Disclaimer: There may well come a day when I own the rights to Yu-Gi-Oh!, sadly today is not that day.

"You and I go hard at each other like we're going to war.

You and I go rough; we keep throwing things and slamming the door."

One More Night ~ Maroon 5

Chapter 20

When he arrived back at the estate Alistair was very surprised to find Kaiba in the foyer waiting for him.

"Why aren't you at work?" he asked, still not over his astonishment.

"Who are you to question me?" Seto asked, narrowing his eyes. "I want to talk to you." Alistair didn't like the tone of Kaiba's voice though he couldn't imagine what had caused it. "My office. Now." With that, he swept up the stairs, his black winter coat billowing out behind him. Alistair chose to follow him from a safe distance. He arrived at Kaiba's office to see Seto already seated behind his desk. "Close the door behind you," Seto ordered and Alistair complied, starting to become annoyed by Seto's bossy attitude.

"What do you want?" he snapped, crossing his arms. Seto reached into an inner pocket in his jacket, pulled something out and threw it at Alistair's feet. Alistair peered down and saw that it was a condom. Completely bewildered, he started to say something when Seto cut him off.

"What made you think it was ok to give that to Mokuba?" he demanded angrily. Alistair's heart sank.

"What makes you think I gave it to him?" Alistair shot back hotly. Seto rolled his eyes.

"Oh I don't know, the two fags on the front of it maybe." Alistair was taken aback by Seto's choice of words having thought that Kaiba would be above such slurs.

"So maybe I did give it to him, so what? Wouldn't you rather he use it than not?"

"He told you that he's been having sex with that girl?" Seto tried to mask his surprise by sounding disbelieving.

"He told me that he wanted her to spend the night and I figured I knew what he meant by that and gave it to him so that even though I said I disapproved, they'd be safe. Maybe if you would have taken the time to sit down with him and talk about sex he would have come to you first."

"Don't you dare lecture me about how I should raise my brother!" Seto said furiously, flaring up at once and even standing, palms face down on the surface of his desk.

"Then don't blame me for trying to be helpful!"

"Why do you feel the need to interfere in my life?" Seto shouted. "When you get that stupid license and I give you a helicopter, I want you to leave and never come back, do you understand?"

"Fine!" Alistair yelled back. "Then at least I won't have to deal with you and your ego ever again!" He stormed out of the office, making sure to slam the door as hard as possible behind him. He failed to notice Mokuba who was peeking around the corner. He'd heard most of the argument and was none too happy about it, especially since it had been about him. He squared his shoulders and prepared to talk his brother, unwilling to let Alistair take responsibility for his mistake for a second time.

"Seto?" he said tentatively, knocking.

"I'm busy Mokuba," came the reply. Normally that would have been enough to get Mokuba to stay away, but this time he was on a mission. Ignoring his brother's obvious desire to be left alone, Mokuba cracked the door open in time to see Seto closing the Duel Monster's card shaped locket he always wore around his neck. "I said I'm busy," Seto repeated, nettled.

"I heard you and Alistair yelling at each other," Mokuba said slowly. "And I don't think it was fair that you blamed him. He was right, I should have-."

"Look, I know you're trying to help, but don't. Alistair is an adult, you're not. He should have known better than to give you something like that."

"I wasn't even going to use it." Seto raised an eyebrow disbelievingly. "Honestly."

"So what was this about you wanting to have her sleep over here? Did you really think I wouldn't find out?"

"We were just going to play video games and watch movies," Mokuba insisted. "I'm serious. And anyway, how come you get to do whatever you want if I don't? You're not that much older than me."

"If I can still pick you up you're too young," Seto invented. Mokuba crossed his arms.

"You can pick Alistair up and you're not saying that he's too young," he pointed out craftily. The statement had the desired effect. Seto was at a loss for words. There was a chance that Mokuba didn't mean anything by it, but Seto had never been an optimist.

Mokuba had never seen his older brother look so embarrassed. His cheeks had developed a pink tinge which definitively confirmed what the teen had already been pretty certain about.

