LOOSE ENDS

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Yugi was waiting outside Tea's parents' house, tapping his foot rather nervously. It was about three p.m.

The sequence of events that had begun with Kaiba showing up at his grandfather's doorstep and concluded with him bursting through the door to the roof of Kaiba Corp's HQ, which had elapsed now exactly a week prior, had left a deep impression on everyone, including Yugi.

To begin with, Yugi had simply been dumbfounded that Kaiba had been willing to ask for help at all. This disbelief was magnified when they reached Pegasus and he realized what Kaiba had actually tried to do.

After that, there hadn't really been time to process any of it: the next couple of days or so had been a wild struggle for survival, jetting across the world multiple times, facing nightmarish monsters in a desert and finally facing actual nightmares in Kaiba's tower.

Having had a few days to decompress from it all, Yugi regarded the whole thing slightly differently than prior adventures. It felt odd for him (or Atem) to not be at the center of the final struggle, and he still wished he had been able to muster up the energy to go face Apep with Kaiba.

Still, it had worked out for the best. Kaiba had come through and shown himself to be the hero that his brother always thought he was but that he'd be embarrassed to be perceived as.

For Yugi, the primary takeaway was crushing the final doubts about himself and his ability to protect his loved ones following the duel with Aigami. The dark version of Atem, or "Pharaoh" as he called himself, had played on all those insecurities as well as his own longtime feelings of personal inadequacy, but Yugi had managed to persevere and pull off the win.

It hadn't been the win to save the world, but it was enough to leave him more centered and confident than he had ever been in his life.

Yet, he still hadn't felt very confident when he had timidly suggested to Tea that they get coffee later in the week.

In the aftermath of Kaiba's victory and the subsequent rush to get the Kaiba brothers medical attention, it really hadn't seemed appropriate to bring up the topic of their feelings for each other with Tea: plus, they didn't really have much privacy anyway.

After a day at Kaiba's home, Tea had hesitantly announced she was going home as her own family didn't even know she was in town yet.

Since then, they'd seen each other briefly while coming and going from the Kaiba residence, and a couple of days later met as a group to see off the Ishtars and Pegasus. Strangely, Mai had resolved to stay in Domino for the time being. If Yugi wasn't so preoccupied with his own situation, he'd have wondered how Joey felt about that.

It was a warm parting, with everyone thanking the Ishtars profusely for their help and promising to stay better in touch. There had been an especially poignant moment when Solomon Muto had smiled and extended a hand to Pegasus, who tearfully shook it without saying anything further.

As everyone was leaving, Yugi had rather nervously puled Tea aside and stumbled his way through an invitation to coffee.

Tea had flushed pink, but smiled and said she'd have loved to.

Yugi wasn't really sure it was an official "date", it was likely to be more of a "where do we stand" conversation. Tea, after all, was going to university half a world away. She seemed to currently have managed to take some days off but no doubt she'd be returning soon and that would be that. Yugi wasn't sure where that would leave them but he figured it was at least worth talking about.

The front door swung open and Tea trotted down the stairs to where Yugi was waiting on the sidewalk. She seemed deep in thought as well, but brightened upon seeing him.

"Hey Yugi," she called, as they hugged briefly, causing both of them to blush.

Yugi pulled back and ventured, "You look, uh… nice."

Tea blushed furiously again, muttering, "Uh, thank you… Where are we going?"

"There's a new café that opened a few streets down a little while after you left. I haven't been there yet, but I thought we could check it out?"

Tea nodded gingerly, still blushing, and motioned for him to lead the way.

They walked on in a bit of an awkward silence for a moment, before she finally spoke up. "I heard Kaiba woke up… Have you been by to see him?"

"I haven't, actually. Joey said that it seemed like the brothers wanted their privacy so he made sure Mokuba called the doctor for one more checkup and then left. I figure if Kaiba wants to talk, he'll reach out," responded Yugi, thankful for the conversation.

"It's crazy that we're all just going to go back to our lives after what happened," mumbled Tea, shaking her head.

"Well, we've done it before," stated Yugi. "Admittedly, this time might have been the highest stakes yet, but everyone involved has had practice in shaking off these crazy things. It won't be easy but I'm sure we'll do it again."

"I know we have… But this time was different… Bringing people's worst fears to life was just…" Tea stopped, shuddering at the very thought.

"Hey, we all made it through and are stronger for it," reassured Yugi. "I think Mai had it the worst and the last we saw her she was doing great."

Tea looked down and nodded. "I know… I just hope we all get a chance at normalcy for a while now…"

"Yeah, I don't disagree…" muttered Yugi. "I thought we were done with adventures after Atem left. Then a few months later, we had two in two weeks."

