Author Notes: In this chapter, I instituted a plot-twist I hadn't planned on earlier, but thankfully, nothing I said earlier contradicts it outright. Hopefully it makes things even cuter for the Wintershipping (Mokuba x Amane) subplot. More reviews = more chapters, SO PLEASE REVIEW!
It was only Wednesday night, so Seto let Ryou talk him into stepping inside for just a few moments before he took Mokuba home. Besides, Ryou said that their new guest, and Mr. Bakura, wanted to meet him.
"Seto, this is Marik Ishtar." Ryou then turned to Marik and introduced Seto, then did so again in Arabic. Ryou's father said that doing so helped Marik catch on faster. The two teens stared at each other apprehensively, cerulean eyes meeting lavender in silence for a few moments. Then a look of recognition came over the Egyptian teen's face, and he held out his hand to Seto, who took it carefully and shook it. The handshake was firm and brief, and Seto found it to be an indication of the kind of person he respected.
"It is good to meet you," Marik said in heavily accented English, his words carefully articulated.
"Nice to meet you as well," Seto responded, although he had a funny feeling about the immigrant. Seto wasn't used to trusting intuitions that didn't make any logical sense, but he also didn't tend to have intuitions that were wrong either. As such, he was on his edge as he released Marik's hand. Marik turned to Ryou and said something in Arabic, then turned and went upstairs.
"He said that he has something for you," Ryou said, looking confused. "I can't imagine what it could be, though."
"Get your things together, Mokuba, we'll be leaving in a minute," Seto said, turning to his brother who was sitting on the couch with Amane. Mokuba reluctantly got up and started putting his school books in his backpack, Amane watching him with adoring green eyes.
"Amane," Ryou called as he started to sign to his deaf sister, whose attention was caught as soon as he signed her name. "Mokuba has to leave now, so say goodbye." He spoke as he signed, which was something his whole family did to help her learn to read lips. She'd watched Ryou sign to her, then pouted and began to sign back.
"What's she saying?" Seto asked.
"She's asking if I have to go," Mokuba said, looking cheeky, and Seto rolled his eyes, even as he felt proud of how his brother was catching onto sign language so well.
"How on earth do you two not get sick of each other?" Seto said in exasperation. "You see each other at school five days a week and spend the evenings together six days a week. I don't get it!"
Ryou laughed heartily at Seto's outburst, and Amane looked at her brother with a puzzled expression. Ryou signed and mouthed the words back to her, and she herself started to giggle, which made Mokuba smile even more widely.
Marik came down the stairs at that moment, carrying a shortened gold scepter. He came to stand in front of Seto and held it out to him, saying in Arabic what he didn't have the words to say otherwise.
"He says for you to take it, that his sister told him to give it to you."
"I can't take something like that." Seto stared at the golden artifact with wide eyes. It was obviously a priceless object, and how could he justify accepting such a valuable gift from a near stranger? Marik spoke again in Arabic, still holding out the rod at arm's length so that Seto would take it from him.
"He says that it's your destiny," Ryou translated.
"I don't believe in destiny."
Marik thrust the item in Seto's direction, almost glaring at Seto as he waited for him to take the gift.
Seto didn't understand what was going on, but he figured it was pointless to argue with the Egyptian, for he looked to be cut from the same stubborn as the brunette. Seto sighed and reached out, his hand grasping the length of the Millennium Rod as his eyes fell on the eye at the top of the scepter. Suddenly, a bright flash of light emanating from the eye of Ra blinded Seto. Everything went white before he blacked out.
He seemed to float in darkness while he was unconscious, the only sensation his mind could register was that of strong, warm arms wrapped around him, holding him tightly. The pressure made his bruises and welts ache, and he tried to push away from the embrace, struggled against the stranger, but the arms holding him were far too strong for him to resist. They pulled him in closer, the warmth increasing as it soothed his physical pain. He eventually stopped fighting and came to rest against the warm presence that was healing him. Could he trust this person?
When he opened his eyes an hour later, he found himself lying on the couch. He let out a grunt as he sat up, his sore body having grown stiff while he lay still.
"Big brother!" The brunette let out a low groan of pain as his little brother tackled him affectionately, putting an arm around his brother as he sat up to adjust his position so that it didn't cause him so much pain.
"Sorry, sorry," Mokuba apologized regretfully, climbing off of his brother to simply stand beside the couch, reaching for his brother's hand and holding it tightly as he sought reassurance in his brother's presence.
"Good to see you awake." Seto didn't recognize the voice, so he stood up quickly, turning around even as he felt a wave of light-headedness. Mokuba clung to his brother's hand still, feeling how tense he was with apprehension. Ryou and an older man that he could only guess to be Mr. Bakura were sharing tea as they sat at the counter. Ryou looked relieved to see Seto on his feet again, but Mr. Bakura looked worried.
"You probably shouldn't stand up so quickly. It's okay to take things easy, you know," he said as he stood. Seto, of course, didn't listen. Looking wary, Seto took a step forward, only to lose his balance as his knees buckled beneath him.
"Seto!" the younger child cried as he caught his brother and pushed him back onto the couch, looking worried.
"Is he always this stubborn?" Mr. Bakura asked somewhere above Seto's head.
"Pretty much," Ryou answered from the counter.
Seto looked up, blinking to clear his vision as Mr. Bakura's face came into view. Mr. Bakura moved out from behind the couch and sat beside the brunette.
