This is the twenty-fifth chapter of "Blue Eyes, Violet Eyes." That seems to me a rather important milestone. To you reading this, who gave this story a chance, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I'm trying to juggle a bunch of different things right now, and it's been difficult to keep it up lately. And now, starting next week, my schedule's going to be even more strapped, as I'm starting classes at university.

But it's always fun to work on this project, and while I know that I haven't managed to hold up my original schedule, I hope I may be forgiven. Let's look at this milestone by considering another, shall we?

Enjoy, and thank you again.


He was present for every duel in which his brother ever participated. From his first comic shop tournament at fourteen to his final exhibition match at nineteen, Mokuba watched the evolution of the greatest Magic & Wizards player to ever grace the game.

While it was true that Yugi Mutou had dethroned his rival, and Seto never had managed to defeat him, Mokuba didn't attribute that to Yugi's skill. He attributed it to dumb luck. Joey Wheeler was the so-called "lucky" duelist when it came to the professional circuit, but Yugi's style of play didn't differentiate itself very much from his friend's. Yugi simply knew more about the game. It didn't change the fact that he gambled nearly every match he played.

Seto had layers upon layers of strategy. When one tactic didn't work, he had six others woven into his deck that he could use. Yugi himself had said once, "I'm not sure if I can really say that I won half of the matches I've played. It's more like the cards were playing themselves, and I just happened to be standing at their end of the arena." That could never be said about Seto.

Mokuba remembered the first match Seto had ever won. Still the prized heir of Kaiba Gozaburo, he hadn't been able to announce his arrival. He'd used an alias, he'd worn a disguise, and nobody ever did find out that the one-hit-wonder performance of August Bentzer was actually the precursor to what could only be called a hostile takeover.

The next time Seto entered a tournament, it was as the Chief Executive Officer of the newly-christened Kaiba Electronic Gaming Corporation. Mokuba still remembered with vivid clarity just how differently Seto played as himself. As Bentzer, he had been quiet and innocuous. As a Kaiba, he was a thunderstorm. He was the progenitor of the over-the-top drama that every professional duelist after him would eventually employ. It became a tradition.

For Mokuba, it was a dream come true. Finally, he saw his big brother enjoying himself. Finally, he saw his big brother truly in his element. Seto might have been a genius, and he might have been a scientist, but here Mokuba had finally understood what he truly was at his core: a performer.

Seto announced his arrival at every match with unabashed arrogance and intoxicating energy. He was unstoppable. The moment he stepped into the spotlight, he was ten feet tall, and everyone knew where he was. All eyes were on him, all thoughts were with him. And he knew it. And he loved it.

"The ultimate rock star of the geek subculture," one magazine had called him. "He takes up the cause of a group so often miscast as basement-dwellers and antisocial misfits with a level of angry devotion that never fails to entertain."

Mokuba was happy to count Yugi Mutou among his friends. He was a down-to-earth, happy, fundamentally good person. But for one thing, one inexorably treacherous thing, the younger Kaiba brother would never forgive him.

In taking Seto's title from him, and in showing him the truth behind his own motives for playing the game, Yugi Mutou had crushed the elder Kaiba's dreams. Gone was the angry devotion. The Seto Kaiba who wore studded trench coats and shouted at the crowd, the Seto Kaiba who basked in the applause and reveled in the fame, had been replaced.

Now Seto Kaiba was devoted to his work and didn't give a damn about his reputation. Now Seto Kaiba wore expensive suits and pristinely polished dress shoes. Now Seto Kaiba gave to charities and funded scholarships. Now Seto Kaiba tucked his brother in at night, helped him with his homework, built amusement parks and revolutionized orphanages. Now Seto Kaiba told his brother how much he loved him, and how proud he was of him, and volunteered to help on field trips just to spend time with him.

Seto Kaiba had outgrown the immature, arrogant rock star of the geek subculture. And in the long run, that was a good thing.

Except he never had fun anymore.


Seto has always been a realist to me. Maybe a bit on the pessimistic side of the spectrum, but still grounded in reality. That says, to me, that Yami's continued lectures on why Seto plays the game (for power, for influence, on the backbone of hatred, et cetera) after each defeat would eventually resonate with the pragmatic side of him, and he would eventually stop playing all together.

He's never been much into dueling in my stories, and this is the primary reason why. Another reason is that I can't figure out how to write out a duel in written form in a fashion that would be entertaining for me to write, and worthwhile for you to read. But largely, it comes down to this: he got over it.

And I think most of that comes from Yami. And the fact that he could never win.

No matter what.

That has to be disheartening.