Author's note:

This is my English translation of the story I had written in Hungarian, my mother tongue. Special thanks to Hero Beater and Fluffy Pillow for helping me every step of the way.

ONCE A BOSS, ALWAYS A BOSS

It took a while before Mokuba finally calmed down and his tears ebbed away. Kaiba was determined not to show his feelings, but it pained him more and more to think that Seto applied for that scholarship in hopes of a better life, only to find himself and his little brother sinking into abject poverty. He could only have one reason to accept these terms: to become independent instead of wasting away at the orphanage with Mokuba, bound in place and time till he would be of age, and Kaiba imagined he would have done the same, had this been the only choice he had. But that did not make the idea more tolerable. It was almost unbearable by now, and Kaiba would have given anything in the world to be able to hate his counterpart and detest him for proving unable to escape this misery, but he could not. It was obvious that Seto still gave his little brother every possible comfort, and held on, though life had denied him everything… and Kaiba found he just couldn't get the image of that tortured, humiliated Blue-Eyes White Dragon out of his mind.

His little brother kept sniffling and sounded like he got the hiccups, too, so Kaiba disentangled himself and stepped to the tiny sink by the door to pour him a glass of water. Mokuba drank it in slow sips and then they washed the empty glass, and Kaiba found him a clean handkerchief to wipe his face.

"What are we going to do now, Nii-sama?" asked Mokuba when he was finally able to speak. Kaiba didn't answer him right away. Instead, he settled down on Seto's bed and picked up the letter that had so infuriated him earlier. He smoothed it out and checked the signatures again: Y.M., J.W., T.T.. Those initials were all too familiar…

"Mokuba? Do you think there's a chance that the local dweeb patrol is rotten to the core?"

"Nii-sama, if there's a world where you're not the boss, then anything's possible," replied Mokuba without missing a beat, to Kaiba's infinite satisfaction. "Why do you ask?"

"Because the initials would fit. Y. M.? J. W.…? It has to be them, I'm sure of it," he said, holding out the letter to his little brother. Mokuba briefly considered it and had to admit his brother's suspicions were justified. Kaiba gave him a sour smirk in response.

"I still don't get it, Nii-sama," said Mokuba after a short while. "This Seto can't even afford clothes, let alone Duel Monsters cards. Why would they want to duel him?"

"That's just it, Mokuba – there has to be more at stake than just a duel. It's a trap, and Seto is in danger."

"What do you think they want to do to him?"

"I don't know, but I do know that I'm going to prevent it," Kaiba said resolutely.

"Do you have a plan, Nii-sama?"

Kaiba's face turned from sour to sinister, a cruel little smile in the corner of his lips.

"Yes, Mokuba. We're going to eliminate the competition… one way or another."

The goal was now clear: the only question was where to start. First things first, Kaiba needed to think it over, so he stepped to the writing desk and searched the drawers, hoping he would find some paper, and eventually found a clean stack in the largest drawer, right next to a tied binder. Kaiba took some empty sheets, placing them on the desk, and after a moment of hesitation, he decided to indulge his curiosity and lifted out the binder as well.

He initially thought it an album or a journal of sorts, sealed not with a lock, but with a string of linen tied neatly in a bow. As he carefully loosened the knot, he expected (hoped for) photographs, or at least a moment's insight into this small, near-nothing life, where he saw no progress or prospects, just a shattered dream on the wall… until he opened the binder and his breath was snatched away. His eyes grew wide, speechless as he flipped through the pages within, and slowly, he moved to Seto's bed and sat down to go through his notes at his leisure. Mokuba stared at him, his eyes large, and tried to sneak a peek at the contents of the binder, but his brother only held it closer to himself, and neither heard nor saw until he had seen every single page.

"What did you find, Nii-sama?" Mokuba asked excitedly when Seto looked up from the binder at last. A strange glow burned in his brother's eyes, as though he had seen the light.

"Do you know what this is?" he asked, flaunting the thick binder to his little brother. Mokuba had no idea, and when Kaiba told him, his little brother stared at him in awe.

"Are you serious, Nii-sama?"

"Yes. And it's nearly perfect. All it's missing is a few minor details, and if you give me fifteen minutes, I'll fill them in right here."

"You mean you're going to finish it for him?"

"Are you against it?"

"No…" hesitated Mokuba. "If it's just a few details, then no."

"Trust me, Mokuba. I don't know how long he's been working on this, but he is almost at the finish line. He is this close to having a better life, and we are going to help him."

"But what can we do, Nii-sama?"

"Whatever we want, Mokuba. We might no longer have Kaiba Corp to back us up, but it doesn't matter. There is still a chance. We just have to be smart."

"If you say so…"

"I say so. And who's the boss?"

"You're the boss," said Mokuba, finally cracking a smile as Kaiba's resolve slowly but surely took hold of him, too. "And what should I do, Nii-sama?"

