Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Solaris ❯ Chapter 5 ( Chapter 5 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Chapter 5

The port doors slid soundlessly open. Kaiba eyed the round room spreading in front of them with slit eyes. In the center of the room was a round control desk with high display screens that were all dark. Altogether five corridors left from all sides of the room heading to different directions; in the end of the second on left was his shuttle, still properly docked. He gave a small sigh of relief. At least they weren't too late.

“You took your time,” a voice rang suddenly in the room, echoing metallically from the barren walls. “I was getting bored.”

Kaiba's eyes darted feverishly all around the room, but Bakura was first to spot the owner of the voice, a huddled figure sitting on a desk on the other side of the room, half hidden by the control desk monitors.

“Sorry,” he said walking further into the room. “We'd have come faster if we had known you were waiting.”

Kaiba hastened onward as well, not wanting be left behind, and as Ryou who had been hovering nervously at the doorway as well stepped in, the doors slid close behind them.

“Where's Ishtar?” Kaiba asked sharply. The figure straightened its back and spread its arms, and a wide, crazy grin spread across an oddly familiar face.

“Right here.”

“The other one,” Kaiba muttered. Sure enough, this was an exact copy of the Ishtar he knew, but he had never seen anyone who was as clearly crazy as this man. Quite uncomfortably he noted the revolver this “person” was holding in another hand. “What have you done to him?”

This other Ishtar gave a sigh and shook his head in mock disappointment. “The other one? One could imagine there's something wrong with me, the way people tend to prefer him. But don't worry, he's fine. He seemed to be a bit stressed out, so he's taking a nap in the shuttle.”

“In the shuttle?” Kaiba's eyes snapped up from the gun. “Are you planning to take him with you?”

“Of course.” The grin widened even more, revealing white, sharp teeth. “I will need a vessel once I get there, won't I?”

“A vessel?” Kaiba glanced at Ryou, who was hiding behind Bakura's back. “What does he mean?”

“No clue,” Ryou whispered.

“Buuut...” the other Ishtar jumped down from the desk he'd been sitting on and walked to the central control desk. Bakura and Kaiba moved slowly after him, keeping their distance, so that the control desk would not end up between them. “Why don't we play a little game before I take my leave? Look what came after me quite on its own, and was kind enough even to bring me this gun…” He reached down and grasped what seemed to be just bundle of clothes lying by the control desk. Kaiba's heart jumped to his throat when he realized what it really was.

Easy now, he told him himself. It's not Mokuba, just something that looks like him...

Holding the unconscious boy up with one hand the madman raised up the revolver with another, setting its cylinder to spin with his finger. “I just love this kind of guns,” he muttered. “I couldn't believe my luck when I saw this. You can play one of my favorite games with a revolver like this.” He placed the gun's muzzle against the boy's head. “Russian roulette.”

He was grinning again. Kaiba was already getting so very sick of that grin. It's not Mokuba, he told himself once more and took a deep, steadying breath. It's just a clone that won't even die of gun shots, no need to get worked up about this.

“Then again...” the madman went on conversationally, as if hearing his thoughts, “it's not like I could cause any permanent damage here, as you well know, so this is hardly any big deal. Shall we try it once?” And he pulled the trigger.

“No!” Kaiba took half a step forward before he could catch himself. Annoyed at himself he stopped and shook his head. Believe it already, it's not Mokuba!

The gun just clicked, as the cartridge was empty. “Well, well, so we had a winner this time.” The mad eyes stared right at Kaiba, and he had a feeling that the ever-lasting, annoying grin was aimed at him. “But why so edgy? Didn't you yourself shoot this poor boy just the other day?”

“Don't listen to him, he's just playing mind games,” Bakura muttered, and Kaiba snorted.

“As if I wouldn't know that...”

Whether or not their topic of conversation heard them, he didn't show it in any way. “But the game would be much more fun if all the players were awake, right...” he muttered, and shook the boy violently. “Time to wake up, kiddo! Your niisama's here to save you!”

