Disclaimer: I still don't own Yu-Gi-Oh sadly enough. But I do own Seto's real dad, Hiroshi. But unfortunately Hiro won't be around for much longer, so then I'll own no one again.


"Nightmares never last long; one day you wake up and they're all gone"

-Trunks, Dragonball Z


Deep within a dream Seto felt a hand reach and grab him by his arm. He couldn't see who or what it was because; well there was nothing to see. He was in what must be another world, all alone with no one around, except for this figure. It was pulling him faster and faster now, and then suddenly it stopped.

'Why would something like this take me all the way into the middle of nowhere? What purpose does it serve?' The boy mentally inquired. Suddenly, almost as if something had read his mind, the mental question was answered.

An arena materialised in front of his very eyes with two people standing on opposite sides. The figure on the right side of Seto looked like the boy that sat behind him in school and sometimes walked with him. His name was Yogi, or was it Yuugi? Either way it didn't look much like him at all. Yuugi was small and was picked on a lot by other children. This figure lacked the insecurity that Yuugi had, for he looked much more confidant. Deep in thought, Seto turned to the figure to his left.

The figure was a tall young man with brown hair cut in a style almost identical to Seto's. The boy also had blue eyes, which also looked a bit like Seto's. In fact, the boy could have almost been Seto had he been five years younger and not have looked so cruel. There was something about him that Seto didn't like at all, but he just couldn't place it. Another feature that Seto didn't see was what was going on in the middle of the field. There were three giant white dragons that looked as if they were all ready to attack.

How in the name of all things holy did I miss those things? He wondered to himself, though he had little time for wondering, because just then the man on the left began to speak.

"What happened to you Yuugi? A moment ago, your face was twisted in fear. Why's he smiling? Has you gone past fear, and accepted that you're going to die?" He inquired, quite curious about the situation.

So that is Yuugi, or Seto thought. But what would he be doing here of all places? Maybe it wasn't even the Yuugi that he knew; and was an entirely different Yuugi altogether. Before he could think enough Yuugi began to speak.

"I'm smiling Kaiba because my next card is..." he said, pausing as he held up a card that Seto couldn't see clearly. "EXODIA THE FORBIDDEN ONE!"

The boy called Kaiba's expression turned from a smug one to one filled with shock, even horror.

"What... Exodia...?"

Now it was Yuugi's turn to smirk.

"EXODIA, AKAKEN!"

Upon the field, Seto noticed the appearance of a star, with five cards at each point. Suddenly, something began to appear. First there was two arms, then two legs, until finally the head was showing. Seto had no doubt in his mind that the massive creature was Exodia.

"It can't be... The Exodia cards... They really exist... Where did he... WHERE DID HE GET THEM?"

"RAGE INFERNO! EXODIA NII-SAMA!"

Nii-sama?

"NII-SAMA!" a voice yelled shocking Seto out of his dream. "NII-SAMA! HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN WHAT TODAY IS?"

Seto opened his eyes to find a face with large blue-grey eyes standing over him. He smiled.

"Good morning Mokuba."

"I didn't ask you to say good morning nii-sama! I asked you if you remembered what today is!"

Seto groaned. It was another school day; he knew that for sure, but something special must be happening today for Mokuba to get so excited.

"No Mokuba I don't know" Seto said, with a smile still spread across his face.

"Nii-sama" Mokuba said scornfully "how could you forget that today's your birthday?"

"Wha?" Seto said, rubbing his eyes. He had completely forgotten all about his birthday. He had been so wrapped up in his dream, he had completely forgotten that he had turned eight, which meant already for two years of his life he had been without his mother Mariko.

"Dad says he wants to see you downstairs to practice some martial arts," Mokuba continued, snapping himself out of thought.

"Right now?" Seto questioned.

"No. Ten minutes ago" Mokuba answered.

"TEN MINUTES!!" Seto yelled, "SHIT!!"

"Nii-sama you shouldn't say words like-" Mokuba started to say, but Seto had already got up and started to change into clothes.

"That" Mokuba finished as Seto ran out the door and into the yard.

The Gamis lived in a traditional Japanese house that had been built years before by Seto's great-great grandfather, though that was of little importance to Seto at the moment, because he was already late as it was for the martial arts lesson with his father. They had made an agreement that Hiroshi would teach Seto what he wanted to know on one condition; he would get up on time and promptly start routine training or ELSE. Seto had never wanted to find out what the "or ELSE" meant, but it looked like he was almost certainly going to find out.