"How did you know about that?" Seto asked finally, wishing his face would stop burning, hoping against hope that Mokuba hadn't seen anything. He'd known that making out with Alistair at the foot of the stairs had been a bad idea. Mokuba hid his smile behind his hand.

"It's kind of obvious."

"What do you mean?" Seto insisted. Mokuba thought back.

"Nothing specific, it's just the way you look at each other, or don't. And the fact that you didn't want to talk about him the other day and how he talks about you. Just little things. I don't think they're noticeable to most people, but I'm not most people, and I know that you wouldn't have cared about Alistair leaving if he didn't mean something to you."

"I…that…that's none of your business," Seto said lamely.

"And me and my relationship to Hilary is your business?"

"I'm older than you, and more to the point, I'm responsible for you, so what I say goes, got it? No more questions about Alistair, and no sleepovers with Hilary." It was the closest Seto had ever come to sounding like a parent and Mokuba wasn't about to let him get away with it.

"Alright, fine. But then maybe you should set a better example and stop bruising up Alistair's neck; you're only encouraging me." He picked the condom off the floor, tossed it onto Seto's desk and left, laughing, before Seto had the chance to retort. His face burning again, Seto sat back down and put his head in his hands. Mokuba knew that he and Alistair had been involved. It was humiliating. He didn't want his little brother thinking about that! He wished he could blame Alistair, but it seemed as though it was his own words that had betrayed him. At least Trudy didn't know…

Alistair was so angry at Kaiba that he could practically feel his vision blurring. How dare he? How dare he dismiss him like that after everything that had happened? He entered his room and slammed the door shut, causing Sewell to yowl in fright and hide under the bed. Kaiba hadn't changed at all even though Alistair had given him every opportunity to do so. He still blamed everyone but himself for his own problems. Whatever. His loss. Alistair was beyond done. If Kaiba wanted him out of his life, fine, he'd gladly grant his wish.

He was standing in the middle of the room trying to figure out what to do next when he heard a knock on the door. He hated himself for hoping it would be Kaiba.

"Alistair, it's me, Mokuba," Mokuba said. "Can I come in?" Disappointed, Alistair answered.

"Yeah, sure. But I'm not really in the mood to play games right now." Mokuba opened the door and realized he hadn't been in this room since the day Alistair moved in.

"It's ok, I wasn't going to ask you about that. I wanted to talk about Seto." Alistair tensed.

"What about him?" Mokuba was suddenly uncertain. He knew that Alistair wouldn't hurt him or anything, but hearing him sounding so angry reminded him of how Alistair had been when they first met.

"I…uh…well…I know that you two have been…I mean, that you're sort of…seeing each other," Mokuba managed very awkwardly, careful to keep an eye on Alistair so he could gauge his reaction.

"Oh." Alistair didn't seem embarrassed as Seto had, nor did he seem especially surprised by the news, he simply shrugged. "Yeah, well, not anymore."

"Is it because of me?" Mokuba asked cautiously.

"No."

"Then why?" Alistair looked pityingly at the younger Kaiba brother. He could sense that Mokuba, now that he knew that he and his brother had been together, desperately wanted it to stay that way.

"Your brother and I are too different. Anyway, I don't think he'd want me to talk to you about this."

"That's true." Mokuba looked miserable. "Who wanted to end it?" If it had been Seto there might still be a chance to fix things if his behavior in his office was anything to go on. Alistair hesitated.

"He did."

Alistair's nightmares started up again that night. He tossed and turned in his makeshift nest in throes of agony, lost in his own head.

"Where's mom?" Mikey asked, playing with his Dino Dude action figure.

"They killed her."Alistair looked at the ground and realized in horror that it was spattered with blood. He jerked backwards. "Mikey, get back!" he said, panicked. There was so much blood…

"Too late." Mikey's voice was frighteningly calm. Alistair looked over and started. Mikey's face had taken on a goulish appearance. His eyes were sunken and dull and half of his face was rotted off. Alistair could see his ribs through his now tattered T-shirt.

