Thank you for these characters and their stories, Kazuki Takahashi. Requiescat in pace.

Chapter Forty-Seven

Dria

"Mokuba! Mokuba!"

Noah knew what would hurt Seto the most. While he cared about his company, Mokuba was far above it for Seto. He would never forgive himself if anything happened to his brother. I clenched my fists again as Noah laughed at Seto's anguish. How could he be so cruel? I had yet to understand the connection this punk had with the Kaiba family, but there had been no hints about it. I had to figure out more.

Before anyone could stop me, I took off at a full sprint down the newly revealed street, towards the dark tunnel at the end. I heard Yugi, Yami, Joey, and Duke call out to me, but I ignored them. I was angry now, more so than I had been when we first became trapped here.

Seto easily caught up to me with his much larger stride, and we ran down the tunnel together, looking for any sign of Mokuba or Noah. We quickly came to a fork in the road with neither option giving us a reason to follow it. I didn't want to be separated from Seto, but we needed to find Mokuba as fast as possible. After a quick kiss on the cheek, I headed down the left side, again ignoring the voice calling after me. Hopefully he would understand that we needed to split up, and I had picked the direction I wanted to go.

I could hear Mokuba's voice echoing through the tunnel, but there had been no sign of him yet. I tried to stay on the main path and not wander too far down the side tunnels because I was lost enough already. I didn't need to become even more adrift in this ridiculous place. Soon, there was a light at the end of the tunnel, and while I normally avoided that kind of light, I hurried through the opening, only to find myself in a completely different area.

A dense forest surrounding an old white mansion greeted me as I exited the dark tunnel. Ivy was running up and down the exterior of the house, and it was clear no one had lived there in years, assuming someone ever had. Did this house have the answers I was looking for? It wasn't one of the Kaiba's, at least not one I was familiar with. It looked a little similar to the white mansion in Domino, but something about it was off. It seemed almost depressed, with ivy overshadowing the walls, windows dusty from age, and rust consuming the iron-gate before me. Then, I heard the high-pitched cry of a baby.

"I hope that means we chose the right path!"

I could hear Tea's voice coming from the tunnel behind me, with Yugi's voice replying in a similar tone. I focused on finding a way around or over the gate because they were going to ask me how to get in as soon as they saw me. Pulling at the gate was my first thought for opening it, but the rust had nearly sealed the two halves together. Maybe I could push it or kick it from the other side.

"It's some kind of old mansion or something."

"Dria! There you are. So you came the same way we did."

I nodded in response to Yugi's question as I sized up the height of the gate. It didn't look like it would be difficult to climb, especially with the small ledges on the posts. While the other two stared at the mansion and tried to make sense of its purpose, I carefully pulled myself up the stone post, using the iron rods as support, and swiftly jumped off, landing in the grass below.

"What if that baby is all alone? We gotta get in there and find out!"

Before they realized I was on the other side, I kicked open the gate and smiled at the other two. Yugi smiled back at me, while Tea gave me an expected huff. They quickly walked through and followed me into the mansion. The interior was almost worse than the exterior, though at least the ivy hadn't broken through the windows yet. It was just run down. Dust covered the floor and walls, and cobwebs had taken over the corners in many places. It was depressing, particularly because the memories I held of a white mansion were happier, though sometimes only slightly so.

"Dria, Dria! Come play with me! Seto has to study again this afternoon."

I smiled at Mokuba as he excitedly jumped around me, clearly happy I had come with my Father to the Kaiba mansion. While their companies weren't even remotely related to one another, the two CEOs felt it advantageous to know the inner workings of nearby companies and their earning potential. Sometimes it seemed like Father and Mr. Kaiba just enjoyed trying to one up the other, whether it was about their income or stock values or anything like that.

"Seto studies way too much. Why doesn't he take the afternoon off since you have guests?"

A brief frown covered Mokuba's face before returning to a smile.

"Mr. Gozaburo makes Seto study all the time because he thinks it will prepare Seto for inheriting the company. My brother is also worried that if he doesn't live up to Mr. Gozaburo's expectations, we'll be sent back to the orphanage."

I frowned at Mokuba's reply. Gozaburo was the epitome of a jerk, threatening to send two orphaned kids back to the dump they came from.

"Dria, can you do something for me?"

I turned my attention back to Mokuba, who was now bashfully looking at his shoelaces.

"I want to get my brother something special, something he's always wanted. Could you give me a Blue Eyes White Dragon card, pretty please?"

