Pulled to Pieces
It all began one night in the middle of November, when Mokuba awoke to a chilly, disorienting darkness. He'd been sleeping for what felt like years, and had no idea what time it was. Coughing, he slowly raised himself into a sitting position before cocooning himself in his comforter and sliding out of bed. The world spun around him as he attempted to find steady footing, and after a moment of tottering back and forth and making sure he wasn't going to suffocate right then and there on whatever gunk was infesting his lungs, he finally succeeded in stumbling out of his room and wandered out into the hallway. Everything was weirdly quiet; it appeared the housekeepers, chef, and other personnel had all gone home. Even the butler was nowhere to be found, which was odd, considering that his hours had been extended temporarily after Mokuba's recent diagnosis of pneumonia. The child understood that his brother was dealing with the busiest time of year at Kaiba Corporation all by himself, but he couldn't help feeling a little sad that he hadn't seen or spoken to Seto in nearly a week-although he felt guiltier about not being able to assist. He figured that maybe his brother had tried to stop by while he was asleep, but it was always the butler waking him up for medicine, food, and fluids. Except now, not even the butler was anywhere to be found.
He frowned slightly as he approached his brother's bedroom. The door was just barely cracked open, and when Mokuba pushed his way through, he saw that his brother wasn't there. The alarm clock on the dresser let him know that it was just after half past five in the morning, which explained the lack of staff (although they'd be arriving soon), but why wasn't his brother in bed? Mokuba briefly considered that maybe he woke up extra early for work stuff, which was unfortunate since Mokuba was hoping to lie beside him until his alarm went off at about a quarter after six, when he normally awoke, just to spend a few minutes near his brother. Still, Seto's bed didn't look like it'd been slept in at all. A sudden thud resounded from around the corner of the bedroom, in an adjacent area that was technically a giant walk-in closet that Seto frequently used to developing new duel disk prototypes, along with other pieces of brand-new technology. Mokuba frowned slightly and slipped quietly through his brother's room and knocked on the door gently; however, when he received no response, he carefully opened the door and peered through, only to be shocked by the situation in front of him.
Folders, paper clips, and loose sheets of paper carpeted the floor around the oversized steel desk Seto used to construct his prototypes, and coffee mugs had been haphazardly stacked on both the outer corners of the desk and on the window ledge behind the desk. Screwdrivers, nuts, bolts, wiring, and computer chips blended together in a sort of metallic hurricane on a table behind Seto, who was hunched over his laptop on the other side of the room while attempting to assemble (or possibly disassemble) something. Everything was in complete chaotic disarray, something that his tidy and organized brother just didn't allow to happen, but the real shocker came when Seto's eyes met Mokuba's, and the child was able to see just how off things really were with his brother. Seto's blue eyes were dull, slightly reddened, and accompanied by dark circles that were remarkably accentuated by his unusually sallow skin. He was wearing a pair of rumpled pajamas and his hair was messy and dirty, even sticking out at odd angles.
"Seto?" Mokuba asked carefully after a moment, slightly caught off guard by the fact that his brother continued to fumble with a screwdriver and a piece of machinery, and failed to acknowledge his presence aside from the initial glance. "You okay?"
"I'm fine," Seto responded, his voice slightly crackly from lack of use. "I have a lot to finish before the end of the week, and I'm the only one who can get it done, so…"
Mokuba shifted his weight awkwardly from one foot to the other and wrapped his comforter around himself more tightly as he watched his brother, who seemed whirl back and forth around the office between the computer and whatever gadget he was working on even more quickly after the child's entrance.
"I'm sorry, Seto, I wish I could help somehow…" Mokuba offered weakly, his guilt intensifying as he attempted to stifle a cough. His brother looked so stressed and so tired, and he couldn't help but to think it was his fault. It didn't help that Seto didn't respond; he simply continued on with his work until the piece he was trying to assemble appeared to not align properly somehow, and it slipped from his grasp, wires and bolts falling to the floor, where they mixed in with other small parts. The elder Kaiba let out a curse as he slammed the rest of the machine onto the desk, and in an attempt to offer some sort of assistance, Mokuba tried to quickly gather the parts from the floor, much to his brother's chagrin.