"M-Mikey!" he stammered, terrified, backing up further.

"You did this!" Mikey said, pointing a boney finger at Alistair. "You did this! You did this! YOU DID THIS!"

Alistair took off running, Mikey's chorus's of 'you did this' seeming to follow him. He ran until he tripped over something and fell over. He realized in horror that he'd tripped over a headless, mangled torso. A mangled torso wearing a golden locket.

"No!" he yelled. "No! Mikey!"

"You didn't do a very good job protecting your brother, did you?" came a snide voice from behind him. He spun around to see Kaiba smirking smugly at him from the opposite side of the plane. "Guess that's why my brother's still alive and yours isn't. Face it, you failed!"

"I was trying to protect him!"

"Were you?" Kaiba laughed. "Some protection you are. Face it Alistair: you're nothing but a loser."

Alistair jerked awake and cracked his head on the underside of the bed. Pain shot through his body but he barely noticed. He was shaking all over and covered in sweat. Even though he knew now that it had only been a dream, he couldn't shake it. He lay back down and tried to get comfortable, but the image of Mikey's decomposing face and mangled corpse continued to haunt him. He wondered if he would ever be able to get the scene out of his head.

He felt something wet touch his hand and jumped before he realized that it was Sewell's nose. He pulled the cat into his arms and held her close.

"I just want it to stop," he whispered. He had thought that he was over it since he hadn't had a nightmare in almost a week, but it seemed that while his improvement had almost definitely been the result of his relationship with Seto, now that that was over he was going to relapse. Kaiba had only been a distraction, not a solution. Alistair was sure that the only remedy would be to return to his homeland and face his demons head on, hopefully saving lives in the process and finally paying off his debt to his brother for having gotten him killed so that his memory of Mikey could finally rest in peace. As he started to fall back asleep, the stone around his neck glimmered momentarily in the darkness.

For the next three weeks Alistair did his best to avoid everyone, especially Kaiba (not that that was difficult given that they'd only come into contact with one another before because they'd wanted to). He hoped that by alienating himself from everyone he could alleviate the inevitable hurt of having to leave them behind forever. He'd suffered enough losses in his life as it was to want to suffer any more.

He ate in silence until eventually Trudy stopped sitting with him at breakfast, he declined Mokuba's offers to play video games, ignored Darren's texts and voicemails, and spent as much time as possible out of the house. His new favorite haunt was the local library where he would sit for hours on end devouring book after book at an alarming rate now that his vocabulary was better though he still always had a dictionary at the ready.

The only person that he actively maintained contact with was Moira. After their initial meeting, they had begun texting quite often and he eventually met her family which consisted of a younger sister, older brother, and mother and father plus a cat named Faileas. Though her father at least had initially seemed resentful of the fact that Alistair had been out of the country illegally for seven years when they'd waited patiently to emigrate the right way, Alistair won him over by explaining that he wanted to go back and help the relief effort by joining Robinhood.

True to her word, after their next correspondence with their Robinhood contact Neakail, Moira's parents mentioned Alistair's interest in getting involved, a proposition Neakail said he would take up with his boss since he found it suspicious that someone who had already been out of the country would want to come back and help.

After two weeks he'd gotten back to them and said that his boss, Kam, had agreed to a video chat with Alistair as a sort of screening process.

Over the course of the conversation Alistair left nothing out barring the Seal of Orichalcos, explaining where he'd grown up, how he'd lost his parents and brother, under what circumstances he'd been rescued by Dartz, the head of Doma (which Kam had heard of), and that he'd stayed on with them to try to take over and dismantle Kaiba Corp, but was now emotionally ready to return to help his people. The only awkward moment in the conversation came when he had to try and explain why Seto Kaiba was essentially relinquishing ownership of one of his company helicopters to someone who had tried to destroy his company.

