After the lock on Seto's door had been broken, he'd borrowed a screwdriver from their landlord and swapped his and Mokuba's bedroom doors. He'd decided that it would take less effort and time than if they moved all of their things from Seto's room to Mokuba's room. Something had to move, and Seto had chosen the doors. No way was he going to let Mokuba sleep in a room without a lock on the door. It didn't take all that long for Seto to complete the swap, and as soon as he finished up, he told his brother that it was time for bed.

"I'm scared, Seto," the middle-schooler admitted timidly, not wanting to sleep in Seto's bed alone.

Thus, Seto had moved the mattress off of his bed-frame and pushed it against the other mattress on the floor. The two brothers were sleeping together again, and Mokuba started to feel safer. This arrangement, however, did not come without its drawbacks, which he would discover in the coming weeks.

"Seto! Seto, wake up!"

The elder brother woke with a start, sighing after a moment as he identified Mokuba's face in the obscuring shadows of the room. He was panting hard as he rolled onto his side, still trying to recover himself after his dream.

"What's wrong?" he asked the wide-eyed child.

"You were crying in your sleep," Mokuba murmured as he lay down again, looking his brother in the eye. His small hand reached out and held Seto's cheek as concern weighed heavily on his heart. "Were you… having a nightmare?"

"Yes," Seto answered somewhat breathlessly, trying to hide the true terror he felt as he embraced his brother. "But it was nothing more than a dream. I'm okay. We're okay."

"Are you sure?" Mokuba asked, furrowing his brow as his cheek pressed against Seto's cotton t-shirt. It puzzled him that his brother wouldn't take his shirt off no matter how hot he got at night now, even though summer weather had arrived early this year. He'd done so last summer, so why not now? Was he hiding something? Was he shier now than he had been a year ago?

"Yes, I'm sure. Go back to sleep, Mokuba. I'm sorry I woke you."

Mokuba nestled in against his brother and drifted back to sleep while Seto focused on calming himself. When he'd awoken, he'd felt like he could hardly breathe. He wasn't surprised that he'd made noises in his sleep, given just how upsetting his dream had been.

Gozaburo's dead, he repeated over and over in his mind, still somewhat unable to believe that fact.

Yes, he's gone, and he can never hurt you again, Seth murmured into his mind, casting a spell of deep sleep over his hikari, who instinctively struggled against the magic. Let me help you, Seto. Stop trying to fight me.

Seto didn't answer the spirit in words, but he did cease resisting, letting out a sigh of defeat as he relaxed into sleep.

Seth wished for Seto to trust him. He couldn't think of anything more that he could do to make Seto trust him. He wondered if the troubled teen would ever fully trust anybody. If he couldn't trust someone with whom he shared a body, someone whose heart, mind, and soul were all open to Seto's exploration at any point in time, how could he ever trust somebody whose inner self was closed to him? He prayed to Ra that one day, Seto would have his faith in humanity restored so that he could find it in himself to trust again. How could Seto ever love if he couldn't trust?

At the end of the term, Seto applied for his diploma early—since he'd earned it—and graduated with as little pomp as possible, according to his plan. His father didn't care, but his friends were all proud of him and quite impressed, and their opinions mattered far more to him than his father's. By this point, he'd already applied to KaibaCorp and received notice that they wanted him to come in for an evaluation. A week later, he was working full-time for them doing what he loved: programming computer software, and in doing so, he was able to help KaibaCorp pioneer the field of holographic projections.

As one of their most promising software specialists, he'd been paired with one of their most promising hardware specialists, someone that he was surprised to recognize: Duke Devlin, who attended Domino High and was in the same class as Joey, Yugi, and the others. He'd had little occasion to interact with him in the past, so he knew almost nothing about him, except that he was a player, popular with the ladies (and even some guys), and the proud owner of a cherry red motorcycle. His demeanor was laid-back and careless, so it surprised Seto that he turned out to be so precise and careful with his machines.

They worked well as a team, and Seto found that he actually enjoyed Duke's company. It was nice to have a room for the two of them to brainstorm and work on both aspects of their project: the coded programs that Seto wrote and the machines that would exercise the codes perfectly, if all went as planned. Seto was grateful above all that he had steady pay and didn't have to interact with numerous idiots on a daily basis. He had no patience for idiots, and Duke Devlin certainly wasn't an idiot.

The Duel Arena was their brain-child, and neither could have pulled it off on their own, but together, they created a structure that would take the whole gaming world by storm. Seto was proud of himself and what he and Duke had accomplished. It had caught the attention of more powerful figures in the company and earned both of them a raise and assurance of a permanent position at KaibaCorp. That gave Seto a sense of financial security he'd never had before, not even as a child. Soon, he'd have enough money that he could move his brother out of their current apartment and live in a better, safer part of town. Seto didn't really feel bad about leaving his father to his own devices: after all, that was exactly what he'd done to his sons when he'd surrendered himself to alcoholism. Maybe it would be the wake up call the man needed in order to pull his life together.