Kaiba's fists clenched as Mokuba - no, the Mokuba look-alike grunted and twitched. “I'm here just to stop you,” he corrected, “what happens to a clone or whatever you people are doesn't interest me. Besides, as you pointed out, you can hardly kill him.”

“Hmm? Are you so sure of that?” The cylinder went spinning once more. “Why don't we play another round, then.”

Kaiba shot a look at Bakura, hoping they'd have some way to come up with a plan. Their eyes met for a moment and he nodded ever so slightly before turning his attention back to the maniac in front of them. He took a slow step forward, then another, hoping that Bakura would understand to stay in the background. If he would be able to keep this madman's attention fixed on himself, maybe Bakura would have a chance to jump on him at some point. There was the gun, but as it obviously wasn't fully loaded... well, he didn't like taking chances like this, but if they were lucky it could be empty this time too.

“I do like games,” he said just to say something, to stall, “but I have quite high requirements on who I agree to play with... and I'm afraid you don't qualify.” By now the boy had completely woken up only to find a gun pointed at his head, and the wide eyes staring at Kaiba woke unwanted feelings in him. Not Mokuba, he reminded himself once more, and stubbornly avoided looking at the boy. “Besides, this must be one of the most pointless games I've heard about. I already told you I'm not interested in the fate of a clone.”

“If you say so...” Once again a finger tightened on the trigger, and this time a shot rang out. The small body gave a jerk and fell on the ground. Kaiba froze on his tracks and stared at the red puddle that started forming under the boy's head with a sick feeling in his stomach. “Why so pale? I thought you weren't supposed to care about him,” came a voice from somewhere, but the words were just meaningless noise that barely registered in his mind. A similar scene was playing in front of his eyes - a small body lying slumped on the ground, a pool of blood spreading around it... someone screamed somewhere, but he couldn't tear his eyes away...

I couldn't protect him...

He remembered the look, wide eyed, terrified. I failed him, again...

Someone laughed. “Priceless! If you'd just see the look on your face. You don't care, of course not...”

He looked up and saw a grin that he had already come to hate. Suddenly anger burst free inside of him, pure rage he'd somehow managed to keep suppressed this long, ever since Mokuba's real death, and with a wordless yell he sprang onward. The grin disappeared and was for a moment replaced by a look of surprise; then another shot echoed in the room and a sharp pain hit his right shoulder, knocking him off his feet.

Something flew across the air and fell at this maniac's feet. There was a crack of a breaking bottle, and suddenly flames burst out. Belatedly, hazed by the pain and fading anger, Kaiba realized that Bakura had thrown another of the bottles he'd prepared and made a jump at their enemy. Another of the madman's trouser legs had caught fire, and Bakura was currently trying to wrench the gun from him.

Should... get up and help, Kaiba thought dizzily, but before he could find his legs again Ishtar's double managed to break free from Bakura's grip and aimed the gun toward the white-haired head. Bakura evaded, dodging just in time into the cover of the control desk. Another leg still on fire the doppelganger ran after him, but then Kaiba witnessed the most surprising scene. Ryou appeared from somewhere behind the maniac's back, the chair leg Bakura had dropped raised high, and with a loud thump he brought it down on the madman's head.

Kaiba scrambled on his feet, pushing his hand against the throbbing wound on his shoulder, and staggered to where the crazy doppelganger was lying. Behind the desk, Bakura was crouching on the ground, frozen in astonishment. Ryou lowered slowly the chair leg and shrugged uncomfortably.

“What? Did you forget about me once again?” He glanced down at the unconscious doppelganger. “People always do...”

Bakura got finally over his surprise and jumped into action.

“Better to secure this fellow as long as we have a chance,” he muttered and tied the maniac's hands with his belt. “How bad is it?” he asked glancing at Kaiba.

“Oh...” Kaiba looked at his hand that he was still pushing against his shoulder and saw it being colored red. “It's not... that bad, I think...” A quiet sob from the ground caught his attention and his eyes wandered over to the form of Mokuba. The boy was moving, slowly trying to sit up, and Kaiba walked over to him and crouched down beside him.

“Are you... okay?” he asked quietly.

