"SETO, trust me, I understand, but there's really nothing you can do here."

It had been hours. Mokuba had gone missing at about seven-fifteen, an hour and forty five minutes before the carnival was to close up…and the police had arrived at eight.

It was three in the morning.

Seto clenched his teeth. "You don't understand."

"I have children, sir," the officer said. "I know how you feel."

"Oh! Have you ever had to deal with your children being constantly abducted due to your status! Do you have to deal with your children constantly being threatened! Have you ever had your children stolen from you right underneath your goddamned nose!"

The officer's smile was still there, but there was pain in his eyes. "…My son was killed last year. Right underneath my goddamned nose."

The fire was instantly doused. Seto's fury wavered, withered, died. "…O-Oh."

"That's what you're fearing, isn't it? That your brother will die?"

Seto forced himself to nod.

"I've been a cop for twelve years, Mr. Kaiba. I know my work. I won't lie and tell you it's not possible that little Mokuba will die, but I will say that I will do everything in my power to make sure that doesn't happen. We're not even certain if he was kidnapped at all. Maybe he just ran off."

"No. He wouldn't do that."

"I'm inclined to believe you. From what I've heard, it seems your brother is a very responsible boy."

Again, Seto nodded.

"I hear it told that you are an atheist. In that case, telling you to trust in God won't help. You'd probably just ask why God let him be taken in the first place…I can't say I didn't think the same thing…So trust in me, if you can. I swear to you, I will do everything I can to retrieve your brother."

There was something about this man that was reassuring. Seto looked into the officer's eyes and saw a steadfast confidence. This man believed he would find Mokuba with such a ferocity that Seto found himself trusting him…as much as he didn't want to.

"You're perceptive," Seto said finally. "I don't trust in God…not in God or Allah or any other fairy tale society tries to shove in my face…I don't believe in fate or destiny, any higher power…all of it is just one gigantic excuse not to take responsibility for one's own actions…I refuse to do that. And that's why I can't trust in you, either. I can put faith into no one but myself…I am responsible for this. I must be responsible for its rectification."

"You aren't responsible for this, Mr. Kaiba," the cop said. "Whoever took him is responsible for this…that you may think you weren't keeping a close enough eye on Mokuba does not excuse the one who kidnapped him. Letting your brother be with his friends is not a crime. Kidnapping is."

"Law has no play in this," Seto said. "It comes down to responsibility."

"It comes down to who did worse: you, for trusting Mokuba and his friends, or the kidnapper, for taking him from you. Can you honestly say that trusting your brother is worse than kidnapping him?"

Slight surprise crossed over Seto's features, then it was gone. He said, "No…I cannot. But that does not excuse me. I didn't think about the fact that that damned email might have been a ploy to throw me off my guard…I should have known it to be a farce, but I didn't."

"What's this about an email?"

"I received an anonymous email a while back. It was a riddle. The answer was Ferris Wheel. It said at the end: 'The fun is about to begin. Will you be there?' I assumed it was the same narcissistic idiocy so many criminals one sees on television partake of, letting the victim know just enough to try stopping it…then committing the act in spite of them. I never once thought that it was false, that perhaps this criminal was smarter than that…"

The officer mulled this over. "I should like to see this email you received…were you able to trace it?"

"Nothing. I have no idea where it came from. That's what surprises me most about it. I've been working with computers since I was ten; I was tutored by the best of the best. I know computers…I should have been able to trace it back to somewhere…but I couldn't."

"Do you still have it?"

"Yes. On my home system."

"I think I should have a look at it."

"If you feel it will help any."

"It might…just covering all the bases, here." He took out a pen and a small pad of paper, scribbled something down and handed it to Seto. "Here. Forward it to this address. I'll have a look."

Seto took the slip of paper and put it into a pocket. "Fine."

After putting the pen and paper back into his own pocket, the officer offered a hand. "Darren McKinley."

Seto looked at the hand for a moment before shaking it. "Seto Kaiba," he said, looking the man in the eye.