"I don't think there's anything more I can do to prevent scarring," Mrs. Bakura said with a sigh as Seto pulled his shirt back on. She'd asked him to come by so that she could check how he was healing. "I guess we'll just have to let time heal what it can. I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize, you did the best you could," he assured.

"Well, I'm sure you don't want those scars to be permanent, so I would suggest looking into homeopathic methods of fading them, although I can't recommend any myself. I hear that different ones work better for different people. I can't imagine how you'll explain them to your wife one day."

Seto froze as he reached for the doorknob. Wife?! He wasn't even thinking about a girlfriend at this point, let alone a wife! He was of the same opinion as Ryou, that all the girls in their class at Domino were too shallow and air-headed to be worth his time. Besides, Seto had become entirely asexual since his career change, although he didn't know just yet that was the word for it. Not only was he entirely disillusioned with romance but his body viscerally rejected any notion of or attempt at human contact, especially sexual contact. He wasn't exaggerating when he said that he wanted nothing to do with any of that ever again. Mokuba was the only one who could touch him without causing him distress.

"I don't really… plan on getting married, so… that's not gonna happen." His rebuff was about as awkward as it could possibly have been, and it didn't help that he was starting to blush. He was just grateful that Ryou's mother seemed to understand, and yet still chose to make light of it to put him at ease.

"Come now, Seto, you're too young to be a misanthrope," she teased light-heartedly.

"I'm not a misanthrope," he defended with a crooked grin. "Just an aspiring antisocialite."

They'd nearly finished their first big project and were starting to move on to something else when something happened that set both genius teens on edge.

"The Duel Arena is all well and good, but we need some way to make it portable, so that people can duel with the holographic monster projections anywhere," Seto mused leaning back in his chair with his feet propped up on the edge of his desk. "I bet something like that would be a real hot ticket item."

"What was that?" Duke called, his entire upper body immersed in the internal machinery of the Duel Arena's corner projector with only his legs clearly visible. He started to shift out from their invention, but gave a sudden cry. "Ow! Wait, hold on." Seto rolled his eyes.

"How many times do I have to tell you to tie your hair back before climbing into one of those things?"

"I'm not going to let practicality cramp my style!" Duke declared as he untangled his ponytail from one of the mechanisms and finally emerged. "What did you say?"

"I said," Seto answered in exasperation, "That we need to get started on the next big thing: something that does the job of a Duel Arena, but is one hundred percent portable. Something that an individual who isn't a millionaire can still afford."

"Ah, that'll be tricky," Duke said, sounding excited. "I'll get started on some sketches as soon as I finish tweaking the calibration on this corner." He made to go back into the machine as Seto stood and walked over to the whiteboard on the far wall, erasing its contents and starting to make a list of objectives for their next project: portable, affordable…

"Excuse me, Master Kaiba would like to see you both in his office right away."

Both teens looked towards the doorway and saw that one of Noah Kaiba's personal bodyguards had come down to fetch them. They looked at each other as they put down what they were doing and followed their escort to the elevator. He didn't say anything more and neither did they, so the elevator was filled with a stifling silence as the tension grew. They were instructed to sit in the chairs outside his office and wait to be called in.

"We won't fail you, Master Kaiba," Johnson assured as he and his four associates stood in front of their employer's desk.

"For your sakes, I hope you don't," Noah said menacingly, handing over the large scroll of blueprints. "You five should have access to all the funds and research data you'll need. If any of my tech nerds give you difficulty, let me know, and I'll have them straightened out." He sat back in his father's desk chair, looking utterly diabolical. "You're sure you can have it completed by the deadline I've given you?"

"Yes sir," Krump assured eagerly. "I've run the numbers, and the odds of our falling behind schedule are only 0.5%"

"Make sure that you don't. Now get out, I have a meeting." They all bowed respectfully to their arrogant superior and left to do as they'd been bidden.

Five big-wig businessmen exited the corporation president's office and the secretary seated outside that very door instructed that one of the two teens enter. Duke went in first. He was only gone for maybe five minutes, but when he came back out, his mood had entirely shifted. All smiles were gone and he was looking more grim than Seto had ever seen him before.

When Seto went in, he understood why.

"You are going to sign this document, surrendering all your rights to invention of the Duel Arena to me."

"Why would I do something like that?" Seto demanded, crossing his arms, even though he already had an idea of why. Noah's creepy smile just confirmed it for him.

"Because I have information about you that you wouldn't want to be made public—or given to the authorities, for that matter. Prostitution is illegal, last time I checked."