Tea was silent for a moment, before finally allowing herself a small smile. "Well, on the bright side, something good may have come out of the last one too…"

It took Yugi a moment to realize what she was referring to, and then it was his turn to blush.

"Yeah, well…"

Tea stopped, and reached her hand out to grab his, forcing him to stop as well. Yugi swallowed, but turned to meet her gaze.

"Yugi, I'm deferring a semester so I can stay in Domino for now," she stated simply.

His eyes bulged. "Tea, are you sure-…"

"I'm not," she admitted. "This is all very new and it feels insane. That's exactly why I think this is the best option for now so we don't have to rush into anything. We can take our time, navigate what exactly this is, and I can make a decision about New York later."

Yugi really hadn't been expecting this.

"Tea, I don't want you to abandon your dreams for me. If you want something-…"

"Yugi, this is what I want," she replied firmly. "Like I said, we need time to figure out the details, and that is what I've just given us."

She took a step closer, and Yugi felt his brain go fuzzy again. He opened his mouth, but he didn't have a coherent response.

"Tea-…"

Suddenly, the moment they were sharing was interrupted by a loud honk, which caused both of them to jump and turn around.

A black limousine had pulled up on the sidewalk near them, and a man stepped out on the driver's side. He was clad in a familiar black suit, with blonde hair and a goatee. Sunlight reflected off the black shades he wore.

It was Fuguta, one of Kaiba's most trusted employees.

"Ah, Mr Muto, I'm glad I found you. Mr Kaiba would like for you to come with me," he stated briskly.

In that moment, Yugi could've torn his own hair out, strand by magenta and blond strand. Was the universe fated to have Kaiba, either directly or by proxy, keep interrupting these moments of his with Tea for eternity?

"What exactly does Kaiba need so badly that it couldn't wait?" he managed through gritted teeth.

"I'm afraid he didn't say, except that it was very important and that you wouldn't want to miss it."

Yugi was torn.

One the one hand he really didn't want to cut this moment short with Tea again, but on the other, Kaiba wasn't one for frivolous social calls, so whatever he wanted probably was very significant.

He heard a giggle from his side, and turned to see Tea smiling.

"You should go, Yugi. Kaiba'll just get grumpy otherwise."

He nodded, defeated, and slowly made to release her hand in order to walk over the car.

Surprisingly, she didn't let go, instead clutching it even tighter and fiercely pulling him close and pressing her lips to his cheek.

"Like I said, we have plenty of time now, but after you hear what he wants, make sure you give Kaiba a piece of your mind for interrupting us again," she whispered playfully in his ear.

As they withdrew, Yugi was beet-red again and simply nodded stiffly before walking over and getting into the passenger seat of Fuguta's car.

They drove off, leaving a waving Tea behind.

The ride proceeded in silence, Fuguta taking the familiar route to Kaiba Corp HQ. Upon arrival, Fuguta disembarked and ceremoniously opened Yugi's door, with another employee in similar attire waiting to continue escorting Yugi.

They passed through the cavernous atrium in which Yugi had first lain eyes on the possessed Mokuba barely a week ago, only this time it was full of employees and bustling with activities. The contrast was surreal, but Yugi barely had time to ruminate on it before he was bundled into one of the elevators, with the employee swiping a fob and then hitting the button for the roof.

"Aren't we going to Kaiba's office?" asked Yugi quizzically.

"Mr Kaiba is not in today. We'll be taking you to his location by helicopter," came the brisk response, with the employee not even looking at him.

That threw Yugi for a loop. What exactly was going on? This wasn't what he had signed up for, but after already having his time with Tea interrupted, he figured that he had might as well see it through.

Soon they were up on the roof, the billowing sound of a helicopter's rotors greeting them as they walked out.

Yugi had ridden a helicopter a handful of times before (somehow, it was always one that belonged to Kaiba). That didn't mean the experience was any less jarring. When Yugi flew, he preferred it to be in a vehicle where the doors were closed and the sound wasn't so loud that he needed to shout just to vaguely get someone's attention.

Despite this, he found himself gazing over his shoulder as Domino passed by under him. They were soon over Tokyo, and then even that turned into the idyllic canvas of meadows and villages that formed the Japanese countryside.

Under different circumstances, such a view would have Yugi slipping into a blissful state of reflection and daydreaming, but the thundering of the rotors above made this a much more challenging proposition.

Then, suddenly… they were over water.

Yugi turned around to face the suit, alarmed.

"WHERE EXACTLY ARE WE GOING?" he bellowed.

The suit seemed to realize he was being spoken to, but any specifics beyond that were a bridge too far.

In frustration, Yugi pointed out to his side at the water below them and then waved his hands in front of him in a universal gesture of questioning.

