Ten years ago, today, on August 19th of 2008, I uploaded the first chapter of a project I don't think I was ready to post yet. Ten years ago, today, I was a completely different person. I was still attending community college. I was still in my Ayn Rand phase.

I still thought Batman was boring.

I was 21 on that day, when this project started. And now, at 31, I'm watching it come to its close.

This isn't to say that I'm done with Yu-Gi-Oh! Far from it.

I still have entirely too many ideas rolling around in my brain-case to walk away now.

But this journey, this long and tumultuous journey that's led me through some of the hardest and most illuminating years of my life, is done.

To those of you who have been with me from the start, to those of you who came along some time later, and to those of you who discover this tale long in the future … thank you. Thank you so much.

It's been a hell of a ride.

.

Seto sat outside in the Brinkleys' backyard long after everyone else had gone back inside to watch another movie. Every so often, he would turn his attention to the cellar door. He would watch for a moment, thinking of the last time he'd seen this door, before turning away. He did this several times over the course of a half-hour, listening to Enid's music.

"This has been one hell of a day, hasn't it?"

Seto turned as Leo Brinkley approached. "It certainly has."

Leo lifted up a heavy coffee mug and drank. He gestured with it. "Joey brought me this." He turned the mug so that Seto could read the words on it: #4 DAD.

Seto snickered. "That seems like him."

Leo grinned. "It's the greatest thing I've ever seen. I'm going to use it every morning." He drank again. "Enid got one that reads: You Can't Scare Me. I've Got Kids."

"Naturally." Seto let out a slow breath and looked away. His eyes drifted to a huge tree off in one corner of the yard. A ladder sat against the trunk, and some planks of lumber sat on the ground. "New project?" he asked, gesturing.

"Oh, yeah." Leo nodded and drank from his mug again. "Seems Connor wants a treehouse. I don't exactly know how to build a treehouse, and neither does Enid, but. I mean. That's what YouTube is for, isn't it?"

Seto smirked. "Truly what the internet was built for."

"Sure you don't want to come inside and watch The Matrix?"

Seto tried to resist a shudder. He failed. He couldn't very well tell this man that a movie about being trapped in a digital world and used as a battery for malevolent machinery hit too close to home. So, instead he said: "No, thank you. I'm a bit . . . burned out, socially, right now. Is Mokuba enjoying himself?"

"He and Connor keep whispering to each other and giggling. So I would say yes."

Seto stood up. Started toward the tree. "Not to impose, Mister Brinkley—"

"Please. Call me Leonidas."

Seto laughed. "Very well, King of Sparta." He gestured. "I will admit that I, also, have never built a treehouse. But I am an engineer. If you're in the market for assistance, I think you'll find I'm more than qualified."

"I'm not sure I can afford you." Leo chuckled. "That said, I'm pretty sure I could use all the help I can get hold of."

Seto nodded. "Perfect."

He started to study the tree, and eventually pulled his phone from a pocket and started taking pictures. Leo watched him silently for a time, charmed in spite of himself, and tried to remember all the stories he'd heard about the cutthroat savagery of Kaiba-Corp's prodigious CEO.

All the rumors of how ruthless he was.

How all the good intentions in the world couldn't disguise his path to hell.

He couldn't do it.

". . . You're a good kid, you know that?"

Seto turned, looked surprised and rather mystified for a moment, and shrugged.

"It's not the most outlandish thing I've ever believed about myself."

"No. I'm sure it isn't."

As Leo stepped forward and started to describe his plans for Connor's treehouse to his new coworker, he had a thought: if a man like this was what all those good intentions led to, then maybe that was enough.

~ END ~

This story is for Corbi.