Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ The Ultimate Price ❯ The Ultimate Price ( One-Shot )

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The Ultimate Price

A Seto and Serenity one-shot

Begin

Seto Kaiba sat alone in the dark, windowless room, basking in his empire of forlorn solitude. The pale tint of his complexion gave him the appearance of a ghostly specter, haunted by something terrible. As he sat silently in his abode of turmoil, his mind permitted him to depart from reality and once again recall the tragic events that had occurred only three days ago.

Flashback

“You've been gone for two months now,” he murmured to the person on the other end of the telephone. “I miss you. Please come home, Serenity.”

“I miss you, too, Seto,” Serenity gently sighed.

“Then will you come back to me?”

“I'm on my way home right now. I can't wait to see you again and show you the surprise I have for you.”

“What surprise?”

“You'll have to wait to find out,” Serenity teased. “I'll be there soon. I love you.”

“I love you, too. I'll be waiting,” declared Seto, then hanging up the phone.

Seto tried to focused his attention on the paperwork lying on his desk to occupy himself until Serenity would be back in his arms. The once cold-hearted man had never once been eager for anything in all his 26 years of life, but this was different. Serenity was the light to his dark. She was the cure to his cancer. Serenity was the one reason for him to get out of bed everyday. After Seto lost his little brother, Mokuba, to illness, Serenity became his lifeline.

One hour later, as Seto still struggled to concentrate on his work, a ring from the telephone echoed through the office. In a second flat, he picked up the phone and answered, “Kaiba Here.”

A man on the other end responded urgently, “Mr. Kaiba, this is Dr. Tanaka from Domino City Hospital. I'm calling to report that your wife has been in an accident and we need you to get down here immediately.”

“Serenity!”

“She's in critical condition and we need you to come as quickly as you can.”

In response to the last statement, Seto slammed the phone onto the receiver and immediately rushed out the door. He charged down the flight of steps and outside to the limousine parked in the driveway. Seto roughly pushed aside the chauffer and snatched the keys out of his front pocket. Shoving the key in the ignition, he sped off into the distance in a race against time.

Seto arrived twenty minutes later and stampeded through the entrance to the front desk. He slammed his fist on the oak counter to capture the receptionist's attention.

“Where's Serenity Kaiba!” his low-toned voice demanded.

“Hold on a moment, sir. I'll check,” she responded calmly.

Seto's menacing blue eyes glared at her as he hollered, “This is an emergency. I need to know now.”

“She's in room 103, up the stairs and down the east wing.”

Seto sprinted furiously up the stairs and through the hall only to be halted by a short, middle-aged man.

The man said, “Mr. Kaiba, I'm Dr. Tanaka. I need to speak with you a minute before you go in there.”

“I need to see her now.”

“Please, just wait a moment. Mr. Kaiba, your wife was in a car accident. A drunk driver hit her. We tried to stabilize her, but she slipped away only minutes before you arrived. Our attempts to revive her failed.” The doctor hesitated before continuing, “Our records show that your wife was pregnant. She was four months along. The baby was a boy. I'm very sorry for your loss, Mr. Kaiba.”

In a mixture of shock and disbelief, Seto entered the room and saw her lying peacefully on the bed. Serenity's lifeless body was clad in the white angora sweater Seto had bought for her last Christmas. Her love for the sweater was grand and she had worn it on repeated occasions. It reminded her of Seto and the love he shared with her. A gentle but passionate love he had never shared with anyone else. The beautiful white cloth Serenity had cherished so much was now tattered and frayed. Ugly marks and tears had tainted the sweater's beauty, but Serenity remained unscathed. She was as breathtaking as the day they first met in Seto's eyes.

As he grasped on to her hand, he could feel the warmth of her body rapidly fading away. Seto's free hand gently grazed the right cheek of Serenity's pale yet still slightly warm cheek. Seto was tormented by how alive she still appeared to be. It looked as though slumber had only payed her a temporary visit and she would awaken soon. This was only Fate playing another cruel joke on his pathetic soul, for he knew those innocent brown orbs would never again see the light of day. He gently kissed her forehead and placed a hand over the tiny bulge protruding out her belly, his unborn child.

