I'll admit that even before the reviews I had plot threads for this that wouldn't leave me alone, and y'all showing interest in seeing more only solidified that. Updates will be a touch sporadic, since my plot outline for Complicity continues to expand uncontrollably like Tetsuo at the end of AKIRA and demands attention like my cat who lies on the keyboard if she thinks the food bowl is hinting at being empty. Even when I'm typing.

I can't say you'll be able to read the Euroshipping as platonic once I get going, which is why I'll be leaving Superstitious as its own chapter for people who don't ship them and billing this as an immediate sequel. Please read Superstitious first, otherwise this story will make no sense!

He's standing beside Mokuba's bed, only it isn't really him. His body is moving on its own, independent of Seto's own will. He wonders if this is how Yugi and Malik and Ryou felt when their other selves took over.

Mokuba doesn't wake up when Seto's body sits down on the mattress, when someone else uses his fingers to comb through the black mop of his hair. When his mouth grins and his voice says, "You took everything from me, so now I'll take everything from you."

Seto screams as his own hands close around his baby brother's neck and squeeze.

He awakens in his bed, drenched in a cold sweat for the second time that night. He peels the sheets away and notices the time. Three AM, exactly two hours and thirty seven minutes since the last one.

He has never even touched a cigar, yet the phantom taste of tobacco lingers on his teeth. Seto throws off the covers and stalks into his en suite. An empty mouthwash bottle taunts him.

His skin is feeling more than a little raw now as he scrubs himself completely clean in the shower again with every wash and gel he has, an angry red under the near blisteringly hot spray. He briefly considers gargling the shampoo.

This isn't the first time he's had a nightmare where his brother is murdered by his own hands since his possession, but it's the first one where Gozaburo's voice decided to make an appearance.

Mokuba is in the small private kitchen already, picking through a bag of grapes at the table to find the 'good' ones. He looks at his red skin and the towel around Seto's neck curiously, but lets him boil the kettle in peace.

Coffee has been unceremoniously banned from the kitchen - and the rest of the household for that matter - following what everyone has deemed the 'incident', but he's still glad Mokuba doesn't question why his brother has suddenly switched to herbal and fruit teas. The kitchen staff have a good eye for quality and today's blend is chamomile and cinnamon from Sri Lanka.

When Seto sits at the table, Mokuba rolls a grape at him and it bounces off his cup. He gives Seto a disgusted face when he doesn't check the grape for bruises before eating it, a face Seto matches when he remembers that it's not the weekend anymore.

"Don't you have school in the morning? Go to bed."

"Yeah and nope. I can't sleep and it looks like you can't either, so we might as well keep each other company. Hey, didn't you drop out?"

"I did. I should be back in class next week." Domino High was more than happy to re-accept him. The teachers probably thought they were being kind when they said that his previous grades meant there was no need to catch up on the homework, but he really could use the distraction.

"I can't believe I could've graduated before my big brother." Seto rolls his eyes as he sips his tea.

"Bed. Or I uninvite your class."

"You wouldn't dare!" A grape aggressively bounces off his forehead this time, but he doesn't have to look up from his tea to see Mokuba grinning, the chair he was in scraping against the floor as he darts over and latches onto his arm in mock outrage. He's not quite ready to rejoin all the sports clubs he was in yet, but his body has recovered remarkably quickly from its long downtime. He's still too skinny in Seto's opinion though, so maybe it's for the best that he decided to have a late night snack. Or five, judging by the rest of the debris around the kitchen.

The private party was meant to happen two weeks ago, but has somehow morphed into an immense gala set in October instead - Seto has long since lost count of how many phone calls and emails he's had to make to Yugi and Ryou and the others about the date changing, so this had better be the last delay. He can at least use it as an excuse to host a fundraiser for the local children's clinic, because apparently being charitable is a euphemism for a photo op to some people.

Mokuba grabs Seto's wrist, switching their bracelets. The garnet inlaid on the bracelet is cold and inert on his skin, just like all the other times they had switched. Seto suspects that Mokuba doesn't quite understand the importance of the jewels, but is simply happy to indulge in his older brother's new habit.

"You're right, I wouldn't. You're still responsible for making sure they don't cause trouble though."

"Trust me, that won't be a problem." Vague memories of Mokuba running the world's shortest street gang emerge, striking fear into the hearts of Capsule Monster collectors everywhere. He doesn't have many memories of the time before that duel, so he quietly treasures the ones that do emerge, even if they're less than flattering. Like this one, where he neglected Mokuba enough that he fell in with a band of bullies much like the ones that tormented him at the orphanage.

Mokuba lets go of his arm.

"Actually, Seto? Can I talk to you about something first? I promise I'll go to bed right after." There's a seriousness to his voice that has Seto's attention instantly.

