It was ironic.
He had to admit it. He had earned and fought for everything he had. Anything that bore his surname or insignia was his. He deserved to have it that way. But he had become what he hated.
His stepfather had strived for power and control. He hadn't given a thought to the numerous lives he had ripped apart in his pursuit for wealth and control. Anyone who had got in his way - intentionally or accidentally - had been replaceable. The man had viewed other people as beneath him and without the right to approach him or question him. But in his mind, he had been correct.
Gozaburo hadn't known when he made that visit to the orphanage that he would be leaving with two children. A child had seen through his charitable façade with ease. Seto had thought it had been due to the man's weak mask, but he knew how it was because of their similarities.
He had challenged the CEO for Mokuba's sake. He'd wanted to protect his little brother. He could have managed in the orphanage. But Mokuba had only been a little kid, one who had just lost his home, his parents and anything that had been left to them; everything apart from his older brother. He'd needed a proper home and some sort of a proper upbringing, that's why he'd challenged Gozaburo.
He'd paid the price for being the big brother. He had been stripped of anything that had resembled a childhood, leaving him with no option but to grow up. But the only adults he could learn from had been greedy and corrupt. He had been forced to study every day; numbers and percentages had been drilled into his head. His only escape had been duel monsters, but even those had been taken away from him.
Gozaburo had talked down to him; made him feel no better than the ground he'd walked on, until he'd reached his limit. Gozaburo had forced him to become an adult, he'd forced him to grow up, he had given Seto all the tools and resources required to over-throw him. He had accumulated almost half of the company and used it against his stepfather. He had manipulated and strived to strike back at the man. He could still see the look on Gozaburo's face when Mokuba had sided against him.
If he had cared, Seto would have prevented the man from leaping through the glass-panelled window of his study. But he hadn't cared, and he never would.
Gozaburo had not been seen since. Seto didn't care if he had killed himself or not, if anything, he hoped he had. Gozaburo was responsible for the monster he saw himself becoming. A cold-hearted, unsociable and company driven person. He had hated the man up until the bitter end, but somewhere along the way he had become what he'd hated most in life; the Gozaburo of his generation.
A/N: It's shorter than the first version, but I think I took out a lot of distracting things and improved on it a bit, hopefully ^_^