Author's Note: So this is my first Yu-Gi-Oh fan fiction. I love the show and am starting to read the graphic novels. Seto Kaiba is hands down my favourite character and Mokuba is in the top five. This takes place when Kaiba loses to Dartz in the Orichalcos story line and it's Mokuba's point of view, sort of. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: If I owned Yu-Gi-Oh I wouldn't be looking for a low paying part-time job. If I owned Seto Kaiba he would live in my basement, never to see the light of day. You get the general picture, it's not mine.
Seto Kaiba and Mokuba: Always
"Orichalcos, one. Seto Kaiba, zero." Dartz drawled. So calm. So detached. As if he hadn't just shattered the young boy's family with that single move.
"Oh no! Kaiba? Are you alright? Kaiba!" Yugi- or the Pharaoh as Tristan and Tea continuously called him- yelled out towards his partner, only a few feet away. His brother gasped for breath quietly, his eyes covered in shadows as dark as those that the haunted the mansion they had grown up in.
"I'm not done. Activate trap!" Seto's hand came up weakly but still managed to gesture at his remaining card. "It's called Wish of Final Effort. It converts every one of my dragons attack points into your life points Yugi." Another gasp as though the idea of breathing was becoming more and more obscure. A moan of pain as he sagged forward in weakness, in defeat at the inevitable loss.
When someone's life points reach zero the Seal of Orichalcos takes their soul.
How many times had Mokuba Kaiba heard those words uttered in the past week? How many soulless bodies had he seen crash to the ground, the eyes blank and staring? His brother had duelled with the Seal in play a few times but it never seemed to sink in that he would cease to exist should he lose. His brother, the ruthless CEO of Kaiba Corp. A duelist chosen by the ancient city of Atlantis, by the Egyptian God Obelisk the Tormentor. A reincarnation of the wielder of the Millennium Rod, a world renown master of the game of Duel Monsters. The brother who had become his everything. A constant in his life, his best friend. How could such a person be torn from the world forever in a single shaft of green light?
"Kaiba! Wait!" Yugi grasped his brother around the shoulders to keep him from landing onto the stones that held souls from throughout the ages. "Hang on!"
Hang on, bro!
"Seto!" Mokuba screamed. He knew it wouldn't work but when had one's mind ever thought clearly when the only one they had left was close to losing their immortal soul? The green barrier of the Seal rose up to met him, flinging his small frame back as though mocking him.
You can't save him.
His fists hammered at it. "Come on! Wake up!" He imagined the wall as Gozaburo keeping Seto from him, locked away in that office, always trying to break his spirit, stealing his brother's brilliant designs for gaming technology and only corrupting them to suit his own ends. He poured his anger and frustration into his fists beating relentlessly at the barrier.
"Say something!" Yugi pleaded but Mokuba wasn't paying any attention to him. He was watching Seto as he obviously tried to keep the darkness at bay for a few moments more.
"Don't screw up." His brother demanded forcefully. "Got it? I fought too hard. So you can't lose this. Now win!" Seto Kaiba's chin hung limply against his chest with mundane finality.
"I will. I promise."
Why isn't he doing anything? He's got to be able to do something! He's the King of Card Games! Save him!
"Pharaoh. It looks like you're the soul survivor." Dartz commented dryly as a small ball of light shot out of Kaiba's still form. It hovered for a moment circling the place where he had fallen in battle for the future of the world before it shot off like a comet towards the wall. Mokuba fell to the ground next to the barrier, his fingers trailing down the side like rain against the window.
Seto. Big brother.
His body lay there, he looked as though he had fallen asleep while working, as he so often did. When ever this happened Mokuba would bring him a pillow, tucking it gently under his brothers head, knowing it was one of the few ways he could ever take care of his brother without getting a gruff nod or murmured reply that he didn't need his little brother to take care of him. But Mokuba knew his brother loved him, knew it better and more clearly then most siblings did.
"You disgust me." The Pharaoh climbed to his knees, his violet eyes boring into the amber and blue.
