A/N It's the penultimate chapter and I'm really quite sad about it. Lara and Kaiba have been a part of my life for so long I wish it could go on a little longer. I hope all you wonderful readers have enjoyed travelling along with them on their journey :)


Blearily, Kaiba opened his eyes. The room was still cast in darkness. Lara was sound asleep beside him and he was wrapped around her like a vine.

The light on his phone flashed on and off, illuminating the bedside table in a green glow. Gently as he could, he disentangled himself from her and got out of bed. Tucking the duvet around her tightly, he picked up his phone, slipped on a t-shirt and left the room, padding barefoot to the kitchen where he found Mokuba sipping a mug of coffee.

"Morning bro," he greeted his brother, keeping his voice down so that no one would be disturbed.

"Mokuba. Why are you up?"

"Couldn't sleep. Too much on my mind."

Kaiba opened the cupboard above the coffee machine and pulled out a mug, pouring himself a steaming cup then joined his brother.

The two of them decided to sit together on the large couch as they both busied themselves on their phones.

Kaiba had received the message he was waiting for.

"Klein is in custody"

Mokuba noticed the look on his brother's face, it was obvious to him that one of their pieces fell into place.

"What is it Seto?" Mokuba asked softly.

"The hacker is in police custody," Kaiba replied.

"Good. He won't be going anywhere anytime soon."

"No he won't."

"Since you uncovered his the other black hat activities, what do you think will happen to him?" Mokuba asked.

"What I know will happen, Mokuba…" Kaiba leaned back crossing his legs ankle over knee, "is that he'll be imprisoned for five years but I've come to an arrangement with Brandt. Klein will never see another computer in his life. He'd be lucky to have a calculator watch when we're done."

"Good. I can't believe how connected this whole thing has been. Using a friend of Zigfried's was smart of Hobson," Mokuba said.

"Hobson understood that he would have motive to help in any scheme against us," Kaiba said as he locked his phone.

"Yeah, he knows how to hit where it hurts." Mokuba looked down into the depths of his mug and Kaiba knew he was talking about more than just Hobson and the hacker.

"What's on your mind kid?" Kaiba asked.

Mokuba twirled the locket around his neck absentmindedly in his fingers. Kaiba guessed what was bothering him.

"Lara called you after the explosion," Kaiba said looking at his brother.

Mokuba nodded. "She did. I told her you weren't dead but I'm sure it was easier for me to have faith when I wasn't there to witness what she had, but still, it was hard to hear. It was hard to listen to her. I've never heard her like that Seto." Mokuba raised his eyes to meet his brother's.

Kaiba listened but he said nothing.

"And then after that she asked Rebecca to blow the place. I don't know if the others realised what that meant, but I did. She gave up!" Mokuba said angrily. "At that point, she wasn't coming back and I needed you to be okay for both of you."

"She didn't give up Mokuba." Kaiba remembered what she had said to him in the room. "She fought as hard as she could for you."

"For me?" Mokuba asked, confused.

"When she thought I was gone, her instinct was to protect you. She wouldn't let Hobson leave alive especially when that left you in danger, and destroying the island was the right call." Kaiba spoke patiently to his little brother.

"I… I guess I just didn't want to lose her too."

"None of us want that."

"She was pretty out of it earlier. What happened to her out there Seto?" His pleading voice was laced with concern.

Kaiba shook his head. "I don't think you really want to know."

"I do. Look you don't have to tell me about the deaths, that's fairly obvious, but Lara isn't herself."

Kaiba studied his brother and to Mokuba, he was taking far too long to answer.

"Is it that you really don't think I should know or that you don't want to think about it?" Mokuba asked. He always had a habit of seeing through Kaiba who decided it was worth telling his him exactly what had happened to her.

Mokuba tried to keep from reacting as Kaiba spoke, but his fists clenched unconsciously. He felt a new wave of hatred and anger towards Hobson and his cohorts.

Meanwhile, Lara was still asleep in the bedroom. She thrashed around in the sheets as her dreams filled with the malevolent faces of Hobson, Kemo and his partner. She tried to fight them off becoming increasingly panicked as she tangled in the bedding. A loud gunshot cracked through the air making her bolt up.

Taking in the familiar surroundings of her apartment, she realised where she was and tried taking deep breaths to calm down. The top of her tank top was damp, her hair stuck to her sweaty face, and she ran her fingers through it, closing her eyes in an attempt to slow her heart.