My expression fell once again, even though Mokuba's request was as honorable and caring as they come. I was bound by the creatures themselves to only make so many cards of particularly strong monsters, Blue Eyes naturally being one of them. Even if I had wanted to make another, I had only permitted that 4 cards exist.

"I'm sorry Mokuba. I only had 4 made and they have long since been scattered across the world. My father and I agreed that only so many of those cards should be made. I'd give you all 4 copies if I still had them."

His sweet face grew sad once again, "Oh, I see. Well, it was worth a try. I'll think of something else!"

He immediately grabbed my hand and led me into the gardens, where we played tag, hide and seek, and soccer until dusk came. Seto waved to us from the window of his study once, but his tutor immediately closed the window and pulled the curtains shut when he noticed Seto's attention wavering. Riding home that night, I still felt terrible about the Blue Eyes card. Mokuba was a smart kid though. If he wanted his brother to have a Blue Eyes White Dragon card, he would find a way for it to happen.

We searched through the house, looking for the source of the crying, but only managed to find a rattle. Perhaps there had never been a baby; only a sound being repeated over and over whenever someone approached the mansion.

"Check it out. It looks like a picture of someone."

I joined Yugi at the small table and glanced over his shoulder. My eyes widened when I saw the figures in the photo. Suddenly, Papa's words echoed in my head, words I didn't understand at the time he spoke them, "I came to offer my condolences about the accident."

Seto

Noah had poisoned Mokuba's mind somehow, imprisoning him and causing him to believe the lies Noah was spreading.

"Take a close look at the virtual projection in front of you."

An image of Noah and my stepfather appeared before me. But how was that possible? A door opened to reveal Dria, Yugi, and Tea.

"Does this mean anything to you, Kaiba?"

Yugi handed me a picture frame that showed the same figures as the virtual video: Noah and my stepfather. It had to be a trick. Noah continued to play the home video with more of his lies.

"His name is Seto, and he and his brother will be coming to live with us. You could learn a lot from him! If I'm going to hand Kaiba Corp over to you someday, Noah, you'll have to prove that you have the intellect it takes to run the company."

I sneered at the thorn in my side, "If you're really Gozaburo's son, how is it that I've never met you before?"

I looked towards Dria as Noah laughed at my question. She shook her head; she had never met the boy either. Pegasus had always kept a close relationship with Kaiba Corp, even before I had changed the focus of the company to the gaming industry, at least according to Dria. If Noah had been around when I first went to live in the Kaiba mansion, which was not long after she had started visiting with her father, we surely would have run into him at some point.

"Alert! Alert! Alert!"

My former employees were making fools of themselves again, and it was causing me more problems than when they had complained about suddenly losing their jobs. Noah vanished, and a door appeared in the otherwise black space he had left us in. Yugi and Tea immediately sprinted towards and through the door, probably hoping it would lead them to the rest of their ridiculous gang.

Dria calmly walked beside me, linking her arm into mine to guide me through the door while I tried to gather my thoughts. It had to be a trick. Gozaburo had no children, which was why he had adopted Mokuba and me. He needed heirs to take over his fortune, if we passed his tests. The only scenarios that made sense in my head were either that Noah made the whole thing up and he thought it would be a clever way to steal my company from me, or maybe he was an illegitimate son, a love child whose existence Gozaburo had denied. I shook my head. That was an unreasonable thought, one Dria was more likely to posit than I was.

"Could Noah's story about you being his long-lost stepbrother actually be true?"

"Noah's story is nothing but one big lie designed to mess with my head, Yugi. The supposed conversation he had with Gozaburo would have happened over six years ago, which is when this was taken." I handed the picture frame back to him, "but look closely."

Noah looked exactly the same then as he did now, which meant he hadn't aged in six years.

Dria

If Noah was being honest, his reasoning for trapping us here suddenly made sense. He was angry that his father had passed the company on to someone else, and not only that, it had gone to an orphan from a family of no special rank.

Naturally, Seto wouldn't talk about anything possibly related to the Kaiba family, so he was unwilling to respond when someone asked him if the story was true. Though he had adamantly denied it earlier, I couldn't help but feel that deep down, he knew it was true. He failed to realize, however, that even if Gozaburo had taken him in to motivate his true son to work harder, Seto was still the one who held the company now and had improved it beyond what even Gozaburo had been capable of doing. He had surpassed all his stepfather's tests, excelled in his studies, and finally outwitted the old man to take control of Kaiba Corp.