“Yeh...yeah, I...” Mokuba looked up and his eyes widened in horror. “Niisama, you're hurt! You...” Suddenly tears burst out of his eyes. “I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I messed up again... I just always get into trouble and put you in danger too, and I... I'd never want you to get hurt...”

Unable to say anything, Kaiba simply took the sobbing boy in his arms and just held him there.

The next morning Kaiba woke up in his bed from a medicine induced sleep that left him hazy and still tired. Bakura had proved to be a rather tolerable doctor, although Kaiba had decided not to ask where he had learned to take such a good care of bullet wounds. In the end, he had been quite lucky - the bullet has passed clean through without hitting any bones. Even so, now that the painkillers were fading off, sharp pain shot through his shoulder when he raised his head to look around.

Yesterday was a bit foggy in his mind. He remembered they had locked the doppelganger into the safest room they could think of, found Ishtar knocked out in the shuttle, and... as for the Mokuba who wasn't Mokuba… The boy was sitting huddled up in the chair by his bed, apparently fast asleep. He remembered how he had once before woken up in this room to find the boy sitting on that same chair, how he had panicked and… he swallowed and lay down his again for a moment before struggling to sit up. He looked at the kid closely, moved carefully away some of the black hair which felt much too familiar - there was no sign of a bullet wound in the boy's head at all.

He's not real, he thought with a tight feeling in his chest, whatever he is, he's not real...

The boy woke up at his touch and yawned. “Morning, niisa… I mean…” the boy's voice trailed off and he looked hesitatingly at Kaiba who just shook his head, too tired to try to understand these strange happenings right now.

He moved to sit on the bed's edge, feeling dizzy. “Help me up,” he muttered to the boy, who was instantly ready at his side.

“Are you sure? Maybe you shouldn't get up yet…”

“I need to go to the toilet,” he grunted and the boy fell silent. He spent a long while in the small toilet, splashing cold water on his face and trying to clear his thoughts. It was in vain, though; for the first time in his life he was completely at a loss. In the end he gave up and opened the toilet door, reluctant to see what was waiting on the other side.

Just as he had guessed, the boy was sitting on the floor by the door, waiting like a loyal dog… No, he corrected himself, waiting like Mokuba would wait. There didn't seem to be any strength left in his legs, and so he slid down, back at the toilet door, and sat on the floor beside the boy.

The boy looked at him curiously. They sat a long while there, staring at each other, until the boy finally voiced the question that was burning in Kaiba's mind as well: “What now?”

He shook his head and closed his eyes. “I don't know. I guess… I should go back to Earth as soon as possible, to see a proper doctor. As for you…”

His voice trailed off and as he did not continue, the boy finally asked, “Can I come with you?”

Kaiba couldn't answer immediately. “Would you want to?”

“I… I don't even know if I could, really. And…” The boy looked down and avoided Kaiba's eyes. “Would it be wise?”

Kaiba snorted. “We're both replying questions with questions, aren't we? Honestly, I've no clue. I just…” He closed his eyes and hung his head down. I just wish this wouldn't have to be happening in the first place. I wish that Mokuba… the real Mokuba… would be waiting for me there, back at home…

“But he's not,” he muttered aloud. “If I just had… had…” Suddenly he felt like choking.

“How did it happen?” The sudden question startled him, and he looked up at the boy who was staring at him seriously.

“What?”

“I... don't remember. I remember everything else, but... not that day... how did it happen?”

Kaiba didn't really have to ask what “it” referred to. “A traffic accident,” he finally breathed. “Drunk driver. In the middle of the day, too... imagine that. Right outside of Kaiba Crop... that fool came speeding down, and...” He swallowed. “It's... it's so stupid, isn't it? After everything we'd gone through, all the setbacks and misfortunes we had beaten, for you to die in such an idiotic accident...” His eyes were burning and there was something so big in his throat he could barely breathe. “I promised I'd take care of you, but... I failed... then, and here again…”

He was suddenly closer to crying than he'd ever been in his life, and it took all of his willpower to keep the tears in check. Then a small figure pressed against him, arms winded carefully around him. “Don't be an idiot, niisama,” the boy whispered. “I don't really see how you could stop a traffic accident from happening...”

