YUGIOH

Hopeless Collisions

Chapter 22.

Shadi removed the Millennium Eye from Kaiba, saying, "This was the greatest harm done to him. I will keep this item safe from the hands of others. There are no spirits that inhabit the Rod, so I will leave this for Kaiba. I will also use my power to restore Kaiba's eye to the way it was, before he sacrificed it in order to use the Millennium Eye. When he awakens, he should be able to assist you in removing the wandering spirits that remain, and his mind should be free of the hold these magical items had over him. When he is done, I highly suggest you have him give up the Rod to ensure such disasters do not ever befall us again."

"I understand." Yami said.

"But, how is Yugi supposed to bring the dead back to where they belong?" Tea asked.

Shadi answered, "He simply needs to cast them to the Shadow Realm. From there, they can easily find their way back. But from this world, it is impossible to find the Spirit World."

"Oh...." Joey muttered, still equally lost.

Shadi restored Kaiba's eye, then vanished.

Yami now looked to Bakura and asked, "So, what are you going to do? I don't suggest you try and steal any Millennium Items."

"No....not today." Bakura stated. "But don't think I'm going to help you with your little clean-up job, either! Hahahahaha!"

At that instant, the Millennium Ring glowed and Ryou had returned to normal.

The others moved to Ryou, as Tea asked, "Ryou, are you okay?"

Ryou stirred, and opened his eyes. "What? Where? Where am I?"

"Yer still at Kaiba Corp, Ryou." Joey smiled.

"Oh. How nice." Ryou smiled. "Atleast I didn't go very far, this time."

Ryou then cried out in fear, and cringed behind them, saying, "A ghost!!!"

Yami managed to stand, seeing the ghastly creature flying about, and announced, "I banish you! Be gone from this world!"

The creature shrieked and was sucked into the Shadow Realm.

"Yugi....how many do you think are flying around?" Tea asked.

Yami sighed, "Quite a lot, I'm afraid."

A soft groan was heard, and they turned to see Kaiba was starting to come to. Yami approached and looked down at him. "Kaiba...."

Kaiba opened his eyes, looking confused at first. Was it a dream? He could feel both his eyes. The voices and swirling madness fogging up his head was gone. He then focused to see Yami staring down at him.

"Are you all right?" Yami asked.

Mokuba then suddenly came to mind. No....nothing was all right. But, he needed to be caught up to date and know exactly what happened. He couldn't decipher what was real or fantasy, at the moment. "Where's Pegasus?"

"I think you mind-crushed him, earlier. What's left of him is down the hall. He's not going anywhere too soon." Yami told him.

Then, that was real. That meant Pegasus actually seemed to think he was his father, perhaps insane himself from the Eye....too weak to even handle one item, let alone two. That meant supposedly the spirit of his ancient father was in the Eye, itself. So, Pegasus was responsible for Mokuba's death....all because of some sort of 5000 year old grudge. And Yami always wondered why Kaiba wanted nothing to do with the Ancient Egyptian past.

Kaiba turned to see the gate was closed. He got to see Mokuba again, for a moment. But even after all that power, Mokuba was still gone. And this time, Mokuba left with a look of disappointment on his face.

Kaiba sighed in depression. Maybe they were right....maybe even with all seven Millennium Items, he still wouldn't have been able to get him back. If anything, Kaiba seemed to only do more harm than good.

Not looking Yami's way, he said, "So, what now? Why are you here? Planning on giving me a penalty game for all this? Go ahead, I dare you...."

"Kaiba....it's not your fault for what the items did to you." Yami said. "You were only trying to help your brother. But, you have to understand....Mokuba is gone. There's nothing you can do to bring him back. I'm sorry."

Kaiba stood, still looking at the empty space where Mokuba's spirit form once stood. "I never asked for your pity, and I still don't. If you're done here, then you can take your friends and leave."

Yami then approached, picking up the Millennium Rod and handing it to him. "Even though the portal is closed, there are many spirits now running loose and causing havoc. Do you think you can help us find them and cast them to the Shadow Realm? Shadi says from there, they can find their way back to the spirit realm."

Shadi. So, he was the strange guy with the turban that spared his life....as if he wanted to be spared. Kaiba wanted to say no, and spit in Yami's face....but he couldn't. He made the mistake of trusting Pegasus in the first place, and probably endangered the world trying to bring back the dead. He owed him his help.

Kaiba grudgingly snatched it from Yami's hands, muttering, "Whatever...." Offering nothing more.

"Thank you." Yami said. He then turned and headed for the doorway, his friends following from behind.

Kaiba had to watch every damn one of them give him a look of pity before they left. And they wondered why he took Pegasus' offer in the first place.

----------------

After they had left, Kaiba called the police to report that Pegasus had 'mysteriously' collapsed.

Before they showed up, he also had some of his soulless security staff dumped in a car on the other side of town, so Kaiba Corp wasn't under suspicion for having a mass case of coma patients.