"We were in a plane crash together," he explained, "and because of that connection, when Doma fell apart and I had nowhere to go, he was generous enough to help get me back on my feet again. We've sort of become friends and when I said I wanted to do this he offered me a helicopter to get me there and to use to help the cause." Kam had looked skeptical. "I know it's hard to believe given his public persona, but he's actually not as uncaring as he makes himself seem." Saying the words had caused an ache in his chest which he hurriedly tried to bury by reminding himself of all of the horrible things Kaiba had said to him.

"I see. So Seto Kaiba isn't heartless after all." Alistair was fairly certain that Kam, a shrewd man in his early forties, didn't buy his story, but given that Kaiba Corp had absolutely no ties to the conflict, he chose to overlook Alistair's secrecy and agreed to offer him a place among their ranks upon his arrival, and thanked him for volunteering to serve 'the people' as he put it.

The matter of his employment resolved, leaving Domino became suddenly much more tangible, and he redoubled his efforts to loathe the city he had resided in for the past four and a half months to make the parting easier, though deep down he knew it wasn't the city he would miss.

On the morning of November eleventh, the day of the aviation academy's graduation, Alistair stood in front of the mirror in his (Gozaburo's he reminded himself sternly) closet, struggling to tie the tie that went to the uniform Kaiba had insisted he wear for the ceremony through a note he left with Trudy along with the name of a store to buy it and the credit card to pay for it with.

He eventually gave up and tossed it aside, reasoning that the black jacket with its gold buttons was fancy enough without it. Sewell pounced on the dark swath of cloth while Alistair continued to stare at himself in the mirror. He had changed so much since first coming here. His hair was no longer dull, but shiny and healthy and was now actually cut into a recognizable style, his hands and feet were beginning to lose their calluses and become soft, he had become much paler from being indoors, and though he was still quite willowy, his ribs no longer protruded. It was not only his physical being that had changed though, and if anything the psychological effects were even more profound.

Kaiba or no Kaiba he knew that he wanted love to be a part of his life. Friendship too. And he had come to value his own existence, and even start to forgive himself for what had happened to Mikey, allowing himself to acknowledge that the tragedy had not been his fault. He couldn't possibly have known that the rebel tank he'd helped his brother into would be blown up.

Giving the lapels of the jacket a final tug, smoothing out the creases, and carefully placing the cap on his head, Alistair deemed himself ready to go. He bent down briefly to say goodbye to Sewell, careful not to get her fur on the pristine black dress pants, and exited the room.

As he arrived in the entrance hall and saw Trudy, dressed in an iris colored dress and dark gray wool coat, and Mokuba in dark jeans, orange vest and striped shirt, Alistair couldn't help but feel happy that they wanted to support him even after he'd been neglecting them.

"You look so handsome!" Trudy exclaimed, pulling a small digital camera out of the handbag dangling off her arm. "Smile!" Alistair complied, feeling slightly foolish. Trudy took several pictures before she was satisfied, then the party left.

As they piled into the limo, Alfred extended his congratulations to the young man he'd come to like very much and Trudy offered him a piece of the cake she'd made to mark the occasion once they got back.

The aviation academy, located just outside of Domino, was comprised mainly of very modern buildings with huge paneled windows that shimmered in the fading light. They were directed by a valet to the auditorium where the ceremony would take place.

The auditorium was relatively small and adorned with multiple banners boasting the school's colors and logo as well as one huge poster offering congratulations to the graduating class, most of which seemed to be milling about around the stage, getting directed by none other than Henry, the man who had tested his skills before.

Upon seeing Alistair, Henry excused himself from his conversation with one of the students in order to welcome him.

"It's so good to see you Alistair," he greeted him as they shook hands. "I'm glad to see that Mr. Kaiba was able to get you a uniform. And you must be his mother," he added to Trudy. There was an awkward pause.

"Something like that," she said finally, laughing uncomfortably. Henry sensed that he'd made an error and did his best to cover it by turning to Mokuba.

"And Mokuba, how are you? You're a lot taller than you were when your brother studied here. How is he by the way? I heard he's throwing a new tournament."

"He is. He sends his regards but he couldn't make it because he has to work," Mokuba explained. Henry shook his head.

