InTheShadowOfSignificance: It's true. The show didn't really like going into much detail about the Kaiba Brothers period. Even the Noah arch, which is about as Kaiba-y as you can get, I felt, didn't go into as much detail as it could've. But maybe that's because I tend to love re-writing that season to make it only about the Kaiba brothers. Hahaha, anyways, thanks for the review!

Kukki Boo: Actually that whole thing actually happened in the series... sort of. It's in the second part of the Seto duel against Pegasus. Check out my author's note, it goes more into detail about what I'm talking about. Thanks for the review!

Journey Maker: Oh man is that true. And what a psychotic SOB he is indeed. Thanks for the review!

AmePiper: My poor Ame: I always feel like you're in pain, and yet you always find the strength to review. My hero:3 I'm surprised to hear that the last chapter was your favorite(although I will admit it was my most creative in a way, I don't think anything can be the Shadow Realm introductory tape though) Actually, if you check out my author's note at the bottom, there was something like this that happened in the series(I just sort of turned it into something that was awesome) Check it out and you'll know what I mean! Thanks for the review!

Starlight Luster: Oh Saint Joan, what will we do with you? I like Joan, in a strange way. She reminds me of another OC I use to associate with a lot. I kinda miss that kid. Actually it's a proven fact that Mokuba's torture WILL never end. Hahaha, thanks for the review!

Chapter 10: New Found Light

Aimlessly walking. That's all we ever did in this place. That's all we really could do in this place. It made everything seem so much more… meaningless. But that might've just been my depression setting in. The Shadow Realm had a knack of doing that to you. I bet even the happiest of people could get depressed in a place like this. I hated it here.

We had been walking for a while now, mainly in silence. I had grown tire of telling Joan stories of my brother and describing what he was like. I don't know whether Joan cared to hear it or not, but it didn't really matter. I just didn't want to get sucked into a spiral of hate towards my brother again like I almost had before.

When I looked up from staring at the ground, I noticed Joan had stopped walking. This was a site to see, considering Joan never seemed to get tired even though she was walking with all that weight from her armor. She had her hand gripped on the sword by her side, staring off into the distance.

"What's going on?" Joan was silent, she looked very serious.

"There's something out there coming towards us." I turned my attention towards where she was looking but didn't really see anything. I trusted her statement all the same. Joan knew this place better than I did, and she looked serious enough for me to believe her.

"Is it dangerous?"

"I'm not sure." I squinted my eyes and took a couple steps forward, looking right at what Joan was looking at. I was surprised to see a faint figure off in the far distance. I continued walking towards it, and the image of the figure grew bigger and bigger. I stopped for a moment when I realized whom I was looking at.

"It's him." I said quietly to myself before breaking out into a run. I could hear Joan calling out for me from behind, asking me what I saw and where I was going. I didn't answer her, I just kept running. I was so happy, I was barely able to breathe as I jogged towards the figure.

As I came closer and closer, more features became evident on the being. The man was tall, lanky, with straight brown hair, and a confident stride that was automatically turned on whenever he walked. There was only one person I could think of with all those features at hand, and that was my brother.

I kept running faster and faster, I could barely contain my excitement. In the back of my head, I was wondering whether or not my dream or bizarre vision had been real or not. But I could care less now that I could see my brother, now that I was so close to embracing him that I could just…

I stopped. As I had stopped, so did he. We were still a good distance away, but I knew better. There was a smile on his face, but it was a different smile. One that was unknown to me. Tension was flowing across what had become our arena. My happiness was gone in an instant, and I went into a defense position. By this time, Joan had finally caught up to me and walked up to my side. She looked confused.

"Hello Mokuba… aren't you happy to see me?" I remained silent and focused. "I came here to save you. We'll find our way out of this place together." My eyes narrowed.

"Your not my brother." The Seto imposter gave a low chuckle. That was when I realized that this wasn't just any Seto imposter. This was the same man whom had pretended to be Seto before on the island. The one whom was trying to trick everyone into thinking that my brother had died and that somehow he was the ghost of him. I was thankful that I had the ability to see right through him.

"Oh? Is that so?"

"You're that… clown… thing." He might've looked like my brother, but I knew he wasn't (although the dark slashes down his face was a partial give away) But otherwise I would've sensed that it wasn't him by his cold dark eyes. Sure, they looked practically the same in every aspect, but the one thing that stood out the most was when I would look into his eyes, I saw a tiny spark of warmth. The last thing I had to remember what my brother was when we were younger.

