Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ At The End Of The Day ❯ At The End Of The Day ( One-Shot )

March 8, 2003 - March 11, 2003

At The End Of The Day

A Fan Fiction Inspired By The "Yu-Gi-Oh" TV Series

By Karen

At the end of the day you're another day older
And that's all you can say for the life of the poor
It's a struggle, it's a war
And there's nothing that anyone's giving
One more day standing about. What is it for?
One day less to be living

At the end of the day you're another day colder
And the shirt on your back doesn't keep out the chill
And the righteous hurry past
They don't hear the little ones crying
And the winter is coming on fast, ready to kill
One day nearer to dying

At the end of the day there's another day dawning
And the sun in the morning is waiting to rise
Like the waves crash on the sand
Like a storm that'll break any second
There's a hunger in the land
There's a reckoning still to be reckoned
And there's gonna' be hell to pay
At the end of the day

("At The End Of The Day", from "Les Miserables")

It was over. The duel was finished, and he had won. He had won back not only his hard earned title, but a chance to rescue his cherished little brother... so why didn't he feel happy about it?...

Frowning, Seto Kaiba stepped down off the precipice of the castle tower with his dueling disk. If he could have won this game without resorting to risking his own safety and playing on Yugi Moto's conscience, or whoever Yugi became when he was dueling, he would have done it. but Mokuba's soul and life were at stake!. That senile old fool, Solomon Moto, had already been around a good long time and had his best years behind him, but his little brother had only just barely begun to live!. He wasn't going to let anyone take away Mokuba's future!. And he wasn't going to let anyone take him away from him!. There would be no regrets!.

Seto glared across the tower at Yugi who was now on his hands and knees, tears streaming down his cheeks, sobbing uncontrollably about how he couldn't control that other presence inside of him and that he was so afraid of it that he was going to give up dueling forever. Unbelievable!. In spite of all that confidence and big talk about the Heart of the Cards, the porcupine headed midget was a spineless quitter, even when it came to his own family!. Didn't he care about his precious grandfather at all?.

Naturally, the runt's little fan club was gathered around him, trying to soothe his broken ego...

"I'm sorry... sorry about your grandpa," Tea said, her own eyes rimming with tears. "But you did the right thing. You couldn't hurt another person, even to save him. He wouldn't want to be saved that way."

Disgusted, Kaiba picked up his briefcase containing the dueling disks. "Then I guess he got what he wanted. If Yugi had done what needed to be done, he would be entering the castle, not me. But he was to weak to follow through on his play."

"He spared you!," Tea snapped, standing up and turning to face him. "Kaiba, he showed you compassion, which is more then you deserve!."

Seto blinked, but made no other sign to show his surprise at the girl's outburst. "He lost the game," he stated. In truth, it was the only thing he could think of to say to that.

"The game?!." Gardener cried out in disbelief. "Yugi may have lost one lousy Duel Monsters game, but at least he hasn't lost his heart!. Not like you, Seto Kaiba!. You spend so much time with your machines you've forgotten what being human is about!."

Seto just glared back at Tea in anger!. He wanted to slap her face!. To shake her and scream "Shut up!. You're wrong!. I'm not doing this for myself!. I'm doing this for Mokuba!. Don't you understand?!. I can't lose him like I lost my parents!. I just can't!." Instead, he bit his lip and braced himself for what he knew would be another one of her unbearably mind numbing friendship rants...

The brown haired girl passionately put a hand to her heart. "Yugi has a heart, Kaiba!. Yugi has us!. Friends who'll stand by him no matter weather he wins or loses some lousy game!. And what do you have, Seto Kaiba?. What do you have at the end of the day?. Tell me!," she challenged. "Tell me!."

Kaiba gritted his teeth, eyes narrowing dangerously. How dare she?!. Didn't she know that was the whole damned point?!. Even if Yugi Moto lost his grandfather, he would still have his heart, his parents, his family... He would still have his friends and his faithful little fan club... Yugi would carry on... But... Mokuba... He was all Seto really had... and without him, he wasn't sure he himself could go on living...

The young CEO clenched the handle of his briefcase in silent fury. "I have all that I need!," he growled, tossing the gold colored star chips up and snatching them from the air with his free hand. Then, without so much as a glance at Yugi and the others, he spun around and headed towards the gateway that led inside the castle...

"I won't listen to them. It's not true..." He told himself, breathing heavily. "I wasn't wrong to do what I did... They don't know anything about me or my brother... They don't know what we've been through..."

