Saint-Tropez, Saint-Tropez Beach, Southern France

July 7th, 1993

Two boys and a girl run alongside the coastline with crystal blue waves from the ocean rising and falling in the background.

The younger of the three, Mokuba, was a boy with long black hair and purple eyes. Considering what day it was and the fact that his stepfather, Gozaburo, allowed for the events to succeed, he was ecstatic. He stayed his birthday week in France, and the day of was spent at the beach, having fun with his older brother and a girl they had befriended over the years. Mokuba ran around laughing as his feet kicked up seashells, watching sand hit his green and black striped swim trunks.

He threw off his flip-flops and plopped down near the water.

In the distance, his elder brother, Seto, and a girl the brothers have become good friends with over the past three—going on—four years, Victoire, sat across from each other in the sand as they worked together on a sand castle. Occasionally, they would stop in the middle of what they were doing to watch Mokuba toss seashells in the water—a rare opportunity for both brothers.

"I don't know, Seto, this is looking more and more like a sand tower than a sand castle," Victoire teased, smiling at the structure in question. It resembled a tower with a wide bottom that narrows in the center, evens out, and then expands to a wide, circular top.

"Allow me to introduce you to my miniature scale version of my Kaiba Corporation Headquarters." Seto stood up smiling and threw his arms out wide. "When I takeover Kaiba Corp, I plan on remodeling everything from scratch. The first thing that is going to go is the military arms department—there won't be room for that with the direction I will take the company."

"There's only one snag to your plan and that snag won't allow this new direction. He'd sooner burn Kaiba Corp to the ground than see it turned into a gaming company."

Seto scoffed, rolling his eyes. "I'm not worried about Gozaburo."

"This plan of yours that you told me about, it's crazy. No, forget that, reckless is more like it. Gozaburo is dangerous, Seto. Just be careful."

"You don't think I'm aware of that?" Seto sat down in the sand. "That man's a tyrant, Tori, and that is why I have to go through with this. I want to invent software so everyone, adults and children like us, can enjoy games. Gozaburo's only desire is to destroy people's lives. Mark my words, once I'm done with him, he's never going to hurt or destroy the lives of anyone else ever again."

Victoire turned to look at Mokuba relaxing in the sand with the ocean splashing up against his legs. "I'm telling you so you don't forget. Be careful, if not for your sake, then for Mokuba's." And mine went unspoken.

"Hey, don't worry."

"When you say don't worry, that is when I worry the most, mon ami."

"Mon meilleur ami." Seto smiled.

A wave rose up and crashed into Mokuba, knocking the young boy backward and soaking him to his hairline. Seto turned just in time to see it and laughed—the first genuine laugh he had in months. If not years. Victoire joined in the laughter, brushing a long lock of hair from her face.

Mokuba rolled over and ran over to the duo. He held a flip-flop in each hand, and water droplets fell from his hair. "Nii-sama, Sœur, the water is so cold!" He informed them through chattering teeth.

"My mother said it would be," Victoire answered back, smiling warmly. "Which is good, considering the heat."

In the background, Victoire's mother was setting up lunch under the umbrella of a nearby picnic table. Yūka Delacour, a former Japanese-turned-French immigrant in her mid-to-late-thirties with the same black hair as her daughter, was dressed comfortably in a blue floral sundress and flip flops.

"Seto-kun, Mokuba-kun, and Victoire, lunch is served." She called out to the three children.

Seto stood up and extended a hand, helping Victoire to her feet before dusting off the sand from the back of her sundress.

"Thanks, Seto." Victoire smiled at the brunette-haired boy, a hint of blush on her cheeks. "I helped my mother with preparing our picnic basket and it's inspired by yours and my mom's home country of Japan. There's only one thing not from Japan, Petit frère—my mother's homemade chocolate macarons. How about a race to decide who gets the first macaron?"

Seto nodded once. He never backed down from a challenge, even if that challenge came from his best friend. "Just so you know, mon ami, I am going to win!"

Victoire laughed. "Well, alright then! On the count of three we go."

"..One."

"...Two."

"...Three!" They yelled out simultaneously and took off across the sands, the sound of laughter and their shadows trailing behind them. Of the three shadows dancing across the sandy landscape, one in particular started to spread out until it took the form of a dragon, then vanished completely.

Neither Seto, Victoire, nor Mokuba saw this, however. They were too busy sitting around the picnic table, having fun, and eating.

Next chapter will mark the official start of The Maiden with Eyes of Blue's first arc that I named Upendo; which is a Swahili word that means Love. This first arc will take place three or four months before Duelist Kingdom and the shit storm that the arc is notorious for.

Arc one will be primarily focused on the relationship between Seto and Victoire. Like in the original version of this fanfic, new characters will be introduced for this arc; some I hope you love, others I know you will hate. There will be a minor antagonist in this first arc that will grow to become a major antagonist much, much later.

I didn't deviate too much from the original version, with this chapter, just minor edits and some rewriting. The reason for the beach trip is elaborated on more fully, at least I hope. Please give me your honest thoughts, I love getting feedback and reading my reader's comments.

Later,

Fallen.