Grimacing, Seto pulls open the door, which yawns open and nails him with a gust of air that reeks of mildew and brine. Resisting the powerful urge to retch, he shines the flashlight beam into the darkness. The circular room is empty, spare a damp, rusted staircase that rises from the center of the room, spiraling upwards into the dark. Keeping the gun steadied in both hands, Seto scans the room, shuffling cautiously. He is painfully aware of the way that the damp walls amplify every noise that he makes; even the sound of his quick, shallow breaths is audible, revealing his presence to anyone hiding in the dark.
Early, he thinks to himself, having bounced the beam of light emitted from his weapon off every surface in the room. He holds his breath for a moment, listening for any noise that would indicate the presence of another, but the only noise is the sound of condensation dripping from the ceiling, echoing loudly in the abandoned room.
"Oh, Seto. You'll never cease to disappoint me." Seto's heart lurches at the sound of a voice from high above, and he tips his head upwards, scanning the staircase frantically for the speaker.
Straining his neck to catch a better glimpse, Seto aims his pistol upwards, probing desperately into the darkness in search of its' target. The man trapped in the feeble yellow beam is poised at the top of the staircase, with one hand rested on the wrought-iron railing. His light brown hair is slicked away from his face, and he wears a white work-shirt with a maroon pinstriped tie. As recognition crashes onto Seto at once, he struggles to maintain his grip on the pistol, feeling his muscles slacken with shock.
"Gavin," he says weakly, silently urging his knees not to tremble.
The man smiles sadly, shaking his head. "You're not as smart as I thought you'd be, Seto," he replies. "Now, now. I thought you would have known." Gavin begins his descent down the staircase, with each step reverberating through the room. As the shock begins to ebb, Seto trains his sight on Gavin, keeping it locked onto him as he progresses down the staircase.
"For the love of goodness, Seto. If you wanted to shoot me on sight, you would have done so already. Don't insult us both-put that thing down." As he steps onto the slimy cement floor of the lighthouse, Gavin makes a dismissive gesture with a flick of his wrist.
Unflinching, Seto bares his teeth in a snarl. Gavin moves closer to Seto, raising his hand above his head.
"Come now, Seto. I'm not going to hurt you. You're pretty much done." The man stops a few feet from the barrel of Seto's pistol, then adjusts his tie and runs his hand casually through his hair. "You're too late, guy. The files have been leaked to the press, incriminating you as the leader of a child smuggling ring. And, just to top it off, you…." his voice trails off, and his head tilts as he pretends to think for a moment, "...will have shot the director of the orphanage, who figured out your sick scheme, and tried to stop you."
Seto's eyes narrow, but he lowers his gun. Gavin claps his hands together provocatively, sneering at the dark-haired man. "Oh, well done. You're not as foolish as I thought you might be."
"H-how could you do this?" Seto demands incredulously. "Why the fuck would you use these kids in-in your game?"
Gavin sighs with mock impatience. "Oh please, Seto. Let's not pretend that human life has any value in this game that we play." He pauses, raising an eyebrow as he waits for Seto to respond; met with hostile silence, he continues, "You're no better than I am. You tortured people into madness, you drove people to suicide, you forced people to play your manipulative little death-games. Don't play that little schtick, Seto-it's not going to work. Not on me."
"I'm not th"-
"Oh, great! Here we go! You're not...what? You're not the person that you were then? I'm afraid we're going to have to agree to disagree.
You fancy yourself as one of the good guys, Seto," he says, folding his arms across his chest. "You lied and you killed and you cheated and you stole, and you think you can be exonerated of that, if you do enough good in the world." His green eyes narrow mockingly. "You want to believe you can bury the person that you were then. Seto, I know you." He waves one hand through the air, sneering. "You think you're gonna be this crusader for those who don't have a voice...you think you can turn all that guilt into something constructive." Gavin rolls his eyes. "Honestly, how insulting to the good people of Domino City, Seto. Do you really think you have them wrapped so tightly around your finger-that you can change the narrative, just like that?" For emphasis, he raises one hand in the air, snapping his fingers together; the sharp noise echoes through the dark, empty space for a moment, reverberating off of the damp walls. "You're not better than Gozaburo Kaiba, Seto. You're worse, because at least, he knew who he was."
"Shut up!" Seto growls. Shaking slightly, he raises the pistol in his hands, pointing it at the other man.
Gavin's eyes roll. "Or-what, Seto? Please-indulge me." He pouts, as if he is frustrated at being trifled with. "You thought you were going to come in here, and what...duel some logic into me? I've never understood how that whole thing worked. But Seto, you lured the director of one of the most underprivileged orphanages in Domino City into an abandoned basement, and you're going to-what?-shoot him?" He sighs. "And you think you're going to change your story.
You think the world owes you another chance at goodness, Seto. I'm telling you, Seto, the world doesn't owe you shit. You had your fun running rampant and doing your damage. You're done for good."
"Why, then?"
"Why what, Seto? Why did you, over every other kid just like you, deserve to rise out of the ashes like a stupid goddamn phoenix? Why did you get to save your little brother, too, when my brother never got the chance to save me? Why does the world look at you like some kind of inspirational fucking hero, when you're nothing more than a shady crook?" His voice breaks, and his last question comes out as a pained rasp. "Why did you take my brother from the streets, and torture him with your damn technology? Why, Seto? Why anything?"