"I'll tell you what," Dartz lifted his arm in an almost careless manner to gesture towards his brother's body. "Since I already have what I need, you can keep the rest of him!" Like a puppet following the commands of his master Kaiba's body floated into the air before colliding with the Seal. But unlike the younger he floated through, the way he did with Gozaburo. Always able to survive the cruelties and obstacles he faced no matter how difficult they beat down on him.
Mokuba ran forward. I'll catch you Seto. We're in this together. Always. Mokuba sunk under the weight but he didn't let go.
"Kaiba! Oh man!" Tristan muttered as he stared down at the rival he had mocked with Joey for years.
"Come on, bro. Please open your eyes." He was kneeling next to him now, his brother's head tilted to one side. Mokuba couldn't stop the tears from escaping and gently landing on Seto's pale cheek. "I know you're in there somewhere!"
He was suddenly aware of the way their roles were reversed. Was this what Seto had felt like while staring at his own soulless body as Pegasus waved his card around? Or when he had watched him get turned to stone a moment before he himself was frozen in time by their step brother Noah? How had he coped with the staggering knowledge that they were separated in ways that no normal person could imagine?
How had Noah phrased it?
So close but never reaching.
He remember suddenly that tranquil look on Seto's face seconds before he was turned into a living statue but for that single moment a look of raw horror and pain was seen in the blue eyes he loved.
Wiping at his tears distractedly, Mokuba tentatively touched his brothers card-shaped locket. They were close. Always.
What would Seto do if I lost my soul to the Seal?
Easy. He'd challenge Dartz to a duel. But I can't do that. If Seto couldn't beat him how could I possibly be able to?
Nothing. I can only watch as his body lies here in wait for it's spirit to return. It's all down to Yugi. I can only wait.
"On the contrary my young friend," Dartz retorted. "I'm afraid you're talking to an empty shell. Your brother has graciously donated his life force to the Great Beast."
"It's not fair! Give him back Dartz!" Why bother screaming for his return? It wouldn't help bring back Seto.
Seto, who was currently trapped in a tablet across the room from his younger brother. His hands held out in front of him like one trapped in a box, searching desperately for his freedom. It was at that image Mokuba was looking at as the Temple began to shake with the strength of the Leviathan.
"Tell your stupid lizard to spit out my brother before I force him to." Grief could not contain him, anger welled up inside him like he had never known. He couldn't really remember his parents, day by day their memory grew more and more hazy. Something one dreams of rather then sees. He couldn't recall how he dealt with their loss. He was sure it wasn't like this.
"Silence!" Dartz snapped and Mokuba knew he had pushed him too far. He could insult the man's monster cards and traps all he wanted but if he so much as dared speak of the ancient king's master he was in for it. The golden eye ball appeared suddenly and unexpectedly behind the previous resident of Atlantis.
What is that thing?
A pure blast of energy shot out. Instinctively Mokuba reached out for his big brothers arm. We're in this together. Always.
Even though he knew his brother's soul wasn't there he was sure he felt Seto's arm cushion his blow as he hit the ground and fell into the darkness that awaited him in his mind. Somehow he could still protect him. Someway.
"Mokuba? Are you alright? Come on, wake up!" He was 5 years old. He knelt on the ground, crying into his jacket. A boy whose name he couldn't recall stood over him, clutching one of the few toys he still had. There was a scuffle and then Seto's voice speaking to him. It was different though, deeper and more worn. As though he lived a lot longer then he had. A hand jolted his shoulder and Mokuba blinked the memory from his vision. A face filled his sight, the blue eyes very much aware of their surrounding. The soul of Seto Kaiba seemed glow in younger brothers heart.
"Seto! You're here!" Mokuba's arms reached out and clung to his brother's to reassure himself beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was back, the same way his brother's reached out for him. Safe.
"I love you, bro."
Looking at the locket resting against Seto's heart he should have realized he was near truly alone.
Author's Note: Alright. So that was…yeah. Not my best but it came to me rather abruptly and kept me awake until midnight, almost daring me to write it. At parts if you think it seems a bit disjointed then know I did that on purpose. I think Mokuba wouldn't really be thinking clearly at a time like this. If you like it please leave a review and if you don't, leave one too! I always appreciate criticism. Bring on the flames.
Fairy Struck.