The suit seemed to get the idea, and then pointed out the open door on the other side.

Yugi craned his neck over to look at what his attention was being called towards, and then his eyes widened.

It was a massive metal structure that seemed in some way to resemble an oil rig, in that at first glance it was floating above water but also, as one could also clearly realize, was somehow rooted to the seabed below. There was a flat square base which then projected up into a t-shaped building of sorts with some kind of symbol emblazoned on its side: which would become apparent were the letters "KC" once they got close enough.

Most notably, however, was that from the tip of the t-shaped structure issued out a much thinner column, which went upward… and upward… and upward.

Yugi's blood ran cold in that moment.

This was the space elevator. The place where it all began.

What did Kaiba want him here for, and more importantly, what was Kaiba himself doing here?

Despite the CEO never outwardly admitting it, Yugi could tell that he harbored enormous guilt over his actions with the elevator leading to what it did. By the time of their meeting after Yugi's duel and before Kaiba went to confront Apep, Yugi had seen more compunction and honor in him than ever before in all the time they'd known each other.

Was that all an act? Was Kaiba really attempting to access the afterlife to find Atem again? After what had happened the first time?

Within moments, they had landed on a helipad outside the main structure. Yugi disembarked, these thoughts still rolling through is mind as he followed the suit towards a door, the sound and smell of the sea washing over his senses.

His escort scanned some kind of card and then the door opened on its own accord, taking them into some kind of interior atrium. The entrance sealed itself swiftly behind them, cutting off all the sounds of the ocean and leaving them suddenly completely insulated.

Yugi gazed around at the scene that greeted him.

It was as if he had been transported into another world. Gone was the spray and thrumming of the sea, in its place was a highly sanitized computer laboratory of sorts.

The enormous room was square-shaped with about ninety percent of the surface area covered in rows and rows of men and women in white coats all deeply focused on screens in front of them. The remaining ten percent consistent of a walkway to the center of the room, which led to a sort of cylindrical atrium that then ascended to the ceiling.

The infamous space elevator. Clearly.

"This way, Mr Muto," indicated the suit from next to him, extending a hand in front of him.

Yugi cautiously stepped onto the raised walkway and began slowly making his way to the center of the room. All of the technicians were too focused on the screens before them to even be bothered to look up at him.

When they arrived at the cylinder, a pair of technicians climbed up a few stairs to join them, with one of them inspecting a tablet and the other tapping a few buttons on a keypad.

"All systems are go," a soft feminine voice sounded over a PA.

"That's your signal, Mr Muto," declared the suit, taking a step back. A door slid open to reveal a small compartment with a single metal seat in the middle of it.

"Wait, I'm going in that thing?" spluttered Yugi.

"Why yes, sir," replied one of the technicians, puzzled. "Mr Kaiba is up on the station waiting for you to join him. The elevator only takes one passenger at a time at this stage so it was either this or you go up first and wait for him."

"Wait, wait, I never agreed to any of this!" exclaimed Yugi. "Didn't that thing almost kill Kaiba a week ago?"

"Ah you have no reason to worry, Mr Muto. That was not a malfunction, rather something of an… intentional choice. In any event, there are emergency brakes, but I assure you, it will not come to that."

Yugi shook his head in amazement.

Kaiba wanted him to go up into space? What was this about?

He had no idea how much it cost to operate the elevator each use but he was sure it was a lot. Kaiba didn't seem like the type of guy who would spend money frivolously, least of all on Yugi. So clearly there might be a good reason for this whole affair…

He closed his eyes briefly, and swallowed.

"Fine."

He then took a pair of cautious steps forward, which led to his crossing the threshold into the boxy compartment. He then turned around to face the pair of technicians, one of whom was still busily tapping away at his tablet, while the other stepped in after Yugi and helped buckle him into the chair.

"Something tells me Kaiba doesn't use this seatbelt," muttered Yugi.

"You would be correct, but everyone is not Mr Kaiba," stated the technician with a tight smile.

Finally, everything seemed squared away. The technician stepped out and nodded at Yugi one more time.

"Given it's your first time, this is going to feel like a bit of a bumpy ride, but I assure you, Mr Muto, you are perfectly safe."

"Wait, no one said anything about bumpy-…" began Yugi, but then the door sealed itself, leaving him suddenly trapped in this suddenly small box. There were a pair of glass panels on its extremities, but it didn't help with the growing claustrophobia.

Without any further warning, the floor behind him lurched, and Yugi suddenly felt his half-digested lunch rise into his throat. Somehow, he was able to keep it down as he glanced around wildly.

The parts of the lab that he could initially see through the windows was gone, now replaced only by darkness and a blue glow.

