Theme: 34 Pride
Title: Only One
Word Count: 561
Summary: Sequel to Man vs. Past Self. Seth just makes Battle City more irritating.
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"Shut everything off." Seto was already walking away, even as he finished delivering his orders to the group of hapless employees in the control center. "None of the remaining duels are going to be streamed live."
"Sir —"
Seto was gone. He had no time for their questions; it was vital that none of the insanity that had dogged his tournament from its inception be shown to the outside world. Ishizu and her stone slabs, mind control, Noa…the only thing that had gone even remotely right in this tournament was his defeat of Jounouchi. His rival had defeated him and then added insult to injury by lecturing him, half the finalists were either in comas or completely crazy, and there was a man who looked suspiciously like him roaming around the blimp and claiming to be his past self.
It was impossible! Unthinkable! He was Seto Kaiba, and there was no other him. It was insulting — no, it was infuriating — to think that his rival saw him as a modern version of one of his past delusions! (He was not touching the fact that there were now two Yuugis.)
Tomorrow would be the final match. Yuugi would fight Marik. One of them — he seethed at the thought — would obtain all three god cards, and then he'd dump them back at the stadium, edit the finals into something fit for public consumption, and pretend this massive waste of time had never happened.
"Kaiba." It was Yuugi. He had dark skin and red eyes, and he was taller than Seto remembered. He scowled at the reminder of the other pair of twins running around.
"What?"
"About Seth —"
"I don't want to hear about your pathetic delusions!"
"I was just saying that he and Mokuba are getting along well. And your brother wants to see you. Apparently Osiris and Obelisk's battle caused some of your electronics to malfunction…excuse me. Aibou needs me." With a truly irritating smirk, the Yuugi that wasn't a sniveling coward walked past him and down towards the finalist's quarters on the other side of the blimp.
"Mokuba," Seto snarled under his breath. Of course Seth wasn't a threat — if he was, Seto would have thrown him off the side of the blimp without a second thought — but now his brother would probably believe that Seth was Seto's past self, just like he believed that Yuugi was simultaneously an Egyptian pharaoh and a wimpy high school student.
Sighing, he made his way to his brother's room. Seth was indeed there, seated on the sofa, playing Capsule Monsters with Mokuba. The Rod was lying on the table next to the board.
"Nii-sama, Seth is telling me about how he was pharaoh of Egypt."
Seto snorted. "That makes two of you."
"The other one is my predecessor." Seth said coolly. "Ours, I suppose." He gestured to the table as he made his final move. He had won. "Do you play, Seto Kaiba?"
"I prefer chess."
"I can learn." Seth replied. He picked up the Rod. "Show me."
"Why?"
"I can tell you about him." The way he emphasized the last word made it clear he was talking about Yuugi. "He is my king, and I will protect him…but that does not mean I don't mean to defeat him eventually."
Seto nodded very slightly. Then he turned sharply around, expecting Seth to follow.
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