Chance got into her room and wasn't too surprised to see a general Duel Monsters motif. It was simple, yet elegant in tones of whites and blues that all seemed to draw the eye to the headboard of the bed which had the Blue Eyes White Dragon carved on it in a position where it seemed like it would leap out and attack any one that disturbed the rest of the one it guarded over night. Smiling slightly she stepped out of her clothes, folded them and walked into the attached bathroom to take a quick soak to clean up from the day.
After her hair was as dry as it was going to get with a towel drying she grabbed the bathrobe that was hanging on the back of the door. On the back of it she noticed that there was the Dark Magician stitched into the outer layer of the robe as well as the Blue Eyes. Both seemed to be in combat as they wrapped around the robe as if to pull the wearer into the middle of the conflict. She had to smile at that and tying the sash stepped back out into the main room.
As she looked outside, she realized that she would not be sleeping soon and so instead of crawling into bed, as she would have normally done, she sat in the deep windowsill and looked out over the property and eventually into the sky. Looking at the stars she wondered, as she had every so often, where her real parents were and if they loved her or missed her.
She knew of the parallels between her life and the Kaiba's, but she hadn't taken control of her life quite like Seto had. She did not have the care of a younger brother to worry about. Kassidy, the thought of the boy who had died as an infant still haunted her still. Especially when she was alone and thinking about family.
She wondered what he would have been like. Would he have been a pest as she had heard so many younger brothers were to older sisters? Or would he have grown up protective of her? Would she have tormented him as he grew up, especially in her early teenaged years? Or would she have wised up and looked after him, teaching him how to fight, and running him around to sports practices after school?
How would her adoptive family have treated her had he lived? That question haunted her the most. Because even at nine years of age, she was very much aware that with their own kid around, she would quite possibly be pushed aside, or even sent back to the orphanage. She had seen it happen in her brief stay at the orphanage. And she didn't want to go back if she could at all help it.
Yet when Kassidy Jake Castner came into the world, she felt nothing but love and adoration for the baby, and confusion at the fact that she wasn't able to see him much when she was allowed to go visit mommy with her father. All she knew was one day, she came up to see her mom, and she was crying. Chance was very concerned because she had faith that her mommy was the strongest mommy ever. What ever made her cry was very bad.
It wasn't till after she had left the room to go play with the toys in the waiting room that her daddy had come out and took her to the side. She'd never forget that moment.
"Daddy, why is mommy sad?" Her big hazel eyes looked up at the man she had come to know over the last five years as daddy and saw that he was very sad too.
"Come here sweetie." He told her and as she went over to him he picked her up and they sat together in one of the chairs. "Kassidy won't be coming home with us Chance." The words pained him, and Chance could see it clearly as he valiantly tried to hold back the tears of pain and anger.
"Why not? I want to be able to play with him. Can I play with Kassidy here then?" She had asked so naively.
"No sweetie. Kassidy is gone. He won't be able to play with you at all." There were fine tremors shaking his large frame and it scared Chance.
"But, Why? I want to play with my brother. Did I do something bad?" Her mind turned at the time to the only thing that she could think of in her stunned state that would cause her to not be able to play with her baby brother.
The elder Castner sighed, tired, heart sick, and in mourning over the loss of his son. Unfortunately he forgot to answer her and the seeds of guilt sprouted and took firm root in her mind. It lead to her trouble at school, her trips to the doctors that made her talk about it, and her conviction to protect others so they would not lose people.
"Kassidy, wherever you are. I hope you can see me, and I hope that you are proud of your big sister. I don't remember much about you, but I remember falling in love with my baby brother and thinking he was so cool. Mom and dad are doing fine, they've accepted that it wasn't for them to have a child of their own. But I know that nothing and no one could ever take your place with them. Not even me." Sighing she took one last look at the night sky and then turned to stand from the windowsill and head for bed. She was very tired, and from the sounds of things, it would be a somewhat long day for her.