He said nothing, unable to speak. The tears broke finally free and rolled quietly down as he sat there hugging the boy and wishing with all his heart that this child were real. After a while Mokuba raised his head.

“You could stay here, you know,” he suggested. Kaiba started shaking his head, but the boy went on, more eagerly, “We can go down to Solaris. It's perfectly possible to live there - anything is possible there, you could have whatever you wanted...”

“Maybe... but would it be real?”

The quiet tone of his question silenced the boy for a moment. “Would that matter?” Mokuba finally asked. “I know you could be happy there, we could make it perfect, we... we...” he shook his head in turn. “I'm sorry, niisama,” he whispered. “I'm being stupid, aren't I? As if you could be happy, living in an illusion...”

“And are you an illusion too?”

The boy was quiet a long while. “Perhaps,” he finally said. “But... there are no answers here, only choices. And you've chosen already, haven't you?”

Something in those words reminded Kaiba of Yami, hadn't he said something similar on that video… but yes. He knew he'd never be able to choose an illusion over reality, no matter how hard reality was. The look on the boy's face was sad and it made Kaiba want to hug him again, tell him he'd never leave him, but instead he looked away and wiped away all the traces of tears on his face. “Well. Help me up. We can't spend the whole day sitting here. “I must get ready for going home.”

Home.

The word rang empty in his ears. As empty as the long, quiet corridors and dusty rooms that were waiting for him - suddenly he found himself dreading returning there.

“I'll get by,” he muttered without realizing he was speaking aloud as he carefully rose up from the floor. “Somehow.”

“I know you will,” the boy standing next to him said. “I hope you will.”

He looked at the boy again, and for the first time, staring at his eyes, he thought that he saw something else, something that was not Mokuba, something that he couldn't comprehend, but the moment passed and he again faced his brother who looked exactly the same as that day when he'd for the last time bounced out his office room.

He looked down again, feeling weak. “Actually, I think I'll lie down for a moment. Why don't you go to tell Bakura and Malik that I'm planning to leave as soon as it's possible…” He wanted to say something more, something conclusive, to explain it all, or possibly to apologize - to the boy or himself, he didn't know. He was still struggling to find the words, though, when the boy suddenly touched his hand. Neither of them said anything, just watched each other for a long while, until the boy gave a small, sad smile, let go of his hand and walked out of the room, without a word. Kaiba looked after him wondering if they'd ever see each other again. A part of him wanted to call the boy back, but instead he walked to the bed and lay gingerly down.

He did not see the boy again. A few hours later - somehow, he had managed to doze off again - Bakura came to wake him up. They had a quick, quiet meal together with Malik, who seemed quite absent and kept on glancing nervously at the door as if expecting for someone to appear in the doorway. No one mentioned the events of the past few days, and Kaiba chose not to ask them about their respective “visitors”. In the end, he wasn't very eager to talk about his brother, either.

After dinner Bakura went to fetch Kaiba's baggage, and the two saw him off at the port. The goodbyes were as quiet as the dinner, but just as Kaiba was about to take his leave, Bakura stopped him and shoved an envelope at him. Kaiba looked down at the white thing in his hand, and shot then a curious look at Bakura.

The white-haired man shrugged. “You've got your resources - I'm sure you can track down my brother. So, if you would... could you send this to him once you've found him.”

Kaiba stared at him for a moment, slid then the envelope into his suitcase. “Sure.”

They exchanged nods, and then the airlock's doors went bang behind Kaiba's back again, and he started his long journey back home.

Much later, in a grand mansion in one of the greatest cities on earth, a lonely figure stood behind a locked door, one hand hesitating on the doorknob. Then, almost involuntarily, the hand moved, and the door opened, revealing a messy room where toys and schoolbooks lay around, all covered with a thick layer of dust. Slowly Kaiba stepped in and closed the door behind his back, taking in every little detail, every little memory attached to the most insignificant things. He walked into the room and picked up an origami dragon, finally giving himself permission to grieve.

THE END