“I didn't even get to day goodbye,” he whispered as a tear trickled down his cheek. “You were all I had left”

Moments later, two nurses came to prepare to take Serenity and the baby away.

Seto exited the room only to come face to face with Dr. Tanaka. In a rush of blind fury, Seto thrust his hand at the doctor's throat. He clenched around the man's neck, forming a death-grip.

“How could you let this happen?” he shouted, his rage boiling.

The doctor began to gag as the three other doctors rushed to his side and forced Seto off him. He eventually released the doctor and hauled off in a bitter storm. The drive home was a blur to Seto along with the next two days that passed at an agonizing pace.

Seto withdrew inside himself and grew colder than he ever had before. Drinking, eating, and sleeping were like foreign habits to him. Sit in the , staring into nothingness. When he attended the funeral, the expression upon his remained paralyzed. It was stern, emotionless, and cold as ice. Even when Joey spewed insults and blamed Seto for the death of his sister and nephew, Seto said nothing and did nothing.

After watching the only woman he ever loved be buried in the cold earth, he returned to the empty mansion and locked himself inside the dark room.

End Flashback

The emptiness of the room was all Seto could stare at. It was hollow just like him. He was now numb and withdrawn. After Mokuba's passing, Serenity had been the only source of constance and peace in his life. She had given stability, but now she was gone. Like a speck of white in a sea of blackness, his love had disappeared. Seto then finally realized what had put her in that mound of dirt as he relived the past again.

Flashback

“Who was she?” a grim Serenity reluctantly asked.

“Serenity, it was a mistake. It will never happen again,” Seto replied.

“That doesn't change what happened. Who was she?” Serenity repeated.

“Fine, it was Isis. Are you happy now? We had too much to drink one night and we got carried away. It happened once and only once. Never again.”

“Got carried away? You slept with her! How could you betray our love? You spat on our marriage when you shared a bed with her! Does that mean nothing to you? Do I mean nothing to you?”

“Serenity, can you please just let this go. It was a mistake and I admit I was wrong for doing it, but can we forget it now?”

“No! No, I can't just forget about this. I can hardly bare to look at you right now. I have to get out of here.”

“Don't do this, Serenity.”

With a heavy heart, Serenity walked out the door and away from her husband. It was two months later that she would eventually forgive him and he would persuade her to come back.

End Flashback

“It was because of me that Serenity and the baby died,” Seto solemnly though to himself. “It was because of my selfishness that they died. She sacrificed everything for me and I treated her like garbage. I threw her aside and expected her to willingly accept what I did to her. I betrayed her, yet she forgave me anyway. I made her come back to me and because of my greed, she paid the ultimate price: her own life and the life of our child.”

With thoughts of guilt passing through his mind, painful emotions finally breeched through his cold exterior and struck him at the core. Seto had at last reached his breaking point as he began to sob uncontrollably. He had suffered so much and lost more than any man should in his lifetime, but he had always kept control. This was the blow that finally sent him flying over the edge of a treacherous cliff.

The statuesque man stood up and stalked across the room to the mirror displayed on the wall.

“You pathetic monster. You're disgusting,” he hissed at the reflection looking back at him. Seto clenched his fist and wailed it at the glass, breaking it into a million rigid shards. Bits and pieces scattered aimlessly onto the floor. He dropped to his knees and gazed at the blood seeping from his knuckles. Only then did he know what must be done.

"My life must be sacrificed to compensate for what I have done. I must burn in hell for my sins," he decided.

Shortly after making his grave decision, Seto emerged from walls of his dark prison and roamed to the cemetery. He came upon the graves of his beloved wife and unnamed son. Inscribed upon the tombstone they shared were the words, “Serenity Kaiba and Baby: A vivacious young woman and mother of a beautiful baby boy. Rest in peace." He sank down to his knees and bowed before the cold piece of rock. In a wave of grief, Seto reached for the pistol buried in his left pocket and pressed it to his skull.

As his fingers gripped the trigger, he whispered his desperate plea, “Forgive me, Serenity. Forgive me.”

End