He was falling... Down... down... down... into the darkness... It seemed almost as if in slow motion... like falling through a bottomless black void... but he didn't care... If this was what falling to your death was like, then he would accept it willingly... Anything had to be better then living without his only heart…

"Seto!," came a sweet, childish voice just above him…

Kaiba turned his head ever so slightly… Through the intense blackness, a small hand was thrust towards him... "Seto, take my hand!."

He hesitated... Why should he?... He had nothing left… He had no reason to live anymore...

"Seto! Big brother!," the voice came again. "Take my hand!. Please!."

Slowly... Hesitantly... he reached out and took the tiny, outstretched hand...

All at once the falling stopped, and there came a sudden flash of radiant light... Seto shut his eyes and braced himself for whatever might be coming... Maybe this was a hallucination brought on by the pain and shock of everything that had happened to him...

Miraculously, the falling had stopped and he was unhurt... Kaiba slowly opened his eyes and looked around... Surrounding him was nothing but light... Not the blinding, eerie kind, like when Pegasus had taken his and Mokuba's souls, but a steady, glowing, warm sort of light…

"Big brother?."

At the sound of the voice behind him, he turned around… He gasped, and tears rimmed his eyes as he sank to his knees... "Mokuba?."

There he was, smiling, happy and full of life as if the events of Duelist Kingdom had never occurred…

"Uh huh!. It's me, Seto!." The little boy approached his brother and knelt down by him. "But, brother, Why do you look so sad?."

Kaiba couldn't even bear to look his little brother in the face. Sobbing, he lowered his head. "Because… I… I let you down, Mokuba… I broke my promise to you…"

"No, you haven't. You could never let me down, big brother!."

Surprised, Seto raised his tear stained face. "But I did," he protested weakly. "I couldn't stop them from taking you, I couldn't stop Pegasus from stealing your soul and I couldn't win it back!. I couldn't even stop him from taking my soul and destroying yours!." Overcome by grief and guilt, he buried his face in his hands. "It was my fault!. All my fault!. I'm a failure!. I couldn't protect our parents, I couldn't defeat Yugi or Pegasus, I couldn't even save you, little brother!."

Small, gentle hands closed around his... Slowly, Mokuba pulled Seto's hands away from his face... "Brother, look at me."

Kaiba looked through his tears at the smiling young face of Mokuba...

"You never failed me," the child said. "You came for me, didn't you?. And I know you were willing to risk everything to save me."

"But it wasn't enough..."

"It was enough for me!."

"Yugi's the new Champion. He's the King of Games now," Seto reminded him.

"You think I care who the stupid King of Games is?."

"But he's twice the man I'll ever be..."

"That's Joey talking, not you," Mokuba answered. "And since when did you care what he said?."

Seto shook his head with a sigh. "You... You forgive me then?..."

"Big brother, I thought you understood. There's nothing to forgive."

"Even though I…"

Mokuba smiled. "Seto," he teased, cutting him off gently, "If you say you've failed me one more time, I'm going to laugh!."

At this, Kaiba felt the corners of his mouth twisting upwards... until they formed a smile that almost mirrored his brother's...

"Now that's the Seto I know," Mokuba said proudly. "I remember, after Gozaburo Kaiba adopted us you always seemed so unhappy, but I could always make you smile if I tried hard enough!."

The young CEO shook his head with a rueful chuckle. "You're to stubborn for your own good, kiddo. You know that?."

The little boy gave him an impish grin. "I think stubbornness runs in this family, big brother!."

In response, Seto fondly tousled his little brother's scruffy mop of dark hair. The kid was right, as usual!. "Mokuba, sometimes I don't know how you ever put up with a brother like me."

"Well, you know what they say, Seto. You can choose your friends, but you can't choose your relatives!."

At this, they both laughed, and Mokuba threw his arms around Kaiba in a warm embrace. "I'm so proud of you, big brother!," he said. "And I love you!. Not Yugi, not Joey. You!. And don't you ever forget that!. Promise?."

After all that had happened, he still had faith that his big brother would keep his promises?... Seto squeezed his eyes shut and held his little brother tighter to him as fresh tears streamed down his face... "I promise I won't forget that, kiddo. And I… I love you too."…

Slowly, he opened his eyes to meet the bright sunshine of early morning... He was laying face up on the private lawn of the Kaiba mansion... above he could see the high balcony which he had jumped off in an attempt to end his own life...

But he was alive!. Alive!. Somehow, he had survived the long drop… Seto slowly and painfully rose to his feet, shocked that although bruised and slightly scratched, not even a single bone was broken...

Brushing his bangs away from his eyes, Kaiba stared up at the high balcony, remembering Mokuba's hand outstretched towards him as he fell… It must have been a dream… Maybe what had felt like a hand catching him was one of the large trees growing around the balcony window… It must have broken his fall and saved his life...

He knew he should feel completely broken and disappointed. He had wanted so desperately to be with Mokuba that he had been willing to fall to his death again for his little brother.... But... somehow… a small part of him was glad to be alive... Glad that he had not succeeded in killing himself…

"You never failed me. You came for me, didn't you?. And I know you were willing to risk everything to save me."

Seto closed his eyes for a moment as the words Mokuba had said to him in his dream came back to him… Strange, it was so clear… so vivid... as if it hadn't been a dream at all…

"I remember, after Gozaburo Kaiba adopted us you always seemed so unhappy, but I could always make you smile if I tried hard enough!."

It was then that the early morning sun glinted off an object in the grass, catching Kaiba's eye… The young CEO knelt down and picked it up, eyes widening in astonishment… It was the card-shaped locket that he had torn from his neck and left at his little brother's grave!.

Slowly, as though afraid it would disappear if he approached it to fast, Seto picked up the locket from the dewy grass... It shone, good as new!. Even the clasp, which had been broken when he'd torn it off, was fixed!.

After placing it around his neck again, he clicked the locket open... The familiar face of five year old Mokuba smiled up at him, eyes bright with happiness, love and hope…

"I'm so proud of you, big brother!. And I love you!. Not Yugi, not Joey. You!. And don't you ever forget that!. Promise?."

"I promise, Mokuba," he whispered, smiling through his tears… As he spoke, one tear drop trickled down his face and fell on the child's picture... He hadn't wanted to carry on without his little brother… He couldn't carry on without him!. But… somehow... he had the feeling that now he would never have to carry on without Mokuba again... "Thank you, little brother… Thank you so much... for everything…"

The End