Disclaimer: (knocks on door of closet) Oi! I'm still stuck in here, by the way!
Mokuba: (opens door)
Tawnykit: Thanks! Because Moki (glares at readers) was kind enough to let me out, I shall admit that I don't own Yu Gi Oh!.
A/N: Right, I wrote most of this chapter at four o'clock in the morning. As a matter of fact, it is exactly 4:05 am Eastern Standard Time as I write this sentence. If it wasn't for a rather large quantity of green tea, I'd have dosed off over my keyboard a long time ago. Do I feel like Seto Kaiba, or what? (smirk)
Hey, look! Now it's 4:07 am!
Anyway, if there are more typos than usual, that's why. So don't lock me in the closet again. (starts to sweat at the thought)
Joan stood outside of the door, uncertain of whether or not to enter. She glanced at her watch. By the dim light in the hallway, she could see that it was nearing three o'clock in the morning.
She had no intention of waking the teen that slept inside that room. He certainly needed the rest. But the desire to see him had overcome her.
She opened the door. It was dark inside, though it was not impossible to see. A small nightlight aglow in one corner of the room provided enough light that she could keep from tripping over things as she walked towards the bed. She vaguely remembered Carlson saying something about both Kaiba brothers being troubled by nightmares from the many horrors they had been forced to live through. She supposed that the light helped keep them at bay. Pity welled up in her heart, combined with guilt. It was her fault they had had to endure such scarring things, most of which she knew nothing of. If she hadn't left them alone, they would have been safe. She hadn't had a choice, but that didn't make it any less her fault.
She looked around the room. She smiled slightly, shaking her head, when she saw his trench coat thrown untidily across a chair. Typical teenager… she thought. Though somehow I doubt that he'd be that disorderly if he wasn't about to collapse from exhaustion. Still smiling, she crept quietly over to the chair, picked up the coat, and folded it neatly, draping it over the back of the chair when she was finished.
She tiptoed over to the bed. Her smile grew when she saw them sleeping there. Seto Kaiba, dreaded CEO of a multinational company, was sound asleep among the royal blue blankets. He hadn't bothered to change out of his clothes, so he still wore the black turtleneck and leggings. Willy, faithful as always, was curled up next to him, his head resting on the boy's chest.
They look so peaceful, she mused fondly. Seto created a perfect illusion of innocence as he slept. The natural shield of ice that he usually wore was discarded, and the golden retriever added an almost childlike quality to the scene.
She sighed. It was a shame that that innocence really was just an illusion, that it would be shattered when he woke. Still, she couldn't help but take heart in the fact that, for a short time at least, he could be like any other boy his age.
In a show of affection that he would never allow had he been awake, she bent down and tenderly kissed his forehead, careful not to wake him. "Sweet dreams, Seto my son," she whispered, much as she had when he had been a small child.
She straightened, walking noiselessly back to the entrance of the bedroom. She opened the door, the light from the hall flooding in and illuminating the area around her feet with a golden glow, so different from the blue-white radiance that his computers generated. She looked back once, wondering what he was dreaming as she stepped out and closed the door softly behind her.
"Seto! Seto, quickly, get up!"
He stirred slightly, mumbling something.
"Seto, you must wake up, son!"
He opened his eyes. There was a figure leaning over him, watching him anxiously.
Unlike the other memories he had experienced recently, this flashback was not faded, filled with shadows from a past half remembered. This memory was painfully branded within him, its sharpness not dulled with time. He could easily recognize the face, and knew it just as he knew what his response would be.
"Daddy?"
"Seto, quickly, get dressed."
"Daddy...? What's wrong?"
"You're mother..." The man didn't give him a further explanation, but Seto knew what was wrong. He hadn't then, of course, but now he could never forget it.
He tried, unsuccessfully, to wake himself from his dream. It would be painful, if he didn't. Meeting a solid wall of resistance from the reality he knew was just beyond his reach, feeling his body throw the blankets off of him and scramble out of bed as if it had a will of its own, he succumbed to his fate, letting the remembrance sweep him away…
The little boy threw his blankets off, ignoring the way they fell to the floor. His father had already grabbed his coat and shoes, and was holding them out to him.
"Thought you said t' get dressed?" he mumbled, still only half awake.
"No time. Just put these on; it'll be okay."
What would be okay? Wearing a coat over his pajamas? Or whatever had his father so upset?
He shrugged on his coat and shoved his feet into his sneakers, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he did so. His father scooped him up before he had even fully finished, carrying him at a breakneck pace out of the bedroom and towards the front door.
"Daddy, what's wrong?" Seto asked again, feeling confused and a little frightened. "What's happening?"
His father didn't answer. They reached the front door, and he stopped only to shift his young son to one arm so that he could open the door with the other. Once that was done, he sprinted down to the car. He opened the door to the backseat, placed the five-year-old inside, slammed the door shut, and scrambled into the driver's seat. With the speed of a man possessed, he backed the car out of the driveway and raced off into the night.
Still observing from deep within his younger self, Seto Kaiba watched the next scene unfold. He saw the small boy that he had once been scramble around in the seat, remembering to buckle his seatbelt as he had always been taught, and turn to look at the person in the next seat. He remembered the horror he had felt as he had observed his mother.
Seto Kaiba felt ice water run through his veins as he took the woman in. She was younger than the last time he had seen her, and her face was contorted with pain. Sweat-drenched hair hung messily in her face. Despite all of this, she was still easy to identify.
