A New Seto Kaiba
Chapter Three: Seto Kaiba's Delusion

Disclaimer: I don't own the Yu-Gi-Oh characters, so please do not sue.
Rating: Rated K+
Pairings: KaibaOC (hints of)
Chapter: 3 out of 5

Scheduled Update: November 4, 2006 (Saturday)
Update: November 3, 2006 (Friday)

Scheduled Update for Chapter Four: November 5, 2006 (Sunday)

Degare's Bedroom

"Degare?" Mokuba asked, opening up the door to the man's bedroom in the early morning hours. They had stayed there for the night and Mokuba refused to let a chance to talk to his brother alone escape from his clutches.

"What?" Degare asked, looking a little scared and sitting up in his bed.

"Why are you so scared of me?" Mokuba asked him, feeling crushed that his long lost brother was looking upon him in fear.

"Damien said you were going to take me away," Seto answered with a blank expression on his face. "Why do you want to separate me from Damien?" he asked.

"Do you like Damien?" Mokuba asked, changing the subject slightly and sliding up to the bed.

Seto moved away has much as Mokuba had advanced, causing the younger boy's heart to crack.

Seto moved his head up and down. "He's been really nice to me," Seto explained, getting a smile on his face, "He agreed to let me stay here. He said that if I go back to Japan my nightmares will come true so I pay him to stay here with him."

"Is that why you work in that café where we met you?" Mokuba asked as kindly as he could. Seeing his older brother in this state made him want to throw up. This wasn't his brother. This wasn't the person he had dreamt about seeing again for a year.

Seto nodded his head again. "But sometimes, when I can't pay he lets me stay anyway, as long as I do as I'm told at night instead of sleeping."

Mokuba sat still for a moment, not saying anything. He was more than a little shocked. "Degare," he struggled with the name, "are you telling me you've had sex with him so you can stay here?"

Seto nodded. "It brings back bad memories but it's better than being with that scary man in Japan," he explained, losing the smile and looking the most like Mokuba's older brother since they had discovered him. Not that it was saying much, Degare was acting very much like Seto Kaiba's complete opposite. In fact, if the old Seto had been in the bedroom with him he would have ganged at his new personality.

Mokuba just stared at the stranger that was his brother. His mind was focused on the revelation he had just discovered. It brought back bad memories? Meaning he had been raped before? Mokuba's head spun. He knew that Guzaburo used to abuse him but Seto had refused to tell him the details.

"Se-Degare," Mokuba said, fighting to leave behind his previous thoughts. He had more important things to do right now, like getting Seto to come back with him. "The man that used to hurt you is gone now," Mokuba explained with well-placed calmness, "He died a couple of years ago."

Seto shook his head. "Damien said that you would say that. He said that you were people hired by the evil man to get me to come back," Seto said, "He goes and checks if he's still alive sometimes so I know when I'll be able to go back to Japan."

"Do you want to go back?" Mokuba asked hopelessly, knowing the answer would be 'no'.

"Sometimes," Seto admitted, looking down at his lap, "I think I have a brother there and I'm afraid he's still in the bad man's clutches. I want to help him a lot, but Damien says it's too dangerous."

"Do you remember your brother?" Mokuba asked, sitting up straighter and his voice dripping with hope, "Do you remember what he looked like? Or how he acted? Or how you felt about him?"

"I can't remember much," Seto admitted again, not raising his head to look at the stranger that was in his bed with him, "I know that from my dreams the bad man threatens to hurt him a lot but I've never seen his face. I'm afraid that without me there the evil man will follow through on his threats."

"Don't worry," Mokuba answered with reassurance, not wanting to make his older brother worry, "Your brother's fine. He's very anxious for your return though."

"Do you know my brother?" Seto asked him excitedly, finally looking at Mokuba, "What's he like? Damien won't tell me anything. He says I have to remember things on my own."

"He's very worried about you," Mokuba answered, "He's been waiting on your return for a year now, hoping that you'll come back to him."

"I'm sorry," Seto said, dropping his gaze from Mokuba and looking down at his lap again, "Does he hate me because I haven't returned? I've been waiting for him to show up here and I…I was starting to think he hated me."

