I don't know for you two." Pegasus spoke with that usual glint in his eye, one of them being a golden one. Standing there, Kaiba realised that a couple of minutes had passed and none of the three had uttered a single word. They were examining the crowd perhaps as their eyes seemed to be scanning the entire mansion. The only sound came from Pegasus who was sipping his red wine as usual.
Why the hell were they silent?
They were speaking when Kaiba saw them back then when he was away. They could not see him, could they? If they did then surely, they would not have kept mum considering the juicy conversations they always had; business related or not. A sarcastic 'hello' or something would have been exchanged. That could be expected from Pegasus.
Deciding that he was getting bored, Seto retired himself to the table where Mokuba sat at. The remaining Kaiba was wiping his nose with a white napkin and his elder brother could see how red and swollen his eyes were as well as the redness surrounding his nose. No wonder, Mokuba had been crying that long.
Seeing a chair, Kaiba contemplated it, judging whether he should try sitting or not. He slowly did and yes, he did. Smirking to himself, his gaze went back to his sibling who was hanging onto the locket which contained his picture. His own hand reached towards the one at his neck. They had with them, similar lockets with pictures of each other so that they knew they were never alone. The symbol of the bond they shared.
Seto observed as more and more businessmen, fan girls, friends… of Mokuba and other dignified persons gave away their sympathy to his brother who simply replied back with a nod of the head or even a few words. Funny how for an instance, all of these acquaintances seemed to have such a fondness, admiration or any form of whatsoever attachment to him. "Bunch of freeloaders." After about half an hour more, the congregate started dissipating leaving Mokuba with Yugi and Co. to talk with.
As he was about to roll his eyes again, Kaiba noticed that Yugi had just sat on him, rather on the chair he was currently sitting on, invisibly to them. "Thanks Yugi; manner less shrimp." Seto muttered as he got up instantly to see that he was standing next to the Wheelers. His distaste for the male one and the words from before of the female one got him a few away from them, watching as they all hugged and whispered that famous line that 'If ever you need anything, we are always there.' to his brother.
Mokuba had returned their hugs and thanked them all for coming as well as accepted their proposed help and said that he would call them if needed. Kaiba just looked intently.
"You are a Kaiba, Mokuba. You don't need them or anyone else."
Finally, the mansion was empty and Mokuba called upon for Roland.
"Yes master Mokuba?" The lifelong employee of the Kaibas came forward.
"Roland, what's the name of the detective that Seto always ask for each time he had a case of something or the other." The black-haired teen enquired.
"Uh, I think her name is Ms. Ishtar but it's the agency that you should call, master. I suppose Master Kaiba called the head and asked for a detective. It's not necessary that it's always Ms. Ishtar that comes." Mokuba raised his brows in pure surprise.
"I don't mind whoever he sends. I need a detective and that's it. My brother did not die a natural death and I don't believe that it was an accident as well. No, Seto was too strong to die in this way." Mokuba said as Seto stared at him.
"They are in America, sir. The name of the head is Mister Tobias Gardner and here is the card." Roland placed forth a small blue card with a number and an address on that.
Seto Kaiba continued to look at his brother. He had never seen such an expression on the boy's face. Even he knew that he was killed but the memories were vague. Seto supposed that he needed some time before remembering everything but he smiled seeing the effort that his brother was making. Taking the receiver, Mokuba dialled the number and waited impatiently, hearing the tone.
"I will know who killed you, brother. I swear."
End Notes: Ah, it's over already! The first chapter, I mean. Oh, by the way, did I mention that it's my birthday today? Drop me a review, criticism or inspirational and forget about flaming. If you flame, I'll light the 17 candles on my birthday cake with that. That's all for now; my rambling and this story. Ciao! Tell me what you think.
Minou1992
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