It was Joan.
"Mommy?" Seto stared in shock. He had never seen his mother like this before. "What was wrong? What was happening?
He crawled over to her, moving as far as his seatbelt would allow. He touched her shoulder. "Mommy? Are you okay?"
She raised her head, looking at him through pain-filled eyes. "S-seto… Don't worry… It'll be okay…" she gasped out.
"What'll be okay? I don't understand! Mommy, what's going on? Why's Daddy so worried? Are you okay?"
She doubled over in pain, gasping, then focused on him again. "Seto… Be strong…"
"…Okay, Mommy." He still didn't understand, but she looked like she needed to hear him say that. He added, "I love you, Mommy."
"…Love you too, Seto…" She leaned back against the seat, closing her eyes in pain.
Seto wasn't sure how long the car ride lasted. The next thing he knew, his father was pulling in at an enormous white building. The man hurriedly turned off and exited the vehicle, not even bothering to park it. Still moving with unnatural speed, he tore around to the side of the car that his wife was sitting in, opening the door and assisting her in getting out. They moved as fast as she could handle, leaving the five-year-old struggling out of the car after them.
His mind balked as he watched himself run after them into the hospital. It had been bad enough watching his mother die in childbirth once; was he now to be forced to experience it again?
He once more struggled to wake, but as before, he was unable to drag himself back to reality...
Seto slowed as he stepped through the revolving doors. He looked around, panicked to find that he could spot no sight of his parents. Gazing around him, he could see people bustling everywhere, surrounded by white walls, white floors, and white ceilings. He ducked his head and looked at the floor, feeling very small as not one of those people looked his way.
He didn't know what this place was, or why he was here. He didn't know what was wrong with his mother. He didn't even know where his parents were.
'Seto… Be strong…' That's what his mother had said. He raised his head, his eyes now filled with determination.
There was a large desk across the room, where he could see numerous people approaching a woman that sat behind it. Was she the one to talk to?
He approached the desk. There was a line of people in front of it, but one could hardly expect a five-year-old to know about lines. He pushed his way to the front, looking up. He couldn't even see the woman from his position here.
"Excuse me?" he asked. Receiving no reply, he circled around to the other side of the desk.
Now he could see her, a young woman in a white uniform. He walked up to her, tugging at her shirt gently to gain her attention. "Excuse me?" he repeated.
She looked down at him, startled. She smiled at him, a gesture he tentatively returned. She reached out and put a hand on his shoulder, then looked back at whoever she had been speaking to before. "Could you hold on one moment, please?"
He didn't hear the response, but the woman knelt down next to him. "Hey there," she said. "Are you lost?"
He nodded.
"Do you know if your parents are in the hospital?"
Hospital? Was that what this was? He had heard of hospitals before, though he had never been to one. "I think so," he answered her in a small voice. "Something's wrong with Mommy," he added.
"What's your name?" she asked.
He hesitated, recalling what he had been told about never telling his name to strangers. Surely this was different though?
"Seto," he whispered.
"Okay, Seto," she said in a reassuring tone. "My name is Julie. I'm going to try to help you."
"Okay," he said, once more barely above a whisper. He felt some satisfaction at the fact that he had managed to get what he needed all by himself. I told you I'd be strong, Mommy.
Had Seto Kaiba had a physical body other than that of the small child, he would have been glaring at the image. It was breaking up on him, becoming hazier as his memory faded.
'Why is it,' he thought, 'that I have to go through this, but then when we get to the point that could actually be useful to me, time has dulled my damn memory so that I can't remember!
'Won't remember?
'What actually happened that night!'
He had brief flashes of the nurse Julie taking his younger self somewhere in the hospital, and of eventually being brought to a small room, much like he where he had recently waited for news on his brother.
He had a perception of a many hour wait, and vaguely recalled that the kindly nurse had stayed with him throughout it.
He saw himself look up as a door opened, admitting his father. 'This is it…' He tried to focus on the image, awaiting his father's news as much anticipation as he had all those years ago…
Seto Kaiba's eyes snapped open.
He sat up, blinking in the darkness. He found he was breathing heavily and sweating slightly, a side effect of reliving the drama of that night. Despite this, he felt strangely rejuvenated. Apparently he had needed the sleep more than he had thought.
There was a woofing sound next to him; he turned his head and saw Willy watching him.
He fondled absently at the dog's ears, frustration coursing through him. What the hell happened? Why can't I remember? He fell back against the pillows, closing his eyes. "Damn it…"
He opened his eyes again, this time narrowed in determination. He didn't know the answers to his questions… but he just might know someone who did.
Joan had some talking to do.
A/N: (snicker) Heh, sorry. "Julie" is an inside joke between my friend Merton and I. She's this really nice nurse at the local insane asylum, you see – makes great pudding.
Mokuba: Hey, what about me?
Tawnykit: What? You want some pudding?
Mokuba: No, no, I mean, why is my brother having stupid flashbacks when he should be rescuing me?
Tawnykit: Don't be selfish, Moki.
Mokuba: Selfish! They're bloody torturing me!
Tawnykit: Details, details...
Mokuba: …You're annoying.
Tawnykit: You're the one who's choosing to hang out here, kiddo. Anyway, just bare with me. If I'm not mistaken, I should be revealing the ultimate evil next chapter. Or maybe the one after that, but definitely by then.
Mokuba: I'm not going to like this, am I?
Tawnykit: Nope!