I'm proud I got a chappy of this fic done. Originally, my plan was to end the book with this chapter, but instead, I just made a cliffhanger. I'm such a deviant. I even have an epilogue and alternate epilogue planned for this... so it'll be longer still. Oh well. Life happens when you make other plans. ;)

Sorry if this isn't up to part with everything else... week before final exams... grah. Hence why I'm proud I churned this out.

[BEGIN SAPPINESS] By the way, I've decided this entire fic is basically a rough draft of where I want it to be - my writing has a long way to go before it's up to speed with the other amazing writers on the site, and I think that's an age issue. Whenever this is finished, you can bet I'll come back and re-write the story once my style has improved. Just writing "Trebuchet" has shown me many weaknesses (and strengths, I suppose), which can be ironed out only with practice. [END SAPPINESS]

Yu-Gi-Oh! is not mine, but instead property of Kazuki Takahashi.

Chapter 12

11:11 AM, Sunday, April 17, 2005

Japan

Seto and Mokuba arrived late to the wedding of Joey Wheeler and Mai Valentine. They also arrived separately: Kaiba simply by his customary limousine, and Mokuba directly from Narita airport.

The events that had transpired a few months ago had left Kaiba somewhat of a changed man. As he slid out into the sunshine from the center seat of his limousine, dressed in the customary tuxedo the situation required, he was thinking about Mokuba, and not about the event he was attending. He was no longer worried about him, however.

He realized it was almost like he didn't want to even see him here. The ache would be too much.

The wedding was taking place outside of Tokyo, technically, at some rural beach resort further up the coast that toted magnificent views off of its dazzling cliff-side location, or something similar to that. Slightly inconveniencing to Kaiba, but then again, this was two-thousand and five, so he wasn't completely incapacitated by a day where he wasn't the shadow of Nag haunting KaibaCorp, the garden of Kipling's British family.

Swallowing the events of the past few months had been difficult for Kaiba, but it soon became routine to no longer worry how his little brother was faring across the ocean, and whenever he would call him the welcome he received was, well, less than welcome. Emails, his next plan of action, had been fewer, seeing as his laptop was not of the entertainment sort. Eventually, Kaiba figured Mokuba had simply blocked his email address. The rift, silent, had stretched between them.

The place seemed dumpy on the outside, but to Kaiba, most places were dumpy on the outside, too, so he wasn't entirely repulsed. Apparently, according to the memo he had gotten, the wedding would be inside the hotel's chapel. The bride and groom of the day were going for the more traditional American-style wedding, a pretty popular trend recently, for some reason. Good for them. Whatever.

Yet Kaiba believed, somewhere deep inside of him, that it was possible to still have a relationship with Mokuba. Of course he could. He dared not think of it in case of the emotions it would stir. He raised him, right? They were brothers. That's what you did. So what if Mokuba was in some sort of hyper-angsty college phase now? Mokuba would come back to him, sometime, apologetic and accepting. And he would eventually come back to Mokuba, ready to forgive. Problem solved.

After all, wasn't Mokuba the reason he would even come to an event like this? Notwithstanding the potential interest he had shown Wheeler last year? He was only here, he surmised, because he wanted to meet him again. At the office, he had given no real explanation, and even his newer secretary found it against his custom to simply take leave on a whim, as he declaredly was doing.

As Seto reached to open the door, not really caring if he would no longer be able to see the sakura that encircled the yard of the hotel, it instead flew open in front of him, causing him to take a step back instinctively. Mokuba – indigo eyes wide, hair still cropped short, but wearing a mustard-colored suit which clashed oddly with him – stepped out.

In his hand was a pack of cigarettes; in the other, a cigarette he recently had extracted from it.

He barely looked at his brother as he flew by.

"Oh. Hey. Um…"

And with that, Mokuba continued on his way, with a demeanor partially panicked, partially sheepish, and entirely 'too-cool-for-you'.

This is going to be an interesting day, Kaiba thought, half-wishing he still had the authority – or the heart - to turn around and chastise Mokuba for his choices.

~ X X X ~

Mokuba had indeed panicked when he had seen his older brother, but it wasn't at all due to the fact Mokuba had taken up the habit of smoking. Nobody liked him for that anymore, anyway, since he started back in January or something. He was used to the scowls, the upturned noses, the silent disapproval.

