Mokuba Kaiba was a good brother and a very good Vice President, and he took both jobs quite seriously. His job, as he saw it, was to make his brother's job easier.

So when Seto found out that the other Yugi was gone, and cancelled all his meetings that day to pace his office back and forth in quiet fury, Mokuba attended in his stead, and took careful notes. Mokuba knew Seto had lost a friend, even if he'd never admit it, even if he wouldn't put it that way. And if Seto withdrew to work on a new duel disk design, perfect the next update to solid vision, of course that was fine. Mokuba could pick up the slack.

This was what he always did, had always done. Lift Seto's spirits when he was down, quash problems on the ground before they reached his brother's ears, take over tricky personnel issues he knew Seto would be too harsh on. Always hovering at the edge at the doorway, CC'd on every email; the sidekick and confidant, the dutiful right hand man.

So if his brother wanted an excavation in the Valley of Kings, then all Mokuba wanted was to make his brother proud. And when Seto announced plans for a space elevator, the construction of which would be expensive and complex, and which offered no obvious benefit to a gaming and entertainment company, it was Mokuba who told the stockholders to trust in his brother's vision. He'd never let them down before, had he? You had to let genius work. Mokuba's wide-eyed faith and optimism were infectious.

And if Seto Kaiba became distant, quiet, absent-minded, if he hardly slept, if he only ever seemed to hear half of Mokuba tried to tell him, clearly he just needed more time. If he spent hours and days inventing a new VR system so could duel a ghost, that was okay too.

Duel Links seemed to banish any worries. This was his brother. Connecting players all over the globe, ever-improving his favorite game, creating something that brought joy to kids everywhere. A whole new virtual world, with the two of them right at the top! Everything was normal, everything was perfect, and Seto was smiling again.

At least until he nearly died using it and came out grinning like a madman, rambling about netherworlds and higher consciousness and things Mokuba only half-understood. He would've been a goner if Mokuba hadn't shut the whole thing down. Still, Seto didn't want to talk about it. Seto didn't want to talk about anything that wasn't quantum physics or the pharaoh.

A tournament on a week's notice. A weirdo with a magic cube. Yugi's insistence that what he sought was impossible. A monster trying to drag them all into another dimension. But Seto Kaiba didn't give up! No, he never gave up, never let go of anything, not ever, and usually this is what made him brilliant and brave and cool and stronger than everyone else but sometimes, sometimes-and this was a thought Mokuba felt guilty for having-sometimes it made him very stupid.

Six months. Six months of his brother being irritable, distant, distracted, erratic. And now this.

So when Seto Kaiba stepped out of the elevator, still strapped in to his dimension-system gear, to see Mokuba standing next to the off switch, Seto was annoyed but mostly just confused.

"Mokuba." He was trying to sound patient. He was always patient with his little brother, even when he was mad, even when he was tired, even when Mokuba didn't feel like he deserved it. "What are you doing?"

Mokuba, though, was not confused. He was six months of desperate, three years of worried, a whole life of unfettered loyalty, piled up on top of each other until something just burst.

"What am I doing?" Mokuba asked, incredulous, hands balling into fists. "What are you doing?! How could you not answer me? Not say you're gonna come back?" It came out louder than either of them expected, a ragged yell that easily filled the tiny white room. Seto took a step back reflexively, in surprise.

He lowered his voice. Tears were stung the edges of his eyes, and he was trying very hard not to let them get any farther. He stared at his shoes. "I know you miss him," The 'him' did not need naming. "and I know this is really important to you, but you're not acting like yourself! And...and I'm not letting you do this if you're going to leave me behind!"

"Mokuba, you're being-" and he reached up, unconsciously, to touch where his locket usually hung against his heart, and seemed to notice for the first time in weeks that he wasn't wearing it. He sighed. There were gears turning, behind his eyes. "We'll talk about this later."

He addressed the staff. "Prepare the prototype for another run. We try again as soon as possible."

"Of course, sir."

"Seto!" Mokuba objected.

"I said later." and he turned and walked out the door, and Mokuba was left behind.