Chapter Four

As told from the perspective of Seto Kaiba-

I leaned back in the armchair near my desk in my bedroom hours later. My throat was sore; I had just finished shouting myself raucous at the security guard who had failed to notice that Pegasus had broken into my house. I was tired. Sleepily I glanced at my desk, where the Millennium Rod was lying.

There was something about the Millennium Rod. Something was familiar about it… according to the stone slab that Ishizu had shown me, I had once possessed it. I was starting to believe this more and more; something about it seemed so enigmatically nostalgic.

I reached over the back of the armchair and picked up the Rod; even without light striking it, it seemed to glitter golden. It wasn't just a metal stick. It had …an intelligence, or depth, to it.

Strange. This was the first time that I had ever really gotten to look at it. I inspected the sleek protrusions from the side of the orb on the top of the stick. The eye that was carved into the front was not just looking forward… it was staring. I pulled at the top of the orb; the top half of the rod slid off, revealing a sharp, thin blade. I examined it, interested. The knife part was almost razor-thin, and about seven-or-so inches long… it looked sharp. I gently prodded the tip of my finger to the tip of the blade, and was surprised to feel how much it hurt. Curiously I stuck the blade into a notebook on my desk and watched the blade slide through the paper effortlessly as though the paper was made of butter. I put the bottom half of the rod back onto the blade, covering it.

…Could I use this item? Once, I had possessed the power to convene monsters from stone, with this… I also knew that Marik had once used the Millennium Rod to brainwash people and go into their minds. I think I successfully brainwashed Joey, too. What else could the Millennium Items really do?

I got a sudden idea. If I could control this item with my willpower, then perhaps I should test it. Marik had once gone inside of Mai Valentine's mind; could I do the same thing, except, on myself? I closed my eyes and pointed the top of the rod towards my face. Then, I sat in silence, and thought, Show me what I think.

To my immense astonishment, I felt my breath catch in my chest for just a moment- I opened my eyes hastily.

I was no longer sitting in my study. I was standing in a …room. It was a relatively large room; dimly lit, and the air was just nippy… everything was white or light-blue; the walls, the ground, marble...

I gulped and looked around. In front of me, on the ground, there was a die-cast model of an amusement park. The rides were enormous, colorful, and looked like they were very enjoyable. I smiled down at the park for a moment before looking at my right; there stood bookshelves featuring books written by the most intelligent scientists and prose writers that the world had ever branded… a giant mirror was propped up next to the bookshelves, and in it I could see my reflection; pale and stunned, but with a look of wonder that was completely accurate.

Over my other shoulder stood an elegant chess board sitting on an end table; the pieces were lined up perfectly, waiting to be played… near it, a backgammon board and virtual-reality helmets sat patiently.

I turned around and saw a kind of altar set up on an enormous glass table behind me. In incredulity I approached it and found several framed pictures; I picked up one of them and stared into the eyes of myself, as an almost-5-year-old child, awkwardly holding an infant, wrapped in a blanket… the baby had a few tufts of black hair; the figure of me was smiling.

I chuckled and set it down and picked up another picture; a picture of myself at the age of perhaps seven, with Mokuba as a two-year old child; standing behind us, with one hand on my shoulder and one hand on Mokuba's, was a man… I recognized him. My real father...

I frowned sadly at the picture. He looked very much like Mokuba. He had the same dusty eyes and same choppy hair… only, his was a kind of dark brown. He was a handsome man; he looked as though he was about as tall as I was, now. I set the picture down and sighed. My mother had died when I was almost five years old… so, she wasn't in this picture.

Mostly I was happy being a dominantly solitary creature; I liked working alone, and I liked fighting alone… but sometimes, privately, I wondered what it would have been like to really know my real family. I had forgotten what it was like to have a father who loved me, and forgotten what it was like to love a father. Gozaburo had been so horrible, that I had thought nothing of family, with, of course, the exception of my little brother… but, this man in the picture that I was holding now had a kind smile.

I had only a few isolated, scattered memories of what my life with him was like. He always used to sit at the breakfast table and read the newspaper. I remembered that I would always go sit with him, and he would carry on deep, political conversations with me. He had been very intelligent and had taught me well, so young.

There was one more picture on the table. It was of a woman, holding a baby… I couldn't believe it. This was a photo of my mother, cradling me; the picture was now almost eighteen years old. I had used to try to strain my memory to recollect what my mother had looked like. She was featured in the picture as a tiny, thin woman with long, thick, light-brown hair and large, deep-blue eyes… she was beautiful. I frowned. Part of me really did wish that I could have gotten to know her. I set the picture down and decided to explore more of this room.

