For those who know about it, today is a tragic day we will never forget- 9/11. I dedicate this oneshot to all the people who lost their lives and those who suffered from losses.
Title: Gone, but Never Forgotten
Rating: T
Pairing: Seto X Anzu
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Summary: As Anzu looks back ten years ago on 9/11/01, she remembers the day Seto died for her as the World Trade Center came crashing down. She will never forget how a business meeting in New York was a deadly façade...
Anzu Mazaki held back tears as she walked over to the gravestone of Seto Kaiba in the Domino City Funeral Home with Mokuba and her only son, Yutaka. It had been ten years since the untimely death of Seto Kaiba. Mokuba Kaiba, his only brother, held on tightly to Anzu's arm, tears already falling. Despite being twenty-three, Mokuba has always shed tears for his big brother. And Anzu, thirty-one, still remembers her time with Seto as if it were yesterday.
"Anzu…tell me again…" Mokuba whispered
"Yeah..." eight year old Yutaka murmured.
Anzu looked at him knowingly. Every 9/11, Anzu would tell Mokuba and her son how she and Seto got in a relationship after Atem left, and how they got engaged a year later.
"Okay." Anzu replied. "It all started eleven years ago, before this tragic event…"
Flashback
After Atem returned to the afterlife, Anzu felt like she couldn't move on. Atem was her first love, and to see him leave was unbearable. Yugi was hurt the most, because he was his best friend. Seto remained indifferent, but he began to take a concern to Anzu when it looked she disappeared from earth.
That one fateful day in the arcade changed both of their lives.
"Hey bro, can you take me to the arcade?" twelve year old Mokuba asked. "Rebecca is meeting me there."
Seto sighed, straightening his tie. "If you like the girl, then tell her."
Mokuba blushed beet red. "W-what are you talking about?"
"If I take you, then you have to tell Rebecca that you like her." Seto told him.
"Aw, come on!" Mokuba whined.
"Then are you going to stand Rebecca up?" Seto asked, in a slightly devious tone.
Mokuba groaned. "Fine."
When the brothers arrived at the arcade, Rebecca was waiting for Mokuba. When he shyly walked over to her, Seto smirked and sat down at one of the tables. To his surprise, he saw Anzu walk in and sit at a table near him. She was wearing a yellow tube top, pink shorts, black knee socks, a white jacket and pink sandals. She wore that when she and Atem had their "date".
Seto felt himself get up and walk over to the saddened girl.
"Anzu?" he asked, sitting in the chair across from her.
Anzu snapped out of her daze. "Oh, Kaiba. What are you doing here?"
"I should ask you the same thing." Seto replied.
Anzu sighed. "I'm visiting all the places Atem and I went to before he left. I feel that way, I can move on with happy memories of him."
"Anzu, that won't help you." Seto told her. "That will make you miss him even more. You just have to let him go."
With that advice from Seto came a new beginning. Soon, Anzu began to hang out with Yugi and company, all smiles just three weeks later. Also, she took it upon herself to meet up with Seto at the arcade at least twice a week. The conversations they had were serious most of the time, but there were times she actually made the cold CEO smile.
"Seto, when are you going to tell Anzu that you like her?" Mokuba asked a month later.
"I don't" Seto replied coldly.
Mokuba face palmed. "That won't work, bro. I was acting like you when I had a crush on Rebecca. You made me tell her, and now we've been going out for a month. It's time to pay it forward."
"You watched that movie with Bon Jovi in it, didn't you?" Seto asked.
"Whatever! The bottom line is, you need to do it or else Anzu will move on to someone else. She's holding out for you, Seto."
Even though he didn't tell Mokuba, Seto took his advice and went to the arcade the next day, a sentence ready to be spoken.
"Anzu, will you be my girlfriend?" was all he said, but that had Anzu leaping with joy.
A year later, Anzu had graduated from college and was a professional dancer. That was when Seto popped the question…
It was while Anzu and Seto were at one of the greatest, but expensive, restaurants in Domino City; The Magnolia. Seto proposed over a beautiful birthday cake for Anzu's twenty-first birthday.
"Anzu, you are the love of my life, and without your love and support, I would never be as successful with Kaiba Corp and the Duel Academy as I am today. Anzu Mazaki, will you marry me?"
Anzu gasped when Seto opened a small box with a diamond ring inside.
"Yes!" Anzu cried. "Oh, yes!"
The wedding was planned for December 31st, 2000. It was going to be huge, New Year's wedding! Yugi and friends and special guests from Duel Academy were invited, along with many of Anzu's new friends from her dancing crew. A boy named Jaden Yuki was invited from the Duel Academy, and he was considered a hero for all that he had done for Duel Academy.
Seto and Anzu's honeymoon was in Maui, Hawaii, and that was when Seto and Anzu decided to have a child. Their night of passion was one that Anzu would never forget. In fact, two months later, they were able to find out that they were having a son!
"What would you name him?" Anzu had asked.
"I don't know." he replied. "Give me time to think about it."
It was on September 11, 2001 that everything literally came crashing down. Seto had a meeting in New York with Pegasus Crawford and other corporates. Anzu was invited along, and she accepted the offer. The meeting was held in the famous World Trade Center which Anzu was psyched for. The huge building stood tall in magnificence. They were located in the North Tower.
Then at around eight o'clock, a plane crashed into the South Tower.
