I'm not entirely sure when it became the golden rule of this story that each chapter should have 3 scenes, but who am I to question providence?
I think it's generally an accepted rule that Seto hated his time at the orphanage. It's easy, for me more than most I would think, to get the idea that every day there was a living hell for him. But as I get older, I start wondering.
It's gotten to the point where I'm half-convinced that things weren't half-bad there. After all, Mokuba seemed to have had a great time. I think Seto looks back on his time at the orphanage with disdain because . . . well, because he's a freaking misanthrope.
But, considering where he ended up, I suppose that worked out well for him.
Anyway.
1.
Seto Yagami never wakes faster than when he hears his brother crying. This isn't out of some ingrained sense of devotion—though he certainly would like to think it is—so much as a stark, biblical hatred of hearing other people bitch about it.
The other boys with whom the Yagami siblings share a room have no sympathy for the fact that a child Mokuba's age doesn't need a reason to start bawling, and Seto has long since grown tired of listening to their incessant whining.
This night, Seto doesn't even try to soothe Mokuba back to sleep while still in bed; he gathers the smaller boy in his arms and leaves the room immediately. He spies David Whittaker stirring in the dark, and whispers: "One . . . word . . . and I'll put you back to sleep."
He can feel David's glare on his back as he turns toward the door, but feels a sense of smug superiority when there isn't any sort of verbal reply.
Seto kicks the door shut behind him, and sits in the hallway. "Shhh-sh-sh . . . it's okay, Mokie . . ." he whispers slowly, rubbing his brother's back. Mokuba is huddled against him, like he thinks he might float away and drown if he lets go. His entire body is shaking with uncontrolled sobs.
Seto grits his teeth, and curses anyone who thinks a three-year-old is too young to feel grief.
"It's okay, baby. Shhh . . . come on, now. Brother's here. Niisama's here. You're safe."
It's like a chant, a tuneless lullaby, endlessly repeating itself while he struggles to rock his little brother back to sleep. Seto is tired—he's felt tired for a long time now—but he dares not shut his eyes.
Seto still remembers a talk his mother had once with a friend, back when he was only a little older than Mokuba is now. The friend was talking about what a shame it was that Mother had quit her job. "You were on the fast-track to own that shop, Yu!" the friend had said. "You should go back. Seriously. I'll watch little Seto if you need me to."
"Thank you," Mother had said, "but no. Ko and I decided, as soon as we found out we were pregnant. One of us has to be here with him at all times. No exceptions."
Seto doesn't remember the rest of the conversation, because the rest of the conversation doesn't matter; it's never mattered. What matters is Mother's word: all times. No exceptions.
Guilt settles over him like an old blanket. What right does he have, going off to play with other kids, learning how to play cards and drinking tea, when he has a job to do? "I have to be here," he whispers to himself, remembering his mother's words. "I have to be here with him. No exceptions." He listens with one ear, as his brother's wracking sobs quiet down to sniffles, and he feels Mokuba's little fingers curl around his shirt. "I've got you, little one," Seto whispers, and kisses the top of his brother's head. "I'm here. I'm right here. Go back to sleep. No more nightmares."
Silence, save a toddler's quiet crying, settles in.
Then:
". . . You try so hard to be a hard-ass . . . but you're just a little sweetheart, aren't you, Yagami?"
2.
The voice belongs to Ellie, one of the older girls.
She's still dressed, even though it's the middle of the night. She's in jeans, a t-shirt, and a leather jacket. She tosses herself down next to the Yagami brothers and stares off into the distance with that sort of detached, apathetic angst of which only teenagers are capable; she's about fourteen or fifteen years old, and she's been living at the orphanage for six years.
"You were off seeing your boyfriend again, weren't you?" Seto guesses.
Everyone knows that Ellie breaks the rules every chance she gets; curfew is her favorite. She's probably only been back in bed before lights out a handful of times in all the years she's been here.
Ellie smirks. "Maybe." She quirks an eyebrow. "Gonna rat me out, Yagami?"
Seto stares at her. "Why?"
This elicits a grin. "'Atta boy. Knew I liked you for a reason." Ellie spies Mokuba, still shaking, and the grin fades a bit. "What'sa matter with the pipsqueak? Nightmare?"
"Probably."
Ellie pulls out a cigarette, stares at it, toys with it in her fingers for a while, then grimaces. "Gotta set the right example, right?" She points at Seto with the cigarette. "Don't do drugs, kids." She stuffs the offending article back into her shirt pocket.
