Glass
If Seto had counted correctly, which became more difficult to do as the length of his imprisonment increased, he was halfway through the month of May. The exact date escaped him, although if Seto tried to trace it back, the convention had been on a Sunday, the sixth of March. Seto knew the number of days he had been in the room, but counting them forward to get the current date seemed like it would be a lot of effort for pointless information. So long as he kept up with the day of the week and the number of days since Pegasus had brought new sheets, he could get by.
What was more important was that Mokuba's birthday was in two months. It was too long to wait to see Mokuba, to make sure that he was okay.
Seto rubbed his stomach, hurting at the thought of another two months, and not just two months without seeing Mokuba, but trapped in the room with Pegasus's lingering promise of spending two years in this room before getting out.
He didn't look up from the book in his lap when he heard the speaker come on, pretending to be engrossed in French syntax.
"Good afternoon, Kaiba-boy. I have another hypothetical for you."
The hatch door rang out as the metal lock tapped against the glass. Once it was opened though, Seto could smell the coffee. He looked up to verify it was there before dog-earing his page - which he never would have done in one of his own books - and putting down his book.
"Will it be as mind-numbingly simple as the last?"
Pegasus smiled and lifted the coffee mug, posing the same offer he had the previous time. Play the hypothetical and get the coffee.
"We're playing out this scenario with the same two companies as before, A and B. Now, Company A cut ties with Company B, if you recall, and it did help to level out the profits for a while."
"Of course."
"Just catching you up, little prince. Now, Company B has decided that Company A is getting all the income and starts manufacturing similar products to Company A."
With the tone Pegasus used, Seto might have assumed that Pegasus didn't realize that companies pulled that sort of move all the time. But Seto wanted the coffee more than he wanted to argue, so he kept from antagonizing the situation.
"Does Company B make better products or just similar ones?"
"Similar. And while their products aren't better, they are sold at a lower price. Some of Company A's fair-weather clients are leaving for Company B."
"Are Company A's price points fair for the product being sold?" Seto asked.
Pegasus confirmed that they were.
"Then I wouldn't do anything. Company A should stand behind their products without backing down. Lowering prices or offering unnecessary incentives would make it seem like the original, better product is worth less than it is."
After a small chuckle which was almost a giggle, Pegasus said, "Don't you think that's a bit arrogant?"
"Recall that I was known for my arrogance. People expected it from my company and wanted to see it from me. And I had no reason not to be. KaibaCorp made the best products on the market."
"Makes. It's still in operation, you know."
"But I'm not there. I'm sure the quality will slip."
"You had said you had a great team, and I can confirm that your team is wonderfully efficient."
"Every team, no matter how great, needs a great leader. I'm not there. And while my engineers and technicians can still build amazing products, everything went through me. Expect creativity and innovation to drop."
"You know," Pegasus started, bending down to slide the mug through the hatch since the hypothetical seemed to have ended. "If I wasn't so convinced you believed I brought you here to work for me or to steal your creations, I would allow you to continue working."
"I won't work for you regardless."
Pegasus stood after locking the hatch. Seto expected him to take his seat in the chair, but Pegasus remained standing. It was dinner time, so fifteen minutes in which Pegasus always sat. Sometimes he sat on the floor, like when they were playing chess, but he never just stood there. It made Seto feel like he needed to stand so they were on an even level.
"You said, not two weeks ago, that you wanted to work."
"But not for you."
"Then let me pose this question to you," Pegasus said. He rubbed his lips together and stared at Seto thoughtfully. Seto didn't much care for the scrutiny, so he looked away to find the coffee. He went to grab it while Pegasus asked his question, bending over and wincing at the pain in his side.
"Let's say by some act of God, you start trusting me and decide not to fight. No, no, Kaiba-boy, let me finish. I'm merely posing a what-if. So, you trust me and stay. What would you like to do with your life?"
"I'm not going to want that."
