Everyone that worked within the main headquarters of the Kaiba Corporation, from the lab technicians to the department receptionists, knew that October was one of the most stressful months out of the year, and for multiple reasons.

The company began its historic transformation from weapons to gaming during this month, three years ago. Kaiba Corp's fiscal year also ended on October 31, which meant all departments had deadlines whose managers were running in overdrive to meet. The calculator-crunchers had invoices and reports to reconcile and numbers to balance for the end-of-year meetings with the board of directors. Performance evaluations needed to be completed and budgets finalized for the start of the upcoming year.

For the development teams, final (double and triple) checks needed to be completed on any product, physical and virtual, that was slated to release during the busy holiday season. The popularity of virtual gaming had grown after new pods pre-installed with mini games were launched in the Domino City arcade, the first time any Kaiba Corp virtual game released outside of their theme parks. Industrial Illusions was slated to release a holiday set of classic cards with limited edition art, which meant that the duel disks needed updated to reflect the new designs. A patch update would be sent out to all disks out in the wild in the upcoming weeks, but the holograms themselves always required the CEO's approval.

And everyone knew that Seto Kaiba was ridiculously hard to please.

So, naturally, the general assumption was that their boss's mood – which only continued to worsen as the month marched on – was due to nothing more than workplace stress.

They were only partially right.

Seto Kaiba was irked about his birthday.

Unlike 99% of the general population, Seto Kaiba cared very little for the date of his birth. There were never parties or grand celebrations. He didn't like nor want the fuss behind it. It was, after all, just another day. So while Mokuba was in school, he went to work, and his brother would make sure that before the cook left for the day, his favorite meal was set out for when he would leave the office and return home. Despite not caring much for desserts, a tiny cake was smuggled away either in Roland's office or at home, because Mokuba insisted on it.

"It doesn't matter if you don't like your day," Mokuba once said, "Your birthday isn't official without cake, and you can put up with it one day out of the year!"

Seto was certain it was just another excuse for his brother to eat cake outside of his own birthday in July, but he shrugged it off each year, had his token slice, and let his brother have the rest of it. But this year, Mokuba was away on a school trip out of town, so he would have to spend the day alone.

There were only a handful of people that knew his exact birthdate, and Seto was determined to keep it that way, for a number of reasons.

One, unlike his younger brother, he did not hoard "stuff". The office displayed his various trophies and achievements earned over the years, and his study at home housed the number of personal gifts Mokuba had given him for his birthday or Christmas each year. Outside of books, and the room at home that contained his massive collection of Duel Monsters cards, he kept his spaces neat and minimal.

Two, Seto was quite aware of the number of fans that sent mail and gifts throughout the year, in the hopes of guessing his birthdate. There was a specific office on the third floor of the building that handled all of the love letters, fan mail, and offerings of Duel Monsters cards sent in over the last three years. Hardly any of it actually made it up to his desk. But he knew that if his birthday went public, the influx of fan-made messages would skyrocket, and honestly, his employees had better things to do than dig out the corporate mail from under all the gifts and declarations of fanatic love.

Three – and most importantly – it kept certain visitors out of his hair. Certain visitors like the silver-haired bane of his existence that happened to be sitting across from his desk beaming like a child set loose in a candy store.

"I don't know how you managed to worm your way in here unannounced, but I'm not dealing with you today," Seto snapped, "I don't have to put up with you again for another two weeks to finalize the duel disk update and I'd like to cherish those fourteen days while I still can."

"Now, Kaiba, I'm sure you'll note that I am on your fancy little calendar. I made arrangements with your rather kind secretary to book a piece of your afternoon on this most momentous occasion!"

"The only thing momentous about today will be when Roland throws you out."

Pegasus placed a hand to his heart. "You wound me, my dear Kaiba! After all, we only turn eighteen once! It's the official transition into adulthood!"

Seto glared at him. "Even if the legal adult age in Japan were eighteen, which it isn't, it's just a number, nothing more. And if all you've come here to do is harass me on my birthday, then you can leave."