Once she managed to control herself, she looked around and realised for the first time that the bed was empty. Running her hand over the sheets where Kaiba lay, she felt that it was cold.

Lara threw off the covers and made her way to the bathroom where she splashed some cold water on her face. In the warm glow of the bathroom light, she could see how tired she looked. She sighed and left the room walking to the lounge where she thought she would spend some quiet time alone as she watched the sky slowly lighten, but she found Kaiba and Mokuba sitting together.

"Hey Lara." Mokuba smiled, beckoning her to join him with an open arm. She huddled close to him with Mokuba wrapping his arm tightly around her, holding her firmly, protectively.

Kaiba watched them closely. Seeing them together, how much they obviously loved each other just strengthened his resolve to destroy his traitorous directors.

"Mokuba, have you spoken to Tristan?" Kaiba enquired.

"I did. He'll be at the house this morning," he replied.

"And he's on board?"

"Once I filled him in, yeah. He doesn't know everything, but enough to want to have them put away just as much as we do." Mokuba leaned his head against Lara's. If everything went to plan, they would be more than just jailed.

Kaiba nodded. He was eager to see this through.

"How are you doing?" Mokuba looked down at Lara. He was still grappling with what almost happened to her.

"I'm okay," she replied tiredly.

"You know you can't lie to me," he scoffed.

"I'm not," she defended.

"Please, your skin is clammy, I can feel that your top is damp and you're sitting here with us and it isn't even properly morning."

"What's the point Mokes? It's not like we can talk to anyone about this and nearly everyone involved is dead," she said softly looking up at him.

"We can talk to each other. We tell each other everything, why should that change now?"

Lara hid her face away. "Because I don't want you to know what I'm capable of doing. You'll realise that I'm just like the rest of the Von Schroeders and you'll change the way you look at me." Her voice was barely audible but both brothers heard her. Mokuba ignored the growl that escaped Kaiba.

He shifted so that Lara was forced to look at him. "Lara I understand why you can't talk to me now, it's risky, but when I do find out exactly what you did, it would never make me look at you differently. You did what you had to." Mokuba ran his thumb along her lip, stopping just before he touched the scab that had formed. "They got what they deserved."

Lara did not understand what she did to deserve having Mokuba in her life. She hugged him tightly hoping that he knew how much he meant to her.

"Have we heard about Klein yet?" She asked Kaiba as she pulled away from Mokuba.

"Brandt already has him," he said lowly.

"Good. Now it's just Yamamoto and his cronies," she said with a twisted smile.

The three of them sat together grateful for each other's company knowing how close they had all come to losing someone important. When the sky finally lightened enough to announce the arrival of morning, Kaiba and Lara showered and left the apartment while everyone else was still asleep.

"Mokuba let the others know that they're welcome to stay here as long as they want. Probably best to stay in until we've dealt with this," Lara said as she followed Kaiba out.

"Sure thing. Good luck," he smiled.

"I'll call you afterwards." She closed the door and two of them went down to the undercover parking. Wordlessly, they climbed into the SUV and Kaiba drove off towards their very damaged home.

The car ride was fairly quiet. They had both done all that they needed to and Lara was more than ready for the fireworks to begin. Kaiba could sense her mood. After everything they had been through he could not blame her for being eager to destroy Yamamoto and Fukuhara.

She gazed unseeingly out the window, instead she ran every incident they had experienced since she moved to Domino through her mind. They deserved what was coming.

She was brought back to the present by the slight bump of the car pulling up the driveway. Kaiba parked the vehicle in the underground garage as usual and they entered the still messy house with Kaiba's laptop under his arm.

Roland was there to greet them and followed Kaiba and Lara up to the study where he was issued with instructions. He nodded and left, leaving the couple alone in the room. They began sifting through all the information that Rebecca had pulled from the base.

"We've got a lot of work ahead of us," Kaiba said as his eyes continued to scan through the material.

"Yeah. That's a lot of hidden weaponry."

"We'll have to deal with this quietly."

"Definitely," Lara replied.

"Our guests are here." Roland interrupted them from the door.

"All of them?" Lara asked.

"Yes."

"We'll be right down," Lara said. Roland nodded and left.

"It's showtime." Lara smirked, turning to face Kaiba. He kissed her lightly and held her hand as they walked back down.

