Created using Notebooks by Droid-Veda LLP

0

Prologue

It was a cold winter night. The bright street lights illuminated the snow covered streets of Domino City. Snow lightly fell from the sky creating a winter wonderland in the quiet city. Even covered in snow, Domino remained beautiful.

A dark car drove through the snowy streets while making its way towards its last destination for the night.

Inside the car was a family of four. An attractive man with deep red eyes and professionally styled black hair drove the car. Next to the man was a very beautiful woman with bright red eyes that seemed to shine even in the dark. Her hair was long and slim, finished off with a black shine.

Sitting in the back of the car was a boy who was ten years old. Next to him was his little sister. Her head laid on his left shoulder while she was in slumber. Just like their parents they had raven hair and crimson eyes.

It was a common trait in the Red family. Although a Red can be born with different color hair, they almost always had crimson eyes. There are even cases of a person from a different family who would be born with crimson eyes, though that is very rare.

The origin of the crimson eyed family is unknown to outsiders but there was one factor of this family that made them special. Jeremy and Helena were the CEO's of the largest toy company in all of Japan. The company's name was Crimson Toys Enterprise.

And every year it was customary that the members of this family would go to each orphanage located in Domino City to donate toys to the children there on Christmas Eve.

This earned the company a great reputation along with the satisfaction it gave to the CEO's to help the children in need; for it was the company's wish to make every child in the world happy.

Helena looked at the rear view mirror at the front of the car and smiled at her two beautiful children. Don, the oldest son looked up and returned the smile.

"Are we almost there?" Don whispered as to not wake his sister. Helena nodded, "Yes, just a little bit further along the rode."

"Okay." Don turned his head to look at his sleeping sister. Her breathing was soft and steady. Mei Red was the cutest little girl

Don has ever seen. Her soft black hair was cut short to her shoulders with her bangs covering some parts of her face.

Don wasn't something to ignore either. He was a handsome boy and knew when he was older he would look more like his father while Mei was taking on the appearance of their mother.

The car reached a speed bump on the rode causing Mei to lightly flutter her bright red eyes open. She yawned quietly and looked at her brother and smiled tiredly. She then turned to her mother who gave a small wave.

"Hello sleepy. We're getting near the last stop so try to stay awake, alright?"

Mei replied while yawning slightly, "Okay." She turned her attention back to her brother. "I had the greatest dream Donnie! There were pretty red flowers and white horses everywhere! I even got to ride one! It was so fun." She had a large smile on her face and Don couldn't help but smile back when she had used his nickname.

"Really? Sounds cool. We should ride a real horse." Don suggested. Mei's eye widen in excitement and she turned to her mother. "Mommy can we?!" Mei was practically jumping in her seat. She imagined herself sitting on a beautiful white horse, riding through a file of red roses just like in her dream but, this time her family will be with her, making it a reality.

"That sounds like a great idea. We'll definitively do that once the snow melts and the flowers have bloomed. Then we can go riding." Helena replied. Her husband smiled but never took his eyes off the rode. "We have to teach them how to ride first before anything. I'll teach them myself."

"You know how to ride dad?" Don asked. His father nodded. "Of course. I was riding horses way before I met your mother. Now I get to share that experience with all of you." Jeremy reached his hand to gently hold onto Helena's. Helena smiled then a few minutes later the Red family reached their destination.

It was a small orphanage located in a very friendly neighborhood with very few children living in it. Its exterior was made out of wood and other building materials. The playground equipment outside was completely covered in snow with a few handmade snow mans sitting around. There was also a snow fort and snow balls supposedly made by the children when they were having a snow ball fight.

The Red family exited the car and the door to the orphanage opened before the family made it inside the wooden fence surrounding the orphanage. Waiting inside was a middle aged woman with blonde curly hair and emerald green eyes. She was the orphanage's caretaker. She gave a warm smile to the family before inviting them in.

"Hello Helena, Jeremy. It is a pleasure to see you two here along with your beautiful children." The caretaker said leading the family towards the dining room.

Helena smiled in return. "It is a pleasure to be here Matilda."

"Most of the children are already asleep but if Don and Mei are alright with it, they could go and see if anybody is awake and play with them while we talk." Matilda offered.

Helena looked at her children and both gave a small nod. With that Don and Mei searched the orphanage while the three adults talked.

On the inside, the orphanage had wooden walls that surprisingly blocked out the cold from the outside while keeping in the warmth on the inside. For the few times they had visited the orphanage Don and Mei managed to make a few friends here, which was rare for them. You can't exactly make friends your own age when you spend most of your time in a large mansion. It's not like anybody would just walk up to the place and knock on the door either.

Holidays were the one and only time that the crimson eyed siblings ever got to play with other kids. Sadly, the friends they did make would have already been adopted the next few months before they got to see them again.

Don and Mei searched the first floor of the orphanage, first the living room, then the play room, and then the waiting room for the adults who come to adopt a child. It was clear that nobody was on the first floor of the orphanage so the Red siblings made their way towards the dark wooden stairs to reach the second floor.

The entire time Mei was holding onto her brother's hand for no other reason, but to just stay close to him. It was apparent that the crimson eyed siblings were never seen apart from each other. They would always stay by each others side when they could. Mei looked up to her brother and Don knew this very well.ยด He made sure he was the perfect role model for her. Don only wanted to make Mei proud of him. Ever since the day she was born Don swore to always protect his sister for as long as he lived.

