It had been nearly a year, and Seto was still stuck with him. He said he had changed since then. He said he was a new man. He said it was possible to put the past behind them! He said it all, and he was wrong; he lied.
Or was Seto too weak? That thought, too, ran through his mind again and again, especially as of late. Granted that damned Pegasus' words were just sharp enough, yet still just sweet enough, for him to wonder…for him to stick around. Either way, he was scared. He often recalled how he even got dragged into this mess.
After having signed those contracts and joined his corporation with Industrial Illusions, things just went downhill, especially since there was virtually no way out that would save his own name. Pegasus was much more clever than he put on. He had been after Kaiba and his company and products for years.
Now he had it. All of it. And him. He had him. Pegasus lured the young man in with promises of wealth and glory and opportunity like he would never see. Pegasus took him under his wing to teach him all that he would need to know. Pegasus was like a real business partner, he treated Seto like an adult, like he knew what he was talking about, like he was smart and right and capable, but more importantly, Pegasus treated Seto like a friend. A real friend like he had not ever known outside of Mokuba. Pegasus lured the young man in with the reality he always craved, and took advantage of it in the only way he knew how. He destroyed the shield around Seto's heart and plucked it right out of his chest, claiming immediate ownership.
He loved him.
–
"Stop it!" Seto cried out for what felt like the thousandth time that mere day. "Stop it, okay? What have I done to deserve this?" Hunched over with his arms out in a defensive position before his shaken body. His air of sophistication and pride had been beaten out of him, literally. He had been steadily reduced over the past several months to a withered, frightened child with a heart filled with fear, doubt, and confusion.
"What have you done to deserve this?" Pegasus' voice sounded, unnecessarily loud, like it always was. "You have done nothing. Literally nothing! I ask you to do this, file that, create this, attend that, and you just stand there and fucking stare at me like I'm some stranger!" Shaking his head, Pegasus ran his long fingers through his thick mess of silver hair. "What am I going to do with you, Kaiba, boy? Do I need to punish you more? Is this," as he spoke, he lashed out at Seto, breaking through his weak arm-barrier, backhanding his cheek hard. "not enough? Do I need to get harder with you? Have I not promised you enough?"
Seto looked up at Pegasus, broken blue eyes wide in shock and pain. He brought his fingers to his cheek and just stared. This was a relatively normal occurrence, he thought; it shouldn't shock him so much anymore. It was just so difficult to believe that Pegasus could put on such a gentle facade for so long. "No…"
"No?!"
"No! No…no no no no…no that's not what I meant! I mean–"
"Well, Kaiba,boy?" Pegasus nearly growled, his entire face contorting in a new fury. That day must have been rotten…he had never been so angry at Seto before. Approaching the young man, He grabbed the collar of his shirt and threw him hard against the wall, stepping closer to him and staring intently into those panicked eyes. It did not register to Pegasus, at all, what he was doing at the moment. "Explain yourself!" Without even waiting a moment to give Seto a chance, Pegasus backhanded him again, and another time, his free hand already wrapped threateningly around his neck. "Don't you cry, boy! Talk!"
Seto was definitely panicking. Tears welled up in his eyes and threatened to spill. He brought one hand up to try and pry the hand off of his throat, the other clutched the wrist of said hand. The pressure Pegasus applied may not have felt like much in his anger, but it was enough to be entirely uncomfortable to Seto. That he was panicking did not help; he was struggling to breathe. He gasped and gasped, trying his best to form the words as Pegasus continued to yell at him and threaten him for not being fast enough. Another blow was thrown, this time a fist. And again. Faster, he yelled, faster! Why wasn't he listening to him? Seto, you sorry piece of shit, what good are you anymore? At this point, Seto was not sure if he was hearing Pegasus roar or if he was screaming at himself. One last blow hit from Pegasus before Seto swore he could actually see the older man's fuse run out. He exploded.
The hand that was in the air again and again, the hand that wailed on him as he impatiently demanded the answers he desired, was paired with his other at the young man's throat. Pressing harder and harder, all Pegasus could see was redness, all he could feel was heat and disgust. Seto gasped and choked and grabbed at all he could grab, struggling in a way he never imagined all to try and stop Pegasus' sudden rage-induced actions. His tears were suddenly falling at a rate they never had before, and all he wanted to do was scream. Screaming, however, required air, and quite a bit of it, and with Pegasus forcefully and almost completely cutting out that supply, Seto could do no more than open his mouth.
He opened his mouth, he struggled, he fought, he punched and hit at Pegasus to no avail–that only made the man angrier, and the angrier he got, the more pressure he applied to Kaiba's throat. Pegasus, please! Please stop! Please! I can't breathe! I can't! I can't! I can't! I can't! I can't! Please! Please! Please, stop! I did not ask for this! I did nothing to deserve this! Pegasus, I loved you! You said…you said!
"Pl…e…" Seto attempted to gasp. "P…p…pl…ee…a…sse…"
Pegasus could hardly hear him through the seething anger that burned like molten lava within him. There was no explanation for the anger! Seto could hardly comprehend it, and he was certain that Pegasus probably did not know, either.
"Pl…ea…se…s…sst…top!" Please. Please. Please. Please stop! Stop! Stop! Stop it! I can't…I can't! Breathe! I can't!
Pegasus yelled out once more, incomprehensible nonsense. He was not even speaking! He was just screaming in animalistic rage that no one else had ever seen! With the facade this angry man always wore, Seto doubted anyone would ever believe that he was like this behind closed doors. They would have blamed him like Pegasus blamed him. Somehow it always turned around and bit Seto on the ass. He was still a child, despite the way Pegasus treated him in public. Was that his fate?
"Ple…ase! Pl…e…e…e…a…se…" He had exhausted his last breath, begging. He was doomed to struggle at Pegasus' strangulation. He was doomed to die deemed as a child before the man who changed his world. This business partnership was supposed to change his life for the better. He was supposed to learn and grow and become one of the greatest gaming corporations and names in the world, alongside his business partner and friend…and lover… He was supposed to become great! Instead, he became a royal mistake. He was turned inside out almost literally, and here he stood, struggling against a man he wanted more than anything…dying in his hands…by his grasp.
Then his breath was gone. That was it. After a traumatically long fit of struggle, his body finally lost the ability to breathe, to circulate oxygen, to function. The worst part, was that he was looking deep into the anger-filled eyes of Pegasus the entire time, begging, hoping, praying that he would see through the raging red into the bereaved blue…and that he would finally set him free.
This was a whole new kind of freedom, he supposed. Death overtook his body, and his arms fell to his sides, he stopped gasping, he stopped struggling, his head limply leaned to the left, and all color of life left his eyes. Seto Kaiba was gone.
It was the relaxation of the young man's body that brought Pegasus back into a relatively normal mood. "Oh, my…I'm so sorry, Kaiba, boy. I'm so sorry." That was how it usually went, anyway. Pegasus would see what he had done and apologize. Again and again. He would swear it would never happen again and treat the young man in kind ways he could never imagine. He continued to apologize, but Seto did not respond.
"Kaiba, boy?" Releasing the body, Pegasus stood in horror as he watched the corpse slide down the wall and tumblr over unflatteringly on the floor. "Kaiba, boy?!" It was slowly beginning to hit him.
"Kaiba, boy?!"
His face fell, and sorrow took over. Regret, remorse, and apology; apology that would never be seen, heard, or acknowledged.
And it was his fault.
It was his fault.
Pegasus did this, and it was all his fault.
It was his fault.