"It's good to finally meet you, Seto." Mr. Bakura held out his hand and Seto shook it, regarding Ryou's father with hesitance and respect.
"And you as well, sir," Seto responded. "What happened?" Mr. Bakura hesitated, then let out a long breath.
"Do you believe in magic, Seto?"
"No." He answered without hesitation, looking at Bakura apprehensively.
"Well, you will," was all he said before standing again.
"What do you mean by that?" Seto asked sharply. Something was happening that was beyond his control, and it scared him. Few things truly scared him, but this was one of them. Mokuba, confused and startled by the turn of this conversation, stepped closer to his brother, letting go of his hand to put an arm around him in search of comfort. Seto pulled Mokuba in for a hug, then stood up again, lifting Mokuba into his arms as he did so, deciding that he wasn't going to stick around any longer.
"Look, we need to get going. We have school tomorrow."
"Of course." Mr. Bakura stood as well and stepped aside to let Seto leave. "I'm sorry to have detained you."
Seto picked up Mokuba's backpack and left, his little brother nestling into his shoulder as he dozed off. Mr. Bakura watched them leave until they turned the corner and were out of sight.
"So, what do you think, Dad?" Ryou asked, then suppressed a yawn.
"I think it's time for you to go to bed too," Mr. Bakura answered with a smile.
"No, I mean about Seto." Ryou looked worried. "He's not okay, right? He needs help, I just don't know why or with what." His father sighed and rubbed the back of his had thoughtfully.
"I need to spend more time talking with him to determine that, to be honest. But don't worry, I will. Why don't you invite him over Friday? You two could duel while the little ones watch a movie or something."
"I'll invite him, but he'll probably have work. Fridays are always his busiest days."
"Where does he work?"
"He's a bartender at The Underground. It's somewhere downtown. He says that he helps them to identify and remove minors that are using fake IDs."
"Uh-huh." Mr. Bakura looked thoughtful. "I'll make some inquiries and see if we can't figure out what's really going on." Ryou nodded, looking very tired indeed. "Like I said, it's time for you to get to bed."
"Okay, okay," he murmured, standing up and giving his father a hug. He didn't seem to want to let go. "I'm scared, Dad," he whispered.
"About the Millennium Ring?" Ryou nodded, and his father's arms tightened around him. "Don't worry, son, we'll figure it out. Everything will be alright."
Seto put Mokuba to bed as soon as they got home, careful to be quiet since their dad was passed out on the couch. Then he sat down at the table and pulled out all the homework he had left to do by tomorrow, which was more than he felt like dealing with at the moment, but at the same time, he knew that he didn't have any choice but to get it all done. He needed to continue acing his classes so that he could have a chance at getting into a good college and earning the full tuition scholarship that would enable him to attend.
By passing out, he'd lost more time than he could afford to lose. Now it was late, he was tired, and it was harder to focus after the incident with the artifact. Now that he thought about, he wondered what had happened to it. Hadn't Marik insisted that he have it? He glanced over at Mokuba's backpack, which had felt heavier than usual; he had attributed that to his being tired and sore, but now he wondered. He got up and opened it, the eye of Ra glaring brightly at him from the inside of his brother's backpack. He took it out, not sure what he was going to do with it. If his father found it, he would pawn it in a heartbeat. He couldn't let his brother carry around something so valuable, for a number of reasons. That meant that Seto would need to keep it on his person at all times, for safety. When he next saw Marik, he would give it back, but until then, he'd keep it safe.
He hesitated before tucking it into his own backpack, looking into its eye again. How had this made him pass out? Did Mr. Bakura think that it had been caused by magic? Absurd. Seto didn't believe in anything outside of what science and empiricism could prove. That's not to say that he discounted intuition or emotion, for emotions could be displayed on fMRI brain scans and intuition was just the subconscious picking up on details that the conscious mind didn't grasp. In Seto's young life, there had never been anything that convinced him of any such thing as providence, luck, destiny, fate, karma, ghosts, spirits, demons, angels, monsters, gods, or anything else of the sort. You can't depend on luck or fate to give you anything in life, you could only depend on yourself, and, conversely, you could only blame yourself when your efforts failed.
He carefully tucked the scepter into the hidden inner pocket of his backpack, hoping it would be enough to protect it from damage. Then he actually set about doing his homework, which took him until four in the morning to complete. When he was finished putting his things away, he crossed his arms on the table in front of him and lay his head down on them, letting his eyes close for just a few moments…
He jerked awake an hour and a half later, at his normal wake-up time. He was incredibly stiff from sleeping in a seated position. Great, just great. Barely any sleep, already in bad condition, and extremely sore from sleeping in a chair: his weekly visit with Gozaburo was going to be especially torturous tonight. He stood with a groan and stretched, trying to ease some of the pain from his taut muscles. At least their substitute gym coach was much more lenient than Coach Trudge; that made the day less daunting, but only slightly.
LadyKaiba27: I don't plan on including any lemons, but if my plans change at any point, then I'll let you know and up the rating. :)
Lady's Secret: Thank you! :) I hope you continue to enjoy the story as much as you have been!
SB-129: Thank you so much!
liron-aria: I know, my poor babies. :( At least Ryou has his dad around to help him handle hosting the Spirit of the Millennium. And Ryou's dad will do his best to help Seto, too. I promise. 3