"Sure - not at the table though. Remind me to order some chairs with cushions."

Mokuba doesn't sit down right away. He waits for Seto to settle on the couch before clambering into his lap. He hasn't done this since they were in the orphanage, during the long nights after far too many prospective parents came along who'd take one or the other, but couldn't possibly make room in their lives for both. It's oddly nostalgic and he finds himself running his fingers through Mokuba's hair just like he used to.

Just like in the dream, but he ignores that as best as he can.

"I wanna know who it was."

"Who it was?"

"The ghost that possessed you." Mokuba hesitates on the word, like he couldn't believe what he was saying. It makes sense - even though he suffered from Gozaburo's curse, it must still be strange for him to see his skeptical brother change his tune so suddenly.

"Nobody you knew." It's not a complete lie, he tells himself. Mokuba barely spent any time with Gozaburo. He was thankfully ignored for the most part, viewed as a disposable spare at worst and part of the furniture at best.

In all honesty, it's not like anyone in the entire world could say they actually knew Gozaburo Kaiba.

Mokuba buries his face in Seto's shoulder and his voice wavers as he speaks.

"I never knew Mom."

The low hum of the fridge is the only sound for a long time. Mokuba puts up little resistance as Seto pushes him away to look him in the eyes. They glisten in the soft light of the kitchen.

"Mokuba, listen to me."

He nods, but looks away.

"Mother loved you. She loved you so much that when everyone said she had to choose between herself and you, she chose you. She would never want to hurt you, or me."

He doesn't look like he quite believes Seto yet and opens his mouth to say something else, but Seto knows what the game is now and beats him to it.

"And it wasn't Father either. I don't care what our relatives or the kids at the orphanage tried to make you think, but he loved you too."

"Not enough to pay attention at the railway crossing. If he didn't do it on purpose. I've been reading about this stuff - ghosts like that don't appear for no reason. The worst ones are murder victims or suicides and I'd say our ghost was pretty awful. Dad wasn't murdered, so..."

Seto's not sure what to say to that. He likes to think the man he remembers would never do such a thing, but what eight year old really knows what goes on in the minds of their parents anyway? He was never told many details about what happened and their father was a relatively ordinary man, so papers from the time reported on it as little more than a tragic accident tucked away at the bottom of the page.

He remembers Father falling asleep on the couch with Mokuba tucked under his chin after a bout of colic and teaching Seto how to play chess and he doesn't doubt that the man loved both of his sons.

But that doesn't mean he didn't love their mother more.

"Seto? Do I look like her? Did... did I remind him of her?"

"Not really. You take after Father more. You have his eyes for one thing, his ridiculously messy hair for another." Mokuba snorts a little at that.

"Does that mean you look like Mom?"

"I suppose. She was taller than him, so that's probably why you're still shorter than Yugi." He remembers their mother, having burned images of her from when she wasn't sick into his mind long ago. Seto definitely inherited her sharper features and he suspects he inherited her leadership skills too, considering that she didn't stop ordering doctors around even as she lay on her deathbed.

"Hey, I could still grow! Yugi's stuck being short forever... Man, he's gonna be so pissed when he realizes I'm taller one day. I can't wait!"

"Maybe that's why he's a good duelist, it all went into his brain instead of his legs."

Mokuba chuckles at that, and Seto hopes he's managed to dissuade his gloom for the night. He might not be able to bring himself to make Mokuba go, if those sorts of thoughts are plaguing him still.

The decision is made for him when Mokuba's laugh turns into a yawn and his eyes start looking distinctly bleary. Sometimes he forgets that Mokuba is still a kid, and technically still a sick one at that - the most obvious evidence being his quiet grumbling and insistence that he can walk by himself as Seto scoops him up and carries him to his room.

"You better not try to tuck me in!"

"And upset that pillow fort you've made? Not likely."

He drops Mokuba on the bed, noticing that he still needed to move the futon from the wall, while geraniums decorate the corners. The flowers can stay, at least.

"Wait, one more thing!"

He stops at the door, waiting for Mokuba to continue. He shuffles awkwardly under Seto's gaze, looking a little embarrassed. "Sometimes I dreamed you were watching me - or maybe hallucinated, I don't know. You never said anything, just stared. Then you'd go back to sleep. It was super weird, but it was kinda nice too. Like you were a dragon watching over their treasure or something. I knew I'd be okay whenever I had that dream."

He punctuates the last part with a wide grin at Seto, who smiles back.

Seto manages to hold the smile until he closes the door, walks down the hallway and is safely back in his own room.

"Seto? I want you to listen to me carefully. Gozaburo is gone, forever. There's nothing left of him to come back."

