Disclaimer: I own nothing.
"Dwell in possibility." - Emily Dickinson
It's almost the day of the finals…
Seto was staring out the window in his bedroom, watching the sun rise above the tops of the trees. He usually began the day before the birds outside, but today was different, and he wasn't entirely sure why.
He sat up in bed, and glanced over at the clock, when he realized that he wasn't the only person there.
He had spotted long strands of auburn hair that were coming from underneath the covers on the other side of the bed. He was about to pull the covers off that side of the bed and find an explanation, when someone stirred, and looked up at him.
"I want an explanation."
She smiled, and said, "We've been married for a couple of years. I don't think you need any explanation, Seto."
He glared at her. "You're the mutt's sister, aren't you?"
He felt her hand touch his. "I told you not to call him that," Serenity said.
"MORNING!"
A small child flopped onto the bed, beaming at their parents. Seto couldn't help but stare in shock for a few seconds. She was the spitting image of Serenity, and for a moment, he was completely and utterly dumbstruck.
"Are you okay, Daddy?" the child asked, her eyes wide as she stared at her father.
Serenity laughed, taking the child by the hand. "Don't worry about Daddy, Midori. He'll be fine. The two of you can still spend the day together like you planned."
Midori rocketed off the bed. "Yay!" she exclaimed, and ran out of the open door, bumping into a maid that had been coming into the bedroom with a basket of laundry. When the maid noticed that Seto and Serenity were still in bed, she blushed.
"I'm s-s-s-s-sorry to b-b-bother y-y-y—"
"Get out of here," Seto demanded, and the maid fled the room in a hurry, dropping the basket of clothes in her rush to leave the two of them alone.
"Well, we better get up then," Serenity said after a few minutes of tense silence. "You're going to want to spend a lot of time with Midori."
For a moment, Seto wasn't entirely sure about what she was talking about.
"Your daughter," she explained. "My, Seto—all these years together, and then after we get married and have a child together…you can't even remember her name? It's been years since those card games. Years…Stop living in the past."
Seto didn't have such a great response for this. He wanted to say something witty, something that would force Serenity to back down. But then again, there was no rational explanation for how this had all happened.
However, after a couple of seconds, Serenity's angry melted, and she took him by the hand once more.
"Don't worry about me. Have a good time with Midori. Perhaps you'll run into Yugi and Téa. Téa had the baby a couple months ago, so I'm not sure if she'll be there, but Yuugi might. Tell him hello if you do see him."
"Daddy, Daddy, Daddy," Midori called, bouncing up and down at the threshold of the door, fully dressed for the outing. "Can we go now?"
Serenity smiled at her daughter, and said, "Wait, sweetie. Daddy still has to get dressed."
Seto got out of bed, and was rifling through his chest of drawers with Midori at his heels. Serenity was still lying in bed, looking thoroughly worn out.
"Only a few more weeks till your son is born," she said wistfully, glancing over at him.
"I am well aware of when my son is supposed to arrive," he said, hoping that that would be witty enough.
Serenity chuckled. "Just don't stay out too late. The party at my brother's house is tonight, and I don't think arriving fashionably late will make my brother happy."
He took Midori by the hand, and said, "Don't worry, we won't."
He didn't feel comfortable doing this. There was something strange about this whole situation. Usually he didn't ride in a limousine with an overly-excited four year old.
"We're going to get Mommy a birthday present!" Midori chirped. "She likes flowers. We should get her lots and lots of them to plant in a garden!"
Seto ignored her. He was still trying to figure out how he had gone from being about to compete in the Battle City Finals to living with Serenity and his…daughter.
He shuddered.
It was at that moment that the limo stopped at a Florist's. He had been to nearly every part of Domino City, yet he had never seen this shop. There were rows and rows of colorful plants outside, and the windows of the building were stained glass. If his eyes weren't deceiving him, then there were a couple of dream catchers in the window, and an old woman with snow white hair wearing a dark dress, shawl, and beads was standing out front, talking to a customer.
"Come on Daddy," Midori said, grabbing onto her father's hand, after she had been helped out of her car seat by the driver.
Once Seto was outside of the car, he realized that he had seen the person talking to the shop owner before. But before he could investigate further into this theory, Midori pulled him over to a table of roses, wanting his opinion on what they should buy.
"Hello, Kaiba."
Seto looked over to see Joey standing beside him, holding a gun to his ribs.
"Put the gun down," he said calmly, breathing a little heavier than he had before. The potted plant that Midori had been holding before slipped from her hands and shattered on the ground.
The gun was pushed into his ribs, as Joey hissed, "No. You took my sister away from me. And I can never forgive you."
There were several loud screams, and the colors that Seto saw seemed to fade away before his very eyes. Everything that was happening around him seemed very distant. The last thing that he saw was Midori sobbing beside him, and being hustled away from the scene by someone who looked a bit like Yugi.
And then there was nothing.
When he awoke, he was sitting up in bed as he had the day before, sweat running down his face. He turned to see if there was anybody else in the room, and breathed a sigh of relief when he realized he was the only person there.
"It was just a nightmare," he told himself. He glanced over at the clock to see if it was time to get up, when he saw a note lying there.
He picked it up, and read it:
Dear Seto,
The vision that you just had is what your life could be. You could marry a wonderful person, and have a daughter, and still not have to give up the company, or anything else. All you have to do is call off the Battle City Tournament, and this wonderful life could be yours.
-A Well Wisher
He stared at the piece of paper for a few moments, before chuckling to himself. He usually didn't tend to say things like this, but at that particular moment, he deemed it necessary.
"As if."
