Originally posted: 3-27-04
Edited: 2-3-06
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V-V-V-V-V-V-V-V-V-V-V-V-V-V-V-V
island of red flowers
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by sir mocha
V-V-V-V-V-V-V-V-V-V-V-V-V-V-V-V
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chapter 02: w a i t i n g
Kaiba opened his eyes and stared, confused, at the white ceiling above that was not the canopy of his four-poster bed. He turned his head, and verified that this room was not his bedroom in the Kaiba mansion. His bedroom was done in somber colors, resplendent with velvet and tapestries. This room was a white room, and the few decorations scattered through it could little mask the cold and austere atmosphere.
Kaiba's mind rid itself of its last traces of sleepy bemusement, and as the sleep barriers fell, the memories rushed in. His mind was inundated with memories: of blood, and screams, and gunshots, and pain. He shut his eyes, trying to block them out of his head, but the images only intensified. Questions invaded his mind: Where am I? Where is Mokuba? Is Mokuba ok? Is Mokuba… alive?
He couldn't just laze around in bed, waiting for someone to come in and answer his questions; he was Seto Kaiba, president and CEO of Kaiba Corp, and he would go immediately to get the knowledge he sought, about his brother's condition.
He attempted to lever himself up out of bed with his right arm, but winced when pain shot through it. He looked down to see a white cast going all the way from his shoulder to wrist. In the back of his self-centered mind, he registered that someone (who would soon be in very big trouble) had taken his trench coat and black buckles, and had put him in a very undignified hospital gown.
Using his good arm, he pushed himself heavily out of the bed. He was momentarily blinded and dizzy as all the blood rushed from his head, but once his vision cleared, he got stiffly out of the bed. A sharp pain jerked in his arm as he pulled on the IV connected to it. Not one to be squeamish, he pulled the IV from his arm, and left it dripping as he got out of the bed. The room seemed to wobble around him, and he dimly wondered what drugs and painkillers they had pumped into him while he was unconscious. He then staggered towards the door, lacking the usual fluid grace with which he moved.
Where is Mokuba? he again wondered. He wanted to know the answer, yes, but he also dreaded learning what that answer was. It would be awful to find your brother as a stiff in a body bag, wouldn't it? asked the little voice in his mind, which loved to torment him to no end.
Mokuba is not dead. He can't be, replied Kaiba. He inched his way across the linoleum floor, his dexterity inhibited by the drugs in him, and when he finally reached the door, he considered it quite an accomplishment. He reached out a shaking hand, and slowly lowered it until he made contact with the handle. Gently, fearfully, he turned the handle.
It was locked.
Frantically, Seto tried again and again to open the unyielding door, his motions becoming more and more violent. But no matter how he fought with the door handle, it refused to open. Finally, seeing that all his efforts were futile, he decided to change his approach. He started banging with his good fist on the door, yelling, "Let me out! LET ME OUT! You can't keep me prisoner here! YOU CAN'T KEEP ME HERE!" He seized a vase sitting on a nearby table, and threw it savagely at the door, relishing the sound of breaking china raining to the floor.
He stood there, breathing heavily, staring at the door with utter malevolence. The damn thing was preventing him from getting to Mokuba. He needed to be with Mokuba, as much for his own comfort as for his brother's. He needed to get to Mokuba before it was too late…
He sank to his knees, defeated, a sob tearing from his throat. It couldn't be too late… it just couldn't be…
Mokuba is dying, said that voice, that spiteful, hateful voice. He's dying because you failed to protect him. That assassin was aiming for you, and you let him hit Mokuba instead, like the coward you are. It's your fault Mokuba was shot. You might as well have pulled the trigger yourself.
It is my fault, thought Kaiba in response. His shoulders shook with contained sobs, though the tears would not come to his eyes. Everything is my fault…
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The doctor entered the room armed with his apprehension and a syringe of sedative. He expected to have to confront an enraged CEO. Instead, his eyes fell on the young man lying in the middle of the room amidst water, vase shards, and dead flowers. Kaiba was curled up on his side, knees pulled up to his chest. His eyes were very wide and blank, and he didn't respond to the door opening; indeed, he did not appear to have noticed.
The doctor was at a loss. All the hospital staff had warned him of the CEO's infamous temper, and so the doctor was prepared to face a rampaging bull. But currently, Kaiba reminded him more of a kitten than a bull; completely harmless. Cautiously he approached Kaiba, and said, "Sir?" while placing a hand tentatively on the young man's shoulder.
Kaiba flinched as if he had been struck, and the usual spark returned to his eyes. He jumped up, and backhanded the doctor in the face. The flustered doctor felt the syringe ripped from his grasp, and felt the tip at his throat. His arm was being twisted painfully behind his back, and so the doctor ceased his struggles. He asked irritably, "How can you be up? You have enough tranquilizer in you to take out a buffalo."