He now stood over the creator of Duel Monsters, as they took his unconscious form into a stretcher. For a moment, Kaiba thought he saw the man's head stir.

'You're not gone yet, are you?' He thought. For a man too weak to resist the Millenium Eye, he was surprisingly resilient. But, would Pegasus come back thinking he was himself or still believe he was his ancient father? Would he remember the harm he had done? Would he care?

When the hospital staff was gone, Kaiba finished answering any questions the police needed to ask and returned to his office.

Being used and having a weakness of his exploited really came as no surprise to Kaiba. He should have seen it coming. A past enemy turning nice?

He also should have expected that Mokuba's death was more than just chance. He blamed himself for letting himself wallow in self-pity, instead of trying to look further into his brother's death to find the truth.

....but none of that helped to make him feel any better. He once again had no one but himself, Mokuba was still dead, and now he was left with the knowledge that his brother's death really was his fault. And not because he couldn't protect him in time, but because of some thing he did in the ancient past.

Kaiba then lifted the Rod, wondering if he could banish himself to the Shadow Realm. But, before he could do anything, he still had a debt he owed Yami now, being held over his head. That would have to come first.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

It was a couple days later, since that event had unfolded. For those days that passed, there was chaos in the streets and cities, with ghastly undead floating everywhere. The evil phantasms that escaped even caused harm to the living, killing quite a few before enough of them were finally vanquished by Yami and Kaiba.

Now with enough of them gone, the threat had finally calmed down to a trickle....there were now very few spirits left remaining in the land of the living.

Since the day Pegasus ended up in the hospital, Kaiba was once again unable to get any sleep. And since he couldn't sleep anyway, he took those opportunities to go out ghost hunting very late at night. As far as he was concerned, the sooner his task was done....the better. He would not be able to stop and give back the Rod until he did his part in casting them all back....and he no longer wanted any part of these items. They had only resulted in causing him more pain in the end.

During this late night job, he had noticed the variety of undead he had to cast back. He in fact found the easy ones to deal with were those that were evil and violent. The lost souls were the ones he had a hardest time with. Those were the ones that were confused, having no idea how they got there. It made him feel like crap that they were actually thankful he was sending them back. Those spirits didn't even want to be free.

The only good thing that Kaiba might have gotten out of all this, was a new feeling of hope. It caused him to believe that maybe he was wrong about Mokuba being nothing left but a rotted body 6' under. There was a soul out there, somewhere in the spirit world waiting for Kaiba to join him. It was a place for the dead to feel at peace. If that was the case, then perhaps when he did finally die....he could once again rejoin Mokuba, and they could finally be together again.

Now, it was another night of hunting, and Kaiba was once more out looking for floating spirits, instead of sleeping. Soon enough, he had found another....and just as many he had found in the past few days, this one appeared to be yet another lost soul.

"Hey." Kaiba muttered, approaching the spirit. He lifted the Rod up, asking, "Need a ride home? I just happen to have what you're looking for."

The spirit ball-like form changed to a humanoid form, who turned, and surprisingly asked, "Big brother?"

Kaiba dropped the Rod, looking at him in shock. It was Mokuba....he was still here! He was really here! "M-Mokuba?"

"Seto!!" Mokuba smiled. "I've been looking for you....but I've been so lost. The world doesn't seem to be the same as I remember it. It's scary-looking in my eyes."

Kaiba bent down, and with a trembling hand he picked the Rod back up. "If you're here, then I might still be able to bring you back."

"But you tried that, Seto. I felt it when you pulled me here. You weren't strong enough." Mokuba said.

Kaiba shook his head, "No....I was. But you vanished before I could try and make you solid. But, atleast now the portal's closed. With you here, I still have that chance."

Mokuba shook his head, "Seto, no...."

"But, don't you see? Half that power was simply to get you here! We can reactivate the virtual imager. Then with the power of the Rod, I could still...."

"No!!" Mokuba cried. Kaiba shut up. "I'm sorry, big brother....but it wont work. Pegasus was lying to you. Maybe he was lying to himself. That power can't make a virtual image into a solid image, no matter how much you wish for it. That's why I vanished, because I didn't want you to try."

"You did that on purpose...." Kaiba finally realized.

Mokuba nodded. "I'm sorry, Nisama....I didn't want you to end up hurting anyone else, just for me. I can't stay here, anymore. I have to go back."

"I wont let you leave!" Kaiba yelled, as some tears trickled from his eyes.

Mokuba smiled. "I'll be okay, Seto. I have friends there. And, someday....we'll see each other again."

Kaiba glared at his brother, as his eyes twitched. He found him....he found his brother. There was no way in hell he was going to let him go. Not in a million years.

"Nisama....please don't look at me like that. You can't keep me here!" Mokuba said, knowing his brother. "Please, Seto....you need to live your life without me."