She turned in, brought the covers up over her and swiftly fell into deep sleep. Not long after she fell to sleep, she started dreaming. Same dreams as she always had, but there was a new dimension. Something to them that made them seem that much more real and as the dreams turned to nightmares she struggled to get out. It was the shapeless shadows she found there that caused her to try to run away. But she couldn't, there was something holding on to her, rooting her to the spot as wave upon wave of darkness lapped over her. Darkness that was solid, and held a myriad of sounds, none of them friendly. It felt so real; she was drowning in the fear. It was finally her own scream of terror and the snap of the curtains being pulled aside to let the morning light into the room that brought her into wakefulness.
Looking at her with mild concern and a slight blush on his features was Mokuba. "You ok Chance?"
Chance looked down at her shaking hands and as she did, realized the cause for the kid's blush. With a startled "EEP!" of surprise, she buried herself back under the blankets and peeped back out at the younger Kaiba who was now on the verge of laughing out loud at how silly she looked at that moment.
"Mokuba. Hand me the bathrobe that is on the floor there so that I can at least get decent." There was an acidic edge to her tone now and Mokuba was aware enough of the embarrassment that he had just caused to be wary of it.
Chance wasn't body shy by any stretch of the imagination. However she had just woken up, and Mokuba's reaction had only fueled her own. Grabbing the robe from the younger Kaiba she slipped it on over her arms while she was still under the covers and then held it closed as she slipped to the far side of the bed to stand so she could tie it shut with out causing either of them any further embarrassment.
"Why are you in here anyway Mokuba? Don't you know that it's not polite?" Embarrassment and fear touched off to start a spark of anger, which served to loosen her tongue enough to demand answers.
"I heard you calling out and it sounded like you were in trouble. I tried to wake you but you were so far into whatever dream it was to wake up. I moved over to the curtain and had just opened it when you shot straight up in bed with a scream that I am surprised didn't bring the house staff running." Mokuba explained carefully.
"Oh. It was nothing more than a nightmare Mokuba, an old one at that. However, I appreciate your concern." She smiled slightly through the fear, shock and anger to let him know that she wasn't mad at him.
"Seto's flight left on time this morning. He said he'd call me when he landed in the States." Mokuba offered as information to help get her mind off of the dreams and the aftermath.
"I'm glad that it's gone smoothly so far. If you'll excuse me, I need to take a quick shower and get dressed. Unless you want me to stay as is for the remainder of the morning." She needled him with a merciless grin, nearly laughing as he shook his head in a sharp denial and quickly left the room. Not even hours into the weekend and already it was interesting. She was looking forward to seeing just how interesting it would get.
After her hair was as dry as it was going to get with a towel drying she grabbed the bathrobe that was hanging on the back of the door. On the back of it she noticed that there was the Dark Magician stitched into the outer layer of the robe as well as the Blue Eyes. Both seemed to be in combat as they wrapped around the robe as if to pull the wearer into the middle of the conflict. She had to smile at that and tying the sash stepped back out into the main room.
As she looked outside, she realized that she would not be sleeping soon and so instead of crawling into bed, as she would have normally done, she sat in the deep windowsill and looked out over the property and eventually into the sky. Looking at the stars she wondered, as she had every so often, where her real parents were and if they loved her or missed her.
She knew of the parallels between her life and the Kaiba's, but she hadn't taken control of her life quite like Seto had. She did not have the care of a younger brother to worry about. Kassidy, the thought of the boy who had died as an infant still haunted her still. Especially when she was alone and thinking about family.
She wondered what he would have been like. Would he have been a pest as she had heard so many younger brothers were to older sisters? Or would he have grown up protective of her? Would she have tormented him as he grew up, especially in her early teenaged years? Or would she have wised up and looked after him, teaching him how to fight, and running him around to sports practices after school?
How would her adoptive family have treated her had he lived? That question haunted her the most. Because even at nine years of age, she was very much aware that with their own kid around, she would quite possibly be pushed aside, or even sent back to the orphanage. She had seen it happen in her brief stay at the orphanage. And she didn't want to go back if she could at all help it.
Yet when Kassidy Jake Castner came into the world, she felt nothing but love and adoration for the baby, and confusion at the fact that she wasn't able to see him much when she was allowed to go visit mommy with her father. All she knew was one day, she came up to see her mom, and she was crying. Chance was very concerned because she had faith that her mommy was the strongest mommy ever. What ever made her cry was very bad.
It wasn't till after she had left the room to go play with the toys in the waiting room that her daddy had come out and took her to the side. She'd never forget that moment.