It was like riding a roller-coaster, if only said roller-coaster was faster than a Formula 1 car and only ever went in one direction: up.

His entire body felt like it was melting into the seat. Even turning his neck to one side would've required an effort Yugi doubted he was capable of in the moment, with the g-force he was experiencing seemingly tripling his bodyweight.

Just as he was beginning to simultaneously wish he had simply rejected Fuguta's request and continued his date with Tea while also questioning if Kaiba was even human for willingly doing this multiple times, the car began to decelerate.

Ten seconds later, it was stationary.

Yugi blinked, and then cautiously lifted his head of the back of the chair, almost expecting it to remain glued there.

The blue glow was gone. Instead, through the glass, he could see an endless expanse of black dotted with the twinkle of an infinite number of celestial bodies.

As if on cue, the elevator beeped and the door softly opened up in front of him.

Yugi swallowed before gingerly unbuckling himself and hopping out of the seat, before taking a nervous step out onto a moving walkway of sorts that had lined itself up with the entrance of the space elevator.

The room he was in had glass walls and a ceiling, meaning he was now completely surrounded by views of space.

It was a riveting experience to say the least. Yugi found himself craning his neck back, losing himself in the view. He had seen plenty of fantastical things over the last few years, but the unending vast emptiness of the Great Beyond was something to which nothing else could compare.

"Took you long enough," a sardonic voice sounded out in front of him.

Yugi snapped his head back to see a tall, familiar figure looming at the end of the walkway.

Seto Kaiba.

"Well, it's not exactly a hop, skip and jump to come all the way from Domino to space," Yugi mumbled in response, still trying to regain his bearings.

"Well, at least you made it eventually. I have to ask that you don't throw up on my space station no matter how you're feeling at the moment, it would cost me seven figures to get a janitor up here to clean it up," said Kaiba briskly, before turning around and stepping through a door at the end of the room.

Yugi broke into as quick a jog as his body would allow at the moment in an attempt to keep up.

"Kaiba… Why exactly did you want me to come up here?"

He passed through the door and now found himself in a dark room lit up only by a number of screens on the walls.

Kaiba turned back to look at him and smiled thinly.

"Let me guess. You think I'm going to attempt another experiment to break into the afterlife and duel the Pharaoh again, don't you?"

Yugi stopped short. "There's no way he's for real-…"

"Well, you can relax, that will not be happening again," stated Kaiba simply. "I can perhaps see why you'd think that, but no, that is not why we're up here. We're up here because while Apep and his phantoms might be gone, there is still one loose end that needs tying up."

He reached over to a desk by his side, and tapped a button on it. One of the screens behind him flashed and an image appeared on it.

Yugi's eyes widened at what he saw on the screen. It was the Quantum Cube.

"I beat Apep, but you beat Aigami, who was the original owner of this damnable thing. I thought that it seemed only fair that you get a chance to see this through as well."

"Well, I appreciate your deciding to include me in this, Kaiba, but why exactly did we need to come up here for that purpose?" muttered Yugi in response.

"It's very simple. This object, as far as I can tell, functions quite similarly to the original seven Millennium Items. It has a mind of its own in a lot of ways and seems to be able to draw people to itself. I could either keep it locked up in an impenetrable Kaiba Corp safe or perhaps throw it into the Marianna Trench, but given the kind of catastrophe it almost caused, I don't think either option is safe enough."

"What then? You wanna just throw it into space?"

"Yes, I considered that," Kaiba nodded. "But then I realized that there are still risks involved. It could just get stuck in orbit of the Earth along with the rest of the space junk up there, being potentially brought back down if it hits a spacecraft. Even if it makes it out into the solar system, it could get pulled into the gravitational field of an asteroid and one day return to Earth again, which is a categorically unacceptable outcome in my eyes."

"I'm not sure there is another way to handle it though," protested Yugi. "I mean, if we could throw it into the Sun or something that would be great, but mankind doesn't have the technology for that yet…"

He trailed off as he noticed the look in Kaiba's eyes. "You're joking," he deadpanned.

Kaiba looked away briefly, tapping a button on a keyboard next to him.

Part of the ceiling above them pulled back to unveil a giant window. A bright yellow glow shone through. It was the Sun.

"Kaiba, how?" managed Yugi.

"We're in a space station that I own, Yugi; it really shouldn't be that crazy to you that I've got more investments in R&D for space technology," retorted Kaiba sarcastically. "I've been developing an extra-solar probe for a while now. It's designed to have extra shielding to cope with deep space radiation, and those same shields will hold up quite well close to the Sun, even within Mercury's orbit."

"I'm no astrophysicist, but at some point, your ship will still disintegrate," pointed out Yugi.

