Duel Deck

Duel Deck 4

Duel Deck: Deck IV

Card 28: Running

The sun would soon set in more ways than one but of course he didn't know it at the time. He didn't realize what was to come until the very second it came, until it was too late. No strange feelings that morning. No unexplainable needs to visit Mokuba. No need what so ever to say things that had remained unsaid for most of his life. No need to plan Kaiba Corp.'s business deals for the next year or so. No need to duel one last duel, those where things that could be done later, tomorrow, or the day after that, because he had the time, right? He had his life ahead of him, right? That's what he always told himself.

Seto had been typing on his high tech computer like he always did. He always arrived at work early and no matter what, he was the CEO, and would always be for the rest of his life, no matter what anyone said. This was his place and it would be for the rest of his life. He thought about his life as he typed. Did he do everything he wanted to do? Certainly not, there were many things he wanted to do while he still lived, but did he do them? Did he even make plans for them? No, he just came to work everyday, workaholic to the end.

Many times people told him that he would die young if he kept being such a workaholic. Obviously he didn't believe it; he liked working, programming, building high tech stuff and all of that, virtual worlds, duel disks, everything high tech. He still liked dueling and playing chess and he would for the rest of his life. Suddenly and for no reason, he wished he had dueled more. He stopped typing and looked away from the computer screen. The office felt so empty now but why? Everything was very quiet, too quiet, it was almost eerie. Memories came as a wild flood that could not be stopped.

Seto shook his head, trying to make the images in his mind go away, maybe he really had overworked, a vacation would be good, the first vacation he ever took since he became the CEO of Kaiba Corp. Yes, he would go on vacation and when he came back everything would be back to normal. It would be the first time someone was left to run his corporation for an extended period of time without even contacting him, but the one he planned to leave in change was ready, he knew it, he was a Kaiba after all.

"What am I thinking?" Why was he suddenly planning to leave and not contact anyone? That wasn't his idea of a vacation, but somehow he felt like that was what would happen. His heart started beating faster and suddenly he felt like running out of his office and jumping on a jet that would take him to a far away place, as if this strange feeling he was getting could be outrun. It couldn't.

Despite his need to get away from whatever was after him, Seto did not move. The room felt so cold, but the air conditioner was off. He turned it off after he started feeling cold a while ago. Not a good sign. How could he have dismissed that as unimportant? He had never felt cold like that before, not even when he had the flu. In fact, he felt sleepy now.

Seto pushed the laptop computer to the corner of his desk after saving his work and turning it off. He laid his head on his arms on the desk. "I'm tired that's all," he said to himself. "I'll be okay," he tried to convince himself, but couldn't. Suddenly it felt like he ran a mile. Metaphorically speaking he did, he ran a race he couldn't win.

His heartbeat went back to normal and he caught his breath. He reached for the phone and began to dial, accepting destiny. He held the phone next to his ear and waited for an answer that took too long to come. The phone began to slip away as he lost grip on it. He let the phone fall and closed his eyes to rest. So cold, so tired...

The sun was setting and its last rays of light touched him by the glass window. He never paid attention to the sunset, but he wished he had. The view must have been good from his office at the top floor of the Kaiba Corp. building. He used to get annoyed when the sun touched his computer screen and reflected off it on his face, but now he didn't close the window like he normally would have.