"Oh no! What was that!" Pegasus cried, rushing to a window.
Seto and Anzu followed him with the rest of the corporates.
The South Tower of the World Trade Center was on fire.
"What's going on?" Anzu cried.
911 calls were made, but everything was in chaos.
"We need to get out of here, now!" Seto shouted.
"The operators told us to stay inside!" a corporate named Takeshi shouted back.
"Screw the operators, I have money!" Seto shouted back.
Seto grabbed the nine month pregnant Anzu and ran out of the room. They were on the top floor, so getting all the down wouldn't be easy. Everywhere Seto and Anzu looked, people were running around, slowing things up.
"Damn it!" Seto hissed as he pushed past people.
"Seto!" Anzu cried, fear in her voice.
"Everything will be okay, Anzu. Trust me!" Seto called back to her.
Anzu held her extremely bulged stomach with her free hand as the fire escape stairs came into view. Others had the same idea, as the stairs were backed up by other people wanting to get out of there.
"Move it, people!" Seto yelled. "My wife is pregnant! Hurry it up!"
By this time, Anzu was crying.
"Anzu, I will protect you!" Seto told her, holding her close to him
At 9:59 am, a violent crash was heard and felt as the entire building shook.
"The South Tower crashed on us!" a man shouted.
"Oh no!" Anzu cried, holding her stomach.
"You and our son will be fine! We are almost to the first floor!" Seto assured her.
Anzu was still scared for their lives as the crowd kept moving.
Smoke filled the place, and it was hard to breathe. She began to cough violently. Suddenly, people began to drop dead because of too much smoke inhalation.
Seto took of his suit jacket and shoved it at Anzu.
"Cover your mouth and nose with this!" he shouted to her.
Anzu did just that, her eyes widening.
Seto… she murmured in her head.
It was 10:28 am when the worst noise Anzu has ever heard was sounded. It was the sound of the North Tower tumbling down. And it was collapsing at a fast rate.
"We're here!" Seto called to Anzu.
Then, the crowd began to slow down as people were shoving and squeezing through the door.
Seto looked at Anzu warily. He then bent his head and kissed her.
"Tell Mokuba and my son Yutaka that I love them. And Anzu…know that you are and always will be the love of my life."
With that, Seto pushed Anzu with the last throng of people who managed to make it out of the building.
"SETO!" Anzu screamed.
When Anzu was met with the outside world, she witnessed the last of the North Tower collapse to the ground. Smoke and debris filled the air along with screams.
"NOOOOOOO!" Anzu yelled.
"You need to move!" a firefighter shouted to her.
"No! Not without Seto!" Anzu shouted.
But despite her pleas, the firefighters carried her away to safety. Realizing that she was pregnant, they called another ambulance to pick her up. Pegasus was lucky enough to survive the North Tower, so he was able to ride with her for support.
No…Seto… she thought in her head.
As chaos ensued around her and more buildings were on fire, she let her conscious sleep…
Several hours later, Anzu woke up to find herself in the emergency room. She was in immense pain, but the pain was coming from her stomach. She also felt wet…
"Her water broke! Give her the anesthesia!" a nurse had cried.
I'm…having my baby? Anzu realized tiredly.
"What a tragic day to have this baby." a doctor had murmured.
"Where is he?" Anzu asked weakly. "Where is my husband Seto?"
Pegasus was among the doctors, and he gave Anzu a sad look.
"Anzu Kaiba, I'm so sorry. Firefighters found him under the debris on the North Tower. I am sorry to announce that they pronounced him dead."
A loud scream could be heard throughout the hospital. Anzu just broke down in tears.
"No! Oh God, no!" she sobbed.
"Kaiba-san, be strong for this child!" a nurse urged her. "Your husband would want you to have this child and raise it! Do it for him! Now, when you have a contraction, get ready to push!"
Anzu did push through childbirth, and before her was a brunette baby boy with Anzu's eyes and Seto's face.
"Congratulations, Kaiba-san." the doctor whispered. "You have a healthy baby boy."
Anzu weakly took the child into her arms.
"Welcome to the world, Yutaka Kaiba," Anzu whispered. "Your father named you well. Yutaka, meaning abundant, prosperous, and wealthy. Everything Seto Kaiba was…"
End of Flashback
"Mommy…why did I have to be born today?" Yutaka asked with teary eyes.
Anzu ruffled her son's hair, a sad smile on her face.
"I think it's because you are the new life that was meant to be when your father passed. You were meant to be here."
"Mommy…will I ever get to meet Daddy?" Yutaka asked.
"Yes, someday, we will all be together in heaven." Anzu replied.
"I have to go, Anzu-chan." Mokuba told her. "Rebecca just got off work. I have to pick her up. She sends you her best wishes."
"Thanks," Anzu replied. "Take care, Mokuba."
Mokuba nodded and walked away from the tombstone. When Seto died, Mokuba was the heir to KaibaCorp. Soon, it will be Yutaka's turn.
"Let's go too, sweetheart." Anzu whispered to Yutaka.
As the two walked away, a breeze blew through. Anzu could have sworn she heard Seto's voice in the wind.
Gone, but never forgotten am I, and never forgotten are you…
Finis
I know, very sad. I even shed some tears. Let's all honor those who died on this tragic day, and let's honor those who survived. Thanks for taking time to read this tribute. And please review if you have any thoughts or things you would like to share. Ja ne.
PRK