"Play nice."
Like he usually did, Seto took the coffee and left the food. He carried it back to lean against the narrow stretch of wall between his bed and the bookshelf. It put him directly across from Pegasus, but as far away from him as Seto could get while still carrying on a conversation. It might make it more difficult for the speaker to catch his words, which would make Pegasus work a little harder for the conversation.
"No. There aren't any scenarios that have me liking you enough to even think about staying here."
With a little "hm," Pegasus crossed his arms. "I won't let you out of this room until I hear the answer."
"You're not going to let me out of here anyway."
"I'm going to let you out, Kaiba-boy!" Pegasus's voice raised, but not in anger. It sounded like an odd mix of frustration and amusement, and Pegasus's arms uncrossed to stretch in a broad gesture. "You aren't staying in there forever."
"Just until you've conditioned me?" Seto said, taking a sip of his coffee to tone down his statement.
"I prefer acclimated."
"And if I chose not to allow you to acclimate me?"
"I won't give up on you, little prince. Until my dying breath, I would come down here and hope you've changed your mind."
Seto couldn't help but hope that dying breath would come fairly quickly. At least the people who had installed the air duct knew where Seto was, so if Pegasus died, Seto wouldn't be left to rot. Someone on the island had to be able to contact the mainland, to call in for backup to get them all out if something happened. It was something to hope for, Seto supposed.
A little chirp in Seto's mind pointed out that Pegasus did not mention Mokuba in Seto's need to get out of the room. It was unspoken – Pegasus had Mokuba and Seto wanted to see Mokuba – but he hadn't brought that up, which meant there was a chance that he was trying not to use Mokuba as leverage, as Seto had requested.
"So I get upgraded from this room to the wing with Mokuba. How long after that before you would let us wander your castle?"
Pegasus's nose wrinkled, but he erased the expression and flipped his hair over his shoulder. "Wander is an encompassing word. Let's use, have-access-to-parts."
"How long until we have access to parts of it?"
"However long it takes for us to redevelop our trust."
Seto frowned and leaned forward, just enough that his shoulders weren't touching the concrete, "Redevelop?"
"Oh, don't be like that. We are both well aware that from the moment I open this door, you'll be fecklessly digging around for any way out. When that stops and I trust that it won't start again, you'll-"
"Get a longer leash?"
"You said it."
"Okay," Seto said, taking a long drink of coffee. He was beginning to see where the conversation would end up, so he finished the rest of the coffee before asking, "What about Wheeler?" so that he could set the mug on his side table. He would need both hands free to make a clean escape.
"What about him?"
"He has a sister. What if he gains your trust impeccably, but still wants to see his sister?"
"Impeccably?"
Seto nodded.
"Then I would fly her out here, maybe send a boat to pick her up. Is there a term for that? Ship her over? Ferry her?"
Seto tilted his head to his left and smirked, then crossed his arms for greater effect. Even if Pegasus knew Seto's skepticism wasn't entirely sincere, at least the idea was there. "But certainly she would run home and alert the authorities of where he is."
"If I trust him impeccably, and he me, then he won't want to leave."
"And Muto? He has his grandfather, and I think a mother. I'm sure the others will want to see their families as well. Everyone has somebody."
Pegasus gave Seto a sad smile, and it took him several seconds to respond.
"All right, Kaiba-boy, what about you? Who do you have to go back to?"
Seto's gaze traced over the painting Mokuba had done for him. He knew that the shape in the ocean was a K, and it had taken him a while, but he found the rest of the letters. The sun was the O, the waves the K, the trees a triangle that was meant to be an A, and a small curl in the brown border the Y. Two birds up in the swirled sky blues formed the I and M.
"You have the unfortunate advantage of having my someone."
"But you still want to leave?"
"Of course. I don't like you, and that's me putting it nicely. I don't like the Friendship Brigade and you have them as well. I have no intentions of living out my life with just the eight of us trying to coexist."