"He always was a hard worker your brother. Rarely do I get a student that driven; he burnt through his required flight hours faster than I'd ever seen anyone do it before or since, but I've got a good bunch here." He smiled fondly at his students. "Ok, so Alistair, if you could just go and stand between Seikei and Marina; she's the one with the blonde curls, that would be lovely. And don't forget the reception afterwards. Thanks to Mr. Kaiba's generous donation it's going to be something really special."

The rest of the graduating class was very confused by Alistair's presence. Given that there were only eighteen of them they all knew each other, and none of them had ever seen the redheaded young man before, though they didn't have long to wonder about it as the ceremony got underway.

To Alistair the ceremony seemed to drag on forever as first a band played, a former student gave a long speech, followed by three more speeches given by the school's director, Henry, and the class spokesperson. Finally, it was time to give out certificates, the only part he cared about.

As each person's name was called along with their qualifications, they walked across the stage, shook first Henry's, then the director's hand, and received a framed certificate. The actual licenses would be mailed out the following day.

When his name was called, Alistair tried very hard not to trip in the unfamiliar shoes he was wearing, shook hands and was handed his certificate amidst flashes of light from Trudy's camera.

After all was said and done, Alistair was beyond ready to leave. The reception had been the worst part since there it became blatantly obvious that he didn't belong. He was relieved when Trudy said that Alfred was ready to pick them up. Before they got into the car however, Trudy insisted on a few more pictures of Alistair holding the certificate while standing with the school in the background which he thought was silly since he'd only ever been there once before.

Back at the mansion he, Trudy, Mokuba, Trudy's husband George, Alfred, and Saito who Trudy invited on their way inside, sat down in Trudy's small kitchen for cake. The cake, which Trudy had shaped to look like an airplane and iced with homemade frosting, was absolutely delicious and now that he was surrounded by people he was familiar with, Alistair found himself relaxing and having a good time in their company. Mokuba insisted on trying on his pilot's hat which turned out to be too big for him, and said that maybe he too would learn to fly someday.

Trudy brought out pictures she had from when Seto had studied at the academy. A fifteen year old Kaiba smirked into the camera while leaning against one of the school planes. The uniform looked out of place on him as Alistair rarely saw him in anything that couldn't be accessorized with a trench coat, but nonetheless he looked good as he always did, and even in the group picture where he was clearly roughly ten years younger than everyone else, he seemed to possess a level of command that outshined his classmates.

"I was sick the day of the graduation or there would have been more pictures," Trudy said as she put them back in her photo album, "but Mokuba didn't completely let me down." She smiled fondly at him, and it struck Alistair again just how attached to the Kaiba brothers she was, and of how she had readily taken him under her wing too. He would miss her quite a lot.

Over the next few days, Alistair started to pack up in preparation for his departure. He had spoken to Kam who gave him a location to land where they would pick him up on the nineteenth.

Even though he still didn't own much, Alistair had acquired more things in the last few months than he'd had in years and knew that he couldn't take all of it with him. His duel disk and deck, motorcycle, and most of his clothes he was going to leave at the mansion. He didn't have the heart to tell Mokuba or Trudy that he wouldn't be back to claim them, and wondered how long they'd wait before getting rid of them. He resolved to take his trench coat, two muscle shirts, one pair of jeans, two pairs of socks, his combat boots, Mikey's action figure, and his father's knife. That settled, there was only one thing left to establish: what would happen to Sewell with him gone.

Two days after the graduation ceremony, he made a trip to Trudy's apartment to ask if she would care for his cat.

"Of course I will," she said immediately, without looking up from the carrots she was chopping. "But you'll have to teach me how to handle her; she always hides when she sees me."

Alistair retrieved Sewell from his—that is to say, the room he'd been residing in, and tried to warm her up to Trudy by having Trudy give her treats, and by moving her litter box to Trudy's apartment. At first Sewell was very resentful, but over just a few days, thanks to Trudy's careful conditioning, she began to allow the older woman to pet her and by the fourth day even rubbed up against her legs unprompted, demanding food and affection. Knowing that his beloved Sewell would be well taken care of took a weight off of Alistair's shoulders.

