Disclaimer:
What is obvious is that I don't own anything officially related to Yu-Gi-Oh. What isn't obvious is that I also don't own the title "Lost Innocence". I was attempting to be cute. The title belongs to the Eric Stuart Band, or Eric Stuart himself as the man who wrote the song to begin with. It's important to note that the song and this story started out in no way connected to each other.
Authors Note:
Originally, this chapter didn't exist. I didn't want it to exist. I fought hard against its existence, but too many people wanted something more to this story so I finally caved. Inspiration hit almost as soon as I surrendered, so writing this chapter was fairly easy. It should be noted that it was at this point that the actual song "Lost Innocence" came into play, and the chorus of that song graced the end of the story. In keeping with the rules of those four lines have been removed, but the chapter in its entirety is available elsewhere.
This is a fast forward from the rest of the story. This chapter takes place somewhere in between Waking the Dragons and Grand Championship. (Yeah, I'm trying to lighten my unhappiness with Grand Championship here. Between bad writing, a new Mokuba, and Stuart playing Kaiba weird...yeah, unhappy Ceara.)
Chapter 7
"Wow! So, we're finally going to start building the first Kaibaland, Seto?" The young CEO nodded as he smiled grimly. He knew Mokuba would be excited to find out he'd given the okay to break ground on the first amusement park. Indeed, the pre-teen was literally bouncing around Seto's office, hopping on and off the chairs and couch while singing, "We're finally building Kaibaland," repeatedly. As annoying as it was, it warmed Seto's heart to see Mokuba so happy. The boy had been in a mood lately, an aging, brooding melancholy more befitting of the older Kaiba. Now, he was acting his age, energetically pulling on his older brother's arm, "Come on, Seto! Let's go see the site!"
"Not now, Mokuba. I have work to do." His little brother's pouting face was easily ignored as Seto less than gently shoved him out of the office. On the other side of the door, he could hear Mokuba stifling his tears. Seto slumped slowly against the door, trying not to give away his position to Mokuba. Truth be told, he'd been pretty moody lately himself. Between the long and late hours he'd been putting in on getting Kaibaland started and his recent dealings with Yugi Moto, he hadn't been sleeping much. When he did sleep, his dreams were fraught with memories of his early days at the Kaiba estate. Perhaps that was why he was pushing Mokuba away. Memories of feeling helpless mingled with memories of not being able to protect his brother assaulted him every time he looked at the boy. He was allowing himself to be strangled by demons that no longer mattered.
Annoyed with his apparent weakness, he threw himself into his chair and started working again on the plans for the amusement park. A few minutes later, attention wandering as he became lost in his thoughts, Seto's eyes landed on his locket lying a few inches from his laptop. He picked it up by the cord and flicked it, sending it into a spinning, yet swinging pattern. As he gazes at the blur of red and gold, he remembered when his brother gave it to him. Smiling softly, he pulled it from its dance and opened it to see Mokuba's picture grinning back at him.
Happier times. A time long forgotten.
Mokuba had never lost faith in him, not once. So, why couldn't he find that faith in himself? Placing the locket around his neck, he decided to start trying to find the answer to that question. With a heavy heart, he made his way from his office in the mansion to his younger brother's bedroom door. He knocked on the door, a bit harder than he'd intended. Predictably, there was no response from the room's resident. He knocked again, this time more softly. "Mokuba, it's me. Open up."
"Go away!" Seto's shoulders slumped. He knew he deserved that. It didn't matter, though. Right now, he just needed his brother.
"Come on, Mokie." There was silence. He held his breath, hoping the use of the nickname he'd given his brother when they were small children might change Mokuba's mind.
The door opened, the moody boy stood there. His eyes widened when he saw the locket around his brother's neck. Seto hadn't worn his locket very often recently. Mokuba had actually started believing his brother had lost the necklace with its pendant styled after a Duel Monsters card. Seeing it now caused his young heart to catch in his throat. His brother was trying to fix things. "What do you want?" Mokuba tried to pretend he was still mad at Seto, but he'd never been able to hold anything against his brother, his hero.
"Your help," Seto replied bluntly.
"With what?" The younger boy was sure he hadn't heard his brother correctly. Seto never asked for help. Mokuba was genuinely curious to see what had prompted this change in his brother.
Seto looked lost for a moment. He nearly said exactly what was on his mind. After a moment's debate or whether or not that was a bad thing, he finally decided to get to his actual purpose for visiting his younger brother, "I thought you could help plan part of Kaibaland."
The little boy's eyes twinkled. "Really, Seto?" The hesitation on the older brother's part was only slight before he nodded. As the smile spread to Mokuba's entire face, he started bouncing again.
The brothers spent the afternoon together working on developing Kaibaland. As they were working, Mokuba stole occassional glances at his brother. Seto often repsonded by glancing back, but Mokuba had already turned away. Finally, in exaperation at his brother's game, the brunette CEO asked his brother what was wrong.
The boy just grinned, "You're starting to look like Seto again."
"I am, huh?" He didn't know why, but watching Mokuba nod made him smile. He'd been feeling lost for a while, but spending this time with Mokuba was starting to let him feel human again. The two worked well after sunset, eating a pizza in the office as they worked. Seto would have worked straight through dinner without realizing he'd missed it, but Mokuba had pleaded with him to eat something. The raven-haired boy was even thoughtful enough to arrange for a food he knew his older brother didn't particularly care for. If Seto had even noticed, it never showed as he moved virtual objects around the virtual blueprints of the amusement park.
By the time Mokuba fell asleep on the couch, Seto realized the screen was blurring. He picked up his brother and carried him to his room, tucking him in before heading to his own room to face a night hopefully free of certain nightmares.
He sat in his office, looking out the window. Somewhere out there were his demons, waiting for him to let down his guard. He'd just have to face them one by one until there no more. He wanted his life back. He wanted to be able to spend time with Mokuba without worrying about business or dueling.
More than anything, Seto Kaiba just wanted to be himself again.