"Actually, I'm your brother's evil side."

"…Yeah, I didn't believe any of that crap you were pulling before. What makes you think I'll believe the crap you're saying now?" The evil Seto reached over behind his back and when his hand became visible again, he revealed a chain saw. I nearly fainted at the sight of it. After all that I had been through, being kidnapped, being beaten, beaten starved, and then randomly being attacked by dogs, this… this had to be THEE scariest of all.

"I say we stop talking and get this over with," The evil Seto pulled the string on his chain saw and turned it on. There was a loud buzzing that made my heart race faster. I turned to Joan out of desperation.

"I hope you don't think I'm just going to jump in there and save you from a psycho with a chain saw." I gritted my teeth with annoyance. This wasn't the time to being messing around. The evil Seto was inching closer and closer to me with each passing second.

"FINE. But don't I get any kind of weapon? Isn't there something I can use to defend myself?!" I eyed Joan's sword that was secured around her waist, "Can I borrow that?" Joan already looked defensive as if I had attempted to steal it away.

"No way! Not after you got blood on it!"

"Well don't I get any kind of weapon to use?!" Joan looked down and started digging in her pockets. A couple seconds later she pulled out something tiny and tossed it over to me. It was some sort of… something, wrapped in cloth. The rumbling of the chain saw was coming closer, so I quickly unwrapped it to find… a dagger.

"A… dagger?"

"Not just that, a rusty dagger!" I couldn't believe this. I was going to die, that was for sure. Not only that, but I was going to die with a rusty dagger in my hands. Perfect, just perfect. "You better look out, cause here he comes." When I twisted around, the evil Seto had already lunged forward with the chain saw in hand and tried to attack me. I swiftly leapt to the left of it and had an open shot to give him a slash or two.

I moved quickly to carry out my blow, when the evil Seto turned in my direction and I saw his face. Flashbacks and memories instantly flooded my mind and slowed me down. The evil Seto's face looked too much like Seto for my mind to register, and suddenly my mind was short circuiting with memories. It had slowed me down enough for me to almost get sliced in half. I wasn't even sure how I managed to dodge that one when I looked up to find I had lost a slice of my hair from his last attempt.

"You know, I almost feel bad for you, sitting down there with your dagger and not even being able to hit me," the evil Seto laughed in my face, "You might've bee able to dodge my first two attacks, but don't worry, your luck is going to run out very soon, young Kaiba." I had started slowly getting back into fighting position as he had been talking.

"Yeah? I'd be pretty messed up too if I was some kind of clown and had to tell people I was some evil spirit of my brother's to get through the day," I jumped back into the game and started towards him. Skillfully avoiding another forceful slash, I found another opening for attack. But instead, I found myself going through the same difficultly I had before. Memories would flash through-out my brain and freeze my body.

I received a kick to the stomach and flew through the air to the ground. The evil Seto made his way over to me as I struggled to get up. He kicked me down once more and kept me on the ground by pushing his foot on my stomach.

"What's the matter, tough guy?" The evil Seto asked, "Can't hurt your big brother?" I growled in anger and tried to pull out his hold on me.

"You're not my big brother."

"And you're never going to see him again, either. I'm going to make sure you die before you ever find your way out of this place. You'll be my ticket out of here." The evil Seto lifted the chain saw in the air, "I'm sorry things had to end this way. Have a nice after life." He was about to swing when I twisted my arm and stabbed him in the leg using the dagger in my hand. The evil Seto cried out in pain and I pushed out from under his foot and turned to run away.

That was my plan. That's all I could do. I just needed to run. I couldn't fight, therefore I wasn't going to win. I needed to get out of there as soon as possible. And yet, somehow, I had a feeling something would go wrong. And the way I was violently jerked back onto the ground after being grabbed by the hair, I felt maybe this had to be it. Maybe it was time for me to lose.

I turned my head to see a bloody foot by my face, and looked up at the evil Seto, the dagger was in his right hand. The chain saw had been placed on the ground somewhere else.

"You know kid, I can't just kill you. I'm going to have to give you a fair beating." How did I not see this coming? What was it about me that made people feel like I had to be beaten before I could go on living? Maybe it was just the way I was that made people feel that way towards me, or possibly how I looked. I'm sure the long hair didn't help.

Then it began. First he began with several kicks to the side, and after a while, moved on to the punching. He was enjoying, I could tell. And I was in a spiral of pain. Somewhere he started attacking me with the dagger that he had easily taken from my hands after the first couple kicks. I was in so much pain, and it wouldn't stop. It would only get worse and worse. I wanted it to stop.

