A Christmas Carol with Kaiba

The Only Friend of Seto Kaiba

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The surroundings blurred in a sickening whirl. It was almost as though the colors, this time, were reflecting the rage which Joey held himself. In an instant, and with the vague sensation that his stomach was about to unend into his mouth, Seto found himself in a large, bland, green room that looked like a poorly furnished rec room of a retirement home. The people that inhabited, however, were of varying ages, from teenagers to the elderly, and they all wore plain blue scrubs. There was no Christmas tree. The few windows were small and shaded. For all Seto knew, the mutt had broken the 'Christmas only' rule and slapped him right smack down in the middle of July.

"Christmas day, later today, to be exact," said Joey, as though hearing his thoughts. "And guess where your self-proclaimed buddy is? The one that always had your back, whether you wanted it or not."

That same invisible force that had shoved him with the sensation of a wall now forced his face over to a corner, where a small figure crouched in the corner, as though trying to be as small as possible. With growing trepidation, Seto walked over of his own accord.

Yugi Muto had curled himself up into a corner next to a bookcase, his knees hugged tightly to his chest. His eyes were unfocused, empty, and the radiant creature he had been an hour earlier in Seto's room was nowhere to be seen. Even the kids wild hair seemed to be drooping, and he almost matched Mrs. Whitaker for paleness.

Frowning, Seto looked about the room once more. The only double doors looked heavy and were barred. Two men in white with bulging muscles manned the doors, their eyes darting about the room at each of the people inside—the patients.

"This isn't a--"

"It is." said Joey, his eyes hot. "This is Domino Psychiatric Hospital, or the asylum, if you please."

Seto looked back down at his once formidable rival. With the lost, empty expression, even though he was as old as Seto himself, he looked as though he hadn't aged a day over fifteen. But this couldn't be right. Sure Seto had wondered himself if Yugi had some sort of split personality disorder or something, but after all they had been through together, if Yugi belonged here, so did Seto. There was a lot of crap in this world that Seto didn't want to throw up to mystical hocus-pocus, but he would always know one thing, and that was Yugi wasn't crazy. Egyptian voodoo and crazy personality switch put aside, Yugi was not crazy.

But even if someone else had thought differently, Seto had seen for himself that, after the shrimp had gotten rid of that tacky bling pyramid of his, the voice dropping had stopped and his, along with Seto's, life had gone back to being considerably tame. There should be no reason that Yugi should be here now. He wasn't here a year ago, when Seto had last seen him to talk about using his title of King of Games for Kaiba Corp benefit, and he had been even more sane than himself than, so why was he here now?

"What happened?" he asked.

"His grandpa died." said Joey. "He was the one who was protecting Yugi and believing in him. His mother's been want'n to throw him in here since the moment she got a whiff of what the Millennium Puzzle and all that, but gramps threatened her with all sorts of stuff, including throwing her out, if she even so much as thought about it. So, when gramps died and Yugi inherited the Game Shop, she tossed him in here, sold the Game Shop, and moved who knows where."

"Oh, come on, that can't be legal," Seto looked back down at the still, pathetic form of the one person he respected more than himself. "That sort of junk only happens in bad movies. Surely the doctors here have tested him, seen to it that he's not crazy."

"But she's his mother. She committed him here, and only she can check him out."

"That can't be right."

"But it is." Joey suddenly looked haggard and his hands dropped to his side. "Believe me, I've been trying to get him out for months. You may not need Yugi's friendship, but I do. You know how long I lasted without him? And you better not tell the me in real life that you know this, because I'll kill you, but I only lasted three months and it's almost been a year now."

"What do you mean, Wheeler? Needed someone to hold your hand?"

"I guess I did, because if you go back to 35th Martin St. you'll find me passed out in a gutter, beaten within an inch of my life for refusing to rob a store." Joey shook his head, ending with his bangs hiding his expression. "Almost right where Yugi found me when we were fifteen. Really pathetic, huh?"

Seto watched as his other, self-proclaimed rival turned into shambles in front of him, and not even the expensive, wizard like robes could hide that. Before them Yugi was called out to by the men at the door and he got up without complaint. With Joey trailing behind like the ghost he claimed to be, Seto followed Yugi into a bland, hopeless room with a cheap bed, no windows, and padded walls.

The door was locked behind them.

And then Yugi fell apart as well. He collapsed, forehead to the ground, arms around his head.

"Yami, pharaoh," Seto heard. "I know you were real, I know it. But why am I here? What did I do?"

Then Joey collapsed next to his friend, reaching out to put a hand on his shoulders which Yugi would never feel.

"Aw, man, come on. I'll get you outta here." Joey pulled his hand away sharply with a curse. "Who am I kidd'n. I can't even pick myself out of my own shit. Yug, buddy," his voice trembled and he dug his hands through his messy mop of yellow hair. "Yug, you deserved so much better than me. I'm such a failure, I'm such a failure."

And right as Seto felt his own throat close up, despite the voices in his head mocking and pointing out the new low the geek squad had come to, he found himself in his room once more, bare feet on the carpet, eyes out the open window, and no more warm laughter in the hallway.