Chapter One:

The Head

might be

Persuaded

The room was beautiful. Long and elegant, with a carpet along the floor, and two beds. The curtains were drawn back, the Northern Lights visible, shining and shimmering.

One bed was occupied, the other was not.

The occupant of the empty bed had sneaked over to his brother's bed.

"Seto." He whispered, poking his brother.

"Go to sleep, Mokuba."

Mokuba scrambled atop his brother.

"The sky's awake, so I'm awake! We have to play!"

"Play by yourself."

Seto pushed Mokuba off, where he landed on the floor with a plop.

Mokuba huffed, pushing his long, slightly girlish hair out of his eyes.

Hm...

He pulled himself back onto Seto's bed.

"You wanna build a snowman?"

A grin broke across Seto's face.

...

"C'mon!" Mokuba practically dragged his brother down the stairs of the mansion.
"Shh!" Seto warned, but his grin told his brother that he didn't care whether they got caught or not.

Into the ballroom, the two closed the door.

"Do the magic!" Mokuba said, the 6 year old's eyes full of glee.

Seto nodded, grinning.

He curled his hands over one and other, blue sparkles coming between them. A snowball grew in between his hands, and he threw it up into the air. It exploded, and snow rained down.

"This is amazing!" Mokuba said, eyes full of wonder.

"If you think that's awesome, watch this!"

Seto stomped his foot, and ice spread around it, curling and crystallizing its way across the floor.

They slid along the icy floor, laughing and almost dancing.

They made a snowman. He wasn't the best, but he sure was adorable.

Seto moved behind him, moving his arms and spoke as if he were the snowman.

"Hi, I'm Olaf, and I like warm hugs!"

Mokuba giggled and threw his arms around the snowman.

"I love you, Olaf!"

They skated around on the icy floor, laughing and dancing.

Mokuba clambered atop a snow mound and leaped.

"Catch me!"

Seto did just that.

"Woo!"

"Slow down!" Seto was having trouble keeping up.

"Woo!"

Seto couldn't keep up. Desperately, he flung his hand forward. The magic hit Mokuba in the head he was thrown backwards. He hit bottom of the hill, lying there.

Oh god.

Seto was on his feet and running to his brother. He pulled him in his arms. One of the locks of his brother's hair turned white.

Seto clutched his brother, sobbing.

"MOM! DAD!"

The ice around him grew hard and not-so-beautiful. It crawled up the walls and over the doors.

The doors slammed open, the ice upon it shattering inwards.

"Seto!" Their father said, "This is getting out of hand!"

"I'm sorry!" Seto said, tears streaming down his face, "We were just playing, and-and-"

His mother pulled Mokuba from his arms and held him in hers.

"He's ice cold."

"I know where we have to go."

...

Two other siblings walked through the forest, their adorable reindeer calf pulling a block of ice along.

The smaller one, a girl, her eyes the same dark brown as her brothers, though her hair was red, grinned at him.

The boy had poofy blond hair.

They were sort of just walking along, talking and silence. Talking and silence. It was always like this. It's not like they had anywhere else to go.

Suddenly, two horses rushed by, the grass behind one freezing solid.

"Ice..?" Asked the boy.

They took off.

"Faster, Sven!"

...

They came to a circular... Indent of some sort in the middle of the forest. There was spherical rocks strewn across the place.

"Please." Seto's father said, "My son.."

Meanwhile, the brown-eyed siblings had found their way to a spot on the edge of the indent.

"Wha.." The boy whispered.

One of the rocks stood up straight.

"Shh!" It said, "I'm trying to listen!" It realized what they looked like, "Oh, cuties! I'm gonna keep ya!"

The rocks stood up straight, revealing themselves to be trolls.

"It's Gozabura Kaiba!" Said one.

One that seemed older than all the rest made his way through the crowd and took Seto's hand.

"Born with the powers, or cursed?" He asked.

"Uh," Gozabura muttered, "born. And they're getting stronger."

The troll placed his had atop Mokuba's forehead.

"You are lucky it wasn't his heart. The heart is not so easily changed. But, the head? It can be persuaded. I suggest we remove all magic, even memories of magic." Seto watched as the troll messed around with his brother's memories. It wasn't the most comfortable thing.

"You mean..." He said quietly, "He won't remember I have powers?"

"It's for the best." His father said.

"Listen to me, Seto." The troll said, taking Seto's hand. He created an image of Seto creating snowflakes, "Your powers are wonderful. There is great beauty in it, but also great danger." The snowflake turned red, "Fear will be your enemy." The snowflake swallowed the image of Seto whole and it dissipated.

Seto yelped, going back to his father.

"We'll reduce the staff." His father said, "Close the gates, and limit his contact with people. Including Mokuba."

...

Mokuba jumped up and down. It was snowing! Maybe Seto would finally talk to him.

He walked up to the door and knocked.

"Seto?" He asked, "You wanna build a snowman? I-I mean- it doesn't really have to be a snowman- I mean- We- we can do whatever you want!" He gave a nervous chuckle. Seto said nothing on the other side of the door, "C'mon, Seto! Come play with me!"

"Go away, Mokuba!"

Mokuba's face fell.

"Oh... Okay..."

He wandered off.

Seto looked out the window. He wanted to play with his brother, he really did. But he couldn't risk that happening again.

He touched the windowsill, which immediately covered with frost.

He gasped, pulling his hands back.

His father gave him gloves.

"Conceal it, don't feel it." He told him, "Don't let it show."

...

Now 9, Mokuba knocked on his brother's door again.

"Seto? Do you wanna build a snowman? Maybe do something awesome like- like- like ride our bikes through the hall or something? 'Cause that'd be awesome. I mean, we could just, like, wipe out, and we wouldn't land on the pavement and scrape ourselves!"

"No thank you, Mokuba."

Mokuba sighed quietly.

"Okay."

...

Mokuba now 12, Seto now 16, their parents were leaving for a business trip in LA.

Mokuba slid into their room and hugged them.

"See you in two weeks!" He said.

"You too." His mother ruffled his already messy hair.

They stood in the front foyer as their parents left.

Seto stood calmly, though his face was a little tense. He nodded his head in respect.

"Do you have to go?" He asked his father.

"It's only for two weeks. We'll be back."

Seto nodded.

...

"Mister Mokuba, sir?" Roland knocked on the door and stuck his head in.

"Yeah?" Mokuba took a headphone out, "What's up?"

Roland looked extremely grief-stricken.

"Um.. Your parents' flight... It went down in the Ohio Valley..."

Mokuba felt everything inside him shatter.

"What?" He whispered.

"I'm sorry, sir."

...

Mokuba walked down the long hallways of the house that was only now himself, the staff and Seto. It felt empty, somehow.

Too empty.

He knocked on Seto's door lightly.

"Seto..." He whispered, "Please, Seto. I know you're in there. I.." He sniffled, "I'm trying to stay strong... But... I can't." He leaned against the door and slid down it, "I need my big brother, Seto... Please..."

He put his face in his knees.

On the other side, Seto sat against the door, doing the exact same thing. The room was covered in thick frost, snowflakes hanging in the air, suspended by grief.