YUGIOH
The Times Between Darkness and Light
Chapter 11 - Final
After that nightmare last night, Kaiba had now regained his determination to get into the game. He had the entire list of new cards downloaded for him to study. With it, he could figure out the best strategy for himself, as well as be prepared against any possible cards that could be used against him.
Yet the more Kaiba looked over those cards, the more it felt like everyone of them were haunting him. But it wasn't exactly the cards that were doing it to him....it was himself. His uncertainty was eating him alive. 'The game was about power, no....it was the heart of the cards. Bullshit, there 'is' no heart in a card! It's a card, it's a fucking card!!'
But, was this true? If it was all about power, then why was Kaiba so determined to have the Blue Eyes White Dragons? True, they were the most powerful cards of all Duel Monsters, but newer cards were coming out that when combined they could become even more powerful than his Blue Eyes. If it was all about power, shouldn't he also consider other options?
'No!' Kaiba thought. 'I need my Blue Eyes cards!'
But why?
With this question in mind, Kaiba thought back on the dream he had last night. The worst part of the whole dream was the horrible sinking feeling he felt witnessing his three dragons chained by the evil of that card, as if it was the darkness of his own soul, torturing and smothering his dragons.
'Such a card should not chain such magnificent creatures....it should set them free.' He thought, unconsciously.
But was that what he had become? Was he like that now? That very darkness almost caused him to kill his own brother. That same darkness made the forth Blue Eyes refuse to obey him, and decided it would rather die than serve him.
'Why?' Kaiba thought, still feeling the pain from the loss of that dragon. 'It was my card, too. They were all mine, they all called to me....'
At that point, Kaiba realized what he was thinking, which confused him even more. They called to him?? But there is no heart, it's all about power!
The conflict quickly became too much for Kaiba, and he collapsed on the desk trembling from the cards still haunting his mind.
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After Kaiba left the mansion that morning, Mokuba had breakfast, showered, and got dressed. On his way out, he peaked into his stepfather's room in fear, then finally darted out the door. On his way to work, he made sure the limo driver brought him to a drive-through place to get breakfast for his brother. But finally he made it to Kaiba Corp.
Mokuba knew his brother wouldn't have gotten anything to eat, and there was nothing to eat at work....all that was there was coffee. So, bringing the food with him, Mokuba knocked on the door to his brother's office, and waited for his brother to bid him entrance. Yet....no voice spoke.
Mokuba turned to the secretary, asking, "Is my brother in?"
"Yes, sir. He's been in there for the last 2 hours." She answered.
"Uh....okay." Mokuba said. So instead of knocking again, this time Mokuba went in, just incase he possibly collapsed from lack of eating.
What Mokuba saw was more frightening than even the image of him being passed-out on the floor. His brother stood behind his desk, looking over some duel cards. Cards had been scattered all over the table in some chaotic mess. But the frightening part was the expression on his brother face.
Kaiba's mask of indifference was totally shattered. The look on his face Mokuba didn't remember ever seeing on his brother's face before....it was fear and confusion. Infact, he was trembling. At that moment, he didn't look like the fearless CEO that everyone took him for. He looked like his brother Seto....but more as a frightened child, paralyzed from whatever had caused this to happen to him.
Mokuba made sure the door was closed, and stuttered out, "S-Seto....??"
He didn't answer.
"Um....I see you've been looking at your cards." Mokuba said, trying to find anything that would get his brother's attention. "You know, the tournament is only another hour or two away. You should probably get ready...."
"I'm not going." Kaiba suddenly said out of nowhere.
"What?" Mokuba said.
"I'm not going." Kaiba said, limply dropping the cards from his hand in defeat, as they scattered onto the floor. "Mokuba....right now, I'm not in any condition for a tournament. I can't do it."
"Seto...." Mokuba cried out in great concern, fearful of how his brother was acting. True, Kaiba was finally confiding in his brother....but the shape he was in frightened him.
Desperate to get the brother back that he knew, always proud and confident, Mokuba spat out, "....but, but that's not true. You're my big brother, and you can do anything!"
"No....not this time." Kaiba said, leaning heavily on his desk, as his body physically crumbled.
He took his pale expression and looked over at his suitcase and scattered cards. Then in the spur of the moment, he quickly gathered his cards and scooped them into his briefcase, as he started to mumble sporadically, "I gotta go....I gotta figure this all out. I gotta get out of here...."
"Huh? But....but....where are you going??" Mokuba asked.
Grabbing and collecting all his cards, he shoved them into his briefcase and closed it tight. Then standing back up and atleast semi-composing himself, he moved over to Mokuba and offered him a key. "This is the key to the safe at our home that holds all the most important documents of Kaiba Corp. Mokuba....you're the only one I can count on to guard it well. I need time to work this out. Then, when I do....I'll be back."