Even though Seto tried his best to block it out as he drew farther away from the group, he could hear that mutt, Joey Wheeler's voice following him... "Yeah, keep foolin' yourself, Kaiba!. Yugi's twice the man you'll ever be!."

**********

Alone in his castle room, Maxamillion Pegasus stared brokenheartedly at the portrait of the beautiful woman on his wall... It was so unfair... Yugi Moto would get his grandfather back, and the Kaiba brothers would be together again... but Cecilia... he had not even gotten to spend one year of marriage with her before she was taken from him...

"Forgive me, my love," Pegasus whispered as he lowered his eyes to the three cards on the table, the cards that held the souls of Solomon Moto, Mokuba and Seto Kaiba. "I have failed you."

He would have been willing to do anything to bring his beloved wife back, but he was a man of his word... After freeing the souls of both Solomon Moto and Seto Kaiba, his hands clenched the edge of the table in frustration as he looked once again at Cecilia's portrait, then back at the last remaining soul card... Mokuba's... Everyone else would be reunited with their loved ones, but he could never see Cecilia again... Wait... Only Yugi had won the duel, correct?. Only Yugi was now the King of Games, not Kaiba!. A cold smile spread across the white haired man's face... He may be honor bound to release little Yugi's grandfather, but what right did Seto Kaiba of all people have to be happy while he himself suffered from grief?... Pegasus's eyes narrowed and his smile widened. If he couldn't have Cecilia, then why should Kaiba have his precious little brother back?... Chuckling cruelly to himself, Pegasus took the card that held the soul of young Mokuba Kaiba...

"I told you, Kaiba boy," he leered. "I told you what would happen if you lost the duel. Yugi and that strange alter ego of his may have the soul of his grandfather back, they've earned it." He then approached the opened tower window... "But you, you've lost so much more then just this duel..." With those words, Pegasus gleefully tore apart Mokuba's soul card, piece by piece... He could almost swear he heard the painful screams of the boy as his soul card was destroyed...

"Your baby brother is gone forever now, Kaiba boy," he taunted as he tossed the hundreds of torn strips of the soul card out the castle window and watched the wind carry them away towards the oceon. "He's the only reason you fought to keep Kaiba Corporation anyway, isn't he?."

It was then that his heart leapt happily with a sudden realization!. With Mokuba gone, Seto Kaiba would be completely broken!. He would have no other reason to fight for the company!. It would be all to easy to take over Kaiba Corporation and dispose of him!.

Lost in the joy of this idea, the Duel Monsters creator never noticed the slight figure, with hair as white as his own, that had been watching him all along...

"Not such a man of your word after all, are you, Pegasus?," came a dangerously soft voice from behind him...

Startled, Pegasus spun around to see Yugi's young friend, Bakura, standing in the doorway to the tower room, with a chilling expression in his eyes and a menacing smile... The millennium ring he wore around his neck shone as it caught in the late afternoon sun...

**********

At first there was only silence... darkness... a cold kind of stillness... Then the world around him grew steadily brighter... He felt a heeling warmth run through him...

Slowly, Seto Kaiba opened his eyes... He let out a soft moan and blinked as he realized where he was... back in Pegasus's underground dungeon... He remembered... He'd lost the duel to that egomaniac who'd practically murdered his little brother right in front of his eyes... He remembered Pegasus's taunting voice as he took his own soul from him...

But he was alive now... He was back in his body... Somehow, Yugi must have defeated Pegasus and won back all the souls he'd taken... and if his soul had been restored, then that... that must mean...

"Mokuba..." Seto whispered... Despite the fact that it had obviously been that spiky haired runt, Yugi Moto, and his self righteous little fan club who'd won this battle and not him, a smile of both relief and hope spread across his face... If he was alive again, then his beloved little brother must be too!. And that was all that mattered right now!. Slowly and painfully, he rose to his feet and staggered out of the opened cell door... "Gotta'... find... Mokuba..."

If only Seto Kaiba had known... If only he had seen the younger, ten year old version of himself, still sitting dejectedly against the stone wall of the jail cell, his arms around his legs, shivering with both cold and unbearable grief... If only he had heard the younger version of himself, crying and sobbing as if he were lost, and all alone in the world(1)...

**********

"How is he?," Tea asked in concern as she studied Mokuba's unresponsive face... Something was wrong, she could feel it...

Bakura, back to his normal state, felt the neck and wrist of the little boy in his arms... He then looked back up at Tea, Yugi, Joey and Tristin and shook his head... "There's no pulse... He's not coming to..."

