When I write about the Kaibas these days, the subject at hand is almost always the same.
Healing.
Of all the things I can think about, when I look at these kids, whether it's the anime or the manga, it's that they've got a lot of healing to do. That's what "Paved with Good Intentions" is all about, as a series.
Hope, healing, and safety.
.
"What, exactly, are we going to do about the boy?"
Seto looked affronted at even being asked such a question. "We do what we always do when a child in my city is in danger." His eyes gleamed in the dark. "We protect him." He gesticulated randomly. "I know what you're thinking: he's already tried to kill me. Surely, he can't be trusted. From what Mokuba has said, he didn't. He couldn't."
"That," Roland pointed out, "does not mean he is trustworthy."
Seto's face twisted. "I'm not keeping a child in a cage to protect myself."
Roland nodded. "Of course, sir." He sighed. "The young master has been spending plenty of time with him. If he's truly dangerous, I couldn't justify leaving them in the same room. Fine, fine. Point taken."
Seto nodded. He opened his mouth to say something else, perhaps to continue proselytizing, but he cut himself off when the door to his office slammed open, and Mokuba came stalking in. "Mokuba," Seto said instead. "You look ready to bite someone. What happened."
Mokuba held up a finger. "When Yugi gets back," he sneered, "I'm gonna break that stupid puzzle myself. I'm gonna melt it down and make it into a new puzzle, and I'm gonna bury each piece in a different corner of the world, and I'm gonna have a pit of vipers over each site, and nobody is gonna get hold of it again."
Seto raised an eyebrow. "I see," he said. "And what prompted this lofty project of yours, then?"
Still wrapped up in his own wrath, Mokuba didn't seem to hear him. "Millennium Magic can bite me," he growled.
Seto hid a grin with his good hand. "I see," he said again. "Carry on."
Mokuba huffed as he threw himself onto a chair and stared off at nothing. "Masahiko told me about what his home world is like," he said. "The stuff he's seen, what he's had to deal with. All that shit. And it's . . . it's stupid. It's all stupid."
Seto frowned. Leaned against his desk and crossed his arms over his chest. "Go on," he said.
"He says Yugi broke his brother's heart into pieces." Mokuba waited a beat, checking Seto and Roland for a reaction. When he didn't get one, he went on: "Like, literally. With magic. He says his brother's been in a coma for four months because he hasn't managed to put it back together yet." The young Kaiba turned his attention to the elder. "You remember Mind Crush?"
"I do," Seto said; his face turned grim.
"That, but worse."
". . . I see."
"He talked about a lot of other stuff, but . . . I shouldn't say anything." Mokuba shook his head. "It's not my story to tell. This was different, though. It's you. Kind of." He looked Seto in the eye again, like he was trying to project something directly into his brother's brain. "The rest, though, is too personal."
Seto guessed: "Masahiko has also been subjected to a penalty game."
Mokuba nodded. "Two," he said.
"Yugi's penalty game."
"One of them."
The way Mokuba said this, Seto realized all at once that he didn't want to know about the other one. He looked down at his left hand. Curled it into a fist, uncurled it, curled it again. "So," he said, "I think I'm beginning to get a clearer picture." He shook his head. "This is a lesson. Some god has a sick sense of humor and wants me to learn something."
"I want to help him," Mokuba said. "I don't know how to do that, really, but. But I want to do something for him."
Seto watched his brother for a time, then smiled. "I mean," he said, gesturing, "we do have a professional on call. Whether or not he'd be willing to sit down with Yoshimi is a whole separate question." Mokuba's face brightened. "For the moment, though, I think it best that we play things by ear. Don't push too far. We have plenty to worry about at the moment. We need to make sure we have the time and space to focus on healing before we try."
Mokuba nodded. "Yeah," he said. "Yeah, sure. That makes sense."
"You've been doing well so far," Seto said. "You understand him better than anyone he's used to dealing with, I'm sure. Keep it going."
"I think he has a lot more in common with you than he does with me," Mokuba noted.
Seto shrugged. "Maybe. But he isn't sure what to make of me yet. I'm an adult, and he hasn't decided if I can be trusted. Especially since he's crossed me, or so he believes. He's waiting for me to retaliate. To show my true colors. He's not likely to trust anything I do, or say, until more time has passed."
"How long do you think we have? Like, realistically?"
Seto shrugged again. "I have no intention of guessing. Nothing is predictable anymore. If you'd asked me six months ago to guess how things would unfold, I would have gotten precisely none of this right."