"He doesn't hate you," Mokuba answered with love in his voice, "He loves you very much. He is very worried about you however."

"Will you tell him that I'll try and come back soon?" Seto asked the stranger, looking up at him, his voice coated with anxiety, "I want him to know that I care about him too, even if I can't remember everything."

"Don't worry, he knows," Mokuba answered, nodding his head to enforce the idea, "And he wants you to know that he won't give up on expecting you home."

"I'll come back home," Seto said, not dropping his gaze this time, "I promise I will, even if I have to endure that scary man again. I'll do it for him."

"My friends and I have to leave today," Mokuba said sadly, changing the subject. "Our visas expire today, but I'll try to come back sometime to check up on you, okay?" he asked.

"Okay," Seto answered, sliding his body down the bed to lie back down and gracefully slipping back into sleep. "I like you, so you have to come back soon," he finished sleepily.

Private Jet

"Why didn't you make Kaiba come with us Mokuba?" Tristen asked during their flight back to Japan.

They were sitting in the same seats as before. Yugi and Joey sat in the front again. Tristen and Duke sat behind the two best friends. Back another seat were Tea and Serenity. And in the very last seat was Mokuba, still saying the seat next to him was for his brother, though he had a happier attitude about it this time. This time he knew his brother was alive and would once again claim his seat next to Mokuba without Mokuba having to shoo everyone away.

"That Damien guy's got him brainwashed," Mokuba explained, his happiness at having his brother alive slipping away from him as he remembered the situation, "but even so he's happy. He's the happiest he's ever been in a long time. It's not fair to make him go back to Japan and endure all the stress just because I want him to come back."

"But if that guy has him brainwashed..." Duke started to argue.

"Seto said he would come back once he remembered everything," Mokuba answered in a monotone voice. In reality he was very proud of his brother. He was unbelievably happy for Seto's declaration. "He said once he remembers everything that happened he'll come back just so he can see me," he repeated, "He's trying and that's enough for me."

"But how could you just leave him there like that?" Tea asked, seeing too much of Seto Kaiba in Mokuba at that moment, "You just left him there to fend for himself!"

"Not everything can be solved with friendship, Tea," Mokuba tried to explain, "Especially when it comes to Seto."

"So you just leave him there?" Tea shouted at him, "How was that the right way to do things?"

"You'll never understand Seto," Mokuba complained, getting irritating with the way every always judged his older brother. His older brother that loved him so much, even now, when he couldn't fully remember him. "You don't even try to," he said in a stern voice, trying his best not to shout, for that was what a child would have done and he was no longer a child, "You push your friendship on him without even knowing what you're doing. You yell at him for not talking to you without even trying to understand why he wouldn't want to do it."

"How is that our fault?" Tea asked, turning back in her seat to face Mokuba, "We're trying to be nice and he just shoves it in our faces. And now you scold us for it? How is that fair?"

"Seto's had a terrible life, you should know that from his screams," Mokuba explained farther, "He's been brainwashed not to trust people by our step father. All of your talk of friendship just makes him suspicious to an ulterior motive."

"And what does that have to do with Kaiba now?" Joey asked, turning slightly to see Tea and Mokuba, "He doesn't remember that life now, does he?"

"No, he does," Mokuba said with a convinced voice, "His subconscious does anyway. I could tell. He already has a plan of escape, even though he may not fully know it."

"And that's why we can't help him?" Yugi asked, sticking his head into the aisle and looking towards the back, "What if you're wrong about you're assumption?"

"I'm not," Mokuba answered with the same confidence. "But for him to get back to normal we can't help him. Seto Kaiba's as independent as they come. He would never forgive himself if he knew we helped him when he was in such a venerable state. He would never become the real Seto again. It'd be a futile effort," Mokuba explained, silencing any protests.

To Be Continued...

This became alot longer than I thought it was going to be too. It used to be only 1000 words until I read it through and added some things. Now it's suddenly become more than 1700. I'm pretty imressed with myself.
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And look out for my next update.