Tea covered her mouth with her hand and Joey bit his lip while Tristin bowed his head...

Yugi shook his head vigorously in denial. "No, this isn't right... He can't be... Pegasus promised to restore those souls!." Tears threatened to form in his eyes. What if the Duel Monsters creator had gone back on his word after all?. What if his Grandpa was in this same state?...

Joey knelt down by Bakura and Mokuba and gently shook the little one's shoulder. "Mokuba, come on, kid. You gotta' wake up. Your brother's waiting for ya'."

"He was ready to die for you," Tea whispered, brushing a tear from her cheek. "Please, Mokuba, you can't leave him."

But it was of no use... In spite of everyone's efforts, the child remained lifeless...

Tears streaming down his cheeks, Bakura gently leaned the boy against the balcony railing... "I... I don't understand..." he whispered. "Pegasus... he promised..."

"Hey," Joey said suddenly, turning to Yugi, Tea and Tristin. "Didn't we see just two empty soul cards in Pegasus's room?."

Yugi nodded slowly. "Yes, but Pegasus took three souls. Grandpa's, Kaiba's and..." His eyes widened as he put the pieces together.

"He wouldn't!," Tea cried in disbelief, choking back a sob. "He promised to restore all those souls if Yugi won, not just two!."

Joey clenched his hands tightly. "Guess he wasn't as good a loser as he said he'd be." For the first time, he actually sympathized with Seto Kaiba. He knew what it was like to love a younger sibling so much you'd do anything for them. He didn't know what he'd do if he ever lost his Serenity in this way.(2)

Just then, there came the sound of footsteps from a nearby hallway, and a familiar, husky voice calling "Mokuba?. Mokuba, it's Seto!. Where are you, little brother?."

Kaiba soon approached the balcony overlooking Pegasus's dueling arena... Yugi, Joey, Tristin and Bakura were gathered together in a cluster, as if trying to hide something...

"Yugi," Seto coolly studied the smaller boy in front of him. "I take it you're the new champion now?." Not that it made a difference now anyway, just as long as Mokuba was alright.

Yugi and Joey looked at each other. "Yeah," Wheeler answered quietly. "Yug' beat Pegasus... but..."

Seto crossed his arms with a tight smirk. "As much as I would have liked to have crushed the moron myself, it doesn't matter as long as Mokuba is restored. Now, where is he?."

"Kaiba," Yugi said gently. "There's something you should know... Pegasus... He..."

"Moto! Where's my little brother?!," Seto snapped.

For a moment everyone was silent... then Yugi, Joey, Tristin and Bakura all stepped away to reveal Tea, holding a still form in her arms...

Kaiba's eyes widened. "Mokuba... No..."

"I'm so sorry..." she whispered, her eyes glistening with tears. "He... He never came to..."

"Give him to me," The young CEO demanded, holding out his arms...

Tea could only stare at him with shock and pity. "Kaiba..."

"Give him to me!." This time his voice was shaking with grief and rage.

Tears streaming down her cheeks, she lowered her head in resignition and handed the boy over to him...

Seto reached out and gently took the limp, feather-light body from Tea... "Mokuba..." He sank to his knees, cradling his little brother in his arms... "No... You can't leave me like this... Please... wake up... Please..."

But the child's eyes remained closed... His body lifeless and cold to the touch...

"Don't leave me... Please... I need you..." Kaiba continued to plead, his voice shaking... but his heart sunk as he realized it was useless... Swallowing back a grief stricken sob, he held Mokuba closer and tenderly brushed a few stray black bangs away from his pale face... "I'm so sorry, kiddo. I just keep on failing you... Please, forgive me..." It was true!. This was all his fault!. If he hadn't left Mokuba alone... If he had been a better duelist... If he had been a better brother!.

"But there's nothing to forgive," Bakura said softly. "It isn't your fault, Kaiba."

"Yeah," Joey added. "It's that cheater, Pegasus!. He's the one who broke his word!."

Yugi, Tea and Tristin all nodded slowly in agreement...

But Seto neither listened nor cared what any of them had to say... He shut his eyes, trying to force back the tears, and rested Mokuba's head against his own heart...

"Kaiba," Yugi said gently, putting a hand on the taller boy's shoulder. "You tried your very best... You were willing to risk everything to save him... I'm sure your brother knows that..."