"I've heard you called both a demon and a god," Darren said. "But it seems to me that you are neither…just a concerned parent. I must say…I'm highly impressed that you manage it, being so young. Especially with a career as well."

"Seems as though I don't manage it as well as I should."

"Mistakes happen to the best of us," Darren said. "You can't put yourself down for this…you may think it's your fault, but you did nothing warranting fault. Focus on the kidnapper…wish death upon him or her, if you will. Keep hope, Seto Kaiba. I won't tell you to have faith, because you don't seem one to have faith in much of anything…I mean no offense."

"None taken…you're right."

Darren chuckled. "Of course…but keep hope. Without hope, none of us could survive."

Seto wanted to refute the claim, to say that it was hopelessly idiotic to think that…but the man had a point. Without hope, would he have been able to handle all that had happened in his life? Without hope, would he have survived Gozaburo Kaiba? Somehow, he doubted it.

"Thank you…Darren McKinley. Thank you."

"You're quite welcome, Mr. Kaiba."


"Get out."

Joey, Tristan, and Yugi knew better than to say anything. They got out of the limousine immediately, without comment. Noa watched them and waved halfheartedly as Kevin began to leave.

Seto looked out the window, eyes opaque and jaw set, mouth a thin line on his face. Noa had thought he would be angry, anxious, sad, something

This cold distance was worse than any of that.

He didn't look human.

"Seto…?" Noa murmured, sounding much younger than even his body portrayed, much less his true age. "…Are you…are you…gonna be okay…?"

Bad question.

Seto's eyes flared suddenly, his obvious tiredness incinerated in the heat of raw fury. "Oh, of course!" he snarled. "I'm just fucking wonderful! Mokuba's nowhere to be found and I can't do a goddamned thing about it! I'm dancing with fucking excitement!"

Noa flinched as though struck. His vision blurred with sudden tears. "I…I…"

Seto's expression softened, the scowl on his face melted away. He looked tired again…too tired. "Noa…I…I'm sorry…I didn't mean to snap at you, I…I just…I can't…"

Noa got up and sat next to his brother, who reached over to take him into a tight, desperate embrace. Noa returned the gesture, leaning his head against Seto's shoulder, unable to keep up a brave front anymore.

When the tears finally came, Noa didn't care.

"Kevin," Seto said, his voice as emotionless as stone. "Go to the airport. There's someone we need to pick up."

Noa leaned back, detached himself from Seto. "Who…who are we picking up, Seto…?"

Seto chuckled humorlessly. "…Nathan Locklear."

"Huh?"

"The reason I went to the car was because he called me…he took an earlier flight, as a…surprise for Mokuba. He thought…it would be a nice gesture…not that it matters much now…"

Noa found it odd that Seto was even bothering with the man. He wouldn't have expected him to…because it didn't matter now…

Then he thought he knew why.

Ignoring Nathan Locklear would be one step closer to admitting Mokuba would never come back.

And until Seto saw the boy's corpse with his own eyes, he would never believe that.

He couldn't.


Couple things to say:

To those of you who may have read my revised version of Twist of Fate, you may recognize the name Darren McKinley. I brought him back in this story because I liked him. I thought he served a good purpose here, talking some sense into Kaiba's head before he decided to go on a homicidal rampage...which, left to his own devices, he might.

CfB: I've come to realize that my little thing regarding the corpse didn't really serve a purpose. The reason for it was because I read a story about finding a real corpse in a funhouse, one of those urban legends that turned out to be true. That story was the main inspiration for this conflict, so I decided to use it. Now that I realize the corpse served no real purpose by being real...I'll fix it. I'll add something later on to tie it into the rest of the story, to at least make the information somewhat important. Thanks for pointing this out.

I'm not certain when I'll update next. I've a paper to write, a test to prepare for, and a novel to read for school. I'll try to keep with a somewhat regular amount of time between chapters, but I can't make any guarantees. Please be patient; I'll do it. It'll come.