Seto's eyes widen. "Gavin, I-"
"Do everyone a favor, and just shut the fuck up for once."
Seto's teeth clench, and he lowers his hands. "Kill me, then."
Gavin's green eyes widen with delight. "You're a damn coward, Seto," he responds. "I'm not going to deprive the world of watching you fall apart before them. You wanted to rebrand yourself as the phoenix, the boy who rose from nothing and conquered their inner demons to become a force of good in the world. Tonight, everyone will finally know you for the madman that you are." The look in his eyes is downright maniacal. "And I want you to watch." Before Seto has a chance to react to his words, Gavin lunges forwards, landing a kick square into Seto's stomach. Caught off-guard, Seto drops the gun, staggering desperately to regain his weapon as Gavin kicks it away, and it skitters off across the floor and into the darkness.
"Not like that," Gavin says coldly. "Not so easy, Seto. You're going to watch as you're exposed to the whole world for the man you really are." The man's knee drives into Seto's chest, knocking the wind out of him, and Seto yelps as he feels pain explode in his chest. Gavin swings at head, knocking him to the floor, and kicks him square in the temple. Seto groans, tasting grime and salt on the ground as the world fades to black.
X
This is how it ends, he thinks to himself as his eyelids flutter open. His head pounds with an excruciatingly dull, heavy pain that bursts in flashes of light behind his eyes. Gavin stands over him with his arms folded across his chest and his eyes narrowed, and somewhere in the corner of his mind Seto realizes that there isn't anything stopping him from leaving, except for the fact that he knows it's all over.
The air is heavy with the scent of brine, and the only sound comes from the condensation dripping from the ceiling. Entirely undone, Seto rests his forehead against the cold stone floor. Everything he worked so hard for is gone. Worse yet, lives were ruined in his name, the lives of the young children he had sworn to defend.
A sharp pain jolts him, and he flops over onto his back. Gavin stands over him, with a rubber-soled shoe poised over his face. "For goodness' sake, man," he says. "I thought you'd have more in you."
Too overcome with anguish to speak, Seto groans, rolling onto his stomach as he anticipates the blunt force of Gavin's sole colliding with the back of his skull….
...Instead, he hears the obnoxious screeching of rusted metal hinges, and the soft tap of Gavin's sole on the pavement as he lowers his foot.
"Hold it!"
Reeling with confusion, Seto props himself up on his elbow, craning his neck for a better view of the door. A small, silhouetted figure stands in the doorway, illuminated by the pale light from the docks outside. Their knees are bent, and their arms stretched in front of them. He can see the shape of a handgun clasped between their hands, and soft silver-white hair falls in a thick braid over their shoulder.
Kisara. Utterly confused, he pushes himself to a sitting position. Keeping a low, crouched position as she moves, Kisara makes her way towards the center of the room, her gun trained, to his surprise, on Gavin. "It's over," she says, her voice cold and hard.
Seto turns his attention towards Gavin. The triumphant glimmer in the man's falters slightly, and he wheels about to face Kisara, narrowing his eyes but saying nothing. Confused, Seto pushes himself to his feet, staring at Kisara. "Ex-explain yourself," he rasps, discovering his voice is caught in his throat.
Kisara's dark blue eyes dart back and forth as they size up Gavin. Looking slightly disoriented, the man blinks at her, biting at his lip before he cautiously raises his hands above his head.
Apparently satisfied, Kisara lowers her gun and reaches into her pocket, holding up something small and rectangular that glints in the low light. "Game over," she hisses; Seto is startled by the malice in her low, husky voice. "Gotcha. The police are coming."
An undeniable flicker of doubt crosses Gavin's face. "Wh-what do you mean?" he asks, struggling to maintain his silky demeanor.
"I got into your computer," Kisara responds. The soft contours of her face shift as she smiles triumphantly.
"N-not possible," Gavin rasps. Seto tenses, expecting him to fly towards Kisara in an attempt to recover whatever she holds in her hand, but Gavin is frozen in place.
"Quite possible, actually. You're not as advanced as you think you are, Gavin. You were relying on the fact that you're so innocent, the poor director of this poor little orphanage. You didn't expect you were going to be vetted." Her lips curl with unmistakable pride as she adds, "especially not by an expert in cyber-security."
Gavin shakes his head rapidly, unable to process what Kisara is saying. "No. No," he says firmly. "Seto Kaiba deleted the records of the missing children from the Children's Sanctuary. And money for those children-that money was sent to Seto Kaiba."
Kisara rolls her eyes. "Do yourself a favor," she says coldly. "Just stop. It's all here-all of the records from your computer." Gavin lunges towards her, and she takes a step back, tossing the drive away from her. "Don't worry. You do know that you can make copies of things, right? The police have everything they need. I don't want to know how you hacked the Young Paladins database. You did, and you impersonated Mr. Kaiba, and it's all in the hands of the police. It's over." Seto can hear the distant wailing of police sirens begin to strengthen, growing from a soft whine into a piercing howl. "It's over."
Seto stares numbly, his head throbbing as the room floods with flashing lights, cherry red and bright blue.