"Leave it alone," Seto shouted just as Mokuba picked up a piece. "Don't touch anything."
Mokuba let it fall back to the floor and drew back immediately, as if he'd touched fire. "Seto, I was just trying to help pick up the pieces that fell down…"
"You're not helping. Go back to your room, you're just distracting me. I don't even know why you're here."
The little Kaiba's mouth dropped open in disbelief; while his brother was often curt and aggressively to the point with his employees, he wasn't ever remotely short with him. Mokuba shook his head before wrapping himself even more tightly with the blanket and giving his answer.
"I've been feeling like crap, and I just wanted to talk to you."
Seto finally slammed the prototype on the table and turned around, his eyes full of impatience and frustration. "Mokuba, I don't have time for this. I recognize you're not well enough to work, but that doesn't change the fact that I have even more to do by myself and very little time to finish it. Besides, I've made sure you have all you need to get better, which means you have no real reason to be here. I don't have time to deal with this. Now go."
Logically, Mokuba knew that his brother was out of his mind. It was already blatantly obvious, given his unkempt appearance and erratic behavior, but emotionally, it still hit pretty hard, perhaps even more so thanks to the damage pneumonia was doing to his body and his own behavior. He frowned and took a step back, keeping his narrowed eyes locked on his brother's.
"Yeah, whatever you say, Gozaburo."
Seto's expression was unreadable and his face seemed to lose even more color, but Mokuba wasn't interested in continuing the conversation any longer. He turned around and went back to his own room and curled up in bed again as tears begin to slip out of his eyes. He wasn't sure if they were due to the pain in his heart or to the guilt of what he had said to his brother upon his departure-that in itself was a doozy. He let himself cry, but only minutes later, he could hear his brother screaming curses at their late adoptive father, punctuated by loud crashing sounds and slamming doors. Mokuba stood up and wiped the tears from his eyes. He had gone too far, and needed to let his brother know he didn't mean it. While Seto's cold dismissiveness did resemble Gozaburo, Mokuba knew he was very much not like that man-his brother's heart was too good, it was just a little broken.
He padded down on back to his brother's bedroom, then leaned against the wall right outside of it, wincing as he listened to years of pain burst through the weakened seams of the overly cocky and stoic mask his brother wore. Mokuba let out a breath, and finally let the overwhelming guilt in his gut drive him into having the courage to enter the room, his eyes widening as he noted the shards of broken lamps and light bulbs and maybe a vase or two littering the flood around the bed, along with dozens of novels that had been forcefully ejected from the bookcase. His brother was leaning against the wall face-first, his entire body trembling, with one arm held over his head. A thick streak of blood was visible on that arm through a torn sleeve. Mokuba took a step forward, gingerly kicking a piece of a lamp aside, and also attracting his brother's attention. The elder Kaiba turned around, an expression of pure rage on his face.
"Seto, I'm so sorry-"
"Shut your mouth." Seto's voice was was low and controlled, but his body still trembled as his eyes flashed bright with fury. For the first time in his life, Mokuba was truly afraid of his big brother, the only person who had loved him and stuck with him through everything. He barely recognized the young man standing before him.
He wasn't Seto anymore. He was Kaiba, and everything that name entailed.
"Big Brother…" Mokuba whispered, tears welling up in his eyes, backing up against a wall as the elder brother walked forward. He crossed his arms over his chest and gripped his elbows in an attempt to calm himself down and put a barrier of defense up for whatever was about to happen.
"You know sometimes I wished you never existed?" Seto said flatly, crossing his own arms, and staring dead into Mokuba's eyes. "Do you know how hard it was being expected to fix everything, even when I was nothing more than a child myself? How much time and energy I spent trying to save you every single time some worthless wannabe exploited my ties to you to threaten my company?"