The young CEO didn't even acknowledge the newly appointed King of Games. Instead, lowering his head, he buried his face in Mokuba's hair so that Yugi and the others would not see the tears he had proved to weak to keep from streaming down his face... "Go away," he whispered harshly, without even bothering to shake Yugi's hand off. "Just... Just go away..."

Yugi drew his hand away, eyes wide. "Kaiba..."

But Tea gently touched his arm and shook her head...

"Maybe... Maybe we should leave him for a while..." Joey said...

Tristin and Bakura nodded in agreement...

Reluctantly, Yugi followed his friends out of Pegasus's castle, leaving Seto, still cradling Mokuba's body in his arms, alone with his grief...

He remained there for several more moments... Unable to stay, but unwilling to leave... Finally, he gently laid the child down... Tenderly, he reached out to touch his little brother's soft, peaceful face one last time before taking off his dark blue coat and carefully placing it over him... Then, getting slowly to his feet, he gathered the tiny shrouded body into his arms and started on his way out of the castle, each footstep feeling heavier and more laborous then the last...

**********

"So, he hasn't been to school all week, huh?," Joey asked as he, Yugi, Tea and the others made their way home from Domino High.

The smaller boy shook his head sadly. "No, he's been taking Mokuba's death pretty hard." Yugi had been trying his best to get back into his old routine after returning from Pegasus's island... been trying his best to be happy now that he had his grandpa back and Joey's sister would be able to see perfectly again... but...

"That poor little boy," Tea sighed, running her fingers through her brown hair. "He loved his big brother so much."

"And Kaiba loved him too," Bakura added. "You could tell. Why else would he be so desperate as to risk getting thrown off the castle tower?."

Tristin nodded sadly. He had done his best to protect Mokuba from being taken over by the evil spirit within Bakura so that his soul might be restored to him... but it had all been in vain...

Wheeler bit his lip as he adjusted his school bag. "I hate to say this, but as much as I enjoyed watching Kaiba get his rich butt kicked that time he took Yug's grandpa, I kinda' feel sorry for him now... I mean... I think that kid was the only family he really had, ya' know?..."

"The only friend too," Tea added softly... Though she detested having to admit it to herself, a small part of her actually regretted what she'd said to Kaiba on the castle tower...

Joey, Tristin, Tea and Bakura each arrived at their homes along the way until Yugi was the only one left...

As he continued on his way home, the small boy fingered the puzzle around his neck... He hadn't heard from the ancient spirit who called himself Yami since they'd left the island... Every time he tried to call on the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle to talk about what had happened with Kaiba and Mokuba he would not answer... Was it him, or the subject of the Kaiba brothers he was avoiding?...

"Yami?," Yugi tried again, calling out in his mind. "Yami, are you there?. Please answer me?."

He was so used to being ignored by now that he was almost startled at the deep voice which answered...

"Yugi, you've been calling for me every day for the past week. You know I want nothing more to do with Seto Kaiba."(3)

"I know," Yugi answered. "But Yami, please, I have to talk to you."

"Yugi, your grandfather is restored, your friend's sister will have her sight rectified. Even Kaiba himself has his soul back. Can you not be satisfied with that?."

The smaller boy's eyes widened. For the second time since that duel on the castle tower he was shocked by the spirit's callousness!. "But Mokuba was just a little boy!. Only ten years old!. He was all Kaiba had in the world!. Kaiba was willing to risk getting hurt, or even killed, for him!. Doesn't that entitle them to some compassion?."

"Compassion?. And what 'compassion' did they show your grandfather, Yugi?. Tell me that!. If Kaiba is senseless and foolish enough to risk his own death, it is no fault of ours!."

Yugi lowered his head sadly. "But it wasn't Mokuba's fault what Kaiba did to Grandpa."

"Yugi," Yami's voice came again. "I understand you feel pity for your enemies, even people like Pegasus and Kaiba, but you must not let that get in the way of your destiny!. Remember what Shadi said?. You are the chosen one!. The fate of the entire world may be in your hands!. You cannot let the death of one child get in the way of that."

Yugi brushed a tear from his cheek. As much as he cared about his companion spirit of the puzzle, he sometimes found it difficult to understand him.

"You have the most courageous and noble soul of anyone I've ever seen," the spirit continued before disappearing back into the millenium puzzle. "Why, in another time you could have been Pharaoh, for you have the heart of a Pharaoh. Never forget that, Yugi."

The small boy sighed sadly and continued to walk towards the street that lead to his neighborhood...

The Domino city cemetery had always been an unhappy place for Yugi, as it reminded him of the day his grandmother had died... He had always made sure to walk by it as fast as he could on his way home...