When he got out into the yard his father, Hiroshi was standing. He couldn't see the expression on his father's face but he guessed that he wasn't pleased.

"Dad! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Seto repeated to his father over and over again.

At hearing this, Hiroshi smiled. It was Seto's birthday after all, and he had called him down to tell him that he didn't have to do anything today, but watching him continuously say "Sorry" was quite entertaining. He waited a minute before talking.

"Seto stop apologizing. I called you down to say that because it's your birthday you don't have to do any martial arts today. Also, be sure to expect a surprise at lunch" he added.

"Really Dad?" Seto asked.

"Really."

"Thank you! Thank you!" Seto yelled.

Hiroshi sighed. Not this again, he thought. Before he silenced his son once again, he looked down at his watch. It was almost time for Seto and Mokuba to go to school.

"Seto could you get Mokuba and walk him to school? It's almost time for you to go."

"Sure, whatever you say Dad! See you!" Seto said

"Se you Seto!" Hiroshi called back.

Seto didn't need to wait long for Mokuba. By the time he got back into the house, Mokuba was just getting his backpack ready. For the first half of the walk nothing happened, until two other people, Yuugi Mutou and his best friend, Anzu Mazaki joined them.

"Hi there Seto!" Yuugi said smiling.

"Hello Yuugi-kun! Hello Anzu-chan!" Seto smiled back at them.

"You know Gami, you should be more polite to ladies." Anzu said, half- jokingly, half-sarcastically.

"Oh EXCUSE me! Hello Lady Anzu of the Apricots" Seto replied, with a broad smile across his face.

"You, a lady?" Yuugi asked, "That would be scary."

"OH YOU!!" Anzu smirked as she started to hit Yuugi with her backpack.

Now would be the perfect chance to ask Yuugi if he knows anyone named Kaiba, Seto thought remembering the dream, though if Yuugi knew nothing of a boy named Kaiba, Seto would hate to look stupid. That was the last thing that Seto wanted. Though, he needed to know this just in case that dream was an omen of some sort. He waited until Anzu had stopped chasing Yuugi around before he opened his mouth to speak.

"Yuugi," Seto asked, "Do you know anyone named Kaiba?"

Yuugi paused for a moment.

"Kaiba? No I've never heard of anyone named Kaiba."

Relief swept over Seto. For a minute he had thought his dream had some sort of meaning. Clearly it meant nothing other then that Seto had an overactive imagination. But then why did he feel so bad?

For the rest of the walk Seto was silent, while Yuugi, Anzu and Mokuba talked with each other. Once they got to Domino Elementary Mokuba, went to his preschool class while Seto, Yuugi and Anzu walked down the hallway to the third grade class.

For the rest of the morning they would be listening to pointless babble that Seto had known since he was at least four. The teacher had noticed before that he didn't pay as much attention as the other students, and sometimes wondered if he was really there.

Occasionally the teacher would call on him to see if he was paying attention. Of course, he always answered the questions right, as most of them were still simple multiplication and division. The only class he needed to listen in at all was English class, which was an option given to third graders.

Yet even English was fairly simple, seeing as there were only twenty- six characters in the English alphabet.

After what seemed like a near-eternity, the time for lunch finally came. Seto ran as fast as he could to Mokuba's class. As he arrived, he noticed a young man, a boy really. Seto quickly recognized him with his silver hair covering up one eye. It was Pegasus J. Crawford, his father's friend. Gathering up courage, he ran over to him.

"Mr. Crawford? This is Seto, you know Hiroshi's son. I was wondering what you are doing here-" Seto began.

Pegasus looked at him startled.

"Seto-kun! Of course I remember you, how could I forget!" he smiled briefly, then his face slipped into a deep frown.

"I'm here. Well, I'm here because something happened to your father."

"SOMETHING HAPPENED?" Yelled Seto, "What happened? Is everything all right?"

"Go get Mokuba" Pegasus said, "And I'll tell you"...


To be continued...


Endnote: RUN! A CIFFIE! Aren't I evil? Well, I want to thank everyone who reviewed; I never thought that I'd even get one review. You guys are great! Remember, I'm always open to ways that I can make my story better, so read and review! I should have the next chapter up by next week okay?