"Gozaburo is gone." Seto repeats, slowly, in between each gasping breath. He doesn't know how many times he repeats it and he's sure it's nothing but gibberish after a while, but Ryou is far more patient than he has any right to be, considering he was just woken up at three AM by Seto on the verge of a panic attack. He doesn't speak for a while, not until Seto's breathing slows down and the edges of his vision stop being fuzzy. He clutches the bracelet in his palm hard enough that he knows they'll bruise in the morning.

"Yes. I made sure of it. Dark Necrofear is my strongest monster and she shows no mercy towards those who seek to harm their children." Ryou's voice tinges with pride and affection for his monster and Seto remembers the grotesque child she cradled. Seto wonders if that's how he sounds when he talks about the Blue Eyes White Dragons - what sort of prey they would prefer - when it occurs to him that summoning and purging his body of such a powerful monster was probably why Ryou almost single-handedly caused a salt shortage across Domino.

"It was my fault you were stuck on your apartment floor for days then."

"No. I chose to use her instead of a less powerful fiend. Most of the monsters in my deck could handle him with their eyes closed. I figured you'd want the peace of mind, but ultimately it was my choice."

"If you're sure... Sorry for disturbing you, by the way. I know it's a school night."

"It's alright - I was awake anyway. Actually, I was wondering how you'd be once you had the chance to slow down and process everything that happened anyway. Mokuba wasn't the only one suffering for all that time. Are you alright?"

'I can't smell coffee without wanting to throw up.'

'My skin only feels like my skin when the shower is hot enough to burn it.'

'I've been having dreams about trying to kill my baby brother that might have been real. In fact I just woke up from one where I strangled him, wanna know what it sounds like when someone is choking to death?'

"I'm managing, I guess."

Ryou hums to himself, and Seto can tell he doesn't believe him one bit. For whatever reason, Ryou doesn't see fit to say anything. There's an awkward silence - he can hear something moving in Ryou's room. Maybe just him fidgeting, or a cat. Ryou seems like the kind of person who'd have a cat or twelve.

"There's one more thing I want to ask you."

He can hear Ryou jump at the suddenness of his voice and fumbling with the phone, something hitting the floor. Had he fallen asleep sat up or something?

"Go on..."

"Can you... can you speak to the dead?" The moment the question leaves his lips Seto wishes he could take it back. He sounds like a child, hesitant and afraid in his ignorance in front of some divine being. He's not a child and Ryou is Ryou.

Ryou seems anxious in his answer, tripping over his own words at first, but once he gets started on the fine details of it all he seems to calm down. "I could. I-I mean I've done it before for one of my neighbors and... I don't see what the point is, personally, but that's not my call to make I guess. Right? Anyway, I need the belongings of the dead in order to guarantee contact with the intended spirit, not imposters or spirits trying to escape. Those will have to be burned afterwards, of course."

"Burned?"

"All the way to ashes. Once an object has been used as a channel to the afterlife, it will always be open to it. You have to destroy the object or wandering spirits will be drawn into it - and you, as the one who called on them."

"Does it have to be an object they owned? Is there anything else we can burn?"

"Well since we're both awake, feel like going grave-robbing? ... That was a bit blunt, wasn't it? Sorry!" Ryou laughs, though it's subdued. Right - Ryou lives in an apartment, he has to be quiet. Seto has to wonder how he gets away with all the incense he burns.

"Just a little." Seto hopes Ryou is drowsy enough to not notice the wavering of his voice, or how fake his own laugh sounds. Or that he's simply polite enough not to comment.

His parents were both cremated, their ashes scattered back in their home towns by their relatives and their empty urns kept apart as well. He doesn't remember the last time he had any real contact with the 'family', aside a few opportunistic cousins tried to waltz into the Kaiba Corp. building to borrow some money from their dear estranged sons. They ended up with restraining orders and none of them have been stupid enough to try the same trick since.

"If you still feel like talking to the dead, it'd be best to wait until after that gala of yours. It's due for October now, right? If that's everything..."

Something leaps into Seto's mind and the words tumble out of him, before he really has a chance to think about what he's saying.

"That wasn't a cold you were suffering from, when I first called you. You were recovering from another case like mine, right?"

Ryou doesn't answer right away. Seto can hear something in the room again, close to the receiver this time.

"Sort of. Why?" Huh. That was... abrupt. Seto is nothing if not an expert at pushing people's buttons, so he quietly files that reaction away for later.

"No reason, I was just curious."

"I see. Good night, Seto."

Ryou hangs up before Seto can reply. At least Seto knows he'll be free of nightmares now - there's no way he can waste valuable REM on Gozaburo when he has something like this for his mind to gnaw at.