The stairs made a small creek each time they took a step up the stairs. The second floor was where all the rooms of the children were located. Each room was big enough for two to share. Altogether the orphanage could house 12 orphans. They walked down the hallway and each door they passed was either locked or empty.

Sadly, the room normally belonging to their friends were empty meaning they had been adopted sometime after they had visited. Of course, Don and Mei were happy that their friends had found a home but they wished they were able to say goodbye first before they left.

On the far end of the hallway Don saw the door to the upstairs playroom open. The light from the room was also on, giving the dark hallway some light.

Don was certain somebody had left the lights on by accident and thought he should at least turn them off. He towards the room and stepped inside and reached for the light switch.

"Donnie wait!" Mei called called out causing Don to lower his hand. He looked at his sister in confusion. "What's wrong?" Mei pointed at the far corner of the room. Sitting at a small table were two boys playing chess with each other. The older of the two boys looked up from the game when he heard Mei's voice. He stood up, causing the other to look towards the same direction as he was.

Both saw the two crimson eyed siblings.

"Who are you?" The older boy asked as he walked towards the strangers. "Are you new here?"

Don took a closer look at the boy. He seemed to be about the same age as himself, if not then a year older. He had short brown hair that was styled in a particular way which made him look...cute in Don's opinion. He also had blue eyes that stared deeply at Don's crimson eyes. He wore a light blue vest with a white shirt under and a simple pair of jeans and sneakers.

Don smiled a little. "I could ask you the same thing. I'm Don and this is my sister Mei." Mei smiled and waved at him. "Hi!" Don saw the younger of the two strangers stand right behind the older.

"I'm Seto and this is my brother Mokuba. We just arrived last month. Nice to meet you Don." Seto said while extending his arm for a hand shake. Don gladly shook his hand and smiled. "Cool. We're here with our parents It's nice to meet you too Seto."

Seto and Don both let go of each others hand and Seto glanced at the table he and his brother were just sitting at. "Hey Don. Do you like to play chess?" He asked looking at the red eyed boy. Don nodded.

Seto smiled, "Do you wanna play a game of chess?"

"Sure! I'm not any good though. You'll probably beat me in less then five turns." He laughed nervously while rubbing the back of his neck.

"Let's see about that Don. Follow me."

Don followed Seto and both sat directly in front of each other. "Black or white?" Seto asked holding a black and white king. "Black." Seto handed him all the black pieces while he started setting up his white pieces.

Mei looked at Seto's younger brother and smiled. "Hi." Mokuba blushed slightly as he replied. "Hey."

Once both the crimson eyed and blue eyed boys had set up their pieces the game began. Both boys started moving each piece on their respective turns. Both were highly concentrated on each move that was played. Seto had played this game for as long as he remembered. He had the experience kids at his age wouldn't normally have, and if what Don said was true, then he had this game in the bag. So far nobody had beaten him in a game of chess.

As the game continued, Seto noticed it was taking him far more turns then he had guessed. It was surprisingly difficult to capture the other boy's pieces. Every move Seto made he was further away to capturing Don's king. Don was also having trouble as well. So far Seto had already taken a few of his pawns and a rook while Don only took a pawn and two knights. Don was mainly avoiding Seto's moves making the game drag on with each turn until it made Seto a little frustrated.

Why was Don making his pieces go further away and not face him head on? Was he a coward? Every time Seto went forward, Don went backward. This game would last forever if Don didn't make a direct move. Then it hit him. Seto was so preoccupied in moving his pieces forwards, he didn't notice that Don had made a barrier around his king while he left his own unprotected. He

didn't know which was more unsettling, him recklessly leaving his king in the open or that Don manged to distract the 'high in focus' Seto.

Now it was Don's turn. The boy in front of him was actually worried. Seto's king was right the path of Don's rook. If he moves it then it would be check mate. Don knew this and smiled to himself. All he had to do was pick up his rook and steal Seto's king. Then he would win the game.

However, just as Don was about to reach for his rook, a soft ball came out of nowhere and knocked over the entire chess board, knocking all of the pieces down and onto the floor.

Both Don and Seto blinked a couple of times and tried to process what had just happen. Their attention however was directed to the sound of Mei and Mokuba trying to conceal their laughter.

"Mei!" "Mokuba!"

Then they erupted into a laughing fit. "S-Sorry Donnie!" Mei said trying to hide her laughter, but the look on their older brothers faces weren't helping. Mokuba was also having trouble concealing his laughter as Don and Seto began to pick up the pieces from the floor.

"Well I guess there's no winner." Don said.

Seto nodded in agreement, however if the game had not been interrupted, Don would have been the winner. He was almost glad the game was cut off. It would certainly have been a big shock to Seto if he had lost the chess game for the first time.

Once they had picked up all of the fallen pieces, Don's mother and father found them inside the play room. "Don, Mei. It's time to go home." Their mother said.

The siblings groaned. "Okay." They said in unison. They walked towards their parents, not before waving the others goodbye. "Bye Seto. Bye Mokuba! It was fun meeting you guys. Merry Christmas!" Don said

Seto and Mokuba smiled before waving back and also speaking in unison. "Bye! Merry Christmas!"

The Red family left the orphanage and entered the car. All the while Seto watched them from the window until the car started to drive away. He turned to his brother and gave a smile which Mokuba knew, meant that he was excited. "Looks like I've got a new opponent."