A Christmas Carol with Kaiba

The First Dragons of Christmas

Seto found himself in his old study, the door to the orphanage vanishing behind him. His hands started sweating, and he silently berated himself for the clenching in his stomach. Gozaburo was dead. This was but a memory.

The room was refined, that much could be said. The walls were painted a pleasing forest green, and the floor to ceiling bookshelves were made of dark mahogany. A fire burned in the fireplace, and at first glance one would think this place comfortable.

But the moment he spotted himself, now at ten, head hung down onto on open book, a leather collar locked around his neck and chained to one of the legs of his desk, any warmth the place could hold shattered. Even Yugi stopped with an intake of breath.

"What the—wait a minute." he frowned, looking about him, as though unsure of himself. "No, this is the right day, but why would he have told me to take you here..."

"Who told you?" asked Seto, thinking he might tear off said whoever's face for making him come back here.

"Is that a chain around your neck?" Yugi's face was not something Seto wanted to see, especially towards himself. "Did your father--"

"Step father." Seto snapped.

"Did he do this?"

"He did it hundreds of time, now stop gawking and get to the point of this memory so we can leave."

Yugi bit his lip and nodded before turning back to the seen. As though pushing play, a door to the side of them opened and a maid came in with a book in her hand. She set it on the desk softly, but it was enough to make the boy snap up with a start. His blue eyes were bloodshot, shadowed, and there was a sickly sort of boniness to his face.

"You forgot this." she said.

"Thanks." the younger Seto muttered.

Without another word the maid turned and stepped back out, shutting the door tight behind her. Seto heard the snap of the lock reengaging before turning back eagerly, a memory returning to him. Wait, this couldn't be that time would it? He hadn't even realized it had been Christmas.

Sure enough, though, when his ten-year-old self dropped the book in a frustrated, dismayed, and exhausted fury, a piece of paper floated out. The young Seto picked it up. Yugi and his reluctant companion went behind him to see what he was looking at.

A card stock rectangle, roughly the shape of a card, had been illustrated with a sloppy, but distinctive blue lined, white dragon with blue dots for eyes. On the top, just like a normal Duel Monster's card, was the monster's level, name, and below the picture, a description.

The boy picked the book up, straining against the collar at his throat to reach it, and searched through the pages again where he found a note written in his younger brother's careful, but clumsy scrawl.

I know you've always wanted a Blue-Eyes White Dragon, so I made you one, and I know, one day, you'll have a real one. And then we can both jump on it's back and fly far away from here. Keep strong, Seto, you're still the best big brother anyone could ask for. I love you.

Merry Christmas.

Yugi had the decency this time to turn away when his younger self started to shamelessly bawl. Seto, however, stood there, watching the big fat tears roll down his other's self. Through all of Gozaburo's torture, the grueling studies, the whip, none of it had made him cry. He had refused to buckle or to show the weakness the man constantly accused him of. But Mokuba's gift...it had given him the strength he had needed, and realizing his own exhaustion and despair then in the face of the warmth had made him fall.

But it had given him resolve. That day, he decided, that he would make Mokuba's words come true. He would become powerful enough to own a Blue-Eyes one day. He would free them from this hell and become someone that no one, not even Gozaburo, would dare to mess with.

"Your little brother really loves you."

"Yes." said Seto.

"And you love him too. You would have done anything for him, then and when we were younger." Yugi glanced at him over his shoulder. "Do you still."

Seto scoffed and avoided Yugi's gaze. "He's a man now. He hasn't needed his older brother in years."

"You know that's not true. If it was, why would he keep coming to your office to make sure you came home? Why do you think he keeps going through girlfriends?"

"Because he's a softie and can't see a gold digger when she's right in front of him." Seto hesitated. "Wait, how do you know all that?"

"It's because he is seeking your approval. He knows he's a softie, and so he's depending on you to help him find someone worth his trust. He's still depending on you." He caught a flash of Yugi's cheek balling up into a smile before he turned back around. "And I am Mokuba's friend, still. We talk."