"You just never fully understood....did you?" Kaiba asked. "You 'are' my life. And as long as there's a way to keep you alive, I'm going to make sure you're not taken from me."

"Seto, no! Whatever you're thinking....don't do this!" Mokuba protested. "I all ready told you, you can't create something solid out of nothing....it wont work! You can't bring me back!"

'Just watch me!' Kaiba thought. He failed his brother too many times, all ready....he would not fail again. And if he didn't succeed, then this time he would atleast join him when his Ba ran out. This time, there would be no Egyptian ghosts to stop him.

He brought the Rod up, calling forth all its power. It shot out at Mokuba, as his little brother cried out in fear and shock, being bathed in light. Moments later as his Ba drained away....all became black.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"Mister Kaiba....are you all right?"

"Mister Kaiba??"

His eyes slowly opened to see a doctor looking down at him. "Thank god, you're all right! What happened? Were you mugged?"

"Mugged? Why would you think that?" He weakly asked.

"Your vital signs were almost completely flat-lined....you were barely breathing when we found you. How are you feeling?" The man asked.

Kaiba thought for a moment, then answered, "A little weak, but okay."

"Good. You should get some rest. We'll have someone check up on you for awhile, until we're sure everything's all right. There seems to be no physical damage to you, at all. But, with all the suspicious cases of people randomly collapsing at Kaiba Corp, lately....it would be best to keep a close eye on you, for now." The man said.

Kaiba nodded. "Fine. Let me rest....I want to be alone."

The man nodded and left the room.

Kaiba laid in bed, taking deep calm breaths. Then after a moment....he smiled. It was a genuine smile, the first one in what felt like ages. Yes, he might have endangered the world. But, no matter what....he felt it was all worth it in the end.

'I can't believe you did this.' Mokuba said in his mind.

The smile became bigger, as he thought back, 'I told you I'd find a way to bring you back.'

'But, this is YOUR body!!' Mokuba cried.

Kaiba gave a slight chuckle. 'Then I guess that makes us even closer than ever. And no, this is now OUR body, and OUR life. I'm sure it wont be the easiest to adjust to, but I'm confident we can do it. And the next time something happens to you....we'll both go together.'

Mokuba sighed. Then after a moment, Kaiba could feel Mokuba smile, too. 'It'll be good to be alive again, and be with you, especially. I missed you, Seto.'

'I missed you, too.' Kaiba answered him.

Mokuba then started to shake a mental finger towards him now, saying, 'And don't think I didn't see what you were doing to yourself, either! You made me a part of you, and now you're gonna start taking better care of yourself, too. You're going to eat normal, and drink normal, and start sleeping like a normal person, or else! Don't forget you're eating for two, now!'

Kaiba quickly covered his mouth to keep from laughing out loud at that comment. 'God, I missed you. Don't worry....I wont do anything of the sort. I promise.'

'Great....you had to have me inside of you, before you start finally taking care yourself.' Mokuba grumbled.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

When Kaiba got better, after nearly draining all his Ba to suck his brother within him, he continued to keep his promise and help clear away the other ghosts. As soon as that was over, he gladly handed over the Rod to Yugi, not wanting anything to do with the Rod or magic, again.

He never told anyone of the new guest in his head. But major changes began to happen to Kaiba afterwards. He instantly regained his strength of will to live. If anything....he might have actually become more happier. Joey called it 'weird Kaiba happy mood-swings', not knowing that Mokuba would actually come out and take over, on occasion.

But Mokuba was back, and together they seemed to make each other happy to be alive.

END

Narr: I hope this ending wasn't too disappointing. I can all ready see the Pegasus lovers angry that they didn't actually end up together at the end (well....it is an angst, after all). I also felt that people would assume Mokuba wouldn't make it. Well, for those that read my other fics, they probably also know that I like to have very unpredictable endings (plus, I didn't want to end it all in total angst. That would be too depressing for me).

Ironically, after I finished the ending with Kaiba and Mokuba together in the same body, it reminded me of the writer who created the story, "There's no such thing as Kaiba Light". Her reason for that name was that she believed Kaiba could never have a 'light' spirit, like Yami's light is Yugi. And it made me think that perhaps this might be the one and only example where there actually 'could' be. (grin)

But, speaking of that particular writer, I need to give credit to Nenya on a small part pertaining to the Millenium Eye. Originally, I had considered Kaiba would simply hold the Eye to use it, since I was too leery to have him lose his own eye forever. That bothered me. But at the same time, I feared by him simply holding the Eye, he wouldn't get the full power of one that has it shoved in their head, like Akunadin or Pegasus. Nenya's own stories gave me the idea to basically use magic to simply put Kaiba's eye back (even if for some reason, Shadi never offered the same such favor to Pegasus. Then again, Shadi probably sees Kaiba as Yami's high priest, so....he has higher preference). So, the credit of the Eye placement goes directly to Nenya. Thank you, Nenya....for the use of your idea, and the wonderful stories you have offered to readers on this web sight.