"Alright, wait, wait!" Pegasus's eye was wide as he held up a hand just before Seto could hit the "KC" communicator pin on the lapel of his suit. "Jests aside, I did come here for a reason."

Seto's eyes narrowed, but he didn't move his hand away from his pin.

"It's about something serious," said Pegasus.

"Really," Seto said, "I didn't think you knew what that word even meant."

"Always lovely to know that your impeccable sense of humor has not waned," said Pegasus, "I know we've had our share of differences to say the absolute least, but please, here me out."

Seto was sizing him up, and he let him, sitting patiently across the desk, and didn't bother to hide the relieved exhale when Seto lowered his arm back down to his chair's armrest.

"Thank you," said Pegasus, as he reached into the inner pocket of his suit and retrieved a thin, fancily wrapped package. "This is something that's been on mind for a while but – what's wrong?"

Seto had both of his hands in iron grips on his chair, and it looked as if he was seriously debating rolling it away from the desk and calling for security. His eyes were locked onto the package, and his normally emotionless mask had crumbled slightly, revealing a slight look of…fear?

"What is that?"

"Hm?" Pegasus looked down. "Oh! Silly, this is for you! I trust that it's still customary to give gifts for one's birthday…."

"I don't want it."

Pegasus's eyes widened. "Now, Kaiba-boy –"

Seto glared at him.

"I made this especially for you, honest, just for your big day! Unlike others, I so rarely have the opportunity to shower you with gifts!"

"Then you should understand my skepticism. Every gift you've presented me has been nothing but trouble."

Pegasus's hand was raised, about to argue that point, and froze, scandalized. "Now, that can't be true!"

"Oh, no?" Seto crossed his arms and leaned back into his chair, but his body was completely tensed. "The last time you gave me something, it had a lunatic inside that possessed me, nearly killed both myself and Yugi, and utterly destroyed my Duel Dome."

"Now that's hardly fair," said Pegasus, "I didn't create the Pyramid of Light card. The only card I was gambling was Blue Eyes Shining Dragon. With that in mind, I'm hardly a guilty party for illicit gift giving."

"Should I move on to Duelist Kingdom?" said Seto, unamused. "I might need two hands to tally off everything that's transpired during that one."

Pegasus sighed, lowered his hand from where he was still keeping it frozen in midair, and shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"That's why I'm here, actually."

Seto raised an eyebrow.

"After that little fiasco with Dartz and Paradius, I've had quite some time to reflect," said Pegasus, "And there has been something I have been putting off for far too long. I meant to do this earlier, but it seemed you went off on quite a magnificent adventure into Ancient Egypt before I had the chance.

Aaand there. The guarded mask was back up.

"I'm still in fairly frequent contact with Yugi-boy, I'll have you know," Pegasus explained. "He told me of the Pharaoh's spirit returning to the Afterlife. I also know that you were there."

Seto huffed. "Can't there be one time where those cursed relics aren't brought up, even indirectly?"

"I'm afraid not, Kaiba-b – Kaiba." Pegasus hastily corrected himself as Seto gave him another harsh look. "Now that all of that insanity is behind us, I suppose now is no better time to get this off my chest. I know much has been asked rather unfairly of you these last few years, and I'm sorry to have to do it again, but…"

"Get to the point."

"I merely ask that you give me a chance to talk, and let me tell my tale before you interrupt."

Seto eyed him carefully before checking his watch. "The fact that security hasn't thrown you off the roof should be indication enough that I agreed to listen. But you only have until your so-called 'meeting' penned into my calendar is over. That's twenty minutes, which, to be honest, is nineteen too many. And, knowing how much you like to ramble, is not a lot of time, so you'd better get started, because once those twenty minutes are up, you're leaving."

Pegasus nodded. "Thank you."

He took a deep breath. "…I wanted to apologize…for Duelist Kingdom."

Pegasus watched Seto's jaw clench, and his eyes narrowed dangerously. One hand balled into a fist along the armrest of his office chair, and the other started drumming the other arm impatiently.

"After Yugi-boy defeated me in his duel, he and his friends stumbled upon my private journals…and my motivations behind the entire tournament. But…you were not there with them at the time, and I feel that my lack of upfront honesty has cost us a valuable friendship."

