Guys like me can't write romance but I sure can try right? I mean I'm no longer in love so this is going to be a bit grating. That's why I write about blood lust and cruelty… On with this romance thing…

Please keep in mind that everything I write is hot off the press (meaning I don't use spell check) so be aware that there will be errors…

FYI everything in italics means it's really happening. Everything else is his thoughts. It switches later on but I'll tell you.

Disclaimer: I don't own 409 or Yu-Gi-Oh.


All I can do is stand here and watch as they take her away from me. There is no question, no doubt that I can't do anything to help. I'm useless. Standing in this place that smells of piss and 409 I can't do a single thing to bring her back. This is what true helplessness is.

They've taken me and shoved me in a sterile white room. Here I'm confined to this hard bed for a reason I can't find. I feel numb. There was this dull throbbing in my left arm but now I've lost all feeling all I know is that she's gone… that is the only pain I feel. The dulling ache in my chest and the sting in my eyes seem to be the only feelings adhering me to reality.

Click clack click clack. Hard heels tapped against the linoleum floor.

Oh, good a quack. He's saying something about how bullet went cleanly through. Is he talking about Serenity? No, he's looking at my arm. Wait, was I shot? I didn't know, didn't feel…

Great stitches, woo hoo. Now the quack is ushering me into a waiting room. The atmosphere is tense in this place. The air is almost stifling, chocking even though no danger is apparent. I vaguely remember being in a place like this.

Kaiba decided to sit in a torn waiting chair far away from all of the other miserables in the room. Placing his head in his hands and leaning on his knees he tried to drown out the cries and murmurs and distract himself with a past memory.

That one time I was here was when I was five… Mokuba was just born and father and I waited here. This isn't the same room but it might as well be. The same disinfectant smell, the same sounds of the TV entertaining itself, and the same feeling of apprehension. I was too young to know. Too young to know why he was crying and calling out mother's name. Too young to do anything but to hold onto him to remind me that he still has me…

Everyone here waits. They have their own ways. Some prefer to pace endlessly some cry their eyes out already knowing the prognosis. They all wait for the crushing bad news they all prepare themselves for the very worse so if there is that ray of hope they can feel relief. But for most there isn't anything good only bad. Staring restlessly at the open door on the other side of the room with weary eyes they remain.

This moment is exactly the same except now I'm in my father's place crying out her name and apologizing like mad. But waiting, waiting all the same. I would pace about to just get up and move but there are too many little kids across the floor. There's one by my knee staring u through my hands. Staring up at me in confusion before asking me if I've seen his father. The other little kids stare up at their guardians with the same sad confused look. They don't understand. How do you make such innocence learn of something like this?

Abruptly all sound stops as if it had been silent like this all along. Even the kids stopped tugging on their distraught guardians to add to the absence of sound. Only the TV resounds in the background all other noises were completely muffled. The tense silence had returned.

A doctor in a light green scrubs has appeared the cause for the silence. With a clipboard in hand he steps further into the room looking at all of us unemotionally and detached.

"Jean Rockefeller?" He calls out. The woman that had been weeping long before I had entered ran up to him as is he was a savior. A lady talking next to me said that she was in her late twenties but to me it looked as if she was in her fifties her face looked so haggard and worn.

"I have some bad news…" The doctor goes on about her husband's condition but I doubt that she was hearing a word he said after the first statement. The woman weeps on until a nurse escorted her away to be with that person she had wept for to join him in his last moments. I can't help but think that I would be standing in that woman's footsteps once they call out my name.

The memories run through my mind. Her gleaming smile, that mischievous grin, the twirling of her strawberry scented hair around her fingertips, the old little habits, all of the little things she did, it resonates like the beat of her heart against my chest. Her laughter echoes down the corridors of my mind as I sit here and pray that I can hold her in my arms again.

I have lost track of the time I've spent here. My cell phone had died awhile back after I called Mokuba and told him where I was. Mokuba himself fell asleep an hour or so ago and I covered him with my coat but I can't remember the time. Staring at the TV with my blank eyes I realize that I couldn't concentrate on the news. The clock on the wall wasn't correct at all and if it was then I've stayed here for five straight hours. That can't be right. It isn't daytime…is it? Whatever… No matter how long I have to sit here and wait I will sit here and wait for her. I have to. Besides my brother she's the only one I have left.