He was in fact quite ecstatic. Mokuba had never told Seto to come to the wedding, and just supposed he would, astutely, that the mere suspicion Mokuba would attend would be enough to cause his brother to come calling also. Now his supposed suspicions were confirmed.

He finished running, and stopped to catch his breath, looking up. He was near the dumpster, behind the hotel, in view of the ocean. Magnificent.

But not as magnificent as his plan was.

A navy blue car, rather ordinary, sat parked awkwardly nearby, and a woman was inside, waiting. Its engine was still running, as though she were ready to bolt if anyone else should find her there. She looked up at Mokuba's approach, and her eyebrows raised, asking a question, when Mokuba raised his hand in greeting.

Mokuba held up his finger in indication of wait and rushed over. He struggled to catch his breath, wheezing just a tad, as she rolled down the window with some force. It was an old car.

"Are you Mokuba?"

"Yes."

"Where's your brother? Is he here yet?"

He hadn't told her Seto might not even make it.

"He's inside, but the wedding isn't going to start yet. It'll be a while."

She seemed annoyed at this.

"Oh."

"Well, do you want to get it over with now? Before it starts?"

A pause. Then-

"Yes, I think I would."

The engine grumbled as it slowed and died away. Noelle Hermand stepped out of the car.

~ X X X ~

The wedding wasn't due to start until noon, but many people were already there. The groom and bride weren't, obviously; they were probably in their rooms readying themselves with their friends, obsessing over having perfection for this wondrous day in their lives. Seto smirked awkwardly, his normal coping mechanism, and gazed into the chapel room as he sauntered towards it.

He flinched, but was of course not surprised to see, the high school geek squad over in one corner talking to each other and each other only. Everybody else was probably family of some sort that Kaiba couldn't possibly have recognized or known, and had no interest in trying to assign to a particular side. Most of them looked related to Mai. He suddenly felt very awkward standing there in his customary designer's overcoat, and silently cursed being six-foot-one.

He moved past hold, and began to faintly hear some preparatory background music; the Turkish march, by Beethoven. It tinkled in the tiny space, seemingly lost within the minute cracks in the ceiling. Wheeler and friends were definitely going western now.

Not finding a place to sit – and finding it equally probable that would be seen as uncustomary – he chose to stand. In a corner.

Just like usual.

Then a man walked towards him, eyes twinkling, and he was familiar. His doctor, from when he had the seizure.

Not just like usual.

Something better make today worthwhile, he thought to himself, somewhat sullenly, readying himself for another aggravating conversation.

~ X X X ~

Noelle was surprised to find Kaiba's little brother equally as tall as she was. That was her first impression when she began accompanying him back into the hotel.

The next one was that his suit seemed kind of odd, and that he was smoking as he walked.

She was entirely glad he was not her son. The fumes were overpowering. He did then hold open the back door for her, however, and, whispering thanks half-heartedly to the smug brat, ducked inside as if she might get beaten for doing so.

She straightened once she looked ahead, though. The back door was in view of the room where all the decorations were hung, and someone's unique coattails were peeking out into the hallway. They were shivering, as if their owners body was tapping his foot in irritation while making conversation.

All of a sudden, her own body began to shake. The nervousness. It was all going to happen. Right now. She would not have been the one to say this hotel - quaint, but by no standards permanently inhabitable – would be where one of the overarching problems in her life would be resolved. Irresolutely. She felt like taking in a refreshing whiff of the air, but decided not to due to the faintly detectable odor she could already sense, clinging all around her.

"You ready?" asked Mokuba, who had stayed by the door, as if trying to not be seen by anyone.

"… I must be. I have to, now," Noelle responded quietly. She balled her fists, in an attempt to stop the tremors, to no avail. How could anyone make her feel like this without it being…?

"Go."

The encouragement was like pressing a button on a toy monkey with cymbals: she began moving, robotically, high heels clattering noisily on tile flooring. She scrapped her idea of slipping in the room unnoticed, and decided just to confront him. Directly. Get it over with. Get herself over with.

Seto Kaiba would finally learn her secret. The one that hid itself for so long from both her and, more than likely, from him. Their relationship was no longer strictly business.

~ X X X ~

He heard what sounded like loud explosions coming from the hallway, and he allowed himself to be distracted by them, just so that Dr. Kujaku would shut up and leave him alone. Kaiba excused himself when Kujaku hushed and raised his eyebrows in concern, and, whipping around unceremoniously, he strode to the door.