But this time, he recognized a familiar vehicle outside the cemetery gates... Kaiba's limousine... Taking a deep breath, Yugi self-consciously entered the cemetery...

As there was noone else there today, Yugi could easily pick out the tall, lone figure in the dark blue coat... Slowly, he approached him... "Kaiba?..."

The taller boy did not even turn his head to look at him... "What are you doing here, Yugi?."

"I saw your limo out in front... and... I thought..." Here his voice trailed off as he noticed the small headstone in front of them...

Mokuba Nozomi(4)

Beloved son of Ichiro and Adina(5)

Cherished younger brother of Seto
July 7, 1988- March 4, 1999

"Nozomi?..." Yugi whispered in surprise.

Seto knelt down by the small headstone... "It was our last name before that tyrant, Gozaburo Kaiba, adopted us." He then got to his feet, fingering the card- shaped locket he wore around his neck... "I think my little brother would have liked to have kept it."

The smaller boy studied Kaiba for a moment... "I'm sure he would have too... I... I'm sorry..."

At this, Seto gave a bitter kind of laugh and shook his head in disbelief. "Oh, you're sorry, are you?. What for?. You have your grandfather back, you're the new King of Games, and, from what I've heard, you've got some kind of special destiny in store for you, not that I believe in that garbage anyway."

"Kaiba," Yugi put a hand on the taller boy's shoulder again. "You can't just give up on everything just because I..."

But Seto roughly shook his hand off and spun around angrily. "Don't you understand, Moto?!," he snapped. "You've won, alright?!. Go!. Take your title and go back to your grandpa and your fan club!. Just leave me be!." His face hardened, his eyes narrowed and Yugi could see his shoulders trembling in grief and anger. "I've got nothing more for you or Pegasus to take!."

"But that's not true!," Yugi protested. "You haven't lost everything!. You haven't!."

Kaiba scoffed at that. In response, he brought his hand back to the opened locket... With one sharp tug, he tore it off, not even wincing from the pain...

Wide eyed, Yugi blinked in disbelief... "Kaiba... You... You can't..."

Ignoring him, the young man tossed the locket onto his little brother's grave. "It's like what your friend, Tea, said, Yugi. You have a heart. You have friends... and I... I have nothing at the end of the day..." He gave another half-hearted, bitter laugh. He never thought he'd end up agreeing with Tea Gardener of all people!.

Yugi knelt by the head stone and gazed down at the sweet, innocent face in the locket... A dark haired child with a big, hopeful smile and pair of bright, blue-gray eyes looked back at him...

The small boy then turned to watch the departing form of Seto Kaiba as he walked away and exited the cemetery...

"Kaiba," Yugi thought sadly as he watched the limo drive away. "Tea was wrong. You did have something at the end of the day... You had Mokuba... You still do..."

**********

"Seto!," came the frightened, childish voice.

Kaiba couldn't believe it!. It was happening again!. The same terrible vision he'd seen during that last battle with Yugi.

The little, five year old version of Mokuba was once again trapped in the ultimate dragon as it rotted and melted away around him. "Help, Seto!. Please help me!."

"No!," Seto cried, falling to his knees. "No!. Please!. Don't let me see this happening again!."

Mokuba reached out his small hand, tears rimming his eyes. "Brother, please!. You promised!. You promised to help me!."

"Mokuba!." Seto stared as the younger, ten-year-old version of himself rushed forward to save his little brother.

"Seto, hurry!."

"I'm coming!. I'll help you!."

"Don't let me down!," the child cried in terror. "Help me!. Big brother!."

But, just like the first time, it would be to late. Though young Seto tried his best to reach young Mokuba, the little boy was consumed, screaming, by the decaying ultimate dragon.

"Mokuba!," young Seto screamed as his little brother once again vanished before his eyes. He stared in shock at the place where the dragon had disappeared.

Tears streamed down Kaiba's face. The younger version of himself turned to him with a look of disbelief and loathing. "You're rotten to the core, Kaiba, just like that dragon!. It's all your fault!. Why, Seto?. Why didn't you help him?. You promised you'd always be there for him!. You promised him, Seto Kaiba!. You promised!."

Seto didn't even have to look to know that he was rotting away. First his hands, then his face. The next moment, once again, he was thrust backwards into the endless darkness, screaming the name of the only one he had loved, the one whom he had lost forever... "Mokubaaa!!!"...