Seto ground his teeth as he withheld any response he wanted to make.

"Then again, I could always have you arrested for grand theft."

"What?!"

"Technically, the Blue-Eyes White Dragon has been valued at tens of thousands of dollars, which would make your stealing it grand theft."

"This is blackmail."

"Which means that you can't report it without turning yourself in."

"But I didn't steal your card, I won it fairly."

"But you did sell your body."

It was all Seto could do to keep himself from cringing in response, or from lunging for Noah's throat. He had to settle with glaring at him instead. The CEO cackled then smirked at his employee.

He still remembered when Duke and Seto's success at creating the Duel Arena had first come to his attention in a report from the supervisor of product creation, files of their invention's capabilities as well as their initial applications left on his desk for his perusal. The moment he'd opened Seto's file, he'd been filled with a sadistic sense of glee. He'd finally found the insolent one who'd defeated him in chess. In his initial disdain for the individual, he'd never even asked his name, which made it impossible to find him with the resources he'd had at his disposal. Now, though, he had him under his thumb, entirely subject to his will, and he couldn't be happier.

"I'm waiting for that signature, Seto."

The brunette stepped forward and picked up the stapled stack of paper, glancing over it quickly.

"By signing this, I surrender all patent rights, all copyrights, all royalty rights, everything?"

"Yes, and if you tell anybody that you and your partner were the real inventors of the Duel Arena, I will make your life hell."

Seto grit his teeth as he picked up the pen, signing the contract, but hating every moment of it. Well, it could be worse, right? He could be fired. That would be worse.

"Thank you, that will be all," Noah said dismissively, and Seto made himself leave without committing an act of violence.

He rejoined Duke outside the executive's office and they walked to the elevator together. As they slowly descended, they remained silent, neither wishing to speak.

"So, he's got dirt on you too, huh?" Duke said at last, breaking the silence.

"Yeah," Seto sighed, looking at the floor. The silence became sad and awkward as they returned to their work-room. Having all rights to their invention taken from them felt like having a child taken from them, because it was their child, their brainchild.

"Well, no matter what happens, at least we'll know the truth," Duke said in an attempt to cheer Seto up. The brunette just shrugged and stepped out of the elevator, leading the way back to their work-room to continue their brainstorming for the portable Duel Arena replacement.

I'm sorry, Seto, but I did warn you that something like this might happen, Seth murmured in the back of Seto's mind, making his hikari begin to doubt his decision to work for KaibaCorp in the first place.

Meanwhile, their boss reveled in his success. Noah's heartless chuckle quickly escalated to a maniacal laugh, and he only ceased because the sound of a female voice interrupted him.

"I take it that went well?" His girlfriend stepped out of the private bathroom attached to his office. He'd asked her to hide in there while he took care of some "boring business," so he called it.

"Incredibly well," Noah answered with a smirk. "Everything is going perfectly."

"Does that mean that you can take a break from work for a little while?" She smiled slyly and slunk over to him, easing herself onto his lap and straddling it fearlessly as she ran a hand through his bright green hair. Noah twirled a strand of her long purple hair around his finger as he grinned up at her.

"I always have time for you, babe."

"Hey Seto, how's your big project going?" Mokuba asked as Seto started walking him home from the Bakura's house that evening. He still paid Ryou to babysit Mokuba for him while he was at work, since he still didn't like the idea of leaving Mokuba home alone. He was just too young, and their father was too unpredictable, that it wasn't a risk he was willing to take.

"It's almost done," Seto said after a moment, pausing as he realized that—because of the contract he'd signed that morning—he'd need to tell Mokuba to forget everything his brother had told him about the Duel Arena's creation.

He tried to explain it as best as he could, but Mokuba was focused on why he needed to forget.

"It doesn't matter why, it just matters that you forget all about it, especially the fact that I helped create it. You need to promise me that you'll never tell anybody that I helped invent it, okay?"

Mokuba promised even though he didn't understand why. He trusted that Seto had a good reason for it.

"You didn't already tell anybody about it, did you?"

"No, I didn't tell anybody," his brother answered, believing his words to be true.

They weren't. He'd told Amane about it a couple weeks ago, but he'd completely forgotten that he had.

Author Notes: Oh dear, I do seem to have misled you all. My sincerest apologies. I guess that's what happens when I concoct a plot-line so long and complex that I myself can't even remember all the important details. I forgot that we're not quite done with Noah Kaiba yet.

So, to make up for the confusion, I have posted the Monster World scene in my Deleted Scenes collection. Well, what I wrote of it, at least. It's unfinished and, in my opinion, rather awkward, but it's there if you want to read it.

So, did you like it? Did you not like it? What was your favorite part? Can you guess who Noah's girlfriend is? Tell me in a review, because more reviews = more chapters!