"Sure it will," agreed Kaiba. "But that leaves us with two scenarios: one, the Cube continues to get pulled in by the Sun's gravity and is then eventually incinerated as well. I believe this is the more likely one, since whatever its magical properties, the Cube is still made out of materials found on Earth and therefore cannot survive thousands of degrees of heat. The alternative is that it is actually indestructible, which I doubt, but even if it is, it's basically either trapped in orbit or on the surface of the Sun, and literally no one can get to it, which is as good as destroying it."

Yugi was nodding slowly as Kaiba finished speaking. "You're right… It's dangerous because of what people can do with it. Even if you can't actually destroy it, putting it somewhere where it can only exist on its own without ever being able to interact with a human again is the same thing."

"And if there are things out in space that can actually survive that kind of proximity with the Sun to retrieve it, well, we're pretty screwed then whether or not they actually have access to something like the Cube," muttered Kaiba absently, turning away to type some more.

Yugi was quiet for a moment, before finally saying softly, "Kaiba… Are you sure about this?"

"What do you mean?" grunted the CEO in response.

"Look, I agree, this thing is dangerous. Who knows what kind of places it could open portals to besides Apep's dimension? We should get rid of it but the whole Apep thing ended literally a week ago. Do you think that we should maybe think this through a bit more before we make a decision on exactly how we do it?"

Kaiba stopped and turned to look at him directly.

"My brother was possessed by that freak for two days," he said flatly. "That's forty-eight hours I thought that I might never see him again, but it felt like forty-eight years. That's enough time for me to know this thing is trouble. I will never use it again obviously but I won't risk my brother's, or the world's safety, for one second longer than we need to by leaving this thing where someone else could access and intentionally or unintentionally misuse it."

Yugi blushed a bit at his own presumptuousness. "Fair point."

Kaiba nodded and continued typing.

On one of the screens appeared the blueprint of what seemed to be some kind of spacecraft. It was on the more compact side, seemingly fit to carry a single passenger… Only it was evident that its passenger would decidedly not be human.

Sitting in the middle of the craft was the image of a single glowing red square.

"You've already set it all up?" muttered Yugi.

"I did," responded Kaiba without looking away from the screen as he kept typing. "That thing has the potential to wipe out the entire human race in the wrong hands. Frankly, we needed to destroy it yesterday. I only waited until you got up here because like I said, after everything I think you deserve an equal hand in putting this whole affair to rest."

Yugi remained silent for a moment before finally allowing himself a small smile and saying quietly, "You know, Kaiba, as much as I'm sure you'll hate to hear this you can be an oddly sentimental guy sometimes."

This actually did get the CEO to swing around from the screen, fixing his erstwhile rival with a furious glare. "You can cut it with the smart aleck remarks Yugi. I invited you up here as a matter of respect and to make sure every angle was being considered before I finished this. It costs me more money than you can even dream of every minute I have someone up here so keep a lid on it with the frivolity."

He was somewhat red in the face at the end of this short diatribe, yet Yugi didn't seem at all perturbed by it.

"All right, mum's the word Kaiba," he chirped, the smile not leaving his face.

Kaiba growled again, jerking back around to face the screen once again, his expression still one of irritation.

Finally, he finished typing. Wordlessly, he motioned for Yugi to walk over to another desk. On it was a metal box that seemed to be screwed into the surface of it, but then Kaiba flipped it over to reveal that it was more of a lid.

Under it were a pair of ignition ports. Ports no doubt designed for the launch keys that Kaiba had now produced out of his coat pocket.

Yugi walked over, taking one of them from Kaiba's outstretched hand.

Kaiba leaned back over and pressed another button, with the blueprint on the screen now being replaced by real-time feed of what seemed like a launch chamber. In it was the small probe containing the Cube, seemingly ironically painted blue and white.

"It's time," announced Kaiba, only momentarily taking his eye off the feed as he reached forward and pressed his key into the ignition port on the left. With a small exhale he then turned it, and the feed seemed to vibrate as the probe activated, a faint blue glow emanating from behind it with the panels ahead of it parting to either side and exposing the inky blackness of space.

Yugi then felt the CEO's gaze on him. He swallowed, before reaching forward as well, mimicking Kaiba's action and turning the key after a brief pause as well.

With that, the probe let out a single deep hum and shot out into the aether, leaving an empty launch chamber on the screen.

Before Yugi even realized what was going on, Kaiba was walking away, seemingly out of the dark room covered with screens and back into the one that the elevator arrived into.

Yugi hurried after him, and just as he stepped out and looked out of the giant floor to ceiling windows that covered the entire corridor, he could see a thin blue bolt lance across the infinite darkness in front of them.

