*sniffle* I can't believe I've already gotten to the end of the story!! I know you all want to know what happened, but…it's so sad to see such a good thing end!! Well, I hope you like it! Please read and review!
Part NineteenRaia ran into the room, followed closely by Mokuba. They arrived to see Seto standing, pacing back and forth nervously.
I've never seen him like this, Raia thought.
"Big brother, what's wrong?" Mokuba asked in his innocent little voice.
Kaiba finally stopped pacing. "What is that?" he said, pointing to the laptop on the desk.
The look in his eyes frightened Raia. He looked like he had lost his mind. "Um, Seto? That's a computer..." she said.
"I KNOW THAT!" he yelled angrily. Raia jumped, and Mokuba cringed behind her. She looked down at her little brother and motioned for him to leave. Mokuba quickly obeyed by scurrying out of the room. Raia could tell that the look in his eyes was far worse than she had thought. He was angry. Correction, he was livid.
"Seto, what is it?" she asked gently.
"This! What is this?" he demanded. He turned the computer screen to face her.
"It-it's just a program..." she stammered.
Kaiba slammed down the top. He turned his back to her.
"Do you have any idea what you've done?" he asked.
"I would have a much better one if you'd tell me what's going on!" Raia countered. She waited for a response, but when, after a few minutes, he offered none, she turned and left the room.
He couldn't have answered her, even if he'd wanted to. If he would have opened his mouth one more time, she surely would have heard the breaking of his voice. He just stood there, staring blankly at some space between the bookshelf and the floor.
Poetic justice, I suppose, he thought bitterly. He closed his eyes. Poetic that what he had seen on one single computer screen would sting his heart for the rest of his life. Poetic that technology really was his only true love. He couldn't believe it. No, he could, but he didn't want to. He knew that his sister often took liberties with his things, but this was too much. How could she do that?
He looked back at the computer and opened it. It was still there. A computer image looked back at him with a soft face framed by shaggy black hair. He stared once again into eyes greener than emeralds. And his own responded with a trail of tears that ran down his cheek.
Delaney was a program in the game. That's all she had ever been. And he never even saw it! Impossible! That was HIS virtual game! He knew the difference between reality and the virtual world!! He...he hadn't been able to tell the difference, and he had fallen in love with a computer program.
He shut the top again, very tempted to throw this computer across the room as well. But he kept himself. So that made it final. Nothing that he had experienced in that game had happened at all. He never fell in love. He never gave himself to another. And he never became anyone else but Seto Kaiba: businessman, cold, calculating, with a mind full of thoughts of hurt and revenge.
He put his elbows on the desk and covered his face with his hands. He bit his lip so hard that he felt it start to bleed, but nothing could stop him. There was now a void in his heart, one that bled with the desire to be filled. And it bled right through his chest, up his throat, and finally, escaped in the form of a sob out his own mouth. He wished he felt disconnected from his body. Seto Kaiba didn't cry! But he was very connected. He acutely felt the sting. He felt the pain of a lost love, of a lost everything.
Unbeknownst to him, Mokuba stood outside the locked door to the room, watching his brother through the keyhole. He had never seen Seto cry before. Never in his life. Something REALLY bad must have happened for him to do that. Mokuba ran off, looking for Raia.
Seto's whole body shook with the effort of keeping his emotions locked away. It had been so easy for his whole life, why couldn't he do it now?! Another sob escaped. He looked at his hands for a moment, and saw a trail of blood and tears staining his palms. He stared at them, wide-eyed. How did this happen? The memories of the past days became a sudden blur, and he felt sick and dizzy.
A moment of clear focus was granted to him only by a sharp knock at the door. He looked up and saw Raia. She took one look at him and ran to his side. He was so far out of it, he didn't even think to turn away from her so she wouldn't see him like this.
"Mokuba!" she called, "get me a towel, and the bottle of alcohol!" The little boy took off like a shot.
"Seto?" she asked softly. "Seto, are you ok?"
He just stared. Not even at her, but some far-off place that he didn't even knew existed.
"Ok, dumb question," she answered herself. Mokuba cam back in, carrying the things she had asked for.
Raia looked at her little brother. "You have to go start your homework," she said, a little tersely.
"But, Seto needs..." he started to protest.
"He needs to be left alone for a while," Raia cut him off. Mokuba nodded and left again.
****
It had been six weeks. Six weeks since his life had nearly fallen apart around him. Thankfully, with the help of his brother and sister, Kaiba had managed to come back to the real world, and no one else was the wiser. Granted, it was difficult, and he still found himself occasionally reminiscing about the deep green eyes that haunted his dreams.
He stood in front of the mirror in his room. Dressed in his usual, he noticed a tiny brown spot on the front of his coat. He looked a little closer, and realized that it was a bloodstain. He looked at his lower lip, which had healed quite nicely. Thanks to his sister's first-aid training, one really had to look close to see the scar. Which was nothing to worry about, because no one ever got that close to him anyway.
After all was said and done, it turned out that Raia had wanted to try out her programming skills, and put one single character into the game about two days before Kaiba had tested it. It had been purely an experiment. Well, that, and Raia had wanted someone else in the game that she could interact with if she ever got a chance to play. Kaiba thought of the heaps of scrap metal that now cluttered the lab. It was safe to say that she would probably not get that chance now. A part of him almost mourned the loss of the game that he had taken so much care in creating and perfecting, but another part of him was glad that it was over and done with. People say that the third time's the charm, but he really didn't want to have to do that again.
He made his way to school, walking the whole way there with Raia, and dropping Mokuba off at grade school on the way. One good thing had come out of it: he was spending more time with his family.
The bell rang, and Kaiba and the rest of the class situated themselves for the first lessons of the day. People highly overestimated the idea of being a genius. It didn't mean that he already knew everything, just that he could pick it up a LOT quicker than 95% of other people.
His nose was in a book, as usual, when the teacher walked into the classroom.
"I apologize for my lateness," she said. "I have been informed that we have a new student today."
Some kids looked excited, and some looked bored at the idea. Kaiba was among those who had barely even paid attention. The teacher rapped on the desk, and Kaiba reluctantly lifted his eyes.
"I would like to introduce our new student, and I expect you all to be very polite." The teacher motioned off to a part of the room that Kaiba couldn't see. A young girl stepped out in front of the class. Kaiba took one look at her and his eyes widened. His jaw nearly hit the floor. She stood there, shyly holding her books in front of herself. Her head was bowed a little, jet-black hair hanging down to almost cover dark green eyes. She blushed at the attention of the class and gave the sweetest little smile Kaiba had ever seen in his life.
No, he had seen that smile before.
"Class, say hello to our new student, Delaney."
THE ENDI wouldn't have been able to live with myself if I didn't give poor Seto SOME ray of hope! I REALLY hope you liked this! And I would like to take this moment to personally thank each and every one of my loyal reviewers! Thanks guys, you made me feel so happy while I was writing this. It was really nice to know that people appreciated my work!
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