"No!," Seto cried as his eyes snapped open. Breathing heavily, he sat up from the keyboard and brushed his brown bangs away from his eyes. He was back in his office at the Kaiba Mansion. He must have fallen asleep at his computer desk.

"Mokuba.." he whispered. His hand automatically went to his neck for the familiar locket... but it wasn't there... He had left it at his little brother's grave this afternoon... He wasn't worthy of it anyway... He was never worthy of Mokuba...

Why?... Why couldn't he have saved him?... First his mother and father, and now his little brother... Why did he have to lose everyone he cared about?... He thought back to his duel with Pegasus... Yugi had advised him to have faith and believe in the Heart of the Cards... but how could he expect him to have faith in the Heart of the Cards when his only heart was ten years old, had scruffy black hair with blue-gray eyes, wore jeans, shirts, a blue bandana and a locket?... And now... Now that heart was gone forever...

"My Grandpa is a great man, and a better duelist than you'll ever be. He entrusted me with his cards and I feel his heart in this deck. I doubt you have that kind of faith in your cards, Kaiba."

"You play only for power, Kaiba, and that is why you lost."

"Go ahead and run! Everyone knows your nothing but a washed up has-been."

"That's right, tough guy. I bet ever since Yugi mopped the floor with ya, you can't even lay a trap card without flinching."

"You've had it, Kaiba. You're never gonna win this match."

"Once again your attack has failed, Kaiba. My defense holds and you have no other strategy to use against me. Your time is running out. You should have never challenged me, Kaiba."

"Brother, please!. You promised!. You promised to help me!."

Seto roughly brushed the tears from his eyes... As much as he tried to block them out, he couldn't get the accusing voices out of his head...

"Don't let me down!. Help me!. Big Brother!."

"You're rotten to the core, Kaiba, just like that dragon!. It's all your fault!. Why, Seto?. Why didn't you help him?. You promised you'd always be there for him!. You promised him, Seto Kaiba!. You promised!."

"He spared you!. Kaiba, he showed you compassion, which is more then you deserve!."

"Yugi may have lost one lousy Duel Monsters game, but at least he hasn't lost his heart!. Not like you, Seto Kaiba!. You spend so much time with your machines you've forgotten what being human is about!. Yugi has a heart, Kaiba!. Yugi has us!. Friends who'll stand by him no matter weather he wins or loses some lousy game!. And what do you have, Seto Kaiba?. What do you have at the end of the day?. Tell me!. Tell me!."

"Yeah, keep foolin' yourself, Kaiba!. Yugi's twice the man you'll ever be!."

"Your best failed you!."

"You lose, Kaiba boy. And you've lost so much more then just this duel, haven't you, Kaiba?. You've lost the only chance you have at rescuing your baby brother. You let him down."

"Stop it!," Seto finally screamed, burying his face in his hands. "Stop it!. Stop it!. I tried my best!. I did!." He raised his tear-stained face to gaze out the office's balcony window into the dark, clear night... "Mokuba..." he sobbed brokenly. "I'm sorry... I'm so very sorry... I failed you..."

Kaiba gripped the edge of his desk, his hands shaking. It would have been better if Yugi had been Mokuba's brother, or Tristin. Hell! Even that dog, Joey, would have been a better brother them him!. The most important and only promise he'd ever made in his life, and he'd broken it!. Yugi and his friends would not have broken that promise. They would not have failed to rescue Mokuba!.

Slowly, the young CEO pushed himself up to his feet... Gardener, Wheeler, Moto, even Pegasus... They were right about everything... They had always been right... In spite of all his money and power, the only thing he'd ever had in the world was his little brother... and now that Mokuba was gone, he had nothing and noone to live for anymore...

Seto left his computer desk and made his way to the office balcony... As he opened the sliding door, he closed his eyes and breathed in the night air... The breeze cooled his face, and he rested his arms on the balcony railing...

All through most his childhood it had been just him and Mokuba... He remembered those days at the orphanage... Allot of times, prospective parents had wanted to adopt only him, saying he was an absolute genius, a son to be proud of, but he would turn them all down, insisting that he would never leave without his little brother... It had always been that way... Wherever one brother went, the other would be sure to follow... Pegasus's island... The castle... The shadow realm...

"But don't worry, my dear friend. I will spare you the agony of carrying on in this world without him," Pegasus's taunting voice came back again...

Trembling, Seto gritted his teeth and clenched his hands, banging one fist down hard on the railing. "Why?!," he cried. "Why didn't you finish the job and destroy my soul too?!. You know I can't go on without him!. You know!."