He then lifted his gaze and saw the familiar orange and red glow at the center of the solar system.

The glow that the Quantum Cube was heading straight for, with no deviations.

Then, Yugi could've sworn he heard a faint distant screech. He jerked his head to the right to see where it was coming from, and in the vast expanse of emptiness before him he very briefly saw a familiar, fiery figure.

His eyes widened as he remembered the last time he'd seen this form.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"You-… you…" rasped Pharaoh hoarsely, scarcely able to grasp that the Sun God of Egypt had deigned to answer Yugi's call for help.

Yugi's breathing was labored. Summoning Slifer and Obelisk were both taxing enough, but Ra was taking a different kind of toll on him both mentally and physically.

Steeling himself, he managed, "I pay one thousand life-points. Activate Ra's special ability: Egyptian God Phoenix."

At that, the golden dragon literally caught fire. The flames spread across its entire body, obscuring every last metallic scale as it took the form of a massive phoenix.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

And just like that, the phoenix was gone, but the image of it in the infinite void of darkness before them was indelibly imprinted into Yugi's mind. In that moment, he knew for sure the Quantum Cube would never come back to haunt them again.

A small smile broke across his face as he looked over at the CEO, who was also wide-eyed in shock at what they had just witnessed.

"So, Kaiba, is it safe to say at this point that everything we've been through is not a hocus-pocus mind trick?" he teased.

Kaiba closed his eyes momentarily, and then to Yugi's shock, gave a smile of his own before shaking his head.

"I've seen things even you wouldn't believe, Yugi. To keep my sanity going forward I'm just going to accept there are some things out there I can't explain."

Yugi furrowed a brow, now suddenly extremely curious about what those things were, but he could tell from the CEO's tone that he wasn't going to be much more forthright.

They stood in silence for a moment, watching the distant shiny dot that was the Kaiba Corp probe they had just launched until it became completely invisible in the distance. Finally, Yugi spoke again.

"So, now that this is officially behind us, what's next for you Kaiba?"

"I need to reestablish order at my company," the other man grunted in response. "I am officially back in charge but I can't pretend that everything that happened didn't. On some level, I want to fire the entire board for going along with what that freak did in Mokuba's name, but on the other, it's still not entirely their fault. Looking at it from the outside, if I was on the board and someone told me the CEO was acting so erratically, I'd probably be suspicious too. And firing them all would only tarnish the company's image and hurt the stock further."

Yugi simply stared in amazement. Was Kaiba… admitting he had been wrong? Openly?

Kaiba raised a clenched fist and looked at it. "The best path is simply projecting stability and competence while assuring every Kaiba Corp shareholder that it's business as usual and that the company is in the best possible hands."

"So, safe to say you're not going to build a duel arena up here for your next project?" chuckled Yugi.

"I already told you how expensive it is to do anything up here," retorted Kaiba, rolling his eyes. "Duel Monsters in space is out of even my budget for now, but maybe something smaller scale to start with…"

"You know, I've actually been playing around with an idea for a new game that might actually work for that," stated Yugi thoughtfully, gazing out into space once again.

"Well, send it to my office when you've put it together," grunted Kaiba. "Then we'll see what we can do."

Yugi glanced over at his rival and smiled again, before looking back into the abyss before him.

Some things would never change. And if he was being honest, he wouldn't want it any other way.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It had been a month since the reinstatement of Seto Kaiba as CEO of Kaiba Corp. A public statement had been released by the PR division stating that a misunderstanding had occurred, and the board was completely confident in Mr Kaiba's leadership.

Yet, no direct words had been heard from the man in question himself. Not since the whole affair at Kaiba Land.

It was very strange, and while the stock price had stabilized after the initial chaos of Kaiba's removal, shareholders were still antsy… which was to be expected when the man the company was named after had turned into some kind of recluse.

That was until the press conference that had been announced two days prior. Seto Kaiba was going to address the media, finally, and reveal what his recent absence had been all about. It had been made clear that there would be no questions taken, but at this point reporters on the finance beat would be happy for any details regarding the reasons behind Kaiba's removal and reinstatement, or failing that at least some information about his following absence from the public eye.

Dozens of them had gathered in the press room in the Kaiba Corp HQ building, waiting with baited breath as the clock struck two p.m., the hour that the enigmatic Seto Kaiba was supposed to finally show himself as the PR spokesman at the podium had primly announced.

Finally, a door on the far side of the room opened, and a pair of suited men in sunglasses appeared, both tall and wide. They peeled off to either side, and then, finally, the man whose name was on everyone's lips joined them.

Seto Kaiba strode out towards the platform at the front of the room and climbed the stairs rapidly, his face impervious. Flanking him were his younger brother Mokuba and right-hand man and recently promoted company partner Roland.