"Daddy, why is mommy sad?" Her big hazel eyes looked up at the man she had come to know over the last five years as daddy and saw that he was very sad too.
"Come here sweetie." He told her and as she went over to him he picked her up and they sat together in one of the chairs. "Kassidy won't be coming home with us Chance." The words pained him, and Chance could see it clearly as he valiantly tried to hold back the tears of pain and anger.
"Why not? I want to be able to play with him. Can I play with Kassidy here then?" She had asked so naively.
"No sweetie. Kassidy is gone. He won't be able to play with you at all." There were fine tremors shaking his large frame and it scared Chance.
"But, Why? I want to play with my brother. Did I do something bad?" Her mind turned at the time to the only thing that she could think of in her stunned state that would cause her to not be able to play with her baby brother.
The elder Castner sighed, tired, heart sick, and in mourning over the loss of his son. Unfortunately he forgot to answer her and the seeds of guilt sprouted and took firm root in her mind. It lead to her trouble at school, her trips to the doctors that made her talk about it, and her conviction to protect others so they would not lose people.
"Kassidy, wherever you are. I hope you can see me, and I hope that you are proud of your big sister. I don't remember much about you, but I remember falling in love with my baby brother and thinking he was so cool. Mom and dad are doing fine, they've accepted that it wasn't for them to have a child of their own. But I know that nothing and no one could ever take your place with them. Not even me." Sighing she took one last look at the night sky and then turned to stand from the windowsill and head for bed. She was very tired, and from the sounds of things, it would be a somewhat long day for her.
She turned in, brought the covers up over her and swiftly fell into deep sleep. Not long after she fell to sleep, she started dreaming. Same dreams as she always had, but there was a new dimension. Something to them that made them seem that much more real and as the dreams turned to nightmares she struggled to get out. It was the shapeless shadows she found there that caused her to try to run away. But she couldn't, there was something holding on to her, rooting her to the spot as wave upon wave of darkness lapped over her. Darkness that was solid, and held a myriad of sounds, none of them friendly. It felt so real; she was drowning in the fear. It was finally her own scream of terror and the snap of the curtains being pulled aside to let the morning light into the room that brought her into wakefulness.
Looking at her with mild concern and a slight blush on his features was Mokuba. "You ok Chance?"
Chance looked down at her shaking hands and as she did, realized the cause for the kid's blush. With a startled "EEP!" of surprise, she buried herself back under the blankets and peeped back out at the younger Kaiba who was now on the verge of laughing out loud at how silly she looked at that moment.
"Mokuba. Hand me the bathrobe that is on the floor there so that I can at least get decent." There was an acidic edge to her tone now and Mokuba was aware enough of the embarrassment that he had just caused to be wary of it.
Chance wasn't body shy by any stretch of the imagination. However she had just woken up, and Mokuba's reaction had only fueled her own. Grabbing the robe from the younger Kaiba she slipped it on over her arms while she was still under the covers and then held it closed as she slipped to the far side of the bed to stand so she could tie it shut with out causing either of them any further embarrassment.
"Why are you in here anyway Mokuba? Don't you know that it's not polite?" Embarrassment and fear touched off to start a spark of anger, which served to loosen her tongue enough to demand answers.
"I heard you calling out and it sounded like you were in trouble. I tried to wake you but you were so far into whatever dream it was to wake up. I moved over to the curtain and had just opened it when you shot straight up in bed with a scream that I am surprised didn't bring the house staff running." Mokuba explained carefully.
"Oh. It was nothing more than a nightmare Mokuba, an old one at that. However, I appreciate your concern." She smiled slightly through the fear, shock and anger to let him know that she wasn't mad at him.
"Seto's flight left on time this morning. He said he'd call me when he landed in the States." Mokuba offered as information to help get her mind off of the dreams and the aftermath.
"I'm glad that it's gone smoothly so far. If you'll excuse me, I need to take a quick shower and get dressed. Unless you want me to stay as is for the remainder of the morning." She needled him with a merciless grin, nearly laughing as he shook his head in a sharp denial and quickly left the room. Not even hours into the weekend and already it was interesting. She was looking forward to seeing just how interesting it would get.