I just wanted to die. I knew he wouldn't stop, I knew he enjoyed watching this, and it only made me want to die more. I was tired of being in pain, I wanted it all to just stop. I couldn't handle it anymore. I had never wanted death so much as I had in that moment. If I died, it would finally end. It would be done. I still had the incredible desire to see my brother, at least one last time, but now even that didn't seem as desirable. I just wanted to stop feeling so much pain.

"Come on little Kaiba, where's your spark? I beat you up, make you bleed, and yet you do nothing?" I wasn't going to say anything. I didn't exactly have the strength to say anything, but I knew that speaking would only cause me more pain. It was sad how much I knew about abuse and the abusers themselves, the things they thrived on.

"This is just sad, you're just going to give up?" Silence. The beatings had seized for a moment. The pain was beginning to calm, but only at a very slow rate. I was still in an enormous amount of pain and would probably remain that way for a long time. Then I heard the loud rumbling of the chain saw as it was started up once more. Finally, it was time to die. I wasn't going to move, I wasn't going to run away. I just hoped by God he had good aim because I was done with this.

"Well kid, I can't say I'm going to miss you. But your time ran out a very long time ago." The worst of it all was that I agreed with him. My eyes remained closed as I laid there helplessly in a mess. I didn't want to watch him kill me. I just hoped he wouldn't get creative and decide to cut me up piece my piece.

The chain saw got louder and louder. My body flinched, naturally, since it could sense the chain saw was coming closer and closer to impact. I was actually getting scared. But death would be peaceful. Much more peaceful than this. I prepared to let myself go.

Suddenly there was a loud sound that was made. I couldn't make out what it was, it was just the loudest thing I had ever heard. There were some more loud sounds, like something banging against some sort of metal, and the soft whimpers of pain from another person. A third party, perhaps?

I opened my eyes and looked up to see Joan, standing in front of me, a sword had been lunged through her stomach. My eyes shifted to another area and saw the evil Seto on the ground, unconscious. Joan was very quiet though, and she was swaying a bit, her hands were shaking by her sides. Blood began to seep down the sides of her armor. I got up and walked over to her.

"…Joan?" I was almost afraid to ask what had happened, I looked into her face and to my surprise… she looked calm. "Joan… I don't… what happened?"

"I-I…" Joan fell backwards and onto the ground. I immediately ran to her side and shook her.

"Joan! Joan! Wake up!" Joan opened her eyes and looked over at me. It was the strangest thing because I had never seen her eyes so… pure. She smiled at me, in a way that seemed familiar but I didn't know what it was from.

"I couldn't… let him hurt you, now could I?" I shook my head. I was confused. No, I was beyond confused. What was going on?

"But… I…. You…" I appeared to be at a loss of words as well. She placed her hand on mine and patted it softly.

"There are some things that can't be explained in many words… All I know is, you and your brother need to be together…" Without my knowledge up till this point, I had started to float in the air. I looked up to see a blinding white beam pull me up into the sky. I looked back down at Joan one last time. She had this assuring smile on her face like… she knew this was going to happen all along. That her death had been my ticket out of here, just as mine had been hers.

It all came together then and there. I had to say something to her. A thank you of some sort. But I couldn't find the right words, things had been going too fast and I was still trying to pull myself out of the 'I'm going to die' and the 'I want to die' mind frame. All I could spit out was, "Thank you." Joan smiled and nodded and the light consumed me.

Then everything went white.

A/N: So the ending was kind of lame, but the chapter was… interesting to say the least, right? I hope so. Sometimes I'm just never sure. But I wanted to put something up before I posted yet another not Captivity or Falling Short story. Which I should get up very quickly after this. By the way, I had no idea my rant story would get so much love and affection. Seriously, that was amazing. You guys make me feel so loved:3 Anyways, I'm sorry I've been getting a little distracted lately with my one-shots, but thanks for reading and reviewing all the same!

P.S: I just thought I'd throw this out there, the last chapter was actually sort of tied into something that actually happened in the real show. If anyone remembers the second part (I believe it's episode 27) in the Seto vs. Pegasus duel, where Seto keeps thinking about Mokuba, and there's this one part where Mokuba appears and draws the card with Seto? Yeah, last chapter was supposed to be in reference to that. Just thought I'd throw that one out there.

Gosh, I need to stop ending my chapters awkwardly. :p