The room erupted as he arrived at the lectern and set a briefcase down, but Kaiba raised a hand to ask for silence. His two companions stood quietly to either side of him.

"Thank you for joining me here today," he said curtly. "I am aware that Kaiba Corp shareholders have been concerned with my absence from the public eye of the last month, and I am here to put their minds at ease as well as make an important announcement about the future of this company, which is why I have been missing."

The room was silent enough at this point that one could probably hear an ant crawling across the floor.

"This company, as you all know, was in the defense sector before I took over running it. My stepfather made his fortune selling weapons to participants in various foreign conflicts. I made the decision to end our involvement in that sector for two reasons.

"For one, I believed that Duel Monsters was on the precipice of taking the world by storm, and there was immense potential for profit in gaming technology. Second, with the end of the Cold War we were entering an unprecedented era of international peace. It seemed likely that increased global diplomacy would make armed conflicts less pervasive, and as a consequence this sector would be less and less lucrative."

He paused for a dramatic second. "I think it's clear to all of us, based on global events of the past few years, that the second assumption was wrong."

The reporters looked stunned at this, with a few jaws hanging agape.

Was Seto Kaiba just about to announce that Kaiba Corp was transitioning back to weapons manufacturing?

"We live in a dangerous world again," continued Kaiba. "We're seeing the kinds of wars once more that we thought were relics of the past. Governments are strengthening their militaries, and defense contractors are making record profits. In the midst of all this, though, these conflicts have forgotten victims. Victims that do actually make the headlines but are then forgotten in the days and weeks to come. I'm speaking, of course, about the tens of thousands of children who were living happy lives with their parents a year ago, but are not orphaned and destitute."

He paused for a moment, before looking over at Mokuba to his right, who gave him an encouraging smile.

"I have decided that this is not an acceptable state of affairs. Not when I have the resources to rectify it. These children may be orphans, but that does not mean they can't still be afforded a chance at a productive life."

The reporters were no longer silent, with a soft murmur rising from the crowd.

"Therefore, I have spent the last month out of the public eye in the process of legally constituting the Aiko and Kenji Toriyama Foundation. This foundation will be dedicated to the construction and administration of orphanages in war zones across the world. They will be focused on providing orphans of war with genuine support after the tragedies they have suffered, as well as high quality educations to set them up for successful careers. The foundation will be funded by fifty percent of the profits due to my brother Mokuba and I personally through the Kaiba Corp stock that we hold."

The room was no longer contained, with a drumming sound beginning to echo and seemingly every reporter ready to burst.

"No more children will be left behind because of the choices of a few power-hungry megalomaniacs," finished Kaiba, picking up his briefcase and stepping away the podium just as the group before them finally exploded with a cacophony of shocked and awed sounds.

Seemingly pre-planned, Roland stepped forward to take his place with a grimace, and yelled out, "Mr Kaiba has to depart. I will be taking questions, but please, one at a time!"

Mokuba followed his brother as the two swept away through the side door they had entered through, the two bodyguards covering it to prevent any reporters from trying to follow.

They walked through a corridor in silence, the din of the press room slowly softening behind them, before Mokuba finally stopped and smiled up at his brother.

"That was a really great thing you did back there, big brother."

"We did," Kaiba retorted, coming to a halt as well. "The board would've completely freaked out and thought I was going off the rails again if you hadn't backed me up.

"You still hold a majority of the stock; they can't do anything to stop you. Questioning your sanity is something that is never going to happen again, no one would dare try it," reminded Mokuba.

"You're right," Kaiba shrugged. "But I want the company to look unified. That way, the good press we get might push others to follow us down this path."

"Fair enough," Mokuba nodded, before smiling again. "You know, I'll bet if Mom and Dad could see you right now they'd never be prouder."

Kaiba didn't reply to this, simply staring stony-faced at a spot on the ceiling above his brother. They stood there in silence, before finally dropping his gaze back down.

"Are you going to be able to handle this meeting without me?"

"For sure. I mean, like you said, the board is already in agreement. It's just the formalities at this point. And I mean, how hard can acting as the CEO be for one meeting? I'm already older than you were when you first did it," Mokuba replied teasingly.

Kaiba half-smiled. "All right, little brother. I'll see you later tonight."

The shorter boy darted in for a quick, one-armed hug, which his older brother reciprocated, before they broke apart. Mokuba moved towards the elevators, while Kaiba took another turn into a separate corridor.

He followed it for a couple of moments before finally arriving at a service elevator. Checking to see if the coast was clear, he set down the briefcase he had been holding the whole time and opened it. He then shucked off his traditional gray trench coat, stuffing it into the case, and pulled out a large navy blue hoodie, which he then threw on, pulling the hood up to mostly obscure his face.