I walked back to the model amusement park and crouched down to get a better look at it. Of course the Blue-Eyes White Dragon was featured all over the place. I loved it. This was exactly what I wanted to do with my company's money- make as many of these parks as possible and allow children from orphanages to receive free admission to them. I had already started construction on some of them; the first one had been finished in time for the Grand Prix tournament months ago.

I stood back up and looked upwards; I saw a massive portrait that spanned the entire diameter of the large, square ceiling. I swallowed hard. I…. recognized the person in the portrait. The person featured there was a woman… she had long, sweeping white hair, crystal blue eyes, and a soft expression that comforted me even in my shock of being here. She was young and completely devoid of evil.

I could have stared into her eyes for hours; perhaps I did. I looked at the picture for what felt like minutes, or days, or months… something about her… I had seen her in my dreams so many times. She was always with me; watching over me in life, as she watched over this room that I knew was nestled deep in my heart. She loved me.

I finally forced myself to look away from her, startled at how a longing pain had begun to form very deep inside of my heart. I looked down at the Millennium Rod, again. I was done. I wanted out of here.

I took a sharp breath and lifted my head off of my chest and looked around, suddenly. Without any warning at all I was back in my bedroom, sitting in the large armchair. The Millennium Rod was in my lap. I swallowed hard. Incredible. I had just seen a place where all of my dreams and desires were manifested right in front of me. I exhaled deeply and set the Millennium Rod onto the coffee table next to me. I leaned back in my armchair and closed my eyes. I was still somnolent.

I was later jerked out of my sleepy stupor by an enormous commotion just outside of my window; a squirrel had leapt onto a tree branch nearby, shrieking horribly and thrashing around. I frowned. Was it rabid?

It kept up with this act for a surprisingly long time, to the point where it became somewhat fascinating to observe. I sat and watched it chaotically climb around the tree's branches, chittering riotously, for what must have been minutes on end. Then, suddenly, it jumped onto the branch closest to my window, and, to my surprise, leapt off of the branch and through the open window and into my study.

"Augh!" I yelled, ducking just in time for the squirrel to sail over my head and run rampant around the room. I stood up and chased after it; it ran across my chairs and under filing cabinets and tables and leapt up onto my desk, tossing papers around as it passed; tearing up my folders and books.

"Damnit!" I yelled, trying to snatch it, but it was too quick for me- Mokuba burst into the room suddenly, Millennium Ring dangling from his neck. He gasped and leapt past me and landed cleanly on top of the squirrel, grabbing it- the squirrel squirmed and shrieked in his hand.

"Good catch," I wheezed, goaded and breathless. "Damnit. Don't let it scratch you."

Mokuba laughed, holding the panicking squirrel up by the tail. "He won't."

"Put it outside," I said.

Mokuba ignored me; he, instead, held the squirrel up to his eye level and snarled, "That'll teach you to cheat, you asshole!"

"Mokuba…?" I asked, thoroughly befuddled. He was talking to the squirrel?

He laughed and looked up at me. "My friend Oshiri came over. We were playing a video game, and he cheated, so I put his soul into this squirrel."

My mouth fell open. "You… what? No…"

"The Millennium Items are totally awesome," he said blissfully, as the squirrel in his hand still tried desperately to get away. "All I had to do was look at him and point the ring at him and kind of will it to happen. There was a squirrel outside of my window in that tree…"

I was floored. I kind of stammered, "Mokuba… that's a bad…" I sighed. "Mokuba, don't abuse the power…"

"Come on, let me do this. I'm only teaching him a lesson!" he insisted. "I'll put him back eventually."

I smirked. I had taught my brother well. "Well, you have about 24 hours before he goes cold and dies. Make sure you put him back before then. I don't want a lawsuit on our hands."

"I love you, Seto!" he sang gleefully, and ran out of the room, squirrel dangling hopelessly (and very noisily) from his hand.

I sat down at the dinner table that night. I was alone; I looked down at the handsome plate of chicken and vegetables in front of me. I was just pouring myself a glass of milk when Mokuba entered the room. "Hey," he greeted me cheerfully; I looked up at him and had to suppress a chortle when I saw that he had put his friend-squirrel into a cage and was carrying him around. He set the cage on the table; the squirrel was still going completely mad. I couldn't help but find this exceptionally funny.

Mokuba was still sneering at the cage. "How long until you think he's learned his lesson?" I asked, having to raise my voice slightly to be heard over the raucous squirrel.

"Eh, I'll put him back after dinner, I guess," was the slipshod reply. "It's been… what, six hours now?"

"Something like that," I said, beginning to cut up my dinner. Mokuba shrugged. "Yeah, okay. I guess we know how much it sucks to be in his position, right?"

I frowned. Yes, we most certainly did, except for that at least Mokuba actually intended to spare his friend's life. The first time I had dueled with Pegasus, he'd had no aim of restoring us. Damnit, I hated him.