The security team that Roland and Fuguta usually led stood around the foyer, all of them kept a keen watch on the three men who stood by the large round table that usually held an arrangement of flowers.

Lara delighted in the looks of utter loathing on their faces.

Yamamoto and Fukuhara stood proud in their expensive suits and even though the third man dressed well, he had the unmistakable air of poverty around him. His paunch had significantly disappeared and for just one moment, Lara wondered just how he had been surviving.

"It's been a while Ikeda," Lara said as they stood in front of the three men. Ikeda's lips pressed into a thin line but he said nothing.

"What's the meaning of this?" Yamamoto asked. His whole demeanor was hostile.

"You don't get to ask the questions Yamamoto," Kaiba growled.

"Please, Mr Kaiba…" Fukuhara started but fell silent the instant Kaiba's glare fell on him.

"Ikeda, you had the opportunity to come clean but you didn't. I warned you what would happen if you tried me again." Kaiba's voice was low but his hand holding onto Lara's squeezed almost painfully. It was a struggle to maintain his composure.

"Please have m-"

"Mercy?" Kaiba scoffed. "That's what you begged for the last time. I wasn't willing then and I'm even less so now."

"We'll give you lot one chance to come clean," Lara said smoothly.

"Come clean about what?" Yamamoto had an irritating smile on his face that was fraying Lara's short temper. "We have no idea what you're accusing us of."

"Oh really?! What about that bullet that almost killed me?! What the fuck do you call that?"

"A pity," Yamamoto replied.

Kaiba launched at the man grabbing him by his collar and lifting him off his feet making the others take a step away.

"You better start talking." Vehemence clear in his voice.

The older man struggled in Kaiba's grip and with narrowed eyes, he dropped him heavily onto his feet. Yamamoto straightened out his suit, but his eyes held a wild anger. He had never been treated like that.

"You both seem to know everything, so why should I say anything?" Yamamoto spat as he loosened his collar with his finger.

"You know what, maybe we should tell you what we know." Lara crossed her arms and stuck out her chin. She looked to Kaiba who stood beside her once more. She grabbed hold of his hand as he levelled his gaze at Yamamoto.

"Where shall we start Yamamoto?" Kaiba asked smoothly. His eyes were steely.

"How about Hobson?" Lara suggested still glaring at the men in front of her. Both Fukuhara and Ikeda exchanged worried glances.

"We know you lot have been working with him from the beginning. You wanted the power Hobson promised you, isn't that right Yamamoto?" The edge in Kaiba's voice had goosebumps running down Lara's arms. "And you used your daughter as a backup plan for that power."

Yamamoto did not even have the good sense to look ashamed. He was caught out, he knew he was but he stubbornly refused to react.

"Then we have the attempt on Lara's life that you and Fukuhara planned using an inadequately trained sniper after she refused to bow to your threats." Kaiba's hands were clenched into fists and the only way to describe his expression was menacing.

"And don't even get us started on the hack," Lara added.

"Which, Fukuhara, you said was legal. Did you honestly think you could fool me?"

"And it was you who tried to manipulate the board's opinion of me. We know that it was your secretary that spread the rumours. The same secretary who was upset by Natsumi's 'special treatment'," Lara said using her fingers as air quotes.

"I also know that it was you who helped Ikeda. Your name is on his lease, your credit card was used to buy his groceries," Kaiba said.

"You can't hold that against me!" Fukuhara almost yelled.

"Oh but I can. I destroyed Ikeda. You attempting to lessen his sentence is an action against me, and not one I take lightly."

"He was starving!"

"That wasn't your problem. And don't think I've forgotten about you Ikeda. Instead of coming clean you continued to work with this vermin."

Ikeda opened his mouth to respond but Lara loudly spoke over him.

"Denying it won't help. We know everything. This scheme with Hobson was in the making long before I came along, my brother was just a convenient opportunity for you, isn't it?"

"Opportunity?! You think I wanted to be blackmailed?!" Ikeda yelled, his eyes bugging out.

"Don't play the victim. You had Hobson and all his resources at your disposal. You figured one way or another you would get ahead. Isn't that right?!" she said forcefully.

"You don't know what you're talking about!"

"STOP TRYING TO DENY IT!" Lara shouted, finally losing her patience and taking a step towards him. Kaiba pulled her back, preventing her from lashing out at Ikeda.