He boarded the elevator and took it down to one of the loading docks, from which he strode out casually past the employees streaming in and out of trucks, busily loading and unloading various items.

He walked fast, soon out on the crowded Domino streets. With his hood up and head mostly down, it was almost completely unlikely anyone would recognize him, especially in the middle of a work day when no one would really care to pay attention.

He walked relentlessly for about thirty minutes, finally stopping at a building a little over two miles from Kaiba Corp. Taking a quick glance around, he then entered, keeping his head down the whole time to avoid being caught on any security cameras at the front entrance.

He elected to take the stairs to avoid being caught in an elevator with anybody, and exited them on the third floor.

Again glancing around, he went to one of the glass doors and stepped through it into a waiting room, which was thankfully empty.

He went to the receptionist and said shortly, "Seto Kaiba. I have a three o'clock."

The short lady behind the desk looked up at him brightly and nodded. "Of course. You can go right in, she's expecting you."

Kaiba paused at the door that led into the next room. He reached up, pulling the hood off his head, and then walked in.

The room had a rather simple set-up. On one end was a brown couch, with a pair of small tables flanking it on either side. On the other was a single arm-chair, and in it sat a woman of about thirty-five who had her head buried in some kind of notebook.

On one of the walls was a framed piece of paper that read the name "Karou Watanabe." Under it were the words "Masters of Family Therapy."

Karou looked up from the book as he walked in and smiled at him. She closed to book and put it aside.

"Ah, Mr Kaiba, I'm glad to finally meet you. Please take a seat."

Silently, he walked over to the couch and complied.

"I have to say, I normally prefer to conduct some kind of phone call with new clients to get some kind of idea of what we'll be working on. I understand you preferred not to do this, so we'll just need to start from scratch here. So, tell me, Mr Kaiba, is there something specific you'd like to talk about to start with?"

Kaiba closed his eyes, enveloping them in momentary darkness. Yet his mind's eye was consumed with all manner of images. Images that stretched from his earliest childhood memories to the present day, and everything in between.

He breathed out and opened them.

"Yes. Yes, there is.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Well, that certainly ended up a lot longer than I expected, so I'm glad I made the call to split the last chapter into two.

I won't lie, I likely could've had this done over a month ago, but the alerts crashing on this website again hit my motivation. I figured I would wait until they resumed to finish this and post it up, but I recently realized there was no guarantee that would happen anytime soon, so I'd just throw it up and hopefully enough of you see it after I PM you to let you know I updated.

It's also a thematic and narrative shift from the last chapter, so it certainly feels like the right call to split it up.

For those of you wondering, no, this is not the end of the story yet. It certainly could be, I think if I ended on this note I could call it a clean finish. And I probably would have, if I didn't already envision certain scenes that I feel compelled to write after this (and I will).

We are close though. I hope to finish in the next few months, which is also why I wanted to get this up, alerts be damned.

Rivia10: Appreciate the praise as always my friend. As I told you, no I have not studied psychology haha. I have tried to put some thought into the characters and treat them as real people though. And yes, I've always thought Yami really respected and appreciated Kaiba, and this was his way of helping him. Both through their conversation as well as facilitating the reunion with his parents. As for Yugi meeting Kaiba after he woke up, you got that in this chapter, so hopefully it scratched that particular itch for you haha. I chose Joey there for the added comedic value, which I think everyone appreciated.

Once again my friend, thank you for the detailed reviews. I hope this chapter was similarly to your liking!

ChroniclerDL: With regards to the parents' personalities, I figured that Mokuba took after their parents with his demeanor, and Seto would have if they survived. He had to turn himself cold to survive and protect Mokuba. I'm glad you enjoyed it all, and hopefully this one was the same!

Metal Overlord 2.0: Well, glad you had practice writing reviews for a non-dueling chapter, because here was another one xD. As for Kaiba still barely keeping his composure, that was a rewrite. Had him fully breaking down initially, but it still didn't feel like Kaiba. Though as you can see, he still as work to do, which is why this chapter went the way it did.

I'm REALLY glad you feel like Kaiba's change in this story feels believable. I am basically following the path that was already set up in DSoD. After the duel with Diva, I would say he was roughly where Vegeta was after the Cell Games. Now, I'd say he's Vegeta at the end of DBZ. A true protagonist and a real hero (however much he hates being called one haha).

As I said above, it's not over yet though, so I hope you'll stick around for what's left!

Well, that's that for now my friends. Hopefully enough of you see this and manage to review. I hope the next one will be up in a much shorter timeframe.