"I won't let a few drugs prevent me from getting to my brother," hissed Kaiba. "You will take me to him now."
"But Mr. Kaiba, you have just undergone operation to have bullet fragments removed from your arm! In addition, your arm is severely broken; you can't get out of bed yet. We're just trying to help you, sir. Let us help you," said the doctor in a firm but reassuring tone.
"You can help me," said Kaiba chillingly, "by TAKING me to my BROTHER. NOW!"
"But sir," replied the doctor nervously, "your brother is in surgery right now. We cannot possibly interrupt the process. He received serious injuries that are being treated as we speak, and everyone is doing everything possible to help him. So you see, it's not possible for you to visit him right now." His voice wavered as Kaiba twisted his arm farther. Visions of a dislocated shoulder flashed before the doctor's eyes, and he amended, "However, I am willing to take you to your brother's room, where you can wait for him until after his surgery."
He gasped in relief as his arm was freed. "Let's go then," said Kaiba. "But first, you'll give me my own clothes back. I refuse to wear this ridiculous garment," he said, sneering at the hospital gown.
After clumsily pulling on his black shirt and pants (a task made cumbersome by his broken arm) and his trench coat, Kaiba pushed the disconcerted doctor out into the hall, threw the syringe back into the room, and shut the door.
The doctor reluctantly led Kaiba to a room in the intensive care ward. The room, more severe than Kaiba's, sent shivers down his spine: it was full of large and ominous life-support equipment. Kaiba shuddered to think of his brother in the bed, hooked to all the machinery like an innocent fly caught in the web of an evil spider.
On a steel table in the corner of the room lay some personal items the doctors found on Mokuba, including his cross whistle necklace and his Duel Monsters card locket that contained his, Seto's, picture. He pocketed these two special artifacts, promising to give them back to Mokuba when Mokuba got better.
Kaiba turned back to the doctor, and said, "Tell me how my brother is," in a demanding tone.
The doctor wrung his hands as he said, "To be perfectly honest, Mr. Kaiba, your brother's condition is less stable than we had hoped. The surgery he is undergoing… well, it does not have a high success rate, and, er, and there is the possibility that your brother will not survive. It's a very low possibility," he added hastily, seeing the look on Kaiba's face. He grimaced, as if expecting Kaiba to hit him again.
Kaiba did not lash out physically, but verbally. His face turned red as blood rushed to it, and his eyes narrowed, nostrils flared. "He will NOT die! If HE dies, ALL of YOU will SHORTLY FOLLOW! I WILL PERSONALLY DIG YOUR GRAVES!" He was yelling full-force at the poor doctor, who was cowering before the livid CEO. Several doctors and nurses peeked their heads cautiously into the room, to see who was making all the commotion. At the sight of Seto Kaiba, they became worried; Kaiba Corp was a major financial backer of the hospital, and the last thing they wanted to do was piss off its owner. Hastily they withdrew from the room, and continued on with their work.
"You must understand," the harried doctor began, "that we are taking the utmost care and caution with your brother, as I have already said. It is very, very likely that he will survive, and will be as good as new in—" The earpiece in his ear started crackling, and as the doctor listened, his eyes got wider and more worried. "Excuse me, sir," he said, "but there are urgent matters to which I must attend. You're free to move about the hospital, of course." With that, he scurried out of the room.
"No thank, I think I'll stay," replied Kaiba curtly to the empty room. He found a hard stainless steel chair in the room, and proceeded to make himself as comfortable as possible."…there is the possibility that your brother will not survive…"
If Mokuba dies... thought Kaiba, If Mokuba dies, then what do I have to live for? He turned this over again and again in his mind. It was painful to contemplate, but Kaiba felt that this pain was penance; penance he was paying for letting Mokuba get hurt like that… for not protecting Mokuba like he'd promised he would…
If Mokuba dies, you will have no one and nothing to live for. So why bother living? the little voice asked him maliciously. And disturbingly, Kaiba agreed with this outlook. Why should I go on when I have nothing to live for? Kaiba Corp? Ha, I only acquired Kaiba Corp because I was trying to make life better for Mokuba and me. Kaiba Corp can go to hell for all I care. And there is no one else in this world I care for, and no one else who cares for me. It wouldn't matter if I were gone.
In that cold and dark room, Kaiba reached a last desperate decision. If Mokuba dies, I end it. I will die too.
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I refuse to kill Seto, and I will not let him kill himself. So be reassured; our favorite bishie will not die.
Obviously I am no doctor, so if I have made a grievous error in something medical I have written, just understand that I have no clue what I'm talking about but I'm trying my hardest!
Next chapter: The plot picks up as a mysterious woman confronts Kaiba at the hospital! And we will learn the fate of poor Mokuba.
R/R? Please?