Interlude

Once again, Seto awoke on the couch in his office. There were no tears on his face this time, only an insistent hollow in his chest telling him that he should have been the one to comfort Mokuba. He sat up to find the pharaoh, perched on the edge of the coffee table, watching him curiously.

"You get a kick out of this, don't you?" Seto asked.

The pharaoh shrugged and jerked his head to one side. "Maybe a little."

"Congratulations. You got what you wanted. I am thoroughly humiliated. Can we move on?" Seto jerked out his hand.

The pharaoh didn't even look at it. "You don't really want people to hate you, do you?"

"I am not playing therapist with you."

"I'm just trying to understand."

"I don't need you to understand." Seto pushed himself off the couch and took long strides to his desk. "I didn't work this hard for people to try and pry into my private life. I don't need people trying to understand me. I didn't get here by being nice to people. None of you have any idea how much I sacrificed to get to where I am. Not Yugi, not Jounouchi, and especially not you."

The pharaoh remained calm in the face of Seto's indignant rage. "And what of your brother?"

"Mokuba doesn't need to know. I don't want him feeling responsible for my actions."

A thoughtful look came over the pharaoh's face and his head tilted slightly away. "I believe that's the first time tonight that you've used the word 'want' about yourself."

Seto opened his mouth to bite back, but no words came. His jaw slid closed. His fists unclenched, albeit slowly.

He looked away with a huff. "Think what you want".

"You talk a lot of 'need', Kaiba. People need a lot of things. Wants are inherently selfish. You need a lot of things to keep your life private and your company running smoothly, but what is it you want?"

"I want everyone to leave me the hell alone. Especially you and your cronies."

The pharaoh hummed, as if unconvinced, which only served to make Seto madder. Then something seemed to occur to him and his violet eyes widened.

"You're afraid."

Seto threw up his hands. "I'm done. You can take your magic and your damn 'Christmas miracles' and shove it. I don't have to stand for this."

"No. I'm right, aren't I? You're afraid, but why?"

"That's it." Seto strode across the room, towards the door.

He didn't hear the pharaoh move to stop him, even when he wrapped his fingers around the handle. He threw it open… and reared back. The pharaoh was standing there on the other side, that same infuriatingly curious look in his eyes.

"Is that why you don't want people getting close to you?" the pharaoh asked. "Because you're afraid? Why?"

"Shut up!"

"All Yugi has ever done is treat you with kindness and respect." There was a growing strength in the pharaoh's voice that made Seto take a step back. "All any of us have done is try and show you leniency, yet you seem to push back against it. Why? What are you so afraid of?"

"I'm not afraid. I'm not going to stand for being used anymore."

The words left his lips and all the rage drained out of him as a plug pulled from a drain. Every muscle and tendon loosened. The hollow within him ached. The understanding that dawned over the other man's face sent a fresh stab of shame through him. Unable to stand any longer, Seto moved back to the couch, sat down, and put his head in his hands.

"I didn't want therapy," he said.

The pharaoh was silent. Seto glanced up to find the other man back on the corner of the coffee table, his legs crossed at the knees and his arms folded over his chest.

"How do you do that?" Seto asked.

The pharaoh jerked a shoulder. "I'm a ghost, remember?"

Seto exhaled in what could have been taken as a chuckle and shook his head. "This is stupid. I'm talking to a literal ghost."

"Have been for a few hours now. You said you were used."

Seto leaned on his knees and pressed his palms together. "We've only ever been used or betrayed. What family we had left after our parents died only kept us around until the inheritance dried up. When Gozaburo adopted us, I believed I'd made the best choice. That was wrong too. He only wanted me to be his heir and his vessel. He never wanted more children. Then I trusted the big five to take care of my company and Mokuba until I was well enough to come back, and what do I get for my trust? A knife in the back, twice."

His hands clenched together. "I've learned my lesson. There's always an ulterior motive. If someone's trying to get close to me, it's because they want what I've sacrificed my childhood for. I won't let them have it."

Tension curled around Seto's shoulders, down his arms, to where his fingers clenched with white knuckles. He pressed his connected hands to his forehead.

"I'll die before I let myself fall victim to another well-intentioned snake in the grass."

There was no response. The silence dragged on for so long, Seto could've believed the pharaoh had left, if not for the radiating warmth from the other man.

"Are you truly willing to pay the ultimate price for your pride?" the pharaoh asked.

Seto raised his head, as if suspended in a dream. It was hard to breathe under the intense scrutiny of the pharaoh's gaze. There was no judgment in the other man's eyes, but a knowing that sent a shiver of fear down Seto's spine. He couldn't help but wonder what he knew that Seto didn't.

"You agreed to this as long as I showed you your future." the pharaoh said. "Do you still want to go through with it?"

Seto clenched his teeth. "Of course I do. I've only ever wanted to look forward, but you bastards keep bringing up the past. I'm done with the past. Show me my future." He stretched out his hand.

Still, the pharaoh didn't take it. "You won't be able to unsee what I show you."

"Why are you stalling? You came to me. I don't recall asking you to do this."

The pharaoh's expression darkened. "No. You didn't." He stood. "Fine. Have your future, Kaiba. Do what you will with it."

Before Seto could respond, the pharaoh stabbed a finger into his forehead. Pain flashed through his eyes, sharp and burning.