Chapter Two: Collateral Damage

"Big brother," a small voice said, slightly shaken by the gruesome scene before him. "Why are you doing this?"

Without even acknowledging the presence of his younger sibling, the blue-eyed adolescent drove the blade deeper into his flesh. As far as he was concerned, there was no turning back now. He had already made his decision in the matters of life and death, forcing him to stand by his convictions. Mumbling incoherently to himself, the self-destructive teenager surrendered himself to the will of his knife.

Unable to witness the wicked assault Kaiba was delivering to his own body, Mokuba repeated, "Why are you following through with this?" When his relative continued to ignore his words, the little boy added, "You know I love you, Seto."

Breaking the rhythm of his methodical slashing, the youthful CEO immediately froze in place. Exhausted and mentally drained, the arctic-eyed male spoke in a hushed tone. "I--I can't, honorable sibling…this is the right action for me to take."

"It doesn't have to be this way!" cried the longhaired child, his sentence thick with sadness.

"Yes it does."

"Why?"

Wetting his lips in frustration, the older brother simply replied, "You wouldn't understand if I told you."

"Tell me!" demanded the smaller sibling, practically begging to know his relative's motives for destroying himself. "At least give me a chance to know where you're coming from!"

Mechanically, Kaiba shook his head. "Like I said, you wouldn't understand it if I told you."

Sighing in frustration, the petite male regarded the obstinate executive wistfully. The seriousness of the situation was getting to him, and his emotions were becoming harder and harder to keep at bay. Nevertheless, he wouldn't let his brother see him cry. No tears would be allowed to trickle out of his lids, for they were symbols of weakness he knew his sibling despised. Trying to be as tough as his relative had once been, Mokuba fought back the rivers of sorrow threatening to consume his features.

/There just has to be some way out of this! / thought the young child, frantically searching the contents of his brain for a cure to Seto's terrible complex of worthlessness. /Come on, think, damn you! Think! Come up with something that will end my brother's pain and suffering! /

"You should leave before you see something that will wound your soul forever." advised the wealthy duelist, wrecking his sibling's concentration.

"It's not going to end this way, Seto." stated the little boy, an expression of weary determination plastered over his inner mask of fear. "You know I'm not going to just sit by and watch you die here--"

"Don't test my patience, brother." warned the blue-eyed teenager, grasping his weapon in a threatening fashion. "I'm making the best possible decision I can at the moment. Believe me when I say that I've had all I can take of this life. I've had fifteen years of living, and all of them were entirely too long and upsetting."

Finding the courage to speak his mind, Mokuba protested, "But things can get better for us! All we have to do is stick together and--"

"Fall deeper down the rabbit hole of Alice's twisted little Wonderland." finished the gloomy brown-haired person, completely out of touch with reality. "Yeah, right. Hey, I know, maybe we can become permanent residents of Fantasyland so that we'll never ever have to face the truth."

"I hate it when you act like a sarcastic bastard." snapped the shorter individual, allowing dangerous fury to override his judgment. "In case you've forgotten, I'm the only relative you have left in this world."

"So?" inquired Kaiba indifferently, no real emotion betraying his stony visage.

"So? So I'm your closest living family member!"

"I know."

Realizing that his feelings were controlling his dialogue again, the longhaired child forced himself to calm down. Taking a deep breath, he whispered, "I'm always here for you, Seto. I'd never abandon you for anyone else I know or meet on the street. Please…don't give up on me. Don't give up on this life just yet."

"I don't know, Little Brother." said the rich executive despondently, staring at his sibling with wide distant orbs.

"You don't need to know anything. All you have to do is have faith and trust."

Swallowing hard, the taller adolescent began to lower the blade he held to his side. The shining tool of death glinted in the fluorescent lights, still serving as a symbol of collateral damage.

/I've got to get that thing out of his hand before he uses it on himself again…if I don't, then he might just--/ Shaking the disturbing image of his brother lying face-down on his desk in a pool of his own blood, Mokuba tried to focus on the arduous task ahead.

Speaking in a calm and collected manner, the young male let his orders be heard loud and clear. "Seto, I want you to listen to me, and listen very carefully. Can you do that for me?" Upon receiving an absent-minded nod from his sibling, the small child went on. "Good. Now, I have a way for this to work out so we can both get on with our lives and quit dwelling on the stupid stuff. All you have to do is hear me count down to zero. When I reach that number, you drop the knife, we forget this whole thing ever happened, and everything goes back to normal around here. Got that?"