Italics -thoughts

Normal -narration


Kaiba twitched in his seat. Everyone else in the room had either already left or was sprawled out on a chair like his brother. No one was up anymore. Loneliness quickly set in but the feeling wasn't alien to him so he shrugged it off as he waited.

Too soon the doctor came into the room. She looked down at Kaiba with a sad look and from there he already knew. He wanted to scream and yell at them for being incompetent and fight back but he was too weary to resist and succumbed to her leading hand.

"I'm sorry Mr. Kaiba but we couldn't," she began but he wasn't listening. He was deafened to everything. Everything seemed surreal.

Why? Why couldn't I save her? That bullet was meant for me not her…not her.

The doctor led him to Serenity's room and told him that he could stay for however long he wanted to. She didn't have much time left. Tentatively he stepped into the room and looked at the small form under the white hospital sheets. Kaiba walked up to the bed slowly at first but once she reached out her hand to him he strode over to her as quickly as he could.

"Seto, I thought I had left you," a smile curved across her face.

Clasping her small hand in his he gingerly placed a kiss on her forehead. He tried to smile for her but it just wouldn't happen.

"I almost lost you… Are you feeling alright?" Was that even my voice? Why do I sound so shaken?

She laughed a little looking up at him with her now sunken hazel eyes, "They pumped me so full of morphine I doubted that I could even feel you besides me."

Kaiba looked down and pressed his lips to the back of her hand then rubbed the small knuckles with his fingertips. A small hand tilted his head up however forcing him to look back into her eyes and her grim smile.

"Seto, don't look so sad," Serenity reached out and caught his lips with hers briefly. "Please, you're going to make me cry my darling."

From those brief words he almost chocked. How am I to be stand strong when…when…?

He kept his head low before leaning towards her and nuzzling her neck. "Serenity, you know how much I love you…"

She giggled softly the sound sent shivers through him knowing that he might never hear them again. "Of course I do… I love you twice as much."

Kaiba laughed sardonically. Pressing a kiss to her head he tried to calm his breathing.

"You know I won't let you fall. I'll stand by you through it all…"

"I know Seto I know. I know you would die for me, my love. And that means everything," she whispered as she scooted away from him to let him climb in next to her.

Shakily he crawled up next to her and held her close.

"Please stay. Don't go. Please don't leave me alone. I just found you I don't want to lose you so soon..."

He held her hand tightly in his not wanting to let go. Great I'm rambling… But what else can I do? I know that she can't stay but maybe…

"Seto, hush. Let me just enjoy the beating of your heart," Serenity looked up at him looking as innocent as the time when he had first met her.

"Soon I won't have one so let me listen to yours for a short while," she whispered.

A sharp pain stabbed him through the chest as she said that. He didn't want to think of it he didn't want to admit it and here she is plainly stating it to him. The tears soon stung his eyes and he held her even more tightly against him. Kaiba buried his head in her hair trying to hide the tears from her. Laying there beside her with her hand resting on his chest while he silently wept he had no idea how long he was in that position…

"Serenity?"

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry I," Kaiba started.

Serenity pressed a fingertip to his lips, "Don't apologize. I'm glad that the bullet had struck me instead of you."

"What?"

Smiling up at him Serenity explained it as if it was the simplest thing she had ever said, "What would I ever do if you were killed? What would Mokuba do without his brother? I'm just saying I'm glad that it happened this way."

"Serenity, have you considered what I would feel?" Fighting back the tears he tried to put up a strong front.

"You would miss me but you will get over it. You'll move on. There are other women out there Seto?"

Is this even Serenity speaking to me? Of course it is. I'll blame it on the drugs. But doesn't she even feel the pain she's causing me?

Pulling her head against his chest he kissed the top of her head lovingly trying to cover up the tears that fell.

"I only want you Serenity. You are the only one that kept me calm. Kept me happy," his voice slowly lowered until it cracked.