Who he saw made his blood turn to ice. It was fucking Noelle Hermand. Here. Now. Why.

"What are you doing here?" he snapped at her. Her eyes, which had been trained to the floor, shot up suddenly, and she gave the impression of having wanted to sneak through the hallway without seeing him. She didn't seem like the same businesswoman he had known while she was in charge at Disney; she seemed more mousy, less pushy.

"Mr. Kaiba," she greeted, and her voice quavered. "Could I… speak to you?"

"Of course," he said, silently cursing himself for saying so after just leaving somebody else he found insufferable right now, and pointedly gestured inward, towards the center of the room he was only barely still in. "Be my guest."

Noelle hesitated, and cocked her head, as if trying to get him to leave the room.

"Neither of us want to be here," Kaiba said, and his mouth took off without his brain. "Once this wedding is over, I'm gone. I'm only here to speak to Mokuba, and- "

"I'm only here to speak to you," she admitted, and she blushed slightly.

Kaiba frowned, and he shrugged, as if readying himself for a verbal war. Instead, however, Noelle saw him spirit into the room, right into the middle of it, even. And then he glared at her with those cold, blue eyes, the same ones she happened to have. She was dragged in by them.

"…I…" she began, whispering, and she swallowed. Kaiba noticed, and he hissed sharply. "Don't try to come on to me now that we're no longer business partners. You can think of somewhere better than someone else's wedding, right?"

She smiled and she looked up at him. "No, no. It's just… I-"

"Excuse me," said a voice, and Kaiba could swear he could strangle someone. He dared glance at the intruder. It was Dr. Kujaku. Again. He had picked up a glass of champagne from an appetizer table he hadn't yet noticed, and was looking between Kaiba and Hermand, an amused expression on his face.

"I'm sorry," he said, and his tone was almost as if he were saying it for the umpteenth time. "It's just… ma'am… you look so much like him. You two, I mean, like each other…" He turned decidedly towards Hermand. "You could be his mother, even."

Kaiba growled deeply, and Kujaku backed off. Kaiba then turned back to Hermand, who was staring where Kujaku had been standing moments before. Her face had become more pale than normal. "You were saying?"

"Yes," Noelle told him.

Kaiba blinked.

"He's right," she pressed, tentatively. All of a sudden it came in a burst, rushed, but in his ear, so that nobody else could hear her.

"I… I've missed you, Seto. I've been looking for you… I don't know how long, and I never thought I'd ever see you again…"

Kaiba recoiled from the hot breath crackling in his ear, and swatted her advance, and began to turn away. Was everyone here so odd, in their own special way? What was Noelle even blabbering about? Not even worth his trouble.

"I am your mother," she called after him, and her voice broke. The buzzing of other conversations in the room quieted down. He froze, and turned back to look at her, an incredulous look on his face, as if he were staring down a lunatic. It was then replaced by his normal impassive shell; but his eyes kept probing her.

"No. You don't understand, Hermand. Whatever's gotten into you, know this: my mother is dead. She died giving birth to Mokuba."

Noelle stared straight at him, challenging him, and Kaiba could almost see what she might be trying to say in her delusion: they were similar people. But they were far too age-distant for a relationship, and besides, Kaiba had no desire for one with a foreign business partner. Or with anyone.

"I am your mother," she repeated, more calmly, more clearly. "And I can prove it."

"How?" His chest swelled, he could feel the blood pumping to his head. A challenge? "Alright, bitch," he thought. Bring it on.

"I know his name. Your father's."

"Do you now?" he mocked.

She glared at him, passion rolling off her as if she were issuing a fine mist of emotion into the room. Everyone was mostly silent, save people setting down their plates of food or wiping their mouths with their napkins in anticipation.

"Well, tell me," Kaiba spat. "Whisper it to me."

As she approached him, gracefully, yet with a respectable fear, he began to smell fried eggs. Odd, how certain smells are connected to certain people.

She whispered a name in his ear.

Tomas Cizek.

A few stunned seconds later, his world collapsed. It collapsed even before he hit the ground.

Can you believe Noelle is Seto's mom? Is she, and there's much to be explored? Or no - she's delusional, and Seto blacked out due to the stress and pressure of this situation? (Wouldn't be the first time...) Who is Tomas Cizek, anyway? I feel so gloriously evil right now. I should probably stop. *Stops*