His brother's tone was as if he was going over his daily schedule with his secretary, but the vitriol cut through Mokuba like a hot knife through butter, yet he was completely frozen. This was not particularly helpful when just seconds later, Seto lunged forward, pinning Mokuba in place by slamming his hands on the wall on both the left and right side of the child.
"But I did. I did everything for you," Seto finally shouted, then grabbed the child and sent him sailing a few feet before he hit the floor, nicking his hands a bit on a stray piece of glass, likely from one of the lightbulbs. Mokuba cringed and braced his body as he felt himself being lifted up and thrown once more, this time toward the back of the room.
"Because I am not Gozaburo!" Seto screamed, and made another start towards Mokuba, who had started to cry and was struggling to breathe between his tears and his illness. Luckily for him, though, that was when Roland the bodyguard -who had just arrived to begin his six AM shift-rushed into the room.
"Sir, I—oh, no…" he said, falling silent as soon as he registered the scene, glancing back and forth between Mokuba and Seto, who yelled for him to help and get out, respectively. He hesitated for a moment before looking back at his employer, shaking his head.
"Mr. Kaiba, I'm sorry to disobey, but I can't let you hurt your brother. You'll thank me later on, I think," he said carefully, holding his hands up as he walked forward to indicate he meant no harm but didn't intend on backing down.
"I am your boss, you will do as I say!" Seto declared, attempting to drive him out of the room. Roland grabbed onto his arms before managing to pin him down, then looked over at Mokuba, a knowing look on his face.
"Mokuba, go call your doctor," he urged the child. "And follow his instructions."
He rushed to his room as fast as he could, grabbed his phone, and immediately called their doctor as he went back to keep an eye on the situation. Luckily, he was connected after just two rings, and immediately informed the doctor of his brother's meltdown.
"Is he still attempting to hurt himself or anybody else?"
"Kind of, yeah," Mokuba said, cringing as he watched Roland struggle to keep Seto restrained. "Our bodyguard is keeping him down though."
"All right," the doctor responded. "What you need to do is call for emergency. They will sedate him and bring him in. I will meet you at the hospital." The man hung up before Mokuba could protest about the ambulance and likely law enforcement as well showing up at the mansion, which he was sure was on purpose. Still, he was left with no other choice, and he dialed for help. It wasn't long at all before cops and emergency medical people had infiltrated the room. It took Roland and two other cops to restrain Seto enough for the paramedics to give him a shot to sedate him, and within moments, the raging storm had evanesced, and Seto fell completely limp in their arms. Mokuba watched, horrified, as his brother was strapped into a stretcher and immediately pushed out.
Roland took a few breaths before turning to the trembling kid. He squatted down and clapped both hands on his shoulders, immediately noting the heat emanating from the child's feverish body. "Mokuba, I know this is difficult, but you are still ill. You need to go back to bed." Mokuba bristled at this, despite knowing full well that Roland was listed as Seto's backup should anything happen to him.
"No, Dr. Kurata wants to meet me at the hospital. I won't be able to sleep without knowing what's happening with Seto anyhow," the kid said firmly. Roland exhaled slowly, then nodded reluctantly.
"Understandable. Let's go."
On the way to the hospital, Mokuba made a phone call to Yugi Mutoh, knowing that his brother didn't particularly like the other duelist, but respected him nonetheless. In all honesty, Mokuba wasn't exactly sure why he was calling Yugi aside from the fact that he just needed someone to lean on, and not only was Yugi was one of the only few people in the world Mokuba trusted completely, he was also gentle and comforting, which Mokuba really needed more than anything. And just as reliable as he'd ever been, the spiky haired boy immediately promised Mokuba that he'd meet him at the hospital as soon as possible.
[Author's Note: So this story is basically a redo of a story I wrote about five years ago called Daisy. Since then, I've gained new perspectives on things, and now that I've FINALLY been bitten by the writing bug again, I've decided this story needed to be updated as well. It was always one of my pet fics and my favorite I ever wrote. So please sit tight, and I hope even the readers who stuck by the first time will find something new to enjoy about the second time!]