"You three can save yourselves a lot pain if you just admit to everything," Kaiba said lowly. They huffed and looked everywhere but at each other.

"It's going to be a lot worse if I have to pull it out of you," he threatened. "You think playing dumb now is going to save you when clearly we know it all. And it's obvious you would have known the moment the bullet missed Lara. You would have known what Hobson's plan for us was. What he wanted to do to Lara," Kaiba's voice growing louder, booming with every word. "Kidnapping Mokuba!"

"This is all just ridiculous! Where would you even get half of his?!" Yamamoto hissed.

Lara laughed. There was nothing humorous about it, it was chilling. "Roland, won't you fetch our guest?"

He walked to a door that led to a room just off the entrance and held it open, standing aside to let the beautiful woman through.

"Misaki?" Yamamoto said with disbelief. His eyes softened, a flash of pain reflected in them from his daughter's betrayal.

"Hello father," she greeted in her honeyed voice.

"What is the meaning of this?!" Yamamoto barked at Lara.

"Your lovely daughter has been most forthcoming with the information we needed," Lara said smugly. "She told us all about the shooting you three planned, granted it would have been better to know before I was almost killed, still, it was appreciated."

"I don't understand. After all I've done for you…" Yamamoto looked to his daughter and she lowered her gaze to the floor.

"Let me spell it out for you. Your daughter is in fact, pretty smart. She recognised that you had no chance in hell to tear Seto and I apart and she has been working with me since you were suspended," Lara said silkily. She took great pleasure in his pain. It was clear to everyone that he always loved his daughter, his pride and joy even though she was a pawn in his scheme, his plan would have worked out beautifully for her too.

"I told you not to fuck with me, and now you've lost your daughter." Lara stood there with narrowed eyes, hatred coming off her in waves.

"How could you do this Misaki?" Yamamoto asked her softly.

"You tried to kill her. I could never be a part of all that. Everything you said to me father, everything was a lie." Misaki was heartbroken to stand against her father, but Lara was right, she had to decide if she was strong enough to do the right thing and she was.

"You know you've lost. Just admit what you've done!" Kaiba commanded.

"No, we'll regroup with Hobson, we'll come back at you!" Yamamoto shouted.

"Fool, there is no Hobson to save you," Kaiba growled. That took them by surprise.

"That's not possible," Ikeda mumbled.

"Perhaps it would be prudent of us to lay our cards down." Fukuhara pushed his glasses up his nose. He shifted uncomfortably. "What you have said is correct. The three of us were complicit in a plot to remove you as head of Kaiba Corp."

Yamamoto glared at him, silently ordering him to keep quiet.

"Takeo, we have no choice. This is the best course of action," Fukuhara advised.

"Fine, we helped set up the hack, Fukuhara, Ikeda and I planned Lara's assassination and assisted with the kidnapping attempt on Mokuba. We leaked plenty of information out to have all these plans come to fruition. Is that what you wanted to hear?!" Yamamoto sneered.

"Ikeda, is this all true?" Kaiba pressed.

"You already know!" he spat.

"I want you to say it," Kaiba said smoothly.

"It's true. I worked with Zigfried as well but for some reason you seem to be very lucky."

"It's not luck Ikeda, it's what happens when you take on someone much smarter than yourselves.

"You three are guilty of embezzlement, attempted murder, attempted kidnapping and even attempted rape." Kaiba's teeth were clenched but he was so close to getting what he wanted. Yamamoto huffed in response.

"Yes, Mr Kaiba, that is correct," Fukuhara replied with none of his usual confidence.

"That is exactly what I wanted to hear," Kaiba said crossing his arms.

"Happy to be of service Mr Kaiba," Yamamoto said sarcastically and stormed over to Misaki, grabbing her wrist and tugging her along. "Come on, we're leaving."

"No, you're hurting me," she said trying to pry her father's large hand off her. In a flash both Lara and Kaiba were by her side, Lara shielding her with her body.

"Let. Her. Go." Kaiba towered over the man squeezing his wrist in his much stronger grip, but Yamamoto refused to budge. Misaki let out a soft yelp of pain as her father pulled harder but Kaiba had had enough of the man. He twisted Yamamoto's hand away and punched him hard, his fist connecting solidly with the man's chin, snapping his head back as he fell to the floor landing heavily on his back. He was out cold. The explosive action was a small release for all the anger Kaiba felt.