What still bothered me was where Noah had been all this time if he truly was a Kaiba. It was clear he was desperate to prove himself to Gozaburo, who hadn't been seen in almost five years. But, why had he not done that until now? What was stopping him, if he were capable of orchestrating this elaborate plan to steal the company from Seto using virtual technology?

"Stop right there. Because of your 'family business,' we're all trapped here. Don't you realize we can help you?"

Tea tried to persuade Kaiba to open up about his family, but even the master of friendship speeches had met her match. Seto was one of the most stubborn people I'd ever known, and when he made up his mind, he rarely changed it for anything or anyone. Suddenly, I felt a chill run up my spine, like someone was watching us. I turned around to see Tristan's body standing up on the rocks above us. I could only guess that the Big Five had returned to attempt to steal five more bodies so they could escape. What worried me more, however, was how they planned to do so. Would they simply attack like they had not too long ago? Without my magic, I could only do so much to defend my friends.

As "Tristan" addressed the group, I noticed Seto slipping away and walking in the opposite direction. I quickly followed him, trying to also sneak away while everyone else was distracted. Only one noticed my leaving, but he made no moves to alert anyone, knowing that I was following what I thought to be the right decision. We were only a few steps away when Seto stopped and turned to face me.

"Where do you think you're going, Dria?"

I cocked my head at his question, "With you, of course. I want to help."

"I told you, this is family business. I don't want your help."

"Am I not your family too?"

I felt small tears welling in my eyes when Seto's face remained stone-like. I had considered him family for quite some time. He was my best friend, and I wanted nothing more than to help him overcome these demons that would not let him live his life in happiness. He had already suffered so much. Seto sighed in response, finally dropping his impassive frown.

"I can't have you taken from me too, Dria. As much as it pains me to admit it, you're better off staying with Yugi and his friends. I know he wouldn't let anything happen to you without letting something happen to him first."

Before I could say anything more to stop him, he pressed a lingering kiss to my forehead and swiftly walked down the road, away from the others and away from me.

"I told you, Dria, I'm fine. I need to get back to work if I'm going to change the direction of this company."

Seto slammed his new office door in my face with those final words. He had just managed to overpower his stepfather and take over the Kaiba Corporation. Surprisingly, Gozaburo hadn't seen it coming, not entirely. Even though Seto was still a young man, he had outsmarted the man who prided himself on his clever and ruthless techniques.

But now, Gozaburo had disappeared, even from my magic, and Seto was furious. He had wanted to keep his stepfather's whereabouts in his peripheral vision at all times just in case he attempted to harm the company from the outside. Yet, only a few months after the takeover, the older man was nowhere to be found. I had desperately tried to locate him using magic, but something was blocking it and I didn't know what it was. The only scenario I could think of was that Gozaburo was dead. Not even Anubis himself would want that man around though.

Wiping a single tear off my cheek, I turned to leave the mansion. Seto wasn't upset with me, I knew, but I was the only one nearby when his anger surfaced so I took the brunt of it. Still, having the door shut in my face stung my heart quite a bit. Giving Mokuba a goodbye kiss on the head, I climbed into the limo my Father had sent for me and departed for the airport.

I liked Domino City. Father wished I would move here and be with people my own approximate age, with the high school and college being in the center of town, but for now, I preferred being with him and helping with Industrial Illusions in America. I lowered the window to get some fresh air as the limo drove through the city. Suddenly, a very familiar scent caught my attention: cinnamon.

Of course, as soon as it had come, the scent was gone. My heart lurched in my throat for a moment, hoping to catch a glimpse of the eyes I still longed for. But there was nothing. Only a small game shop, whose door was just closing as a group of high school students ran inside. I quickly rolled up the window and held back the tears threatening to fall from my eyes.

By the time I got home, the next night's moon was high in the sky and even the City of Angels seemed to be sleeping. I quietly entered Father's house and carried myself upstairs, nearly dead on my feet from my long trip. Stepping inside my bedroom, I noticed something was different about the room. I flipped on the lights, hoping to swiftly discern the feeling in my stomach, but there was no one there. All that was different were the flowers lying on my bed. I smiled. Father sometimes left me flowers when he wouldn't see me in the evening for dinner or before bed. Glancing down at the bouquet, I noticed a card. Father never left a card.

To: Dria

Sorry I yelled at you today. I'm irritated that Gozaburo escaped, but I will find him before he can cause any damage. I will protect you and Mokuba from him. I hope you find these flowers to your liking. Missing my best friend already, so come back quickly or I'll invite myself over again, which your father would hate.

Sleep well,

From: Seto