"Hand me those empty sheets and then find me a phonebook."

"What do you need?"

"The address and phone number of the nearest locksmith. And decide where we should go for lunch because we can't stay here for much longer."

"Then why don't you just give me the key and I'll take it to the locksmith right away."

"Alright. But be careful and don't let the receptionist see you. I have enough problems lying for one person."

"I'll do my best, Nii-sama," Mokuba said eagerly, carefully slipping the spare key in his pocket and taking the empty sheets Kaiba had left on the table to place them within easy reach on the bed. "Anything else?"

"That's all for now." Kaiba then drew a pen from his pocket, scribbling a few lines on an empty sheet. "There's one more thing, but you'll need me for that. Hurry back, alright?"

"I'll be back soon!" promised Mokuba as he rushed out the door to do as he was told. Kaiba glanced after him, a content smile on his face, and opening the binder, he slowly began writing, amending the pages and occasionally adding one of his own. Things will be better soon… I promise, he thought to himself, hoping he would be right in the end.

His little brother was true to his word and returned in twenty minutes. While Kaiba was revising Seto's notes and formulating his own plan, Mokuba found a phonebook in the hall and looked up the nearest locksmith, and since it was only a five-minute walk, he left on foot, constantly eyeing the shops on his quest for lunch. In the end, he couldn't find a single place he actually wanted to go to, but eventually came up with a reasonable solution: once he received the new key, he stopped by a nice-looking sandwich bar and soon snuck back into the dorm, a paper bag under his arm and a paper cup holder in his hand.

"I thought we were going out," said Kaiba, a hint of disappointment in his voice when he saw his little brother's purchase.

"We're going out to the park, Nii-sama," said Mokuba, plain and simple. "You need some fresh air, anyway."

"If you say so…" Kaiba replied flatly.

"I say so. And who's the boss?"

"I'm the boss."

"Then what am I?"

"The boss's little brother," replied Kaiba, eyeing the paper bag. "What did you bring me?"

"Double roast beef and green salad sandwich with a dab of mustard on whole grain bread, and a small packet of seasoned olive oil," came Mokuba's ready reply. "If you scrap the bread, you could even eat it as a salad."

"Consider yourself promoted: you're the boss's favorite little brother. Now let's go before the receptionist gets suspicious. If I were him, I would have demanded that spare key back ages ago."

"Are we taking the binder, too?"

"Yes. I wanted to leave it here, but we're not taking any chances: this one thing could make all the difference, after all. Come on, Mokuba. I'm starving and I could use some coffee, too."

"Maybe there are some cafés around here."

"Then we're going to go look for one," replied Kaiba, and once they gathered everything they needed, they locked the door.

"Nii-sama?" spoke Mokuba as they headed out. "Does promotion come with dessert?"

"If you brought me a tasty sandwich, it will," came his Nii-sama's reply, and Mokuba followed him cheerfully into the stairway, carefully slipping out while Kaiba returned the spare key and placed the letter back into the mailbox for now.

A few minutes later, they settled down on a sunlit bench, choosing a spot where they were more or less hidden from passersby in case their counterparts decided to come home in the meantime. Mokuba opened the paper bag, neatly setting out everything between them, and then handed Nii-sama a sealed cup of orange juice and bid him bon appetit. Kaiba took a bite of his sandwich and approved of it. Mokuba gave him a cheerful grin.

"What are we doing after dessert?" he asked, his mouth full.

"What dessert…?"

"Seto!"

"I was joking, Mokuba. After dessert, we'll go to an Internet café, and if all goes well, we're also going to find a second-hand clothes shop."

"…Come again?"

"You heard me. If I want to act as my counterpart, I'll need to change clothes for a while. I'm surprised the receptionist didn't get suspicious: how many students walk around wearing expensive designer leather coats? If I were his boss, I would have had to fire him ages ago."

"You should be glad he didn't get suspicious."

"I am glad. I simply wanted to make it clear that he wouldn't last a day at my company."

"Let's get back to that second-hand clothes shop, Nii-sama."

"We're going to get me some cheap clothes for appearances' sake, and then we'll stash my good clothes somewhere."

"Where?"

"I don't know yet. Maybe we'd be better off booking a room somewhere. Who knows how long we'll be stuck here. That's going to be your job: as soon as we have online access, I want you to find some cheap accommodations around here and book a room over the phone."

"Did I hear you say cheap accommodations, Nii-sama?"

"You did. I wouldn't say that under normal circumstances, but I have a good reason this time: we might need our money, so I don't want to waste it because my checkbook is invalid and we have nothing else to fall back on. It's just for one or two nights, anyway."

"Alright – leave it to me. But if we do manage to do all these things, then what?"

"Then I'm going to go to the local headquarters of Industrial Illusions, and I'm going to make Pegasus an offer that he would be a fool to refuse."