His license arrived later that afternoon with the rest of the post. Satisfied, he stowed it carefully in an inner jacket pocket for safekeeping.

When he heard from Trudy the next day that Alistair would be leaving on the eighteenth, Seto masked his initial dismay with annoyance that Alistair hadn't told him himself. "How was he expecting to get there?" he'd snapped, his appetite gone. He called in to his secretary to say that he'd be late, and waited for Alistair to come downstairs for breakfast.

"Took you long enough," he said to a wary Alistair when he entered the dining room at nine O'clock. Alistair had been hoping not to run into Kaiba again before he left so that his last memory of the man would be negative, but given Kaiba's hostile attitude he figured he might still get his wish.

"Sorry that I'm not at your beck and call," he snapped back, taking his seat at the table, wondering what Kaiba was doing there at all, and wishing that there wasn't a part of him that wanted Kaiba to beg him to stay.

"If you don't want one of my helicopters, that's on you," Seto retorted calmly, having the upper hand always serving to put him in a better mood. "You're welcome to walk, no one will stop you." Alistair set his jaw. "I didn't think so. Trudy told me that you're leaving on Monday."

"I am," Alistair replied curtly.

"When?"

"I want to take off before noon if that's possible."

"Morning Alistair! Oh, morning Seto," Mokuba's voice sounded from the doorway. "What are you doing here?" he asked as he sat down across from Alistair, looking back and forth between the two.

"Offering an ingrate one of my helicopters," Seto said snidely as Trudy entered to offer him more coffee and set a pot of tea on the table.

"I'll bring breakfast in just a moment," she said to Mokuba and Alistair before hurrying off again.

"Yeah, when are you leaving?" Mokuba asked, though he dreaded the answer.

"Monday," Alistair told him guiltily, wishing he would have told Mokuba before.

"That's only two days from now!" Mokuba exclaimed, dismayed. "Did you know that?"he demanded of his brother.

"No. But it brings me back to my point: if you want to take off by noon you might as well come to work with me so I can show you to the hanger. We'll leave here at nine."

"Fine."

"I'm coming too!" Mokuba said.

"You have school," Seto reminded him, irritated by how much Mokuba had come to care for Alistair.

"It doesn't matter, let me have the day off. There's no way I'll be able to concentrate if I don't get to say goodbye."

"Hmph. Alright, you can come," Seto relented. "Although I don't know why you'd want to bother." He and Alistair glared at each other across the table, just as antagonistic as they'd been as they'd dueled on top of one of the Kaiba Corp company planes four and a half months previously. It was as though the intermediate time hadn't happened. Whatever had come between them to break up the new relationship they'd formed must have been pretty bad, Mokuba could only assume, and he mourned the loss.

Having resolved the issue of Alistair's departure, Seto left for the KC skyscraper, using the drive to calm himself back down. He wasn't pleased that he'd had to see Alistair again, and even less happy that their meeting had rattled him so badly. But no matter, come Monday the redhead would be out of his life forever just like he wanted. He did still want that, right? As he sat at his desk, Seto felt his feelings waver, the concept of really never seeing Alistair again starting to sink in.

He knew that his pride would never allow him to ask Alistair to stay, just as he knew that Alistair wouldn't stay even if he did. He had made it clear what the purpose of his trip was, and Seto understood, having taken several such trips himself. But oh, he would miss him, that he couldn't deny, just as he couldn't deny how much he'd wanted to go to Alistair the last few nights but hadn't. After Monday though, he'd have no more chances. Alistair would be gone, and without a passport to let him back into the country, he'd be gone for good.

Damn you Alistair, he said to himself, putting his head in his hands. I hate you. He wished desperately that the words were true.

Author's Note: I think it's fair to say that Seto needs to get off his high horse if he wants to save his relationship with Alistair, but only time will tell if he'll be able to do it in time.

Note: in my Word document version of this story, this is page 137 of over 200 and I'm not into cheesy endings. Things to keep in mind...