He waggled a finger as Seto opened his mouth, probably to shoot a barb or two back, if for no other reason than it being a habit every time they ended up in the same room. "Ah, ah. You promised to let me talk, remember?"

The jaw visibly tightened up again. The hand that wasn't drumming along the armrest took up a pen from the desk and began absentmindedly twirling it.

"It's funny, time-wise, it was only a few years ago, but it seems like a lifetime. I was not much older than you are now. A bright, wondrous future was waiting for me, and the most amazing person to share it with."

Pegasus smiled contently at the memory, and then sighed. "Unfortunately, like most good things, it was not meant to last. Not long after our wedding, my beautiful bride, Cecelia fell ill and passed. In the blink of an eye, my whole world was shattered.

"Afterwards, instead of continuing my work as an artist, I pledged myself to searching for any shred of hope of seeing her again. I began traveling the world, and explored many cultures with beliefs in life after death. As I'm sure you could guess, my search took me to Egypt, where I was met by the strangest man warning me to go home. He somehow knew intimate details of my life that I had never shared with anyone there, and I was intrigued by how much he seemed to know about me. So, naturally, I followed him into the strangest underground temple…."

Pegasus tilted his head and studied Seto's expression thoughtfully. "I know there's something begging to come out, so go ahead."

"Someone with clear common sense, however shady they may have been, tells you to quit an obviously impossible mission and go home, and your first instinct is to follow them, alone, into some building?"

"Come now, if it was Mokuba, can you say with absolute certainty, that you wouldn't have exhausted all options in seeing him again?"

The pen in Seto's grip suddenly splintered apart, and Pegasus was suddenly glad that looks could not kill.

"Mm, that's what I thought. Anyway…it turned out that this mysterious stranger had ties to the Millennium Items. While I originally followed him to find out how he had known so much about my quest, I actually stumbled upon a dark ritual.

"When I was caught, the man and his partners put me to the Millennium Eye's test. They told me, if I was blessed with the powers of the Eye, I would be granted my dearest wish, and I'm sure your brilliant mind could put together what that was…"

Seto didn't say anything, and his fingers kept up their taps.

"It was one of the most painful things I had ever experienced. But what the man said was true – I saw a vision of my dearest Cecelia! Of course, it only lasted for a few moments, but it was enough that I began to believe in the power of the strange artifact I wore.

"I started a great deal of research into my new mysterious eye. Surely, if there were others, maybe each one would allow me to see my darling bride again. So I continuously traveled to and from Egypt, and it was then I discovered the stories of Shadow Games, and glimpsed the stone carvings that would later become Duel Monsters.

"It was while I was looking into any of the other Millennium Items that you had taken control of your father's company and unveiled prototypes of your impressive virtual technology. I thought for certain that the powers of the Millennium Items – one of them having already bestowed on me the ability to read minds – coupled with your holograms, could revive her."

Pegasus sighed and shook his head sadly. "What I wouldn't realize, until much later, long after the Eye was taken from me, was that while it was indeed powerful, it was also riddled with dark magic. The Millennium Items change people. Looking back on it now, it all seemed so sudden. As soon as I had a taste of all that power, it soon became a drug and a dependency."

He wrung his hands together in his lap. "Had I known then, that following that stranger into that tomb would have led to so much misery, I never would have done it. Unfortunately, I cannot do anything about it now, except apologize for my failings. I can assure you that the younger, carefree me would not have even considered any of the dark acts I committed in the name of love."

Pegasus looked Seto in the eyes. "It's been years since Duelist Kingdom. I know time hasn't made anything easier, but something like this has been long overdue. I don't expect this to repair our rather…tense partnership. I just want you to understand why I did it."

The finger drumming stopped.

"Is that all?"

Pegasus nodded. "That's all – I've bared my soul."

Seto's eyes narrowed and he leaned forward, interlocking his fingers and clasping his hands on his desk. "Good. Now it's my turn."

A/N: Fun fact: the legal age in Japan is currently 20.