"I'm pretty sure the law still says you have to be an adult to smoke," Seto says.
"Law says a lot, Yagami. Law says so much I stopped listening." She sighs, then settles into a more comfortable position. "Never would've pegged you as a Mama Bear type. First showed up, I figured you'd be one of those kids'd get snatched up real quick. Folks love the cute, smart ones. The ones that look like they won't be much trouble."
Seto blinks. "Cute?"
"But you," Ellie goes on, ignoring the look on Seto's face, "don't believe in clichés, do you, Yagami? You don't look like trouble, but damned if you ain't. You'll fuck a body up if they mess with your baby, won'tcha?"
Seto feels a sudden swell of pride. ". . . Yes." He waits. Then he says, "People did want to adopt me. But they never wanted Mokie."
"Stayed here for the little guy." Seto nods, and Ellie waits a moment before she reaches over and ruffles Seto's hair. "You're all right, Yagami."
Blushing furiously, Seto actually smiles.
". . . Thank you."
3.
Before long, Ellie starts to sing.
Seto stares at her for a moment; she looks back at him and raises an eyebrow. "What?"
"Nothing. I . . . I'm just . . . I didn't think you liked to sing."
Ellie shrugs. "Best way to get a pipsqueak to sleep is to sing 'em a lullaby, right?"
Seto blinks. "I . . . suppose." He waits a beat. "That didn't sound like a lullaby."
"Sue me," Ellie says, smirking. "Ain't caught up on my rock-a-byes, all right? Gotta make do with whatcha got."
Mokuba isn't crying anymore, but he hasn't moved from his place nestled against his brother. His eyes, wide and wet, are watching Ellie. She makes eye contact with the younger Yagami for a flash of a moment, before she turns away and starts to sing again.
Ellie's voice is already getting scratchy, maybe because of her smoking habit, but it isn't specifically unpleasant. Seto rocks Mokuba in time with the song, which she probably picked up from a rock radio station; it certainly doesn't sound like any lullaby Seto has ever heard. Then again, Seto doesn't often listen to music with lyrics.
Something else he picked up from his mother.
It's long after midnight. Seto is sitting outside his bedroom, in his pajamas, trying to coax his squalling brother back to dreamland, and he's being helped along by a juvenile delinquent who probably won't make it another two years before she's in jail for armed robbery or some other felony.
Somehow, none of this registers in Seto Yagami's mind as strange.
He can feel his brother's breathing change. Mokuba's body relaxes, though his little fists are still wrapped around Seto's shirt.
Ellie is waggling her foot in time with her music, and as Seto watches her, he starts to realize that they're not here for her right now. She's lost in whatever thoughts are swelling around in her head as she almost whispers the lyrics to her impromptu lullaby. Seto doesn't bother to tell her that Mokuba's asleep. He doesn't want to interrupt her, for some reason.
Before long, Seto drifts off to sleep himself. It's a good thing that he's unconscious, because he would have been mortified to know that he's leaning against Ellie's shoulder.
She finishes the song anyway.
Ellie McAllister isn't the sort of girl that would win awards for good behavior. In fact, if she knew Seto's theory on where she'll end up before long, she would probably agree with him. But when she finally decides to leave and head off to fetch a couple of hours so that maybe she'll stay conscious in History class this time, Ellie takes particular care to not wake either of her two tiny companions.
After watching the Yagami brothers for a moment, she notices that Mokuba is shivering.
Ellie shakes her head. "How irresponsible of you, Yagami. Should've brought a blanket."
She shrugs out of her jacket, lays it over the two of them, and walks away.
The fact that she pops a cigarette between her teeth, then realizes that her lighter is in her jacket pocket, seems poetic somehow.
.
When I was drafting this, I wanted to make sure that I knew which song Ellie was singing, but then I remembered that FF-Net doesn't permit song lyrics that aren't in the public domain. So technically, it doesn't matter, and you can pretty much inject whatever you like into this section.
If anyone's curious, though, I have two songs in mind that Ellie probably sang to the Yagamis in this chapter.
"Creep" by Radiohead, or "Letting the Cables Sleep" by Bush.
I'm partial to the latter, but I'm pretty sure the timeline doesn't add up. It's possible that I'm a bit too hung up on that, but I like my stories to be realistic.
So, Ellie's probably a Radiohead fan.