"Who ever said that you would see the others?"
Seto took a beat before saying something ill-thought out.
"If I have access to parts of your castle, I would assume the same for them."
"Well, you know what they say about people who assume."
"Pegasus."
"Without giving too much of my master plan away, you may not be spending the rest of your life with them."
"I thought the last chapters haven't been written."
"They are becoming clearer."
"If I ask you specifically, will you answer?" Seto asked, knowing that they had maybe thirty seconds left before Seto would end the conversation and leave his bedroom to wait out Pegasus in the bathroom.
Pegasus actually seemed to consider it. He checked his watch and stared at it for longer than it normally took him.
"Not about the master plan, no. I'm sorry, Kaiba-boy. It's privileged information."
"So you're not an open book. Doesn't that mean you've lied to me?"
The discomfort Pegasus was showing made Seto feel more in control than he had in quite some time, as he had been working the conversation to that point for the past several exchanges. Pegasus talked too much not to get caught up in something he said wrong, and Seto intended to call him out when he saw it. Because really, the only advantage Seto had was that Pegasus wanted Seto to believe him unwaveringly, and Seto didn't. If that ever changed, then Seto had nothing.
"I'll explain it to you later on."
"Later on could mean anything and quite honestly, I'm beginning to doubt you have any intentions of following through on your long-term promises."
"You should believe that I'm good for the information. Trust-"
"Forget trust," Seto said. He allowed his tone to raise because he was trying to prove a point, and speaking at a normal register would detract from the feigned drama he was trying to express. "I'm locked in this room. What am I supposed to do with any information you give me?"
"You're getting out of the room."
Seto wanted to swear, knowing it would convey the false extent of this argument, but wasn't willing for the music to get shut off just so he could prove a point. He could get there without the needless theatrics.
"Says you, the man who kidnapped me and locked me in this cage. You've given me a thousand reasons not to believe you."
"Why would I let you know that your brother is here if not to give you something more to look forward to?"
"Because you're insane?"
"Eccentric."
"You're trying to mess with my head? You're holding Mokuba as leverage over me? You like watching me struggle with that knowledge? You just think it's funny?"
Pegasus's face burned red, so Seto kept pushing. He walked to the glass, slowly, like he held all the authority in the situation.
"You are giving me every reason to fight and then demanding that I stop. If that isn't trying to play mind games, I don't know what is. This cage is a clear indication that you put thought into where you wanted me, and this is what you settled on. If you were going to let me out, you would have done so. So stop lying to me and just tell me the fu- truth."
Letting one almost creep out seemed to slate the severity for Pegasus. It got a flinch out of him, and even resulted in him taking half a step back. If Seto could have walked any closer to Pegasus, he would have, but matching Pegasus's strides just wasn't possible, so Seto settled for straightening his back even more and lifting his chin.
The sharp pain in his stomach protested at the motion, but Seto ignored it so he wouldn't flinch.
"I'm not lying to you, Seto," he said in a sad attempt to make Seto comfortable.
"You aren't telling the truth either. And if you're just going to tell me lies, I won't talk to you."
"Look here-"
"Just get out. Don't come back until you've decided that you actually want to follow through with this honesty nonsense."
Seto didn't give him a chance to respond before walking into his bathroom and jerking the sliding door closed. The fifteen minutes weren't over, but Pegasus wouldn't linger once the time was up. He had other prisoners to bother with his presence.
Resting back against the door, Seto waited to hear the intercom turn off. He doubted that meant Pegasus was gone – he could easily see Pegasus trying to trick Seto into coming out – but it had to go off before Seto would consider leaving. After storming out with such flair, it would be foolish to walk back in before Pegasus had gone. He could loiter in the bathroom for a while, maybe take a shower.
He smirked. That had gone about as well as he hoped.
Thanks for reading and reviewing! You people are inspirational!
You can expect an update on Saturday, February 13th.