Disclaimer: YuGiOh is not mine.

Where Loyalties Lie

Chapter 23

"How long has she been like that?" Matzu asked as he stared at the security monitor.

"A few hours, sir," the guard replied.

"Has she slept at all?"

"It's hard to say, sir."

"Leave her be, Matzu," Omaka spoke as he turned to leave the surveillance room. "She's been working on the program faithfully and has already begun blueprinting the fiber-optic cable for construction. What she does in her down time doesn't matter."

Matzu glanced after his father for a moment before returning his gaze to the monitor. True. As of yet, the woman had offered no protests to their demands. Meek and submissive, she would make them the most powerful gaming corporation in the entire world for decades to come. Still, he couldn't help wondering what was going on in that pretty head when she lay so still and silent. Did it pain her to betray Seto Kaiba? Why should it? What was the difference between one master and another?

He shook his head and stepped towards the door. As long as she continued to churn out the information locked in that brilliant head, nothing else mattered, except….

Ari stared blankly at the opposite wall, ignorant of the blinking red light on the camera mounted high in the ceiling. She had grown used to it in the first week and was satisfied that it viewed only her bed and her work station. They had given her the necessary privacy, not that she had intentions of trying anything. Her windowless room had one entrance, always locked. Omaka wasn't taking any chances on losing his caged songbird.

Her bed was soft, her pillow forgiving, and she spent all of her down time in their simple comfort. Hands curled close to her chest, one could not tell she constantly fingered the cold jewel around her throat and dwelled on sad hopes. It was daring of her to hope, foolish, but then a fool has to be right some of the time and in this she held her faith.

I haven't given up, she told the jewel. Things are just no longer within my control.

A telltale beeping and click jerked her out of her thoughts and she sat up quickly, her vision blurring momentarily from the rapid action.

"Did I disturb you?" Matzu asked, closing the door behind him.

As if you care. "What do you want?" she demanded.

"Your brooding concerns me. Still aching for your former master?"

Ari pushed herself off the bed and crossed over to her work station. "I have work to do, if you don't mind."

Matzu grabbed her arm and she stopped but did not look at him. "Why is he so important to you? Why did you choose him over your own freedom?"

"I have work to do," she repeated.

He pushed her away with disgust. "Fine. Make us wealthy and put our names in the history books. You're worthless beyond that."

Ari wordlessly sat in her chair and booted the computer. Two weeks and counting…maybe I am. But I- I can't give up. I won't!

Kaiba absently flipped through his deck as he had a tendency to do when he could not or did not want to focus on work. But he could not stop thinking about her.

"Duel Monsters is about fighting battles, defeating your enemies, and rising to ultimate power. If your program is successful, Ari, it will prove to be the ultimate test for the ultimate duelists."

"Why is it so important to you?"

"The Blue Eyes White Dragon is one of the singular most powerful cards in all of Duel Monsters…."

"Is that the only reason?"

"You're my responsibility."

"You can't protect me from everything."

"Ari…."

"Do you trust me?"

"I trust you to be you."

"I chose the lesser of two evils."

"Was it worth it?"

"It's easy, when you value one thing more than the other."

"I will never let anyone hurt you."

"I believe you."

The cards slipped through his fingers, forgotten. What was she forced to choose between? If she had honored the deal, Mokuba would have been safe. But if she honored the deal…. Seto stood up with a jolt. "She didn't want to betray Kaiba Corp!"

"Huh?" a confused voice spoke up and Kaiba glanced at his brother curled up on the sofa with a book.

"Ari didn't want to betray Kaiba Corp," he repeated. "That's why she turned down Omaka's deal. She knew he would come after you, but only to get to her."

"I don't understand," Mokuba sat up, his book forgotten. "You mean she wanted him to take me?"

"A means to an end. It was the only way she could avoid betraying us both. Either way, Omaka would get what he wanted, but this way…."

"She stayed loyal," Mokuba finished, understanding.

"In the end, all we can do is pave the path for those we leave behind," Seto murmured thoughtfully.

"You're losing me again."

"Ari said it, just before you were taken," he replied as he strode around his desk and hurried out the door. Mokuba leaped up to follow, his short legs pumping hard to keep up with his big brother's rapid pace.

"Seto, what are you talking about? Does this mean you're going to get her back?"

