*23* Jounouchi *23*

It was eerie, to say the least, to see Kaiba in such a calm mood. I was sure that he would yell at me for suggesting that we go to my friends for help. Though, how was I supposed to know that Siegfried was two steps ahead of us?

I watched as Seto adjusted the mirror in the car for the eighth time, maybe he wasn't as calm as I thought he was.

After getting the news about Mokuba we wasted no time in getting back into the car to head for Kaiba Corp. As I watched the city fly by us for a moment, I wasn't sure what to say or even if I could help by saying anything. It was just too quiet.

"Stop fidgeting." Seto said, I hadn't noticed I'd been doing that.

"I can't help it." I said, "I don't know how we are going to get out of this one. I mean I will gladly let myself be traded for Mokuba but the access codes… it would be pointless to save Mokuba if we are all gonna die anyway."

"No one is going to die." He said and I assumed he meant no one that wasn't already dead.

"You have a plan?"

"Of course, I always do. They will regret coming after me." I was relieved to hear that because it made me feel safe, Kaiba was usually right about these things… eventually.

We arrived at Kaiba Corp. and it was a little surprising to see that the entire building was closed, well, except for wherever Siegfried was hiding. The wake for Kaiba's unexpected death seemed to benefit Siegfried as well.

"I suppose this works out for us. I don't want my employees to get hurt and sue me." Kaiba said even though I was sure he actually cared about them.

Kaiba swiped his keycard for the building and headed inside where we were greeted by a few men with guns. I remembered some of them from the warehouse, not sure they were too happy to know that they hadn't stopped Kaiba the way they thought.

"So what's your plan?" I asked. Even though I was dead I was still nervous around all of the automatic weapons.

"Tell Siegfried that I have the access codes he wants. Tell him that he is to send my brother down here so I can watch him leave before he gets them." Seto said, his voice booming as it carried over the lobby.

"There is no need for that." Seto and I looked up at the second floor balcony where Siegfried stood and behind him was Mokuba with a guard on either side of him. "Let him go." He said and one of the men shoved Mokuba forward.

I had to smile at the look on Mokuba's face, he was only mildly annoyed rather than scared. Yup, he was definitely a Kaiba. Mokuba ran to Kaiba's side and let out a breath of relief.

"The access codes." Siegfried said as he held out his hand.

"Mokuba." Seto said and Mokuba took his duel monster's card locked off and handed it to him. Kaiba did the same with his locket and tossed them up to one of Siegfried's men. "You need to go, find Yugi and the others. Stay with them." He said to Mokuba.

"But Seto…"

"Don't argue, I'll be fine." He said and made sure Mokuba was gone before looking back at Siegfried. "Are we done here?"

"I don't think so." Siegfried said, "I told you to bring me two things." He finished and snapped his fingers. Two men I recognized as the scientists who had captured me kicked out their trap and turned it on.

The only thing I could hear then, was the painful noise and the sound of Seto shouting for them to stop.

*23* Seto *23*

"You can't stop progress." Siegfried said the paused while his men collected Jounouchi and escaped to the elevator.

"By the way." Siegfried said. "You think I don't know that the access codes are not the only thing I need?" Siegfried turned to his men and gave a nod, I wasn't sure when they had gotten so close but one of them hit me in the back of the head with the butt of his gun and everything went black.

I didn't know how much time had passed before I had woken up but it felt like ages and the throbbing in the back of my head was intense. It took a moment for my eyes to focus but when they did I found myself in stepfather's war room. The place I kept all of his military secrets. Shit. This was not at all what I had planned. The other thing they needed to access the room was Kaiba DNA, they must've figured it out somehow.

"Kaiba!" Startled I looked for the source, it was Jounouchi, and he was in the device created to give Noah my body. He was pounding on the glass furiously but it only seemed to hurt him.

"Stop that." I said. I tried to get up but I was tied to a chair, bound by my wrists and legs. "Damn!"

"Ah, just in time to watch the show." I glanced over and saw Siegfried standing next to Jounouchi where he slid a hand intimately down the glass, which irritated me.

"Let him go." I ordered.