But maybe that had been Pegasus's whole intention in the first place. He knew how much Mokuba meant to him. He knew Kaiba would rather die with his little brother then carry on in this world without him.

The cool wind freezing the tears on his face, Seto skillfully climbed up onto the balcony railing... Using his martial arts training, he was able to balance himself on the edge... Remembering the incident upon the tower back in Duelist Kingdom, he almost had to laugh at the irony!.

He gazed upwards at the sparkling, jeweled sky... Then he lowered his head to look downwards... As every light in the mansion, save for his office, was turned off, it was impossible to make out anything but darkness below... It was just like when his soul had been imprisoned in the shadow realm...

"Pegasus," he whispered before he stepped off into the darkness below him. "Wherever you are, I have a message for you. If you want to destroy what's left of my family, then it's a package deal... You get me too."

He was falling... Down... down... down... into the darkness... It seemed almost as if in slow motion... like falling through a bottomless black void... but he didn't care... If this was what falling to your death was like, then he would accept it willingly... Anything had to be better then living without his only heart...

"Seto!," came a sweet, childish voice just above him...

Kaiba turned his head ever so slightly... Through the intense blackness, a small hand was thrust towards him...

"Seto, take my hand!."

He hesitated... Why should he?... He had nothing left... He had no reason to live anymore...

"Seto! Big brother!," the voice came again. "Take my hand!. Please!."

Slowly... Hesitantly... he reached out and took the tiny, outstretched hand...

All at once the falling stopped, and there came a sudden flash of radiant light... Seto shut his eyes and braced himself for whatever might be coming... Maybe this was a hallucination brought on by the pain and shock of everything that had happened to him...

Miraculously, the falling had stopped and he was unhurt... Kaiba slowly opened his eyes and looked around... Surrounding him was nothing but light... Not the blinding, eerie kind, like when Pegasus had taken his and Mokuba's souls, but a steady, glowing, warm sort of light...

"Big brother?."

At the sound of the voice behind him, he turned around... He gasped, and tears rimmed his eyes as he sank to his knees... "Mokuba?..."

There he was, smiling, happy and full of life as if the events of Duelist Kingdom had never occurred...

"Uh huh!. It's me, Seto!." The little boy approached his brother and knelt down by him. "But, brother, Why do you look so sad?."

Kaiba couldn't even bear to look his little brother in the face. Sobbing, he lowered his head. "Because... I... I let you down, Mokuba... I broke my promise to you..."

"No, you haven't. You could never let me down, big brother!."

Surprised, Seto raised his tear stained face. "But I did," he protested weakly. "I couldn't stop them from taking you, I couldn't stop Pegasus from stealing your soul and I couldn't win it back!. I couldn't even stop him from taking my soul and destroying yours!." Overcome by grief and guilt, he buried his face in his hands. "It was my fault!. All my fault!. I'm a failure!. I couldn't protect our parents, I couldn't defeat Yugi or Pegasus, I couldn't even save you, little brother!."

Small, gentle hands closed around his... Slowly, Mokuba pulled Seto's hands away from his face... "Brother, look at me."

Kaiba looked through his tears at the smiling young face of Mokuba...

"You never failed me," the child said. "You came for me, didn't you?. And I know you were willing to risk everything to save me."

"But it wasn't enough..."

"It was enough for me!."

"Yugi's the new Champion. He's the King of Games now," Seto reminded him.

"You think I care who the stupid King of Games is?."

"But he's twice the man I'll ever be..."

"That's Joey talking, not you," Mokuba answered. "And since when did you care what he said?."

Seto shook his head with a sigh. "You... You forgive me then?..."

"Big brother, I thought you understood. There's nothing to forgive."

"Even though I..."

Mokuba smiled. "Seto," he teased, cutting him off gently. "If you say you've failed me one more time, I'm going to laugh!."

At this, Kaiba felt the corners of his mouth twisting upwards... until they formed a smile that almost mirrored his brother's...

"Now that's the Seto I know," Mokuba said proudly. "I remember, after Gozaburo Kaiba adopted us you always seemed so unhappy, but I could always make you smile if I tried hard enough!."(6)

The young CEO shook his head with a rueful chuckle. "You're to stubborn for your own good, kiddo. You know that?."

The little boy gave him an impish grin. "I think stubbornness runs in this family, big brother!."

In response, Seto fondly tousled his little brother's scruffy mop of dark hair. The kid was right, as usual!. "Mokuba, sometimes I don't know how you ever put up with a brother like me."