Kaiba stepped into Ari's old office and flicked the lights on. Everything remained as it had throughout her entire employment at Kaiba Corp. Her laptop sat passively on the desk just waiting to be touched.

"She left it," he said as he crossed the room and booted the computer.

"Seto?"

"I have a feeling Ari didn't leave us empty handed, Mokuba," he replied as he stared hard at the computer. Her security system will be difficult to break.

The screen flickered, requesting a password.

"It could take you forever to crack that," Mokuba observed.

Seto frowned and his gaze shifted to the small picture taped to the external memory cache. She really did capture my likeness in that doodle of hers….

"Clever girl," he murmured suddenly as he typed the password and prayed he was right. Three agonizing seconds passed.

"Welcome Ari" flashed across the screen.

"How? What?" Mokuba was flabbergasted.

"I guess first impressions are lasting after all," Seto chuckled as he scrolled through her network.

"Huh?"

"'Devil Kaiba' was her password," he answered with a smirk. "It's all here. Every last sequence. Level seven isn't complete, but its finalization wouldn't be difficult for me to write."

"I thought the program is useless without the fiber-optic cable."

"It is," he stared at the screen thoughtfully. "There has to be something I'm missing."

Mokuba dropped his stare. "I still don't see how this helps us get Ari back. We can't just leave her with that creep." He toyed with the large sketchbook on the desk in aggravation. "There has to be something we can do!"

"What were you trying to tell me," Seto whispered under his breath, trying to recall every detail of his last conversation with Ari.

"Seto."

He glanced at his little brother to see him staring at the open sketchbook. "Did she draw that?" he found himself asking in amazement. It was like a photograph, him and Mokuba standing almost back to back. Mokuba bore his usual cheerful grin, himself the trademark sneer he favored. The undeniable proof of their brotherhood reflected in the shared determined expression in their vivid eyes.

"I asked her to draw me a portrait. I never expected something like this," Mokuba murmured in awe.

"What else does she have in there?" Kaiba asked and Mokuba flipped the page to reveal a second stunning drawing.

"A Blue Eyes," Mokuba said with a slight grin.

Seto drew the book towards him and stared at the realistic drawing. It wasn't the magnificent profiled head nor the frighteningly sharp teeth that struck him. The dragon's eye was drawn with human expression and as he stared at it, the second image overlapping the Blue Eyes became clear.

"Th-that's you, Seto!"

"Unbelievable," he exhaled. He lifted the book for closer inspection, distantly hearing a soft clink. How did she…when did she…? Unbelievable! Is that how she sees me? As a—.

"Seto, look! This fell out of the book!"

Mokuba held up a familiar chain and Kaiba nearly dropped the book. "Her necklace."

"What's it to anyway?"

"It's a key to a safety deposit box," he took it from his brother and turned it over in his hand. It's not mine anymore, she had said. He smiled suddenly. "Come on, Mokuba. I've got a hunch."

"Are you sure this is the right Bank?" Mokuba asked.

"Sojo took Ari on her errands and he said this was the only Bank she ever visited," he explained as he waited patiently in line. "I've come to claim a deposit box," he told the cleric as he stepped up and placed the key in front of her.

"I will need confirmation of your identity, sir," she returned flatly.

Great. They'll only accept the person whose name is registered to the deposit box. He slapped his ID on the counter and she barely glanced at it.

"If you will follow me, Mr. Kaiba."

Surprised and confused, he followed her into a private room with Mokuba in tow. In a matter of minutes, a security guard entered and set a deposit box on the table.

"Just let us know when you are done, sir."

"What do you think it is, Seto?"

"Only one way to find out." He opened the box and pulled out the smaller box within. Gently lifting the lid, he let it slip from his fingers back on its hinges.

"Is that—?"

"It can't be anything else."

They stared in silence at the one of a kind fiber-optic cable secured in soft packing foam.

"It's not a useless program anymore," Mokuba whispered.

"This doesn't make sense," Kaiba shook his head. "Why would she…"

"Maybe this will help," Mokuba pulled out an envelope that had been hidden in the bottom of the deposit box.

Seto flipped through the papers and chuckled softly. "That's how no one knew."

"What do you mean?"

Kaiba handed the papers to his little brother. "She patented it in your name."

"What?"

"Congratulations, Mokuba," Seto said with a wry grin. "You have just become more powerful than me."