Without uttering a sound, the taller teenager moved his head up and down in a way similar to that of his other gesture.

"I'm not just talking about you throwing that blade aside and going back to sleepwalking throughout our mansion at night, okay? I mean, you're gonna have to cut the other junk out, too. You know what I'm getting at: the being tired all the time, wasting away to nothing because you refuse to have a good, stable meal, the strange self-mutilation activities you like to do. None of that is ever going to happen again, because I won't let it. Do you get what I'm telling you? No more of that reckless behavior. If you make one attempt--just one single try to go back to this schizophrenic lifestyle you have now--I'll have to call authorities on you. That's right, I'm going to have you institutionalized if you insist on acting this way. You get how severe the consequences will be if you choose to not listen to me? Do you know how important this is to me, to make sure that you're alive and well-taken care of?"

Bowing his head, the CEO of KaibaCorp let his thoughts slip from his lips. "Nice speech, very eloquently put for someone your age."

Disregarding the compliment given to him, Mokuba restated the last statement he vocalized. "Yes or no, Seto? Do you follow what I just said?"

Kaiba, without responding verbally to the questions being asked of him, silently motioned with his head that he grasped the depth of his brother's phrases.

Preparing himself for the next phase of events, the longhaired boy drew in a slow, easy breath. "Alright, let's do this."

/Hope this works…/ Mokuba's mind fretted momentarily, troubled by the mental images flashing before his eyes of the worst possible scenario. /No, I have to stop worrying about it. Seto wouldn't leave me. He would never leave me because he loves me and wants to watch me grow up. There's so much to do yet, so many things we haven't done together still. He has to hold on for that much…/

In a loud, clear voice, the small child spoke the first number. "One."

Loosening his grip on the knife, the blue-eyed teenager kept his head plastered to the carpet.

"Two." said the youthful male, watching his brother closely.

/Come on, Big Brother, we'll do this together. Use me if you have to. Hold on to me if you must…/

Teetering on his fingertips, the devastating device appeared to be doing a balancing act on Seto's open palm.

Remaining cool and composed on the outside, Mokuba rejoiced inwardly with a large smile. /This is it! / his brain cried, ecstatic that he was finally able to win his sibling over with his viewpoint and affection. /We're finally going to do it! He's gonna be all right! My brother's going to be just fine! All I have to do now is say the number--/

"Three." the dark-haired executive suddenly said.

With his eyes opened wide to an enormous degree, the little boy shouted, "Seto, no! Don't!"

As the shorter boy ran towards his brother in overwhelming terror, Kaiba tightened his grip on the hilt of the knife. Reaching out to his sibling with out-stretched arms, the tiny child's mouth was frozen in a silent scream.

/I've gotta reach him in time! / the petite male's brain shouted to himself. /I just have to! /

Leaping from his position on the floor, Mokuba jumped straight for the blade. Ceremoniously, the CEO of KaibaCorp clutched the killing tool with both hands and closed his eyes. Just as his sibling's fingers grazed his suit jacket, the wealthy executive plunged the sharp object into his chest. He dropped to his knees, still holding the item of his demise in his hands.

Gazing up at his family member with genuine sympathy, the arctic-eyed male whispered, "Forgive me, Mokuba, for I have sinned. Fate is cruel, destiny is demented, but that doesn't change the fact that I'll always love you…"

Falling facedown on the rug, the legendary duelist lay sprawled on top of the floor. Horrified to a new extreme, the little male sank down into a stance that mirrored his sibling's before he--before the knife went into his--

Clenching his fists in a combination of rage and grief, the boy let his vocal chords loose. Agonizing screams ripped through the office space, echoing throughout the entire estate. They were long, piercing, and comparable to that of a banshee's shrieks. At last, when he felt that his voice was about to give out, the remaining Kaiba brother closed his mouth and stared at the corpse that was once his relative.

Placing his hand in the motionless palm of his sibling's, Mokuba said quietly, "I love you, too, Seto. I--I just wish y-you would have believed m-me when I told y-you that…"

With no big brother to be strong and brave for anymore, the petite adolescent collapsed on his family member, shedding tears for someone who would have once accused him of being a coward for crying.