"But....but Seto...." Mokuba said.
Kaiba then smiled, a genuine smile. He put his hand on Mokuba's shoulder saying, "I want you to know Mokuba, that I think you've done a great job during the time I've been out of it. I'm proud of you. You said there's no one in the world that can have a better brother than you. Well you know what? You're wrong....because you're the better one. You always were."
Mokuba just stared at him in awe, as Seto said this to him. Kaiba then got down on one knee, and hugged his brother, saying, "I'll be back Mokuba, as soon as I work this out. I promise you....and this time, it's a promise that I'll keep."
"Seto...." Mokuba whispered, hugging him back as tears began to fall from Mokuba's eyes. Finally the brother he knew as a kid seemed to come out, but at what price? Where was his brother going, and for how long....and why? Mokuba just didn't get it.
And before he had a chance to bombard him with questions, Kaiba stood back up and left the office, quickly leaving his life. Mokuba didn't even have the chance to give him his breakfast.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x
Epilogue:
It was another 2 weeks after Kaiba left, that a meeting with Maximillion Pegasus took place.
Mokuba had been worried sick about his brother, and the whole time he was blaming Yugi. 'It was his fault that my brother abandoned me....Seto was supposed to have gotten better, according to Yugi. But instead, he got worst!'
From Mokuba's standpoint, the darkness that consumed his brother was gone. Yet, it was that darkness that protected his heart and soul from the world around him. Now Mokuba could only guess that after that evil was taken away, it was too much for Kaiba to take.
'What else could it be? He couldn't even handle a simple Duel Monster's game, because Yugi's victory was so devastating against him. Maybe Seto feared it would happen again, if he lost.' He thought. But Mokuba didn't know....he never saw his brother like that, before.
The younger Kaiba then made a decision. As he walked, he pulled out his phone, getting ready to make a call. 'This is Yugi's fault! He did this, and I'm going to make him fix it! I'll call security, have them drag him down here, and give him a piece of my mind! No one does this to a Kaiba and gets away with it! I don't care how much he fights, I'll make Yugi fix what he did!'
Mokuba hesitated to dial the phone, thinking about what Yugi might say, as Mokuba considered the possibility that maybe the only way to 'fix' his brother would be to make him evil again. His hand began to tremble as he considered this, remembering his brother smile and tell him that he thought Mokuba was the best brother in the world.
Mokuba then calmed, thinking, 'I don't care. If that'll help him, then Yugi will just have to do whatever it takes. You probably wouldn't understand, Yugi....even a mean Seto is better than no brother at all. Even if he shoved me right back in Death-T again, I'd rather have that than lose him forever!'
Tears began to fill Mokuba's eyes, as he fought to keep himself from breaking down and crying, trying to stay strong for his brother's sake. But as he struggled with himself, he suddenly stopped, overhearing a conversation going on behind a partially opened door he came to, revealing the dark meeting room containing the Big 5 and Maximillion Pegasus.
He heard what they said, the treason they were planning, the harm they planned against his brother, taking away the company....everything, and giving it all to Pegasus. And next, he even heard Pegasus's bold plan to kidnap 'him'!
Mokuba's eyes widened, entirely forgetting his plans with the security guards and Yugi at the time, as he thought, 'This isn't good....I'm outta here!'
But that thought never got too far either, as he was instead grabbed and held hostage, to be used as a weapon against his own brother.
....and that was when Duelist Kingdom began.
END
Narr: I'd hope you all enjoyed this fic I've made. I'd like to give a special thanks to TheGrimofTheGuillotine, who was nice and appreciative enough to actually acknowledge my work. I must admit I was feeling rather depressed for awhile there, thinking no one was even reading this. When I get no replies, it's hard to know.
I have various other Yugioh fanfics lined up to come in the future, but it might be a few days or maybe a week before the next one pops out, since they're all on my laptop and I have to do a transfer from one machine to the other (which is a real pain to do). Most of these are all romance-related, which I guess is good for you viewers since I get a lot more replies from them. But I do have another non-romance one too (for those who aren't into that).
Anyway, not sure which one I'll be sending out next. I was considering another short first...we shall see. It's been fun, and I will be back again very soon! Those of you out there that had not known of my other fics, feel free to check out my other stuff...you might like 'em. But this was the ending chapter for this fic. It was meant to be a tie-in between the time Kaiba wakes up to Duelist Kingdom...strictly my opinion on the matter, of course. So if anyone's interested, feel free to let me know what you thought about it. I'll see you again soon...thanks!