Quickly he looked down and shut his eyes hoping that she didn't hear the slight crack in his voice. Through these last few years I only saw you… Just you…

"Seto?" Serenity looked up at him and cupped his cheek in her delicate hand.

Hesitatingly he opened his eyes and looked at her sorrowfully.

"Serenity… Almost everyone I knew has left me. Mokuba even, he has college to go to. So please don't end up turning your back upon me as well. Please," turning his face from her he sat up and let them fall.

"Seto, don't cry. You are going to make me cry too," she placed a gentle hand on his shoulder trying to blink back her own tears. Please don't cry Seto. I'll stay. I'll stay. Please, I never wanted to see you cry my dear. I actually have never seen you cry so please stop… Seto…

"Seto…" Serenity got up and wrapped her arms around him.

Time stood still as the two fell apart together. Neither cared about how long they've been entwined and laid as one.

Serenity exhausted from crying lay on Kaiba's chest as he stayed up. That constant beeping kept him up. They told him that she was at a stable enough condition but she was fading out slowly. Every descending peak on the LCD brings you farther away from me. I would ask you to stay awake because I don't want to miss a thing but I should let you rest shouldn't I? You have no idea how much I'm trying not to shake, trying not to cry out. You are the only my one and only, Serenity. I've already given myself up to you. Please wake up and say my name. You have changed me too much to just walk away now… You have showed me how to live so please tell me that you'll stay for as long as you can. I will give up this life if I could to let you live. So just please tell me…

Running his fingers through her silky hair Kaiba laid there. His body began to grow numb from her cutting off his circulation but who was he to care? Unable to rest because she was on his chest and that constant beeping he stayed up and waited for her to wake.

At some point in the night Serenity got off of him and lay by his side. Stroking his head gently she watched him as he slept.

Blinking from the harsh light he jolted awake. Morning? Shit when did I sleep? Is she… Damnit! How could I… Flopping onto his stomach he pressed his palm into his eyes attempting and failing to hold them back.

"Seto, can I say something?" A soft voice asked him as he felt a hand wiping away the tears.

"Serenity… What is it?"

She pressed up against him and pressed her cheek against his collarbone. Automatically he sat up and embraced her.

"You know you can say anything you want to me…"

"I feel lucky," her voice was barely at an audible hush, "Lucky to have met you, Seto. Lucky to have you by my side."

No, that's where you're wrong Serenity. I'm the one who was lucky enough to have known you, to have shared this life with you. I'm the lucky one but I don't feel so lucky… But I would rather have lain by your side and losing you than never having met you.

Kaiba wanted to say that aloud but instead he settled for holding her close and agreeing with her.

"Seto, you really do mean the world to me. Please take care of your self should I," Serenity began.

"No, don't finish that statement. Just tell me you'll stay with me for a bit longer."

She laughed at his denial and agreed, "I'll stay with you. Where would I go anyways?"

Serenity gave a small laugh. Another laugh that brought tears to his eyes.

Leaning back from her Kaiba bent down and gave her another kiss.

"I wish I could stay here right next to you forever," she uttered leaning against him.

"I wish so too," Seto looked behind her absently at the little machines and their blipping screens. Seeing one of them begin to descend he instinctively held her close.

"Seto," she called to him.

"I know. Hush, I know," letting them roll down his cheeks he no longer cared. Serenity let out a short gasp but still he held her.

"Serenity, I'll always love you," Kaiba whispered. Serenity reached up and wrapped her arm around his neck and kissed him gently.

"Goodbye," was the word she left him with as she closed her eyes for the final time. Her hazel eyes were just open enough to let some of the light make them glitter. He shouted her name to the ceiling and wept openly no longer caring. Holding her limp body to his he felt the warmth drain from her. Resting his forehead against her chest he gently kissed her. He didn't hear them shout his name, he didn't feel his brother tugging on him, and he didn't even know they were there even though he had called them the night before. He no longer felt anything besides the pain and anguish that she had left him with.


So this means I'm reviving this story once again from the dead… If only I could do the same for her…

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