"Roland!" Kaiba barked. "You know what to do."

"Yes, sir." Roland left the room with one of the guards in tow and the others surrounded Fukuhara and Ikeda. They had no hope of escape.

"You can come out now," Lara called loudly and out of the doorway leading to the kitchen stepped Tristan.

"You got all that?" Lara asked.

Tristan smiled. "Every last word."

"Good." She smirked.

Tristan turned to face the two men standing and Yamamoto was slowly coming round. There looked to be a little blood in his mouth and no doubt, he would be concussed.

"Tristan Taylor, detective DCPD," he said holding his badge up to the men. He pulled a set of handcuffs off his belt and walked around Fukuhara, pulling his arms behind his back and restraining him. Fuguta and the guard beside him cuffed the other two with the senior guard holding Yamamoto up.

Roland then rushed in brandishing a flash drive that contained only the portion of the conversation that held the directors' confession. He handed it to Kaiba who held it out to Tristan.

"That should be enough," Kaiba said.

"Yeah. These guys aren't ever getting out." Tristan and the guards began marching them out but Kaiba leaned in, speaking lowly into Ikeda's ear.

"I told you if you tried me again, I would take your life." He turned his back on them and they were led out.

"Are you okay Misaki?" Lara asked with her hand on the young woman's shoulder.

"Not really, but it was the right thing to do. Look, I want to apologize to you both for my behaviour. Mr Kaiba, I really was just doing as my father asked of me but I shouldn't have and I'm sorry. I will tender my resignation when I get to the office," Misaki said softly. She was genuinely sorry and had a hard time looking either Lara or Kaiba in the eye.

"Why will you be resigning?" Lara asked.

"After everything, I just thought…" she trailed off.

"You are good at your job and if you continue on that way, I see no reason why you should leave. That is until a better opportunity comes along," Lara said looking down at her.

"Are you sure?" Misaki was flabbergasted that Lara did not want to kick her out of the company despite helping her at the end.

"Misaki, I told you before, the company always comes first." Lara smiled.

"Thank you. I'll leave now." She bowed to the two of them and left through the garage where her car had been parked earlier.

Lara turned to Kaiba and wrapped her arms around his waist. He cupped her face and kissed her sweetly as the morning sun illuminated the entrance in it's warm golden glow.

"So that's that," she said.

"Yes," he replied.

"And they're definitely getting the maximum?"

"Definitely." Kaiba had most of Domino's justice system in his pocket and while these crimes did not usually get the harshest sentence, he made sure that all three now faced the horror of capital punishment.

"It's finally over," she whispered hugging him tightly. There were a lot of bodies left in their wake but it was worth it to Lara to finally have the weight lifted off her. To know for certain that no one else was coming after her family.

Kaiba let go of her and made his way to the console table where he picked up the broken silver dragon frame with its one missing sapphire eye. He carefully removed the back and took out the two pieces of paper which were the photograph of him and Mokuba, and the correspondence card written by Lara, that sat invisibly behind it. He then shook off all the broken glass and took the card, picture and frame and left the mansion hand in hand with Lara.


In the days and weeks that followed, things quickly went back to normal except for the fact that they were now living in Lara's apartment instead of the mansion. Repairs were going ahead rather quickly partly because it was a prestige project for the company and partly because everyone was still a little terrified of Kaiba.

They were at the apartment when they saw a news story cover a massive explosion destroying a small Pacific island. They had reported that a sea mine was triggered and the detonation caused the cache on the island to blow. Remnants of World War Two when numerous islands were used. Pegasus gave credence to the story, citing the history of his own island.

Leon had flown to Domino as soon as Mokuba told him the edited version of the danger they were in. He wanted to make sure Lara was okay and she admitted that it meant a lot to her that he did that.

He even stayed for the trial which was a ludicrously short affair. The three men had been sentenced exactly as Kaiba had planned, who felt no sympathy towards the families that openly mourned in the courtroom.

There was no mercy for the men. If they had been successful, his entire family would be gone.

Kaiba, Lara and Mokuba stepped out of the courthouse that day and into the bright warm sunlight, breathing their first breath of air free from the stifling feeling of impending doom that had plagued them for so long.

Finally, all they had to do was look to the future.