Family Portrait

(A/N: I do not own the rights to Yu-Gi-Oh! nor the rights to the PINK song Family Portrait)


Seto paged through the file that had been handed to him. Several papers and newspaper cuttings filled it, but there was one thing that caught Seto's eye. A portrait of a family. His family. It had to have been taken when Seto was five. Mokuba was only a baby, and they did indeed look happy in the photo. Photos had a tencancy to lie though.

FLASHBACK::

Seto sat up in bed, the sound of an argument rang in his ears. It seemed ever since Mokuba was born, his parents argued quite frequently. Seto knew it wasn't their fault. He and Mokuba were only children. They didn't cause the problems. The sound of their mother crying echoed in the stairwell.

Mama please stop cryin'
I can't stand the sound
Your pain is painful and it's
Tearing me down

Mokuba started to scream as a glass shattered against the wall outside the bedroom they shared. Seto froze in bed, afraid to move. Any movent might provoke his fathero beo beating any of them.

I hear glasses breaking
As I sit up in my bed
I told God you didn't mean
Those nasty things you said
You fight about money
About me and my brother
And this I come home to
This is my shelter

Seto finally had the courage to move. He crawled out of bed and put on his shoes. He went out into the hallway in time to hear his father screaming about Mokuba and his crying. Seto hurried into the bathroom and fixed a bottle of warm water. Carrying it back into the bedroom, he fixed it with formula for his baby brother. Mokuba quited as Seto picked him up. Seto carried the baby to the changing table and changed the diaper, carefully folding the messy contents inside with all the wipes'd u'd used. Carrying Mokuba to the bed, he gently rocked him. After sitting on the bed, he put the nipple of the bottle in his brother's mouth.

It ain't easy, growin' up in WW3
Never knowin' what love could be
You'll see, I don't want love to destroy me
Like it has done my family

Can we work it out
Can we be a family
I promise I'll be better

Seto rocked the baby, gently trying to burp him. He was afraid to move now. Could hear sounds of a a fight outside the small bedroom. The crashes and bangs against the wall sounded as if his parents were going to come through the wall at any moment.

After an extreamly loud bang and the sound of cracking plaster, Seto lept to the window after grabbing a diaper bag for Mokuba and crawled out onto the roof of the garage. He'd built a treehouse and his secret entrance was a tree branch resting on the roof. He scurried accross the branches of the tree and down onto the ground, running away from the screaming. Mokuba, thankfully, stayed quiet.

Mommy I'll do anything
Can we work it out
Can we be a family
I promise I'll be better
Daddy please don't leave

Seto's mom opened the door to the bedroom, and saw her son disappear over the garage roof. She knew that he was only going into the backyard, to his hiding place. She looked down at her unconsous husband, passed out after drunkenly beating her. Her son made her proud.

Reluctantly she went outside and located her sleeping son. Seto sat on the ground, tenderly holding his baby brother, protecting him against the chill of the night air.

-Pause in Flashback-
Two years passed before he tried to run away again, Seto remembered. That night, the fight was much worse than any he'd ever remembered. Mokuba lay snuggled at his side soundly sleeping through the fight. He remembered hearing gunshots, but they'd only been used to scare his mother, not hurt her. His father's voice echoed through the house

Daddy please stop yelling
I can't stand the sound
Make mama stop cryin'
'Cause I need you around
My mama she loves you
No matter what she says is true
I know that she hurts you
But remember I love you too!

Three nights later, Seto could no longer stand to hear the gunshots. His father could unintentionally harm anyone in the family. Again, packing a bag for him and Mokuba, Seto slipped out into the night.

I ran away today, ran from the noise
Ran away (ran away)
Don't wanna go back to that place
But don't have no choice, no way

It ain't easy, growin' up in WW3
Never knowin' what love could be
But I've seen, I don't want love to destroy me
Like it has done my family

In our family portrait
We look pretty happy
Let's play pretend, let's act like it
Comes naturally
I don't wanna have to split the holidays I don't want two addresses
I don't want a stepbrother anyway
And I don't want my mom to have to change her last name!
Mama'll be nicer
I'll be so much better
I'll tell my brother

As Seto ran, he heard gunshots rirougrough the night. His mother screamed and a heavy crash echo throught the house. He scooped up Mokuba and ran. He fled through the night, scrambling up the streets well after midnight. His chest hurt and his body ached as he realized he was nolonger in an area he reconized. Sirens filled the air and flashes of blue and red filled the night around him.


I won't spill the milk at dinner
I'll be so much better
I'll do everything right
I'll be your little One forever (changed slightly to fit story)
I'll go to sleep at night

Seto watched as his father was taken away in handcuffs. He threw himself on the floor and screamed.

Daddy don't leave...
daddy don't leave


Joey heard a strangled cry echo through the house. Mokuba looked up at him, his deep blue eyes wide with fear. Together they jumped up and ran to Seto's home office. Joey paused outside the door, hearing sobbing. He quietly opened the door, and was rewared with a glass object crashing against the wall.