"Oh? That was quiet an order, am I to understand that you care for this boy? Now that is funny." He laughed. Bastard. "The bullies we hired seemed to think you hated him. Oh how fun this is. Life is so funny sometimes. It was just a coincidence that he had a strong enough soul and here we are, I get to take my revenge on you using your company and someone you care for."

"…Just let him go and you can have anything you want." I said.

"What? Are you crazy, Kaiba?!" Jounouchi called to me. "I'm already gone, I don't matter. I have nothing to live for anyway."

I ignored him. He was wrong. So wrong.

"Give me access to everything, then I can find more strong souls. I won't need him anymore then."

"Fine. But let him go." I said.

"Not yet." He said and crossed the room to untie me. "Log me in, give me access to everything." He said. "Now."

We made our way over to the computer and I began to log in to the deepest sections of Kaiba Corp. "These are all of the passwords." I said. "Now, let him go."

"No, I don't think so." He laughed. "I will build an unstoppable, un-killable, army and take over this pathetic world." He snapped his fingers and two of his men grabbed me by my arms, I tried to struggle but their grip was too tight. "Now, now, sit tight Kaiba and watch as I take everything away from you."

I spared a glance at Jounouchi and when our eyes met he mouthed something at me, I couldn't quite understand what it was though.

Siegfried made his way over to my father's machine and pressed a few buttons. Siegfried looked back at me with malice in his eyes, it was obvious that he was mad with revenge.

"Your step-father and I spent many hours developing the prototype for this machine and many others, then he took the plans and started his own company. All of these inventions should be mine and when I am immortal I will use them all."

"We get it, you freak!" Jounouchi said, "You don't have to rehash the story over and over again."

"You are a strong willed soul indeed." He smiled, "since you will be a part of me I will grant you the gift of final words." The sick bastard was enjoying this way too much.

"Kaiba…" Jounouchi said and I looked over at him. "I've been trying to tell you something for a while now." The machine made a sound that I could only assume meant that it was done warming up. "Seeing as how I might not get the chance to do it later I can tell you now." He said while Siegfried entered the other chamber of the device and pressed a few buttons.

"I'm glad we got to be friends for a while. It was a little surreal at first but then I started to have feelings for you. You aren't a bad guy and I hope you can let other people see that too." He said, his voice a little more frantic.

"Jounouchi…" I struggled to get free once more but was stopped in my efforts as the machine began to scream to life. A light surrounded Jounouchi's body but he didn't seem to be in pain, in fact, it was the opposite, he looked to be at peace. I was interrupted from that thought by the sound of Siegfried screaming.

"What is going on?" he said as he tried to free himself from the chamber but could not. Whatever was surrounding Jounouchi was powerful enough to stop the machine from completing its task.

Siegfried's men let go of me in an effort to save their boss, they tried everything to get him out but it was useless. I took this chance and headed over to Jounouchi. "What are you doing?"

"I have no idea, I feel really good though. Maybe this is my unfinished business." He said and the light began to brighten causing the machine to hum louder and louder only to burn out moments later.

The silence that followed was heavy, Siegfried's lifeless body slumped against the glass of his chamber and his men were unconscious on the ground. I glanced back at Jounouchi who was still enveloped by the light.

He placed his hands on the glass and I placed mine over his before looking into his honey brown eyes, those eyes were filled with warmth and acceptance. He's seen some parts of me that I had never even showed Mokuba. I felt anger bubbling up within me. Why did it have to be like this? He had to fight this. I didn't want him to leave. It wasn't right.

"Try to stay alive for a long time because I don't need you bothering me in the afterlife." He said.

"Idiot." Why was he making jokes now?

"This isn't fair is it?" he said. "I've finally found something real and I can't have it." The light around his body began to grow and I could see him disappearing.

"Don't go!" I said suddenly. "You said you had nothing to live for before but that's wrong." I ran a hand through my hair and gave a small tug before continuing, "Live for me. I want you to live for me. I love you, you moron."

"Seto…" the sound of my name coming from his lips made me feel warm all over. I've never felt anything like it before. I let my eyes close for a moment to savor the feeling but when I opened my eyes again the light around Jounouchi had almost claimed him fully. "I love you, Seto." He said.

"I'm not letting you go, Jounouchi!"