"Well, you know what they say, Seto. You can choose your friends, but you can't choose your relatives!."

At this, they both laughed, and Mokuba threw his arms around Kaiba in a warm embrace. "I'm so proud of you, big brother!," he said. "And I love you!. Not Yugi, not Joey. You!. And don't you ever forget that!. Promise?."

After all that had happened, he still had faith that his big brother would keep his promises?... "Oh, Mokuba..." Seto squeezed his eyes shut and held his little brother tighter to him as fresh tears streamed down his face...

Slowly, he opened his eyes to meet the bright sunshine of early morning... He was laying face up on the private lawn of the Kaiba mansion... Above he could see the high balcony, which he had jumped off in an attempt to end his own life...

But he was alive!. Alive!. Somehow, he had survived the long drop... Seto slowly and painfully rose to his feet, shocked that although bruised and slightly scratched, not even a single bone was broken...

Brushing his bangs away from his eyes, Kaiba stared up at the high balcony, remembering Mokuba's hand outstretched towards him as he fell... It must have been a dream... Maybe what had felt like a hand catching him was one of the large trees growing around the balcony window... It must have broken his fall and saved his life...

He knew he should feel completely broken and disappointed. He had wanted so desperately to be with Mokuba that he had been willing to fall to his death again for his little brother.... But... somehow... a small part of him was glad to be alive... glad that he had not succeeded in killing himself...

"You never failed me. You came for me, didn't you?. And I know you were willing to risk everything to save me."

Seto closed his eyes for a moment as the words Mokuba had said to him in his dream came back to him... Strange, it was so clear... so vivid... as if it hadn't been a dream at all...

"I remember, after Gozaburo Kaiba adopted us you always seemed so unhappy, but I could always make you smile if I tried hard enough!."

It was then that the early morning sun glinted off an object in the grass, catching Kaiba's eye... The young CEO knelt down and picked it up, eyes widening in astonishment... It was the card-shaped locket that he had torn from his neck and left at his little brother's grave!.

Slowly, as though afraid it would disappear if he approached it to fast, Seto picked up the locket from the dewy grass... It shone, good as new!. Even the clasp, which had been broken when he'd torn it off, was fixed!.

After placing it around his neck again, he clicked the locket open... The familiar face of five year old Mokuba smiled up at him, eyes bright with happiness, hope and love...

"I'm so proud of you, big brother!. And I love you!. Not Yugi, not Joey. You!. And don't you ever forget that!. Promise?."

"I promise, Mokuba," he whispered, smiling through his tears... As he spoke, one tear drop trickled down his face and fell on the child's picture... He hadn't wanted to carry on without his little brother... He couldn't carry on without him!. But... somehow... he had the feeling that now he would never have to carry on without Mokuba again... "Thank you, little brother... Thank you so much... for everything..."

The End

E Mail the author at karenjadeshaw.ca

"Yu-Gi-Oh" is a copyrite of Kazuki Takahashi and the many companies associated with the manga and anime.

(1) I got the idea of showing Seto's younger self in the jail cell from the manga. In the Duelist Kingdom series, a ten year old version of Seto appears to lead the older version of himself out of Pegasus's castle to where Mokuba is waiting for him... only this time, given the change of events, the appearance of young Seto is much sadder...

(2) Some might wonder why Joey of all people would feel any sympathy at all for Kaiba... Well, look at his reaction upon Seto and Mokubas reunion. In spite of his dislike of Kaiba, Joey knows what it's like to be a big brother, and he loves his little sister, Serenity, the same way Seto loves Mokuba. I think he more then anyone else would understand what Kaiba's going through in my story.

(3) I know fans might be angry with me for this, but I don't care much for Yami, and out of all the characters I think he would be the least understanding and sympathetic towards Kaiba in this situation. To me, he always seems so arrogant, overconfident and to wrapped up in himself and his own `special destiny' as savior and ruler of the world to care much for others outside of his own circle of friends.

(4) I chose the name "Nozomi" for Seto and Mokuba's original last name because the word in Japanese means "Wish" or "Hope". And right now, Kaiba needs all the hope he can get!.

(5) Those of you who've seen the virtual reality game episodes will know why I chose the name "Adina" for Seto and Mokuba's late mother. I actually have a theory that Mokuba very closely resembles his mother, thus the inspiration for the character in the virtual reality game, and how she got the name, Princess Adina.

(6) This also comes from the manga; How Mokuba remembers that Seto hardly ever smiled anymore after Gozaburo Kaiba adopted them.